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* Begun izate ia de to vrie be pabunton ve ire bari bac till be smeta par se mu nt avie that he most ante a pen cmquet so be written ran the rate of a mulZY MOHL he had not the time, son f he had the desire to be 11 stave: De therefore exa pita bora the fallte ani FIELDCs if que who has ane in fe come for the åre time before the potue Et seems fu. of mu.: fariona SOMETI SUGEA —he is fraught with practical knivete and having strerred sumont as muen as he has seen and read, he na adom with legend, ancolore, ani kory, aimet any place or thing he attempts to descrine, and we verlly believe, he would give a piensant description of a tour round a broom-stick."

Mr. Otway's Sketches of scene, person, and event, Lave the merit averbed in the foregoing extract, of presenting all he touches with bía lively and graphic pen, with living fidelity to the mind's eye. He was a great master of that famity of the poet, which transports the reader to the place, by the medium of the moral colouring which is proper to it; that is, the feeling and sentiment it would be most likely to awaken. His narrative acquires also somewhat of dramatic interest. from the personality imparted to it by the never-failing undertone of his own peculiar character. The reader not only participates in the action and sentiment, but he feels the presence of a fellow-traveller, a pleasant companion, laughing, moralizing, tale-telling, lecturing, and never for a moment allowing the intrusion of the dull passages which few travellers have the luck to avoid.

Among the numerous literary projects which were entertained by the active and busy mind of Mr. Otway, there was, we have reason to believe, one for which his powers and attainments were eminently adapted, a history of Ireland; still a desideratum perhaps, as Leland (the only writer of any just pretension,) has not even approached the most important portion of his task. No man was more fitted for this perplexed and delicate undertaking, than one whose sagacity, justice, and honesty, were unclouded by prejudices and party feeling, and unchecked by fear or influence. To just principles and clear views, as regards the present age, Mr. Otway added all that is really historical in the learning of the past. Perhaps, indeed, there were insurmountable obstacles to such an undertaking; he had, perhaps, outlived the strength and energy which the labour must require, and it is to be indeed added, that the period is yet far off, when the influence, which renders such an undertaking neither very easy nor likely to be very popular, shall have left a clear field for the impartial historian. He also had projected an edition of Ware.

Among the literary projects to which Mr. Otway was an effective contributor, may be mentioned the Dublin Penny Journal, first planned between himself and Mr. Petrie. A combination of talents which must be allowed to have conveyed a high promise to the public, for between these two able and highly endowed individuals, may fairly be said to have lain the best part of the materials for Irish history. As it was,

⚫ Dublin University Magazine, Oct. 1839.

during the brief period of their occupation in this paper, it was the vehicle of information far beyond the humble name and form under which it appeared. But it did not prosper; all such undertakings must for their success be dependent upon certain trade economics. A large and increasing sale of the Penny Journal was insufficient to compensate the cheapness of its price. And the parties concerned, could not well afford to be losers for a period or amount sufficient to establish it. The one volume which was thus put forth, will always be a valuable collection in the hands of the historian.

As we commenced by explaining, we have not been enabled to follow out Mr. Otway's personal history into its details. Some years before his death, we had the honour and the happiness to become acquainted with him, and to number him among our most valued friends. We have sat among his guests, delighted at the rare combination of uniform good feeling and right sense with humour and a happy pleasantry that never obtruded itself or became either forced or ill-natured. He combined great candour with refined tact, and was one of the very few we have met, who could be very frank without ever wounding a feeling that deserved to be respected.

In the last two or three years of his life, Mr. Otway suffered much from attacks of a rheumatic nature, so very severe as to compel him to visit some of the German Spas, from which he derived benefit, and appeared for a short time renewed in health. But early in the spring of 1842, his constitution gave way under the severity of a similar disease, and he died, leaving many attached friends and an affectionate family to lament his loss. The adepts in Irish literature are fully aware and will long feel the extent of that loss to his country.

Bartholemew Lloyd, D.D., Provost, T.C.D.

BORN 1772-DIED 1836.

THE life of Dr. Lloyd was that of a man exclusively engaged in academic pursuits and in the cultivation of science. In the commemoration of such men it has been frequently our lot to lament the very remarkable disproportion between the incidents and the real importance of their lives; and when we look upon the scanty record we are compelled to offer of so much worth and so much valuable labour, we cannot resist a painful impression of the injustice we must seem to commit. This is, indeed, but seeming: when we have to illustrate the achievements of public men, they are presented amidst the glitter of events and the reflection of the passing scene, magnified to the public eye by being identified with all it is accustomed to survey with interest. The scholar, the divine, or the philosopher, moves in a higher and yet less pretending path; his fame is too high-reaching for the vulgar gaze, till it comes down amplified by the reflexions of time.

Bartholemew Lloyd was at an early age deprived of his father, and of the uncle to whose care he had been committed on his father's death.*

VOL. VI.

* Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Dec. 1837.

2F

He entered college at the early age of fifteen, obtained his scholarship on distinguished answering in 1790, and his fellowship with still more distinction in 1796.

On Dr. Magee's resignation he was appointed professor of mathematics. At this period, notwithstanding the exertions and example of his illes trious predecessor, science stood at a low stage of progress in the university. This was not, as it has been ignorantly said, to be imputed to any want of zeal or knowledge peculiar to the university. We have already had to state that, owing to causes, into which we cannot now enter, the mathematical sciences had long been stationary in the British isles; and this to a degree so considerable, that for some years about this period the mathematical student was mainly dependent for his progress on the French and other foreign writers; so that, indeed, the several branches of analytical science were generally called "French mathematics,”—a term not yet altogether inapplicable, on account of the numerous and important works in that language to which the student must have recourse. The efforts of Dr. Lloyd to remedy this state of things are authentically recorded in a very clear and able volume on algebraic geometry, the earliest we believe in our language, which he drew up for the mathematical classes, on the model of the best French writers. To this work, with the lectures and the exertion of influence with which it was accompanied, is due the first effective impulse which brought the University of Dublin to the high eminence it soon reached. The book itself had not quite the same success with the public: owing to the numerous pressing avocations of its author, and his haste to put it into the hands of his class, it was so badly printed that its use was much impeded. It was still not the less valuable as a text-book for the lecturer, and still holds its place as a useful introduction to that most interesting and elegant branch of geometry. In noticing the result of Dr. Lloyd's exertions, Dr. Singer justly and forcibly remarks, "We are now, as it were, centuries in advance of what we, a few years ago, viewed as the limit of attainment." We may add, that each step of his academic life is similarly marked by some able and striking exertion of ability. After he was elected to the chair of natural philosophy, we had the pleasure of attending a course of his lectures on the subject of optics, and can bear witness to the beauty of style and method, and the simplicity and clearness of demonstration of a series of lectures, of which we earnestly expected the publication. At that period such lectures would have satisfied an important desideratum. But optical science was then manifestly on the eve of changes as to its physical theory,-and it is likely that a mind like Dr. Lloyd's felt dissatisfied with the scope of lectures which the student would have gladly received.

In 1831 Dr. Lloyd was elevated to the station of Provost, and here again we must quote the authoritative language of one who knew the Provost and the university well. Having stated the fact, Dr. Singer proceeds: "and perhaps no six years in the history of any institution can be compared to those which passed under his brief administration, with regard to substantial improvement, changes rapid, though well weighed, and reform mild and prudent, yet searching and effective. Scarcely a portion of the system of education but was submitted to

consideration, and in many instances to changes fully justified by experience." To this high testimony nothing need be added.

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On the death of Bishop Brinkley, Dr. Lloyd was, with a true appreciation of his claims, elected president of the royal Irish Academy. There never could have been a worthier or more strictly appropriate election; or, in truth, it may be said, one on which the Academy was more united by a single feeling. The exertions of Dr. Lloyd in the great cause of natural knowledge were not confined to the promotion of academic studies wherever there was an efficient institution or combination for the prosecution of practical investigations, he took the lead, and his cooperation was zealous and efficient. He was one of the original founders of the geological society, over which he presided for a time, and delivered an opening address worthy of his reputation. From Dr. Singer's memoir we learn" that under his auspices was the magnetic observatory commenced in the university, which promises to supply so perfectly a desideratum in British science, and which must so powerfully tend not only to the elucidating of the most recondite and interesting problems in natural knowledge, but to the practical improvement of many of the most important instruments of general utility.” *

As provost, his attention was not confined to the interests of science, properly so called; but moral philosophy also obtained a share of his regard. Dr. Singer mentions that in " early life" he had cultivated "mental science;" he now founded a moral professorship-a professorship on which it will be allowed by every reflecting mind, the university and the world have large claims for the dissipation of many pernicious fallacies, and the construction of a science of which, notwithstanding the labours of a few first-rate minds, the very existence is yet but imaginary.

Dr. Lloyd was also a preacher of no inferior power. On this topic Dr. Singer says, "All who have heard him as a preacher in the university must remember the clear and lucid style, the mild and earnest, and persuasive manner which, in spite of physical defects of utterance, we believe, rendered him most attractive in the pulpit; and they cannot forget the accuracy of conception, and keen and discriminating judgment which could penetrate into the depths of the metaphysics of theology without obscuring the subject, or diminishing its sanctity;" a praise deserved by few indeed, who have ever ventured to search for, or elucidate divine truth, among the barren wilds and endless mazes of metaphysics.

It is mentioned by Dr. Singer in his memoir, that "he has left a large store of manuscripts behind, the natural result of a well-stored, active, and inventive mind, and it is not to be doubted but that our fellow-academic and vice-president,† the heir of his name and talents, will not suffer a grain of his father's gold to be lost."

In private life, and in his intercourse with all whom the business of life or the duties of office brought into communication with him, Dr. Lloyd was kindly accessible; the native benevolence of his disposition gave an attractive expression to his voice and manner, and prompted a ready and charitable temper to confer obligations. Dr. Singer, who

* Proceedings, ut supra. † Since President.

was his intimate friend, speaks of him in high terms as a Christian and gentleman, and we can only add that the impression was universal.

We are not aware to what extent the death of this amiable man and able scholar was to be foreseen by means of any previous indications. To the public it came as a sudden event in the winter of 1836–7, and imparted a painful shock to the lovers of wisdom and virtue, and deep regret to those who felt interest in the advance of science.

Rev. Charles Robert Maturin.

DIED 1825.

MATURIN was the descendant from a French family of high respectability. His immediate ancestors for some generations had been settled in Ireland: and the name occurs among the lists of fellows and scholars in the Dublin university calendar.* Charles Robert probably entered college in 1795, as he obtained a scholarship in 1798.

On leaving college, or soon after, he was ordained on an appointment to the curacy of Loughrea, which he soon changed for Peter's parish in Dublin, in which he continued through life.

He married Miss Kingsbury, the sister of the late archdeacon Kingsbury, and lived in York-street. Upon the details of his life we cannot enter but as he is here to be commemorated as an eminent dramatist and novelist, and as indeed among the most distinguished literary characters which Ireland has produced, we cannot omit some brief notice of his writings. And as there appears some apparent inconsistency between his profession and literary pursuits, we must first offer a few remarks on this point. He was one of the curates of the most extensive and laborious parishes in Dublin, of which he discharged the duties with conscientious zeal: but with the exuberant vivacity of a mind which was endowed with far too much movement for any of the ordinary levels of social life, he sometimes justly incurred the reprehension of more staid and common spirits, and to some extent also fell under the misrepresentations of that large class which judges of all by reference to a few habitual standards, and can make no allowances when unusual cases arise. It may be added, that his great and unusual qualifications for social intercourse, his prompt and ready wit, his abundant information, his singularly dramatic mode of conception and expression, supplied temptations which no being, merely human, has perhaps ever resisted. A few brilliant years had passed over his head, during which there was a perpetual struggle between two opposite forms of character going on within his breast, and he was (what few could be) deeply and effectively engaged in two opposite services and while the giddy and shallow circles of fashionable society claimed him with an eagerness which would have turned ordinary brains, Maturin was drawn into courses of gay frivolity which he would gladly have broken from if he could. Another state of character was, in the mean time, slowly maturing: he

*

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Henry Maturin obtained a fellowship in 1792, and went out on the living of Clonmavaditch. Gabriel Maturin obtained a scholarship in 1787.

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