seat for Appleby, he was allowed by the munificent patron, to bestow the next presentation on a friend. He was earnestly entreated to retain the office of Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, but he preferred his principles to his interest, on this as on many other occasions.

He died on March 24th 1816, in the 75th year of his age; and will be long remembered for his wit, his philanthropy, and his good humour.

Here follows a List of Mr. Courtenay's works:

1. A Pamphlet, containing animadversions on the late Duke of Richmond's excessive fondness for Fortifications, while Master-General of the Ordnance. Anon.

2. A Poetical Review of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 4to. 1786. 3. Philosophical Reflections on the late Revolution in France, in a (prose) Letter to Dr. Priestley, 8vo. 1790.

4. A Practical and Philosophical Review of the French Revolution, addressed to Mr. Burke, 8vo. 1793.

5. The present State of Manners, Arts, and Politics in France and Italy, &c. in a series of Poetical Epistles, addressed to Mr. Jephson, in 1792, 8vo. 1794.

No. XIV.

THE LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. PATRICK DUIGENAN, LL.D.

LATE M. P. FOR ARMAGH, AND A PRIVY COUNCILLOR of Ireland, A GOVERNOR of the COUNTY OF CATHERLOUGH, VICAR-GENERAL OF THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH OF ARMAGH, AND OF THE CONSISTORIAL COURT OF IRELAND; JUDGE OF THE PREROGATIVE COURT; ADVOCATE GENERAL OF THE HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY; VICAR-GENERAL OF THE DIOCESES OF MEATH AND ELPHIN; AND KING'S PROFESSOR OF COMMON LAW IN Ireland.

THE gentleman, an outline of whose life is here about to be attempted, has risen from low beginnings, and by slow degrees to a considerable portion of eminence, although not of popularity. Having attained a great age, he outlived nearly all his contemporaries; and such is the confessed obscurity of his origin that the particulars of his birth, and of his early years, have not been hitherto developed with sufficient precision.

Patrick Duigenan, generally allowed to be the son of an obscure Hibernian peasant, is said by one of his own countrymen, "from the very sound of the name to have been perfectly Irish;""nor would it be rash to infer," it is added, "that it must have been Catholic, as well as Irish; for though, there are considerable numbers of that name in the country, yet not in one instance, of one hundred, is it found to designate a Protestant or a Sectary. It is among the felicities of the Doctor, therefore," continues his compatriot," that his talents and his virtues are not obscured by the splendour of ancestry, and that his strong attachment to the established Church, and the Protestant ascendancy cannot be attributed to early prejudice."

* Another of his countrymen, asserts,

"That Dr. D. owes his birth to Paddy O'Dewgenan, and Joan his wife, two Catholics, who subsisted by tending cattle on one of the bleakest mountains of the

That the subject of this memoir, who was born about the year 1735, was of true Irish descent; and that he was brought up in a cottage in Ireland, can scarcely be a subject of censure or disgrace to an enlightened and liberal reader. that he arose from a state of beggary to affluence, betokens at least, the possession of some good qualities; and as neither his country, nor his condition, was an object of choice, it argues but little criminality, or even bad taste, should all these charges be actually verified!

It has been asserted, however, to the writer of this article, on the faith of one of his own nation, who sat for many years with him in parliament: that he was the son of a Protestant schoolmaster of the Church of England, by a Presbyterian wife; and, indeed, if this be the case, the marked difference of faith, that is said to have existed both in his father's, and in his own family, ought to have whispered constantly in his ear the Christian maxims of charity in respect to all sects and professions whatsoever.

It is a well known fact, that Mr. Duigenan was entered as a member of the college of Dublin, in the humble capacity of a sizer. That he was not a gentleman-commoner, is allowed on all hands: but that he was not a "Papist," is pretty certain,

county of Leitrim." He also maintains that he was intended for a priest, but converted by a Protestant Clergyman, who kept a school, and raised him to the situation of his assistant.

“With his elevation, our hero adopting new views, read his recantation, and changed his real name of O'Dewigenan, which he thought savoured too much of Popery, to the more Protestant appellation of Duigenan.

"Mr. Duigenan, as we must now call him, remained at this school, till by the benevolent aid of his master, he acquired as much learning as enabled him to gain admission as a sizer to Trinity College, Dublin, where, conscious he was fighting pro unguibus, his application was so intense, that though unassisted by any extraordinary talents, he obtained a scholarship, and afterwards in due time a fellowship, then the highest point of ambition to which he could aspire.

"Among the Irish Catholics it is universally observed, that kiln-dried Protestants, (by which is meant, those who have read their recantation from the Church of Rome, to that of England or Ireland), are peculiarly intolerant and hostile to the members of their former communion."

This, like the other extracts in the text, will serve to show, not only the extent, but also the bitterness of the prejudices existing against the subject of this memoir.

from the very circumstance of his admission: for, it seems to have been the policy of former times, to have excluded the Irish Catholic from all Protestant free schools, as well as this celebrated university. In consequence of such mischievous mismanagement, those who remained at home, being utterly destitute of the very elements of knowledge, became idle, disorderly, and disloyal; while such as were sent to study in foreign colleges and seminaries, not unfrequently, carried arms against their native country. Thanks to the generous and enlightened policy of the present times, most if not all these traces of unfeeling barbarity have disappeared, and no portion of Christendom has beheld the light of civilization beam upon it, with such sudden splendour, as Ireland, during the course of the present reign!

As we are reduced to conjectures, it is not at all improbable, that Mr. Duigenan was originally one of those poor scholars accustomed formerly to wander through the country in search of bread and patronage. He found both in Dublin. There, his industry was rewarded, first with a scholarship, and then with a lay-fellowship, of which two only, we believe, are allowed by the statutes. He also obtained the degrees of M. A. and LL.D. It is not improbable, that like many of those who are poor and unprotected, the whisperings of ambition taught him, for a while, to look up to the Church for preferment. But in an auspicious hour, he determined to study the law; and in addition to the advantages derived from that professsion, soon enjoyed no small degree of support and protection from the dignitaries who preside over ecclesiastical affairs.

One early instance of his independent spirit has been quoted against this gentleman, by his numerous host of enemies, which, on another occasion, and in respect to any other man, would have been followed by praise and commendation. In 1774, the late Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson was nominated by dint of influence, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, in the room of the Right Hon. Francis

Andrews. This enviable distinction has been generally conferred on men of profound erudition; and was always deemed an appropriate reward for distinguished classical learning. In the present instance, the honour was bestowed, on a lawyer of great practice, a secretary of state of acknowledged talents, and a senator whose speeches were allowed to abound with point and brilliancy. But he was not celebrated for his scholarship; he had never been the protector of learning, or the encourager of genius; and many members of the college were but little pleased with a nomination originating solely, as it was thought, in parliamentary interest.

On this occasion, Dr. Duigenan exhibited his displeasure, by the publication of a Latin poem, entitled "Lachrymæ Academicæ ;" and the first and if we are to credit his foes-the last instance also, of his independence, by withdrawing from under the jurisdiction of a magistrate, to whom he did not chuse to pay an unwilling obedience. He retained, however, his degree of LL.D. and his situation of Lecturer in Civil Law; which latter office, like the former, we believe, is merely titular; being almost, if not altogether, a sinecure.

Long previous to this, Dr. Duigenan had practised in the "Four Courts," as they are called; for he had been called to the Irish Bar, in Michaelmas term 1767, and even obtained a silk gown, as king's counsel; which, in this country, would serve to denote some professsional eminence. When Ireland asserted her legislative independence on England, she also established Inns of Court; and he became a Bencher of one of these, so early as 1784.

Previously to this period, the Irish student was obliged to eat his commons, and keep his terms regularly, in the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, &c., and it is in a high degree probable, that the subject of this memoir, attended Westminster Hall, long before he made his bow to the Bench in Dublin. In 1795 he was appointed King's Advocate-General, in the room of Sir James Chesterton; and he at length aspired