from which this sketch is taken. His most permanent printed works are probably his poems; but his commentary on Virgil left behind in MS., will doubtless, if given to the world, establish bis reputation as a scholar. Unable to satisfy himself as to the completeness of any part of it, he had long before his death abandoned the prospect of publication during his lifetime. 233
Hervey, Frederick Augustus, Earl of Bristol, and Bishop of Derry, was born in 1730, educated at Westminster and Cambridge ; consecrated Bishop of Cloyne in 1767, and translated to Derry in 1768. He was noted for the prominent part he took in the Volunteer movement. Barrington tells us he "acquired a vast popularity among the Irish, by the phenomenon of an English nobleman identifying himself with the Irish nation, and appearing inferior to none in a zealous assertion of their rights against his own countrymen. It was a circumstance too novel and too important to escape their marked observation, and a conduct too generous and magnanimous not to excite the love and call forth the admiration of a grateful people." He was a more advanced, though less discreet Irish politician than Lord Charlemont, and contested unsuccessfully with him the presidency of the Rotunda Convention of Volunteers. At times he assumed almost regal state, and paraded Dublin in a coach drawn by six horses, attended by a body-guard of light dragoons which had been raised and was commanded by his nephew, the notorious George Robert FitzGerald. Among other munificent benefactions, he erected the spire of Derry Cathedral. His last years were spent on the Continent ; and he died at Albano, in Italy, 18th July 1803, aged about 73. His remains were interred at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, where maybe seen an obelisk erected to his memory by the inhabitants of Derry. Mr. Lecky says : "The character of the Bishop has been very differently painted ; but its chief ingredients are sufficiently evident, whatever controversy there may be about the proportions in which they were mixed. He appears to have been a man of respectable learning and of real talent, sincerely attached to his adopted country, and on questions of religious disqualification greatly in advance of most of his contemporaries ; but he was at the same time utterly destitute of the distinctive virtues of a clergyman, and he was one of the most dangerous politicians of his time. Vain, impetuous, and delighting in display, with an insatiable appetite for popularity, and utterly reckless about the consequences of his acts, he exhibited, though an English peer and an Irish bishop, all the characteristics of the most irresponsible adventurer. Under other circumstances he might have been capable of the policy of an Alberoni. In Ireland for a short time, he rode upon the crest of the wave ; and if he had obtained the control he aspired to over the Volunteer movement, he would probably have headed a civil war. But though a man of clear, prompt judgment, of indisputable courage, and of considerable popular talents, he had neither the caution of a great rebel nor the settled principles of a great statesman. His habits were extremely convivial ; he talked with reckless folly to his friends, and even to British officers, of the appeal to arms which he meditated ; and he exhibited a passion for ostentation which led men seriously to question his sanity." 21 118 212
Hibernicus, Thomas, a theologian, who flourished about 1270, was born at Palmerstown, in the County of Kildare. He left his own country and became a Fellow of the College of Sorbonne, in Paris. He afterwards removed to Italy, and died in the "Convent of Aquila, in the Province of Penin." On his death-bed he bequeathed his books and papers to the Sorbonne, "together with six pounds for the purpose of purchasing a rent to celebrate his anniversary." He wrote De Christiana Religione, De Illusionibus Dœmonum, and other works. 196
Hiffernan, Paul, M.B., a minor poet of slender abilities, who occasionally associated with Foote, Garrick, and Goldsmith, was born in Dublin in 1719. Intended for the Catholic priesthood, he was sent to study in France, and lived there seventeen years. On his return to Dublin he took the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, and conducted in 1750 the Tickler, a periodical paper in opposition to Lucas and his friends. About 1753 he removed to London, and was employed by the booksellers in the compilation and translation of various works. He wrote several short plays, trained candidates for the stage, lived the life of a literary vagabond, and died in an obscure lodging in June 1777. References will be found to him in Notes and Queries, 2nd and 3rd Series ; and a full memoir, with list of his works, is given in Walker's Magazine for 1794. 254 338
Higgins, Bryan, a distinguished physician and chemist, was born in the County of Sligo about 1737. After obtaining his medical degree he went to London, where he practised with considerable success. He early devoted his attention to chemistry, and opened a school for its practical study in Greek-street, Soho, London, in July 1774.
