(LIBRARY^) 
 UNIVtRSITV OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 SAN DIEGO

 
 FIAT JUSTITIA. 
 
 (From a Caricature of the day.] 
 
 turned ESQ. 1 ' 
 
 " Yet do I remember the time past, I muse upon my works, 
 Yea, I exercise myself in the works of wickedness." Psalms.
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE INFORMERS 
 
 OF 
 
 1798, 
 
 WITH A VIEW OF THEIR CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 JOTTINGS ABOUT ICELAND SEVENTY YEACS AGO, 
 
 BT 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN FITZPATRICK, J. P., 
 
 BIOGRAPHER OF BISHOP DOYLE, LORD CLONCCRRY, LADT 
 MORGAN, ETC. 
 
 " Truth it gtranger than fiction." 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PATRICK DONAHOE 
 
 1866.
 
 IT was suggested by the writer's late friend, D. Owen Madden, 
 author of Revelations of Ireland, who read an outline of the pres- 
 ent work, that the Bloodhounds of '98 would form a good addition 
 to the title. The writer was at first disposed to adopt the hint ; 
 but he has since felt that the title, although a sensational one, 
 might, perhaps, savor more of the partisan than the historian, 
 and he has therefore relinquished it.
 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS O'HAGAN, 
 
 JUSTICE OF THE COUET OF COMMON PLEAS, AND ONE OF 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUNCIL 
 
 IN IRELAND. 
 
 DEAR JUDGE O'HAGAN : 
 
 CONTRASTS are often pleasant and instructive. I 
 could not make a better one than in dedicating 
 to him who dignifies the judgment seat, by the 
 purity of his justice and the soundness of his 
 law, a book demonstrative of the way in which 
 both were travestied in bad times by unconsti- 
 tutional judges.* 
 
 It may seem strange that one who has already 
 written the lives of sundry Irish worthies should 
 touch, even with stigma, the life of one eminently 
 unworthy ; but we must not forget that Plutarch, 
 the prince of biographers and moral philosophers, 
 in his introduction to the life of Demetrius Polior- 
 cites, to be followed by and compared with that of 
 * See pages 94-06, 108-111, 193, etc.
 
 iv 
 
 Antony the Triumvir, two personages remark- 
 able for their vices, says: "We shall behold 
 and imitate the virtuous with greater attention, if 
 we be not entirely unacquainted with the charac- 
 ters of the vicious and the infamous." 
 
 Owing to the recently discovered Fenian con- 
 spiracy, and the attention which it has excited, 
 this work possesses, perhaps, more than ordinary 
 interest; but, lest it should be supposed that I 
 was influenced in my choice of the subject by 
 its aptness to existing circumstances, I am bound 
 to add that the book was written, and in great 
 part printed, before the Fenian movement ob- 
 tained notoriety. 
 
 With a cordial appreciation of your public and 
 private worth, and thanking you for allowing me 
 to dedicate this book to you, 
 
 I beg to remain, dear Judge O'Hagan, 
 Yours, very faithfully, 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN FITZPATBICK. 
 
 BJLMACTO MANOR, STILI.OKGAK, 
 " November 1st, 1865.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A PAMPHLET which forms but a small part of the 
 present work appeared in 1859. It excited con- 
 siderable attention, and has been, for some years, 
 quite out of print. Early in the present year, sev- 
 eral letters and leaders appeared in an influential 
 print, desiring particulars of Francis Higgins and 
 the fate of his bequests. This induced me to re- 
 sume my exploration of the eventful period in 
 question, and the results of that research are now 
 offered to the public. 
 
 The Irish Times of the llth of January, 1865, 
 in a third leading article on the subject, says : 
 
 " A scarce pamphlet has been kindly forwarded to us, 
 compiled by Mr. Fitzpatrick, the biographer of Lady 
 Morgan, Bishop Doyle, etc. The subject is the Fran- 
 cis Higgins who bequeathed 1,000 to be vested in land 
 for the liberation of poor prisoners in the Four Courts 
 Marshalsea, Dublin. The work contains copies of infor- 
 mations taken from the records of the courts of law, 
 passages from long-forgotten histories, extracts from 
 the newspapers and satirical poetry which startled Dub- 
 lin eighty years ago, and clauses from the authenticated 
 will of Francis Higgins. The picture drawn, and truth- 
 fully drawn, of the society of Dublin at that period, is 
 anything but edifying. Riots, tumults, abduction of 
 heiresses, the abuse of the forms of justice for the 
 perpetration of wrong, corruption openly employed by 
 the government of the day, the passionate resistance 
 and cowardly submission of parliament, these are the 
 prominent features of the picture. But throughout the 
 whole appears the terrible figure of Francis Higgins,
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 whose history would furnish materials for twenty sen- 
 sation novels. We stand amazed at discovering that 
 one man, apparently endowed with no great talent, 
 should have acted as he did with impunity even in that 
 wild time, and been appointed to dispense the justice 
 he had outraged." 
 
 The rest of the article urges that a royal com- 
 mission should be appointed to inquire into the 
 condition and revenue of the charities bequeathed 
 by Higgins, Webb, and others, and expresses a 
 hope that parliament will at once take the matter 
 in hand. 
 
 The original object, however, of the pamphlet 
 which has suggested the present work was to re- 
 move a misapprehension which pervaded almost 
 the entire reviewing press of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 For sixty-one years the name of the person who 
 received the government reward of 1,000 for the 
 betrayal of Lord Edward Fitzgerald remained an 
 impenetrable mystery, although historians have 
 devoted much time and labor in seeking to dis- 
 cover it. Among other revelations, recently pub- 
 lished in the Gornwallis Papers, we find that 
 " Francis Higgins, proprietor of the Freeman's 
 Journal," was the person who gave all the in- 
 formation which led to the arrest and death of 
 the patriot chief. In the following pages, how- 
 ever, it will appear that Higgins was not the 
 actual betrayer, but the employer of the betrayer, 
 a much respected "gentleman," who, although in 
 receipt for forty-five years of a pension, the price 
 of Lord Edward's blood, was not suspected of 
 the treachery. 
 
 The Athenaeum, after justly reprobating some 
 of the duplicity practised in 1798, observed: 
 
 " The second item was scarcely less disgusting. The
 
 PREFACE. VU 
 
 Freeman's Journal was a patriotic print, and advocated 
 the popular cause, and its proprietor earned blood- 
 money by hunting down the unfortunate Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald I " 
 
 " Truth is stranger than fiction," however ; and 
 the Freeman 1 s Journal, when owned by Higgins, 
 was not only the open and notorious organ of the 
 then corrupt government, but the most violent 
 assailant of the popular party in Ireland. 
 
 The Times, noticing the United Irishmen, said : 
 
 " They believed themselves to be embarked in a noble 
 cause, and were cheered on the path that led to martyr- 
 dom by the spirit-stirring effusions of a press which felt 
 their wrongs, shared their sentiments, and deplored 
 their misfortunes. Alas ! the press that encouraged was 
 no more free from the influence of government than the 
 advocate who defended them. Francis Higgins, pro- 
 prietor of the Freeman's Journal, was the person who 
 procured all the intelligence about Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald. When we reflect that the Freeman's Journal was 
 a favorite organ of the United Irishmen,* that in that 
 capacity it must have received much secret and dan- 
 gerous information, and that all this information was 
 already bargained for and sold to the Irish government 
 before it was given, we can appreciate at once the re- 
 finement of its policy, and the snares and pitfalls among 
 which the path of an Irish conspirator is laid." 
 
 The misapprehension under which the para- 
 graphs of the Times and Athenaeum were written 
 found a prompt echo in the Mail, Nation, Post, 
 and other influential Irish journals. The Nation 
 gave it to be understood that Higgins, having 
 
 * The organ of the United Irishmen was the Prat ; and 
 Higgins, who then published a tri-weekly paper, came out 
 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with nis "thunder- 
 ing" denunciations of the "disaffected" prints of the "turbu- 
 lent traitors" and " malign incendiaries" who conspired with 
 "French agents" to seduce Higgins's "countrymen" into 
 treasonable plots against the " aofcr, ?*? , and clement " govern- 
 ment of the day. Here is the opening of a Higgins leader: 
 "It is with the most heartfelt regret that we and the lenity 
 which has been extended to the abettors of treason and re- 
 bellion baa had. no permanent effect, and that the temporary
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 become a secret traitor to his party, published 
 " next morning thundering articles against the 
 scoundrels who betrayed the illustrious patriot ; " 
 and in a subsequent article added : " What fouler 
 treachery was ever practised than the. subornation 
 of the journals and the writers in whom the people 
 -placed a mistaken confidence, whereby the unsus- 
 pecting victims were made to cram a mine for their 
 own destruction ! " 
 
 These statements excited considerable sensa- 
 tion. The Irish provincial press reiterated them, 
 and locally fanned the flame. The Meath People, 
 in an article headed " Who does the government 
 work?" after alluding to Higgins, said : " Shame, 
 shame for ever, on the recreant who had patriot- 
 ism on his pen-point and treason to the country 
 in his heart!" I felt that this statement, if un- 
 refuted, would soon find its way into the per- 
 manent page of Irish and European history. 
 
 Having ascertained, on inquiry, the groundless- 
 ness of the charge of duplicity imputed to the 
 Freeman's Journal in 1198, and believing that 
 those more legitimately concerned were cognizant 
 to the same extent, I looked forward for many 
 days to some editorial statement which would 
 have the effect of dispelling the erroneous im- 
 pression. But I found, so confidently had this 
 charge of duplicity against the Freeman been 
 
 obedience to the laws which it produced has proceeded more 
 from fear and inability to do mischief than from a sense of 
 gratitude. ***** Those wretched remains of United 
 Irishmen, worked on by the arts of incendiaries and French 
 agents. * * * The violence and outrages of these deluded 
 wretches can have but a very short-lived existence, as, for- 
 tunately, we have in this country troops sufficient to crush any 
 renewed effort at rebellion. Major Sirr discovered a brace of 
 loaded pistols, some powder, and a pike of the revolutionary 
 description, such as were used by the Rebels in their atrocities. 
 By this day's search another treasonable conspiracy has been 
 Jiappily developed."
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 rung, that " its present editors had themselves 
 begun to regard it as not wholly unfounded. A 
 short letter from me, explanatory of the real 
 facts, was therefore gladly accepted by the con- 
 ductor of the Freeman's Journal, who introduced 
 it in the following words, less by an observation 
 too complimentary to me : 
 
 "We publish to-day a most interesting letter from 
 William John Fitzpatrick. The sad fate of the gallant 
 Lord Edward excited peculiar and permanent interest 
 in the minds of all who prized chivalry and patriotism ; 
 and when the Cornwallis papers disclosed the name of 
 the government agent who had tracked the noble chief 
 to his doom, a host of reviewers, ignorant of the his- 
 tory of the time, and anxious only to cast a slur on the 
 patriots of a by-gone century, wrote beautiful romances 
 about the betrayer of Lord Edward. The reviewers, 
 without exception, have represented Higgins as the 
 confidant of the United Irishmen, as a ' patriotic ' 
 journalist, who sustained the popular party with his 
 pen, and sold them for Castle gold. Mr. Fitzpatrick 
 dissipates the romance by showing who and what Hig- 
 gins was : that he was the public and undisguised 
 agent of the English government, that his journal, in- 
 stead of being 'patriotic,' or even friendly to the United 
 Irishmen, was the constant vehicle of the most virulent 
 assaults upon their character and motives, that he 
 was the ally and friend of the notorious John Scott, 
 that, as a journalist, he was the panegyrist of the noto- 
 rious Sirr, and his colleague. Swan, and that he never 
 mentioned the name of an Irish patriot of Lord Ed- 
 ward, O'Connor, Teeliug, or their friends - without 
 some such insulting prefix as ' traitor,' ' wretch,' ' con- 
 spirator, ' incendiary,' while the government that stimu- 
 lated the revolt, in order 'to carry the Union, is lauded 
 as ' able,' ' wise,' ' humane,' and ' lenient ' ! These events 
 are now more than half a century old ; but, though nearly 
 two generations have passed away since Higgins re- 
 ceived his blood-money, it is, as justly remarked by Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick, gratifying to have direct evidence that the 
 many high-minded and honorable men who were, frqm 
 time to time, suspected for treachery to their chief, were 
 innocent of his blood."
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Having, in the letter thus referred to by the 
 Freeman, glanced rapidly at a few of the more 
 startling incidents in the life of the once famous, 
 but long forgotten " Sham Squire," which elicited 
 expressions of surprise, and even of incredulity, 
 I conceived that I was called upon to give his 
 history more in detail, and with a larger array 
 of authorities than I had previously leisure or 
 space to bring forward. From the original object 
 of this book I have in the present edition wan- 
 dered, by pressing into the mosaic many curious 
 morceaux illustrative of the history of the time, 
 while in the Appendix will be found some inter- 
 esting memorabilia, which could not, without 
 injury to artistic effect, appear in the text. 
 
 KILMACUD MANOR, STILLOBGAN, 
 February 20th, 1865.
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Early Straggles and Stratagems of the Sham Squire. How 
 to Catch an Heiress. Judge Robinson. John Philpot Cur- 
 ran. The Black Dog Prison. Honesty not always the Best 
 Policy. Uprise of the Sham Squire. Lord Chief Justice 
 Clonmel. Irish Administrations of .Lord Temple and the 
 Duke of Rutland. 
 
 IN the year of our Lord 1756, a bare-legged boy 
 with cunning eyes might be seen carrying pewter 
 quarts in Fishamble Street,* Dublin, then a pop- 
 ular locality, owing to the continual ridottos, 
 concerts, arid feats of magic, which made the old 
 Music Hall an object of attraction. This bare- 
 legged boy became the subsequently notorious 
 Justice Higgins, or, as he was more frequently 
 styled, the Sham Squire. Fishamble Street, as 
 the scene of his debut, is mentioned in a file of 
 the Dublin Evening Post for 1789 ; and this 
 account we find corroborated by a traditional 
 anecdote which Mr. R of Dublin has commu- 
 nicated on the authority of his late grandmother, 
 who often told him how she remembered her 
 father, a provision merchant in Fishamble Street, 
 employing Higgins, then a bare-footed lad, to 
 sweep the flags in front of his door. 
 
 Our adventurer was the only survivor of a large 
 
 Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1789.
 
 12 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 family of brothers and sisters, the children of 
 humble people named Patrick and Mary Higgins, 
 who died about the year 1760, and were interred* 
 in Kilbarrack churchyard, near Howth. They are 
 said to have migrated from Downpatrick, and we 
 learn from the same authority that their real name 
 was M'Quignan.f He himself was born in a 
 cellar in Dublin, and while yet of tender years 
 became successively "errand boy, shoeblack, and 
 waiter in a porter-house." 
 
 The number of times which Higgins used his 
 broom or shouldered pewter pots would be unin- 
 teresting to enumerate and unprofitable to record. 
 Passing over a few years occupied in this manner, 
 we shall reintroduce Mr. Higgins to the reader, 
 discharging his duties as a "hackney writing 
 clerk" in the office of Daniel Bourne, attorney- 
 at-law, Patrick's Close, Dublin. J He was born 
 a Roman Catholic, but he had now read his recan- 
 tation, as appears from the Official Register of 
 Conversions, preserved in the Record Tower, 
 Dublin Castle. Nevertheless, he failed to rise 
 in the social scale. Having become a perfect 
 master of scrivenery, a strong temptation smote 
 him to turn his talent for caligraphy to some more 
 substantial account than 16 per annum, the gen- 
 eral salary of hackney writing clerks in those 
 days. || Higgins had great ambition, but without 
 
 * Will of Francis Higgins, Prerogative Court, Dublin. 
 
 t Dublin Evening I'ost, No. 1837. 
 
 i Dublin Evening Post, No; I7t>5. 
 
 The same book, which scums unknown to most Irish his- 
 torical and biographical writers, contains the names of Barry 
 Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avonmore, Leonard MacNally, 
 and several other men of mark. Thanks to the energy of Sir 
 Bernard Burke, the courteous and efficient custodian of the 
 Records, many valuable MSS., of which the existence was 
 previously almost unknown, are constantly turning up, to the 
 great pleasure and profit of historical students. 
 
 || Faulkner's Dublin Journal, January 21th, 1767.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 13 
 
 money and connection he was powerless. Ac- 
 cordingly, to gain these ends, we find him in 
 1766 forging with his cunning brain and ready 
 hand a series of legal instruments purporting 
 to show that he was not only a man of large 
 landed property, but in the enjoyment of an 
 office of some importance tinder the government. 
 Trusting to his tact for complete success, Hig- 
 gins, full of daring, sought Father Shortall, and 
 on his knees hypocritically declared himself a 
 convert to the Roman Catholic Church. The 
 iron pressure of the Penal Code had not then 
 received its first relaxation ; Catholics were daily 
 conforming to the Establishment ; Father Shortall 
 regarded Mr. Higgins's case as a very interesting 
 and touching one, and he affectionately received 
 the convert squire into the heaving bosom of the 
 suffering Church of Ireland. "And now, holy 
 father/' said the neophyte, "I must implore of 
 you to keep my conversion secret. My parent 
 has got a property of 3,000 a year, and if this 
 matter transpires I shall be disinherited." The 
 good pastor assured him that he would be as 
 silent as the grave ; he gave him his blessing, 
 and Higgins retired, hugging himself in his dex- 
 terity, and offering mental congratulations on the 
 prospect that began to open to his future success. 
 When this religious intercourse had continued for 
 some time, Higgins told his spiritual adviser that 
 the ease of his soul was such as induced him 
 humbly to hope that the Almighty had accepted 
 the sincerity of his repentance. " If anything be 
 now wanting to my complete happiness," he add- 
 ed, "it is an amiable wife of the true religion, 
 whose bright example will serve to keep my frail 
 resolutions firm} as to the amount of fortune, it is
 
 14 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 an object of little or no consideration, for, as you 
 are aware, my means will be ample." *. His en- 
 gaging manner won the heart of Father Shortall, 
 who resolved and avowed to befriend him as far 
 as in his power lay. Duped by the hypocrisy of 
 our adventurer, the unsuspecting priest intro- 
 duced him to the family of an eminent Catholic 
 merchant named Archer, who resided in Thomas 
 Street. 
 
 To strengthen his footing, Higgins ordered 
 some goods from Mr. Archer, and requested that 
 they might be sent to 76 .Stephen's Green, the 
 house of his uncle, the then celebrated Counsellor 
 Harward. Mr. Archer treated his visitor with 
 the respect due to the nephew, and, as it seemed, 
 the heir presumptive of that eminent lawyer. 
 The approach to deformity of Higgins's person 
 had made Miss Archer shrink from his attentions ; 
 but her parents, who rejoiced at the prospect of 
 an alliance so apparently advantageous, sternly 
 overruled their daughter's reluctance. The inti- 
 macy gradually grew. Higgins accompanied Mr. 
 Archer and his daughter on a country excursion ; 
 seated in a noddy they returned to town through 
 Stephen's Green, and in passing Mr. Harward's 
 house, Higgins in a loud tone expressed a hope 
 to some person at the door that his uncle's health 
 continued to convalesce, f When too late, Mr. 
 Archer discovered that no possible relationship 
 existed between his hopeful son-in-law and the 
 eld counsellor. 
 
 It is also traditionally stated by Mr. E , of 
 
 Dublin, that Higgins turned to profitable account 
 
 * Sketches of Irish Political Characters. By Henry MacDouprall, 
 M.A., T.C.D. Lond. 1799, p. 182. 
 
 t Tradition, communicated by the late Very Rev. Monsig. 
 Tore.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 15 
 
 an intimacy which he had formed with the ser- 
 vants of one of the judges. His lordship having 
 gone on circuit, a perfect " high life below stairs" 
 was performed in his absence ; and Higgins, to 
 promote the progress of his scheme, succeeded in 
 persuading his friend, the coachman, to drive him 
 to a few places in the judicial carriage. 
 
 The imposture was too well planned to fail ; 
 but let us allow the heart-broken father to tell 
 the tragic tale in his own words. 
 
 " County of the City ) The examination of William Archer, 
 of Dublin, to wit. $ O f Dublin, merchant, who being duly 
 sworn and examined, saith, that on the 9th day of No- 
 vember [1766] last, one Francis Higgins, who this exam- 
 inant now hears and believes to be a common hackney 
 writing clerk, came to the house of this examinant in 
 company with a clergyman of the Church of Rome,* 
 and was introduced as a man possessing lands in the 
 county of Down, to the amount of 250 per annum, 
 which he, the said Francis Higgins, pretended to this 
 examinant, in order to deceive and cheat him ; and also 
 
 * I am indebted to John Cornelius O'Callaghan, Esq., the able 
 author of The Green Book, and historian of The Irish brigades in 
 the Service of France, for the following tradition, which he has 
 obligingly taken down from the lips of an octogenarian rel- 
 ative : 
 
 "1 Upper Rutland Street, 
 
 " January 16th, 1865. 
 
 " The circumstance respecting the ' Sham Squire,' to which 
 I alluded, was as follows :- The Rev. Mr. Shortall (I believe a 
 Jesuit) became acquainted with Higgins through the medium 
 of religion ; the fellow having pretended to become a convert 
 to the Catholic Church, and even so zealous a one as to con- 
 fess himself every Saturday to that gentleman, in order to 
 receive the Blessed Sacrament the following day ! This hav- 
 ing gone on for some time, Mr. Shortall formed a high opinion 
 ot Higgins, and spoke of him in such terms to the parents of 
 the young lady he was designing to many, that they were 
 proportionately influenced in his favor. Alter the ' fatal mar- 
 riage ' Mr. Shortall was sent to Cork, and was introduced there 
 to my maternal grandmother and her sisters, to whom he 
 used to mention how bitterly he regretted having been so 
 
 imposed upon. The storymade such an impression on , 
 
 UM a child, that shortly after she came to Dublin she went to 
 ee the ' Sham Squire's' tomb, in Kilbarrack churchyard. 
 " J am, most sincerely yours, 
 
 "JOHN Coli>'L8.
 
 16 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 that he was in considerable employ in the revenue ; and 
 that he was entitled to a large property on the.death of 
 William Harward, Esq., who the said Higgins alleged 
 was his guardian and had adopted him. In a few days 
 after this introduction (during which time he paid his 
 addresses to Miss Maryanne Archer, the daughter of 
 this examinant) he produced a state of a case, all of his 
 own handwriting, saying, that he was entitled to the 
 lands of Ballyveabeg, Islang, Ballahanera, and Dans- 
 fort, in the county of Down ; and the more effectually 
 to deceive and cheat this examinant and his daughter, 
 Higgins had at the foot thereof obtained the legal opin- 
 ion of the said William Harward, Esq., that he was en- 
 titled to said lands under a will mentioned to be made 
 in said case. Higgins, in order to deceive this exam- 
 inant, and to induce him to consent to a marriage with 
 his daughter, agreed to settle 1,500 on her, and in- 
 formed examinant that if said marriage was not speedily 
 performed, his guardian would force him to take the 
 oath to qualify him to become an attorney, which he 
 could not think of, as he pretended to be of the contrary 
 opinion; and that as to the title deeds of said lands, he 
 could not then come at them, being lodged, as he pre- 
 tended, with William Harward, Esq. But that if exam- 
 inant thought proper, he would open a window in William 
 Harward's house, in order to come at said deeds, let 
 what would be the consequences. Examinant was ad- 
 vised not to insist on said measure, and therefore waived 
 it; and relying on the many assertions and representa- 
 tions of the said Higgins, and of his being a person of 
 consideration and property, and particularly having 
 great confidence in the opinion of so eminent a lawyer 
 as William Harward, this examinant having found on 
 inquiry the same was the handwriting of Harward, 
 agreed to give Higgins 600 as a portion with examin- 
 ant's daughter, and one half of this examinant's substance 
 at his death, which he believes may amount to a co.nr 
 siderdble sum, and executed writings for the 'performance 
 of said agreement. And upon said marriage Higgins 
 perfected a deed, and thereby agreed to settle the lands 
 above mentioned on the issue of said marriage, together 
 with 1,500 on examinant's daughter. Soon after the 
 marriage, the examinant being informed of the fraud, he 
 made inquiries into the matters so represented by the
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 17 
 
 said Higgins to facilitate said fraud, and the examinant 
 found that there was not the least color of truth in any 
 of the pretensions or suggestions so made by Higgins, 
 and that he was not entitled to a foot of land, either in 
 this kingdom or elsewhere, nor of any personal property, 
 nor hath he any employment in the revenue or otherwise. 
 Notwithstanding the repeated assurances of the said 
 Higgins, and the said several pretences of his being a 
 person of fortune or of business, he now appears to be a 
 person of low and indigent circumstances, of infamous 
 life and character,* and that he supported himself by the 
 craft of a cheat and -impostor; nor is the said William 
 Harward either guardian or any way related to Higgins, 
 as this examinant is informed and verily believes." 
 
 Mr. Harward, whose name has been frequently 
 mentioned, became a member of the Irish bar in 
 Michaelmas term, 1718, and was the contemporary 
 of Malone, Dennis, Lord Tracton, and Mr. Fitz- 
 gibbon, father of Lord Clare, and sat for some 
 years in the Irish Parliament. At the period 
 when Higgins took such strange liberties with 
 his name, Mr. Harward was in an infirm state 
 of health ; he died, childless, in 1772. 
 
 The biographer of Charlemont mentions Har- 
 ward as " deservedly celebrated for the acuteness 
 of his understanding, his pleasantry, and his 
 original wit." He would seem, indeed, to have 
 been fonder of Joe Miller than of Blackstone. 
 We find the following anecdote in the recently 
 published life of Edmund Malone: 
 
 " Harward, the Irish lawyer, with the help of a great 
 brogue, a peculiar cough, or long h-e-m, was sometimes 
 happy in a retort. Harward had read a great deal of 
 law, but it was all a confused mass ; he had little judg- 
 ment. Having, however, made one of his best harangues, 
 
 * From a contemporary publication, Irish Political Character!, 
 
 E. 180, we learn that when Hifcgins acted as an attorney's clerk 
 is talents were not confined exclusively to the desk. " His 
 master's pleasures found an attentive minister in Sliam, and 
 Sham fouud additional profits in his master's pleasures." 
 
 2
 
 18 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 and stated, as he usually did, a great deal of doubtful 
 law, which yet he thought very sound, Lord Chief Jus- 
 tice Clayton, who, though a most ignorant boor, had 
 got the common black-letter of Westminster Hall pretty 
 ready, as soon as Harward had done, exclaimed, 'You 
 don't suppose, Mr. Harward, that I take this to be law?' 
 ' Indeed, my lord,' replied Harward, with his usual shrug 
 and cough, ' I don't suppose you do.' " 
 
 The following is a copy of the true bill found 
 toy the grand jury against Higgins : 
 
 " County of the City ) The jurors for our Lord the King, 
 of Dublin, toioit. $ upon their oath, say that Francis Hig- 
 gins, of Dublin, yeoman, being a person of evil name, 
 fame, and dishonest conversation, and a common deceiver 
 and cheat of the liege subjects of our said Lord, and not 
 minding to gain his livelihood by trutli and honest labor, 
 but devising to cheat, cozen, and defraud William Archer 
 of his moneys, fortune, and substance, for support of 
 the profligate life of him, the said Francis Higgins, and 
 with intent to obtain Maryannc Archer in marriage, and 
 to aggrieve, impoverish, and ruin her, and with intent to 
 Impoverish the said William Archer, his wife, and all his 
 family, by wicked, false, and deceitful pretences, on the 
 19th November, in the seventh year of the reign of King 
 George III., and on divers other days and times, with 
 force and arms, at Dublin, in the parish of St. Michael, 
 the more fully to complete and perpetrate the said wicked 
 Intentions and contrivances, did fraudulently pretend to 
 the said William Archer that [here the facts are again 
 recited in detail]. The said F. Higgius, by the same 
 wicked pretences, procured Maryanne Archer to be 
 given in marriage to him, to the great damage of the 
 said William Archer, to the great discomfort, prejudice, 
 injury, and disquiet of mind of the said Maryanne and 
 the rest of the family, to the evil example of all others, 
 and against the peace of our said Lord the King, his 
 crown and dignity." 
 
 A person named Francis Higgins really held an 
 appointment in the Custom-House, and our adven- 
 turer availed himself of the coincidence in carrying 
 out his imposture. In the Freeman's Journal of 
 October 21st ; 1766, we read :
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 19 
 
 " Mr. Francis Higarins, of the Cnstom-House, t> Miss 
 Anne Gore, of St. Stephen's Green, an accomplished 
 young lady with a handsome fortune." 
 
 There is a painfully interesting episode con- 
 nected with this imposture which the foregoing 
 documents do not tell, and we give it on the 
 authority of the late venerable divine, the Very 
 Rev. Dr. Yore, who was specially connected with 
 the locality. As soon as the marriage between 
 Higgins and Miss Archer had been solemnized, 
 he brought her to some lodgings at Lucan. The 
 bride, after a short matrimonial experience, found 
 that Higgins was by no means a desirable hus- 
 band either in a pecuniary or a companionable 
 sense, and having watched her opportunity to 
 escape, she at length fled, with almost maniac 
 wildness, to Dublin. Higgins gave chase, and 
 came in sight just as the poor girl had reached 
 her father's house in Thomas Street. It was the 
 dawn of morning, and her parents had not yet 
 risen ; but she screamed piteously at the street 
 door, and Mrs. Archer, in her night dress, got up 
 and opened it. The affrighted girl had no sooner 
 rushed through the threshold than Higgins came 
 violently up, and endeavored to push the door 
 open. Mrs. Archer resisted. She placed her 
 arms across the ample iron sockets which had 
 been formed for the reception of a large wooden 
 bolt. Higgins applied his strength. Mrs. Archer 
 cried wildly for relief and mercy ; but her hopeful 
 son-in-law disregarded the appeal, and continued 
 to force the door with such violence that Mrs. 
 Archer's arm was crushed in two. 
 
 Immediately on the informations being sworn, 
 Higgins was committed to prison. We read 
 that on January 9th, 1767, the citizens of Dub- 
 lin witnessed his procession from Newgate in
 
 20 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Cutpurse Row to the Tholsel, or Sessions-House, 
 at Christ Church Place, then known as Skinner's 
 Row.* 
 
 The Hon. Christopher Robinson, Second Justice 
 of the King's Bench, tried the case. It was un- 
 usual in those days to report ordinary law pro- 
 ceedings ; and there is no published record of the 
 trial beyond three or four lines. But the case 
 excited so strong a sensation that its leading de- 
 tails are still traditionally preserved among several 
 respectable families. Faulkner's Journal of the 
 day records : " At an adjournment of the Quarter 
 Sessions, held at the Tholsel, January 9th, 1767, 
 Francis Higgins was tried and found guilty of 
 several misdemeanors." f At the commission of 
 oyer and terminer following, we find that Higgins 
 stood his trial for another ofience committed sub- 
 sequent to his conviction and imprisonment in the 
 case of Miss Archer. The leniency of the punish- 
 ment inflicted on Higgins, which permitted him 
 to roam abroad within a few weeks after having 
 been found guilty of "several misdemeanors," will, 
 not fail to surprise the humane reader. But a 
 violent hatred of Popery prevailed at that time ; 
 and even the Bench of Justice often rejoiced 
 whenever it had the power to give a rebuff to 
 those who had rejected the allurements of Prot- 
 estantism, and clung with fidelity to the oppressed 
 Church. | With reference to the Archer case, we 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1829. 
 
 t Faulkner's Dublin Journal, No. 4144. 
 
 $ About 1759, Laurence Saul, of Saul's Court, Fishamble 
 Street, a wealthy Catholic distiller, was prosecuted for having 
 harbored a young lady who had sought refuge in his house to 
 avoid being compelled by her friends to conform to the Es- 
 tablished Church. The Lord Chancellor, in the course of this 
 trial, declared that the law did not presume an Irish Papist 
 existed in the kingdom I Saul, writing to Charles O'Connor, 
 says: " Since there is not the least prospect of such a relaxa- 
 tion of the penal laws as would induce one Roman Catholic to
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 21 
 
 find that Judge Robinson in his charge to the jury 
 observed, that Higgins could not be heavily pun- 
 ished for attempting false pretences, and flying 
 under false colors in the family of Mr. Archer, 
 inasmuch as if they believed the prisoner at the 
 bar to be the important personage which he repre- 
 sented himself, their own conduct presented a 
 deception and suppressio veri in not acquainting 
 the prisoner's pretended guardian and uncle with 
 the matrimonial intentions which, unknown to his 
 family, he entertained. " Gentlemen," added the 
 judge, "that deception has existed on both sides 
 we have ample evidence. 'T is true this sham 
 squire is guilty of great duplicity, but so also are 
 the Archers." * 
 
 In thus fastening upon Higgins that admirable 
 nickname, which clung to him throughout his 
 subsequent highly inflated career, Judge Robin- 
 son unintentionally inflicted a punishment by far 
 more severe than a long term of imprisonment in 
 Newgate or the Black Dog. 
 
 Higgins exhibited great self-possession in the 
 dock ; and he is said to have had the incredible 
 effrontery to appeal to the jury as men, and ask 
 
 tarry in this place of bondage who can purchase a settlement 
 in some other land where freedom ana security of property 
 can be obtained, will you condemn me for saving that if 1 can- 
 not be one of the first, I will not be one of the last to take 
 flight ? " Saul then bemoans the hard necessity of quitting for 
 ever friends, relatives, and an ancient patrimony, at a time of 
 life when nature had far advanced in its decline, and his con- 
 stitution by constant mental exercise was much impaired, to 
 n-tire kOBOtne dreary clime, there to play the schoolboy again, 
 to It-urn the language, laws, and institutions of the country, to 
 m:ike new friends, in short, to begin the world anew. " But," 
 he adds, " when religion dictates, and prudence points out the 
 only way to preserve posterity from temptation and perdition, 
 I feel thu consideration pred'ominating over all others. Jam 
 resolved, as soon as possible, to sell out, and to expatriate." 
 Saul retired to France, and died there in 1768. (Gilbert's Dub- 
 lin; Memrtr of Charles V Conor.) 
 * Tradition couununic'ated by Mr. Gill, publisher, Dublin.
 
 22 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 them if there was one amongst them who would 
 not do as much to possess so fine a girl.* 
 
 Judge Robinson had scant reputation as a law- 
 yer, and was eminently unpopular. When pro- 
 ceeding to the Armagh Assizes, in 1763, he found 
 a gallows erected, and so constructed across the 
 road that it was necessary to pass under ijt. To 
 the " Heart-of-Oak Boys" Judge Robinson was 
 indebted for this compliment, f He was called to 
 the Bar in 1737, and died in Dominick Street, in 
 1786. Mr. O'Regan, in his Memoir of Gurran, 
 describes Judge Robinson as small and peevish. 
 A member of the Bar named Hoare sternly re- 
 sisted the moroseness of the judge ; at last, 
 Robinson charged him with a design to bring the 
 king's commission into contempt. " No, my 
 lord," replied Hoare ; "I have read that when 
 a peasant, during the troubles of Charles I. found 
 the crown in a bush, he showed it all marks of 
 reverence ; but I will go further, for though I 
 should find the king's commission even upon a 
 bramble, still I shall respect it." Mr. Charles 
 Phillips tells us that Judge Robinson had risen 
 to his rank by the publication of some political 
 pamphlets, only remarkable for their senseless, 
 ^lavish, and envenomed scurrility. This fellow, 
 when poor Curran was struggling with adversity, 
 and straining every nerve in one of his infant pro- 
 fessional exertions, made a most unfeeling effort 
 to extinguish him. Curran had declared, in com- 
 bating some opinion of his adversary, that he had 
 consulted all his law books, and could not find a 
 single case in which the principle contended for 
 was established. " I suspect, sir," said the heart- 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1765, 
 
 f Hardy's Life of Charlemont, vol. I., p. 189.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 23 
 
 less blockhead, "that your law library is rather 
 contracted " ! So brutal a remark applied from 
 the Bench to any young man of ordinary preten- 
 sions would infallibly have crushed him ; but 
 when any pressure was attempted upon Curran, 
 he never failed to rise with redoubled elasticity. 
 He eyed the judge for a moment in the most con- 
 temptuous silence : " It is very true, my lord, 
 that I am poor, and the circumstance has certainly 
 rather curtailed my library ; my books are not 
 numerous, but they are select, and I hope have 
 been perused with proper dispositions. I have 
 prepared myself for this high profession rather 
 by the study of a few good books than by the 
 composition of a great many bad ones. I am not 
 ashamed of my poverty, but I should of my 
 wealth, could I stoop to acquire it by servility 
 and corruption. If I rise not to rank, I shall at 
 least be honest ; and should I ever cease to be so, 
 many an example shows me that an ill-acquired 
 elevation, by making me the more conspicuous, 
 would only make me the more universally and the 
 more notoriously contemptible." 
 
 Poor Miss Archer did not long survive her hu- 
 miliation and misfortune. She died of a broken 
 heart, and her parents had not long laid her 
 remains in the grave, when their own mourn- 
 fully followed. 
 
 Mr. Higgins's companions throughout the pe- 
 riod of his detention in Newgate were not of the 
 most select description, nor were the manners 
 prevalent in the place calculated to reform his 
 reckless character. Wesley having visited the 
 prison, found such impiety prevailing, that he 
 always looked upon it with loathing. " In 1767," 
 observes Mr. Gilbert, " Newgate was found to
 
 24 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 be in a very bad condition, the walls being ruin- 
 ous, and a constant communication existing be- 
 tween the male and female prisoners, owing to 
 there being but one pair of stairs in the build- 
 ing." * The jailer carried on an extensive trade 
 by selling liquors to the inmates at an exorbitant 
 price ; and prisoners refusing to comply with his 
 demands were abused, violently beaten, stripped 
 naked, and dragged to a small subterranean dun- 
 geon, with no light save what was admitted 
 through a sewer which ran close by it, carrying 
 off all the ordure of the prison, and rendering 
 the atmosphere almost insupportable. In this 
 noisome oubliette, perversely called "the nun- 
 nery," from being the place where abandoned 
 females were usually lodged, twenty persons 
 were frequently crowded together and plun- 
 dered. Criminals under sentence of transporta- 
 tion were permitted to mix among the debtors. 
 By bribes and collusion between the jailer and 
 the constables, legal sentences, in many in- 
 stances, were not carried out. These nefarious 
 practices at length attracted the attention of Par- 
 liament ; and among other facts which trans- 
 pired, in the resolution of the Irish House of 
 Commons, we find that the jailer had " un- 
 lawfully kept in prison, and loaded with irons, 
 persons not duly committed by any magistrate, 
 till they had complied with the most exorbitant 
 demands." 
 
 Even when in durance Mr. Higgins's cunning 
 did not forsake him. Though far from being a 
 Macheath in personal attractions, he contrived 
 to steal the affections of the Lucy Lockit of the 
 prison, and the happy couple were soon after 
 
 * History of Dublin, vol. i., pp. 265, 6.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 25 
 
 married.* The jailer was an influential person 
 in his way, and promoted the worldly interest 
 of his son-in-law. 
 
 For his " misdemeanors" in the family of Mr. 
 Archer, Higgins was committed to Newgate on 
 January 9th, 1767 ; but the punishment failed to 
 make much impression on him. In the Freeman's 
 Journal for February 28, the paper of which 
 Higgins subsequently became the influential pro- 
 prietor, we find the following : 
 
 "At the commission of oyer and terminer, Mark 
 Thomas, a revenue officer, and Francis Higgins, the 
 celebrated adventurer, were convicted of an assault 
 
 against Mr. Peck Higgins was fined 5, to 
 
 be imprisoned one year, and to give 1,000 security 
 for his good behavior for seven years." 
 
 The details embodied in an interesting letter, 
 addressed on July 23, 1789, by "An Old Gray- 
 headed Attorney," to John Magee, editor of the 
 Dublin Evening Post, who, through its medium, 
 continued with indomitable perseverance to exe- 
 crate Higgins when he became an efficient tool of 
 the government, and was absolutely placed on the 
 bencli by them, being chronologically in place 
 here, we subjoin the letter : 
 
 " In one of your late papers mention was made that 
 the Sham had taken off the roll the record of his con- 
 viction in the case of Miss Archer, but if you wish to 
 produce another record of his conviction, you will find 
 one still remaining, in a case wherein the late John 
 Peck was plaintiff, and the Sham and the late Mark 
 Thomas, a revenue officer, were defendants. Sham 
 being liberated from Newgate on Miss Archer's affair, 
 sought out the celebrated Mark Thomas, who at that 
 time kept a shop in Capel Street for the purpose of 
 registering numbers in the then English lottery at Id. 
 per number. Thomas found Sham a man fitting foY his 
 purpose, and employed him as clerk during the drawing, 
 Dublin Evening Post, Xo. 1796.
 
 26 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 and afterwards as setter and informer in revenue mat- 
 ters. 
 
 "Sham's business was to go to unwary grocers and 
 sell them bags of tea by way of smuggled goods, and 
 afterwards send Thomas to seize them and to levy the 
 fines by information. One evening, however, Sham 
 and Thomas being inebriated, they went to John Peck's, 
 in Corn Market, to search for run tea. Words arose in 
 consequence : Sham made a violent pass at Peck with 
 his tormentor (an instrument carried by revenue officers) 
 and wounded him severely in the shoulder. Peck in- 
 dicted them both : they were tried, found guilty, and 
 ordered a year's imprisonment in Newgate, where they 
 remained during the sentence of the court. 
 
 "The time of confinement having passed over, they 
 were once more suffered to prowl on the public. Thomas 
 died shortly after, and Sham enlisted himself under the 
 banners of the late Charles ReUly, of Smock Alley, who 
 then kept a public-house, with billiard and hazard tables. 
 Reilly considered him an acquisition to prevent riotous 
 persons spoiling the play ; for Sham at that time was not 
 bloated, and was well known to be a perfect master in 
 bruising, having carefully studied that art for two years 
 in Newgate under the noted Jemmy Stack, 
 
 " Sham having lived some time at Reilly's, contrived 
 by means of his cunning to put Reilly in the Marshalsea, 
 and at the same time to possess himself of Reilly's wife, 
 his house, and his all. The unfortunate Reilly, fcpm his 
 sufferings, became frantic and insane, and his wife . . . 
 died miserably. Sham still holds the house *in Smock 
 
 Alley. It is sometimes let out for a b 1, at other times 
 
 his worship occupies it as a warehouse for the disposal 
 of hose."* 
 
 For this assault on Peck, we learn that Higgins 
 "was publicly led by the common hangman through 
 the streets of Dublin to the Court of King's Bench; 
 and while in durance vile had no other subsistence 
 than bread and water, save what he extorted by his 
 piteous tale, and piteous countenance exhibited 
 through the grated bars of a Newgate air-hole." f 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1836. 
 t Ibid., No. 1779.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 27 
 
 The next glimpse we get of Mr. Higgins* is in 
 the year 1775, exercising the craft of a hosier at 
 "the Wholesale and Retail Connemara Sock and 
 Stocking Warehouse, Smock Alley," * and as a 
 testimony to his importance, elected president of 
 the Guild of Hosiers, f In 1780 we find his ser- 
 vices engaged by Mr. David Gibbal, conductor of 
 the Freeman's Journal, and one of the proprietary 
 of Pue's Occurrences, 
 
 The Public Register or Freeman's Journal stood 
 high as a newspaper. In 1770 it became the organ 
 of Grattan, Flood, and other opponents of the cor- 
 rupt Townshend administration ; while in Hoey'a 
 Mercury the viceroy was defended by Jephson, 
 Marley, and Simcox. In literary ability the Free- 
 man of that day has been pronounced, by a com- 
 petent authority, as " incomparably superior to 
 its Dublin contemporaries, and had the merit of 
 being, with the exception of the Censor, the first 
 Irish newspaper which published original and in- 
 dependent political essays." J Dr. Jebb, and the 
 subsequently famous Judge Johnson,. contributed 
 papers to the Freeman at this period. Until 1782 
 it was printed at St. Audeon's Arch ; but at the 
 close of that year Gibbal transferred it to Crane 
 Lane. 
 
 In the journals of the Irish House of Commons 
 we find an order issued, bearing date April 7th, 
 1784, "That leave be given to bring in a bill to 
 secure the liberty of the press, by preventing 
 abuses arising from the publication of seditious, 
 false, and slanderous libels. Ordered That Fran- 
 cis Higgins, one of the conductors of the Freeman's 
 Journal, do attend this House to-morrow morn- 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1791. t Ibid., No. 1775, 
 
 | Gilbert's Dublin, vol. i., p. %*.
 
 28 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 ing." * The terms in which Mr. Higgins was 
 reproved are not recorded. 
 
 A short discussion on the subject may be found 
 in the Irish Parliamentary Debates. The Eight 
 Hon. John Foster impugned the conduct of the 
 freeman's Journal, and General Luttrel, after- 
 wards Lord Carhampton, defended it. f 
 
 On April 8th following, Mr. Foster brought in a 
 bill to secure the liberty of the press, by prevent- 
 ing the publication of slanderous libels. The pro- 
 visions of the bill were, that thenceforth the name 
 of the proprietor of every newspaper should be 
 registered upon oath at the Stamp Office, and that 
 the printer enter into a recognizance of 500 to 
 answer all civil suits which might be instituted 
 against him for publications. Mr. Foster severely 
 censured "those papers that undertake slander 
 for hire and calumny for reward" ; Sir Hercules 
 Rowley saw no necessity for the bill ; "he knew 
 of no traitorous, scandalous, or malicious libels 
 but one, viz., the title of the bill itself, which was 
 an infamous libel on the Irish nation." On April 
 12th the subject was again debated. Mr. Grattan 
 declared that there was one paper which daily 
 teemed with exhortations and incitements to assas- 
 sination ; parliament was called upon to interfere, 
 not by imposing any new penalty, nor by com- 
 pelling printers to have their publications licensed, 
 but merely to oblige them to put their names to 
 their newspapers. The Attorney-General observed 
 that these violent publications had great effect on 
 the popular mind. A conspiracy had recently 
 been discovered for murdering no less than seven 
 members of that House. "The conditions were 
 
 * Commons' Journals, vol. xi., pp. 267, 268. 
 t Irish Parl. Debates, vol. iii., p. 147.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 29 
 
 that the assassins should, upon performance of 
 the business, receive 100 ; and, in the meantime, 
 they were actually furnished with money, pistols, 
 ammunition, and bayonets.* They were urged to 
 use the latter weapon, because it would neither 
 miss fire nor make a noise." The bill, in an 
 amended form, passed both Houses, and received 
 the royal assent on May 14th following 1 . 
 
 We must now go back a little. While engaged 
 in Mr. Bourne's office as an attorney's clerk, in 
 1766, Higgins had contrived to acquire no incon- 
 siderable knowledge of law ; and as his ambition 
 now pointed to the profession of solicitor, for 
 which, having renounced " Popery," * he was 
 eligible, a short course of study sufficed to qualify 
 him. Higgins made several attempts to grasp 
 the privileges and gown of an attorney ; but the 
 antecedents of his life were so damnatory, that 
 opposition was offered by high legal authorities 
 to his efforts. But Higgins was not a man on 
 whom rebuffs made any impression, and we learn, 
 so indomitable was his perseverance in endeavor- 
 ing to obtain admittance as an attorney of the 
 Court of Exchequer, that Chief Baron Foster f 
 pronounced it 'f impudence," and threatened a 
 committal to Newgate if again repeated. \ 
 
 The importance of having a friend in court 
 was, before long, pleasantly exemplified. John 
 Scott, afterwards Earl of Clonmel, had in the 
 days of his obscurity known the Sham Squire. 
 
 * " Attorneys were sworn not to take a Catholic apprentice. 
 I have heard that there were instances of judges swearing in. 
 their own servants as attorneys." MS. Lrttrr. 
 
 Until 17!W, Roman Catholics were inadmissahle as attorneys. 
 
 t Anthony Foster, Chief Baron of the Exchequer; called to 
 the Bar in 1732; died 1778. He was the father of the Right Hon. 
 John Foster, last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and 
 first Lord Oriel. 
 
 I Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1828.
 
 30 
 
 Mr. Scott, as we are reminded by Sir Jonah Bar- 
 rington,* Charles -Phillips, | and Walter Cox,J 
 was a person of very humble origin, but of some 
 tact and talent. In 1765 he became a member of 
 the Irish Bar. In 1769 we find Lord Chancellor 
 Lifford recommending him to the patronage of 
 Lord Townshend, then viceroy of Ireland. "The 
 marquis," observes one who knew Scott well, 
 "had expressed his wishes for the assistance of 
 some young gentleman of the Bar, on whose tal- 
 ents and fidelity he might rely in the severe par- 
 liamentary campaigns." Scott was accordingly 
 returned for Mullingar. "The opposition," adds 
 Hardy, "was formidable, being composed of the 
 most leading families in the country, joined to 
 great talents, and led on by Flood, whose orator- 
 ical powers were then at their height. Against 
 this lofty combination did Mr. Scott oppose him- 
 self with a promptitude and resolution almost 
 unexampled. No menace from without, no in- 
 vective within, no question, however popular, no 
 retort, however applauded, no weight or vehe- 
 mence of eloquence, no delicate satire, for a mo- 
 ment deterred this young, vigorous, and ardent 
 assailant. On he moved, without much incum- 
 brance of argument certainly, but all the light 
 artillery and total war of jests were peculiarly 
 his own." || 
 
 The eager manner in which the government 
 adopted and patronized Mr. Scott showed the 
 straits to which they had been reduced for some 
 parliamentary fugleman. Mr. Scott's antecedents 
 
 * Personal Sketches, p. 314. 
 
 ICurran and his Cotemporaries, p. 35. 
 Irish Magazine for 1810. 
 Wilson's Dublin Directories. 
 Hardy's Life of Charlemont, vol. i., p. 269.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 31 
 
 had been foreign to his new duties. Originally 
 in the ranks of the people, a zealous disciple of 
 Lucas, the companion of patriots, and even while 
 in college a staunch opponent of the govern- 
 ment, Mr. Scott was, in principle and practice, 
 more than democratic. When introduced to Lord 
 Townshend by Lord Chancellor Lifford, he ob- 
 served with some humor, not unmixed with regret, 
 "My lord, you have spoiled a good patriot!"* 
 A few months subsequent to his return for Mullin- 
 gar, we find Mr. Scott created a king's counsel ; 
 in 1772, counsel to the Revenue Board; in 1774, 
 solicitor-general ; in 1774, privy-counsellor and 
 attorney-general. During the administration of 
 Lord Northington, he became prime sergeant ; 
 and in that of the Duke of Rutland, Chief Justice 
 of the King's Bench, with a peerage, f 
 
 Politically speaking, Lord Clonmel was a bad 
 Irishman and a worse logician. " When he failed 
 to convince," writes Mr. Phillips, "he generally 
 succeeded in diverting ; and if he did not, by the 
 gravity of his reasoning, dignify the majority to 
 which, when in parliament, he sedulously attached 
 himself, he, at all events, covered their retreat 
 with an exhaustless quiver of alternate sarcasm 
 and ridicule. Added to this, he had a persever- 
 ance not to be fatigued, and a personal intrepidity 
 altogether invincible. When he could not over- 
 come he swaggered ; and when he could not bully 
 he fought." On the bench, too, he was often very 
 overbearing, and for having subjected a barrister 
 named Hackett to some discourtesy, which, at a 
 meeting of the Bar, was reprobated and resented 
 as a personal offence, Lord Clonmel was obliged 
 
 * Oration's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 141. 
 
 f ArchdolTs Lodge 1 * Irish Peerage, vol. vii., pp. 242, 243.
 
 32 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 to apologise in the public papers. He had many 
 social virtues, however, and Mr. Hardy informs 
 us that in convivial hours his bonhommie and pleas- 
 antry were remarkable. "To his great honor be 
 it recorded," adds the biographer of Charlemont, 
 "he never forgot an obligation ; and as his sagac- 
 ity and knowledge of mankind must have been 
 pre-eminent, so his gratitude to persons who had 
 assisted him in the mediocrity of his fortune was 
 unquestionable, and marked by real generosity 
 and munificence." v^ 
 
 With Francis Higgins, whom he had known 
 in that darkly clouded period which preceded 
 the dawn of his good fortune, Lord Clonmel ever 
 afterwards kept up a friendly intercourse.* It is 
 traditionally asserted that Higgins had been of 
 some use to Mr. Scott, not only in early life, but 
 during his subsequent connection with the Irish 
 government. Higgins having been peremptorily 
 refused admission to the craft of solicitors by 
 Chief Baron Foster, Mr. Scott, when Attorney- 
 General, kindly undertook to introduce him to 
 Lord Annaly, f Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 and the request so influentially urged was imme- 
 diately granted. J 
 
 The name of Francis Higgins, as an attorney- 
 at-law, appears for the first time in the Dublin 
 Directory for 1781. His then residence is given 
 as Ross Lane. From 1784 to 1787 he is styled 
 Deputy Coroner of Dublin. We further learn 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, file for 1789, passim. 
 
 t Letter of "An Old Gray-headed Attorney," D. E. Post, No. 
 1791. See also No. 1786. 
 
 J John Gore having served the government with fidelity, as 
 member for Jamestown, was appointed, in 1764, Chief Justice 
 of the King's Bench. Gore was created Baron Annaly in 1766, 
 but,dying without issue in 1783, the title became extinct. 
 
 $ Wilson's Dublin Directories.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 33 
 
 that his practice as solicitor throughout those 
 years was exclusively confined to the court in 
 which his patron, Lord Clonmel, presided as chief 
 justice. 
 
 Notwithstanding our adventurer's legal avoca- 
 tions and professional business, which, owing to 
 his natural aptitude and pleasant cordiality of 
 manner, were daily increasing, he contrived, nev- 
 ertheless, to contribute, regularly, political squibs 
 to the Freeman's Journal. His pecuniary means 
 increased, and he sometimes lent money on good 
 security. The proprietor of the Freeman's Jour- 
 nal, then somewhat embarrassed, requested an 
 accommodation. With some apparent good na- 
 ture Higgins at once granted the request ; but 
 after a little time he asked his employer to pay 
 back the money ; the proprietor seemed sur- 
 prised, and begged that a longer period of ac- 
 commodation might be extended. The Sham 
 Squire declined ; the journalist expostulated ; 
 but Mr. Higgins was inexorable, and without 
 more ado levied an execution on the Freeman^s 
 Journal. * 
 
 Mr. Higgins having now acquired the sole con- 
 trol, literary and pecuniary, of the paper, became 
 a person of some importance in the public eye, 
 and of boundless consequence in his own. His 
 wealth and influence, swagger and effrontery, 
 increased ; but it keenly chagrined him to find 
 that, the more important he became, the more 
 inveterately he was pursued by the nickname of 
 the Sham Squire. 
 
 "Till the Volunteers have, in some degree, 
 
 subsided, your government 6an only subsist by 
 
 expedients, painful as such an idea must be to 
 
 * Tradition preserved in the office of the Freeman 1 * Journal.
 
 34 THE SHAM SQUIRE, 
 
 your feelings,"* writes Mr., afterwards Lord, 
 Grenville, brother to the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
 land. The Irish government of those days was 
 eminently weak and venal ; and Mr. Higgins at 
 once prostituted to its purposes the once virtuous 
 journal, of which he had now become the master. 
 
 Lord Temple retired from the government, and 
 was succeeded by the Duke of Rutland. Mr. 
 Connolly, and other large landed proprietors, who 
 had formerly supported government, took, in 1786 
 and following years, a decided part against his 
 grace's administration. They denounced various 
 bills as unconstitutional jobs, introduced solely 
 for the purpose of ministerial patronage. But the 
 grand attack of the opposition was on the Pen- 
 sion List. * Mr. Grattan gave great oifence to 
 the Treasury Bench, by causing the whole list 
 to be read aloud by the clerk, and exclaiming: 
 " If I should vote that pensions are not a griev- 
 ance, I should vote an impudent, an insolent, and 
 a public lie." The Duke of Rutland fell into great 
 unpopularity with the populace, and narrowly es- 
 caped personal outrage at the theatre. Mean- 
 while the discontent which prevailed in the city 
 extended to the country parts, and found noisy 
 exponents in the "Right Boys" and the "De- 
 fenders." 
 
 Yet the Duke possessed qualities and character- 
 istics which made him not unpopular with the gen- 
 try and middle classes. It was supposed that he 
 had sown his wild oats in England ; but, as events 
 proved, he had still some bushels to scatter broad- 
 cast in the green fields of Erin. His mission in 
 Ireland seemed to aim at extending luxury and 
 
 * Court and Cabinets of George III., by the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham and Cnandos, vol. i., p. 87.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 35 
 
 extravagance, conviviality and unbridled pleasure. 
 He had great affability, and was free from the 
 haughty deportment which marked his predeces- 
 sor's intercourse with the Irish people. More- 
 over, he showered knighthoods around with a 
 lavish hand ; and it is told of him that, having 
 one evening in his cups knighted a jolly innkeeper 
 tit Kilheggan, named Cuffe, of which he repented 
 in the calm reaction of the following day, he sent 
 for the landlord, and told him that as the whole 
 afl'air was a joke, the sooner it was forgotten the 
 better. "I should be well plazed to obleedge 
 your ex-cel-lency," he replied, " but I unfor- 
 tunately mentioned the matter to Leedy Cuffe, 
 and she would part wid her life afore she 'd give 
 it up/' * In the Duke of Rutland's energetic 
 attempt to attain popularity, he found in his 
 beautiful and accomplished wife a zealous ally. 
 She made the Circular Road, now a comparatively 
 deserted highway, the Rotten Row of Dublin, f 
 If, says a contemporary song, 
 
 " If you wish to see her <,'race, 
 The Circular Koad it is the place." 
 
 There this beautiful woman, with her six spank- 
 ing ponies, sparkling postillions, and gorgeously 
 
 * This incident occurred on the property of the Lamberts 
 of Heauparc, in whose family the story is" preserved. 
 
 f For several years afterwards (his pleasant Innovation con- 
 tinued. The late Lord Cloncurry, in his I'entonal Kecollections 
 0!d i'l., p. 1ST), writes : " It was toe custom, on Sundays, for all 
 the great folk to rendezvous, in the afternoon, upon the North 
 Circular Koad, just as, in latter times, the fashionables of Lon- 
 don did in Hyde 1'ark ; and upon that magnificent drive 1 
 have frequently seen three or four coachcs-aad-six, and eight 
 or ten coaches-and-tour, passing slowly to und fro in a long 
 procession of other carriages, and between a double column 
 of well-mounted horsemen. Of course the populace were 
 there, too, and saluted with friendly greetings, always cor- 
 dially and kindly acknowledged, the lords and gentlemen of 
 the. I "ii nt ry party, who were neither few in number nor in- 
 significant in station The ercnings of those Sunday 
 
 mornings were commonly passed by the same parties in
 
 36 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 attired out-riders, was daily to be seen smiling 
 and bowing. She was considered the handsomest 
 woman in* Ireland, with one exception, Mrs. 
 Dillon, wife of a Roman Catholic woollen draper, 
 residing at No. 5 Francis Street. We are in- 
 formed by Mr. O'Reilly, in his Reminiscences of 
 an Emigrant Milesian, that one day the Liberty 
 was thrown into a state of unwonted excitation 
 by the appearance of her grace and out-riders in 
 front of Mrs. Dillon's door. She entered the 
 shop, but Mrs. Dillon was not behind the coun- 
 ter. "Shall I call her?" inquired an agitated 
 shopman. "No," said the duchess, "I shall go 
 to her myself," saying which she entered the 
 parlor, and received a graceful bow from the lady 
 of the house. " There is no exaggeration in the 
 description," said the duchess, as she peered into 
 the dove-like eyes of Mrs. Dillon; "you are the 
 handsomest woman in the three kingdoms." 
 
 The duchess had many devoted admirers who 
 loved to flatter her with extravagantly fulsome 
 compliments. The late " Counsellor" Walsh, in 
 
 promenading at the Rotundo. I have frequently seen there, 
 of a Sunday evening, a third of the members of the two houses 
 of parliament." 
 
 Mooro mentions in his Memoirs (vol. i., p. 10) that about the 
 year 1790 a curious toy called a ''quiz" became fashionable 
 with the class of pedestrians to whom Lord Cloncurry alludes. 
 " To such a ridiculous degree," ke writes, " did the fancy for 
 this toy pervade at that time all ranks and ages, that in the 
 public gardens and in the streets, numbers of persons, of 
 both sexes, were playing it up and down as they walked 
 along." The subsequent Duke of Wellington, when in Ireland 
 in 1797, was much given to playing with this toy ; and Lord. 
 Plunk ett said, that while serving on a committee with him he 
 never for a moment ceased the peurile indulgence. The early 
 life of "the Iron Duke," if honestly told, would exhibit him 
 deficient in ballast. Having had some warm words with a 
 Frenchman in Dublin, he wrested from his hand a cane, which 
 was not returned. The Frenchman brought an action for the 
 robbery of the cane, and Wellesley was absolutely tried in the 
 Sessions-House, Dublin, for the offence. He was acquitted of 
 the robbery, but found guilty of the assault.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 37 
 
 his Ireland Fifty Tears Ago, mentions that Colonel 
 St. Ledger having seen the duchess wash her 
 mouth and fingers one day after dinner, he 
 snatched up the glass and literally drained the 
 contents. "St. Ledger," said the duke, "you 
 are in luck ; her grace washes her feet to-night, 
 and you shall have another goblet after supper." 
 
 The attractions of his wife failed to make this 
 young viceroy as domestic as could be desired. 
 On his way home from the theatre one evening 
 he was induced to visit the residence of Peg 
 Plunket. He forgot that a guard of honor at- 
 tended him, and on glancing from the window 
 next morning, his embarrassment may be con- 
 ceived at recognizing a troop of mounted dragoons 
 with drawn sabres in front of the house. Curran 
 used to tell that a noisy god at Crow Street 
 theatre archly inquired of Miss Plunket, on the 
 occasion of a command night, " Peg, who was 
 your visitor the other evening?" In a tone of 
 mock rebuke she wittily retorted, "MANNERS, 
 fellow." 
 
 A career so dissipated was not likely to last 
 long. Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland, died 
 in the government of Ireland from the effects of a 
 fever induced by intemperance, and the imposing 
 pageantry which marked the funeral procession 
 was consistent with the splendor of his mem- 
 orable regime. 
 
 He who writes the history of the Rutland 
 viceroyafty should consult the files of the Sham 
 Squire's journal. Higgins was its organ and 
 eulogist; but, setting aside political considera- 
 tions, the duke possessed tendencies which spe- 
 cially recommended him to the cordial appreciation 
 of Francis Higgins. The services of Shamado did
 
 38 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AXD 
 
 not pass unrewarded. During the Rutland vice- 
 royalty he received the office of under-sheriff for 
 the county of Dublin,* one in those days of con- 
 siderable emolument. Mr. Higgins had a busy 
 time of it. Presiding in court with all the as- 
 sumption of a judge, he not only tried all the 
 forty-shilling causes, but much larger questions, 
 under the writ of Scire Facias. He executed the 
 writs which had been issued by the superior 
 courts, superintended the gibbeting of criminals, 
 and throughout the popular tumults, which locally 
 raged at this time, he no doubt frequently figured 
 at the head of his posse comitatus, or sheriff's 
 guard. 
 
 Nefarious practices had long degraded the office 
 of sheriff, but in 1823 they received a decided 
 check by the parliamentary inquiry into the con- 
 duct of Mr. Sheriff Thorpe. The partiality with 
 which sheriffs habitually packed juries for par- 
 ticular cases was then unveiled ; and it trans- 
 pired that they pledged themselves, before their 
 election, to take a decided part in politics 
 against every Catholic. " Catholics," observed 
 Mr. O'Connell, "would rather submit to great 
 wrongs than attempt a trial in Dublin." Com- 
 petent witnesses were examined at the same 
 time ; and the Edinburgh JReview, noticing their 
 evidence, said that, " No one could fail to be 
 equally surprised and disgusted with the abom- 
 inable course of profligacy and corruption which 
 is there exhibited." That the Sham Squire was 
 no better than his predecessors and successors 
 we have reason to believe. 
 
 Mr. Iliggins became every day a richer man. 
 From the publication of the government proc- 
 * Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1787, p. 112.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 39 
 
 lamations alone he derived a considerable income. 
 When we know that the sum paid in 1788 to 
 Mr. Higgins for proclamations was 1,600, ac- 
 cording to the parliamentary return, it is not 
 surprising that the popular organs of the day 
 should have complained that "Signor Shamado" 
 received from the government, annually, more 
 than a commissioner of his majesty's revenue.* 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post t No. 1765.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Peculation. The Press Subsidized and Debauched. Lord 
 Buckingham. Judges Bevel at the Board of the Sham 
 Squire. A Pandemonium unveiled. Lord Avonmore. 
 A great Struggle. The Kegency. Peerages Sold. John 
 Magee. Lord Carhampton. Mrs. Llewellyn. Squibs and 
 Lampoons. The Old Four-Courts in Dublin. l)r. Houl- 
 ton. The Duke of Wellington on Bribing the Irish Press. 
 
 THE viceroy's leisure in the last century was 
 heavily taxed by unceasing applications from 
 Lord Clonmel and his unpopular colleagues, to 
 authorize and sign proclamations on every imag- 
 inable infraction of the law. Mr. Griffith, on 
 January 23d, 1787, complained in his place in 
 parliament that the "newspapers seemed under 
 some very improper influence. In one paper the 
 country was described as one scene of riot and 
 confusion ; in another all is peace. By the proc- 
 lamations that are published in them, and which 
 are kept in for years, in order to make the for- 
 tunes of some individuals, the kingdom is scan- 
 dalized and disgraced through all the nations of 
 the world where our newspapers are read. The 
 proclamations are a libel on the country. Was 
 any offender ever taken up in consequence of such 
 publications ? And are they not rather a hint to 
 offenders to change their situation and appear- 
 ance ? He did hope, from what a right honorable 
 gentleman had said last year, that this abuse 
 would have been redressed, but ministers have 
 not deigned to give any answer on the subject."* 
 
 % 
 
 * Irish Parl. Register, vol. vli., pp. 37, 38.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 41 
 
 On February 2d following, Mr. Cony animad- 
 verted to the same effect. Foreigners would mis- 
 take the character of our people, and look upon 
 us as a savage nation ; hence the low price of 
 land in Ireland and the difficulty of raising money. 
 He denounced the bills furnished by newspapers 
 as a gross attempt to waste the public money. 
 Hussey Burgh declared that more proclamations 
 were to be found in the Dublin Gazette, in the 
 time of profound peace, long before the Right 
 Boys created a disturbance, than in the London 
 Gazette during the rebellion ! Mr. Wolfe ob- 
 served that government absolutely abetted the 
 Right Boys ; they had inserted Captain Right's 
 manifesto in the middle of a government proc- 
 lamation, and so sent it round the kingdom much 
 more effectually than Captain Right ever could 
 have done, and that without any expense to the 
 captain. 
 
 Mr. Forbes " thought it hard that the payment 
 of the Freeman's Journal should be disputed ; for 
 he was sure that the proprietor was a very gen- 
 erous man. An innkeeper in the town he repre- 
 sented regularly received that paper. On his 
 inquiring what he paid for it, and who sent it, the 
 innkeeper replied that he did not know. A Mr. 
 F. H., some worthy gentleman, God bless him! 
 had sent it to him, and never troubled him for 
 payment or anything else." * 
 
 Thus it would appear that " F. H." considered 
 himself so overpaid by the peculating government 
 of that day, that he might "well afford to push his 
 paper into an enormous gratuitous circulation. 
 
 The Duke of Rutland was succeeded as Lord 
 Lieutenant by the Marquis of Buckingham, who, 
 
 * Jrith ParL Register, vol. vli., pp. 83, 88, 89.
 
 42 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 as Lord Temple, had already held the viceregal 
 reins. Of this chief governor Mr. Grattan ob- 
 serves : " He opposed many good measures, pro- 
 moted many bad men, increased the expenses of 
 Ireland in a manner wanton and profligate, and 
 vented his wrath upon the country." * Such being 
 the case, it is not surprising that Lord Bulkley, 
 in a letter to his excellency, dated June 14th, 
 1788, should remark : "I saw your brother, mar- 
 quis, who told me that he heard with the greatest 
 concern that your popularity in Ireland was fall- 
 ing apace, and that the candles were out."f By 
 way of counterbalance, Higgins swung the censer 
 with more than ordinary energy. According to 
 the Post, a check from the treasury for 1,030 was 
 graciously presented to the Sham Squire at this 
 period, "for puffing the character and politics of 
 Lord Buckingham." J 
 
 The daring and dastardly experiment of bribing 
 the press was then of recent introduction in Ire- 
 land. A letter from Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord 
 Auckland, addressed to Lord North, and dated 
 "Phosnix Park, August 27th, 1781," says: 
 
 " We have hitherto, by the force of good words, and 
 with some degree of private expense, preserved an as- 
 cendency over the press, not hitherto known here, aud 
 it is of an importance equal to ten thousand times its 
 cost, but we are without the means of continuing it." 
 
 * Memoirs of Henry Grattan, vol. iii., p. 146. 
 
 t Court and Cabinets of Oeorijc. III., vol. i., p. 396. Lond., 1853. 
 
 t Dublin Evening Post, Nos. 1800- 1808. 
 
 | Correspondence of Right lion. J. C. Beresford, vol. i., p. 170. 
 Mr. Eden was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1780 until 1782; 
 created, 178!), Baron Auckland; died, 1814. Modern statesmen, 
 seem to hold conflicting opinions us to the expediency of sub- 
 sidizing newspapers for political ends. The memorable trial of 
 Birch versus Lord Clarendon, in 18)0, revealed that hard cash 
 had been given to the editor of the World for writing down tho 
 Young Ireland Party. Cavour, on the other hand, who was 
 for many years before his death the daily butt of journalistic 
 abuse, disdained toe purchase of the press. " One day," writes
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 43 
 
 But Higgins had too much natural taste for the 
 "art and mystery" of legal lore, as well as for 
 bills of costs, to forego the emoluments of an 
 attorney-at-law for the editorial desk, however 
 lucrative. We find him figuring as solicitor for 
 prisoners in several cases which excited much 
 noise at this time, instance the " Trial of Robert 
 Keon, gentleman, for the murder of George Nu- 
 gent Reynolds, Esq." * Retaining the absolute 
 control of the Freeman's Journal, Higgins, in or- 
 der that he might be able to devote more time to 
 his profession, engaged Doctor Houlton as his 
 sub-editor, and George Joseph Browne, barrister, 
 but originally a player, f and C. Brennan, formerly 
 a fierce democratic writer in the Dublin Evening 
 Post,\ as contributors. In a short time the Free- 
 man's Journal became an important and influen- 
 tial organ of the Irish government. The Sham 
 Squire's society is said to have been courted by 
 high authorities in the law and the state. In 
 the great liberal organ of the day it 'is alleged 
 that "Judges are the companions of his festive 
 hours" that "Judges revel at his board, and 
 are his associates." But the most startling 
 feature in this epoch of the Sham Squire's life 
 
 his secretary, M. Artom, " somebody tried to show him the ad- 
 vantage of lounding a semi-official Journal, which should have 
 tin- province of defending the policy of the government. He 
 replied, ' if you want to bring the best and soundest ideas into 
 discredit, put them into ollicious or official fonn. If you have 
 a trood cause to defend, you will easily tind writers who, with- 
 out being paid, will defend it with more warmth and talent 
 than paid journalists.'" 
 
 * Dublin, 17^. NSJ pa?es. Reported by George J. Browne. 
 "Tin- verdict was not given till ut'ter midnight. The hall had 
 previously been cleared by order of tile court; but n few, 
 among whom was my father, then a student of Trinity < 'ol- 
 }-'<-, concealed themselves under the tables, so that they 
 might learn the result immediately on its being delivered." 
 MS. Letter of Dr.T. 
 
 t Dublin Krcning Post, Xo. 1793. $ Ibid., Xo. 1794. 
 
 f Ibid., No. 1756.
 
 44 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 is the allegation, repeatedly made by the Dublin 
 Evening Post, that Higgins, at the very period 
 of which we write, was the proprietor of, or se- 
 cret partner in, a gambling-house of the worst 
 possible description in Crane Lane. In prose and 
 verse, this public nuisance received energetic de- 
 nunciation. 
 
 " Where is the nrase that lashed the Roman crimes ? 
 Where now is Pope with all his poignant rhymes ? 
 Where 's Churchill now, to aim the searching dart, 
 Or show the foulness of a villain's heart? 
 Where is the muse to tune the piercing lay, 
 And paint the hideous monster to the day ? 
 Alas I all gone I let every virtue weep : 
 Shamado lives, and Justice lies asleep. 
 How shall I wake her? will not all the cries 
 Of midnight revels, that ascend the skies, 
 
 The sounding dice-box, and the shrieking , 
 
 The groans of all the miserable poor, 
 Undone and plundered by this outcast man, 
 Will not these wake her ? " etc., etc. 
 
 The satiric bard proceeds to describe Shamado 
 raising the unhallowed fabric in Crane Lane : 
 
 " ' Henceforth,' he cried, ' no watchman 'shall presume " 
 To check the pleasures of each festive room; 
 Henceforth, I say, let no policeman dare, 
 No sheriff, alderman, or e'en lord mayor, 
 No constable, or untaught bailiff rude, 
 With hideous visage, on these realms intrude.' 
 He said, and striking with a golden wand, 
 The dooi-s obey the impulse of his hand ; 
 The portals back upon their hinges flew, 
 And many a hazard-table rose to view. 
 On every table did a dice-box stand, 
 Waiting impatient for the gamester's hand; 
 Full many a couch prepared for soft delight, 
 And a few lamps gleamed out a glimmering light." * 
 
 But we have quoted sufficient as a specimen. 
 In a subsequent number of the Dublin Evening 
 Post the editor asks : 
 
 "Will not a day of retribution come for all this accu- 
 mulation of villainy and enormity at which the blood 
 runs cold? Oh ! that we had a Fitzgibbon judge. Then 
 would not longer the Newgate felon, the murderer of 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1743.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 45 
 
 wretched parents, the betrayer of virgin innocence, the 
 pestiferous defller of the marriage couch, Sham his fate, 
 and defy the laws of God and man." * 
 
 In 4he Directory for 1788 is recorded Mr. Hig- 
 gins's removal from the obscurity of Ross Lane to 
 72 Stephen's Green, South, one of the fine old 
 Huguenot houses, of which Grattan occupied one. 
 From the above date, we find his professional 
 practice extended from the King's Bench to the 
 Common Pleas, besides acting at the Tholsel or 
 Sessions' Court, the very edifice in whose dock 
 he stood a fettered malefactor a few years before. 
 Chief Baron Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avon- 
 more, presided in the Exchequer, and discoun- 
 tenanced the impudent pretensions of the Sham 
 Squire to practise in that court. Yelverton, as 
 one of the illustrious patriots of 1782, had not 
 much claim to the favorable consideration of the 
 Sham Squire. He was accordingly lampooned 
 by him. On May 3d, 1789, we read: 
 
 " Counsel rose on behalf of Mr. Higgius, who had 
 been ordered to attend, to answer for certain scandalous 
 paragraphs reflecting on that court. 
 
 "Chief Baron Yelverton said, ' If you had not men- 
 tioned that affair, the court would not have condescended 
 to recollect its insignificance, but would have passed it 
 by, as it has done every other paragraph, whether of 
 praise or censure, which has appeared in that paper, 
 with the most supreme contempt. Let the fellow return 
 to his master's employment. Let him exalt favorite 
 characters, if there be any mean enough to take pleas- 
 ure in his adulation; let him continue to spit his venom 
 against everything that is praiseworthy, honorable, or 
 dignified in human nature; but let him not presume to 
 meddle with the courts of justice, lest, forgetting his 
 baseness and insignificance, they should at some time 
 deign to inflict a merited punishment." f 
 
 Yelverton's opinion of the Sham Squire's insig- 
 
 Dublin Evening Pott, No. 177. f Ibid., No. 1757.
 
 46 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 nificance was not indorsed by Inspector-General 
 Amyas Griffith, who, in his Tracts, published this 
 year, after returning thanks to the "established 
 Bishops of Dublin, Cashel, Cloyne, and Kildare," 
 and other personages who had patronized him, ac- 
 knowledges his obligation to Sham Squire, Esq. * 
 
 To render the career of Francis Higgins more 
 distinct, we may, perhaps, be permitted to make 
 a slight historical digression. 
 
 A most important and embarrassing struggle 
 between England and Ireland took place in 1789, 
 in reference to the regency which George the 
 Third's mental aberration had made necessary. 
 The Prince of Wales at this period professed not 
 unpopular politics, and favored the Catholic claims. 
 Mr. Pitt, apprehensive that the regency might 
 prove fatal to his ambition and to his cabinet, 
 powerfully resisted the heir-apparent's right to 
 the prerogative of his father, and declared on 
 llth December, 1788, that "the Prince of Wales 
 had no better right to administer the government 
 during his father's incapacity than any other sub- 
 ject of the realm." f An address to his royal 
 highness from the Irish parliament requested that 
 he would " take upon himself the government of 
 Ireland during the continuation of the king's in- 
 disposition, and no longer, and, under the title of 
 Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name and on be- 
 half of his majesty to exercise, according to the 
 laws and constitution of that kingdom, all regal 
 powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the crown 
 and government thereof belonging." Ireland called 
 upon the prince, in virtue of the federative com- 
 pact, to assume at once the sceptre of authority ; 
 
 * Advertisement to Miscellaneous Tracts. 
 t The Prospect Before Us (1788), p. 4.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 47 
 
 but Mr. Pitt's followers furiously struggled against 
 it. Grattan Leaded the independent party in the 
 Commons. Mr. Pelham, afterwards Lord Chiches- 
 ter, after speaking of what he styles "the tricks 
 and intrigues of Mr. Pitt's faction," says, "I have 
 not time to express how strongly the prince is af- 
 fected by the confidence and attachment of the 
 Irish parliament. I have only time to say in his 
 own words, ' Tell Grattan that I am a most deter- 
 mined Irishman.' ' The Duke of Portland, writ- 
 ing to Mr. Grattan on the 21st February, 1789, 
 says : " I beg most sincerely to congratulate you 
 on the decisive effect of your distinguished exer- 
 tions. Your own country is sensible and worthy 
 of the part you have taken in defence and protec- 
 tion of her constitution. The prince thinks him- 
 self no less obliged to you ; and whenever this 
 deluded country becomes capable of distinguish- 
 ing her true friends, she will contribute her quota 
 of applause and gratitude." * 
 
 " The probability of his majesty's recovery," 
 writes Sir Jonah Harrington, " had a powerful in- 
 fluence on placemen and official connections. The 
 viceroy took a decisive part against the prince, 
 and made bold and hazardous attempts upon the 
 rights of the Irish parliament." The recently 
 published Buckingham correspondence f confirms 
 Sir Jonah's statement. Every day a bulletin an- 
 
 * Lifeand Times of Henry Grattan, by his son, vol. iii., pp. 373, 4. 
 
 t Afemoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George III., from Origi- 
 nal I-'amily Documents, by the Duke of Buckingham and Cbandos, 
 1853. The noble editor of these valuable state papers admits 
 that " the parliament of Ireland preserved the unquestionable 
 ri^lit of deciding the regency in their own way. The position 
 or Lord Buckingham," lie adds, " had become peculiarly em- 
 barrassing. What course should be taken In the event of such 
 an address being carried ? The predicament was so strange, 
 and involved constitutional considerations of such Impor- 
 tance, as to give the most serious disquietude to the adminis- 
 tration." Vol. ii., p. 101.
 
 48 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 nouncing the monarch's convalescence reached 
 the viceroy. The good news was orally circu- 
 lated among his supporters. Mr. Fitzgibbon was 
 promised the seals and a peerage if he succeeded 
 for Mr. Pitt. Each member of the Opposition was 
 menaced, that he should be made the "victim of 
 his vote." Lures were held out to the wavering, 
 - threats hurled at the independent. 
 
 This extraordinary threat elicited that spirited 
 protest familiarly known as "the Round Robin," 
 to which the Duke of Leinster, Lords Charlemont, 
 Shannon, Granard, Ross, Moira, and a host of 
 other influential men, affixed their signatures. 
 The document dwelt on the recent threat of 
 making individuals "the victim of their vote," 
 and stigmatized it "as a reprobation of their 
 constitutional conduct, and an attack upon pub- 
 lic principle and the independence of parliament ; 
 that any administration taking or persevering in 
 such steps was not entitled to their confidence, 
 and should not receive their support." 
 
 The address to the regent having passed b,oth 
 the Lords and Commons, it was presented to Lord 
 Buckingham for transmission ; but the viceroy de- 
 clined to have anything to say to it, and thus 
 parliament was reduced to the necessity of for- 
 warding the address by the hands of delegates. 
 Previous to their departure the following resolu- 
 tion was carried by 115 to 83 : "That his excel- 
 lency's answer to both houses of parliament, 
 requesting him to transmit their address to his 
 royal highness, is ill-advised, contains an unwar- 
 rantable and unconstitutional censure on the pro- 
 ceedings of both Houses, and attempts to question 
 the undoubted rights and privileges of the Lords 
 spiritual and temporal, and of the Commons of
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 49 
 
 Ireland." The viceroy, as a last resource, en- 
 deavored to multiply his partisans by the most 
 venal means. Mr. Fitzgibbon gave it to be under- 
 stood that half a million of money had been placed 
 in his hands for corrupt purposes ; and as the first 
 law officer of the crown made this disgusting avow- 
 al, he casually confessed that one address of thanks 
 to Lord Townshend, a few years before, had cost 
 the nation 500,000 ! * 
 
 Grattan, who was an eye-witness of all these 
 disreputable proceedings, observed at a later pe- 
 riod : " The threat was put into its fullest execu- 
 tion ; the canvass of the minister was every- 
 where, in the House of Commons, in the lobby, 
 in the street, at the door of the parliamentary 
 undertakers, rapped at and worn by the little 
 caitiffs of government, who offered amnesty to 
 some, honors to others, and corruption to all ; 
 and where the word of the viceroy was doubted, 
 they offered their own. Accordingly, we find a 
 number of parliamentary provisions were created, 
 and divers peerages sold, with such effect, that 
 the same parliament who had voted the chief 
 governor a criminal, did immediately after give 
 that very governor implicit support." f "They 
 began," said Curran, " with the sale of the honor 
 of the peerage, the open and avowed sale for 
 money of the peerage to any man who was rich 
 and shameless enough to be the purchaser. It 
 depraved the Commons, it profaned the sanctity 
 of the Lords, it poisoned the sources of legisla- 
 tion and the fountains of justice, it annihilated 
 the very idea of public honor or public integrity ! " 
 
 The corrupt policy and proceedings of the Townshend 
 administration received effective exposure in a publication 
 called Baratariana. See Appendix. 
 
 t Life and Time* of Henry Grattan, vol. ill., p. 338.
 
 50 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Outran did not speak thus strongly from any can- 
 kering feeling of wounded pride at slights re- 
 ceived from the government. Describing the 
 events of 1798, his biographer tells us : "To Mr. 
 Curran it was communicated that his support of 
 the government would be rewarded with a judge's 
 place, and with the eventual prospect of a peer- 
 age ; but, fortunately for his fame, he had too 
 much respect for his duties and his character to 
 sacrifice them to personal advancement." * 
 
 Grattan, Curran, and Ponsonby offered to prove 
 on evidence the startling charges to which we 
 have referred ; but the government, knowing that 
 it had been guilty of an impeachable offence, 
 shrunk from the inquiry. The peerages of Kil- 
 maine, Cloncurry, and Glentworth were, beyond 
 doubt, sold for hard cash in 1789, and the pro- 
 ceeds laid out for the purchase of members in 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 Mr. Wright, in his History of Ireland, pro- 
 nounces Mr. Johnson's to be the ablest speech 
 on the government side during this struggle. 
 He quotes it in full ; but the effect is spoiled 
 by Mr. Johnson's confession to Thomas Moore 
 in 1831, that he had always supported Grattan's 
 policy until the regency question, when he ratted, 
 and at once became the recipient of state favors. 
 "In fact," added the ex-judge Johnson, "we 
 were all jobbers at that time." f 
 
 The struggle between the viceroy and the par- 
 liament was a sadly exciting one. Political profli- 
 gacy stalked, naked and unblushing, through the 
 Senate and the Castle. Vows, resolutions, rules, 
 reputations, and faith were daily broken. Mean- 
 
 * Life of Curran, by his son, vol. 1., p. 240. 
 t Diary of Thomas Moore, vol. vi., p. 65.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 51 
 
 while, the royal physicians opined that the king 
 would soon be restored to health. " Your ob- 
 ject," says the secretary of state, in a letter to 
 the viceroy on February 19th, 1789, " your object 
 will be to use every possible endeavor, by all 
 means in your power, debating every question, 
 dividing upon every question, moving adjourn- 
 ment upon adjournment, and every other mode 
 that can be suggested, to gain time."* Sheri- 
 dan's politically penetrating eye saw through the 
 ruse. " I am perfectly aware," he writes in a 
 private letter to the prince, "of the arts that 
 will be practised, and the advantages which some 
 people will attempt to gain by time." f These 
 expedients, coupled with the energetic efforts 
 daily made by a venal press and minister, at 
 last triumphed ; and the king was now, to quote 
 the words of Lord Grenville, in writing to the 
 viceroy, "actually well"! The struggle was 
 therefore at an end, but not the results of that 
 struggle. The master of the rolls, the treasurer, 
 the clerk of permits, the postmaster-general, the 
 secretary-atrwar, the comptroller of stamps, and 
 many other public servants of importance, were 
 summarily expelled from office. The Duke of 
 Leinster, one of the most respected officers of 
 the crown, received a supersedeas, together with 
 Lord Shannon. The influential family of Pon- 
 sonby, long the unwavering supporters of gov- 
 ernment, but who on this occasion joined the 
 legislature in asserting its constitutional inde- 
 pendence, were also cashiered. But the pro- 
 motions and appointments vastly exceeded the 
 dismissals. Of the former, which included a 
 
 * Buckingham Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 117. 
 
 t Life of Sheridan, by Thomas Moore, chap. -^M.
 
 52 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 long string of creations in the peerage, there 
 were forty ; of the latter fifteen only. Employ- 
 ments that had long remained dormant were 
 revived, useless places invented, sinecures cre- 
 ated, salaries increased ; while such offices as 
 the board of stamps and accounts, hitherto filled 
 by one, became a joint concern. The weigh- 
 mastership of Cork was divided into three parts, 
 the duties of which were discharged by depu- 
 ties, while the principals, who pocketed the 
 gross amount, held seats in parliament. In 1790 
 one hundred and ten placemen sat in the House 
 of Commons! On February llth in that year, 
 Mr. Forbes declared that the pensions had been 
 recently increased upwards of 100,000. In 1789 
 an additional perpetuity of 2,800 was saddled 
 on the country. 
 
 The viceroy, however glad of his victory, 
 had not much reason, one would think, to be 
 proud of the means whereby that victory was 
 attained. But an examination of his corres- 
 pondence shows the utter unscrupulosity of his 
 heart. Writing to Lord Bulkley he observes : 
 " In the space of six weeks, I have secured 
 to the crown a decided and steady majority, 
 created in the teeth of the Duke of Leinster, 
 Lord Shannon, Lord Granard, Ponsonby, Conol- 
 ly, O'Neill, united to all the republicanism, 
 the faction, and the discontent of the House 
 of Commons ; and having thrown this- aristoc- 
 racy at the feet of the king, I have taught 
 the British and Irish government a lesson which 
 ought never to be forgotten ; and I have the 
 pride to recollect that the whole of it is fairly 
 to be ascribed to the steady decision with which 
 the storm was met, and to the zeal, vigor, and 
 
 -
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 53 
 
 industry of some of the steadiest friends that 
 ever man was blessed with." 
 
 Amongst " the steadiest friends " by whom 
 the viceroy was " blessed," the Sham Squire 
 deserves mention. He worked the engine of 
 the press with unflagging vigor, and by means 
 of a forced circulation he succeeded to some 
 extent in inoculating the public mind with the 
 virus of his politics. It was Lord Buckingham's 
 policy to feed the flame of Shamado's pride and 
 ambition ; and we are assured by John Magee, 
 that so essential to the stability of the Irish 
 government were the services of this once fet- 
 tered malefactor, that on frequent occasions he 
 was admitted to share the hospitalities and con- 
 fidence of the viceroy's closet. 
 
 The first allusion to Francis Higgins, which the 
 leading organ of the popular party in the last cen- 
 tury contains, is an article on March 8th, 1789, 
 wherein the Sham Squire is spoken of as " Frank 
 Paragraph, the Stephen's Green attorney," who 
 on the previous night, having been escorted up 
 the back-stairs of the Castle by Major Hobart, * 
 received the Marquis of Buckingham's hospitality 
 and confidence. The article concluded by ex- 
 pressing a hope that Frank, whether as an attor- 
 ney, as proprietor of a prostitute print, or as the 
 companion of a viceroy, should not in the day of 
 his happy exultation forget his original insignif- 
 icaifce. 
 
 Mr. John Magee was the then proprietor of the 
 Dublin Evening Post. Sir Jonah Barrington tells 
 us that although eccentric he was a most acute 
 observer, a smart writer, and a ready wit. Politi- 
 
 * Major Hobart, afterwards Lord Buckinghamshire, was the 
 diplomatic chief secretary for Ireland at this period.
 
 54 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 cally honest and outspoken, often to indiscretion, 
 he enjoyed th'e confidence and love of the popular 
 party in Ireland. By the government he was 
 feared and hated ; and onmore occasions than 
 one he was consigned to a dungeon. Magee 
 exercised considerable influence on the public 
 events of his time, and he" may be not inappli- 
 cably styled the Irish Cobbett of the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 Against 'the Sham Squire Magee had no per- 
 sonal enmity; and previous to 1789 there is no 
 allusion to him, direct or indirect, in the Post; 
 but Mr. Higgins's importance having in that 
 year swelled to an unprecedented extent, as the 
 accredited organ of the Castle, Magee felt urged 
 by a sense of public duty to declare uncompro- 
 mising war against the fortunate adventurer. 
 Probably Magee's labors had good effect in 
 checking the further promotion of Higgins. 
 
 Magee first wielded the lash of irony ; but find- 
 ing that this failed to tell with sufficient effect, 
 he thereupon applied the loaded bludgeon of de- 
 nunciation. Several poetic diatribes appeared in 
 the Post at this period ; but they are too volu- 
 minous to quote in full. One, in which the Sham 
 Squire is found soliloquizing, goes on to say : 
 
 " You know my power; at my dread command 
 B wds, pimps, and bullies, all obedient stand : 
 Nay, well you know, at my terrific nod 
 The Freeman lifts aloft the venal rod : 
 Or if you still deny my sovereign awe, 
 I '11 spread the pettifogging nets of law." 
 
 Higgins's antecedents are glanced at : 
 
 " You know my art can many a form assume : 
 Sometimes I seem a hosier at a loom ; 
 Then at the changing of my magic wand 
 Before your face a wealthy Squire I stand, 
 With a Sham title to seduce the fair, 
 And murder wretched fathers by despair."
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 55 
 
 As soon as the struggle respecting the regency 
 question had ceased, the viceroy is said to have 
 acknowledged Higgins's fidelity by recommend- 
 ing him to Lord Lifford * as a fit and proper 
 person to grace the magisterial bench ! 
 
 We resume the Sham Squire's soliloquy: 
 
 " And if OKI Nick continues true, no bar shall 
 I'rcvcnt me from becoming Four-Courts marshal. 
 Behold me still in the pursuit of gain, 
 My golden wand becomes a golden chain. 
 See how I loll in my judicial chair, 
 The tees of office piled up ut my rear, 
 A smuggled turkey or illegal hare. 
 Those 1 commit who have no bribe to give; 
 Rogues that have nothing don't deserve to lire. 
 Then nimbly, on the turning of a straw, 
 I seem to be u pillar of the lnw; 
 See, even nobles at my table wait. 
 
 But think not that (like idiots in your plays) 
 My friendship any saves but him who pays; 
 Or that the foolish thought of gratitude 
 Upon my callous conscience can intrude ; 
 And yet" I say, not Buckingham himself 
 Could pudoa one unless 1 touch the pelf ; 
 Th>re 's not a robber hanged, or^jilferer whipt, 
 Till at my word he 'a haltered or he 's stript." f 
 
 By the 5 George II. (chap. 18, 2) no attorney 
 can become a justice of the peace while in prac- 
 tice as an attorney ; but in the case of the Sham 
 Squire all difficulties were smoothed. Some of 
 the most influential political personages of the 
 time travelled out of the way in order to mark 
 their approval of Mr. Higgins's elevation. The 
 letter to which we have already referred, signed 
 "An Old Gray-headed Attorney/' and published 
 on July 23d, 1789, records that Francis Higgins 
 
 * Before Lord Lifford accepted the seals, then estimated at 
 worth 12,000 per annum, they had been offered to Judges. 
 Smyth, Aston, and Si-well, of the Knglish Bench, und declined. 
 HeWM the son of William Hewit, a draper in Coventry, and 
 b<-gan lite as uu attorney's clerk. See /rmfc Political Charactert 
 (London, 1790), p. 58; also Sleator 1 * Dublin Chronicle (1788-9), 
 Pl>. -.Mo, .v><>. iiv>. Lord Litford's personalty was 150,000. 
 
 t Dublin Evening Post, No. 1712.
 
 56 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 had the honor of being first "introduced, as a 
 justice of his majesty's peace for the county of 
 Dublin, to the bench assembled at Kilmainham, 
 by the good, the virtuous, the humane Earl Car- 
 hampton ; that peer who so truly, nobly, and gal- 
 lantly added to the blushing honor of a before- 
 unsullied fame by rescuing from a gibbet the 
 chaste Mrs. Lewellyn. Mr. Higgins was also 
 there, and there accompanied by that enlightened 
 senator, independent placeman, and sound lawyer, 
 Sir Frederick Flood, Bart." * 
 
 Lord Carhampton, who regarded Higgins with 
 such a fatherly eye of patronage and protection, 
 has received scant courtesy from the historians 
 of his time, Hardy alone excepted. As Colonel 
 Luttrel he first attained notoriety at the Middlesex 
 election, where he acted as unconstitutional a part 
 as he afterwards did in Ireland in his military 
 capacity. Mr. Scott on this occasion publicly 
 declared that Luttrel "was vile and infamous." 
 Luttrel did not resent the insult, and his spirit 
 was called in question. " He was a clever bravo," 
 writes Mr. Grattan, "ready to give an insult, and 
 perhaps capable of bearing o*ne." f " There is in 
 this young man's conduct," wrote Junius to Lord 
 North, " a strain of prostitution, which for its sin- 
 gularity I cannot but admire. He has discovered 
 a new line in the human character. He has dis- 
 graced even the name of Luttrel." Unpopular to 
 loathing in England, and hooted from its shores, 
 
 * Frederick Flood, Esq., K. C.. M. P. for Wexford, received 
 his baronetcy (which is now extinct) on June 3d, 1780. He was 
 a commissioner of the Stamp Office. For a notice of Sir F. 
 Flood, see A Itevieto of the Principal Characters of the Irish House 
 of Commons, by Falkland i. e., John Robert Scott, B. D. (Lon- 
 don, 175)5). p. 50; also Barrington's Personal Sketches, vol. i., 
 p. 207. 
 
 t Grattan's Memoirs, vol. ill., p. 167.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 57 
 
 Luttrel came to try his fortune in Ireland, where, 
 having openly joined the Beresford party in their 
 system of coercion, he daily sank lower and lower 
 in popular estimation. Lord Carhampton's utter 
 contempt of public reputation was evidenced in 
 every act. Flippant and offensive in his speech, 
 arrogant, haughty, and overbearing in his man- 
 ner, steadily opposing, on a perverse principle, 
 generous sentiments and public opinion, Lord 
 Carhampton soon acquired an unenviable char- 
 acter arid fame. But even had his lordship the 
 purity of a Grattan or a Fox, he might have vainly 
 attempted to cast off an hereditary stigma of un- 
 popularity which had been originally fastened on 
 his family by Luttrel, the betrayer of King James. 
 
 The picketings, free quarters, half-hangings, 
 floggings, and pitch-cappings, which at length 
 fanned the flame of disaffection into open re- 
 bellion, were understood to be mainly directed 
 by Lord Carhampton. In 179*7 the Rev. Mr. 
 Berwick, under whose windows men had been 
 flogged, and in some instances left for dead, 
 having humanely procured proper surgical treat- 
 ment for some of the sufferers, was sent for by 
 Lord Carharapton, who told him "that he had 
 heard he was interfering with what was going 
 on ; that it was shameful for him ! and that if 
 he persevered he would send him in four days 
 on board the tender" I * Thirteen hundred of 
 the king's subjects had been already transported 
 by Lord Carhampton without trial or sentence, f 
 
 Under the auspices of this peer, who at last 
 attained the dignity of commander-in-chief, the 
 army was permitted to riot in the most demor- 
 
 * Grattan'8 Mfmovrt, vol. lv.. p. 834. 
 
 t Plowclen'8 History of Ireland, vol. 11., p. 379.
 
 58 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 alizing license. Cottages were burnt, peasants 
 shot, their wives and daughters violated. * Gen- 
 eral Sir Ralph Abercrombie viewed the state of 
 the army with disgust, and declared that it had 
 become "formidable to all but the enemy." As 
 a commander, Lord Carhampton was ruthless and 
 capricious. The Lord Lieutenant on several occa- 
 sions interfered, but Lord Carhampton as often 
 refused. to obey the viceroy. f 
 
 In the letter of "An Old Gray-headed Attor- 
 ney," from which we have taken an extract, 
 Lord Carhampton's name is mentioned in con- 
 junction with that of a woman named Lewellyn, 
 who, seventy years 'ago, enjoyed an infamous 
 notoriety in Dublin. A young girl named Mary 
 Neal having been decoyed into a house by Mrs. 
 Lewellyn, met with some ill usage, for which 
 Lord Carhampton got the credit. Against Mrs. 
 Lewellyn, as mistress, of this house, the father 
 of the girl lodged informations. But in order 
 to avert the prosecution, a friend of Mrs. Lew- 
 ellyn, named Edgeworth, trumped up a counter- 
 charge, to the effect that Neal, his wife, and 
 daughter, had robbed a girl, and thus got war- 
 rants against them. " She had interest enough 
 with the jailer," writes Hamilton Rowan, " to 
 procure a constable who, in the middle of the 
 night, took the Neals to Newgate and locked 
 them up in separate cells." Mrs. Neal, it seems, 
 was enciente, and in the morning, on opening the 
 cell, she, and an infant of whom she had been 
 delivered, were found dead. J Neal was tried 
 for the alleged robbery, but the case fell to the 
 
 * Speech of Lord Moira, November 22d, 1797. See also the 
 speeches of Lord Dunsany, Sir L. Parsons, and Mr. Vandeleur. 
 t Harrington's Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, p. 261. 
 j Autobiography of A, Hamilton Rowan, p. 95.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 59 
 
 ground. Meanwhile, Mary Neal remained dan- 
 gerously ill at a public hospital, where, adds Mr. 
 Rowan, " she was protected from the examina- 
 tions and interrogations of some persons of high 
 rank, which did them no credit, in order to intim- 
 idate her, and make her acknowledge that she was 
 one of those depraved young creatures who infest 
 the streets, and thus to defend Lewellyn on her 
 trial." Mrs. Lewellyn was tried for complicity 
 in the violation, and received sentence of death. 
 Edgeworth was convicted of subornation of per- 
 jury, and ordered to stand three times in the 
 pillory, and to be imprisoned for one year. Both 
 culprits were shortly after pardoned and liberated 
 by the viceroy ! Several pamphlets appeared on 
 the subject. Hamilton Rowan wrote An Investiga- 
 tion of the Sufferings of John, Anne, and Mary 
 Neal ; another writer published The Cries of 
 Rlood and Injured Innocence, or the Protection of 
 Vice and the Persecution of Virtue, etc., addressed 
 
 "to his Excellency the Marquis of B ." Dr. 
 
 Boyton also entered the lists and was called out 
 by Lord Carhampton. Rowan espoused the cause 
 of Mary Neal with almost quixotic fervor. He 
 challenged to mortal combat every man who 
 dared to asperse her fame. He accompanied 
 her to the Castle, and presented a petition to 
 the lord lieutenant, praying that, as Lewellyn's 
 "claim to mercy was founded on the principle 
 of Mary Neal being soiled with guilt which her 
 soul abhorred, such a communication of the evi- 
 dence might be made as she may defend her- 
 self against." The viceroy, however, declined 
 to grant the prayer; and the statue of Justice 
 over the Castle gate was thereupon supposed to 
 say:
 
 60 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 M Since Justice is now but a pageant of state, 
 Remove me, I pray you, from this Castle gate. 
 Since the rape of an infant, and blackest of crimes, 
 Are objects of mercy in these blessed times, 
 On the front of new prison, or hell let me dwell in, 
 For a pardon is granted to Madame Lewellyii." 
 
 John Magee declared that the Sham Squire's 
 influence in high quarters had been exerted to the 
 uttermost in effecting the liberation of Mrs. Lew- 
 ellyn and her obliging friend Edgeworth. The 
 Post of the day, in a parody on the Rev. Dr. 
 Burrowes's slang song, " The night afore Larry 
 was stretched," tells us that : 
 
 "Oh I de night afore Edgwort was tried, 
 
 De council dey met in despair, 
 George Jos he was there, and, beside, 
 
 Was a doctor, a lord, and a play'r. * 
 Justice Sham den silence proclaimed, 
 
 De bullies dey all of them hearkened ; 
 Poor Edgwort, siz he, will be framed, 
 His daylights perhaps will be darkened, 
 
 Unless we can lend him a hand." f 
 
 Several stanzas to the same effect are given. 
 At length some further squibs intervening a 
 valentine from Maria Lewellyn to the Sham Squire 
 appeared : 
 
 " With gratitude to you, my friend, 
 Who saved me from a shameful end, 
 
 My heart does overflow ; 
 T was you my liberty restored, 
 T was you that influenced my lord, 
 To you my life I owe." J 
 
 A facetious report received circulation, that 
 Mrs. Lewellyn was about to be allied in marriage 
 to Mr. Higgins ; whereupon Magee's poet ex- 
 claims in pompous mock heroic : 
 
 " Irradiate Phoebus, ruling god of light, 
 Let not thy coursers chase away this night; 
 Thy beams effulgent and resplendent hide, 
 Nor interrupt Francisco and his bride. 
 
 * Counsellor George Joseph Browne and Dr. Houlton, assist- 
 ant editors of the Freeman's Journal : Lord Carhampton, and 
 Richard Daly, lessee of Crow Street theatre. 
 Dublin Evening Post, No. 1757.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 61 
 
 Tbls night, escaped from Jail and jail's alarms, 
 The chaste L^wellyn fills his circling arms ! " * 
 
 Mrs. Lewellyn was not the only frail member 
 of her family. Her sister, who kept a house of 
 infamous notoriety, f fell from one crime to an- 
 other, until at last, in 1765, it was deemed neces- 
 sary to make a public example of her, and the 
 wretched woman was burned alive in Stephen's 
 Green I 
 
 But, perhaps, the wittiest poetic satire on the 
 Sham Squire which appeared in the Post is an 
 ingenious parody, extending to fourteen stanzas, 
 on a then popular slang song. Pandemonium, 
 Belzebub, and a select circle of infernal satel- 
 lites, developing a series of diabolical plans, are 
 described. In the ninth verse Shamado is intro- 
 duced : 
 
 " From Erebus' depths rose each elf, who glowed with Infer- 
 nal desire, 
 
 But their prince judged It fit that himself should alone bold 
 confab with the Squire." 
 
 The eleventh stanza is pithy: 
 
 " T is well, said Shamado, great sire ! yonr law has been al- 
 ways my pleasure' ; 
 
 I conceive what your highness desires, 't is my duty to 
 second the measure. 
 
 The deeper I plunge for your sake, the higher I raise my 
 condition ; 
 
 Then who would his fealty break to a prince who thus 
 feeds his ambition, 
 
 And gratifies every desire ? 
 
 Through life I 've acknowledged thy aid, and as constantly 
 tasted thy bounty. 
 
 From the Newgate solicitor's trade till a sub-sheriff placed 
 in the county. 
 
 Shall I halt in the midst of my sins, or sink fainting or trem- 
 bling before 'em, 
 
 When my honor thick-spreading begins, when, in fine, I 
 am one of the quorum, 
 
 And may in the senate be placed ? " J 
 
 * ZHiblin Evening Pont, No. 17G8. 
 
 t Female immorality seems to have been regularly punished 
 In the last century. In the Freeman's Journal of December 6th, 
 17W5, we read : " A'lice Rice was pilloried at the Tholsel, pursu- 
 ant to her sentence, for keeping a house of ill-fame in Essex 
 Street.'' f Dublin Evening Post, No. 1744.
 
 62 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 In May, 1789, Justice Higgins gave a grand 
 entertainment, to his patrons and supporters, in 
 Stephen's Green. All Dublin spoke of it; the 
 papers of the day record it. Magee ridiculed 
 the Sham Squire's pretensions. He called upon 
 Fitzgibbon, the new chancellor, to reform the 
 magistracy, and, for a statement advanced in the 
 following passage, Magee was soon afte wards 
 prosecuted by Higgins ; but of this anon. "Can 
 it be denied nay, is it not known to every in- 
 dividual in this city that the proprietor of a 
 flagitious gambling-house, the groom-porter of a 
 table which is nightly crowded with all that is 
 vile, base, or blasphemous in a great capital, 
 that the owner and protector of this house is a 
 justice of peace for the county of Dublin ? " * 
 
 Mr. Higgins had no longer any necessity to 
 bribe the judge's coachman to drive him through 
 the streets in the judicial carriage. The Sham 
 Squire had now a gorgeous chariot of his own. 
 In the Post of June 4th, 1789, we find a descrip- 
 tion of it, i. e., a dark chocolate ground, enlivened 
 by a neat border of pale patent yellow ; the arms 
 emblazoned in a capacious mantle on each panel. 
 In front, behind, and under the coachman's foot- 
 board, the crest is handsomely engraved on every 
 buckle of the silver-plated harness, f In this 
 shining equipage, with as puffed a demeanor as 
 Lord Clonmel or Sergeant Toler, Mr. Higgins 
 constantly drove to the courts. We read : " Mr. 
 Higgins appeared in his place yesterday at the 
 courts. He was set down in his own carriage, 
 immediately after that of the attorney-general." J 
 And in a subsequent number it is reproachfully 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1769. f JW&, No. 1770. 
 
 I Ibid., No. 1767.
 
 . THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 63 
 
 remarked that Higgins sits on the same bench 
 with Sergeant Toler, arrayed in chains of gold, 
 and dispensing justice. * The ostentatious man- 
 ner of the Sham, and, above all, his impudent 
 swagger, excited a general feeling of disgust. 
 He openly " boasted his influence at the seat 
 of power, and bragged that the police magis- 
 trates f lived on terms of the closest intimacy 
 with him. "| 
 
 On Sunday, June 16th, 1789, the celebrated 
 pulpit orator, Walter Blake Kirwan, afterwards 
 Dean of Killala, arid originally a Roman Catholic 
 priest, preached an eloquent sermon on morality, 
 in Saint Andrew's Church, and, according to the 
 Post of the day, took occasion, in the course of 
 his homily, to lash the proprietors of the flagitious 
 gambling-house in Crane Lane. Higgins denied 
 that he was the proprietor of it ; but the Post per- 
 sisted in declaring that, if not the avowed owner, 
 he was the secret participator in its profits. This 
 vile pandemonium was said to yield 400 a year 
 to Mr. Iliggins. || In vain were the authorities 
 implored, year after year, to suppress it. At 
 length the following curious "card," as a last 
 resource, was published : 
 
 "The freemen and freeholders of the parish of Saint 
 Andrew's take liberty to demand from Alderman Warren, 
 their representative in parliament, and president at the 
 Police Board, why some measures are not taken by him 
 to immediately and effectually suppress that nursery of 
 vice, that receptacle for vagrants, that hell of Dublin, 
 the gambling-house in Crane Lane. The alderman has 
 been so repeatedly applied to on the subject, that it is 
 high time that freeholders who know and respect tlu-ni- 
 jelves should not longer be trifled with. Reports are 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1779. t /*. No- 1783. 
 
 } Ibid., NO. 1760. { Ibid., No. 1777. || Ibid., No. 1788.
 
 64 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 now current, and circulated with a confidence that ren- 
 ders inattention somewhat more than censurable. A 
 magistrate and a city representative ought to be above 
 suspicion. The freeholders are aware that infamous 
 house is not in their district, yet they know how their 
 representative ought to act, whether as a man or a magis- 
 trate. His future conduct shall alone determine their 
 votes and influence." * 
 
 Weeks rolled over, and still nothing was done. 
 At length a correspondent, who signed himself 
 " An Attorney," threw out the following astute 
 inuendo : "Alderman Nat and Level Low are in 
 gratitude bound not to disturb the gambling-house 
 in Crane Lane, as the Sham is very indulgent to 
 them by not calling in two judgments which he 
 has on their lands." f 
 
 The sumptuousness of Mr. Francis Higgins's 
 entertainments continued to be the town talk. 
 Judges, as we are assured by Magee, revelled at 
 his board. J The police magistrates basked in 
 the sunshine of his smile ; but it is at least grat- 
 ifying to learn that there were some high legal 
 functionaries who indignantly scouted the Sham 
 Squire's pretensions. Magee observes, "To the 
 honor of Lord Fitzgibbon 7dare), be it recorded 
 that he never dined with Higgins on his public 
 days, or suffered his worship to appear at any 
 table which his presence dignified." || 
 
 Higgins, meanwhile, surrounded by a swarm 
 of toadies and expectants for place, with a loose 
 gown wrapped like a toga around him, would 
 sometimes swagger through the hall of the old 
 Four Courts. He is traditionally described as 
 having been one of the ugliest men in existence, 
 and the following contemporary portrait, though 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1756. f -TWd-> No. 1789. 
 
 \ Ibid., No. 1756. Ibid., No. 1776. || Ibid., No. 1798.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 65 
 
 somewhat exaggerated, serves to confirm that ac- 
 count : 
 
 " Through the long hall an universal hum 
 Proclaims, at length, the mighty man is come. 
 Clothed in a morning-gown of many a hue, 
 "With one sleeve ragged and the other new, 
 While filthy eructations daub his chin 
 With the remaining dregs of last night's gin; 
 With bloated cheek and little swinish eye, 
 And every feature formed to hide a lie. 
 While every nasty vice, enthroned within, 
 Breaks out'in blotches o'er his freckled skin." 
 
 The bard, after describing Enmity, Treach- 
 ery, Duplicity, and other disreputable qualities, 
 adds : 
 
 " And artful, cunning, simpering the while, 
 Conceals them all in one unmeaning smile. 
 
 ******* 
 
 He comes, and round him the admiring throng 
 Catch at the honey dropping from his tongue ; 
 Now promises, excuses, round him fly; 
 Now hopes are born, and hopes as quickly die; 
 Now he from b wds his daily rent receives, 
 And sells indemnity to rogues and thieves." * 
 
 The hall of the Four Courts, through which 
 Francis Higgins was wont to stalk, was not the 
 stately vestibule now known by that name in 
 Dublin. The old Four Courts stood adjacent to 
 Christ Church ; its hall, crowned by an octangular 
 cupola, was long and narrow, and entered by a 
 door leading from the lane known as " Hell." 
 The chancellor, on entering, was always pre- 
 ceded by his mace -bearer and tipstaffs, who 
 were accustomed to call out "High Court of 
 Chancery," upon which the judges rose, and 
 remained standing until the chancellor had taken 
 his seat, f 
 
 Daniel O'Connell had some reminiscences of 
 the old Four Courts and prison. The jailer, it 
 
 * Dublin Evening Port. No. 1746. 
 
 f Gilbert's Dublin, vol. i., pp. 136, 137. 
 
 5
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 will be remembered, was the Sham Squire's 
 father-in-law. 
 
 " As we drove along Skinner's Row, O'Connell pointed 
 out the ruins of the old Four Courts, and showed me 
 where the old jail had stood. ' Father Lube,' said he, 
 ' informed me of the curious escape of a robber from that 
 jail. The rogue was rich, and gave the jailer 120 to 
 let him out. The jailer then prepared for the prisoner's 
 escape in the following manner : he announced that the 
 fellow had a spotted fever, and the rogue shammed sick 
 so successfully that no one suspected any cheat. Mean- 
 while, the jailer procured a fresh corpse, and smuggled 
 it into the prisoner's bed ; while the pseudo-invalid was 
 let out one tine dark night. The corpse, which passed 
 for that of the robber, was decently interred, and the 
 trick remained undiscovered till revealed by the jailer's 
 daughter, long after his death. Father Lube told me,' 
 added O'Connell, ' that the face of the corpse was dap- 
 pled with paint, to imitate the discolorment of a spotted 
 fever.'"* 
 
 To reduce the overcharged importance of the 
 Sham Squire, Magee published, in June, 1787, an 
 outline of his escapade in the family of Mr. Archer. 
 On June 30th, a note appeared from the "reverend 
 gentlemen of Rosemary Lane," stating they had 
 no official or other knowledge of an imposture 
 alleged to have been committed twenty-three 
 years previously on the late Mr. Archer by Mr. 
 Higgins, and adding that, during Mr. Higgins's 
 residence in Smock Alley, his conduct had been 
 always marked with propriety and benevolence. 
 "This sprig of Rosemary," observed the Post, 
 "may serve to revive the fainting innocence of 
 the immaculate convert of Saint Francis." But 
 in the following number a different aspect is given 
 to the matter, thus : "We have it from authority 
 that the advertisement from the reverend geutle- 
 
 * Personal Recollections of O>ConneU t by W. J. O'Neil Daunt, 
 vol. i., p. HO.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 67 
 
 men of Rosemary Lane chapel is a sham ; for con- 
 firmation of which we refer the inquirer to any of 
 the reverend gentlemen of said chapel."* How 
 far this may be in accordance with the truth it is 
 not easy to determine. 
 
 Mr. Higgins was not without some redeeming 
 qualities. He regularly attended divine service 
 in the Protestant church of Saint Andrew, and 
 he occasionally dispensed sums in charity. But 
 for all this he received little thanks and less credit. 
 In a trenchant poem levelled at Higgins, number- 
 ing some fifty lines, and alleged to be from the 
 pen of Hussey Burgh, we find : 
 
 "The cunning culprit understands the times, 
 Stakes private bounty against public crimes, 
 And conscious of the means he took to rise, 
 mm He buys a credit with the spoils of vice." f 
 
 The Sham Squire's duties were "onerous and 
 various. He not only presided, as we are told, 
 with the subsequent Lord Norbury, at Kilmain- 
 ham, | but often occupied the bench of the Lord 
 Mayor's Court, and there investigated and con- 
 firmed the claims of persons to the rights and 
 privileges of freemen. 
 
 Mr. Higgins had, ere long, nearly the entire of 
 the newspaper press of Dublin in his influence ; |[ 
 to quote Magee's words, they were all "bowing 
 down to Baal,"f or as Magee's poet described 
 the circumstance : 
 
 intt " Now, hireling scribes, exert the venal pen, 
 And In concerto shield this best of men." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " Nay, e'en Shamado is himself on fire, 
 And humdrum Houlton tunes his wooden lyre; 
 But virtue their resentment cannot dread. 
 And truth, though trampled on, will raise her head."* 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1782. t fbid., No. 1794. 
 
 t Ibid.. No. 177. $ Ibid., No. 1789. II Ibid., K< 
 
 t Ibid., No. 1796. ** Ibid. t No. 1743.
 
 68 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Dr. Houlton, the Sham Squire's sub-editor, 
 whose name frequently appears in the local 
 squibs of the day, is noticed in Hoaden's Life 
 of Mrs. Jordan as "a weak man with an Edin- 
 burgh degree in physic, who wrote for a morning 
 paper, and contributed a prologue so absurd that 
 it has been banished from the play." * From 
 Raymond's Life of Dermody we learn that Houl- 
 ton humanely befriended the unfortunate poet. 
 The doctor lost nothing by his connection with 
 Higgins. The same work informs us that he 
 received " a medical appointment under the 
 Irish government," and that his house in Dub- 
 lin was as showy as his style, having been put 
 through a process of decoration by Daly's head 
 scene painter, f The Literary Calendar of Living 
 Authors, published in 1816, mentions that Dr. 
 Houlton was a native of England, " practised 
 in Ireland with some success," brought out sun- 
 dry musical pieces on the Dublin stage, wrote 
 poems for the newspapers and songs for Vaux- 
 hall ; and, through the friendly patronage of 
 Hook, brought out at the Drury Lane theatre, 
 in the year 1800, his opera called Wilmore Castle, 
 which having been damned, he retorted in a pam- 
 phlet entitled A Review of the Musical Drama 
 of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, tending to de- 
 velop a system of private influence injurious to 
 the public. 8vo. 1801. 
 
 The doctor, as a poetaster, was useful on the 
 Sham Squire's newspaper, which freely employed 
 satirical poetry in assailing the reputation of in- 
 dividuals. " 
 
 In 1789 the bill furnished by Higgins to the 
 
 * Boaden's Life of Mrs. Jordan, vol. ii., p. 62. 
 f Raymond's Life of Dermody, vol. i., p. 26, et seq.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 69 
 
 Treasury amounted to 2,000 ; but the viceroy, 
 we are told, cut it down to 1,000. * 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1761. This payment may have been 
 on account of proclamations inserted as advertisements ; but 
 the Duke of Wellington's correspondence, when Irish secre- 
 tary, makes no disguise that all money paid on such grounds 
 was for purposes of corruption. This arrangement was par- 
 tially relinquished from the death of Pitt; but in 1809, on the 
 restoration of the old Tory regime, we And a Dublin journalist 
 petitioning for a renewal. Sir A. Wellesley, addressing .Sir 
 Charles Saxton, the under secretary, alluded to " the measures 
 which I had in contemplation in respect to newspapers in Ire- 
 land. It is quite impossible to leave them entirely to themselves ; and 
 we have probably carried our reforms in respect to publishing 
 proclamations as far as they will go, excepting only that we 
 might strike off from the list of those permitted to publish 
 proclamations in the newspapers, both in town and country, 
 which have the least extensive circulation, and which depend. 
 I believe, entirely upon the money received on account of 
 proclamations. / am one of those } however, who think that it will 
 be very dangerous to allow the press in Ireland to take care of itself, 
 particularly as it has so long been in leading strings. I would , there- 
 fore, recommend that in proportion as you will diminish the 
 profits of the better kind of newspapers, .... on account 
 of proclamations, you shall increase the sum they are allowed to 
 charge on account of advertisements and other publications. It is 
 absolutely necessary, however, to keep the charge wiJthin the 
 sum of ten thousand pounds per annum, voted by parliament, 
 which probably may easily be done when some newspapers 
 will cease to publish proclamations, and the whole will re- 
 ceive a reduced sum on that account, even though an increase 
 should be made on account of advertisements to the accounts of 
 some. It will also be very necessary that the account of (hit 
 money should be of a description always to be produced before parlia- 
 ment* Ever yours, etc., AKTHCB WELLESLEY."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lord Clonmel and the Fiats. Richard Daly. Persecution of 
 Magee. A Strong Bar. Caldbeck, Duigenan.and Egaii. 
 The Volunteers to the Rescue. Hamilton Rowan. An 
 Artist arrested for Caricaturing the Sham Squire. More 
 Squibs. The Gambling Hell. Inefficiency of the Police. 
 
 Magisterial Delinquencies Exposed. Watchmen and 
 Watches. Mr. Gonne's Chronometer. Juggling Judges. 
 
 Outrages in the fate of day. Ladies unable to walk the 
 streets. Sedan Chairs. Unholy Compacts. 
 
 MAGEE continued in his efforts to take down the 
 Sham Squire's pride and swagger. Squib after 
 squib exploded : 
 
 " There lives a Squire near Stephen's Green, 
 
 Crockledum he, croekledum ho, 
 And in Newgate once was seen, 
 
 Bolted down quite low. 
 And though he now is a just-ass, * 
 There was a day when he heard mass, * 
 Being converted by a lass, 
 
 There to cross and go. 
 On stocking-making he can .jaw, 
 
 Clockety heel, tippety toe; 
 Now an attorney is at law, 
 
 Six and eightpence, ho I f 
 
 These squibs Mr. Higgins regarded as so many 
 "infernal machines/' and he resolved to show his 
 own power, and to be revenged at the same time. 
 Lord Chief Justice Clonmel was known to enter- 
 tain a strong prejudice against the press, espec- 
 ially such newspapers as adversely criticized the 
 administration. In the authorized report of the 
 parliamentary debates on April 8th, 1784, his views 
 on the subject are forcibly but curtly conveyed, 
 
 * Until 1793, Catholics were excluded from the magisterial 
 bench, 
 t Dublin Evening Post, No. 1796.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 71 
 
 viz. : " The prime sergeant expressed his thorough 
 detestation of newspapers, and public assassins of 
 character." * We have already seen that Lord 
 Clonmel,- after his elevation to the bench and peer- 
 age, maintained friendly relations with Higgins, 
 in memory of auld lang syne. His lordship's 
 house, observes a correspondent, stood on the 
 west side of Harcourt Street, near the corner of 
 Montague Street. He possessed also very exten- 
 sive pleasure grounds on the east side of Harcourt 
 Street, stretching behind the entire south side of 
 Stephen's Green. A subterraneous passage un- 
 der f Harcourt Street opened communication with 
 those grounds, which joined the garden at the 
 rear of Francis Higgins's mansion in Stephen's 
 Green ; and there is a tradition to the effect that 
 some of the chief's inquisitive neighbors often 
 used to see him making his way through the pleas- 
 ure grounds for the purpose of conferring with 
 the Sham Squire. | 
 
 Higgins is said to have directed Lord Clonmel's 
 attention to Magee's lampoons, in many of which 
 the chief himself figured subordinately. His lord- 
 ship expressed indignation at liberties so unwar- 
 rantable, and seems to have encouraged the Sham 
 Squire to follow up a plan of legal retribution, 
 which the active brain of Higgins had been for 
 some time concocting. 
 
 In the various onslaughts which Magee made 
 upon the Sham Squire, some passing prods were 
 bestowed on Richard Daly, the lessee of Crow 
 Street theatre, on Charles Brennan, a writer for 
 the Freeman's Journal, as well as on a certain 
 member of the female sex, with all of whom Hig- 
 
 * Msh Parl. Dtbaten, vol. iii.,p. 155. 
 
 f MS. Letter of Dr. T , 20th August, 1859. 
 
 J Tradition communicated by M S , Eaft.
 
 72 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 gins was believed to be on terms of close intimacy. 
 In June, 1789, four fiats', marked with the exorbi- 
 tant sum of 7,800, were issued against Magee 
 by Lord Clonmel in the King's Bench, at the suit 
 of Francis Higgins and the three other persons 
 to whom we alluded. The Evening Post of June 
 30th, 1789, announces that "Magee lies on the 
 couch of sickness in the midst of a dungeon's 
 gloom," and publishes a long appeal from Magee 
 to Lord Clonmel, which closes with the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 "I again demand at your hands, John Scott, Baron 
 Earlsfort,* a trial by peers, by ray fellows, free and in- 
 dependent Irishmen. Thou hast dragged a citizen by 
 thy officers thrice through the streets of this capital as 
 a felon. Thou hast confined before trial, and hast de- 
 prived a free subject of his franchise, that franchise for 
 which his fathers bled on the walls of Derry, the banks 
 of the Boyne, and the plains of Aughrim. 
 
 "John Scott, Baron Earlsfort, I. again demand from 
 thee, thou delegate of my sovereign lord the king, a 
 trial by jury." 
 
 On July 3d, 1789, the trial of John Magee, at 
 the suit of Francis Higgins, was heard before 
 Chief Justice Clonmel. The Sham Squire, not- 
 withstanding his reliance on the partiality of the 
 judge and jury, found it advisable to retain a pow- 
 erful bar, which included the prime sergeant, Mr. 
 Caldbeck, K. C. ; f John Toler, afterwards Lord 
 Norbury ; J Sergeant Duquerry, Recorder Burs- 
 
 * Mr. Scott was created Baron Earlsfort in 1784, a Viscount in 
 1789, and Earl of Clonmel in 1789. 
 
 f Caldbeck seems to have been as small as Tom Moore, and 
 a great wit. His great-grandson, Mr. Wm. Francis Cuklbeck, 
 has given us the following traditional anecdote of him : " But 
 you little vagabond," said the opposite counsel one day, " if 
 you don't be cautious I '11 put you in my pocket." " Then I can 
 tell you, my fine fellow," retorted Caldbeck, "whenever you 
 do, you '11 have more law in your pocket than ever you had in 
 your head." 
 
 1 For a notioe of Lord Norbury, see Appendix. 
 
 I Sergeant Duquerry, a forensic orator of great power, " died
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 73 
 
 ton, * Dr. Patrick Duigenan, f John, nicknamed 
 "Bully" Egan, J George J. Browne (Higgins's 
 collaborator), with Messrs. Ponsonby, Curran, 
 Johnston, and Hon. S. Butler. That the last 
 three persons should have accepted briefs in the 
 case seems singular, considering their democratic 
 bias. Cm-ran' s name is the history of his life ; 
 Mr. Johnston's is nearly forgotten ; but we may 
 remind the reader that although a judge, he li- 
 belled the Hardwicke administration, was triexl 
 for the offence, retired from the bench, and short- 
 ly before his death published a treasonable pam- 
 phlet. The Hon. Simon Butler became in 1792 a 
 leading member of the Society of United Irish- 
 men, was fined 500, and condemned to a pro- 
 tracted imprisonment in Newgate. No good 
 report of the trial, Higgins v. Magee, is acces- 
 sible. We endeavored to give the Sham Squire 
 the benefit of his own report, but the file of the 
 Freeman for 1789 does not exist in Dublin, so far 
 as we know, not even in the office of that journal. 
 A very impartial report may be found in the Cork 
 Evening Post of the day, from which we gather 
 that Higgins proved the infamous gambling house 
 in Crane Lane to belong to a Miss J. Darley. 
 This evidence, however, did not alter Magee's 
 
 at the top first," like Swift, Plnnket, Magee, Scott. Moore, and 
 many a stately oak. For several years before bis death, l)u- 
 querry groped in utter idlotcy. 
 
 * Bercsford Burston will bo remembered as the early friend 
 of Moore. See Memoirs of Moore, vol. 1., p. 79. 
 
 t Dr. Patrick Duigenan. originally a Catholic of low degree, 
 having " conformed." ana continued year after year to oppose 
 the Catholic clnims, with a virulence and violence now almost 
 incredible, was appointed by the Archbishops of Armagh and 
 Dublin to preside as their judge in the ecclesiastical courts. 
 He was twice married, and each time to a Catholic. He died 
 in 1816. 
 
 t John Egan's proficiency In vulgar wit and rough Invective 
 is traditionally notorious. If a somewhat unregulated indul- 
 gence in this tendency obtained for Mm many enemies in
 
 74 THE SHAM SQUIEE, AND 
 
 opinion, and he continued to insist that the Sham 
 Squire was a secret participator in its spoils. 
 
 Poor Magee had not much chance against a bar 
 so powerful and a judge so hostile. Strictly speak- 
 ing, he had no counsel retained ; but we find that 
 " for the traverser there appeared, as amid curice, 
 Mr. Lysaght, and Mr. A. Browne of Trinity Col- 
 lege." The latter gentleman, member for the 
 University of Dublin, and subsequently prime 
 sergeant of Ireland, made a very able statement 
 on the law of fiats. As a lawyer, Browne was 
 far superior to Lord Clonmel, whose indecently 
 rapid promotion by the government was owing 
 solely to his parliamentary services. In the 
 following session of parliament Mr. Browne, in 
 conjunction with Mr., afterwards Chancellor, 
 Ponsonby, brought forward a masterly exposure 
 of the most unconstitutional conduct adopted by 
 Lord Clonmel at the instance of Francis Hig-gins. 
 This exposure, with its salutary results, shall be 
 noticed at the fitting period ; but meanwhile we 
 will introduce here a few of the salient points in 
 Mr. Browne's able statement of the law of fiats. 
 
 He expressed his amazement that a nation so - 
 astute in guarding through her statute book every 
 avenue to oppression, should have passed unno- 
 
 early life, he had the satisfaction of finally making all Ireland 
 his debtor, by his truly independent conduct at the period of 
 the Union. Trampling down the metaphorical sophistries of 
 the government spokesman, "he galloped," writes Sir Jonah 
 Barrington, " like a dray-horse, over all his opponents, plung- 
 ing and kicking, and overthrowing nil before him." Tempting 
 proposals were made to him if he would support the Union. 
 He was offered to be made Baron of the Exchequer, with :>,5UO 
 a year; but Egan, although far from being rich, spurned the 
 venal offer, and died soon after in comparative want. 
 
 We are tempted to append two not. uncharacteristic anec- 
 dotes of John Egan, which are now published for the first time. 
 Egan resided at Kilmacud House, and was fond of bathing at 
 the Blackrock. One morning, having violently flung his 
 enormous carcass into the water, he came iu co'llision with.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 75 
 
 ticed and left unguarded this broad road to tyr- 
 anny, lie was amazed how it could suffer a 
 plaintiff to require bail to the amount of perhaps 
 20,000, where very probably the damages after- 
 wards found by a jury, if any, might not be twenty 
 pence. Having shown that fiats, in Lord Clon- 
 mel's acceptation of the term, were utterly un- 
 known to the common law, he added : "I am not 
 sure whether, if Francis Higgins abused his ad- 
 versary's counsel for two years together, they 
 would be able to swear to two pennyworth of 
 damages ; and therefore, when any man swears 
 so positively, either he is particularly vulnerable, 
 and more liable to damage than other men, or he 
 is a bold swearer, and the judge ought not to 
 listen to him." Mr. Browne cited Blackstone, 
 Baines, Gilbert, and a vast array of high legal 
 authorities, to* show the unconstitutional act of 
 Lord Clonmel in issuing fiats against Magee to 
 the amount of 7,800. It appears that even in 
 the case of assault and battery, moderate fiats 
 had been refused by the bench. Having, with 
 great erudition, discharged an important argu- 
 ment, to show that special bail in this and similar 
 actions was not requirable, Mr. Browne proceeded 
 to prove that, even allowing it to be requirable, 
 the present amount could not be justified by 
 
 some other person who was performing a similar lavement. 
 " Sir," Hcreamecl a mouth out of the water, " I presume, vou are. 
 not aware against whom you have so rudely jostled." " I did n't 
 care if you were Old NiY-k," replied Kgun, floundering al>out 
 like a great sea monster. " You are a bear, sir," coi.iinu<-d til-- 
 mouth, "and I am the Archbishop of Dublin." "Well," re- 
 torted Egan, not in the least abashed, " in order to prevent tin- 
 recurrence of such accidents, I would simply recommend you 
 to get your mitre painted on your back." 
 
 Egan drank hard; and some clients, anxious to secure his 
 professional services, made a stipnlation with him, that no 
 wine was to be drank previous to the defence. Egan agreed, 
 but casuistically evaded the engagement, by eating largo 
 quantities of bread soaked in wine.
 
 76 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 reason or precedent. The bail could only with 
 propriety amount to such a sum as would be 
 sufficient to insure an appearance. To imagine 
 that Mr. Magee would abscond, and abandon his 
 only mean's of earning a livelihood, was simply 
 ridiculous. 
 
 Mr. Browne censured the manner in which Lord 
 Clonmel prejudiced the case, "telling the jury 
 before the trial began what the damages were, 
 which in the opinion of the judge they ought to 
 give"; and Mr. Browne adduced high legal au- 
 thorities in proof of the error committed by Lord 
 Clonmel. 
 
 He then contrasted some of the few cases on 
 record, in which fiats were issued, with the cause 
 then under discussion. Sir William Drake, a 
 member of parliament, was charged with being 
 a traitor. The words against him were of the 
 most scandalous nature. His life and property 
 were at stake : he brought his action, and on 
 application special bail from defendant was re- 
 fused. Another case was that of Duke Schom- 
 berg, a peer high in favor of his king and coun- 
 try. He was accused by a miscreant named 
 Murray with having cheated the sovereign and 
 the army. Can any words be conceived more 
 shocking when applied to such a man ? 
 
 Chief Justice Holt, as great a friend to the 
 Revolution and to the liberties of the country 
 as ever sat on a judicial bench, felt the same 
 indignation, but he could not prejudice the 
 cause. He was ready to punish the man, if 
 convicted, but he did not consider him con- 
 victed beforehand. He ordered Murray to find 
 bail, two sureties in 25 each, and the man in 
 100 1 In the last generation, 50 for a duke ;
 
 THE BLOODMUUXDS OP '98. 77 
 
 in the present, 7,800 for an adventurer and a 
 player ! * 
 
 At the close of the prosecution against Magee 
 at the suit of Francis Higgins, it was made the 
 subject of bitter complaint by the prisoner that 
 he had been refused the privilege of challenging 
 his jurors, and the benefit of the Habeas Corpus 
 Act, f 
 
 The lord chief justice having summed up and 
 charged, the jury retired, but returned in half 
 an hour to ask the bench whether they might not 
 find the traverser guilty of printing and publish- 
 ing, without holding him responsible for the libel. 
 His lordship replied that the jury had nothing to 
 do with the law in this case, and that it was only 
 the fact of publishing they had to consider. The 
 jury then desired a copy of the record, but the 
 request was. refused. Having retired a second 
 time; the jury at length brought in their verdict, 
 " Guilty of printing and publishing." Lord Earls- 
 fort declined to accept their verdict. 
 
 One of the jurors replied that the difficulty they 
 found in giving a different verdict was, that they 
 could not reconcile it to their consciences to find a 
 man guilty, under a criminal charge, who had not 
 been permitted to confront his accusers or his 
 jurors, or to listen to the accusations against 
 him, that he might be prepared for his defence. 
 Therefore, as the jury had only seen the accusa- 
 tions on one side, without the defence of the ac- 
 cused, they could not feel themselves warranted 
 in pronouncing a man guilty under a charge of 
 criminal intentions. 
 
 Lord Earlsfort replied that the very reason why 
 
 * Browne's arguments in the King's Bench on the subject of 
 admitting John Magee to common bail. Dublin : Gilbert, iTUO. 
 t Dublin Evening Post, No. 17&t
 
 78 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 they ought not to hesitate was the one they used 
 in support of their scruples, namely, "the trav- 
 erser's making 1 no 'defence to the charge against 
 him." He desired that the jury might again re- 
 tire. A juror said that they had already given 
 the matter full consideration, but the chief justice 
 interrupted him, and the jury were ordered to 
 return to their room. 
 
 Counsellor Browne, M. P. for the College, ad- 
 dressed a few words to the bench, but was 
 stopped short by his lordship, who declared 
 that he had already given the matter full con- 
 sideration, and had made up his mind. The jury 
 having again deliberated, returned with a verdict 
 of guilty. * 
 
 This prosecution did not muzzle Magee. In the 
 very number of his journal which contains a report 
 of the trial, reference is made to "the marquis 
 who, with that condescending goodness that agi- 
 tates his heart when he can be of any use to Mr. 
 F. .Higgins, his familiar friend, and he who in 
 former days contributed not less to the festivity 
 of his board, than generously catered for his 
 pleasure," etc. And in Magee' s Evening Packet, 
 Shamado is again reminded of the awkward fact 
 "that he has been at a public trial convicted of 
 crimes which the cordial squeeze of his friend, 
 Jack Ketch, alone can expiate." f 
 
 The trial of Daly v. Magee soon followed. Dr. 
 Patrick Duigenan, " Bully Egan," with Messrs. 
 Duquerry, Smith, Burston, Butler, Brown, Flem- 
 ing, Ball, Curran, and Green were retained for the 
 prosecution. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy, treasurer to the Theatre Eoyal, 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1784. 
 t Magev's Evening Packet, No. 621.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 79 
 
 Crow Street, was examined as a witness for Mr. 
 Daly. We extract a few passages : 
 
 " Q. Were you ever witness to any riots in the theatre ? 
 A. Very often. The people used to cry out from the gal- 
 lery, ' A clap for Magee, the man of Ireland ! ' 'A groan 
 for the Sham ! ' ' A groan for the Dasher [Daly] ! ' ' Out 
 with the lights, out with the lights ! ' I have frequently, 
 at the risk of my life, attempted to stop those riots." 
 
 It further appeared that men used sometimes to 
 come into the galleries with bludgeons and pistols. 
 Mr. Dawson, a person whom Mr. Daly was in the 
 habit of sending to London, with a view to the 
 engagement of actors, was next examined. It 
 transpired that Daly, in consequence of his un- 
 popularity, found a difficulty in obtaining per- 
 formers. 
 
 " Q. Is Mr. Higgins proprietor of any paper? A. I do 
 not know. Q. Is he the proprietor of the Freeman's Jour- 
 nal f A.I have heard so. Q. Have you read the Free- 
 man's Journal f A. Sometimes. Q Has there not been 
 the same constant series of recriminations between Mr. 
 Hiirgins and Mr. Magee? A. I have seen dashes on each 
 side. Q. Is there not a very particular intimacy between 
 Mr. Daly and Mr. Higgins? A. Have 1 a right, my lord, 
 to answer that question? 
 
 "Court. No; I must object to that question. I think 
 it wrong to endeavor to involve this case in any party or 
 prejudice, etc. 
 
 " Counsel for the defendant. Do you believe yourself 
 that there was any particular intimacy between Mr. Daly 
 and Mr. Higgins? A. Sir, I know of no particular in- 
 timacy, any more than between you and the many gentle- 
 men who are round you. 
 
 " Court. You have answered very properly and clearly. 
 
 "Q. There is a friendship between them? A. The 
 same sort of friendship which subsists between man and 
 man." * 
 
 There certainly was no stint of hard words be- 
 
 * Trial of John Magee for Libel on R. Daly. Dublin, 1790, pp. 
 30, 31.
 
 80 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 tween the rival editors. Magee insinuated that 
 Ryder, the former lessee, had been tricked out of 
 the patent by a manoeuvre of the Sham Squire, 
 and that Higgins and Daly conjointly held the 
 license.* But of any deliberate act of dishon- 
 esty Daly was, we believe, incapable, although 
 lax enough in other respects. 
 
 George Ponsonby conducted the defence. He 
 ridiculed Daly's claims to damages ; and added 
 that for the torrent of abuse which had been 
 thrown out against Magee in the Freeman no 
 redress was sought. Mr. Higgins had ridiculed 
 Astley with impunity in the Freeman's Journal; 
 and for pursuing the same course towards Daly, 
 8,000 damages were claimed against Magee. 
 
 Damages were laid at 8,000 ; but the jury con- 
 sidered that 200, with sixpence costs, was ample 
 compensation for the wounded feelings of Mr. 
 Daly. 
 
 The Evening Post steadily declared that the up- 
 roar in the galleries of the theatre was due rather 
 to Higgins and Daly than to Magee. In July, 
 1789, we are told that two men named Valentine 
 and Thomas Higgins, wool-scribblers, were "very 
 active in several public-houses in and about the 
 Liberty, endeavoring to persuade working people 
 to accept tickets for the theatre, with express direc- 
 tions to raise plaudits for Daly and Higgins, and 
 to groan Magee." f 
 
 A few evenings after, an immense troop of 
 "Liberty Boys," in the Higgins interest, pro- 
 ceeded to Crow Street theatre, marshalled by a 
 limb of the law named Lindsay. J 
 
 "The general order Is, knock clown every man who 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1794. t I & Nos. 1787, 1788. 
 
 I Ibid., No. 1785.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 81 
 
 groaifs for the Sham Squire or the Dasher ; and you have 
 the guards at your back to take every man into custody 
 who resists you. On Tuesday night this party, highly 
 whiskyfied, forced their way to the front row of the gal- 
 lery, struck and insulted several of the audience there, 
 and wounded the delidkcy of the rest of the house by 
 riotous vociferation and obscenity. Last night several 
 people were knocked down by them ; and some of the 
 very persons who were seduced from the Liberty to the 
 theatre, on their refusal to join in. the purpose, were 
 charged to the custody of constables for disrespectful 
 language to the said Lindsay, and others were pursued 
 as far as Anglesey Street, for the same cause." * 
 
 On Magee's trial, the prosecuting counsel pro- 
 duced the manuscript of an attack upon the Sham 
 Squire, in Magee's handwriting. Magee, who 
 was at first somewhat surprised at the unexpected 
 production of his autograph, soon discovered by 
 what means these papers got out of his hands. 
 Brennan, f who had been a writer for the Post 
 until 1788, when he joined the Freeman, conveyed 
 to the Sham Squire several of Magee's private 
 papers, to which, when retained in the office of 
 the Post, at a salary of 100 a year, he had easy 
 access. | Brennan certainly swore to Magee's 
 handwriting on the trial. On the evening that 
 the Post advanced the above statement, " Bren- 
 nan came to Magee's house concealed in a sedan 
 chair, and armed with a large oak bludgeon, and 
 after rapping at the door and being answered by 
 a maid servant, he inquired for Mr. Magee with 
 the design of assassinating him, had he been in 
 the way; but being told he was not at home, 
 Brennan rushed into the shop, and with a blud- 
 geon broke open and utterly demolished several 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, Xo. 1788. t Itd., Ko. 1704. 
 
 t Brennan figures in the book of Secret Service Money Expen- 
 diture as a recipient, though not to a large extent. 
 
 6
 
 82 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 locked glass cases, tog-ether with the sashwork 
 and glass of the interior glazed doors, as well 
 as the windows facing the street. Brennan, in 
 making his escape, was observed by a man named 
 McNamara, who attempted to seize him ; but 
 Brennan knocked him down by three blows of 
 the bludgeon, and then kicked him unmercifully. * 
 
 Brennan was committed to Newgate by Alder- 
 man Carleton ; but next day was set at liberty on 
 the bail of two of Daly's officials, f This rather 
 intemperate gentleman, however, had not been an 
 hour at large when he proceeded to Magee's 
 house in College Green, armed with a sword, but 
 happily did not succeed in finding the object of 
 his search. | 
 
 A word about the " Liberty Boys," who, as 
 Magee records, came forward as the paid par- 
 tisans of Higgins, opens another somewhat sug- 
 gestive glimpse of the state of society in Dublin 
 at the period of which we write. Between these 
 men and the butchers of Ormond Market, both 
 noted for turbulent prowess, a feud long sub- 
 sisted. On this stronghold the Liberty Boys 
 frequently made descents ; a formidable battle 
 raged, often for days, during which time the 
 bridges across the Lifiey, from Essex Bridge to 
 "Bloody Bridge," were taken and retaken. Up- 
 wards of a thousand men were usually engaged ; 
 business was paralyzed ; traffic suspended ; every 
 shop closed ; the executive looked on inert ; Lord 
 Mayor Emerson was appealed to, but with a ner- 
 vous shrug declined to interfere. The butchers, 
 armed with huge knives and cleavers, did awful 
 havoc ; the quays were strewed.with the maimed 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1796. t Ibid., No. 1726. 
 
 | Ibid., No. 1792.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 83 
 
 and mangled. But the professional slaughterers 
 were not always victorious. On one of the many 
 occasions when these battles raged, the butchers, 
 who displayed a banner inscribed " Guild of the 
 B. V. Mary," were repulsed by the Liberty Boys, 
 near Francis Street, and driven down Michael's 
 Hill with loss. The Liberty Boys drank to the 
 dregs their bloody cup of victory. Exasperated 
 by the " houghing" with which the butchers had 
 disabled for life many of their opponents, the 
 Liberty Boys rushed into the stalls and slaughter- 
 houses, captured the butchers, hooked them up 
 by the chin in lieu of their meat, and then left the 
 unfortunate men wriggling " alone in their glory." 
 The Liberty Boys were mostly weavers, the rep- 
 resentatives of French artisans who, alter the" 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, emigrated to Ire- 
 laud. The late Mr. Brophy, state dentist in Dub- 
 lin, to whom the students of local history are 
 indebted for many curious traditional data, told 
 us that in the lifetime of his mother a French 
 patois was spoken in the Liberty quite as much 
 as English.* The author of Ireland Sixty Years 
 Ago furnishes stirring details of the encounters to 
 which we refer ; but he failed to suggest, as we 
 have ventured to do, the origin of the feud. 
 
 "No army, however mighty," said the first 
 Napoleon, addressing St. Cyr, " could resist the 
 songs of Paris." The "Ormond Boys," impelled 
 by a similar policy, followed up their knife-stabs 
 with not less pointed lines. In one song the fol- 
 lowing elegant distitch occurred : 
 
 And we wont leave a weaver alive on the Coombe, 
 But we '11 rip up his tripe bag and burn his loonw 
 Hi rigidi di do dee. 
 
 * Dublin, in those days, possessed a Huguenot church and 
 burial ground. A curious manuscript memoir, in the auto-
 
 84 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 One of the last battles between the Liberty and 
 Ormond Boys took place on May llth, 1790. 
 
 Meanwhile, it became every day more apparent 
 that the Sham Squire was a dangerous man to 
 touch. On July 23d we learn that Mr. James 
 Wright, of Mary's Abbey, was arrested for pub- 
 lishing a caricature likeness of Justice Higgins.* 
 A copy of this picture, representing the Sham 
 Squire standing under a gallows, is now in the 
 
 possession of Dr. W of Dublin. Underneath 
 
 is written, "Belphegor, or the Devil turned Es- 
 quire/' with the following citation from Psalms : 
 "Yet do I remember the time past: I muse 
 upon my works, yea, I exercise myself in the 
 works of wickedness." Nailed to the gibbet is 
 an open copy of the "Infernal Journal," con- 
 taining articles headed "A Panegyric on the 
 Marquis of Misery." "Prize Swearing." "Dr. 
 Dove." "A Defence of Informers" (a prophetic 
 hit). " Sangrado." " Theatre Royal : Ways 
 and Means ; to conclude with the Marker's 
 Ghost."- New Books; Houltqniana, or Mode 
 of Eearing Carrier Pigeons. "f " Bludgeoneer's 
 Pocket Companion." " Marquis de la Fiat." 
 
 The appearance of Higgins, as presented in 
 this print, is blotched, bloated, and repulsive, 
 not unsuggestive of the portraits of Jemmy 
 O'Brien. A cable knotted into a pendent bow 
 appears beneath his chin. Surmounting the pic- 
 ture, as it also did the bench where Higgins 
 
 graph of one of the Huguenot ministers, may be seen in a 
 closet attached to Marsh's Library, Dublin. Among the in- 
 fluential" French who emigrated to Ireland on the revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes, may be mentioned Le Poer Trenche 
 (anceHor of Lord Clancarty), the LaTouches, Saurins, Vig- 
 nolles, LaBartes, DuBedats, Montmorencys, Perrins, etc. 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1792. 
 
 t In those days a good deal of lottery stock-jobbing took 
 place through the agency of carrier pigeons.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 85 
 
 sometimes administered the justice he had out- 
 raged, is "Fiat justitia." 
 
 With a sort of barbed harpoon Magee goaded 
 "the Sham" and his friends. In addition to the 
 Post, he attacked him in Magee's Weekly Packet. 
 The number for Saturday, October 17th, 1789, 
 contains another caricature likeness of the Sham 
 Squire, in a woodcut, entitled "The Sham in 
 Lavejader." He is made to say, " I 'm no Sham ; 
 I 'm a Protestant justice ; I '11 Newgate the dog." 
 At his feet his colleague, Brennan, is recognized 
 in the shape of a cur-dog. Behind him stands 
 Mrs. Lewellyn, in the short petticoats, high-heeled 
 shoes, large hat, and voluminous ringlets of the 
 day. Under his feet is a letter, addressed " Mrs. 
 Lewellyn, Cell, Newgate. Free. Carhampton " ; 
 while the viceroy, Lord Buckingham, complacently 
 presiding, is made to address Higgins as " Frank." 
 
 Verses, painfully personal, accompanied the 
 picture, of which the following will suffice as 
 a sample : 
 
 " He that put you in lavender must wish you well, 
 You 'vc got by nature, Sham, a fatal smell; 
 A dead f flluviii, which some comic bard 
 To the burning of bones on the strand once compared.'* 
 
 Conceived in a more legitimate vein of sarcasm 
 was another piece : 
 
 " In a poem, I think called The Author, you '11 find 
 Two lines, my dear sham, which occurred to my mind, 
 When the J'aclci-t 1 saw, and your worship saw there, 
 And your worship so like to yourself did appear; 
 They were written by Churchill, and though they displease, 
 You must own they are apt, and the line's, Sbam, are these: 
 'Grown old in vllliiny, and doad to grace, 
 Hell in his heart, and Tyburn in his face.' " * 
 
 At a meeting of the Dublin Volunteers on July 
 10th, 1789, it was resolved: "That, as citizens 
 and men, armed in defence of our liberties and 
 
 * ^Toffee's Evening Packet, October 17tb, 1783.
 
 86 THE SHAM SQtJIKE, AND 
 
 properties, we cannot remain unconcerned spec- 
 tators of any breach of that constitution which is 
 the glory of the empire. That the violation of 
 the fundamental laws of these kingdoms occa- 
 sioned the melancholy catastrophe of 1648 ; that 
 the violation of these laws brought on the glorious 
 Revolution of 1688 ; that we look upon the trial 
 by jury, with all the privileges annexed to it, to 
 be a most essential part of those laws ; that we 
 highly approve of the firm conduct of our worthy 
 fellow-citizen, on a late transaction, in support of 
 those gifts." 
 
 Archibald Hamilton Rowan, then a highly influ- 
 ential personage, addressed a public letter to Ma- 
 gee, saying : " It is with regret I have beheld you 
 deprived of the inalienable rights of every British 
 subject on your late trial. I have no doubt but that 
 such arbitrary conduct as marked the judge who 
 presided on that day will be severely punished, 
 and that you, sir, will not be so wanting to your 
 fellow-subjects as not to bring it before the proper 
 tribunal. This being the cuse of every man, it 
 ought to be supported from the common purse, 
 and not be an injury to your private circum- 
 stances. If any subscription for that purpose 
 should be accepted by you, I request you will 
 set down my name for twenty-five guineas." 
 
 It is a notable instance of Magee's independence 
 of character, that he declined to accept one far- 
 thing of the public subscription which had just 
 been inaugurated, with such promise of success, 
 in his honor. This spirited determination was 
 the more remarkable as his pecuniary losses, in 
 consequence of the oppressive treatment to which 
 he was subjected, proved most severe, as we shall 
 presently see.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 87 
 
 In Mr. Sheridan's arguments, before the judges 
 of the King's Bench, to admit John Magee to 
 common bail for lampooning the Sham Squire's 
 colleague, it is stated : 
 
 ' Magee has made an affidavit in which he swears that 
 a writ issued in last Trinity Term to the sheriffs, marked 
 for 4.000, under authority of a flat granted by the lord 
 chief justice, and founded on an affidavit; that upon such 
 writ lie was arrested in June last; that in consequence 
 of a number of vexatious suits and prosecutions against 
 him, and from the reiterated abuse he has received in 
 the Freeman's Journal, he is extremely injured in his 
 credit, insomuch that though he has used ever} 7 effort in 
 his power, he cannot now procure one bail in this cause 
 for the amount of the sum marked at the foot of said 
 writ, or of any larger amount than 500, and saith he 
 verily believes that the plaintiff had not suffered damage 
 in this cause to any amount whatever." * 
 
 These denunciations would doubtless have been 
 stronger, were it possible for the patriot mind of 
 John Magee to have taken a prophetic view of the 
 events of '98, and witnessed, like Asmodeus, cer- 
 tain dark doings which the vulgar eye failed to 
 penetrate. 
 
 The subterranean passage and the winding path 
 through Lord Clonmel's pleasure ground facilitated 
 the intercourse between him and Shamado, which, 
 
 * This scarce pamphlet was printed and published in Lon- 
 don, a circumstance illustrative of the wide sensation which 
 Lord Clonmcl'.s arbitrary conduct excited. Mr. Sheridan hav- 
 ing brought forward a host of high law authorities to show 
 tin 1 illegality of holding to special bail a man charged with 
 defamation, proceeded to exhibit the ludicrous weakness of 
 the affidavit upon which Lord Clonniel issued a flat for 4,000. 
 Daly's claims against Magee for damages were i>avd upon a 
 mock heroic poem in which Duly was supposed to figure under 
 the title of iJosi ius, and Higginfl under that of Francisco. 
 Daly having recited this absurd poem in his affidavit, added 
 thai lie had children, "among whom are four growing up 
 dairditer?,, who in tlieir future prospects may receive con- 
 siderablo injury"; and Daly wound up by swearing that he 
 had suffered damages to the amount of -4,000 by the in- 
 juries which his family or himself might thereafter suffer I
 
 88 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 as we gather from tradition and contemporary 
 statement, was briskly kept up. Higgins's jour- 
 nal was the organ of Lord Clonmel's party, and 
 in a letter addressed to the latter, published in 
 Magee's Evening Packet,* we are told : 
 
 " It is made no secret, my lord, that these ingenious 
 sophistications and learned commentaries which ap- 
 peared in the Higgins journal, in that decent business, 
 ha*d the honor of your lordship's inspection and correc- 
 tion in MS., before they were committed to the press." 
 
 The visits of the influential and proverbially 
 convivial chief must have been hailed with no 
 ordinary pleasure and welcome. Sir Jonah Har- 
 rington, who lived next door to him in Harcourt 
 Street, writes : " His skill was unrivalled and his 
 success proverbial. He was full of anecdotes, 
 though not the most refined ; these in private 
 society he not only told, but acted ; and when he 
 perceived that he had made a very good exhibition 
 he immediately withdrew, that he might leave the 
 most lively impression of his pleasantry behind 
 him. His boldness was his first introduction, 
 his policy his ultimate preferment. Courageous^ 
 vulgar, humorous, artificial, he knew the world 
 well, and he profited by that knowledge. He 
 cultivated the powerful ; he bullied the timid ; he 
 fought the brave ; he flattered the vain ; he duped 
 the credulous ; and he amused the convivial. He 
 frequently, in his prosperity, acknowledged favors 
 he had received when he was obscure, and occa- 
 sionally requited them. Half liked, half repro- 
 bated, he was too high to be despised and too low 
 to be respected. His language was coarse and his 
 principles arbitrary ; but his passions were his 
 slaves and his cunning was his instrument. In 
 
 * Magee's Evening Packet, No. 621.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 89 
 
 public and in private he was the same character ; 
 and, though a most fortunate man and a success- 
 ful courtier, he had scarcely a sincere friend or a 
 disinterested adherent." 
 
 "Arcades ambo" brothers both was appli- 
 cable in more than one sense to the chief justice 
 and the Sham Squire. " I sat beside Higgins at 
 a lord mayor's banquet in 1796," observed the 
 late John Patten; "sixty years after, I well re- 
 member how strongly his qualities as a ban racon- 
 teur impressed me." 
 
 Mr. Higgins plumed himself on being a little 
 Curran, and cultivated intimacies with kindred 
 humorists, amongst whom we are surprised to 
 find Father Arthur O'Leary, one of the persons 
 named advantageously by Higgins in his will.* 
 O'Leary was one of those memorable Monks of 
 the Screw who used to set in a roar Curran's 
 table at "the Priory." f "The Sham," who 
 loved to ape the manners of those above him, 
 also called his country seat at Kilmacud " the 
 Priory ; " J and we believe it was to him that Dick 
 Hetherington, in accepting an invitation to din- 
 ner, wrote : 
 
 " Though to my ankles I '11 be In the mud, 
 I hope to be with you at Kilmacud." || 
 
 * Last will of Francis Higgins, preserved in the Prerogative 
 Court, Dublin. 
 
 f A few oT O'Leary's jokes have been preserved. " I wish 
 you were St. Peter," said Curran. "Why?" responded tlio 
 t'riar. " Because you could let rae into heaven." " It would bo 
 Ix-ttcr that I Imd the key of the other phu-o," replied O'Leary, 
 "for then I could let you out." For illustrations of O'Lc-:ir\ >s 
 humor, see Recollections of John CPKefffe, vol. i., p. 24. r >; Jiemini~ 
 of Afi had Kelly, vol. i., p. 301; Harrington's Personal 
 Skit.-hfx, vol. ii., pp. 131-137; and the Memoirs of O'Leary, by 
 Rev. Dr. England. 
 
 t Statement of T F , Esq., J. P., formerly of the Priory, 
 
 Kilmacud. In 1859 the house was pulled down. 
 
 Kichard Hetherington will be remembered as the cor- 
 respondent of Curran. See Memoirs of Curran, patriot. 
 
 U Communicated by the late M. Brett, Esq.
 
 90 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Though in open defiance of the laws, the gam- 
 bling hell in Crane Lane was still suffered to exist, 
 under the very shadow of the Castle, and within 
 some three minutes' walk of the Board of Police. 
 Whether Higgins were really a secret partner in 
 its profits, as confidently alleged, we shall not 
 now discuss, although contemporary record and 
 tradition both favor the allegation. Mr. Higgins 
 is entitled to the benefit of his denial ; but no mat- 
 ter who may or may not have been connected with 
 this pandemonium, it is at least evident that the 
 executive had no right to survey placidly for one 
 day, much less for fifteen years, an institution so 
 destructive to the morals, health, wealth, and hap- 
 piness of the people. These matters may be 
 worthy of note, as curiously illustrative of Dublin 
 at the time of which we write. 
 
 Mr. Francis Higgins was no novice in the art 
 and mystery of the gambling-table. A scarce 
 publication, printed in 1799, from the pen of 
 Henry MacDougall, M. A., and entitled Sketches of 
 Irish Political Characters, mentions "the Sham's 
 admission to the profession of attorney, in which 
 his practice is too notorious to require statement," 
 and adds: "His next step to wealth was in the 
 establishment of a hazard-table, which soon at- 
 tracted a number of sharps, scamps, and f|ashmen ; 
 and they as soon attracted the attention of.the 
 Sham, ever on the watch to promote his own in- 
 terest. The sharp was useful to cheat the un- 
 wary of their money, and keep it in circulation 
 at his table. The scamp plundered on the road, 
 visited the Corner House, and if taken up by the 
 officers of justice he seldom failed, for acquaint- 
 ance' sake, to employ the owner in his capacity 
 of solicitor. The flashman introduced him (Hig-
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 91 
 
 gins) to the convenient matron, whom he seldom 
 failed to lay under contribution, the price of 
 protecting her in her profession." We further 
 learn that the city magistrate* were all afraid to 
 interfere with Mr. Higgins and his delinquencies, 
 lest a slanderous paragraph or lampoon from the 
 arsenal of his press should overtake them. 
 
 Ten ygars previous to the publication of the 
 foregoing, the vigilant moralist, Magee, labored 
 to arouse the magistracy to a sense of their duty. 
 "For fifteen years," we are told, "there has ex- 
 isted, under the eye of magistracy, in the very 
 centre of the metropolis, at the corner of Crane 
 Lane, in Essex Street, a notorious school of noc- 
 turnal study in the doctrine of chances ; a school 
 which affords to men of the town an ample source 
 of ways and means in the pluckings of those un- 
 fledged greenhorns who can be inveigled into the 
 trap ; which furnishes to the deluded apprentice a 
 ready mart for the acquisition of experience, and 
 the disposal of any loose cash that can be pur- 
 loined from his master's till ; which affords to the 
 working artisan a weekly asylum for the reception 
 of that stipend which honest industry should allot 
 to the purchase of food for a wife and children ; 
 and which affords to the spendthrift shopkeeper a 
 ready transfer office to make over the property of 
 his creditors to the plunder of knaves and sharp- 
 ers."* 
 
 Two months after we find addressed to the 
 authorities a further appeal, occupying several 
 columns, and to the same effect. "\ 
 
 But the Board of Police was, in fact, eminently 
 imbecile. Among a long series of resolutions, 
 adopted in August, 1789, by the gifted men who 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1783. f Ibid., No. 1801.
 
 92 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 formed the Whig Club, we find: "The present 
 extravagant, ineffectual, and unconstitutional po- 
 lice of the city of Dublin has been adopted, con- 
 tinued, and patronized by the influence of the 
 present ministers of Ireland. All proceedings in 
 parliament to remove the grievance, or censure 
 the abuse, have been resisted and defeated by the 
 same influence. The expediency of combating by 
 corruption a constitutional majority in parliament 
 has been publicly avowed, and the principle so 
 avowed has been carried into execution." 
 
 At last a committee was granted to inquire into 
 the police, whose extravagance and inefficiency 
 had now rendered them notoriously contemptible. 
 They had long wallowed in indolent luxuriousness 
 on the public money. Among their items of ex- 
 pense were : " For two inkstands for the police, 
 5 5s. Gd. ; three penknives, 2 2s. Bd. ; gilt- 
 edged paper, 100 ; Chambers' s Dictionary, 11 
 7s. Qd." Among their books was Beccaria on 
 Grime, with a commentary from Voltaire. * 
 . A curious chapter might be written on the short- 
 comings of the Dublin police and magistracy, not 
 only during the last, but even throughout a por- 
 tion of the present century. If not too digressive, 
 a glance at those shortcomings may amuse the 
 reader. 
 
 " During the existence of the Volunteers," ob- 
 serves the late Counsellor Walsh, a conservative 
 writer of much accuracy, "gentlemen of that body 
 for a time arranged among themselves to traverse 
 the streets at night, to protect the peaceably dis- 
 posed inhabitants, and men of the first rank in the 
 kingdom thus voluntarily discharged the duties of 
 watchmen. But the occupation assorted badly 
 * Grattan's Memoirs, vol. lii., p. 456.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 93 
 
 with the fiery spirits on whom it devolved, and 
 the streets were soon again abandoned to their 
 Bo-called legitimate guardians. In the daytime 
 the streets were always wholly unprotected. The 
 first appointment even of a permanent night-watch 
 was in 1723, when an act was passed under which 
 the different parishes were required to appoint 
 ' honest men and good Protestants ' to be night- 
 watches. The utter inefficiency of the system 
 must have been felt ; and various improvements 
 were from time to time attempted in it, every four 
 or five years producing a new police act, with 
 how little success every one can judge who re- 
 members the tattered somnambulists who repre- 
 sented the ' good Protestant ' watchmen a few 
 years ago. Several attempts had also been made 
 to establish an efficient civic magistracy^ but with 
 such small benefit that, until a comparatively 
 recent period, a large portion of the magisterial 
 duties within the city were performed by county 
 magistrates, who had no legal authority whatever 
 to act in them. An office was kept in the neigh- 
 borhood of Thomas Street by two gentlemen in 
 the commission for the county, who made a yearly 
 income by the fees ; and the order to fire on the 
 mob who murdered Lord Kilwarden, so late as 
 1803, was given by Mr. Bell, a magistrate of the 
 county and not the city of Dublin. Another well- 
 known member of the bench was Mr. Drury, who 
 halted in his gait, and was called the ' lame jus- 
 tice.' " .On the occasion mentioned by Mr. Walsh, 
 Drury retired for safety to the garret of his house 
 in the Coombe, from whence, as Outran remarked, 
 "he played with considerable effect on the rioters 
 with a large double-barrelled telescope." 
 
 It is to be regretted, however, that irregularity
 
 94 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 and imbecility are not the worst charges to be 
 brought against the justices of Dublin, even so 
 late as fifty years ago. Frank Thorpe Porter, Esq., 
 late police magistrate of Dublin, has preserved 
 official tradition of some of his more fallible pred- 
 ecessors. Mr. Gonne having lost a valuable 
 watch which he had 'long regarded as irretriev- 
 able, was urged by a private hint to remain at the 
 outer door of the police office, and when the magis- 
 trate came out to ask him, " What hour is it now 
 exactly, your worship ?" The "beak" took out 
 a watch, and answered the question. Its appear- 
 ance at once elicited from Goime the longest oath 
 ever heard before a justice. "By ," he ex- 
 claimed, "that watch is mine!" 
 
 "Gonne obtained his watch," adds Mr. Porter, 
 " and was with great difficulty prevented from 
 bringing the transaction under the notice of the 
 government. The system by which the worthy 
 justice managed occasionally to possess himself 
 of a valuable watch, or some other costly article, 
 consisted in having two or three drawers wherein 
 to keep the property found with highwaymen or 
 thieves. If the prosecutor identified the delin- 
 quent, he was then shown the right drawer ; but 
 if he could not swear to the depredator's person, 
 the wrong drawer was opened. The magistrate 
 to whom this narrative refers was* dismissed a 
 short time afterwards for attempting to embezzle 
 fifty pounds." * 
 
 Before the establishment of the petty sessions 
 system in Ireland, magistrates in the safe seclu- 
 sion of their closets were often betrayed into 
 grossly disreputable acts. A parliamentary in- 
 
 * Some notice of the embezzlements accomplished by Baron 
 Power and Sir Jonah Harrington, both judges of the Irish 
 bench, will be found in the Appendix.
 
 THE BLOODHOUXDS OF '98. 95 
 
 quiry, in 1823, into the conduct of Sheriff Thorpe, 
 exposed, in passing, much magisterial delin- 
 quency. 
 
 Mr. Beecher said : " It was no uncommon thing, 
 when a friend had incurred a penalty, to remit the 
 fine, and to levy a penalty strictly against another, 
 merely because he was an object of dislike." Ma- 
 jor Warburton proved that a female had been sent 
 to America by a magistrate without any legal pro- 
 ceedings whatever. Major Wilcox established 
 the fact that some justices of the peace were en- 
 gaged in illicit distillation, and that they took 
 presents and bribes, and bail when other magis- 
 trates refused ; that they took cross-examinations 
 where informations had been already taken by 
 other magistrates. ' ' They issued warrants against 
 the complaining party in the first instance, at the 
 suggestion of the party complained against." It 
 further appeared that some magistrates took fees 
 in money, and not unfrequently rendered official 
 .services in consideration of having their turf drawn 
 home or their potatoes planted. The Rev. M. 
 Collins, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne. proved that 
 magistrates corruptly received presents of corn, 
 cattle, potatoes, and even money. " If the per- 
 son of whom the complaint was made ranked as a 
 gentleman, the magistracy often declined inter- 
 fering, because it would lead to personal results." 
 Mr. O'Driscoll alleged that there were several 
 magistrates trading on their office ; they " sell 
 justice and administer it favorably to the party 
 who pays them best." " It is a convenient thing," 
 said O'Connell, " for a man to have the commission 
 Df the peace, for he can make those he dislikes fear 
 him, and he can favor his friends." These venal 
 practices had transpired subsequent to a judicial
 
 form which had professed to revise the magis- 
 tracy ! But the "revision" had been shaped 
 rather in obedience to sectarian prejudice than 
 on legitimate grounds. O'Connell showed that 
 "most excellent men had been deprived of their 
 office without any cause. It was particularly 
 severe upon the Catholic magistrates. In the 
 county Cork, eighteen out of twenty-one Catholics 
 were struck out." In Mr. Daunt's_ Conversations 
 of O'Connell, the details are given of a certain 
 justice who threatened to flog and hang the sons 
 of a widow to whom his worship owed 2,000, 
 unless she pledged herself to cancel the bond ! * 
 
 With magistrates like these, and with power- 
 less police such as we described, it is no wonder 
 that a walk in the streets of Dublin should be 
 encompassed with peril. Stephen's Green, the 
 residence of the Sham Squire, was specially in- 
 fested with footpads, who robbed in a manner 
 peculiar to themselves. 
 
 "So late as 1812," says the author of Ireland 
 Sixty Years Ago, " there were only twenty-six 
 small oil-lajnps to light the immense square of 
 Stephen's Green, which were therefore one hun- 
 dred and seventy feet from one another. The 
 footpads congregated in a dark entry, on the 
 shady side of the street, if the moon shone ; if not, 
 the dim and dismal light of the lamps was little 
 obstruction. A cord was provided, with a loop 
 at the end of it. The loop was laid on the pave- 
 ment, and the thieves watched the approach of a 
 passenger.. If he put his foot in the loop it was 
 
 * For full details, see vol. ii., p. 131. In one of O'Connell's 
 public letters, he made touching reference to the fact that he 
 had known peasant girls sometimes driven to surrender what 
 ought to be dearer than life, as part of an unholy compact with 
 magistrates who had threatened the life or liberty of a father 
 or brother I
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 97 
 
 immediately chucked. The man fell prostrate, 
 and was dragged rapidly up the entry to some 
 cellar or waste yard, where he was robbed and 
 sometimes murdered. The stun received by the 
 fall usually prevented the victim from ever recog- 
 nizing the robbers. We knew a gentleman who 
 had been thus robbed, and when he recovered 
 found himself in an alley at the end of a lane off 
 Bride Street, nearly naked, and severely contused 
 and lacerated by being dragged over the rough 
 pavement." * 
 
 When men fared thus, it may readily be sup- 
 posed that ladies could not walk the streets with- 
 out risk to their lives or virtue. "It is deemed a 
 reproach," says an author, writing in 1775, "for 
 a gentlewoman to be seen walking in the streets. 
 I was advised by my bankers to lodge in Capel 
 Street, near Essex Bridge, being in less danger 
 of being robbed, two chairmen f not being deemed 
 sufficient protection." J 
 
 Twenty years later found no improvement. The 
 Antlwlogia, Hibernica for December, 1794, p. 476, 
 furnishes new proofs of the inefficiency of the 
 police. Robbery and bloodshed "within a few 
 
 * Almost equally daring outrages on the liberty of the sub- 
 lect were nightly practised, with the connivance of the law, 
 by " crimp sergeants," who by brutal force, and sometimes by 
 fraud, secured the unwary for foreign enlistment. Attractive 
 women were employed to seduce persons into conversation 
 preparatory to th crimp sergeant's seizing them in the king's 
 name. Startling details of these outrages, which were often 
 marked by bloodshed, will be found in the Dublin newspapers 
 <u IT 1 .':! and 17'.4, passim. See also the Irish Masonic Magazine for 
 1794, pp. W, 190, 284, 38J{, 482, 570. 
 
 f Sedan bearers, familiarly styled "Christian ponies." .There 
 is a well-known story in Dublin of aConiiaughtuiiin, who, when 
 entering u sedan chair, found thut the bottom had, by some 
 accident, fallen out of it, but nevertheless he made no demur, 
 and walked to his destination in the chair. On getting out ho 
 remarked to the men who assumed to convey him, " Only for 
 the honor of the thing, I might ua well huvu walked." 
 
 { Philosophical Survey, p. 40. 
 
 7
 
 98 THE SHAM SQUIRE. 
 
 yards of the guard-house in Fleet Street" is de- 
 scribed. 
 
 It does not always follow that idleness is the 
 mother of mischief, for we find that combination 
 among- the workmen of Dublin also attained a for- 
 midable pitch at this time. The Dublin Chronicle 
 of January 28th, 1792, contains the following par- 
 agraph : 
 
 " On the several mornings of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 
 20th instant, a number of armed persons, journeymen 
 tailors, assembled in a riotous manner about the house 
 of Mr. Millea, Ross Lane, Mr. Leet, Merchant's Quay, 
 Mr. Walsh, Castle Street, Mr. Ward, Cope Street, and 
 the houses of several other master tailors, and cut, 
 maimed, and abused several journeymen tailors who 
 were peaceably going to their respective places of em- 
 ployment; one of said men, named Michael Hanlon, was 
 killed on the spot, in Cope Street ; two have had their 
 hands cut off; several others have been cut and bruised 
 in such a manner as to be now lying dangerously ill ; and 
 some journeymen are missing, who, it is reported, have 
 been murdered and thrown into the river."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Magee's Vengeance on Lord Clonmel. Lord Clare. The Gods 
 of Crow Street. Kenewed Effort to Muzzle Magee. Let- 
 In 1 * de Cachet in Irelaml Seizures. George Ponsonby 
 and Arthur Browne. Lord Clonmel Crashed. His Dying 
 Confession. Deserted by the Sham Squire. More Turpi- 
 tude. 
 
 THE spirit of John Magee was indomitable. An 
 interval of liberty between his conviction and sen- 
 tence from Lord Clonmel was now at his disposal, 
 and he certainly employed it in a singular way. 
 Profoundly indifferent tp every personal conse- 
 quence, he most imprudently resolved to spend 
 a considerable sum of money in wreaking his 
 vengeance on Lord Clonmel. This novel and 
 eccentric scheme he thought to carry out in an 
 indirect, and, as he felt assured, a perfectly legal 
 manner. Having found himself owner of 14,000, 
 Magee settled 10,000 upon his family, and with 
 a chuckle declared that the balance it was his 
 intention, "with the blessing of God, to spend 
 upon Lord Clonmel." * The unpopular chief of 
 the King's Bench resided in a handsome villa near 
 the Black Rock, now known as Temple Hill, but 
 then styled Neptune, f On the splendid parterres 
 and pleasure grounds which luxuriously environed 
 it, Lord Clonmel had expended several thousand 
 pounds ; while in the direction of the improve- 
 ments many an anxious and a precious hour had 
 
 * Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry (1849), p. 58. 
 t "Xcptunf, the elegant seat%f Lord Clonmel." Seward's 
 Topographia Hibemia. Dublin : 1796.
 
 100 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 been consumed. The wild and uncultivated dis- 
 trict of Dunleary without, only served to make 
 the contrast more striking 1 . But alas ! this ex- 
 quisite oasis the vindictive proprietor of the Post 
 resolved to lay waste. As an important prelim- 
 inary step he purchased from Lady Osborne a 
 large tract of ground immediately adjoining Lord 
 Clonmel's villa, and forthwith dubbed it Fiat Hill.* 
 Magee speedily announced, but with some mental 
 reservation, that in honor of the birthday of the 
 Prince of Wales he would give, at Dunleary, a 
 grand Bra Pleasura, to which he solicited the 
 company of all his friends, private and political, 
 known and unknown, washed and unwashed. 
 Various field sports, with plenty of Silvester- 
 Costigan's whisky, were promised as an induce- 
 ment. " At one o'clock," to quote the original 
 advertisement, "the ball will be kicked on Fiat 
 Hill. Dinner on the tented field at three o'clock. 
 Table d'hote for ladies and gentlemen. Cudgel- 
 playing at five, with cool umpires to prevent ill 
 temper and preserve good humor. ""j" 
 
 The late Lord Cloncurry's robust memory has 
 furnished us with the following graphic sketch of 
 the singular scene which took place upon this oc- 
 casion. " I recollect attending," writes his lord- 
 ship, "and the/ete certainly was a strange one. 
 Several thousand people, including the entire dis- 
 posable mob of Dublin, of both sexes, assembled 
 as the guests at an early hour, and proceeded to 
 enjoy themselves in tents and booths erected for 
 the occasion. A variety of sports was arranged 
 for their amusement, such as climbing poles for 
 prizes, running races in sacks, grinning through 
 
 horse-collars, and soforth, until at length, when 
 
 
 
 * >ublin Evening Post, No. 1798. t Mid., No. 1798.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 101 
 
 the crowd had attained its maximum density, 
 towards the afternoon, the grand scene of the day 
 was produced. A number of active pigs, with 
 their tails shaved and soaped, were let loose, 
 and it was announced that each pig was to be- 
 come the property of any one who could catch 
 and hold it by the slippery member. A scene 
 impossible to- describe immediately took place : 
 the pigs, frightened and hemmed in by the crowd 
 in all other directions, rushed through the hedge 
 which then separated the grounds of Temple Hill 
 from the open fields ; forthwith all their pursuers 
 followed in a body, and, continuing their chase 
 over the shrubberies and parterres, soon revenged 
 John Magee upon the noble owner." 
 
 Another pen, more powerful but not more accu- 
 rate than Lord Cloncurry's, tells us that "Lord 
 Clonmel retreated like a harpooned leviathan, 
 the barb was in his back, and Magee held the 
 cordage. He made the life of his enemy a bur- 
 den to him. Wherever he went, he was lam- 
 pooned by a ballad-singer or laughed at by the 
 populace. Nor was Magee's arsenal composed 
 exclusively of paper ammunition. He rented a 
 field bordering his lordship's highly-improved and 
 decorated demesne. He advertised, month after 
 month, that on such a day he would exhibit in 
 this field a grand Olympic pig hunt ; that the 
 
 Eeople, out of gratitude for their patronage of 
 is newspaper, should be gratuitous spectators 
 of this revived classical amusement ; and that he 
 was determined to make so amazing a provision 
 of whisky and porter, that if any man went home 
 thirsty it should be his own fault. The plan com- 
 pletely succeeded. Hundreds and thousands as- 
 sembled. Every man did justice to his enter-
 
 SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 tainer's hospitality^ and his lordship's magnificent 
 demesne, uprooted and desolate, next day exhib- 
 ited nothing but the ruins of the Olympic pig 
 htmt."* So far Mr. Phillips, f The Court of 
 King's Bench had not yet opened for term, and 
 Lord JClonmel was tranquilly rusticating at Tem- 
 ple HilL Pallid with consternation, he rang an 
 alarum bell, and ordered his post-chaise, with four 
 of the fleetest horses in his stable, to the door. 
 The chief justice bounded into the chariot with an 
 energy almost incompatible with his years ; the 
 postillions plied their whips ; the chaise rattled 
 amid clouds of dust down Fiat Hill ; the mob, 
 with deafening yells, followed close behind. Lord 
 Clonmel, almost speechless with terror, repaired 
 to the Castle, sought the viceroy, swore "by the 
 Eternal"| that all the Country south of Dublin 
 was in a state of insurrection ; implored his excel- 
 lency to summon the privy council, and to apply 
 at once for extraordinary powers, including the 
 suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. 
 
 The appeal of the chief justice prevailed,' and 
 on September 3d, 1789, we find Magce dragged 
 from his home by a strong body of the weak and 
 inefficient police of Dublin, and consigned to New- 
 gate. || He was previously, however, brought be- 
 fore Sir Samuel Bradstreet, Eecorder of Dublin, 
 on the charge of having announced that "there 
 would be thirty thousand men at Dunleary." 
 
 * Curran and his Contemporaries ; by Charles Phillips, p. 37. 
 
 t Sir Jonah Harrington describes the scene to much tho 
 same effect, with this addition, that Magoe introduced 
 "asses dressed up with wigs and scarlet robes, and dancing 
 dogs in gowns and wigs as barristers." 
 
 I A favorite exclamation of Lord Clonmel. Vide Rowan's 
 Autobiography, p. 208. 
 
 Reminiscence communicated by the late Rev. Dr. O'Han- 
 Ion. 
 
 U Dublin Evening Post, No. 1809.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 103 
 
 The judge required personal bail to the amount 
 of 5,000, and two sureties in 2,500 each, for 
 five years,* a demand not so easy for a printer 
 in a moment to meet. Such mandates as these, 
 amounting in some instances to perpetual im- 
 prisonment, soon brought but too fatally the 
 administration of justice into contempt. 
 
 No unnecessary harshness seems to have been 
 shown to Magee during his incarceration. Unlike 
 the case of Lord Cloncurry, he was permitted the 
 use of pen, ink, and paper, a concession as 
 acceptable to him as it was creditable to the 
 government. He constantly wrote letters for 
 the Post, signed with his name, and bearing 
 the somewhat inflammatory date of " Newgate, 
 22d October, fiftieth day of my confinement," 
 varied of course according,, as time progressed ; 
 and he was not diffident in adversely criticizing 
 the policy of the viceroy, as well as some leading 
 members of the privy council, including Lord 
 Clonmel. " The man who vilifies established 
 authority," says Junius, "is sure to find an 
 audience." Magee was no exception to the 
 rule, lie became an intense popular favorite ; 
 and the galleries of Crow Street theatre used 
 nightly to resound with "A cheer for Magee, 
 the man for Ireland ! " and " A groan for the 
 Sham ! " f 
 
 Magee's letters made frequent reference to the 
 sufferings to which the government had subjected 
 him. Thus in No. 1789 he tells us : "I have been 
 four times fiated, and dragged through the streets 
 like a felon, three times into dungeons ! " But 
 having on October 29th received a notification 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1814. 
 
 t Trial of Magee for Libel on It. Daly, p. 30.
 
 104 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 from government declaratory of its willingness 
 to accept the sum of 4,000 as bail "to keep 
 the peace for five years towards Lord Clonmel," 
 Magee bade adieu to prison, and, accompanied by 
 Hamilton Rowan, attended the court and gave 
 the required surety. "Mr. Magee, on being dis- 
 charged, walked to his own house in College 
 Green, greeted by the loud congratulations of 
 the people."* 
 
 Poor Magee's spell of liberty seems to have 
 been of lamentably, and, we may add, of most 
 capriciously short duration, if the evidence of 
 his own organ can be accepted as conclusive. 
 The sweets of liberty were once more exchanged 
 for the bitters of "durance vile." In the Dublin 
 Evening Post of November 12th, 1789, we read : 
 "Magee was brought up from the lockup-house, 
 where he had been confined since Tuesday last, 
 upon fiats, granted by Lord Clonmel at the suit 
 of Messrs. Higgins, Daly, Brennan, and Miss 
 
 , to the amount of 7,800. Mr. Magee 
 
 moved for a new trial in the matter of the alleged 
 libel against Higgins. But the chief justice re- 
 fused the motion, and informed the sheriff that 
 Magee was now a convict, and should be con- 
 ducted to Newgate forthwith." f The struggle 
 was characterized as one of might against right. 
 In October, 1789, the attorney- general is said to 
 have admitted in open court that the prosecution 
 of Magee was " a government business." J 
 
 Arguments having been, on November 19th, 
 heard in arrest of judgment on Magee, the chief 
 justice adjourned the sentence to next term, and 
 admitted him to bail on the comparatively mod- 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1833. 
 
 t Ibid., No. 1839. J IMd., No. 1834.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 105 
 
 erate recognizance of 500. Magee was there- 
 fore discharged ; but it would almost seem as if 
 the law authorities, with Lord Clonmel at their 
 head, had been only playing off some malign prac- 
 tical joke upon him ; for we read that no sooner 
 had Sir. Magee "reached High Street, after re- 
 ceiving his discharge, than he was taken into 
 custody by the sheriffs on different fiats amount-; 
 ing to 7,800 ! " * 
 
 The very name of fiats had now become almost 
 as- terrible as leftres de cachet; but in the Irish 
 parliament of 1790 they received their death-blow; 
 and Lord Clonmel himself may be said to have 
 perished in their debris, 
 
 Of this unconstitutional agent Magee remarked : 
 " If the amount of the sum for which bail must be 
 found is to be measured and ascertained only by 
 the conscience of the affidavit-man, then indeed 
 any profligate character may lodge in Newgate 
 the Duke of Leinster or Mr. Conolly, for sums 
 which even they would not find it possible to pro- 
 cure bail." On January 28th, 1790, Magee was 
 once more committed to prison. 
 
 Owing largely to the unflagging denunciations 
 of Magee, the Police Board, in September, 1789, 
 attempted some vigorous reform, and at last noc- 
 turnal gambling-houses were menaced with ex- 
 tinction. Mr. Magee, even in the gloom of his 
 dungeon, exulted over the threatened downfall. 
 The gambler's soliloquy went on to say : 
 
 " Yes 1 this a fatal, dreadful revolution I 
 A change repugnant to the dear delights 
 Of night-enveloped guilt, of midnight fraud, 
 And rapine lon^c secure; of dexterous art 
 To plunge unthinking innocence in woe, 
 And riot in the spoils of beggared youth I 
 Bad revolution I Hence come lethargy, 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 18U.
 
 106 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Come inactivity, and, worse than all, 
 Come simple honesty I The dice no more 
 Shall sound their melody, nor perj'ry's list 
 Swell at the nod of dark collusive practice I 
 Jails lie unpeopled, and rest gibbets bare, 
 And Newgate's front board take a holiday I 
 Crane Lane, thou spot to Pandemonium dear, 
 Where many a swarthy son of Chrisal's race 
 My galligaskin lined," etc. * 
 
 Alderman Carleton made four seizures. "And 
 yet," said the Post, " as fast as their implements 
 are seized, their tables demolished, and their gangs 
 dispersed, the very next night new arrangements 
 and new operations are on foot. Who but the" 
 protected proprietor of this infamous den, who 
 but a ruffian who can preserve his plunder in 
 security, and set law and gospel at defiance, 
 would dare at such audacious perseverance ? " f 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Higgins's ready pen continued 
 to rage with fury against all whose views did not 
 exactly chime with those held by his employers. 
 A contemporary journal says : " Squire Higgins, 
 whose protected system of virulent and unremit- 
 ting slander crows in triumph over the community, 
 does not scruple to avow his indifference to any- 
 thing which prosecution can do, guarded as he is 
 by the intimate friendship and implicit confidence 
 of the bench. He openly avows his disregard of 
 Mr. Grattan's prosecution for a libel, now pending 
 against him, and says that he shall be supported 
 by the Castle." J Mr. Higgins having libelled a 
 respectable official in the revenue, legal proceed- 
 ings were instituted ; but one of the government 
 lawyers refused, in December, 1788, to move, al- 
 though feed in the cause. 
 
 Poor Magee's cup of bitterness was at last filled 
 to the brim, by a proceeding which is best de- 
 
 * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1813. 
 
 t Ibid., No. 1827. $ IM<t., No. 1825.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 107 
 
 ecribed in his own letter to Lord Chancellor Clare. 
 There is a singular mixture of tragedy and farce 
 in the energetic efforts which were now openly 
 made to extinguish him. 
 
 " Newgate, October 1st. 
 
 " MY LORD : I It&ve now been confined in this prison 
 of the felon, housebreaker, and murder-er twenty-niue 
 days, tweuty-oue of which time mostly to my bed. 
 Judge, on my rising yesterday, to be served with a 
 notice to appear to-morrow at the House of Lords, on 
 a charge of lunacy, and that by some interested persons, 
 who, without even the shadow of relationship, have 
 secured my property, and that to a very great amount, 
 and refused by these very people even ten guineas to 
 procure common necessaries in a prison. Bail I cannot 
 produce ; my character as a trader is blasted ; my prop- 
 erty as a citizen embezzled ; my intellects as a man sus- 
 pected by a false and slanderous charge of insanity; 
 every engine employed by a designing, needy, and des- 
 perate junto, for the Absolute deprivation of my property ; 
 total destruction of all that those who respect themselves 
 prize more even than life. My lord, I claim the inter- 
 position of your authority as the first in law power ; I 
 supplicate your humanity as a man, a parent, a husband, 
 that I may be permitted to confront my accusers at the 
 House of Lords on to-morrow." 
 
 To justify the charge of lunacy against John 
 Magee, it was alleged, among other pretexts, that 
 he had established boat-races and foot-ball matches 
 at Dunleary, and presided over them "in a round 
 hat and feathers."* We cull a few passages from 
 the newspaper report : 
 
 "The Chancellor. Mr. Magee, have you anything to 
 say? 
 
 " As to what, my lord? 
 
 "You have heard the matters with which you are 
 charged. I am called upon to issue a commission to 
 
 * There is an anecdote of Magee traditionally preserved in 
 the office of the Evening Post, illustrative of his unnwed de- 
 meanor in the presence of Lord Clonmel, by whose domineer- 
 ing manner even the bar were often overborne. Magee stood
 
 108 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 try whether you are insane or not. If you are found 
 insane, I am then to appoint, a guardian of your person 
 and a guardian of your property, and you -will become 
 a ward of the Court of Chancery. Have you any at- 
 torney ? 
 
 " No, my lord. Some time ago I sent for Mr. Kenny 
 as my solicitor. He came to me and found me sick in 
 bed. I opened my case to him, and fl*e promised to call 
 upon me next day; but the first intimation I had of Mr. 
 Kenny afterwards was, that he was preparing briefs 
 against me for this prosecution. Does your lordship 
 choose that I should call witnesses ? My own physician 
 is here. 
 
 "Has he made an affidavit? 
 
 " He has, my lord. 
 
 "The chancellor declared that there was not the 
 shadow of ground for issuing a commission. Supposing 
 all the charges true, they only amounted to acts of 
 extravagance and indiscretion. If he was to grant a 
 commission of lunacy against every man who did an 
 extravagant, an unwise, or even a bad thing, he was 
 afraid he should have a great many wards. He had 
 observed Mr. Magee during the whole time he had been 
 in court, and he saw nothing insane about him. He 
 must therefore refuse the application." 
 
 Magee's triumph began to date from this day. 
 In the Journals of the Irish House of Commons 
 (vol. xiii., pp. 179, 180) we find it " Ordered 
 That the proper officer do lay before the House 
 an attested copy of the affidavit, filed in the King's 
 Bench, on which the chief justice ordered that a 
 writ should issue, at the suit of Francis Higgins 
 and others, against John Magee, for 7,800." On 
 March 3d, 1790, the entire case was brought be- 
 fore parliament by George Ponsonby, afterwards 
 Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He showed that the 
 
 up in court, and addressed a few observations to the bench in 
 justification of his hostility to Francis Higgins. But having 
 styled him the " Sham Squire," Lord Clonmel interrupted 
 Magee, declaring that he would allow no nicknames to be used 
 in that court. " Very well, John Scott," replied the editor of 
 the Post, resuming his seat, " your wish is a law."
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF .'98. 109 
 
 practice of issuing fiats under such circumstances 
 was unconstitutional, and a direct violation of the 
 Bill of Rights ; arid he reminded the House that 
 while Warren Hastings, who was accused of plun- 
 dering India, murdering its inhabitants, and ren- 
 dering the government corrupt and odious, was 
 only held to IT), 000 bail, an obscure Irish printer, 
 on a mere individual affirmation, was held to bail 
 for 7,800. Mr. Ponsonby ridiculed the idea of 
 Higgins swearing that he "had been injured in 
 his unspotted, unblemished reputation" by the 
 lampoons of John Magee. George Ponsonby was 
 ably supported by Arthur Browne : * 
 
 " Till of very late years the evil was moderate ; but 
 since a certain learned judge came upon the bench it has 
 grown to an enormous height. Sir, under the auspices 
 of that judge these doctrines have been advanced, that 
 any man may at his pleasure, with perfect impunity, de- 
 prive any other of his liberty by an affidavit swearing 
 that he believes he has suffered damage, without showing 
 when or how ; that his fancy, or his perjury, is to be the 
 guide of the judge's discretion, and the bail is to be ac- 
 commodated to the ideal wrongs, to the fancied injuries, 
 to the angry passions, or the wanton prevarication of a 
 wicked or enraged prosecutor. What is the consequence ? 
 No man, however free from debt or unconscious of crime, 
 shall walk in security in the public streets. He is liable 
 to arrest for any amount ; and if he seeks to punish the 
 accuser, he finds no spot on which to lay his hand. How 
 can he indict the accuser for perjury? He only swore a 
 general affirmative that he had been damaged. Who can 
 prove a general negative that he had not ? He only swore 
 to the belief of damage. Who can arraign his capricious 
 fancy, or convict it of perjury? If he had sworn to a 
 particular instance, that his arm had been broken, that 
 he had lost the setting of a house or the customers of 
 his shop, I might prove the falsehood of the assertion 
 
 * For a notice of Arthur Browne, member for the University 
 of Dublin, see Jleriew of the Irish House of Commons, by Falkland. 
 <. ., .icilm Robert Sco'tt, D. D.. p. 30: vide also Sketches of Iriah 
 Political Characters, p. 211.
 
 110 THE SHAM SQUIEE, AND 
 
 by evidence. But upon a general charge nothing remains 
 but submission and a prison. 
 
 " This power has been particularly directed against 
 printers. Whoever presumed to print or publish with- 
 out the leave or not under the direction of Francis Hig- 
 gins, was in great danger of a flat; numbers of printers 
 have been run down by flats whom the public never heard 
 of, . John Magee was more sturdy, and therefore his 
 sufferings made more noise. Four flats were issued 
 against him in June, 1789, to the amount of 7,800; he 
 was kept in prison from June to the end of November, 
 before the question whether this bail should be reduced 
 was decided. Mr. Higgins had now, by the practice of 
 the courts (which gives a plaintiff three terms before he 
 need try his action), power to keep Magee in prison till 
 November next, so that he may lie in prison nineteen 
 months for want of bail before the action be tried; per- 
 haps afterwards have a verdict in his favor, or only eight- 
 pence damages be given against him. Each of the bail 
 must swear himself worth twice the sum for which he 
 was security, i. e., 30,000 and more, in this case. What 
 gentleman could find such bail? It amounted to perpet- 
 ual imprisonment. We may talk of independence, but 
 liberty is no more; the security of our boasted emanci- 
 pation is a name, for we have nothing to secure. 
 
 " See what an instrument this doctrine might be in the 
 hands of private malice or public oppression. Suppose 
 a man willing to wreak his vengeance upon his foe, and 
 for that purpose recommending himself to the favor of 
 the bench ; suppose a bad man in possession of the ear 
 of a judge, his old friend and companion, perhaps in- 
 stilling his poison into it, and willing to make it the 
 conduit through which to wreak his vengeance on his 
 foe ; suppose him to recommend himself by every willing 
 and base act to a wicked judge, and such may be con- 
 ceived; suppose him the minion of that judge, requiring a 
 little mutual favor for his multiplied services, and asking the 
 debasement of the bench as tlie price of former aid in the eleva- 
 tion of that judge ; * * * suppose the slanderous assassin 
 seeking for a flat against a fur less criminal than himself, 
 and fixing the sum which he thinks sufficient to throw 
 his neighbor into eternal bondage; is it not possible 
 that his friendly judge may listen to his argument in 
 memory of old festivity, and grant him a flat, even to Ms
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. Ill 
 
 heart's content, although by so doing your courts of law, 
 instead of being the sacred fountains of justice, should 
 become the channels of malevolence ? If the wretched 
 victims of this assumed power do not find redress here, 
 they know not where to fly for refuge ; on this House 
 depends the fate of all who are or may be subject to this 
 tyranny. If they do not find redress here, they must be 
 lost ; but they will be lost in the wreck of the national 
 character. What an instrument might such a power be 
 in the hands of a bad government! what an instrument 
 may it be against the liberty of the press ! How easily 
 may any printer who presumes to open his mouth against 
 the administration be nm down by it ! We have called 
 upon the administration to correct this evil, and have 
 met with a refusal. It absurdly espouses a subject with 
 which it has no concern, and which it cannot defend." 
 
 The practice of issuing fiats was soon after re- 
 stricted to a defined and definite sum. Intense 
 was the humiliation of Lord Clonmel at the victory 
 obtained by Magee. Mr. Phillips informs us that 
 his heart withered 'from that day. Magee exposed 
 his errors, denied his merits, magnified his mis- 
 takes, ridiculed his pretensions, and continually 
 edging, without overstepping the boundary of 
 libel, poured upon the chief, -from the battery 
 of the press, a perpetual broadside of sarcasm 
 and invective. 
 
 " Save us from our friends ; we know our en- 
 emies," is an old and trite adage. Groaning 
 under the weight of Magee's hostility, Lord Clon- 
 mel pursued the uneven tenor of his way ; but 
 when at length the startling fact became evident- 
 that even the fidelity of Iliggins had begun to 
 break down, the chief felt inclined to ejaculate, 
 Et tu Brute J Mr. Curran, in his Bar Sketches, 
 relates, on the authority of Bushe, a story which 
 shows that in 1794 Lord Clonmel complained of 
 having been lampooned by the Freeman's Journal. 
 So much for the instability of human friendship I
 
 112 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Lord Clonmel became at last singularly sen- 
 sitive to public criticism. Rowan's Autobiography 
 records a strange dialogue between the chief and 
 a bookseller named Byrne, into whose shop he 
 swaggered on seeing Rowan's trial advertised. 
 One sentence will convey an idea of the colloquy, 
 as well as of the times in which such language 
 could be hazarded by a judge. "Take care, sir, 
 what you do ; I give you this caution ; for if there 
 are any reflections on the judges of the land, by 
 the eternal G I will lay you by the heels ! " 
 
 Lord Clonmel's health and spirits gradually 
 broke down, and accounts of his death were 
 daily circulated. On one of these occasions, 
 when he was really very ill, a friend said to Cur- 
 ran, " Well, they say Clonmel is going to die at 
 last. Do you believe it?" ' f l believe/' said 
 Curran, "he is scoundrel enough to live or die, 
 just as it suits his own convenience!" (See Ad- 
 denda D.) Shortly before the death of Lord 
 Clonmel, Mr. Lawless, afterwards Lord Clon- 
 curry, had an interview with him, when the 
 chief exclaimed, "My dear Val, I have been a 
 fortunate man through life ; I am a chief justice 
 and an earl ; but were I to begin the world again, 
 I would rather be a chimney-sweeper than con- 
 nected with the Irish government." * 
 
 But we must not lose sight of the Sham Squire. 
 We now find him accused of " purloining a docu- 
 ment from the office of the King's Bench, and 
 committing erasures and alterations thereon, for 
 the purpose of securing the conviction of a de- 
 fendant, and depriving him of the benefit of a fair 
 plea against judgment." " This," adds the Post, 
 "is of a piece with the notorious theft committed 
 * fersonal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry, p. 46.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 113 
 
 on the grand jury bag in the town clerk's office, 
 a few weeks since, of the bills against the mark- 
 ers and other vagabonds of the Crane Lane gam- 
 bling-house. If such felonious audacities are 
 suffered to escape with impunity, the dignity, 
 the law, the equity of the bench, and the lives 
 and properties of the honest part of the com- 
 munity, are no longer safe against the daring 
 acts of cunning and villainy." * Mr. Higgins 
 denies the charge in the Freeman's Journal of 
 the day ; but the subject, notwithstanding, was 
 brought before parliament on March 5th, 1790, 
 when Arthur Browne stated : 
 
 " In the suit, Higgins against Magee, it had appeared 
 to the perfect conviction of every man in court, that two 
 erasures and certain alterations had been made in the 
 record; that a circumstance so momentous had aston- 
 ished and alarmed all present, the court especially, who 
 had promised to make a solemn investigation of it, and 
 ' probe it to the bottom.' He had since heard from some 
 friends, that it would not be proper to commence an in- 
 quiry until the suit, in whicjj this record was involved, 
 should be finally determined : no such objection had 
 been offered by the court at the time of discovering the 
 forgery; nay, the court, on the instant, had certainly 
 commenced an inquiry, though he never heard they had 
 carried it further. 
 
 "This dark and wicked transaction did, at the time 
 of its being discovered, greatly alarm the bar; and in 
 consequence a numerous and most respectable meeting 
 of barristers took place, at which meeting he attended, 
 and there did promise, that if the Court of King's Bench 
 did not follow up the inquiry with effect, he would bring 
 it before parliament: it certainly was the business of the 
 Court of King's Bench to have taken it up ; but they not 
 having done so, he was resolved to keep his promise, 
 and never loose sight of it till parliament should decide 
 upon it. 
 
 " The inquiry was, whether the public records of the 
 
 * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1843. 
 8
 
 114 THE SHAM SQUIRE. 
 
 highest court of criminal judicature, by which the life 
 and property of any man in the realm might be affected, 
 were kept with that sacred care that no man could have 
 access to alter or erase them ? and whether the officers 
 of that court were so honest and so pure, that they 
 would not allow of any corrupt access ? " * 
 
 * Irish Parl. Debates, vol. x., p. 382.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Hair-breadth Escapes of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Testi- 
 mony of Lords Holland and Byron. A Dark Picture of 
 Oppression. Moira House. Presenco of Mind. Revolt- 
 ing Treat- be ry. Arrest of Lord Edward. Majors Sirr 
 and Swan. Death of Captain Ryan. Attempted Res- 
 cue. Kdward Battigaii.- General Lawless. Lady Louisa 
 Connolly. Obduracy of Lord Camden. Death "of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald. 
 
 SOME critics have been good enough to say that 
 an outline of the present narrative which appeared 
 a few years ago possesses the interest of an effec- 
 tive drama. At this stage we propose to let the 
 curtain drop for an interval, during which eight 
 years is supposed to elapse. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Once more it rises, disclosing the dark and 
 stormy period of 1798. The scene is Leixlip 
 Bridge at the dawn of morning, with a view of 
 the Salmon Leap. Nicholas Dempsey, a yeoman 
 sentinel, is seen, with musket shouldered, pacing 
 to and fro. A young man dressed as a peasant, 
 with frieze coat and corduroy knee-breeches, ap- 
 proaches the bridge, driving before him half a 
 dozen sheep. Accosting the sentinel, he asks if 
 there is any available night park at hand where 
 he could put his tired sheep to rest. The yeoman 
 scans his face narrowly, and to the surprise, and 
 probably confusion of the drover replies, "No, my 
 lord, there is no pasturage in this neighborhood." 
 No other words pass ; the sentinel resumes his 
 beat, and the drover proceeds on his way.* 
 
 * We are indebted for this hitherto unpublished anecdote to 
 Mr. Ennis, of Kinimage, the grand-nephew of Nicholas Demp-
 
 116 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 The person thus addressed by the yeoman was 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald, of whom a cabinet min- 
 ister, Lord Holland, deliberately writes : 
 
 " More than Jwenty years have now passed away. 
 Many of my political opinions are softened, my predi- 
 lections for some men weakened, my prejudices against 
 others removed; but my approbation of Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald's actions remains unaltered and unshaken. 
 His country was bleeding under one of the hardest 
 tyrannies that our times have witnessed." f 
 
 " If Lord Edward had been actuated in political 
 life by personal ambition," writes Dr. MacNevin, 
 "he had only to" cling to his great family connec- 
 tions and parliamentary influence. They unques- 
 tionably would have advanced his fortunes and 
 gratified his desires. The voluntary sacrifices he 
 made, and the magnanimous manner in which he 
 directed himself to the independence of Ireland, 
 are incontestible proofs of the purity of his soul." 
 
 "What a noble fellow," said Lord Byron, "was 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and what a romantic and 
 singular history his was ! If it were not too near 
 our times, it would make* the finest subject in the 
 world for an historical novel." 
 
 The insurrection, meanwhile, to which Earl Rus- 
 sell refers as one " wickedly provoked, rashly be- 
 
 sey, whose cartridge-box and sash are still preserved at Kim- 
 mage House as an interesting memento of the man and of the 
 incident. For a notice of the Yeomanry, see Addenda E. 
 
 t Memoirs of the Whig Party. Lord Holland adds: "The 
 premature and ill-concerted insurrections which followed in 
 the Catholic districts were quelled, rather in consequence of 
 want of concert and skill in the insurgents, than of any good 
 conduct or discipline of the king's troops, whom Sir Kalpli 
 Abercrombie described very honestly, as formidable to no one 
 lut their frie.nds. That experienced and upright commander 
 had been removed from his command, even after those just 
 and spirited general orders in which the remarkable judg- 
 ment just quoted was conveyed. His recall was hailed as a 
 triumph by the Orange faction. Indeed, surrounded as they 
 were with burning cottages, tortured backs, and frequent 
 executions, they were yet full of their sneers at what they
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 117 
 
 gun, and cruelly crushed," * was hastening to 
 maturity. Dublin and Kildare were ripe for re- 
 volt : the mountains of Wicklow the stronghold 
 of Holt were like slumbering volcanos. A 
 great object was to procure, near Dublin, a place 
 of concealment for the chivalrous nobleman who 
 had espoused ' the cause of the down-trodden 
 people ; and a widow lady, named Dillon, who 
 resided near Portobello, undertook to give him 
 shelter. Before he had been two days in the 
 house, under an assumed name, an accident re- 
 vealed his real one to the servant man. In clean- 
 ing Lord Edward's boots he observed the noble 
 stranger's name and title written in full ; and he 
 
 whimsically termed 'the clemency' of the government, and 
 the weak character of their viceroy, Lord Camden. * * * 
 The fact Is incontrovertible, that the people of Ireland were 
 driven to resistance, which, possibly, they meditated before, 
 by the free quarters and expenses of the soldiery, which were 
 such as are not permitted in civilized warfare, even in an 
 enemy's country. Trials, if they must so be called, were car- 
 ried on without number, under martial law. It often hap- 
 pened, that three officers composed the court, and that of tho 
 three, two were under age, and the third an officer of the yeo- 
 manry or militia, who bud sworn, in his Orange lodge, eternal 
 hatred to the people over whom he was thus constituted a 
 judge. Floggings, picket ings, death, were the usual sentences, 
 and these were sometimes commuted into banishment, serv- 
 ing in the fleet, or transference to a foreign service. Many 
 wen; sold at so much per head to tho Prussians. Other less 
 legal but not more horrible outrages were daily committed 
 by the different corps under the command of government. 
 Even in the streets of Dublin, a man was shot and robbed of 
 30, on the loose recollection of a soldier's having seen him 
 in the battle of Kileullen, and no proceeding was instituted 
 IM ascertain tho murder or prosecute the murderer. Lord 
 Wycombe, who was in Dublin, and who was himself shot at 
 by a sentinel, between Black Hock and that city, wrote to me 
 many details of similar mil rages which he bad ascertained to 
 be true. Dr. Diekson (Ilishop of Down) assured me that ho 
 had seen families returning penccbly from mass, assailed 
 without provocation, by drunken troops and yeomanry, ami 
 tin' wives and daughters exposed to every species of indig- 
 nity, brutality, and outrage, from which neither his remon- 
 strances, nor those of other J'rotestant gentlemen, could 
 rescue them. The subsequent Indemnity acts deprived of 
 redress the victims of this wide-spread cruelty." 
 * Preface to Moore's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 18.
 
 118 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 took occasion to tell his mistress that he knew 
 who was the guest up stairs, but that she need 
 not fear, as he would die in his defence. The 
 lady, with some anxiety, communicated the cir- 
 cumstance to Lord Edward, who expressed a wish 
 to see the faithful adherent. " No," replied the 
 servant ; "I won't go up or look at him, for if 
 they should arrest me, I can then swear I never 
 saw him or spoke to him." 
 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald remained for five weeks 
 in this retreat, when his friends suggested the ex- 
 pediency of removing to the house of a respectable 
 feather merchant, named Murphy, who resided in 
 Thomas Street, Dublin. Accompanied by William 
 Lawless, who afterwards rose to the rank of gen- 
 eral in the service of France, Lord Edward, 
 wrapped in a countryman's great coat, arrived 
 at Murphy's, where he remained for several days, 
 during which time, dressed in female attire, he 
 visited his wife and* children in Denzille Street. 
 He became by degrees more callous to risk, and 
 we find him, early in May, riding, attended by 
 Neilson only, to reconnoitre the line of advance 
 from Kildare to Dublin. While executing this 
 perilous task he was actually stopped by the pa- 
 trol at Palmerstown, but having, as Moore alleges, 
 plausibly passed for a doctor hurrying to the relief 
 of a sick patient, he was suffered, with his com- 
 panion, to resume their journey. 
 
 In order to foil pursuit, Lord Edward was ad- 
 vised to remain not more than a night or two 
 at any one house. Moore's and Murphy's, in 
 Thomas Street, and Gannon's, in Corn Market, 
 were the houses which afforded him shelter. 
 
 The proclamation offering a reward of one thou- 
 sand pounds for such information as should lead
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 119 
 
 
 
 to his apprehension had now appeared. On As- 
 cension Thursday, May 17th, 1798, Major Sirr 
 "received information," writes Moore, "that a 
 party of persons, supposed to be Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald's body guard, would be on their way 
 from Thomas Street to Usher's Island that night." 
 The precise object or destination of this party, 
 Moore adds, has not been ascertained, but that 
 it was supposed Lord Edward was going to Moira 
 House,* on Usher's Island, the residence of Lord 
 and Lady Moira, with a view to see his wife 
 Pamela, who is believed to have been then under 
 their hospitable roof, f Lord Edward's actual 
 destination, however and we have been at no 
 ordinary pains to ascertain it was the residence 
 of Mr. Francis Magan, who resided at 20 Usher's 
 Island. 
 
 From the representative of the Moore family, 
 who gave Lord Edward ample shelter and pro- 
 tection when a thousand pounds lay on his head, 
 we have gathered the following valuable tradi- 
 tional details ; and, as will be found, they are 
 interwoven with the history of the Sham Squire. 
 A carpenter, named Tuite, was at work in one of 
 the apartments of Mr. Secretary Cooke's office on 
 May 16th, 1798. While repairing the floor within 
 the recess of a double door, he distinctly heard 
 Mr. Cooke say that the house of James Moore, 
 119 Thomas Street, should be forthwith searched 
 for pikes and traitors. Tuite, who was under 
 some obligations to Moore, with great presence 
 
 * Now the Mendicity Institution. 
 
 t It is not quite certain that Lady Edward Fitzgerald was, at 
 this time, at Moiru House. The Personal llecollectiont of Lord 
 Cloncttrry (3d edition, p. 130) rather favor an opposite conclu- 
 sion, by statin;,' that " at the time of Lord Edward's arrest, his 
 wife, Pamela, had taken refuge with my sisters, and was at the 
 time in my father's house in Merrion Street," namely, Morn- 
 ington llousu
 
 120 THE SHAM SQUIEE, AND 
 
 of mind noiselessly wrenched off the hinge of the 
 outer door, and asked permission to leave the 
 Castle for ten minutes in order to purchase a new 
 hinge in Kennedy's Lane. Leave was given ; 
 but, instead of going to the ironmonger's, Tuite 
 ran, with immense speed, to James Moore, in 
 Thomas Sfreet, gave the hint, and returned to his 
 work. Moore, who was deeply implicated, and 
 had a commissariat for five hundred men on the 
 premises, fled to, the banks of the Boyne, near 
 Drogheda, after previously telling his daughter 
 to provide for the safety of Lord Edward, who 
 was at that moment up stairs. Miss Moore had 
 a high respect and friendship for Mr. Francis 
 Magan and his sister, who resided at 20 Usher's 
 Island. He was a Roman Catholic barrister, and 
 had been a member of the Society of United Irish- 
 men, though, from prudential motives, he had 
 shortly before relinquished his formal connection 
 with them, but it was understood that his sym- 
 pathies were still with the society. Miss Moore 
 obtained an interview with Mr. Magan, and un- 
 bosomed her anxiety to him. Mr. Magan, at no 
 time an impassionable or impulsive person, seemed 
 moved : he offered his house as a refuge for Lord 
 Edward. The proposal was accepted with grati- 
 tude, and it was thereupon arranged that Lord 
 Edward, accompanied by Mrs. and Miss Moore, 
 Gallaher and Palmer, should proceed that evening 
 from Moore's in Thomas Street to Magan's on 
 Usher's Island. It was further astutely suggested 
 by Mr. Magan, that as so large a party knocking 
 at his hall door might attract suspicion, he would 
 leave ajar his stable door in Island Street, which 
 lay immediately at the rear, and thus open access 
 through the garden to his house. Lord Edward,
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 121 
 
 while under Moore's roof, passed as the French 
 tutor of Miss Moore, who had been educated at 
 Tours, and they never spoke unless in French. 
 On the pretext of being about to take a stroll 
 through Galway's Walk, adjacent, then a popular 
 lounge, Miss Moore, leaning on Lord Edward's 
 arm, walked down Thomas Street at about half- 
 past eight o'clock on the evening of May 17th. 
 They were preceded by Mrs. Moore, Palmer, and 
 Gallaher, the latter a confidential clerk in Moore's 
 employ, a man of herculean frame, and one of 
 Lord Edward's most devoted disciples. Of the 
 intended expedition to Usher's Island the gov- 
 ernment early that day received information. 
 Thomas Moore, in his Diary of August 26th, 1830, 
 gives the following particulars communicated on 
 that day by Major Sirr : " Two ways by which he 
 (Lord Edward) might have come, either Dirty 
 Lane or Watling Street: Sirr divided his forces, 
 and posted himself, accompanied by Regan and 
 Emerson, in Watling Street, his two companions 
 being on the other side of the street. Seized the 
 first of the party, and found a sword, which he 
 drew out, and this was the saving of his life. 
 Assailed by them all, and in stepping back fell ; 
 they prodding at him. His two friends made off. 
 On his getting again on his legs, two pistols were 
 snapped at him, but missed fire, and his assailants 
 at last made off." 
 
 As explanatory of the major's statement we may 
 observe that one of Lord Edward's body guard 
 was dispatched usually about forty* yards in ad- 
 vance. Major Sirr speaks of men prodding at 
 his prostrate body, but does not tell that he wore 
 a coat of mail under his uniform. Gallaher used 
 to say that he gave the major seven stabs, not one
 
 of which penetrated. During the struggle Gal- 
 laher received from Sirr an ugly cut on the leg, 
 which subsequently furnished a mark for identifi-. 
 cation. Meanwhile the Rebel party hurried back 
 with their noble charge to Thomas Street, not 
 to Moore's, but to the nearer residence of Mur- 
 phy, who had previously given his lordship* gen- 
 erous shelter. 
 
 The original letter which conveyed to Major 
 Sirr the information touching Lord Edward's in- 
 tended visit to Usher's Island still exists among 
 the "Sirr MSS.," deposited in the library of 
 Trinity College, Dublin. The following copy has 
 been made by Dr. Madden, who, however, seems 
 to agree with Thomas Moore in the opinion that 
 Lord Edward's destination was Moira House : 
 
 "Lord Edward will be this evening in Watling Street. 
 Place a watch in Watling Street, two houses up from 
 Usher's Island;* another towards Queen's Bridge ;f a 
 third in Island Street, at the rear of the stables near Wat- 
 ling Street, and which leads up to Thomas Street and 
 Dirty Lane. At one of these places Lord Edward will 
 be found, and will have one or two with him. They 
 may be armed. Send to Swan and Atkinson as soon 
 as you can. EDWARD COOKE." 
 
 Mr. Cooke does not tell Sirr from whom he got 
 this information ; nor was the major, so far as we 
 know, ever cognizant of it ; but a letter written 
 by Cooke. for the eye of Lord Castlereagh, and 
 printed in the Gornwallis Correspondence, states 
 unreservedly that all the information regarding 
 the movements of Lord Edward Fitzgerald came 
 
 * This precaution was obviously lest Lord Edward should 
 enter by the hall door on Usher's Island. W. J. F. 
 
 + Lest he should come by " Dirty Lane " instead of Watling 
 Street. Magan's is the second stable from Watling Street, 
 although his house on Usher's Island is the sixth from that 
 street. W. J. F.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 123 
 
 through Francis Higgins, who employed a gentle- 
 man for whose name Mr. Cooke considerately 
 gives a dash to "set" the unfortunate noble- 
 man. The "setter" we believe to have been 
 Mr. Francis Magan, barrister-at-law, of whom 
 more anon. 
 
 Nicholas Murphy received his noble guest with 
 a cead millefailthe ; * but next morning both were 
 thrown into a state of alarm by observing a de- 
 tachment of military pass down the street, and 
 halt before Moore's door, f The source from 
 whence the espionage proceeded has hitherto 
 remained a dark and painful mystery. Murphy 
 hurried Lord Edward to the roof of the ware- 
 house, and with some difficulty persuaded him 
 to lie in the valley. 
 
 To return to Mr. Francis Magan. On the day 
 following his interview with Miss Moore, he pro- 
 ceeded to her residence in Thomas Street, and 
 with a somewhat careworn expression, which' 
 then seemed the result of anxiety for Lord Ed- 
 ward's safety, though it was probably occasioned 
 by bitter chagrin at being baulked in a profitable 
 job, said : "I have been most uneasy : did any- 
 thing happen ? I waited up till one o'clock, and 
 Lord Edward did not come." Miss Moore, who, 
 although a woman of great strength of mind, did 
 not then suspect Magan, replied : " We were 
 stopped by. Major Sirr in Watling Street ; we ran 
 back to Thomas Street, where we most providen- 
 tially succeeded in getting Lord Edward shelter 
 at Mr. Murphy's." J Mr. Magan was consoled 
 by the explanation, and withdrew. 
 
 * Anglice, A hundred thousand welcomes, 
 f For curious traditional details in connection with this inci- 
 dent, see Mr. Macready's statement, Appendix F. 
 | Communicated by Edward Macready, Esq., son of Misa
 
 124 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 The friends who best knew Magan, describe 
 him as a queer combination of pride and bashful- 
 ness, dignity and decorum, nervousness and in- 
 flexibility. He obviously did not like to go 
 straight to the Castle and sell Lord Edward's 
 blood openly. There is good evidence to believe 
 that he confided all the information to Francis 
 Higgins, with whom it will be shown the Magan 
 family were peculiarly intimate, arid deputed him, 
 under a pledge of strict secrecy, to make a good 
 bargain with Mr. Under-Secretary Cooke. 
 
 After Lord Edward had spent a few hours lying 
 in the valley of the roof of Murphy's house he 
 ventured to come down. The unfortunate no- 
 bleman had been suffering from a sore throat 
 and cold, and general debility, and his appear- 
 ance was sadly altered for the worse. He was 
 reclining, half dressed, upon a bed, about to 
 drink some whey which Murphy had prepared 
 'for him, when Major Swan, followed by Captain 
 Kyan at some distance behind, peeped in at the 
 door. " You know me, my lord, and I know 
 you," exclaimed Swan; "it will be vain to re- 
 sist." * This logic did not convince Lord Ed- 
 ward. He sprang from the bed like a tiger from 
 his lair, and with a wave-bladed dagger which he 
 had concealed under the pillow, made some stabs 
 
 Moore, May 17th, 1865. Miss Moore, afterwards Mrs. Macready, 
 died in 1844. One of her last remarks was : " Charity forbade 
 me to express a suspicion which I have long entertained, that 
 Magan was the betrayer; but when I see Moore, in his Life of 
 Lord Edward, insinuating that Xeilson was a Judas, I can no 
 longer remain silent. Major Sirr got timely information that 
 we were going to Usher's Island. Now, this intention was 
 known only to Magan and me; even Lord Edward did not 
 know our destination until just before starting. If Magun is 
 innocent, then J am the informer." The Cornwallis J'upers 
 had not then appeared, furnishing a link which, although use- 
 less separately, powerfully tends to corroborate Miss Moore's 
 suspicion. 
 * The Expreta, May 26tb, 1798.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 125 
 
 at the intruder, but without as yet inflicting 
 mortal injury. 
 
 An authorized version of the arrest, evidently 
 supplied by Swan himself, appears in the Express 
 of May 26th, 1798, and goes on to say: "His 
 lordship then closed upon Mr. Swan, shortened 
 the dagger, and gave him a stab in the side, un- 
 der the left arm and breast, having first changed 
 it from one hand to the other over his shoulder 
 (as Mr. Swan thinks). Finding the blood run- 
 ning from him, and the impossibility to restrain 
 him, he was compelled, in defence of his life/' 
 adds Swan's justification, " to discharge a double- 
 barrelled pistol at his lordship, which wounded 
 him in the shoulder : he fell on the bed, but, re- 
 covering himself, ran at him with the dagger, 
 which Mr. Swan caught by the blade with one 
 hand, and endeavored to trip him up." Captain 
 Ryan, with considerable animation, then pro- 
 ceeded to attack Lord Edward with a sword' 
 cane, which bent on his ribs. Sirr, who had be- 
 tween two and three hundred men with him, was 
 engaged in placing pickets round the house, when 
 the report of Swan's pistol made him hurry up 
 stairs to his relief. " On my arrival in view of 
 Lord Edward, Ryan, and Swan," writes Major 
 Sirr, in a letter addressed to Captain Ryan's son, 
 on December 29th, 1838, " I beheld his lordship 
 standing, with a dagger in his hand, as if ready 
 to plunge it into my friends, while dear Ryan, 
 seated on the bottom step of the flight of the 
 upper stairs, had Lord Edward grasped with 
 both his arms by the legs or thighs, and Swan 
 in a somewhat similar situation, both laboring 
 under the torment of their wounds, when, with- 
 out hesitation, I fired at Lord Edward's dagger
 
 126 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 arm [lodging several slugs in his shoulder], and 
 the instrument of death fell to the ground. Hav- 
 ing secured the titled prisoner, my first concern 
 was for your dear father's safety. I viewed his 
 intestines with grief and sorrow." * 
 
 Not until a strong guard of soldiery pressed 
 Lord Edward violently to the ground by laying 
 their heavy muskets across his person, could he 
 be bound in such a way as prevented further 
 effective resistance, "j- When they had brought 
 the noble prisoner, however, as far as the hall, | 
 he made a renewed effort to escape, when a das- 
 tardly drummer from behind inflicted a wound in 
 the back of his neck, which contributed to em- 
 bitter the remaining days of his existence. He 
 was then removed in a sedan to the Castle. 
 
 The entire struggle occupied so short an inter- 
 val, that Rattigan, who, the moment he received 
 intimation of the arrest, rushed forth to muster 
 the populace, in order to rescue Lord Edward, 
 had not time to complete his arrangements. 
 Rattigan was a respectable timber merchant, re- 
 siding with his mother, a widow, in Bridgefoot 
 Street. In Higgins's Journal of the day, we 
 read : 
 
 "A number of pikes were yesterday (Monday) dis- 
 
 * Castlereaffh's Correspondence, vol. i., pp. 463, 464. 
 
 t Moore's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. 
 
 I Moore's Diary, vol. vi., p. 134. 
 
 " Recollections of the Arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald." 
 The Comet (newspaper), September llth, 1831, p. 152. 
 
 The original proclamation is now before us, offering a re- 
 ward of 300 for the " discovery" of Kattigan, Lawless, and 
 others. Kattigan escaped, entered the French service, and 
 died at the Battle of Marengo. Lawless, the attached friend 
 and agent of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, after undergoing a 
 series of romantic adventures, also succeeded in eluding the 
 grasp of his pursuers, and roee to the rank of General under 
 Napoleon. For the account of Lawless's escape from Dub- 
 lin, furnished by the only party competent to detail it, see 
 Addenda G.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 127 
 
 covered at one Rattigan's timber- yard in Dirty Lane ; as 
 a punishment for which his furniture was brought out 
 into the street, and set fire to and consumed." 
 
 It does not seem to have been the wish of the 
 higher members of the government that Lord Ed- 
 ward should have fallen into the hands of their 
 myrmidons. " Will no one urge Lord Edward to 
 fly?" exclaimed Lord Clare. "I pledge myself 
 that every port in the kingdom shall be left open 
 to him."' 
 
 It is not possible to overrate the fatal severity 
 of the blow, which Lord Edward's arrest at that 
 critical moment imparted to the popular move- 
 ment. Had he lived to guide the insurrection 
 which he had organized, his prestige and emi- 
 nent military talents would probably have car- 
 ried it to a successful issue. Four days after 
 his arrest, three out of thirty-two counties rose ; 
 and to extinguish even that partial revolt, cost 
 the government twenty-two millions of pounds 
 and twenty thousand men. 
 
 The late Lord Holland furnishes, in his Me- 
 moirs, many interesting illustrations of Lord Ed- 
 ward's sweet and gentle disposition : 
 
 "With the most unaffected simplicity and good na- 
 ture, he would palliate, from the force of circumstances 
 or the accident of situation, the perpetrators of the very 
 enormities which had raised his high spirit and compas- 
 sionate nature to conspire and resist. It was this kind- 
 ness of heart that led him, on his death-bed, to acquit 
 the officer who inflicted his wounds of all malice, and 
 even to commend him for an honest discharge of his 
 duty. It was this sweetness of disposition that enabled 
 him to dismiss with good humor one of his bitterest 
 persecutors, who had visited him in his mangled ct>n- 
 dition, if not to insult his misfortunes, with the idle 
 hope of extorting his secret. 'I would shake hands 
 willingly with you,' said he, 'but mine are cut to pieces. 
 However, I '11 shake a toe and wish you good bye.' "
 
 128 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 " Gentle when stroked, but fierce when pro- 
 voked," has been applied to Ireland. The phrase 
 is also applicable, in some degree, to her chival- 
 rous son, who had already bled for his kiag as he 
 had afterwards bled for his country. * Murphy's 
 narrative, supplied to Dr. Madden, says : 
 
 " It was supposed, the evening of the day before he 
 died, he was delirious, as we could hear him with a very 
 strong voice crying out, ' Come on ! come on ! d n you, 
 come on ! ' He spoke so loud that the people in the 
 street gathered to listen to it." 
 
 Two surgeons attended daily on Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, f 
 
 This delirium is said to have been induced by 
 the grossly indecent neglect to which his feelings 
 were subjected by the Irish government. Lord 
 Henry Fitzgerald, addressing the heartless vice- 
 roy, Lord Camden, "complains that his relations 
 were excluded, and old attached servants withheld 
 from attending on him." 
 
 Epistolary entreaty was followed by personal 
 supplication. 
 
 "Lady Louisa Connolly," writes Mr. G-rattan, 
 "in vain implored him, and stated that while 
 they were talking her nephew might expire ; at 
 last she threw herself on her knees, and, in a flood 
 of tears, supplicated at his feet, and prayed that 
 
 * To his wounds received in active service, and his ability 
 as a military officer, C. J. Fox bore testimony in the House of 
 Commons on the 21st December, 1792. (Jobbett said that Lord 
 Edward was the only officer of untarnished personal honor 
 whom he had ever known. Even that notoriously systematic 
 traducer of the Irish popular party, Sir Richard Musgrave, 
 was constrained to praise Lord Edward's " great valor, and 
 considerable abilities," "honor and humanity," "frankness, 
 courage, and good nature." 
 
 t One of the surgeons was Mr. Garnett, who, in a diary de- 
 voted to his noble patient, noted several interesting facts. 
 Lord Edward manifested great religious feeling, and asked 
 Mr. Garnett to read the Holy Scriptures to him. We are in- 
 formed by Mr. Colles, librarian of the Royal Dublin Society, 
 that this MS. is now in his possession.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 129 
 
 he would relent; but Lord Camden remained in- 
 exorable." * 
 
 Lord Henry Fitzgerald's feelings found vent in 
 a letter, addressed to Lord Camden, of which the 
 strongest passages have been suppressed by that 
 peer's considerate friend, Thomas Moore : 
 
 "On Saturday my poor, forsaken brother, who had 
 but that night and the next day to live, was disturbed ; 
 he heard the noise of the execution of Clinch at the 
 prison door. He asked eagerly, 'What noise is that?' 
 And certainly, in some manner or other, he knew it ; for 
 O God ! what am I to write ? from that time he lost 
 his senses : most part of the night he was raving mad ; 
 a keeper from a madhouse was necessary." f 
 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald died in great agony, 
 mental and bodily, on the 4th of June, 1798 fc and 
 was deposited in the vaults of St. Werburgh's 
 Church. Hereby hangs a tale, which will be 
 found in the Appendix. J 
 
 * Memoirs of Henry Grattan, vol. iv., p. 387. 
 t Moore's Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. 11., 
 p. 100. 
 t Appendix H.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A Secret Well Kept. The "Setter" of Lord Edward at last 
 Traced. Striking in the Dark. Roman Catholic Barristers 
 Pensioned. A Lesson of Caution. Letter to the Author, 
 from Kev. John Fetherston-Haugh. Just Debts Paid with 
 Wages of Dishonor. Secret Service Money. An Ally of 
 "the Sham" Analyzed. What were the Secret Services 
 of Francis Magan, Barrister-at-Law ? Shrouded Secrets 
 Opened. 
 
 "ONE circumstance/' says a writer, "is worthy 
 of especial notice. Like Junius, an unfathomed 
 mystery prevails as to who it was that betrayed 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald and received the reward 
 of one thousand pounds." * 
 
 When one remembers the undying interest and 
 sympathy which have so long been interwoven 
 with the name of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, it is 
 indeed surprising that for sixty-one years the 
 name of the person who received one thousand 
 pounds for discovering him should not have trans- 
 pired, f The secret must have been known to 
 many persons in the Castle and to the executive ; 
 yet even when the circumstance had grown so 
 old as to become the legitimate property of his- 
 tory, they could not be induced to relax their 
 reserve. Whenever any inquisitive student of 
 the stormy period of '98 would ask Major Sirr 
 to tell the name of Lord Edward's betrayer, the 
 major invariably drew forth his ponderous snuff- 
 
 * Castlereagh Correspondence, vol. i., p. 4C8, First Series. 
 
 t Francis Higgins received the 1,000 for having pointed out 
 Lord Edward's retreat: but recent inquiries on the part of the 
 author have ascertained that Counsellor Magan betrayed Lord 
 Edward to Higgins.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 131 
 
 box, inhaled a prodigious pinch, and solemnly 
 turned the conversation. Thomas Moore, when 
 engaged upon the Life and Death of Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald, made two special visits to Ire- 
 land for the purpose of procuring on the spot all 
 the sadly interesting particulars of his lordship's 
 short but striking career. The Castle was then 
 occupied by an Irish Whig administration ; but, 
 notwithstanding Moore's influence with them, 
 and their sympathy, more or less, with the hero 
 whose memory he was about to embalm, he failed 
 to elicit the peculiar information in which the 
 Castle archives and library were rich. In 1841 
 Dr. Madden was somewhat more fortunate. He 
 obtained access to a number of receipts for secret 
 service money, as well as to a book, found under 
 strange circumstances, in which the various sums 
 arid the names of the parties to whom paid are 
 entered. But perhaps the most interesting entry 
 was written in a way to defeat the ends of his- 
 toric curiosity. 
 
 In the book of Secret Service Money Expendi- 
 ture, now in the possession of Charles Haliday, 
 Esq.,* the entry "June 20th [1798], F. H. Dis- 
 
 * Dr. has given us the following account of the discovery 
 
 of this document: "When Lord Mulgruve, since Marquis of 
 Xonnanby, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, some official in. 
 Dublin Castle cleared out and sold a quantity of books and 
 papers, which were purchased in one lot by John Feagau, a 
 dealer in second-hand books, who had, as his place of busi- 
 ness, a cellar at the corner of Henry Street. I had the oppor- 
 tunity of examining the entire collection, but, not being much 
 of si politician, I only selected two volumes, Wade's Catalogue 
 of the Want* of the County Dullin, and the Catalogue of the l'in,lli 
 Library, sold in London A. D. 1789, which 1 bought for 1*. 8rf. 
 They, and the others of the collection, had each a red leather 
 label, on which, in large capitals, was impressed 'Library, 
 Dublin Castle.' Among them was the MS. account of the ex- 
 penditure of the secret service money, and of which I was the 
 first to point out the possible value when it was about to be 
 thrown, with various useless and imperfect books, into waste 
 paper."
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 covery of L. E. F. 1,000," appears on record. 
 The researches of one of the most indefatigable 
 of men proved, in this instance, vain. "The 
 reader," says Dr. Madden, "has been furnished 
 with sufficient data to enable him to determine 
 whether the initials were used to designate Mr. 
 Hughes, or some other individual ; whether the 
 similarity of the capital letters J and F, in the 
 handwriting, may admit or not of one letter being 
 mistaken for another, the F for a J ; or whether a 
 correspondent of Sirr, who sometimes signed him- 
 self ' J. H./ and whose name was Joel Hulbert, 
 an informer, residing in 1798 in Monastereven, 
 may have been indicated by them." * 
 
 Watty Cox declared that Laurence Tighe, to 
 whose house the bleeding body of Ryan was 
 borne after Lord Edward's arrest, had played 
 the spy ; while on the other hand, Dr. Brennan, 
 in his Milesian Magazine,, broadly charged Cox 
 with the perfidy. Murphy, an honest, simple- 
 minded man, in whose house Lord Edward was 
 taken, has not been exempt from suspicion. The 
 late eminent anecdotist, Mr. P. Brophy, of Dub- 
 lin, used to tell that Lord Edward's concealment 
 became known " through an artilleryman who was 
 courting Murphy's servant girl"; but Thomas 
 Moore unintentionally disturbs this story, which 
 never reached his ears, by saying "an old maid-' 
 servant was the only person in Murphy's house 
 beside themselves." The memory of Samuel 
 Neilson, one of the truest disciples who fol- 
 lowed the patriot peer, suffered from a dark in- 
 uendo advanced in Moore's Life of Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, and echoed by Maxwell (p. 41), in 
 
 * Madden's Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, vol. ii., 
 p. 443.-
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 133 
 
 his History of the Irish Rebellion. To one of 
 the most honorable of Lord Edward's follow- 
 ers, Charles Phillips, under an erroneous impres- 
 sion, refers in a startling note attached (p. 288) 
 to the last edition of Curran and his Contempo- 
 raries. He professes to know the secret, and 
 adds: "He was to the last, apparently, the at- 
 tached friend of his victim." In a memoir of 
 O'Connell, from the pen of the late Mark O'Cal- 
 laghan, it is stated in positive terms (p. 32) that 
 John Hughes received the thousand pounds for 
 the betrayal of Lord Edward* The son and bio- 
 grapher of the notorious Reynolds writes (vol. ii., 
 p. 194): "The United Irishmen, and their parti- 
 zans, especially Mr. Moore, emboldened by the 
 distance of time and place, have insinuated that 
 my father was the person who caused the arrest 
 of Lord Edward." Further on, at p. 234, Mr. 
 Reynolds flings the onus of suspicion on Murphy, 
 while Murphy in his own account of the trans- 
 action says : "I heard in prison that one of Lord 
 Edward's body 'guard had given some informa- 
 tion." Again, Felix Rourke was suspected of 
 the infidelity, and narrowly escaped death at the 
 hands of his comrades. Suspicion also followed 
 William Ogilvie, Esq., who, as a near connection, 
 visited Lord Edward at Moore's, in Thomas Street, 
 a few days before the arrest, and transacted* some 
 business with him.* Interesting as it is, after 
 half a century's speculation, to discover the name 
 of the real informer* it is still more satisfactory 
 that those unjustly suspected of the act should be 
 
 * When Miss Moore heard this dark suspicion started, she 
 said, " If so, I know not whom to trust. I saw Lord Edward 
 take a ring from Ills finger and press it on Mr. Ogilvio as a 
 keepsake Tears fell from Ogilvie's eyes as he grasped Lord 
 Edward's baud." Tradition of the Moore family.
 
 134 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 finally acquitted from it. It is further useful as 
 teaching a lesson of caution to those who, blind- 
 fold, strike right and left at friend and foe.* 
 
 One of the most valuable letters printed by Mr. 
 Ross in his Memoirs and Correspondence of Mar- 
 quis Cornwallis (vol. iii., p. 320) is that addressed 
 by Secretary Cooke to his excellency, in which 
 Mr. Francis Higgins and others are recommended 
 as fit recipients for a share in the 1,500 per an- 
 num, which in 1799 had been placed for secret 
 service in the hands of Lord Cornwallis. "My 
 occupation," writes this nobleman on 8th June, 
 1799, "is now of the most unpleasant nature, 
 negotiating and jobbing with the most corrupt 
 people under heaven. I despise myself every 
 hour for engaging in such dirty work." And 
 again: "How I long to kick those whom my 
 public duty obliges me to court." It may be 
 premised that "Mac" is Leonard McNally, the 
 legal adviser and advocate of the United Irish- 
 men. His opportunities for stagging were great, 
 as, besides being a United Irishman himself, his 
 name may be found for the defence in almost every 
 state trial from Rowan's to that of the Catholic 
 Delegates in 181 l.f McGucken, the third name 
 mentioned, was the solicitor to the United Irish- 
 men. 
 
 * Never was stronger anxiety expressed to trace an in- 
 former, or fiercer maledictions hurled at his head. One stir- 
 ring ballad, descriptive of the arrest aud death of Lord Ed- 
 ward, says: 
 
 "May Heaven scorch and parch the tongue by which his life 
 
 was sold, 
 And shrivel up the hand that clutched the proffered meed of 
 
 gold I 
 
 May treachery for ever be the traitor's lot on earth, 
 From the kith and kin around him, in his bed and at his 
 
 hearth I 
 
 t See Addenda K.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. ,135 
 
 "PENSION'S TO LOYALISTS. 
 
 " I submit to your lordship on this head the following : 
 
 First, that Mac should have a pension of 300. He 
 
 was not much trusted in the rebellion, and I believe has 
 been faithful. Francis Higgins, proprietor of the Free- 
 man ,s Journal, was the person who procured for me all 
 the intelligence respecting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and 
 
 got to set him, and has given me much, information, 
 
 300." * 
 
 Mr. Under-Secretary Cooke and Francis Hig- 
 gins were old acquaintances. The former came 
 to Ireland in 1778 with Sir Richard Heron, chief 
 secretary under Lord Buckingham, and, having 
 efficiently acted as his clerk, was appointed mili- 
 tary secretary in 1789, and obtained a seat in the 
 Irish parliament.! During the Rutland adminis- 
 tration Mr. Cooke contributed papers to the Free- 
 man' a Journal " under the auspices of the Sham 
 Squire"; one, entitled "The Sentinel," acquired 
 some historic notoriety. J Mr. Cooke's services 
 were further rewarded by the office of clerk of 
 commons, with 800 a year, as well as by the 
 lucrative sinecure of customer of Kinsale. 
 
 At a later period he became secretary to the 
 treasury and under-secretary of state in the war 
 and colonial department. For some account of 
 Mr. Cooke's extraordinarily active and wily ser- 
 vices in promoting the legislative Union, see no- 
 tice of Mr. Trench, Addenda J. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Before we had thoroughly succeeded in un- 
 shrouding Mr. Magan's share in the betrayal of 
 
 * It is strange that Mr. Ross, who has generally exhibited 
 such vigilance ancl research as editor of the Cornicallin Papers, 
 should print such a note as the following (vol. ii., p. 330): 
 "The man who gave the information which led to his arrest 
 received 1,000, but his name has never transpired." 
 
 iCastlereagh Correspondence, vol. i., p. 113. 
 Jrifk PolUictU Characters (Loud., 175W), p. 
 
 130.
 
 136 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 Lord Edward, the following and many more re- 
 marks, tracing it on circumstantial evidence, were 
 in type : 
 
 The considerate and cautious way in which Mr. 
 Gooke leaves a blank for the name of the individ- 
 ual who performed the office of "setter," at the 
 instance of Higgins, suggests that he must have 
 been a person of some station in society, and one 
 whose prospects and peace of -mind might suffer, 
 were he publicly known to have tracked Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald to destruction.* Mr. Cooke 
 also leaves a blank for the name of Leonard 
 MacNally, whose guilt did not transpire fully 
 until after his death in 1820 ; but since then it 
 has been but too notorious. 
 
 In the first volume of the second edition of 
 Dr. Madden's United Irishmen, he furnishes, from 
 page 364, an interesting account of " the secret 
 service money expended in detecting treasonable 
 conspiracies, extracted from original official docu- 
 ments." At page 393 we learn that Mr. Francis 
 Magan, a Roman Catholic barrister, not only re- 
 ceived large sums down, but enjoyed to his death 
 an annual pension of 200. On the back of all 
 Mr. Magan' s receipts, the chief secretary has ap- 
 pended a memorandum implying that Mr. Magan 
 belonged to a class who did not wish to criminate 
 openly, but stagged sub rosa. Dr. Madden re- 
 marks : " Counsellor Francis Magan' s services to 
 government, whatever they were, were well re- 
 warded. Besides his secret pension of 200 a 
 year, he enjoyed a lucrative official -situation in 
 
 * An old friend of Mr. Magan informs us that he mixed in 
 good society and held his head high. The same informant 
 adds that he was stiff, reserved, and consequential; he often 
 served with Magan on Catholic boards, where, owing to these 
 causes, he was not a favorite.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 137 
 
 the Four Courts up to the time of his decease. 
 He was one of the commissioners for inclosing 
 commons." 
 
 In reply to an application addressed by us to 
 an old friend of Mr. Magan, it has been urged 
 that the fact of his having received a pension 
 from the crown is no presumptive evidence of 
 secret service at the period of '98, inasmuch as 
 nearly all "the Catholic barristers were simi- 
 larly purchased, including Counsellors Donnel- 
 lan, MacKenna, Lynch, and Bellew." Unluckily, 
 however, for this argument, we find the follow- 
 ing data in that valuable collection of state pa- 
 pers, the Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 
 106 : " In 1798," writes Mr. Ross, "a bill passed 
 to enable the lord lieutenant (Lord Cornwallis) to 
 grant pensions to the amount of 3,000, as a .re- 
 compense to persons who had rendered essential 
 services to the state during the rebellion. This sum 
 was to be paid to the under-secretary, through 
 whose hands it was confidentially to pass. By a 
 warrant, dated June 23d, 1799, it was divided as 
 follows : 
 
 4 Thomas Reynolds, his wife, and two sons *. . . 1,000 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Cope and her three daughters! 1,000 
 
 Johu Warneford Armstrong J 500 
 
 Mrs. Ryan, widow of D. F. Ryan, and his 
 
 daughters .' 200 
 
 Mu. FRANCIS M.M ; AN 200 
 
 2,900 
 Balance to pay fees, etc 100 
 
 3,000'" 
 
 * The wholesale betrayer of his associates. 
 
 t Wife of Mr. Cope, " who managed Reynolds." 
 
 J Betrayer of John and Henry Sheares. 
 Mr. By an, who aided in the arrest of Lord Edward Fit*, 
 gerald.
 
 138 THE SHAM SQUIEE, AND 
 
 The counsellor's is the only name in this list 
 which Secretary Cooke inscribes with a prefix of 
 courtesy, and, no doubt, he was the mysterious 
 gentleman whom Francis Higgins urged to " set" 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Between the Magan 
 family and Mr. Higgins a close intimacy sub- 
 sisted for many years. The barrister's father 
 was the late Thomas Magan of High Street, 
 woollen-draper, traditionally known by the sobri- 
 quet of " Whistling Tom." * In the Dublin Di- 
 rectory for 1770, his name and occupation appear 
 for the first time. So far back as June 30th, 1789, 
 we find it recorded in the Dublin Evening Post 
 that "yesterday Mr. Magan, of High Street, 
 entertained Mr. Francis Higgins " and others. 
 "The glass circulated freely, and the evening 
 was spent with the utmost festivity and social- 
 ity.'" The Post in conclusion ironically calls him 
 " Honest Tom Magan." By degrees we find Mr. 
 Tom Magan dabbling in government politics. 
 The Dublin Evening Post of November 5th, 1789, 
 records : 
 
 "Mr. Magan, the woollen-draper, in High Street, in 
 conjunction with his friend, Mr. Higgins, are preparing 
 ropes and human brutes to drag the new viceroy to 
 the palace. It was Mr. Magan and the Sham Squire 
 who provided the materials for the triumphal entry of 
 Lord Buckingham into the capital. Quere, Should 
 not the inhabitants of Dublin who had their windows 
 broke on that glorious illumination order their glaziers 
 to entreat Mr. Magan and Mr. Higgins to cast an eye 
 on the tots? Mr. Magan is really clever, and never has 
 flinched in his partiality and attention to the cause of 
 Mr. Francis Higgins. Mr. Magan has the honor, and 
 that frequently, to dine Messrs. HiggMns, Daly, Brennan, 
 and Houlton." 
 
 * The draper's father was " James Magan, apothecary, Skin- 
 ner's Row," as we gather from a copy of the Dublin Directory 
 for 1769, in which an old man's handwriting adds, annotatively, 
 " Counsellor Alagan's grandfather."
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 139 
 
 The last two named, it will be remembered, 
 were the Sham Squire's colleagues on the Free- 
 man's Journal. 
 
 The Post further instances an act of great 
 friendship which Mr. Magan performed with a 
 view to serve Mr. Higgins. And there is good 
 reason to believe that the Sham Squire was not 
 unmindful of those services. In the Directory 
 for 1794 we find Mr. Tom Magan styled "wool- 
 len-draper and mercer to his majesty," a very 
 remarkable instance of state favor towards any 
 Roman Catholic trader at that period of sec- 
 tarian prejudice and ascendancy. George III., 
 however, gave Mr. Magan no custom, and he 
 died poor in 1797. With his son, who was called 
 to the bar in Michaelmas Term, 1796, Mr. Hig- 
 gins continued to maintain a friendly intercourse. 
 From the year 1796 Francis Magan resided with 
 his sister until his death in 1843, at 20 Usher's 
 Island. From the Castlereagh Papers (vol. i., p. 
 459) we learn that Mr. Secretary Cooke received 
 positive information of these movements of Lord 
 Edward in the vicinity of Usher's Island, which 
 preceded the final intelligence which led to his ar- 
 rest some days afterwards in Thomas Street. Mr. 
 Cooke's letter assures the viceroy that all the in- 
 formation respecting Lord Edward had come from 
 Francis Higgins, who got some gentleman, for 
 whose name the under-secretary considerately 
 gives a dash, to "set" the unfortunate young 
 nobleman. 
 
 Mr. Higgins at once claimed his blood-money, 
 and on the 20th June, 1798, we find that 1,000 
 were paid to him. How much of this sum was 
 given by the Sham Squire to his friend "the 
 setter," or what previous agreement there may
 
 140 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 have been between them, will probably never 
 be known. We are rather disposed to suspect 
 that Higgins tricked his tongue-tied colleague by 
 pocketing the lion's share himself. Mr. Magan, 
 by right, ought to have received the advertised 
 reward of 1,000 ; but it appears from the gov- 
 ernment records that this round sum went into 
 Higgins's hand conjointly with a pension of 300 
 a year "for the discovery of L. E. F." Magan 
 obtained but 200 a year for the information of 
 which Higgins was merely the channel ; though 
 later in life he received office, and sums far other 
 discoveries. In 1799 an act was passed, placing 
 a considerable sum at the viceroy's disposal, for 
 the reward of secret services during the rebellion. 
 Francis Magan is the only important member of 
 the suborned staff of stags whose secret services 
 until now have been historically unaccounted for. 
 In the long array of items extracted by Dr. Mad- 
 den from the Secret Service Book, per affidavit of 
 Mr. Cooke, we find under date " September llth, 
 1800," 
 
 " Magan, per Mr. Higgins, 300." 
 
 The sums of 500 and 100 were afterwards 
 privately presented to Mr. Magan, pursuant to 
 the provisions of the Civil List Act, which placed 
 money in the hands of the viceroy " for thfe 
 detection of treasonable conspiracies." These 
 douceurs were, of course, in addition to the pay- 
 ments made quarterly to Mr. Magan for the term 
 of his natural life, and for which his receipts still 
 exist.* 
 
 Mr. Magan possessed peculiar facilities, local 
 
 * One, by way of specimen, taken from the Lives and Times 
 of the United Irishmen, vol. i., p. 393, is subjoined : 
 "Eeceived from William Gregory, Esq.., by William Taylor,
 
 THE BLOODHOUXDS OF '98. 141 
 
 and otherwise, for "setting" the movements of 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the United Irishmen 
 who habitually met in Con MacLaughlin's house, 
 at 13 Usher's Island. Lad); Edward, as we learn 
 from Moore's Memoirs, was at Moira House, close 
 to Mr. Magan's residence, while his lordship lay 
 concealed in Thomas Street, adjacent. 
 
 Francis Magan, who became a member of the 
 Irish bar in 1796, found himself briefless, and 
 without "connection" or patrimony. A drown- 
 ing man, 't is said, will catch at a straw ; and we 
 have seen how he turned to mercenary account 
 peculiar knowledge which he acquired. Yet he 
 would seem to have made a false conscience, for 
 with the wages of dishonor he paid his just debts. 
 The following letfer, addressed to us by the Rev. 
 John Fetherston-Haugh, is not without interest. 
 It has been argued by one of the friends of Mr. 
 Magan, in reply to a personal expression of our 
 suspicion, that he who would do the one would 
 scorn to do the other ; but it must be remembered 
 that Mr. Magan, subsequent to '98, was on the 
 high-road to riches, and while the bond, to which 
 he was a party, existed, he was, of course, legally 
 liable. 
 
 " Grifflnstown House, Kiimegad. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : In reply to your letter respecting Mr. 
 Francis Magan, 1, beg to say that ray. grandfather, Thomas 
 1'Ytherston, of Bracket Castle, was in the habit, for years, 
 of lodging in High Street, Dublin, at the house of Thomas 
 Magan, a draper, and departed this life in his house. 
 My father, on inspecting my grandfather's papers, found 
 a joint bond from the draper and his son for 1,000, and 
 on speaking to the draper respecting its payment, he 
 
 Esq., fifty pounds sterling, for the quarter, to 24th December 
 lost. F. MAGAN. 
 
 "Dublin, January 22(1, 1816." 
 
 Endorsed by secretary of the lord lieutenant, 
 
 ' January, 1816, 50, S. A. F. MAGAN."
 
 142 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 told him he was insolvent ; * so my father put it into his 
 desk, counting it waste paper. Some years elapsed, and 
 the son came to Bracket Castle, my father's residence, 
 and asked for the bond. 'For what?' said my father. 
 To his astonishment, he said it was to pay it. I was 
 then but a boy ; but I can now almost see the strange 
 scene, it made so great an impression on me. Often my 
 father told me Magan paid the 1,000, and he could not 
 conceive where he got it, as he never held a brief in 
 court. He was puzzled why the crown gave him place 
 and pension. Believe me, etc., 
 
 "J. FETHEHSTON-H." 
 
 As we have already said, in the official account 
 of civil service money expended in detecting trea- 
 sonable conspiracies, the item, 
 "September llth, 1800, Magan, per Mr. Higgins, 300," 
 
 arrests attention. In the hope that Higgins's 
 journal of the day would announce some special 
 discovery of treason, tending to explain the cir- 
 cumstances under which the above douceur of 
 300 was given, we consulted the files, but found 
 nothing tending to throw a light on the matter, 
 unless the following paragraphs published in the 
 issues of August 12th and September 9th, 1800 : 
 
 "Yesterday Major Swan took into custody a person 
 named McCormick, f who is well known in the seditious 
 circle, and lodged him in the guard-house of the Castle. 
 He wore a green ribbon in his breast which had a device 
 wrought upon it of two hands fraternally united by a grip, 
 which, he said, was the badge of a new (it is supposed 
 Erin-go-Bragh) Order." 
 
 The second paragraph refers to " recent dis- 
 coveries " in general terms only, but the style 
 is amusing : 
 
 * The statement was doubtless correct. No will of Thomas 
 Magan was proved in the Irish Probate Court. 
 
 t P. McCormick, a " noted " Rebel, is mentioned in Madden's 
 United Irishmen, vol. i., p. 519, as residing in High Street. Did 
 Mr. Magan's long residence in High Street furnish him with 
 any facilities for tracing this mail?
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF 'i)8. 143 
 
 " Some of these offenders who were concerned in the 
 late conspiracies with United Irishmen, to whom the 
 lenity of government had extended amnesty on assu- 
 rances of their becoming useful and proper subjects, hav- 
 ing been recently discovered from their malignant tongues 
 to be miscreants unworthy of the mercy and support 
 extended to them, from their continual applauses of the 
 common foe and his friends, and their maligning the 
 first characters in the government and their measures, 
 it is intended to dispose of these vipers, not as was at 
 first intended, but in a manner that their perfidy and 
 ingratitude merit." 
 
 Besides his pension of 200 a year and a place 
 under the crown, given in recognition of secret 
 services, Mr. Francis Magan further received, on 
 December 15th, 1802, as appears from the account 
 of secret service money expenditure, 500 in hand. 
 This round sum, it is added, was given " by direc- 
 tion of Mr. Orpen." The secret service for which 
 500 was paid must have been one of no ordinary 
 importance. Conjecture is narrowed as to the 
 particular nature of the service by the heading of 
 the document, i. e., "Account of secret service 
 money applied in detecting treasonable conspiracies, 
 pursuant to the provisions of the Civil List Act 
 of 1793." A study of the historical events of the 
 time, with a comparison of the dates, find one or 
 two discoveries in which Magan may have been 
 concerned. In the year 1802 a formidable at- 
 tempt was made to rekindle the insurrection in 
 the county of Cork. Sergeant Beatty, its leader, 
 after skirmishing with the king's troops and kill- 
 ing several, escaped to Dublin, where, while in 
 the act of reorganizing his plot, he was arrested 
 and hung.* In 1802, Richard F. Orpen, Esq., 
 was high sheriff for the county of Cork.f "He 
 
 Revelatton* of Ireland, by D. O. Madden, p. 130 et seq. See 
 Addends. U, for fuller details, 
 t See files of the public journals for February, 1803.
 
 144 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 raised corps of volunteers for the suppression of 
 the rebellion, was of an active mind, and well 
 acquainted with persons of rank and influence."* 
 There is but one family of the name in Ireland. 
 It was, doubtless, this gentleman who urged the 
 reward of 500 to Magan in 1802 ; and, probably, 
 the secret service was the discovery of the Cork 
 conspirator. 
 
 The discovery of the plans of William Dowdall, 
 a confidential agent alike of Colonel Despard in 
 England and of Robert Emmet in Ireland, was 
 also made in 1802. Towards the end of that year 
 we find him in Dublin, with the object of extend- 
 ing their projects. Suddenly the news came that 
 on November 13th, 1802, Despard and twenty- 
 nine associates were arrested in London, f Dow- 
 dall fled, and, after some hair-breadth escapes, 
 reached France. ,No imputation on his fidelity 
 has ever been made. That Despard's plans ex- 
 tended to Ireland is not generally understood ; 
 but the Casllereagh Papers (vol. ii., p. 3) show 
 that he was one of the most determined of the 
 Society of United Irishmen. 
 
 The Higgins journal of November 25th, 1802, 
 records : 
 
 " The lounging Erin-go-Braghites in this town seem 
 somewhat frightened since they heard of the apprehen- 
 sion of Colonel Despard and his myrmidons. It marks 
 a sympathy which, with the close whisperings and con- 
 fabs that of late have been observable among them, in- 
 cline some to think that they have not left off the old 
 trade of dealing in baronial and other constitutions." 
 
 * Letter from Richard P. John Orpen, Esq., August 16th, 1865. 
 
 t Plowden's History of Ireland from the Union, vol. i., p. 176. 
 The Higgins journal of November 23d, 1802, states, but with- 
 out sufficient accuracy, that " the major part are Irish." Lord 
 Ellenborougb tried the prisoners; seven were hung and de- 
 capitated. Trial of Edward Marcus Despard (London: Gur- 
 ney, 1803), p. 269.
 
 THE BLOODHOUXDS OF '98. 145 
 
 "Robert Emmet," says Mr. Fitzgerald, in a 
 narrative supplied to Dr. Madden, "came over 
 from France in October, 1802. He (Emmet) was 
 soon in communication with several of the leaders 
 who had taken an active part in the previous re- 
 bellion."* Emmet is probably included among 
 the " Erin-go-Braghites " thus indicated by the 
 Higgins journal of November 2d, 1802 : 
 
 "Several Erin-go-Braghites have arrived in this city 
 within a few days past, after viewing (as they would a 
 monster) the first consul. They do not, however, use 
 the idolizing expressions of that character they were 
 wont, which shows that he has not been courteous to 
 the encouragers of pike-mongering in this country." 
 
 In the latter part of 1802, owing to private 
 information, Emmet's residence, near Milltown, 
 was searched by Major Swan, f The abortive 
 insurrection of which he was the leader did not 
 take place until July 23d in the following year. 
 A memorandum of Major Sirr, preserved with his 
 papers in Trinity College, Dublin, mentions, in 
 contradiction to a generally received opinion, that 
 early intimation of Robert Emmet's scheme did 
 reach the government. 
 
 The purchase of Mr. Magan by the government 
 was at this time unknown to his friends and the 
 public. As a Roman Catholic, and a member of 
 the former Society of United Irishmen, no dis- 
 position to suspect him seems to have taken 
 possession of hia friends. J The fact that he had 
 
 * Lives and Times ofthf. United Irishmen, vol. ill., p. 330. 
 
 t Statement of Mr. Putten to Dr. Madden, Ibid., p. 339. 
 
 J Dr. Brennan, in the second number of his Milesian Mnga- 
 zine, p. 49, enumerates the Roman Catholic barristers who had 
 rrc-fivt'd pensions. Mr. Magan'8 name is not included. Dr. 
 Brennan mentions tho names of Donnellan, Bellew, Lynch, 
 and MacKonim. The claims of Bellew and Lynch were for 
 " Union services." Mr. Cooke, writing to Lord Castlereagh 
 an account of the Bar meeting, September 10th, 17<J8, says, 
 
 10
 
 146 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 been a member of the Lawyers' Corps awakened 
 no misgiving. All the Catholic barristers, as a 
 matter of course, joined it ; and some of the most 
 determined United Irishmen, including Macready 
 and others, were known to wear the yeoman uni- 
 form merely with the object of cloaking them- 
 selves.* 
 
 A brother barrister and old friend of Mr. Magan 
 informs us that he enjoyed some chamber prac- 
 tice ; but, though he sometimes appeared in the 
 hall, equipped for forensic action, he never spoke 
 in court. Mr. Magan, as one of the first and few 
 Koman Catholic barristers called on the relaxation 
 of the Penal Code, is very likely to have been 
 consulted, during the troubled times of '98 and 
 following years, by his co-religionists who were 
 implicated in the conspiracy. 
 
 The influential leaders of the United Irishmen 
 were mostly Protestants ; and Leonard MacNally, 
 who generally acted as counsel to the body, hav- 
 
 refers to the above lour barristers: 
 
 " Every one of those gentlemen was provided for by Gov- 
 ernment. Mr. Donnellan obtained a place in the revenue; 
 Mr. MacKenna wrote some very clever political tracts, and 
 was silenced with a pension ; Mr. Lynch married a widow with 
 a pension, which was doubled alter his marriage; and Mr. 
 Bellew is in the receipt of 00 a year, paid to him quarterly. 
 
 " Lord Castlereagh was well aware of the importance of se- 
 curing the support of the leading Koman Catholic gentry at 
 the Union, and the place of assistant barrister was promised 
 to Mr. Bellew. It became vacant: Lord Castlereagh was re- 
 minded of his engagement, when, behold! a petition, signed 
 by the magistrates of the county to which Mr. Bellew was 
 about to be nominated, is presented to the lord lieutenant, 
 praying that a Koman Catholic should not be appointed to any 
 judicial office, and intimating their determination not to act 
 with him. A pension equivalent to the salary of a chairman 
 was given to Mr. Bellew, and he was put in the enjoyment 
 of the fruits of the office, without the labor of cultivation. 
 
 * All the Catholic barristers, with the object of averting 
 suspicion or persecution, became members of the Lawyers'
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 147 
 
 ing deserted the Catholic for the Protestant faith, 
 failed to command from Catholics that unlimited 
 confidence which a counsel of their own creed 
 would inspire. " Mac/' writes Mr. Secretary 
 
 Cooke, addressing Lord Castlereagh, " Mac 
 
 was not much trusted in the rebellion." * Coun- 
 sellor Magan, on the contrary, was not, for nearly 
 half a century, suspected. f MacNally lived in 
 Dominick Street, and later in Harcourt Street, 
 a considerable distance from the more disturbed 
 part of Dublin ; but Mr. Magan's chamber for 
 consultation lay invitingly open at 20 Usher's 
 Island, in the very hotbed of the conspiracy. 
 
 The discoveries to which we have referred were 
 made towards the latter end of the year 1802. On 
 December 15th, 1802, one secret payment of 500 
 alone is slipped into the hand of " Counsellor 
 Magan." 
 
 "In the month of March [1803]," writes Lord 
 Hardwicke, the then viceroy, " government re- 
 ceived information of O'Quigley's return, and 
 others of the exiled Rebels, and that they were 
 endeavoring to sound the disposition of the people, 
 
 Corps. Among others, Daniel O'Connell and Nicholas Pur- 
 cell O'Gorman, both United Irishmen, belonged to the corps. 
 
 O'Connell served as a private in the corps. The uniform 
 was blue, with scarlet facings and rich gold lace. See Memoir 
 of O'Connell, by his son, vol. i., p. 13. In Mr. Daunt's Recollec- 
 tion* of O'Connell, vol. ii., p. 99. O'Connell is found pointing out 
 a house in Jame'.s Street, which, when a member of the Law- 
 yers' Corps, he searched for "Croppies."- Tins-corps was dis- 
 banded shortly subsequent to 1798; but in Faulkner's Dublin 
 Journal of April 9th, 1803. an advertisement appears demand- 
 ing its immediate resuscitation, notwithstanding the absence 
 of many influential members on circuit. For an account of 
 O'Connell's connection with the United Irishmen, see Ad- 
 denda R. 
 
 * CornwaUia Correxponflenrt., vol. lit., p. 320. 
 
 t The Irish bar was sadly dishonored in those days. See 
 Addenda K for the secret services of Leonard MacNally, and 
 of that prince of duplicity, Samuel Turner, harrister-at-law, 
 whose property was insincerely threatened with attainder by 
 the crown.
 
 148 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 of the county of Dublin. A confidential agent 
 was in consequence sent into the county, whose 
 accounts were very satisfactory as to the state of 
 the people, and of the unwillingness of any of the 
 middle class, who had property to lose, to en- 
 gage in any scheme of rebellion." * 
 
 Whether Francis Magan was the confidential 
 agent thus sent into the country we know not; 
 but it is at least certain that in the month of 
 April, 1803, he is found within forty-seven miles 
 of Dublin, and receiving money for political es- 
 pionage. 
 
 "The account of secret service money applied 
 in detecting treasonable conspiracies," contains 
 the following entry : 
 
 "April 2d, 1803, Magan, by post to Philipstown, 100." f 
 
 The Philipstown assizes were held at this time. 
 But so far from any important political trials being 
 in progress there, from which Magan, in his legal 
 capacity, might gather a secret, no business what- 
 ever was done, and, as the newspaper report of 
 the day records, the chairman received, in conse- 
 quence, a pair of white gloves trimmed, with gold 
 lace. We must look elsewhere for Mr. Magan's 
 secret services at Philipstown in 1803. 
 
 Thomas Wilde and John Mahon were two of 
 Emmet's most active emissaries, and in a state- 
 ment of Dugan, supplied to Dr. Madden, it is 
 stated that they proceeded to "Kildare, Naas, 
 Maynooth, Kilcullen, and several other towns," 
 
 * This original MS. statement of Lord Hardwicke, of which 
 Dr. Madden afterwards had the use, we fully transcribed in 
 1855. 
 
 t An entry in the same form introduces the name of Mc- 
 Gucken, the treacherous attorney for the United Irishmen, 
 "whose exploits will be found in our Appendix : 
 
 " January 1st, 1801, McGucken, per post to Belfast, 100."
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 149 
 
 in order to stimulate the people. The formida- 
 ble character of Wilde and Mahon was known to 
 Major Sirr, who, in a memorandum preserved 
 with his other papers, states that their retreat 
 is sometimes "at the jailer's in Philipstown, who 
 is married to Wilde's sister." 
 
 Magan, it is not unlikely, when 100 reached 
 him by post at Philipstown, in 1803, was quietly 
 ascertaining the locale of Wilde and Mahon. 
 
 A letter from Captain Caulfield, written on De- 
 cember 17th, 1803, but to which the date "1798" 
 has been by some oversight affixed in Dr. Mad- 
 den's valuable work on the United Irishmen,* is 
 also preserved among the Sirr papers, and details 
 the progress of a search for Wilde and Mahon, 
 first at Philipstown, and finally at Ballycommon, 
 within two miles of it. Yeomanry and dragoons 
 surrounded the house ; a hot conflict ensued, 
 " and," confesses Captain Caulfield, " we were 
 immediately obliged to retire. * * * The 
 villains made their escape. The jailer of Philips- 
 town and wife are in confinement." 
 
 John Brett, the maternal grandfather of the 
 present writer, resided with his family, in 1798, 
 at 21 Usher's Island. No evidence of sedition 
 existed against him, unless that furnished by the 
 old aphorism, " Show me your company, and I 
 can tell who you are." John Brett was pecu- 
 liarly intimate with 'Con MacLaughlin, and much 
 intercourse existed between their families. James 
 Tandy, son of the arch Rebel, Napper Tandy, was 
 also a frequent visitor, and Mr. Brett possessed 
 the friendship of Oliver Bond. One morning Mr. 
 Brett's family were startled at the news that 
 Major Sirr, with a chosen guard, were demand- 
 
 * Licet and Time* of the United Irishmen, vol. i., p. 022.
 
 150 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 ing admittance at the street door. Miss Maria 
 Brett, the aunt of the writer, cognizant of only 
 one act of political guilt, ran to her music-book, 
 tore out a strongly national song, and flung the 
 leaf, crushed up, on top of a chest of drawers. 
 Major Sirr entered, precisely as this silly achieve- 
 ment had been completed, and found the young 
 lady palpitating beneath the weight of her guilty 
 secret. A search for pikes was immediately com- 
 menced ; drawers were rifled, wardrobes upset, 
 beds diligently searched, and, in the midst of the 
 confusion, what should turn up but the national 
 song, which, had it been suffered to remain in the 
 music-book, would never have excited attention. 
 Major Sirr solemnly put on his spectacles, and 
 read the democratic sentiments with a visage 
 much longer than the lines in which they were 
 enshrined. The search was resumed with re- 
 newed vigor, and from the beds in the sleeping 
 rooms the soldiers now proceeded to uproot some 
 recently dug beds in the garden. Major Sirr, 
 baffled in his hopes and bitterly chagrined, with- 
 drew ; but he had a dexterous stroke of ven- 
 geance in store for John Brett. Next day an 
 enormous detachment of soldiers' wives arrived, 
 bag and baggage, at Usher's Island, loudly de- 
 manding hospitality, and producing an official 
 order for that purpose. Mr. Brett was obliged 
 to submit to the troublesome incubus, which re- 
 mained for several weeks billeted upon his fam- 
 ily. He could never guess the source which had 
 suggested to the government the expediency of 
 searching the house ; but we are inclined to har- 
 bor the suspicion that the hint must have come 
 from his vigilant neighbor next door, Mr. Francis 
 Magan.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 151 
 
 The files of the popular journals during the 
 earlier part of the present century would, if 
 diligently consulted, exhibit Francis Magan* as 
 a zealous Catholic patriot. Thus, Mr. Magan's 
 name may be found, in conjunction with those 
 of Lords Fingal, Netterville, and Ffrench, Sir 
 E. Bellew, Sir H. O'Reilly, Daniel O'Connell, 
 Dr. Dromgoole, " Barney Coyle," f Con Mac- 
 Laughlin, f Silvester Costigan,f Fitzgerald of 
 Geraldine,f and others, convening an aggregate 
 meeting of the Catholics of Ireland on the 26th 
 of December, 1811, to address the Prince Regent 
 " on the present situation of Catholic affairs." A 
 few days previously, Lords Fingal and Netterville 
 had been successively forced from the chair at a 
 Catholic meeting by Mr. Hare, a police magis- 
 trate. Among the denouncers of the government 
 at the aggregate meeting was Leonard MacNally ! 
 
 The few surviving friends of Mr. Magan de- 
 scribe him as a prim and somewhat unsocia- 
 ble being, though moving in good society. He 
 looked wise, but he never showed much proof 
 of wisdom, and it was more than once whispered 
 in reference to him, " Still waters run deep." 
 For the last twenty years .of his life he rarely 
 went out, unless in his official capacity as com- 
 missioner. He never married, and lived a recluse 
 at 20 Usher's Island. He became shrinking and 
 timid, and with one or two exceptions, includ- 
 ing Taxing Master C , did not like to meet 
 
 old friends. Since the year '98 it seemed as if 
 his house had not been painted or the windows 
 
 * It is, not unlikely, to Magan that the Duke of Wellington 
 refers in his letter to Sir Charles Saxton, dated London, 17th 
 November, 1808: " I think that as there are some interesting 
 
 Catholic questions afloat now, you might feed with another 
 
 100." Iri*k Correspondence of the Duke of Wellington, pp. 485, 460. 
 
 t Those persons had been United Irishmen.
 
 152 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 cleaned. The neighbors wondered, speculated, 
 and pried ; but Magan's windows or doings could 
 not be seen through.* 
 
 From this dingy retreat, festooned with cob- 
 webs, Mr. Magan, almost choked in a stiff white 
 cravat, would, as we have said, occasionally 
 emerge, and pick his steps stealthily to the courts 
 in which he held office. 
 
 This demeanor may have been owing to a se- 
 cret consciousness of dishonor, and was doubt- 
 less aggravated by a shrewd suspicion expressed 
 by the late Mr. Joseph Hamilton. 
 
 To explain this, a slight digression is neces- 
 sary. In 1830 appeared Moore's Life of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, and it may be conceived with 
 what trepidation Mr. Magan turned over the 
 leaves, fearful of finding the long-sealed secret 
 told. "Treachery," writes Moore, "and it is 
 still unknown from what source, was at work." 
 Here the counsellor, no doubt, breathed freely, 
 especially when he read: "From my mention of 
 these particulars respecting Neilson, it cannot 
 fail to have struck the reader that some share of 
 the suspicion of having betrayed Lord Edward 
 attaches to this man." Hamilton Rowan and the 
 friends of Neilson indignantly spurned the impu- 
 tation, which Moore, further on, sought to qualify. 
 Mr. Joseph Hamilton made some inquiries, and the 
 result was a suspicion that Mr. Magan was the in- 
 former. He failed to find that evidence which we 
 have since adduced ; but his suspicion was deeply 
 rooted, and he avowed it in general society. 
 
 In 1843, Mr. Magan died. He was generally 
 regarded as an honorable man ; and an eminent 
 
 * "The neighbors used to say that there was a mystery 
 about the Magans which no ouo could fathom." Letter from 
 Sylvester K a, ES<I.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 153 
 
 queen's counsel stood beside his death-bed. It 
 is only right to add the accompanying letter from 
 the gentleman to whom we allude : 
 
 "I never, directly or indirectly, heard anything of the 
 alleged charge against Frank Magan during his life. I 
 was on habits of intimacy with him to the day of his 
 death, and was with him on his death-bed. He always 
 bore a high character, as far as I could ever learn, either 
 at the bar or in society. Mr. Hamilton, to my surprise, 
 wrote to me after his death, cautioning me against tak- 
 ing any of the money to which, he supposed, I was en- 
 titled as a legatee. I was not one, and never got a 
 penny by the poor fellow. I can say no more." 
 
 Mr. Hamilton thought that it was beneath his 
 correspondent to accept a bequest derived from 
 so base a source. 
 
 Mr. Magan's will, drawn up hurriedly on his 
 death-bed, in January, 1843, and witnessed by 
 his parish priest and" confessor, Rev. P. Monks, 
 occupies but a few lines, and bequeaths the entire 
 of hi property to Elizabeth, his sister. Unlike 
 his friend the Sham Squire, who desired that his 
 remains should be interred with public pomp, 
 Francis Magan directs that his body may be 
 buried, with as much economy and privacy as 
 decency permits.* 
 
 Miss Magan, an eccentric spinster, continued 
 to reside alone at Usher's Island after her brother'* 
 death. She found herself, on his demise, pos- 
 sessed of an enormous sum of money ; and she 
 became so penurious, anxious, and nervous, that 
 the poor lady was in constant fear of being at- 
 tacked or robbed. From almost every person 
 who approached her she shrunk with terror. 
 Miss Magan felt persuaded that designs on her 
 purse, to be accomplished by either force or fraud, 
 
 * Records of the Prerogative Court, Dublin.
 
 154 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 were perpetually in process of concoction by her 
 narrow circle of friends. Death at last released 
 Miss Magan from this mental misery. She left 
 considerable sums in charity, and, amongst others, 
 twelve thousand pounds, as the late Rev. Dr. 
 Yore assured us, for founding a lunatic asylum 
 at Clontarf. With the death of this lady the fam- 
 ily of which she was a member became extinct, 
 and we therefore feel the less hesitation in men- 
 tioning their names. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be said that any new sugges- 
 tions or remarks regarding the informers of '98 
 should be left to Dr. Madden, who has devoted 
 much time and space to the subject. But Dr. 
 Madden himself does not seem to hold these nar- 
 row sentiments. 
 
 In the United Irishmen (vol. ii., p. 446), he 
 throws out suggestions "to those who may be 
 disposed to follow up his efforts to bring the be- 
 trayer's memory to justice." 
 
 It may also be objected that we have devoted 
 undue space to tracing the betrayers of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald ; but the following remarks, 
 expressed by the veteran historian of '98, show 
 that the subject is one highly deserving of eluci- 
 dation. 
 
 " And now," writes Dr. Madden, " at the con- 
 clusion of my researches on this subject of the 
 betrayal of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, I have to 
 confess they have not been successful. The be- 
 trayer still preserves his incognito ; his infamy, up 
 to the present time (January, 1858), remains to 
 be connected with his name, and, once discovered, 
 to make it odious for evermore. ***** 
 Nine-and-fifty years the secret of the sly, skulk- 
 ing villain has been kept by his employers, with
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 155 
 
 no common care for his character or his memory. 
 But, dead or alive, his infamy will be reached in 
 the long run, and the gibbeting of that name of 
 his will be accomplished in due time." 
 
 It must be remembered that Dr. Madden was 
 the first to set inquiry on a sound track, by citing 
 from the Secret Service Money Book the initials of 
 the Sham Squire, i. e., "F. H., for the discov- 
 ery of L. E. F., 1,000." In 1858 the CornwaUia 
 Papers appeared, disclosing the name of Francis 
 Higgins. A pamphlet from our pen soon after 
 followed, entitled A Note to the Cornwallis Papers, 
 in which were published many of the remarks con- 
 tained in our sixth chapter, and pointing, on purely 
 circumstantial evidence, to Francis Magan as the 
 " setter " employed by Higgins. The fourth vol- 
 ume of the United Irishmen, published in 1860, 
 noticed the Cornwallis Papers, and, indirectly, 
 the pamphlet which followed its publication : 
 
 " These revelations," writes Dr. Madden (p. 
 579), " leave us wholly uninformed as to the 
 traitor who actually betrayed Lord Edward, 
 who sold his blood to the agent of government, 
 Mr. Francis Higgins. All that we have learned, 
 I repeat, from the recent publication of the Corn- 
 wallis Correspondence is, that Francis Higgins 
 obtained the secret for government of Lord Ed- 
 ward's place of concealment; but of the 'setter' 
 employed by Higgins we know nothing, and all 
 that we have reason to conclude is, that the ' set- 
 ter' was one in the confidence of Lord Edward 
 and his associates." 
 
 Now, we respectfully submit that the more re- 
 cent researches which will be found in our fifth 
 and sixth chapters prove to demonstration that 
 the "setter" was Counsellor Francis Magan.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Was Higgins Guiltless of Oliver Bond's Blood ? Walter Cox. 
 Reynolds the Informer. William Cope. Insatiable Ap- 
 petite for Blood-Money. A Dark and Painful Mystery. 
 Lord Wycombe Walks in the Footsteps of Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, and Spies Follow in the Footsteps of Lord 
 Wycombe. 
 
 THERE is no man so bad but that he might be 
 worse ; and the will of Francis Higgins, to which 
 we shall soon refer, shows that he was not inca- 
 pable of a generous impulse ; but on the whole 
 we cannot divest ourselves of the suspicion that 
 his general policy was worse, and his dark deeds 
 more numerous, than have in black and white 
 transpired. When a man is once suspected and 
 convicted of peculiar turpitude, there is no limit 
 to the suspicions which ever after follow him. 
 
 A remarkable passage occurs in Walter Cox's 
 Irish Magazine for November, 1813, p. 52.* 
 
 " We hope," writes Cox, " no greater evil will 
 be sustained by Mr. Scully than what this act of 
 the Freeman's Journal has inflicted ; had we noth- 
 ing more to record, to the prejudice of Irish 
 interests, than such impotent, and we may say 
 harmless, nonsense, Oliver Bond and Lord Edward 
 
 * No one was better acquainted than Cox with the antece- 
 dents of Higgins. In his Magazine for October, 1810 (p. 436), 
 Cox writes: "If the illustrious shade of the Sham Squire can 
 witness the transitory scenes of this life, how exquisitely must 
 his exalted spirit feel at the improved manner in which his 
 literary property is arranged, by a person so exactly after his 
 own mind, so fertile in stratagem, so guarded in his conduct, 
 and so various in management." 
 
 We further learn that the then editor was " exactly a minia- 
 ture copy of the Sham" ; and then a secret or two transpires :
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 157 
 
 Fitzgerald would be now alive, and Tom Reynolds 
 would have been only known as a harmless mon- 
 ster." 
 
 Cox, as an United Irishman, and one of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald's body guard, was cognizant 
 of the various conflicting suspicions and surmises 
 to which the unexpected arrest of their chief gave 
 birth. Further, he was in the secrets of the gov- . 
 ernment, subsequent to 1798. Arthur O'Connor 
 has said that, while a chance of success awaited 
 the Rebel movement, it possessed no more stanch 
 partisan. But flesh is weak ; and we find Cox, 
 during thirty-five years that he personated the 
 character of an indomitable patriot, in the receipt 
 of a secret stipend from the government. Dr. 
 Madden informs us that he played fast and loose, 
 sometimes revealing the plans t>f the United Irish- 
 men to the Castle, at other times disclosing to the 
 popular party the secrets of the government and 
 of its agents. 
 
 We are not aware that Dr. Madden ever noticed 
 the passage just cited from Cox's Irish Magazine. 
 Mr. Cox would' seem to have formed a shrewd 
 opinion in reference to Lord Edward's discovery ; 
 but he advances the charge so ambiguously that, 
 unless with the light afforded by recent revela- 
 tions, it is not easy to understand his meaning. 
 
 A dark and painful mystery enshrouds the death 
 of Oliver Bond. Bond, an opulent merchant, re- 
 siding in Bridge Street, Dublin, possessed, for 
 many years, the fullest confidence of the United 
 Irishmen, who, so early as 1793, formally ad- 
 
 " After fixing his sentinels and dispatching his Messenger, 
 Con returns to the city to commence his literary labors on the 
 Sham's journal; there he figures in another character, since 
 that very immaculate pupor was allowed to soar into the 
 regions of patriotism by liaviug the little hallast of 1,200 a 
 year thrown overboard, that kept it floating over the Castle."
 
 ]58 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 dressed him on the occasion of his fine and 
 imprisonment. From 1785 to 1797 we recognize 
 him as an active member of the two Northern 
 Directories of United Irishmen, a body largely 
 composed of Presbyterians. At his house in Dub- 
 lin the Leinster Directory regularly met, until the 
 night of March 12th, 1798, when, Thomas Reynolds 
 having betrayed his associates, fifteen delegates 
 were arrested, conveyed to Newgate, and sen- 
 tenced to death. Mr. Mark O'Callaghan, in his 
 Memoir of 0' Connell, p. 32, says : " It is asserted 
 on credible authority that the secret dungeons 
 and state prisons of '98 were the -scenes of mur- 
 der and assassination. Among others, Oliver 
 Bond, a wealthy merchant, was generally allowed 
 to have been murdered by a government officer or 
 turnkey employed for the purpose, although it was 
 at the time given out that he died of apoplexy." 
 How far Mr. O'Callaghan may be correct in this 
 conclusion we know not ; but a letter addressed 
 by the late James Davock to Dr. Madden, and 
 printed in the very interesting work of the latter, 
 tends much to corroborate it. 
 
 " The evening before his (Bond's) death I saw him in 
 the yard of the prison ; he 'seemed then to be in perfect 
 health ; the next morning he was found dead in the pas- 
 sage outside his cell. It was the general opinion that 
 he had been strangled. Bond had a free pardon signed 
 at the Castle at that time, and was to have been sent out 
 of the country with the other state prisoners. It was 
 necessary for his wife to obtain this pardon, to enable 
 her to collect in the debts, for he left about thirty thou- 
 sand pounds behind him ; and his friends were afraid of 
 impeding her application, and thought it better to allow 
 the common report of his death arising from apoplexy 
 to pass unnoticed. 
 
 * * * * TJ^ re p Or t jn the prison was that he 
 had been killed by the under-jailer, Simpson. I was in- 
 formed by Murphy, there was such an uproar in the
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 159 
 
 prison all that night, that Murphy and others barricaded 
 their doors on the inside, afraid of violence. The woman 
 who first swore at the inquest that she had seen him 
 die in the yard, afterwards, in a quarrel, accused Simp- 
 son of the murder; on which he kicked her in the back, 
 of which injury she died." * 
 
 It may be added that Mr. Davock was for many 
 years the intimate friend and close neighbor of 
 Oliver Bond, who was a remarkably robust man, 
 and not more than thirty-five years of age at his 
 death. 
 
 Sentence of death on Bond and the fourteen de- 
 legates arrested at his house was commuted on 
 condition of their signing a compact ; but Bond 
 was by far the most formidable man amongst 
 them ; and it may have struck some of the un- 
 scrupulous understrappers attached to the Irish 
 government that it would be desirable to get him 
 out of the way. To make an exception in Bond's 
 case by bringing him to the scaffold would be im- 
 possible. Of some of the darker doings which 
 notoriously took place, the higher members of 
 the government were, we have no doubt, igno- 
 rant. 
 
 From the Castlereagh Papers we find that two 
 influential judges, Lords Carleton and Kilwarden, 
 warmly urged the execution of Byrne and Bond. 
 They were not of opinion that the offer made by 
 Byrne and Bond to give information would coun- 
 terbalance the discontent likely to be occasioned 
 by saving them from "the punishment due to 
 their crimes." Lord Carleton and his colleague 
 also expatiated on the injurious effects such an 
 act of mercy might have on the administration of 
 criminal justice, by discouraging jurors thereafter 
 
 * Lives and Timet of the United Irishmen (Fourth Series, second 
 edition), p. 164.
 
 160 
 
 from coming forward to discharge an odious duty. 
 The viceroy transmitted a paper to the Duke of 
 Portland, dated September 14th, 1798, from which 
 we gather that " their reasoning did not altogether 
 satisfy the lord lieutenant. His excellency, how- 
 ever, felt that he could not do otherwise than abide 
 by the opinion of the first law authorities in Ire- 
 land." Byrne was accordingly executed.* Oliver 
 Bond was found dead in his cell. 
 
 The Castlereagh Papers do not seem to have 
 been consulted by those who professed to investi- 
 gate the circumstances attending the fate of Oliver 
 Bond. 
 
 The Sham Squire, when a prisoner in Newgate, 
 we learn, made love to his keeper's daughter, 
 "whose friends, considering the utility of his 
 talents in their sphere in life, consented to her 
 union with the Sham, * * * and that the jailer's 
 interest procured Higgins's admission to be a soli- 
 citor, in which situation his practice is too noto- 
 rious to require particular statement." f 
 
 Did Francis Higgins,-who seems to have en- 
 joyed a thorough immunity from legal pains and 
 penalties, and was unscrupulously officious in 
 doing the dirty work of the government, take 
 upon himself to suggest to his intimate friend, 
 the keeper, the expediency of getting rid of Oliver 
 Bond ? The Sham Squire was too astute to do 
 the deed himself; but he or his myrmidons may 
 have got it done, and then with complacency 
 mused, " Shake not thy gory locks at me, thou 
 canst not say /did it." 
 
 To return to Cox. If we understand his aim 
 aright, he throws out the inuendo that Thomas 
 
 * Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, vol. i., pp. 
 347, 348. 
 t Sketches of Irish Political Characters (Loud., 1799), p. 182.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 161 
 
 Reynolds would not have become an informer if 
 it had not been for Francis Higgins. At some 
 future day it may, perhaps, be ascertained that 
 the Sham Squire effected the corruption of Rey- 
 nolds through the mutual friend of both parties, 
 the late Mr. William Cope. The latter*, after the 
 plan had been consummated, was openly recom- 
 mended for a pension by Higgins in the Freeman 
 of September 1st, 1798. The influential recom- 
 mendation of the Sham Squire proved, as usual, 
 successful. Mr. Cope received a pension of one 
 thousand pounds a year, which after his death 
 was continued to his daughter, an elderly spin- 
 ster, who, with her half-sister, Miss G , re- 
 sided, until the last few years, at Rhos y Guir, 
 opposite the railway station, at Holyhead.* 
 
 It transpired that Mr. Cope, who received this 
 enormous pension for as Lord Cornwallis re- 
 marks "certifying to the general credibility of 
 Reynolds," held a bond of that person for one 
 thousand pounds, which was not likely to be paid. 
 Whether Higgins was Cope's legal adviser we 
 know not ; but the warm manner in which Cope 
 was recommended for a pension, by Higgins, 
 favors the suspicion. Cope was very intimate 
 with Reynolds, and knew all his secrets. By 
 what judicious arrangement was the bad debt 
 settled ? We can imagine some proposal like this 
 tendered: "Pay this bond, or I will get you ar- 
 rested and imprisoned. Perform the double duty 
 of loyalty to your king and fidelity to a just cre- 
 ditor by revealing all you know. You will be 
 richly rewarded : refuse, on the other hand, and 
 the gallows may be your fate. It is your interest 
 
 * Letter from Dr. , dated " Holyliead, January 4th, 1858." 
 
 See Appendix.
 
 162 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 as well as duty to take my hint." It is impos- 
 sible to know the exact words that passed, but 
 we believe we have given the substance. The 
 tempter went even further, and taking advantage 
 of Reynolds's notorious susceptibility to the dic- 
 tates of vanity and ambition, told him that the 
 crown, regarding him as a modern saviour, would 
 probably prove their appreciation by giving him 
 two thousand pounds a year and a seat in parlia- 
 ment.* All this and more was revealed at the 
 trial. Reynolds, who held the rank of colonel 
 and delegate from the province of Leinster in the 
 Rebel army, settled his terms, writes Mr. Curran, 
 "namely, 500 guineas in hand, and personal in- 
 demnity, through Mr. Cope, Dublin merchant." f 
 
 One by one he prosecuted his colleagues to 
 conviction. In contradiction to Mr. Cope's evi- 
 dence, witnesses swore that they believed Rey- 
 nolds unworthy of credence on oath. Curran 
 lashed and lacerated him in passages which the 
 government, out of tenderness for his fame, omit- 
 ted from the published report. 
 
 " He measures his value by the coffins of his victims, 
 and in the field of evidence appreciates his fame, as the 
 
 * Carrick's Morning Post, April 3d, 1823, quotes the following 
 paragraph from the Examiner, then edited by Leigh Hunt : 
 
 " MR. REYNOLDS. A correspondent at Paris informs us that 
 the Mr. Reynolds now in that capital, inquired about some 
 time back in our paper, is really the person who played such 
 a conspicuous part in Ireland, and who, for his meritorious 
 services on that occasion, was rewarded by an appointment 
 ' at Lisbon, after which he was placed as consul-general at 
 Copenhagen, from whence, about three years since, he pro- 
 ceeded to Paris, where he keeps his carriage, and is reported 
 to live expensively. Our correspondent says that Mr. Rey- 
 nolds's family appear on Sundays at the chapel of the English 
 embassy, in seats reserved for them close by the ambassador 
 and Lady Elizabeth ; and that at his parties Lady Douglas (of 
 Blackheath notoriety), Mrs. and the Misses Reynolds, etc., form 
 a portion of that company, for the entertainment of whom the 
 ambassador's salary is swelled out to 14,000 a year." 
 
 t L^fe of Curran, by his son. First edition, vol. ii., p. 128.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 163 
 
 Indian warrior does in fight, by the number of scalps 
 with which he can swell his triumphs. He calls upon 
 you by the solemn league of eternal justice, to accredit 
 the purity of a conscience washed in its own atrocities. 
 He has promised and betrayed, he has sworn and for- 
 sworn; and whether his soul shall go to heaven or to 
 hell, he seems altogether indifferent, for he tells you 
 that he has established an interest in both. He has told 
 you that he has pledged himself to treason and to alle- 
 giance, and that both oaths has he contemned and 
 broken." * 
 
 Mr. Curran imagines that the reward of Rey- 
 nolds did not exceed five hundred guineas. The 
 Life of Reynolds by his son would fain persuade 
 the reader that his emolument had been still 
 smaller. The MS. Book of Secret Service Money 
 Expenditure, now in the possession of Mr. Hali- 
 day, and printed by Dr. Madden, reveals, how- 
 ever, that Reynolds received, not only in 1798, 
 5,000 in four payments, but in the following year 
 a pension of 1,000 a year, besides which he long 
 enjoyed several lucrative offices under the crown. 
 The total amount of money flung to satisfy his in- 
 satiable cupidity was about 45, 740. f 
 
 The delivery of " a live lord " 'into the jaws of 
 death proved so profitable a job to Francis Hig- 
 gins, that we find him soon after in hot scent after 
 another. John Earl of Wycombe, afterwards Mar- 
 quis of Lansdowne, was committed more or less 
 to the fashionable treasons of the time ; he sym- 
 pathized with the men and the movement of '98, 
 and as the late John Patten, -a near connection of 
 Emmet, assured us, his lordship was fully cogni- 
 zant of the plot of 1803. Had Higgins been alive 
 during the latter year, Lord Wycombe might not 
 
 * U/e of Curran, by his son. First edition, vol. 11.. p. 134. 
 t Lives and Time* of the United Irishmen. By K. li. Madden, 
 M. D. Vol. L, p. 425, et teq.
 
 164 THE SHAM SQUIEB. 
 
 have escaped the penalty of his patriotism. His 
 movements in Dublin and elsewhere were watched 
 most narrowly by the Sham Squire. In despair, 
 however, of being able to gain access to Lord 
 Wycombe's confidence or society, we find Hig- 
 gins saying: "Lowi Wy combe, son to the Mar- 
 quis of Lansdowne, is still in Dublin. He has 
 gone to Wales and back again to Dublin several 
 times. His lordship has given many parties in 
 the city, it is said, but they have been of a close, 
 select kind." * 
 
 Higgins and his confederates, like "setters," 
 pointed, and the scarlet sportsmen of the line im- 
 mediately fired. Lord Holland, in his Memoirs of 
 the Whig Party, mentions that his friend, Lord 
 Wycombe, was fired at by common soldiers on 
 the highway near Dublin, and narrowly escaped 
 with his life.f 
 
 * Freeman's Journal, August 6th, 1798. His lordship's move- 
 ments are farther indicated by the same journal on August 
 9th, 1800. 
 
 t See p. 117, ante.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Effort of Conscience to Vindicate its Authority. Last Will 
 and Testament of the Sham Squire. KUbarrack Church- 
 yard. A Touching Epitaph. Resurrectionists. The Dead* 
 Watcher. The Sham Squire's Tomb Insulted and Broken. 
 His Bequests. 
 
 CHARITY, it is written, covereth a multitude of 
 sins. Let us hasten, therefore, to record a really 
 meritorious act on the part of Mr. niggins. Anx- 
 ious to throw the utmost amount of light on a 
 career so extraordinary as that of Francis Hig- 
 gins, we examined, in the Prerogative Court, his 
 "last will and testament." From this document 
 we learn that the Sham Squire's conscience was 
 not by any means hopelessly callous. On the 
 contrary, while yet comparatively young, it seems 
 to have given him a good deal of uneasiness ; and 
 it may not unreasonably be inferred that, unscru- 
 pulous as we have seen Mr. Higgins, his early 
 life was checkered by sundry peccadillos, now 
 irrevocably veiled. Whatever these may have 
 been, they contributed to disturb the serenity of 
 his manhood, and conscience seems to have made 
 an energetic effort to assert its authority. Un- 
 able any longer to bear the reproachings of his 
 ill-gotten wealth, Mr. Higgins, on September 
 19th, 1791, then aged forty-five, mustered up 
 courage and bequeathed a considerable portion 
 of it to charitable purposes. It is amusing to 
 trace the feelings of awe which in the last cen- 
 tury filled our ancestors previous to attempting 
 a voyage across St. George's Channel 1 Mr. Hig-
 
 166 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 gins's will begins by saying that as he meditates 
 a voyage to England he thinks it prudent to pre- 
 pare his will, and in humble supplication at the 
 feet of the Almighty, and by way of making 
 atonement for his manifold transgressions, he is 
 desirous of leaving large sums of money to char- 
 itable purposes. But before he proceeds to spec- 
 ify them, the vanity of the Sham Squire shows 
 itself in a command to his executors to commemo- 
 rate his memory in a proper manner, on a slab 
 "well secured with lime, brickwork, and stone," 
 in Kilbarrack churchyard. To defray the cost of 
 this monument, Mr. Higgins left 30, and a fur- 
 ther sum for his funeral. He adds, that in case 
 he should die in England, his remains are to be 
 removed to Ireland and " publicly interred." To 
 a lady who had been of considerable use to Mr. 
 Higgins, and had clung to him with great fidelity, 
 but who suffered seriously from this circumstance, 
 he bequeathed not only 1,000 as compensation, 
 but all such property as might remain after pay- 
 ing the other bequests ; and to his housekeeper, 
 Mrs. Margaret Box, he left 100. But, perhaps, 
 the most remarkable item in the will is 1,000 
 which he bequeathed to be laid out on landed 
 security, in order that the annual interest might 
 be applied to the relief and discharge of debtors 
 confined in the City Marshalsea on Christmas eve 
 in each year.* This generous bequest has served, 
 we trust, to blot out some of the Sham Squire's 
 achievements, not alone at the hazard-table, but 
 by jtneans of sundry pettifogging quibbles and 
 doubles. Having been the means in early life of 
 
 * See Addenda for some correspondence on the alleged non- 
 execution of this bequest. The Four Courts Marshalsea of 
 Dublin, previous to its removal westward, stood in Werburgh 
 Street.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 167 
 
 considerably increasing the number of inmates at 
 the Lying-in Hospital, Mr. Higgins now credit- 
 ably bestowed 100 upon that institution. To an 
 asylum for ruined merchants, known as Simpson's 
 Hospital, he bequeathed 50, and ordered that a 
 particular ward in it should be dedicated to his 
 memory. To the Blue-Coat Hospital, where his 
 friend Jack Giflard* and other kindred spirits 
 passed their youth, Mr. Higgins left the sum of 
 20. The Catholic and Protestant poor schools 
 were remembered with impartiality by Higgins, 
 who had been himself both a Catholic and a Prot- 
 estant at different times. He bequeathed 10 
 to each of the Protestant schools, as well as a 
 like donation to the Catholic charity schools of 
 "Rosemary Lane, Adam and Eve, Bridge Street, 
 and Lazor Hill." To Mr., afterwards Colonel, 
 'Kelly, of Piccadilly, London, the owner of the 
 celebrated race-horse "Eclipse," 300 was left, 
 "and if I did not know that he was very afflu- 
 ent," adds Higgins, "I would leave him the en- 
 tire of my property." Father Arthur O'Leary, 
 one of Curran's " Monks of the Screw," was also 
 advantageously remembered by Mr. Higgins. f 
 To that accomplished ecclesiastic he bequeathed 
 the sum of 100; but O'Leary never lived to 
 enjoy it, and passed into eternity almost simul- 
 taneously with the Sham Squire, in January, 
 1802. To. George J. Browne, assistant editor, 
 50 was bequeathed, in order to purchase mourn- 
 
 * For a notice of Giffard, sec the 32d note to General Cock- 
 burn's " Step- Ladder," Addenda J. 
 
 t Mr. Gruttan, in the Life of his father (vol. ii., p. 198), men- 
 tions that O'Leary was very intimate with Colonel O'Ki'lly, 
 and lived with him. O'Leary had a pension from the crown 
 for writing: down the White Boys. Mr. Grattan adds, on the 
 authority of Colonel O'Kelly, that Mr. Pitt offered O'Leary con- 
 siderable remuneration if he would write in support of the 
 Union, but the friar refused.
 
 168 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 ing for Mr. Higgins, as also certain securities 
 held by Higgins, for money lent to Browne. 
 Several other bequests in the same shape and 
 under similar circumstances are made. Some 
 young people, who shall be nameless here, are 
 advantageously mentioned,* probably on natural 
 grounds. William, James, and Christopher Teel- 
 ing,f are named executors ; but it appears from 
 the records of the Probate Court that they de- 
 clined to act. In those days there was no stamp 
 duty ; and the sum for which Higgins's residuary 
 legatee administered does not appear. The will 
 was witnessed by George Faulkner. 
 
 In September, 1791, Mr. Higgins declares that 
 he has 7,000 in Finlay's Bank; "but my prop- 
 erty," he adds, " will, I believe, much exceed 
 this sum when all is estimated." Mr. Higgins 
 having lived for eleven years subsequent to the 
 date of his will, during which time he labored 
 with fiercer zeal and reaped even richer remu- 
 neration than before, it may be inferred that his 
 property in 1802 was not far short of 20,000. 
 
 Little further remains to be told regarding the 
 Sham Squire. In 1799 we catch a parting glimpse 
 of him in a work descriptive of the actors in the 
 Union struggle. " From his law practice, his 
 gaming-table contributions, and his newspaper," 
 says this work, " the Sham now enjoys an income 
 that supports a fine house in a fashionable quarter 
 
 * In the third volume of the Comwallis Correspondence, one 
 Of the name is found obtaining a pension of 300 a year at the 
 same time that Francis Higgins's services received similar 
 recognition. A Christian name borne by the junior recipient 
 is stated in the same work to have been " Grenville." He was 
 probably born during the viceroyalty of George Grenville, Mar- 
 quis of Buckingham, of whom Iliggins was a parasite and a 
 slave. See p. 78, ante. 
 
 t Is this the party whose name appears in the Secret Service 
 Money Book, viz.: ''November 5th, 1803, chaise for C. Teeling 
 from the Naul, 1 Os. Od.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 169 
 
 of a great city, whence he looks down with con- 
 tempt on the poverty of many persons, whose 
 shoes he formerly cleaned." * 
 
 Mr. Higgins did not long live to enjoy the 
 price of poor Lord Edward's blood. On the night 
 of January 19th, 1802, he died suddenly at his 
 house in Stephen's Green, aged fifty-six. To the 
 lonely graveyard of Kilbarrack he bequeathed his 
 body. A more picturesque spot "where erring 
 man might hope to rest," it would be difficult to 
 select. Situated at the edge of the proverbially 
 beautiful Bay of Dublin, the ruins of Kilbarrack, 
 or as they are sometimes styled, "the Abbey of 
 Mone," have long existed as a monument of that 
 primitive piety which prompted the Irish mari- 
 ners of the fourteenth century to erect a chapel 
 in honor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, wherein to 
 offer up an orison for their messmates who had 
 perished beneath the waves. f 
 
 In accordance with Mr. Higgins's expressed 
 wishes, a large tabular tomb was erected over his 
 remains in 1804. Beside it repose the ashes of 
 Margaret Lawless, mother of the patriot peer 
 Cloncurry, and near it lies the modest grave of 
 John Sweetman, a leading United Irishman, from 
 whose house adjacent Hamilton Rowan escaped, 
 crossed in an open boat from Kilbarrack to the 
 Bay of Biscay, where it passed through the Brit- 
 ish fleet, and, although 1,000 lay on his head, 
 was safely landed in France by the faithful fisher- 
 men of Baldoyle, who were well aware of his 
 identity. But the Sham Squire's ambitious look- 
 
 * Sketrhf of Irish Political Character*, p. 148. 
 
 t An interesting notice of Kilbarrack appears in ^Alton's 
 History of the County Dublin, pp. 113-118, but be does not suggest 
 the origin of ita name. . e., Kill Berach, or the Church of St. 
 Beraoh, a disciple of St. Kevin.
 
 170 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 ing tomb is the monarch of that lonely graveyard, 
 and it is impossible -to pass without one's atten- 
 tion being arrested by it. It records that "the 
 legal representatives of the deceased deem it but 
 just to his memory here to inscribe, that he has 
 left bequests behind him, a memento of philan- 
 thropy, liberality, and benevolence to the poor 
 and distressed, more durable than can sculptured 
 marble perpetuate, as it will last for ever, and be 
 exemplar to all those to whom Heaven has en- 
 trusted affluence." [Here the chief bequests are 
 enumerated in detail.] " Reader/' adds the epi- 
 taph, "you will judge of the head and heart 
 which dictated such distinguished charity to his 
 fellow-creatures, liberal as it is impartial, and ac- 
 knowledge that he possessed the true benevolence 
 which Heaven ordains, and never fails everlast- 
 ingly to reward." 
 
 This epitaph suggests a curious comment on 
 the question asked by a child after spelling the 
 inscriptions in a churchyard, " Mamma, where 
 are the bad men buried ? " 
 
 The lonely and desolate aspect of the hallowed 
 ruin which Higgins chose as his last resting- 
 place, contrasts curiously with the turbulence 
 of his guilty life ; and Old Mortality could riot 
 select a more fitting site for the moralizing rumi- 
 nations in which he loved to indulge. 
 
 Francis Higgins was wise in his generation, 
 and astutely kept his own counsel. Some of his 
 sins we have told, but the bulk are probably 
 known only to the Searcher of Hearts. Of the 
 guilty secrets which were buried in Higgins's 
 heart, how many have found a vent in the rank 
 heartsease and henbane which spring from his 
 grave ! " Where," writes Nathaniel Hawthorne,
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OF '98. 171 
 
 describing a dialogue between a doctor and his 
 patient, "where did you gather these herbs with 
 such a dark flabby leaf?" "Even in the grave- 
 yard," answered the physician; "they grew out 
 of his heart, and typify some hideous secret that 
 was buried with him, and which he had done 
 better to confess during his lifetime." 
 
 "Perchance he earnestly desired it, but could 
 not." 
 
 "And wherefore," rejoined the physician, 
 "wherefore not, since all the powers of nature 
 call so earnestly for the confession of sin, ihat 
 these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried 
 heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime ? " 
 
 But why speculate upon it ? It is not certain, 
 after all, that the storied urn of the Sham Squire 
 really enshrines his ashes. The deserted position 
 of Kiibarrack graveyard rendered it, some years 
 ago, a favorite haunt with those who, under the 
 nickname of " sack-'em-ups," effected premature 
 resurrections for anatomical purposes ; * and it is 
 
 * The Irish Penny Magazine for January 20th, 1833, contains a 
 picture of Kiibarrack churchyard undergoing spoliation at 
 the hands of medical students, who have succeeded, mean- 
 while, in slipping a sack over the head of " the dead-watcher." 
 The latter is made to tell a long story descriptive of his feel- 
 ings previous and subsequent to this denouement > 
 
 " One time I would picthur to myself the waves approaching 
 like an army a-horscbaok, and shaking their white tops for 
 feathers; and then I would fancy I saw the dead people start- 
 ing up out of their graves, and rushing down licit in u- skeltluu- 
 to purtect their resting-place, shouldering human bones for 
 firearms, they grabbed thigh bones, and arm bones, and all 
 the bones they could cotch up in their hurry, and when they 
 would make ready! present! back the waves id gallop nimble. 
 enough, but it was to wheel about agin with more fury and 
 nearer to the inemy, who in their turn would scamper back 
 agin with long strides, their white sheets flying behind 'cm, 
 like the cullegion chaps of a windy Sunday, and grinning 
 frightfully through the holes which wanst were eyes. Another 
 time 1 would look across to Howth as it riz like a black joint 
 betune me and the sky; and I would think if the devil that is 
 chained down below there at full length in a cavern near the 
 Light-house waa to break loose, what a purty pickle 1 'U be 
 in,"
 
 172 THE SHAM SQUIRE, AND 
 
 very possible that the heart of Biggins may have 
 been long since the subject of a lecture on aneur- 
 ism of the aorta.* 
 
 Through life Higgins was the subject of popular 
 execration, and in death this enmity pursued him. 
 An alderman of the old corporation, who resided 
 at Howth, declared, in 1802, that in riding into 
 Dublin, he could never pass Kilbarrack without 
 dismounting from his horse for the purpose of 
 ridiculing and insulting the Sham Squire's grave. 
 The loathing in which Higgins had been held 
 wreaked its vengeance in more formidable de- 
 monstrations. Many years ago some persons un- 
 known visited his tomb, and smashed off the part 
 on which the words, " Sacred to the memory of 
 Francis Higgins," were inscribed. The thickness 
 *of the slab is considerable ; and nothing short of 
 a ponderous sledge-hammer could have effected 
 this destruction. The same eccentric individual 
 who, in the dead of night, wellnigh succeeded 
 in depriving an obnoxious statue of its head,f 
 is likely to have been cognizant of the malign 
 joke played on the Sham Squire's mausoleum. 
 No one better knew the depth of his rascality 
 than Watty Cox, who, in the Irish Magazine, 
 makes reference to both his turpitude and tomb. 
 Of the former, illustrations have been already 
 given (p. 58, ante). Of the latter we read : 
 
 " Con J was riding with his employer and lady by Kil- 
 barrack churchyard, where the remains of the Sham are 
 deposited under a magnificent tomb and splendid in- 
 
 * It has been remarked by Dr. Mapother and other physiolo- 
 gists that aneurism of the aorta is peculiarly liable to overtake 
 the designing, selfish, and wrongly ambitious man. It kills 
 suddenly. 
 
 t The statue of William III., In College Green. 
 
 I Frederic William Con way, who conducted the Freeman after 
 the death of Higgius.
 
 THE BLOODHOUNDS OP '98. 173 
 
 gcription. The party naturally stopped to pay a grate- 
 ful tribute to departed worth; Con mounted the flinty 
 covering, and after reading with impassioned energy 
 the eulogium it bore, burst into tears, and declared, 
 upon his honor, the composition was unequalled in the 
 history of sepuldiral literature." * 
 
 Nearly two generations passed away, and, un- 
 less by a few families, all memory of the Sham 
 Squire became obliterated. Tourists visited Kil- 
 barrack ; and disciples of Doctor Syntax, moved 
 by the touching epitaph and the romantic scenery 
 around, perchance dropped a tear upon the stone. 
 Pedestrians made it a halting-point and resting- 
 place ; the less matter-of-fact mused on Erin's 
 days of old, 
 
 " Ere her faithless sons betrayed her," 
 cleared the moss out of the inscriptions, and 
 prayed for the nameless patriot and philanthro- 
 pist who mouldered below, f All remembrance 
 
 * Irish Magazine for November, 1813. 
 
 t On September 15th, 1853, a gentleman published a letter In 
 the Freeman, requesting to know not only the name of the per- 
 son on whom so eulogistic an epitaph had been written, but 
 the fate- of the trust-money named in it. "It is gross ingrat- 
 itude," he added, " and practical materialism, to allow the 
 tomb ami im-mory of such a philanthropist to perish for want 
 of a suitable monument to mark his last resting-place, and I 
 should only hope that among so many benefited, one at leust 
 may be found to turn to the grave of their common benefac- 
 tor." A letter in reply went on to say, " this will hardly satisfy 
 your correspondent in regard to the trust bequest lor poor 
 debtors, or otfer any apology or explanation of why the tomb 
 of such a charitable testator should be left so totally neglected 
 and defaced by the highway." Twelve years later found an- 
 other Jonathan Oldbuck poking among the stones of Kilbar- 
 rack, and addressing a similar query to the Irish Times. The 
 subject excited considerable sensation, and became invested 
 with almost romantic interest. Several leaders as well as let- 
 ters appeared. " Kilbarrack," wrote the editor. " is as lonely 
 and desolate a ruin as ever an artist painted. A stray goat or 
 sheep may be seen browsing upon the old graves, half covered 
 with drifted sand; or a flock of sand-larks sweeps through the 
 wide and broken arches. Bound the forsaken tombs grow 
 In abundance heartsease, veronica, and the white harebell. 
 There are pretty mosses on the gray walls; but the aspect of 
 tho ruins oppresses the heart with a sense of melancholy long*
 
 174 TIDE SHAM SQUIRE. 
 
 of his life had died out, although a tradition of 
 his sobriquet still floated about the locality, and 
 by -degrees the history of Higgins degenerated 
 into the " beautiful Legend of the Sham Squire";* 
 which at last was cruelly disturbed by the publi- 
 cation of the Gornwallis Correspondence, the re- 
 searches of the present writer, and some patriotic 
 scribe who since our first disclosures on this sub- 
 ject has inscribed across the imposing epitaph, 
 surmounted by a picture of a pike and a gallows, 
 
 " Here lies the monster 
 
 Higgins, 
 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald's 
 Informer." 
 
 liness. Sometimes, when the storm blows inshore, the waves 
 dash in spray Over the ruined walls, and weep salt tears over 
 the tombs." Irish Times, January 3d, 1805. 
 
 "An Humble Debtor," dating from the Four Courts Mar- 
 shalsea, and citing as his text, " 1 was in prison, and ye visited 
 me not," Matt, xxv., 43, 44, went on to say: " Your journal 
 for the last few days lias given great consolation to the in- 
 mates of this prison, by its insertion of letters bearing on the 
 hitherto almost unknown benefactions of Francis Higgins, of 
 good memory." 
 
 The gentleman thus addressed was of the opinion that the 
 money, if invested in land, ought to yield now ; at least, 50 
 per annum ; but it has been stated by the chaplain to the Mar- 
 shalsea that no more than 15 a year is received, and comes 
 not from landed security, but from some old houses in Cum- 
 berland Street. 
 
 * "The Legend of the Sham Squire," full of romance, and 
 bearing no resemblance to the authentic details which we 
 have gathered, appeared in 1856 in a serial published by Mr. 
 Chamney.
 
 JOTTINGS 
 
 SEVENTY YEAKS AGO: 
 
 BEING ADDENDA SUGGESTED BY ALLUSIONS 
 IN THE FOREGOING TEXT.
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 A. 
 BARATARIANA. 
 
 THIS book has always possessed peculiar inter- 
 est for historic students of the period to which 
 it refers ; and several communications have ap- 
 peared from time to time in Notes and Queries 
 touching it. In reply to an inquiry,* the late 
 Right Hon. J. Wilson Croker promised to contrib- 
 ute particulars as to the writers of Baratariana,-\ 
 but failed to do so; although he lived for several 
 years subsequently.! " That promise not having 
 been fulfilled," observed a writer, "permit me 
 to ask from some of your Irish correspondents 
 materials for a history of this very curious vol- 
 ume ;" and "Abhba" expressed a hope that 
 " Mr. Fitzpatrick would be induced to furnish us 
 with a key to the characters which figure in the 
 book." || In accordance with these suggestions, 
 we gathered, from a variety of sound sources, 
 several well authenticated details. 
 
 Sir Hercules Langrishe, Mr. Grattan, then a 
 young barrister, not in parliament, and Mr. Flood, 
 were, according to the Memoirs of Flood (p. 79), 
 
 * First Series, vol. x., p. 185. f /W<*., vol. x.. p. 353. 
 
 f Second Series, vol. viii., p. 52. II Ibid., p. 138. 
 
 12
 
 178 ADDENDA. 
 
 the principal writers of Baratariana. In Oral- 
 tan's Life (vol. i., p. 185), there is an account 
 of a visit to Sir Hercules in 1810 ; and the octo- 
 genarian is found repeating with enthusiasm some 
 of his flash passages in Baratariana. The con- 
 tributions of Sir Hercules to this bundle of polit- 
 ical pasquinades are noticed in Grattan's elegy 
 on the death of the patriot baronet (vide vol. i., 
 p. 188). The late Hon. Major Stanhope informed 
 us that Mr. St. George, a connection of his, held 
 the very voluminous papers of Sir H. Langrishe, 
 and not the present baronet. They threw, he 
 said, great light on the political history of the 
 time, and he promised to give us access to them 
 if desired. The articles written by Grattan were, 
 as his son informs us (vol. i., p. 185), " Post- 
 humous," "Pericles," and the dedication of Ba- 
 ratariana. He read them to his friends, and they 
 were struck by his description of Lord Chatham. 
 Gilbert's Dublin (vol. i., p. 294) tells us, what 
 the Life of Flood does not, that the articles 
 signed " Syndercombe " were from Flood's pen. 
 The volume of Public Characters for 1806, in 
 noticing William Doyle, K. C., and Master in 
 Chancery, remarks (p. 64) that he was "uni- 
 versally admired for his brilliant wit," and that 
 " he contributed largely to Baratariana." 
 
 To the second edition of the book, published in 
 1773, there is appended the following so-called 
 " key " ; but the difficulty is to recognize, at this 
 distance of time, the names which have been ini- 
 tialed, and to supply them. 
 
 1. Sancho Lord T cl. 
 
 2. Goreannelli Lord A y. 
 
 3. Don Francisco Andrea},,. ,. ,, - _ . 
 
 del Bumperosa Rlht Hon - F s A *'
 
 BARATARIANA. 179 
 
 4. Don Georgio Buticarny Sir G - e M - y. 
 
 6. Don Antonio ......... Right Hon. A - yM ' e. 
 
 6. Don John Alnagero... Ri S h _ J - n H - y 
 
 7. Don Philip ........... Right Hon. P - p T - 1. 
 
 8. Count Loftonso ...... L.L - s,nowE.ofE - y. 
 
 9. Don John ............ Right Hon. J - n P - y. 
 
 10. Don Helena .......... R - tH - n, Esq. 
 
 11. Donna Dorothea del ) ,,. ,, 
 
 Monroso ........... }MissAI - o. 
 
 12. Don Godfredo Lilly... G - y L - 11, Esq. 
 
 13. The Duke Fitzroyola.. Duke of G - n. 
 
 14. Cardinal Lapidaro .... The late Prim. S - e. 
 
 15. The Bishop of Toledo { Dr " Js .JfeZ^* 
 
 16. Don Edwardo Swan- ) ,-, ,, 
 
 zero ............... 5 E - d S - n ' Es< l- 
 
 C m . 
 
 18. DonnaLaviuia ........ Lady St. L - r. 
 
 19. DonRicardo .......... R - d P - r, Esq. ' 
 
 The first named is George Viscount Towns- 
 hend, who became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 October 14th, 1767, and continued in the govern- 
 ment until succeeded by Simon, Earl of Harcourt, 
 November 30th, 1772. 
 
 2. Lord Anrialy, Lord Chief Justice of the 
 King's Bench in Ireland. As John Gore he re- 
 presented Jamestown in parliament for several 
 years; d. 1783. 
 
 3. The Right Hon. Francis Andrews. He suc- 
 ceeded Dr. Baldwin as Provost of Trinity College, 
 Dublin, in 1758. Andrews had previously repre- 
 sented Dublin in parliament; d. 1774.* 
 
 4. Sir George Macartney, Knight,f born 1737 ; 
 Envoy Extraordinary to the Empress of Russia, 
 
 * Tavlor's History of the Univertity of Dublin, pp. 251, 252; Wil- 
 son's Itublin Mrectorjf (1770), p. 41. 
 
 t Vide "List of Privy Councillors," Z>u*n Directory (1770), 
 p. 41.
 
 180 ADDENDA. 
 
 1764, and Plenipotentiary, 1767 ; knighted Octo- 
 ber, 1764. In July, 1768, he was elected for the 
 borough of Armagh. In 1769 he became Secre- 
 tary to Lord Townshend, Viceroy of Ireland. In 
 1776 Sir George Macartney was raised to the 
 peerage. He married the daughter of Lord Bute: 
 hence the nickname of " Buticarny." 
 
 5. The Right Hon. Anthony Malone. For up- 
 wards of half a century an ornament to the Irish 
 bar; d. May 8th, 1776. For a long account of 
 him see Hardy's Life of Charlemont, vol. i., pp. 
 133-139 ; Taylor's History of the University of 
 Dublin, pp. 395, 396 ; and Grattan's Memoirs, 
 passim.* 
 
 6. Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson. In the 
 Directory of the day he is styled " Prime Ser- 
 geant and Alnager of Ireland, Kildare Street." 
 He subsequently became Secretary of State and 
 Keeper of the Privy Seal. For a long account 
 of Hutchinson, see Hardy's Charlemont, vol. i., 
 p. 141. ; vol. ii., p. 185. Having obtained a peer- 
 age for his wife, he became ancestor of the Lords 
 Donoughmore.f The Sketches of Irish Political 
 Characters observes (p. 60): "Lord Townshend 
 said of Hely Hutchinson, that if his majesty gave 
 him the whole kingdoms of England and Ireland, 
 he would beg the Isle of Man for a cabbage gar- 
 den." 
 
 7. Right Hon. Philip Tisdall, P. C., Attorney- 
 General. He represented the University of Dub- 
 lin in parliament, from 1739 until his death in 
 1777. For a full account and character of Tis- 
 
 * In Wilson's Directory for 1770, Malone is styled " King's 
 First Counsel-at-Law, Sackville Street." 
 
 t Burfce's Peerage (1848), p. 315. For an account of his regime 
 as Provost of Trinity College, see Taylor's History of the Uni- 
 versity of Dublin, p. 253.
 
 BARATARIANA. 181 
 
 dall, see Hardy's Charlemont, vol. i., pp. 152-156. 
 In the Directory of 1770 he is styled "Principal 
 Secretary of State, and Judge of the Prerogative 
 Court, Leinster Street." 
 
 8. The Honorable Henry Loftus succeeded his 
 nephew Nicholas as fourth Viscount Loftus ; * b. 
 llth November, 1709 ; advanced to the earldom 
 of Ely, 5th December, 1771. f 
 
 9. Right Hon. John Ponsonby, son of Lord 
 Bessborough, Speaker of the Irish House of Com- 
 mons ; b. 1713; d. 12th December, 1789.J 
 
 10. " Robert Hellen, K. C., and Counsel to the 
 Commissioners, Great Cuflfee Street ; called to the 
 bar Hilary Term, 1755." 
 
 11. A Miss Munro was said to have been mixed 
 up with some of the political intrigues which char- 
 acterized the Townshend and other administra- 
 tions. " Dolly Munro " is traditionally described 
 as a woman of surpassing beauty and powers of 
 fascination. She was quite a Duchess of Gordon 
 in the political circles of her time. 
 
 12. " Godfrey Lill, Esq., Solicitor-General, Mer- 
 rion Square, M , 1743." || 
 
 13. Augustus Henry, third Duke of Grafton, 
 b. 1735, filled the offices of Secretary of State and 
 First Lord of the Treasury in 1765 and 1766, and 
 that of Lord Privy Seal in 1771. 
 
 14. Primate Stone. He was the political rival 
 of Lord Shannon. Death closed the eyes of both 
 within nine days of each other, in December, 1764. ^f 
 
 * His ancestor, A. Loft-House, accompanied Lord Sussex 
 to Ireland. Various family links subsequently united thtv 
 Loftuses to the bouse of Townshend. General Loftus married* 
 1790, Lady E. Townshend, only daughter of Marquis Towns- 
 In-nd. Her daughter Charlotte married Lord Vere Townshend. 
 
 IBurkt's Peerage (1K48), p. 871. 
 Hid., p. 93 ; Hardy's ClKirlemant, vol. i., pp. 184, 301, 293. 
 Wilson's I>ublin fHrectorif*. || Ibid, 
 
 Dublin Direc. (1766), p. 42; Hardy 'a Charlemont , vol. i.,
 
 182 ADDENDA. 
 
 15. Dr. Jemmet Browne, consecrated Bishop 
 of Cork, 1743; promoted to Elphin, 1172.* 
 
 16. Edward B. Swan, Esq., Surveyor-General 
 of the Revenue. f He was the father of the 
 famous Major Swan, w"ho arrested the thirteen 
 delegates of the United Irishmen at Oliver Bond's 
 in 1798 (Plowden's History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 
 424), and who afterwards assisted in the capture 
 of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Castlereagh Cor- 
 respondence, vol. i., p. 463. 
 
 17. " Surgeon Alexander Cunningham, Eustace 
 Street," figures in the list of surgeons at p. 98 
 of Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1770. 
 
 18. Lady St. Leger. R. St. Leger (nephew of 
 Hughes, Viscount Doneraile, whose title became 
 extinct in 1767) represented Doneraile from 1749 
 to 1776, when his majesty was pleased to create 
 him Baron Doneraile as a reward for parliament- 
 ary services. He married Miss Mary Barry. She 
 died March 3d, 1778. J This is probably the party 
 referred to. 
 
 19. Richard Power, K. C. In the Directory of 
 1774, we find him styled "Third Baron of the 
 Exchequer, and Usher and Accountant-General 
 of the Court of Chancery, Kildare Street, Hilary, 
 1757." Mr. Daunt, in his Recollections of 0' Gan- 
 nett, vol. ii., p. 145, narrates an extraordinary 
 anecdote of O'Connell's in reference to Baron 
 Power, who, having failed to take Lord Chan- 
 cellor Clare's life with a loaded pistol, proceeded 
 to Irishtown to commit suicide by drowning. It 
 was remarked as curious that in going off to 
 
 * Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1774, p. 52. 
 
 t Dublin Directory for 1774 [Com. Rev.] , p. 73. The viceroy, at 
 p. 228 of Baratariana, is made to speak of his " trusty friends, 
 Swan and Waller." In the Directory for 1774, " George Waller, 
 Clerk of the Minutes in Excise," is mentioned. 
 
 | ArclidaU'y Lodye's Peerage, vol. v., p. 123.
 
 BAEATARIANA. 183 
 
 drown himself, he used an umbrella as the day 
 was wet. Baron Power was a convicted pecu- 
 lator. 
 
 The Anthologia Hibernica for February, 1194, 
 p. 154, details the particulars of Baron Power's 
 death. Besides his judicial office, he was usher 
 to the Court of Chancery, and large sums were 
 frequently deposited in his hands for security of 
 suitors. The baron having pocketed 3,000 in 
 the Chandos suit, Lord Chancellor Clare was ap- 
 pealed to, who ordered the baron to appear in 
 court and answer for his conduct. The judge 
 hesitated, declaring that he held a seat on the 
 same bench with the chancellor in the Court of 
 Exchequer chamber. Lord Clare issued his com- 
 mand in a stjll more peremptory tone ; and the 
 tragedy detailed by Mr. O'Connell was the result. 
 Sir Jonah Barrington's elaborately embellished 
 account of this transaction is most inaccurate. 
 He suppresses all allusion to the embezzlements, 
 of which, by the way, Barrington was himself 
 convicted as a judge,* and merely says that 
 Lord Clare teased Power to madness, because 
 the baron was arrogant himself, and never would 
 succumb to the arrogance of Fitzgibbon, to whom 
 in law he was superior. Both accounts, however, 
 agree ip saying that Power was immensely rich. 
 
 The letters from "Philadelphus," also pub- 
 lished in Baratariana, repeatedly mention the 
 name " Pedro Pezzio." Dr. Charles Lucas (b. 
 1713; d. 1771) is the party alluded to. 
 
 * Personal Sketches, vol. i., pp. 457-459. See notice of Barring- 
 ton, Addenda P.
 
 184 ADDENDA. 
 
 B. 
 
 TOPING SEVENTY TEARS AGO. 
 
 (See page 37, ante.) 
 
 IT did not need the example of the Duke of 
 Rutland 'to make hard drinking the fashion in 
 Ireland. The anecdote, "Had you any assist- 
 ance in drinking this dozen of wine ? " " Yes, 
 I had the assistance of a bottle of brandy/' gives 
 an idea of the extent to which the practice reached. 
 Few songs were sung save those in praise of wine 
 and women. Judge Day's brother, Archdeacon 
 Day, wrote a popular song called " One Bottle 
 More." Curran sung : 
 
 " My boys, be chaste till you 're tempted; 
 While sober be wise and discreet ; 
 And humble your bodies with fasting, 
 Whene'er you 've got nothing to eat." 
 
 " It was an almost invariable habit at convivial 
 meetings," observes an informant, "to lock the 
 door lest any friend should depart. The window 
 was then opened, and the key flung into the lawn, 
 where it could not be foimd without much diffi- 
 culty. An Irish piper was stationed behind the 
 door, where he jerked forth planxty after planxty 
 as the toasts progressed. A certain baronet used 
 to knock the shanks off each guest's glass, to 
 necessitate draining it to the bottom before he 
 could lay it down again. Gallons of buttered 
 claret were drunk, and morning found the con- 
 vivialists lying under the table in heaps of bodily 
 and mental imbecility." 
 
 The late Dr. Henry Fulton informed us that 
 he heard from Mr. Dawson, one of the Volun- 
 teer Convention in 1182, and afterwards Chair- 
 man of Armagh, the two following anecdotes,
 
 TOPING EXTRAORDINARY. 185 
 
 illustrative of Irish conviviality in the last cen- 
 tury : 
 
 Sir William Johnson and his friend Dawson 
 were invited out to dine. Some time after dinner 
 Sir William came to him and said : " Dawson, am 
 I very drunk?" "No," said the other; "why 
 so ? " " Because," said the baronet, " I can't 
 find the door." It would have been hard for 
 him, for the host had a mock bookcase which 
 moved on a spring, and when required closed 
 up the entrance. After making another trial, Sir 
 William gave it up, and quietly resumed his seat. 
 Dawson escaped out of a window, got up stairs to 
 a sleeping apartment, and, knowing that all the 
 party would remain for the night, bolted the door 
 and barricaded it with all the furniture he could 
 remove. Next morning he found two of the gen- 
 tlemen in bed with him, who had effected an en- 
 trance through a panel of the door. 
 
 No gentleman thought of paying his debts, and 
 the extensive house of Aldridge, Adair, and But- 
 ler, wine merchants in Dublin, sent a clerk to 
 Connaught to collect money due to the firm. 
 The clerk returned, protesting that he was half 
 dead with feasting, but could get no money. 
 Robin Adair then personally went down, and 
 arrived at the house of his principal debtor just 
 in time for dinner, and found a large party as- 
 sembled. In the course of the evening the fol- 
 lowing was composed and sung : 
 
 " Welcome to Foxhall, sweet Robin Adair. 
 How does Tom Butler do, 
 And John Aldridge, too? 
 Why did they not come with you, 
 
 Sweet Kobin Adair ? " 
 
 It is almost needless to add that he, too, re- 
 turned without the debt.
 
 186 ADDENDA. 
 
 To compensate for bad debts, a large margin 
 for profit was fixed by the Dublin wine merchants 
 of that day. 
 
 "Claret," writes Barrington, "was at that time 
 about 18 the hogshead, if sold for ready rhino ; 
 if on credit, the law, before payment, generally 
 mounted it to 200, besides bribing the sub- 
 sheriff to make his return, and swear that Squire 
 * * * * had 'neither body nor goods.' It is a 
 remarkable fact that formerly scarce a hogshead 
 of claret crossed the bridge of Banagher for a 
 country gentleman, without being followed within 
 two years by an attorney, a sheriff's officer, and a 
 receiver of all his rents, who generally carried 
 back securities for 500." In the Irish Quar- 
 terly Review, vol. ii., p. 331, is quoted a French 
 author's description of Holybrook, county Wick- 
 low, the seat of Robin Adair, " Si famaux dans 
 nombre des chansons." He was probably the 
 head of the wine firm referred to by Dr. Fulton. 
 Another Adair, equally noted for bacchanalian 
 powers, lives at Kilternan. 
 
 " Were I possesa'd of all the chink 
 
 That was conquered by Cortez, Hernan, 
 I 'd part with it all for one good drink 
 
 With Johnny Adair of Kilternan. 
 The soldiers may drink to their Cumberland brave, 
 
 The sailors may drink to their Vernon, 
 Whilst all merry mortals true happiness have 
 
 With Johnny Adair of Kilternan." 
 
 Owen Bray, of Loughlinstown, also figures in 
 more than one song. 
 
 " Were-ye full of complaints from the crown to the toe, 
 A visit to Owen's will cure ye of woe; 
 A buck of such spirits ye never did know, 
 For let what will happen, they 're always in flow; 
 When he touched up Batten a Mona, oro, 
 The joy of that fellow for me." 
 
 Drinking clubs fanned the flame of political agi- 
 tation and sectarian bitterness then so rife. One
 
 TOPING EXTRAORDINARY. 187 
 
 of these pandemoniums stood in Werburgh Street, 
 where many a man with, as a song of the day 
 has it, 
 
 " a goodly estate, 
 And would to the Lord it was ten times as great," 
 
 drank himself to delirium, death, and beggary. 
 The spirit of the times is shown in one of the 
 club, who, having pitched a basin of filthy fluid 
 from the window, which was hailed by a shriek 
 below, exclaimed, " If you are a Protestant, I beg 
 your pardon respectfully ; but if you 're a Papist 
 (hie), take it and bad luck to you ! " * 
 
 The county Kildare was not second to Wick- 
 low or Dublin in convivial indulgence. Some 
 years ago, as we stood among the ruins of Clon- 
 shambo House, a song commemorative of its for- 
 mer occupant was chanted : 
 
 " 'T was past one o'clock when Andrew got up, 
 His eyes were as red as a flambeau; 
 Derry down, my brave boys, let us sleep until eve, 
 Cried Andrew Fitzgerald of Clonshambo." 
 
 The windows of old Clonshambo House looked 
 into a churchyard, which ought, one would think, 
 to have preached a more salutary homily to the 
 convivialists than the event seems to have proved. 
 Adjoining it is a crumbling wall, glassed, and dis- 
 playing many a sturdy old neck with the cork 
 still lodged in it. 
 
 The judges of the land, vulgarly regarded as 
 almost infallible, were no better than their neigh- 
 bors, and the phrase, " as sober as a judge," 
 must for a time have fallen into disuse. Baron 
 Monckton, being often vino deditus, as we are 
 assured by Barrington, usually described the seg- 
 ment of a circle in making his way to the seat of 
 justice. Judge Boyd, whose face, we are told, 
 * Tradition communicated by F. T. P -, Esq.
 
 188 ADDENDA. 
 
 resembled " a scarlet pincussion well studded," 
 possessed a similar weakness ; and a newspaper, 
 in praising his humanity, said that when passing 
 sentence of death, it was observable that "he 
 seldom failed to have a drop in his eye." Of the 
 first judge named it might well be said, as of the 
 Geraldines, Ipsis Hibernis Hiberniores, for Baron 
 Monckton was imported from the English bar. 
 
 Hard drinking continued fashionable in Ireland 
 within the last forty years. A late eminent po- 
 lemic habitually drank, without ill effects, a dozen 
 glasses of whiskey toddy at a sitting. Bushe, on 
 being introduced to the late Con. Leyne, of the 
 Irish bar, asked, " Are you any relation to Con of 
 the Hundred Battles?" "This is Con of the 
 Hundred Bottles," interposed Lord Plunket. 
 
 A well-known person, named Led ge, who 
 
 lived at Bluebell, having met a favorite boon- 
 companion, was induced by him to partake of 
 some refreshment at an inn, where he speedily 
 consumed sixteen tumblers of punch. He was 
 rising to leave, when the friend suggested that he 
 should "make up the twenty." "The parish 
 
 priest is to dine with me," replied Led ge, 
 
 "and I should not wish him to see the sign of 
 liquor on me." 
 
 0. 
 
 HOW BUCKINGHAM PUNISHED JEPHSON 
 AND PURCHASED JEBB. 
 
 MAGEE'S lampoons on the Sham Squire's patron, 
 the Marquis of Buckingham, were met by retorts 
 in the same vein. The chief writer of these re-
 
 BRIBERY AND INTIMIDATION. 189 
 
 taliative epigrams was Robert Jephson, master 
 of the horse at Dublin Castle. Lord Cloncurry, 
 in his Personal Recollections, observes : " He lived 
 at the* Black Rock, in a house which still remains, 
 tfearly opposite Maretimo, and was, for a con- 
 siderable period, the salaried poet-laureate of the 
 viceregal court. He lost place and pension by 
 an untimely exercise of his wit, when dining one 
 day at my father's house. The dinner was given 
 to the Lord Lieutenant, the Marquis of Bucking- 
 ham, who happened to observe, in an unlucky 
 mirror, the reflection of Jephson in tlie act of 
 mimicking him. He immediately discharged him 
 from the laureateship." 
 
 Public writers were corrupted without stint 
 during the administration of Lord Buckingham. 
 By far the ablest man in Ireland, at that day, 
 was Dr. Frederick Jebb, the Irish Junius. Under 
 the pseudonym of Guatimozin, he published pow- 
 erful letters in sustainment of his country's cause. 
 The viceroy, writing to Lord North, says: "As 
 the press was exceedingly violent at that time, 
 and had greater effect in inflaming the minds of 
 the people, it was recommended to me as a meas- 
 ure of absolute necessity, by some means, if pos- 
 sible, to check its spirit. On this a negotiation 
 was opened with Dr. Jebb, who was then chief 
 of the political writers, and he agreed, up$n the 
 terms of my recommending him for a pension of 
 JE300 a year, to give his assistance to govern- 
 ment, and since that time he has been very useful, 
 as well by suppressing inflammatory publications 
 a's by writing and other services, which he prom- 
 ises to continue to the extent of his power." * 
 After the death of Dr. Jebb the pension was con- 
 tinued to his children. 
 
 * Memoirt of Grattan, by Ms son, vol. 11., p. 175.
 
 190 ADDENDA. 
 
 D. 
 
 LORD CLONMEL. 
 
 AMONG the many searchingly critical notices of 
 Lord Chief Justice Clonmel, contributed by Grat- 
 tan, Barrington, Rowan, Cloncurry, Cox, Magee, 
 and others, no allusion has been made to the cir- 
 cumstances in which his wealth may be said to 
 have originated. We are informed by a very 
 
 respectable solicitor, Mr. II , that in looking 
 
 over one of Lord Clonmcl's rentals he was struck 
 by the following note, written by his lordship's 
 agent, in reference to the property " Boolna- 
 duff " : " Lord Clonmel, when Mr. Scott, held 
 this in trust for a Roman Catholic, who, owing 
 to the operation of the Popery laws, was incapa- 
 citated from keeping it in his own hands. When 
 reminded of the trust, Mr. Scott refused to ac- 
 knowledge it, and thus the property fell into the 
 Clonmel family." 
 
 In Walker's Hibernian Magazine for July, 179*7, 
 we read, p. 97: "Edward Byrne, Esq., of Mul- 
 linahack, to Miss Roe, stepdaughter to the Earl of 
 Clonmel, and niece to Lord Viscount Llandaff." * 
 
 Hereby hangs a tale. Miss Roe was under- 
 stood to have a large fortune, and when Mr. 
 Byrne* applied to Lord Clonmel for it, his lord- 
 ship shuffled, saying: "Miss Roe is a lapsed 
 Papist, and I avail myself of the laws which I 
 administer, to withhold what you desire." Mr. 
 
 * Lord Clonmel married first, in 1768, Catharine, the only 
 daughter of Thomas Mathew, of Thomastown; secondly, Mar- 
 garet, only daughter of Patrick Lawless, of Dublin. Arch- 
 dall's Lodge's Irish Peerage, vol. vii., p. 243. The late Apostle 
 of Temperance, Father Theobald Mathew, was a native of 
 Thomastown, and a member of tlie family into which Lord 
 Clonmel intermarried.
 
 THE POPERY LAWS. 191 
 
 Byrne filed a bill, in which he recited the eva- 
 sive reply of Lord Clonmel. The chief justice 
 never answered the bill, and otherwise treated 
 Mr. Byrne's remonstrances with contempt. These 
 facts, which have never been in print, transpire in 
 the legal documents held by Mr. H . 
 
 Too often the treachery manifested by the rich 
 in positions of trust, at the calamitous period in 
 question, contrasted curiously with the tried fidel- 
 ity observed by some needy persons in a similar 
 capacity. Moore, in his Memoirs of Captain 
 Hock, mentions the case of a poor Protestant 
 barber, who, though his own property did not 
 exceed a few pounds in value, actually held in 
 fee the estates of most of the Catholic gentry of 
 the county. He adds that this estimable man 
 was never known to betray his trust. 
 
 The proximity of the residences of Lord Clon- 
 mel and Sir Jonah Barrington has been noticed 
 at p. 88. It may amuse those familiar with the 
 locality to tell an anecdote of the projecting bow- 
 window, long since built up, which overhangs the 
 side of Sir Jonah's former residence, No. 14 Har- 
 court Street, corner of Montague Street. Lord 
 Clonmel occupied the 'house at the opposite cor- 
 ner, and Lady Clonmel affected to be very much 
 annoyed at this window overlooking their house 
 and movements. Here Lady Barrington, arrayed 
 in imposing silks and satins, would daily take 
 up position, and placidly survey a portion of 
 the world as it wagged. Sir Jonah was remon- 
 strated with, but he declined to close the obnox- 
 ious window. Lady Clonmel then took the diffi- 
 culty in hand, and with the stinging sarcasm 
 peculiarly her own, said: "Lady Barrington is 
 BO accustomed to looking out of a shop window
 
 192 ADDENDA. 
 
 for the display of her silks and satins, that I sup- 
 pose she cannot afford to dispense with this." 
 
 The large bow-window was immediately built 
 up, and has not since been reopened. Lady Bar- 
 rington was the daughter of Mr. Grogan, a silk- 
 mercer of Dublin. Lady Clonmel was a Miss 
 Lawless, related to the Cloncurry family, who 
 rose to opulence as woollen -drapers, in High 
 Street. The Lawlesses held their heads high, 
 and more than once got a Roland for an Oliver. 
 The first Lord Cloncurry having gone to see the 
 pantomime of Don Quixote, laughed immoderately 
 at the scene where Sancho is tossed in a blanket. 
 On the following morning the Sham Squire's jour- 
 nal contained the following epigram : 
 
 " Cloncurry, Cloncurry, 
 Why in such a hurry, 
 
 To laugh at the comical Squire ? 
 For though he 's tossed high, 
 You cannot deny 
 
 That blankets have tossed yourself higher." 
 
 The Diary of John Scott, Lord Clonmel, has 
 been privately printed by his family. It shows, 
 while recording many weaknesses, that he was a 
 man of rare shrewdness, and gifted with a con- 
 siderable amount of political foresight. A few 
 excerpts from this generally inaccessible volume 
 will interest the reader : 
 
 " Lord ! what plagues have false friends proved 
 to me. The idea of friendship and the very word 
 should be expunged from the heart and mind of a 
 politician. Look at Lord Pery." (Page 211.) 
 
 " In last month I became a viscount ; and from 
 want of circumspection, in trying a cause against 
 a printer (Magee), I have been grossly abused 
 for several months. I have endeavored to make 
 that abuse useful towards my earldom. 7 ' * * * 
 (September 20th, 1189, p. 348.)
 
 LORD CLONMEL'S DIARY. 193 
 
 On October 19th, 1789, he says that unless he 
 adopts the discipline of Pery and others, " I am 
 actually disgraced, despised, and undone as a 
 public man. Let me begin to be diligent to-day. 
 No other learning but law and parliamentary read- 
 ing can be useful to me ; let these be my study." 
 (Page 349.) 
 
 On the 21st January, 1790, he writes: "Let 
 me therefore from this moment adopt a war dis- 
 cipline, and resolve seriously to set about learning 
 my profession, and acting my part superlatively 
 throughout." (Page 351.) 
 
 Among his good resolutions, recorded on 10th 
 February, were: " To establish a complete reform 
 from snuff, sleep, swearing, sloth, gross eating, 
 malt liquor, and indofenee." 
 
 The Diary finds him constantly engaged in a 
 battle with his own weaknesses, which unhappily 
 in the end generally win the victory. At p. 362, 
 towards the close of the book, we read: "By 
 neglect of yourself you are now a helpless, igno- 
 rant, unpopular, accused individual ; forsaken by 
 the government, persecuted by parliament, hated 
 by the bar, unaided by the bench, betrayed and 
 deserted by your oldest friends. Reform, and all 
 will be well. Guard against treachery in others 
 and passions in yourself." At p. 441, we learn : 
 " My three puisne judges are actually combined 
 against me ; and that ungrateful monster, Lord 
 Carleton, has made a foolish quarrel with me." 
 
 Few men possessed a more accurate perception 
 of what was right to be done ; and his beau ideal 
 of a perfect chief justice is a model of judicial 
 excellence which a Mansfield or a Bushe might 
 read with profit : but poor Lord Clonmel signally 
 failed to realize it. Day after day, as we have 
 13
 
 194 ADDENDA. 
 
 said, finds this most extraordinary man toiling 
 in vain to correct his besetting weaknesses. Sir 
 Jonah Barrington's description of Lord Clonmel 
 perpetually telling, and acting, extravagantly 
 comic stories, is corroborated by the chief's 
 own Diary. "I have made," he writes, "many 
 enemies by the treachery of men and women who 
 have taken advantage of my levity* and unguard- 
 edness in mimicry, and saying sharp things of and 
 to others ; and have injured myself by idleness, 
 eating, drinking, and sleeping too much. From 
 this day, then, let me assume a stately, grave, dig- 
 nified deportment and demeanor. No buifoonery, 
 no mimicry, no ridicule." This is one of the clos- 
 ing entries in the very remarkable Diary of John 
 Scott, Lord Chief Justice Clonmel. As a consti- 
 tutional judge he holds no place. In opposition 
 to the highest legal authorities of England, he 
 held that one witness was quite sufficient to con- 
 vict in case of treason. 
 
 E. 
 THE IRISH YEOMANRY IN 1T98. 
 
 THE fidelity of Dempsey, the yeoman, to Lord 
 Edward's cause is the more remarkable, when we 
 remember that he belonged to a body which was 
 notorious for its implacability to suspected per- 
 sons. The personal narratives of Hay, Cloney, 
 Teeling, O'Kelly, and the historic researches of 
 
 * It cannot be said of Lord Clonmel, as of Jerry Keller, an 
 Irish barrister, that some men have risen by their gravity 
 while he sank by his levity.
 
 YEOMANRY OUTRAGES. 195 
 
 Madden, furnish anecdotes in abundance of their 
 brutality. The following 1 reminiscence, commu- 
 nicated to us by the late Mrs. Plunket, of Fres- 
 cati, the former residence, by the way, of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, as it does not happen to 
 have been printed, may be given here. 
 
 Previous to the outburst of the rebellion there 
 was a noted bridewell at Geneva, in the county 
 of Wexford, wherein persons suspected of trea- 
 sonable tendencies were incarcerated, and from 
 thence removed soon after to some distant place 
 of transportation. The betrothed of one young 
 woman and the husband of another, both person- 
 ally known to Mrs. Plunket, were cast into this 
 prison. The women were permitted to visit the 
 captives ; they exchanged clothes, and the young 
 men passed out unrecognized. When the young 
 women were discovered occupying the cells, noth- 
 ing could exceed the rage of the local yeomanry. 
 They assembled a mock court-martial, found the 
 fair conspirators guilty of having aided and abet- 
 ted the escape of traitors, and then sentenced 
 them to be tossed naked in a blanket. The yeo- 
 manry carried their unmanly decision into effect. 
 They roughly tore the garments from the young 
 women, stripjjfed them stark naked, and then 
 prostrated them on the blanket which was pre- 
 pared for their punishment. They were tossed 
 unmercifully, amidst the brutal laughter of the 
 assembled yeomanry. A Scotch regiment pres- 
 ent had the manly feeling to turn their backs. 
 The married woman was pregnant, and died from 
 the effect of the treatment she received. The 
 younger girl a person of great beauty was 
 seriously injured both in body and mind. Mrs. 
 Plunket witnessed the less revolting part of the
 
 196 ADDENDA. 
 
 scene. She was a person of considerable energy 
 of character, one of the Barringtons of Wexford, 
 and a Protestant. Having married Mr. Plunket, 
 a Catholic, she embraced that religion, to the 
 great annoyance of her family, who brought her 
 home, and kept her in detention. Mr. Plunket 
 was arrested in Dublin on suspicion of treason- 
 able intent ; she escaped, walked the entire way 
 to Dublin, and by her beauty and her tact, exer- 
 cised in influential quarters, succeeded in getting 
 her husband liberated. We have heard this lady 
 say that an agent of Lord Camden's government 
 offered her 1,000 to inform on persons who were 
 implicated in the rebellion, but she rejected the 
 bribe with indignation. 
 
 About the same time, and in the same county, 
 the yeomanry, after having sacked the chapel and 
 hunted the priest, deputed one of their corps to 
 enter the confessional and personate the good 
 pastor. In the course of the day some young 
 men on their way to the battle of Oulart dropped 
 in for absolution. One, who disclosed his inten- 
 tion and craved the personated priest's blessing, 
 was retorted upon with a curse, while the yeo- 
 man, losing patience, flung off the soutanne, re- 
 vealing beneath his scarlet uniform. The youth 
 was shot upon the spot, and his grave is still 
 shown at Passage. 
 
 Marquis Cornwallis, the more humane viceroy 
 who succeeded Lord Camden, notices, in a letter 
 to General Ross, the "ferocity and atrocity" of 
 the yeomen, and that they take the lead in rapine 
 and murder. He adds : 
 
 "The feeble outrages, burnings, and murders 
 which are still committed by the Rebels serve to 
 keep up the sanguinary disposition on our side ;
 
 MB. MACREADY'S STATEMENT. 197 
 
 and so long as they furnish a pretext for our 
 parties going in quest of them, I see no pros- 
 pect of amendment. 
 
 " The conversation of the principal persons of 
 the country all tends to encourage this system 
 of blood ; and the conversation even at my table, 
 where you will 'suppose I do all I can to prevent 
 it, always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, 
 etc., etc. ; and if a priest has been put to death, 
 the greatest joy is expressed by the whole com- 
 pany. So much for Ireland and my wretched 
 situation." * 
 
 F. 
 MR. MACREADY'S STATEMENT. 
 
 [AFTER we had received from Mr. Macready, 
 the esteemed President of the Young Men's So- 
 ciety, a verbal statement of the facts recited (p. 
 119, etc., ante), he was good enough to commit 
 to writing the subjoined further details, which 
 graphically illustrate the calamitous period in 
 question.] 
 
 "Prior to the outburst of the insurrection in 1798, 
 afld while espionage was active in its pursuit of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, stimulated by the reward of 1,000 
 for his apprehension, he was stopping in my grand- 
 father's house, No. 124 Thomas Street, and passing as 
 my mother's French tutor. She was not long home 
 from France, having left it in consequence of the revo- 
 lution. She was a woman of much strength of charac- 
 ter, and carried the different letters between Lord 
 Edward and the other United Irishmen. While acting 
 in this capacity she usually went as a patient in Dr. 
 
 * Aft nor and Corretpondence of Marquis CornwaUia, vol. 1L, 
 p. 368.
 
 198 ADDENDA. 
 
 Adrian's carriage, with her arm bandaged up, and her 
 clothes marked with blood. While Lord Edward was 
 at James Moore's, the only person he saw, exclusive of 
 Lawless and a few other trusted political friends, was 
 his stepfather, Mr. Ogilvie, who had been a tutor in the 
 Leinster family, and the duchess married him. * * * * 
 Lady Fitzgerald never visited him at Moore's, as it was 
 supposed every move of hers was closely watched, but 
 my mother brought his little daughter to see him. She 
 was a seven months' child, and was afterwards married 
 to Sir Guy Campbell, who was head of the constabulary 
 of Ireland. [Here the anecdote of Tuite, given at p. 1 19, 
 ante, appears.] I had this from my grandfather and Tuite. 
 The former promised to bury Tuite, but he outlived him 
 by many years. It was considered unsafe for Lord Edward 
 to remain concealed at our house, and my grandmother 
 went down to Magan, a barrister, and friend of hers, liv- 
 ing on Usher's Island, and arranged with him that on the 
 morrow evening Lord Edward would go down at seven or 
 eight o'clock to his place, and to avoid being seen entering 
 the front door, the stable in Island Street was to be open to 
 admit him. At eight o'clock Mrs. Moore and Pat Gallagher, 
 a clerk of ours, walked out arm-in-arm, and my mother 
 and Lord Edward behind. They went along Thomas 
 Street to Watling Street, and turned down at the end of 
 Watling Street, and just at Island Street, near Magan's 
 stable, Major Sirr stopped Lord Edward. My mother 
 screamed out to Gallagher, who was a very powerful 
 man. He at once upset Major Sirr; and only the Major 
 had a coat of mail on him, his career was ended on that 
 occasion, for Gallagher tried his dagger on him. Major 
 Sirr was also a powerful man, wielded his dagger, and, 
 although under Gallagher, contrived to drive it through 
 the calf of his leg. Finding himself wounded, and fear- 
 ing he would not be able to make his escape, and per- 
 ceiving that he could not wound Major Sirr, he made 
 the best of his way off, having first knocked the Major 
 down with a box, using the butt of the dagger to assist 
 his blow. My mother and Lord Edward fled at the 
 first part of the fray, and as Murphy's (now Graham 
 and Dunnlll's wool crane) was the nearest friend's place, 
 they went into it. Mrs. Moore got home as she best 
 could ; of Gallagher I will speak hereafter. The accu- 
 racy of the carpenter Tuite's information to Moore was
 
 NARROW ESCAPES. 199 
 
 soon confirmed. The next day my grandfather Moore's 
 house vvas taken possession of. The famous Dr. Gahan, 
 the Augustinian friar, was visiting my mother, and she 
 was seeing him to the door when the double knock 
 came. The old priest in his humility stood partly be- 
 hind the door to allow whoever it was to enter. A cap- 
 tain, a sergeant, and a large number of soldiers, rushed 
 in. They soiaed the poor ohl priest, and by the queue or 
 pig-tail, the then mode of wearing the hair, tied him op 
 to a beam in the wareroom off the shop. My mother 
 cut him (Men. She then remembered that the Committee 
 or Council of the United Irishmen were sitting at a, 
 hoilse in James's Gate (the house now occupied by Mr. 1 
 Nulty). While the soldiers were taking possession and 
 rifling the house, she ran up to James's Gate, and in- 
 formed the parties there that her father's house was 
 full of soldiers. The father of the Rev. George Cana- 
 van, late P. P. of St. James's, had a tanyard outside 
 the house wherein the Directory mot. Into this yard 
 they descended through a window, and escaped down 
 Watling Street. My mother, when returning, met some 
 of the soldiers ; one of them recognized her, and said, 
 
 ' There 's that Croppy b h again', making a drive at 
 
 her with his bayonet, which was screwed to the top of 
 his musket. She stooped and escaped, but the bayonet 
 cut her across the shoulders. There were some good 
 shots on the qui vive. The occurrence just took place 
 on the site of Hoe's distillery, and a shot was forthwith 
 fired from a house at the corner of Crane Lane, which 
 closed the loyal career of the soldier who wounded my 
 mother. He was shot dead. The official report in the 
 newspapers next day stated that they were so near cap- 
 turing the Committee or Directory of the United Irish- 
 men that in their flight they left the taper lighting, and 
 the wax was soft with which they had been sealing their 
 letters and documents. I should have mentioned that 
 Magan went up the next morning to know had anything 
 happened, as he was quite uneasy at not seeing Lorjl 
 Edward and Mrs. Moore, and that he had stopped up 
 until midnight, expecting them. While on this point I 
 may as well finish it. When Dr. Madden was getting 
 information from my mother, he asked Miho she thought 
 had betrayed Lord Edward. Whether she said this to 
 him or not I cannot say ; but just as he left, she said
 
 200 ADDENDA. 
 
 to me, ' Dr. Madden asked me who I thought betrayed 
 Lord Edward, and, only fearing I should sin against 
 charity, I would have said it was Magan, for no one 
 but my mother and he knew that Lord Edward was to 
 go down to his (Magan's) house on Usher's Island the 
 night his lordship was stopped by Major Sirr. Poor 
 Lord Edward himself did not know we were going to 
 Magan's house till we set out for it. We*told Magan 
 next day what a narrow escape we had that night, and 
 how Lord Edward had to take refuge in Murphy's. 
 Lord Edward was arrested on the following day in 
 !M urphy's house.' * 
 
 " Gallagher, of whom I have already spoken, was 
 brought out for execution ; but he put on a Freemason's 
 apron, having received an intimation that the captain of 
 the guard was a member of the craft. By some rule 
 of their faith, one brother cannot see another hung. Be 
 this as it may, the captain ordered his men away, and 
 Gallagher was taken back to the Provost prison until 
 some non-Masonic hangman could be got. After or 
 about this time the executions at the corner of Bridge- 
 foot Street, in Thomas Street, were going on, and the 
 blood flowing from the block whereon the poor Rebels 
 were quartered clogged up the sewers, and some dogs 
 were licking it up. The lady lieutenant was driving past, 
 and got such a fright from this horrible scene that she 
 fainted in the carriage. Having arrived home, she wrote 
 to her brother, who was high in the then government, 
 for God's sake to stop this wholesale massacre of the 
 v defenceless. Her humane appeal had the desired effect ; 
 an order came to stem all further executions; enough 
 blood had been shed. The rest of the prisoners were 
 ordered to be transported, and vessels for that pur- 
 pose were sent over. In one of these poor Gallagher 
 was placed, heavily ironed. The night before the trans- 
 port sailed, his young wife was permitted to see him, 
 when his manacles, for that occasion, were taken off. 
 JMs wife brought a coil of sash cord under her dress ; 
 night came on before she left, and Gallagher held one 
 
 * It is more than probable that Mrs. Macready did not avow 
 during that interview her suspicion of Magan. It took place, 
 as we learn from the Lives of the United Irishmen (vol. ii., p. 4(Mi), 
 in the year 1842. Magan was then alive. Reminiscences con- 
 tributed by Mrs. Macready appear, but Magau's mime does not 
 occur in them,
 
 ESCAPE OF GALLAGHEB. 201 
 
 end, while she took the other ashore. The captain, as 
 soon as he thought the wife was out of sight of the ship, 
 ordered the prisoner to be put in irons again. When 
 they went to him for that purpose he said, ' Can you 
 not wait one minute?' They paused, and he leaped 
 overboard, and was towed by the rope safely ashore, 
 before the sailors (who told the captain the man had 
 leaped in) had time to overtake him in a boat. He was 
 put aboard a smuggling lugger that conveyed salt to 
 France, and in years afterwards James Moore, his 
 former master, met him in London. He told him he 
 was a wealthy hotel keeper in Bourdeanx, and the hand- 
 some landlady of course was the person who pulled the 
 cord with him aboard the transport ship. 
 
 "My mother took 500 to the doctor who attended 
 the prisoners in Bermingham Tower, Dublin Castle, 
 where my grandfather was detained, and he certified 
 my grandfather was mad ! Whether he arrived at this 
 conclusion from his professional skill or my mofcer's 
 persuasive powers, deponent further knoweth not; but 
 I even heard, in the event of my grandfather's escape, 
 he was to be further convinced that my grandsire was 
 mad. Major Sirr had not implicit faith in the doctor's 
 word, for he went to the Tower to judge for himself. 
 The prisoner must have acted the maniac to life, for he 
 made Major Sirr run for his life after severely biting 
 him. He then passed out of the Tower, and escaped 
 up Castle Street. The government never rearrested 
 him, believing him insane. 
 
 "Major Sirr and Jemmy O'Brien the informer were 
 looking for pikes at the rear of my grandfather's stores, 
 in a field that is now occupied" by Messrs. Fitzsimons, 
 timber merchants, Bridgefoot Street. A Croppy, named 
 Clayton, saw them, and had them covered with his car- 
 bine; but as he could only hit one, he feared the other 
 might escape, and that he himself would be captured. 
 He told this to Casey, who said each of them were fully 
 worth a charge of powder. This, perhaps, was the 
 narrowest escape Major Sirr had, for he it was that 
 was covered, and covered, moreover, by a man of un- 
 erring aim, the same who hit the soldier at Costiguu's 
 Gate."
 
 202 ADDENDA. 
 
 JEMMY O'BRIEN. 
 
 O'BRIEN, to whom Mr. Macready refers, had 
 obtained an unenviable notoriety for murder, bur- 
 glary, and general chicane, when Major Sirr en- 
 listed him in his service as a " bloodhound," who, 
 to quote the words of Curran, "with more than 
 instinctive keenness pursued victim after victim." 
 " I have heard," he added, " of assassinations by 
 sword, by pistol, and by dagger, but here is a 
 wretch who would- dip the Evangelists in blood. 
 If he thinks he has not sworn his victim to death, 
 he is ready to swear without mercy and without 
 end. But, oh! do not, I conjure you, suffer him 
 to take an oath; the hand of the murderer should 
 not pollute the purity of the Gospel, or, if he will 
 swear, let it be by the knife, the proper symbol 
 of his profession." To trace O'Brien through the 
 bloody track of his progress during "the reign 
 of terror," would prove a repulsive task. The 
 following account of the circumstances which led 
 to his end was given to us in 1854 by a gentle- 
 man connected with the Irish executive. In the 
 year 1800, O'Brien was deputed to scrutinize 
 some persons who had assembled for the pur- 
 pose of playing football near Stevens's Lane. In 
 scrambling over a fence which inclosed the field, 
 assisted by an old man named Hoey, who hap- 
 pened to be on the spot, the cry of " O'Brien the 
 informer ! " was immediately raised, the people 
 fled, and O'Brien in his chagrin turned round and 
 illogically wreaked his vengeance by stabbing 
 Hoey to death. He was tried for the crime arid 
 sentenced to be executed by Mr. Justice Day, 
 who was a just judge in bad times, and disre- 
 garded the eulogiums with which Major Sirr
 
 GENERAL LAWLESS. 203 
 
 belauded O'Brien during the trial. The delight of 
 the populace was unbounded. A vast multitude 
 of people surged round the prison and under the 
 gallows. A delay occurred ; the populace became 
 impatient, and finally uneasy, lest the government 
 should have yielded to the memorial which was 
 known to have been presented in his favor. A 
 multitudinous murmur gradually gave place to 
 a loud boom of popular indignation. The delay 
 was caused by the cowardice of O'Brien, who 
 shrank from his approaching doom. Prostrate 
 on his knees, he begged intervals of indulgence 
 according as the turnkey reminded him "that 
 his hour had come." At length Tom Galvin, the 
 hangman, a person, of barbarous humor, accosted 
 him, saying, " Ah, Misther O'Brien, lung Jife to 
 you, sir, come out on the balcony, an' don't keep 
 the people in suspense ; they are mighty onasy 
 entirely under the swing-swong." 
 
 G. 
 GENERAL LAWLESS. 
 
 HAVING some reason to doubt the accuracy of 
 the account given on hearsay by the late Lord 
 Cloncurry, and quoted by Dr. Madden, which 
 represented Lawless effecting his escape in the 
 guise of a butcher, carrying a side of beef on his 
 shoulder, we instituted inquiries as to the real 
 facts, and the 'parties exclusively competent to 
 state them ; and with this object we had an in- 
 terview, in 1854, with the late Mrs. Ryan, of 
 Upper Gardiner Street, then in her eighty-second 
 year.
 
 204 ADDENDA. 
 
 After the break-up of the Executive Directory 
 by the arrests at Oliver Bond's, a new one, com- 
 posed of John and Henry Sheares, William Law- 
 less, and others, started into existence, determined 
 to carry out the plans of the original founders. 
 Proclamations appeared, and several arrests were 
 made ; but Lawless, owing to his own tact and 
 the presence of mind of his friends, escaped. 
 Lawless was proceeding to his mother's house 
 in French Street at a rapid pace, through Digges 
 Street, when his sister, perceiving his approach, 
 appeared at the drawing-room window, and mo- 
 tioned him to retire. The house was at that 
 moment undergoing a search by Major Sirr and 
 his myrmidons, and had Lawless come up, his 
 life wgfculd, doubtless, have paid the forfeit. It 
 is a significant fact that, on the following day, 
 Henry Sheares was arrested in the act of knock- 
 ing at Lawless's door. The family of Mr. Byrne, 
 of Byrne's Hill, in the Liberty, was then staying 
 at their country residence near Kimmage, where 
 Mr. Byrne and his daughters, of whom our infor- 
 mant, Mrs. Ryan, was one, provided Lawless with 
 an asylum. He was concealed in. a garret bed- 
 room, communicating with a small clothes closet, 
 into which he retired at every approach, even of 
 the servants,, who were quite unconscious of his 
 presence. Days rolled over, and the search, but 
 without avail, was continued. Military and yeo- 
 manry scoured the country round. Major Sirr 
 was so active, that some swore he possessed 
 the alleged ornithological property of being in 
 two places at once. 
 
 The Lawyers' Corps having been on duty near 
 Kimmage, it was suggested that Mr. Byrne's 
 house should be searched ; but a gallant nephew
 
 GENERAL LAWLESS. 205 
 
 of Lord Avonmore, who commanded, refused to 
 sanction this proceeding, in consequence of Mr. 
 Byrne's absence, and the presence of several 
 ladies in the house. Lawless thanked his stars ; 
 but the fears of the family were greatly excited 
 by the proximity of his pursuers, and they re- 
 solved at all hazards to remove him to Dublin 
 previous to making one desperate effort to reach 
 France. Word was sent to Philip Lawless, an 
 eminent brewer, residing at Warrenmount, the 
 elder brother of William, to send his carriage 
 to Mr. Byrne's to convey him to town. Mrs. 
 Ryan, then Miss Byrne, dressed Lawless in a 
 loose white wrapper of her own, and a close 
 beaver bonnet. As Lawless possessed a pale, 
 sallow countenance, Miss Byrne applied some 
 effective touches, not of ordinary rouge, but of 
 lake paint, to his cheeks. The outlaw, accom- 
 panied by Mrs. Ryan and her two sisters, entered 
 the carriage and proceeded openly at noon-day to 
 Dublin. The rebellion had not yet burst forth. 
 No opposition was offered to the ordinary transit 
 of vehicles. When half way to Dublin, a party 
 of yeomanry scowled nto the carriage, but not 
 detecting anything suspicious, (Suffered it to pro- 
 ceed. Having arrived at the residence of Mr. 
 Lawless, the outlaw sent for a suit of sailor's 
 clothes and donned them ; but his long pale face 
 was far from disguised. To effect this desidera- 
 tum, Lawless placed upon his head an immense 
 coil of cable, which he arranged so as that a 
 large portion descended upon his forehead, and 
 went far to baffle recognition. As he proceeded 
 with this burden in the direction of Sir John 
 Rogerson'a Quay, the redoubtable Major Sin- 
 passed him closely, but the disguise was so per-
 
 206 ADDENDA. 
 
 feet that no suspicion seems to have been excited. 
 Mr. Lawless gained greater confidence from this 
 moment, reached the wharf, embarked on board 
 a merchant vessel, and a favorable wind soon 
 wafted him to the shores of France. He entered 
 the military service of that country, gained dis- 
 tinction, lost a leg, and died a general in 1824. 
 
 One of the refugees, Colonel Byrne, addressing 
 the present writer in a letter dated "Paris, Kue 
 Montaigne, Pebuary 18th, 1854," says : 
 
 "Lord Cloncurry committed a mistake, in the work 
 referred to, respecting the late General Lawless having 
 lost his leg at Flushing, in August, 1809. He lost it at 
 the battle of Lowenberg, in August, 1813. It appeared 
 ridiculous that a colonel with but one leg should be put 
 at the head of a regiment of infantry in a campaign by 
 Napoleon." * 
 
 In Ireland, Lawless had been a physician of 
 great promise, and filled the chair of Physiology 
 and Anatomy at the College of Surgeons. An- 
 other eminent medical man, Dr. Dease, Professor 
 of the Practice of Surgery, was also deeply im- 
 plicated : but he lacked the moral energy of Law- 
 less, and, on timely information reaching him that 
 a warrant was in progress for his apprehension, 
 he retired to his study, and died, like Cato, by 
 his own hand. A fine white marble bust of this 
 physician, inscribed "William Dease, obit 1798," 
 
 * Colonel Byrne adds : " I have made notes of the principal 
 events and transactions that came within my knowledge dur- 
 ing the insurrection of 1798, ns well as that of 1803. If I thought 
 their publication could in any way tend to benefit my native 
 country, I would cheerfully get them printed ; but I am well 
 aware that the present time is not a propitious moment. I 
 trust a time may -come when the publication of such docu- 
 ments will be encouraged. They will show the efforts and 
 sacrifices that were made to procure the independence of 
 Ireland." Colonel Byrne has since paid the debt of nature, 
 and the work in question has been published under the aus- 
 pices of his widow.
 
 LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD. 207 
 
 is preserved in the hall of the College of Sur- 
 geons. The old man's brow, furrowed by years of 
 earnest, honest labor, and the intelligent expres- 
 sion of his eye, prematurely quenched, awaken 
 painful emotions. 
 
 William Lawless possessed a cultivated liter- 
 ary taste ; and in the Irish Masonic Magazine for 
 1794 a number of poems from his pen may be 
 found. He had been a member of the Royal 
 Irish Academy ; but Faulkner's Dublin Journal 
 for 1802 announces his expulsion on political 
 grounds. 
 
 H. 
 
 LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD. 
 
 A LATE eminent writer, Mr. Daniel Owen Mad- 
 den, author of Ireland and ite Rulers, Revelations 
 of Ireland, The Age of Pitt and Fox, Chiefs of 
 Parties, etc., in a- letter to the author, written a 
 few days before his death, strongly recommended 
 that the present work, of which we gave him an 
 outline, should be entitled, Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald and his Bloodhounds, and inclosed a story 
 which he rightly considered would. form an inter- 
 esting note. 
 
 The story, whether true or false, ran to this 
 effect : 
 
 "Lady Gay Campbell was most anxious to discover 
 where her father was interred, so as to give him decent 
 sepulture. It was said that he had been buried in various 
 places ; but, on examining them, it was found that the 
 information was erroneous. After much investigation, 
 she was at last referred to one old man, who, it was 
 stated, could tell her.
 
 208 ADDENDA. 
 
 " She accordingly went to this pauper's house, and 
 found a man in bed, and no sooner did lie see her than 
 he said : ' I know who you are, you must be the daugh- 
 ter of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, you are so like him.' 
 She told him the object of her visit, and then he related 
 to her that he had lingered about Newgate when her 
 father died, and that after nightfall he saw six men 
 bearing out a shell, and that he followed them until they 
 came to Werburgh's Church, and that he saw them take 
 the coffin into the vaults of the church, and that, unper- 
 ceived by them, he stole into the vaults after them, and 
 saw where they, deposited the coffin. From intensity of 
 feeling, in the wildness of grief for his lost master, he 
 stayed all that night in the vaults, and in order to mark 
 the coffin he scratched the letters ' E. F.' on the lid of 
 the coffin. In doing this he used a rusty old nail which 
 he had picked up. He had great difficulty afterwards iu 
 forcing his vt&y out through a grated window. 
 
 "He then put his arm into his breast and took out. a 
 rag of cloth, gave Lady Guy Campbell the identical nail, 
 and told her to go to Werburgh's Church. She went 
 there with her friends, and in the vaults she discovered 
 the coffin exactly as it had been described by her infor- 
 mant, and the letters 'E. F' incised on it several inches 
 long. 
 
 " Such," adds Mr. Madden, " is the story told me by 
 a member of the bar, a Tory, and a man moving in 
 capital society." 
 
 In the churchyard of St. Werburgh is also bur- 
 ied Major Sirr, by whose hand Lord Edward fell. 
 See notice of Major Sirr, Addenda J, note 29. 
 
 I. 
 JOHN AND HENRY SHEARES. 
 
 THE Brothers Sheares were natives of Cork, 
 whither the younger had proceeded, early in 
 May, for the purpose of organizing that county. 
 An energetic co-operator in this movement was a
 
 JOHX AXD HENEY SHEAEES. 209 
 
 silversmith named Conway, a native of Dublin. 
 The treachery of this man was so artfully con- 
 cealed that his most intimate friends never sus- 
 pected him. 
 
 " If those who join secret societies," writes a 
 Cork correspondent, " could get a peep at the 
 records of patriotic perfidy kept in the Castle, 
 they would get some insight into the dangerous 
 consequences of meddling with them. There is a 
 proverbial honor amongst thieves ; there seems to 
 be none amongst traitors. The publication of the 
 official correspondence about the end of the last 
 century made some strange revelations. In Cork, 
 there lived a watchmaker, named Conway, one of 
 the Directory of the United Irishmen there. So 
 public and open a professor of disloyal sentiments 
 was he, that on the plates of his watches he had 
 engraved as a device a harp without a crown. 
 For a whole generation this man's name was 
 preserved as ' a sufferer for his country/ like 
 his ill-fated townsmen, John and Henry Sheares. 
 The Gornwallis Correspondence (vol. iii., p. 85) 
 reveals the fact that Conway was a double-dyed 
 traitor; that he had offered to become a secret 
 agent for detecting the leaders of the United 
 Irishmen, and that the information he gave was 
 very valuable, particularly as confirming that re- 
 ceived from a solicitor in Belfast, who, whilst 
 acting as agent and solicitor to the disaffected 
 party, was betraying their secrets to the execu- 
 tive, and earning, in his vile role of informer, a 
 pension, from 1799 to 1804, of 150, and the 
 sum of 1,460, the wages he received for his 
 services." 
 
 The fate of the Sheareses has been invested 
 with something of a romantic interest ; and not 
 14
 
 210 ADDENDA. 
 
 a few traditional accounts describe their end as 
 not less saintly than that of Charles the First. 
 Into their case, as in that of other political mar- 
 tyrs, some romance has been imported ; and as 
 truth is stranger than fiction, we may tell an 
 anecdote communicated to us on November 21st, 
 1857, by the late John Patten, brother-in-law of 
 Thomas Addis Emmet. The Sheareses, though 
 nominally Protestants, were tinged with Deistical 
 ideas. " I heard it stated," observed Mr. Patten, 
 "that when the hangman was in the act of ad- 
 justing the noose round the neck of John Sheares 
 before proceeding to the scaffold, he exclaimed, 
 ' D n you, do you want to kill me before my 
 time ! ' I could not credit it, and asked the 
 Rev. Dr. Gamble, who attended them in their 
 last moments, if the statement were correct. 
 ' I am sorry to say/ replied Dr. Gamble, ' that 
 it is perfectly true. I myself pressed my hand 
 against his mouth to prevent a repetition of the 
 imprecation. 7 " 
 
 J. 
 THE REIGN OP TERROR IN IRELAND. 
 
 EXCEPTION has been taken to impressions of the 
 reign of terror in Ireland, whether derived from 
 traditional sources which possess no personal 
 knowledge of it, and, on the principle that a 
 story never loses in its carriage, may be prone 
 to exaggeration; or from the testimony of par- 
 tisan participators in the struggle, who still 
 smart from the combined effects of wrong re- 
 ceived and unsatisfied vengeance.
 
 THE REIGN OF TERROR. 211 
 
 The viceroy, Lord Cornwallis, is at least a 
 witness above suspicion. In a letter dated April 
 15th, 1799, he writes: 
 
 " On ray arrival in this country I put a stop to the 
 burning of houses and murder of the inhabitants by 
 the yeomen, or any other persons who delighted in 
 that amusement; to the flogging for the purpose of 
 extorting confession ; and to the free-quarters, which 
 comprehend universal rape and robbery throughout the 
 whole country." 
 
 On the 24th July, 1798, we are assured that, 
 
 " Except in the instances of the six state trials that 
 are going on here, there is no law either in town or 
 country but martial law, and you know enough of that, 
 to see all the horrors of it, even in the best administra- 
 tion of it. Judge, then, how it must be conducted by 
 Irishmen, heated with passion and revenge. But all 
 this is trifling compared with the numberless murders 
 which arc hourly committed by our people without any 
 process or examination whatever." * 
 
 To either of the objections just noticed, ad- 
 vanced by persons who are sceptical as to the 
 extent of the Irish reign of terror, General Sir 
 George Cockburn, who fought against the Reb- 
 els, is not open. From his representative, Mr. 
 Phineas Cockburn, of Shangana Castle, we have 
 received several interesting manuscripts in the 
 autograph of the general, all of which possess 
 much interest for the students of the calamitous 
 period of '98. 
 
 " Sampson's papers," observes General Cock- 
 burn, in a letter to Lord Anglesey, " contained 
 details of most horrible outrages on the people, 
 of cruelty and foul deeds. Of course violence 
 begets violence, and though the people, in many 
 cases, were driven to retaliation, it was not be- 
 
 * Correspondence of Marquis Cornwallis, vol. ii., p. 368.
 
 212 ADDENDA. 
 
 fore murder, burning, destruction of property 
 (often on suspicion, or being 1 suspected), and 
 flogging, drove them to desperation." 
 
 The following very curious paper has, with 
 others, been placed at our disposal by Mr. 
 Cockburn : 
 
 THE STEP-LADDER, OR A PICTURE OF THE IRISH GOVERX- 
 MENT AS IT WAS BEFORE LORD CORNWALLIS'S ARRIVAL, 
 AND DURING THE SYSTEM OF TERROR, ETC. 
 
 The Chancellor..' 1 
 
 Speaker 2 
 
 No. 1. The Cabinet, viz. : { C. Cashel (Archbishop) 3 
 
 Castlereagh 4 
 
 J. Beresford, Commis'r 6 
 
 f E. Cooke 6 
 
 No 2 Understrappers to I g,^^ ' ] '. I i ^ 1 1 " 8 
 
 Carharapton 9 
 
 [ J. Claudius Beresford. 10 
 
 f Enniskillen 11 
 
 No. 3. Strong supporters Lees 12 
 
 of ditto, of Orangeism, -I Carleton 13 
 
 jobbing, and corruption, Perry.. 14 
 
 l_ Isaac Corry 14J 
 
 f Waterford ..15 
 
 Anneslcy 16 
 
 No. 4. Servants to the Fac- j Blaquire 17 
 
 tion, viz. : | Londonderry 18 
 
 Toler 19 
 
 [ Kingsborough 20 
 
 Downshire 21 
 
 Dillon 22 
 
 No. 5. Very mischievous 
 men, and enemies to lib- 
 
 erty, 
 
 Trench 23 
 
 Dr. Duignan . . * 24 
 
 O'Beirne, Bp. of Meath 25 
 Tuam (Archbishop). . . 26 
 Alexander, Mem.Derry 27
 
 GENERAL COCKBURN's STEP-LADDER. 213 
 
 No. 6. Ruffian Magis- 
 trates, always ready 
 to murder, burn, etc. 
 
 Burns Meath, 
 
 Finley .... " 
 Cleghorn ... " 
 S.H.Mannix, Cork, 
 
 No. 7. Miscreants.. 
 
 No. 8. Spies, viz.:.. 
 
 Jacob 
 
 TyrreU Kildare, 
 
 Knipe " 
 
 Griffith " 
 
 , Blaney .... Monaghan, 
 
 Sirr 29 
 
 Swan 30 
 
 Sandys 31 
 
 Giffard 32 
 
 Hempenstall, Lt. M 33 
 
 Spectacle Knox 34 
 
 Hiiririus 35 
 
 f Armstrong 
 
 . -i Reynolds . 
 
 (^ Cope 
 
 No. 9. The Jailer and "] 
 Turnkey to the Fac- > Godfrey. 
 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 tiou 
 
 A few remarks, in illustration of the persons 
 enumerated in the " Step- Ladder " of General 
 Cockburn, serve to disclose a condensed history 
 of the time. 
 
 1. Lord Chancellor Clare was the son of John 
 Fitzgibbon, who had received his education for 
 the .Roman Catholic priesthood, but, preferring 
 civil to canon law, conformed, with a view to 
 becoming a member of the bar. The subsequent 
 Lord Clare was appointed attorney- general in 
 1784, and five years later attained the top- 
 most rung of the "Step-Ladder," from whence 
 he looked down with supercilious arrogance on 
 those by whose aid he had risen. lie rapidly 
 covered all Ireland with his partisans. Both
 
 214 ADDENDA. 
 
 houses of parliament became his automatons. 
 Of coercion he was an uncompromising advo- 
 cate. In 1784, as alleged by Plowden, he in- 
 troduced a bill for demolishing Roman Catholic 
 chapels. In parliament he defended the use of 
 torture. In private, as his letters to Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh show, he upset the bill of Catholic relief, 
 which, according to Mr. Pitt's promise, was to 
 have accompanied the Act of Union. But it 
 should be remembered by the assailants of Lord 
 Clare's reputation, that, unlike many of the influ- 
 ential men enumerated in General Cockburn's 
 " Step-Ladder," he at least was politically con- 
 sistent, and did not commence his career in the 
 ranks of the tribunes. In action he was impul- 
 sive, fearless, and despotic. Bushing to a politi- 
 cal meeting convened, by the high sheriff of 
 Dublin, and attended by one friend only, this, 
 the most unpopular man in all Ireland, inter- 
 rupted a democratic orator in his address, com- 
 manded the mob to disperse, almost pushed the 
 high sheriff from the chair, and threatened an 
 ex-officio information. The sheriff, panic-stricken, 
 dissolved the meeting. If hissed in the street, 
 Lord Clare pulled out pistols.* He powerfully 
 contributed to carry the Union. His ambition 
 was indomitable, and he aspired to transfer his 
 boundless influence to the wider field of England. 
 He had placed several viceroys in succession 
 beneath his thumb. Might he not also attain 
 an ascendancy over the personage whom they 
 represented ? 
 
 "If I live," said Lord Clare, when the meas- 
 ure was brought before the House of Peers, "if 
 
 * Diary of Lord Clonmel, printed privately for his family, 
 p. 449.
 
 LQED CLJLRE. 215 
 
 I live to see the Union completed, to my latest 
 hour I shall feel an honorable pride in reflecting 
 ou the little share I may have had in contributing 
 to effect it." 
 
 II is first speech in the British parliament met 
 with interruption and rebuffs. He abused the 
 Catholics, ridiculed his country, was called to 
 order by Lord Suffolk, rebuked by the lord chan- 
 cellor, resumed, was again called to order, lost 
 temper, and stigmatized the opposition as "Jac- 
 obins and levellers." " We would not bear this 
 insult from an equal," indignantly exclaimed the 
 Duke of Bedford; "shall we endure it at the 
 hands of mushroom nobility?" Even Mr. Pitt 
 was disgusted. " Good G d," said he, address- 
 iug Mr. Wilberforce, "did ever you hear, in all 
 your life, so great a rascal as that ? " Mr. Grat- 
 tan mentions, in the Memoirs of his father, that 
 this anecdote was stated by Mr. Wilberforce to 
 Mr. North. 
 
 Crestfallen, Lord Clare returned to Ireland, where 
 he found a number of hungry place-seekers await- 
 ing his arrival. " Ah," said he, as he began to 
 calculate his influence, and found it wanting, " /, 
 that once had all Ireland at my disposal, cannot 
 now nominate the appointment of a gauger." His 
 heart broke at the thought, and on the 28th Janu- 
 ary, 1802, Lord Clare, after a painful illness, and 
 while yet comparatively young, died.* His death- 
 bed presented a strange picture. Charles Phillips 
 states that he ordered his papers to be burned, f 
 
 * A few days after the Shnm Squire'a demise. Lord Clare, 
 notwithstanding his avowed tendency to lostor political prof- 
 li-faoy, possessed the redeeining"virtue of having snubbed the 
 Miuin Sqnire. 
 
 t It has bt?en mentioned by the Athmeevm (Xo. 1634), as a 
 significant fact, that nearly all those who were concerned in 
 carrying the Union had destroyed their papers, and Lord
 
 216 ADDENDA. 
 
 as hundreds might be compromised. In Grattan's 
 Memoirs it is stated, on the authority of Lord 
 Clara's nephew, that he bitterly deplored having 
 taken any part in effecting the Union. Plowden 
 states that he vainly called for the assistance of a 
 Catholic priest ; but we have never seen the alle- 
 gation confirmed. His funeral was insulted by 
 much of the indecency which attended Lord Castle- 
 reagh's in Westminster Abbey. In one of Lord 
 Clare's speeches he declared that he would make 
 the Catholics as tame as cats. Dead cats were 
 flung upon his hearse and his grave. Lord Clon- 
 curry, in his Recollections, says that he was obliged 
 to address the infuriated populace from the bal- 
 cony of Lord Clare's house in Ely Place, ere they 
 could be induced to relinquish the unseemly hoot- 
 ing which swelled the death-knell of John, Earl 
 of Clare. 
 
 2. " Mr. Foster, we learn, was for several years 
 not only the supporter, and indeed the ablest sup- 
 porter, of the administration, but the conductor 
 and manager of their schemes and operations." * 
 He sternly opposed the admission of Catholics to 
 
 Clare, Sir Edward Littlehales, with Messrs. Wickham, Taylor, 
 Marsden, and King, were instanced. It is also remarkable 
 that all the MS. reports of the eloquent anti-Union speeches, 
 with the MSS. of many pamphlets hostile to the measure, were 
 purchased from Moore, the publisher, and burnt by order of 
 Lord Castlereagh. See Grattan's Memoirs, vol. v., p. 180. Lord 
 Clonmel, in his last moments, expressed much anxiety to de- 
 stroy his papers. His nephew, Dean 8cott, who assisted in the 
 conflagration, assured Mr. Grattan that one letter in particular 
 completely revealed Lord Castlereagh's scheme to foster the 
 rebellion of '98 in order to carry the Union. The purchase of 
 Lord De Blaquire's papers by the government appears in our 
 notice of that personage. Mr. Commissioner Phillips tells us 
 that the debates 011 the Union called into operation all the 
 oratorical talent of Ireland, but their record has been sup- 
 pressed, and that the volume containing the session of 1800 13 
 BO inaccessible that it has been sought for in vain to complete 
 the series in the library of the House of Lords. 
 * Jtcview qf the Irish Souse of Commons, p. 129.
 
 ARCHBISHOP AGAE. 217 
 
 the privileges of the constitution ; but Ireland 
 must always remember him with gratitude for the 
 determined hostility with which he opposed the 
 legislative Union. 
 
 Feeling that the papers of Mr. Foster (after- 
 wards Lord Oriel) would throw great light upon 
 the history of the Uuion, we asked the late Lord 
 Massareene, who represented the speaker, for per- 
 mission to see them, but it appeared that the Hon. 
 .Mr. Chichester Skeffington "seized" the archives 
 alter Lord Ferrard's death, and Lord Massareene 
 never saw them after. 
 
 3. Charles Agar was appointed Archbishop of 
 Cashel in 1779, translated to Dublin in 1801, and 
 created Earl of Normanton in 1806. When we 
 learn that his grace acquired 40,000 by a single 
 renewal fine, the statement that he amassed a 
 fortune of 400,000 is not surprising.* Lord 
 Normanton would seem to have been more active 
 as a privy councillor than as a prelate, for Arch- 
 1'ish.pp Magee declared that "the diocese of 
 Dublin had been totally neglected" by his 'pred- 
 rs.f A savage biographical notice of Arch- 
 bishop Agar appears in Cox's Irish Magazine for 
 August, 1809, pp. 382-384, together with some 
 lines beginning : 
 
 " Adieu, tliou mitred nothingness, adieu, 
 Thy failings many, and thy virtues few." 
 
 Yet amid the sectarian strife of that day it is 
 pleasant to find " C. Cashel" in amicable epis- 
 tolary correspondence with his rival, Dr. James 
 Butler, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the same 
 diocese. J 
 
 * Pulton's AnhMthops of Didlin, p. 331. 
 t <li<i r;/,-, (ii-livcrc<| October -21111, is-.'-', p. 33. 
 J Ueueliun's Irish Church Uutory (edited by ttev. D. McCarthy), 
 p. 349.
 
 218 ADDENDA. 
 
 4. Lord Castlereagh, who, falsifying the hyper- 
 bolical apothegm of Dr. Johnson, that "patriotism 
 was the last refuge of the base," began political 
 life in the ranks of the patriots. Of his hostility 
 to the lordly interest, and identification with the 
 reform or popular party, the autobiographies of 
 Teeling and Sampson furnish curious particulars. 
 His electioneering agent on those principles was 
 Neilson the Rebel. The subsequent career of 
 Castlereagh is too notorious to require special 
 detail. Dr. Madden calls him the Robespierre of 
 Ireland, and says that his memory has "the faint, 
 sickening smell of hot blood about it." Ireland, 
 when weak and prostrate from loss of blood, was 
 robbed by Lord Castlereagh of its richest gem, 
 a domestic parliament. The corruption he prac- 
 tised to silence opposition has been sometimes 
 denied ; but little attempt to disguise it appears 
 in his own correspondence, notwithstanding the 
 ample weeding which it admittedly underwent by 
 Lord Londonderry. 
 
 " It will be no secret," writes the unprincipled 
 statesman, " what has been promised, and by what 
 means the Union has been secured. His appoint- 
 ment will encourage, not prevent, disclosures ; 
 and the only effect of such a proceeding on their 
 (the ministers') part will be, to add the weight 
 of their testimony to that of the Anti-Unionists 
 in proclaiming the profligacy of the means by which 
 the measure has been accomplished." * 
 
 5. The Right Hon. John Beresford, member for 
 Waterford, discharged, besides his. more legit- 
 imately recognized duties as commissioner of rev- 
 enue, a peculiar office, similar to that held, during 
 a later period, by the Right Hon. William Saurin. 
 
 * Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, vol. ill., p. 331.
 
 A BACK -STAIRS CABINET. 219 
 
 His influence penetrated every department of the 
 state ; and to every contemporary viceregal ad- 
 ministration, except that of Lord Fitzwilliam, 
 who paid the penalty of his independence, Mr. 
 Beresford was the arrogant and dogmatical dic- 
 tator. His family held places to the amount of 
 20,000 per annum. In Mr. Beresford's Corre- 
 spondence, rather recently published, much curious 
 matter appears. Referring to some remarks of 
 Dennis Bowes Daly, Mr. Beresford writes: "No 
 lord lieutenant could exist with my powers ; that 
 I had been a lord chancellor, a chief justice of the 
 King's Bench, an attorney-general, nearly a pri- 
 mate, and certainly a commander-in-chief ; that I 
 was at the head of the revenue, and had the law, 
 the army, the revenue, and a great deal of the 
 church in my possession ; and he said, expressly, 
 that I was considered the king of Ireland." * 
 
 6. Mr. Under-Secretary Gooke has already been 
 noticed (p. 134, ante}. 
 
 7.. The Marquis of Drogheda was not a prom- 
 inent character. " As an orator," observes a 
 writer in 1779, "he is of no consideration; in 
 fact, he seldom speaks." Lord Drogheda's polit- 
 ical labors were behind the scenes. He quietly 
 promoted the legislative Union, with other calam- 
 itous measures, and then as quietly applied for 
 his reward. The Duke of Portland, in a private 
 and confidential letter to the viceroy, dated June 
 27th, 1800, declares that Lord Drogheda's claims 
 to be a member of the representative peerage were 
 "irresistible." f 
 
 8. Lord Glentworth's services were much of the 
 game order as those of the Marquis of Drogheda. 
 
 * Mr. Beresford to Lord Auckland, Dublin, January 9th, 1796, 
 yol. ii., n. si. 
 t Caitltreagh Correspondence, yol. ill., p. 345.
 
 220 ADDENDA. 
 
 So little was he known outside the back-stairs 
 of the Castle, that he obtains no place in either of 
 the contemporary publications which we have 
 more than once consulted. It will be remem- 
 bered that his was one of the three peerages 
 which Grattan and Ponsonby offered to prove had 
 been sold for hard cash, and the money laid out 
 in the purchase of members in the House of Com- 
 mons. The other two peerages were those of 
 Kilmaine and Cloncurry.* 
 
 9. Of Lord Carhampton we have already spoken 
 fully, f It is right, however, to give his memory 
 whatever benefit is derivable from the excuse 
 addressed by him to Colonel Napier, who, as a 
 humane and chivalrous officer, protested against 
 the demoralizing license and brutality practised 
 by the troops. " We are determined to .use coer- 
 cion only. Consider I am only an insignificant 
 part of an administration, and must follow their 
 system." J " Like master, like man," would have 
 been a fitting motto for the army when under the 
 commandership of Lord Carhampton. He 'died 
 poor ; and we have heard, from the representa- 
 tives of Mr. Michael Lewis, his attorney, that 
 some bonds which Lord Carhampton left behind 
 proved mere waste paper. 
 
 10. John Claudius Beresford, son of Mr. Com- 
 missioner Beresford, already noticed, succeeded 
 him as a member of "the Irish back-stairs cab- 
 inet." He expressed a wish for the rebellion, 
 that Mr. Pitt might see with what promptitude 
 it could be crushed. In conjunction with Major 
 Sirr, Mr. Beresford maintained a battalion of 
 spies, which octogenarians sometimes refer to as 
 
 * Memoirs of Grattan, vol. ill., p. 291. 
 
 t Pages 66-59, ante. 
 
 I Moore's L\f'e ntfLord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii., p. 300.
 
 JOHN CLAUDIUS BERESFORD. 221 
 
 " Beresford's Bloodhounds." He largely helped 
 to stimulate the rebellion of '98 by generally a 
 coercive policy, which was cruelly followed up 
 by the administration of torture. This was prac- 
 tised under the personal direction of John Clau- 
 dius Beresford, both at the Riding School in 
 Marlborough Street and on the site of the pres- 
 ent City Hall. When Viscount Castlereagh en- 
 deavored to ignore the charge, Mr. Beresford, 
 in parliament, not only admitted, but defended, 
 the vile practice. He was secretary to the Grand 
 Lodge of Orangemen, and infused their views 
 into almost every department of the Irish gov- 
 ernment. The capriciousness of popular feeling 
 with regard to him was quite as remarkable as 
 the mercurial movement of his own checkered 
 career. Having creditably filled the office of 
 lord mayor of Dublin, his carriage was drawn 
 through the streets by the same mob which had 
 often previously execrated him. 
 
 The terrible vicissitude which marked the later 
 career of John Claudius Beresford strikingly con- 
 trasts with his power anterior to the Union. In 
 partnership with Mr. Woodmason he opened a 
 bank at No. 2 Beresford Place. One day the 
 bank broke, and Beresford was a bankrupt, cut 
 .by those who had formerly cringed. A man's 
 good fortune often turns his head ; but bad for- 
 tune as often averts the heads of his friends. 
 Beresford was, perhaps, an illustration of both 
 ends of the apothegm. Some persons who had 
 known him in his glory pitied the old attenuated 
 man, with bent back and threadbare clothes, 
 a well-known spectacle in the streets of Dublin 
 for many years after, preaching in silent expo- 
 sition, "Sic transit gloria mundi!" John Clau-
 
 222 ADDENDA. 
 
 dius Beresford strongly opposed the Union, not, 
 we fear, on patriotic grounds, but because it was 
 likely to stem the torrent of his own ambition. 
 His character was not without some good points, 
 and he is said to have been charitable in disburse- 
 ment, and of private worth in his family. In the 
 imperial parliament he represented the county of 
 Waterford, the great stronghold of his race, fur- 
 ther noticed in our sketch of the Marquis of 
 Waterford. 
 
 11. Lord Enniskillen, a vigorous speaker in the 
 Irish parliament, presided at a drum-head trial of 
 a yeoman, named Wollagan, for murder, and 
 acquitted him. "It was an atrocious murder," 
 writes Plowden ; " every aggravating circum- 
 stance was proved. No attempt was made to 
 contradict any part of the evidence : but a jus-: 
 tification of the horrid murder was set up, as 
 having been committed under an order of the 
 commanding officer, that if the yeomen should 
 meet with any whom they knew or suspected 
 to be Rebels, they needed not be at the trouble 
 of bringing them in, but were to shoot them on 
 the spot ; that it was almost the daily practice 
 of that corps to go out upon scouring parties." 
 Lord Cornwallis, the new. viceroy, condemned the 
 verdict, and disqualified Lord Enniskillen from 
 sitting on any new court-martial.* 
 
 12. Mr. John Lees, a Scotchman, accompanied 
 Lord Townshend to Ireland as private secretary. 
 He was appointed secretary-at-war and secretary 
 to the post-office in Dublin, and in 1804 received 
 the honor of a baronetcy. 
 
 13. Lord Carleton, the son of a trader in Cork,f 
 was appointed solicitor-general in 1779, chief jus- 
 
 * Plowden's History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 514. 
 t Sleator's Dublin Chronicle for 1791.
 
 LORDS CARLETON AXD PERRY. 223 
 
 tice of the Common Pleas in 1787, baron in 1789, 
 and viscount eight years later. In his policy on 
 the question of the legislative Union, Lord Carle- 
 ton was not consistent. We find him at first 
 giving his sentiments decidedly against it, and a 
 few weeks later avowing himself a supporter of 
 the measure. 
 
 Sir Jonah Harrington, in his Personal Sketches 
 (vol. i., p. 475), writes: "Lord Carleton, as jus- 
 tice of the Common Pleas, had rendered himself 
 beyond description obnoxious to the disaffected 
 of Ireland, in consequence of having been the 
 judge who tried and condemned the two Coun- 
 sellors Sheares, who were executed for treason, 
 and to whom that nobleman had been testament- 
 ary guardian by the will of their father." The 
 latter statement, thus emphatically italicized by 
 Harrington, is one of the startling myths in which 
 he habitually indulged. The will of Mr. Sheares 
 contains no allusion whatever to the chief justice, 
 
 14. Sexton Perry was originally a patriot of 
 ultra energy, and considerable influence with his 
 party. During the corrupt administration of Lord 
 Townshend, Perry seceded from his popular prin- 
 ciples. In the year 1771 he was appointed speak- 
 er, and in 1785 created Viscount Perry. Mr. 
 O'Regan, of the Irish bar, writing in 1818, be- 
 moans that Perry, Malone, and Avonmore should 
 have no biographer: " What records have we of 
 those who flourished for the last fifty years, the 
 most memorable period of our history ? Where, 
 then, in what archieves are deposited monuments 
 of our illustrious dead ? Where, but in Lodge's 
 Peerage, are to be found any traces of Lord 
 Perry ? " * 
 
 * Memoirt of Curran, preface, p. xv.
 
 224 ADDENDA. 
 
 We are able to answer one of the questions 
 asked by the biographer of Curran. The historic 
 investigators of the life of Perry and his times 
 may be glad to know that at Dungannon Park, 
 the residence of the youthful Lord Ranfurley, 
 is preserved an immense collection of letters ad-, 
 dressed to the late Lord Perry, when he was 
 speaker of the Irish House of Commons.* 
 
 14^. The Honorable Isaac Corry, Chancellor 
 of the Irish Exchequer, and M. P. for Newry, 
 where his father was a respectable trader, joined 
 the Whig Opposition, and for several years dis- 
 tinguished himself by the violence of his patriot- 
 ism ; but during Lord Buckingham's administra- 
 tion he was appointed surveyor of ordnance at a 
 salary of 1,000 a year, which was followed by 
 further promotion. Official peculation had at- 
 tained a fearful pitch at this time. In the ord- 
 nance and treasury, the grossest frauds pervaded 
 Almost every department. The public stores were 
 plundered with impunity in open day. The am- 
 munition, arms, and military accoutrements, con- 
 demned as useless, were stolen out at one gate, 
 and brought in at the other, and charged anew to 
 the public account. Journeymen armorers, who 
 worked in the arsenal, seldom went home to 
 their meals without conveying -away a musket, a 
 sword, or a brace of pistols, as lawful perquisites, 
 and sanctioned by the connivance of the supe- 
 riors. Clerks in subordinate departments, with 
 salaries not exceeding 100 per annum, kept 
 handsome houses in town and country, with 
 splendid establishments ; some of them became 
 purchasers of loans and lotteries ; all exhibited 
 
 * Letter of Henry Alexander, Esq., guardian of Lord Kan- 
 furley, dated Carleton Club, July 7th, 1860.
 
 THE MARQUIS OF WATERFORD. 225 
 
 signs of redundant opulence.* During the de- 
 bate on the Union, Grattan, with, we think, less 
 point than usual, stung the vulnerable ministerial- 
 ist by calling him " a dancing master " ; Corry 
 challenged his satirist ; they left the House, and, 
 before the debate terminated, Corry was Bhot 
 through the arm.f 
 
 15. The Marquis of Waterford was the leading 
 member of the powerfully influential family of the 
 Beresfords. In conjunction with his brother he 
 hurled by their might, the liberal viceroy, Lord 
 Fitzwilliam, from pffice, and provoked from the 
 latter a remark in the English House of Peers, to 
 the effect that it was impossible to effect any 
 good in Ireland unless the power of the Beres- 
 fords could be destroyed. J Not until 1826 was 
 this desirable consummation achieved. At the 
 Waterford election, in that year, the Beresforda 
 received, from the forty-shilling freeholders, their 
 doatli-blow. " I did not think," said Sheil, " that 
 there was so much virtue under rags." This tell- 
 ing stroke was planned and inflicted by Dr. Kelly, 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Waterford. 
 
 17. Sir John, afterwards Lord De Blaquire, 
 represents one of the Huguenot families of whom 
 we have spoken, p. 83, ante. Patronized by Lord 
 
 * Plowden's History of Ireland, vol. ii. . p. 279. 
 
 t Grattan cultivated unerring aim i:i conjunction with accu 
 rate eloquence. In the secluded woods of Tcnahinch he might 
 be sometimes seen declaiming with Demosthenic energy, and 
 the next hour lodging bullets in particular trees, which still 
 bear marks of the havoc. 
 
 t Lord Clare, writing to the Hon. J. C. Beresford, says : " The 
 more I consider the flagrant and unwarrantable calumnies 
 which he [Lord Fitzwilliamj deals out so flippantly against 
 you, the more I am decided In my opinion that you ought, in 
 the first instance^-to bring an action against him lor defama- 
 tion, and lay it in the city of London. He had fifty copies of 
 this memoir made out by the clerks in the different offices in 
 the Castle, which were distributed by his order." Beresford 
 Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 88. 
 
 15
 
 226 ADDENDA. 
 
 Harcourt, he accepted the office of bailiff of the 
 Phoenix Park, to which the small salary of 40 a 
 year was attached, with the use of a little lodge, 
 a garden, grass for two cows, and half-a-crown 
 per head for all cattle found trespassing in the 
 park. The first instance of his cleverness was 
 shown in contriving to make the salary 50 per 
 annum for his own life and that of the king's two 
 eldest sons ; with liberty to graze cattle to an 
 unlimited extent. Sir John was a pluralist in 
 sinecures, and amongst the rest filled the office 
 of director of public works. * . He applied for a 
 more comfortable residence, which the Board of 
 Works built for him at an expense to the public 
 of 8,000. Sir John, however, was not yet sat- 
 isfied. The garden being small, he successfully 
 petitioned for a larger one, whereupon he took in 
 about ten acres, which he surrounded by a wall, 
 also at the expense of the nation, f But it is De 
 Blaquire's connection with the Union, and the rare 
 astuteness with which he promoted the success of 
 that measure, on which his fame as a diplomatist 
 historically rests. "Sir John Blaquire is dis- 
 posed to exert himself very much/' J observes 
 Lord Castlereagh, in communicating the good 
 news to the Duke of Rutland on January 7th, 
 1799. "The entrance to a woman's heart/' said 
 the first Napoleon, "is through her eye or ear; 
 but the way to a man's heart is down his throat." 
 De Blaquire illustrated the wisdom of the ap- 
 othegm. ".He enjoyed/' says Sir Jonah Bar- 
 rington, " a revenue sufficiently ample to enable 
 him to entertain his friends as well, and far more 
 agreeably, than any other person I had previously 
 
 * Personal Sketches, vol. 1., p. 194. 
 
 f Irish Political Characters, 1799, p. 150. 
 
 j Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, vol. 11., p. 85,
 
 LORDS LONDONDERRY AND NORBURT. 227 
 
 met. Nobody understood eating and drinking bet- 
 ter than Sir Jofcn De Blaquire ; and no man was 
 better seconded in the former respect than he was 
 by his cook, Mrs. Smith, whom he brought from 
 Paris." * 
 
 For some notice of the intrigues with which De 
 Blaquire secured influential support to the Union, 
 see The Rise and Fall of tlie Irish Nation. A few 
 years ago one of his descendants found a trunk 
 of old dusty papers calculated to throw great light 
 on the history of the Union. This gentleman 
 offered the entire trunkfuj to the Wellington gov- 
 ernment for 100. His proposal was eagerly ac- 
 cepted ; and we have heard him ridiculed by his 
 friends for being so silly as not to have stipulated 
 for 2,000, which would have been acceded to, 
 they allege, with equal alacrity. 
 
 18. Lord Londonderry, father of Lord Castle- 
 reagh, was an active agent in checking the popu- 
 lar plots of the time ; but that his lordship was 
 not without misgivings as to the result may be 
 inferred from the fact, mentioned in the Castle- 
 reagh Papers (vol. ii., p. 331), that he would not 
 take bank notes in payment of rent. 
 
 19. Of John Toler, Lord Norbury, it may with- 
 out much injustice be said, that for thirty years 
 he performed the triple role of bully, butcher, and 
 buffoon. His services in the first capacity proved 
 useful to the then government, and helped him far 
 more than his law to judicial elevation.* His old 
 
 * Personal Skftchea (by Sir Jonah Harrington), vol. 1., p. 193. 
 
 t Mr. Toler's powers of invective were quite startling. When, 
 he uttered such language in parliament as this, the license of 
 his tongue elsewhere may be conceived: "Had ho heard a 
 man uttering out of those doors such language as that of the 
 honorable gentleman, he would have seized the ruffian by the 
 throat and dragged him to the dust." Parliamentary Debates. 
 
 An extraordinary license of language was permitted by the 
 speaker in those days. A tradition of tae period tuus describes
 
 228 ADDENDA. 
 
 passions and prejudices clung to him as a judge : 
 he browbeat timid counsel ; and"1ias been known 
 to suggest mortal combat by the remark, ''that 
 he would not seek shelter behind the bench, or 
 merge the gentleman in the chief justice." His 
 relish for a capital conviction was undisguised ; a 
 document before us mentions the almost incredible 
 fact that, at a single assize, he passed sentence of 
 death on one hundred and ninety-eight individuals, 
 of whom one hundred and ninety-seven passed 
 through the hands of Galvin, the hangman. With 
 the black cap on his head, he joked as freely as 
 though it were a cap and bells. " Ah, my lord, 
 give me a long day," craved a wretched culprit. 
 "Your wish is granted," replied the judge; "I 
 give you till the 21st of June, the longest day in 
 the year" ! Lord Norbury's charges transcend 
 description. " Flinging his judicial robe aside," 
 says Sheil, " and sometimes casting off his wig, he 
 started from his seat and threw off a wild harangue, 
 in which neither law, method, or argument could 
 be discovered. It generally consisted of narratives 
 of his early life, which it was impossible to associ- 
 ate with the subject, of jests from Joe Miller, mixed 
 with jokes of his own manufacture, and of sarcastic 
 allusions to any of the counsel who had endeavored 
 to check him during the trial." 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington mentions that he has seen 
 his "racket court" * convulsed with laughter by 
 
 the denunciation of a certain family: "Sir, they are all rot- 
 ten, from the honorable member who has just sat down to the 
 toothless hag that is now grinning at us from the gallery." The 
 allusion was to the member's mother. Lord Castlereagh was 
 upbraided with impotency by Grattan, in the presence of Lady 
 Castlereagh, who occupied a seat in the speaker's gallery dur- 
 ing one of the debates on the Union. 
 
 * This was a designation of Lord Norbury's own. " What 'a 
 your business ? " a witness was asked. " I keep a racket court." 
 " So do I," rejoined the chief justice, puffing.
 
 LORD EINGSBOROUGH. 229 
 
 the appearance of the chief in a green tabinet coat 
 with pearl buttons, striped yellow and black vest, 
 and buff breeches, the costume of "Hawthorn," 
 in Love in a Village, a character personated by 
 Lord Norbury at Lady Castlereagh's masquerade ; 
 and he found the dress so cool that he frequently, 
 in after years, wore it under his robes. On this 
 particular occasion it was revealed accidentally 
 by Lord Norbury throwing back his robes, owing 
 to the more than ordinarily heated atmosphere of 
 the court. 
 
 " That Scotch Broom deserves an Irish stick," 
 exclaimed Nord Norbury, in reference to Lord 
 Brougham, who had brought before parliament 
 some unconstitutional conduct of which he had 
 been guilty ; and at a later period it appeared, 
 from the same source, that the old chief had fallen 
 asleep on the bench during a trial for murder. In 
 1827 he resigned, and in 1831 he died. The late 
 Mr. Brophy, state dentist, who was present at 
 Lord Norbury's funeral, informed us that when 
 lowering the coffin by ropes into a deep grave, 
 a voice in the crowd cried, ' ' Give him rope galore,* 
 boys ; he never was sparing of it to others." As 
 a landlord, Lord Notbury was by no means bad ; 
 and in his own house he is said to have been 
 gentle and forbearing. 
 
 20. Lord Kingsborough had always been prom- 
 inently zealous in promoting that system of coer- 
 cion f which, as Lord Castlereagh admitted, aimed 
 to make the United Irish conspiracy explode. | 
 When the rebellion broke out, Lord Kingsborough, 
 as colonel of the North Cork Militia, proceeded to 
 join his regiment in Wexford, but was captured 
 
 * Anglv-e, in plenty. 
 
 t Plowden's Ireland, vol. 11., p. 475. 
 
 t Moore's I/t/e qfLord Edvxtrd Fitzgerald, p. 110, Paris edition.
 
 230 ADDENDA. 
 
 by the Rebels, who held possession of the town. 
 Lord Kingsborough owed his life to the personal 
 interposition of Dr. Caulfield, the Roman Catholic 
 Bishop of Ferns. 
 
 21. General Cockburn regards Lord Downshire 
 as a rotten rung in the Step-Ladder, and styles 
 him " a very mischievous enemy to liberty." We 
 think, however, that his hostility to the Union 
 goes far to redeem his shortcomings. His policy 
 on this question so displeased the government 
 that he was dismissed from the lieutenancy of his 
 county, from the colonelcy of his regiment, and 
 even expelled from the Privy Council. It was 
 further proposed to institute a parliamentary in- 
 quiry into the conduct of Lord Downshire. 
 
 22. Lord Dillon also pursued a policy in 1800 
 which covers a multitude of previous political 
 sins.* At a meeting of influential Anti-Unionists 
 in Dublin, he proposed that a joint-stock purse 
 should be formed for the purpose of out-bribing 
 the government. Until June, 1799, Lord Dillon 
 exercised his property and influence, both con- 
 siderable, in favor of the Union. 
 
 23. Mr. Trench formed, under curious circum- 
 stances, a nmjority of one in favor of the Union. 
 His vote and voice disclosed a painful instance 
 of tergiversation and seduction. Mr. Trench de- 
 clared, in presence of a crowded house, that he 
 would vote against the minister, and support Mr. 
 Ponsonby's amendment. "This," observes Sir 
 Jonah Barrington, who was an eye-witness of the 
 transaction, "appeared a stunning blow to Mr. 
 Cooke, who had been previously in conversation 
 with Mr. Trench. He was immediately observed 
 sidling from his seat, nearer to Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 * Plowdeu's History qf Ireland, vol. ii., p. 651.
 
 BISHOP O'BEIRNE. 231 
 
 They whispered earnestly; and, as if restless and 
 undecided, both looked wistfully at Trench. At 
 length the matter seemed to be determined on. 
 Mr. Cooke retired to a back seat, and was ob- 
 viously endeavoring to count the house, prob- 
 ably to guess if they could that night dispense 
 with Mr. Trench's services. He returned to Lord 
 Castlereagh ; they whispered, and again looked at 
 Mr. Trench. But there was no time to lose ; the 
 question was approaching. All shame was ban- 
 ished ; they decided on the terms, and a signifi- 
 cant glance, obvious to everybody, convinced Mr. 
 Trench that his conditions were agreed to. Mr. 
 Cooke then went and sat down by his side ; an 
 earnest but very short conversation took place; 
 a parting smile completely told the house that 
 Mr. Trench was satisfied. These surmises were 
 soon verified. Mr. Cooke went back to Lord 
 Castlereagh ; a congratulatory nod announced his 
 satisfaction. But could any man for one moment 
 suppose that an M. P. of large fortune, of re- 
 spectable family, and good character, could be 
 publicly, and without shame or compunction, 
 actually seduced by Lord Castlereagh under the 
 eye of two hundred and twenty gentlemen ? In 
 a few minutes Mr. Trench rose to apologize for 
 having indiscreetly declared he would support 
 the amendment. He added, that he had thought 
 better of the subject ; that he had been convinced 
 he was wrong, and would support the minister." 
 Mr. Trench accordingly became Lord Ashtown. 
 
 24. Dr. Duigenan has been already noticed at 
 p. 73, ante. 
 
 25. Of Bishop O'Beirne much has been written, 
 but we never saw in print some curious details 
 embodied in a letter, dated April 22d, 1857, and
 
 232 ADDENDA. 
 
 addressed to us by the late Mr. William Forde, 
 town clerk of Dublin. " I can furifish," writes 
 Mr. Forde, "an interesting anecdote of the early 
 history of that gentleman, which I learned when 
 very young, living within two miles of the see 
 house of the diocese of Meath. Dr. O'Beirne 
 was never ordained a Eoman Catholic priest, but 
 was educated at the Irish College of Paris with a 
 view to his becoming a priest. His brother, Rev. 
 Dennis O'Beirne, was educated at the same time, 
 and in the same college, and died parish priest of 
 the town of Longford, of which his brother was 
 the rector. The name of the parish in the Church 
 is Templeinichael. The history of the bishop in 
 early life was, that having suspended his studies, 
 owing to ill-health, he returned home for a couple 
 of years, and was returning to the college, when 
 the following incident, which altered his destinies 
 for life, occurred to him : he was travelling on 
 foot through Wales, when the day became very 
 boisterous and rainy, and took shelter in a poor 
 inn, on the wayside, and after ordering his din- 
 ner, which was a small bit of Welch mutton, he 
 went into a little sitting-room. In some time 
 two gentlemen came in also for shelter (they 
 were on a shooting party, and were driven in by 
 the violence of the storm), and asked the woman 
 of the house what she could give them for dinner. 
 She replied she had nothing but what was at the 
 fire roasting, and it was ordered by a gentleman 
 in the next room, adding, in a low tone, she be- 
 lieved he was an Irishman ; whereupon one of the 
 gentlemen exclaimed, ' Damn Paddy ! he have 
 roast mutton for dinner and while we must fast ; 
 we will take it'; whereupon O'Beirne walked 
 down from his room, and asked who damned
 
 BISHOP O'BEIRNE. 233 
 
 Paddy, and insisted upon getting his dinner, 
 and added they should not have it by force, 
 but if they would take share of it on his in- 
 vitation he would freely give it, and they were 
 heartily welcome ; on which they accepted his 
 offer, provided he would allow them to give the 
 wine, which they assured him was very good, 
 notwithstanding the appearance of the place. 
 They all retired to the sitting-room, and the 
 two gentlemen began to . converse in French, 
 whereupon O'Beirne interrupted them, and in- 
 formed them that he understood every word 
 they uttered, and they might not wish that a 
 third person should know what they were speak- 
 ing about, and then the conversation became gen- 
 eral, and was carried on in French, of which 
 O'Beirne was a perfect master. They inquired 
 of him what were his objects in life, when he 
 told them his history, that he was a farmer's 
 son in Ireland, and his destiny was the Irish 
 Catholic priesthood. When they were parting, 
 one of the gentlemen asked would he take Lon- 
 don on his way to Paris, to which he replied in 
 the affirmative. He then gave him a card with 
 merely the number and the street of his resi- 
 dence, and requested he would call there, where 
 he would be very happy to see him. O'Beirne 
 walked to London, which took him a consider- 
 able time, and on arriving there did not fail to 
 call at the place indicated by the card. When 
 he got to the house, he thought there must be 
 some mistake ; but, nothing daunted, he rapped, 
 and met a hall porter, to whom he presented the 
 card, and told him how he came by it, but sup- 
 posed it was a mistake. The porter replied : ' Oh, 
 no ! his grace expected you a fortnight ago, and
 
 234 ADDENDA. 
 
 desired you should at once be shown in/ and 
 ushered him in accordingly to the study, where 
 his Grace the Duke of Portland introduced him- 
 self to him. He had been appointed governor of 
 Canada, and O'Beirne's knowledge of the French 
 language, and his education and general informa- 
 tion, were matters that made him a desirable pri- 
 vate secretary to deal with the French Canadians, 
 and O'Beirne accepted the proposal of going out 
 private secretary to the Duke of Portland. It was 
 in Canada he apostatized and became a minister 
 of the Established Church. I understood all this 
 from a clergyman. To the Duke of Portland 
 O'Beirne owed his promotion in the Irish Church, 
 first, to the parish of Templemichael, then to the 
 see of Ossory, and finally his translation to the see 
 of Meath, then valued at more than 8,000 per 
 annum. He was married to a Scotch lady, a daugh- 
 ter of General Stuart. He had one son and two 
 daughters. Neither of them married. At the time 
 of his death he was an uncompromising opponent 
 to Catholic emancipation. I believe his brother, 
 the priest, died before him. I always heard that it 
 was Bishop O'Beirne married the Prince of Wales 
 and Mrs. Fitzherbert, and that the marriage took 
 place in France, where the party went to have 
 the ceremony performed." 
 
 It may be added that the Honorable Charles 
 Langdale, in his memoirs of his kinswoman, Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, expresses ignorance of the clergy- 
 man's name, though we are told the Pope recog- 
 nized it as a valid marriage. Dr. O'Beirne is very 
 likely to have been the officiating party. When 
 studying for the Catholic priesthood in Paris, he 
 is said to have attained deacon's orders. 
 
 26. William Beresford, D. D., another prominent
 
 JTJDKIN FITZGERALD. 235 
 
 member of the inexhaustibly influential sept of the 
 Beresibrds, was consecrated Bishop of Dromore 
 in 1780, Bishop of Ossory in 1784, and translated 
 to the archbishopric of Tuam in 1795. He married 
 the sister of Lord Chancellor Clare, and was cre- 
 ated Lord Decies in December, 1812. This influ- 
 ential prelate died September 6th, 1819 ; and his 
 personalty was sworn to as 250,000. 
 
 27. Mr. Henry Alexander, both a barrister and 
 a banker by profession, represented Londonderry 
 in the Irish parliament. Here he was an active 
 member of the secret committee. Having success- 
 fully promoted the Union, he entered the British 
 senate as member for Old Sarum. He signally 
 distinguished himself as an advocate for coercion ; 
 and on the 8th February, 1815, we find him stren- 
 uously defending the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act in Ireland. From the Castlereagh 
 Papers (vol. i., p. 348) we learn that Mr. Alex- 
 ander was a relation of the Irish Rebel, Oliver 
 Bond. 
 
 28. To describe the exploits of the members of 
 that body, styled by General Cockburn "Ruffian 
 magistrates," would be to write the history of the 
 whole, and we are spared the painful necessity 
 of detailing, ad nauseam, scenes of revolting bar- 
 barity. As a specimen of his magisterial col- 
 leagues and contemporaries, take Mr. Thomas 
 Judkin Fitzgerald, high sheriff for the county of 
 Tipperary. From the Trial of Dotfle v. Fitzgerald, 
 we learn that the defendant, in the street, and for 
 the purpose of flagellation, seized Doyle, who was 
 a respectable tradesman in Carrick. In vain he 
 declared his innocence ; and some of the most, 
 respectable inhabitants tendered evidence in sup- 
 port of that declaration. Doyle was a yeoman,
 
 236 ADDENDA. 
 
 and he begged that Captain Jephson, his com- 
 manding officer, might be sent for ; the request 
 was refused. He offered to go to instant execu- 
 tion, if, on inquiry, the shadow of sedition could 
 be advanced against him ; but inquiry was de- 
 clined. Bail was then offered to any amount for 
 his appearance ; but Mr. Fitzgerald would not be 
 balked in the sport of which he had a foretaste, 
 and, declaring that he knew Doyle by his face to 
 be a "Carmelite traitor," tied him to the whip- 
 ping-post, where he received one hundred lashes, 
 until his ribs appeared ; his knee-breeches were 
 then removed, and fifty more lashes administered. 
 Doyle's. entire innocence was afterwards proved. 
 He appealed at the Clonmel assizes for redress ; 
 the facts were proved to demonstration ; but an 
 Orange jury, packed by the sub-sheriff, acquitted 
 the high sheriff, Mr. Judkin Fitzgerald. 
 
 Mr. Wright, a teacher of the French language, 
 employed both by public schools and private fam- 
 ilies, having called on Mr. Fitzgerald, the latter 
 drew his sword, exclaiming, " Down on your 
 knees, rebellious scoundrel, and receive your sen- 
 tence, which was, to be flogged first and shot 
 afterwards. Wright surrendered his keys, and 
 expressed himself willing to suffer any punish- 
 ment if his papers or conduct revealed proof of 
 guilt. "What! you Carmelite rascal," exclaimed 
 the high sheriff, "do you dare to speak after sen- 
 tence?" He then struck him, and ordered him 
 to prison. The next day, when brought forth to 
 undergo his sentence, Wright knelt down in 
 prayer, with his hat before his face. Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald snatched the hat from him and trampled 
 on it, seized Wright by the hair, dragged him to 
 the earth, kicked him and cut him across the fore-
 
 JUDKIN FITZGERALD. 237 
 
 head with his sword, then had him stripped naked, 
 tied up to the ladder, and ordered him fifty lashes. 
 Major Rial came up as the fifty lashes were com- 
 pleted, arid inquired the cause. Mr. Fitzgerald 
 handed him a note written in French, saying that 
 he did not himself understand French, though he 
 understood Irish, but Major Rial would find in 
 that letter what would justify him in flogging the 
 Ecoundrel to death. 
 
 .Major Rial read the letter. lie found it to 
 be a note for the victim, which he thus trans- 
 luted : 
 
 "Sm: I am extremely sorry I cannot wait on you at 
 the hour appointed, being unavoidably obliged to attend 
 Sir Laurence Parsons. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "BARON DE CLUES." 
 
 " Notwithstanding this translation," observes 
 Mr. Plowden, " Mr. Fitzgerald ordered Wright 
 fifty more lashes, which were inflicted with such 
 peculiar severity that the bowels of the bleeding 
 victim could be perceived to be convulsed and 
 working through: his wounda. Mr. Fitzgerald, 
 finding he could not continue the application of 
 his cat-o'-nine-tails on that part without cutting 
 his way into his body, ordered. the waistband of 
 his breeches to be cut open, and fifty more lashes 
 to be inflicted. He then left the unfortunate man 
 bleeding and suspended, while he went to the bar- 
 rack to demand a file of men to come and shoot 
 him ; but being refused by the commanding offi- 
 cer, he came back and sought for a rope to hang 
 him, but could get none. He then ordered him 
 to be cut down and sent back to prison, where he 
 was confined in a dark, small room, with no other 
 furniture than a wretched pallet of straw, without
 
 238 ADDENDA. 
 
 covering, and there he remained seven days with- 
 out medical aid." * 
 
 Wright brought an action, and, mirabile dictu ! 
 obtained a verdict ; but the effect of it was neu- 
 tralized by the open indemnification of Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald for certain acts done by him not justifiable 
 in common law.f He received from the crown a 
 considerable pension for his ultra-loyal services 
 in 1798, and on August 5th, 1801, was created a 
 baronet. | Tipperary is full of traditions of his 
 excessive political zeal. One represents him 
 equipped in cocked hat and sword mounting 
 the steps of old Latin Chapel during the most 
 solemn part of the Mass, and endeavoring to 
 recognize among the congregation some unfor- 
 tunate man whom he desired to scourge. On 
 another occasion he ascended the altar in Tip- 
 perary Chapel during the delivery of an exhorta- 
 tion by the parish priest. Mr. Fitzgerald, for 
 convenience, placed his three-cocked hat on the 
 same bench which bore the Blessed Sacrament, 
 and it was thought, at the time, an act of most 
 singular daring on. the part of -the priest to re- 
 move the terrorist's hat and hand it to an aco- 
 lyte. || It was said that Mr. Fitzgerald used to 
 steep his cat-o'-nyie-tails in brine before operat- 
 ing. " I have preserved the country," he boasted. 
 "Rather say that you have pickled it," replied 
 Jerry Keller. 
 
 Cox, in his Magazine, furnishes a criminatory 
 obituary of Sir Thomas Judkin Fitzgerald, who, 
 
 * Trial of Wright v. Fitzgerald ; Plowden's History of Ireland, 
 vol. ii., p. 546, etc. 
 
 t Harrington's Personal Sketches, vol. iii., p. 267. 
 
 i Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, p. 399. 
 
 Letter of Rev. Dr. Fitzgerald, P. P.. Ballingarry. county 
 Tipperary, July 10'th, 1865. 
 
 || Statement of Kev. W. Wall, P. P., Clonoulty, Cashel, Sep- 
 tember, 1865.
 
 MAJOR SERB. 239 
 
 execrated by the people, whom he had stung to 
 fury and madness, sank into his grave September 
 24th, 1810. " The history of his life and loyalty," 
 observes Cox, "is written in legible characters 
 on the backs of his countrymen." * The painful 
 manner in which the lives of the late baronets of 
 this family terminated presents some remarkable 
 coincidences. Sir John Judkin Fitzgerald, son 
 of the terrorist, was drowned in the "Nimrod," 
 in its passage from Bristol to Cork. His son, 
 Sir Thomas Judkin Fitzgerald, reduced to pecun- 
 iary straits, opened a blacking manufactory, and 
 committed suicide in the year 1864 ; and again, 
 his son, a fine boy, hanged himself accidentally 
 while playing with a "swing" in the garden at 
 Golden Hills.f 
 
 29. Major Sirr, who, acting upon the informa- 
 tion supplied by Francis Higgins, shot at and 
 captured Lord Edward Fitzgerald, is no stranger 
 to the reader of these pages. For a pithy resume 
 of his life he would do well to consult Curran's 
 speech in the case of Hevey v. Sirr. 
 
 " For the purpose of this trial," said he, " I 
 must carry back your attention to the melancholy 
 period of 1798. It was at that sad crisis that the 
 defendant, from an obscure individual, started into 
 notice and consequence. It is in the hotbed of 
 public calamity that such portentous and inauspi- 
 cious products are accelerated without being ma- 
 tured. From being a town-major, a name scarcely 
 legible in the list of public incumbrances, he 
 became at once invested with all the powers 
 of absolute authority. The life and the liberty of 
 every man seemed to have been surrendered to hia 
 
 * Irish Magazine, October. 1810, p. 482. 
 
 t Letter from W. L. Hackett, Esq., M. A., ex-mayor, dated 
 "Clonmel, April 16th, 1865."
 
 240 ADDENDA. 
 
 disposal. With this gentleman's extraordinary 
 elevation begins the story of the sufferings and 
 ruin of the plaintiff." 
 
 The cessation of the rebellion, and the intro- 
 duction of a milder system of government, found 
 Henry Charles Sirr's occupation gone. He became 
 a " picture fancier," cultivated the fine arts, fre- 
 quented auctions, accumulated fossils and min- 
 erals, sonorously sung psalms, and exhibited the 
 whites of his eyes rather than the blackness of 
 his heart. Fifty years ago he was appointed 
 police magistrate of Dublin, and continued to 
 discharge its duties until his death in 1841, when 
 "the remains of the assassin of Lord Edward," * 
 writes Mr. Gilbert, " were deposited in Wer- 
 burgh's churchyard," the same mortuary which 
 contains Lord Edward's bones. " The stone, 
 shaded by a melancholy tree," adds Mr. Gilbert, 
 "does not explicitly state that the town-major 
 of '98 was buried under it, and appears to have 
 been oz-iginally placed over the corpse of his 
 father, who preceded him in that office, and was 
 also distinguished by his bad character, a fact 
 unknown to the biographers of Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald. A more infamous tool than Henry Charles 
 Sirr was probably never employed ; the bare re- 
 lation of his atrocities would far exceed the wild- 
 est fiction which ever emanated from the brain of 
 the most morbid romancist." 
 
 30. Identified with Major Sirr in most of his 
 plans, perfidies, and perils, all thai has been 
 
 * This phrase is not, perhaps, strictly accurate. The pro- 
 fessor of medical jurisprudence in the^tTniversity of Dublin, 
 addressing the author of these pages, says : " An inquest was 
 held in Newgate on the body of Lord K. Fitzgerald, and, on the 
 evidence of Surgeon Leake, a verdict returned of death from 
 water on the chest. This fact is not known to many. I have 
 sometimes mentioned it to my class when lecturing on foren- 
 eic medicine."
 
 MAJOR SANDYS. 241 
 
 said of Sirr is applicable to Swan, with this ex- 
 ception, that Sirr professed to be a saint, while 
 his deputy, Swan, frank, jolly, and outspoken, 
 claimed to be no better than an " honest sinner." 
 Of Swan's efficiency as a Rebel-hunter the Sham 
 Squire was a constant eulogist ; and in one of his 
 laudations it is stated that the government proved 
 their appreciation of "Major Swan's" services 
 by awarding him the commission of the peace for 
 every county in Ireland. 
 
 31. Major Sandys, perhaps the worst member 
 of that terrible triumvirate of soi-disant majors 
 who daily stung the people to madness and death, 
 filled the office of governor of the Provost, the 
 Bastile of Ireland. Here, cruelties the most re- 
 volting were hourly practised under the direction 
 of Major Sandys, who, as the brother-in-law of 
 Mr. Cooke, the urider-secretary to the lord liou- 
 tenant, enjoyed thorough connivance and immu- 
 nity. Dr. Madden asserts that indulgences of 
 air, light, and food were sold to the state pris- 
 oners by Major Sandys, and that he remitted tor- 
 tures at the triangle, on receiving either money, 
 or written orders for goods, plate, or pictures, ad- 
 dressed by the prisoners to friends outside. The 
 rapacity of Major Sandys, especially for plate, 
 proved at last insatiable. Curran's memorable 
 speech, in re Hevey, states : "A learned and re- 
 spected brother barrister had a silver cup ; the 
 major heard that for many years it had borne an 
 inscription of ' Erin-go- Bragh,' which meant ' Ire- 
 land for ever.' The major considered this per- 
 severance in guilt for such- a length of years a 
 forfeiture of the delinquent vessel. My poor 
 friend was accordingly robbed of his cup." 
 
 These and even graver charges were made by 
 16
 
 242 ADDENDA. 
 
 Curran, not only in the lifetime of Major Sandys, 
 but under the very flash of his eye. "And I state 
 this," exclaimed Curran, "because I see Major 
 Sandys in court, and because I feel I can prove 
 the fact beyond the possibility of denial. If he 
 does not dare to appear, so called upon as I havo 
 called upon him, I prove it by his not daring to 
 appear. If he does venture to come forward, I 
 will prove it by his own oath ; or if he ventures 
 to deny a syllable I have stated, I will prove by . 
 irrefragable evidence that his denial was false and 
 perjured." 
 
 A terrible vicissitude, followed by a still more 
 terrible disease, overtook the once potential Major 
 Sandys. His family begged bread from door to 
 door ; and he himself died in extreme destitution 
 and bodily suffering. 
 
 62. John Giffard, an illiterate and illiberal alum- 
 nus of the Blue-Coart Hospital, began political life, 
 like many a better contemporary, as an ardent 
 patriot and member of the Volunteer Association. 
 He also practised as an apothecary, as did Lucas 
 before him ; but he soon forsook the pestle for the 
 pen, and acquired the sole editorial control of an 
 influential newspaper, the Dublin Journal, which 
 had been started, and for fifty years ably edited, 
 by George Faulkner, the friend of Swift and Ches- 
 terfield. Like the Sham Squire, whom he resem- 
 bled in more respects than one, Giffard at once 
 prostituted the newspaper to the worst purposes 
 of the venal party which ruled supreme in Ireland 
 some eighty years ago ; and it has been stated 
 that the paper disclosed such violence, virulence,, 
 vulgarity, and mendacity, that at the present date 
 its advocacy would be held detrimental to the 
 cause of any party. Yet Gifiard was preferred
 
 JOHN GIFFAKD. 243 
 
 to places of honor and emolument. Besides hold- 
 ing a lucrative office under the back-stairs viceroy, 
 Mr. Beresford, in the revenue, Giffard succeeded 
 his brother journalist, Higgins, as sub-sheriff of 
 Dublin. We have seen it stated by Mr. Gilbert, 
 in his History, that Giffard is understood to have 
 received the latter appointment for the express 
 purpose of packing the jury which in 1794 con- 
 victed Hamilton Rowan. Giffard was nicknamed 
 " The Dog in Office," and his paper " The Dog's 
 Journal." The artists who caricatured Sheriff 
 Iliggins were placed under arrest.* The same 
 despotic policy pursued Sheriff Giffard's torment- 
 TJrs. The following paragraph, dated October 3d, 
 1794, doubtless refers to Giffard : 
 
 " A printer in South King Street was taken into cus- 
 tody by Messrs. Shee. etc., charged with printing and 
 publishing a caricature of a dog in his last moments, 
 with his confession and dying words. The picture and 
 types were taken possession of."f 
 
 Hamilton Rowan and Dr. William Drennan were 
 then under trial by Mr. Giffard's juries. The fol- 
 lowing admission we find in the Berezford Corre- 
 spondence : 
 
 " Government are determined to hang Rowan, if pos- 
 sible, but they have not yet shown any suspicion of any 
 person here being concerned in the plot, in order to lull 
 them into security. No person knows as much as I now 
 tell you except Lord Westmoreland, the attorney-general, 
 and Sackville Hamilton." Beresford Correspondence, vol. 
 ii., p. 26. 
 
 Giffard sought to stab with his pen, and pike 
 with his tongue, every friend to national progress. 
 In reply to a charge of treason, Grattan thus re- 
 torted : "It proceeds from a hired traducer of 
 his country, the excommunicated of his fellow- 
 
 * See p. 84, ante. 
 
 f Masonic Magazine (for October, 1794), p. 383.
 
 244 ADDENDA. 
 
 citizens, the regal rebel, the unpunished ruffian, 
 the bigoted agitator. In the city, a firebrand ; in 
 the court, a liar ; in the streets, a bully ; in the 
 field, a coward. And so obnoxious is he to the 
 very party he wishes to espouse, that he is only 
 supportable by doing those dirty acts the less 
 vulgar refuse to execute." The quondam apoth- 
 ecary swallowed this box of bitter pills. In 1817 
 Giffard ceased to edit the Dublin Journal. In not 
 less than twenty numbers the following appeared, 
 among other paragraphs affecting not merely Mr. 
 Giffard' s reputation, but that of the party of which 
 he had long been the champion and the protege : 
 
 " Since Mr. Giffard ceased, on the 1st of July, 1816, to 
 have directly or indirectly any concern with this paper, 
 it has rapidly increased in circulation, and we are now 
 satisfied that the public can fairly appreciate the value 
 of an independent print, which wishes to soothe and 
 not to irritate the angry passions which have so long 
 agitated the country." 
 
 Giffard amassed a large fortune, and built him- 
 self a handsome residence, known as Dromartin 
 Castle, Dundrum.* 
 
 33. Lieutenant Hepenstall is the person whom 
 Sir Jonah Barrington, in his Historic Anecdotes of 
 the Union, and afterwards in his Personal Sketches 
 (vol. iii., pp. 267-271), describes as Lieutenant 
 
 II , "the walking gallows." This notorious 
 
 officer, originally an apothecary, like Giffard, was 
 a Goliah in stature and a Nero in feeling. If 
 Hepenstall met a peasant who could not satis- 
 factorily account for himself, he knocked him 
 down with a blow from his fist, which was quite 
 as effectual as a sledge-hammer, and then adjust- 
 ing a noose round his prisoner's neck, drew the 
 rope over his own shoulders and trotted about, 
 
 * Dublin Journal, July 2d, 1817.
 
 HEPENSTALL. 245 
 
 the victim's legs dangling in the air and his 
 tongue protruding, until death at last put an 
 end to the torture. These details, almost in- 
 credible at the present day, have been authen- 
 ticated by several witnesses, and even admitted 
 by Hepenstall himself at the trial of Hyland, 
 when Lord Norbury complimented him as having 
 done no act which was not natural to a zealous, 
 loyal, and efficient officer. Prefixed to the Irish 
 Magazine for 1810 a picture of Hepenstall, in his 
 capacity of executioner, appears. His features, 
 handsome in their conformation and seraphic in 
 their expression, present a puzzle to the students 
 of Lavater's theory. The print is accompanied 
 by a startling memoir of Hepenstall's atrocities, 
 which we find corroborated by an article in the 
 Press newspaper of the llth of January, 1798, 
 and copied by Dr. Madden. That article speaks 
 of Hepenstall as a person well known by the 
 name of "the walking gallows." In conjunction 
 with higher colleagues, he had continued, long an- 
 terior to the outbreak of '98, to goad the people 
 into revolt by such brutalities as we have de- 
 scribed. Hepenstall did not long live to enjoy 
 the interval of repose which succeeded his un- 
 sleeping vigilance in '98. In 1800, as we are 
 assured by Cox, he became afflicted with morbus 
 pedicularis ; his body was literally devoured by 
 vermin, and, after twenty-one days' suffering, he 
 died in great agony. Dr. Madden says that this 
 event occurred in 1813; Mr. Cox gives 1804 as 
 the year ; but the Sham Squire enables us to fix 
 the date positively. In his Journal of September 
 18th, 1800, Mr. Higgina touchingly records : 
 
 " Died on Thursday night, of a dropsical complaint, 
 Lieutenant Edward Hepenstall, of the 68th Regiment, 
 sometime back an officer in the Wicklow Militia, a
 
 246 ADDENDA. 
 
 gentleman whose intrepidity and spirit during the re- 
 bellion rendered much general good, and himself highly 
 obnoxious to traitors." And then follows a tribute to 
 " the qualities which endeared Mr. Hepenstall to his family 
 and friends." 
 
 Luckily, or unluckily, for HepenstalPs memory, 
 his fast friend, the Sham Squire, did not write hia 
 epitaph, and the lieutenant's grave remains in St. 
 Andrew's churchyard, uninscribed. It was once 
 suggested by Dr. Barrett that the inscription 
 should be confined to two lines : 
 
 " Here lie the bones of Hepenstall. 
 Judge, jury, gallows, rope, and all." 
 
 Lieutenant Hepenstall's brother, who survived 
 him for a few years, received a large pension soon 
 after from the crown. His relict was married by 
 Archbishop Agar to Dr. Patrick Duigenan, as we 
 gather from an entry in Donnybrook Parish Regis- 
 ter, dated October 19th, 1807, and printed in the 
 Rev. B. H. Blacker's work descriptive of that 
 locality. 
 
 34. " Spectacle Knox," as General Cockburn 
 styles him, is Alexander Knox, who is called by 
 Lord Macaulay " a remarkable man." He began 
 his career as assistant private secretary to Lord 
 Castlereagh, in whose Correspondence and that 
 of Mr. Wilberforce a mass of his letters may be 
 found, to say nothing of several volumes osten- 
 sibly devoted to the preservation of his epistles. 
 Mr. Knox drew up the report of the secret com- 
 mittee, and made himself generally useful as a 
 scribe during the "reign of terror" in Ireland. 
 When the late Sir Robert Peel came to Ireland 
 as chief secretary, accompanied by a young and 
 beautiful wife, Mr. Knox fell wildly in love with 
 her. He was fully sensible of the madness and 
 illegality of his passion, from which he strove to
 
 ARMSTRONG. 247 
 
 fly, but in vain. In a state of temporary mania 
 ha nearly destroyed himself by an act of bodily 
 mutilation. Our authorities for this story are the 
 late Surgeon Peel and Dr. Labatt, who profession- 
 ally attended Mr. Knox, and communicated the 
 facts to an eminent physician still living. Mr. 
 Knox survived for many years, but the vigor of 
 his intellect had sunk and his eye had lost its 
 former sparkle. 
 
 36. Captain Armstrong. The arrests at Bond's 
 were followed by the betrayal and execution of 
 John and Henry Sheares. To those hapless vic- 
 tims brothers by blood and barristers by pro- 
 fessionCaptain J. W. Armstrong, of the King's 
 County Militia, had, with vampire instinct, ob- 
 tained an introduction through the agency of a 
 mutual friend. Carried away by the enthusiasm 
 of youth and the strong revolutionary current of 
 the time, they unreservedly expressed their proj- 
 ects. Armstrong fanned the flame, helped their 
 plans with hints derived from -military reading and 
 experience, wormed himself into their confidence, 
 partook of their hospitality, mingled with their 
 families, and, as has been stated by Mr. Curran, 
 fondled on his knee the child of the parent whom 
 he had marked out for death, while, to quote the 
 reminiscence of one of the family, Mrs. Sheares 
 sang at the harp for his amusement. Armstrong 
 received promotion, a commission of the peace, 
 and a pension of 500 a year. Fifty-six years 
 subsequent to this tragedy, we heard with sur- 
 prise that Armstrong was still alive. The late 
 Maurice R. Leyne, addressing the present writer 
 in 1854, says: "I saw the old scoundrel, Captain 
 Armstrong, travelling by boat from Limerick. He 
 was a passenger, and was attended by a body-
 
 248 - ADDENDA. 
 
 guard of two policemen with loaded arms. He 
 was the subject of much observation and whisper- 
 ings while on board ; and as he was leaving the 
 packet, at, I think, Banagher, one of the boat- 
 men, with vengeful malice, addressed him as 'Mr. 
 Sheares,' pretending he had mistaken his name. 
 He was known as ' Sheares Armstrong ' among 
 the people." 
 
 Soon afterwards, the present writer, then a very 
 young man, addressed a letter to Captain Arm- 
 strong, conveying some queries, which merely 
 elicited the following note, suggesting a personal 
 interview; but we recoiled from such close con- 
 tact, and the matter dropped : 
 
 " Ballycumber, May 17th, 1854. 
 
 " Sm : I have received your letter. I have no objec- 
 tion to a personal interview with you, and to give you 
 every information in my power on the subject of your 
 inquiries, but I decline writing anything about it. 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " J. W. ARMSTRONG. 
 
 " To W. J. Fitzpatrick, Esq." 
 
 Captain Armstrong's seal displays the device 
 of three arms outstretched in an attitude of hos- 
 tility. His incorrigible longevity had heartily 
 wearied and disgusted the treasury. At length, 
 one fine morning in 1858, he died, after having 
 drawn altogether about 30,000. ' Whether his 
 family inherit any share of his pension we have 
 not been able to ascertain. 
 
 3t. Thomas Reynolds has been already noticed, 
 p. 161, et seq., ante. 
 
 38. To William Cope the same remark applies. 
 
 39. Of Justice Godfrey there is little of interest 
 to tell. An instance of his magisterial activity 
 may be found in the Dublin Magazine for Decem- 
 ber, 1199, p. 318.
 
 MACNALLY AND TUKNEB. 249 
 
 It will be observed that Sir George Cockburn, 
 in his list of the government of Ireland during the 
 reign of terror, makes no allusion to the viceroy, 
 whom John Magee, for having styled "the cold- 
 hearted and cruel Camden," was prosecuted by 
 the Orange Attorney-General Saurin, and heavily 
 punished. The truth is that Lord Camden was a 
 cipher. Watson Taylor acted as private secre- 
 tary to his excellency at this period, and he men- 
 tioned to Moore, on the 19th October, 1838, that 
 "Lord Camden was constantly outvoted, in his 
 wish for a more moderate system of government, 
 by Clare and Castlereagh." Watson Taylor, when 
 in Ireland, was more busy writing songs than de- 
 spatches ; and we find that, among some other 
 effusions, he threw off the well-known piece, 
 " Croppies, lie down." 
 
 K. 
 
 MACNALLY AND TURNER. 
 
 THE Comwallis Correspondence, published in 
 1859, fully confirms the allegation that Leonard 
 MacNally, the confidential law adviser to, and 
 eloquent counsel for, the leaders of the Irish re- 
 bellion of '98, was in the pay of the unscrupulous 
 Tory government of that day, and basely betrayed 
 the secrets of his confiding clients. MacNally had 
 been himself a member of the Whig Club, and the 
 Society of United Irishmen, and went so far as 
 to challenge and fight Sir Jonah Barrington, 
 who had indulged in severe animadversion of it. 
 lie was apparently a stanch democrat, and en- 
 joyed the most limited confidence of the popular
 
 250 ADDENDA. 
 
 party. He survived until 1820 ; and with such 
 consummate hypocrisy was his turpitude veiled, 
 that men who could read the inmost soul of others 
 never for a moment suspected him. The late W. 
 H. Curran, in the Life of his father (vol. i., pp. 
 384, 385), pronounces a brilliant eulogium on 
 " the many endearing traits " in MacNally's char- 
 acter, and adds that he (W. H. .Curran) is filled 
 with "emotions of the most lively and respectful 
 gratitude." We further learn that "for three- 
 and-forty years Mr. MacNally was the friend" 
 of Curran, and that "he performed the duties of 
 the relation with the most uncompromising' and 
 romantic fidelity." Years after, when 'the late 
 D. Owen Madden urged W. H. Curran to bring 
 out a new edition of the Life of his father, he 
 replied that it would be difficult to do so, as 
 he should have to cancel the passage to which 
 I have referred, and indulge in severe reflec- 
 tions upon the memory of MacNally, a near re- 
 lation of whom was practising in the court where 
 Mr. W. H. Curran sat as judge. Curran's re- 
 gard for MacNally was steadily consistent. In 
 1807, on the accession of the Whigs to power, 
 Mr. Curran exerted the large influence which 
 he then possessed to obtain a silk gown for his 
 friend. The Duke of Bedford, however, who was 
 then viceroy, having discovered the base compact 
 which subsisted between his Tory predecessors 
 and MacNally, rejected the claim. But the rea- 
 sons for the refusal were not then known, and the 
 popular party regarded as a grievance this treat- 
 ment of their favorite counsel. Charles Phillips, 
 who practised for many years at the same bar 
 with MacNally, thus notices, in one of the last 
 editions of Curran and his Contemporaries, the
 
 MACNALLY AND TURNER. 251 
 
 report that MacNally had a pension : " The thing 
 is inqredible 1 If I was called upon to point out, 
 next to Curran, the man most obnoxious to the 
 government, who most hated them, and was 
 most hated by them, it would have been Leon- 
 ard MacNally ; that MacNally, who, amidst the 
 military audience, stood by Curran's side while 
 he denounced oppression, defied power, and dared 
 every danger ! " 
 
 After the death of MacNally,* his representa- 
 tive claimed a continuance of the secret pension 
 of 300 a year, which he had been enjoying ever 
 since the calamitous period of the rebellion. Lord 
 Wellesley, the viceroy, demanded a detailed state- 
 ment of the circumstances under which the unholy 
 agreement had been made, and after some hes- 
 itation it was furnished. The startling truth soon 
 became known. O'Connell announced the fact 
 ^publicly, and used it as an argument for dis- 
 suading the people from embarking in treason- 
 able projects. 
 
 The MS. volume containing " An account of 
 Secret Service Money Expenditure," discloses 
 the frequent payment of large sums to Mac- 
 Nally, irrespective of his pension, during the 
 troubled times which preceded and followed the 
 Union. This engine of corruption as record- 
 ed by the same document invariably passed 
 through the hands of a Mr. J. Pollock. 
 
 It is suggestive of intensely melancholy ideas, 
 to glance over this blood-tinged record. The 
 initials of MacNally perpetually rise like an in- 
 fernal phantom through its pages. Passing over 
 the myriad entries throughout the interval of 
 
 * MacXally must have died Intestate, aa we can find no trace 
 of his will in the Irish Probate Court.
 
 252 ADDENDA. 
 
 1797 to 1803, we come to the period of Robert 
 Emmet's insurrection. In the State Trials we 
 find MacNally, on September 19th, 1803, acting 
 as counsel for Emmet at the Special Commission. 
 Under date September 14fh, 1803, " L. M. 100," 
 appears on record in the Secret Service Money 
 Book. This retainer, no doubt, overbalanced 
 poor Emmet's fee. The gifted young Irishman 
 was found guilty and executed. No one is per- 
 mitted to see him in prison, but MacNally, who 
 pays him a visit on the morning of his execution, 
 addresses him as " Robert," and shows him every 
 manifestation of affection. On the 25th August, 
 1803, "Mr. Pollock, for L. M., 100," is also 
 recorded. Sometimes MacNally signed the re- 
 ceipts for secret service money "J. W." : but 
 besides that the writing in these documents is 
 identical with his acknowledged autograph, the 
 clerk's endorsement "L. M. N." leaves no room,, 
 for doubt. The original receipts were kindly 
 shown to us in 1854 by Dr. Madden. 
 
 The masterly manner in which MacNally forti- 
 fied his duplicity is worthy of attention. As I 
 already observed, persons usually the most clear- 
 sighted regarded him as a paragon of purity and 
 worth. Defending Finney, in conjunction with 
 Philpot Curran, the latter giving way to the im- 
 pulse of his generous feelings, threw his arm 
 over the shoulder of MacNally, and with emotion 
 said: "My old and excellent friend, I have long 
 known and respected the honesty of your heart, 
 but never until this occasion was I acquainted 
 with the extent of your abilities. I am not in 
 the habit of paying compliments where they are 
 underserved." Tears fell from Mr. Curran as 
 he hung over his friend. * Nineteen years after, 
 * lAfe of Curran, by his son, vol. i., p. 397.
 
 MACNALLY AND TURNER. 253 
 
 Outran died ; and he died with the illusion undis- 
 pelled. From the Freeman's Journal of October 
 13th, 1817, we gather that Judge Burton wrote 
 from London to MacNally, as the old and tried 
 friend of Curran, to announce the approaching 
 death of the great patriot. * 
 
 Sir Jonah Harrington insinuates that MacNally 
 was an unpopular companion in society. The late 
 Dr. Fulton, addressing us in 1858, observed : " L. 
 MacNally was a most agreeable companion, 
 quite a little Curran, and his political views were 
 considered even more democratic than Curran's. 
 He made a bet that he would dine at the mess of 
 the Fermanagh Militia, an ultra Orange body. 
 He joined them unasked, and made himself so 
 agreeable, and every man there so pleasant, that 
 he received a general invitation to their mess from 
 that day. He was a most pleasing poet, and 
 wrote, among other effusions, the well-known 
 song, ' Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill.' ' 
 
 Sir Jonah Barririgton, who often sacrificed strict 
 accuracy to sensational effect, has given us, in his 
 Personal Sketclies, a monstrous caricature of Mac- 
 Nally's outward man. Nevertheless, although, 
 like Curran, of low stature, he had, as we are in- 
 formed by O'Keefe, who knew him intimately, 
 " a handsome, expressive countenance, and a fine 
 sparkling dark eye." f 
 
 Mr. MacNally must at least have had a rare 
 amount of what is familiarly termed "cheek." 
 In his defence of Watty Cox, at a public trial 
 in Dublin, February 26th, 1811, he says, "few 
 men become . . . informers .until they have 
 forfeited public character." J 
 
 * We contributed to Notes and Queries some portions of this 
 paper. 
 
 t Recollections of John O'Keefe, vol. 1., p. 45. 
 i Iriih Magazine, April, 1811, p. 45.
 
 254 ADDENDA. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, in the following let- 
 ter, probably refers to MacNally, whose insati- 
 able cupidity is very likely to have prompted him 
 to seek further recognition of his unworthy ser- 
 vices by applying for some office in the gift of the 
 crown : 
 
 " London, 29th June, 1807. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : I agree entirely with you respecting 
 the employment of our informer. Such a measure would 
 do much mischief. It would disgust the loyal of all de- 
 scriptions, at the same time that it would render useless 
 our private communications with him, as no further trust 
 would be placed in him by the disloyal. I think that it 
 might be hinted to him that he would lose much of his 
 profit, if, by accepting the public employment of govern- 
 ment, he were to lose the confidence of his party, and 
 consequently the means of giving us information. 
 " Believe me, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 " ARTHUR WELLESLEY.* 
 
 "To James Trail, Esq." 
 
 The editor of the GornwalUs Papers, Mr. Ross, 
 in enumerating with others (vol. iii., p. 319), one 
 Samuel Turner, who received a pension of 300 a 
 year at the same time as MacNally, declares that 
 he has been unable to obtain any particulars of 
 this man. There can be no doubt that Mr. Tur- 
 ner belonged to the same school as MacNally. 
 
 The old Dublin Directories, in the list of "judges 
 and barristers," record the name of Samuel Tur- 
 ner, Esq., who was called to the bar at Easter 
 Term, 1788 ; and the following paragraph, which 
 we exhume from the London Courier of Decem- 
 ber 5th, 1803, suggests a painful glimpse of the 
 
 * Who is the " Catholic orator," referred to in the following 
 note from Sir A. Wellesley to Lord Hawkesbui-y ? 
 
 " Dublin Castle. 8th January, 1808. 
 " The extracts of letters, sent to you by Lord Grenville, were 
 
 sent to us by , the Catholic orator, two months ago. The 
 
 mentioned is a man who was desirous of being employed by 
 
 government as a spy ; and his trade is that ot spy to all parties. 
 He offered himself to 
 as to us; and we now 
 
 He offered himself to , Lord Fingal, and others, as well 
 
 watcli him closely,"
 
 MACNALLY AND TURNER. 255 
 
 grounds on which Mr. Turner obtained a pension 
 at the same time as MacNally : 
 
 "On Friday last, Samuel Turner, Esq., barrister-at- 
 law, was brought to the bar of the Court of King's Bench, 
 in custody of the keeper of Kilmainham prison, under a 
 charge of attainder, passed in the Irish parliament, as 
 one concerned in the rebellion of the year 1798; but, 
 having shown that he was no way concerned therein, 
 that he had not been in the country for a year and seven 
 mouths prior to passing that act, i. ?.. for thirteen months 
 prior to the rebellion, and therefore could not be the per- 
 son alluded to, his majesty's attorney-general confessed 
 the same, and Mr. Turner was discharged accordingly." 
 
 To return to MacNally : 
 
 A gentleman who conducted the leading pop- 
 ular paper of Dublin some forty years ago, in a 
 communication addressed to us, observes: "It 
 was in 1811, during the prolonged trial of the 
 Catholic delegates (Lord Fingal, Sheridan, Burke, 
 and Kirwan), that doubts were first entertained 
 of MacNally's fidelity. MacNally took a leading 
 part in the counsels of the delegates and their 
 friends. We observed that the Orange attorney- 
 general, Saurin, always appeared wondrously well 
 prepared next day for the arguments which we 
 had arranged. MacNally, no doubt, used to com- 
 municate to the law officers of the crown all the 
 secrets of his confiding clients.". 
 
 MacGuicken, the attorney of the United Irish- 
 men, of whom we shall speak presently, was also 
 subsidized. 
 
 The world now knows the guilt of MacNally 
 and MacGuicken. Their memory hus been exe- 
 crated. But surely the seducer of these once 
 honorable men deserves a share of the obloquy. 
 \Vho was the man who first debauched the coun- 
 sel and solicitor of the United Irishmen ?
 
 256 ADDENDA. 
 
 L 
 
 L. 
 JOHN POLLOCK. 
 
 IN the Memoirs and Correspondence of Marquis 
 Cornwallis (vol. iii., p. 320), a letter appears, 
 addressed by Mr. Secretary Cooke to the Lord 
 Lieutenant, in which various persons are recom- 
 mended, including MacNally and MacGuickeri, 
 as fit recipients for a share in the 1,500 per 
 annum which in 1799 had been placed for secret 
 service at his excellency's disposal. Mr. Cooke 
 thus concludes : " Pollock's services ought to be 
 
 thought of. He managed Mac and Mac- 
 
 Guicken, and did much. He received the place 
 of clerk of the crown and peace, and he has the 
 fairest right to indemnification." Mr. Charles 
 Boss, the editor, reminds his readers that " Mac " 
 is "Leonard MacNally, Esq., a barrister of some 
 reputation, who was regularly employed by the 
 Rebels, and was entirely in their confidence. He 
 was author of various plays and other works ; 
 born 1752, died 1820." 
 
 It may interest the students of that eventful 
 period of Irish history to learn some account of 
 the unscrupulous and wily person who succeeded 
 in corrupting the counsel and solicitor of the un- 
 happy men who staked their lives and fortunes in 
 '98. On this negotiation some important events 
 hinged. For almost every name mentioned in the 
 Cornwallis Correspondence Mr. Ross has furnished 
 an explanatory foot-note. In the page following 
 the mention of Mr. Pollock's name the editor 
 says : "It has been found impossible to ascertain 
 anything in regard to most of these individuals " ; 
 and as we have no note relative to Mr. Pollock,
 
 POLLOCK. 257 
 
 it may be presumed that Mr. Ross knows little or 
 nothing of him. 
 
 Half a century ago John Pollock was a well- 
 known solicitor in Dublin. In the Dublin Direc- 
 tory for 1T77 his name appears for the first time, 
 and his residence is given as No. 31 Mary Street. 
 In 1781 he removed to No. 12 Anne Street, and in 
 1784 to Jervis Street. In 1786 Mr. Pollock waa 
 appointed " solicitor to the trustees of the linen 
 manufacture"; in 1795 we find him clerk of the 
 crown and peace for the province of Leinster, and 
 clerk of the peace for the county of Dublin. In 
 the year 1800 Mr. Pollock is gazetted to the enor- 
 mous sinecure of clerk of the pleas of the Ex- 
 chequer. % 
 
 The manuscript volume, already noticed, con- 
 taining " An Account of Secret Service Money 
 Expenditure employed in Detecting Treasonable 
 Conspiracies," chronicles the frequent payment 
 of pecuniary stimuli to Mr. Pollock. On Decem- 
 ber llth, 1797, 300 is recorded; "April 20th, 
 1798, John Pollock, 110," appears; June 15th, 
 109 7*. Qd. ; August 18th, 56 17s. 6d. ; August 
 28th, ditto ; September 14th, ditto ; and on Jan- 
 uary 18th, 1799, the large sum of 1,137 10s. 
 arrests attention. There are, however, various 
 other payments to Mr. Pollock, which it would 
 be tedious to enumerate. 
 
 As soon as he received the bloated sinecure of 
 deputy clerk of the pleas, Mr. Pollock removed 
 from Jervis Street to No. 11 Mountjoy Square 
 
 East, where, as I am informed by M S , 
 
 Esq., lie lived in a style of lavish magnificence, 
 and spent not less than 9,000 a year. This 
 reign of luxury lasted until the year 1817, when 
 Mr. Pollock was suddenly hurled from his throne. 
 17
 
 258 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 The sinecure office of clerk of the pleas of the 
 Exchequer had been " in some measure created 
 for Lord Buckinghamshire," as a reward for his 
 important services in India,* as well as in Ireland, 
 when discharging the duties of chief secretary. 
 Sir J. Newport declared in parliament, on April 
 29th, 1816, that his lordship's fees had amounted 
 to 35,000 per annum. Lord Buckinghamshire 
 died on February 5th in that year. From the 
 Dublin Evening Post of February 20th, 1817, we 
 learn that "Mr. Pollock still continues to fulfil 
 the duties of the office, and the writs, which had 
 been authenticated by the signature of ' Bucking- 
 hamshire,' are now signed ' J^hn Pollock.' ' The 
 duties of the office were indolently, inefficiently, 
 and often fraudulently discharged: "Purchasers 
 can have no security," observes the same author- 
 ity; "we have been informed of a judgment of 
 10,000 omitted in a certain certificate. It is one 
 of the most lucrative and unnecessary offices in 
 the country," continues the Post: "all the duty 
 is performed by the deputy, Mr. Pollock, who 
 derives about 5,000 a year. All this is made 
 up of fees on the distribution of justice in a single 
 court of law. If this unnecessary office were now 
 extinguished, how much would it cheapen justice 
 to the public ! What a number of poor suitors 
 would then procure justice who are now excluded 
 from its benefits- by their poverty ! " 
 
 But the estimate of the Post would seem to have 
 been "under the mark." On Monday, the 29th 
 of April, Leslie Foster declared that Mr. Pollock 
 "drew 10,000 out of the profits, and on which 
 "le ought to pay the salaries of the other clerks ; 
 but, instead of this, he pocketed the whole of 
 
 * Sketdhei of Irish Political Characters (London, 1799), p. 49.
 
 PECULATION. 259 
 
 the money, leaving them to raise the fees upon 
 the suitors on no other authority than their own 
 assumptions ! " 
 
 The son of a late eminent solicitor, in a letter 
 addressed to us, dated September 25th, 1865, thus 
 refers to Mr. Pollock and the lax practices then 
 prevalent : 
 
 " In 1816 my father died. Long before his death my 
 mother used to hear him and other professional men talk 
 of the general extravagance and demoralization that .ex- 
 isted among the officials of the Four Courts ; several of 
 whom, from poor clerks, were floated up to wealth by 
 the rise of the times. Most of the higher class among 
 them habitually anticipated their incomes, availing them- 
 selves of the facilities for doing so then afforded by the 
 paper-credit or kite-flying* system. As to Pollock, he 
 lived magnificently in Mountjoy Square and in the coun- 
 try; and like those, for the most part, who spend freely, 
 he was not, indeed, disliked; though if, in taxing an 
 attorney's costs, he received a note, in order, after 
 deducting what was due him, to return the balance, he 
 would, as it were by way of a joke, laugh and say, ' We '11 
 talk of this another time,' and keep the note, the attor- 
 ney not daring to object, lest he should be proportion- 
 ately a sufferer when he 'd ws.t have to get his costs 
 taxed ! But, in time, the attorneys became sufficiently 
 up to the great cost-taxer's failing, as regards note- 
 keeping, to be on their guard against it, by not letting 
 him tinger more than he was actuaMy entitled to receive. 
 Like ' robbers all at Parga,' it should be added, that 
 others of those gentry of the courts, Papists as well as 
 Protestants, were Pollocks in their way, 'feathering 
 their nests well,' and eventually purchasing estates. At 
 last a government commission came, and reformed this 
 very corrupt system." 
 
 The peculation upon which Mr. Pollock had so 
 
 * This phrase greatly puzzled a member of the English bar, 
 Lord Uedesdale, who was sent to Ireland as chancellor. Plun- 
 ket endeavored to explain. " In England, my lord, the wind 
 raises the kite, but 4n Ireland the kit raises the wind." "I 
 feel no better informed yet, Mr. Plunket," replied the matter- 
 of-fact chancellor. Possibly our readers may say the same. 
 W. J. F.
 
 260 ADDENDA. 
 
 long fattened soon began to enkindle a wide sen- 
 sation. A commission of inquiry was held, and 
 some startling facts came to light. Mr. Leslie 
 Foster, afterwards Chief Baron Foster, observed : 
 " To show the progress of abuse, he might pursue 
 the history of the place held by this deputy. In 
 1803, his profits amounted to 3,000 a year. 
 After that time the office was placed under reg- 
 ulations which reduced its emoluments to one- 
 third ; and in consideration of what was called 
 the vested right of the possessor, he received a 
 compensation of 2,000, which, joined to his fees, 
 made up 3,000, his original income. Instead of 
 being worth 3,000 at present, the office yielded 
 7,000 a year, having increased 5,000 since 
 1802 ; which, with a compensation of 2,000 for 
 anticipated loss, amounted to the t,000 men- 
 tioned. All these abuses spring from the circum- 
 stance that the power of taxation is lodged in the 
 hands of officers who were interested in the sums 
 they imposed, or in the abuses they connived at." 
 
 At this time, as appears from the Directory, 
 Mr. Pollock not only held the lucrative office of 
 crown solicitor, but various sinecures besides. 
 The Cornwallis Papers had not then divulged 
 that all this emolument and peculation was noth- 
 ing more or less than the wages earned by the 
 corruptor of MacNally and MacGuicken ! 
 
 It further appeared that 13,000 extra, had 
 been seized upon and squandered by understrap- 
 pers. The commissioners pursued their inquiries. 
 "They unexpectedly discovered," says the Post 
 of May 4th, 1817, "an apparently humble satel- 
 lite who obtained an income of. 13, 000 per an- 
 num from fees, and who, without being ambitious 
 of even the celebrity which an almanac confers,
 
 RETRIBUTION. 261 
 
 quietly revolved about the brilliant orb of his 
 superior, as much unknown to the public as any 
 of the satellites of Jupiter." A more monstrous 
 labyrinth of inveterate abuses had never before 
 been explored. Impeachment became unavoid- 
 able; and we find the attorney-general, Saurin, 
 bringing forward nine distinct charges against 
 Mr. Pollock. One paragraph will suffice for a 
 specimen : " With respect to the taxation of costs, 
 the officer has exercised an arbitrary and discre- 
 tionary power in demanding fees ; and that the 
 fees received have, in some instances, exceeded 
 the amount of the costs themselves." In the 
 Court of Exchequer, July 1st, 1817, Chief Baron 
 O'Grady, afterwards Lord Guillamore, passed 
 judgment on Mr. Pollock. He thus concluded : 
 " We are obliged to declare, from the acts lately 
 for the first time come to our knowledge, that he 
 has abused his duty, abused his discretion ; 
 he has done acts without authority ; by accepting 
 gratuities he has degraded the court ; he has per- 
 mitted fictitious charges, and has raised the fees 
 of this court to bring them to the level of higher 
 fees of other courts, instead of bringing down 
 what was highest to the level of those that were 
 lower. These acts have tended to a perverse and 
 mal-administration of justice ; and it is, therefore, 
 due to the public, to the ends of justice, to the 
 authority and purity of the court, to the maintain- 
 ing of the court's authority over its own officer, 
 and to the end of the officer presiding with effect 
 over those under him, that Mr. Pollock be re- 
 moved, and he is thereby removed from the office 
 of deputy clerk of the pleas of this court." The 
 Correspondent and Saunders, of the day, do not 
 report the case. The foregoing has been extracted
 
 262 ADDENDA. 
 
 from the Freeman's Journal. At the period in 
 question, it does not seem to have been always 
 easy for reporters to obtain access to courts of 
 law during the progress of peculiar cases. The 
 Freeman of July 12th, 1817, devotes a leading 
 article to the discussion of a petulant remark 
 made by Mr. Jackson (Lord Chief Justice Nor- 
 bury's registrar), to the effect that "he would 
 prevent the court from being turned into a printing 
 office." 
 
 Mr. S tells me that he remembers having 
 
 noticed, with some pain, the once swaggering and 
 influential John Pollock reduced to comparative 
 poverty and prostration. Mr. Pollock did not long 
 survive his humilation. In 1818, Leonard Mac- 
 Kally saw his seducer consigned to the grave. 
 
 It may be worth adding, that Chief Baron 
 O'Grady claimed the right of patronage in the 
 appointment of successors to Lord Buckingham- 
 shire and Mr. Pollock ; and having named his son 
 and brother to the overgrown sinecures, much 
 comment was excited, which resulted in an elab- 
 orate public trial of the judge's right. Saurin 
 contended that the king, not the court, had the 
 right of appointment. 
 
 M. 
 WALTER OX. 
 
 THE seduction of the once indomitable patriot, 
 Watty Cox, who was eventually bought up by 
 the Richmond government, was also due to Mr. 
 Pollock. 
 
 Mr. John Pollock, in a letter addressed to Sir
 
 WRITERS BRIBED. 263 
 
 Arthur Wellesley, ated the 12th January, 1809, 
 directing his attention to MacNevin's Pieces of 
 Irish History, * goes on to say : 
 
 "Whether this book was originally printed in New 
 York is for the present immaterial; it is now in print 
 in Dublin, and, no doubt, will be circulated through 
 the country with indefatigable zeal. My information 
 says it is the precursor of a French invasion ; and cer~ 
 tainly the vslwle object of the book is calculated, and with 
 great ability executed, in order to show the necessity of a 
 separation of this country from England, and to procure 
 a French army to be received here as allies. Your means 
 of information are, no doubt, most ample ; it may, how- 
 ever, not be improper in me to say to you that if you 
 have Coef (who keeps a small book-shop in Anglesea 
 Street), he can let you into the whole object of sending 
 this book to Ireland at this time; and further, if you . 
 have not Cox, believe me that no sum of money at all 
 within reason would be misapplied in riveting him to the 
 government. I have spoken of this man before to Sir 
 Edward Littlehales and to Sir Charles Saxton. He is 
 the most able, and, if not secured, by far the most for- 
 midable man that I know of in Ireland." 
 
 He was " secured " accordingly ; but Lord 
 Mulgrave, aftewards Marquis of Normanby, on 
 his accession to the viceroyalty, deprived Cox 
 of his pension. Under the regime of the Duke of 
 Richmond was also accomplished the seduction 
 of another able Roman Catholic satirist, Dr. Bren- 
 nan, who continued until his death to enjoy a 
 pension of 200 a year for ridiculing in his Miles- 
 ian Magazine the Catholic leaders of that day. 
 
 A correspondent, Mr. C. C. Hoey, sends us the 
 following note touching Walter Cox : 
 
 " Scattered through the pages of Cox's (Watty) Irish 
 Magazine from 1807 to 1814, now extremely scarce, may 
 
 * Ciril Correspondence and Memoranda of F. M. Arthur, Duke of 
 Wellington, edited by his son, p. 534. 
 
 t Mr. Pollock was no stranger to Cox, who, in his Magaeine 
 for inn, pp. 353, 434, makes reference to him.
 
 264 ADDEJSTDA. 
 
 be found a great amount of uncolle&ed information that 
 may be advantageously read with the light of the Wel- 
 lington Correspondence. Though Cox was finally bought 
 up to silence, he did good service for his creed and coun- 
 try. In those years, and that principally on the Veto 
 question, the career of this man was extraordinary, and, 
 notwithstanding his weak points, he is entitled to a dis- 
 tinct biography. The ' shrewd man ' and the ' gunsmith,' 
 alluded to in Secretary Trail's letter, was no other than 
 Walter Cox. Cox's father was a bricklayer, who was 
 dragged to prison by order of Lord Carhampton, and 
 suffered some indignities, and even torture, which never 
 left the mind of his son, and finally made him resolve on 
 turning author, to retaliate for the severities he wit- 
 nessed in 1798. Cox himself was originally & gunsmith ; 
 he supplied military data to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 
 enjoyed his confidence as well as others in the Directory, 
 ftnd afterwards became his lordship's biographer in the 
 pages of his own magazine. Cox, though a youth in 
 1792, held the command of the second company of the 
 Goldsmiths' Corps of Volunteers, whose last meeting 
 was announced to take place on the parade ground of 
 St. Michel le Pole, Great Ship Street, but was prevented 
 by a proclamation of the government and a turn-out of 
 the whole garrison, similar to the Clontarf affair of '43. 
 This, I believe, was the last attempted meeting of the 
 Volunteers in Dublin. Dr. Madden inserts a query in 
 the fourth volume of the last edition of his United Irishmen 
 (p. 599) as to whether some Mr. Cox who received secret 
 service money in 1803 was identical with Watty Cox; but 
 it is not likely, as, from Lord Hardwicke's official vindi- 
 cation of his government, it appears that it was meditated 
 in 1803 to place the formidable gunsmith under arrest as 
 a dangerous democrat. Cox suffered imprisonment and 
 the pillory several times for his writings in the Irish Mag- 
 azine; the most noted was 'The Painter Cut; a Vision,' 
 which he was found guilty of and sentenced to pay a flue 
 of three hundred pounds, and enter into security him- 
 self in one thousand, with two others of five hundred 
 pounds each to keep in good behavior for seven years, 
 as well as suffer one year's confinement in Newgate. A 
 great portion of the priesthood exerted themselves in 
 striving to put down his Magazine for the part he took 
 against the Veto; and he attacked the government so
 
 WALTER COX. 265 
 
 severely that the crown solicitor, Pollock, suggested he 
 should be bought up as being the most formidable char- 
 acter of the time. Archbishop Troy, Bishop Milner 
 (who subsequently became an Anti-Vetoist), and Lord 
 Fingal received no quarter at his hands. In his Magazine 
 may be found a good deal of matter connected with those 
 men, not to be found elsewhere. Sir Jonah Harrington 
 comes in for a share of castigation for his shortcomings 
 and backslidings ; he accuses him of bringing forward a 
 motion in the Irish House of Commons ' to confiscate 
 the property of Dr. Esmond, who headed the Rebel force 
 at Prosperous, and thereby deprived his infant children 
 of bread.' He says Sir Jonah Barrington printed his 
 History of the Union in Dublin in 1802, but, as he did not 
 give it to the public then, we presume he gave it to 
 another quarter. There is also some matter connected 
 with the career of Reynolds, O'Brien, Hepenstall, and 
 many others, which I think has not met the notice of the 
 historians of 1798. The admirably executed caricatures 
 published in his Magazine were done by Mr. Brocas, who 
 afterwards was appointed head master of the Govern- 
 ment School of Design, Royal Dublin Society. After 
 lying for some years in Newgate, Cox was at last bought 
 over. He resided for awhile in the house No. 12 Clar- 
 ence Street, off Summer Hill, which still goes by the 
 name of ' Cox's Cot,' and his name appears on some old 
 leases connected with that quarter. He finally retired to 
 Finglas, where he spent many years, and mixed much in 
 the sports and May-pole amusements of that old village. 
 I am hunting for some information concerning his lat- 
 ter days, and I find that there is at present alive a 
 nephew of his, a working bricklayer." 
 
 Cox died in 183Y, having been prepared for 
 death by the Rev. Matthias Kelly, P. P. of St. 
 Margaret's, Finglas. From some letters of Cox, 
 not generally accessible, we select a few in illus- 
 tration of his epistolary style : 
 
 "New York, December 18th, 1819. 
 " MY DEAR FIUEXD : I am as uneasy as possible by re- 
 maining here, and I am determined to leave this hideous 
 climate and most detestable race of rascals, who call it 
 their own, and boast of it as a gift of Heaven, though the
 
 266 ADDENDA. 
 
 wretches are hardly out of school when they die of old 
 age or are swept away by the yellow fever, which has 
 not spared any one within the range of its devouring 
 limits on the sea coast, from Boston to New Orleans. 
 The last summer, I escaped by flying to Quebec, a dis- 
 tance of five hundred and sixty-two miles ; and from its 
 lofty walls I despatched a letter to you on the 12th of Oc- 
 tober, and returned here on the llth of November, to see 
 the sickly, wretched Yankees removing the fences that 
 inclosed a considerable portion of this city, when, in their 
 fright, they attempted to put limits to the common enemy, 
 as judiciously as the wise men of Gotham attempted to 
 keep in the sparrows by placing a strong railing round 
 their town. They have perished in thousands, and, in 
 my opinion, the j r ellow fever would confer a blessing on 
 the human race by continuing its capers. 
 
 " A work of interesting curiosity I have almost ready, 
 to consist of two volumes, which, if I live until summer, 
 will be in the Irish press. I have seen Mr. O'Connell's 
 letter to the Catholics, and have got it printed here. 
 There never was a better or more seasonable state 
 paper, a dignity it most eminently deserves. Remem- 
 ber me to your child ; to B. Tell Mr. James Crosbie, 
 attorney-general to toll-houses, that I hope he is alive 
 and well ; but, if he is dead, say nothing about it until I 
 call in person. 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " WALTER Cox. 
 
 "A considerable number of Dublin men are here, 
 captains, colonels, etc. , who ran away from Generals 
 D'Evereux and L'Estrange, and from the burning sands 
 of Margaritta, famine, and yellow fever, which the orators 
 and prophets of the Board of Health, instituted in Dublin 
 for taking care of sick friends at a distance, forgot to 
 predict." 
 
 Mr. Cox did not continue an O'Connellite. In 
 1835 we find him brought up before the magis- 
 trate at Arran Quay Police Office, charged by the 
 reverend gentlemen of Church Street Chapel with 
 having personally denounced in very violent lan- 
 guage the collection of the O'Connell Tribute, 
 during its progress in, the chapel yard.
 
 COX TURNED NOVELIST. 267 
 
 "New York, November 20th, 1819. 
 
 "I have determined to return home; nor em I pre- 
 pared, by my very sad experience, to encounter any 
 more of the frightful climate and other miseries inci- 
 dent to the infernal state of society in this country, 
 with the wretched penury to be met with in all parts 
 of this land. 
 
 " You may conceive some faint idea of the health of 
 this place, vyhen I assure you even New York, the most 
 salubrious city here, was entirely reduced to a solitude 
 during the last summer, which, to avoid, I made a most 
 expensive excursion to Quebec, a distance of five hun- 
 dred and seventy miles. Not an Irishman in Savannah 
 that did not fall a victim to the yellow fever, among 
 them Mr. John Walsh, late of Usher's Quay, and his son 
 and daughter ; not an acre of ground occupied by white 
 men, in this extensive region, that did not feel the 
 scourge of every species of fever hitherto known, be- 
 sides thousands of a new variety. 
 
 " Cobbett has gone home ; and then surely I may ven- 
 ture, as I would prefer the dry gallows at home to an 
 inglorious sweating death under American blankets. 
 
 "P. S. I will have ready for publication, on my ar- 
 rival, a novel in true Irish style, which, I will venture 
 to say, will be much superior, in originality, style, and 
 composition, to any of Lady Morgan's. What will the 
 world say when it is known I am turned novelist? 
 Laughable, certainly, but true, as the existence of 
 Essex Bridge. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "WALTEK COX." 
 
 We are not aware that the formidable rival to 
 O'Donnell and Florence MacGarthy ever appeared. 
 
 From other letters of Cox in our hands, we find 
 him in June, 1821, residing at " Ingouville, Havre 
 de Grace." He expresses himself in very lauda- 
 tory terms of La belle France ; invites some old 
 friends to visit him "for three months," and by 
 way of inducement promises no end of sparkling 
 champagne.
 
 268 ADDENDA. 
 
 N. 
 
 ABSTRACTION OF PAPERS FROM THE 
 CASTLE ARCHIVES. 
 
 WE have received from Mr. S. Redmond, a re- 
 spectable gentleman connected for many years, 
 first with the Irish, and later with the English 
 press, the following letter, correcting the ac- 
 count given at p. 131, ante, of the disappearance 
 from the Castle archives of the Secret Service 
 Money Book, It is right to premise, however, 
 that having submitted .Mr. Redmond's letter to 
 Charles Haliday, Esq., J. P., perhaps the most 
 extensive collector of rare and curious books 
 illustrative of Irish history, he informs me that 
 the Secret Service Money Book is in his keeping, 
 and that Mr. Redmond's impression is somewhat 
 erroneous. Mr. Redmond was a very young man 
 in 1838, and probably the story told him did not 
 lose in the carriage by Mr. Byrne. "The Secret 
 Service Money Book," writes Mr. Haliday, "was 
 sold with other very curious documents as waste 
 paper." 
 
 " 46 Salisbury Street, Liverpool, 
 
 22d October. 
 
 " Sut : Although I have not the honor of your personal 
 acquaintance, I am very well aware of your name and 
 character. I trust you will excuse me for addressing 
 you on a subject which you have ventilated, and which 
 is of deep historical interest. It is in reference to the 
 
 foot note referring to what your friend, Dr. , told 
 
 about the Secret Service Money Book. Perhaps the fol- 
 lowing facts may be of use to you, and, if so, you are at 
 liberty to make any use you think proper of them. The 
 document in question was not ' cleared out and sold ' by 
 any official in the Castle ; it was stolen, with some other 
 valuable documents, but it came into the hands of poor
 
 SECRET SERVICE MONEY BOOK. 269 
 
 John Fagan in an honest and legitimate manner. He 
 kept a stall at the corner of Off Lane and Henry Street, 
 and was a man of great natural intelligence, had a limited 
 education, but improved it wonderfully by self-culture. 
 The doctor, I think, has made a mistake by stating that 
 it was publicly exhibited for sale. No man in the world 
 knew the value of such a document better than poor 
 Fagan. He showed it to Mr. Edward Byrne (since 
 dead), who kept a tavern at No. 6 Capel Street. I was 
 then a very young man, connected with the reporting 
 staff of the Morning Register newspaper (and subse- 
 quently, for nearly ten years, on the Freeman's Journal}, 
 and Mr. Byrne sent for me and showed it to me. Al- 
 though young, I was immediately alive to the value of 
 the treasure that lay before me, and I at once resolved 
 to possess it. I appointed to meet Mr. Byrne arid Fagan 
 in the evening, and did so ; but imagine my surprise when 
 I found the treasure had flown. Mr. Byrne had taken it 
 back to the Castle ! Between the time I had seen him 
 in the forenoon and my visit that evening, a person from 
 the Castle called on Mr. Byrne, and threatened to have 
 him transported if he did not give up the document ! 
 Mr. B. was a very timid man, and at once proceeded to 
 the Castle and delivered it up. It seems that, in con- 
 sequence of the gossip raised by poor Fagan about it, it 
 was missed from the Castle, and hot search made after 
 it. The above is the result. This was in the latter end 
 of 1838 or beginning of '39. I have often regretted the 
 loss, for, had I got it, no pressure would have extracted 
 it from me. 
 
 " It may be interesting to you, when I state that many 
 of Lever's and Carleton's best stories are founded on 
 tales told them by Fagan. He was obliged to quit Dub- 
 lin in '48, and subsequently kept a book-stall at the 
 Custom-house here. He lost his life, with his wife and 
 three children, in a fire in the house where he lived, in 
 Shaw's Alley, in this town, three or four years ago. I 
 wrote a short memoir of him in the journal to which 
 1 am attached. The public raised a handsome monument 
 to the family, in St. Anne's Church, Edge Hill. 
 
 " I have frequently seen the slab (a black stone, either 
 marble or heavy, dark limestone) .over the grave of 
 Higgins, in Kilbarrack churchyard, but little did I think 
 who lay beneath it. The last time I saw it (some years
 
 270 ADDENDA. 
 
 ago), it was partly on its side, apparently turned over. 
 What a gigantic scoundrel he was I and to have done 
 such a multiplicity of novel villanies in a life, compara- 
 tively short, surpasses comprehension. One would think 
 that, to conceive and mature such an amount of hell-born 
 crimes would have taken a couple of centuries ; but when 
 we find a human being capable of acting them, and dying 
 at fifty-five, our astonishment becomes altogether lost. 
 Poor Magee ! ought he not have a statue some place about 
 College Green? Fearfully as I felt my gorge rise at the 
 treble-dyed damnation of Iscariot Higgins, I must say, 
 with the utmost sincerity, that in all my life I never en- 
 joyed such hearty laughter as I did at the description of 
 the fetes at Fiat Hill ; and when I meet with any one 
 troubled with the hips, I shall turn doctor and order the 
 patient to read that part of the work twice, and I will 
 insure him a radical cure. Many a day have I gambolled 
 about these spots, little thinking that the ground was 
 sacred to Olympic pig races, or that I would, in this coun- 
 try (to use a well-known phrase), nearly burst my sides 
 reading of the scenes that were enacted on that now 
 memorable hill. 
 
 "I am, etc., 
 
 " SYLVESTER REDMOND." 
 
 Mr. Haliday, as we have said, is positive in his 
 impression that the document in question, with 
 many other curious manuscripts, long preserved 
 in the archives of the Castle, were sold as waste 
 paper. The Duke of Welling-ton, in his Irish 
 correspondence, more than once- complains of the 
 abstraction of papers from their legitimate reposi- 
 tory. Among the curious papers alluded to by 
 Mr. Haliday is a voluminous correspondence be- 
 tween influential persons and viceroys of the day, 
 soliciting place, promotion, pay, and patronage. 
 One letter from Compton Domvile, Esq., M. P., 
 of Santry House, addressed to the Duke of Rich- 
 mond, asks for the peerage of Santry. The lord 
 lieutenant writes across the letter : " A modest re- 
 quest I Answer this letter evasively. Richmond."
 
 HELL-FIRE CLUB. 271 
 
 But, however, the application was not, after all, 
 very unreasonable ; for an ancestor of Mr. Dora- 
 vile possessed the peerage of Santry, which he 
 lost, according- to O'Reilly's Reminiscences of an 
 Emigrant Milesian, * from having at a meeting of 
 the Hell-Fire Club, in Saul's Court, Fishamble 
 Street, compelled an unfortunate man to swallow 
 brandy until his throat filled to overflow, when a 
 lighted match was applied, and the sufferer slowly 
 blazed into eternity ! f But what little reliance 
 can be placed upon hearsay stories, and how 
 likely men are, after the lapse of many years, to 
 confound the details of utterly distinct incidents, 
 is exhibited in this Reminiscence. Lord Santry 
 was tried by his peers, not for this diabolical 
 escapade, which, we believe, he never committed, 
 but for having, at the village of Palmerstown, 
 stabbed a man named Loughlin Murphy, who 
 died of his wound on September 25th, 1738. The 
 report of his trial is now before us. Lord Santry 
 was sentenced to death ; but there is an authen- 
 tic tradition to the effect that his cousin, Mr. 
 Compton Domvile, having threatened to deprive 
 Dublin of water, the noble convict was pardoned 
 by the viceroy. The title, however, was forfeited, 
 and Lord Santry's estates passed to Sir Compton 
 Domvile. 
 
 It may be asked, how Mr. Domvile could de- 
 prive* Dublin of water. The supply came from 
 the Dodder at Templeogue, and ran through the 
 Domvile property. By damming up or turning off 
 this stream, which then was the sole conduit of 
 
 * Vol. iii., p. 290. 
 
 t The Hell-Fire Club of Dublin was succeeded by the Chero- 
 kee Club. The late Mr. John Patten told us that the late esti- 
 mable Earl of Charleraont was a member of it, and dressed in 
 red and black, the devil's livery I -Lords Ormond, Enniskil- 
 Icn, and Llandaff also belonged to it.
 
 272 ADDENDA. 
 
 supply to the Earl of Meath's Liberty and Dublin 
 city, formidable inconveniences could not fail to 
 arise. 
 
 The corporate records are said to contain some 
 curious details of a quarrel in which Mr. Compton 
 Domvile and the executive were occasionally en- 
 gaged. It was more than once brought to a crisis 
 by Mr. Domvile cutting off the water supply, 
 sometimes in pique, sometimes in salutary press- 
 ure on the powers that were. On one occasion, 
 as we are assured by an officer of the corporation, 
 the lord lieutenant was constrained to send out 
 horse and foot, and forcibly wrest the water from 
 the 'custody of Domvile's retainers. In 1775 the' 
 insufficiency of the supply from the Dodder, which 
 for several centuries was the sole resource of Dub- 
 lin, led the corporation to resort to the Grand Ca- 
 nal. But matters were not much mended by the 
 change. Dr. W , of Dublin, who is still living, 
 saw the troops cut the canal, when, owing to a dis- 
 pute, the directors refused to continue to give 
 water. A pure and abundant supply of soft wa- 
 ter was long desired by Dublin, and this boon has 
 been recently obtained for it through the energy 
 of Sir John Gray. 
 
 0. 
 TREASON IN ULSTER, HOULTON. 
 
 THE repeated mention of Houlton's name ia 
 the history of the Sham Squire leads to the query 
 whether the miscreant named Houlton, described 
 by Plowden as having personated a Rebel gen- 
 eral in 1798, was connected with the colleague of
 
 A CUNNING RUSE SPOILED. 273 
 
 Francis Higgins. Mr. Houlton, after an interview 
 with the Irish Privy Council, Lord Redesdale pre- 
 siding, was equipped with a superb Rebel uni- 
 form, including a cocked hat and feathers, which 
 was paid for by government, and sent on a mis- 
 sion to Belfast, to tempt, to proselytize, to dupe, 
 and to betray.* An orderly dragoon repaired 
 with instructions to General Sir Charles Ross, 
 who commanded in Belfast, that Houlton was 
 a confidential servant of the government, and 
 on no account to be molested. Houlton, how- 
 ever, having set off on his mission in a post-chaise 
 and four, arrived at Belfast long before the advice 
 of his advent, and the result was that, when in 
 the act of spouting treason with startling volu- 
 bility at a tavern, Houlton was arrested by the 
 local authorities, paraded in his uniform round 
 the town, and sent back under a strong guard 
 to Dublin. f 
 
 A fine field for the profitable pastime of be- 
 trayal was spoiled by this contrariety. The north 
 of Ireland, at one time ripe for revolt, never rose. 
 Some interesting papers, formerly in the posses- 
 sion of General Nugent, who had the chief com- 
 mand in the north, are now in our hands, and 
 reveal the formidable length to which the organ- 
 ization reached in Ulster. 
 
 The conspiracy was not confined to the men 
 who had nothing to lose. Among those who 
 staked their lives and fortunes on its issue was 
 Mr. Stewart, of Acton, a gentleman of large 
 property, noticed at considerable length in the 
 
 * In the interval which elapsed between the French expedi- 
 tion to Bantry Bay and their arrival at Killala, the Mayor of 
 Drogheda hired a staff of spies, whom he dressed up in t rencl 
 uniforms, and despatched through the country to entrap the 
 unwary peasantry. 
 
 t Pout- Union 3istory,vol. i., p. 223. 
 18
 
 274 ADDENDA. 
 
 "private and secret" letters of Under- Secretary 
 Cooke, addressed to Lord Castlereagh, and pub- 
 lished in the correspondence of the latter. * 
 
 The letters in question boast of possessing in- 
 formation calculated to criminate Mr. Stewart, but 
 the details are not given, or even the substance of 
 the information. The following letters are now 
 printed for the first time. Lord Castlereagh 's, 
 we may here remark, was inclosed in the larger 
 communication addressed by Lord William Ben- 
 tinck to General Nugent, commander-in-chief in 
 Ulster. 
 
 " Dublin Castle, June 24th. 
 
 " MY LORD : The information upon which I granted a 
 warrant against Mr. Stewart, stated him, a very short 
 time previous to the rebellion, to have accepted the 
 situation of adjutant-general for the county of Armagh 
 in the Rebel army. 
 
 " Your lordship's knowledge of the public mind of the 
 north confirms me in a hope I have for some time enter- 
 tained, that there has a satutary change of 'sentiment 
 taken place amongst the Dissenters. I am not sanguine 
 enough to hope that Mr. Stewart can, in so short a space 
 of time, have become 'a good subject; however, under 
 all the circumstances, it appears to me desirable that 
 Mr. S. should, at least for the present, remain at large, 
 under his bail, as taken by your lordship. Should any 
 circumstance arise to make it advisable to proceed other- 
 wise, I shall have the honor of communicating on the 
 subject with your lordship before any steps are taken. 
 " I have the honor to be, 
 
 "Your lordship's very obedient servant, 
 
 " CASTLEREAGH. 
 
 " To Lord William Bentinck." 
 
 " Armagh, July 27th, 1798. 
 
 "DEAR GENERAL NUGENT: I send under the charge 
 of one of our quartermasters, Mr. Stewart, a prisoner 
 
 * Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh. vol. 1., pp. 
 253, 2(50. See also the Personal Jtecollectiona of Lord Cloncurry, 
 second edition, pp. 6i, 66.
 
 STEWART Of ACTON. 275 
 
 who was a man of very good property at the time he was 
 apprehended under a warrant from Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 "I was at the time so convinced that all the leading 
 people of this town whom I had known to be violent 
 United Irishmen about a year and a half ago, with the 
 exception of one or two, had now changed their opinion, 
 that upon their offer of very large bail I. took upon my- 
 self to liberate him, and informed Lord Castlereagh that 
 I had done so. And it is my opinion that the having 
 liberated this man when I did contributed very much to 
 keep the people here in good humor, and, as far as I can 
 learn, they never had any Intention of rising. Mr. 
 Stewart confessed to me privately that he was an United 
 Irishman, which confession appears to me as being 
 unnecessary and infamous to himself is a proof of his 
 innocence as to an insurrection. I send you Lord Castle- 
 reagh's letter to me. When I liberated him, I of course 
 knew nothing of the charge against him, and since his 
 release I cannot discover that he has been concerned in 
 any way whatever with the Rebels. 
 
 "You have a man of the name of Jackson at Belfast 
 whom I apprehended here, and against whom, by a letter 
 from a Mr. Hamilton at Belfast, there appear to be no 
 charges. It is of very material importance to the tran- 
 quillity of this part of the country that he should not 
 return. He has always been remarkably active among 
 the people ; he is in all particulars very like Munro, who 
 was hanged at Lisburn. He is the great leader here. 
 " I am, dear general, yours truly, 
 
 "W. BENTTNCK." 
 
 "Lisburn, June 27th, 1798. 
 
 " SIR : I am directed by Major-General Goldie to send 
 to you, to Belfast, William Kean, a man who acted as 
 aide-de-camp to Munro, and who was formerly a clerk in 
 the Star* office at Belfast. James Petticrew, Robert 
 Fullerton, Charles Keanan, and John Sinclare, all pris- 
 oners, are positive evidence against him; Hugh Orr and 
 Christopher Williamson, likewise prisoners, are circum- 
 stantial evidence against Kean. When Kean's trial is 
 over, the general wishes you to send back these evi- 
 dences, as they give information against people who are 
 confined here. Hugh Reid is likewise sent ; but the gen- 
 
 * The Northern Star, edited by Samuel Neilson.
 
 276 ADDENDA. 
 
 eral desires me to say that he does not wish that this 
 man should be brought to trial, as he is a very principal 
 evidence against many people ; and you will be so good 
 as to send him up here when you are done with him. A 
 man of the name of Fleeting is likewise sent, who says 
 that he was employed by Dulry, who is now on trial with 
 * you, to make pikes, for whom he made about fourteen. 
 Please to send him back when Dulry's trial is over. 
 "I have the honor to be, sir, etc., 
 
 "ALEX. MCAULEY, M. B." 
 
 " Antrim, December 20th, 1798. 
 
 " DEAR GENERAL : I inclose the examination against 
 the man who was sent to Belfast yesterday, of the name 
 of Duggan. The person who gave it may be heard of 
 from Mr. MacGuicken, at the sign of the Cock, in this 
 place. 
 
 " I have also inclosed a state of our ammunition, and 
 an application to have the deficiency made up. 
 
 " Information has just been given me of an intended 
 meeting near Donegal Moat, about four miles from 
 here, this evening. I shall send out a party, which I 
 hope will be successful. 
 
 " I remain, dear general, etc., 
 
 "D. LESLIE." 
 
 DUGGAN THE INFORMER. 
 
 THE allusion to Duggan and MacGuicken, in the 
 foregoing letter, reminds us that of both we have 
 something curious to tell. 
 
 MacGuicken, already alluded to, and to whom 
 we promised to return, invariably acted as solic- 
 itor to the United Irishmen. He performed with 
 much skill the part of an ardent patriot, possessed 
 the entire confidence of the popular party, was a 
 member of the Northern Directory of United Irish- 
 men, and, long subsequent to 1798, spoke with 
 much spirit at Catholic meetings. The Cornwallis 
 Papers confirm the almost incredible statement,
 
 MACGTJICKEX THE INFORMER. 277 
 
 that MacGuicken revealed to the government, for 
 money, the secrets of his clients and friends. In 
 the trials which followed the partial outbreak of 
 1798, MacGuicken constantly figured as legal ad- 
 viser for the Rebel leaders of Ulster. This man 
 was, as we have said, tampered with, corrupted, 
 and eventually pensioned. He survived until 
 1817. Exclusive of his pension, he received, as 
 gentle stimulants, various sums amounting alto- 
 gether to nearly 1,500. 
 
 Mr. John Murray, of Downpatrick, in a letter 
 dated December 26th, 1865, thus refers to Mac- 
 Guicken : 
 
 
 
 "I knew MacGnicken well; he was an attorney, and 
 kept his office in Fountain Lane, Belfast. Such was the 
 plausibility of the villain that he ^v,as able to pass him- 
 self off as a philanthropist as well as a patriot, and as 
 such actually joined with Dr. Drennan, Charles Hamilton 
 Teeling, Putmau McCabe, Stephen Wall, Joe Smyth, and 
 others, on the managing committee of the Cotton Court 
 Sunday School, an excellent establishment, by the 
 way, and precursor of Sunday schools in Belfast. Mac- 
 Guicken was also a member of the Belfast Harp Society. 
 
 "In the memorable year of 1811, when Ireland was 
 agitated from centre to sea, when a Tory government 
 attempted to restrict the sacred and inalienable right of 
 petition for redress of grievance, it was then the Cath- 
 olics of this country rose In their might and boldly flung 
 in the teeth of their rulers the daring circular of Welles- 
 ley Pole. The Catholics of Antrim held their county 
 meeting in St. Patrick's Church, Belfast, when the arch- 
 traitor, who had ingratiated himself into the respect of 
 his countrymen, was actually chosen secretary to that 
 meeting. 
 
 "The impress of his personal appearance remains 
 fixed on my mind as of yesterday, as I saw him, pen in 
 hand, .sit beside the noble chairman, who, with numerous 
 Protestants and Presbyterians, generously came forward 
 to assist us at that critical period. 
 
 " As to the exit of MacGuicken, If only one-half of 
 what is said of him be true, his latter end was even more
 
 278 ADDENDA. 
 
 miserable than that of Jemmy O'Brien himself. No doubt 
 Jemmy was ready to ' dip the Evangelists in blood'; but 
 here was a wretch even worse, who, in addition, set eveiy 
 principle of honor and justice at defiance." 
 
 Bernard Duggan, a native of Tyrone, took a 
 leading part in the rebellions of 1798 and 1803. 
 Sir Richard Musgrave describes him as mounted 
 on a white horse at the battle of Prosperous, 
 and boasting that he was as good a man as the 
 military commandant of that district, Captain 
 Swayne. In Robert Emmet's conspiracy of 1803, 
 Duggan was a zealous ally. He wrote a narra- 
 tive of his connection with that movement, and 
 presented it to Mr. John C. O'Callaghan, who 
 has kindly rianded it to us for publication. Dug- 
 gan was arrested and imprisoned ; but he seems 
 to have made terms with the government : no 
 trial took place, and he was set at large "like 
 a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour." 
 For forty years subsequently, we find Duggan 
 regarded by the National party as a venerable 
 and uncompromising patriot. It awakens pain- 
 ful emotions to attempt to estimate the extent 
 of the mischief of which this hoary-headed wretch 
 was the father. It must, indeed, have been enor- 
 mous ; but, thanks to the vigilance of Dr. (now 
 Sir John) Gray, Duggan was at last unmasked. 
 On August 25th, 1858, we noted some interesting 
 facts regarding this discovery, communicated to 
 us in conversation by Sir. John Gray, who, in 
 reply to a question from us as to whether we 
 are at liberty to publish them, is good enough 
 to reply affirmatively. We append the original 
 jottings, which Sir John Gray pronounces to be 
 perfectly accurate : 
 
 Spoke of the receipts for secret service money. 
 Dr. Gray went to Connaught in 1843, to see his
 
 A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 279 
 
 father, who was ill, and called on the Rev. Joseph 
 Darcy Sirr, Rector of Kilcoleman, biographer of 
 Archbishop Trench, and son of the notorious Ma- 
 jor Sirr. Dr. Gray found him examining a mass 
 of old documents spread over his study table. 
 'Here, you Rebel Repealer,"* said Mr. Sirr, 
 playfully, "some of these will interest you: they 
 are chiefly the communications of informers to 
 my late father." Dr. Gray read some of them 
 over, and having observed one particular letter, 
 he started, saying, " I have seen that handwrit- 
 ing before ; can you tell me who is ' D.' ? " The 
 letter, communicating the result of some merce- 
 nary espionage to the major, was merely signed 
 "D." "There are many other letters from the 
 same party," observed Mr. Sirr. "I cannot dis- 
 cover who he can be ; his letters extend over 
 upwards of thirty years, and I think the writer 
 has not less than thirty aliases. He was a most 
 remarkable man ; and if you wish to unravel the 
 mystery, you can have all facilities, so send home 
 your conveyance, and remain for the day." Dr. 
 Gray embraced the proposal, and devoted several 
 hours to following up the scent. He was familiar 
 with the writing, though he could not recal to 
 mind the name or individuality of the writer. At 
 last a receipt for a small amount was discovered, 
 
 * Repealer and Rebel were not unfrequently regarded as 
 synonymous words, and the organs of Earl de Grey and the 
 Orangemen urged, in prose and verse, that the Repealers 
 Hhould 1><> dealt with as Lords Camden, Castlereagh, and Clare 
 dealt with the United Irishmen. In November, Ii3, the Packet 
 sang: 
 
 " These, these are the secrets 
 
 Of peace in our land, 
 The scourge for the buck, 
 
 For the forehead tho brand; 
 The chain for the neck, 
 
 And the gives for the heel; 
 Till the SCAFFOLD lets loose 
 The base blood of Kepeal I "
 
 280 ADDENDA. 
 
 signed "B. Duggan," the date of which was 
 about 1806. Dr. Gray, in ecstacy, exclaimed : 
 "I have him! I know him well! he was with 
 me yesterday!" "Impossible," cried Mr. Sirr, 
 "he must be dead long since." A comparison of 
 the handwriting left no doubt as tq the identity 
 of the scoundrel. The spy, who had grown hoary, 
 and to all outward appearance venerable, in his 
 infamous employment, had repeatedly addressed 
 letters to Dr. Gray, breathing a strong spirit of 
 patriotism and nationality. Dr. Gray, as editor 
 of a highly influential organ of O'Connell's policy, 
 was specially marked out for game by the design- 
 ing Duggan, who, for forty years, enjoyed the 
 reputation of an earnest and zealous patriot, was 
 even entertained at dinner by a member of the 
 Catholic Association, and contrived to insinuate 
 himself into the confidence of many of the Na- 
 tional party. 
 
 He was introduced by letter to Dr. Gray, by a 
 leading member of the Young Ireland section of 
 the Repeal Association Committee, who described 
 him as a Rebel of '98, who could assist Dr. Gray, 
 by his personal memory of events, in perfecting 
 some notes on the History of the United Irishmen, 
 on which Dr. Gray was then engaged. Dr. Gray 
 soon ascertained that Duggan possessed much 
 traditionary knowledge of the events and of the 
 men of the period, and gave Duggan a small 
 weekly stipend for writing his "personal recol- 
 lections." He observed before long that Dug- 
 gan's Tisits became needlessly frequent, and that 
 he almost invariably endeavored to diverge from 
 '98 and make suggestions as to '43. This tendency 
 excited more amusement than suspicion, and the 
 first real doubt as to the true character of Dug-
 
 EXPOSURE COMING. 281 
 
 gan was suggested to his mind thus : Duggan 
 said he was about to commence business, and was 
 collecting some subscriptions. Dr. Gray handed 
 him two pounds, and Duggan at once produced 
 a sheet of blank paper, saying: "I will have 
 twenty pounds in three days, if you write the 
 names of ten or twelve gentlemen on whom I may 
 call : they won't refuse if they see their names in 
 your handwriting." * Almost in the same breath 
 he named half-a-dozen members of the Repeal 
 Association, most of them members of the Young 
 Ireland section, adding: "I know these gentle- 
 men will aid me for all I suffered since '98." The 
 former efforts of Duggan to get into conversation 
 as to present politics at once flashed across the 
 doctor's memory, and he politely declined to 
 write the required list, which, possibly, was de- 
 signed by Duggan and his abettors to flourish at 
 some future state trial as the veritable list of the 
 provisional government of Ireland, in the hand- 
 writing of the proposer of the project for forming 
 arbitration courts throughout Ireland as substi- 
 tutes for the local tribunals, that were deprived 
 of popular confidence by the dismissal of all magis- 
 trates who were Repealers. It was during the 
 same week that Dr. Gray discovered Duggan's 
 real character in the course of the visit to the 
 parsonage, already described. All the facts, as 
 here given, were rapidly told to his reverend 
 friend, who, ascribing the discovery to a special 
 providence, begged the "life" of Duggan, ex- 
 plaining that the papers before him showed that 
 the fate of detected informers in '98 was death. 
 The sincerity with which the good parson pleaded 
 for the life of Duggan was a most amusing episode 
 
 * Mr. OCallaghan In forms us that Duggan also solicited frfrn 
 to aillx his signature to a document.
 
 282 ADDENDA. 
 
 in the little drama. His fears were, however, soon 
 allayed by the assurance that. Dr. Gray belonged 
 to the O'Connell section of politicians, and that 
 the only punishment that awaited Duggan was 
 exposure. The parson would not be convinced, 
 and, under the plea that Dr. Gray was allowed as 
 a private friend to see the papers that convicted 
 Duggan, he extorted a promise that there should 
 be no public exposure of Duggan, but allowed 
 Dr. Gray, within this limit, to use the information 
 he acquired at his own discretion. 
 
 Duggan was, in truth, a master of duplicity. 
 In the Sirr papers he is found writing under 
 various signatures. " At one time," said Dr. 
 Gray, " he personated a priest, and on other 
 occasions a pedler and a smuggler. He wrote to 
 Major Sirr for a hogshead of tobacco, arid for 15 
 to buy a case of pistols for personal protection. 
 In one year alone he got 500." 
 
 "As soon/' added Dr. Gray, "as I discovered 
 the character of this base "spy I returned to Dub- 
 lin, and lost no time in apprising Duffy, Davis, 
 Pigot, O'Callaghan, and every member of the 
 National party, of the precipice on which they 
 stood, and undertook to O'Connell that I would 
 cause Duggan to make himself scarce without 
 violating my promise to Mr. Sirr that he should 
 not be exposed to public indignation." 
 
 A letter addressed to us on August 20th, 1865, 
 by Mr. Martin Haverty, the able author of The 
 History of Ireland, Ancient and Modern, supplies 
 an interesting paragraph on the point we are now 
 handling : 
 
 " One day, during the memorable Repeal year, 1843, 
 Sir John Gray invited me to breakfast, telling rue that I 
 should meet a very singular character, a relic of '98, 
 but intimating that he had his doubts about this person,
 
 THE SPY'S OCCUPATION GONE. 283 
 
 and that the object of my visit was chiefly that their 
 interview should not be without a witness. 
 
 " I may tell you that I never belonged to any political 
 party in Ireland. I always felt an innate repugnance for 
 the manner, principles, etc., of the Young Irelanders, and 
 was convinced that I loved my country at least as sin- 
 cerely, tenderly, and ardently as any of them. I never 
 had much faith in mere politicians, though my sympathies 
 were O'Connellite, and Sir John Gray had perfect con- 
 fidence in me. 
 
 " We were after breakfast when Bernard Dnggan was 
 brought into the room. I was introduced to him as a 
 friend of Ireland before whom he might speak freely. 
 It was easy enough to bring him <5ut. He spoke at ran- 
 dom about the pike-training in '98; that the people were 
 now ready enough to flght, they only wanted to be 
 called out, and the pike was the best thing for them. 
 He appeared to me ridiculously sanguine of success, and 
 to regard the men of the present day as poltroons for 
 not taking the field. 
 
 " I believe I am too ' green ' to detect dishonesty very 
 readily ; and the first impression the scoundrel made on 
 me was twofold, that he was a singularly hale old fel- 
 low for his age, and that he was an infatuated old fool ; 
 but, if I could have felt sure that he was an informer, I 
 would have shrunk from him as from a murderer. Sir 
 John Gray evidently understood the fellow better, and 
 seemed perfectly able for him." 
 
 The grand finale of this curious episode remains 
 to be told. A short time after he introduced Dug- 
 gan to Mr. Haverty, and after the old spy had time 
 to develop the views indicated in Mr. Haverty 'a 
 letter, the doctor suddenly, with his eye fixed on 
 him, as though he could read his inmost soul, ex- 
 claimed : " Barney, you think I do not know you. 
 I know you better than you know yourself. Do 
 you remember when you were dressed as a priest 
 at Dundalk ? " He writhed, and tried to turn the 
 conversation. Dr. Gray probed and stabbed him, 
 one by one, with all the points which he had 
 gathered from the informer's own letters to Sirr.
 
 284 ADDENDA. 
 
 It was pitiable to watch the struggles and agonies 
 of the old man ; he was ghastly pale, and he 
 shook in every nerve. He finally lost all self- 
 command, and flung himself on his knees at the 
 feet of Dr. Gray, imploring mercy. He seemed 
 to think that pikemen were outside ready to rush 
 in and kill him. "Give me," he said, "but 
 twelve hours : I will leave the country, and you 
 will never see me again ! " He tottered froni the 
 room, left Ireland, and did not return for many 
 years. Amongst .his first visits was one to Dr. 
 Gray, to whom he confessed his guilt, adding 
 that he was near his end. He received some tri- 
 fling relief, and shortly after died. 
 
 Preserved with Duggari's letters to Sirr, a note 
 in the autograph of the latter exists, stating that 
 Duggan, no doubt, shot Mr. Darragh, Terrorist, 
 at his own hall-door, in 1191, when in the act of 
 pretending to hand him a letter ; and further, 
 that Duggan was the man who attempted the life 
 of Mr. Clarke, in Dublin, on July 22d, 1803. In 
 the London Courier, of the 30th July following, 
 we find this paragraph in a letter from Dublin, 
 descriptive of the then state of Ireland : 
 
 " Mr. Clarke, of Palmerstown, a magistrate of the 
 county of Dublin, as he was returning from his attend- 
 ance at the Castle, was fired at, on the quay, and dan- 
 gerously wounded, several slugs having been lodged in 
 his shoulder and breast. The villain who discharged 
 the blunderbus at Mr. Clarke immediately cried out, 
 'Where did you come from now?' It appears that two 
 of them, taken by Mr. Justice Bell and Mr. Wilson, were 
 residents in the neighborhood of Mr. Clarke, and had 
 come to this city from Palmerstown." 
 
 That the man who, in 1803, was overflowing 
 with indignant disgust at the idea of a magistrate 
 discharging his duty by communicating at the
 
 THE LIBERTY RANGERS. 285 
 
 Castle news of seditious proceedings, should sud- 
 denly tergiversate, and, throughout a period of 
 nearly half a century, become a mercenary spy 
 to the Castle, opens a wide field for thought to 
 those who like to study weak humanity. 
 
 We rather think that the Ion? letter published 
 in the Duke of Wellington's Irisn correspondence, 
 dated Nenagh, 6th February, 1808, is from Dug- 
 gan. The letter is addressed to an understrapper 
 of the Castle, not to the duke, who, however, 
 prefaces it b'y saying that it "comes from a man 
 who was sent into the counties of Tipperary and 
 Limerick to inquire respecting the organization of 
 Liberty Rangers." "They are damned cunning 
 in letting any stranger know anything of their 
 doings," writes the spy. " I assure you I could 
 not find anything of their secrets, though I have 
 tried every artifice, by avowing myself an utter 
 enemy to the present constitution, and even drink- 
 ing seditious toasts, though they seemed to like 
 me for so doing, and still I could not make any 
 hand of them anywhere, more than to find they 
 are actually inclined to rebellion in every quarter 
 of the country through which I have passed. 
 Even in the mountains they are as bad as in the 
 towns." 
 
 Duggan, during the political excitement of the 
 Repeal year, contrived to get himself introduced 
 to many of the popular leaders ; and when the 
 intervention of a mutual friend was not attain- 
 able, he waived ceremony and introduced himself. 
 Among others on whom he called in this way was 
 John Cornelius O'Callaghan, author of the Green 
 Book, and designer of the Repeal cards, to whom 
 the attorney-general made special reference in the 
 state trials of that time. Mr. O'Callaghan did
 
 286 ADDENDA. 
 
 not give Duggan much encouragement; but, in 
 order to strengthen his footing, Duggan presented 
 him with the following MS., written entirely in 
 his own hand, which is now published for the first 
 time. The reader must bear in mind that the 
 writer was originally an humble atisan, who had 
 received no education beyond that furnished by a 
 hedge school. 
 
 It will be observed that he speaks of himself 
 throughout, not in the first person, but as " Ber- 
 nard O'Dougan." 
 
 PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF BERNARD DUGGAN. 
 
 " At the time that Mr. Robert Emmet commenced his 
 preparations for a revolution in Ireland, in the year 1803, 
 he was after returning from France, and there came a 
 few gentlemen along with him, Mr. Russell, and Coun- 
 sellor Hamilton,* and Michael Quigley,f who had been 
 nominated one of the Rebel captains of 1798, and had 
 signed the treaty of peace along with the other officers 
 of the Rebel party of the camp that lay at Prosperous, 
 in the county of Kildare ; where the Wexford and Wick- 
 low men came and met the Kildare men, who were all 
 invited by a flag of truce from government, and hostages 
 given by the generals of the king's troops, namely, Major 
 Cope and Captain Courtney, of the Armagh Militia, who 
 were kept in custody and in charge with Bernard Dougan 
 for the space of two hours, until eighteen of the Rebel 
 officers of the Wexford, Wicklow, and Kildare, returned 
 back after signing the articles of peace which was then 
 concluded between the government and the people, and 
 which put an end to the rebellion. The conditions were, 
 a free pardon to all men acting in furtherance of the 
 rebellion, except officers, who were to give themselves 
 up to government, and to remain state prisoners until 
 
 * Dacre Hamilton is noticed in Moore's Memoirs (vol. i., p. 62), 
 as the attached friend of Emmet, though " innocent of his 
 plans." There can be little doubt, however, that, like llus^cll, 
 who lost his head, he was fully implicated in them. W. J. F. 
 
 t Quigley survived until the year 1849. Successive notices Of 
 him appear in the Nation of that year, p. 137, et seq.
 
 DUGGAN'S NARRATIVE. 287 
 
 government thought it safe to let them go into any 
 country they pleased, that was not in war with his 
 majesty, which conditions they had to sign, and it was 
 called the Banishment Bill. They got three days of a 
 parole of honor, to take leave of their friends, before 
 they gave themselves up as prisoners. The breach of 
 any part of these conditions was not only to forfeit their 
 pardon, but to be treated in any kind of way that the gov- 
 ernment should think proper. Now, Mr. Quigley broke 
 these articles when he returned to Ireland after signing 
 the Banishment Bill at his liberation and departure ac- 
 cording to agreement, which caused him to assume the 
 name of Graham in all companies, and none knew to 
 the reverse but his own companions who were in the de- 
 pot, and his particular acquaintances in the country, who 
 were all true to the cause of his return with Mr. Emmet ; 
 and none ever discovered or informed in any kind of way 
 previous to the failure of the efforts for freedom on the 
 23d of July, 1803, which caused great consternation to 
 the government. The secretary of state, Mr. Wickham, 
 cried out with astonishment, to think that such a prepara- 
 tion for revolution could be carried on in the very bosom 
 of the seat of government, without' discovery, for so 
 long a time, when any of the party could have made their 
 fortunes by a disclosure of the plot, and nrmarked at the 
 same time, in presence of Mr. Stafford, and the two Mr. 
 Parrots, John and William, that it was because they 
 were mostly all mechanical operatives, or working people 
 of the low order of society, that the thing was kept so 
 profound ; and said that if any or a number of the higher 
 orders of society had been connected, they would divulge 
 the plot for the sake of gain. These expressions occurred 
 at the Castle, when Quigley, Stafford, and the two Parrots 
 were brought prisoners to Dublin from Artfry, in the 
 county of Galway, where they fled to' after the death of 
 Mr. Emmet. Bernard O'Dougan was also at Artfry, but 
 had escaped from being arrested by hisgoing in a sail- 
 ing boat across the bay of Galway, to make out a place 
 of retirement for the whole party, five in number, until 
 they would get an account from Dublin, where they sent 
 a messenger, who had been arrested and detained a pris- 
 oner, although being a native of the county Galway, and 
 no way connected with Mr. Emmet, only going on a 
 message to Dublin for these five men, who passed off as
 
 288 ADDENDA. 
 
 bathers at the salt water. The messenger was only 
 known to some of the party where he was sent, and 
 could not be arrested without information of some of 
 that party, who have been found out since, and will be 
 treated of in another place. .. Mr. Emmet wished to get 
 acquainted with the men that distinguished themselves 
 most in the year 1798, and he was aware that Quigley 
 knew these men, which was one cause for bringing him 
 (Quigley) along with him from France. Mr. Emmet had 
 also the knowledge of the other men that had been in 
 confidence in the year 1798 as delegates, some of whom 
 he employed as agents to forward his plans. James 
 Hope, from Belfast, was one that he, perhaps, got an 
 account of from some of the United Irishmen that were 
 in France. Although Hope did not distinguish himself in 
 battle, he was trustworthy, and lived in Dublin at that 
 time ; he was a true patriot, and he was soon found out 
 for Mr. Emmet, and sent to Bernard O'Dougan, who 
 lived in Palmerstown. At this time, after O'D. had been 
 liberated out of Naas jail, where he had been a state pris- 
 oner, he was obliged to quit the county Kildare, where 
 he had been tried for high treason and the rebellion of 
 1798, the murder of Captain Swain, and the battle of Pros- 
 perous. These facts were sworn against him and an- 
 other, young man of the name of Thomas Wylde, and 
 proved to the satisfaction of the court, as may be seen 
 by Lord Longville's speech in the first parliament after 
 the union of Great Britain and Ireland, but were both 
 honorably acquitted by the Amnesty Act (though de- 
 tained as state prisoners), which had been framed 
 according to agreement of the peace between the gov- 
 ernment and the Rebels, as hath been explained here- 
 tofore. O'Dougan was called on also much at the same 
 time by Quigley and Wylde, on the same business as 
 Hope had with him, giving him to know what was 
 intended by Mr. Emmet. On this invitation, B. O'Dougan 
 came into Dublin and met Mr. Emmet's party. At the 
 same time there was but few in number, about five or 
 six ; but they were confident in the disposition of all 
 such of their countrymen, as far as their influence went, 
 which was not a little at that time, that they would have- 
 numbers to join their cause, and was the chief part that 
 did come at the day appointed. Henry Howley was 
 brought by O'Dougan, and Edward Condon also; H.
 
 DUGGAN'S NARRATIVE. 289 
 
 Howley took the dep6t in Thomas Street, with its en- 
 trance in Marshal Lane ; then John Bourk, of Naas, and 
 Richard Eustace, from the same place, and also a young 
 man of the name of Joseph White, from the county Kil- 
 dare, near Rathcoffey ; there was another person, of the 
 name of Christopher Nowlan. These men continued to 
 collect into the dep6t pikes from the different places 
 where the smiths would leave them concealed ; and also 
 to bring in the timber for the pike-handles ; and also the 
 powder and balls, and to make them into cartridges, and 
 put handles into the pikes. These men, for the most 
 part, were always attendant on the dep6t, preparing the 
 pikes and cartridges, and bringing in guns, pistols, and 
 blunderbusses, and all other requisites for rockets, etc. 
 Pat Finerty was also employed in the dep&t ; and occa- 
 sionally these men could bring several of their own par- 
 ticular friends into the depot, to help the manufacture 
 of cartridges and other preparations for rockets, making 
 pikes, and putting handles in them. O'Dougan, Bourk, 
 and Condon brought in the powder and balls from the 
 different places, but for the most part from Hinchey's, at 
 the corner of Cuffe Street, who was licensed for selling 
 gunpowder, and got it from the government stores, so 
 that there was a vast preparation ; and all things went on 
 well until the explosion of the depot in Patrick Street, 
 on the evening of the 16th, which deranged the projects 
 that were in contemplation. O'Dougan, Bourk, and Con- 
 don were ordered by Mr. Emmet to go down to Patrick 
 Street dep6t to get the rockets filled. It should be re- 
 marked that the men of the other dep6ts had no recourse 
 to the one in Thomas Street, but the particular men of 
 Thomas Street had recourse to all places ; and O'Dougan 
 often went as a guard to protect Mr. Emmet, lest he 
 should be surprised by any of Major Sirr's or any other 
 spy from government. O'Dougau was appointed aide-de- 
 camp to Mr. Emmet, but the circumstance of derange- 
 ment from the time of that explosion put everything in 
 confusion and disorder. When these three men came 
 into the dep6t in Patrick Street, the preparation was not 
 in readiness for the rockets, and many other disorders 
 existed, which caused O'Dougan, Bourk, and Condon to 
 return back to the dep6t in Thomas Street, as nothing 
 could be done at that time. It was Mclntosh and the 
 Keenans, Arthur Develin and George McDonald, and a 
 19
 
 290 ADDENDA. 
 
 few others, that were blown up at the time of the explo- 
 sion, some of whom expired in Madam Stevens's hospital 
 afterwards ; these were all in the depot, and it is a great 
 wonder they were not all blown up. O'Dougan, Bourk, 
 arid Condon were only about a quarter of an hour gone 
 when the explosion took place. It was occasioned by 
 the experiments trying on the fuses, to know the length 
 of time they would burn, and by neglect let the fire get 
 into the joint of the table, where there had been some 
 meal powder, which communicated to some saltpetre 
 that had been out all day before the sun drying, after it 
 had been purified, and which exploded, and almost burst 
 the house, and killed and wounded three, and was near 
 destroying all that were in the place. The other pow- 
 ders escaped the flame, and nearly all was got safe out 
 of the place unperceived, but was attacked by the watch- 
 men, who were soon knocked over. There were some 
 secret cells in the depot that were not found out until 
 after the arrest of Quigley, which will be treated of else- 
 where. Some of the men that belonged to the depot of 
 Patrick Street were brought prisoners to Thomas Street 
 depdt, and kept confined until the night of the 23d, par- 
 ticularly George McDonald ; but this shall be treated of 
 in another place. There was great apprehension enter- 
 tained for fear of discovery from that time of the explo- 
 sion, and there was great inquiry and look-out on the 
 part of Major Sirr and his satellites, which caused a 
 precipitant movement in Mr. Emmet's affairs. The men 
 in the different counties might have time to act, as their 
 look-out was the city of Dublin to free itself; but the 
 orders from the generals contiguous to the city, either 
 not having sufficient time to collect their men, or from 
 other neglect, prevented them from coming in according 
 to order and promise. Dwyer was to come with his 
 mountain battalions, and the Wexfords were to come in 
 thousands; but none of them made their appearance up 
 to four or five o'clock, nor any account of them ; none 
 showed their faces but the men of the county Kildare, 
 and part of the county Dublin that lay adjacent. They 
 came from Naas, Prosperous, and Kilcullin. a few from 
 Maynooth and Leixlip, and Lucan a few ; Palmerstown 
 turned out almost to a man. This was the place where 
 O'Dougan lived from the time of his liberation from 
 prison Ibr complicity in the rebellion of 1798, and he had
 
 DUGGAN'S NARRATIVE. 291 
 
 great influence among the people of that part of the 
 neighborhood of Dublin, and they were very much at- 
 tached to him ; and O'Dougan bad his friends on the 
 close look-out, knowing as he did the artfulness and 
 intrigue of government, being a state prisoner, where 
 experience teaches the depth of the artful schemes of 
 government, which no one can fathom except an expe- 
 rienced state prisoner or some supernatural intelligence 
 to instruct them.* O'Dougan was given to understand 
 that Mr. Clark f and Captain Willcock, two magistrates 
 of the county, were in the knowledge of what was going 
 on in Dublin by Mr. Emmet. O'Dougan immediately let 
 Mr. Emmet know of this; whereupon Eminet, seeing 
 how all the other expectations were likely to fail, which 
 they did, ordered O'Dougan to do it himself, which caused 
 him to take a few of the bravest men he had in confidence, 
 and placed some between the Castle and the barracks, to 
 stop any despatch from one to the other, and a guard 
 to keep any communication to or from the commander- 
 in-chief. There was but little time to be lost on either 
 side. The government had summoned a privy council 
 to deliberate on what was best to be done on their part. 
 Things came so sudden on them, it seems they did not 
 know well how to act until they would consult. Mr. 
 Emmet thought on taking the whole of the privy council 
 as they sat in the council chamber, J and accordingly 
 dispatched Henry Howley for six double coaches to carry 
 six men in each coach, making in all thirty-six, with 
 blunderbusses and short pikes that sprung out at full 
 length with brass ferrules on them, to keep them straight 
 at full extent; but when Howley was coming with the 
 first coach, and got as far as the lower end of Bridge-foot 
 
 * These observations are eminently rich when read in con- 
 junction with Duggan's real history. \V. J. F. 
 
 t See the attempt 011 the life of Mr. Clarke, by Duggan, p. 
 284. VV.J. F. 
 
 J This was not, after all, a very visionary scheme. Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald, in a narrative supplied to Dr. Madden, mentions that 
 he walked through the Castle yard at half-past seven o'clock 
 on the evening of Emmet's emevte. "There were no prepara- 
 tions ; the place was perfectly quiet and silent ; the gates were 
 wide open I " Charles Phillips, in Crr<m and his Contempo- 
 raries, says that, on the night of Emmet's outbreak, there was 
 not a single ball in the royal arsenal that would fit the artil- 
 lery. This apathetic neglect contrasts curiously with the 
 activity displayed in fortifying the Castle in 1848, and more 
 recently during the Fenian, conspiracy. W. J. F.
 
 292 ADDENDA. 
 
 Street, a circumstance occurred that deranged the whole 
 project. A soldier and a countryman had a dispute and 
 began to fight. Howley stopped to see how the fight 
 would end ; meantime Cornet Brown came up and took 
 part with the soldier; at seeing this, Henry Howley 
 opened the. coach and advanced to this interfering offi- 
 cer ; a struggle ensued, and Howley pulled out his pistol 
 and shot Cornet Brown on the spot, and suddenly per- 
 ceived a sergeant and a party of soldiers coming over 
 Queen's Bridge, which caused him to withdraw and leave 
 the coachman and coach there and then; it was then 
 getting late, and no time to procure the coaches. As the 
 business of the coaches was left to Howley, none else 
 was. sent, and all things seemed disappointment. A 
 trooper with despatches was killed in Thomas Street, 
 and also Lord Kilwarden. There appeared no better 
 way to Mr. Emmet and his staff than to retreat to the 
 country and make their escape. They had a little skir- 
 mish with the military at the upper end of Thomas Street 
 and Francis Street, and a little on the Coombe. There 
 were a few lives lost at their departure ; and they went 
 out of town as far as the mountain foot. At Balliuascor- 
 ney they separated. Mr. Robert Emmet returned into 
 town, and his staff repaired to the county Kildare. When 
 O'Dougan returned from his post, where he and his party 
 kept the pass, and cut off all communication to or ftyuu 
 the commander-in-chief, it was past eleven o'clock, and 
 all silence over the city; he came as far as the depot, 
 and went through Marshal Lane and into Thomas Street, 
 as far as Crane Lane, where there was a guard of the 
 army stationed, which he could discern by stooping, 
 which he did frequently, for it was darkness all over the 
 town, and the pikes lay in the street up and down, where 
 they were cast away, and the men fled, every one to the 
 best place they knew. O'Dougan did not know where 
 they went, nor did he hear for the space of three days 
 their destination ; but on the third day he got intelligence 
 and went to Rathcoffey, where he found a number of 
 them who in a few days were proclaimed, and three hun- 
 dred pounds reward offered for them; and, after Mr. 
 Emmet's execution, all separated and went to different 
 parts to conceal themselves from arrest, as they well 
 knew their fate, for there was death without mercy, and 
 the innocent as well as the guilty suffered; and the
 
 ^ 8IE JONAH HARRINGTON. 293 
 
 Innocent suffered far more than the guilty, for there were 
 but few concerned with Mr. Emmet that suffered, while 
 numbers were hung on the evidence of Ryan and Ma- 
 haffy, who swore for the sake of getting fifty pounds 
 for every one they hung. Mr. Emmet and Howley 
 died for the cause; Redmond and Felix Rourke died 
 friends to the cause, but they were not intimately con- 
 cerned in the insurrection; all the rest," adds Duggan, 
 "were hung innocent on false evidence"! 
 
 P. 
 SIR JONAH BARRINGTON. 
 
 SIR JONAH. BARRINGTON, whose name we have 
 frequently mentioned, published a work entitled 
 Personal Sketches, containing many anecdotes 
 illustrative of the Sham Squire's times ; but we 
 have been sparing in our references to that 
 book, for, however pleasant as light reading, 
 it is not wholly reliable as historical authority. 
 The truth is, that Sir Jonah was in needy cir- 
 cumstances when the Personal Sketches appeared, 
 and no doubt exaggerated his already hyper- 
 bolical style, in order to raise the wind still 
 higher, though he says, in his Introduction : " It 
 was by no means commenced for mercenary pur- 
 poses." * We have heard the late Mr. P. V. 
 Fitzpatrick say, who, as a bon raconteur, might 
 be styled "Sir Jonah Barrington secundus," that 
 he heard him tell the stories very differently from 
 the sensational style of their subsequent appear- 
 ance, and that he knew Thomas Colley Grattan, 
 the novelist, to claim the chief merit of the Per- 
 * Personal Sketches, vol. i., p. v.
 
 294 ADDENDA. f 
 
 sonal Sketches, as having suggested the work and 
 manipulated the manuscript. But even in personal 
 conversation, as we have been assured by the late 
 John Patten, Sir Jonah's statements were always 
 distrusted. Although a judge, he was not a man 
 of truth or principle, and many pleasant anecdotes 
 might bo told illustrative of this remark ; but the 
 Blue Book, ordered by the House of Commons to 
 be printed the 9th of February, 1829, pillories 
 Sir Jonah on the most legitimate authority. This 
 volume has not been consulted by the writers who 
 have hitherto noticed the eccentric knight. Before 
 examining it, we may observe that the result of 
 the disclosures therein contained was Sir Jonah's 
 dismissal from the bench. This was inconvenient, 
 as the salary dropped at the same time ; but the 
 knight's inexhaustible astuteness in a dilemma 
 proved, as usual, wonderful. 
 
 Barrington bethought him of a letter which he 
 had received, many years before, from the Duke 
 of Clarence, who was now reigning as William the 
 Fourth. Barrington had shown considerable kind- 
 ness to Mrs. Jordan, at a time when his bar con- 
 temporary, Gould, and others, had treated her 
 slightingly, and even introduced her to his own 
 family. The duke wrote a warm letter of thanks 
 to Barrington, and expressed a hope that it might 
 be in his power, at some future day, to attest his 
 appreciation of kindness so disinterested. Bar- 
 rington overhauled his papers, which, by the 
 way, he sold as autographs a few years later, 
 and having found the old letter in question, for- 
 warded it to the king. A rather stiff reply came 
 by return of post, to say that no one knew better 
 than Sir Jonah Barrington the very material differ- 
 ence which existed between the Duke of Clarence
 
 A LIGHT -FINGERED JUDGE. 295 
 
 and the King of England, and that it was impos- 
 sible to recognize, in his then position, every 
 acquaintance whom he might have known when 
 acting in a comparatively subordinate capacity. 
 His majesty, however, who possessed a heart of 
 unusual warmth, and a memory of past friendship 
 singularly acute and retentive, wrote a private 
 letter to Sir Jonah by the same post which con- 
 veyed the official answer, recognizing the claim, 
 and bestowing upon him a pension from the privy 
 purse exactly equal in amount with the forfeited 
 stipend.* 
 
 To come now to the Blue Book. 
 
 Referring to the ship Nancy and its cargo, which 
 were sold by the marshal under a commission of 
 appraisement, in December, 1805, we read: "It 
 appears that in this cause alone Sir Jonah Bar- 
 rington appropriated to his own use, out of the 
 proceeds, 482 8s. Sd. and 200, making together 
 682 8.9. Sd., and never repaid any part of either ; 
 and that the registrar is a loser in that cause to 
 the amount of 546 11s. 4d." f 
 
 In the case of the Redstrand, Sir Jonah also 
 netted some booty. On the 12th January, 1810, 
 the sum of 200 was paid into court on account 
 of the proceeds in this cause, " and the same 
 day," adds the Report, " Sir Jonah Barrington, 
 by an order in his own handwriting, which has 
 been produced to us, directed the registrar to 
 lodge that sum to his (the judge's) credit in the 
 bank of Sir William Gleadowe Newcomen, which 
 he accordingly did. Subsequently, a petition hav- 
 ing been presented to the court by Mr. Henry 
 Pyne Masters, one of the salvagers, Sir Jonah 
 
 * Communicated by the late P. V. Fitzpatrlck, Esq. 
 t Eighteenth Report on Courts of Justice in Ireland, p. 9.
 
 296 ADDENDA. 
 
 wrote an order at foot of it, bearing date the 29th 
 day of May, 1810, directing the registrar to pay 
 to the petitioner a sum of 40 ; and at the same 
 time he wrote a note to Mr. Masters, requesting 
 that he would not present the order for two 
 months ; at the close of which period Sir Jonah 
 left Ireland, and never since returned." * 
 
 Sir Jonah's circumstances at this time were 
 greatly embarrassed, and his last act on leaving 
 Ireland was one of a most unscrupulous character, 
 as shall appear anon. In the Dublin Patriot, then 
 edited by Kichard Barrett, we read the following 
 paragraph, which is quite in Sir Jonah's style, 
 having evidently for its object the diversion of 
 suspicion from the real grounds of his exile. 
 "His chest," it is true, was not in a satisfac- 
 tory state, but it was the money-chest rather 
 than the bodily trunk which seems to have been 
 chiefly affected. 
 
 " Sir Jonah Barrington has resided at Boulogne for 
 the last three years. His health, we regret to state, is 
 by no means perfect, but, on the contrary, has for some 
 years been very precarious. Under his patent he has the 
 right of appointing surrogates to act for him, a right 
 of which he cannot be deprived. The duties of his situa- 
 tion have been, and continue to be, discharged, in his 
 absence, by the very competent gentlemen who have 
 been appointed, Mr. Jameson, Mr. Mahaffy, and Mr. 
 Holwell Walshe."f 
 
 The commissioners requested Sir Jonah's at- 
 tendance in Dublin, in order to give him every 
 opportunity of vindication ; but he declined on 
 the plea of infirmity and the difficulty of transit, 
 for which, in 1828, he may have had some excuse. 
 The commissioners, before closing their Report, 
 
 * Eighteenth Report on Courts of Justice in Ireland, p. 10. 
 t See Patriot of December 29tn, 1822, and Carrick's Morning 
 fost, January lat, 1823.
 
 A TREACHEROUS MEMORY. 297 
 
 strained a point and inclosed to Sir Jonah copies 
 of the evidence. On the 2d August, 1828, after 
 acknowledging the receipt of the minutes, he 
 wrote : 
 
 "Be assured, not one hour shall be unnecessarily lost 
 in transmitting to you my entire rcfutal ; and I am tdo 
 impatient to do away any impression that such evidence 
 must have excited, that I cannot avoid anticipating that 
 refutal generally by declaring solemnly, ' So help me God,' 
 before whom age and infirmity must soon send me, that 
 the whole and entire of that evidence, so far as it tends 
 to inculpate me, is totally, utterly, and unequivocally 
 false and unfounded." 
 
 "This, and passages of a similar tendency in 
 subsequent letters," observe the commissioners, 
 "are, however, the only contradiction -or explana- 
 tion of the foregoing facts given by Sir Jonah ; 
 and, undoubtedly, although unsworn, so distinct 
 and unqualified a contradiction would have had 
 much weight with us, had the alleged facts been 
 supported by the parol testimony only of the 
 officer. But when we find the handwriting of Sir 
 Jonah himself supporting the statement of the wit- 
 ness, we cannot avoid giving credit to his evidence, 
 and must lament that the judge did not adopt meas- 
 ures for reviving his recollection, previously to com- 
 mitting himself to a general assertion of the falsehood 
 of the entire evidence of Mr. Pineau, so far as re- 
 lated to him, which is all that, on this subject, 
 his numerous and very long letters have afforded 
 us." 
 
 Some of Sir Jonah's defalcations in the Court 
 of Admiralty were made good at the time by the 
 registrar, Mr. Pineau, hoping to screen the judge 
 from exposure, and trusting to his honor for re- 
 imbursement at a moment of less embarrassment. 
 Mr. Pineau wrote to remind him of the liability ;
 
 298 ADDENDA. 
 
 and in a letter dated Boulogne, 4th August, 1825, 
 we find Sir Jonah coolly saying: "I have no 
 doubt you will believe me, I have not the most 
 remote recollection of the circumstance in ques- 
 tion."* And again: "Age (closing seventy) 
 and much thought have blunted my recollection 
 of numerous events." 
 
 The registrar drew up an elaborate statement 
 of the circumstances, with facts and figures, but 
 Sir Jonah's memory was still unrefreshed. In a 
 letter dated 5 Rue du Colysee, Paris, 3d October, 
 182T, he writes : "It is not surprising that (after 
 closing twenty years) the concern you mention 
 is totally out of my memory." f 
 
 Any person who has read the works of Sir 
 Jonah Barrington cannot fail to have been struck 
 with the marvellous retentiveness of his memory 
 for minute details. The Rise and Fall of the Irish 
 Nation was published in 1831, six years after 
 his letters to Mr. Pineau, and in 1830 appeared 
 the memorable Personal Sketches of his own Times, 
 in which, after alluding to a misunderstanding 
 between Messrs. Daly and Johnson, Sir Jonah 
 adds : " One of the few things I ever forgot is the 
 way in which that affair terminated : it made little 
 impression on me at the time, and so my memory 
 rejected it." J The embezzlement of considerable 
 sums could only be rejected by an eminently 
 treacherous memory ; although Sir Jonah, in his 
 memoirs, tells us : "I never loved money much 
 in my life." 
 
 Barrington's habitual exaggeration in story- 
 
 * Eighteenth Report on Courts of Justice in Ireland, p. 154. Italics 
 in original. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 156. Sir Jonah goes on to say : " the Irish govern- 
 ment have NO sort of authority to order any returns 1'roin the 
 Officers of my court, and I decline such authority." 
 
 I Ibid.) Personal Sketches, vol. i., p. 405. jj 2 bid,, vol. i., p. 227.
 
 SIR JONAH'S FAREWELL DODGE. 299 
 
 telling would appear to be an old weakness. 
 Describing the events of the year 1796, he says 
 that Outran and he coined stories to tell each 
 other; the lookers-on laughed almost to convul- 
 sion.* An indulgence in exaggeration Sir Jonah 
 seemed to regard both as a predominant passion 
 and a venial sin. Sir Richard Musgrave, we are 
 told, " understood drawing the long bow as well 
 as most people." f Sir Jonah possessed a large 
 share of "cheek," and, both as a marvellous 
 story-teller and successful negotiator in money 
 transactions, this quality stood his friend. So 
 early as 1799, the author of Sketches of Irish 
 Political Characters says: "He is supposed to 
 have pretty much the same idea of blushing 
 that a blind man has of colors." 
 
 One very amusing illustration of Sir Jonah's 
 astuteness as a trickster is not included in the 
 Blue Book. He had pledged his family plate 
 for a considerable sum to Mr. John Stevenson, 
 pawnbroker. " My dear fellow," said the knight, 
 condescendingly, as he dropped in one day to that 
 person's private closet, " I am in the d 1 of a 
 hobble. I asked, quite impromptu, the lord lieu- 
 tenant, chancellor, and judges to dine with me, 
 forgetting how awkwardly I was situated ; and, 
 by Jove, they have written to say they '11 come ! 
 Of course I could not entertain them without the 
 plate; lend it to me for one day, and, lest you 
 should have any fear on the subject, come your- 
 self to dinner, for, as a member of the corpora- 
 tion, you are perfectly admissible. Bring the 
 plate with you, and take it back again at night." 
 The pawnbroker was dazzled ; although not usu- 
 ally given to nepotism, he obligingly yielded, and 
 
 * fertonal Sketches, vol. i., p. 381. f IMd., vol. 1., p. 211.
 
 300 ADDENDA. 
 
 embraced the proposal. During dinner, and after 
 it, Sir Jonah plied his " uncle " well with wine. 
 The pawnbroker had a bad head for potation, 
 though a good one for valuation ; he fell asleep 
 and under the table almost simultaneously ; and 
 when he awoke to full consciousness, Sir Jonah, 
 accompanied by the plate, had nearly reached 
 Boulogne, never again to visit his native land I 
 
 Sir Jonah made another "haul" before leaving 
 Ireland. Mr. Fennell Collins, a rich saddler, who 
 resided in Dame Street, lent "the judge" 3,000, 
 on what seemed tolerable security ; but one far- 
 thing of the money was never recovered. A hun- 
 dred similar stories might be told.* Everybody 
 has heard of Barrington, the famous pickpocket; 
 but the equally dexterous, though more refined, 
 achievements of his titled namesake will be new 
 to many. 
 
 "The unrighteous borroweth and payeth not 
 again," saith Psalm xxxii., v. 21. Sir Jonah could 
 not even return a book. To assist him in his 
 work on the Union, the late Mr. Conway lent 
 him, for a few weeks, the file of the Dublin Even- 
 ing Post for 1798 ; but it never could be got back, 
 and was afterwards sold with Sir Jonah's effects. 
 
 We wish we could be sure that Sir Jonah's 
 dishonorable acts were no worse than pecuniary 
 juggling. Dr. Madden is of opinion that Barring- 
 ton, although a pseudo patriot, deserves to be 
 classed among the " bloodhounds of '98." In 
 April, 1798, he dined in Wexford at Lady Col- 
 clough's, and on the following day with B. Bagenal 
 Harvey. Popular politics were freely talked ; and 
 on Sir Jonah's return to Dublin, as he himself tells 
 us, he informed Secretary Cooke that Wexford 
 
 * See Life of Thomas Reynolds, by his son, vol. ii., p. 353., etc.
 
 EMMET'S INSURRECTION. 301 
 
 would immediately revolt. Nearly all Sir Jonah's 
 friends whom he met at the two dinner parties 
 one a relation of his own were hanged within 
 three months ; and on his next visit to Wexford 
 he recognized their heads spiked in front of the 
 jail. 
 
 Colclough and Harvey were Protestant gentle- 
 men of very large landed property in Wexford. 
 Their discovery in a damp cave on the Saltee 
 Islands, through the bloodhound instinct of an 
 old friend, Dr. Waddy, a physician of Wexford, 
 is invested with a painfully romantic interest. 
 George Cruikshank has executed an effective 
 sketch of this tragic incident. 
 
 Q. 
 EMMET'S INSURRECTION. 
 
 EMMET'S revolt exploded on the evening of July 
 23d, 1803. Mr. Phillips, in Curran and his Con- 
 temporaries, writes : 
 
 " Lord Kilwarden, the then chief justice, was returning 
 from the country, and had to pass through the very street 
 of the insurrection. He was recognized, seized, and in- 
 humanly murdered, against all the entreaties and com- 
 mands of Emmet. This is supposed to have disgusted 
 and debilitated him." 
 
 A curious reason is assigned in a MS. before us 
 for his lordship " passing through the very street 
 of the insurrection." The MS. autobiography of 
 the late Serenus Kelly, a well-known monk, was 
 placed in our hands by the writer, on his death- 
 bed, at Tullow, in 1859. Serenus was in Lord 
 Kilwarden's house on the evening of his death :
 
 302 ADDENDA. 
 
 " Colonel Finlay sent a message to Lord Kilwarden at 
 seven o'clock on the evening of his lordship's lamented 
 death, apprising him that Dublin was about to be dis- 
 turbed by a second rebellion and an attempt to take the 
 Castle. Lord Kil warden ordered his carriage, and went 
 over to speak to Colonel Finlay on the subject, to satisfy 
 himself of the truth of the report. He took with him 
 into Dublin his daughter and nephew, and directed the 
 coachman to drive to the Castle through Dolphin's Barn, 
 to avoid paying turnpike from his seat called Newlands, 
 situate between Tallaght and Clondalkin, on the Naas 
 road." [Here the usual details of the emeute are given.] 
 "One of the insurgents asked who came there. The 
 coachman answered, ignorant of their design, 'Lord 
 Kilwarden.' With that they pulled his lordship out, 
 saying it was he condemned the Sheareses,* and they 
 gave him, upon the spot, fourteen pike stabs, of which 
 he died about eleven o'clock next morning. Mr. Down- 
 ing, the gardener, went to see his lordship, and he heard 
 Major Sirr say he would hang a man for every hair on 
 his head; to which his lordship replied, 'Let no man 
 suffer in consequence of my death unless by the regular 
 operation of the laws.' 
 
 " This was said about eight o'clock on Sunday morn- 
 ing, while he lay in a guard-bed in Vicar Street, welter- 
 ing in his gore. As to Emmet, I did not wish to witness 
 his execution ; but I saw the gallows erected, and a 
 thrill of horror pervaded my blood as I observed the 
 noose, black and greasy from the numbers it had launched 
 into eternity." 
 
 EMMET S INFORMER. 
 
 THE person who received 1,000 on November 
 1st, 1803, for the discovery of Robert Emmet, still 
 preserves his incognito. Dr. Madden, quoting 
 from the Secret Service Money Book, says that 
 " the above sum was paid into Finlay's Bank, to 
 the account of Richard Jones " : and he adds, 
 
 * The mob confounded Lord Kilwarden with Lord Caiicton. 
 See p. 223, ante.
 
 EMMET'S INFORMER. 303 
 
 that the circumstance of lodging the money in the 
 hands of a banker leads to the conclusion that 
 the informer was not of humble rank. 
 
 "Who was this gentleman Richard Jones?" 
 asks Dr. Madden. For whom was the money 
 paid to account of Richard Jones ? 
 
 " In the county Wicklow there was a family of 
 the name of Jones, of Killencarrig, near Delgany. 
 In 1815 there was a brewery kept there by a fam- 
 ily of that name. They were Protestants, quiet 
 people, who did not meddle' with politics. 
 
 " In the county Dublin, at Ballinascorney, near 
 where Emmet was concealed for some time, there 
 was also a family of the name of Jones, small 
 farmers, Catholics. 
 
 " There was a gentleman of the name of Jones, 
 the Right Hon. Theophilus Jones, a member of the 
 privy council, a collector of revenue. In 1800, 
 being in parliament, he voted for the ' Union,' and 
 he was a person of some distinction in 1798. He 
 lived at Cork Abbey, Bray. He was a humane, 
 good man in ' the troubles/ and interested him- 
 self much for the people. 
 
 "There were two attorneys of the name of 
 Richard Jones living in Dublin at the period 
 of Emmet's capture." * 
 
 As Dr. Madden desires to ventilate this ques- 
 tion, we will drop a suggestion, tending, perhaps, 
 to throw some light on it. In the Dublin Evening 
 Post of March 2d, 1784, particular reference is 
 made to Richard Jones, Esq., a very efficient jus- 
 tice of the peace, constantly on the foot in support 
 of law and order, and praised by the Castle jour- 
 nals for his activity. 
 
 There was also a very popular comedian, named 
 
 * United Irishmen, yol. L, p. 392.
 
 304 ADDENDA. 
 
 Richard Jones, attached to Crow Street theatre at 
 this time. He mixed much in the Liberal and 
 Catholic society of Dublin, and must have been 
 well known to Mr.^ Long and Mr. David Fitz- 
 gerald, both of Crow'Street. The two last named, 
 as appears from TJie Life of Emmet, were deep in 
 the confidence of the young insurgent. 
 
 A receipt for secret service money, signed Mai- 
 achy Dwyer, appears in the new edition of the 
 Lives and 2 J imes of the United Irishmen, vol. i., 
 p. 391. '" There is," writes Dr. Madden, " a very 
 curious account of a person named Malachy (no 
 surname mentioned) in those very remarkable 
 papers entitled ' Robert Emmet and his Contem- 
 poraries/ published in the London and Dublin 
 Magazine for 1825, and probably written by the 
 late Judge Johnson, the author of Roche Fermoy's 
 Commentary on Tone's Memoirs. The Malachy 
 therein mentioned is described as the betrayer 
 of his friend, Robert Emmet." 
 
 On the strength of these papers, suspicion has 
 been raised against a brave and honorable man, 
 the late Malachy Delany, a suspicion which we 
 ourselves contagiously imbibed some years ago ; * 
 and we deem it due to the living and the dead to 
 say, that the papers cited by Dr. Madden are 
 neither from the pen of Judge Johnson, nor his- 
 torically true in any one particular. In correcting 
 this oversight, it is right to add that Dr. Madden 
 
 * In the Telegraph newspaper of November 10th, 1855, a long 
 letter appears in vindication of the character of Malachy 
 Delany; and Dr. Madden, in the second edition of his United 
 Irishmen, vol. i., p. 393, makes honorable compensation for 
 some ambiguous references to Mr. Delany, published in the 
 first edition, third series, vol. iii., p. 197. The vindication was 
 signed " A Milesian "; and the writer shortly after introduced 
 himself to us personally as Mr. Luke Cullen, a monk of the 
 Monastery of Mount St. Joseph, Clondalkin. Mr. Cullen died 
 suddenly, in January, 1857, leaving behind him an immense 
 collection of MSS. illustrative of the liistories of '98 and 1803.
 
 EMMET'S UNINSCRIBED TOMB. 305 
 
 is an author of great research and truth, and 
 most conscientious in his conclusions, and that 
 the above exceptional correction ought not to 
 impugn his general accuracy. Following the ex- 
 ample usually set by Dr. Madden, of giving the 
 best authorities for every allegation advanced, we 
 subjoin the following conclusive letter from the 
 editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, an influential 
 organ: 
 
 " Daily Post Office, 25 Lord Street, 
 
 "Liverpool, September 14th, 1858. 
 "DEAR SIR: In reply to your note of the 12th, I beg 
 to say that the author of ' Robert Emmet and his Con- 
 temporaries,' etc., was your humble servant. It was 
 originally intended for two volumes, but was cut down 
 for the magazine. It was a dull affair, so dull that Dr. 
 Madden has taken it for veritable history : see Life of 
 Emmet (original edition), pp. 8, 195, 197, etc. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " Dear sir, your obedient, 
 
 "M. J. WHTTTY. 
 " W. J. Fitzpatrick, Esq." 
 
 THE MYSTERY ENSHROUDING EMMET J S GRAVE. 
 
 ROBERT EMMET, when asked if he had anything 
 to say why sentence of death should not be pro- 
 nounced upon him, delivered an eloquent oration, 
 which thus concluded: "Let no man write my 
 epitaph ; for, as no man who knows my motives 
 dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice nor 
 ignorance asperse them ; let them rest in ob- 
 scurity and peace ! Let my memory be left in 
 oblivion, and my tomb remain uninscribed, until 
 other times and other men can do justice to my 
 character. When my country takes her place 
 20
 
 306 ADDENDA. 
 
 among the nations of the earth, then, and not 
 till then, let my epitaph be written. I have 
 done ! " 
 
 Notwithstanding the interest attaching to the 
 name of Emmet, the locality of his final resting- 
 place and uninscribed stone still remains undeter- 
 mined. 
 
 A correspondent of the Irishman newspaper has 
 requested information as to whether the "unin- 
 scribed tomb of Robert Emmet is the one pointed 
 out in St. Michan's churchyard. I am well aware 
 that the question has been often asked, and, as 
 appeared to me, not satisfactorily answered. I 
 arrived at this conclusion owing to the absence 
 of any information by members of the Emmet 
 family. My reason for asking the question is, 
 being in the vestry of St. Peter's, Dublin, some 
 short time ago, I was told by the men connected 
 therewith that Emmet was positively interred close 
 to the footpath (left gate), or near to where the 
 old watch-house stood, and was pointed out to 
 them, as they stated, by some member or acquaint- 
 ance of the family, from America, some few years 
 ago. If there be nothing for it but the uninscribed 
 tomb of Michan's, I would be inclined to think 
 that Peter's was the place, as tombs of the above 
 description are not so very rare." 
 
 It is not the remains of Robert Emmet, the 
 gifted orator and insurgent leader, but of his 
 father, Robert Emmet, state physician, which are 
 interred in St. Peter's churchyard. The latter 
 died on December 9th, 1802, and was buried in 
 St. Peter's, three days afterwards, according to 
 an official certificate furnished to Dr. Madden. 
 The mother of young Robert Emmet is likewise 
 interred in the same grave.
 
 EMMET'S UNINSCKIBED TOMB. 307 
 
 Another correspondent of the journal already 
 quoted remarks : " No allusion has been made to 
 James's parish cemetery. The sexton told me, 
 about two years ago, that there was a registra- 
 tion of his having been interred there. This is 
 not at all improbable, it being so near the place 
 of his execution. It is a sad thing that such dis- 
 crepancy should exist as to the place where lie 
 the remains of that pure-minded martyr." 
 
 Owing to this suggestion, we carefully exam- 
 ined the burial register of St. James's Church, 
 held by the parish clerk, Mr. Falls, but no trace 
 of Emmet's interment can be found in it. 
 
 We had the pleasure, soon after, of a conversa- 
 tion with John Patten when in his eighty-seventh 
 year. This gentleman was the brother-in-law of 
 Thomas Addis Emmet. He told me that having 
 been a< state prisoner in 1803, he was not present 
 at Emmet's funeral. He had no authentic infor- 
 mation on the subject, but, according to his im- 
 pression, Robert Emmet had been buried in Bully's 
 Acre, also known as the Hospital Fields ; and that 
 the remains were from thence removed to Michan's 
 churchyard, where the ashes of Oliver Bond and 
 the Sheareses rest. He added that the clergy- 
 man, Dr. Gamble, who attended Emmet in his last 
 moments, was a very likely person to have got 
 the remains removed from Bully's Acre to St. 
 Michan's. The uninscribed tomb is said to have 
 been set up in St. Michan's churchyard soon after 
 the period that Mr. Patten believes the remains of 
 Emmet to have been exhumed from Bully's Acre. 
 
 A literary friend of ours, Mr. Hercules Ellis, 
 was speaking of Emmet and the uninscribed tomb 
 at a dinner party, when a gentleman present cor- 
 rected the error under which he conceived Mr. 
 Ellis labored respecting the place of his burial.
 
 308 ADDENDA. 
 
 " It was not in Michan's churchyard," he said, 
 "but in 'Glasnevin; and I speak on the best au- 
 thority, for my late father was the incumbent 
 there at the time, and I repeatedly heard him say 
 that he was brought out of his bed at the dead of 
 night to perform the burial service over Emmet. 
 There were only four persons present, two women 
 and two men. One of the men he understood to be 
 Do'wdall, the natural son of Hussy Burgh, and one 
 of the ladies Sarah Curran, who had been betrothed 
 to Emmet. The corpse was conveyed through a 
 little narrow door leading into the old churchyard 
 of Glasnevin from the handsome demesne of Del- 
 ville, formerly the residence of Dean Delany." 
 
 With interest awakened by this tradition we 
 visited the classic grounds of Dclville, and the 
 old graveyard adjacent, accompanied by Mr. Ellis, 
 the great-grandson of the wife of Dean Delany, 
 to the memory of both of whom a tablet, almost 
 smothered in ivy, is set in the churchyard wall, 
 the boundary which divides their former residence 
 from their final resting-place. We learned from 
 the gardener who acted as cicerone that there was 
 a tradition precisely to the effect of the statement 
 made by the clergyman's son. Our conductor 
 having unlocked a narrow door which leads to the 
 little cemetery, pointed out a grass-grown grave 
 and uninscribed head-stone immediately to the 
 left on entering. 
 
 The entire aspect of the place forcibly recalled 
 to our mind the beautiful description given by 
 Moore of- Emmet's grave : 
 
 " Oh, breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade 
 Where, cold and imhonorert, his relics are laid; 
 Sad, silent, and dark be the tears that we shed. 
 As the night-dew that falls on the grass o'er his head. 
 
 But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, 
 Shall brighten with verdure the grave where he sleeps."
 
 EMMET'S UNINSCREBED TOMB. 309 
 
 This description, by the early friend and college 
 chuna of Emmet, is entirely applicable to the pic- 
 turesque green grave near classic Delville and the 
 deserted village of Glasnevin,* but is inappropri- 
 ate to the huge flat tabular flag, excluding every 
 blade of grass, in St. Michan's, Church Street, 
 Dublin. It is not easy to understand how a tomb 
 thus situated could " brighten with verdure." 
 Moore would appear to have had rather the grass- 
 grown grave at Delville in his mind than the flat, 
 dusty stone in a back street of Dublin. 
 
 The following letter from Dr. Petrie, to whom 
 Irish history and archaeology are much indebted, 
 tends the more to corroborate our views, as it was 
 written by the doctor before he had seen the above, 
 or even heard the substance of it : 
 
 " 7 Charlemont Place, 
 
 " 10th November, 1865. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : According to my recollections and 
 belief, derived from the best local authorities, the grave 
 of poor Emmet is in the churchyard of Glasnevin, and is 
 situated at one side, the left, as I think, of a private 
 doorway, which gave to the family occupying Delville 
 House a direct passage to the church, and thus enabled 
 them to avoid coming round through the town to the 
 service. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear sir, 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "GEORGE PETRIE. 
 
 " P. S. The above was written before I read the printed 
 paper which you inclosed." 
 
 * Many a pleasant day Arldiaon, as he tells as, passed among 
 these pictnresqne grounds. Tiokell, his executor, resided in 
 the adjacent demesne, now known as the Botanical Gardens, 
 and Parnell, the poet, was vicar of a neighboring hamlet. 
 Swift has celebrated the beauties of Delville in prose and 
 verse, to the inspiration of which, Stella not it little contrib- 
 uted. In a retired grotto may be seen a flno medallion like- 
 ness of Stella, in excellent preservation, from the artistic hand 
 of .Mrs. Oelany, with the inscription " Fat(ffia dttpMt nrbis," 
 composed by Swift. Several old basement rooms are shown 
 as the situ of the private printing presses employed by Swift 
 and Delany.
 
 310 ADDENDA. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF NAPOLEON I. WITH EMMET. 
 
 SOME time since we received from Colonel Glen- 
 dowyn Scott the following letter of inquiry. We 
 believe that by publishing it we are best helping 
 to promote the interesting object which the colonel 
 wishes well. We may add that he is the son of 
 Mr. Scott, an eminent barrister who defended one 
 of the state prisoners arrested with Arthur O'Con- 
 nor, at Margate, in 1798. 
 
 " Ballentra House, Donegal, 
 
 " llth June, 1864. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. FrrzPATRiCK : I have a friend in Paris 
 who is on the committee appointed to collect such cor- 
 respondence of Napoleon I. as can be discovered. He 
 deems it probable that the emperor was in correspond- 
 ence with parties in Ireland, especially with Emmet, in 
 1802-3, and that the letters are in the possession of par- 
 ties in Ireland belonging to the families of those to whom 
 they were addressed. Auy one having such letters in his 
 possession, and being disposed to lend them for perusal, 
 will receive the most positive assurance of their being 
 safely returned. I am desirous of rendering what assist- 
 ance I can, and, as I know of no one equally competent 
 with yourself to direct me in the search, I venture to ask 
 if you could kindly point out any channel through which 
 access could be got to the documents ? It seems there 
 is good reason to believe that such documents were in 
 existence. 
 
 "Believe me sincerely yours, 
 
 "W. G. SCOTT." 
 
 All communication between Bonaparte and the 
 Irish Executive Directory was maintained through 
 Thomas Addis Emmet. As far as we have been 
 able to ascertain, no documents of the character 
 in question exist in Ireland ; and it would appear 
 from the following extract of a letter addressed 
 to us by the licm. Robert Emmet, Judge of the
 
 JUDGE EGBERT JOHNSON. 311 
 
 Supreme Court in New York, that the archives of 
 the Emmet family in America are equally desti- 
 tute : 
 
 " At all events, it would be out of my power to furnish 
 anything of the kind, if it existed, as I unfortunately 
 placed my father's papers and correspondence in the 
 hands of the late William Sampson, Esq., who then de- 
 sired to prepare and publish a sketch of my father's life 
 and career. I have never been able to get them since, 
 and I presume they could not now be found. I was with 
 my father in France in 1803-4, and saw my uncle Robert 
 up to the time of his leaving us to return to Ireland and 
 engage in his ill-fated undertaking; but I was then too 
 young to have known anything that could be appropriate 
 or interesting in the work you are engaged on. I shall 
 look forward eagerly to its publication, and am truly 
 sorry that I can send yon nothing but my best wishes for 
 its success and your own. 
 
 " I am, etc., 
 
 " HUBERT EMMET. 
 
 " W. J. Fitzpatrick, Esq." 
 
 R. 
 
 JUDGE ROBERT JOHNSON. 
 
 THE histdry of Judge Johnson, whose name 
 occurs in a previous page, discloses some curious 
 features. 
 
 In the "Step-Ladder" of General Cockburnwe 
 obtained a view of the back-stairs cabinet, who 
 carried on the government of Ireland, to the al- 
 most utter exclusion of the viceroy, during the 
 reign of terror. This clique was succeeded by 
 another, less sanguinary but equally mischievous. 
 Lord Hardwicke, who became lord lieutenant in 
 1801, was a prim but pliant nonentity, personally 
 amiable, though easily made a tool of by designing
 
 312 ADDENDA. 
 
 men. He stood as a vapid cipher in the midst 
 of a cluster of figures. Every newspaper in the 
 country applauded his policy. Even the Dublin 
 Evening Post, the long recognized organ of Irish 
 nationality, flung the censer with unceasing en- 
 ergy. The fate and aim of the United Irishmen 
 found a sympathy in the Post of '98 ; but when 
 the unfortunate Emmet, five years later, lay ironed 
 in his cell, charged with attempting to carry out 
 their objects, he was denounced by the organ of 
 nationality with a violence which saddened his 
 last days, and doubtless influenced the result of 
 the trial. Emmet's speech one of the most elo- 
 quent and touching on record was suppressed, 
 with the exception of a few garbled passages, 
 more calculated to damage his position than to 
 serve as his vindication.* 
 
 To the plausibility of Lord Hardwicke's govern- 
 ment, men, hitherto considered as stanch patriots, 
 fell victims. Grattan eulogized him, Plunket 
 accepted office. The press teemed with praise ; 
 the people were cajoled. One man only was 
 found to tear aside the curtain which concealed 
 the policy and machinery of the so-called Hard- 
 wicke administration. A judge, with 3,600 a 
 year from government, was perhaps the last man 
 likely to take this course. And yet, we find 
 Judge Johnson penning in his closet a series of 
 philippics under the signature of " Juverna." 
 He declared that Lord Hardwicke was bestrode 
 
 * Frequent payments to " H. B. Code," appear in the Secret 
 Service Money Book, in 1802 and 1803. This individual was en- 
 gaged to conduct the Post during the long and painful illness 
 of John Magee, but for paltry bribes he quite compromised its 
 politics, until John Magee, junior, rescued the paper from hia 
 hands. Mr. Code subsequently received, under Mr. Beresford, 
 an appointment of 900 a year in the revenue. A notice of Mm 
 appears iu Watty Cox's Magazine for 1813, p. 131.
 
 JUDGE JOHNSON. 313 
 
 t 
 
 by Mr. Justice Osborne, Messrs. Wickham and 
 Marsden, and by "a Chancery pleader from Lin- 
 coln's Inn," which was immediately recognized 
 as Lord Chancellor Redesdale. Giving rein to 
 his indignation and expression to his pity, he 
 exhorted Ireland to awaken from its lethargy. 
 The main drift of the letters was to prove that 
 the government of a harmless man was not neces- 
 sarily a harmless government. The printer was 
 prosecuted, but, to save himself, he gave up the 
 judge's MS.* Great excitement greeted this dis- 
 closure, and Judge Johnson descended from the 
 bench, never again to mount it. 
 
 A public trial took place, of which the report 
 fills two portly volumes ; and the judge was found 
 guilty. Before receiving sentence, however, the 
 Whigs came into power, and Johnson was allowed 
 to retire with a pension. But he considered that 
 he had been hardly dealt with ; and the prosecu- 
 tion had the effect of lashing the judge into down- 
 right treason. He became a strong advocate for 
 separation, dressed a la militaire, wrote essays, 
 and suggested, among other weapons of warfare to 
 be used in "the great struggle of national regen- 
 eration," bows, arrows, and pikes. The Journals 
 and Life of Tone, the most able organizer of the 
 United Irish project, was published at Washing- 
 ton, in 1828. Public attention was immediately 
 called to it by a book, printed in English at Paris, 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry, in his Pertonal Recollections, says (second 
 edition, p. 2M) : " The manuscript, although sworn by a crown 
 witness to be in Mr. Johnson's handwriting, was actually writ- 
 ten by liia daughter. This circumstance he might have proved ; 
 but as he could not do so without compromising his amanuen- 
 sis, the jury were obliged to return a verdict of guilty." \\'e 
 have been assured, however, by Miss Johnson herself, that the 
 MS. was really in the autograph of her father. She added that, 
 the judge having taught ber to write, their hands closely as- 
 imitated.
 
 314 ADDENDA. 
 
 I 
 
 entitled A Commentary on the Life of Theobald Wolfe 
 Tone, which h'as been confidently pronounced as 
 the work of Judge Johnson.* The Memoirs of 
 Tone, and the Commentary which succeeded it, 
 appearing at a crisis of intense political excite- 
 ment, and displaying conclusions of singular nov- 
 elty and daring, produced a powerful impression. 
 The Duke of Wellington, then premier, assured 
 Rogers that he had read the Memoirs of Tone, 
 from cover to cover, with unflagging interest. 
 But it is doubtful if the duke would ever have 
 seen it, had not the Commentary reached him from 
 the British ambassador at Paris. An interesting 
 letter from the late Robert Cassidy, Esq., narrates 
 the fact, previously a secret, that the material only 
 came from Judge Johnson, and that Mr. Cassidy 
 edited the MSS. The letter was written in reply 
 to one from the present writer, mentioning that he 
 had purchased at the sale of Mr. Conway's library 
 a volume of scarce pamphlets, containing the Com- 
 mentary, with Mr. Cassidy's autograph, and offer- 
 ing it to his acceptance. 
 
 " Monasterevan, July 3d, 1855. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I have received, and have also to thank 
 you for, your very considerate, as usual, communication 
 of 30th June. 
 
 " The Commentary on the Life of Wolfe Tone was pub- 
 lished under very peculiar and strange circumstances. 
 The papers forming it were detached, and not arranged. 
 In a state just out of chaos, they were entrusted to me, 
 to make such use of, for the advance of this country, as 
 I might deem useful. 
 
 "The dedication, written in Paris, puzzled the few 
 
 * See Recollections of Lord Cloncurry, p. 253; Moore's Journal, 
 vol. vi., p. 146; Daunt's Recollections of O'Connell. vol. i., p. 18; 
 Irish Quarterly Review, vol. 11., p. 10; Irish Monthly Magazine, p. 
 120, etc.
 
 O'CONNELL IN 1798. 315 
 
 French printers able to print English.* Didot, under 
 guarantees supplied by my banker (D. Daly), published 
 the book almost malgre lui. I had to attend more than 
 one summons at the Palais de (in-) Justice, in 182S, to 
 protect the printer. 
 
 ' The paper caused some sensation. Every ambassa- 
 dor in Paris paid for the sheets as printed, some for 
 ten copies, before bound. One hundred copies were 
 sold in sheets. 
 
 " I had to correct the press for French compositors, 
 and brought over fifty copies. I have made a look 
 through my books this day, and, to my surprise, find 
 I have not a copy of the original exemplaire. 
 
 "To repossess the copy most probably lent Conway 
 is desirable. I shall receive it from yon not as a resti- 
 tution, but as a gift- " Yours, faithfully, 
 
 "OBERT CASSIDY. 
 
 " To W. J. Fitzpatrick, Esq." 
 
 Judge Johnson was a fluent correspondent, and 
 some of his letters on the capability of Ireland for 
 effective warfare appear in the Personal Recollec- 
 tions of Lord Cloncurry. His grandson, Robert 
 Alloway, Esq., now holds an interesting selection 
 from the judge's papers. It may scandalize sur- 
 viving politicians of the old Tory school to hear 
 that among his chief correspondents were John 
 Wilson Croker, and the king's brother, the Duke 
 of Sussex. 
 
 S. 
 O'CONNELL A UNITED IRISHMAN. 
 
 THE uncompromising attitude of hostility main- 
 tained by O'Connell towards the advocates of 
 physical force, specially evidenced in his censure 
 
 * They could not, for the life of them, imagine why an Eng- 
 lish book, dedicated to all the blockheads in the service of hia 
 Britannic Majesty, should be printed In on alien country. 
 Subtequent communication from Mr. Ca*sidy.
 
 316 ADDENDA. 
 
 of the men of '98 at the Repeal Association, on 
 May 21st, 1841, and which led to the resignation 
 of some influential Repealers in America, imparts 
 additional interest to the fact, hitherto hardly 
 known, that he himself had been a United Irish- 
 man. We are indebted to the late Mr. Peter 
 Murray, of the Registry of Deeds Office, Dublin, a 
 man of scrupulous veracity, for the following 
 curious reminiscence of 0' Council in 1798 : 
 
 " My father, a respectable cheesemonger and grocer, 
 residing at 3 South Great George's Street, was exceed- 
 ingly intimate with O'Connell when a law student, and 
 during his early career at the bar. Mr. O'Connell, at 
 the period of which I speak, lodged in Trinity Place 
 adjacent, an almost unexplored nook, and to many of 
 our citizens a terra incognita. I well remember O'Con- 
 nell, one night at my father's house during the spring of 
 1798, so carried away by the political excitement of the 
 day, and by the ardor of his innate patriotism, calling 
 for a prayer-book to swear in some zealous young meu 
 as United Irishmen at a meeting of the body in a neigh- 
 boring street. Counsellor was there, and offered 
 
 to accompany O'Connell on his perilous mission. My 
 father, although an Irishman of advanced liberal views 
 and strong patriotism, was not a United Irishman, and 
 endeavored, but without effect, to deter his young and 
 gifted friend from the rash course in which he seemed 
 embarked. Dublin was in an extremely disturbed state, 
 and the outburst of a bloody insurrection seemed hourly 
 imminent. My father resolved to exert to the utter- 
 most the influence which it was well known he pos- 
 sessed over his young friend. He made him accompany 
 him to the canal bridge at Leeson Street, and, after an 
 earnest conversation, succeeded in persuading the future 
 Liberator to step into a turf-boat which was then leav- 
 ing Dublin. That night my father's house was searched 
 by Major Sirr, accompanied by the Attorneys' Corps of 
 Yeomanry, who pillaged it to their hearts' content. 
 There can be no doubt that private information of 
 O'Counell's tendencies and hauuts had been communi- 
 cated to the government." 
 
 Mr. O'Connell's intimacy with Mr. Murray is
 
 THE REBELLION IN KILDARE. 317 
 
 confirmed by Mr. John O'Connell's Memoirs of 
 his father, p. 14 ; and Sir Jonah Barrington, in 
 the third volume of his Personal Sketches, p. 396, 
 gives a very animated description- of the sacking 
 of Murray's house by the Attorneys' Corps, or 
 " Devil's Own." The Personal Recollections of 
 0' Connell, written by Mr. Daunt, and mainly 
 devoted to a record of conversations with his 
 great leader, describes O'Connell as in Dublin 
 during the spring and summer of 1798, and lest 
 some officious persons might endeavor to impli- 
 cate him in their disaffection, "quitting the city 
 in a potato boat, bound for Courtmasherry," (vol. 
 i. p. 117). But the circumstances detailed by 
 Mr. Murray are not given. 
 
 T. 
 THE REBELLION IN KILDARE. 
 
 WE are indebted to the Rev. John O'Hanlon, 
 the able biographer of Archbishops O'Toole and 
 O'Morghair, for the following traditional reminis- 
 cence of his grandfather's connection with the 
 rebellion in Kildare : 
 
 "In 1798, soon after the general rising, a comfortable 
 grazier named Denis Downey, who held a considerable 
 tract'of land on which stood the Gray Abbey ruins, neaf 
 the town of Kildare, had been induced by a relative to 
 tjike up arms and join the insurgent ranks. Having been 
 engaged in some of the desultory affairs previous to the 
 Curragh massacre, and his helpless wile, with two small 
 children, having been daily exposed to insults and the 
 rapacity of the military force during his absence from 
 home, it was at length found necessary to abandon the 
 farm-stead. His wife and her infant charge sought a 
 temporary place of refuge in Dcrryoughter, near the
 
 318 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 river Barrow. Here her aged father and mother re- 
 sided. The insurgent husband found means for com- 
 municating to her his intentions of surrendering, with 
 others, at the Gibbet Kath on the 3d of June. It is a 
 fact, well remembered and handed down by tradition 
 amongst the townspeople of Kildare, that, on the very 
 day before, several of Lord Roden's fox-hunters, in a 
 riotous and drunken brawl, appeared in the streets, 
 carrying articles of apparel on the top of their fixed 
 bayonets, and swearing most vehemently, 'We are the 
 boys who will slaughter the Croppies to-morrow at 
 the Curragh ! ' This announcement deterred many reb- 
 els from proceeding to the spot, and proved instrumental, 
 no doubt, in saving their lives. Amongst the unnotifled, 
 however, Downey, in hopes of obtaining pardon, and, 
 mounted on a fine horse, went to the fatal trysting place. 
 Having surrendered his arms, and an indiscriminate 
 slaughter of the rebels having commenced, he at once 
 got on horseback, and was endeavoring to escape, when 
 he observed a near relative running away on foot. The 
 horseman stopped for a moment, but when stooping for 
 the purpose of mounting his friend behind, a bullet 
 brought Downey to the ground, when his horse gal- 
 loped wildly forward towards Derryoughter, where it 
 had been previously stabled. Meantime, Mrs. Downey, 
 whose mind had been filled with alarm and anxiety to 
 learn the state of her husband, remained up nearly the 
 whole of that night, immediately preceding the 3d of 
 June. Towards morning, wearied and careworn, she had 
 been induced to take a brief rest. The most strange 
 event of all then occurred, as afterwards frequently cer- 
 tified by herself and those with whom she at that time 
 resided. About the very hour when the massacre took 
 place on the Gibbet Rath, she started from a troubled 
 sleep, during which she had a frightful dream or vision 
 of her husband weltering in his blood. Her instant 
 screams drew all the family to her bedside.- In vain did 
 the aged father represent to her, that such a dream was 
 only the result of her disordered fancies, and that better 
 news might soon be expected. She wept bitterly and in 
 utter despair of ever seeing her husband alive. The old 
 man, taking his walking-stick, turned down a retired 
 road branching from his house towards the more public 
 thoroughfare leading from the Curragh. Almost the first
 
 MASSACRE ON THE CURRAGH. 319 
 
 object he encountered on the way was Downey's horse, 
 covered with foam and galloping furiously, without any 
 rider, yet bridled and saddled. This unwonted sight fur- 
 nished a sad presentiment of his son-in-law's fate. Soon 
 again he observed numbers of country people running 
 along the high road in a state of wild excitement. The 
 old man asked some of them what news from the Cur- 
 ragh. 'Bad news! bad news I 'they exclaimed; 'our 
 friends were all slaughtered on the Curragh to-day!' 
 This heartrending intelligence was afterwards conveyed 
 to his unhappy daughter. With all the energy of despair, 
 Mrs. Downey insisted on having one of the common farm 
 cars prepared. In this she proceeded to the scene of this 
 diabolical massacre. She afterwards stated, that, on the 
 blood-stained plain, she turned over at least two hundred 
 dead bodies before she recognized that of her husband. 
 This latter she deposited in the car, covering the corpse 
 with straw and a quilt. Thus placing it beside her, the 
 forlorn widow escaped without molestation to the house 
 of a relative of her-husband, living near the old burial- 
 place, named Dunmurry, near the Red Hills of Kildare. 
 Preparations were made for the interment. That very 
 night, however, a rumor went abroad, that the military 
 were searching every house throughout the district. 
 Wherever a rebel corpse was found, it was reported that 
 the house containing it would be consigned to the flames. 
 Hastily acting on such information, a grave was dug in 
 an adjoining family burial place of Dunmurry, whilst the 
 body of Denis Downey was wrapped in a shroud and cov- 
 ered with sheets, for time would not allow of a coffin 
 being made. In this manner the remains were consigned 
 to fheir last resting-place, and covered with earth. The 
 poor woman soon returned to find her former comfort- 
 able home a perfect wreck. For nights in succession, 
 with a servant maid, she was obliged to rise from bed 
 and allow the ruffian soldiery to despoil her of almost 
 every remnant of property. Desponding and broken- 
 hearted in her unprotected situation, and happly wish- 
 ing a retirement from the scenes of former happiness, 
 the farm was afterwards sold to a purchaser, and the 
 desolate widow, with her small infant charge, removed 
 to the neighboring town of Monasterevan. Rarely could 
 she be induced, in after years, to recur to this earlier 
 period of her life without tears moistening her eyes and
 
 320 ADDENDA. 
 
 stealing down her cheeks; nor could she ever regard a 
 soldier without feelings of deep aversion. The fore- 
 going narrative furnishes a dark illustration of baneful 
 events connected with the Irish rebellion of 1798. It is 
 no isolated episode," adds Mr. O'Hanlon; "for many 
 other family afflictions, equally deplorable and tragic in 
 results, must have chequered the lot in life of thousands 
 who became victims during this sad period of civil com- 
 motion and disorder. 
 
 i 
 
 U. 
 
 THE PROJECTED REBELLION IN CORK. 
 SECRET SERVICES OF FATHER BARRY. 
 
 THE appendix to the new edition of the first 
 volume of The Lives and Times of the United Irish- 
 men displays, under the head " Secret service 
 money revelations from original accounts and re- 
 ceipts for pensions," a curious selection from 
 these documents, to each of which, with some 
 few exceptions, Dr. Madden supplies interesting 
 i details regarding the circumstances under which 
 the pension was earned. At page 395 appears a 
 receipt from the late Rev. Thomas Barry, P.P. of 
 Mallow, who enjoyed a secret stipend of 100 a 
 year; and as no explanatory statement is vofun- 
 teered, it perhaps becomes our duty to supply 
 the omission, while furnishing at the same time a 
 note to the remarks of our own which appear at 
 page 144 of The Sham Squire. 
 
 The following letter, addressed to the Very 
 Rev. Dr. -Russell, Roman Catholic Dean of Cloyne, 
 by the Rev. T. Murphy, of Mallow, containing 
 the result of some inquires instituted at our sug- 
 gestion among the oldest inhabitants of Mallow, 
 will be read with interest :
 
 A PENSIONED PRIEST. 321 
 
 " Mallow, October 2d, 1865. 
 
 "VERY REV. A>T> DEAR SIR: After many Inquiries 
 about the subject matter of your kind letter of Septem- 
 ber 9th, I thought it well to await the return of an old 
 inhabitant who was absent from Mallow until yester- 
 day. 
 
 " The following is the substance of his account of 
 the emdute, which I believe to be the most authentic. 
 Shortly after the insurrection of "98, the Royal Meath 
 Militia were stationed in Mallow. They had conspired 
 with the disaffected to blow up the Protestant church, 
 when the yeomanry troops were at service on a certain 
 Sunday. Abundant materials were at hand, as Mallow 
 contained several parks of artillery at th*e time in a field 
 near the Protestant church, and hence called Cannon 
 Field to this day. 
 
 " On the Saturday preceding, two of the wives of the 
 militia, who lodged at one Canty's, at Ballydaheen, were 
 noticed by Canty's wife stitching or sewing the extremi- 
 ties of their petticoats together, and Mrs. Canty (wife of. 
 Canty, a cooper) expressed her astonishment. The sol- 
 diers' wives were equally surprised, and asked her did 
 she not hear of the rising about to occur next day. An 
 expression of more unbounded surprise was the response. 
 The poor Meath women expected they could fill more 
 than their pockets. Canty (whose son still lives in Bal- 
 lydaheen) communicated the news to his gossip, Lover 
 (a convert). Lover went to confession on that Saturday, 
 and Father Barry refused to absolve him except he dis- 
 closed the case extra tribunal. His wishes were complied 
 with, and both Lover and Father Barry went forthwith 
 to General Erskine (sic) ? who lived on Spa Walk. As 
 soon as the plot was revealed, Sergeant Beatty, with nine- 
 teen men on guard for that night (all implicated), aware 
 of the treachery, Immediately decamped. The yeomen 
 pursued them in their flight to the Galtees, and when one 
 of Beatty's men could no longer continue the retreat, his 
 wish of dying at the hands of Beatty was complied with. 
 Beatty turned round and shot him ! The body of the poor 
 fellow was brought back to Mallow next day, and lies 
 interred near the Protestant church, and Sergeant Beatty 
 himself (God be merciful to him!) was taken finally in 
 Dublin, and hanged. Lover had four sons. They all 
 21
 
 322 ADDENDA. 
 
 emigrated after arriving at manhood. I am sorry to say 
 one of them became a priest, and died a short time since 
 in Boston. 
 
 " The father received a pension of 50 a year for life, 
 acd Father Barry was in receipt of 100 a year until 
 1813, some years before his death,* when a dispute arose 
 between him and the Protestant minister of Mallow, 
 about the interment of some Protestant who became a 
 convert on his death-bed. Father Barry insisted on 
 reading the service in the Protestant churchyard, was 
 reported to government for not persevering in proofs of 
 loyalty, deprived of his pension, and died and is buried 
 in our Catholic cemetery adjoining the church. The 
 only prayer I ever heard offered for him was ' God for- 
 give him ! ' " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " T. MUKPHY. 
 
 " To the Very Rev. Dean Russell." - 
 
 Dean Russell, in inclosing his correspondent's 
 letter to us for publication, corrects an error into 
 1 which the Rev. Mr. Murphy fell, in stating that 
 Lover received 50 a year in recognition of his 
 timely information. A previous letter from the 
 dean observes : 
 
 "Protestant gratitude, unfortunately for Mr. Barry's 
 character, obtained for him a 100 a year; but poor 
 Lover never received a farthing. Having been reduced 
 to great poverty, a petition was sent to government, 
 signed by twenty-five gentlemen, stating his services. 
 The answer was, they knew nothing of him ; but the 
 rebellion was then smothered in the blood of the peo- 
 ple." 
 
 The dean adds, that this and other information 
 recently reached him from clergymen who were 
 born in Mallow or its vicinity. He adds : 
 
 " I do not think that Mr. Murphy's informant knew 
 much of the fate of Sergeant-Major Beatty and his men 
 
 * The pension was finally restored to him, as his receipts 
 prove. In the Secret Service Money Hook, now held by Charles 
 Haliday, Esq., and from which Dr. Madden has quoted the sa- 
 lient points, we find Father Barry's name frequently figuring 
 as a recipient of various gratuities exclusive of his pension.
 
 O'CONNELL AND BARRY. 323 
 
 after they left Mallow. I recollect, when a boy, and I 
 am now nearly seventy-two, to hear a highly respectable 
 and intelligent clergyman speak in raptures of the sin- 
 gularly gallant retreat of that poor sergeant and his 
 men. A lew worn out by fatigue were unable to per- 
 severe. They of course were captured by the cowardly 
 yeomanry, who satisfied their loyalty by looking at the 
 sergeant, but dare not approach near him." 
 
 It would be difficult to find a pastor who pre- 
 sented a more venerable and paternal aspect than 
 the late Father Thomas Barry of Mallow. His 
 flowing white hair and thorough .benevolence of 
 expression impressed most favorably all who came 
 in contact with him, and commanded their entire 
 confidence. The late eminent and lamented Dan- 
 iel 'Council, on being shown one of Father 
 Barry's receipts for "blood-money," as it was 
 then somewhat erroneously presumed to have 
 been, started, and, to quote the words of. our 
 informant, who still holds his receipts, "became 
 as white as a sheet ! " For thirty years O'Con- 
 nell had been on terms of close intimacy with 
 Father Barry, and reposed unbounded confidence 
 in his counsel. In the Dublin Evening Post of 
 the day an obituary notice appears of Father 
 Barry, who died January 18th, 1828. The singu- 
 lar fact is mentioned, that the priest's pall was 
 borne by six Protestants. Having directed the 
 attention of Dean Russell to this article, he 
 writes: "The statement that Mr. Barry's coffin 
 was borne to the grave by six Protestants can 
 hardly be c6rrect, as nothing was known of the 
 pension he received till some time after his death. 
 He was buried in the same respectful way in 
 which Catholic clergymen are usually buried."
 
 APPENDIX: 
 
 THIED DUBLIN EDITION
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 REYNOLDS THE INFORMER AND MR. 
 
 WILLIAM COPE. 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE following remarks have been addressed to 
 us by Sir William H. Cope, Bart., in vindication 
 of the consistency of his late grandfather, Mr. 
 William Cope, of whom we have spoken at p. 160. 
 After kindly observing, among other remarks, that 
 he has read The Sham Squire and the Informers of 
 '98 with " much interest and pleasure," Sir Wm. 
 goes on to say : 
 
 " In your Addenda you designate him, on the authority 
 of the late General Cockburn, as a 'spy,'* and bracket him 
 with persons so infamous as Armstrong and Reynolds. I 
 mast really claim justice at your hands for his memory. 
 A ' spy ' is one who enters the enemy's camp in disguise 
 to obtain information to use against him. Armstrong was 
 a 'spy,' certainly; Reynolds was both a traitor to the 
 cause he had espoused, and a spy, by pretending still to 
 act with his* confederates after he had betrayed them. 
 But my grandfather was not a 'spy.' He had always 
 
 * This epithet of reproach has not been applied by the pres- 
 ent writer, but by Gen. Cockburu. To prevent a very possible 
 misconception in the public mind, we may add, in justice to 
 Sir William Cope, that the title he enjoys forms no part of the 
 recompense bestowed by the government of Lord Cornwallis 
 on his grandfather, William Cope, for the part taken by him 
 in persuading Reynolds to become an informer. The late 
 Mr. William Cope was a very eminent merchant of Dublin, 
 and Sir William Cope, his grandson, represents one of the 
 oldest English baronetcies.
 
 328 APPENDIX. 
 
 been, and he was especially in 1798, a strong opponent 
 and an outspoken enemy of the United Irishmen and of 
 the principles they professed. As long before as 1792 he 
 had, in an assembly of the corporation of Dublin, as rep- 
 resentative of the guild of merchants, moved and carried 
 a series of resolutions strongly opposing and condemning 
 Uie modified concessions to Roman Catholics, then in 
 contemplation. These resolutions were communicated 
 officially to all the other corporations of Ireland, and 
 they, or similar ones, were adopted by most of the grand 
 juries at the ensuing assizes. You may disapprove his 
 action as much as I regret it; but at least it proves that 
 he was an open and declared antagonist; and so well 
 known was this, that he states that it made him so un- 
 popular among the mercantile and trading classes of 
 Ireland, as seriously to injure the interests of the em- 
 inent mercantile firm of which he was the head. And 
 my grandfather was well known. In 1792 he had paid 
 a fine to avoid the office of sheriff of Dublin. So that, 
 hacj my grandfather even desired to act the 'spy,' he 
 was most certainly one of the very last persons the 
 United Irishmen or the patriotic party would have let 
 into their secrets. Even the very day before Reynolds's 
 revelation was made to him, being the only non-Liberal 
 member of the company assembled at Castle Jordan, Sir 
 Duke Giffard's, he seems to have stated and defended his 
 opinions in a long conversation with Lord Wycombe, of 
 which he has preserved a minute in the papers I have 
 referred to. I hope, therefore, that in any future edition 
 of your interesting publication you will relieve my grand- 
 father's memory from the execrable name of ' spy,' how- 
 ever much you may consider him as the avowed and active 
 enemy of the cause which was betrayed to him. 
 
 I may mention that neither my father nor I ever 
 received, directly or indirectly, any part of the pension 
 granted to my grandfather. It was granted, as you 
 rightly observe (p. 137), to his wife, who predeceased 
 him, and to his three unmarried daughters. It eventu- 
 ally centred in Miss Teresa Cope, who, as you truly say 
 resided and died at Rhos-y-gar, near Holyhead. Others 
 may entertain a different opinion as to the enormity of a 
 recompense for services which, as Thomas Moore ob- 
 serves in his Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, ' it is not 
 too much to say, were the means of saving the country 
 to Great Britain.'
 
 REYNOLDS. 329 
 
 " I am quite ready, if you wish it, to submit to you any 
 of the papers I have referred to in this letter. I am not 
 likely to be in Dublin, but if you should at any time be in 
 London, I will willingly wait upon you there, and show 
 them to you. I have a large number of papers relating to 
 the period in question, including Reynolds's letters to my 
 grandfather, some of which show his courage not to have 
 been greater than his fidelity." 
 
 In a subsequent communication with which we 
 were favored by Sir William Cope, some papers 
 of considerable historic interest and importance 
 were inclosed. The following document, which 
 sufficiently explains itself, is endorsed by the late 
 Mr. Cope : " Thomas Reynolds's statement of the 
 conversation coming from Castle Jordan, and also 
 my statement of the same." 
 
 REYNOLDS'S STATEMENT. 
 From original MS. in autograph of Thomas Reynolds. 
 
 "In the month of February last, [1798,] I travell'd 
 with Mr. Cope to Castle Jordan the seat of Sir Duke 
 Gilford in order to gett Possession of the lands of Cor- 
 beitstown which I became intitled to after the Death of 
 Sir Duke's Father and which I had mortgaged to Mr. 
 Cope for 5000. We dined there as did Lord Wickcome 
 and some other gentlemen. We satt late. The con- 
 versation turned much on the affairs of Ireland. Mr 
 Cope and I returned next Day to Dublin in a Chaise. 
 On the Road we chatted of the conversation which took 
 place the Day before, and of the United Irishmen. In 
 the course of our conversation Mr. Cope * in the strong- 
 est light the distinction of all Civil and Religious liberty 
 and Property, The violation of all the rights of Man, The 
 murders and horrid treatment exercised by the French 
 in every country they went into, (tho they went at first 
 as Friends,) sparing neither age, sex, or Condition, and 
 from the Daring murders and Robberies committed by 
 the United men here, tho under the curb of the Law, 
 
 * A word evidently omitted; probably "pointed out," or 
 "placed."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 what were we to expect when they were unrestrained 
 and joined by that French army enured to every crime 
 and enormity. We conversed several hours on the sub- 
 ject and the result was, that struck with all he said, I 
 determined to quit the Society, and repair rny own Fault 
 by a declaration of all I knew, and I told Mr. Cope I 
 thought I knew a man who I could induce by represent- 
 ing to him all our conversation to give up the United 
 cause, and give intelligence of all he knew of them Mr. 
 Cope directly said such a man would meritt every honor, 
 and Reward his Country could bestow on him. I told 
 him I would call on him in a Day or two about it. I did 
 call on him and gave him all the information I knew of, 
 telling him to keep secrett who he heard it from, he 
 pressed me to come forward myself but I refused to do 
 so, he offered me a seat in Parliament and every honor 
 the Country could give me and great wealth if I would 
 come forward. I told him I would not on any account 
 that I was content as I was, and wanted neither honors 
 nor great wealth but that I should be entitled to 500 
 guineas in order to repay me for any Loss I might sus- 
 tain, -as I well knew sooner or later this affair would be 
 known or suspected by the United men and that I should 
 then quit the Country for a time at least, to save my life 
 from them and that even then they would attack my 
 house and such of my property as they could come at. 
 Mr. Cope still pressed me to come forward myself and 
 offered great rewards, but I allways declined to do so." 
 
 MR. COPE'S STATEMENT. 
 From the original paper in his autograph. 
 
 " Some time in Feb. Mr. R. and we had business with 
 Sir Duke Giffords at Castle Jordan. We dined there. 
 Lord Wycombe,* a Gent. I think of the name of Fitz- 
 gerald, who, from his conversation, I did believe had 
 
 belonged to the Navy, a Mr. who, I understood, was 
 
 uncle to Lady Gifford, and agent to Sir Duke I think 
 there was another Gent., whose name I did not hear, or 
 if I did don't remember. Sir D., Mr. R., and I were the 
 Comp. The conversation after Lady G. quit the room, 
 
 * Lord Wycoinbe, afterwards Marquis of Laiisdowue. See 
 p. 163, ante.
 
 REYNOLDS. 331 
 
 went on the affairs of Ireland ; and it was the general 
 opinion to find fault with the measures of Gov and par- 
 ticularly his Lordship said, the people would not be satis- 
 fled till there was emancipation and a reform. I said I 
 did not know how far it might be prudent to grant a 
 general emancipation, but as to a Reform in parliam* I 
 did not see how it was practicable to make matters bet- 
 ter than they were as to the representation of the people, 
 or how it could be effected and apply'd to his lordship ; 
 that in many comps. I hud been in, no mode was ever yet 
 pointed oat that would not on arguments, on considera- 
 tion make matters worse than they were at present, but 
 probably his Lordship might be able to point out a place 
 that would answer the end He then asked me did I 
 think it fair that a Borough which had gone to decay or 
 had not an inhabitant should send two members to Rep- 
 resent it To this I replyd that at their first institu- 
 tion, they had their use to counterbalance in some degree 
 the power of the Nobles and to aid the King against the 
 power of Aristocracy but at this day they had their use, 
 for if it was not for such Bor* the abilities of the late 
 Lord Chath" and tbe services he was enabled to render 
 his Country could not have been bro* forward, or in this 
 Kingdom were it not for the Bor: of Charlemout, the 
 abilities of Mr. G rut tan would not have been brot for- 
 ward for the service of bis Country. That we had a 
 happy Constitution and it would be dangerous to make 
 the smallest alteration That there was a property in 
 both Count* that had a right to be represented That it 
 was not Land, or would it procure a Seat in the Legisla- 
 ture for any populous Corporation or City. I meant the 
 monied property of both Countrys, and were it not for the 
 Bor* that had become private property this consider- 
 able stake in the Community would not be represented. 
 I instanced a man by industry who had acquired a large 
 money property without connection with Land, had a 
 right to a Seat in the Legislature to defend that property 
 if he thought it necessary or proper how then could he 
 get a Seat if there were not Bor* To this his Lordship 
 gave no reply, but turned to some other topic, but all 
 agreed the people must be satisfied in their objects of 
 reformation and emancipation As I found the opinions 
 of all the Comp : here the same and no one inclined to 
 point out the practicability 1 remained silent. Lord
 
 332 APPENDIX, 
 
 Wycombe mentioned his having a vessell of his own, and 
 of his having been bro 1 into one of the French ports but 
 that he was soon known and every assistance given him 
 I did not understand that this was at a time the Nations 
 were at War When Mr. R. and S. retired, I talked a 
 little with him on the conversation that had pass'd and 
 told him my opinion that these words reformation and 
 emancipation were to which might be added the word 
 equality were ruining the kingdom. The next day I 
 introduced the same subject again with Mr. R. and 
 when we got into the Chaise, for we set off walking 
 before the family were up and met the Chaise before we 
 got to Clonara I talked a good deal of the disturbances 
 of the Kingdom and the object of the French being plun- 
 der and that his property or any mans however zealous 
 he might be to obtain the object of emancipation, &c., 
 would not be safer than any other I mentioned many 
 of the enormities that had been committed by the French 
 on their Revolution and it was a true remark that the first 
 promoters of a Revolution never saw the end of it in 
 France not one but what fell victims to their own party 
 or some new one that started up that United Irishmen 
 who were now so eager for a change would .probably be 
 the first who would lose their lives and tho they de- 
 pended so much on the French, they w d be deceivd as 
 they had deceivd every country that had let their Army 
 into them. Mr. R. agreed and told me so far that he had 
 been chosen a Coloni but that he was determined to quit 
 them and tho chosen he had never acted or never would 
 
 I then said to him ' Mr. R. you have it in your power 
 to save your Country, Come forward like a man and do 
 the good that any honest man in the Nation must bless 
 you for' he said ' it was impossible he never would' 
 
 I said every thing that occurred to me in the strongest 
 manner to induce him told him the lives he would save, 
 and the hon ble light in which he would be held that every 
 hon r would attend him, that it was a Duty he owed his 
 God and his Country to come forward and stop the effu- 
 sion of human blood, and the dreadful calamities that 
 would befal the Country if a civil war took place the man 
 that would do it would deserve the highest hou r and the 
 highest reward his Country could bestow." * 
 
 * Thomas Reynolds was an extensive silk manufacturer in 
 Dublin; born March 12th, 1771; died in Paris August 18th, 1836.
 
 REYNOLDS. 333 
 
 The following extract from a private letter ad- 
 dressed by Mr. Cope to a friend describes with 
 still more minuteness of detail that conversation 
 between him and Reynolds which was attended 
 with results so very remarkable. The preceding 1 
 statement seems to have been meant for the peru- 
 sal of the government ; the letter is more familiar 
 and unreserved. It will be observed that some 
 remarks are repeated which might, without impair- 
 ing the narrative, be omitted ; but on considera- 
 tion we think it better to give without mutilation 
 documents of such historic value and interest. 
 
 " Dublin, 29th July, 1798. 
 
 " The conspiracy had far advanced, indeed was nearly 
 brought to a crisis, much nearer than government or the 
 people not in the secret (who were to be sacrificed) had 
 any idea of, ***** and from the county meet- 
 ings were delegated the members to form a provincial 
 meeting. Such was the meeting at Bond's house, and 
 which, as it were by a miracle, I had the good fortune to 
 discover, by pointing out to Mr. Reynolds the horror 
 and devastation that would follow such proceedings, 
 which no doubt would lead to revolution, and the hor- 
 rors which attended the French helped me not a little in 
 describing what would be the fate of ourselves. Mr. 
 Reynolds resisted every argument of mine to come for- 
 ward and prosecute, which I used with every force I was 
 capable of, after he agreed with me in opinion that the 
 consequences would be dreadful. I suspected him to be 
 a United man. I asked him if it was not wonderful, that 
 after all the murders which had been committed, govern- 
 ment could never discover any person of consequence to 
 be concerned? The wretches who form baronial meet- 
 ings, I said, are not those who direct the great machine 
 
 When the revolution broke out he was living at Kilkea Castle, 
 Athy, which had been let to him on advantageous terms by the 
 Duki- of Leinster, at the instance of his brother, Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, who entertained u friendship for Keynolds. Mr. 
 jCooke having strongly recommended him to government, ho 
 was employed as postmaster at Lisbon in 1810. as consul in 
 Iceland in 1817, and au consul at Copenhagen in 181U.
 
 334 APPENDIX. 
 
 of destruction that is going forward; they are poor 
 illiterate creatures, at least any of those who has yet 
 appeared and been ordered to punishment. They come to 
 be hanged, they can't tell for what. They had no enmity 
 to the man they killed; but they would do it again for 
 the same cause, but would tell no cause, only they would 
 go with their party. Such as these. only have govern- 
 ment been able to find out, when you and I must know 
 that more enlightened understandings must set this cruel 
 machine in motion. He smiled. I seized the opportunity, 
 and with a bold assertion charged him, 'You can save 
 your country.' He said he never could come forward, 
 which was acknowledging my charge, and I argued from 
 that and tried him at every point to bring him forward. 
 First his avarice : I went so far as 50m.* Take notice : 
 I had no authority, but I knew well the value the informa- 
 tion would be to the kingdom. He resisted, declaring no 
 consideration on earth would bring him forward. His 
 reason was, he could not leave his friends and connec- 
 tions. I then tried his ambition, by asking him was he 
 afraid to leave the society of murderers, and be noticed 
 by the first men in the kingdom, taken by the hand by 
 the Chancellor of Ireland, the Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, &c. ? and if he chose might command a seat 
 in that house. ' In short,' says I, ' there is nothing that 
 your ambition or wish could aspire to that you may not 
 command. Come forward and save your country.' No ; 
 but, says he, what you have said has filled me with so 
 much horror that I will turn in my thoughts how I can 
 effect the good you desire without coming myself, or 
 bringing any other forward, and he would call on me in a 
 day or two. He did so. I renewed my application, but 
 in vain. He said he was considering how it could be 
 effected, and save any suspicion, for death and suspicion, 
 he said, were synonymous. He made me solemnly prom- 
 ise I should never mention his name without his permis- 
 sion. He then said he could get or would prevail on a 
 friend who would give the information in writing, the 
 writing to be copied in his presence and returned. This 
 person, he said, must quit the kingdom and his industry, 
 and live abroad for a time, and he must have money to 
 support him. I said he should have it, one, two, or 
 
 , 
 abbreviation for 5 
 
 , by 
 ,000.
 
 REYNOLDS. 335 
 
 three thousand, anything he thought reasonable. He 
 said he looked for no such thing for him. I wish to effect 
 the- good aud stop the effusion of blood by his means, but 
 don't expect more for him than will support him while he 
 may remain abroad, where he cannot use the industry 
 he has been accustomed to here for his support, and he 
 thought five hundred guineas would do it; which I im- 
 mediately acceded to, and he brought me the accounts, 
 which I copied in his presence, discovering the whole of 
 the conspiracy, and conspirators that were to meet at 
 Bond's house 12th of March. The rest of the business 
 is tolerably well detailed in the trials which I send you." 
 
 The result of Mr. Cope's communications with 
 Reynolds was the arrest of the fifteen delegates 
 at Oliver Bond's on the night of March 12tb, 
 1798, and referred to at p. 157 of this work. For 
 this bit of secret service he received five hundred 
 guineas. From a letter we are about to quote of 
 ^ir. Secretary Cooke to Mr. Cope, it is evident 
 that the papers found at Bond's, and the evidence 
 then possessed by the government, would not 
 have insured a conviction of those apprehended. 
 Reynolds, finding the importance of his informa- 
 tion, and with.an appetite sharpened, as it would 
 seem, by the five hundred guineas previously 
 pocketed, hung back, and rather coquetted with 
 the government. He sold his information and 
 friends bit by bit. 
 
 ' ' In reference to the interview at which Rey- 
 nolds brought the papers," writes Sir William 
 Cope, "my late mother has told me that my 
 father (being, I believe, on leave of absence from 
 his regiment, which was in England) lodged (I 
 think) in Charlemont Street, or somewhere in the 
 outlets of Dublin ; and that my grandfather used 
 to come and spend the evening with them, and 
 that there Reynolds called on him. My mother 
 wondered at this man, whom she did not know,
 
 336 APPENDIX. 
 
 calling on my grandfather there, and being clos- 
 eted with him. After Reynolds's revelations came 
 to light, my grandfather told her the real history 
 of these mysterious interviews with the unknown 
 visitor. I suppose Reynolds was afraid of call- 
 ing on my grandfather at his house in Merrion 
 Square." 
 
 MB. SECRETARY COOKE TO MR. COPE. 
 
 " Castle, March 29th, 1798. 
 
 "Mr DEAR SIR: Your friend has acted honestly and 
 fairly, and has done much good ; but the business is yet 
 by no means complete. I very much fear, indeed I am 
 certain, that it will be impossible to convict the persons 
 apprehended without parole evidence. I know the objec- 
 tions to come forward as an * witness. But I think, in 
 order to save a kingdom, to prevent its becoming a scene 
 of anarchy and blood, and being thrown into a state of 
 barbarity and slavery, all those objections should be got 
 over. The principles which have actuated your friend 
 have been fair and honorable ; they are only deficient in 
 resolution and effect. If he can work himself up to pro- 
 ceed and to come forward in the business, he will attain 
 the end he wishes, the salvation of his country. You 
 see whatf to a state the poor deluded people are driven 
 by their desperate leaders, daily plunging into new crimes 
 and atrocities, and daily subjecting themselves to igno- 
 minious punishments, to banishment, to imprisonment, 
 to death. What merit can be greater than to put a stop 
 to the tide of enormity ? Is he to put temporary odium 
 against the welfare of the kingdom? Is he to balance 
 his personal feelings against the happiness of millions ? 
 If he feels, as he does feel, that the system of the United 
 Irishmen (if uncheck'd) must end in blood and cruelty, 
 and anarchy and desolation, if he is sensible that it 
 cannot be checked, if the leaders remain triumphant in 
 impunity, is he not bound, by every tie of humanity and 
 justice, to come forward and defeat the system by the 
 only means by which it can be defeated? These consid- 
 
 * Sic in original. f Sic in original.
 
 REYNOLDS. 337 
 
 erations I hope you will impress upon your friend, with 
 others which will more forcibly suggest themselves to 
 your mind. We have the same object, the salvation 
 of the country. And it will be surely but a little consola- 
 tion to your friend, amid the calamities of his country, 
 to reflect that he had done some good, but suffered his 
 country to be finally ruin'd because he declined to do 
 more. 
 
 "Yours, most truly and faithfully, 
 
 "E. COOKE. 
 " To Wm. Cope, Esq." 
 
 ("Copied from the original in Mr. Cooke's handwrit- 
 ing. W. H. C.") 
 
 "I find a separate copy of the above letter," 
 writes Sir William Cope, "made by my grand- 
 father, and on this is a most important endorse- 
 ment which I have copied for you. It mentions 
 the exact sum Reynolds got for his information ; 
 very different from his son's statements in the 
 Life of Reynolds : 
 
 ENDORSEMENT BY THE tATE MR. COPE. 
 
 " This letter mentions that my friend R., before the 
 privy council, had acted honestly and fairly, and done 
 much good, but I must impress on his mind the necessity 
 of his doing more. This was after he had given fair 
 information before the council, but ins.isted on his terms 
 with me of not coming forward to give parole evidence. 
 I exerted my influence, and (though Mr. Cooke said to 
 me, 'You mnst get him to come forward; stop at noth- 
 ing, 100,000, anything,' &c.) I conditioned with 
 Govt for him for only 5,000, and 1,000 per year, and 
 he is satisfied. He came forward, at my repeated inter- 
 cessions, and gave public evidence of such truths as 
 satisfied the nation." 
 
 But this note of Mr. Cope anticipates matters. 
 Mr. Secretary Cooke's moral arguments failed to 
 convince Reynolds to the extent desired by that 
 22
 
 338 APPENDIX. 
 
 able diplomatist. Pressure of a more telling char- 
 acter was now brought to bear upon Reynolds. 
 The military were sent to his residence, Kilkea 
 Castle, " at free-quarters," which Lord Cornwallis 
 said was but another name for "robbery"; and 
 some days later the arch-informer himself was 
 placed under arrest. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Cope to Reynolds, 
 in reply to his complaint that military possession 
 should have been taken of Kilkea Castle, is with- 
 out date ; but an entry in the Life of Reynolds 
 (vol. ii., p. 206) enables us to fix this incident as 
 having occurred on April 21st, 1798 : 
 
 MEMORANDUM IN THE LATE WILLIAM COPE'S 
 HANDWRITING. 
 
 " Copy of a L r from W m Cope to Tho 8 - K. in ans r to one 
 from him, complains of the sold" being at free'quar- 
 ters at Kilkea Castle. This L r was calculated by the 
 writer to show R.'s friends, while collecting informa- 
 tion for W. C., which he was to communicate from 
 time to time to W. C. 
 
 "My DEAR SIR: I lost no time in communicating the 
 depredations which had been committed on you by the 
 military. Mr. Cooke said that gentlemen who had not 
 endeavored to repress the spirit of rebellion in the coun- 
 try, must expect to feel the bad effects in the first in- 
 stance of a civil war. I told him it would irritate, so 
 far as might possibly make bad subjects of those who 
 were good. He could not answer for enormities that 
 might be committed in suppressing that inclination to 
 rebel, which had manifested itself in many parts of the 
 country, but he would be much mistaken if the good and 
 loyal suffered, if those who were not so disposed, felt 
 inconvenience, it was only giving them a specimen of 
 what they might expect if the French made good a land- 
 ing ; for then the French army would ransack and 
 plunder, as weU as our own, ruin and destruction would 
 come home to every man's door, and the gentlemen who
 
 REYNOLDS. 339 
 
 encouraged the means, which created the necessity of 
 quartering the army, would flnd that they would not be 
 spared by their new friends, more than the good old 
 Governm* under which we were all secure and happy. 
 Their object was plunder, and, in the pursuit, they would 
 take it where they could flnd it. Therefore, those who 
 have encouraged the spirit of disaffection to our king 
 and happy constitution, will feel in the first instance all 
 the calamities of a civil war, in the preparations of Gov- 
 ernm* to defend the good and loyal from the distresses 
 that must be the natural result of an enemy landing in 
 the country. You complain now, (feeling the distress) 
 at the military being quartered on you but what has 
 created the necessity of this the gentlemen in the 
 country not being active in suppressing nightly meetings 
 of the lower orders, and preventing them as far as was 
 in their power, in their respective neighborhoods, from 
 getting arms. Let me tell you, sir, Govt has information 
 that in the district in which you inhabit, there are 8000 
 men, all of whom have arms, each man the possessor and 
 concealer of his own, ready to come forward on a land- 
 ing; is it reasonable, or would it be just that Gov with 
 this knowledge, should tamely lye by, without using 
 efforts to get at these arms, and prevent them being 
 used against the good and loyal subjects of this country? 
 Is it to be supposed, that the gents, who have distin- 
 guished themselves for their loyalty, should in the first 
 instance, feel the evil effects" of a civil war, by having 
 soldiers quartered on them? No, it is those who by their 
 snpineness or worse conduct, have rendered themselves 
 suspected not to be true and loyal, that must first feel 
 the calamity they have created. It is now no time to 
 hesitate, every man must take his part. One expression 
 in your letter inclines me to believe you must have given 
 some cause for the depredations that have been com- 
 mitted on yon ; ' that if you had committed any fault, 
 you have surely been severely punished.' I said every- 
 thing I conld to clear you of being among the number of 
 the guilty encouragers to rebellion if this was made 
 manifest on convincing proofs given of loyalty and affec- 
 tion. I was told I would flnd Governm 1 would be grate- 
 ful, for while they punished their enemies, they would 
 be grateful to their friends." 
 
 Endorsed by Mr. Cope : " If from W. C. to Tho Rey- 
 nolds on the sold 1 * being quartered at his house."
 
 340 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Reynolds, junior, in the Life of his 
 father, gives the following account of the free- 
 quarters at Kilkea Castle in April, 1798: 
 
 " These exertions drew upon my father the suspicions 
 of government ; he was thought to possess too much in- 
 fluence for an innocent man, and it began to be rumored 
 abroad that Lord Edward Fitzgerald was concealed at 
 Kilkea Castle, and that he was collecting arms there to 
 make it a dep&t. The usual method of punishing sus- 
 pected persons was therefore put in force against my 
 father. A troop of the 9th Light Dragoons and a com- 
 pany of militia were sent to live at free-quarters at Kil- 
 kea Castle. They remained there nine or ten days, and 
 on their departure my father's steward produced vouchers 
 for cattle, corn, hay, and straw, furnished to them to the 
 amount of six hundred and thirty pounds. In addition 
 to this, the officers lived at my father's table, keeping 
 him a close prisoner to his room ; they and their friends 
 drank his wine, and each soldier had one pint of wine 
 served out to him daily from the well-stocked cellars. 
 The spirits had been all destroyed, on the first day, on 
 pretence of keeping the soldiers sober. The troops de- 
 stroyed the whole of the furniture; they plundered a 
 valuable library, and converted a small but very valuable 
 collection of pictures into targets for ball and sabre 
 practice; and, under pretence of searching for Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald, they tore up the flooring and pannelling, 
 and broke down the ceilings, converting the castle into 
 a mere wreck. They also flogged and tortured my father's 
 servants. Cornet Love, who was a remarkably tall and 
 powerful man, suspended the steward over his shoulder, 
 with his sash, until life was nearly extinct, to compel 
 him to confess where Lord Edward was concealed. The 
 troops remained while there was anything to consume 
 or to destroy; they then withdrew. Such was the re- 
 ward my father received from the Irish government for 
 the information he gave them through Mr. Cope, in- 
 formation which enabled them ' to preserve the country 
 .from total ruin, massacre, and destruction.' Can it be 
 credited that any government would so treat their own 
 hired agent, or their avowed, but independent, friend 
 and preserver? Is not the conclusion irresistible that 
 at this time my father was unknown to government? 
 Mr. Moore has the following observation at p. 12, vol. ii.,
 
 REYNOLDS. 341 
 
 of the Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald : ' How little spar- 
 ing those in authority would have been of rewards, their 
 prodigality to their present informer proved.' The above 
 visitation was the first instalment of their prodigality to 
 my father." 
 
 No ! The depredations at Kilkea Castle were 
 not "the first instalment of the prodigality" of 
 government to Mr. Reynolds. " I inclose you," 
 writes Sir William Cope, "an extract of a letter 
 acknowledging the receipt of some instalment of 
 Reynolds's reward. I thought you mig'ht like to 
 have it. The mention of his ' friend ' is evidently 
 only intended to mislead any one into whose hands 
 the letter might fall. Alexander Jaffray, named in 
 it, was a wealthy merchant in Dublin. The annu- 
 ity was probably to be paid, in the first instance, 
 through him and my grandfather." 
 
 The free-quarters, it will be remembered, took 
 place on the 21st of April. The date of the an- 
 nexed letter is March 28th : 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THOMAS REYNOLDS TO 
 MB. COPE. 
 
 "DEAR Sm: I did not receive your letter, inclosing 
 127 8s.* till this day, because I have been these two 
 days attending my corps, searching all Athy and this end 
 of the country for arms. We gott [c] a good number, 
 but none to which we could attach any criminality. I 
 have handed what you inclosed to my friend, and I have 
 passed him my note for the 100 that is behind, which I 
 will be able to pay him with the assistance of Mr. Jaffray's 
 and your proportions of the half-year annuity. 
 
 * * * * * * * f 
 
 " I hope to be in Dublin next Sunday for some days, on 
 account of several gentlemen leaving their houses. This 
 part of the country has been much disturbed ; therefore 
 
 * One hundred and twelve guineas. Irish currency. 
 
 t The portion of the letter omitted Is without interest, and 
 relates only to some matters connected with Lady Gilford's 
 marriage settlement.
 
 342 APPENDIX. 
 
 we have all agreed that for twelve months we will not 
 absent ourselves for any length of time from home. With 
 best respects to Mrs. Cope and family, 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your ever grateful servant, 
 
 "THOMAS REYNOLDS. 
 "Kflkea, Tuesday night." 
 
 An exact copy. 
 
 Addressed : " Wm. Cope, Esq., 
 
 " Dame Street, 
 
 "Dublin." 
 
 Post-marked : 
 
 Endorsed by W. Cope t 
 
 "March 28, 1798, 
 
 "Thos. Reynolds." 
 
 The Life of Reynolds, by his son, frequently de- 
 scribes the informer's arrest at Athy ; the follow- 
 ing letters and their companions form an important 
 supplement to it. 
 
 " The subjoined letter," writes Sir William Cope, 
 in a communication addressed to the present writer, 
 " shows the falsity of the statement in Reynolds's 
 Life, by his son (vol. i., p. 248), that my grand- 
 father, on receiving Reynolds's first letter, stating 
 that he was in custody, 'instantly' went to the 
 Castle, and stated that he was the secret informer, 
 and procured his release. That letter proves that 
 Mr. Secretary Cooke then knew his name ; and it 
 also proves that my grandfather had not acted on 
 his first letter ' instantly ' ; in fact, it would rather 
 seem from another letter that my grandfather
 
 REYNOLDS. 343 
 
 thought Reynolds was not keeping his promise, 
 to reveal all he knew ; and probably the whole 
 arrest was a plan of the government to terrify 
 him into further revelations. If so, they suc- 
 ceeded ; and more whining productions I never 
 read than his two letters while in custody. The 
 date, ' Saturday, 4 o'clock/ on the first letter, is 
 ' 5th May/ the day his son says he was 'arrested, 
 and which I see was, in 1798, a Saturday." 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS TO MB. COPE. 
 
 " Athy, Saturday, 4 o'clock. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. COPE : I have this day been arrested 
 and thrown into the common jail here. I don't know on 
 what information, but I request, I entreat you, to send down 
 here an immediate order for my acquittal and release, and 
 future protection. I can only add that, conscious of my 
 own Loyalty and steady attachment to Govern 1 , and of 
 
 the thorough knowledge you have of both and Mr. 
 
 has also made me write thus to you, but I wish you to 
 
 be with Mr. and to gett it from him. 
 
 (Signed) "T. REYNOLDS. 
 
 " Remember, Mr. Cope. I rely on you to gett this order 
 in an hour. I send it off here, on you I rely, to you I 
 look for protection now. My hope, my dependence, my 
 existence is on you. Gett me instant relief." 
 
 Note by Sir W. H. Cope. 
 
 (" An exact transcript. The spelling and erasures are 
 in the original. The name twice blotted out as if with 
 the finger while the ink was wet, it is quite illegible. 
 The name was probably ' Cooke ' ; the space of the blot 
 would about take that name. The underscoring is in the 
 original."; 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS TO MR. COPE. 
 
 "Give me to my wife and little Baby again, and do with 
 the rest of my substance as you please. Mr. Cope, 
 I-'m a Father and a Husband. 
 
 " MY DEAII Mis. COPE': Urged by the danger I am in, I 
 have revealed to Colonel Campbell the situation I stu.ud
 
 344 APPENDIX. 
 
 in with regard to our Business and I have solicited 
 him to send me to Dublin. You know, Mr. Cope, that I 
 am Loyal, and that my Loyalty has brought me to this 
 miserable situation. I don't know where I am to go, 
 or what is to be done with me, or what evidence is 
 against me ; but as you know I am suffering for having 
 acted according to the orders and wishes Government 
 communicated to me thro you ; under their Promise of 
 Protection- I hope and expect will now directly 
 
 wait on Mr. Cooke, or the Lord Lieutenant, avow me 
 to be your Friend, who acting under your and their 
 advice for the good of my Country, am oppressed and 
 thrown into a common Dungeon, and Demand from them 
 that Protection you and they know I meritt, instant en- 
 largement and future safety for my Person is all the 
 recompence I ask for having done the great and essen- 
 tial services to Government which I have done, besides 
 by my confinement I am totally prevented from obtaining 
 and giving further knowledge. You told me the Lord 
 Lieutenant never wished to know me but to do me a 
 service, now is the time. For God's sake don't keep me 
 longer in suspense. Gett me released. 
 
 (No signature.) 
 
 "William Cope, Esq., Dame Street, Dublin." 
 (" An exact transcript. It is on a shabby half-sheet of 
 paper, and in parts very illegible. The word omitted, 
 'you,' probably torn by the wafer in opening.") 
 
 The biographer of Eeynolds, after describing 
 his liberation from Athy jail, writes (vol. ii., p. 
 174) : " Upon his arrival in Dublin, my father was 
 carried before the privy council, when he was told 
 by the lord chancellor that the government were 
 not previously aware that they were indebted to 
 him for the timely information they had received 
 from Mr. Cope, or be should not have been mo- 
 lested by them." 
 
 And at p. 207, the biographer returns to the 
 period of his father's arrest and imprisonment at 
 Athy; and he adds, that when Colonel Campbell 
 sent to Dublin for further orders in reference to 
 Eeynolds, "then it was that government first
 
 REYXOLDS. 345 
 
 knew him as the man whose timely horror at the 
 conspiracy had arrested the miseries it was pre- 
 paring for his country." 
 
 We are further told (p. 206) : " Mr. Cope was 
 the only person known to government as the chan- 
 nel of information until my father was brought to 
 Dublin in custody from Athy." 
 
 But when these passages were penned, it was 
 probably not supposed that the facts recorded in 
 Mr. Cope's endorsement on Secretary Cooke's let- 
 ter would see the light. In that statement Mr. 
 Cope distinctly refers to important information 
 personally given by Reynolds before the privy 
 council six weeks anterior to the arrest at Athy. 
 
 "I now send you," writes Sir William Cope, 
 "a letter from Mrs. Reynolds, which is valuable, 
 as it shows the erroneousness of the statements 
 in Reynolds's Life, by his son, that he made no 
 terms with government for his information. She 
 was evidently acting for him ; and a letter of his, 
 which I also send you, shows that she was em- 
 powered to act for him in these money matters : " 
 
 MRS. REYNOLDS TO MR. COPE. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. COPE : The terms which would satisfy 
 my mind are : 
 
 "Immediately after the tryal is over, Mr. Reynolds to 
 be enlarged, and letters of introduction to be given to him 
 to any part of England he may think it most advisable to 
 retire to, of his being a gentleman, loyal in his principles, 
 and a friend to the King and Constitution, and recom- 
 mending him and family to the particular attention of 
 the Gentry of the place, and in the meantime to be al- 
 lowed every indulgence for his health and ease of mind, 
 in order to alleviate as much as possible the unpleasant- 
 ness of his confinement. 
 
 " The annuity to commence 25th June 1798, so that he 
 may be entitled to receive 4 a year 24th December next, 
 the 5000 to be paid to him immediately after the tryal.
 
 346 APPENDIX. 
 
 "I have to mention to you a circumstance which, if it 
 could with convenience be done, it would, as you well 
 know, be of the utmost advantage to us, to advance untill 
 the tryal is over a loan of 1000 pound. We want it to 
 go on with Sir D. Giffard's law-suit, and to discharge our 
 Debts in this Country, which we wish to pay off before 
 we go to England ; as we intend to go off immediately 
 after the tryal, we shall not then have time to settle these 
 matters. I think this might be done thro you without 
 much Difficulty. Your obliged 
 
 "HARRIETT REYNOLDS.* 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS TO MR. COPE. 
 
 "MY DEAR MR. COPE : I have scarse an instant to write 
 to tell I am ordered to go off this night ; the Packett sails 
 at seven o'clock. I must go alone. But wef will, I hope, 
 meet in London. I have several other places to go to. 
 I have been almost all day receiving orders. Pray give 
 my sincerest respects to Mrs. Cope and the Young Ladies. 
 / have desired Harriett to Receive the 300 Sills, and I will 
 icrite to her about them from England. I have not time to 
 speak to her of anything. Your ever Devoted 
 
 "THOMAS REYNOLDS. 
 
 " Monday evening, half-past six." 
 
 Thomas Moore, without sufficient evidence to 
 warrant his suspicion, suggests that Reynolds 
 was a very likely person to have betrayed Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald. J Thomas Reynolds, junior, 
 conclusively vindicates his father from at least 
 that act of turpitude, adding : " Had he even 
 been inclined to commit so base an action as that 
 of betraying him, it could not possibly have been 
 in his power to have done it." |j 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds had married, March 25th, 1794, Harriet, daugh- 
 ter of William Witherington, Esq., of Dublin ; another of whose 
 daughters became the wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone. 
 
 t Reynolds and his wife. Sir William Cope informs us that 
 he is almost certain his grandfather never met Reynolds in 
 London, or ever saw him afterwards. 
 
 t Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii, p. 43. 
 
 Life of Thomas Reynolds, vol. ii., pp. 216 et seq. 
 
 (I Ibid., vol. ii., p. 228.
 
 SLANG SATIRES. 347 
 
 Most people will be of the opinion that it was 
 equally base of Reynolds to betray his colleagues 
 as they sat in council at Oliver Bond's. The 
 foregoing passage is a full admission of Rey- 
 nolds's -baseness, by the son, who, in two vol- 
 umes filled with the most scurrilous censure of 
 Moore, Curran, Howell, and every other writer 
 who stigmatized the baseness of Reynolds, un- 
 dertakes to justify his name. 
 
 SLANG SATIRES ON SHAMADO AND HIS 
 FRIENDS. 
 
 BY desire of the publisher and others, we give, 
 unabridged, in this Appendix, the songs from 
 which, at pp. 60, 61, we quoted a few stanzas. 
 The following is exhumed from the dusty pile of 
 the Dublin Evening Post of April 4th, 1789. A tra- 
 dition ascribes the authorship to a gentleman, long 
 and familiarly known in Ireland as " Pleasant Ned 
 Lysaght " : 
 
 THE INFORMERS. 
 TUNE " The night before Larry was stretch'd " 
 
 PAVDEMOXTITM'S dread court was convened by mandates from 
 
 Beelzebub's see, 
 And a horrible gloominess reign'd through the vault at its 
 
 sovereign's decree; 
 The chiefs were arranged near his throne ; each Imp took hia 
 
 specified station; 
 All impatient until it was known whether anything threaten'^ 
 
 the nation, 
 
 Or their Mends bad relinquisli'd their yoke.
 
 348 APPENDIX. 
 
 At length the grim despot arose (perceiving the feara of the 
 meeting), 
 
 His internal intent to disclose ; and thus he began, after greet- 
 ing: 
 
 "Chief's, things of the highest import, well worthy, I deem, 
 your attention, 
 
 Have occasional this summons to court for holding a weighty 
 convention, 
 
 As I always take counsel in need. 
 
 " To you I need hardly avow that my joys spring from man- 
 kind's undoing, 
 
 And your duty will urge you, I trow, to assist in a scheme I 've 
 been brewing. 
 
 Occasion most apt for my ends having started to try your 
 allegiance, 
 
 I shall shortly distinguish my friends by the promptitude of 
 their obedience ; 
 
 Then, see that my will be observed. 
 
 " Sweet confusion, if I have success, shall reward every care 
 
 and endeavor, 
 And the station of Premier shall bless the devil who proves 
 
 the most clever. 
 Then look to your agents on earth, and cull who may best be 
 
 relied on, 
 To a plan we ourselves will give birth, do you search out 
 
 whom you can confide in, 
 
 And let them be drawn to our aid." 
 
 Then Beelzebub paused for reply; but their tumult assail'd 
 him like thunder, 
 
 Each having some friend in his eye, they near split his tym- 
 panums asunder, 
 
 Albeit though used to much din, their zeal overleap'd all pre- 
 cedent, 
 
 Till the sov'reign, with horrible grin, looked to silence the most 
 disobedient, 
 
 And awed the demoniac crew. 
 
 His demons then gave in black rolls of their pets in our capital 
 
 city, 
 And Beelzebub smiled at long scrolls, when t was moved to 
 
 select a committee. 
 He himself named SHAMADO as head; others rank'd in their 
 
 order of merit. 
 
 r ra and -ns then led; and Iton to the assem- 
 
 bly submitted, 
 
 All these were allow 'd good and true.
 
 SLANG SATIRES. 349 
 
 "My plan, then, concisely is this: Shamado must counsel 
 Dick y, his widgeon, 
 
 To insure, bit, miss, and do you help to forward his pig- 
 eon. 
 
 This signal must set on our crew, who eagerly strain for pro- 
 bation. 
 
 And (honor now bid an adieu) let each urge his black Informa- 
 tion. 
 
 The rest is committed to fate." 
 
 Hell rung with the loudest applause, and Beelzebub's pride 
 was inflated; 
 
 The idea was his, his the cause; every demon was likewise 
 elated. 
 
 The court then dissolved in a blaze; each fiend laid his plan 
 of proceeding, 
 
 And, taking their devious ways, exulted, with hope of succeed- 
 ing, 
 
 In every malevolent aim. 
 
 From Erebus' depths rose each elf, who glow'd with infernal 
 
 desire ; 
 But their prince judged it fit that himself should alone hold 
 
 confab with the Squire. 
 Close intimates long though they stood, this case call'd for 
 
 greater demerit, 
 And conscience, though purged from all good, might have 
 
 wanted his familiar fpint ; 
 
 For there 's nothing like aid from a chum. 
 
 At his elbow the prince straight appear'd, surrounded with 
 
 sulphurous vapor, 
 Just as .Shamado foundation had rear'd of a lie for his infa- 
 
 paper. 
 Mutual greetings soon pass between friends who are rarely or 
 
 ever asunder; 
 
 So Beelzebub mention 'd the. ends of th' assembly as holdcn 
 just under, 
 
 And told him the state of the case. 
 
 " T Is well," said Shamndo. " Gracious sire, your law has been 
 always my pleasure; 
 
 I conceive what your highness desires, 't is my duty to sec- 
 ond the measure. 
 
 The deeper I plunge for your sake, the higher I raise my con- 
 dition; 
 
 Then who would his fealty break to a prince who thus feeds 
 his ambition, 
 
 And gratifies every desire ?
 
 350 APPENDIX. 
 
 "Through life I 've acknowledged thy aid, and as constantly 
 tasted thy bounty, 
 
 From the Newgate solicitor's trade, till a sub-sherrff placed in 
 the county. 
 
 Shall I halt in the midst of my sins, or sink fainting and trem- 
 bling before ; em, 
 
 When my honor thick-spreading begins, when, in fine, I am 
 one of the quorum, 
 
 And may in the Senate be placed. 
 
 " No, my liege. Since thy favors increase, I am tied by their 
 strong obligation ; 
 
 And, as vacant young minister's place, let your faithful engage 
 in the station." 
 
 The sov'reigii, well pleased with the bit, sent an imp in Ma 
 suite with a bullet, 
 
 Told his counsel to make out the writ, and Shamado, the jus- 
 tice, would fill it, 
 
 The fittest on earth for the charge. 
 
 Now the bustle of office began, and the Devil, content with 's 
 
 chief menial, 
 Set him loose for the rapine of man, as he acted from motives 
 
 congenial. 
 Like principles run through the group, each eagerly works in 
 
 his function, 
 And their prince must confess such a troop never served him 
 
 before in conjunction, 
 
 And never again may be join'd. 
 
 A NEW SONG TO THE TUNE OF " LARRY." 
 (From the Dublin Evening Post of May 6th, 1789.) 
 
 OH, de night afore Edgwort was tried, 
 De Counc'il dey met in despair, . . 
 
 GEO Jos was there ; and beside 
 
 Was a doctor, a lawyer, and a player.* 
 Justice SHAM den silence proclaim'd, 
 De Bullies dey all of dein hearken'd; 
 Poor EOGWORT, says he, will be framed, 
 His daylights perhaps will be darkeu'd, 
 Unless we can lend him a hand. 
 
 * For a key to these characters, see p. 60.
 
 SLANG SATIRES. 351 
 
 " Be de hokey ! " says SEO, " I 'm afraid 
 I can't tfct liiin cut of his trouble; 
 Ills blinkers 1 know they will shade, 
 If his lordship dont tip him de double. 
 To de Castle 1 'd have him to go; 
 He 'a de man dat can do such a job dcrc, 
 And get out de red-coats you know ; 
 And den we can keep off de mob dere, 
 His peepers derby we can save." 
 
 No sooner he 'd spoke de word whole, 
 But de color edged off from dere faces. 
 Says Roscius * " Now splinter your soul. 
 
 1 'd, by s, throw aces; 
 
 Ay, rather be uick'd three times o'er, 
 Supposing 't was on de last stake, 
 Den hear you say so many more ; 
 T was a lie dat yourself you did make, 
 To go for to frighten de Sham. 
 
 " I 'm sorry such falseness to see 
 Of a boy dat was bred in our school ; 
 You dog, if it was not for he, 
 
 You 'd often gone hungry to . 
 
 And now for a damnable tief 
 To go and invent such a lie, 
 I put your poor master in pain." 
 Away den de Quack he did fly, 
 
 And de Council bruk up like a shot. 
 
 Says Sham, " He 's a boy of my own, 
 By the ties of relation endear'd, 
 A fellow dat 's proof to de boue, 
 Nor conscience nor devil e'er fear'd. 
 Young Koscius, 1 know, will subscribe, 
 Becuse dey have often play'd hazard; 
 !) slioriff we '11 try for to bribe, 
 And not let 'em pelt his poor muzzard, 
 To go for to mark it wid shame." 
 
 Says the Quack, " Now blister my limbs, 
 But 1 send him a great deal of pity ; 
 What signifies people's nice whims? 
 We know he can swear very prittv. 
 In his paper he shall have de daub. 
 I '11 tell BrcKEY de people will bless him, 
 If now he will comfort poor Bob, 
 When de laws of de land do distress him ; 
 But I 'm told they will tell de whole truth." 
 
 * Richard Daly. See p. 87.
 
 352 APPENDIX. 
 
 DEEDS RELATING TO HIGGINS, MAGAN, 
 
 AND OTHERS. 
 (See page 136, et seq.) 
 
 AMONG the documents relating to Francis Hig- 
 gins, preserved in the Registry of Deeds Office, 
 Dublin, are several mortgages from Thomas Magan 
 to the Sham Squire, including one for 2,300 and 
 another for 1,000. One of the witnesses is Fran- 
 cis Magan. Richard Daly, the lessee of Crow 
 Street theatre, was also pecuniarily accommodated 
 at different times by Mr. Higgins ; and, in 1799, 
 we find Daly, then styled " now of the Isle of 
 Man," mortgaging his house in Harcourt Street 
 to Shamado. We also find a mortgage to Hig- 
 gins from Charles Kendal Bushe, in 1799, and 
 several bonds of Sir John Ferns, and a promissory 
 note of the Right Hon. John Foster, " late Speaker 
 of the House of Commons," are recited in the 
 marriage settlement of the lady who was chief 
 legatee of Higgins, and whose name we have 
 hitherto refrained from mentioning. In the lat- 
 ter deed, dated September 6th, 1802, the remark- 
 able fact also transpires, that this lady received, 
 in recognition of the Sham Squire's services, a 
 pension of 300 per annum, charged on the Irish 
 establishment. Owing to extraordinary circum- 
 stances, the pension continues to be paid to this hour. 
 On the 10th December, 1797, Lord Carhampton, 
 whose intimacy with Shamado Magee detected in 
 1789, secured the Squire as a neighbor by letting 
 to him the lands of Hartstown and Barnegeath, 
 near Luttrelstown. The lease of'the Sham Squire's 
 Louse in Stephen's Green describes it as next door 
 to that occupied by the late Counsellor Harward
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE'S BEQUESTS. 353 
 
 (see p. 14, ante), and adjoining Lord Earlsfort's 
 lawn. Rents seem to have been then compara- 
 tively low. The Sham Squire guaranteed to pay 
 for his house in Stephen's Green 30 fine, and 
 55 a year ; while the rent of his house in Rose 
 Lane, "bounded on the north by Darby Square," 
 was 38 per annum. With all his cunning, the 
 Sham Squire blundered his will. Two witnesses 
 seem to have been in those days insufficient ; and 
 the property was legally adjudged to Francis Hig- 
 gins, " formerly of Downpatrick, and now of Phil- 
 adelphia," first cousin and heir-at-law of the Sham 
 Squire. The Court of Chancery was appealed to, 
 and some arrangement seems to have been come 
 to between the litigants ; for an assignment is 
 preserved in the Registry Office from "the heir- 
 at-law" of the Sham Squire to one of the parties 
 to whom the property was bequeathed. 
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE'S BEQUESTS. 
 (Vide pp. 166-173.) 
 
 AFTER several letters of inquiry on the subject 
 appeared, it was urged by the Irish Times, in a 
 voluminous leading article, that a royal commis- 
 sion should be appointed to inquire into the con- 
 dition and revenues of the charities bequeathed 
 by Francis Higgins and others, and. expressed a 
 hope that parliament would at once take the 
 matter in hand. 
 
 Complaint having been made that a letter which 
 appeared in a morning paper, from the Governor 
 of the Four Courts Marshalsea, had been omitted 
 23
 
 354 APPENDIX. 
 
 from the Appendix to the first edition of this 
 work, we now supply it, together with an answer 
 which it elicited : 
 
 " 17 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, 
 January 4th, 1865. 
 
 " SIR: In your paper of yesterday I see an article on 
 the bequests of two gentlemen to the Four Courts Mar- 
 shalsea, for charitable purposes. The will referred to 
 provided that each prisoner who had taken the pauper 
 declaration should be provided with a dinner of beef 
 and bread on Christmas Day and Easter Monday, and 
 that the balance should be applied to discharging some 
 of the poor debtors ; but at the time this will was made 
 there were prisoners confined for sums considerably 
 under three pounds. However, there have been few 
 there for sev<jral years under debts of ten pounds; con- 
 sequently, a short time after my appointment to my pres- 
 ent position (now thirteen years ago), I brought the mat- 
 ter under the consideration of the three chaplains, and 
 represented to them that if they thought proper to apply 
 the balance, after the dinners referred to, one or two 
 prisoners could only be benefited in the manner pointed 
 out. They accordingly decided that a sum of 1 10s. 
 (since raised to 2 in consequence of a change in the 
 Stamp Act) should be applied for the purpose of filing 
 the schedules of those prisoners who had no means of 
 paying the expenses of taking the benefit of the Insol- 
 vency Act, which was carrying out as far as possible the 
 desire of the testators. Since this arrangement I have 
 always obtained ample means for filing the schedules of 
 all those whom I found deserving of the favor; had I not 
 done so, I should have requested the lord mayor for the 
 time being to have curtailed the allowance of beef and 
 bread on Easter and Christmas. His releasing a man 
 from prison is of more importance than giving each 
 pauper more* than ten times as much as the testator 
 designed. 
 
 " lu conclusion, I have to remark that the bequests 
 with which the lord mayor has nothing to do only pro- 
 duce a small sum, and is more at the disposal of the 
 prison chaplains on these occasions. It frequently is 
 a source of regret to ine that the will only refers to
 
 THE SHAM SQUIRE'S BEQUESTS. 355 
 
 pauper prisoners, it frequently occurring that the most 
 distressed inmates of the Four Courts Marshalsea are 
 those who support themselves without the government 
 allowance, and have, alas ! too often to subsist on two 
 very scanty meals in the day. 
 
 " I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "E. H. CAULFIKLD, Marshal." 
 
 " January 10th, 1865. 
 
 "Sm: As I was the first to call attention in your 
 columns to the distribution of the charities, I beg to 
 deprecate the equivocal letter of the governor on the 
 subject. I would suggest an application to his excel- 
 lency the lord-lieutenant, with a view to the exhibition 
 of the wills on the walls of the prison, and an order to 
 the Board of Charitable Bequests to see that they are 
 carried out in their integrity." 
 
 Mr. Caulfield is under an erroneous impression 
 in supposing that the lord mayor has "nothing 
 to do " with the Higgins Bequest. In his will, it 
 is specially directed that the lord mayor for the 
 time being shall distribute the charity. We are 
 assured by the secretary to the Board of Chari- 
 table Bequests that they have got a copy of the 
 Sham Squire's will, and do all in their power to 
 make the bequest be carried out in its integrity. 
 Hitherto, the money so distributed by the lord 
 mayor has been erroneously announced in the 
 newspapers as the personal charities of that func- 
 tionary ; but steps have been taken by the Board 
 of Charitable Bequests to prevent such borrowed 
 plumes from being again displayed.
 
 356 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE REBELLION IN WICKLOW. FUSI- 
 LADE AT DUNLAVIN. 
 
 THE Rev. John F. Shearman, late of Dunlavin, 
 and now of Howth, has obligingly sent to us, 
 since the publication of our previous edition, the 
 following waifs and strays of the rebellion in Wick- 
 low, gathered from aged witnesses of the events. 
 Details of the more important events of the insur- 
 rection in Wicklow can be found in Hay and Mus- 
 graves histories; but the incidents gleaned by 
 Mr. Shearman which possess historic value do 
 not exist in any accessible form. " The memory 
 of these events," writes Mr. Shearman, "is still 
 green in Dunlavin ; but few, unless one in my 
 position, could elicit much information on a sub- 
 ject always dangerous to touch in that locality. 
 I append other episodes, for the truth and correct- 
 ness of which I can give every guarantee." 
 
 I. 
 
 Some days before this cruel execution, which 
 took place May 16th, 1798, Captain Saunders, of 
 Saunders's Grove, near Stratford-on-Slaney, re- 
 viewed his corps, and then announced that he had 
 private information of all those in it who were 
 United Irishmen. All who were such were then 
 ordered to step from the ranks. Many, in the 
 belief that he had true information of their infi- 
 delity, came forward. One man, however, Pat 
 Doyle by name, having got a hint from Captain 
 Saunders's butler, who was a member of the corps, 
 that his master had no reliable information, said, 
 when his name was called, that he was no "United
 
 FUSILADE AT DUNLAVIN. 357 
 
 man"; the remainder of them took the hint, and 
 their captain was thus foiled. The unfortunate 
 men who so unintentionally betrayed themselves 
 were then pinioned and marched to the market- 
 house of Dunlavin for confinement until their fate 
 would be decided. Next day, Captain William 
 Ryves, of the Rathsallagh Yeomen, being on the 
 look-out for insurgents on the hill of Uske, his 
 horse was killed by a ball aimed at its rider. 
 Ryves got home safely ; rode to Dunlavin, and 
 then it was determined to shoot the prisoners of 
 Saunders's yeomen, and those of the Narraghmore 
 corps, numbering in all thirty-six men. Next day, 
 the 26th of May, being the market-day of Dun- 
 lavin, these unfortunates were marched from the 
 market-house to the fair-green, situated on the 
 rising ground above the little town. In a hollow 
 or pit on the north side, near the gate of the Ro- 
 man Catholic chapel on the Sparrowhouse Road, 
 the victims were ranged, while a platoon of the 
 Ancient Britons stood on the higher ground on 
 the south side of the green, -on the Boherbuoy 
 Road. They fired with murderous effect on the 
 thirty-six victims. All fell dead and dying 
 amid the shrieks and groans of the bystanders, 
 among whom were their widows and relatives. 
 After this murderous task was completed, the mil- 
 itary retired to the market-house for other acts 
 scarcely less cruel and bloody. Flogging and 
 hanging was the order of the day, to stamp out 
 disaffection and strike terror into the hearts of 
 the country people. At the green, when all was 
 hushed, while the life-blood was welling from the 
 murdered victims, their friends and relatives pow- 
 erless to soothe their pangs, and lurking in terror 
 behind the neighboring fences, the soldiers' wives
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 came to rifle the mangled corpses of the slain. 
 One poor fellow who was only wounded, when he 
 found his watch being taken from him, made a 
 faint effort at resistance, but in vain ; the savage 
 woman sent for her husband, who quickly settled 
 the matter by firing a pistol into the ear of the 
 wounded man. Another victim, Peter Prender- 
 gast, was also living, being wounded in such a 
 manner as that his bowels were exposed. He 
 feigned death, was also plundered, and thus es- 
 caped. Towards evening the bodies of those who 
 were not already carried away by their friends 
 were taken to the cemetery of Tournant and there 
 buried in a large pit. Prendergast was still alive, 
 and a woman replaced his bowels, and bound him 
 round with her shawl ; he was carried home, and 
 lived to an advanced age. Some few persons still 
 surviving have a vivid recollection of the cruel and 
 savage scenes. An old man told the writer that 
 he remembers his father taking him to the town 
 on that day, when he saw men hanging in death's 
 agonies between the pillars of the market-house. 
 He remembers an event which it is well to record, 
 as relieving the barbaric cruelty of the scene. 
 One John Martin, in an encounter with a soldier, 
 snatched his sword. He was seized and dragged 
 to the market-house to his doom. The sword was 
 taken from him and placed on a peg in the wall. 
 A respectable Protestant friend interested himself 
 for Martin, who eventually escaped injury ; and 
 while his fate was a subject of altercation between 
 the authorities, a soldier's wife took down the 
 sword, and, unperceived in the heat of the dispute, 
 cut the rope by which one Thomas Egan, a smith, 
 was suspended, writhing in the agonies of suffoca- 
 tion. He fell unnoticed to the ground, revived,
 
 THE REBELLION IN WICKLOW. 359 
 
 and escaped to Dublin. The following is a list 
 of the slain, as far as ascertained : 
 
 John Rqeravan, Daniel Reeravan, brothers, Up- 
 pertown, Dunlavin ; Martin Gryffen, do., aet. 21 ; * 
 
 Duffy, Duffy, brothers, Ballinglass ; 
 
 Matthew Farrell, Stratford-on-Slaney ; Michael 
 Neil, Dunlavin ; Richard Williams, Ballinacrow ; 
 
 Andrew Ryan, Scruckawn ; Keating, 
 
 Keating, brothers ; and Edmond Slalleny, Nar- 
 raghmore ; Andrew Prendergast, Ballinacrow ; 
 Peter Kearney, John Dwyer,f and John Kearney, 
 Donard ; Peter Headon, Killabeg ; Thomas Brien, 
 Ballinacrow Hill ; John Doyle, Scruckawn ; Mor- 
 gan Doyle and John Doyle, Tuckmill ; Webb, 
 
 Baltinglass ; John Wickam, Eadestown ; Cos- 
 
 telloe ; r- Bermingham, and Bermingham, 
 
 brothers, Naraghmore corps ; Patrick Moran, Tuck- 
 mill ; Peter Prendergast, Bumbo Hall ; J Laurence 
 Doyle, Dunlavin. 
 
 II. 
 
 MayZkth, 1798. The Ancient Britons having 
 shot twelve insurgents at Ballymore-Eustace, 
 came to Dunlavin the next day by a detour 
 through Lemmonstown, in the county Wicklow, 
 A farmer in that townland, named McDonald, had 
 four sons, concerning whom secret information 
 had been given by one Fox, a miller from Holly- 
 wood. The military dashed into the house while 
 McDonald, his wife, and four sons Kit, John, 
 Harry, and Tom were at dinner. The young 
 
 * Martin Gryffen came from Dublin the evening before to 
 see bis aged father. He was seized in the garden of his house 
 while saying his prayers, and executed, though not implicated 
 at all in the movement. 
 
 f John Dwyer of Donard was uncle to Michael Dwyer, the 
 Insurgent of Iinaile in 1803. 
 
 % Peter Prendergast, of Bumbo Hall, was wounded, and es- 
 caped as above.
 
 360 APPENDIX. 
 
 men were dragged out of the house, and while 
 preparations were being made to shoot them, one 
 of the McDonalds was compelled to put a burn- 
 ing turf into the thatch of the house, and while 
 doing so his hand was shot off by one of the 
 soldiers. In vain did the old man proclaim the 
 innocence of his sons, while he showed a written 
 protection given them by Captain Ryves of Rath- 
 sallagh. The two eldest were ordered to kneel 
 down, their aged parent falling. on his knees be- 
 side them imploring mercy. They were murdered 
 by his side, while their mother looked on, regard- 
 less of all danger from the raging fire behind her. 
 The two younger McDonalds escaped in the con- 
 fusion, concealed by the smoke of their burning 
 homestead. They were perceived, but escaped 
 unhurt, amidst volleys of bullets from their pur- 
 suers, and found a safe retreat in the wild glens 
 and recesses of Church Mountain. The murdered 
 bodies of the young men were concealed, and on 
 the following Sunday, before daybreak, their aged 
 parents carried them in sacks for a hasty burial in 
 the old churchyard of Hollywood. 
 
 III. 
 
 In the summer of 1812, my informant went^with 
 Ms servants to draw home turf from the bog of 
 Narraghmore. While they were loading their 
 carts, a respectable young man was seen to ap- 
 proach, attended by a servant, who led into the 
 bog a dray and horse, in which was a coffin, with 
 some spades for digging. The young man seemed 
 to look anxiously about him, and after some time 
 began to open the surface of the bog. This very 
 strange proceeding excited the curiosity of the
 
 FU8ILADE AT DUNLAVIN. 361 
 
 
 
 informant, who with his men came to the place 
 where the stranger was excavating. His labors 
 soon 'unravelled to some degree the mystery of 
 the coffin. A corpse in perfect preservation lay 
 exposed, but of a tallow-colored hue, owing to the 
 mode and place of burial. The corpse was placed 
 in the coffin, and the young man, before returning 
 homewards wijh it, told those present that it was 
 the body of his father, who was shot in the " bat- 
 tle of the bog-road" in the year 1798. He also 
 told them that from time to time in his dreams he 
 thought he saw his father come to his bedside, 
 telling him to remove his remains, intimating also 
 where they lay. Urged by the vividness and fre- 
 quency of these nocturnal warnings, he at last 
 came to the resolution to remove the remains to 
 be mingled with their kindred dust in some cem- 
 etery iii the neighborhood of Carlow. The young 
 man's name was Brennan ; his father was an ex- 
 tensive currier, and at the time of the skirmish 
 happened to be going to Dublin with seven drays 
 laden with merchandise. He was met on the bog 
 road at Narraghmore, was detained by the mili- 
 tary, his drays and horses drawn up for a barrier, 
 from behind which they fired on the insurgents. 
 Poor Brennan fell by a random bullet, and his 
 mangled body found a hastily-made grave, where 
 it lay for fifteen years, until removed for Christian 
 interment, by the hands of a devoted child, from 
 its lone and nameless grave in the bog of Nar- 
 raghmore. 
 
 IV. 
 
 In August, 1798, some yeomen passed through 
 Donard and went to Kilbelet, to the house of Mr. 
 John Hetcalf, known by the soubriquet of "the
 
 362 APPENDIX. 
 
 Bully." He was descended from a respectable 
 Yorkshire family, a scion of which settled near 
 Donard about a century before. Poor Metcalf, 
 learning his danger, fled up the side of Church 
 Mountain. He was pursued and murdered on the 
 mearings of the townland of Woodenboley. His 
 assassins were two brothers who had been pre- 
 viously in his employment, and, owing to some 
 disagreement about their work, they left him. 
 Taking to illicit courses, they were soon after 
 convicted of sheep-stealing and condemned to the 
 rope, but with the alternative of joining the army, 
 which latter they availed themselves of, to live, as 
 it appears, for the commission of deeper crimes, 
 for which they were allowed to go unpunished. 
 
 V. 
 
 At the battle of Old Kilcullen, Captain Erskine, 
 while writhing in the agonies of death, by a sword- 
 blow, aimed at his assailant, cut right through the 
 pike handle, while its blade pinioned him to the 
 earth. " A long mound in the cemetery of New 
 Abbey," adds Mr. Shearman, /'marks the spot 
 where he and his men who fell in the conflict 
 were buried." 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 THE same hand which conveyed the foregoing 
 traditional details from the Rev. J. F. Shearman, 
 also brought to us from a venerable old lady, Mrs. 
 Anstace O'Byrne, a packet containing some curious
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE REBELLION. 363 
 
 reminiscences of the rebellion. We insert this 
 document the more readily, inasmuch as it refers 
 to persons and places already named in the text : 
 
 AN INFORMER'S SKELETON DANCING A JIG LORD EDWARD 
 BOND SIRR A CAMP FROLIC IN '98. 
 
 What strange sights children sometimes get to 
 see I Some years more than half a century ago, 
 the writer made one of a merry group of children 
 who were frequently brought on summer evenings, 
 by the middle-aged attendant who had charge of 
 them, to walk and play in "The Cottage Park." 
 I do not know if the term is still used in common 
 parlance in Dublin, but it then denoted all the 
 greensward comprised within the boundary walls 
 of Old Trinity, and appeared to be much greater 
 in extent than now, and to hold trees of much 
 larger girth than any to be found there at pres- 
 ent. 
 
 One well-remembered evening our play was 
 interrupted ; the little stragglers were collected 
 with a great air of mystery ; powerful injunctions 
 to silence were inculcated; we were told "we 
 must be very good and quiet, as we were going to 
 see ' The 'Natomy House/ " so the good woman 
 called it, and so we duly called it after her until 
 better instructed. What "The 'Natomy House" 
 meant, we knew or cared not ; it involved some- 
 thing hitherto unknown, and we gladly followed 
 our guide. With stealthy steps, and sundry fur- 
 tive glances around, which puzzled us amazingly, 
 she led us to the door of a gloomy-looking house 
 which, I suppose, it was not en regie that our visi- 
 tors should enter. It was a square block of build- 
 ing, made, I think, of a decayed-looking, blackish
 
 364 APPENDIX. 
 
 stone. I imagine it must have been long since 
 removed, for, on a late research, I vainly essayed 
 to find either it or the site on which it stood. 
 We were admitted to its interior by the guardian 
 spirits of the place, a man and woman who had 
 the care of it, and, I believe, resided there. We 
 soon entered that chamber of horrors, the Ana- 
 tomical Museum of Trinity College, Dublin. The 
 picture of it retained by my memory is that of a 
 very lofty and very spacious apartment, the cen- 
 tre of which was cumbered and blocked up in 
 some strange way which left only a margin of 
 walk round the sides of the room ; these sides had 
 rows of shelves all round, filled with mysterious- 
 looking glass vases. 
 
 My latest piece of reading just then had been 
 a story by Madame de Genlis, in which one of 
 Charlemagne's Paladins had gone on a tour of dis- 
 covery to some mysterious chamber in search of a 
 vase said to contain the senses of his friend Astol- 
 pho, who had gone demented ; and which, having 
 secured, he was taking off, when, to his amaze- 
 ment, he perceived another vase as duly labelled, 
 which purported to contain his own senses, which 
 he did not know he had lost. I immediately took 
 it for granted that this was the kind of apartment 
 visited by the renowned Roland, and enjoyed the 
 roam through it very much. I merely record this 
 little item to mark how easily the imagination of 
 a child can be tinged by the mental aliment with 
 which it is supplied. 
 
 But the great sight of the evening which our 
 conductress had come to see was the skeleton of 
 Jemmy O'Brien, the informer, dancing with that 
 of an Irish giant ; yes, suspended by the necks, 
 there dangled from the ceiling of that apartment
 
 A SKELETON DANCING A JIG. 365 
 
 two skeletons, one a third part, or more, longer 
 than the other. The rope by which' they were 
 fastened descended from their necks in a gradual 
 slope to within three or four feet of the floor of the 
 room at opposite ends. By some mechanical con- 
 trivance, or perhaps a simple pulling of the rope 
 by the man in charge, the fleshless forms immedi- 
 ately commenced to sway about above us with an 
 easy, undulating kind of motion, as if dancing to 
 slow music. I could not convey an idea of the 
 solemn grace with which these evolutions were 
 performed ; those of the Irish giant attracted most 
 the attention of the juveniles. In scriptural les- 
 sons they had learned that a giant named Goliath 
 had been killed by a boy called David ; and in the 
 juvenile literature of the day giants figured largely, 
 and if not the most amiable, were certainly the 
 most striking characters of the current stories. 
 Of Jemmy O'Brien they never heard before that 
 eventful evening ; and even then nothing, except 
 he "was an informer," and "that was his skiliton 
 dancin' up there." 1 would like much to learn the 
 antecedents of that remnant of an Irish giant ; also 
 if it is still above its parent earth, or has returned 
 to the dust from whence it came. 
 
 It was many years after this visit, when I was 
 mentioning to an aged relative my surprise that so 
 steady a woman as the servant who brought us 
 would lead children to a place so likely to produce 
 a nervous shock, I was informed that her husband 
 had been " done to death " by some of O'Brien's 
 informations in one of the insurrectionary periods 
 gone by. Hence, when she was apprised through 
 her acquaintance that the skeleton of her ancient 
 enemy occasionally performed the evolutions here 
 recorded, she was seized with a morbid desire to
 
 366 APPENDIX. 
 
 witness them, and gladly availed herself of the af- 
 forded opportunity, without consulting the friends 
 of her young charge on the fitness of the sight for 
 them. With this ray of light on the subject, I 
 could not avoid thinking how painful to the poor 
 woman, who held such a hidden sorrow in her 
 heart, must have been the glee of her young com- 
 panions. 
 
 I never chanced to meet with more than one 
 person who had seen Lord Edward Fitzgerald and 
 Pamela, and hers was but a passing glance from a 
 street-corner during a period of excitement, when, 
 like O'Connell on stirring occasions in later times, 
 the patriot could not move through the streets 
 without being gazed at and followed by admiring 
 crowds. 
 
 On this occasion, Lord Edward was seated in 
 a very high phaeton, with the beautiful Pamela 
 beside him. He held the reins, and was driving 
 at a very dashing pace through College Green 
 and Dame Street in the direction of the Castle ; 
 and, having only just brought her home as his 
 bride from Prance, Pamela shared with him the 
 plaudits of the people. With respect to the lady, 
 I could only elicit from my informant that " she 
 was beautiful," without any particular definition ; 
 but Lord Edward was vividly described as a 
 smart, light, dapper -looking man, with boyish 
 features, which beamed with delight at the cheers 
 of the multitude, and the admiration excited by 
 the beauty of Pamela. With respect to the attire 
 of either personage, nothing dwelt on memory but 
 that Lord Edward "wore a green silk or tabinet 
 kerchief round his neck, tied with very large bows, 
 and very conspicuous-looking."
 
 OLIVER BOND AND MAJOR SIRE. 367 
 
 Oliver Bond was a very comely, portly -looking 
 man, noted for having very handsome legs, of 
 which he was thought to be a trifle vain, and he 
 always wore silk stockings, which displayed them 
 to the best advantage. But it would scarcely be 
 fair to infer from the above souvenir that hand- 
 some legs and silk stockings were scarce about 
 the period of 1798. Clonskeagh Castle, the first 
 demesne residence beyond Clonskeagh bridge, to 
 the right, now occupied by David Thompson, 
 Esq., J. P., was, at the period of the rebellion, 
 the residence of Mr. Jackson, the father-in-law of 
 Oliver Bond ; their tombs are side by side in the 
 churchyard of St. Michan, Church Street, Dub- 
 lin, the inscription on Bond's being simply, 
 "An honest man is the noblest work of God." 
 Clonskeagh Castle was, during the reign of terror, 
 searched by Major Sirr, and sacked by his myr- 
 midons, who made so free with the fine wines in 
 the cellar, that they were rushing inebriated 
 through the streets of Dublin, and could not be 
 quieted down for two or three days. 
 
 I often saw the " major," but never until he was 
 far advanced in life, when it was usual for him to 
 pass daily, about one o'clock or so, to his demesne 
 residence at Cullenswood, from his apartments at 
 the Castle of Dublin. He generally went through 
 Dame Street, George Street, Aungier Street, etc., 
 instead of the more fashionable line of College 
 Green, Grafton Street, etc. As I did not see him 
 walking, I could form no idea of his figure. In the 
 car, he was always wrapped up in a large dark 
 blue camlet or cloth cloak. His face was rather 
 bony -looking, his' color high ; he had a stern, 
 but not repulsive countenance, and should be
 
 368 APPENDIX. 
 
 accounted the remnant of a handsome man. With- 
 out knowing who he was, I suspected that he was 
 some remarkable person, and when I at last heard 
 his name, which, strange as the fact may seem, I 
 had often asked in vain, my informant told me also 
 sundry of the on dits which were current regarding 
 him, viz., that he never went out without steel 
 armor under his clothes, and purposely wore the 
 cloak to conceal his figure, lest shots might be 
 aimed at him by some avenging hand, that 
 he could not sleep by night, that the periods 
 at which I saw him were when he was going to 
 " his country house to take a few hours' sleep in 
 the broad daylight," having accomplished which 
 feat, he always returned to dine in Dublin, and 
 there sought to wile away the night hours in the 
 pleasures of society. 
 
 The sundry nods and shakes of head which 
 accompanied these on dits served to convey the 
 idea that this strange mode of life was the result 
 of a troubled conscience. I had at hand no means 
 by which to test these reports, and just give them 
 as a sample of opinions which were afloat in Dub- 
 lin forty years ago respecting the " major " in the 
 minds of some who have ceased to exist. 
 
 A man who witnessed the occurrence told me 
 that, during the last year of Major Sirr's presi- 
 dency at the head police-office, some chance busi- 
 ness led him to enter just as the "major" was 
 sentencing to temporary imprisonment an aged 
 weather-beaten, forlorn-looking female, who was 
 accused of having been troublesome over night, in 
 consequence of a visit she paid to Sir John Bar- 
 leycorn. On hearing the sentence, she gave a 
 weird kind of shout, and commenced a long and 
 loud recapitulation of sundry objectionable acts
 
 ^ A CAMP FEOLIC IN '98. 369 
 
 committed by the "major" in the year 1798. The 
 recital, whilst permitted to last, had a powerful 
 effect on the old man, who placed his hands on his 
 ears, looked helplessly about for a moment, and 
 then shouted to the police, " Take her away I 
 
 take her away 1 For H n's sake, take her 
 
 away ! " 
 
 Some twelve years ago, I visited the large 
 camp-field which forms a portion of a farm then 
 
 in the possession of the late Mrs. E B , 
 
 of Loughaunstown, near to Cabinteely, and now 
 occupied by her daughter. From the field I pro- 
 ceeded to the little ruined church of Tullagh or 
 Tully Beg, which overlooks it, and, after reading 
 the inscription on a large, well-preserved, flat 
 gravestone at the upper end, belonging to a fam- 
 ily of the name of Walsh, heard the traditional 
 particulars which follow respecting a former ten- 
 ant of that tomb. 
 
 A young girl, a member of the Walsh family, 
 who, though moving in the middle sphere of life, 
 was, most probably, from the burial-place se- 
 lected, a descendant of the ancient* branch of the 
 " Walshes of Carrickmayne" (now Carrickmines), 
 died some years previous to the memorable era of 
 1798. When summoned to the tomb, she was in 
 the bloom of youthful beauty, and had a reputa- 
 tion for such rare sanctity, that her friends consid- 
 ered her a saint, and departed from the precincts 
 of her grave, having the darkness of their sorrow 
 for her loss brightened by the hope of her salva- 
 tion. 
 
 The course of some years again brought to the 
 lonely ruined church a funeral train, bearing to 
 that grave the chill form of another member of the 
 24
 
 370 APPENDIX. 
 
 Walsh family. The covering stone was removed, 
 and the grave-digger plied his dreary task until 
 his spade struck on the lid of the coffin of Miss 
 Walsh. When the earth was cleared away, it 
 was discovered that his sturdy strokes had shat- 
 tered the roof of her frail resting-place. When 
 the loose boards were removed, a strange sight 
 was revealed to the awe-stricken beholders. " De- 
 cay's effacing fingers " had not touched the fea- 
 tures of the fair girl who had been so long a 
 denizen of the tomb ; they still wore the look of 
 calm, unspotted beauty and innocence which had 
 been their character in life, and the bystanders 
 murmured in low tones, " She must be a saint." 
 
 When the emotion of the grouped people had 
 somewhat subsided, the boards were reverently 
 replaced, the new claimant for the grave deposited, 
 the clay, with perhaps a lighter touch than usual, 
 flung over both coffins, the tombstone was re- 
 placed, and the funeral train departed, leaving to 
 her quiet sleep 
 
 " The loveliest corpse amongst the dead." 
 
 The marvel reached the neighboring hamlets, and 
 the villagers would frequently visit and occasion- 
 ally point out to strangers what they fondly called 
 " The Saint's Grave." 
 
 But that grave was doomed to be desecrated. 
 The memorable year of 1798 brought a crowd of 
 British troops, under orders from Lord Carhamp- 
 ton, to bivouac in the adjoining celebratad camp- 
 field, in which the army of King James II. had 
 once encamped, and had remained for several days 
 after the battle of the Boyne. 
 
 The tradition of the unspoiled beauty of the fair 
 sleeper in the tomb within the old church which
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE. 371 
 
 overlooked their camping-place, reached the ears 
 of the soldiers, and awakened such an unreverent 
 curiosity, that, one night when the watch-fires 
 were blazing high, and the maddening glass was 
 circulating freely in the tents of the officers, a 
 godless band of them rushed forth exclaiming that 
 " they would bring the young beauty down from 
 her cold tomb to grace their revels." 
 
 It is the traditional belief of the neighborhood 
 that they kept their word, and dug up, and 
 brought to the scene of their orgies, the form 
 which death had spared. I was naturally anxious 
 to learn the conclusion of this strange tale, but 
 its narrator not being the " oldest inhabitant/' I 
 could only further glean from her that the form of 
 Miss Walsh was never seen more.* 
 
 I feel regret that I did not copy the inscription 
 on the tombstone, as it most probably held the 
 dates of the respective deaths of the members of 
 the family, and thus told how long the body 
 of Miss Walsh had lain in the grave before the 
 secret of its preservation was discovered. 
 
 There was a respectable Protestant family in 
 Dublin named Clements, consisting of several 
 brothers, of whom two served as yeomen, and 
 two joined the Rebel ranks as United -Irishmen. 
 A suspected Croppy, while undergoing severe 
 flogging in Beresford's Riding-School in presence 
 of a strong detachment of military and yeomanry, 
 confessed that " two young men named Clements 
 
 * We have heard it traditionally stated that the soldiers con- 
 verted Miss Walsh's corpse into a target for ball prac'iee. The 
 military, including Captain Armstrong, who betrayed tb^ 
 Sheureses, were encamped here in 1798; and it was part of 
 Armstrong's proposal to the Shearesea to gain over the sol- 
 diers, and betray the camp at Loughaunstown to Uie Kebel 
 forces. -W. J. F.
 
 372 APPENDIX. 
 
 had been sworn in as Rebels." The two brothers 
 who were present, in the capacity of yeomen, 
 took no action in the matter ; but a jeweller, 
 named Neville, who lived in Stafford Street, and 
 who was also on the spot with his corps, left the 
 Riding-School on some pretext, and gave warning 
 to the young men thus implicated, just in time to 
 save them from arrest. The Earl and Countess of 
 Moira, who resided on Usher's Island, had popu- 
 lar sympathies ; in the hurry of the dilemma 
 Lady Moira was appealed to for protection : she 
 opened her house to receive the young Clements, 
 and they remained under her generous roof until 
 the troubled season had passed over. This anec- 
 dote is given on the authority of Mr. G n, 
 
 a well-known and esteemed solicitor of Dublin, 
 whose mother was the sister of the brothers 
 Clements. Moira House, the scene of so much 
 stirring incident in days gone by, is now an 
 institution for mendicants ; but it is reduced in 
 height, the top story having been removed. 
 
 COCKAIGNE, THE ENGLISH SPY. 
 
 So many examples of treachery, perpetrated and 
 prompted by Irishmen, have been given in the fore- 
 going pages, that it will prove, to Irish readers at 
 least, a refreshing relief to find Englishmen equally 
 base ; and that the legal profession has not been 
 degraded exclusively in Ireland. It will also ap- 
 pear from the following that Mr. Pitt, the prince 
 ftf English statesmen, was not less unscrupulous 
 as an instigator than Castlereagh or Sirr. 
 
 " The Rev. Win. Jackson," observes Mr. Charles
 
 COCKAIGNE, THE ENGLISH SPY. 373 
 
 Phillips, " was a clergyman of the Church of Eng- 
 land, and arrived in Dublin on a treasonable mis- 
 sion from the Committee of Public Safety, then 
 sitting in Paris. Having been formerly secretary 
 to the Duchess of Kingston, he wrote her letters 
 in the celebrated correspondence with Foote the 
 actor. In her house he made the acquaintance of 
 her attorney, a Mr. Cockaigne, and, unhappily for 
 himself, now renewed that acquaintance on his 
 passage through London. It was my lot in after- 
 life to have had a singular interview with this 
 man. Somewhere about the year 1822, after I had 
 been some short time at the English bar, a tall and 
 venerable figure entered my chambers with a brief, 
 which he presented with much courtesy. There 
 was something, however, unusual in his manner. 
 He lingered and hesitated, and seemed as if doub- 
 ful what to do. At last it was all explained. ' To 
 tell you the truth, sir/ said he, 'I have ventured to 
 make this brief the medium of an introduction 
 to you. Some occurrences took place in Dublin, 
 many years ago, with which I was mixed up ; and 
 as you may have heard of them, perhaps you would 
 permit me to give my explanation, my name is 
 Cockaigne ! ' I felt for the moment as if stunned. 
 The man had long been matter of History to me. 
 I had thought him in his grave. Yet there he 
 stood, the survivor of his victim and his patron, 
 still living on the wages that had purchased life ! 
 I had hardly nerve enough to say to him, ' Sir, 
 when I tell you that I was the intimate friend of 
 Mr. Curran, and often spoke with him on the 
 wretched Jackson's fate, you must see the utter 
 inutility of any explanation.' He uttered not a 
 syllable, and left the room. Jackson was in diffi- 
 culties, and, it was said, had received relief from
 
 374 APPENDIX. 
 
 Cockaigne ; hence arose an intimacy. He revealed 
 the treasonable mission to his friend, and his friend 
 revealed it to the minister. William Pitt desired 
 Cockaigne to accompany Jackson on his embassy, 
 to encourage his confidence, and treasure up its 
 fruits. It was during Rowan's imprisonment that 
 they arrived in Ireland, and by MacNally, a bar- 
 rister * (who had known Jackson), they were in- 
 troduced to him in Newgate, and also to Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone. The plans of Jackson were discussed 
 amongst them, and Tone consented to proceed to 
 France, accredited by Jackson to the Committee, 
 in order to disclose the state of Ireland, and dis- 
 cuss the policy of a French invasion. The officious- 
 ness of Cockaigne, however, seems to have alarmed 
 Tone, and he resigned his mission with the shrewd 
 remark, ' This business is one thing for us Irish- 
 men, but the Englishman who embarks in it must 
 be a traitor one way or the other.' 
 
 " Mr. William Curran, in his very admirable 
 Life of his father, relates a hateful anecdote of 
 this man. MacNally, counsel in most of the high- 
 treason cases, entertained the strangers at dinner. 
 The conversation was getting imprudent, when 
 the butler, beckoning his master out of the room, 
 warned him to be careful, ' for, sir, the strange 
 gentleman who seems to be asleep is not so, but 
 carefully listening to everything that is said, for I 
 have seen his eye glistening through the fingers 
 with which he is covering his face.' This was 
 Cockaigne ! in the midst of conviviality lying 
 in wait for life. At length Tone drew up a paper 
 for the French Committee, detailing the actual 
 state of Ireland. This was copied and given to 
 
 * Mr. Phillips always refused to believe in the now admitted 
 duplicity of MacNally. See p. 260, ante.
 
 COCKAIGNE, THE ENGLISH SPY. 375 
 
 Jackson, who intrusted it to Cockaigne to put in 
 the post, under cover, to a confidant at Hamburg. 
 The pear was now ripe. The traitor having given 
 the signal .to head-quarters, he was himself ar- 
 rested, and the farce was performed of his exam- 
 ination by the privy council. This, of course, was 
 a blind, but proved so effectual that after Jack- 
 son's arrest, which ensued immediately, he and 
 Rowan received Cockaigne's condolatory visit in 
 prison, and heard and believed his friendly prot- 
 estations. Jackson, after twelve months' impris- 
 onment, was tried and convicted of high treason, 
 on the evidence of the single witness, Cockaigne I 
 When Jackson was called up for judgment, a very 
 melancholy scene ensued. His appearance in the 
 dock, from the moment of his entrance, indicated 
 extreme indisposition. Gradually becoming worse 
 and worse, during the addresses of Messrs. Curran 
 and Ponsonby, his counsel, he at last sank down 
 exhausted. Lord Clonmel, seeing it, said, 'If 
 the prisoner is insensible, it is impossible for me 
 to pronounce judgment on him.' A medical man, 
 who happened to be in court, was requested to 
 examine the prisoner. Having done so, he de- 
 clared that he was dying. In a few minutes Jack- 
 son was dead 1 
 
 " Lord Clonmel. ' Let ao inquest, and a respect- 
 able one, be held on the body. You should care- 
 fully inquire by what means he died.' 
 
 " The body lay all night in the dock, and next 
 day a jury found that he had taken poison.* There 
 could have been no doubt of it. Soon after he 
 appeared in court, the day before, seeing Mr. 
 MacNally pass, he grasped his hand, and faintly 
 whispered, ' We have deceived the senate.' 
 
 " Curran ably defended the Rev. Wm. Jackson
 
 376 APPENDIX. 
 
 in a speech which thus concluded : ' Cockaigne 
 came over to be a spy, to be a traitor, to get 
 a pardon, and to get a reward ; although, if you 
 believe him, it was to be all common, agreeable 
 work, to be paid for, like his other ordinary busi- 
 ness, by the day, or by the sheet. He was to be 
 paid so much a day for ensnaring and murdering 
 his client and his friend ! Do you think the man 
 deserving of credit who can do such things ? No, 
 gentlemen of the jury : I have stated the circum- 
 stances by which, in my opinion, the credit of Mr. 
 Cockaigne should be as nothing in your eyes.' " 
 
 CONSPIRATORS and informers^will coexist until the 
 crack of doom, and the wider the conspiracy 
 the greater is the certainty of detection. Some of 
 seemingly the stanchest hearts in Smith O'Brien's 
 movement of '48 were false to their chief and col- 
 leagues ; and, when the crisis came, suggested to 
 the police magistrates, that, in order to preserve 
 consistency and keep up the delusion, they ought 
 to be arrested and imprisoned.* Even while we 
 write, the ranks of the Fenian Brotherhood, al- 
 though knotted as it seemed by the most binding 
 oaths of secrecy, are broken and betrayed by 
 internal spies. Nor are the informers confined 
 to Ireland. One of the American correspondents 
 of the Times, in a letter dated Philadelphia, Octo- 
 ber 24th, 1865, writes : " The Fenian Congress 
 continues its sessions, and has so much business 
 to attend to that they are protracted far into the 
 night. The green-uniformed sentinels still guard 
 
 * Communicated by F. T. P., Esq.. ex-police magistrate.
 
 INFORMERS EVERYWHERE. 377 
 
 its doors closely, and hope to keep the secret of 
 the deliberations within. They have changed 
 their weapons to loaded muskets, in order to ter- 
 rify attempting intruders, but their watchfulness 
 is of little avail, for not only are there informers 
 inside in the interest of your government, but I 
 learn that others assist in the deliberations who 
 are in the interest of our own, who send daily 
 reports of the proceedings to Washington, that 
 the government may know in time the adoption 
 of any measures tending to violate the peace 
 between England and America." 
 
 In concluding a book which deals largely with 
 Irish informers, we have no desire to convey the 
 inference that treachery or duplicity, for what 
 Shakspeare calls "saint-seducing gold," is a spe- 
 ciality of the Celtic character. The records of 
 every age and nation furnish ample illustrations 
 of both, even in the most aggravated form. Philip 
 of Macedon said that he would " never despair of 
 taking any fortress to which an ass might enter 
 laden with gold." Pausanias, king of Sparta, 
 and commander of the Greeks at the battle of 
 Platsea, was put to death by his own countrymen 
 for intriguing to betray Greece to Persia. The 
 physician of Pyrrhus informed the Roman general 
 Fabricius, that he was ready to poison his royal 
 master for pay. Wallace was doubly betrayed, 
 first by his servant, and finally by his false friend 
 Sir J. Monteith, who received a grant of land in 
 acknowledgment from the English privy council. 
 The published letters of Lord Orrery, son of 
 Boyle, the famous English adventurer, confess 
 that he was set as a regular spy over the Catho- 
 lic plantations in Clare. King Charles the Second 
 received large douceurs from the French monarch,
 
 378 APPENDIX. 
 
 and shaped his foreign policy accordingly. Sid- 
 ney was secretly subsidized by France, and Dal- 
 rymple's Memoirs disclose many similar cases. 
 The publication of the French official records 
 shows to what a great extent the members of the 
 English legislature were in the pay of Louis XIV. 
 The history of Cockaigne, the vile betrayer of the 
 Rev. William Jackson,* reveals that the informers 
 of that time were not confined to Irishmen ; and 
 Captain Armstrong, who fattened his substance 
 on the blood of the Sheareses, did not belong to an 
 Irish family. We learn from Napier's narrative 
 of the Peninsular war, that Wellington had paid 
 informers on Soult's staff, and Soult had similar 
 channels of information through officers on Wel- 
 lington's f staff. Nor does Scotland seem to have 
 been specially fastidious. In a letter from the sub- 
 sequent Duke of Wellington to James Trail, Esq., 
 dated London, March 18th, 1808, he expresses 
 a wish that a Scotch clergyman should imme- 
 diately wait upon him, preparatory to proceeding 
 on a mission of espionage to France and Holland ; 
 and Dr. Madden, in his book on the penal laws, 
 informs us that he "was a very remarkable man, 
 of the name of Robertson, employed by the Duke 
 
 * See p. 372, ante. 
 
 \ The duke, in one of his conversations with Rogers, de- 
 scribes an informer, called Don Uran de la Rosa., and some- 
 times Ozfelle, who, during the progress of the Peninsular war, 
 was wont to dine with the English and French alternately. 
 " When I was ambassador at Paris," added Wellington, " he 
 came and begged me to make interest with Soult for the settle- 
 ment of his accounts. ' How can J ? ' I said, laughing, ' when 
 we made such use of you as we did ? ' They were settled, how- 
 ever, if we could believe him. After his death, a Frenchman 
 came to me in London, and when he bad vapored away for 
 some time, declaring that O/felle had won every battle and 
 saved Europe, he said, ' Here are his memoirs ; shall we pub- 
 lish them or not ? ' I saw his drift, and said, ' Do as you please ; 
 he was neither more nor less than a spy.' I heard no more of 
 them or of him." For full details, see ilecollections, by Samuel 
 Rogers, pp. 198-201.
 
 INFORMERS EVERYWHERE. 379 
 
 of Wellington on several secret missions of a very 
 questionable kind for a minister to have been en- 
 
 faged on." O'Meara, the Boswell of Napoleon at 
 t. Helena, was assured by that personage that, 
 of the many English spies which his executive 
 had in pay, including a number of ladies, of whom 
 some were of high rank, one lady especially, of 
 very high rank, sometimes got so much as 3,000 
 a month. But, doubtless, still more startling de- 
 tails of the doings of spies and informers in foreign 
 countries would have come to light, had the sale 
 of a series of secret-service letters and receipts 
 been suffered on February 17th, 1866, to take its 
 course at Mr. Sotheby's. The papers, which ex- 
 tended from 1790 to 1827, and seem to have been 
 sold as waste by an ignorant official at the For- 
 eign Office, disclosed some curious instances of 
 secret expenditure on the part of English ambas- 
 sadors abroad ; but, by command <5f Lord Claren- 
 don, the lot was withdrawn ! 
 
 THE END.
 
 StPPLEMENTAL NOTE. 
 
 WE have received from an ex-member for Lim- 
 erick an interesting letter suggesting a few addi- 
 tional details at p. 182, which he is so good as to 
 furnish. He writes : 
 
 " I have been interested and instructed by the perusal of 
 The Sham Squire, and I hope it shall be extensively circu- 
 lated in England, where it could notfail to disabuse the public 
 opinion of that country of many erroneous impressions in 
 regard to the qualities and the habits of the natives of Ireland, 
 whose distrust in the law of the land is not unnatural where 
 the administration of it has been connected with so much 
 immorality. 
 
 " As you have been evidently anxious to obtain the most 
 accurate information relative to parties introduced into your 
 narrative, I take the liberty of suggesting an addendum in 
 your next edition of a note, at p. 182, ' Baratarina.' One of ' the 
 trusty friends ' of Lord Townshend was Robert Waller, elder 
 brother of George, clerk of the Minutes of Excise. He was 
 member of Parliament for the borough of Dunkalk, then a 
 nomination borough under control of Lord Roden, who was 
 first cousin of Mr. Waller, who subsequently became a com- 
 missioner of the revenue, when those offices had been multi- 
 plied lor the purpose of parliamentary corruption. Mr. Waller 
 was created a baronet in 1780, and the title is still held by his 
 greaUgrandson. I remember, in my juvenile days, to have 
 seen a full-length portrait at Rathfarnam Castle, of the beau- 
 tiful Dolly Monroe, and a relative of hers told me that Lord 
 Townshend pretended to her aunt, Lady Ely, that his object 
 was to captivate Miss Monroe, and prevail upon her to become 
 Lady Townshend, a delusion he kept up until Lady Ely had 
 induced her lord to give bis parliamentary support (about the 
 strongest in the House of Commons) to Lord Townshend's 
 administration; but, to Lady Ely's great mortification, the 
 viceroy married Miss Montgomery, whose portrait, by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, was certainly not as handsome as that of 
 Miss Monroe." 
 
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