1735), containing a list of medicinal plants growing in Ireland, with their names in Irish, English, and Latin; also Zoologia Medicinalis Hibernica (little in accord with modern medical science), and a Vindication of the Antiquities of Ireland (Dub. 1748), in which last he gives an account of his family. 338(1778) 339 Eeogh, John, the prominent Catholic leader, a Dublin merchant, was born in 1740. In his own words, he "devoted near thirty years of his life for the purpose of breaking the chains of his countrymen ;" and his mansion at Mount Jerome was long the rallying point for discussion and organization upon all questions relating to Emancipation. Although he did not in- volve himself in the revolutionary plots of the United Irishmen, he was the ardent friend and confidant of many of them. Tone thus writes : "I can scarcely pi'o- mise myself ever to see him again, and I can sincerely say that one of the greatest pleasures which I anticipated in case of our success was the society of Mount Jerome, where I have spent many happy days, and some of them serviceable to the country. It was there that he and I used to frame our papers and manifestoes. It was there we drew up the petition and vindication of the Catholics which pro- duced such powerful effects both in England and Ireland." Henry Grattan, Junior, says : " He was the ablest man of the Catholic body ; he had a powerful under- standing, and few men of that class were superior in intellect, or even equal to him. His mind was strong and his head was clear ; he possessed judgment and discre- tion, and had the art to unite and bring men forward on a hazardous enterprise, and at a critical moment. He did more for the Roman Catholics than any other indi- vidual of that body. To his exertions the meeting of the Convention [held at the Tailors' Hall, Back-lane, 2nd December 1792] was principally owing, and their suc- cess in procuring the elective franchise. He had the merit of raising a party, and bringing out the Catholic people. Before his time they were nothing ; their bishops were servile, and Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, though an excellent man, was un- der the influence of the Castle. . . At the outset of life he [Keogh] had been in business, and began as an humble trades- man. He contrived to get into the Catholic Committee, and instantly formed a plan to destroy the aristocratic part, and introduce the democratic. He wrote, he published, he harangued, and strove to kindle some spirit among the people. . . When Keogh went to London [as a delegate of the Catho-
Burke, who liked him, and said that he possessed parts that were certain to raise him in the world. The account of that mission afforded Mr. Burke and Mr. Grat- tan much amusement — seeing Keogh and the other delegates on their journey to Lon- don, admitted to the first court in Europe, going in great state, and making a splen- did appearance. . . He was highly de- lighted with his position, looked very grand and very vain —he seemed to soar above all those he had left in Ireland. But when he returned home he had too much good sense to preserve his grandeur ; he laid aside his court wig and his court manner, and only retained his Irish feelings." '^4 The Act of 33 George III. c. 21, passed mainly through his instrumentality and that of the committee emanating from the Catholic Convention of 2nd December 1792, enabled Catholics to vote for members of Pai'liament ; admitted them to the outer Bar ; enabled them to vote for municipal officers ; permitted them to carry arms, provided they possessed a certain freehold and personal estate, and took oaths, neither of which were necessary for Protestants ; allowed them to serve on juries ; admitted them, under certain restrictions, to hold military and naval commissions, some of the higher grades being excepted. Most of these privileges were subject to the taking a humiliating oath ; and the term "Papist or Roman Catholic " was used all through the Act. The Bill (given in full in Mitchel's History of Ireland) received the royal assent on 9th AprU 1793. A clause admitting Catholics to sit in Parliament was defeated by 136 to 69. The passage of this Act was, however, followed by the Convention Act (33 George III. c. 29), passed on 29th September, by 128 to 27, which has ever since prevented the holding in Ireland of assemblies such as those of Dungannon, the Rotunda, and the Catholic Convention. John Keogh died in Dublin, 13th November 181 7, aged 77, and was buried in St. Kevin's churchyard, under a stone he had erected to his father and mother ; and where eight years later his wife was laid. " 154 173 173. 3=3t 331 Kettle, Dame Alice, a reputed witch, resident in Kilkenny in the 14th century, to whom frequent references are made in the history of the Pale. One of the Cam- den Society's publications, for 1843, is devoted to full consideration of her strange history. It quotes the following short account of her career from Holinshed's Chronicle of Ireland, under date 1323. It may be premised that she was four times married— to William Outlaw (a Kilkenny
