Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/138

184 FITZGIBBON. respecting which it may not be uninteresting to observe ...that he was the first native of that country who ever filled the station. This office being generally accompanied by a peerage, he was raised to that dignity by the title of Baron Fitzgibbon, of Lower Conello, in the county of - Limerick. The conduct of the noble lord in this very arduous department was productive of great benefit to h i s country, a s h e possessed i n a n eminent degree a n organ o f destructiveness, which h e indefatigably exercised o n the intricacies o f the law. His activity and expedition had made chancery suits cease t o b e almost a n inheritance; and although his decisions might have been i n some few instances blamed a s premature, yet the paucity o f appeals evince that such objections were neither seriously nor extensively founded. To his former dignities were added the titles o f Wiscount Clare, December 20, 1793; and Earl o f Clare, June 10, 1795; and the English Barony o f Fitzgibbon, o f Sidbury, i n Devonshire, September 24, 1799. . I n 1802, his health appeared t o b e s o seriously affected, that his physicians thought proper t o recommend a more genial climate; and h e had arrived a t Dublin from his country seat a t Mountshannon, designing t o proceed im mediately t o Bath, o r i f his strength permitted, t o the South of France. The immediate cause of his death was the loss o f a great quantity o f blood while a t Mountshannon, which was followed b y such extreme weakness, that upon his arrival a t Dublin, o n the 25th o f January, there was reason t o fear h e could not survive the ensuing day. On the 27th, these alarming appearances increased s o much, that upon a consultation o f physicians, h e was given over. On being acquainted with this melancholy truth, the firm ness o f his lordship's mind did not forsake him. To prevent any impediment t o the public business, h e directed the new law-officers t o b e called immediately, and with a firmness and dignity o f which w e have few examples, from his bed administered t o them the necessary oaths.