Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/105

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DOBBS. 101 itself, his understanding and general talents were capable of no ordinary exertions, as nothing could be executed with more happiness than his ready, eloquent, and ener getic answer to the late John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, in the Irish House of Lords, upon a subject started upon him unexpectedly by that noble person. Amongst the circle of his acquaintance he will be long and deeply regretted, as there was a peculiar charm in his manners; and the gentleness of his domestic life was exemplified in the punctilious discharge of a l l h i s ecclesiastica; and political functions. All religious denominations regarded him with the profoundest admiration; and throughout his district, t o the immortal honour o f Erin b e i t spoken, there was not a man, whatever his mode o f faith, who did not revere this admirable prelate. By his wife h e was blessed with a numerous offspring. Two o f his sons were field-officers i n the army, and his daughters were distinguished b y the superiority o f their mental and personal accomplishments. A monument, plain and unadorned, executed b y Rossi, was erected i n the year 1805, t o his memory, i n the new burying ground (belonging t o St. James's church), i n Tottenham Court Road. The circumstance which chiefly distinguishes this tribute o f surviving affection t o departed virtue, i s the inscription upon the tablet, being from the classic pen o f Charles James Fox. FRANCIS DOBBS, Was a gentleman o f respectable family and moderate fortune; he had been educated for the bar, where he acquired reputation a s a constitutional lawyer; and i t may justly b e said o f him, h e was a firm patriot, a zealous advo cate, and a n extraordinary enthusiast. He seemed t o possess two distinct minds; one, every way adapted t o the duties o f his profession, and the general offices o f society; the other, diverging from i t s natural centre, carried him through wilds and ways rarely frequented b y the human under