casions during the reigns both of William and Anne, This officer, who was a younger son, raised a new fortune by the same means that his ancestors had been deprived of theirs, for he obtained a grant of" forfeited lands," and having married an English heiress, and by the aid of her fortune and his own savings, added to the mode already alluded to, he soon created such an estate as rendered him a man of consequence. This circumstance, in conjunction with his approved and well-tried loyalty, obtained for him a new barony,* for the ancient one had been before forfeited, during the second year of George the First. John, his son, in 1751, was advanced in the peerage to the earldom of Upper Ossory, a title doubtless chosen by him in memorial of the power once exercised, and the property once enjoyed by his ancestors in that district. He however selected a residence in England, and having settled at Ampthill Park, in Bedfordshire, preferred to be knight of the shire of that county to his hereditary seat in Ireland. The present peer has since obtained an English barony. † The Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick, the second son of John, first Earl of Upper Ossory, by Lady Evelyn, daughter of the first Earl of Gower, was born January 24, 1748. After being initiated at home in the rudiments of scholastic learning, he was He was created Baron of Gowran, in the county of Kilkenny, in 1715. + Baron of Upper Ossory, in England, Aug. 12, 1794. gent, when almost a child, to that famous seminary founded by the "ill-fated Henry," in 1440, which has nearly given as much celebrity to the banks of the Thames as the adjacent castle; for if the one is calculated to remind us of ancient British heroism, the other has rendered all around it classic ground, dear to learning and the Muses. No one, indeed, has a better right than the subject of this memoir to exclaim: Salve, magna parens doctrinæ, Etonia Tellus magna virům!" It was here indeed that Mr. Fitzpatrick became acquainted and lived in intimacy with some of the first men of the day; amongst these, we shall first name the Earl of Carlisle, then Lord Morpeth, who has since been Viceroy of Ireland, President of the Council, &c. &c. and composed several tragedies and poems, some of which possess a considerable portion of merit, and entitle him to a distinguished place in the catalogue of the " Royal and Noble Authors" of the present reign. The second in point of order is the late Mr. Hare,* fa *We gladly seize on this occasion to present the reader with a specimen of his performances: VIRGA AUREA. Apta neci, vit æque potens, somnique ministra Dicitur aligeri virga fuisse Dei: Nec male (majestas ne desit regia) versu Sceptrigerum pinxit quisque poeta Jovem, mous for the elegance and correctness of his verses, which were exhibited as models of composition. He however was not distinguished as a statesman, although a word of approbation from him is said to have proved more gratifying than all the "hear hin's!" of the house, to one of the greatest orators Terrigenas sceptro victor fudisse gigantas Duxit ad Elysias casta Sibylla domos : Nec minor est hodie venerandæ gratia virgæ, Usque feras domino vimina digna tuo. of our own times. The third was Anthony Storer,* a Creole of the island of Jamacia, who united a taste for chemistry to a love of literature, and by a noble bequest of books and manuscripts, became, after his demise, the benefactor of that society which he had contributed to adorn while living. The fourth was the late Duke of Leinster, proverbial for good nature and a happy equanimity of temper, and whose character, under one of his many titles (Ophaly) was at once finely and justly To these we pourtrayed by a titled school-fellow.* might add another star, equal indeed in point of brilliancy of genius to a whole northern constalla-tion; we mean Sir James Macdonald, from the Western Isles, who in 1758, composed the verses beginning Sæpe graves animi in the Musa Etonenses. And Lord Beauchamp too, the author of "His saltem accumulem donis," &c. and although last, not least in fame," Charles James Fox, who commenced his career as a poet, and of whose classical productions while at Eton we shall be here doubt * The verses by this gentlemen, written in 1765, begin thus: "Vos valete & Plaudite." "Sicut ubi extremo trepidans moritura calore Incertum vibrat sicca lucerna jubar; Emicat exultim fugitura, &c. &c. The Earl of Carlisle. less excused by every lover of departed merit, to take some notice of in this place. His "Vocat labor ultimus," which is without a date, begins thus: "Poscimur: at, nobis si rite precantibus olim The next was composed in 1764: "I fugias, celeri volitans per nubila cursu, I, fugias, Cypriæ grața Columba Dea! Si Et male quæ votis, heu! favet unda meis; Jam liceat, vultu nec propriore frui," &c. The third, which is in Greek, was written in 1765: "Quid miri faciat Natura," is the subject.* The private tutor of Mr. Fox, at Eton, was Dr. William Newcomb, who appears to have run the career of Irish bishoprics, for in 1766 he was nominated to the see of Dromore; in 1775 translated to that of Ossory; in 1779 to Waterford; and in 1795 appointed Bishop of Armagh. We believe he was also the private tutor of Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was a year older than Mr. Fox. Among the friends and contemporaries of General Fitzpatrick at Eton, ought not to be forgotten the name of the Right Rev. William Dickson, who in 1783, obtained the see of Downe and Connor, in Ireland. After being nineteen years a bishop, he died at the house of his old school-fellow, in Arlington.street, in 1802. |
