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THE
WORTHIES OF IRELAND
Biographia Hibernica
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
OF THE
WORTHIES OF IRELAND,
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.
WRITTEN AND COMPILED
BY RICHARD RYAN.
“On Lough Neagh’s banks as the fisherman strays, “When the clear cold eve *s declining, “He sees the round towers of other days “In the wave beneath him shining: “Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime,
“Catch a glimpse of the days that are over; “Thus, sighing, look through the waves time, “For the long faded glories they caver” MOORE’S IRISH MELODIES.
- IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II:
LONDON:
JOHN WARREN, OLD BOND STREET;
M. N. MAHON; R. MILLIKEN; AND HODGES & M‘ARTHUR,
DUBLIN.
MDCCCIXI [1821; being Vol. II]
[Copy text held in NY Public Library]<
Printed by BrvUcU,
- JtMfMTt 4tmC, mytirlMfj LMUIMU
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF THE WORTHIES OF IRELAND [half-title]
- MATTHEW CONCANEN,
- A MINOR poet, of considerable abilities, and a miscellaneous writer of some note in his day, was a native of Ireland, and was descended from a good family in that kingdom. He was liberally educated by his parents, and was bred to the law, in which profession he seems not to have made any great figure. From some cause or other, he conceived an aversion to Dr. Swift, for his abuse of whom the world has taxed him with ingratitude. Con- canen, it is true, had once enjoyed some degree of Swift’s favour (who was not always very happy in his choice of companions); and it is said, he had an opportunity of perusing some of the Doctor’s poems in manuscript, which he unhesitatingly thought fit to appropriate and publish as his own. But this story is by no means authenticated. As affairs did not prosper much with him in Ireland, he came over to London, in company with a Mr. Stirling, a dramatic poet of little celebrity; and deeming nothing so profitable or so likely to recommend him to public notice as political writing, he speedily commenced an advocate {2} for the government. There is an anecdote told of these authors, which we sincerely hope is not true, which is, that in order to render their trade more profitable, they resolved to espouse different interests, one should oppose and the other defend the ministry, and determined the side of the question each was to take by tossing up a halfpenny, when it fell to th$ side of ConQttnen (o defend the ministry, which task he performed with as much abilities as ephemeral political writers generally discover. His companion, Stirling, afterwards went into orders, and became a clergyman in Maryland . Concanen was, for some time, concerned in the “British” and “London Journals/* and in a paper called “the Speculatfst,” which last was published in 1730. These periodical pieces are long since buried in neglect, and, doubtless, would have sunk to utter oblivion, had not Pope, by his satirical writings, given them a kind of disgraceful immor-tality. In thes? journals he published many scurrilities against Pope, and in a pamphlet entitled The Supple- dient. to the Profound/’ bte used him with grqat virulence tad little candour. He not only imputed to him Brown’fc uetses {for which be might,, indeed, seem in som? degree Accountable, having corrected What that gentleman did), but those; of the Duke of Buckingham and others. To this fare, piece* somebody humorously persuaded, him to take for his motto “De profundis clamaoi”. He afterwards wrote a paper called “The Daily Courtmt,” wherein,.he evinced much spleen against Lord Bolingbroke, and. many of his friends. All those provocations, excited Mr. Pope to allot him a place in hisDunciad.” In his second book, line 28 7 .where he represents the* dunces diving in the ihud of the Thames for the prize, he speaks thus of Concanen: -
“Firm to the bottom, see Concanen creep, A cold, long-winded native of the deep; If perievertnce gain the diver’s prize, Not eveHasttog Btateksboire this decries.”
- CONCANEN.
- In 1725, Concanem published agpctwp vofaw&tf poems? consisting chiefly af’Compositions of his own3end 401x19 fetirof dther gentlemen; they are addressed to the Lord Gage,’, whom he endeavours artfully to flatter without offending his modesty... The gentlemen who assisted our author in his collection, were Dean Swift, Parnell, Dr. Delany, Mepyr^ ,Bpwu, ,WardF and,Stirling. In this collection there is a poem by Concaneb, called “A Match at Foot-ball,” in three cantos, written, it is said, in imitation of Popes’* Ripe of the Lock.* HeW&SalSb concerned with Mr. Rdomeand another gentleman, in altering Browne’s “Jovial Crew,” into a ballad opera^ which was performed about the year 1730; and the profits given entirely to Mr. Concahen. His wit and literary abilities recommended him to the favour of the Duke of Newcastle, through Whose-interest/in 1732, be obtained the lucrative post of attorney-general of the island of Jamaica, which office he filled with the utmost integrity and honour, and to the perfect satisfaction of the inhabitants for more than Seventeen years, when, having acquired an ample fortune, (one bf his biographers says by marrying a planter’s daughter,) lie was desirous of passing the close of his life in his native cotfntry, with which intention he quitted Jamaica, and came to London, intending to pass Some little time there before he went to settle entirely in Ireland. But the difference of dimate between that metropolis and the island he bad so long been accustomed to, had so violent ta effect on his constitution, that he fell into a consumption, df which he died on the 22nd of January, 1749, a few weeks after his arrival in London. 1 Hisoriginal poems, though short, are possessed of considerable merit; but much cannot be said of his play, entitled “Wexford Walls.” Concanen has several songs in “The Musical Miscellany,” published in 6 vols. in 17^9. But a memorable letter addressed to him by Dr. Warburton, will perhaps be remembered longer than any writing of his oWh pen. This letter, which Mr. Malone first published (in his Supplement to Shakspeare, vol. i.
- p. M2), shews that* in 1746, Warburton, then an attorney at Newark; was intimate with Concanen, and an associate in the attacks made oh Pope’s fame and talents. In 1724, Concanen published a volume of “Miscellaneous Poems, original and translated,” by himself and others.
- DK. BERNARD CONNOR, A RENOWNED physician, and a learned writer, was descended from an ancient Irish family, and born in the county of Kerry, about the year 1666. His family being of the Popish persuasion, he had not the benefit of receiving an education in the established seminaries of that kingdom. Having determined on the study of physic, about 1686 he went for that purpose to France, and resided for some time at the university of Montpelier, from whence be repaired to Paris, where he greatly distinguished himself by his proficiency in anatomy and chemistry. He declared himself desirous of travelling, and as there were two sons of the high chancellor of Poland then on the point of returning to their native country, it was thought expedient that they should undertake that long journey under the care and inspection of Connor. He accordingly conducted them safely to Venice, where the found the honourable William Legge, afterwards Earl of Dartmouth, dangerously ill of a fever; him he recovered, and acooiqpanied to Padua, from whence he went through Tyrol, Bavaria, and Austria, down the Danube to Vienna, and after having made some stay at the court of the Emperor Leopold, passed through Moravia and Silesia to Cracow, and thence, in eight days, to Warsaw, where the king, John Sobieski, kept his court, and where he was well received; and soon afterwards, through the recommendation of the Venetian ambassador, was appointed physician to that monarch. This was accounted an extraordinary preferment for so young a man, and in so short a time, for it happened in the beginning of the year 1694, when Connor had not attained his twenty-ninth year.
- But his reputation in the court of Poland was very great,, and highly raised by the judgment he passed on tbte Duchess of Radzevil’s distemper, which the court physfe cians had pronounced to be an ague, from which she might be easily recovered by bark; but Connor, when consulted; declared and insisted that she had an abscess in her liver, and that her case was desperate. As this lady was the king’s only sister, his prediction created great agitation, more especially when it was justified by the event; for she not only died within a month, but, upon the opening of her body, the opinion he had deli vered of her malady was fully verified. Great as Connor’s fame was in Poland, he did not propose to remain longer than was requisite to conclude his inquiries into the natural history and other remarkable curiosities of that kingdom; and as he foresaw the king’s decease, and that he had no prospects of advantage afterwards, he determined to quit that country and visit England, for which a very advantageous opportu* nity occurred* The king had an only daughter, the Princess Teresa Cunigunda, who had espoused the Elector of Bavaria, by proxy, in August 1694; and as she war to make a journey from Warsaw to Brussels, of near one thousand miles, and in the midst of winter, it was thought necessary that she should be attended by a physician; Connor, with much address, procured himself to be nominated to that employment, and, after reaching Brussels, took leave of the princess, set out for Holland, and from thence to England, where he arrived in February 1695. He remained a short time in London, and then went to Oxford, where he read public lectures on the animal economy. In his travels through Italy he had conversed with Malpighi, Bellini, Redi, and other eminent persons, of whose abilities be had availed himself; and he now explained the new discoveries in anatomy, chemistry, and physic in so clear and judicious a manuer that his reputation was soon raised to a considerable height; and it was increased by printing, during his residence at Oxford, some learned and accurate dissertations in Latin, under the
- following general title,“Dissertationes Medicp-Physicse Many intricate questions are (Jiscdssed, and several curious facts related in these dissertations, which discover thefr author to have been a man of deep thought and* acute observation, as well as of great reading and general know* ledge. In the summerof 1605 he returned to: London, where be read lectures as he bad done at Oxford, and became soon after a member of the College of Physicians^ and of the Royal Society. In 1696 he visited Cambridge, and gave a course of public lectures there; and, upon his return to London, was honoured with an epistle from the Bishop of Pleskof, in which was contained the ease-of his old master, the King of Poland. His advice was desired on that important affair; but before be could forward it* the news arrived of the monarch’s death. In 1607 he published a work which was the subject of considerable discussion, and threw setae suspicions upon his faith; it was entitled 0 Evangelium Medici; seu MedicinaMyrftieH de Suspensis Naturae Legibus, sive de Miraculis* reli* quisque n m 0t&ws memoratis, quae Medicse indaginr sub- jici possunt.” 8vo. and limo. This is an attempt to account for the production of supernatural effects upoii natural principles; but it does hot seem dear how far he intended to preserve the essential Character1 of a mirade; This little treatise, containing sixteen sections only, was reprinted within the yean The author acquired repw* tation by the ingenuity and learning he had displayed in it; but his orthodoxy and religion were called in question^ as he attempts in this work to account for the miracles of the Bible upon natural principles.
- The Polish election, upon the death of Sobieski, having a strong influence upon the general system of kflhirs iti Europe, and being a common topic of discussion at that time, induced many considerable persons to seek foe acquaintance of Connor, that they might learh from him foe real state of that kingdom, which being little khowtb he was entreated to* publish what he knew relative to ih natural and political state; in compliance with whibh
- request he wrote and published a work, entitled, The History of Poland*’ in the’florin of letters’; He lived to publish only one volume, the second not appearing till after his death, ‘which latter volume evidently bears many marks’*of precipitation; but’the book Was the best that was published on the subject, and was read with great pleasure and avidity. In these volumes may be* found an uncommonly curious account of the salt mines, of thh dheases peculiar to that codntry, pnd a satisfactory account of some young children who were carried away ’and ndurished by bears/ •
- Connor would in alL probability, have become an eminent man in*his profession; but, in the flower of his age, and just aS be began to reap the fruits of his learning, ’study, ahd travels, he was attacked by a’ fever, which, after a short illness, put a period to his existence, in October 1693, when he was littld more than thirty-two ‘years of age. He had, as we have observed before, been educated in the Romish religion, but had embraced the I^totestant faith upon his first coming over from Holland. It has, nevertheless, been a matter of doubt in what <&m- to union bodied; but from* his funeral sermon, preached by Dr. Hayley, rector of St. Giles^ in tbe:,FieIdS where he was interred, it seems reasonable to ’Conclude that he died a member of the Protestant church.
- FLORENCE CONRY,
- AN obsfervantine Frandisfcdn, justly distinguished for his patriotic exertions in procuring the establishment of the Irish college at Louvain, by Philip III. of Spain, was born in Connaught, about the year 1560. He received his education in Spaiti and the Netherlands, hnd became very eminent for his great’ progress in the study of philosophy and divinity. In the latter department of science, be applied himself with peculiar zeal td the works of St. Augustine, in which he succeeded so well, as to be
- generally considered more conversant in the writings of that Father, than any of his contemporaries. His reputation became at length so fully established, that the Court of Rome thought fit to appoint him to the titular Archbishopric of Tuam, and he was also for some time provincial of his order in Ireland. Philip II. of Spain had about the same time dispatched an army into Ireland, in aid of the Catholics, who were engaged in one of those arduous struggles for religious liberty which have so frequently divided that country; and Conry, at the command of Pope Clement VIII. returned to his native land to assist them with his counsel. Their invasion, however, was defeated; and his strenuous exertions being but too well known to the English government, Conry was proscribed; in consequence of which he retired into Flanders, where he continued for some time, and afterwards into Spain. He was now supported entirely by the King of Spain, and it was at his request, that Philip III. founded at Louvain the Irish college, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The first stone of the building was laid in 1616, by the Prftces Albert and Isabel!, and it has since been of infinite utility to Ireland, by affording an asylum for the education of many children, whose genius and abilities would without such cultivation have reflected no lustre on the soil which gave them birth;
- During his long banishment he devoted himself entirely to the works of St. Augustine, which he studied with so great application as to make himself completely master of the sentiments of that Father, concerning the necessity and efficacy of grace, and the controversies about it with Pitagius and other heretics, and on this subject he wrote several treatises. He died in a convent of his order at Madrid, on the 18th of November, 1629, in the sixtyninth year of his age, greatly respected and lamented by the Spaniards, among whom he had resided for so many years.
- In gratitude for his exertions, the friars of the Irish college at Louvain, erected a monument to his memory in their church, whither in 1654 they translated his bones from their original place of intermeot at Madrid. A complete list of his works is to be found in Ware.
- HENRY CONYNGHAM,
- WAS a brave and skilful general, who fell while heroically fighting the battles of his country. He was the second and only surviving son of Sir Albert Conyngham who was slain in the tumults of 1705. In the memorable year of 1688 he held a captaincy in Lord Mountjoy’s regiment of foot; and when the unfortunate James desired his army to shift for themselves, Captain Conyngham prevailed on five hundred of his regiment to remain united, and with these offered his services to Kiog William. After the victory at the Boyne, his majesty ordered him to raise a regiment of dragoons, with liberty to nominate his own officers, and his commission beareth date February 1, 169£. He served in Parliament the same year for the borough of Killy beggs, and in 1695 and 1703 for the county of Donegall. On the 1st of Januaiy, 1704, he was advanced to the rank of major* general, and ordered to Portugal. He was afterwards made governor of Lerida, and lieutenant-general •of the King of Spain’s army.
- In 1705-6 with a small number of English, he defeated a very large body of French at St. Estevan’s on the frontiers of Arragon; but in the action received a severe wound in the belly, which shortly afterwards proved mortal. He married Mary, daughter of Sir John Willyams of Carmarthenshire, Bart., by whom he left three sons and three daughters.
- The following letter, containing an account of the death of General Conyngham, and the action in which he was engaged, is so interesting, that We cannot withhold it from our readers.
- Sarfield, who retired with great haste, crossing with boats the river Ciafm that divided the quarters of both armies. Whilst General Conyngham (in company with Don Francisco Elias de Falces) Was forming the plan of the field of battle, it is recorded that having one leg over the pommel of the saddle, he felt himself wounded by a shot that graced lb belly-, be turned to his friend^ exclaiming <1 am wounded;’ and finding that the wpund wjp very considerable, he appointed for hii^uceejior^ the command Doa Charles Barton, who also was wounded in the engagement, which lasted upwards of two hours, and was fought with their bayonets. General Conyngham persevered in the command until he gbve it up to Burton, notwithstanding his wound; Don Francisco Elias de Falces importuned him to retire, and conveyed him to his house, with special care. To Don |inciicp JUiR he gave pane, which to this day they preserve in the house; and a most excellent watch, that they also keep in commemoration of so valiant a personage. The dean of the cathedra of Balbastro,is grandson to Qon Francisco Elias, whq was always by £lp side of the afqresaid.genp^al, until he was carried to the city of Balagues, in the principality of Catalonia, four leagues distant from St Estevan, where in about eight days aftei, he died of hb wounds, and dras burbd in the very walb of Balagues/’ n •
- DENIS COOROBEE,
- AN experienced farnjer and an agriculturist, to whose experimental labours Ireland is indebted, for the propagation of that most useful article to the human Species,’the black potatoe.’
- Of the personal history of the present sketch, we know nothingy except that he was fortunate-enough to have been married no less than seven times; and when joined-in “Hymen’s bands,” .ta,xhe„Jgst..olyect of his amative flame, be (wqqderful to relate) had. attained his ninetyfourth year. By his various wives he was blesstd with forty-eight children, two hundred and tbirty-six grand children, nine hundred and forty-four great grand-children, and twenty-fivit great great’ grand-children* He died it Gloves near Athonry, afterashqrt illness, on. the.ggpd. of November, 1804, at the advanced age of. one hundred and seventeen. He retained his faculties to the last; and until two days preceding his decease, he never remembered to have had-apy eomplaint dr sickness whatever, with the exception of
- THOMAS COOTE,
- OF Coote Hill, in the county of Cavan, is eminently entitled to a place amongst the Worthies of Ireland, for his patriotic exertions in improving and encouraging the linen manufacture, the source of so much wealth and prosperity to his country. At the Revolution, the value of the annual export of linen did not exceed 6000Z.; but he had the happiness to live to see it exceed a hundred times that sum.
- This gentleman was brought up to the bar, and was admitted counsellor at law in all his Majesty’s courts in Ireland in 1684. In April 1693, be was made one of the justices in the court of King’s Bench. In 1733 he took his seat in Parliament, as member for the county of Monaghan. He died April £4, 1741, at Coote Hili, and was there buried.
- SIR CHARLES COOTE,
- AFTERWARDS created Earl of Mountrath, was the eldest son of Sir Charles Coote, who was made a baronet in 1621. The unhappy commotions of the period in which be existed, gave full employment to the military and political talents which he so eminently possessed. In January 1642, he was besieged in Castle Coote by twelve hundred men, under Con OcRourke, and defended himself so gaU lantly therein, that his enemies soon found it advisable to withdraw themselves. Not long after be defeated
- Hugh O’Conor, son of O’Conor of Ballintober, titular prince of Connaught, and on 2nd March, in the same year, he took Con O’Rourke and most of his associates prisoners, as they were engaged in an expedition for the purpose of plundering Roscommon. Soon after this be sallied out with his garrison from Castle Coote, and falling upon a party in their camp at Creggs, gave them a total defeat, taking all their baggage and provisions. He continued to pay the necessary attention towards supplying his garrison with all the needful comforts of life, and for this purpose seized on a valuable booty at Bally- nasloe, and struck such terror into the neighbouring country, that he and his men could supply themselves with provisions and drink in abundance* Nor was he unmindful of others; for in Easter-week he relieved Ath- lone, by throwing into it a valuable store of provisions and other necessaries. On the 16th of February, 1643, be and his brother Richard were appointed by a commission to the office of collector and receiver-general of the King’s composition money, rent, and arrears in Connaught, and in the county of Clare. About the beginning of 1644, he was one of the agents sent over by his party to Charles, at Oxford, with a view to negociate for peace; and thereby put a stop to the miseries of civil war. In •this he, unhappily, did not succeed; and the work of destruction continuing, he speedily distinguished himself by his bravery and enterprise. In 1646 he drove off to a distance the forces which, in a manner, kept Dublin ’besieged. In May 1647, he defeated his enemies, killing several thousands, and had from time to time skirmishes .with them, in which many of their leaders were taken. In the October following, he joined his forces with Colonel Jones and Colonel Monk, and took several castles, and marching into the enemy’s country, he burned a great store of corn, and brought off a valuable booty. For this and other .atchievements, the Parliament voted their thanks to him, .and sent him a letter expressive of their approbation. In 1649 be had to encounter great difficulties, being besieged ip.Lendpuderry.b/lthose who had declared, for Chatlei IL, apd. who demanded thtt be should quit the kingdom: he faewfever,, resolutely held out,. and obtaining relief from England, he. rallied forth and took many prisoners, at the same time scourings the country for many miles round. Jjildlpw informs us that during the siege of Londonderry, % commerce of an* extraordinary nature was carried on between, the, besiegers and the besieged; Sir. Charles was in want pf provisions, and his enemies of gunpowder, of which he bad an abundance. A .mutual accommodation vtaaxberefqre agreed upon between them, and an.exchange made^ which enabled both parties to carry on their military operations in a comfortable and soldier-like manner. On a like occasion, the municipality of a Dutch town, when besieged by. the. Spaniards, very deliberately sold to them (ba same destructive gtain, and were .highly satisfied .with the extraordinary profit the town made by the mercantile speculation. After these affairs, Sir Charles concluded a peace with Owen .Row O’Neal, and was thus Enabled to maintain in safety his garrison of Londonderry. The Parliament highly approved Of his conduct, and sent him provisions, ammunition, and additional forces,Which enabled him to.clear the country of his enemies fora great (way round. Ib December he engaged with? a body of four thousand horse and foot, coming to raise* the siegfe pf Carrickfergus, abd slew about fourteen hundred; on which the plade. immediately surrendered to him. In- May he took Galway after, a siege, and so distressed the Royalists, that they could not continue their combat with the.Parliament any longen Their chieftains in these skirmishes were the Marquis oLGlanricard, together with the Rarl of Castlehaven, whom §ir Charles had defeated the preceding summer. After the termination of-the war he .was appointed by act of parliament president Of the court of justice in the province*of ConnaughL Being in England at the time of the deposing of Richard CromWell, hfe set out immediately for Ireland to give information to Henry Cromwell, who inherited the courage of his father, in taler to.concert with him the means eimaintaining themselves in their pasta. Reflfection,however,soonpbinMd
“Bella geri pbcuit nullua habitura triumphoa.” Whatever may be the opinion which we may be disposed to entertain of the merits of the cause which Sir Charles Coote embraced in the commencement of the troubles, there is reason to believe he was actuated by a conscientious regard to what he conceived was his duty; as the family were most zealous presbyterians in their religious principles. The power which he acquired enabled him at l & future period to be of great use to the royal cause, and as is too often the case, in other revolutions as well as in ... 7 ! that of the British kingdoms in 1660, the old attachment and sufferings of unfortunate adherents were forgotten or unrewarded; and they had the additional mortification of1 seeing their enemies raised to honours, to which, on the score of gratitude, they bad an infinitely greater claim. * Such, however, is the course of human events.
- SIR EYRE COOTE,
- A MOST illustrious general, whose warlike enterprise and political wisdom, brought so much glory to the British name, and laid the foundation of our vast East Indian empire, was the son of Chidley Coote, D. D. of Ash Hill, in the county of Limerick, and was born in 1726. At an early age he embraced the military profession, and is supposed to have been in his majesty’s army at tae time of the rebellion of 1745. In the beginning of the year 1754 the regiment, under Colonel Aldercorn, to which Sir Eyre belonged, embarked from Ireland for the East Indies. His name occurs in dispatches from Admiral Watson, of date 31st January, 1757, when after a warm bombardment of the forts of Calcutta, the enemy were compelled to retire, and Captain Coote of the King’s troops landed and took possession. Colonel Clive, his superior officer, then took the command in this quarter, and reaped a brilliant harvest of glory. Sir Eyre, in his subordinate station, proved himself an able and brave officer, qualified to act the first part with honour and advantage, when he might have the opportunity. He assisted in taking Hughley, and Chandernagore. At the battle of Plassey, in June, when a mere handful of Europeans defeated a most numerous army of French and natives, Sir Eyre’s services were such as to entitle him to a considerable share of the honour of the important victory. In July, being then a major^ he was detached with a party in pursuit of M.Law, who had collected together the dispersed French; vol*, if. c and the expedition, although it did not succeed in the capture of Law, was of advantage to the Company and country. General Lally threatening the siege of Tri- chinopoly, Major Coote, now become a colonel, drew together what forces he could, and invested Wand ewash, which he took on the 30th of November, 1754, in three days. General Lally, considering the place to be of great importance, attempted to retake it, which brought on an engagement, on the 22nd of January, 1760, in which the French troops were utterly routed, and, with their general, fled in despair to Pondicherry.
- Sir Eyre laid siege to Pondicherry on the 26th of November, 1760, and carried it on with unremitting diligence until the middle of January 1761, when the English forces took possession of that important town. The gar- rison, consisting of 1400 European soldiers, became prisoners of war,, and a vast quantity of military stores, and great riches were given up to the victors. This was the final blow to the French power in India.
- On the Colonel’s return to England, the next year, he was presented by the Court of Directors with a diamond- bilted sword, which cost 700Z., as a testimony of gratitude for the important services he bad done. At the close of 1769, or very early in 1770, he was appointed commander- in-chief of the East India Company’s forces in India. He reached Madras in 1770, but left that place again in October, to proceed to Bussorah, from whence he prosecuted his journey overland to England. The reason of his quitting Madras, is supposed to have been owing to a dispute with the governor there. On the 31st of August, 1771, he was invested with the order of the Bath; and, in March 177S, became colonel of the 37th regiment of foot, which being stationed in Scotland, he resided at Fort George, near Inverness, as governor. On the death of General Clavering in the East Indies, Sir Eyre Coote was appointed a member of the supreme council of Bengal, and commander of the British troops. In 1780, Hyder Ally having invaded the Carnatic, General Coote was sent with money and a reinforcement of troops, from Bengal to the coast of Coromandel, where be assumed the command of the army.
- Affairs at that time wore a very serious aspect in India: the government at Madras had been conducted with little or no judgment or vigour. Lieutenant-colonel Baillie had been dispatched at the head of three hundred European infantry, some artillery, and three battalions of seapoys; but, not being supported, had been attacked by a superior force, under Hyder Ally, and after many hours hard fighting, the whole army was destroyed, most of the Europeans and seapoys being killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Hyder had, after this, taken Arcot, and felt confident of being able to drive the English from the country. The arrival of General Coote revived the courage of the army, and after various affairs of inferior importance, he succeeded in bringing Hyder Ally to a general engagement, July 1st, 1781, near Porto Novo. It lasted eight hours, and was a hard fought day on both sides; the army of Hyder consisted of twenty-five battalions of infantry, 400 Europeans, from 40,000 to 50,000 horse, and above 100,000 match-lock men, Peons and Polygars, with fortyseven pieces of cannon. The British army was exceedingly inferior in strength; but their discipline and firmness, with the skill of their general, overcame all difficulties, and their victory was complete. Meer Saib, Hyder’s favourite general, was mortally wounded in the action, and amongst 4000 killed were the Sultan’s principal officers. On the British side from 300 to 400 were slain. This check gave a decided turn to the war; and the blow was followed up by fresh defeats, which compelled Hyder to submit to the ascendancy of the British power.
- In 1783, the public service again requiring the assistance of Sir Eyre, he, although in a dying state, left Calcutta for Madras, in order to assume the command of the army in that quarter. He arrived at Madras on the 24th of April, 1783, and died two days after. His body was sent to England, and landed at the jetty head, on
- the 2nd of September, 1784, and deposited in the chapel at Plymouth on the 7tb, whence it proceeded to West Park, the family seat, in Hampshire, and from thence was removed, on the 14tb, for interment, to the parish church of Rochwood.
- Sir Eyre married in 1769, a daughter of Charles Hutchinson, Esq. governor of St. Helena, but left no issue. His property, amounting to about 200,000£, was inherited by his brother, Dr. Charles Coote, dean of Kilfenora.
- COMMON CORMAC,
- OR blind Cormac, is supposed to be the last of the order of the, minstrels, called Tale-Tellers, of whom Sir William Temple speaks so fully in his Essay on Poetry. He was born in May 1703, at Woodstock, near Ballindun- gan, in the County of Mayo, of parents poor and honest, remarlcable only for the innocence and simplicity of their lives. Before he had completed his first year, the smallpox deprived him of sight; this circumstance, combined with the indigence of his parents, precluded him from receiving any of the advantages of education. Butthough he could not read himself, he had the happiness of conversing with those who bad read; and although he remained without learning, he yet obtained knowledge. Discovering an early fondness for music, a neighbouring gentleman procured a professor of the harp, to instruct him on that instrument, and Cormac received a few lessons which he practised con amore; but his patron dying suddenly, the harp dropped from his hand - it was unstrung, and stern poverty prevented its repair. But cheered by poetry, the muse of whom he was most enamoured, he listened eagerly to the Irish songs and metrical tales he heard sung and recited round the “crackling faggots that illumined the hearths” of his father and his neighbours. His mind being thus stored, and having no other avocation, he commenced a Man of Talk, or Tale- Teller. He was now employed in relating legendary tales,
- er and reciting genealogies at rural wakes, or in the hospitable halls of country squires. He has been often heard to recite some of those Irish tales which Macpherson has so artfully interwoven with the texture of the Epic poems, which he does Ossian the honour to attribute to him. Endowed with a sweet voice and a good ear, his narrations were generally graced with the charms of melody. He did not, like the Tale-teller mentioned by Sir William Temple, chaunt his tales in an uninterrupted even tone: the monotony of his modulation was frequently broken, by cadences introduced with taste at the close of each stanza. In rehearsing any of Ossian’s poems, or any composition in verse, it was much in the manner of cathedral service; but in singing some of "his native airs, he displayed the power of his voice - and on those occasions his auditors were always enraptured. It is asserted that no singer ever did Carolan’s airs, or Ossian’s celebrated Hunting Song, more justice than Cormac. But it was in poetiy Cormac delighted to exercise his genius. He composed several songs and elegies, which obtained general applause. His muse, tender and affectionate, was awakened by the call of gratitude, and his poetical productions are mostly panegyrical, or elegiac. He sometimes indulged in satire, but not often, though endued with a rich vein of that dangerous gift. Cormac lived, much respected and beloved by all classes; he was twice married, and had children by each wife; he died about the age of eighty-five.
- PHILLIPS COSBY,
- A BBAva and skilful admiral, was descended from an Irish family of some distinction, long settled at Strad- bally Hall, in the Queen’s county. At the commencement of the year 1745, at an early period of life, he entered the navy on board of the Comet bomb, commanded by the late Admiral Sir Richard Spring. On the 12th of February in the same year, he was in a severe engage*
«3 deme of that officer, appointed his marine aid*de*camp, and in this capacity he served with General Wolfe the year following, at the siege of Quebec, and remained with him nntil September 13,1759, the fatal day of his death. Shortly after that lamented event Mr. Cosby returned to England, and on the 2nd of Jane, 1760, was appointed commander of the Laurel sloop. From this ship, on the 19th of May, 1761, be was promoted to the rank of post»captain in the Hind frigate of twenty guns. In 1767, he was appointed to the Montreal frigate of thirty-two guns, and ordered to the Mediterranean, from which station he returned in the September of that year, by order of Commodore Spring (the then commander-in-chief) on the melancholy occasion of bringing to England the corpse of the Duke of York. Having performed this service, Captain Cosby resumed his station in the Mediterranean, where be continued during the three succeeding years: he then returned to England, and was unemployed until the year 1778, when be was appointed to the Centaur, of seventy-four guns, and was in the action off Brest, with Lord Keppel, on the 27th of July in that year.
- - Towards the commencement of the year 1779» Captain Cosby changed into the Robust, of seventy-four guns; and in May, sailed under the command of the late Admiral Arbuthnot, for North America. After much skilful manoeuvring on both sides, on the 1 Sth of March, 1781, being about fourteen leagues distant from Cape Henry, the French were discovered steering for the Capes of Virginia; and about two P.M. Captain Cosby had the satisfaction of leading the British squadron into action. “Captain Cosby (as Admiral Arbuthnot expressed himself in his official dispatches) behaved in the most gallant manner in his engagement with the van of the enemy.” The Robust had far more than her proportion of killed and wounded; and, by having at one time three ships upon her, her masts, rigging, sails, and boats, were torn to pieces. But the French commodore and his ships were unable to withstand the animated attack that was made
- Tor the government. There is an anecdote told of these authors, which we sincerely hope is not true, which is, that in order to render their trade more profitable, they Yesolved to espouse different interests, one should oppose and the other defend the ministry, and determined the side of the question each was to take by tossing up a halfpenny, when it fel| toth$ sh^re of Conq^nen lo defend the ministry, which task he performed with as much abili-ties as ephemeral political writers generally discover. His companion, Stirling, afterwards went into orders, and became a clergyman in Maryland . Concanen was, for some time, concerned in the “British” and “London Journals,”* and in a paper called ’the Speculatht,” which last was published in 1730. These periodical pieces are long since buried in neglect, and, doubtless, would have sunk to utter oblivion, had not Pope, by his satirical writings, given them a kind of disgraceful immortality. In these journals he published many scurrilities against Pope, and in a pamphlet entitled “The Supplement, to the Profoundj” his used him With grqat virulence tad little candour. He not only, imputed to him Brown’fr vetoes .(for which be mighty indeed, seem in some degree bccountable, having corrected What that gentleman did), but those, of-the Duke of Buckingham and others. To this fare, piece* somebody humorously persuaded him to take for his mottop" Je ptafhndis clamant”. He afterwards wrdte a paper called “The Daily Courtat,” wherein.he evinced much spleen against*Lord Bolingbroke, tad. many of his friendd. All thdse provocations .excited Mr. Pope to allot him a place in his" Dunciad.” Inbis second book* line 287fr where be represents the* dunces diving in the ihud of the Thames for the prize, he speaks thus of Concanen: -
“Firm to the bottom, see Concanen creep, A cold, long-winded native of the deep; If perseverance win the divert prize, Not eveHastfog Blafckmoto this tiecrites.”
- p. 222), shews that in 1726, Warburton, then an attorney at Newark, was intimate with Concanen, and an associate in the attacks made on Pope’s fame and talents. In 1724, Concanen published a volume of “Miscellaneous Poems, original and translated,” by himBelf and others.
- DR. BERNARD CONNOR, A RENOWNED physician, and a learned writer, was descended from an ancient Irish family, and born in the county of Kerry, about the year 1666. His family being of the Popish persuasion, he bad not the benefit of receiving an education in the established seminaries of that kingdom. Having determined on the study of physic, about 1686 he went for that purpose to France, and resided lor some time at the university of Montpelier, from whence he repaired to Paris, where he greatly distinguished himself by his proficiency in anatomy and chemistry. He declared himself desirous of travelling, and as there were two sons of the high chancellor of Poland then on the point of returning to their native country, it was thought expedient that they should undertake that long journey under the care and inspection of Connor. He accordingly conducted them safely to Venice, where
- generally considered more conversant in the writings of that Father, than any of his contemporaries. His reputation became at length so fully established, that the Court of Rome thought fit to appoint him to the titular Archbishopric of Tuam, and he was also for some time provincial of his order in Ireland. Philip II. of Spain had about the same time dispatched an army into Ireland, in aid of the Catholics, who were engaged in one of those arduous struggles for religious liberty which have so frequently divided that country; and Conry, at the command of Pope Clement VIII. returned to his native land to assist them with his counsel. Their invasion, however, was defeated; and his strenuous exertions being but too well known to the English government, Conry was proscribed; in consequence of which he retired into Flanders, where he continued for some time, and afterwards into Spain. He was now supported entirely by the King of Spain, and it was at his request, that Philip III. founded at Louvain the Irish college, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The first stone of the building was laid in 1616, by the Prices Albert and Isabell, and it has since been of infinite utility to Ireland, by affording an*asylum for the education of many children, whose genius and abilities would without such cultivation have reflected no lustre on the soil which gave them birth.
- During his long banishment he devoted himself entirely to the works of St. Augustine, which he studied with so great application as to make himself completely master of the sentiments of that Father, concerning the necessity and efficacy of grace, and the controversies about it with Pitagius and other heretics, and on this subject he wrote several treatises. He died in a convent of his order at Madrid, on the 18th of November, 1629, in the sixtyninth year of his age, greatly respected and lamented by the Spaniards, among whom he had resided for so many years.
- In gratitude for his exertions, the friars of the Irish college at Louvain, erected a monument to his memory
- his death, he walked from his home to Galway and back the same day, which is a distance of twenty-six miles. He could to the last read the smallest print, without the assistance of glasses (which be never accustomed himself to), with as much ease as a boy of sixteen. He was looked upon by the most intelligent statistics of Ireland, as possessing the brightest genius for agricultural improve-ment.
- THOMAS COOTE,
- OF Coote Hill, in the county of Cavan, is eminently entitled to a place amongst the Worthies of Ireland, for his patriotic exertions in improving and encouraging the linen manufacture, the source of so much wealth and prosperity to his country. At the Revolution, the value of the annual export of linen did not exceed 6000£; but he had the happiness to live to see it exceed a hundred times that sum.
- This gentleman was brought up to the bar, and was admitted counsellor at law in all his Majesty’s courts in Ireland in 1684. In April 1693, he was made one of the justices in the court of King’s Bench. In 1783 be took his seat in Parliament, as member for the county of Monaghan. He died April £4, 1741, at Coote Hili, and was there buried.
- SIR CHARLES COOTE,
- AFTERWARDS created Earl of Mountratb, was the eldest son of Sir Charles Coote, who was made a baronet in 1621. The unhappy commotions of the period in which be existed, gave full employment to the military and political talents which be so eminently possessed. In January 1642, he was besieged in Castle Coote by twelve hundred men, under Con O’Rourke, and defended himself so gallantly therein, that his enemies soon found it advisable to withdraw themselves. Not long after be defeated
- Hugh O’Conor, son of O’Conor of Ballmtober, titular prince of Connaught, and on 9nd March, in the same year, he took Con O’Rourke and most of his associates prisoners, as they were engaged in an expedition for the purpose of plundering Roscommon. Soon after this he sallied out with his garrison from Castle Coote, and falling upon a party in their camp at Creggs, gave them a total defeat, taking all their baggage and provisions. He continued to pay the necessary attention towards supplying his garrison with all the needful comforts of life, and for this purpose seized on a valuable booty at Bally* nasloe, and struck such terror into the neighbouring country, that he and his men could supply themselves with provisions and drink in abundance. Nor was he unmindful of others; for in Easter-week be relieved Ath- lone, by throwing into it a valuable store of provisions and other necessaries. On the l6th of February, 164$, be and his brother Richard were appointed by a commission to the office of collector and receiver-general of the King’s composition money, rent, and arrears in Connaught, and in the county of Clare. About the beginning of 1644, he was one of the agents sent over by his party to Charles, at Oxford, with a view to negociate for peace; and thereby put a stop to the miseries of civil war. In 4his he, unhappily, did not succeed; and the work of destruction continuing, be speedily distinguished himself by his bravery and enterprise. In 1646 he drove off to a distance the forces which, in a manner, kept Dublin ^besieged. In May 1647, he defeated his enemies, killing several thousands, and had from time to time skirmishes with them, in which many of their leaders were taken. In the October following, he joined his forces with Colonel Jones and Colonel Monk, and took several castles, and marching into the enemy’s country, he burned a great store of corn, and brought off a valuable booty. For this and other atchievements, the Parliament voted their thanks to him, .and sent him a letter expressive of their approbation. In 1649 he had to encounter great difficulties, being besieged ip Londonderry by^those who had declared, for Chaties IL, apd who demadded that he should quit the kingdom: he however, resolutely held out,t and obtaining relief from England, he. rallied forth and took many prisoners, at the same time scouring .the country for many miler round. Ludlow informs nr that during the siege of Londonderry, a commerce of an extraordinary nature was carried on between the, besiegers and the besieged; Sir. Charles was in want of provisions, and his enemies of gunpowder, of which he bad an abundance. A mutual accommodation lyar tberefore agreed upon between them, and an. exchange madex which enabled both parties to carry on their military operations in a comfortable and soldier-like manner. On a like occasion, the municipality of a Dutch town, when besieged by the. Spaniards, very deliberately sold to them the same destructive grain, and were highly satisfied with the extraordinary profit the town made by the mercantile speculation. After these affairs, Sir Charles concluded a peace with Owen Row O’Neal, and was thus enabled to maintain in safety his garrison of Londonderry. The Parliament highly approved of his conduct, and sent him provisions, ammunition, and additional forces, Which enabled him toelear the country of his enemies fora great way round. Iti December he engaged with, a body of four thousand horse and foot, coining to raise’ the siegte qf Carrickfergus, add slew about fourteen hundred; on which the plade. immediately surrendered to him. In May he took Galway after, a siege, and so distressed the Royalists, that thiey could not continue their combat with thez;ParIiament any longer. Their chieftains in these skirmishes were the Marquis of Gianricand, together with the Earl.of Castlehaven, whom Sir Charles had defeated the preceding summer. After the termination of the war he .was appointed by act of parliament president of the court of justice in the province of Connaught Being in England at the time of the deposing of Richard Cromwell, fate set out immediately for Ireland; to give information to Henry CromWell, Who inherited the courage of his fathtt, in order to.concert with him the tneans«f’maintaining themselves in their poata. Reflection,heatever^oonpbinted odt to hits, the impossibility of fthe.diktracted government then in possession ofipbwer, peing longpetaaoent,. ex? dept by the restoration of the King; be therefore seat Sir Arthur Forhes to Charles II. td assure , him of .his aealoUs attachment, and to offer to declare for hisinajesty if bfe yrouhL come over to Ireland* . To thia offer Charles rot turned his .mdst behrty. thanks, .but dedlioed. coming to Ireland; and he furnished Sir Arthur Fotbea .with.liettem and commissions for the friends of loyalty in that country* Sir Ghhries Coote hatpin the meanwhile, much strengthened the rqyttt interest, and ’had- obtained sufficient influence jrith a council of officers,. to. indnce them to vote not to tectite .Colonel Ludlow ad their cottmande»*in«chief; attd they also took possession of Athloqe, Drogheda, Limerick, Dublin,, and other places, for the service of the King. He then sent over to Monk, to acquaint him with the progress he had made jri securing Ireland; who was greatly ddr lighted with-the news, and sent back the messenger With letters of-thanks, desiring him. hot to restore theCommis- sioneta of the Parliament,, (tvhdm: they bad, seized,) to the exercise of their authority... SoOn after Sir Chqrles and tome others, sent to the Parliament a charge. of high treason against Colonel. Ludlow, Colonel John Jones, Colonel Tomlinson; and Miles Corbet: bat. the opposite party in Ireland resolved to seize .Sir Charles; and his friend*. Hating notice of their, intention,. he mounted on horseback,and rodb about.the streets, attended by a vast concourse of people, and declared for a free parliament. He likewise made himself master of Dublin Castle, hud expelled Sir Hardresa Waller, from the command.Of the army. To recommend himself further to the King, he apprehended John Coke, chief justice of Ireland, who had been solicitor-general at the trial of .Charles. I.. Lt is remarkable that, notwithstanding he had done all this, tbeRnmp Parliament still imagined him at heart attached to their cahse, tad actually, on the 5th of Jtauary, 1660, voted him thanks, and ordered that a letter to that efleet should be sent to him, signed by the speaker, and to which was affixed the seal of * the House. On the 19th of the same month, they also appointed him one of the commissioners for the management of the affaire of Ireland* All dissembling was quickly at an end. On the 14th of May, old style, King Charles II. was proclaimed in Dublin, and immediately after throughout all the great towns, with general acclamations of joy; and on the 25th of that month, Sir Charles Coote was appointed, with others, to wait upon his majesty, to present to him the congratulations of the nation. His eminent services in contributing to the Restoration, were rewarded by the King with several offices of profit and honour; and on the 6th of September, 1660, he was created Baron and Viscount Coote, and Earl of Mountrath, in the Queen’s county, in Ireland; he was also appointed one of the lords justices of that kingdom. His honours, however, he did not long live to enjoy, as he died of the small-pox, December 18,1661, and was succeeded in his titles and estates by Charles, his second son, from whom is descended the present Earl of Mountrath. Lord Mountrath was undoubtedly a man of extraordinary abilities, and it is to be lamented that he lived in an unhappy period of civil dissension; when the arms and power of one party were directed against another; and the true patriot can only lament over every victory, since whoever was conquered or victorious, the blood of brothers and fellow-citizens was mournfully shed; and what was a joy to one part of the nation, was to others of his countrymen a cause of sorrow and lamentation: -
“Bella gen placuit nullus habitura triumphos.” Whatever may be the opinion which we may be disposed to entertain of the merits of the cause which Sir Charles Coote embraced in the commencement of the troubles, there is reason to believe he was actuated by a conscientious regard to what he conceived was his duty; as the family were most zealous presbyterians in their religious principles. The power which he acquired enabled him at i
•
- a future period to be of great use to the royal cause, and as is too often the case, in other revolutions as well as in that of the British kingdoms in 1660, the old attachment and sufferings of unfortunate adherents were forgotten or unrewarded; and they had the additional mortification of seeing their enemies raised to honours, to which, on the score of gra^tude, they had an infinitely greater claim. Such, however, is the course of human events.
- SIR EYRE COOTE,
- A MOST illustrious general, whose warlike enterprise and political wisdom, brought so much glory to the British name, and laid the foundation of our vast East Indian empire, was the son of Chidley Coote, D.D. of Ash Hill, in the county of Limerick, and was born in 1726. At an early age he embraced the military profession, and is supposed to have been in his majesty’s army at toe time of the rebellion of 1745. In the beginning of the year 1754 the regiment, under Colonel Aldercorn, to which Sir Eyre belonged, embarked from Ireland for the East Indies. His name occurs in dispatches from Admiral Watson, of date 31st January, 1757, when after a warm bombardment of the forts of Calcutta, the enemy were compelled to retire, and Captain Coote of the King’s troops landed and took possession. Colonel Clive, his superior officer, then took the command in this quarter, and reaped a brilliant harvest of glory. Sir Eyre, in his subordinate station, proved himself an able and brave officer, qualified to act the first part with honour and advantage, when he might have the opportunity. He assisted in taking Hughley, and Chandernagore. At the battle of Plassey, in June, when a mere handful of Europeans defeated a most numerous army of French and natives, Sir Eyre’s services were such as to entitle him to a considerable share of the honour of the important victory. In July, being then a major, he was detached with a party in pursuit of M.Law, who had collected together the dispersed French; VOL. if. c and the expedition, although it did not succeed in the capture of Law, was of advantage to the Company and country. General Lally threatening the siege of Tri- chinopoly, Major Coote, now become a colonel, drew together what forces he could, and invested Wandewash, which he took on the 80th of November, 1754, in three days. General Lally, considering the place to be of great importance, attempted to retake it, which brought on an engagement, on the 22nd of January, 1760, in which the French troops were utterly routed, and, with their general, fled in despair to Pondicherry.
- Sir Eyre laid siege to Pondicherry on the 26th of November, 1760, and carried it on with unremitting diligence until the middle of January 1761, when the English forces took possession of that important town. The garrison, consisting of 1400 European soldiers, became prisoners of war, and a vast quantity of military stores, and great riches were given up to the victors. This was the final blow to the French power in India.
- On the Colonel’s return to England, the next year, he was presented by the Court of Directors with a diamond- bilted sword, which cost 700Z., as a testimony of gratitude for the important services he had done. At the close of 1769, or very early in 1770, he was appointed commanderin-chief of the East India Company’s forces in India. He reached Madras in 1770, but left that place again in October, to proceed to Bussorah, from whence he prosecuted his journey overland to England. The reason of his quitting Madras, is supposed to have been owing to a dispute with the governor there. On the 31st of August, 1771, he was invested with the order of the Bath; and, in March 177S, became colonel of the 37th regiment of foot, which being stationed in Scotland, he resided at Fort George, near Inverness, as governor. On the death of General Clavering in the East Indies, Sir Eyre Coote was appointed a member of the supreme council of Bengal, and commander of the British troops. In 1780, Hyder Ally having invaded the Carnatic, General Coote was sent with money and a reinforcement of troops, from Bengal to the coast of Coromandel, where he assumed the. command of the army.
- Affairs at that time wore a very serious aspect in India: the government at Madras had been conducted with little or no judgment or vigour. Lieutenant-colonel Baillie had been dispatched at the head of three hundred European infantry, some artillery, and three battalions of seapoys; but, not being supported, had been attacked by a superior force, under Hyder Ally, and after many hours hard fighting, the whole army was destroyed, most of the Europeans and seapoys being killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Hyder had, after this, taken Arcot, and felt confident of being able to drive the English from the country. The arrival of General Coote revived the courage of the army, and after various affairs of inferior importance, he succeeded in bringing Hyder Ally to a general engagement, July 1st, 1781, near Porto Novo. It lasted eight hours, and was a hard fought day on both sides; the army of Hyder consisted of twenty-five battalions of infantry, 400 Europeans, from 40,000 to 50,000 horse, and above 100,000 match-lock men, Peons and Polygars, with fortyseven pieces of cannon. The British army was exceedingly inferior in strength; but their discipline and firmness, with the skill of their general, overcame all difficulties, and their victory was complete. Meer Saib, Hyder’s favourite general, was mortally wounded in the action, and amongst 4000 killed were the Sultan’s principal officers. On the British side from 300 to 400 were slain. This check gave a decided turn to the war; and the blow was followed up by fresh defeats, which compelled Hyder to submit to the ascendancy of the British power.
- In 1783, the public service again requiring the assistance of Sir Eyre, he, although in a dying state, left Calcutta for Madras, in order to assume the command of the army in that quarter. He arrived at Madras on the 24th of April, 1783, and died two days after. His body was sent to England, and landed at the jetty head, on
- the 2nd of September, 1784, and deposited io the chapel at Plymouth on the 7th, whence it proceeded to West Park, the family seat, in Hampshire, and from thence was removed, on the 14tb, for interment, to the parish church of Rochwood.
- Sir Eyre married in 1769, a daughter of Charles Hutchinson, Esq. governor of St. Helena, but left no issue. His property, amounting to about 200,000£, was inherited by his brother, Dr. Charles Coote, dean of Kilfenora.
- COMMON CORMAC,
- OR blind Cormac, is supposed to be the last of the order of the* minstrels, called Tale-Tellers, of whom Sir William Temple speaks so fully in his Essay on Poetry. He was born in May 1703, at Woodstock, near Ballindun- gan, in the County of Mayo, of parents poor and honest, remarkable only for the innocence and simplicity of their lives. Before he had completed his first year, the smallpox deprived him of sight; this circumstance, combined with the indigence of his parents, precluded him from receiving any of the advantages of education. But though he could not read himself, he had the happiness of conversing with those who bad read; and although be remained without learning, he yet obtained knowledge. Discovering an early fondness for music, a neighbouring gentleman procured a professor of the harp, to instruct him on that instrument, and Cormac received a few les-sons which he practised con amore; but his patron dying suddenly, the harp dropped from his hand - it was unstrung, and stern poverty prevented its repair. But cheered by poetry, the muse of whom he was most enamoured, he listened eagerly to the Irish songs and metrical tales he heard sung and recited round the “crackling faggots that illumined the hearths” of his father and his neighbours. His mind being thus stored, and having no other avocation, he commenced a Man of Talk, or Tale- Teller. He was now employed in relating legendary tales,
- and reciting genealogies at rural wakes, or in the hospitable halls of country squires. He has been often heard to recite some of those Irish tales which Macpherson has so artfully interwoven with the texture of the Epic poems, which he does Ossian the honour to attribute to him. Endowed with a sweet voice and a good ear, his narrations were generally graced with the charms of melody. He did not, like the Tale-teller mentioned 4y Sir William Temple, chaunt his tales in an uninterrupted even tone: the monotony of his modulation was frequently broken, by cadences introduced with taste at the close of each stanza. In rehearsing any of Ossian’s poems, or any composition in verse, it was much in the manner of cathedral service; but in singing some of’his native airs, be displayed the power of his voice - and on those occasions his auditors were always enraptured. It is asserted that no singer ever did Carolan’s airs, or Ossian’s celebrated Hunting Song, more justice than Cormac. But it was in poetry Cormac delighted to exercise his genius. He composed several songs and elegies, which obtained general applause. His muse, tender and affectionate, was awakened by the call of gratitude, and his poetical productions are mostly panegyrical, or elegiac. He sometimes indulged in satire, but not often, though endued with a rich vein of that dangerous gift. Cormac lived, much respected and beloved by all classes; he was twice married, and had children by each wife; he died about the age of eighty-five.
- PHILLIPS COSBY,
- A BRAVE and skilful admiral, was descended from an Irish family of some distinction, long settled at Strad- bally Hall, in the Queen’s county. At the commencement of the year 1745, at an early period of life, be entered the navy on board of the Comet bomb, commanded by the late Admiral Sir Richard Spring. On the 12th of February in the same year, he was in a severe engage- the 2nd of September, 1784, and deposited in the chapel at Plymouth on the 7th, whence it proceeded to West Park, the family seat, in Hampshire, and from thence was removed, on the 14tb, for interment, to the parish church of Rochwood.
- Sir Eyre married in 1769, a daughter of Charles Hutchinson, Esq. governor of St. Helena, but left no issue. His property, amounting to about £00,000£, was inherited by his brother, Dr. Charles Coote, dean of Kilfenora.
- COMMON CORMAC,
- OR blind Cormac, is supposed to be the last of the order of the, minstrels, called Tale-Tellers, of whom Sir William Temple speaks so fully in his Essay on Poetry. He was born in May 1703, at Woodstock, near Ballindun- gan, in the County of Mayo, of parents poor and honest, remarkable only for the innocence and simplicity of their lives. Before he had completed his first year, the small-, pox deprived him of sight; this circumstance, combined with the indigence of his parents, precluded him from receiving any of the advantages of education. Butthough he could not read himself, he had the happiness of conversing with those who bad read; and although be remained without learning, he yet obtained knowledge. Discovering an early fondness for music, a neighbouring gentleman procured a professor of the harp, to instruct him on that instrument, and Cormac received a few les-sons which be practised con amore; but his patron dying suddenly, the harp dropped from his hand - it was unstrung, and stern poverty prevented its repair. But cheered by poetry, the muse of whom he was most enamoured, he listened eagerly to the Irish songs and metrical tales be heard sung and recited round the “crackling faggots that illumined the hearths” of his father and his neighbours. His mind being thus stored, and having no other avocation, he commenced a Man of Talk, or Tale- Teller. He was now employed in relating legendary tales,
- id desire of that officer, appointed his marine aid-de-camp, and in this capacity he served with General Wolfe the year following, at the siege of Quebec, and remained with him until September 13,1759. the fatal day of hisdeath. Shortly after that lamented event Mr. Cosby returned to England, and on the 2nd of June, 1760, was appointed commander of the Laurel sloop. From this ship, on the 19th of May, 1761, be was promoted to the rank of post-captain in the Hind frigate of twenty guns. In 1767, be was appointed to the Montreal frigate of thirty-two guns, and ordered to the Mediterranean, from which station he returned in the September of that year, by order of Commodore Spring (the then commander-in-chief) on the melancholy occasion of bringing to England the corpse of the Duke of York. Having performed this service, Captain Cosby resumed his station in the Mediterranean, where he continued during the three succeeding years: he then returned to England, and was unemployed until the year 1778, when he was appointed to the Centaur, of seventy-four guns, and was in the action off Brest, with Lord Keppel, on the 27th of July in that year.
- Towards the commencement of the year 1779, Captain Cosby changed into the Robust, of seventy-four guns; and in May, sailed under the command of the late Admiral Arbuthnot, for North America. After much skilful manoeuvring on both sides, on the 16th of March, 1781, being about fourteen leagues distant from Cape Henry, the French were discovered steering for the Capes of Virginia; and about two P.M. Captain Cosby had the satisfaction of leading the British squadron into action. “Captain Cosby (as Admiral Arbuthnot expressed himself in his official dispatches) behaved in the most gallant manner in his engagement with the van of the enemy.” The Robust had far more than her proportion of killed and wounded; and, by having at one time three ships upon her, her masts, rigging, sails, and boats, were tom to pieces. But the French commodore and his ships were unable to withstand the animated attack that was made upon them; and, in half an hour after the commence* meat of the action, they fell into disorder, and broke their line. Unfortunately, however, a thick haze, which bad. prevailed previously to, and during the engagement, together with the disabled situation of some of the British ships, particularly the Robust, Europa, and Prudent, ren-dered it impossible for the English admiral to pursue his advantage; and thus the contest proved indecisive. The exertions of Captain Cosby, which during this engagement were certainly of no common stamp, drew forth the cordial and merited eulogium of the commander-in- chief; and immediately after the action, Admiral Arbuth- uot sent him the following letter: -
- Royal Oak, off Cape Charlee, March 164A, 1781. DKJLR SIB,
- You have, during the time that we left Gardiner’s Bay, conducted yourself like an experienced and diligent officer, particularly on the 16th Lost, in which you have approved yourself a gallant naval commander, that has done honour to yourself and country; and both yourself, officers,and ship’s company, have my wannest thanks for your spirited conduct. I have ordered the America to assist you with twenty men, and so soon as we get to anchor, you shall have every assistance that is in the power of,
- SIB,
- Your most obedient humble Servant, W. ARBUTHNOT.
- Captain Coeby, Robot.
- The Robust was so much disabled on this occasion, that she was obliged to be stripped, and undergo the best repair that circumstances would admit of, at New York, in order to make it safe for her even to put to sea; and by great exertion she was got into sailing order in the month of October, when the second fruitless attempt was made for the deliverance of General Cornwallis and his army, and she put to sea. No engagement, however, took place, which was a fortunate circumstance for Captain Cosby, as from the crazy state of his ship, it would not have been possible for him to act with advantage.
- The Robust being unfit for farther service in her present state, was ordered to England for the purpose of
- 25 being repaired. Earl Cornwallis embarked on board her as a passenger; but soon after she got to sea she sprung a leak, and was found to be so extremely crazy as to be incapable of proceeding in safety to Europe: his lordship therefore removed into a merchant-ship, one of the Robust’s convoys, and Captain Cosby bore away for Antigua. In the following summer^ 1789, after having been hove down and refitted there, the Robust sailed for England for a convoy, and arrived safely in the month of July. Captain Cosby, we believe, held no farther command till the year 1786, when he obtained the rank of established commodore on the Mediterranean station. Sir John* Lindsey at that time retiring on account of the ill state of his health, the commodore succeeded him as commander-in-chief. On his arrival there, he hoisted his broad pendant on board the Trusty, of fifty guns. He remained, in the Mediterranean till the month of Sep-tember 1790; but, with the exception of his mission (in 1788) to the emperor of Morocco, no event occurred, during that period, that is worthy of record. At that time, some apprehensions were entertained, that the commerce of Britain might sustain a predatory interruption from the Barbary corsairs; and Commodore Cosby was sent to visit the different states, and to arrange such terms with the emperor of Morocco, as might ensure the safety of the English traders. He accomplished the negotiation and treaty with the greatest exactness and precision, and to the entire satisfaction of government. On the 21st of September, 1790, the commodore was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the red squadron, and appointed to a command on the Cork station, in the Fame, of seventy-four guns. In the month of September, 179 b be sustained a domestic misfortune, in the loss of his nephew, Lieutenant Cosby, of the army, who was unfortunately drowned at Cork.
- In 1792 he was appointed to command at Plymouth, as port admiral, and accordingly hoisted his flag on board
- the St. George, of ninety-eight gons. He retained this command only for a short time; as, in the spring of 1793, be shifted his flag into the Windsor Castle,of ninety-eight guns; and on the 15thof April, sailed from Spithead, with a squadron under his command: part of which proceeded to the West Indies with a convoy; part returned to Spitbead; and the rear-admiral, with the rest of the squadron, proceeded to the Mediterranean, where he acted as third in command under Vice-Admiral Lord Hood. In the month of November, he was detached, with several ships of the fleet, to Leghorn, in order to bring back from thence, live stock, wine, and other supplies of provisions, for the allied troops in garrison at Toulon.
- On the llth of April, 1794, Mr. Cosby was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral of the red squadron, on which occasion he shifted his flag to the Alcides, of seventy-four guns. He was afterwards present at the capture of Corsica, and of Toulon; and, towards the close of the year, he sailed for England. On the 12th of November, he arrived at Spithead with a squadron of ships of war, and a large fleet of merchantmen under convoy from Portugal and the Mediterranean. He also escorted home three French ships, which bad been taken at Toulon.
- On his arrival in England, the vice-admiral struck his flag. On the 1st of June, 1793, he was made vice-admiral of the red; on the 14th of February, 1799, admiral of the blue; on the 1st of January, 1801, admiral of the white; and on the 9th of November, 1805, admiral of the red squadron; that rank having been restored in the royal navy, immediately after the victory off Trafalgar by the immortal Nelson.
- Admiral Cosby commanded the impress service in Ireland, until the peace of 1801.
- He died on the 10th of January, 1808, in his 78th year, upwards of sixty of which he had spent in an active and faithful discharge of his duty to his king and country, and highly honourable to himself as an officer of the British navy. On the 16th, his remains were interred in the
- Abbey church, at Bath, in a handsome but not pompous manner, such being strictly forbidden by the deceased. Rear-admiral Wolseley, the admiral’s nephew, Sir Henry Cosby, and Colonel Stanfield attended as chief mourners; and the pall was borne by Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, and Vice-admirals Christie, M’Dowall, and Brown.
- PATRICK COTTER,
- BETTER known by the name of O’Brien, and usually denominated “The Irish Giant." He was. of obscure parentage in Kinsale, and by trade originally a bricklayer: but his uncommon size rendered him a mark for the avarice of a showman, who, for the payment of 5OL per annum, obtained the liberty of exhibiting him three years in England. Not contented with his bargain, the chapman attempted to underlet the liberty of showing him to another speculator: and poor Cotter, resisting this nefarious transaction, was saddled with a fictitious debt, and thrown into a spunging-house in Bristol. In this situation he was, happily for him, observed by a gentleman of the city who had some business to transact with the sheriffs officer. His simple demeanour, and extreme distress, induced Mr. W - - to make inquiries respecting him, and having reason to think that he was unjustly detained, be very generously became his bail, and ultimately so far investigated the affair, that be not only obtained for him his liberty, but freed him from all kind of obligations to serve his task-master any longer. He was at this time eighteen, and retained to his last breath, a most lively sense of the obligation conferred upon him, “when a stranger and in needan obligation which he manifested also by very honourable mention in his will. It happened to be September when he was liberated; and by the further assistance of his benefactor, he was enabled to set up for himself, in the fair then held in St. James’s. Success crowned his undertaking; in three days, instead of being
- ill penury, he saw himself possessed of 30l. English money. Let those who know the peasantry of Ireland, judge of his riches; he now commenced, and continued a regular exhibition of his person; when, having realized an independence sufficient to keep his carriage, and secure to him the conveniences of life, he declined what was exceedingly irksome to his feelings. He was unoffending and amiable in his manners to his friends and acquaintance, of whom he had latterly rather a large circle, as he was neither averse to a cheerful glass, nor pleasant company. He had naturally good sense, and his mind was not uncultivated. He departed this life without the smallest apparent pain or agony, on the 8th Sept. 1806, in the forty-sixth year of his age, having fallen a sacrifice to a disease of the lungs combined with an affection of the liver. To prevent any attempt to disturb his remains, of which he had the greatest horror, a grave is sunk to the depth of twelve feet in the solid rock; and such precautions taken, as would effectually render abortive either force or stratagem. The stupendous coffin prepared for him, was in length nine feet five inches; five men got into it with ease, and had the lid placed upon it. The brass plate contains the following inscription: - “Patrick Cotter O’Brien,of Kinsale, Ireland, whose stature was eight feet one inch. Died, Sept. 8th, 1806, aged forty-six years.” There are some emblems on it, denoting the deceased to have belonged to the masonic order of Knights Templars.
- GERALD COURCY,
- SEVENTEENTH baron of Kinsale, was a very brave officer in the reign of Henry VIII., and distinguished himself in the wars in France. In 1545, be was in the king’s army at the siege of Boulogne, where he commanded a brave Irish regiment, at the head of which he performed such good service in reducing the place, that he was knighted
- in the field under the royal standard displayed, which was the most distinguished manner in which knighthood could be conferred. He died at an advanced age in 1599.
- ALMERICUS COURCY, TWENTY-THIRD baron Kinsale, was much in favour with King Charles II., from whom he received a pension of 3001. a year. He was also in favour with James II. by whom the pension was continued. In 1690, he commanded an independent troop of horse in his service, and was afterwards lieutenant-colonel to the Earl of Lucan’s regiment of horse, for which he was outlawed in 1691; but soon after, the outlawry was reversed, and he took his seat in the house of peers, October 25, 1692. Being very handsome in his person, and of a tall stature, his lordship one day attended King William’s court, and being admitted into the presence-chamber, asserted the privilege of being covered before his majesty, by walking to and fro with his hat on his head. The king observing him, sent one of his nobles to inquire the reason of his appearing before him with his head covered: to whom he replied, He very well knew in whose presence he stood, and the reason why he wore his hat that day was, because he stood before the king of Ireland. This answer being told the king, and his lordship approaching nearer to the throne, was required by his majesty to explain himself, which he did to this effect: - “May it please your majesty, my name is Courcy, and I am lord of Kinsale, in your kingdom of Ireland; the reason of my appearing covered in your majesty’s presence, is to assert the ancient privilege of my family, granted to Sir John de Courcy, earl of Ulster, and his heirs, by John, king of England, for him and his successors for ever.” The king replied, that be remembered he had such a nobleman, and believed the privilege he asserted to be his right, and giving him his hand to kiss, his lordship paid his obeisance, and remained uncovered. He died the 9th February, 1719.
- JOHN COURTENAY,
- A STATESMAN and wit, was a native of Ireland, and was born about the year 1741. Being possessed of youth and volatility, and imbibing all his ideas from a nation confessedly of a warlike disposition and character, the army became the object, both of his early choice and his ambition. Another direction, however, was speedily given to his talents, in consequence of his acquaintance with a nobleman, whose patronage not only conferred a bright colour on his hopes, but gave a different impulse to his views.
- An anonymous defence of the Marquis Townshend, in his vice-regal capacity, is said to have been the occasion of his introduction to that nobleman: and there can be but little doubt, that his convivial talents, not only for a while fascinated, but was the occasion of a permanent friendship between that nobleman and himself.
- George, Viscount Townshend, (whose name was synonymous with wit and good living,) was nominated lordlieutenant of Ireland in 1767, and held that office until 1772, when he was succeeded by Simon, Earl of Harcourt. During this period, Mr. Courtenay, from being first only a visitor, soon became a constant guest, and finally a resident at the castle. His company seemed essential to all the entertainments, nor was there a convivial party formed, in which he did not partake. And during the administration of Lord Townshend, he held an official situation, under his excellency, and on his return, either accompanied or followed him to England.
- To this nobleman, shortly after his reeal from Ireland, the important office of master-general of the ordnance was committed; and on this occasion he did not forget
- hit friend and faithful adherent Captain Courtenay, who was immediately appointed his official secretary. He was alto brought into the House of Commons, being nominated to represent the borough of Tamwortb, in the fifteenth parliament of Great Britain, which assembled 1st October, 1780. He was re-chosen three yean after, and was made surveyor of the ordnance, a post of some im-portance, on which a new writ was issued April 23d. In the sixteenth and seventeenth parliaments (1784 and 1790) of Great Britain, he sat for the same place; after which, at the general election in 1797, he was appointed a burgess for Appleby. In the first imperial parliament which met February 2, 1801, he was returned in conjunction with Mr. Adair, afterwards minister at Constantinople; and in the second and third, be had his high-gifted countryman, Sir Philip Francis, for his colleague.
- He continued in parliament during 1802,3,4, and 6, in which year he formed one of the majority who passed a vote of censure on Lord Melville. On the change of administration in 1806, Mr. Courtenay became a commissioner of the treasury, a place of 16001. per annum, and after enjoying this place only for a few months, retired from public life.
- He died on the 24th March, 1816, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was deeply regretted by all who knew him.
- As a statesman, he was the firm and uncompromising friend both of civil and religious liberty; and his speech, delivered Dec. 21, 1798, on the suspension of the habeas corpus act, does infinite honour both to his head and heart.
- As a poet, he possessed in an eminent degree, a facility in versifying the incidents of the day; and as a wit, was successful in his replies and sarcastic observations.
- Of his ban mots the following may be adduced as a favourable specimen. The celebrated Gibbon happening one afternoon to burst forth into a glowing eulogium on that classical piece,
- SIR RICHARD COX, BART.
- LORD chancellor of Ireland, and an historian of that country, was son to Richard Cox, Esq. captain of a troop of horse, and was born at Bandon, in the county of Cork, on the 25th of March, 1650. He had the misfortune to lose his father before he was three years of age, and was then taken care of by his mother’s father, Walter Bird, Esq. of Cloghnakilty; but his grandfather also dying when be was in his ninth year, he was then taken under the pro-tection of his uncle, John Bird, Esq. who placed him at an ordinary grammar school, at Cloghnakilty, where he soon discovered a strong inclination to learning. In 1668, just as he had entered his eighteenth year, he commenced practising as an attorney in several minor courts where his uncle was seneschal, and continued so to do for about three years, when finding his pecuniary resources in an improving state, he entered himself at* Gray’s Inn, in 1671, with an intention of being called to the bar. Here be was greatly distinguished for his assiduity and application to the “weighty study of the lawand in consequence of his great improvement therein, he was made one of the surveyors at Sir Robert Sbaftoe’s reading. He then returned to Ireland, where be soon after married a lady, who had a right to a considerable fortune; but being disappointed in obtaining it, he took a farm near Cloghnakilty, in which he immured himself for a space of nearly seven years. Being, however, roused from the lethargy into which he had fallen, by a great increase of family, be plainly perceived the absolute necessity of exertion; and was, by the interest of Sir Robert Southwell, once more recalled into active life, from gloom and inactivity. He was elected recorder of Kinsale in 1680, and removed to Cork, where he settled and practised his pro- l
- S3 fession with great and deserved success. He was a zealous advocate for the protestant cause, on which account foreseeing the storm that was about to fall on the piptestants, he quitted both his clients and his estate, (which at that period amounted to about 3001. per annum,) and sought shelter, with his wife and five children, in England. He took up his abode at Bristol, where being well known, he obtained practice sufficient to support his family genteelly; and occupied his leisure hours by compiling the “History of Ireland,” the first part of which he published soon after the revolution in 1689, under the title of u Hibernia Anglicana; or, the History of Ireland, from the Conquest thereof by the English, to the present time.” And at the Revolution, he distinguished himself by a small publication, to prove the necessity of making the Prince of Orange King, and of sending speedy relief to Ireland. When the prince arrived in London, Mr. Cox quitted Bristol, and repaired to the metropolis, where he was made under-secretary of state; and when King William Went to Ireland, he accompanied him in the quality of secretary to Sir Robert Southwell. Having given great satisfaction to the king in the discharge of his office, be was, immediately after the surrender of Waterford, made recorder of that city. His services and attachment to William’s party were likewise rewarded by the post of second justice of the court of common pleas, to which office he was appointed on the 13th of September, 1690* He was also employed as a commissioner for various purposes; and in April 169b made military governor of the county and city of Cork. In this situation of judge and military governor, he evinced himself an active and zealous servant of the crown, but treated the individuals who Came under his jurisdiction, with a rigour which has been loudly exclaimed against, but which certainly had a very considerable effect in keeping his government quiet. Indeed so vigilant was he in this situation, that, during the whole time of his sway as military governor, though he had a frortfier of eighty miles to defend, and twenty places to VOL. II. n
- garrison besides Cork and Kinsale, yet be did not lose opejpchof ground; while the neighbourhood was rendered very disagreeable to the enemy by the frequent excursions of his troops, who returned with plunder to an immense amount, and of which he generously refused to receive the share due to his office*
- An instance of presence of mind which occurred during his command deserves to be recorded, particularly as it was afterwards highly commended by the distinguished Marlborough. The militia of the city of Cork, by the care and management of the governor, had been so well trained to service, that General Ginkle wrote to him for one thousand of them, to assist at the siege of Limerick, in which he was then engaged. The earlier divisions had marched to the appointed rendezvous, with perfect submission to their orders; but the last, consisting of one hundred and sixty men, absolutely refused to leave their county; and Colonel Rogers, after trying in vain every art of persuasion to induce them to fulfil .their duty, rode up in despair to the governor, and informed him of the circumstance. The governor calmly answered, that he would make them march; and riding up to the mutinous division with several gentlemen, who were of opinion that the ringleaders should be severely punished, he put on as much severity as his countenance would admit of, and inquired sternly why they did not march t One of them was preparing to answer, but the governor stopped him short, observing, “that he scorned to use the power assigned to him by the government to punish them, considering that some of them might be cuckolds, and some cowards, whose company he did not desire; but that he was sure, there were some of them who were not afraid to. fight for a king and country which they loved, and that such would follow him; the others might return to their houses.” They all instantly and eagerly pressed forward, and, as if to wipe off the slur which had glanced at them, behaved in the most distinguished manner during the whole of the siege.
- So spirited and able a conduct in a person, who from his education and profession, could scarcely have been expected to zpossess any of the requisites for a military4 command, excited general admiration. The government of England returned him thanks; those absent individuals whose estates be had protected, expressed their gratitude; and the grand juries of the county and city of Cork, voted him addresses of thanks. In the beginning of 1692, an invasion from France being expected, he had a much more extensive commission assigned him, - to command the whole of the counties Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Clare. He was also entrusted with the secret and unpleasant commission to disarm the catholics of these counties oil the 20th May, the day appointed for carrying that business into effect throughout the whole of the kingdom; a doty which he performed so as to prevent the government from entertaining any fears from the Catholics of his district, and with so much feeling towards them, as not to leave them unarmed and exposed to the depredations of the Rapparees. A victory, however, obtained over the French at sea, put an end to these fears; and soon after he was restored to a more suitable occupation by the Lord Chief Justice Reynel, who brought down a commission of assize for himself and Mr. Justice Cox, for the summer circuit; * after which he returned to Dublin^ where, on Nov. 5th, he was knighted by Lord Sidney, then lord-lieutenant.
- In 1693, he was admitted a member of the Philosophic cal Society of Dublin, on which occasion, he read a geographical description of the city and county of Derry, and of the county of Antrim, being part of an intended geographical description of the.whole of Ireland; and in which be also purposed to include a natural history of Ireland. Soon after this, he went to England, where he was received by the ministry with the most distinguished favour, particularly by the Earl of Godolphio, then at the head of the treasury. Nor was this confined to empty
- words; he bad an order from the treasuiy given him for an abatement of one moiety of his quit-rent for ever; and he was also appointed, without solicitation, one of the commissioners for forfeitures, with a salary of 400£ per annum*
- In so responsible and arduous a situation, it was impossible for Sir Richard Cox to escape the attacks which were levelled at him by the parties which were then forming in Ireland, and which have continued increasing till the present day. He still continued to act as he had always done, with probity and justice; and though a friend to religions liberty, he did not allow himself the slightest partiality. This upright conduct incensed the violent of both parties against him, that his downfall was peculiarly aimed at, particularly in the case of the Galway men, in which he insisted with so much eloquence and ability on the duty of preserving the public faith, by adhering to the articles of capitulation, that he brought over the remainder of the commissioners to his opinion, and saved the estates of the claimants. Shortly after this, by the manoeuvres of the violent party at the head of affairs, he was superseded at the council board, with high compliments for his past services, and an apology drawn from the jealousy entertained by the subject, lest by so many judges sitting at the council board, it might at length grow into a court of judicature. To countenance this excuse, another judge, but without his abilities, was superseded at the same time.
- An attempt was at the same period made to prejudice the king against Sir Richard, to whom he was much attached, by obtaining a vote, “that the Irish forfeitures were mismanaged.” He was, however, heard before the committee; and Sir Richard Bulkley having produced a long string of charges against the commissioner, was answered on the instant by Sir Riehard Cox with so much candour and clearness, that the objections were entirely done away with, and the vote consequently lost. The party, there
- fore, had no other method of dissolving that commission* but by pretending to an extraordinary degree of frugality in their management of the revenue.
- During the ensuing four years, Sir Richard had no public employment, except his duty as a judge; and he devoted his leisure hours to writing and publishing “An Essay for the Conversion of the Irishand, as we are informed by some,“Thoughts on the Bill depending before the right bon. the House ,of Lords, for prohibiting the Exportation of the Woollen Manufactures of Ireland to foreign parts, humbly offered to their Lordships.”
- In 1701, being with the Lord Chief Justice Hely on the spring circuit, in Munster, the lord chief justice died; and the friends of Sir Richard Cox and liberality of sentiment, applied to the king to promote him to that situation, as a proof of his approbation of his conduct and principles. This was accordingly done, and on May 16tb, he was sworn chief justice of the common pleas, and in a few days after, member of the privy council. In the following year he was invited by the Lord Nottingham, by the queen’s command, to England, where be was consulted on the proper subjects for the consideration of the Parliament which was about to meet for Ireland. So well did his advice satisfy the queen, that in July 1703, Mr. Methuen, the lord chancellor of Ireland, being appointed ambassador to Portugal, Sir Richard Cox was removed to that distinguished situation.
- To follow him through the duties of this arduous station, would engage us in a history of the affairs of Ireland, which is inconsistent with the nature of this undertaking. It will be sufficient to mention, that Ireland is indebted solely to him for the bill ° for the recovery of small debts in a summary way;” and for the act which was passed in the English parliament, to allow the exportation of linen from Ireland direct to the plantations. In 1703, he was appointed with Lord Cutts, lord justice; and in October 1706, he was created a baronet. But on the death of the Lord Cutts, in Jan. 1707, he was involved in considerable difficulties. It was the general opinion that the Dake of Ormond would be speedily removed from his situation as lord-lieutenant, and this step was earnestly desired by some of the council. In consequence of this, when Sir Richard Cox applied to the council to know ,bow he should proceed, the commission being vacant by the death of his colleague, they were at first unanimously of opi-nion, that it would be necessary, according to an old statute of Henry VIII., for him to issue writs to the king’s councillors, to elect a governor; and Sir Charles Porter privately intimated to him, that he should be elected sole governor of Ireland. This snare, however tempting it might be to him, he managed to avoid; and by explaining to the council, that the statute in question referred only to the absence of the principal magistrate of Ireland, he induced them to withdraw their resolution. This much irritated such as were desirous that the Duke of Ormond should be removed; they had hoped, that by this means, he might be displaced without any formal parade, and they threatened, in revenge for their disappointment, to impeach the chancellor. In this trying and critical situation he remained firm to his principles; and having consulted the judges and law officers of Ireland, and their opinions coinciding with his own, he resolved upon adhering to it, by which, although the queen and the lawyers of England approved of his conduct, he gave a mortal affront to the statesmen.
- At length, on the lOtb of April, 1707, the duke was removed from the lord-lieutenancy, and Lord Pembroke appointed in his stead. It was for some time a doubt whether the chancellor was also to be removed: the new lord-lieutenant entertained a great respect for him; and the lord treasurer still remained, who had told him in 1603, that “they were all bound to do as much as they could for him.” The power of the faction was, however, too great for private attachment to withstand, and on June 30th, he delivered the great seal to the lord-lieutenant, who assured him that he would not have received
- COX. 39
- it had he not designed for him an equivalent recom- pence. The behaviour of Sir Richard Cox on this occasion, was such as should have caused shame to his enemies, had they been capable of feeling it; it was, as in the days of his prosperity, firm, manly, and equable. His private concerns required his presence in the country, but he would not retire from Dublin, while the Parliament was sitting, Jest it should be construed into a desire of avoiding that investigation into his conduct, which he felt convinced his enemies would undertake. He was not deceived; various and many were the accusations laid against him, merely to enumerate which, without entering into particulars, would far exceed our limits. His integrity of principle, and singleness of heart, with which be answered every charge which was preferred against him, at length defeated all the malevolence, and wearied the pertinacity of his enemies.
- A dispute which arose in the city of Dublin, a short time prior to the death of Queen Anne, relative to the election of a lord mayor, gave rise to much debate. The question was brought before the lords justices, of whom Sir Richard was one, and their report was transmitted to England for the royal approbation, which through the illness of the queen could not be obtained. Shortly after this, on the accession of George I., the lords justices were superseded, a circumstance which is supposed to have been occasioned by a suspicion that they were inclined to -forward the interests of the Pretender; a suspicion which, in Sir Richard’s case at least, must be entirely unfounded, as is sufficiently evinced by every action of his earlier as well as of his later life.
- Wearied at length with such unceasing disputes for power, he quitted entirely public life, and spent the remainder of his days in a tranquillity which was indeed enviable. He bore hh (adversity with the patience of a philosopher, and divided his tine between study, improvements, and acts of charity. In April I7S3, he was seized witiKappr
- plexy, which terminated in a palsy, under which he languished till the 3d of May, when he expired without pain, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, one month, and some days.
- His person was tall and well-proportioned, his features . regular, his complexion fair, his countenance pleasant, his eyes full and lively, and his manners easy and genteel; in short, says Harris, he was a very handsome man, with an engaging aspect.
- As a judge, he was patient, upright, and compassionate; yet he is said to have been better adapted to preside in the chancery, than in the courts of common law. Indeed, be was always averse to the abuses which had arisen in the laws, from the ignorance and corruption of those who professed them, and seemed constantly to aim at reducing them to their original standard, reason. His charges on his circuits to the grand juries are represented as masterpieces of eloquence, argument, and attention to the com-mon weal; those which he addressed to the grand jury of King’s County in 1698, and to that of Londonderry in 1700, still remain, having been printed at their special request. As a chancellor, his decrees were much respected, and were seldom set aside. In the great cause between Lady Kingsland and Mr. Barn wall, he gave judgment for the defendant; and though the appeal was backed in the house of lords by the whole weight of ministerial power and family connexions, his decree was confirmed in the fullest house ever known on such an occasion. His abilities as an author cannot be doubted; his conceptions were just and quick; had they been less so, his style would probably have been improved. His education too, was not of that liberal nature to qualify him to shine in his productions, otherwise than by the sound sense . which they exhibit. His memory was exceedingly happy, retaining every thing which he read. His studies were principally devoted to history and divinity, in which latter he was so deeply read, that many conceived be designed entering into holy orders.
- His private character was free from every vice. Avarice apd ambition, vices which so frequently attend men who make their own fortunes, were not the growth of his constitution. His opportunities of amassing wealth were * immense, yet he contented himself with merely a sufficiency to ensure the. independence of his family. He was a most entertaining companion; his conversation was cheerful, diverting, and improving, and so enlivened with anecdotes, that he never failed to infuse fresh spirits into a drooping company. As a husband, he was fond and obliging, a tender father, and a kind master. In his friendships he was firm and faithful; he was affable and courteous to all, and rigidly just in his dealings. Indeed, had he lived in times in which faction bore less sway, his public and private virtues would have ensured him the love of his contemporaries, and the admiration of posterity.
- RICHARD CREAGH,
- TITULAR Archbishop of Armagh, and author of several works on the language aud antiquities of Ireland, was the son of a merchant in Limerick, where he was born, about the commencement of the sixteenth century. His father, desirous that his son should continue to exercise his business, educated him for that purpose; but, quitting trade, be retired to Louvain, where he devoted himself with so much ardour to his studies, that he soon acquired great reputation for his eminence in learning. After a due course of studies he entered into holy orders, and returned to Limerick, where be opened a school for the instruction of youth. Wearied at length with so harrassing a life, he wAs desirous of becoming a monk, and travelled to Rome to obtain the Pope’s licence. Failing iu the object of his journey, he was, however, promoted to the see of Armagh; .but we cannot ascertain how long he continued in it, as the date of his appointment is unknown. He died in
- 1585 (as it is reported), io the tower of London, to which place he had been committed as a prisoner of state.
- Heis the author of a manuscript“De Lingua Hibernica, lib. 1?’ which is still said to be extant, and some collections from which are among the MSS. of the Bishop of Clogher, in the college library. u An Ecclesiastical History,” part of which, in Sir James Ware’s time, was in the possession of Dr. Thomas Arthur. He is also said to have written "De Controversiis Fidei,” (which possibly may be the same treatise which Stanihurst calls “Res pons iones ad CasusConscienti®,” as his "Chronicon Hiberni®* may be the “Topographia Hibernia” of the same author), “Vit® Sanctorum Hiberni®,” and “Catechismum Hibernicd.”
- ZACHARY CROFTON.
- ZACHARY CROFTON was a learned non-conformist divine in the seventeenth century. He was born, and received the greater part of his education in the city of Dublin. When his native country became the scene of tumult and confusion in the reign of Charles I. he fled to England, and landed at Chester with only a groat in his pocket, which he spent the first night after he came on shore. . His sufferings,excellent character,and talents, soon procured him friends, and he shortly obtained the living of Wrensbury, in Cheshire. In this situation he met with much trouble, chiefly on account of his attachment to the cause of royalty, and his refusing to subscribe to the engagement, and persuading others to follow his example. On thia event be came to London with strong testimonials of his abilities and good character, from several neighbouring ministers, and from his parishioners; and after officiating some time at St. James’s, Garlick-hitbe, he obtained the living of St. Bo- tolph, Aidgate, which he appears to have* held till after the Restoration, when he felt a scruple of conscience in complying with someparts .of the act of uniformity, and was accordingly ejected.. He at thpt time entered into
- a controversy with Bishop Gauden, about the obligation of the solemn league and covenant, for which he zealously pleaded, not as binding a man to rebellion, or to any thing unlawful, but as imposing an additional obligation on every one who took it, to forward the reformation of morals, the propagation of truth, and the confutation of error. By the boldness and freedom which he displayed in the controversy, he provoked the indignation of the bishops and court, and was accordingly sent to the Tower, where he was detained a long time, at a great expense, notwithstanding he had a wife and seven small children depending upon him for their support. He attempted to get out by a writ of habeas corpus; but on being threatened with farther severity, if be persevered, he dropped that method, and petitioned for his liberty, which was at last granted him. He then went into Cheshire, where he was again harrassed by imprisonment, and when released, he was obliged, in order to maintain his family, to keep a grocer’s shop. From that county he afterwards removed to a small farm in Bedfordshire, whence in 1667 here- turned to London, and set up a school in the parish of Aidgate, where his well-known virtue, &c. procured him much encouragement. In this situation he died in 1672. During the time he was in the Tower, he regularly frequented the chapel, being averse to separation from the parish churches, notwithstanding the conformity of the clergy in points which be disappproved of. It cannot be too much regretted, that the ill-judged policy of the .ecclesiastical and political rulers of the times, should have insisted on a rigid conformity from conscientious men like Mr. Crofton. It would have been quite sufficient to exact it from all future candidates for holy orders, or ecclesiastical promotion, and if the scrupulous clergy had been allowed to live quietly in their charges till death, much cruelty would have been prevented, and such a formidable body of dissenters* would not have been produced. Few of the ejected clergy adopted Mr. Crofton’s principles of submission or communion with the church, and he was
- engaged in much controversy on the subject. His works, chiefly on the ecclesiastical disputes of the times, are numerous, and a list of them may be found in the first volume of Calamy’s ejected Ministers.
- JOHN CUNNINGHAM,
- AN elegant and ingenious poet, and a very worthy man, was born in Dublin in the year 1729, where his father and mother, both of whom were descended from Scotch parents, then resided. His father was a wine cooper, and becoming enriched by a prise in the lottery, commenced wine merchant, but failed shortly after. He was the youngest son of his father, and early began to exhibit specimens of his poetical genius in several fugitive pieces which he published anonymously in the Dublin newspapers; and by the time he had attained his twelfth year, he had produced several poetic effusions, which are still honoured with the public esteem.
- The little education our author received was from a Mr. Clark, who was master of the grammar school of the city of Drogheda; and when his father’s affairs became embarrassed, he was recalled to Dublin. About the age of seventeen, he wrote his only dramatic piece, which was a farce, entitled, “Love in a Mist; or, the Lass of Spirit," which was acted several nights at Dublin in 1747; and to this farce Garrick is said to have been considerably indebted for his fable of “The Lying Valet." The free access which this little drama gave him to the theatre, was of a very pernicious consequence to him, as it created a dislike to the plodding life of a tradesman, and excited a desire to appear on the stage as a performer, though he scarcely possessed a single requisite for such a profession. His figure was totally against him either for tragedy or genteel comedy. In the petit mailre cast, however, he was tolerable, and he is said to have arrived at excellence in personating the mock French characters. Every attempt to suppress his passion for the stage having become l fruitless, without the slightest intimation of his intentions, he secretly left his family, and embarked for England, where be obtained a precarious and unprofitable existence in various companies of strolling knights of the sock and buskin. The frequency of want, however, at length made him sensible of his imprudence; but pride prevented his return to his friends; and ere he had time to form the resolution of obeying the calls of duty, he received intelligence that his father had become insolvent. This unwelcome news was followed by that of his decease in circumstances of distress. StUI, an asylum was generously offered to our author in the house of an affec-tionate brother, Mr. P. Cunningham, one of the best statuaries in Ireland, who repeatedly urged him to return; but the idea of a state of dependence being repugnant to his feelings, he rejected every overture that was made to him, and the profession he had embarked in originally from choice, he now found himself obliged to persist in from necessity. After having experienced the many and various vicissitudes which are the inseparable companions of those votaries of Thespis, known by the title of “would-be actors," we find him in the year 1761, a performer at Edinburgh, at which period and place he began to emerge from obscurity, by giving to the world his “Elegy on a Pile of Ruins,” which, although obviously an imitation of Gray’s elegy, contains many passages conceived in the true spirit of poetry, and obtained for him considerable reputation. During his theatrical engagement at Edinburgh, although insignificant as an actor, he was of much value to the manager by furnishing several prologues, and other occasional addresses, all of which were received with applause.
- About this period he received an invitation from several booksellers in London, who proposed to engage him in such works of literature as might procure him a more easy and honourable employment than be had hitherto followed; and willing to avail himself of any opportunity that might arise to extricate him from a profession in which nature had denied him the indispensable qualifications to shine and for which he had.loug lost all relish, he cheerfully adopted the advice of his friends, and. repaired accordingly to the metropolis; but was disappointed io the pro^ mised undertaking, by the bankruptcy of the principal’ person concerned in it. He soon aho discovered that scandal and political altercation had entirely taken up the attention of the public, and that unless he prostituted hit abilities to these objects, he was unlikely to meet with success; he therefore quitted the town with precipitation, and once more returned to his friends in the north. This was the only effort Cunningham ever made to emerge from the abject situation in which youthful imprudence had originally placed him, and where natural apathy and contented indolence had contrived to keep him. In a letter to a friend, he describes himself in these strange terms: - “You may remember my last expedition to London; I think I may be convinced by it I am not calculated for the business you mention. Though I scribble (but a* little neither) to amuse myself, the moment I considered it as tny duty, it would cease to be an amusement, and I should of consequence be weary of it. I am not enterprising, and am tolerably happy in my present situation.”
- This passage may be truly said to mark the man, as it exhibits the most prominent trait in his character drawn* by himself.
- In 1762, he published “The Contemplatist,” but with less success than his elegy. This is supposed to be the worst of all his productions, and was censured with much ridicule in the Monthly Review. It contains little else but glittering and absurd ideas; and had it been published at the present day, might have been mistaken for a satire OQ those wretched masses of sickly sensibility with which the press is teeming, and which the author of the Baviad and Mseviad has chastised with both justice and humour. About 1765, he published “Fortune, an Apologue/’ in which there are many poetical beauties; and in the course of the following year, he collected his poems into a volume, which was honoured by a long list of subscribers.
- For some time he remained a performer in Mr. Digges’s company, in Edinburgh, who treated our author with both respect and kindness; and under that gentleman’s management, Mr. Cunningham continued until he quitted Scotland. He then returned to Newcastle upon Tyne, a spot which, as it had been hi? residence for many years, he had originally left with regret, and which to the last moment of his life, he used emphatically to call his home. At this place, and in the neighbouring towns, he earned a scanty, but to him a sufficient subsistence. Although his mod£ of life was not of the most reputable kind, his blameless and obliging conduct procured him many friends among the most respectable characters in the county, who afforded him their support and protection, and in their society he passed his days without any effort to improve his situation. Being passionately fond of retirement, and happy in the society of a little circle of rural friends, he rejected any solicitation to try once more his fortune in the capital, declaring it to be his wish, that as he had lived, so he might die among his friends in Northumberland; nor was that wish long denied him. A few months before that event, a nervous fever rendered him incapable of any exertion, theatrical and poetical. This afflicting stroke afforded his friend Mr. Slack, an opportunity for the display of his humanity and benevolence. He received him into his house, where he was attended with the utmost care, and supplied with every thing which his condition required. After languishing some time under his friend’s hospitable roof, apprehending the approach of his dissolution, he conceived a design of destroying all his papers, which he soon effected by committing them to the flames. Mr. Slack, alarmed at the blaze, hastened to the room in which Cunningham lay, and expressing his surprise at so extraordinary an occurrence, the poor bard, almost breathless, pointing to the fire, whispered, “There, there!”
- He testified his grateful sense of the benevolence of his friend Slack, who so liberally supplied his wants, and softened the rigour of his last illness, in the following lines addressed to a particular acquaintance, which strongly indicates the impression of his mind on the melancholy occasion.
- The Drama and I have shook hands, We’ve parted no more to engage, SubmisHve I meet her commands, For nothing can cure me of age.
- My sunshine of youth is no more; My mornings of pleasure are fled; *Tb painful my fete to endure,
- A pension supplies me with bread.
- Dependent at length on the man,
- Whose fortune I struggled to raise,
- I conquer my pride as I can, His charity merits my praise.
- Hb bounty proceeds from his heart, *Tb principle prompts the supply, Hb friendship exceeds my desert, And often suppresses a sigh.
- He expired at Newcastle, on the 18th of September, 1773, aged forty-four, and was buried in St. John’s churchyard, when, to perpetuate his memory, Mr. Slack, whose friendly offices extended beyond the limits of mortality, caused a tombstone to be erected with the following inscription: -
- Here lie the remains of
- JOHM CUMNIMGHAM;
- of hb excellence as a Pastoral Poet
- hb works will remain a monument for ages,
- after thb temporary tribute to esteem
- b in dust forgotten.
- He died at Newcastle, September 18,177S,
- Aged 44.
- The following anecdote is related of Cunningham, which gave birth to a humorous impromptu.
- CUNNINGHAM.
- . Cunningham lodged at the Golden Lion inn, at Scarborough, in the year 1765* The landlord was a; meek, passive husband, and the landlady a perfect termagant* It happened on a certain occasion, that the lady’s temper was ruffled by a trivial incident that occurred, and as no sooth? ing could restrain the impetuosity of her passion, she burst into violent exclamations; nor did either husband, guests, or servant, escape the fury of her clamorous tongue. The poet, whose placid temper ill suited with the vehe-mence of this virago, left the house, and .taking the landlord with him into the street, pointed to the sign, and uttered these words: -
- Friend W* • if you would get rid of a scold,
- And live without trouble and strife, I’d advise you to take down your lion of gold, And hang up your brazen-faced wife.
- WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM,
- A POET of some ability, but more worthy of being recorded for his classical attainments. He was of that numerous class of individuals termed “self taughtand had little to aid him in his literary pursuits, but that portion of steady application which is usually possessed by those who are determined to emerge from the obscurity in which Providence has placed them.
- He was born on the 19th of March, 1781, near Dromore, and was w in daily labours of the loom employed,” during which period be received the first rudiments of education at one of the Bishop of Dromore’s Sunday schools; and had, by reading such books as he could borrow, made so considerable a progress, that in the autumn of 1800, he presented his lordship with a copy of verses, requesting the loan of books. The bishop recognising the indelible marks of genius displayed throughout the poem, deter-mined to rescue him from the miserable drudgery in which be was doomed to toil, which he shortly afterwards did, and placed him at the diocesan school of Dromore,
- CUNNINGHAM.
- where he sedulously cultivated the flame of learning, which in Hie midst of sordid society he bad cherished, and aided by application the most industrious and diligent, in about two years and a half be bad read the principal of the Greek and Latin classics.
- Being thus qualified to superintend the education of youth, which had been the object of his wishes, he was received, early in 1804,
- Thus died William Cunningham, a young man, who, had he lived, would in all probability have reflected honour on his patrons, his country, and himself. Indefatigable in the acquisition of knowledge, amiable and grateful in his disposition and temper, and scrupulously exact in the performance of every moral duty; he presents to posterity a pleasing, yet unfrequent picture of geniue without pride, humility without affectation, and talent without vice.
- dl WILLIAM DANIEL, D.D. A MAN, (says Ware,) of distinguished learning, was born at Kilkenny, but in what year is not known, and was one of the first fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, that is, one of the first elected fellows; for Henry Usher, Duke Chalone), and Lancelot Mognes, masters of arts, were the three first fellows appointed by Queen Elizabeth’s charter, nomine plurium; but William Daniel, together with Henry Lee, and Stephen White, were the three first scholars of the house nominated by the said charter, nomine plurium; and he was either the first or second that commenced doctor of divinity in the said university. In August 1609, he was consecrated by the Archbishop of Tuam, at Dublin, in St. Patrick’s church (of which he was treasurer, an office which he held in commendam,} and the same year was called into the privy council. He was a man highly eminent both for piety and learning, and translated both the Book of Common Prayer out of the English, and the New Testament out of the Greek, into the Irish language; the former of which translations was printed in 1603, and dedicated to the Lord Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester; and the latter was printed in quarto, in 1602, and dedicated to King James the First, the expense of which was defrayed by the province of Con-naught and Sir William Usher, clerk of the council. It was afterwards reprinted in the year 1681, at the expense of the Hon. Robert Boyle. He was celebrated also for his complete knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. He died at Tuam, on the 11th of July, 1628, and lies buried in his own cathedral, under the same monument with his predecessor Daniel.
- It is to be regretted, that of a man so celebrated both for learning and piety, so little has been recorded; trifling as is the memorial, it is, however, sufficient to shew, that at that early period, piety was promoted, and the attainment of learning encouraged.
- 52
- PATRICK, COUNT DARCY,
- WAS descended from a noble and ancient Irish family, and was born on September the 18th, 1725, in the county of Galway. His parents who were attached to the exiled house of Stuart, sent him to Paris in 1739, where being put, under the care of M. Clairault, at seventeen years of age, he gave a new solution of the problem of the curve of equal pressure in a resisting medium; and this was followed the year after by a determination of the curve described by a heavy body, sliding by its own weight along a moveable plane, at the same time that the pressure of the body causes an horizontal motion in the plane. This problem had already been solved by John Bernouilli and Clairault; but notwithstanding this circumstance, Chevalier. Darcy possessed a method peculiarly his own, and it is easy to discover throughout the work, that degree of striking originality which is the leading character of all his productions.
- The commencement of the war, however, in some measure took him off from the prosecution of his studies, as be served as captain of the regiment of Condi, during several campaigns in Germany and Flanders. In 1746, he was appointed to accompany the troops that were to be sent to Scotland to assist the Pretender, and had a narrow escape with his life, as the vessel in which he sailed was captured by the English, and Darcy, (whose life was forfeited by the laws of his country, by being taken in arms against her,) was saved by the humanity of the English commander. During the course of this war, and amidst all its bustles and dangers, he found leisure to contribute two memoirs to the Academy. The first contained a general principle of mechanics, that of the preservation of the rotatory motion. Daniel Bernouilli and Eulerhorm had discovered it in 1745; but it is highly improbable that their productions should have reached Mr. Darcy in the midst of his campaigns; his method is different from theirs, but it is equally original, simple, elegant, and ingenious.
- This principle, which he again brought forward in 1750, by the name of “the Principle of the Preservation of Action/’ in order to oppose it to Maupertuis’ principle of the least action, Darcy made use of in solving the problem of the precession of the equinoxes. In this attempt, however, he unfortunately failed; and in general, it is to be observed, that though all principles of this kind, may be used as a mathematical formulae, two of them at least, must necessarily be employed in the investigation of problems, and even these with great caution; so that the luminous and simple principle given by M. D’Alembert in 1742, is the only one, on account of its being direct, which can be sufficient of itself for the solution of problems.
- Having given to the world u An Essay on Artillery,” in 1760, containing many curious experiments on the charges of powder, &c. and several improvements on Robins, who wrote on the same theories, and was not so great a mathematician as the subject of the present memoir.
- In 1765, he published his “Memoir on the Duration of the Sensation of Sight,” a work distinguished for ingenuity, and which shews him in the best light, as an accurate and ingenious maker of experiments. The result of these researches was, that a body may sometimes pass by our eyek without being seen, or marking its presence, otherwise than by weakening the brightness of the object it covers; thus, in turning pieces of card painted blue and yellow, you only perceive a continued circle of green; thus the seven prismatic colours rapidly turned produce an obscure white, which is the obscurer as the motion is more rapid. As this duration of the sensation increases with the brightness of the object, it would have been interesting to know the laws according to which the augmentation of the duration follows the intensity of the light of an object, which motion makes continually visible; bht Darcy being now obliged to rely upon the sight of others, he relinquished the pursuit. But being constantlyemployed in comparing mathematical theory and observation, he made a particular use of this principle in his u Memoir on Hydraulic Machines/’ printed in 1754; and in this work he clearly shews how easy it is to make mistakes in looking by experiment for the laws of such effects as are susceptible of a maximum or minimum; and indicates at the same time, how a system of experiments may be formed wbicb shall lead to a discovery of these laws.
- All Darcy’s works bear the character wbicb results front the union of genius and philosophy; but as he measured every thing upon the largest scale, and required infinite accuracy in experiment, neither his time, fortune, nor avocations, allowed him to execute more than a very small part of what he projected. He continued his experiments on gunpowder until the last moment of his life, but has left nothing behind him. He was amiable, spirited, and lively, and a great lover of independence; a passion to which he sacrificed even in the midst of literary society, when perhaps a little aristocracy may not be quite so dan? gerous.
- Darcy, though estranged from his native country by circumstances, yet possessed a true Irish heart, as he not only loved and respected it,but became the friend and protector of every Irishman who visited Paris; nor could he help feeling a secret pride, even in the successes of that enemy, against whom he was so often and so honourably to himself, employed. Of his personal history, it yet remains to be added, that in the seven years’war he served in the regiment of Filz-James; in 1770, he was appointed mareshal de camp; and the same year the Aca-demy of Sciences admitted him to the rank of pensionary. In 1777, he entered into the matrimonial state with a niece who was brought up under his care at Paris, and then took the name of Count Darcy. Death terminated his useful existence in two years after this marriage, dying of a cholera morbus, on the 18th of October, 1779. Condorcet wrote his “Eloge,” published in the History of the Academy, and seems throughout anxious to do justice
- 55 to his tales to and character; a circumstance which we are told was highly honourable to Condorcet, as be had been most unjustly the continual object of Darcy’s aversion and hatred. Darcy’s Essays, printed in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, are various and very ingenious, and are contained in the Volumes for the years 1748, 1747, 174ft 1750, 1, 8, 3,4, 5,6, 7,8, 9,1760, 1765, and in No. 1. of the “Savant Etraogers.”
- ROWLAND DAVIS,
- A DIVINE of some note, was born at Gilla Abbey, near Cork, in 1649, and received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took his degree of doctor of laws, and was accounted an eminent civilian. Having entered into holy orders, he was shortly after advanced to the deanery of Cork, and was afterwards vicar-general of the diocese, both which preferments he retained until his death, which happened in 1721, in the seventy-second dear of his age.
- He Wrote “A Letter to a Friend, concerning his changing his Religion,” Lond. 1649. 4to. The friend here mentioned was a Mr. Turner, recorder of Limerick, who went over to the Catholic persuasion during the reign of King James.
“The truly Catholick and old Religion, shewing that the established Church in Ireland, is more truly a member of the Catholic Church than the Church of Rome, and that all the ancient Christians, especially in Great Britain and Ireland, were of her communion. Dublin, 1716,4to.” This book was in the course of the same year replied to by Dr. Timothy 0‘Brien , of Toulouse, a native of Cork,
- and then parish priest of Castlelions, in an anonymous pamphlet printed at Cork, entitled, a An Answer to a Book, entitled the truly Catholick and Old Religion; by a Divine of the Roman Catholic Church,” Antwerp, 1716; to which our author replied in a quarto pamphlet, printed at ’Dublin in 1717* O’Brien, however, once more returned to the charge, and produced another pamphlet under the appalling title, “Goliath beheaded with his own Sword; or, an Answer to the Reply, &c.” to which Dr. Davis (not having had enough of the controversy,) replied in a quarto pamphlet, of, “Remarks on a Pamphlet, entitled Goliath, &c. &c.
- He also published two occasional sermons, one on the 30th of Jan. 1716, entitled, “Christian Loyalty;” and the other, a charity sermon, published in Dublin, in 8vo. in 1717.
- MARY DAVYS,
- AN authoress of novels, plays, poems, and a Familiar Letters;” was a native of Ireland, and was married to a clergyman whom she survived. After his decease, she kept a coffee-house at Cambridge, where she died. She was a correspondent of the celebrated Dean Swift; and thirty-six letters from him to her and her husband, were a few years ago in the hands of Doctor Ewen, of Cambridge. She wrote two comedies, 1, entitled, The North-ern Heiress;” 2, “Self Rivaland all her various productions are published io two 8vo. volumes, under the title of “The Works of Mrs. Davys,” 1725.
- ties during the space of nine years. He then returned to his native country, where he arrived in 1715, and was made parish priest of Castlelions; after which period nothing is known of him.
- Besides the controversial pamphlets already mentioned, he was author ¦of a Jubilee Sermon, preached in the year 1731, but not published till the year 1725.
- 57
- RICHARD DE BURGH,
- FOURTH Earl of Clanrickarde, commonly known by the name of Richard of Kinsale, from his great services against the rebels at that place, was the second son of Ulick, the third Earl; and received the honour of knighthood in 1584. During the rebellion of O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, he eminently distinguished himself in the service of the crown. In 1599, he was appointed governor of the province of Connaught, by the Earl of Essex, an office which he resigned in the following year, in consequence of some restrictions imposed upon him, which prevented him from serving her majesty as he desired. He soon afterwards went to England, for the purpose of counteracting his father’s proceedings, who had declared in favour of Tyrone; and the lord deputy, in a letter informing the secretary of state of De Burgh’s intention, states, that all his hopes of preserving the province of Connaught in obedience, depended on the Lord Dunkellin’s honesty; “neither,” says Morison, “was the lord deputy deceived in this worthy lord, who, as during his father’s life, so from his death, happening within a few months, to the end of the war, served the queen as nobly, valiantly, and faithfully, as any nobleman or gentleman in the army.” In 160J, he accompanied the lord deputy in his expedition to Kinsale, against Tyrone and the Spaniards, and was knighted in the field of battle for the great services he bad performed there, having (as it is reported) killed no less than twenty Kernes with his own hand. In this battle he bad many narrow escapes; and the queen, in her letters to the lord deputy, writes, “and let Clan- ricarde know, that we do most thankfully accept his endeavours.”
- On the accession of James I. to the throne, he was appointed governor of Connaught, and afterwards president of the same province. In 1615, he was appointed president of the council for Munster; but the next year, on account of a long illness, being unable to undergo so
- great fatigue as was imposed on him by his new office, he surrendered it to the king; who through* inspect for his long services, gave* him the command of the county anti town of Galway, where his chief dwelling, and most of his estate was situated, together with a small pension for his own life and that of his son. He was afterwards advanced to the dignity of a peer of England, by the title of Baron Somerhill, (a manor which he possessed in Kent,) and Viscount Tunbridge; to which titles, Charles L afterwards added those of Viacount Galway, and Earl of St. Alban’s.
- He died at Somerhill on the 12th of November, 1635; and the Lord Deputy Wentworth, in a letter to the king, makes the following observation, which may in some de* gree account for Clanricarde’s want of employment in Ireland for some years previous to his death; This last pacquet advertised the death of the Earl of St. Albany and that it is reported my hard usage broke his heart* God and your majesty know my innocency; they might as well have imputed unto me for a crime, his being three* score and ten years old; but these calumnies must not stay me humbly to offer to your majesty’s wisdom this fit opportunity, that as that cantoned government of Galway began, so it may determine in his lordship’s person.”
- RICHARD DE COURCY,
- A pious and active divine and miscellaneous writer, was descended from an ancient and noble family in Ireland. He received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, and was ordained chaplain to Lord Kiusale, to whom he was distantly related. During his residence at the university, he formed an acquaintance with several eminent clergymen, by whom be was induced to leave his native country; and in the year 1770, he accepted the curacy of Shawbury, in Shropshire. In 1774, the lord chancellor presented him to the vicarage of St. Alkmont parish* Shrewsbury, the inhabitants of whieh had conceived an
- 59 illiberal prejudice against him; and rashly confounding the steady zeal, and uniform piety manifested in his conduct, with the warmth of enthusiasm, and the cant of hypocrisy, he was charged with the stn of methodism, and his presentation became the subject of a satirical poem, entitled, “St. Alkmont’s Ghost?’ By his talents and course of life, he soon overcame this unfavourable opinion of his parishioners, and continued, during a period of thirty years, to be attended by a numerous congregation, that admired him as a preacher, and esteemed him as their pastor. Possessed of that vivacity and humour, which is the peculiar characteristic of his country, added to a fund of knowledge acquired by study and reflection, his conversation was instructive on every subject. In the performance of his duties as a minister, be was diligent and laborious, preaching twice, and for some time previous to his death, three times every Sunday.. As an orator, he was dignified and perspicuous. In principle, he was sincerely attached td the doctrines of the church of England, and he defended them with great ability.
- He was hatdrally of a strong constitution, but towards the close of his life, his frame was so weakened by repeated attacks of the rheumatic gout, as to oblige him frequently to sit in his pulpit. The vicissitudes of life he bore with patience, and the losses incident to human nature with resignation and fortitude; but the loss of his youngest son, in August 1803, while serving as a midshipman under his kinsman, the Honourable Captain De Courcy, so afflicted him, that at the close of his sermon on the fast- day, he was so affected, as to cause an involuntary flow of tears, and oblige him to conclude his discourse. A slight cold taken the same day, brought on a return of his disorder, from which he had nearly recovered, when a sudden attack in the stomach rendered medical assistance of no avail. Having commended his soul into the hands of his Redeemer, he expired Nov. 4,1803. His remains were interred at Sbawbory; and the funeral procession was voluntarily joined By a great number of his parishioners.
- anxious to render the last tribute of respect and gratitude to the memory of a pastor so eminently distinguished for his piety and virtues.
- His published works are: “Jehu’s Eye-Glass on True and False Zeal “Nathan’s Message to David, a Sermon;” “Two Fast Sermons, 1776;” “A Letter to a Baptist Minister;” “A Reply to Parmenas, 1776;” “The Rejoinder, on Baptism, 1777;” “Hints respecting the Utility of some Parochial Plan for suppressing the Profanation of the Lord’s Day, 1777 “Two Fast Ser
- mons, 1778“Seduction; or, the Cause of injured Innocence pleaded, a poem, 1782 “The Seducer convicted
- on his own Evidence, 1783;’’ “Christ Crucified, 1791, 2 vols.and a Sermon preached at Hawkstone Chapel, at the presentation of the standard to the two troops of North Shropshire yeomanry cavalry, in 1798.
- JAMES DE LA COUR, OB, DE LA COURT, AN author of some ingenuity, was the second son of Robert De la Cour, Esq. of the county of Cork, and was born at Killowen, near Blarney, in that county, in the year 1709. He received his education at Dublin university; and being early captivated with the writings of Mr. Pope, (which were then as highly esteemed in Ireland as in England,) he neglected the dull society of the fathers for the more agreeable company of the muses, and dedicated all the hours he could spare from the indispensable duties of the college, to the study and practice of poetry.
- His genius supported his inclination, as, before he had attained the age of twenty, he produced a poem, entitled, “Abelard and Eloisa,” in imitation of Pope, and which was thought to possess a considerable portion of the spirit and harmony of that master. From this period be continued to publish minor poems and sonnets, which were all favourably received. In 1733, he gave the world his principal work, “The Prospect of Poetry,” which he dedicated to the Right Hon. the Earl of Cork and Orrery. Being an ingenious publication, it gained him much and deserved applause; and in his list of admirers, might be enumerated some of the best judges in both countries . Soon after this he took holy orders, but unfortunately the praise of the poet slackened the zeal of the parson, and De la Cour produced his sermons as matters of ordinary duty. His muse was the mistress which engaged his prin-cipal attention, and as the muses are generally attached to “the gay and busy haunts of men/’ this pursuit was bpt of little service to his promotion or clerical character. He Unluckily too was attached to his bottle as well as his muse, and by the pursuit of such indulgences, lowered himself in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, who declared poetry affected his head, and shortly after gave him the title of “the mad parsonunder which general character the graver kind of people grew cautious of his acquaint-ance, whilst the young ones solicited his company, for the sake of enjoying his eccentricities. In a short time he fell so much into this last seduction, that he became the volunteer of any party who would engage him for the night. This incessant dissipation (as might be conjectured) soon enfeebled his understanding, and the charge which malice or ignorance at first fastened on him, was now realized. His intellects were at times evidently deranged, and he fancied himself, after the example of Socrates, to be nightly visited by a demon, who enabled him to prophesy all manner of future events.
- During the career of this unhappy impression, the fol-lowingcircumstance occurred which is worthy of recording.
- 62 A gentleman one day meeting the doctor in a bookseBer’s shop, during the siege of the Havannah, asked him, whether he could tell him when the garrison would surrender} “O yes/’ says De la Cour, very confidently, “i’ll tell you the precise day; it will be on the 14th of August next.” u Do you pledge yourself for that day ?” So much so,” replied the doctor, “that I will stake my character as a prophet on it, and therefore I beg you will take a memorandum of it.” The gentleman immediately noted it in his pocket-book; and it so happened, that on that very day we had an account of its surrender to the British arms. A public event thus predicted six weeks before ft happened, and falling in so accurately according to the prediction, of course made a great noise in a little place. The common people wondered at, and even philosophers could not resist pausing on the coincidence of circum* stances; but the doctor was elated beyond measure. He now claimed die diploma of a prophet, and expected to be consulted on the issue of all important circumstances* He continued thus many years, prophesying and poetising; and though in the first he made many mistakes, in the latter he in a great measure preserved the txs poetica; particularly in his satires on individuals, which sometimes exposed and restrained those too cunning for the law, and too callous for the pulpit. He bad originally a little estate of about 80£ per year left him by his father, which, with the hospitality of his friends, enabled him to live independently. Towards the latter end of his life, he sold this to his brother-in-law, for a certain sum yearly, and his board and lodging; but at the same time restrained himself from staying out after twelve o’clock at night, under the penalty of one shilling. In consequence of this, the doctor’s balance at the end of the year was very inconsiderable.
- He died about the year 1781, leaving behind him several specimens of poetical talent, and proving to posterity the uselessness of ability when connected with a course of imprudence, and a contempt for character.
- 63
- HENRY DE LA MAIN,
- A MUSICAL composer of some celebrity, was a native of Cork, and was for many years organist of the cathedral of that city, where his church music is very generally performed. He composed also many songs and light pieces, few of which have met the public eye, as they were not printed for sale. He died about the year 1798, and was much regretted.
- PATRICK DELANY,
- A CLERGYMAN who arrived at considerable eminence in his day, as an impressive and eloquent preacher, and whose writings on practical moral duties establish a just claim to the respect of posterity. His father bad served as a servant in the family of Sir John Rennel, an Irish judge; and afterwards rented a small farm, probably to the end of his life; for when the son had arrived to opulent circumstances, and consulted his friend, the celebrated Dean Swift, how be might promote the happiness of his parents, he received from him the very sound and judicious advice not to remove them from the sphere of life to which they had till so late a period been accustomed, but to contribute whatever could make them comfortable in it. Our author was born in 1686, and received in his youth a good grammatical education, but in what place, and under whom, is not now known. At a proper age he entered Trinity College as a sizer; he went through his academical studies with reputation; took his degrees; was elected first junior fellow, and afterwards senior fellow of his college. He uniformly recommended himself by his diligence, moral conduct, and good sense. He became celebrated as a preacher, and was in such reputation as a tutor, that from his pupils, his senior fellowship, and all its perquisites, he is supposed to have derived an income of about 9001. or 1000Z. a year. At this time be became acquainted with Dean Swift, and ip no small degree gained his favour.
- The readiness with which he entered into the dean’s playful humour, cemented the friendship founded on respect* Along with Dr. Sheridan he wrote and answered riddles, and composed light and humorous pieces of poetry. This was only the recreation of his passing moments; and he was careful not to interrupt his more valuable studies. Many of these little pieces may be found in Swift’s works.
- In 1724, he unfortunately got involved in a dispute respecting college discipline, which was of considerable injury to his future prospects. Two under-graduates had behaved with great insolence to the provost, and on their refusal to make the proper submissions, were expelled. On this occasion Dr. Delany took part with the young men, and went so far, it is said, as to abuse the provost to his face, in a sermon in the college chapel. He was in consequence obliged to make satisfaction to the provost, by acknowledging his offence; and the displeasure he excited in the Lord Primate Boulter, on a future occasion prevented him receiving a preferment in the church. This was in 1725, when he was presented by the chapter of Christ church, to the parish of St. John, in the city of Dublin; and it was necessary to obtain a royal dispensation in order to be enabled to hold it and retain his fellowship at the same time.
- The archbishop interfered, and this dispensation was accordingly refused. In 1727, when Lord Carteret, who was a man of wit, and who courted the society and friendship of Dean Swift, was a second time appointed lord lieutenant, Dr. Delany was strongly recommended to his lordship by the dean, and at the same time also by Archbishop King, and be bad accordingly great civilities shewn him, and received frequent invitations to the castle. Unfortunately at that time political faction ran high, and the doctor’s Tory connexions rendered it impossible for the lord lieutenant to gratify his own wishes by conferring any considerable church preferment. He, however, promoted him in 1727, to the chancellorship of i
- Christ church, With about 1OOZ. a year; and about the same time the university of Dublin presented him to a small northern living of about the same value. Three years after this Lord Carteret gave him a prebend of St. Patrick’s cathedral, the revenue of which was not greater than either of his other preferments. Dr. Delany had become wearied with his duties as tutor and fellow, and relinquished their advantages, contenting himself with an income much smaller than what, according to Dr. Swift,he haid been in the habit of squandering away, “in a manner which, although proper enough for a clergyman without a family, will not be for the advantage of his character to discover, either on the exchange or at a banker’s shop.” Dr. Delany contributed his assistance to a periodical publication, entitled, “Hibernicus’s Letters,” which appeared in 1725, 1726, 1727; and m 1729 he published a paper, called the “Tribune,” which, notwithstanding it was of considerable merit, was continued only through twenty numbers.
- In 1731, he had got reconciled to Archbishop Boulter, who furnished him with a letter of introduction to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, to whom he came to submit to his lordship’s approbation, a theological work, entitled, “Revelation examined with Candour; or, a fair Enquiry into the Sense and Use of the several Revelations expressly declared, or sufficiently implied, to be given to Mankind, from the Creation, as they are to be found in the Bible,” &c. The first volume came out in 1731; and the second in 1734. They were considered at the time as calculated to fender useful service to the cause of revealed religion: they, however, contained a great deal of objectionable and fanciful matter, which much diminished their value; and they are now superseded by much better works on the same subject. During his absence from Ireland to superintend the publication of the first volume, the doctor was not unmindful of his own domestic happiness, which he consulted by marrying a widow lady from Ireland with a very ample fortune. He was now enabled to. indulge VOL II. F
- hit generous disposition, and to express by a donation his regard to the interests of the college of which he had long been a member. A third edition of his theological work appeared in 1735. In the year 1738 he published a very singular production, “Reflections upon Polygamy, and the Encouragement given to that Practice in the Old Testament.” There is much learning and talent evinced in this work; and the disorders and mischiefs which arise from the practice of polygamy, are clearly evinced; but the arguments brought forward in answer to the pleas do* duced for it from the practice of it by the worthies of the Old Testament, are not equally conclusive and satia- factoiy.
- In the course of his work he had to consider the case of David, and it is likely, he was hence induced to examine what farther related to the case of that great Jewish monarch. As the result of hie inquiries, he published “An Historical Account of the Life and Reign of David, King of Israel; interspersed with various Conjec-tures, Digressions, and Disquisitional’ The first volume appeared in 1741, and the second and third in 1748. Considerable critical skill, and much valuable information are displayed in these volumes; and some animadversions of Bfyle, in his dictionary, under the bead David, are ably confuted. There is, however, the same objection against this work as against his former productions; and be Uni-formly evinces a disposition to palliate or defend the crimes of David, which ought ever to be held in detestation, and which the sacred writings leave open to censure. There is no necessity to attempt for the honour of religion an excuse for what was blameable; and the Scriptures in this respect, superior to most biographical writings, do uot conceal defects, but exhibit warnings as well as examples.
- Dr. Delany, who had lost his first wife Dec. 6th, 1741, sought consolation in 1743, by a marriage with Mrs. Maty Pendarves, widow of Alexander Pendarves, Esq. a very ingenious and excellent lady, with whom he lived for twenty-
- five years in a state of matrimonial happiness. She was a great proficient in painting; one work of her laborious industry more curious than useful, was a Flora of coloured paper, consisting of nine hundred and eighty plants, executed, according to Lord Orford, “with a precision and truth unparalleled.” The Doctor was not so absorbed in domestic enjoyment, as to neglect his studies. On March 13, 1745, he preached an excellent sermon before the Society for the promoting Protestant Working Schools in Ireland. This year be also published a volume of sermons upon social duties, fifteen io number; to which in a second edition in 1747, he added four more, on the opposite vices. Along with these be inserted a 30th of January sermon, preached in 1738, before the Lord-Lieutenant, William Duke of Devonshire. These sermons are entitled to great praise from their style of composition, and they are very valuable, as treating well subjects of important and universal concern. He was soon after this, in May the same year, advanced to the highest preferment he ever attained, the deanery of Down, in the room of Dr. Thomas Fletcher, promoted to the bishopric of Dromore, In 1748, he published a sixpenny tract, entitled, “An Essay towards evidencing the divine Original of Tythes,” and bad been at first drawn up, and publicly preached as a sermon. The text selected was, the tenth command* meat, which forbids coveting the goods of our neighbour; and the preacher has been censured for attempting to derive the doctrine from that prohibition. A more appropriate passage of scripture might no doubt have been chosen; but it frequently happens, that a text is sought out like the motto for a book, after the subject is either written or planned out; and it by no means follows, that the preacher is to found his arguments on that authority alone.
- After an interval of six years, he again appeared before the public in answer to the Earl of Orrery’s remarks on the life and writings of Dr. Swift. The noble lord’s representations had given great pain to many of the Dean’s
- admirers, and amongst them Dr. Delany, his old friend; and few could have been so well qualified to remove unjust aspersions, as he had long enjoyed his most intimate society, from his coming over to Ireland, and before Lord Orrery could have known any thing of him. The opinion entertained by the public of our author’s work was, that it was the most fair and candid that bad ever been offered to the world, and enabled the reader to judge for themselves respecting the real character of the Dean of St. Patrick.; A candid man, however, can never give satisfaction to; the bigotted and unreasonable; and Dean Swift, Esq. in his essay on the life, writings, and character of his relation, treated our author with extreme ill manners and gross abuse. He felt compelled, therefore, to write an answer, in a letter to Mr. Swift, published in 1755. He there completely justified himself, and at the same time shewed so much candour, ingenuousness, good temper, and politeness, that be could not fail to make the most favourable impression on the minds of the readers, and thereby give his adversary a most decided defeat.
- In 1754, he published another excellent volume of sermons, chiefly on practical subjects; and of these, two on the iniquity, folly, and absurdity of duelling, deserve to be particularised.
- During this part of his life, he was doomed to suffer much vexation from a perplexing lawsuit of the utmost consequence, as it related to the personal estate of his first wife; and which by the usual course of “the law’s delay,” was protracted more than nine years. The decision in the Irish court of Chancery was against him; but, on an appeal to the House of Lords in England, that judgment was reversed, and the doctor secured in the possession. Nothing, however, could draw him from his studies; and in 1757, he began a periodical work, called the “Humanist,” which was carried on through fifteen numbers, and then dropped. In 1761, he published a tract, called, “An humble Apology for Christian Ortho-
- doxy;” and several sermons. He now arrived at a very great age, almost fourscore, and his mind and body being lieceasarilv enfeebled, it would have, nerhans. been ad-
- peared as an author. However, in 1763, "after a lapse of thirty years, he published the third and last volume of his “Revelation examined with Candour,” in which occurred instances more numerous than in the former volumes, of the prevalence of imagination over judgment.
- In his preface he indulged in much peevishness against reviewers; but it is seldom that an author benefits himself by remarks of that kind. The feelings of the reader are apt to favour the critics and suspect that their judgment has been just; and unless in particular gross mistakes, where they may clearly be confuted, silence respecting them is the best policy. The last works of the Doctor were, a sermon in 1766, against transubstantiation, and a yolupie containing eighteen discourses, in the same yeafaj
- Enough has been said in the course of his life to render it unnecessary to enter farther into his literary character. His works in defence of divine revelation have been superseded by other writings, without their defects, and embracing their good qualities, and many additional original arguments and illustrations. His life of Dean Swift is an interesting work; and his valuable practical sermons ought to preserve his name from oblivion. Happily, we are able to say of him, that he practised as well as preached, and taught mankind by the force of example as well as by precept.
- His income for the last twenty years of his life, was about SOOOZ. per annum; yet he left little behind him besides books, plate, and furniture, as he took pleasure in spending his ample income from his preferments and his private fortune, in the relief of distress, rewarding merit, and hospitable entertainments; and in so doing, displayed
- the characteristic virtues for which, above all couatrieaf Ireland has ever been celebrated. We shall take leave of this excellent man with the following anecdote: -
- In the reign of King George II. being desirous of the honour of preaching before his majesty, he obtained, from the lord chamberlain, or the dean of the chapel, the favour of being appointed to that office on the fifth Sunday of some month, being an extra-day, not supplied, ex officio, by the chaplains. As he was not informed of the etiquette, lie entered the royal chapel after the prayers began, and, not knowing whither to go, crowded into the desk by the reader. The vesturer soon after was at a loss for the preacher, till seeing a clergyman kneeling by the reader, he concluded him to be the man. Accordingly, he went to him, and pulled him by the sleeve. But Dr. Delany, chagrined at being interrupted in his devotions, resisted and kicked the intruder, who in vain begged him to come out, and said, “There was no text.” The doctor replied, that he had a text; nor could he comprehend the meaning, till the reader acquainted him, that he must go into the vestry, and write down the text (as usual) for the closets. When he came into the vestry, his hand shook so much that he could not write. Mrs. Delany, therefore, was sent for; but no paper was at hand. At last, on the cover of a letter, die text was transcribed by Mrs. Delany, and so carried up to the king and royal family.
- SIR JOHN DENHAM,
- A poet of some celebrity, was the only son of Sir John Denham, Knight, of Little Horsley, in Essex, (some time chief baron of the exchequer in Ireland, and one of the lords justices of that kingdom,) by Eleanor, daughter of Sir Garnet More, Knight, Baron of Mellefont, in Ireland, and was born in Dublin in the year 1615; but was brought over from thence, two years afterwards, on his father being
- 7r made one of the barons of the exchequer in England, and received his education in London. In 1631, he was entered a gentleman commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, being then sixteen years of age; when, as Wood expresses it, “being looked upon as a slow and dreaming young man by his seniors and cotemporaries, and given more to cards and dice than his study, they could never then, in the least imagine, that he could ever enrich the world with his fancy, or issue of his brain, as he after-wards did.” He pursued his studies for three years at the university; and having undergone a public examination for his degree of bachelor of arts, he entered himself at Lincoln’s Inn, with a view of studying the law. But notwithstanding his application to the object of his pursuit, he did not lose his propensity to cards and dice, and consequently became the dupe of the barpies tbat infest gaming tables. His father being informed of this, severely reproved him for his folly, and threatened to disinherit him if he did not reform. On this declaration be pro-fessed himself reclaimed, and, to testify the sincerity of his repentance, he wrote and published u Ah Essay upon Gaming,* which he presented to his father. But no -sooner did his father die, than vice re-assumed her empire in his heart, and he returned to the gaming table loaded with several thousand pounds, which he was speedily unencumbered of.
- In 1641, he presented to the world his tragedy of the “Sophy,” which was greatly admired, and amongst others, by Waller, who took occasion to say of the author, that “he broke out like the Irish rebellion, threescore thousand strong, when nobody was aware or in the least suspected it.” Soon after be was pricked high sheriff of Surrey, and made governor of Farnham castle for the king; but not being skilled in military affairs, he soon resigned his post, and went to his majesty’s court at Oxford; when, in 1643, he published his most celebrated poem, * Cooper’s Hill;” “a work,” says Dr. Johnson, that confers upon him the, rank and dignity of an origi
- nal author.” Dryden likewise praises Cooper’s Hill very highly, and says, “it is a poem, which for majesty of style, is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing.” Pope has also celebrated this poem in his “Windsor Forestand it is so universally thought so much superior to his other poems, that some have suspected him, (though without any just foundation) not to have been the author of it. And in the “Session of the Poets,” printed in Dryden’s Miscellanies, we have the following insinuation: -
<( Then in came Denham, that limping old bard, Whose fame on the Sophy and Cooper’s Hill stands; And brought many stationers, who swore very hard, That nothing sold better, except ’twere his lands.
- But Apollo advis’d him to write something more, To clear a suspicion which possessed the court, That Cooper’s Hill, so much bragg’d on before, Was writ by a vicar, who had forty pounds for’t.”
- In 1647; the distresses of the royal family obliged him to relinquish the study of poetry, and engage in a more dangerous employment. He was entrusted by the queen with a message to the king, who was then in the bands of the army, and to whom he got admittance by the assistance of his acquaintance Hugh Peters, “which trust,” says he, in the dedication of his poems to Charles II. “I performed with great safety to the persons with whom we corresponded; but, about nine months after, being discovered by their knowledge of Mr. Cowley’s hand, I happily escaped both for myself and them.”
- He was, however, engaged in a greater undertaking, as, according to the authority of Wood, he conveyed away James Duke of York into France, in April 1648; but Clarendon declares to the contrary, and assures us, that the duke went off with Colonel Bamfield only, who contrived the means of escape. This year (1648) he published his translation of “Cato Major.”
- Not long after, he was sent ambassador from Charles II. to the king of Poland, and William, (afterwards) Lord Crofts, was joined in the embassy with him. Among his poems is a ballad, entitled, “On my Lord Crofts’s and my Journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000£ for his Majesty, by the decimation (or tithing) of his Scottish subjects there/9 About 1652, he returned to England, and the remnant pf his estate that the wars and the gamesters had left him, was sold by order of the par* liament, and he was hospitably entertained by Lord Pern* broke, at Wilton; but how he employed or supported himself till the Restoration, does not appear. After that event, he obtained the office of surveyor of the king’s buildings; and at the coronation of his majesty, was dig-nified with the order of Knight of the Bath. Wood pretends, that Charles I. had granted our poet the reversion of that place after the decease of Inigo Jones, who held ft; but Sir John himself, in the dedication of his poems, assures us, King Charles II. at his departure from St. Germains to Jersey, was pleased, freely, without his asking it, to confer it upon 1pm. After the Restoration he composed his poem on Prudence and Justice; but shortly after he abandoned the study of poetry, and “made it his business,” he says, “to draw such others as might be more serviceable to his majesty, and, he hoped, more lasting.” It might be reasonably imagined that the favour of his sovereign and the esteem of the public, would now render him happy; but alas 1 human felicity is short and uncertain. A second marriage brought upon him so much disquiet, that he had the misfortune to be deprived of his reason; and Dr. Johnson asserts, that when our poet was thus afflicted, Butler lampooned him for his lunacy, for which the doctor has inflicted on him a well-merited castigation. This malady was of short continuance, nor does his mind appear to have been impaired by it; as he wrote immediately after his recovery, his fine verses on the death of Cowley;
“But poets themselves must fall like those they sing
- and he soon followed to the grave the subject of his panegyric, dying at his office, (which an accurate biographer informs us had been built by himself,) near Whitehall, on the 10th of March, 1688, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer, Spencer, and Cowley, sharing the honours of their sepulchre, if not of their immortality.
- His works have been several times printed together in one volume, under the title of “Poems and Translations, with the Sophy, a tragedy?’
- Most of the occasional serious poems of Denham possess the merit of some ingenious thoughts and emphatical expressions, but cannot be mentioned as first-jrate compositions.
- LADY ARABELLA DENNY,
- SBCOMD daughter of Thomas, Earl of Kerry, was bom in the year - , and married Arthur Denny, Esq. member for the county of Kerry, in 1727.
- This excellent woman will long live in the records of humanity, as the protectoress of helpless infancy, and penitent frailty - disdaining the too common pursuits of fashionable life, in the rounds of dissipated pleasures, which her fortune and rank placed within her reach - and equally disinclined to inactivity, she nobly determined to be useful. An opportunity soon offered; and the kindness, patience, and perseverance, which surmounted obstacles that would have appalled a more ordinary mind, cannot be recollected without admiration.
- By an act of Geo. II. the governors of the workhouse of the city of Dublin were obliged to take, without exception or limitation, all exposed and deserted children under the age of six years. In time the funds became unequal to its support; not only in consequence of the numerous admissions, but from gross mismanagement and neglect. This, about the year 1768, attracted the notice of Lady Denny, and immediately interested^ her in its behalf. She promptly stepped forward and proposed, as
- 15 the most probable means of restoring its original regularity and usefulness, that it should be visited by some ladies of consequence, in rotation, rightly judging, that the wants of young children, the negligence of nurses, and the general management of such an institution fell more within their sphere of observation than of any gentlemen, however wise or discerning they might be. Her offer was accepted; and she soon had many ladies associated with her: but her visits only were punctual and assiduous; sAc felt the importance of the office she had undertaken, and finding herself gradually deserted by her associates, took the whole charge upon herself, and devoted not only her time and attention to the concern - but supported it by several pecuniary contributions, which from time to time were found wanting. She reproved the offending and encouraged the good; she provided every article that became necessary, and engaged the nnrses to fulfil their duties with greater tenderness and alacrity, (especially to the weak and sickly,) by suitable rewards. These endeavours were attended with the happiest success; the numbers of thoM that had died since the superintendance of this adminfoie woman, bad decreated in the proportion of lento one,* and bythe economy she bad established, many more were provided for than before with the same sum; but the undertaking was too extensive for a private purse, however liberally opened, to answer all its defalcations. She therefore solicited and obtained a benefaction to the charity, from his majesty; commenced the building of a chapel, to which the earl of Northumberland subscribed lOOl., and which stimulated others to follow his example. She caused, in 1764, the state of the charity to be laid before parliament, stating the debts remaining unpaid, and the necessity of extending the plan, so as fully to answer its original design. A committee was appointed, and in consequence of its report, the following resolutions were unanimously agreed to.
“That for three yean part, by the particular and constant attention of the Bight Hon. Lady Aiabtfia Danny, whan direction the oficen and sar-
?ants are ordered to observe, every thing relative to the management of the children and other concerns of the house, hath been conducted, in the most exact and proper manner.”
“That by the extraordinary care of the nurses, excited by the premiums of the Right Hon. Lady A. D. for retrieving such of the infants as are sent thither weak and sickly, many of their lives have been saved.”
“That the thanks of the House be given to the Right Hon. A. D. for her extraordinary bounty and charity, in promoting the present salutary regulations in the foundling side of the workhouse of the city of Dublin ) and that Mr. Cranier do acquaint her ladyship therewith.”
- We cannot learn the exact time of her ladyship’s decease; but her monument is before us, - may its language be felt, understood, and imitated.
- THOMAS DERMODY.
- OFTEN have we had to lament the union of talent with vice, but never more, perhaps, than in the present instance; for, if his biographer did not suffer partiality to guide his plume, never was there any individual whose knowledge was so intuitive, or whose profligacy was so precocious. He was the eldest of three sons, and was descended from a respectable family in the south of Ireland. Nicholas Dermody his father, was the sixth son of a substantial farmer, and received his education at Clonmel. At the age of twenty-two he went to Limerick, and from thence went as tutor to John Scott, Esq. a gentleman of large fortune in the county of Clare. In Mr. Scott’s family he remained two years, at the end of which period he married, and settled as a classical teacher at Ennis, in the same county, where his son Thomas, the subject of the present memoir, was born, on the 17th of January, 1775. It is well known, that for some years after fixing his abode at Ennis, he lived in a state of tolerable comfort, but from some unknown cause, he grew uneasy in his mind, and flew for temporary relief to that successful deceiver - wine; and it is not unlikely, that from being exposed to the contagion of bad example, his son early
- imbibed a love for drinking and its concomitant vices. From Ennis he removed to Galway, where he established a seminary; but not being so successful as before, he once more returned to Ennis, where for many years he straggled with great difficulties; but that he was not wholly inattentive to the education of his son, may readily be imagined from the circumstance of placing him as Greek and Latin assistant in his school, when he had only attained his ninth year. A twelvemonth after, he commenced writing poetry, which art he acquired with great facility; and in a monody,* entitled, “Corydon,” in which he laments the death of his brother, he fully establishes his claim to rank as a poet of great original genius. On the death of this beloved brother, which happened about the close of the year 1785, be formed the rash determination of quitting his home, which design was frustrated by the death of his mother. To endeavour to efface the recollection of this mournful event, a Mr. Hickman, a gentleman of great liberality, and who esteemed Dermody’s talents as a man of literary attainments and a teacher, gave bim and his son an invitation to his house at Newpark, which they accepted; and in this asylum of hospitality, young Dermody formed the plan, which be soon after executed, of flying from poverty, and viewing that epitome of the world - Dublin. Accordingly, without informing any one of his intention, with only a couple of shillings, the second volume of Tom Jones, (which be has often declared determined him on this adventure,) and a single change of linen in his pocket, he bade adieu to the house for ever, and launched boldly and fearlessly into the ocean of life. He strayed on, he knew not whither, with his senses bewildered in contemplating the various pleasures of the capital he was about to visit, till at length, looking around him, he perceived he had lost his way. This accident, however, far from discouraging him, he looked upon as a favourable interposition of Providence, and after the pause of a few minutes, be decisively took the road that lay before him, and casting a last, though not a 1
- lingering look upon the village of his birth, which seemed fast sinking behind the neighbouring trees,a tear of regret stole down his youthful cheek, which was soon dried, and was suffused with smiles of ardent expectation. He bad gone a considerable way, and night had cast her shadows round him, ere be thought of looking out for a lodging; but no token of any such retreat could he discover, except the langoid glimmer of a low cottage standing in a dark corner; and to this be bent his weary footsteps, with the utmost speed. As soon as he entered the hut, where all around was wretchedness and misery, he saw before him in the middle of the floor - a corpse in a few unshaped boards, which were intended for its coffin, at the foot of which sat five children sobbing and weepings while a female, pale and emaciated, bung over the head of it in silent grief. Dermody stood during some minutes^ amazed and terrified, and was on the point of retiring from a spectacle which to him was alike distressing and mysterious, when the woman lifting up her eye from the d^ ceased and fixing it stedfastly upon him, pointed to a seat near the hearth, where some expiring embers cast a bickering light and illumed faintly. She again sunk into her former melancholy state, and uttered several incoherent speeches in the agony of grief, from which he gathered, that she was grandmother to the little mourners, and that she had seen happy days, though now surrounded by poverty, and misery, and want; and that the deceased was her daughter. This dismal and distressful scene, deeply affected Dermody, who, wiping the tears from his eyes, put his hand into his pocket, and gave oae of his shillings (the half of all he had in the world) to the female, and with many sighs, left her; but had not walked far from the door, before he returned with some trivial excuse, for the purpose of gratifying the finest feelings of humanity, by pressing his last shilling into the hands of the unfortunate and aged woman. He then sallied forth once moret and took the road, till be came to the ruins of an old monastery, within whose dilapidated walls be determined
- to await the dawn of day; and here it was be composed some stanzas pregnant with poetic beauties, for wbicb we refer our readers to his life, vol. i. p. 14. He had not remained there long when he heard the antiquated air of Lillabullero channted most loudly; his curiosity was roused, and he instantly darted from the monastery and quickly overtook the minstrel, who proved to be the parish clerk returning from a neighbouring fair. Dermody cour-teously saluted him, and in a short time they became intimate, till on a sudden, in the midst of a copious harangue, he sprung down a narrow lane, wishing his companion a good night, and singing loudly as before. After this whimsical incident, he was once more relieved by the sound of another human voice, which fortunately proved to be a carrier’s with whom be bad a slight acquaintance, and who was now pursuing his journey to the metropolis. He candidly told his tale to his friend the carrier, who generously divided his homely morsel with the young adventurer, and by giving him a short ride now and then, enabled him to accomplish a journey of about one hundred and forty English miles. Nothing particular occurred on the road, except his reciting in majestic strains, the transports which be fancied he was to enjoy in his pilgrimage through the world. Arrived now in Dublin, be wandered from one street to another, and having disposed of all his extra wardrobe, he bent his steprtowards the house of an eminent apothecary in College Green, to whom he had a recommendatory letter from a country acquaintance; but not meeting with the reception that be conceived himself entitled to, he bid adieu to the knight of the pestle, determining in his own mind never to honour him with a second visit. He now amused himself with strcUing about the streets, and gratifying his curiosity at the bookstalls, and was observed by the owner of one of them with a book in his band, who immediately ran up from the cellar in which he resided to watch his property, he found him earnestly poring over a Greek author; and upon questioning him as to the substance of
- the book, and being satisfied that he understood it, he invited him down to dine in his cellar, which invitation Dermody accepted. They dined together with mutual satisfaction, and Dermody acceded to a proposal which his friend made, for teaching his son Latin. He, however, soon grew tired of his academic appointment in the cellar, and was recommended to another dealer in books, who kept a little second-hand shop in Stephen-street, and who took him in the capacity of shop-boy. With this man, whose name was Lynch, be remained but a short time, and soon after acquired the patronage of Doctor Houlton, who observed him in some book-shop in Dublin, reading Longinus, in the original Greek, in whose house be resided about ten weeks, giving astonishing proofs of his knowledge of the Greek and Roman classics, and producing poetical translations ad aperturam Ubri. This gentleman, when obliged himself to leave Dublin, gave him some money, which he soon spent, and wandered through the streets by day, and begged the meanest shelter doring the night. In his morning rambles he often called on a man of the name of Coyle, who resided in Dorset-street, and who was by profession a scene painter; to him he told the whole of his story, and lived with him for a short time, in a state of familiar servitude, going on messages for him, warming his size-pots at the theatre, telling merry tales, and writing verses on the walls with chalk; all of which he did with the greatest good-will and apathy imaginable. By Coyle be was introduced to the players, who laudably made several attempts to place him in a situation where he might prosecute his studies; he was introduced to Dr. Young, afterwards Bishop of Clonfert, and the Rev. Gilbert Austin , who selected and printed at his own expense, a volume of his poems, and the money produced thereby, together with a small subscription entered into by his friends, enabled them to place him as
- a boarder in a comfortable and commodious house in Grafton-street; and here it-was the early depravity of his disposition began to evince itself; as he would often relinquish the invitations of his friends and patrons, for the society of depraved and vicious characters; and it was his misfortune at a meeting of this kind to become acquainted with one Martin, a drawing master. This person knowing Dermody’s influence with Mr. Austin, and wish-ing to get the business of his academy, persuaded him to shew that gentleman the drawing of a flower, which be (Dermody) should say was done by himself, after receiving only three lessons. This he unhesitatingly agreed to, and immediately exhibited the flower, urging at the same time the recommendation as he had been desired. The stratagem thus daringly formed, carried its own failure along with it, for it was utterly impossible the most ready genius could execute a drawing in the same style within the period of instruction that he had specified. Mr. Austin, on seeing the flower, and hearing his story, instantly accused him of duplicity, and Dermody denied the charge; at last, however, he was desired to sit down and make a copy of the drawing, when to his disgrace the deception became evident. He was immediately ordered from the parlour to the kitchen, where, for a considerable time, he was kept in disgrace: to give vent to his feelings, he satirized his benefactors, and the lines were brought by his prying landlord to Mr. Austin, who immediately destroyed the poems he had collected for publication, returned the subscribers the money he had received from them for Dermody’s support, and turned him out once more upon the wdrld, friendless and forsaken. He con-tinued to exist for some time on newspaper drudgery, and, by the interest of a Mr. Berwick, he was noticed, adopted, and patronized by the Dowager Countess of Moira, and at her expense was furnished with all suitable necessaries, and placed under the care of the learned and reverend Mr. Boyd*, at Killeigh. In this situation he * The celebrated translator of Dante. VOL. 11. Q
- remained two years, during which time he greatly im-‘ proved himself in the ancient languages, and acquired a competent knowledge of French and Italian; but neither kindness nor circumstances could efface those habits of imprudence and irregularity which seemed innate, and which to the latest period of his life he sedulously cultivated. At every ale-house in the neighbourhood, where- ever low company was to be found, Dermody was there. He had, however, the art long to satisfy his benefactress; but by a tissue of conduct as infamous as it was ungrateful, he at length offended her, and was once more cast despised and friendless on the world. During his retirement at Killeigh, he wrote odes, epitaphs, and elegies, on himself, all of which contain great poetic merit. He once more returned to Dublin, a journey which he performed with ease and comfort, having had ten guineas given bins by his patroness, as a last donation, when be left Killeigh. He bad not been, however, many days in Dublin, before his finances were entirely expended, and he applied to his friend Mr. Owenson, who treated him with his usual hospitality. He likewise wrote to the bishop of Dromore, and to the celebrated Henry Grattan, who so highly estimated the talents of Dermody, that in his seal to serve him, he introduced many passages of a poem (enclosed by Dermody to him) in a celebrated speech in the House of Commons, and strongly recommended its author to the particular notice of persons of taste and fortune; and it was likewise through the kindness of this highly-gifted patriot, to whom Ireland stands so deeply indebted, that Dermody was introduced to the celebrated Henry Flood, who honoured him with his particular friendship while be lived, and who suggested to him a plan for composing a poem on the British constitution.
- In August 1799, he received a letter from his father, which found him as poor and dissipated as ever; and to such a distressful state was he reduced, that to avoid the importunities of those to whom he owed small sums, he wandered among the fields by day, and sought the meanest
- shelter by night; surrounded, as he then was, by both poverty and famine, be still retained a great portion of playful vivacity, which he displayed in various poetical compositions, particularly in a letter addressed to the Rev. Mr. Berwick, of Moira-House, in which he requests admittance once more to that mansion of hospitality. He also sent several letters, imploring assistance from the Countess of Moira, all of which were unanswered. He now commenced politician, and published a pamphlet on the subject of the French Revolution, entitled, u The Right* of Justice; or, Rational Liberty;” to which was annexed, a well-written poem, called, G The Reform.” At this time his biographer admits, that 0 his state became so desperate, that be would have undertaken to defend or promote any cause which promised to afford the least immediate supply.” His condition now became insupportable, and be reflected on it with a poignancy, which, but for a sudden and unexpected relief, must inevitably have brought him to a speedy dissolution. The attorneygeneral being informed by his bookseller, that a panegyric possessing great poetic beauties, had been addressed to him, and printed* in the “Antbologia Hibernica,” made some inquiries relative to the author, and obtained his address. He determined on paying him an immediate visit, and found him just risen. He heard his artless story, and being convinced that he possessed true genius, insisted on his going in his carriage to dine with him. He did so; and, as might be conjectured, was brought back in4he carriage, not quite so sensible as at his first setting out. To the honour of the attorney-general be it recorded, that he aotually engaged apartments for him in the College, and promised not only to furnish them, but to defray the whole of his expenses there, and allow him SOL a*year to enable him to appear in the world with respectability. Yet, incredible at it may appear, Dermody,in a mysterious epistle, rejected all this proffered liberality, and continued to live in a state of wretched obscurity, producing pieces of poetry of evety description. In the midst of his dis-
- tresses, be appealed once more to the liberality of Mr* Grattan, - a man who never closed his doors against the unfortunate. He received him with kindness, and treated him with respect, and at his departure, presented him with five guineas; this sum Dermody got rid of before he reached home; got drunk, and created a disturbance at Ranelagh, a village three miles from Dublin, where be was taken into custody, and corded down upon an empty bed. After this event he met with another patron, in the person of Mr. William Smith; and while he was labouring to advance his fortune, Dermody (as usual) abandoned himself to the most depraved society, whose pursuits were as disreputable as they were perni-cious; lost to the esteem of the world, and deserted even by many of his low associates, he wandered about perfectly destitute, and without any other means of subsistence,. than the donations which his wretched appearance extorted from the humanity of those to whom he presented petitions. In this state of misery and penury, he, with one Stewart, formed a design of visiting London, and met accordingly at a mean public house in Great George-street, which was the rendezvous of a recruiting party, who fixed on Dermody for their victim. He was easily seduced from propriety; he mixed in their low excesses; became speedily intoxicated, and was the same night carried down the River, and safely lodged in a tender which lay moored in the Bay. When he recovered his senses, his apathy of heart (of which he had a large stock) did not desert him, and be became familiarized to his situation, from which he was released by a Mr. Samuel White; he, however, soon after, got into a similar predicament, from which he was extricated by his active friend Mr. Emerson. A short time after this period, after idling away some weeks in a state of ruinous dissipation, he entered as a private in the 108th regiment, commanded by the Earl of Granard; and behaving with some decency, under the wholesome check ¦of military discipline, be was progressively advanced to the ranks of corporal and sergeant; and on the 17th of
- September, 1794, in the nineteenth year of his age, embarked with the regiment for England. He accompanied it afterwards abroad in the expedition under the Earl of Moira, and behaved so well, that his lordship promoted him to a second-lieutenancy in the waggon corps, and lie was in almost every considerable action, and received two wounds; one in the face, and the other in the left hand, a bullet having passed directly through it. On the reduction of the army, Dermody was put on the half-pay list.
- He now came to London, and followed the impulse’of his passions, as heretofore; and the supplies which Lord Moira had generously contributed, were dissipated in the same degraded vices he had indulged in in Ireland. He was at length arrested and lodged in the Fleet prison, from which situation Lord Moira released him, with a threat to withdraw his protection, unless he amended his conduct; but all admonition was vain, for his own sufferings had not taught him prudence. The donation that accompanied the admonitory epistle, he bad squandered in the lowest haunts of vice, and in the pursuit of debauchery had spent his last shilling, when his resources being entirely exhausted, he took shelter in a garret in Strutton Ground, Westminster, and applied for assistance to his biographer Mr. Raymond, who relieved him on this occasion, and assisted him in the publication of a volume of poems, teeming with originality of genius, and beauty of description. “The zeal/’ says Raymond, “of the few friends who were now acquainted with his distresses, soon procured him a number of advocates. His story became extensively known, and among the arbiters of wit, and the admirers of poetical compositions, his talents and situation were frequent subjects of discourse. The force of his genius was universally acknowledged; and from many who interested themselves in his behalf, he reaped more solid advantages than praise and admiration; but neither poverty, experience, nor the contempt of the world, had yet taught him prudence; and he had no sooner excited their compassion, and profited by their generosity, than he neglected their advice.” He now acquired the patronage of Sir James Bland Burges, who interested himself greatly in his behalf, and procured him relief from the Literary Fund. Him, however, he offended, by paying him a visit when in a state of intoxication, and creating a disturbance in his bouse. From Sir James he was patronised by Mr. Addington, and through his means, produced another volume of poems as beautiful as the former.
- At length, after having run from one scene of low depravity to another, until his constitution was undermined, and “reason was beginning to totter on her throneworn with disease, the inevitable consequences of habitual intemperance, death seized his victim with one hand, and opening the portals of eternity with the other, commanded the soul to escape from the earthly tenement, which had so long disgraced it; dying at a wretched hovel near Sydenham, July 15, 1802, in the twenty-eighth year of his age.
- He was one of those unhappy young men, who preferred a life of daring profligacy to the dull and unvariable sameness of virtue; and the time that should have been occupied in the cultivation of his talents, was uselessly spent in their display. He united a depth of poetic intellect, and a great harmony of versification rarely to be met with in the same individual; and could turn with equal facility “from grave to gay, from sullen to serene but if we thus praise his excellence in poetry, how shall we extol his classical attainments ? Horace and Homer he was alike acquainted with, and could unabashed, before a large company, read a passage in either; then put the book in his pocket, and give a fine poetic translation of the passage be had just delivered; and likewise to hit credit be it recorded, that before he bad attained his fifteenth year, he bad acquired a competent knowledge of the Greek, the Latin, the French, and Italian languages^ and knew a little of the Spanish.
- DfeKtuvxt.
- We have now filled up the sun-light of the picture, and there remains nothing but the odious task of enumerating the dark and disgusting shades that deformed it. He was an epitome of every variety of vice, and unblushingly avowed it, without even making those excuses that most of her votaries do; such’as - “it was against my consent, but I was led into it; - it was unfortunate, but we are aty the victims of circumstances - Exbuses, in reality, as frivolous as they are despicable, but which have some weight in thefharilable eye of the world. Dermody despised this mental hypocrisy, and setting his arms a-kimbo laid his hand upon his heart, and said fearlessly, “I am vicious, because 1 like it*.”
- SAMUEL DERRICK,
- AN individual who united merit with folly, and wit with imprudence, was a native of Ireland, and was born in the year 1724. Being destined by his parents for trade, be was for some time placed with a linen-draper in Dublin; but being possessed of a thorough dislike to business, he quitted it and his country about the year 1751,and arrived in London, where he commenced author. Soon after his arrival in the metropolis, he indulged an inclination which he had imbibed for the stage, and made his appearance in the character of Gloucester, in Rowe’s tragedy of “.Jane Shore,” at the Haymarket theatre, but with so little success, that he hade adieu to the buskin for ever. After this attempt, be subsisted chiefly by his writings; but having in his disposition both profusion and profligacy, be indulged himself in all the follies and excesses of gallantry and gaming; and lived during the greater part of his
- time, the slave of dependence, or the sport of chance. His acquaintance with the people of fashion, on the decease of the celebrated Beau Nash, procured him at length a more permanent subsistence, and he was chosen to succeed that gentleman in his offices of master of the ceremonies at Bath and Tunbridge; a situation he was peculiarly qualified for, having a taste for enjoyment without exertion, and the diffusion of wealth without the trouble of acquiring it. By the profits of these investments, he might have been enabled to place himself with economy in a less precarious state; but the contempt of prudence bad been too deeply cherished to be so speedily got rid of, by which means he was, at the time of his decease, (which happened on March 7. 1769,) equally embarrassed as he had been at any period of his life. He translated one piece from the French, of the King of Prussia’s, entitled, “Sylla,” a dramatic entertainment, 8vo. 1753; u A Voyage to the Moon,” from the French, of Bergerac, 12mo. 1753; “Memoirs of the Count de Beauwal,” from the French of the Marquis D’Argens* 12mo. 1754; "The Third Satire of Juvenal translated into English verse,” 4to. 1755; and he also edited an edition of Dryden’s Poetical Works, with a Life and Notes, in 4 vols. 8vo. 1762, a beautifully printed book, but which was attended with very little success. In 1759, he published “A View of the Stage,” in 8vo. under the name of Wilkes. In 1762, “The Battle of Laura,” a poem; and, in 1763, “A Collection of Voyages,” in 2 vols. 12mo. and some other compilations, with and without his name. The most amusing of his works are his “Letters written from Liverpool, Chester, &c.” in 2 vols. 12mo.
- Derrick, it is true, lived infinitely more to amuse than to instruct the public; but it is to be hoped, his life was not altogether useless to mankind.
- The following anecdote, illustrative of Derrick’s modesty, was related to me, by a daughter of that celebrated and ingenious man Paterson, the book auctioneer. Paterson had one day a large party of literary men to dine with him, and amongst the rest came Dr. Johnson. Derrick dropt in casually towards the close of the evening, and beholding the doctor, walked up pompously towards him, stretching out his hand, and exclaiming,u Brother author, give ns your handwhen the doctor (who had put on his good behaviour for the day) burst into an immoderate laugh, in which he was joined by the whole company, and Derrick became the object of their ridicule and contempt.
- LETTICE DIGBY,
- A FBMALB endowed with true heroism and decision of character, was descended from the ancient and renowned family of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare. She was created Baroness of Offaley for life; and, on her marriage with Lord Digby, of Colesbill, in the county of Longford, brought into that family the barony, lordship, manor, and territory of Geashill, in the King’s County, with the monastery of Killeigh, the rectory, and prebend of Geashill, and all the hereditaments within the said barony, which were the inheritance of her grandfather, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, the same being confirmed to her and her heirs, by the award of King James I., bearing date 11th July, 1619 After which, some persons (under pretence of some concealments, or of nice and strict defects or omissions in the patents granted to her ancestors,) endeavouring to defeat her of divers parcels of the said barony, and to pass patent secretly for the same, the king was pleased (by privy seal from Greenwich, 26th June, 1620,) for prevention thereof, and to the end, that as much as in his majesty lay, he might settle on her and her heirs, a good and indefeasible estate of all the said barony, lordship, manor, and territory of Geashill, and of the said monastery, the advowson, &c. of all the lands whatsoever, as well spiritual as temporal, which were in the possession of Elizabeth, Countess of Kildare, as grantee, lessee, or committee of the lands of Gerald, now Earl of Kildare, at the time of making the said award, or which were reputed the inheritance of any
- of the ancestors of the said Lady Lettice,) to order a new grant and confirmation, to bold the same for ever, by sueb rents, tenures, and services, as were reserved by the patents of Queen Elizabeth, granted the eleventh and twentieth years of her reign, to the said Gerald, Earl of Kildare, and that the premises should be created into the manor of Geashill, with the privileges of courts, free warren, liberty to make a park, to hold a Tuesday market, and two fairs, on 1st June and 5th October at Killeigh, with the advow- son of the church; and she passed patent accordingly,4th September that year.
- Her ladyship living in the time of the Rebellion, the insurgents in that part of the country robbed and despoiled many of their adversaries, committed divers outrages and acts of cruelty; and at several times assaulted and besieged her in her castle of Geashill, which she defended with great resolution. - In the first attempt, Henry Dempsie, brother to the Lord Clanmalien, and others, subscribed and sent her the following summons: -
“We, his majesty’s loyal subjects, at the present employed In his highness’s service for the sacking of this your castle, you are therefore to deliver unto us the free possession of your said castle, promising faithfully that your ladyship, together with the rtst within your said castle reriont, shall have a reasonable composition; otherwise, upon the non-yielding of the castle, we do assure you that we will burn the whole town, kill all the protestants, and spare neither man, woman, or child, upon taking the castle lay compulsion. Consider, madam, of this our offer, and impute not the blame of your own folly unto us; think not that here we brag. Your ladyship, upon submission, shall have a safe convoy to secure you from Ao hands of your enemies, and to lead you whither you please. A speedy rqp^y is desired with M expcdtHoa, and thus we surcease."
- M Henry Dempsie, Charles Dempsie, Andrew Fits Patrick, Conn Dempsie, Phelim Dempsie, Ja. Mac-Dunnell, John Vicars." To this summons, she returned the following polite answer: -
- a I received your letter, wherein you threaten to sack this my castle, by his majesty’s authority. I have ever been a loyal sutyect, and a good neighbour among yon, and therefore cannot but wander at such an assault. I thank you for your offer of a convoy, wherein I hold little safety; and, therefore my resolution is, that being free from offending hb majesty, or doing wrong to any of you, I will live and die innocently, and will do my
- best to defend my own* leaving the issue to God $ and though I have been, and still am desirous to avoid the shedding of Christian blood, yet befog provoked, your threats shall no whit dismay me.”
- After two months, the Lord Viscount Clanmalien brought a great piece of ordnance, (to the making of which, as it was credibly reported, there went seven score pots and pans, which was cast three times by an Irishman from Athboy, before they brought it to that perfection, io which it was at Geaahill,) and sent another summons to her ladyship, in these words; -
“Noble Madam,
“It was never my intention to offer you any injury, before you were pleased to begin with me, for it is well known, if I were so disposed, yon had not been by this time at Geashill; so as I find you are not sensible of the courtesies I always expressed unto you, since the beginning of this commotion; however, I did not thirst after revenge, but out of my loving and wonted respects still towards you, I am pleased and desirous to give you fair quarter, if you please to accept thereof, both for yourself, children and grand-children, and likewise your goods; and I will undertake to send a safe convoy with you and them, either to Dublin, or to any other of the next adjoining garrisons, either of which to be at your own election $ and if you be not pleased to accept of this offer, I hope you will not impute the blame onto me, if yon be not fairly dealt withal, for I expect to have the command of your house before I stir from hence. And if you please to send any of your gentlemen of your house to me, I am desirous to confer thereof at large, and so expecting your speedy answer, I rest, your loving cousin,
“LEWIS GLANMALEROE.”
- M P.S. Madam, there are other gentlemen now in this town, whose names are hereunto subscribed, who do join and unite themselves in this mine offer onto yon.
“Lewis Gianmaleroe, Ant O*Molley, Henry Dempsie, Edw. Connor, Cha. Connor, Daniel Doyne, John Mac William." To this letter, Lady Offaley sent the following answer: - “My Lord,
“I Httle expected such a salute from a kinsman, whom I have ever respected, you being not ignorant of the great damages I have received from your followers of Gianmaleroe, so as you can’t but know in yonr own conscience, that I am innoctat of doing you any injury, unless you count it an injury for my people to bring back a small quantity of mine own goods where they found them, and with them, some others, of such men as have done me all the injury they can devise, as may appear by their own letter. I was offered a convoy by those that formerly besieged me, and I hope you have more honour than to follow their example, by seeking her ruin
- that never wronged yon. However, I am atilt of the same mind, and can think no place safer than my own house, wherein if I perish by your means, the guilt will light on you, and I doubt not but I shall receive a crown of martyrdom, dying innocently. God, I trust, will take a poor widow into Ms protection, from all those wMch, without cause, are risen up against me.
- u Your poor kinswoman,
“LETTICE OFFALEY ” “P.S. If the conference you desire do but concern the contents of thb letter, I think thb answer will give yon frill satisfaction; and I hope yon will withdraw your hand, and shew your power in more noble actions.” After his lordship had received this answer, he discharged his piece of ordnance against the castle, which, at the first shot, broke and flew in pieces; but his men continued, with their musquets and other arms, to fire until the evening, when they took away the broken ordnance, and marched off in the night. But prior to their departure his lordship sent the following letter thus directed: -
« To my noble cousin, the Lady Lattice, Baroness of Offidey. M Madam,
“I received your letter, and am still tender of your good and welfare, though you give no credit thereunto. And, whereas, you do understand by relation, that my piece of ordnance did not prosper, I believe you will be sensible of the hazard and loss you are like to sustain thereby, unless you will be better advised to accept the kind offer which I mentioned in my letter unto you in the morning; if not, expect no/artihr/swur of my kauris, and so I rest, your ladyship’s loving anui*9
“LEWIS GLANMALEROE.*
- To which my lady returned answer by one of her own men, who was kept prisoner: -
« My Lord,
“Your second summons I have received, and should be glad to find you tender of my good. For your piece of ordnanee, I never disputed how it prospered, presuming you would rather make use of it for your own defence, or against enemies, than to try your strength against a poor widow of your own blood; but since you have bent it against me, let the blood which shall be shed be required at their hands that seek it; for my part, my conscience tells me that I am innocent, and wishing you so too, I rest, your cousin,
“LETTICE OFFALEY."
- She was further menaced by Charles Dempsie, who wrote the following letter, with the design of sending it to her that afternoon; bnt being beaten out of the town, be was prevented, and it was found in one of the houses. M Madam,
“I do admire that a lady of your worth and honour, as you conceive yourself to be, should in so regardleu a sort, instead of matters of conscience in your letters, use frivolous and scandalous words, expressly nominating os your enemies, Clanmaleroe Kearnes; and that, in that letter written this very day unto Sir Luke Fitz-Gerald, desiring his assistance to the number of fifty men, which should quash and cashier us hero hence, be being your enemy no leu than we, secluding kindred, not prophaneneu of religion. Nay, your ladyship was not formerly abashed to write to William Parsons, naming ns in that letter unto him, a mixt multitude. Remember yourself, madam, consisting of more women and boys than men. All these letters before your ladyship shall be produced. Both the messengers we have intercepted, together with your letters, and do detain them as yet prisoners, until such time as thereof we do certify your ladyship, which at the present to do we thought expedient. They are therefore censured to death, and this day is prefixed to their execution. Your ladyship by your letter desires novelties. Hear then, Chidley Coote (correspondent^ to the intent of your letters to Parsons, coming to your aid), being intercepted in the way, was deadly wounded, ten taken prisoners, his ensigns taken away, one Alman Hammetts man, if he comes safe with his message, (as I hope he will not,) will confirm this news. Had the character of these letters of yours been either Lloyd’s or Hammetts, that politick engineer, and the deviser of quilletts (by him that bought me), no other satisfaction should be taken but their heads, though, as the case stands, Hammett lives in no small danger for manifold reasons.
“CHARLES DEMPSIE." But notwithstanding all these menaces and attacks, she held out with unsubdued courage, until effectually relieved by Sir Richard Grenville, in October 1642, after which she retired to Coleshill; and died the 1st of December, 1658, and lies buried in the cathedral church of St. Patrick. She bad the happiness of being the parent of seven sons and three daughters, whose virtues were at once their praise and her consolation.
- SIR LUCAS DILLON, OF Newtown and of Morymet, in the county of Meath, the son of Sir Robert Dillon, highly eminent in his profession - the law, and distinguished for his experience both in martial and civil affairs. We are told * Sir Henry 1
- Sidney generally consulted bitn and Francis Agarde, Esq. in all matters of consequence, and found him so faithful and trusty, that he used to call him meusJiddis Lucas’* In 1567, he was made attorney-general; on the 13th of October, 1572, was constituted chief baron of the exchequer, and one of the privy council, and was knighted by Sir Henry Sidney at Drogheda, in 1576. In 1533, SirJohn Plunket,chief justice of the Queen’s Bench, dying, her majesty resolved to appoint for his successor, ° her trusty and well-beloved servant, Sir Lucas Dillon, chief baron, as a personage, whom for his very good and faithful service, and for his good deserts and sufficiency every way, she thought not only worthy of that place, but of a better; yet, upon good consideration, and finding, by himself, that he was able to do her better service in the place he then had, than if he had the other, was pleased^ upon his recommendation, to appoint James Dowdall, second justice of the said bench, to discharge the place of chief justice; and, as some recompence to him, did, by privy seal, dated at Greenwich, 5th June, 1583, confer upon him the office of seneschal (which he then held) and to his heirs male, of the hundred or barony of Kilkenny- West, over the surname of Dillon, and other the inhabitants there, with all and singular the commodities and profits unto the same office belonging; as also a lease of such crown lands, spiritual and temporal as he should nominate, amounting to 70l. a year, for sixty years, at the accustomed rent; in lieu whereof, he surrendered to the queen, (30tb October) all his right and title to the town and lands of Athlone, which he challenged to have belonged to the chief of the Dillons before this time.” In 1584, the L. D. Perrott, sent him to the queen, to give account of his proceedings in Ireland, from his first arrival, in the execution of his office; in doing which, be gave her majesty such satisfaction, that she made very honourable mention of him, and expressed the high esteem she had for him, in the postcript of her letter to the deputy, dated 20th January. On the 26th April, 1587, he was
- W commissioned, with others, to distribute the forfeited et« tales in Munster, and joined in many other commissions of public utility during the queen’s reign. He married Jane, daughter of James Bathe, of Atbcarne and Drum- conoragh, Esq. chief baron of the exchequer, aud had issuer seven sons and five daughters; and was buried in Newtown.
- ROBERT DILLON,
- SXCOND Earl of Roscommon, was a nobleman of courage and bravery, and served his king and country with integrity and affection. In 1627, King Charles I. made him a privy counsellor, and on the 13th of August, 1628, appointed him a commissioner for the re-granting of all lands then becoming the possession of the crown in Ulster. In 1629, his lordship and Michael, second son of Henry, Lord Folliott, had a licence for their respective lives 11 to keep taverns, and sell all manner o f wholesome wines, and Id make and sell aqua vita, by retail or in gross, in the town of Ballyshannon. He was also a member of the House of Commons; and on the 26th of May, 1638, was made keeper of the great seal, in the absence of the Lord Chancellor. On the 12th of September, 1639, he was created one of the lord justiciaries of Ireland, in which high post he continued until the Earl of Strafford’s arrival on the 18th of March following; upon whose departure, and the death df his deputy, Wandesford, he was once more, together with Sir William Parsons, appointed lord justiciary, prior Ito which, however, many weighty exceptions were made to his lordship, and, amongst others, “that when he was lord justiciary before, he had committed several people for selling unsealed tobacco, had been often a referee upon paper petitions, and that his son had married the Earl of Strafford*s sister.*9
- These charges were argued the next day before the king in council, and Lord Dillon was removed in the February following. Being thus by his enemies deprived of the government, his majesty was pleased by privy seal* dated the 14th July, 1641, to order a grant of crown land* to be passed to him.
- In 1640, he was captain of ninety-seven foot, and sixty- three carbines; and, in June 1642, was made captain of a troop of horse, and served as a volunteer in all the expeditions under the Earl of Ormond, from the commencement of the troubles, with the greatest intrepidity.
- He was present in parliament on the 1st of August, 1649, and died at Oxmantown, on the 27th of the same month, and was buried on the 7th of September, in St. Patrick’s church.
- His lordship married three wives, by all of whom be left descendants.
- WENTWORTH DILLON, £ARL of Roscommon, a nobleman distinguished for his poetical talents, was born in Ireland about 1633, while the government of that kingdom was under the first Earl of Strafford, to whom he was nephew; his father, Sir James Dillon, third Earl of Roscommon, having married Elizabeth the youngest daughter of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, in the county of York, sister to the Earl of Strafford; hence Lord Roscommon was christened Wentworth*.
- * These circumstances were first pointed out by Mr. Nichols, In a note on his “Select Collection of Poems ," vol. vi. p. 54. It had been generally said by preceding biographers, that the Earl sent for him u after the breaking ont of the civil wars.” Bnt, if his Lordship sent for him at all, it must have been at some earlier period; for he himself was beheaded before the dvH war can properly be said to have begun. No print of Lord Roscommon to known to exist; though Dr. Chetwode, in a MS. life of him, says, that the print prefixed to his Poems (some edition probably about the end of the last century) was very like him; and that he very strongly resembled hta noble uncle. It is not generally known that all the particulars of Lord Roscommon, related by Fenton, are taken from this Life by Chetwode, with which he was probably furnished by Mr. T. Baker, who left them, with many other MSS. to the library of St. John’s college, Cambridge. The life of Lord Roscommon is very ill-written, and full of common-place observations.
- His father (who died at Limerick, in 1619), having been converted by Archbishop Usher from the communion of the church of Rome, he was educated in the Protestant faith, and passed the years of his infancy in Ireland. He was brought over to England by his uncle, on his return from the government of Ireland, and placed at that nobleman’s seat in Yorkshire, under the tuition of Dr. Hall;
- Shortly after the Restoration, he returned to England, H
- where he was graciously received by King Charles II., and made captain of the band of pensioners. In thia situation he fell into the dissoluteness of manners usually attendant on a court, and with which no court was ever more tainted than that of Charles II.; and, amongst other excesses, he was tempted to indulge a violent passion for gaming, by which he both injured his estate, and involved himself in quarrels, in which he is said to have frequently hazarded his life in duels. A dispute with the lord privy seal, about part of his estate, obliging him to re-visit his native country, he resigned his post in the English court; and shortly after his arrival in Dublin, the Duke of Ormonde appointed him captain of the guards. His passion for gaming, however, still continued; and he was involved in quarrels and difficulties in Ireland, as he had been before in England; and an adventure betel him which is related by Fenton in the following terms: - * As he returned to his lodgings from a gaming table, he was attacked in the dark by three ruffians, who were employed to assassinate him. The earl defended himself with so much resolution, that he dispatched one of the aggressors; whilst a gentleman, accidentally passing that way, interposed, and disarmed another; the third secured himself by flight. This generous assistant was a disbanded officer, of a good family, and fair reputation; who, by what we call the partiality of fortune, to avoid censuring the iniquities of the time, wanted even a plain suit to make a decent appearance at the castle. But his lordship on this occasion, presenting him to the Duke of Ormonde, with great importunity prevailed with his grace that he might resign his post of captain of the guards to his friend, which for about three yeais the gentleman enjoyed; and upon his death, the duke returned the commission to his generous benefactor/’
- It is worthy of insertion here, an extract from a letter addressed by Mrs. Catherine Phillips to Sir Charles Cot- terel, and dated, Dublin, October IQ, 1668, wherein she styles him “a very ingenious person, of excellent natural
- parts, and certainly the wfost hopefid young nobleman in Ireland.”
- The attractive pleasures of the English court, and the friendships he had there contracted, were powerful motives for his return to London, where, shortly after his arrival, he was made master of the horse to the Duchess of York, and married the lady Frances, eldest daughter of the Earl of Burlington, and widow of Colonel Courtney. Marriage having soberised him, he now occupied his mind with literary projects, and began to distinguish himidf by his poetry, and about this time projected a design, in conjunction with his friend Dryden, for refining and fixing the standard of our language; but this was entirely defeated by the religious commotions, that were then increasing daily; at which time the earl formed a resolution to past the remainder of his life at Rome, telling his friends “it would be best to sit next to the chimney when the chamber smoked/’ a sentence, of which Dr. Johnson says, the application seems not very clear. His departure, however, was delayed by the gout, and he was so impatient, either of hindrance, or of pain, that he submitted himself to a French empyrrc, who is said to have repelled the disease into his bowels. At the moment in which he expired, he uttered with an energy of voice, that expressed the most fervent devotion, two lines of his own version of “Dies Ir®/’
“My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me in my end.”
- He died on the 17th of January, 1684, and was interred frith great pomp in Westminster Abbey.
- JOHN DIXON,
- AN eminent mezzotinto engraver, who flourished about the year 1770, was a native of Ireland. He was originally a silver engraver in Dublin, and studied at the Dublin Academy; but despising this inferior department of km art, he suddenly surprised the Wurid with his admirable engraving of “Garrick, in the character of Richard III.;W but shortly afterwards marrying a lady of rank, be bade adieu to the arts for ever.
- There are several fine portraits engraved by him after Sir Joshua Reynolds and other masters. The time of his decease we are unacquainted with.
- WILLIAM DIXON,
- BISHOP of Downe and Connor, was a rare union of true piety and every amiable quality that could adorn the man and the Christian. He was born in the diocese of which he was bishop, in February 1745. He passed through all his academic exercises with great credit, and was an. elegant scholar. The friendship between Mr. Fox and the Bishop of Downe commenced with their studies at Eton, and lasted to the close of the prelate’s life. He was likewise a cotemporary there with Lord Robert Spencer, Mr. Stone, and others. But it was owing to his indissoluble connexion between the great statesman already mentioned, that he owed his promotion to the prelacy of Downe and Connor, be being the only bishop made under his administration.
- In June 1773, he married Miss Henrietta Symes, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Symes; a lady every way deserving, from her sweetness of temper and elegance of manners, of the blessing of such a mate. He was preferred to the bishoprick of Downe and Connor in December .1783, and died, after a long and tedious illness, which he endured with patience and piety, at the house of Mr. Fox, in Arlington Street, on the 19th of September, 18O4 in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and was buried in the church-yard belonging to St. James’s parish, in the New Road.
- It would be almost impossible to conceive any man to be more what is generally understood by the wordomtoMe than the late Bishop of Downe was; and if his natural modesty had not in a great degree kept his mind from expanding
- itself, his understanding and general talents were capable of no ordinary exertions, as nothing could be executed with more happiness than his ready, eloquent, and energetic answer to the late John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, in the Irish House of Lords, upon a subject started upon him unexpectedly by that noble person. Amongst the circle of his acquaintance he will be long and deeply regretted, as there was a peculiar charm in his manners; and the gentleness of his domestic life was exemplified in the punctilious discharge of all his ecclesiastical and political functions. Ail religious denominations regarded him with the profoundest admiration; and throughout his district, to the immortal honour of Erin be it spoken, there was not a man, whatever his mode of faith, who did not revere this admirable prelate.
- By his wife he was blessed with a numerous offspring. Two of his sons were field-officers in the army, and his daughters were distinguished by the superiority of their mental and personal accomplishments.
- A monument, plain and unadorned, executed by Rossi, was erected in the year 1805, to his memory, in the new burying ground (belonging to St. James’s church), in Tottenham Court Road. The circumstance which chiefly distinguishes this tribute of surviving affection to departed virtue, is the inscription upon the tablet, being from the classic pen of Charles James Fox.
- FRANCIS DOBBS,
- WAS a gentleman of respectable family and moderate fortune; be had been educated for the bar, where he acquired reputation as a constitutional lawyer; and it may justly be said of him, he was a firm patriot, a zealous advocate, and an extraordinary enthusiast. He seemed to possess two distinct minds; one, every way adapted to the duties of his profession, and the general offices of society; the other, divergingfrom its natural centre,carried him through wilds and ways rarely frequented by the human under-standing; entangled him in the maze of contemplative deduction, from revelation to futurity; and his judgment; was frequently lost io the regions of imagination. Hie singularities, however, seemed so separate from his sober judgment, that each followed its appropriate occupation without interruption from the other, and left the theologies and the prophet sufficiently distinct from the lawyer and the gentleman. There were few virtues he did not in some degree partake of, while no inclination to vice could be charged on him, even by the spirit of party. By nature, a patriot and an enthusiast; - by science, a lawyer and an historian. On common topics he was not singular* and on subjects of literature was informed and instruct tive; but there is sometimes a key in the human minu which cannot be touched without sounding those wild chords ever at variance with the harmony of reason. When expatiating on the subjects of Antichrist and the Millenium, his whole nature seemed to undergo a change - his countenance brightened - bis language was dignified and earnest - sometimes sublime, always extraordinary, and frequently extravagant. These doctrines, strange as it may appear, he made auxiliaries to his view of universal politics; and, persuaded himself of the application and infallibility of his reasoning, he seemed to feel no difficulties when treating of these mysterious subjects. Mr* Dobbs was a decided enemy to the Union; and on a debate on that subject, in 1800, delivered the most extraordinary discourse ever uttered in a public assembly. For a few minutes, his whimsical reasoning and extravagant deductions occasioned a buzz of ridicule in the House; but this was soon succeeded by the most profound silence and respectful attention, which continued uninterrupted for several hours, until he had finished a most sublime and impressive speech, of which nearly thirty thousand copies were printed and circulated throughout Ireland. Before this he had published some excellent and spirited letters on the Independence of Ireland; and an Universal History; and several miscellaneous Tracts; of which few appeared
- 103 altogether untouched by his favourite topic - revelation. He was a most active and zealous volunteer officer, and acquired, through that and his excellent character, the notice of the Earl of Charlemont, through whose interest he was brought into the House of Commons. The honest zeal and public principles of Mr. Dobbs injured his individual interests, and, prior to his decease, he experienced difficulties and unmerited neglect.
- HENRY DODWELL,
- Is a remarkable instance of the attainments which a man may acquire by unremitted industry and application, and of the figure which he may make in the world, even under the disadvantage of the want of original strong powers of judgment and discernment. He was born in Dublin, towards the latter end of October 1641. His father, who was of English extraction, was possessed of an estate in the province of Connaught, which was seized upon by the insurgents in the unhappy disturbances which then broke out. Thus deprived of his principal means of support, he was compelled to fly to England in 1648, with his wife and child, to solicit the assistance of his relations. Having by their means placed his son in the free school at York, be returned to Ireland to look after his estate, but unfortunately caught the plague and died, and his widow soon after fell a victim to a consumption, at the house of her brother Sir Henry Slingsby. Left thus an helpless orphan, and doomed to encounter, at that qarly age, all the miseries of poverty and dependence, frequently wanting even the necessaries of life, young Dodwell pursued his studies, under all these disadvantages, with unremitting diligence. His maternal uncle was prevented, by the sequestration of his estates, from affording him much assistance; but, after the lapse of five years, he was relieved from this forlorn condition by the kindness of his uncle, Mr. Henry Dodwell, Rector of New bourn and Hemley, in Suffolk, who took him into his own house, and
- assisted him in the prosecution of his studies. In l655r he returned to Dublin, and, after remaining at school one year longer, was admitted at Trinity College, where he was chosen successively scholar and fellow. This last appointment he, however, resigned in 1666, scrupling to take holy orders according to the rules of the college, and declining the proffer of the learned Jeremy Taylor to use his interest to obtain a dispensation in his favour.
- Soon after this event he spent some time at Oxford £ but, having returned to Ireland in 1672, he first appeared as an author in an Apologetical Preface to a posthumous work of his learned tutor, Dr. Stearn. He soon after published “Two Letters of Advice, 1, For the Susceptiou of Holy Orders; 2, For Studies Theological, especially such as are Rational.” In 1674, he settled in London, where he contracted an intimacy with several learned meo, particularly with Dr. William Lloyd, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, whom he accompanied to Holland, where he was appointed chaplain to the Princess of Orange. In 1675, he commenced a controversial attack upon the Catholics, by the publication of a pamphlet, which he followed up in the next year by another of the same* nature. As these, together with by far the greater number of his publications, are at present little known, we shall abstain from transcribing their titles, which frequently extend to an inconvenient length. He next turned his pen against the Dissenters, in a work intended to prove their separation from the episcopal government schismatical, and to display the sinfulness and mischief of schism. This work was immediately answered by the celebrated Richard Baxter, whose animadversions were replied to by Mr. Dodwell in 1681. His next work,“Dissertations on St. Cyprien,” drew down upon him the severe censure of both Catholics and Protestants, in consequence of an astern pt, in the eleventh dissertation, to diminish the number of the early martyrs. The interval between this and the Revolution, was occupied by the publication of several controversial works on the Nature and Heinousness of Schism, and the Peculiar Powers of the Priesthood. In April 1688, he was elected by the university of Oxford, without solicitation on his part, Camden’s Professor of History. Here he soon after took his degree of M. A. and enriched the learned world with his “Dissertations on Irenaeus.” He held his professorship only till November 1691, when he forfeited it by his refusal to take the oaths to the new government.
- Dr. Tillotson having consented to assume the primacy, vacant by the suspension of Dr. Sancroft, Mr. Dodwell wrote to him to dissuade him from being the aggressor in what he considered a new designed schism, pronouncing the consecration, if it took place under such circumstances, null, void, and schismatical. His pen was now for some time entirely taken up with the defence of the suspended bishops and their adherents, and be was one of the firmest supporters of their cause, which he advocated in various works.
- Soon after the loss of his professorship, he retired to Maidenhead, where he became acquainted with Mr. Francis Cherry, of Shottesbrooke, a gentleman remarkable for Ibis learning and virtue; and so intimate a friendship ensued between them, as to induce Mr. Dodwell, for the sake of that gentleman’s society and conversation, to remove to Shottesbrooke, where he spent the remainder of his life. Having now reached the mature age of fifty-two, he married a lady, in whose father’s house at Cookham, he had several times resided, and became the father of ten children.
- Domestic cares, however, did not put a stop to his literary pursuits, which were now directed to an object for which his course of studies had peculiarly qualified him, - the elucidation of ancient history. Since his resignation, he had published his Camdenian Lectures, the subjects of which were the histories of the Roman emperors, from Trajan to Diociesian. In 1696, be drew up the annals of Thucydides and Xenophon, to accompany the edition of those two authors by Hudson and Wells. Having like*
- wise prepared annals of Velleius Paterculus, of Quintilian, and of Statius; be published them all together in 1698, its 1 vol. 8vo. These critical works in history, have done more to support his reputation than all his other works together. Speaking of his “Annales Quintiliani,” Gibbon says, “Dodwetfs learning was immense. In this part of history especially, (that of the upper empire) the most minute fact or passage could not escape him; and his skill in employing them, is equal to his learning.” Of his style’and method, however, Gibbon entertained a very unfavourable opinion, and calls the one, “perplexed beyond imagination and the other,“negligent to a degree of barbarism?* He afterwards wrote an account of “Geographies veteris Scrip tores Grseci Minores,” printed in Hudson’s edition of their works. In 1704, appeared his account of the Greek and Roman Cycles, the most elaborate of all bia works, which must have occupied a large share of his attention during a great part of his life. In the same year appeared his “Chronology of Dionysius Halicarnas- sensis,” prefixed to the Oxford edition of Dr. Hudson; and he also took part in the famous dispute betweets Bentley and Boyle, in
- In all his previous writings, Mr. Dodwell had been backed by the approbation and support of a strong party; but the palpable absurdity of his next performance, brought upon him almost universal censure. The title of this work which will be sufficient to give a view of its purpose, runs thus, "An epistolary Discourse, proving from the Scripture, and the first Fathers, that the Soul is a Principle, naturally mortal; but immortalised actually, by the pleasure of God, to Punishment or to Reward, by its Union with the divine Baptismal Spirit; wherein is proved, that none have the power of giving this divine immortalising Spirit since the Apostles, but only the Bishops.” He prefixed to it a dissertation to prove “that Sacerdotal Absolution is necessary for the Remission of Sins, even of those who are truly penitent?9 These monstrous and abhorrent propositions were warmly attacked by the most celebrated men of the day, and as warmly defended by their bigotted author in several publications, which afford a melancholy prospect of the absurdities into which a man may be led by means of a vast store of acquired learning, unaccompanied by strong natural powers of discrimination.
- Mr. Dodwell was, as we have before said, desirous of seeing the breach in the church made up; accordingly, on the death of his friend Dr. Lloyd, which took place on the 1st of Jan. 1710-11, he wrote, in conjunction with some others, to Dr. Kenn, the only surviving deprived bishop, to know, whether he challenged their subjection ? His answer was such as to induce Mr. Dodwell to return into the communion; on which he turned round on such of his old friends as still refused to conform, and wrote, w The Case in View, now in Fact,” 8tc. in order to induce them to follow his example.
- Mr. Dodwell closed along life, spent in literary labour, at Sbottesbrooke, June 7,17 1, in the seventieth year of his age. His industry was prodigious, as appears by the number of his works, which we have found it impossible even to enumerate. No one who wrote half the books
- which he did, could reasonably expect that posterity would read them. Of the absurdity, superstition, and folly of many of his writings, their titles alone are sufficient evidence* Archbishop Tillotson, being consulted by him respecting some of his writings, honestly pointed out their defects, and told him, “such particulars are ao perfectly false, that I wonder you do not perceive the absurdity of them; they are so gross, and grate so much upon the inward sense.” He was, in fact, better able to collect materials for writing, than to arrange them, or to produce any thing valuable from his own mind. His historical annals are his best performances; for their merit we have the authority of Gibbon, whose opinion we have quoted* His private character was most excellent; his integrity was unquestionable; his humility and modesty truly praiseworthy. He was regularly accustomed to fast three days in the week, when he abstained from all food, except a dish or two of tea or coffee, till supper-time, and then he ate no flesh; a habit which he probably found beneficial to his constitution. He was possessed of a most benevolent heart; for, although his income was limited, his charities were extensive.
- THOMAS DOGGET,
- AN author of some merit, but more eminent as an actor, was born in Castle-street, Dublin, towards the close of the seventeenth century, and made his first theatrical attempt on the stage of that metropolis; but not meeting with the encouragement to which his merit was entitled, he quitted Dublin, and came over to England, where he entered himself in a travelling company, and from thenoe was very soon removed to London, when he procured an engagement in Drury-lane and Lincoln’s-Inn-fields Theatres, where he was universally admired in every character he performed; but shone in none more conspicuously than those of Fondlewife, in the Old Batchelor; and Ben, in Love for Love; which Congreve, with whom he
- DOGGET. log
- was a very great favourite, wrote in some measure with a view to his manner of acting.
- In a few years after, he removed to Drury-lane theatre, where he became joint-manager with Wilks and Cibber, which situation he continued, till, on a disgust he took in the year 1712, at Mr. Booth’s being forced on him as a sharer in the management, he threw up his share in the property of the theatre, though it was calculated to have been worth 1000Z. per annum. By his frugality, however, he had accumulated sufficient to render him comfortable for the remainder of his life, with which be retired from the fatigue of his profession in the very meridian of his reputation. As an actor he had great merit; and his contemporary, Cibber, informs us, that he was the most original, and the strictest observer of nature of any actor of his time. His manner, though borrowed from none, frequently served for a model to many; and he possessed that peculiar art of arriving at the perfectly ridiculous, without stepping into the least impropriety to obtain it. And so extremely careful and skilful was he in the dressing of his character to the greatest exactness of propriety, that the least article of what he wore, seemed in some degree to speak and mark the different humour he represented. “This,” says Wilks, u I have heard confirmed by one who performed with Dogget, and that he likewise could, with uncommon exactness, paint his face so as to represent the age of seventy, eighty, and ninety, distinctly, which occasioned Sir Godfrey Kneller to tell him one day at Button’s, that he excelled him in painting, for that be (Sir Godfrey) could only copy nature from the originals before him; but that Dogget could vary them at pleasure, and yet keep a close likeness. “This great actor,” says the facetious Tom Davis,“was perhaps the only one who confined himself to such characters as nature seemed to have made him for. No temptation could induce him to step out of his own circle, and from this circumstance he never appeared to the audience with any diminution of his general excellence.” In his temper he was a true
- humorist; and in his political principles he was, io the words of Sir Richard Steele, a Whig, up to the head and earsand so firmly was he attached to the interests of the House of Hanover, that he never let pass any opportunity that offered itself, of demonstrating his senti-ments on that head. One instance among others is well known. The year after George the First came to the throne, this performer gave a waterman’s coat and silver badge, to be rowed for by six watermen, on the first day of August, being the anniversary of that king’s accession to the throne; and at his death, (which occurred at Eltham, in Kent, September M, 1721,) bequeathed a certain sum of money, the interest of which was to be appropriated annually for ever, to the purchase of a similar coat and badge, to be rowed for in honour of the day. This ceremony still continues to be performed every year on the first of August. The competitors, according to the rules of the match, starting on a given signal at that time of the tide when the current is strongest against them, and rowing from the Old Swan near London Bridge, to the White Swan at Chelsea.
- As a writer, Dogget has left behind him only one comedy, which has not been performed in its original state for many years, entitled, “The Country Wake,” 4to. 1696. It has, however, been altered into a ballad farce, which frequently makes its appearance under the tile of “Flora; or, Hob in the Well.”
- Dogget lies buried in the church-yard of the place where he died.
- THOMAS DOGHERTY,
- AN eminent special pleader, an author, and editor of several valuable works on the criminal law, was a native of Ireland, and received a slender education at a country school. At an early period of his life he went to England without any direct prospect of employment, or choice of profession; and some years after his arrival, he became clerk to the late Mr. Bower, a very profound and scien-
- tific lawyer, in which situation lie devoted himself with great assiduity to acquire a knowledge of special pleading, and the law connected with that abstruse science. In this pursuit, by employing his leisure hours, and frequently sitting up whole nights,he perfectly succeeded; and such was his diligence, that in a comparatively short time, be accumulated a collection of precedents, and notes, which appeared to his’employer a work of considerable labour and ingenuity. After having been many years with Mr. Bower, by the advice of that gentleman, he commenced special pleader; and in this branch of the profession he soon acquired a great and merited reputation; his drafts, which were generally the work of his own hand, being allowed to be models of legal accuracy. They were formed according to the neat and concise system of Mr. Bower, and his great friend and patron Sir Joseph Yates, many of whose book*, notes, and precedents, as well as those of Sir Thomas Davenport, were in the possession of Mr. Dogherty. His intense application, however, greatly injured his health, which was visibly on the decline for many months previous to his decease, which took place at his chambers in Clifford’s Inn, Sept. 49, 1805, by which the profession was deprived of a man of great private worth, modest and unassuming manners, independent mind, and strict honour and probity.
- In 1786, he published the “Crown Circuit Assistant," a work which is found to be a most useful supplement to the “Crown Circuit Companion;” a new edition of which latter work, with considerable additions, was published by him in 1790. He also edited in 1800, a new edition of u Hale’s Placitorum Coronas,” to which he added an abridgment of the statutes relating to felonies, continued to that date, with notes and references. His Common- Place Book, formed on a plan nearly approaching to that of Mr. Locke, with which at that time he was unacquainted; and his Office Books, which are still in manu-script, are said to be highly valuable, not merely to the student, but to the more experienced lawyer.
- 112
- MAURICE DORAN, OB, O’DEORAN,
- WAS either a Franciscan or Dominican friar, and was born at Leix, in the Queen’s county; he was highly eminent for exemplary conduct, and eloquent preaching. He governed his see of Leighlin but one year and eight months, and was then (about the end of the year 15£5,) barbarously murdered by his Archdeacon, Maurice Cave- nah, in the high-road near Glen-Reynold, because he had reproved him for his insolent obstinacy and other crimes, and threatened him with further correction. The murderer was afterwards apprehended, and, by the command of the Lord-Deputy Girald Fitzgirald, Earl of Kildare, was hanged on a gibbet, erected on the same spot where he had committed the atrocious crime. The answer of Doran to those who advised him after his promotion to levy double subsidies on his clergy, in order to bring in the charges of his election, is worth recording: - “Se velle suos dum tondeantur non deglubi.” - Thai he mould have his Jlock shorn, not jlead.
- WOAAAM O’BRIEN DRURY, A SKILFUL vice-admiral, was a native of Ireland, we believe of the city of Cork. He passed through the different inferior gradations of rank, in the time of the American war, with great credit, and was present in many brilliant actions. In reward for his services, he was appointed post-captain, January 18, 1783, and during the peace he commanded the Spitfire guard-ship, at Cork. When the war commenced against France, in 1793, he entered on more active service, and was frequently employed on the South-West coast of Ireland, during that period, to guard against the machinations of the enemy, particularly subsequent to the naval expedition to Bantry Bay, under General Hoche, and Admiral Morard de Galles. From the Spitfire he was removed to the Trusty, of fifty guns, and from thence to the Powerful, line of battle ship, of l
- seventy-four guns. He commanded this ship under Admiral, afterwards Lord Duncan, off the coast of Holland, and had an honourable share in the glorious victory, on the 11th of October, 1797, when the Dutch fleet, under Admiral de Winter, after prodigies of valour, were compelled to yield to the superior prowess of the British. On the 23rd of April, 1804, he was made a rear-admiral; and a vice-admiral on the 31st of July, 1810.
- Early in life Admiral Drury married a daughter of General Vallancey, of the engineers, so celebrated for his researches into the Celtic language and antiquities, the remains of the aboriginal inhabitants of these islands, and of the Western continent of Europe. By this lady he has had a large family, and some of his sons are now in the royal navy.
- Admiral Drury never had the good fortune to be commander-in-chief of the fleet in a great naval action, but that is an honour which has happened to few. In every rank which the admiral held in the navy, he proved himself an able officer. The last station in which be served, was in the East Indies, where he was commander-in-chief. He prepared at Madras the grand naval expedition which captured the isles of Java, and was anxiously expecting the arrival of ships from Bencoolen, and of the Minden, of seventy-four guns, which had been fitted out at Bombay for his flag, when he was taken ill, and, after twenty- four hours9 severe illness, expired on March 6th, 1811, just as the Minden appeared in the offing. His remains were interred in St. Mary’s church, Madras, on the following evening, with every mark of honour and respect. , The following anecdotes, characteristic of the good- hearted gaiety of his profession and country, will no doubt be acceptable to our readers.
- When, at the commencement of the last war, it became an object of importance to ensure the safe arrival of the homeward-bound trade from India and China, a, fleet was stationed off Cape Clear, for the purpose of protecting them. In this’ fleet, Admiral Drury had the command of VOL. II. i
- the Trusty, and blowing weather having rendered it necessary to put into the mouth of the Shannon, his ship, being the smallest, anchored according to etiquette, inmost of the flag; when orders were given to put to sea* his ship, according to the same etiquette, was the first to weigh, and put about and stand outwards; which he accordingly did, with a good deal of canvas set, and the tide ’running strong, with a stiff breeze off the land; the ship, in consequence, ran at a good rate, and came so dose to the admiral, that a great alarm prevailed lest he should ran on board, and do great mischief to both. All hands were ordered up on board the admiral, and the greatest bustle and confusion prevailed. The admiral hailed Captain Drury, and, in very angry terms, censored him for the dangerous situation in which he had placed both ships) Captain Drury, in answer, bade him not to be alarmed, for there was not the least danger; and the Trusty having by this time brushed close by without touching, be added, “I knew I should do it; and I have done it to a hair.”
- Admiral Drury once met with an accident, in travelling in a stage coach in Ireland, by which his arm was much hurt. On joining his friends at his journey’s end, with his arm in a sling, they condoled with him on his misfortune, which gave rise to a conversation, on the hazards of travelling by sea and land: - “I do not know how it is,” said the admiral, “I have gone frequently into action without experiencing any very unpleasant sensation; but^ when going into that machine, I had a feeling that convinced me I should not get out of it without some mischief or another.”
- JAMES DUCHAL,
- WAS an eminent non-conformist divine, who, in the course of his ministry, displayed talents, learning, sound virtue, and piety, which would have done honour to any ohurch* He was born probably near Antrim, in 1697* The early part of his education was under the superintendence of hto
- node, a venerable and learned tnan; and be alto had the benefit of the instructions of the celebrated Mr. Abernethy of Antrim) from whose example and councils he derived much benefit in his future life. His principles as adissenter prevented his entering Trinity College, and he therefore went over to Glasgow; he there completed his studies, hud took his degree of master of arts. Soon after entering upon the Christian ministry, he was settled with a small eongregatibn at Cambridge, in which situation he continued eleven years. He industriously availed himself of the. advantages afforded him, and, in the perusal of learned works, laid up that vast stock of knowledge for which he teas so eminently distinguished. During his residence at Cambridge, in 1728, be published, in octavo, three sermons, entitled, “The Practice of Religion recommended.” In 1730, he Was invited to come to Antrim to succeed his worthy tutor, Mr. Abernethy, who had removed to a congregation in Dublin^ About ten years after, on the decease of that gentleman, he was chosen to succeed him, by the congregation of Wood Street, Dublin, and this Situation he accepted. He was now past the meridian of life, and of a weekly state of body, circumstances, which Might have induced him to indulge in Case, and abate the unceasing ardour of literary occupation. This temptation however, he resisted; and, notwithstanding the multitude Of Sermons he had already prepared, having ascertained from his oWn experience the superior seal and animation with which a new discourse is delivered, and anxioos to promote the spiritual advantage of his people, he composed so many new sermons, as to amount to upwards of seven hundred, in the course of the twenty years which he survived.
- Towards the conclusion of 1752, Mr. Duchal published what may be considered as his principal work, “Presumptive Arguments for the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion, in ten Sermons; to which is added, A Sermon Upon God’s Moral Government,” octavo. They abound in Sotthdund judicious reasoning, pure principles of morality, dfftl Hbetality of sentiment. Soon after the appearance of this
- volume, the University of Glasgow, in consideration of his merit, conferred upon him the degree of D.D. Towards the close of his life, Dr. Duchal applied himself diligently to the study of the Hebrew language, which at that time was brought before the public by the doctrines of Hutchinson, and his followers. Dr. Duchal did not surrender his reason to their mysterious fancies and delusions, and treated with contempt their notions of finding doctrines and revelations in the roots of the Hebrew and Greek words; considering their efforts as calculated to be injurious to the cause of genuine truth and religion.
- Dr. Du chai’s constitution was not naturally strong, and was worn down by incessant labours. His death took place May 4, 1761, when he had completed his sixtyfourth year. He was justly regretted by his numerous friends, as a faithful pastor, and a valuable example of piety, purity, modesty, humility, candour, and benevolence. In his religious sentiments he was liberal, and an ardent friend to freedom of inquiry.
- Dr. Duchal had often been solicited by his friends to select from his valuable stock of sermons such as be thought fittest for the press; from various causes, however, this was not done; but after his death three volumes were published, and except the first thirteen, were taken nearly at a venture, because such a vein of strong manly sense, and natural piety was found to run through the whole of them, as made it difficult to find any principle of selection. They were published in three separate volumes, in 1764, and 1765.
- AMBROSE ECCLES, AN ingenious dramatic critic, was a native of Ireland; and, after having gone through a regular course of education in Trinity College, went to the Continent, intending to make what is called the tour of Europe. He spent some time in France, from whence he proceeded to Italy; but a continuance of ill health compelled him to forego the further prosecution of his design,: d to return home.
- Being an ardent admirer of the Warwickshire bard, he often lamented that the dramas had suffered in their structure from the ignorance or carelessness of the first editors; and this determined him to attempt a transposition of the scenes, in different places, from the order in which they had been handed down by successive editors. This he accomplished with great ingenuity and much taste, and published the following plays, to each of which he assigned a separate volume: 1, “Cymbeline,” 8vo. 1793; 2, “JKing Lear,” 8vo. 1793; 3, “Merchant of Venice,” 8vo. 1805. Each volume contains, not only notes and illustrations of various commentators, with remarks by the editor; but the several critical and historical essays that have appeared at different times respecting each* piece. He died, at an advanced age, in the year 1809 at his seat of Cronroe, in Ireland, where he bad resided long, in splendid hospitality, administering to the comforts of his surrounding tenantry, and exhibiting a model well worthy the imitation of every country gentleman.
- JOHN ELLIS,
- WAS born in Dublin, and was originally apprenticed to a cabinet maker. He practised scene painting in that city and in London, and received the premium of the silver palette from the Dublin Society, for a drawing in body colours, which involved the most entire and difficult specimen of a thorough knowledge of perspective.
- GEORGE FARQUHAR,
- A COMIC dramatic writer, of great ability and variety of talent, who unfortunately for posterity, made vice appear in a more alluring shape than had hitherto been exhibited.
- He was the son of a clergyman in the North of Ireland, and was born at Londonderry, in 1678; there he received the rudiments of his education, and discovered a genius
- early devoted to the Mutes; for ere he bad attained hb tenth year, he gave specimens of his poetry, in which force of thinking and eloquence of expression are united, the following stanzas being written by him at that early age: -
- * The pliant soul of erring youth,
- Is like soft wax, or moisten’d clay; Apt to receive all heavenly truth,
- Or yield to tyrant ill the sway;
- Slight folly in your early yean,
- At manhood may to virtue rise;
- But he, who in Us youth appears A fool, in age will ne’er be wise.’ His parents having a numerous family, could bestow on him no other portion than a liberal education; therefore^ when be was qualified for the university, he was sent, ia 1694, to Trinity College, Dublin. Here, by dint of his natural talents, be made great progress in his studies; but is does not appear, that he took his degree of Bachelor of Art^ for the lightness and volatility of his disposition could MA long accommodate itself to the uniformity and retirement of a college life. The attractive entertainments of the town more forcibly commanded his attention, especially theatrical amusements, for which he discovered a violent propensity. He, therefore, soon quitted college*, and betook himself to the arduous yet alluring profession of an actor, and was, by means of Mr. Wilks, with whom. Farquhar was acquainted, introduced on the Dublin stage.
- FARQUHAR.
- He was welt received, and had the advantage of a good person; but his voice unfortunately was weak, and he was not blessed with a sufficient stock of assurance, as be never could overcome his natural timidity; he resolved,, however, to continue on the stage, till fortune should present better circumstances to his view. But his resolution was speedily destroyed by an accident which bad nearly changed a fictitious tragedy into a real one. Playing the* part of Guyomar, in the Indian Emperor, who is supposed to kill Vasques, one of the Spanish generals, he forgot to* change his sword for a foil, and in the combat, he wounded his brother tragedian, who represented Vasquea, very dangerously, and although the wound did not prove mortal, yet he was so shocked at the event, that he determined never more to appear on the stage.
- Shortly after this, having no inducement to remainin Dublin, he accompanied his friend Wilks to London, in the year 1696*, who being thoroughly acquainted with the talents and humour of our author, persuaded him write a play, assuring him that he was considered by all who knew him in a much brighter light than he had yet shewn himself, and that he was fitter to furnish compositions for the stage than to echo those of other poets upon it. He likewise received a more substantial encouragement, which enabled him to exercise his genius at leisure; for the Earl of Orrery, who was a patron (as well as a man) of literary attainments, conferred a lieutenant’s commission upon him in his own regiment, in Ireland, which station Farquhar held several years, and as an officer behaved himself without reproach, and gave several instances, both of his courage and conduct.
- In 1698, his comedy, called, “Love in a Bottle, appeared on the stage, and for its sprightly dialogue and busy scenes, was well received by the audience. This
- was his first dramatic attempt, and it obtained for him much popularity. In 1700, be produced his u Constant Couple; or, the Trip to the Jubilee,” it being then the jubilee year at Rouen, where persons of all countries flocked for pardons or amusement; this play was acted with unbounded applause, and was performed fifty-three nights during the first season. In the character of Sir Harry Wildair, our author drew so gay and airy a personage, so suited to Wilks’ talents, and so animated by his gesture and vivacity of spirit, that the player gained almost as much reputation as the poet. Towards the end of this year, Farquhar went to Holland, probably on his military duty; and he has given a very facetious description of those places and people, in two of his letters, dated from the Brill, and from Leyden, and in a third, dated from the Hague. He very humorously relates how merry he was there at an entertainment given by the Earl of Westmoreland, while not only himself, but King William and many of his subjects were detained by a violent storm, which he has very humorously described. There is also among his poems, an ingenious copy of verses to his mistress, on the same subject. This mistress is supposed to have been the celebrated Mrs. Ann Oldfield, who in 1699, chiefly on his judgment and recommendation, was admitted into the theatre; she being then sixteen years of age.
- In 1701, lie was a spectator, though not a mourner, at Dryden’s funeral, as the description he gives of it in one of his letters, affords but little indication of sorrow. Encouraged by the uncommon success of his last play, he wrote a continuation of it in J 701, entitled, “Sir Harry Wildair; or, the Sequel of the Trip to the Jubilee,” in which Mrs. Oldfield received as much applause, and was as greatly admired in her part, as Wilks was in his. In 1702, he published his “Miscellanies; or, Collection of Poems, Letters, and Essays,” which contain an infinite deal of humour, genius, and fancy. It was said, that some of the letters were published from copies returned
- to him at his request, by his sweetheart, Mrs. Oldfield. There is one among them which he calls * The Picture,” which wds intended for a description and character of himself, and commences thus: - u My outside is neither better nor worse than my Creator made and the piece bein g drawn by so great an artist, ’t were presumption to say there were many strokes amiss. I have a body qualified to answer all the ends of its creation, and that’s sufficient. As to the mind, which in most men wears as many changes as their body, so in me’t is generally dressed like my person, in black. In short, my constitution is very splenetic, and my amours, both which I endeavour to hide, lest the former should offend others, and the latter incommode myself; and my reason is so vigilant in restraining these two failings, that I am taken for an easy-natured man by my own sex, and an ill-natured clown by yours. - 1 have very little estate but what lies under the circumference of my hat; and should I by misfortune come to lose my head, I should not be worth a groat. But I ought to thank Providence that I can by three hours’ study, live one-and-twenty, with satisfaction to myself; and contribute to the maintenance of more families, than some who have thousands a year.” Such was Farquhar’s description of himself, in which we learn, that he was very ingenious, very good-natured, and very thoughtless. In 1703, he brought out another amusing comedy, called, “The Inconstant; or, the Way to Win Him;” but taste having turned from genuine drama to Italian operas, &c. this comedy, although not inferior in merit to his former productions, was received with a great degree of lassitude by the audience. Farquhar was married this year; and as he imagined, to a great fortune; but alas, he was destined to be miserably disappointed. The lady had fallen in love with him, and so violent was her attachment, that she resolved to possess him by stratagem, well knowing that he was too much dissipated to fall in love or to think of matrimony, unless advantage was annexed to iu She therefore caused a report to be industriously
- circulated, that she was what is termed, u a great fortune/’ and she took an opportunity of letting our poet know, that she was in love with him. Vanity and interest both, uniting to persuade Farquhar to marry, he did not long delay it; and though be dreamt in courtship, and in wed* lock woke, yet, to his immortal honour be it spoken, al-though he found himself deceived, his circumstances embarrassed, and his family increasing, be never once upbraided her for the f< gross cheat put upon him/’ but treated her with all the affection and tenderness of an indulgent husband.
- Early in 1704, a farce, called 44 The Stage Coach,” in the composition of which he was assisted by another, made its appearance, and was well received. His next comedy, entitled/4 The Twin Rivals,” was performed in 1705; and in the year following, he brought out his amusing comedy, “The Recruiting Officer,” which was performed fifteen nights during the first season. This he dedicated 44 To all Friends round the Wrekin/’ a famous hill near Shrewsbury, where he had been stationed to recruit for his company, and where, from his observations on country life* the manner in which sergeants inveigle clowns to enlist and the loose behaviour of the officers towards the milk* maids and country girls, be collected materials sufficient to form a comedy, which still retains its popularity. The character of Captain Plume, it is said, he intended to be & portrait of himself; of Sergeant Kite, the recruiting sergeant of his regiment*. His last piece was entitled
• “The characters of the Recruiting Officer were taken by Captain Farquhar from the following originals: -
- Justice Balance, was a Mr. Berkely, then Recorder of Shrewsbury. Mr. Hill, an inhabitant of Shrewsbury, was one of the other justices. Worthy, was a Mr. Owen, of Rnssason, on the borders of Shropshire. Captain Plume, was Farquhar himself.
- Brasen, unknown.
- Melinda, was a Miss Harnage, of Balsadine, near the Wreakin. Slyvia, was a Miss Berkely, daughter of the Recorder of Shrewsbury, above mentioned.
- The story supposed to be the author’s own invention. The above information was communicated to Dn Percy, Bishop of Dro-
“The Beaux Stratagem,” which, though competed in six weeks, is decidedly the author’s master-piece. This comedy he did not live to enjoy the foil success of. Towards die close of his short life he was unhappily oppressed with some debts of magnitude, which obliged him to make application to a courtier who had formerly made him many professions of friendship. His pretended patron persuaded him to turn his oomtnissien into the money he wanted, and pledged his honour, that in a very short time he would provide him with another. This csronmstaace appeared favourable, and the unfortunate Farquhar sold his commission; and when he renewed his application to the nobleman, and represented in the most feeling language his distressed situation, his noble patron bad totally forgot his promise, and left him to add his name to the long and melancholy list of those who have been ruined, by the smiles of the great. Thia cruel dis-appointment so preyed upon his mind, that it occasioned his death in April 1707, before he had attained his thirtieth year, and be was honed in St. Martin’s in the Fields. Shortly after his decease the following letter to Mr. Wilks was found among hia papers
“DIAB BOB,
“I have not any thing to keve thee to porpetuate lay measory tat two helpless girts; look upon them tome times, and think of him that was to the last moment of his life, thine,
“GEORGE FARQUHAR." This appeal was duly attended to by Wilks, who proposed to his brother managers to give them a benefit, which they did, and which was very productive; and when the girls became of an age to be put out into the world in business, they were apprenticed to mantua makers, and in the course of years, one was married to an inferior tradesman, and died soon after; and the other was living in 1764, in indigent circumstances, without any more, who bad it from Mr. Blakeway, of Shrewsbury, who had it from an old lady in Shrewsbury, then Hying (1709), who knew Farquhar iati- mately.” - Geato. Hftg. MO0.
- knowledge of refinement in sentiments or expences, and was in every respect well fitted for her humble station. Of his wifey little else is known, than that she died in circumstances of the utmost indigence.
- Of Farquhar’s merits as a writer, various opinions have been entertained, and a comparison between him and Congreve has been attempted by some critics. That he rises far superior to Congreve, we imagine cannot admit of a doubt. Always sprightly and natural; his style, pleasant and unaffected; his wit, sparkling and flowing; and his plots are generally well contrived and interesting; “He possesses a lively and fertile genius.”
- That they both were the advocates of vice, must be allowed; and the superiority of Farquhar consists in his adorning her with wit and gentility, while Congreve thrusts her forward in her natural deformity of gross ideas and indecent language. There are few that can read or see his comedy of G Love for Love,” which critics have allowed to be his best, without being disgusted from the first scene to the last; and as truly may it be affirmed, that there is scarce an individual that witnesses a tolerable representation of “The Beaux Stratagem,” that is not decoyed into the snare of admiration. Delighted with the intrepidity of Archer and Aimwell; neither reader or spectator immediately perceive that these two accomplished gentlemen are thorough impostors, and that the sprightly, the pitiable Mrs. Sullen is nothing less than a deliberate violator of her marriage vow. This comedy had only been acted a night or two, when the author, in the midst of those honours which he derived from its brilliant reception - died !
- As a proof that Farquhar was perfectly sensible of his dangerous state, and that he retained his cheerfulness to the last, the following anecdote is told. The celebrated actress, Mrs. Oldfield, performed the part of Mrs. Sullen, when the comedy was first produced, and being greatly interested in its success, from the esteem she bore the author, when it drew near the last rehearsal, she requested
- Wilks the actor, to go to him and represent - that she advised him to make some alteration in the catastrophe of the piece; for that she was apprehensive the firm manner in which he had bestowed the hand of Mrs. Sullen upon Archer, without first procuring a divorce from her husband, would offend great part of the audience. “Oh!* replied Farquhar, gaily, u tell her, 1 wish she was married to me instead of Sullen; for then, without the trouble of a divorce, I would give her my bond that she should be a widow within a few days/’ In this allusion he was prophetic; and the apparent calmness with which be expected his dissolution, may be reasonably accounted for on the supposition that the profligate and selfish characters which he had pourtrayed in his comedies, were such as he had uniformly met with in the world - and be was rejoiced to leave them behind.
- JONATHAN FISHER,
- A LANDSCAPE painter, was a native of Dublin. He was originally a woollen-draper in the Liberty; was self educated, and patronised by Lord Portarlington. About the year 1782, he published a set of Views of the Lake of Killarney, which were engraved in London from his paintings. He held a situation in the Stamp Office till his decease, which happened in 1812.
- CATHERINE FITZGERALD,
- COUNTESS OF DESMOND, who attained the age of one hundred and forty-five years, was daughter of the House of Drumana, in the county of Waterford, and second wife to James, the twelfth Earl of Desmond, to whom she was married in the reign of Edward IV.; and being on that occasion presented at court, had the honour of dancing with the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard the Third, whom she (in conversation with Lady Dacre) averred, was the best made man in the room except the
- king, who was remarkably handsome. This circumstance is quoted by Mr. Walpole, in his “Historic Doubts,” at proof among many others, that Richard was not the de* formed figure which the Lancastrian historians have described him. The beauty, but more the tiVacity of Lady Desmond, rendered her an object of general admiration at a period of life when all other women are con- sidered unfit for society; and historians very confidently assert, that she had passed her hundredth year before she could refrain from dancing and mixing in the gayest circles. She then thought proper to assume the matronly. character, and enlivened by her wit and cheerful convex sation, the assemblies of her friends.
- She resided at Inchiquin, in Munster, and held her jointure from many Earls of Desmond, until the family being by an attainder deprived of the estate, she WSi reduced to poverty: - but feeling few of the infirmities of age, although then one hundred and forty, she crossed the Channel to Bristol, and travelling up to London, laid her case before the king (James the First), and solicited relief, which she obtained. Sir Walter Raleigh, who was well acquainted with this wonderful lady, mentions her ih hit ° History of the World,” as a prodigy j adding, f< that all the noblemen and gentry of Munster cduld witness to the truth of what he relates of her.” Lord Bacon informs us, that she had three times a set of new teeth; but whether she was furnished with them by nature, or was obliged to have recourse to the skill of a dentist, this noble author has not declared.
- GERALD FITZGERALD,
- THS eighth Earl of Kildare, was one of the most Successful warriors of ancient time. He was constituted, the year he succeeded his father, lord deputy to Richard Duke of York; as he was again on the lfith August, 1450, for foot years, from the 5th of May following, by the duke’s warrant, under the king’s privy seal; and King Edward IV.
- dying in 1483, he was continued by Richard III. lord deputy to his son Edward; and the year afterwards to Jobo, Earl of Lincoln. King Henry VII. on his acces* sion to the throne in 1485, continued him lord deputy to Jasper, Duke of Bedford; but the next year he nearly forfeited the king’s favour, by abetting the designs of the famous impostor Lambert Simnel. But Simnel being defeated at the decisive battle of Stoke, 6th of June, 1487, and Sir Richard Edgecombe being sent over the year after, to take new oaths of fidelity and allegiance from the nobility and principal men of die kingdom, the Earl, on the gist of July, made his solemn oath of allegiance, and Sir Richard pot a collar of the king’s lively about his neck, to signify his majesty’s entire reconciliation; and on the 30th, in St. Mary’s church, at Dame’s Gate, Doblin, delivering his certificate on oath, under the seal of his arms, as the obligation of his future allegiance and faithful service, Sir Richard delivered to him the king’s pardon under the great seal.
- He was continued in the government, and in 1489, invaded Mac Geoghegan’s country; took and destroyed the castle of Bileragh, and wasted the territory of Mary Cashel. In 1491, he was suspected by the king, of abetting fresh conspiracies; but be speedily convinced him of the fallacy of his suspicions. His lordship having also (about 1494) been at variance with Plunket of Rathmore, did at length kill him, with most of his followers, near Trim; and afterwards forcing the Bishop of Meath from a church wherein be had taken sanctuary, for contumely and opposing his authority, he was sent to the king to answer for all the crimes he had committed by prosecuting his private enemies. He was also accused of burning the church of Cashel, which be readily confessed, and swore, “that he never would have done it, but he thought the archbishop was in it.” This ingenuous confession of the most aggravating circumstance, convinced the king that a person of such natural innate plainness and simplicity, conld hot be guilty of tiie intrigues imputed to him;
- so that when the Bishop of Meath (his most inveterate accuser) concluded his last article with this sharp expression, “You see what a man he is, all Ireland cannot rule yonder gentleman.” The king replied,
- He returned to Ireland the same month, and shortly after marched towards Thomond against O’Brien; took the castle of Velyback; razed the castle of Ballynitie and other garrisoned places; and in 1497, powerfully opposing the impostor Perkin Warbeck, defeated his designs in Ireland. In 1498, he invaded Ulster, took the castles of Dungannon and Omagh; forced O’Neile to give hostages, and marching to Cork, placed a garrison there, (by reason of that city’s defection in espousing the cause of Warbeck,) and obliged the inhabitants, with those of Kinsale, to swear allegiance, and ratify it by indentures and hostages. In March following, he reduced the castles of Athleague, Roscommon, Tulske,and Castlereagh; also, in 1500, that of Kinard, in Ulster; and in 1503, destroyed the castle of Belfast, and placed a garrison in Carrickfergus. On the 19th of August, 1504, hq* fought the famous battle of Knocktoe (five miles from Galway), and acquired an entire victory over the Chiefs of Connaught; destroyed O’Carroll’s country on his return; and in September, sent Walter Fitzsimmons, Archbishop of Dublin, to give the king an account of these and other public affairs, who rewarded his services, by creating him a knight of the garter.
- King Henry VII. dying 22d April, 1509, his lordship was continued chief governor by Henry VIII. and that year invading Ulster, he recovered the castles of Dungannon and Omagh. In 1510, he was appointed lord deputy, and marching with a powerful army into Munster, took divers castles, as he did that of Belfast in 1512, which he l
- W& demolished, and wasted the country; that year he built St. Mary’s chapel, in the choir of Christ’s church, Dublin, when, on the 16th of October, Id IS, he was honourably interred near the altar, his death occurring on the 3d September, at Kildare, by a shot he had received some short time before from the Ormons of Leix.
- ^This great man,” (we are told a was liberal, stout, pious, and merciful; and kept the kingdom m a better condition than was generally done before his time; being so famous for his many successful victories, that he awed the rebels by his reputation alone; and secured the Pale by erecting the eastles of Rathville, Linearrig, Castleder- mot, Athy, and others upon the borders; dispersing colonies in proper places; rebuilding ruined towns, and destroying the Irish fortifications; and was so frequently entrusted with the chief government of the kingdom, being a man of so great interest and courage, that his very name was more terrible to his enemies than an army.”
- RICHARD FITZGERALD,
- WAS a brevet lieutenant-colonel, and served as captain of the second regiment of life guards in the decisive battles in Spain, at Thoulouse, and Waterloo. He was the fourth and only surviving son of an ancient and respectable family in Ireland. He commenced his military career about the twenty-second year of his age, by entering as an ensign in the 34th regiment of foot, in which corps he was promoted to a lieutenancy.
- In the year 1797, he raised himself to be a captain, by purchasing into the 68th, in which he served in Ireland, during the commotions of 1799, after which he retired upon half-pay. During the short peace of Amiens, he accompanied his family’to France, where he soon heard the rumour of a new war. He then forwarded a memorial to his royal highness the commander-in-chief, and was in consequence appointed to the 31st. He was about to return to join this corps, when he was detained VOL. II. K
- with other British subjects, by order of the French government. On his return to England, he purchased on the 18th of May, 1812, a troop in the second life guards, and obtained the brevet rank of major in the army* With this regiment, whose services were so useful in Spain and at Thoulouse, Major Fitzgerald added to his military reputation, and was on the 14th June, 1814, raised to the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel. In 1815, the life gauds were in active service, and on the plain of Waterloo proved the superiority of British valour and strength when opposed to the iron-clad cuirassiers of Frances Few that encountered their swords in that battle, survived to tell the story of their fate - and terrible was the b&vock and harvest of slaughter, when the heavy cavalry dashed in to complete the destruction begun by the artilleiy and the foot
“Then down went helm and lance; Down were the eagle banners sent;
- Down reeling steeds and riders went,
- Corslets were pierc’d and pennants rent And, to augment the fray, Wheel’d full against their stagg’ring flanks, The English horsemen’s foaming ranlu, Forc’d their resistless way.”
- Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzgerald unhappily survived not to enjoy the honours acquired by his exertions and valour in this sanguinary field. Towards the close of the action, being at the moment advanced at the bead of the right squadron, and gallantly leading it on to victory, a cannonball closed his career.
- The following inscription is on a plain marble tablet in the church of Waterloo: -
“Sacred to the memory of
- Lieatenant-Colonel Richard Fitzgerald,
- Of the Sad reg. of Life Guards
- of His Britannic Majesty,
- Who died gloriously in the battle of
- La Belle Alliance,
- June 18,1815,
- In the forty-first year of his age.”
- rsr
- PHILIP FITZGIBBON, W*. a native of Ireland, and ranked high in the mathematical world. He is likewise celebrated for * a bit of a Hmda?’ that be once committed, arising from the following circumstance*
- He was supposed to possess a more accurate and extensive knowledge of the Irish language than any person living; and his latter years were industriously employed in compiling an English and Irish dictionary, which be left completed, with the exception of the letter S, that he appeared to June totally FORGOTTEN.
- The dictionary is contained in about four hundred quarto pages, and it is a remarkable instance of patient and indefatigable perseverance, as every word is written in Roman or Italic characters, to imitate printing. This with many other curious manuscripts, all in the Irish language, he bequeathed to his friend, the Rev. .Mr. O
- During what year be was born is not known, but he died at his lodgings in Chapel-lane, Kilkenny, in April 179*,
- JOHN FITZGIBBON,
- EARL or CLARE, and Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, was born in Dublin, in the year 1749* His ancestors (not far back removed) were of the Roman Catholic persuasion,, his grandfather having been brought up in those tenets. His eldest son, the father of the late Lord Clare, was, according to report, originally intended for the Catholic priesthood; but the fact however was otherwise; for on his introduction into life he was well known to have been not only a decided, hut a zealous protestant. He was at an early age called to the Irish bar, from which Catholics, at that period, were excluded. • In that situation he became a highly esteemed and successful pleader. In those days, the forensic profession in the sister kingdom was in a great
- degree monopolized by a few eminent barristers. The talents, industry, and indefatigable perseverance, however, of Mr. Fitzgibbon, speedily brought him into notice, as, in the course of a few years, his practice was nearly as extensive as the most successful of his competitors, and was of that lucrative kind, that he realized a property of upwards of 6000Z. per annum.
- Lord Clare was the only son of the above, and was always destined by his father for that profession, of which he afterwards became so distinguished a member: with this view, he was early entered of the University of Dublin; and in that seminary he was contemporary with Flood, Grattan, and Foster, Speaker of the Commons in the last Irish parliament. After remaining the usual time at the University, he entered, and regularly kept his terms at the Temple, from which (although still of an early age) he was called to the Irish bar.
- In this situation he commenced his career, with advantages enjoyed by few, - paternal reputation, favourable character, and the possession of an affluent independence, which, in the instance of Lord Clare, and highly to his honour be it recorded, did not produce that too frequent effect of indolent apathy on his youthful mind. His professional exertions and success were such as might reasonably have been expected from him.
- Shortly after the general election, in 1776, he obtained by means of his professional endeavours in behalf of its political independence, a seat in parliament for the University of Dublin. The validity of the return of Mr. Richard Hely Hutchinson, as representative of the University of Dublin, was tried before a committee of the House of Commons, in the month of February 1777, the ability and zeal of Mr. Fitzgibbon, who acted as counsel on the part of those who were desirous to preserve the purity of college elections, were on this occasion conspicuous and triumphant. And in the following month he received from the University the honourable reward of his services; being elected in the room of Mr. Hutchin-
- son, whose return had been annulled by the committee, on the ground of undue influence in the returning officer* the Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson, Provost of the College.
- He became in a few years one of the leading characters in the Irish senate, where he invariably and indefatigably supported ministers against what was then termed u the patriotic party/’ consisting of Grattan, Curran, &c. &c.; and in 1784, on the opening afforded by the elevation of Mr. Scott to the bench, his lordship was appointed to the very important, and in Ireland confidential law situation, of attorpey-general; and in this office, his firmness, energy, and decisive conduct, are well known. A striking instance of this, which we derive from a biographical compilation, rather of a recent date, we cannot refrain from reciting: - At a time when a popular ferment, produced by various causes, strongly prevailed in the metropolis of Ireland, a general meeting of the inhabitants was, at the requisition of several respectable persons, called by the sheriffs; his lordship, then attorney-general, and one of the most un» popular men in the kingdom, came to the meeting accompanied only by one or two friends, and forced his way through the mob, who had latterly been in the habit of offering personal insults to those whom they suspected of being adverse to their measures; and getting upon the hustings, interrupted a popular orator in the midst of his harangue; he then told the sheriffs, that they bad acted illegally in convening the meeting, commanded them to leave the chair, and threatened them with an information if they presumed to continue it; he then left the astonished and staring assembly, amidst the hisses of the mob, and the sheriffs instantly dissolved the meeting.
- In June 1789, on the decease of Lord Chancellor Lifford, the seal and fidelity of the subject of this memoir was rewarded, as well as a full scope to the exertion of his professional talents given him, by his appointment to the very important office of lord high chancellor of Ireland,
- respecting which it may not be uninteresting to observe that he was the first native of that country who ever filled the station. This office being generally accompanied fay a peerage, he was raised to that dignity by the title of Baron Fitzgibbon, of Lower Conello, in the county of Limerick. The conduct of the noble lord ih this very arduous department was productive of great benefit to his country, as he possessed in an eminent degree an organ of destructiveness, which he indefatigably exercised on the intricacies of the law. His activity and expedition bad made chancery suits cease to be almost an inheritance; and although his decisions might have been in some few instances blamed as premature, yet the paucity of appeals evince that such objections were neither seriously nor extensively founded.
- To his former dignities were added the titles of Viscouat Clare, December 20, 1793; and Earl of Clare, June 10^ 1795; and the English Barony of Fitzgibbon, ofSidbuiy, in Devonshire^ September 24, 1799.
- In 1802, his health appeared to be so seriously affected^ that his physicians thought proper to recommend a more genial climate; and he had arrived at Dublin from his country seat at Mountshannon, designing to proceed in* mediately to Bath, or if his strength permitted, to the South of France. The immediate cause of his death was the loss of a great quantity of blood while at Mountsbannon, which was followed by such extreme weakness, tint upon his arrival at Dublin, on the 25th of January, there was reason to fear he could not survive the ensuing day. On the 27th, these alarming appearances increased so much, that upon a consultation of physicians, he was given over. On being acquainted with this melancholy truth, the firm* ness of his lordship’s mind did not forsake him. To prevent any impediment to the public business, he directed the new law-officers to be called immediately, and with a firmness and dignity of which we have few examples, from his bed administered to them the necessary oaths.
- Soon after, his lordship fell into a lethargic slumber, and continued motionless until Thursday, January 28, 1802, when he eeased to breathe.
- His lordship married, July 1, 1786, Miss Whaley, daughter of Richard Chapel Whaley, Esq. of Whaley Abbey, in Ireland, by whom he had issue, John, the present peer, another son, and two daughters. At his death, his lordship was a privy counsellor, a lord of trade and plantations, vice-chancellor of the University of Dublin, and LL.D.
- SIB BARNABY FITZPATRICK,
- SBOOND BMBOM OF UPPBB OSBORT, distinguished for his virtues and independence, was an intimate friend and companion of the interesting Edward VI., who is stated to have loved none but him; and there are stUl edtant many of his letters, written in 1551, to Fitzpatrick, who was then serving as a volunteer in France against the emperor, and which breathe the greatest kindness and affection towards him. On his return from France, he took an active part in the Suppression of the disturbances raised in England by SiT Thomas Wyat, in which he evinced great personal courtage. In 1558, he was present at the siege of Leith, in Scotland, where he was knighted for his bravery and conduct by the Dnke of Norfolk, and probably returned to Ireland at the latter part of that year, as we find him present in a parliament held in Dublin, January 12, 1559. The lord deputy Sydney, in his relation of the state of the kingdom of Ireland, sent to the lords of the council from Waterford, in 1575, observes, “Upper Ossory is so well governed and defended by the valour and wisdoms of the baron that nowe is, as, savinge for the suertie of good order hereafter io succession, it made no matter if the countrie were never shired, nor her majesties writt otherwise coitaunt than it is; so hnmblye he keepeth all his people subject to obedience and good order;” and about the same time, be appointed Fitzpatrick lord-lieuta-
- nant of the King’s and Queen’s counties, with control over several settlements of the natives in the neighbourhood, in which office he employed so much zeal and activity, that in the following year the lord deputy reported that the O’Mores and O’Connors did not exceed the number of one hundred fighting men, of whom few were competent to lead any exploit, and stated that this great reduction of their power was principally owing to the exertions of the Baron of Upper Ossory.
- In 1573, Rory Oge O’More, having committed great depredations in Carlow:, dispatched a trusty spy for the purpose of inveigling his powerful persecutor, Fitzpatrick, to inform him, in great friendship and secrecy, that Rory had taken a great plunder from the county of Kilkenny, which might easily be recovered, and himself taken pri-soner, as be had but few of his adherents with him. Hia lordship, suspicious of the integrity of his informer, resolved not wholly to neglect his advice, but to take with him a sufficient force to prevent treachery, and on approaching the place appointed, he sent forward thirty of his follower* to search for Rory, himself remaining with the larger body to attend the event. The company had no sooner entered tle wood, than Rory advanced with about an equal number of men, the remainder continuing in ambush; but hia lordship’s soldiers immmediately attacking him, he was slain in the combat; a service of great importance to the English government, O’More having been long a troublesome and dangerous adversary to the Pale. The lord deputy on receipt of the intelligence, immediately offered him the sum of 1000 marcs, being the price set upon O’More’s head by proclamation; his lordship, however, refused it, and at length accepted of 100£, which be divided among his soldiers. In the following year, he attended the deputy into Munster against James Fitz- maurice, who had arrived there at the head of some Spaniards; for which, as well as for his former services, he wai rewarded with a pension. In 1580, Sir Henry Sydney, in his instructions to his successor in the government.
- Arthur Lord Grey, observes “the moste sufficient, moste faithful men that ever I found there, were the Baron of Upper Ossory, Sir Lucas Dillon, and Sir Nicholas Malbie, these for principale men, both for councell and action; and who ever most faithfullie and diligentlie discharged that which I committed to them, and trulie they be men of greate sufficiency.” His lordship died in Dublin, on September 11, 1581.
- RICHARD FITZPATRICK,
- CUB ATID Lord Gowran, was the son of John Fitzpatrick, Esq. of Castletown. Having entered into the sea service, he was, on the 14th of May, 1687, appointed commander of the Richmond. In 1689, in the Lark, he bad great success in cruising against the French privateers, which greatly annoyed our commerce, particularly in the German ocean. On the 11th of January, 1690, he was promoted to the St. Albans; and on the 18th of July, he had the good fortune to fall in with a large frigate of .thirty-six guns, off the Ram Head. The enemy, in addition to their complement of two hundred men, had fifty fusileere on board, which encouraged them to make a stout resistance for four hours, in which time they lost forty men, killed and wounded; the St. Albans was so dexterously managed as to lose only four men. In the month of February, 1691, he drove on shore two French frigates, and in conjunction with some other vessels, took fourteen rich merchantmen out of a convoy of twenty-two.
- He was actively engaged some years after; and in 1695 we find him commanding the Burford, of seventy guns, under the orders of Sir Cloudesly Shovel. He was detached, with several other vessels under his command, to attack the Grouais, one of the islands called Cardinals, and considerable damage was done to it, 1300 head of cattle and horses, with boats and small vessels, being brought off. The mortification this affair gave the enemy was of more consequence than the actual mischief.
- King William so highly approved of Captain Fitzpatrick’s uniform conduct, that he granted him and his elder brother, Brigadier-General Fitzpatrick, extensive lands in Queen’s county.
- In the breaking out of the war in the reign of Queen Anne, he had the command of the Ranelagh, of eighty guns, and assisted in the expedition against Cadiz; and also in the attack on Vigo. He soon after retired from the service, with the character of a brave and able officer. He took up his residence in his native country, and in a civil capacity shewed himself a friend to the liberties and interests of the kingdom. On the accession of George L be was rewarded with the title of Baron Gowran, and took his seat in the parliament at Dublin, November 12, 1715. He died on the 9th of July, 1727, leaving two sons, of whom, John, his heir, was afterwards created Earl of Upper Ossory.
- RIGHT HON. RICHARD FITZPATRICK, DISTINGUISHED for his attainments as a scholar, and his talents as a poet, was descended from an ancient Irish family, and born at , in the year 1747. He commenced his public life in a military capacity, which be filled with great credit to himself during the earlier part of the American war. In 1780, he was elected member of the British House of Commons, for the borough of Tavistock, which he continued to represent, till chosen for the county of Bedford.
- By the side of his personal and intimate friend Mr. Fox, he declaimed with energy and perseverance against that war, in which lie had been compelled, by his obedience and duty as a soldier, to bear an unwilling part; and on the change of administration, in 1782, he was ap* pointed secretary to the Duke of Portland, then lord-lieu-tenant of Ireland. In 1783, he was nominated secretary at war, but soon retired with his party into the ranks of
- opposition, in which he continued to shine for many years. Yet though as a politician he continued daring the whole of his life firmly attached to the principles with which he had commenced, his noble and ^elegant manners attracted the intercourse of his political adversaries: his society was cultivated by many persons of the highest rank, who con* stantly voted in opposition to him; one of whom, the Duke of Queensberry, acknowledged his deep obligations and gratitude by a noble legacy. His votes were generally what are termed silent; for though his cultivated intellect and constant habits of dear and precise observation, had perfectly qualified him to shine in debate, his elocution was not sufficiently energetic to utter the dictates of his powerful mind. He seldom spoke except in his official capacity: on one occasion, however, he evinced himself capable of much bolder Rights. On his celebrated motion respecting the Marquis de la Fayette, he spoke with so much elegance and energy, combined with a precision and perspicuity so seldom united, that the late Lord Melville observed, “that the honourable general’s two friends had only impaired the impression made by his speech;” an observation, than which nothing could be more flattering, when we remember that these two friends were Fox and Sheridan. The reputation even of this most celebrated exertion came upon him unlooked for and unregarded. His observation had taught him that the proper world of a rational being is his own circle, and he looked with indifference on the applause which was bestowed on him, at a time when a more ambitious or less philosophic mind would have been stimulated to preserve and increase the fame it had acquired, by continual exertion. During the administration of Lord Grenville, in 1806, General Fitz-patrick was again appointed secretary at war, which he quitted when that nobleman retired from office; and he afterwards remained in opposition until his death, which occurred April 25, 1813.
- His extensive acquirements and powerful judgment ensured him the friendship and esteem of the circle in which
- he lived. A connection which had commenced by family intermarriage, was quickly cemented by these sympathies; and the warm and susceptible heart of Fox claimed an intimacy with him, which redounded to the honour of both. The highest intellectual enjoyment of Fox was criticism: Fitzpatrick had read extensively and well; and their literary discussions were attended with equal advan-tage to both. In classical attainments, Fox was the superior; in general knowledge, Fitzpatrick had the advantage; and the sound understanding of both made each respect the talents of the other. As a poet, Fitzpatrick is deserving of considerable praise. The smoothness of his verse, and the justness of his conceptions, are greatly to be admired. Thousands have feasted on his poetry, in total ignorance of its author. As he was a politician without ambition, he was a poet without vanity. The following lines, written by himself, are inscribed on his monument at Sunning-hill, Berks: -
“Whose turn is next ? - this monitory stone Replies, vain passenger, perhaps thy own. If, idly curious, thou wilt seek to know, Whose relics mingle with the dust below, Enough to tell thee, that his destin’d span On earth he dwelt, - and, like thyself, a man. Nor distant far th* inevitable day, When thou, poor mortal, shall, like him, be clay. Through life he walk’d, unemulons of fiune, Nor wished beyond it to preserve a name; Content, if friendship o’er his humble bier, Dropt but the heartfelt tribute of a tear; Though countless ages should unconscious glide, Nor learn that ever he had lived or died.**
- HENRY FITZSIMONS,
- JUSTLY celebrated for his firm attachment to the Catholic church, and his strenuous exertions in its support. This able orator and excellent disputant was born in Dublin, in 1569; he was the son of a merchant of that city, who being himself a protestant, took especial care to have his
- son early instructed in the tenets of that religion; and after he had passed some years at a school in Dublin, sent him to England. In April 1583, he was matriculated as a member of Hart-hall, in the university of Oxford, where be applied himself with so much diligence to his studies, that in the following December, be appears to have been elected a student of Christ-cburch. His natural disposition, however, being strongly inclined to controversy, be devoted himself to the study of the disputed points of religion; and after a long and laborious examination, feeling himself persoaded of the truth of the Roman Catholic doctrine, he left the university, and went to Louvaine, for the purpose of entering among the Jesuits. The celebrated Lessius was appointed his tutor; and he profited so much by the instructions of that amiable man and excellent critic, that be acquired the greatest distinction, and was appointed to read public lectures on philosophy. Here he continued for several years, paying the closest attention to his public duties and private studies, until he had become thoroughly acquainted with all the controverted articles of faith. He then returned to Ireland, where his unceasing exertions and convincing arguments gained many proselytes to the religion be professed. This course he continued, teaching publicly, and triumphing over the few who ventured to oppose him, till 1599, when he was committed to Dublin castle, where be continued a prisoner for several years.
- The persecution and privations which had been brought upon him by his exertions did not in the least affect his courage or resolution. He longed anxiously for the time when he might again be at liberty to resume them; and impatient of his imprisonment only as it prevented him from pursuing the course he had so successfully commenced, he is reported to have said frequently, that he was like a bear tied to a stake, and that he only wanted somebody to bait him. This was regarded as a challenge to the protestants to enter into amputation with him; and the celebrated Usher who was then about nineteen,
- Hi undertook to support the opposite cause. Weekly meetings were appointed for the purpose, and the first subject of their controversy was Antichrist. These meetings were only repeated twice or thrice, when, we are informed, that Fitzsimons declined the contest, which Usher, as the same author states, was willing to have continued.
- On regaining his liberty, the conditions annexed to which were, that lie should behave quietly, and give no disturbance to the king or kingdom, he left Ireland and went into the Netherlands, where he employed himself in discharging the duties of his function, and in writing several tracts on religion. The principal production of his leisure hours was, “A Catholic Confutation of Mr. John Rider’6 Claim of Antiquities, and a calming Comfort against his Caveat; with a Reply to Mr. Rider’s Postscripts, and a Discovery of Puritan Partiality in his behalf.” To this is annexed, “An Answer to certain complaintive Letters of afflicted Catholics for Religion.” These were all printed together in one volume at Rohan, in 1608^ in which year he was summoned to Rome. On his arrived there, he was appointed on a mission to Ireland, in conse» quence of which, he published his profession of the four vows. He returned thence to the Low Countries, and passed over to Ireland, where he resumed his former habits of teaching with equal enthusiasm and success.
- Deluded, with too many of his countrymen, by the hope of throwing off a foreign yoke, he entered with great zeal into the designs entertained by the promoters of the great Rebellion in 1641. He thought the time fast ap» proaching when the catholics of Ireland should be no longer subject to a protestant government; and under this persuasion, be exerted his oratory in the most persuasive manner, and prevailed on many of his countrymen to join the insurgents. The cause, however, though it appeared for a time to prosper, soon gave way to the victorious arms of the loyalists, who, terrified by the dreadful massacres which had been committed, felt that their sole chance of safety, rested on a valour which was raised
- almost to desperation; and Fitzsimons, aware, that from the encouragements he had held out to the rebels, he was an object of peculiar odium to the conquerors, was forced to fly for shelter. Woods and mountains now became his dwelling, and he was frequently compelled to change them, through fear of the English soldiers. At length, in the beginning of 643, worn out with the fatigues his advanced age was so ill able to bear, he retired for refuge to a shepherd^ cot, no better than a hovel, situated in a bog. His only bed was a pad of straw, which was frequently wet with the rain, which the shattered and imperfect, state of the walls freely admitted, and the damp which rose from the morass. Yet amid this scene of misery, with no one comfort around him, he preserved his cheerfulness unimpaired, and was always ready to console others in their miseries, continuing still to instruct them and their children. Nature, however, was unable long to support such extremes of misery, and he was at length with some difficulty conveyed away by those who had profited by his exertions to a more comfortable situa-tion, where he expired on February 1, 1643-4. By his death, the catholics lost one of the firmest pillars of thefr church; his zeal, learning, and eloquence, rendering him the greatest defender and most able support of their religion in his time.
- In addition to the tracts mentioned above, he published ** A Justification and Exposition of the Sacrifice of the Mass,” in two books, which was printed in 1611;
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- PATRICK FLEMING,
- A LEARNED ecclesiastic, was the son of Captain Garret Fleming, nearly related to the Lords of Slane, and was born in the county of Louth, April 17th, 1569. His sober deportment in his youth, and his attachment to literature, induced his parents to dedicate him to the church; on which account, at thirteen years of age, he was sent to Flanders, and put under the care of Christopher Cusacb, his uncle by the mother’s side, who was president of the colleges of Douay, Tournay, and other seminaries founded in that country for the education of Irish youth in the principles of the catholic faith. Mr. Fleming, having honourably completed his studies of humanity at Douay, removed to the college of St. Anthony of Padua, at Lon- vaine, where, on the 17th of March, 1617, he took the probationary habit of St. Francis, from Anthony Hickey, then superior of this college; and on the same day the year following, he renounced the world, and dedicated himself to the Franciscan order; on which occasion, according to a custom then usual, he relinquished his baptismal name of Christopher, and assumed that of Patrick. In 1623, being then well instructed in philosophical and theological studies, he removed to Rome, in company with Hugh Mac Caghwell, then definiter-gene- ral of the Franciscan order, and soon after titular bishop of Armagh. The life of this learned ecclesiastic he wrote after his death, in 1626. At Paris, on his way to Rome, he fell into an intimate acquaintance with Hugh Ward, whom he prevailed upon to collect materials, and digest the history of the Irish saints; and these papers after hia death became of great use to John Colgan. In his travels through Italy, and when he arrived at Rome, he diligently made collections for the history of the Irish saints, and by letters to Hugh Ward, urged him to perseverance in the same course. He was made lecturer on philosophy at the Irish college of St. Isidore, at Rome, and diligently prosecuted his own private studies. From l
- Rome be was sent to teach philosophy at Louvaine, where he continued some years. At length he removed to Prague, in Bohemia, where he was appointed the first superior and lecturer in divinity in the college of the Holy Conception of the Blessed Virgin, founded for Irish Franciscans of strict observance. When that city was about to be besieged by the forces of the Elector of Saxony, in 1631, after the battle of Leipsic, he attempted to escape in company with Matthew Hoar, but being stopped by some boors in arms, they were both murdered Nov. 7th of that year. A third companion, Francis Ma- genis, a Franciscan, who made his escape at that time, wrote an account of Fleming, prefixed to his “Collectanea Sacra,” under the title of “Historia Martyrii Venerabilis Fratres Patrici Flemingi,” 8cc.
- Fleming’s chief work was his “Collectanea Sacraor, Lives of Irish and Scotch Saints, with various tracts in illustration of their history, with notes, commentaries, &c. The whole was comprised in one folio volume, published at Louvaine, 1667- The works of the three abbots, Columban, Aileran, and Curnian, published in the “Biblia Patrum,” are acknowledged to be taken from Fleming. He published also, “Chrimeon Consecrati Petri Ratis- benae.”
- HENRY FLOOD,
- Oxuof the most celebrated political characters of modern times, was descended from a highly respectable family, and was the eldest son of the Right Hon. Warden Flood, (who was lord chief justice of the king’s bench in Ireland, and who died in possession of that office, on April 16th, 1764.)
- The subject of the present memoir was born in the year 1732, and after a residence of about three years in the college of Dublin, where (it is said) he was infinitely more distinguished for the beauty of his person and the gaiety of his manners, than for application to study. He was VOL. II. L
- transplanted to England in 1749 or 1750, and placed under the tuition of Doctor Markham, at Christ-church, Oxford. Here he spent two years, during which period he lived in great intimacy with the late learned Mr. Thomas Tyrwhitt; and it is recorded, that the first circumstance that induced him seriously to apply to literary attainments, was his finding that gentleman and several other friends frequently talking (at their evening meetings) on subjects of which he was in a state of perfect ignorance. He re* solved to preserve almost an entire silence in their company for six months, during which period he studied with excessive ardour and unremitting attention, commencing with a course of mathematics, and then reading such off the historians of Rome and Greece, as he had not perused before. From that time until the period of his decease, be was a constant and diligent student, even while he was engaged in all the turbulence of political life, and became at length so complete a master of the Greek language^ that he read it with almost as great a facility as English*
- In 1759, he was chosen a member of the House of Commons in Ireland, but made no trial of his oratorical powers during that session. In 1761, he was a second time chosen a member of the new parliament, and spoke for the first time during Lord Halifax’s administration. “Every one,” we are told, “applauded him, except Primate Stone, whom he abused, and who was not sufficiently politic or magnanimous to pass over the invective of the young orator.” During the early part of Mr. Flood’s speech, his grace, who was in the House of Commons, and did not know precisely what part the new member would take, declared that he had great hopes of him; but when the orator sat down, his grace asserted with some vehemence, that “a duller gentleman be had never heard.* He shortly after this stood forward as the greatest leader of opposition in that country.
- The first important point which he attempted to eflfeel in parliament, was an explanation of the law of Poyning, by a misconstruction of which, for more than a century,
- U? the privy council of Ireland had assumed a power similar to that formerly exercised by the Lords of Articles in Scotland, and rendered the parliament of Ireland a mere cypher. In consequence, however, of the indefatigable efforts of Mr. Flood on this subject, the obnoxious part of that law was at a subsequent period repealed, though in a less unqualified manner than it would have been if the reformation of it had not been taken out of his hands.
- The next great measure which he undertook was, a bill for limiting the duration of parliament, which in Ireland had always subsisted for the life of the king. This measure, after having in vain attempted it in the administrations of Lord Northumberland and Lord Hertford, he at length, by constant perseverance, effected in the administration of Lord Townshend (1769), when the octennial bill was passed; a bill that first gave any thing like a constitution to Ireland; and, as it greatly increased the conse* quence of every man of property in that country, was HI fact the origin and ground-work of that emancipation, and those additional privileges which they afterwards claimed from England and obtained. In 1775, he was ap- pointed a privy counsellor in both kingdoms, and constituted one of the vice-treasurers of Ireland. Previous, however, to his acceptance of this office, he made a precise and explicit stipulation with government in favour of all the great principles which be had before maintained in parliament, and from none of which he ever departed. This office be held for six years, when he voluntarily resigned it in 17
- tained, that the simple repeal of this declaratory act was no security against a similar claim, founded on the principle of that act, being at some future time revived by England; and though three gentlemen only of the whole House of Commons of Ireland, concurred with him on this occasion, he had the satisfaction to see his doctrine approved and ratified by the minister and the parliament of England, who shortly afterwards passed an act, for ever renouncing this claim.
- On October 28th, 1783, the most violent altercation -that ever passed in any parliament, took place between Mr. Flood and Mr. Grattan; and on the following Saturday, Nov. 1st, Mr. Flood gave a long detail of his whole political life, which highly interesting mass of eloquence, together with the dispute, the reader may find in the life of Grattan. In 1783, he was chosen a member of the British parliament for the town of Winchester, and in the subsequent parliament he represented the borough of Seaford from 1785 to its dissolution.
- He entered rather late into the British House of Com? mons, and was never fairly tried there. He not only had to contend with ill health, but he likewise well knew that his dibut was expected to be of that grand and startling nature, which accompanies a country Garrick on his first appearance before a London audience. This first exhibition (as might be expected) was unsuccessful, and in all probability was the occasion of his not speaking in parliament for a considerable time afterwards. It is well worthy of note also, that at the period be became a member, the House was completely divided into two "distinct contending powers, led on by two mighty leaders; and his declaration at the onset that “he belonged to no party,” united all parties against him. His speech on the India bill was, he assured a friend, in some measure accidental. The debate had been prolonged to a very late hour, when he rose with the intention merely of saying, that w he would defer giving his detailed opinion on the bill (tb which he was averse) until a more favourable opporta-
- pity.” The moment that he arose, the politeness of the Speaker in requesting order; the eagerness of the opponents of the bill seconding the efforts of the Speaker; the courtesy invariably paid to any new member, and his uncommon celebrity as an orator, not only brought back the crowd from the bar, from above stairs, at Bellamy’s, but from the lobby, and every part adjoining the house.. All the members resumed their places, and a general silence took place. Such a flattering attention Mr. Flood naturally thought should be repaid by more than one or two sentences. He proceeded, trusting to his usual powers as a speaker, when, after a few diffuse and general reasonings on the subject, which proved that he was but little acquainted with it, he resumed his seat amid the exultation of his adversaries, and the complete discomfiture - not of his friends, for he could be scarcely said to have one in the House, but of those whose minds breathed little else but parliamentary and almost personal warfare, and expected much from his assistance. He spoke, however, very fully, some years afterwards, on the French treaty; and on the subject of parliamentary reform, on March 4th, 1790, on which Mr. Fox complimented him by saying, “his scheme was the most rational that ever had been produced on that subject.”
- We have little else now to record of this great man, than his decease, which took place at his seat of Farmley, in the county of Kilkenny, on the 2nd of December, 1791- His death, it is said, was occasioned by a severe cold which he caught in endeavouring to extinguish a fire which broke out in one of his offices, in consequence of which he was seized with a pleurisy, which in a few days, terminated his existence.
- He was married, on April 16th, 1762, to Lady Frances Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Tyrone, by whom he never had any issue. By his will, made in 1790, he disposes of his large property, amounting to 50001. per annum, in the following manner: - He leaves to his kinsman, Mr. Warden Flood, an estate of about 300£ pep
- per annum; to Miss Cockburn, a lady who lived with Lady Frances, 1000Z.; to an old steward, 1000Z.; and to his own servant, 200Z. He makes his dear wife, Lady Frances, together with his friend, Ambrose Smith, Esq. joint-executors, requesting Mr. S. to act in the trust, and advise Lady Frances in every thing; and for his advice and trouble he gives him an annuity of 3001. per annvtn, and after the death of Lady Frances (whom be makes bio residuary legatee) an estate of that value, in fee simple^ subject to these bequests: he devises his whole estate to his wife, for her life, and after her death, to the University of Dublin, or to Trinity College, near Dublin, by whatever name it is most properly and legally charao terised; willing and desiring, that immediately after the said estate shall come into their possession, they shall appoint two professors, one for the study of the native Erse or Irish language; and the other for the study of Irish antiquities and Irish history, and for the study of atiy other European language illustrative of, or auxiliary toy the study of Irish antiquities or Irish history; and that they shall give, yearly, two liberal premiums for two 0OSP positions, one in verse and the other in prose, in the Irish language; and also two other liberal premiums for com* positions in the Greek or Latin languages, one upon city point of literature, ancient or modern, and the other upon some great action of antiquity, “seeing that nothing stimulates to great actions more than great examplmZ After these purposes shall have been answered, he directs that the remaining fund shall be employed in the pm* chase of books and manuscripts for the library of the university. And if his directions in these respects shall not be complied with, the devise to them is made nail and void; and if by any other means they shall not trice the estate so devised to them, according to his intentional then he bequeaths the whole of his estate to Ambrose Smith, Esq. in fee simple, for ever. And he desire* that Colonel Vallancey, if living, shall be one of the first pro* fesssoro.
- 1*» la regard to the eloquence of Mr. Flood, we conceive the altercation and vindication of his political life, pre* eludes the necessity of characterising it by the epithets usually made use of on such occasions. His wit, sarcasm, and classic allusions, were in general most happily applied; and the following illustration, we think, may fairly set criticism at defiance. When a certain English secretary was assailed by many pointed questions put to him by the leaden of opposition, he at length rose, and looking most rnefully on an empty bench behind him, where his assistants usually sat, be*. sought his antagonists not to urge the matter further, “for the gentlemen who usually answered questions were not yet come.” “In ancient times, (replied Flood,) the oak of Dodona spoke for itself; but the wooden oracle of our day, is content to deliver its responses by deputy.”
- ARTHUR FORBES,
- FIRST EARL OF GRANARD, was the only son of Sir Arthur Forbes, of Castle Forbes, in the county of Longford, and was bom in the year 1623.
- M He was,” we are told, “a person of great interest in the province of Ulster,” was during the Rebellion an officer of horse, and being zealously attached to the royal cause, was a commander in the northern parts of Scotland, for King Charles II. “which,” Sir Philip Warwick says, “some time after Worcester tight, cost the English some pains and marches, because the commanders were choice men, such as the Lord Glencairn, Sir Arthur Forbes, and Middleton; yet Monck at length defeated them, and the very isles of Orkney, the Hebrides, and Shetland, were reduced.”
- After this he returned to his native country, and when the Restoration was concerted between Lord Broghill and Sir Charles Coote, he was rent to Brussels by the latter, to assure his majesty, that if he would come into Ireland, the wboie kingdom would declare for him; but the king being well aware, that Ireland mast be guiddd
- by the decision of England, resolved to await the vicissitude there, and dismissed Sir Arthur with such letters and commissions as he desired.
- Upon the Restoration, he was considered (on account of his great abilities) a fit person to assist in composing the unsettled state of Ireland, and on the 19th March, he was appointed one of the commissioners of the court of claims for putting in execution his majesty’s declaration of November 30th, for the settlement of that country. In 1661, he sat in parliament for Mullengar, and in May 1662, was made captain of a troop of horse. In 1663, he prevented the execution of a plot to seize the castles of Dublin, Drogheda, Derry, and other strong places; secured the chief conspirator, Staples, whom he imprisoned at Culmore. After this he was sworn of the privy council, and on the 9th of August, 1670, on the death of Marcus, Viscount Dungannon, in consideration of his good services, he was made marshal of the army. In June 1671, he was appointed one of the lords justiciary of Ireland, and had that appointment conferred upon him twice in the year 1675, and by privy seal, dated at Whitehall, September 23, and patent, at Dublin, November 22, in that year was created Baron Clanahugh, and Viscount of Granard. ¦ •
- On the 1st of April, 1684, he was made colonel of the royal regiment of foot, in Ireland; and on the 10th September, a lieutenant-general of the army; and his majesty by privy seal, dated at Whitehall, 29th November, and by patent, 30th December in the same year, advanced him to the dignity of Earl of Granard. King James IE* also, on his accession, continued him in the post of lieutenant-general of the army.
- On December 1, 1690, he was sworn of the privy council to King William, and the day following signed ’the proclamation forbidding “all their majesty’s subjects of Ireland to use any trade with France, or to hold any correspondence or communication with the French king and his subjects.” Colonel Michelburne marching with ade- tacbment of his regiment, consisting of five hundred mi-
- litia foot, of the province of Ulster, two troops of dragoons, and six field-pieces, and encamping at Drumcliefe, about three miles from Sligo, sent an account to the Earl of Granard, who on the 13th September, 1691, joined the* colonel with the forces under his command before Sligo, when .his lordship caused batteries to be raised, and insinuated to the enemy such flaming accounts of his artillery, that they surrendered that strong fort on the 15th instant, six hundred men marching out under Sir Teige O’Ragan, and leaving sixteen pieces of cannon behind them; and Colonel Michelburne was made governor.
- October 20, 1692, he took his seat in parliament, and dying in or about the year 1695, was buried at the church of Castle Forbes, which edifice he erected.
- He married Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert Newcomen, of Moss-town, in the county of Longford, Bart, widow of Sir Alexander Stewart, and by her (who died in Dublin, 8th December, 1714, and lies buried with him) had issue, five sons and one daughter.
- SIB GEORGE FORBES,
- THIRD EARL OF GRANARD, was grandson to the above, and having entered very early in life into the navy, was, on the 16th July, 1706, promoted to the command of the Lyren, a small ship of war, when, in 1708, he was promoted to the Sunderland, a fourth rate of sixty guns; and in 1713, removed to the Greenwich, of the same rate. He served in the British parliament for Queenborough in Kent^ and 27th of February, 1725, being sum- moned by writ to the House of Peers in this kingdom, by the title of Lord Forbes, took his seat the 7th of September following. On 25th November, 1729, he was appointed captain-general and commander-in-chief in and over the British Leeward Caribbee islands in America, with full power not only to appoint a court of judicature, and nominate persons in the several provinces to administer the oaths, and to pardon or condemn any pirates or other criminals, but to erect platforms! castles, fortifications, and towns, and to furnish the same with ordnance and ammunition, necessary for the defence of those islands: and 10th December, it was ordered by the House of Pern, that he should have leave to be absent from the service of that House, to attend his said government; but ih June following he resigned this commission.
- In 1731, he commanded the Cornwall, a third rate of eighty guns; and, in April 1733, was appointed his majesty’s plenipotentiary to the court of Muscovy, in which embassy he embarked 9th May, and arrived at Peters* burgh, 21st June: during his residence at which court, he was constituted, 11th May, 1734, rear-admiral of the white flag, and receiving his commission 95th June^ was recalled from his embassy; the Czarina, at his audience of leave, expressing a great sense of his lordship’s merits, and her satisfaction in his being sent to her court, pre* seated him with a diamond ring of great value from her own finger, with her picture enriched with diamonds, and six thousand rubles in specie. On 17th December, 1734, he was made rear-admiral of the red; from which, SOth April, 1736, he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the blue; and in June 1738, appointed commandenjn-chief of a squadron of ships designed for the West Indies, which he not long after resigned. At hie death, he was senior admi* ral of the British navy. In 1741, his lordship was returned member of parliament for the boroughs of Air, Irwin, 8tc. in Scotland; was one of his majesty’s privy council; and governor of the counties of Westmeath and Longford, which he resigned in 1756, and was succeeded in that of Longford, by his eldest son on 8th October.
- He married Mary, eldest daughter of William, (be first Lord Mountjoy, and relict of Pbineas Preston, of Ardfallah, in Meath, Esq. and died at the advanced age of eighty, on the 29th of October, 1765, leaving issue by his lady, (who died on the 4th of October, 1755,) one daughter and two sons.
- IM
- HON. JOHN FORBES, WAS the second son of the above, and an individual who, independent of his intrepidity and skill, was pcs’* sessed of a patriotism so splendid, that the historian might search in vain the records of biography for his equal.
- He received the first part of his naval education under his illustrious countryman, Sir John Norris, with whom he served and acquired greet reputation in the subordinate ranks. On March 7th, 1737, he was made posfr-captain, and appointed to the Poole) in this ship be remained until the 44th of October, 1738, when he was removed into the Port Mahon, a frigate of twenty guns, employed on the Irish station. On the 10th of August, 1730, he was promoted to the Severn, a fourth rate of fifty guns, at that time principally employed as a cruiser in the Channel) a service, in which Mr. Forbes had little success, the most Consequential being the capture of a Spanish privateer, mounting fourteen guns, which had done much mischief to commerce. On the 9th of July in the following year, he was removed into the Tyger, a ship of the same rate and force as the former, in 1741,. he commanded the Guernsey, which, as well as the two preceding) was a ship of fifty guns, and was ordered to* the Mediterranean, With some other ships, as a reinforcement to Mr, Haddock. Here he continued to serve many years, and was deservedly held in the highest esteem, both by the admiral just mentioned, and Mr. Mathews, who succeeded him.
- After the arrival of Mr. Mathews in the Mediterranean, Captain Forbes was promoted to the Norfolk, of eighty guns, and stationed by the admiral as one of his seconds in the encounter with the French and Spanish fieets off Toulon. He behaved with the most distinguished gallantry, having compelled the Spanish admiral’s second, Don Augustine Eturiago, in the Constant, to break the line, and bear away with all the sail be was able to set. All the letters written from on board the fleet immediately
- subsequent to the action, many of which are still extant, bear the same uniform testimony to the intrepidity and very distinguished conduct of this gentleman; and’ the tribute of popular applause appears to have been, equally divided between himself and the very brave but unfortunate Captain Cornwall. Historians have followed their honest example, and been equally grateful in the testimony they have borne to his merit.
- Captain Forbes remained in the Mediterranean during the continuance of hostilities, and was employed on the most important services, the torpid manner in which the caution and shyness of the enemy continued the war in that part of the world, would permit. On Nov. 29, 1746/ he commanded the small vessels and pinnaces which supported the Austrian army under Count Brown, in forcing the passage of the Var. The force under Mr. forbes consisted of the Phoenix frigate, the Terrible sloop, a barcolongo, on board which a party of German soldiers were embarked, and eight armed pinnaces. These vessels were stationed along shore to the westward of the Var, and at day-break on the 50th, commenced a very brisk fire on the French post to the left of the village of St. Laurent. General Brown bestowed the highest encomiums on the conduct of Captain Forbes, and declared in the warmest terms of gratitude, that the assistance he received from the English, had been the principal cause of his success.
- On the 15th of July, 1747, he was promoted to be rear- admiral of the blue, and not long afterwards became, for a short time, as it is said, commander-in-chief io the Mediterranean. On May 12, 1748, he was, advanced CD be rear-admiral of the white, as he was a few months after, to be rear of the red; but peace having succeeded, and Mr. Forbes not being appointed to any command, we have nothing to relate till the 4th of February, 1755, when he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the btae. On the 11th of December, 1756, he was nominated one of the commissioners for executing the office of lord high
- admiral; an honourable station, which he did not uninterruptedly continue to enjoy, and the reason reflected on him the highest honour, as a man of the mildest manners, and most conscientious integrity. On the condemnation of the unfortunate Admiral Byng, he was the only member of the board who refused to sign the warrant for carrying the sentence into execution; and he was honourable enough to state openly, cooly, candidly, and firmly, the motives of his heart which urged him to decline sanctioning, by his acquiescence, what he considered as an act of manifest injustice. The following extract from his statement, will shew the candour of Mr. Forbes upon this occasion: - “The 12th article of war, on which Admiral Byng’s sentence is grounded, says, that every person who in time of action shall withdraw^ keep back, or not come into fight, or do his utmost, &c. through motives of cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall suffer death. The court martial does, in express words, acquit Admiral Byng of cowardice and disaffection, and does not name the word negligence. Admiral Byng does not, as I conceive, fall under the letter or description of the 12th article of war. It may be said, that negligence is implied, though the word is not mentioned, otherwise, the court martial would not have brought his offence under the 12th article, having acquitted him of cowardice and disaffection. But it must be acknowledged, that the negligence implied, cannot be wilful negligence; for wilful negligence, in Admiral Byng’s situation, must have either proceeded from cowardice or disaffection; and he is expressly acquitted of both these crimes; besides, these crimes which are implied only, and not named, may indeed justify suspicion and private opinion, but cannot satisfy the conscience in case of blood.” In consequence of this statement, he quitted the admiralty board; a new commission being sealed and published on April 6, 1757. But as virtue is in general successful enough to maintain a superiority over its enemies; so was Mr. Forbes recalled .to his former station with a brilliancy of character, the
- 158 world might probably have been less acquainted with, had pot such an opportunity offered of making it, without the least affectation or ostentation, so generally known. He continued commissioner of the admiralty till the 23rd of April, 1763, having met with, during that interval, no occurrence worthy of commemoration, except that, on 31st of January, 1758, he was promoted to be admiral of the blue. On the 6tb of August following, he was married to the Lady Mary Capel, fourth daughter of William, third Earl of Essex, and the Lady Jane Hyde, his wife^ eldest surviving daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester.
- On his quitting the admiralty board, he was appointed general of marines; and, in the latter part of life, the following circumstance occurred relative to his bolding that appointment.
- During a late administration, it was thought expedient to offer a noble lord, very high in the naval profession, and very deservedly a favorite of his sovereign and his country, the office of general of the marines, held by Admiral Forbes, and spontaneously conferred upon him by his majesty, as a reward for his many and long sesu vices; a message was sent by the ministers, to say it would forward the king’s service if he would resign, and that he should be no loser by his accommodating government, as they proposed recommending to the king to give him a pension, in Ireland, of 3000Z. per annum, and a peerage to descend to his daughter. To this, Admini Forbes sent an immediate answer; he told the ministers the generalship of the marines was a military employment given him by his majesty as a reward for his services; that, he thanked God, he had never been a burthen to his country, which be had served during a long life, to the best of his ability, and that he would not condescend to accept of a pension, or bargain for a peerage; be oon* eluded by laying his generalship of marines, together with his rank in the navy, at the king’s feet, entreating him to take both away if they could forward his service; and
- at the same time assuring his majesty, he would never prove himself unworthy of the former honours he had received, by ending the remnant of a long life as a pen* sioner, or accepting of a peerage obtained by political arrangements. His graeious master applauded his manly spirit, ever after continued him in his high military honours, and to the day of his death, condescended to shew him strong marks of his regard.
- In the year 1770, he was advanced to be admiral of the white; and, on the death of Lord Hawke, in 1781, sue* ceeded that nobleman as admiral of the fleet. He conti* nued to live totally in retirement, rendered truly honourable by his former faithful and most perfect discharge of all private and public duties, whether considered as an officer, or as a man, dying at the advanced age of eighty- two, on the 10th of March, 1796, respected, revered, and lamented by all.
- JOHN FORBES,
- GOVEBNOB of the Bahama Islands, was a barrister of considerable eminence, and also a distinguished member of the Irish Parliament, in the records of which, many eloquent speeches of his are to be found. In the Whig Club of Ireland, and in all its measures, he took an emi-nent lead. Having attached himself to the Duke of Portland, when his grace became connected with the administration, he was appointed a privy counsellor of Ireland, and afterwards governor of the Bahama islands. He died, June 13, 1797, at Nassau, in New Providence.
- PHILIP FRANCIS,
- THE able translator of Horace and Demosthenes, was of Irish extraction, and is generally supposed to have been born in that kingdom, where his father was a dignified clergyman, and, among other preferments, held the rectory of St. Mary, Dublin, from which he was ejected by
- the court on account of his Tory principles. His son, our author, was also educated for the church, and obtained a doctor’s degree. His edition of “Horace” made his name known in England about 1743, and raised him a reputation as a classical editor and translator, which no subsequent attempts have diminished. Dr. Johnson, many years after other rivals had started, gave him this praise: “The lyrical part of Horace never can be properly translated; so much of the excellence is in the number* and the expression. Francis has done it the best: I’ll take his, five out of six, against them all.”
- Some time after the publication of Horace, he appear* to have come over to England, where, in 1753, he published a translation of part of the a Orations of Demosthenes,” intending to comprise the whole in two quswto volumes. In 1755, he completed his purpose in a second volume, which was applauded as a difficult work well executed, and acceptable to every friend of genius and literature; but its success was by no means correspondent to the wishes of the author or of his friends. The year before the first volume of his “Demosthenes* appeared, he determined to attempt the drama, and hb first essay was a tragedy, entitled, “Eugenia,” but it w*s not very successful. In 1754, Mr. Francis brought out another tragedy at Covent Garden theatre, entitled, “Constantine,” which was equally unsuccessful, but appear* to have suffered principally by the improper distribution of the parts among the actors. This be alludes to, in the dedication to Lord Chesterfield, with whom be appears to have been acquainted, and intimates at the same time that these disappointments had induced him to take leave of the stage. During the political contests at the beginning of the late reign, he employed his pen in defence of government, and acquired the patronage of Lord Holland, who rewarded his services by the rectory of Barrow, in Suffolk, and the chaplainship of Chelsea Hospital. What were his publications on political topics, as they were anony- l
- mous, and probably dispersed among the periodical jour* nah, cannot now be ascertained. They drew upon him, however, the wrath of Churchill, who in his “Author” has exhibited a portrait of Mr. Francis, overcharged with spleen and envy. Mr. Francis died at Bath, March 5, 1773.
- SIR PHILIP FRANCIS.
- THIS distinguished statesman was the son of the subject of the preceding memoir, and was bora in Dublin, on Oct. 22nd, 1740. The first elements of his education be received in the school of Mr. Thomas Ball, in Ship-street, which he quitted in 1750 for England; and in 1753, was placed in St. Paul’s school, under the care of Mr. George Thicknesse. In 1756, Mr. Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, gave him a small place in the secretary of state’s office; and when Mr. Pitt succeeded Mr. Fox in that office’, be was recommended to the former by his secretary, Robert Wood, and by his means appointed, in 1758, secretary to General Bligh, in which capacity he was present at the capture and demolition of Cherbourg. When, in 1760, Lord Kinnoul was appointed ambassador to the court of Lisbon, Mr. Francis accompanied him thither as his secretary, and on his return to England, towards the close of that year, he went back to the secretary of state’s office, whence, in 1763, he was removed, by Welbore Ellice, to a station of considerable trust in the War-office, which he resigned in 1772, conceiving himself ill-treated by Lord Barrington. Having spent the greater part of the year 1772 in travelling on the Continent, he returned to England at the commencement of 1773, when Lord Barrington, probably repenting the injustice he had done him, recommended him strongly to Lord North.
- The East India Company, although in its origin a mere association of merchant adventurers, bad by degrees acquired such power and ascendancy, that at this time we find them possessed of Bengal, Bahar, and Ouza, three VOL. ii. M
- 162 of the richest provinces of the Mogul empire, containing a population of at least ten millions. So vast an acquisition of territory, demanded a complete change in the constitution of theCompany. The abuse of power, inseparable from its uncontrolled possession, was never more fully evinced than in this instance; the servants of the Company, exempt from any control, or, at meat, subject to that of the mayor’s court of Calcutta, which bad assumed the supreme judicial power, but whose impotence and corruption rendered it of little avail, committed with impunity the most flagrant outrages on the persons and property of the defenceless natives. The exertions of a few of better principles to stem the torrent of licentiousness which cast a deep stain on the English name, proving ineffectual, and complaints of the most disgraceful op-pressions daily reaching England, it was at length determined that these newly acquired dominions should be placed under the control of our Government. A bill was therefore passed, which, besides regulating the government of the Company at home, abolished the jurisdiction of the mayor’s court, and restricting it to small mercantile causes, to which it had originally been confined; established in its place a supreme court of judicature, consisting of a chief justice, and three puisne judges, and vested the government of Bengal in a governor-general and council, with a superiority over the other Indian presidencies.
- In order to counteract the influence of the governorgeneral, Mr. Hastings, it was deemed necessary to constitute a majority of the council of known integrity and talents; and accordingly, Sir John Clavering, the commander-in-chief, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, were selected for this important trust, and, together with Mr. Barwell, formed the council appointed by the bill. These gentlemen, immediately on their arrival at Calcutta, set about effecting the most salutary changes, and were proceeding to accomplish a thorough reform in every department of the administration, when unfortunately, their
- 16S labours were cut short by the death of Colonel Monson in 1776, and of General Clavering in 1777; and Mr. Francis being thus left in a minority, the old system was reverted to with the most disgraceful eagerness. It would be tedious to detail the particulars of his long contest with Mr. Hastings; they are recorded in the Books of the Councils, the Reports of the Committee, and the Journals of the House of Commons. In consequence of a minute of Mr. Hastings, communicated to Mr. Francis on the 14th of August, 1780, wherein he declared his conduct to be void of truth and honour, a meeting took place on the 17th, in which Mr. Francis was shot through the body. He left Bengal in December; passed five months at St. Helena, and arrived in England in October in the following year. On the ’dissolution of parliament, in 1784, he was re-turned for Yarmouth, and on the 27th of July following, in a debate on that clause of Mr. Pitt’s India Bill, which went to take away trial by jury, he made use of an expression,for which that minister never forgave him“Though I am not an old man,” said be; “I can remember the time when an attempt of this nature would have thrown the whole kingdom into a flame. Had it been made when a great man [the late Earl of Chatham] now no more, bad a seat in this House, he would have started from the bed of sickness, - he would have solicited some friendly hand to deposit him on this floor, and from this station, with a monarch’s voice, would have called the kingdom to arms to oppose it. Bat he is dead, and has left nothing in this world that resembles him. He is dead, and tire sense, and honour, and character, and understanding of the nation are dead with him.” A few days before, he had also uttered a very severe philippic on Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who bad declared in the House of Lords, “that it would have been happy for this country if General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, had been drowned on their passage to India.” On the 19th April, 1787, he moved the revenue charge against Mr. Hastings,
- which he carried, in direct opposition to the Ministers, by a majority of sixteen.
- These circumstances were not forgotten by Mr. Pitt, who, on the 11th December of the same year, when the managers wrere about to be appointed to conduct the impeachment of Mr. Hastings, employed two of his dependants to move that the name of Mr. Francis should be omitted, which, after an eloquent eulogium on that gentleman by Mr. Fox, and a discussion, in which Messrs. Pitt, Sheridan, and Dundas, and Mr. Francis himself took part, was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-two to sixty-two. The slur, however, which was thus attempted to be cast upon him, was completely effaced by the following gratifying testimony, addressed to Mr. Francis by the managers on that occasion: -
- Committee Room, House Commons, Dec. 18,1787. “SIR,
“There is nothing in the orders of the House which prevents us from resorting to your assistance; and we should shew very little regard to our honour, to our duty, or to the effectual execution of our trust, if we omitted any means, that are left in our power, to obtain the most beneficial use of it
“An exact local knowledge of the affairs of Bengal is requisite in every step of our proceedings; and it is necessary that our information should come from sources not only competent but unsuspected. We have perused, as our duty has often led us to do, with great attention, the records of the Company, during the time in which you executed the important office committed to you by parliament; and our good opinion of yon has grown in exact proportion to the minuteness and accuracy of our researches. Wc have found that, as far as in you lay, you fully answered the ends of your arduous allegation. An exact obedience to the authority placed over you by the laws of your country, wise and steady principles of government, an inflexible integrity in yourself, and a firm resistance to all corrupt practice in others, crowned by an uniform benevolent attention to the rights, properties, and welfare of the natives (the grand leading object in your appointment), appear eminently throughout those records. Such a conduct, so tried, acknowledged, and recorded, demands our fullest confidence.
“These, Sir, are the qualities, and this is the conduct on your part, on which we ground our wishes for your assistance. On what we are to ground our right to make any demand upon yon, wc are more at a loss to suggest Our sole titles, we are sensible, are to be found in the public exigencies, and in your public spirit. Permit us, Sir, to call for this further service
- in the name of the people of India, for whom your parental care has been so long distinguished, and in support of whose cause you hare encountered so many difficulties, vexations, and dangers.
“We have expressed sentiments in which we are unanimous, and which, with pride and pleasure, we attest under all our signatures, entreating you to favour us as frequently as you can, with your assistance in the Committee; and you shall have due notice of the days on which your advice and instructions may be more particularly necessary. “We have the honour .to be,
“With the most perfect respect, Sir,
“Your most faithful and obliged humble servants,
- Edmund Burke, chairman. Charles James Fox. R. B. Sheridan.
- Thomas Pelham (now Earl of Chichester).
- W. Windham. Gilbert Elliott (now Lord Minto). Charles Grey (now Earl Grey). William Adam. John Anstruther. M. A. Taylor. Maitland (now Earl Lauderdale).
- Nest to Indian affairs, his masterly views in relation to which he lost no opportunity of impressing upon the House, parliamentary reform engaged the greatest share of his attention; accordingly we find him in 1792 actively employed in forming the Society of Friends of the People, whose admirable address and declaration were composed by him. On the celebrated motion of Mr. Grey on that subject, he candidly confessed, that he had previously doubted the propriety of reform, and had therefore twice given his vote against different plans of reform introduced by Mr. Pitt; but that the view and contemplation of doctrines an
- condition of the negro, and the debates of the House of Commons bear witness to the energy with which he advocated his cause.
- He still continued to remind the House of the impolicy as well as injustice of those frequent wars in India, to which ambition and misgovernment are continually giving rise; and, in May 1804, he opposed the motion of thanka to the Marquess Wellesley, and to the officers and soldiers concerned in achieving our late successes in India, tcc. on the ground, that it was so worded as to convey an approval of the causes of the war. To his profound knowledge of Indian affairs, Mr. Fox, on the 25th February, 1806, bore the following testimony: - a I cannot avoid,” said he, “paying that tribute of praise to the industry, perseverance, and clear-sighted policy of my honourable friend, on questions relative to India, which they so much deserve. In my. opinion, there is no one subject of his majesty, or in all his dominions, whose merit, with regard to the affairs of India, can be put in competition with that of my honourable friend.” It was, therefore, reasonably expected, that on the accession of Mr. Fox to the ministry, and the death of Lord Cornwallis, Mr. Francis would have been sent thither as governor-general; but ‘for reasons not yet satisfactorily explained, he was passed over, and Lord Lauderdale appointed to that post. On the 29th October, 1806, at the instance of Lord Grenville, he was invested with the Order of the Bath, the only reward which he ever received for his long, active, and meritorious exertions.
- The last action of his political life with which we are acquainted, was moving (at a meeting of the freeholders of Middlesex, at the Mermaid, at Hackney, on June 23rd, 1817) a petition against the suspension of the Aofteas corpus act, drawn up in a style by no means inferior to that of his more early productions. Firm to his principles, scarcely a year passed after his return from India in which he did not send forth some production in slipport of them: and he was considered in the best informed
- NJT political circles, the ablest pamphlet-writer of the age. He is said to have left behind him a manuscript, of an historical character, relating to the persons and personages who figured in the late reign; a work for which hia intimate acquaintance with public men; his habits of observation; his penetrating genius, and his incorruptible integrity, seem eminently to have qualified him. To the publication of this work we look forward for a corroboration, if indeed any further corroboration be necessary, of the opinion, that he is the author of those celebrated letters which appeared in the Public Advertiser, in the years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772, under the signature of Junius. Of the work, entitled,
- a With the ability, and the opportunity, he had the inducement to write the Letters. He is proved to have possessed the constitutional principles, political opinions, and personal views of the author. His public attachments and animosities were the same. He had the same private friends, acquaintances, and opponents. In the country of his birth, in the mode of his education, in his opportunities of political instruction, early initiation into state affairs, and inclination to profit by his advantages; - in having access to the first sources of information respecting the king, the court, the cabinet, and every department under government, with which Junius seems familiar, the resemblance is most strikingly preserved. It is heightened by his having the disposition, hopes
- and fears, habits, pursuits, and even personal appearance. In attending Parliament without being a member, - in the practice of takiog notes, and reporting speeches) -
- io hearing the same debates, and quoting the same speeches, even at the time they were unpublished, - in writing anonymously, - and in employing, throughout all his works, similar phrases, metaphors, sentiments, illustrations, maxims, quotations, and trains of thought, the identity is still further apparent. But in his connection with the War-office, in that excessive zeal and evidently personal feeling with which his own interests are maintained and his name is mentioned, - in the critical period of his retiring from the public service, - in the duration of his absence from England, - and in the time of his return, with his consequent departure for India, we meet with proofs which inevitably shew that he is Junius.”
- It should also be observed, that in a supplement to this work, specimens of the hand-writing, both of Junius and Sir Philip Francis are exhibited, in the general character, and even the minute peculiarities of which, the agreement is too prominent, too definite to be overlooked or resisted.
- In person, Sir P. Francis was thin, well formed, and above the ordinary stature; his features regular, and his eye keen, quick, and intelligent. His appearance altogether prepossessing, gentlemanly, and dignified. Till within a few years of his decease, he possessed a remarkable degree of activity of body, and his spirits were so mercurial as almost to “o’er inform his tenement of clay.” It was a favourite saying of his own, that 4< the sword wears out the scabbard,” and it is surprising, that in him it did not wear it out sooner. The garrulity of old age was not his portion. Too irritable and impetuous to listen to long narratives, he had to the last the good sense and taste never to inflict them on others. It is said, that nothing is necessary to please but the inclination; and when it was his inclination, no man was ever more irresistible and triumphant. To the labour of speaking in the House of Commons, he came rather late in life, and unpractised in the art. Fluency, the copia verbarum and torrens diccndi were not his - his speeches were studied,
- and consequently formal in their delivery; but they were no less studied by him than they were worthy of being studied by others, for the soundness of the principles and the excellence of the matter.
- He died at his house in St. James’s-square, after having been reduced to a state of extreme debility by an excruciating disease, with which he bad been for several years afflicted, and from which his age precluded all chance of recovery, on the 22nd Dec. 1818, in the seventyninth year of his age.
- THOMAS FRYE,
- THE original inventor and first manufacturer of porcelain in England, was born in or near Dublin, in 1710. He received a scanty education in the land of his nativity, and afterwards applied himself to the art of portrait painting, which he studied under a master neither eminent nor skilful, as he is stated to have been wholly indebted to a strong natural genius for the knowledge he possessed of iUi At an early period of his life, he repaired to London, in the company of Stoppelaer, (who, to the similar occupation of a painter, joined that of an actor, and was equally contemptible in each,) and in 1734, had the honour of painting a full length portrait of his Royal Highness Frederick, Prince of Wales, which is preserved in Sadler’s Hall, Cheapside. From this circumstance we may conclude, that he had already attained some celebrity as an artist, and he continued to practise that particular branch in oil, crayons, and miniature, for some years. A scheme, however, which was soon after engaged in by several men of considerable property, for the manufacture of porcelain, induced him to forego the profession he bad originally undertaken, and he was appointed to the entire management of a manufactory for that purpose at Bow, near London. He engaged in this concern with great alacrity, and devoted himself with much assiduity to perfecting it. The undertaking, however, did not succeed,
- in consequence of a heavy tax which was laid on the white clay used in it, and which was procured from South Carolina: this necessarily occasioned the china to be sold at a very high price; and after spending fifteen years in constant attendance on the furnaces, he found his constitution so much impaired, that he was compelled to retire into Wales. The few vessels which were made under his directions were esteemed very fine, particularly in the elegant designs and figures, in which Fiye*s abilities are exhibited to great advantage. Such of them as still remain are highly prized by collectors; and it is observed, that in some particulars, he equalled, and even exceeded the Chinese themselves, particularly in the transparency and the painting. They were, however, defective in their glazing. From the ruins of this manufactory, that at Chelsea, the remains of which are so highly esteemed, and that at Worcester, which has since attained almost unrivalled perfection, derived their origin.
- During his journey to Wales, and while He remained there, he resumed his former occupation of portrait painting, and received great encouragement. By this excursion he completely renovated his constitution, and on his return to Loudon, about twelve months after, he took a house in Hatton-Garden. He now devoted himself with great assiduity to his profession, and at the commencement of the reign of his late majesty, he published his portrait, and that of his consort, which were executed daring a frequent attendance at the theatres, their public appearance in which being the only opportunity he could obtain to procure their likenesses. It is reported, that this was perceived, and that both their majesties had the condescension to look towards the artist, in order td afford him an opportunity of perfecting his work. These were executed in.a very superior style of mezzotinto (a branch of engraving he had lately undertaken); the hair in particular may vie with the most highly finished engravings, and the lace and drapeiy were equally exquisite. He afterwards executed about sixteen heads of the same
- 171 large size, chiefly from his remembrance; as the ladies to whom he applied, could not be induced to sit for their portraits, urging, as an excuse, they did not know into what company they might be introduced. In these portraits, however, he exhibited rather more industry than judgment; for no branch of engraving, whether in mezzo- tinto, or in lines, can be suited to the display of portraits of such magnitude.
- In the first exhibition in 1760, there was a half-length portrait of the famous singer, Leveridge, painted by Frye, and which possessed very considerable merit; and in the exhibition of the following year, he also had pictures in all the different processes of oil colours, crayons, and miniatures. His pictures in general are well finished; the colouring, correct and lasting, and are much prized by those who possess them. One of them is that of Mr. Ellis, (through whose introduction Frye was honoured with the familiarity of Sir Joshua Reynolds,) and from which the Scriveners’ Company had a private plate scraped by the late Mr. Pether. His career, however, as an artist, did not continue long. He had been very corpulent, and much subject to the gout; to remedy this, he confined himself to so sparing a regimen, that he brought on a complication of disorders; his constant application had considerably weakened him; and he died of a consumption on 2nd April, 1762.
- EDWARD GALWEY,
- WAS second son to the banker of that name in Mallow. He was educated for the university, with a view to qualify him for one of the learned professions; but an eligible appointment offering, in the mean time, to a situation in the East Indies, he was about to proceed thither, when, by the advice of his friends, and a necessity occurring for his assistance, in his father’s office, he was prevailed on to take his seat at the desk. It was soon, however, discovered,
- that the dull routine of such employment, was but little congenial with his inclinations, and he escaped from it whenever he could with propriety do so, to indulge his zeal for scientific research, and to cultivate his taste for music, of which he was passionately fond, and in which he excelled. He availed himself of all opportunities to acquire a practical knowledge of botany, and was particularly conversant in all the new discoveries in chemistry, which, with geology, were his favourite studies. He was soon, however, drawn from his retired and studious habits to the south part of Europe, having suffered for several months by an oppression and pain in the chest, accompanied with a constant short dry cough, quick pulse, and all the symptoms of a confirmed consumption, from all which, however, he was completely cured before he landed at Lisbon, after a tempestuous and protracted passage in the winter of 1813. Finding himself so well, and conceiving, that his uniform of a yeomanry officer would afford him much facility in travelling in the Peninsula, he was induced to go into Spain; and the few months he spent in visiting various parts of this country, and the delight experienced by a mind finely stored like his, with diversified knowledge, inspired him with so enthusiastic a zeal for foreign travel, that although, on his return to Ireland, he re-assumed his station in the bank, it was evident that an opportunity only was wanting to set him out on his travels. That opportunity soon occurred by the ill-fated expedition to explore the Zaire. On hearing that Captain Tuckey, one of his early friends, had got the appointment, he immediately wrote to entreat he might be allowed to accompany him as a volunteer. It was in vain to represent how inconveniently he must be accom* modated, and that be could not be allowed even to take a servant; but he pleaded the example of Sir Joseph Banks, as entirely obviating in his own case so trifling an objection; his family remonstrated with him on the score of his health being injured from the hardships he would necessarily have to undergo, and from the effects of di-
- mate; his argument was, that be had tried both, and his health had improved by the experiment. In short, remonstrance and persuasion were resorted to in vain; he persisted in his entreaties with the admiralty and Captain Tuckey; and on the latter expressing a wish to take him, as one likely to be useful in promoting the objects of the expedition, he was permitted to join the Congo as a volunteer.
- Mr. Galwey proceeded with the captain’s party as far up the river as the Banza Ingo, when he was taken ill, about the £4th of August, and sent off from thence to the vessels: but he did not reach the Congo, in his canoe, till the 7th of September, being then in a state of great exhaustion; his countenance, by the surgeon’s account, ghastly, with extreme debility, and great anxiety; a short cough, with hurried respiration and heaving of the chest. On the following day, all the bad symptoms were increased, but he was free from pain. On the 9th, he became insensible, and expired about the middle of the day.
- His body was taken to the burial ground of the King of Embomma, and interred with such honours as the dispirited and much reduced party could bestow, by the side of his unfortunate companions, Cranch and Tudor.
- Mr. Galwey bad taken a very active part in collecting specimens, and making remarks on the natural products of the country, and more particularly on its geology; but both his journal and his collections have been lost. They had met in their progress with a party of slave dealers, having in their possession a negro in fetters, from the Mandingo country. From motives of humanity, and with the view of returning this man to his friends and country, as well as under the hope he might become useful as they proceeded, and give some account of the regions through which he must have passed, as soon as he should be able to speak a little English, Captain Tuckey purchased this slave, and appointed him to attend Mr, Galwey; but he was utterly incapable, it seems,
- of feeling, either pleasure or gratitude at his release from captivity; and when Mr. Galwey was taken ill, be not only abandoned him, but carried off the little property he had with him, no part of which was ever recovered.
- WILLIAM GARDINER,
- WAS an ingenious engraver and a bookseller, possessed of more literary and bibliographical information than many of his cotemporaries. He has left an account of himself sufficient to satisfy any reasonable person’s curiosity, and which we forbear to alter, amend, diminish, or increase.
«I, William Gardiner, was born June 11,1760, in Dublin. I am tin ma of John Gardiner, who was crier and /oc-totam to Judge Scott, and of Margaret (Nelson) his wife, a pastry-cook, in Henry-street At an eady age I discovered an itch for drawing, the first effort of which was spent in an attempt to immortalise Mr. Kennedy, my mother’s foreman; and vanity apart, it was at least as like to him as it was to any one tiae. Ata proper age I was placed in the academy of Mr. S. Darling; there I wm^ if I recollect right, esteemed an ordinary boy; yet was I selected, according to annual custom, to represent, on a rostrum, Cvdsd JPeiMp, an* precious work I dare say I made of it Before I quit school and Mr. Siam Darling, let me do him the justice to say, that he was the only trae FFMfc) schoolmaster I ever heard of. Neither he nor his ushers assumed mff * power to punish the slightest offence. A book was kept in school, in - Mr* the transgressions of every week were registered, with the proofs and evidence to the same. On Saturday, the master sat as judge, and twelve dt the senior boys as jury, and every offender was regularly tried, and dealt with strictly according to justice. There was no renal judge, whom pp sioM became Uno - there was no packed jury to defeat the ends of toMfc If ever there was an immaculate court of justice, that was it My amGm^ the best and most pious of mothers, our sheet-anchor, dying, my fitihvnb tached himself to Sir James Nugent, of Donore, county of VeatiMa^M amiable and excellent gentleman; into his suite I was received. My flHtai a strictly honest, and excellently tempered man, like myself, had ntiff 1 Mlost nor reflection; consequently, I was, at ten yean old, my own maahe. At that time my talents began to expand, and I then, as I have unifinriy through life, found that I could easily make myself a stcaad-nafit rnmtar ef any acquirement I chose to pursue: I rode tolerably, I faulted paamhiy, I •hot well, I flthed well, I played on the violin, the dulcimer, and the German flute, tolerably; and my fondness for painting strengthened every day, and seemed to promise so fairly, that it was determined to seed ma | to the Royal Academy in Dublin; there I stayed for about three yuan, 1 and concluded by receiving a silver medal. London 1 Imperial Lindon!
- the streets paved with gold!!! struck my fancy. I adventured thither, and being without any practicable talents, I of course wandered about some time without a plan. Chance led me to connect myself with a Mr. Jones in the Strand, who made what he called * reflecting mirrors,’ and cut profile shades in brass foil, which were denominated 4 polite remoon brances to friends •/ my employ was to daub the portraits of any who were fools enough to sit to me. At this employment I got, most justly, neither praise nor profit Falling in with a Mr. Davis, one of Forte’s performers, who was endeavouring to establish a theatre at Mile-end, I listed as scene- painter and actor, playing generally comedy, occasionally tragedy, and was thought to have some, though, I believe, very little merit The magistrates having interfered, the scheme was broken up, and my last theatrical effort was made as Darty, in the Poor Sridfer, in the Haymarket, which they said was not ill done; but acting was to me its own reward, which not suiting the state either of my finances or my stomach, induced me to serve a Mrs. Beetbam, in Fleet-street, who had at that time a prodigious run for black profile shades; my business was to give them the air of figures in shade, rather than the blank black masses which were customary. About this time the celebrated antiquarian, Captain Grose, took me up; and observing that I had not talents to make an eminent painter, but that I might succeed as an engraver, he placed me with Mr. Godfrey, the engraver of the ‘ Antiquarian Repertory? I served him some time; but, as he was merely an engraver of Antiquities, I learned little from him. At my leisure I had engraved an original design (stolen from Cipriani) of4 Shepherd Joe/ in4 Poor Vulcan? Chance led me with this for sale to the newly-opened shop of Messrs. Silvester and Edward Harding, in Fleetstreet; and a connection ensued, which lasted through my best days. There I engraved many things of fancy materials: and also as many as time allowed of their Illustrations of Shakspeare - the principal part of the Economy of Human Life - and as many as I could of the Memoirs de Grammont; some of the plates to Lady de Beauderk’s edition of Dryden’s Fables were entirely my own, and many of those with the name of Barto- lozzi affixed were mine. I should have mentioned, that, a longtime before, Bartolozzi was satisfied with my work, and listed me among the number of his pupils; I prepared for him several plates, published by Macklin. I believe I was inferior only to Bartolozzi, Schiavonetti, and Tomkins, of that day; but I never liked the profession of engraving. Gay, volatile, and lively as a lark, the process of the copper never suited me. Under propitious circumstances, my talents would have led me, perhaps, as an historical painter, to do something worth remembrance. An unfortunate summons from my father led me to forsake their mansion and return to Dublin, Where I only squandered my money and injured my health. Once more in London, I took lodgings In the house of Mr. Good, a stationer, in Bond-street: when, as the devil would have it, a new-married couple came to live at the back of us; they determined to give a dashing entertainment to the Prince of Wales and the nobility, and then retire to domesticate on their 4 dirty acres/ For thb purpose they erected a temporary apartment over their own yard and ours, approaching within half
- a yard of my window. I bored a hole through their tent to see the fun, staid in the cold a great part of the night, and arose in the morning with an inflamed eye, which has never since recovered its strength, and has been the cause of all my subsequent endeavours to get a living in other lines. By the kindness of the amiable Dr. Farmer, I was admitted of Emanuel College, where I remained two years; but, finding that an IrUb- mon could not there get a fellowship, I removed to Bene’t, where I got a degree of Sth Senior Optime. When it is considered that for the fint two years I had no view of a fellowship, and that for the third year I was obliged to work principally for the * day that was flying over my head/ I cannot but think I did as much comparatively as any man of my year; but fortune was always a jade to me: and Mr. D’Oyley, chaplain at present to the Archbishop of Canterbury, most deservedly succeeded to the next vacant fellowship - yet they kept me five years dangling after a fellowship, and might have provided for me without injuring him. - At the dissolution of the partnership between S. and E. Harding, I remained with the latter, and principally employed myself in taking Silvester’s place, that of copying portraits from oil to water colours. In this the testimony of the best artists in England are my witnesses that I beat hollow every one else. It was a line which suited me, which I liked, but which my cursed stars would not patronize. - After this, all prospects in the Church vanishing, and my eyes beginning to fail very fast, I turned bookseller, and for the last thirteen yearB, have struggled in vain to establish myadfi The same ill fortune which has followed me through life, has not here forsaken me. I have seen men on every side of me, greatly my inferiors in every respect, towering above me; while the most contemptible amongst them, without education, without a knowledge of their profession, and without an idea, have been received into Palaces, and into the bosom of the great, while I have been forsaken and neglected, and my business reduced to nothing. It is, therefore, high time for me to be gone.
“WILLIAM GARDINER.* ft The above was accompanied with the following letter addressed to a friend: -
« Sir, “I cannot descend to the grave without expressing a due sense of the marked kindness with which you have favoured me for some years. My sun has set for ever - a nearly total decline of business, - the failure of my catalogue, a body covered with disease, though unfortunately of snch a nature as to make life uncomfortable, without the consoling prospect of its termination, has determined me to seek that asylum (where the weary are at rest.’ My life has been a continual struggle, not indeed against adversity, but against something more galling; and poverty, having now added herself to the list, has made life a burthen. Adieu, Sir, and believe me,
<< Your sincere and respectful bumble servant,
“WILLIAM GARDINER.-
- 1
“I beg leave to enclose a specimen of my engraving, of which I humbly beg your acceptance. I die in the principles I have published - a sound Whig.”
"Sir,
“I present you with a brief memoir of myself. If you shall find it of no other use, it will, at least, serve to light your fire.
“Your respectful humble servant, “May 9,1814 ” " WILLIAM GARDINER ”
- The letter is dated May the 9th, but he committed the fatal act on the 8th. He bad been married, it is said, to a very respectable and interesting young woman of the name of Seckerson, much against the wish of her friends. With her assistance be was enabled to open a bookseller’s shop in Pall-Mall, when in a short time he gained a very considerable knowledge in old books; but his wife and child dying, he became utterly regardless of appearances; his dress, premises, and books, were equally in want ol repair, and he was possessed of a happy contempt for all the forms of civilized life. He never scrupled to deliver his opinions (whether called for or not) on political men, as they entered his shop, in the most free and unequivocal terms, however it might affect his interests. This, although many regarded as a degree of praiseworthy eccentricity that ought to be encouraged and admired, the majority conceived as an unwarrantable insult, and Mr. Gardiner suffered in consequence “a total decline of business.”
- He put a period to his existence by banging himself on the evening of the 8th of May, 1814; and the Coroner’s inquest brought in a verdict of insanity.
- With all his eccentricities (natural or acquired) he maintained through life the character of a strictly honest man.
- JOHN GAST, D.D. AN eminent divine, was born at Dublin, on July 29th, 1715. His father, Mr. Daniel Gast, was a protestant of Saintonge, in Guyenne, where he practised as a physician VOL. n. N
- until compelled by the persecution of 1684, to fly for refuge, together with his wife, a native of dourdeaux, and nearly related to the great Montesquieu; and Ireland became his retreat. Mr. John Gast received his education in Dublin, under Dr. Lloyd, and entered Trinity College under Dr. Gilbert. In 1735, he took his bachelor’s degree; and soon after, married Miss Huddleston. On his entrance into holy orders, he served as chaplain to the French congregation at Portarlington, but after^ wards removed to Dublin, and became, in 1744, curate to the parish of St. John, in that city. The pecuniary emoluments derived from this source were inadequate to the support of a young and increasing family, and he endea-voured to add to them by a weekly lecture at St. John’s, by attending early prayers at St. Mary’s chapel, in Christ* church, and by the business of a school; an extensive and laborious undertaking. Yet these various and arduous employments did not weaken the powers of his mind, nor detract from his passion for literature. Under their severest pressure, be composed his “Rudiments of Grecian History,” and published them in 1753. These were written with such great accuracy, perspicuity, and talent, that the university of Dublin were highly pleased with them, and in proof of their admiration, conferred on Gott the honour of D. D. without any expense to him; and the Board of senior Fellows, by an entry in their Register books, recommended them very strongly, “as a book wy proper to be read by young gentlemen at school, for tbeit instruction in the history of Greece.”
- In 1761, he was presented to the living of Arklow, by Archbishop Cobbe, and three years after, be added to it the archdeaconry of Giandelogb and the parish of Newcastle, making in the whole an income of 500£ per annum. These rewards of virtue and learning, reflect as much lustre on the amiable donor, as they confer honour on the receiver. In 1775, he exchanged Arklow for the parish of St. Nicholas without, Dublin. As a token of respect for his exertions while curate of St. John’s, the inhabi-
- tants of that parish presented him with a valuable piece of plate; and a similar compliment was paid him by the dean and chapter of St. Patrick, for his services as their proctor. At length, in 1788, he fell a victim to the gout, ^which had long tormented him; and his death was, by the inhabitants of Newcastle, so deeply regretted, that a subscription was carried into effect for the purpose of erecting to his memory a handsome monument.
- In addition to his “Rudiments of Grecian History," the only other work which be published, was a small tract without his name, a A Letter from a Clergyman of the established Church of Ireland, to those of his Parishioners who are of the Popish Communion.” This was written principally with the intention of endeavouring to recon-cile to the established church such of his parishioners of Newcastle, as professed the Roman Catholic doctrines.
- THOMAS GAUGHAN.
- THIS individual is merely introduced as an extraordinary instance of memorial vigour at an advanced age. He was poor, but always cheerful and contented, and passed one hundred and ten years of his life wholly unacquainted with sickness, up to the end of which period he was able to take a full share with all the young members of his family in the labours of the field.
- A memorable circumstance, in his otherwise eventless history^ was his appearance in the county court at the age of one hundred and flix, when, by his clear and. intelligent evidence, be fully proved the validity of a surviving maideo, in the year 1725, thereby contributing chiefly to the termination of an.important law suit.
- He.died near Crosmonna, in (be county of Mayo, on the 10th of August, 1814, at the advanced age of one hundred and twelve yean*
- . His eldest son, Whom be was still in the habit of calling “the toy” though upwards of seventy, bids fair to emulate the father’s patriarchal fame,
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- FRANCIS GENTLEMAN, A DRAMATIC and poetical author of some celebrity, was born in York-street, Dublin, on the 23rd of October, 1728, and received his education in that city, where he was school-fellow with the celebrated Mossop the tragedian. At the age of fifteen, he obtained a lieutenant’s commission in the same regiment wherein his father was major; but making an exchange into a new raised company, he was dismissed the service on his regiment being reduced at the conclusion of the war in 1748. In consequence of this occurrence, he cultivated his inclination for the stage, and appeared at Smock-alley Theatre, Dublin, in the character of Aboan, in the tragedy of Oroonoko. Notwithstanding a figure by no means prepossessing, and uncommon timidity, be says he succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations; but having some property, and receiving intelligence that a legacy had been left him by a relation, he determined on a visit to London, where he quickly dissipated what little fortune he possessed. He then entered into an engagement at the Bath theatre, where he remained a short time, and from thence went to Edinburgh, and afterwards belonged to several Thespian companies at Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, and other places; but at length, growing tired of a public life, he settled at Malton, a market town, about twenty miles from York, where he married, and had some expectation of being provided for by the Marquis of Granby, to whom he was recommended by a gentleman who had known his father. With this hope he removed to London, but un- fortunately soon found all his prospects obscured for ever; by the sudden death of his patron. In 1775, he performed at the Haymarket, under the management of Mr. Foote, and continued with him three seasons, during which period, and afterwards, be wrote some of his dramatic pieces and poems: be was at length dischaiged, a at a time of peculiar embarrassment to the manager;9! he then returned to his native country, about the year 1777,
- and struggled for the remainder of his life, in sickness and want, from which he was relieved by death, on the 21st of December, 1784.
- He wrote and altered fifteen dramatic pieces, none of which are now remembered, or had originally much success. He was the author also of “Characters,” an epistle, published in 4to. in 1766; and “Royal Fables,” in 8vo. both poetical productions of very considerable merit; but his best performance is the “Dramatic Censor,” in two vols. 8vo. published in 1770, in which he criticises about fifty of the principal acting plays, with both impartiality and judgment, and he likewise had the discredit of being editor of the worst edition of “Sbakspeare’s plays,” that ever obtruded itself on the public eye*.
- OLIVER GOLDSMITH,
- A POET, whom truth and nature seemed to have inspired, a miscellaneous writer of great taste, and an historian of no mean celebrity, was born November 29th, 1728, in the obscure village of Pallice, situated on the northern banks of the new ferry, in the parish of Fores, county of Longford. Dr. Goldsmith’s family had been long settled in Ireland, and one branch of it, Dr. Isaac Goldsmith, was dean of Cork about the year 1730. The poet’s father, was the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, a native of the county z of Roscommon; he was a clergyman of the establishment, and was educated at Dublin College. He resided at Pallice at the time his son Oliver was born, and after-wards held the living of Kilkenny-West, in the county of Westmeath, and from thence was promoted to a benefice in the county of Roscommon. By his wife Anne, the daughter of the Rev. Oliver Jones, master of the diocesan school of Elphin, he had five sons and two daughters; Henry, his eldest son, went into the church, and is the gentleman to whom our poet dedicated his 4 Published by Bell in 1774 and 1775.
- Traveller; Oliver was the second son, and is supposed td have faithfully represented his father in the Village Preacher, in the Deserted Village. He was originally intended for some mercantile occupation, as his father found his income already too trifling to balance the expenses incurred by bestowing on his eldest son a literary and classical education: With this view he was instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, at a common day- school, the master of which was an old soldier, who had served in several campaigns during Queen Anne’s wan as quarter-master in the detachment of the army that was sent to Spain, and who entertained his pupil with WOIH drous tales of his “perilous encounters in the imminent deadly breachand is suspected to have implanted in lib pupil’s breast somewhat of that roving and unsettled spirit, which burst forth at so early a period of his life, and which neither age nor circumstances could entirely subdue. It is related, that at the early age of eight years, he made several poetical attempts, and by the ide* qualities (or rather inconsistencies) of his temper and conduct, betrayed a disposition infinitely more favourable to the irregular flights of genius, than the systematic drudgery of business. This, after a short time becoming somewhat obvious, his friends, who at first pleaded wanhly for his being sent to the university, now determined to contribute towards the expense; and, by their assistance^ he was placed at a reputable school where he might be qualified to enter the college with all the advantages of preparatory learning. Ou the 11 th of June, 1744, he was admitted a sizer of Trinity College, Dublin, under ithe tuition of the Rev. Mr. Welder, one of the follows, who unluckily was a man of violent temper and incontroIlaHe passions, and consequently unfit to be the tutor of a youth who was gifted in no small degree, with simplicity, thoughtlessness, and volatility. Oliver, notwithstanding^ made some progress (although slow) in academical studies, as, in 1747, he was elected one of the exhibitioners on Erasmus Smyth’s foundation; and, in 1749, was admitted
- to the degree of bachelor of. arte. About this period be left college, an event which was occasioned by improvi- deuce on his part, and severity on that of his tutor. He had, it seems, invited a party of young friends of both sexes to a supper and ball in his rooms, which coming to the knowledge of his tutor, the latter entered the place in the midst of their hilarity, and after abusing the whole company, proceeded to inflict manual chastisement on Goldsmith in their presence; this event bad such an effect on the mind of Oliver, that be determined on quit- * ting a place where he bad suffered so greet a mortification. Accordingly, he immediately disposed of his books and dothes, and bidding adieu for ever to the college and its inmates, stepped boldly forth into the wide world, prepared to take the first path that Providence should point OUU He wandered up and down the streets considering what was to be his destination, till his money was completely exhausted. However, with a solitary shilling in his pocket, he at last left Dublin; this sum, smell as it was, be contrived to make last him three days, and then was obliged to part with his clothes; ip short, to BO dreadful an extremity was he reduced, that he confessed, a handful of grey peas given him at a wake, appeared to him the most delicious meal he had ever made. After a series of adventures as numberless as they were strange, be by some means contrived to make his brother ac-quainted with his situation; who, after having clothed him, carried him back to college, and effected at the same time a reconciliation between him and his tutor, which it may be supposed, was neither cordial nor durable. Soon after this, from the repeated ill treatment be received, he feft into a despondence of mind, and a total carelessness about his studies and pursuits, in consequence of which, he neither obtained a scholarship, or became a candidate for the premiums. Not long after this period diis father died, and his friends wished him to prepare for holy orders; to thia, however, he unreservedly declared his dislike, and wap recommended as tutor in a private fa-
- mily, where finding himself uncomfortable, he once more left the country, u and its sweet fields,” with about thirty pounds in his pocket. However, after an absence of about six weeks or two months, he returned to his mother’s bouse, perfectly pennyless, having expended the whole in a series of extraordinary adventures, for an account of which, the reader is referred to the life prefixed to his works. His uncle, the Rev. Thomas Contarine, now undertook to send him to London for the purpose of studying the law at the Temple; but while at Dublin, on his way to’ * England, he was tempted to play with a sharper, who stripped him of fifty pounds, with which the liberality of his uncle had furnished him for his journey. He returned, and again received forgiveness; his friends again changed their opinions as to his future destination, and physic was at length finally fixed on. He now departed for Edinburgh, where he arrived in the latter part of 1752, and formally, indeed, attended the lectures of Dr. Monro, and the other medical professors; but his studies were neither regular nor profound. There was always something which he preferred to stated application; he became fond of dissipated company, and distinguished himself among his fellow-students, as a social companion and a man of humour, and this, with his readiness to administer to the wants of whoever asked him, kept him constantly poor. After having gone through the usual course of lectures* in the commencement of 1754, he departed from Edinburgh; an event which was probably hastened by hh having become security for a debt due by a fellow-student to one Barclay, a tailor. He hastened to Sunderland; but on his arrival there, was arrested, and, but for the friendship of Mr. Lauchlan Maclean, and Dr. Sleigh, he must have continued in gaol.
- He now embarked for Bourdeaux, on board a vessel called the St. Andrews, in which, as an inducement, be was told that there were six other passengers, gentlemen of information and social manners. They had been but
- two days at sea, when a storm drove them into Newcastle upon Tyne, where the passengers landed to refresh after the fatigue of their voyage. They were sitting very merrily together, when a file of grenadiers entered with fixed bayonets, and put them under arrest. Goldsmith’s fellowpassengers, it appeared, had been into Scotland to enlist soldiers for Louis XV. It was in vain that he protested his innocence; he was conveyed with the others to prison, where he was detained a fortnight, and even then with difficulty obtained his liberation. Meanwhile the vessel bad sailed; a fortunate, though provoking circumstance for our poet: she was wrecked at the mouth of the Garonne, and every soul on board perished.
- By a vessel then on the point of sailing, he arrived at Rotterdam in nine days, whence he proceeded to Leyden. Here he resided about a year, studying anatomy under the celebrated Albinus, and chemistry under Gambius; but a propensity for gaming, which he had unfortunately contracted, plunged him into continual difficulties. So little, indeed, was he aware of the value of money, that even the sum which he borrowed to enable him to leave Holland, was expended on some costly Dutch flower roots, intended as a present to his uncle; and he is believed to have set out upon his travels with only one clean shirt, and no money in his pocket. He bad, however, “a knack at hoping;” and, in a situation in which any other individual would have laid his account with starving, he undertook the tour of Europe.
- It is generally understood, that in the “History of a Philosophic Vagabond,” (Vicar of Wakefield, chapter 20,) he has related many of his own adventures. He played tolerably well on the German flute, which from an amusement became at times the means of his subsistence. “Whenever I approached a peasant’s house, towards night-fall,” says he, “I played one of my most merry tunes, and that generally procured me not only a lodging but subsistence for the next day; but, in truth,” his constant expression, ° I must own, whenever I attempted to
- entertain persons of a higher rank, they always thought my performance odious, and never made me any retorn for my endeavours to please them.” His learning also, procured him a hospitable reception at most of the religious houses he visited; and in this precarious way of existence he arrived in Switzerland, where he first cultivated his poetical talent with any great effect, having dis* patched from hence the original sketch of his delightful epistle, the Traveller, to his brother Henry. And the circumstances described in the pathetic exordium of this, beautiful poem -
- u Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow f* were doubtless frequently and severely felt by him doling his excursion, though the vigour of his constitution enabled him to resist the fatigues of his pedestrian travel and the inclemency of the weather; and his mind received much gratification from the various scenes of nature, and the diversities of the human mind, which continually presented themselves.
- The account which has generally been received of his having engaged as travelling tutor to a young miser, in now suspected to have been too hastily adopted from the source above mentioned. At Padua he remained about six months, where he probably obtained the degree of M. B. though some are of opinion, that he took that degree at Louvain. After visiting the northern’ part of Italy, he returned on foot through France, and landed at Dover in 1756.
- His pecuniary resources were so exhausted at his arrival in London, that his whole stock of cash amounted only to a few halfpence. He with some difficulty obtained a situation as an usher, in which he remained for a short time, quitting it in disgust; an highly painted account of the mortifications he endured, is to be met with in the Philosophic Vagabond; and several observations in his Essay on Schools, appear to have been the result off personal experience, and dictated by personal resentment. He next applied to several apothecaries, in hopes of
- obtaining a situation as an assistant; but his accent, and the uneouthness of his appearance, rendered him rather, an object of ridicule than of pity to most of the faculty. A chemist, howeverf near Fish-street-hill, struck with his forlorn condition, and the simplicity of his manner, took hhn*into his laboratory, where he continued until he dis* covered that his old friend Dr. Sleigh, was in town. That gentleman received him with the warmest affection, and liberally invited him to ’share his purse, encouraging him to Commence practitioner, which be did at Bankside, and afterwards, in or near the Temple. His success as a physician appears to have been but small, for he used to say, that he had abundance of patients, but very few fees. Some addition, however, to his income, he now began to derive from his pen; and be appears to have been for a while, corrector of the press to the celebrated Samuel Richardson.
- About this time be renewed his acquaintance with Dr. Milner, whom hehad known at Edinburgh, and that gentleman proposed to him to superintend his father’s, the Rev. Dr. John Milner’s school, at Peckham, who was confined by illness. To this he consented; and on the Doctor’s recovery, he testified his gratitude to Goldsmith for his assistance, by procuring for him an appointment as physician to one of the East India Company’s factories. To furnish himself with the necessary supplies for the voyage, he now circulated proposals to print by subscrip* tion, “The present State of Polite Literature in Europe;” but whatever was the success of this, he appears to have given up his appointment, and to have still continued with Dr.’Milner. ’About the same time he published, what be terms a catchpenny “Life of Voltaire;” and he also sold to Mr. Edward Dilly, for twenty guineas, “The Me* moire of a Protestant condemned to the Gallies of France for his Religion. Written by himself. Translated from die Original, just published at the Hague, by James Wil* ling ton.”
- Towards the latter end of 1758, Goldsmith happened
- to dine at Dr. Milner’s table with Mr. Ralph Griffiths, the proprietor of the Monthly Review, who invited him to write articles of criticism for that respectable publication. The terms of this engagement were a liberal salary, together with his board and lodging, which were secured to him for a year by a written agreement. In this capacity, however, he continued only seven or eight months, the constant drudgery to which it confined him not agreeing with the poet’s disposition, who declared, that be wrote for his employer every day from nine o’clock till two. He now took a miserable apartment in Green Arbour-court, Little Old Bailey, amidst the dwellings of indigence; and in this wretched hovel completed his “Inquiry into the present State of Polite Literature in Europe,” which was published in 1759, by Dodsley. This work was well received, and in the following October, he commenced a weekly publication, “The Bee,” but which terminated at the eighth number.
- Some articles which he contributed about this time to the Critical Review, introduced him to the acquaintance of Dr. Smollett, then editor of the British Magazine; and for that work Goldsmith wrote most of those “Essays,9* which were afterwards collected and published in a separate volume. Smollett also introduced him to Mr. Newberry, by whom be was engaged at a salary of 100£ a year, to write for the Public Ledger a series of periodical essays. These he termed “Chinese Lettersand they were afterwards collected and published in two volumes, under the tide of “The Citizen of the World.” The liberality of his engagement with Newberry now induced him to desert his humble apartment in Green Arbour-court, and to hire decent lodgings in Wine Office-court, Fleet-street, where he finished his excellent novel,“The Vicar of Wakefield.* But such was his thoughtless dissipation, that he was in continual apprehensions of arrest, which at length took place, for arrears of rent. Under these circumstances, poor Goldsmith summoned resolution to send a message to Dr. Johnson, with whom he had palely formed an
- GOLDSMITH. 18»
- acquaintance, stating, that he was in great distress, and begging that he would come to him as soon as possible. Johnson sent him a guinea, and promised to follow almost immediately; and on his arrival, found Goldsmith in a violent passion with his landlady/but consoling himself as well as he could with a bottle of Madeira, to the purchase of which he had already devoted a part of his friend’s liberal present. Johnson immediately corked the bottle, and desired Goldsmith to be calm and consider in what way he could extricate himself from his troubles; on this he produced his novel. Johnson saw its merits, and hurried away with it to Newberry, who immediately gave 601. for it, with which Goldsmith paid his landlady, loading her at the same time with many invectives. In the purchase of this novel, Newberry appears rather to have been actuated by a feeling of benevolence towards its author, than under any idea of profits by its publication, as he retained the manuscript unpublished for nearly three years.
- Goldsmith’s connection with Newberry now became a source of constant supply to him. Early in 1763, he removed to lodgings at Canonbury House, Islington, where he compiled several works for that gentleman; among which were u The Art of Poetry;” a a Life of Nash;” and a u History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son which latter publication was for a long time attributed to George, Lord Lyttleton, and by many, to Charles, Earl of Orrery.
- In the following year, he took chambers on the upper story of the library staircase in the Inner Temple, and began to live in a genteel style; though his general merits as an author were little known, except among the booksellers, till 1765, when he published his poem “The Traveller,” which had obtained high commendation from Dr. Johnson. Such, however, was Goldsmith’s diffidence, that though he had completed it some years before, he had not courage to publish it till repeatedly urged to it by Johnson. This at once established his fame; he was
- elected one of the earliest members of the Literary Club, which had just been instituted by Johnson, Garrick, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c. and he was introduced to the favourable acquaintance of several persons of superior rank and talents. The outline of this poem bad been formed in Switzerland; but he had polished it with great care and attention prior to its publication. His roving disposition, however, had not yet deserted him. He had for some time been meditating on a design of penetrating into the interior of Asia, and investigating the remains of ancient learning, grandeur, and manners; and he had applied to Lord Bute for a salary to enable him to execute his plan. His application passed unnoticed, for he was then unknown; and after his publication of the Traveller, although he sometimes talked of this project, he appears to have entirely relinquished it. “Of all men,” said Dr. Johnson, “Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out on such an inquiry; for he is utterly ignorant of such arte as we already possess, and consequently would not know what would be an accession to our present stock of mechanical knowledge; he would bring home a grinding barrow, and think that he had furnished a wonderful improvement.”
- Among other noblemen to whose acquaintance this poem introduced our author, was Lord Nugent, afterwards Earl of Clare, by whose unsolicited friendship, he obtained an introduction to the Earl of Northumberland, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland. “I was invited,” says Goldsmith, “to wait upon the Duke, in consequence of the satisfaction he had received from the perusal of one of my productions. I dressed myself in the best manner I could; and, after studying some compliments I thought necessary on such an occasion, proceeded on to Northumberland House, and acquainted the servants that 1 had particular business with his grace. They shewed me into an anti-chamber, where, after waiting some time, a gentleman very elegantly dressed, made his appearance: taking him for the Duke, I delivered all the fine things I had
- composed in order to compliment him on the honour he had done to me; when to my great astonishment he told me that I had mistaken him for his master, who would see me immediately. At that instant the Duke came into the apartment, and I was so confounded on the occasion, that 1 wanted words, barely sufficient to express the sense I entertained of the Duke’s politeness, and went away exceedingly chagrined at the blunder I had committed.” Such is the Doctor’s own account of the interview; Sir John Hawkins, however, relates, that when the lord-lieutenant said, he should be glad to do him any kindness; Goldsmith answered, that “he had a brother in Ireland a clergyman, that stood in need of help; as for himself, he had no dependence on the promise of great men; he looked to the booksellers; they were his best friends, and he was not inclined to forsake them for others;” This was very characteristic of our author, who, as Sir John Hawkins adds, * was an ideot in the affairs of the world;” an epithet peculiarly harsh on such an occasion, when his affection for his brother, and his grateful remembrance of his former kindness to him, prompted him to endeavour to make him a suitable return by transferring his lordship’s favour and patronage to his benefit.
- The following anecdote, though resting perhaps on an insafficient authority, is worthy of record. At the time of this visit, Goldsmith was much embarrassed in his pecuniary concerns, but vain of the honour done him, was continually mentioning it. One of those ingenious executors of the law, a bailiff, who had a writ against him, determined to tarn this circumstance to his own advantage. He wrote him a letter, that he was steward to a nobleman, who was charmed with reading his last production, arid bad ordered him to desire the Doctor to appoint a place where he might have the honour of meeting him to conduct him to fcis lordship. The vanity of poor Goldsmith imtoediMeiy swallowed the bait. He appointed the British Coffee-house, to which he was accompanied by his‘friend Mr.Hatniitof), printer, of foe
- Critical Review, who in vain remonstrated on the singularity of the application. On entering the coffee-room, the bailiff paid his respects to him, and desired that he might have the honour of immediately attending him. They had scarcely entered Pall-Mall, in their way to his lordship, when the bailiff produced his writ. Mr. Hamilton generously paid the amount, and redeemed the Doctor from his captivity.
- In 1765, he also published his beautifully simple and pathetic ballad of “The Hermitand in the following year, his “Vicar of Wakefield,” which had lain in unmerited neglect in the hands of Mr. Newberry, was first printed; the established reputation of its author, now recommending it to that general perusal which it merited, and which it still claims from every reader of genuine simplicity and humour.
- His reputation being now fully established as a novelist, a poet, and a critic, he turned his thoughts to the Drama, and composed his comedy, “The Good-Natured Man,* which he at first offered to Garrick, who, after a long fluctuation between doubt and encouragement finally rejected it. It was therefore taken to Covent Garden, where it was accepted by Mr. Colman, and presented first time, on January 29th, 1768. This piece kept possession of the stage for nine nights, but did not meet with that encouragement and applause which his friends had expected. His profits, however, together with the sale of the copyright, produced him 5001. with which, and some money reserved from the sale of his “Roman History,” he was enabled to purchase and furnish elegantly, a spacious set of chambers on the first floor, at No. 2, Brickcourt, Middle Temple.
- His pen was now frequently employed on introductions and prefaces to books compiled by others, as “Guthrie’s History of the World,” and Dr. Brooks’s “System of Natural History.” In his preface to this latter work, he so far excelled its author in the graces of a captivating style, that the bookseller engaged him to write a “History l
- of the Earth, and Animated Nature/9 which he executed with much elegance, but no very deep knowledge of his subject. He also drew up a “Life of Dr. Parnell/9 prefixed to an edition of his poems, which afforded Dr. Johnson an opportunity of paying an affectionate tribute to his memory in his Life of Parnell, in the English poets. He was also engaged by the booksellers in many compilations; in one of which, by some unaccountable inadvertence, be bad nearly compromised his character as an author of taste and morality. Mr. Griffin the bookseller, of Catherine-street, had desired him to make a selection of classical English Tales, for the use of boarding schools, io which he marked for the printer, one of the most indecent tales of Prior. His biographer adds, “without reading it." This, however, could not be the case, as it is introduced by a criticism.
- In 1769, he produced his elegant poem “The Deserted Village/’ which he finished with the greatest care and attention previous to its publication. How much it added to his reputation need scarcely be mentioned. A curious circumstance, however, relative to its publication, is highly interesting, as it evinces the peculiar simplicity and honesty of his character. Mr. Griffin had given him a note of one hundred guineas for the copy; a friend of .Goldsmith’s to whom he mentioned it, observed, that it was a large sum for so short a poem; a In truth/9 replied Goldsmith, “I think so too; it is near five shillings a couplet, which is much more than the honest man can afford, and indeed, more than any modern poetry is worth. I have not been easy since I received it; I will go back and return him his notewhich he actually did. The sale, however, was so rapid, that the bookseller sooo paid him the hundred guineas, with proper acknowledgments for the generosity of his conduct.
- At the establishment of the Royal Academy of painting, in 1770, his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds, procured for him the professorship of ancient history; an honorary distinction, attended neither with emolument nor trouble, VOL. 11. o
- but which entitled him to a seat at some of the meeting! of the society. At one of the dinners of the academicians, the Earl of Lisburne is said to have lamented to Goldsmith that he should neglect the Muses, to compile histories, and write novels, instead of penning poetry, with which be was sure to charm hi6 readers. “My lord/ replied Goldsmith, “in courting the Muses, 1 should starve; but by my other labours I eat, drink, wear good clothes, and enjoy the luxuries of life.”
- The commencement of 1773, produced another drank* tie effort of our author, in a comedy, entitled, “She Stoops to Conquer*.” During the last rehearsal, on the Doctor’s objecting to the improbability that Mrs. Hard* castle should believe she was at a distance from home, when actually in her own garden; Colman, with gnat keenness, replied, “Psha, my dear Doctor, do aot be fearful of squibs, when we have been sitting almost these two hours on a barrel of gunpowder.” Contrary, however, to the manager’s expectation, the piece was received with “unbounded applause;” and Goldsmith never forgave the severity of CoIman’s observation.
- The success of this comedy, the profits of which produced to our author 850£ brought on him the envy and malignity of some of his contemporaries. A scurrilous letter was inserted in the London Packet of March Mlh, 1773, reflecting on his personal insignificance, and loading with ignominious terms his most beautiful productions. By the kindness of some friend, the letter im question was shewn to Goldsmith, who, highly indignant, items, diately hastened to the publisher’s, Mr. Evens, in Pates* noster-row, and finding him behind his counter, dins addressed him: “You have published a thing in your
- 1W paper, (my name it Goldsmith,) reflecting upon a young lady. As for myself, I do not mind it.”* Evans, at this moment, stooped down to examine a file for the paper referred to, when Goldsmith, observing his back to present a fair mark for his cane, laid it on lustily. Evans, as soon as he could recover himself from the surprise caused by this sudden attack, defended himself, and a scatte ensued, in which Goldsmith received considerable injury. Dr. Kenrick, who was sitting in Evans’s counting-house, (and who was strongly suspected to have been the writer of the offensive letter,) now came forward and separated the oom batants, and Goldsmith was sent home in a coach, grievously bruised. This foolish quarrel afforded considerable sport for the newspapers for some days, and an action at law was threatened. By the interposition, however, of some friends, the affair was finally compromised, and on March 31st, an address to the public inserted by Goldsmith in the Daily Advertiser, put an end to the affair.
- In the following year, he published his “History ef the Earth and Animated Nature.” This was one of his latest publications, and be received 850£ for the copy; and during the time he was engaged in this undertaking, be had received also the profits of "She Stoops to Conquer,” which amounted to the same sum. His biographer, however, informs us, “be was so liberal in his donations, and profuse in his disbursements; he was unfortuoately so attached to the pernicious practice of gaming; and from his unsealed habits of life, his supplies being precarious and uncertain; he had been so little accustomed to regulate his expenses by any system of economy, that his debts far exceeded his resources; and be was obliged to take up money in advance from the managers of the two theatres for comedies which he engaged to furnish to each, and from the booksellers, for publications which he was to finish for the press. All these engagements he fully in* tended, and doubtless wonld have been able, to fulfil with the strictest honour, as be had done on former occasions
- in similar exigencies; but his premature death unhappily prevented the execution of his plans, and gave occasion to malignity to impute those failures to deliberate intention, which were merely the result of inevitable mortality.”
- In the spring of 1774, he was attacked in a very severe manner by a fit of the strangury; a disease of which he bad often experienced slight symptoms, owing probably to the severe confinement to which he at times devoted himself when engaged in his compilations, and the very free and intemperate life to which he afterwards gave himself up. He usually hired apartments at a farm-house in the neighbourhood of London, and wrote without the least cessation or exercise for weeks, until he had completed his task. He then returned to his friends the booksellers, received his compensation, and engaged, perhaps for months, in all the gaieties and amusements of the metropolis. Such frequent changes had materially injured his constitution; his mind too, was distressed; and the attack of strangury terminated in a nervous fever, which required medical assistance. He told Mr. Hawes on biu arrival, that he had taken two ounces of ipecacuanha wine, as an emetic, and that it was his intention to take Dr. James’s fever powders. Mr. Hawes in vain represented to him the impropriety of the medicine at that time; Goldsmith was inflexible. Dr. Fordyce was called in, who corroborated the apothecary’s opinion; Gold-smith, however, could not be prevailed on to alter his resolution, and on the following day, the alarming symptoms had increased. Dr. Turton was now called in, but their united skill and abilities did not avail. He died on 24th April, at the age of forty-five.
- His literary friends had originally intended to have testified their respect for him by a sumptuous public funeral; a slight investigation of his affairs, however, shewing that he was 2000£ in debt, this plan was abandoned, and he was privately interned in the Temple burying ground, on the Saturday following. A subscription was afterwards
- raised, principally among his brethren of the Literary dub, and a marble monument by Nollekens, was placed in Westminster Abbey, between those of Gay and the Duke of Argyle, in Poet’s Comer, with an appropriate and friendly epitaph, from the pen of Dr. Johnson.
- RIGHT HON. HENRY GRATTAN.
- IT has been the lot of biographers (who for the most part, from time immemorial, critics have considered as a class of beings in whose veins the blood circulates with a singular and undeviating apathy,) often to become animated with the subjects of their several memoirs, and to write the lives allotted to their charge with both eloquence and feeling.
- This ability, we imagine, is required to be evinced io no trivial degree in the present instance; for although objects more attractive might have been selected, there are but few, if any, round which a lustre dwells so pure, and so dazzling, as around the shrine of the uncompromising and self-sacrificing patriot.
- Painful it is also to those who are obliged from a rigorous regard to truth, to praise individuals for their public actions, and dispraise them for their private vices; to analyse the shades of character, and state minutely the portion to be admired and disapproved. Such, however, is not the case in the subject before us; rarely have we seen an instance in which the most exalted genius, seemed united with every quality that wisdom allows to be excellent, and the heart acknowledges as truly amiable. HEN BY GRATTAN, the being who has elicited the above praises, was born in the city of Dublin, in 1751. His father was an eminent practitioner at the Irish bar, and held the situation of Recorder of Dublin. His son was called to the bar in 1761; but in his forensic character be did not acquire much celebrity. He shortly afterwards gave up his whole lime to politics; and the following domestic calamity occasioned his first entry into the
- senate. In 1778 or 1774, Francis Caulfield, the brother of Lord Charlemont, a most estimable character, and the representative of the borough of Charlemont, was on his return from England to attend his duty in parliament, unfortunately lost between Park-gate and Dublin. By this vacancy, which Mr. Caulfield’s death occasioned in parliament, the electors of Charlemont were enabled, under the auspices of his lordship, to return a man to the House of Commons, who was destined to act a more conspicuous part than any one who had ever been deputed to serve there; and Mr. Grattan accordingly took his seat, for the first time in the Irish House of Commons, on the 11 th of December, 1778.
- We are not aware either in what year, or on what subject he delivered what is termed his maiden spesek; but his great talents, his fervid and impressive eloquence, soon constituted him a leader on the popular side, and on that side he continued with scarely an aberration to the close of his existence. In October 1777, Lord Buckinghamshire met parliament; and in the debate on the embargo, the necessity of which was feebly supported by Burgh, pertinaciously adhered to by Scott, and opposed with great vivacity and honest indignation by Ogle, we find Grattan also opposing it with excessive point, delicate irony, and strong and manly eloquence.
- Io 1778, the national distress was beyond all human calculation. The manufacturers, in consequence of the restrictions on their foreign trade, imposed by the English parliament, were in a state of mendicancy, of absolute want. Thousands of them were supported by charity. These alarming circumstances were constantly brought before the eyes of ministers, in their warmest colouring, by an opposition of the greatest weight, numbers, and talents, ever combined in the British senate. Ministers, however, remitted the great objects of Irish grievances to the next session, upon the pretexts of want of informs lion. Whilst the British parliament were thus acting on a system of procrastination and delay, the feehnguof ths
- Irish nation were suspended by the hopes of relief; but when they found that the British ministry had forsaken their cause, they naturally enough became sorely exasperated, and their discontent became formidable and alarming. Associations were entered into against the importation of British commodities, and for the encouragement of Irish manufactures; the consequence of which was, that the manufactures of Ireland began in some slight degree to revive, and the demand for British goods io a great measure to decrease. During the recess, the system of associating and volunteering took its rise, and had made considerable progress ere the parliament met OQ the ]£th October, 1779- The lord-lieutenant’s speech from the throne did not say much; and the address in answer, by Sir R. T. Dean, did not, of course, presume to say more. An address of a different complexion was now formed and moved by Mr. Grattan, as an amendment to the answer to the lord-lieutenant’s speech: Mr. Grattan’s amendment was clothed in the following eloquent language; - “That we beseech your majesty to believe, that it is with the utmost reluctance we are constrained to approach you on the present occasion; but the constant drain to supply absentees, and the unfortunate prohibition of our trade, have caused such calamity, that the natural support of our country has decayed, and our manufactures are dying away for want. Famine stalks band in hand with hopeless wretchedness, and the only means left to support the expiring trade of this miserable part of your majesty’s dominions, is to open a free export trade, and let your Irish subjects enjoy their natural birthright.” Sir Henry Cavendish declared he would vote against the amendment, and advised the forming a committee; this,Mr.Ogle reprobated: Sir Edward Newenham charged the British ministry with contempt and neglect to the nation, and said, he thought the original address a servile echo to the speech. The Provost drew a most ptk thetic picture of the melancholy situation of his native country. The attorney-general delivered a studied euk
200 gium on the sensibility of the king and the humanity of his minister. The debate took a new turn by several of the ministerial party declaring, that, for the sakoof unanimity, they would not oppose the amendment. The Right Hon. Henry Flood declared for the amendment, and entered largely into a justification of his political conduct, which he said had unfortunately been mirepre* sented; that the office he held was the unsolicited gift of his sovereign, which he had received with gratitude, and held with honour; that when a time came that he could no longer do it, he would gladly throw the bracelet into the common cauldron. Mr. Burgh (at that time prime-ser- jeant) approved of the amendment, but condemned the preamble, and suggested one short simple proposition. Mr. Flood whispered to him across the benches, “state a free trade merely.” Burgh instantly adopted the word% and moved, “That nothing but a free trade could save the country from ruin.” Mr. Grattan at first objected to withdrawing the preamble, as he not only considered it as a necessary adjunct to any motion that could be made on the subject; but was afraid by dividing the proposition, he should make room for some adroit and successful parliamentary manoeuvre, which would get rid of the whole* However, when Mr. Connolly, the brother-in-law* of the lord-lieutenant, and who from that connection, as well aa his rank and situation, might, in the fluctuating state of the House, have commanded a majority, not only expressed himself strongly in favour of a free trade, but against the preamble, Mr. Grattan withdrew it, stating at the same time, that he did so in the full and entire expectation that the resolution as to a free trade would be unequivocally supported. Mr. Burgh’s amendment was then put and carried unanimously. The above is a correct detail of the manner in which this inconceivable advantage was obtained. When the House of Commons attended the lord-lieutenant with this resolution, the volunteers of the Dublin district lined the streets through which they passed, as a mark of respect and grateful approbation.
- On the 13th of November, 1781, Mr. Grattan made a motion for bringing in heads of a bill to explain, amend, and limit, an act to prevent desertion and mutiny in the army, which was seconded by Mr. Flood. The great patriotic orator thus prefaced his motion: - he said, that ° in the eighteenth century, however astonishing it must appear, he rose to vindicate Magna Charts, sanctified as it was by the authority of six hundred years. He called upon gentlemen to teach British privileges to an Irish senate. He quoted the laps of England, first, because they were laws; secondly, because they were franchises, and they were the franchises of Irishmen as well as Englishmen. He was not come to say what was expedient, he came to demand a right; and he hoped he was speaking to men, who knew and felt their rights, and not to corrupt consciences and beggarly capacities.” After having displayed a considerable portion of his usual eloquence, the motion was lost by a division of seventy-seven for, and one hundred and thirty-three against the motion. On the 20th of February, 1782, when the Roman catholic bill was in the committee, Mr. Grattan delivered a most powerful speech in favour of their withheld rights and privileges, proving in every instance, that they had behaved as a brave, loyal, and sincere people. *’ When this country (said he) had resolved no longer to crouch beneath the burthen of oppression that England had laid upon her; when she armed in defence of her rights, and a high-spirited people demanded a free trade, did the Roman catholics desert their countrymen? No; they were found among the foremost. When it was afterwards thought necessary to assert a free constitution, the Roman catholics displayed their public virtue; they did not endeavour to take advantage of your situation, they did not endeavour to make terms for themselves; but they entered frankly and heartily into the cause of the country; judging by their own virtue that they might depend upon your generosity for their reward. But now, after you have obtained a free trade, after the voice of the nation
- GRATTAN.
- has asserted their independence, they approach this House as humble suppliants, and beg to be admitted to the common rights of men. Upon the occasions 1 have mentioned, I did carefully observe their actions, and did then determine to support their cause whenever it came before this House, and to bear a strong testimony of the constitutional principles of the catholic body. Nor should it be mentioned as a reproach to them, that. they fonghl under the banner of King James, when we recollect that before they entered the field, they extorted from him a Magna Charts, a British constitution. In 1779, when the fleets of Bourbon hovered on our coasts, and the Irish nation roused herself to arms, did the Roman catholics stand aloof? or did they, as might be expected from their oppressed situation, offer assistance to the enemy ? No; they poured in subscriptions for the service of their country, or they pressed into the ranks of her glorious volunteers.”
- Lord Carlisle foreseeing, in the change of ministry, a total change of principles and measures, with reference to Ireland, and having received no fresh instructions or support from the British cabinet, wished only to convoy some of the then pending bills up to the Lords; and,on the 14th of March, 1782, adjourned the parliament to the 16th of April. By that time a general change having taken place in the British ministry, the Rockingham party having gained the ascendancy, Mr. Eden went to London with Lord Carlisle’s resignation of the lieutenancy of that kingdom, desiring only time to make some necessaiy arrangements, and to close the session of parliament. His lordship was succeeded in the viceroyalty by the Duke of Portland, who arrived in Dublin on the 14th of April, accompanied by Colonel Fitzpatrick (brother to Lord Ossory) as his secretary. His grace, on his asrival, was hailed by all ranks as the harbinger of liberty, conciliation, and peace.
- Parliament met according to adjournment, on the lSlh of April; the galleries and bar of the House of Cotnmom
- were crowded, and expectation was raised to enthusiasm. The resolutions then moved by Mr. Grattan were objected to at ’the Castle, not so much for their substance (for the British ministry meant fairly) as because they were thought to require some modifications, which, in the opinion of Mr. Grattan and his friends, would have diminished their weight and efficacy. Perhaps the Duke of Portland might think they would not meet the concurrence of the British cabinet without some alteration. The good Lord Charlemont had several interviews with his grace on the subject, in the course of which he declared his intention, and that of his friends, to move the resolutions again in both Houses, without any alteration; and that ministers might take what course they thought fit. In this state of uncertainty, when the House met, it was wholly unknown to Lord Charlemont and his friends, whether the resolutions and address which Mr. Grattan had undertaken to move, would be opposed by government or not. Mr. Grattan, however, persevered; and, though much indisposed, prefaced his declaration of rights by a most splendid oration, in which he observed, “he was not very old, and yet he remembered Ireland a child. He had watched her growth; from infancy she grew to arms, from arms to liberty. She was not now afraid of the French, she was not now afraid of the English, she was not now afraid of herself; her sons were no longer an arbitrary gentry; a ruined commonalty; protestants op-pressing catholics; catholics groaning under oppression: but she was now an united land?’ He stated the three great causes of complaint on the part of Ireland; - the declaratory statute of George the First, enabling the British parliament to make laws to bind Ireland the perpetual mutiny bill, which rendered the standing army of Ireland independent of the control of parliament; - »and the unconstitutional powers of the Irish privy council to mutilate or suppress bills of the Irish parliament on their way to England for the royal assent. The repeal of these obnoxious statutes, and the abolition of that most im-
- proper sway of the Irish privy council, were, be said, the terms on which alone he could be induced to support the government: the address to his majesty stating the grievances of Ireland, and the declaration of right, were then proved by him in answer to the king’s message. Notwithstanding his indisposition, his exertions were so great, that Lord Charlemont often declared, that if ever spirit could be said to act independent of body, it was on that occasion. The sense of the House in favour of the address was so unequivocally manifested, that all opposition (if any were intended) was relinquished. Colonel Fitzpatrick acted with his usual good sense, and suffered the address to pass unanimously. In fact, had government shewed itself any way hostile to the address, it must have been left in a minority, as several of the old court had pledged themselves to a support of Mr. Grattan in this instance; and many of that body would have joined him, uot from the slightest regard to a declaration of right, or its movers, but from their antipathy to a Whig ministry, which they would have most gladly embarrassed, and indeed overthrown, if in their power. The British minister acted with candour and magnanimity. Mr. Fox moved the repeal of the obnoxious statute of George the First, in the British House of Commons, “and never (said Mr. Grattan) did a British minister support such honourable claims with such constitutional arguments.” The bill rendering the parliament of Ireland independent of that of Great Britain, passed through both Houses, coupled with a resolution, “That it was essentially necessary to the mutual happiness of the two countries, that a firm and solid connection should be forthwith established by the consent of both, and that his majesty should be requested to give the proper directions for promoting the same.” If any thing could surpass the patriotic zeal, and temperate firmness which marked the conduct of the Irish parliament and people, it was the unbounded joy and generous gratitude they manifested on this first pledge of political sincerity on the part of the British government
- towards Ireland. The parliament voted twenty thousand seamen for his majesty’s navy, and the whole volunteer body cheerfully engaged to contribute their aid and influence in raising the men.
- No sooner bad the important motion been disposed of, than Mr. Bagenal, a man of sterling sense, and an inflexible patriot, rose; and, after congratulating his country, Great Britain, his majesty, and his ministers, for having obtained the greatest of all political blessings, he called upon the house to confer some signal mark of a great and grateful nation, upon their illustrious benefactor Mr. Grattan; whose efforts in procuring them these blessings, had been timed and conducted with so much wisdom; and considering this great and good man as the father of his regenerated country, he further called upon them to look upon him as the special instrument which benign providence had used, to convert the oppression and bondage of their country, into freedom and independence. “Far be it from me (said he) to compare even the services of Marlborough to those, for which we Btand indebted; we have no deductions to make from our gratitude; without protracting, or any public expence, his efforts ’’have been timed and conducted with so much wisdom, and the appearance of such a being on earth, was so esseotial to the establishment of liberty at this most critical juncture, that without superstition, men may well record him amongst the most propitious interpositions of heaven. He has crowned his work; and under his auspices the throne of freedom is fixed upon so certain a basis, and will probably be always so well supported by the doe influence the public are likely to acquire under his system, that, with the blessing of God, there is no danger of parliament itself ever being able to shake it; nor shall parliament, I trust, ever again be profanely styled omnipotent. I am conscious I might have anticipated men infinitely better qualified to bring such a measure forward; one excuse 1 have, - for it is not the impatient wish that every body must have, to see such a character exalted, - not any little vanity to distinguish myself; but, as I never had any private acquaintance, nor private coo* versation with our great benefactor, I thought it might come as well from one from whom he could not have any claim, as from those distinguished personages that he is intimate with. Virtue, to be sure, is its own reward; and we know, that our generous benefactor is in his own sphere of happiness, content; but shall we be content without doing our duty, - shall we be ungrateful ? God far bid! Gratitude seems to be a virtue peculiarly adapted to nations that have received such benefits as ours; it is often neglected by individuals, because it is often out of their power to be as grateful as they wish; we, I trust, shall never have such another opportunity of exercising ours. God forbid we should let it slip.” He then concluded by giving notice, that on the morrow after the grant to his majesty should have been settled, and a proper thanksgiving offered to heaven for the recovery of their rights, he would move that die House should resolve itself into a committee, to lake intn consideration the sum they should grant for the purchasing an estate, and building a suitable mansion for their illustrious benefactor, Henry Grattan, Esq. and his heirs, for ever, in testimony of their gratitude for the unequalled service he had done for the kingdom of Ireland, whichwm afterwards, on May «7th, fixed at 50,000£; which resolution the House unanimously agreed to, and resolved that an address should be presented to the lord-lieutenant that he would be pleased to lay before his majesty the humble desire of that House, that he would direct that sum to be* laid out in the purchase of lands in the kingdom of Iiw» land, to be settled on Henry Grattan, Esq. and his hein. Ere the rejoicings of the people were concluded, the demon of discord was busy in sowing discontent, jealousy, and envy, both within and without parliament. The two great rival oratoro, Messrs. Grattan and Flood, who appeared equally bent and determined upon acquiring and securing the civil freedom of their country, bad different
W pleas of merit for their conduct. Mr. Flood bad for seven years enjoyed one of the most lucrative offices under government, which he sacrificed to his patriotism in the present hour. Mr. Grattan had never been in place; and now, that he might have come in, through his patriotism he declined it: but the honourable tribute of gratitude shewn to Mr. Grattan by the vote and address of the Commons, appears to have been productive of jealousy in the breast of Mr. Flood, and some few of his most intimate friends and admirers. The grounds of this unfortunate jealousy fully appeared within three days after Mr. Bagenal’s motion in favour of Mr. Grattan; when Mr. Montgomery (of Donegal) “called the attention of the House to an honourable gentleman, the best, the most able, the most indefatigable, the most sincere, that had ever sacrificed private interest to the advantage of his country. After such a description, be said he need not name Mr. Flood; who had relinquished the most lucrative offices of the state, rather than desert the constitution of Ireland: and, as he knew the present admi-nistration intended to raise its glory, by acting on the most liberal principles of freedom, he gave notice, that he did intend to move for an address to hfe majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to restore the Right Hon. Henry Flood to the office he lately held, and in this he hoped for the concurrence of the minister. He would not, be said, move for any pecuniary reward, as he knew the right bon. gentleman inquestion was above receiving any alms from his country?’ He was called upon to name aday; but Colonel Fitzpatrick having observed, that the place of Mr. Flood was no longer vacant, when, after some desultory observations, Mr. Montgomery abandoned his intention.
- On the 28th of October, 1783, on the motion of Sir Henry Cavendish, on the subject of retrenchment, which was supported by Mr. Flood, and opposed by Mr. Grattan, the debate became so personal and overheated between these two rival orators, that they were both ordered into custody, in order to prevent any mischievous consequence* of their unhappy difference. Although the speeches of both abound with much personality, yet they are too elo* quent to be omitted, - we therefore insert lAe wAoZe of the unhappy dispute.
- Mr. Flood prefaced his speech by observing - «I find myself little capable of speaking to this question, oppressed with sickness as 1 am; not in the least degree expecting such a question this night, and more astonished than ever I was in my life, to find the least symptom of opposition arising on the other side of the House. The opposition to it should originate here, for the resolution does not go as far as it ought to do.. In Lord Townshend’s administration, a resolution was proposed, * that the condition of this country required every practicable retrenchment to be made in its expenses;9 and the administration of that day thought they had done enough, and allowed themselves latitude sufficient, by amending it with the words - ‘ consistent with the welfare thereof, and the honourable support of his majesty’s government though the resolution so amended stood then exactly like the present motion. (Here the clerk, at Mr. Flood’s desire, read the former resolution.) But, 1 think, this motion still allows too great an inlet to public profusion. Some men will think of their own welfare, when the welfare of the country is the object, and include their own support within the honourable support of his majesty’s government. I did nut, therefore, think any men on the side of administration would have opposed the motion; 1 rather supposed they would have called out in triumph to let it puss; they would have exulted to see i the new commons the new country? Ireland, in its emancipated and dignified state, tolerate the nonsense that was current in Lord Townshend’s administration! “1 am as willing as any man to pay compliment to minie- try, both here and in England, to allow them every degree of credit for their honourable intentions; 1 have not the smallest ground of animosity or resentment to them, and l
- when I hear economy recommended from the throne? almost in the words of the honourable baronet, I am astonished at an opposition to his motion. Indeed, I believe the words of that recommendation were by some accident misplaced, or that government has not digested the plan of retrenchment; they should not have followed immediately the mention of the Genevan colony, a body of virtuous men, who, to avoid the most ignominious slavery, have sought an asylum in the arms of this country. It was not the proper place to use the word economy: it there disgraces the virtuous and generous act of men, who have just recovered their own liberty; by placing it there, we may lose a great deal of honour, but can save very little money. But it is not to such little things we are to look for relief; our retrenchments should reach establishments, and not, like England, plunge deeper each day in ruin. Ministry both here and in that kingdom, have been often warned of the fatal consequences that must follow; but these warnings have been treated as the visions of speculative men. England, that great and mighty country, now staggers under a load of debt, distressed and dismembered; her expenses overwhelm her; and* where is the man who will say, she shall be redeemed i where is the man who will say, I will redeem her, and will say how? Though every little minister, or every little man who imagines he is a minister, is ready to undertake the management of her affairs; where is the man who will say, that Ireland ought to have a peace establishment of fifteen thousand men I When the augmentation took place io Lord Townshend’s administration, this country was unable to bear it; and since that day, we have been involving her deeper and deeper, because we at first engaged her in an undertaking beyond her strength. When all the world united against Britain, and she was surrounded with enemies on every side, we gave way to the feelings of our hearts and spared her four thousand men; and some time after, in the moment de jlagrante beUo9 we granted her more than half our remain’ VOL. n. P
- ing troops; if then, in time of war, the country cotald MW sist without troops, will any man say, that in time of profound peace she ought to support fifteen thousand men? No; now is the time for reducing your military establishment; let your intention be known this day, that the right honourable secretary may have time to cowan* nicate with England; if you neglect the present opqpor tunity, no minister hereafter will have even a pretence for restoring the finances of this country.
“I am no partisan; either here or in England, I can gain nothing by it; I am ready in either place, like a mas, to support ministers while they are right; and whenever they are wrong, to oppose them, and resist their measures. At present, I hope my honourable friend will allow use to alter his motion, and state a precise idea; I would bare it run thus: - f Resolved, That the condition of thia country requires every practicable retrenchment, kc. and that the military establishment in its present state, affords roam for effectual retrenchment/
“I love the army as a body of brave and worthy mea| but I would not sacrifice the kingdom to their benefit. Now, Sir, if ministers really mean economy, they will agree with this amendment of mine; if not, they will amuse us with the words only/’
- Mr. George Ponsonby. - “Sir, I caw see as plainly as any man, the intent of the reflections thrown upon your predecessor in the chair; and I must say, as to the mover of this resolution, that no disapprobation of bia gives me any but a pleasurable sensation, and I do at all timet fed that supreme contempt for his disapprobation and opining which I now take the liberty to declare/’ Mr. Poneonby then entered into a defence of his father’s (the late Speaker) conduct; he recited the history of that time. He said, “that Mr. Flood had exerted himself to suppelt his father’s interest against Lord Townshend’s attacks, and asked why, when virtue iu the shape of Lord Townshend, had overturned interest, the alleged system of profusion had not been overturned also? He declared bit
- fitm reliance on the Duke of Portland and his friends, that they intended an effectual and satisfactory reform; and concluded, that if the honourable baronet thought the circle in which he sat, was composed of men grown old in iniquity, it would be but charitable for him to come /amongst them, as. only from his virtuous contact and indefatigable labours, they could hope to be brought iqto the road of righteousness.”
- MT. Flood saidt u be had not supported Mr. Poosonby’s interest, but be bad opposed Lord Townshend’s administration: he said this to exculpate Mr. Ponsonby from the charge of ingratitude, for .when he had felt the hand of power, Mi. Ponsonby had not supported him; but be never looked at such little things as the interest of parti-cular men of parties: they appeared great indeed to the men who were engaged in them; but in the eyes of the man who contemplates .the public welfare, they vanish into nothing. Had I, said he, been his father’s supporter, the honourable gentleman but ill requited me, when* in his loudest tone, he cried out to have me dismissed, and seemed to reproach ministers with pusillanimity for delaying the sentence. He declared, indeed, that he bad uo personal dislike to me, but it was only to oblige one or two particular friends; yet the gentleman boasts of Whig principles, Whig connexions: Whig friends he may justly boast; but such conduct was a manifestation of Whig apostacy. God and nature have established this limit to power, - it cannot long subsist divested of rectitude. Do we mean to take up the words of retrenchment ourselves, or will we leave it to others to economise for net if we proceed upon this business, the people will stand grateful and admiring spectators of our progress; if not, they may perhaps take it up themselves: let us then act honestly; let us tell Great Britain what no man can deny, that the military is the place to make retrenchment. I will suppose ministers as good as any man can wish, but ’tis our duty to give them an opportunity of exorcising their honest intention^.’’
- Mr. Grattan. - “I shall not trouble you long, nor take up the time of the House, by apologising for bodily infirmity, or the affectation of infirmity. 1 shall not speak of myself, or enter into a defence of my character, having never apostatised. I think it is not necessary for the House now to investigate what we know to be fact. I think it would be better to go into the business, as the House did upon another occasion, without the formality of the committee’s report. As to myself, the honourable reward that a grateful nation has bestowed upon me,.for ever binds me to make every return in my power, and particularly to oppose every unnecessary expense. I am far from thinking with the honourable gentleman, as to the speech; and 1 believe he will find instances, where economy has been recommended from the throne, but prodigality practised. This was the case in Lord Harcourt’s administration; - an administration which had the support of the honourable gentleman, and therefore he, of all men, cannot be at a loss to reject that illusory economy, which has so often appeared in the speeches of lordlieutenants. With respect to the Genevese, I never could have thought it possible to give the speech such a bias as has been mentioned, and that people will be deceived, if they give credit to any declaration that infers from the words of the speech, any thing but an honest economy in applying the public money fairly to their use. The nation has derived great honour from this transaction^ and I would be sorry to have it tarnished by inference and insinuation.
- a Ln 177L when the burdens of the country were com-paratively small, 1 made a motion similar to this; the honourable geutleman then opposed me. 1 have his sanction, now, that 1 was right, and he was wrong; and Isay this, that though gentlemen may for a while vote against retrenchments, they will at last see the necessity of them. Yet, while L think retrenchments absolutely necessary, L am not very sure, that this is just the time to make it in the army; now when England has acted justly, I will not say generously;
- when sbe has lost her empire; when she still feels the wounds of the last unhappy war, and comforts herself only with the faithful friendship of Ireland. If in 1769, when the liberties of Ireland were denied, and those of America in danger, it was thought unadvisable to retrench our army, there can be no such reason to reduce it now, when both are acknowledged and confirmed. When we voted four thousand men to butcher our brethren in America, the honourable gentleman should have opposed that vote; but perhaps he will be able to explain the propriety of sending four thousand Irishmen thither. But why not look for retrenchment in the revenue and other departments. In my mind, the proper mode would be, to form a fair estimate of what would be a reasonable peace establishment, and reduce our several departments to it.”
- Mr. Hood. - “The right honourable member can have no doubt of the propriety of my saying a word in reply to what he has delivered; every member in that House can bear witness of the infirmity I mentioned, and therefore, it required but little candour to make a nocturnal attack upon that infirmity: but I am not afraid of the right honourable member; I will meet him any where, or upon any ground, by night or by day. 1 would stand poorly in my own estimation, and in my country’s opinion, if I did not stand far above him. I do not come here dressed in a rich wardrobe of words to delude the people; I am not one who has promised repeatedly to bring in a bill of rights, yet does not bring in that bill or permit any other person to do it; I am not one who threatened to impeach the chief justice of the king’s bench, for acting under an English law, and afterwards shrunk from that business; I am not the author of the simple repeal; I am not one who, after saying the parliament was a parliament of prostitutes, endeavoured to make their voices subservient to my interest; I am not one who would come at midnight, and attempt by a vote of this House, to stifle the voice of the people, which my egregious folly had raised against me; I am not the gentleman who sub.-
- sista upon your accounts; I am not the mendicant patriot who was bought by my country for a sum of money, and then sold my country for prompt payment; I am not the man who in this House loudly complained of an infringe* ment made by England, in including Ireland in a bill, and then sent a certificate to Dungannon that Ireland was not included. I never was bought by the people, nor. ever sold them: the gentleman says, be never apostatised, but I say I never changed my principles: let every m say the same, and let the people believe them if they caw* But if it be so bad a thing to take an office in the state* how comes the gentleman connected with persons m office ? They, I hope, are men of virtue; or, how couMtf the gentleman so closely connected with Colonel Fitspa* trick ? I object to no man for being in office; a patriot in office is the more a patriot for being there. There was a time when the glories of the great Duke of Marlborough shrunk and withered before those of the right honourable gentleman; when palaces superior to Blenheim were So be built for his reception; when pyramids and pillars were to be raised, and adorned with emblems and inscriptions sacred to his virtue: but the pillars and pyramids are now sunk, though then the great Earl of Chatham was held inferior to him; however, he is still so greaftj that the Queen of France, I dare say, will have a song made on the name of Grattan.
“Lord Harcourt practised economy - but what wad the economy of the Duke of Portland? 100,000L wad voted to raise twenty thousand seamen, though’ it was well known, that one-third of that number could not be raised; and what was the application of the money? It was applied to the raising of the execrated fenciblea.
“It is said, 1 supported Lord Harcourt’s administrations It is true; but 1 never deserted my principles, but carried them into the cabinet with me. A gentleman, who naw hears me, knows that I proposed to the privy council * Irish mutiny bill, and that not with a view of any paffifr" mentary grant. I supported an absentee tax; and white
- 1 was io office, registered my principles in the books of government; and the moment I could not influence go* vernuseot to the advantage of the nation, I ceased to aot with them. I acted for myself. I was the first who ever told them, that an Irish mutiny bill must be granted,. If this country is now satisfied, is it owing to that gentler man? No; the simple repeal, disapproved and scouted by fill the lawyers in England and in Ireland, shews the con* teary; and the only apology he can make is, that he is no lawyer at all. A man of warm imagination aid bril* liaot fancy, will sometimes be dazzled with his own ideas, and may for a moment fall into error; but a man of sound bead could not make so egregious a mistake, and a man of an honest heart would not persist in it after it was disco* vered. I have now done: and, give me leave to say, if the gentleman enters often into this kind of colloquy with me, be will not have much to boast of at the end of the session*
- Mr. Grotto*. - * In respect to the House, I could wish to avoid personality, and return to the question, but I must request liberty to explain some circumstances alluded to by the honourable member. The honourable member has alluded to St. Christopher’s bill, I will declare the feet - he may tell a story: when I received a copy of that bill, it gave me much pain and mucb offence; I thought I saw the old intention of binding Ireland by English laws; 1 therefore spoke to that effect in this House; I also shewed the bill to all the most able and virtuous men in this kingdom, who were of opinion, that my suggestion was wrong; under this opinion I acquiesced, and the opinion has justified it: as to coming at midnight to obtain a vote, imposing silence on the people, 1 deny it; it was mis-stated in the papers; my resolution was to declare this country free, and that any person who should speak or write to the contrary, was a publie enemy. All the House, all the revered and respected characters in this kingdom beard me, and know what I say is true. But it is not the slander of a bad
- tongue of a bad character that can defame me. I maintain my reputation in public and in private life; no man, who has not a bad character can say I ever deceived him, no country has ever called me cheat. I will suppose a public character, a man not now in this House, but who formerly might have been here; I will suppose it was his constant practice to abuse every man who differed from him, and to betray every man who trusted him; I will suppose him active; I will begin from his cradle, and divide his life into three stages - in the first, he was intent perate; in the second, corrupt; and in the third, seditious.
“Suppose him a great egotist, his honour equal to his oath, and I will stop him and say, Sir, your talents art not so great as your life is infamous; you were silent for years, and you were silent for money: when affairs of consequence to the nation were debating, you might be seen passing by these doors like a guilty spirit, just wait- ing for the moment of putting the question, that you might hop in and give your venal vote; or, at times^ with a vulgar brogue, apeing the manner, and affecting the infirmities of Lord Chatham; or, like a kettle-drummer, lather yourself into popularity to catch the vulgar; or you might be seen hovering over the dome, like an ill- omened bird of night, with sepulchral notes, a cadaverous aspect, and broken beak, ready to stoop and pounce upon your prey: you can be trusted by no man; the people cannot trust you; the ministers cannot trust you; you deal out the most impartial treachery to both; you tell the nation it is ruined by other men, while it is sold by you; you fied from the embargo; you fled from the mutiny bill; you fled from the sugar bill; 1 therefore tell you in the face of your country, before all the world, and to your beard, you are not an honest man.”
- Mr. Flood. - " I have heard a very extraordinary harangue indeed, and I challenge any man to say, that any thing half so unwarrantable was ever uttered in this House. The right honourable gentleman set out with declaring, he did not wish to use personality, and no sooner has he opened his mouth, than forth issues all the veifom that ingenuity and disappointed vanity, for two years brooding over corruption, has produced: but it cannot taint my public character; four-and-twenty years employed in your service has established that; and as to my private, let that be learned from my tenants, from ifiy friends, from those under my own roof; to those I appeal, and this appeal I boldly make, with utter contempt of insinuations, false as they are illiberal. The whole force of what has been said, rests upon this, that I once accepted office, and this is called apostacy; but is a man the less a patriot, for being an honest servant of the crown ? As to me, I took as great a part with the first office of the state at my back, as ever the right honourable gentleman did with mendicancy behind him?’ Mr. Flood proceeded to defend his character, when, at a pause, the Speaker took an opportunity to interfere, and with the utmost politeness, and in the kindest manner, entreated him to forbear, declaring, that he had suffered inexpressible pain during this contest; and that nothing but the calls of the House to hear the twp members, could have made him so long sit silent. He again besought Mr. Flood to sit down, and the Hoose joining with the chair, that gentleman, after sundry efforts to speak, was obliged to desist, and soon after retired.
- Mr. Flood was sought for that night by his kinsman, Sir Frederick Flood, but could not be found. On the 1st of November, 1785, he came to the House, and thus resumed the subject: -
- M Sir, I wish to take the earliest opportunity of speaking a few words to you, and addressing a few to the House, upon the situation in which I left the House last Tuesday. You beard, Sir, and the public heard me, the subject, as I think, of an unwarrantable attack. I rose to .defend myself, I am sure with temper. I am not lightly moved; and I think I should be lightly moved, indeed, if I could have been moved by that. 1 was, however, interrupted,
- though I did not bring any fictitious subject before you, or set out without the least appearance of any argument. Io consequence of interruption, Sir, I left the House, but soon after I understood, that the House thought proper to say, they would give me liberty to proceed; and I wish to take the earliest opportunity of returning them my thanks for that permission. At the same time, Sir, that I return my thanks for that permission, I hope they wiH suffer me to render it not an empty indulgence; but, upon the present occasion, to take up the subject where I left it last night. (Mr. Toler rose to order; but Mr. flood proceeded.) I hope gentlemen will not interrupt mu: when they find me going out of order, when they find am drawing fictitious characters, let them stop me; when I say any thing unparliamentary; when I recal the asperity of that day, which, whilst I despise, 1 must disapprove. I rise io defence of what I think an injured character. As I have endeavoured to defend the rights of this country for twenty-four yean, 1 hope they will permit me to defend my reputation. My life, Sir, has been divided into three parts, and it has been dispatched by three epithets: one part, Sir, that which preceded Lord Harcourts adminis* tration; another, which passed between Lord Harcourts and Lord Carlisle’s; and the third, which is subsequent. The fint has a summary justice, or injustice done to it, by being said to be intemperate; the second is treated in like manner, by being said to be venal; and the conduct of the third is said to be that of an incendiary."
- Mr. O*Hara. - To order; it is against order to speak of what passed on a former day, not that any thing the honourable gentleman has said now, is improper; bot that the order of the House forbids a reference to the debates of a former day."
- Mr. Mood. - “1 take this matter up, upon the ground of an interrupted debate; it is in that light it comes within order. I have a right to begin where I was interrupted; but, Sir, there are some cases of so particular a nature, that a strict adherence to a general order, would be the
- 319 height ofiriju slide. In the attack made upon my per* son, I went back, not only to the arguments of two or three days before, bat to the conduct of twenty years antecedent; therefore, Sir, I hope, that if animadversions of twenty years are allowed to one, I may have an oppon* tunity of referring to arguments used three days ago* With respect to that period of my life, which is dispatched in the word intemperate, I beg gentlemen would consider the situation of public characters, if that is to be their treatment: that period takes in a number of years, and in which the public Were pleased to give me their sentence of approbation. Sir, it includes, for I wish to speak to facts, hot to take it up upon epithets, it includes the Duke of Bedford’s, Lord Halifax’s, the Duke of Northumber* land’s, Lord Hertford’s, and Lord Townshend’s.”
“Now, Sir, as to the fact of intemperance, I will state to you how that stands, and let the gentleman see how plain a tale shall put him down. Of those five admi* nistrations, there were three I could not be said, in any sense of the word, to oppose at all; I mean the three first. I certainly voted against the secretary of the day, but oftener voted with him. In Lord Hertford’s adminia* tration, I had attained to a certain view and decided •pinion of what was fit, in my mind, to be done for this country. I had fixed upon the great objects of public utility. I endeavoured to attain them, with that spirit and energy, with which it is my character and nature to speak and to act ? - as I must taka the disadvantages of my nature, 1 will take the advantages of it too. These three great objects were resisted by that administration; what was the consequence? A conflict arose between that administration and me; but that conflict ought not to be called opposition on my part; no, it ought rather to be Called opposition on their’s; I was the propounder, and they resisted my propositions* This may be celled a conflict, not an opposition to that administration. What were those three objects ? One was to prove, that the constitution of parliament in tbit kingdom did still exist;
- that it bad not been taken away by the law of Poyningi; but that it was an infamous perversion of that statute, by which the constitution had suffered: the other was the establishment of a constitutional militaiy force, in superaddition to a standing army. The only idea that ever occurred to England, or any free country of Europe, I adopted, namely, that of a constitutional militia. At that time the idea of a volunteer force had not arisen; therefore, I adopted the idea which at that time appeared to be best. The third great object I took up as necessary for this country, was a law for limiting the duration of parliaments; these were the three great, salutary, and noble objects, worthy of the enlarged mind of an enlarged country. I pursued them with ardour, I do not deny it; but I did not pursue them with intemperance. I am sure 1 did notappear to the public to do so; they gave my exertions many flattering testimonies of their approbation. There is another proof that I was not intemperate; I was successful: intemperance and miscarriage are apt to go together, but temperance and success are associated by nature. This is my plain history with regard to that period. The clumsiness of virulence, of invective, may require to be sheathed in a brilliancy of diction, but plain truth and plain sense are best delivered in plain terms. I now come to that period in which Lord Harcourt governed, and which is stigmatised by the word venal. I say Lord Harcourt, for in my consideration of his administration, I will include that of Lord Townshend. If every man who accepts an offer is venal, and an apostate, I certainly cannot acquit myself of the charge, nor is it necessary. I should have so many associates in the crime, if ever there was a crime in what multitudes would defend. I am sensible multitudes and majorities would not be wanting to defend that. But I say, either it is a crime, or it is not; if it be a crime universally, let it be a crime universally ascribed. But, Sir, I say it is not fair, that one set of men should be treated by that honourable member as great friends and lovers of their country, notwith-
- standing they are in office; and another man, because he WM in office, should be treated as an enemy and an apostate; but what is the truth? Everything of this sort depends upon the principles on which office is taken, and on which it is retained: with regard to me, let no man imagine I am preaching up a doctrine for my own convenience; there is not a man less concerned in the propagation of it. I have no treaty with the right honourable gentleman on the floor, nor shall 1 have any. “Now, Sir, £ shall beg leave shortly to state the manner io which I accepted that office, which I give you my word 1 never will resume. It was offered to me in the most honourable manner, with an assurance not only of being a placeman for my own profit, but a minister for the benefit of my country. My answer was, that I thought, io a constitution such as ours, an intercourse between the prince and the subject ought to be honourable; the being a minister ought to redound to a man’s credit; but I lamented that it often happened otherwise; men in office often gave up those principles, which they maintained before. 1 told, them, therefore, that my objections were not to the going into office, but to following the examples which 1 had sometimes seen before me. 1 mentioned the public principles 1 held. I said, if consistently with those principles, from an atom of which I would not depart, I could be of service to his majesty’s government, 1 was ready to be so; I speak in the presence of men, who know what I say. After the appointment had come over, and landed in this kingdom, I sent in writing to the chief governor, that I would not accept the office,, unless upon that principle.
“Thus, Sir, I took office; the administration before I opposed only in part of it; in the first session of Lord Townshend, I did not oppose; 1 never opposed Lord Townshend till after his prorogation and protest. This appeared tome an infamous violation of the privileges of . parliament. With regard to money bills, and after that protest, by. which he endeavoured to make, the journals of
- GRATTAN.
- the House of Lords, instead of being the record of their privileges* the monument of their disgrace* I opposed him; now what did I oppose in that administration t The violation of the privileges of thia House* with regard to money bills* and the wanton augmentation of offices* by the division of the board of commissioners into two parts. Io Lord Harcourt’s administration* what did 1 do i 1 had the two boards of commissioners reduced again into ana. I do not say my single voice effected this* but as far as it bad any efficacy* it insisted on having the twelve commissioners again reduced to seven* and the two boards So one* a saving* including the whole arrangement* of flO,OOOL a year to the nation. It went further; it insisted to have every altered money bill thrown out* and privy conndl money bills not defended by the crown. Thus, instead of giving sanction to the measures I had opposed* my conduct was in fact to register my principles in the records of the court, to make the privy council a witness to the privileges of parliament* and to give final energy to the tenets* with which 1 commenced my life. Economy did did not stop with the reduction of the commissjooers’ board. The right honourable gentleman* who has censured me, in order to depreciate that economy* said* that we bad swept with the feather of economy, the pens and paper of your table: a pointed and brilliant expression b far from a just argument.
° This country has no reason to be ashamed of that species of economy* when the great nation of Great Britain bas been obliged to descend to an economy as minute* Neither, Sir, was this all; it is not my fault, if infinitely more was not done for this country upon that occasion; they were offered a saving, they did not ch use to take it; they were offered the absentee tax, and they refused it; I am not to blame for that* it was a part of the saving proposed. If administration were wrong on that oocasmo* they were wrong with the prejudices of half a century; they were wrong with every great writer that bad ver written upon the subject of Ireland; they were wrong
- with sonreof the plainest principles, aa it seems, of human naturein their Cavour. I will suppose the determination dot tonaoept it to have been right, still it was meritorious in’adasinMtration tooffer it: and, to shew that I was not ¦nderaoy uoddeinfloeuceof office, I appeal to the memory of many men present, whether, when the disposition of the House was made to alter upon that subject, and when administration yielded, not unwillingly, to the violence of parliament $ 1 appeal to the coascioosand public knowledge of many, whether 1 did veer and turn about with the secretary; or, whether 1 did not make a manly stand io favour of that principle; after having pledged myself to the public, I would rather break with a million of ad* ministrations than retract t
“1 not only adhered to it, but by a singular instance of exertion, I forced it a second time under the consideration of this Hoose. That this benefit was lost to this country, if it be a benefit, was not my fault. One thing I mast go back to; I had repeatedly pressed the bill for limiting the duration of parliament. In Lord Townshend’s time, I brought it in finally, and crowned it with success: thus I restored to the universal community of Ireland, a right of which they bad been robbed for near a century, namely, their first and fundamental franchise as electors, without which this House is but a shadow. and thus, after having restored that root of all their other rights in Lord Townshend’s administration, after haviag restored economy, and reduced twelve commissioners to seven, m Lord Harcourt’s, I went on to the other great measure which I have mentioned, the militia law; and when a right honourable gentleman (Mr. Ogie) moved that question, I engaged all the interest 1 could with government ha behalf of it; I rose up to secood his motion, and declared I would support him and his militia bill to the last; accordingly, 1 gave him the assistance of my poor labours, and it was carried: thus, therefore, Sir, 1 say, that in that administration, in which 1 accepted office, instead of relinquishing -any principles, 1 preserved them, instead
- of getting a minority to vote for them, I brought the majority to give an efficient sanction to their troth, by entering into office upon that occasion, and acting as I did; 1 acted the part of an honest minister between the prince and the people; in doing so, 1 think I was more a patriot, than if, out of office, I had made empty declamations on empty subjects, without any advantage to the public. Most of those who hear me can recollect the state of this kingdom at the close of Lord Townshend’s administration. I appeal to them all, and I ask, wbat was then my repute in the nation ? 1 will not say it was the first, or the second, or the third, but did it not stand in an honourable rank, and among the former rather than among the last ? In Lord Harcourt’s government, the vice-treasurership was offered to me, accompanied with every declaration that could render it acceptable to an honourable mind. When that office was offered to me, was my situation that of a reprobated man ? Did the administra- tion of England send over an office usually reserved for the parliament of England, and offer it of their own accord to a reprobated man ? I take the facts of both countries to disprove this calumny. Is it since 1 have become a mark of obloquy ? I Batter myself not. Lord Buckinghamshire’s administration succeeded. With regard to Lord Harcourt’s administration, the objection is, I did too much; the charge with regard to the other is, I did too little for it; those two accusations run a little in contrary directions, and, like a double poison, each may cure the operation of the other: but the fact is this, I acted not upon visions and imaginations, but on sound common sense, the best gift of God to man; which then told me, and still whispers, that some administrations deserve a more active support than others; that some administrations deserve little of either: 1 adapted my conduct to those three conditions; I did not run headlong against government at one time, and with government at another, bat adapted my conduct as 1 ought to do, to what 1 saw, and what 1 felt. Did 1 support Lord Harcourt? Why ? Be- i
«5 cause he gave me an influence in his councils. It is nonsense to say, a man is not to support his own council; but the next administration took another direction, and they did not give me any influence in their councils. What was the consequence? 1 did not give them support. Was there any thing more fair? 1 felt myself a man of too much situation to be a mere placeman. If not a minister to serve my country, I would not be the tool of salary. What was tlie consequence? I voted with them in matters of importance, when they were clearly right; I voted against them in matters of importance when they were clearly wrong; and in matters of small moment I did not vote at all; and why ? I scorned, by voting for them in such matters, to seem to pay court. To vote against them in such matters would have been absurd. What remained? Not to vote at all. If you call that absconding, going behind the chair, or escaping into the corridore, call it what you please, I say it was right. This is my plain way of dealing; it is common sense. 1 told Lord Buckinghamshire I would not attend the cabinet councils of the sage Mr. Heron. Was that duplicity i 1 think not. I did more; I sent my resignation to England, to the same friend through whom the first communication was made to me on the subject of office; but, from the ideas of friendship to me, he took time to consider, and at length declined to deliver my resignation. 1 have said something of the middle period, I shall now come to the third, vu. Lord Carlisle’s administration, in which my conduct has been slandered as the conduct of an incandiary. When that idea took place in some minds I canpot tell, but this I am sure of, that the right honourable gentleman who censured me, was called an incendiary a (bat time, and so perhaps might I; but I am sure the right honourable gentleman at that time, did not think me an incendiary more than himself. There was not a single instance in which he.did not co-operate. If 1 am an incendiary, I shall gladly accept, therefore, of the society; of that right honourable gentleman under thu VOL. n. g
- GRATTAN.
- WHinictfe the gjqry of what passed: he gave me, in his. motion for a free tfade, a full participation of the honour. Upon another occasion he said, I remember the words, they are traced with the pencil of gratitude on my heart, “That I was a man whom the most lucrative office in the land had never warped in point of integrity.” The words were marked; lam sore I repeat them fairly; they are words I should be proud to have inscribed upon my tomb. Consider the man from whom they came; consider the magnitude of the subject on which they were spoken; consider the situation of the persons concerned, and it adds to, and multiplies the honour. My noble friend - I beg pardon, he did not live to be ennobled by patent, but he was born ennobled by nature; his situation at that moment was this: he had found himself obliged to surrender office, and enter into active opposition to that government, from whom he had received it. I remained in office, though under the circumstance of having sent in my resignation; that he did not know; in political position, therefore, we were contra-distinguished to each other: he did not know, while he was doing justice to me, but that be might be doing political detriment to himself; he did not know but he might serve the administration he opposed; but, careless of every thing except justice and honour, he gave the sentiments of his heart, and be approved. 1 have mentioned, Sir, that short period, doting which the character of an incendiary, if at all applicable to me, must have come upon me in the night* like an enemy, and have taken me unawares: I cannot think the opinion of the public so transformed, when 1 see every corner of the country expressing their approbation of my conduct, one after another; great and respectable societies of men, compared with whose sentiments the obloquy of an individual sinks into nothing. Even this very day, I have received from the united delegates of the province of Connaught, an approbation, with one voice, as they express it, of that conduct, which has been slandered as the conduct of an incendiary. Here is a
- congregation of men, not one of whom I have ever seen, to none of whom I have ever a chance of doing ¦ service, who could have nothing in contemplation, bat the doing an act of justice. Sir, I may say, I had the same sanction from another province, that of Ulster. Bat it seems I went to Belfast in the character of an incen-diary; I went to Dungannon in the character of an incendiary. Now, I went to neither of those places but by an invitation, and, if a person invited, be an incendiary, what must those be that give the invitation ? If I am an incendiary, all Ulster is an incendiary; if 1 am an incen-diary, all Connaught is an incendiary - with two provinces therefore, at my back, and with the parliament of England, behind me - in their having coincided honourably, and nobly in that sentiment, which I sustained, 1 think 1 am not much afraid of any single and solitary accusation.. But I have not only the parliaments of both kingdoms, I have the judicial power in my favour. If my doctrine was not right, Lord Mansfield’s was not right; I ask you, was he wrong? It has been said he was the enemy of both countries on that occasion. But has the accusation been proved ? Lord Mansfield has many political enemies. The administration at the time would have been glad to have proved him an enemy to both countries; yet,was there a man in the parliament of England, the greatest enemy to that noble judge, who attempted to find fault with his conduct ? After having mentioned the judicial power, let me come to 8 highly respectable body, the corps of lawyers in this country, who, after six months meditation, by a committee chosen by ballot, gave their sanction to that opinion, which is the opiniou of an incendiary. If [ deserve that name; if Lord Mansfield be an incendiary; if the parliament of England be an incendiary; • if the corps of lawyers be incendiaries; tf the Ulster dek gates be incendiaries; if the Connaught delegates be incendiaries; and all the societies who have joined that opinion throughout the kingdom - if all these be incendiaries, in the name of God let me be added to the num-
- ber, and let me be an incendiary too. But though I may be such an incendiary, I will never be that which would deserve the name; 1 will never by any hollow composition lay the seed of future dissension, - I will go clearly and fully to the work. 1 will be satisfied when satisfaction is given; my nature is as prone to satisfaction, and as distant from chagrin as that of any man. I appeal to those who know me from my childhood, first at a public school, then at the university of this kingdom, then at the university of Oxford, and afterwards during twenty-four years, taking no very private part within the walls of this house. - I have spoken to facts: - I do not mean to arraign. Any man may be mistaken, and I wish to suppose any man to be really mistaken, rather than be so intendedly. I would rather reconcile all men to the public, than make unnecessary divisions. But, though I would do every thing a man cao do to prevent dissension, I cannot be expected to sacrifice my character to unlimited obloquy. Sir, one circumstance I must mention, as it is somewhat extraordinary. It has been said by some authority on that side of the question, that I am the outcast of government, and of my prince; certainly, Sir, my dismissal from office was attended with the extraordinary circumstance of my dismissal from council; therefore I suppose it is that the right honourable member has called me the outcast of government and of my prince. It certainly, Sir, was an extraordinary transaction; but it was done in the case of Mr. Pulteney, - it was done in the case of the Duke of Devonshire: therefore I suppose it will not be a decisive proof of any reprobated or factious character in the person to whom it happened. It is the first time it has been mentioned to my disadvantage. It was in the House of Lords of England mentioned to the disadvantage of the minister who was supposed to have done it, by a most respectable character; it was thought not to my dishonour here; it was thought not to my dishonour in the House of Lords of Ireland, where I have lately received from a very emi- PCyt Peer, the sanction of sentiments very different from
231 perpetual disposition of her hereditary revenue by the latot proposition, the surrender of her commercial legislation by (be fourth, the restraint imposed on her from trading beyond the Cape of Magellan, by the ninth, were put in every point of view, in which reason and eloquence could render them impressive and convincing. On this side of the question, Mr. Grattan delivered a most eloquent and impressive speech, which he concluded in the following eoergetic language
“Contemplate for a moment the powers this bill pre* sumes to perpetuate; a perpetual repeal of trial by juiy; a perpetual repeal of the great charter; a perpetual writ of assistance; a perpetual felony to strike an exciseman! “The late Chief Baron Burgh, speaking on the revenue bill, exclaimed, ( You give to the dipping rule, what you should deny to the sceptre.’
“AU the unconstitutional powers of the excise we are to perpetuate, the constitutional powers of parliament we are to abdicate. Can we do all this ? Can we make these bulky surrenders, in diminution of the power, in derogation of the pride of parliament, and in violation of those eternal relationships, which the body that represents should bear to the community which constitutes? “The prefence given for this unconstitutional idea is weak indeed, - that as the benefits are permanent, so should be the compensation. But trade laws are to follow their nature, revenue laws to follow their’s. On the permanent nature of commercial advantages depends the faith of trade, on the limited nature of revenue laws depends the existence of parliament; but the error of the argument arises from the vice of dealing. It is a market for a constitution; and a logic, applicable to barter only, is applied to freedom. To qualify this dereliction of every principle and power, the surrender is made constitutional; that is, the British market for the Irish constitution, the shadow of a market for the substance of a constitution 1 You are to reserve .an option, trade or liberty; if you mean tQ come to the British market, you must pass un^er the British yoke* I object to this principle in every shape, whether you an?/ as the resolution was first worded, directly to transfer legislative power to the British parliament; whether, as it was afterwards altered, you are to covenant to subscribe her acts; or whether, as it is now softened, you are to take the chance of the British market, so long as you wave the blessings of the British constitution - terms dishonourable, derogatory, incapable of forming the foundation of any fair and friendly settlement, injurious to the political mo« rality of the nation. I would not harbour a slavish principle, nor give it the hospitality of a night’s lodging in a land of liberty! Slavery is like any other vice, tolerate and you embrace: you should guard your constitution by settled maxims of honour, as well as wholesome rules of law; and one maxim should be, never to tolerate a condition which trenches on the privilege of parliament, or derogates from the pride of the island. Liberal in matters of revenue, practicable in matters of commerce, on these subjects I would be inexorable; if the Genius of Okl England came to that bar, with the British Constitution in one hand, and in the other an offer of all that England retains, or all that she has lost of commerce, I should turn my back on the latter, and pay my obeisance to the bless-ings of her constitution; for that constitution will give you commerce, and it was the loss of that constitution that deprived you of commerce. Why are you not now a woollen country? because another country regulated your trade. Why are you not now a country of re-exporti because another country regulated your navigation.; I oppose the original terms as slavish, and I oppose the conditional clause as an artful way of introducing slaveiy, of soothing an high-spirited nation into submission by the ignominious delusion that she may shake off the yoke when she pleases, and once more become a free peoples. The direct unconstitutional proposition could not have been listened to, and therefore resort is bad to the oriy. possible chance of destroying the liberty of the people,, by holding up the bright reversion of the British consti~
- tution, and the speculation of future liberty, as a consolation for the present submission. But would any gentleman here wear a livery to-night, because he might lay it aside is the morning I or, would this House substitute another, because next year it might resume its authority, and once more become the parliament of Ireland ? I do not believe we shall get the British, but I do not want to make an experiment on the British market, by making an experiment likewise on the constitution and spirit of the people of Ireland. But do not imagine, if you shall yield for a year, you will get so easily clear of this inglorious experiment; if this is not the British market, why accept the adjustment? and if it is, the benefit thereof may take away your deliberative voice. You will be bribed out of your constitution by your commerce: there are two ways of taking away free-will, the one by direct compulsion, the other by establishing a praepollent motive. Thus a servant of the crown may lose his free will, when he is to give his vote at the hazard of his office, and thus a parliament would lose its free will, if it acted under a conviction that it exercised its deliberative function at the risk of its commerce. No one question would stand upon its own legs, but each question would involve every consideration of trade, and indeed the whole relative situation of the two countries. - And I beseech you to consider that situation, and contemplate the powers of your own country, before you agree to surrender them. - Recollect that you have now a right to trade with the British plantations, in certain articles, without reference.to British duties; that you have a right to trade with the British plantations in every other article/ subject to the British duties; that you have a right to get clear of each and of every part of that bargain; that you have a right to take the produce of foreign plantations, subject to your own unstipulated .duties; that you have a right to carry on a free and unqualified trade, with the United States.of North America; that you have a right to. carry on an. experimental trade ill countries .contiguous to which Great Britain has esta*
- Wished her monopolies; the power of trade this, and an instrument of power, and station, and authority, in the British empire! Consider that you have likewise a right to the exclusive supply of your own market, and to the exclusive reserve of the rudiment of your manufactures; - that you have an absolute dominion over the public purse and over the collection of the revenue. If yon ask me how you shall use these powers, I say for Ireland, with due regard to the British nation, let them be governed by the spirit of concord, and with fidelity to the connection; but when the mover of the bill asks me to surrender those powers, I am astonished at him. I have neither ears, nor eyes, nor functions to make such a sacrifice. What! that free trade, for which we exerted every nerve in 1779; that free constitution for which we pledged life and fortune in 17821 Our lives are at the service of the empires but - our liberties! No - we received them front onr Father, which is in Heaven, and we will hand them down to our children. But, if gentlemen can entertain a doubt of the mischief of these propositions, are they convinced of their safety ? the safety of giving up the government of your trade? No! the mischief is prominent, bnttbe advantage is of a most enigmatical nature. Have gentfo men considered the subject, - have they traced even tbs map of the countries, the power or freedom of trading with whom they are to surrender for ever? Have they traced the map of Asia, Africa, and America/ Do they know the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish settle- ments ? Do they know the neutral powers of those coal* tries, their produce, aptitudes and dispositions? Have they considered the state of North America ? its present state, future growth, and every opportunity in the endten succession of time attending that nurse of commeroe end asylum of mankind ? Are they now competent to deciare^ on the part of themselves and all their posterity^ that a free trade to those regions will never, in the efflux Cftime^ be of any service to the kingdom of Ireland? If they have information on this subject, it must be by a commaaiolk
- 235 tioo with God, for they have none with man; it must be inspiration, for it cannot be knowledge. In such circum-stances, to subscribe this agreement, without knowledge, without even the affectation of knowledge, when Great Britain, with ail her experience and every means of information from East Indies, West Indies, America, and with the official knowledge of Ireland at her feet, has taken six months to deliberate, and has now produced twenty resolutions, with a history to each, amounting to a code of empire, not a system of commerce: I say, io such circumstances, for Ireland to subscribe this agreement, would be infatuation; an infatuation to which the nation could not be a party, but would appear to be concluded, or indeed huddled, with all her posterity, into a fallacious arrangement, by the influence of the crown, without the deliberation of parliament, or the consent of the people! This would appear the more inexcusable, because we are not driven to it; adjustment is not indispensable; the great points have been carried ! An inferior question about the home market has been started, and a commercial fever artificially raised; but, while the great points remain undisturbed, the nations cannot be committed; the manufacturers applied for protecting duties,and have failed; the minister offered a system of reciprocity, and succeeded in Ireland, but has failed in England; he makes you another offer, inconsistent with the former, which offer the English do not support and the Irish deprecate, M We can go on; we have a growing prosperity, and as yet an exemption from intolerable taxes; we can from time to time regulate our own commerce, cherish our manufactures, keep down our taxes, and bring on our people, and brood over the growing prosperity of Young Ireland. In the mean time we will guard our free trade fend free constitution, as our only real resources; they were the struggles of great virtue, the result of much perseverance, and our broad base of public action! We should recollect that this House may now, with peculiar propriety, interpose, because you did, with great zeal and success,
- on this very subject of trade, bring on the people, and you did, with great prudence and moderation, on another occasion, check a certain description of the people^ and you are now called upon by consistency to defend the people. Thus mediating between extremes, you will preserve this island long, and preserve her with a certain degree of renown. Thns faithful to the constitution of the country,you will command and ensure her tranquillity; for our best authority with the people is, protection afforded against the ministers of the crown. It is not public clamour but public injury that should alarm yon; your high ground of expostulation with your fellow-subjects has been your services; the free trade you have, given the merchant, and the free constitution you have given the island! Make your third great effort; preserve them, and with them preserve unaltered your own calm sense of public right, the dignity of the parliament, the majesty of the people, and the powers of the island! Keep them unsullied, uncovenanted, uncircumscribed, and unstipendiaiy! These paths are the paths to glory; and, let me add, these ways are the ways of peace: so shall the prosperity of your country, though without a tongue to thank you, yet laden with the blessings of constitution and of comment - bear attestation to your services, and wait on your progress with involuntary praise!” . .
- On the 6th of March, 1786, on Mr. Forbes’s motion that the present application, and amount of pensions on the civil establishment, were a grievance to the nation, and demanded redress, Mr. Grattan closed the speech which he made on the occasion, by asserting, that, * if he should vote that pensions were not a grievance, he should veto an impudent, an insolent, and a public lie."
- On the same day Mr. Grattan exclaimed, “When gentlemen say, that the new charge for pensions is smal^ Jet me assure them, they need not be alarmed; the charge will be much greater; for unless your interposition should deter, what else is there to check it? Will public poverty2 No. New taxes? No. Gratitude for those taxes? No.
- On the 9th of February previous, Mr. Grattan, after having insisted upon the necessity of making a stand against the growth of expense, or else their constitution and commerce were at an end, drew the following picture of the nation’s expense: - <( See the chart of your credit, an evanescent speck just rising above the plane of the horizon, and then it drops; while your debt ascends like a pyramid, with an audacious defalcation* and almost culminates on your meridian. Midway of this mountain of debt, you will discern a line marking your effort to put an end to your practice of running in debt.” The subject of tythes took up the principal attention of the nation, both within and without parliament, during the first months of the year 1787* The speech which Mr. Grattan delivered on this important subject in the House of Commons, on the 14th of February, 1787, made such a sensation in the country, that it was published with a very spirited preface, and ran through four editions in less than a month. Upon a division, however, in the House, forty- nine only voted for Mr. Grattan’s motion against one
- hnndred and twenty-one. On the 14th of April, Mr. Grattan, with undaunted perseverance, returned once more to the subject of tythes, and submitted to the House a string of resolutions, which be purposed moving regularly in the course of the session ensuing. Each resolu- tion he followed up with a most impressive comment. Nothing else of importance came before parliament during that session, and it was prorogued on the 14th of April, 1788, to the astonishment of the nation.
- The ensuing session was opened by the Marquis of Buck-ingham, on the 5th of February, 1789, and on the next day some objections to the (usual) address to the lord-lieutenant were made, which brought on along and interesting conversation, and opinions were delivered of his excellency, without any reserve or tenderness to his character or situation. Mr. Grattan’s speech, from the commencement to the end, is a continued display of all those compounds which render his speeches of invective, so galling and severe, we therefore insert the whole of it. Prior to which, however, -
- Mr. Brown, of the College, said, “that he came into the House extremely well-disposed to dilacerate the chap racter of the viceroy; but really, it was now left in so miserable and mangled a condition, that it would be ungenerous and unmanly, to attack the small fragment that remained, rfe could only now talk of what he intended to have done, which had been already anticipated by other assailants. He might have painted the acclamations, with which his administration began; the disgrace^ with which it terminated; the declarations against jobbing; the actual jobbing that succeeded; jobbing in the closet; coercion in the offices. A little gnawing, corroding^ venomous scrntiny, which ate its way into the heart* of some poor men, who had not strength of body to bear violent accusation, or strength of mind enough to ration on greater offenders; which seemed to look out for crime* and forfeitures, as objects of prey, not of correction. He might have painted an economy, which, instead of apply*
- GRATTAN.
- ffig itself to great objects, such as the pension list, police establishment, or sinecure offices, fell upon a few miserable military taylors; and, by depriving them of their little fire, in reality increased, instead of .diminishing, the expense ofcfothing the army. He might have dwelt on a prorogation of parliament, prejudicial to the public business, and unnecessary, except for the purposes of a faction.” Mr. Grattan wished “that the lord-lieutenant bad not been introduced into the address: he said, the expenses of the Marquis of Buckingham were accompanied with the most extraordinary professions of economy, and censures on the conduct of the administration that immediately preceded him: be had exclaimed against the pensions of the Duke of Rutland; a man accessible undoubtedly to applications, but the most disinterested, man on earth, and one whose noble nature demanded some, bet received no indulgence from the rigid principles or professions of the Marquis of Buckingham. He exclaimed against his pensions, and he confirmed them: he resisted motions made to disallow some of them, and he finally agreed to a pension for Mr. Orde, the secretary of the Dnke of Portland’s administration, whose extravagance was at once the object of his invective, and of his bounty: be resisted his pension, if report says true; and having shewn that it was against his conscience, he submitted. Mr. Orde can never forgive the Marquis the charges made against the man be thought proper to reward: the public will never forgive the pension given to a man the Marquis thought proper to condemn. The pension list, whose increase the Marquis condemned, be had an opportunity to restrain. A bill limiting the amount of pensions was proposed by an honourable friend of his, and was resisted by the Marquis of Backingham; his secretary was the person to oppose that biU, and to give a signal to the servants of the crown to resist it. He assigned his reason, wt. because he thought his excellency was entitled to the same confidence which had been teposed in the other viceroys, that is, the confidence
- which the Marquis of Buckingham patriotically ’dedaretf had been grossly abused. The police was another theme of his excellency’s indignation; he had exclaimed, or had been said to have exclaimed, against the expense of that establishment. A committee was appointed to examine into its utility, and, after a long and minute investigation, discovered, that the turbulence and corruption of the police-men, were at least equal to the extravagance of the establishment. With that two-fold knowledge of its prodigality and its licentiousness, he defended the pofice establishment, and resisted a measure to repeal that InM; defendingin parliament every measure against which:he was supposed to have exhausted his time in invective and* indignation. ’
“The park establishment was also supposed to have excited his indignation. A motion was made to disallow’ some of those charges, and resisted by all the strength of his government. He was on these subjects satisfied with a minute examination, a poor and passionate each* mation, and a miserable acquiescence. Some of these expenses must have stopped, because they were for furniture and improvement, and were not annual expenses; but the principle remained; the country was open to* the repetition of the charge, and the Marquis had only U take credit for the ceasing of charges, which must for o time have stopped of themselves; but which,by his influence and resistance in parliament to motions disallowing them, might be renewed; but he not only continued the evils he found, he introduced a number; on the expenses’ of his predecessor, he introduced jobs of his own. & increased salaries in the departments, which he propose^ and was said to reform. He made by that increase cer-tain places parliamentary objects, which before had not come into the sphere of what is called parliamentary?
- that one of them was not yet underplaced, but he did say, that his office ought not to have been raised to his merits, for his merits were his own, and of course, during life; but the increase was perpetual; and the increase of salary would never want a pretence, if this argument were admitted. You will easily have that species of economy, which does at least as much mischief as good, checks peculation, and promotes undue influence. He did not confine himself to the increase of salaries; he projected, if fame says true, a number of new offices, to be created for the accommodation of friends, at the public expense, by dividing and splitting offices or boards, under that worst species of profusion, the mask of economy; laying the foundation of new salaries hereafter, and increasing undue influence for the present. But there was one of his projects he had actually carried into execution, the revival of an obsolete office, the second counsel to the commissioners: that office was the remnant of a wretched job, attempted eighteen years ago, and put down because im- practicable and improper. The division of the boards of custom and excise, for extending the undue influence of the crown; that measure was put down; but the second counsel, a wretched remnant, was suffered for a time; and when the then counsel, Mr. Maunsel, died, his place also was discontinued. It thus remained on the establishment an obsolete unoccupied office, until it had been revived by the Marquis of Buckingham, no doubt, it will be said, for the purpose of saving. The office was to be a great saving to the public; he was to be feed like the first counsel in the revenue. You are to have two counsel instead of one, to give opinions, and to receive fees in all revenue proceedings: but this was to be a great saving. He was not at present to be consulted in the framing of the money bills; but this was a private transaction; and this was a saving, on the duration of which little dependance was to be had. He had sUted particular instances of the expensive genius of the Marquis of Buckingham in the management of the public money: and, in the course VOL. II. R
- of one year, the year in which even prodigal iord-Heil to-nants impose on themselves a reserve. But these parti* cular instances were principles, bad principles: the attempt to increase the number of offices, was an attempt to increase corruption, the man guilty of that attempt was not pure. The revival of an obsolete useless office for a friend, was a bad principle; and, if accompanied with extraordi* nary professions of public parsimony, was a detestable principle: hypocrisy,added to extravagance! His greet objection to the Marquis of Buckingham, was not merely that he had been a jobber, but a jobber in a mask: He objection was not merely, that his administration had been expensive, but that his expenses were accompanied with hypocrisy: it was the affectation of economy, aS* tended with a great deal of good, comfortable, aubstsntiak jobbing for himself and his friends. That led to another measure of the Marquis of Buckingham, which was the least ceremonious, and the sordid and scandalous act ofsetf- interest, attended with the sacrifice of all public decorum; he meant the disposal of the reversion of the place of the chief remembrancer, to his brother; one of the best, if not the very best office in the kingdom, given in reversion to an absentee, with a great patronage and a compensation annexed. That most sordid and shameless act was committed exactly about the time, when that kingdom was charged with great pensions for the bringing home, as it was termed, absentee employments. That bringing home absentee employments was a monstrous job; the kingdom paid the value of the employment, and perhaps mom; she paid the value of the tax also. The pensioner so paid, was then suffered to sell both to a resident, who was free from the tax; he was then permitted to substitute new and young lives in the place of his own; and then permitted to make a new account against the country, and to receive a further compensation, which he was suffered in the same manner to dispose of. In excuse for that sort of traffic, they were told, that they were not buying places, but principles; the principle of confinihg
- US the great employments of that country to residents; a principle invaluable, they were told, to her pride and her interest. While they were thus buying back principles, and while the Marquis of Buckingham was professing a disinterested regard for the prosperity of Ireland, in opposition to these principles and these professions,he disposed of the best reversion in Ireland to his own family; the only family in the world that could not, with decency, receive it, as be was the man in the world, that could not dispose of it to them. After that, Lord Buckingham was not to be called disinterested; call him any thing else; give him any appellation you please of ability or activity, but do not call him a public reformer; do not ridicule him by calling him a disinterested man.
“Gentlemen had spoken about public inconstancy, and had dwelled on the rapid turn of the public mind in despising now, what a year ago it seemed to idolize; but let those gentlemen reflect a little. When a man in a high situation professed to be a reformer; when he exclaimed against the profusion and memory of his predecessor; when he taught the people to deceive themselves; en-feoffed himself in popularity; shook hands with the populace; when such a man agreed to no one constitutional or economic bill; on the contrary, resisted motions for disallowing extravagance, and bills tending to secure the country against future extravagance, and set up his own temporary regulations, his own contingent savings and casual fractions of economy, in the place of laws; such a man must speedily forfeit the opinion of the public; but when the same man shall, to the crime of omission, add that of commission, shall increase the expenses, of which he complained, on the principle which he affected to reprobate; shall multiply undue influence, and create or revive offices, merely for private gratification: and finally, shall attach the best office of the kingdom to his family, whilst he affects to attach the love of the public to his person: such a man. could not be surprised at the loss of popularity; an event the natural consequence, not of public
- inconstancy, but of his own inconsistency; of his great professions, and his contingent savings overbalanced by his jobbing, a teazing and minute industry ending in no one great principle of economy, and tarnished by attempts to increase the influence of corruption, and by a sordid and indecorous sense of private interest.”
- On the 11th of February, 1789, the great contest upon the regency *of Ireland, took place. Mr. Grattan and Mr- Fitzgibbon took the lead on opposite sides. In conclusion, Mr. Grattan moved an address, inviting the Prince.of Wales to come as regent, invested with full regal power, which was carried without a division. The message was afterwards agreed to in the Lords with a slight amendment; and, on the 19th, both Houses waited on the lordlieutenant with their address, and requested him to transmit it to his royal highness. With this request his excellency refused to comply; returning for answer, that, under the impressions he felt of his official duty, and of the oath he had taken, he did not consider himself warranted to lay before the prince an address purporting to invest his royal highness with powers to take upon him the government of that realm, before he should be enabled by law so to do, and therefore was obliged to decline transmitting their address to Great Britain. In consequence of this reply, Mr. Grattan moved a vote of censure on the lord-lieutenant, which was agreed to by a majority of one hundred and thirty to seventy-one.
- On the 3rd of March, 1789, Mr. Grattan moved a resolution to prevent the great offices of the state from bring conferred on absentees; great annual charges having been incurred, by making compensation to absentees for resigning their offices, that those offices might be granted to residents.
- Scarcely had Mr. Grattan concluded his speech, when Mr. Parsons rose; he was interrupted by Mr. Grattan’s observing, that if the honourable gentleman rose to second his motion, he would withdraw it. Upon which, Mr. Parsons instantly launched out into a most infiuisted
- U5 philippic against Mr. Grattan, and his whole political conduct. To this Mr. Grattan made the following reply: - “Sir, the speech of the honourable member has been so disorderly and extraordinary, that the House will permit me to make an immediate reply. He talks of simple repeal, he does not understand that question; he does not know whether that measure was right or wrong. He speaks of renunciation; of that be is equally ignorant. The merits or demerits of either question, or of both questions, surpass his capacity. He has arraigned my conduct, but his observations are as feeble as they are virulent. The member is a melancholy proof, that a man may be scurrilous who has not capacity to be severe. He speaks of the public grant of 50,0001.; and he says, I got that for bungling, what the patentee was so fortunate to complete. He says so, but why he should say so, or on what grounds he talks, be is totally unable to explain; he repeats a sentence which he has heard, but the force of meaning, or foundation for the sentence, the member cannot set forth; the jingle of a period touches his ear; and he repeats it, and be knows not why. The calumny urged against me by the member, is not his own, (Dublin Evening Packet.) Mr. Higgins has said it better than the honourable gen** tieman; the Freeman’s Journal has stated it better, and with much more ingenuity than the honourable gentleman: but Mr. Higgins is a liar; the Freeman’s Journal is a liar; it is not unparliamentary to say, that the authority from which the gentleman draws his argument, is a liar, a public, pitiful liar! He said, he did not mean that the honourable gentleman was a liar, but that the paper from which he had borrowed his authority, was a liar, a positive liar!” Here Mr. Parsons rose, and stepping towards Mr. Grattan, made use of some words, which, for the honour of parliament, are not reported. Mr. Grattan sat down. The House immediately called out, a custody! custody!” and the Speaker ordered the galleries to be cleared: it was near two hours before order was com-* pletely restored.
- The leaden of Opposition found it advisable^ in order to consolidate their force into a common onion, to establish a new political society, under the denomina&tn of the Whig Club, of which Mr. Grattan has left the following sketch: -
“The minister was the author of it His doctrines and his half million were the authors of it. But clubs of this kind are only preserved by violence. That violence did happen. An attack was made on the rights of the City, a doctrine was promulgated, that the common couosi] had no right to put a negative on the lord mayor, choitn by the board of aldermen, except the board itself should assent to the negative put on its own choice; this doctrine was advanced by the court, to secure the election of the mayor to itself; in the course of the contest, a miniMer involved himself in a personal altercation with the citizens. With Mr. Tandy he had carried on a long war, and with various success; he was now involved in AU altercation more general; in the compass of his Wratb, be paid his compliments to the Whig Club, and that ctab advanced the shield of a free people over the rights of the city, and humbled a minister in the presence of thoae citizens, whose privileges he had invaded, and Whoae persons he had calumniated.”
- Parliament was prorogued; and the Earl of Weatmoie» land succeeded the Marquis of Buckingham in the go vernment. He met parliament on the 21st of January, 1790, and his speech embraced merely the common topics. On the second day of the session, on the usual address being moved, Mr. Grattan, though he did not mean to oppose it, felt it incumbent on him to mark his disapprobation of the measures of the late administration, and to prove, to the full conviction of that House, that they had been ill governed. After having amplified in detail, upon every act of the late viceroy, he summed up his charges in the following impressive manner: -
- M Such has been the conduct of your refotmeri Thia was the man; you remember his entry into the dkpftal,
- M7 trampling on the hearse of the Duke of Rutland, and seated in a triumphal car, drawn by public credulity; on one side, fallacious hope, and on the other, many-mouthed profession; a figure with two faces, one turned to the treasury, and the other presented to the people; and with a double longue, speaking contradictory languages. “This minister alights; justice looks up to him with empty hopes, and peculation faints with idle alarms; he finds the city a prey to an unconstitutional police; be continues it: he finds the country overburthened with a shameful pension list; he increases it: he finds the House of Commons swarming with placemen; he multiplies them: he finds the salary of the secretary increased to prevent a pension; he grants a pension: he finds the kingdom drained by absentee employments, and by compensations to buy them home; he gives the best reversion in the country to an absentee, his brother! he finds the government, at different times, bad disgraced itself by creating sinecures, to gratify corrupt affection; he makes two commissioners of the rolls, and gives one of them to another brother: he finds theaecond counsel to the commissioners put down because useless; he revives it: he finds the board of accounts and stamps annexed by public compact; he divides them: he finds the boards of customs and excise united by public compact; he demolishes them: he finds three resolutions, declaring, that seven commissioners are sufficient; he makes nine: he finds the country has suffered by some peculations in the orduance; be increases the -salaries of offices, and gives the places to members; to members of parliament.”
- On the lltb of February, on Mr. Forbes’s motion relative to the public expenditure, Mr. Grattan, in reply to some observations from the treasury bench on the subject of party, distinctly disclosed the objects which he and his friends professed to have in view.
- He then proceeded - “These are some of our measures: I now turn toadministration, and call upon them to state their measuresJ what bills for the public good ? State themcome forth; I pause to give them time to consider.
- Well, what are they ? not one public, constitutional, or wise regulation; there they sit under the public eye; a blank, gutted, excavated, and eviscerated of any one single, constitutional, or economic bill, principle, or project, for the good of the community.
“Sir, I will give these gentlemen of administration, on this topic of party, the greatest advantage they can in their situation receive. I will draw a veil over the put, and forget the specific services which we have performed, and those which we are pledged to perform for the good of the country. 1 will also forget the injuries, which they and their abettors have at different times inflicted, and are at this hour inflicting on the community; let us start, as it were, anew, set name against name, and we will beat them down by character.
“I have submitted a description of a party, which I conceive to be a public benefit. 1 will state to you a description of a party, which I conceive to be the public curse; if party it can be called, which is worse than a faction, and nothing more than an impudent phalanx of political mercenaries, coming from their little respective offices, to vote for their bribe, and vapour for their character, who have neither the principles of patriotism, nor ambition, nor party, nor honour: who are governed not by deliberation, but discipline; licking the hands that feed, and worshipping the patron that bribes them. Degraded men, disgraceful tribe! When they vote for measures, they are venal; when such men talk against party, they are impudent.”
- On no occasion during the session did he press the ministry more closely, than on the 20th of February, when he opened upon them a new battery, for which they were not in the slightest degree prepared. He rose unexpectedly in the House, and, without any preface, thus accosted the chair: -
- a Sir, we persist to combat the project to govern this country by corruption. We have hitherto contended against those parts of the system, which proceeded to undermine the constitution, without an apparent breach
- of the law, and therefore, might impose on the public as a government by law; ’such was the addition of two unnecessary commissioners; such were the unnecessary salaries for four officers of the stamps; such were the additional salaries to four officers of the ordnance; such, in short, the creation of fourteen new parliamentary places, and of eight or nine parliamentary pensions, in the course of less than twelve months. These measures import their own criminality, and bespeak, on the part of his majesty’s ministers, a design to govern this country by sapping the foundation of her liberty. They called upon us to disallow them; they called upon us to withdraw our confidence from the ministers by whom they were imposed; but they went no further. They did not appear to be accompanied with any overt act, whereby the criminal designs of their authors could be substantiated by evidence enough to punish their persons; they were good reasons for dismissing the ministers for ever from his majesty’s councils, but not grounds for personal punishment.
- * But there is another part of this project, wherein his majesty’s ministers have not only attempted to undermine the constitution, but have actually broken the laws; for that part of the project, we conceive his majesty’s ministers to be impeachable. Sir, the sale of honours is an impeachable offence; the crime speaks itself; but to take the point out of doubt, I will state to you a case; the Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Charles L was impeached on thirteen articles, and the ninth article was the sale of honours; the very crime, of which the ministers of Ireland have been guilty. He was impeached for the sale of. a peerage to Lord Roberts for 10,000£
“The House of Commons in support of the impeachment, stated the heinousness of perverting the ancient and honourable way of obtaining titles of honour. They urged the crime , of taking away from the crown, the fair and frugal way of rewarding great and deserving servants. They stated the crime of shuffling promiscuously and
- confusedly together, those of inferior alloy, with those of the purest and most generous metal. They urged, that it was a prodigious scandal to the nation, and that for such offence, precedent there was none, and then they call for justice on the head of that man, who by making honour saleable, had rendered it contemptible.
- *’ But there is a circumstance in the offence of the Irish ministry, which is not to be found in the case of the Duke of Buckingham; they have applied the money arising from the sale to model the House of Commons; this is another impeachable offence; that minister who sells the honours of one House to model the representation of the other, is impeachable for . the last offence as well as the first; he makes a wicked, and scandalous, and illegal use of the prerogative of the crown, in order to destroy the privileges of parliament. He makes the two Houses of Parliament auxiliary, not to support, but to contaminate one another. Thus be is a conspirator against the legislation, attacking it in both Houses of Parliament, and poisoning the two great sources of the law. But this practice corrupts also the dispensation of justice as well as the fountains of the law; the sale of a peerage, is the sale of a judicial employment of the highest judicial situation; a situation whose province it is to correct the errors of all other courts; such a sale goes against the common law, and against the spirit of every statute made on the subject.
“I say, the present ministers of this countiy cannot govern Ireland, they cannot govern Ireland for England; I do not call corruption government; not the carrying n question at the loss of their money and character. They have thus procured for the British government, neither character sufficient to command respect, nor revenue sufficient to pay the establishments; but then’ they have gotten other strength, they have gotten the support and good will of the nation. No; the loss of the nation’s good will is synonymous with the loss of reputation* “The independent countiy gentlemen never on sup
- port a minister who practises extravagance and professes corruption; supporting such a minister, they would be country gentlemen no longer, they would be the servants of the castle out of livery. They must see and despise the pitiful policy of buying the country gentlemen by an offer to wrap them up in the old cast-clothes of the aristocracy: a clumsy covering and a thin disguise, never the object of your retopect, frequently the subject of your derision. The country gentleman must recollect how seldom he can procure even an audience from that bench, except when he artificially deserts his cause and his country. Place him on his native hills, and he is a protection against the storm; transplant him to the hot-bed of the castle, be degenerates and becomes a weed. “As to the aristocracy,4 will not say you have alienated every member of that body; but 1 do say, you have alienated as great, as respectable, and as formidable a part of that body, as ever stood in the phalanx of Opposition; and you bare not only given them every personal provocation, but every public topic, and every public provocation, to raise on their side the interest, the feelings, and the voice of the community. You have not, however, left yonreelves without some part of the aristocracy of the country, but that part you have endeavoured to leave without any kind of reputation, by directing against the aristocracy of Ireland in general, the whisper of your castle, and the scurrility of your press, reducing all men to the level of your own reputations. Thus, the result of your project has been, to render the British government in this country, Us feeble and contemptible as the tendency of your project is to render the Irish constitution corrupt and dependent. For the sake of both nations, therefore, we oppose it; but how defeat this project? Certainly not by a plan of self-defebce. It is a maxim of war, that the body that is ever attacked, and only defends, must finally be subdued; it is then on a principle of self-preservation, that we resort to the good old method of impeachment. We have long disputed about this pension, and that place, until inch by inch we are driven into our trenches by a victorious enemy. It is now necessary to change our system of action, and to come forth with the power of the constitution to punish the enemies thereof. We call this House, whose foundation the minister now undermines, to witness that we are compelled to this, and that these men have, by a multiplication and repetition of plunder, prodigality, corruption, insult, outrage, and misdemeanours, brought forth at last the reluctant justice of the nation. The great influences, which the philosopher tells you, are necessary to bind together the moral system, are wanting here. The influence of opinion, of future and sublunary punishment: the two first the ministers disregard; be it our province to introduce into this region the last, that his majesty’s ministers may be sensible there is a vindictive justice, and that there is in this country a power competent to inflict that justice upon them. Gentlemen come over to this country for a livelihood, and they find servants, who, like themselves, look to government for nothing but a livelihood, and this alliance, that does not include an idea of public care or duty, they call an administration; but it is our task to interrupt this venal commerce by impeachment. Had the people of England only condemned ship-money, they had done nothing. No, they brought forth to public punishment the projectors, they exhibited the malefactor at the bar of the nation. The injuries you have suffered,demand a spectacle of that kind; a state offender kneeling at the bar of the Lords, and impeached in the name, and on behalf of the Commons of this realm. I therefore move you, -
“‘ That a select committee be appointed to inquire^ in the most solemn manner, whether the late or present administration, have entered into any corrupt agreement with any person or persons, to recommend such person or persons to his majesty as fit and proper to be by him made peers of this realm, in consideration of such person or persons giving certain sums of money to be laid out in procuring the return of members to serve in parliament contrary to the rights of the people, inconsistent with the independence of parliament, and in violation of the fun-damental laws of the land.’ ”
- This very severe and pointed attack was resisted by the chancellor of the exchequer, for want of evidence to ground any specific charge upon: simple assertion and common fame were totally insufficient: therefore, to the crime alleged,’they pleaded not guilty, and put themselves upon their country to be judged by their actions. The prime sergeant found the motion of so extraordinary a nature, of such alarming magnitude and novelty, and introduced in so strange a manner, that no man could, consistently with the principles of justice, or the dictates of his conscience, accede to it. When the attention of the House was bespoken for that day, gentlemen, according to the usual course of parliamentary proceedings, requested to know the intended subject of debate: all information was withholden, and a general reference made to the former debates. If the minister in either country should introduce a proposition of so much novelty without a previous information, there would be stronger ground than common fame to suspect an intention to surprise the House: if the measure be so self-evident, why had it been kept back, and introduced after five days’ preparation, with a reference to several authorities to support its propriety t And among others, one from the inauspicious reign of Charles I.; a reign, in which the other House of Parliament was voted useless, and which terminated in the sacrifice of the king to hypocrisy and faction. If any better authority could be produced, the honourable member would have recurred to it: but even that precedent, as cited, did not go so far as to say, that the House of Commons of that day, instituted a committee to fish for evidence, whereon to ground an accusation; a species of proceeding, in his judgment, inadmissible.
- A very severe debate ensued, about the close of which, Mr. Grattan rose to reply: - he was indignant that it should have been said in debate, that the facts rested upon his simple assertion. “Will you,” said he,a rest it on that? Will you maintain it is only a simple assertion? I do not assert only, that, 1 have heard it commonly said, and specially stated; the sums, the persons, the circumstances; but I said I never heard it out of these walls denied. It is a crime as generally known, and as publicly reported, as any thing, which is not yet reduced to special conviction; it is a crime we offer to prove; we come here to arraign the ministers of the crown. I will read the charges which 1 make against them.” He then read the following paper: -
“We charge them publicly, in the face of their country, with making corrupt agreements for the sale of peerages, for doing which, we say they are impeachable; we charge them with corrupt agreements for the disposal of the money arising from the sale, to purchase for the servants of the castle, seats in the assembly of the people; for doing which, we say they are impeachable; we charge them with committing these offences, not in one, nor in two, but in many instances, for which complication of offences, we say they are impeachable, guilty of a systematic endeavour to undermine the constitution in violation of the laws of the land. We pledge ourselves to convict them. We dare them to go into an inquiry. We do not affect to treat them as other than public malefao factors. We speak to them in a style of the most mortifying and humiliating defiance. We pronounce them to be public criminals. Will they dare to deny the charge? I call upon, and dare the ostensible member to rise in his place, and say on his honour, that he does not believe such corrupt agreements have taken place. I wait for a specific answer.” After some pause, Mr. Secretary Hobart plied, that if he could think the right honourable gentleman had any right to ask him the question he had proposed, and were he alone concerned in it, he should find no manner of difficulty in answering him; but as it was a question, which related to the exercise of his majesty’* undoubted prerogative, it would ill become him, upon the
- investigation of an individual, to say what were the reasons, which had induced his majesty to bestow upon any person those honours, which the crown alone could constitutionally confer. As to the charge that had been made, he could not avoid expressing some surprise, that gentlemen were not sufficiently alarmed by common fame at the end of Lord Northington’s administration, to bring forward such a charge then. Common fame certainly did then report, thaj peerages had been notoriously granted in return for seats in the Commons House of Parliament: yet the right honourable gentleman and his friends were in the confidence of that administration, and must be presumed to be informed of the fact. On which, Mr. Conolly remarked, that his right honourable friend had asked a plain, unequivocal, direct question, and the House was to judge, whether he had received an intelligible and satis factory answer. The division was one hundred and forty- four against, and eighty-eight for the motion.
- Four days after the above, Mr. Grattan, adverting to some circumstances connected with the former discussion, made use of the following strong language: -
“Sir, I cannot avoid observing, that in this day’s de* bate, gentlemen on the other side of the House have adopted a certain tone of power, I presume in conse* quence of a very indecent and disorderly interposition on the part of one, who does not belong to this House, though be has lately interfered in its proceedings*. Sir, I am not uninformed to what length that person went within these walls even during the debates of this House; it seems to me somewhat strange, that gentlemen on the other side should dwell so much on the necessity of parliamentary decorum, when they have been evidently spirited up by ao interposition, which in itself was the grossest violation of parliamentary decency. Sir, I have been told it was said, that I should have been stopped, should have been expelled the Commons, should have
- been delivered up to the bar of the Lords, for the expreo* sions delivered that day.
“I will repeat what I said on that day: I said, that his majesty’s ministers had sold the peerages, for which offence they were impeachable. I said they had applied the money for the purpose of purchasing seats in the House of Commons for the servants or followers of the castle, for which offence 1 said they were impeachabtei I said they had done this, not in one or two, but ia several instances, for which complication of offences, I said his majesty’s ministers were impeachable, as public malefactors, who had conspired against the common weal, the independency of parliament, and the fundamental laws of the land; and I offered, and dared them to put this matter in a course of inquiry. I added, that I considered them as public malefactors, whom we were ready to bring to justice. I repeat these charges now, and if any thing more severe were on a former occasion expressed, I beg to be reminded of it, and I will again repeat it. Why do you not expel me now i Why not* send me to the bar of the Lords t Where is your adviser? Going out of the House I shall repeat my sentiments, that his majesty’s ministers are guilty of impeachable offences; and advancing to the bar of the Lords, I shall repeat those sentiments; or, if the Tower is to be my habitation, I will there meditate the impeachment of these ministers, and return, not to capitulate, but to puush. Sir, I think I know myself well enough to say, that if called forth to suffer in a public cause, I will go farther than my prosecutors, both in virtue and in danger.” This subject was again renewed by Mr. Grattan in the ensuing session, but with like effect; and, on the motion for the address in 1792, Mr. Grattan, with an astonishing power of eloquence, travelled over once more the whole ground, which he bad taken each of the three last sessions, but with new point and redoubled vigour, fn the course of the debate, Sir Henry Cavendish was^vcry personal against him, for (what he termed) the violence l
- and intemperance of his language, and a disorderly extra dissertation on the measures of the lord-lieutenant, which brought up Mr. Grattan thus in reply: - u It seems, the right bon. baronet is ignorant of the only subject he is supposed to be acquainted with, order; he talks of scurrilous language; his language and epithets return on himself: but a man’s language is of little moment, - it is his conduct that is essential: what shall we say of the * conduct of that man, who voted in one session for a pension bill, and against it in the next; of that man, who voted for a place bill in one session, and voted against it in the next; of that man, who voted for a committee to proceed towards impeachment against the present minis- tiy for the selling peerages, and the very next session votes for thanks to that very miuistry? What does he think of such an apostate ?”
- The first bill for the emancipation of the catholics was brought forward in the Irish parliament in 179$, which Mr. Grattan supported, although not officially called upon by them until December 1794, when they unanimously committed their cause into his hands, and io both the Irish and the English parliaments, from that period until the time of his decease, he continued their steady, inflexible, and uncompromising advocate, assisting them in private with his counsel and advice, and in public devoting to their cause the stupendous powers of his oratory.
- The society of United Irishmen of Dublin, of 1794, had, amongst their publications on the subject of parliamentary reform, strongly inculcated the necessity of annual parliaments and universal suffrage, which Mr. Grattan, in his speech upon Mr. Ponsonby’s bill, most severely reprobated, and thus exposed to derision and scorn: - “To destroy the influence of landed property is the object of individual representation, but its immediate effect would be to extinguish the people. The rich might for a time make a struggle; they might in some places buy a mob, who by such a plan would be all electors; they might beset the hustings with their retainers, who VOL. ii. s
- by such a plan would be all electors, or, they might purchase the votes of that great body of electors introduced by such a plan into the constitution, all the beggars in the neighbourhood. The minister too, for the short time such a plan suffered king or minister, could, m the corrupt confusion of such election, preserve some influence by the application of the treasury, and the command of the army; he could have all the swords and votes of all the common soldiers. But the farmer and the citiiep could have none of those advantages, and indeed what farmer or citizen would go to the hustings of a medley of offenders met on a plan, where bayonets, bludgeon^ and whiskey, elected the House of Commons? In the meta time, the respect which the landlord and candidate now pay to the farmer and to the citizen, would be at an eudL; and, instead of resorting to the farmer for his vote and interest, the squire would go to the farmer’s dung-yard, and canvas the boys of his lawn, who would have more votes, though neither farm nor freehold; the consequence of the citizen would be at an end also, and, instead of going to his shop to ask the tradesman for his vote^ the candidate would apply to the beggar on the bridge, or the scavenger in the kennel, or to the hospitals in Channelrow, and those places where the poor are now wisely supplied with bread, instead of being intoxicated with hand bills, offering, in the place of bread, the hopes of returning the parliament, and becoming a third constitutive past of the legislature." t
- In the year 1794, a change of administration and of measures took place iu Ireland, when Mr. Grattan and Mr. Pon son by were sent for to England to consult upon the arrangement and plan of government. Lord Fixswilr liam was appointed viceroy; and so persuaded was Mr. Grattan of the good intentions of Great Britain towards the Irish nation, that on the 22nd of January, 17M he moved the address in unswer to the speech of the viceroy, which was carried without a division. These halcyon days were but of short duration. On the 12th of Eebruiy,
- 259 1794, Mr. Grattan moved for leave to bring in a bill for emancipating the catholics* which Was given with only three dissentient voices. Lord Fitzwilliam (it is asserted by himself, by Lotd Miltoe, by Mr. Ponsonby, ahd Mn Grattau,) went over with a plenitude of power from the British cabinet) to catty every measure which he proposed* among which was that of catholic emancipation; yet* on the 14th of February, intelligence arrived in Dublin, that the British minister was adverse to the important measure, which the lord-lieutenant was thus publicly pursuing* The immediate consequence of this was, the indignant resignation of Lord Fitzwilliam, who was succeeded by Lord Camden.
- On the 4th of May, 1795, Mr. Grattan, on the second reading of the catholic bill, thus attacked the doctrine (which was now for the first time made a subject of parliamentary discussion) that catholic emancipation was incompatible with the coronation oath.
- a But I find that catholic emancipation is held incompatible with our monarchy. What! his majesty, the head of a catholic league, the king of Corsica, the lord of Canada, the great ally of the emperor, the grand confederate of the king of Spain, the protector of the pope $ the king of England, whose armies are catholic, whose European connexions are catholic, are his Irish subjects the only catholics in whom be won’t confide ? Has he found reli- gioa make the emperor false, or the Prussian faithful ? Sneb were not the sentiments of the speeches from the throne in 1793 and 1795, when his majesty called on all his subjects to defend their religion.and their constitution. What religion f A religion of disabilities. What constitution 2 A constitution of exclusion. Am 1 to understand that his majesty called forth his catholic subjects to fight for a constitution, which was to be shut against diem, and for a religion which was dangerous to the king, and penal to the catbolie? No; it was not the pope, nor yet the pretender, it was Paine, it was the French republic, bgaiast which you called for the zeal of your people, and
- held oat the blessings of the constitution. But now it seems it is the antichrist against whom you place your batteries, the virgin,and the real presence: and in that strain of grave and solemn raving, a right honourable gentleman proposes to take up arms against the grave of popery, which is shut, and to precipitate into the gulph of republicanism, which is open; perfectly safe for die king, he and those who join him think it, to affront the catholic subjects, by gross suspicions; others have proceeded to the grossest invectives; perfectly safe, they think it, to banish them from all places at court and seats in parliament; to tell catholic virtue, catholic talents, catholic ambition, you must not serve the king; yon may have property influence, but you must not act in consti* luted assemblies, nor in any rank or distinction for the crown. Perfectly safe they think it to establish an incompatibility between popery and allegiance. Perfectly safe they think it to insulate the throne, and reduce the king of Ireland, like the pope, to protestant guards instead of a people; and then, it is proposed, that those protestant guards should monopolise all the powers of government, and privileges of the constitution, as a reward for their disinterestedness. In support of such policy, it has been advanced, in a very idle publication, that Roman catholics, as long as they have the feeling of men, must resist the natural propensities of the human heart, if they do not endeavour to subvert a protestant king; bnt I pass that over with the scorn it deserves. It has been also said, that his majesty’s oath is a bar. Oaths are serious things. To make them political pretences is a high crime; to make an obligation, taken for the assurance of liberty, a covenant against it; to impose on conscience a breach of duty, to make the piety of the king the scourge of his people^ ft an attempt atrocious in the extreme. Examine the argument, and you find the oath was taken three ynaro before the exclusion of the Irish catholics; the oath ft the first of William, the tests that exclude them tbethird; so that his majesty must have sworn in the stum ’and
- spirit of prophecy. Examine a little farther, and you will find his majesty swears, not in his legislative, but in his executive capacity, he swears to the laws he is to execute, not against the laws which parliament may think proper to make. In that supposition he would, by his oath, control not himself but parliament, and swear not to execute laws but to prevent them. Examine a little further, and you will fiod the words of the oath cannot support the interpretation:
“‘ I will support the true profession of the gospel, and the protestant religion as by law established? This is the oath. I will perpetuate civil incapacities on catholics: this is the comment. Such comment supposes the true profession of the gospel to stand on pains and penalties, and the protestant religion on civil proscription. Examine the oath a little further; and, if the comment be true, the oath has been broken, by his majesty’s gracious recommendation in favour of the catholics in 1793; broken by the grant of the elective franchise; broken by the Canada bill; broken by the Corsican constitution. Hear the speech of the viceroy of Corsica; his excellency having recommended to parliament the civil and military establishment, proceeds at last to the church, and advises them to settle that establishment with his holiness the pope. Very proper all this, no doubt; but if the interpretation were true, what an outrageous breach all this of his majesty’s coronation oath. I should ask, whether, in the interpretation of the oath, his majesty has consulted his Irish bishops ? And yet he could have found among them men perfectly competent. I will venture to say, that the head of our clergy understands the catholic question better than those consulted; 1 will add, be does not, I believe, disapprove of their emancipation, nor approve of the argument against them. But it seems, in matters that relate to the Irish church, the Irish clergy are not to be consulted; an English episcopaqy, like an English cabinet, is to determine the destiny of Ireland. I have great respect for the learned prelates of England, particularly
- 9& for one, whose exemplary virtue and apostolic character, qualify him to preside over whatever is learned, pore, or holy; but in Irish affairs, in matters in which our civil as well as our religious interests are implicated, might I nay, his majesty’s counsellors should be his Irish parliament and his Irish bishops. It seems highly prejudicial to the church and the monarchy, that the argument which excludes the catholic under pretence to strengthen-bed^ should be attended with circumstances that bespeak the Irish hierarchy a cypher, the English hierarchy a nuisance^ and represent the king as a magistrate sworn against the privileges of his people. So far am I from agreeing to such an argument, that I must here repeat what I advanced before, and say, that I do not dissent, bat I contradict. 1 do not say that catholic emancipation is compatible with the present monarchical government in Ireland, but that it is now become necessary to it; and that, as for the preservation of the connexion, you mast make it compatible with the privileges of three-fourths of your people; so, for the preservation of your monarchy, you must make monarchy also compatible with those privileges, you must make the regal capacity of the kipg compatible with the civil capacity of the subject.”
- The 17th of February, 1797, was the last time the question of catholic emancipation was brought before the Irish parliament. Mr. Grattan waded through every worn-out argument, on all of which he threw new light; and, toward) the conclusion of his speech, he thus inveighed: - “These men prescribe for these things as the old natural jobbers of the country; they demand all power and all place, in consideration of the superior purity and disinterestedness of their religion: * Give us all the good things on earth, in the name of God; and in God’s mercy give nothing to the rest of our fellow-subjects!1 Thus this pure and pious passion for church and state, turns out to be a sort of political gluttony - an ascendancy hunger a state voracity - an inordinate appetite for temporal grati-fications; in consideration of spiritual perfection; and
- in consequence of this vile and mean, selfish and beastly monopoly, your state becomes an oligarchy, the worst species of oligarchy, a plebeian oligarchy. I love the protestants, I love the presbyterians, and I love the catholics, that is, I love the Irish; if ever my affection abates, it is when they hate one another.” He said he approved of the British ministry, when they liberalised towards the catholic, and condemned the ministry in 1795, when it renounced its liberality and its honour, and returned to its barbarity, and employed Christian sects, like hell hounds, to hunt down one another. That in consequence of this, they have set up in Ireland a proscriptive state - a proscriptive parliament - a proscriptive monarchy - a proscriptive connexion; they have done so, when the condition of the empire is in a great degree feeble, and that of the constitution in the last degree corrupt. Thus they make the empire feeble, and the constituted authorities profligate, and after purpose to make them proscriptive; and do this when they are to encounter abroad, not only the triumph of arms but of revolutions, as one way of defeating both and setting them at defiance.” The motion, however, was lost.
- On the 15th of May following, Mr. W. B. Ponsonby moved his great question of parliamentary reform; a very spirited debate ensued, and Mr. Grattan closed an energetic speech, with these words: - <6 We have offered you our measure, you will reject it; we deprecate yours, you will persevere; having no hopes left to persuade or dissuade, and having discharged our duty, we shall trouble you no more, and after this day shall not attend the House of Commons.91
- From this time Mr. Grattan ceased to attend iu the senate; and at the ensuing dissolution, in an address to the freemen and freeholders of Dublin, dated July 29th, 1797, he published his reasons for declining a seat in the new parliament. In this resolution he was followed by his colleague Lord Henry Fitzgerald, who also published a similar address.
- During the melancholy year of 1798, Mr. Grattan appears to have resided principally at Twickenham, from whence, on the 9th of November, he addressed a letter to the guild of merchants, corporation of Dublin, and fellows of Trinity College, in defence of his character and conduct from their unfounded and malevolent attacks.
- Mr. Grattan having been elected for the borongh of Wicklow, in the parliament of 1800, was sworn in on the 15th of January, and on that eventful day, when the grand question of the Union was before parliament, about three o’clock in the morning, Mr. Grattan entered the House between Mr. W. B. Ponsonby and Mr. A. Moore, whilst Mr. Egan was on his legs actually referring to the constitution of 1782.
- The re-appearance in parliament of the founder of that constitution, at that critical moment, and under those awful circumstances, electrified the House and galleries with an indescribable emotion of terrific joy and expectation. On rising to speak, he referred to the adjustment of 1782. The minister of Great Britain, he said, had come forward in two celebrated productions; he declared his intolerance of the parliamentary constitution of Ireland; that constitution, which he ordered the several viceroys to celebrate, in defence of which be recommended the French war, and to which he swore the yeomen, - that constitution he now declared to be a miserable imperfection, concurring with the men, whom he had executed for thinking the Irish parliament a grievance; differing from them in the remedy only; they proposing to substitute a republic, and he the yoke of the British parliament. They had seen him inveigh against their projects; let them hear him in defence of his own: he denied in the face of the two nations a public fact registered and recorded; he disclaimed the final adjustment, as being no more than an incipient train of negociation. That settlement consisted of several parts, every part a record, establishing on the whole two grand positions: first, the admission of Ireland’s claim to be legislated by no other parliament but
- that of Ireland: secondly, the finality imposed upon the1 two nations regarding all constitutional projects affecting each other. Finality was not only a part of the settlement, but one of its principal objects; finality was the principal object of England, as legislative independency was the object of Ireland.
- Having spoken very largely to the two points of regency and war, on which the Unionists rested their strongest arguments against the constitution of 1782, he thus continuedu 1 will put a question to my country. I will suppose her at the bar, and I will then ask, Will you fight for an Union as you would for a constitution ? Will you fight for those Lords and Commons, who, in the last century, took away your trade, and in the present, your constitution, as for that king, lords, and commons, who restored both? Well, the minister has destroyed this constitution. To destroy is easy. The edifices of the mind, like the fabrics of marble, require an age to build, but ask only minutes to precipitate; and, as the fall is of no time, so neither is it the effect of any strength. That constitution, which with more or less violence has been the inheritance of this country for six hundred years; that modus tenendi parliamentum, which lasted and out-lasted of Plantagenet the wars, of Tudor the violence, and of Stuart the systematic falsehood; even the bond and condition of our connexion, are now the objects of ministerial attack. The constitution which he destroys is one of the pillars of British empire; dear in its violation, dear in its recovery. Its restoration cost Ireland her noblest efforts; it was the habitation of her loyalty, as well as of her liberty, where she had hong up the sword of the volunteer; her temple of fame, as well as of freedom, where she had seated herself, as she vainly thought, in modest security and in a long repose. I have done with the pile which the minister batters, I come to the Babel which he builds; and, as he throws down without a principle, so does he construct without a foundation. This fabric be calls an Union; and to this his fabric there are
- two striking objections. First, it is no Union; it is not an identification of people, for it excludes the catholics: Secondly, it is a consolidation of the legislatnres; that is to say, it merges the Irish parliament, and incurs every objection to an Union, without obtaining the only object which an Union professes: it is an extinction of the constitution, and an exclusion of the people.”
“What was the language of the minister’s advocates to the catholic body ? ‘ You were before the Union, as three to one; you will be by the Union as one to four.9 Thus he founds their hopes of political power on the extinction of physical consequence, and makes the inanity of their body and the non-entity of their country the pillars of their future ambition. He afterwards observed, that the minister, by his first plan, as detailed by his advocates, not only excluded the catholics from parliament, but also deprived the protestants of a due representation in that assembly; that he struck off one half of the representa* lives of counties, and preserved the proportion of boroughs as two to one; thus dismissing for ever the questions of catholic emancipation and parliamentary refona: that, instead of reforming abuses in church and state, he wished to entail them on posterity; that, in lieu of proteatant ascendancy and catholic participation, he proposed to constitute borough ascendancy in perpetual abuse and dominion; that it was his aim to reform the British pee* liament by nearly sixty boroughs, and that of Ireland hy nearly five hundred and fifty-eight English and Scotch members, and thus by mutual misrepresentation frame an Imperial House of Commons, who would become the host of ministers, not the representatives of the people. “Of the predicament in which the new members would be plaoed, he said, never was there a situation, in which men would have so much temptation to act ill, and so little to act well. Subject to great expense and cpuse* quent distresses, having no support from the voice of an Irish public, no check, they would be in situation £ sprt of gentlemen of the empire, that is to say, gentlemen at
- large, unowned by one country, and unelected by the other, suspended between both, false to both, and belonging to neither. The sagacious British secretary of state had remarked, how great would be the advantage to the talents of Ireland, to have this opportunity in the British empire thus opened! that was what they dreaded: that the market of St. Stepben would be opened to the individual, and the talents of the country, like its property, drafted from the kingdom of Ireland to be sold in London. These men, from their situation (man was the child of situation), though their native honour might struggle, Would be adventurers of a most expensive kind, adventurers with pretensions, dressed and sold, as it were, in the shrouds and grave-clothes of the Irish parliament, and playing for hire their tricks on her tomb, the only repository the minister would allow to an Irish constitution; the images of degradation and the representatives of nothing.
- * He then noticed the bribes offered by Mr. Pitt. To the protestant church perpetual security was promised; but a measure that would annihilate the parliament by which that church was upholden, and disfranchise the people who supported that establishment, would rather tend, he said, to its disgrace and ruin. To the catholic clergy salaries were promised. Those who had been strongly accused of disloyalty were to be rewarded for imputed treasons against the king, if they would commit real treasons against the people. Salaries, he allowed, might reasonably he given to those sectaries for the exercise of religious duty; but he could not approve the grant of wages for political apostacy. According to this plan, the catholic religion would seem to disqualify its followers from receiving the blessings of the constitution, while their hostility to that constitution qualified them to receive a salary for the exercise of their religion, which would thu9 be at once punished by civil disability and encouraged by ecclesiastical provision i as good catholics they would be disqualified, and, as bad citizens, would be rewarded.
“A commutation of tithes formed another bribe. It had formerly been observed by some of the king’s ministers, in opposition to a proposal of that kind from Mr. Grattan, that it would tend to the overthrow of the church; but now, he said, the premier was not unwilling to overturn the church, if he could at the same time overturn the constitution.
- w Bribes were also offered to the mercantile body. Com-mercial benefits were holden out for political annihilation; and an abundance of capital was promised; butting a great part of the landed capital of the country would be taken away by the necessary operations of an Unio^ This rival being removed, commercial capital, it was supposed, would quickly take its place. But these and other promises of the minister would probably be found visionary. He goes on (said Mr. Grattan) asserting with great ease to himself, and without any obligation to fact, npon the subject. Icarian imagination is the region in which he delights to sport. Where he is to take away your par-liament, where he is to take away your first judicature, where he is to take away your money, where he is to increase your taxes, where he is to get an Irish tribute, there he is a plain direct matter-of-fact man; but where he is to pay you for all this, there he is poetic and prophetic; no longer a third-hand financier, but an inspired accountant Fancy gives him her wand; Amalthea takes him by the hand; Ceres is in his train. The English capitalist, he thinks, will settle his family in the midst of those Irish catholics, whom he does not think it safe to admit into parliament; as subjects, he thinks them dangerous; as a neighbouring multitude, safe. The English manufacturer will make this distinction: he will dread them as individuals, but will confide in them as a body, and settle his family and his property in the midst of them; he will therefore, the minister supposes, leave his mines, leave his machinery, leave his comforts, leave his habits, conquer his prejudices, and come over to Iceland to meet his taxes, and miss his constitution. The maau-
- facturers did not do this when the taxes of Ireland were few, or when there was no military government in Ireland: however, as prejudices against this country increase, he supposes that commercial confidence may increase likewise. There is no contradicting all this, because arguments which reason does not suggest reason cannot remove. Besides, the minister in all this does not argue, but foretel; now you cannot answer a prophet, you can only disbelieve him. The premier finds a great absentee draft: he gives you another; and, having secured to you two complaints, he engages to cure both. Among the principal causes of complaint, we may reckon another effect arising from the non-residence of the Irish landlords, whose presence on their own estates is necessary for the succour, as well as the improvement of their tenantry; that the peasants may not perish for want of medicines, of cordial, or of cure, which they can only find in the administration of the landlord, who civilizes them, and regulates them in the capacity of a magistrate, while he covers them and husbands them in that of a protector, improving not only them but himself by the exercise of his virtues, as well as by the dispensation of his property, drawing together the two orders of society, the rich and the poor, until each may administer to the other, and civilize the one by giving, and the other by receiving; so that aristocracy and democracy may have a head and a body; so that the rich may bring on the poor, and the poor may support the rich; and both contributing to the strength, order, and beauty of the state, may form that pillar of society where all below is strength, and all above is grace. How does the minister’s plan accomplish this ? He withdraws the landed gentlemen, and then improves Irish manners by English factors. The minister proposes to you to give op the ancient inheritance of your country, to proclaim an utter and blank incapacity to make laws for your own people, and to register this proclamation in an act, which inflicts on this ancient nation an eternal disability; and be accompanies these monstrous proposals
- 970 by undisguised terror and unqualified bribery; and this he calls no attack on the honour and dignity of the kingdom* The thing which he proposes to buy is what cannot be sold - liberty* For it he has nothing to give. Every thing of value which you possess you obtained under a free constitution: if you resign this, you must not only be slaves, but idiots. His propositions are built upon nothing but your dishonour. He tells you (it is hii maid argument) that you are unfit to exercise a free constitn* tion; and he affects to prove it by the ex peri menu Jacobinism grows, he says, out of the very state and con-dition of Ireland. I have heard of parliament impeaching ministers; but here is a minister impeaching parliamenL He does more; he impeaches the parliamentary constilbv tion itself. The abuses in that constitution he has protected; it is only its existence that he destroys: and oil what ground? Your exports since your emancipation; under that constitution, aud in a great measure by it, bate been nearly doubled; commercially, therefore; it has worked well. Your concord with England since the emancipation, as far as it relates to parliament, on tbs subject of war, has been not only improved, but has been productive; imperially, therefore, it has worked well. To what then does the minister in fact object ? that yon have supported him, that you have concurred in his system i therefore he proposes to the people to abolish the pat* liament, and to continue the minister. He does more; he proposes to you to substitute the British parliament in your place, to destroy the body that restored your liberties, and restore that body which destroyed them. Against such a proposition, were I expiring on the floor, I should beg to utter my last breath, and to record my dying tes-timony.”
- Mr. Corry replied at large to Mr. Grattan. On the division about ten o’clock in the morning, ninety-six voted for the amendment, one hundred and thirty-eight against it. This majority of forty-twe exceeded the warmest expectations of government; and the
- viceroy hoped to increase it by allowing an interval of some weeks to pass! before he sent to either house a copy of the resolutions of the parliament of Great Britain. On the 15th of February following, the question of the Union was again brought forward, which Mr. Grattan opposed with great energy, and concluded his speech with the fellowing brilliant peroration: -
“But if this monster of political innovation is to prove more than the chimera of a mad minister rioting in political iniquity - away, with the Castle at your head, to the grave of a Cbarlemont, the father of the Irish volunteers, and rioting over that sacred dost, exult in your completed task, and enjoy all its consequent honours. Nor yet will the memory of those who opposed you wholly die away - the gratitude of the future men of Ireland will point to their tombs and say to their children, ‘ here lie the bones of those honest men, who, when a venal and corrupt parliament attacked that constitution which they fought for and acquired, exerted every nerve to maintain, to defend, and to secure it? - This is an honour which the king cannot confer upoo his slaves - it is an honour which the crown never gave the king.”
- The general principles of the Union having been amply discussed in both Houses, it was moved on the 14th of February, in the Commoos, that a general committee should proceed to the consideration of the particular terms of the Union, which night was fixed for the 17th, when a warm debate took place, in the course of which the chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Corry, retraced his old ground of argument, which he interspersed with much personal acrimony and abuse, directed particularly to Mr. Grattan, who vindicated himself in strong language, and retorted upon his opponent the insinuations of unconstitutional and treasonable conduct. Mr. Corry replied with redoubled vehemence; and Mr. Grattan rqjoioed with increased power of severity.
“My guilt or innocence have little to de with the
- question here. - I rose with the rising fortunes of my country - I am willing to die with her expiring liberties. To the voice of the people I will bow, but never shall I submit to the calumnies of an individual hired to betray them and slander me. The indisposition of my body has left me perhaps no means but that of lying down with fallen Ireland, and recording upoo her tomb my dying testimony against the flagitious corruption that has murdered her independence. The right honourable gentleman has said that this was not my place - that instead of having a voice in the councils of ray country, I should now stand a cul-prit at her bar - at the bar of a court of criminal judicature to answer for my treasons. The Irish people have not so read my history - but let that pass - if I am what he has said 1 am, the people are not therefore to forfeit tbeir constitution. In point of argument, therefore, the attack is bad - in point of taste or feeling, if he bad either, it is worse - in point of fact it is false, utterly and absolutely false - as rancorous a falsehood as the most malignant motives could suggest to the prompt sympathy of a shameless and a venal defence. The right honourable gentleman has suggested examples which I should have shunned, and examples which 1 should have followed. I shall never follow his, and I have ever avoided it. I shall never be ambitious to purchase public scorn by private infamy - the lighter characters of the model have as little chance of weaning me from the habits of a life spent, if not exhausted, io the cause of my native tend. Am I to renounce those habits now for ever, and at the beck of whom ? I should rather say of what - half a minister - half a monkey - a ’prentice politician, and a master coxcomb. He bas told you that what he said of me here, he would say any where. I believe he would say thus of me in any place where he thought himself safe in saying iL - Nothing can limit his calumnies but his fears - in perifoment he has calumniated me to-night, in the king’s courts he would calumniate me to-morrow, but bad he -said or l
- dared to insinuate one half as much elsewhere, the indignant spirit of an honest man would have answered the vile and venal slanderer with - a blow.”
- The House saw the inevitable consequences. The Speaker sent for Mr. Grattan into his chamber, and pressed his interposition for an amicable adjustment, which Mr. Grattan positively refused, saying, he saw, and bad been some time aware of a set made at him, to putol him off on that question; therefore it was as well the experiment were tried then as at any other time. Both parties bad instantly left the House upon Mr. Grattan’s finishing his philippic. Matters having been speedily adjusted by the seconds, they proceeded in hackney coaches to a field on the Ball’s Bridge road, which they reached in the twilight. It was agreed they should level and fire at their own option. The first shot on both sides did no mischief; Mr. Grattan’s passed through Mr. Corry’s coat. On the second level there was much science and pistol play, and it was settled, upon the honour of the parties, that both should fire together. Mr. Corry missed his aim, and Mr. Grattan’s ball hit his antagonist on the knuckle of his left hand, which be had extended across his breast to protect his right side, and taking a direction along his wrist, did no other injury.
- The populace, notwithstanding the quickness and secrecy with which the business was conducted, followed the parties to the ground; and there was reason to fear, had Mr. Grattan fallen, that his antagonist would have been sacrificed on the spot to the resentment of the populace, so enthusiastically were they devoted to their favorite. The issue of this affair reached the House of Commons whilst they were still in debate at half past eight in the morning. Before Mr. Grattan went to the ground,.a most affecting and truly Roman meeting took place between him and Mrs. Grattan.
- On the 26th of May, Mr. Grattan proposed a delay to the 1st of August, that it might be more fully examined, and that more correct documents might be procured, as VOL. II. T
- 274 foundations of the financial and commercial articles. He again discussed the principle of the measure. “It was a breach of a solemn covenant, on whose basis the separate^ reciprocal, and conjoint power of the countries relied; an innovation promoted by the influence of martial law; an unauthorised assumption of a competency to destroy the independence of the realm; an unjustifiable attempt to injure the prosperity of the country. The bill would be^ •quoad the constitution, equivalent to a murder, and, yarad the government, to a separation. If it should be carried into effect, he foretold its want of permanence, and inti-mated his apprehensions, that popular discontent, perhaps dangerous commotions, might result from its enforcement.”
- Mr. Grattan’s motion was supported by eighty-seven, and negatived by one hundred and twenty-four. The Union bill passed. The independence of Ireland, as a nation, was destroyed; and Grattan, happy as man could be in domestic life, retired to the comforts of home. But the voice of his suffering countrymen was heard even in his retirement, and he was again forced into public life, to advocate their claims. In 1805, he was elected member of the Imperial parliament for Malden, and, in the succeeding year, for the city of Dublin, which be represented during the remainder of his life. His exertions in the British senate were principally confined to the subject which had occupied so much of his talents and his time^ the oppressions of the catholics. Many of his countrymen, when in England, seemed to sink below their former rank; but Mr. Grattan displayed all that force of eloquence and splendour of thought and diction, which had so often been hailed by his countrymen in their own capital. The genius of Grattan lived and bloomed even when torn from the beloved spot which gave -it birth. His speeches on the catholic question have never been excelled. On other subjects be adopted a moderation and caution, differing much from the patriot and reformer who had won back the liberties of his county, and few were
- there among his friends, who. were not astonished at his speech in 18)5, in which he whetted the sword of European despotism against the independence of France; thus countenancing a principle, in his glorious opposition to which his earliest laurels had been won, - foreign interference in domestic policy. In the great question, however, of catholic emancipation, he was always consistent. It was the constant theme of his tongue, the chief feeling of his heart. He lived to advocate its justice, - he died to confirm its truth. In the spring of 1820, he felt his dissolution approaching, and he knew that a journey to England would accelerate it; but, as the happiness of his country had been the great purpose of his life, he was determined that its interests should not suffer by his death. He embarked with his family for London, for the purpose of devoting his last breath in the British parliament to the great cause of catholic emancipation. It was fated otherwise. His enfeebled frame was not again permitted to give public utterance to the aspirations of his fervent soul. He expired at his house in Baker-street, on Sunday night, May 14th, 1820.
- SIR THOMAS GRAVES, K.B.
- A SKILFUL and fearless seaman, was the son of a clergyman, who settled in the North of Ireland, where he had an exceeding large family. The subject of our memoir left his father at a very early period of life, and put himself under the protection of his uncle, Admiral Samuel Graves, with whom he served for some time as a midshipman, on board .his majesty’s ships Scorpion, Duke, and Venus. After the peace of 1768, he was placed under the care of. his relation Lord Graves, who then commanded the Antelope, and was Governor of Newfoundland. In the year 1765, he accompanied him to the coast of Africa, where he was promoted to a lieutenancy on board the Shannon. After the Shannon was paid off* he was selected by Lord Mulgrave to be one of his lieutenants on board the Racehorse, in the expedition towards the North Pole, where, during the whole of that perilous voyage, he displayed uncommon resolution and firmness. It was upon this voyage that Lord Mulgrave interposed, and prevented Mr. Graves and another officer, who was of a similar disposition to himself, from fighting a duel with muskets and fixed bayonets, across the carcass of a white bear, which had just been killed, and which each party disputed as their prize. Shortly after Mr. Graves returned from this voyage, he was appointed to the command of a small schooner off Boston, in New England. This schooner was soon afterwards burnt by General Putnam, at Winnisimmet Ferry, after a long and brave resistance. After remaining on the American station for some time, he was appointed to the command of the Savage sloop, in the West Indies, where he was actively employed. After some time spent in the West Indies, he was ordered in the Savage to New York, with dispatches for Admiral Arbuthnot, at the time that the French fleet under M. Ternay arrived on that coast. The French admiral, notwithstanding the superiority of his force, was apprehensive of meeting with the British squadron, and took refuge in Rhode Island. Of this place Mr. Graves had gained a perfect knowledge from his former services in America, and therefore he offered his assistance to the admiral to pilot in the leading ship of his squadron to the attack of the French fleet, assuring him that be would engage to run the French admiral on board. On the 5th of March, 1781, Mr. Graves was appointed post-captain to the Bedford, in which ship he served in the action with Count de Grasse, off the Chesapeak. The Bedford also bore a distinguished part in the encounter with Count de Grasse, on January 25th, 1782, in Basse Terre Road, St. Christopher’s. In the autumn of 1782, Captain Graves took the command of the Magicienne frigate, and was employed in attending convoys, and on the 2nd of January, 1783, while on his passage with a convoy to the West Indies, he fell in with the SyHJle
- French frigate, and another French ship of war, with whom he had a most desperate engagement. On the’ termination of the American war, the services of Captain Graves being no longer wanted, be of course retired for a time from his profession. In October 1800, he was appointed tocommand the Cumberland, of seventy- four ’guns, and joined the Western squadron under Earl St. Vincent. On the promotion which took place on the 1st of January, 1801, our hero was raised to the rank of rear-admiral of the white; and in March he hoisted his flag on board the Polyphemus, of sixty-four guns, with orders to put himself under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, destined for the Baltic. He soon after shifted* his flag into the Defiance, of seventy-four guns, in which ship, on the 2nd of April, he had the honour to be second in command to Lord Nelson, in the attack on the Danish line off Copenhagen. As the Defiance was in the hottest of the engagement, her loss in killed and wounded was very considerable. The whole fleet bore testimony to the’ skill and bravery of the rear-admiral on this memorable day; and Lord Nelson, io his public letter to the Commander-in-chief, makes use of the following expression: - * “It is my duty to state to you the high and distinguished merit and gallantry of Rear-Admiral Graves.”
- The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to our hero for his services on the 2nd of April, and soon afterwards his majesty was pleased to confer on him the most honourable Order of the Bath. The ceremony of investiture took place on board the St. George, in Kioge Bay, near the scene of action, and Lord Nelson, by particular command of his majesty, represented the sovereign on the occasion. We cannot probably close our account of this meritorious officer, with more appropriate language, than by subjoining the speech which was made by Lord Nelson, on the above mentioned occasion: -
- w Sir Thomas Graves,” said the gallant hero of the Nile, “having fulfilled the commands of his majesty, in investing you with the ensigns of the most honourable
- and Military Order of the Bath, I cannot bnt express how much I feel gratified that it should have fallen to my lot to be directed to confer this just and merited honour, and special mark of royal favour upon you; for I cannot but reflect, that I was an eye-witness of your high merit and distinguished gallantry on the memorable 2nd of April, and for which you are now so honourably rewarded.
“I hope that these honours conferred upon you will prove to the officers in the service, that a strict perseverance in the pursuit of glorious actions, and the imitation of your brave and laudable conduct, will ever ensure them the favours and rewards of our most gracious sovereign, and the thanks and gratitude of our country.”
- Sir Thomas Graves died March 29th, 1814, at his seat, Woodbine-cottage, near Honiton, Devon.
- CAPTAIN JOHN GRAYDON,
- WAS a brave and fearless soldier in his majesty’s 88th regiment of foot. He was the third son of the late Robert Graydon, Esq. of Killeshee, in the county of Kildare, and on his entrance into the army, served with much credit in the West Indies. In the hopeless attack on Buenos Ayres, while sharing the fate of the brave but unfortunate grenadiers of the 88th regiment, he was carried, severely wounded, from the mouths of the enemy’s guns. In the glorious and sanguinary conflict of Talavera this gallant young officer was among the first who fell, displaying to his heroic companions an animating example of that enthusiastic bravery for which he was ever conspicuous.
- He had scarcely attained his twenty-fourth year, and was equally distinguished as a Christian, a hero, and a friend.
- While writing this article, we have to regret the want of information, relative to those warriors who fell covered with wounds and glory, at the head of their respective
- regiments, daring the protracted combat in the Peninsula; - those who “fell in the blaze of their fame,” and whose names we would wish to hand down to posterity as imperishable.
- VALENTINE GREATREAKS*
- AN enthusiast of a peculiar cast, whose supposed cures- caused mych speculation among the learned, and were witnessed by the most celebrated and scientific men,, among whom was the Hon. Robert Boyle, was born on February 14th, l6£8, at Affane, in the county of Waterford, where his father, William Greatreaks, Esq. was possessed of a landed estate, which afterwards descended to his son. His mother was the daughter of Sir Edward Harris, one of the justices of the King’s Bench in Ireland. He was educated in the protestant profession, at the free school of Lismore, till the age of thirteen, when his friends intended to remove him to Trinity College, Dublin, for the purpose of finishing his education. This, however, was prevented by the commencement of the Great Rebellion, which induced his mother to retire into England taking Valentine and her other children with her. Here they resided for some time with his great uncle, Mr. Edmund Harris; and on his death, his mother, anxious for her son’s improvement in literature, committed him to the charge of Mr. John Daniel Getrius, minister of Stoke Gabriel, in Devonshire, with whom he spent several years in furthering his acquaintance with the classics and divinity.
- After a residence of five or six years in England he returned to his native country, which he found in so wretched a state, that he retired to the castle of Caperquin; u where I spent,” says he, “a year’s time in contemplation, and saw so much of the madness and wickedness of the world, that my life became a burden to me, and my soul, was as weary of this habitation of clay, as ever the galley-slave was of the oar; which brought my
2b0 life even to the threshold of death, so that my legs had scarcely strength enough to carry my enfeebled body about.” It was probably during this melancholy seclusion, that he contracted that enthusiasm which forms the prominent feature of his life, and which never quitted him, though repressed in some measure by the active and bustling scenes which soon after engaged his attention for a few years. In 1649, he became a lieutenant in the regiment of Lord Broghill, afterwards Earl of Orrery, which was then acting, by parliamentary commission, against the rebels in Munster; and in 1656, when the greater part of the army was disbanded, he retired to his estate at Affane, and was soon after appointed clerk of the peace for the county of Cork, register for transplantation, and justice of the peace.
- On the king’s restoration, these situations were, however, all taken from him; and his mind being disturbed by this disappointment, and the want of any regular and useful occupation, he felt an internal impulse which persuaded him that the gift of curing diseases by stroking the hand over the parts affected was imparted to him. His fame soon spread to so great an extent round the country, that Colonel Phaire, of Cahirmony, in the county of Cork, being afflicted with an ague, applied to him for relief, which he afforded him in his usual way. Transported with his success, he now began to assume to himself great merit, and he is reported to have mentioned the Holy Ghost with irreverent presumption, as his assistant. In consequence of this, he was cited to the bishop’s court at Lismore, where not producing a proper license for practising, he was forbidden in future to pursue his course. This censure and prohibition, however, he disregarded, and still continued his former practice till January 1664-5, when he passed over into England at the reqnest of the Earl of Orrery, for the purpose of curing the lady of Viscount Conway, of Ragley, in Warwickshire, who had for many years laboured under a violent head ache* In this, however, lie failed, though he resided at Ragley three
- or four weeks, during which time he performed many cores on the people in that neighbourhood.
- It was during his residence at Ragley that he obtained the notice of the learned Mr. Henry Stubbe, who was then practising physic at Stratford-upon-Avon, and was witness to several of his cures. In consequence of this he published “The Miraculous Conformist; or, an Account of several Marvellous Cures performed by the Stroking of the Hands of Mr. Valentine Greatreaks, with a Physical Discourse thereupon;; in a Letter to the Hon. Robert Boyle, Esq. with a Letter relating to some other of his miraculous Cures, attested by E. Foxcroft, A. M. and Fellow of King’s College, in Cambridge.” This is dated at Stratford-upon-Avon, February 18tb, 1665-6.
- The reputation which was thus acquired by Greatreaks, extended to the court, and the king, at the recommendation of the Royal Society, invited him to London, where he performed cures at Whitehall before his majesty. Failing, however, in some instances to perform the miracles which were expected from bim, particularly in the case of a Mr. Cresset, in Charter-house-square, he was censured as an impostor and cheat by Mr. David Lloyd, chaplain to the Charter-house, in h pamphlet, entitled, “Wonders no Miracles; or, Mr. Valentine Greatreak’s Gift of Healing examined.” In answer to this, Greatreaks published for the purpose of vindicating his character, “A brief Account of Mr. Valentine Greatreaks, and divers strange Cures by him lately performed; in a Letter to the Hon. Robert Boyle, Esq.” To this are annexed various testimonials signed by, among others, Robert Boyle himself, Dr. William Denton, Colonel George Weldon, Aiderman William Knight, Sir Charles Doe, Sir Abraham Cullen, Dr. John Wilkins, afterwards Bishop of Chester, Dr. Benjamin Whichcot (a patient), and Dr. Simon Patrick, afterwards Bishop of Ely. .
- Shortly after this, his fame began to decline, and we have no account of his future proceedings. Mr.
- Harris informs ns, that he saw him in Dublin about 1681, but cannot say how long he lived after that time*
- It has been too commonly the practice to4 regard Great- reales, as a designing impostor; and it is conjectured that St. Evremond intended his novel, “The Irish Prophet,” in ridicule of him and of the people who submitted their diseases to his touch. This opinton, however, is certainly contradicted by the fact of his having distributed the whole of his income in supplying with necessaries those who applied to him for advice; which clearly evinces that be was rather a dupe than a designer. Nor can we altogether impute to imagination the whole of the cures performed by him, and of which, from the nature of the testimonials, there cannot exist the smallest doubt. Hit plan seems seems to have consisted entirely in gentle and long continued friction with the hand, a practice which is now known to be attended with the most salutary and beneficial effects in scrofulous tumours, contractions in the joints, and chronic rheumatism. And it is also wdl known, that in some others of the cases which be treated, the impression on the mind is alone sufficient to cure the complaint, particularly in epilepsy; of the influence of the mind over which, many curious and satisfactory instances might be related.
- GEORGE GREGORY, D.D.
- A DIVINE, and man of science, was the son of a dogy- man who had been educated at Trinity College, Dahlia, and held the rectory of Edermine, and a prebend in the cathedral church of Ferns, in the county of Wexford. His father’s family was originally from Scotland, and his mother was a native of Lancashire. Dr. Gregory was bora April 14th, 1754, and his father dying in 1766, when be was only twelve years of age, his mother returned Mahar native country, and settled in Liverpool. Anxtons to confer on her son the benefits of the best education, she
- 283 put him under the care of an eminent schoolmaster, of the name of Holden, from whose tuition he acquired a knowledge of the classics, and made considerable profi-ciency in the mathematics. His mother had intended him for trade; but his own ardent love of literature and science, leading him to prefer entering into the church, be removed to Edinburgh, and for two years attended the lectures of the celebrated professors of that university. The mathematical and physical sciences were his favourite pursuits. After leaving Edinburgh, be entered, in 1776, into holy orders, and discharged the duties of curate in Liverpool with fidelity and reputation. His humanity prompted him to oppose the slave trade, in which too many in that city were engaged; and, in a periodical work published there, he exposed in several essays the impolicy and inhumanity of this traffic in human blood. In 1789, be came to London, and obtained the curacy of St. Giles, Cripplegate, where his attention to his doty, and his eminent talents, rendered him extremely popular: in consequence of which, in 1785, after he had resigned his curacy, he was unanimously elected by the parishioners their morning lecturer. He at the same time officiated at St. Botolpb’8, delivered lectures at the Asylum, and weekly lectures at St. Antholin’s. In 1789, he was candidate for the office of chaplain to the Asylum, which from the too great confidence of his friends, he lost by one vote. By the Bishop of London he was presented to a small prebend in St. Paul’s, which he resigned on obtaining from his lordship, the rectory of Stapleford^ in Hertfordshire. In 1804, by the interest of Mr. Addington, now Lord Sid- mouth, he was presented with the valuable living of West Ham, in Essex.
- Dr. Gregory’s education had been conducted without any fixed plan; but his capacious mind and thirst of knowledge enabled him to acquire vast stores of information on all subjects to which he directed his attention: and his works display a minute and profound acquaintance with the arts and sciences, commerce^ manufactures, and
- political institutions. His first publication was a volume of “Essays, Historical and Moral/’ in 1785, but which he did not acknowledge until the second edition in 1788. He had before that time, in 1782, suggested to Mr. Kearsley of Fleet-street, a series of extracts from eminent authors, which were published under the name of “Beauties/9 and had an extensive sale. In 1787, he favoured the public with a translation of “Lowth’s Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews/’ 2 vols. 8vo. In the following year, be published a volume of “Church History,9* of which a second appeared in 1795. He was a contributor to the Biographia Britannia, in which is his "Life of Thomas Chatterton, with Criticisms on his Genius and Writings, and a concise View of the Controversy concerning Row- ley’s Poems.” - This work was first published separately in one volume 8vo. in 1789* In 1795, he revised an edition of Hawkesworth’s Telemachus, with a new Life of Fenelon, in two vols. 4to. and also published in the - mg year a continuation of Hume’s History of England, 8vo. In 1796, appeared in 3 vols. 8vo. his “Economy of Nature, illustrated and explained on the Principles of Modern Philosophya scientific work, rich in information conveyed in a most pleasing manner. Such was its success with the public, that it had reached the third edition in 1804. Dr. Gregory contributed also to the useful interests of education by his “Lessons, Astronomical and Philosophical, for the Instruction of British Youth/ in 1797, lfimo. and by his “Elements of Polite Education, carefully selected from the Letters of Lord Chesterfield to his Son,” 1801,12mo. During his retreat from the metro- polis, he found leisure to superintend the progress of a “Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,” which was published in 1806, in two vols, 4to. It is a work in which much information is conveyed in a narrow compass, and is well suited to those who cannot conveniently obtain any of our large Encyclopaedias of science. After his death, were published “Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy/’ and a “Series of Letters to his Son.” In addition
- to these extensive and valuable literary labours, Dr. Gregory contributed to various other works, and was for several years conductor of the “New Annual Register.”
- In his youth he wrote some verses; and a’tragedy, entitled, the “Siege of Jerusalem,” has been attributed to him.
- Dr. Gregory was no less amiable in private life, than eminent as a literary character. He was for many years an active and zealous friend of the Royal Humane Society, and at their anniversary in 1797, be preached a sermon on the prevention of suicide. He was eminently useful as a member of the committees, as his knowledge of meehanics fully qualified him to decide on the merits of the different inventions presented to the society, for preserving the lives of shipwrecked seamen. He was elected F. S. A. in 1785. In 1789, he formed a matrimonial union with Miss Nunnes. He died, after a short illness, on the evening of March 12th, 1808, and was buried in the parochial church of West Ham.
- CONSTANTIA GRIERSON.
- THAT the most splendid talents united with the most intense application, is not confined either to sex or sphere of life, is fully evinced by the subject of the present memoir.
- This prodigy of early learning and acquirements (whose maiden name is no where mentioned) was bom in the county of Kilkenny, of parents poor and illiterate. Nothing is recorded of her until her eighteenth year, when we are told by Mrs. Pilkington, that she was brought to her father to be instructed in midwifery, and that then she was a perfect mistress of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French languages, and was far advanced in the study of the mathematics. Mr. Pilkington having inquired of her where she gained this prodigious knowledge, she modestly replied, that when she could spare time from her needlework, to which she was closely kept by her mother, she
- had received some little instruction from the minister of the parish. She wrote elegantly (says Mrs. P.) both in verse and prose; but the turn of her mind was chiefly to philosophical or divine subjects; nor was her piety inferior to her learning. The most delightful hours, this lady declares that she had ever passed, were in the society and conversation of this “female philosopher." My father, adds she, readily consented to accept of Constantia as a pupil, and gave her a general invitation to his table, by which means we were rarely asunder. Whether it was owing to her own design or to the envy of those who survived her, I know not, but of her various and beautiful writings, I have never seen any published, excepting one poem of her’s in the works of Mrs. Barber. Her turn, it is true, was principally to philosophical or religious subjects, which might not be agreeable to the present taste; yet could her heavenly mind descend from its sublimest heights to the easy and epistolary style, and suit itself to my then gay disposition.
- Mrs. Barber likewise gives her testimony to the merit of Constantia, of whom she declares, “that she was not only happy in a fine imagination, a great memory, an excellent understanding, and an exact judgment, but had all these crowned by virtue and piety. She was too learned to be vain, too wise to be conceited, and too clearsighted to be irreligious. As her learning and abilities raised her above her own sex, so they left her no room to envy any, on the contrary, her delight was to see others excel. She was always ready to direct and advise those who applied to her, and was herself willing to be advised.
- So little did she value herself upon her uncommon excellencies, that she has often recalled to my mind a fine reflection of a French author, * That great geniuses should be superior to their own abilities? n
- Constantia married a Mr. George Grierson, a printer in Dublin, for whom Lord Carteret, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, obtained a patent appointing him printer to the King, in which, to distinguish and reward the merit of his wife, her life was inserted.
- She died in 1733, at the premature age of twenty-seven, admired and respected as an excellent scholar in Greek and Roman literature, in history, theology, philosophy, and mathematics. Her dedication of the Dublin edition of Tacitus to Lord Carteret, affords a convincing proof of her knowledge in the Latin tongue; and by that of Terence to his son, to whom she wrote a Greek epigram. Dr. Harwood esteems her Tacitus one of the best edited books ever published. She wrote many fine poems in English, but esteemed them so slightly, that very few copies of them were to be found after her decease. What makes her character the more remarkable is, that she rose to this extraordinary eminence entirely by the force of natural genius and uninterrupted application. As a daughter, a wife, and a friend, her conduct was amiable and exemplary; and, had she been blessed with the advantages of health and longer life, there is every reason to believe, she would have made a more distinguished figure in the learned world than any woman who had preceded her.
- Such are all the facts that are left to posterity of this high-gifted female; and we cannot help regretting, that while so many pains are taken to preserve memorials the most minute of individuals whose lives have glided away in a succession of miserable follies, so little has been recorded of a woman, whose mind was a casket richly stored with the gems of ancient and modern learning.
- 288
- NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW,
- WAS a native of the country he so essentially served by first establishing the cotton manufacture in the North of Ireland. He not only, by his indefatigable perseverance, brought its several branches to a degree of perfection and excellence formerly unknown in that realm; but his fine taste and exalted genius were strikingly displayed in every part of his extended manufacture, and in the numerous improvements he made.
- For the few years prior to his decease, in which he acted as a magistrate, he was eminently useful in tMkt character in his neighbourhood; and he might also be termed with great justice, the patron of industry and the unwearied benefactor of the indigent and distressed. The loss of an amiable wife made an impression on his heart that time could not cure, and which impaired his health, and hastened his dissolution, which occurred in 1804, at Whitehouse, near Belfast, being then in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
- NATHANIEL GROGAN,
- WAS a teacher of drawing in Cork, where he died about the year 1807. He was a pupil of Butts, and, like him, painted figures and landscape. Grogan’s pictures are coloured in the worst manner of the Flemish school, but nevertheless possess considerable merit and humour in the composition.
- He published a series of views of the neighbourhood of Cork in aqua tinta, engraved by himself; and also the Country Schoolmaster, a plate of considerable size, which has been much admired. The productions of Grogan’s pencil are said to be chiefly in the possession of Lord Ennismore and Mr. John Barrett of Cork. The breaking up of an Irish Fair, and an Irish Wake, are, we believe^ his most esteemed performances.
- WILLIAM HALLIDAY,
- |£MJ#ENT for his profound knowledge of the Irish language, was the son of a respectable apothecary and druggist in Dublin, in which city he was born. He was articled to an attorney, and when out of his apprenticeship, was patronised by Lord Norbury, and was appointed deputy filazer to the Court of Common Pleas. To a fine taste for the arts he added a critical knowledge of the classics and modem languages; but that in which he was most deeply versed was the Irish, with which, until the latter years of his life, he had been wholly unacquainted. By close application to the vellum MSS. assisted by imperfect Irish glossaries, he attained so extraordinary a facility in understanding the most ancient writings of the country, as surprised those whose native tongue it was from their infancy; a circumstance which should operate as an incentive to the study of a language by no means difficult to acquire, and to which recent elementary works afford great facilities.
- He commenced a translation of Keating’s History of Ireland, of which one volume was published; but his premature death, at the age of twenty-four, deprived the lovers of Irish literature of the labours of this promising young man and accomplished scholar.
- Three months prior to his decease (which occurred on the 26th of October, 1812) be had married an amiable young lady, who has erected a monument to his memory in Tawney church, Dundrum, near Dublin.
- He also composed an Irish grammar, of the duodecimo size, containing many curious observations on the declen** sions and prosody of the Irish language, highly indicative of the author’s genius and taste.
- ANTHONY, COUNT HAMILTON,
- WA s descended from a younger branch of the Dukes of Hamilton, and was born in Ireland about 1646. His VOL. II. u
- mother was sister to the Great Duke of Ormond, viceroy of that kingdom. The troubles in which his country was involved, occasioned the removal of his family to France while he was an infant, and he was educated in the religion and language of that country. During the reign of Charles the Second he made several visits to England; but his religion, to which he adhered stedfastly, prevented him from obtaining any public employment there. His sister; afterwards married to Philibert, Count of Grammont, was one of the ornaments of that gay court, and it is said that a scene, not unlike that in the “Mariage Forc6,” took place between the brother and the lover, when the latter was on his way to quit the kingdom without fulfilling his engagement. At the accession of James the Second, he was presented with a regiment of infantry in Ireland,and raised to the important post of governor of Limerick; but, upon the ruin of that monarch’s affairs, the Count thought it prudent to accompany him back to France, where he ended his days, dying at St. Germains in 1720, at the advanced age of seventy-four.
- The works of Count Hamilton, in the French language, were printed collectively in six volumes limo, in 1749. They consist chiefly of poems, many of which possess all the ease and delicacy of the best French poets; also “Fairy Tales,” which were intended as a refined piece of ridicule on the then prevailing passion for the marvellous; and his celebrated “Memoirs of Count Grammont,* which will always excite curiosity, as giving a striking and faithful detail of the dissolute manners of the court of Charles the Second. “This,” says Voltaire,“is of all books, that in which the most slender ground-work is set off with the gayest, and most lively and agreeable style.” “The hero, his brother-in-law, (adds one of his biographers,) is little more than a genteel sharper, and the adventures which befal him are the common vices of such a character; but they are related with irresistible pleasantry and all the grace of fashionable conversation.” The work is filled with portraits and anecdotes of the most celebrated per*
•onag
- HUGH HAMILTON,
- BISHOP OF OSSORY, and a mathematician of some eminence, was born in the county of Dublin, on the 26th of March, 1729. He received his education in Trinity College; and, in 1751, obtained a fellowship. In 1758, he published his treatise on Conic Sections; and in 1759 was elected Erasmus Smith’s professor of natural philosophy. In 1764, he resigned his fellowship, having accepted a college living; and, in 1767, obtained the living of St. Anne’s, Dublin, which in the following year he resigned, at the proposal of the primate Robinson, for the deanery of Armagh. In 1772, he married an Irish lady of good family, of the name of Wood. In 1796, he was consecrated Bishop of Clonfert, having been recommended to that dignity without his solicitation or knowledge; and, io 1799, was removed to the see of Ossory, where he continued till his death, which happened December 1, 1805. Dr. Hamilton’s works were collected and published by his son in 1809, in two volumes 8vo,
- HUGH HAMILTON,
- AN artist of some eminence, was born in Dublin about the year 1734. He studied the elements of his art at the Academy House in Grafton-street; and to his ingenuity we are indebted for the invention of that species of portrait painting which is a mixture of crayons and chalks, and in which he so much excelled, that his likenesses were held in high estimation.
- He pursued his art with increased success in England,
- where he had the honour of having the King, Queen, and several of the royal family, to sit to him. From England he proceeded to Italy, where he resided twelve yean; and while pursuing his studies from the models of excellence in that country, exchanged his crayons for the palette and pencil. His portraits in oil were not less distinguished for characteristic likeness, knowledge of half-tint and good drawing, than his former productions in crayons: and his efforts in historic painting, prove how much be would have excelled, had his genius taken an earlier direction in that line. A Cupid and Psyche, in the possession of Lord Cbarleville; and a fine sketch of Prometheus snatching fire from the car of Apollo, are strong evidences of his talents in the higher walks of art.
- Hugh Hamilton died in Dublin in 1806.
- WILLIAM HAMILTON,
- AN eminent divine and naturalist, was a native of the county of Antrim. He received his education at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took the degree of A. M. and was afterwards elected to a fellowship. He had always been addicted to the study of natural philosophy and geology, and the leisure of a college retirement enabled him to resume those pursuits with great application and success. His “Letters on the Coast of the County of Antrim/* very early attracted the notice of philosophers. It contains an ingenious and masterly review of the opinions concerning the origin and productions of the basaltic strata; and although his own theory on the subject may be equally unfounded with those which he com-bats, yet his observations will be found useful as pointing out the defects of the descriptions and engravings of the Giant’s Causeway, which had been previously published. His topographical notices are very few and scanty; but bit account of the mineralogy of the district, is evidently written by a man who had devoted much time to the study. This work was very popular on the Continent, and introduced its author to the correspondence of several of the most eminent philosophers, and to the acquaintance of almost every foreigner of science who visited Ireland. In 1788, he published “An Account of Experiments for determining the Temperature of the Earth’s Surface in Ireland,” which was printed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. About the year 1790, he was appointed by the University rector of Fanet, ip the county of Donegal, where the variety and extent of his professional occupations, unavoidably interrupted his philosophical studies. He, however, found leisure for the composition and publication of “Letters on the French Revolution,” written principally with the benevolent intention of informing the minds of the middle and lower ranks of his countrymen in the North, on a subject which had agitated them to an alarming degree.
- A residence of seven years at his rectory, had secured to him the respect and confidence of a most extensive and populous tract of country, in which he was the only resident magistrate and incumbent. In both these capacities, his attention had been uniformly directed to the welfare, good order, and improvement of that remote and little frequented district. His efforts had been singularly successful. The country advanced rapidly in industry and prosperity; and, while the other parts of the North were in a state of disturbance, long remained tranquil. At length the contagion unhappily reached his neighbourhood, and his active measures and personal exertions had succeeded in giving a check to its progress, when, on March 2nd, 1797, on his return from Raphoe, where he had spent the preceding night at the Bishop’s, he was murdered. The roughness of the weather had caused some delay at the ferry over Lough Swilly, which induced him to take the opportunity of calling on his friend Dr. Waller, of Sharon, who resided about a mile from that place, where he was unfortunately prevailed on to remain all night. About nine in the evening, the house was beset by a number of armed men, who, after firing several shots through the window of the room in which they were.
- Bitting, and mortally wounding Mrs. Waller, threatened to burn the house and destroy all its inhabitants, unless Dr. Hamilton was instantly delivered into their hands. In the terror and distraction of so dreadful a scene, this was forcibly effected by the servants; Dr. H. was thrust out of the house, and immediately dispatched, and the assailants made their retreat unmolested.
- Thus miserably perished, in the full vigour and exercise of his talents, one of the most active of the defenders of his distracted country. By his death the literary world was deprived of many observations and discoveries In natural philosophy, of which he had not had leisure to prepare a regular account, - his parishioners of a faithful friend and pastor, - and his country of a support and ornament. He is supposed to have fallen a victim to his exertions for suppressing that spirit of insurrection which had just manifested itself in his district; by his vigilance and activity as a magistrate, he had apprehended some of the ringleaders, and driven others out of his neighbourhood; these are supposed to have been lurking in the woods about Sharon, and thus to have taken a fell and deadly revenge for their disappointed expectations. At the following assizes a servant of Dr. Waller’s, who had taken a share in delivering up Dr. Hamilton to the assassins, was tried as an accomplice in the murder, but was acquitted. On his death he left a widow and nine children, who have since been liberally provided for by the British Government; “In consequence,” says the resolution of the Irish House of Commons, March £3, 1797, “of his meritorious exertions as a magistrate.”
- A posthumous paper by Dr. Hamilton/1 on the Climate of Ireland,” was printed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy for 1797.
- CHARLES HAMILTON,
- Is a name which reflects honour on his race and country; - one who, at sixteen, entered the word without a guide, and in the midst of a camp, whether exposed to danger,
- HAMILTON.
- tfr soflcited by pleasure, devoted every leisure hour to honourable studies, and lived in the practice of every Christian virtue. He was born at Belfast, in the year 1753, and went out to India in 1769. From the commencement of his military career, he zealously applied to the study of the oriental languages, and was early associated with those eminent characters, “the Asiatic Society established at Calcutta.”
- The expedition against the Rohillas, was a subject of general interest, on which no one was so competent to afford information as Mr. Hamilton, who had been personally engaged in the service. Induced by various considerations, he began the Rohilla history, pnd had already made some progress, when a more important object arrested his attention^ Amongst many magnificent literary plans, originating in the enlightened liberality of Mr. Hastings, was a proposal for translating from the Persian, the Hedaya, or,“Code of Mussulman Laws/’a stupendous undertaking, of which it was difficult to calculate the toil or predict the termination. Mr. Anderson, a member of the Asiatic Society, eminent for his knowledge of oriental literature, was the person first selected for the task; but the state of his health rendered his return to Europe necessary, and the governor and council transferred the office to his intimate and valued friend Mr. Hamilton; who considered that the leisure, ease, and tranquillity, so essential to the performance of this work, could only be enjoyed in England, and accordingly obtained permission for five years absence. It was nearly thirteen years since he landed in Asia, a solitary stranger, without patronage or protection; - now he was returning to his native country, and affectionate relatives, with reputation and distinction, acquired by intense application and unblemished conduct: with such reflections he beguiled the tedious voyage, nor would he descend to lament the waste of health and strength by which these honours had been pbrchased* On the 20th of December, 1786, Mr. Hamilton arrived at Ingram’s Crook, Stirlingshire, the residence of his affec*
- tionate and valued sister Elizabeth, where, after reposing a few days, he proceeded to Dublin to see his eldest sister. In his subsequent journey to London, be enjoyed the society of this lady; and when he had transacted his necessary business, and published the “History of the RohillaWar,’’ they set off for the tranquil cottage, and joined their dear sister, and this affectionate family was, for the first time since their mother’s death, reunited under the same roof. During several months, Mr. Hamilton was sedulously engaged in unravelling all the intricacies of the Persian tongue; and in this happy domestic circle time passed rapidly away. In 1788, Mr. Hamilton quitted this agreeable retreat for London, attended by his sisters. With the consummation of Mr. Hamilton’s labours, ended the happiness of the little party that had so long subsisted in affectionate cordiality. The printing of the Hedaya being completed, Mr. Hamilton was appointed resident at the Vizier’s court, and had consequently to prepare for his departure from England. It should be observed, the East India Directors undertook to defray the expense of printing the Hedaya, and to receive a certain number of copies, the remainder to be the property of the translator; but, on the suggestion of some intimate friends, Mr. Hamilton presented a memorial to the directors, which Mr. Hastings warmly supported, in consequence of which, they purchased the copyright and the unsold copies of the work. He now prepared for his departure to the East, and in the summer of 1791, his sisters took their leave of him, and returned to the North; but his affectionate heart, after some weeks, followed to bid a last adieu. In September he returned to London, but owing to some unexpected cir-cumstance, his embarkation was deferred to the spring. In his last journey from Scotland he caught a cold, which produced alarming pulmonary symptoms. A voyage to Lisbon was urged by his medical friends, but he could not resolve to go, until some concerns at the India House were concluded; and exerting himself more than was consistent with the state of his health, he was not in a state to under-
- take it. He had for some weeks resided at Hampstead, and in December his sisters joined him. Calm, patient, and affectionate, he endeavoured to cheer them, preserving, to the last moment, all the sensibilities that endear the man, or exalt the Christian. This valuable being, in the prime of life, and with the most gratifying prospects of distinction, terminated his earthly career on the 14th of March, 1792. His remains were privately interred in Bunhill Fields; and a monument was afterwards erected by his sisters at Belfast.
- ELIZABETH HAMILTON,
- TUB sister of the foregoing, and alike celebrated for her virtue and talents, was born at Belfast, July 25th, 1758; her father died in 1759. At the age of six years, in consequence of the perplexity of her mother’s situation, she was surrendered to the care of Mr. and Mrs. Marshal, who resided in a solitary mansion near Stirling, in Scotland. Mrs. Marshal, a sensible and accomplished woman, adopted with fond affection the daughter of a beloved brother; and Mr. Marshal appears to have partaken of the same feeling, and to have attended to her education, with all the delight and ardour of parental tenderness. The first two years, she was confined but little to her books, but suffered, as it were, to run wild, with a playmate of the other sex; with him she was stimulated to feats of hardihood and enterprise; with him she would ford the burns in summer, or slide in winter over their frozen surface. By these means nature had free scope, and she acquired that force of character, activity, and decision, which fitted her for the arduous situations of life. Having completed her eighth year, it was judged necessary to habituate her to regular application. In the town of Stirling there were many day schools; but as the distance of four miles precluded daily attendance, Mrs. Marshal adopted the expe-. dient of boarding her niece from Monday to Saturday with a female friend, from whose house she could easily attend
- the best seminaiy that Stirling afforded. In this new titan* tion she was accompanied by a young girl (Isabel Irvine^ in the capacity of servant, to whom she became modi attached, and whose instruction afterwards formed one of her voluntary studies. It was a master who presided over the school to which Elizabeth was introduced; a custom at that time prevalent in Scotland and Ireland; and, by a curious coincidence, a master of the same name, Manson, kept a school on a similar plan at Belfast, and there the sister of Elizabeth was oue of his pupils. To writing, geography, and the use of the globes, she applied with assiduity, and with a degree of success that delighted her master, who, in a poem written forty years after, referred with generous pride to the period when she was his pupil. The following year added to the list of her studies and acquirements, music, drawing, and dancing. With such various avocations she experienced neither weariness nor disgust during her absence from her happy home; yet the return of Saturday was always anticipated with ardour, for, excluding tasks and sermons on the Sunday, unsuited to the taste and capacity of childhood, religion assumed in this family a most engaging aspect; and to the example, still more than the precept of her excellent friends, Mrs. Hamilton always referred the formation of her own moral and religions sentiments. Some time before this she had lost her mother; but the care and tenderness she experienced from her adopted parents, rendered the impression transient. In her thirteenth year, she was reestablished at home, where her kind aunt had engaged a young friend to assist her progress in music and drawing. About this time an intimate of the family took some pains to shake the foundation of her religious principles. Ridicule and arguments were employed - her curiosity was excited, and her inexperience perplexed - she could not easily believe that her aunt, wise and good, could be the dupe of error. To terminate this state of doubt, which to her ardent temper was insupportable, she took the prompt resolution of reading the Scriptures by stealth,
- ahd deciding the question by her own judgment. The result of this examination was, a conviction of their truth; and she observed, that the moral precepts connected with the doctrines of Christianity, were too pure to be promulgated by an impostor. In the year 1785, Miss Hamilton sent her first contribution to the press, in a number of the Lounger, which was accepted by the editor without any knowledge of the author: of the same date is a sportive poem, called “Anticipation/’ written with the facility and freedom of a practised pen, though it does notappear she at this period devoted much time to it. The actual duties of domestic life, of which she felt the full claim, left little leisure for solitary study, without encroaching on the season of repose. The morning hours were allotted to household superintendence, and the evening dedicated to her uncle’s amusement, to which she most sedulously attended, urged thereto by every feeling of duty, gratitude, and affection. Noris it probable, at this period, she aspired to literary fame; a fairer vision floated before her, a happiness dearer than distinction, appeared to court her acceptance; but the vision passed away, and she felt the pangs of disappointment; yet her strong and well-regulated mind prevented it casting an invidious shade on her future existence.
- In December 1786, Miss Hamilton experienced the delight of seeing her valuable brother arrive from India; and to her it seemed a new era of existence. It was impossible that she should not have been essentially benefited by her daily intercourse with this enlightened man, who, from natural and acquired endowments, was eminently calculated to enlarge her views, and to regulate her opinions, by correcting the mistakes incident to a self-taught recluse, and engrafting liberality and candour on her native stock of good sense, and mental independence. He taught her to explore her own latent and hitherto unappropriated treasures. His conversation inspired her with a taste for oriental literature; and she spontaneously caught the idioms, as she insensibly became familiar with
- the customs and manners of the East. In 1788, Mr. Hamilton quitted his agreeable retreat at Ingram’s Crook, and Mr. Marshal willingly allowed his niece to pay her first visit to London under his protection. There she was introduced into an intellectual and polished circle, and became more alive to the consciousness of her own peculiar talents. In the summer Miss Hamilton returned home, and io the autumn Mr. Marshal was attacked by an epidemic complaint, which in a few days conducted him to the grave. Miss Hamilton had now no motive for remaining at Ingram’s Crook; she therefore speedily rejoined her brother and sister, with whom she spent nearly two years, chiefly in the metropolis. In whatever scene she appeared, she obtained the consideration due to sound sense and discriminating judgment. At this period it was her happiness to form a friendship with a literary family, who, next to her brother, fostered her rising talents, and contributed to her future fame. In the Rev. Dr. G - , whose life was an honour to his profession, her grateful heart delighted to acknowledge the judicious adviser to those literary pursuits, which made her so extensively useful. In his wife, she found a woman congenial to her taste, who, in mind and manners, realised all she had con-ceived of female excellence; she became her chosen, cherished friend; and the various vicissitudes of thirty years only confirmed the strength and tenderness of this mutual attachment. About this time Mr. Hamilton pre- pared for his return to India, and the sisters took their leave of him. Miss Hamilton resumed possession of Ingram’s Crook, where she was rather unexpectedly gratified by a parting visit from her affectionate brother, who took the opportunity to re-urge what he had often recommended her, to engage in some literary pursuit, which, by affording constant occupation to her thoughts, might beguile the tedious season of their separation. He Cook his departure from thence in September 1791, and returned to town; but owing to some unexpected circumstance, his embarkation was deferred to the spring. In December
- she received a letter from him, which awakened her apprehensions, in regard to his health; she replied in person, and in agony reached his lodgings at Hampstead, where her sister had before joined him, and they both continued in affectionate and nnremitted attendance until he died, in March 1792. The loss of such a brother, was felt by both sisters as irreparable; and anxious to escape from a scene, which could no longer be contemplated without the most bitter retrospections, they retired to Hadleigh, in Suffolk, and afterwards to Sunning, in Berkshire; but to both, society and retirement were equally divested of their former attractions. Miss Hamilton often reverted to her brother’s admonitions, that she should devote her talents to some literary pursuit; and, alive only to recollections appertaining to him, and ideas acquired from his conversation, she was insensibly led to conceive the design of writing the “Hindoo Rajah in which she was not only permitted to recal those ideas, but to pourtray his character, and commemorate his talents and virtues* When she had written a few sheets, she felt reluctant to proceed, but submitted it to the determination of a friend, with a diffidence that betrayed the dejection of her spirits: this friend decided for the Rajah’s appearance; but it was not until 1796, that it was permitted to struggle into existence. Its reception encouraged her; and she engaged in another work - “The Modern Philosophers.” This appeared early in 1800, and passed through two editions before the end of the year: to this succeeded, ° Letters on Educationin which it was her aim, not to state and explain new systems, but to suggest for those already known a prompt and practical application. In 1803, a Agrippina” issued from the press, a work erroneously classed with novels; for she was careful to substantiate every fact, by references to classical authority. In 1804, she fixed her residence in Edinburgh, and soon after was informed of the pension conferred on her by his majesty, as an acknowledgment that her literaiy talents had been meritoriously exerted in the cause of i religion and virtue. At this period she was earnestly solicited by a widowed nobleman, to superintend the education of his children, offering her a separate establishment, and the choice of the governess on whom was to devolve the subordinate office of tuition, with the absolute control of every thing connected with her department; but she valued too highly personal independence, to listen to proposals that might militate againBt it. At length, however, she consented to reside in the family as a friend for a few months, to assist his lordship in forming proper arrangements; and at the expiration of six, she resigned the trust. Her thoughts were, however, occupied with the subject, and she composed the u Letters to the Daughter of a Nobleman,” which were published in the spring of 1806, and obtained a most flattering reception from the public. The return of Miss Hamilton to Edinburgh, diffused general satisfaction; she soon took an active part with the ladies who had formed the House of Industry, a most useful establishment for the education of girls of the lowest class; and contributed essentially to the improvement of an institution, which promises to be beneficial to the community. For their use, she composed a little work, entitled, “Exercises in Religious Knowledge:” this publication, which received the sanction of Bishop Sandford and the Rev. Mr. Alison, was published in 1809. Shortly after, she began “The Cottagers of Glenburnie,” as the amusement of an idle hour: but on reading the first sheets to some friends, who pressed her to proceed with it, she extended her plan, and with some reluctance sent it to the press. To the honour of North Britain, its success was equal to its merits, and the demand for the work was such, as induced the publishers to print a cheap edition, which circulated to the Highlands, where the influence of good sense, impressed the importance of domestic economy, and produced the most happy results* In 1812, Miss Hamilton’s health excited so much alarm, that it was deemed advisable she should pass the winter in England. Her first station was al Kenilworth; from this place she transmitted the last pages of “Popular Essays on the Elementary Principles of the Human Mind,” the chief object of which is, to establish as a fundamental principle, the opposition of the selfish propensities to the cultivation of benevolence, and the attainment of felicity. Suffering from ill health, yet alive to the most generous feelings, she, in 1815, published a small volume, entitled, “Hints to the Patrons and Directors of Public Schools,” recommending a partial adoption of the plao introduced in Switzerland, by Pestalozzi. Annexed to the Hints is a separate volume on Questions, exhibiting the plao of instruction to be adopted by the teacher. In 1813, she bad sketched a novel, and planned many other works; yet, on the reperusal, each was rejected. She had long borne the pains of rheumatism and gout, with a degree of cheerfulness, which astonished all who ap-proached her: but the frail tenement that shrouded her radiant spirit, could not long withstand these repeated attacks; a nervous irritability was the consequence; and finally, a violent inflammation of the eyes confined her to an apartment, from which light was excluded. The pain she experienced was so exquisite, that even conversation was distressing; her spirits began to languish, her appetite foiled, and her strength declined. She had returned to her comfortable home, but it was again deemed advisable she should remove to England; and, on the 13th of May, she was removed from her apartment to the carriage which conveyed her for ever from the scene to which she bad so long been attached, attended by her affectionate sister: they proceeded by easy stages. At first she seemed to derive benefit from the change; but before tbeir arrival at Harrowgate, her increasing weakness, alarmed Mrs. Blake, and suggested the most gloomy forebodings. During some weeks she lingered perfectly sensible to the progress of decay; but supported by piety and resignation, she sunk gently into the arms of death at Harrowgate, on the $3rd of July, 1816, in the fifty-eighth year of her age.
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- DENNIS HAMPSON,
- A RENOWNED harper, but better known by the appellation of “the Man with two Heads,” was a native of Craig* more, near Carvagh, in the county of Derry. He lost hit sight at the age of three years by the small pox, and at twelve began to receive instructions on the harp from Bridgit O’Cahan. His next instructor was John O’Gar- ragher, a blind travelling harper, whom he followed to Buncranagh, and he had afterwards Laughlin Harririg^aad Pat Connor in succession, as masters.
- When he had attained his eighteenth year, he began to play for himself, and was taken into the house of a counsellor Canning, at Carvagh, where he remained about half a year. He then amused himself for nearly ten yean in seeing a little of the world; during which period he travelled through Ireland and Scotland, and used to relate many facetious anecdotes of gentlemen in both countries; and, among others, that in passing near the place of Sir J. Campbell, at Aghanbrack, he was informed that this gentleman being of a liberal disposition, had disencumbered himself of the greater part of his wealth, and was then living on so much per week of allowance. Hampson being unluckily possessed of great natural delicacy, would not intrude himself on his presence; consequently, some of the domestics were sent after him; he was overtaken,and on coming into the castle, Sir J. asked him why he had not called, adding, “Sir, there was never a harper bet yourself, that passed the door of my father’s bouseto which Hampson politely replied, G that he had been informed in the neighbourhood, that his honour was not often at home,” with which evasion, so delicately expressed, Sir J. was satisfied. Hampson used to declare,
- After this characteristic anecdote, we cannot wonder at Sir J.’s riches not being inexhaustible. Io the year 1745, he made a second trip to Scotland, and was at Edinburgh when the Pretender was there. He was called into the Great Hall to play; at first be was alone, but shortly afterwards, he was joined by four fiddlers, when the tune called for was, “The King shall enjoy his own again,” which he played and sung. He was then brought into the Pretender’s presence by Colonel Kelly and Snr Thomas Sheridan, at which period he was above fifty years old.
- He returned once more to his native country, where he astonished and interested every body by his musical powers. He afterwards visited Magilligan; and at the advanced age of eighty-six, married a woman of Innisowen, whom he found living in the house of a friend. By this wife he bad one daughter, who affectionately attended him for upwards of thirty years. Death, however, terminated his harmonious life, on the 5th of November, 1807, being then in the one hundred and eleventh year of his age.
- A few hours prior to his death he tuned his harp, in order to have it in readiness to entertain Sir H. Bruce’s family, who were expected to pass that way in a few days, and who were in the habit of stopping to hear his music. Shortly after this act he felt the approach of that grim monarch, whom no melody can persuade to delay his visit, - and calling his family around him, he resigned his breath “to him who gave it,” without either sigh or struggle, being in perfect possession of his faculties to the last moment of his existence.
- MARTHA HANNA,
- A REMARK ABLE dwarf, who measured only four feet seven inches, and who attained the advanced age of one hundred and twenty-six.
- She was born oear Dungannon, and remembered to VOL. II. x
- have heard the shots fired in an engagement that took place there in the year 1690; she likewise remembered carrying the victuals, &c. to the masons and carpenters who built Cullybackey meeting-house in 1727, being then forty-five years of age.
- She was not married till she had reached a period of old maidenism, consequently had no children, and enjoyed a continued state of good health until a few days prior to her decease, which occurred on the 18th of April, 1808.
- JOHN HENDERSON. Op this much celebrated young man, whose extraordinary acquirements attracted the notice, and even commanded the respect of Dr. Johnson, several accounts have been published, abounding with eulogium. By many he has been supposed to emulate the variety and extent of knowledge possessed by the admirable Creichton, and, like that highly-gifted character, he has left but little on which posterity may form a judgment regarding the truth of those praises which have so liberally been bestowed upon him. He was born of pious and respectable parents on the 27th of March, 1757, at Bellegarance, near Limerick, and received his education among the methodists. At the early age of eight years, he was so well versed in the Latin language, as to be able to teach it at the school of Kingswood, in Gloucestershire, from whence he was removed to the newly instituted college erected by Lady Huntingdon, at Trewecca, in South Wales; which,after a residence of several years, he quitted, to assist in the management of a school at Hanham.
- The shortness of the distance between Hanham add Bristol was of great service to young Henderson, as It enabled him to gratify that thirst for information which he possessed in so eminent a degree, by introducing him to the intimacy of several men of the greatest talents and piety in that city. Indeed, his extensive and general knowledge, and his innate worth, were such as to ren-
- 307 dor every one eager to enrol himself in the number of his friends. Among these was a worthy and ingenious physician, by profession a quaker, between whom and Henderson there existed an intimacy closer almost than that of brothers, and which continued undiminished till death. Whether this connexion first inclined him to the study of medicine, is uncertain; but, from this time, he paid so strict an attention to that science and its auxiliaries, as to bp perfectly qualified to shine in the profession, if he had chosen it for his future pursuit. But his attainments in this or in any other science were never pursued with a view to personal advantages, either of praise or profit. He exerted himself in this study only for the liberal purpose of extending his benevolent assistance to all who needed it. And, in justice to his friend, it must be observed, that he also was actuated by the same generous motives; indeed, if he had not, how could he have delighted so much in the friendship of John Henderson? It was a pleasing sight to see these two excellent men, arm-in-arm, visiting their patients; and, if they paid a greeter attention to one class than another, it was directed to those from whose poverty no gratuity could be ex* pec ted.
- It must, however, be admitted, that Henderson’s studies in this science, were altogether empirical. Modern sys-tems he either read not, or despised; and, though he mentioned Boerhaave with respect, he more frequently quoted Sydenham and Cheyne. On these, however, he depended much less than he did on Paracelsus, Salmon, and Culpeper; the great tendency of his mind to astrology, and the occult sciences, probably influencing him much in his choice of medical authors. But, whatever may be the opinion as to his course of studies, his practice, though so very remote from that in use, is stated to have been in numerous instances eminently successful.
- His predilection for the occult sciences has been alluded to above, and in these be was for a long time almost totally involved* He sought after books on these subjects,
- which abounded so much in the preceding century, with the greatest avidity. Astrology and alchemy first engaged his attention. To the study of the former, he Brought an extensive knowledge of astronomy and ancient and modern physics; he was, however, at length dissatisfied with it. “Though,” said he, “I cannot take upon me to deny its general principle io the face of evidence, yet I cannot approve its particular application.” We may, indeed, be surprised that so vigorous and penetrating a mind as Henderson’s, should have devoted itself to such studies; but our surprise will be lessened, when we remem- her that the great Boyle was a believer in alchemy, and the abstruse doctrine of sympathies; and that Flamsteed, and even Newton, have constructed astrological schemes. His studies in the occult sciences did not rest here; he proceeded still farther, and penetrated into the mysterious arcana of magic. That communication with the inhabitants of the aerial sphere is impossible, may be asserted with sufficient confidence by the cold metaphysician; but it is mere peremptoriness without proof. All ages and all nations have witnessed the most respectable decla-rations of such a communication; and what has been asserted on credible testimony, is not to be shaken by mere positive denial. History has recorded numerous instances of these appearances, and the greatest and best of men have witnessed to the truth of them; so that, however fashionable scepticism on the subject may be, those who believe in them ought not to be branded either as credulous or superstitious.
- The belief of unembodied and disembodied spirits assuming the human form, or becoming audible and conversable, has a wonderful effect in raising the mind to a contemplation of that world for which the present is but a probation. It creates an awe in the mind, it gives the imagination a lofty scope for exercise, it raises in the soul an elevation of sentiment by anticipating its future union with beings unconfined in earth; the cause of morality is strengthened by it, and faith and hope have a more
- abundant spring of consolation. Those beings, though superior to us in perception and activity, are yet parts of the same great system of intelligence.
- Such were the sentiments of Henderson; but it is impossible to do justice to the strength and clearness of his reasoning on the subject. When he condescended to enter upon the discussion of it, the narrowest incredulity must have Expanded itself, and the coldest and most insensible mind have felt a momentary desire and admiration.
- But though the communication between the material and immaterial worlds be thus reasonable - yet, that rules or methods should subsist among us to compel invisible beings to embody themselves and become obedient to our commands, is not so easy of belief. Credulity itself is here staggered: nor does it appear, that Henderson, though he amassed all the books which have treated of incantations, and studied them with the greatest ardour, was satisfied of the existence of those powerful engines, which would shake the world of spirits with awe, and compel them to become subservient to their inferior, man. Physiognomy, which had been usually enumerated among the occult sciences, till raised in the estimation of the world by the extensive and amusing researches of the ingenious Lavater, was another subject of Henderson’s study. Of this he spoke with great confidence. In fact, his decisions in this way, were often very surprising, and carried with them an oracular importance. His piercing eye enabled him to read the countenance and manner of a person with great precision, and his judgment always improved what his senses observed. K Self-knowledge enabled him wonderfully to penetrate into the characters and motives of others. The face, the voice, and the air, disclosed the moving principle within. And it is much to be questioned, whether he was ever deceived in the judgment he formed of others.” An observation of his on this subject deserves great commendation, and shews that this study in him neither resulted from, nor produced, a spirit of misanthropy. “Physiognomy,” said Mr. Henderson, “may increase a man’s knowledge, but not his happiness; the physiognomist first discovers the evil in another, and afterwards the good; but the man unskilled in the science first discovers the good, which pleases him, and afterwards the evil, which disgusts him.”
- Whether Henderson ever read Lavatefs splendid and ingenious work, is not known; his opinion, however, on these subjects was fully formed long before that perform* ance was known in England. Mr. Cooper acknowledges his obligation to him for the account of magic, in his curious and entertaining paper on physiognomy, in the third volume of the Manchester Transactions.
- Though these were distinguishing and singular features in his character, his attainments in other branches of knowledge were equally strong and comprehensive. There was no subject totally unknown to him, no branch of science or of literature unexplored by him.
- The fluency with which he spoke the Latin language was wonderful, and his remarks on classical obscurities, astonished even those who were critics by profession.
- After due residence at Oxford, he took his degree of bachelor of arts, and from this period his life passed with little variety and no adventures. His thirst after knowledge appears to have been both unabated and unbounded; he was admired and generally respected; and he acquired habits, some of which brought him into the notice of the world almost as much as his talents. “His clothes,” observes a friend who appears to have known him intimately, “were made in a fashion peculiar to himself. He wore no stock or neck-cloth; his buckles were so small as not to exceed the dimensions of an ordinary knee-buckle, at a time when very large buckles were in vogue; and, although he was then twenty-four years of age, he wore his hair like that of a school-boy of six.”
- He died at Oxford, the second day of October, 1788, and was buried on the eighteenth, at St. George’^ King*” wood; the body being accompanied by Mr. Agutter,
- who* on the following Sunday, preached the funeral sermon which has furnished many of the particulars which we have inserted above.
- With talents at once so solid and so brilliant as those of Henderson, it is to be regretted that the world received so little benefit from them, as, with the exception of an Appendix to the Dissertation on Everlasting Punishments, by William Matthews, and some Letters to Dr. Priestley, published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, we do not know that any of his works are in existence.
- JOHN HICKEY,
- A STATUARY of some talent, was born in Dublin in 175& He was pupil to Cranfield, an eminent carver. He worked in Dublin with success, and came to London under the patronage of Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds. His basso relievo of the Massacre of the Innocents, obtained for him the gold medal of the Royal Academy. Hickey died in London from the effects of intemperance in 1787.
- HICKEY,
- BROTHBR to the above, was a portrait painter of some talent, and was born in Bachelor’s Walk, Dublin. He studied at the National Academy, and afterwards at Rome, and was appointed to accompany his countryman, Lord Macartney, in his mission to China, to take drawings of that country, and the dresses of the people. The time of his decease we are unacquainted with.
- PAUL HIFFERNAN,
- WAS an author well deserving the epithet ° ingenious,” and he was likewise one of those unhappy unions of small talent with great vice, which it has been our fate too frequently to lament He was born in the county of Dublin, in 1719, and received the early part of his education at a
- grammar school in that county. From this seminary be was removed to one in the city of Dublin, celebrated for teaching the classics, and where he was educated sacerdo- taliy, being intended for a Roman catholic priest, his parents being of that persuasion. For the completion of his education, he was afterwards sent to a college in the South of France, where he became acquainted with several students, many of whom were afterwards much renowned in the republic of letters, and particularly the celebrated Rousseau and Marmontel. He remained at this college and at Paris for near seventeen years; and the greater part of the English and Irish students at this college being educated for the profession of medicine, oar author took out his bachelor’s degrees accordingly, and shortly afterwards returned to Dublin, in order to practise his profession; but nothing can be easier than to account for the reason why he did not fulfil his resolution on his arrival in that city. He was possessed of an unconquerable love of indolence and dissipation. The regularities of any profession were circles too confined for him, and the day that was passing over him, was generally to decide what he should do. With this disposition for seeing a little of life, and leaving his profession to shift for itself, be sought amusement amidst the convivial and social meetings of his countrymen; and, as he was a good scholar, abounded in anecdote, and might at that rima have imported some of the agreeable manners of the French, he found a ready chair at many of the respectable tables in Dublin.
- Shortly afterwards, he was employed to write against the celebrated patriot Dr. Lucas, and undertook a periodical publication, which was called “The Tickler:” this*’ being a party paper, it made its way for some time, and proved the highest advantage that our author prised, - that of living in a round of invitations at private and at public tables. He was also a remarkably acceptable guest to the aidermen of Dublin, as those who bad their graat political opponent periodically abused, felt a peculiar grn-
- tification in the company of their champion; and one of his biographers gravely informs us, that Hiffernan “was a man very well qualified to sit at an alderman’s table." Our author not feeling altogether comfortable in Dublin, (for giving both an improper licence to his tongue and pen, be met with several insults in coffee houses, and other public places) thought it advisable in either 1753 or 1754, to illuminate London with his presence. Here, immediately after his arrival, he published five numbers of a pamphlet, entitled “The Tuner/’ in which, with more humour than he ever discovered afterwards, he ridiculed the new plays of “Philoclea,” “Boadicea,” “Constantine/’ “Virginia,” &c. He was also employed as a translator from the French and Latin, but was neither successful nor deserving of success. In 1755, he treated the world with a volume of “Miscellanies in prose and verse,” which was a happy union of ingenuity and nonsense, but which produced him some money, as he had the art of disposing of his books among his friends and acquaintances by personal application, and other modes of address, not very creditable either to learning or delicacy. The line of authorship he took up after the publication of these miscellanies was, any mode which presented itself to gain a temporary existence; sometimes by writing a pamphlet, and privately subscribing it amongst his friends and acquaintances, and, sometimes, by becoming the patron or defender of some novice for the stage, or of some artist who wanted to make his way to public notice by puffing, or other indirect means. It is said he had several players and painters under contribution for this purpose; and, as be was a man of some plausibility, and had a known intimacy with Garrick, Foote, and many of the literati, it is no wonder that he sometimes gained proselytes* His grand place of rendezvous was the cider cellar, Maiden-lane; a place he usually resorted to on those evenings, when, to use his own expression, “he was not housed for the night.” Here it was he played the part of patron or preceptor with some dexterity. If any painter
- found his favourite work excluded from a place in the exhibition, or wanted his piece puffed through the papers, Hiffernan was “the lord of infamy or praise.” If any player took dudgeon at his manager or rival brother, our author’s pen was ready to defend him; and if any person, as a candidate for the stage, wanted instruction or recommendation, who so fit as Hiffernan, the great scholar and tre* veiled man, the writer of plays himself, the intimate friend, and occasional scourge, of both managers and actors, to instruct them in the elements of their intended profession ?
- When a candidate for the stage was first announced by the waiter to Dr. Hiffernan, the doctor never rose from his seat, but drawing the pipe which he smoked from hia mouth, gave a slight inclination of the head, and dented him to sit down; he then listened very attentively to the novice’s account of himself, his studies, and line of pre* tensions, but then gave no opinion; he reserved himself for a private meeting the next night at the Black Lion, Russell-street, or some other favourite ale-house; and, if the candidate wished to do “the civil thing," by his preceptor, i. e. offered to pay the reckoning, the doctor was not in the least offended, but on the contrary, considered it as the perquisite of his own superiority.
- When they met on the next night, the preliminaries of business were opened, which first began by the doctor’s explaining his terms, which were, a guinea entrance^ another guinea for instruction, and two guineas more to be paid on his getting an engagement at either of the London theatres; all this being settled, and the doctor having pocketed his first guinea, he began by attentively eyeing the height and figure of the performer, and, in order to ascertain this with mathematical precision, be pulled out a six-inch rule, which he carried about him on these occasions, and measured him against the wainscot. If the candidate happened to be very tall, u to be sure that wan not so well; but then Barry was as tall, and nobody objected to his theatrical abilities.” If he was short, * that was against his being much of a hero; but then,there was Garrick, whom all the world admired.” He therefore generally consoled his pupil, let him be of what size or figure be might be, with the superiority which merit has over all external qualifications; concluding with Churchill upon the same subject, -
- a Before each merit all distinctions fly, Pritchard’s genteel, and Garrick’s six feet high.”
- In this wretched manner did our author while away the greater part of a life, which, with becoming industry, and his stores of information, might have been made useful to the world and respectable to himself. He never, however, wholly gave up the trade of book-making, every now and then producing some original matter, or translation from the French. The next thing of any consequence that engaged the doctor’s attention, was a work called “Dramatic Genius,” which be dedicated to Garrick, his friend and patron through life. The subscriptions he gained by this work were very considerable, as Garrick exerted himself amongst his friends for the author, - and who could refuse Garrick on the subject of the stage? The amount of these subscriptions we do not exactly know, but should suppose it to be from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds; a temporary mine to such a man as Hiffeman, who lived so much with the public, and who in his interior life, there is every reason to suppose, practised a rigid economy* With this money he emerged a little more into life, quitted the old English dress, (as he used to call his seedy clothes,) for a new suit of black, and knocked at the doors of his friends, with all the confidence of a successful author. His next production was a thing which he called “The Philosophic Whim,” and which he ironically dedicated to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This is such a jumble of nonsense, that there is no reading or defining it; if it aims at any thing, it appears to be a laugh against some branches of modern philosophy; but so miserably executed, as to warrant a supposition, that the man must be
- mad or drunk who wrote it. The publication, however, answered his purpose; for, as be was very heedless of his literary reputation, or perhaps did not always know when be was degrading it, he, as usual, subscribed it amongst his friends; and generally wherever he went to dine, taxed his host from balf-a-crown to a guinea (just as he could get it) for this pamphlet. Hugh Kelly, who had previously seen it at a friend’s house, generously sent him a guinea for a copy, but consoled himself, at the same time, that be was under no obligation to read it.
- Talking of this strange publication at that time, gave rise to one of the last flashes of poor Goldsmith: - “How does this poor devil of an author,” says a friend," contrive to get credit even with his bookseller for paper, print, and advertising ?” - “Oh! my dear Sir,” says Goldsmith, “very easily - he steals the brooms ready made."
- The next year, 1775, Dr. Hiffernan appeared as a dramatic author, by the introduction of a tragedy at Drury Lane theatre, under the title of “The Heroine of the Cave.” - The history of this piece is as follows: - After the death of Henry Jones, the author of the tragedy of the Earl of Essex, this piece was found amongst his loose papers by the late Mr. Reddish of Drury Lane theatre, who soon after brought it out for his benefit. Hiffernan and Reddish living in close habits of intimacy, the latter, after his benefit, gave it to the doctor, and suggested to him that he might make something of it by extending the plot and adding some new characters.
- Hiffernan undertook it, and brought it out the next year for the benefit of the celebrated Miss Younge, and, by her inimitable performance of the heroine, it went off with considerable applause.
- The doctor lived upon the profits of this tragedy for some time; but, as usual, never made a calculation what he was to do next, till poverty pressed him to do somMbsg, After casting about for some time, (and occasionally damning the booksellers for their want of taste ia not encouraging learning, and the performers of both theatrea
- for a dearth of abilities, that discouraged any author of eminence from writing for them,) he undertook to give a course of lectures on the anatomy of the human body. He instantly published proposals, namely, a guinea for the course, to consist of three lectures, and the subscribers not to exceed twenty, in order to be the better accommodated in a private room. The subscription (which was evidently given under the impression of charity) was soon filled by the exertions of his friends; and the first day was announced by the doctor’s going round to the subscribers himself to inform them of it: - “This method,” said he,“I look upon as the best, as it prevents any imputation of quacking by a public advertisement.” The room fixed on for this exhibition was at the Percy coffee-house - the hour one o’clock in the forenoon. At this hour the following gentlemen assembled; - Dr. Kennedy, physician to the Prince of Wales, and the present inspector-general to the hospitals under the Duke of York; Mr. George Garrick; Mr. Becket of Pall-Mall; and another gentleman.
- They waited till two for more company, but no more coming, the doctor made his appearance from an inside closet, dressed out in a full suit of black, and placing himself before a little round table, made a very formal obeisance to his small auditory.
- The company could not help smiling at this mode of beginning; but the doctor, proceeding with great gravity, « pulled out of his pocket a small print of a human skeleton, evidently cut out of some anatomical magazine, and laying it on the table, thus proceeded: -
- a 1 am now, gentlemen, about to open a subject to you of the greatest importance in life - which is the knowledge of oirrsefoes - which Plato recommends in that short but forcible maxim of * Nosce teipsum ? - Pope, by saying,‘ The proper study of mankind is man;’ - and our divine Sbak- speare, by exclaiming, ‘ What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable 1 In action, how I
- like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world - the paragon of animals!’ “Having thus given the general opinion of three great men on this subject, I shall commence with describing the Aeodof this paragon of animals?9 - Here the doctor entered into a common-place description of the skull, the brains, dec. which lasted about half an hour; when, taking up the print, and restoring the head of the skeleton (which he had previously doubled down) to its former position, he next undertook a description of the breast.
“Here, gentlemen, says he, is the next part of thia very extraordinary animal, which may be very properly called, from its very curious bend and texture, tAe Arrod basketry of the human frame.” At this the audience could hold out no longer, but unanimously burst out into a bone laugh, which made the doctor pause for some minutes^ and produced in the company likewise an aukward and embarrassed silence. At last, one of the gentlemen broke ground by saying, “Why, doctor, as we are all friend^ and as the subscription has been paid in, what signifies giving yourself any further trouble I - We are satisfied of your capacity, and we can dispense with any further lectures.99 - “Aye, aye,” joined the rest of the company. “Why, then,” continued the first speaker,“suppose you all come and take a bit of dinner with me to-day, when we shall see what we are able to do in anatomising the bottle.”
- The sound of a gratuitous good dinner always fell very musically on Hiffernan’s ear, and in the present instance peculiarly so, as it not only plentifully provided for the wants of one day, but released him from the trouble of tw days more attendance, without losing any part of his subscription-money. Hence the brow of the grave and philosophic lecturer instantly relaxed into that of the con* vivia), familiar acquaintance - he stepped from behind tht corner of his little table with the utmost cheerfalneMf paid his congees separately to his friends, ordered up some coffee, which he left them to pay for, and soon ata asol
- HIFFERNAN. Sig
- them at the dinner rendezvous, in all the hilarity of an eleemosynary guest*
- This transient exhibition, we believe, was his last public effort, either as a physician or an author: not but he sometimes used to wdserttre works, perhaps without any design of publishing them, but for the purpose of giving pm or extorting money. In this list we find many pam. phlets,8ome perhaps written, others intended to be written, but all calculated to form his miserable ways and means for raising the supplies.
- In this shifting manner our author went on, living as he most conveniently could make it out, without feeling much of the disgrace or embarrassment of his situation, till the spring of 1777, when he contracted the jaundice, which very soon made an evident impression on his frame and spirits. His friends, knowing his pecuniary situation, saw it was necessary for him to confine himself to his apartments, and liberally assisted him for this purpose. Amongst these were Mr. Garrick, Mr. Murphy, Dr. Kennedy, Mrs. Abington, and others. The doctor, however, used to creep out during the morning sun for an hour or two, which he trusted would do him more good than either physic or confinement.
- In one of these morning excursions, he gave a singular proof of the ruling passion sticking to us even in the hour of death. Calling at a friend’s house, so faint and spiritless that he was unable to walk up to the drawing room, be was told, in as delicate a manner as possible, u that as sickness always brought on additional expenses, if he would give his friend his address, he would very readily lend him a guinea per week until he recovered.”
- The doctor received the promise of the loan with becoming gratitude, but referred him for his address to the usual place, - “The Bedford coffee-house.” “My dear doctor,** says the other, “this is BO time to trifle; I do not make this inquiry from any impertinent curiosity, or idle wish to extort a secret from you under your present circumstances; my only reason is, for the quicker dispatch of sending you any thing that may be needful." The doctor still expressed his gratitude with a sigh, and ardent grasp of the hand, but left the house by referring his friend to the Bedford coffee-house.
- It was in vain to expostulate further - the gentleman sent on the two following Saturdays a guinea each day, sealed up in a letter; which, on inquiry, he found the doctor received; but on the third Saturday, no messenger arriving, upon inquiry it was found that the doctor was no more - having died the preceding night at his lodgings in one of the little courts off St. Martin’s Lane, about the beginning of June 1777.
- Thus ends the “eventful" history of a man who was possessed of learning sufficient to fill several situations in life, and that degree of talent and observation which, if connected with a moderate share of industry and prudence^ would, in all probability, have rendered him both respected and independent.
- All his bad qualities seemed to arise from his intolerable indolence; and he adds another name to the almost inter-minable list of men who have willingly sacrificed themselves to this destructive and degrading vice. Men of this stamp act as if they considered themselves as a“kind of rent-charge upon Providence,” who is obliged to invert the order of nature in their favour, and provide for them at the public expense.
- A succession of disappointments - poverty, with all its attendant ills, or the contempt of the world, cannot teach them wisdom; and they proceed from indolence to folly, and from folly to vice, till at length the intellects become unstrung - the constitution undermined, and they .drop into the grave, pitied by none but their companions in torpidity.
- Such was the fate of Hiffernan, and such has been the fate of thousands; and melancholy and unavailing will the records be, that these individuals will one day have to give, of the numberless hours spent in the pursuit of vice, or wasted in the bosom of idleness.
- 321
- WILLIAM HINKS,
- AN historical and portrait painter, is an instance that no obstacles can impede the progress of genius. . He was the son of a blacksmith, and born in Waterford. While practising in the North of Ireland, he drew and engraved a series of designs, exhibiting the progress of the linen manufactory; he also executed several interesting works.from Tristram Shandy, and the historical representation of the last interview of Louis XVI. with his family. He painted principally in crayons; and died some years since.
- CAPTAIN JOHN GOULD HOGAN,
- AV AS a brave soldier, who attained distinguished honours in the Russian service. He was born at Rathkeale, in the county of Limerick, and entered the Russian service at an early age in 1794, by the invitation and under the patronage of his countryman and kinsman, the celebrated General M. Lacy. He was an able officer, and seconded, to the utmost of his power, the plans of his noble general.
- He made the glorious campaign of 1799, in Italy, under Suwarrow, and earned, in the course of it, by his gallant and skilful conduct against the enemy in the field, many of the orders with which he died decorated. The numerous wounds he received in the successive actions of that memorable campaign, soon disabled him for further active service, and after some time obliged him to retire altogether from the army. He was, however, allowed, in consideration of his numerous services, to retain to his death the rank he had borne, and the privileges of captain in the Imperial army.
- He died on the 30th of March, 1815, at Grodno* in Lithuanian Poland.
- VOL. H.
- 322
- NATHANIEL HONE, A PORTRAIT painter of some reputation, was born in Dublin about the year 1730. He also painted miniatures, and practised enamelling with success. He scraped a plate in meazotinto from a painting of his own, representing two Monks making merry. Mr. Hone was one of the members of the Royal Academy at its foundation in 1708. He died August 14, 1784, and was buried at Hendon.
- MAJOR HOUGHTON,
- AN enterprising African traveller, and a native of Ireland; but where born, or in what year, we know not. Having got through a genteel fortune with Uncommon celerity, he went to the coast of Africa; and, during the lake war, served with great approbation as Fort Major of Goree, during which period several excursions into the country gave him an acquaintance with the character and language of the natives, and particularly qualified him for the arduous situation in which he was latterly employed. He returned from the African coast about the year 1780; and after having been some time a widower, married about 1783 or 1784, a lady residing then in Spring Gardens, the reputation of whose fortune quickly drew a swarm of creditors about him, with so many troublesome importunities, that by this (otherwise) eligible match, his embarrassments were rather augmented than diminished. This it was, added to a degree of enterprise implanted in him by nature, that induced him to accept of a proposal made to him by the African Society, to undertake the exploring of such interior parts of that continent as had not come within the route of the romantic Valliant, or the philosophic Gordon.
- When the major set out upon the expedition, a son of his, then an officer at Goree, sued very hard to be the companion of his travels; but the father’s prudence wisely
- induced him steadily to resist every solicitation of that nature, and he went alone.
- He died suddenly during the early part of the year 1794; but not before he had accomplished the business on which he was deputed by one of the British settlements in Africa, to some of the princes of that immense continent. He was/ound dead in his bed, when within two days’ journey of an English colony; and although without any visible signs of violence, there is much reason to fear he was murdered by those who attended him, for the sake of the presents, 8cc. with which he was returning.
- There were few men better qualified than Major Houghton for the expedition in which he was engaged. Though upwards of fifty years of age, his constitution was vigorous, and his frame manly and robust. He possessed uncommon courage and resolution, with a cool and well- regulated temper. His address was insinuating, and he had in a very peculiar degree the art of varying his manners, and accommodating himself to the dispositions and characters of those he had to deal with. He had the advantage of a liberal education, and his reading was various and extensive.
- RICHARD HOUSTON, AN eminent mezzotinto engraver, was a native of Ireland. He was lamentably dissipated. Sayer the print- seller, advanced him money; but the more Houston became involved, the less he liked to meet him; the consequence of which was, Sayer arrested him, and confined him in the Fleet, in order (as he said) that he might know where to find him, and have him under his eye. He remained confined for many years, and was not released until the accession of his late majesty George III.
- He died about the age of fifty-four.
- He engraved a great number of portraits, and many miscellaneous subjects, the major part of which are highly esteemed.
- 324
- GEORGE EDMOND HOWARD,
- A VOLUMINOUS and very ingenious author, who was a compound of talents and absurdity, was a native of Ireland, and received his school education under the Rev. Dr. Sheridan, the companion of Swift, and then esteemed the first schoolmaster in Ireland. With him be continued until he was qualified for entering the univeraity of Dublin.
- He was author of three tragedies, “Almeyda; or, the Rival Kings/ 1770; “The Siege of Tamor/ 1773; and “The Female Gamester/ 1778. He was an attorney in Dublin, and wrote several law books, having been better acquainted with the proceedings of the courts than the business of a theatre. - According to his own account, he did not begin to court the tragic muse till he was fifty years of age; and, probably, the lady thought him at too advanced a period of life to bestow on him any of her gracious smiles. - The first tragedy was played for a benefit at Smock Alley, Dublin, and universal laughter attended the distresses of his hero and heroine. The second was performed to empty benches at Fishamble-street. He produced a volume of poems, but complained, that “though they were published for the benefit of a charity, the envious town refused to encourage the sale.” He died some years since .
- PHILIP HUSSEY,
- AVAS a native of Cork, and painted whole length portraits in oil. He began his career as a mariner, and suffered shipwreck five times. He evinced his disposition for the polite arts by drawing the figures from the stems
- of vessels, and was particularly noticed and protected by Lord Chancellor Bowes.
- He entertained his friends in the evening, sometimes in his kitchen, u where,” we are told, “he informed them by his discourse, and improved them by his manners.” He was possessed of a simplicity of heart and suavity of disposition, that rendered him esteemed by all who knew him. He died (much lamented) at an advanced age, at his house in Eustace-street, Dublin, in 1782.
- FRANCIS HUTCHESON,
- WAS an ingenious moral philosopher, whose researches and works have contributed much to our knowledge of the human mind, and whose example stimulated those exertions which have since given to the world -the immortal writings of Reid, Smith, Beattie, Campbell,• and Stewart.
- He was the son of a dissenting minister in the north of Ireland, and was born August 8th, 1694. At an early age he discovered a superior capacity; and, after going through the usual course of grammar-school education, he was sent to an academy to commence his philosophical pursuits. In 1710, he was removed to the university of Glasgow, where he renewed his classical studies, and made such proficiency in mathematics, logic, natural and moral philosophy, as was suitable to his talents and application. He then entered on the study of divinity to qualify himself for the Christian ministry, which he proposed to make his profession for life.
- At the end of six years, he returned to Ireland, and, after due examination, was admitted to become a preacher amongst the presbyterians, and was about to be ordained pastor to a small congregation, when some gentlemen near Dublin, who knew his great abilities, invited him to open a private academy there; which he did, and met with very great success. He had not been long settled in that city, before his talents and accomplishments made
- him generally known; and his society was courted by persons of all ranks, who had any taste for learning and science, or knew how to esteem learned men. Amongst others, Lord Molesworth took great pleasure in his conversation, and assisted him with his observations and criticisms upon his “Enquiry into the Ideas of Beauty and Virtue,” before it was sent to the press. He received the same favour from Dr. Synge, Bishop of Elphin, with whom he lived on terms of the most intimate friendship. The first edition of this work was published in 1785, without the author’s name; but its great merit would not allow the author to be long concealed. Its high reputation and excellence, induced Lord Granville, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, to send his private secretary to the bookseller, to inquire the name; and when he could not learn it, he left a letter to be conveyed to him. In consequence of this, Mr. Hutcheson became known to the noble peer* who, during the whole time of his government, treated him with distinguished marks of familiarity and kindness. Archbishop King held him in high esteem; and the friendship of that prelate was of great use in protecting him from two malicious attempts which were made to prosecute him in the archiepiscopal court, for undertaking the education of youth, without having qualified himself, according to the laws then existing, by subscribing to the ecclesiastical canons, and obtaining a licence from the bishop. Mr. Hutcheson, also, was highly esteemed by Primate Boulter, who, through his influence, madeadoofe tion to the university of Glasgow of a yearly fond, or bursary, to each student in that college. In 1788, he published a “Treatise on the Passions,” in octavo, which, together with his former work, has often been republished and has been admired for sentiment and language, even by those who have not coincided with the author in his philosophical opinions. About this time, he wrote none philosophical papers, accounting for laughter in a way different from Hobbes, and more honourable to human nature, which were published in the collection called
- 387 “Hibernicus’s Letters.” He also published an answer to some tetters in the u London Journal,” io 1728, sub-scribed Philaretus, containing objections to some parts of his philosophical doctrines in the “Enquiry, &c.” Both letters and answer were afterwards published in a separate pamphlet.
- He had now conducted his academy with great reputation and success for seven or eight years, and by his works was favourably known to the whole literary world, when Ireland was doomed to part with this genius of her own production, and give him to be an ornament and light to another land. The university of Glasgow, induced by the desire of having distinguished men to keep up her high fame a9 a seat of learning, invited Mr. Hutcheson, in 1729 to become their professor of philosophy. He accepted the honour; and, as the chair of moral philosophy was assigned to him, he had now full leisure, and every inducement to pursue with increasing assiduity his favorite study of human nature. His high reputation attracted many students from England and Ireland, and it was about this time probably he had his degree of LL. D. conferred on him. The remainder of his valuable life was spent in a very honourable manner; being divided between his studies, and the duties of his office, except what he allotted to friendship and society. Regarding the culture of the heart as the principal end of all moral instruction, he kept this constantly in view; and his uncommon vivacity of thought, and sensibility of temper, rendering him quickly susceptible of the warmest emotions upon the great subjects of morality and religion, the strain of his discourses commanded the attention of the students, and at the same time left strong impressions on their minds. Having occasion every year to explain the origin pf government, and to compare {he different forms of it, he took particular care, when he was upon this subject, to inculcate the importance of civil and religious liberty to the happiness of mankind; and on this point he always dwelt with peculiar pleasure, treating it at
- great length with equal force of argument, and earnestness of persuasion. His attention, however, was not confined to the pupils under his own immediate care; he endeavoured to be useful to the students in all the different faculties; and was peculiarly solicitous to be serviceable to those in divinity. He was a valuable member of the university in all other respects, as well as that of professor; his great abilities qualifying him, and his zeal prompting him, on all occasions, to promote its civil as well as litenuy interests. A firm constitution, with pretty uniform state of good health, excepting some slight attacks of the gout, seemed to promise the world a long enjoyment of his valuable life; but he died of a sudden attack of that disease in his fifty-third year, in 1747-
- He had married soon after his settling in Dublin, Mrs. Mary Wilson, the daughter of a gentleman in the county of Longford, by whom he had a son, Francis Hutcheson, M.D. who published from the original MS. of his father, “A System of Moral Philosophy/9 in three books, Glasgow, 1755, 2 vols. 4to. To this work is prefixed, “Some Account of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Author/9 by Dr. Leechman, professor of divinity in the same university.
- Dr. Hutcheson acquired a lasting fame by his academical lectures; and he did an inestimable benefit to moral science, by diffusing a taste for analytical investigation, to which the world is indebted for the highly esteemed works of those authors mentioned at the commencement of this article, by means of whose labours this branch of philosophy has since made so remarkable an advancement.
- JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON,
- AN eminent lawyer and senator, was the son of Francis Hely, Esq. and received his education in the university of Dublin. At a very early period, he distinguished him-
- 3£9 self by his talents and academical acquirements, as a very promising candidate for the profession of the law, to which he was destined, and of which he became a very splendid ornament. He was called to the Irish bar in Michaelmas term 1748, and afterwards took the additional name of Hutchinson in right of his wife, Christina, daughter of Lorenzo Nixon, of Murny, in the county of Wicklow, Esq. and niece and heiress of Richard Hutchinson, Esq. of Knocklofty, in the county of Tipperary. With family connexions of high respectability, a learned and accomplished education, and a commanding eloquence, Mr. Hutchinson rapidly made his way to eminence in his profession; and at an early period, obtained a seat in the House of Commons, the great lottery for advancement, to which, even up to the hour of its final dissolution on the Union, the gentlemen of the Irish bar, looked as the most lucrative mart of talents, and the certain road to power and wealth. His political information, and his powers of oratory, soon rendered his alliance and support a desirable acquirement with the government of that day. He speedily acquired the honourable distinction of a silk gown; and, in the year 1762, received the appointment of his majesty’s prime serjeant at law, which office he retained until 1774, when he resigned that and all the emoluments of his legal profession, to embrace the appointment of provost of Trinity College, Dublin, on the death of Francis Andrews, L L. D.; which office he retained till his death, in 1795. He represented for many years the city of Cork, in parliament, and in that assembly was long eminent for the splendour of his talents, and the powers of his eloquence.
- In his personal contests with the celebrated Mr. Flood, (for, in the earlier part of their parliamentary career, they were engaged in many,) Mr. Hutchinson was supposed to have had the advantage. The respect which he uniformly observed towards the House, and the style of his eloquence, might have contributed somewhat to this. His oratory was of that gayer kind, which captivates an Irish
- audience, and incorporated itself more easily with the subjects which, at that period, engaged the attention of the House of Commons.
- To the anger of Flood, Hutchinson opposed the powers of ridiculeto his strength, refinementto the weight of his arguments, an easy, flexible, ingenuity, nice discrimination, and graceful appeal to the passions. Did the debate run high - Flood alternately displayed austere reasoning and tempestuous reproof: his colours were chaste, but gloomy. Hutchinson’s, on the contrary, were “those which April wears,” bright, various, and transitory; but it was like a vernal evening after a storm; and he was held the more successful, because the more pleasing. He always evinced a great sense of public propriety. He never seemed tedious, but he sometimes enlarged on subjects more than was necessary, a defect which his enemies criticised with peculiar severity. Mr. Gerard Hamilton, a judge of public eloquence seldom equalled* observed, “that he was the speaker, who, in support of the government, had always something to say which gratified the House: - that he could go out in all weathers, and, as a debater, was therefore inestimable.” As a forensic orator, he not only excelled in the fluency and elegance of his speeches, but in the tactics of diffuse* ness, where the nature of his subject, or the lack of strong argument, for the interests of his clients, required a proftk sion of words, either to cover the weakness of his caws, to drown the reasonings, or limit the reply of his antagonist, or to weary the patience of a judge or jury; and was sometimes in the habit of puzzling the intellect, and trying the patience, of Lord Chancellor Lifford, who has fra* quently, in the fervour of a keen appetite, partly interrupted him with - “Mr. Hutchinson, I have not the least doubt of your eloquence; and I only request you wiU come to the point, as briefly as may be convenient-* In the year 1760, he left the Opposition, in whose ranks he had been a formidable ally - and accepted the office of prime serjeant. Some of his enemies attempted I®
- 851 attack bid in the House of Commons; as a deserter from his political friends. But he was a man of high spirit, and asserted himself in so firm and lofty a tone, that it was thought prudent to attack him no more. Mr. Hutchinson’s resignation of the prime serjeantcy, and acceptance of the provostship of Trinity College, though highly gratifying to his classical ambition, was perhaps an imprudent step, because its results were not only injurious to his peace of mind, but preclusive to all hopes of further advancement in his profession, to the highest honours of which he would otherwise most probably have attained. The provostship was the capital prize in the lottery of learning which the fellows of the university considered peculiarly and exclusively the right of their order. The clergy could not have been more offended at seeing the archiepiscopal mitre placed on the head of a physician, nor the army at finding a churchman their commander-in-chief, than were the monks of Trinity, on viewing a professional alien, transferred from the forensic drudgeries of the bar, to the throne of learning, and ruling over men who had devoted their lives to lite-rary and philosophical science ip that college, whose honours and emoluments tfiey considered as their legitimate inheritance. They, therefore, regarded not only with jealousy, but marked hostility, the appointment of Mr. Hutchinson; and this hostility was, after a short time, much exasperated by an attempt of the new provost to innovate on the profound gravity of alma mater9 by introducing the manly exercises, and the polite accomplishments, as part of a system hitherto exclusively devoted to scholastic studies. Instead, therefore, of implicitly following the steps of his predecessors, he formed the project of rendering the university, a school of elegance as well as of literature and science. He knew that a very great majority of the students in the university had no views to professional pursuits, but were intended to move in life as private gentlemen, and were sent there by their parents merely to complete their classical studies, and occupy
- their minds during the years of adolescence! in a manner suited to fit them for intercourse in their appropriate rank of society. To such students the polite accomplishments were more an object than abstruse learning or profound science. Those accomplishments, necessary to gentlemen! must be acquired at some time. The Irish metropolis has presented few, and but very detached and imperfect means for such acquirements. The academic grave, or park, at the rear of the university, allowed no other sources of recreation or amusement, but leaping and football; amusements which, however conducive to manly vigour, robust health, and rude agility, were but ill calculated to form gentlemanly manners, or graceful deportment. Horsemanship, fencing, music, drawing, dancing, and modern languages, had no place within the university indeed, they were almost proscribed within its walls; where every thing incompatible with the austerities of study was discountenanced by the fellows, and could only be acquired out of doors, at a very heavy expense from occasional and very incompetent masters, besides exposing the pupils to the risk of improper intercourse and vulgar association. This was a defect in the Irish system of academical education, sensibly felt by the parents of pupils. It had by no means escaped the notice of Mr. Hutchinson, and, to remedy that defect, was one of his first objects. He thought it much more eligible to afford to young gentlemen, within the walls of the university, the means of acquiring every accomplishment necessary to their rank, under approved and skilful masters, than leave them to seek at random elsewhere for irregular and imperfect instruction, or be exposed to the temptation of spending their hours of amusement at taverns, billiard rooms, or gaining tables; instead of attaching them to more eligible intercourse within their college, and occupying their minds, in the hours of relaxation from learned studies, by attractions really conducive to their personal improvement.
- Indeed, the system of college discipline for a long series
- of years previous to the presidency of Mr. Hutchinson, gave facilities for the wildest irregularity in the conduct of the students. The taverns, the billiard rooms, the gaming tables, and places of still worse resort, were crouded ^very night with young gownsmen, and even those who, obedient to the last summons of the ten o’clock bell, hurried within the gates, for fear of lecture or rustication, afterwards, instead of retiring to bed, scaled the college walls, and returned to their nocturnal haunts, where, elevated with wine, they sallied forth from those orgies, scoured the streets in tipsey groupes, broke the lamps, beat the watchmen, attacked all whom they met, regardless of age, sex, or condition. They were at open war with the middling and lower orders of citizens; perpetually in midnight broils with butchers’ boys, city apprentices, and others, who frequently mustered in groups, either for self-defence, or to avenge some former outrage, upon the collegians, who made common cause against all classes but their own. Hevegh for Trinity! was at once their parole and watchword; and scarcely a night passed without some formidable fray, or mischievous frolic of their contrivance. But the night which followed their day of half-yearly examinations, was always a night of terror to all who ventured into the streets in the vicinity of the college. On this night they paid off their scores on the common enemy. They sallied forth from the taverns, heated by wine, and paraded the streets, with bludgeons and drawn swords, assaulting all they met. They attacked the theatre, knocked down the door-keepers, forced their way to the galleries, pit, boxes, and even to the stage and green-room; put the whole audience and corps dramatique to the route; and then rushed forth again to wreak their vengeance on their devoted enemies, the watchmen, chairmen, and hackney coachmen, and all who ventured to oppose their career. In these desperate conflicts, many wounds and fractures were interchanged, and not unfrequently lives lost. Such was the state of things up to the time of Mr. Hutchinson’s induction to the academic chair; and against this system his best exertions were zealously directed. Measures of severity,fines, rustications, and expulsions,bad proved ineffectual, - and, therefore, others were to be tried, apparently more indirect, but rapidly more effectual. Amongst these means was a project, for blending with the severer studies of the Parthenon, the more vigorous and attractive exercises of the Gymnasium. A riding-house was to be erected, for instructions in horsemanship; accomplished masters in fencing, dancing, and music, as well as in the moderfl European languages, were to be appointed; and a new era was about to dawn in the system of academical tuition; when the fellows, roused from their sound slumbers by the rumour, took the alarm at these unstatutable novel* ties, and those birds of Minerca, dreading the prophana* tion of her temple, and the consequent desertion of the goddess, emerged from the gloom of their ivied and hooted, in harsh concert, against their new provost; and his menaced arrangements. All the rusty armour of college wit was hastily furbished for the war, which immediately broke out against Mr. Hutchinson, in pasquinades, lampoons, epigrams, doggrel rhymes, pamphlets, essays, and newspaper squibs. The chief engineer of this ordnance was the late Doctor Patrick Duigenan, of virulent memory, then one of the senior fellows of the university; and no man ever proved himself more skilled in the pyrotechnics of vituperation. He was an accomplished master in the science of scurrility, and possessed all that happy coarseness and copia verborum, that might have well entitled him to a professor’s chair, bad the elo* quence of the fish-market formed a branch of study in the college system. The Hibernian Journal, a popular newspaper of the day, became, on this occasion, a gratuitous channel for the ridicule and sarcasm of the doctor and his partisans. He attacked the provost under the appellation of Prancer, allusive to the horsemanships dancing, fencing, 8cc. which he proposed to introduce; and these fugitive effusions were afterwards collected into a volume, published under the title of Praflcenme*
- . One of the points of attack which lay most exposed to tfae doctor and He coadjutors/ was the eminent alacrity ediaoed by Mr. Hutchinson, to reap the full benefits of patronage from the government he had so eminently served;.and to let no post of emolument pass him unasked, which could be had for solicitation, or acquired by address. He had for many years enjoyed the prime ser- jcadtcy, a lucrative and honourable post in the law; he held, at the same time, the sinecure appointments of searcher, and packer, and comptroller, and guager, in the easterns; be had also the sinecure post of alnager of Ireland, which waft the collectorship of a duty on woollen cloths, typified by a leaden seal of his office affixed to each piece; and, at one time, when the tide of patronage flowed too tardily for his wishes, he became urgent with the then chief governor, Lord Townsend, who told him banteringly, that really nothing had fallen in of late worth his acceptance, but a majority of horse - never supposing that such a post could be acceptable to a law officer of the crown. Mr. Hutchinson, however, convinced him to the contrary, by actually soliciting the commission until something better should occur. It was granted, and, although he did not fill it in person, he found a friend to substitute, for certain adequate considerations. He was at the same time a privy councillor, and held the high office of secretary of state. There is on record a bon mot of Lord North’s, reflecting archly upon this propensity to place-seeking statesmen. The story says, that when Mr. Hutchinson once paid his devoirs at the royal levee, Mt St. James’s palace, and was introduced in the usual forms, his late majesty privately asked Lord North, who that gentleman was? The facetious minister answered, “that is your majesty’s principal secretary of state on the Irish establishment; a man, on whom, if your majesty were pleased to bestow both England and Ireland, he would ask for the Isioof Man for a potato garden.” The college Was now split into hostile Actions. The fellows and then partisans on the one side, and a host of
- the gentlemen pensioners and junior students adhered to the side of the provost. The severity of Dr. Duigenan was not limited to the productions of his pen; - for his abuse of the provost sometimes extended to coarse personal scurrility; but it was deemed beneath notice. For, although the provost was a man of high spirit, he held it incompatible with the decorum of his station to seek personal satisfaction from the doctor, whose courage was held to be rather problematical, and who would be more likely to choose the court of King’s Bench, than the field of honour, to settle any claims of that nature. The students who adhered to the provost’s cause, also incurred the hostility of the doctor and fellows, and felt considerable impediment to their graduation, on that account. The provost had, at this time, three of his sons in the university; Richard, the present Lord Donoughmore, - John, the present Lord Hutchinson, - and Francis, a junior bro-ther, who, as well as the eldest, was afterwards called to the bar. They were but striplings at the time, yet inheriting the spirit of their venerated father, they would not have hesitated to call the doctor to account, had they not been restrained by their father’s strict injunctions to the contrary. There were two of the grown students, the sons of Mr. Meyers, the college architect, who have since attained high distinction in the army; they were the prot6g6s of the Hutchinson family, and they resolved, wholly unknown to their patron, to call the doctor to account in an honourable way. The brothers were comely and athletic, and extremely like each other. One of them deputed the other to bear a challenge to the doctor, who was himself a practising barrister, and did not choose to settle such affairs with pistols: he understood the safer maxim, cedant ar ma logos, and he indicted, as he thought, the bearer of the challenge in the court of King’s Bench: but, when the day of trial arrived, he found, on coming to give his evidence, that he had selected the wrong name for crimination, and that his indictment attached to the sender, and not the bearer of the hostile message. He l
- wai, therefore, defeated in his prosecution, but consoled himself by saying, “that though he was disappointed now, he^hould be more certain the next time; for, if another challenge was brought him, he should cut off the bearer’s eap, and match them to his head in court.” This subterfuge, however, did not quite answer the learned doctor’s purpose. The imputation of cowardice V|as as highly disgraceful with the Irish bar, as it could be in the military profession; and the doctor, in consequence of his prosecution, quickly found himself in Coventry with his brother gownsmen, and that nothing could restore him to their intercourse but the purification of his Aonoar. He resolved, therefore, to take the first opportunity, which was soon afforded him by the very youth he had prosecuted, who sent him a message by a herald with whom there could be no shuffling. The doctor accepted the invitation. The next morning was appointed for the interview. His antagonist, with a friend, was first on the ground. The doctor’s delay excited some doubts $ but a hackney coach, in which were the doctor and his second, was seen approaching, and soon drew up close to the scene of action; immediately the doctor descending from the off side, made the delour round the vehicle, and followed by his second, advanced towards his antagonist in a very formidable stile. He was muffled to the chin in a heavy great coat, his nose surmounted by a huge pair of spectacles, and with a large bell-muzzled blunderbuss raised to his shoulder, he marched towards his opponent, and demanded, “where was the villain that bad designs upon his life - that he might blow him to atoms.” The opposite second demanded a parley, and remonstrated on the total unfitness of fighting with such a weapon: but the doctor would hear no argument; “he came there to fight, and not to talk he was not obliged to please any man’s fancy in the choice of Ms weapon, and he would fight with no other. - Where was his antagonist I and why did be not take his ground -(cocking
- and presenting his wall-piece with deliberate aim.) It was VOL. u. z
- impossible for a second to allow his principal to engage against such formidable odds. There was no other blunderbuss at hand, to balance advantages: the battle was adjourned - and this rare de guerre saved the doctor’s credit in a way not very compatible with the laws of honour.
- The printer of the Hibernian Journal, who was the midwife of the doctor’s scurrilous muse, now beeaaie aw object for vengeance to a number of students of the pe vost’s party; and they determined to punish him by a few of their own, which had no place in the statute book*. About a dozen of these youngsters came with a hackney coach to the printer’s shop-door, on an autumnal evening, after nightr-fall. He was lured by a sham message to attend a customer in the carriage, towards which he had no sooner advanced on the pavement, than his retreat wo cut off from his house by a detachment who surrounded and forced him into the carriage, where be wo secured by those within, and the rest being well armed, formed air escort to the vehicle, which was driven off at ftijf gaHop to the college square, where the outer gates being cfasedL the unfortunate printer was forcibly subjected to the discipline of the pump, and while under the operation, kicked and pummelled most unmercifully, until his life was in danger; when be was rescued by some other students, from the gripe of his tormentors, and sent back1 to his own house in the same vehicle that brought him. This outrage excited considerable agitation; many of the assailants were rusticated. The printer was confined several weeks under medical care; he was at length enabled to ascertain only one of the offenders, a young American, then a student, and since afellowanA pwritn~ wentary representative of the college. He genmously waived his claims for a severe judgment, and »subsequent action for damages,*on condition of the offender^ making a contrite apology.
- We decline farther details on the events of this corniest. It does not appear that the plan of the GymMMmn
- HUtCHlNfcdN.
- ihto AVer carried iWtW execution. But Mr. Hutchinson notified MB prbtofctaAiip during his life- He Wright, bad he chosen, have been derated to the honours of the peerage; but circumstances induced him to accept that distinction for his family in the person of his lady, who was created a baroness, by the title 6f Baroness Dondughmore, October MT, 1788, With remainder to her heirs. Het ladyship’ died’ on the 44th of June,1 1788, and was succeeded in the: titfe, by her eldest sbn, Richard Hely Hutchinson, the present earl, who Was advanced to the dignity of viscount oh the 7th of November, 1797, and to that of an 0ar1, on the 89th December, 1800, with collateral remainder to his brother.
- Mr. Hutchinson, during, the whole time of his collegiate dignity, retained also his seat in parliament for the city of Co/k. He was u zealous supporter of many public measures which he deemed of solid advantage to his country: - the bill for octennial parliaments, for free trade, and the bill for the emancipation of his catholic fellow-subjects, in which last be wab followed with hereditary talents by his sbhs. Tbottgh the vigour of his early eloquence declined4 With his advanced years, he spoke on the catholic bill, arid that proposed for parliamentary reform in his old age, with powers apparently undiminished1. Time had, ihdCed, changed his manner; but even so chataged, it was stiff the placid ihanner of dignified age; and the House listened to hint with respect, deference, and satisfaction. At a somewhat earlier period - when he had long enjoyed a parliamentary fame, - it was said by those who cdnld etivy without rivalling his1 talents, that he was no orator; atad, after the most lucrative practice at the bar, that he WaSno lawyef. But eminence at the bar, and in the senate, cduld never have been attained amidst such rivals as he had to contend with without abilities of the ’first class. The public ultimately decided with propriety and candour. All the force of Wit and talent arrayed against him in his academical contests, could not authenticate their sup- pbbeddifotavferieb of his-defeCtive Abilities’. Ais couhtry*
- thougbt far differently; and his reputational a man of genius, activity, and political knowledge, remained nndi- minished to the last. He died in 1795.
- JOHN JARVIS, AN eminent painter on glass, was born in Dublin about 1749. He first practised his art in his native city, in the prosecution of which be was much assisted by the chemical instructions of the late Dr. Cunningham. He then removed to London, where he was soon distinguished, and was employed to execute those beautiful works in painted glass at Oxford and Windsor, from the designs and under the inspection of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. President West.
- Jarvis died in London in 1804, greatly regretted by the admirers of the fine arts.
- ROBERT JEPHSON,
- A DRAMATIST and poet of considerable talent; horn in Ireland in 1736. He appears to have profited by a liberal education, but entered early into the army, and attained the rank of captain in the 73rd regiment of foot on the Irish establishment. When that regiment was reduced in 1763, he was put on the half-pay list. In 1763, he became acquainted with the late William Gerard Hamilton, Esq. who was charmed with his liveliness of fancy and uncommon talents, and for about five years they lived together in the greatest and most unreserved intimacy; Mr. Jepbson usually spending the summer with Mr. Hamilton at his house at Hampton Coort, and also giving him much of his company in town during the winter. In 1767, Mr. Jephson married one of the daughters of Sir Edward Barry, Bart, a celebrated physician and author, and was obliged to bid a long farewell to hie friends in London, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Burke, Mr. Charles Townsend, Garrick, Goldsmith, &c. in consequence of
- bavihg’actepted the office of master of the horse to Lord Viscount Townsend, then appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Mr. Hamilton also used his influence to procure Mr* Jephson a permanent provision on the Irish establishment of SOOL a-year, which the Duke of Rutland, from a personal regard and a high admiration of Mr. Jephson’s tridents, increased to 600Z. per annum, for the joint lives of himself and Mrs. Jephson. In addition to this proof of his kindness and esteem, Mr. Hamilton never ceased to watch over Mr. Jephson’s interests with the most lively solicitude, constantly applying in person in his behalf to every new lord-lieutenant, if he were acquainted with him, or, if that were not the case, contriving by some circuitous means to procure Mr. Jephson’s re-appointment to the office originally conferred upon him by Lord Townsend; and by these means chiefly, he was continued for a long series of years under twelve successive governors of Ireland, in the same station which had always before been considered a temporary office. In Mr. Jephson’s case, this office was accompanied by a seat in the House of Commons, which he occasionally amused by his wit, though he does not at any time appear to have been a profound politician. His natural inclination was for literary pursuits; and he supported Lord Townsend’s government with considerable ability in the “Bachelor,” a set of periodical essays, which he wrote in conjunction with Mr. Courtenay, the Rev. Mr. Burroughs, and others. He died at his house at Blackrock, near Dublin, of a paralytic disorder, May 31st, 1803.
- As a dramatic writer, his claims seem to be founded chiefly on his tragedies of “Braganza,” and the “Count of Narbonne.” Braganza was very successful on its original appearance, but fell into neglect after the first season, 1775. Horace Walpole, whose admiration is expressed in the most extravagant terms, addressed to the author M Thoughts on a Tragedy,” in three letters, which are included in his printed works. In return, Mr. Jephson took the story of his “Count of Narbonne,” from Wah
- JOHNSTON-
- pole’s“Castle of Otranto,” and few pagedienin
- CHARLES JOHNSTON, on JOHNSON, AUTHOR of the celebrated novel, “Cbrysal; or, the Adventures of a Guinea,” was bom about the year 1719, at Carrigogunnell, in the county of Limerick, and STUB descended from a branch of the Johnstons of Annandaim He was educated at Trinity College; was called to the bar, and came over to England for practice in that psufisto sion; but deafness preventing him from attending the courts, be confined himself to the employment of a cham* her counsel. His success in the arduous profession of the law, not being so great as he expected, be was obliged to have recourse to his pen, and produced, in 176% the tarn first volumes of “Cbrysal,” which sold with such rapHty1* that in 1765, he was induced to add two more volumes, aa< inferior to the former, either in merit or success.
- In 178% having some prospect of bettering his fortunes in India, be embarked for Bengal with Captain Mesis, iethe Brilliant, which was wrecked off Johanna, an ialandaitoatad
- MS between Madagascar and the continent of Africa. Captain Mena, with hissoo, daughter, Mr. Johniton, and some others, were saved, and ultimately reached India. Here he eaipbyed his abilities in writing essays for the Bengal newspapers, under the signature of u Oneiropolosand a* length became a joint proprietor of a paper, and by this and some other speculations acquired property. He died thereabout lBOtk The other worksof this author are, “The Reverie," Svols. 12mo.; “The History of Arsacee,” £ vois. 18mo; ‘‘ The Pilgrim," £ vols. l£mo.; “Juniper Jack," £ vela. Iflmo.
- HENRY JONES.
- THAT genius is of no country, and that it is not attached to any sphere of life, the subject of the present memoir fully proves. He was a dramatic writer of no mean celebrity, and was born at Drogheda, in the county of Meath. He was bred a bricklayer; but having an innate attachment to the Muses, he pursued his devotions to them even during the labours of his mechanical avocations, and composing alternately a line of brick and a line of verse, his walls and poems rose in growth together, and that with an equal, degree of durability, time has fully determined. His early attempts (as is often the case with bards of bumble origin) were panegyrics. These procured him some friends; and, in 1745, when the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield went over to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, the talents of Jones were recommended to the protection of his Dordahip, who was not more remarkable for his own shining talents and mental endowments, than for his Melons and liberal patronage of genius wheresoever he might cbaoce to meet it, His excellency, delighted with the discovery of this mechanic muse, not only favoured him with his own patronage and generous munificence; but also thought proper to transplant him to the more thriving dhuuieof England* Accordingly, when he left Ireland, be
- brooght Jones with bim, and sedulously endeavoured -to’ promote his interest, and advance his reputation, by vo» commending him to many of the nobility; and not only by his influence procured bim a large subscription for rhe’ publishing a collection of his “Poems •” but it is said eves took on himself the correction and alteration of his tragedy, “The Earl of Essex,” and also the trouble of prevailing on the managers of Covent Garden theatre to bring it os the stage. This nobleman likewise recommended hiurin the warmest manner to the celebrated Colley Cibber, whose friendly and humane disposition induced him to render Jonesa thousand acts of friendship,and even to make several strong efforts by his court interest to secure him the succession of the laurels after his death. At this period, nothing seemed wanting to complete his future success in life; and with these favourable prospects before him, it might rationally have been expected, that he would have passed through life with such a degree of conduct as to have ensured his own happiness, and done credit to the partiality of his friends; but this unfortunately was not the case. * His temper/’ says one who seems to have been thoroughly acquainted with his character, * was, in - consequence of the dominion of his passions, uncertain and capricious, easily engaged, and easily disgusted; and as economy was a virtue which could never be taken into his catalogue, he appeared to think himself born rather to be supported by others, than under a duty to secure to himself the profits which his writings, and the munifioenee of his patrons from time to time afforded.” Jones, who had in early life sacrificed to vanity, as he grew older, grew sturdy and unpropitiating, and thusoffeo- ing no more the food expected by the great, the /bed expected from them was (of course) withheld. Aft* experiencing several reverses of fortune, which ab rtnfcansn* able spirit and a want of prudence contributed tO;d*W da him, he died in great want, in April 1770, in a garret belonging to the master of the Bedford coffeehouse, upon whose charity he had for some time lingered reft *
- misevtlrieexisteace, having an example (often set, and too often followed) to those who, treating with otter contempt the maxims of prudence, proceed from profosion to poverty, and‘terminate an existence, which might otherwise have been happy, in the precincts of a gaol, or in any hovel that enseal humanity rmay -have»pointed out for their relief.
- His principal performance, “The Earl of Essex,” appeared m 1753* and ran twelve nights. He also left a tragedy unfinished, entitled, “The Cave of Idra,” which falling into the hands of Dr. Hifferoan, he enlarged it into five acts, and brought it out under the title of “The Heroine of the Cave.” His last publications were, “Merit;” ” The Relief;” and “Vectis; or, the. Isle of Wight,” poems: but his poetical worth, though far from being contemptible, was not of the first-rate kind.
- S» WILLIAM JUMPER. “Faw men,” says Charnock, “who have not lived to attain the rank of commanders-in-chief, or, at least flag officers, have ever acquired so much renown as this gentleman,” who was born at Bandon, in the county of Cork. His first commission as second lieutenant of the Resolu-tion, was given him by Lord Dartmouth, on November 1688. Having served afterwards with distinguished reputation, in various ships, his diligent attention to the duties of his several stations, procured him, in 1694, the command of the Weymouth, a fourth rate, in which he quickly acquired the greatest renown. On the 17th of June, being on a cruise off the coast of Ireland, he pursued and captured the Invincible, a very large French privateer; on the 31st of the same month, after a very long chase, he took a second, which had done incredible mischief to the commerce of the allied powers; and, on the 31st of August, he took a third, mounting twenty-eight guns. The captain of this vessel, being a man of most daring courage, and having a chosen, as well as a numerous aww to support him, did not surrender till after a desperate
- action, in which be had thirty men kiliad, twmrtyiwe woended, the major part of them mortally. < On the gSrd of September, this career of success was somewbatohecked; having, daring hh chase of a. large French ship, carried away his foretoymast, and foretop-gaUanMnast; hia anta-gonist, drawing courage from thia miefirttnoe, tacked aqd bore down upon him; but on Captain Jumper receiving him with a hearty broadside, disliking, so roegfa 8 salutation, be betook himself to immediate Right, the disabled state of the Weymouth preventing her-AM pursuing.
- In May 1695, he captured two privateers; aod, on the 19th of July, he fell in with a large one from St. Maioes, pierced for fbrtyreigbt guns, and carrying thirtyfix. Being of much larger dimensions than the Weymouth herself, and the French commander a man of considerable gallantry, a very spirited contest ensued; but the enemy having lost all their masts and a considerable number of men, were at length compelled to surrender. In Timm bar, he captured another large privateer; having io the interval taken several very valuable priaee. .
- The rapid tide of success, which, with few- euoeptiaao, had so long attended him, was interrupted m the fallow* ing month, by a very melancholy private misfortune. Ac he was coming on shore at Plymouth, in company with his wife, and Captain Smith of the Portland, the piounce overset, and Captain Smith, as well as Mrs. Jumper unhappily lost their lives. As soon as he had io NOS degree recovered from this shock, Captain Jumper petto son, and eaptnred, in February, a large privateer, ood several other prizes of inferior consequence. He cow* tinned, during the whole of this year, in the acme kiodef service; and in the beginning of December, captured’a French ship of war, mounting foriy»mgbt gone, which, having struck on a rock during the engagement, ombaom afterwards. On the tend of the Mme mouth, he foil-io with a ship of war, mounting fifty gem, which .be io nA probability would have taken, bed not ngBtijreck|h damage
- JUMPER- 347
- and aoufoywu respited from several partridges blowing up on boil’d the Weynnptb. The enemy attempted «? escape; hut Captain Jumper, haying succeeded ip extinguishing the fire, pursued her, apd brought her again tp pfateactwp; hyr hpwsprit, however, carrying away the Weymouth’s maipmsst, she finally escaped; thus depriving Captain Jumper of the reward his gallantry merited, and would, bat fi*r tb*t accident, undoubtedly have obtained. After a popfinMd eerie? of brilliant accomplishments, hp was appointed to the Lenog, which asrved under Sir George Rook# in the expedition agaiqsf Cadis j in the attack against which be bore a greater part than qpy other qaval commander; completely executing the arduous services entrusted to him with the most spirited address. The brilliant success which crowned the expedition under Sir George Rookc, two years afterwards, is well known; and in every operation the bravery of Captain Jumper was singularly conspicuous. After being most eminently instrumental in the reduction of Gibraltar, be signalised himself no less remarkably at the battle off Malaga, having engaged and driven three of the enemy’s ships out of the line. He way dangerously wounded in this encounter, but was not thereby prevented from continuing in service; nor does it appear that he even quitted his ship on that account* It if a singular circumstance, that after the accession of Queen Anne, during a service of many years continuance, he never changed his ship. Soon after his return to England, hp received the hopour of knighthood, OU a public and highly-merited mark of the royal apprab* tjoa of his conduct,
- The extreme caution of the enemy, after the battle off hfaJaga, inducing them to leave the English undisputed masters of the Mediterranean, Sir Wjlliam had subsequently little opportunity of signalising himself.’ While waiting at Lisbon, in January 1705-6, to convoy the fleet to England, be dispatched to Gibrajtar one of the vessels npder his command with a supply of money, for want of which the garrison way almost;n a state of mutiny, And though tfiiy anecdote may appear, perhaps top trivial for
- insertion, yet when we consider that by so doing he voluntarily diminished his own force, and incurred an additional responsibility, which the bravest men have frequently wished to avoid, we may probably be induced to attach a greater share of merit to this unostentatious transaction, than to others which have stood much higher in public esteem.
- Returning from the straits with Sir Cloudesly Shovd, he arrived at Falmouth in safety, on October 22nd, 1707, in the evening of which day, the melancholy catastrophe which befel Sir Cloudesly and a part of the fleet offScilly, took place. It is believed that he never went to sea after this time. He bad a handsome pension granted to him on his retirement from the service, and no person appears to have thought this mark of royal munificence, or public gratitude, improperly or extravagantly bestowed. In 1714, he was appointed commissioner of the navy, resident at Plymouth; an office he did not long live to enjoy, dying on the 12th of March, in the following year.
- GEOFFREY KEATING,
- THE celebrated Irish historian, was bora in the province of Munster, of English ancestry, and flourished in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. He was educated for the Roman Catholic church, and having received at a foreign university the degree of D. D. he returned to his native country, and became a celebrated preacher. Being well versed in the ancient Irish language, he collected the remains of the early history and antiquities of his native country, and formed them into a regular narrative. This work, which he finished about the accession of Charles L commences from the first planting of Ireland, after the deluge, and goes on to the seventeenth year of King Henry II., giving an account of the lives and reigns of one hundred and seventy-four kings of the Milesian race; and containing what many have regarded as an exuberance of fictitious personages and fabulous narratives.
- This work remained in MS., in the original language,
- till it was translated into English by Dermot O’Connor, and published in Landon in 1723: - a better edition appeared in 1738, with plates of the arms of the principal Irish families; and an appendix, (not in the former,) respecting the ancient names of places.
- Keating died about the middle of the seventeenth century, or, as some think, much earlier, about. 1623. He wrote some pieces of a religious cast, and two poems; one, an “Elegy on the death of the Lord Decies;” the other, a burlesque on his servant Simon, whom he compares with the ancient heroes.
- HUGH KELLY,
- A DBAMATIC and miscellaneous author of some celebrity, was born on the banks of the Lake of Killarney, in 1739. He served his apprenticeship to a stay-maker, at the expiration of which be set out for London, in 1760, in order to procure a livelihood by his business. This unfortunately he found very difficult, and was soon reduced to absolute want. In this forlorn situation, a stranger and friendless, he used to pass many of his hours at a public house in Rnssell-street, Covent Garden, much resorted to by the young players. Having an uncommon share of good humour and address, he soon attracted the attention of a club, who held their meetings there, and became so well acquainted with their characters, that he gave a humorous description of them in one of the daily papers, and the likenesses were so well executed as to draw their attention and. excite their curiosity to discover the author. Their suspicions soon fixed on Mr. Kelly, and from that time he became distinguished among them.
- An attorney, one of the members of this society, commiserating Mr. Kelly’s situation, invited him to his house, and employed him in copying and transcribing, an occupation which he prosecuted with so much assiduity, that he earned about three guineas a week. From his accidental acquaintance with some booksellers, he, in 1762, became the editor of the * Ladies’ MuseCm,” the * Coart Magazine/’ and exerted himself greatly in the various branches of periodical literature, being then lately married, and having an increasing family, whose sole dependence was on his industry.
- He wrote many political pamphlets. In 1767/ “The Babbler/’ appeared in two pocket volumes; also “Louisa Mrldmay,” and “Thespis,” a satire. In 4768, he produced his comedy of “False Delicacy,” the success of which may be judged from the circumstance of its being* tree*- lated into Portuguese, French, Italian, and German. After this, he wrote “A Word to the Wise;” and a tragedy, entitled “Clementina,” both of which were unsuccessful. The bad success of the two pieces’ above, is attributed to a report having been circulated that Kelly was employed to defend administration, as a pamphleteer. To prevail condemnation again taking place, in 1774, Justice Addington kindly helped to conceal the name of the red author, by lending his own to the comedy of“The Sdhool for Wives;” by this manoeuvre the critics were deceived1, and the play succeeded: however, after fhe character df the comedy was fully established, and any further concealment became unnecessary, Mr. Addington very gtntteely, in a public advertisement, resigned his bdrroWetf piudfW. Kelly’s next production was the “Romance’of att Hour,* a farce; then followed his comedy of “The’ Man of Reason,” which was unsuccessful. This Was his fast attempt; for the sedentary life, to which his Consltat labour subjected him, injured his health, and early* in 1777, an abscess formed in his side, which, after* few days illness, put a period to his existence, on 3rd February. He left behind him a widow and five children, of the last of which she was delivered about a month after hia death. Very soon after his decease, his comedy of
• - CAPTAIN R. KENT*/
- A BRAVE aeematr, Was the second soo of Sober Kent, Esq. late mayor of Cork, io which city the subject of thia memoir WM bom. He entered into the marine corps at ao early period of life, io which he served with Credit for twentynix years. He acted as captain of marines on board the Venerable, of seventy-four guns, under the command of Captain John Hunter, and, on the night of the «4th of November* 804, was shipwrecked in her on the rocks off Torbay. During that tremendous night be never quitted his commander, but stood alongside of him
- JOHN KEOGH, D-D.
- A VBRT lennud’ divine, was born about the middle of the last cenmtyyat Cioonelieve, near Limeriek^and-was evhMted1 at Trinity College, where he continued seven
- KING.
- yean. His learning was immense; so much so, that we are told “there were few branches of learning, from the alphabet to the oriental languages, but what he was acquainted with.”
- The following inscription is fixed in gold letters over one of the hall doors in Oxford University 2 -
“Reverend™ Dr. Johannes Keogh, magnus
- Hlbernictu solvebat talem questionem tali die*
- for answering a mathematical problem, sent from Bsri^ which could not be resolved by any other person in Great Britain.
- He was the author of a Hebrew Lexicon, a Latin Grammar, a Greek Grammar, and Demonstration of the Trinity, in Latin verse, which latter was shewn to Sir Isaac Newton, who highly approved of it.
- Dr. Keogh married the daughter of Dr. Clopton, of Stratford on Avon, by whom he had twenty-one children, six only of which survived him. The time of his deoeasc we are unacquainted with.
- DR. WILLIAM KING, THIS learned prelate, who distinguished himself greatly as a firm supporter of what was called the Protestant interest, was born at Antrim, May 1, 1650. He was educated at the grammar school of Dungannon, which he quitted at the age of seventeen, for Trinity College where he regularly took his degrees in arts. In 1076, Parker, Archbishop of Tuam, appointed him his chaplain, and presented him to a prebend, and afterwards to the precentorship of that cathedral. On the traaslalion of his patron to Dublin, he was promoted to the chancellorship of St. Patrick’s, and consequently to the care of the large and populous parish of St. Warburgh. Soon after the accession of James the Second, an oppoi* tunity offered for displaying his seal in the Protestant cause. Peter Manby, Dean of Deny, having recanted 1
- 333 and gone over to the Romish church, published, in 1687, • pamphlet in vindication of his conduct. This was answered by Mr. King; Manby replied, and King rejoined. On this Manby dropping the controversy, dispersed a sheet of paper, containing a succinct account of the reasons which influenced his secession, which was likewise answered by our author. During this controversy he was elected Dean of St. Patrick’s, and soon after took his doctor’s degree. Having been extremely active in pro noting the Revolution, be was twice imprisoned in Dublin castle, during the short slay of King James in Ireland, and is said to have been so peculiarly obnoxious to that monarch’s party, that his life was more than once in danger from them.
- In recompence for his seal and sufferings in the cause of the Revolution, he was created Bishop of Derry in 1691, and in the same year published his celebrated work, “The State of the Protestants of Ireland, under the late King James’s government,” &c.; a book which, being strongly imbued with party spirit, was at that time eagerly read, and is still frequently referred to. Bishop Burnet speaks of this work in very favourable terms; not so Mr. C. Leslie, who immediately attacked it, affirming that “there is not one single fact he has inquired into, but he found it false in whole or in part, aggravated or misrepresented, so as to alter the whole face of the story, and give it perfectly another air and turn; insomuch that, though many things he says, were true, yet be has hardly spoke a true word, that is, told truly and nakedly, without a warp.” Being now freed from all apprehensions of popery, the bishop’s fears for the safety of the establishment were directed to another quarter. A vast number of Scotch presbyterians having lately quitted their native country, and settled in his diocese, Dr. King’s endeavours to persuade them to conform, engaged him in a fresh controversy with Mr. Joseph Boyce, one of their ministers, in which, as usual, Dr. King bad the last word. In 1702, he pahlished his treatise u De Origine Mali,” in which be VOL n. A A
- advanced a theory on that subject which met with ¦swell opposition on the continent from the pens of Bayle, Leibnitz, and others. To these writers Dr. King, daring his life, published no reply, but left behind him a number of papers, in which he endeavours to vindicate his system from their objections. These papers coming into the possession of Mr. Edmund Law, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle, who had prepared a translation of the original treatise with notes, he enlarged the notes so far as to comprehend the substance of the papers, and published the whole in 1738. This book, which was for some yean in great vogue at Cambridge, has been long declining in reputation.
- Soon after the publication of this treatise, he was translated to the see of Dublin; and, in 1717, was appointed one of the lords justices, which office he again held in 1781 and 1723. He died at his palace in Dublin, May 8,1789.
- ROBERT KINGSMILL.
- THIS gallant officer, whose original name was Brice, was descended of a respectable family, long settled at Belfast, and was born about the year 1730. At a proper age he entered the royal navy, and after passing through the subordinate ranks with great credit, was appointed alieuteuant^in April 1756. In January 1761, he was sent to sea, for the first time in an independent station, as acting eommmider of the Swallow Bloop of war, with orders to cruise off the French coast, where he fell in with, and captured, alesoel without resistance, a privateer from Bayonne, called (he Sultan. In July of the same year, he was appointed to the command of the Basilisk bomb-ketch, which formed part of the expedition against Martinique, under Admiral Rodney. After the successful accomplishment of this service, Mr. Brice returned to England, and was appointed to command one of the yachts, then equipping for the purpose of convoying the late queen to this eenntty. Is the ensuingspring, he was raised to the rank of ptet eaptehj
- KINGSMII^L.
- bWf appointed to the Crescent frigate, w$s ordered fq the West Indies, QQ which station he regained till the pod qf 1764, when he returned to England. Being paid off in the ensuing spring, he retired to the comforts of domestic society, and, in 176(5, married Miss Kingspi}!, a Perkshire lady of very respectable family, and thus camp into the possession of a very considerable landed property, in consequence of which he assumed the name of Kipgs- mill.
- During the long peace which ensued, he declined ac* cepting any commission; but on the rupture with France* in 1780, he again embarked in his country’s service, and was appointed to the command of the Vigilant, of sixty- four guns, in which ship be was present at the action off Ushant. The rage of party, and the known independence of his principles, caused, as it is reported, the country to lose the advantages of his knowledge and abilities during the greater part of the war. The Vigilant being ordered to the West Indies, he removed from that ship, and it was pot till the accession of the Rockingham administration, in the spring of 1782, that he received a commission, appointing him to command the Elizabeth, of seventy-four guns. The great exertions made by the French to acquire a naval superiority in the East Indies, rendered it necessary to augment the British fleet on that station; accord* (ngly, an armament was fitted out for that purpose, con* fjsting of the Elizabeth, another seventy-four gun*ship, sijtty-four, and a frigate of thirty-two guns, and placed ppder the command of Captain Kingsmill. This squadron* after much delay, sailed from Spithead in the beginning pf 1783; but after having, with much difficulty* reached the Bay of Biscay, a continued tempest dispersed all the sjiipp which composed it, each of which* after fruitless efforts to proceed on the voyage, was compelled to return to England, which they were all fortunate enough to yeach. In t|e meanwhile, the preliminaries of peace having been cpnpluded* the necessity of the expedition Wi of fip.pjse, sflgersRded* The hpwaver, being
- placed on the peace establishment, Captain Kingsmilt retained his command for three years, at the expiration of which, he returned to the enjoyment of a quiet and honourable retirement.
- At the commencement of the war with France, in 1793, Mr. Kingsmill was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the white, and soon after appointed to the chief command on the Irish station. Here he bad occasion for the exertion of all the vigilance and activity which he possessed; and the long list of his captures is sufficient proof that he did not slumber at his post. Scarce a month passed for a considerable time, without the capture of some vessels of consequence; but these successes were trivial compared with that which he had the good fortune to effect in the month of July 1796. A squadron of four frigates had been fitted out at Brest, with all imaginable care, for the express purpose of committing depredations on the British trade in that quarter. These vessels were considered the best sailers in the French navy; they were manned with picked men, and commanded by officers of the highest character in their profession. Yet with all these advantages, they had scarcely made their appearance, ere they were met, engaged, defeated, and captured. Passing over a variety of minor successes, we come now to an event of greater importance than any in which it had hitherto fallen to the lot of Admiral Kingsmill to be engaged. The French had long meditated the reduction of Ireland; in order to effect which, they fitted out a formidable armament, consisting of seventeen ships of the line, with twenty-seven frigates and smaller vessels, having on board a considerable number of troops, which sailed from Brest in the hope of effecting an immediate descent. It would be a needless waste of time to enter into a detail of the disasters which befel this ill-fated armament, the discomfiture of which naturally produced a cessation from any similar attempt for several months. The duties of Admiral Kingsmill did not, however, cease or relax in consequence of this danger being averted; repeated cap- tares still continued to add to his reputation, and to that of those who acted under his instructions.
- For a period of more than twelve months, public affairs had continued to flow in the same regular channel, when the breaking out of the rebellion, and the expectation of succours from France, rendered it necessary for the admiral to exert redoubled vigilance. Emboldened by the posture of affairs in Ireland, France resumed her project; and the Hoche, a ship of the line, and eight frigates, having on board near five thousand troops, together with great quantities of arms and stores, destined for that country, found means to clear Brest harbour. No sooner, however, did they appear off the Irish coast, than they were met by Sir John Borlase Warren, and such as escaped from the general action, became a prey to Admiral Kings- mill and his cruisers. Thus devoid of these more potent antagonists, he continued on this station, industriously employing the same means which he had before exerted with so much effect against the enemies of his country, till towards the conclusion of the year 1800, when he resigned his command to Sir Alan Gardner; and, we believe, was never afterwards actively employed in the public service.
- RICHARD KIRWAN,
- Aw industrious and celebrated chemist and mineralogist, was a native of Galway, and descended from a respectable family. At an early age, being intended for the profession of medicine, he was sent to the college of the Jesuits, at St. Omer’s, for education; and, in illustration, of the ingenuity they exercised in directing the studies of their pupils, he was afterwards in the habit of relating the following anecdote. Having acquired, from some ridiculous cause, a dislike to the French language, he declared he would never learn it; be would read books in other languages, and apply to other objects of study, but he was determined never to learn French. His masters indulged him; they gave him books in English, Latin, German, &c., until
- 558 KIRtVAlf.
- they had discovered the strbrig bent of hfe ifaibd ibwdtdk chemistry, when they took awriy from him all books Connected with that science, except those written in French, and he was then under the necessity of learning thtt language to enable him to prosecute his favourite pursuit. Succeeding, on the death of his brother, to the family estate, he returned to Ireland, and abandoned all thbtightt of a profession; he devoted himself entirely to the study of mineralogy and of chemistry, in which latter fcieMb his exertions were very gteat, and soori established fbt him a reputation in almost every country in Europe though, through some fatality, attempting almost subject, he did not thoroughly succeed in any. Scarcely ever did he advocate a theory, which was not almost mediately discovered to be unfounded: he took grtik pains to refute authors who have never been readj arid evinced his learning more than his judgment, in quoting others that will never be believed. He nevertbdesl deserves the piaise, almost singular in these days, of beihg a man of science, when there was scarcely another mta bf science within his reach; and even at a late period of hA life, few friends could be found among his countrymen assist, and few rivals to stimulate him. He enjoyed the presidency of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Dublin Library Society; he was a fellow of the Royal Society, and of almost every literary body throughout Europe. His leisure hours were amused by the national mUMOf his country, in which Kirwan was an enthusiast. On OM occasion, he made a tour with Mr. Banting iato thtWobt unfrequented parts of Ireland, for the purpose of cfeitedtHlg old Irish airs, particularly those of Caladon tad Cbnader{ he procured very few of them in Donegal^ bat was molt successful in Galway; where a lady, who had invited tht travellers to her house, on discovering the motive of tbtit journey, sent a messenger thirty miles across the Coon toy it search of a harper, whose extensive acquaitotatoce wMi the national music amply compensated them for tof the trouble they had undergone. H
- the fatter yean of his life were devoted almost exclusively
- He died in Dublin, June 22, 1812, much lamented by his scientific countrymen. A Mineralogical Society, instituted some years since in Dublin, has been called The Karwamua Society.
- THE REV. WALTER BLAKE KIRWAN, THE celebrated preacher, was descended from an ancient and respectable Catholic family in the county of Galway. He was bora in 1754, in the shire town of that county* educated in the religion of his ancestors, and early destined by his parents to the church. For this purpose, he was sent to the college of English Jesuits at St. Omefs, for there was not at that time, nor for above forty years after- wards,any Catholic college in Ireland; aBd a professional education at Trinity College, Dublin, even bad it not been repugnant to his religious principles, was imprao ticable; as Catholics were not allowed to graduate without taking certain oaths inconsistent with the tenets of their church. It appears, that at a very early age Mr. Xirwan changed his views towards the church, or was persuaded by his friends to adopt more worldly and lucrative pursuits: for he embarked at the age of seventeen for the Danish island of St. Croix, in the West Indies under the auspices of a near relative of his father, who owned extensive possessions in that island; but after six years spent in a climate highly pernicious to hisconsti-
- tut ion, naturally delicate, and with a mind utterly irreconcilable to the spectacles of oppression, which the state of the West Indian negro slaves then presented, he quitted St. Croix in disgust, returned to Europe, resumed his religious purpose, and entered as a student at the university of Louvain, where, in due time, he was ordained of the priesthood; and very shortly afterwards promoted, for his learning and talents, to the professor’s chair, in natural and moral philosophy. In the year 1778, he accepted the appointment of chaplain .to the Neapolitan embassy at the court of London; and during his continuance in that office, attained much celebrity as a preacher with the members of his congregation; but as the Catholic population of the British metropolis, with the exception of foreigners and Irish, was then, as now, not numerous, Mr. Kirwan, as a pulpit orator, had by no means reached that general celebrity in this country by which he wa9 distinguished in his own, after his conformity to the established church. He is said to have published some sermons, which, for the same reasons that appear to have circumscribed his own celebrity at the time, have escaped the eye of literary criticism.
- At the time of his conformity to the established church* many conjectures were afloat as to the motives which induced him openly to renounce the faith in which he had been educated, and in which be was considered an accomplished ornament of his profession. The converoioa of a mere layman, would have excited little notice beyond the ordinary jealousies of the religious commuuity he deserted; but that of a clergyman, and so distinguished by oolleginta honours in a Catholic university and a Catholic country, excited a very different feeling, as well amongst the members of that church which be bad relinquished* as amongst the more distinguished classes of that to which he had revolted. But notwithstanding the eager expe tation of the higher orders of the established church in Ha native country, the scene of his conformity and theological fame, that he would have taken some signal cccmfop- to
- profess from the pulpit his reasons for renouncing the doctrines of the Romish church, those expectations were never realised; and the reverend orator never was known, publicly at least, to vindicate the motives of his conversion to the Protestant faith, by condemning the principles of that he had relinquished; for he carefully avoided polemical discusbion, and confined himself to the pure principles of Christian charity. Whatever were the ultimate views of the reverend orator, a circumstance, but little known to the public during his subsequent career of celebrity in the established church, seems to have mainly led to his conversion, and to have accelerated a purpose which perhaps be might not otherwise have had the courage to realise, under the moral certainty of a permanent hostility with his family and connexions.
- To the suite of the Neapolitan ambassador, to whom Mr. Kirwan was chaplain, the celebrated Signor Lunardi, of aeronautical fame, was attached as a page; and this gentleman, who was the first in this country that ventured to ascend in a balloon, and, like another Columbus, traverse those regions before unexplored by human ken, attracted at that moment much popular notice in London. For, notwithstanding the frequent experiments of this kind which bad been recently made in France by Montgolfier, and other aeronauts, the English public, yet incredulous on the subject, regarded it as an event at open war with the laws of gravitation; and therefore considered it a mere French hoax, and totally impossible. But Lunardi, who was a man of no philosophical knowledge, bad the courage to make the attempt in a balloon prepared for the purpose by a Monsieur Noble, a foreigner resident in London. He took his aerial flight with great firmness from the Artillery Ground, near Moor Fields, not without some risk, if be failed, of being sacrificed by the mob, whose curiosity had been twice before disappointed by other adventurers. He rapidly ascended to the higher regions of the atmosphere’ - entered a cloud, and vanished from all earthly view; and, after an aerial voyage of six or eight hours, landed about thirty mile* from London, and returned next morning to the metropolis in triumph, with his empty balloon attached to his carriage. He wan now hailed by the multitude as a supernatural being. He engaged the Lyceum in the Strand, as a place to exhibit his aerial vehicle, which for several days attracted an innumerable crowd of spectators at half a crown per head, and soon convinced the aeronaut that the curiosity of John Bull was a much more productive source of emolument than his official sit nation in the suite of the Neapolitan ambassador. A speculating bookseller, well shitted in the attraction of popular curiosity, and who had largely profited by that ruling passion, soon cultivated the acquaintance of the aeronaut, and induced him- not only to publish an account of his voyage in the
- A region never till then explored, save by eaglet, WMM^ or htdcyons, became quitea new object forBrithfc cnritaity) and it was scarcely possible, with all the industry wf the press, to meet the eagerness of demand, for some nraafo*. The Pantheon in Oxford-street was, -for sMM Make**, deemed a more eligible and lucrative theatre fo»
- KIRWAN.
- ing the balloon add its master; And thither ft was conveyed. The place Wad crowded from tnotaing till night; Lunardi walked ruAnd at intervals amongst the throhg of his visitants,-^Who stared with wonderment whenever he approached. Sot the circumstance which more immediately cohcemb the subject of this article is, that the Rev. Walter Blake Kirwan, whether from his friendship to Mr. Lunatdi ns a member of the same diplomatic suite, er whether, in consideration of a share io the profits, dr from what other cause, it is difficult to conjecture, wks induced daily to attend and give his personal aid in exhibiting the baitooo, and describing its apparatus and use to the inquisitive spectators; and, between the acts, he appeared elevated in the orchestra, from wbenci he read to the crowd, passages Rom the pamphlet which detailed the aerial voyage of his friend; and for* the sale of Which pamphlet, an agent from the bookseller attended withih the building.
- The afternoons were generally devoted by Mr. Liiiardi to donviviai parties with Mr. Bell, and certain dthdrt of his admirers. The presence of the rarontmt was coo- sidered a high treat with the curious. At those parties, the celebrated George Anne Bellamy, thee in high vogue, from the apology for her life just then published, Mrs. Sage, a noted courtesan, then under the protection of Luaardi, and afterwards herself an and some
- ether ladies, wot of the purest fame, were frequently among the guests; and the Rev. ML Kirwan was a regular attendant. How far such office rad associations Veto thought decorous for an ecclesiastic of his emmseooe and situation, will appear by the remit. Mr. Lunardiwas too much engaged with his balloon to attend to his dottesuto a page of the ambassador, and wafc therefore dismissed for degrading the dignity of his o Adel and Mr.Kirwra
- was also obliged to relinquish his chaplaincy for similar reasons^ But this was not all: be deeidadly lost the
- circles of London. His ecclesiastical friends too treated him with marked coolness; and he speedily took the resolution of visiting his family in Ireland. Bat there be found his fame had out-travelled him, and he was received with the most catting coolness and discountenance. What was to be done in such a dilemma? livelihood was indispensable; - his own church offered him no flattering prospect. This was too much for the pride of talent to brook. Perhaps he was never a very staunch member of the church to which he belonged; and he was ultimately induced to attempt the recovery of his fame by deserting the Catholic church, and to try his fortunes in another, which opened a new field for exertion, emolument, and promotion. In pursuance of these views, he obtained an introduction to Dr. Hastings, the Protestant archdeacon of Dublin; publicly recanted the errors of popery; embraced the priesthood of the established church, and preached his first sermon to a Protestant congregation in St. Peter’s church, in Aungier-street, on the Mtb Juoe^ 1787. From these circumstances, it appears doubtful if a conscientious conviction of religious error was the aole motive for Mr. Kirwan’s conversion. Bnt .be rapidly attained in his new situation a pitch of celebrity For pulpit eloquence, theretofore unknown in the high church of Ireland. His manner, as well as his matter, was entirely new in the established pulpit. To the force of a polished and persuasive eloquence, he added the powerful alliance of energetic action, which Demosthenes has considered as the /Erst, the second, and the third essential necessary to aa accomplished orator. The measured cadence, and solemn monotony, and studied inaction of the privileged pnlpit, ia the reading of written discourses, however calculated to compose the feelings, lull the passions, and attach the sober reflection of a grave and pious auditory, are, perhaps, not well fitted to rouse the apprehensions, to impress the hearts, to excite the pious ardour, and to unfix the wandering attentions and volatile levities of a mixed congregation, composed of all ages, sexes, and dispositions* The
- ate passions of a mixed audience, are most powerful instruments in the hands of the orator; and the popular success of the evangelical preachers in our dissenting chapels - and even of ignorant enthusiasts in the sectarious conventicles, where clamour, wild action, and fanatical zeal so frequently supply the place of argument and true eloquence, proves, by the rapid increase of proselytes from the established church to the profession of methodism, how ineffective are the short and solemn discourses of our orthodox divines to arrest the attention and awaken the consciences of that class of their audience who stand most in need of instruction. Hence their complaints of the increase of methodism, and hence the desertion of our parish churches by the lower and middling classes, to follow the declamatory lectures, and catch the fanatical fire of the dissenting orators.
- But the glowing language, the simple, though elegant compositions, the powerful intonations, and the eloquent action of Mr. Kirwan - whose eye, - whose hand, - whose eveiy inflexion of attitude as well a9 voice, more than doubled the powers of his language, were felt by every class of hearers, and identified the whole preacher with the very souls of his congregation. These qualifications so new in the usage of the established church, threw a charm round his discourse, attractive to all ranks; and the united talents of Bossuet, Massillon, Bourdaloue, and FUchier, seemed now to concentre in a man, who had made their eloquence and their celebrity the models for his own.
- Eloquence is, indeed, an indigenous plant in the luxuriant soil of Ireland; and when we recollect, within our own day, the splendours of a Flood, of a Burke, of a Sheridan, of a Grattan, of a Curran, of a Ponsonby, and many others we could enumerate, which challenged the admiration of senates, we recognise them as the contemporaries and countrymen of Kirwan, whose talents have so universally marked him as a gm of the same mfoe, to which the British empire is indebted for so many splendid ornaments in every walk of genius.
- 966 KIRWAN-
- The following pewage, extracted from the CMrmNIW pf the Rev. Gilbert Austin, the contemporary of Mr- Kir- wan, himself an accomplished scholar and critic, pn eminent teacher of oratory, and a liberal and eloquent preacher pf the established church, is a just and honourable tribute to the subject of this memoir.
“The learned Bogsuet, bishop of Meaux, Bourdaloue, Massillon, and we may add, Flechier, in France, excelled in pulpit eloquence; and in Holland,amongst therefbru^efl, Saurin.
“To this, Great Britain has to compare the manly vigour, the correct reasoning, and the pure gospel excellence pf many of her preachers; but little of eloquence. Her time is not yet arrived, hio great pulpit orator, auKtqg her many learned and pious divines, has been celebrated jp Great Britain. ONE has appeared in Ireland. Tbplbe js a great orator, the manner in which be is attended will alone evince. He, to use the expression of pur grfipt parliamentary orator, (Mr. Grattan) 1 has brelte
- And in a note, after quoting the descriptiqp of • pg|ty- summate orator from Cicero, de Char. Grift. Austin adds, -
“All these circumstances, and others sftppgpt (typi these, (perhaps owing to the greater rarity pf PFW-
- tors amongst us,) attend the great ptqqcjw W«
- KlRWAfr 467
- fave to hear him, who on no other occasions appear within the walla of a church; men of the world who have other pqrsaiu, nod men of profession who have not time; physicians, lawyers, actors. The pressure of the crowd is immense. Guard are obliged to be stationed without, to keep off from our largest churches, the overflowing curiosity, which cannot contribute adequately to the great charities for which be generally preaches, The parishioners resign their pews to the officers appointed, fo accommodate often the lord-lieuteoant and the court, at all times the high pqbility of both sexes, archbishops and bishops, the judges, the great law officers, the great parJjar tneotary orators, the clergy, and all who wish to he ip? atructed, nr to be moved and delighted by his eloquence. The sums collected always exceed any thing known on similar oceasious.”
“If this man be not a great orator, Cicero was mitt taken*.” The Orphan School, and several other of foe poWm charities, found ip the eloquence of such an advocate most productive source of support; and, on the 5th uf November, 1788, the governors of the General Rady Schools of several parishes, passed a resolution, “foal from the effects which the discourses of the Rev, Wallet Blake Kirwan from the pulpit have had, his officiating in the metropolis was considered of peculiar national advflnr tage: and that vestries should be called, to consider the most effectual method to secure to that city, an inattur meat, under Providence, of so much public benefit,” In the same year he was presented by the AKchhiabpp of Dublin, to the prebend of Howtfa, apd in foe year fol* lowing to the parish of St. Nicholas without, ip the metropolis, worth about three or four hundred a yer, Though the celebrity of Mr. Kirwan’s eloquence tent dered him an admired favourite with foe laity of foe high churoh, it by an means recommended him fo foe favonf
- KIRWAN.
- nor his eloquence to the imitation of his fellow-labourers in the ecclesiastical vineyard. Preaching earfempofY was considered an innovation on the solemn gravity of the pri-vileged pulpit. It was encroaching on the old established usages of that church which had so long offered sources of provision and advancement to those younger sons of the protestant gentry, whose later birth precluded them from the advantages of patrimonial inheritance, and whose taste or capacity might disincline them from the laborious studies necessary for successful eminence at the bar, who felt neither ardour nor ambition for the army, and who were taught by the pride of rank to consider the pursuits of physic, commerce, or agriculture, in the same degrading light. A snug Jiving, with little or no trouble^ in a sporting and hospitable country, and the hopes of ad-vancement through family interest or party conuesion, offered a comfortable asylum to juniors of this order. ’ A commission of the peace was frequently thrown in to increase the dignity and influence of the pastor, preserve the game, be serviceable at elections, and maintain the interests of church and state. The fathers of many soos, in the ranks of aristocracy, consoled themselves in the reflection that, if my one failed in his talents or his literary acquirements, he would, at all events,db weS enough fora parson.
- i* better policy to puzzle the lower with mystical disser- tatippa upon abstruse biblical texts, than open their minds to the equalizing doctrines of Christian charity, and teach them to grumble at the oppressive conduct of those towards whom the catechism teaches them to order themselves lowly and reverendly. But although this was a way of thinking by no means generally applicable to the established clergy in Ireland, still to encourage extempore preaching, accompanied with all the graces of action, force of eloquence, and labour of mind it would introduce, was an innovation by no means palatable to the cloth. The manner of the eloquent proselyte Kirwan, was therefore highly obnoxious to jealous criticism. With one, “it savoured of popery” - with another, “it was downright methodism” - with a third, “it was theatrical and indecorous” - with a fourth," he preached himself and not the Gospel” - with a fifth,“by abandoning the established usage of reading his sermons, he affected evangelism and inspiration, so long discountenanced by the reformed church,” and, in short, with all, it was by no means to be countenanced or encouraged in the rising theologians, although it was politic to exempt Mr. Kirwan as a singular instance. Amongst the students in divinity then at Trinity College, there were some who saw nothing in the cultivation of energetic eloquence incompatible with the sanctities of the cassock; and who possessed taste enough to admire and to emulate a divine, whose pulpit orations had obtained for him so much celebrity. Amongst these was a young gentleman named Dixon, whose scholastic acquirements bad honourably distinguished him at college, and who had cultivated oratory with assiduity and success. This young gentleman, about the year 1789, obtained deacon’s orders, and was to preach his first sermon in the parish church of St. Catherine, Dublin. But unfortunately, at least for ecclesiastical views, he thought fit to adopt Mr. Kirwan as his model, and to deliver an extempore discourse to his congregation io a stile of eloquence and action, so touch in the manner of his prototype, as to obtain the high
- VOL. II. B B
- admiration of his auditors, but to bring down on hifflbdf the marked disapprobation of his ecclesiastical superior for he was immediately visited with a decided veto from the Metropolitan, against the course he had commenced, and warned of stronger censures if he persisted. This was puttiog an extinguisher, in his very outset, upon all the hopes of pulpit eminence he had so long cherished. However, he had only passed the first degree of online* tion, and was not yet “a priest for ever.0 Disgusted with this sudden check upon his talents and hopes of rising by his eloquence in the church, he relinquished hik gown, and transferred his abilities to the study of the law, as a more promising source of elevation and emolument. After this “awful wanting” Mr. Kirwan was left without a rival to his eloquence in the high chuiteh pulpit, while the sectarians of every other persuasion were allowed all the freedom and force of their best energies upon the pregnant topics of Christianity, and to attract to their conventicles proselytes by thousands, who could never have been roused to a saving sense of religious piety by the tame and monotonous lectures read to them from their parochial pulpits.
- At the same time that Mr. Kirwanb talents obtained touch celebrity in the church, the eloquence of Mr. Graft- tan flourished with contemporary splendour in the BqnCle. No man more highly admired the talents of the pnrachu than Mr. Grattan, or felt more indignation that merit so superior seemed to be treated with apparent neglect by the patrons of church preferment. For several yeCrto die laborious exertions of his talents in the duties of trito Voca-tion, evidently injurious to a tender frtunfe and deKcdtfe state of health, recommended him to no provision beyond the poor living of St. Nicholas without, while fitt beuradm ’ ahd church dignities were liberally distributed amongtt candidates with whom, in point of abilities, his ambition would not have been much gratified by comparison. Mt. Grattan, in one of his eloquent speeches in the ffpiMe cf Commons, alluded in pointed terms to this MNdMd Megledt
- B71 of a. non «o supereminently distinguished by his merits, *l)de dbnreh patronage was lavished upon contemporaries -aw much his inferiors, and Irish mitres were bestowed npon English clergymen, th< favourite* of British ministers, or the former tutors or chaplains of English peers, whose names and abilities were utterly unknown in the land of their prcfisment. “If,” said Mr. Grattan, * Mr. Kirwan had been an English blockhead, he might have been long ere now no Irish bishop; but, unfortunately for him, he is an Irishman, and the original sin of his birth will never be forgiven him.*
- In some short time after this, during the viceroyaity of Marquis Cornwallis, Mr. Kirwan was promoted to the vacant deanery of Killala, worth about 400£ a-year; for which, as pluralities became objectionable, he relinquished ¦his bring .of St. Nicholas without. Here terminated his hopes of fhsdher preferment, with the fatigues of his ¦Msaion. His health had beea long declining, and exhausted by arduous labours, he died on the S7th •October, 1805, leaving a widow with two sppy and two daughters. His late Majesty was pleased to confer a pension of 3001. a-year for life oa the-widow, with reversion to her daughters. In A814, appeared in print .a volume .of his sermons, jgihiiabed fur ithe benefit of his sops. They are elegant apACMseos of his compositions, and abound with splendid ted pathetic passages.; but still theyare.only Parian studies .of his .living eloquence, and want the Promethean fixe of the orator himself, to give us a true representation of his powers. He was a map pf noutp sensibility, opdahle, humane, and beneficent, an ornament to his profession, and an honour to his country.
- PJI. JQHN LAWSON, D.P.
- Ws fawn about 1.71?, at Omagh, the ewtnty of Tyrone, ^f which pariah his father was curate. H e early dmcoirered a itaate for dteaical MtMatpue ted .hehta ilfttro,
- and entered the university about 1728, as a sixer. In 1735, he obtained a fellowship, and, by dint of application, he speedily became acquainted with moat of the European languages. In pulpit eloquence he also excelled, but acquired more celebrity by his “Lectures on Oratory.”
- Dr. Lawson died in January 1759, and his friend Dr. Donkin wrote some lines on his decease.
- JOHN LEARY
- Is, we think, worthy of insertion as an extraordinary instance of longevity. He had been married to eight wives, by seven of whom he had children; the last he married in his hundred and third year. He lived in the reign of six monarchs. He retained his senses and per* feet memory to the last moment, and declared he never suffered a day’s illness. He died April 30th, 1818, aged one hundred and twelve.
- ALICIA LEFANU,
- A LADY of considerable talents and literary attainments, was the wife of Joseph Lefann, Esq. and sister to the celebrated R. B. Sheridan. She was born in Dorset-street, Dublin, in 1754. She was the author of" The Flowers; or, the Sylphid Queen,” a fairy tale, 1810; and “The Sons of Erin; or, Modern Sentiment,” a comedy, 1818. She died, much lamented, at her son’s bouse, Phoenix- park, Dublin, September 4, 1817.
- THOMAS LELAND,
- A LEARNED divine and translator, was the son of a citizen of Dublin, in which city he was born in 1788. The first rudiments of classical education he received at the school kept by the celebrated Dr. Sheridan. In 1737, he entered a pensioner in Trinity College; and in
- 1741, was elected a scholar; commenced bachelor of arts in 1742, and was a candidate for a fellowship in 1745, in which he failed at this time, bnt succeeded the following year by the unanimous voice of the electors. On being thus placed in a state of independence, he did not resign himself to ease and indolence, but was conspicuous for the same ardent love of knowledge which appeared in the commencement of his studies, and was predominant throughout his whole life. In 1748, be entered into holy orders, and, from a deep sense of the importance of his profession, drew up a discourse “On the helps and impediments to the acquisition of knowledge in religious and moral subjects,” which was much admired at that time, but no copy is now to be found. In 1754, in conjunction with Dr. John Stokes, he published, at the desire of the university, an edition of the “Orations of Demosthenes,” with a Latin version and notes, which we do not find mentioned by any of our classical bibliographers, except Harwood, who says it is in two vols. 12mo. In 1756, Dr. Leland published the first volume of his English “Trans-lation of Demosthenes,” 4to, with notes, critical and historical; the second volume of which appeared in 1761, and the third in 1770. This raised his reputation very high as a classical scholar and critic, and public expectation was farther gratified, in 1758, by his “History of the Life and Reign of Philip, King of Macedon, the father of Alexander,” 2 vols. 4to. After this be proceeded with translations of TEschines, and of the other orations of Demosthenes. In 1762, he is supposed to have written, although he never formally ayowed it, the ingenious historical romance of “Longsword, Earl of Salisbury.*9 In 1763, he was appointed by the board of senior fellows of Trinity College, professor of oratory. His course of study, and the labour he had bestowed on his translations, had furnished him with a perspicuous and energetic style, which he displayed both in the professor’s chair and in the pulpit, being the most admired preacher of his time in Dublin; nor was he less esteemed for his talents as a controversial writer, of which he now afforded
- a specimen, by attacking Bishop Warburton’s *• DoetriSt of Grace/’ with great elegance and eloquence) and replied to by Dr. Hurd, in a manner grossly illiberal and unmanly. Dr. Leland, however, published a reply to Dr. Hurd, which terminated the contest.
- In 1765, through the suggestion of Dr. Leland, the university of Dublin bestowed on Dr. Johnson ttadf highest honour, by creating him doctor of laws, a flavour which he acknowledged in a letter to Dr. Leland, which may be seen in the last edition of Boswell’s Life; tn 1768, Dr. Leland was appointed chaplain to Lord Town* send, lord-lieutenant of Ireland; and his friends enter* tained hopes that his merits would have raised him to the episcopal bench; but he only obtained in that year the prebend of Rathmicbael, in the cathedral chnfch of St* Patrick, Dublin, united with the vicarage of Bray, bods of small value, but tenable with his fellowship. In 1774, appeared his “History of Ireland, from the invasion of Henry II. with a preliminary discourse on the ancient state of that kingdom,” 3 vote. 4to, the merit of which has been much disputed by critics.
- Dr. Leland’s other publications in his lifetime, wore only a few occasional sermons, of greater merit than those contained in the three volumes published after his decease; He died in 1785. - His fame Tests on his u Life of Philip,” his “Demosthenes,” and his “Dissertation upon Eloquence.” Of the two former, suffice it to say, they are classed among the best translations in the English language, and of the latter, an eminent living scholar has observed, that it contains u great accuracy of erudition, great perspicuity and strength of stylet and, above al), a stoutness of judgment, which, in traversing 4* open and spacious walks of literature^ disdained to be Ml captive.”
- CHARLES LESLIE, , .
- A VERY distinguished theological author, WM lhe teeoad son of Dr. John Leslie, Bishop of Clogber, and waahom in
- LRSLIfi.
- bolted,.bat W« kjww flpt ip what year. He was educated WHhrgNWmr Mhpal •» Inniskillen, in Fermanagh, from whaean he map admitted a fejfow comtpoper of Trinity (Mlego in I06fe where he remained till be took bi» degree of M, A- -On foe decease of h<» father, in lgf l, he visited England, and epjered himself of the Temple, where he studied the law for some year?; but afterward* reiieqniatediftMd applied himself to divinity. In 1680, he wee adasitlad into holy orders; apd in 1687, he fee? came chancellor of the cathedral church qr diocese of Crapor. About thia time, he rendered himself pfuti* relrndy obnoxious to the Qathqlics of Ireland* by hit MWIOWS opposition to them, whiph was tbps called fprtfr. Reger Boyle, Bishop of Clogher, dying in 1687, Patrick Tyrrel was made titular bishop, and bad the revenues of the see assigned him by King James. He forced a convent of friars in Monaghan, a»d fixing his habits? tion there, held a public, visitation of his .clergy with great solemnityr Some subtle logicians attend’d him ip thia visitation, and he challenged the esMhfabfld clergy to a disputation .ofejdie accepted the challenge, apd disputed to the satisfaction of the Protestants, although it hep* pared, as it generally does at such contests, that both tides claimed the victory. He afterwards fre|d epofogr public disputation with two celebrated Cathojk? divines in the chureh of Tynan in Armagh, before g ypry nume;rou| assembly of persons of both religions; the issue of which was* that Mr. John Stewart,a {Catholic gentleman, solemnly renounced the errors of the church of Rouse. Ae the Catholics had gpt possession of ap eph^opplsee, they engrossed other offices top) and a Catholic.high- aheriff was appointed for the county of Mpnpghanf This proceeding alarmed the gentlemen ip that cpan|y jwho.de? pending mufopp Leslie’s knowledge ps a jwHfop of pence, repawed to him, then cpiffined by th’ gwt fo few hops®* Herold them, Apt it would bo a» illegal iP foW fP W* jnit the sheriff to not, as it would he ip (him fo attempt it. .Wtithay foaisfod foot h« «bi»H fWW*
- on the bench, at the approaching quarter sessions, and all promised to act as he did; so he was carried thdre with much difficulty, and in great pain. Upon the question, whether the sheriff was legally qualified, the latter replied, “That he was of the king’s own religion, and it was his majesty’s will that he should be sheriff/* Leslie then observed, “That they were not inquiring into his majesty’s religion, but whether he (the pretended sheriff*) had qualified himself according to law, for acting as a proper officer; that the law was the king’s will, and nothing else to be deemed such; that his subjects had no other way of knowing his will but as it is revealed to them in his laws; and it must always be thought to continue so, till the contrary is notified to them in the same authentic manner." This argument was so convincing, that the bench unanimously agreed to commit the sheriff for his intrusion and arrogant contempt of the court. Leslie also committed, for robbing the country, some officers of that tumultuous army which the Lord Tyrconnel had raised.
- In this spirited conduct, Leslie acted like a sound divine and an upright magistrate; for, while he thought himself authorised to resist the illegal mandates of his sovereign, he never approved of carrying those principles of resistance so far as to deprive the king of the supreme power; and persevering steadily in that opinion, he continued, after the Revolution, in allegiance to King James. In consequence, refusing to take the new oathB appointed upon that change, he lost all his preferments; and, in 1689, when the troubles began to arise in Ireland, withdrew with his family into England. Here he employed his time in writing a great many political pieces in support of the cause he had embraced; and being confessedly a person of extraordinary wit and learning, be became a very formidable champion of the nonjurors. His first piece in this cause was an answer to Archbishop King’s w State of the Protestants in Ireland, under the late King James’s Government” He likewise employed his pen in the general cause of the Christiati religion, against Jews,
- 377 Deists, and Socinians; and wrote likewise against the Quakers. In the mean time, however, these writings, and his frequent visits to the courts of St. Germains and Bar le Due, rendered him obnoxious to the government: but he became more so upon the publication of the “Hereditary Right of the Cjown of England asserted;** of which he was the reputed author. Finding himself, on this account, under a necessity of leaving the kingdom, he repaired to the Pretender at Bar le Due; where be was allowed to officiate, in a private chapel, after the rites of the Church of England; and it is said he took much pains to convert the Pretender to the Protestant religion, but in vain. However, to promote the said Pretender’s interest, when some hopes of his restoration were entertained by his party in England, he wrote a letter from Bar le Due, dated April 23, 1714, which was printed and dispersed among his adherents, in which, after giving a flattering description of the Pretender’s person and character, Mr graceful mien, magnanimity of spirit, devotion free from bigotry, application to business, ready apprehension, sound judgment and offability, so that none conversed with him without being charmed with his good sense and temper; he concludes with a proposal, “on condition of his being restored to his crown, that, for the security of the church of England, as by law established, he would so far wave his prerogative, in the nomination of bishops, deans, and all other ecclesiastical preferments in the gift of the crown, that five bishops should be appointed, of which the Arch* bishop of Canterbury, for the time being, always to be one, who, upon any vacancy, might name three persons to him, from whom he would chuse.” Many other proposals of the like nature were made soon after, and several projects were concerted not only in England, but an actual insurrection begun in Scotland by his party, in 1715, all which ended in the crushing and dispersing of the rebels, and in the Pretender’s being obliged to leave the French dominions.
- In this exigence he withdrew to Italy, whither fctlie
- attended him, notwithstanding the ill-usage ho met with at his court. The Pretender had given hip a promise that he should celebrate the church of England service in his family; and that he would hear what he should reprep sent to him on the subject of religion. But the chevalier was far from keeping the word he bad given, and on the faith of which our divine had come over $ for, though be allowed him, for form’s sake, to celebrate the church of England service in his family, yet he never was present there; and not only refused to hear Leslie himself, but sheltered the ignorance of his priests, or the badness of his cause, or both, behind his authority, and absolutely forbad all discourse concerning religion*. He returned to England in 1721, resolving, whatever the oonsequMCM might be, to die in his own country. Some of his friends, acquainting Lord Sutherland with his purpose, implored his protection for the good old man, which his lordship readily and generously promised; and when a member of the House of Commons officiously waited on Lord Sep? derland with the news that Mr. Leslie had arrived, be mH with such a reception from his lordship as his ilUfeeipl errand deserved. Our author then went over to Ireland, where he died April 13th, 1722, at his own house at Gin? lough, in the county of Monaghan.
- Leslie, notwithstanding his opinions on government were widely different from those adopted by men eaMpMt both for learning and talent, was unquestionably a man possessed of ability and acquirement, and deserves the highest encomiums for his defence of the Christian relip gion against the attacks of Deists and Jews.
- Besides the political tracts which he scattered* xmr author left two volumes folio, of theological works, (wbi
? Tliis specimen of princely word-breaking, may, in some ppmuiy, tend to convince those, who in any way disbelieve the M.
- dMcapf.
- 370
- DUDLEY LOFTUS,
- A NAME that would reflect honour on any age or nation, was a very learned oriental scholar. He was the second son of Sir Adam Loftus, and great grandson of Dr. Adam Loftus, who was archbishop of Armagh, then of Dublin, and one of the lords justices and lord chancellor of lie* land. He was born in the year 1618, at Rathfarnam, near Dublin, and was educated in Trinity College, where he was admitted a fellow commoner in 1635. About the time he took his first degree in arts, the extraordinary proficiency he had made in languages attracted the notice of Archbishop Usher, who earnestly advised his father to send him to Oxford, where he might improve his oriental learning, a matter which that worthy prelate considered as highly important in the investigation of the history and principles of the Christian religion. Mr. Loftus was accordingly sent by his father to Oxford, and entered of University college, where he was incorporated B. A* in November 1630. About this time he commenced the study of the law, with a view to take his bachelor’s degree in that faculty; but, at the persuasion of his friends in Uni* versity college, took his degree of master of arts in 1641, and then returned to Ireland at the moment the rebellion broke out. His father who was at that time vice-tree* surer, and one of the privy council, procured a garrison to be placed in his castle of Rathfarnam, and gave the com* mand of it to his son Dudley, who displayed his skill and courage, by defending the city from the incursions of the inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains. He was afterwards made one of the masters in chancery, vioas- general of Ireland, and judge of the prerogative court and faculties, all which offices he held to the time of his death. He was also a doctor of the civil law, and esteemed the most learned of any of his countrymen in that faculty. Towards the latter part of his life, his talents and memory were very much impaired, and when about seventy- six years of 4ge, he married a second wifi% but diad the
- year following, in June 1695, and was bnried in St. Patrick’s church, Dublin.
- Mr. Loftus’s greatest excellence lay in the knowledge of various languages, especially the oriental; and it is said, that when only twenty years of age, be was able to translate as many languages into English. Among Archbishop Usher’s letters is one from him to that prelate, which, although short, shews his avidity to search out oriental books and MS.; as well as his high respect and gratitude to Usher, who first directed his attention to the treasures of the Bodleian library. Yet his character, in other respects, does not correspond with his parts or learn* ing. He was accounted, says Harris, an improvident and unwise man, and his many levities and want of conduct gave the world too much reason to think so. The same biographer mentions “a great, but free-spoken prelate," who said of Mr. Loftus, that “he never knew so much learning in the keeping of a fool.”
- His learning, indeed, and his industry appear very evident by his many writings. Besides the ^thiopic New testament which he translated into Latin, at the request of Usher and Selden, for the Polyglot, and which procured him from Walton the character of “vir doctim* mus, tam generis prosapia, quam bnguanm orient alhun scientia, nobilis” he published a multitude of learned tracts, a correct list of which may be found in Harris’s edition of Ware.
- Du. PETER LOMBARD.
- THIS learned Catholic was the son of a respectable merchant at Waterford, where he was born about 1566. He received the rudiments of his education in Ireland, from whence he was sent to Westminster school, over which the celebrated Camden presided, and from thence to Oxford. He took no degrees in the university9 but proceeded to Louvain, where, after passing through hit courses of philosophy and divinity, he received the degree
- of doctor, and wa» made provost of the cathedral church of Cambray. In 1614, he was personally noticed by King James, in his speech from the throne, as one of those who disturbed his government. He was at that period Archbishop of Armagh, having been appointed thereto by Pope Paul V. by whom be was first made assessor, and after, president of the congregation de JuxiHii at Rome, where be died A. D. 1625. A list of his tracts is to be fonnd in Ware.
- ROBERT LONG,
- WAS born in Bandon. He was both deaf and dumb from his birth, but acquired, chiefly by his own industry, a considerable knowledge of some branches of the mathematics. He had a perfect knowledge of the principles of geography, and could calculate eclipses. He also made both the terrestrial and celestial globes, and drew the map and constellations himself. He could survey and guage, and also read, as far as words signify the names of things, or, what the grammarians call, nouns; but he seemed to have no notion of the other parts of speech. A wheel barometer of his making, and also some tables for calculating the motions of the planets, have been exhibited to the public eye. He was living in Mallow in 1792, and was supposed then to be about thirty-seven years of age - was married, and had children.
- CHARLES LUCAS, M.D.
- Tais firm and incorruptible patriot was born, according to the most probable account, in the city of Dublin, on 26th of September, 1713. Other accounts state him to have been a native of Ballymageddy, in the county of Clare, where his ancestors were substantial farmery. His father, having lost the family property by mismanagement, settled in Dublin, and the first certain notice we can obtain of the son is, that be kept an apothecary’s shop
- 8M at the comer of Charies-street. He afterwards took out a degree in medicine, and (what is not a little singular, considering the virulence with which his character, both public and private, was afterwards attacked) his professional skill was never called in question. Dr. Lucas became early distinguished as a political writer, and, ra consequence of the bold freedom of his opinions, he found it advisable to withdraw to the continent.
- On his return to Dublin, he became a member of the common council, in which station he determined to exert himself in behalf of the privileges of that body. The new rules, framed in the reign of Charles the Second, by authority from a clause in the act of explanation, had, as in other corporate towns, changed the powers of the city corporation. To increase the influence of the crown, among other innovations, they deprived the Comtnooi of the power of choosing the city magistrates, and placed it in the board of aldermen,subject in its exercise, on each election, to the approbation of the chief governor and privy council. Of this injury Lucas loudly earn plained; but the law being absolute, could not be combated. Stu* peeling, however, that in other respects encroachments had been made on the rights of the citizens not justified by law, be examined the city charters, and searched ffh- gently into the ancient records, by which he became con* vinced that his apprehensions were well foundesL He published his discoveries, explained the evidence making from them, and encouraged the people to take the proper steps for obtaining redress. In consequence, a warm contest commenced between the Commons and aidermen in 1741, which continued the two .succeeding years. Though the former struggled in vain to recover their lost privileges, the exertions of Lucas in every stage of the dispute, were strenuous and persevering. These Mruimi raised .him so high in the esteem and confidence of Ab fellow-citizens, that, on the death of Sir James SomerviUe^ they * encouraged him to declare himself acaadidateto represent them iu parliament. .Ambitious ofaa effwr M
- flattering^ which wbdhl give him tn opportunity of exerting bit abilities to the greatest advantage, in the service, aot Only of the city of Dublin, but of his country, be ettnpiied with their desire. The election was now no longer a contest between two rival candidates | it became a trial of strength, upon popular principles of civil liberty, between the patriots and government, and kept the Pro* testants of Ireland in a flame of civil discord for several yterS. The press teemed with letters, answers, replies, addresses, appeals, counter appeals, and every engine, that could be employed, to add rancour, sting and fuel to the beats of the contending parties. The speeches of Dr. Lucas to the several corporations, which were bold, nervous, end animated, increased their attachment to him. But a number of addresses to his febow-citiMM, which he Wrote and published, tended more effectually to increase his popularity. In these, among other subject*, be con* tiffered distinctly the several branches of the constitution; pointed out to the electors of Dublin, and to the nation, the privileges of Irishmen, and the various injuries they had sustained by the interference of the British legislature. The firmness and perspicuity of his manner, the pupa* larity of hie subject, and the justice of his argumeuts, alarmed the Irish government, which had been little used to sudi opposition. They determined to crush bias by the hand of poorer. For this purpose, certain passages, the most obnoxious to the state, were collected from his publications, and made the foundation of a charge, which Wets -brought againtt him before parhameo*. The Tights Of the Commons, which with particular attention be bad laboured to vindicate and ascertain, had
- defend him from the danger by which he was threatened; therefore, to avoid the impending storm, he fled from Ireland. After he had spent some time in banishment, the exertions of his friends rose superior to the influence by which he had been oppressed. Upon a new vacancy he returned to Dublin, and was elected one of the representatives of that city in parliament. The same patriotic principles, and the same exertions in behalf of the constitution, for which he had been hitherto so remarkable, invariably distinguished his conduct in and out of parliament. On the very first day of the session of 1761, the Commons ordered that leave be given to bring in the heads of a bill to limit the duration of parliaments; and Dr. Lucas, Mr. Perry, and Mr. Gorges Lowther, were ordered to bring in the same. This favourite and constitutional measure had been most strongly recommended by Dr. Lucas, in imitation of the English septennial bill: he accordingly presented, on the 28th of October, the heads of the bill, which were received, read, and committed. Several amendments were proposed and adopted in the committee; and, on the 9th of December, Mr. Lowther having brought up the report, moved, that the Speaker should attend his excellency the lord-lieutenant, with the heads of the bill, and desire the same might be transmitted to Great Britain in due form; and that his excellency would be pleased to recommend the same in the most effectual manner to his majesty. On this the House divided, forty-three for the motion, and one hundred and eight against it. Thus was Mr. Lucas’s first patriotic bill lost, to the no small disappointment and mortification of the people out of doors. It is highly material to observe, that in proportion as patriots fell off in parliament, they sprang up out of it. The ministerial triumph was followed by no popular disturbance, but great discontent: it produced a more alarming effect upon the castle: riot and insurrection they could easily have subdued, and the quelling thereof would have justified the very measures that bad excited them. But the people’s l
- cod, considerate, and firm conduct in investigating and peaceably following up their rights and interests, was* truly to be dreaded by those, who were attempting to invade and thwart them.
- 1 The failure of this attempt did not abate the patriotic efforts of Dr. Lucas. • He presented heads of a bill for securing the freedom of parliament, by ascertaining the qualifications for knights, citizens, and burgesses of parliament; and also of another bill, for better securing the freedom of parliament, by vacating the seats of such members of the House of Commons, as should accept of any lucrative office or employment from the crown, or any person on the establishment of Great Britain or Ireland; neither of which succeeded. In the year 1765, the heads of a bill having been transmitted to England, were returned from thence with the interpolation of a clause, granting a dispensing power to the king in the British council, which was violently, though unsuccessfully, opposed by the few remaining patriots in the Irish House of Commons. On this occasion, Dr. Lucas published an address to his constituents, in which he gave a succinct history of. the progress of the bill. From the frequent defections of the patriots and the consequent reduction of their numbers, it became the policy of the castle, at this time, to throw all possible disrepute on the few who still earnestly espoused that cause. Upon this subject, Dr. Lucas explained himself very pointedly in another address to his constituents: but it would be uncandid to leave the reader in the vulgar prepossession, that, because this eminent and true patriot stood firm to the last hour of his life in the honourable cause of his suffering country, therefore he was unacceptable either to his sovereign or his vice-regents. The Earl of Hertford bad particularly noticed Dr. J^ucas^wbeu be was in England, and was esteemed by him in return: he boasted also of. his kind treatment from the Lords Chesterfield and Harrington, Halifax and Northumberland. He bore affection as well as loyalty to bis’mqesiy^-
- how often, and in what terms, I have testified my disinterested love and loyalty to his majesty, and my zealous and inviolable attachment to his royal house; that I have always looked upon him as not only politically but actually free from blemish or imperfection; that I know his heart overflows with pure love and benevolence for all his sub* jects, and that I have myself sensibly shared his royal clemency, in rescuing me from the oppressive hand of that detestable hoary tyrant, a long parliament, with a wicked ministry, and certain iniquitous rulers of this city. His royal touch healed the wounds and bruises given my country through my sides. You know my words, my writings, the tenor of my whole life and conduct, proclaim my invariable gratitude, affection, and duty. And when I forget the deliverer of my country, let my right hand forget its function, and my tongue cleave to the roof -of my mouth. In his royal goodness I repose the most boundless confidence?9 His unreinitied and faithful attention to his parliamentary duties, with the discouraging prospect of failing in every exertion, at length forced from him a confession that he was weary of his task, because he laboured incessantly in vain. M I have,” said he, in an address to his constituents, “quilted a comfortable settlement in a free country, to embark in your »er- vice. I have attended constantly, closely, strictly to my duty. I have broke my health, impaired my fortune, hurt my family, and lost an object dearer to me than life, by engaging with unwearied care and painful assiduity, in this painful, perilous, thankless service. All this might be tolerable, if 1 could find myself useful to you or my country. But the only benefit that 1 can see, results to those, whom I cannot look upon as friends to my country, bands of placemen and pensioners, whose merit is enhanced, and whose number has been generally increased in proportion to the opposition given to the measures of ministers. I dare not neglect, much less desert my elation, but 1 wish by any lawful or honourable means for my dismissal.”
- 3W *’ it wbrild fee mdioiis (if H weft possible) to give alist of those psbiiontiwte which raised him to ths highest pin* ancle of popularity. They consisted chiefly of periodical paptfs, addressee to the citiaees of Dublin, and pamphlets on passing events, evincing the strong powers of his mind, and the independent firmness of his public spirit. He was thrice married, and had children by all his wives; and it is related of bital, that on the wedding night of his last wife* who was a remarkably fine woman, he was so crips pied with the goat, that he was obliged to be lifted into bed. He died on the 4th of November, 1771, Waving behind him the character of d man, whom, from hit first entrance into political life, no promises or offers cdsM sedaee from untainted patriotism, io which particular, unfortunately for Ireland, he baa been asore admired then imitated by his countrymen. His funeral wee attended by the lord mayor and corporation in full costume, toga* ther with nil the most distinguished characters then in the metropolis; and a statue of white marble was erected to Iris memory in a niche in the grand staircase of the Royal Exchange.
- HENRY LUTTEREL,
- A CKLinaATao mezsotinto engraver, was born in Dublin about the year 1650. He came early to London, and was bred to the law io New Inn; but having a predilection for the arts, he abandoned the profession, and applied himself to painting portraits in crayons. Ha possessed an inventive mind, and observing the admiration excited by the new art of engraving in meaaotinto, he felt desirous of disewvering the process, and oontrived the meansof Joying the grannds with a roller, which succeeded to.a certain degree, bpt not to his satisfaction. At thm time, the-inet» aorintos if Biooteling were in great repot^rand Lutterd penonded hot’friend Lloyd, a printselleiyto bribe aptfr- eon of the name of Du Blois, who need to lay the grounds for.Blootriiag^and who was thenxetsunmg to HoUnwd, to
- discover the mystery. He afterwards connected himself with Isaac Becket, and they became the earliest English engravers in mezaotinto. The best of his portraits (which were his principal works) was that of La Piper the painter.
- DOMINICK LYNCH,
- WAS a native of the county of Galway, and admitted into the order of Dominicans in Spain, where he kitp^ nixed his name from Lynch to Linze. He lived many years in great reputation, and officiated as synodal judge under the archbishop of Seville. He was gradually pro-moted to all the honours of Seville university, being first lecturer in arts and philosophy; then master of the students, secondary, and at length principal regent; and last of all, was made professor of divinity, in 1674, which office he held with universal approbation until the year 1607, when he died at Seville, and was much lamented. He was held in such high esteem in Spain, that Nicholas Antonio, in his Biblioteca Espanola, hath with much honour, ranked him among the authors of that country.
- He wrote, according to the Dominican Bibliothhque, four volumes in quarto, on Speculation and Natural Philosophy, all of which were published io Paris, at different periods.
- GEORGE M’ALLISTER,
- WAS born in the city of Dublin in 1786. Hi. original profession was that of a jeweller; but the art of painting on glass arrested his attention, and with all the entha* siasm of youthful warmth, be devoted his hours unremit* tingly to patient investigation, and repeated experiment; until, without the aid of patronage, instruction, or pecuniary assistance, he appeared like a bright luminary, dispelling the darkness with which self«interest had hitherto shrouded this particular branch of the fine arts. Th*
- MACARTNEY.
- defigbt •nd approbation with which a discerning- public oKwedibh advenaes in the art, may be- judged from thia proof, that the Dublin Society, 3rd of December, 807,’ dfter a- critical examination of his performances, presented’ this youthful artist (then under twenty-one years) with a difioma, signifying, in the most honourable and flattering terms, their unlimited patronage.and approbation* He finished a superb window for tbe.cathedral of Lismore- had proceeded on one of much larger dimensions for that of Team, and, anxious to finish it, by his incessant exertions, his bodily powers failed. . The heat and fomss of the furnace, brought on a fever and inflammation of the brain, and deprived the- world of a life, both benevolent and- useful. He expired on June 14th, 1812, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, respected, admired, an^ beloved. He, kowever, communicated the principles of his art to his three sisters, who completed the windows of Tuarn cathedral on his model, and still preserve and prac tiae their brother’s profession in his native city. ¦
- JAMES M’ARDELL ’THIS eminent mezzotinto engraver • was bom in Dublin about 1710, which he left at an early period of fife, and went to London. He was justly considered as one of the •blest artists in his branch of engraving, that ever practised the art. The number of bis. plates is very considerable, the major part of which are portraits of persons of distinction, by the principal painters of his time. - He also scraped a few plates from historical subjects, by Vandyck, Murillo, and Rembrandt, some of-which are extremely fine. • i
¦ He died in London, 2nd June, 1765. - ’ ¦
- GEORGE, EARL OF MACARTNEY. < THE son of George Macartneys Esq. of Anchinleck in Scotland, pas bom in Ireland in 1797, and-was-edoented
- aa a. fellcw^ommooer ia Trinity College, Dublin; where he took his degrees in 1759. Shortly after this; he travelled with the SODS of the late Lord Holland. This, perhaps, was his introduction at court. His edocatioa had been liberal, and he had improved the advantages which he possessed from a fortunate train of circumstances. He had an aspiring mind, and excellent talents, and war ambitious of some public employment. Hie own wishes were seconded by the seal of his friends, and he was, in- 1764, appointed envoy extraordinary to the empress of Russia. The occasion of this mission, and pf the appointment of this yoong mao, was the great iaeportnnce of the commercial and political relations between Great Brinus and the empire of Russia; and it was necessary, at that period, to counteract the influence of France at the Russian court. The character and policy of that court required to be particularly studied: and hence the- embassy from this country included an office that required much peon* tration, vigilance, and discretion, as well as msioMtmg manners, and an agreeable address. These qualifications were thought by the most discerning judges, to be united in Mr. Macartney. The principal business of his mission was to negociate a commercial treaty, for the benefit of the merchants trading to Russia. Of the interests of the Russian trade he was well infoimedk His address surmounted every difficulty of access to the empress and- her ministers; he knew bow* to seize the peeper moment for negociation, and he had cooloesaand patience to conquer every obstacle which, might be opposed tn lire views by. the artifices of others. He is a sheet time pro, cured the Russian court to agree to a treaty satisfactory to the wishes of the British merchants at Petembnrgh, and suitable to the instructions, which be had received nt home. An address from the merchants of the British factory at St. Petersburgh, the honour of the knighthood of the Polish order eFthe White Eagle, conferred by a-monarch who was himself at once a man of fisahios, taatc^ and pleasure, and a man of political talents;, and his ebattre*
- MACARTNEY. flgt
- M aa^aaaadoaeptraordinary aed- plenipotentiary from the British court, in which he finally concluded the treaty
- 98ft of respect from the court of directors of the East India Company, who granted him an annuity for his life, of 1500£ per annum, which was bestowed as a reward for the important services which this illustrious nobleman had rendered to the Company. The same year he fought a duel with General Stuart, whom he had superseded in India. In 1788, he took his seat for the first time in the Irish House of Peers; and about the same time, was appointed one of the trustees of the linen manufacture of the province of Ulster, and also cvslos rotvlonm for the county of Antrim. He was likewise promoted to the command of a regiment of dragoons in the Irish militia. In 1792, he was selected as the fittest person for ambassador from the king of Great Britain to the emperor of China. He was on the same day nominated a privycounsellor; and in a few weeks he was raised to the rank of an Irish viscount, under the title of Viscount Derrock, in the county of Antrim. He now proceeded, without delay, on his embassy, attended by Sir George Staunton as his secretary, and a great train of followers and ser-vants. A ship of war, under the command of Sir Erasmus Gower, was, with smaller vessels, assigned for his voyage. Many rich presents were sent from the British to the Chinese sovereign. He arrived in safety in the Indian seas; and when his approach was announced at the Chinese court, the emperor and his minister agreed, though not without some hesitation, to receive the ambassador and presents. In his approach to Pekin, the northern capital of the empire, his lordship was obliged to direct his voyage round the south sea coast of China, by a track hitherto almost unknown to European navigators. The opportunity of exploring that tract, was regarded as almost sufficient to compensate for all the difficulties and expense of the embassy. As soon as he landed, mandarins of the highest rank were appointed to conduct him to the imperial court. His presents were accepted, and he, with all the train, were treated in a hospitable and even sumptuous manner; but the main object of the mission was completely
- SOS frustrated, ,vh. -to«’.obtain permission for the permanent residence of » British ambassador at the court of China. Thiswas abeolotely’refosed, and Lord Macartney and his train returned overland. His lordship entered Canton in December 170S F from thence he proceeded to Maqao; and, in March 1794, be sailed from that port to Europe. He arrived in England in the following September, after an absence of aitoost two years. On his return he was created an Irish earls and in 1796, be was farther advanced to the dignity: of a British peer, by the title of Baron Macartney, of ’Parkhurst, in Sussex. After this, he was called to the administration. In this high, station, as in the other offices which he filled, Lord Macartney displayed qualities which are honourable to his talents as a statesman, and his feelings as a man. His lordship died on the 91st of March,’ 1806.
- Da. DAVID MACBRIDE,
- A PHYSICIAN of some eminence, was born at Ballymony, in the county of Antrim, on the 26th of April, 1726. . He received the first elements of his education at the place of his nativity, and served his apprenticeship to a surgeon. He entered the navy, first in the capacity of master to an hospital ship, and subsequently in the rank of surgeon, tn which station he remained for some years preceding the peace of Aix la Chapelle. At this period he was led, from the frequent opportunities of witnessing the attacks of scurvy which a seafaring life afforded him, to investigate the best method of core for that disease, upon which he afterwards published a treatise. After the peace of Aix, Mr. Macbride visited Edinburgh and London, where be studied anatomy under Doctors Hunter and Monro, and midwifery under Stnellie.
- Towards the close of 1749, he settled in Dublin as a surgeon and accoucheur; but, owing to. his youth and remarkable bashfulness, be remained for several years in obscurity. In 1764, he published* hie * Experimental
- Essays,” which were received with greet applause, and were speedily translated into different languages; and the conspicuous merit of this performance induced the nniven- sity of Giasgo# to confer the degree of M.D. on its author. The improvement introduced by Dr. Maebride in the art of tanning, by substituting lime water for COM* mon water in preparing ooze, procured him the bopoar of a silver medal from the Dublin Society io 1768* aad of a gold medal of considerable value from the Society of Arts and Commerce ia Loudon.
- For several years after Dr. Macbride obtained his degree, he employed part of his time in the duties of a medical teacher, and delivered, at his own home, a course of lectures on the theory and practice of physic. These lectures were published in one vol. 4to in 1779, and were translated into Latin, and published at Utrecht io two vols. 8vo, in 1774.
- Dr. Macbride died of an accidental cold, which brought on a fever and delirium, oa the 13th of December, 1778, in the fifty-third year of his age, and was generally apd deeply lamented.
- JOHN MACBRIDE,
- A OBNTLEMAM of a very respectable family in Ireland, was appointed a lieutenant in the navy, on tbeSTlIaef October, 1758. We have no further particulars concarwv ing him till August 1761, when he commanded the Graef, armed cutter, in which he eminently distinguished bran self. Being off Dunkirk, and observing a dogger privateer in the road, he procured from the Maidstone, captain Digges, four boats manned and armed, with which he proceeded at ten o’clock at night, in order to coanpletf a design which he had formed. On approaching the privg teeF, the seamen laid their oars across, except two io each boat, which they muffled with baize* to prevent their baigg heard at a distance. They rowed in that manMvtiil they came within musket-shot of the privateerp wjp* bfWg
- MACRRIDB.
- bailed,ebtgFmodeMi.MMwer, but in a few minutes boarded bar oobosh side% and took possession of (be vessel without the Boss of • tingle mao, two only being wounded. Miu Mncbsideshot the lieutenant of the privateer through the bead with a musket, as he was pointing a gun into the boat: eselosiveof thio officer, only one man was kitted, and -five wounded, belonging to the enemy. This bold enterprise was achieved within half a gen-shot of a fort os the east af the barboo#; bat it did Bot Croat them. When the prisoners were secured, the captors cut the cables and sailed out of the road. In April 1760, he wao promoted to- be commander of the Grampus ire-ship; and afterwards removed into the Crurier sloop. In June 1706, be was appointed captain of the Renown, of thirty goes. In-the foliowing year be commanded the Jason, of thirty- two guns, in which he was ordered to the Falkland islands. Returning in 768, be was appointed to the Seaford. Ho was afterwards removed to* the Southampton, of thirty-two guns.
- In 1775, we Cod him captain of the Orpheus,a frigate of the same force. At the commencement of the dispute with the North American colonies, in 1777, he wed appointed to the Bienfaisant, of sixty-four gens. In 77®, he served under the orders of admiral Keppel, in the encounter with the French fleet off Ushant, hot does not appear to have been materially engaged. At tire close of the year L779t he wan ordered to Gibndtar, with admiral Rodney, for the relief of that fortress. The fleet, while on its passage, fortunately fey io with a Spanish’sqeadten end convoy ’near -Cape Finisterre, and otr the 8tb of January, 1780, captain Macbride eaptured the €Mpuh anaoa, of sixty-four gms, the ceminandtag ship of ibeit emwoy; sM the ether vessels of mrand HMfebahaMH^et the same time- becoming |riae» to tbe.dUfertnt shipto Soon after thia success an action took pleoebeMreeU Dan Juan de Langara- aad the Ifritislr Beet, when captain Macbride eminently distinguished Mmselfby his sirifl ond valour, as wall in the autiomee is the CMMwoKwin* secure
- the possession of the Phoenix, of eighty guns, the flag-ship of the Spanish admiral, in the midst of a tremendous storms Captain Macbride was sent home express with the intelligence, but, owing to unfavourable winds, he did not reach England till after the duplicate of the account had arrived there. On the return of the fleet to England, captain Macbride, in the month of March, again commanded the Bienfaisant, and, after a few weeks, was ordered into St. George’s Channel, in quest of a large French privateer, mounting fifty-four guns. Early on the 13th of August he fell in with the object of his pursuit, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and brought the enemy to action about half after seven in the morning. The Chevalier de Clonard, who commanded the French ship, (viz, the Count d’Artois) previous to the engagement, hoisted English colours; while those of the same denomination still continued flying on board the Bienfaisant. But captain Macbride no longer doubting that the Count d’Artois was an enemy, ordered the marines on his poop to fire; and the enemy having hoisted their proper colours, immediately returned the compliment. Some time elapsed before captain Macbride could regulate his sails, and place his ship in an advantageous position. During this interval the enemy had the effrontery to make an attempt to board him; but their efforts being unsuccessful, an action commenced, and was closed by the surrender of the Count d’Aitois, after a contest of an hour and ten minutes. The rigging, masts, and yards of the enemy suffered much injury, twenty-one of their men were killed, and thirty-five wounded. On board the Bienfaisant only three men were killed, and twenty-two wounded. During the year 1781, captain Macbride served in the North Seas, attached to a squadron employed there to watch the motions of the Dutch squadron then ready for service in the Texel. In consequence of which be was present at the engagement off the Dogger Bank, in the month of August, between vice-admiral Parker and admiral Zoutman. Captain Maobride had been removed from the Bienfaisant to the Artois,
- nF Afty4ohr guns, the ship he had lately taken from the enemy, and esteemed the finest vessel existing of her dtss; but, as a temporary arrangement, he was again removed into the Princess Amelia, of eighty guns, as successor to captain Macartney, who had fallen in the .notion. On die return of the squadron into port, he was employed as a cruiser on the same station, and in the month of December, captured two very large Dutch privateers. (Captain Macbride, in his official account of this action, informs us, that ** The Hercules had one hundred and sixty-four men on board; thirteen were killed, and twenty wounded. The Mars, one hundred and forty-six men; nine were killed, and fifteen wounded. We had one man killed, and six wounded.”) Early in the ensuing year he. was ordered into the Channel, and, in April, attended the squadron, under admiral Barrington, to intercept a small French squadron intended to proceed from Brest to the East Indies. Captain Macbride, who was at the head of the fleet, first discovered the enemy, and in •the.course of that or the following day, nearly half the - vessels, consisting of ships of war and transports, were captured by the different ships of the British squadron. After the cessation of hostilities, he quitted the Artois, and in Joly, 1783, was appointed to the Droid frigate of tbirty-two guns, employed as a cruiser in the Irish Channel. Having quitted her about the year 1784, he held no naval commission for some years. In the same year he was chosen member of parliament for Plymouth. In 1788, he was appointed to the Cumberland of seventy-four guns, a guard-ship stationed at Plymouth; and, in February 1793, soon after the commencement of the rupture with France, he was made rear-admiral of the blue. He was afterwards more than once occupied in cruising in the Channel, but found no opportunity of adding to that reputation he had before so deservedly acquired. He was indeed, for a con-siderable space of time, unable to act in the line of his profession, having unfortunately broken his leg in attempting to mount ahorse. In April he was raised to the rank
- of rear-admiral of the red, and in July to that of vice- admiral of the blue-. After wine time he commanded the squadron io the North Seas, but soon quitted that station, on which no circumstance occurred to enable him to sig-nalise himself. On the 1st of Jone, 1795, he obtained the rank of vice-admiral of the red, but does not appear to have ever held any naval employment after quitting the command in the North Sea.
- CHARLES MACKLIN. THIS eminent dramatist and actor, was born in the northern province of Ireland, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, (others say in 1690,) and descended from a respectable family of the name of M’Laughlin, which, in his own words, he englithjied on becoming an actor. He was placed by his mother, then a widow, under the care of a Mr. Nicholson, a gentleman of Scotland, who at this time kept a respectable school in Dublin, in 1790, be came over to England, and having a passion for the stage, joined several strolling companies, and was afterwards engaged at Lincoln’s-inn-fields, where he first discovered his merit, in a small character in Fielding’s “Coffee House Politician.” For several seasons he performed comic characters, and in 1735, was unfortunate enough to kill Mr. Hallam, an actor in the same theatre with bunself, and who was grandfather to the present Mrs. Mattocks. The dispute originated about a wig which Mr. Hallam had on, and which the other claimed aa his pro-perty, and in the warmth of temper (to which he had been always addicted) be raised his cane, and gave him a fetal stroke in the eye. He was brought to trial in consequence^ but no malicious intent appearing in evidence^ he was acquitted. In 1741 (February 14), he established bb fame as an actor, in the character of Shylook, in the u Merchant of Venice,” for his own benefit, and restored to the stage a play which had been forty yean supplanted by Lord Lansdowne’s “Jew of Venice,” which wan a
- W ¦ttataaHe abenMio* ef the above. Mackliu’s performance cf this cbarKtot*. to forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit, that be esdaimtd, “Thia ia the Jew - * that Smkspeare drew.” It baa been stud, that tbits gentleman wee Mn Pope, and that he meant bia panegyric on Macklin as a satire against Lord Lansdowne. - the characters of the “Merchant of Venice” were thus cast: - Antonie, Mr.Qnin; Bassanio, Mr. Milward; Gratiano, Mr. Mills; Lanncelot, Mr. Chapman; Gobbo, Mr. John* stone; Solanio, Mr. Berry; Marochins, Mr. Caahell; Lorenzo, Mr. Hayward; Prince of Arragon, Mr. Turbutt; Dake, Mr. Win st one; Tubal, Mr. Tnswell; Polariuo; Mr. Ridout; Portia, Mrs. Clive; Neriaaa, Mrs. Pritchard; and Jessica, Mrs. Woodman. The manager and per-formers having now disagreed, Macklin, and several of the most eminent of the company, among whom was Mr, Garrick,revolted; and a formal agreement was signed, by which they obliged themselves not to accede to any terms which might be proposed to them by the patentee, without the consent of all the subscribers. The contest between the manager and the seceders, became soon very unequaL the latter found all applications for a new patent ineflec* tual. There was now no remedy left, but to agree with the manager upon the best terms that could be obtained. Some of the principal actors, and such as were absolutely necessary to the conducting of the theatrical machine, were admitted to favour upon equal terms, and were allowed the same annual stipends which they enjoyed before the secession; others of less consequence were abridged of half their income. the manager ascribed this revolt of the players principally to Mr. Macklin; and him,he detemined to punish for his ingratitude. To the amt.be was reconciled; but eternal banishment from bia theatre^ was the doom which be pronounced on the man who had been ones his friend and adviser, . Macklin bod no iodination, to become the ’scape goat in this busir nern, and be uiged Mr. Garrick to. perfect, the articles of their .agreement, by which it wae .«0MmuMtd thatneitbsr
- of the contracting parties should accommodate matters with the patentee without a comprehension of the other* Mr. Garrick could not but acknowledge the justice of Macklin’s plea; he declared that he was ready to do all in his power to fulfil his agreement; but, as the manager continued obstinate in his resolution to exclude Mr. Macklin, it could not reasonably be expected that he should, by an obstinate perseverance in a desperate contest, greatly injure his own fortune, and absolutely be the means of starving eight or ten people, whose fate depended on his accommodating the dispute with Fleetwood. He offered Mr. Macklin a sum to be paid weekly out of his income, for a certain time, till the manager could be brought into better temper, or he should have it in his power to provide for himself suitable to his rank in the theatre. He obtained a promise of Mr. Rich to give Mrs. Macklin a weekly salary of 31. These proposals were strenuously rejected by Mr. Macklin, who persisted in his claim of Mr. Garrick’s absolutely fulfilling the tenor of their compact. Mr. Garrick, notwithstanding the perseverance of Macklin, accepted Fleetwood’s proposals, and entered into covenant with him, for that season, at a very considerable income. His reception, however, io the part of Bayes, in the “Rehearsal,” was very disagreeable. When the curtain drew up,-the play-house shewed more like a bear-garden than a theatre-royal. - The sea, in a storm, was not more terrible and boisterous than the loud and various noises which issued from the boxes, pit, and galleries. Garrick, as soon as he entered, bowed very low several times, and entreated to be heard. Peas were thrown upon the stage, and he was saluted with loud hisses, and continual cries of - off! off! This theatrical tempest lasted two nights. At last, the ardour of Macklin’s party began to relax, and Garrick recovered the public favour. James Lacy, however, who succeeded Fleetwood in the management, brought about a revolution in the theatre^ in 1747-8. He forgot all former disputes, and engaged Macklin and his wife at a very considerable salary. At I
- this time he produced hi 9 first pMy,. of “Henry the Seventh; or, the Popish Impostor;*’ afterwards,“A Will or No Will; or, A New Case for the Lawyers,” farce, 1746; “The Suspicious Husband criticised; or, The Ptague of Envy,” ditto, 1747; and “The Fortune Hun* tert; or, The Widow Bewitched,” ditto, 1748. In the spring of 1748, Sheridan, the then manager of the Dublin theatre, offered him and his wife 800£ per annum, for two years, which he accepted, and they soon after landed in Dublin, to perform their engagements* But Macklin’s disposition to jealousy and dissatisfaction still prevailed; for scarcely had he been a month in Dublin, when he began to find out, that the manager chose to perform tragedies as well as comedies at his theatre; that his name stood in large characters in the play-bills; and a variety of such like grievous matters; not considering that he and his wife’s salary was fixed at all events for two years; and that any reasonable arrangement which the manager might adopt for his own emolument would the more enable him to perform the contract. But consideration was lost upon a man of Macklin’s temper, when once resolved; he therefore gave a loose to his passion, which at last became so intolerable, that, according to the language of Trincnlo, 44 though Sheridan was king, Macklin would be viceroy over him;” which the former not agreeing to, determined to shut the doors of his theatre against both him and his wife. This, however, so far from bringing him to reason, provoked his irritabilities the more. He several times presented himself at the stage door - no admittance. He then sent the manager an attorney’s letter - no answer. He then commenced a chancery suit, and, after waiting the whole winter unemployed, be returned to England, with several hundred pounds minus, and a snug law-suit upon his shoulders into the bargain. On his return to England, be commenced manager at Chester for that season; and in the winter was engaged at Covent-garden theatre, where be performed Mercurio duriqg the celebrated run of * Romeo and JuKet” between the two VOL. 11* D D houses* How Macklin could have been eadand in a ehs* racter so totally unfitted to his powers of mind and body, is a question not easily resolved at this day - particularly as Woodward played this very character at the other house, and played it in a style of excellence never pertiaps before, or since, equalled; yet what is still more strange, Macklin always spoke of Mercutio as one of his favourite parts, and enlarged upon it in full confidence of his power. He produced at this theatre a dramatic satire, called “Covent Garden Theatre; or, Pasquin turned Drawcanser,” 17M; and towards the close of the year 1753, having obtained from Mr. Garrick the use of his theatre for that night, took a formal leave of the stage, in a prologue written to the occasion, in which he introduced his daughter as an actress to the protection of the public. What induced him to quit the stage in the full vigour of fame and constitution, (as he was then, according to his own calculation, but fifty-four) was one of those schemes which he long previously indulged himself in, of suddenly making his fortune by the establishment of a tavern and coflee* house, in the Piazsa, Covent-garden; to which be after* wards added a school of oratory, upon a plan hitherto unknown in England, founded upon the Greek, Roman, French, and Italian societies, under the title of MThe British Inquisition.9’ The first part of this plan was opened on the 11th of March, 1754, by a public ordinary, (which was to be continued every day at four o’clock, price three shillings,) where every person was permitted to drink port, or claret, or whatever liquor be should choose - a bill of fare, we must confess, very encouraging even in those times, and which, from its cheapness atod novelty, drew a considerable resort of company for -scam time. Dinner being announced, by public advertisement, to be ready at four o’clock, just as the clock had Strack that hour, a large tavern bell, which he had affixed at the top of the bouse, gave notice of its approach. TKs bell continued ringing for about five minutes; the dfaMfe wat then ordered to be dished; and in ten minuter afterwards
- ik-bras, tot upon the table; after which tire enter room -dm* was ordered to be abut, and no other guest admitted. -Macklin himself always brought in the first dish, dressed 4* w foil suit of clothes, &c. with a napkin slung across kasleft arm. When he placed the dish on the table, he -made* to* bo*, and retired a few paces back towards the sideboard, which was laid out io a very superb Style, and ¦with every posable convenience that could be thought Of. •~*Two of hit principal waiters stood beside him; and one, W», or three more, as occasion required them. He had Warned up all his servants several months before for thia attendance; and one principal rule (which be had laid ¦down as a sure qua non) was, that not one single wold was io be spokea by them whilst in the room, except when ashed a question by one of the guests. The ordinary, therefore, was carried on by signs, previously agreed upotar; and Macklin, as principal waiter, had only to observe When any thing was wanted or called for, when he com-municated n sign, which the waiters immediately undet- stood and complied with. Thus was dinner entirely served tp, and attended to, on the side of the house, all in dumb Chow. When dinner was over, and the bottles and glassd* aM laid upon the table, Macklin, quitting his former situation, walked gravely np to the front of the* table, And hoped M that all things were found agreeable;” after which
- of the town. Of the other part of this plan, which he called “The British Inquisition/’ it is impossible to think, without ascribing to the author a degree of vanity almost bordering on madness. By this plan, he not only incited a discussion on almost the whole circle of arts and sciences, which he was in a great measure to direct, but took upon himself solely to give lectures on the comedy of the ancients - the use of their masks, flutes, mimes, pantomimes, &c- He next engaged to draw a comparison between the stages of Greece and Rome. To conclude with lectures upon each of Shakspeare’s plays, commenting on the different stories from which his plots were taken, the uses which be made of them, with strictures on his fables, morals, passions, manners, 8cc. In respect to his knowledge of ancient comedy, and his attempt to draws comparison between the Greek and Roman stage, he must have obtained it (if he made any literary inquiry at all) from Dryden’s Prefaces, and other detached English writers on the subject, as he was totally unacquainted with either the Greek or Latin languages, and did not understand French well enough to avail himself of their criticisms. As to the original of Shakspeare’s stories, and the uses he made of them, tec. he was still in a worse predicament, as this required a course of reading in the contemporary writers of Shakspeare’s age, too multifarious either for the grasp of his mind, or for the time which, from other avocations, he could bestow on it - so that to every body but himself, Macklin stood in a very ridiculous point of view - under the responsibility of large pro-mises, with very little capital to discharge them. Of his illustrations of Shakspeare’s plays we believe there are no records, as he was not quite fool enough to print them, nor has even ridicule consigned them to memory: but, as a proof of what he was capable of doing as a critic in this line^ we subjoin the following proposal he made to Garrick, as a kind of grateful compensation to him, for giving him the use of his theatre for one night, and for writing • farewell epilogue for him on the same occasion. In his conversation with the manager about the great
- run of a Romeo and Juliet,” he told him, that as the town bad not properly settled which was the better Romeo, Barry or him, be meant ultimately to decide that question in his next lecture on that tragedy. Garrick, who was all alive to fame, instantly cocked up his ear, and exclaimed, “Ah! my dear Mac, how will you bring this about ?” “I’ll tell you, Sir; I mean to shew your different merits in the garden scene. Barry comes into it, Sir, as great as a lord, swaggering about his love, and talking so loud, that by G - , Sir, if we don’t suppose the servants of the Capulet family almost dead with sleep; they most have come out and tossed the fellow in a blanket. Well, Sir, after having fixed my auditors’ attention to this part, then I shall ask, but how does Garrick act this ? Why, Sir, sensible that the family are at enmity with him and his house, he comes creeping in upon his toes, whispering his love, and looking about him just like a thief in the night.” At this Garrick could hold out no longer - be thanked him for his good intentions, but begged he would decline his purpose, as, after all, he thought it a question better left to the opinion of att audience than the subject of a lecture. With these qualifications as a critic much success could not be augured from the lectures. The event turned out so; as, in a little time, the few who resorted to his rooms gave up all ideas of improvement, and the whole assumed an air of burlesque, which was still heightened by the gravity of Macklin, who, trusting to the efficiency of his own powers, appeared every night full dressed, dictating to the town in all the airs of superior intelligence. Foote stood at the bead of the wits and laughers on this occasion. To a man of his humour, Macklin was as the dace to the pike, a sure prey. He accordingly made him his daily food for laughter and ridicule, by constantly attending his lectures, and, by his questions, remarks, and repartees, kept the audience in a continual roar. Macklin sometimes made battle - but it was Priam to Pyrrhus:-? be now and then came out with a strong remark, or bitter sarcasm; but in wit and humour, Foote was greatly his superior. Foote likewise bad the talent of keeping his temper, which still added to his superiority. One night as Macklin was preparing to begin his lecture, and hearing a buz in the room, he spied Foote in a corner, talking and laughing most immoderately. This he thought a safe time to rebuke him, as he had not begun his lecture, and consequently could not be subject to any criticism: he therefore cried out with some authority, “Well, Sir, you seem to be very merry there: but do you know what I am going to say now ?” “No, Sir," says Foote, “Bray do you ?” The ready and unembarrassed manner of this reply drew on such a burst of laughter, as silenced the lecturer for some minutes; nor could be then get on, till called upon by the general voice of the company. Another time Macklin undertook to shew the causes of duelling in Ireland; and why it was much more die practice of that nation than any other. In order to do this in his own way, he began with the earliest part of the Irish history, as it respected the customs, the education, and the animal spirits of the inhabitants; and after getting as far as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, he was again proceeding, when Foote spoke to order. * Well, Sir; what have you to say on this subject ?” - “Only to crave a little attention, Sir," says Foote, with much seeming modesty, 4< when I think I can settle this point in a few words." “Well, Sir; go on." “Why then, Sir," saya Foote, “to begin, what o’clock is it ?" (( O’clock!" saje Macklin, “what has the clock to do with a dissertation on duelling?”
- abridgment; and Macklin shut up his lecture for that evening in.great dudgeon. Another night, being at sup? per with Foote and some others, at the Bedford, one of the company was praising Macklin on the great regularity pf his ordinary, and in particular his manner of directing his waiters by signals. - “Aye, Sir,” says Macklin/’ I knew it wquld do. And where do you think I picked up hint? Well, Sir, I’ll tell you. I picked it up from pp less p man than James Duke of York, who, you know, Sir, first invented signals for the fleet.” “Very a-propos, ipcjeed,” says Foote,” and good poetical justice, as from the Fleet they were taken - so to the Fleet both .master and signals are likely to return.” - All this, though galling tp Manklip, wps fun for the public; and had it ended here, Would perhaps, have served Macklin in a pecuniary way, as much as it hurt his feelings in another: - but Foote did pot know when he had enough of a good thing: he introduced him into his theatre at the Haymarket, where pother cut so good a figure as they did in the British In- qpisitipQ; and Macklip, in return, retorted in all kinds of abuse and calumny. The public at last grew tired of the controversy, from being taken out of its proper place; and the British Inquisition soon after this began to feejl a gradual decay in all its departments. Most paqp^e, except the projector, saw the seeds of a speedy dissolution tn the first principles of this scheme^, I^n the first place, it was upon a large and expensive scale, and .q^ita Itovelin this country; it, therefore,, not only required a greater capital chan Macklin was m^ter of, but .much greater talents, as he had neither learning, reading, figure, or elocution, for the oratorical part; nor assiduijty, knowledge or temper, for keeping a coffee-house and tavern. Whilst he amused himsejf with drilling his waiters, or fitting himself for the rostrum, by poring over the Athenian Oracle or Parliamentary Debates,.his gaiters, 49 .return, were robbing him in,all directions; his cook generally went to market for him, and his principal waiter was his principal bjutler: in short, Macklin tad.l?ft himself little more to do in the essential parts of his business, than paying the bills; and these soon poured in upon bin so fast, that he could not even acquit himself of tbit en« ployment. Accordingly, the next winter did ultimately decide the question, as we find him a bankrupt on the£5th of January, 1755, under the title of vintner, coffee-man, and chapman. On his examination before the commis* sioners of bankruptcy, every thing turned out to Ms character but his prudence; as it appeared he lost Ms money partly by the sums incurred in building and fitting up the rooms, and partly by the trade not being adequate to such a scale of expenditure.
- One circumstance, however should not be omitted hera^ which redounds to his character as a father, which was, that it was proved, by sufficient documents, that be laid out no less than twelve hundred pounds on the education of his daughter - -an education not ill bestowed, as it respected exterior accomplishments, &c. but gbich made so little impression on her gratitude, that at her death (which happened when her father was above eighty years of age, and when, it was well known, he was fiw -from being independent) she bequeathed the best part of her fortune to strangers, giving him, at the same time, such an eventual title to the other part, as was worse than absolute neglect - it was a legacy in mockery, as if she only thought of her father to tantalise him with fruitlsm’ expectations. Though Miss Macklin was not she was genteel in her person, and being highly edMOtoffe was fashionable in her manners and deportment. She was, beside, a very rising actress, and gave specimens of her singing and dancing in occasional entertainments^ which made her a great favourite with the town. Some days previous to her benefit, whilst Macklin was silling at breakfast, a loud knocking at his door announced -the name of a baronet, at that time as well known on-she turf, as he has since been in the character of a noble Joed, and great legal practitioner. After the ceremonies of introduction were over, Macklin hoped * be would do him
- the honour of breakfasting with himwhich the Other very frankly accepted of, and the conversation becoming general - the stage, of course, formed one of the topics; when the baronet took this opportunity to praise Miss Macklin io the highest strains of panegyric. This Macklin .thought a good omen for his daughter’s benefit-night, and bowed most graciously to all his encomiums. At last, after a short pause, (arising, as Macklin thought, from his embarrassment about the manner of asking for tickets,) the baronet began the following curious conversation: - “After what 1 have said of your daughter, Mr. Macklin, yon may suppose I am not insensible of her merits. - I mean to be her friend, not in the article of taking tickets for her benefit, and such trifling acts of friendship, which mean nothing more than the vanity of patronage - I mean to be her friend for life.” “What do you allude to, Sir?” says Macklin, roused at this last expression. “Why, (said the other) I mean as I say, to make her my friend for life; and as you are a man of the world, and ’tis fit you should be considered in this business - r now make you an offer of four hundred pounds per year for your daughter, and two hundred pounds per year for yourself, to be secured on any of my estates during both your natural lives.” “1 was at that time,” says Macklin, spreading some butter on my roll, and happened to have in my hand a large case knife, which grasping, and looking steadily at the baronet, I desired him instantly to quit my apartments, telling him, at the same time, that I was as much surprised at his folly as his profligacy, in thus attempting the honour of a child through the medium of her parent. He affected not to mind me, and was pro-ceeding with some coarseness, when instantly I sprung from my seat, and holding the knife near his throat, in a menacing manner, bade him make the best of his way down stairs, or 1 would instantly drive that instrument into his heart, as the due reward of such base and infamous proposals. Sir, (continued the veteran) 1 had no occasion ,to repeat my menaces a second time. By G - , the fellow
- made bat one jump from his chair to the door, and scampered down the stairs as if the d - was in him. He. ran acron the garden in the same manner, thinking I was still at his heels: and so, Sir, I never spoke to the rascal since.
- He now joined Barry in founding a new theatre in Dublin, and, in the spring of 1757, Macklin went to Ireland along with Barry and Woodward, who was admitted as partner, and was present at laying the fonndatioMUm of Crow-street theatre. About September of . the same year, Barry having obtained a sufficient number of subscribers to his new theatre, and arranged every other matter relative to his great design, returned to London, leaving Macklin as his locum taunt, who, to do him justice, was so very vigilant and industrious in all the departments of his trust, that, upon Barry’s return to Dublin, towards the close of the summer of 1758* the theatre was nearly ready for their performance.: llm Macklin died about this time, before her husband cohld receive any benefits from her engagement, and bd seemed much afflicted at her loss, as her judgment and good senae often kept him within the pale of propriety. This was his first wife; she was the widow of a respectable hosier in Dublin, of the name of Grace, where the marriage took place about 1781-8. She made her debui at Chester in the Nurse, in “Romeo and Juliet.” She we* esteeamd an excellent actress in the walk of her profession-;-* very considerable reader, and possessed the accomplishment* gf singing and dancing to that degree, as would have enabled her to have got her bread in these lines, had pot her anting been considered as the most profitable employment. She had been some months before her death in adediaiiig state, but her dissolution is said to have beep hastened by her husband’s losses and bankruptcy. Crow-street theatre opened on the 23rd of October,.1758, with an ooeasaaoal prologue spoken by Barry, after which was perfoomdibe comedy of “She Would, and She Wopld Not jar^thp Kind Impostor.” Macklin joined this corps aa aepn raa
- decency for the loss of his wife would admit; but such was the versatility of his temper, that he not only quitted his engagements with Barry and Woodward, and returned to London the middle of December, 1759. but made an engagement to perform at Smock Alley (the opposition house) towards the dose of that season; which, however, he did not fulfil. Macklin, now, had greater projects than joining the Irish theatres: at this time he got an engagement at Drury-laoe at a very considerable salary; and besides had it in meditation to bring out his force of “Love i-la-Mode,” which, though it met with some opposition io the beginning, afterwards received such applause, both in London and Dublin, as made amends for all his former dramatic miscarriages, and crowned him with no inconsiderable share of reputation. This farce was first acted at Drury-lane, 1760, and afterwards he brought out at Covent-Garden “The Married Libertine,” comedy, 1761; The Irish fine Lady,” farce, 1767; and M The True-born Scotchman,” comedy, which was afterwards acted under the title of “The Man of the World/’ 1781. In 1774, he attempted the character of “Macbeth,” which met with a most violent opposition. The ground of complaint against this actor was changed after his second appearance in the character, and from a critique upon his octrag*, his antagonists attacked him with regard to his conduct; this arose from a speech which he then made, wherein he asserted that Mr. Sparks and Mr. Reddish had hissed him in the gallery on the first night of his appearance. These gentlemen made affidavits to the contrary, and, during the whole week, the papers were filled with squibs on both sides. On his third appearance in Macbeth, previous to the play, he came on in his own character, with a manuscript in his hand, and after much contest, was allowed to read a part of it, which contained the proofs of his former assertion. He then went through the character with some applause. Thia second address to the public produced a letter from Mn Reddish to Mr« Macklin, to which the latter published ap answer* An.
- account having appeared in one of the paper* of a tumult that occurred upon his fourth appearance in the character, in which it was said,“Mr. Smith’s friends openly avowed the cause/’ this gentleman applied to the printer, and finding Mr. Macklin to be the author of that declaration, addressed a letter to him the next day in the same paper, positively denying the charge. These altercations created a very strong party against Mr. Macklin, November 18, when he was to have played Shylock. They had stationed themselves in proper places of the pit and balcony boxes^ for the better application to the managers. When the curtain drew up, the cry was general for Mr. Colman to make his appearance. Bensley having been sent to learn the sense of the house, was not suffered to speak. Macklin then advanced in the dress of Shylock from behind the scenes, and humbly supplicated to be heard - but a general uproar took place, and he was forced to retire. He neat appeared in his own clothes, but the attempt was fruitless. Messrs. Miles and Sparks seemed to be the leaders of the opposition, and the latter stood up upon his seat with a written paper, anxious to communicate its contents to the house, but he was not suffered to read it. Daring this time successive embassies were dispatched from the manager, in the persons of Bensley, Woodward, Reinhold, and Clark - but all to no purpose: nothing would satisfy them but the appearance of Mr. Colman. Macklin wan on and off the stage every two minutes, but could not get leave to speak. He soon learnt, by the delivery of • written paper, that it was the sense of the company he should never play there again. This be received with an affectation of contempt, at which the house was exceedingly incensed, and declared, unless Mr. Colman would come forth, they would tear up the benches. Soon afterwards Mr. Bensley brought in a board, on which, wax written in chalk in large characters,w At the command of the public, Mr. Macklin is dischargeda roar of applawe ensued. An attempt was then made to perform * She Stoops to Conquer;” but the cry was still for Mr. Colman
- to confirm the written declaration in person. To pacify them, Mr. Fisher made his appearance, but was hooted off. Matters now became very serious. The ladies were desired to withdraw, and the gentlemen in the pit and boxes united. On their beginning to tear up the seats, Mr. Colman advanced. The house became quiet: and the manager began with observing, that, “as this was his first appearance on any stag?, he hoped for their indulgence.” - This seasonable piece of wit conciliating the general favour, he told them with an audible voice, that “it was the intent of the proprietors of that theatre to comply with the commands of the public even to the minutest particulars, and asked them if it was their pleasure that Mr. Macklin should be discharged?” The whole, as with one voice, cried “Yes.” Mr. Colman replied, “he is discharged,” and begged to know," whether it was their pleasure that the play of She Stoops to Conquer, should be performed?” “No, No, No,” was the universal cry. u Since this is the case,” replied Mr. Colman, u the rnooey must be returned, for it is not in our power to perform any other;” he then retired. However, the house still seeming dissatisfied, a fresh attempt was made to perform it, but in vain; the clamour continued, and nothing remained but Mr. Lewis to give out the play for the next day, which he did with, “Gentlemen, (for the ladies were gone) to-morrow will be performed “Love fin a Village:” This ended the altercation of the evening obout eight o’clock. Macklin now went to law with his adversaries, Lee, James, Aldus, Miles, and Clarke, and substantiated his losses. May 11, 1775, the court proceeded to state the judges’ report, in order to pronounce judgment against the offenders; and after it was determined that they should make Macklin a reasonable com-pensation in damages for two years’ salary at 100£ each, •two benefits at 200£ each, and the whole of his expenses out of pocket, - Macklin generously relinquished the whole of his damages, upon the following terms: “To •have his law expenses reimbursed him; the gentlemen to
- take 100£ worth of tickets for his daughter’s benefit; 100£ worth of tickets for his own benefit; and 100£ worth of tickets for the benefit of the theatre on the first night of his being reinstated in his employment.” After this, he occasionally performed, and paid a visit to Dublin during Mr. Daly’s management. November 87, 1788, while representing the character of Sir Peter Pertinak Mac Sycophant, in his own comedy (The Man of the World), he suddenly lost his recollection, and addressed the audience, informing them, that unless he found himself more capable, he should not again venture to solicit their attention. After this, however, he appeared again, and in the middle of the character of Shy lock, for his own benefit, May 7, 1789, his memory failed him in the same manner, and the part was finished by Mr. Ryder. Finding himself now wholly incapable of performing, he retired with regret from the stage, and about four years after, by the advice of his friends, his two pieces, “The Man of the World,” and “Love &-la-Mode,” were, under the superintendance of Mr. Murphy, first printed, and offered to the public, by subscription; when the large contributions of several distinguished characters amounted to upwards of 1500£ which, under the direction of Dr. Brocklesby, John Palmer, Esq. and Mr. Longman, trustees, was kid out (agreeable to the proposals) in purchasing an annuity of SOO/, for Mr. Macklin, and of 75£ for Mrs. Macklin, (his second wife) in case she survived him. This great Nestor of the stage (who latterly became very languid and defective in memory) died July II, 1797,and his remains were interred in a vault at the north side of Covent-garden church. The following gentlemen attended the fa neral 8 - Mr. Hull, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Barlow, Mr. Kirkman, Mr. H ughes, Mr. Macdonald, Dr. Atkinson, Dr. Kennedy, Mr. Brandon, Mr. Davies, Mr. Ledger, and-Mr. Munden. The corpse was taken into the vestry, and prayers rend over it by the Rev. Mr. Ambrose, who came from Chm- bridge on purpose to perform this last act of kindness to his tutor, and a great number of spectators 0 tit asmmblr il.
- MACLAINE.
- ’Ki*aBg.
- DR. ARCHIBALD MACLAINE,
- A PIOUS and learned dergytnan, was descended from an •kndedt and respectable Scotch family, bat was born at ‘Monabham, in Ireland, in 1788, where his fathet was a minister. He lost his parents at an early age. After having completed his education at Glasgow, he accepted an invitation to Holland from his maternal hnele, and went to that country at the age of twenty. His nude was the venerable Dr. Milling, and him he succeeded as pastor of the English Church at the Hague, and remained in that situation until the. invasion of the country by the French, in 1794, compelled him to take refuge in England. He had not been there long when an only Sister whom he had seen for many years, joined him in a corrieqWehoe of the Irish rebellion. During his residence at the Hague hte
- Who known Obd highly respected by "every 006, Mrd’Otft unfreqnently consulted by official Wren of the’ bighhbt tank. Some time previous tb his dCOeaUe he wte seised with a paralytic affection, induced probably by agittMbh and distress of mind 4 as the nature of his disorder rendered the use of the baths and the wafer of l^afh necessary, the doctor visited tha’t city, and at IChgtlt fettle it the plat* of hiseettlddbkhbde. Here he lived eltetBpMfyfegthebeBttn^te of the ehribtfan and the scholar; tiH-thfedifth November, 1804, when hewet removed to that hatytyy state1 fin-whiA his whole lifthad-beleta’d pTepirrirthMi.,1’Dr’. Mtrelhrtiefifes Wied fa "the Abbey cbufch inBaty Who#‘n owawifet t is erected to his memory, with a Latin inscription, by the Rev. John Simpson.
- Dr. Maclaine was the author of two volumes of sermons, and a series of Letters to Soame Jenyns, a small 12mo. volume. But the work on which he builds his grand claim to fame, is his translation of Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, enriched with notes and appendices, full of learning and ingenuity. For this work, by which thousands have been realised, Dr. Maclaine received only the pitiful sum of ISO£
- DENNIS MACNAMARA,
- COMMONLY known by the name of Rnadh, or Redhaired, we are told was looked up to by his contemporaries in Irish literature (for seventy years at least) as possessing that poetical eminence which ranked him among the most celebrated of modern bards.
- He died October 6, 1810, in the ninety-fifth year of his age, at New Town, near Kilmacthomas.
- JOHN MAGEOGHEGAN,
- AN Irish Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, was the author of an excellent History of Ireland (in French) in three vols. 4to. with maps. He resided at Paris, and the work was printed there in 1758. He died about the year 1764, aged sixty-three years. H is History, which is very scarce, is held in considerable estimation.
- EDMUND MALONE,
- A CRITIC of considerable literary research, and one of the ablest commentators on Sbakspeare, was descended from an Irish family of great antiquity, and was born in Dublin on the 4th of October, 1741. In 1756, he entered the university of that city, where he took his degree of
- bachelor of arts. In 1768, he became a student in the Inner Temple, and in 1767, was called to the Irish bar, where be gave every promise of future excellence; but, an independent fortune being bequeathed to him, he retired from the bar, and shortly after settled in London, where be devoted the whole of his attention to literary pursuits. He took great pains to strip the poetical works of Rowley of their antique garb, contending strongly, that the poems attributed to him were the productions of Chatterton; and those learned critics Warton and Tyrwhitt, being of the same opinion, the controversy was soon at an end.
- While Mr. Malone was engaged in his Shakspeare, he received frpm Mr. Steevens a request of a most extraordinary nature. To a third edition of Johnson and Steevens’s Shakspeare, which had been published under the superintendance of Mr. Reed, in 1785, Mr. Malone had contributed some notes in which Mr. Steevens’s opinions were occasionally controverted. These he was now desired to retain in his new edition, exactly as they stood before, in order that Mr. Steevens might answer them. Mr. Malone replied, that he could make no such promise; that he most feel himself at liberty to correct his observations, where they were erroneous; to enlarge them, where they were defective; and even to expunge them altogether, where, upon further consideration, he was convinced they were wrong; in short, he was bound to present his work to the public as perfect as he could make it. But he added, that he was willing to transmit every note of that description in its last state to Mr. Steevens, before it went to press; that he might answer it if he pleased; and that Mr. Malone would even preclude himself from the privilege of replying. Mr. Steevens persisted in requiring that they should appear with all their imperfections on their head; and on this being refused, declared that all communication on the subject of Shakspeare was at an end between them*. In 1790, Mr. Malone’s edition at
• These particulars are collected from the correspondence which passed between them, which Mr. Malone preserved.
- VOL. 11.
- last appeared; and was sought after and read with the greatest avidity.
- In 179L appeared Mr. Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson, a work in which Mr. Malone felt at all times a very lively interest, and gave every assistance to its author during its progress which it was in his power to bestow. His ac-quaintance with this gentleman commenced in 1785, when, happening accidentally, at Mr. Baldwin’s printing- house, to be shewn a sheet of the Tour to the Hebrides, which contained Johnson’s character, be was so much struck with the spirit and fidelity of the portrait, that he requested to be introduced to its writer. From this period a friendship took place between them, which ripened.into the strictest and most cordial intimacy, and lasted without interruption as long as Mr. Boswell lived. After hb death, in 1795, Mr. Malone continued to shew every merit of affectionate attention towards his family; and m every successive edition of Johnson’s Life, took the most wearied pains to render it as correct and perfect us possible.
- In 1795, he was again called forth to display his seal in defence of Shakspeare, against the contemptible fabrications with which the Irelands endeavoared to delude the public. Mr. Malone saw through the falsehood of the whole from its commencement; and laid bare the fraud, in a pamphlet, which was written in the form of a letter to his friend Lord Charlemont. In 179% he had the misfortune to lose his admirable friend Sir Joshua Reynolds; and his executors, of whom Mr. Malone had the honour to be one, having determined, in 1797, to give the world a complete collection of his works, he superintended the publication, and prefixed to it a very pleasing biographical sketch of their author. He Collected together, and published in 1800, the prose works of Ihyden; which, as they had Jain scattered about, and were raffle of them appended to works which were little known, had never impressed the general reader with that opinion of their excellence which they deserved. • the nsmtive
- 41|: which be prefixed is a most important accession to bio- gnfpby. la 1800, be-prepared for the press a few productions of the celebrated William Gerard Hamilton, to which be prefixed a sketch of his life. He also wrote a biographical memoir of that celebrated statesman Mr. Windham, which was not printed for sale. A gradual decay appears to base undermined his constitution j and when he was just on die point of going to press with his new edition of Shakspeare, he was interrupted by an illness of which be died on the 45th of May, 1814, in the seventieth year of his age, and his remains were interred’ in the family seat of Baronston, in the county of West-meath.
- THOMAS MATHEW.
- THIS gentleman, of whom the following account is taken from Sheridan’s Life of Swift, was generally supposed to be the last who kept op the old Irish hospitality in its ancient splendour. Being possessed of a considerable estate in Tipperary, which produced a clear rent of 8000£ a-year, he resolved to build a large commodious house for the reception of guests, surrounded by fifteen hundred acres of his choicest land, all laid out upon a regular plan of improvement. In order to carry this design into effect, he retired to the Continent for seven years, and lived upon 600£ a-year.
- When all was completed, he returned to his native* country; and after some time passed in the metropolis; to revive the old, and cultivate new acquaintance, be retired to his seat in Thomastown, to pass the remainder of his days there. As he was one of the finest gentlemen Of the age, and possessed of so large a property,- he found- no difficulty, during his residence in Dublin, to get access to all whose character for talents or probity, made him desirous to cultivate their acquaintance. Out of these he selected such as were most conformable to his taste, inviting them to pass such leisure time as they might have upon their hands, at Thomastown.
- His house had been chiefly contrived to answer the noble purpose of that endless hospitality which be intended to maintain there. It contained forty commodious apartments for guests, with suitable accommodations to their servants. Each apartment was completely furnished with every convenience that could be wanted, even to the minutest article. When a guest arrived, he shewed him his apartment, saying, “This is your castle, here yon are to command as absolutely as in yonr own house; you may breakfast, dine, and sup here whenever you please, and invite such of the guests to accompany you as mqy be most agreeable to you.” He then shewed him the com-mon parlour, “where,” he said, “a daily ordinary was kept, at which be might dine when it was more agreeable to him to mix in society; but from this moment, you are never to know -me as master of die house, and only to consider me as one of the guests.” In order to put an end to all ceremony at meal-time, he took his place at random at the table; and thus, all ideas of precedence being laid aside, the guests seated themselves promiscuously, without any regard to difference of rank or quality. There was a large room fitted up exactly like a coffeehouse, where a bar-maid and waiters attended to furnish refreshments at all times of the day. Here such as chose it breakfasted at their own hour. It was furnished with chess-boards, backgammon tables,newspapers, pamphlets, 8cc. in all the forms of a city coffee-house. Bat the moat extraordinary circumstance in his whole domestic arrangement, was that of a detached room in one of the extremities of the bouse, called the tavern. As he was himself a very temperate man, and many of his guests were of the same disposition, the quantity of wine for the use of the common room was but moderate; but as drinking was much in fashion in those days, in order (o gratify such of his guests as had indulged themselves in that custom, he had recourse to the above-mentioned contrivance; and it was the custom of all who loved a cheerful glass* to adjourn to the tavern soon after dinner, and leave the more sober folks to themselves. Here a waiter, in a blue
- apron, attended (as was the fashion then,) and all things in the room were contrived so as to humour the illusion. Every one called for what, liquor they liked, with as little restraint, as if they were really in a public-house, and to pay their share of the reckoning. Games of all sorts were allowed, but under such restrictions as to prevent gambling: and so as to answer their true end, that of amusement/ without injury to the purse of th4 players. There were two billiard tables, and a large bowling-green; ample provision was made for all such as delighted in country sports; fishing-tackle of all sorts; variety of guns, with proper ammunition; a pack of buckhounds, another of fox-hounds; and another of harriers. He constantly kept twenty choice hunters in his stables, for the use of those who were not properly mounted for the chase. Hi6 plan was so well formed, and be had such checks upon all his domestics, that it was impossible there could beany waste; or that any article from the larder, or a single bottle of wine from the cellar, could have been purloined, without immediate detection. This was done partly by the choice of faithful stewards, and clerks of approved integrity; but chiefly by his own superintendence of the whole, as not a day passed without having all the accounts of the preceding one laid before him. This he was enabled to do by his early rising; and the buaiftesg being finished before others were Out of their hedsr ho always appeared the most disengaged man in thejipuse/aqd seemed to have as little conduct of it as any of the guest#; And, indeed, to a stranger he might pass for such; ashe made it a point, that no one should consider him in die light of master of the house, or pay him the least civilities on that score: which he carried so far, that be sometimes went abroad without giving any notice, apdstaid away several days, while things went on a# usual athome; and, on his return, he would not allow any gratulations? to be made him, nor any other notice to be taken of him, than if he had not been absent during that time. The arrangements of every sort were so prudently made; that no
- tiplicity of guests, or their domestics, ever occasioned any disorder; and all things were conducted with the same ease and regularity as in a private family. He was the first who pot an end to that inhospitable custom of giving vails to servants, by making a suitable addition to their wages, at the same time assuring them, that if they ever took any afterwards, they should be discharged with disgrace: and, to prevent temptation, the guests were informed, that Mr. Mathew would consider it as the highest affront, if any offer of that sort were made.
- As Swift had heard much of the place from Dr. Sheridan, who had been often a welcome guest there, both on account of his companionable qualities, and as being preceptor to the nephew of Mr. Mathew, he was desirous of seeing, with his own eyes, whether the report of it were true; which he could not help thinking to have been much exaggerated. Upon receiving an intimation of this from Dr. Sheridan, Mr. Mathew wrote a polite letter to the dean, requesting the honour of a visit, in company with the doctor, on his next school vacation. They set out accordingly on horseback, attended by a gentleman who was a near relation of Mr. Mathew.
- They had scarce reached the ion where they were to pass the first night, and which, like most of the Irish inns at that time, afforded but miserable entertainment, when a coach and six arrived, sent to convey them the remainder of their journey to Thomastown; and, at the same time, bringing store of the choicest viands, wine, and other liquors, for their refreshment. Swift was highly pleased with this uncommon mark of attention paid him; and die circumstance of the coach proved particularly agreeable, as he had been a good deal fatigued with his day’s journey. When they came within sight of the house, the dean, astonished at its magnitude, cried out, * What, in the name of God, can be the use of such a vast building * Why, Mr. Dean,” replied their fellow-traveller before mentioned, “there are no less than forty apartments for guests in that house, and all of them probably occupied at
- 423 this time, except what are reserved for us.’* Swift, in his usual manner, ca^sd out to the coachman to stop, and hade him turp about, and drive him back to Dublin, for he could pot think of mixing with such a crowd. - “Well,” sqid he afterwards, suddenly, “there is no remedy, I must submit; but I have lost a fortnight of my life.” - Mr. Mathew received him at the door, with uncommon marks of respect; and then conducting him to his apartment, after some compliments, made him his usual speech, acquainting him with the customs of the house, and retired leaving him in possession of his castle. Soon after the cook appeared with his bill of tyre, to receive his directions about supper; and the butler, at the same time, with a list of wines and other liquors. “And is all this really so,”said Swift; “and may I command here as in my own hopse ?” The gentleman before mentioned assured hip he might; and that nothing could be more agreeable to the owner of that mansion, than that all under his rpof should live conformably to their own inclinations, without the least restraint. “Well, then,” said Swift, “I invite yoq and Dr. Sheridan to be my guests while I stay* for, I think, I spall hardly be tempted to mix with the mob below.” Three days were passed ip riding over the demesne, apd viewing the several improvements, without ever seeing Mr. Mathew or any of his guests. On the fourth day, Swift entered the room where the company were assembled before dinner, and addressed Mr. Mathew ill one of his finest complimental speeches, which he concluded by saying, a And now, ladies apd gentlemen, I ana come to live among you, and it shall be qp fault of mine if we do not pass our time agreeably.” After dinner, being in high spirits, be. eptertftiped the company vyith several pleasantries. Dr. Sheridqq fpd he « played iqto ppe another’s hands; they joked, they pupned, they laughed, and a general gaiety was diffused through the whole company. When the time came which obliged Dr. Sheridap to return to his school, the company were so delighted with the dean, that they earnestly entreated him
- to stay there some time longer; and Mr. Mathew himself for once broke through his rule of never soliciting the stay of any guest, (it being the established custom of the house, that all might depart when they thought proper, without any ceremony of leave-taking,) by joining in the request. Swift found himself so happy in his situation there, that he readily yielded to their solicitations; and, instead of the fortnight which he had originally intended, passed four months there, much to his own satisfaction, and that of all those who visited the place during that time. The following singular adventure, in which the subject of our memoir was engaged, is deserving of being recorded. It was towards the latter end of Queen Anne’s reign when Mr. Mathew returned to Dublin, after his long residence abroad. At that time party ran very high, but raged no where with such violence as in that city; insomuch, that duels were every day fought there on that account. There happened to be, at that time, two gentlemen in London who valued themselves highly on their skill in fencing; the name of one of them was Pack, of the other Creed; the former a major, the latter a captain, in the army. Hearing of these daily exploits in Dublin, they resolved, like two knigbts-errant, to go over in quest of adventures. Upon inquiry, they learned,that Mr. Mathew, lately arrived from France, had the character of being one of the first swordsmen in Europe. Pack, rejoiced to find an antagonist worthy of him, resolved, the first opportunity, to pick a quarrel with him; and meeting him as he was carried along the streets in his chair, jostled the forc-chairman. Of this Mathew took no notice, as supposing it to be accidental. But Pack afterwards boasted of it in the public coffee-house, saying, that he had pur- - posely offered this insult to the gentleman, who had not the spirit to resent it. There happened to be present a particular friend of Mr. Mathew’s, of the name of Mao namara, a man of tried courage, and reputed the best fencer in Ireland. He immediately took up the quarrel, and said, he was sure Mr. Mathew did not suppose the affront intended, otherwise be would have chastised him on the spot; but if the major would let him know where he was to be found, he should be waited on immediately on his friend’s return, who was to dine that day a little way out of town. The major said, he should be at the tavern over the way, where he and his companion would wait their commands. Immediately on his arrival, Mathew, being made acquainted ’with’what had passed, went from the coffee-house to thfe’tavern, accompanied by Macna- mara. Being shewn foto the room where the two gentlemen were, after having secured the door, without any expostulation, Mathew and Pack drew their swords; but Macnamara stopped them, saying, he had something to propose before they proceeded to action. He said, in cases of this nature, he could never bear to be a cool spectator; so, u Sir/’ addressing himself to Creed, “if you please, I shall have the honour of entertaining you in the same manner. Creed, who desired no better sport, made no other reply than that of instantly drawing his sword; and to work the four champions fell. The con-* diet was of some duration, and maintained with great obstinacy by the two officers, notwithstanding the great effusion of blood from the many wounds they had received. At length, quite exhausted, they both fell, and yielded the victory to the superior skill of their antagonists. Upon this occasion, Mathew gave a remarkable proof of the perfect composure of his mind during the action. Creed had fallen the first; upon which Pack exclaimed, “Ah, poor Creed ! are you gone ?” u Yes,” said Mathew, very composedly, “and you shall instantly pack after him at the same time making a home thrust quite through his body, which threw him to the ground. This was the more remarkable, as he was never in his life, either before or after, known to have aimed at a pun. The number of wounds received by the vanquished parties was very great; and what seems almost miraculous, their opponents were untouched. The surgeons, seeing the desperate state of their patients, would not suffer them to be removed out of the room where they fought, but had beds immediately conveyed into it, on which they lay many hours in a state of insensibility. When they came to themselves and saw where they were, Pack, in a feeble voice, said to his companion, “Creed, I think we are conquerors, for we have kept the field of battle.” For a long time their lives were despaired of, but, to the astonishment of every one, they both recovered. When they were able to see company, Mathew and his friend attended them daily, and a close intimacy afterwards ensued, as they found them men of probity, and of the best dispositions, except in the Quixotish idea of duelling, whereof they were now perfectly cured-
- ANDREW MILLER, A MEZZOTINTO engraver of some talent, was a native of Ireland, and flourished about the year 1740. He resided chiefly in Dublin, and engraved several portraits, which are by no means destitute of merit.
- RICHARD ALFRED MILLIKIN,
- A GENTLEMAN distinguished for his talents and benevolence, was born in 1767, at Castle Martyr, in the county of Cork. He was designed by his father for the mercantile profession, at that time one by which considerable fortunes had been amassed in Cork, the principal export town 0 the kingdom; but owing to some circumstances, young Millikiu acquired an early aversion to commerce, and was placed in the office of an eminent attorney, where he continued until sworn in.
- The flowery paths of literature and the fine arts possessed more attractions for the mind and fancy of Mr. Millikin, than the dry details of law, and it appears he devoted a greater portion of his time to the acquirement of the dead languages, and the study of the classic*, than to unravelling the intricacies existing between plaintiff*
- W and defendant. He was anon distinguished for his inti* mate knowledge of the Greek; and, amongst his earliest poetical productions, are several translations from that tongue. The odes of Pindar and Collins seem to have been the idols after which his juvenile efforts were modelled, and in this “wild walk of poesy,” his verses displayed a vivid imagination and much melody of language. We can trace some contributions from Mr. Millikin in a magazine published at Cork, in the year 1795, called the Monthly Miscellany, which, like most Irish periodical publications, appeared but to disappear. The first acknowledged pro* duction, we believe, of Mr. Millikin’s pen, is a little work, entitled, “The Casket; or, Hesperian Magazine,” which be edited jointly with his sister, a lady whose novels are well known in the literary world. The Casket commenced •bout the year 1797, and was discontinued, probably on account of the rebellion, after the appearance of twelve or fourteen numbers. At this period, when the exertions of every loyal citisen were called for by intestine commotion, the subject of this memoir became conspicuous for his seal and activity in the formation of the Cork volunteer corps, which efforts were unceasing until the service* of. the yeomanry were no longer required. Much distress and misery was the natural result of a state of civil war* fare, and Mr. Millikin, ever feelingly alive to the voice of wretchedness, was in a great measure the founder of a theatrical association, called the Apollo Society, by means of which large sums of money were distributed to the exhausted funds of various charitable institutions. The powers both of his pencil and his pen, mainly contributed to the eminence which those amateur performances attained; and his personification of several favourite characters will long be remembered with pleasure. During the distinguished career of this society, which still lan-guidly survives, several little dramatic pieces, written by him, were represented, particularly one called “Darby in Arms,” which we understand has been recently printed
- in America, and another founded on Lewis’s Tale of the Anaconda. Probably about this time Mr. Millikin paid some attention to dramatic composition, as we find that a tragedy of his, called “Macha/’ was offered by some friend at Drury-lane; but it was either rejected, or received no notice.
- In 1807, appeared his poem of “The Riverside,” in three books, which is but little known, owing to the limited number of quarto copies which were printed, and which cannot be found in either the Cork Library, or that of the Institution, though dedicated to the president aud members of the former. A classic feeling of rural elegance breathes throughout this composition, though many of the passages are or unequal merit.
- A little exhibition of puppets, named the Pafagmuma Theatre, now received a good deal of Mr. Millikin’s attention. This puppet-shew was in the present lecture room of the Cork Institution. Never, perhaps, was more wil or ingenuity displayed than in the various bills of performance, and mechanical contrivances; and several ofonr most popular operas and farces were performed by these wooden actors in a very pleasing manner; the prologue usually spoken was written by Mr. Millikin, and is pecu« liarly playful: - as a specimen, -
“Look at the stage of life, and yon shall ice How many blockhead* act as well as we; Through all this world, such actors still abound, With heads as hard, but not with hearts as sound. Of real life, to make the likeness good, We have our actors from congenial wood; For instance, Doctor Bolus here you ’ll see Shake his grave noddle in sage efaiy; Soldiers in laurel, lawyers and the church In table i/tw, and pedagogues in Mrdk; Ladies in Mtm-acoorf, and dying swains, In weeping willow melodize their pains; Poets in bay, in crab-tree, politicians, And any bit qf stick will make musicians; Quakers in good sound deal we make - plain folk, And British tars in heart of native oak/*
- A little tale, called the “Slave of Surinam/’ by Mr. Millikin, after the manner of St. Pierre, was published about 1810; but it is evidently written in haste, and without proper attention. A short time before his death, he projected a poetical work, to be called “Feudal Legends,’* in which, assisted by some friends, considerable progress was made; the greater part of the tale of" Dermuid,” and a ballad of considerable length, named “The Geraldine,” being completed by him. In 1815, Mr. Millikin laid the foundation of “The Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Cork,” by an exhibition of his drawings, together with those of a few amateurs and artists.
- His death was caused by water on the chest, and took place, after a short illness, on the morning of the 16th December, 1815. He was buried with a public funeral at Douglas, near Cork, where a plain tomb has been erected over his remains.
- Many of his unpublished effusions have made their way to fame by their own merit, amongst which may be mentioned the humorous song of “The Groves of Blarney,” echoed in every convivial assembly throughout the kingdom, and known and admired by thousands who are ignorant of the name of its highly-gifted and lamented author.
- ROBERT MOLESWORTH,
- VISCOUNT MOLESWORTH, of Swordes, in Ireland, an eminent statesman and political writer, was descended from a family anciently seated in the counties of Northampton and Bedford, in England; but his father having served in the civil wars in Ireland, settled afterwards in Dublin, where be became an eminent merchant, and died in 1656, leaving his wife pregnant with this only child, who raised his family to the honours they now enjoy. He was born in December, at Dublin, and bred in the college there, and engaged early in a marriage with the sister of Richard, Earl of Bellamont, who brought him a daughter in 1677. When the Prince of Orange entered England
- in 1688, he distinguished himself by an early and zealous appearance for the Revolution, which rendered him so obnoxious to King James, that he was attainted and his estate sequestered by that King’s Parliament, May find, 1689. But when King William was settled on the throne, he called this sufferer, for whom he had a particular esteem, into his privy council, and in 1692, sent him envoy extraordinary to the court of Denmark. There he resided above three years, till some particulars in his conduct disobliging his Danish majesty, be was forbidden the court: pretending business in Flanders, be retired thither without any audience of leave, and came from thence home, where he was no sooner arrived, than he drew up “An Account of Denmark," in which he represented die government of that country as arbitrary and tyrannical. This piece was greatly resented by Prince George of Denmark, consort to the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne; and Scbeel the Danish envoy, first presented a memorial to King William, complaining of it, and then furnished materials for an answer, which was executed by Dr. William King. From King’s account, it appears that Molesworth’s offence in Denmark was his boldly pretend* ing to some privileges which, by the custom of the country, are denied to every body but the king, - as travelling the king’s road, and hunting the king’s game; the doing which, as is represented, in defiance of opposition, occasioned the rupture between the envoy and that court. If this allegation have any truth, the fault lay certainly altogether on the side of Molesworth, whose disregard of the customs of the country to which he wan sent, it is impossible to defend.
- In the mean time, this book was well received by the public, reprinted thrice (once as lately as 1758), and translated into several languages. The spirit of it was parti- cularly approved by the Earl of Shaftesbury, author of th# “Characteristics,’’ who from thence concaved a grBM esteem for him, which afterwards ripened into A dob® friendship.
- MOLESWORTH. 43 i
- Moletwwth serve* his country in the House of Com* asoot in both kingdoms, being chosen for the borough of Swdrdes; ih Iidibd, and for those of Bodmyn, St. Michael, and East Retford, in England; his conduct in the acuate being always firm and steady to the principles be embraced. lie was a member of the privy council to Queen Anae, till the latter end of her reign; when party running high, he was removed from the board in January 1713^ This was fot a complaint against him from the lower House of Convocation, presented December 2nd, by the prolocutor to the Hoose of Peers, charging him with speaking these words in the hearing of many persons - “They that have turned the world upside down, are come hither alsoand for affronting the clergy in convocation when they presented their address to Lord Chancellor Phipps. Steele*!*1 Crisis” was written partly in vindication of Molesworth, and severely animadverted upon by Swift, in his “Public Spirit of the Whigs.” But as Molesworth constantly asserted and strenuously maintained the right of succession in the house of Hanover, George I. on the forming of his privy council in Ireland, made him a member of it, October 9, 1714, and the next month a commissioner of trade and plantations. His Majesty also advanced him to the peerage of Ireland, in 1714, by the title of Baron Pbilipstown and Viscount Molesworth of Swordes. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, and continued to serve his country with indefatigable industry, till perceiving himself worn out with constant application to public affairs, he passed the two last years of his life, in a studious and learned retirement. He died, May 22,1725, at his seat at Brecdenstown, in the county of Dublin.
- By his will, he devised 5OZ. towards building a church at Philipstown. He bad by his wife seven sons and four daughters.
- Besides his “History of Denmark,” he Wrote an address to the House of Commons for the“Encouragement of Agriculture,” Dublin, 1723; and a * Letter relating to the
- Bill of Peerage,” 1719. He translated “Franco-Gallia,” a Latin treatise of the civilian Hot toman, giving an account of the free state of France and other parts of Europe before the loss of their liberties. The aecond edition of this work, with additions and a new preface by the translator, came out in 1721, 8vo. He is likewise reputed the author of several tracts, written with great force of reason and masculine eloquence, in defence of his ideas of the constitution of his country and the common rights of mankind; and it is certain that few men of his fortune and quality were more learned or more highly esteemed by men of learning.
- FRANCIS MOLLOY, D.D.
- A PBELATE of learning and piety, was a native of Ire* land, and descended from an ancient Irish family; the time of his birth and death we are wholly unacquainted with. He entered early into the Franciscan order, and was advanced, for his merit and learning, to be jubilate lecturer of St. Isidore at Rome, and was at tbesame time agent-general to the Irish in that city. There be published, in 1666, his * Theologia Sacraand, in 1677, his “Grammatica Latina Hibernica,” in 12mo. which is a very rare little volume.
- CHARLES MOLLOY,
- AN author of some ingenuity, was born in the city of Dublin, and received part of his education at Trinity college. At his first coming to England he entered himself of the Middle Temple, and was supposed to have wrote considerably in a periodical paper, called “Fog’s Journal,” and afterwards to have been the principal writer in another paper, entitled, “Common Sense.” Our author had large offers made him to write in defence of Sir Robert Walpole, but these he rejected; notwithstanding which, at the great change in the ministry 1 in 174% he was entirely neglected, as well as his fellow-labourer Amherst, who conducted “The Craftsman.” Mr. Molloy, however, having married a lady of fortune, was in circumstances which enabled him to treat the ingratitude of his patriotic friends with the contempt it deserved. He lived many years after this period, and died July 16th, 1767. He was buried at Edmonton, 20th July. He wrote three dramatic pieces, 1. “Perplexed Couple/’ 1715, l£mo.; - 2. “The Coquet,” 1718, 8vo.; - 3. u Halfpay Officers,” 1720, 12mo. none of which met with any very extraordinary success.
- WILLIAM MOLYNEUX,
- AN eminent patriot, mathematician and astronomer, was born April 17th, 1656, at Dublin, where his father, a gentleman of good family and fortune, lived .
- Being of a tender constitution, he was educated under a private tutor at home, till he was near fifteen, and then placed in the university of Dublin, under the care of Dr. Palliser, afterwards Archbishop of Cashel.
- He distinguished himself here by the probity of his manners, as well as by the acuteness of his genius, and having made a remarkable progress in academical learning, and particularly in the new philosophy, as it was then called, he proceeded at the regular time to his degree of bachelor of arts. After four years spent in this university, he came to London, and was admitted into the Middle Temple in June 1675. He staid there three years, and applied himself to the study of the laws of his country; but the bent of his genius, as well as inclination,
- lying strongly to philosophy and mathematics, he spent the greatest part of his time in these inquiries, which, from the extraordinary advances newly made by the Royal Society, were then chiefly in vogue.
- Thus accomplished, he returned to Ireland in June 1678, and shortly after married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domville, the king’s attorney-general. Being master of an easy fortune, he continued to indulge himself in prosecuting such branches of moral and experimental philosophy, as were most congenial to his disposition; and astronomy having the greatest share, he began, aboot 1681, a literary correspondence with Flamstead, the king’s astro-nomer, which be kept up for several years. In 1683, he formed a design for erecting a Philosophical Society at Dublin, in imitation of the Royal Society at Londori; and by the countenance and encouragement of Sir Wik liam Petty, who accepted the office of president, they began a weekly meeting that year, when our author was appointed their first secretary. The reputation of his learning, which by means of this society became more known, recommended him, in 1684, to the notice and favour of the Duke of Ormonde, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, by whose influence he was appointed that year, jointly with Sir William Robinson, surveyor-general of his D» jesty’s buildings and works, and chief engineer. In 1685, he was chosen fellow of the Royal Society at London; and that year, for the sake of improving himself in the art of engineering, he procured an appointment from the Irish government to view the most considerable fortresses io Flanders. Accordingly, he travelled through that counr try and Holland, and some part of Germany and France; and carrying with him letters of recommendation from Flamstead to Cassini, he was introduced to him and other eminent astronomers, in the several places through which he passed.
- Soon after his return from abroad he printed at DuHin in 1686, his “Sciothericum Telescopium,” containing the description of the structure and use of a telescopic
- MOLYNEUX. 4S5
- dial invented by bun; another edition of which was published at London in 1700, 4to. On the publication of Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia,” the following year, 1687, our author was struck with the same astonishment as the rest of the world; but declared also, that he was not qualified to examine the particulars. The celebrated Halley, with whom he constantly corresponded, had sent him the several parts of this inestimable treasure as they came from the press, before the whole was finished, assuring him that be looked upon it as the utmost effort of human genius. In 1688, the Philosophical Society at Dublin was broken up and dispersed by the confusion of the times. Mr. Molyneux had distinguished himself as a member of it from the beginning, by several discourses upon various subjects; some of which were transmitted to the Royal Society at London, and afterwards printed in the “Philosophical Transactions.” In 1689, among great numbers of other protestants, he withdrew from the disturbances io Ireland, occasioned by the severities ofTyr- connel’s government; and, after a short stay io London, fixed himself with his family at Chester. In ibis retirement he employed himself in putting together the materials he had some time before prepared, for his “Dioptrics,” in which he was much assisted by Flamstead; and, in August 1690, went to London to put it to press, the sheets being revised by Halley, who, at our author’s request, gave leave for printing in the appendix, his celebrated theorem for finding the face of optic glasses; accordingly the book made its appearance in 1692, in 4to, under the title of “Dioptrics Nova.”
- Before he left Chester, be lost his lady, who died soon after she had brought him a son. Illness had deprived, her of her eye-sight twelve years before, and she had always been very sickly, and afflicted with extreme pains of the head. As soon as the public tranquillity was settled in his native country, he returned home; and upon the convening of a new parliament in 1692, was chosen one of the representatives for the city of Dublin. In the next parliament, in 1QQ5, he was chosen ip jepre^t t^.XJni-
- versity there, and continued to do so to the end of hie life; that learned body having, soon after his election, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was likewise nominated by the lord-lieutenant one of the commissioners for the forfeited estates, to which employment was annexed a salary of 500£ a-year; but looking upon it as an invidious office, and not being a lover of money, he declined it. In 1698, he published, “The Case of Ireland stated, in Relation to its being bound by Acts of Parliament made in England/9 in which hie is supposed to have delivered all or most that cau be said upon the subject with great clearness and strength of reasoning. This piece (a second edition of which, with additions and emendations, was printed in 1780, 8vo.) was answered by John Cary, merchant of Bristol, in a book, called, “A Vindication of the Parliament of England, &c.” dedicated to the Lord Chancellor Somers; and by Atwood, a lawyer. Of these, Nicolson remarks, that “the merchant argues like a counsellor at law, and the barrister strings his small ware together like a shop-keeper.” What occasioned Molyneux to write the above tract, was his conceiving the Irish woollen manufactory to be oppressed by the English government; on which account be could not forbear asserting his country’s independency. He had given Mr. Locke a hint of his thoughts on this subject before it was quite ready for the press, and desired his sentiments upon the fundamental principle on which his argument was grounded; in answer to which that gentleman, intimating that the business was of too large an extent to be the subject of a letter, proposed to talk the matter over with him in England. This, together with a purpose which Molyneux had long formed of paying that great man , whom he had never yet seen, a
- Visit* prevailed with him to cross the water once more, although he was in a very infirm state of health, in July 1698, and he remaned in England till the middle of September. But the pleasure of this long wished-for interview, which he intended to have repeated the following spring, seems to have been purchased at the expense of his life; for, shortly after, he was seized with a severe fit of his constitutional distemper, the stone, which occasioned such retchings as broke a blood-vessel, and two days after put aperiod to his life. He died October lltb, 1698, and was buried at St. Audoen’s church, Dublin, where there is a monument and Latin inscription to his memory. Besides the “Sciothericum Telescopium/’ and the “Dioptrica Nova/’ already mentioned, he published many pieces in the Philosophical Transactions.
- HON. MARY MONK,
- DAUGHTER of Lord Molesworth, and wife to George Monk, Esq. was celebrated for her poetical talents. She acquired, by dint of application, a perfect knowledge of the Latin, Italian, and Spanish languages, and from a study of the best authors, a decided taste for poetical composition^ Her poems were not printed til) after her decease, when they were published under the title of “Mari nd a; Poems and Translations upon several Occasions/’ London, 1716, 8vo. A dedication to Caroline Princess of Wales, was prefixed to them by Lord Moles- worth, the father of Mrs. Monk, who speaks of the poems as the production a of the leisure hours of a young woman, who, in a remote country retirement, without other assist-ance than that of a good library, and without omitting the daily care due to a large family, not only acquired the several languages here made use of, but the good morals and principles contained in those books, so as to put them in practice, as well during her life and languishing sickness, as at the hour of her death; dying not only like a Christian, bat a Roman lady, and becoming at once the
- grief and the comfort of her relations/9 She died at Bath, in 17U.
- On her death-bed she wrote some very affecting verves to her busband, which are not printed in her works, but may be found in vol. ii. of the “Poems of Eminent Ladies/9 and in “Cibber’s Lives.9’
- GEN. MONTGOMERY.
- THIS excellent officer, who was one of the earliest martyrs to the cause of American independence, was a native of Ireland, and of a good family. He served in the British army with great reputation and success during the whole of the seven years war, at the close of which, having purchased an estate in New York, and married a native of that province, he fixed his abode there. When the arbi-trary enactments of the British parliament drove the Americans to resistance, Montgomery was not the last to catch the generous spirit. Happy in the enjoyment of a philosophical retirement, and tasting the sweets of domestic felicity, every selfish consideration gave way to the love of freedom, and the call of his adopted country. Possessing a great share of professional abilities, and commanding, in a high degree, the important power of conciliating the affections of men, he found little difficulty among men, already strongly imbued with the same spirit, in raising troops, and rendering them ardent in the execution of his designs.
- The Canadians being at this time greatly discontented with the proceedings of the British parliament, and with the extraordinary powers vested in their governor. General Carleton, and that province being almost totally unpin- vided with means of defence, the American congress took the resolution of invading it, in the hope of detaching it also from the English empire, and thus consolidating the whole of the British continental colonies in one general union. For this purpose, Generals Schuyler and Montgomery crossed Lake Champlain in August 1775, anil
marched immediately upon St. John’s; but Schuyler being taken ill, the sole command devolved upon Montgomery, who, haying contrived to detach the Indians from the British service, and also received some reinforcements of artillery, prepared to besiege that important fortress. The popularity of the cause, and the fame of the general, procared from the Canadians supplies of every thing which they possessed which could conduce to the advancement of the siege; but as they were unable to supply him with ammunition, of which be began to fed the want, he turned his attention to Fort Champlain, where he expected to find considerable stores. In this he was not mistaken; and, by the capitulation of that fort, be was enabled to carry on his advances against Fort St. John’s with so much vigour, that, in spite of Carleton’s attempts to relieve it, it soon fell into his hands. Taking advantage of these successes, he marched upon Montreal, which was evacuated immediately on his approach, by General Carleton, who was obliged to fall back upon Quebec. The mild and conciliatory measures pursued by Montgomery on taking possession of Montreal, contributed greatly to increase his popularity, which, added to the defenceless state of Quebec, and the disaffection of its inhabitants, who looked upon their new constitution with disgust, induced him to undertake the siege of that capital. Accordingly, on the 5 th December, he took post at St. Croix, within less than two miles of Quebec, and made several ineffectual attempts to induce General Carleton, who refused even to receive a communication from him, to surrender. In this situation Montgomery, being totally unprepared for a regular siege at that season of the year in those cold and tempestuous regions, and fearing to damp* the ardour of his troops by whom be was constantly urged to make the attempt, by a retreat, resolved upon storming the town. The plan of his attack has been allowed by J the best military judges to have been the most skilful that could be concerted; it took place on the 31st of JDecemher,< between four and five in the morning, dur-
- ing a snow storm from, the N. E. and consisted of two false and two real attacks, one of which was led on by General Arnold, (who afterwards betrayed his country,) and the other by Montgomery in person. He led his men through a narrow defile, between two fires, with the greatest coolness and intrepidity; he passed the first barrier, attended by a few of his bravest officers and men, and marched boldly at the head of the detachment to attack the second, which was much stronger than the first, and where several cannon were planted, loaded with grape shot, and accompanied with a well directed discharge of musketry. From one of these, a fatal blow was given to the hopes of America in the conquest of Canada, by the death of the brave Montgomery: his men, dispirited by the death of their commander, were driven back with great loss, and Arnold’s division having met with the same fate^ that officer, on whom the command now devolved, con-verted the siege into a blockade, which he was compelled to raise, in the beginning of May, by the arrival of reinforcements to the British army. Montgomery was buried almost on the spot where he fell; but his remains have lately been reclaimed by the Americans, and transferred to Washington, where an elegant monument has been erected to him, at the national expense.
- MICHAEL MOOR,
- A VERY learned divine of the Roman Catholic pennasioD, was born in Dublin in 1640. After remaining at a grammar- school for some time, he was sent to France, and received his first academical learning at the college of Nantx, whence he removed to Paris, and completed his studies in philosophy and divinity, io both which he attained great reputation, as he did likewise for his critical skill in the Greek language. He taught philosophy and rhetoric in the Grassiu college for some years: but at length returning to Ireland, was, with considerable reluctance, prevailed ujion to take priest’s orders; and efr****** some
- preferment while the Catholic bishops possessed influence. When James II. came to Ireland, Dr.;Moor was recommended, to him^ ofitep preached before him, and had influence enough to prevent his majesty from conferring Trinity College, Dublin, on the Jesuits, to which be bad been advised by his confessor, father Peters.. Dr. Moor being made provost of this college, by the recommendation of the Roman Catholic bishops, was the means of preserving the valuable library, at a time when the, college was a popish.garrison, the chapel a magazine, and many of the chambers were employed as prisons for the. Protestants. But the Jesuits could not forgive him for. preventing their gaining the entire property of the college, and took advantage to ruin him with the king, from a sermon be preached before his majesty at Christchurch. His text was Matt. xv. 14, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” In this discourse, Dr. Moor bad the boldness to impute the failure of the king’s affairs, to his following too closely the councils of the Jesuits, and insinuated that they would be his utter ruin« Father Peters, who had a defect in his eyes, persuaded the king that the text was levelled at his majesty through his confessor, and urged that Moor was a dangerous subject, who endeavoured to stir up sedition among the people. James was so weak as to believe all this, and ordered Dr, Moor immediately to quit his dominions. Moor complied, but hinted at his departure, “that he only went as the king’s precursor, who would soon be obliged to follow him.” Moor accordingly went to Paris, where the reputation of his learning procured him a favourable reception; and King James, after the battle of the Boyne, followed him as be had predicted. But here it appears, that the king had influence enough to oblige Moor to leave France as be had done Ireland, probably by misrepresenting his conduct toward the Jesuits.
- Moor now bent his steps towards Rome, where hif learning procured him very high distinction. He was first made censor of books, and then invited to Montefiascone,
- and appointed rector of a seminary newly founded by Cardinal Barbarigo,and was made also professor of philosophy and Greek. Pope Innocent XII. was so modi satisfied with his conduct in the government of this seminary, that be contributed the sum of two thousand Roman crowns yearly towards its maintenance; and ClementXI. had such a high opinion of Moor, that he would have placed his nephew under his tuition, had he not been prevented, as was supposed, by the persuasion of the Jesuits. On the death of James II. Dr. Moor was invited to Firance, and such was his reputation there, that be was made twice rector of the university of Paris, and principal of the col* lege of Navarre, and was appointed regius professor of philosophy, Greek, and Hebrew.
- He joined with Dr. John Farrely in the purchase of a house contiguous to the Irish college, for the reception of such poor students as might come from Ireland to study there. He was blind for several years prior to his decease; and was obliged to keep a person to read to him, who embezzled many hundred volumes of his library; Ae remainder of which Dr. Moor bequeathed to the Irish college.
- He died in his eighty-fifth year, at his apartments in the college of Navarre, ££nd of August, 1796, and was buried in the vault under the chapel of the Irish college.
- GARNET, EARL OF MORNINGTON,
- A CBLBBRATBD glee composer; for several of his coat1* positions he gained the prizes given by the Glee Club. His most popular production is, “Here in cool Grot,” which obtained the prize medal.
- He was bom July 19th, 1735. Died May 22nd, 17M. He was also an eminent performer on the violin; and it is said, the service in Dublin cathedral •commeMSa every morning with an anthem of his composition.
- 44b
- HENRY MOSSOP.
- THIS eminent tutor was born in Ireland in 1729. Hie father was rector of Tuam, in the province of Connaught. Henry, as well as his lather, Was bred in Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtaioed his degree^ His first appearance on the stage was at Smock Alley, November 28th, 1749, in the character of Zanga (Re* veage), which be played three sticoessive nights with uncommon applause. His next character was Richaid; after which be quarrelled with the manager, went to London, and appeared at Drury Lane in the last character with considerable success. He continued acting in London, and occasionally in Dublin, till the year when he became manager of Smock Alley, in opposition to Barry and Woodward. This contention, which led to the ruin of his rivals, completed his own, and after various turns of fortune, excluded from Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres, be died at Chelsea, November 177% aged forty-three, in extreme poverty, having only one halfpenny in his possession at his decease. Mr- Garrick proposed to bury him at his own expense; but hh nude prevented that offer from taking place. This actor a®* celled most in characters of ire, ambition, and regal tyranny. He had a strong and harmonious voice* which could rise from the lowest note to the highest pitch of sound, and was indeed one of the most comprehensive ever heard. Notwithstanding, in his acceats there were frequent improprieties, as Churchill has remarked, and in tender passages, be was exceedingly aukward. He was censured by the erities for too mudh meehtfttata in his action and delivery: - the frequent resting of his left hand on his hip, with his right hand extended, was ludicrously compared to the handle and spout of a teapot, whilst others called him, “The distiller of syllables.” He was exceedingly *vain of his abilities, and that vanity (as is generally the ease) was accompanied with jealousy. He was offended that Garrick should play Richard after iris
- performance of it at Drury Lane. In acting (we are informed) he frequently worked himself up to a belief that he was the very person he represented, and one night when he returned home to his lodgings after performing King Richard, he flew into a violent passion with his servant, who appeared before him with a small candle, and asked him if that was a taper fit to light his majesty to bed ? Notwithstanding all ilia defects, he was in London, after Garrick and Barry, the most applauded and valuable actor.
- WILLIAM MOSSOP, A MEDALLIST of considerable abilities, was born in Dublin in 1754, and nearly related to the subject of the foregoing memoir. He commenced his professional pursuits under the direction of a Mr. Johnstone, in the linen seal cutting, and by progressive steps, in 1784, he appeared a medallist. His first work was a medal of Thomas Ryder the comedian, which was so much admired as a production of art, that it drew the attention of every person of taste in Dublin, and established his character as an artist. His subsequent works were numer rous; his last was the medal of the Dublin Society, which, for delicacy of finishing, boldness, and spirit of execu-tion, has not been surpassed by the work of any modern artist. He died in 1806, of a fit of apoplexy. His private character was in every respect exemplary.
- ALLEN MULLEN, OB MOULIN,
- A MAN celebrated as an anatomist, and particularly eminent for his curious dissection of the eye, was born in the north of Ireland, and educated in the university of Dublin, where he took his degree of doctor of physic, and practised in that city. He was a member of the Philosophical Society of Dublin, and of the Royal Society of London, to which place he removed in 1686, on account of. a * love
- MURPHY. 445
- intrigue.’* In IdpO, the Earl of Tnchiquin took bitn with him to Jamaica, be being desirous of visiting that island, to’make some discoveries relative to the mines there. Bitt this laudable spirit of inquiry was frustrated; for, putting in at Barbitdoes, he fell in with some friendt, who (us Ware emphatically expresses it) “made him drink hard? which threw’ him into a calenture, of which he died, « and, we suppose, was buried there.
- He wrote’ the following curious professional tracts: - * Ah Anatomical Account of the Elephant, accidentally burnt in Dublin, on June 17th, 1681, together with a Relation of New Anatomical Observations on the Eyes of Animals.”
- Also, in the Philosophical Transactions, he published, 1. “A Discourse on the Dissection of a monstrous Double Cat2. “A Conjecture at the Quantity of Blood in Men, with an Estimate of the Celerity of its Circulation;”^-3. “Anatomical Observations on the Heads of several Fowls.”
- ARTHUR MURPHY,
- A DRAMATIC and miscellaneous writer of some celebrity, was born December 27th, 1727, at Clooniquin, in the county of Roscommon. His father, Richard Murphy, who was a merchaot, perished in 1729, in one of his own trading vessels, bound for Philadelphia, probably in a violent storm; but no intelligence of the ship or any of its passengers dr crew ever transpired. From this time the care of the subject of this present article, devolved upon his mother, who, in 1735, removed with her children to London; but Arthur was sent, at the age of ten, to the English college at St. Omer’s, where he remained’six’ years, and made very extraordinary proficiency in Greek and Latin, a love for Which he retained all his life, and particularly improved his*acquaintance with the Latin classics. After his return to England, in 1744, he resided with his ilhdther till August 1747, when he was salt to Cork to an unde,
- Jeffery French, in whose countiugi-house he was employed till April 1749; after this his uncle destined him to go to Jamaica to overlook a large estate which he possessed in that island; but his inclination was averse to business of every kind, and be returned to his mother in London in 1751. Here he either first contracted, or began at least to indulge his predominant passion for the theatre, although placed in the counting-house of Ironside and Belchier, bankers. In October 1752, he published the first number of the “Gray’s-Inn Journal,” a weekly paper, which he continued for two years, and which served to connect him much with dramatic performers and writers, as well as to make him known to the public as a wit and a critic.
- On the death of his uncle, he was much disappointed io not finding his name mentioned in his will, and the more so, as he had contracted debts, in hopes of a good legacy, to the amount of three hundred pounds. In this embarrassed state, by the advice of the celebrated Foote, ha went on the stage, and appeared, for the first time, in the character of Othello. In one season, by the help of strict economy, be paid off his debts, and had, at the end of the year, 400£ in his pocket. With this sum he determined tp quit the stage, on which, as a performer, notwithstanding the advantages of a fine person and good judgment? he made no very distinguished figure, and never used to he WC offended than when reminded of this part of his casern*- He now determined to study the law; but on his first application to the Society of the Middle Temple, be had the mortification to be refused admission, on the ground of his having acted ou the stage; but was soon after, in 1757, received as a member of Lincoln’s IOIM In thia year he was engaged in a weekly paper, callqd M The Test,” undertaken chiefly in favour of Mr. Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, which ceased on the overthrow of the administration to which his lordship was attached. Thia paper was answered by Owen Ruffhead in the “Contest-” During his study of the law, the stage
- MURPHY, W
- inchnatiou or neqesaity, his resource; and, iq the beginning of 1758, he produced the farce of “The Upholsterer/9 which was very successful; and before the end of the same year, he finished “The Orphan of China/’ which is founded on a dramatic piece, translated from the Chinese language, in Du Heide’s “History of China.” The rouse, as be says, “still keeping possession of him,” he produced, iq 1760| the * Desert Island,” a dramatic poem i and his Wy to Keep Him,” a comedy of three acts, afterwards enlarged to five acts, the most popular of all his dramatic compositions. This was followed by the comedy of “All in the Wrong,” “The Citizen,” and “The Old Way,” all of which were successful, and still retain their rank among acting-pieces. Having finished hia preparatory law-studies, he was called to the bar in Trinity tern) 1768. About this time, he engaged again in political controversy, by writing “Tbe Auditor,” a periodical paper, intended to counteract the influence of Wilkes’s “North Brilon;” but in this he was peculiarly unfortunate, neither pleasing the public, nor deriving iqucb support from those on whose behalf he wrote. Wilkes and Churchill, who were associated in politics, contrived to throw a degree of ridicule on Murphy’s labours, which was fatal. Murphy appearing to his antagonists to iqeddle with subjects which he did not understand, they laid a trap to make him discover his want of geographical knowledge, by sending him a letter signed “Viator,” boasting of the vast acquisition by Lord Bute’s treaty of peace of Florida to this country, and representing that country as peculiarly rich in fud for domestic uses, &c. This our author accordingly inserted, with a remark, that “he gave it exactly as he received it, iu order tq throw all the lights in his power upon the solid value of the advantages procured by the late negociqtion.” Wilkes immediately reprinted this letter in his “North Briton and “The Auditor” found it impossible to bear up against the satires levelled at him from all quarters. In the suqimer qf 1763, Mr. Murphy went h^s first/ the
- Norfolk circuit; but with little success; and, afterwards appeared occasionally as a pleader in London. The muse however, be confesses, “still had hold of him and occasionally stole him away from * Coke upon Littleton/ ” In his law pursuits he continued till 1787, when, to his great astonishment, a junior to him on the Norfolk circuit, was appointed king’s counsel. Disappointed at this, he sold his chambers in Lincoln’s Inn in July 1788, and retired altogether from the bar. The intermediate time, however, had been filled up by the production of his “Three Weeks after Marriage,” “Zenobia,” “The Grecian Daughter," and other dramatic pieces, generally acted with great applause, and which are yet on the stock list. After he retired from the bar, he bought a house at Hammersmith, and there prepared various publications for the press; among which, in 1786, was an edition of his works collectively, in seven volumes, 8vo. In 179®, he appeared as one of the biographers of Dr. Johnson, in “An Essay on his Life and Genius;” but this was a very careless sketch, copied almost verbatim from the account of Sir John Hawkins’s Life of Johnson, in the Monthly Review. In the following year he published a translation of Tacitus, in four volumes, 4to, dedicated to the late Edmund Burke. To this work, which is executed in a masterly style, he added, “An Essay on the Life and Genius of Tacitus f with historical supplements and frequent annotations and comments. Mr. Murphy continued to write to an advanced age; and, in 1798, he published his “Arminiua,” intended to justify the war then carried on against the ambition of France, and which he defended as both just and necessary. Some time previously, through his interest with Lord Loughborough, he had obtained the office of one of the commissioners of bankrupts, to which, during the last three years of his life, was added a pension of 200Z. a year. In his latter days, after he had published n “Life of Garrick,” a very sensible decay of mental powers became visible. He continued, however, to be occasionally cheered and assisted by a few friends until his l
- death, at his lodgings at Knightsbridge, June 18, 1805. From his biographer’s account, it appears be had perfectly reconciled his mind to the stroke of death. When he h ad made his will, and given plain and accurate directions respecting his funeral, he said, “I have been preparing for my journey to another region, and now do not care how soon 1 take my departure.” On the day of his death, he frequently repeated the lines of Pope, -
“Ttufbt, half by reason, half by mere decay,
- To welcome death, and calmly pass away.’*
- Besides the works already mentioned and alluded to, Mr. Morphy was author of a translation of Sallust, which1 has appeared as a posthumous work.
- CORNELIUS NAVY,
- AN Irish Roman Catholic divine of great learning. His principal works are controversial. He was born in the county of Kildare, in 1660, and died in Dublin, March 3rd, 1738.
- SIR JOHN NORRIS^
- AV AS the descendant of a very respectable Irish family, and, after a regular routine of service, was appointed captain of the Pelican fireship in July 1690, on account of his gallant behaviour, as a lieutenant, at the battle off Beachy Head. In January 1695, be greatly distinguished himself under captain Killegrew, in the action with the Content and Trident, French men of war. After the ao cession of Queen Anne, we find him captain of the Orford, of seventy guns, one of the ships employed in the Cadis expedition. About this time the natural warmth of Cap* tain Norris’s temper betrayed him into a very serious quarrel with Captain Ley, in which be was so imprudent as to draw his sword. To heighten the outrage, this dispute took place on the quarter-deck of the Royal Sovereign, the very ship that ML Ley at that time commanded. For this breach of decorum Captain Norris was VOL. 11. G G
- 450 NORRIS.
- immediately put under arrest by the admiral; but through the mediation of the Duke of Ormond* the affair was accommodated. In 1704, he was stationed as one of the seconds to Sir Cloudesly Shovel, in the engagement off Malaga, in which he acquired great commendation by his gallant behaviour, and was honoured by Queen Anne with knighthood, and 1000Z. In March 1707, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue; in which station he served under his friend Sir Cloudesly Shovel, who commanded in the Mediterranean during that year. Being detached by the commander-in-chief to force a passage over the Var, though the French considered the works upon that river as impregnable, he sailed with four British and one Dutch ship of the line to conduct this daring enterprise. On arriving at the mouth of the river, he embarked six hundred seamen and marines in open boats, entered it, and advanced within musquet-shot of the enemy’s works, keeping up such an incessant fire as the French could not withstand. Sir Cloudesly Shovel, arriving at the place of action, and seeing the disorder into which the enemy was thrown, ordered Sir John to land with the seamen and marines, in order to flank the enemy. This service was performed with so much conduct, and the men advanced with such valour and resolution, that the French fled in confusion from their works, which were immediately occupied by the English. Upon this gallant exploit the army marched to Toulon without opposition; but that enterprise miscarried, though it produced some happy consequences, by the damage the French sustained in their shipping, the blowing up of their magazines, the burning of one hundred and sixty houses in Toulon, and the devastation committed in Provence by both armies. After having been successively advanced to be rear-admiral and vice-admiral of the whitey be served under Sir John Leake in the Mediterranean, where nothing material occurred. Soon after his return in December 1708, he was promoted to be vice-admiral of the red, and in a few months after to the rank of admiral of the blue. To enumerate all the particulars relative to the transao-
- #1 tigns of Sir John Norris, would be to recapitulate what has been sufficiently mentioned in the memoirs of hip contemporaries. Sir John was certainly a very unfortunate commander: the frequent accidents and misfortunes which hefel the ships and squadrons under his command, and which could not be warded off by any human prudence or sagacity, procured him the appellation of “Foul- weather Jack.” Perhaps Sir John Norris would have acquired the celebrity of a Russel or a Rooke, had he been fortunate enough to have experienced the same opportunities. In the duties of his profession no man could be more assiduous; but the incidents of war, for the space of forty years after the battle of Malaga, in 17Q4, were wholly uninteresting. He died, after sixty years service, on the 19th of July, 1749.
- ROBERT CRAGGS, EARL NUGENT, A NOBLEMAN who acquired some poetical celebrity in his day, was a descendant from the Nugepts of Carlaps- town, in the county of Westmeath, and was a younger son of Michael Nugent, by Mary, daughter of Robert, Lord Trimleston. He was chosen M. P. for St. MawesF Qoruway, in 1741; appointed comptroller of the household pf Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1747; a lord of the treasury in 1754; one of the vice-treasurers of Ireland ip 1759; and a lord of trade in 1766. In 1767, he was .created Baron Nugent and Viscount Clare, and in 177^ fEprJ Nqgent, with remainder to his son-in-law, the late JMprquis of Buckingham* His lordship was thrice married; his secqnd wife was Anne, sister and heiress to secretpry Crpggs, the friend of Pope and Addison, by .whogi ho acquired a large fortune. She was,.at the time of her marriage to him, in 1736, in her second widowhood, having been first the wife of Newsham, Esq. of
- Chadshunt, in Warwickshire; and secondly, of John Knight, Esq. of Bellowes, or Belbouse, or Gosfield-hall, jp Jtfeeb of Pope’s correspondence with ibis
- Myis inserted in the supplementary volume of the last
- edition of that poet’s works. Earl Nugent died October 13, 1788.
- Lord Orford says that Earl Nugent“was of those men of parts whose dawn was the brightest moment of a long life; and who, though possessed of different talents, employed them in depreciating his own fame, and destroying all opinion of his judgment, except in the point of raising himself to honours. He was first known by the noble ode on his own conversion from popery; yet, strong as was the energy and reasoning in it, his arguments operated bnt temporary conviction on himself, for he died a member of the church he had exposed so severely.”
- A volume of his poems was published anonymously by Dodsley, entitled, “Odes and Epistles,” 1739; and there are several of his pieces to be found in the “New Foundling Hospital for Wit.”
- THOMAS NUGENT,
- A MISCELLANEOUS writer, compiler, and translator, was a native of Ireland, but few particulars of his life are known. He appears to have resided the greater part of his life in London, and to have been employed by the booksellers. In 1765, he had the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by the university of Aberdeen. In 1766, he travelled the Continent to collect materials for his “History of Vandalia,” which was published in three vols. 4to, in 1776. He also translated Burlamaqni’s Principles of Politic Law the Abb6 Condillac’s “Essay on Human Knowledge;” and Henault’s “Chronological Abridgment of the History of France.” He died at his apartments in Gray’s-inn-lane, April 87, 1778, leaving behind him the character of a man of learning and considerable industry.
- WILLIAM OBRIEN,
- AN actor of some celebrity in his day, was descended from an ancient and respectable Irish family, and appeared
- early in life at Drury Lane theatre, where his ease, elegance, and good sense rendered him a great favourite with the public. In 1764, he retired from the stage, having married Lady Susan Strangeways, eldest daughter of the first Earl of Ilchester. Mr. O’Brien long held the situation of receiver-general of the county of Dorset. He died at Stinsford-house, near Dorchester, on the 2nd of September, 1815. He was the author of a farce, called “Cross Purposes;” and a play, entitled “The Duel.”
- JAMES O’BURN,
- A VENTRILOQUIST of extraordinary powers, of whom many curious anecdotes are related, was a native of Ireland; but, having married at Shelford, in Nottinghamshire, he ever afterwards considered that as his home, and died there January 7, 1796.
- Amongst the many ludicrous pranks played by him, the following is not the least worthy of recording: - Meeting a farmer’s servant upon a public highway, driving a waggon, top-laden with trusses of hay, he so artfully imitated the crying of a child as proceeding from the middle of the hay, that the poor affrighted countryman stood aghast at the noise, which being several times repeated, he was prevailed on to let him assist in unloading the waggon to release the supposed sufferer, whose cries became louder and more frequent. O*Burn having thus succeeded in getting the hay off the waggon, after laughing heartily at the countryman’s simplicity, left him to replace the same himself in the best manner he could.
- CHARLES O’CONNOR,
- WAS an antiquary of some respectability, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and an author of many different works. He was lineally descended from the last unfortunate native prince who ruled that island. He possessed but a small estate, the vast possessions of bis.
- family being lost by successive forfeitures to the crown in the two last centuries, in consequence of what was then called rebellion, but which, in the present age, would be deemed by all - resistance to oppression. He was a iban fully meriting the epithet “Worthy and Dr. Campbell styles him “the fond advocate for the Pagan antiquities of Ireland.” He died July 1, J79b at his seat in the county of Roscommon, in his eighty-second yean
- DANIEL O’DALY,
- A LEARNED Dominican, was borri in the county of Kerry, in 1595. He was primarily educated in a convent of hit order, at Tralee, but studied principally in Flanders. The fame which he had acquired for learning and piety, procured him an invitation to Lisbon to assist in founding a convent for the Irish Dominicans, which had been projected by Philip IV. then master of Portugal. This being accomplished, he was elected the first superior. He also assisted at the foundation of a second for the natives of Ireland; and, in 1655, was sent ambassador to France. He died at Lisbon, on June 30, 1662, and was interred in the chapel of liis convent. He was at the time of hh decease, bishop elect of Coimbra, censor of the IriquissA tion, and visitor-general and vicar-general of the kingtyefe
- JAMES 0‘DONEL.
- THIS worthy prelate was born at Knocklofty, in the county of Tipperary, and at the early age of eighteen, quitted his native country in order to profess a religious life in the Franciscan convent of St. Isidore at Rome. After a long absence he returned home, and was stationed in the city of Waterford, where his piety, seal, and learning, soon procured his advancement to the head older. Hi was distinguished also as a popular and pathetic preachSfr. In 1784, at the solicitation of many of the principal merchants of Newfoundland, and of their comapdhdcntn in Waterford, he was sent out to that island with full authority from Rome as prefect and vicar apostolic. Prior to his arrival, the great body of the natives were nearly in a state of semi-barbarism, moral and religious; their improvement, after his arrival, was rapid, progressive, and permanent. He was soon raised to the titular dignity of Bishop of Thyatira; and, on his leaving the island, in 1807* he received, as a token of regard from a general association of the inhabitants, a beautiful silver trase, value 150Z. with the following inscription: - “Presented to the Right Rev. Dr. O* Don el by the inhabitants of St. John’s, Newfoundland, as a testimony of their esteem for his pious, patriotic, and meritorious conduct, during a residence among them of twenty-three years.” He received from government likewise a handsome life pension. His last years he spent in Waterford. During a gradual decay he retained possession of his faculties to the last; and, a short time prior to his decease, traced the following inscription for his tomb: - “Here lie the mortal remains of the Right Rev. James 0‘Donel, Bishop of Thyatira, the first qualified Missionary who ever went to Newfoundland, where he spent twenty-three years as prefect and vicar apostolic of the said mission. He de^ parted this life - - , in the seventy-fourth year of his age. May he rest in peace. Amen.”
- He died April 15th, 1811.
- MAURICE 0‘FIHELY,
- A LEARNED, pious, and amiable prelate, who has been held in such veneration by some authors, that they have given him the name of M Flos Mundi” - Ithe Flower of the World. The place of his birth is uncertain, as some say he was born at Cork, some at Down, and some in Galway. He was for some time a student at Oxford, where be became a Franciscan. He afterwards visited Italy, and studied philosophy and divinity at Padua.* x About 1480, he removed to Venice, where he was enl- ployed as corrector of the pressj which was thih coasi-
- dered as an employment worthy of the greatest scholar*. In 1506, after he had taken his degree of D.D. at Padua, Pope Julius II. made him Archbishop of Toam. He died at Galway, May 25, 1513, and was buried there. He was at the time of his decease not quite fifty yean of age. A list of his works is to be found in Ware.
- RODERIC OTLAHERTY,
- A VERY learned Irish historian and antiquarian, was bora in 1630, at Moycullin, in Galway, the ancient estate of his family, which became forfeited by the rebellion in 1641, when he was only eleven years old. He published at London in 1685, his book, entitled, “Ogygia,” and promised a second part, which never appeared. This work is now uncommonly scarce, and is praised highly by Dr. Dudley, Loftus, Belling, and Stillingfleet; but Sir Richard Cox speaks slightingly of it.
- The time of O‘Flaherty’s decease is unknown.
- NEIL O’GLACAN,
- A PHYSICIAN of great eminence in his day, was born in the county of Donegal. He was both physician and privy counsellor to the King of France, and professor of physic in the universities of Thoulouse and Bologna. He obtained great fame in France and Italy, and practised at Thoulouse when the plague raged there, where he wrole^and published his <( Tractatus de Peste,” in 1629. The French physicians praised the author highly for his learning and experience; and Peter Adrian Van Broecke, professor of eloquence at Lucca, published a long poetical encomium on him, which may be found in Ware.
- SYLVESTER O’HALLORAN,
- AN Irish historian of great celebrity, was born in the city
- of Limerick, December 31, 1728. He studied physic and
- surgery in Paris and London, and must have made a rapid
- progress in his studies, as he published his first performance before he had reached the age of twenty-one. This was a Treatise on the Glaucoma and Cataract, printed in Dublin, in 1750, and frequently quoted with great respect by professor Baron Haller.
- He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy, in 1785, and soon after an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Dublin. He was eminently learned in the language, antiquities, and history of the ancient Irish, and wrote a “History of Ireland/* in two vols. 4to, which is held in the highest estimation; also, an “Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland,” with plates; “Ierne defended,” a letter to the Antiquarian Society; and “A Dissertation on the Ancient Arms of Ireland,” sent to the Irish Academy. He died at Limerick, in June 1807, and was much regretted by all who knew him.
- KANE O’HARA,
- THE author of the laughable burletta of “Midas,*’ was a native of Ireland, and the yonnger brother of a genteel family. He had an exquisite taste in music, and uncommon skill in the burlesque. He died June 17, 1782, having for some years been deprived of his eye-sight. He also wrote “The Two Misers,” a musical farce; “The Golden Pippin,” and “April Day,” both burlettas; and altered Tom Thumb, originally written by Fielding, to its present form.
- ARTHUR O’LEARY,
- A ROMAN Catholic chergyman, who would have conferred honour on any profession by the benevolence of his character, was a native of Ireland, which country be quitted when young for France; studied at the college of St. Malo, in Britanny, and at length entered into the Franciscan order of Capncbins. He then officiated for some time as chaplain to the English prisoners during the
- seven years war, for which he received a small pension from the French government, which he retained till the revolution in that country.
- Having obtained permission to go to Ireland, he obtained, by hia talents, the notice and recompence of the Irish government; and took an early opportunity of shewing the superiority of his courage and genius, by principally attacking the heterodox doctrines of Michael Servetus, revived at that time by a Dr. Blair, of the city of Cork. After this, in 1782, when there was a disposition to relax the rigour of the penal laws against the Roman Catholics, and establish a sort of test-oath, he published a tract, entitled “Loyalty asserted; or, the Test-Oath vindicated/* in which, in opposition to most of his brethren, he endeavoured to prove that the Roman Catholics of Ireland might, consistently with their religion,, swear that the pope possessed there no temporal authority, which was the chief point on which the oath binged; and in other respects he evinced his loyalty, and his desire to restrain the impetuousity of his brethren. His other prodno-, tions were of a various and miscellaneous nature; and several effusions are supposed to have come from his pen which he did not think it necessary or perhaps prudent to acknowledge. He was a man gifted liberally with wit and humour, and possessed great acquirements. He wrote on polemical subjects without acrimony, and on politics with a spirit of conciliation. Peace indeed seems to have been much his object. Some years ago, when a consider1 able number of nocturnal insurgents of the Romish persuasion, committed great excesses in the county of Cork, particularly towards the tithe-proctors of the Protestant clergy, he rendered himself extremely useful, by Mb’ various literary addresses to the deluded people^ in bring* ing them to a proper sense of their error and insuborditt** tion. This laudable couduct did not escape the atteflltois of the Irish government; and induced them, when he quitted Ireland, to recommend him to men of power ih this country. For many years he resided in London, as*
- O’SULLIVAN.
- principal of the Roman Catholic chapel in Sobo-square, where he was highly esteemed by people of his religion. In his private character he was always cheerful, gay, sparkling with wit, and full of anecdote. He died at an advanced age in January 1802, and was interred in St. Pancras church-yard.
- A collection of his miscellaneous tracts has been published in one vol. 8vo.; and Dr. Woodward, Bishop of Cloyne, to whom one of them was written, acknowledges him to write with both strength and eloquence. .Mr. Wesley also styles him an “arch 8nd lively writer.”
- DERMOD O’MEARA,
- A PHYSICIAN and poet, was born towards the close of the sixteenth century, at Ormond, in the county of Tipperary, and educated at Oxford, where he took his medical degrees, and retired to his native country, where lie speedily attained the highest eminence in his profession. He was living in 1690, but the time of his decease is not specified in our authorities. He wrote an heroic poem in Latin, on the Earl of Ormond and Ossory, and also some medical treatises.
- ARTHUR O’NEILL. THIS celebrated bard was, like Carolan, blind. His performance on the harp was unrivalled; and we are credibly assured, that many of the Irish national airs would have been lost, but for his retentive memory and pure taste. In Irish genealogy, in heraldry, and bardic lore, O’Neill was pre-eminent. He died at Maydown, in Armagh, towards the close of October 18 aged ninety.
- FLORENCE O’SULLIVAN,
- AN extraordinary instance of longevity. He was born in the reign of King William, in 1696; and retained his.
- sight, hearing, and faculties, to the last moment. He died, April 1, 1807, at Beerhaven, in Ireland, aged one hundred and eleven, and left behind him only two hundred and fifteen nephews and nieces.
- THOMAS PARNELL,
- A POET of some fame, was descended from au ancient family, settled for some centuries at Congleton, in Cheshire. His father was attached to the republican party, in the reign of Charles I. and on the Restoration quitted England for Ireland, carrying with him considerable sums of money, with which he purchased estates in that king- dom. These, with the lands he had in Cheshire, descended to the poet, who was born in Dublin in*l679, in whidh city he was educated; and at the age of thirteen entered of Trinity college, Dublin. He took his degree of M.A. in 1700, and in the same year was ordained deacon, although under the canonical age, by a dispensation from the primate. Three years after he was admitted into priest’s orders; and in 1705, Dr. Ashe, Bishop of C/ogher, conferred upon him the arch-deaconry of Clogber. About the same time he married Miss Anne Minchin, by whom he had two sons, who died young, and a daughter who long survived him.
- About this period he gave some occasional specimens of his poetical talents; but being partial to the enjoyments of social life, and the company of men of wit and learning; and as this was a taste he could gratify at home in a very small degree, he contrived many excursions to London, where he became a favourite. Goldsmith tells us he was unequal in his temper, and that he was always too much elevated, or too much depressed; and that, when under the influence of spleen, he would fly with all expedition to the remote parts of Ireland, and there receive a gloomy kind of satisfaction in giving hideous descriptions of the solitude to which he retired. Having tried this imaginary remedy for some time, he used to collect his revenues,
- and set out again for England to enjoy the conversation of his friends, Lord Oxford, Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot, and Gay. With Pope he had a more than usual share of intimacy. Pope highly respected him, and they exchanged opinions on each other’s productions with freedom and candour. He afforded Pope some assistance in his translation of Homer, and wrote the life prefixed to it; but Parnell was a very bad prose-writer, and Pope had more trouble in correcting this life than it would have taken him to write it. Being intimate with all the Scriblerus’ tribe, he contributed the “Origin of the Sciences:” and also wrote the “Life of Zoilus,” as a satire on Dennis aad Theobald, with whom the club had long been at variance; and to the Spectator and Guardian he contributed a few papers of very considerable merit, in the form of M Visions.”
- It seems probable that he had an ambition to rise by political interest. When the Whigs were ejected, at the end of Queen Anne’s reign, he was persuaded to change his party, not without much censure from those whom he forsook, and was received by the Earl of Oxford and the new ministry as a valuable reinforcement. When Oxford was told that Dr. Parnell waited among the croud in the outer room, he went, by the persuasion of Swift, with his treasurer’s staff in his hand, to inquire for him, and to bid him welcome; and, as may be inferred from Pope’s dedication, admitted him as a favourite companion to his con-vivial hours; but it does notappear that all this cordiality was followed by any preferment. Parnell also, conceiving himself qualified to become a popular preacher, displayed his elocution with great success in the pulpits of London; but the Queen’s death putting an end to his expectations, abated his diligence, and from that time be fell into a habit of intemperance, which greatly injured his health; The death of his wife is said to have first driven him to this miserable resource.
- Having been warmly recommended by Swift to Archbishop King, thia prelate gave him a prebend in 1713, and
- in May 1716, presented him to the vicarage of Finglam, in the diocese of Dublin, worth 4001. a-year. “Such notice,” says Dr. Johnson, “from such a man, inclines me to believe, that the vice of which he has been accused was not gross, or not notorious.” But he enjoyed these preferments little more than a year; for in July 1717, he died at Chester, on his way to Ireland, in his thirty-eighth year. Dying without male issue, his estate, but considerably embarrassed by his imprudence, devolved to his nephew, Sir John Parnell, Bart, one of the justices of the King’s Bench in Ireland, and father to the Irish chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Parnell, who died in 1801.
- A collection of his poems was published in 1721, by Pope, with an elegant epistle to the Earl of Oxford. “His praise,” says Dr. Johnson, “must be derived from the easy sweetness of his diction; in his verses there is more happiness than pains: he is sprightly without effort, and always delights, though he never ravishes: every thing is proper, yet every thing seems casual.**
- RICHARD PARR,
- A DIVINE of some eminence in his day, was the son of Richard Parr, who was also a divine, and was born at Fermoy, in the county of Cork, in 1617; and this singularity is recorded of his birth, that his mother was then fifty-five years of age. He was educated at a grammar school under some Roman Catholic priests; and, in 1635, he quitted his native country for England, and entered as a servitor of Exeter college, Oxford, where his merit pro* cured him the patronage of Dr. Prideaux the rector, by whose interest, as soon as be bad taken his bacbeloPa degree in arts, in 1641, he was chosen chaplain fellow of the college. Archbishop Usher, retiring to this college in 1643, to avoid the tumults in Ireland, observed the talents of Mr. Parr, made him his chaplain, .and toward# the dose of that year, took him with him (Glamorganshire. On his return with this prelate, be.pbtmncd ifep
- vicarage of Ryegate, in Surrey, on the presentation of Mr. R. James, son of Sir R. James, Knt. whose sister he married, a widow lady of considerable property. In 1649, be resigned his fellowship of Exeter college, and continued chaplain to Archbishop Usher while that prelate lived. In 1663, he bas instituted to the living of Camberwell, in Surrey; and appears to have been some time rector of Bermondsey. At the Restoration he was created D.D. and had the deanery of Armagh apd an Irish bishopric offered to him, both of which he refused; but accepted a canonry of Armagh. He remained vicar of Camberwell almost thirty-eight years, and was greatly beloved and followed. Wood, in his quaint way, says, “He was so constant and ready a preacher at Camberwell, that his preaching being generally approved, he broke two conventicles thereby in his neighbourhood; that is to say, that by his out-vying the Presbyterians and Independents in his exlemporarian preaching, their auditors would leave them, and flock to Mr. Parr.” All who speak of him indeed concur in what is inscribed OQ his monument, that “he was in preaching, constant: in life, exemplary: in piety and charity, most eminent: a lover of peace and hospitality: and, in fine, a true disciple of Jesus Christ.” He died at Camberwell, November 2, 1691, and was buried in the church-yard, where the above monument was erected to his memory. His wife died before him. Dr. Parr wrote “Christian Reformation; being an earnest persuasion to the speedy practice .of it: proposed to all, but especially designed for the serious consideration
- kJ
- 464
- FREDERICK PILON,
- A DRAMATIC author just above mediocrity, was a native of Cork, and was sent at a proper age to complete his studies at Edinburgh, where, feeling a genius for indolence instead of application, he neglected his anatomical lectures, and determined to embrace the profession of an actor, for which (as might naturally be imagined) he had not one requisite. This he was convinced of on his first night’s display. He soon after visited London, and went through all the difficulties usually attendant on literary adventurers. At length, after having got entangled in pecuniary embarrassments, Pilon was obliged to fly to France. During his absence, however, his affairs were accommodated, and on his return to England he married Miss Drury, of Kingston, (1787,) and died January 19, 1788, and lies buried at Lambeth.
- He wrote a pamphlet, entitled “A Critical Essay on Hamlet, as performed by Mr. Henderson,” which procured him the patronage of Mr. Colman, and under his auspices his pieces met the public eye. He wrote the popular farce of “The Deaf Lover,” and the celebrated comedy “He would be a Soldierand eleven other dramatic pieces.
- THOMAS PLEASANTS,
- A NAME never to be forgotten in the annals of charity and benevolence; when time shall have drawn the curtain of oblivion, before the records of wit, learning, and talent, his name shall live in the breast of virtue, and cheer distant generations, by monuments of utility.
- He was born in the county of Carlow, and died in Dublin, in the ninetieth year of his age, March 1st, 1818; was educated for the bar, but never practised. He possessed strong powers of mind, and great classical attainments, and profound knowledge of the laws of hie country. Enjoying independent property in the shade*
- PLEASANTS. 465
- of retirement, he considered how he might employ it usefully, encourage industry, and mitigate distress. But here it may be necessary to advert to the wretched state of the woollen weavers in the populous and manufacturing districts of the city, and Earl of Meath liberty adjoining. It has been calculated, that about twenty-two thousand persons supported themselves by this branch of trade, during those seasons of the year in which they could dry the wool warps and cloths in the open air; but in the winter, when rain, snow, or frost set in, they were thrown out of employ, and then suffered all the miseries of hunger, cold, and the usual disorders attending such privations. In consequence of such complicated miseries, the woollen weavers and the artisans concurred in 1809 in presenting a memoir to their landlord the Earl of Meath, the Farming and Dublin Societies, the lord mayor, recorder, and court of aidermen, the representatives of the city and county, and other distinguished personages, praying them to take into consideration their distressed state; and to adopt some measures, whereby their warps, wool, and cloth, might be dried in the winter, and wet weather. For this purpose, many meetings took, place, and it was at length determined, that an application should be made to the Imperial Parliament, for about 35OOL sterling, which they supposed, might be sufficient for a building to answer the purposes prayed for. Accordingly, this affecting appeal was laid before the Dublin Society, 2nd of March, 1809, who admitted, that, the im-portance of the subject, demanded their protection; and recommendation, but that they could not at present make an application to parliament on the subject, and . finally postponed its consideration to a future day. It. was then proposed to raise the sum by shares on transferable debentures of ten pounds each. This proposal also failed, though it held out the probability of its proving productive of emolument to its humane and patriotic promoters. In short, nothing towards the relief of this complicated misery was effected, until Thomas Pleasants, before whose VOL. II. H ¦
- name, no most noble, or right honourable caught the admire ing gaze, purchased these titles in perpetuity, from every being who bows at the shrine of virtue, from every heart that expands at the touch of feeling, humanity, or charity. He purchased a piece of ground, April 1814, and proceeded to the erection of that useful and elegant fabric, the Stove Tenter House, at an expense of upwards of 14,000£ being four times the amount of the sum solicited as a subscription amongst wealthy individuals and patriotic societies!!! This admirable fabric is two hundred and sixteen feet long, and twenty-two wide, it has three lofts, supported by iron pillars, with floors of the most ingenious construction; the admirable yet simple manner with which iron tenters, stoves, and other apparatus are combined, exhibits skill and strength that cannot be surpassed; it is likewise rendered fire proof. A few hours now effect, in perfection, what heretofore could not be attained iu an imperfect manner, in many days. In various parts of the building are appropriate mottoes cast on plates of iron, to attract the attention of the artisan employed, and impress on their minds the maxims of industry, sobriety, end morality. From September 29th, 1816, to December Mtb, 1817, one thousand six hundred and eighty-three pieces of cloth, two thousand and ninety-six warps, and one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three stones of wool have been sized, dried, tentered, and finished beneath the fostering influence of the Stove Tenter House. The Meath or County Hospital, situated in the same populous district, from want of sufficient funds, could not afford relief to the numbers who claimed it; and there being no operation room, the surgeons and patients were distressed by the necessity of performing all in the open wards. Mr. Pleasants could not contemplate, unmoved, such calls on humanity, and at one time he sent the sum of 6000£ - 4000£ of it to build an operating room, &c.-~ and the interest of the residue to be applied for ever to purchase wine and other necessaries for the afflicted. He presented the Dublin Society with 100£ worth of valofctie
- 467 book*; and, Hi the expense of near 700£ be erected the beautiful gates and lodges at their botanical garden, at Glassnevin, near the city. He printed and circulated, gratuitously, a large edition of a most rare and valuable work, M Reflections and Resolutions,” by the Rev. Sa- mud Madden, D.D. Dublin, 1738,8vo. It is impossible to enwnerate the.extent of his private charities - he seemed only to exist for the purposes of benevolence and liberality, and to diffbse comfort in the habitations of the wretched. By his will, after legacies to a surviving brother, to some other relations, his law agent, surgeon, apothecary,.and domestics, be appoints three trustees, to whom he gives 100£ per annum each, for life, in consideration of their trouble; and, after their decease, the same sum to the senior curates of Peter’s, and St. Bride’s parishes, who are to be trustees for ever. To these trustees, he bequeaths his house and garden in Camden-street, and \5ft00l. to found a school for protestant females, where as many as the funds will permit, are to be lodged, dieted, clothed, and educated, so as to render them useful members of society, and the trustees are to be residuary legatees to all his remaining property for the funds of this school. Tp the schools and alms-houses of St. Bride’s parish, be bequeathed 6000£ To the parishes of St. Luke and Si. Catherine, 1000£ each, and the same sums to the Fever and Meath hospitals. His fine collection of paintings, b^r Rubens, Vandyke Schalken, Rembrandt, 8cc. to the Dublin Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Deland, that country he so much loved, and of wbicb *he was one of the brightest ornaments.
- POECKRIDGE,
- WB are informed, in the “Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland,” was the inventor of the musicalglasses. He was bom to a good’ estate in the county of Monaghan; but being more attached to music than economy, he, like many other’men of genius, outlived the possession of jt, and was obliged, in his old age,* to make out a precarious
- subsistence by the exercise of his art. He lost his life about the year 1775, in an accidental fire in Cornhill.
- RIGHT HON. GEORGE PONSONBY,
- AN eminent lawyer and senator, was the descendant of a family which derives its origin from Picardy, in France. That branch of his ancestral stock, to which the Ponsonby family in these kingdoms trace their lineage, came over to England among the adventurous followers of Duke William of Normandy: and when that enterprising leader, after the decisive battle which transferred the crown of England to his bead, provided for his followers by the spoil of the conquered country, in the division of the landed possessions, the manor of PONSONBY, at Hale, in Cumberland, fell by lot to the ancestor of this gentleman, and conferred on him and his descendants,
“A local habitation and a name."
- A scion from this stock, a Sir John Ponsonby, in a subsequent age, probably inheriting the adventurous spirit of his ancestor, and desirous to better his fortunes by his martial prowess in the train of a victorious leader, accompanied Cromwell’s army to invade Ireland. The fertile soil of that island presented to this adventurer a tempting contrast to the bleak vallies and barren mountains of the Northern border; and the success of the Protector’s arms, enabled Sir John Ponsonby, like many others of his countrymen, to carve out for himself rich possessions, wrested by confiscation from the Irish Catholics, as lawful spoil of a whole sect, proscribed as notorious delinquents^ rebels^ freebooters, rapparees, and by various other happy epithets, calculated to reconcile to the scrupulous clemency of the victors, the plunder and extinction of the vanquished. The descendants of those fortunate adventurers, are to this hour designated among the natives as Cromwelltans. The present rental of the Ponsonby family in Ireland, exceeds 50,000& per annum. Such a property, in a country circumstanced as Ireland ba* been, added to character, talents, and favourable Opportunities, could not fail to attain honours, and power, and high connexions, for the possessors: and accordingly, two peerages, Besborough and Imokilly; the Speaker’s chair in the Irish House of Commons; the Irish chancellorship; alliances with the ducal houses of Devonshire and St. Albans, as well as the noble ones of Spencer, Grey, and Westmoreland, in England; and of Shaonon, Loftus, Kilworth, and Mountnorris, in Ireland, have all contributed to render the Ponsonby family wealthy, eminent, and powerful.
- , Mr. George Ponsonby, the subject of this memoir; wa* born on the 5th of March, 1755. He was the third son of the Honourable John Ponsonby, soon afterwards elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, in which he succeeded Mr. Boyle. He was brother to the late, and uncle to the present Earl of Besborough, by Lady Elizabeth’Cavendish, daughter of William, the third Duke of Devonshire, and great aunt to the present duke. He was, wrtoto officii, a privy, counsellor,, and sip several times one of the lords justices, a commissioner for administering the chief government, in the absence of the viceroy.
- On the demise of the then late Lord Shannon, his heir and successor, who had married the Speaker’s daughter, joined his political influence with those of his father-in-law, and the Ponsonby family: and such was the strength of thia alliance, that they not only vanquished the rival house of ¦Beresford; then a formidable andrulingjunto, but ina great ¦degree counterbalanced the royal prerogative itself, which was very powerful in Ireland. Mr. Ponsopby resigned the speaker’s chair in 1769, from his decided reluctance to carry np, officially, to Lord Townsend, then- viperpy, an address, Which was voted by the Hopse^ contrary to, hi* decided opinion. This sacrifice qf bi* situation greatly raised the popularity of a gentleman, who’ wasjong considered to possess and to exerciie. a greater degree of - patranage.aadmfluencein thpgp^emmeatiaf 4a qqppfly, than any commoner or peer ev^t bpd bqfoce hiqy, ..
- His younger son, Mr. George Ponsonby, having completed his preparatory education under the paternal roof, was transferred to a public school, and thence to the university of Cambridge, where he distinguished himself eminently by his natural talents, and by his acquirements; and as his senior brother, in the order of primogeniture^ was fated to enjoy the hereditary fortune, the junior was destined to supply the defect of patrimony, by a professional avocation.
- The law, which had been a source of success and elevation to his father, naturally suggested itself as the line best suited to the talents and future fortunes of the son; as it had been to many of the junior branches of great families in Ireland: nor were the father’s views disappointed in the sequel; as all the honours attendant on the most successful career, were at length fairly attained by him.
- In the year 1780, he was called to the Irish bar, at the Four Courts, Dublin; but a considerable time elapsed, before be evinced that application, industry, and sedulous attendance in the courts, which are absolutely necessary even to the moderate success of a young lawyer. But, whether his hopes were damped by the difficulties of competition with the talents of numerous seniors, who preoccupied so much of eminence and emolument; or whether his object was to mature his legal knowledge by close study, in order to start at a future period with more splendour and effect, is not easy to conjecture. Certain, however, it is, that he seemed to decline the taEra of a long and sedulous attendance on the courts, in his serge robe, the silent observer of the assiduous exertions of others. And, although it was obvious, from subsequent events, that he by no means neglected the legal researches necessary to his future eminence, his apparent pumhs took a turn incompatible with his forensic interests; fox-hunting and politics seemed to occupy the whole of his attention; and he contrived, after a time, to obtain w seat in that parliament, where he afterwards figured as a distinguished leader. In 1782, when the Dnke ofJtatUnd
- mttONBY. 471
- wmaypointed to the viceroyahy ofIreland, Mr.Pensonby, through thcintessst of his British connexions, had the professional honcmr of a silk gown conferred on him, and was shortly afterwards appointed first counsel to the corn* miuioners of revenues the salary and emoluments of which were atiwrtad at, 1200£ a year, in the room of Mr, Maurice Coppioger, who was displaced by the new viceroy- to clear a;nichefor Mr. Poosonby. Many important prosecutions were directed by this board; and a barrister of such short standing must certainly possess considerable) talents, as well as some practical knowledge^ before he could fulfil the duties of sueb an office with competent ability and discretion- Mr, Ponsonby, however, seemed to evince a constitutional indolence in his professional avocation, and to manifest a predominant attachment) to the sports of the field. He would at any time much rather have unkennelled a fox, and contended for the brash at the end of a forty miles chase, than have devoted a day to prosecuting a smuggler or a distiller, and driving aa unhappy husband to ruin, and his wife and: children io beggary. The onus of the duties, therefore, devolved upbn his junior counsel.
- During the period of this vacillation betweed bdsmesa and his favourite sport, be married Lady Mary Butler, eldest daughter of Brinsley, second Earl of Laaeabdrongh. In the sudden recal of the Dake af Portland from the’chief government, Mr. Ponsonby lost a valuable patron; and osi the arrival of the new viceroy, the late Marquis of Bnek* foghorn, be soon discovered he had found an enemy. The noble marquis was selected by- Mr. Pitt, to govern irobpd; in*new manner, and upon new principles. It had beeh the constant but unhappy fate of that caunlry^tabe the victim of party experiments, and the infiaesweiof great families contending for mastery, under tbe-aus^ioeaef thq British cabinet: and it was wow decreed:by-the mbindt of England, that the power of the house of Besborongh should give place to that of the hcuse of ¦WsterfaMk ’Uhe MW yfoecpj ftxofdmgly. nowiotwrd Jtiroap imridMid^
- 472 making a variety of changes, and, amongst the rest, Mr. Ponsonby was dismissed from office to make room for Mr. Marcus Beresford, a beardless stripling, the cadet of a powerful family, whose star was now in the ascendant. There could be no objection to the age or talents of Mr. Ponsonby; for his successful rival was comparatively a boy, just fledged in a bar gown, with the person, the voice, and the frivolous manner of a young lady. This youth too, was promoted to a seat in parliament, and took a prominent post on the treasury bench; where it was truly ludicrous to see this political tyro, night after night, rising to oppose, in treble tones, the formidable thunders of Grattan, Ponsonby, Curran, and others of their eloquent colleagues.
- Persecution has often produced martyrs; and patriots, who might have lain dormant in the lap of ease and tran* quillity, have likewise been often roused and confirmed by it. Mr. Ponsonby, a younger brother, with no other inheritance than his talents and his profession, now found himself deprived of a lucrative office, which he bad confidently hoped long to enjoy. He was also a married man, and already hailed as the father of an offspring that must look to him for support. He had formed an establishment suitable to a permanent revenue, now diminished more than half by his loss of office. His wounded pride could not tamely view a hostile family triumphant, and himself a victim of that triumph. The occurrence, however, proved fortunate in its result; it roused all his slnm- bering energies to action, and effected thenceforth an important change in his character and conduct. He determined on a new course of life, and resolved to sacrifice indolence at the shrine of laudable ambition, to direct his talents to worthier pursuits, and not only to render his professional avocation a source of emolument, more pro-ductive than that he had lost, but to convince the new viceroy that he was not to be injured with impunity. Hounds and hunters vanished by rapid degreesthe Four Courts became the constant theatre of bit sedulous
- exenfons: and the whole stock of his professional know-; ledge, previously acquired at leisure hours, now daily increased by study and experience, was brought into play with rapidly increasing eminence and emolument. Thus proving what may he effected by a man of parts, who has the firmness to sarmoiint the indolence of a disposition wholly averse/to toil and constraint, and to exert these qualities with which nature and education have endowed him. In a veiy short time, Mr. Poosonby not only acquired* the reputation of a first-rate lawyer, which his extensive family connexion, and his rising popularity, enabled’ him to render extensively productive; but his political know* ledge, and commanding eloquence, rendered him equally conspicuous in the senate, and not less a popular favourite with his country, than a formidable antagonist to the ministers whom he opposed.
- Never, perhaps, in the history of free nations, was a more ample field displayed for the eloquence of a popular orator, than by the state of Ireland from the period of which we now speak, down to that of the Union. The fetters of the country, it is true, were somewhat lightened, and the trammels which paralysed her exertions, rather relaxed, by the recent exemption from external domination, by the freedom of commerce, and by the national independence, acquired by the eloquence and firmness of Mr. Grattan and his compatriot orators. But still the vitals of the nation were consumed by the infection of many a hidden malady. Well might it be said of Ireland^ “casco carpitur igni” for, exclusive of religious animosi* ties, cherished for party views and political machination^ the nation was like a fertile garden overrun witb^ihe rankest weeds and brambles of corruption $ and:tbe House of’ Commons an Augean stable, , that* ^required more than Herculean labour to cleanse it’ from the apcu- mulated filth of job, and place, and pension, and sinecure, and rapacity, and public profusion; I&nwely met but fot some public mischief, and little, if any, pubhcgood could be expected from it It was it^woMicwhmecdnflMtM^
- nations struggled for influence and spoil; where the minister of the day, who commanded one side, and manoeuvred to strengthen his ranks from the other, had no object at heart but to raise revenue and maintain subjugation; to keep down the people, and remunerate their oppressors. The time of the House* instead of being devoted to improve the natural resources of the nation for general advantage, was wasted in declamatory contests, or in discussing motions started for the purpose of din* playing popular eloquence on one side, or carrying some measure of oppression or rapacity on the other. The assembly then, as was eloquently said by Mr. Curran, “brooded, like a midnight incubus, upon the bosom of the country, and pressed her vital energies almost to death."
- Such was the state of things when the Marquis of Buck* ingham arrived, professedly to reform all abuses, and redress all grievances; but, in opposition to these profes* sions, the noble marquis increased and aggravated the causes of complaint. And so difficult did he find it to gratify the rapacity of his supporters, that, like another jfcteon, he was almost devoured by his own hounds. Not only was he obliged to overload the pension list, already intolerable, and to fill up every pigeon-hole of office with new claimants, but even to sub-divide places and salaries between two or more candidates, and to create many new places for members of parliament, by increasing the number of commissioners at public boards, already much too numerous for the business they had to transact. Against such an order of things, Mr. Ponsonby commenced his ardent and powerful attacks; and the viceroy toon found* that he had roused a most formidable enemy in the man he had deplumed to decorate a rival with his spoils. Ably supported by Mr. Grattan, Mr. Curran, Mr. Forbes, and several others, the ablest orators in the senate of that day, he thundered against the prevalent system of comption; He forcibly displayed all the real or imputed crimes and errors of administration; he aggravated the public, co nir
- 475 plaints, which ndw became loud and general; and he was soon deemed by his partisans, a competent leader for the host of Opposition, who, though uniformly defeated on the division, constantly carried off the palm of argument, leaving to their opponents no triumph but that of a devoted majority. The better to concentrate their operations, the members of opposition in both Houses, formed themselves into a Whig Club, on the same principles with that in England, wearing the same uniform of blue and buff, and acting io concert with their British allies. Lord Charle- moot and the Duke of Leinster took the lead in the upper House; Mr. Ponsonby, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Curran, and Mr. Forbes, in the lower. Many gentlemen, not m parliament, or connected with party, joined them. They held constant meetings, at which they concerted and arranged their measures, for the service of their country, and the annoyance of their opponents. They broadly contended, that the government patronage in the Oom* mons House bad increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished; that the expenses occasioned by this fatal system, had exceeded all former bounds; and proved, that out of three hundred members, there were one hundred and ten who enjoyed places and pensions under the crown. ¦: i
- To sketch even a slight outline of the topiooofMr. Ponsonby’* eloquence, would be to give a parliamentary history of his country, from his first entrance into that senate, until its final extinction in the Union; for he took a distinguished part on every debate of importance. . An event occurred about the period to which we have jnst alluded, which gave Mr. Ponsonby a complete triumph over the viceroy. On the alarming illness of hie hte majesty, in 1789, both kingdoms were ovenrbdmed.ia sorrow. It was ultimately deemed requisite by the British minister and parliament, to appoint a regent, during his majesty’s incapacity. But then it was determined to restrict the heir-apparent, who was nominated to the office, with powers limited in such a manner, and to auch a
- degree as, in the opinion of Mr. Fox and the Opposition, must render the office painful, if not odions to that illustrious personage. His hereditary right to the exercise of this important function, without the sanction of parliament, was questioned by the first minister of the day, who was supported in the plan he had proposed by a great majority of the British parliament, notwithstanding the powerful remonstrances of his opponents. But the result was in Ireland quite different. The Opposition, in that country, after a short struggle, appeared in a triumphant majority. Mr. Ponsonby, who now headed it, aided by the powerful talents and co-operation of Mr. Grattan, and other distinguished orators, maintained with equal boldness and success the inherent right of Ireland, on the suspension of the royal functions, to nominate and appoint a fit regent, with or without limited powers,.independent of any reference to what might be done by the British parliament, on the present occasion. This was the first question which afforded an opportunity to the parliament of Ireland for exercising their new-born independence; and on this occasion they appeared resolute to support dial independent right. They viewed in the heir-apparent to the throne, the fittest of all persons to administer for his royal father, the functions of that royal authority be was born to enjoy. They held it at once invidious, offensive, and indicative of an ungracious suspicion, to trammel his royal highness with jealous restrictions, in exercising for his father, the powers and privileges of the crown, which were already limited by the constitution. They could not withhold from that illustrious prince, the confidence reposed in his father, and which must, in the course of nature, soon be transferred to himself. The subject was long, ably, and indeed, violently debated in both Houses: but in spite of all the influence of the viceroy, and all the eloquence and art of the Beresford party, with Mr. Fitzgibbon (the then attorney-general, and afterwards chancellor) at their head, the warmth of national feeling surmounted all the more cool and calculating principles
477 of Mr. Pitt’s doctrine; and a vote passed both Houses, inviting his royal highness to assume the regency of Ire- land, unfettered add unclogged by any of those restrictions, which bad been imposed in England. A deputation:from both Houses waited on the viceroy, with an address to his royal highness, founded upon this vote, which they requested him to transmit to England; but his excellency refusing to forward a state paper so directly opposed to the most important principles of his administration and the main object of his most strenuous resist-ance, a vote of censure was passed by both [louses, and a deputation of members, consisting of four from each House, was sent to England to present their address to the prince regent. The Irish ambassadors, as they were called, were most graciously received by his royal highness at Carlton House, and honoured with the warmest expressions of thanks for the generous attachment, manifested towards him by the parliament of Ireland: but the critical recovery, of his royal father just at that time, pre- . vented his royal highness from signifying any opinion as to the acceptance of their proposal. The Marquis of Buckingham, after this open breach with the parliament, considering his post no longer tenable, immediately returned to England. A marked trepidation and . dismay was now manifest amongst those Irish placemen who had, as the phrase is, ratted from the treasury phalanx, and supported the regency vote, on a speculation of worship to the rising sun. They trembled for their places. Many were dismissed, and others, in atonement for their error,’made the most humiliating concessions, and were allowed to retain their posts. Mr. Ponsonby, however, stood firm at the head of a select and faithful band of eloquent adherents, who continued for a series of years to oppose the system of measures, which they but too truly prophesied must ultimately lead to a general convulsion.
- The discussion upon the regency question led to two results, deeply involving the fate of Ireland* Mr. Fhx-
- gibbon, the attorney-general, in reward for the zeal he had shewn in opposing the exercise of independence by the parliament on this occasion, obtained the chancellorship of Ireland soon afterwards, on the decease of Lord Lifford, this being the first time that honour had ever been conferred upon an Irishman. And, secondly, the measure itself, and the arguments by which it was supported, laid a feasible foundation for effecting the subsequent Union, and furnished the principal reasonings urged by Lord Castlereagh and his partisans, for carrying that measure into effect, by all means, good or bad, and at all risks, as indispensable, to prevent the ultimate separation of both countries.
- It is, however, but justice to the liberality of Lord Clare, though a vindictive politician, to state, that on his quitting the bar to mount the chancery bench, he presented his bag of briefs to Mr. Ponsonby as a very distinguishing mark of his professional regard, and his approbation of the legal abilities of his political opponent; who, notwithstanding his parliamentary exertions, which were ardent and indefatigable, pursued his forensic avocations with the most zealous industry and lucrative success. And, although his lordship, who frequently smarted under the satirical lash of Mr. Curran’s wit, and once fought a duel with him, carried even to the equity bench his hostility, personal as well as political, to that gentleman, insomuch as to ruin, by his marked discountenance, the chancery practice of Mr. Curran, by much the most important and lucrative part of his profession, he observed a very different deportment towards Mr. Ponsonby.
- An incident which occurred to the latter in the come of his legal practice, excited his marked hostility io the chief judge of the court of King’s Bench, John Scott, Earl of Clonmel], and terminated in something like the ruin of that noble lord. Mr. Scott had elevated himself by the boldness of his character, and his services to the government, from very humble circumstances to the high office he then filled. A newspaper war had broken cut
- between Mr. John Magee, the eccentric proprietor of a popular print, called the Dublin Evening Post, and an attorney, Mr. Francis Higgins, the owner of another newspaper, the Fhewnon’r then hired in the ser
- vice of the Irish government. This war raged for a con* tidemble time with great virulence; and Magee did not confine his attacks merely to Higgins, but directed a scattered fire against the whole circle of his intimate associates, amongst whom was numbered Mr. Richard Daly, the manager of the Dublin theatre. Magee spared no species of abuse, ridicule, and satire, against the pai^ ties: and this involved him in several actions for libel, ia which the damages were laid at an enormous amount. Lord Clonmel], on the application of the plaintiffs, advised by Mr. Higgins, issued six successive fiats to arrest Magee, and hold him to bail to abide the issue of as many several actions; and be was accordingly held to bail to the amount of 16,000£ This induced him to turn his fire against his lordship in a most extraordinary way. He not only opened upon him the batteries of his news-paper, but also took an extensive piece of land adjoining Lord Clonmell’s marine domain, at the edge of Dublin Bay. This piece of land he baptized by the name of Hot Lavon; his lordship himself being currently designated as the Marquis of Mount Flat. Magee soon announced for a particular day, certain Olympic games, termed, Da bra pkasuragh, to be celebrated on Fiat Lawn, consisting of oudgel play, foot-ball, and rural dancing. By way of interlude, there was a sailing match for fishing boats, in the bosom of the adjacent bay; the prizes were, suits of sails and fishing nets; and the whole f£te to conclude withamagn^ceat hunt on the lawn, of a shaocn pig, lathered with soap, to be the prize of the fortunate pedestrian who could first seize and detain it. This project was purposely contrived for the annoyance of Lord Clonmell; and upwards of fifty thousand people, of all classes, from the metropolis and surrounding country, were assembled to zee these eccentric sports. The injury dune to Lord
- Cloninell’s grounds, was productive of a new fiat, issued on the affidavit of the chief justice himself, before a puisne judge of his own court, Sir Samuel Bradstreet, and Mr. Magee, unable or unwilling to find farther bail, was lodged in Newgate to abide the issue of his trial. An action at the suit of Mr. Daly the manager, came on first for trial. Mr. Ponsonby, with a most able veteran lawyer, and member of parliament, Mr. Arthur O’Neile, was coun-sel for Magee. But, notwithstanding the host of precedents and eminent law authorities adduced by both gentle* men, decisively in favour of their client, the chief justice, by his simple ipse dixit, overruled every thing. The advocates of Magee then declined offering further authorities, and a verdict was obtained for the plaintiff. Several other actions were still pending; Magee was driven to distraction, and almost to ruin. But Mr. Ponsonby, convinced that Lord Clonmell had acted partially, oppressively, and in gross abuse of his judicial authority, brought forward the subject in parliament, and moved for impeaching his lordship at the bar of the House of Lords. On the night of Mr. Ponsonby’s motion, he introduced it by observing, that he should not support it merely by arguments of his own, but from the very words of the ablest law authorities and constitutional writers that had ever existed; and he brought with him for the purpose, a formidable collection of books, selected from his library, with apposite and pointed quotations, which he introduced into his speech; and concluded an unanswerable mass of argument, by moving for the impeachment.
- Mr. Curran, who had been counsel for the plaintiff on the trial, supported the motion of Mr. Ponsonby. He said, that as he had been accidentally retained as counsel against Mr. Magee on the trial, he was bound to use his best exertions for the cause of his clientand had the fortune to succeed with the court and jury in obtaining a verdict. But he begged, that the House would consider him now, not as acting the part of an advocate in a court of law, where he had spoken with his brief in one hand, l and his fee in the other; but as a member of parliament, delivering the opinion of a constitutional lawyer and an honest man; and he perfectly coincided in the statements and opinions, so eloquently expressed, and so ably advanced by his learned friend.
- The only Crown lawyer who ventured to answer, was Mr. Wolfe, the attorney-general, who succeeded Mr. Fitzgibbon in that office, and afterwards Lord ClonmeH on the bench, by the title of Lord Kilwarden. But he did not attempt to refute the arguments, though he opposed the motion of Mr. Ponsonby. He contented himself with observing, that judges were but men, and liable, even with the best intentions, to human errors and oversights; that enough bad been done, by the introduction of this motion, to prevent a repetition of the like errors in future; and he concluded by expressing a hope, that his learned friend would consent to withdraw a motion, calculated to depreciate the judicial station, and to encourage and give triumph to those who set all law and all authority at defiance.
- Mr. Ponsonby replied, “that in bringing this question before the House, he had done his duty as a member of parliament, and a supporter of the laws, the constitution, and the liberties of the subject; and therefore he could not so lightly abandon a measure be had adopted with the coolest deliberation, and the fullest conviction of its necessity. He should leave it for the House to do its duty, and dispose of his motion as they pleased; but he should not withdraw it. He acted from no motives of personal feeling towards the noble judge. His learned friend, he believed to be a good-natured man, and a good lawyer, but thought him a most miserable attorney-general. If, however, he was content to abandon the defence of his noble friend, the learned judge, by declining all argument, and trusting the decision of thin question to the book of numbers, be it so: be, Mr. Ponsonby, was quite aware of what would be the issue; be had done his duty. He might, it was true, lose his motion: but -Lord VOL. ii. i i
- ClonmeU was damned for ever," The question was put and negatived without a division; but the judicial character and mental feelings of the noble lord, never recovered the blow. He survived but a few years.
- We now revert to the period when the French Revolution was about to burst forth, to the astonishment and annoyance of all Europe. The effect produced by the discussions that preceded and accompanied that dreadful event, was truly formidable, and excited considerable ferment in the popular mind, in Ireland as well as in Eng- land. The cry of parliamentary reform by the corresponding societies in England, was loudly resounded in the sister country. The Society of United Irishmen, originated about this time, by a party of junior barristers, for purposes declaredly liberal, temperate, and patriotic^ so rapidly increased in numbers and popularity, as to excite some alarm in the ruling party. Minor societies, as scions from the original, sprung up in every part of the kingdom, acknowledging that of the metropolis as tbeir supreme head. Their professed objects were, the abolition of all animosities on the score of religion, and the establishment of a brotherhood of affection and attachment between all classes of Irishmen, for the common good of their country. The two leading measures which they avowed were, Catholic emancipation from all the remaining proscriptions of the penal laws; and a reform in the representative House of Parliament.
- Though many successive relaxations of the penal laws had been gradually, but grudgingly, ceded to the Catholics in preceding years; still there were many important privileges withheld. The Catholics considered that their tried loyalty, for above a century, had entitled them to eMemption from all invidious distinctions between them aad the rest of their fellow-subjects, and to a full admission to all the advantages of the constitution. But they bad haled in their repeated solicitations to obtain this ultimate boon. The dissenters of Ulster, although in present possession of the advantages of their high-church fellow-subjects, still
- iclt that they held those advantages merely by sufferance, dr mwo in amtm; and that they were still liable to the operation of a test act, only suspended from session to session. A bill was brought in every year for allowing dissenters, holding offices under the crown, further time to qualify by receiving the sacrament in the. established church, and taking certain oaths, wholly repugnant to their religious scruples; and if any session should.elapse without renewing this bill, all dissenters would be imine* diately disqualified from retaining their old, or obtaining new, appointments, whether civil or military; and would thus be included in the same proscription with the Ca» tholics.
- These two great sects, comprising above four-fifths of the whole population, and, for near a century, entertain* ing a spirit of rancorous hostility against each other, which was cherished by the predominant church, on the good old maxim, of divide and rule, now saw that their only hope of gaining their respective objects, was by Parliamentary reform; for the propriety of this measure they bad the sanction of Mr. Pitt and Lord Castlereagb, (both of whom commenced their political career as its strenuous advocates, the former continuing to avow his attachment to it long after his possession of office,) and for the attainment of this end, they formed a solemn coalition of mutual support. This was the principle which gave birth to the Society of United Irishmen; and propagandists were zealously employed throughout the country to fan the flame. A variety of combustibles were already stored in the popular mind, which only required ignition to blaze out in a dangerous conflagration.
- The heated discussions and democratic principles pro* mulgated by the revolutionists in France, and the animat? ing details of the victorious successes of the French arms, were republished in all the British and Id*h newspapers. The manifestoes of the British Corresponding Societies; - the publication of Paine’s Rights of Man, by subscription* and its distribution, gratis, by hundreds, pf. thousand*
- PONSONBY.
- amongst the middling and lower orders; - the recent memory of former grievances, to which the ruling party hod obstinately refused redress; the marked reluctance with which any advantage was ceded to the country by the British governmentand the powerful eloquence of the Opposition, which failing of its effect in Parliament, yet forcibly excited the national feelings; - all tended to one fearful issue. The old volunteer system, to which Ireland attributed all she had obtained, though it had long sunk into repose, was still kept alive in the metropolis by selfarmed and self-officered associations of tradesmen, which included many of the old volunteer army, and converted their Sunday amusements into military exercisesi parades, field-days, sham battles, sometimes in detached corps, and sometimes in brigades, under the celebrated Napper Tandy, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, and other popular chiefs. These corps were allowed to proceed, if not without notice, at least with no interruption from government, though drums, fifes, and military ensigns were constantly heard and seen in all directions; and every square within, and field about the metropolis, presented an active school of tactics. The olaims before mentioned, and the manifestoes of the United Irishmen, fomented the smothering flame; a civil war was kindled between the Orangemen and Catholics in the north, under the appellations of Peep»of-day Boys and Defenders; and many bloody battles were fought, and houses plundered, demolished, and burnt, without any interference from the lood magistrates to check these disorders, which, on the contrary, were supposed to be encouraged by the Orange gentry of the district. Thousands of poor Catholic fami- lies, farmers or artisans, were expelled by fire and sword from their native homes in the northern connties, and forced to travel southward in search of an asylum, pro-pagating, as they joumied, their tales of woe. In the mean time, the Catholics in the metropolis held convene tions, and the Presbyterians in Ulster political synods^ for the promotion of their reciprocal objects; whiles on the side
- of government, proclamations, imprisonments, prosecutions, and penal enactments, were the remedies adopted. Such was the alarming state of things, when the British cabinet felt the necessity of taking some measures to tran-quillize and conciliate the people. Catholic emancipation, and a total abolition of the test laws, were allowed by all, except the Orange party, to be at once indispensable, and effectual for every desirable purpose; and Earl Fitzwilliam was deputed, as the genius of peace, to come over as viceroy, in the room of Lord Westmoreland. This nobleman was in every way suited, from the just popularity of his principles, the mildness of his manners, the dignity of his character, and his large landed property in Ireland, to effect the objects of his mission. His friends in Parliament announced the glad tidings of his appointment and* his approach, with full powers to propose the measures of conciliation and unity to all parties. The noble Earl landed late on a Sunday evening, and went first to the house of his friend Mr. Ponsonby, in Granby-row; the news of his arrival was announced by salutes of ordnance, and the whole metropolis was in a few minutes brilliantly illuminated. Joy and gratulation pervaded all ranks,1 except that party who must now recede from office and power, but not from secret influence. Lord Fitzwilliam met the Parliament. The objects of his mission were explained by his friends, and implicitly accredited: and, as an earnest of anticipating gratitude, amotion was made in the House of Commons, by Mr. Grattan, for a grant of three millions to England in aid of the war against France, and it was cheerfully carried. Bot scarcely had this vote- received the sanction of the other House of Parliament, when the authority of Earl Fitzwilliam to propound the promised measures was denied by the British cabinet; and the noble earl was charged with misconceiving his instructions. The subject of the emancipation was discussed in the Irish privy council, preparatory to its introduction in Parliament, and was strenuously opposed by the Orange party in that assembly, particularly by Lord Clare and an-
- other leading member, the president of a great assembly. Mr. Grattan represented the dangers of exasperating the feelings of the whole country, by refusing what all so confidently expected, and the peril of an actual civil war; but the great leader alluded to, is reported to have answered, “What of that f Suppose the conflict should coat fifty thousand lives, it were better so, than forfeit the ascendancy of the Protestant interest in church and state.” Earl Fitzwilliam, who could not have been mistaken as to the authorities with which he was invested on acceptibg the viceroyalty, now perceived his honour was to be sacrificed to the machinations of a party in the English cabinet, aided by the influence of the Orange junto in Ireland. He felt that he had been made an instrument of deception to the hopes of Ireland. He explained in a public letter, addressed to the Duke of Portland, and then resigned his office.
- Thus failed the accomplishment of that system to which the eloquence of Mr. Ponsonby and his friends bad been, for so many years, zealously directed. “The word of promise," thus snatched from the national ear, and * the cup of expectation dashed from their lips;” Earl Fitn- william’s resignation, and the cause of it, were heard of with public consternation and dismay. That nobleman, on his way to the yacht, which was to return him to England with chagrin and disgust, passed through streets crowded by a silent and sorrowing multitude of all ranks, hailed by their farewell blessings. The shops were all closed, and business suspended; black flags and crapes were displayed from the windows; and the metropolis wore the gloomy aspect of mourning for some public calamity. Earl Camden arrived as the new viceroy, accompanied by Mr. Pelham as his secretary; and the party of Lord Clare and the Beresfords returned to power. The whole torrent of mischief, restrained by the temporaiy suspension of their influence, was now ready to rash forth ¦ on the country with accumulated violence.
- In the House of Commons, notwithstanding.why* hail
- passed, the question of Catholic emancipation was brought forward, for the last time, by Mr. Arthur O’Connor, with great energy and eloquence, and debated with much warmth. Mr. Pelham, the new secretary, opposed it with a degree of animation bordering on fury. He said, that concession after concession to the Catholics seemed but to encourage new demands; and nothing appeared now competent to satisfy them but the surrender of the constitution in church and state. But if that House was not prepared for the final surrender of that constitution, concession most stop some where. It had now, in his-, opinion, reached the utmost limits, consistent with the security of the state; and here he would plant his foot, and never consent to a measure which he believed to be. pregnant with the separation of both kingdoms. The motion, after a debate which lasted till four in the morning, was lost. Mr. O’Connor, whose zeal in this cause prompted him to transgress the strong injunctions of his uncle, Lord Longueville, to whose fortune he was heir-presumptive, was disinherited. The flames of discontent were rekindled in every quarter of the country. A .newspaper, called the Northern Star, which had been put down by military force, was: replaced by another in- the metropolis, called Prat, which was now set on foot by Mr. O’Connor, Lord, Edward Fitzgerald, and others of their, friends, all Protestant*, and many of them men of the first education and. talents. It waB written with great ability, and adapted for the intellects and feelings of the great mass of the population. It was calculated to rouse them to a revolutionary spirit; its circulation was- unparalleled, in number and extent, even by aU the other newspapers; and it was read or listened to with the utmost eagerness by all classes, even by the-humblest mechanics, labourers, and peasants, from the.metropolis to the remotest corners of the kingdom. Political dubs succeeded; nightly meetings of thousands; plunder of arms; manufacture of pikes; administration of oaths; with the adoption of signals, and watch-words, and the
- preparation of depdts for arm* and ammunition. These measures were accelerated in proportion to the expedients resorted to for their prevention. The volunteer squads in the metropolis had been for some time suppressed, and a corps of yeomanry established by law. The United Irishmen, and their more prominent leaders, were now denounced; suspicion was punished as crime. The scenes which succeeded cannot now be detailed; never will they be erased from the bosoms of those who witnessed them, or from the memory of their posterity: but the future historian alone can safely and faithfully pourtray them. The dreadful event had arrived which Mr. Pon- sonby and his parliamentary friends had prophesied for years, as the result of the long and prevailing system; and for which a hopeful scion of the house of Beresford publicly expressed his wish in the House of Commons. Open rebellion stalked abroad in all its horrors; and in its course, full the fifty thousand lives, loyal as well as disloyal, which the grave president of a grave assembly fixed, in the privy council, as the price of preserving the Protestant ascendancy, were expended. But the partisans of government, far from admitting the prevailing measures as in any degree the cause of the evil, attribnted it in chief to the inflammatory speeches of the Opposition. Mr. Curran, now retired from parliament, and Mr. Ponsouby, who had, in their professional capacity, acted for the defendants upon some state trials, were insidiously pointed* at as secret abettors of treason; and Mr. Grattan was obliged to fly from his residence at Tennahinch, to avoid assassination by the Orange guerillas, who scoared and marauded in his neighbourhood. Lord Camden and his secretary, now convinced of what had been predicted^ privately retired from the tempest they had raised; and Lord Cornwallis arrived as viceroy; and, partly by the* seizure of the rebel directory, partly by the sword, but chiefly by a system of lenience and amnesty, terminated the conflict. But, to remedy these horrors, while the nation still lay bleeding and exhausted after the perilous
- PONSONBY. dfig
- and sanguinary coufiicts of civil war, strong reinforcements of British troops were poured into the country; and this, auspicious opportunity was seized for carrying the Unioo, - by means the most pare and eonstitatioMaZ, no doubt! and transporting the ikeldon of the Irish Parliament to England for ever. - Mr. Ponsonby and his political friends gave the most strenuous opposition to- this measure. They ardently <
- wished to see a period to the distresses of their distracted country, but they desired not to sacrifice her independence. They could not contemplate without pain the extinction of her separate legislature, and they deprecated such a change, as an experiment of problematical advantage, while they considered the consequent ruin of their country certain and unequivocal.
- At length, after a long struggle, a new order of things arose in the ministerial quarter; for, in 1806, in conse qoence of the singular and unexpected coalition between Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox, some important changes took place in the governments of both countries. The talents and long services of Mr. Ponsonby were not.forgotten, and he was appointed a member of the Irish privy council, and received at the same time the sealsaslord’ chancellor. His brother, the Right Hom WiffiamjB
- own emoluments. Mr. Curran disclaimed this arrange- inent, which had never been committed to paper, and Mr. Ponsonby generously paid the salary out of hia own purse to Mr. Ridgeway, but closed hia friendship with Mr. Curran.
- The Fox and Grenville administration, though it comprised a constellation of talents, was but of short continuance. They immortalized their memory, however, by the abolition of the slave trade. They projected much good for Ireland, but they never acquired the cordial confidence of his late majesty; and they retired, at last, in consequence of the king’s refusal to sanction them in the concession of Catholic emancipation, which was understood to have been a stipulated condition with that portion of the people of Ireland, as the price of their acceding to the Union. Mr. Ponsonby now retired, of course, from the Irish chancery bench, with the pension of 4000£ a-year, uni-formly granted in such cases; a large remuneration, as hh opponents remarked, for so short a period of judiciaL service. The brevity of that period, however, was not bin fault, but that of the established usage, by which, a change of administration always produces the retirement of the chancellor; which creates *a tomtr for the new* cabinet, while it is a serious grievance to the suitors -in* the chancery court. Mr. Ponsonby, in consideration of his appointment, bad relinquished a professional practioe much more productive than his judicial emoluments; and he conld not recede to the situation of an advocate in that* court where be had presided as the judge. . .
- Mr. Ponsonby now repaired to England to take his seat, as a member of the Imperial Parliament;, and, as that death of his friend, Mr. Fox, had deprived the country* party of a leader in the senate, Mr. Ponsonby was cbcMMi to take the direction of the Opposition ranks. His talents’* in that capacity were undoubtedly respectable; and,ai»‘ though he was removed from that scene, where his poJ»*‘ tical knowledge had most experience, where-the peculiartopics of his eloquence were still prevalent,. whereho*
- acquired and displayed all his skill in debate, and where his manner and his talents weret better known and admired, yet he distinguished himself in the British senate with no diminished estimation. The stile of his eloquence par* took of his character. It was polished, clear, forcible, and comprehensive; always full, but never redundant; his language was elegant; his irony grave, but strong;’his deportment courtly; and, although he avoided a figurative* diction, his arrangement was strictly logical, and his arguments so plain, intelligible, and convincing, that they rarely, if ever, failed to captivate and decide his auditors. He was eminent for his candour and moderation. He possessed an accurate and powerful memory, and was constantly known, although he never took notes, in replying, at the conclusion of a long and arduous debate on a question introduced by himself, to sometimes twenty opponents, to single out in the order of their speaking, and on the benches where they sat, the precise arguments of each, which he proposed to refute, seizing skilfully on the stronger or weaker points, as best suited his purpose. As a leader of Opposition, Mr. Ponsonby was of course generally opposed to ministerial measures; and but rarely succeeded in his own. On the 4th of March, 1817, he brought in a bill, both useful and necessary in the then state of his late majesty’s health, to prevent the necessity of renewing certain civil and military commissions, on the demise of the crown. In the same month he supported the motion of his friend Sir John Newport, for retrenching fees in the courts of justice; and in a debate upon the regulation of the Welch judges, he maintained that the functions of a chief justice of Chester; and the duties of an attorney-general, were incompatible. The last time he spoke in the House, was to recommend to his majesty’s ministers to alleviate the general distress, as that, and that alone, had produced in the country any thing like tnmult or disaffection.
- His health had begun visibly to decline, and probably there was a correspondent dedension in the tone and
- vigour of his mind. But his intellect was dear and comprehensive as ever. During a subsequent debate in the House of Commons, he was seized with a paralytic affection, which, after a few days, proved fatal, on the 8tb of July, 1817, at his house in Curzon-street, May-fair; and his remains were deposited, without ostentation or ceremony, at Kensington, near London, beside those of his brother, Lord Imokilly. He left no surviving male issue; and his only daughter, Martha, was married to the Honourable Francis Aidborough Prittie, second son of Lord Dunally, and knight of the shire for the county of Tipperary.
- WILLIAM-BRABAZON PONSONBY, BA BON OF IMOKILLY, the elder brother of George Pon- sonby, and of course the hereditary possessor of the family estate. He was many years an independent member of the Irish Parliament, and uniformly attached to the same political principles and connexions as his brother. He was also a leading member of the Whig Club; and was one of the deputation selected by the House of Commotes for conveying the addresses of both Houses to his then Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, beseeching him to assume the regency of Ireland, during the incapacity of his royal father, untrammelled by any restrictive conditions. His ample hereditary fortune rendered it unnecessary for him to cultivate eloquence like his brother, to whose professional views it was indispensable. He well knew that rank, wealth, and respectability, gave ample weight with any party to the support or opposition of a member of Parliament; and that in point of effect, the Mme of a parliamentary ventriloquist, (to use the language of Mr« Curran,) and his simple monosyllable, aye or no, told as powerfully on a division as the eloquence of a Demor/Aem* could have done, when each party came into the house determined on the vote they should give, and thus preconcerted the catastrophe of a debate, like the duwtwmcwt
- 495 ofacesnedy: Mr. Ponsonby therefore declined all facun- diaiy emulation. He lived in the hospitable and splendid etile which his fortune afforded, as a country gentleman. On a’ll’inportant’Cheasions he attended his parliamentaiy dirty; seldom spoke much, but always with good sense, pound principle, and gentlemanly moderation. He was one of the staunchest opponents of the Beresford, influence; strenuously resisted the Union; and was afterwards dignified with a British peerage, during the Fox and Grenville administration, by the Irish tide of Jmodfffy. He died a year or two before his brother, and his remaids were deposited without pomp at Kensington, near London.
- WILLIAM ROBERTSON,
- A LEARKBD divine, was born in Dublin, on October 16, 1705, and received the first rudiments of his education under the celebrated Dr. Francis Hutdbdbon. He entered the university of Glasgow in 1724, where be remained until 1725, and took the degree of M. A.; but engaging actively in a dispute between the students and their supe-riors, he was expelled the college, though be was speedily reinstated in his former situation. He was ordained id 1727; and, in 1739, was appointed Cbaplainto Lord Cathcart. In 1728, he married Elisabeth, daughter Of Major Baxter, by whom he had toraty-ene children.
- in 1743, he was appointed curate of St. Luke’s parish, Dublin, where, with the assistance of Mr. Kane Percival, then curate of St. Michan’s, he formed a scheme to raise a fond for the support of widows and children of clergy-men of the diocese of Dublin; which has since produced very happy effects. In 1758, be lost his wife. In 1759, he was offered a benefice, but was prevented from accepting it from conscientious motives. In 1707, be was created D. D. by the university of Glasgow. In 1768, the mastership of the free-grammar school at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, becoming- vacant, the company of Merchant-Tailors, the patrons,aaaniwwwsJy oanfemd
- it on him. In 1772, lie was chosen one of the committee to carry on the business of the society of clergymen, Ac. in framing and presenting the famous petition to the House of Commons of Great Britain, praying to be relieved from the obligation of subscribing assent and consent to the thirty-nine articles, and all and every thing contained in the book of common prayer. After this he lived several years at Wolverhampton, where he was greatly respected by all ranks of people. He died, of the gout in his stomach, at that place, May 20,1783, in the seventy-ninth year of his age; and was buried in the church-yard of the new church there.
- REV. GERARD ROBINSON,
- A CLERGYMAN of the Romish church, fully deserving the epithet “Worthy/ was a native of Ireland, and was educated at Salamanca. During his long residence in London he was attached to the chapel of the Spanish embassy, where he officiated as one of the chaplains. He was eminent for exemplary piety and boundless charity. His donations to the poor, upon whom, we are told, “he constantly bestowed almost the whole of his income,* were marked by this peculiar and truly Christian cba- racteristic, that in relieving the distressed, he made no distinction of religion or country.
- He died in George-street, Manchester-square, on the 14th of April 1799, in the seventieth year of his age, and forty-sixth of his ministry.
- SIR BOYLE ROCHE, BART.
- WAS descended from an ancient and respectably family, said to be a junior branch of the baronial house of Roche^ Viscount Fennoy. He entered the military service of hfo country very early in life, and distinguished himself emi* nently in America, during that war, which terminated about the commencement of his late majesty’s ragn» and
- in which the immortal Wolfe fell, and particularly at the taking of the Moro fort, at the Havannah. Shortly after hisretirement from sctnal service in the army, he obtained a seat in the Irish House of Commons, of which be continued a member up to the period of the Union. In that assembly he was distinguished as a perpetual appendage to the ministerial establishment, and enjoyed from the government a small pension, together with the office of master of ceremonies at the castle of Dublin, for which he was nationally adapted, by the suavity of his provincial accent, and the good humour and gentlemanly politeness of a soldier of the old school. In Parliament, though his eloquence was not of the most polished or forcible cast, the richness of his national brogue, the humorous oddity of his rhetoric, and a supernatural propensity to that species of figure called the BuZZ, which might induce an astrologer to suppose him born under the influence of Taurus, rarely foiled to excite continued peals of laughter when he spoke in the house; and of those qualifications the ministers of the day, whom he always supported, constantly availed themselves, whenever the temper of the House required to be relieved from the irritating asperities of warm debate; or whenever the speech of a patriot, perhaps too powerful for refutation, was more conveniently to be answered by ridicule. On those occasions it was rather amusing to see the worthy baronet, after repeated calls from the treasury benches, rising to answer some of the most splendid orations of Mr. Grattan, Mr. Ponsonby, or Mr. Curran, by observing upon them in his own way. The display made at many of those opportunities by the worthy baronet, though it excited perpetual laughter from the oddity of his language and the happy tropes which usually distinguished his stile of argument, sometimes surprised, by its order of arrangement and apposite point, those who were not in the secret of the worthy baronet’s previous arrangement for the discussion. The truth was, that whatever might have been his pitch of intellect, he was gifted with a most extraordinary memory; and could
- get off by rote, at one or two readings, any written production of very considerable length. This faculty of his was well known to the ministers whom he supported; and there was rarely a fixed debate on any national subject, in which a part was not previously cast for Sir Boyle to act, and a speech written for him, by some of the grave wags of the treasury benches; which speech was furnished to him in due time for study, and which he contrived to translate into a version of his own. He acted as a sort of buffo in the political opera. The late Mr. Edward Cooke, who, in various departments, still acted as a political engineer to the ruling party in Ireland, during the successive administrations of Lord Westmoreland, Lord Camden, and Lord Cornwallis, was known to have composed many of those orations for Sir Boyle. The author knew the whim both of the orator and the audience, and could skilfully anticipate where a peal of laughter could tend to damp the fire of debate, and restore good humour to the disputants; and Sir Boyle was selected as the fittest engine for this purpose. There were some occasions where the worthy baronet’s eloquence was not previously thought necessary, and of course no speech was prepared for him. But he was an old soldier, and too full of the esprit de corps, to look calmly on the conflict without a zeal for taking his share of the battle. He sometimes, therefore^ ventured to volunteer an extempore philippic of his own; and then it was that his native genius shone with all its genuine splendour, pure from the mine, and unmarred by the technical touches of any treasury artist; - then it was, that all ihejigures of national rhetoric, to use the phrase of Junius, “danced the hays through his speech in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion.”
- Upon one occasion of this kind, the worthy baronet was doomed to sit dumb, while he anxiously longed to. distinguish himself in the contest. He felt his mind pregnant with ardour to shine forth. He endeavoured to collect his scattered sentiments and combine them into some shape for delivery; but in vain. He retired to the coffee-room l
- 407 to remmofre his notions, and endeavour to marshal them into some form for operation, but without effect, - all was “confusion worse confounded.” A lucky expedient crossed his fancy, and he was determined to seize the opportunity. There was a ministerial member in the house, a learned Serjeant Stanley, who was usually in the habit of rising Cowards the end of a long protracted debate, and about three or four in the morning, amusing the House with an important speech of an hour or more, ingeniously compiled from the fragments of other speeches which be had previously heard in the course of the discussion: but, having so often played off this manoeuvre, he was a good deat bantered by his senatorial colleagues upon his skill in selection: so that he at last determined to attempt some-thing original; and had composed a long speech for the purpose, and anxiously waited to catch the speaker’s eye, that he might take the earliest opportunity of delivering his oration, adorned as it was with all the flowers of hie wit and fancy. This gentleman just stepped into the coffee-room to cast an eye over his composition and refresh his memory. Sir Boyle took a seat near him, and in the course of conversation, as he darted off in a hurry to catch an opportunity for speaking, unfortunately hie speech fell from his pocket on the floor. Sir Boyle picked it up, and on reading it over, thought it would admirably suit his own purpose;- - " it was just the very thing he wanted.” At a second reading his powerful memory rendered him master of the whole. He returned* to his seat in the House, and took the earliest opportunity of delivering the borrowed oration, to the great astonish* ment of the whole assembly, and to the utter consternation of Mr. Stanley, who sat biting his nails with anguish, at hearing his elaborate performance, which cost him a week to manufacture, and which bad vanished he knew not how, delivered by Sir Boyle, and lost to his own fame for ever. The worthy baronet, having finished this oration, amidst the plaudits of his friends, returned to the coffee-room, where he met the mortified composer; and, without vou ii. XK
- 498 ROCHE,
- waiting for a formal denouement, addressed him cordially with,“My dear friend Stanley, here is your speech again; and I thank you kindly for the loan of it. I never was so much at a loss for a speech in all my life; but sure it is not a pin worse for wear, and now you may go in and speak it again yourself, as soon as you please.” The dis* comfiture of Mr.Stanley is easier conceived than described; but the story caught wind, and excited infinite pleasantly at his expense.
- On another occasion, an opposition member had ap» pointed a day for a popular motion, on some national subject; and, for nearly a month before, he had been daily moving for official documents, as materials to illustrate his observations. When the night for the discussion arrived, those documents appeared piled upon the table of the house in voluminous array; and the orator, preparatory to his opening speech, moved that they be now read by the clerk, in order the better to prepare the House for more clearly understanding the observations he was about to submit.
- This operation would have occupied the clerk, and the silent attention of the members, for at least two hours. The House was extremely full; the whole assembly stared at each Other; a rueful buzz murmured from bench to bench; and several members observed, that the reading would occupy the whole night, - while others shrunk silently away, unwilling to abide so formidable a trial of their patience.
- Sir Boyle Roche, however, suggested a happy expedient for obviating the difficulty, by rising to move that a dozen or two of Committee clerks might be called in, and each taking a portion of the documents, all might read together, by which means they might get through the whole in a quarter of an hour.
- This suggestion, offered with profound gravity, was so highly ludicrous, that the House joined in an tmivefsaf Jaugh, and the question was actually postponed for the night, to give time for the mover to form a more succinct arrangement for introducing his motion*
- The anecdotes of the honourable baronet’s eloquence abound in his own country, where it was considered a standard specimen of the ncAwestile; and of course, many notable tropes are attributed to him which be never uttered.
- Sir Boyle was created a baronet oa the 30th November* 1783. He married Mary, the eldest daughter of SirT. Frankland, Bart, of Great Thirkelby Hall, county of York* He was tall and famous in his person, and even in his old age be wore the obvious characteristic of early come* liness and courteous manners. He was a gentleman of great simplicity and good nature. He died at his house* in Eccles-street, Dublin, June 5th, 1807, at a very advanced age; and as he lived esteemed, he died regretted by a very numerous circle of friends.
- JOHN ROSSITER. TH 16 exemplary and enterprising prelate, was born of respectable parents in the county of Wexford, and at an early age felt a strong impulse to embrace a religious life* Yielding to these inclinations, he visited Flanders, and* prosecuted his studies with rapidity and success in tha Irish college at Louvaine. Being ordained priest aabort time after his return, he was appointed pastor of the parish of Enniscorthy, where his piety and seal were conspi* cuous: his original purpose, however, had not forsaken him; he resigned his charge^ the. endearments of family connexion, and a competency for life, and became a member of the Augustin convent of Ross.
- In compliance with the wishes of his superiors, in 17Q0i he went to Rome, but was shortly after obliged taretum through indisposition. It was now that he tamed, his attention to the state of the infant church in America, where a want of ministers deprived great numbets of the Roman Catholics of the necessary aids of their religion. He resolved upon extending his labours to the new world; and that his exertions might not ctose With bishfehc’
- procured (in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Carr,) from the pope, a bull, authorising the establishment of his order in the United States. He departed from Ross in the year 1794, accompanied by his friend, the Rev. Mr. Ennis. Shortly after their arrival in Philadelphia, a plague, which carried off many thousands of the inhabitants, made its appearance; it was on this trying occasion, and on another similar one, which succeeded to it, that the charity and zeal of this extraordinary man were manifested. Laying aside all dread of the contagion which infected the air, swept away whole families, and against which there was no security but in flight, he never ceased to administer the comforts of religion to the sick, and to sweeten the oup of their misery, by such exhortations as fervour and piety could suggest. It is worthy of remark, that be and his companion Mr. Ennis (who fell a martyr for his brethren) were the only clergymen who remained in Phila-delphia during the plague; and that, at the request of the ministers of different sects, they Mended alt who called as them without religious distinction. He also established a convent of his order, which has now become a seminary for missionaries. Here he persevered, faithful in the discharge of his sacred duties, till a little time before his decease, when he removed to Baltimore, to benefit a constitution impaired by professional exertions. He died at Baltimore, in September 1819, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
- JOHN RUTTY,
- A MEDICAL writer of considerable learning, was born in Ireland, most probably at Dublin, on December 96,1698. His parents were Quakers, and were, as he tell us, among “the more refined professors’* of that religion. Io his eleventh year, he was sent (< to a seminary of the like,* which, he says, was a school not only of learning, but of religion. Two years after, be was removed to a school where there was far less religion,’9 and from this to bia
- eighteenth year he was “at various mixed schools, and among aliens." In his twentieth year he was again placed Io a family of friends; and such were the religious impressions of his youth, that he seems at various times to have considered the acquisition of human learning as a crime. He pursued it, however, and began a course of medical studies in Ireland, which he continued in Ixindon, and finished in Holland, probably at Leyden, then the chief medical school in Europe. Even here he cannot help telling us, that “the object was all nature and physic, no grace.” In 1723, having returned to his native country, he began practice, in what place he does not mention; but in the following year he “was transplanted to Dublin by a singular providence/9 and attained much reputation. Soon after, he began a scheme for the improvement of the Materia Medica, in which he persevered for upwards of forty years, and which produced a work which we shall shortly notice.
- In 1733, he began his “History of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers in Ireland, from 1653 to 1750,” which was printed at Dublin in 1751, 4to* In 17S7, he published an “Essay on Women’s Preaching*.*’ From 1740 to 1745, he was engaged on the “Natural History of the County of Dublin.”
- The first publication by which he was ktiown in his professional character in this country, was his Treatise on Mineral Waters, 4to. He also published an “Essay towards a Natural History of Dublin,” in two vols.8vo. Dr. Rutty died April 27, 1775, and one or two trivial publications made their appearance after his decease pas did also his “Spiritual Diary and Soliloquies,” iir two vole. 8vo. one of the most extraordinary of thole books which have been published under the title of “Confes-
- * If this was against female preaching, Dr. Batty afterwards changed his mind, for, in his Diary for 1768, he says, that u theaatuHd votabUfty of the sex, beyond aU comparison superior in effect tn what to delivered by some of us duU reasoners, renders them tor better speakers, anddltter instruments fpr a superior power to aatasato and greets amygtnrjtof grace discovered, and amply displayed topobtte view to oar soritoy alone!”
602 sions.9* It is scarcely possible, however, to read it or characterise it with gravity, it being a series of pious meditations perpetually interrupted with records of too much whiskey, piggish or swinish eating, and ill temper. Had his friends been left to their own judgment, this strange farrago would never have appeared; but by a clause in his will, his executors were obliged to publish it. Nor after all, does it exhibit a real character of the man; who, we are assured by his friends (in the preface), was correct and temperate in his conduct and mode of living, a man of great benevolence, and a very useful, as be certainly was a very learned, physician.
- FRANCIS SANDFORD,
- A VERY celebrated herald and heraldic writer, was de* scended from a very ancient and respectable English family, and was born in 1630, in the castle of Carnow, in the province of Wicklow. He partook, in no small degree, of the miseries of the period which marked his youth. At the early age of eleven years, he soughtan asylum in Eng-land, being driven by the rebellion from Ireland. No sooner had his commiserating relatives determined to educate him to some profession, than they were proscribed for adhering to the cause of their sovereign; he received, therefore, only that learning which a grammar school could give. Aslope small recompence for the hardships he and his family had undergone, he was admitted at the Restoration as punai* vant in the College of Arms; but conscientiously attached to James II. he obtained leave, after the Revolution, to resign his tabard to Mr. King, rouge dragon, who paid him 220£ for his office. He retired to Bloomsbniy, or its vicinity, where he died, January 16,1693, and was buried in St. Bride’s upper church-yard. The last days of this valuable man (we are informed) corresponded but too unhappily with the first. He married Margaret, daughter of William Jokes, of Bottington, in the county of Montgomery, relict of William Kerry, by whom he bad isttte. His works are “A Genealogical Histoijr of the Kings
- MS Portugal/’ folio, 1664, partly a translation, published in Compliment to Catherine of Braganta, eohsort to Charles II.; « The Order and Ceremonies used at the Funeral of his Grace George Duke of Albemarle/* this is a thin folio, the whole represented in engratiug | “A Genealogical History of the Kings of England/* folio, Savoy, 1677, dedicated to Charles II. by whose command the Work was undertaken; this is our author’s best and most estimable performance; many of the engravings are by Hollar. Mr. Stebbing, the Somerset herald, reprinted it in 1707, continuing it until that yean “The Coronation of King James IL and Queen Mary/* folio, Savoy, 1687$ this is a most superb work.
- All the above works of Sandford are very scarce, and fine copies, when they are met with, bear a high price.
- GENEKAL SARSFIELD.
- OP the early particulars of this great warrior** life we are wholly unacquainted. He greatly distinguished himself at the siege of Limerick, by .intercepting the battering artillery and ammunition destined to ,sppp<|rt.that siege. He one day left Limerick with a strong body of troops, and having so directed his march as to make King William think he had no desigR upon his artillery, he suddenly crossed the Shannon, and coming op in the night with the convoy, he cut to pieces the detachment that guarded it, and then charging the great gun* with powder np to.tbe muzzles, and burying them and the rest of the ammunition in the ground, he, by means of a train, set fire to the buried powder, and the artillery and.every thing else blew up with a dreadful explosion. This explosion was heard at Limerick, and convinced King William that behad lost’ his convoy. This bold and successful enterprise of Sara* field’s, made William feel that be had then no other chance for taking Limerick but by storm. He accordingly ordered one; but, even after his troops bad entered the town, they were repulsed withsOch slaughter, that tww
- 504 thousand of the bravest of them were left dead on the spot. William immediately after this raised the siege; and Sarsfield had the glory of preserving his native country to his unfortunate master King James, for another campaign, against the ablest general of the age. He was afterwards created Earl of Lucan, and was second in command at the battle of Aughrim. St. Ruth (who was the first in command) and he, not having agreed on any one point, the former did not communicate to him the order of his battle that day; so that when St. Ruth fell, Lord Lucan, upon whom the chief command devolved, knew but little of the disposition of the army, with the exception of that part which had been immediately under his own orders; notwithstanding, however, this adverse circumstauce, he acquired great honour, by the masterly retreat he made to Galway and Loughrea, to one of which he conducted the infantry, and to the other the horse. He afterwards fell in one of Marlborough’s battles, covered with wounds, in the service of France, in which be had the rank of lieutenant-general.
- THOMAS SHERIDAN, D.D.
- THE intimate friend of Dean Swift; is said by Shield, in Cibber’s u Lives of the Poets,” to have been born about 1684, in the county of Cavan; where, according to the same authority, his parents lived in no very elevated state. They are described as being unable to afford their son the advantages of a liberal education; but he being observed to give early indications of genius, attracted the notice of a friend to his family, who sent him to the college of Dublin, and contributed towards his support while he remained there. He afterwards entered into orders, and set up a school in Dublin, which long maintained a very high degree of reputation, as well for the attention bestowed on the morals of the scholars, as for their ficiency in literature. So great was the estimation in which this seminary was held, that it is asserted in some
- 505 years to have produced the sum of 1000£ It does not* appear that he had any considerable preferment; but his intimacy with Swift, in 1725, procured for him a living in the south of Ireland, worth about 150£ a-year, of which he went to take possession, and by an act of inadvertence destroyed all his future expectations of rising in the church; for, being at Cork on the 1st of August, the anniversary of King George’s birth-day, he preached a- sermon which had for its text, “Sufficient for the day is* the evil thereof;” on its being known he was struck out of the list of chaplains to the lord-lieutenant, and forbidden the castle. This living Dr. Sheridan afterwards changed for that of Dunboyne, which, by the knavery of the farmers and power of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood, fell as low as 80£ per annum. He gave it up for the free school of Cavan, where he might have lived well in so cheap a country on 80£ a-year salary, besides his scholars; but the air being, as he said, too moist and unwholesome, and being disgusted with some persons who lived there* he sold the school for about 400£; and having soon spent the money, became infirm in health, and died September 10, 1738, in his fifty-fifth year. Lord Cork has given the following character of him “Dr. Sheridan was a schoolmaster, and in many instances perfectly adapted for that station. He was deeply versed in the Greek and Roman languages, and in their customs and antiquities. He had that kind of good nature which absence of mind, indolence of body, apd carelessness of fortune produced; and, although not oyer strict in his own conduct, yet he took care of the morality of his scholars, whom he sent to the university remarkably well founded in all classical learning, and not ill instructed in the social duties of life. He was slovenly, indigent, and cheerful. He knew books much better than men; and he knew the value of money least of all. In dus situation, and with this disposition, Swift fastened upon hitp as upon a prey with which he intended to regale himself, whenever his appetite should prompt him.” His lordship
- then mentions the event of the unlucky sermon, and addsf “This ill-starred, good natured, improvident man returned to Dublin, unhinged from all favour at court, and evert banished from the castle. But still he remained a punster, a quibbler, a fiddler, and a wit: not a day passed with- out a rebus, an anagram, or a madrigal. His pen or his fiddlestick were in continual motion, and yet to little or no purpose,” &c. &c. This character is in a great measure confirmed by his son in his Life of Swift.
- He published a prose translation of Persius, to which he added the best notes of former editors, together with many judicious ones of his own, 12mo. 1739* Many of his letters are also to be found in Swift’s Miscellanies.
- THOMAS SHERIDAN,
- ACTOR, was the eldest son of Dr. Thomas Sheridan, the subject of the preceding article, and was born in 17S1| at Quilca, a place which to future times will acquire a degree of importance, as the residence of Swift, and the , birth-place of most of Mr. Sheridan’s family, particularly of the author of the “School for Scandal?’ Under his father, who was the most eminent schoolmaster of his time, he received the first rudiments of his education, and had the honour to be noticed for his proficiency in liter** ture by his godfather. At the age of thirteen, in 1734, he was admitted of the foundation at Westminster school, at which seminary he continued two years, and was by pure merit elected a king’s scholar. His father was then so poor, that he could not add 14£ to enable the boy to finish the year; and was forced to recal him to Dublin, at the university of which the doctor had friends, and procured his son’s entrance on the foundation, where he took his degree in arts. In the year 1738, he lost hb father, and at that juncture it was his intention to follow’ his steps, and devote himself to the education of youth, which, he observes “he ever esteemed to be one of the most useful and honourable stations in life.” - -Having his
- father’s reputation to build upon, and some very advantageous proposals made to him upon that head, he bad the most flattering prospect of success, and would certainly have entered upon the office immediately after taking his degree of master of arts, but for one objection. He* saw a deficiency in the early part of education, that the study pf the English language was neglected, and it could not be reduced to any rule, unless the art of speaking was revived. The revival of the long lost art of oratory became therefore the first necessary step towards his design. To obtain this there was but one way open; which was the stage; accordingly he made his appearance at Smock-alley theatre, January 29,1743, in the character of Richard the Third, with distinguished encouragement and applause. His theatrical career was, however, soon interrupted; for, in the month of June, he was obliged both to defend his own conduct, and repel the attacks of T. Cibber, who took an opportunity of involving him in a controversy, which was carried on with dignity and Spirit by Sheridan, and with flippancy and pertness by Cibber* The cause of the dispute arose from the robe in which Cato used to be performed, being taken away by the manager, and without it Mr. Sheridan refused to proceed in his part. On applying to Cibber for his advice; be was treated with impertinent negligence; and continuing Us refusal, Cibber went on the stage, and offered^ to read the part of Sy phax. This offer w^ accepted by the audience; but Mr. Sheridan considering it an officious and insidious interference, appealed to the town, and was anrtfertiFby Cibber, to whom a reply was printed, which again "was followed by a rejoinder. In the progress of thio controversy, much virulence was displayed, and mrnch^abtae poured forth. Both parties lost their t^p^/and’ ptb- bably neither had reason ft? the’ end to apfmmd^is own conduct. Cibber, or a friend of his, collected all the papers published, and printed them in*a pamphlet; entitled,“The Buskin and Sock; being contrdVeftfaTLetters between Mr. Thomas Sheridafc, tragedian, gpl Mr. "Thfp|^iias
- Cibber, comedian,0 lttmo, which seems to have ended the dispute. The next year, 1744, Mr. Sheridan came to England, and appeared at Covent-garden theatre, March 81, in the character of Hamlet, and at the commencement of the winter season engaged at Drury-lane, where a sort of competition or rivalship WBB set up between him and Mr. Garrick, which occasioned a quarrel. On his return to Dublin, he undertook the management of the theatre there; and Mr. Garrick, notwithstanding the quarrel, was invited over. During that season Mr. Garrick, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Barry, and Miss Bellamy, frequently acted in the same plays; yet it is remarkable, that with such a company, and in a Parliament winter, with all their strength united, they were not able to exhibit plays oftener than two nights in a week, and could seldom ensure good houses to both those nights; and that the receipt of the whole season did not exceed 8400£ Mr. Sheridan continued in the management of the theatre, which before that time had been conducted io a very disorderly manner; and the abuses had continued so long as to be evidently a very arduous, if not impracticable task to reform. He was, however, determined to attempt it; and an event soon happened which afforded him the opportunity of enforcing some new regulations.
- On the 19th of January, 1746-7, a young gentleman inflnmod with wine, went into the pit, and climbing over the spikes of the stage, very soon made his way to the green-room, where he addressed one of the actresses in such indecent terms, aloud, es made them all tty to their dressing rooms. He punned one of them thither, but being repulsed by the door, he made snch a noise there as disturbed the bnsinros of the scenes. Miss Bellamy, whom he panned, was then wanted on the but coaid not come out for fear. Mr. Sheridan (who was in the character of A?sop) went to the door, attended by the servants and a gaasd, sad ordered them to take that gentleman away, and conduct him to the pit, from whence he came. This was done without the least buttle or ob-struction on the part of the gentleman; but when he arrived in the pit* ho seized a basket from one of the orange-women, and when the manager came on the stage, took the best aim he couid at him with Jhe onuqgsftl one of which taking place, Mr. Sheridan addressed the andirace (which happened to be bnt thin that night) for protection. Al ttrisi were some gentlemen in the pit who were acquainted with ths iMb *ey
- iBeneed Mm with some difficulty, but not tffl several abusive names had passed from him, such as scoundrel and rascal: and Mr. Sheridan was so much disconcerted as to say, “I am as good a gentleman as yea are;” which words were the next day altered thus, “I am as good a gentleman as toy tail* Jbeuat.” After the play, this young hero went out of the pit, and frond his way to Mr. Sheridan’s dressing room, where to his free, before the servants, he called him the same abusive names, which, of course, provoked him to give him some blows, which the gentleman took yery patiently; and by means of another falsehood (that Sheridan’s servants in the room held him while their master beat Mm) the dob of Ms companions, to whom he went that night with Ms broken nose and other grievances, were so animated and incensed that a scoundrel player should beat agearinmn, that a party was directly formed - a powerful fighting party, - end the next day all persons were threatened openly in every coffee-house that dared to look as if they inclined to take the part of Sheridan. His name being in the bills some days after to perform Horatio, several letters, cards, and messages were sent to him, warning Mm not to leave his house that evening, and to take particular care to be well guarded even there. He followed this friendly advice; and when Mr. Dyer went ou the stage to apologise for his not performing the part, and to acquaint the audience with his reasons, at that instant about fifty of the party, with the young hero at their head, rose in the pit, and, climbing over the spikes on the stage, ran directly to the green-room; from thence to all the dressing rooms; broke open those that were locked; ran up to the wardrobe and thrust their swords into all the chests and presses of cloths, by way of feeling, they said, if Sheridan was concealed there. After many of these violences a party went off to Ms house; but finding he had provided for their reception, they thought proper to retire. This transaction happened on a Thursday night; and from that time for several nights the theatre was shut up; but during the interval the friends of each side employed themselves in defending and attacking each other from the press. The spirit of the most respectable people was by tMs time roused to oppose the licentiousness of the rioters. The chief inhabitants began at this juncture to assemble, and resolve to encourage and protect the manager. Several citizens, who seldom were seen in the theatre, were so sensible of the advantages and importance of a well regulated stage, that they declared to Mr. Sheridan and Ms friends, that they would now more than ever appear there, and doubted not being able to protect the manager and the acton in general in the discharge of their doty. With assurances of tMs kind, and a consciousness of Ms being in the right, Mr- 8heridan consented to the performance of Richard. The house fitted earfier than usual. The play opened with great quietness, but at the latter end of the first act, when Richard appeared, a confused noise was heard In different parts, but chiefly from the boxes, of “submission - a submission suhmis sion - off - off - offMr. Sheridan advanced with smpoctfhl bows, but was prevented speaking by louder and more distinct sounds of a no sub* ^toimioQ - uo submissiongo on with the play.” It was in tMs conjuncture (het the celebrated Dr. Lucas rose up in the pit, an< asserted tbs of
- 510 SHERIDAN.
- the audience, and the freedom of the stage. He expressed Ida astonhh- meat and detestation of men’s bringing their private quarrels with maria* gers or players into the theatre, and snch he apprehended the present can to be; but since the dispute was introduced, it must, like other disputes there, be’determined by the majority. He presumed every sober person in the house came to receive the entertainment promised in the MDs, fof which he payed his money at the door. The actors then, he observed, were the servants of the audience, and under their protection during that performance; and he looked upon every insult or interruption given to them in the discharge of their duty as offered to the audience. He appro, hended the matter in dispute was no breach of the duty of the managers or actors cognizable by any persons present; but whether it was so, or thought otherwise by the house, the question might be easily determined. He therefore moved, that those who were for preserving the decency and freedom of the stage, should distinguish themselves by die holding up of hands; judging that when they should come to know their numbers said superiority, they would silence or turn out their opponents. He was heard with great respect, and saluted with shouts of applause; hot on the divlatita the numbers were so great against the rioters, and withal appeared so animated for action, that the minority suddenly went off, and left the per* formance of that night in quiet. Nothing was yet done decisively, but each party by this time was more exasperated against the other. At length matters came to a crisis. There was an annual play appointed before the riot began, the “Fair Penitent,” for the benefit of the Hospital forlnein£ bles; and the governors, who were all persona of consequence, dqmnifat the performance of their benefit play, and sent the manager word (who was to perform the part of Horatio) that they would take upon them ta defend him that night; resting assured no set of men would oppose a charity play, especially as all the ladies of quality exerted their interest* and were to honour it with their presence. The bills were according)/ posted up, and the governors went early to the theatre with their white wands: the boxes and pit would have been filled with ladies, If about gentlemen had not taken early possession of the middle if two or three benches near the spikes of the orchestra. There were above a hundred’ ladies seated on the stage, and when the curtain drew up nothing could equal the brijliant appearance of the house. At the entrance offer. Sheridan (who had the honour of being ushered in by the governors) thana thirty men, all armed, rose up in the pit and ordered him off; and they were joined by some few placed in both galleries. Mr. Sharidhri with* drew, and then violent disputes and threatening) began between’this governors on the stage and the gentlemen in the pit; and something vri^f like challenges passed between several of them, as all the persona on bott sides ware publicly known. Among the governors was a student’of fob college in his bachelor’s gown, who behaved with* some warmtb agaSH those who opposed the play, and a gentleman (near thesplk«i)in’tfie jit threw an apple at him, called him scoundrel, and (as he declared) soM they were all a pack of scoundrels. This exasperated the college BM members of it were very eager to take their revenge, wHclfo the
- SHERIDAN
- Hit success was various: in some seasons, the theatre produced consider able profit; in others, his gains were but small. In this manner, however, be continued, with the prospect of a firm establishment fir life, and the means of a competency, if not affluence, until another storm made ship* wreck of his fortune, and drove him entirely from his port, to take refuge in England. - For some time before this period, he had instituted a chib, the members of which were in number about fifty or sixty perooua; chiefly lords and members of parliament, who were invited to dine together in tha manager’s apartment in the theatre, no female being admitted but Mis. Woffington, who was placed in a great chair at the bead of the table, ant elected president for the season. This club was begun without any party intention on the side of the manager, but, by the means of Mrs. Wofing* ton, was, in 1751, metamorphosed from its original design into one of a political nature: the conversation and general toasts of thia weekly assembly, which were what might be called anti-patriotic, soon became the talk of the town; and the manager, of course, was severely abused for betag the supporter of the society, as he most certainly and effectually was» when he was the person who paid for it all. At this critical and dangerous juncture, it is not to be wondered at that this assembly of courtiers pubheiy * supported by the manager, who being also the principal actor, was consequently at all times within the immediate resentment of the provoked party, should become the object of revenge. The patriots of the day resolved to watch for the first opportunity to destroy him, and an occuriaa soon offered.
- The tragedy of “Mahomet” had been for some time singled out by tbs manager to be revived; the chief parts were written out and cart the winter preceding, in the following manner: Palmira, Mrs. Woffington; Zaphne, Mr. Sheridan; and Alcanor, Mr. Digges. On February SB, 17*4, the night of performance, the pit was filled very soon with the leaden and chiefs of the country party; and when Digges spoke the following speechIf, ye powers divine,” &c.(act I. scene 1,) the moment be had finished it, all the party in the pit roared out entire; which was continued with such violence, that the actor, after discovering due astonishment in his countenance, very readily spoke the whole speech over again, which was most remarkably applauded by the audience. The fine scenes ef Zaphne and Palmira, which are the best in the play, and were pu famed by their principal and usually applauded acton, this night passed unnoticed, and all the applause fell on the character of Alcanor. Although it would have been more prudent from the appearances then exhibited, to have laid aside the play for the present, yet the manager unfbrtunalsly yielded to a request made him to perform M Mahomet” a second thus; and contented himself with ordering a general summons to all the corn* pany to meet him in the green-room on the Friday morning, the day before the play was to be acted. When the company were all assembled, be entered the room with a paper in his hand, and read them a lecture on fa duties of an actor, particularly respecting his conduct to thepubfle; and proceeded to shew, in the most glaring colours, that the actor whs psw« tituted himself to the wanton humour of an audience, brought krtrifahle I
- disgrace not only on himself, but on all his brethren. Mr. Digges rose up and said, It was very obvious that this lecture on the duties of an actor was levelled at him; that he was the person who had brought that disgrace upon himself and his brethren; but as the same play was to be performed the following night, and the same demand from the audience was likely to fall on him, he desired to know what were the manager’s commands in regard to his conduct. Mr. Sheridan’s reply was, that he should give him no directions, but leave him to do as he thought proper. Digges then said, “Sir, if I should comply with the demand of the audience, and repeat the speech as I did before, am I to incur your censure for doing it The manager replied, “Not at all; I leave you to act in that matter as yon think proper.” The night following, March 2, was the performance. The pit was full as soon as the doors were open, the house crowded; and this remarkable speech in the first scene, as soon as ever it was out of the mouth of the actor, he was called upon to repeat, with the same vehemence as on the first night. The actor seemed startled, and stood some time motionless: at last, at the continued fierceness of the encores, he made a motion to be heard, and when silence was obtained, he said, “It would give him the highest pleasure imaginable to comply with the request of the audience, but he bad his private reasons for begging they would be so good as to excuse him, as his compliance would be greatly injurious to him.” On his saying that, they immediately called out, Sheridan! Sheridan ! the manager! the manager! and this cry soon became universal throughout all parts of the house. After some time Mr. Digges left the stage; and the uproar continuing, Mr. Sheridan (who stood behind the scenes) ordered the curtain down, and sent on the prompter to acquaint the audience that they were ready to perform the play, if they were suffered to go on in quiet; if not, that they were at liberty to take their money again. The prompter was not heard, but obliged to withdraw. Mr. Sheridan then said, with some agitation, “They have no right to call upon me; I ’ll not obey their call; I ’ll go up to my room and undress myselfand be went up. Some of his best friends left the pit and boxes, and went to his dressing room after him, and entreated him not to undress, but to go down and endeavour to pacify an audience that knew he was there, and must be enraged at his refusal to appear before them. But at these reasons and these entreaties of his friends he remained unmoved: and being strongly possessed with the notion that personal mischief was intended him, he got into a chair, went home, and left the house in that uproar and confusion. Mrs. Woffington was then persuaded to appear before them, to see if a fine woman could assuage the fury of the many* headed monster; but she was not heard. Digges was the seeming favourite and reigning orator. He was desired to go on, and to assure the audience Mr. Sheridan had laid him under no injunction not to repeat the speech,and therefore could not on that account have incurred their displeasure. Digges went on, moved to be heard, and a profound silence ensued; he repeated what be bad been desired, but in vain; as they had called so long for Sheridan, they would insist on having him before them,’and his answering for himself. At last, when they were told he was positively gone home,
- VOL. II. L L
- they insisted on his being sent for, and added, they would wait patiently an hour, as he was known to live at some distance; and accordingly they sat down quietly to amuse themselves. Messengers were dispatched to the manager to acquaint him with the resolution of the house,but no arguments could prevail on him to return back: and when the hour was expired they renewed their call, and after continuing it some time, two of their leaden (persons of gravity and condition) rose from the pit and went off over the boxes; that was the agreed signal. A youth in the pit then stood up, and cried out, “God Ness his Majesty King George, with three hum;” and at the end of the last huzza they began to demolish the house, and the audience part was all in pieces in five minutes. After this execution, some moved to fire the house, others to attack the wardrobe. Accordingly a party leaped upon the stage, and with their swords and other instruments cut and slashed the curtain, which was finely painted, and cost a great sum of money; broke and cut to pieces all the scenes within their reach; and some attempts were made towards the wardrobe, but finding that place well defended, they retired; several who went off through the box-room dragged the grate full of burning coals into the middle of the room, laid some of the broken doors of the boxes upon it, and left them there. In this condition they were found, and time enough to prevent the intended mischief.
- Thus ended this memorable riot, which operated very fatally towards the fortune of Mr. Sheridan. Disgusted with the public behaviour, and not much satisfied with his theatrical situation, he published his case, and after letting his theatre for two years, he embarked for England. Here lie immediately entered into a negotiation with Mr. Rich, and (being desirous of compelling Mr. Barry to go over to Dublin) hastily made an engagement with him for a share of the profits on such nights as he should perform, without having weighed circumstances, or properly guarded against events. His first appearance was in the character of Hamlet, October 24. He also produced an alteration, by himself, of" Coriolanus,” formed out of the plays of Shakspeare and Thomson, in which he introduced a mag-nificent spectacle of a Roman ovation. He performed also Cato, CEdipus, Richard HI. Shylock, (Portia, Mrs. Woffington, October 30,) Othello, (Iago, Mr. Ryan,) Macbeth^ (Lady Macbeth, Mrs. V\ offington, November 16,) Romeo, (Juliet, Miss Bellamy, November 20,) and several other characters; but his gains, it is imagined, fell short of what be hoped for. As the successor of Barry, and the rival of
- SHERIDAN.
- tdanrick, be by no means answered the public expectations* With many peculiarities in his manner, not of the pleasing kind, nature seemed to have forbidden him by her parsimony ever to have become a popular performer. Evfeti those who were willing to praise, and could with justice Applaud his skill and judgment, generally came away With* but that complete satisfaction which was to be fohnd at Drury-lane theatre, where Garrick and Naturfe carried every thing before them. These circumstances all com-bining, it will be no surprise to know, that at the end of the season his engagement was not renewed. The leisure he now found naturally led him to recuf to his former scheme of education. In April 1756, hC wrote to Mr. Lee a proposal for engaging him for the ensuing season in Dublin, and therein said," I have been long weary of the stage, and as I have a much more important point in view, am determined to quit it as soon as possible; and no con-, sideration should have induced me to undertake it this year, but the want of a proper person to supply my place.” A proper person, however, it was difficult to find, and the term of the lease which be had let being now expired, and the minds of the people of Dublin by this time inclining to receive him again with favour, he resolved upon returning to his native country, and resuming the management of the theatre again; but in the execution of this design unexpected difficulties arose. At the beginning of this season he also met with a mortification, to which he was obliged to submit, however reluctantly. Previous to hi* appearance, an apology for his former conduct was demanded by the public, and with so much earnestness, that it became necessary to promise it unconditionally. The night was accordingly fixed, and every part of the house crowded soon after the doors were open. When the curtain drew up he advanced to the centre of the stage with a paper in his hand, fearing (in tha^ unavoidable cotw. fusion) to trust entirely to his memory. It was the opi* nion of some of the best judges, that no man within theif • observation ever appeared before the public with se
- address, or spoke to the passions with such propriety. Tears gushed from the eyes of several of his male auditors. After the apology was over, and his pardon had been signed by the loudest acclamation, he had begun to retire; he advanced again, and with broken, faltering accents, spoke as follows u Your goodness to me, at this important crisis, has so deeply affected me, that I want powers to express myself: my future actions shall 9hew my gratitude/* He appeared a few nights after in the character of Hamlet, to a crowded audience, and received the utmost applause. The same success attended most of his principal characters; but, though he brought the celebrated dancers from the opera in London, Bugiani and Marenesi, to perform that season, at a great price, yet the audiences began to slacken for want of a capital female actress. Having been disappointed in the abilities of a young lady new to the stage, whom he had engaged in London, and also of the assistance he hoped to have found in Mr. Lee, he was obliged to call in every auxiliary that offered, to help a failing season. At the end of it Mr. Foote came to Dublin, and contributed in some measure, to conclude the year in a better manner than was looked for, though still unprosperously. During Mr. Barry’s residence in Dublin, he had been prevailed upon to undertake the erecting and managing a new theatre on a larger and more extensive scale, in the execution of which scheme he had prevailed on Mr. Woodward, then a performer of great reputation at Drury-lane, to unite with him. Mr. Sheridan made overtures to Mr. Barry to part with his theatrical interest to him; but Barry had engaged too far to recede. Sheridan then applied to Parliament to stop his opponents, by granting him a monopoly; he recommended a wild idea of grafting his plauof education upon the management of the theatre; and he proposed to give up his interest to the public upon certain terms - that it might be conducted for the public advantage, something like the French stage. These proposals, though enforced with warmth, gnd not without argument, made
- no impression; they were neglected by the majority; the new theatre was proceeded upon, and, as Mr. Sheridan had predicted, all the parties concerned in it were ruined. In the season which began in October 1757, Mr. Sheridan was obliged to continue as before, both actor and manager; but having the assistance of Mrs. Fitzhenry in the capital female characters, he was more prosperous than in the preceding year. He also met with much encouragement from the Duke of Bedford, the then lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The favour he experienced from this nobleman, encouraged him to hope for success in his application to Parliament. But finding, at length, that he was to expect nothing from his solicitations, he determined’ to oppose his enemies on their own ground, with the best company which could be collected against them. On December 6, 1757, he summoned together a very respectable and numerous audience of the nobility and gentry of Ireland, at the music hall, in Fishamble-street, before whom be pronounced an oration, in which he, with considerable address and ability, set forth the errors of the then modes of education, the advantages which would attend the adopting his proposed improvements to individuals, and to the community at large. Many of the first characters in the kingdom for rank and learning were present. He was beard with respect and attention, and received the plaudits which were due to the novelty of his plan, and the intrinsic merits of it. Fruitless though his efforts were to suppress the new adventurers, he persevered, as was his custpm, with great steadiness until every glimmer of hope had vanished. He then found it necessary to muster his forces to oppose them in the ensuing season, 1758-9. He accordingly offered terms to Mrs. Fitzhenry, who, hesitating to accept them, be rashly declared against entering into articles with any one of the company; the consequence was the immediate loss of Mr. King and Mr. Dexter, two performers of great use to the theatre. He then saw his mistake, altered his resolution, and signed a general article with all his company, and seamed determined on a resolute
- opposition. He engaged Mr. Digges, and Mrs. Ward, Theophilus Cibber, and Maddox the wire dancer (the two last of whom were cast away going to Dublin), and also acceded to the terms proposed by Mrs. Fitzhenry. This lady, however, by this time began to entertain doubts of the payment of her salary, and demanded security for it; which demand, unprecedented, on a manager, so much incensed Mr. Sheridan, that he wrote a letter immediately to shew his resentment, and at the same time expressed his doubts of his being able to be in Dublin that season, as he had intended. This caused Mrs. Fitzhenry to engage with the rival theatre. The remainder of this very short season was productive of nothing but disgrace and disappointment; loss succeeded loss - the receipts fell short - the performers and tradesmen were unpaid - and on the 27th of April, 1759, the theatre on Mr. Sheridan’s account was entirely closed. During this period, however, Mr. Sheridan was not idle. He had composed his lectures on elocution,and began to deliver them in London* at Oxford, at Cambridge, and other places, with very great success. At Cambridge, on the 16th of March, 1759* be was* honoured with the same degree he had received at Dublin, that of master of arts. In the winter of 1760, he engaged at Drury-lane with Mr. Garrick, on certain shares. He also represented Horatio, in the M Fair Penitent,” and John, in “King John,” to Mr. Garrick’s Lothario and Faulconbridge; and some characters, such as Hamlet and Richard, they each played with little difference as to the bulk of their audiences. This union, though favourable to both parties, was soon brought to an end. Th? marked approbation of his majesty to Mr. Sheridan’s Ring John, excited the jealousy of Mr. Garrick, who would not suffer the play to be afterwards performed. Differences ensued between them, meetings of friends followed, but without effect, and they parted with mutual signs of animosity. Ia the year 1760, King George the Second died; and with A new reign, under a young monarch, who loved the arts, and professed to encourage them, every person who had
- any pretensions to genius, expected both notice and encouragement. Among these, Mr. Sheridan, who was on terms of intimacy with several io the confidence of the new sovereign, was not without his particular expebtations, in which he was not altogether disappointed. He was one of the first to whom a pension was granted: and it was frequently his boast, that through his suggestion Dr. Johnson was offered the independence which he afterwards enjoyed from his majesty’s bounty. This honour has, however, been claimed by another gentleman, and each of them may have been entitled to it. It will not be thought very surprising, that on such an occasion two persons without any communication with each other, should think of and recommend the same pereon. For the two or three succeeding years, Mr. Sheridan was employed in delivering his lectures in different parts of the kingdom* His lectures were generally approved, though they sustained some slight injury from the ridicule of Mr. Footed who produced a burlesque on them in 1762, at the theatre in the Haymarket.
- In 1763, Mrs. Sheridan’s comedy,The Discovery,’* was performed at Drury-lane, io which Mr. Sheridan represented Lord Medway, though he had no engagement at the theatre; for which the proprietors allowed him the sixteenth night. About 1764, he went to France, and took up his residence at Blois, by order of his majesty, ax it has been asserted. During his residence al this place he lost his wife, who died there on the 96th of September, 1766. Mr. Sheridan did not continue long in France after this event; and about the year 1767, he obtained an Irish act of parliament, protecting him from arrests on account of his debts in Dublin, amounting to 1600£ and having this season saved 800£ be gave notice that he was ready to’ pay his creditors ten shillings in the pound, and desired them to call on him for that purpose, with an account of their respective demands. Mr. Fanlkner, the printer of “The Dublin Journal/* was one of bia creditors. - This gentleman told Mr. Sheridan that he would not trouble
- him with his demand till he dined with him: Mr.Sheridan accordingly called at Mr. Faulkner’s; and after dinner Mr. Faulkner put a sealed paper into his hand, which he told him contained his demand, at the same time requesting Mr. Sheridan to examine it at his leisure at home: when he came home, he found, under seal, a bond of hia for £00£ due to Mr. Faulkner, cancelled, together with a receipt in full of a book debt to the extent of 100£ This was a man whom Mr. Foote held up to ridicule!
- His next public appearance was in 1769, when he exhibited at the Haymarket an entertainment of reading, singing, and music, which he called “An Attic Evening Entertainment;” and in the summer of the same year he resumed his profession of an actor, by performing at the Haymarket the characters of Hamlet, Richard III. Brutus, and Othello. In 1770, he was engaged again at the same theatre; and in 1776, he acted several nights at Coventgarden. After this he never performed again as an actor. The retirement of Mr. Garrick from the stage, in the year 1776, opened a new scene to Mr. Sheridan. The purchasers of the share in Drury-lane theatre, of which Mr. Richard-Brinsley Sheridan was one, agreed to invest Mr. Sheridan with the powers of a manager, for which office his experience, his abilities, and integrity, well qualified him. He entered upon the office with a determination to reform some abuses which had crept in, and particularly such as had arisen from the caprice of several favourite actresses. In this pursuit, however, he found himself counteracted; when, disdaining to continue in his post on such ignominious terms, be relinquished his situation, after holding it about three years.
- The theatres being shut against him as a performer, he now returned to his literary avocations. He also read at Hickford’s rooms, at Coachmakers’ Hall, and in the spring of 1785, at Freemasons’ Hall, in conjunction with Mr. Henderson. This was his last public exhibition. The next year he visited Ireland, and during his residence there he found his health decline, and in hopes of le-esta-
- blnhiog it, he came to England, and went to Margate, intending from thence, if he found no amendment, to proceed to Lisbon. A short time, however, shewed that be was past recovery. His strength gradually failed, and he died August 14, 1788. His corpse was interred at Margate. He produced a farce called “Captain O‘Blonder,” which was written while a school-boy, and the copy lost. It was afterwards collected by some persons from memory, and frequently performed; but never, as Mr. Sheridan used to declare, with his consent. He altered “Romeo and Juliet,”“The Loyal Lovers,” 8cc.
- FRANCES SHERIDAN,
- W IFE of the above, was born in Dublin, in May 1724. Her maiden name was Chamberlain, being the granddaughter of Sir. Oliver Chamberlain. The first literary performance by which she distinguished herself, was a little pamphlet, during the time in which Mr. Sheridan was embarked in the theatrical dispute. So well-timed a work exciting the attention of Mr. Sheridan, be procured himself to be introduced to his fair patroness, whom he afterwards married. She was a person of the most amiable character in every relation of life. After lingering some years in a very weak state of health, she died at Blois, in. the south of France, September 26, 766.
- Her works are, “Sidney Biddulph,” a novel in five vols. 12mo; “Nourjahad,”an eastern tale; “The Discovery,** a comedy; and “The Dupe,” a comedy. She also wrote some occasional poemsand “A Trip to Batb,”a comedy, is ascribed to her pen.
- RICHARD-BRINSLEY SHERIDAN,
- TH iRD son of the above, in whom talents seemed almost boundless, and wit inexhaustible, was born in the month of October 1751, in Dorset*street, Dublin. .He was placed, at Harrow school soon after the Christmas recess of 1762; and appears to have been sent .thither for the.express^
- purpose of learning bow to get through the world, as his mother, in a letter to one of her correspondents, observing on the change, remarks, “As Dick probably may fall into a bustling life, we have a mind to accustom him early to shift for himself.” Dr. Parr, (we are told,) who was then one of the sub-preceptors, was the first who awakened in his young pupil any ambition to display the dawnings of his genius, as he was naturally indolent to excess, and careless about his own interests, yet always witty, facetious, and entertaining. Such, it may be justly remarked, was Sheridan at the early age of eighteen, and precisely the same was he till within a few months of his decease. Mr. Sheridan never was sent to the university, the derangement of his family affairs is generally supposed to have precluded the possibility of such a measure. He quitted Harrow in his eighteenth year; and, after having figured at Bath as the admirer of the celebrated Miss Linley, and fought a couple of duels on her account, to satisfy her family of his serious intentions with regard to study &c. he entered himself a member of the Middle Temple on April 6th 1773, and they were married on the 13th of the same month; he being in his twenty-second, and she in her nineteenth year.
- At the time when this marriage took place, Mrs. She* ridan was under an engagement to sing for the benefit of the three choirs, at their musical meeting, which was that year to be held at Worcester. On this occasion she had been paid before-hand: but such was the pride of her husband, that he insisted upon having the money returned, accompanied by a declaration, that Mrs. Sheridan would not appear any more in public as a singer. The intimation very naturally astonished the directors, and they strongly represented the great loss which the charity must sustain in the absence of one upon whose powerful attractions they had relied as certain of drawing a crowded assembly. In addition to this unanswerable appeal, they remonstrated with no less energy, though in delicate terms, upon the justifiable grounds of complaint which the sub* scribers would have to make upon a dereliction that did
- MS not originate in absolute necessity. This argument bad its effect, and the lady went down to Worcester, where she enraptured crowded audiences by her harmonions strains; the delight of which, however, was allayed by the painful reflection that they would never more be repeated. When the meeting was over, she acted with great liberality, by putting the money that had been paid to her into the plate. And although she was afterwards repeatedly solicited with the most liberal offers, at a time when their resources were extremely confined, Mr. Sherk dan persisted in his resolution against her public appear-ance.
- On the 17th of January, 1775, his comedy of the “Rivals” was produced at Covent-garden theatre, and failed entirely through the bad enactment of the Irish character. It was, however, reproduced with a new representative of Sir Lucius 0‘Trigger, and its success was very considerable. To Mr. Clinch, who so admirably represented the fighting Hibernian, our author considered himself so much indebted, that he presented him soon after with a farce for his benefit, entitled “St. Patrick’s Day; or, the Scheming Lieutenant.” This piece contains a great deal of broad humour, is said to have been written within forty-eight hours, and gratified the galleries exceed- ingly- In the autumn of 1776, Mr. Sheridan’s comic opera of “The Duenna,” was submitted to the public; the success of which was unprecedented, as it run half a score of nights longer than the Beggar’s Opera.
- Mr. Sheridan’s reputation had now reached the utmost pinnacle of dramatic fame, and yet his fortune had obtained but little increase. Gay, volatile, dissipated, and hospitable to excess, his table was open to the whale circle of his friends and admirers. Yet notwithstanding the notoriety of his expenses, and the deficiency of his revenues, such were his fascinating manners, talents, and reputation at this moment, that be contrived to enter into, and succeeded in a negociation with Garrick, for the purchase of a part of his share of the patent of Drury-Jane theatre. On
- this occasion he associated himself with Dr. Ford and Mr. Linley: these gentlemen, in 1776, agreed to pay the sum of SOflOOl. to the English Roscius, who at the same time reserved to himself certain other claims on, and advantages from the house. On this occasion Mr. Sheridan is allowed to have displayed great talents at finance; for it must be obvious that he was incapable of advancing a single shilling; he, however, contrived by mortgage alone, to obtain the money, and fulfil all his engagements.
“A Trip to Scarborough*/’ first performed on the 24th of February, 1777, brought crowded houses to the great satisfaction of the new partnership; while the “School for Scandal,” literally filled their empty treasury. This far-famed comedy first delighted an English audience on the 8th of May, of the same year; and during the whole season obtained the rapturous commendations of all the gay, genteel, and fashionable circles. In point of morality it is however grossly deficient, as the audience, from the first scene to the last, are led rather to admire than detest the elegant profligacy of Charles Surface. The grace and dignity of the Countess of Derby, together with the singular and appropriate powers of a King, a Palmer, and a Smith, contributed not a little to heighten the success. This brilliant dramatic effort, which obtained for its author the title of the “Modern Congreve/’ was never pub-lished by Sheridan, although it has several times been printed surreptitiously.
- The unsuccessful piece of u The Camp,” which was brought out at the period we were at war with America, has been ascribed to Sheridan, and he possessed so much apathy in regard to his own fame, that he never took the trouble to deny it. Tate Wilkinson, however, has satisfactorily rescued his name from this disgrace.
- The admirable farce of “The Critic; or, a Tragedy Rehearsed,” was performed for the first time at Drury- lane, on October 30th, 1779. The success was immense, on account of the novelty and endless humour of the « This is not an original play, being merely altered from Sir John Vanbrugh’s comedy of the “Relapse.”
SiS satire. The chief shaft was aimed at Cumberland the dramatist. The character of Sir Fretful Plagiary was supposed to represent him exactly. The decease of Garrick in the same year, produced a monody from his pen, which was delivered by Mrs. Yates in the character of the Tragic Muse. He also wrote an admirable epilogue to Miss Hannah More’s tragedy of “Fatal Falsehood.” Of Mr. Sheridan’s liberality and feeling as a manager, the following is well worthy of relation: - A person who had written a dramatic piece upon some temporary cir-cumstance, put it into the hands of the manager, who, with his wonted carelessness, threw it aside and forgot it, till the season elapsed, after which it could be of nd use. When the author applied for his manuscript, and gently remonstrated on the treatment he had met with, Mr. Sheridan returned him his play, accompanied by a handsome letter of apology, enclosing a bank note of the value of 100Z. as an atonement for his neglect. Among the dramatic exhibitions which have been attributed to his genius, about this period, one of the lowest description was the pantomime of “Robinson Crusoe; or, Harlequin Friday,” which was solely indebted for its uncommon success to the popularity of the stdry, the beauty of Loutherbourg’s scenery, and the skill of the performers.
- Mr. Sheridan had now enjoyed an uninterrupted career of applause for many years, without being enriched by labours, which would have rendered any other man in the nation, not only independent, but affluent. He would have still continued, perhaps, to write for the stage, and to have received and expended large sums annually, had not the secret whisperings of ambition, intimated a new road, to glory.
- Mr., now Lord John Townshend, a younger son of the first Marquis Townshend, was, like himself, a poet, and it is not at all to be wondered, that the congeniality of their minds should have produced, first an acquaintance, and • then an intimacy. It was this gentleman who first intro-
- duced Mr. Sheridan to Mr. Fox, and this incident converted the poet into a politician and a patriot. After some ineffectual attempts to obtain a seat in Parliament through patronage, Mr. Sheridan at length, in 1780, proposed himself as a candidate for the borough of Stafford. The mere expenses of this election are said to have cost him 1000£ a sum which he borrowed with some difficulty; and he was fortunate enough to be returned at so trifling an expense, although there was a petition against him, to the fifteenth Parliament of Great Britain, along with Mr. Monckton, unde to Viscount Galway. What is not a little remarkable, he and this gentleman were col* leagues during no fewer than six successive parliaments, for the same place; th. those of 1780, 1784, 1790, 179$ 1801, and 1802.
- On the second reading of the bill, “for the better regulation of his Ma-jesty’® civil list revenue; and for abolishing several useless, expensive, and inconvenient places; and for applying the monies arising therefrom to the public service,” on February 26, 1781, be made his maiden speech in the house; and as it was in reply to Mr. Courtenay, it could not possibly have been a studied one.
- The latter gentleman, having ridiculed all pretexts to virtue on the part of the Opposition, and hinted, that their sole object was place, power, and emolument; Mr. Sheridan, after a short and apposite exordium, observed, “that although it was difficult to answer any charge, which was acconH panied by wit and irony, yet lie was bound to notice two of the honourable gentleman’s similes at least. The one was, the insinuation that the Oppo* sition was envious of those who basked in court sunshine, and desirous merely to obtain their places. Now I beg leave,” said he, “to remind him, that although the sun afforded a genial waimth, it also occasioned an intemperate heat, which tainted every thing it reflected upon. This excessive heat tended to corrupt as well as to cherish; to pntrify, as well as to animate; to dry, and soak up the wholesome juices of the body politic, and turn the whole of it into one mass of corruption. If those, therefore, who sat near him, did not enjoy so genial a warmth, as the honourable gentleman, and others, who, like him, kept close to the noble Lord in the blue ribbon, he was certain at least, that they breathed a purer air, an air less infected, and less corrupt. Another of the honourable gentleman’s allusions was not quite a new one. He had talked of the “machine of state, ’ and of the “drag-chain of opposition.” He would only observe upon this, that a drag-chain was never applied, but when a machine was going down hill; and then it was applied wisely. As to any thing else the gentleman has said, I shall not attempt to offer a reply; hat shall
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- wit down, With observing, that the moat serious parte of hi* arguments appear to me to be the most ludicrous.”
- Mr. Sheridan, now entirely relinquishing the Muses, became a regular attendant in St. Stephen’s chapel; and both there, and at all the public meetings of the time, was a strenuous opposer of the American war, and consequently, a violent foe to Lord North’s administration. On the conclusion of hostilities, he joined with many celebrated men, in a plan, for procuring a reform in Par-liament; and actually sat in a convention for that express purpose, with Mr. Pitt, the Duke of Norfolk, the Rev. Mr. Wyvil), then chairman of the Yorkshire Committee; Sir Cecil Wray, Bart, and a multitude of other distinguished characters. On this, as on many similar occasions, he went much further than his party either wished, or intended; the Whigs, considered as a body, being sup-posed never to have been very fond of that measure. Notwithstanding this, he was now deemed so able, and at the Same time, so useful an assistant, that when the Rockingham party, in 1783, vaulted into the seat of power, be was immediately nominated under-secretary to his friend Mr. Fox, who was selected at that period, to preside over the foreign department. In this new and arduous situation, time sufficient for a display of his abilities was not allowed, for the Earl of Shelburne having been declared first lord of the treasury, by the especial intervention of the king, on the lamented demise of the Marquis of Rockingham, Mr. Fox resigned, after a few months enjoyment of office, and was of course followed by his secretaiy. Mr. Sheridan, who had before engaged in the “Englishman,” now joined in a similar periodical paper, called u The Jesuit;” but it ought to be here explicitly stated, that he was not the author of that bitter attack on a great personage, which afterwards produced a prosecution on the part of his majesty’s attorney-general, and a twelvemonth’s imprisonment to the publisher.
- At length, a reconciliation having taken place between Mr. Fox and Lord North, who had bitterly attacked each
- other, during the American contest, they soon gained the ascendancy in the House of Commons, by their united talents and influence; and Mr. Sheridan accordingly formed a part of the coalition administration, by being appointed to the confidential and important office of secretary of the treasury, in 1783.
- In 1786, he ably and manfully opposed the extravagant plans of the late Duke of Richmond, for fortifying and protecting the dock-yards, by means of numerous, extensive, and expensive works; instead of recurring to the natural defence of Great Britain, arising out of a powerful navy. On this occasion, he alluded to the constitutional jealousy of the military power of the crown, which originated in this, - “That it was in the nature of kings to love power, and in the constitution of armies to obey kings.” He also observed,
“That the strong holds, now contended for, if maintained as they most be, in peace, by full and disciplined garrisons; if well provided,and calculated to stand regular sieges, as the present plau professed; and if extended to all the objects to which the system must inevitably lead, whether they were to be considered as inducements to tempt a weak prince to evil views, or as engines of power, in case of actual rupture; would in troth present ten times the means of cuibing and subduiug the country, that conld be stated to arise, even from doubling the present military establishment; with this extraordinary aggravation attending the folly of consenting to such a system, that those very naval stores, and magazines, the seed and sources of our future navy, the effectual preservation of which was the pretence for these unassailable fortresses, would, in that case, become a pledge and hostage, in the hands of the. crown, which in a conntry circumstanced as this was, must ensure an unconditional submission to the most extravagant claims which despotism could dictate.1*
- At seven in the morning, the House, which was very full, divided upon the question, and the numbers being equal, the speaker gave his vote on the side of Opposition, by which means the motion was lost.
- In the spring of 1786, commenced the proceedings against Mr. Hastings, in which Mr.Sheridan was actively engaged for several years. The first difficulty encountered, by those who brought the charges, was an evident unwillingness on the part of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas to 1
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- produce the necessary documents. At length, Mr. Burke, on April 4, 1786, charged the late governor-general of Bengal, with high crimes and misdemeanours, and lodged nine articles against him, on the table of the House of Commons. The first of these, which comprehended the Rohilla war, was lost, eighty-seven only having voted for the motion, while one hundred and nineteen declared against it, on June 1st. On the 19th of the same month, Mr. Fox brought forward the Benares charge, which was carried by a majority of one hundred and nineteen to seventy-nine* the chancellor of the exchequer concurring in the vote*
- On February 7th, 1787, in a committee of the whole house; MR Sherk dan presented the fourth charge, wz. the resumption of the Jaghires, and the confiscation of the treasures of the Princesses of Oude, on which occasion, during a speech of five hours and a half, he commanded the universal attention and admiration of all who heard him. He commenced his speech by some pointed allusions to the conduct of Sir Elijah Impey, who had recurred to the low and artful stratagem of printed hand-bUto of defence, in favour of Mr. Hastings, in respect to the present articles of accusation. Neither the informality on any subsisting evidence, nor the adducement of any new explanations on the part of the late- chief justice of Bengal, could make the slightest impression upon the vast and strong body of proof now intended to be brought forward. The lang and mb wearied attention paid by parliament to the affairs of Indla^the voluminous productions of their committees, - the repeated recommendations of His Majesty, - were all undeniable proofs of the moment, and magnitude of the consideration; and incontrovertibly established this, plain, hued fiict, that parliament had directly acknowledged that the British name and character had been dishonoured, and rendered detested throughout India, by the malversation and crimes of the principal servant of the East India Company. To some sarcasms propagated in another place he would ask, u Is parliament mis-spending its time by inquiring into the oppressions practised on millions of unfortunate persons; and endeavouring to bring the daring delinquent, who had been guilty of the most flagrant acts enormous tyranny, and rapacious peculation, to exemplary and condign punishment? Was it a misuse of their functions, to he diligent in attonqrttog to wipe off the disgrace attached to the British name in India, and to rescue the national character from lasting infamy ? Their tadsflitiphio exertions in committees, - their numerous, elaborate, and dear rspedBf - their long and interesting debates, - their solemn addresses to the throne, - their rigorous legislative acts, - their marked detestation of that novel Mid. base sophism in the principles of judicial inquiry, (the constant language of the governor-general’s servile dependent*!) that atoms might bo compounded, - that the guilt of Mr. Hastings was to hoholmrod by hto soccomms
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- fortunate events were a full and complete set-off against a patent of op- pression, corruption, breach of faith, peculation, and treachery, - and finally, their solemn and awful Judgment, that in the case of Benares, Mr. Hastings’s conduct was a proper object of parliamentary impeachment; had covered them with applause, and brought them forward in the face of all the world, as the objects of perpetual admiration. TV vote of the last session, by which the conduct of this pillar of India, this canter-stent oar strength in the East, this talisman of the British territories m Asia, was censored, did the greatest honour to an English House of Commons, as it must be the foreruuner of speedy justice on that character which was said to be above censure; but whose deeds were snch, as no difficulties, no necessities could justify*; for where is the situation, however elevated, and in that elevation, however embarrassed, that can authorise the wilful commmrion of oppression and rapacity?" As to the present charge, u He professed to God, that he felt in his own bosom the strongest personal conviction; and it was from that conviction, he believed the conduct of Warren Hastings in regard to the Nabob of Oude and the Begums, comprehended every species of human offence. He bad proved himself guilty of rapacity, at once violent and insatiable, - of treachery, cool and premeditated, - of oppression, uaeteaa and unprovoked, - of breach of foith, unwarrantable and base* - of crweity, unmanly and unmerciful. T hese were the crimes of which, in hia soul and conscience, he arraigned Warren Hastings; and of which he bad the rem fidence to say, he should convict liim! As there were gentlemen ready to stand up his advocates, he challenged them to watch him^ - to watch if ho advanced one inch of assertion, for which he Imd not solid ground: for ho trusted nothing to declamation. I desire credit,” added be, “for no fhct which I shall not prove, and which I do not demonstrate beyond the porei bility of refutation. I shall not desert the clear and invincible ground of truth, throughout any one particle of my allegations against Mr. Hastings, who uniformly aimed to govern India by his own arbitraty power, covering with misery upon misery the wretched people whom Providence bod anh< jected to the dominion of this country; whilst In his fhvonr, not one single circumstance, grounded on truth, was stated,-dhe attempt at vindication was false throughout.”
- Mr. Slieridan now commenced his examination of Mr. Hastings’s defence. « Although lie had gone so far back as the year 1T75, for pretended grounds of justification from the charge of violence and rapacity, yet not one of the facts, as staled by him, but was fallacioin. Groundless, nuga* tory-, and insulting, were the affirmations of the ex-governor-general, that the seizure of treasure from the Begums, and the exposition of their pillaged goods to public auction, (unparalleled acts of open injustice, uppres- sion, and inhumanity!) were in any degree to bo defended by there encroachments on their property, which had taken place previously to his administration; or by those sales, which they themselves had solicited MO favourable mode of supplying their aid to the Nabob. Mr. Hastings wished to insinuate, that a claim was set up in the year 1775, to the treasure of the Begums, as belonging of right to that prince; and it would appear from a urinate of council, that woman were entitled by the Nphrendsni
- SBJBllBJLBL . fsr
- butt only to tie property wittite the Stamimwfamlhcy livodi TheBtrw Begato ’M readily CempliedwMh thte net hnrily; the disputed property was accordingly given up; and no claim whatever was made to the residue^ which was guaranteed to the Princesses of Oude, by Mr. Bristow, on the part of the Company. But Mr. Hastings having ooaceived ar prefect of acquiring an Immense nun of money by plunder left Calcutta in 1781, atol preceded to Lucknow, as he said himself, with two great olgects* fat Ms ntied, namely, Benares and Oude. What was the nature of these boasted tenmrcea? - That he should plunder one or both, - toe equitable alternative of a highwayman, who on going forth in the evening, hesitates which of bb resources to prefer, - Bagshot or Hounslow. In such a state of generous irresolution, did Mr. Hastings proceed to Benares and Oude! At Benares, he failed in his pecuniary object. Then, and not tUl then, - not on account of any ancient enmities shewn by the Begums^ - not in resentment of any old disturbances, but because he had foiled in one place, and bed but two in his prospect, did he conceive the base expedient of pioto dering these aged women. He had no pretence, - be had no excuse, - ho had nothing but the arrogant and obstinate determination to govern India by his own corrupt will, to plead for his conduct. Inflamed by disappointment in his first project, he hastened to the fortress of Chunar, to meditate the more atrocious design of instigating a son against his mother; of saert- firing female dignity and distress, to parricide and plunder. At Chunar was the infamous treaty concerted with the Nabob’s visier, to despofl the Princesses of Oude of their hereditary possessions^ - there it was that Mr. Hastings had stipulated with one, whom he catted an Mgpsndtal prmm; that as great distress had arisen to the Nabob’s government from the military power and dominion assumed by the Jhghierdars, be be per* to resume such as he may find necessary; with a reserve, that att such, for the amount of whose Jaghiers the Company are guarantees, shall in case of the resumption of their lands, be paid the amount of theft net collections, through the resident, in ready money; and- that no English resident be appointed to Furruckabad. No sooner was the foundation of iniquity thus instantly established, in violation of the pledged frith, and solemn guarantee of the British government; no sooner had Mr. HmtingO determined to invade the substance of justice, than he resolved to aval hhnself of her judicial forms; and accordingly dispatched a memengtit for the chief justice of India, to assist him in perpetrating the vMatihm he had projected. Sir Elijah having arrived^ Mr. Hastings, with much art, proposed a question of opinion, involving an unsubstantiated foet, hl order to obtain even a surreptitious approbation of the aseasnres he had pre-determined to adopt* the Begums being in actual rebetthm, night not the Nabob confiscate their property?* • Mort undoubtedly,*’ Was the readjf answer of the friendly judge. Not a syllable of inquiry tittOWened at to the existence of the imputed rebellion; nor a momentii petite, note the iU purposes to which the decision of a chief*Justice might Be perverted. It was not the office of a friend, to mix the grave caution and cridcirctmi- •paetion of a judge, with an opinion taken to sueh circumstances; and Sir Ettjab had previously declared, that he gtefehto advice, not eonjn#^
- but a* a friend; a character he equally preferred, in the strange office which he undertook of collecting defensive affidavits on the subject of Benares."
- After the orator had expatiated, in a vein of irony, on the conduct of Sir Elijah, whom he styled in ridicule the “Oriental Grotius,” who had given “his premature sanction for plundering the Begums,” and “become the posthumous support of the expulsion and pillage of the R^jah Cheit Singhe fully and ably insisted on the gross pervervion of both the judicial and executive power of India. M At the same moment,” continued he, “that the sword of government was turned to an assamui’s dagger, the pure ermine of justice was stained and disgraced with the basest and meanest contamination. Under such circumstances did Mr. Hastings complete the treaty of Cbunar; a treaty* which might challenge all the treaties that ever subsisted, for containing, in the smallest compass, the most extensive treachery. Mr. Hastings did not conclude that treaty until he had received from the Nabob a present, or rather a bribe, of 100,000£ The circumstances of this present were as extraordinary as the thing itself. Four months afterwards, and not till then, Mr. Hastings communicated the matter to the Company. Unfortunately for himself, however, this tardy disclosure was conveyed in words which betrayed his original meaning; for with no common incaution, he admits the present was of a magnitude not to be concealed. And what was the consideration for this extraordinary bribe? No less than the withdrawing from Oude, not only all the English gentlemen in official situations, but the whole also of the English army; and that too at the very moment when he himself had stated the whole country of Oude to be in open revolt and rebellion. Other very* strange articles were contained in the same treaty, which nothing but this infamous bribe could have occasioned; together with the reserve which he had in his own mind, of treachery to the Nabob; for the only part of the treaty which he ever attempted to carry into execution, was to witlidraw the English gentlemen from Oude. The Nabob, indeed, considered this as essential to his deliverance, on account of their supposed rapacity. Accordingly, at the very moment be pocketed the extorted spoil of the Nabob, with his usual grave hypocrisy and cant, * Go,’ he said to the English gentlemen, ‘ go, you oppressive rascals, go from this worthy, unhappy man, whom you have plundered, and leave him to ay protection. You have robbed him, - you have plundered him, - you have taken advantage of liis accumulated distresses; but, please God, he shall in future be at rest; tor I have promised him he shall never see the foce of an Englishman again.’ This, however, was the only portion of the treaty which he even affected to fulfil; for as to all other parts, we learn from himself, that at the very moment he made it, he intended to deceive the Nabob. Accordingly, he advised general, instead of partial resumptions, for the express purpose of defeating his views; and instead of giving instant and unqualified assent to all the articles of the treaty, he perpe- tually qualified, explained, and varied them with new diminutions and reservations. Was there any theory in Machiavel, any treachery upon record, any cold Italian fraud, which could in any degree ba put in com-
- 533 parison with the disgusting hypocrisy, ahd unequalled baseness which Mr. Hastings had shewn on that occasion I But there were some, who found an apology for the atrocity of these crimes, in the greatness of his mind j - but does not this quality arise out of great actions, directed to great ends? In them, and in them alone, we are to search for true and estimable magnanimity; to them only can we justly affix the splendid title and honours of real greatness. His course was an eternal deviation from rectitude, - he pursued the worst objects by the worst means, - he either tyrannised or deceived; and was by turns a Dionysius and a Scapin. As well might the writhing obliquity of the serpent be compared to the swift directness of the arrow, as the duplicity of Mr. Hastings’s ambition, to the simple steadiness of genuine magnanimity. In hb mind all was shuffling, ambiguous, dark, insidious, and little; nothing simple, nothing unmixed; alt affected plainness and actual dissimulation; - a heterogeneous mass of contradictory qualities; with nothing great but hb crimes; and even these, contrasted by the littleness of hb motives, which at once denoted both ^ds baseness and hb meanness, and marked him for a traitor and a trickster.*- Mr. Sheridan now shewed, by evidence, that the twofold accusation against the Begums was unjust; and that, first, they were not the ancient disturbers of the government; and, secondly, that the charge of having induced the Jaghierdars to resbt the Nabob, was no less untrue - the fhct, indeed, being fully substantiated, that no one of these ever did resist. Hb stated it to be incontrovertible,“that the Begums were not concerned either in the rebellion of Bulbudder, or the insurrection at Benares; nor did Mr. Hastings ever once seriously think them guilty. Their treasures were their treason; and Asoph ul Dowlah thought like an unwise prince, when he blamed his father for bequeathing him so Httie wealth. Hb father^ Sujah ul Dowlah, acted wisely in leaving hb son with no teasptation about him, to invite acts of violence and rapacity. He clothed him with poverty as with a shield, and armed him with necessity as with a sword I - The third charge was equally false, - did they resist the resumption of their own Jaghierdars? Althongh they had resisted, there would not have been any crime, seeing that these were confirmed by solemn treaty; yet the Nabob himself, with all the load of obloquy imputed to him, never so much as accused them of stirring up opposition to hb authority. To prove the falsehood of the whole of thb charge, and to shew that Mr. Hastings originally projected the plunder; that be threw the whole odium in the first instance on the Nabob; and that be imputed the crimes to them before he had received one of the rumours which ho afterwords mmhe* tured into affidavits, would be seen from the dates of the various papers now about to be adduced; which would also implicate Mr. Middleton and Sir Eiyah Impey.
“The Begums, by condition, by age, and by infirmities, were almost the only persons in India, who could not have thought of distressing that government, by which alone they could hope to be protected; and to charge them with a design to depose their nearest and dearest relatives, was equally odious and absurd. To ascribe to tho< princesses those fimmw ructions which had constantly taken pbctf in (Me, whs wondering wren
- beyond the imprababUiflea offirtion; it might with erpid probahUlty havo beta Matotril, dial hot Tor lliem, famine would not hate |a*rted, nor Until bate patched, nor cxtenninalion hate depopulated. Mr Hariuin, wanting atuolivc for bh rapacity. bad found Li io tictroo. Hut at ata told, * dial they cmnplauiod nt’ the injustice done to them.* And, God at beavenl had they nol a rigid la complain of tlm injustice. - after a uik-ms treaty violoted., - after bring piondmd of ill their property, - and no the eve of the lait extremity nf wretrJiMlntas, were they to he riepritedaf the last resource of impotent wretchedness, - complaint ami lamentatkoa! Was U a crime tlrat liter should crowd together in fluttering ticpuUtiuo, like a flock of resistless bird*
“I have beard of factions and parties in this House, and know tint they exist. The prerogative of tlm crown finds its advocates among tba representatives of the people; the privileges of the propio 6ml their opponents, even among the Commons of England, - there is no subject on which we arc not broken and divided, - In bits, connexions, partl.-s ail lead to diversity of opinion; but Whan liumunity presents itself CO observation, it funis no division among us, - it is attacked as lb raon»-u enemy, and is never left until completely overthrown. It it ml given lu tlus House, to behold the objects of their compassion anil benevolence; they cannot see the workings of the heart, the quivering lips, the trickling trwrs, the loud and yet tremulous joys of the millions whom their vote of lists night would for ever save from the cruelly of corrupted power. But t’lough they could not directly see the eftecX, Is not the tree eqjoymsst of their benevolence increased by the blessing being conferred usuesn? Would tsol the omnipotence or Britain be demonstrated to the wornler of nations, by stretching its mighty arm across the deep, and saviog by its ,/iw distant millions from destruction? And would the blessings of the feople tiws anvrd dissipate in empty air? Nol - We shall constitute beavea Itatif our proxy, to receive for ns the blessings of their pion* cratitudc, and «4w prayers of their thanksgiving. It u with confidence, there fora, ilsal i move you ou Illis charge, • that Warren Hustings be Inipuched.’ “
- His speech occupied a period of nearly six hours in ds-very; and aw bnihaut was the eloquence, and so argumentative the mods adopted aw
- tibe present acereton, that sties Mr. Sheridan eat dews, the whale Hopper BM if fascinated with his eloquence, after a short pause, bunt into an invo-luntary tumult of applause.
- Mr. Burke declared it to be the most extraordinary effort he had fever witnessed; while Mr. Fox said, “aB that be had ever heard, - all tt*t he had ever read, when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanished like vapour before the sun.” Even Mr. Pitt acknowledged, “that it surpassed all the eloquence of ancient or modem times, and possessed every thing that genius or art could furnish, to agitate and control the human mind?* Some members, afraid of the impulse thus given to the question, moved for an adjournment of the debate, and the minister concurring, this was accordingly agreed to, notwithstanding the assertion of Mr. Fox, “that it was unparliamentary to defer coming to a vote, for no other reason, that had been alleged, thin because members were too firmly convinced?*
- Next day, however, Mr. Pitt having declared that Mr. Hastings was criminal on two great points, - the violation of the guarantee, and the seizure of the treasures, - and that he bad greatly enhanced his guilt by stifling the orders of the Court of Directors, commanding a revision of ffto’ proceedings against the Princesses, the motion was carried by a majority of one hundred and seventy-five against sixty-tight.
- Mr. Sheridan took also an active part in the debates on the affairs of the Prince of Wales. On June 3rd, 1788 Mr. Sheridan summed up the evidence on the Begum charge, before the Lords in West minster-hall, and from that moment his character was established as one of thf first orators and statesmen in the House of Commons*
- Soon after this, the French revolution became an object of great importance; and on the army estimates being moved for on February 9, botb he and Mr Fox paid a tribute of applause to those who bad produced that great event. He deprecated the unqualified abuse and abhor* rence of Mr. Burke, and conceived that retatetiott to be fully as just, and necessary, and glorious, as
- u that henceforth his honourable friend and he were separated in politics/’
- Nearly at the same time, Mr. Sheridan gave a bold and decisive opinion relative to the baseness, cruelty, and injustice of the slave trade. He incessantly urged the House to come to an immediate determination relative to that crying outrage; and added, that the power possessed by a West India planter over his slaves, was such, as no human creature ought to be suffered to exercise. On this subject, as well as on a reform of parliament, he was equally strenuous and uniform, whether in or out of place. Mrs. Sheridan, after a lingering illness, died at Bristol, on the 28th of June, 1792, in the thirty-eighth year of her age, and on the 7th of July she was buried in Wells cathedral. Independent of her vocal powers, she possessed a considerable genius for musical composition, and composed the whole of the music in the popular pantomime of Robinson Crusoe, and several songs. She also wrote poetry with much harmony and feeling.
- On the 27th of April, 1795, Mr. Sheridan married Miss Hester Ogle, youngest daughter of the late Dr. Newton Ogle, Dean of Winchester. On his marriage with this lady, an estate at Pollesden, near Leatherbead, in Surrey, was purchased chiefly with her fortune; and there they occasionally resided, during several year^. A grant from the Prince, of the Receiver-Generalship of the Duchy of Cornwall, estimated perhaps too high at 12001. a year, was soon after added to his income.
- He had also a valuable interest in Drury-lane theatre; and his appearance in the Court of Chancery, in defence of his claims, forms an epoch in the proceedings of that tribunal. On this occasion, he displayed an unusual portion of acuteness and penetration; he entered into the minutiae of accounts with a wonderful degree of precision; and while, as usual, he charmed all around him, Lord Eldon himself declared from the bench, that he had convinced him of every thing, but his “own prudence.’” When the mutiny broke out at the Nore, Mr. Sheridan
- rose io his place in the House of Commons, and supported ministers with energy and eloquence; and when the kingdom was threatened with an invasion, he publicly, avowed, “that the time had now arrived, when His Majesty possessed an undoubted right to call on his subjects, of all ranks and descriptions, for their zealous co-operation, in supporting the due execution of the laws; and in giving every possible efficiency to the measures of government.” In 1799 the patriotic drama of “Pizarro” was produced, the success, of which was beyond all calculation - twenty- nine editions of a thousand each, were sold off instantly.. The unparalleled success of the above, may be fairly attributed to the peculiar situation in which this country stood in regard to Franne, and to the first-rate talents of Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, and Mrs. Jordan, who were all three in the zenith of their powers.
- On the demise of Mr. Pitt, a coalition was formed between Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville; and they and their friends, constituting what was then termed “all the talents of the country,” immediately occupied the great offices of state. On this occasion, Mr. Sheridan was nominated a privy councillor; and obtained the office of treasurer of the navy, estimated at 4000£ per annum. It would have been happy both for himself and his family, if be had accepted a patent place for jife of 2000£ a year, as was suggested by Mr. Fox: but be declined this proposition; and on a new writ being issued for Stafford, be was re-chosen, foe the last time, on February 10th, 1806.
- As his influence had obviously declined in that borough, at the general election which occurred in the course of the same, year, he offered himself, and was returned tot the city of Westminster, on which occasion he stood second on the poll, having 4642 votes, to 4966,-. on .the part of his opponent, Mr. Paul. Notwithstsndibg. he was at that moment a very unpopular] candidate; yet, so great was the dread lest the feeling o£ the people should conquer, that Mr. Sheridan not only obtained the support of all the public offices, but, indeed, of the .whole
53S aristocracy residing within the bills of mortality. The expense of this contest, as well as of the petition that foU lowed, was borne by means of a subscription, 1000£ of which was advanced by the late Duke of Queensberry; who, as it has been said, actually supposed not only his personal safety, but even his property to depend on the event!
- In 1807, his former antagonist being dead, Mr. Sheridan now became a popular candidate; but being deficient in respect to one material ingredient in all contests of this nature, Lord Cochrane obtained a decisive majority. During this second contest, he maintained from the hostings, that it was his intention, were he returned, to attempt the accomplishment of etwo objects, highly con-ducive to the interests of his constituents; “the first of these was to regulate the conduct of the hired magistracy of Westminster; and the second, to prevent the publicans from being entirely dependent on the brewers.” He concluded by confessing,“that the chief motive of the present struggle, was to seat his son for Ilchester, and himself for Westminster; so that liberty might have two friends in-stead of one in the House of Commons !’*
- Having thus failed in the second city in the kingdom* Mr. Sheridan was nominated for the borough just alluded to, and continued to represent that place during two parliaments. But he no longer distinguished himself by the ardour of his attacks; the brilliancy of his replies; the pertinacity and promptness of his questions. In abort, be but seldom attended the House, and seemed to have deserted his party, which soon availed itself of but too good an apology for that utter desertion and abandonment of him!
- Mr. Sheridan terminated his political career on the tlst of July, 1812, with one of the most brilliant speeches he ever delivered, on the subject of the overtures for pence which had recently been made by France. Having declared resistance to Buonaparte even with the hazard of defeat as absolutely necessary, he concluded in these animated word^
- SHERIDAN.
- which were his tat m the Hoose of Commonstt If w£ Ml, end if after oor rnm, there shot I ’possibly rise an hn^ partial historian, hie language will be, 1 Britain fell, and with her fell all the best securities for the charities of human life, the power, the honour, the fame, the glory, and the liberties not only of herself, but of the whole civilised world.’ ”
- Thus set this political luminary in the sphere which he bad so many years enlivened by the brilliancy of his wit; and so often delighted by the power of his eloquence. Parliament was shortly afterwards dissolved, and Mr. Sheridan again tried his strength at Stafford, where however, notwithstanding the encouragement which he had experienced in the spring, he failed of success, nor, after his la9t speech, had he influence enough to command a seat for any other place.
- Under these depressing circumstances did this extraordinary man retire from public life, without having tta transient consolation of seeing that his departure was etUM sidered as a loss by those who had been used to court the aid of his talents. The world to him was now ta emimnef become a desert, in which there was little to’drtier farm amidst the gloom of neglect and. the blast ofpeniHy* where he was continually tormented by the iitfpoftrifvftta of clamorous creditors, and pursued with unrelax tag severity by the harpies of the law. :"
- Harrassed by continual vexations at a period^Wfaeti nature stands in need of repose and tadalgenoe, it was not much to be wondered that a man so long accustomed to convivial pleasures should seek relief from tbepmaum of increasing embarrassments hi the intoxicating CMMs of forgetfulness. Unfortunately the habits of Mr» Sherfttal had ever been of a description that unfitted feta for ’application to business, and rendered himtacapebleef enduring misfortune with that firmness, which, ifftvloesnot remove trouble, takes away its sting. When, therefore, the tiytag season came, it found bhn unprepared to resist the violence of the storm, and unable to direct his steps by lay ptai
- that could secure him from future calamity. Io such a bewildered state he increased his difficulties by the efforts which he made to elude them, and accelerated his dissolution in endeavouring to drown the sense of his misery. Such is the heavy impost which men of eccentric genius have to pay for sacrificing their time and talents in uncertain pursuits, and to obtain a little ephemeral popularity. Mr. Sheridan always lived and acted without any regular system for the government of his domestic conduct; the consequence of which was, as might have been expected, that he became the sport of capricious friendship; and when the winter of his days approached, and he had separated from his political connexions, he experienced the folly of neglecting those resources which can alone support the mind in every exigency, and minister to its comfort in the dreariness of solitude. Home, though the abode of domestic virtue and affection, was no longer safe to a person so well known and so much sought after by numerous applicants; to avoid whose troublesome inquiries, and to gain a respite from anxiety, he passed much of his time in coffee-houses and taverns. Continual ebriety was the result of such a course of life; and the effects of it upon his constitution, which had been naturally a very robust one, soon appeared in his countenance and his manners.
- Some idea of his extraordinary stamina may be formed from fhe following incident. A person going to bear the debates in the House of Commons, called at the Exchequer coffee-house, where his attention was fixed by a gentleman taking tea, with a parcel of paper* before him. Afterwards he called for a decanter of brandy, which he poured into a large glass, and drank off without diluting it in the least, and then walked away. . The spectator soon followed, and went into the gallery of the House, where, to his astonishment, he heard one of the loogeat and most brilliant speeches he ever listened to, delivered by this votary of Bacchus, who was no other than Mr. Sheridan.
- Bat such libations, however invigorating they may be for a moment to the animal spirits, or even inspiring to genius, make dreadful inroads upon the vital system, and when persevered in, never fail to undermine the entire fabric. This was the case with Mr. Sheridan, upon whom the pernicious practice increased to such a degree, that at length his digestive powers were completely destroyed, his memory of course became impaired, and the symptoms of organic disease manifested themselves in a swelling of the extremities and an enlargement of the abdomen, which soon left nothing for hope.
- The complication of disorders multiplied rapidly, and he was confined to his room, where, to aggravate the wretchedness of his situation, and the distress of his family, an officer forced his way and arrested him in his bed. After remaining a few days in the house, this callous being signified his intention of removing the dying pri-soner to a spunging-house, which resolution he was only prevented from carrying into execution by the interposition of Dr. Baine, the physician, who said that his patient was in such an extremely weak and exhausted state, that to move him at all, even in his own bouse, would most probably be fatal; but that if he were to be taken away in a violent manner, the agitation would most certainly be attended by immediate death, in which case he should feel it to be his duty to prosecute the officer for murder. This declaration had the proper effect, and the unfortunate victim was suffered to remain in the bosom of his afflicted family, from whom he received every kind attention, and all the comfort that could be administered. • As far as sympathetic solicitude could administer relief or comfort, Mr. Sheridan received every consolation from the kind attention of a numerous acquaintance and an affectionate family. But there is abundut reason to hope that his last moments were cheered by the more gatifying consolation that springs alone from ftitb and repentance. Some days before his death, the. Bishop of. London, who is a near relation of Mrs. Sheridan,, desired .Dr. Baine to ask if it would be agreeable to hb patient to have pogrciB
- offered up by his bed-side. When the commission was imparted to the sick, he assented with such an expression of fervent desire, that the bishop was instantly sent for, who lost no time in attending to the solemn call, and, accompanied by the physician, read several oAceo of devotion suited to the awful occasion. In these prayers Mr. Sheridan appeared to join with humility and aspiration, clasping his hands, bending his head, and lifting up his eyes, significant of that penitential frame of mind which becomes every human spirit in its passage oat of time into eternity. After this he seemed to possess much internal tranquillity until life ebbed gradually away, and be departed, without any apparent struggle or agony, in the arms of his affectionate consort, on Sunday, at noon, July the 7lb, 1816, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. As it was deemed advisable that the funeral should be conducted without pomp, and yet be marked by a proper respect to the talents of the deceased, the body was removed from Saville Row, to the house of Mr. Peter Moore, in Great George Street, Westminster, which being a short distance from the Abbey, rendered a walking procession the more convenient. He was buried on the Saturday following, near the remains of Garrick and Cumberland.
- Mr. Sheridan has left behind him two sons, one by a former, another by the wife who survives him. To present our readers .with a character of Sheridan we imagine is almost needless - the task is superseded by his life: suffice it to say, as a statesman he was incorruptible, and never, we believe, in a solitary instance did he speak or vote against his conscience. His speeches in the senate are distinguished as combining every quality that constitutes brilliant oratory. His wit was proverbial, many specimens of which are on record, and as a companion at the festive board he appears almost to have been without a rival; but his absolute neglect of prudence in the common affairs of life, involved him in continual distress, and he died as might have been conjectured, pennyless^ heartbroken, and deserted.
- PHILIP SKELTON,
- AN individual fully entitled to the epithet “Worthy,” a learned clergyman, and author of some valuable works on divinity, was born in the parish of Derriagbly, near Lisburn, in February 1707. H is family was originally English. His grandfather, an engineer, having been sent over by Charles I. to inspect the Irish fortifications, settled in that country, and suffered many privations in Cromwell’s time. His father appears to have been, in the reign of Wil* liam 111, a gunsmith, and afterwards a farmer and a tanner. He died in his fiftieth year, leaving a widow and ten children. Philip, when about ten years of age, was sent to Lisburn school, where, being at first negligent, his father reformed him by sending him into the fields, and treating him as a menial; after this he applied diligently, and soon displayed an ardent thirst for knowledge. On the decease of his father, which happened when he was at school, his mother had to encounter many difficulties in bringing up her numerous family, and he laudably thought it his duty to relieve her from the expense of one at least, and applied still more closely to his studies. From school, in June 1724, he entered as a sizer in Dublin University, wherp Dr. Delany was his tutor, and ever after, his friend.
- Here he soon obtained the reputation of a scholar, and also distinguished himself by his skill in fencing, cudgeL ling, and other manly feats, as well as in soipe college frolics from which he did not always escape unceosured. His temper was warm, and he entertained that irritable’ sense of honour which frequently involved him in quae* rels. On one occasion he had a quarrel with a fellow* student, who happened to be connected with Dr, Baldwin the provost, and who insinuated that Skelton was a Jacobite, an accusation which he repelled by the most solemp declaration of his adherence to the Hanover family, Baldwin, however, was prejudiced against him, and en-deavoured to keep him out of a scholarship, but, mistaking him for another of the same malice was dimp-
- pointed, and Skelton received this reward of merit in 1726. Baldwin, however, on other occasions did every thing in his power to make a college life uneasy to him; and Skelton, finding it impossible to gain his favour without disgraceful compliances, resolved to take his degree at the statuteable period, and quit the college. This, however, his enemy still endeavoured to prevent, and, on some idle pretence, stopped his degree.
- Skelton’s only remedy was now to wait patiently till the next commencement, which would take place in about half a year. As the time approached, he contrived to foil the provost at his own weapons, and knowing his tyrannical and capricious temper, played him a trick, which his biographer relates in the following manner. A few days before the commencement, he waited on the provost, “and after paying his humble submission, said, * Mr. Provost, I am extremely obliged to you for stopping me of my degree last time, because it was what I wished for above all things, and I beg and beseech you may also stop me now, as my friends are forcing me to take it, and quit the college, contrary to my desire.’ * Ah, you dog,’ he replied,(what do you mean ? do you wish to stay here contrary to your friends’ consent? Take your degree, sirrah, and quit the college, or I’ll make you smart for it.’ Skelton then began to cry, and whine, and sob, saying how greatly distressed he was at getting this unfavourable answer. * Don’t be growling here, sir,’ be said, ‘ but go about your business, 1 ’ll not agree to your request, you shall take your degree in spite of you, sirrah.’ Upon this, Skelton, with sorrowful countenance, though with joy at his heart, walked grumblingly out of the room.” The consequence of this was, that he commenced B. A. in July 1728, and had his name taken out of the college books, May 31st following, two years before the natural expiration of his scholarship. Notwithstanding this treatment, he always spoke of Dr. Baldwin as in many respects an excellent provost. He was ordained iu 1729, and obtained a curacy. In 1
- 1732, he was nominated to the curacy of Monaghan, where his life was most exemplary, and his preaching efficacious. It was said, that the very children of Monaghan, whom he carefully instructed, knew more of religion at that time, than the grown people of any of the neighbouring parishes, and the manners of his flock were soon greatly improved, and vice and ignorance retreated before so powerful an opponent. His charities were extraordinary, for all he derived from his curacy was 40?. of which he gave 10£ a year to his mother, and for some years a like sum to his tutor, Dr. Delany, to pay some debts he had contracted at college. The rest were for his maintenance and his charities, and when the pittance he could give was insufficient for the relief of the poor, he solicited the aid of people of fortune, who usually contributed according to his desire, and could not indeed refuse a man who first gave his own before he would ask any of theirs. His visits to the gaols were also attended with the happiest effects. On one remarkable occasion, when a convict at Monaghan, of whose innocence he was well assured, was condemned to be hanged within five days, he set off for Dublin, and on his arrival was admitted to* the privy council, which was then sitting. Here he pleaded for the poor man with such eloquence, as to obtain his pardon, and returned with it to Monaghan in time to save his life. In order to be of the^more use to his poor parishioners, he studied physic, and was very successful in his gratuitous practice, as well as by his spiritual advice, and was the means of removing many prejudices and superstitions which be found very deeply rooted in their minds.
- His fame, however, both as a preacher and writer, his extraordinary care as an instructor of a parish, and his wonderful acts of charity and goodness, began, about 1737, to be the subject of conversation, not only in the diocese of Clogher, and other parts of the North, but also in the metropolis; but still no notice was taken of him in the way of preferment. Dr. Sterne, the bishop of Clogher, VOL. it. N N
- usually sent for him, after he had bestowed a good preferment upon another, and gave him, “by way of a sop/1 ten guineas, which Mr. Skelton frequently presented to a Mr. Arbuthnot, a poor cast-off curate, who was unable to serve through age and infirmity. At length, Dr. Delany, who had been his tutor at college, perceiving him to be thus neglected, procured for him an appointment to the curacy of St. Werburgh’s, in Dublin. This would have been highly acceptable to Mr. Skelton, and Dr. Delany would have been much gratified to place such a man in a situation where his merits were likely to be duly appre-ciated: it is painful to relate in what manner both were disappointed. When he was on the point of leaving the diocese of Clogher, Bishop Sterne perceiving that it would be to his discredit if a person of such abilities should leave his diocese for want of due encouragement, sent a clergyman to inform him, “that if be staid in his diocese he would give him the first living that should falL” Relying on this, he wrote to Dr. Delany, and the curacy of St. W erburgh’s was otherwise disposed of. The first living that fell vacant was Monaghan, where he had so long officiated, which the bishop immediately gave to his nephew, Mr. Hawkshaw, a young gentleman that had lately entered into orders! It would even appear, that he had made his promise with a determination to break it; for, when he bestowed the preferment on his nephew, he is reported to have said, “1 give you now a living worth SOO/, a year, and have kept the best curate in the diocese for you, who was going to leave it: be sure take hia advice, and follow his directions, for he is a man of worth and sense.” But Skelton, with all his u worth and sense/9, was not superior to the infirmities of his nature. He felt this treacherous indignity very acutely, and never attended a visitation during the remainder of the bishop’s life* which continued for a series of years; nor did the bishop ever ask for hiui, or express any surprise at his absences Under Mr. Hawkshaw, however, he lived not unhappily* Mr. Uawkshuw submitted to hia instruction^ and; fol--
- lowed his example, and there was often an amicable contest in the performance of their acts of duty and charity. In 1742, he accepted the office of tutor to the late Earl of Charlemont; but, owing to a difference with his lordship’s guardian, soon resigned his charge, and returned to his curacy.
- On the death of Dr. Sterne, the see of Clogher was filled by Dr. Clayton, author of the u Essay on Spirit,’1 a decided Arian; and between him and Skelton there could consequently be no coincidence of opinion, or mutuality of respect. In 1748, Mr. Skelton having prepared for the press his valuable work, entitled w Deism revealed/1 he conceived it too important to be published in Ireland, and therefore determined to go to London, and dispose of it there. On his arrival, he submitted his manuscript to Andrew Millar, the bookseller, to know if he would purchase it, and have it printed at his own expense. The bookseller desired him, as is usual, to leave it with him for a day or two, until be could get a certain gentleman of great abilities to examine it. Hume is said to have come accidentally into the shop, and Millar shewed him the MS. Hume took it into a room adjoining the shop, examined it here and there for about an hour, and then said to Andrew, “print" By this work Skelton made about 200£ A few months after its publication the Bishop of Clogher, Dr. Clayton, was asked by Sherlock, Bishop of London, if he knew the author. “O yes, he has been a curate in my diocese near these twenty years.” -
- ever, was not entirely effectual: Clayton could not refuse the request, but made several removals on purpose to place Skelton in the living of Pettigo, in the wild part of the county of Donegal, worth about 200£ a year, the people uncultivated, disorderly, fond of drinking and quarrelling, and, in a word, sunk in profound ignorance. He used to say, he was a missionary sent to convert them to Christianity, and that he was banished from all civilized society. He often declared that he was obliged to ride seven miles before he could meet with a person of common sense to converse with. With such difficulties, how* ever, Skelton was born to contend. He always had a conscientious feeling of the wants of his flock, with a strong impelling sense of duty. His biographer has given a very interesting account of the means, pions and charitable, which he took to meliorate the condition of his parish, which, for the sake of brevity, we must omit; suffice it to say, they were effectual; but his situation affected his mind in some degree, and he became liable to occasional fits of the hypochondriac kind, which recurred more or less in the after-part of his life. In 1757, a remarkable dearth prevailed io Ireland, and no where more than in Mr. Skelton’s parish. The scenes of distress which he witnessed would now appear scarcely credible. He immediately set himself to alleviate the wants of his flock, by purchases of meal, &c. at other markets, until he had exhausted all his money, and then he had recourse to a sacrifice which every man of learning will duly appreciate. He resolved to sell his books, almost the only comfort he had in this dreaiy solitude, and relieve his indigent parishioners with the money. Watson, a bookseller in Dublin, who had advertised them for sale without success, at last bought them himself for 80£ and immediately paid the money. Soon after they were advertised, two ladies, Lady Barrymore and a Miss Leslie, who guessed at Skelton’s reason for selling his books, sent him 50£ requesting him to keep his books, and relieve his poor with the money; but Skelton, with
- MO many expressions of gratitude, told them be had dedicated his books to God, and he must sell them; and accordingly both sums were applied to the relief of his parishioners. Every heart warms at the recital of such an act of benevolence, and all reflections on it would lessen the impression. One other circumstance may be added. The bookseller sold only a part of the books in the course of trade, and those that remained, Mr. Skelton, when he could afford it, took from him at the price he sold them for, but insisted on paying interest for the sum they amounted to, for the time Mr. Watson had them in his possession. In 1758, Dr. Clayton, bishop of Clogher, died, and was succeeded by Dr. Garnet, who treated Mr. Skelton with the respect he deserved, and in 1759, gave him the living of Devenish, in the county of Fermanagh, near Enniskilr len, worth about SOOZ. a year, and thus he was brought once more into civilized society. When leaving Pettigo, he said to the poor, a Give me your blessing now before 1 go, and God’s blessing be with you. When you are in great distress, come to me, and I ’ll strive to relieve you.? In this new charge, he exerted the same zeal to instruct his flock both in public and private, and the same benevolence toward the poor which had made him so great a benefit to his former people. In 1766, the bishop of Clogher removed him from Devenish to the Jiving of Fin- tona, in the county of Tyrone, worth at least 100£ more than the other. He was now in the fifty-ninth year of his age. “God Almighty,” he used to say, “was very kind to me: when 1 began to advance io years and stood in need of a horse and servant, he gave me a living. Then he gave me two livings, one after another, each of which was worth a hundred a year more than the preceding. I have therefore been rewarded by him, even in. this world, far above my deserts.” \
- At Fintona, he shewedt himself. the .same diligent, kind, and faithful pastor as when on his former livings; but two circumstances occurred here very characteristic of the man* Having discovered that most .of his prptefVmt pifflshiomro
- were dissenters, he invited their minister to dine with him, and asked his leave to preach in his meeting on the next Sunday; and consent being given, the people were so pleased with Mr. Skelton, that the greater number of them quitted their own teacher. After some time, Skelton asked him how much he had lost by the desertion of his hearers ? He told him 40Z. a year, on which he settled that sum on him annually. We mentioned in a former page, that Mr. Skelton had studied physic with a view to assist the poor with advice and medicines. By this practice, at Fintona, he found that Dr. Gormly, the physician of the place, lost a great part of his business; on which Skelton settled also 40£ a year on him.
- In 1770, he published his works by subscription in 5 vols. 8vo. for the benefit of the Magdalen charity. In his latter days, when the air of Fintona became too keen for him, he passed some of his winters in Dublin, and there was highly valued for his preaching, which, in the case of charities, was remarkably successful. During a dearth, owing to the decline of the yarn manufactory at Fintona, he again exhausted his whole property in relieving the poor, and again sold his books for 100L He said he was now too old to use them; bat the real cause was, that he wanted the money to give to the poor, and the year after he bestowed on them 60£ It was one of his practices to distribute money, even in time* of moderate plenty, among indigent housekeepers, who were struggling to preserve a decent appearance. He was also the kind and liberal patron of such of their children as had abilities, and could, by his urgent application and interest, be advanced in the world.
- His infirmities increasing, after fifty years labour in the ministry with a diligence without parallel, he now found himself incapable any longer of the discharge of his public duties, and in 1780, took his final leave of Fintona, and removed to Dublin, to end his days. Here be received great respect from many of the higher dignitaries of the church, and in 1781, the university offered him the degree
- Mi bf doctor of divinity, which he declined. In 1784/ he published by subscription a sixth volume of his works, and in 1786, he published his seventh volume. In the same year, he also published a short answer to a eatechibm, written by an English clergyman, and used at Sunday schools, which be supposed to contain an erroneous doo trine with respect to the state of men after death/ and sent a copy to all the bishops of England and Ireland. The Archbishop of Dublin was so convinced by it, that he stopped the use of the catechism in his dioeese.
- Mr. Skelton died May 4,1787, and was buried near the west door of St. Peter’s church-yard. His character hat been in some degree displayed in the preceding sketch taken from his ** Life,” by the Rev. Samuel Burdy, 1799, 8vo. With the exception of some oddities of eon- duct and expression, in which he somewhat resembled Swift and Johnson, his life was truly exemplary in all its parts, and his writings deserve to be held in higher estimation.
- SIR HANS SLOANE.
- THIS celebrated naturalist was born at Killiieagh,county of Down, on the Ititb of April, 1660. His father, Alexander Sloane, a native of Scotland, and head of the Scotch colony in the north of Ireland, in the reign of James L was collector of taxes for that county, and died in 16SB. Young Sloane early manifested hiu attachment for thosd studies which he afterwards so successfully cultivated/ and his perseverance in them was so intense, as to occasioto, in his sixteenth year, a spitting of blood, which’ confined him to his chamber for three yehrs. Off his recovery from this dangerous attack, he applied1 himself to the study of medicine io general, but more particularly of chemistry and botany, in his cultivation of which sciences, even at this early age he was liberally asritted by those truly scientific men, Boyle and Ray. Having spent four jean in London in the prosecatioo of these his favourite studies*
- he accompanied the learned Dr. Tancred Robinson and another student, on a visit to France; and during his stay at Paris, attended the lectures of Du Verney and Tourne- fort, by whose means he became acquainted with the celebrated botanist of Montpelier, Magnol, whom he is said constantly to have attended in his botanical excursions. With so strong an attachment to the science, aided by the instructions of men of such acknowledged talent, it is no wonder that, on his return to England at the latter end of 1684, he had it in his power to commu-nicate much useful information, and many rare and valuable seeds and plants to his friend Ray, whose Historia Flantarum contains, in its numerous acknowledgments to Dr. Sloane, (for he had taken the degree of M.D. while on the Continent,) a grateful memorial of his early talents* The abilities which were thus made known to the world, soon found in the illustrious Sydenham a friend and protector, who took him into his house, and zealously promoted his interest in the way of practice. On the 21st January, 1685, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society; and in April 1687, entered into the College of Physicians. But, however gratifying to his feelings were these tes-timonials, and however flattering the prospects which he might fairly have entertained, the love of science induced him to abandon all these advantages by embarking for the island of Jamaica, as physician to the Duke of Albemarle. He left Eugland on the 12th of September, 1687, and in his passage touched at Madeira, Barbadoes, Nevis, and St. Kitt’s, at each of which places be made the best use of the little time he remained there, constantly making some addition to his collection, and to his stock of knowledge. During his stay in Jamaica, which did not exceed fifteen months, being cut short by the death of the Duke of Albemarle, he set about collecting the objects of natural history, which that island affords, with such unremitted diligence, that, had he not, to use the words of his French eulogist, converted, as it were, his minutes into houn, he could not have made those numerous acquisitions which
- contributed so largely to extend the knowledge of nature, while they laid the foundation of his own future fame and fortune. It is, however, to be remarked, that Dr. Sloane was the first man of learning who had taken so long a voyage for the sole purpose of improving his favourite science; and that the botauists of Europe were so completely ignorant of the productions of America, that until his return from Jamaica, it was a doubt with Ray himself, with which, to use his own words, he had long been tormented, whether the new world presented any species of plants in common with the old; a doubt, which was removed by Dr. Sloane, who furnished him with a catalogue of the indigenous plants of Jamaica, likewise natives of England, which be published in his Synopsis. Add to this, that Dr. Sloane was well acquainted with the disco* veries of the age, that he had an enthusiasm for his object, and was at an age when both activity of body, and ardour of mind concur to vanquish difficulties; and it will hardly appear strange, that he returned home with eight hundred species of plants, besides a proportionate number of subjects from the animal kingdom, or that such a collection made in so short a time, was regarded with wonder and astonishment.
- He returned to London in May 1689; but it was not till 1696, that he published the Prodromus of his History of Jamaica plants, preparatory to the publication of his large work, of which it may be considered as the index, under the title of “Catalogus Plantarum quae in Insulft Jamaica sponte proveniunt,” arranged nearly according to the method of Ray.
- In 1707, appeared the first volume of his “Voyage to Madeira, Barbadoes, Nevis, St. Christopher’s, and Jamaica; with the Natural History of the Herbs and Trees, four-footed Beasts, Fishes, Birds,” Sec. &c. containing the first part of the vegetable kingdom. The second volume, containing the remainder of the vegetable and the animal kingdom, and making the whole number of plates two hundred and seventy-four, was not published till 1725. The
- delay which took place in the publication of this work is principally attributed to the time which he expended in the arrangement and preservation of his museum, which, by many valuable acquisitions, (particularly of Courten’s collection in 1702, and of Petiver’s in 1718, had, at the period of the publication of the second volume, as we are informed by the introduction, been increased to two hundred volumes of preserved plants, and more than 26,200 articles of natural history. Much of this delay may also be reasonably attributed to his professional avocations, in which he had, speedily after his return, arrived at great eminence.
- In 1694, he was chosen physician of Christ’s hospital, in which station, which he retained till 1750, he afforded a rare specimen of liberality, by annually appropriating the emoluments which he received from that institDlion,to the relief of those connected with it who appeared to him most in need of it. He bad previously, in 1693, been chosen secretary to the Royal Society, in which office, which he held till 1712, he revived the publication of the Philosophical Transactions, which had been discontinued since 1687, and to which he became a frequent and value* ble contributor. In 1708, during the war with France, he was elected a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. His professional fame was by this time so well established, that honours began to fail thick upon him; he was frequently consulted by Queen Anne, who was blooded by him in her last illness; and, on the accession of George I. he was created a baronet, and appointed physician-general to the army, which was followed by his election in 1719, to the presidency of the College of Physicians.
- In 1721, he gave the freehold of his botanical gardefl at Ciieisea, consisting of nearly four acres, to the Society of Apothecaries, on condition of their annually delivering to the Royal Society fifty new plants, until the nuatber should amount to two thousand, all specifically diHereM from each other; a list of which was to be published yearly
- 555 in the Philosophical Transactions. This condition was complied with, and even exceeded by the Society of Apo-thecaries, who continued to deliver the plants, which are still preserved in the archives of the Royal Society, till 1773, when the number of specimens amounting to $550, it was discontinued.
- On the death of Sir Isaac Newton in 17$7, he succeeded him as president of the Royal Society, to which he presented one hundred guineas and the bust of its founder Charles II., and in the same year he was made physician to George II. In 1733, however, he resigned the presidency of the College of Physicians, and in 1740, be also tendered his resignation to the Royal Society, which they reluctantly accepted. In May 1741, he removed his museum to Chelsea, which manor he had previously purchased, and whither he himself retired. Here, however, as in London, he received the visits of persons of rank, and of British and foreign ‘literati, and never refused admittance or advice to any, whether rich or poor, who came id consult him concerning their health. He was extremely courteous and obliging, and always ready to shew and explain his curiosities to all who gave him timely notice of their visit. He kept an open table once a week for his learned friends, particularly these of the Royal Society. He was a great benefactor to the poor, and governor of almost every hospital in London, to each of which* besides giving 100Z. in his life-time, he left a considerable legacy. On the 11th of January, 175$, in the ninety-second year of his age, be closed a life prolonged by habits of temperance, and rendered useful by habits of exertion, and on the 18th of the same month was buried at Chelsea, in the same vault with his lady, whom he married in 1695, and who died in 17$4. He left behind him two daughters, one married to George Stanley* Esq. and the other to. Lord Cadogan.
- Anxious to prevent the destruction and dissipation of his library and museum, the former containing fifty thousand volumes, including about three hundred and fifty
- books of drawings, and three thousand five hundred and sixteen manuscripts, besides a multitude of prints, and the latter containing about twenty-three thousand coins and medals, and (according to the general view of its contents, published the year before his death) upwards of thirty-six thousand six hundred subjects of natural history, exclusive of plants, he directed in his will that they should be offered to the public for $20,000£, declaring at the same time that they had cost him upwards of 50,000£ The offer was readily accepted, and an act of parliament for their purchase, together with the collection of MS. formed by Robert Ilarley, Earl of Oxford, and then offered to the public by his daughter, the Duchess of Portland, and for placing them, together with the Cottonian colleo tion, in one general repository, was passed in 1753. For this purpose Montague House was purchased, and the several collections having been deposited there, and regulations for the proper government of the institution having been formed, it was opened to the •public, subject to those regulations, in 1759, under the title of the British Museum.
- EDWARD SMITH,
- BISHOP of Down and Connor, a learned divine and phi-losopher, was bom at Lisburn, in the county of Antrim, in 1665, and was educated in the university of Dublin, of which he was elected a fellow in 1684, in the nineteenth year of his age. He soon afterwards took his degree of D. D. During the troublesome times in 1689, he retired for safety to England, where he was recommended to the Smyrna Company, and appointed chaplain to their factories at Constantinople and Smyrna. Here be remained four years, and in 1693, returned to England, and was made chaplain to King William 111. whom he attended four years in Manders. His first promotion was to the deanery of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, in 1695, from whence he was advanced to the bishopric of Down find Connor in l
- 1699, and was soon after admitted into the privy council. He died at Bath, in October 1720. Prior to his decease, he printed four sermons, and was the author of five papers in the Philosophical Transactions.
- SIR MICHAEL SMITH, BART.
- WAS a member of the Irish bar, and attained ultimately the highest rank of professional dignity. He was born of a respectable family in the King’s County; and at an early age entered the university of Dublin, where he obtained, by his genius and application, eminent distinction in classical and scientific acquirements. From college he proceeded to the Temple, London; and, after the usual quarantine of five years, he was called to the Irish bar in 1769, and although, added to his talents and other attainments, possessed of a respectable portion of legal know-ledge, yet he remained, like many of his fellow-candidates for professional success, long unnoticed. The buoyancy of his abilities in time bore him to the surface, and he floated on by a gradual progress to eminent success. Mr. Smith was of a character not adapted to the bustling executive of life. His deportment was calm, gentle, and unassuming; and he won his way by means not usually considered promising with men of the world, by modesty and merit, sustained by feelings and principles which would not submit to any conduct incompatible with delicacy and honour.
- In 1783, he became a member of the House of Commons, and continued in parliament till 1794; and no man ever more eminently attracted the respect and esteem of both sides of the House. He maintained a steady, honourable, and independent course, neither looking to party nor promotion; but was at all times ready to resist with firmness any encroachment on the constitution, whether by the crown or its opponents.
- As a public speaker his manner was frigidity itself; but
- his arguments were impressive^ and his style was elegantly
- polished. Many years ago, he delivered a speech in the Irish House of Commons, upon one of the Catholic bills, in which, amongst other departures from the cruel system which separated that persecuted sect from all social connexion with their protestant fellow-subjects, there was a clause for permitting catholics and protestants to intermarry; a permission previously debarred by the penalties of transportation to any clergyman who knowingly performed the marriage ceremony, and of voidance to the marriage itself. The clause was strenuously resisted by many of the high church members; but Mr* Smith, who supported the whole of the bill, sustained this danse in a style of impassioned eloquence, with all the diarities of a Christian, all the gallantry of a liberal gentleman, and all the fervour of a heart flowing with the sacred flame of conjugal love. The House was astonished, the applanse was unbounded, and the clause passed. A short time afterwards, a gentleman of the bar repeated this passage of Mr. Smith’s speech to Baron Yelverton, (who was a zealous advocate for the same cause,) with high encomium and surprise that the frost of the philosopher had not extinguished the fire of the patriot, nor the ardour of the genial passion. But Baron Yelverton observed, that* if the cheering sun-beams could shed summer upon Sdww, revive torpidity to action, and teach the ice of the Poke to dissolve, was it wonderful that the united rays of patriotism and notice beauty should melt logic into pity and stoicism into love ?”
- In the year 1794, the parliamentary dnties and forensic labours of Mr. Smith were terminated by his elevation to the judgment seat, as one of the barons of his majesty’s court of exchequer; and never did an appointment meH with more of public and private approbation, and especially from that bar to which he bad been so long an honour and an ornament. As a judge, he was most patient; every advocate was heard by him with calm but earnest attention, and the juniors with parental kindness; for, to all concerned his wish was “to do justice for trvtKs shhe omf
- Ms conscience’9 His judgments were eminently correct, and, like his eloquence, strictly logical. In 1799, he was created a baronet. During the absence of Lord Chancellor Clare, he acted as lord commissioner for the custody of the great seal, from Michaelmas term 1800, to Trinity term 1801; and in the latter year he was appointed master of the rolls, in which office be continued until 1806; when from the decline of his health, and the severe attacks of the gout, he was obliged to resign his office, and he retired with a pension for life; and made room for the appointment of Mr. J. P. Curran as his successor.
- The health of Sir Michael Smith now began rapidly to break, at no distant period after his resignation of the rolls. His last illness was severe, but short; and his departure for a better world was soothed by the consolations of Christianity and the attentions of his relatives. His son, afterwards Sir William Cusack Smith, attended him in his last moments with filial piety.
- It was a curious occurrence in the history of jurisprudence in Ireland, that this father and son were at the same time both going judges of assise on the north-east circuit in 1801, an incident unprecedented in the history of these islands, since the time of Sir Thomas More, who was chancellor while his father was chief justice of the King’s Bench. On Sir Michael Smith’s final resignation, the whole Irish bar, with unanimous consent, presented to him the following address, as an honourable testimony of their esteem and veneration: -
"SlR,
- In departing from the bench, you will permit the sincerest esteem and unqualified approbation of the bar to accompany you in your honourable retirement. We cannot forget, and we are happy to acknowledge, that by your mild, gracious, and unassuming deportment, the dignity of the high station you filled was sustained without austerity or arrogance; and that the well-mixed qualities of the scholar, the lawyer, the gentleman, and the judge, conciliated affection, and impressed respect. Scorning to offer the gross incense of adulation, but desirous to render a just tribute to atorit, we entertain an ardent hope that though your judicial fimctions have ceased, your example may have operation, and that the chief blaming of the country, equal justice, may continue to be dispensed with an into* grity above suspicion, and with manners void of offence.”
- It is but justice to add his answer: -
“GENTLEMEN,
“I thank you from my heart for this kind and affectionate address; the terms of which excite a feeling, to which no language of mine can do justice. To acquire and to deserve the esteem and approbation of that enlightened and liberal profession to which you belong, was the tint ambition of my early life. To have obtained them, which your address assures me of, will be the pride and comfort of my declining age. It is now more than seven and thirty years since I had the honour to be enrolled as one of your respectable body, and during the whole of that long period, I never ceased, nor, while life and memory remain, shall I cease, to love, esteem, and admire the spirit, talents, and liberality of the Irish bar. “May they be perpetual” is, and to the latest moments of my existence, shall be the fervent prayer of, GENTLEMEN,
- Your ever obliged,
- Faithful, and affectionate humble servant, MICHAEL SMITH.” Harcourt Street, 121 h July, 180G.
- THOMAS SOUTHERN, A DRAMATIC writer of some eminence, was born at Dublin, in 1659, and was admitted a student of Trinity College, March SO, 1676. In his eighteenth year lie left his native country, and removed to the Middle Temple, London, when he devoted his time to the more amusing pursuits of play-writing and poetry, and forsook the uncongenial study of the law. His “Persian Prince; or, Loyal Brother,” was introduced on the stage in 1682, at a time when the Tory interest was triumphant, and the character of the Loyal Brother was doubtless intended to compliment James Duke of York, who afterwards rewarded him. After his accession to the throne, Southern went into the army, and served as ensign in Earl Ferrers9 regiment, when the Duke of Monmouth landed. This affirir being over, he retired to his studies, and wrote several plays, by which he is supposed to have gained considerable sums. In the preface to his tragedy called M The Spartan Dame,” he acknowledges, that he received from the booksellers as a price for this play 1501. which was thought in 1721, the lime of its being published, very extraordinary.
- He was the first who raised the advantage of play-writing to a second and third night; which Pope mentions in these lines:
- Tom whom heav’n sent down to raise The price of prologues and of plays.
- Verses to Southern, 1742.
- The reputation which Dryden gained by the many pro* logues he wrote, made the players always solicitous to have one of his, as being sure to be well received by the public. Dryden’s price for a prologue had usually been four guineas, with which sum Southern once presented him; when Dryden, returning the money, said, “Young man, this is too little, I must have six guineas.” Southern answered, that four had been his usual price; “Yes,” says Dryden, “it has been so, but the players have hitherto had my labours too cheap; for the future I must have six guineas.” Southern also was industrious to draw all imaginable profits from his poetical labours. Dryden once took occasion to ask him, how much he got by one of his plays? Southern said, after owning himself ashamed to tell him, 700£; which astonished Dryden, as it was more by 600£ than he himself had ever got by his most successful plays. But it appears that Southern was not beneath the arts of solicitation, and often sold his tickets at a very high price, by making applications to persons of quality and distinction; a degree of servility, which Dryden might justly think below the dignity of a poet. Dryden entertained a high opinion of Southern’s abilities; and prefixed a copy of verses to a comedy of his, called u The Wife’s Excuse,” acted in 1692- The night that Southern’s “Innocent Adultery” was first acted, which has been esteemed by some the most affecting play in any language, a gentleman took occasion to ask Dryden, “what was his opinion of Southern’s genius?” who replied "that he thought him such another poet as Otway.” Such indeed was Dryden’s opinion of his talents, that being unable to finish his “Cleomenes,” he consigned it to the care of Southern, who wrote one half of the fifth act of that tra- VOL.II. oo
- gedy, and was with reason highly flattered by this mark of the author’s confidence and esteem. Of all Southern’s plays, ten in number, the most finished is “Oroonoko; or, the Royal Slave;” which is built upon a real fact, related by Mrs. Behn in a novel. Besides the tender and delicate strokes of passion in this play, there are many noble sentiments poetically expressed. Southern died May 26, 1746, aged eighty-five. He lived the last ten years of his life in Tothill-street, Westminster,and attended the Abbey service very constantly; being particularly fond of church music. He is said to have died the oldest and the richest of his dramatic brethren. Oldys says, that he remembered Mr. Southern “a grave and venerable old gentleman. He Jived near Covent-garden, and used often to frequent the evening prayers there, always neat and decently dressed, commonly in black, with his silver sword and silver locks; but latterly it seems he resided at Westminster.” The late poet Gray, in a letter to Mr. Walpole, dated from Burnham in Buckinghamshire, in September 1737, has also the following observation concerning this author: “We have old Mr. Southern at a gentleman’s house a little way off, who often comes to see us: be is now seventy-seven years old, and has almost wholly lost his memory; but is as agreeable an old man as can be; at least I persuade myself so when I look at him, and think of Isabella and Oroonoko.” Mr. Mason adds in a note on this passage, that “Mr. Gray always thought highly of his pathetic powers, at the same time that he blamed his ill taste for mixing them so injudiciously with farce, in order to produce that monstrous species of composition called Tragi-comedy.”
- SIR THOMAS SOUTHWELL,
- DISTINGUISHED by his biographer Floyd for his gallant behaviour, and the imminent dangers to which he was exposed during the war between William and James in Ireland, is introduced here as entitled to the gratitude of
- his country, as one of the principal founders of the staple of Irish commerce, the linen trade. He was born July 23, 1655, at Callow, in the county of Limerick, which county he afterwards represented in parliament, till called to the peerage by the title of Baron Southwell of Castlemattress. In his office of commissioner of the revenue, which was first bestowed on him by King William, he much encouraged and promoted the trade and commerce of Ireland; the injured merchant ever finding a speedy redress to his grievances, from his impartial administration of justice. To his interest principally, was owing the set-tlement at Lisburn of the ingenious Mr. Lewis Cromelin, who is generally allowed to have been of the utmost importance to that branch of trade, by the manufactures he brought and settled there, and very instrumental in bringing it by his skill and industry to considerable perfection, for which he received a parliamentary reward. In 1709, upwards of six thousand poor Germans, who had been driven by the calamities of war from the Palatinate, sought a refuge in England, through which country they were dispersed; until several hundred families were sent to Ireland, many of whom, by the generosity of Sir^Fho- mas Southwell, were settled on his estate in Limerick, where principally through his encouragement and protection, they had flourished so much as to form, in 1760, the population of three villages. This worthy and patriotic citizen died suddenly, August 4, 1720, and was buried at Ratbkeale.
- CAPTAIN STACKPOLE, OK, STACKPOOLE, WAS descended from the ancient family of that name in the county of Clare, and was a skilful and fearless commander, but was unfortunately slain in a duel, under the following extraordinary circumstances. Four years pre-* ceding the catastrophe, a naval officer inquired of Lieutenant Cecil if he knew Captain Stackpole of the Statira frigate. Lieutenant Cecil replied he did, and .had the
- highest opinion of him as an intrepid and skilful seaman, adding at the same time that he believed him capable of drawing occasionally a long bow. This answer was publicly talked of in the gun room of the Statira; and at length reached the ears of Captain Stackpole, who, having ascertained that the words were spoken, declared that he would call Lieutenant Cecil to an account for them, when and wherever he met him. It was so far fortunate that they did not meet for four years; but the opportunity at last offered, when the Statira was laying in the harbour of Port Royal, Jamaica, and the Argo, of which Cecil was senior lieutenant, happened to enter that port. Immediately as Captain Stackpole was aware of the circumstance, be sent his first lieutenant, Mr. White, on board the Argo with a message to Lieutenant Cecil, purporting he must either meet him immediately, or make a suitable apology for the slanderous words he had used. Lieutenant Cecil in reply said, that four years having elapsed since the words were spoken, which he was charged with having uttered, it was quite impossible for him to recollect how far they were correct or not; but as a brother officer, and a man of honour, had quoted the words as his, he could not act otherwise than avow them. As to an apology, he wished Captain Stackpole to understand, that under all the circumstances, he should have had no objection to apologise to any other officer in his majesty’s navy, but to him it was impossible, the captain of the Statira being reputed throughout the navy as a good shot, and having been the friend and companion of Lord Camelford. In consequence of this reply, the parties met at a place called Park Henderson, at a quarter before five on the following morning, April 28, 1814; took their ground at ten paces, and fired as nearly together as possible, when Captain Stackpole received the ball of his adversary in his right side, fracturing the first rib, and passing through the lungs, which almost instantaneously deprived him of life. He died without speaking a word, or even uttering a groan. Immediately after the affair he was removed on board the
- Statira, and from thence, on the following morning, to the place of his interment (Port Royal church-yard). His funeral was attended by Rear-Admiral Brown, all the navy, and most of the army, who saw the military honours due to his rank paid.
- Captain Stack pole’s character in the navy was of the first possible standing, and his challenge to fight the Statira against the American frigate the Macedonian, had so endeared him to every officer and man on board his ship, that there were but few that could refrain from tears on learning his unhappy fate.
- How mysterious are the decrees of the Most High. The same individual, Lieutenant Cecil, who took the life of Stack pole, was himself engaged in a second duel a few months afterwards, on nearly the same ground, was slain, and was buried within a yard of his former antagonist.
- RICHARD STANYHURST,
- AN historian, poet, and divine of the sixteenth century, was born in Dublin, probably about 1545 or 1546. His father, James Stanyhurst, was a lawyer, recorder of Dublin, and speaker of the House of Commons in several parliaments. He published, in Latin, “Pise Orationes“Ad Corcagiensem Decanum Epistolss,” and three speeches, in English, which he delivered as speaker, at the beginning of the parliaments of the 3rd and 4th Philip and Mary, and the 2nd and 11th of Elizabeth. He died December 27, 1573, leaving two sons, Walter and Richard* Of Walter our only information is, that he translated “In- nocentius de Contemptu Mundi.”
- Richard had some classical education at Dublin, under Peter White, a celebrated schoolmaster, whence he was sent to Oxford in 1563, and admitted of University college. After taking one degree in arts, he left Oxford, and undertook the study of the law with diligence, first at Fumival’s inn, and then at Lincoln’s-inn, where he resided for some time. He then returned to Ireland, married, and turned
- Roman Catholic. Removing afterwards to the continent, he is said by A. Wood to have become famous for his learning in France, and the Low Countries. Losing his wife, while he was abroad, he entered into orders, and was made chaplain, at Brussels, to Albert, Archduke of Austria, who was then governor of the Spanish Netherlands. At this place he died in 1618, being universally esteemed as an excellent scholar in the learned languages, a good divine, philosopher, historian, and poet. He kept up a constant correspondence with Usher, afterwards the celebrated archbishop, who was his sister’s son. They were allied, says Dodd, “in their studies as well as blood; being both very curious in searching after the writings of the primitive ages. But their reading had not the same effect. The uncle became a Catholic, and took no small pains to bring over the nephew.” Stanyhurst published several works, the first of which was written when he had been only two years at Oxford, and published about five years after. It was a learned commentary on Porphyry, and raised the greatest expectations of his powers, being mentioned with particular praise, as the work of so young a man, by Edmund Campion the Jesuit then a student of St. John’s college. It is entitled,“Harmonia, seu catena dialectics in Porphyrium,” London, 1570, folio. 2. “De rebus in Hibernia gestis, lib. iv.” Antwerp, 1584, 4to. According to Keating, this work abounds, not only in errors, but misrepresentations, which Stanyhurst afterwards acknowledged. 3.u Descriptio Hiberniae,”inserted in Hollinshed’s Chronicle. 4. “De vita S. Patricii, Hibernia Apostoli, lib. ii.” Antwerp, 1587, 12mo. 5.“Hebdomad a Mariana/’ Antwerp, 1609, dvo. 6. “Hebdomada Eucharistica,” Douay, 16)4, 8vo. 7. “Brevis prmmonitio pro futura concertationc cum Jacobo Usserio,” Douay, 1615, 8vo. 8. “The Principles of the Catholic Religion.” 9. “The four first books of Virgil’s/Eneis, in English hexameters,” 1583, small 8vo, black letter. To these are subjoined the four first Psalms; the first in English lambics, though he confesses, that “the Iambical quantitie relisheth somwhat
- unsavorly in our language, being, in truth, not al togeather the tootbsomest in the Latine.” The second is in elegiac verse, or English hexameter or pentameter. The third is a short specimen of the asclepiac verse; thus, a Lord, my dirye foes, why do they multiply.” The fourth is in sapphics, with a prayer to the Trinity in the same measure. Then follow, “certayne poetical conceites,” in Latin and English: and after these some epitaphs. The English throughout is in Roman measures. The preface, in which he assigns his reasons for translating after Phaer, is a curious specimen of quaintness and pedantry.
- Speaking of Stanyhurst Mr. Warton says, “With all his foolish pedantry Stanyhurst was certainly a scholar. But in this translation* he calls Choraebus, one of the Trojan chiefs, a Bedlamite; he says, that old Priam girded on his sword Morglay, the name of a sword in the Gothic romances: that Dido would have been glad to have been brought to bed, even of a cockney, a Dumb- prat hop-thumb; and that Jupiter, in kissing her daughter, bust his pretty prating parrot.” Stanyhurst is styled by Camden, “Eruditissimus ille nobilis Richardus Stani* hurstus.”
- Stanyhurst had a son William, born at Brussels in 1601. He became a Jesuit, and a writer of reputation among persons of his communion. He died in 1663. Sotwell has given a list of his works, of which we shall mention ooly “Album Marianum, in quo prosa et carmine Dei in Austriacos beneficia, et Austriacorum erga Deum obsequia tecensentur,” Louvaine, 1641, folio.
- SIB GEORGE-LEONARD STAUNTON,
- SscBBTAitv and historian of an embassy to China, was eon of a gentleman of small fortune in Galway, in Ireland, and was sent early to study physic at Montpelier, where be proceeded M. D. On his return to London, he transc
- Virgil’s JMd.
- lated Dr. Storck’s treatise on Hemlock, and drew up for the “Journal Etranger,” in France, a comparison between the literature of England and France. About 1762, Dr. Staunton embarked for the West Indies, and he had the honour of receiving from Dr. Johnson a farewell letter. l)r. Staunton resided, for several years, in the West Indies, where he acquired some addition to his fortune by the practice of physic; purchased an estate in Grenada which he cultivated; and had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of the late Lord Macartney, governor of that island, to whom he acted as secretary, and continued in that capacity until the capture of it by the French, when they both embarked for Europe. Having studied the law in Grenada, Dr. Staunton filled the office of attorney-general of the island. Soon after Lord Macartney’s arrival in England, he was appointed governor of Madras, and took Mr. Staunton with him (for he seems now to have lost the appellation of doctor) as his secretary. In this capacity, Mr. Staunton had several opportunities of displaying his abilities and intrepidity, particularly as one of the commissioners sent to treat of peace with Tippoo Sultaun, and in the seizure of General Stuart, who seemed to have been preparing to act by Lord Macartney as had been before done by the unfortunate Lord Pigot. The secretary was sent with a small party of seapoys to arrest the general, which he effected with great spirit and prudence, and without bloodshed. On his return to England, the India Company, as a reward for his services, settled on him a pension of 5001. per annum; the king soon after created him a baronet of Ireland, and the university of Oxford conferred on him the degree of LL. D. It having been resolved to send an embassy to China, Lord Macartney was selected for that purpose,and he took his old friend and countryman along with him, who was not only appointed secretary of legation, but had also the title of envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipor tentiary bestowed on him, in order to be able to supply the place of the ambassador in case of any unfortunate
- accident. The events of this embassy, which, on the whole, proved rather unpropitious, are well known, and were given to the public in two large quarto volumes, written by Sir George.
- Sir George died at his house in Devonshire-street, Port* land-place, January 12, 1801.
- SIR RICHARD STEELE. THIS various and amusing writer, with whose name are associated some of our most pleasing recollections, was a native of Dublin, and born in 1671- His father was a member of the Irish bar, and private secretary to the Duke of Ormond, by whose means young Steele, at an early age, obtained admission into the Charter-house, where he contracted that close friendship with Addison, which terminated only with the death of the latter. From the Charter-house he removed to Merton college, Oxford, and afterwards rode private in the guards, but soon obtained a pair of colours. Here he gave a striking proof of the eccentricity of his genius, by composing a small moral and religious treatise, for his own private use, in order to fortify his resolution against the temptations to which his situation constantly exposed him; but, finding this expedient produce little effect, he printed it, with his name, in 1701, under the title of u The Christian Hero,” in the extravagant expectation, that so public a testimony against himself, would have the effect of deterring him by shame from the pursuit of those irregularities into which be had been seduced. Without, however, producing the intended effect on himself, he soon found that he was shunned as a disagreeable fellow, and exposed to the ridicule of his acquaintance, some of whom even went so far as to insult him publicly, in order to prove, as they said, whether he was a “Christian hero.” One of them actually challenged him, and although Steele, in his endeavours to act up to his new character, used every exertion to evade it, he wa< at length compelled to meet his adversary, whom he ran through the body. Thia cir-
- cumstance coming to the ears of the brave Lord Cults, who commanded the regiment, and to whom Steele had dedicated his performance, he made him his secretary, and shortly after obtained for him a captaincy in Lord Lucas’s regiment of fusileers.
- In order to efface the disagreeable impression which his publication had created, he produced, in the succeeding year, his first comedy, “The Funeral; or, Grief a-la-mode,” with which King William is said to have been so highly pleased as to have entered Steele’s name in his table-book to be provided for, an intention which was frustrated by that monarch’s death. Soon after the accession of Queen Anne, he obtained, through the interest of his friend Addison, the office of gazetteer, with a salary of 300£ a year; in which post, he informs us, he worked faithfully, according to order, without ever erring against the rule observed by all ministers, to keep that paper ver}* innocent and very insipid. The success of “The Funeral,” induced him to persevere in the same line; accordingly, in 1703, he brought forward the “Tender Husband which was followed, in 1704, by “The Lying Lover,” altered from the French of Corneille, who imitated it from the Spanish. On the 12th of April, 1709, he published the first number of the “Tatler,” the first of a series of essays, which, by bringing him into contact with all the celebrated geniuses of the age, form the most brilliant epoch in his literary career, and increased his reputation and interest so much as to obtain for him the office of commissioner of stamps. On the 2nd of January, 1711, he discontinued the Tatler, without communicating his intention even to Addison; and on the 1st of March in the same year, appeared the first number of the Spectator, which was followed by the Guardian and Englishman. In the course of these papers his habitual improvidence frequently kept the press standing for want of copy; and old Nutt, the original printer of the Tatler, declared that he actually saw one paper written by Steele in his bed at midnight while lie was waiting to carry it to the office.
- in the meanwhile he also published several political
- pamphlets in the Whig interest, to which he had attached himself; and, having an ambition to sit in parliament, he resigned his office of commissioner of stamps, in order to qualify himself for that honour. He was accordingly returned for Stockbridge at the general election, and is said to have owed his return, in common with too many others, to the old trick of kissing the voters’ wives with guineas in his mouth. Be this as it may, the parliament having met on the 2nd of March, 1714, a petition was presented against his return; but his pamphlets having rendered him’ peculiarly obnoxious to the men then in power, and the petition being the seventeenth on the list, and therefore not likely to come on until the next session, the ministers resolved upon taking a shorter way with him. Accordingly, on the 11th of March, Mr. John Hungerford, a lawyer, who had been expelled for bribery in the reign of King William, having moved that the House should take into consideration, that part of her majesty’s speeches relating to seditious libels, made a formal complaint against divers scandalous papers published under the name of Mr. Steele. On the next day Mr. Auditor Harley specified some printed pamphlets published by Mr. Steele, “containing several paragraphs tending to sedition, highly reflecting upon her majesty and arraigning her administration and government.” Mr. James Craggs, standing up to speak in his behalf, and being prevented from proceeding by cries of order,” Mr. Steele rose and desired a week’s time to prepare for his defence, which was excepted against by Mr. Harley, who moved for adjourning it only to the following Monday. On this Steele, assuming the sanctified deportment and manner of that gentleman, “owned, in the meekness of his heart, that he was a very great sinner; and hoped the member who spoke last, and who was so justly renowned for his exemplary piety and devotion, would not be accessary to the accumulating the number of his transgressions, by obliging him to break the Sabbath of the Lord, by perusing such profane writings as might serve for his justifica-
- tion.” Having thus put the House in good humour, he obtained the delay for which he asked, which circumstance raised his spirits so high, that on the very Monday which Mr. Harley had wished to appoint for his hearing, he moved an address to the Queen concerning the demoli-tion of Dunkirk, the favourite topic of the then Opposition, which, however, was rejected by a majority of two hundred and fourteen to one hundred and nine. On the 18th, the day appointed for his hearing, strangers being ordered, on the motion of one of the court party, to withdraw, Mr. Steele was asked by Mr. Auditor Foley, whether he acknowledged the writings that bore his name? to which he answered, that he “did frankly and ingenuously own those papers to be part of his writings; that he wrote them in behalf of the house of Hanover, and owned them with the same unreservedness with which he abjured the PretenderOn this Mr. Foley proposed that Mr. Steele should withdraw; but it was carried, without a division, that he should stay and make his defence. He then requested that he might be allowed to answer what was urged against him, paragraph by paragraph; but this being refused, he proceeded, with the assistance of his friend Addison, who sat near him to prpmpt on occasion, to speak for three hours, with such temper, eloquence, and unconceit, as gave entire satisfaction to all who were not prejudiced against him. At the conclusion of this address, Steele withdrew, when Mr. Auditor Foley, confident in his numbers, contented himself wiib merely moving the question. This occasioned a very warm debate, which lasted till eleven at night, when, in spite of the opposition of Mr. Robert Walpole, his brother Horatio, Lord Finch, and other distinguished members of the House, it was resolved by a majority of two bandied and forty-five to one hundred and fifty-two, that a printed pamphlet, entitled, < The Englishman,’ and one other pamphlet, entitled, ‘ The Crisis,’ written by Richard Steele, Esq. a member of this House, are scandalous and seditious libels,” &c. and that Mr. Steele, “for his offence* in writing and publishing the said seditious libels, be expelled this House?9 He afterwards published an “Apology for himself and his writings/9 which he dedicated to Mr. Robert Walpole. In the course of the same year he published “The Romish Ecclesiastical History of late years/9 a work designed to injure the cause of the Pretender through the sides of his religion, of the rites and doctrines of which it contains many exaggerated descriptions. On the accession of George 1. his pen was remarkably active in supporting the principles which bad raised that monarch to the throne. He was returned to parliament for Boroughbridge, and rewarded for his services by the appointment of surveyor of the royal stables at Hampton Court; he was also knighted, and put into the commission of the peace. Through the interest of the Duke of Marlborough, he obtained a share in the patent of Drury- Jane theatre, which proved a source of considerable emolument to him, but which was revoked through the interference of a noble lord, in the year 1720; on which he drew up and published “A State of the Case between the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty’s Household and the Governor of the Royal Company of Comedians,” in which he computes the loss which he sustained by that circumstance, at almost 10,000£ So devoted was Steele to dramatic amusements, that he at one time formed a project of converting part of his house in York-buildings into a sort of theatre, for reciting passages from the best authors, ancient and modern. Accordingly a splendid room was constructed, and elegantly fitted up, though the owner of the house, a9 usual, had never once considered how the whole was to be paid for. Coming one day to see how the work went on, he ordered the carpenter to get into the rostrum and make a speech, that he might observe bow it would be heard. The fellow mounted, and, scratching his head, told him he did not know what to say, for he was no speechifier. “Ob !99 said the knight, “No matter for that, speak any thing that comes uppermost.” - " Why here, Sir Richard/9 says the man, “we have been working
- for you these six months, and cannot get one penny of money. Pray, Sir, when do you mean to pay us?” - “Very well, very well,” said Sir Richard; <€ pray come down; I’ve heard quite enough; 1 can’t but own yon speak very distinctly, though 1 don’t much admire your subject.”
- In 1722, was acted his comedy of “The Conscious Lovers,” the success of which was so great as to induce the king, to whom he dedicated it, to make him a present of 500£ In the same year he was returned to parliament for the borough of Wendover, by a triumphant majority, which he secured by the skilful application of his wit and talents, in opposition to the powerful purse of his adversaries.
- Steele was twice married. His first wife, who died young, brought him a good fortune, and a plantation in the island of Barbadoes. On her death he paid his addresses, successfully, to the daughter and sole heiress of Jonathan Scurlock, Esq. of Llangunnor-park, in Caer- mai thenshire. After running a round of extravagance, inculcating prudence by his writings, and setting the example of folly in his life, this singular genius experienced a shock of his mental faculties, occasioned by a paralytic affection. He then retired to his wife’s estate in Wales, where he spent the short remainder of his variegated life, ending as he had begun, in warm professions of virtue and religion, not suffering any works to be read to him but the Bible and Common Prayer Book. He died on the 1st of September, 1729; but it is remarkable that neither to Steele nor Addison has private friendship or public gratitude given a monumental tribute. Of the friendship which subsisted between them, Steele himself speaks in the following terms; - “There never was a more strict friendship than between these two gentlemen; nor had they ever any difference, but what proceeded from their different way of pursuing the same thing. The one with patience, foresight, and temperate address, always waited and stemmed the torrent; while the other often
- plunged himself into it, and was as often taken out by the temper of him who stood weeping on the bank for his safety, whom he could not dissuade from leaping into it. Thus these two men lived for some years last past, shunning each other, but still preserving the most passionate concern for their mutual welfare. But when they met, they were as unreserved as boys, and talked of the greatest affairs, upon which they saw where they differed, without pressing (what they knew impossible) to convert each other.”
- JOHN STERNE, OR STEARNE,
- A LEARNED Irish physician, was born at Abdraccan, io the county of Meath, in the house of his uncle, the celebrated Archbishop Usher, but then Bishop of Meath. He was educated in Dublin college, of which he became a fellow, but was ejected by the usurping powers for his loyalty, and was reinstated at the Restoration. He was M.D. and LL. D. and public professor of the university. He was a very learned man, but more food of the study of divinity than that of his own profession, in which he possessed considerable knowledge. He died in 1669, aged forty-six, and was buried in the college chapel, where a monument was erected to his memory. He published a few Latin tracts, a list of which is to be found in Ware. Dr. Sterne’s son, John, was educated by him in Trinity college, Dublin, and became successively vicar of Trim, chancellor and dean of St. Patrick’s, bishop of Dromore in 1713, and of Clogber in 1717, and vice-chancellor of the university of Dublin. Being a single man, he laid out immense sums on his episcopal palaces, and on the college of Dublin, where he built the printing-house, and founded exhibitions. Most of these were gifts in his life-time, and at his death (June 1745) be bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, about 30,000£ to public institutions, principally of the charitable kind. His only publications were, a “Concio ad Cleram,” and “Tractates de Visitatione
- Infirmorum,” for the use of the junior clergy, printed at Dublin in 1697, 12mo. Dean Swift appears to have corresponded with bishop Sterne for many years on the most intimate and friendly terms; but at length, in 1733, the dean sent him a letter full of bitter sarcasm and reproach, to which the bishop returned an answer that marks a superior command of temper; but it appears from the life of the Rev. Philip Skelton, that his lordship deserved much of what Swift had imputed to him.
- LAURENCE STERNE,
- ONE of the most popular writers of modern times, and the founder of a numerous class, to whom the term senti- mental has been given, was born at Clonmell, in the south of Ireland, November 24th, 1713. He was the son of Roger Sterne, a lieutenant in the army; and it has been conjectured, that his affecting story of Le Fevre, was founded on the circumstances of his father’s family, which had long to struggle with poverty and hardships on the slender pay of a lieutenant. As soon as Laurence was able to travel, his father and family quitted Ireland, and went to Elvington, near York, where his father’s mother resided; but in less than a year, they returned to Ireland, and afterwards moved from place to place with the regiment, until Laurence was placed at a school near Halifax, in Yorkshire. In 1731, his father died.
- The subject of our memoir remained at Halifax till towards the conclusion of the above year, and in the following, was admitted of Jesus college, Cambridge, where he took his bachelor’s degree in January 1736, and that of master in 1740. During this time he wras ordained, and his uncle, Jaques Sterne, then LL. D. procured him the living of Sutton, and afterwards a prebend of York, and by his wife’s means (whom he married in 1741) he got the living of Stillington. He resided, however, principally, and about twenty years, at Sutton, where, as he informs us, his chief amusements were painting, fiddling) and l
- shooting. Before he quitted Sutton, he published, in 1747, a charity sermon for the support of the charity school at York; and in 1756, an assize sermon, preached at the cathedral in York.
- In 1759, he published at York the first two volumes of his “Tristram Shandy and in 1760, he went to London to republish the above volumes, and to print two volumes of his “Sermonsand this year also, Lord Falconbridge presented him to the curacy of Coxwold. In 1762, he visited France, and two years afterwards went to Italy. In 1767, be came up to London again to publish the “Sentimental Journey;” but his health was now fast declining, and after a short but severe struggle, he died at his lodgings in Bond-street, March 18th, 1768, and was buried in the new burying ground belonging to the parish of St. George, H ano ver-square.
- Sterne’s talents as an author were unquestionably great; and yet there are few possessed of any reflection, that would willingly exchange their names for his on the title pages of his most popular works. He had the power of pourtraying pictures equally masterly and affecting. He could raise his readers to the very tip-toe of expectation, and then defeat their ardent curiosity by dashes and asterisks. He prophanely and daringly trod the borders of impiety and lewdness, and that too in the most dangerous mode, without giving the alarm of disgusting language. By powers wonderfully and sublimely pathetic, he could reach at times, the inmost recesses of the heart, and by the exuberance and originality of his wit, he could dazzle and delight his readers for pages together.
- The charge of borrowing from his predecessors has been alleged against the subject of this article by a judicious and candid writer, who produces evidence sufficient to startle, if not subdue the doubts of criticism: those who have been delighted with Sterne, will perhaps read the following observations, and the passages which follow them, with regret and surprise.
- Sterne. - “’Tis an inevitable chance - the first statute VOL. 11. p p
- in Magna Charta; - it is an everlasting act of parliament, jny dear brother - all must die.”
- Burton. - a ’Tis an inevitable chance - the first statute in Magna Charta - an everlasting act of parliament - all must die.”
- Sterne. - “Returning out of Asia, when I sailed from iEgina towards Megara, 1 began to view the country round about. TEgina was behind me, Megara was before, Pyraeus on the right hand, Corinth on the left. What flourishing towns, now prostrate on the earth.”
- Burton. - (WORD FOII WORD TOO.) - Towns heretofore^ now prostrate and overwhelmed before mine eyes.”
- LUKE SULIVAN.
- THIS artist was a native of Ireland, but came to London when he was young, and became a pupil of Thomas Major. He practised miniature painting, as well as engraving, and had considerable employment. As an engraver he was chiefly engaged on plates from the pictures of llogarth, and sometimes worked conjointly with that artist.
- JONATHAN SWIFT,
- A CELEBRATED wit, and distinguished political writer, was born in Dublin on the 80th November, 1667, seven months after the death of his father; by which unfortunate event his mother had been so reduced in circumstances, that she was compelled to take refuge in the house of Mr. Godwin Swift, her husband’s eldest brother, in Dublio, where Jonathan first saw the light.
- The care of young Swift being entrusted by his mother to a nurse, this woman became so much attached to him, that, having occasion to visit a sick relative at Whitehaven, when he was about a year old, she took him with her unknown to his mother and uncle, who, when they after* wards discovered the place of his retreat, suffered him U)
- remain there till he was better able to bear the fatigues of the voyage in his return; in consequence of which, he wa9 not restored to them till he was four years old. This circumstance has given rise to an opinion, that he was a native of England; indeed, when displeased with the people of Ireland, he has been heard to say, “I am not of this vile country; I am an Englishmanbut the facts above related, are taken from an account left by him in his own hand-writing.
- When six years old, he was sent to the school of Kilkenny, and at a proper age was admitted a student of Trinity college, Dublin. During the four years he passed in this seat of literature, he made so little progress in the usual and necessary studies, having given himself up without reserve to history and poetry, that, on an application for the degree of bachelor of arts, he was rejected. A similar fate would have attended his second attempt, had he not been relieved from it by the good offices of some of his friends, who obtained his admission to the degree, but not without the insertion of the words spcdali gratia, as a mark of degradation. This latter circumstance is said to have given rise to a curious misunderstanding some years afterwards, when he applied for the degree of master of arts in the university of Oxford. This is said to have been immediately granted with peculiar tokens of respect, that learned body construing those words as a mark of especial honour.
- His uncle Godwin, having been attacked by a lethargy, which terminated in a total loss of speech and memory, Swift was deprived of the assistance he had expected from that relative in the guidance of his future pursuits. He, therefore, in 1688, went over to Leicester to consult with his mother, who recommended him to apply to Sir Wil-liam Temple; to whose wife Mrs. Swift was distantly related. He was received by Sir William, who was at that time high in the confidence of the king, with great kindness; and his patron being lame of the gout, Swift used to attend his majesty in his walks in the garden, who.
- treated him with great familiarity, and is said on one occasion to have offered him a troop of horse; this offer Swift thought proper to decline, having previously determined to take orders.
- The return of a disorder which he had contracted in Ireland, by eating immoderately of fruit, and which, with some intermissions, continued to increase until it terminated in a total debility both of body and mind, compelled him in 1693, to visit his native country for the benefit of the air. From this visit he, however, derived but little advantage; and on his return to England, he again took up hia residence in the house of Sir William Temple, who was then settled at Moor Park, near Farnham. He had previously taken orders at Oxford, and expected much advancement in the church from the kindness of his friend. In this he was disappointed; Sir William was too much attached to his company to provide for him elsewhere; and Swift rendered, perhaps, more irritable by the continuance of his complaint, quarrelled with him, and quitted his house un beau matin, making his way on foot to his mother, at Leicester, with whom he remained until, the interest of the viceroy, Lord Capel, he obtained the prebend of Kilroot, in the diocese of Connor, with about 100£ a year.
- His secession from the house of hjs benefactor continued not long. He was prevailed on by the entreaties of Sir William, debilitated by infirmities, and in want of a confidential friend, to resigu the prebend and return to Moor Park. Here he remained till the death of Sir Wil-liam, who left him a legacy, together with his posthumous works. These he collected and dedicated to King William, in the expectation of obtaining thereby a stall in the cathedral of St. Paul’s, or in that of Westminster. He was disappointed; he retired from the court in dudgeon, and could never afterwards endure the name of William, lhe Lail of Berkeley being appointed one of the lords justices of Ireland, Swift accompanied him in the capacity of chaplain and private secretary; but he was soon
- 381 removed, under the pretence that the situation was not fit for a clergyman. To this disappointment succeeded another; the deanery of Derry became vacant, and it was the turn of the Earl of Berkeley to dispose of it; but instead of presenting it to Swift as a recompence for his late usage, it was disposed of to another, and Swift was inducted to the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin, in the diocese of Meath, which did not together amount to half its value.
- On receiving these preferments he went to reside at Laracor, whither he journied on foot, in a decent suit of black, with coarse worsted stockings, of which he had a second pair with a shirt in his pocket, a round slouched hat on his head, and a long pole, higher than himself, in his hand. In this equipage he arrived on the fourth day at Laracor, where he found the curate, a very worthy man, sitting at the door of his house, smoking his pipe. “What is your name?” said Swift, very abruptly; and the old gentleman had scarcely answered, when he exclaimed, “Well, then, I am your master.” It would be tedious to repeat the remainder of a dialogue commenced in so unfeeling a manner: it will be sufficient to observe, that be retired in a much better humour, being highly pleased at some refreshment which he obtained, and at the manner in which it was served up by the wife of the curate. The church at Laracor having been left by his predecessor in a very miserable condition, Swift laudably repaired it. Indeed, he performed the duties of his situation with the utmost punctuality and devotion; but though really pious in his heart, he could not forbear indulging the peculiarity of his humour, without reference to time or place. He gave notice of his intention to read prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays; but on entering the church on the first of those days, he found no one there but Koger Cox, the parish clerk. The rector, however, ascended the desk, and rising up very gravely, began, “Dearly beloved Roger, the Scripture moveth you and me in sundry places,” &c. and so proceeded to the end of the service. In 1701, Swift took his doctor’s degree, and shortly
- SWIFT.
- after the death of King William, went over to England, for the first time since his settling at Laracor. This journey he frequently repeated during the reign of Queen Anne, and soon became eminent as a writer. He had been educated among the Whigs, but at length attached himself to the Tories; because the Whigs, he said, had renounced their old principles, and received others, which their forefathers abhorred. It may, however, be necessary to observe, for the information of those who regard only the modern acceptation of those terms, that the Tories of the reign of Queen Anne, differed much from those now so designated; Tories of that day being the out-party, and consequently opposed to the abuses of the existing government.
- We find scarcely any material circumstance recorded of Swift during several succeeding years of his life. He was principally engaged in endeavouring to overthrow the power of the Whigs, and on the change of administration, in 1710, he became a man of considerable consequence, although not filling any public situation. The following extract from the diary of Bishop Kennet, (who was no admirer of Swift) is sufficient evidence of the great extent of his power at this period of his life.
“Dr. Swift came into the coffee-house, and had a bow from every body but me, who, I confess, could not but despise him. hen I came to the anti-chamber to wait before prayers, Dr. Swift was the principal man of talk and business, and acted as a master of requests. He was soliciting the Earl of Arran to speak to his brother the Duke of Ormond, to get a chaplain’s place established in the garrison of Hull for Mr. Fiddes, a clergyman in that neighbourhood, who had lately been in gaol, and published sermons to pay fees. He was promising Mr. Thorold to undertake with my lord treasurer, that according to his petition, he should obtain a salary of 200£ per annum, as minister of the English church at Rotterdam. Then he stopped F. Gwynne, Esq. going in with his red bag to the queen, and told him aloud he had somewhat to say to him from my lord treasurer. He talked with the son of Dr.
- t)avenant to be sent abroad, and took out his pocket-book and wrote down several things, as memoranda, to do for him. He turned to the fire, and took out his gold watch, fend, telling the time of the day, complained it was very late. A gentleman said, 1 he was too fast? 6 How can I help it/ says the doctor, ‘if the courtiers give me a watch that won’t go right V Then he instructed a young nobleman, that the best poet in England was Mr. Pope (a Papist), who had begun a translation of Homer into English verse; for which ‘ he must have ’em all subscribe/ for, says he, the author shall not begin to print till / have a thousand guineas for him. Lord treasurer, after leaving the queen, came through the room beckoning Dr. Swift to follow him: both went off just before prayers.” Notwithstanding this great influence, he remained without preferment till 1713, when he was appointed Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, which,’though in point of power and revenue, no inconsiderable promotion, appeared to the ambitious mind of Swift, merely an honourable and profitable banishment. In this temper he arrived in Ireland to take possession of his new honours; and his acrimony was not a little increased by his reception there. The people of Ireland, regarding him as a Jacobite, booted and pelted him as he passed along the streets; and the chapter of St. Patrick’s received him with the greatest reluctance, thwarting him in every particular he proposed. He was avoided as a pestilence, opposed as an invader, and marked out as an enemy to his country. Such was on this occasion the reception of a man whose popularity afterwards rose to so commanding a height, that he may be said to have governed the people of Ireland with abso- lute and unlimited power. He now made no longer a stay in Ireland than was requisite to establish himself in his deanery, and to pass through the necessary formalitiea and customs; or, in his own words -
« through al! vexations, Patents, instalments, abjurations, Pint-fruits, and tenths, and chapter-treats, Dues, payments, fees, demands, and - cheats.” ,
- A fortnight after his entrance on the deanery, Swift hastened back to London, where he continued busied in politics, and confederated with the greatest wits of the age till the death of Queen Anne. During this period he was constantly endeavouring to exchange his Irish pro-motion, so little was he pleased with his treatment there, for some correspondent dignity in England: but in this he was disappointed; and on the final stop which was put to his expectations by the death of the queen, be returned to his native country, where he continued many yeftrs devoured by spleen, or, according to his own expression, “like a poisoned rat in his hole.” During his previous residence at Laracor, be had invited to Ireland a Miss Johnson, daughter of Sir William Temple’s steward, but who is better known by the name of Stella. She was accompanied by an elderly lady; and whatever attachment Swift might then have felt for her, the greatest care was taken to prevent scandal. They never lived in the same house, nor were they ever known to meet, except in the presence of a third person. When in England, in 1709, he was introduced to the family of Mrs. Vanhomrigh, the widow of a merchant of considerable opulence. Attaching himself much to them, he was soon regarded as one of the family, and during their familiarity, insensibly became a kind of preceptor to the daughters. The eldest, Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, better known by the name of Vanessa, of a character naturally vain and romantic, became attached to the man who was favoured, flattered, feared, and admired by the greatest men in the nation. Smitten at first with the character of Swift, her affections by degrees extended themselves to his person, lie had taught her
“That virtue, pleased by bciug shewn, Knows nothing which it dare not own; That common forms were not designed Directors to a noble mind and she had heard the lessons with attention, and imbibed the philosophy with eagerness. The maxims suited her exalted mind; but the close connexion between soul and
- body, appeared to a female philosopher indissoluble, and she had conceived, that they should, in their enjoyments, remain united. She communicated these sentiments to her preceptor, but he seemed not to comprehend her meaning. He talked of friendship, of the delights of reason, of gratitude, respect, and esteem. He almost preached upon virtue, and muttered some indistinct phrases concerning chastity. In short, he put aside her proposal of marriage without absolute refusal. Such was their situation on Swift’s return to Ireland; whither he was soon followed by the young ladies, who, on their mother’s death, found themselves considerably embarrassed by the prodigality in which she had indulged. Their affairs, however, were soon arranged; and, on the death of the younger sister, shortly after, the remains of their fortune centered in Vanessa.
- In his poem of “Cadenas and Vanessa,” Swift bad published to the world what may be termed the story of their loves; but with base and unmanly cruelty, had affected to veil its termination in a mystery, which was fatal to the reputation of his enamorata. Deserted by the world, and piqued at the coolness of Swift, who, however, visited her frequently, but answered her proposals of marriage merely by turns of wit, she at length became unable to sustain any longer her load of misery. She wrote to him a very tender letter, insisting upon a serious answer; an acceptance, or a refusal. His reply was delivered by his own hand. Throwing down the letter on her table with great passion, he hastened back to his house. From his appearance she guessed at the contents of his letter; she found herself entirely discarded from his friendship and conversation; her offers were treated with insolence and disdain; she met with reproaches instead of love, with tyranny instead of affection. She did not many days survive it; she testified her disgust and disappointment by cancelling the will she had made in his favour, and expired in all the agonies of despair.
- It has been conjectured, that in this letter, Swift revealed
- to her the secret of his marriage with Stella, which wa.< privately solemnized in 1716. With qualities almost entirely the reverse of those of Vanessa; mild, humane, polite, and pious, amiable both in mind and in person, and possessed of almost every accomplishment, her fate was little different. Whatever were his motives to this marriage, Swift continued to live with her on precisely the same terms as he had previously. Mrs. Dingly was still her inseparable companion, and it would be difficult to prove that Swift and Stella ever conversed alone. She never resided at the deanery, except during his fits of giddiness and deafness, and on his recovery she always returned to her lodgings, which were on the opposite side of the Liffey. A woman of her delicacy must repine at so extraordinary a situation. Absolutely virtuous, she was compelled by her husband, who scorned even to be married like any other man, to submit to all the outward appearances of vice. Inward anxiety affected by degrees the calmness of her mind and the strength of her body. She began to decline in her health in 1724, and from the first symptoms of decay, she rather hastened than shrunk back in the descent; tacitly pleased to find her footsteps tend-ing to that place where they neither marry nor are given in marriage. It is said, that Swift did at length consent that she should be publicly acknowledged as his wife; but the core had rankled too deeply, her health had departed, and she exclaimed, ‘‘ it is too late.” She died in January 1727, absolutely a victim to the peculiarity of her fate; a fate which she mejited not, and which she probably could not have incurred in an union with any other person. “Why the dean did not sooner marry this most excellent person,” says the writer of his life;
- The character which Swift had acquired as a man of humour and wit, had in a great measure removed that odium
- which his politics had attached to him, when the appearance of his “Proposal for the Use of Irish Manufactures,” elevated him immediately into a patriot. Some little pieces of poetry to the same purpose, were no less acceptable and engaging, and he soon became a favourite of the people. His patriotism was as manifest as his wit, so peculiarly captivating to the natives of Ireland; he was pointed out with pleasure and respect as he passed along the streets: but the popular affection did not rise to its height till the publication in 1724, of the “Drapier’s Letters,” those “braaen monuments” of his fame. A patent had been obtained by a person of the name of Wood, for the copper coinage, which was executed so badly and so low in value, as to become the general subject of complaint. In these letters, in a series of inimitable wit, and irresistible argument, the whole nation was advised to reject the base coin. The advice was followed; Wood decamped with his patent; the government was irritated to the extreme; and a large reward was offered by proclamation for the author of the letters.
- On the day after the proclamation appeared against the Drapier, there was a full levee at the castle. The lordlieutenant was going round the circle, when Swift entered the room with marks of the highest indignation in his countenance, and having pushed through the crowd, he addressed Lord Carteret, the viceroy, in a voice which echoed through the room, inveighing in the bitterest terms against Wood and his patent, and on the fatal consequences which must result from the introduction of base coin. The circle of obeisant courtiers was filled with astonishment at his audacity, and a dead silence prevailed for some minutes, which was broken by Lord Carteret, who appropriately addressed the dean in this passage from Virgil: -
“Res dune, et regni norites, me talm cogent Moliri.”
- Nothing was talked of for some days but the intrepidity of the dean, and the ingenuity of Lord Carteret.
- From this moment his popularity was unbounded. AH ranks and professions listed themselves under the banner of the Drapier. The Drapier became the idol of Ireland, even to a degree of devotion, and bumpers were poured forth to the Drapier, as large and as frequent as to the glorious and immortal memory. Acclamations and vows for his prosperity attended him wherever be went, and his effigies were painted in every street in Dublin. He was consulted in all points relating to domestic policy in general, and to the trade of Ireland in particular; but he was more immediately regarded as the legislator of the weavers, who frequently came to him in a body to receive his advice for the regulation of their trade. And when elections were depending for the city of Dublin, many corporations refused to declare themselves till they had consulted his sentiments and inclinations. Over the populace he was the most absolute monarch that ever governed; and he was regarded by persons of every rank with veneration and esteem.
- Melancholy is the lot of frail humanity. .This idol of his country was becoming daily more subject to those attacks of giddiness and deafness which finally terminated in a total abolition of his mental functions. In 1736, while writing “The Legion Club/* a satire on the Irish parliament, he was seized with one of these fits, the effect of which was so dreadful, that he left the poem unfinished, and never afterwards attempted any composition which required a course of thinking, or perhaps more than one sitting to finish.
- From this time his memory was perceived gradually to decline, and his passions to pervert his understanding. The attacks of his complaint became violent and frequent, and terminated in 1742, in a complete privation of reason. It would be distressing to humanity to detail the melancholy series of his few succeeding years; suffice it to say, that he expired without pang or convulsion, in October 1745, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Swift bad always entertained a strong presentiment
- that he should fall into the melancholy condition we have described. “Walking,” says Dr. Young, “with him and others, about a mile from Dublin, he suddenly stopped short; we passed on; but perceiving that he did not follow us, I went back and found him fixed as a statue, and earnestly gazing towards a noble elm, which in its uppermost branches was much decayed and withered. Pointing at it, he said, ‘ I shall be like that tree; I shall die at top.’ ”
- It was probably also under the influence of this feeling, that he bequeathed the whole of his property, with the exception of a few trifling legacies, for the purpose of building an hospital for lunatics and idiots in Dublin; the regulations for which, as directed in his will, are peculiarly correct and appropriate. Even in so serious a composition he indulged himself occasionally in an ironical solemnity, carrying with it marks of his peculiar humour. Among others we find the following “Item; 1 bequeath to Mr. Robert Grattan, prebendary of St. Audeon’s, my strong box, on condition of his giving the sole use of the said box to his brother, Dr. James Grattan, during the life of the said doctor, who has more occasion for it.”
- To attempt a delineation of the character of Swift, is needless. It would be superfluous to apply the epithet of wit to the author of “Gulliver’s Travels,” and the “Tale of a Tub;” or to distinguish as a patriot the writer of the “Drapier’s Letters.” His political works, though referring to so distant a period, are still occasionally quoted with respect; and few humorous tales are more frequently repeated than those of “Dean Swift.”
- EDWARD SYNGE. ’THIS pious and exemplary prelate of the established chuch, was born on April 6th, 1659, at Innishowane, of which place his father, who was afterwards promoted to the see of Cork, was then vicar. He received the first rudiments of his education at the grammar-school in Cork,
- which, at a proper age, he quitted for Oxford, where he took the degree of A. B.; but, on the death of his father, which took place soon after, he returned to his native country, and continued hi9 studies in Trinity college. He soon obtained a small preferment in the diocese of Meath, of the value of 100Z. a year, which he exchanged for the vicarage of Christchurch in Cork, of nearly the same value. This he held for upwards of twenty years, performing the laborious duties of his cure with the most active zeal, for the most part without assistance. During this period he obtained several small additional preferments, increasing his annual income to near 400Z.
- In the year 1699, an offer was made him on the part of the government, of the deanery of Derry, a dignity of double the value of his own preferments, which, however, he declined from motives of filial piety, his aged mother being unwilling to remove from a spot where she bad passed so great a portion of her life. In 1703, he was elected proctor for the chapter of Cork, in the convocation then summoned; and soon after nominated by the crown to the deanery of St. Patrick’s, Dublin. The chapter, however, refused to submit to this nomination, and maintained their own right of election, by choosing Dr. John Sterne, then chancellor of the cathedral; and the question being, after a full discussion, decided in their favour, a compromise took place, and Mr. Synge was appointed to the vacant chancellorship. In this new preferment, which included the cure of the populous parish of St. Werburgh, the worthy divine by no means relaxed from that diligent attention to his duties, which had previously characterised him, and speedily became a popular preacher. During this time he took his doctor’s degree, and in 1713, was appointed proctor for the chapter.’
- Dr. Sterne being promoted to the see of Dromore, Dr. Synge succeeded him as vicar-general to the see of Dublin; and in 1/14, shortly after the accession of George I., was made bishop of Raphoc. His zealous attachment to the principles of the Revolution, and his exertions in favour
- of the Hanover succession, were further rewarded in the year 1716, with the archbishopric of Tuam, which he held till his death, which happened on July 24th, 1741, in the eighty-third year of his age. The writings of this excellent prelate, consisting of small tracts, which have, separately, passed through many editions, form 4 vols. 12mo.
- PETER TALBOT,
- A ROMAN Catholic prelate of great talents, but of an ambitious and intriguing disposition, was the son of Sir William Talbot, of an ancient family in the county of Dublin, and brother to the celebrated Earl of Tyrconnel. He was born in 1620, and received into the society of the Jesuits in Portugal, in 1635. After passing through the usual course of study, he took holy orders at Rome, whence he returned to Portugal. He afterwards read lectures on moral theology at Antwerp, and is supposed to have been the person who, io 1656, found means to reconcile Charles II. to the Romish religion, and to have been secretly sent by him to announce that event to the court of Madrid. Being sent by his superiors into England to promote the interest of the church, he was extremely assiduous in paying his court to Cromwell, and even attended his funeral as a mourner. Having joined with Colonel Lambert to oppose the Restoration, he was compelled to fly from England, to which, however, he found means to return on the marriage of the king with the infanta of Portugal, in whose family he became one of the officiating priests; but having by his intrigues occasioned some confusion at court, he was ordered to quit the kingdom. Having been absolved from his vows by Pope Clement IX., he was, in 1669, made titular archbishop of Dublin. On his arrival in Ireland in this capacity, he involved himself in a dispute with the titular primate, Plunket, pretending that the king had appointed him overseer of all the clergy of Ireland. On the discovery of the pretended popish plot in 1678, his intriguing disposition led to a suspicion that he Was concerned in it; he was imprisoned in consequence in l
- the castle of Dublin, where be died in 1680. His publications, for a list of which we must refer the reader to Harris’s edition of Ware, are principally on controversial subjects, and in defence of the Jesuits.
- NAHUM TATE,
- THE far-famed versifier of the Psalms, was the son of Dr. Faithful Tate, a clergyman of the county of Cavan, and was born in Dublin (to which place his father had been compelled to Hy to save himself from the vengeance of the rebels, against whom he had given some information) in 1652. His father, who was thought to be puritanically inclined, afterwards became preacher of East Greenwich, in Kent, and lastly minister of St. Wer- burgh’s, Dublin. At the age of sixteen, Nahum was admitted of Trinity college; but he does not appear to have attached himself to any profession. Of the circumstances of his life we only know that he was patronised by the Earl of Dorset; that he succeeded Shadwell in the office of poet laureat; that he was extremely poor, and died in the Mint, whither he had fled to avoid his creditors. He is characterised by Warburton as a cold writer, of no invention, but who translated tolerably when befriended by Dryden, with whom he sometimes wrote in conjunction. He was the author of nine dramatic performances, and a great number of poems; but is at present better known for his version of the Psalms, in which he joined with Dr. Brady. He died August l£th, 1715.
- WILLIAM THOMSON.
- TH IS artist was a native of Dublin, but practised portrait painting in London, where his name appears in the catalogues of the Exhibition, from the year 1761 to 1777. Though lie was not considered a painter of the first eminence, his pictures possessed the merit of a faithful resemblance, and a natural tooe of colouring. He died in London in 1800.
- 593
- MARY TIGHE,
- A VERY superior woman both in mind and acquirements* was born in Dublin, in 1774. Her father was the Rev. William Blashford, librarian of St. Patrick’s Library, Dublin; and her mother, Theodosia Tighe, of Rosanna, in the county of Wicklow. She had the misfortune to lose her father while an infant; but by the care of her excellent mother, her fine intellectual powers were developed and cultivated. In early life she appears to have mixed with the gay world; but an extreme sensibility, joined to great delicacy of sentiment, soon decided her preference for retirement, where, happy in her choice of a partner, and devoted to her relatives and friends, hope pointed ex- ultingly to happiness, but sickness and death made their inroad in the choice circle; the loss of relatives joined with other causes, undermined her own health, and after a painful struggle of six years, she departed this life with Christian resignation and confiding hope, at Woodstock, in the county of Kilkenny, on the 24th of March, 1810, in the thirty-seventh year of her age.
- Her beautiful poem of Psyche will be remembered as long as elegance and classical taste can excite admiration; nor will her minor poems be forgotten, whilst piety, delicacy, and the most touching pathos have power to charm* With the profits arising from the above poems,an hospital ward has been endowed and attached to the House of Refuge (a charitable institution founded by her mother in the county of Wicklow), which is called the Psyche ward* She married her cousin, Henry Tighe, a man of considerable talent, who has been deceased about three years. Mr. T. represented the county of Wicklow in Parliament, at the time of his decease. He was the author of “The Statistical History of the County of Kilkenny,” a thick 8vo. published in 1799, by far the best of those county histories published under the auspices of the Dublin
- VOL. 11.
- 594
- JOHN TOLAND,
- ON B of the earliest and most learned of the modern Deists, was born at Inis Eogan, in the most northern peninsula of Ireland, on November SO, 1669. His parents were Catholics, and are stated to have been of a good family. He was baptized by the singular names of Janus Junius; which becoming an object of ridicule to the boys at the school of Redcastle, near Londonderry, where he received his early education, were changed by direction of the master into John, a name which he retained through the remainder of his life.
- In 1687, he removed to the university of Glasgow, and thence, after three years study, to that of Edinburgh, where he was admitted, in June 1690, to the degree of M.A. He had already renounced the religion of his fathers, and taken up the tenets of the Dissenters; and on his journey shortly after into England, his excellent abili-^ ties and great acquirements recommended J)im to the notice of several of the most eminent of that sect, as a proper person to undertake the important functions of the ministry. For this purpose, by their advice and at their expense, he uudertook a journey to Leyden, where he devoted himself for two years, with great assiduity to theological studies. On his return to England, he resided at Oxford; where, having the advantage of the public library, he undertook several learned works, and commenced his celebrated treatise, “Christianity not mysterious but leaving Oxford before it was finished, it did not appear till 1696, the year after his arrival in London. Its publication was immediately followed by several attacks and refutations, and it was even presented as a libel by the grand jury of Middlesex; although the peculiar opinions of the author were by no means so broadly stated therein, as in many of his later publications. Indeed, the offence which it gave was almost entirely confined to men of narrow and prejudiced minds; while those of stronger and bolder genius regarded it as the commencement of a free
- 59* and candid discussion of the grounds of our faith, which tnust eventually lead to its surer establishment, on the solid basis of sound reason and argument. Among these was the celebrated Locke, than whom a more pious and sincere Christian never existed; who regarded Toland as a young man of considerable genius and splendid acquirements, and who admitted him on that account to some share of his notice, though by no means to his intimacy; considering that his subsequent value was to be estimated by the uses to which those gifts might be applied. Vanity formed a predominant feature in the character of Toland; and this principally induced Mr. Locke to be so guarded in his reception of him. In one of his letters to the patriotic Molyneux, he observes, “If his exceeding great value of himself do not deprive the world of that usefulness that his parts, if rightly conducted, might be of, I shall be very glad. I always Value men of parts and learning, and I think I cannot do too much in procuring them friends and assistance: but there may happen occasions that may make one stop One’s hand; and it is the hopes young men give, of what use they will make of their parts, which is to me the encouragement of being concerned for them; but if vanity increases with age, I always fear whither it will lead a man.”
- This estimate of Toland’s character was but too well founded. The book had already produced much clamour in Ireland, and this was greatly increased on the personal appearance of the author in Dublin, in April 1697. “There is a violent sort of spirit that reigns here,” writes Molyneux, “which begins already to shew itself against him; and I believe will increase daily; for I find the! clergy alarmed to a mighty degree against him; and last Sunday he had his welcome to this city by hearing himself harangued against out of the pulpit by a prelate of this country.” The behaviour of Toland was Dot of a nature to conciliate the animosity which his writings had originated. Within a few weeks after his arrival, Mr. Molyneux observes, “Truly, to be free, 1 do not think his managemetit since he came into this city/
- has been so prudent. lie has raised against him the clamours of all parties; and this not so much by his difference of opinion, as by his unseasonable way of discoursing, propagating, and maintaining it. Coffeehouses and public tables are not proper places for serious discourses relating to the most important truths: but when also a tincture of vanity appears in the whole course of a man’s conversation, it disgusts many that may otherwise have a due value for his parts and learning.”
- The consequence of such conduct was natural and unavoidable; and we can only be surprised that it wras not till the 11th of September, that Mr. Molyneux forwarded to Mr. Locke the following account of his retreat: - n Mr. Toland is at last driven out of our kingdom: the poor gentleman, by his imprudent management, had raised such an universal outcry, that it was even dangerous fora man to have been known once to converse with him. This made all wary men of reputation decline seeing him, insomuch that at last he wanted a meal’s meat, as L am told, and none would admit him to their tables. The little stock of money which he brought into this country being exhausted, he fell to borrowing from any one that would lend him half-a-crown; and run in debt for his wigs, clotJ.es, and lodging, as I am informed. And last of all, to complete his hardships, the parliament fell on his book; voted it to be burnt by the common hangman,and ordered the author to be taken into the custody of the serjeant at arms, and to be prosecuted by the attorney-general at law. Hereupon he is fled out of this kingdom, and none here knows where he has directed his course.”
- He retired to London to escape the storm which his indiscretion had produced, and immediately on his arrival, published an apologetical account of the treatment he bad received; which appeals only to have irritated him to still more violent attacks on revealed iciigion. In his life of Milton, published in 1698, he asserted the spuriousness of the Icon Basil ike; which, with some others of his opinions, occasionally interspersed, was represented by Dr. Blackall, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, as affecting the
- writings of the New Testament. This induced an attempt to vindicate himself in “Amyntor; or, a Defence of Milton’s Life;” which he afterwards asserted was intended not to invalidate, but to illustrate and confirm, the canon of the Scriptures; but on which it was regarded as so direct an attack, as to call for severe animadversion from Dr. Samuel Clarke, and many other learned divines.
- In 1701, the lower House of Convocation having appointed a committee to examine impious, heretical, and immoral books, they extracted five propositions from his “Christianity not mysterious,” on which they resolved, that “in their judgment, the said book contained* pernicious principles, of dangerous consequence to the Christian religion; that it tended, and (as they conceived) was written on a design, to subvert the fundamental articles of the Christian faith; and that the propositions extracted from it, together with divers others of the same nature,, were pernicious, dangerous, scandalous, and destructive of Christianity.” On reporting this resolution to the upper House, it was unanimously determined to proceed against the author; which was however dropped on the opinions of several lawyers, that the House had not sufficient authority, without a license from the king, to censure judicially any such publication. This was a source of much triumph to Toland, who, in his “Vindicius Liberus,” gave full scope to his vanity, and removed much of the disguise under which be had previously concealed many of his principles both religious and political.
- Since his arrival in England be had taken a considerable share in the war of pamphlets, which had at ttfat time risen to so great a height; and on the passing of the act of settlement in June 1701, he published his "Anglia Libera.” The Earl of Macclesfield, being sent over to Hanover with the act, Toland attended him there; and having presented his “Anglia Libera,” to her electoral highness, was the first who had the honour of kissing her hand upon the act of succession. He remained at her court five or six weeks, and on his departure was presented with gold medals, and
- portraits of the electress dowager, the elector, the young prince, and the Queen of Prussia. He then made an excursion to Berlin, where he had frequent opportunities of conversing with the queen, who took much pleasure in hearing his paradoxical opinions. A dissolution of parliament having taken place in November of the same year, he published the following advertisement in the Postman: - “There having been a public report, as if Mr. Toland stood for Blechingly in Surrey, it is thought fit to advertise, that Sir Robert Clayton has given his interest in that borough to an eminent citizen, and that Mr. Toland hath no thoughts of standing there or any where else.” This advertisement afforded matter of pleasantry to an anonymous writer, who published a pamphlet,entitled" Modesty mistaken.”
- It would be tedious and uninteresting to record the titles of the various works, the publication of which engaged him during several succeeding years of his life. These were chiefly political, and recommended him to the notice of Mr. Harley, secretary of state, by whom his pen was frequently employed, and under whose directions he is also stated to have acted as a spy. In the spring of 1707, he set out for Berlin; which city he was compelled to quit sooner than he had intended, by an incident, says M. des Maizcaux, too ludicrous to be mentioned. What this was, cannot now he discovered. He then went to Hanover, and was very graciously received at Dusseldoff, by the elector palatine, who presented him with a gold chain and medal, together with a purse of one hundred ducats. A French banker, then in Holland, being desirous of procuring a powerful protection, Toland proceeded to Vienna, in hopes of obtaining for him the title of count of the empire, for which he was willing to pay a large sum; but the imperial ministers could not be prevailed on, and Toland, after many unsuccessful attempts, quitted that city for Prague; from whence, having exhausted all his money, he was forced to make use of many shifts to enable him to retrace his way into Holland’
- he continued till 1710, and had the good fortune to become acquainted with Prince Eugene, who bestowed on him several marks of his generosity. On his return to England, he was enabled, by the liberality of Mr. Harley, to keep a country house at Epsom; but losing the favour of that minister, he afterwards wrote pamphlets against him. His skill in publications of this nature, and his attention to times and seasons, were such, that a pamphlet which he published in 1714, ran through ten editions in a quarter of a year. In 1718, he appears to have quitted politics altogether, and to have given himself up to the promulgation of his religious theories. In this year he published “Nazarenus,” and “The Destiny of Rome;” and in 1720, his “Pantheisticon’* appeared, in which his doctrines and his creed are thus explicitly set forth: - " In mundo omnia sunt unum, unumque est omne in omnibus. Quod omne in omnibus, Deus est; seternus ac immensus, neqne genitus, neque interiturus. In eo vivimus, movemus, et existimus. Ab eo natum est unumquidque, in eumque denuo reverturum; omnium ipse principium et finis.** This is declared by a modern author to be Pantheism, that is atheism, or there is no such thing. It may be so; for we confess ourselves perfectly incompetent to decide upon the merits, as we understand not the meaning, of this sublime effusion; but we should rather incline to class it with the ridiculous jargon of alchemy, which was under-stood neither by the professor nor the leanter, and calculated solely to create an impression of the vastness of intellect of the one, on the disordered faculties of the other. But few copies of this work were printed, and those were privately distributed by the author, in the expectation of receiving presents for them. In the preface he subscribes himself Janus Junius Eoganesius; which, though really his Christian name and the place of his birth, served for a good cover to the author, as no person in England was acquainted with these particulars. In the same year also appeared * Tetradymus.” In 1721, Dr. Hare, Dean of Worcester, published
“Scripture vindicated from the Misrepresentations of the Lord Bishop of Bangor;” in which he incidentally inserted a profane prayer of “the impious author of the Pantheisticon.” - “Omnipotens et sempiterne Bacche, qui huma- nam societatem maxime in bibendo constitutisti; concede propitius, ut istorum capita, qui hesterna compotatione gravantur, hodiernft leventur; idque fiat per pocula pocn- lorum. Auien.” Des Maizeaux, however, affirms that it was not composed by Toland, who knew nothing of it; but by a person whose name he forbears on account of his profession; though he believes he only intended it as a ridicule of Toland’s club of pantheistic philosophers, whom he injuriously imagined to be all drunkards, whereas they are grave, sober, and temperate men.
- He had for several years lived at Putney, spending his winters in London. While there, about the middle of December, finding his strength and appetite failing, he applied to a physician, who made him worse by producing a continual vomiting and diarrhoea, in this state be returned to Putney, and growing somewhat better, he wrote A Dissertation to prove the uncertainty of Physic, and the danger of trusting our lives to those who practise it.” He was preparing some other things, but death put an end to all his projects, on the 11th of March, 1722. Throughout the whole course of this tedious sickness, we are informed that he behaved with a truly philosophical patience, and looked upon death without the least perturbation of mind, composing his own epitaph, and bidding fare well to those about him, telling them “he was going to sleep.”
- IIENRY TRESHAM,
- AN admirable artist, was a native of Ireland, and received his first instruction in the rudiments of the art in the academy of Mr. W est in Dublin. He afterwards visited England, where he was for some time employed in drawing small portraits, when he was favoured with the
- patronage of Lord Cawdor, and was invited to accompany that nobleman in his travels to Italy. During a residence of fourteen years on the continent, chiefly at Rome, lie prosecuted his studies with great success, and returned a correct and elegant designer. He had distinguished himself by several designs for the principal publications of the time, when Mr. Boydell formed his project of illustrating Shakspeare with prints engraved from pictures painted by the most eminent artists of the British school. Mr. Tresham was engaged to contribute the exertions of his talents to that great undertaking. The subjects allotted to him were three scenes from the play of Antony and Cleopatra; and he acquitted himself in a manner which merited and received the public approbation.
- Soon after Mr. Tresham’s return from Italy, his health became considerably impaired, and for several years previous to his decease, he was reduced to a state of feebleness and infirmity, which incapacitated him from attempting any arduous undertaking; but his mind was not less alive to the interest of the art, which, to the last, was the chief object of his solicitude. Mr. Tresham was not less distinguished by the amiable qualities of his heart, than for the elegance of his taste as an artist; and he was equally beloved by a large circle of friends, as he was respected by his brother academicians.
- He died June 17 1814.
- He was also the author of three trivial poetical publications, all of which he made, in some measure, the vehicle of his sentiments on subjects of art.
- CAPTAIN JAMES-HINGSTON TUCKEY. THIS meritorious but unsuccessful navigator was the youngest son of Thomas Tuckey, Esq. of Greenhill, near Mallow, in the county of Cork, at which place the subject of our memoir was born, in August 1776. Both his parents dying during his infancy, he was left under the care of his maternal grandmother, who at an early age
- sent him to a classical school in Cork. The course of his reading, it is said, gave him a predilection for the sea service; and as this passion appeared to his friends wholly uncontrollable, he was permitted by them to undertake a voyage on trial to the West Indies, and accordingly, in the year 1791, he made his first voyage in a merchant vessel which traded between Cork and Barbadoes, and a subsequent one the year following, to the same island and the Bay of Honduras: on his voyage home he experienced all the miseries arising from want of water and provisions, and after being at sen a considerable time, was obliged to put into Charleston, South Carolina. All these hardships, however,did not damp his ardour for the naval profession; and war being soon after declared against France, an application was immediately made to his relative, Captain, now Sir Francis, Hartwell, then commanding the Thetis frigate, to receive the young sailor into his ship. This request being complied with, he was fitted out as speedily as possible, and sailed from Cork for Portsmouth, where the Thetis then lay: unluckily the vessel he was in sprung a leak, and was obliged to return to the Cove of Cork for repairs, which caused considerable delay, and on his arrival at Portsmouth, Mr. Tuckey had the mortification to learn, that the Thetis had sailed three days before on a cruise. He was, however, by means of Captain Hartwell, received on board the Suffolk. On the 1st of June, 1793, he was rated midshipman; made the captain’s aid- de-camp, and some months afterwards was made master’s mate. In the Suffolk he proceeded to India, and arrived at Madras in September 1794. He was present at the capture of Trincomalee from the Dutch, in 1795, served in the batteries with the seamen during the whole siege, and escaped with a slight wound in his left arm from the splinter of a shell. He was present also at the surrender of Amboyna, and Banda: at the former island the Mahometan natives would have exterminated the Dutch, had not the English undertaken their defence and protection; to assist in this humane purpose, Mr.Tuckey
- was stationed in a brig to cruise off the island, and on firing a gun at a party in arms assembled on the beach, it burst, and a piece striking him on the wrist, broke his right arm. Having no surgeon on board, he was obliged to officiate for himself, and set it in so sailor-like a fashion, that in about a week after it was again obliged to be broken by the advice of the surgeons. This arm he never completely recovered the use of. From the intense heat and the suffocating smell of an active volcano, to which they were exposed in Amboyua roads, for fourteen months, where they experienced the evils of famine and sickness, in addition to that of rebellion, they were glad to escape to Magao, where, in January 1797, they found the weather so intolerably cold, as several times to have snow. From fience they proceeded to Ceylon, and when at Columbo, on the 15th of January, 1798, a serious mutiny broke out on board the Suffolk, in the quelling of which Mr. Tuckey exerted himself with so much success, that, although wanting eighteen months for the completion of his servitude to qualify him for a lieutenant’s commission, the rear-admiral, Rainer, appointed him the following day acting lieutenant of the ship. From her he was removed to the Fox frigate; and when belonging to that frigate, being at Madras, intelligence was there received, that La Forte, a French frigate, was cruising in the Bay of Bengal. His majesty’s ship La Sybilie immediately prepared for sea, and Mr. Tuckey, with a small party of seamen belonging to the Fox, volunteered their services in her. They fell in with her, and after a desperate action she struck to the Sybilie. In this affray Lieutenant Tuckey commanded on the forecastle. After this action, Lieutenant Tuckey returned to the Suffolk, and received from the admiral a new active commission for his meritorious conduct. In August 1799, he was sent by the admiral in the Brave with dispatches for Admiral Blankett, then commanding a squadron in the Red sea. At the Leychelles islands, they captured a ship proceeding to Europe with gn embassy from Tippoo Suitaun to the Freocb director/;
- the ambassadors concealed themselves several days in the woods, where they were discovered by Mr. Tuckey, for which he received a French general’s sword, as the only share for this capture, he being only a passenger in the Brave. On his arrival in the Red Sea, Admiral Blanket! had quitted it for India, and he rejoined his old ship the Fox, which was left to guard the straits of Babelmandel. On the return of the admiral in 1800, he intended to visit Sir Sidney Smith at Cairo, on the supposition of the French having evacuated Egypt, under the sanction of a convention with that officer; and in that idea sent Mr. Tuckey in the Fox to Suez, to proceed over-land from thence with letters for Sir Sidney: but on his arrival at Suez he found it in possession of the French, in consequence of Lord Keith’s refusal to permit their embarkation. He therefore returned to Bombay.
- The excessive heat of the Red Sea seems to have laid the foundation of a complaint which never left him. He writes from Bombay, “It may surprise you to hear me complain of heat, after six years broiling between the tropics; but the hottest day 1 ever felt, either in the East or the W est Indies, was winter to the coolest one we had in the Red Sea. The whole coast of ‘ Araby the blest,* from Babelmandel to Suez, for forty miles inland, is an arid sand, producing not a single blade of grass, nor affording one drop of fresh water; that which we drank for nine months, on being analysed, was found to contain a very large portion of sea salt. In the Red sea the thermometer at midnight was never lower than 94°, at sunrise 104°, and at noon 112°. In India the medium is 82°, the highest <)4°.”
- Towards the close of the same year he again proceeded with the expedition to the Red Sea, (contrary to the advice of the faculty,) and arrived at Juddah in January IbOl; but in the course of a month his liver complaint returned, and his health suffered so many shocks, that he was reduced to a skeleton, and obliged to make his way back to India, where the physician of the fleet advised
- him to return home as the only means of accomplishing his recovery; and the admiral entrusted him with his dispatches. His native climate had the desired effect; and immediately on the re-establishment of his health, he applied to the Admiralty for active employment; accord-ingly, in 1802, he was appointed first lieutenant of his majesty’s ship Calcutta, in which situation he served during the whole of her long and arduous voyage, the object of which was to form a new establishment in New South Wales. Here Lieutenant Tuckey rendered very essential services, which were strongly acknowledged by the lieutenant-governor, who transmitted to the First Lord of the Admiralty a flattering testimony of his merits, particularly for a complete survey he had made of the harbour of Port Philip, &c. He reached England in 1804, and published an account of the voyage. But the favourable testimonies he had received were rendered abortive by the capture of the Calcutta in 1805, and by an imprisonment of nearly nine years in France. In 1806, he married Miss Margaret Stuart, a fellow-prisoner, who was also taken by the Rochefort squadron. Various applications were made at different times for the exchange of Lieutenant Tuckey; but they all proved fruitless.
- In 1810, Mr.Tuckey obtained permission for his wife to visit England for the purpose of looking after his private affairs. Her object being accomplished, she obtained passports from the French government to return to her husband, and was landed at Morlaix; but counter-orders had been received at this port, and she was detained, and after many unsuccessful memorials, praying to rejoin her husband at Verdun, and after a detention of six weeks, she was sent back to England.
- On the advance of the allied armies into France, in 1814, the British prisoners were ordered, at a moment’s warning, into the interior; and Mr. Tuckey, with his two little boys, was obliged to travel (in perhaps the most inclement winter the Almighty ever smote the earth with) to Blois. His youngest son was taken ill on the journey, and fell a
- victim to fatigue and sickness. “I had indeed (says tht father) a hard trial with my little boy; for, after attending him day and night for three weeks, (he had no mother, no servant, no friend but me to watch over him,) I received his last breath, and then had not only to direct his interment, but also to follow him to the grave, and recommend his innocent soul to God. This was indeed a severe trial, but it was a duty, and I did not shrink from it.” Another severe trial was reserved for him on his return to his family in England, on the final discomfiture of Buonaparte: he had the misfortune to lose a fine girl of seven years of age, in consequence of her clothes taking fire, after lingering several days in excruciating agony.
- The painful moments of his long imprisonment, found some relief in the composition of a professional work, which was published in England shortly after his return, in four 8vo. volumes, under the title of “Maritime Geo* graphy and Statistics.”
- In August 1814, Mr. Tuckey was promoted by Lord Melville to the rank of commander; and in the following year, on hearing of the intention of government to send an expedition to explore the river Zaire, he made an application with several other officers, to be appointed to* that service: his claims and his abilities were unquestionable, but his health appeared delicate; he was however so con* fident that his constitution would improve by the voyage^ and in a warm climate, and urged his wishes so strongly, that the lords of the Admiralty conferred on him the appointment. On the 17th September, 1816, he reached the Congo sloop, and the following day, for the sake of better accommodation, was sent down to the Dorothy transport, at the Tall Trees; he arrived in a state of extreme exhaustion, brought on by fatigue, exposure to the weather, and privations. On the 28th, he thought himself belter, and wholly free from pain, but shewed great irritability, which was kept up by his anxiety con* cerning the affairs of the expedition. On thedOd^tbc debility, irritability, and depression of spirits, becamd
- extreme, and he now expressed his conviction, that all attempts to restore the enegy of his system would prove ineffectual. From this time to the 4th October, when he expired, his strength gradually failed him; but during the whole of his illness he had neither pain nor fever, and he may be said to have died of complete exhaustion rather than of disease. Captain Tuckey, at the time of his decease, had just attained his fortieth year.
- The few survivors of this ill-fated expedition, will long cherish the memory of Captain Tuckey. His benevolence was boundless. A poor black of South Africa, who in his youth had been kidnapped by a slave dealer, was put on board the Congo while in the Thames, with the view of restoring him to his friends and country, neither of which turned out to be in the neighbourhood of the Zaire, and he was brought back to England. This black was publicly baptized at Deptford church by the name of Benjamin Peters; having learned to read on the passage out by Captain Tuckey’s instructions, of whom he speaks in the strongest terms of gratitude and affection. Captain Tuckey was generous to a fault, and knew nothing of the value of money, except as it enabled him to gratify the feelings of a benevolent heart.
- His present majesty was graciously pleased to settle a pension of 120£ per annum,*on his widow, and 25£ per annum on each of his four children, of whom the youngest was born since his father’s departure for Africa.
- RICHARD TYRREL,
- A NATIVE of Ireland, was introduced into the navy, under the patronage of that gallant and much revered admiral, Sir Peter Warren, who was his unde. Though he is said to have been appointed to the rank of postcaptain in the Super be, we find his first commission, which is dated the 26th of December, 1743, was to the Launceston. In 1755, we find him captain of the Ipswich, of sixty-four guns, one of the ships put into commission
- at Plymouth, a rupture with France being then apprehended. He was afterwards appointed to the Buckingham, and ordered to the West Indies, where we find him, in 1758, in company with the Cambridge, attacking a fort, in Grand A nee Bay, in the island of Martinico. Here they levelled the fort with the ground, destroyed three privateers, and took a fourth, which they converted into a tender. When the fort was demolished, a village near it presented a strong temptation to the men flushed with victory, to attack, and they solicited warmly for leave to plunder it; but their generous commander replied, - “Gentlemen, it is beneath us to render a number of poor people miserable, by destroying their habitations and little conveniences of life. Brave Englishmen scorn to distress even their enemies, when not in arms against them.” This seasonable harangue diverted the seamen from their purpose, and preserved the lives and properties of the innocent villagers. In the month of November, the gallant Tyrrel was ordered by Commodore Moore, to cruise in the Buckingham to windward of Martinico. Between the islands of Montserrat and Guadaloupe, he fell in with the IVeasel sloop, commanded by Captain Bowles, and immediately after descried a fleet of nineteen sail, under convoy of a seventy-four gun ship, which proved to be the Florissant, and two laige frigates. Captain Tyrrel immediately gave chase with all the sail he could carry; and the Weasel, running close to the enemy, received a whole broadside from the large ship, but without sustaining any c< jsider- able damage. In consequence of this Captain Tyrrel gave orders to Mr. Bowles, her commander, to keep aloof, as his small ship was incapable of withstanding such heavy metal. The Florissant, unwilling to rely on her superiority over the Buckingham, bore away, firing all the time her stern-chase guns, while the two frigates raked the enemy fore and aft. Tyrrel, however, steadily kept on his course^ and at length came alongside the Frenchman, within pistol-shot, in which situation he poured in his broadside, which did terrible execution. The captain of the Florissant 1
- was not backward in returning the salute, 90 that a furious conflict ensued. Captain Tyrrel being wounded in the face, and having three fingers of his right band shot away, was obliged to entrust the defence of his ship to Mr. Marshal, his first lieutenant, who continued the battle with great gallantry, but was killed in the act of encouraging the men; thus he died an honour to hi9 country, and to the service. The second lieutenant then caine on deck, and fought the ship bravely, yard-arm and yard-arm, sustaining a desperate fight against the three ships of the enemy. The officers and crew of the Buckingham exerted themselves with a calm determined valour; and Captain Troy, who commanded a detachment of marines on the poop, plied his small arms so effectually, as to drive the enemy from their quarters. At length, when the French were no longer able to withstand the skill and bravery of their assailants, terror, uproar, and confusion prevailed among them. The firing from the Florissant ceased, and about twilight her colours were hauled down. The Buckingham was too much damaged in her rigging to take immediate possession of her well-earned prize; which the French captain perceiving, set ail his sails, and, under favour of the night, escaped with the two frigates. This circumstance alone prevented a British ship of sixty-five guns, ^five of them having been disabled some months before,) with only four hundred and seventy- two men, from taking a French ship of the line, mounted with seventy-four pieces of cannon, provided with seven hundred men, and assisted by two large frigates; one of thirty-eight guns, and three hundred and fifty men; the other of twenty-eight guns, and two hundred and fifty men. The loss of the Buckingham in this signal action, was only nine men killed, and thirty-one wounded. On board the Florissant, one hundred and eighty men were said to have been killed, and three hundred wounded. She was so disabled in her hull that she could be hardly kept afloat till she reached Martinico: and the largest frigate, besides the loss of forty men, received such damage^ VOL. 11. B B
- as to become quite unserviceable. Captain Tyrrel, in his letter to Commodore Moore, accused the enemy of having fired square bits of iron, rusty nails, and such destructive materials as a generous enemy would have disdained to use. The brave Captain Tyrrel, coming to England soon after, was introduced to the king by Lord Anson, who received him with particular marks of favour: and in a few months be was appointed captain of the Foudroyant, of eighty guns, then esteemed the finest of her rate in the British service. In October 1762, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the white, but was not actually employed till the conclusion of the war, when be com* manded in chief on the Antigua station. He died on board the Princess Louisa, his flag-ship, on his passage to England, on the 27th of June, 1766, and, at his own request, his remains were thrown into the sea.
- JAMES USHER,
- A LEARNED antiquary and illustrious prelate, distinguished by Dr. Johnson as the great luminary of the Irish church, was born in Dublin on January 4th, 1580. He was descended from an ancient and respectable family, which had settled in Ireland in the reign of Henry II. OQ which occasion it followed a common custom of thetimev in exchanging its English name of Nevil, for that of the office with which it was invested. His infancy is rendered somewhat singular by the circumstance of his having beets instructed in reading by two aunts who had been blind from their cradle, but who, from the retentiveness of their memory, were able to repeat with accuracy nearly the whole of the Bible.
- James I. then only king of Scotland, had deputed two young Scotsmen, of respectable families, to Ireland, for the purpose of keeping up a correspondence there to secure his peaceable succession on the death of Elizabeth* Io hide their real business, they opened a school in Dublin, to which young Usher was sent at the age o£
- USHER. 6ll
- .tight years; and after profiting much under so excellent h tuition, he was admitted into the college of Dublin in 1393, the very year in which it was finished. He was one of the three first students who were admitted, and his hame still stands in the first line of the roll. Here he contracted-a great fondness for history, and at the early age of fourteen, commenced a series of extracts from all the historical writers he could procure; by persevering in which, we are informed, that he was little more than fifteen when he had drawn up an exact chronology of the Bible, as far as the Book of Kings, little differing from his w Annales,” which have since been published. He shortly after applied himself with much diligence to the study of controversy, and engaged, when in his nineteenth year, in a public disputation with the learned Jesuit Fitzsimons, the result of which is variously repotted, but appears from a letter of Usher’s, inserted in his u Life by Dr. Parr,” to have been in his favour^ Fitzsimons having declined to continue it.
- In 1600, he was admitted mdster of arts, and appointed proctor and catechetical lecturer of the university; and in the succeeding year, in consideration of his extraordinary acquirements; he was ordained deacon and priest; though under canonical age, by his uncle, Henry Usher; then archbishop of Armagh. He was shortly after appointed afternoon preacher at Christchurch, Dublin; where he canvassed the different controversial points at issue between the Catholics and Protestants, constantly opposing a toleration which was then solicited by the former. On one occasion, referring to a prophecy of Ezekiel, be observed, “from this year, 1 reckon fort/ years; and then those whom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and you shall bear their iniquity.” This was afterwards, at the Rebellion in 1641, converted intd a prophecy, and there was even a treatise published, “Dd Predictionibus Usserii.’*
- In 1606, be went over to London for the purpose 0/ purchasing books relative to English history and antiqui*
- tics, in the study of which he was then actively engaged. In this excursion he became intimately acquainted with many distinguished literary characters, among others, with Camden, who gratefully acknowledges his obligations for many particulars concerning Dublin, to Usher, a who, in various learning and judgment,” he observes, u far exceeds his years.” The following year he was promoted to the chancellorship of the cathedral of St. Patrick, and having proceeded bachelor of divinity, was chosen professor of that faculty in the university; in which office he continued thirteen years, reading weekly lectures during the whole of that time, except when absent in England, to which country he went regularly every three years, spending one month at Oxford, another at Cambridge, and the remainder in London, chiefly at the Cottonian library.
- During one of these visits, in 1612, his first publication appeared, u De Ecclesiarum Christianaruni Successione et Statu;” in which he endeavoured to shew, that there has always existed a visible church of true Christians, untainted with the errors and corruptions of the Romish church, and that these islands owe not their Christianity to Koine. On his return to Ireland in the same year, he married Phcebe, daughter of Dr. Luke Chaloner, who, in his last will recommended Usher to his daughter for a husband, if she was inclined to marry.
- A parliament being held in Dublin in 1615, the convocation of the clergy assented to one hundred and four aiticlo which were drawn up by Usher, asserting in the strongest terms the doctrine of predestination and reprobation. On this and other accounts Dr. Heylin called the passing these articles an absolute plot of the Sabbatarians and Calvinists in England, to make themselves so strong a party in Ireland, as to obtain what they pleased in this convocation.
- His enemies having attempted to injure him with the king, by representing his tenets as not sufficiently orthodox, lie procured a letter from the lord deputy and council
- to the privy council of England, which he brought over to England in 1619, and satisfied his majesty so perfectly, that in the following year he promoted him to the bishopric of Meath; and several years after, to the archbishopric of Armagh. In the administration of this high office, Usher exerted himself in a most exemplary manner. Observing the increase of Arminianismin Ireland, which he considered as a very dangerous doctrine, he employed much time in searching into the origin of the predestinarian controversy; and meeting with a curious work on that subject, “Gotes chalci et predestinarian® controversi® ab eo mot® historia;” he published it in 1631, at Dublin, in quarto, which is stated to have been the first Latin book ever printed in Ireland. In the succeeding year he also published “Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge,” a collection of letters to and from Irish bishops and monks, from 592 to 1180, concerning the affairs of the Irish church; which clearly demonstrate the high esteem, as well for learning as piety, in which the clergy of Ireland were held in Rome, France, and England.
- The correspondence which he maintained in almost every country in Europe, was of considerable importance to the advancement of learning, and procured him in 1634, a very good copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch from the east; which was one of the first ever brought into western Europe; together with a copy of the Old Testament in Syriac, and several other valuable MSS. Usher collated the Samaritan with the Hebrew, marking the differences, after which he intended it for the library of Sir Robert Cotton; but having lent it to Dr. Walton, together with several other manuscripts, to use in his Polyglot Bible, they were not recovered till 1686, and are now in the Bodleian library. In 1639, he published “Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates;” a work which has been of considerable service to Dr. Lloyd and Bishop Stillingfleet, in their productions on the same subject.
- In the rebellion of 1641, Usber was plundered of all his property, with the exception of his library and some fur*
- niture in his house at Drogheda, whence the iibraiy was conveyed to England. On ibis misfortune, the king conferred on him the bishopric of Carlisle, in commendam; the revenues of which, however, were reduced almost to nothing by the Scotch and English armies quartering upon it; and when all the lands belonging to the English bishoprics were seized by the parliament, they voted him a pension of 400£ which was only paid to him once or twice. It is said, that he refused at this time an invitation into France by Cardinal Richelieu, with a promise of the free exercise of his religion, and a considerable pension; and likewise by the States of Holland) who offered him the honorary professorship at Jueyden.
- On the invitation of the Countess of Peterborough he fixed his residence at her house in London, in 1646, and in 1647, was chosen preacher of Lincoln’s Inn; the Society providing him with handsome lodgings, and several rooms for his library, which was about this time brought up from Chester. Here he constantly preached in termtime for almost eight years, till at last, his eye-sight and teeth beginning to fail him, he could not well be heard in so large a congregation, and was forced to quit this place about a year and a half before his death, to the great regret of the Society. On March 20, 1655-6, he was taken ill, aud died on the following day, at the Countess of Peterborough’s house, at Ryegate, in Surrey. Preparations were made for g private funeral; but Cromwell ordered him to be interred with great magnificence in Erasmus’s chapel, in Westminster Abbey; the funeral service, which must be considered as a very particular indulgence, being performed according to the liturgy of the church of England. His funeral sermon, which contains many particulars of his life, was preached by Dr. Nicholas Bernard, who had formerly been his chaplain, and was then preacher of Gray’s Inn.
- His library, being the only part of his property which remained to him, he bequeathed to his daughter; from whom it was purchased by the officers and soldiers of the Irish
- army, for the purpose of forming the basis of a public collection. Its value and importance may be estimated from its containing ten thousand volumes, printed add manuscript; and liberal offers were made for it by the King of Denmark, and by Cardinal Mazarine. It now forms an important portion of the valuable and extensive library of Trinity college, Dublin.
- JAMES USHER,
- A WRITER of some ingenuity, was the son of a gentle* man fanner in the county of Dublin, where he was born about 17^0. He received a good classical education, though with no view to any of the learned professions. When grown up, he became a farmer, in imitation of his father; but after some years* experience, had little success, and having sold bit farm, stock, See. settled for some time as. a linen-draper in Dublin: for this business, however, hd seems to have been as little qualified as for the otber, and was a great loser. In truth, be had that secret love of literature about him, which generally inspires a train of thought not very compatible with the attention which trade requires: and finding himself, after some years, a widower with a family of four children, and but little pros* pect of providing for them in any business, he took orders io the church of Rome, sent his three sons for education to the college of Lombard in Park, rad his daughter to a monastery, where she soon after died* He then came to London, and while revolving plans for his support, and the education of his children, Mr. Molloy, an Irish gen* tieman, who had formerly been a political writer against Sir Robert Walpole, died, and left him a legacy of three hundred pounds. With this money Mr. Usher thought of setting up a school, as the most likely Way of providing for his sons; and with this view he communicated hit intentions to the late Mr. John Walker, author of the Pronouncing Dictionary, and many other approved works on the construction and elegance of the English language.
- Mr. Walker not only approved the plan, but joined him as a partner in the business, and they opened a school under this firm at Kensington Gravel-pits. Mr. Usher’s acquaintance with Mr. Walker commenced during the former’s excursions from Dublin to Bristol, which latter place Mr. Walker’s business led him to visit occasionally. Their acquaintance soon grew into a friendship, which continued unbroken and undiminished to the close of Mr. Usher’s life. But the school these gentlemen were embarked in, did not altogether answer Mr. Walker’s purposes. Whether the profits were too little to divide, or whether he thought he could do better as a private teacher, it is difficult to say; but Mr. Walker, after trying it for some time, quitted the connection, and commenced a private teacher, which he very successfully continued to the last. They parted, however, with the same cordiality they commenced, and the civilities and friendships of life were mutually continued.
- Mr. Usher being now sole master of the school, he cultivated it with diligence and ability, and with tolerable success, for about four years; when he died of a consumption, at the age of fifty-two, in 1772.
- He wrote a pamphlet, entitled, “A New System of Philosophy“Clio; or, a Discourse on Taste;* “An Introduction to the Theory of the Human Mind;” and some letters in the Public Ledger, signed “A Freethinker.”
- LUKE WADDING,
- A s eminent Roman Catholic, and a man of great learning, was born October 10th, 1588, at Waterford. His first studies were commenced at home, under the tuition of his brother Matthew, who took him to Portugal in the fifteenth year of his age, and placed him in a seminary established for the Irish at Lisbon, where he studied philosophy for six months under the Jesuits. In 1605, after having passed his noviciate, he was admitted among the Franciscans, and afterwards continued his studies at their
- convents at Liria, Lisbon, and Coimbra, in all which places he was remarkable for the diligence and success of his application. After being admitted into priest’s orders, he removed to Salamanca, where he remained some time, and was made superintendant of the students, and lecturer in divinity.
- In 1618, he proceeded to Italy, where be employed himself in literary labours. In 1625, he founded St. Isidore’s college at Rome. He also persuaded Cardinal Ludovisius, to found a secular college there for six Irish students. His influence, from whatever cause, appears to have been very great; but the worst, and, as his biographers say, the only stain on his character, is the encouragement he gave to the Irish rebellion and massacre in 1641. He died November 18th, 1657, and was buried in the chapel of St. Isidore. Not long prior to his decease, be had refused the promotion to the rank of cardinal. A complete list of his works is to be found in Ware; but the most important is the history of his order, and the eminent ’men it has produced. This he completed in eight vols* folio; but a new and enlarged edition has since been published in Rome, in nineteeu vols. folio.
- GEORGE WALKER,
- A DIVINE, but more celebrated for his military courage and undaunted heroism, was descended from English parents, and born in the county of Tyrone. He received his education in the Glasgow university, and became afterwards rector of Donougbmore, a short distance from the city of Londonderry.
- When king James II. after the Revolution, landed in Ireland, Mr. Walker, alarmed at the danger of the Protestant religion, raised a regiment at his own expense to defend the cause he was bound to espouse. Apprehensive that James would visit Londonderry, (for he had taken Coleraine and Kilmore,) he rode full speed to Lundee, the governor, to apprise him of the danger. That officer at
- first slighted the information, bat was soon convinced how much he was indebted to him. Walker, returning to Lifford, joined Colonel Crafton, and, by Londee’s direction, took post at the long causeway, which he defended a whole night; but at length, obliged to give way to a superior force, he retreated to Londonderry, where he endeavoured to inspire the panic-struck governor with courage to brave the storm, but in vain; he left the place either through fear or treachery. Walker, however, bravely united with Major Baker to defend the place, which would have appeared bordering upon rashness, if they had been able generals. James commanded a nume-rous army in person, which was well supplied with every requisite for a siege. The besieged had no means for a long defence; they were men who, flying from their houses, had taken shelter in this place; they bad not more than twenty cannon, nor more than ten days* provision, and had no engineers, nor horses for foraging parties or sallies. Still resolved to suffer the greatest extremities rather than yield, they did all that desperate men could effect. They sent to King William to inform hint of their determination, imploring speedy relief. Major Baker dying, the command devolved chiefly on Walker, who exercised it with a stoic philosophy that has few parallels. Horses, dogs, cat9, rats, and mice, were devoured by the garrison, and even salted hides were used as food. Mr. Walker suffered in common with his men, and even prompted them to make several sallies; and as the men constantly fled, the officers suffered dreadfully. Londonderry having a good harbour, he hoped that the king might be enabled to raise the siege that way, for by land there were no hopes of succour. But the fatality which frustrated every attempt of James, prevented him from storming the place, which might at any time have been done; on the contrary, he determined on a blockade, and to starve die garrison into a surrender. With this view lie had a bar made across the arm of the sea, which, as he supposed, would preveut vessels from entering the town.
- This succeeded, and all hope to the besieged seemed to be destroyed. Walker, perceiving the danger of a general defection, assembled his wretched garrison in the pathedral, and endeavoured to inspire them with a reliance on Providence. In this he was so successful, that they returned to their labours invigorated, and immediately bad the happiness to discover three ships, under the command of Major-General Kirk, who had sent a message to Walker before, intimating that when he could hold out no longer, he would raise the siege at the hazard of himself, his men, and his vessels. Whilst both parties were preparing for the dreadful trial, Kirk sailed round the bar, under a heavy discharge from the enemy, and succeeded in crossing it, by which the siege was raised in the night of July 1, 1689.
- Resigning now the command of the garrison, be came to England, where he was most graciously received by their majesties, and, ip Nov. 1689, received the thanks of the House of Commons, having just before published an account of the siege. He was also created D. D. by the university of Oxford, and nominated to the bishopric pf Derry. But he was induced to return to Ireland with King William, and was killed July 1, 1690, at the battle of the Boyne, having resolved to serve that campaign before he took possession of his bishopric. “The king,9* says Tillotson, in a letter dated April 1689, “besides his first bounty to Mr. Walker, whose modesty is equal to his merit, hath made him bishop of Londonderry, one of the best bishoprics in Ireland; that so he may receive the reward of that great service in the place where he did it. It is incredible how much every body is pleased with what the king hath done in this matter; and it is no small joy to me to see, that God directs him to do wisely.” Mr. Walker published his account of the siege of Londonderry, which was succeeded by other pamphlets by frim, and from the pens of others.
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- JOSEPH-COOPER WALKER,
- AN author who has thrown much light on the bardic antiquities of his country, was born in Dublin, and educated by the Rev. Dr. Ball; but being possessed of a frame of peculiar delicacy, was obliged to visit Italy. Here he devoted his time principally to the study of Italian literature. He soon returned from the continent, little improved in health; but his mind was stored with the treasures of observation. He w’rote two works, which are now very scarce, viz. “Historical Memoirs of the Bards and Music of Ireland/’ 4to. plates; and “Historical Essay on the Dress, Armour, and Weapons of the Irish/’ 4to. plates.
- The above are held in great and deserved estimation, although filled with long Italian quotations, in many instances quite irrelevant, which Walker, in a conversation he had a short time before his decease with the celebrated Mr. Bunting, sincerely regretted, as then he was convinced it arose from a badness of taste. Mr. Walker died April 12, 1810, in the forty-ninth year of his age, at St. Valeri, near Bray.
- He was also the author of a quarto volume, entitled, “Memoirs on Italian Tragedy;” aud in the Transactions of the Irish Academy for 1788, there is a short Essay on the Irish stage, written by him.
- PETER WALSH,
- A CATHOLIC of great learning and liberality of sentiment, was born at Moortown, in the county of Kildare, in the early part of the seventeenth century. He was a friar of the Franciscan order, and was professor of divinity at Louvaine, where he probably was educated. Returning to Ireland, he went to Kilkenny at the time the pope’s nuncio was there, but was not of his party. On the contrajy, he made many endeavours to persuade the Irish Roman Catholics to the same loyal sentiments as he himself held;
- 6tl and after the restoration of Charles II. when he was procurator of the Romish clergy of Ireland, he persuaded many of them to subscribe a recognition or remonstrance, not only of their loyalty to the king, but of their disclaiming the pope’s supremacy in temporals. This drew upon him the resentment of many of his brethren, and particularly of the court of Rome. Such hopes, however, were entertained of this important change in the sentiments of the Irish Catholics, that, in 1666, the court thought proper to permit their clergy to meet openly in synod at Dublin, in order, as was expected, to authorise the above remonstrance by a general act of the whole body. But this assembly broke up without coming to any decision, and the Duke of Ormonde, then lord-lieutenant, considered it necessary to proceed against those who refused to give any security for their allegiance. But when, in 1670, Lord Berkeley succeeded him, by some secret orders or intrigues of the popishly-affected party in England, Walsh, and those who had signed the remonstrance, were so persecuted as to be obliged to leave the country. Walsh came to London, and by the interest of the Duke of Ormonde, got an annuity of 100Z. for life. He had lived on terms of intimacy with the duke for nearly forty years, and had never touched much on the subject of religion until the reign of James II. when he made some overtures to gain the duke as a proselyte; but desisted when he found his arguments had no effect. Dodwell took some pains, although in vain, to convert Walsh, hoping, that as they had cast him out of the communion of the church of Rome, he might be persuaded to embrace that of the church of England. Walsh died in September 1687, and was buried in St. Dunstan’s in the West. Burnet says of him, “He was the honestest and learnedest man I ever knew among them, and was indeed, in all points of controversy, almost wholly a Protestant. But he had senses of his own, by which he excused his adhering to the. church of Rome, and maintained, that with these he could continue in the communion of that church
- WARE.
- without sin, &c. He was an honest and able man, much practised in intrigues, and knew well the methods of the Jesuits and other missionaries.”
- Walsh wrote various controversial pamphlets, a complete list of which is to be found in Ware.
- SIR JAJHES WARE,
- A MOST learned and laborious investigator of Irish antiquities and history, was born in Castle-street, Dublin, November £6, 1594. His father, who held the office of auditor-general, with the reversion to his son, discovering in him an ardent and early love of literature, gave him a good classical education; and, at the age of sixteen, he was entered a fellow-commoner of Trinity college, where he studied with such success, that he was admitted M. At at a much earlier period than usual.
- The taste which he discovered for antiquities, intrt^ duced him, while at college, to the notice of the celebrated Usher, who soon became much attached to him; and ilf his work “De Primordiis,” took occasion to announce M the public what might be expected from Ware’s exertions. He had commenced collecting MSS. and making transcripts from such as he could procure access to in the? libraries of antiquaries and genealogists, and from the? registers and cbartularies of cathedrals and monasteries, in which he spared no expense. The collections of Usher; and of Daniel Molyneux, Ulster king at arms, were constantly open to him, and from their rich stores he derived considerable advantage. After exhausting whatever re^ sources Ireland afforded, he went to England in l6£fy where lie was introduced by Usher to Sir Robert Cotton; who admitted him to his valuable library, and formed so intimate a connexion with him, as to keep up a constant correspondence during the remainder of his life. The materials with which he furnished himself from the Cotton collection, the Tower of London, and other repositories; (many of which, in his hand-writing, are preserved in the?
- 6f3 library of Trinity college,) enabled him on his return to Ireland, to publish a history of the Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam; and two years after, of the Archbishops of Dublin; both which be afterwards incorporated in his larger account of the Irish bishops. In 1628, he went again to England, carrying with him several MSS. which he knew would be acceptable to Sir Robert Cotton; and in this second journey, added considerably to his own collections, through his acquaintance with Selden and other men of research and liberality. On his return home in the following year, he was knighted by the lords justices; and in 1632, he succeeded his father in his estate, and in the office of auditor-general. the duties of his new office, and his attendance at the privy* council, to which he was called by Lord Wentworth* afterward Earl of Strafford, did not, however, prevent him from continuing his antiquarian labours. In the following year he published “Spenser’s View of the Slate of Ireland,” dedicating it to the lord deputy; as he did after* wards “Hanmer’s Chronicle,” and Campion’s M History of Ireland.” His Account of the Writert of Ireland, which has since been so ably enlarged and improved by Mr. Harris, who married his grand-daughter, appeared first is 1639.
- During the progress of the unhappy rebellion which commenced in 1641, Sir James Ware attended closely to the business of the council; and engaged, with other privy counsellors, in securities for the repayment of considerable sums advanced by the citizens of Dublin, to pa/ the English troops sent over to quell the rebellion. The storm, however, which bad arisen in England, rendering the presence of those troops necessary in that kingdom* g cessation of arms was agreed on for one year; a measure in which Sir James concurred rather from necessity than choice. Of his behaviour during this trying period, the Marquis of Ormonde writes, “Even when his majesty’s affairs were most neglected, and when it was not safe for any man to shew himself for them* he then appeared most
- zealously and stoutly for them:” in consequence of which undaunted loyalty, he obtained, in 1643, a reversion of his office to his son. In the succeeding year, while the treaty of peace with the Irish was pending, he was dispatched to the king at Oxford, to inform him of the posture of his affairs in Ireland, and to know his pleasure relative to those articles which yet remained to be ad-justed. During this mission, he employed such time as he could spare, in the libraries and in the company of literary men; and was complimented by the university with the honorary degree of doctor of laws. Having completed his business in England, and being on his return with dispatches to Dublin, he was captured by one of the parliament vessels, sent to London, and confined in the Tower; from which he was liberated in exchange, after a tedious imprisonment of ten months. On his return to Ireland, he found the king’s affairs in a inot desperate situation, of which Charles was so well aware, that he had given directions to make peace,what-ever it might cost, so that his protestant subjects there may be secured, and his regal authority preserved.” But when, under this ample commission, the Earl of Glamorgan had concluded the treaty, he was accused at the counciltable by Secretary Digby, of high treason, for having exceeded his authority. On this he was arrested, and Sir James, Lord Roscommon, and Lord Lambert, were appointed a committee, to inquire into his conduct, and take his examination, which was transmitted to the king in January 1()46. During the remainder of the troubles, Sir James remained firmly attached to the king’s interests, and was high in the confidence and friendship of the Marquis of Ormonde; and when Dublin was surrendered by the king’s orders, in June 1647, he was considered a man of such consequence, as to be insisted on as one of the hostages for the due performance of the treaty. In consequence of this, he repaired to London; where he remained till the hostages were suffered to depart, after which be returned I
- to Dublin, living in a private situation,as he was deprived of his office, till Michael Jones, the governor of Dublin, jealous of his character and consequence, sent him a peremptory order to transport himself beyond seas into any country he pleased, except England. He retired to France in April 1649, where he spent some time at Caen, and afterwards at Paris, contracting an acquaintance with the most learned men in both places. His exile, however, was not of long continuance; in 1651 he came to London, by licence of the parliament, on private business, and two years afterwards went to Ireland to look after his estates. The leisure which he now enjoyed was devoted to his favourite studies, the return to which was consoling as well as gratifying; and he remained in Ireland till the Restoration, with the exception of occasional journies to London, to superintend the publication of his works; the art of printing being then in a very low condition in Ireland. In 1654, be published the first edition of his Antiquities, of which an enlarged and improved edition appeared in 1658, together with a collection of the works ascribed to St. Patrick.
- During the exile of Charles II. Ware had assisted him with a considerable sum of money; and Charles, not so forgetful of him as of many others, immediately on the Restoration, replaced him in his office of auditor-general* In the parliament which was immediately summoned, he was unanimously elected for the university of Dublin; and was shortly afterwards made one of the four commis-sioners of appeal in excise causes, and one of the commissioners under the king’s declaration fur the settlement of Ireland. So great indeed was his favour at court, principally, we imagine, through the interest of the Duke of Ormond, that his majesty offered to create him a viscount of the kingdom of Ireland, which he refused. At his request, however, the king granted him two blank patents of baronetcy, winch he filled up for two friends, whose posterity, Harris says, “to this day enjoy the honours but he does not mention their, naipes.
- VOL. ii. s s
- Returning again to his studies, he published some remains of the venerable Bede, and the Annals of Ireland during the time of Henry VII. and the three succeeding reigns. In 1665, his History of the Irish Bishops appeared, and he was preparing other publications respecting Ireland, when death put an end to his projects on December 3, 1666. He was buried in St. Werburgh’s church, Dublin, in a vault belonging to his family.
- As an antiquary, Sir James Ware must ever be high m the veneration of his countrymen. He was the Camden of Ireland, deficient only in not understanding the language of the country be investigated; yet it is observed by Vallancey, that “his works are the outlines and materials of a great plan, which he enjoyed neither life nor abilities to finish; and it is much to be lamented that he had not the good fortune to meet with so experienced and intelligent an amanuensis as Mac Terbiss sooner." He was a man of charitable disposition; his table was open to the distressed; and we are informed by Harris, that he always forgave the fees of his office to widows, clergymen, and clergymen’s sons. On one occasion, a house in Dublin forfeited by the rebellion, being granted to him, he sent for the widow and children of the forfeiting person, and conveyed it back to them.
- SIR PETER WARREN.
- THIS distinguished naval commander, who rose by his merit to a very high rank in his profession, was descended from an ancient family, and born in the county of Meath, about the year 1703. Having entered into the navy at an early age, he passed through the regular gradations of rank to that of post-captain, which he obtained on the 19th of June, 1727, when he was appointed to the command of the Grafton, and sent out to join Sir Charles Wager in the Mediterranean. The next year we find him in the West Indies; but the long peace which ensued, kept him unemployed till 1741, when he commanded the Squirrel of only twenty guns, on the American station,
- and with it destroyed the largest and only remaining privateer belonging to St. Jago de Cuba. In 1742, being appointed to the Launceston of forty guns, be took, among the Canary isles, a very rich French ship from Vera Cruz, with a large quantity of money on board. He afterwards commanded a squadron in the West Indies; and having taken a station off Martinique, he captured, between the 12th of February and the 24th of June, 1744, twenty-four prizes of great value, among which was a register ship, estimated at 250,000£
- His great abilities were placed in a more conspicuous light by the taking of Louisburgh, in 1745, after a siege * of forty-seven days, in which service he co-operated with General Pepperel. The news of this success was received in England with every testimony of rejoicing, and the gallant commodore was immediately appointed rear-admk ral of the blue, and in the following year, rear-admiral of the white. In the beginning of 1747, he was sent out second in command of the Channel fleet, under Admiral Anson, when they fell in with and captured six French men of war, and four Gast Indiamen. His gallantry on this occasion was rewarded with the order of the Bath. He was next ordered to cruise off Cape Finisterre, where he made several valuable prizes; and on his return to England, was created vice-admiral of the white. In September 1747, he again sailed from Spithead on a cruise, but was compelled, by a severe illness, to resign his command, and retire to his country seat in Hampshire* In April 1748, he was sent with a strong English and Dutch squadron to cruise to the westward; bnt the peace put an end to his professional exertions, which were rewarded on. the 12th of May, with his last naval promotion - that of rear-admiral of the red. At the general election in 1747, he had been returned to Parliament for the city of Westminster; but his popur larity placed him in an embarrassing situation, on the death, of the Lord Mayor, in 1752. He had previously received the freedom of the city in a gold box; but the citizens of
- Billingsgate ward, desirous of a still closer connexion with him, seized this opportunity of nominating him as a candidate for the vacant gown. This honour was politely declined by Sir Peter, who at the same time made a present of 200£ to the ward. The zealots, however, would take no denial, and Sir Peter being declared duly elected, was obliged to pay a fine of 500£ to the Court of Aldermen, in order to be excused from serving.
- Immediately after paying this high price for his popu* larity, the gallant admiral revisited his native land, where an inflammatory fever put a period to his existence on the 29th of July, 1752, in the forty-ninth year of his age. An elegant monument of white marble, by Roubilliac, is erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. Sir Peter was equally amiable as a man and gallant as a sailor. It has been remarked, that had he lived ten years longer, be would probably have taken the lead in those glorious achievements which distinguished the war from 1756 to 1762.
- PETER WHITE,
- WAS a man eminent for instructing youth; as Ware informs us, he was usually styled “Thelucky,or the happy school-master.” He was born in Waterford, but received his education at Oxford, where he was elected a fellow of Oriel college in 1551, and took his degree of master of arts in 1555. Early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth be returned to his native country, and applied himself to the scholastic profession. He was promoted to the deanery of W aterford, front which he was ejected some time afterwards, because he would not conform to the established religion, lie continued, however, in the scholastic line, and had the credit of having under his tuition the celebrated Richard Stanyhurst, Peter Lombard, and several other youths who became eminent for learning. He lived to the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but the time of his decease is unknown.
- 629
- REV. JAMES WHITELAW,
- AN individual eminently distinguished for his phi Ian* th ropy and perseverance, was born in the county of Leitrim. He held the living of St. James’s, but was soon after promoted to the vicarage of St. Catherine’s, ia Dublin,, which included a distressed population of twenty thousand individuals. The affairs of the parish, by neglect and litigation, were in the most ruinous condition; through Mr. Whitelaw’s zeal and assiduity, the parish rights were ascertained. Though truly a mau of peace, yet his public spirit was such that he sustained five suits in Chancery/ at his own expense, which being brought to a favourable, issue, raised an imperfect rental of 50£ into a regular income of 7001. per annum. On every occurrence of epidemic distress, he was always the first to promote a subscription, and apply it judiciously towards the relief of the afflicted. On one occasion, a sudden stagnation of business reduced two thousand six hundred and forty-three families, including nine thousand one hundred and ninety- four individuals, literally to starvation; through Mr. Whitelaw’s perseverance and indefatigable humanity,they were effectually relieved, by establishing committees in the various districts.
- His little work, entitled “Parental Solicitude,” is an affectionate appeal on that important topic, and is highly, prized by all those to whom the author distributed it:.as likewise was his “System of Geography,” on an entirely new plan, which displayed uncommon ingenuity, perseverance, and application. Not satisfied with the accuracy of the maps which he had given to be eograved, notwithstanding the late period of his life, he acquired such, expertness with the graving tool, that the elegance and precision of the execution was quite astonishing, especially when taking into the account his other various and important pursuits; for he did uot, like many of his profession, depute others to the performance of his sacred duties, but was to be found at all hours moving from one miserable
- abode to another; at the side of the sick, however contagious the disease. It was by his ceaseless attendance at the hospital, during the prevalence of a most malignant fever, that the infection was communicated to him, which finally terminated a life, which displayed on every occasion the real traits of the religion he professed. Mr. Whitelaw was in his sixty-fifth year at the time of his decease.
- JOHN WILLIAMSON,
- THE author of that popular satirical work, entitled, “Advice to Officers of the British Army,” written in imitation of Dean Swift’s Advice to Servants; was born near Lisburn, and at the breaking out of the American war entered into the army, and served several campaigns in North America. He died on the 31st of July, 1801, at Farnham Royal, near Windsor, of a consumption, in the forty-third year of his age.
- He was also the author of several military tracts, and wrote in many periodical publications.
- ROBERT WILKS,
- A CELEBRATED comedian, was descended from an illustrious Irish family, and born at Rathfarnham, near Dublin, in 1670, where he received a genteel education. He wrote a masterly hand, and with such surprising celerity, that his genius recommended him to Secretary Southwell, who received him into his office as a clerk at eighteen yean of age: and in this capacity he remained till after the battle of the Boyne, which completed the Revolution. His fint inclination for the stage is attributed to the following circumstance: - He happened to lodge near Mr. Richard^ then an actor on the Dublin stage: and, being intimate with him, used to hold the book while Richards was studying, to observe whether he was perfect in his part. Mr. Wilks used to read the introductory speeches with so
- much propriety, emphasis, and cadence, that the encomiums bestowed on him by his friend began to fire his mind for the drama; and another accidental circumstance confirmed him in the intention of directing his abilities to the stage. Upon that happy and unexpected turn of affairs produced by the battle of the Boyne, the people of Dublin, among other expressions of joy, determined on a play; but the actors having been dispersed during the war, some private persons agreed to give one gratis, at the theatre, in the best manner they were able. With very little persuasion, Mr. Wilks ventured to represent the Colonel, (Spanish Friar,) at Mr. Ashbury’s theatre, where the approbation he received from that great master,, operated so strongly on him, that he quitted his post, to a person who afterwards raised a fortune of 50,0001. in it^ and commenced player. The first character Wilks appeared in, on the public theatre, was that of Othello, which he performed to the approbation of every one but himself. He went on with great success at Dublin for two years, when his friend, Richards, advised him to try his fortune in England, and gave him letters of recommendation to Mr. Betterton; by whom, though he was kindly received, be was only engaged at the low rate of fifteen shillings a week. His first appearance on the English stage was in the part of the young Prince, (Maid’s tragedy,) a very insignificant character, that required little more than an agreeable person. Betterton performed Melantius; but, when that veteran actor came to address him on the battlements, the dignity of Mr. Betterton struck him with so much awe, that he had much ado to utter the little he had to say. Better ton, who had observed his confusion, encouraged him afterwards, by saying, a Young mao, this fear does not ill become you; for a horse that sets out at the strength of his speed will soon be jaded.” But Mr. Wilks, growing impatient at his low condition, the company being so well supplied with good acton, that there was very little hope of his getting forward, engaged also in another profession, and became an assistant to Mr. Harris,
- an eminent dancing-master at that time. In this capacity, so favourable to the exhibition of a good figure, he, by the gentility of his address, gained the affection of a young lady, the daughter of Ferdinand Knapton, Esq. steward of the New Forest in Hampshire; whom he married,with the consent of her father. He found his finances now very unsuitable to the establishment of a growing family, and therefore pressed hard for an addition to his salary, which every one beside the manager thought he well deserved: but this request not being complied with, he took a more expeditious step for advancement, by accepting the invitation of Mr. Ashbury to return to Ireland; that manager coming over on hearing of his discontent, purposely to engage him. He agreed with Mr. Wilks for 60£ a-year, and a clear benefit; which, in those times, was much more than any other performer ever had. When he went to take his leave of Mr. Betterton, the manager was with him. This great actor expressed some concern at his leaving the company. “I fancy,” said Mr. Betterton, ‘, that gentleman,’ pointing to the manager, “if be has not too much obstinacy to own it, will be the first that repents your parting; for, if I foresee aright, you will be greatly wanted here.” H aving no competitor in Dublin, he was immediately preferred io whatever parts his inclination led him; and his early reputation on that stage as soon inspired him with the ambition of returning, and shewing himself on a better: nor was it long before his ambition was giatified, and the prophetic words of Air. Betterton fulfilled; for the unfortunate death of Mr. Mountfurd was a sickness to all the genteel comedies at London, until his loss could be supplied. Mr. Wilks therefore was immediately sent to with an offer of four pounds a week; which being a salary equal to that of Mr. Betterton himself, was too inviting a proposal to be neglected. His engagements at Dublin, were, however, too strong to be openly broke through, and he therefore prepared for his journey privately. Mr. Ashbury procured an older from the Duke of Ortnond, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, to prevent his going; but, a particular friend giving him timely notice of it, be went secretly to Howth, where a boat waited to convey him on board, and thus he came safe to England. Upon his firstarrival, Mr. Powell, who was now in possession of all the chief parts of Mr. Mountford, and the only actor who stood in Wilks’s way, offered him the choice of whatever he thought proper to make his first appearance in; a favour that was intended only to hurt him: but Wilks, who, from the first, bad certainly formed his manner of acting on the model of Mountford, rightly judging it modest to chuse a part of Powell’s, in which Mountford had never appeared, accepted that of Palamedes, in Dryden’s “Marriage &-1 a-Modeand here too a fortunate circumstance attended him, by Mrs. Mountford being his Melantha in the same play. From this time he grew daily more in favour,, not only with the town, but likewise with the patentee, .whom Powell, before Wilks’s arrival, had treated in what manner he pleased. His merit was at length rewarded by being joined, in the year 1709, by Queen Anne, in the patent granted to Dogget and Cibber: under whose direction the theatre recovered new life, and prosperity followed their judicious industry. - He established his reputation by the part of Sir Harry Wildair, in which the vivacity of his performance was so proportion- ably extravagant to the character, as drawn by the author, that he was received in it with universal and deserved applause. As long as he trod the stage, he continued the unrivalled fine gentleman, and by the elegance of his address captivated the hearts of his audience to the very last. But, while his excellence in comedy was never once disputed, he was equally master of that dignity requisite .in tragedy; and was as highly extolled, by the best judges, in the different parts of Hamlet; Castalio, (Orphan); Ziphares, (Mithridates); Edgar, (Lear); Piercy, (Anna Boleyn); Norfolk, (Albion Queens); the Earl of Essex; Shore; Macduff; Moneses, (Tamerlane); and Jaffier, (Venice.PreaervedX fa 17 W, he: lost fas.wife, apdcon-
- tinued a widower seven years; bat then married Mrs. Fell, the relict of Charles Fell, Esq. of an ancient family in Lancashire, who survived him. This celebrated actor died the 27th of September, 1732, and was interred in the church-yard of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, where a monument was put over him by his widow. By his own request he was buried at midnight, to avoid ostentation; yet this peculiar honour was paid to his memory, that the gentlemen of the choir belonging to the royal chapel came voluntarily and performed an anthem, prepared for the solemn occasion. lie was always the first proposer of any joint charity from the theatrical stock; and tears were often seen in his eyes at the relation of any misfortune that befel others. When the unhappy Mr. Farquhar died, Wilks took care to bury him decently at St. Martin’s in the Fields, and also provided for his orphan daughters, whom he placed out as mantua-makers, and to the last gave them several benefit-plays; by which constant stream of bounty, he raised them above want; so that, in losing him, they lost another parent.
- MARGARET WOFFINGTON,
- AN actress, no less celebrated for talents and fine accomplishments than for her generosity and appropriate feelings. Her origin was very humble; her mother, on the death of her father, kept a small grocer’s shop (commonly called in Ireland a huckster’s shop) upon Ormond Quay; and under this inauspicious circumstance did a woman, who afterwards delighted nations, and attracted the highest private regards, begin her career in life. What first gave rise to the accomplishment of so great a change, the following circumstance will explain There was a French woman, of the name of Madame Violante, who took up an occasional residence in Dublin about the year 1728. This woman was celebrated for exhibiting great feats of grace and agility on the tight rope, &c. and, as she supported a good private character, her exhibitions were much resorted
- WOFFINGTON. 635
- to at that time by people of the best fashion. Violante varied her amusements to the floating caprices of taste; and as “The Beggar’s Opera,” was then the rage over all the three kingdoms, she undertook to get up a representation of this celebrated piece with a company of children, or, as they were called in the bills of that day,“Lilliputian Actors.” - Woffington, who was then only in the tenth year of her age, she fixed upon as her Macheath; and such was the power of her infant talents, not a little, perhaps, aided by the partialities in favour of the opera, that the Lilliputian theatre was crowded every night, and the spirit and address of the little hero the theme of every theatrical conversation. A commencement so favourable got her an engagement a few years afterwards at Smockalley theatre, Dublin, where she soon fulfilled every expectation that was formed of her: and so little did her humble birth and early education bow down her mind to her situation, that her talents were found evidently to lie in the representation of females of high rank and dignified deportment; her person was suitable to such an exhibition, being of size above the middle stature, elegantly formed, and, though not an absolute beauty, her face was full of expression and vivacity; she was besides highly accomplished for the stage, being a perfect mistress of dancing, and of the French language, both of which she acquired under the tuition of Madame Violante. Her reputation on the Irish stage drew an offer from Mr. Rich, the manager of Covent Garden theatre, for an engagement, at a very handsome salary, which Miss Woffington accepted, and in the winter of 1740, (when our heroine was exactly twenty-two years of age,) she made her first appearance on the London boards, in the character of Sylvia, (Recruiting Officer,) and in the same month she performed Sir Harry Wildair. The publication of this part to be undertaken by a woman, excited the curiosity of the public, and more particularly as the character had for the most part lain dormant since the death of Wilks, (seven years before that time,) who was universally allowed the first Sir
- CM
- Harry on the stage. However, this curiosity was fully satisfied
- as well as he could, hurried up to Macklin’s apartment for security. Macklin was just out of his first sleep when he was roused by his friend, who told him the particular eause of disturbing him, and requesting the use of a bed for the remainder of the night; but what was Garrick’s surprise when, on reviewing the articles of his dress which be brought up with him, “in the alarm of fear,” he found he had left his scratch wig below in Miss Woffington’s bed chamber. Macklin did all he could to comfort him - the other lay upon tenter-hooks of anxiety all night. - But to return to his lordship: he had scarcely entered the apartment, when, finding something entangle his feet in the dark, he called for a light, and the first object he saw was this unfortunate scratch, which, taking up in his hand, he exclaimed with an oath - “Oh! Madam, have I found you out at last? so here has been a lover in the case!” and then fell to upbraiding her in all the language of rage, jealousy, and disappointment. The lady heard him with great composure for some time; and then, without offering the least excuse, “begged him not to make himself so great a fool, but give her her wig back again.” “What! Madam, do you glory in your infidelity ? Do you own the wig, then r” a Yes, to be sure I do,” said she. w I’m sure it was my money paid for it, and I hope it will repay me with money and reputation too.” This called for .’a farther explanation: at last she very coolly said, “Why, my lord, if you will thus desert your character as a man, and be prying into all the little peculiarities of my domestic and professional business, know that I am soon to play a breeches part, and that wig, which you so triumphantly hold in your hand, is the very individual wig I was practising in a little before I went to bed: and so, because my maid was careless enough to leave it in your lordship’s way - here I am to be plagued and scolded at such a rate, as if I was a common prostitute.” This speech had all the desired effect: his lordship fell upon his knees, begged a.thousand pardons, and the night was passed in harmony and good humour. Garrick heard these particular with transport the next morning, praised her wit and ingenuity, and laughed heartily at bit lordship’s cullibihty. The connexion between Mrs. Woffington and Garrick soon after thia became more united. They kept house together; and, by agreement, each bore the monthly expenses alternately. Macklin frequently made one at their social board, which was occasionally attended by some of the first wits of that time, particularly during Mrs. Woffington’s month, which was always distinguished by a better table, and a greater run of good company. During this lender con-nexion, they often performed together in the same scene, both in London and Dublin; but when Garrick became manager of Drury Lane, in the year 1747, he was not a little embarrassed in finding her one of the articled comedians of his partner, Mr. Lacy. She soon after quilted this theatre for Covent Garden, where for near four years, she shone unrivalled in the walks of elegance and humorous comedy. In 1751, she left the London theatres for a very profitable engagement under Mr. Thomas Sheridan, who was at that time manager of Smock-alley house, and who, being an excellent judge himself of theatrical merit, was always liberal in cultivating the growth of distinguished talents. It was at this era tluit Woffington might have been *aid to have reached the acme of her fame - she was then in the bloom of her person, accomplishments, and profession; highly distinguished for lier wit and vivacity, with a charm of conversation that at once attracted the admiration of the men, and the envy of the women. Although her articles with the manager was but for 400£ yet by four of her characters, performed ten nights each that season, viz. Lady Townley, Maria (Nonjuror), Sir Harry Wildair, and Hermione, she brought 4000£ I The next year Sheridan enlarged her salary to 800£ and though it was to be imagined that her force to draw audiences must be weakened, yet the profits at closing the theatre did not fall short of more than 300£ of the first season. Her company off was equally sought for as on the stage, and she was the delight of some of lite gravest and most
- scientific characters in church and state: she was at the head of the Beef-steak Club, instituted every Saturday at the manager’s expense, and principally composed of peers and members of parliament for many years, where no woman was admitted but herself. Though Mrs. Woffington was now only in her thirty-eighth year, a time of life, generally speaking, which may be called meridional in point of constitution and professional talents, her health began visibly to decline: she, however, pursued her public business till the year before her death, when her disorder increasing, she retired from the stage in 1759, and died on the 28th of March, 1760. Many years before her death, perhaps in Ike gaiety of her heart, she made a kind of verbal engagement with Colonel C - , (a quon* dam inamorato of hefs) that the longest liver was to have all: she, however, thought better of this rash resolution, and bequeathed her fortune, which was about 5000Z. to her sister; a legacy which, though it greatly disappointed the colonel, (who perhaps might have disappointed her had it been his turn to go first,) was more suitable to the duties she owed to so near and valuable a relation. Her death was considered as a general loss to the stage.
- EDWARD WORTH, D.D.
- WAS a native of the county of Cork, and was advanced to the see of Killaloe in 1660. He is inserted in tbit work on account of having founded an hospital in Cork, called St. Stephen’s, or the Blue Coat hospital, for the support and education of poor boys, and endowed it with lands for their maintenance. In the year 1700, the rente of this foundation did not exceed 50£ per annum, and only eight boys were maintained in the house. In the year 1721, the lands yielded 4541. per annum, and forty-six poor boys were wholly supported and provided for in it. Doctor Worth died at Hackney, on the 2nd of August, 1669, and was buried in St. Mildred’s church.
- 640
- BARRY YELVERTON,
- VISCOUNT AVONMORE. This nobleman appears, by the Biographical Peerage of Ireland, to be the son of Francis Yelverton, Esq. who died on the 27th March, 1746, by Elizabeth, the daughter of Jonas Barry, Esq. The historians of antiquity derived their heroes immediately from the progeny of the gods: and modern heralds are at no loss to find high family descent for the favourites of fortune, elevated from very humble beginnings to wealth and title; but who deem high ancestry and armorial trophies, indispensable to their new-born honours. But perhaps, it is not less honourable for any man to be the founder of his own fortunes, and climb to wealth and dignities by his talents and deserts, than to derive his title or the patrimony he had not merit to acquire, nor virtues to adorn, from Alfred, Cadwallader, or the Connaught kings. The majestic oak, if endowed with intellect, need feel no shame for its origin in the acorn; and Lord Avonmore has bequeathed to his posterity no cause to blush that he, who through his talents founded their honours and fortunes, received his birth from very obscure parents, in the same obscure village, with his eloquent and elevated coun-tryman and friend, John Philpot Curran. The fact of his origin we have from authorities, perhaps less equivocal than Rouge Dragon, or Clartncieux; namely, the information of those who knew him from his boyhood to his apotheosis. Barry Yel verton was born on the 28th May, 1736, in the village of Newmarket, in the county of Cork,and province of Munster; a province, by the way, more eminent for scholarship, natural genius, and its eminent success, than either of the other three. His parentage was very obscure and poorly circumstanced. He was born some years before Mr. Curran, and had long preceded him as a pupil at the same village school. Education was extremely cheap in ,tho»e days. Classical instruction might be had at any of the very numerous hedge-schools in the province, at a crown per quarter: and though the languages of Rome l
- and Athens were not pronounced there with pritnsval elegance; yet, a master Of one of those seminaries Would puzzle the fellows of a college by his intimacy with all their grammatical intricacies, and his promptitude in composition and construction; and as to arithmetic and mathematics, all the science of Euclid was taught to perfection, by men, whom, from their appearance, no man would suspect of having learned to spell.
- There was great similitude in the fates of Mr. Yelverton and Mr. Curran. Both moved in the same hemisphere, though at a distance of some dozen years in their period. They were born in the same village, both inspired with similar genius and like ardour for education. Both entered Trinity college as sizars; both distinguished themselves by the rapidity of their acquirements; both obtained scholarships after very short ordeals. Both were called to the bar, at which each continued for years in obscurity) as both were poor and without connexion; both were ardent patriots, and married wives with little or no fortune. But the ultimate success of both in their professional pursuits affords a striking lesson of the nil desperatidum.
- As great events have often sprung from trivial causes; so the destination of Mr. Yelverton to the study of the law, is said to have owed its origin to a whimsical incident. It was probably after be bad made some progress at college, that he became a tutor in the classical academy kept by a Doctor Buck, in North King-street, Dublin, where he was entertained at the table as one of the family. Mrs. Buck was a rigid economist, a scrupulous Saver of farthings, and claimed the privilege of ruling the roast in household arrangements. She took a fancy of extending her system of retrenchments to the breakfast table; whefe, although she considered toast, tea, fresh eggs, and cold ham, very necessary to the comforts of herself and the doctor, they were, she thought, too expensive for half a dozen hungry tutors, who might very well breakfast with the pupils on bread and milk. The arrangement was accordingly adopted; but Mr. Yel verton, who was head VOL. 11. T T
642 tutor, felt his pride so much hurt at this piece of degradation, that he immediately quitted the school, and directed all his exertions thenceforth to find his way to the bar; to which, after the requisite studies, be was called in the year 1764: but Mr. Curran did not attain that honour till 1775, eleven years afterwards.
- Mr. Yelverton had to perform a briefless quarantine of some years in the Four Courts. - But talents like his were sure, sooner or later, to rise to the proper level; and accordingly, in the space of eleven years from his call, we find him, after struggling through the brambles of embarrassment, and beating the tide of adversity, introduced to a seat in the Irish parliament, which was always considered an important ticket in that fortunate lottery for lawyers. Mr. Curran was only called to the bar in the year preceding; and this advancement of his townsman to the political stage, probably afforded no weak stimulus to his ambition and his hopes, especially as the mountain of improbabilities o’erclimbed by the man whom be now regarded as a prototype, was quite as high as that which he had himself to clamber.
- Although the senatorial rank and comparatively veteran standing of Mr. Yelverton, if he had been a man of less generous mind, might have taught him to look down with proud superiority on the newness and unfriended obscurity of his townsman, Curran; still there is a mutual attraction between planets of kindred genius, which ever inclines the minor to converge to the major body; and by an influence somewhat analogical, the wit and classic acquirements of Curran had attained a celebrity, in spite of that worst of all bad diseases, poverty, that could not long escape the notice, or fail to attract the regard, of his townsman, Mf- Yelverton, who was through life, the warm admirer and patron of literature, wit, and talents, wherever he found them. But had Mr. Yelverton been able and inclined to confer pecuniary favours, the spirit of young Curran was too independent to seek or accept them. He had that which he esteemed much higher - the friendship, the countenance, and the social intercourse of Mr. Yelverlon, on a footing of perfect equality. With him and many of his contemporaries in Trinity college, frequent nights were devoted to intellectual, as well as convivial intercourse, - “the feast of reason and the flow of soul.” The well-known struggles which about this period began to dawn in the parliament of Ireland, for the attainment of free trade and legislative independence, gave Mr. Yelverton a favourable opportunity of displaying at once his patriot ardour and political eloquence. He was amongst the most strenuous advocates for the cause of his country ou those occasions, and his eloquence in the senate, (a principal advantage in a lawyer,) mainly contributed to his eminence and emolument at the bar. It would be tedious here to detail the history of those contests; let it suffice to say, that the patriots having succeeded in the attainment of their two great objects, free trade, and an independence of legislation and jurisdiction, a change of ministers took place. The Duke of Portland was appointed viceroy of Ireland; and Mr. Yelverton, in consequence of the decided part he took in parliament against the proceedings of the delegate convention at Dublin, was appointed attorney-general in 1782.
- This appointment placed him in the direct path to the highest honours of his profession; and in 1784, he was nominated a privy counsellor, and raised to the Irish bench as chief baron of the exchequer. This appointment took him, for a time at least, out of the political arena; judicial gravity abated his patriotic fire, and rendered his devotion at court less conspicuous. But, in the year 1789, he was roused from his apathy by an extraordinary event.
- When his majesty, previous to the manifestation of his mental malady, repaired to Cheltenham for the benefit of its waters, Baron Yelverton repaired thither to pay his respects to his sovereign, accompanied by his friend, Mr. Egan, a barrister of huge dimensions and rough manners; by his favourite, Mr. Curran, of a person diametrically opposite, and not fashioned in the mould of beauty, - and by
- Mr, Brownlow, a member of parliament, eminent for his musical taste, and skilful performance on the violin. The Term was just ended, and Baron Yelverton was missing from his seat on the Exchequer bench, having left a person to do his nisi prius duties until his return. His departure was not known amongst the barristers, and inquiries were anxious for him in the Four Courts’ hall, when some one said he was gone to Cheltenham. Mr. Fitzgibbon, in a satirical vein, and knowing who had travelled with the judge, archly observed - u Oh, yes; - I am told he is certainly gone to Cheltenham, and travels like a showman, with a fiddler, a bear, nod a monkey, in his train.** This sarcasm excited much laughter at the time. But shortly after, his majesty’s mental derangement became lamentably evident; and the question for appointing a regent during its continuance, was agitated in the parliaments of both countries. On this occasion, Baron Yelverton once more thought and acted with his old political associates of the Opposition. This unexpected opposition from a dignified elrce, taught ministers the necessity of neutralizing so formidable an opponent. His situation as chief judge was certain for life, and no power of dismissal existed, to keep his principles in check. The influence of his talents was formidable; besides, the measure of a Union was in contemplation, and the only hope which remained to conciliate his support, was an elevation to the peerage; and accordingly, on the lGth June, 1795, he was created Baron Yelverton, of Avonmore, in the county of Cork. The result of the regency question in the Irish parliament is too well known for repetition in this place* And, in the course of the discussions which followed some years after, immediately previous to the rebellion, Lord Avonmore, then in the House of Peers, and his eldest son, the present lord, then a member of the House of Commons, deprecated in the strongest terms, the severe measures adopted by parliament against the disaffected, instead of a more lenient and persuasive course, and openly condemned and reprobated in the strongest language of reproach and detestation, the cruelties unlawfully exercised upon great numbers of the peasantry and lower orders, without any form of trial, but on mere suspicion; and they gave the most strenuous opposition to the indemnity of certain of the magistrates and others, who bad been wantonly active in this odious system.
- Notwithstanding the long and warm friendship which had subsisted between the chief baron and Mr. Curran, and the good natured simplicity io which he had frequently submitted to be the subject of his friend’s arch wit and playful pranks, always forgiven for the joke’s sake, a misunderstanding unfortunately occurred between them, which was for years the source of mutual regret and disquiet .
- We have hinted, that Baron Yelverton’s elevation to the peerage was intended as a bonus to secure his future support for the measure of Union then in contemplation. And when the proposition actually came forward for discussion in the years 1799 and 1800, Baron Yelverton, in direct opposition to the principles of his whole life, and the sentiments of all his friends and admirers at the bar, supported that measure, which to them can never cease to be a subject of regret.
- In December 1800, he was honoured with a further degree of elevation, as Viscount 4vonmore which he lived but a few years to enjoy. He died on the 19th of August, 1806, and waB succeeded in his estate and title by his eldest soo, William-Charles, the present and second Lord Avonmore.
- MATTHEW YOUNG,
- A VIRY learned prelate, was descended from a respectable family in the county of Roscommon, and born in that county in 1750.
- In 1766 he was admitted of Trinity college, Dublin; and in 1775, was elected a fellow of the college, and took orders. He became early an enthusiastic admirer of the Newtonian philosophy, and even at his examination for his fellowship, displayed an unexampled knowledge and comprehension of it; but although it was his favourite subject, his active mind, in rapid succession, embraced the most dissimilar objects; and these he pursued with unceasing ardour, amidst his various duties as a fellow and tutor, and the freest intercourse with society, which he was formed at once to delight and instruct. His love of literary conversation, and the advantages he experienced from it in the pursuit of science, led him early to engage in forming a society whose chief object was the improvement of its members in theological learning. It consisted of a small number of his most intimate college friends, and continued to exist for a series of years, with equal reputation and advantage. Out of this association grew another, somewhat more extensive, whose labours were directed to philosophical researches, and in the formation of which, Dr. Young was also actively engaged: and this itself became the germ of the Royal Irish Academy, which owes its existence to the zeal and exertions of the members of that society, among whom Dr. Young was particularly distinguished. In the intervals of his severer studies, he applied himself to modern languages: and the result of his labours may be seen in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, to which he also contributed largely on mathematical and philosophical subjects. Besides these, he published the following learned and ingenious works: 1. “The Phenomena of Sounds aud Musical Strings,” 1784, 8vo. 2. a The Force of Testimony,” &c. 4to. 3. “The Number of Primitive Colours in Solar Light: on the Precession of the Equinoxes; Principles of Natural Philosophy,” 1800, 8vo. being his last publication, and containing the substance of his lectures in the college.
- In 1786, when the professorship of philosophy in
- Trinity college became vacant, be had attained so high reputation in that branch of science, that he was elected to the office without opposition. His “Essay on Sounds’ had been published two years, and it was known that he was engaged in the arduous task of illustrating the u Principia” of Newton. He now devoted himself to the duties of his professorship: and the college having been enriched with the excellent apparatus of Mr. Atwood, Dr. Young improved the occasion of carrying his lectures to a degree of perfection unknown in the university of Dublin, and never perhaps exceeded in any other. He proceeded, in the mean time, in his great work, “The Method of Prime and Ultimate Ratios, illustrated by a Commentary on the first two books of the Principia/’ and had nearly completed it in English, when he was advised by his friends to publish it in Latin. He readily acquiesced, and thus had an opportunity, while translating it, of revising the whole, and rendering it fuller and more perfect. It was finished a year or two before his promotion to the see of Clonfert, at which time he was engaged in preparing it for the press. The circumstances of this promotion reflect equal honour on himself and on the lord-lieutenant (Earl Cornwallis) who conferred it. It was a favour as unsolicited as unexpected, unless the report made to his excellency by his principal secretary, on being consulted as to the properest person to fill the vacant see, may be called solicitation. His report was, that “he believed Dr. Young to be the most distinguished literary character in the kingdom.”
- His attention, however, was now diverted from his intended publication, by the occupations incident to his new charge: and before he could return to it, a cancer in his mouth had made an alarming progress, and, in about fifteen months, terminated fatally, November 28th, 1800, at Whitworth, in Lancashire.
- 648
- ADDENDA.
- WALTER HARRIS
- BARRISTER at law. Respecting the family and private life of this learned and laborious Irish antiquary, the compiler has been able to ascertain but very little. We are told he was son of Hopton Harris, was born in Mountme- lick, and entered college about the year 1704, where, in 1707, he was engaged in a riot, in which he was so dis-* respectful to his superiors, that he wrested an admonition which was against him out of the dean’s band, and tore it in his presence; while Rochfort M’Neill, another of the academicians, put on his hat, and swore there should be no more such admonitions. Harris was hereupon expelled: much, however, to his honour, after reason and judgment gained ascendancy over puerile passions, instead of retaining any sentiment of low resentment against that seminary, he on every occasion mentioned it with such respect, that about five years before his death, which happened July 4th, 1761, he was presented with the honorary degree of doctor of laws. He informs ns that accident made him an editor. He married Eliza, daughter of Henry, son to Robert Ware, who was second son to Sir James Ware. With some of Sir James’s books and MS. papers, Harris occasionally amused himself to do away the sameness of a country retirement. He afterwards set about making a new translation from the Latin, of Ware’s Bishops. The lives he amended, augmented and enlarged, so as to form a respectable folio volume, which he printed by subscription at lZ. 18s. in Dublin, 1739- With similar improvements, amendments, additions, and illustrations* Harris published Ware’s Antiquities and Irish Writers, in two parts, embellished with eighteen copper-plates, for shewing the monastic habits, elegantly engraved in Paris: this was printed in one volume, of the folio size, at 1
- Dublin, 1747. This work was followed by a collection of curious articles, from the manuscripts of Trinity college, which he entitled Ilibernicay Dublin, printed in 1747. Harris, about the time of the Pretender’s invasion of Scotland, commenced his Life of King William; the part of this work which relates to the revolutionary war in Ireland, was compiled by him, from above twelve hundred government dispatches and letters, left by Charles Clarke, then secretary at war, to be forwarded afterwards to England. These papers remaining till the council and treasury offices were burned, in 1710, were removed in an undistinguished heap to the auditor-gene-ral’s office; where they were discovered by Mr. Boyd, the keeper of that office, who communicated the use of them to Harris. The folio volume of King William’s Life was printed in Dublin, in 1749*
- To his edition of Ware’s works, Harris intended to add another folio volume, containing the civil History of Ireland, for completing the series. For this he left seventeen folio volumes of curious manuscripts, including collections made towards the ecclesiastical state of Ireland, by Archbishop King, and Bishop Sterne, which were purchased for 500£ by the Irish parliament, from his widow, and deposited in the archives of the Dublin Society, for the convenience and use of the public.
- In 1766, there appeared a. publication, said to be a posthumous work of our author, entitled Harris’s History of Dublin, compiled from his MSS. by two learned assistants. That production, however, shews neither the perseverance, industry, nor abilities of Ware’s editor.
“The nation/* says the Abb£ M’Geoghegan, “are under great obligations to that learned writer (Harris) for the trouble he has taken, and the curious researches he has made, in order to complete Sir James Ware’s work; a work which he has so considerably enlarged, and enriched with such a number of articles that have escaped his prototype’s notice, that he should be rather esteemed its author than the editor, which is the title he has so modestly assumed.”
- THE END.
- INDEX
- TO THE
- SECOND VOLUME.
- INDEX.
- Page
- Frye, Thomas 169
- Galwey Edward 171
- Gardiner, William .... 174 Gast, John, D. D 177
- Gaughan, Thomas 179
- Gentleman, Francis .... 180 Goldsmith, Oliver .... 181 Grattan, Right Hon. Henry .197 Graves, Sir Thomas, K. B. . . 275 Gray doo, Captain John • . . 278 Greatreaks, Valentine . . . 279
- Gregory, George, D. D. . . 282 Grierson, Constantia .... 285 Grimshaw, Nicholas .... 288 Grogan, Nathaniel .... 288 Halliday, William ..... 289 Hamilton, Anthony, Count . . 289 Hamilton, Hugh, Bp. of Osaory 291 Hamilton, Hugh 291
- Hamilton, William .... 292 Hamilton, Charles 294
- Hamilton, Elisabeth «... 297 Hampson, Dennis 204
- Hanna, Martha 205
- Harris, Walter 648 [addendum]
- Henderson, John 206
- Hickey, John 211
- Hickey, 211
- Hitfeman, Paul 211
- Hinks, William 221
- Hogan, Captain John Gould . 121 Hone, Nathaniel 222
- Houghton Major 222
- Houston, Richard ..... 222 Howard, George-Edmond . . 224 Hussey Philip .... 224 Hutcheson, Francis .... 325 Hutchinson, John-Hely . • . 228 Jarvis, John 340
- Jephson, Robert 240
- Johnston, or Johnson, Charles 242 Jones, Henry 242
- Jumper, Sir William .... 245 Keating, Godfrey • .... 248
Page
- Kelly, Hugh 249
- Kent, Captain R. 251
- Keogh, John, D. D 351
- King, Dr. William .... 252 Kingsmill, Robert 254
- Kirwin, Richard 357
- Kirwan, the Rev. Walter Blake 259 Lawson, Dr. John, D. D. . . 271 Leary, John 372
- Lefanu, Alicia 272
- Leland, Thomas ..... 372 Leslie, Charles 374
- Loftus, Dudley 379
- Lombard, Dr. Peter .... 280 Long, Robert ...... 281 Lucas, Charles, M. D. . . . 281 Lutterel, Henry 287
- Lynch, Dominick 288
- M’Alliiter, George .... 288 M’Ardell, James .... 289 Macartney, George, Earl of • 889 Macbride, Dr. David . . . 293 Macbride, John 294
- Macklin, Charles 298
- Maclaine, Dr. Archibald . . 415 Macnamara, Dennis .... 416 Mageogbegan, John . . . .416 Malone, Edmund 416
- Mathew, Thomas 419
- Miller, Andrew 426
- Millikin, Richard-Alfred . . 426 Moles worth, Robert, Viscount
- Moles worth 429
- Molloy, Francis, D. D. . . . 422 Molloy, Charles ..... 412 Molyneux, William . . . .432 Monk, Hon. Mary .... 437 Montgomery, General . . . 438 Moor Michael .... 440 Mornington, Garnet, Earl of • 442 Mosaop, Henry 443
- Mosaop, William 444
- Mullen, or Moulin, Allen . . 444 Murphy, Arthur ..... 445
- INDEX
- Page
- Nary, Cornelia* 449
- Norri’, Sir John 449
- Nugent, Robert Craggs, Earl . 451 Nugent, Thomas 452
- O’Brien, William 452
- O’Burn, Janies 453
- O’Connor, Charles .... 453 O’Daly, Daniel 454
- O’Donel, James 454
- O’Fihcly, Maurice .... 455 O’Flaherty, Roderic .... 156 O’Glacan, Neil ...... 456 O’Halloran, Silvester . . . 456
- O’Hara, Kane 457
- O’Leary, Arthur 457
- O’Meara, Dermod .... 459 O’Neill, Arthur 459
- O’Sullivan, Florence .... 459 Parnell, Thomas 400
- Parr, Richard 462
- Pilon, Frederick 464
- Pleasants, Thomas .... 464 Pueckridgc, 467
- Ponsonby, Right Hon. George 468 P
- Baroil of Imokilly .... 492 Robertson, William .... 493 Robinson, Rev. Gerard . . . 494
- lloche, Sir Boyle, Bart t91
- Rossiter, John 499
- Rutty, John 500
- Sandford, Francis 502
- Sarsfield, General 503
- Sheridan, Thomas, D. D. . . 504
- Sheridan, Thomas 506
- Sheridan, Frances .... 521
- Sheridan, Richard-Brinsley . 521
- Skelton, Philip 543
- Sloane, Sir Hans 551
- Page Smith, Edward, Bishop of Down 556 Smith, Sir Michael, Bart . . 557
- Southern, Thomas 560
- Southwell, Sir Thomas . . . 562 Stackpole, Captain .... 563 Stanyhurst, Richard .... 565 Staunton, Sir George-Leonard . 567 Steele, Sir Richard .... 569 Sterne, or Stearne, John . . 575
- Sterne, Laurence 576
- Sulivan, Luke ...... 578 Swift, Jonathan 578
- Synge, Edward 589
- Talbot, Peter 591
- Tate, Nahum 592
- Thomson, WlUiam 592
- Tighe, Mary 593
- Toland, John ’. 594
- Tresliam, Henry 600
- Tuckey, Capt. James-Hingston 601
- Tyrrel, Richard 607
- Usher, James, Archbishop of Armagh 610’
- Usher, Janies 015
- Wadding, Luke 616
- Walker, George 617
- Walker, Joseph-Cooper . . . 620
- Walsh, Peter 620
- Ware, Sir James 622
- W’arrcn, Sir Peter 626
- White, Peter 628
- Whitelaw, Rev. James . . . 620
- Williamson, John ..... 630
- Wilks, Robert 630
- Woffington, Margaret . . . 634
- Worth, Edward, D.D. . . .639 Yel verton, Barry, Viscount Avonmore 640
- Young, Matthew 645
- Printed bp J. BretteU,
- Rupert Street, Haymai ket, London.
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