genius which otherwise might lie dormant in the bosom of indigence and obscurity. Although a considerable portion of the life of Dr. Milner was employed in the laborious occupation of a mechanic, yet, untinctured with any former habits, his manners and sentiments eminently display the refined taste of the scholar and the gentleman; so that the very disadvantages, under which he laboured in the former part of his life, only so much the more enhance our admiration of his present attainments.

Urit enim fulgore suo.

THOMAS LEWIS O'BEIRNE, D. D.

BISHOP OF MEATH.

THE subject of this Memoir furnishes an additional name to grace the catalogue of those truly illustrious characters, who, by their private and public virtues, have triumphed over every opposition, and raised themselves to honourable eminence in society.

The difficulties arising from a state of parental obscurity were not the only obstacles which Dr. O'Beirne had to surmount, in common with several prelates of the church of England, still more distinguished than himself. Born and edu

cated

cated within the pale of the Roman-Catholic church, he had, at first, to overcome the spirit of religious prejudice, carefully infused into a tender mind, and afterwards to contend with the force of public opinion, which is not apt to give credit to the professions of those who renounce an old, and unexpectedly embrace a new, system of worship. He has, however, completely succeeded in impressing the public mind with a firm conviction of the purity of his motives, and the natural mildness of his temper, unperverted by the rancorous impulse of new-born zeal, has excited regret, without censure, in the members of the religion that lost him, and admiration, without envy, in the reverend teachers of the faith which he now professes.

Dr. O'Beirne was born in the county of Longford, in Ireland, about the year 1748. His father, who was a petty farmer and keeper of cows, highly esteemed for his integrity, after bestowing a classical education on the Doctor and his younger brother John, was so gratified with the general opinion entertained of their natural and acquired talents, that he resolved, with the consent of the titular bishop of the diocese, to devote them to the service of him, to whom all their improvements were piously to be attributed. He immediately took the necessary measures to send them to St. Omer's, in order to qualify them for the functions of the Roman-Catholic priesthood. The Doctor, however, convinced of the vast importance of the sacred engagements into which he was solicited to

enter,

enter, thought it his duty to ascertain the truth of some particular tenets of his paternal religion with which his mind had, for some time before, been greatly perplexed. With this conscientious view, he was naturally led to a minute investigation of the subject, and it terminated, after a variety of struggles, in his sincere conversion to the creed of the established church.

Instead of returning to the county of Longford to perform the monotonous duties of a parish-. curate among Irish peasants,* he turned his steps towards London, the proper scene for literary talents and adventure.

His brother, on the contrary, punctually complied with the wishes of his family and friends; and it is a singular circumstance, that they met, for the first time, after an interval of many years, the one officiating as a Roman-Catholic clergyman in the parish, where the other resided as a Protestant prelate.

* To a mind, whose views learning has expanded, and in which there is much of an active principle, scarcely any situation can appear more disgusting than that of a Catholic priest in a remote Irish county, where his intercourse must be confined chiefly to a class of men, whose minds, if not absolutely barbarous, are at best removed from barbarism by a single step; a class in which he can meet little but extreme poverty, gross ignorance, and offensive superstition. Mr. O'Beirne, before he left college, seems to have seen in this light the lot to which he found himself consigned, and he endeavoured to make an effort to fix himself in a better soil.

Dr.

Dr. O'Beirne was chaplain in the fleet under the command of Earl Howe, during a considerable part of the American war. He so eminently distinguished himself in that situation by the piety of his conduct, the excellency of his sermons, and the strictness of his attention to official duties, that he soon attracted the notice of the noble admiral, and was at length promoted to the chaplaincy of the flag-ship, the Eagle, of 64 guns. His conversation and manners, which have ever been peculiarly pleasing, soon accomplished for him what his reputation as a clergyman had commenced, and he was honoured with the confidence of the commander-in-chief.

The calamitous fire, which happened at New York in 1776, supplied him with an opportunity of displaying the docrines of Christianity in the most edifying and consolatory manner. To make the precept and practice of the gospel go hand in hand had been his constant study from the moment he entered into holy orders; and, while he cultivated, in private, every mean within his power to soften the horrors and alleviate the miseries of war, he was appointed to preach in St. Paul's church, the only one in New York which had been preserved from the fury of the flames. His discourse on that melancholy occasion has been often mentioned as the effusion of a mind animated with the purest sentiments of charity and brotherly love, and it has been justly praised

as

as a composition remarkable for dignified and pathetic eloquence.

On his return from America, when the conduct of Lord Howe, and more particularly that of his brother, Sir William Howe, with respect to the direction and execution of military operations, became the subject of general animadversion and parliamentary inquiry, and was boldly censured in newspapers and pamphlets, supposed to be written by persons in high credit and confidence with ministry; Dr. O'Beirne came forward in defence of his friends and patrons, (for, he was also much esteemed by Sir William,) and published a pamphlet in vindication of them, that had an extensive circulation, and was extolled by the adherents of the general and admiral.

While Mr. O'Beirne served in America, he had strengthened his connection with his patrons by new tie: he married a lady, who, it is said, was the particular friend of Sir William Howe, and whose interest he was inclined to promote from the strongest motives. Thus allied, as it may be said, to the Howes, and thus distinguished by his zeal in their service, it is not to be wondered that they took care to patronize him.

His introduction to the leading members of Opposition happened in the year 1779, through the medium of Lord Howe and Sir William, who were received with open arms by the opponents of ministry, as they fondly indulged in the hope that they should, from such a connection, find

1799-1800.

L

grounds