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[His brother, Lucas, was a Major-General in the army of the Confederates, and was Governor of New Ross in 1649. Theo- bald's eldest son, Nicholas, the 2nd Earl, fell at the Boyne in 1690, in command of a regiment of foot under the banner of King James. The second son, Francis, 3rd Earl, entered the Austi-ian service, became Chamberlain to the Emperor Fer- dinand, a Marshal of the Empire, and Councillor-of-State, and died in August 1704. The title became extinct on the death of Francis's nephew, Theobald, the 4th Earl.] 5480216.71
Taaffe, Nicholas, Viscount, cousin of preceding, was born in Ireland in 1677. He became a Field-Marshal in the Im- perial service, was Chamberlain to the Emperor Charles VI. and his successor, and fought with distinguished bravery during the war against the Turks, in 1738. Late in life he took a prominent part in the agitation for Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, and in 1 766 published Observa- tions on Affairs in Ireland from the Settle- ment in 1 69 1 to the Present Time. Mr. Wyse, in his Historical Sketch of the Catholic Association, speaks of him as " the German statesman and general, the Irish sufferer and patriot ; " and eulogizes " his unchanging attachment to an unfortunate country . . [at a time when] the clergy stood altogether aloof from the people. . . His pei-fect simplicity of purpose ; his calm and mild wisdom ; his untiring zeal for the de- pressed caste with which his name and birth, much more than his connexions and property, had associated him, would add a lustre to . , any country. . . No views of leadership mingled with his zeal. . . His rank in the Imperial court gave him access to the first circles in Great Britain. Bred in camps, and educated in Germany, he impressed on senators and courtiers che impolicy and injustice of the Penal Code, with the bluntness of a soldier and the honesty of a German. His efibrts had no small weight in softening the rigour of persecution. , . His ardent zeal in the cause of his oppressed countrymen procured him a preponderating influence in the councils of the Catholics ; that in- fluence was exerted in the great purposes, during a long life, of promoting union, extinguishing dissension, and rousing to exertion." He died at his seat of Elishau, inBohemia,'30th December 1769, aged 92.* [His descendant, the i ith Viscount Taafl!e, is an Austrian count, and Chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria.] '* =* " '46
Taaffe, Denis, Rev., a Catholic clergy- man, author of a History of Ireland, was 514
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born in Ireland in the middle of the 1 8th century. He was educated at Prague, entered the priesthood, and returned home. He took an active part in the Insurrection of 1798, and headed the insurgents at Ballyellis, in the County of Wexford, in an engagement where they almost anni- hilated a detachment of the regiment of Ancient Britons. He was afterwards wounded, but managed to escape into Dublin secreted in a load of hay. Being suspended from his sacerdotal functions, he became a Protestant. He wrote against the Union, and, between 1809 and 1811, published four volumes of An Impartial History of Ireland. Although written hastily, and from meagre materials, it con- tains some matter of importance not to be met elsewhere. He became reconciled to his Church before his death in 181 3, but continued hostile to the Government to the last, bitterly complaining to a friend who visited him in sickness of having to occupy lodgings in sight of " that cursed red flag," flyiug fi'omthe Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park. His remains were laid in St. James's churchvard, Dublin, near Sir Toby Butler's monument. "^ "= =°«
Talbot, Richard, Duke of Tir- connell, son of Sir William Talbot, of Carton, in the County of Kildare, was born in Ireland eax-ly in the 17th century. At nineteen years of age he went to the Continent, and rose to the rank of colonel in the French service. Though a Catholic, he was subsequently induced by the Ormond party to return to Ireland, where he served against Owen Roe O'Neill. He was with the army that defended Drogheda against Cromwell ; but in the storm and slaughter of the garrison, his life was saved by Reynolds, a Parliamentary ofiicer. Es- caping to Flanders, he entered the service of the Duke of York, with whom he returned to England on the Restoration. There appear to be no grounds except party animosity for the black colours in which his character is sketched by many writers. In person he was above the common stature, extremely graceful and well-made. In GrammonVs Memoirs he is described as " possessed of a pure and brilliant exterior ; his manners were noble and majestic ; no one at court had a better air." The character given him by a con- temporary author — his over-readiness "to speak bold, offensive truths, and to do good offices" — is inconsistent with his having been a mere cringing courtier. In 1664 he was committed to the Tower for using threatening words to the Duke of Ormond touching the Act of Explanation, a measure which he considered extremely
