O'Conor, Charles, D.D., a learned antiquary, grandson of the preceding, was born 15th March 1764. He was educated for the Church, and passed his early years in Italy. In 1796 he published the first and only volume of his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, now a very scarce work. An interesting note regarding it will be found in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, vol. xi. Introduced to the Marquis of Buckingham as a proper person to arrange and translate the MSS. purchased by the Marquis from Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, he became chaplain to the Marchioness, and after her death in 1813 continued at Stowe as librarian. There he edited those works (printed and published at the expense of the Marquis) which will ever connect his name with the study of Irish antiquities and literature. Of his Rerum Hihernicarum Scriptores, published in four volumes between 1814 and 1826, only 200 copies were printed, at a cost of about £3,000. Dr. John O'Donovan says, regarding Dr. O'Conor's edition of the First Part of the Annals of the Four Masters, which fills the third volume of the above work: "His text is full of errors; it is printed in the italic character; and the contractions of the MS., which in many places Dr. O'Conor evidently misunderstood, are allowed to remain, although without any attempt to represent them by a peculiar type. There are also many serious errors and defects in his Latin translation, arising partly from the cause just alluded to, but chiefly from ignorance of Irish topography and geography." His letters, Columbanus ad Hibernos, given to the world between 1810 and 1816, supported the Veto, and were declared unorthodox, and he was formally suspended by Archbishop Troy in 1812. Mr. Fitzpatrick says: "Dr. O'Conor was a man of mild and almost timid disposition, liked by every one who knew him, and possessing the most extensive historical and bookish information, … His manners were a curious compound of Italian and Irish. He was fond of good living and his bottle of port, but never entered into excess. … He was extremely tolerant on all religious questions.… In person Dr. O'Conor was short and slight, of sallow complexion and prominent features, but of a venerable appearance, and possessing much the air characteristic of his real profession—that of the superior class of Catholic priests."208 Towards the latter part of his life he lost his reason, and was confined in Dr. Harty's asylum at Finglas, with his old class-mate and fellow-labourer in the field of Irish archaeological research. Dr. Lanigan. He died at his brother's seat at Belanagare, 29th July 1828, aged 64, His brother Owen, upon the death of a kinsman in 1820, became the O'Conor Don, and was grandfather of the present O'Conor Don. 134 146 208
O'Conor, Matthew, author, brother of preceding, was born 18th September 1773, and at an early age was sent to Rome to study for the priesthood; but when the time arrived for taking orders, he left privately, and with great difficulty made his way home, where he became a barrister. He was the author of History of the Irish Catholics, Recollections of Switzerland, and Military History of the Irish Nation, posthumously published. He died, probably at his seat of Mount Druid, in the County of Roscommon, 8th May 1844, aged 70. 16 53 233
O'Cullane, John, a man of considerable poetic genius, a Gaelic writer, descended from an ancient Irish sept stripped of their possessions by the Cromwellian settlement, was born in the County of Cork, about 1752. Several beautiful pieces of his poetry are to be met with in Munster, where they are held in high estimation. His soliloquy on Timoleague Abbey, so effectively translated by Samuel Ferguson, is considered one of the finest modern poems in the Irish language. Most of his life was passed as a school-master; he died at Skibbereen in 1816, aged 64. 188
O'Curry, Eugene, a distinguished Irish scholar, was born at Dunaha, near Carrigaholt, County of Clare, in 1 796, [His father, Owen Mor O'Cuny, had a thorough knowledge of the antiquities and traditions of the country, was an Irish scholar, possessed a collection of Irish manuscripts, partly inherited from his forefathers, and sang Irish songs with peculiar power and pathos.] In youth Eugene devoted himself enthusiastically to the study of Irish, acquired much proficiency in deciphering ancient documents, and learned to write a clear, bold, and beautifully-formed hand in Irish. He added to his father's collection of manuscripts by copying those in the possession of others. These pursuits were doubtless favoured by a slight lameness, which prevented him from working as much as his brothers upon his father's farm, and incapacitated him from joining in active outdoor exercises. During the agricultural distress after the conclusion of the war in 1815, the family was scattered, and Eugene and his brother Anthony procured situations in Limerick, when their father abandoned his farm and went to live near them. Eugene continued to
