Cæsar Litton Falkiner ‎

“ His father, John Gilbert (d. 1833) , was an English protestant of Devonshire origin, who early in the century had established himself in Dublin in the Spanish wine trade, and for many years held the post of consul at Dublin for Portugal and Algarve; his mother Eleanor, daughter of Henry Costello of Dublin, was an Irish-woman and a Roman catholic. From his father Gilbert derived great powers of industry and accuracy; from his mother, who brought him up in the Roman catholic faith, he inherited the strong Irish feeling and religious devotion which marked him through life. ”

“ In the latter year he allied himself more seriously with literature, as one of the founders of the ‘Dublin University Magazine,’ to which he contributed several of his Irish tales. In 1835 he removed to London, where he established himself as a miniature-painter, and became sufficiently the fashion to be employed to paint the ambassador of the king of Oude on his visit to London, and Lord Brougham in his chancellor's robes. Lover soon became as acceptable in London literary and art circles as he had previously been in those of Dublin. ”

“ In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, he contributed to the 'Irish Quarterly Review' an essay on the 'Historical Literature of Ireland.' But the first-fruits of this early enthusiasm appeared in a series of papers on 'The Streets of Dublin,' published in 1852-5 in the 'Irish Quarterly Review.' This work was expanded into his well-known 'History of the City of Dublin,' published in 1801, a work which at once took rank as the standard authority on the subject, and which won for him the Cunningham gold medal of the Royal Irish Academy in 1862. ”

“ Vereker was a vigorous opponent of the union, against which he voted, declaring in his place in the House of Commons in 1799 that ‘having defended his country with his blood, there was nothing in the gift of the crown that could tempt him to betray it by his vote.’ In 1807 Vereker was appointed a commissioner of the treasury for Ireland. He also held the honorary offices of constable of Limerick Castle and governor of Galway. ”

“ Notwithstanding that his attention to politics was at first rather spasmodic, Gregory was soon looked on as among the promising young men of his day in the House of Commons. He was popular with all parties and attracted the attention and regard of men so different as Peel, Disraeli, and O'Connell. ”

“ The last seventeen years of Lysaght's life were spent mainly in Dublin, where he became a notable figure in society, especially in literary and theatrical circles, and achieved a reputation as bon vivant, wit, and improvisatore. ”

“ In 1888 Ball issued 'Historical Review of the Legislative Systems operative in Ireland from the Invasion of Henry the Second to the Union.' Here he sought 'to trace the succession of these systems to each other, the forms they respectively assumed, and their distinctive peculiarities, and at the same time to consider the controversies connected with the claim made by the English parliament to legislate for Ireland' (Author's preface) . The fair and balanced temper in which the author dealt with contentious topics was recognised by men of every shade of opinion. ”

“ In 1790 Vereker was returned for the borough of Limerick to the Irish parliament. He retained this position until the union, when he was returned for the same constituency to Westminster, and he held this seat down to his succession to the peerage in 1817. In 1798 Vereker was appointed to the command of the Limerick militia, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in that capacity was in charge of the garrison at Sligo at the time of the French invasion during 1798. ”

“ In 1863 Ball was elected a bencher of the King's Inns, and in 1865 was made queen's advocate in Ireland. In the same year he first appeared in the arena of politics, coming forward at the general election of 1865 as a candidate for the university of Dublin in the character of an independent churchman. The agitation against the Irish establishment had already commenced; and Ball, foreseeing the fierceness of the storm, counselled legislation for ecclesiastical reform. ”

“ As a journalist and politician he took an active part in the electoral contests in his university, and a good specimen of his humorous and satirical power may be found in a pamphlet called 'The Prelude.' an electioneering squib, written under the pseudonym of 'J. Figwood.' Of modern Irish novelists he stands next to Lever in popularity, and, if inferior to Lever in narrative vigour, is his superior in imaginative power. ”

“ In the stormy controversies provoked by Gladstone's measure of disestablishment and disendowment, as well as in the difficult task of remodelling the constitution of the church when disestablishment had been consummated, the primate earned the reputation of an ecclesiastical statesman. In the discussions on the Irish church which preceded the more acute stages of the agitation, Beresford was among those who favoured the timely adoption of a measure of reform ”

“ Wakefield is best known as the author of ‘Ireland, Statistical and Political,’ published in 1812, a work which, in spite of many inaccuracies, is, from the candour and tolerance it displays, a very valuable account of Ireland in the early years of the nineteenth century. ”

“ The early years of Plunket's ministerial life brought him into close contact with the evangelising movement in Connemara and Mayo, and fostered that sympathy with struggling protestant communities which was to be so strongly evinced during his episcopal career in his relation to the reformers in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. He became an active member of the Irish Church Missions Society, travelling through every district of West Connaught in aid of its work, and frequently visiting England to solicit financial support for the movement. ”

“ Archer’s extremely modest and retiring disposition was a constant bar to the enlargement of his reputation. A distrust of his abilities caused him to decline in 1872 the professorship of botany at the Royal College of Science for Ireland. In 1876, however, his friends procured his appointment as librarian to the Royal Dublin Society; and on the acquisition in 1877 of the society’s library by the state Archer became librarian of the National Library of Ireland. ”

“ GREGORY, WILLIAM (1766–1840) , Irish under-secretary, was the youngest of three sons of Robert Gregory, a member of a family sprung from an offshoot of the Gregorys of Styvechale Hall, Coventry, who came to Ireland with Cromwell and settled in Tipperary. His father, Robert Gregory (1727–1810) , himself a man of some mark, was chairman of the East India Company for many years till 1783, and member of parliament for Maidstone from 1768 to 1774, and for Rochester from 1774 to 1784 ”

“ His natural and acquired capacity for art was already considerable, and the judgment of one of his eulogists, after his death, ascribes to him higher artistic than literary talent (Temple Bar, vol. xxiv.) Applying himself industriously to portraiture, especially to miniature-painting, he achieved sufficient success to secure in 1828 election to the Royal Hibernian Academy, a body to which, two years later, he became secretary. ”

“ Reichel as his deputy in the chair of ecclesiastical history in the university of Dublin; and in 1883, on the termination of his principal's period of office, Stokes was appointed his successor. The appointment was brilliantly justified, and it soon appeared that in selecting a professor the university had produced an historian. The fruit of his labours was quickly manifest in his 'Ireland and the Celtic Church,' published in 1886, which achieved an immediate success. ”

“ In Easter term 1788 he was called to the English bar, joining the profession in Ireland later in the same year. He spent some years in England, being employed as counsel in many election petitions, and he acted in that capacity for Samuel, lord Hood [q. v.] ”

“ Eight years later— in 1862 — on the death of his cousin, Lord John George Beresford [q. v.] , Beresford was elevated to the Irish primacy, and was enthroned in Armagh Cathedral. With the archbishopric he also held the bishopric of Clogher, which was re-united to the see of Armagh by virtue of 3rd and 4th William IV, cap. 37, but which in the disestablished church of Ireland has been revived as an independent see. By virtue of his office Beresford was prelate of the order of St. Patrick, and a member of the Irish privy council. ”

“ After his victory at Castlebar the French general, Humbert, desiring to form a junction with the Ulster insurgents, marched on Sligo at the head of his whole force of sixteen hundred men, and on the morning of 5 Sept. ”

“ He was an ardent supporter of the opening of public museums on Sundays, took a keen interest in popularising the study of the arts, and for several years was regarded as the principal authority in the House of Commons on matters of this sort. In 1867 he was appointed a trustee of the National Gallery, on the recommendation of Disraeli, whose regard, in spite of political disagreement, Gregory always retained. ”

“ But he possessed, in addition to marked administrative capacity and practical sagacity in affairs, that sort of silent and reserved power which enables some men to exercise all the authority of a leader without appearing to lead. His influence in the general synod of the church of Ireland was at all times remarkable. Gregg was married in 1863 to Elinor, daughter of John Hugh Bainbridge of Frankfield House, Cork, by whom he had two children, both of whom survived him—John William Gregg, Causestown House, Athbry, co. ”

“ Le Fanu's career as a novelist belongs almost altogether to the period of his retirement. While still in college be had contributed to the 'Dublin University Magazine' the first of the 'Purcell Papers'—Irish stories purporting to be edited by the Rev. ”

“ In 1894 he determined that the time for conferring consecration on Senor Cabrera, the leader of the movement in Spain, had arrived, and on communicating his resolution to the Irish bishops to visit Spain in company with two other members of their body, the majority of his brother prelates declined to oppose his action. He accordingly left Ireland in the autumn of 1894, accompanied by the bishops of Clogher and Down, and on 23 Sept. ”

“ In educational matters Beresford was a strong advocate of the system of united secular and separate religious education, and in this respect reversed, on his accession to the primacy, the policy pursued by his predecessor. ”

“ His forensic style has been described as ‘impetuously burying facts and law under a golden avalanche of discursive eloquence;’ and his parliamentary oratory has been praised by Lord Lytton in his poem of ‘St. ”

“ FitzPatrick's labours in his special field of study constitute a serious addition to historical knowledge. If he was deficient in good taste, he was usually fair, and never sought to suppress the fresh facts that he discovered because they did not happen to fit his theory. ”

“ His tenure of this see lasted for exactly eight years, and during that period Plunket spent much time in Dublin, and devoted great attention to the question of religious education in the Irish national schools. The institution for providing trained teachers in connection with the church of Ireland, long known as the Kildare Place Schools, had fallen to a low standard of efficiency, and threatened to collapse for lack of funds. ”

“ But by virtue of the eminence of his position, both hereditary and acquired, and by reason of the remarkable powers of work which reinforced his intense earnestness, and by the charm of a really engaging personality, he was able to accomplish much that abler men might have failed to achieve. ”

“ He continued the active pursuit of his profession till his death, and was constantly employed in his later years on various works of importance in and out of Ireland, notably the University Physiological Laboratory and Anthropological Museum at Oxford, the McArthur Hall, Belfast, and the Church of Ireland Training College, Dublin. ”

“ Prior to this he had become a member of the Royal Irish Academy, to whose ‘Proceedings’ he was a diligent contributor. From 1875 to 1880 he acted as secretary for foreign correspondence to the Academy, and in 1879 was awarded its Cunningham gold medal in recognition of his scientific attainments. ”

“ She had previously visited the Isles of Aran and other remote parts of Ireland still rich in archæological remains, in company with her father, Petrie, and Lord Dunraven. Dunraven, dying before he could complete his projected work, left a substantial bequest to defray the expenses of the publication of his 'Notes' by Miss Stokes. ”

“ He early displayed a taste for recondite and somewhat morbid investigation into the secret history of eminent personages. In 1855 appeared his first book, 'The Life, Times, and Contemporaries of Lord Cloncurry;' the style was 'puerile, involved, and turgid,' revealing a defect which the author never overcame. ”