Charlemont was a classic aristocrat and an Irishman who personified the Age of Enlightenment. His legacy of liberal humanity, integrity and love of country was vital in the shaping of Ireland as it approached the increasingly complex political and social turmoil of the 19th century. During the exciting years prior to the despair greeting the Act of Union James Caulfeild, fourth viscount and first earl of Charlemont (1728-1799) stands as an equal alongside many of the better-known cultural and political figures of Georgian Dublin society. He spoke fluent Italian, wrote lively Traveller's essays and spent of much of his life in the pursuit of knowledge out of interest rather than ambition. The extent of his classical scholarship has yet to be fully realised.
In some ways, he is Ireland's Thomas Jefferson. These men shared a vision combining intellectual daring and consummate practicality. They were materially privileged, if inveterate over-spenders, and they both were untrained builders with a love of the beauty of classical Roman form. Each expressed this love in his respective masterpieces - the elegant library in the Rotunda at Jefferson's University of Virginia is certainly the most beautiful room in the US, and possibly the world, while Charlemont's exquisite Casino is perfect, and remains among the loveliest buildings of its type anywhere.
Aside from creating this gorgeous temple-like villa serenely standing on a slight rise, off the busy Malahide Road with long views of Dublin bay, Charlemont played a central role in the establishment of the Royal Irish Academy, of which he was a founding member in 1785 and first president, a role he held until his death in 1799. Founded to promote the sciences, polite literature and antiquities, the academy remains an internationally respected institution of scholarship and research. The earl knew Burke and Grattan and debated their political philosophies as easily as he wrote about classical literature or discussed architectural plans with Gandon who designed Charlemont's Rockingham library at Charlemont House.
Though not a first-rank scholar, the range of his intellectual activities is a celebration of the Irish Protestant mind as a cultural and political force. Charlemont's greatness lies not only in the energy with which he pursued his ideas, but also in the fact he knew failure and was well aware of, and indeed accepted rather than lamented, his limitations. His story is not one of unfettered triumph. There is no swagger.
The gentleman politician was a poor public speaker who saw his Catholic Relief Bill defeated in 1770 and whose entire life was dominated by ill health. But he had his moments, such as when, in his capacity as Lieutenant of Co Armagh, he marched in 1760 to Carrickfergus to protect the great Norman castle overlooking Belfast Lough from the threat of French invasion.
He was also a skilled facilitator and his intervention against the Duchess of Bedford's veto of the right of Irish women peers to attend the wedding of George III was a diplomatic victory of greater significance than might be thought. Certainly, the ladies got to the ball, but the main point was that the Irish peerage walked in the Coronation process as a distinct body. Far from being a trivial event, it was a symbolic act.
It was also ironic that, in the light of Charlemont's later political career culminating in his becoming Commander-in-chief of the Volunteers in 1780, his conciliatory nature and dislike of violence - indeed, a dread of public disorder - would eventually lose him the support of many of his political allies. He would turn away from the movement because of its growing radicalism and increased political agitation, although the Volunteers, originally founded to guard against invasion was, by the time of Charlemont's withdrawal, a spent force.
For the last decade of his life, he actively opposed Union with Britain and it was a mercy that he died some months before it became a reality.
Caulfeild was born in Dublin in August 1728, a descendant of Captain Toby Caulfeild who had arrived in Ireland in 1599 with Essex.
The name Charlemont owes its origins to a fort erected by Lord Mountjoy strategically overlooking the river Blackwater on the border of counties Tyrone and Armagh. Built in 1602, it was burnt down in 1920 and its significance lies in its being the first of many Charlemont buildings: though not the finest, it was the one that provided the family with its peerage. The fort's rise, fall and final destruction also parallels that of the Anglo-Irish caste.
The family's wealth remained based in its Ulster estates, which in time would be sold off to finance Charlemont's marvellous building projects. The young Caulfeild was sickly and as he never attended school, his education was entrusted to a series of tutors. Painted by Hogarth at 13, he become a peer aged six in 1734 on the death of his father, who had been the third viscount Charlemont.
When he was 12, his mother remarried. Four years later, just when it seemed the boy would never be noted for his mental abilities, a new teacher, Edward Murphy, entered his life and Caulfeild's previously dormant mind was quickly drawn to the classics. Mentor and pupil became friends. When the 18-year-old seemed equally attracted to gambling, his step-father - his mother having died in 1743 - decided to despatch him off on The Grand Tour. It would prove the making of him.
He went first to the Hague, moving on to Italy through Germany and as he would later write, "Travelling through Germany, I went three days' journey out of my way to visit the source of the Danube. My road lay through that immense tract of wood known by the terrific name of the Black Forest". Italy would become a great love and he lived there for almost four years. But he also travelled further, to Constantinople, the Greek islands and Egypt. While in Rome, he commissioned art and met Simon Vierpyl, the sculptor/mason, and William Chambers the architect, both of whom would help to create the Casino.
There were many romances, but he successfully evaded marriage for some years. In 1754 he left Rome, initially going to London. But Charlemont knew he needed to live in Dublin and took his seat in the Irish House of Lords.
He quickly established a reputation as a skilful mediator. He was widely liked and had a sense of humour. He married at 40: four children survived infancy, although his second son died at 17. There are contradictions: this liberal was not quite perfect and he had his difficulties with moves towards Catholic emancipation, although this was mainly out of fear of a Catholic Ireland obliterating the Protestant tradition of which he was part. Having put forward a Catholic Reform Bill, he later opposed the Catholic Relief Acts in 1792 and 1793. He tended to neglect his debts, while his handling of pioneering Gaelic scholar Charlotte Brooke's request when destitute for a housekeeping job at the Royal Irish Academy was appallingly inept.
But he was committed to Ireland's constitutional rights. Charlemont House, his city residence, conceived by him as a gallery of art, is now functioning as one. Maurice Craig points out in his excellent biography, The Volunteer Earl: "as a private builder his motives were as much social and political as they were artistic".
Charlemont was a civilising influence, a human rather than God-like figure. He represents his class and most importantly, he represents nationalism at its most reasonable. His regard for scholarship was generous rather than elitist. The Royal Irish Academy testifies to his belief in the mind and the imagination. With his gracious Casino, notably unprotected by high walls, he created a monument of architectural genius and vision as well as enduring beauty.