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Eustace
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Eustace

the attainder of James Eustace, late Viscount Baltinglas, with his brothers Edmund, Thomas, Walter, and Richard Eustace. Spenser, in his ‘View of the State of Ireland,’ has left some observations on the difficulties encountered by the government in obtaining parliamentary assent to the retrospective clauses which were embodied in this statute.

[State Papers, Henry VIII and Elizabeth (Public Record Office, London); Carew MSS. (Lambeth); Carte Papers (Bodleian Library); Istoriæ Catholicæ Iberniæ Compendium, 1621; De processu martyriali in Hibernia, 1619; Commentary on services of Lord Grey (Camden Society), 1847; Hibernia Anglicana, 1689; Camdeni Annales, regnante Elizabetha (Leyden, 1639); Statutes of Ireland, 1621; Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin (Rolls Series), 1884; Facsimiles of National MSS. of Ireland, iv. 1, 1882.]

J. T. G.

EUSTACE, JOHN CHETWODE (1762?–1815), classical antiquary, was born in Ireland about 1762. His mother was descended from the ancient Cheshire family of Chetwode. It is said that as early as 1767 he was sent to Sedgley Park school, Staffordshire, where he remained till 1774 (Catholic Magazine, 1833, iii. 32). He then proceeded to the English Benedictine convent of St. Gregory at Douay. After receiving the habit he left without making his profession, though he always retained a warm attachment to the order. Afterwards he went to Maynooth College, taught rhetoric there for some time, and was ordained priest. Bishop Milner states that Eustace, after provoking the indignation of the prelates of Ireland, came to England and settled in the midland district, where he not only associated with the protestant clergy, but encouraged his fellow-believers to attend their services. ‘This conduct was so notorious and offensive to real catholics that I was called upon by my brethren to use every means in my power to put a stop to it’ (Husenbeth, Life of Milner, p. 399).

Eustace was the intimate friend of Edmund Burke, his confidential adviser, and his companion in his last illness. For some time he assisted Dr. Collins in his school at Southall Park, and when Mr. Chamberlayne retired from the mission Eustace succeeded him at Cossey Park, the seat of Sir William Jerningham, near Norwich. He was resident at different periods in both the universities as tutor to two young relatives of Lord Petre (Clayton, Sketches in Biography, p. 383). In 1802 he travelled through Italy with John Cust (afterwards Lord Brownlow), Robert Rushbroke of Rushbroke Park, and Philip Roche. In 1805 he was resident in Jesus College, Cambridge, with George Petre, and there he associated with the most eminent literary men in the university, especially Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke, who recommended him to publish the manuscript journal of his tour through Italy. Afterwards he took a journey with his pupil, George Petre, through part of Dalmatia, the western coast of Greece, the Ionian Islands, Sicily, and Malta. In 1813 his ‘Tour through Italy’ was published. This book acquired for its author a sudden and a wide reputation. His acquaintance was sought by almost all persons in this country distinguished by rank or talents (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxv. pt. ii. p. 372).

In June 1814, during the short peace, he accompanied Lords Carrington and Essex on an excursion to France, and on his return published a remarkable description of the changes made by war and revolution in that country. He went again to Italy in 1815, and was collecting materials for a new volume of his ‘Tour’ when he was attacked by malaria, and died at Naples on 1 Aug. 1815, aged 52. He was buried in the church of the Crocelle (Catholic Mag. 1832, ii. 200).

His works are:

  1. ‘A Political Catechism, adapted to the present moment,’ 1810, 8vo (anon.), written in the spirit of a legitimate whig.
  2. ‘An Answer to the Charge delivered by the Bishop of Lincoln to the Clergy of that Diocese, at the Triennial Visitation in 1812,’ Lond. 1813 and 1819, 4to, republished in the ‘Pamphleteer,’ vol. ii., 1813.
  3. ‘A Tour through Italy, exhibiting a View of its Scenery, Antiquities, and Monuments, particularly as they are objects of Classical Interest, with an account of the present state of its Cities and Towns, and Occasional Observations on the Recent Spoliations of the French,’ 2 vols. Lond. 1813, 4to, 2nd edit. Lond. 1814; 3rd edit. entitled ‘A Classical Tour through Italy,’ 4 vols. Lond. 1815, 8vo; 4th edit. 4 vols. Lond. 1817, 8vo; 6th edit., with an additional preface and translations of the quotations from ancient and modern authors, 4 vols. Lond. 1821, 8vo, reprinted at Paris in 1837 in vols. ccii. and cciii. of a series entitled ‘Collections of Ancient and Modern English Authors;’ 8th edit. 3 vols. Lond. 1841, 8vo, forming part of the ‘Family Library.’ Great praise has been deservedly bestowed on this work, but John Cam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord Broughton, in his ‘Historical Illustrations of the fourth canto of “Childe Harold,”’ 1818, criticises it with extreme severity, calling Eustace ‘one of the most inaccurate, unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary reputation.’ A vindication of Eustace from these charges appeared in the ‘London Magazine,’ 1820, i.