preparing for hostilities. His first object was to introduce order and economy into the civil department, and then to place himself at the head of the army. His physical powers had, however, been overtasked, and the privations of a long voyage had had their effect, and he died at Ghazepore, 5th October 1805, aged 66, endeavouring to the last to fulfil the duties imposed upon him. In India, as in Ireland, he was actuated by none but the purest motives of duty—the most unselfish and sincere desire for the good of the peoples over whom he was placed. He would not permit his son to enter the army. He had no grandson; but in the next generation no less than six of his descendants embraced the profession he had adorned; four of them fell in the Crimea in the space of ten months—two at Inkerman, one at Balaclava, one in the trenches before Sebastopol. His character has thus been summed up: "Lord Cornwallis was a statesman and a soldier of solid rather than showy qualities. He was noted for his moderation and prudence, his love of truth, and boldness in enouncing it. He had large views, a cultivated and correct understanding, a keen insight into character, much energy, much enterprise, much fertility of resource, a chivalrous attachment to king and country, and an unshaken resolution in doing and enforcing what he thought right." 39 Barrington says Cornwallis and Castlereagh "seemed created for such a crisis; an unremitting perseverance, an absence of all political compunctions, an unqualified contempt of public opinion, and a disregard of every constitutional principle, were common to both. They held that 'the end justifies the means'; and unfortunately their private characters were calculated to screen their public conduct from popular suspicion." 21 39 72 87 140 168?
Cosby, Francis, settled in Ireland in the reign of Queen Mary. He was in 1558 appointed by patent General of the Kerne, and in 1562 was granted the site of the suppressed Abbey of Stradbally, Queen's County, still owned by his descendants. He fell in the battle of Glenmalure, 25th August 1580. The leadership in the massacre at the moat at Mllaghmast, in 1577, of a number of the native Irish in cold blood, has been usually attributed to Francis Cosby; but written records do not bear out the tradition, although he may have borne part with the other English settlers, who were naturally anxious to clear off as many as possible of the old occupiers. The following is the account given of the transaction in the Four Masters, under date 1577: "A horrible and abominable act of treachery was committed by the English of Leinster and Meath upon that part of the people of Offaly and Leix that remained in confederacy with them, and under their protection. It was effected thus: they were all summoned to show themselves, with the greatest number they could be able to bring with them, at the great rath of Mullach-Maistean; and on their arrival at that place they were surrounded on every side by four lines of soldiers and cavalry, who proceeded to shoot and slaughter them without mercy, so that not a single individual escaped by flight or force." 53 134 176
Cosby, Philip, Admiral, a distinguished naval officer, was born, probably at Stradbally, in 1730. He was one of the numerous descendants of Francis Cosby who rose to high places in government employ. He entered the navy early, and from the first saw much service. General Wolfe appointed him his marine aide-de-camp, and in this capacity he served with the General until his death at Quebec in 1759. His naval services are fully set out by Ryan in his Worthies of Ireland. In 1774 he succeeded his cousin, Baron Sidney of Leix, in the family estates. In 1788 he satisfactorily concluded a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco on behalf of Great Britain, and in 1794, as Vice-Admiral of the Red, he was present at the capture of Corsica and Toulon. In 1805 he rose to be Admiral of the Red. He died at Bath, l0th January 1808, aged about 78, and was there buried in the Abbey Church. 53 349
Costello, Louisa Stuart, an authoress, was born in Ireland in 1815. She commenced her literary career at an early age by the publication of a volume of poems that attracted the attention of Moore, to whom, in 1835, she dedicated her first important work, Specimens of the Early Poetry of France. She soon became widely known as an authoress of history, travel, romance, and poetry. Ainsworth speaks of her "exquisite sense of the picturesque, and vivid appreciation of local historical association, always simple and unpretending in their enunciation." Perhaps her Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen (1844), and Falls, Lakes, and Mountains of Wales (1845), are the best known of her works. She died on 24th April 1870, aged about 55. 16 34 241
Cox, Sir Richard, was born at Bandon, 25th March 1650. [His grandfather, Michael Cox, was one of the many English
