CLERI 479 thew as much as possible from the pablic eye. She seemed indeed to live but for the welfare of others ; her every pursuit was subservient to that exalted sense of duty which was the ruling principle of her mind and the great stimulus of all her actions. The benevolence and virtues of her heart appeared in her countenance, and gave an in- expressible charm to her manners and conversation. No one retired fron her society without having been pleased; and very few without improvement. With an intuitive perception of all that was elegant or gracefal in language, and dignified in conduct, she united intellectual endow- ments which would have rendered her conspicuous in any sphere of life, had she pursued the paths of literature ; but the duties of daughter, mother, the wife, and the friend, engrossed ber attention. She was always actively engaged to promote happiness at home, and diffusing it in the wide circle of her connections. She poured consolation into the bosom of distress, bound up the broken heart; " visited the fatherless and widow in their affliction," "gave to the poor bread;" to the sick mediciae; and to the ignorant instruction. Such was the being whose decease we have to record and lament, on the 1st of May, 1815. She had retired to rest the preceding evening, and not having risen at her usual time in the morning, the family became alarmed, and ou entering her chamber, found her dead, ap- parently as if recently engaged in prayer. MICHAEL CLERI, 01, CLEIRIGI. Tuis historian and antiquary was a native of the provinee of Ulster, a friar of the Franciscan order; and being well skilled in the language and antiquities of his country, was one of the envoys sent into Ireland from Loavain, by Hugh Ward, to collect the materials for his work relative to the Irish Saints. This task he performed with indefa- tigable industry for about fifteeu years, and colleeted together a mass of information, both genealogical and biogtaphical, and which proved invaluable (as has been
Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 1.djvu/490
This page needs to be proofread.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Biographia_Hibernica_volume_1.djvu/page490-1024px-Biographia_Hibernica_volume_1.djvu.jpg)