Note 816 — SCENE IV.
Reading edition
O Toole] Was a person notorious for his romantic bravery, vanity, and eccentricity. There is a rare print of him—Arthurus Severus O Toole None-such, Æt. 80—representing an old man in armour, carrying in his hand a sword ornamented with crowns, and having at bottom verses,
“Great Moguls landlord, both Indies king,” &c.
It was prefixed to the first edition of a poem by Taylor, 1622, To the Honour of the Noble Captaine O Toole, which is reprinted in the water-poet’s Works, 1630. In this ironical panegyric his exploits against the Irish rebels are celebrated;
“Thou shewdst thy selfe a doughty wight at Dublin:
When Irish Rebells madly brought the trouble in,
At Baltimore, Kinsale, at Corke and Yoghall,” &c.
But his own country was not the only one in which O Toole figured; he served as a volunteer, and displayed his courage and absurdities in various parts of Europe. The Argument to the poem just quoted informs us, that his “Youth was Dedicated to Mars and his Age to Westminster, which ancient Cittie is now honour’d with his beloued Residance.”