Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/45

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CREAGH. 41 His private character was free from every vice. Ava rice and ambition, vices which so frequently attend men who make their own fortunes, were not the growth of his constitution. His opportunities of amassing wealth were immense, yet he contented himself with merely a suffi ciency to ensure the independence of his family. He was a most entertaining companion; his conversation was cheerful, diverting, and improving, and so enlivened with anecdotes, that he never failed to infuse fresh spirits into a drooping company. As a husband, he was fond and obliging, a tender father, and a kind master. In his friend ships he was firm and faithful; he was affable and cour teous to all, and rigidly just in his dealings. Indeed, had he lived in times in which faction bore less sway, his public and private virtues would have ensured him the love of his contemporaries, and the admiration of pos terity. RICHARD CREAGH, Titular Archbishop of Armagh, and author of several works on the language and antiquities of Ireland, was the son of a merchant in Limerick, where he was born, about the commencement of the sixteenth century. His father, desirous that his son should continue to exercise his busi ness, educated him for that purpose; but, quitting trade, he retired to Louvain, where he devoted himself with so much ardour to his studies, that he soon acquired great reputation for his eminence in learning. After a due course of studies he entered into holy orders, and returned to Limerick, where he opened a school for the instruction of youth. Wearied at length with so harrassing a life, he was desirous of becoming a monk, and travelled to Rome to obtain the Pope's licence. Failing in the object of his journey, he was, however, promoted to the see of Armagh; but we cannot ascertain how long he continued in i t , a s the date o f his appointment i s unknown. He died i n