a diocese in which, by his own account, discipline had been unknown for full forty years, and not a single existing incumbent had his title registered. With great activity he threw himself into the work of visitation, introducing reforms with firm but kindly hand. In 1821, during George IV's visit to Dublin, he preached before the king, and was at once made dean of the vice-regal chapel. In the spring of 1822 the archbishopric of Cashel fell vacant, and was offered to Magee, but he declined it. Immediately afterwards the primate of Armagh died in London; the king suggested Magee as his successor, but Beresford was translated to Armagh, and Magee (1822) became archbishop of Dublin.
One of his first acts as archbishop was his inhibition of Robert Taylor [q. v.] of the ‘Diegesis’ from preaching at Rathfarnham. In his primary charge (1822) Magee clearly indicated his view of the duty of the Irish establishment to make converts from Rome. He encouraged public theological discussions and polemical preaching, and succeeded in rousing great attention to the points of protestant controversy. In 1825, in examination before the select committee of the House of Lords on the state of Ireland, he claimed that the protestant propaganda was ‘in most active operation,’ and that ‘in Ireland the reformation may, strictly speaking, be truly said only now to have begun.’ Apart from his aggressive policy Magee rendered considerable services to the Irish church. He raised the standard of examination for orders, and encouraged the religious fervour of his clergy. From the Bible Society he held aloof on grounds of churchmanship, though he was by no means exclusive in his intercourse with dissenters. Of the ‘new reformation society’ he was a strong promoter. In 1827 he headed a deputation which presented to George IV a petition from the Irish bishops against the Emancipation Bill. Before returning to Dublin he visited Hannah More [q. v.] at Barley Wood, near Bristol.
His health was broken, and in October 1829 a renewed attack of blood to the head seriously impaired his powers. It was falsely reported that his mind had given way. He visited North Wales in search of health, but his strength declined, and he died of paralysis on 18 Aug. 1831 at Stillorgan, near Dublin. He married in 1793 (Wills) Elizabeth Moulson (d. 27 Sept. 1825), and had sixteen children, of whom three sons and nine daughters survived him. John (d. 1837), his eldest son, was vicar of St. Peter's, Drogheda, and was father of William Connor Magee [q. v.] His fifth daughter married Hugh M'Neile [q. v.], afterwards dean of Ripon.
Personally he was a man of fine temper and ready benevolence, charming in his domestic relations, unselfish and strictly impartial in the distribution of his patronage. Out of his archiepiscopal income of 7,000l., he devoted 2,000l. a year to charitable and diocesan uses, including the supply of curates to poor incumbents. His eloquence was not confined to the pulpit; Shute Barrington [q. v.] compared his remarkable conversational powers to those of Pitt.
Besides sermons and charges he published:
- ‘Discourses on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice,’ &c., 1801, 8vo, 2 vols.; 2nd edit., with title ‘Discourses and Dissertations,’ &c., Dublin, 1809, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1812, 8vo; 4th edit. 1816, 8vo, 3 vols.; also 1832, 1848, 1856.
- ‘Biographical Memoirs of … Thomas Percival, M.D.,’ &c., Manchester, 1804, 4to (reprinted from the ‘Monthly Magazine,’ 1804; while stating that Percival ‘steadily retained the principles of rational dissent,’ he describes him as ‘a Christian without guile,’ and with ‘scarcely one distinguishable failing’).
His ‘Works,’ 1842, 8vo, 2 vols., include only the ‘Discourses,’ sermons and charges, with ‘Memoir’ by Arthur Henry Kenney [q. v.] A charge, in which he dealt with unitarians, called forth a remarkable letter (25 Sept. 1823) from Samuel Parr, LL.D. [q. v.] Among his unpublished writings (described in Wills) were the Donnellan lectures and a work on Daniel, which he left for publication, after revision by John Brinkley, D.D. [q. v.]
[Memoir by Kenney, 1842; Wills's Lives of Illustrious Irishmen, 1847, vi. 353 sq. (life based on personal knowledge and materials supplied by his daughter, Margaret Hunter); D'Alton's Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin, 1838; Williams's Memoir of Belsham, 1833, pp. 502 sq., 644.]
MAGEE, WILLIAM CONNOR (1821–1891), successively bishop of Peterborough and archbishop of York, was eldest son of John Magee, librarian of the Cork Cathedral library and curate of the parish, afterwards vicar of Drogheda, prebendary of Raphoe (1825–9), and treasurer of St. Patrick's, Dublin (1831–7). His mother, Marianne, daughter of the Rev. John Ker, was of Scottish family. William Magee [q. v.], archbishop of Dublin, was his grandfather. He was born in the apartments adjoining the library of Cork Cathedral on 17 Dec. 1821. From childhood he received from his parents religious teaching of the old evangelical type. In 1832 he was sent to the classical school of Kilkenny, and in 1835, when only thirteen, he entered Trinity College, Dublin. He won a classical scholar-
