Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mangin, Edward
MANGIN, EDWARD (1772–1852), miscellaneous writer, was descended from Huguenot ancestors, one of whom, Etienne Mangin, was burnt at Meaux, near Paris, on 7 Oct. 1546. The family migrated to Ireland and settled at Dublin. His father, Samuel Henry Mangin, originally in the 5th royal Irish dragoons, afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the 14th dragoons, died in French Street, Dublin, 13 July 1798, being then lieutenant-colonel of the 12th (Prince of Wales's) light dragoons. He married, in September 1769, Susanna Corneille, also of French extraction, who died in Dublin 21 Dec. 1824, and both were buried in the Huguenot burial-ground at Dublin. Edward, their eldest son, was born in that city on 15 July 1772, and matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford, where he was contemporary with Southey, on 9 June 1792. He graduated B.A. in 1793, M.A. in 1795, and was ordained in the Irish church. On 2 March 1798 he was collated to the prebendal stall of Dysart in Killaloe Cathedral, which he vacated on 15 Jan. 1800 by his collation as prebendary of Rathmichael in St. Patrick's, Dublin. This preferment he surrendered on 1 Dec. 1803, when he became prebendary of Rath in Killaloe, in which position he remained until his death. For a few months (April to 16 Aug. 1812; he was navy chaplain in the Gloucester, a 74-gun ship. He dwelt for some time at Toulouse, and he was in Paris at the time of its occupation by the allied armies; but for nearly the whole of his working life he lived at Bath. A man of wide reading and of fascinating conversation, combined with a natural aptitude for drawing, and with a remarkable memory, the possession of ample means enabled him to spend his time in study, and he was universally recognised as the head of the literary students of that city. He died in sleep on the morning of 17 Oct. 1852 at his house, 10 Johnstone Street. Bath, and was buried in the old burial-ground of Bathwick. He married in 1800 Emily Holmes, who died in Dublin 14 Jul. 1801, leaving one daughter, Emily. On 1 July 1816 he married, at Queen Square Chapel, Bath, Mary, daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Nangreave of the East Indian army. She died in Bath 15 May 1846, leaving two sons, the Rev. E. N. Mangin, at one time vicar of Woodhorn-with-Newbiggin-by-Sea, Northumberland, and the Rev. S. W. Mangin, now rector of West Knoyle, Wiltshire, and one daughter, Mary Henrietta, who is unmarried.
Mangin published many works, original and translated, but they fail to render adequate justice to his talents. His productions were: 1. 'The Life of C. G. Lamoignon Malesherbes,' translated from the French, 1804. 2. 'The Deserted City' (anon., but with a dedication signed E. M.), 1806. It was a poem on Bath in summer, parodying Goldsmith's 'Deserted Village.' 3. 'Light Reading at Leisure Hours' (anon.), 1805. 4. 'Oddities and Outlines, by E. M.,' 1806, 2 vols. 5. 'George the Third,' a novel in three volumes, 1807. Some of the impressions had his name on the title-page, and others were anonymous. It contained (i. 71-92) 'a few general directions for the conduct of young gentlemen in the university of Oxford,' which was 'printed at Oxford in 1795.' 6. 'An Essay on Light Reading,' In this were included some fresh facts on Goldsmith's youth, afterwards incorporated in the lives of Goldsmith by Prior and Forster. A short memoir of Mangin and a letter from him to Forster on 24 April 1848 are in the latter's 'Goldsmith,' ed. 1871, vol. i. App. 7. 'Essay on the Sources of the Pleasures received from Literary Compositions' (anon.), 1809; 2nd edit, (anon.) 1813. 8. 'Hector, a Tragedy in five acts, by J. Ch. J. Luce de Lancival, translated by E. Mangin,' n.d. [1810]. 9. 'Works of Samuel Richardson, with a Sketch of his Life and Writings,' 1811, 19 roll. 10. 'Utopia Found: an Apology for Irish Absentees. Addressed to a Friend in Connaught by an Absentee residing in Bath,' 1813. 11. 'View of the Pleasures arising from a Love of Books,' 1814. 12. 'An Intercepted Epistle from a Person in Bath to his Friend in London,' Bath, 1815; 2nd edit., with preface and notes, 1815; 3rd edit. 1815. It was answered by an actor called Ashe in an annonymous poem, 'The Flagellator,' Bath, 1816. 13. 'Letter to Bishop of Bath and Wells on Reading of Church Services.' 1819. 14. 'The Bath Stage,' a dialogue (anon.), Bath, 1822. 15. 'Letter to Thomas Moore on the subject of Sheridan's "School for Scandal,"' 1826. 16. 'Life of Jean Bart, naval commander under Louis XIV. From the French, by E. Mangin,' 1828. 17. 'Parish Settlements and Pauperism' (anon.), 1828. 18. 'Reminiscences for Roman Catholics,' 1828, 18, 'Short Stories for Short Students.' 20. 'More Short Stories,' 1830. 21. 'Essay on Duelling; by J. B. Salaville. From the French, by E. Mangin,' 1832, 22. 'Piozziana: Recollections of Mrs. Piozzi, by a Friend,' 1833. 23. 'Vagaries in Verse, by author of "Essay on Light Reading,"' 1835. It contains (pp. 5-14) 'The Deserted City.' 24. 'Letter to the Admirers of Chatterton,' 1838, signed E. M. He believed that the poems were not by Chatterton. 25. 'The Parlour Window, or Anecdotes. Original Remarks on Books,' 1841. 26. 'Voice from the Holy Land, purporting to be the Letters of a Centurion under the Emperor Tiberius,' n.d. [1843]. 27. 'Miscellaneous Essays,' 1851. The Rev. Joseph Hunter calls Mangin 'author of one or more lively dramatic pieces.' He contributed to the 'Bath Herald,' and supplied the 'Bath and Bristol Magazine,' 1832-1, with two articles, 'The Rowleyian Controversy,' ii. 53-9, and 'Scraps,' ii. 290-4. In John Forster's library at the South Kensington Museum are five numbers of 'The Inspector,' a periodical issued by Mangin at Bath from 22 Oct. to 19 Nov. 1826.
[Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hibernicæ, i. 428-7, ii. 173, v. 74, and Suppl. p. 46; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Peach's Houses in Bath, i. 146-7, ii. 8. 37-8, 72; Monkland's Literature of Bath, p. 90; Hunter's Bath and Literature, p. 90; Gent. Mag. 1853, pt. i. pp. 97-8; Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser. ix. 107; Halkett and Laing's Anon. Literature, pp. 828, 1011, 1388, 1419, 1480, 1486, 1800. 1918, 2720; information from the Rev. S. W. Mangin and Emanuel Green, F.S.A.]