Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/425

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OLI

1 80 1 his health began to decline, and after residing a short time in France, he returned to England, broken down in health and spirits, and died in London on 7th January 1802, aged 72. It is related by his biographer (writing before Mr. Fronde's disclosures) that when dying he more than once exclaimed : " Alas ! I have betrayed my poor country." Dr. O'Leary was buried in old St. Pancras churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory by his friend, Lord Moira. He was nearly six feet high, " a perfect per- pendicular, with a kind of rigour in his muscles, that seemed to suffer from bend- ing ;" with a full mouth, heavy chin, and " sparkling eyes, overshadowed by bushy eye-brows." '* '"' '=* ^s

Olioll Olum, King of Munster, who died in 234, is said to have been progenitor of most of the great families of the south of Ireland. He married Sabia, daughter of Con of the Hundred Battles, ruler of the north of Ireland. He willed that after his death the sovereignty of Munster should vest alternately in the descendants of his son Eoghan Mor (the Eugenians, or Eoganachts, occupying the southern part of Munster), and those of his son Cormac Cas (the Dalcassians, occupying the north- ern part of the same province). ^^

Ollamh Fodla, a somewhat mythical Irish monarch, who, according to Keating, reigned from 953 to 923 B.C., and according io the Four Masters, from 1318 to 1274 b.c. The compilation of a code of laws is attri- buted to him. He is said to have been interred in the cemetery of Tailtin, on the Loughcrew hills, in Meath. '?' ^ ^

O'Loghlen, Sir Michael, Bart., a distinguished Irish judge (the first Catholic who occupied a seat on the Bench since 1688), was born in the County of Clare, in October 1789. He was called to the Irish Bar in 181 1, was elected member for Dungarvan, and having filled succes- sively the offices of Solicitor-General of Ireland in 1834, and Attorney-General in 1835, was elevated to the Irish Bench as Baron of the Exchequer in 1836. This ofiice he relinquished on being made Master of the Rolls the following year. He was created a baronet in 1838. A consolidation of the Grand Jury Laws, and several other legal improvements, are due to his exertions. He is thus described in Shell's Sketches, Legal and Political: " His head is large ; . . his large eyes of deep blue, although not enlightened by the flashings of constitutionad vivacity, carry a more professional expression, and be- speak caution, sagacity, and shyness, while his mouth exhibits a steadfast kindliness

O'MA

of nature, and tranquillity of temper, mixed with some love of ridicule." Sir Michael O'Loghlen died in London, 28th October 1842, aged 53. [His son. Sir Col- man O'Loghlen, a somewhat prominent Irish lawyer and politician, born in 1 8 19, died suddenly in 1877, whilst on his pas- sage from Holyhead to Kingstown.] ' ^4 304

O'Lothchain, Cuan, was chief poet to King Malachy Mor in the i ith century, and on his death acted as joint regent of Ireland with Corcran Cleireach. He was slain in Teffia in 1024. Six of his histo- rical poems, said to be of great value, are noticed by O' Curry. ^^

O'lKCahony, Connor, a member of the Society of Jesus, who Lived in the 17th century. Considerable excitement was created in Ireland by the anonymous pub- lication, in 1645, of his work : Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni Hibernice pro Catholicis Hihernis adversus Hoereticos An- glos, author e C. M. Hiberno, Artium et Sacrce Theologice Magistro, a small 4to. of some 130 pp., published nominally at Frankfort, but more probably in Portugal. It was a violent denunciation of English Protestant rule in Ireland, and an appeal to the Irish Catholics to root out the English as the Israelites had rooted out and massacred their enemies. Although at once burnt by order of the Supreme Council of Kilkenny, denounced by the corporation of Gal way, and preached against by Peter Walsh, this book was productive of lamentable consequences. It embittered the feeling between Protestants and Catholics, and O'Mahony's rhetorical flourish about the killing of 150,000 of "the heretics" between 1641 and 1645. has ever remained an argument in the hands of those who sought to fasten the disgrace of a deliberate and hideous massacre upon the Irish people. O'Mahony was living, an old man, in Lisbon about 1650. His book was reprinted in Dublin in 1829.

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O'Mahony, Daniel, Lieutenant-Gene- ral, a distinguished officer in the Irish Brigade in France, brother-in-law of the Marshal Duke of Berwick. He signalized himself at the Boyne, Aughrim, and Limerick, and accompanied his regiment to the Continent. In Januaiy 1702, some of the Irish Brigade under O'Mahony, turning out in their shirts in the middle of the night, defeated Prince Eugene's attempt to capture Cremona. For their bravery and their resolute refusal of the offers made by Prince Eugene to turn them from their allegiance, Louis XIV. sent his thanks to the regiment and raised their pay. O'Mahony was made a colonel, 401