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Whaley, Thomas, sometimes known as "Buck Whaley," or "Jerusalem Whaley," a noted Dublin character, was born in Ireland in 1766. His father acquired the sobriquet of "Burn-Chapel Whaley," on account of his severities during the Insurrection of 1798. Young Whaley was elected member of Parliament for Newcastle, County of Down, in 1785, before he was of age, which was not then unusual in Ireland, and represented the borough until 1790. He sat for Enniscorthy from 1797 to June 1800. He was called "Jerusalem Whaley," in consequence of winning a wager, said to have been for £20,060, that he would walk (except where a sea passage was unavoidable) to Jerusalem, play ball against its walls, and return within twelve months. He started on 22nd September 1788, and reached home in the following June. He is said once to have leaped his horse over a stage-coach placed beneath the windows of his mansion (now the Catholic University) in Stephen's-green. In June 1800 he married a daughter of the first Baron Cloncurry. He was one of those bought over by the opposition stock-purse to vote against the Union, but, according to Barrington, was bought back by Castlereagh. He died 2nd November 1800, aged about 34.

Whalley, John, a notorious quack and astrologer, who flourished in Dublin in the latter part of the 17th century, was born 29th April 1653. He learned the trade of shoemaking; but found the compiling of prophetic almanacks, compounding quack medicines, and practising necromancy more profitable employments. He rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious to the Catholic Irish by his fanatical railings against them and their religion; and during James II.'s occupation of Dublin, consulted his safety by retiring to England. At the conclusiun of the war Whalley returned to Ireland, and resumed his profession and the publication of almanacks and astrological pamphlets,at the "Blew Posts, next door to the Wheel of Fortune, on the west side of St. Stephen's-green," at "the Blew Ball, Arundal-court, just without St. Nicholas'-gate," and elsewhere in Dublin. He carried on a perpetual warfare with rival astrologers and almanack compilers in the city. In 1714 he started a newspaper, styled Whalley's News-Letter. "The Doctor," as he styled himself, died 17th January 1724, aged 70. His widow continued to publish almanacks for some years in Bell-alley, off Golden-lane.

Whately, Richard, Archbishop of Dublin, was born in Cavendish-square, London, 1st February 1787. This learned writer and political philosopher was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin in 1831. "Dr. Whately," wrote the Bishop of Llandaff, "accepted the arduous station proposed to him, purely, I believe, from public spirit and a sense of duty. Wealth, honour, and power, and title, had no charms for him. He has great energy and intrepidity - a hardihood which sustains him against obloquy, when he knows he is discharging a duty, and he is generous and disinterested to a fault. His enlarged views, his sincerity, and his freedom from prejudice, are more than a compensation for his want of conciliating manners." He landed with his family at Howth, about the end of November 1831, and may be said to have devoted the remainder of his life to Ireland, without in any way forfeiting his position as one of the first of English thinkers and writers. Whilst favouring most liberal measures, he was "thorough" in his opposition to Repeal and in the advocacy of centralization, He favoured the abolition of the Viceroyalty, of the Irish office, and of everything that tended to perpetuate a feeling of distinct nationality in Ireland. He opposed the Irish poor-law as contrary to true economic principles. Propositions for the payment of the Catholic clergy met his hearty approval. His opposition to the Orange organization was strong and consistent - in his own words: “The permanent pacification of Ireland through the dominance of Orange spirit, must be by the entire extermination of at least all the adult males of the Roman Catholics." For thirty-three years from 1831 he maintained a Professorship of Political Economy in the University of Dublin, at an annual charge of £100. He was mainly instrumental, in conjunction with Dr. W. Neilson Hancock, in establishing, in 1846, the Statistical Society of Ireland, which has ever since so materially contributed to the advancement of the country, and the improvement of its laws. At a time when he believed Protestant converts in the west of Ireland were suffering persecution on account of their change of religion, he helped to establish the Society for Protecting the Rights of Conscience, of which he was president during its continuance. Next to the immediate duties of his office, perhaps it was to the forwarding of the system of National Education in Ireland that he devoted most of his thoughts and attention. In the face of the bitterest opposition from the majority of Protestants, he supported this system, in conjunction with Dr. Murray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Dr. Whately wrote some elementary books for the use of the schools, and his withdrawal from the National Board in 1853, was in consequence of what he considered a breach of faith with the public - the removal of several of the elementary religious works from the list of those sanctioned by the Commissioners. He was much interested in the subject of prison discipline and punishment, and rejoiced at the ultimate abolition of transportation. He occasionally attended and spoke in the House of Lords. Writing of O'Connell's trial in 1844, he said: "I cannot say which would be the greater evil, a condemnation or an acquittal. Queen and Imperial Parliament at Dublin is the only real remedy." He met prejudice and misunderstanding rather with a lofty and stern consciousness of the rightfulness of his opinions, than any effort at conciliation. The Archbishop's private charities were munificent and judicious. He never saved out of the emoluments of his see, and towards the end of his life was heard to say, that while he had given upwards of £40,000 away during his archiepiscopate, he could boast that he had never given a penny to a street beggar. He was a consistent opponent of slavery in America and the West Indies, although sometimes at issue with other advocates of emancipation as to the means by which it was to be accomplished. His freedom from the conventionalities of religion may be illustrated by his remark to a gentleman who was praising the good providence of God for having once delivered him from shipwreck: "Why a much greater instance of God's providence occurred to me lately - I came from Holyhead to Kingstown the other day without any accident happening us whatever." He supported the admission of Jews into Parliament. He opposed the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church, regarding the Protestants and the Radicals who favoured it "as only two different kinds of enemies to the Protestant Church; they are like the Asiatic and African hunters of the elephant; the latter wish to kill the animal for his ivory and as much flesh as they can carry off, leaving the rest of his carcase as a scramble for hyenas and vultures; the others wish to catch and keep him for a drudge." In 1842 Archbishop Whately suffered a severe loss in the death of his friends Dr. Arnold and Bishop Dickinson. In 1856 he was attacked with creeping paralysis, which afflicted him the remainder of his days, but did not prevent him continuing his literary labours or endeavouring as far as possible to fulfil the duties of his archbishopric. A devoted husband and father, finding a solace for all the difficulties and trials of life in the society of those lie loved, the death of his daughter Mrs. Wale, a bride of but four months, in March 1860, and that of his wife soon afterwards, were crushing bereavements. For three years more he continued to struggle against the infirmities of age, keeping up a keen interest in all the questions that had occupied him during the days of his vigorous health. He quietly sank to rest on the 8th October 1863, aged 76, having been affectionately attended to the last by the Very Rev. H. H. Dickinson, son of the friend he had lost twenty-one years before. Archbishop Whately's remains rest in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. There is a monument to him in the north transept of St. Patrick's. A consideration of his works, which number no fewer than ninety-six in Allibone's list, does not come within the scope of this Compendium.

Wheatley, Francis, R.A., an English artist, was born in 1747 and died in 1801. He resided a considerable time in Ireland, and was happy in the delineation of the Irish life and character. He painted some well-known historical pieces relating to the country during its period of independence, including the "Meeting of the Volunteers in College Green" (now in the National Gallery, Dublin), and an "Interior of the House of Commons."

Wheeler, George Bomford, Rev., author of several classical translations and educational works, was born in Ireland in 1805. After a distinguished career at the University of Dublin (taking a scholarship in 1832, and a senior classical moderatorship in 1834), he entered the Church, and was for a large part of his life rector of Ballysax, in the County of Kildare. He was for many years editor of the Irish Times, one of the leading Dublin papers, and in that position displayed wonderful temper and an unflagging industry, which seemed unaffected by age. His educational works, chiefly classical, numbered some fifty. He edited Homer, Horace, Cicero, and Ovid, with notes, and published a Latin Grammar and a new edition of Murray's English Grammar. Dr. Wheeler died from the results of an accident, at Newbridge, 21st October 1877, aged 72, and was buried at Ballysax.

White, Luke, a noted Dublin bookseller and capitalist, was born in Ireland about the middle of the 18th century. He raised himself from the position of a book-hawker to that of a publisher in Dawson-street, saved money, is said to have been fortunate in lottery speculations (or, according to popular belief, found a large sum in notes in the cover of an old book), and was enabled to contract with the Government for the supply of loans. During the Union contest he is said to have contributed £3,000 to the bribery fund of the anti-unionists. He sat in the Imperial Parliament for Leitrim, and spent thousands in contesting seats in the Whig interest for members of his family. He bought Lord Carhampton's estate of Luttrelstown, near Lucan, which, as Woodlands, is occupied by his descendant Lord Annaly. Luke White died in London, 25th February 1824.

White, Samuel, a well-known Dublin schoolmaster, said to have been a relation of the Sheridan family, was born in 1733. In 1758 he opened a school at No. 75 (now 79) Grafton-street, Dublin, where he taught the Wellesleys, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thomas Moore, and many others afterwards eminent. Moore pays a graceful tribute to him in his Life of Sheridan. White was peculiarly successful in his method of teaching, and was fond of cultivating the dramatic talents of his pupils. He was the author of The Shamrock, a Collection of Poems, Songs, and Epigrams (Dublin, 1772), an English Grammar, and some minor works. He died in Grafton-street, 4th October 1811, aged 78.

White, Stephen, D.D., a distinguished Irish Jesuit, who nourished in the 17th century, attained an advanced age, and was living in June 1645. Dr. Reeves says: "He it was who opened that rich mine of Irish literature on the Continent, which has ever since yielded such valuable returns, and still continues unexhausted; and by his disinterested exertions, less enterprising labourers at or nearer home, not only were made acquainted with the treasures preserved in foreign libraries, but from time to time received at his hands the substantial produce of his diligence, in the form of accurate copies of Irish manuscripts, accompanied by critical emendations and historical inquiries, amply sufficient to superadd to his credit as a painstaking scribe the distinction of a sound thinker and an erudite scholar. Abroad, as well as at home, his merits were acknowledged... He sought the honour of his country, not of himself; and was satisfied that the fruits of his labours, if only made to redound to the credit of loved Ireland, should pass into other hands, and under their names be employed in their several projects, and at their discretion. Thus, in the Benedictine library of Keysersheym, in Switzerland, he copied the life of St. Colman, the patron saint of Austria, for Hugh Ward. At the monastery of St. Magnus, in Ratisbon, he found the life of St. Erhard, of that city, and sent a transcript to Ussher. To this prelate, so opposed to him in matters of polemical controversy, he made acceptable communications regarding St. Brigid and St. Columba; and.. this literary generosity was duly felt... To Colgan he transmitted a life of St. Patrick which he copied from an ancient manuscript at Biburg, in Bavaria; from St. Magnus's, at Ratisbon, he sent him Ultan's Life of St. Brigid; and from Dilingen, as I have already observed, he sent him the text for the life of St. Columba. To his untiring generosity Fleming, also, was indebted for two contributions for his Collectanea of Columbanus's writings." Almost all that is known concerning Stephen White is contained in a paper read before the Royal Irish Academy by Dr. Reeves, in 1861.

Whitelaw, James, Rev., author and philanthropist, was born in the County of Leitrim, about 1749. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (where he took his degree of B.A. in 1771), and entered the Church. The living of St. James's, in the Liberties of Dublin, and afterwards the vicarage of St. Catherine's in the same locality, were conferred upon him. He laboured indefatigably among the poor, establishing schools, industrial institutions, and loan funds. In 1798 he undertook, and carried through, in the face of great difficulties, on account of political agitation, a census of the city of Dublin. He estimated the population within the city boundaries at 170,805, and the number of houses at 14,854. [The population within the same limits in 1871 was 267,717; the number of houses, 26,859.] For six years he was engaged chiefly on an enquiry into the condition of the endowed schools of Ireland, and was a prime agent in compiling the body of information upon which subsequent legislation regarding education in Ireland was based. He wrote a school-book entitled Parental Solicitude, and compiled a system of physical geography. He was constant in his ministrations at Cork-street Fever Hospital, where on one day he administered the sacrament separately to six patients in the last stages of malignant fever. The result was that he caught the disease himself, and died, 4th February 1813, aged 64. His widow was granted a pension of £200 by the Government. Some years before his death, in conjunction with Mr. Warburton, Deputy-keeper of the Records in Dublin Castle, he projected a History of Dublin. Mr. Warburton furnished documents and the ancient history of the city; Mr. Whitelaw methodized the whole, and wrote the modern descriptive portion of the work. It was announced in the Gentleman's Magazine the month before his death, as preparing for publication. At his decease the first volume was finished. Mr. Warburton's death soon followed, and the work was completed, chiefly from Mr. Whitelaw's papers, by the Rev. Robert Walsh, in 1818, and given to the public as History of the City of Dublin, its Present Extent, Public Buildings, Schools, Institutions, etc., by the late J. Warburton, the late Rev. J. Whitelaw, and the Rev. Robert Walsh. [See WALSH, REV. ROBERT.] It is illustrated with maps and plates, and, amongst other useful information, gives brief sketches of foreign artists who lived in Dublin, and of eminent citizens, many of them not of sufficient importance to warrant their being noticed in this Compendium. Though entirely wanting in the interest, scholarship, and minuteness of Mr. Gilbert's Streets of Dublin, the work is a standard authority in regard to the city and its history.

Whiteside, James, Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench in Ireland, was born at Delgany, County of Wicklow, 12th August 1804. His father was rector of the parish. He took his M.A. degree at Trinity College, Dublin, entered at the Middle Temple, and in 1830 was called to the Irish Bar, and rose into practice with singular rapidity, being especially fortunate in his defence of prisoners. In 1840 he published a work on the Law of Nisi Prius, which went through several editions. In 1842 he was called to the inner Bar, and two years afterwards his defence of O'Connell and his fellow-traversers in the state trials raised him to the first rank in his profession. Impaired health obliged him to spend two years in Italy, and we have the result in his Italy in the Nineteenth Century (1848), followed by the Vicissitudes of the Eternal City (1849). In 1848 he was counsel for Smith O'Brien and his associates when on their trial for high-treason at Clonmel. In 1851 Mr. Whiteside was returned to Parliament for Enniskillen, a seat he subsequently exchanged for the representation of Dublin University. He had always been a staunch Conservative, and soon became one of the props of that party in the Lower House, and shared in its successes, holding the office of Solicitor-General for Ireland during Lord Derby's first administration in 1852, and that of Attorney-General in his second administration in 1858-'9 - During his parliamentary career he occupied an almost unique position at the Irish Bar. The acknowledged leader in the Nisi Prius Courts in Dublin, he appeared at assize times as a "special" counsel in almost every case of magnitude. He was one of the most strenuous opponents of the disestablishment of the Irish Church, and made several brilliant speeches in the House of Commons on the subject. He more than once refused the offer of a puisne judgeship, and when, in 1866, his party again came into power, it was felt that high place was due to his eminent services. After a few weeks of office as Attorney-General, the retirement of Chief-Justice Lefroy made room for his appointment as Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench, over which he presided for ten years. We are told that his "courtesy, his abounding and facile humour, which exercised itself on the most incongruous subjects; the pleasant literary flavour of all his sayings; the quaint abundance of his illustrations; the grace and charm of his manner, rendered attendance in his court one of the pleasantest of intellectual enjoyments." He died at Brighton, 25th November 1876, aged 72. Besides his books on Italy, he was the author of some minor sketches, including a series of lectures on The Irish Parliament.

Wilde, Richard Henry, a lawyer, was born in Dublin, 24th September 1789. At an early age he was taken by his parents to the United States, where he studied law, was called to the Bar, and became a distinguished orator. He attained the position of Attorney-General of the State of Georgia, and was thrice elected to Congress between 1815 and 1835. He spent some years on the Continent of Europe, and was the fortunate discoverer of an old fresco portrait of Dante on the wall of the Bargello at Florence. Mr. Wilde was the author of a Life of Tasso, published in 1842; and of some Lyrics. He died at New Orleans, 10th September 1847, aged 57.

Wilde, Sir William Robert Wills, antiquarian and oculist, the son of an eminent provincial physician, was born at. Castlereagh, County of Roscommon, in 1815. He was educated at Banagher and Elphin, never passing through college, although his merits were afterwards recognized by Dublin University conferring upon him the degree of M.D. In 1832 he was apprenticed to Surgeon Colles, and five years afterwards obtained his surgical diploma. The same year (1837) he made a yacht voyage in charge of an invalid patient, and his account of the trip was his first essay in literature. In 1841 he commenced practice in Dublin as an aurist and oculist, which he continued during the rest of his life with splendid success and wide­spread reputation. In 1844 he founded the St. Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital in Dublin, and contributed largely to its funds. He became editor of the (Dublin) Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, and from time to time published works on medicine, Irish biography and antiquities, and general literature. It is probably in the department of Irish antiquities that he will be longest remembered. Though, perhaps, not much of an original investigator (except in the matter of crannoges), he had the happy knack of popularizing and bringing into notice the information entombed in ancient annals and the drier disquisitions of others. There are no more delightful hand-books than his Boyne and Blackwater (1849), and his Lough Corrib (1867). His Closing fears of Swift (1849) is a valuable contribution to the study of that great man's character. Sir William Wilde was one of the most active members of the Royal Irish Academy, and edited a volume of the Museum Catalogue. He delighted in angling and in the outdoor life of the West of Ireland, and had summer residences near Cong, and at Illaunroe, in Connemara. He especially delighted in Kylemore, where his friend Andrew Armstrong resided in summer. Sir William Wilde edited the Irish Census for several decades, and his observations upon population and disease were considered especially valuable. On the publication of the Census Report of 1861 he received the honour of knighthood, "not so much," as Lord Carlisle said at the time, "in recognition of your high professional reputation, which is European, and has been recognized by many countries in Europe - but to mark my sense of the service you have rendered to statistical science, especially in connexion with the Irish census." He received honorary diplomas from the Royal Society at Upsala, from the Antiquarian Society of Berlin, and from other learned bodies on the Continent, and was decorated with the Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden. In every thing connected with Ireland's ancient history, traditions, literature, and relics, he was inspired with an impassioned fervour. On the round tower controversy, in particular, he was the champion of Mr. Petrie's conclusions. In 1873 he obtained from the Royal Irish Academy the Cunningham Gold Medal, the highest honour in their gift. In 1853 he was appointed Surgeon Oculist in Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland. In 1857 he took a prominent part in welcoming the British Association to Dublin; he presided over the Ethnological Section, and conducted the Association trip to the Islands of Aran. Sir William died at his residence in Merrion-square, Dublin, 19th April 1876, aged 61, and was interred in Mount Jerome Cemetery. The following remarks upon his character and writings will be found in the Journal of the Archaeological Society for October 1876. "Yet he was no dry and formal writer. His love of the antique past was an enthusiasm, and all that is strange and beautiful in the ancient art and architecture of Ireland touched him deeply. He had, besides, a vivid sensibility to the picturesque in nature, while his intense love for the old customs, the old legends, and the old songs, in the language of the people amongst whom he had passed his boyhood, was almost pathetic in its tenderness, and gave a warm human glow to all he wrote, even about the far-off pagan ages, and the shadowy heroes of the ancient battle­grounds... Sir William had unusual gifts and facilities for acquiring knowledge on all subjects upon which he wrote, a marvellous memory, that no lapse of years seemed to deaden, and a remarkable power of utilizing all he saw and heard. He had also a wide acquaintance with all classes of the community throughout the country, who were ever ready and courteously willing to give him information he required. By the peasantry he was peculiarly loved and trusted, for he had brought back joy and hope to many households. How gratefully they remembered his professional skill, always so generously given, and how, in the remote country districts, he would often cross moor and mountain at the summons of some poor sufferer, who believed with simple faith that the Docteur mor (the great Doctor, as they called him) would certainly restore the blessed light of heaven to blind-struck eyes. In return, they were ever glad to aid him in his search for antiquities, and to him came many objects from the peasant class for his inspection and opinion - a fragment of a torque or a circlet, an antique ring or coin - and in this way many valuable relics were saved from loss, and given over to the Academy's Museum." In 1851 he married Jane Francesca Elgee (a relative of the late Sir Robert McClure, discoverer of the North-west Passage), well known in Ireland as a poetical writer, under the name of "Speranza."

Wilks, Robert, an eminent actor, was born at Rathfarnham, County of Dublin, in 1670. Holding a lucrative clerkship under Secretary Southwell, he developed a taste for the stage, performed in some amateur theatricals in Dublin during rejoicings for the battle of the Boyne, and finally devoted himself unreservedly to the life of an actor, then but a poorly paid profession. After acting in Dublin, in Ashbury's company, he went to London, and took an engagement with Betterton, but was tempted back by an offer of £60 a year. He subsequently returned to London, and soon took his place in the first rank of actors there. In 1709 his name was joined with those of Dogget and Cibber in a patent granted by Queen Anne. His especial forte was comedy, yet he acted "Hamlet" and other Shaksperian parts with credit. Wilks died in London, 27th September 1732, aged 62, and was, by his own directions, interred at midnight, in St. Paul's Church-yard, Covent-garden. The age on his tomb, 67, does not correspond with the dates given for his birth and death. He was twice married - his second wife surviving him. He was munificent in his benefactions to poor actors. Dr. Johnson calls him "a man who, whatever were his abilities or skill as an actor, deserves at least to be remembered for his virtues, which are not often to be found in the world, and perhaps less often in his profession than in others." A theatrical critic says: "Mr. Wilks's excellence in comedy was never once disputed, but the best judges extol him for the different parts in tragedy... He was not only perfect in every part he acted, but in those that were concerned with him in every scene, which often prevented mistakes."

Willes, Sir James Shaw, Judge of the English Court of Common Pleas, was born in Cork in 1814. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took his B.A. degree in 1836. Four years later he was called to the English Bar and commenced practice on the Home Circuit. In 1850 he was appointed on the Common Law Commission, and did useful service in the preparation of the several Law Procedure Acts. When only forty-one years of age he was appointed a puisne judge of the Common Pleas, receiving the honour of knighthood at the same time. "He was esteemed one of the wisest and most learned of English lawyers, displaying in his decisions not only a rare and profound knowledge of principles, but a wonderful power of dealing with complicated facts and evidence. His decisions on questions of mercantile and maritime law were especially lucid and convincing. He took his own life, at his residence near Watford, Herts, while suffering under temporary aberration of mind, the result of suppressed gout, on 2nd October 1872, aged about 58.

William III. (of Orange), King of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and Stadtholder of Holland, was born at the Hague, 4th November 1650. He was the posthumous son of William II., Stadtholder of Holland; his mother, Mary, was daughter of Charles I. of England. Excluded from the succession during his youth, partly through the influence of Cromwell, he was chosen Stadtholder in 1672. On 4th November 1677, he married Mary, daughter of the Duke of York, afterwards James II. On 30th June 1688 he received an invitation from English politicians, to intervene for the restoration of national rights and liberties, and on the 5th of November landed at Torbay with an English and Dutch force. He was received with enthusiasm, and James, after entering into negotiations with him, fled to France in December. A convention was immediately summoned, and, on the 13th of February 1688-'9, William and Mary were proclaimed joint sovereigns of England. They were crowned on the 11th April, and on the same day were proclaimed King and Queen by the estates of Scotland. While the revolution in Great Britain was thus accomplished almost without bloodshed, the greater part of Ireland remained loyal to James. The Catholic Irish were in the ascendant everywhere except at Londonderry, Enniskillen, and a few unimportant places, chiefly in Ulster. James landed at Kinsale in the month of March 1688-'9, and held a Parliament in Dublin in May. Where the Protestants resisted at all, they were everywhere on the defensive. Londonderry, one of the few remaining strongholds in English hands, was besieged from 18th April to 30th July, when the place was relieved by a naval force from England. About two weeks later Duke Schomberg, with some 16,000 men, chiefly foreign mercenaries, arrived in Belfast Lough; but, though he gained some successes, he was quite unable to cope with James's army, and was obliged to entrench himself near Dundalk. Reinforcements were sent in March 1690, and, on the 11th June, William himself sailed from Highlake, near Chester, with more troops, and landed at Carrickfergus on the 14th, where he was met by Schomberg, who resigned the chief command into his hands. The King's united forces numbered about 36,000 men-English, Irish, French, Dutch, and Brandenburgers. He had a military chest of £200,000, and was amply provided with artillery and munitions of war. His principal generals were: Duke Schomberg, Count de Zolmes, Count Schomberg, the Earl of Oxford, General de Ginkell, Lieutenant-General Douglass, Sgravenmoer, Lanier, Kirk, La Forest, Tettau, Sidney, and Nassau. On the 19th June, at Belfast, then a small town of some three hundred houses, he issued a proclamation forbidding plunder or violence by those under his command, and declaring the chief intention and design of his expedition to be "to reduce our kingdom of Ireland to such a state that all who behave themselves as becomes dutiful and loyal subjects may enjoy their liberties and possessions under a just and equal government." At Hillsborough, on 19th June, he issued a warrant granting a pension of £1,200 a year to the Presbyterian ministers of the north of Ireland, "wherein," said Harris, "he takes notice of their loyalty and good affections, the losses they had sustained, and their constant labour to unite the hearts of others to zeal and loyalty toward him." (This was the nucleus of the Regium Donum, gradually increased to £40,000 per annum, and extinguished in our time by the payment of a capital sum under the Church Act.) The Enniskillen and Londonderry regiments were received into the regular army, upon the same footing as the other troops. It was known that James had marched north at the head of a large force, and the country south of Dundalk was believed to be friendly to him. Some of William's generals recommended great caution in the advance; but, declaring that the country was worth fighting for, and that he had not come to let the grass grow under his feet, but was determined to prosecute the war with the utmost vigour, he reviewed his army at Loughbrickland, marched to Dundalk, and hearing that the enemy had abandoned Ardee, pushed on thither. There was considerable difference of opinion in James's cabinet as to the proper policy to be pursued in the emergency. His council on the whole advised that he should strengthen Dublin, Drogheda, and the Leinster garrisons, hold the line of the Shannon, and wait the chance of reinforcements from France, of William's retreat being cut off by a French squadron, or of a diversion in James's favour in England. James himself was, however, determined to defend the Boyne at Oldbridge. He had all the advantages he could desire; the river was tolerably deep, there was a morass to be passed, and behind it rising ground. On 30th June (o.s.), William, being informed that James had repassed the Boyne, moved his whole army, in three columns, at break of day, to the river, and sent a detachment towards Drogheda. From a hill he had a view of a portion of the Irish army encamped in two lines on the south bank. William was somewhat disconcerted by the apparently honest report of a deserter, who placed the numbers of the enemy at a much higher figure than he had anticipated; but Richard Cox, the King's under-secretary, set his mind at rest, by leading the deserter through their own camp, and showing how grossly he exaggerated their own forces. King William rested on a knoll within musket-shot of the ford, as his troops marched into their positions. There he narrowly escaped death - the enemy brought a small fieldpiece secretly into position; the first ball killed a man and two horses beside the King, and the second, grazing the bank, slanted on to the King's right shoulder, carried away a piece of his coat, and ruffled the skin. After this slight wound was dressed, the King remounted and rode through the lines, to dissipate the apprehensions of his troops. He continued on horseback until four o'clock in the afternoon, when he dined on the field, and in the evening mounted again, though he had been up since one o'clock in the morning. At nine he called a council of war, and declared his resolution to force the passage of the river next morning. Duke Schomberg at first opposed the proposition; and then advised that at least a large force should be sent that night towards Slane bridge to flank the enemy. His opinion not being regarded, he "retired to his tent, and not long after received the order of battle with discontent and indifference." As the night closed, the cannon ceased on both sides. Orders were given that the troops should be ready to march at break of day, with green sprigs in their hats, to distinguish them from James's men, who it was understood would wear pieces of white paper. William "rode about twelve at night with torches quite through the camp, and then retired to his tent, impatient for the approaching day." The 1st July rose bright and clear. As well as can be ascertained, William had 36,000 troops to oppose James's 30,000. William's were superior in discipline, materiel, and artillery; but James occupied a strong position. The following succinct account of the battle is given by George Story, one of William's chaplains, who was present. "Tuesday, the first of July, early in the morning, his Majesty sent Lieutenant-General Douglass, my Lord Portland, my Lord Overkirk, and Count Schonbergh, with above ten thousand horse and foot, up the river to pass towards the bridge of Slane; which the enemy perceiving, they drew out several bodies of horse and foot towards their left, in order to oppose us; our men. however, marched over without any difficulty, being only charged by Sir Neal O'Neal's regiment of dragoons, who were partly broke, and himself killed. As soon as Lieutenant-General Douglass and his party were got over, he sent an express to his Majesty to give him account of it; who then ordered the Dutch Guards, two French regiments, two Inniskilling regiments, Sir John Hanmer's, and several others that lay most convenient for that ground, to pass the river and attack the Irish on the other side, which they did with a great deal of bravery and resolution, first beating the Irish from their hedges and breast-works at Old-Bridge, and then routing the Duke of Berwick's troop of Guards, my Lord Tyrconnell's and Collonel Parker's Horse, who all behaved themselves like men of English extraction, as indeed most of them were. During which time his Majesty passed the river below with the left wing of his horse, and charged the enemy several times at the head of his own troops, nigh a little village called Dunore, where they rallied again, and gave us two or three brisk attacks; but in less than half-an-hour were broke, and forced to make the best of their way towards Duleek, where there was a considerable pass, and whither the other part of the Irish army, that faced Lieutenant-General Douglas, had made what haste they could, when they heard how it had gone with their friends at Old-Bridge. Our army then pressed hard upon them, but meeting with a great many difficulties in the ground, and being obliged to pursue in order, our horse had only the opportunity of cutting down some of their foot, and most of the rest got over the pass at Duleek; then night coming on, prevented us from making so entire a victory of it as could have been wished for. On the Irish side were killed my Lord Dungan, my Lord Carlingford, Sir Neal O'Neal, with a great number of other officers, and about thirteen or fourteen hundred soldiers; and we lost on our side nigh four hundred." The baggage and stores of the defeated army fell to the victors, besides £10,000 of a military chest, much plate and valuables, and all the camp equipage of Tirconnell and Lauzun. Harris says: "King William received no hurt in the action, though he was in the height of it, and that a cannon ball took away a piece of his boot. His Majesty acted the part of the greatest general; he chose the field, disposed the attack, drew up the army, charged the enemy several times, supported his forces when they began to shrink, and behaved throughout with.. conduct, courage, resolution, and presence of mind." The Irish army retreated in confusion to Dublin, and soon afterwards retired upon Athlone and Limerick, while James himself fled south, and took shipping for France. Captain FitzGerald, son of the Earl of Kildare, headed the Protestants of Dublin in seizing the keys of the Castle and the city, and sending messengers to King William, beseeching his speedy occupation of the capital. On the 4th William encamped at Finglas; and on the 6th made his triumphal entry into Dublin, and heard service at St. Patrick's, where a sermon was preached by Dr. King, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, "On the power and wisdom of the providence of God in protecting his people, and defeating their enemies." The afternoon of the same day the King returned to the camp, and published a declaration, promising pardon and protection to all common soldiers, countrymen, tradesmen, and citizens who before the 1st of August should return to their homes and deliver up their arms; directing rents to be paid to Protestant landlords; whilst such as held under persons concerned in the war on James's side were to hold them in hand until they had notice from the Commissioners of Revenue. Harris says that he desired to make his grace more comprehensive, "but this was opposed by the English in Ireland, who thought the opportunity was not to be lost of breaking the great Irish families, and destroying the dependence of the inferior sort upon them." On the 7th and 8th, King William reviewed his army, and found it to consist of 22,579 foot, 7,75l horse and dragoons, besides "483 reformed officers, and all the standing officers and sergeants, and also four regiments in garrison." He divided his forces into two corps - one of which he directed towards Athlone, while he proceeded at the head of the other to Limerick. Encamping at Crumlin on the 8th, he advanced on the 9th to Inchiquire, in the County of Kildare. We are told that on the way he "espied a soldier robbing a poor woman, which so enraged him that he first corrected him with his cane, and then commanded that he, with some others guilty of the like crimes, should be hanged... The severity was seasonable, and struck such a terror into the soldiers as preserved the country from all violence during the whole march." The conclusion of King William's Irish campaign is thus related by Story: "His Majesty then marched forwards, and, from a place called Castledermot, sent Brigadier Eppinger, with a party of one thousand horse and dragoons, to Wexford, which before his arrival was deserted by the Irish garrison. The King all along upon his march was acquainted with the disorders and confusion of the Irish army, and of their speedy marches to Limerick and other strongholds. The 19th his Majesty dined at Kilkenny, a walled town, wherein stands a castle belonging to the Duke of Ormond, which had been preserved by Count Lauzun, with all the goods and furniture, and next day his Majesty understood that the enemy had quitted Clonmell, whither Count Schonberg marched with a body of horse... Monday the 21st, the army marched to Carrick, where the King received an account of the state of Waterford, and whither Major-General Kirk went next morning with a party to summon the town, wherein were two regiments of the Irish, who submitted upon condition to march out with their arms; as did also the strong fort of Duncannon in a day or two after, which gave his Majesty sufficient shelter for all his shipping. When Waterford was surrendered, his Majesty in person went to view it... His Majesty, at his return to the camp, declared his resolution to go for England, and leaving Count Solmes Commander-in-chief. He went as far as Chapel-Izard, nigh Dublin, with that intention; ordering one troop of guards, Count Schonberg's horse (formerly my Lord Devonshire's), Collonel Matthew's dragoons, Brigadier Trelawny's, and Collonel Hasting's foot, to be shipt off for that kingdom. And on the first of August his Majesty published a second declaration, not only confirming and strengthening the former; but also adding, that if any foreigners then in arms against him in that kingdom would submit, they should have passes to go into their own countries, or whither else they pleased... A proclamation was also published for all the Irish in the countrey to deliver up. their arms; and those who refused, or neglected, to be abandoned to the discretion of the soldiers... But the King received a further account from England, that the loss at sea was not so considerable as it was at first given out; and that there was no danger of any more French forces landing in that kingdom; they having already burnt only a small village, and so were gone off without doing any further damage. The danger of that being therefore over, his Majesty returned to the army, which he found encamped at Golden Bridge, nigh Cashell, and about seventeen miles from Limerick, where his Majesty had intelligence of the posture of the enemy in and about the city... August the 8th, Lieutenant-General Douglas and his party from Athlone joined the King's army at Cariganlis; and on the 9th the whole army approached that stronghold of Limerick without any considerable loss, the greatest part of their army being encampt beyond the river, in the County of Clare. His Majesty, as soon as his army was posted, sent a summons to the town, which was refused to be obeyed by Monsieur Boiseleau, the Duke of Berwick, Sarsfield, and some more, though a great part of their army were even then willing to capitulate. Next morning early the King sent a party of horse and foot, under Major-General Ginckelland Major-General Kirk, to pass the river, which they did near Sir Samuel Foxon's house, about two miles above the town. The same day some deserters from the enemy gave his Majesty an account of their circumstances; and one of our own gunners did as much for us, who informed the enemy of our posture in the camp, as also of eight pieces of cannon, with ammunition, provisions, and tin-boats, and several other necessaries then upon the road, which Sarsfield with a party of horse and dragoons had the luck to surprise two days after at a little old castle called Ballyneedy, within seven miles of our camp, killing about sixty of the soldiers and waggoners, and then marched off with little or no opposition, tho' his Majesty had given orders for a party of horse to go from the camp and meet the guns the night before... Sunday, 17th, at night, we opened our trenches, which were mounted by seven battalions under the Duke of Wirtenberg, Major-General Kirk, Major-General Tetteau, and Sir Henry Ballasis, beating the Irish out of a fort nigh two old chimneys, where about twenty were killed; and next night our works were relieved by Lieutenant-General Douglas, my Lord Sidney, Count Nassau, and Brigadier Stuart, with the like number; and the day following, we planted some new batteries; which his Majesty going to view, as he was riding towards Ireton's fort, he stopt his horse on a sudden to speak to an officer, a four and twenty pound ball, the very moment grazing on the side of the gap where his Majesty was going to enter, which certainly must have dash'd him to pieces, had not the commanding God of Heaven prevented it, who still reserves him for greater matters. This I saw, being then upon the fort, as I did that other accident at the Boyne before... Wednesday the 20th we attacked a fort of the enemies, nigh the south-east corner of the wall, which we soon took, and killed fifty, taking a captain and twelve men prisoners; and about an hour after, the enemy sallyed with great bravery, thinking to regain the fort, but were beat in with loss, and being killed in the fort and the sally about three hundred, though we lost Captain Needham, Captain Lacy, and about eighty private men. We continued battering the town, throwing in bombs and carcasses till Wednesday the 27th, when, a considerable breach being made, five hundred granadiers, supported by seven regiments of foot, and all our works double manned, were ordered to attack the counterscarp, and lodge themselves as conveniently as they could thereabouts. Between three and four in the afternoon, the signal being given, our men attack'd the enemy very briskly, beating them from their works, and soon over the breach into the town; but several of them pursuing too far, and the rest not seconding them, as having no orders to go any further, the Irish also seeing themselves pursued by so small a number, they were persuaded to face about, and out-numbering our poor men they killed a great many of them. Fresh regiments also coming from beyond the river, and all together adventuring upon the walls; our men below having likewise no cover, after a dispute of three hours and an half (in which time there was nothing but one continued fire of great and small shot), our men were obliged to return back to their own trenches again, having lost fifteen officers (besides the foreigners, and those of the granadiers), about fifty wounded, five hundred men killed, and near one thousand wounded, whereof greatest part recovered; tho' I'm apt to think the Irish did not lose so many, since it's a more easier thing to defend walls, than by plain strength to force people from them. Next day the soldiers were in hopes that his Majesty would give orders for a second attack, and seemed resolved to have the town, or lose all their lives; but this was too great a risque to run at one place, and they did not know how our ammunition was sunk, especially by the former day's work. We continued, however, our batteries; and then a storm of rain and other bad weather begun to threaten us, which fell out on Friday the 29th in good earnest; upon which his Majesty calling a council of war, it was concluded the safest way was to quit the siege, without which we could not have secured our heavy cannon, which we drew off from the batteries by degrees, and found much difficulty in marching them five miles next day. Sunday, the last of August, all our army drew off; most of the Protestants that lived in that part of the countrey taking that opportunity of removing further into the countrey with the army; and would rather leave their estates and all their substance in the enemies' hands, than trust their persons any more in their power. His Majesty seeing the campain nigh an end, went towards Waterford, where he appointed Henry Lord Viscount Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and Tho. Conningsby, Esq., Lords-Justices of Ireland; and then setting sail with a fair wind for England, his Majesty was welcomed thither with all the joy and satisfaction imaginable." King William sailed from Duncannon on 5th September, and landed at Bristol next day. The campaigns in Ireland were concluded by his generals the following year, at the capitulation of Limerick. It was not willingly that William assented to the infraction of that treaty, to the degradation of the whole Catholic population of Ireland, to the penal laws, and to the destruction of Irish manufactures and commerce for the supposed interest of England. Under King James's Irish Act of Attainder the property of 2,500 of his enemies had been confiscated. The forfeitures made by the English Parliament in Ireland at the conclusion of the war numbered some 3,921, comprising 1,060,792 acres, the value of which at that time was £3,319,943. Lord Clare, in his celebrated speech on the Union, said this was the third extensive seizure of Irish estates within the century - 2,836,837 acres under James I.'s Ulster Plantation; 7,800,000 set out by the Court of Claims after the Restoration; 1,060,792 after the treaty of Limerick. William died at Kensington, 8th March 1702, aged 51. The equestrian statue standing in College-green, Dublin, was completed the year before his death. The gratitude of Irish Protestants "does not stop here," says Harris, writing in 1745, "for every year they observe four festival days to his memory with great solemnity and undissembled joy; one on the 4th of November (his Majesty's birth-day); the second the day following, being that of his landing to the rescue of the religion and liberty of these nations; the other two on the 1st and 12th of July, being the anniversaries of his victories at the Boyne and Aghrim. Nor were these memorials and solemnities thought enough. For further to perpetuate the memory of the great deliverance wrought by his Majesty, to the hazard of his life, at the battle of the Boyne, they erected a monumental pillar, anno 1736, near the place where he made his passage over that river." Walter Harris's History of the Life and Reign of William Henry, Prince of Nassau and Orange (Dublin, 1749) contains copies of original documents and much information relating to the War of 1689-'91.

Williams, Richard Dalton, a minor poet, "Shamrock" of the Nation newspaper, Dublin, was born in the County of Tipperary, 8th October 1822. Educated at Carlow College, he came up to Dublin to study medicine. The first of his numerous poetical contributions to the Nation was in January 1843. Williams became an ardent nationalist, and in 1848, with his friend Kevin Izod O'Doherty, commenced the Irish Tribune paper. Before the sixth weekly publication, it was seized by Government, and proceedings were instituted against the editors. On the 30th of October 1848, on a third trial, O'Doherty was convicted and transported to Australia; while Williams, tried two days afterwards, was acquitted. He then resumed his medical studies, took out his degree at Edinburgh, emigrated to America in 1851, and became a professor in Spring Hill College, Mobile. Dr. Williams died of consumption at Thibodeaux, Louisiana, 5th July 1862, aged 39. As a poet he excelled in humorous pieces. Of his graver style, "The Irish National Guard to his Sister," "Ben Heder," and the "Dying Girl" are perhaps the best known. After the disappointment of his political aspirations, there was not wanting in his productions a vein of cynical bitterness. His writings turned towards spiritual subjects in his later days. A number of his poems were collected and published as a Christmas supplement to the Nation in 1876; and a notice of his life formed the subject of three articles in the Irish Monthly in 1877.

Wills, James, D.D., a poet and biographer, was born at Willsgrove, in the County of Roscommon, 1st January 1790. He was educated at Dr. Miller's school at Blackrock, County of Dublin, and by private tutors, and entered Trinity College in 1809. There he formed friendships that continued in after life, with such men as Sir William Hamilton, Professor MacCullagh, Charles Wolfe, and Professor Anster. He entered at the Middle Temple, where he completed his studies for the law, but ultimately took orders. After holding a sinecure vicarage, he was in 1849 appointed to the parish of Kilmacow, near Waterford, and in 1860 to the living of Attanagh. Dr. Wills's literary career commenced with contributions to Blackwood and other magazines. From 1822 to 1838 he resided in Dublin, being for some time editor of the University Magazine, and one of its most frequent; contributors. He also wrote for the Dublin Penny Journal, and assisted the Rev. Caesar Otway in starting the Irish Quarterly Review. Dr. Wills's most important literary production was his Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, of which use has often been made in the preparation of this Compendium. This work, for which he received £1,000, was published in 12 parts or 6 volumes, between 1839 and 1845, and went through more than one edition. The 513 lives contained in the book are arranged in chronological order, and embody a "History of Ireland in the lives of Irishmen." It is embellished with a series of Copperplate portraits. Lord-Chancellor Ball in a review of the work in the University Magazine, says: "It is the first, and such is its excellence that we should not be surprised were it the last, attempt to supply a desideratum in our literature. Commencing from the earliest period (the first life is that of Ollamh Fodla, who is supposed to have lived before the Christian era), it gives, in chronological order, a sketch of the life, the deeds, or the writings of every man deserving biographical notice, who can be considered, either from birth, residence, or any other circumstance, an Irishman. The memoirs are written with great liveliness and spirit, and in every way are marked with the impress of a highly thoughtful and original mind. The biographies are arranged in series, according as the characters are principally remarkable for their political, or ecclesiastical, or literary and scientific career, and these series again are arranged by certain epochs. Prefixed to each epoch is a dissertation on its peculiar aims, tendencies, and general characteristics. Perhaps these dissertations are the most valuable portion of the whole work. Calm judgment, subtle analysis of the motives and the external developments of every age, a philosophical freedom from passion and prejudice, rarely attained and still more rarely combined with a firm adherence to right principles, are especially observable." As a theologian Dr. Wills is best known as the author of The Philosophy of Unbelief. In 1855 and 1856, as Donnellan Lecturer to the University of Dublin, he delivered a course of lectures on the "Antecedent Probabilities of Christianity." As a poet, and one of no mean pretensions, he is best known by The Universe, once impudently claimed by Dr. Maturin. His powers of metaphysical analysis were shown in his papers on the "Spontaneous Association of Ideas," read before the Royal Irish Academy. Dr. Wills died at Attanagh, in November 1868, aged 78, and was buried in its quiet churchyard. He was a man of proud and quick temper, joined with great gentleness and warmth of affection. His photograph, and a memoir from which this notice has been condensed, will be found in the University Magazine for October 1875. The dramatic power which he possessed in no small degree has been inherited by his son, William G. Wills (also known as an artist), author of the dramas of Charles I. and Medea, and other works.

Wingfield, Sir Richard, 1st Viscount Powerscourt, descended from an old Suffolk family, came to Ireland as a military adventurer, in the latter part of the 16th century. He afterwards fought in Flanders, France, and Portugal, and became a lieutenant-colonel. Returning to Ireland, he distinguished himself and was wounded in an expedition against Tyrone, and was knighted in Christ Church Cathedral, 9th November 1595. He served as a colonel in the expedition against Calais, and in 1600 was advanced to the office of Marshal of Ireland, with a retinue of fifty horse and a company of foot. In 1601 he led a force at the reduction of Kinsale, and was one of those who signed the articles of capitulation made between the Lord-Deputy and Don Juan D'Aguila, commander of the Spanish troops made prisoners on that occasion. In May 1608 he marched into Ulster against Sir Cahir O'Doherty, who had burnt Derry, killing him and dispersing his followers. For this success Sir Richard was (29th June 1609) rewarded by a grant of the Powerscourt estate in the County of Wicklow. In 1618 he was created Viscount Powerscourt, and he subsequently enjoyed several important offices under the Crown. Dying without issue, 9th September 1634, the title became extinct, and the estates passed to a cousin. The title was revived in 1665 in the person of Talbot Folliot, who died without issue in 1717; and again in 1743 in the person of Richard Wingfield. The present Viscount is the seventh of this last creation.

Woffington, Margaret, ("Peg Woffington,") a distinguished actress, was born in Dublin, 18th October 1720. Her father is said to have been a bricklayer, and her mother a laundress. Madame Volante, giving theatrical performances in Dublin, was attracted by the great beauty and grace of the child, and brought her out in a company of juvenile actors. When between seventeen and twenty years of age, she took Dublin by storm in the "Beggars' Opera," and charmed "all eyes and hearts with her beauty, grace, and ability in a range of characters from `Ophelia' to 'Sir Harry Wildair.' "In 1740 she went to London with a lover, who abandoned her, and after some difficulty she procured an engagement from Rich, the theatrical manager. Mr. Doran says: "She played night after night at Covent Garden, and London was enraptured with her. Her 'Lothario' was not so successful as her 'Sir Harry'; but her high-born ladies, her women of dash, spirit, and elegance - her homely, humorous females - in all these she triumphed, and triumphed in spite of a voice that was almost unmanageable for its harshness." She is described in her prime as having dark eyes of the greatest brilliancy and lustre; her eyebrows were arched, and endowed with a flexibility which greatly increased the expression of her features: her nose was gently aquiline; and her dark tresses, free from powder, played in luxuriant gracefulness on her neck and shoulders. Her profession was with her a passion. She never sought to set off her great beauty at the expense of her part. She and Garrick were on the most intimate terms. In the summer of 1742 they visited Dublin, and on their return lived openly together. Johnson is said to have occasionally taken tea with them, and even to have cherished for her a Platonic affection. After a career of undiminished popularity in London, she acted from 1751 to 1754 in Dublin, where she became a popular idol, wrote verses to the Lord-Lieutenant, presided at the meetings of the Beefsteak Club, and is said to have ruled "the court, the camp, and the grove." With Sheridan she made an excursion to Quilca, in Cavan, where she formally abjured Catholicism, to preserve an estate of £200 a year, left her by one of her admirers. She returned to Covent Garden in the season of 1754-5, and thenceforward she resided principally in London. On 3rd May 1757, while acting "Rosalind" in "As You Like It," she was seized with sudden spasms, and staggered off the stage, never to appear on it again. She died at Teddington, near London (where she bad resided two years), 28th March 1760, aged 39, and was buried in the parish church there. This beautiful, gifted, yet unhappy woman exercised a remarkable fascination over all with whom she was brought in contact. She was unselfish and kind-hearted; she supported her mother, and educated her sister Mary, who married the second son of the Earl of Cholmondeley, and survived until about the year 1811. She devoted herself to the poor, and regularly visited and knitted stockings for a number of old retainers. She is said to have been much impressed by the preaching of Wesley. Percy FitzGerald says in his Life of Garrick: "From her portraits we can see that this notorious lady was not a bold, rosy-cheeked hoyden, as we might expect, but had an almost demure, placid, and pensive cast of face. She wore her hair without powder, and turned back behind her ears, nearly always with a cap carelessly thrown back, or a little flat garden hat, set negligently on... Certainly, a deeply interesting face, but with a little hint of foolishness and air of lightness in all its calm, pale placidity."

Wolfe, Arthur, Viscount Kilwarden, son of John Wolfe of Forenaghts, County of Kildare, was born in 1793. He was educated at Trinity College, and soon rose to eminence at the Bar. He was appointed Solicitor-General in 1787; Attorney-General in 1789; and became Chief-Justice of the King's Bench in 1798. For his support of the Union he was raised to the peerage in 1800. He was by no means a great lawyer, but was of a noble and humane disposition. He refused to strain the law against those tried before him for taking part in the Insurrection of 1798, and displayed great spirit on the occasion of Wolfe Tone's trial by court-martial. When Emmet's emeute took place, on the evening of the 23rd July 1803, he was at his country residence, four miles from Dublin. Hurrying to town with his daughter and nephew to attend a privy council at the Castle, his carriage was stopped in Thomas-street by a crowd of insurgents, who demanded his name. He said: "It is I, Kilwarden, Chief-Justice of the King's Bench," whereupon a wretch, whose brother he had sentenced to death some years previously, rushed forward, and plunged his pike into his body, crying, "You are the man I want." Lord Kilwarden's nephew was killed immediately, while his daughter found her way to the Castle and entered the Chief-Secretary's office in a state of distraction. The military at once cleared the street, and the Chief-Justice was found dying on the sidewalk. Wine was brought, but he could not drink it. He was carried to the watch-house in Vicar-street, where he lingered about an hour. Major Swan and the other officers present swore they would erect a gallows whereon to hang all the prisoners next morning, when Lord Kilwarden feebly asked: "What are you going to do, Swan?" - "Hang these rebels, my Lord." Whereupon the Chief-Justice rejoined: "Murder must be punished; but let no man suffer for my death, but on a fair trial, and by the laws of his country." Barrington speaks of him as a "good-hearted man, aud a sound lawyer... In feeling he was quick, in apprehension slow... He had not an error to counterbalance which some merit did not exhibit itself."

Wolfe, Charles, Rev., author of "The Burial of Sir John Moore," was born in Dublin, 14th December 1791. He was educated at Winchester, and at the University of Dublin, took orders in 1817. and, after a few weeks' labour at Ballyclog, County of Tyrone, became curate of the parish of Donaghmore, where he distinguished himself by the zealous discharge of his functions. He was of a singularly spiritual and feeling nature, and wrote "If I had thought thou couldst have died," "My own friend, my own friend," and a few more beautiful ballads. Mr. Moir says: "In the lottery of literature, Charles Wolfe has been one of the few who have drawn the prize of probable immortality from a casual gleam of inspiration thrown over a single poem consisting of only a few stanzas. This poem was "The Burial of Sir John Moore," his last piece, penned in 1814 in his twenty-third year. His friend the Rev. Samuel O'Sullivan [see page 426] told how one day in college he read to Wolfe a passage from the Edinburgh Annual Register for 1808, which ran as follows: "Sir John Moore had often said that if he was killed in battle, he wished to be buried where he fell. The body was removed at midnight to the citadel of Corunna. A grave was dug for him on the rampart there by a party of the 9th regiment, the aides-de-camps attending by turns. No coffin could be procured, and the officers of his staff wrapped the body, dressed as it was, in a military cloak and blankets. The interment was hastened; for about eight in the morning some firing was heard, and the officers feared that if a serious attack were made, they should be ordered away, and not suffered to pay him their last duty." Wolfe was careless of literary fame, and the poem, which by chance appeared in print, was attributed, among others, to Moore, Campbell, Wilson, Byron, and Barry Cornwall, and was claimed by more than one obscure writer. It was only after Wolfe's death that the chance discovery of a letter (now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy), in which the whole is given in his handwriting, put the matter beyond doubt. Unremitting attention to his clerical duties and carelessness of himself hastened a tendency to consumption: "He seldom thought of providing a regular meal... A few straggling rush-bottomed chairs, piled up with his books, a small ricketty table before the fire-place, covered with parish memoranda, and two trunks containing all his papers - serving at the same time to cover the broken parts of the floor - constituted all the furniture of his sitting-room. The mouldy walls of the closet in which he slept were hanging with loose folds of damp paper." He was discovered by his friends in this miserable lodging, was tenderly cared by his sisters, visited England and France in the vain search of health, and died at Cove, now Queenstown, County of Cork, 21st February 1823, aged 31. His Remains, containing a memoir, with some sermons, letters, and his poems, were published by a friend in 1827.

Wolfe, David, Rev., was an ecclesiastic, born in Limerick, who, during the early years of Elizabeth's reign, laboured hard to keep together the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. He spent some years in Rome, where he entered the order of St. Ignatius. In August 1560 he was sent by the Pope, with the privileges of an Apostolic Legate, to superintend affairs in Ireland, to see to the establishment of schools and the regulation of public worship, and to keep up communication with the Catholic princes - duties which he endeavoured to perform often at the peril of his own life. About 1566 he was arrested, and endured a rigorous imprisonment in Dublin Castle, the influence of the Nuncio in Madrid being in vain exercised on his behalf. In 1572 he made his escape to Spain, but before long returned to the scene of his old labours. We are told that "when the whole country was embroiled in war, he took refuge in the castle of Chunoan, on the borders of Thomond and the County of Galway; and when he heard that its occupants lived by plunder, he scrupled any nourishment from them, and soon after sickened and died." His death is supposed to have taken place about the year 1578.

Wood, Robert, known as "Palmyra Wood," a distinguished archaeologist, was born at Riverstown, County of Meath, in 1716. Having passed through Oxford, he continued to apply himself with ardour to the study of the classics, and in particular to Greek literature. He visited Italy more than once, in 1742 voyaged in the Greek Archipelago, and in 1750, with his friends Bouverie and Dawkins, undertook an archaeological expedition across Asia Minor and Syria, which the Italian architect Borra accompanied as draughtsman. Before reaching Palmyra, Bouverie died of fatigue, but Wood and his two remaining companions continued their researches with success. Shortly after his return he gave to the world the results of his travels, Ruins of Palmyra, illustrated with 57 plates, 1753; and the Ruins of Baalbec, with 46 plates, in 1757; his Ancient and Present State of the Troad appeared in 1768. Lord Chatham gave him the post of Under­secretary of State, which he held during three administrations. He died at his seat at Putney, near London, 9th September 1771, aged 55. His Essay on Homer, published after his death, has been translated into most of the European languages. Wood's works are profusely and splendidly illustrated, and are marked by great accuracy. Horace Walpole speaks of his "classic pen;" and Gibbon bears ample testimony to the value of his researches.

Wylie, Samuel Brown, D.D., an oriental and classical scholar, was born near Ballymena, 21st May 1773. He was educated at Glasgow, and removed to Philadelphia in 1797, where he became Professor of Theology in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, a position he held for more than forty years. He was Professor of Ancient Languages in the University of Philadelphia from 1838 to 1845. Besides some works of a theological character, he wrote a Greek Grammar (1838) and a Life of Rev. Alexander McLeod. He was for fifty-one years pastor of the First Reformed Church, Philadelphia, where he died, 14th October 1852, aged 79.

Wyse, Sir Thomas, K.C.B., author, politician, and diplomatist, was born in December 1791, at the manor of St. John, County of Waterford. He was the son of a country gentleman, and belonged to a family that traced their descent from one of the Anglo-Norman conquerors of Ireland. He was educated at Stonyhurst, and graduated with honours at Trinity College, Dublin. He entered at Lincoln's Inn, but was not called to the Bar. In 1821 he married Letitia, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, by whom he had two sons, who survived him. The marriage was not a happy one, and the parties separated in 1828. Mr. Wyse represented the County of Tipperary in Parliament from 1830 to 1832, and the City of Waterford from 1835 to 1847. He held office under Lord Melbourne from 1839 to 1841, and was one of the Secretaries of the Board of Control from 1846 to 1849, in which year he was appointed British Minister at Athens. He held this post during the remainder of his life; much responsibility devolving upon him during the Crimean War. In 1857 he was created a K.C.B. Besides translations and contributions to magazines, Sir Thomas Wyse was the author of several works, mostly sketches of travel in Europe and the East. In 1829 he published in London, in two volumes, a valuable Historical Sketch of the Late Catholic Association of Ireland, giving an account of the agitation for Catholic Emancipation from its inception to the success of the movement in that year. Few men had a more intimate knowledge of modern Greece and its people than Sir Thomas Wyse. He died at Athens, 15th April 1862, aged 70, writing despatches up to the last week of a long and painful illness. His remains were accorded a public funeral by the King of Greece. His niece, Winifrede M. Wyse, edited from his manuscripts, An Excursion in the Peloponnesus in 1858, with illustrations, in 2 vols., 1865; and Impressions of Greece, 1871.

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