No. XXV.

THE RIGHT HON. PATRICK EARL OF ROSCOMMON,

BARON OF KILKENNY-WEST, &c. &c. &c.

THE Dillons have been long settled in Ireland and were at one period considered a very warlike family, and at another, distinguished for talents of a very different kind. Henry their ancestor, accompanied King John into the sister island; and one of his descendants was created a baron in 1619, and obtained an earldom in 1622.

Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon, born in Ireland, in 1638, and educated at his uncle's the Earl of Stafford, in Yorkshire, was afterwards sent to Caen, in Normandy, where he had the celebrated Bochart for his tutor. He became Master of the Horse to the Duchess of York, and having addicted himself to the Muses, began to be considered one of the best poets of his day.

Robert, ninth Earl of Roscommon, rose to be a Marshal of France; in the service of which country he possessed a proprietary regiment, that bore his own name.

Patrick Dillon, the eleventh Earl of Roscommon, was born March 15, 1769. He succeeded his father, John, the former Earl, and on July 10, 1797, married Barbara, youngest daughter of Ignatius Begg, of Belrea, in the county of Roscommon. As his sole surviving issue is Maria, born in 1798, his titles most probably may become a subject of dispute. They are now claimed by his cousin, Michael James Dillon, Esq, a minor, son of Captain Michael Dillon, late of the county of Dublin Militia, who was killed at the battle of Ross, during the Rebellion.

Lord Roscommon died at his seat called Barbara-villa, in the county of Roscommon, Jan. 1, 1817.

No. XXVI.

SAMUEL RUDGE, Esq.

MR. Rudge the eighth son of the Rev. Benjamin Rudge, Rector of Thornhaugh, in the county of Northampton, was born in 1727. His uncle John was M. P. for the borough of Evesham, for many years; and he himself was originally bred to the profession of the law, having chambers in the Middle Temple, which he quitted so early as the year 1763. He afterwards resided at Elstree, in the county of Herts, where he lived during thirty-eight years, with his elder brother.

In consequence of his possessions in that county, he served the office of High Sheriff of Northampton, in 1792, and afterwards removed to Watlington, in Oxfordshire.

Having been a great sufferer from calculous complaints, he was accustomed, during 40 years of his life to recur constantly to a decoction, for the formation of which the following recipe, by himself, conveys the most minute and particular directions:

"Boil 36 raw coffee berries for one hour in a quart of soft spring or river water: then bruise the berries, and boil them again another hour in the same water; add thereto a quarter of a tea-spoonful of the dulcified spirit of nitre, and take daily a half-pint cup of it at any hour that is convenient: its efficacy will be experienced after taking it for two months."

By means of this potent specific he was released from a quantity of gravel, according to his own calculation, equal to a half-pint measure, during the period he had recourse to its aid.

Mr. Rudge employed his knowledge of the law, not for the annoyance or destruction, but the benefit of his neighbours. He was a very charitable man, and had addicted himself,

during more than half a century, to the study of botany. He commenced his labours in natural history, about the year 1750, with Ray and Tournefort, and continued them uninterruptedly until unable to read.

He at length expired in the 90th year of his age; having died at his house at Watlington, in February 1817, after a short illness of ten days.

No. XXVII.

ARTHUR CHARLES MURPHY, Esq.

THIS gentleman was a native of Ireland, but at an early period of life seems to have adopted England for his residence. Having come hither, like many of his countrymen, with the intention of studying the law as a profession, he entered himself as a student in the registry of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple; but although he kept the regular number of terms, yet he never deemed it an object worthy of the expense to be called to the bar.

Having at length married, and beholding before him the prospect of a large and encreasing family, Mr. Murphy became a candidate for ministerial favour; and at last obtained an appointment as Provost-Marshal of Senegambia, on the coast of Africa. This happened at a period when the late Governor Wall, so justly executed afterwards, for an atrocious act of cruelty, combined with tyranny, presided over that remote and unhealthy settlement.

On the restoration of Senegambia to the French, his place was of course abolished, and the subject of this short biographical sketch applied for indemnification: but as he had chosen to act by deputy, his claims were not at all attended to. At length, however, he was appointed to the place of receiver of certain taxes, in the north of England; and the great fatigue incident to this office, which was not accompanied with adequate compensation, is said to have shortened his life, having died in Lambeth-road, May 4, 1817. His daughter, who was educated by the queen, and afterwards kept a respectable seminary at Doncaster, still survives; two of his sons were in the navy and marines; while a third, now a major in the army,

served with great credit during the late peninsular campaigns, under the Duke of Wellington.

Their father, the late Mr. Murphy, from his earliest years, seems to have cultivated the muses. He acted, indeed, as a kind of Poet-Laureat to her Majesty, and although his annual Birth-day Ode, neither produced for him a salary, or even a butt of sack; yet he appears to have obtained from the Court, a provision for most of his children.