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O'Beirne, Thomas Lewis, Bishop of Meath, was born in the County of Longford in 1747. He was intended for the Catholic priesthood, and was sent with his brother to St. Omer's; but eventually joined the Established Church. Much of his success in life has been attributed to a chance meeting with Charles Fox and the Duke of Portland at an inn in England. He was appointed chaplain in the British fleet under Lord Howe; and whilst in this service published a pamphlet in defence of his patron, the Admiral. In 1782 he accompanied the Duke of Portland, Lord- Lieutenant, to Ireland as his private secretary. He was in 1791 collated to the rectory of Templemichael and vicarage of Mohill, in the diocese of Ardagh, where his brother was at the same time a parish priest. In 1795 he became chaplain to Lord Fitzwilliam, who obtained for him the bishopric of Ossory, whence, in 1798, he was translated to Meath. In his place in the Irish House of Lords he objected to the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, and was one of those peers who voted against the Union and signed the Lords' Protest. As a preacher he was highly esteemed. "He was occasionally sublime, frequently pathetic, and always intelligible to his auditors... His person was of the middle size and slight; his face was thin and expressive." Cotton gives a list of his numerous sermons, charges, and pamphlets. He died at Ardbraccan, 17th February 1823, aged 76, and was there buried. During his episcopate fifty-seven churches and seventy- two glebe houses were built in his diocese.

O'Brien, Donough, King of Munster, son of Brian Borumha, was away plundering during the battle of Clontarf (23rd April 1014), but returning immediately afterwards, although the youngest surviving son of Brian, he assumed command of the Dalcassians, and prepared to return to Thomond. At Mullaghmast Donough and his brother Teige were opposed by his relative Cian, one of the chiefs of the Eugenian line, who demanded that Donough should resign the crown. The difference was adjusted through the intervention of Donald, Chief of the O'Donoghues. The Dalcassians had not proceeded much farther on their way home, when they were attacked by FitzPatrick, Chief of Upper Ossory, who thought the death of Brian a favourable opportunity to renounce his dependency on Munster, and to demand hostages. According to legend this treachery so enraged Donough's army that even the wounded demanded to be tied to stakes interspersed amongst their comrades, to assist in opposing FitzPatrick's onset. This bold front so intimidated the men of Ossory that they refused to attack, and confined their hostilities to cutting off a few stragglers. Donough had scarcely settled at home when he was obliged to repel the incursions of the neighbouring chiefs. In 1016 Kincora and Killaloe were demolished by the men of Connaught. Some years later Donough and Teige fought between themselves; the former was defeated, and shortly afterwards, in 1023, procured the assassination of Teige. After Malachy's death, the same year, Donough advanced pretensions to the supreme power in Ireland, and the country was devastated by apparently aimless wars, in which Donough and his nephew Turlough, son of Teige, figured on opposite sides. Eventually Donough was defeated, and, according to the annals of Clanmacnoise, retired to Rome, where he died in 1064.

O'Brien, Turlough, King of Munster, nephew of preceding, was born about 1009, and upon the defeat of his uncle, Donough, assumed the sovereignty. In 1067 he and his allies marched against Connaught, but were caught in an ambush and defeated. Next year saw Turlough without a competitor, his cousin Murrough having been killed in a predatory excursion into Teftia. In 1073 he made preparations to reduce Ulster to obedience; but was defeated near Ardee. Better fortune awaited him in 1076, when he invaded Connaught and compelled the submission of Roderic O'Conor. On the 29th October 1084, his son Murtough, with several allies, including the Danes of Dublin, fought an indecisive battle with the opposing Munstermen in Leinster. Four thousand were left dead on the field, including many princes of the O'Brien blood. In 1085 Turlough led a successful incursion into Ulster. He died at Kincora next year (1086), aged 76. He was twice married - to Gormlaith, a princess of Ely, and to Dervorghall, daughter of a prince of Ossory. Turlough O'Brien is said to have presented to William Rufus the oak with which the roof of Westminster Hall is constructed.

O'Brien, Murtough, King of Munster, succeeded his father Turlough in 1086. He signalized his accession by ravaging the territories of such of the surrounding chiefs as were obnoxious to him. He defeated the men of Leinster and the Danes of Dublin at Rathedair, near Howth, in 1087. This victory was counterbalanced next year by the invasion of Thomond. Roderic O'Conor marched into Munster, and took possession of an island in the Shannon, whence Murtough in vain endeavoured to dislodge him. Murtough was also assailed by Donald MacLoughlin, Prince of Aileach, who with O'Conor, entered Munster, burned Limerick, and laid waste the country as far as Emly, Lough Gur, and Bruree. They then demolished Kincora, and returned home with hundreds of prisoners both Irish and Danish. In 1089 Murtough made reprisals in Connaught, but had ultimately to waive his pretensions to the crown of Ireland, and rest satisfied with his position as a provincial king. A conference was held in 1090, and it was agreed by O'Brien and O'Conor to acknowledge O'Melaghlin as monarch; yet it had hardly separated when war was renewed. In 1101 the supremacy of Murtough O'Brien was recognized. It was about this time that he made a grant of the royal residence of Cashel to the Church. A contest between Murtough and Magnus, King of Norway, who arrived off the Irish coast with a large fleet, was averted by Murtough giving his daughter, with a large dowry, to Sigfried, son of Magnus. In 1114 ill-health obliged Murtough to resign the sceptre to his brother Diarmaid for a time. Murtough O'Brien died on 11th March 1119. We read that "the character of this prince ranks high, not only among the chroniclers of his own nation and time, but also among contemporary writers in England. Malmesbury says that he was held in such respect by the English monarch, Henry I., that that prince frequently availed himself of the wisdom and advice of Murtough. His reign appears, until his powers were subdued by disease, as one career of persevering energy, unnerved by defeat, and only stimulated by reverses to still greater efforts," He was buried at Killaloe.

O'Brien, Donald, King of Munster, succeeded to the throne about 1167. On the advent of the Anglo-Normans he turned against Roderic O'Conor, and was amongst the first to pay homage to Henry II. He surrendered Limerick to King Henry, and agreed to render tribute as to his sovereign lord, but took the first occasion to turn against the Anglo-Normans. In 1174 Earl Strongbow marched south to reassert his authority, but was intercepted at Thurles by forces under Roderic O'Conor and Donald O'Brien, and defeated with great loss. According to the Annals of Inisfallen, four knights and 700 of Strongbow's troops were killed, and the Four Masters say: "He returned in sorrow to his house in Waterford, and O'Brien proceeded home in triumph." On his return from victory, Donald blinded and put to death several of his relatives, to prevent the possibility of trouble from their designs upon the crown. He and the other chiefs were capable of sudden rallies and the accomplishment of brilliant exploits, but were quite unequal to sustained or combined efforts of any kind. Soon afterwards, Strongbow and Raymond FitzGerald besieged and took Limerick, and Roderic O'Conor making an incursion about the same time, Donald again submitted to the Anglo- Normans. When FitzGerald hastened to Dublin in 1177, on receiving the news of Strongbow's death, O'Brien, forgetful of all his engagements, cut down the bridge over the Shannon, and fired the town, stored with supplies of all kinds, declaring that it should no longer be a nest for foreigners. Henry II. shortly afterwards granted Donald's dominions to Philip de Braosa, and in 1192 two bands of English settlers entered his territory, but were defeated near Killaloe, driven across the Shannon, and again defeated near Thurles. Donald O'Brien died in 1194.

O'Brien, Murtough, King of Munster, succeeded his father in 1194. One of his first acts was to put to death his cousin, Donough, who advanced pretensions to the crown. In 1196, with O'Conor and MacCarthy,he marched upon Cork, obliged the Anglo-Normans to evacuate it, and afterwards defeated them at Limerick, and at Kilfeacle, where they had erected a castle. The Irish allies, however, soon fought among themselves. In 1201 De Burgh led a large army of O'Briens and MacCarthys into Connaught, and devastated the monastery of Athdalaarg, on the river Boyle. After this the O'Briens again fell out among themselves, and also fought against the Anglo-Normans, by whom, in 1208, Murtough was taken prisoner and blinded. He died in 1239.

O'Brien, Donough Cairbreach, King of Munster, was upon the deposition of his brother, in 1208, allowed by the Anglo-Normans to succeed him, and submitting to King John, Thomond was conferred, on him and his heirs, with the fortress and lordship of Garrigogonnell, which had belonged to William de Braosa. Donough fixed his residence at Clonroad, near Ennis, and commenced the erection of the beautiful Franciscan abbey, the ruins of which still remain. He was engaged in constant wars with the princes of Connaught. His death took place in 1242.

O'Brien, Conor na Siudaine, King of Munster, succeeded his father in 1242. With twenty other Irish princes, he was summoned by Henry III. to aid him in an expedition against the Scots, and afterwards, the Four Masters record that "a great battle broke out between him and the English of Munster." The territories of all the Irish princes but the O'Neills, the O'Conors, and the O'Briens had long before this been partitioned amongst the descendants of the Norman invaders. In 1258 a conference was held at Caeluisce (Narrow-water) on the Erne, between Hugh O'Conor and Teige O'Brien, on behalf of their respective fathers, and Brian O'Neill, to concert measures for mutual safety. They made peace with each other, and conferred the, sovereignty of the island upon Brian O'Neill. Little practical result followed this compact; several Irish princes were soon detached from the alliance by the Anglo-Normans, and next year, when O'Neill and O'Conor collected their forces, no representative of the O'Briens joined them. The battle of Drumdearg, near Downpatrick, ensued, in which the Irish were defeated with the loss of Brian O'Neill, and a large number of Ulster and Connaught chieftains. On the other hand, O'Brien defeated the English at Kilbarron, in Clare, where many of the Welsh settlers of Mayo were slaughtered. He was then strong enough to compel several of the ancient tributaries of his house to acknowledge his authority. He fell at the battle of Siudan, in Clare, in 1267, in an expedition against the O'Loughlins and O'Conors of Corcomroe.

O'Brien, Brian Roe, King of Munster, Conor's second son, succeeded on the death of his father in 1267. Violent contentions immediately ensued between him and his nephew Turlough, in the course of which Brian called to his assistance Thomas de Clare, a young knight, to whom Edward I. had granted Thomond. When in 1277, De Clare, armed with Edward's grant, arrived at Cork from England with a numerous band of followers, Brian met him on landing and conveyed to him as the price of his assistance the district comprised in the present barony of Lower Bunratty. According to a note in the Four Masters, they swore "to each other all the oaths in Munster, as bells, relics of saints, and croziers, to be true to each other for ever, and not endamage each other; also, after they became sworne gossips, and for confirmation of this their indissoluble bond of perpetuall friendship, they drew part of the blood of each of them, which they put in a vessall and mingled it together." De Clare immediately erected Bunratty Castle. The same year O'Brien and De Clare were defeated by the De Burghs of Connaught and the Irish of Burren in a bloody engagement at Maghgresain, and fled to Bunratty. There, in vexation at his defeat and at the instigation of his wife, De Clare caused O'Brien, in the words of the chronicler, to be "bound to sterne steedes and tortured to death"

O'Brien, Murrough, 1st Earl of Thomond, was a descendant of preceding. In 1540 he met O'Neill, O'Donnell, and O'Conor at Fore in Westmeath, and concerted joint operations against the Anglo-Irish power; but they were shortly afterwards defeated by Sir William Brereton, Lord-Justice. This defeat and one at Bellahoe the previous year, opened the way for a general pacification through the submission of the Irish chieftains. A Parliament in 1541 proclaimed Henry VIII. King of all Ireland, and declared it high treason to impeach this title or oppose the royal authority. Murrough O'Brien renounced all idea of opposing Henry, and offered to support the King in his contest with Rome, provided his estates were confirmed to him. The King and Council joyfully accepted his conditions. One hundred pounds was lent to O'Brien to enable him to visit London; and on Sunday, 1st July 1543 he was received by Henry at Greenwich, and created Earl of Thomond, with remainder to his nephew Donough. Other Irish chieftains were ennobled at the same time, and all were granted residences in Dublin, so that they should be able to attend Parliament. On the death of the Earl in 1551, Thomond and Desmond were again involved in a war regarding the succession; and nominal peace was not restored until 1558, when the Lord- Deputy, Sussex, entered Thomond at the head of a large army, and placed the rightful Earl in power.

O'Brien, Conor, 3rd Earl of Thomond, in 1570 broke out into rebellion, was defeated, and passed over into France; but was afterwards received back into favour by Elizabeth, and returned to Ireland with commendatory letters to the Council. In October 1577, after another period of civil war, he visited the Queen, and.again obtained several advantages for himself and his descendants. He died in 1580, aged 46, and within five years Thomond was completely settled into counties and shire ground, all old rights and customs abolished by law, circuits established, and the powers of the O'Briens restricted to those enjoyed by the nobility in England.

O'Brien, Donough, 4th Earl of Thomond (the "Great Earl"), son of preceding, was brought up at the court of Elizabeth, and succeeded to the titles and estates on the death of his father in 1580. In July 1597, at the head of his clansmen, he joined the Lord-Deputy at Boyle for an attack on O'Donnell. In crossing the Erne in the face of O'Donnell's troops, the Baron of Inchiquin, the Earl's relative, was killed. The reduction of the castle of Ballyshannon was unsuccessfully attempted, and the Lord-Deputy and O'Brien were compelled to beat an ignominious retreat, abandoning some of their artillery and baggage. In the following January the Earl was despatched by the Lords-Justices to inform the Queen of the true position of affairs in Ireland, and to be the bearer of the conditions upon which O'Neill and O'Donnell were willing to lay down their arms. After O'Neill's victory of the Yellow Ford, the flame of insurrection spread into Thomond. The Earl, in 1599, visited his domains at the head of a considerable body of the Queen's troops, and inflicted a terrible retaliation on the insurgents - hanging the garrison of the castle of Dunbeg in couples on the nearest trees, and reducing Dunmore, Derryowen, Cloon, and Lissofin. Later in the same year he attended the Earl of Essex in his progress through the south of Ireland - parting from him at Dungarvan, and returning by Youghal and Cork to Limerick. In the summer of 1600 O'Brien joined Sir George Carew in his victorious expedition through Desmond, and was present at the reduction of Glin Castle and other strongholds. In 1601 the Earl again visited England, and returned with reinforcements for Mountjoy, then engaged at the siege of Kinsale. After the surrender of Don Juan d'Aguila, and the settlement of the country, he had leisure to look after his own affairs, and the historian of the O'Briens quotes documents to prove that he still exercised or claimed almost regal authority over the other members of the sept. In May 1619, he was made Governor of Clare and Thomond; but we do not often find his name in connexion with public affairs. The Great Earl died, 5th September 1624, and was buried in Limerick Cathedral.

O'Brien, Murrough, 6th Baron and Earl of Inchiquin, known as "Murrough-an-tothaine" (the Incendiary), was born about 1618. His grandfather perished at the Erne, in 1597,fighting for the English against Hugh O'Donnell. His father died while he was a minor, and Murrough did not enter into the enjoyment of his estates until 1636. Inchiquin served for some years in the Spanish army, and returning home in 1639, took his seat among the peers. He early attracted the notice of Strafford; he was commended by Charles I. for his loyalty; and in April 1640 was appointed Vice-President of Munster, under Sir William St. Leger, his father-in-law. On the breaking out of the War of 1641-'52, he distinguished himself against the Confederates at Rathgogan and Ballyhay, near Charleville. On 13th April 1642, he defended Cork with great ability, and soon afterwards the entire civil and military administration of Munster devolved upon him. On 2nd September 1642, with 2,000 foot and 400 horse, he defeated Mountgarret and a superior force at the battle of Iiscarroll. The Irish on this occasion lost 800 men besides their ordnance, colours, and baggage. After the armistice of September 1643, Inchiquin was enabled to despatch five regiments for the service of the King. Subsequently he proceeded to Oxford to solicit the post of President of Munster; but finding that reports had been circulated to his disadvantage, and that Charles was prejudiced against him, he returned to Ireland, "determined to assert his own importance, and prove the value of those services to which little regard had been paid." In 1644 he appears to have put himself under the protection of the Parliament, and to have received from it the appointment he coveted. He joined Lord Broghill in the campaign of 1645, driving out the Catholic inhabitants of Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale, burning their houses, and confiscating their goods. The satisfaction of the Catholic Irish at Rinuccini's entrance into Kilkenny, the autumn of the same year, was damped by the news that Lord Inchiquin had taken Bunratty Castle from his relative the Earl of Thomond. The Supreme Council immediately transferred Inchiquin's title to his younger brother, who still sided with them, and next summer an expedition was sent under Lord Muskerry to retake Bunratty, which was defended by MacAdam, a Parliamentary officer, and by a fleet under Admiral Penn. After a vigorous defence, Mac- Adam was killed, and the garrison capitulated, being permitted to join Inchiquin at Cork. In 1647, at the head of 5,000 foot and 500 horse, Inchiquin successively reduced Cappoquin, Dromore, Dungarvan, Cahir, Fethard, and Cashel. In the assault of Cashel frightful atrocities were committed. In November he routed Taaffe's army of 8,500 men, with great slaughter, at Knocknanuss, near Mallow. Upon receipt of the news of this victory, Parliament voted £10,000 for the support of the army in Ireland, and sent a present of £1,000 to Inchiquin himself. After this a misunderstanding arose between Lord Lisle, the Parliamentary Lord-Lieutenant, and Inchiquin, ending in an abortive impeachment of the latter in Parliament. Inchiquin now turned again towards his royalist friends, and commenced a correspondence with Ormond, and Parliament, apprised of his designs, sent a force to blockade Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal. On 29th September 1648, Ormond arrived at Cork, Inchiquin and his army received him with all honour, and the Confederation resigned their power into his hands. On the news of the King's death next January, Ormond marched to Dublin and encamped at Finglas; while Inchiquin with a body of dragoons, secured Drogheda after a short siege. On the 15th July he invested Dundalk, and Monk, in command of the place was forced by his soldiers to surrender. Inchiquin took no part in the unsuccessful operations for the recovery of Dublin from the Parliamentarians, and the charge that a secret understanding existed between him and Jones, Governor of Dublin, appears to be without foundation. Ormond and Inchiquin were quite unable to withstand the advance of Cromwell's victorious arms, and on 11th December 1650, accompanied by many royalist officers, he embarked at Galway for France. Lord Inchiquin served in the French army for several years, was made Viceroy of Catalonia, and fought in the Netherlands. In 1654 he was created Earl of Inchiquin by Prince Charles. On one occasion, within sight of Lisbon, he and his son were taken prisoners by Algerine pirates, and he was not released until, strangely enough, the English Council of State intervened on his behalf. In 1662 he served in the Portuguese army against Spain. The notices of his remaining years are few and comparatively unimportant. After the Restoration, he was appointed Vice-President of Munster. He was awarded £8,000 for the losses he had suffered in the royalist cause, and his estates (consisting of 39,961 acres in Clare, 1,138 in Limerick, 312 in Tipperary, and 15,565 in Cork) were restored to him. He died 9th September 1674, aged 56, and was buried by his own directions in Limerick Cathedral. "By the Catholics he has been described as the relentless persecutor of themselves and their religion... The republicans.. and the Independents denounced him as one whose sole aim was self-aggrandizement, and they instance as justifying these charges, his frequent change of sides... It must not be forgotten, in weighing the charges advanced against Inchiquin by the Catholic party, that foreign agency had been employed to stir up the Catholic subjects of Charles to resist his authority, and to oppose any peace that did not embrace concessions which it was out of the power of the King to grant... Inchiquin was well aware from his correspondents in the Council of Kilkenny, that the Nuncio meditated, and went so far as to propose, to confer the kingdom upon either the Pope or the Grand Duke of Tuscany." On the death of his descendant James, 3rd Marquis, 7th Earl, and 12th Baron, in 1855, the earldom became extinct; but the barony of Inchiquin devolved on Sir Lucius O'Brien, Bart.

O'Brien, Daniel, Viscount Clare, (brother of the 4th Earl of Thomond), was created Viscount Clare in 1662 for his signal services in the wars of Ireland, Daniel, his grandson, the 3rd Viscount, espoused the cause of James II., raised two regiments of foot and one of dragoons for his service, fought at the Boyne, and retired to France. His regiments ultimately formed part of the Irish Brigade (in which his dragoons specially distinguished themselves), and his estates, comprising about 60,000 acres in Clare, were forfeited. Viscount Clare's dragoons fought at Ramillies and elsewhere on the Continent, and retrieved the dishonour of their unsteadiness at the Boyne. His sons both fell in battle - Daniel, the 4th Viscount, at Pignerol in 1693, and Charles, the 5th Viscount, at Ramillies in 1706. This branch of the O'Briens became extinct on the death of Charles, the 7th Viscount, at Paris in 1774.

O'Brien, Sir Lucius, Bart., (of the Dromoland O'Briens), descended from a younger son of the 1st Baron Inchiquin, was born in the first half of the 18th century. On the death of his father, Sir Edward, in 1765, he entered the Irish Parliament as member for Clare. He sided with the popular party in their efforts for the advancement and independence of Ireland; and "pursuing an independent parliamentary career, which extended over the administrations of thirteen viceroys, from the Duke of Bedford to the Earl of Westmoreland, a period of six-and-thirty years, he has left to his country and his posterity the character of a high-minded patriot and statesman, as zealous for the interests of his country as he was thoroughly acquainted with its wants, and ready to assert its rights. The appreciation of his high and independent character, his public spirit, and his illustrious lineage, by the House of Commons, was frequently testified by the deference paid to his opinions whenever questions of importance or difficulty happened to engage their attention." He was a Privy- Councillor, and Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper. Sir Lucius died 15th January 1795.

O'Brien, William Smith, grandson of preceding (second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, a member of the Irish Parliament, who strenuously opposed the Union), was born at Dromoland, County of Clare, 17th October 1803. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge University, entered Parliament in the Conservative interest in 1826, as member for Ennis, and represented the County of Limerick from 1835 to 1848. His name does not appear in Hansard until the 3rd June 1828, when he addressed the House in favour of the paper currency. In July of the same year he spoke in Parliament in favour of Emancipation, and avowed himself a member of the Catholic Association; yet he opposed O'Connell's second candidature for Clare in 1829, and fought a duel with Thomas Steele. In 1830 he published a pamphlet on the question of Irish Poor Relief. Although his views must have been gradually veering towards those held by the Irish nationalists, it was not until January 1844 that he formally joined the Repeal Association, and presided over a meeting in Conciliation Hall, Dublin. "I find it impossible," exclaimed O'Connell, who was present on the occasion, "to give adequate expression to the delight with which I hail Mr. O'Brien's presence in the Association. He now occupies his natural position - the position which centuries ago was occupied by his ancestor, Brian Boru." Six weeks afterwards a banquet was given in Limerick to celebrate his adhesion to the Nationalist cause. O'Connell was present. O'Brien gave the following as the reasons which had wrought such a change in his opinions: "The feelings of the Irish nation have been exasperated by every species of irritation and insult; every proposal tending to develop the resources of our industry, to raise the character and improve the condition of our population, has been discountenanced, distorted, or rejected. Ireland, instead of taking its place as an integral portion of the great empire which the valour of her sons has contributed to win, has been treated as a dependent tributary province; and at this moment, after forty-three years of nominal union, the affections of the two nations are so entirely alienated from each other, that England trusts for the maintenance of their connexion, not to the attachment of the Irish people, but to the bayonets which menace our bosoms, and the cannon which she has planted in all our strongholds." The prospects of the Repeal movement were not at their brightest when O'Brien entered Conciliation Hall; nevertheless the prestige of his name and the influence of his example were expected to do much. He soon perceived the disasters likely to arise from the party temporizing with the Government and permitting its adherents to take government pay and government place, in the expectation that the influence in favour of Repeal would thereby be strengthened. An ever-widening breach was soon apparent between the Old and Young Irelanders - the parties of O'Connell and O'Brien - one tending more every day to timidity and conservatism - the other advancing farther on the path of revolution and republicanism. In July 1846, O'Brien, Mitchel, Meagher, and Duffy, with their followers, quitted Conciliation Hall. Six months later a meeting was held in the Rotunda, at which the Irish Confederation was established, for the purpose of "protecting our national interests, and obtaining the legislative independence of Ireland by the force of opinion, by the combination of all classes of Irishmen, and by the exercise of all the political, moral, and social influence within our reach." The horrors of the famine, and the French Revolution of February 1848 combined to urge the Confederation to extreme measures. In the spring of 1848, O'Brien, Meagher, and O'Gorman went to Paris and presented a congratulatory address to Lamartine, President of the French Republic, but received a vague reply, which extinguished their hopes of support from France in any possible revolutionary movement. On his return through London he thus expressed himself in what proved to be his last speech in Parliament: "I do not profess disloyalty to the Queen of England. But.. it shall be the study of my life to overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over Ireland... I would gladly accept the most ignominious death.. rather than witness the sufferings and the indignities. . inflicted by this Legislature upon my countrymen during the last thirty years." On the 15th May he was tried before the Queen's Bench, Dublin, for speeches " inducing the people to rise in rebellion," but the jury disagreed. Matters now rapidly precipitated themselves. Treason-Felony Acts, Arms Acts, Coercion Acts were passed. Mitchel was arrested and convicted. Duffy, Martin, Doheny, and O'Doherty were arrested. Duffy's trial was fixed for August, and this was the time selected for taking the field. Although O'Brien and Dillon advocated delay until the crops were reaped, on 21st July a war directory, consisting of Dillon, Reilly, O'Gorman, Meagher, and Father Kenyon was appointed, and on the following morning O'Gorman started for Limerick, Doheny for Cashel, and O'Brien for Wexford, to prepare the people for an outbreak. At this time Ireland was flooded with troops, and almost every public building in Dublin was turned into a barrack, and on the morning that O'Brien set out on his mission, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act came into operation. Meagher and Dillon joined O'Brien, and it was determined to raise the standard of revolt near Kilkenny. Their harangues on the way thither were listened to with enthusiasm by the people, who, however, showed no inclination to take the initiative. At Kilkenny not one in eight of the men enrolled under their banner possessed a musket, and even the supply of pikes was miserably small. They left Kilkenny on the 24th, and at Callan and Carrick-on-Suir addressed large gatherings, and at Mullinahone they reviewed their first body of adherents, numbering 3,000 or 4,000, about 300 of whom were armed with guns, pistols, swords and pitchforks. We are told that O'Brien wore a plaid scarf across his shoulders, and carried a pistol in his breast, and he assured the people that Ireland would have a government of her own before many weeks. On 26th July his men were left the whole day without food or shelter. O'Brien gave them all the money he had, but told them that in future they should provide for themselves as he could allow no one's property to be interfered with. "Hungry and exhausted, the men who listened to him returned at night to their homes; they were sensible enough to perceive that insurrection within the lines laid down by their leaders was impossible; the news that they were expected to fight on empty stomachs was spread amongst the people, and from that day forward the number of O'Brien's followers dwindled away." He was joined at Ballingarry by MacManus and Doheny. On the 27th they returned to Mullinahone, and went thence to Killenaule. A barricade was thrown up in the latter village. Great disinclination was shown by the leaders to shed the first blood, and a small party of dragoons was permitted to pass through this barricade on the officer giving his word of honour that he was not going to arrest O'Brien. The hearts of the most resolute of O'Brien's followers now began to falter. It was clear the case was desperate, and that nothing awaited them but ruin and death. Only about 200 men, wretchedly armed, adhered to him, and the country generally showed no signs of rising. But Smith O'Brien was immovable, and declared "he would do his duty by his country, let the country answer for its duty towards him." The collision came at last. On 29th July a party of forty-six police, under Sub-Inspector Trant, marched to Ballingarry to arrest O'Brien. They were opposed by a crowd of insurgents behind a barricade, and thereupon rushed across some fields, and occupied a house. Of the 200 weak and hungry men whom O'Brien now led to the attack of the Constabulary, not more than twenty possessed fire-arms, about twice that number were armed with pikes and pitchforks, and the remainder had but their naked hands and the stones they could gather by the wayside. Before the fighting began, the owner of the house implored O'Brien to get her children out of the house; and at the risk of his life he endeavoured to persuade the police to permit this, but they declined, and a contest commenced which continued for nearly two hours. The insurgents' ammunition was soon exhausted. MacManus attempted to fire the house by wheeling a cart-load of burning hay up to the door; but O'Brien put a stop to the movement on account of the children. Some Catholic clergymen now appeared on the scene, one of whom has since written an account of the transaction. They pointed out the hopelessness of the struggle, and induced the people to disperse. Two of the insurgents had been killed, and a large number wounded, amongst whom was James Stephens. O'Brien had all through acted with perfect coolness, needlessly exposing himself to the firing, and for a long time refused the entreaties of his friends to leave the spot. A reward of £500 was now placed upon his head by Government; but he was effectually concealed by the peasantry, although many who were arrested and imprisoned might have gained liberty and wealth by giving evidence as to his whereabouts; whilst his spirit forbade him availing himself of the opportunities afforded for escape out of Ireland. At length he resolved upon paying a last visit to his family and then surrendering himself for trial. On the 5th August he appeared openly at Thurles railway station and took a ticket for Limerick; whereupon an English guard in the employment of the railway earned the reward by arresting him. O'Brien was at once sent under escort in a special train to Dublin. "I have played the game, and lost," he remarked to the officer of the Constabulary, "and am ready to pay the penalty of having failed. I hope that those who accompanied me maybe dealt with in clemency. I care not what happens to myself." On 21st September O'Brien, MacManus, Meagher, and a few others were arraigned for high treason at Clonmel. The trial lasted from the 28th September to 9th October, and resulted in a verdict of guilty, with a strong recommendation to mercy. A similar verdict, accompanied by a similar recommendation, was returned in the cases of his companions. Several witnesses refused to give evidence against him, and were imprisoned for contempt. One of them, John O'Donnell, a respectable farmer, on being proffered the book, exclaimed: "No, I won't be sworn; if I were placed before a rank of soldiers not one word would I speak, though twenty bayonets were to be driven into my heart... Directly or indirectly I will give no evidence." O'Brien, before sentence of death was passed, made a short speech, in which he said: "I am perfectly satisfied with the consciousness that I have performed my duty to my country - that I have done only that which it was, in my opinion, the duty of every Irishman to have done." Mr. O'Brien, who in the spring of 1848 had been committed to the custody of the Master-at- Arms, for refusing to serve on committees of the House of Commons, was, after his conviction, formally expelled the House. A writ of error in his case and that of T. B. MacManus was argued before the Queen's Bench, and its decision establishing the judgment of the court below was confirmed, on appeal, by the House of Lords in May 1849. The capital sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and after a detention of about nine months at Spike Island, in Cork Harbour, O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and O'Donohoe were sent, on the 29th July 1849, from Kingstown to Tasmania in the brig Swift. In November they reached Hobart Town. He refused the ticket-of- leave accepted by his companions, and was confined on Maria Island. Thence he made an ineffectual effort to escape, and was removed to closer confinement at Port Arthur; but his health breaking down, he was ultimately induced to accept a ticket-of-leave and comparative freedom. On 26th February 1854, without any solicitation on his part, a pardon was accorded to him, conditional on his not setting foot within the United Kingdom. At Melbourne, on his way to Europe, a golden cup, value £1,000, was presented to him, which he bequeathed to the Royal Irish Academy at his death. Mr. O'Brien spent two years with his family on the Continent. At Brussels, in 1856, he wrote two volumes of Principles of Government, or Meditations in Exile (published in Dublin), characterized by clear and moderate views, especially with regard to the position of the Australian colonies. A free pardon was sent him in May 1856, and on 8th July he stood once more on Irish soil. Although thenceforward he took little active part in politics, his opinions remained unchanged. In i859he travelled in America, and he gave the results of his observations in a series of lectures in Dublin. In the early part of 1864 his health began to fail; and on 16th of June he died at Bangor, North Wales, aged 60. His remains were laid in the churchyard of Rathronan, County of Limerick, being followed in their passage through Dublin by an immense number of mourners. When taking the field in 1848, he conveyed his property to trustees for the benefit of his family; and he latterly lived on £1,000 a year allowed him by them. O'Brien was over six feet high, and walked very erect. His figure was elegant, graceful in proportion and motion, vigorous in appearance: he was very active: his features were by no means handsome: he was of a rather reserved manner, except to his intimates. Mr. Lecky thus estimates his character: "Though very deficient, both in oratorical abilities and in judgment, he obtained great weight with the people from the charm that ever hangs around a chivalrous and polished gentleman, and from the transparent purity of a patriotism on which suspicion has never rested; and he was also a skilful and ready writer. Of the wisdom he displayed in one unhappy episode of his career there are not likely to be two opinions, but it should not be forgotten that it was the ceaseless labour of his life to inculcate the importance of self- reliance, to dissociate the national cause from the claptrap and bombast by which it was so frequently disfigured, and to teach the people that Liberal politics are only truly adopted when they are applied without respect of persons and without fear of consequences. It was thus that he laboured during the lifetime of O'Connell to check the place-hunting and the boasting that disgraced the Repeal cause, and that near the close of his life lie calmly and fearlessly risked all the popularity which years of suffering had gained him, by opposing those who sought to identify Irish liberalism with. Italian despotism, and to draw down upon their country the horrors of a French invasion. Few politicians have sacrificed more to what they believed to be right, and the invariable integrity of his motives has more than redeemed the errors of his judgment." All his children (five sons and two daughters) survived him. His wife died in 1861.

O'Brien, Henry, author of The Round Towers of Ireland, or the Mysteries of Freemasonry, of Sabaism, and of Budhism (1834), was born in Kerry in 1808, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and died in London, 28th June, 1835, aged 27. His extraordinary work on the Round Towers was at one time much esteemed, and was even awarded a prize of £20 by the Royal Irish Academy.

O'Brien, James Thomas, Bishop of Ossory, Ferns, and Leighlin, was born in the County of Westmeath, in September 1792. His father was a corporation officer of New Ross, and the lad was sent to Trinity College, chiefly at the expense of the borough. He became Fellow in 1820, and in 1826 we find him refunding the amount that had been spent for his education. Having entered the Church and been for some time Dean of Cork, he was in 1842 consecrated Bishop of Ossory. His biographer says: "Few will be found to deny that the many-sided excellence of Dr. O'Brien's long episcopal career has conferred a quite exceptional distinction on the ministry that appreciated and promoted him... He was an insatiable reader, and until latterly a very early riser. He was a keen logician and a forcible writer; his style being weighty and luminous, and his sentences, though long, yet not involved." He was an ardent advocate for the Church Education Society as against the National System of Education; and was the foremost champion of the Irish Church against disestablishment. He published Sermons on Justification, and other theological works. "He possessed perhaps the loftiest and best cultured intellect that Dublin University has produced since the time of Bishop Berkeley; and, take him for all in all, there was in his day and generation no more lordly type of the Celtic race... His entire life was one of the most unsullied purity." He was of a commanding presence; his face was massive and intellectual, and lit up with eyes of peculiar brilliancy and beauty, Bishop O'Brien died in London, 12th December 1874, aged 82, and was buried at St. Canice's, Kilkenny.

O'Brien, Jeremiah, Captain, was born probably in Ireland, about 1740, and was one of five sons of Maurice, a native of Cork, who emigrated to America. On the 11th of May 1775, hearing of the battle of Lexington, he and his brothers with a few volunteers captured the British armed schooner Margaretta, in Machias Bay, Maine. Jeremiah was the leader in this exploit, the first blow struck on the water in the course of the American revolutionary war. He soon afterwards captured two small British vessels, and was commissioned Captain. He cruised in the Liberty schooner, in which his first capture was made, for two years, and then fitted out the Hannibal, 20-gun letter-of-marque, and took several prizes. He was captured, but after two years' imprisonment escaped, and retired to Brunswick, Maine. He was Collector of Customs at Machias, Maine, at the time of his death (5th October 1818), at the age of 78. His brothers, John and William, also served at sea during the Revolution.

O'Brien, Terence Albert, Bishop of Emly, was born at Limerick in 1600. He entered the Dominican order, receiving most of his education on the Continent, and returned to Ireland and laboured zealously in his native city. In 1647, on the recommendation of Rinuccini, he was consecrated Bishop of Emly. He was one of the prelates who, in August 1650, offered the protectorate of Ireland to the Duke of Lorraine. In 1651 he was shut up in Limerick when invested by Ireton, and was ceaseless in his exertions to mitigate the horrors of the siege. On the surrender of the city, he was one of the number excepted from amnesty by the victorious Parliamentarians, and was accordingly executed on the 31st of October. We are told that "he went with joy to the place of execution, and then, with a serene countenance, turning to his Catholic friends who stood in the crowd, inconsolable and weeping, he said to them: 'Hold firmly by your faith and observe its precepts; murmur not against the arrangements of God's providence, and thus you will save your souls. Weep not at all for me, but rather pray that in this last trial of death I may, by firmness and constancy, attain my heavenly reward.' The head of the martyr was struck off, and placed on a spike on the tower." Two other Dominicans, Fathers John Collins and James Wolf, were executed at the same time.

O'Byrne, Fiagh Mac Hugh, chief of that sept of the O'Byrnes called Gaval- Rannall. His father, Hugh, who died in 1579, was far more powerful than The O'Byrne, and possessed a large tract of territory in the County of Wicklow. Upon the death of The O'Byrne, in 1580, Fiagh, who resided at Ballinacor, in Glenmalure, became the leader of his clan, and one of the most formidable of the Irish chieftains. In 1580 he joined his forces to those of Lord Baltinglass, and defeated Lord Grey in Glenmalure [see GREY, SIR ARTHUR]. After holding out in the rocky fastnesses of his principality for several years, he was, in 1595, driven up Glenmalure, and Ballinacor was occupied by an Anglo-Irish garrison. He then made terms, but seized the first opportunity of driving out the garrison and razing the fort. He was killed in a skirmish with the forces of the Lord-Deputy, in May 1597, and his head was impaled on Dublin Castle. The family estates were confirmed to his son, Felim, by patent of Queen Elizabeth, but he was ultimately deprived of them by the perjury and juggling of adventurers under James I., and although, in 1628, acquitted of all the charges brought against him, he was turned out upon the world a beggar. The genealogy of the different branches of the O'Byrnes, and the fate of Felim's descendants, will be found stated in the notes to Dr. Donovan's Four Masters, under the years 1578, 1580, and 1597.

O'Carolan, Turlough, a well-known harper, was born at Nobber, County of Meath, in 1670, on the lands wrested from his ancestors at the Anglo-Norman invasion. Blinded in infancy by the smallpox, he discovered considerable musical genius, which was cultivated by his family. He married early, and settled on a farm at Mosshill, in the County of Leitrim; but both he and his wife were unthrifty, and consumed their substance in extravagant living, and O'Carolan was obliged to become an itinerant harper. His great taste and feeling in music ensured him a welcome at the houses of the gentry, and he composed many beautiful airs; but the words he attempted to wed to them, if we may judge from the English translations, were rude and almost barbarous in their composition. It is said that he preferred Italian to all other music. He did not learn English till late in life, and indeed never spoke it with fluency. In his later years O'Carolan fell into intemperate habits, which hastened his death, in March 1738, at the age of 67. His remains were interred at Kilronan, in the County of Fermanagh. A visitor to the spot in 1785 writes: "I stood over poor Carolan's grave, covered with a heap of stones; and I found his skull in a niche near the grave, perforated a little in the forehead, that it might be known by that mark." A collected edition of O'Carolan's music was published in 1747, and another in 1780. He was held in extravagant esteem in Ireland through the last century. Walker, in his Irish Bards, writing in 1786, says: "The spot on which his cabin stood will... be visited at a future day with as much true devotion by the lovers of natural music, as Stratford-upon-Avon and Binfield are by the admirers of Shakespeare and of Pope." Lady Morgan left funds for a tablet to his memory, which has recently been erected in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. An interesting though somewhat acrimonious discussion relative to his life and works, his portraits, and his skull, will be found in Notes and Queries, 4th Series. O'Carolan left six daughters, and one son who studied music, and taught the Irish harp in London.

O'Carroll, Margaret, "Margaret-an-Einigh" - (Margaret the Hospitable), was born early in the 15th century, and married Calvagh O'Conor, chief of Offaly. The Four Masters speak of her as "the best woman of her time in Ireland." “She was the only woman that has made most of preparing highways, and erecting bridges, churches, and mass-books, and of all manner of things profitable to serve God and her soul," says MacFirbis, the chronicler. It was her custom twice each year to give a sumptuous entertainment to the bards and the poor. D'Arcy McGee has written two poems in her praise - one relating an anecdote connected with her pilgrimage to Compostella, in Spain. She died of cancer in 1451. Her two sons survived her but a short time; and her daughter, Finola, after being twice married - to Niall Garv O'Donnell and Hugh Boy O'Neill - ended her days in a convent, 25th July 1493.

O'Clery, Michael and Conary, brothers, and Cucogry (Peregrine), their cousin, were three of the annalists known as the Four Masters, the fourth being

Ferfeasa O'Mulconry. Michael, originally known as "Teige-an-Tsleibhe" - (Teige of the Mountain), was born about 1575, at Kilbarron Castle, the ruins of which overhang Donegal Bay. His ancestors had for generations been historians and lawyers. Early in the 17th century, through confiscations, the family were reduced to poverty, and Teige entered the order of St. Francis as a lay brother, assuming the cognomen of Michael. Soon after joining his order at Louvain he was sent back to Ireland by Hugh Ward, Guardian of the monastery, to collect materials for a work upon the lives of the Irish saints. Michael O'Clery was eminently qualified for this task, and pursued his enquiries for about eighteen years, visiting distinguished scholars and antiquaries, and transcribing ancient manuscripts. Ward did not live to avail himself of these materials, but they were of essential service to the Rev. John Colgan in the compilation of his great work, Acta Sanctorum. During O'Clery's stay in Ireland he compiled the following works: Reim Rioghraidhe, a list of the Irish kings, and genealogies and festivals of Irish saints: finished in the Franciscan convent at Athlone, 4th November 1630; the autograph original is in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, and a copy in the Royal Irish Academy. Leabhar-Gabhala, or Book of Conquests: completed 31st August 1631; a copy in the writing of Cucogry O'Clery is in the Royal Irish Academy. Annala Rioghachta Eireann, the Annals of Ireland, hereafter mentioned. He also wrote, and printed at Louvain in 1643, Sanas an Nuadh, a dictionary or glossary of difficult or obsolete Irish words, which Lhwyd transcribed into his Irish Dictionary. He is supposed to have died in 1643. Concerning CONARY O'CLERY very little is known. He was not a member of any religious order, and appears to have acted simply as scribe or copyist. CUCOGRY O'CLERY was the head of the Tirconnell sept of the O'Clerys. He wrote in Irish a life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, afterwards transcribed into the Annals of the Four Masters. In 1632, "being a mere Irishman, and not of English or British descent or surname," he was deprived of the small remaining portions of his lands in Donegal, and removed to Ballycroy, in the barony of Erris, and County of Mayo. In his will, dated 1664 (preserved in the Royal Irish Academy), he says: "I bequeath the property most dear to me that ever I possessed in this world, namely, my books, to my two sons, Dermot and John. Let them copy from them without injuring them, whatever may be necessary for their purpose, and let them be equally seen and used by the children of my brother Carbry as by themselves." John O'Clery, fifth in line of descent from Cucogry, removed to Dublin in 1817, carrying with him a number of valuable manuscripts in the handwriting of his ancestor. Concerning the fourth annalist, FERFEASA O'MULCONRY, nothing is known but that he was a hereditary antiquary, and a native of the County of Roscommon. The Annals of the Four Masters were written in Irish by these four men in the monastery of Donegal, between 22nd January 1632 and 10th August 1636. We are told that the brotherhood supplied the annalists with food and attendance, and the work was carried on under the patronage of Ferral O'Gara, Prince of Coolavin, to whom it is dedicated. Many of the materials from which the Annals were compiled are no longer in existence. No perfect copy of the autograph is now known to exist, though portions scattered through Europe would make one perfect copy and almost another. Of the First Part, from A.M. 2242 to A.D. 1171, there is a copy in Michael O'Clery's writing in the library of the Franciscans in Dublin - removed thither with other valuable manuscripts relating to Ireland, from St. Isidore's in Rome, in 1872. There is another autograph copy of this part in Lord Ashburnham's library. Of the Second Part, from 1172 to 1616, there is a copy in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. The first translation of the Annals was of the First Part, by Rev. Charles O'Conor in 1826. The Irish is given in Roman-Italic characters, and the translation and occasional notes are in Latin. It fills the third volume of his Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores - a quarto of 840 pp. O'Curry says "this edition is certainly valuable, but it is very inaccurate." No one being allowed access to the original of the First Part at Stowe, O'Donovan was obliged to take the text for his translation from O'Conor. An English translation of the Second Part, made by Owen Connellan from a copy of the autograph in the Royal Irish Academy, with notes by Dr. MacDermott, was published by B. Geraghty in Dublin in 1846. It occupies a quarto of 720 pp. The first complete printed edition of the work - the Irish original, with an English translation and ample notes - was given to the world by John O'Donovan in 1851, being the most important single contribution ever made to the study of Irish history. Including index, the work fills seven quarto volumes. [See O'DONOVAN, JOHN.] The notices of events in the Annals are in the main bald, and entirely wanting in colour or picturesqueness.

O'Connell, Daniel, Count, was born at Darrynane, in the County of Kerry, in August 1743: of twenty-two children by one marriage he was the youngest. Having studied mathematics and modern languages, he entered the French army at the age of fourteen, as lieutenant in Lord Clare's regiment of the Irish Brigade. He served with honour in the Seven Years' War in Germany; and at its conclusion, having gained much experience and-studied military engineering, he was attached to the Corps du Genie, and became one of the best engineers in France. He distinguished himself at the siege and capture of Port Mahon from the British in 1779, and at the unsuccessful siege of Gibraltar, in September 1782. From the plans of assault on the latter place submitted to him, he felt satisfied that the attack could not succeed; yet he claimed the honour of leading a body of troops, and was wounded in nine places. Soon after this he was appointed Inspector-General of the French Infantry, with the rank of a general officer. At the Revolution it is said he declined a military command pressed upon him by Carnot, feeling it his duty to remain near Louis XVI., and share the fortunes of the royal family. Eventually he joined the French Princes at Coblentz, and took part in the disastrous campaign of 1792. He then returned to Ireland, and was appointed to the command of an Irish regiment in the British service. During the peace of 1802 he visited France to look after a large property to which his wife was entitled. He was one of the British subjects seized by Napoleon, and remained a prisoner until 1814. The advent of the Bourbons restored him to his military rank in France; and he enjoyed in the decline of life full pay as general in the French army, and as a colonel in the British service. Refusing to take the oath of fidelity to Louis Philippe in 1830, he was deprived of his French emoluments. He died at the country seat of his son-in- law, Madon, near Blois, 9th July 1833, aged 89. He was uncle of the great Daniel O'Connell.

O'Connell, Daniel, "The Liberator," was born 6th August 1775, at Carhen, near Cahersiveen, County of Kerry. His father was Morgan O'Connell; his mother, Kate O'Mullane, of Whitechurch, near Cork. They were poor, and he was adopted by his uncle Maurice, from whom he eventually inherited Darrynane. At thirteen he was sent, with his brother Maurice, to a Catholic school near Cove (Queenstown), the first seminary kept openly by a Catholic priest in Ireland since the operation of the Penal Laws. A year later the lads were sent to Liege; but were debarred admission to the Irish College, because Daniel was beyond the prescribed age. After some delay they were entered at St. Omer's. There they remained another year (from 1791 to 1792), Daniel rising to the first place in all the classes. They were then removed to Douay, but before many months the confusion caused by the French Revolution rendered it desirable for them to return home. They left on 21st January 1793. At Calais they heard of the execution of the King. We are told that when the vessel was outside the harbour the lads tore the tricolor cockades from their hats and threw them into the sea, while two other Irish brothers on board, Henry and John Sheares, gloried in the successes of the Revolution, and boasted of having been present at the King's execution. In 1794, O'Connell was entered as a student of Lincoln's Inn. He writes to a friend at this period: "Though nature may have given me subordinate talents, I never will be satisfied with a subordinate situation in my profession. No man is able, I am aware, to supply the total deficiency of ability; but everybody is capable of improving and enlarging a stock, however small, and, in its beginning, contemptible. It is this reflection that affords me consolation." We are told that for a time after his return from France he believed himself a Tory; but events soon convinced him that he was at heart a Liberal. In after life, when the excesses of the Irish people under misery and famine were spoken of, he often referred to a scene he witnessed in London, in October 1795, when the King narrowly escaped being torn to pieces at the hands of an infuriated mob. He was a member of the society of United Irishmen, but avoided implication in any of the overt acts of the brotherhood. He was induced to spend the summer of 1798 (after his call to the Bar on 19th May) at home in Kerry, enjoying his favourite sports of hunting and fishing. All through life he was a keen sportsman, and often expatiated on the delights of crouching "amid the heather, waiting for day; the larks springing all around, and the eager dogs struggling to get free from the arms that restrained them." O'Connell's first public speech was made on 13th January 1800, at a meeting of Catholics held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to protest against the Union. Five strong resolutions were passed against the measure, and O'Connell said: "Let every man who feels with me proclaim, that if the alternative were offered him of Union, or the re-enactment of the Penal Code in all its pristine horrors, that he would prefer without hesitation the latter, as the lesser and more sufferable evil; that he would rather confide in the justice of his brethren the Protestants of Ireland, who have alalready liberated him, than lay his country at the feet of foreigners." At this period he is thus described by his biographer: "The bright, kindly blue eyes flashed with intelligence and that dash of humour which seems inherent to the Irish character. His action was gentle, but sufficiently marked. His form was strong and muscular, but devoid of that portliness which gave dignity to his later years. The features were clearly cut and tolerably regular. It was not a handsome face, but it was a kindly one, and scarcely told all the power of mind that lay hidden within." The events of 1798, the Union, and the emeute of 1803, left an indelible impression on his mind: "I saw that fraternities, banded illegally, never could be safe; that invariably some person without principle would be sure to gain admission into such societies; and either for ordinary bribes, or else in times of danger for their own preservation, would betray their associates. Yes; the United Irishmen taught me that all work for Ireland must be done openly and above-board." O'Connell married a cousin in the summer of 1802. It seems to have been a love match. Late in life he often said that his " Mary gave him thirty-five years of the purest happiness that man ever enjoyed." His commanding talents were soon recognized at the Bar, and although a Catholic might not then aspire to a silk gown, he could not complain of want of business. His fees the first year amounted to £58; the second, £150; the third, £200; the fourth, £300; thenceforward they advanced rapidly, until in some years they amounted to £9,000. So early as 1811 he appears to have taken the house in Merrion-square, where he resided the rest of his life. His biographies abound in racy anecdotes of his wonderful readiness and ability at the Bar, and the effects of his brilliant though somewhat coarse rhetoric. The Whig party attained to power in 1806 under Lord Granville. They were the supporters of Catholic Emancipation, and the Catholics were elated, but divided as to their proper course of action. John Keogh, the old and trusted leader of the party, maintained that dignified silence was their true policy, while O'Connell advocated a course of constant agitation, and his opinions were endorsed, by 134 votes to 110, at a conference of the party. He soon became the undisputed leader of the Irish people. Whenever professional duties led him through Ireland, he managed to address audiences on the great questions of the day. A Repeal agitation was inaugurated in 181 o by the Dublin Corporation, then a purely Protestant body, and at a meeting of the freemen and freeholders in the Royal Exchange, O'Connell repeated the sentiments he had enunciated in«i8oo: "Were Mr. Percival to-morrow to offer me the repeal of the Union upon the terms of re-enacting the entire Penal Code, I declare it from my heart, and in the presence of my God, that I would most cheerfully embrace his offer." In May of the same year a banquet was given by O'Connell and the leading Catholics to some of their Protestant supporters. At the same time efforts were made by Government to suppress the Catholic Association, on the ground of its being a seditious body. From 1813 to 1815, what with efforts to keep the Catholic party together, and his constantly increasing practice, O'Connell was overwhelmed with work. His defence of Magee, a Dublin newspaper proprietor, prosecuted in 1813 for publishing an article reflecting on the Government, has been regarded as one of his master efforts at the Bar. At a meeting held in January 1815, O'Connell spoke of the "beggarly" Corporation of Dublin, and J. N. D'Esterre, one of the guild of merchants, challenged him for the insult. O'Connell was of all men hated by D'Esterre's party; the challenge became a matter of public notoriety: and as D'Esterre was a man of determination and courage, it was thought the duel would result in the death of one of them. They met on the afternoon of the 31st January, in Lord Ponsonby's demesne, thirteen miles from Dublin, a considerable number of spectators being present. Both combatants were perfectly cool and determined. D'Esterre fired first; O'Connell's shot took effect, and the crowd actually shouted with satisfaction. Some 700 gentlemen left their cards on him next day. D'Esterre died three days afterwards, and though no proceedings were taken against O'Connell, the affair left a painful and lasting impression on his mind. He contributed to the support of D'Esterre's family, who were but slenderly provided for. Archbishop Murray's exclamation on learning the result of the duel - "God be praised; Ireland is safe" - may be taken as an index of the estimation in which O'Connell was held. In August of the same year he was involved in an affair of honour with Robert (later Sir Robert) Peel, who resented imputations cast upon him at a public meeting. They were about to proceed to the Continent to fight; but O'Connell was arrested in London, and bound over to keep the peace, and the affair terminated. The peace of 1815 laid the hopes of the Irish Catholics prostrate; and to aggravate matters, the divisions on the Veto question continued unabated for several years. This was a proposal that the grant of Catholic Emancipation should be coupled with a Government power of veto in the appointment of the Catholic Bishops. Pope Pius VII., in 1815, "felt no hesitation" in conceding it; but the Catholics of Ireland were seriously alarmed for the independence of their church. Grattan and Sheil advocated the concession, whilst O'Connell vigorously opposed it. At length O'Connell's party prevailed: it was agreed that no plan of Catholic Emancipation should be accepted that allowed any governmental interference in the affairs of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The state of politics until 1819 might have caused any man less energetic and buoyant than O'Connell to despair. There was in the Catholic party no spirit, no heart, no united action. The committee rooms had to be removed to smaller premises in Crow-street, and for some time O'Connell alone paid all the expenses connected with keeping them up. On one of the few occasions on which he addressed a public audience during these years, he spoke despondently of "the depression of those miserable times." In 1819 a meeting of Protestants was held in Dublin to support Catholic Emancipation, and notwithstanding Grattan's death in 1820 - a loss deplored by none more than by O'Connell, who had often been obliged to oppose Grattan's policy - the cause again commenced to make way. Plunket's relief Bills, passed by the Commons, but rejected by the Lords, were from the first repudiated by O'Connell as unsatisfactory. During George IV.'s visit to Ireland in 1821, O'Connell showed him as subservient a deference as the rest of his countrymen. The Catholics were soothed by soft words and promises. Lord Eldon afterwards said the King at one time half believed himself to be sincere, and that his departure was thereupon hastened by the Ministry. At length Catholic feeling gathered sufficient strength to enable O'Connell to found the Irish Catholic Association. Care was required in drawing up the rules to avoid infringing the Convention Act and similar laws hampering the free expression of public opinion in Ireland. The first meeting was held on the 12th May 1823, in a tavern in Sackville-street. Forty-seven gentlemen put down their names as members, and for a time the Association made steady progress. O'Connell was the life and soul of the movement. His diatribes were directed not alone against the opponents of Emancipation, but against Catholics themselves, who compromised their cause by carelessness and want of spirit, in not vindicating and exercising such rights as they already possessed. At a meeting on the 4th February 1824 - a quorum of ten having been obtained by O'Connell running down into Coyne's book-shop, over which the Association met, and forcing up stairs two reluctant Catholic priests (ex-officio members of the Association) whom he found there - the motion for establishing the Catholic "rent" was carried. Although this fund never reached the amount originally expected (£50,000 per annum), it attained a very respectable figure: in 1825, £16,213; 1826, £6,261; 1827, £3,067; 1828, £21,425; three months of 1829, £5,300; in all, £52,266. It was principally allocated for parliamentary expenses, services of the press, legal defence of Catholics, education, and the cost of meetings. At a gathering on 17th December 1824, O'Connell declared "he hoped that Ireland would never be driven to the system pursued by the Greeks. He trusted in God they would never be so driven. He hoped Ireland would be restored to her rights; but if that day should arrive - if she were driven mad by persecution, he wished that a new Bolivar might arise-that the spirit of the Greeks and of the South Americans might animate the people of Ireland." This, called his "Bolivar" speech, led to a Government prosecution, but the Grand Jury ignored the bills. On 10th February 1825, Lord Liverpool introduced a Bill for the suppression of the Association, when he said: "If Catholic claims were to be granted, they ought to be granted on their own merits, and not to the demand of such associations, acting in such a manner." On the other hand, Lord Brougham and many Liberals defended the existence of the Association. O'Connell spent a considerable time in London endeavouring, and somewhat successfully, to influence public opinion, and striving to obtain a hearing at the bar of the House. Mr. Peel advocated the abolition of the Association, and a Bill to effect that object, styled by O'Connell the "Algerine Act," was carried by 253 to 107 votes. O'Connell received an ovation on his return home; the Association held its last meeting on the 16th March 1825, and he immediately set about the formation of another within the law. For a time his popularity was impaired in consequence of his approving a relief Bill, with clauses providing for the payment of the clergy, and raising the franchise in counties from £2 to £5 (the "wings " as they were called); and he found that he had been much deceived as to the amount of influential English support their adoption would conciliate. The first meeting of the new Catholic Association was held in the Corn Exchange, Dublin, on 16th July 1825; O'Connell had managed, as many expected, to "drive a coach and six" through the "Algerine Act." The Act forbade holding meetings continuously for more than fourteen days. The Association accordingly arranged annually to hold fourteen days' continuous meetings, which were most successful. The principal incident in the movement in 1826 was the defeat of the Beresfords at Waterford (which they had theretofore regarded as a pocket borough), by a vote of 1,172 to 501. The political campaign of 1828 opened with the usual fourteen days' meetings; and 2,000 meetings were convened for one day in January, at which almost the whole of Catholic Ireland met to demand Emancipation. The question came before Parliament in May, and had sufficiently advanced in public estimation to be passed in the Commons by six votes, while it was rejected in the Lords by forty- four - the Duke of Wellington advising the Catholics to desist from agitation, as their only chance of having their claims favourably considered. The Act that virtually excluded Catholics from sitting in Parliament did not preclude their return as members. It had been the opinion of the veteran Catholic leader, Keogh, that some Catholic should be elected, so as to bring the English people face to face with the absurdity of disfranchising a constituency because the man of its choice would not swear that his belief was damnable and idolatrous. A vacancy occurred for the County of Clare in June, on Vesey FitzGerald's being made President of the Board of Trade, and O'Connell caught at the suggestion of contesting the seat. He immediately issued an address, declaring himself in favour of Catholic Emancipation, Repeal, and the reform of the Established Church. The Catholic Association granted £5,000 towards the expenses, and £9,000 more was raised within a week. The utmost enthusiasm was aroused in Clare, and throughout Ireland, and on Saturday the 5th July, O'Connell was returned by a vote of 2,057 to FitzGerald's 982. Decorum and good order prevailed throughout the election. The following months were a time of feverish excitement in Ireland. O'Connell used his "frank" as a member of Parliament, but did not present himself at the House. It was now perceived that a settlement of the Catholic question could not be much longer delayed. The Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Anglesea, was recalled for recommending the Catholics to persevere in constitutional agitation, and on his departure received an ovation such as had not been seen since Lord Fitzwilliam's time. In the King's speech of next February (1829) a revision of the Catholic disabilities was advised, " consistently with the full and permanent security of our Establishment in Church and State, with the maintenance of the Reformed religion established by law." In the debate on the address, Lord Eldon declared "that if ever a Roman Catholic was permitted to form part of the legislature of this country, from that moment the sun of Great Britain would set;" and the Duke of Cumberland said that if the King gave his assent to a Bill embodying such principles he would leave the kingdom and never return. Before introducing a Catholic Relief Bill, Peel passed the Act 10 Geo. IV. cap. 1, for the suppression of the Catholic Association, or any similar association in Ireland - in fact, any " association, assembly, or meeting of persons in Ireland, which he or they [the Lord-Lieutenant or Lords-Justices] shall deem to be dangerous to the public peace or safety, or inconsistent with the administration of the law." It became law on the 5th March, but the Association had dissolved nearly a month before. The Emancipation Bill passed the second reading in the Commons by 353 to 173 votes, and the Lords by 213 to 109, and received the royal assent on 13th April. It is known as 10 Geo. IV. cap. 7, consists of forty sections, and occupies eleven pages in the Statutes. The chief provisions were: (1) Catholics might sit in the Lords and Commons, upon taking a lengthy prescribed oath not to subvert the sovereign or constitution, the Protestant religion as by law established, or the settlement of property: (2) Catholics might hold all civil and military offices except those of Regent, Lord-Chancellor, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and a few others: (3) They might become members of corporations, but must not appear at chapels with their insignia of office;(4) Catholics should not assume the title of Archbishop, Bishop, or Dean within the United Kingdom: (5) Jesuits and members of religious communities to register their places of abode - it being "expedient to make provision for the gradual suppression and final prohibition of religious orders in the United Kingdom." All Jesuits coming into the realm to be banished. By the deliberate insertion in the second clause of the Act, of the words, "who shall after the commencement of this Act be returned as a member," O'Connell's election for Clare was made invalid. Another Act disfranchised the forty-shilling freeholders, by whom the Clare election had been carried. In commenting on the passing of the Emancipation Act, Mr. Lecky says: "It was thus that this great victorY was won by the unaided genius of a single man, who had entered on the contest without any advantage of rank, or wealth, or influence, who had maintained it from no prouder eminence than the platform of the demagogue, and who terminated it without the effusion of a single drop of blood. All the eloquence of Grattan and of Plunket, all the influence of Pitt and Canning, had proved ineffectual... He had gained it at a time when his bitterest enemies held the reins of power, and when they were guided by the greatest statesman who had arisen since Pitt, and by one of the most stubborn wills that ever directed the affairs of the nation." Although his election for Clare was virtually invalidated by the Act, O'Connell, desiring to record a protest, went to the House of Commons on 15th May and claimed his seat. The Speaker told him he must take the old oaths. He withdrew. Brougham then moved that he be heard at the table of the House; and a debate ensued, adjourned to the 18th, which ended in his being heard at the bar. His speech was a close legal argument, which occupies more than six pages of Hansard's Debates. Having concluded, he bowed to the House and withdrew, "amidst loud and general cheering." After a long discussion, it was decided, by 190 to 116, that he should take the old oaths; and upon his attendance at the bar on 19th May, the Speaker proffered them to him. "Allow me to look at the oath of supremacy," said O'Connell. It was handed to him; he regarded it in silence for a few seconds, and then, raising his head, said: "In this oath I see one assertion as to a matter of fact, which I know to be untrue. I see a second assertion as to a matter of opinion, which I believe to be untrue. I therefore refuse to take this oath." He then retired. A new writ was ordered for Clare, and he was triumphantly returned on 30th July. O'Connell held a seat in Parliament the rest of his life - being elected successively for Clare, 1829; Waterford, 1830; Kerry, 1831; Dublin, 1832; Kilkenny, 1836; Dublin, 1837; Cork, 1841. It soon became evident that the party in power was determined, as far as possible, to render the Emancipation Act nugatory. In a distribution of silk gowns O'Connell was studiously passed over, and for many years no Catholic judge or stipendiary magistrate was appointed. During the great Reform agitation he brought in a Bill for universal suffrage, triennial Parliaments, and the ballot. An association formed by O'Connell for the repeal of the Act of Union was put down by Government on the 18th October 1830. In 1831 Ireland was astir with the Anti-Tithe and Repeal agitation. In 1832 came a general election, and about forty members were returned on Repeal pledges. The condition of the country was deplorable; agrarian outrages were of frequent occurrence, and secret societies were organized and ramified over the land. Suspensions of Habeas Corpus, and coercion Bills were enacted, and exceptional legislation of every description was directed alike against criminal and constitutional agitation. Riots, and loss of life often resulted from efforts to collect the tithes. At length Parliament swept away a number of bishoprics; and a land-tax in the form of a tithe rent-charge was substituted for the tithe system. The Doneraile trials, in the year 1829, were among the most exciting in which O'Connell was ever employed, and his advocacy saved the lives of several persons in the County of Cork, who were accused, it is believed wrongfully, of a general conspiracy to murder their landlords. Holding a foremost place in British politics, it would be impossible to specify the part he took in the important measures brought before the public - Church Reform - Corporation Reform - Anti-Corn Laws - Poor Laws. Under few names in the Index to Hansards Debates are there more references. He opposed the abolition of the Corn Laws as likely to injure Irish interests; he also opposed the introduction of the Poor Laws; on this, as on many other questions, differing from his friend, Bishop Doyle. At the opening of Parliament in 1834, he introduced the Repeal question in an amendment to the address. A long debate ensued, brought to a conclusion on the 29th by a division, in which he was defeated by 523 to 38 votes. Thereupon a joint address of the Lords and Commons was presented to the King, recording their "fixed determination to maintain, unimpaired and undisturbed, the legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland." This was the only occasion upon which O'Connell challenged a decision of the House on the subject, though it was often afterwards brought forward on side issues. Minor associations, under different names, were the precursors of the Loyal National Repeal Association, founded at a meeting held in the Corn Exchange, Dublin, 15th April 1840. The Association consisted of three classes - members who subscribed 20s.; volunteers who subscribed or collected 10s.; and associates who subscribed 1s. The "rent," as it was called, was collected by Repeal "wardens," under the supervision of the Catholic clergy. The Association had its badges, caps, and buttons. A permanent place of meeting, Conciliation Hall, was built in Dublin. There were Repeal libraries and reading rooms scattered over the country: a political party could not be more completely organized. On the 4th of May O'Connell issued an elaborated detail of his Repeal scheme, giving an alphabetically-arranged schedule of the counties, cities, and towns that should return members to the restored Irish Parliament, providing for 173 members for the counties, and 127 for boroughs. He was thus minute, that his scheme might be thoroughly understood by the public. O'Connell was elected Lord-Mayor of Dublin in 1841. All previous efforts in favour of Repeal were thrown into the shade in 1843, when O'Connell abstained from attending Parliament, and devoted himself to promoting a series of monster gatherings in different parts of the country. From the Tuam meeting in March, to that at Tara in August, thirty large assemblies were held. The sum of £48,421 was subscribed during this year, and O'Connell expressed himself certain of gaining Repeal within a short time. Mr. Lecky, in his Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland, writes:" Whoever turns over the magazines or newspapers of the period will easily perceive how grandly his figure dominated in politics, how completely he had dispelled the indifference that had so long prevailed on Irish questions, how clearly his agitation stands forth as the great fact of the time. It would be difficult, indeed, to conceive a more imposing demonstration of public opinion than was furnished by those vast assemblies which were held in every Catholic county, and attended by almost every adult male. They usually took place upon Sunday morning, in the open air, upon some hillside. At daybreak the mighty throng might be seen, broken into detached groups and kneeling on the green sward around their priests, while the incense rose from a hundred rude altars, and the solemn music of the Mass floated upon the gale, and seemed to impart a consecration to the cause. O'Connell stood upon a platform, surrounded by the ecclesiastical dignitaries and by the more distinguished of his followers. Before him that immense assembly was ranged without disorder, or tumult, or difficulty; organized with the most perfect skill, and inspired with the most unanimous enthusiasm. There is, perhaps, no more impressive spectacle than such an assembly, pervaded by such a spirit, and moving under the control of a single mind. The silence that prevailed through its whole extent during some portions of his address; the concordant cheer bursting from tens of thousands of voices; the rapid transitions of feeling as the great magician struck alternately each chord of passion, and as the power of sympathy, acting and reacting by the well-known law, intensified the prevailing feeling, were sufficient to carry away the most callous, and to influence the most prejudiced; the critic, in the contagious enthusiasm, almost forgot his art, and men of very calm and disciplined intellects experienced emotions the most stately eloquence of the senate had failed to produce. The greatest of all these meetings - perhaps the grandest display of the kind that has ever taken place - was held around the Hill of Tara. According to very moderate computations, about a quarter of a million were assembled there to attest their sympathy with the movement. .. O'Connell, standing by the stone where the Kings of Ireland were once crowned, sketched the coming glories of his country. Beneath him, like a mighty sea, extended the throng of listeners. They were so numerous that thousands were unable to catch the faintest echo of the voice they loved so well; yet all remained passive, tranquil, and decorous. In no instance did these meetings degenerate into mobs. They were assembled, and they were dispersed, without disorder or tumult; they were disgraced by no drunkenness, by no crime, by no excess. When the Government, in the state trials, applied the most searching scrutiny, they could discover nothing worse than that on one occasion the retiring crowd trampled down the stall of an old woman who sold gingerbread." The following is Bulwer's description of the scene, as quoted by Mr. Lecky: "Once to my sight the giant thus was given, Walled by wide air and roofed by boundless heaven: Beneath his feet the human ocean lay, And wave on wave flowed into space away. Methought no clarion could have sent its sound E'en to the centre of the hosts around; And, as I thought, rose the sonorous swell, As from some church-tower swings the silvery bell; Aloft and clear from airy tide to tide, It glided easy, as a bird may glide. To the last verge of that vast audience sent, It played with each wild passion as it went: Now stirred the uproar-now the murmurs stilled, And sobs or laughter answered as it willed. Then did I know what spells of infinite choice To rouse or lull has the sweet human voice. Then did I learn to seize the sudden clue To the grand troublous life antique-to view, Under the rock-stand of Demosthenes, Unstable Athens heave her noisy seas." On Sunday, the 8th of October, this series of meetings was to have been crowned by one at Clontarf; which, owing to the proximity of Dublin, was expected to surpass all the others in magnitude and importance; but on the evening of the 7th a Government proclamation was issued forbidding the gathering. O'Connell, by his promptness in despatching messengers in all directions, prevented the possibility of any disturbance. "It has always been believed by many that the delay in issuing the proclamation was intended to provoke a collision, in order that the blood thus shed might give a crushing effect to the prosecution that was meditated, and thus disorganize the people and annihilate the movement." On 14th of October warrants were issued for the arrest of Daniel O'Connell, John O'Connell, Richard Barrett, Charles Gavan Duffy, John Gray, Thomas Matthew Ray, Thomas Steele, Rev. Thomas Tierney, and Rev. Peter James Tyrrell, on a charge of "unlawfully, maliciously, and seditiously contriving, intending, and devising to raise and create discontent and disaffection amongst the liege subjects of our said lady the Queen, and to excite the said liege subjects to hatred and contempt of the government and constitution of this realm." Bail was accepted. Condolences and indignant protests against the action of Government came in from all quarters - from Joseph Sturge, the Quaker philanthropist, and from Archdeacon Bathurst, son of the Bishop of Norwich. From the first, the prospect of the prosecution appears to have dispirited and depressed O'Connell. True bills were found by the Grand Jury on 8th November; and after various delays the traversers (with the exception of Rev. P. J. Tyrrell, who had died in the interval) were put upon their trial at the Queen's Bench, Dublin, on 16th January 1844. There were eleven counts in the long indictment. The charges varied against each traverser. Utterances at public meetings formed the principal evidence upon which the Government relied. There was not a single Catholic on the jury. O'Connell was escorted to the court by large crowds and almost in regal state, accompanied by the Lord Mayor and the Catholic aldermen in their robes. On the 12th February, the jury, after six hours' deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty. A writ of error was argued, and the verdict was upheld by the judges. Meanwhile O'Connell visited London, addressed large meetings, and was respectfully received in the House of Commons. On 30th May the court gave judgment, and O'Connell was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months, to pay a fine of £2,000, and to give bonds to keep the peace for seven years - himself in £5,000, and two sureties in £2,500 each. The other traversers, except the Rev. T. Tierney, against whom the Attorney-General did not pray judgment, were condemned to be imprisoned for nine months, to pay fines of £50 each, and to find securities to keep the peace. The judge was much affected in announcing the sentence. The prisoners were allowed to choose their own prison, and were conveyed to Richmond Bridewell at four o'clock the same afternoon, by mounted police, followed by immense crowds. O'Connell addressed the people of Ireland in a short, earnest letter, adjuring them to keep firm and quiet; and the Repeal rent, which had amounted to £6,679 the fourteen weeks before the trial, mounted to £25,712 the fourteen weeks succeeding it. In Richmond Bridewell they were treated with every consideration, and were freely allowed to receive visitors. The writ of error was on 4th July brought before the House of Lords. Lengthened arguments ensued, and the opinion of the English judges was sought. On 4th September the question was brought forward for decision. The counts held good by the four Irish judges were held bad by nine English judges, unanimously, by the Lord Chancellor, and Lords Denham, Cottenham, and Campbell. On the appeal of Lords Wharncliffe, Brougham, and Campbell, all except the law Lords withdrew, thereby establishing a precedent never since violated. The judgment of the court below was reversed. In discussing the matter next day in the House of Commons, Lord John Russell declared: "I must, I say, reassert my own opinion, more than once expressed in this House, that the trial of Mr. O'Connell and the other traversers in Ireland was not such a trial as could give an impression of the fairness and justice of the Government... The trial was not a trial by a fair jury, but one elaborately put together for the purpose of conviction, and charged by a judge who did not allow any evidence or consideration in favour of the traversers to come fairly before his mind... I trust the effect of these proceedings will be, that no example of such a trial will again occur." The news of the decision was swiftly flashed over Ireland by signal fires, and was received with enthusiasm. The prisoners were released, and on the 7th September were formally accompanied to their homes by a monster procession - O'Connell upon a triumphal chariot, with an Irish harper playing before him. Although the incarceration had been short, O'Connell never recovered his buoyancy; hope and spirit appeared gone, and the illness of which he ultimately died was beginning to creep over him. The progress of the Repeal movement gradually slackened. A rescript from Rome, though it did not actually forbid the clergy joining in the agitation, obliged them to refrain, to a certain degree, from public expressions of opinion. It has been asserted that about this time the Whig party debated the propriety of arranging a federal parliament for Ireland; but the advent of the famine rendered unnecessary any idea of concession. The winter of 1845-'6 broke O'Connell's heart. Not alone were the people he most dearly loved decimated by starvation and pestilence, and obliged to fly from the country in multitudes, but the ranks of the Repeal Association were split up into Old and Young Irelanders - the former holding to O'Connell's moral force programme, and the latter, comprising the youth, talent, and energy of the party, sick of delay, gradually drifting into a policy of revolution, with a view to separation from Great Britain. Under these influences O'Connell's health rapidly declined, and he left Ireland for the last time in January 1847. On the 8th February he made his last speech in Parliament - a short appeal, uttered with evident difficulty, on the condition of Ireland - concluding with the words: "She is in your hands - in your power. If you do not save her, she cannot save herself. I solemnly call on you to recollect that I predict, with the sincerest conviction, that one- fourth of her population will perish unless you come to her relief." His physicians ordered him to the Continent, and his desires led him towards Rome; but his strength failed him at Genoa, where he died, 15th May 1847, aged 71. O'Connell bequeathed his heart to Rome. It rests in the church of St. Agatha. His body was not removed to Ireland until August, and was buried at Glasnevin, after lying in state in the Catholic Cathedral, Dublin. O'Connell's presence was commanding. His shoulders were broad, his face massive, his features, naturally plain, were lit up by the light of genius; his eyes were piercing. His voice was musical, great in power and compass, rich in tone, ever fresh in the variety of its cadences. His accent was unmistakably Irish. His style was forcible - when addressing popular audiences often coarse, and perhaps too rhetorical. His career has never been more ably sketched than by Mr. Lecky: "The truth is, that the position of O'Connell, so far from being a common one, is absolutely unique in history. There have been many greater men, but there is no one with whom he compares disadvantageously, for he stands alone in his sphere. We may search in vain through the records of the past for any man who, without the effusion of a drop of blood, or the advantages of office or rank, succeeded in governing a people so absolutely and so long, and in creating so entirely the elements of his power. A king without rebellion, with his tribute, his government, and his deputies, he at once evaded the meshes of the law and restrained the passions of the people. He possessed to the highest degree the eloquence and adroitness of a demagogue, but he possessed also all the sagacity of a statesman and not a little of the independence of a patriot. He yielded frequently to the wishes of the people and to the passions around him, but on points which he deemed important he was quite capable of resisting them... It was said that he exhibited a systematic disregard for truth. It is extremely difficult to form any adequate judgment on such a question in the case of a man so long and fiercely assailed as O'Connell; but we are inclined to think that the truth was simply that he had a natural propensity to exaggeration, and, like all popular orators, a great passion for producing those effects which the statement of a startling fact in an unqualified form so often causes. His conversation was full of witty anecdotes, which it is impossible to read without feeling that they are too pointed to be quite true - that some qualification must have been withheld, or some imaginary circumstance artistically inserted to give them such epigrammatic brilliancy... We have dwelt long upon the intellectual and moral calibre of O'Connell, for there is, we think, scarcely anyone who is more underrated in England, and there is scarcely anyone concerning whom English and Continental writers more widely differ. It is impossible for those who do not realize the position which he occupied with reference to the progressive party in his Church, to understand the full grandeur of his position." O'Connell showed great clearness of moral vision and unflinching consistency in his opposition to American slavery. He attended the Anti-slavery Convention held in London in 1840, and afterwards sent back money forwarded to him by slaveholders for the furtherance of Repeal. In a speech delivered in Conciliation Hall, Dublin, about 1845, he said: " I hold in my hand the Boston Quarterly Review, in which this American scribbler charges me with being an enemy to America - to her `peculiar institution' as it is called. I am not an enemy to America; but I am a friend to civil and religious liberty all over the world. My sympathies are not confined to my own green island, but my spirit walks abroad upon the clement waters, and wherever there is tyranny I hate the tyrant - wherever there is oppression, I hate the oppressor. I will continue to hurl my taunts against American slavery; my voice shall make its way against the western breezes; shall cross the Atlantic; it shall ascend the Mississippi; it shall descend the Monongahela, and be heard along the banks of the Ohio in denunciation of American slavery; until the black man becomes too big for his chains, and shall arise a regenerated and enfranchised American citizen." Few British politicians stood higher in the estimation of foreign nations, or have been regarded with more aversion by political opponents, than O'Connell. The only book written by him appears to have been one volume of A Memoir on Ireland, Native and Saxon, 1172-1660 (Dublin, 1843), never completed. In 1811 he published anonymously in London, a pamphlet: An Historical Account of the Laws against the Roman Catholics of England. He left four sons (now deceased) - Maurice, Morgan, John, and Daniel - all of whom occupied seats in Parliament; and three daughters - Ellen, Catherine, and Elizabeth. Ellen (Mrs. Fitzsimon) published a volume of poetry, which has been much admired. The centenary of O'Connell's birth was celebrated with great enthusiasm in many parts of Ireland in 1875. For notes on his English ancestry, see Notes and Queries, 4the Series.

O'Connell, John, third and favourite son of preceding, was born in 1811. He was called to the Bar, and early took a prominent part in politics with his father, entering Parliament in 1832 for Youghal. Successively representing Youghal, Athlone, Kilkenny, and Limerick, he sat continuously until 1851, and again represented Clonmel from 1853 to 1857. An amiable and conscientious man, he was generally respected, but he was quite unable to sustain the role of leader of the Repeal agitation after his father's decease. The Loyal National Repeal Association was broken up, 6th June 1848, the "rent" having dwindled down to £12 the previous week. Its only official publications ordinarily to be met with are three volumes (1844-'6) of Reports of the Parliamentary Committee of the Repeal Association. John O'Connell retired from parliamentary life in 1857, on being appointed by Lord Carlisle to the clerkship of the Hanaper Office in Ireland. He was known in the literary world as the editor of the Life and Speeches of Daniel O'Connell (Dublin, 1846), and as the author of two volumes of Parliamentary Recollections and Experiences (Dublin, 1846), and the Repeal Dictionary (1845). He died in Kingstown, 24th May 1858, aged 47, and was buried at Glasnevin.

O'Connor, Roger, for many years a prominent character in Irish affairs, son of Roger Conner, the descendant of an opulent London merchant, was born at Connerville, in the County of Cork, in 1762. Possessed of ample means, and having received a good education, he was called to the English Bar in 1784. He more than once suffered imprisonment for being involved in the revolutionary designs of the United Irishmen, and was consigned to Fort George in Scotland, with his brother Arthur, Thomas A. Emmet, Neilson, and others. He was subsequently engaged in several not very creditable transactions. He was proved to have wasted his brother Arthur's property, which he held in trust, to the extent of £10,000. His residence, Dangan Castle, once the home of the Wellesley family, was burnt down shortly after he had effected an insurance for £5,000, Twice married, he eloped with a married lady. In 1817 he was tried at Trim for complicity in the robbery of the Galway coach and murder of the guard, and was acquitted, although there were grounds for believing that he had planned the affair to secure certain letters, the possession of which was of importance to him. An agent to whom he had paid £700 was robbed of the money before he was clear of O'Connor's land, by persons who were never discovered. Roger O'Connor has been described as "a hale, hearty, joyous, good-humoured, kindly- looking, broad-faced, honest-minded seeming person - a man in the full vigour of life. .. His conversational powers were of a high order; his manner was fascinating; his tone of voice sweet and persuasive; his style impressive, full of energy, and apparent candour; his language eloquent, and always appropriate." In 1822 he published, in London, in two bulky volumes, Chronicles of Eri, being the History of the Gael, Sciot Iber, or Irish People; translated from the Original Manuscripts in the Phoenician Dialect of the Scythian Language. The work is dedicated to his friend Sir Francis Burdett, and is illustrated with numerous maps and plates. A portrait of the author faces the title-page, with the words: "O'Connor Cier-rige, head of his race, and O'Connor, chief of the prostrated people of this nation. Soumis, pas vaincus." The book is an extraordinary production; as far as the annals are concerned, a piece of gross literary forgery. Roger O'Connor openly advocated the most extreme free-thinking opinions in religion. He died at Kilcrea, County of Cork, 27th January 1834, aged 71, and was buried in the vault of the MacCarthys at Kilcrea.

O'Connor, Arthur, a prominent United Irishman, General in the French service, brother of preceding, was born at Mitchels, near Bandon, 4th July 1763. He was educated in Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1788 was called to the Bar; but, inheriting a fortune of about £1,500 a year, never practised. In 1791 he entered Parliament for Philipstown, and next year delivered such an able speech on Indian affairs, that it is said he was offered by Pitt a place as Commissioner of Revenue. He early attached himself to the popular party, led by Grattan, and joined in demanding Catholic Emancipation and other reforms. Before long, however, he went farther, and in 1796 was in constant intercourse with Lord Edward FitzGerald and the leaders of United Irishmen. In November he formally joined the organization, and soon became one of the most' active members of the Leinster Directory. He accompanied Lord Edward to the Continent, and had an interview with Hoche on the French frontier, relative to the possibility of obtaining French assistance in asserting the independence of Ireland. Arrested next year, he suffered six months'imprisonment in Dublin Castle. Shortly after his liberation he was mainly instrumental in starting the Press newspaper, the organ of the United Irishmen. It was suppressed in March 1798, after sixty-eight numbers had appeared. On 27th February 1798, he and his friend Rev. James O'Coigley (or Quigley), a Catholic clergyman, with Binns, Allen, and Leary, were arrested at Margate, on their way to France, on a supposed mission from the United Irishmen. In O'Connor's baggage were found a military uniform, £900 in cash, and the key to a cipher correspondence with Lord Edward FitzGerald. They were put upon their trial at Maidstone in May. Erskine, Fox, Sheridan, Grattan, the Duke of Norfolk and several other noblemen, testified to O'Connor's character, and their belief that he was innocent of the charges preferred against him. The prisoners were all acquitted but O'Coigley, who was sentenced to death, and executed on Pennington Heath, 7th June, aged 35. He bore himself with singular dignity and fortitude. Interesting notes of his career will be found in the State Trials. Before O'Connor could leave the dock he was rearrested on another warrant, and after a few days detention in the Tower of London, was transferred to Dublin, and committed to Newgate. The Earl of Thanet and a Mr. Ferguson,for attempting O'Connor's rescue in court, were sentenced to a year's imprisonment in the Tower and a heavy fine. Arthur O'Connor, with the other state prisoners, entered into a compact with Government, under which, on the understanding that the executions should be stopped, and that they should be permitted to leave the country, they agreed to reveal, without implicating individuals, the plans and workings of the society of the United Irishmen. The examination of O'Connor and his fellow-prisoners before select committees of the Irish Lords and Commons throws the fullest light upon the origin and progress of the movement that led to the Insurrection of 1798. The correctness of a report of this examination was questioned by some of their number in a letter to the papers. This breach of prison discipline, and the refusal of Rufus King, the United States Ambassador, to permit their deportation to America, induced the Government to alter its intentions with regard to them, and in April 1799, the following prisoners were committed to Fort George, in Scotland: John Chambers, Matthew Dowling, William Dowdall, Thomas A. Emmet, Edward Hudson, Robert Hunter, Arthur and Roger O'Connor, Thomas Russell, Hugh Wilson, (Churchmen); Joseph Cormack, Dr. MacNevin, John Sweetman, John Swiney, (Catholics); George Cuming, Joseph Cuthbert, Dr. Dickson, Samuel Neilson, Robert Simms, William Tennent, (Presbyterians). They were treated with great consideration by Lieutenant-Governor Stuart; and in June 1802, after a confinement of over three years, were deported to the Continent and set at liberty. Arthur O'Connor proceeded to Paris, in hopes of being able to join in a contemplated expedition for the liberation of Ireland, and in February 1804 was appointed General of Division in the French army. According to the Biographie Generale, "the openness of his character, and his unalterable attachment to the cause of liberty, rendered him little agreeable to Napoleon, who never employed him." In 1807 he married Elisa Condorcet, only daughter of the great philosopher, and the following year purchased the estate of Bignon, near Nemours (once the property of Mirabeau), devoted himself to agriculture, and became a naturalized Frenchman. In 1834 he was permitted to visit Ireland with his wife, to dispose of his estates, which had been mismanaged by his brother Roger. He was the author of numerous pamphlets and addresses, edited the Journal de la Liberte Religieuse, and in 1849 helped Arago to prepare a complete edition of Condorcet's Works. His Monopoly, the Cause of all Evil, published in 1848, contains a brilliant defence of the policy of the United Irishmen, throws much of the blame of failure upon the clergy, and enunciates his heterodox religious convictions. He was bitterly opposed to O'Connell and his policy. General O'Connor died at Bignon, 25th April 1852, aged 88, and was interred in the family vault hard by. His portrait will be found in the Lives of the United Irishmen, by Dr. Madden, who says that "no man was more sincere in his patriotism, more capable of making great sacrifices for his country, or brought greater abilities to its cause." An interesting communication relative to his visit to Ireland in 1834, his character, and his opinions, will be found in. Notes and Queries, 1st Series, vol. v.

O'Connor, Feargus Edward, a nephew of preceding, one of the numerous children of Roger O'Connor by his second wife, was born at Connerville, County of Cork, in 1796. He first took an active part in politics in 1831, vehemently advocating Reform and Repeal, and supporting the people in the tithe-war; and rather to the surprise of his friends, and greatly to the dissatisfaction of those who had theretofore considered the seat an appanage of their property, he was in 1832 returned for the County of Cork. His language was vituperative and bombastic to the last degree, yet not without considerable power. Although at first he acknowledged O'Connell's leadership, and attended his National Council of Irish members in Dublin, in November 1833, he eventually broke away, and strove to lead the Repeal party. This made him unpopular in Ireland, and after being unseated on petition in 1834, he retired to England, threw himself into the Chartist movement, and became very popular throughout the north and centre of England. He established and edited the Northern Star newspaper, which at one time attained a circulation of 60,000. For seditious libel he suffered an imprisonment of some duration in York Castle, where it is stated he was treated with great and unnecessary severity. In July 1847 O'Connor was returned to Parliament for Nottingham, and in 1848 he headed a great Chartist demonstration in London. A Chartist land scheme involved hundreds in ruin, and perhaps contributed to the overthrow of his intellect. After indulging in some strange freaks in the House of Commons in 1853, he was committed to a private asylum. He died in London, 30th August 1855, aged 59, and a large funeral procession followed his remains to Kensal-green Cemetery. A statue has been erected to his memory in Nottingham.

O'Conor, Turlough, Monarch of Ireland and King of Connaught, was born in 1088. He was son of Roderic O'Conor, who died in the monastery of Clonmacnoise, where he had resided after being blinded by the O'Flahertys. Turlough conquered the princes of Ireland in the south and west, and, according to Keating, held the nominal sovereignty of Ireland from 1126 to 1156; but the Irish princes were engaged in continual hostilities among themselves and with the Northmen during his reign. In 1153 he subdued Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, and compelled him to return to her husband - O'Ruark, Prince of Breffny - Dervorgilla, with whom he had eloped a short time previously. We are told that he established a mint at Clonmacnoise, built bridges across the Shannon at Athlone and Atherochta (near Shannon Harbour), and across the Suck at Ballinasloe, and that he was a munificent friend of the Church. He died in 1156, aged 68, and was interred in the church of St. Ciaran at Clonmacnoise.

O'Conor, Roderic, last Monarch of Ireland, King of Connaught, was born about 1116. He succeeded to the government of Connaught on the death of his father, Turlough, in 1156, and to the nominal rule of Ireland on the death of Murtough O'Lochlainn in 1166. He began his reign by imprisoning three of his brothers, one of whom he blinded, and he was soon engaged in the accustomed hostilities with other Irish princes. On the death of O'Lochlainn he marched to Dublin, paid the Danes a stipend in cattle, levied for them a tax of 4,000 cows on Ireland at large, and was with much pomp inaugurated King of Ireland. One of his first acts was to deprive O'Lochlainn's old ally, Dermot MacMurrough, of his kingdom of Leinster, whereupon the latter appealed to Henry II., and brought over the Anglo- Normans to assist him in obtaining possession of his territories. In 1169 O'Conor celebrated, with extraordinary ceremony, the ancient fair of Tailtin, in Meath; while within a few miles Dermot MacMurrough and his allies were permitted to overrun the province of Leinster, and lay the foundations of Anglo-Norman rule in Ireland. Later in the same year he collected a large army, and arrived before Ferns, where Dermot and FitzStephen were intrenched. Instead of insisting on the unconditional submission of Dermot, and the expulsion of FitzStephen and his knights, he entered into an arrangement, by which, on his nominal supremacy being acknowledged, he permitted Dermot (who bound himself by a secret treaty to bring over no more foreign auxiliaries, and to take the first opportunity to dismiss those then in his service) to resume the full sovereignty of Leinster. Roderic thereupon withdrew his levies, and MacMurrough proved the worthlessness of his promises by hastening to welcome a newly-arrived band of Anglo-Normans under Maurice FitzGerald. On Earl Strongbow's arrival in August 1170, Roderic hastily collected a large body of men and occupied the passes between Waterford and Dublin; but the Anglo- Normans and their allies passed through Wicklow, and captured Dublin before O'Conor was able to co-operate with the Danish inhabitants for its defence. According to the Four Masters, the fall of Dublin was due to its inhabitants not acting in concert with him. After occupying Clondalkin, and engaging in a few skirmishes, he withdrew his ill-organized hosts. Roderic now put to death the hostages delivered to him by MacMurrough for the performance of the treaty of Ferns - Dermot's son, Conor (heir apparent of Leinster), his grandson, and the son of his foster-brother O'Ceallaigh, and collecting a fleet, passed down the Shannon, and plundered Munster. In 1171 he joined in an effort to drive the Anglo- Normans out of Dublin. He had his camp at Castleknock, while the forces of O'Rourk and O'Carroll completed the investment of the town, and a fleet of thirty vessels from the Isle of Man blockaded the harbour. The Irish chiefs, relying on their numbers, contented themselves with an inactive blockade. After some weeks the besieged were reduced to extremities. Strongbow demanded a parley, and Archbishop O'Toole acted as negotiator. Earl Strongbow offered, upon being left in peaceable possession of Leinster, to hold it as Roderic's vassal. The latter demanded that the Anglo-Normans should leave Ireland. Refusing to agree to these terms, the Normans made a desperate sally. The Irish were taken by surprise; Roderic, bathing in the Liffey, had some difficulty in effecting his escape; great numbers were slain, and the rest put to flight. Earl Strongbow and his companions returned to the city laden with provisions and spoils. Next year Roderic came to terms with Henry II., and, according to the English chroniclers, did homage through his envoy, Archbishop O'Toole, for his kingdom of Connaught. In 1174 O'Conor and Donald O'Brien combined their forces to resist an invasion of Munster by Earl Strongbow, at the head of an army of Dublin Northmen, and defeated him near Thurles. This disaster necessitated Raymond FitzGerald's recall from Wales, and his being placed at the head of the Anglo- Norman forces. On his approach the league which had been formed amongst the native princes fell to pieces. In 1175 the "Treaty of Windsor" is said to have been entered into between Henry II. and Roderic. It commences with the words: " Hie est finis et concordia quse facta fuit apud Windsore in octavis Sancti Michaelis, anno gratise 1175, inter dominum regem Anglise Henricum II. et Rodericum regem Conaciae." O'Halloran condenses its terms: "By the first article, on Roderic's agreeing to do homage to Henry, and to pay him a certain tribute, he was to possess his kingdom of Connaught in as full and ample a manner as before Henry's entering that kingdom. By the second article, Henry engages to support and defend the King of Connaught in his territories, with all his force and power, in Ireland, provided he pays to Henry every tenth merchantable hide through the kingdom. The third excepts from this condition all such domains as are possessed by Henry himself and by his Barons - as Dublin with its liberties; Meath with all its domains - in as full a manner as it was possessed by O'Mealsachlin, or those deriving under him; Wexford, with all Leinster; Waterford, with all its domain as far as Dungarvan, which, with its territory, is also excluded from this taxation. Fourth: Such Irish as fled from the lands held by the English barons may return in peace, on paying the above tribute, or such other services as they were anciently accustomed to perform for their tenures, at the option of their lords: should they prove refractory, on complaint of such lords, Roderic was to compel them; and they were to supply Henry with hawks and hounds annually." Roderic was thus left in full possession in Connaught, and his sovereignty over the rest of Ireland, except the Pale, was acknowledged, on his collecting for the King certain annual tribute. Mr. Richey, in his Lectures on Irish History, shows that Henry before long altered his policy of governing Ireland by the aid of both Irish and Anglo- Norman feudatories, and in the face of his solemn treaty, granted, in 1179, the province of Connaught to William FitzAdelm de Burgh and his heirs. On the Irish side plundering expeditions went on as before; and Roderic's sons joined the Anglo-Normans in their invasions of Connaught. "Worn out and broken-hearted, Roderic abdicated in 1183, and retired to the Abbey of Cong, where he died in 1198, aged 82. He was buried at Clonmacnoise. Mr. Moore, in his History of Ireland, says: "The only feeling his name awakens is that of pity for the doomed country which at such a crisis of its fortunes, when honour, safety, independence, national existence, were all at stake, was cursed, for the crowning of its evil destiny, with a ruler and leader so utterly unworthy of his high calling."

O'Conor, Cathal Crovderg, Prince of Connaught, succeeded as head of the O'Conors on his brother Roderic's death in 1198. The early part of his reign was passed in contests with the Anglo-Normans and with his nephew Cathal Carrach, who at one time succeeded in expelling him from his territories. In 1201, however, Cathal Crovderg, with the assistance of the DeBurghs, defeated and slew his nephew in battle near Boyle. On King John's arrival in Ireland, he paid him homage, and by the surrender of a portion of his territories, secured to himself a tolerably peaceful old age. He died in the abbey of Knockmoy (having assumed the habit of a Grey Friar) in 1224. The principal abode of the heads of the O'Conor family at this period was at Rathcroghan, near Tulsk, in the County of Roscommon. [His son Felim was confirmed in his estates by the King, whilst another Felim, a descendant, joined Edward Bruce, and fell in battle at Athlone, 16th August 1316.]

O'Conor, Charles, of Belanagare, a distinguished Irish scholar and antiquary, was born in 1710. [His family traced its descent from a younger brother of King Roderic O'Conor. His grand-uncle followed Charles II. into exile, was restored to his estates by the Act of Settlement, was a major in the service of James II., and died a prisoner in the Castle of Chester. At great cost, some 800 or 900 acres of poor land were rescued from the wreck of the family property.] Charles O'Conor being a Catholic, was debarred from the advancement due to his talents. But meagre particulars of his life are preserved. In 1754 he published a tract relative to Irish mining, and in 1766 the work by which he is best known - Dissertations on the History of Ireland. He is spoken of with uniform respect by Irish scholars. Dr. O'Donovan styles him "this patriotic and venerable gentleman.. who understood the Irish language well," pays a tribute to his exertions for the preservation of Irish manuscripts, and acknowledges that it was his writings which first induced him to devote himself earnestly to the study of the annals of Ireland. Mr. Wyse, in his History of the Catholic Association, says: "The entire object of his long life seems to have been to redeem it [his country] from the self- ignorance, the blind impolicy, the national degradation to which it had been reduced. In this lofty and noble vocation, no man ever put out, with more perfect abandonment of all unworthy motive, the valuable gifts which he had received." Charles O'Conor died at Belanagare, 1st July 1791, aged 81. His valuable collection of manuscripts (containing the only then known original of the First Part of the Annals of the Four Masters), passed by purchase into the hands of the Marquis of Buckingham, and are now in Lord Ashburnham's library; where, when O'Curry wrote in 1857, they were inaccessible to scholars.

O'Conor, Charles, D.D., a learned antiquary, grandson of the preceding, was born 15th March 1764. He was educated for the Church, and passed his early years in Italy. In 1796 he published the first and only volume of his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, now a very scarce work. An interesting note regarding it will be found in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, vol. xi. Introduced to the Marquis of Buckingham as a proper person to arrange and translate the MSS. purchased by the Marquis from Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, he became chaplain to the Marchioness, and after her death in 1813 continued at Stowe as librarian. There he edited those works (printed and published at the expense of the Marquis) which will ever connect his name with the study of Irish antiquities and literature. Of his Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores, published in four volumes between 1814 and 1826, only 200 copies were printed, at a cost of about £3,000. Dr. John O'Donovan says, regarding Dr. O'Conor's edition of the First Part of the Annals of the Four Masters, which fills the third volume of the above work: "His text is full of errors; it is printed in the italic character; and the contractions of the MS., which in many places Dr. O'Conor evidently misunderstood, are allowed to remain, although without any attempt to represent them by a peculiar type. There are also many serious errors and defects in his Latin translation, arising partly from the cause just alluded to, but chiefly from ignorance of Irish topography and geography." His letters, Columbanus ad Hibernos, given to the world between 1810 and 1816, supported the Veto, and were declared unorthodox, and he was formally suspended by Archbishop Troy in 1812. Mr. Fitzpatrick says: "Dr. O'Conor was a man of mild and almost timid disposition, liked by every one who knew him, and possessing the most extensive historical and bookish information... His manners were a curious compound of Italian and Irish. He was fond of good living and his bottle of port, but never entered into excess... He was extremely tolerant on all religious questions. .. In person Dr. O'Conor was short and