Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/446

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O'RE
ORM

He signalized himself at Marchiennes, became a general officer, and served at the battle of Amberg in 1796, and at Ulm the same year. When the French, commanded by Moreau, passed the Ehine at Kehl (April 1797), and routed the Austrians, O'Reilly was wounded and taken prisoner. He was soon exchanged, and filled posi- tions of trust in the Austrian dominions. At Austerlitz (2nd December 1805) he commanded a body of cavalry. In 1809 he served under Archduke Maximilian, and was made Governor of Vienna, which he was compelled to surrender to the French, 12th May 1809, after a short bom- bardment. The rest of his life was passed in retirement : he died at Vienna in 1832, aged 92, 3*

O'Reilly, Edward, Archbishop of Armagh, was born in Dublin in 1606, and was educated chiefly on the Continent. He entered the Church, acted as Vicar- General of the diocese of Dublin from 1642 to 1648, when he was deprived of his office through the influence of his oppo- nent. Dr. Walsh. After suffering impri- sonment for a time, he was driven into banishment. In April 1657 he was con- secrated Archbishop of Armagh. The framework of the Catholic Church was then sadly disjointed in Ireland. The clergy of every grade and order had been driven into banishment : and harbouring a priest was punishable with death, and total forfeiture of property ; but one bishop remained in Ireland, and for sixteen years Leinster and Munster had no resident Catholic bishdps. He was able to visit his diocese only furtively and at long intervals. In June 1666, while attend- ing a conference of the clergy in Dublin, he was arrested, suff'ered a rigorous im- prisonment in England, and was deported to Belgium. The few remaining years of his life were chiefly occupied in looking after the i'^'-prests of the Irish seminaries on the Continent. He died at Saumur, in France, March 1669, aged 63. ^4 i^st

O'Reilly, Edward, author of an Irish- English Dictionary (Dublin, 18 17) ; 4 Chro- nological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers (Dublin, 1820), and other works relating to Ireland, was for some time Assistant-Secretary to the Iberno- Celtic Society. O'Curry, in his Mamiers and Customs of the Ancient Irish, points out many inaccuracies in his writings. He deserves a much fuller notice than it is possible to construct out of the informa- tion that can be discovered concerning him. He was latterly engaged at a miserably low rate of remuneration in the historical department of the Irish Ordnance Survey,

and died in 1829. A new edition of his Dictionary, with a supplement compiled by John O'Douovan, was published in Dublin, in 1864. '5«*('86i)

O'Reilly, Hngh, a barrister, born in the County of Cavan, was Master in Chan- cery, and Clerk of the Council under James II. in Ireland, and after his removal with that king to France, in 1690, received the honorary appointment of Lord-Chancellor of Ireland. About 1693 ^^ published Ire- land^s Case brief. y Stated ; or a Summary Account of the most Remarkable Transac- tions of the Kingdom since the Reforma- tion. Harris's Ware says : " The author represents matters wholly in the favour of the Irish, and falls foul on King Charles II., whom he severely condemns for his ingratitude to the Roman Catholics of Ire- land, who had faithfully served him. Nor does he excuse his master. King James, who was so off"ended at his free treatment of him, that he took away his small salary, and turned him out of his titular office, the Joss of which lay so heavy upon his spirits that he died soon after, about the year 1 694. It is said King James restored him to his pension a short time before his death." 339

Ormond, Countess of. Lady Mar- garet FitzGerald, daughter of the 8th Earl of Kildare, was married in 1485 to Pierce Butler, afterwards 8th Earl of Or- mond. She is described by Stauihurst as " manlike and tall of stature, verie liberall and bountifull, a sure friend, a bitter eni- mie, hardlie disliking where she fansied, not easlie fansieng where she disliked : the onelie meane at those dales whereby hir husband his countrie was reclaimed from sluttishnesse and slouenrie, to cleane bedding and ciuilitie." She is sometimes styled the " Great Countess of Ormond." Her husband died in 1539, and she survived him three years. Mr. Graves thus writes of her in his History of St. Canice's Ca- thedral : " Margaret, Countess of Ormonde and Ossory, . . * the fairest daughter ' of the Earl of Kildai-e, was unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country. . . Large as is the place fiUed by the ' Red Earl ' in the his- tory of Ireland, it is a singular fact that in the traditions of the peasantry of Kil- kenny his existence is utterly forgotten, whilst his consort stands vividly forth as ' the Countess,' or of tener as plain ' Mair- gread Gearoid,' forming with ' Cromwell ' and the ' Danes ' a triad to whom almost everything marvellous, cunning, or cruel is attributed. She is the traditional builder, as Cromwell is the traditional destroyer, of nearly every castle in the district ; and by

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