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and giving up a school he had opened in Cork, removed to London. In 1824 he went to Paris for a time as correspondent of the Representative, and on his return continued to earn a livelihood by writing for magazines, annuals, and newspapers. His political articles in the early numbers of the Standard contributed much to the success of that newspaper. Disagreement with Mr. Blackwood led to the establish- ment by Maginn and his friend Hugh Eraser, of Fraser's Magazine in 1830. All the ability that characterized his articles in Blackwood shone out in the new serial, which rapidly sprang into public esti- mation. An article in the number for January 1836, led to a duel with Grantley Berkeley. Habits of dissipation and extra- vagance now grew upon him. Besides increasing money difficulties, and the losses resulting from his irregular life, "there was another external attraction that made home less agreeable — . . . his sup- posed attachment to Miss Lanyon. What- ever were the terms on which he stood to that gifted and fascinating creature, certain it is that the strongest friendship existed between them." "^ On her death Maginn appeared inconsolable, and shortly afterwards he separated from his wife and children. In January 1838 appeared the first of his celebrated Homeric Ballads. Dissipation had now brought him to a miserable condition, and he suffered im- prisonment for debt several times ; yet through all he retained his serenity of mind, and was able to write political leaders when too ill to rise from bed. Near the last a friend wrote of him: " He was quite emaciated and worn away; his hands thin, and very little flesh on his face ; his eyes appeared brighter and larger than usual ; and his hair was wild and das- ordered. He stretched out his hand and saluted me. He is a ruin, a glorious ruin, nevertheless. . . But he lives a rollicking life, and will write you one of his ablest articles, while standing in his shirt, or sipping brandy. We talked on Seneca, Homer, Christ, Pluto, and Virgil." Like most men brought low by their own fail- ings, he was ceaseless in his denunciations of the ingratitude of the world. He died 2 1 st August 1 842, at Walton-upon-Thames, aged 48. He is described as of middle height, " of slender make ; his hair is very grey, and he has a gentle stoop. . . He has a slight stutter, and is rather thick in his delivery. He is completely and per- fectly an Irishman in every look, and word, and movement." Allibone quotes the fol- lowing estimates of his character ; " For more than a quarter of a century the most w*
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remarkable magazine writer of his time was the late William Maginn, LL.D., well known as the ' Sir Morgan Odoherty ' of Blackwood's Magazine, and as the princi- pal contributor for many years to Fraser's, and other periodicals. The combined learning, wit, eloquence, eccentricity, and humour of Maginn had obtained for him, long before his death, the title of the modern Eabelais. His magazine articles possess extraordinary merit. He had the art of putting a vast quantity of animal spirits upon paper ; but his graver articles — which contain sound and serious principles of criticism — are earnest and well-reason- ed. . . Few men were equal to him in conversation, though he was the reverse of a great talker. It was the variety of topics upon which he threw light, and not the diffuseness of his remarks, which gave a happy idea of the wealth of his conversation. Meet him when you might, turn the dis- course into whatever channels you pleased, Maginn was a master of every subject — the most recondite as well as the most familiar." " Now it was a parody, and now a transla- tion ; to-day, a critique, to-morrow, a letter from Paris ; one month a novel, and the next a political essay. Versatile, learned, apt, and facile, the genial Irish Doctor made wisdom and mirth wherever he went. Too convivial for his own good, too im- provident for his prosperity, he was yet a benefactor to the public, a deUght to scholars, and an idol to his friends." '^ Dr. Kenealy, who afterwards took a promi- nent part in the Tichborne trial, was his friend and biographer. Several interesting particulars regarding Dr. Maginn will be found in JVotes and Queries, ist and 2nd Series. ? '* "^<*3) =54
Magraidain, Angnstiu, was canon in the monastery of All Saints' Island, in Lough Eee, at the end of the 14th century. He wrote an important work, Vitce Sanc- torum Hibernice, frequently referred to by Colgau, a copy of which is said to be pre- served m the library of the Convent of St. Francis, Dublin. Magraidain also com- piled a chronicle known as Annales In- sulenses. He died in 1405, and was buried on the island (now a peninsula) where he had passed so much of bis life. '^2 339
Ma^ath, Miler, Archbishop of Cashel and Bishop of Emly, was born in the County of Fermanagh about 1522. Originally a Franciscan Friar, he became a Protestant, and was consecrated Bishop of Clogher,and in i57o-'7l advanced to the archbishopric of Cashel and bishopric of Emly. He also held the bishoprics of Waterford and Lis- more in commendam from 1582 to 1589, and from 1592 to 1607, when he resigned 323
