ABSTRACT
William Molyneux was born in Fishamble Street in Dublin on 17 April 1656. During the 25 years between 1661 and 1685, following the Restoration of the English crown to Charles II, Dublin experienced considerable prosperity, in contrast to the strife of the preceding periods of war and the Commonwealth. The population of the city increased from 20 000 to 60 000, and Dublin became Britain’s second city. The longestablished families of the Pale flourished, and Samuel Molyneux (1616-1693), William’s father, and his capable wife Margaret (ne´e Dowdall, d. 1700), were able to purchase a country estate, Castle Dillon in County Armagh, in 1664, and a substantial town house in 1665. It was in this atmosphere that Samuel’s eldest son, William, was educated sufficiently to enter Trinity College as a fellow commoner, a relatively privileged status, in 1671, when he was 15.
