Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/449

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

sion of James I,, with Hugh O'Neill, Rury and Niall Garv O'Donnell, and other Irish chieftains. Unable to obtain a formal pardon or a restitution of his territory, he secretly rejoined his wife and children, and sailed for Spain in 1 604. He was graciously received by Philip III., who made him a Knight of St. James, and Count of Bear- haven, with a pension of three hundi-ed pieces of gold monthly. After living four- teen years in exUe, he was assassinated by his servant as he was retui-ning from Mass, 1 6th July 16 1 8, aged 56. His nephew de- scribes him as of a tall and graceful stature, with handsome features. His son Donnell fell at the siege of Belgi-ade. " 134 196 275

O'SuUivan Beare, Philip, nephew of preceding, son of Dermot O'Sullivan, was born at his father's castle on Dursey Island, late in the i6th century. In February i6o2, he was sent to Spain, with some other youths, as hostages for the perform- ance of agreements made between the King and the O'Sullivans. Some time after the fall of Dunboy he was joined by his aged father and mother (who had en- dured all the horrors of his uncle's retreat), his brother Donald, and his sisters Helen and Nora. He was educated at Compo- stella, and entered the Spanish navy. All his leisure for some years, even at sea, was devoted to the composition in Latin of historical and polemical works. He says upon one occasion : " I am practising rather with the sword than with the pen. How few excel in one, much less in both ; it is so exceedingly difficult to combine the study and composition of his- tory with the actual realities of military life, especially at sea, where, instead of enjoying the calm of a library, men are the sport of the billows, rocked in the wild heavings of the ocean, and often almost engulfed in the abyss." He maintained a memorable discussion with Archbishop TJssher relative to the ancient Irish Church, in which neither of them was very choice in his language. Ussher calls him "as egregious a liar as any (I verily think), that this day breatheth in Christendom ;" while O'SulUvau devotes nearly ten chap- ters to abuse of his opponent. " Ego te vel Ussherinum ursum rudissime et iusulsissime uncantem dimitto ne armata bellua cornibus me petas." The work upon which his reputation rests is, His- toricc Catholiece Ibeiiiice Compendmm (Lis- bon, 162 1 ), republished with notes by Dr. Kelly of Maynooth, in 1850'. It con- tains Topography, Pilgrimage to St. Pa- trick's Purgatory, the English in Ireland from the Anglo-Norman Invasion to 1588, and in Book iv. (the most important), a


history of O'Neill's and O'Donnell's wars. D'Arcy McGee says : "He stands before us a simple and easily understood cha- racter ; frank and betimes choleric, with great faith in his own religion, and great devotion to his country." His Patriciana Decas appeared in 1629, and his Archicor- nigeromastiXjSiveJacobi Usheri Heresiarchce Confutatio some time later. He also wrote numerous tracts, and the lives of some saints, which do not appear to have been pablished. Not many years after the publication of his Compendium, he lost nearly aU his near relations. His sister Helen embarked for Ireland, and was drowTied on the voyage ; his father died at the age of 100, and was buried in the Franciscan church at Corunna ; his bro- ther Daniel was killed in an engagement with the Turks ; and his mother soon fol- lowed. There remained but one sister, Leonora, who had taken the veil at an early age ; and with her, he tells us, he long mourned for the death of his parents, and of the brother and sister that accom- panied them into exile. He died in 1660, as appears by a letter from Father Peter Talbot (afterwards Catholic Archbishop of Dublin) to the Marquis of Ormond, dated from Madrid, the loth of January 1660. " The Earl of Birhaven," he writes, " is dead, and left one only daughter of twelve years to inherit his titles in Ireland and his goods here, which amount to 100,000 crowns." " '95 233 339

O'Siillivau, Sir John, Colonel in the French service, was born in Ireland early in the i8th century. Intended for the priesthood, he was educated at Paris and Eome. On the sudden death of his father he returned to Ireland ; but not being able, owing to the Penal Laws, to hold his parental estate without renouncing his religion, he sold out and emigrated to France. He entered the army, rose rapid- ly, and was coadjutor of Maillebois in the atrocious suppression of liberty in Corsica in 1 739. There and on the Ehine he earned the reputation of an able captain in guer- rilla warfare. This probably led to his being chosen to accompany Prince Charles as Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in his descent upon Scotland in 1 745 . From his landing at Lochnanuagh, on the 5th August 1745, to his escape in a French frigate, on ist October 1746, Colonel O'Sul- livan was one of his most trusted advisers, and the Prince's escape was due in a great measure to his energy and tact. For these services he was knighted by " James III." in 1747. The date of his death is not known. [His son Thomas, an officer in the Irish Brigade, removed to America and

425