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to his intimates. Mr. Lecky thus esti- mates his character : " Though very de- ficient, both in oratorical abilities and in judgment, he obtained great weight with the people from the charm that ever hangs around a chivalrous and pol- ished gentleman, and from the transparent purity of a patriotism on which suspicion has never rested ; and he was also a skilful and ready writer. Of the wisdom he displayed in one unhappy episode of his career there are not likely to be two opinions, but it should not be for- gotten that it was the ceaseless labour of his life to inculcate the importance of self- reliance, to dissociate the national cause from the claptrap and bombast by which it was so frequently disfigured, and to teach the people that Liberal politics are only truly adopted when they are applied without respect of persons and without feai" of consequences. It was thus that he laboured during the lifetime of O'Connell to check the place-hunting and the boast- ing that disgraced the Repeal cause, and that near the close of his life he cfilmly and fearlessly risked all the popularity which years of suffering had gained him, by opposing those who sought to identify Irish liberalism with Italian despotism, and to draw down upon their country the horrors of a French invasion. Few poli- ticians have sacrificed more to what they believed to be right, and the invariable integrity of his motives has more than re- deemed the errors of his judgment." All his children (five sons and two daughters) survived him. His wife died in 1 86 1. ^ '7t 158 212 2171 233 25s 308
O'Brien, Henry, author of The Round Towers of Ireland, or the Mysteries of Freemasonry, of Sahaism, and of Budhism (1834), was born in Kerry in 1808, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and died in Loudon, 28th June, 1835, aged 27. His extraordinary work on the Bound Towers was at one time much esteemed, and was even awarded a prize of £zo by the Royal Irish Academy. ^^
O'Brien, James Thomas, Bishop of Ossory, Ferns, and Leighlin, was born in the County of Westmeath, in September 1 792. His father was a corporation officer of New Ross, and the lad was sent to Trinity College, chiefly at the expense of the borough. He became Fellow in 1 820, and in 1826 we find him refunding the amount that had been spent for his educa- tion. Having entered the Church and been for some time Dean of Cork, he was in 1842 consecrated Bishop of Ossory. His biographer says : " Few will be found to deny that the many-sided excellence
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of Dr. O'Brien's long episcopal career has conferred a quite exceptional distinc- tion on the ministry that appreciated and promoted him. . . He was an in- satiable reader, and until latterly a very early riser. He was a keen logician and a forcible writer ; his style being weighty and luminous, and his sentences, though long, yet not involved." He was an ardent advocate for the Chui-ch Education Society as against the National System of Educa- tion ; and was the foremost champion of the Irish Church against disestablish- ment. He published Sermons on Justifi- cation, and other theological works. "He possessed perhaps the loftiest and best cul- tured intellect that Dublin University has produced since the time of Bishop Berke- ley ; and, take him for all in all, there was in his day and generation no more lordly type of the Celtic race. . . His entire life was one of the most unsullied purity." He was of a commanding presence ; his face was massive and intellectual, and Ht up with eyes of peculiar brilliancy and beauty, Bishop O'Brien died in London, 12th De- cember 1874, aged 82, and was buried at St. Canice's, Kilkenny. =^^
O'Brien, Jeremiah, Captain, was born probably in Ireland, about 1 740, and was one of five sons of Maurice, a native of Cork, who emigrated to America. On the nth of May 1775, hearing of the battle of Lexington, he and his brothers with a few volunteers captured the British armed schooner Margaretta, in Machias Bay, Maine. Jeremiah was the leader in this exploit, the first blow struck on the water in the course of the American revo- lutionary war. He soon afterwards cap- tured two small British vessels, and was commissioned Captain. He cruised in the Liberty schooner, in which his first capture was made, for two years, and then fitted out the Hannibal, 20-gun letter-of -marque, and took several prizes. He was captured, but after two years' imprisonment escaped, and retired to Brunswick, Maine. He was Collector of Customs at Machias, Maine, at the time of his death (5th October 1 818), at the age of 78. His brothers, John and William, also served at sea dur- ing the Revolution. 37»
O'Brien, Terence Albert, Bishop of Emly, was born at Limerick in 1600. He entered the Dominican order, receiving most of his education on the Continent, and returned to Ireland and laboured zealously in his native city. In 1647, on the recom- mendation of Rinuccini, he was consecrated Bishop of Emly. He was one of the prelates who, in August 1650, offered the protectorate of Ireland to the Duke of 371
