MOL
MoUoy, or O'Molloy, Francis, was
Professor of Divinity in the College of St. Isidore, at Rome, in the middle of the 17th century, and was author of several works in the Irish language. Lhuyd gives an abstract of Molloy's Grammatica Ladno- Hihernica nunc Compendiata, 1677, in his Archaeologia Britannica, and says that it was the most complete Irish grammar then extant, although imperfect as to syntax. 16 34
Molna, or Lugidns, Saint, belong- ing to the second order of Irish saints, flourished in the 6th century. He was of a distinguished Munster family. His father was Carthach, and his mother Sochla. He became a disciple of Comgall of Bangor, about 559. Having entered the monastic state, he founded an establishment at Clon- fert (now Kyle, '«= in the Queen's County), to which numbers of monks flocked from various parts. Killaloe(Kill-da-lua, church of Lua) was probably so named after this saint. He died early in the 7th century. His festival is the 4th of August. "' '^^ -^■*
Molynenx, William, patriot and philosopher, was born 17th April 1656, in New-row, Dublin. [His father, Samuel Molyneux, was a master gunner, and an officer in the Irish Exchequer. He had distinguished himself in the War of 1641- '52, and although ofi"ered the recordership of Dublin, clung with fondness to his own profession, making experiments in gunnery and the construction of cannon, at pri- vate butts of his own.] WiUiam entered Trinity College in April 1 671, and having taken out his bachelor's degree, proceed- ed to London and entered at the Middle Temple in 1675. While diligently study- ing law, his attention was also turned towards scientific pursuits. He returned to Dublin in 1678, and soon afterwards married Lucy Domville, daughter of the Irish Attorney-General. In 1683 was formed the Dublin Philosophical Associa- tion, the forerunner of the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Irish Academy. Sir WilliamPetty was president, and Molyneux acted as secretary. Its first meetings were held in a house on Cork-hill. He now be- came acquainted with some of the leading personages of the time, and through the Duke of Ormond's influence, was in 1684 appointed Engineer and Surveyor of the King's Buildings and Works. Next year he was elected a fellow of the Royal So- ciety. Sent by the Government to survey fortresses on the coast of Flanders, he passed on to Holland and France, and in Paris became acquainted with Borelli, the famous mathematician. In 1686, soon after his return, he published an account
MOL
of the telescope dial invented by himself. The following year he had the pleasure of reading advanced sheets of Newton's Prin- cipia, sent him by Halley. During the War of i689-'9i he resided at Chester, where he lost his wife. He there oc- cupied himself in the composition of a work on dioptrics. On his return he was appointed one of the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, with a salary of £500. But the task was suited neither to his tastes nor his feelings ; he was indiff'erent about money, and soon resigned a labo- rious and highly invidious and unpopular office. About this time he speaks of his well-selected library of 1,000 volumes, and of being visited by the Duke of Wur- temberg. General De Ginkell, and Scrava- moer. Both in 1692 and 1695 he was elected member for the University of Dub- lin, which had conferred upon him the de- gree of LL.D. The laws passed for the destruction of Irish trade and commerce induced Molyneux to write the work that has since rendered his name conspicuous in Irish history : The Case of Ireland, being hound hy Acts 0/ Parliament made in England, Stated, published, with a dedication to the King, early in 1698. It maintained that Ireland and England were separate and independent kingdoms under the same sovereign — that Ireland was an- nexed, not conquered — "If the religion, lives, liberties, fortunes, and estates of the clergy, nobility, and gentry of Ireland may be disposed of without their privity or consent, what benefit have they of any laws, liberties, or privileges granted unto them by the crown of England ? I am loth to give their condition an hard name ; but I have no other notion of slavery but being bound by a law to which I do not consent. . . We have heard great outcries, and deservedly, on breaking the Edict of Nantes, and other stipulations ; how far the breaking our constitution, which has been of five hundred years' standing, exceeds that, I leave the world to judge." The work created a great sensation, was stigmatized as seditious and libellous by the English Parliament, and ordered to be burned by the common hangman. Shortly after its publication, he went to England to visit his friend and correspondent, John Locke. The fatigues of the journey brought on a severe attack of illness, and he died on the i ith October 1698, soon after reaching home, aged 42. He was buried in St. Audoen's Church, Dublin. Some interesting notes regarding his monument will be found in Notes aiwi Queries, 3rd and 4th Series. Locke, writ- ing to his brother, said : " I have lost in
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