university of Notre Dame, Indiana, conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws.
O'Reilly died on 10 Aug. 1890, at Boston, from an overdose of chloral, administered by himself as a cure for insomnia. He was interred at Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline, Massachusetts.
O'Reilly's poetical works are: ‘Songs from the Southern Seas,’ Boston, Massachusetts, 1873; ‘Songs, Legends, and Ballads,’ Boston, 1878; ‘The Statues in the Block, and other Poems,’ 1881; ‘In Bohemia,’ 1886. As a novelist, O'Reilly will be remembered as the author of ‘Moondyne,’ a powerful and dramatic story of convict life in Western Australia, which was published at Boston, Massachusetts (1880), and ran through twelve editions. He also wrote, in collaboration with Robert Grant, Frederick J. Stimson, and J. T. Wheelwright, a satirical novel entitled ‘The King's Man: a Tale of To-morrow’ (Boston, 1884). An athlete himself, and a keen lover of sport of all kinds, he prepared a volume entitled ‘Ethics of Boxing and Manly Sports’ (Boston, Massachusetts, 1888); and also edited ‘The Poetry and Songs of Ireland,’ New York, 1889. In 1891, the year after his death, a complete edition of his ‘Poems and Speeches’ was published by his widow, with a ‘Life’ by James Jeffrey Roche, and an introduction by Cardinal Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore. His poetry as a rule is rugged in form, but shows considerable power.
[Life, Poems, and Speeches of John Boyle O'Reilly, Boston, Mass., 1891; Irish and Irish-American newspapers of August 1890; and personal information.]
O'REILLY, MILES, pseudonym. [See Halpin or Halpine, Charles Graham, 1829–1868, miscellaneous writer.]
O'REILLY, MYLES WILLIAM PATRICK (1825–1880), Irish politician, son of William O'Reilly, esq., of Knock Abbey, co. Louth, by Margaret, daughter of Dowell O'Reilly, esq., of the Heath, Queen's County, was born in Dublin in 1825. He was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, Durham, and at the university of London, where he graduated B.A. in 1845 (London Univ. Calendar, 1870, p. 203). Subsequently he took the degree of LL.D. at Rome. He joined the Louth rifles militia, in which he held a captain's commission. Being invited to Rome by Pius IX, he entered the pontifical service, with the rank of major, and was appointed to the command of the Irish brigade. In September 1860 the battalion of St. Patrick gallantly defended Spoleto against the Piedmontese troops, who were repeatedly repulsed, and O'Reilly surrendered only when the place had become untenable (O'Clery, Making of Italy, pp. 193–5). After his return to Ireland he was elected M.P. for the county of Longford in March 1862, and for many years he occupied a conspicuous place in the House of Commons among the debaters on Irish and military subjects. He was a member of the home-rule party, and was loyal to the leadership of Isaac Butt. He was a magistrate for the counties of Louth and Dublin. On at least one occasion he acted as examiner in classics at the Catholic University of Ireland, at the time when Dr. Newman was at its head. He vacated his seat in parliament in April 1879, when he accepted the post of assistant commissioner of intermediate education in Ireland. He died in Dublin on 6 Feb. 1880, and was interred in the family burial-place at Philipstown, near Knock Abbey.
He married, in 1859, Ida, daughter of Edward Jerningham, esq. She died in 1878. Besides occasional pamphlets and articles, he was the author of ‘Memorials of those who suffered for the Catholic Faith in Ireland in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Collected and edited from the Original Authorities,’ London, 1868, 8vo; reprinted under the title of ‘Lives of the Irish Martyrs and Confessors, with Additions, including a History of the Penal Laws, by [the] Rev. Richard Brennan, A.M.,’ New York, 1878, 8vo.
[Annual Register, 1880, Chronicle, p. 152; Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1863 and 1879; Tablet, 14 Feb. 1880, p. 216; Times, 10 Feb. 1880, p. 5, col. 3.]
O'REILLY, PHILIP MacHUGH (d. 1657?), Irish rebel, was the second son of the chief of the O'Reillys of Cavan, by his wife, a sister of Hugh MacMahon [q. v.] One of the father's brothers was Hugh O'Reilly, Roman catholic archbishop of Armagh [see under O'Reilly, Edmund], and another, Philip, also took part in the rebellion. His elder brother, Edmund MacMulmore O'Reilly, was father of Mulmore MacEdmund O'Reilly, sheriff of Cavan, who played a part in the rebellion in Cavan second only to that of Philip MacHugh; and there was yet another contemporary, Philip MacMulmore O'Reilly, who was apparently trained in the Spanish service in the Netherlands, and took an active share in the rebellion.
Philip MacHugh is called a lawyer by Froude, and in March 1639 was elected knight of the shire for Cavan. He soon took a prominent part in the proceedings of the Irish House of Commons. He was placed on the committee of privileges and various
