I. MEN OF LEARNING AND GENIUS, NATIVES OF GALWAY AND ITS VICINITY.

THE length to which this work has already extended precludes the possibility of more than briefly noticing a few eminent individuals. Of these the first, in order of time, is,

1. Patrick Darcy.

This gentleman was born in Galway, in 1598, and was the second son of James Riveagh Darcy, who was mayor in 1603. He was educated in the profession of the law, and became a leading member of the parliament assembled at Dublin in 1640, when the Catholics had a joint share with the Protestants in the legislation of the kingdom. On 9th June, 1641, he delivered (by order of the house of commons) his celebrated argument before a committee of the lords in the castle of Dublin, on questions touching the independence of Ireland, the illegality of appeals to England, the castle chamber proceedings, &c. propounded to the judges. Printed 1643, 4to. He afterwards became one of the supreme council of the confederate Catholics of Ireland, assembled at Kilkenny, in 1647; and, after sharing in all the political vicissitudes of those eventful times, he died in Dublin in

1668, and was interred at Kilconnel, in the county of Galway.

-Vide Harris's Ware, et ante, p. 11.

The author of this work has in his possession, in manuscript, an able, but ineffectual, remonstrance, written by Mr. Darcy, against the partial proceedings towards the ancient inhabitants of the town and county of the town of Galway, after the Restoration.

2. John Lynch.

This virtuous and learned prelate was born in Galway early in the seventeenth century. He taught what was called a school of humanity in his native town. During the troubles of 1641, he disapproved of the violent measures of the warden, Walter Lynch; and, in 1647, opposed the nuncio, Rinuncini, who was then in Galway. He afterwards became archdeacon of Tuam, and, on the surrender of Galway to the parliament army in 1652, he went to France, where he published, under the name of "Eudoxius Alithinologus," Alithinologia, sive veredica responsio ad invectivam, mendaciis, fallaciis, calumniis et imposturis fætam, in plurimos antistites proceres, et omnis Ordinis Hibernos A. R. P. R. F. C. Congre

gationi de propaganda fide, A. D. 1659, exhibitam 1664, 4to.Supplementum alithinologiæ, quod partes invectivæ in Hibernos cusa in alithinologia non oppugnata evertit, 1667, 4to. But the work by which he principally acquired fame was published under the feigned name of Gratianus Lucius, and is entitled "Cambrensis Eversus, seu potius Historica fides, in rebus Hibernicis, Giraldo Cambrensi abrogata. In quo, plerasque justi historici dotes desiderari, plerosque nævos inesse ostendit Gratianus Lucius Hibernus; qui etiam aliquot res memorabiles Hibernicas veteris et novæ memoriæ passim è re nata huic operi inseruit. Impress. An. 1662, folio."—In this work the errors and falsehoods of Gerald Barry, or Cambrensis, concerning Ireland, are detected and ably refuted. He wrote also "Pü Antistitis Icon, sive de vita et morte rev. D. Francisci Kerovani, Alladensis Episcopi. Maclovii, 1669, 8vo." and became himself titular bishop of Killala before his death. A late biographer states he was traditionally informed, that our author "was a man of the greatest benevolence, amiable manners, and virtuous dispositions, and that the whole course of his life was distinguished by a prominent and unaltered feature—the love of humanity and his country."

3. Roderick O'Flaherty.

This learned Irish antiquary was born about the year 1630, family. He applied himself with astonishing perseverance at Park, near Galway, part of the ancient inheritance of his

to the study of the history and antiquities of his native country, and in 1684 published his great work, entitled, Ogygia: seu Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia; ex vetustis membranis fideliter inter se collatis eruta, atque è sacris et prophanis literis primarum orbis gentium tam genealogicis, sufflaminata præsidüs.

Londini, 1685, 4to." which he dedicated to the duke of York, afterwards James II. This learned and excellent writer, to whose laborious researches we are indebted for the most accurate chronology of this country that ever appeared, died on the 8th of April, 1718, aged 89 years. He lies buried in a field near the house in which he was born.

4. Sir George Leonard Staunton, Bart.

This gentleman was born in Galway early in the last century. He studied medicine at Montpelier, and settled in London, where he translated several of the medical essays of Dr. Storck, of Vienna. About the year 1762, he went to Granada, where he acquired a considerable fortune, and having studied the law, became attorney-general of the island. He afterwards went to the East Indies, as secretary to lord Macartney, in which capacity he displayed great abilities, particularly in the treaty with Tippoo Sultan, for which he received a pension from the India company, and was created a baronet. In 1792, he accompanied lord Macartney as secretary of legation on the famous embassy to China, of which he published a highly interesting account, in two vols. 4to. Sir George died in London in 1801.

5. Walter Blake Kirwan.

This eloquent preacher was born in Galway in 1754, and was educated in the Jesuits' College at St. Omer's. At the age of seventeen, he went to the island of St. Croix, in the West Indies, where he remained six years. On his return to Europe, he was sent by his maternal uncle (doctor Anthony Blake, titular primate of Ireland) to the university of Lovain, where he received priest's orders, and was promoted to the chair of natural and moral philosophy. In 1778, he was appointed chaplain to the Neapolitan ambassador of the British court; and in the gay circles of London it is said that he first formed the idea of embracing the Protestant religion. After some years he returned to Ireland, and, in 1787, conformed to the established church. This event proved a source of unbounded regret to his numerous and respectable friends and relations. His brother, an exemplary Catholic clergyman in Galway, is said to have died of grief, originally occasioned by the circumstance; but his uncle the archbishop bore it more philosophically. When the latter was informed that his nephew had changed his religion, Tut, man,' replied the old prelate, “he had no religion to change;" but this may be reasonably attributed to resentment. It could not be denied, however, that the new convert brought a considerable accession of talent to the church which he had chosen. His fame soon blazed forth with a lustre unprecedented in the annals of pulpit eloquence, and his powerful talents were always made subservient to the sacred cause of charity. Though the powers of human persuasion were never more successfully employed, the worldly rewards of the preacher were comparatively mean and trifling. In 1798, he was appointed prebend of Howth, and rector of he parish of St. Nicholas Without, in Dublin; and his highest ecclesiastical promotion was the moderate deanery of Killala, to which he was preferred in the year 1800. He died on 27th October, 1805, near Dublin, leaving a wife and four children very ill provided for, until his late majesty was pleased to grant his widow a pension of 3004, a year. A volume of the dean's sermons, published in London, in 1814, for the benefit of his family, does not appear to have added much to his fame.

The following beautiful eulogium on this highly-talented individual was pronounced by the celebrated Henry Grattan in the Irish parliament, on 19th June, 1792:-"What is the case of doctor Kirwan ?-This man preferred our country and our religion, and brought to both genius superior to what he found in either. He called forth the latent virtues of the human heart, and taught men to discover in themselves a mine of charity, of which the proprietors had been unconscious. In feeding the lamp of charity, he has almost exhausted the lamp of life. He came to interrupt the repose of the pulpit, and

shakes one world with the thunder of the other. The preacher's desk became the throne of light. Round him, in a train, not such as crouch and swagger at the levee of princes, not such as attend the procession of the viceroy, horse, foot and dragoons, but that wherewith a great genius peoples his own state-charity in ecstasy, and vice in humiliation!-vanity, arrogance, and saucy empty pride appailed by the rebuke of the preacher, and cheated for a moment of their native probity and insolence.-What reward?-St. Nicholas Within, or St. Nicholas Without! The curse of Swift is upon him-to have been born an Irishman, and a man of genius, and to have used it for the good of his country!"

6. Richard Kirwan, Esq.

This celebrated philosopher, whose talents and scientific discoveries have reflected so much honor on his native country, was born near Galway, in the year 1734. He was descended from one of the most ancient and respectable families of the town, and, being a younger brother, was originally intended for a profession. He was accordingly sent to St. Omer's to receive a suitable education; but on the death of his elder brother, he succeeded to the family estates; and having thenceforth abandoned all professional ideas, he indulged his propensity by applying to those philosophical pursuits for which he was so singularly gifted. He studied science, and traced nature in her inmost recesses, with that persevering industry in the investigation of truth which always marks the true genius. For many years he stood almost alone in his scientific researches; and if he did not bring the science of chemistry to perfection, he certainly led the way to many of its most important discoveries. It has been pointedly observed, as a reflection on Ireland, that the abilities of Mr. Kirwan were more appreciated, and that his reputation was greater in every country in Europe than in his own. He published several learned works, viz.: Elements of Mineralogy, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1784; Geological Essays, 8vo. London, 1799; Essay on the Analysis of Mineral Waters, 8vo. London, 1799; Logic, or an Essay on the Elements, Principles and different Modes of Reasoning, 2 vols. 8vo. London 1807; Metaphysical Essays, containing the Principles and fundamental Objects of that Science, 8vo. London 1809; An Essay on Phlogiston and the Constitution of Acids, 8vo.; An Essay on the Temper ature of different Latitudes, 8vo. besides numerous tracts in the transactions of the different societies of which he was a member. Mr. Kirwan, for many years before his death, was president of the Royal Irish Academy, and also president of the Dublin Library Society; fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; member of the academies of Stockholm, Upsal, Berlin, Manchester, Philadelphia, of the Mineralogical Society at Jena, &c. doctor of laws, and inspector-general of his majesty's mines in Ireland. His manners were rather singular he never eat in company, owing, as was supposed, to some disorder in his throat. He entertained many curious suppositions; amongst others, he conceived that mankind is indebted for a large portion of knowledge, particularly astronomy, to the antediluvians; and that Greek was the first language spoken by man. His religious opinions were unsettled to the last, although it has been asserted that he died "Ferme Catholique," notwithstanding his having lived Preux Chevalier." This distinguished character departed this life, in his house, Cavendish-row, Dublin, on 1st June, 1812, in the 78th year of his age.

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Notices of several other natives of Galway, eminent for their learning and abilities, will be found interspersed throughout the notes, contained in the ecclesiastical part of this work, to which, for the present, the author begs leave to refer the reader.