Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/170

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150
Lucas—Luke.

in a long controversy respecting the rights of the citizens and the usurpations of the aldermen, setting forth his arguments in several pamphlets, the most important of which was entitled Divelina Libera, or an Apology for the Civil Rights of the Citizens of Dublin (1744). In 1748 he contested the City, but was defeated, prosecuted for some of his writings, and compelled to leave the country. He proceeded to Leyden, where he graduated M.D., and, returning to Bath, published an Essay on Waters (1756), and practised successfully as a physician. In 1761 he returned to Dublin, and contested the City this time successfully, and continued to represent it till his death. As a politician he was honest, but combative and too much of a "knight errant," as he himself confessed, and by some he was regarded as the "Wilkes of Ireland." He died 4 Nov. 1771.


LUCAS, FREDERICK.
Journalist and Politician.
1812—1855.

Admitted 8 March, 1831.

Second son of Samuel Hayhurst Lucas, merchant, of Wandsworth, Surrey,. a member of the Society of Friends. He was educated at Darlington and at University College, London. Whilst at the Temple he read in the chambers of Mr. Revell Phillips and Mr. Duval. He was called to the Bar 23 Nov. 1838. In 1839, convinced of the truth of its doctrines, he became a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and at the same time published his reasons for doing so in a pamphlet addressed to his former co-religionists. To further propagate the truth, as he conceived it, he was instrumental in establishing the Tablet newspaper in 1840. In 1852 he was returned to Parliament for the county of Meath, and became a prominent debater in the House of Commons, identifying himself with the Nationalist Party. In 1 854 he went on a mission to the Pope, at whose suggestion he prepared a "Statement" relating to the affair, which was published, with his Life, after his death by his brother, and is a valuable State Paper. He died 22 Oct. 1855. He married the sister of Mr. John Bright.


LUCAS, HENRY.
Poet.

Admitted 28 September, 1763.

Eldest son of Charles Lucas, M.D. {q.v.), the Irish patriot. He was born in Dublin about 1740. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1759. After entering at the Temple, he soon abandoned law for literature, and commenced writing poems chiefly of a laudatory character addressed to Royalty and persons of rank, now mostly forgotten. In 1779 he published a Tragedy in blank verse entitled The Earl of Somerset, which he insisted upon reading to Dr. Johnson, who, unable to account for the infliction, is said to have exclaimed, "Why, I never did the man an injury!" and the volume "lives" chiefly on the remembrance of this saying. He was called to the Bar 12 Feb. 1790. There is no record of the date of his death.


LUKE, Sir NICHOLAS.
Judge.
d. 1563.

Admitted (probably) 19 May, 1517[1].

Son of Sir Walter Luke (q.v.). He was Reader at the Inn in 1534, and third Baron of the Exchequer in 1540, which position he held till his death in the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth.

  1. A "Luke," without Christian name, was admitted on that day.