SECOND 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 “to keep taverns, and sell all manner of wholesome wines, and to 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 to 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.”

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 {95} 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.

EARL 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 “after the breaking out of the civil wars.” But, if his Lordship sent for him at all, it must have been at some earlier period; for he himself was beheaded before the civil 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 his 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. {97}

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; “a person, says Fenton, of eminent learning and piety, erroneously stated to have been afterwards Bishop of Norwich; as the celebrated Hall was at this period a bishop, and far advanced in years. By Doctor Hall he was instructed in Latin, and without acquiring the common rules of grammar, which his memory could never retain, he not only attained the art of writing that language with classical elegance and propriety, but made choice of it to correspond with such of his friends who were learned enough to support the correspondence. When the cloud began to gather over England, and the prosecution commenced against the Earl of Strafford, that nobleman’s house was no longer considered as a proper residence for his nephew, and he was, by the advice of Archbishop Usher, sent to Caen, in Normandy, where the Protestants had then an university, and studied under the directions of the learned Bochart, where he is said to have made great proficiency in literature; but at this time be could not have been more than nine years old. His father is said to have died during his stay at Caen, and a strange and improbable tale is related of his having had some preternatural intelligence of that event. How long he remained at Caen is uncertain; but it appears that after having finished his studies at that place, he travelled into Italy, and visited Rome, where he grew familiar with the most valuable remains of antiquity, applying himself particularly to the knowledge of medals, in which he arrived to perfection, and spoke the Italian language with so much grace and fluency, that he was frequently mistaken there for a native.

Shortly after the Restoration, he returned to England, {97} where he was graciously received by King Charles II, and made captain of the band of pensioners. In this 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 Cotterel, and dated, Dublin, October 19, 1668, wherein she styles him “a very ingenious person, of excellent natural parts, and certainly the most hopeful 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 himself 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 Iræ

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.

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 his art, he suddenly surprised the world with his admirable {99} engraving of Garrick, in the character of Richard III; but shortly afterwards marrying a lady of rank, he 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.

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, he 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 [sic] of Downe [sic] 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 word amiable than the late Bishop of Downe was; and if his natural modesty had not in a great degree kept his mind from expanding {100} 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.

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 Susception 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 men, 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 attempt, 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, {105} 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 he 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, he drew up the annals of Thucydides and Xenophon, to accompany the edition of those two authors by Hudson and Wells. Having like{106}wise prepared annals of Velleius Paterculus, of Quintilian, and of Statius; he 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, “Dodwell’s 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 Geographiæ veteris Scriptores Græci 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 his 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 “Two Dissertations on the Age of Phalaris and Pythagoras.” Theological subjects, however, still occupied a considerable share of his attention, and he continued to publish such ideas as the state of the church suggested. Although he still declined communion with the established church, yet he was not willing that the schism should be perpetuated; accordingly he was a warm supporter of the bill for preventing occasional conformity; and in 1705, finding the number of the deprived bishops very much reduced, he wrote ‘A Case in View considered; in a Discourse, proving that (in case our present invalidly deprived Fathers shall leave all their Sees vacant, either by Death or Emigration) we shall not be obliged to keep up our Separation from those Bishops who are as yet involved in the Guilt of the Present unhappy Schism.” In 1707, he vindicated this work, in ‘A farther Prospect of the Case in View, &c.”

{107}

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.” These monstrous and abhorrent propositions were warmly attacked by the most celebrated men of the day, and as warmly defended by their bigotted [sic] 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, “The Case in View, now in Fact, &tc.,” in order to induce them to follow his example.

Mr. Dodwell closed along life, spent in literary labour, at Shottesbrooke, June 7, 1711, 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 {108} 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 so 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.

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 {109} 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 he 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, “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 he (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.[&148;] ‘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 {110} humorist; and in his political principles he was, in the words of Sir Richard Steele, “a Whig, up to the head and ears:”t;; and 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 sentiments 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 title of ‘Flora; or, Hob in the Well.”

Dogget lies buried in the church-yard of the place where he died.

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{111}tific lawyer, in which situation he 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 books, 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 ‘Hale’s Placitorum Coronæ,” 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 manuscript, are said to be highly valuable, not merely to the student, but to the more experienced lawyer. {112}

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 {113} 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 he 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 hours’ 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 {115} 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 close 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, he 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.&148;

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 church. He was born probably near Antrim, in 1697. The early part of his education was under the superintendence of his {115} uncle, a venerable and learned man; and he also 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 a dissenter 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 congregation 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 was so eminently distinguished. During his residence at Cambridge, in 1728, he 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 anxious 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 sound and judicious reasoning, pure principles of morality, and liberality of sentiment. Soon after the appearance of this {116} 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. Duchal’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 sixty-fourth 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.

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. {117}

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, “King 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 had 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.

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 {118} early devoted to the Muses; for ere he had attained his 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 his 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 he was qualified for the university, he was sent, in 1694, to Trinity College, Dublin. Here, by dint of his natural talents, he made great progress in his studies; but is does not appear, that he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts 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. {119}

* One of his biographers states, that he was expelled from college on account of the following circumstance. Our author having received a college exercise from his tntor, upon the well-known miracle of our Saviour’s walking on the water, he came into the hall for examination the next day, when it was found that he had not brought his exercise written as the rest had done, at which the lecturer was much displeased. Farquhar, however, offered to make one extempore, and after considering a short time, he observed, that for his part he thought it no great miracle since — ‘the man that is born to be hanged, &c. &c. The monstrous impiety (together with the tone in which it was delivered) quite extinguished all the approbation which he expected from its wit, and he was accordingly, next sitting, expelled in the usual form, tanquam pestilentia hujus societas.

He was well 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 he 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 had 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 Vasquez, 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 remain in 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 {120}

* Mr. Wilks having received from Mr. Rich a proposal of four pounds a week if he would retorn to London, which being rather a high salary at that time, he thought fit to accept it.

was his first dramatic attempt, and it obtained for him much popularity. In 1700, he produced his ‘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, he 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 1701, 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 {121} to him at his request, by his sweetheart, Mrs. Oldfield. There is one among them which he calls ‘The Picture,” which was intended for a description and character of himself, and commences thus: ‘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 is 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. - I 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”t;; 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 it. She therefore caused a report to be industriously {122} circulated, that she was what is termed, “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 he dreamt in courtship, and in wedlock woke, yet, to his immortal honour he it spoken, although he found himself deceived, his circumstances embarrassed, and his family increasing, be never once upbraided her for the gross cheat put upon him, but treated her with all the affection and tenderness of an indulgent husband.

Early in 1704, a farce, called ‘The Stage Coach,” in the composition of which he was assisted by another, made its appearance, and was well received. His next comedy, entitled ‘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 ‘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 milkmaids 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 a 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 DR. Percy, Bishop of Dro{122}more, who had it from Mr. Blakeway, of Shrewsbury, who had it from an old lady in Shrewsbury, then Hying (1709), who knew Farquhar inti mately. - Gents. Mag. 1806.

&148;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 the 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 commission into the money he wanted, and pledged his honour, that in a very short time he would provide him with another. This circumstance 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 had 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. This cruel disappointment 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 his papers:

DEAR BOB,

I have not any thing to leave thee to perpetuate my memory but two helpless girls; look upon them some 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 {125} knowledge of refinement in sentiments or expences [sic], and was in every respect well fitted for her humble station. Of his wife, 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 ‘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 {125} 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, “tell her, I 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 [sic] in his comedies, were such as he had uniformly met with in the world - and be was rejoiced to leave them behind.

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 {126} 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 deformed figure which the Lancastrian historians have described him. The beauty, but more the vivacity of Lady Desmond, rendered her an object of general admiration at a period of life when all other women are considered 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 conversation, 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 in his History of the World, as a prodigy; adding, that all the noblemen and gentry of Munster could 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

THE 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 12th 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 {127} 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 accession 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 the 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 he 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, could hot be guilty of the intrigues imputed to him; {128} 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, “If it be so, then he is meet to rule all Ireland, seeing all Ireland cannot rule him.” And, accordingly, made him lord-lieutenant by patent, dated the 6th of August, 1496; restored him to his honour and estate, and dismissed him with rich presents.

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, he 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 {129} 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 [sic] 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 castles of Rathville, Linearrig, Castledermot, 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 [sic], 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 {130} 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 guards 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 havock and harvest of slaughter, when the heavy cavalry dashed in to complete the destruction begun by the artillery and the foot:

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:

Was 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, and 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’Donnell.

During what year be was born is not known, but he died at his lodgings in Chapel-lane, Kilkenny, in April 1792.

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 {132} 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 £6000. 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{133} 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 ‘&148;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 attorney-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 had 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, {134} 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 in 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 had 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 Viscount Clare, December 20, 1793; and Earl of Clare, June 10, 1795; and the English Barony of Fitzgibbon, of Sidbury, 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 immediately 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, that 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 firmness 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 ceased 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.

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 prisoner, 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 followers 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 immediately 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 was rewarded with a pension. In 1580, Sir Henry Sydney, in his instructions to his successor in the government. {137}

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.

CREATED 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 had 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. {138}

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.

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 he 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 {139} 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 constantly 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 Fitzpatrick 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 {140} 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 advantage 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:

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 {142} 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 persuaded 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 he 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 disputation with him; and the celebrated Usher who was then about nineteen, {142} 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 he 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’s 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 consequence 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 approaching 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 {143} 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 situation, where he expired on February 1, 1643-4. By his death, the catholics lost one of the firmest pillars of their 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; “Britannomachia Ministrorum in Plerisque et Fidei Fundamentis et Fidei Articulis Dissidentium" printed at Doway, in 1614; and “A Catalogue of the Irish Saints", Antwerp, 1621. We are informed by Ware, that he also wrote a treatise to prove that Ireland was anciently known by the name of Scotia; but he doubts whether this was ever published.

{144}

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 Cusack, 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 Louvaine, 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-general 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{145}

Rome he 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 Magenis, 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, &c.”

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 Ratisbenae.”

One of 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 {146} 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 resolved 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, he 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 he 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 effect in parliament, was an explanation of the law of Poyning, by a misconstruction of which, for more than a century, {147} 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 consequence 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 appointed 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 he had before maintained in parliament, and from none of which he ever departed. This office he held for six years, when he voluntarily resigned it in 17ft, and shortly afterwards his name was struck out of the list of the privy council. The parliament of England having, in 1789, repealed the act of the 5th of George I. chap. 5, which declared, that the kingdom of Ireland ought to be subordinate to, and dependent upon, the imperial crown of Great Britain, and that the parliament of England hath power to make laws to bind the people of Ireland Mr. Flood, in two very eloquent and unanswerable speeches (Jane 11th and 14th,) main{148}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 Commons, and was never fairly tried there. He not only had to contend with ill health, but he likewise well knew that his début 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 he 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 opportu{149}nity. 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 £5000 per annum, in the following manner: He leaves to his kinsman, Mr. Warden Flood, an estate of about £300 pep {141} per annum; to Miss Cockburn, a lady who lived with Lady Frances, £1000; to an old steward, £1000; and to his own servant, £200. 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 £300 per annum, and after the death of Lady Frances (whom he makes his 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 characterised; 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 an other European language illustrative of, or auxiliary to the study of Irish antiquities or Irish history; and that they shall give, yearly, two liberal premiums for two compositions, one in verse and the other in prose, in the Irish language; and also two other liberal premiums for compositions 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 examples. After these purposes shall have been answered, he directs that the remaining fund shall be employed in the purchase 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 null and void; and if by any other means they shall not take the estate so devised to them, according to his intentions, then he bequeaths the whole of his estate to Ambrose Smith, Esq. in fee simple, for ever. And he desired that Colonel Vallancey, if living, shall be one of the first professors. {151}

In regard to the eloquence of Mr. Flood, we conceive the altercation and vindication of his political life, precludes 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 leader of opposition, he at length rose, and looking most ruefully on an empty bench behind him, where his assistants usually sat, he 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.

FIRST EARL OF GRANARD, was the only son of Sir Arthur Forbes, of Castle Forbes, in the county of Longford, and was born in the year 1623.

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 whole kingdom would declare for him; but the king being well aware, that Ireland mast be guided {152} 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 [sic], 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 an attachment of his regiment, consisting of five hundred mi{153}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.

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 summoned 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 {154} 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 Peers, that he should have leave to be absent from the service of that House, to attend his said government; but in 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 Petersburgh, 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, presented 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, 30th April, 1736, he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the blue; and in June 1738, appointed commander-in-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, the first Lord Mountjoy, and relict of Phineas 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.

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 {156} 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 {157} 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.d8; 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 services; 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, Admiral 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 he 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 concluded 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 {159} 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 gracious 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, succeeded that nobleman as admiral of the fleet. He continued 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.

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 {160} 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 appears to have come over to England, where, in 1753, he published a translation of part of the “Orations of Demosthenes”, intending to comprise the whole in two quarto 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 his first essay was a tragedy, entitled, “Eugenia” but it was not very successful. In 1754, Mr. Francis brought out another tragedy at Covent Garden theatre, entitled, “Constantine”, which was equally unsuccessful, but appears 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{161}mous, and probably dispersed among the periodical journals, 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.

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, had by degrees acquired such power and ascendancy, that at this time we find them possessed of Bengal, Bahar, and Ouza, three {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 the Company. 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 had 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 governor-general, 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 {163} 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, had 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 had 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, {164} 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).	Dudley Long. John Burgoyne. George Augustus North (late Lord Guildford). St. Andrew St. John (now Lord St. John). Richard Fitzpatrick. Roger Wilbraham. John Courtenay. James Erskine (now Earl of Rosslyn).

Next 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 and principles introduced from day to day, and of transactions in the last and present parliament, had removed his doubts. His benevolent and disinterested exertions for the abolition of the slave trade, deserve our warmest praise; although urged by every motive of interest and connection to oppose that measure, these had little weight in his mind when balanced against justice and humanity. He felt for the oppressed and degraded {165} 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 thanks 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: “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 support of them: and he was considered in the best informed {167} 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, “Junius Identified” a very learned judge observed, if there is any dependance [sic] on the law of presumptive evidence, the case is made out. We shall content ourselves with making the following extract from that work, merely observing that, if the concurrence of the circumstances here enumerated, and many others, be sufficient to establish the conclusion, Sir Philip Francis was undoubtedly Junius; for the premises are established on the clearest and most satisfactory evidence.

“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 taking notes, and reporting speeches) - {168} in 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 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 dicendi were not his - his speeches were studied, {169} 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 had been for several years afflicted, and from which his age precluded all chance of recovery, on the 22nd Dec. 1818, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

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 it. 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 had 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, {170} 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 mezzotinto, 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.

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, {172} 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 cli{173}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 had 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.

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 the son of John Gardiner, who was crier and fac-totum [sic] to Judge Scott, and of Margaret (Nelson) his wife, a pastry-cook, in Henry-street At an early 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 time. At a proper age I was placed in the academy of Mr. S. Darling; there I was, if I recollect right, esteemed an ordinary boy; yet was I selected, according to annual custom, to represent, on a rostrum, Cardinal Wolsey, any precious work I dare say I made of it. Before I quit school and Mr. Simon Darling, let me do him the justice to say, that he was the only true Whig) schoolmaster I ever heard of. Neither he nor his ushers assumed any power to punish the slightest offence. A book was kept in school, in which the transgressions of every week were registered, with the proofs and evidence to the same. On Saturday, the master sat as judge, and twelve of the senior boys as jury, and every offender was regularly tried, and dealt with strictly according to justice. There was no venal judge, whose passions became law - there was no packed jury to defeat the ends of truth. If ever there was an immaculate court of justice, that was it. My mother, the best and most pious of mothers, our sheet-anchor, dying, my father attached himself to Sir James Nugent, of Donore, county of Westmeath, an excellent gentleman; into his suite I was received. My father, a strictly honest, and excellently tempered man, like myself, had neither ballast nor reflection; consequently, I was, at ten yean old, my own mother. At that time my talents began to expand, and I then, as I have uniformly through life, found that I could easily make myself a second-rate master of any acquirement I chose to pursue: I rode tolerably, I hulted plausibly, I shot well, I fished 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 send me to the Royal Academy in Dublin; there I stayed for about three years, I and concluded by receiving a silver medal. London! Imperial London! {175} 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 ‘polite remonstrances 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 Soldier, 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. Beetcham, 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 Beauclerk’s edition of Dryden’s Fables were entirely my own, and many of those with the name of Bartolozzi 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 {175} 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 ’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 years, have struggled in vain to establish myself. 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.

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 such 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. {177}

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 had 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 hanging 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.

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 {179} until compelled by the persecution of 1684, to fly for refuge, together with his wife, a native of Bourdeaux, 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 afterwards 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 endeavoured 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 very proper to be read by young gentlemen at school, for their 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 Glandelogh 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{179}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 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 reconcile to the established church such of his parishioners of Newcastle, as professed the Roman Catholic doctrines.

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, he fully proved the validity of a surviving maiden, 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 years.
His eldest son, whom he was still in the habit of calling “the boy” though upwards of seventy, bids fair to emulate the father’s patriarchal fame. {180}

FRANCIS GENTLEMAN

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 {182} 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 wondrous tales of his perilous encounters in the imminent deadly breach and is suspected to have implanted in his 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 inequalities (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 warmly 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 11th of June, 1744, he was admitted a sizer of Trinity College, Dublin, under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Welder, one of the fellows, who unluckily was a man of violent temper and incontrollable 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 {183} to the degree of bachelor of. arts. About this period he left college, an event which was occasioned by improvidence 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 had such an effect on the mind of Oliver, that be determined on quit- * ting a place where he had suffered so greet a mortification. Accordingly, he immediately disposed of his books and clothes, 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 out. 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; in short, to so 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 acquainted 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 fell 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 this, however, he unreservedly declared his dislike, and was recommended as tutor in a private fa{184}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 {185} 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 fellow passengers, 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 had 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 {187} 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 -

“Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow”

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 {186} obtaining a situation as an assistant; but his accent, and the uncouthness of his appearance, rendered him rather, an object of ridicule than of pity to most of the faculty. A chemist, however near Fish-street-hill, struck with his forlorn condition, and the simplicity of his manner, took him into his laboratory, where he continued until he discovered 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 he had 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 subscription, “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 “Memoire of a Protestant condemned to the Gallies of France for his Religion. Written by himself. Translated from the Original, just published at the Hague, by James Willington.”

Towards the latter end of 1758, Goldsmith happened {188} 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,” 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 Letters” and 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 lately formed an {189} 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 land-lady, 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 £60 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 “The Art of Poetry”; a “Life of Nash”; and a “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 {190} 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 had 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 arts 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 I 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 {191} 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 I 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 idiot 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 insufficient 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 turn 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, and had ordered him to desire the Doctor to appoint a place where he might have the honour of meeting him to conduct him to his lordship. The vanity of poor Goldsmith immediately swallowed the bait. He appointed the British Coffee-house, to which he was accompanied by his friend Mr. Hamilton, printer, of the {192} 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 Hermit” and 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 £500 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 {195} of the Earth, and Animated Nature” which he executed with much elegance, but no very deep knowledge of his subject. He also drew up a “Life of Dr. Parnell” 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, he had 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, in 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; “In truth, ” 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 note;” which he actually did. The sale, however, was so rapid, that the bookseller soon 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,{196} 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 his 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 dramatic 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. Hardcastle should believe she was at a distance from home, when actually in her own garden; Colman, with great keenness, replied, “Psha, my dear Doctor, do not 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 Colman’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 in question was shewn to Goldsmith, who, highly indignant, immediately hastened to the publisher’s, Mr. Evens, in Paternoster-row, and finding him behind his counter, dins addressed him: You have published a thing in your {195}

* The plot of this comedy is said to have been suggested to Goldsmith, by an adventure which occurred to himself in his youth, at Ardagh, in the county of Longford, when he mistook the house of Sir Thomas Fetherington (grandfather of the present Sir Thomas Fetherston,) for an inn; having been directed to it by a humorous fencing master, named Cornelius Kelly, once the instructor of the celebrated Marquis of Granby.

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 scuffle 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 combatants, 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 of 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 unfortunately 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 intended, and doubtless would have been able, to fulfil with the strictest honour, as be had done on former occasions {195} 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 had 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 his 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; Goldsmith, 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 {197} 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.