MacNally, Leonard, a barrister who distinguished himself in the defence of the United Irishmen, but who, since his death, has been discovered to have been a government spy, was born in Dublin in 1752. Early in life he abandoned the grocery business, to which he had been brought up, studied law with great assiduity, entered at the Middle Temple, and was called to both the English and the Irish Bar. Practising first in England, he is said to have been induced by Curran to transfer his talents to his native country. He was one of the original members of the Society of United Irishmen, and assisted in the defence of Emmet, Jackson, Tandy, Tone, and many others. He was the trusted friend of Curran — one of the intimates to whom the family felt it proper first to communicate Curran's death, MacNally was the author of twelve dramatic pieces, including the opera of Robin Hood, 1779-'96; also of The Claims of Ireland, 1782; Rules of Evidence, 1802; Justice of the Peace for Ireland, 1808; and other works. For two editions of his Justice he received £2,500, He died at 22 Harcourt-street, Dublin, 13th February 1820, aged 68. Then only did his treachery appear. His heir claimed a continuance of a secret service pension of £300 a year, which his father had enjoyed since 1798. The Lord-Lieutenant demanded a detailed statement of the circumstances under which the agreement had been made; it was furnished after some hesitation, and the startling fact became generally known, not only that he had been in regular receipt of the pension claimed, but that during the state trials of 1798 and 1803, while he was receiving fees from the prisoners to defend them, he also accepted large sums from Government to betray the secrets of their defence. The Cornwallis Correspondence, Madden's Lives of the United Irishmen, and communications from Mr. FitzPatrick in Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, put all this beyond doubt. Another writer in the same series relates how in the London riots of 1780, MacNally saved the life of Dr, Thurlow, Bishop of Lincoln. Sir Jonah Barrington gives an amusing account of a duel between himself and MacNally, in which he says: "MacNally stood before me, very like a beer-barrel on its stilly, and by his side were ranged three unfortunate barristers, who were all soon afterwards hanged and beheaded for high treason — namely, John Sheares, who was his second, . . and Henry Sheares and Bagenal Harvey, who came as amateurs." In the same connexion. Sir Jonah, who was of course ignorant of MacNally's perfidy, thus describes him: "His figure was ludicrous; he was very short, and nearly as broad as long; his legs were of unequal length, and he had a face which no washing could clean. . . He possessed, however, a fine eye, and by no means an ugly countenance; a great deal of middling intellect; a shrill, full, good bar voice. . . In a word, MacNally was a good-natured, hospitable, talented, dirty fellow." 22 16 87 146 254 331
MacNevin, William James, M.D., a distinguished United Irishman, was born 21st March 1763, at Ballynahowna, County of Galway, where his father possessed a small estate inherited from an ancestor who in the Cromwellian settlement was consigned to Connaught. His uncle. Baron MacNevin, lived at Prague, where he was physician to the Empress Maria Theresa. Thither young MacNevin, precluded by the Penal Laws from obtaining an education at home, was sent when about eleven years old, and there he resided ten years, received a classical education, and passed through the medical college — finishing his professional studies at Vienna, where he graduated in 1783. Next year MacNevin commenced as a physician in Dublin, and soon worked into extensive practice. He became an active member of the Catholic committee, was returned from Navan in 1792 as representative to the Catholic Convention held in Back-lane, and took a firm stand with Tone in opposition to the pusillanimous policy of Lord Kenmare, Entering cordially into the views of the United Irishmen, he joined the body at the solicitation of FitzGerald and O'Connor — taking the oath from Miss Moore of Thomas-street, the friend of Lord Edward FitzGerald, and an enthusiast in the national cause. He never shrank from danger, and with Bond and McCormack arranged with Colonel McSheehy, Tone's aide-de-camp, relative to the proposed descent by the French on the Irish coast, and also conferred personally with Tone in Paris. In after life he often referred to the delightful evenings he spent with other leaders of the party at Frascati, Blackrock, in the company of Lord Edward, his wife, and his sister. Lady Emily FitzGerald. On 12th March 1798 he was seized, with the principal leaders of the party, and imprisoned at Kilmainham. He joined the other state prisoners in their agreement with Government, and was removed to Fort George, Scotland. [See Emmet, Thomas A.] He lightened his subsequent imprisonment by study — translating many of the Ossianic legends into English, and noting traditions from the
320
