Intro A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M(1) | M(2) | M(3) | N | O(1) | O(2) | O(3) | P | Q | R | S(1) | S(2) | T | U | V | W(1) | W(2) | X | Y | Z | Addenda

Palladius, the earliest-named Christian missionary to Ireland, in the beginning of the 5th century. Commissioned by Pope Celestine, and accompanied by Sylvester, Solonius, Augustin, and other clerics, he landed near Wexford, and founded three churches in the district comprised in the present County of Wicklow; but at the end of a few months, having made few converts, and meeting a bitter opponent in Nathi, the prince of the country, Palladius took his departure. He is supposed to have died in Scotland. His companions are believed to have remained in Ireland, and carried on the work of Christianizing the people until St. Patrick's arrival.

Parnell, Thomas, Archdeacon of Clogher, a poet, was born in Dublin in 1679. At thirteen he entered Trinity College; in 1700 he was ordained a deacon, and in February 1705-6 was appointed Archdeacon of Clogher. Towards the end of Queen Anne's reign Parnell changed his politics from Whig to Tory, and was received by the Ministry as a valuable ally. He was very popular as a preacher in London; but the Queen's death putting an end to his expectations of preferment, he is represented by Pope to have fallen into intemperate habits. He lost his wife in 1712. In 1716, through Swift's influence, he was appointed to the vicarage of Finglas, worth £400 a year. Dr. Johnson remarks: "Such notice from such a man inclines me to believe that the vice of which he has been accused was not gross, or not notorious." He enjoyed his preferment little more than a year, dying at Chester on return from a visit to London, in July 1717, aged 38. He was buried in Trinity Church, Chester. He was the author of a Life of Homer, numerous essays in the Guardian and Spectator, and some poems. These latter do not appear to have been published until 1722, when they were edited by his friend Pope. They have since seen numerous editions. It is said that the last, that of 1758, contains several pieces which are not of his writing. Dr. Johnson thus criticises Parnell as a poet: "The general character of Parnell is not great extent of comprehension, or fertility of mind. Of the little that appears, still less is his own. His praise must be derived from the easy sweetness of his diction; in his verses there is more happiness than pains; he is sprightly without effort, and always delights, though he never ravishes; everything is proper, yet everything seems casual. If there is some appearance of elaboration in 'The Hermit' the narrative, as it is less airy, is less pleasing." "I can pass," says Campbell, "from the elder writers, and still find a charm in the correct and equable sweetness of Parnell."

Parnell, Sir John, Bart., grand-nephew of preceding, was born in Ireland, probably about the middle of the 18th century. He represented the Queen's County in Parliament, and succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1782. He was appointed a Commissioner of Revenue in 1780, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1787, and a Lord of the Treasury in 1793. He commanded a regiment of the Volunteers. Barrington says: "Though many years in possession of high office and extensive patronage, he showed a disinterestedness almost unparalleled; and the name of a relative or of a dependant of his own scarcely in a single instance increased the place or the pension lists of Ireland." He is referred to in Grattan's Life as "an honest, straightforward, independent man, possessed of considerable ability and much public spirit; as Chancellor of the Exchequer he was not deficient, and he served his country by his plan to reduce the interest of money. He was amiable in private, mild in disposition, but firm in mind and purpose. His conduct at the Union did him honour, and proved how warmly he was attached to the interests of his country, and on this account he was dismissed" from his offices. His determined opposition to the Union gave Lord Castlereagh and its promoters much concern. Both he and his son Henry voted against it. He was elected to represent the Queen's County in the Imperial Parliament, and died, somewhat suddenly, in London, 5th December 1801. Mr. Addington paid a warm tribute to his memory in the House of Commons. Some lines on his death will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1801.

Parnell, Sir Henry Brooke, Bart.. Lord Congleton, son of preceding, was born 3rd July 1776, and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1812. He took a prominent part in Parliament, and was for some time Minister at War; but is chiefly remembered for his writings on financial and trade questions, his Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics, and his History of the Penal Laws. His political creed in 1835 is thus stated: "Perfect freedom of labour and capital; the speedy abolition of the corn laws, and in the meantime a moderate fixed duty; the removal of all unequal taxes, and the substitution of a property tax of six or eight millions; the repeal of the Septennial Act, the ballot, an extension of the franchise, if found necessary; abolition of flogging and of impressment." He was a respectable but by no means a superior speaker. He is described as "of the middle size, rather inclining to stoutness. His complexion is fair; his features are regular with a mild expression about them; and his hair is pure white." Sir Henry was created Lord Congleton, 11th August 1841. He died by his own hand, when in a state of delirium resulting from illness, 8th June 1842, aged 65, and was buried at St. George's, Hanover-square, London.

Parr, Richard, D.D., a distinguished divine, was born at Fermoy in 1617. He received much advancement in the Church owing to his intimacy with Archbishop Ussher. After occupying several preferments in England, he was on the Restoration made a canon of Armagh Cathedral. Harris's Ware says: "He was so constant and ready a preacher at Camerwell that thereby he broke two conventicles in his neighbourhood, by outcrying the dissenters at extempore preaching... In this course of constant preaching he continued nigh thirty-eight years." He died at Camberwell, 2nd November 1691, aged 74. His Life of Ussher is spoken of as "this rich and incomparable volume... The divine and the student of church history will read these letters with equal interest and profit." Gibbon criticises it as "accurate as written by his chaplain; but this chaplain is both too long and too short."

Parry, John, Bishop of Ossory, son of Edward Parry, Bishop of Killaloe, was born in Dublin, early in the 17th century, and was educated at Trinity College and at Oxford. After the Restoration he came to Ireland as chaplain to the Marquis of Ormond, obtained some English preferments, in 1666 became Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and in 1672 was consecrated Bishop of Ossory. He was the author of several minor theological works, and according to Wood's Athenae Oxonienses, wrote the preface to Sir James Ware's Bishops. He died 21st December 1677, and was buried in St. Audoen's church, Dublin. Harris's Ware says: "He was reckoned a prelate of very good abilities in point of learning, a great benefactor to his church, and a patron and encourager of his clergy.

Parsons, Sir Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Rosse, was born 21st May 1758. [His ancestor, Sir William Parsons, settled in Ireland in Elizabeth's reign, was Commissioner of Plantations, and obtained large grants of land from the Crown. He was for some time Lord-Justice in conjunction with Sir John Borlace, but was removed in 1643.] Sir Lawrence represented the University of Dublin, and afterwards the King's County, in the Irish Parliament, where he distinguished himself, especially in his efforts against the Union, as an eloquent and popular speaker. In the debate of 23rd and 24th January 1799, Barrington says "he supported Mr. Ponsonby in a speech, luminous and in some parts almost sublime; he had caught the flame which his colleague had but kindled, and blazed with an eloquence of which he had shown but few examples; the impression was powerful." His oratory is thus described by a contemporary: "His voice is strong, distinct, and deep; and his language, simple, flowing, and correct; his action is ungraceful, but frequently forcible; his reasoning is close, compact, and argumentative, though his manner is stiff and awkward; his matter is always good, solid, and weighty." He continued to represent the King's County in the Imperial Parliament until the death of his uncle, 20th April 1807, when he became 2nd Earl of Rosse. He died 24th February 1841, aged 82.

Parsons, William, 3rd Earl of Rosse, astronomer, son of preceding, was born at York, 17th June 1800. He was educated at Dublin and also at Oxford, where he took high honours, especially in mathematics. He represented the King's County in Parliament from 1821 to 1834, and succeeded his father in the earldom in 1841. In 1845 he was elected a representative peer of Ireland. He filled the distinguished post of Chancellor of the University of Dublin for many years. Although a strong Conservative, he latterly took little part in politics, and his name was unheard in the debates during the whole of the stirring period that embraced the Catholic Emancipation and Reform movements. The charms of science gradually weaned him from all pursuits that interfered with its cultivation. During the discussion of the Reform Bill he was occupied with the construction of his first great telescope, the speculum of which had a diameter of three feet, being larger than that of any previous instrument. Its success was so complete, that he was emboldened to construct one with a speculum double the diameter. Every step in the process, necessitating a combination of scientific knowledge and mechanical skill, had to be pioneered by experiments, and success was won at the cost of many and harassing failures. The gigantic speculum was at length turned out without warp or flaw. It was mounted on a telescope fifty-two feet in length. The machinery required to move such a ponderous instrument taxed all Lord Rosse's mechanical genius. The task was completed in 1845, after seventeen years' labour, at an outlay of upwards of £20,000. The sphere of observation was immensely widened by such a powerful instrument - nebulae were resolved into stars, and new nebulous mist was revealed to the observation. The Annual Register says: "The value of the instrument was not only seen in the enlarged power it gave to astronomers, but it opened the way to other instruments of equal power being constructed. .. The scientific fame of the late Earl of Rosse will rest rather upon the mechanical than upon the observational branch of astronomy... Considering the immense power of the great telescope, the results that have emanated from it, although startling in their nature, have been small in extent. Drawings of the most remarkable nebulae, a few sketches of part of the lunar surface, and lastly, a large drawing of the nebula in Orion, are the chief fruits that are publicly known to have been gathered from it... The published writings of the late Earl comprise accurate descriptions of his telescopes and the modes by which they were constructed, together with such drawings and observations as were made with them." Lord Rosse was President of the Royal Society from 1849 to 1854, and served on several Royal Commissions relating to literature, education, and science. He was a member of several home and foreign scientific bodies. He was a genial companion and a liberal landlord. He died 31st October 1867, aged 67, and was interred in the church of St. Brandon, Parsonstown.

Patrick, Saint. [Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and France have claimed the honour of giving birth to St. Patrick, and the date of his birth is variously set down in the years 250, 372, 373 and 387. Dr. Todd's Life of St. Patrick is here followed.] He was born at Dumbarton, on the Clyde, in 373, and was the son of Calpurnius, a deacon, and Conchessa his wife, daughter of Ochinus, a Frank. His original name was Succat. When about sixteen he was carried captive into Ireland "with many thousands of men." There he was employed by his master, Milchu, to tend cattle on the mountain of Slieve Mis, in Antrim. In the quiet of the woods he states that he was every day in frequent prayer, and that the love and fear of God increased so much, and the spirit of prayer so grew upon him, that often in a single day he would say one hundred prayers, and in the night almost as many, so that he frequently arose to prayer in the woods and mountains before daylight, in snow, and frost, and rain; and "I felt no evil, nor was there any laziness in me, because, as I now see, the spirit was burning within me." One night, after lie had been six years in slavery, and when he was twenty-two years of age, he heard a voice saying to him - "Thy fasting is well; thou shalt soon return to thy country." Again he had a dream, in which the same voice told him that the ship was ready, but was distant 200 miles. He immediately fled from his master, went to the port indicated, and after some difficulty obtained a passage in a vessel. He was three days at sea, and afterwards a considerable time wandering in a desert before he reached human habitations. He was joyfully received by his relatives, who earnestly besought him not to expose himself to fresh dangers, but to remain with them for the rest of his life. Patrick, however, soon felt constrained to devote himself to the conversion of the Irish. He had another vision: "In the dead of night, I saw a man coming to me as if from Hiberio, whose name was Victorius, bearing innumerable epistles, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of it, which contained the words, (The voice of the Irish.' And whilst I was repeating the beginning of the epistle, I imagined that I heard in my mind the voice of those who were near the wood of Fochlut, which is near the Western Sea. And thus they cried -'We pray thee, holy youth, to come, and henceforth walk amongst us.' And I was greatly pricked in heart, and could read no more; and so I awoke. Thanks be to God, that after very many years the Lord granted unto them the blessing for which they cried." This and similiar visions impelled him to return at all hazards to Ireland, and endeavour to convert his former associates to Christianity. The date of his second visit (whether specially commissioned from Rome or not) is generally put down at 432. He landed in the territory of Cuolenni, near where the town of Bray, in the County of Wicklow, is now situated; but desiring to see his old master, Milchu, and offer him eternal life in return for having left his service, he took shipping again and sailed north - visiting and giving his name (Inis Patrick) to one of the Skerries. He and his companions landed at the mouth of the river Slain in Strangford Lough. There they hid their boat and proceeded to explore the country. Their first convert was Dichu, a chieftain of high birth, who entertained them hospitably. Proceeding on his way he came in view of the habitatation of his old master, only to see it in flames. The narrative tells how Milchu, instigated by the Devil, set fire to his house and all his substance, and threw himself into the flames, rather than submit to the authority and jurisdiction of his former slave. St. Patrick then retraced his steps to Magh-inis (Lecale) where his friend Dichu resided, and spent some time teaching and preaching in the neighbourhood. There the faith first began to spread. Having thus laid the foundation of Christianity in the north, he determined to celebrate Easter at Tara, and accordingly went by sea to the mouth of the Boyne, and proceeded on foot up the valley to the seat of the supreme power in Ireland. At Slane he lighted his Paschal fire. It was the season when, according to pagan custom, every light throughout the country should be extinguished. St. Patrick's fire, seen from Tara, caused astonishment and indignation, and the Ard Righ demanded who was guilty of such presumption. The druids declared that it was a light that unless immediately extinguished would last for ever. St. Patrick was summoned into the King's (Laoghaire's) presence. Then we are told of a contest between St. Patrick and the King's druids, evidently suggested by the Old Testament narrative of the conflict between Elijah and the priests of Baal. The Saint discomfited the druids, and next day preached before the King and his court. On this occasion he is said first to have recited his hymn, commencing: "I bind to myself to-day the strong power of an invocation of the Trinity, the faith of the Trinity in unity, the Creator of the elements." Dr. Todd says that "internal evidence is in favour of the antiquity and authenticity of this composition." St. Patrick, although making a strong impression upon many members of the court, was unable to convert Laoghaire himself, who ended his life a pagan. Yet no opposition was made to his freely preaching and teaching throughout the country. Christianity was gladly accepted; churches began to rise on every side, and teachers and bishops were consecrated. The Book of Armagh gives an extremely interesting account of St. Patrick's interview with the Princesses Ethne and Fedelm, hard by a fountain on the side of Cruachan, in Roscommon, and of the discussion between them regarding Christianity. He spent altogether seven years in Connaught before revisiting Ulster, and then proceeded southwards through Meath, by Naas, and on to Wicklow. Retracing his steps, he founded churches in Ossory, and journeyed to Cashel. St. Patrick spent seven years in Munster. About 445 he founded Armagh - the chief Daire presenting to him the site for the city, together with the rights of chieftainship, which descended to his successors in the see, and contributed to the subsequent ecclesiastical importance of the place. St. Patrick next proceeded to reform the ancient druidical and pagan laws of Ireland, and made the beginning of the collection now known as the Senchus Mor, sometimes called Cain Patraic - Patrick's Law. In 460 lie called a synod for the purpose of enacting canons for the government of the Church. The year 493 is generally accepted as the date of his death, which probably occurred at Saul, in the present County of Down. He is believed to have been buried at Downpatrick. Dr. Todd, in concluding his biography, writes: "On the whole, the biographers of St. Patrick, notwithstanding the admixture of much fable, have undoubtedly pourtrayed in his character the features of a great and judicious missionary. He seems to have made himself (all things,' in accordance with the apostolic injunction, to the rude and barbarous tribes of Ireland. He dealt tenderly with their usages and prejudices. Although he sometimes felt it necessary to overturn their idols, and on some occasions risked his life, he was guilty of no offensive or unnecessary iconoclasm. A native himself of another country, he adopted the language of the Irish tribes, and conformed to their political institutions." Concerning his Confession Dr. Todd says: "It is older than any of the extant biographies of the Saint, for they almost all quote and adopt its words; a copy of it was transcribed at the end of the 8th or very early in the 9th century into the collection called the Book of Armagh. This copy professes to have been taken from the autograph of St. Patrick... It was certainly transcribed from a manuscript which even in the year 800 was beginning to become obscure, and of whose obscurities the transcriber more than once complains. It possesses, therefore, no mean external evidence of authenticity." The Confession was first printed by Sir James Ware in 1656. Dr. Lanigan unhesitatingly accepts what Dr. Todd doubts - the account of St. Patrick having been appointed by Pope Celestine to visit Ireland as an assistant to Palladius. A bell and portions of manuscript believed to have belonged to the Saint are preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Mr. Nicholson, basing his argument upon passages in the Confession, the fact of there having been many Christians in Ireland at the date assigned to the Saint's advent, and the legends of conferences between Ossian and St. Patrick, has arrived at the conclusion that St. Patrick lived in the 3rd, not the 5th century. Numerous references to St. Patrick will be found in all the series of Notes and Queries. His festival is the 17th March.

Patterson, Robert, F.R.S., an eminent zoologist, was born in Belfast, 18th April 1802. He was brought up to business, and having joined his father, an ironmonger, continued closely occupied with trade up to his last illness. Early in life he turned his attention to the study of natural history, chiefly zoology and botany. His investigations were confined to the districts around Belfast, and were carried on principally during the summer months, when staying at seaside places on the coasts of Antrim and Down. For many years he took part in dredging excursions, in the course of which he discovered several forms of marine life new to Britain, which were duly described in the transactions of the scientific societies of the time. He was one of the founders of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society in 1821, of which he was President for many years, and was instrumental in the erection of the museum of that society ten years later. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and was actively engaged in the management of several local societies and municipal institutions in Belfast. In 1838 he published Letters on the Insects Mentioned in Shakspere; between 1846 and 1848, Zoology for Schools, and later, his First Steps to Zoology. These two latter works met a decided educational want, and being admirably suited as class-books, were adopted by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, and by the English Board of Education. He also published sets of Zoological Diagrams. He was one of the earliest members of the British Association, and on the occasion of its visit to Belfast in 1852 filled the post of local treasurer. He died at his residence, in College-square, Belfast, 14th February 1872, aged 69.

Patterson, Robert, LL.D., was born in the north of Ireland, 30th May 1743. He went to Philadelphia in 1768, and in 1774 became principal of an academy at Wilmington, Delaware. He was a brigade- major in the revolutionary war, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania from 1779 to 1814, and for some time Vice-Provost. In 1805 he was appointed Director of the United States Mint, and from 1819 till his death was President of the American Philosophical Society, to whose Transactions he was a frequent contributor. He was author of the Newtonian System, published in 1808, Treatise on Arithmetic, 1819, besides editing various scientific works. He died at Philadelphia 22nd July 1824, aged 81. [His son Robert, a physician (born in the United States, 1787; died in 1854), was Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the Pennsylvania University, and for many years Director of the United States Mint.]

Pearce, Sir Edward Lovet, a distinguished Irish architect, was born in the second half of the 17th century. He was a member of Parliament, held the position of Government Engineer and Surveyor- General, and designed the Irish Parliament House in College-green. The works were commenced in 1729, carried on by him until his demise, and completed about 1739, at a cost of about £40,000, by his successor, Arthur Dobbs. [For the additions to Pearce's design, see GANDON, JAMES.] He died at his seat at Stillorgan, County of Dublin, 7th December 1733, and was buried in Donnybrook churchyard. [His brother, Lieutenant-General Thomas Pearce, Governor of Limerick, was buried beside him five years afterwards.]

Perceval, Sir Philip, was born in 1605. His father, the friend and favourite of Lord Burleigh, had been granted large estates in Munster. Philip held situations of trust and emolument before he was twenty, and received additional land grants in Cork, Tipperary, and Wexford - so that ultimately he became owner of some 100,000 acres of the finest land in the country. Foreseeing the outbreak of 1641, he placed his castles in a good state of defence. Liscarroll sustained a siege of eleven days, against 7,000 foot, 500 horse, and artillery, and Annagh withstood Lord Muskerry with an army of 5,000. Both castles, however, were lost by treachery. Altogether, by his devotion to the English side, he lost in the struggle a landed estate of £2,000 a year, offices worth £2,000 more, and upwards of £20,000 spent in carrying on the war and relieving sufferers therefrom. In 1644 he acted as one of Charles I.'s Commissioners to treat with the Irish Confederates. At the conclusion of the ensuing futile negotiations he joined the English Parliamentary party, and was returned for the borough of Newport, in Cornwall, through the influence of his friend Pym. At the termination of the truce in 1647, the army of Munster, under the command of Lord Inchiquin, committed to Sir Philip the direction and management of their interests. The anxieties of office eventually undermined his constitution. He died 10th November 1647, aged 42, and was buried in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London. Primate Ussher preached his funeral sermon, while Parliament paid the expenses of his interment. At one period the Marquis of Ormond was his earnest friend and warm admirer.

Perrot, Sir John, President of Munster, and Lord-Deputy of Ireland, probably an illegitimate son of Henry VIII., was born in 1527. He was a favourite of Edward VI., and suffered imprisonment under Queen Mary. In the spring of 1571 he came to Ireland as first President of Munster, and immediately directed his arms against Sir James FitzMaurice, then in rebellion. Froude says: "He could never catch FitzMaurice. The Irish gentlemen would not help him, and the kerne were too swift of foot for the heavy English men-at-arms. Castles, however, could not run away, and castles contained men. After two years of work, he had killed in fighting, or captured and hanged, some 800 miserable creatures of one sort or another. He burnt or blew up every stronghold, large or small, which closed its gates against him." Before the end of a year, his military chest was exhausted, and his troops became mutinous for want of pay. In May 1572, Sir John Perrot intercepted FitzMaurice on the shores of Lough Derg, and would have annihilated his force but for a mutiny among his own men. In February 1573, however, his adversary was compelled to submit, and at Kilmallock kiss the earth before him. Sir John returned to England the following March, and presented to the Queen twenty-nine "necessary considerations for the quiett mayntaining of the state of Mounster," one of which was the debasement of the Irish coinage to half its previous value. Shortly after his return he was put in command of a fleet of six vessels to cruise off the Irish coast. He went on board at Greenwich, attended with "fiftie men in orange tawny cloakes," musicians, services of plate, and "all things else suitable." At the first Irish port he touched at "allmost all the country thereabouts flocked about hym, and by reason of his former government in that country, they bare such affection towards hym that the people came in greate numbers neere into hym as they might, some of them imbracing his legges and coveting to touche any part of his body." Interesting particulars of his cruises are given in his Life. In 1583 he was appointed Lord- Deputy, and sailing from Milford Haven he arrived at Dublin in January 1584. In a letter of the previous October he had said: "Give me £50,000 for three years, and I will undertake to settle Ireland. Now is the time." His early policy was a political amnesty, the occupation of Ulster by a strong garrison, and unflinching opposition to Roman Catholicism. He declared "To take the chief lands from them, or banish their captaincies, or alter their ancient customs, [are] matters hardly to be endured by reasonable men." This policy was intended for the north. Cork, Kerry, and Limerick were mapped out and divided into blocks of 12,000 acres each, to be held on quit rents under the Crown. The chief military success during his government was the complete defeat of the Burkes and their allies, the Scots, by Bingham, at Ardnaree in Sligo, on the 22nd September 1586. Mr. Froude speaks of Perrot as "a straightforward soldier, vain, passionate, not very wise, but anxious to do what was right... The Council had crossed and thwarted him. In return he had sworn at them and insulted them, and quarrelled with them all, good and bad." One of his plans for the subjection of the country was the seizure of hostages for the good behaviour of the Irish chiefs; and, on his departure from Ireland in 1588 he left in Dublin Castle no fewer than thirty young princes or persons of note: amongst others, several O'Neills, FitzMaurices, O'Donnells, FitzGibbons, Maguires, MacMahons, O'Byrnes, and O'Tooles. After his return he fell into disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, and was committed to the Tower. On 27th April 1592 he was brought to trial for that he did imagine in his heart to deprive, depose, and disinherit the Queen's most excellent Majesty from the royal seat, to take her life away, to make slaughter in her realm, to raise rebellion in England and Ireland." He indignantly repudiated these charges; but was condemned and sentenced to be executed. Reprieved by the Queen, he died in the Tower the following September. His appearance and character are thus sketched: "Sir John Perrot was a man in stature very tall and big,.. almost equal to the mightiest men that lived in his time, his hair was alborne, until it grew grey in his elder yeares,.. his countenance full of majestie, his eye marvellous percing.. insomuch that when he was angrie, he had a very terrible visage or looke... He did surmount the most part men of his time, in the greatness and magnanimitie of mynd... In time of danger he shewed hymselfe always resolute and valiant;.. understanding of the languages, as the French, Spanish, and the Italian... He was by nature very choloricke, and could not brooke any crosses, or dissemble the least injuries.. . He would (being moved to wrath) sweare too much, which, proceeding partly from custome, and partly from choller, he could hardly refrayne it when he was provocked." Interesting references to Sir John Perrot will be found in Notes and Queries, 1st, 3rd, and 4th Series.

Pery, Edmond Sexton, Viscount, the son of a Limerick clergyman, was born in April 1719. He was called to the Bar, entered Parliament in 1751, and was Speaker from 1771 to 1785. On his vacating the office of Speaker in 1785, he was, upon an address of the Parliament, created Viscount Pery, of Newtown-Pery, near Limerick, and granted a pension of £3,000 per annum. He was twice married, but left no heir, and the title became extinct on his death, in 1806, at the age of 87. He was buried at Pelham, in Hertfordshire. Grattan said of Lord Pery: "He was more or less a party to all those measures [of free trade and Irish liberation], and indeed in every great statute and measure that took place in Ireland for the past fifty years, a man of the most legislative capacity I ever knew, and the most comprehensive reach of understanding; with a deep engraven expression of public care, accompanied by a temper which was adamant. In his train is every private virtue which can adorn human nature." The Gentleman's Magazine, in noticing his death, eulogizes him highly.

Pery, Edmond Henry, Earl of Limerick, nephew of preceding (son of the Bishop of Limerick, Lord Glentworth), was born 8th January 1758. He studied at Trinity College, made the tour of Europe, and was elected member for Limerick. He succeeded to the title of Baron on the death of his father in 1794. For his adherence to the Government he was in 1795 made Keeper of the Signet, and in 1797 Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper. In 1798 he raised a regiment of dragoons at his own expense, to assist in the suppression of the Insurrection. Having voted for the Union, he was made a viscount in 1800, and three years afterwards Earl of Limerick. He died 7th December 1845, aged 87, at his seat in Berkshire, and was buried in Limerick Cathedral. Barrington speaks of him as "always crafty, sometimes imperious, and frequently efficient. He was prouder than he had a right to be, and bore no similitude to his illustrious uncle; but he was a convivial companion, and a steady friend. He had a sharp, quick, active intellect; he generally guessed right in his politics."

Peters, William, Rev., R.A., an artist who flourished in the latter half of the 18th century, was born in Dublin. He received his art instruction in the schools of the Royal Dublin Society, and having visited Italy more than once, was in 1763 elected a member of the Imperial Academy at Florence. He matriculated at Oxford in 1779, entered the Church, and was appointed prebendary of Lincoln and chaplain to the Prince of Wales. Bryan's Painters says: "He is better known by the prints engraved for Boydell's Skakspeare and Macklin's Gallery than by his paintings, though some of his pictures have all the impasto of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and in richness of invention and fancy far surpass him." It is supposed that he died about 1800.

Petrie, George, LL.D., a distinguished archaeologist, was born in Dublin in 1789. [His father, a portrait painter, was a man of cultivated mind and an excellent numismatist. He was acquainted with many of the insurrectionary leaders of 1798, and to his portraits and casts we owe the preservation of some of their likenesses.] When about ten, George was sent to Whyte's school in Grafton-street, and being delicate, was subsequently allowed to follow his bent, and adopt his father's profession. He attended the schools of the Dublin Society, and progressed rapidly. When about nineteen he began to make excursions through the country in search of the picturesque, and to examine and take careful notes of antiquities. His remarks upon them were even then characterized by great acuteness of observation. He also commenced, thus early, his collection of Irish airs. He would often start on foot at nightfall, after his day's work was done, so as to reach by daybreak some chosen spot for study in the County of Wicklow. His drawings were then free and broad, but wanting in the delicacy of his after works. In 1813 he visited his friends Danby and O'Conor in London, and an introduction to Sir Benjamin West opened to him the art treasures of the metropolis. Three years afterwards he began to exhibit in Dublin; but his most profitable work was furnishing sketches for illustrated books relating to Ireland, as Cromwell's Excursions, Brewer's Beauties, and Fisher's Historical Guide. He married in 1821, and settled regularly to an art career. He became an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy at its opening in 1826, and thenceforward was a constant exhibitor; he was elected a member in 1828, was appointed librarian in 1830, and was subsequently President. Although so early as 1816 he contributed articles on current literature, antiquities, and archaeology, it was not until the establishment of the Dublin Penny Journal in 1832 that his abilities found scope, and his genius for analysis and research became apparent. He and Caesar Otway edited the first volume of the magazine, and wrote many notices of objects of antiquity, and historic sketches of the rise, progress, and decadence of the fine arts in Ireland. Ten years afterwards he became the sole editor of the Irish Penny Journal, during its short existence of twelve months. In 1829 he was elected on the Council of the Royal Irish Academy. It was Petrie who in 1831 secured for the Academy an autograph copy of the Second Part of the Annals of the Four Masters, which had previously lain unnamed and neglected. From 1833 to 1846 he was connected with the Ordnance Survey, and visited all parts of Ireland in the course of his duties. In 1833 his essay on the "Origin and Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland" gained a prize of £50 from the Academy; in 1834 he read his essay on the "Military Architecture of Ireland;" in 1837, on the "History and Antiquities of Tara;" in 1838 on "Cromlechs and Sepulchral Remains." The break-up of the Irish Ordnance Topographical Survey placed him in circumstances of some difficulty, and he was obliged to revert to his pencil for a livelihood; but a pension on the Civil List eventually placed him above want, and put him in a position to pursue his investigations with an easy mind; and the honorary degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by Trinity College, testified the estimation in which he was held. His great work on The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion, Comprising an Essay on the Origin and Uses of the Round Towers, was published in 1845. The preface says: "The work contains not only the original essay on the round towers, very much enlarged, but also distinct essays on our ancient stone churches and other ecclesiastical buildings of contemporaneous age with the round towers." Petrie's conclusions regarding Irish antiquities, arrived at after a life devoted to the subject, are much as follows: That the great cahirs of the west and south, such as those on Aran, and Staigue Fort, and the tumuli, such as those of New Grange, Dowth, and Knowth, afford ground for the conclusion that they were the work of Greek colonists who settled in Ireland and the southern part of England at a very remote period. That the cromlechs and many of the stone circles are undoubtedly sepulchral monuments. That the innumerable raths were simply the places of abode of the ancient inhabitants of the country, within which they erected their wooden habitations, and where they kept their flocks and herds in time of danger. That castles of the Anglo-Norman type seem to have been erected in small numbers shortly before the period of the English occupation. That the caisel was a circular wall or enclosure for the defence of royal residences or of monasteries. That the rath, lios, or lis, was an earthen mound or fort, enclosed with one or more fosses or ramparts. That the term dun is a generic one, used synonymously with rath, lis, or cahir. That the round towers (built between the 7th and 10th centuries) were meant to serve as belfries to Christian churches, and were used as keeps or places of strength, in which the sacred utensils, books, relics, and other valuables were deposited, and persons could retire for security in times of danger. He considered very many of the small churches as almost contemporaneous with the introduction of Christianity into the country. Petrie's conclusions regarding the Christian origin of the round towers are now accepted by all leading Irish scholars and antiquarians. Petrie also devoted much attention to the study of ancient Irish art and Irish music. He was a proficient in the latter, and on his violin interpreted the old tunes of the country in an unrivalled manner. The closing years of his life were devoted to the publication of a portion of his collection of Irish music. He died at Rathmines, Dublin, 17th January 1866, aged 77, and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. His fine collection of Irish antiquities was purchased from his family by the Government, and deposited in the Royal Irish Academy, and the continuance of a portion of his Civil List pension was ultimately secured for his daughters. George Petrie was a man of a wonderfully sweet and tender, though some what dilatory, disposition. His paintings and drawings are highly valued by persons interested in Irish scenery and antiquities.

Petty, Sir William, M.D., one of the most successful of the many adventurers enriched by Irish confiscations in the 17th century, and a benefactor to Ireland by his survey and his economic writings, was the son of a clothier, and was born at Rumsey in Hampshire, 26th May 1623. He retired to the Continent during the early part of the civil war, and is stated to have worked as a carpenter at Caen in Normandy. But he must also have studied medicine, for in 1649, soon after his return to England, he took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Oxford. He secured the appointment of physician to the Parliamentary army in Ireland, and landed at Waterford in September 1652, having then a capital of £500. In this office he continued until 1659, at a salary of £365, making at the same time by private practice some £400 per annum. In December 1654 he entered into a contract with Government for the survey of Ireland at the rate of £7 3s. 4d. per 1,000 acres of arable land, besides 1d. per acre from the soldiers to whom it was to be allotted. Mr. Prendergast writes, in his Cromwellian Settlement: "It was characteristic of the period, that this great step in perfecting the scheme of plantation was consecrated with all the forms of religion, the articles being signed by Dr. Petty in the Council Chamber of Dublin Castle, on the 11th December 1654, in the presence of many of the chief officers of the army, after a solemn seeking of God, performed by Colonel Tomlinson, for a blessing upon the conclusion of so great a business... The field work of the survey was carried on by foot soldiers, instructed by Dr. Petty, and selected by him as being hardy men, to whom such hardships as to wade through bogs and water, climb rocks, and fare and lodge hard, were familiar. They were fittest, too, 'to ruffle with' the rude spirits they were like to encounter, who might not see without a grudge their ancient inheritances, the only support of their wives and children, measured out before their eyes for strangers to occupy; and they must often when at work be in danger of a surprise by Tories. Some of the surveyors were captured by these bold and desperate outlaws, when the sending away of the forces for England and Scotland, about the beginning of the work, left him naked of the guards he had been promised. Eight of them were surprised by Donagh O'Derrick, commonly called `blind Donogh' (who, however could see well enough for this purpose), near Timolin, in the County of Kildare, and were by him and his party carried up the mountains of Wicklow into the woods, and there, after a drum-head kind of court- martial, executed by them as accessories to a gigantic scheme of ruthless robbery." The office work of Petty's survey was carried on in a large house, known as the "Crow's Nest," in Dublin, on the site of the present Crow-street, to which it gave its name. His task was completed in the amazingly short time of thirteen months. Major-General Larcom, who carried to completion the Ordnance Survey of Ireland in the present century, bears the following testimony to the manner of its execution: Petty's "survey will always remain one of the most remarkable undertakings of which we have any record. We are not to estimate its merits as a topographical work by the precision which has been attained in modern times, nor test it by comparison with modern surveys, but with those which had gone before, and which it immediately replaced, as well as the circumstances under which it was executed, and the short time in which the whole operation was performed... It would be no easy task in our own day, to accomplish in thirteen months, even a traverse survey in outline of 5,000,000 acres in small divisions, and it was immeasurably greater then... It stands to this day, with the accompanying books of distribution, the legal record of the title on which half the land of Ireland is held; and for the purpose to which it was and is applied it remains sufficient." By this survey Dr. Petty, according to his own admission, made some £9,000, which, with other smaller items, including his professional emoluments and his salary as Clerk of the Council in Dublin, enabled him to purchase off-hand some 19,000 Irish acres of land, which twenty years later yielded him as much per annum as the price paid. By a judicious system of dealings in land, he added still more to his possessions, which included all the country to be seen from the top of Mangerton, in the County of Kerry. He was returned to Richard Cromwell's Parliament in 1658. In March 1659 he was accused by Sir Jerome Sankey, another English adventurer, and a member of the same Parliament, of having "made it his trade to purchase debentures," he "being then the chief surveyor." Petty's maiden speech was a justification of his conduct. He appears to have courted the closest scrutiny into all his dealings; but such a storm was raised that Richard Cromwell was obliged to dismiss him from his public employments. Dr. Petty having made his fortune under the Commonwealth, obtained court favour and rank after the Restoration. Charles II. was "mightily pleased with his discourse." He was knighted in 1661, in 1662 was made one of the Court of Commissioners for Irish Estates, and SurveyorGeneral of Ireland; and he was returned to the Irish Parliament for Enniscorthy. "It was," says John Mitchel, "in the Comity of Kerry that Dr. Sir William Petty had his principal estates. For years the vales of Dunkerron and Iveragh rung with the continual fall of giant oaks. There was a good market; Spain and France were searching the world for pipe- staves; in English dockyards there was steady demand for ship-knees; and Sir William knew exactly where there was the best market for everything. In Ireland itself, also, he set on foot ironworks; and fed the fires from his own woods.. . There was no source of profit known to the commerce and traffic of that day in which Sir William did not bear a hand." Macaulay gives an interesting account of the difficulties with which his English colony, settled at Kenmare, had to contend, from the forces of nature and the hostility of the inhabitants. The individuals composing it (seventy-five men and one hundred women and children) were ultimately obliged to take refuge in a fort built on a promontory until the arrival of ships to convey them to England. In 1667 Sir William Petty married the relict of Sir Maurice Fenton, Bart. He built a fine house in London, and when drawing up his will in 1685, estimated his income at £15,000 per annum, and his personal property alone at some £45,000. In Dublin he had founded a Philosophical Society over which he presided. He was one of the original members of the Royal Society, and a constant contributor to its transactions. He was the beloved friend of many eminent men, including John Evelyn, who frequently mentions him in his diary: "If I were a prince, I would make him my second councillor at least." Macaulay styles him "the benevolent and enlightened Sir William Petty;" and says he "created the science of political arithmetic." He died 16th December 1687, aged 64, and was buried beside his father and mother in Rumsey Church. The present Marquis of Lansdowne inherits much of his estates. [See notice of EARL OF SHELBURNE, page 201.] Petty is described as having been "a proper handsome man, measured six foot high, good head of brown hair; his eyes a kind of goose grey, but very short-sighted, and as to aspect beautiful, and promised sweetness of nature; and they did not deceive, for he was a marvellous good- natured person." "The variety of pursuits in which he was engaged," says the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "shows that he had talents capable of achieving anything to which he chose to apply them; and it is certainly not a little remarkable that a man of such an active and enterprising disposition should have found time to write so much as he did in the course of his busy life." Twenty-five of his books and essays, chiefly upon scientific and social questions, are enumerated in the notice of him in Wood's Athenae Oxonienses. The most important of those relating to Ireland are: his Maps of Ireland, published in London in 1685, comprising a general map of Ireland, the provinces, and counties, in thirty-six plates, with portrait of himself; and his Political Anatomy of Ireland (Lond. 1691), re-published by Mr. Thorn in his Tracts Relating to Ireland. This invaluable work gives a minute account of the condition of the country in 1672 - its extent, population, and prospects, its resources and political condition. Sir W. Petty estimated the area of Ireland at 17,000,000 statute acres (14,000,000 tillage and pasture, and 3,000,000 plantation and waste). The actual area is now known to be 21,000,000 (16,500,000 tillage and pasture, and 4,500,000 plantation and waste). He estimated the population at 1,100,000 (800,000 Irish, 200,000 English, and 100,000 Scotch; or, 800,000 Catholics, 100,000 Established Church, and 200,000 Dissenters). It is interesting to remark that in two hundred years the proportion of Catholics has increased from 73 to 76 per cent, of the total population, and of members of the Established Church from 9 to 12 per cent., the proportion of Dissenters having fallen from 18 to 12 per cent. He estimated the number of families in Ireland at 200,000 (160,000 "with no fixed hearths"); and the number of houses at 40,000, of which 24,000 had only one chimney. The present number of houses is 1,100,000, of which, as nearly as can be judged, 300,000 have only one chimney. The originals of his maps can be consulted in the Record Office, Dublin.

Phelan, William, D.D., a distinguished clergyman of the Established Church, was born at Clonmel, 29th April 1789. His parents were Catholics, and he was educated as one; but it is said that, being shocked upon one occasion by the plain statement of a co-religionist of the doctrine of exclusive salvation taught by their Church, his opinions gradually underwent a change, and he entered Trinity College as a Protestant, in June 1806. He soon became distinguished by his literary attainments, and was befriended by William Conyngham Plunket and Dr. Magee. In 1814 he was appointed second master in the Endowed School of Londonderry; the same year he took orders in the Church, and was appointed to a chaplaincy by the Bishop of Derry. In 1817, on a third trial, he gained a fellowship in Trinity College, and in 1818 was elected Donnellan Lecturer; in 1823 he resigned his fellowship, married, and accepted the curacy of Keady, in the diocese of Armagh, which next year he gave up for the rectory of Killyman in the same diocese. In October 1825 he succeeded to the college rectory of Ardtrea, and next year took the degree of D.D. He died 13th June 1830, aged 41. This amiable and learned man was the author of The Policy of the Church of Rome in Ireland (1827), and numerous minor works. His Remains were collected by his friend Bishop Jebb, and published in 2 vols. 8vo. in 1832.

Phillips, Charles, author, was born at Sligo in 1789. He graduated at Trinity College, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1812, and to the English Bar in 1821. Lord Brougham gave him an appointment as a bankruptcy judge at Liverpool, and in 1835 he was advanced to be a Commissioner of Bankruptcy. His brilliant though somewhat florid eloquence secured his success at the criminal bar, and for some years he was the leading counsel at the Old Bailey. His action at the trial of Courvoisier for the murder of Lord William Russell in June 1840, was much and justly called in question. He endeavoured to clear his client by throwing suspicion on another person, of whose entire innocence he was well aware. The voluminous literature of the question is fully set forth by Allibone, who devotes almost a page of his Dictionary to a specification of his numerous writings. His Emerald Isle, a Poem (1812), Recollections of Curran and his Cotemporaries (1818), Specimens of Irish Eloquence (1819), and Historical Sketch of Wellington (1852), are perhaps the most important. Moore speaks of his Life of Curran as written in wretched taste, and Sir James Mackintosh declared his style "pitiful to the last degree," and said "he ought by common consent to be driven from the Bar." Christopher North writes: "There were frequent flashes of fine imagination, and strains of genuine feeling in his speeches, that showed nature intended him for an orator. In the midst of his most tedious and tasteless exaggerations, you still feel that Charles Phillips had a heart." He died in Golden-square, London, 1st February 1859, aged 70.

Pilkington, Letitia, daughter of Dr. Van Lewen, a Dublin physician, was born in 1712, and was early married to the Rev. Matthew Pilkington, prebendary of Lichfield. Her literary acquirements made her intimate with Dean Swift, of whom at one time she was a great favourite. He procured an English chaplaincy for her husband. Ultimately the Dean appears to have had reason to regret his acquaintance, and in a letter to Alderman Barber, dated 9th March 1737-'8, he uses language too strong to be quoted, concerning her and her husband. Mrs. Pilkington and her husband were divorced; in London she was befriended by Cibber; gradually descending in the social scale, she died in poverty, 29th August 1750, aged 38. Her Memoirs were published in Dublin in 1748. Her husband, Rev. Matthew Pilkington (who must not be confounded with the following), was the author of a volume of Miscellanies, a Rational Concordance (Nottingham, 1749), and other works.

Pilkington, Matthew, Rev., vicar of Donabate, was born early in the 18th century. In 1722 he took his degree of B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin. He was the author of an important work, which has gone through eleven editions, and is still highly esteemed - Dictionary of Painters, A. D. 1250 to 1767, first published in London in 1770. Bryan's well-known Dictionary of Painters and Engravers is said by Allibone to be an enlargement of the 1805 edition of this work; yet Bryan appears to make no reference to Pilkington in his list of authorities.

Pleasants, Thomas, a Dublin philanthropist, was born in Ireland in 1728. Amongst other acts of benevolence he, in 1815, built, at a cost of £14,000, the Stove Tenter House, in Dublin, to enable weavers to dry their cloth in damp weather. This building is now the St. Joseph's Night Refuge. He gave £6,000 to the Meath Hospital to build an operating room and other offices - operations having previously been performed in the general wards, within sight and hearing of the patients. He made large contributions of books and paintings to the Royal Dublin Society; and erected the lodges at the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens. He republished and circulated gratuitously a large edition of Dr. Samuel Madden's Reflections. Thomas Pleasants died in Dublin, 1st March 1818, aged 89, leaving large bequests to Dublin institutions. He is said to have given away altogether some £100,000.

Plowden, Francis, LL.D., historian and miscellaneous writer, was born in Ireland early in the 18th century. He was a Catholic, and a member of the English Chancery Bar. The work that chiefly entitles him to notice is his Historical Review the State of Ireland from the Invasion Henry II. to the Union, 3 vols. 4to. London, 1805. The last two volumes are devoted to the history of the country from 1782 to the Union, and contain much useful matter. In 1813 he published in Dublin, in 3 vols., his History of Ireland from the Union to October 1810. For statements in this work, one John Hart brought an action against him at Lifford, 24th March 1813, and obtained £5,000 damages. Mr. Plowden thereupon retired to France, where he passed the remainder of his days. He died in Paris in 1829, at an advanced age. His brother Charles was a distinguished Jesuit, and the Earl of Dundonald was his son-in-law.

Plunket, Christopher, Earl of Fingall, a prominent actor in the War of 1641 -'52. Carte says of his early life: "His father [1st Earl of Fingall] had carried him over very young into England, when he was sent thither as an agent from the Irish; and after bestowing upon him all the breeding which the Court of England could afford, he got him a command in Flanders, where he soon distinguished himself, and was advanced to a better post, being a man of good parts and a pleasant turn of wit, accompanied by a politeness in his behaviour, and a natural civility which flowed towards all men; and these qualities rendering his conversation agreeable, made him universally acceptable to his acquaintance." He took his seat in the Parliament of 1639. Upon the breaking out of the war in 1641 he, with other Catholic lords, offered his services to the Government. These being rejected, he retired to the country, and ultimately threw himself into the struggle on the Catholic side. He was foremost in the gatherings at Tara and Duleek, commanded the cavalry at the siege of Drogheda, and was seven times indicted and outlawed in the course of his career. He was ultimately taken prisoner at the battle of Rathmines, in August 1649, and died shortly afterwards in the Castle of Dublin.

Plunket, Oliver, Archbishop of Armagh, was born at Loughcrew, County of Meath, in 1629. He was descended from an old Anglo-Norman family, and was related to Dr. Plunket, Bishop of Ardagh, and Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. In 1645 he was sent to Rome under the care of Father Scarampo, Papal Legate, to complete his education, and next year entered the Irish College, where he remained eight years. In 1654 he was ordained for the Irish ministry, but the state of the country rendered his return impossible, and he continued to reside in Rome, where he spent altogether some twenty-five years - from 1645 to 1669. In 1657 he was appointed Professor in the College of the Propaganda, where he lectured for about twelve years. Dr. Moran, his biographer, writes: "It is incredible with what zeal he burned for the salvation of souls. In the house itself, and in the city, he wholly devoted himself to devout exercises; frequently did he visit the sanctuaries steeped with the blood of so many martyrs, and he ardently sighed for the opportunity of sacrificing himself for the salvation of his countrymen. He moreover frequented the hospital of Santo Spirito, and employed himself even in the most abject ministrations, serving the poor infirm, to the edification and wonder of the very officials and assistants of that place." In 1668 he was appointed agent of the Irish clergy at Rome. About this time he composed his Irish poem, "O Tara of the Kings." On 9th July 1669 he was nominated Archbishop of Armagh. When leaving Rome he presented a small estate to the Irish College, besides many books and pictures. He was duly consecrated in November at Ghent, it being supposed that his consecration there would be less likely to bring him into trouble with the government in Ireland than if done in Rome. While in London, on his way, he was secretly lodged for ten days in the royal palace, by Father Howard, Grand Almoner. Speaking of his journey to Ireland, he says: "I suffered more from London to Holyhead than during the remainder of the journey from Rome to London - excessive cold, stormy winds, and a heavy fall of snow... Three times I was up to my knees in water in the carriage." During the ten years of his episcopate he was unceasing in his endeavours to re-establish and strengthen the fabric of his church, torn and shattered by the events of previous years. He presided at synods, held confirmations, established colleges and schools - travelling incessantly, not only in Ireland but the Hebrides. Writing 15th December 1673, he said he had confirmed 48,655 persons in the previous four years. "I applied myself especially to root out the cursed vice of drunkenness, which is the parent and nurse of all scandals and contentions." He bore persecution and poverty with unflinching fortitude. At times Roman Catholicism was tolerated; at other times he had to preach and administer the sacraments in forests or on remote hill sides, and to hide himself in garrets and miserable cabins. His efforts to put down the tories excited great animosity against him among some of his co-religionists. In 1670 he says: "I am obliged to conceal myself by assuming the name of Captain Brown, wearing a sword and a wig and pistols; this lasted two or three months... No fewer than nine times have I been accused before the Viceroy on account of the schools, and for exercising foreign jurisdiction... In a certain emergency when an outburst of persecution was feared in Armagh, I had to burn all my foreign letters, even the brief of my consecration." In 1674 the clergy were everywhere obliged to fly to the woods and mountains to seek a refuge, and he wrote that in the city of Cashel there was not a single Catholic who could give lodging for one night, and that there was but one parish priest in the whole city. The Archbishop's correspondence with Rome continued even in the worst times of persecution, and is said to have cost him £25 a year - half the revenue of his see. In 1678,Catholics, excepting such as "for the greater part of the twelve months past had inhabited," were forbidden to reside in any corporate town. In July 1679 he was arrested in Dundalk, and committed to Newgate, Dublin, on the informations of two condemned friars, MacMoyer and Duffy. [See MACMOYER, FLORENCE, p. 317.] He was charged with having compassed the invasion of Ireland by foreign powers; with having obtained money from the Irish clergy to maintain a French army of 70,000 men; and with having conspired to take all the forts and harbours in Ireland. In October 1680 the Archbishop was removed to England, and on the 3rd of May 1681 was arraigned at the King's Bench, when he pleaded not guilty. Five weeks were allowed him to procure witnesses, and on the 8th of June he was again brought up. His messengers had been long detained at Holyhead by stress of weather, and had not had time to gather in Ireland the scattered witnesses necessary to disprove the assertions of his adversaries. The trial proceeded notwithstanding; the jury after a quarter of an hour's consideration returned a verdict of guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. He bore himself with great dignity throughout the trial, and on its conclusion again maintained his innocence, and simply asked that a servant and some friends might be permitted to visit him. He was brought to Tyburn on 1st July (1681). Captain Richardson, Keeper of Newgate, testified as to his bearing: "When I came to him this morning he was newly awake, having slept all night without disturbance; and when I told him he was to prepare for execution he received the message with all quietness of mind, and went to the sledge as unconcerned as if he had been going to a wedding." After making a long and dignified speech, pointing out the absurdity of the charges brought against him, he resigned himself to the executioner. Wood says in his Athenae Oxonienses that Archbishop Plunket's remains rested in the churchyard of St. Giles'-in-the-Fields until 1683, when they were removed to Landsprug in Germany. His head is preserved in a shrine in the convent of St. Catherine at Drogheda. Subsequent events proved his entire innocence of the charges brought against him. Fox, in his History of James IL, says, Charles II. "did not think it worth while to save the life of Plunket, the Popish Archbishop of Armagh, of whose innocence no doubt could be entertained."

Plunket, William Conyngham, Lord Plunket, Lord-Chancellor, was born at Enniskillen, 1st July 1764. Shortly after his birth, his father, a Presbyterian minister, was called to officiate at the Strand-street Chapel in Dublin. He died in 1778, leaving his widow and children poorly provided for. Young Plunket entered college about the same time as his friends Thomas A. Emmet and Yelverton. He became distinguished for his oratorical powers in the debates of the Historical Society, and in his third year obtained a scholarship. At his mother's house in Jervis-street, Burrowes, Bushe, Emmet, Magee (afterwards Archbishop), Tone, and Yelverton, constantly met on terms of the closest intimacy. In 1784 he entered at Lincoln's Inn, and two years afterwards was called to the Irish Bar. His progress was rapid and steady. In his memoirs it is mentioned that in 1791 he argued a case before a Committee of the House of Commons on which Arthur Wellesley and Lord Edward FitzGerald sat together. In 1797 he was made King's Counsel. In conjunction with Curran, in 1798, he unsuccessfully defended John and Henry Sheares. He wasbrought into Parliament by Lord Charlemont in 1798, and was one of the most strenuous opponents of the Union. In a speech made during the memorable debate of 22nd-23rd January 1799, he "in the most express terms" denied "the competency of Parliament to do this act... If, circumstanced as you are, you pass this Act, it will be a nullity, and no man in Ireland will be bound to obey it. I make the assertion deliberately - I repeat it, and I call on any man who hears me to take down my words... You are appointed to exercise the functions of legislators, and not to transfer them. And if you do so your act is a dissolution of the Government. You resolve society into its original elements, and no man in the land is bound to obey you... Yourselves you may extinguish, but Parliament you cannot extinguish... As well might the frantic suicide hope that the act which destroys his miserable body should extinguish his immortal soul." In 1803, as counsel for the Crown, he was engaged in the prosecution of Robert Emmet, the brother of his old friend. In some editions of Emmet's speech before sentence, he is falsely represented to have made use of the words (as applying to Plunket): "That viper whom my father nourished. He it was from whose lips I first imbibed those principles and doctrines, which now, by their effects, drag me to my grave." William Cobbett was fined £500 as the publisher, and Robert Johnstone, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas in Ireland, lost his seat on the Bench, as the author of animadversions, in the Register newspaper, upon Mr. Plunket's conduct at the trial. A few months after this trial Plunket was appointed Solicitor-General; and in 1805 he was advanced to be Attorney-General. In 1807 he entered Parliament for Midhurst. In 1812 he exchanged this seat for the University of Dublin, which he represented until his elevation to the peerage. At this period he was in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice, chiefly in the Court of Chancery, and his means were subsequently increased by a large bequest from his brother, Dr. Plunket. He took a leading part in the debates at Westminster. Bulwer thus describes his presence in Parliament: "He rises - mark him now ! No grace in feature, no command in height, Yet his whole presence fills and awes the sight. Wherefore, you ask. I can but guide your guess. Man has no majesty like earnestness. His that rare warmth - collected central heat - As if he strives to check the heart's loud beat, Tame strong conviction and indignant zeal, And leave you free to think as he must feel." From the first he strenuously supported the claims of the Catholics, and worked with his friend Henry Grattan for their advancement. His speech in favour of Emancipation on 21st February 1821 was declared by Peel to stand "nearly the highest in point of ability of any ever heard in this House; combining the rarest powers of eloquence with the strongest powers of reasoning." During the Viceroyalty of the Marquis of Wellesley in 1821, he was again appointed Attorney-General. In. 1825 he supported the Bill for putting down the Catholic Association, and advocated the Relief Bill of Sir Francis Burdett, with its "wings." [See O'CONNELL, DANIEL.] For this he became unpopular with the Irish Catholics, as he was already with the English Liberals for his defence of the Peterloo massacre. It is said that on Canning's advent to power in 1827 Plunket would have been appointed Lord- Chancellor but for the personal dislike of George IV. He was, however, made Master of the Rolls for England, but resigned in consequence of the objections of the English Bar. Lord Norbury was thereupon induced to retire from the Irish Bench, and Plunket was appointed Chief- Justice of the Common Pleas in his stead, and elevated to the British peerage as Baron Plunket. In 1829 he had the satisfaction, in the House of Lords, of welcoming the passage of the measure for which he had striven so many years - Catholic Emancipation. In January 1830 he became Lord-Chancellor of Ireland, and held that position, with a short interval, until 1841. Thenceforward, with the exception of supporting the Reform Bill in 1831, the Irish Tithe Bill in 1832, and the Irish Education Bill in 1833, he took little part in politics, devoting himself almost exclusively to his official duties. In June 1841, owing to pressure brought to bear upon him by Lord Melbourne's Ministry, he reluctantly consented to resign his seals, to make way for Lord Campbell, for whom the Government could not otherwise provide - a proceeding stigmatized by Lord Brougham as "the most gross and unjustifiable act ever done by party, combining violence and ingratitude with fraud... Vile as this whole proceeding was, the course taken to defend it was worse than the act itself. It was pretended that a falling off in his powers had been observed, and that his faculties were declining; than which no assertion could be made more utterly groundless." Lord Plunket now withdrew from public life. He spent some time on the Continent, and on his return to Ireland settled at Old Connaught, near Bray, where he tranquilly passed the rest of his days in the midst of a large circle, by whom he was greatly beloved. He died at Old Connaught, 4th January 1854, aged 89, and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. Few specimens of Lord Plunket's oratory have been preserved, mainly in consequence of his dislike to correcting proofs, or putting pen to paper. He often read his briefs or notes whilst driving into town on the morning of the day on which he had to argue or speak from them - seldom noting them - being able to trust entirely to his unfailing and accurate memory. There is a beautiful bust of Lord Plunket in the Library of Trinity College. Dr. Madden, whilst commenting severely upon his conduct at the trial of Robert Emmet, quotes the following concerning his character: "As time, however, wears on, the stains will vanish in the general brightness, and the student of the political history of Ireland will recognize in Lord Plunket one of those mighty minds that exalt a nation, whose renown is imperishably interwoven with the history and the fortunes of their country. Plunket's eloquence has long gained for itself the highest prize of fame. In a period eminent for intellectual distinction both in Ireland and in England, he vindicated to himself universal admiration. Owing nothing of his celebrity to birth, wealth, or official rank, he required none of these factitious supports to move freely in the loftiest regions of professional and parliamentary effect, dignity, and distinction."

Ponsonby, George, Lord-Chancellor, was born 5th March 1755. [His father resigned the speakership of the Irish House of Commons in 1771, rather than be the mouthpiece of a resolution passed by the popular party.] He studied at Cambridge, was called to the Irish Bar in 1780, and in 1782 was appointed counsel to the Revenue Commissioners, with a salary of £1,200. This post he lost on the recall of the Duke of Portland. Entering Parliament, he joined the popular party, and with Grattan and his friends struggled against the system of jobbery and corruption then prevailing in the House of Commons. He was the personal friend of Earl Fitzwilliam, and strenuously supported the Emancipation Act of 1793,and the further efforts for the relief of the Catholics. He offered an unflinching opposition to the measure of Union. On the advent to power of the Whigs in 1806 he was appointed Lord-Chancellor of Ireland. He secured for his friend Curran the appointment of Master of the Rolls, with £4,000 per annum; "but, unfortunately, there were some matters in this arrangement which, instead of cementing the existing friendship, had the effect of creating a long and painful separation between the two... During his [Mr. Ponsonby's] last illness, Mr. Curran being in London, became reconciled to his old friend, and, after his lamented death, took every opportunity of recalling his great qualities of head and heart, and the long and faithful services by which the name of Ponsonby is endeared to Ireland." On change of Ministry in 1807, he entered the House of Commons, where he took a prominent part for several years, directing his attention principally to measures of law reform. He was seized with paralysis in the House of Commons, and died 8th July 1817, aged 62. He was buried at Kensington. Henry Grattan, Jun., says: "He possessed a love of liberty, and of a sort that would not suffer it to overturn the Government. His aristocracy was not a bad one; he was of use in Ireland, and deserved well of her; he had a public mind, and felt for his country; he had a just reserved sense of her injuries, and would not omit any occasion to redress them; he was a good patron and a good father, and had a good understanding. His voice was soft and pleasing; his manner calm and impressive; his temper unruffled and happy; vivacity characterized his mind, and generosity his disposition. He was an able speaker, and possessed an argumentative humour, a cunning shrewdness, and a knowledge of the folly of mankind."

Popham, Sir Home Higgs, Admiral, was born in Ireland,53 12th October 1762. He was educated at Westminster, and having passed a year at Cambridge, entered the navy. In 1782 he attained the rank of lieutenant, and in 1795 was appointed post-captain, and won credit for his services in different parts of the world. He was envoy to Russia in 1799. His opening up the Red Sea to European commerce, in 1803, brought down upon him the displeasure of the House of Commons. On 8th January 1806 he commanded the fleet which contributed to the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope. Thence he proceeded to the Rio de la Plata, where he landed 2,000 troops, and captured the town of Buenos Ayres on the 26th June. The Spaniards retook the place on 12th August, and the British garrison were made prisoners. On the arrival of British reinforcements, Monte Video was carried by storm in February 1807. In May, 8,000 men under General Whitelocke were defeated in an attempt to retake Buenos Ayres, and the British were ultimately obliged to evacuate the country. For the rash and unauthorized inception of the original attack on Buenos Ayres, Captain Popham was brought to a court-martial, and severely reprimanded. After this he served in the Baltic; and during the Peninsular War commanded the Venerable, 74. In 1813 he accompanied Lord Moira to India, in command of the Stirling Castle. In 1814 he attained the rank of rear-admiral, and in 1819 commanded in the West Indies. Returning on leave to England in 1820, he died at Cheltenham, on the 11th of September, aged 57. He wrote a vindication of his conduct in relation to the opening up of the Red Sea, and was the author of A Description of the Prince of Wales' Island, and Rules to be observed in the Royal Navy - all apparently published in 1805. His construction of a line of telegraph stations from Bridport to the Land's End in 1815 procured him admission to the Royal Society. His improvements in the system of naval signals constitute his best claim to remembrance.

Porter, Francis, a Franciscan friar, was born in the County of Meath in the 17th century. He was Professor and Lecturer, and ultimately President, in the Irish College of St. Isidore's at Rome, where he died 7th April 1702. Harris's Ware gives a list of his Latin works, the principal of which are: Securis Evangelica ad Haeresis Radices Posita (Rome, 1674), Compendium Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Regni Hiberniae (Rome, 1690), and Systema Decretorum Dogmaticorum (Avignon, 1693).

Porter, James, Rev., a distinguished United Irishman, was born about 1760, at Ballindrait, in the County of Donegal. After completing his theological studies at Glasgow, he was appointed Presbyterian minister of Grey Abbey, near Belfast, in 1784 or 1785. Five years afterwards he married. He was a good classical scholar. His library was extensive, and his scientific instruments and museum for the illustration of natural philosophy were superior to anything else of the kind then in the north of Ireland. Of an enthusiastic and liberal mind, he entered the Society of the United Irishmen. At first moderate in his views, seeking only Catholic Emancipation and Parliamentary Reform, he advanced with the progress of events, and being a good public speaker, and having a ready pen, soon took a foremost place in the movement. His writings in the Northern Star and Press were forcible and trenchant. He took the field with the insurgents in June 1798, was arrested for participation in the attack on Saintfield, tried by court-martial, and executed at Grey Abbey, in sight of his church and home. He suffered with fortitude. He was buried in Grey Abbey churchyard, where a marble slab marks his resting- place.

Porter, Alexander J., American jurist and senator, son of preceding, was born in Armagh in 1786. He went to the United States in 1801, and was admitted to the Bar in 1807. Settling in Louisiana in 1810, he took an active part in framing the State constitution in the following year. In 1821 he became a judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, and from 1834 to 1837 was United States Senator from that State. In Congress he favoured Calhoun's motion to reject petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and voted for the recognition of the independence of Texas; and throughout his career was a slaveholder and an upholder of the institution of slavery. He died on his plantation at Attakapas, Louisiana, 13th January 1844. To his labours is in a measure due the system of jurisprudence at present existing in Louisiana.

Pottinger, Sir Henry, Bart., was born in the County of Down in 1789. [In 1613, an ancestor, Thomas Pottinger, was "sovereign" of Belfast, and another relative, a captain in the royal navy, conveyed William III. to Ireland in his ship, the Dartmouth, in 1690.] Henry was educated at the Belfast Academy. When very young he entered the navy, and in 1804, through Lord Castlereagh's influence, was granted a military appointment in India. He assiduously studied the native languages, and in 1810 volunteered, with Captain Christie, for the difficult task of exploring the countries between the Indus and Persia. They travelled disguised as Mohammedan merchants - an incognito that it required all their tact and linguistic abilities to maintain. After treading districts which had not been visited by Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great, they returned to Bombay in February 1811. A few years afterwards he gave their experiences to the world in an interesting work entitled Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde. He next received the appointment of assistant to the resident at the court of the Peishwa, at Poonah. During the Mahratta war he had a narrow escape at the battle of Khirkee. After the termination of hostilities he was appointed collector at Ahmednuggur, a position which he exchanged in 1825 for a similar one at Cutch. In 1831 Pottinger, then a colonel, undertook a mission to Scinde, which resulted in opening up the traffic of the Indus. In 1839 he was made a baronet. Next year he returned to England for the benefit of his health; but was almost immediately (June 1841) sent as plenipotentiary to China, to reap the benefits expected from the war entered upon with the Celestial Empire. After the expenditure of much blood, a treaty of peace was concluded on board the Cornwallis at Nankin, 26th August 1842, under which China was compelled to pay 21,000,000 dollars of an indemnity; Canton, Amoy, Foochoofoo, Ningpo, and Shanghae were thrown open to commerce; the opium trade was effectually fastened on the Chinese; and Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom. The Grand Cross of the Bath was conferred upon him, and after his return in 1844 he was made a Privy-Councillor, and a pension of £1,500 was voted him by Parliament. The highest military rank he attained appears to have been that of Major-General in the East India Company's service. He was governor of the Cape of Good Hope in 1846 and 1847, and of Madras from 1847 to 1854. Sir Henry Pottinger died at Malta, 18th March 1856, aged 66. He is described as an able and upright public officer, and an estimable man in all the relations of life.

Pottinger, Eldred, Major, the "Defender of Herat," nephew of preceding, son of Thomas Pottinger. of Mount Pottinger, in the County of Down, was born 12th August 1811. When but fourteen he was placed at Addiscombe, and after two years' training joined the head-quarters of an artillery regiment in India. In 1837, disguised as a native Cutch horse- dealer, he proceeded on an exploring expedition into Afghanistan. After his arrival in Herat in September, the city was invested by a Persian army under Mahomed Shah, largely officered by Russians. Considering it would be conducive to British interests that the designs of the Persians should be thwarted, he made himself known to Yar Mahomed, and engaged resolutely in the organization of the defence. It was owing to Pottinger's courage and determination that the Persians were compelled to raise the siege at the end of a year. For this service he was promoted to a brevet majority, was made a Companion of the Bath, and in 1841 was appointed political agent at Herat, and soon afterwards at Cabul. In December 1841 the small British force at Cabul was suddenly attacked by the Kohistanees, and several of his companions were murdered. With a little body of Ghoorkas he made an effort to reach Charekur, but was ultimately obliged to surrender on humiliating terms, and for nine months remained a prisoner in the hands of Akbar Khan, who treated him with great consideration. In 1843, after his release, a court of inquiry was held to consider a certain treaty he had signed for the evacuation of Afghanistan, and bills for large amounts drawn by him on the British government in payment of an indemnity to the enemy. His judgment and conduct were amply justified. Major Pottinger did not live long to enjoy his honours, or receive the further rewards that were in store for him. He died of fever, while on a visit to his uncle, Sir Henry Pottinger, at Hong Kong, 15th November 1843, aged 32.

Power, Tyrone, an eminent actor, born about 1795 - according to one account in the County of Waterford; according to another, at Swansea, of Irish parents. His real name was Thomas Powell. He served his time as a compositor, but ultimately abandoned printing, and went on the stage, where he soon attained a high position. After some experience in tragedy, he took up Irish comedy - to suit which he "manufactured" an admirable brogue. In 1818 he retired from the boards; but returned in 1821, and became manager of the Olympic Theatre in 1823. He appeared at Drury-lane the same year. In 1824 he achieved a triumph as "Paddy O'Halloran," and thenceforward devoted himself to Irish characters. Mr. Power travelled in America in 1833-'4-'5, and published his Impressions of America in 1836. In 1840 he made a second tour through the States, and sailed from New York on his return, in the steamer President, on 11th March 1841. Nothing was ever heard of this ill-fated vessel, and it is supposed she foundered in a storm, or came in collision with floating ice. Mr. Power was the author of some novels. An interesting note on his last appearance in Dublin, 20th June 1840, will be found in Notes and Queries, 2nd Series. His son, Sir W. Tyrone Power, has written several books of travel.

Poynings, Sir Edward, an English statesman, sent to Ireland in 1494 by King Henry VII. as Deputy for his son Henry (afterwards King Henry VIIL), then in his fourth year. The King had long been anxious concerning the independent attitude of the Irish Lords of the Pale, and their intrigues with Scotland and France, but thought it better to curb rather than weaken their power, lest the native Irish chiefs throughout the country should assert their complete independence. Poynings, who had already distinguished himself in diplomatic missions, landed at Howth on the 13th October 1494, having several English officers in his train, and 1,000 soldiers. With the Earl of Ormond, he almost immediately marched north against the O'Donnells, but could not penetrate beyond the border territories of O'Hanlon and Magennis, which he devastated with fire and sword; he, however, reduced the castle of Carlow, held by the FitzGeralds. The Anglo-Irish Parliament met at Drogheda in December. All the royal grants made for the preceding one hundred and sixty-eight years were revoked; the family war cries, such as "Crom-a-boo" and "Butler-a-boo," were interdicted; it was enacted that none but Englishmen should be entrusted with the care of any royal castle in Ireland, and that a ditch should be thrown up to defend the Pale against the Irish on the borders. Other laws were passed in this Parliament for the safety of the Anglo-Irish colony, amongst which was Poynings' Act, which has made his name memorable in Irish history. It extended the English law to Ireland, and subverted the independence of the Anglo-Irish Parliament, by providing that no Irish statutes should take effect until approved by the Viceroy and his Privy- Council, and sanctioned by the King and Council. It is known as 10 Henry VII. cap. 22. The enacting part is as follows: "All estatutes late made within the said realm of England, concerning or belonging to the common and publique weal of the same [shall] from henceforth be deemed good and effectuall in the law, and over that be acceptyd, used, and executed within this land of Ireland, in all points at all time requisite according to the tenor and effect of the same; and over that by authority aforesaid, that they and every of them be authorised, proved, and confirmed in this said land of Ireland." The Lords of the Pale were induced to pass the measure on the representation that it would be a protection against the legislative oppressions occasionally attempted by the Viceroys. In the July 1495, Poynings made a successful expedition to relieve Waterford, then beleaguered by Warbeck and the Earl of Desmond. He took three of Warbeck's ships, and compelled him to retire to Scotland. It was part of his policy to propitiate by regular subsidies the chiefs whose territories bordered on the Pale, and to O'Byrne, O'Neill, MacMurrough, MacMahon, O'Conor, and other magnates, he gave presents of cloth, wine, arms, and money. The castle of Carlow was entrusted to the Kavanaghs, and Sir James Ormond's troops were kept up at a ruinous expense. Sir Edward was recalled in 1496. The date of his death is not mentioned.

Preston, Thomas, Viscount Tara, son of the 4th Viscount Gormanstown, was born, probably in Ireland, towards the close of the 16th century. He was educated in the Low Countries, where he entered the service of Spain. In 1634, during the viceroyalty of Strafford, he visited Ireland, and raised a regiment of 2,400 men in Leinster for the Spanish service. This force assisted at the defence of Louvain against the Dutch in June 1635. Preston gives a full account of the siege in a letter to Strafford, dated 6th July. A month later he sent agents to Ireland to raise new levies for the King of Spain. Indeed, it is supposed that he and Owen Roe O'Neill had the Deputy's warrant for recruiting as many men as they pleased in Ireland. Preston and his Irish troops were actively engaged in the war in the Netherlands for six years after the siege of Louvain. In the summer of 1641 he lost nearly 800 of his men in the defence of Genep; and although obliged to capitulate on 27th July, marched out with all the honours of war, and retired to Venlo. "As for the besieged," says a contemporary writer, "and Preston in particular, they earned for themselves the most consummate glory, and this was willingly accorded to them by the plaudits of their veriest enemies." Events in Ireland next called him home. Supplied by Cardinal Richelieu with three frigates and a considerable store of arms and ammunition for the Irish Confederates, he sailed from Dunkirk, and anchored in Wexford harbour about the middle of September 1642. He was accompanied by his son, a great number of engineers, and 500 officers, including Colonels Sinnott, Cullen, Plunket, and Bourke, who had distinguished themselves in the Dutch war. General Preston was appointed by the Supreme Council to the command of the Leinster forces, and was a prime actor in the affairs of Ireland for the next few years, siding on the whole with the Anglo- Irish rather than the Old Irish party. He was consequently often in opposition to Owen Roe O'Neill. Clarendon sketches broadly the differences of policy that divided Preston and O'Neill: "They of the more moderate party, and whose main end was to obtain liberty for the exercise of their religion, without any thought of declining their subjugation to the King, or of invading his prerogative, put themselves under the command of General Preston; the other, of the fiercer and more savage party, and who never meant to return to their obedience of the Crown of England, and looked upon all the estates which had ever been in the possession of any of their ancestors, though forfeited by their treason and rebellion, as justly due to them, and ravished from them by the tyranny of the Crown, marched under the conduct of Owen Roe O'Neile; both generals of the Irish nation; the one descended of English extraction through many descents; the other purely Irish, and of the family of Tyrone; both bred in the wars of Flanders, and both eminent commanders there, and of perpetual jealousy of each other; the one of the more frank and open nature; the other darker, less polite, and the wiser man; but both of them then at the head of more numerous armies apart, than all the king's power could bring into the field against either of them." Most of Preston's operations were unfortunate. He was defeated by the Marquis of Ormond at New Ross on the 18th March 1644, and obliged to retreat across the Barrow, with a loss of 500 men, his baggage, and ammunition. He assumed a neutral attitude in some of the negotiations between Ormond and Rinuccini; but in August 1646 he co-operated with O'Neill to intercept Ormond in his march on Kilkenny, and compel his subsequent disastrous retreat to Dublin. The same autumn Preston and O'Neill marched against Dublin, wasting much time on the way, so that their combined forces, numbering some 16,000 foot and 1,600 horse, did not take up a position at Lucan until the 11th November. Ormond had been able to effect little for the defence of Dublin, beyond burning crops and destroying mills in the neighbourhood, and had the Irish generals acted in concert, nothing could have saved it from falling into their hands. They lost nearly a week in dissensions. Carte goes so far as to say that Preston hated O'Neill, and O'Neill despised Preston. On the 16th news reached them of the reception of a Parliamentary force into Dublin, whereupon they precipitately abandoned the siege, and sought winter quarters. Soon afterwards Preston appeared not unwilling to side with Ormond; but Rinuccini brought him back to act nominally with O'Neill. On 8th August 1647 he was defeated by Jones, the Parliamentary General, at Dungan Hill, near Trim, where he occupied a strong position with 7,000 foot and 1,000 horse. Jones, with an army said to have numbered but 2,000 men, marched from Dublin to dislodge him. Preston rashly abandoned his entrenchments, in the hope of overwhelming the enemy while forming for the attack; but his forces were met with undaunted bravery, quickly thrown into confusion, and completely routed. Rinuccini admits a loss of 3,000 soldiers and 106 officers: "All our banners were taken; all the baggage seized. The spoil, in which were several barrels of powder, cannot be put down at less than 50,000 crowns. Preston's baggage also fell into the hands of the enemy... 1,500 heretics were left upon the field." Father Meehan says Preston's losses were reckoned at 5,470 killed; while the Parliamentarians -Rinuccini's "heretics" - had only twenty killed and very few wounded. In his retreat, Preston burned Naas, Harristown, and Moyglare, while Jones retired to Dublin with his prisoners - "Nor would he allow the standards taken from the Confederates to be brought in triumph to the city, for that would be attributing to man the work which was due to the Lord alone." Preston subsequently sided with the Marquis of Ormond and the Anglo-Irish party, and wrote, after his excommunication by Rinuccini: "I hold your censures to be invalid; and as for O'Neill, I have pursued him to Maryborough, fully resolved that either he or I shall fall in mortal combat." However, 2,000 of his troops went over to his adversary, and left him almost without an army. In the summer of 1650 Preston gallantly defended Waterford against Ireton's army, and according to the terms of the surrender on 6th August, was allowed to march out and proceed under safe conduct to Athlone, with standards flying, trumpets sounding, pistols and carbines loaded. He was created Viscount Tara by patent dated at Ennis 2nd July 1650. Excluded by Cromwell from pardon for life and estate, he retired to the Continent, where he died before 14th August 1662, possibly at Bruges. Rinuccini says he was "very subject to fits of anger, in which he was so rash and out-spoken that he had often to retract with apologies what he had said; so hasty in his warlike enterprises that he was sometimes called inconsiderate." His grandson, the 3rd Viscount, died without issue in 1674. [John Preston, descended from his younger brother, was, for his vote in favour of the Union, created Baron Tara in 1800.

Preston, William, author of several poems, plays, and essays, was born in Dublin in 1753. Educated at Trinity College, and called to the Bar in 1777, he was at one time Commissioner of Appeals. He assisted in founding the Royal Irish Academy. Allibone gives a full list of his works. His tragedy, Democratic Rage, published in 1793, was very successful. He died in Dublin, 2nd February 1807, aged 53. One notice of his life states that "he was a man of great literary attainments,.. not surpassed by any of his contemporaries."

Prior, Sir James, author, was born at Lisburn in 1790. He entered the navy as a surgeon, served abroad and at home, became Deputy-Inspector of Hospitals in 1843, and was knighted in 1858. He was the author of several popular works: Voyage to the Indian Seas in 181O-'11; Memoirs of Edmund Burke (1824); Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1836); Life of Edmond Malone (1860). His Burke and Goldsmith have gone through many editions, and are still looked upon as standard works. He died 14th November 1869, aged 79.

Prior, Thomas, founder of the Dublin Society, was born at Rathdowney, in the Queen's County, in 1680, and was educated in Trinity College. The foundation of the Dublin (afterwards the Royal Dublin) Society appears to have been conceived and organized by him. The project took shape at a meeting of thirteen gentlemen, held in Trinity College, 25th June 1731. The Society was established to promote agriculture, manufactures, the arts, and sciences. It was duly incorporated, and received a parliamentary grant of £500 per annum in 1749; but did not reach the important position it at present occupies until long after his death. In his efforts for its establishment he was ably seconded by Dr. Samuel Madden. He died on 21st October 1751, aged 70, and was interred near his birth-place. A monument was erected to his memory in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, bearing an inscription by his friend and fellow-student, Bishop Berkeley, in which he is styled "Societatis Dubliniensis auctor, institutor, curator." He wrote tracts on The Absentees of Ireland, The Virtues of Tar Water, and various questions of the day.

Intro A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M(1) | M(2) | M(3) | N | O(1) | O(2) | O(3) | P | Q | R | S(1) | S(2) | T | U | V | W(1) | W(2) | X | Y | Z | Addenda