In contemplating the character of Dr. Bathurst, we behold a prelate who does honour to the Anglican church, by his candour and liberality, and a lord of Parliament, who reflects credit on the bench of bishops, by the independence of his conduct. Instead of interfering in elections, like a late dignitary,* we find him beloved by all those who reside in his vicinity, and with an exception perhaps to Dr. Watson, his lordship is the only bishop of our day, who has been ever toasted by a whig club. But it is not by a party alone, that this dignified ecclesiastic is esteemed; for he is venerated by his whole diocese, and contemplated, even in times like the present, with all that veneration and respect which were formerly bestowed on our primitive pastors, when favour could not corrupt, ambition alienate, nor power subdue.

THE RIGHT HON.

RICHARD FITZPATRICK, D. C. L.

EX-SECRETARY AT WAR, &c. &c.

Fortis sub forte fatescet.

Motto to the Ossory Arms:

THE age of poetry, like that of chivalry, appears to be no more, and is never likely indeed to

* We allude to the circular letter signed" Samuel St. David's," dated" Aberguilly, Aug. 24, 1785," and addressed to such of his ⚫lergy as had votes for the town of Carmarthen.

return. Until the Augustan period of Queen Anne, our verses, with few exceptions, were inharmonious, our grammatical rules unsettled, and our rhymes incomplete. Sentiment, imagery, wit, and humour, indeed existed, but every thing that depended on language was in a great degree wanting. At length, however, a series of extraordinary men made their appearance in immediate succession, as if expressly designed to remedy every deficiency, and supply whatever might be required. The poems of Waller, born in 1605, were characterised by a certain degree of elegance and smoothness before unknown. He was happily devoid of the quaintness of his contempory Cowley, and of the starchness of most of his predecessors. Milton, who saw that light three years after, which he was doomed to be deprived of before the close of his existence, united learning and science with a taste for the beauties of nature, and became among poets what Newton was soon after found to be among mathematicians.

Dryden, born in 1631, possessed a varied excellence; his verses were at once terse, original, and strong, and he possessed the rare felicity of being able to compose elegant lines without difficulty, and almost without effort.

•But something was still wanting, and it was left to Pope, whose star appeared above the poetical horizon, exactly at the epoch of the revolution, to complete the climax by the introduction of method, lucid arrangement, musical cadence, and a certain

guage

degree of correctness, of which until then our lanhad never exhibited a complete specimen. Since that period but little has been achieved, and but little remained to be effected. We have indeed beheld much elegant poetry, but it has been accompanied with little novelty; and in the department of satire alone has there been any thing like superior excellence.

Even under this head, we can at present recollect but three happy effusions, all of which are anonymous. The first, published under the feigned name of "Macgregor," consisted of "An Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight of the Polar Star, &c." the second had "Peter Pindar" affixed to the title-page; while the third, entitled the "Rolliad," is supposed to have been the production of a constellation of wits, among whom, if we are to belive the * author of the "Pursuits of

*The text is as follows:

"Or with Fitzpatrick mark the space between
A tainted strumpet and a spotless queen.”

Note." A line taken from the poetical eclogue, entitled "The Lyars," the most finished of all the productions of the Rolliad. Public report has assigned this classical, but too keen compositiou, to the sacarstic pen of General Fitzpatrick."

We shall here present the reader with the whole passage allud

ed to above:

"Say what that mineral, brought from distant climes,
Which screens delinquents, and absolves their crimes;
Whose dazzling rays confound the between
space

A tainted strumpet and a spotless queen ;

1

Literature," the subject of this memoir had the honour to be enrolled.

General Fitzpatrick is descended, on the paternal side, from an ancient family, which has ranked for ages among the primores, or grandees of a neighbouring kingdom, long connected with, and now happily untited to our own. If we are to give credit to the Irish antiquaries, Heremon, the first monarch of the Milesian race, was the patriarch from whom they derive their origin; and it appears, that after they had assumed the surname of Patrick, they were for some centuries kings of Ossory, in the province of Leinster. Donald Mac Donald Mac Gill Patrick, who was one of the toparchs of that district about the middle of the eleventh century, was slain, like most of his predecessors, either during an insurrection, or in battle. Barnaby" Mac Gill Patrick was a contemporary with Henry VII. and Henry VIII. and his son Barnaby appears to have been the first who assumed the prefix of Fitz. It was of course the policy of our kings to cultivate the friendship and assistance of chiefs of this description, half sovereigns and half subjects;

Which Asia's princes give, which Europe's take;
Tell this, dear doctor, and I yield the stake."

These verses, we believe, have only produced admiration; but there is a single line to be found in the same eclogue

"When fiery K-y-n shall with temper speak,"

which produced some animadversions from the bench, and letters from General F.

accordingly the latter of these monarchs, towards the conclusion of his reign (June 11, 1541, 33 Henry VIII.) after having received his submission, ordered a patent of nobility to be made out, and this prince condescended to become Baron of Up.per Ossory. Barnaby Fitzpatrick, his eldest son, appears to have evinced great loyalty towards Edward VI.* to whom he agreed "to yield both fyne, rent, and service."

But during the tumultuous struggles of a subsequent period, we find this family engaged in what was then termed "a rebellion" in Ireland. It was, however, very loyal during the reign of Charles I. and like the O'Neils, the Butlers, and other great houses, appears to have suffered severely for its attachment to that monarch. As a convincing proof of this, Cromwell excepted the chief who happened then to be at the head of the Fitzpatricks, both as to life and estate, out of the act of parliament for the settlement of Ireland.

But at length a new founder, or rather a restorer, arose in the person of Richard Fitzpatrick, a branch of this family, who perceiving that his ancestors had suffered by their attachment to an expatriated race of kings, prudently sailed along the current of the times, instead of attempting to navigate against the stream. Having addicted himself to the sea service, he exhibited great gallantry on various oc

* He was a favourite with that prince, whose letters to him are still in existence.