I pics
•^Ifl
PEE FACE.
In the following pages wiU be found a record of the long
and eventful career of the late D«. Eicharz> Eobekt Mabden,
of whom a recent writer has observed—
" Few men have ever seen so much of the world
mmgled in more stirring scenes, or with persons of greater
emmence, or accomphshed a larger share of useful and
permanent work than that brave old man. whose talents
are attested in each and all of his forty published volumes;
and whose hfe is well worthy of being chi-onicled, not only
on account of its almost romantic character, but also because
o his emmence as a litUraUur, and his achievements as a
pnilantrophist."
For this Memoir Dk. Mabben left abundant materials,
mcludmg his personal reminiscences of, and correspond-
ence with, many remarkable literary and political person-
ages, at home and abroad. How far these have been
advantageously utilised in the present volume it remains for
the reader to decide.
KK ,. . „ T. MOBE MADDEN,
66 Mertion Square, Dublin, 1891,
^^> Q P '<
L.? *? U '^>
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I._l798.-I)r. Madden'. Birth and Tarcntagc ..
CHAPTER II.— School-Days— Reminiscences of Curran.—
Commencement of Medical Education.
CHAPTER III.— Early Career in Paris, 1820— Rome and Naples
in J 82 1 -22.
CHAPTER IV.— Residence and Press life in London in 1823.
vSecond Visit to Naples
CHAPTER V.-First Visit to the East.-Medical Practice
in Constantinople
CHAPTER VJ.-Crete During Greek War of Independence
CHAPTER VII.— Residence in Egypt, 1825-27
CHAPTER Vlll.-Journey through Palestine
CHAPTER IX.— Reminiscences of Continental Celebrities . .
CHAPTER X.-Theatrical Recollections
CHAPTER XI.— Return to England.— Marriage with Miss H.
Elmslie
CHAPTER XII.— Residence in the West Indies . .
CHAPTER XIII.— Contest with Jamaica Slave-Owners
CHAPTER XIV.— Anti-Slavery Work in Cuba, 1886-39
PAGE
1
20
27
n2
11
49
56
60
()5
70
74
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER XV.— Cuban Life (Continued) .. .. 80
CHAPTER XVI.— Account of First Visits to America . . S6
CHAPTER XVII.— Secoud and Third Visit to United States 102
CHAPTER XVIII.— Mission to Egypt with Sir Moses Monte-
fiore. — Official Visit to West Coast of Africa . . 110
CHAPTER XIX. -Notice of L. E. L.— Paris in 18^3. -Sketch
of Eeranger the Poet .. .. .. U7
CHAPTER XX.— Account of Dr. Madden's Early Published
Works .. .. .. .. .. 121
CHAPTER XXL— Poetical Writings, Specimens of these .. 123
CHAPTER XXII.— Publication of "History of United Irish-
men" .. .. .. .. .. 163
CHAPTER XXIII. — Correspondence with Sir William
Napier, S:c. . . . . . . . . 166
CHAPTER XXIV.— Accouut of Dr. Madden's Other Literary
Works .. .. .. •• .. 174
CHAPTER XXV. —Gore House and its Reminiscences. — The
Story of Lady Blessington .. .. .. 17 6
CHAPTER XXVL— Count D'Orsay .. .. .. 184
CHAPTER XXVIL— Residence in Portugal, 1843-1846 . . 189
CHAPTER XXVIII.— Selections from Correspondence .. 194
CHAPTER XXIX.— Residence and Work in Western Australia,
as Colonial Secretary, 1847-48 .. .. «. 223
CHAPTER XXX.— Return to Ireland in 18A9 . . . . 234
CHAPTER XXXI.— Account of Condition of Ireland duiipg the
Famine Years .. .. .. .. , 231
CHAPTER XXXII.— Dr. Maddqn's Report on the. Irish Fan^inp
Period .. .. .. ,. .. 243.
CHAPTER XXXIII.— Account of Subsequently Published Works 254
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.-Notice of Literary Labours (Continued)
CHAPTER XXX V.—Life and Work from 1861 to '67
CHAPTER XXXVI— Correspondence with Mr. John Bright, &c.
CHAPTER XXXVn.-Dr. Maddon's Last Published Worksand
Correspondence
•• •• ••
CHAPTER XXXVIIL-Retirement from Loan Fund Board in 1880
CHAPTER XXXIX.-Dr. Madden's Death in 1 88g
APPENDIX No. I.-Genealogical, Historical, and Family
Records of the O'.Aradden's of Hy-Many
No. 2.-The Abbey of Meelick, its Founders and
their Descendants
• • • •
No. 3.-Notice of Mr. Jolin Patten, Emmet's
Brother-in-Law
„ ^'o- 4.— John Cornelius O'Callaghaii
INDEX
PAGE
25y
260
26:J
20<)
•■272
278
28;j
295
:313
•-'^^^iX^aCfXD^-^-v^
MEMOIKS
DR. R. R. MADDEN
chaptp:r i.
BIRTH AND PAEENTAGE.
Throughout life, iiii interest in the atiairs of the Irish lusiuTection-
arv movement of 171)8, and of those that figured therein, whose
memory I have endeavoured to preserve and vindicate in my History
of the United Irishmen, has heen a sort of ruHng passion with me.
This is perhaps ascribahle to the circumstance of my liaving been
ushered into the world in that memorable year in the midst of a
rebellion, the councils of which were carried on in the immediate
vicinity of my father's abode in Wormwood-gate. On the day of
my birth, August 20th 1798, that house was searched for arms by
the notorious IMajor Sirr, attended by a company of yeomanry, a
privileged banditti, who then carried terror and consternation
into every dwelling of a Roman Catholic however peacefully
disposed he might be. After ransacking without interruption
the lower part of the house, they were repulsed at the door of my
mother's room by her husband, who exposed his life to imminent
danger in so doing, and was only rescued from it by the sudden
appearance of Major Sirr, who rushed upstairs and prevented the
armed marauders from bursting into the apartment, saying : " I know
Mr. Edward IMadden to be a peaceable citizen." This in those
days -was saying a good deal for a person who was one of " The
Catholic Delegates " mentioned in Theobald Wolfe Tone's
Memoirs. These few words, however, saved Mrs. Madden, and
perhaps her infant, from the consequence of so untimely a visit, and
it must, perhaps, be admitted that the Major's courtesy was not duly
requited by the latter in his manhood.
2
MEMOIES
At that time, and for many years previous to the close of the
last century my father, Edward Madden, was an eminent manufac-
turer in the city of Dublin. He was a man of great worth, probity
and piety. Before the Union he had amassed considerable means,
but like most others engaged in commerce in Ireland, he gradually
declined in prosperity from the date of that calamitous event. Even
then, however, he was not a young man, having been born in
November 1739, the son of Mr. John Madden of Kilternan, county
Dublin, who was married to an English lady, Miss Lee of Maccles-
field. My father commenced business on the Merchants Quay as a
silk manufacturer, at that period one of the leading industries of this
country. Thence, in 1768 he removed to No. 9 Wormwood-gate,
where he built a very extensive factory and dwellinghouse, where he
lived for sixty years, held by those who knew him of all classes and
creeds, in honour, for his sterling merit. He was twice, and each time
happily married. First circa 1705, to Miss Duras,the sister of Edward
Duras, a wealthy manufacturer of Bordeaux, by whom he had issue
ten children ; and secondly, in 1 7 7 7, to Miss Elizabeth Forde, youngest
daughter of Thaddeus Forde, of Corry,Innismagrath, county Leitrim,
by which marriage he had eleven children, of whom I was the youngest.
In the 91st year of his age — the 20th of November 1830 — he
died, with the best of all claims to consideration, that of being an
honest man. It may be pardonable in me — the last living of his twenty-
one children — to say a few more words of so good a father. He had in
effect many friends, and few — probably not any — enemies ; for it was
the rule of his life never to speak ill of any human being, and his
constant precept to all around him — "when they had nothing good
to say of the absent or the dead, to pass their failings by in silence."
One trait in his character was strongly marked, namely, a lively
feeling of humanity for every living creature that God has given for
our use, or that is dependent on our care. He keenly felt for the
sufferings of the poor, and was prompt to relieve them. The
representative of an ancient family,''' whose descendants, despoiled of
their patrimony in penal times, were subsequently content to be
allowed in peace to earn their bread in their own land ; — Edward
Madden was not umnindful, in the principles which regulated his
life, of the obligations of his creed and hneage. In days when per-
secution was abroad, and our venerable prelates and worthiest divines
found dithculties and even danger attendant on their annual visit to
the metropolis, his house was open to them, and for many years
his hospitality was acceptable. The same prudence that guided his
principles in private life directed his pohtical sentiments ; he loved his
native country with the ardour of a Christian patriot, and in the worst
of times he was loyal to his king, not for expediency, but " for con-
science' sake."
* Vi le .' ppendiso
t)R. R. R. MADDEN.
My mother was the youngest daughter of Thaddeus Forde, Esq.
of Corry, county Leitrim, by his marriage with Miss Lyons, of
Lyonstown, county Roscommon.* Her father died in 1759, and,
three or four months previously her mother died also. Their
youngest daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1754. After the death
of her parents she resided at Lyonstown, the seat of her uncle,
Myles Lyons, until her eighteenth or twentieth year, when
she came up to Dublin to her sister, Mrs. Reilly's house. After
some time she became a boarder in a convent, and there continued to
reside to the date of her marriage. She was remarkable not only for
her personal attractions, but also for the sweetness and brightness
of her disposition, in which (ere time and many troubles had done their
work on her heart and its fondest hopes) was reflected a joyous sere-
nity that well accorded witli those religious sentiments which at all
times were uppermost in her mind.
If natures best gifts and advantages afforded a reliable ground
of hope and promise for the secure possession of happiness in this
world, much felicity might have been hoped for her career in it.
It pleased God, however, to reserve her happiness for life eternal ;
and here, to render one so good more worthy of its best rewards,
she was tried with many grievous afflictions, and she was sanctified
by them. Honoured by the clergy of her Church for her worth and
piety, she enjoyed the esteem and friendship of many of the most
eminent Prelates and Priests of Ireland of her time. Her hospitality
was valued by such men as Bishop Delany, Bishop McGauran,
Dr. Betagh, and Rev. Dr. Gahan : and in their sickness and at the
hour of death, it was her privilege to minister to some of the most
saintly of them. Beloved by the poor, not only for her charity, but also
for the soothing kindness with which this was exercised : — endeared
to her family for the tenderness of her afl"ection, every member of it
felt there was reason to be proud of such a mother ; — and the last of
those children, for whose welfare here and hereafter to her latest
moment she prayed, cherishes her memory, venerates her virtues,
and attributes to her prayers every deliverance from evil and danger,
and many blessings tJiat have come to him or his. In her 75th
year, on the 21st JMarch 1829, full of hope in her Redeemer, she
(lied the death of a truly Christian woman.
* Thaddeus Forde was the last of the race of the Macansnahas of Munsterkenny (a territory
of which they were the chiefs, and of whom, in conjunction with the O'Kourkes of Breifny,
much mention is made in our ancient annals), who possessed a remnant of their old territory
in the vicinity of Corry— a promontory jutting into Lough Allen, in front of the island of
Iiinismagrath,
MEMOIRS
CHAPTEK II.
SCHOOL-DAYS.
The first scliool I was sent to was that of Mv. Chaigneau, of
Usher-street ; then to that of the Rev. Dr. Farrell, of Coldblow-
lane, Donnybrook ; and next to that of the Rev. Barnaby Murphy,
of North Anne-street.
An uncle of ray mother's, Robert Lyons, a younger brother of
Myles Lyons, of Lyonstown, a very weU-known and eccentric
attorney who resided in Stephen's-green, was not very remarkable
for making himself agreeable to people in general, and to members
of his family in particular. He was pleased, however, to notice me
a good deal, and in return for his civility I assumed the name of
Robert. It used to be a. subject of surprise, why I should
be a favourite of his, not being a very demonstrative, bright, or
communicative boy, but, on the contrary, as he was pleased to
describe me, a quiet, retiring " mope of a boy ;" " a poor soft child."
By the desire of this uncle of mine I was sent to the school of
the Rev. Edward JMartin, of York-street, close to his house. Mr.
Martin w^as a Protestant clergyman, a distinguished scholar, and a
Professor of Trinity College. He w^as, moreover, truly just and
liberal. His school was the best in Dubhn of its day, and
although a Protestant one, it was remarkable in its management :
not one word that could be considered offensive to Catholic ears was
ever to be heard in that school on the part of the master, ushers,
or pupils. On Saturdays about noon the worthy pedagogue,
I weU remember, used to caU up the Catholic boys and say to
them : Now, my dear children, as you learn your catechism at home,
and the other boys are now about to learn theirs, you may go.
I have often contrasted my experience of some sixty years ago in
this matter of mixed education with what has come to my knowdedge
of the conduct that is now pursued in regard to Catholic children in
similar circumstances, and I must say things have by no means
improved.
I was in the habit occasionally after scliool hours of caUing on my
grand-uncle in his office, Stephen's-green. Curran used to visit
him there frequently, and on several occasions I had the privilege
of being patted on the head and receiving a few encouraging words
from Mr. Curran. From that time, emboldened, I suppose, by
the kind look and words of the great little man, it became a fixed
habit of mine, in term time, to hurry after school was over to the
Four Courts to pull off my cap to the celebrated orator as he
>vas leaving the Rolls court. "When Curran was hving on Hog-
DR. R. R. MADDEN.
hill''' in obscurity, the first brief he received was given t6 him by
my maternal uncle. The account of this matter in Mr. Philips's
" Recollections," is given in Curran's own w^ords : — "I had a
family for whom I had no dinner, and a landlady for whom
I had no rent. I had gone abroad in despondence —I returned
home almost in desperation. When I opened the door of my study,
where Lavater alone could have found a library, the hrst object
which presented itself was an immense folio of a brief, twentv
golden guineas wrapped up beside it, and the name of old Bob
Lyons marked on the back of it. I paid my landlady, bought a
good dinner, gave Bob Lyons a share of it, and that dinner was the
date of my prosperity."
Perhaps the reader may feel some interest attached to the
person of the man who thus held out to Curran the hand of
encouragement when he was trembling on the pivot of his destiny —
Ptobert Lyons, the attorney, was a perfect, but indeed a very
favourable specimen of a class of men now quite extinct in Ireland,
and never perhaps known in any other country in creation. They
were a kind of compound of the rackrent Squire and the sharp law
practitioner, extravagant and usurious, honourable and subtle, just
as their education or their nature happened to predominate at the
moment. Plausible in his manners and hospitable in his habits,
those who feared him for his undoubted skill as a practitioner,
esteemed him for his convivial qualities as a companion. Nor had
even his industry the ill-favour of selfishness. If he gained all he
could, still he spent all he gained : and those who marvelled at the
poverty of his neighbourhood, could easily liave counted his personal
acquisitions. No matter who might be the poorer for him, he was
richer for no man : in short, it seemed to l)e tlie office of his left
hand lavishly to expend what his right hand assiduously accumulated.
When I first became acquainted with him, although he had reaped
the harvest of two thirds of a century, and alternately sued and
entertained two-thirds of the province of Connaught, in which he
resided, he still had all the pleasantry of youth in his address, tirxd
art struggled hard to set off the lingering graces of his exterior.
His clothes were always adjusted to a nicety ; a peruke, a la Brutus,
rendered either baldness or greyness invisible, and the jet black
liquid that made his boot a mirror, renovated the almost semicircle
of his eyel)row I
Such to an iota was old Bob Lyons ; and to him Curran has
often told me he owed not merely much of the prosperity, luit many
of the pleasantest hours of his existence. The case in which he
employed him first was the Sligo Election Petition cause between
* Hjg or Flogqes Hill— This, the editor is informed by Mr. F::. H. Earl, M.R.I.A., was sit jat^d
in ttie viiunity of tlie pnjsent Protestant Oh arch of St. Andrew's, Suffolk-street. Vid: also
Rev. Professor Stokes' " I.ectures on Celtic Cnurcii History," jj. -iSO ; London, 1683
6 MEMOIRS
Ormsby and Wynne, a species of litigation from which, thanks to
the Union, no young Irish barrister will ever date his prosperity in
future. In this case Mr. Curran eminently distinguished himself;
and so grateful was Lyons for his exertions, that he gave him pro-
fessional business afterwards in succession."
There is a circumstance in the early career of the subject of
this memoir which it may be permitted to notice as some evidence
of an enterprising disposition, and a strong sense of the claims of
humanity on all such j)owers as are given to each and every individual.
When about the age of fourteen, accompanied by one of ni}^
school-fellows, I obtained admission to see those dungeons of which
many of the men of '98 had been inmates in the jail of Newgate.
On passing a door with a grated window looking into the courtyard
of the cells for convicts condemned to death, I heard myself called by
name to the door, and addressed in earnest terms of entreaty by one
of the condemned prisoners. The man, to me unknown, begged me to
speak to my father, Mr. E. Madden, by whom he said he had formerly
been employed as a workman, to interfere in his behalf, and have a
petition drawn up for a remission of the sentence of death, for pre-
sentation to the Lord Lieutenant. It turned out that this person,
named ..... a powerful-looking man of about thirty-five years of
age, and two juvenile accomplices, had been convicted of a robbery,
and sentenced to be hanged. The day appointed for their execu-
tion was only eight or ten days distant from the time of this inter-
view witli the culprit, whom I had no recollection of ever having
seen before. I promised to do all that I was entreated to do. But
as I turned away, deeply impressed with the awful situation of
this unfortunate man, I reflected on the impossibility of acquaint-
ing my father with the circumstance of my visit to the prison, and
began to think how I could accomplish the object in question.
On my return home, finding my thoughts disturbed wherever I went
in the house, I betook myself to the hay-loft of a stable detached
from the dwelling, having called to my councils there my cousin,
Edward Byrne, a youth of my own age, a playmate; and a favourite
companion. In that hay-loft, at this conference of two bo^^s treat-
ing of the salvation of the life of a humau being, the plans were
coolly and deliberately discussed with a strange conviction of success,
or rather a strong determination to succeed, which, under Providence,
conti'ibuted to the fortunate issue of those efforts.*
Pen, ink, and paper were brought into requisition, and after
various attempts, a memorial was at length completed, addressed to
the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Richmond, on behalf of the con-
* The gentleman above referred to, Mr. Edward Byrne, when this statement v/ns written,
some ten years ago, was a wealthy and respected citizen of Paris, and was the same trusted
friend of the subject of this memoir he was then. All the vicissitudes of the career of both
in foreign lands for upwards of half a century had left their friendship unchanged.— In July
1868 Mr. Byrne died whilst on a visit to Dublin.
r»R. R. R. MADDEN.
demned culprit, purporting to come from the wife of the prisoner
f the'V'etitirr^'/r"^^ ™^ ''""^"^ '^«'-«'<^'' ^^ t'^-'" -™'
01 the petition) There was a recommendation to mercv of
the accomphoes of this man, ingeniously referred to, ,vh ch i
vas hoped would cover a multitude of sins and crimes, and t^e in
those of the adult culprit, to which they were not ext^Kled by the
jury. Haying completed their memorial the young hay^ofrconsU a
tors against the interests of the Irish Calcraft^M Thomas
Gay n-desceiHled to the stable and parted company.
The wiie of the prisoner was sought after, but her discoyery
n „,.n f, '".capable of seconding them. It now remained
IL^ZT tf ''^'"V"'"' '^ '^' J"'-y *« '^' »^<'>»«ri''l- This
was done with complete success except in a single instance
if It wnTn't" > '■• .^r-r ,"*■ Bridge-street, dechned to sign
It. It ixas not without difficulty that we presented a copy of
our memorial to the Judge, being refused admission at his h u"e
slters TShlZ T' '""' *■"' P'"^"" establishment of the
bisteis ot Charity. However, we succeeded in doing so as he was
going 0 court, and our boyish importunity was not mei^lv imrebu :i
ilerc::ased t:™:„i:,x.' ""' " """^'""•'''^ '^"'""-^ *«* ' •-■«
Much was now done: but the question came to be considered
how was the memorial to be presented to the Lord Lieutenant >
access to His Excellency. ^ arious inquiries were made and 'it
James gX fr7"'""l"' "l"' ''"'"' "--' «f '^ neighbl.r I
bvlPu I °f R'ehmond. The memorial was soon hi this way
biought under the notice of the noble lady, and in <hie time n-tssed
into the hands of the Viceroy. There it remained u "e^^rof'- da v
friend? 'o T' " '^' "V^""™' '"^"^ ''- P"-"-- 0' S.:
fi end . On reaching the goal, as I did at a very early hour on the
Saturday morning appointed for the execution, to my homv
Lr TirP''/'!*' "°^''f • *""' '•" «'-"' *" gaUows^in readt
less. I returned home and no one there was made acquainted
Edwa.7R:™r\"' '"''''' "''''' •="""«' or my disappointm nt
tbelw? ,t r'T' w™*'""'' °" "•« spot, and was not long
l^^A [ f" 'fP'-'eve, a reprieve." He forced his way through the
crowd, stuck close to the sheriffs people, and got into \he goal w h
them^ There he saw the condemned culprit a few minuttS afte " t
had been announced to him that his life had been spared, and he
doo bk' T ,"'f' ■"' «\^'^«'«l""g forth through the b^rsof 1 e
dooi IS great elephantine hand, were-'- Ah, my little man is that
you .' and then passing his left hand round }l thick neck slw
8 MEMOIRS
"I never thought this was meant for a rope. Hurrah for Botany
Bay ! If you or young Master Madden ever come to that country
you'll find a friend there in me." Master Madden did go to Austra-
lia, hut had not the opportunity of meeting this person, or testing
the gratitude he owed to a schoolho}^ and his companion for his life.
There is a moral in this story, though it may not have much of
novelty perhaps in it. There is no human heing too insignificant,
of too liumhle a station in society, too feeble in his frame, too little
acquainted with great people, to perft)rm a service to humanity if he
has only sufficient common sense to devise, and employ the means
within his reach, together with sufficient energy to make the effort
in a hopeful and enterprising spirit.
COMMENCEMENT OF MEDICAL EDUCATION.
My first ambition manifested itself in 1815, when I ventured to
make known my strong desire to be apprenticed to a surgeon, then
of great eminence in Dublin, of the name of Keogh. For, in
those days, to gain admission to the medical profession, it was
necessary to be thus bound apprentice, and my father and mother
used to talk the matter over day after day at the breakfast-table. If
ever a boy could be said to be heart-sick, I think I felt so, listening to
the different objections urged against what I had set my mind on.
My father's objections was to the expense. My mother's chiefly
to my leaving home in by no means robust health. Not being able
for the former reason to become a pupil of Mr. Keogh's, who
demanded a fee of ^250, or to any of those other great surgeons with
which Dublin then abounded in, the only resource left me was to get
apprenticed to a general practitioner or apothecary, and thus
eventually to succeed in getting to the surgical profession. I accord-
ingly resolved to offer myself for examination at the Apothecaries'
Hall, in order to qualify myself for this, by a preliminary examina-
tion in the classics, comj)rising a smattering of Greek, at least of
the four first books of St. John, without the knowledge of any
member of my family, fearing the obloquy of rejection. I fortunately
passed, however, though not without difficulty at the hands of
one of the examiners, a fanatical politician of violent Orange
principles — Mr. Giffard, of some notoriety in the year '98— better
known as "Jack Giffard, the dog in office." The last attempt he
made to upset me was by a question as to my age, which I stated was
seventeen. Mr. Giffard said he did not believe that answer was a
true one. I was nettled at this insult and, perhaps, foolishly retorted " I
was born in 1798, and probably, sir, you may remember that remark-
able year." The Chairman, who, I Uiink, was Mr. Moore of Anne-
DR. R. R. MADDEN. Q
Street, evideutlj tliouglit I was badly treated, and deemed it time to
interpose. He said : " You may retire Mr. Madden. You have
satisfied me as to your qualifications." When I told this to some
other young men who had to be examined, they assured me
Jack Giffiird would inevitably get me plucked. They were
mistaken, however. I brought home mv certificate.
For some time after this 1 searched oVer Dubhn for a master, and
at length I heard of a country practitioner -Mr. Woods of Athboy
county Meath (brother-in-law of an eminent Dublin physician. Dr.
Adams), who wanted an apprentice, and required only a small fe^ I
was accoi-dingly bound to him, and, at the age of seventeen "for
the hrst time m my life left home. That word has magic in
It, but Its spell is now a melancholy one to me. At that time my
father s hospitable liouse was still the pleasant home of a laro-e
youthful, joyous fVimily, the members of wliich were warinly
attached to each other. But witliiii the two following years, by the
deaths of two of my brothers, and subsequent commercial mis-
chances, that long happy home became desolate and saddened.
CHAPTER in.
MEMORANDA OF EARLY CAREER COMMENCED IN PARIS, 1820.
In April 1820, having previously completed my apprenticesliii) to
Mr Woods, I quitted Ireland at the age of twentv-one years and
eight montlis. Threatened with consumption, which had been
fatal to two of my brothers : labouring under severe pain in the side
cough, and spitting of l)lood (which latter symptom I sedulously
concealed from my mother), I consulted an eminent medical practi-
tioner, Dr. John P'teilly of Thomas-street, and requested to be told
if it was likely that I should follow my brothers. Dr Eeilly
endeayoured to avoid giving a direct answer, but on pressing him he
said that my only chance of escape from consumption was imme-
diate removal to a warmer climate, and subsequently Dr Per-
cival and Dr. Callanan confirmed his opinion. I had a great
horror of pming away before my mother's face, and dyino- l,y
inches, as I thought, and determined on abandoning home 1 did
so accoi-chngly, without informing anyone of my intention excpijt a
joiing friend named Higgins. (This Higgins afterwards b.r'ni..
10 MEMOIRS
well-known as tlie O'Higgins of Radical notoriety, and was an
honest minded, kindly disposed young man). Just then I received
a small sum of money — something under thirty pounds, being
my portion of half a year's rent of the lands of Kanbeg, in
the county Leitrim, the last remnant of the property of my mater-
nal ancestors, the Fordes of Corry, which had been bequeathed
to my brothers and myself by the will of my mother's brother, the
Rev. Henry Forde, parish priest of Enniskillen. With this limited
capital I started. After paying my passage from Cork to Bordeaux
and purchasing an outfit, I had on embarking eleven guineas where-
with to face the world when I arrived in France. I had, however,
a vague idea that I should not fail to obtain a clerkship in some
English commercial house in Bordeaux.
During the voyage, unusually tedious (eleven days), our captain
sacrificed freely to Bacchus, and was daily under the influence of
his inspirations. On my arrival in Bordeaux, the state of my
finances was well calculated to alarm a prudent man. Eleven
golden guineas was my stock of earthly riches. Beginning
the world with this, I was determined to sink or swim by my own
exertions, and I had no fears but that I would succeed in earning a
livelihood.
I took lodgings in the skymost chamber of a fine house in the
noble Rue Chapeau Rouge, belonging to two persons who carried on
the business of printing-paper merchants. After some weeks' resi-
dence there I began to be able to speak French pretty fluently.
In Bordeaux there were few objects of curiosity or antiquity. The
old ruined Chateau Franchette, the Castle de la Trompete, the Tour
de I'Horlogeand the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre and those of
the Convent of the Chartreux were the only remains worth noticing.
The theatre was then one of the finest in France ; the magnificent
design of a bridge over the Garonne, planned by Napoleon, was yet
incompleted.
From Bordeaux I made a journey to Toulouse, Montauban, Pau,
Cauterets, Bagneres de Bigorre, Bagneres de Luchon, &c. At Tou-
louse, the widow of Lord Edward Fitzgerald was at that time living.
On my return from Toulouse I sailed down the river to Bordeaux, a
distance of about 150 miles, in three days, during which time I had
leisure to reflect on my dreary prospects, and to think how I might
hope to amend them. I now, but in vain, sought to obtain employ-
ment as a clerk in some of the Bordeaux merchants' offices, and
was obliged to request my kind landlord, Mr. Magrene of the
Chartrons, to allow me to be in his debt nearly ten pounds till my
arrival in Paris, and also to borrow five pounds on my I. 0. U.
from an Irish merchant.
Previous to my departure I had a disagreement with a Mr.
Gouldsbury (my coviparpion de roijage from Dublin to Bordeaux) in
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 11
a billiard-room. I was asked by some one he was playing with to
score the game for them. I did so, and Gonldsbury said I was
wrong in the count ; I said I was not, and he replied that I was mis-
taken. Rather angrily, I very improperly put an offensive word in
his mouth, and said : " You mean to say I have said what is untrue ?"
" Yes, I do," he replied. One imprudence led to another. I w^ent
up to him and said : " You will hear from me in the course of the
evening." I proceeded to a friend of mine — a Corkonian, Captain
Haynes — and the result of the interview, and one which he had with
Mr. (t. an hour afterwards, was an appointment for meeting the next
morning, I returned home, a young gentleman wholly unacquainted
with affairs of honour ; and, having some disagreeable remembrance
of a brother of mine — Henry Madden, an officer who, after having
served unscathed through the Peninsular campaign, had some
five years previously been badly wounded in the same class of
encounter, could not be in want of food for reflections. These
certainly were not of the most pleasant nature, as the thoughts
of my folly, and more especially the grief which I knew its
possibly fatal event would occasion to my mother, sufficed to
banish sleep from my pillow until the time came to prepare for
the meeting, which was ap])oiDted to take place at six o'clock
next morning. Half an liour before then, however, and I may
candidly add with no little satisfaction, I received a message con-
veying an ample and umpialilied apology from my antagonist for
his conduct.
MY EARLY CAREER IN PARIS IN 1820.
Having remained three months in Bordeaux, I set out for Paris by
diligence, a distance of five hundred miles, on the 19th of August
1820. The day before my departure a succession of disagreeable
circumstances annoyed and vexed me. Not the least of these was
the painful necessity of parting with a beautiful edition of my
favourite Shakespeare, which had cost four guineas in Dublin. I
took it with a heavy heart to a French bookseller, who offered me
ten francs for it, with the remark — " La reliure. Monsieur, est
assez joU, mais votre poesie Anglais ne vaut rien en France."
Shakespeare and I thus parted company in Bordeaux, and the part-
ing was more disagreeable than I can express or could be easily
imagined. I found myself seated in the diligence wdth a French
lady of distinction and lier daughter, a young lady of great beaut}^
together with a young gentleman not of their party — a complete
" petit maitre," whose manners and appearance were exceedingly
12 MF.MOIRS
distasteful to me. I had the misfortime to have acquired a habit of
judging people by first impressions. There was something as I
fancied in this person's physiognomy indicative of intense self-conceit:
so I was not disposed to communication, nor he to be civil, or even
courteous during the first two days of our journey. Yet before it
was over Monsieur ds Pluvier and I were on excellent terms, which
eventually led to a sincere friendship. 1 found him a kind-hearted
and genial fellow. He was of an old and wealthy family in the
south of France. During the time we both remained in Paris, there
were few days that we did not meet, and we parted the best of
friends. So much for tirtjt impressions and hasty judgments
from outward appearances.
On my arrival in Paris I took up my abode in the Hotel d'Hol-
lande. Rue Neuve des Bons Enfants. 1 had determined to seek some
employment, and felt sanguine of success — without any good
grounds indeed for that expectation except in my mother's prayers,
which I knew were never likely to fail being offered up for me
whilst she was in life. That thought kept me up. After a while,
however, I began to realize the difficulties of my position, and at
times, and on one occasion particularly, to give way to a feeling of
depression and despondency, and to think myself without hope for
the future. Yet I was perfectly aware that I had only to
write home and make known my want of means and they
would be supplied. But some infatuation — a feeling of false
pride — not only prevented my doing this, but determined me never
to do it.
******
Shortly before my arrival in Paris the Duke de Berri had been
assassinated, having survived the restoration of the House of
Bourbon to the tlirone only two years, and a general impression
seemed to prevail in the public mind that a revolution was imminent.
The gloom of the political atmosphere seemed to affect all classes,
and was not lightened in my own case by the uncertainty and diffi-
culties of my prospects. (3ne day when labouring under these
feelings, in bad health and mind depressed, I had as usual
strolled out for air and exercise, and going along the Boulevards, at
last sat down on the bank of the canal in front of the then existing
ruins of the Bastille, by no means in a cheerful mood, when I was
disturbed in my meditations by the noise of a person rushing past
me. I looked up, and saw a man running down the bank and throw-
ing himself headlong into the canal. I rushed in after him, and
seized hold of him just as his head was for the second time going
under water, and after a short struggle, as he resisted strenuously,
I landed him safely on the bank. For this, however, he seemed in
no wise obhged, behig, on the contrary, at first in an agony of
BE. R. R. MADDEN. 13
Jistress and despair at the frustration of liis purpose. His first
coherent observation was, " Monsieur, Voila mon chapeau," point-
mg to his hat that was floating on the water. I thought it most
extraordinary for a man seeking death to look after so trifling an
object; but, of all mortals, a Frenchman is the most unaccountable.
This adventure was a useful lesson, bringing forcibly to my mind
the thought that there was more misery '• in the world than I dreamt
of ni my philosophy,"' and hence the nnpropriety of drawing an over-
charged picture, or thinking oneself supremely wretched when there
were thousands infinitely more afflicted. I reflected whether if there
w^as any possible way of extricating myself from my own present
difficulties, and thep suddenly recalling to mind my early medical
training, I straightway resolved to turn it to account.
That veiy moment I returned to the city, and, as soon as I had
changed my dripping garments, I entered an ajjothecary's and
asked where a situation might possibly be procured. I was fortun-
ately directed to M. Planche of the Boulevard des Italiens, at that
time the first apothecary in Paris, who was then in want of an
Enghsh assistant, and m the same evening was established with
him at a fair salary, and with permission to attend the hospitals.
It would be impossible to say how rejoiced I felt at this piece of
good luck, which enabled me to follow my surgical studies, and
rescued me at the same time from want. Occasional minor opera-
tions, bleeding, leeching, and cupping brought me in a great
many louis. I had in this way opportunities of knowing several
of the most celebrated characters of the day ; but the first time
I saw and spoke to the glorious little Tommy Moore, it might
appear childish to acknowledge what pleasure I experienced. On
one occasion at this period, my enthusiasm for our national poet
found a somewhat original mode of expression, viz : — in a few fines
whichiu November 1820 I indited and transmitted on the lid of a pill-
box to Mr. Moore, who then resided at Paris in the Allee des Veuves.
This circumstance was long afterwards recalled to mind at a dinner
party at Mr. Huuk^'s, where I met Moore in 1835, and is referred to
in his Memoirs.*
I followed the advice of Chesterfield in conforming to the habits of
the people I lived with ; but more than outward customs I was unwill-
ing to adopt. The character of my employer and his family was the
characterof the nation — ''ex unodisce omnes,"— self-triumjphantover
every other consideration. Religion was a matter apparently of no con-
sideration whatsoe^•er. IMonsieur Planche was about forty-five years
of age, as perfectly b'rench as one can well imagine. He was a
great chemist, spent half his time in his laboratory, and slumbered
* ''Memoirs and Correspondence of Thomas Moore." E.lited by Lozd John EusseU,
vol. vii, p. 10( ; London, 1850. '
14 MEMOIRS
Hway tlie other in a gloomy corner, while his wife was fagging in
the pharmacy from morning till night. He was incapable, as
I perhaps nn justly then thought, of an action, or of an idea
beyond the ordinary routine of his profession. There were five
assistants in the pharmacy. Their nationalistic tendencies were
displayed in very unmistakeable manifestations of ill-will to me
from the day I made their acquaintance. They entered into
a league against the '* gentil-homme Anglais," for so they called
me, and hostilities wei'e carried on between us for some months with
various success. A regular pitched battle at length was fought
between myself and a young Gascon, a fierce little fellow with a tongue
even more warlike than his spirit. Victory was on my side, and
henceforth I was treated with respect. During the engagement, the
Gascon never ceased crying out : " Je suis Francais ; " when the
fight was closing, I collected my strength for a parting blow to
demonstrate " Que j'etais Irlandais." About this period I was
in want of a surgical instrument, the cost of which was sixty
francs, and I had only thirty. I took it into my head to
try what gaming would do for me, and set off to try my luck
at the rouge et noir tables in the Palais Eoyal. I determined to try
all on the first hazard, and if I should wdn, there to stop. It came
up in my favour, but I had not the resolution to go off with my
winnings. I tried " my luck " again, and ended by losing all I had
won and had brought with me. Most fortunate for me was my
mischance. I never entered a gaming house again from that day to
this, an interval of fifty odd years.
I remained in Paris for about six months, during which time I
made some advancement in my professional studies, gained some
knowledge of the world, saw everything of interest in the city, and
oftentimes visited the theatre more as a distraction in my lonely and
friendless leisure hours than for any enjoyment of the performances,
from which though naturally enough fond of the legitimate
drama, I frequently returned home disgusted. A recurrence
of my old pulmonary symptoms at the commencement of winter
compelled me to give up my employment in Paris and to
resume my search for health and fortune in a more genial climate.
Accordingly I now, and without much regret, took my departure
from the French capital with the intention of going to Naples.
•TOURNEY FROM MARSEILLES. — ROME IN 1821.
On my arrival at Marseilles from Paris in January 1821, I called
on a countryman of mine established in practice there, Dr. Luby,
of whose solid worth and nianv excellencies of character I had then
DR. E. K. MADDEN. 15
and subsequently reason to think higlilj'. I brought an introduction
to him from a mutual friend in Paris, Dr. Morgan. From Dr. Luby,
who had been long in Marseilles, and had repeatedly visited southern
Italy, I got much valuable information as to the eligibility of the
several principal health resorts of English invalids between Nice and
Naples, with reference to my views of practice, and of obtaining
some employment as a travelling medical attendant. All I learned
of Naples confirmed my resolution to proceed there.
After a brief stay at Nice, where I experienced much civility
from Lieutenant Boyd, whom I had formerly known at Montauban,
I embarked with my friend Mr. Marshall on board a felucca bound
for Genoa, and thence, after a passage over the smoothest sea and
under the brightest sky, along the beautiful Ligurian coast, meriting
all that the Mantuan Bard has said of its romantic beauty, I arrived
in Civita Vecchia. My stay at the last named place was only of a
few hours, and I set out about nine o'clock in the evening to walk
to Rome, a distance of thirty-nine miles.
On one subject fools and philosophers arrive at the same conclusion,
namely, that an empty purse and a heavy heart are two bad
things for a long journey. This I realized as I started at nightfjill,
on a route renowned for robberies and murders, on my dreary walk.
The first twenty miles was easily accomplished ; but the darkness
of the night and the dangers of the road wearied and depressed me
more than the bodily fatigue. Every blast of wind appeared to me
to be the sound of the footsteps and whisperings of banditti ; and, to
my shame be it told, that passing a solitary churchyard at midnight
I felt dismayed, and heartily could have wished myself in a more
frequented locality. But imaginary perils were unnecessary, as I
was soon assailed by a somewhat more substantial apparition. From
behind a wall on the road-side a huge mastiff rushed out and attacked
me furiously. A momentary impulse led me to stand my ground.
I stooped down, picked up a large stone, made a sling of my pocket-
handkerchief, and with that succeeded, after a long contest, in beat-
ing my assailant out of the field, and marched off in triumph. I con-
tinued my journey without further interruption until I arrived in
Home, at two o'clock in the afternoon, thoroughly worn out in mind
and body, having been for seventeen hours on the road without rest
or food. On getting into an hotel I spat blood, and felt so ill that I
fancied I was then going to " that bourne whence no traveller
returns." During that illness I fully reahzed all the miserable
feelings of a sick man in a foreign country, who, without a friend to
give him hope or means to l)ribe a stranger to do for him the offices
of humanity, has, as I then had, to pass the lingering hours in
retracing happier scenes ; the comforts of a home he may look upon
uo more, or the kindness of friends he may never meet again !
16 MEMOIRS
lu every trial and perplexity I endeavoured to prevent my mind
from preying on itself by spinning out the cobweb of the brain into
scraps of rhyme, beguiling away the melancholy hours with —
" my shame in crowds my solitary muse." So far has this poetical
mania carried me, that in the dissecting room, while hanging over a
subject, I have often found my scalpel at a standstill while my head
was running over a love-sick lay. Thus the following lines were
written about this time when I expected to leave my bones
in Rome: —
ODE TO THE KING OF TEBROKS.
Hail ! grisly monarch of the grave !
Thy subject, yes, but uot thy slave,
I greet thee, tho' thy law is one
It bows the spirit down to own.
No matter, hail ! for still thou art
The solace of the broken heart.
The final refuge of poor mortals.
Who seek lost peace within thy portals.
All vain distinctions and unjust,
With these are levelled with the dust ;
The wise sink calmly on thy breast.
The weary fiy to thee for rest.
The wretched woo thee to their bed.
To ease the tortured heart and head,
And half thy adventitious terrors
Are but the growth of human errors.
Such terrors may the base appal,
Oppression, pomp, and pride enthral,
Seize on a Jeffrey's parting breath,
Or haunt a . . . bed of death.
A grasping Elwe's groans convulse.
Throb in a Chartre's sinking pulse,
Thrill in the quivering lips of traitors,
And paralyze the shocked spectators.
Thy summons, with it, still dread king.
Its pangs may never fail to bring
The dread e'en of protected pain ;
Of lingering agonies which chain
The parting spirit to the clay
That keeps it where it would not stay.
And yet though darkness be thy throne.
Corruption thy appalling crown.
Still dost thou lead to life and light,
And realms beyond the reign of uight I
As soon as 1 was able to stir abroad I visited the wonders of the
ancient capital of the world, " the Eternal City." Well is that
proud title ap[)lied to Eome as the centre of Christendom : the
enduring monument of the unbroken continuity and identity of the
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 17
Church, which is ruled by the occupant of the See of Peter, with
that which was sheltered in the Koman catacombs, and whose
martyrs received their glorious crown in its blood-stained arena. In
no other aspect is that designation justified. For what other associa-
tion is there between the idea of eternity and a mass of moulder-
ing monuments, however noble, sinking into ruin under the wither-
ing influence of time '? Is the broken pyramid of Metellu's tomb,
or the crumbling structure of the Cohseum an example of eternity ?
Well may Eome be called the Niobe of nations ; and he who can
survey the decaying palaces of the Caesars without feeling how
perishable are all the works of man, must be one of the many
tourists who can derive no benefit from " sermons in stones," or
from aught except their guide book.
How comes it that travellers are so frequently disappointed in
their expectations of ancient edifices and other objects of curiosity '<*
Is it that these things are devoid of interest, or themselves deficient
in taste ? No ; it is because they understand not the conduct of
curiosity, and falsely imagine that there is at all times the same
fitness of taste for visiting an ancient temple or lounging through a
modern palace. The blue devils is a disease not very uncommon,
and a traveller under its influence will do well to remain at home
for the day, lest he cry out with Smellfungus : " All is barren."
There are hkewise proper hours for going to these places,
and particular situations for a favourable view. Of a sombre day
the subhmity of St. Peter's is most developed ; the Vatican is best
seen by torchlight, and the moon must guide your steps along the
grass-grown streets to the temples in the Campo Vecchio, where the
silver beams are reflected on tbe shattered pillars, and the obscurity
around leaves room for the imagination to till the awful scene with
the shades of former times. But after a few years wandering, when
the pleasant page of our early travel's history is filled up ; when
modern wonders are exhausted, we may roam over the universe and
iind disappointment following at our heels. We wonder how every
thing about us is changed, and never imagine the alteration is in
our own perception. In our way through the world judgment,
founded on sad experience, may be a useful substitute for the warm
enthusiasm of early days, but life divested of romantic feeling affords
a dreary prospect when reason triumphs and imagination fails ; when
the bright hopes of youth, long over, our accustomed rambles
in the green fields with the god of nature are perforce exchanged
for the valetudinarian's easy chair by the fireside, and when the
lyrics of Moore are abandoned for the Meditations of Harvey. The
feeling of a disillusioned wayfaring man are by no means to be
envied or made a vaunt of.* This fact I have, alas, now learned, and
S
18 MEMOIKS
yet few have ever ^Yacled tlirough greater difficulties to indulge a
passion for travelling than I did in those far-off days of my youth,
the recollections of which are now before me.
MY FIRST VISIT TO NAPLES. RETURN TO ENGLAND IN 1822.
In March, 1821, the attempted revolution of the Carbonari had
brought an Austrian army into southern Italy, a portion of which
had possession of Civita Vecchia when I arrived there. All com-
munication between Konie and Naples by dihgence or any other
public vehicle had ceased. To wait till it might be restored was
not a proceeding in accordance with the state of my finances. The
distance from Eome to Naples is about one hundred and fifty miles,
and this journey I determined on undertaking on foot. I had little
to apprehend from banditti on the score of my property being
imperilled — " cantahit vacuus coram latrone viator.''^ Still, with a
view to the greater probability of escape from banditti in a country
notoriously infested with them, and of peril at the hands of stragglers
from the fugitive forces of the Carbonari and detachments of the
Austrian troops proceeding to or from Eome, I proceeded as far as
possible by night. At the end of the first thirty miles, thoroughly
exhausted, I was forced to make the ground my place of rest.
During the entire route, however, I pursued my way unmolested,
and reached Naples, after a walk of five days and nights (almost
thirty miles a day) on the 6th of March 1821.
On my arrival in Naples my funds were very low. I lost no time
in repairing to the surgery of Dr. Reilly, an English practitioner
in affluent circumstances, to whom I had been recommended, and by
whom I was fortunate enough to be engaged as assistant at a suffi-
cient salary, and with permission to attend the hospitals and the
medical courses of the university, together with the expectation of
succeeding at the expiration of a year to a share in the profits of the
business. Dr. Reilly was surgeon to the British Legation, a genuine
Irishman, open-hearted and humorous, possessed of most of the good
qualities of his countrymen and very few of their supposed characteris-
tic defects. By him a good deal of minor, but yet profitable practice was
placed in my way, and also the treatment of some patients who might
be considered my own. The first fee worth speaking about that I
received was from a young English gentleman, Mr. Elton. After
about a mouth's attendance, when about to leave Naples, he put
a bank note of £20 into my hiinds.
The year of my engagement had not, however, elapsed before I
was recommended by Dr. Reilly to an English family, a Mrs. Colt-
man, wife of Judge Cgltman, and her two nieces, one of whom was
DB, R. R. MADDEN. 19
labouring under a pulmonary disease, even then evidently of a fatal
character, to be their medical attendant to England, it having been
decided they were to return by sea. For this service I was to
receive £100. We embarked on board a merchant vessel, the
Maria Croicther, Captain \Yalsh, master, in the latter part of May
1822, and after a voyage of thirty-five days arrived in England.
A few days previous to our arrival, my patient's illness presented
symptoms threatening her immediate death. FuUy aware of her
danger, she expressed her desire to her family that a sum of a
hundred pounds should be given to me after her death as a mark of
her appreciation of my medical services. She, however, again
rallied a little and lived to reach her native land. On arrival in
London, the celebrated Dr. BaiUie was called in consultation, and
fully approved of all that had been done for her ; but, unfortunately,
no medical aid could avert the inevitable end, or prolong her short
career, which was terminated in her twenty-second year, a little
while after her return home,
I now received a cheque for two hundred and twenty pounds,
which included the hundred pounds agreed on for my medical attend-
ance, the hundred pounds legacy from Miss Coltman, and a further
fee of twenty pounds, thus making up a sum which I had never
before been master of, and which enabled me to enter at St. George's
Hospital and take out a winter course ot medical lectures. At the
expiration of this, however, I began to find my funds running low,
and determined on returning to Naples, which I did, via Genoa,
The passage thence to Naples in a small coasting vessel was a tedious
and tempestuous one, as we were delayed by adverse winds, and at
one time were driven back by a violent gale in the Gulf of Spezzia,
during which I perpetrated the subjoined : —
LINES TO MORNING.
Written on board a Felucca in the Gulf of Spezzia, 18-22).
Hail rosy morn ! whose dawnlBg beam brings hope
To each abode of woe and wretchedness ;
Whose gladsome smile dispels the phantoms dire
Of night and all its train of miseries.
Thy rise the lark doth tunefully proclaim,
And wakes betimes the herald of the morn,
With clarion summons calling nature forth
From silent semblance of the last long sleep,
To joyous life and new-born energies.
Thy rays shed blessings on the sick man's couch.
20 MEMOIRS
The dawu at last of long expected day
Beams through each crevice and outshines the dim
Night lamp, that served to show the chamber's gloom,
More drear and dubious to the suff'rers sight ;
And still at evening's close the man of care,
Feels sadness ever stealing on his mind,
Surrounding gloom invests his dismal thoughts ;
The dread of failure tracks each plan recalled,
He dreams of evils crowding on his path,
Imagines dangers — difficulties near,
And makes his couch a hell with vain alarms,
Till morning's joyous face ilium's the East,
Dispels the clouds, and dissipates his fears.
The sailor tossing on the swelling surge,
At nightfall glancing at the gathering clouds.
He well presages the approaching storm :
Full soon, the lightning rives the livid sky,
The tempest rages and the thunder roars,
And all is terror, till the morning dawns.
And then the jarring elements are still.
The lover's sighs have banished gentle sleep,
Night's tedious hours are counted o'er and o'er.
Or if he slumbers, horrid fancies rise ;
He dreams his mistress false — a rival loved,
Feels all the pangs and miseries— of one
" Who doats yet doubts, suspects yet strongly loves ; "
But when Aurora mounts her golden Car,
The lover wakes once more to joyous hopes,
Eejects each fear, and wonders at his doubts,
Smiles at such thoughts and says — 'twas but a dream.
R. R. M.
CHAPTER IV.
IIESIDEXOE IN LONDON IN 1823. SECOND VISIT TO NAPLES.
On returning to Naples, I was welcomed by Dr. Reilly wdth bis
former friendliness, and oilce more was installed as a member of bis
household, and also as a student in the Neapolitan University and
hospitals. Not many months, however, bad elapsed when I was
again required to accompany a young English invalid, Mr. Baker,
to England. A hundred pounds was the fee proposed, and I
accepted the offer.
On the 21st of April 1823 we embarked on board a miserable
schooner'— the Bctsij of Plymouth. The captain was a man very
DR. R E. MADDEN. 21
loud in religious professions, which he unfortunately discredited by
being an intolerable drunkard. Our vessel was unseaworthy, and
from the moment we were under weigh, throughout the voyage, the
average leakage was some thirteen inches an hour. Abreast of
Cadiz the north-west wind set in, and, owing to the drunkenness of
our captain, we came within the influence of the trade winds before
he thought of tacking. We were now daily approaching Madeira,
and at one period, when only thirty miles distant from that
island, and our provisions were getting scanty, in the course of the
night we fell in with a German brig, with the master of which our
captain exchanj^jed his last tierce of salt beef for a cask of wine. A
shift of wind at length took us back into the Bay of Biscay, and
matters now became rather alarming. We were on a short allow-
ance of water — a pint a day ; our biscuits were nearly out, and
worst of all, my patient was sinking rapidly. The poor fellow was
only in his twentieth year — a gentleman and a scholar. The disease
in his lungs, long existing, rapidly progressed, and he died on the
fiftieth day of our voyage. Behoving it would be more gratifying
to the feelings of his family that his remains should be brought to
England, and very much against the will of the crew of the vessel,
I succeeded in embalming the 'body in a somewhat rough though
effectual manner by means of common tar.
On the seventy-fifth day of our voyage from Naples we anchored
off Plymouth. I immediately communicated with Mr. Baker's
friends at Rochester, whither his remains were carried for interment.
After remaining a few days at Rochester, and receiving many
marks of attention from his family, I proceeded to London. Thence
I set off immediately for Ireland, after an absence of nearly three
years, to visit friends and relatives, and above all to see once more my
mother. The passage from Liverpool to my native city in a small sail-
ing vessel was unpleasant ; the wet which I was exposed to for many
hours brought on a fever, and on arriving in Dublin, instead of
hastening to my often longed for home, I was forced, not wishing to
present myself as an invalid, to go to an hotel without acquainting
any relative of my illness. The attention of the worthy Dr.
O'Reilly soon restored me to health and to my family.
Even in so short a period as I had been absent, death had made
no inconsiderable change amongst my acquaintances. My youth-
ful companions were scattered over the kingdom, and of the few who
remained, some, as I thought, received me coldly. My dear sister,
Mrs. Cogan, whose affection and kindness was never interrupted
through life, had become the mother of a family, my brothers were
necessarily busily engaged in their several pursuits, and the infirmi-
ties of age were accumulating on my ever good parents. It was the
inevitable, but nevertheless most afflicting experience of my life ;
the conviction felt for the first time that I was no longer a youth,
22 MEMOIES
and that home was no longer as home had been. I remained three
weeks in Ireland, and then bade adieu, perhaps for ever, to the
country which contained all that was dear to me on earth.
I returned to London, and setting to work at the prosecution of
my surgical studies, went through the course of lectures and hospital
practice in St. George's Hospital, under Sir Benjamin Brodie. This
I did wholly and solely at my own expense and out of my own earn-
ings, and in the same way ultimately completed my studies, and
took out my diploma as a Member, and subsequently a Fellow of the
London College of Surgeons, the degree of Doctor of Medicine at
Erlangen, and likewise the license as a General Practitioner of the
London Apothecaries Company.
EARLY LIFE IN LONDON.— MY CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS.
On my arrival in London, Sir John Grey Egerton and his
lady, whose acquaintance I had made in Naples, where I was
introduced to them by Miss Tierney (daughter of George Tierney,
Esq., one of the celebrities of the age of Pitt and Fox), received
me with great kindness. Lady Egerton was again placed under
my care, and continued for some months to be my patient, and to
remunerate me with no ordinary liberaUty. At the same time I
was enabled to maintain myself by my connection with the London
Press, from which at the end of that winter I was in receipt of four
guineas a week. For this I was principally indebted to my
relative, Patrick M. Murphy, afterwards County Court Judge
for Cavan (son of P. Murphy, Esq., of Navanj, who was then a
Parliamentary reporter of eminence on the Morniiig Herald, and a
writer for some other papers.
My first engagement was with Henry Th\^'aites, of the Herald
(an eccentric but a very kind-hearted man, and, as I have reason
to say, to me a most considerate and generous employer), as a
reporter in the Yice-Chancellor's Court, for which employment of
about two, and sometimes three hours a day I was to receive two
guineas a week. As an occasional writer of articles, principally
theatrical, and literary also, I received two guineas more. These
four guineas amply sufficed to defray the cost of my medical lectures
and hospital fees, and contributed towards my expenses for living.
The lirst day's attempt at reporting would have ended in its
hopeless abandonment if Mr. Murphy had nut considerately joined
me about two o'clock in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, listened
patiently to my difficulties and perplexities, and taken ' charge
of my nearly unintelligible notes and set them in readable order.
A few lectures in the mystery of reporting enabled me from
that time to get through my business to the satisfaction of my
DK. B. E. MADDEN. 23
worthy employer. The first literary essay I published in the
Herald at this period was an article entitled " The Vagabond,"
signed " Mutius," purporting to give an account of a young EngHsh-
man's Continental tour, turning to an amusing account perplexities
and absurdities arising from English prejudices and unacquaint-
ance with foreign habits and manners. In this and some follow-
ing essays of the same character, and under the same signature,
a good deal of my own travelling experience was given somewhat
ludicrously.
My connection with the Press as one of the staff of the Morning
Herald now brought me into close intimacy with several of its chief
members, by whom I was introduced to the places of resort
frequented by the leading writers on the London periodicals of that
day. At this time I was persuaded to become " an Eccentric," /.e.,
the member of a society which then comprised all the talent of the
Press, the Temple and the Stage. For the meetings of this motley
congress a saloon was fitted up in the Shakesperian tavern, where
the veteran Mayor D filled the post of President, with no less
eccentricity than dignity and address. My coubin Mr. Murph}^ having
proposed and carried my admission, I was introduced to the assembly
by the President, who, according to custom, delivered the initiatory
harangue.
* -K ;!< -;= i-
After some time, although my earnings were sufficient for my
wants and my future prospects were fairly good, I grew weary of
my present pursuits and determined to abandon them, being seized
with a wish to return again to Naples, where I looked forward to the
reahzation of Dr. Pieilly's promise of a future partnership in his
medical practice. In those days — " when George the Fourth was
King," — the journey by road and sea was a very different affair to
what it is at the present time, when rail and steam have so nearly
bridged over the most remote points of the globe. Thus, in the
coach in which I jolted down to Dover, I passed away the
hours by inditing a few doggerel stanzas descriptive of the parting
from the scenes of my recent avocations : —
FAEEWELL TO LONDON.
(A Stage Coach composition in the good old times of travelling^.
Roll and rumble, jolt and jumble.
Let the rattling wheels go round!
Hurry skurry, glorious flurry,
How the spaukiog leaders bound I
24 MEMOIRS
Wilderness of brick and mortar,
Town unmatched for Barclay's porter,
Star of cities, soul of barter
How I loved thee who can tell ?
Paradise of blooming lasses,
Hell of horses, mares and asses,
Parent of all sorts of gases,
Monster city fare thee well !
II.
Fashion flaring, splendour glaring.
Vice in virtue's trappings dight,
Smirking folly, melancholy
Masked in haggard smiles, good night.
Lath and plaster, brick and Babel
Architecture few are able
To describe, discarding fable ;
Darling Piegent-street, good bye !
Lounge of mine in times of sadness.
Lurking place for studious madness,
Crowded solitude where gladness.
Winks at grief and pipes her eye.
III.
Charming city, what a pity,
Money flies so fast away !
Moments pleasant ! claims incessant.
Ghosts of joys of yesterday !
Charnel vast of hopes defeated.
Field for talent well competed,
Town that teems with authors cheated.
Vampire publishers, adieu !
Goschen of all light that's mental,
Clime of all least oriental,
Jail of all, who have no rental.
Or whoever dealt with Jew.
Public writers, private fighters.
Bards divine and birds of prey.
All one feather flock together.
One of passage flies away.
Every author, Whig or Tory,
Jealous of another's glory.
Whet your beak and whilst it's gory,
Whimper o'er the flesh you tear.
Every circle has its shamble,
Every coterie its ,
Every grave's a place to scramble.
For another's fame 'ts clear.
DE. R. E. MADDEN. 25
Wrangle, Jangle, maiil and mangle,
Let no rival near your throne !
Every brother hates another, —
Envy calls her craft yout own !
Some are there who woo the muses,
Friendship of no fraud accuses,
In whose structure, nature uses
All that's excellent and good.
Modest merit ! ardent spirit !
Honor shrined in which doth dwell
Wit that wounds not, truth that bounds not,
Beattie, friend of friends, farewell !
R. R. M.
THIED JOURNEY TO IliALY. LIFE IN NAPLES IN 1824.
Leaving London with a light heart, and a purse as light, and taking
the diligence from Calais, I journeyed up slowly to Paris, where I
remained for a week, and then went on to Marseilles. Here I
embarked once more for Na]>les, paying a hundred francs for the
passage.
On reaching Naples, I found that my expectations of obtaining a
share in Dr. Reilly's practice were doomed to disappointment, as
during the interval which had elapsed since my departure he had
taken his stepson into partnorMhip, and subsequently gave that
position to his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Bage, a young surgeon (son
of Charles Bage, Esq., of Shrewsbury), who ultimately succeeded
him, and died in July 1851. Nevertheless, Dr. Reilly received me
with his accustomed kindness, in fact I was treated exactly as
thougli I were a member of his family, and had ray place at his
table whenever I choose to avail myself of it. By his advice I
removed to one of the best quarters of the city, frequented by
English visitors. Riviere di Chiaja, where, within a short time, and
on the strength of his recommendation, I obtained a fair share of
practice amongst the affluent foreign health-seekers with whom
Naples was then thronged.
In this way I was now introduced to Lord and Lady Blessington,
who became not merely ray patients but also ray greatest friends,
and whose biography many years subsequently I published. In
their company, and in that of Count D'Orsay, Sir William Gell,
my intimate friend, Charles Mathews, the actor ; Mr. West-
macott, the sculptor; Unwnn, the painter; John Herschcll,and Signer
Piazzi, the astronomer, I saw all the wonders of that glorious city
and its environs, with w-hich my previous visits had made me familiar ;
for on no less than five occasions did I ascend to the summit of Vesu-
26 MEMOIRS
vius, thrice visited the buried magnificence of Pompeii and the
galleries of Herculaneum, paid my homage to Virgil's tomb, explored
every winding of the Sibyl's Grotto, and re-travelled the fields of
Elysium.
Who that ever then enjoyed the elegant hospitality of the Countess
of Blessington in her delightful Neapolitan abode, and the brilUant
society of the eminent persons by whom she was habitually sur-
rounded there, can forget the scene — the hostess, and the circle
that imparted to the Villa Belvidere some of the Elysian charac-
teristics which poetry has ascribed to a neighbouring locality?
Many a glorious evening did I pass with tlie Blessingtons in 1823
and the early part of 1824, saihng in the Bay of Naples in their
yacht the " Bolivar,'' which had belonged to Lord Byron ; and not
unfrequently, when the weather was particularly fine, and the moon-
light lent additional beauty to the shores of Portici and Castella-
mara, Sorrento and Posilipo, the night was far advanced before we
returned to the Mole. The furniture of the cabin of the " Bolivar "
reminded one of its former owner : the table on which he wrote and
the sofa on which he reclined were in the places where they stood
when he owned the yacht. Byron was very partial to this vessel,
which had been built for him expressly at Leghorn. On one of the
last of these occasions I was of the party when, having dined on
board and skirted along the shores of Castellamara and Sorrento,
the wind fell about dusk, and we lay becalmed in the bay till two or
three o'clock in the morning, some six or eight miles from the shore.
The bay was never more beautiful than on that delightful night :
the moonlight could not be more brilliant. The pale-blue sky was
without a cloud, the sea smooth and shining as a mirror, and at
every splash of an oar glittered with phosphorescent flashes of
vivid light. But all the beauties of the bay on that occasion wasted
their loveliness in vain on the weary eyes of Lady Blessington, who
diverted her enmd by grave banter at the unconscious expense of
" Captain Smith,"' a lieutenant in the navy, and a very great
original, who commanded the yacht.
Agreeable as my life in Naples had become, and great as were its
social attractions and advantages, I soon began to reflect that,
although my professional income was probably as good as I had any
right to expect, the dolcefar niente existence of my distinguished
friends was not suitable to a young medical man who had to make
his way in the world entirely by kis own exertions. And being, as
I have already said, disappointed in the main object with which I
had returned to Naples, and having managed to save a little money
(under a hundred pounds) from my practice there, I resolved with
this to indulge once more my love for travel, and this time to make
CE. E. S. MADDEN.
27
my way to the East, having reason to hope that I might there
more profitably follow my profession, and at the same tS^^ act as
special corresi^udent in Turkey for my old friend Mr. ThwaUes of
the Mormng Herald. Before my departure, Lord Blessinrn and
2ct^^T'"""''"'T " -^f P^*^^ P™^^^'-«'' f- "^« » number S
Empire. Amongst the many others of a similar kind, I had for
instance, a letter addressed to one of the Jlinisters, the Hi4 Admi a
ot the Egyptian fleet, from his intimate fnend Sir William Gel" m
fevour of one whom he was phased to call-', un amico mio, il Signore
Madden, chirurgo de grande, talento," for employment as meS
availed my,elf however, of these introductory letters, the faded
originals ot which are stiU by me, and which, had thev been used
as they were intended, might probably have been proved of no little
service to me. In the autumn of 1824 1 took my leave of
Naples and embarked for Sniynia.
CHAPTER V.
FIEST VISIT TO THE EAST.
I REACHKD Smyrna at the end of eleven days. This town like
most other Turkish capitals, 1 found a lilthy congregation of narow
lanes and pestilential alleys. The Frank merchantslire" erv mm' o"
ous, and have an excellent assembly-room wherein, during the
Carnival many pleasant balls are given. The misfortune of the
society of the merchants of Smyrna is that the subject of fiL or
raisms is ever the fruitful theme of conversation. You ask abou
the gardens of Bournabut, and you hear that figs abound there
you inquire about the curiosities of the place, and thev lead you to
the fig mar ; you solicit information on politics, and you are told
that f gs are low : and wlien you seek for further information vou
toj^ic IS figs figs figs-and the very name I apprehend will be found
wutteu on their hearts at their decease. During mv short stav f
attended some Greek famUies here, who ampl^ repaid any little
service I rendered them by their politeness ami attention^
i rom Smyrna to Constantinople, a distance of some three hundred
mil's, I had to travel on horseback, „ the fatigue of this loiiLt
rough route through Asia Minor being moreover aggravated bv the
28 MEMOIRS
spectacle of a fine country and a rich soil uncultivated and unpeopled.
For whole days we rode on our way without seeing hardly an inhabit-
ant, and indeed from Brusa to Magnesia without viewing as many
scattered houses as would form a decent hamlet. Nothing could be
more dreary than to traverse a country for which nature had done
everything and man nothing. In short, the traces of Moslem
despotism were written in legible characters in the desolation I
encountered at every step in the face of the neglected soil, and the
stamp of degradation was imprinted on the features of the few
wretched peasants we encountered in the towns. It was evident,
indeed, that the country through which I passed was " a land of
tyrants and a den of slaves."
I travelled with the Tartar who conveyed the post, and night
and day, with the intermission of two or three hours for repose, we
continued our route. There was no other road than a horse track
across the country, and at night it was no easy matter to keep in the
right direction or to retain our seats. It rained incessantly the
first three days : I had no means of changing my apparel,
and what with cold and excessive fatigue, on the evening
of the third day I had so violent a paroxysm of ague that the
Tartar was obliged to hold me on the saddle. The pommels of
these Turkish saddles, and the horrible jog-trot of the horses, are
exceedingly inconvenient to Europeans. My fever made me feel
the fatigue ten times more than I otherwise should, and had it not
been for the kindness of the Tartar, I verily believe I should have
been left upon the road. This good fellow, when I sat shivering in
my wet clothes, dosed me with the brandy of the country, and
forced me to drink almost his entire stock of it in the course of the
journey. It prevented the further access of the intermittent fever
for the last two days of the ride, and thus probably contributed to
save my life.
At long last, however, we reached Constantinople, and never shall
I forget my first impressions of the capital of the Moslem world.
Whoever would paint the picturesque in all its loveliness has but to
gaze on Stamboul from the sea. Whoever would pourtray the bar-
baresque in all its horrors has but to land and wade through the
abominations of Constantinonle. It is not my intention to reiterate
all the charms of the Bosphorus, or the praises of its fairy scenery,
its smiling shores studded with enchanting kiosks, and graced with
lofty minarets and splendid mosques. AU this may be taken for
granted without my description. And likewise, at the same time,
take it for granted that the traveller who sets his foot in the Turkish
metropolis is doomed to traverse the filthiest and most ill-constructed
city in the world. The population of Constantinople, with its suburbs,
at the time of my first visit was estimated at about 800,000. The
city is triangular in form, and lies upon a neck of land rising with
DE. K. R. MADDEN. 29
a steep acclivity with several mounts, which are intersected by nar-
row lanes and encompassed by crumbling walls and ancient turrets
1 He two most imposing buildings are the ScragHo of the Sultan
which occupies a large portion of the site of the ancient Byzantium'
and the mosque of San Sophia, whose splendid dome dominates
tne city, and whose sacred aspect has survived its degradation In
pi owl for the diversion they afford in worrying all Frank passengers,
a subject of unceasing amusement to the Turkish citizens. I seldom
passed through the bazaars without having some of those do^s
set on me by the men, or having stones thrown at me by boys, Sr
bemg spit upon by the women, and being cursed as an infidel and a
catrre by aU. My experience was that of every European in Con-
stantinople at this time.
Before I left Naples, and on the passage to Smyrna, I had suc-
ceeded m acquiring some little smattering of the ordinary phrases
and medical terms in most common use, in Turkish as well as in
Arabic. This extremely limited colloquial stock of Easternisms,
slender as it was, I found of no little advantage in facihtating m^
opportunities of acquiring some social and professional knowledge
01 the people amongst whom I was now located. Shortly after my
arrival m Constantinople, I was indebted to an old French .ZocJ
(formerly, as I afterwards learned, a - tambour major " in the
jbrench army) for getting acquainted with many famihes, both
iurkish and Levantine. The old gentleman was a '^ bon vivant,"
and had the ta ent of making himself agreeable wherever he went :
he had one little fault-he very seldom was sober after dinner ; but
the lurks hked him, and he was the only Frank in Constantinople
who ate his dinner at the expens.e of Moslems almost every day in
the week. As I had the good fortune to be a favourite of" his; he
took me with him to his friends as often as he could induce me to
go, aiid i thus had an opportunity of observing the domestic life of
the iurkish upper classes, and of partaking of their lavish hospi-
tafity, m which quality not even the Irish surpass them. I have
been at dinners where as many as forty dishes have appeared in
succession commencing (for they are opposed to us in everythino)
with the dessert, consisting of sweetmeats and preserves, then whet-
ting the appetite with raw spirits in abundance ; for (however con
traiy it may be to the Mahometan doctrines, of which they make
such loud profession) even the most exalted personages in Turkey
are commonly addicted to drink, the very highest classes, I do
not here allude to the great mass of the people, drinking rum and
rakee as Christians might drink small beer. The scenes which
follow these excesses only Hogarth could depict : the stohd ^ravitv
of the Moslem is overcome, his mirth is like the frisking of a camel
exceedingly awkward and ridiculous, and often eventuates in a song'
§6 MEMOIRS
if such a term may be applied to an interminable dump, not
musical, but most melancholy.
As I have already said, my chief object in visiting the Turkish
Empire was the hope that I might there be able to follow my pro-
fession with advantage, nor did I lose time in setting about this as
soon as possible after my arrival in Constantinople. Some account
of the extraordinary character of medical practice in this country
as set down from my own experience may therefore not be devoid of
interest. In my notes I lind it stated that there were then about lifty
medical practitioners in Constantinople, principally Franks from
Italy and Malta. Of this number there were perhaps five regularly
educated physicians, and two of these were English gentlemen, highly
respected both by the Turks and Franks. Every medico has his
allotted quarter : he beats this ground daily in pursuit of patients,
and visits all the coffee-houses in the district, with a Greek drago-
man as interpreter at liis heels, whose occupation it is to scent out
sickness and to extol the doctor. They are ever to be found on the
most public bench of the coffee-shop, smoking with profound gravity,
and prying into the features of those around them for a symptom
of disease. I had perforce to follow the common custom and sub-
mit to this degradation to get practice. The first day my
dragoman, who had left the service of a Roman doctor, and had
been practising on his own account since his discharge (for all these
dragomen become doctors), undertook to teach me my professional
duty, which he made to consist — firstly, in never giving advice before
I "ot my fee ; secondly, ' in never asking questions of the sick ;
thirdly, in never giving intelligible answers to the friends. He also
advised me to look for symptoms only in the pulse, and to limit my
prognosis to three words — " In Shallah," or " Please the Lord," for
doubtful cases ; and " Alia kharim," or " God is great," for desperate
ones. I took my post in the coffee-shop, had my pipe and coffee,
whilst my dragoman entered into conversation with the Turks about
us. I soon heard him narrating a history of a wonderful cure
which he alleged he had seen me perform some days before on the
body of a dying Effendi ; how I had taken out his liver and put it
in again after scraping off the disease, and how the patient got well
the next day and gave me five purses. I was of course exceedingly
annoyed at all this absurdity, but the fellow seemed to mind my
anger very little, and merely reproved '' my want of prudence " with
a irown.
A well dressed man, who had been sitting at my side in silence
for half an hour, at last recollected that he had a wife or two unwell,
and very gravely asked me " what I would cure a sick woman for ? "
I inquired her malady. " She was sick." ** In what manner was
she affected?" " Why, she could not eat." On these premises I
was to undertake to cure a patient who, for aught I knew, might
i)R. R. R. MADDEN. gl
be at that moment in articnh mortis. I could not bring
myself to drive the bargain, so I left my enraged dragoman
to go through the pleasing process. I heard bim ask a
hundred piastres, and heard him insist by his father's head and his
mxOther's soul that so good a doctor never took less. However, after
nearly an hour's haggling, I saw fifty piastres put into his hand. I
visited my patient, and had to ascertain her disease as well as I
could with a door between us, she being in one apartment and I
another ; the door was ajar, and through this her head, enveloped in
a sheet, was occasionally projected to answer my questions. I, how-
ever, was enabled to collect enough in this way, and from the attend-
ants, to cause me to suspect she had a cancer. I did all that under
such circumstances I could vvell do — I gave her an opiate ; and
after smoking the inevitable pipe and drinking sherbet, took my
leave.
A few days afterwards I was sent for to a consultation which was
to be held on the case of a Pasha of high rank. I found the patient
lying on a mattress spread on the carpet, as is customary in Turkey,
and in his habiliments, none of which are here doffed at night. A
crowd of doctors were around the sick man, and amongst them were
the friends, slaves, and the followers of tlie patient, the latter taking
an active share in the consultation. But he who took on himself
to broach the case was a Turkish priest, who administered to the
diseases both of soul and body. He prefaced his discourse with
the usual origin of all things in general and the praises of the Koran
in particular. This, he said, he had consulted in the present case ;
and " the repetition of the word * honey ' he discovered tallied witli
the number of days his highness suffered. Did not the bee suck
the juice of every herb ? Was there not wax in honey? Did not
wax contain oil ? Oh, illustrious doctors," he concluded, " let us
put our trust and administer the dose : our patient has been thirty-
six days sick, therefore let him have six-and-thirty drops of oil
of wax every six-and-thirty hours ! I ! " The moment he ended,
all the servants, and even many of the doctors, applauded this
discourse. There was no time allowed for any further discussion.
Each of the consultants got four Spanish dollars, and the unfortu-
nate sick man was forthwith left to his fate. On the way out I
expressed my astonishment to one of the faculty, an old Armenian, at
this, to me, novel remedy. He looked round cautiously and whispered
in my ear the word " Poison ! " On further inquiry I found that
the bulk of the patient's property was invested in a mosque. In
spite of the remonstrance of my dragoman, I immediately made
my way back to the room, and gave the attendants to understand
distinctly that their master would die if he took the medicine. The
poor man died, however, and I heard of the event about a month
afterwards.
82 MEMOIRS
I was shortly after called to a man who was said to have a fever.
When I visited him I asked what was the matter with him, where he
felt pain '? but his friends made the customary reply : " That is what
we waat to know from you ; feel his pulse and tell us." Not one symptom
could I get from either the patient or his attendants. I thought,
however, from what I was able to observe that I was warranted in
taking blood. I did so, and when binding up the arm, accidently
discovered that his other hand had been blown away by the explosion
of a gun a week previously, and that the mutilated stump was still
undressed. No wonder that the poor creature shortly afterwards died
from tetanus. A short experience of such cases as these, which were
of daily recurrence, sufficed to convince me how difficult it would be
for any medical man to deal with such a people, and how rarely they
could be benefited by him. I was, moreover, thoroughly disgusted with
the customary routine and unworthy surroundings of medical practice
in the Turkish capital, and as soon as I had satisfied my curiosity
with exploring all the wonders of this semi-barbarous city, I resolved
to shake off the dust from my feet and to turn my wandering steps
elsewhere.
CHAPTEE VI.
VISIT TO CRETE DURING THE GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
From Constantinople I took my departure, about the end of
December, in a small trading vessel bound for Candia. This passage
occupied no less than fifteen days, being interrupted by several calls
at intervening ports. Of one of these delays I gladly took advan-
tage to visit the plains of Troy and the tomb of Hector. I set out
with my travelling companion, the Austrian Consul at Candia, from
the Dardanelles on horseback, and arrived at noon at Chiblak,
which is sometimes erroneously described as ancient Troy. We
next proceeded to the promontory of Sigeum, close by which are
the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus, and near the shore are evident
remains of a moat and a redoubt, probably the remains of the
Grecian camp. We went over the ground with Homer for our guide.
Nine miles from the shore, at the bottom of the plain, and at the
foot of Mount Ida, is the site of Troy, the modern Bournarbashi.
On an eminence above the town stands the tomb of Hector, a
pyramid of disjointed stones. From this point the view, extending
to the Hellespont, was exquisite; and whether the association^
which constituted half its charm emanated from delusion or not, I
certainly enjoyed a few moments of pure happiness, and perhaps
only three or four such moments occur dumig one's life.
DR. R. E. MADDEN, 33
We breakfasted at the tomb of Hector, and passed the day ex-
l^lonag the scene of so many wonders. At nightfall we returned to
the Aga's house at Bournarbashi, but he was from home and we
were refused admission ; at last, however, we obtained some shelter
under a miserable shed. B'or supper we had a little sour milk and
boiled rice mixed together in a dish. V/e got no rest here, and,
had we been inchned to have studied the operations of
animated nature, the opportunity w^as extensive. We rose unre-
freshed, and little pleased with Trojan entertainment, directed
our course back to the Dardanelles. On the way we met
with no impediment except the not unusual one of being worried
by a pack of savage mongrels at the door of a Khan, to the great
delight of the Turkish spectators by whom they were set at us, and
one of whom said, *' It was but fitting that one dog should fatten
on another." Nor was it until we exhibited our pistols that the brutes
were called off and we were allowed to proceed on our way to Abjdos.
It was from the opposite European side that Lord Byron swam with
the current, which runs at almost four miles an hour ; but I believe
he would have found it impossible to have crossed from Abydos to
Europe. Yet I covet not the society of that traveller who looks
across the Hellespont and laughs at the story of Leander. Heaven
knows the enthusiasm of the traveller is early enough worn out
without making a vaunt of its destruction.
RESIDENCE IN CANDIA DURING THE GREEK WAR.
Candia, April 28th. — I arrived here three months ago, on my way to
Alexandria, purposing to remain a few days : how much longer I
may stop the star which watches over the destiny of travellers
must determine. . . . This beautiful island, the largest in the
Archipelago, the most fertile and most important for its position,
being equi-distant from Europe, Asia, and Africa, is also famed for
the noble port of Suda, in which the largest navy in the world
might ride in safety. It is now in the possession of Mehemet
Ali, the Egyptian Viceroy, by whose Albanian troops the native
Greek peasantry have been ruthlessly exterminated, until hardly
as many of them are left as suffice to cultivate the gardens which
surround the town. There is scarcely a day I do not hear of
additional atrocities of this kind. A few days ago, on my way to
the camp, I saw the body of a murdered peasant lying with his head
cut open, the blood yet streaming, and the poor wretch's donkey,
with the pannier attached to it, standing by the side of its dead
master. I am now accustomed to horrors, but this spectacle sickened
me to the heart.
•i
84 MEMOIRS
I have taken up my abode with the Austrian Consul at Canea.
On my arrival he presented me to Ibrahim Pasha, who had put in
at Suda a few days ago with a portion of his shattered fleet, having
been engaged with the Greeks off the island two successive days.
The troops were immediately disembarked, and the only swamp in
the neighbourhood was chosen for the encampment. No rational
precautions whatsoever were taken by Ibrahim for the preservation
of his army, and the consequence was that he lost one-fifth of it
before he left the island. Sullen with disappointment, he sits daily
on the poop of his frigate, venting his fury on his unfortunate people
and inspiring terror all around him. One day he flogs a sailor for
some awkward manoeuvre ; another, shoots a soldier for some slight
insubordination ; now bastinadoes a captain in his navy, or strikes
him in his rage, and foams like a madman. I saw him take an old
captain by the beard, who had been out in a hea\y gale and could
not make the harbour : he held him for some minutes with his left
hand at arms length, as if he were going to use his sword, but he
only shook the old man, and said if it had not been for his grey
beard his head should be at his feet. The other stretched out his
neck, as much as to say his life was at his mercy, and then cringed
at his feet and attemjoted to kiss his garment, but the haughty
Ibrahim spurned him from his presence. His officers are every
day complaining to us of his ferocity ; and I have already counted
thirteen bloated bodies of his massacred people washed on the beach
and there suffered to remain. The Austrian Consul one day
reckoned four.
Some days ago he asked me if our government had given any
more money to the Greeks ? I assured him that the government
had given none, and that the loan was the voluntary contribution
of individuals over whom the government had no control. He
laughed at the idea, and his laughter was of that sort which makes
the observer shudder. Still to myself he was personally civil, and
strongly pressed me to visit the Morea with him, promising that
if I did so I should have ample remuneration : as many horses and
servants as I wished, and when afloat to have my quarters in his own
frigate. The drift of his condescension was simply that he wanted my
medical services. I thunked him for his very kind offer, and pleaded
the necessity of my journey to Egypt, stating that as long as I
remained on the island I should render every service in my power to
his people. I was most desirous of visiting Greece at this time ; but, to
go there in the train of her Turkish enslavers in the service of this
ferocious Pasha, was a degradation to which I would not voluntarily
submit.
The medical officers of Ibrahim's army were the refuse of all
nations, and I am proud to say that there was not one Englishman
amongst them. Most of them wtre Italian, some of them had been
DR. R. E. MADDEN. 35
servants to doctors in Egypt ; some apothecaries' assistants, and one
confessed to me that he had been a watchmaker. I need not say
how the unfortunate Arabs sank under their treatment. Never was
privileged murder carried to such an extent. I ceased to wonder
that the faculty were twice expelled from ancient Rome. The
Egyptian officers refused to be attended by their own medical men,
so that they insisted on my remaining at Suda sometimes for a
week together before I could get away from my professional work at
the camp. On one of my rides from Canea to the camp, being sent
for to see one of the Generals (Courschad Bey), who was seized with
fever, when passing through a wood of olives 1 was twice shot at,
and one of the bullets grazed my ear. I had so little ambition for
thus serving as a target in this uncongenial service that I made up
my mind to take my departure for Egypt by the first ship. But,
before I did so, I was witness to another event which could hardl}^
have occurred in any other country. A few days previously the Turks
towed a Greek prize into the port — a large brig called the San
Nicolo. The Turkish captain and his officers made merry on the
occasion. In our house, which overhung the entrance to the harbour,
we heard their drunken revelry at midnight. Two hours later we
heard a tremendous explosion : every window in our house was
shattered, the doors of my apartment were forced open, and the
walls shaken to their foundation. I thought it the shock of an
earthquake ; but the screams of people from all parts of the harbour
soon explained the nature of the accident. The Greek prize which
was brought in on tlie previous morning had blown up, and the
Turkish captain, his officers and crew, in the midst of their drunken
orgies, were sent to eternity. A few were still alive in the water
when I reached the shore. I entreated some of the spectators to
launch a boat, but the nonchalance with which they did so em-aged
me beyond measure. At last, after an interval of nearly an hour,
a boat put off, and two of the poor wretches were rescued.
Their account of the catastrophe was this : When the captain and
all the officers were very drunk, the former proposed as a test
of his people's courage that they should go into the powder-room
and smoke their pipes on the powder-chest. Three of them per-
formed this feat, and in the middle of the exploit the ship exploded.
So much for the character of Turkish officers.
86 MEMOIRS
CHAPTEE VII.
KESIDENCE IN EGYPT IN 1825-1827.
About the end of May 1825, I reached Alexandria after a pleasant
sail of eight days from Candia. It happened that at the period of my
arrival an outbreak of epidemic Oriental plague had just commenced
to show itself. Every Frank was in quarantine, the hotels were
infected, and a lodging being nowhere to be found, I was obliged to
return to my ship. The captain was a native of the Bocco di
Cattaro, an excellent man, who would not accept a farthing for my
passage, as I had given him some medical advice during the voyage,
and I was thus again forced to tax his hospitality for some days.
An eminent Enghsh merchant, Mr. Casey, had then the
Idndness to break through his quarantine and received me into
his house, where I remained for a considerable time until I could
obtain apartments.
Meanwhile the plague daily increased in violence ; the natives
perished in large numbers, and few days passed without the death
of Europeans, and hence, from the start my medical services were
in great demand. For so small a population as that of Alexandria
the mortality was considerable. Every house was shut up, the
servants were not suffered to go out, money was passed through
vinegar before it was touched, letters were smoked, people thronged
round the doctors to know how many died in the night ; the plague
was discussed at breakfast, the contagion was described at dinner,
and carbuncles were the theme at supper ; in fine, a house in
quarantine then became a lazar domicile for the anticipation
of death, and an anatomy of melanchol3^ Already I had
lost one servant : I took him with me two days before his
attack to a Turkish house where a man was said to have
apoplexy. I f(3und on examination it was the plague. On my
return I changed my dress, and gave the clothes to my Maltese boy
to hang up on the terrace. The second day after this I saw the
poor fellow had the plague, and as my hostess would not permit his
being kept in my lodgings, I was obliged to take him to the hospital.
On the way he insisted on calling on his brother, and left some
message for his mother. When we arrived at the hospital I saw
him shudder, as well he might, and so I remained by his side until
the fatal termination of the disease a few hours later. Three days
subsequently his brother, on whom he had called on the way to the
pesthouse, was likewise seized, and died, as indeed most of those
treated by the routine bleeding practice then in vogue with the
Alexandrian doctors. I now tried in these cases an opposite course,
jiamely, the administration of strong stimulants diffusible and
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 37
permanent — brandy and Cyprus wine in frequent but small doses,
sponging the body with vinegar and water, cold applications to the
head, and hot cataplasms to the buboes. With this treatment, at
the rate of seventy-five per cent, recovered. I ascribe my es-
cape from the disease, under Divine Providence, in a large
measure to the fact that I always insisted on the windows being
opened to admit fresh air into the wards, as well as to wear-
ing an impervious oilskin garment, and never entering the sick room
fasting or at least without taking a glass of wine previously, and
smoking a pipe or cigar all the time I remained in the crowded
lazar-house. These precautions I would strongly recommend to
every physician under similar circumstances.
Although I was spared from the widespread epidemic
which then decimated Alexandria, I was not long here before
I came near to succumbing to endemic dysentery, that at
certain seasons prevails in this city, for which I was treated for
some time by a native physician, until from the effect of his
treatment I began to believe that my mortal pilgrimage was
about to end in Alexandria. I then gave orders to admit
the doctor no more, and took scruple doses of calomel for three
successive days, and thencefortli tlie bad symptoms ceased. I could
not determine what the rationale of the previous treatment was, but I
certainly thought it not unlikely that the Alexandrian faculty wished
me elsewhere. At all events, in this country they get rid of interlopers
not unfrequently. During this illness, and indeed during my resi-
dence, I received great kindness and attention from the eight or
ten leading merchants who then represented English commerce in
Alexandria, and to them as well as to my good friend, Mr. Salt, I
owe more gratitude than I can express. Thus supported I was not
long in acquiring a good share of medical practice, which continued
to increase steadily throughout the two years that 1 remained in this
city. I now proposed to Mr. Salt and Mr. Thornburn to attend
plague patients exclusively for one season in a small special hospital.
I believed that there would be a fair probability of thus saving from
seventy to seventy-five per cent, of the sick. Our Consul promised to
apply to the goverinnent, but the negotiations fell through probably
from the fact that Mr. Salt was very partial to me, and considered
that I was engaging in a fatal measure. I was therefore obliged to be
content with permission to carry out my ideas as far as was
practicable in the plague hospital, which I visited daily during the
epidemic.
iNTERVIEW WITH MEHEMET ALL JOURNEY TO NUBIA.
In June 1826, I accompanied Mr. Salt to Cairo, and within a few
days was introduced by him as liis physician, to the Viceroy,
Mehemet Ali, who gave us a flattering reception, and we seated
88 MEMOIRS
ourselves by his side. The presents which Mr. Salt was charged
to present on behalf of the Indian Government were brought in.
These were extolled by all the Court. Coffee was handed round,
and after a long conversation our audience terminated. The
Pasha appeared a hale, good-looking old man, with nothing
but his piercing eyes to redeem his countenance from vulgarity.
When I was in the antechamber I had all the officers of the
Viceroy gathered round telling me their disorders, and only got away
at last by promising' to physic the whole Court gratis next morning.
A day or two afterwards I made the customary expedition to the
pyramids, visited "Pharoon's coffin," and ascended the great pyramid.
Hence I gazed with a delight I can still recall on the wide prospect
that was outstretched, from the base of the pyramid to the distant
tombs of Saccara, along the verdant valley of the Nile, fertility
everywhere following its course. Before me was the chain of the
Mokattam, at its foot the mosques and minarets of Cairo, and the
sites of Bab3don and Heliopolis. Behind was the Libyan Desert,
dreary and desolate, an ocean of sand agitated by burning winds,
and traversed only by the descendants of him whose " hand v/as
lifted against all men, and every man's hand against him."
[From Cairo Dr. Madden proceeded up to Thebes, and thence
along the Nile on to Assouan, the last town in Egypt.]
We arrived at Philoe after a fatiguing walk from Assouan in the
heat of noon day, and crossing over to the island, took up our
quarters in a deserted Nubian hut within the precincts of the great
Temple. The beauty of the scenery around this enchanting isle
compensated us for all our toil from Alexandria to the cataract. It
was indeed the only spot in the journey where scenery deserved to
be called sublime. The granite rocks, in a thousand mystic forms,
rise from the Nile at its western extremity, and are beautifully con-
trasted w4th the picturesque effects of the palm-trees and
magnificent structures of Philoe ; indeed the whole island seems to
be a delightful garden studded with obelisks and the ruins of stately
temples.
Every trace of Arab civilization, and that is little enough, is lost
at the cataracts. Neighbouring villages are at war, and towns not
twenty miles distant have been in hostility for ages. This accounts
for every man being armed. Every man must have his shield and
spear on his arm if he has only to cross his fields ; and a man
would as soon think of going into his neighbour's house without his
skull cap as without his weapons. Whilst I remained at Philoe I
w^as continually pestered, and more especially by the Nubian women,
wdth entreaties for physic. They all imagined I effected cures by
supernatural agency, and they considered a waraga, or triangular
scroll, inscribed with some outlandish figures, a better remedy for every
complaint, from lovesickness to ophthalmia, than any of my drugs.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 30
* *
[Dr. Madden remained for some months in Nubia and Upper
Egypt, which at that time was seldom visited by European travel-
lers. He then returned to Alexandria, whence," after a brief stay,
he once more departed with the intention of visiting the Holy Land'
which had long been a cherished project. Nor was his curiosity
satisfied with this one visit to Palestine, as years subsequently he
again visited the sacred scenes which had been sanctified by the
Redeemer's presence ; and even in his extreme old age he delighted
to recall the recollections of these visits, and was wont to express an
earnest wish that he had but strength remaining to permit of his
making a final pilgrimage to the Holy Land.]
* * * * *
I set out with one servant from Alexandria across the desert along
the seashore to Damietta, and in five days we accompliphed the
journey. In all the route we met with nothing interesting but tlie
remains of Canopus on the beach about ten miles from Alexandria,
and the scene of the memorable battle in which Abercrombie felL
Near the shore, where the sea had undermined the soil, I perceived
a stratum of human bones, which proved to be those of the soldiers
that fell on that day. By one skeleton I found the remnants of a
coat and some regimental buttons, which were all that remained
after thirty years to tell that the poor victim of glory was an
Enghsh soldier. In two hours more we passed the Bay of Aboukir :
it was smooth and tranquil. A spectator could hardly have
imagined that the sound of war had ever disturbed the stillness, or
that the wreck of many a stately ship was covered by its waters,
and that the remains of many a gallant fellow were strewn upon
its sands. I picked up a cannon-shot near the shore, which soon
convinced me, if I doubted for a moment, that the stillness of
Aboukir had once been broken by the fury of Christian armies, •
VISIT TO SYRIA.
I CAME to Damietta with the purpose of remaining two or three
days, and remained there for three months in the house of Vice-
Consul Surur, a native of Syria, and a man of considerable erudi-
tion in Arabic literature. The cause of my detention was my repute
as a hakkim amongst the Levantine merchants, who form at
Damietta a very numerous and respectable body. The fame of an
amputation of the shoulder which I had performed on one of them
in Alexandria had sj^read here, so that on my arrival I was hailed
as a second Hippocrates. In no other place \\ as I ever treated with
so much respect, or received so many marks of gratitude. One lady
40
ME MO IE 3
presented me with a splendid silk robe of her own embroidery,
another with a costly Cashmere shawl, another with several pieces
of rare Damascus silk ; and one merchant insisted on my accept-
ance of a whole bale of tobacco. Amongst my other patients was
the Turkish Governor, with whom the Vice-Consul alone could vie
in the splendour of his entertainments and profuseness of his hospi-
tality. At the latter's house a party of seventy Turks sat down a '
few evenings ago to the most magnificent banquet I ever witnessed
even in the East. The sokliers and servants of the guests had also
to be entertained in another apartment, and of these there were no
less than one hundred, each of whom had, moreover, to receive a
small present for the trouble of gourmandizing at Surur's expense.
After dinner a band of Arab musicians and singers performed, and
were followed by jesters and buffoons who played all sorts of ridicu-
lous tricks. During this entertainment I had a good specimen of
Turkish insolence and pusillanimity. A Turkish officer standing
near me when we were crowding round the jesters took occasion to
pull off my turban without being perceived. I replaced it thinking
it had not been properly secured. A second time it was pulled off
in the same way, but on the repetition of the joke a third time I
managed to secure the fellow's hand, which he endeavoured to release,
whilst with the other he attempted to draw his pistol, but ere he
could do so I persuaded him to measure his length on the floor with
a concussion which shook the room. There was a general uproar ;
but the older Turkish officers, instead of resenting the blow inflicted
on their fallen comrade, slunk away from him, and the fellow him-
self, as soon as he was raised up, took hold of my hand in the most
abject way, entreating me to overlook what had passed and make
no complaint of him to the Governor. If I had passed over this
insult with impunity, its repetition would have been certain, but for
having resented it he ever after respected me, and would go out of
his way to salaam to the ground before me on every possible occasion
as long as I remained in Damietta. In short, the aryumejitum ad
hominem is the only logic a Turk can be convinced by.
I took my departure from Damietta in June 1827, and, bidding
adieu with regret to the Consul and the many friends from whom I
had experienced such courtesy and kindness during my stay there,
I embarked in a small boat on Lake Menzale for San. Here I
started on camel-back two days afterwards, with a couple of Bedouin
guides, to ride across the desert through the land of Goshen to Suez.
Every trace of vegetation soon disappeared, and nothing but sky
and sand was to be seen. From twelve till two o'clock we reposed
under the umbrella which formed my tent. We then started again,
and in the evening came to a Wady. Here, our camels being tied
to one of the date trees overhanging the well, a large fire was
kindled, in the red ashes of which our roughly-kneaded cake bread
DR. R. R MADDEN. 41
was hurriedly baked, and this, with a few onions and a cup of
coffee, we supped luxuriantly, and wrapping our weary heads under
our blankets so as to keep off the heavy dewfall, in a few moments
we enjoyed a sleep which many a head resting on an eider pillow
might have envied.
Three such days' and nights' journey brought us to Suez. From
Suez I returned to Damietta, falling in with a horde of Bedouin
robbers near Adjeronde, by whom I was taken for a Turkish Halge,
and so escaped without any violence, merely having to endure the
loss of a portion of my small impedhnenta. From Damietta I em-
barked for Beirout, or Sour, the ancient Tyre, and arrived there
after five days' sail.
[Whilst in Syria, Dr. Madden employed himself in visiting the
turbulent district of ]\lount Lebanon, where the Emir Bechir then
ruled the contending Druse and Christian tribes. By the Emir he
was courteously received. In Sidon he received an invitation to
visit the celebrated Lady Hester Stanhope, who then resided
about eight miles from Sidon, in a villa of her own construction
called DToun. This solitary house was shut out from the world
and hemmed in on all sides by arid mountains, no village near it,.
and entirely at the mercy of the Bedouins, did they choose to attack
it. Here Dr. Madden remained for several days, and as he
continues] : —
I took my leave of her ladyship highly gratified with the society
of a person whose originality, or eccentricity, if it deserves that
name, is a far less prominent feature in her character than her ex-
tensive information, her intrepidity of spirit, her courteous manners,
and her unbounded benevolence.
CHAPTER VIIL
JOURNEY THROUGH PALESTINE, &G.
After a third visit to Tyre I started for Nazareth, a journey of two
days and a half. For the first twenty miles our route lay across the
summit of a lofty chain of Lebanon, which in some places overhangs
the sea. On the third morning we entered JNazareth. The capital of
Gallilee is now a little village containing two thousand inhabitants,
chiefly Christians. It is delightfully situated on a gentle acclivity,
hemmed in on all sides by mountains, enclosing a valley of almost
two miles and a half in length, which directly faces the village.
42 MEMOIES
The Latin Convent of the Annunciation, which was rebuilt in 1730,
on the site of an old church, occupies the spot indicated by tradition
as the habitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a cave beneath
the church the monks point out the dwelUng of the Blessed Virgin,
and in the church there is shown a picture of our Saviour painted
from a traditionar}^ description of Publius Lentulus to the Koman
Senate. In another chapel a rock is exhibited on which it is said
the Redeemer ate with His disciples. A couple of miles from the
town the precipice is pointed out down which the people of Nazareth
sought to throw our Lord.
The peaceful valley of Nazareth, secluded from the noisy world
by an amphitheatre of verdant hills, is the spot which one might
imagine th emeekajid lowly Jesus would have chosen for His earliest
abode. The silent paths, the deep ravine in the eastern hill might
well have served for meditation. Every morning during my stay in
Nazareth I visited these solitudes, calling to my mind the wondrous
revolution in religion, morality and philosophy, which every country
had undergone since" Jesus of Nazareth " first broached His divine
doctrines in the village synagogi e, the site of which was then before
me. The feelings thus inspired were intense ; and, seated on a
cliff which commanded a view of the village and the valley, I gave
them vent in the following feeble verses : —
Jesns of Nazareth ! Oh, blessed name !
The sound and scene in sweetest concert join !
What holy rapture in this glorious theme!
And peaceful beauty here in each still line.
Jesus of Nazareth ! Incarnate God !
The Lord of nature, here revealed to man !
Hath this poor hamlet then been Thy abode?
This humble spot, where Wisdom's dawn began !
Jesus of Nazareth ! the scene around
Of mercy speaks, — here was the chosen shrine;
Earth's purest temple, for Thy advent found,
Here Mary's bosom thrilled with love divine.
Jesus of Nazareth 1 Eternal Lord
Of uncreated wisdom from above,
In mercy's image shown to mortal sight,
A man of sorrows and a God of love.
Jesus of Nazareth ! in childhood's dawn,
A blissful emblem of Thy spotless years,
The same sweet features truth divine has drawn.
In youth and manhood still redemption bears.
DK. R, R. MADDEN, 43
Jesus of Nazareth ! this peaceful vale,
This silent spot is holy ground to me,
The pilgrim lingers where the home has been,
Of Mary's hopes and all her joys in Thee.
Jesus of Nazareth ! on high all hail !
Jesus of Nazcireth ! on earth all praise !
Weak though my voice, let mercy still prevail :
Hear me, Bsdeemer, and direct my waj-s.
If ever folly urged my tongue in Vciin
To take Thy sacred nam^e, TJiy wrath forego ;
If ever madness wo^^ked upon my brain
To doubt Thy holy word, Thy'pity show.
Here, gracious Lord, where Thou didst humbly wear
The garb of poor humanity, and pass'd
The dawn of mortal life, vouchsafe to hear
The voice whose homage turns to Thee at last.
I set out from Nazareth to visit the Jordan, a johrney of twelve
hours across a wild country, accompanied by a single servant, and
so attired as to avoid exciting the cupidity of the Bedouins. About
seven miles from Nazareth we halted at the foot of Mount Tabor.
The heat was insupportable, the thermometer in the shade standing
at one hundred and two degrees. Mount Tabor is a small isolated
mountain, of a conical form, commanding a splendid view of the
plain of Esdra?lon, which extends about twenty miles in length. In
the Scriptures this magnificent plain is sometimes called the valley
of Jezreel. It was here " the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his
chariots, and all his host with the edge of the sword, before Barak ; "
and, in latter times, it was here that Kleber, with one thousand live
hundred men sustained the attack of twenty-five thousand Syrians,
and where Napoleon, with a reinforcement of six hundred men,
routed the whole Syrian army.
The next place worthy of note where we stopped was " Cana of
GaHlee," where the miracle of changing the water into wine was
performed at the marriage feast. There is a small chapel here in
which they show a large stone vase, which they assured me was
the identical one in which the miraculous change took place. I
again passed the tombs in the mountain, which are supposed
to be those out of which came the miserable objects who accosted
our Saviour as he passed : " And when He was come out of the
ship, immediately there met Him, out of the tombs, a man with an
unclean spirit." The route from Tiberias to Jerusalem, by Samaria,
was beset with so much peril that I was obliged to cross the country
to Jaffa. The journey occupied three days, and in tliat short space
of time I was five times in the hands of robbers. The three lirst
44 MEMOIRS
encounters I bad not much to complain of, being able eacb time to
effect a composition of from twenty to sixty piastres. This they
regard as but a lawful toll or guffer. But the fourth attack was
more formidable. When attacked, we were skirting along the foot
of a barren mountain between Nazareth and Aci^e, about an hour's
ride from the plain of Zebulon. I was the first to perceive half a
dozen heads rising from behind a rock immediately above us ; and
shortly after eight Bedouins rushed down the mountain to intercept
us. My servant endeavoured to urge on his mule, but was unsuc-
cessful. I was more fortunate ; and, although I had a couple of
shots fired after me, I got out of their reach in a very few minutes.
When I drew up, I discerned the robbers taking my baggage off the
mule, and saw everything I possessed spread on the ground ready
for distribution. I made up my mind to return, galloped back to
the great surprise of all, and commenced salaaming my plunderers :
one fellow seized hold of my bridle, and ordered me to dismount !
I pushed him from the horse's head, and addressed myself to him
who seemed to be the chief: " I have come here," I said, *' not as
a jorisoner ; of ray own accord I now throw myself amongst you :
and he who lifts his hand against the guest who seeks him, is no
Arab— he is a Turk and a Caffre ! " This speech had a prodigious
effect. I sat down on the ground, and lit my ]Dipe with a small
lens, which mode of extracting fire from the rays of the sun they
could not at all understand.
I never beheld more ferocious looking features than those which
were .around me ; and while I spoke I expected to get knocked on
the head every moment, but I perceived there was a disposition to
relent, so I pulled out a packet of James' powders, which I carried
in my turban, and dividing the packet into eight parts, I gave one
to each, with an injunction to reserve it for the hour of sickness,
and to think of the hakkim who lit his pipe with the celestial fire.
I left no time for answering, but threw a couple of pounds of coffee
and as much tobacco amongst them. Then I commenced to replace my
luggage on the mule, but whilst doing so I observed one fellow secret-
ing my carpet, another my coffee-pot. I affected not to perceive the
theft ; I hurried off my servant, and salaamed them till I got clear.
The approach to Jerusalem on my entrance from Jaffa afforded
a prospect which well repaid all the perils and fatigues of mjgourney.
I had passed on my way from Ramah through a scene of sterility
hardly to be equalled, when all at once a noble city rose on my view,
with stately walls and lofty towers, and studded with glittering
domes of monasteries and mosques. It was indeed a glorious sight,
and the very Arab who accompanied me greeted the Holy City
with all the fervour of admiration — " Quies el cods wallah, quies
kitir ! " he exclaimed. " How beautiful, O God, is the Holy City ! "
DR. E. R. MADDEN. 45
Every pilgrim, let his enthusiasm be ever so different from that
of those who profess to visit Jerusalem from the suggestions of
pietj, must own there is an atmosphere of melancholy magnificence
around the structures of Jerusalem, and a death-like stillness in the
streets, which he never before observed in the abodes of the living,
and which give an air of sanctity to the site of the Temple, the
place which enshrines the Sepulchre of Christ.
Few travellers, except such as \dsit Palestine to rail against
monastic institutions, who see nothing but the horrors of papacy
in the sanctuaries of Jerusalem ; few travellers, I say, except such
at these, can visit the spot which is connected with the history of
their religion without experiencing sentiments somewhat such as
those I have endeavoured to convey in the following lines, which,
however unworthy of their sacred subject, as least faintly reflect the
feeli]igs with which my visit to the Holy City impressed me : —
Daughter of Zion ! doomed from age to age
To prove the truth of God's unerring page ;
Thy sullied beauty, thy dejected mien,
Thy desolation still o'ercast the scene ;
Thy mournful silence sinks into the heart,
Astounds the sense, and mocks description's art.
A weary pilgrim, here with steps profane
I tread thy paths, participate thy pain,
Recall the sad remembrance of thy fall,
And in the terrors of thy present thrall
Behold the judgments of a hand Supreme,
And trace the sources of redemption's scheme.
"Mournful, 0 Zion ! are thy ways " indeed,
" They come not to thy feasts," the chosen seed
O'er all the land of Israel hath ceased.
And foes and infidels alone increased.
The scattered remnant of thy race doth roam
O'er earth, without a country or a home; —
" A by- word," an astonishment to men;
Reviled, degraded, and in bonds again.
• * * * ♦
O'erthrown thy altars, what ! alone to yield
The Talmud's promise, for the sinner's shield !
Is this the compensation for thy fall,
And not the blood the Saviour shed for all ?
Father of Mercy graciously ordain
That great atonement be not made in vain ;
Let Jew and Geutile bow with one accord
Before the altar of their common Lord I
Direct the weak, the wicked overawe.
Enlighten all, and vindicate Thy law !
Thy promised Kingdom spread from pole to pole,
And make Thy chosen people of the whole.
46 MEMOIRS
The Latin Convent was the best reputed of all, for the character
of its inmates and the reputation of its cheer : I had every reason
to be pleased with both. I found the monks extremely courteous,
and most of them men of unaffected piety. It is, however, lament-
able to observe the dissensions which exist in this city between the
various sects of Christians ; the Turk, the common enemy of each,
profits by their feuds, and literally enriches himself on the rancour
of conflicting creeds.
There was lately a notable instance of Christian animosity and
of Turkish interference within the walls of the Church of the
Sepulchre, in which it was my fortune to assist in the adj ustment
of the quarrel. It is necessary to premise that the Church of the
" Santa Sepulchra," built by Constantino, was burned down by the
Armenians in 1808, and on being rebuilt, the larger portion was
divided equally between the Catholics and Greeks, and smaller
portions of the same sacred edifice sub-divided between the Syrians,
Copts, and Armenians. The latter of these had recently taken posses-
sion of the altar on Mount Calvary, which belonged to the Catholics,
and which stands within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepul-
chre, and, finally, the intervention of the Turkish Governor was re-
sorted to for decision on the validity of the title of the contending
claimants. At this juncture I was attending the Governor, who
laboured under inflammation of the liver, brought onj I had reason to
believe, from the immoderate use of ardent spirits. He had recently
arrived from Damascus, and was in much need of money. I endea-
voured to ascertain from him in whose favour he intended to decide,
and which party had given in the most substantial arguments. I
found the scale of "justice "weighed in favour of the Armenians, and
that they had given eight thousand piastres, while the Cathohcs had
only offered six, This important information I lost no time in con-
veying to one of the Fathers, who waited on me in the Convent, and
the result was that three thousand additional arguments were
adduced in favour of the ancient title to Mount Calvary, and the
Catholics continue the exclusive possessors of the altar in question.
I had the happiness of visiting carefully all the objects and
places hallowed to the veneration of every Christian pilgrim in this
sacred shrine of Redemption, namely : the Holy Sepulchre, the Pillar,
the ascent to Calvary, the site of the Cross, &c. ; and having made
an excursion of some difficulty to the Dead Sea, from which I
returned by Bethlehem, where the cave of the Nativity is cut out
of the solid rock beneath the Church, and where the birthplace of
the Saviour is marked by a star with a silver lamp always burning
in the place of the manger, I made my way back to Jerusalem.
Here I found awaiting me letters from my friends in Egypt, warn-
ing me of the danger of remaining in Syria, as war was imminent
between the Porte and the aUies, so that I no sooner recovered
DE. H. E. MADDEN. 47
partially from the effects of my last journey than I bade adieu for
the last time to the Holy City. I was fortunate enough to arrive
in Jaffa without any impediment ; but on my arrival, the vessel I
expected to embark in for Damietta I found had sailed the day
before. That night I set out for Tyre, where I embarked on board
an English brig bound for Damietta, congratulating myself on my
escape from many perils, w^hich I fondly hoped w^ere at an end, but
the evening of our departure we observed a suspicious-looking
vessel hovering about us for some hours. She stood in for Sour at
nightfall, and we saw nothing of her until the following morning.
She did not then long keep us in suspense — her boats were soon out,
and in the course of a quarter of an hour we were the lawful prize
of a Greek pirate. A strong rope was fastened to our bows, and we
were towed in the wake of the Greek brig, which mounted eighteen
guns, and was manned by seventy men, commanded by Captain
Spiro Calfetto, probably as great a scoundrel as any in existence.
*****
[Of the incidents of this untoward voyage, of the scenes of
piracy and of violence of w^hich he was consequently a helpless
spectator, and of the manner in which his escape and that of his
fellow^ captives was ultimately effected, a graphic description may
be found in the second volume of Dr. Madden's " Travels in Turkey
and Palestine," pubhshed by Colburn in 1829.]
At long last, however, we reached Damietta ; my friend, Mr.
MuUer, having borne all the unpropitious occurrences of our voyage
with heroic fortitude, and after seven days' comparatively delightful
travelling from Damietta, we arrived in Alexandria. Here I found
Mr. and Mrs. Montefiore on the point of setting out for Palestine.
It required more than ordinary courage to undertake this journey
at such a moment, when the recent news of the battle of Navarino
had spread consternation and had irritated the people of the country
against every Franlc. They had the good fortune to accomplish
their journey to the holy city with perfect safety, and Mrs. Monte-
fiore was one of the few^ Frank ladies who had then traversed the rugged
mountains of Juda3a. It was settled that I should await their
return, to accompany them to Europe ; and in the meantime I was
called on to attend Mr. Salt (whom I was grieved to find in a
wretched state of health) on an excursion up the Nile. At Dessuke,
on the Nile, he became so feeble that it was impossible to proceed
further ; and here, after a fortnight's suffering, he breathed his last.
I had but one consolation, and that w^as that, being possessed of
his entire confidence, I was enabled to soothe his last moments with
all the attention that friendship might demand in a country where
virtue can hardly command respect, and where sickness calls forth
little sympathy. No one unacquainted with Egypt can form an
adequate idea of the lo8s of Mr. Salt at such a moment.
4^ MEMOIRS
DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT. SECOND VISIT TO ROME.
[In Alexandria, Dr. Madden was rejoined by his friends Mr. (after-
wards Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore) on their return from Palestine.
On the 7th of November 1^27 they took their departure in Mr.
Montefi ore's yacht the " Leonides," for Malta, where they arrived
on the 27th of that month. From Malta he crossed over to Naples,
and after a short stay proceeded to Rome, where he was received
with much kindness by Lord and Lady Blessington.]
Li the month of March 1828, on my return from the East, I
visited the Blessingtons at the Palazzo Negroni, and there for the
first time I met the newly-married daughter of the Earl of Blessing-
ton — Lady Harriet D'Orsay. Had I been a member of their family
I could not have been received with greater kindness and warmth
of feeling. During my stay in Rome I dined with them most days,
and passed every evening at their conversaziones. Their salons, as
at Naples, were regularly filled with the elite of all the distinguished
foreigners and natives, artists and Zife?'a?i in the Eternal City. Their
apartments were amongst the most magnificent in Rome, and well
might be so, as they had engaged the two principal floors of the
Palazzo Negroni for six months at the rent of one hundred guineas
a month. This abode, although nominally furnished, had to be
further provided with hired meubles, the cost of which was about
twenty pounds a month. The seeds of the Irish Encumbered
Estates were thus being sown in Italy as well as in other continental
countries jDretty extensively some thirty years ago by our Irish
landed proprietors.
I remained for a few weeks in the Eternal City, but ere
retracing my journey hence home, I may briefly re^er to an
event of which I had been an eye witness on my previous visit.
I entered Rome for the second time a few weeks after the death
of the good Pope Pius VII., and at the time of the election
of his successor. As usual on such occasions, the Cardinals
were secluded in the Palace of the Quirinal, the doors and windows
of which were barricaded during the whole fortnight of this election.
A Swiss stationed at every door of the Palace prevented ingress
or egress. Pasquin's statue was as usual covered with lampoons.
At sunset the multitude flocked to Monte CavaUo to ascertain the
progress of the election. The smoke which mounted from the
chimney of the Conclave Chamber announced the continuance of
the election, the register of the votes being burned every evening
when the electors retired to their apartnients without agreeing in
their choice. At length the smoke ceased to issue at the customary
hour ; the Cardinals were unanimous, and a Pope was chosen. The
DS. R. R. MAX>DEN.' 40
next act was the maguiticeut ceremonial of the Coronation, which
has been too frequently described to nee 1 any observation in these
notes.
A few days before I quieted Ro.ne for England I received a kind
letter from Lord Blessington to his friend John Gait, which I never
had an opportunity of delivering —
" Rome, March 0th, 1828.
" My dear Gait, — The bearer of this letter, my friend Dr.
Madden, is a gentleman of hterary acquirements and talent. He
has lately returned from the East ; and besides an account of
deserts and Arabs, Turks and Greeks, he will be able to give you
an account of your old friends at Rome.
" Yours very sincerely,
" Blessington."
From Rome I returned by Switzerland, and on my way to
Geneva paid a hurried visit to the tomb of a great actor, of whose
performances I had often when a boy been a dehghted spectator in
the old Crow-street Theatre, Dublin. I arrived at Lausanne near
midnight, and as the diligence was to start at an early hour next
morning, my fellow-traveller, Mr. M , a young native of
Aberdeen, and myself determined to take the opportunity, late
as was the hour, of visiting the spot where the remains of John
Philip Kemble were interred. To do this we climbed over the
churchyard wall. The night was fine, and the moonlight so
brilliant as to enable us to read the inscriptions on the tombstones.
The sombre aspect of Mont Blanc full in view of the cemetery,
and the stillness of the placid waters on which its great shadow
was visible, were in keeping with our feelings, the place of our
pilgrimage, and the shrine we had been in search of, which we
at length discovered. There we stood for some time in silence
over the grave of the greatest tragedian of his day.
CHAPTER IX.
RExMINlSCENCES OF EARLY CONTINENTAL FiUENDS AND CELEBRITIES.
I MAY here interrupt the course of my narrative to record a few
reminiscences of some of my early friends, including several no-
tabilities of the first years of the nineteenth century, with whom
my former residence in Italy had brought me into contact, and with
50 MEMOIRS
whom I took occasion on my return from the East to Naj^les and
Rome to renew my acquaintance. Foremost amongst these on
personal grounds must be mentioned my old and constant friend,
Dr. Reilly. Of all the medical men at the forestiere in Naj^les in
my time, Charles KeiUy, a native of Ireland, and a retired naval
surgeon, who had accompanied the Oxford family to Naples in the
capacity of travelling medical attendant, and had settled down in
practice in that city in the time of King Joachim, was in the highest
repute when I was there, in the latter part of 1821-2-3, and the spring
of 1824. Dr. Reilly was, in every sense of the term but one, a thorough
Irishman. He was full of humour, jocose, good-natured, and as
" racy of the soil " he had abandoned, some twenty or thu't}^ years
previously, to the period I refer to, as if he had only quitted it the
day before.
By his practice, Dr. ReiUy realized a large fortune. He married
in Naples an English lady, also in affluent circumstances, by whom
he had one son and a daughter, a highly accomplished, pretty and
amiable girl (the belle of the Chiaja), who eventually became the
bride of a young English surgeon, the successor of Dr. Reilly in his
professional business. Dr. Reilly, his wife and daughter, and I beheve,
a second wife also, whom he married about ten years ago, have passed
away ; and of all the English, Irish, and Scotch — not a few remark-
able persons, I may add — whom I remember in the habit of frequent-
ing that pleasant and hospitable house of his, with two exceptions,
those of Dr. Quin, now established in his profession in London,"^' and
my worthy old friend, Mr. Ramsay, living in Mordaunt College,
Blackheath, none, I beheve, are in being.
THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH.
Amongst the many distinguished persond,ges with whom I became
acquainted during my residence in Naples, one of the most remark-
able was the celebrated Margravine of Anspach and Bayreuth. Nor
is it a little strange that a man, living in the eighth decade of the
nineteenth century, should in his early career have been well
acquainted with a lady who had been an intimate friend of Horace
Walpole, and whose liospitality and endowments are recorded by
Boswell, and were appreciated by Dr. Samuel Johnson. In his
biography of the latter, Boswell speaks of Johnson as *' dining
with the beautiful, gay, and fascinating Lady Craven." Ah ! if the
admiring lexicographer could have viewed the same lady through a
telescope of sixty years' power of looking into futurity, how he
would have been astounded at the haggard old woman, as she was
in her latter days when I met her, retaining nothing of the former
belle but the sprightliness of her nature, and that vivacity then con-
* Pr. Quia died iu Loudon in 18T9.
DK. E. R. MADDEN. 5l
painfully with the wreck of pristine beauty and
comeliness.
I.ady Craven separated from her husband in 1781, and the suc-
ceeding ten years of her life were passed on the continent and in
the Levant. In 1789 she pubhshed in 4to. " A Journey through
the Crimea to Constantinople." Horace Walpole, in November,
1786, wrote to Lady Craven on the difficulties she had occasioned
her friends by the rapidity of her movements. ..." I heard," he
says, " of you from Venice, then from Poland, and then, having whisked
through Tartary, from Petersburg, but still no directions. I said to
myself I will write to Constantinople, which will probably be her
next stage. How could I suppose that so many despotic infidels
would part with your charms." Shortly after Lord Craven's
decease, his widow, in 1791, married the Margrave of Anspach and
Bayreuth. This Prince, some years afterwards, disposed of his
German principality to the King of Prussia, and retired to England,
where he died in 1806, at Brandenburg House, Hammersmith,
'i'he festivities and fashionable divertissements folatres of Bran-
denburg House attracted no little notice in their day. During the
latter years of her life, the Margravine resided altogether at
Naples. Her well-known villa in the vicinity of Posihpo,
on the Strada Nuova, was furnished with taste and elegance ;
the grounds laid out with great care, under the immediate direc-
tion of the Margravine. "'^
Lord Charles Murray, son of the Dowager Duchess of Athol, was
one of my patients in Naples in 1822, where at that time he was
recovering from an attack of brain fever, which had been followed
by a temporary mental derangement. On one occasion he begged
me to accompany him to the residence of his old Iriend the Mar-
gravine of Anspach, who received us in her garden, and attired in
a manner not calculated to encourage gravity, or to keep an excited
person's mind long in an undisturbed condition. For a few moments
our visit went on very agreeably, but soon a cloud began to gather.
I endeavoured in vain to hasten our departure : my companion per-
sisting in his reminiscences of a disagreeable nature, on which he
enlarged with extraordinary vehemence and volubility, to the great
amazement of the Margravine, who accompanied us to the gate of
the villa, and there a new scene was in store for her. Lord Charles
insisted on showing her a new mode of entering a carriage, which
he particularly recommended her to adopt ; he then made a rush
towards the carriage-door, and, putting his hand on the window
frame, made a jump of that kind which harlequins and clowns are
wont to make through panels in pantomimes, and fairly launched
the upper part of Ins body through the window, leaving his long
♦ The Margravine of Auspacli died in 1828.
5 *
52 MEMOlBiS
legs on the outside, kicking furiously in all directions. The con-
sternation and astonishment of the Margravine were beyond descrip-
tion. I succeeded, with a great deal of trouble, by opening the
opposite door of the carriage, to get his Lordship's legs dragged in
where the rest of his person was hanging, and, not without much
violence on his part, ending in ,the demolition of all the glass in the
vehicle, managed to get him back to Naples.
Poor Lord Charles perfectly recovered his reason ; and about two
years later I met him at Marseilles quite restored. He was then
about to embark for Greece, where, having volunteered in the
cause of Greek independence, he died at Gastouini on August
11th, 1824, aged twenty-five, having undergone every species of
fatigue and j^i'i^'ation, all his means being generously devoted to
the cause he had espoused.
THE DUKE DE LAVAL MONTMORENCY.
This antique remnant of the ancient aristocracy of France was
ambassador at the Court of Eome in 1825, when Lady Blessiugton
had taken up her abode at the Palazzo Negroni. The Duke,
whom I had subsequently met at Rome on several occasions, was a
remarkable person in society. Occasionally lively and spiritueJ,
frequently and suddenly somnolent, and always, when awake, ex-
tremely gallant and comphmentary to the ladies. But his compli-
ments and eulogies were generally wal aprojjos. All his senses, and
a few of his faculties were defective ; some impaired by age, one
naturally imperfect. In these particulars he resembled an old
Chancery barrister. Bell, whom Lord Eldon used to commend,
though he could neither talk, walk, think, or write like any other man.
The Duke's talent for diplomacy was said to have outlived all his
other capabilities. He was respected, however, by all who knew
him, for his sterling worth and his generous conduct, especially to
Pius VII. when in France, whose wants were liberally supplied by
him.
THE ABBE CAMPBELL.
My acquaintance with the celebrated Abbe Campbell, the clergy-
man by whom the Prince Regent's marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert
had been solemnized, commenced in Naples in 1821. At that time
he must have been upwards of sixty-eight years of age ; his features
were heavy, coarse and vulgar ; his dress was negligent and ill-
fitting, and generally bedaubed with snuff. There was nothing
jn his character, his education, his manners, or his habits, to
DE. E. R. ^-rADPEN. 53
conciliate men's favourable opinions ; and he was yet distingnislieil
for a sort of mysterious prestige — an apprehension of his power
over people in high places, in several courts, and in various con-
tinental capitals, and so he was courted even in the best society.
In Naples, his intimate relations of friendship with the Minister
Medici, and the terms of acquaintance on which he was with the
old King Ferdinand, gave an importance to his " undefined and
undefinable position in society." The Abbe was said to have a pen-
sion from the Neapolitan Government, and an annual stipend also
from some official source in England, and for some public services
of a j^rivate nature.
He had been chaplain to the Neapolitan Ambassador in London,
about the time of the marriage of the Prince Regent with Mrs.
Fitzherbert, and rumour assigned the performance of that marriage
ceremony to him. I have heard this rumour mentioned in the
presence of the Abbe, and it remained so far acquiesced in, as to
leave an impression that he at least knew the priest by whom the
marriage was celebrated. Some years later, I was assured by the
late Mr. Thomas Savory, of Sussex-place, Regent's Park, the con-
fidential friend of the Duke of Sussex, that he knew for a certainty
that the ceremony had been performed by a Roman Catholic priest
connected with one of the foreign embassies in London, and who
thought it prudent to fly the country after the marriage ceremony
had been performed.
The Abbe was on terms of close intimacy with the late King of
Hanover, and with the Duke of Cumberland, and seldom visited
England that he did not enjoy the Duke's hospitahty. It was
something more than amusing to hear this old man, of an obscure
origin and humble rank, of no very prepossessing appearance or
courtly manners, vaunting of his intimacy and terms of familiar
intercourse with Kings and Princes and Ministers of State : — " My
friend Cumberland," '' My old acquaintance the King of Sardinia ; "
" Mio caro amico Medici," &c. Few people could tell the place of
birth, parentage, or antecedents of the Abbe. He passed for an
Englishman with Scotchmen, a Scotchman with Enghshmeu.
To Dr. Reilly, Dr. Quin, myself, and one or two more, he was
known, however, to be a native of the north of Ireland.
He was pleased to promise me on divers occasions the inherit-
ance of his papers, and amongst the rest, some fragments of a
memoir of his life, which he had written some years previously, and
condemned to the flames — no doubt very judiciously — when the
Carbonari got the upper hand in Naples. In attempting to destroy
the MS., in a place suitable for that purpose, a sudden puff* of wind
scattered the burning papers about the Abbe, and, according to his
humourous account of the auto-da-fe of his memoirs, he was in danger
of sutfering death by his own lile. He made yearly journeys to
London, where he used to instal himself in the house of my old friend,
MEMOIRS
Thomas Field Savory, in Sussex-place, whose nephew, Mr. John
Savory, is the head of the firm of Savory and Moore, of Bond-street.
A few months before his deatli in 1830, he called on Mrs. Savory
and, with great solemnity of manner, placed a small package in her
hand, and spoke of his tender regard for her husband. He went
away very much affected, and never was seen more by his kind
friends. The precious package was opened with all due care when
he was gone, and some twenty yards of old Mechlin lace were found.
The next news from Naples brought the intelligence of the Abbe's
death. A young gentleman, his nephew, inherited his property —
about £16,000 — and in a few years managed, I believe, to get
through the whole of it.
SIR FREDERICK FAULKNER.
Those who were acquainted with Naples about fifty years ago,
might have well remembered an Irish gentleman, tall and portly,
of prepossessing appearance and elegant manners — one of the old
school of Hibernian gentry — who was exceedingly poor, and might
have been extremely rich, and who lived on his friends from day to
day, always in expectation of remittances and rents which, alas,
never came to hand. Sir Frederick Faulkner was this unhappy
gentleman, a person abounding in anecdote, most agreeable in
society, and singularly inconsistent in his character. For many
years before the Union Faulkner was a member of the Irish Parlia-
ment for the county Meath, and, to his honour, was one of the most
strenuous opponents of that iU-starrcd measure, although in very
straitened circumstances, and having divers overtures of a tempting
nature made to him for his support.
FREDERICK QUIN, ESQ., M.D.
In 18^1 my acquaintance with Dr. Quin commenced in Naples. He
was then a young medical practitioner, in great vogue with all
fashionable English visitors in Naples : full of life and spirits, of
excellent address, with a keen perception of the ridiculous, and a
great zest for merriment. Moreover, Dr. Quin had solid worth and
good sound sense to bring to the aid of his professional talents,
and by these he afterwards won his way into a foremost position as
the leading homoeopathic physician in vogue with the highest ranks of
London society. Yet I remember when the doctor made a burla of
Hahnemann and his infinitesimal dose system. At an early period
of his career in Naples, professing to write against homoeopathy, he
went to Germany to inquire into the system, and he who went to
scoff, remained to study, and to l)ecome a convert to the new theory
of medicine.
DR. R. R. MADDEV. 55
Amongst my many other friends in Naples were : — William
Drummond, Sir William Gell. the Hon. Keppel Craven, Count
D'Orsaj, Sir Richard Acton and his lady; Dr. Watson, the celebrated
linguist ; Eamsay, the Scotch merchant, with his elegant tastes
and classic lore ; Cottrell, the wine merchant, of Fallernian
celebrity, renowned for his lachrymachristi, and his efforts to rival
Francis, and to render Horace into better English than all previous
translators ; young Charles Mathews, Boskelly and Doratt, the
rival Doctors ; and Milne, the pleasant Scot and accomplished
physician of the Ohiatamone ; old Walker, of the Largo Castello,
the expatriated jManchester reformer, who, in the good old times of
William Pitt and George III., was tried for sedition, and narrowly
escaped the fate of his reforming brethren, Muir and Palmer ; and
though last, not least deserving of remembrance and of honourable
mention in the list of worthies from foreign lauds who figured in
Neapohtan Society some thirty years ago — the venerable Command-
ant of the Castello Nuovo — General Wade, the venerable Irish
warrior, one of the brave old soldiers of the Brigade, renowned for
his hospitality, and beloved by all who knew him, English, Irish,
and Italian. Maurice Quill should have lived at Naples in those
days, and Lever should have recorded all the extraordinary scenes
and ridiculous occurrences, the reminiscences of which are con-
nected with the names of Reilly and the Abbe Campbell, Quiii,
Mahon, Mathews, Angell, Thornton, the Irish tutor of the Duchei^s
of Eboli ; Ridge way, the Secretary of Lady Drummond ; young
Edward Molyneux, and his friend, R. R. M., then an incipient
surgeon, in those days of nature, not unfit for scenes of gfiiety and
humour, nor unfamdiar witli them. On leaving Italy for the
Levant in IH-H, from the last named of my Neapolitan friends I
received the following valedictory lines :
LINES TO DR. R. R. MADDEN,
[On his departure for the Levant, by E. Moltjncux).
Farewell once more, and may a prosiDerous breeze
In safety bear thee o'er the pathless sea,
Smooth may the billows roll and waft thee soon
To those bright climes, the favoured of the sun.
May He who bbss'd the tirst poor wand'ring ark.
In every danger smile upon thy bark,
And when thy feet shall gladly press that strand
Where once Diana smiled — think on that land.
Dearer to thee than all the shores of earth,
Thy own dear Isle, the Isle that gave thee birth.
Let not thy pen rest idly in her cause.
That cause which e'en from breasts of strangers drew
A sigh of pity, while it dims each eye
With honest tears of heartfelt sympathy.
MEMOIRS
CHAPTER X.
EECOT LECTIONS OF THEATEICAL CELEBRITIES JOHN KEMBLE, KEAX,
TALMA, M. DUCITENOIS, COLEMAN, BANNISTEB, HAELEY, MATHEWS.
In earlier life my great partiality for the theatre made me well ac-
quainted with the acting of all our celebrated performers (tragic es-
pecially) during the first half of this century. I had frequently seen
John Kemhle, and more particularly remember his wonderful acting
of Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear. I had also seen Kean in his
best days, in his chief parts, — especially in his unrivalled Othello,
Shylock, Sir Edward Mortimer, and Richard III. But highly as
I thought of the various excellences of both, and especially of the
powers of the latter. Talma's genius appeared to me of a higher
order than that of either Kean or Kemble. During eight or ten
months in 1820, I had many opportunities of witnessing the
unrivalled talents of this great actor in the Theatre Frangais.
He died in 1826, and was buried at Pere La Chaise, Paris.
Talma made his debut in 1787, in the part of Seide in the
tragedy of Mahomet, and went triumphantly from role to role till
the sceptre of Melpomene remained undisputed in his hands.
There was great dignity, power, and deep feehng in his perform-
ancos. In the part of Sylla these peculiar qualitities of his, com-
bined with his striking resemblance to Napoleon, produced an
astonishing effect. Talma was admirably supported at the time
referred to by the celebrated Mdlle. Duchenois, the tragic actress,
whose like 1 never saw on any stage, and never expect to look upon
again in any country. This admirable actress w^as remarkably
plain, but not repulsively ugly, though her features were pitted
with small-pox. But the w^onderful sweetness, the flexibility and
finely modulated cadence of her voice, were unequalled. Madame
de Stael said of it : " Elle avait des pleurs dans la voix.". Mdlle.
Rachelle, with all her great powers, and great unquestionably they
are, certainly does not approach the excellence of her predecessor,
Mdlle. Duchenois.
The death of George Coleman the younger preceded only a few
months that of his old friend and fellow-labourer in theatrical affairs,
Jack Bannister, the son of Charles Bannister, famous as a singer
and a wit. Jack was intended for a painter, but Garrick, observing
the young lad's comic talents, diverted his attention from the pencil
and directed it to the stage. Master John Bannister appeared at
Drury Lane theatre in 1779 in minor tragic characters and walking
gentlemen. In 1778, Mr. Bannister, jun., made his debut at the
DR. R. R. MADDEN.
Haymarket in '' The Apprentice." In 1779, the Bannisters (father
and son) played at Covent Garden, and for his own benefit. Jack
for the first time gave imitations of the performers, which were
greatly admired. Both the Bannisters were excellent mimics. The
younger gained great fame not only for himself, but for George
Coleman, by playing in several of the comic pieces of the latter.
He strangely imagined, however, that the bent of his genius was
for tragedy, and frequently acted on that delusion. He married
Miss Harper, a rich actress and vocalist of some note, in 1783.
Jack's great characters were Peeping Tom, Jingo, Sylvester,
Daggerwood Dabble in the Humorist, Bobadil, Bob Acres,
and Pangioss.
In 1807, a collection of his songs, recitations, and imitations were
revised and re-written for him by his friend, George Coleman the
younger, under the title of '• The Budget." The mono- dramatic
entertainment, originally introduced by Foote and Dibdin, was
followed in latter times by Charles Mathews the elder in his
"At Home," which was equally successful. In 1815, Jack Bannis-
ter, who had not only made money by the stage, but who kept what
he gained there, took leave of the public and his profession in the
character of Echo in Kenny's comedy of " The World," in which
he gave, for the last time on the stage, his imitations of popular
comedians. But not for the last time were they given in private
circles. Many years afterwards I heard the last performance of
this kind which he ever gave, only a few months before his death,
at the house of his old friend, Thomas Field Savory, of the Re-
gent's Park, where I often met him in company with Listen,
Mathews, Pope, Charles Kemble, and Harley. The venerable
comedian. Jack Bannister, was greatly loved by all his friends of
the Sock and Buskin. At the time I knew him he w^as a remark-
ably comely, hale, honest looking and hearty old gentleman. He
died at his house in Gower-street, Bedford Square, in November
1830, aged 86.
Frank Cymric Sheridan (my old Jamaica friend) an amateur actor
of great repute, was third son of Tom Sheridan (son of Eichard
Brindsley) by his marriage with a daughter of John Callander,
Esq., of Craigsford, Co. Stirlhig, and Ardkinglass, Co. Argyll (in
virtue of which latter property he took the additional name of
his third wife. Lady Elizabeth Helen MacDonnell, daughter of
the 5th Earl of Antrim. Frank died in the Mauritius, where
he held the office of Private Secretary to the Earl of Mulgrave.
He was a young man of excellent talents, great comic powers,
and some poetical ones of no mean order, devoted to ludicrous
subjects. He bore a most striking resemblance to his sister,
Mrs. Norton.
58 MEMOIRS
CHARLES MATHEWS.
This world renowned actor — long my intimate friend, Charles
James Mathews — son of the elder comedian of that name, was
born in Liverpool al)out 180'2, and in 1819 was articled to Mr.
Pugin with a view of becoming an architect. In this capacity, in
1833, he accompanied Lord Blessington to Ireland, w^here his
Lordship proposed building a mansion on his Tyrone estate of
Mountjoj Forest. Shortly previously, however, Mathews had given
a forecast of his histrionic powers in private theatricals at the
English opera house, on the site of which is the present Lyceum
theatre. After his return from Ireland he was invited by Lord
and Lady Blessington to visit Naples, w^here he resided wdth them
for some time in the Palazzo Belvidere. In that hospitable house
of one of my earliest patients and friends (Lady Blessington), my
acquaintance with Charles Mathews commenced in 1824, and con-
tinued down to the period of his death in June 1878. This is not
the place to refer to the pre-eminence Mathews subsequently at-
tained and retained as the first comedian of the age. Nor did his
career as an actor begin until some years after the period alluded
to, viz., in 1837, when it commenced at the Olympic Theatre, where
he made his professional debut in his own comedy of " The Hunch-
backed Lover." My present reminiscences w^ere connected with
an earlier part of Mr. Mathews life and of my own. I may now
indeed fitly re-echo Hamlet's words, " Alas poor Yorick ! — I knew
him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest." — Full of vivacity and
drollery, but always gentlemanlike wdthal. Notwithstanding his
irrepressible buoyancy of spirits, and in the very height of his drol-
lery in the society of Belvidere Palace, where all the elite of foreign
society were wont to congregate, he never, by a single one of his
innumerable sallies of sportiveness gave offence to any human being.
His talents as a draughtsman were far above mediocrity. Of his
Vers de Societe, burlesque poetry and epigrams in 1894-25, many
specimens were given to me by Mathews. In the latter year an occur-
rence of a serious character took place betw^een Mathews and Count
D'Orsay, attended with some unpleasant results, and a correspon-
dence that passed through my hands, wdiich by the permission of
Mr. Mathews I may here avail myself of. I wall only observe that
I consented to interfere in this misunderstanding with a determina-
tion to bring it, if possible, to a peaceful issue, in which I fortunately
succeeded, and that I then contemplated the possibility of an opposite
result very differently to the way in w^hich I now regard it ; believ-
ing, as I do, that in a controversy between persons w^ho differ in
opinion and give expression to their feelings angrily or offensively,
DK. R. E. MADDEN.
recourse to pistols for the vindication of their sentiments, or on ac-
count of what others may think of them, is far from any evidence
of the highest wisdom, the truest courage, or the firmest behef in
Christianity, but that on the contrary, such a course is at signal
variance with all these. . . .
[We need not here insert the personal statements of Mr. Mathews,
nor the lengthy correspondence which took place between him,
Count D'Orsay, Lord Llessington, and Dr. Madden in relation to
this affair, as these may be found in the latter's " Memoirs of Lady
Blessington;' (vol. I.) A few extracts from these documents may
however be permissible in this connection.]
" I immediately set off to Naples," says Mr. Mathews, " to
the house of Mr. Madden, who promised, before I mentioned any
names, to act as my second on the occasion. I then stated the
circumstances, and he adAdsed me to return to Belvidere whilst he
conducted the business!" In his letter to Count D'Orsay, Dr.
Madden appealed to the former to practice " the honourable con-
descension of a brave man by making an atonement for a hasty in-
jury." "It is," he added,— " with a full knowledge of your manly
spirit that I demand an acknowledgment, on the part of Mr.
Mathews, of having been betrayed by anger into expressions
which only those who do not know you, could think of attribut-
ing to intentional incivihty.
'' I have the honour to be, Monsieur le Comte, with the highest
respect,
" Your obedient, liumble servant,
" R. H. Madden."
MoN Cher Mr. Madden,
******
"Je suis tres loin d'etre fache que Mr. Mathews vous ait
choisi pour son temoin, ma seule crainte eut ete qu'il en choisisse
un autre. Je suis aussi tres loin d'etre offense d'un de vos avis,
lorsque J'estime quelqu'un, son opinion est toujours bien reeue.
..." Pour votre observation sur la difference des rangs, elle est
inutile, car jamais je n'attache d'importance au rang qui se trouve
souvent compromis par tant de betes, je juge les personnes pour ce
qu'ils sent, sans m'informer ce que c'etoient leurs ancetres, et si
mon superieur eut employe la meme maniere de me reprocher qu'a
pris Mathews j'aurois surement fait, ce que je n'ai fait que dire a
Mathews que j'aime beaucoup trop, pour le rabaisser a ses propres
yeux, et vous sentez qu'il seroit ridicule a moi de ne pas avouer que
i'ai tortdelui avoir dit des paroles trop forte s,mais en meme temps ]e
ne veux pas nier mes paroles, c'est a dire mon projet de voiture, &c.
60 MEMOIRS
Si Mathews veut satisfaction je lui donneroi tant qu'il liii plaira, tout
en lui sacliant bon gre cle vous avoir choisi pour son temoin
*' Cette affaire est aussi desagreable pour vous, que pour nous
tous, mais au moius elle n'altera pas I'amitie de
" Yotre tout devoue
"Ct. D'Orsat/'
'' This cleverly worded note Madden handed to me, and I re-
turned it to him without a word. I was determined that I would
leave everything to Madden, who, I was convinced, would not com-
promise me in any way. When he had read it again, he wrote a
fitting answer to the Count." In the evening, Madden advised
me to return to Belvidere, and give mj hand to Count D'Orsay.
After thanking him for his friendship, I went home. The next
morning I went as usual to the drawingroom, and in a few minutes
the Count came in. I rose and gave him my hand, which he re-
ceived most cordially, and said, ' J'espere mon cher Mathews, que
vous etes satisfait. Je suis bien fache pour ce que je vous ai dis,
mais j'etais in colere et.' ' Mon cher Comte,' said
I, ' n'en parlons plus, je vous en prie, je I'ai tout-a-fait oublie.'
Thus ended this unhapj^y business, for which no one could be more
sorry than myself, though I am quite convinced that Count
D'Crsay, whenever he reflects upon it, will perfectly exculpate me
from the charge of having taken one step beyond what was neces-
sary, or what he would himself have done under similar circum-
stances.— J. C. M."
CHAPTER. XT.
EETURN TO ENGLAND. MARKIAGE W^TH MISS nAREIET ELMSLIE.
Shortly after his return to England, Dr. Madden was married in
1828, at Cheltenham, to Miss Harriet T. Elmslie, youngest
daughter of the late John Elmslie, Esq., of Berners-street, London,
and owner of Serge Island and other estates in Jamaica.-!' By
a singular coincidence, like her husband, Mrs. Madden was the
twenty-first and youugest of her father's family. This union was
the circumstance of all others on which Dr. Madden had reason to
congratulate himself throughout the rest of his life, in thus having
chosen for his wife a lady of great natural endowments, highly
educated and accomplished. These endowments she employed to
the last hour of existence with untiring zeal and devotion in
all the subsequent vicissitudes of life in every quarter of the globe,
* Vide Appendix,
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 6l
for the benefit of her husband and of her family. From the time
of Dr. Madden's marriage, there were few pages of his, more than
forty vokimes, besides the innumerable ephemeral writings which
he published, that were not corrected, revised, or transcribed by
this intellectual and good wife, and best of mothers. In his labours
at home and abroad, in many distant lands where he was engaged
in connexion with the abolition of negro slavery and other philan-
trophic works, she was always his efficient, prudent, and self-sacri-
ficing helpmate and counsellor ; and every trouble, sickness or
sorrow, she incessantly strove to solace and comfort others, whilst
bearing her own full share of such trials with unmurmuring re-
signation. To her courage and presence of mind her husband in
subesquent years owed his life when threatened with assassination
on two occasions hereafter to be referred to. It may be added that
some years after her marriage Mrs. Madden, when in Cuba in 1837,
from sincere conviction — and from a circumstance of a character
too solemn to be here referred to, became a convert to the Catholic
Faith, into which she was received in the Havanna by a Spanish
Franciscan friar, Padre Moreno, a man remarkable for the singular
piety and self-denial of his life. From that time forth Mrs. Madden
was ever a most fervent and exemplary member of the Faith which
she had embraced. In the daily practice of its teachings, up to
her last moment of existence, she found the best solace for the
many trials and bereavements of her life. Always charitable to
the poor ; most generous and tolerant to all but herself, as she
had hved, so she died, just two years after her husband, the
7th of February 1888, at Vernon -terrace, Booterstown, in the
87th year of her age, her mind unclouded, her last action
an effort to make the sign of redemption, and her last breath a
prayer, and was interred in the Madden family grave in the old
churchyard of Donnybrook.
After his marriage Dr. Madden, having become a Member of the
Boyal College of Surgeons of England, of which he was sub-
sequently admitted a Fellow, settled down in England to the
exercise of his profession, and with this object commenced prac-
tice in Maidstone. After some time he removed to St. Leonard's,
where he entered into partnership with another surgeon, from
whom, subsequently, finding this arrangement unsatisfactory he
separated, and soon secured a large share of practice. During
this time he was called over to Ireland by the news of the
serious illness of his mother to whom he was devotedly attached.
He arrived in Dublin, however, only a few hours after her death,
owing to an accident on this then long passage. Some weeks
later he returned to St. Leonard's, and shortly afterwards, acting on
the advice of his friends, he removed to London and took a house
62 MEMOIES
in Curzon-street, in the fashionable district of May fair. Here,
largely by the influence of the Blessingtons and several others of
his former English Neapolitan patients, his practice steadily
increased, although to some extent interfered with by the literary
pursuits to which he was devoted. His first venture in this way
was highly successful, being his '' Travels in the East," of which
Messrs. Colburn published two editions in 1829-80, and for which
they paid him three hundred guineas, then considered a large
sum for the first work of a new author. This was followed a year
later by " The Mussulman," an oriental novel in three volumes, for
which he received a similar sum.
The agitation for the abolition of negro slavery was then in full
swing ; and into this movement Dr. Madden threw himself with
all the ardour of his nature, the leading characteristic of which was
an intense love of justice and a hatred of oppression in whatever
clime or on whatever race it might be exercised. Accordingly he
became an active member of the Anti-Slavery Society, and was
thus brought into intimate contact with men like Wilberforce,
Sturge, Clarkeson, Bright, and the other leaders of that great
movement by which the shackles of slavery were ultimately riven
from millions of suffering human beings in every part of the world,
whose only crime was that of race and colour. On the passing of
the law for the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, in 1833* Dr.
Madden resolved on abandoning his professional prospects with the
object of personally assisting in the carrying out of that great -vvork
of humanity. Accordingly, through the willing assistance of Sir F.
Buxton and his other colleagues in the Anti-Slavery Society, he was
appointed by the Government to the office of Special Magistrate in
Jamaica, and embarked from Falmouth for that island on the 5th
October 1883.
In a letter to his intimate friend, the poet Campbell, Dr. Madden
thus describes his departure for the West Indies : —
'' Falmouth, October 4th 1833.
*' To-morrow I embark for Jamaica onboard his Majesty's packet
J?cZi/?se, commanded by Lieutenant Griffi_n of the Eoyal Navy. At the
hotel where I have taken up my quarters there are five other gentle-
men, holding special commissions like myself, destined for Jama'ca —
Major McGreggor, Captain Dean, Lieutenants Colebrook and Ever-
ard, and Mr. Norcott. If our passage does not ]3rove an agreeable
one, the weather and not my companions must surely be to blame,
for a more agreeable set of men I have seldom m^et Avith. There is
* In that year Lord Stanley's motion was cai tied, by which, at a cost of twenty millions
sterling, and, at the expiration of a further period of seven years of modified oppression, i.e.
thp so-called Apprenticeship System ; negro slavery was ultimately abolished in the West
Indies.
DE. K. K. MADDEN. 6B
something peculiar in the merriment of men who are embarking for
far-distant lands — it is too high, too hectic a sprightliness for genuine
gaiety, and I never see it that I do not look athwart its glare for the
sombre shapes of regretted friends, or flitting ghosts of departed ioys :
they glide before the scene that's acting, and are not to be jeered
from memory. No matter ; — feigned or felt, we are all in high spirits.
— How will they be I wonder this day twelve-month ? how many of
the merry party may then be in existence ? You are not fond of
the lugubrious, neither am I; but you have not forgotten that
sohtary child of mine,* w^hom you were wont to call ' the
audacious boy : ' well, it was necessary to part with him the day
before we set out for Falmouth. I had enough on the Jamaica die
without staking my little fellow's life. So we packed him off to
Cheltenham, where he was to remain with a kind relative ; and
when the urchin was leaving us, and found himself (for the first
time in his life) in a coach drawn hy four horses, the uproarious-
ness of his glee, as he waved his cap and bid us good-bye, was in
such miserable unison with his poor mother's feelings, that I thought
I l)egan to understand the full meaning of the mournful words
ascribed to Queen Mary —
• These merry little birds will break my heart.'
'' He was soon out of sight, perhaps for ever. Jamaica is
a country which some people of a white-brown complexion call
their mother, and the majority of European visitors find their
grave ! We might get planted among the sugar-canes, or deposited
in the Atlantic. In the folly of my sadness I fancied my wife, or
any other man's wife similarly circumstanced, might have perpe-
trated a sonnet on the occasion, somewhat to the following effect: —
LINES AT PAINTING — TO FOEDE.
The new-fledged bird that leaves the mother's nest
Heeds not the eje which follows its first flight;
And little mindful of the panting breast,
Whose warmth it needs not, soon is out of sight.
The tiny warbler feels the new delight
Of freedom now, and flutters 'mid the throng
Of sprightful songsters, while in mournful plight
The lonely mother chirrups for her young,
And makes that vain recall her melancholy song.
Like that poor bird, when thou art far away,
Thy mother's heart will pant for thee, my boy !
And long for thy return, when thou art gay
And those around thee every thought employ :
But time, nor change, nor distance can destroy
A mother's boundless love, and " none can feel
As she feels for thee :" — all-prospective joy
Plumes but one hope in bidding thee farewell.
]n thy young breast she deems the seeds of virtue dwell.
♦ WiUiam Fordc Madden, Dr. M's eldest son, born lb2P, obit March 29th 1848.
64 MEMorss
" On tlie eighth day of our departure from Falmouth we were
in sight of Madeira ; and there, the morning being fine, and the
captain in good-order humour, an unfortunate Jack, who had got
drunk at Falmouth and struck the gunner the day of our embarka-
tion, was tied up, man-of-war's fashion, and with all due formalities
flogged. To the best of my judgment, the ceremony, with all the
awful adjuncts of swords, swabs, and cocked hats, might have been
dispensed with, without any disadvantage to his Majesty's sea-
service. Had the commander the power, for this or any similar
offence, to make the culprit do double duty, to shorten his allow-
ances, and compel him to wear a yellow jacket for a punishment,
for any period suitable to the offence, the cat, in my opinion, might
be left with ' the gunner's daughter ' without any ill consequences
to the service.
" On the twenty-fourth day of our voyage, we landed at Bridge-
town, the capital of Barbadoes. The hurricane of 1831 has left
80 many monuments of its violence in every quarter of the town,
that if a stranger were lauded here at night he might imagine the
ruins -around him the remains of some deserted city. The few-
standing trees along the beach point out the place where a beautiful
hue of cocoa-nut trees, a few years ago, afforded the inhabitants an
agreeable promenade. The blackened trunks are now scattered
over the walk ; and where many a comfortable dwelling was lately
standing, roofless buildings and shattered walls are only existing.
In some of these houses, now in ruins, Coleridge very probably may
have experienced that hospitality which he has so well described in
his admirable little work. The town, however, in its best days,
could never boast of much regularity or symmetry in its streets or
buildings. There is one tolerably open space, which is called a
square, and is ornamented with a statue of Nelson. This island
has been extolled for its beauty. I protest, without any disrespect
to the Barbadians, who think their country the finest in the world,
I could see no beauty there. Still, far be it from me to blame the
tastes of the Barbadians. Nature has wisely ordained that man
should find the best of countries always in his own.
* * * * ;K *
"At the time of our embarkation here, there were a number of
negroes assembled at the wharf, audibly enough expressing their
desires for the arrival of the ' fuss of Angus.' The negroes are not
slow in discovering who and what all buckra strangers are. One of
the poor blackies, in front of his companions, in the enthusiasm of
his aspirations after liberty, either unconscious of the presence of
the white people about him, or heedless of them, flung up his
ragged straw hat and shouted most lustily : 'Gar Amighty speed
DR. 11. R. MADDEN. 65
jou, mj good massas ! Gar Amighty sead us soon our own King's
magistrates ! ' ( Here there was an interruption). Then addressing
one of his comrades : ' What for you tell me, you dam black teef,
hold your jaw? King call me his own free subject. Buciira
forget when fuss of Angus come, no dam black teef never any more.'
Poor blackie was premature in his independence and impolitic
in his gratitude, for the Ides of August were not yet come, and I
saw him reminded of that fact by a slight punch in the ribs and a
gentle application of the foot to the gluteal region, which part, I
presume, from that intimation, was regarded as the seat of
memory.
"I am, my dear Sir,
" Yours verv truly,
-K. R. M."
CHAPTER XII.
RESIDENCE IN THE ^\^ST INDIES.
In a letter to Thomas Moore, dated Jamaica, January 1st 1834,
Dr. Madden thus continues the account of his first anti-slavery
voyage :—
" The last time I had the pleasure of addressing you," he says,
" I was a halxkim in the Eastern world : the scene is changed
from the Levant to the West Indies, and your correspondent is now
n grave Cadi. Before our arrival at Jamaica we visited Barbadoys,
St. Vincents, and Granada. St. Vincents has been called by some
the Montpellier of the West Indies ; by others, the garden of
the Antilles. In my opinion, however, beautiful as its views are,
both of vale and mountain, Granada is its superior. Twelve hours'
sail brought us from ]3arbadoes to this island. The approach to
the bay realized every idea I had formed of West Indian scenery.
From Granada^ we resumed our voyage to Jamaica, our first
impressions of which w^ere more favourable than was justified by
subsequent experience. As we approached Kingston, on the one
side was the fort and remains of the once proud and opulent city
of Port lloyal, whence a long strip of land runs in an easterly
direction in towards the shore at Rock fort, enclosing one of the
tiuest havens in the world. On the opposite side you have a range
of undulatmg country, with a back-ground of lofty mountahis
clothed with luxurious verdure, rising gradually from the verge of
0
66 M E M O I K '6
tbe shore, on whicli the citj of Kiiig.ston is situated. But, liiie
Stamboul, when the traveller lands here the glory of the prospect
is tsoon forgotten ; the distant beauty of the various buildings
vanishes before the sight of streets without a plan, houses without
the semblance of architecture, lanes and alleys without cleanliness
and convenience ; the public buildings at Kingstou are commodious,
and that is all in the way of commendation I can say for them.
The places of worship are numerous and well attended ; there being
two Catholic and two Protestant churches, and several Baptist and
AVesleyan chapels.
. Immediately after our arrival, we had abundant experiences of
the proverbial hospitality of the Governor and resident gentry of Kings-
ton, as well as that of the English merchants settled here, who, as in
every other quarter of the world where I have had the j)leasure of
meeting them, well sustain the honour and reputatien of their
country. In short, I would recommend anyone who is not troubled
with dyspepsia, and wishes to know what good living is to visit
Jamaica. It is not only that the dinners are excellent, but the
givers do the honours of their tables with a cordiality of manner,
and, in a great many instances, a refinement which make their
entertainments exceedingly agreeable.
June 15th 1834. — I set out on an excurbion to St. George's a
few days ago to visit a beautifully situated property in the neigh-
bourhood of Annato Bay. Our party consisted of the proprietor,
his lady, three slaves, and myseLf, and though the distance was
only thirty- eight miles, four saddle horses and three baggage mules
were necessary for our cortege. It appeared to me a very formid-
able array of cavaliers winding along the narrow mountain path
which proved to be the description of our route the greater part of
the journey. We passed by the barracks of Stoney Hill, which
are situated on an eminence about 13 GO feet above the level of the
sea, by Temple Hall estate, and, leaving a Maroon town to our
left, we arrived at Green Castle, w^here we took ujd our quarters for
that night. The cultivation of the estate has been nearly
abandoned, though formerly one of the most prosperous coffee
plantations in that neighbourhood. The house is one of those
melancholy instances of a modern mansion, fitted up not only with
taste and eleg;ince, but even magnificence, tumbling into
decay. The parish of St. Mary's abounds with these desolate
abodes. The house we were in, and the improvements about
it, cost some £80,000 ; and, Hke hundreds of others, when
built, the proprietor began to consider the means of living in it.
We left Green VaUey for Claremont at daybreak, where we
found a princely mansion commanding a magnificent prospect, and
the hospitality of whose proprietor is no disparagement to the
character for which Jamaica is renowned. The dav after our
R. MADDEN. 67
arrival I left my friends in Clareniont, and set out on an expedition in
quest of a property which formerly belonged to a grand-uncle of
mine, and on which I had inherited a claim to a considerable
amount. Marley, the property in question, was about seventeen
miles distant. After a fatiguing ride on a broiling summer's day I
reached a small plantation in the mountains, where I was informed
some of the negroes of my uncle were then living, who had been
lately purchased by a Mr. Thomson, and, amongst others, an old
African negro who, upwards of forty years ago, had been the favou-
rite servant of my uncle. Dr. Lyons. I had prepared myself for a
very sentimental scene with the old negro. I had pictured to myself
the joy of the aged domestic at seeing a descendant of his revered
master. I had anticij^ated many affecting inquiries after my
cousin, his young master, out of whose hands the property had
been sold in Chancery some ten years ago ; but never was there a
gentleman of an ardent turn of mind more cruelly disappointed.
The negro v/as brought before me : he was a hale, honest-looking,
gray-headed old man, about eighty.
" Did he remember the old doctor? "
" He remembered him well."
" AVhere did he come from ? "
*' Massa brought him out of a Guinea ship when a piccauini boy,
him wait on massa — serve massa very well ; him serve massa when
young and 'troug; but what use talk of such things now? "
" Did he see no resemblance between me and the old doctor? "
" No ! him want to see nutten at all of nobody."
The old doctor was a brother of that Robert Lyons, celebrated
in the annals of Irish litigation, as the lawyer who gave the first
brief to Curran, when that great barrister was in want and obscurity.
The doctor having accumulated considerable property in Jamaica,
returned to his native country, but only in time to die there. The
property in the meantime was managed by my mother's brother ;
but at the old gentleman's death it came into the hands of his brother,
i^.lr. Theodosius Lyons. This gentleman died in the course of a
few years, at Spanish Town. A cousin of mine, then a minor,
came into the property. A long career of litigation commenced ;
one uncle, a Catholic, the guardian appointed by the minor's
father, claiming that office ; the other uncle, a Protestant, also
asserting his right to the guardianship on the ground to the legal
preference a Protestant was entitled to. The decision of the
Chancellor in this case is related at large in Scully's Penal Laws ;
but it will hardly be believed that such a decision was made within
the last five and thirty years ! The Irish Chancellor not only
decided the question of the guardianship of the Catholic minor,
but he also decided on the religion of the latter, A few flippant
6 *
68 MEMOIRS
words from an Irish lawyer settled the matter that had been at
issue between man and man from the earliest ages of the world.
With the seals and mace before him, the emblems of legal and
theological inspiration, he decided that the minor's true creed
should be that connected with the State. A few years later, in
1824, the estate again came into Chancery with the inevitable
result, namely, the ruin of the contending litigants, and the destruc-
tion of this property, on which my family had expended an outlay
of close on £^5,0(^0 : all that remains for which is a desolate house —
a heap of rains — and a wide tract of waste land about them.
1 had two motives for visiting this property : the ostensible one
was to ascertain if the possession was worth the risk of an appeal
to the Chancellor for the claim I had on it — a claim similar to that
of the legatee I have spoken of ; but a stronger inducement was a
feeling of personal interest in the condition of a place which had
belonged for nearly half a century to members of my family. I
arrived at the ruined works of Marley after a fatiguing ride of five
hours in the wildest district of the St. Mary's Mountains. I was
pretty well accustomed to the desolate aspect of ancient ruins in
eastern countries ; but I had little idea, until I visited Jamaica, of
that utter dreariness of scenery that has recently passed from culti-
Yation into the solitude of nature ; and of modern structures, which
have but lately been the busy haunts of life and activity, and have
become as silent as the grave. The dwelling-house was situated on
an eminence above the works, and faced by the remains of an ex-
tensive garden, now overgrown with wild verdure. The negro huts at
some little distance from the house were uninhabited and ruinous,
and there was no sign of human life about the place. ]My negro
guide was now very anxious to get away, and said : "It was no
good to walk about such a place, buckras all dead, niggers all dead
too ; no one lives there but duppies and obeah men " (i.e., ghosts
and necromancers). I proceeded, however, to the house, and went
through the ceremony of knocking, but 1 received no answer, and
as the door was ajar, I took the liberty of walking into the house of
my old uncle. The room I entered was in keeping with the ex-
terior— unfurnished and crumbling into decay. I opened one oi
the side doors, and to my surprise I perceived tw^o white women,
tolerably well clad, and evidently much alarmed at my intrusion. I
soon reassured them by explaining the object of my visit, and whilst
so doing, two other females and a very old mulatto woman made
their appearance ; and what was my astonishment at learning that the
two youngest were the natural daughters of Mr. Gordon, the person
who purchased the property out of Chancery ; the two others the
daughters of my uncle, Mr. Theodosius Lyons, and the old w)man
their mother ! The eldest of her daughters was about forty years
of ago, the other probably a year or two younger; and the
DB. E. E. MADDEN. 60
resemblance of one of them to some members of my family was
striking. The poor women, though delighted to see a person
who called himself a relation of their lather, evidently appre-
hended that I had come there for the purpose of taking possession
of the property. I do not wonder at it, for they had received
nothing but bad treatment from those who ought to have been
land to them, as well as from strangers, for m'any years since the
death of their natural protector, who, dying suddenly, left them
utterly unjorovided for. They were left free, but that was all. One
son, however, was not left free ; and was sold with the rest of the
])roperty. The aged and infirm negroes were then left on the
estate ; but a few years ago these poor creatures, who had grown
old on the property, and had expended the strength of their young
days on its cultivation, and who should have been allowed to have
laid their bones where their relatives were buried, were carried aw^ay
by the creditors of Mr. Lynch, and actually sold for a few dollars
a head.
Who, in the face of such circumstances as these, will tell me
that slavery in these colonies was productive of no oppression in
recent times, or was the occasion of no injustice '? Where is the
apologist of til at wretched system who will maintain that the pro-
perty is sacred which man holds in his fellow-men — ay, in his own
iJesh and blood ? What bland expressions, what gentle language,
what inoffensive terms must be employed when the possibihts is to
be admitted of men thus leaving their children in actual destitution,
and then- remotest kindred perhaps in affluence ?
A small present in memory of my relative to his forlorn
daughters was gratefully accepted ; and having had pointed
out to me the plantation where a favourite brother of my
mother's was interred, I took my leave of Marley and its
inhabitants, and proceeded to Derry plantation, about three
miles distant. This pioperty had also belonged to old Dr. Lyons.
He had sold it to a Mr. Bower, whose daughter I found living
there ; I had some difficulty in making out the grave I was in quest
of — forty years is an antiquity in Jamaica. At last we discovered
an old negro who conducted us to the place, where, putting his
stick on a little mound on the side of the mountain, he said —
" There where him lay — poor Massa Garrett lay there ! See
buckras plenty ever since, but no buckra like poor Massa Garrett ;
him hab good word foreberybody ; black man lub Massa very much ;
plenty people sorry when him die." ''Poor Massa Garrett" was
literally planted among sugar-canes. Shakespeare's poetical idea
of having " violets spring from the sweet body of Ophelia " seemed
to me less appropriate imagery than that of the sugar-canes
growing out of the soil that covered the remains of the planter.
70 ME?.roin3
* * :^ >K H<
The climate of Jamaica is an insurmountable obstacle to the
project for replacing negro labour by European immigration.
Thus, of my five colleagues in the special magistracy, within
nine months four had died of inflammatory attacks or yel-
low fever. I believe that in none of these instances did the
disease run a longer course than four or five days. These gentle-
men— Mr. Musgrave, Mr. Everard, Mr. Pearson, and Mr. Jerdan —
were all in the prime of life, and in the fullest vigour of health.
Poor Mr. Everard spent some days with me only a week before his
death, and often boasted to me of the excellence of his constitution.
Musgrave 's health and strength were too vigorous for the climate ;
and perhaps the high and buoyant spirits of his poor friend, Jerdan,
caused him to make too light of the dangers that arise in Jamaica
from fatigue and exposure to the sun. Mr. Pearson I was little
acquainted with ; but the others, whom I knew well, one of whom
had been the companion of my voyage fiom England, and was
esteemed by all who knew him, and the last and youngest of the
number who had lived with me for some months, and been my
agreeable companion in many an excursion in the mountains of
Liguanea, I most deeply lament, and sympathize with those con-
nected with them.
If this climate be thus deadly to European constitutions, and
even to those whose circumstances and position protected them
from that exposure to hardship and temptation to intemperance
that are so inimical to the poorer classes of the white population, it
needs no further argument to prove that the suggested importation
of labourers from our country will have no other result than a use-
less waste of life and money. The importation of white labourers
has been frequently tried, and never \nih. success.
CHAPTER Xlir.
CONTEST WITH JAMAICAN SI-AVE OWNERS.
The anti-slavery opinions which Dr. Madden maintained, and his
constant vindication on the magisterial bench of the rights and
liberties of the oppressed negroes, necessarily rendered him unpopu-
lar with the slave-owners, who could not conceive the possibility of
any magistrate administering impartial justice to black and white
alike, " without fear, favour, or affection." After a short experience
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 71
of the obstacles thus thrown in the way of those who, hke himself,
were then engaged in the abohtion of slavery, Dr. Madden writes : —
" This noble island of Jamaica is truly a goodly country, and
God made it so : but who made the system which mars its beauty,
and suffers neither peace nor prosperity to flourish beneath its
shade ? I need not say. The setthng down of angry passions, and
the dissipation of ancient prejudices, will be a slow operation.
Complexional distinctions, probably for years to come, will continue
to distract society ; but now that political privileges and civil advan-
tages have ceased to belong to a particular complexion, the colour
of a man's skin can no longer be the criterion of his capacity,
tliough the difference of a shade may fit him for society or exclude
hm from it; but now it cannot put him beyond the pale of the
J^ritish Constitution. Sanguine as I am about the success of the
measure for the abolition of slavery, I cannot but fear that some
years must elapse before the various classes of this community
regard one another as fellow-citizens and fellow-men. In the mean-
time, the exertions of those by whom the change in a mischievous
system is to be etTected, will meet with difficulties at the hands of
all : — the ignorance of the negro, the arrogance of the brown man,
and the pride and prejudice of the white, will continue for some
time to baffle the endeavour to amalgamate their interests, and to
remedy the evils of a system which had nothing but its age to
plead for its iniquity."
The duties of Dr. Madden's official position as a Special ]\ragistrate,
appointed to carry out the liberation of the Jamaica slaves from
their bondage, were beset with great difficulties. On the one ha id,
the planters were irritated beyond endurance by their class pre-
judices, and by interference with what they regarded as the
sacred rights of property, which, as well as the deprivation of
accustomed power, and the controvention by the Imperial Paiiia-
ment of the Acts of the Colonial Legislature, they seemed
determined to resist, and even to avenge.
Such was the general tone of the infuriated planters of whom
the House of Assembly and the Corporation of Kingston was com-
posed. These men had the entire control of the local militia and of
the police force, wlio were prevented from executing the decrees of
the Special Magistrates. Nor were such incentives to resistance as
were freely expressed in the Jamaica journals and in the House of
Assembly without effect in instigating the slave-owners to avenge
themselves by violence on those by whom their slaves were being
freed. On two occasions, whilst in the actual discharge of his
magisterial duties, Dr. Madden was thus assailed. "The cir-
cumstances," he says, " which led to my resignation of the
office of Special Magistrate in Jamaica were of a nature that I
considered surrounded with too many difficulties to enable me to
72 MEiJOiP.S
discharge my duties with honesty to the intentions of the measure
under which I was appointed. These circum.stances I have un-
willingly referred to ; and in my anxiety to avoid all personal allusions,
it is possible that I may have done injustice to the cause I have at
heart b}'^ underrating the difficulties that I have met with, and
indeed those of every gentleman who has been similarly placed
with regard to his duties and the opposition given to an honest
and impartial discharge of tliem. I found the protection of
the negro incompatible with my own ; the power of the Local
Assembly, and even that of the Corporation, were superior in Kingston
to that of the Executive, as, in the imbecility of their arrogance, they
dreamt that their privileges were paramount to those of the Imperial
Parliament. I had the satisfaction of receiving a few testimonials on
my departure — the last from the Earl of Mulgrave, since my arrival
in England ; and as the statements 1 have made are of a nature that
render every corroboration of them desirable, I have reluctantly given
publicity to documents that otherwise I might have considered only
personal to myself.
** From His Excellency the Marquis of Sligo.
" The King's House, November 11th, 1834.
" My dear Sir — It is with much regret that I have learned from
you your unalterable determination to leave Jamaica, and give up
your office of Special Justice. I can assure you that I shall deeply
feel the loss of your services in this island, and shall be ready on
all occasions to bear testimony to the able and honest manner in
which you have, to your own detriment, conducted yourself since
the administration of the affairs of this island has devolved on me.
I feel fuUy your services, and grieve that they have been attended
with so much inconvenience to yourself personally.
'* My dear Sir, very truly yours,
" Sligo."
" To Dr. Madden, &c., &c."
" From the Hon. Sir Joshua Rowe, Chief Justice.
" Kingston, November 14th, 1834.
" My dear Sir — I am very sorry to find you are determined to
leave Jamaica, as I am sure the island will experience a great loss
by being deprived of your zeal and assiduity. Of your anxiety to
discharge honestly and justly the difficult and responsilde duties of
a Special Magistrate, I can speak with confidence
" Believe me, very truly yours,
"J. EowK, C.J."
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 73
From Lord Mulgravo.
" Viceregal Lodge, Dublin, June 6th, 1835.
" My dear Sir — .... With regard to your conduct in
Jamaica, while I administered the government of that island, I
have great pleasure in stating that although, as the Act for the
Abolition of Slavery had not come into operation before my depar-
ture for England, you had not up to that time had an opportunity
of entering upon your duties as a Special Magistrate, yet I felt so
satisfied of your qualifications for that office, and of your anxious
desire to discharge its important functions with strict impartiahty,
that, in fixing upon the different stations for the several Special
Magistrates, I took care to appoint you to a district which I con-
sidered to be a very important one, and likely to aftord an exten-
sive field for the exercise of magisterial duties ; and I am happy to
learn that the opinion I had formed of you was not disappointed.
" Believe me to be, my dear sir, very faithfully yours,
" MULGRAVE."
Dr. Madden took his departure from Jamaica on the 15th of
November 1834, on board the Orbit saihng vessel, and arrived in
New York after a passage of twenty-two days, on the 17th of
December. Having remained there for a few weeks he proceeded
to Canada. In another chapter an account will be found of
that journey, together with his subsequent experience of three visits
to the United States in 1835-3G and 1839.
On the 2nd of March 1835, Dr. and Mrs. Madden left New
York, in the American saihng packet Constitution, a vessel whose
tonnage (550 tons), and rate of speed contrasts strikingly with the
leviathan transatlantic liners of the present time, their voyage to
Liverpool, which was a very stormy one, occupying no less than
twenty -two days. He arrived in Liverpool on the 25th of March
1835, and proceeded up to London, where he took up his abode in
the chambers he had occupied in his student days, in the house
of Miss Cape, 7 Panton-square. Here he occupied himself with
the completion of his Travels in the West Indies, in two volumes,
which, thanks to his energy and the indefatigable zeal of
his devoted wife, by whom every page was prepared for the
press, was published within two months after his return to England.
This work attained a considerable circulation, l)eing repubhshed in
America ; nevertlieless, it resulted in a heavy loss to its author as,
owing to the failure of his publisher, he was not only deprived of
the sum agreed on for the copyright, but was also called upon to
discharge the latter's liabihties to printers, &c. This incident in
his literary career elicited the following lines, written whilst the
author was still smarting under the wrong he had thus sustained : —
74 ?>T E ?.r o I n s
LINE S
On being called on to pay the accounts of a publisher who had failed
in the author's debt.
Should your publisher happen to fail,
I would have you to mind number one ;
For your printer is sure to prevail,
And your author is sure to be done.
Now, to share in your publisher's gains
Doth legally mean, 'tis believed,
To share in the loss he sustains
By the profits you might have received.
You will hear from the printer unpaid,
With astonishment grave in youi- looks,
You 're the publisher's partner in trade,
And a dealer and chapman in books.
It is a hard case, I confess,
To be robbed of your toil in this way ;
And then, to console your distress.
Have the debts of that robber to pay.
Tho' the scripture " a blood-shedder " calls
Who the labourer robs of his hire.
The brain-stealer fearlessly falls
On men's wits with rapacity dire.
Your publisher surely must needs
Be a monster to prey on men's brains.
While your publisher is the vulture that feeds
On what's left of the author's remains.
R. R. M.
CHAPTER XIV.
ANTI-SLAVERY WORK IN CUBA, 1836-1839.
Early in the following year, Dr. Madden was again afforded an
opportunity of assisting in the anti-slavery movement, being offered
and accepting an important appointment, namely, that of Superin-
tendent of Liberated Africans in Cuba, to which was shortly after-
wards conjoined the appointment of Judge Arbitrator in the
International Court for the suppression of the slave-trade at the
DR. R.
Havana. The offer of this position was convej^ed in the following
complimentary letter from Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary of
that day : —
" Colonial Office, 3rd March 1886.
'' Lord Glenelg desires me to inquire whether it will be suitable
to you to accept the situation of Superintendent of Liberated
Africans in the Island of Cuba, the residence to be at the Havana,
and the salary £800 a year ; as it would give him pleasure to recom-
mend you to his Maiesty for the appointment, from a sense both of
the public advantage and of your merit and character."
On the 15th March 1836, Dr. Madden, accompanied by his wife
and their eldest son, then a boy nine years of age, embarked in
the Emerald sailing vessel at Liverpool for New York on his way to
Cuba, the scene of his future official duties in connection with the
suppression of the slave-trade. During this voyage Dr. Madden had
abundant opportunity of reverting to that profession, the lucra-
tive exercise of which in London he had abandoned in devoting
himself to the anti- slavery cause. Sickness was rife amongst the
overcrowded Irish passengers by whom the steerage cabin of the
emigrant ship was thronged. One of them died, and his burial at
sea called forth the followinof lines : —
THE EMTGKANT'S GEAVE.
Linee written on witnessing the remains of an Irish emigrant
consigned to the deep.
The foaming wave's the exile's grave,
No burial rites beseeming ;
Nor book, nor bell, nor shroud, nor shell,
Nor eyes of sorrow streaming.
As o'er the side the plank doth slide,
The corpse is seen descending,
The hammock round the body bound,
His comrades o'er it bending.
And one short prayer is uttered there,
One splash and all is o'er, —
The ripple's gone, the burial's done,
The sea its dead doth cover.
He'll sleep below as well I trow
As if the turf was o'er him ;
Till sea and laud, at God's command
Give up their dead before Him.
76 M EMOTES
And tho' no friend hath seen his end,
Nor wife hath smoothed his pillow,
In death's serene repose, I w^een,
He'll sleep beneath the billow.
Yet far away, perhaps are they.
Who think he's now returning,
And yet, alas ! long days shall pass,
And nights for him in mourning.
K. K. M.
After a stormy voyage of thirty days' duration, the Emerald
reached New York on the 3rd of June 1830. A month later Dr.
Madden re- embarked on board the Norma, an American ship for
Cuba, and twenty-five days subsequently landed in the Havana.
At that time, this magnificently situated city was not only the
flourishing capital of the finest of all the Spanish colonies, but was
also the chief commercial centre of the West Indian slave-
trade, the extinction of which was the object of Dr. Madden's mission.
Here, for upwards of three years, he continued to devote all the
energies of his character to the battle of right against might, in
the vindication of the cause of humanity and liberty which it was
his privilege to maintain almost single-handed with the Cuban slave-
traders, then supported by the Spanish authorities. At the time of Dr.
Madden's arrival in the Havana, the predominant evil influence of
the slave-trade was painfully evinced not only in the miserable con-
dition of the oppressed negro race, but also in the demoralization of
their masters and the irreparable evils thereby effected in the social
life as well as in the political affairs of that fair, but ill-governed
island. The long-continued mismanagement of the greatest of her
dependencies by Spain had gradually produced a widespread discon-
tent on the part of the great bulk of the Cuban population, which
is thus referred to in Dr. Madden's work on The Island of Cuba, its
Resources and Prospects, published in 1849 : —
"It is needless for recent political writers of Cuba to deny the
existence of a strong feeling of animosity to the mother country,
and a longing desire for separation. From my own intimate know-
ledge of these facts I speak of their existence. If England could
have been induced in 1837 to guarantee the island of Cuba free from
the intervention of any foreign Power, the white inhabitants ^veYe
prepared to throw off the Spanish yoke, to undertake the bo7ia fide
abolition of the slave-trade, and to have passed some measures for
the amelioration of slavery. It is no longer to England, however,
that the white natives of Cuba look for aid or countenance in any
future effort for independence : it is to America that they now turn
their eyes,"
DR. E. R MADDEN. I't
SLAVE SYSTEM IN CUBA.
Tolerably well acquainted with some of the British West Indian
Islands — with one of them, hoth previously and subsequently to the
act of emancipation — and having seen something of slavery in many
eastern countries, I brought perhaps some little knowledge of the
condition of men held in bondage to the subject which has been the
object of anxious inquiry with me during a residence of upwards of
three years in a Spanish colony where slavery flourishes, and where
upw^ards of 400,000 human beings exist in that condition.
It has been asserted in official Reports that slavery has
always had wdth the Spaniards a peculiar character of mildness,
and that it was tempered by legislative safeguards w^hich in Cuba
were wisely and humanely administered by the legal tribunals.
I freely grant that the spirit of these laws and ordinances is
humane, but the great question is, are such laws compatible with
the interests of the slave owners ? Are they executed ? Unfortu-
nately they are not. Justice is bought and sold in Cuba with as
much scandalous publicity as the Bozal slaves are bought and sold
in the barricones.. Is it then to parchment justice or to statute-
book benevolence we are to look for that pecuhar character of mild-
ness w^hich this Report assures us is the characteristic of slavery in
Spanish colonies ? But, in Cuba, it is not that I have heard or
read of the atrocities of Spanish slavery, but I saw them with my
own eyes. I lived for a whole year at the Havana before I could
so far disembarrass myself of that deadening influence of slavery
which steals so imperceptibly over the feehngs of strangers in the
West Indies, as to form an opinion for myself, and trust to my
own senses alone for a knowledge of the condition of the prsedial
slaves. It was only when I visited estates not as a guest of the
proprietors, seeking through the eyes of my hospitable hosts, think-
ing as they thought, and believing as they saw tit to administer to
my credulity the customary after dinner dose of the felicity of slaves
i— it was only when I went alone, unknown, and unexpected
on their estates, that the terrible atrocities of Spanish slavery as-
tounded my senses. I have already said, and I repeat the words,
so terrible were these atrocities, so murderous the system of slavery,
so transcendent the evils I witnessed, over all 1 had ever heard or
seen of the rigour of slavery elsewhere, that at first I could hardly
believe the evidence of my senses.
Instances have come to my ow n knowledge of men literally scour-
ged to death , of women torn from their children, and separated from
them — of estates where an aged negro is not to be seen — where the
females do not form a third part of the population ; nay, of estates
where there is not a single female ; of labour in the time of crop on
^8 MEMOIKS
the sugar properties being frequently twenty continued hours, for
upwards of six months in the year, seldom or never under five, and
of the general impression prevailing on this subject, and generally
acted on by the proprietors, that four hours' sleep is sufficient for a
slave. Were I to bring these cases before the public, without a
shadow of colouring to heighten the effect of the naked outline, so
frightful a detail, I am persuaded, would cause people to marvel that
such things could be in a Christian land — could occur in the present
age — could be done by men w^ho moved in society, who are tolerated
in it, and bear the name and wear the garb of gentlemen ; by
persons, in short, professing the rehgion of Christ, and daring to
couple the sanctity of that name with rapine, murder, and the
living death of slavery.
[We need not here quote further the account of Dr. Madden's
prolonged inquiry into the working of the slave system throughout
Cuba, the general result of which may be gathered from the follow-
ing short extracts from two poems of his written in Cuba.]
THE CUBAN SLAVE-MEECHANT.
These naked wretches, wasted as they are,
And mark'd with many a recent wound and scar,
Are landed boldly on the coast, and soon
Are penn'd, like cattle, in the barricone ;*
Or ranged in line, are sold by parcel there,
Spectres of men ! the picture of despair.
Their owner comes, " the royal merchant " deigns
To view his chatties, and to count his gains.
To him what boots it how these slaves were made,
What wrongs the poor have suffered by his trade !
To him what boots it, if tlie sale is good.
How many perish'd in the fray of blood !
How many wretched beings in each town
Maim'd at the onslaught, or in flight cut down ;
How many infants from the breast were torn,
And frenzied mothers dragged away forlorn !
To him what boots it how the ship is cramm'd ;
How many hundreds in the hold are jamm'd ;
How small the space ; what piteous cries below ;
What frightful tumults in that den of woe ;
What struggling hands in vain are lifted there ;
Or how the lips are parch'd that move in prayer,
Or utter imprecations wild and dread,
On all around, the dying and the dead.
Yet to look down, my God, one instant there,
The shrieks and groans of that live mass to hear !
To breathe that horrid atmosphere, and dwell
But for one moment in that human hell !
♦ A kind of barracks ia vrbich the newly-iciported slavee are placed utttil they are sold.
i)E, E. E. MADDEN. fQ
******
It matters little, if he sell the sound,
How many sick, that might not sell, were drown'd;
How many wretched creature piued away,
Or wasted bodies made their " plash " per day !
They're only negroes !— True, they couut not here ;
Perhaps their cries and groans may count elsewhere ;
And Out! on High may say for these and all,
A price was paid, and it redeem'd from thrall.
God of all Ught and truth, in mercy cause
The men who rule these lands to fear Thy laws,
O'erthrow oppression, stalled in guilty state ;
Raise the poor stranger, despoiled and desolate ;
Reprove the despot and redeem the slave ;
For help there's none, but Thine that here can save.
Thou who canst " loose the fettei'ed in due time,"
Break down this bondage, yet forgive its crime ;
Let truth and justice, fraught with mercy still,
Prevail at last o'er every tyrant's will.
THE CUBAN SUGAR ESTATE.
Here, with two hundred working men, last year,
They boast they made two thousand boxes clear
Of first class sugar — and the boast in one
That tells a tale of murder largely done.
What does it matter here how many lives
Are lost in labour, while the planter thrives,
The Bozal market happily is nigh
And there the planter finds a fresh supply !
^ •;< *
We are not always scourging — by the way,
Tuesday in common is our flogging day ;
At other times we only use the whip
To stir the drones and make the young ones skip.
Then as to food, you may be sure we give
Enough to let the wretched creatures live
The diet's somewhat slender, there's no doubt.
It would not do to let them grow too stout.
;t: iii ^
Nay, said the speaker in a graver tone,
You seem to hear of things but little known ;
You think, no doubt, the IM ay oral's to blame.
He works the negroes thus, and his the shame,
How little know ^-ou of the men who fill
This wretched office, and who loathe it still —
Men who have felt oppression's iron hand.
Or want has driven from their native land,
And forced to take this execrable place
To get their bread — in spite of its disgrace.
Think you for us there's profit
Wrung from the mortal agony and pain
Of sinking strength, of sickness, and despair
We daily witness, and we must not spare ?
Bd Memoiks
Think you for us there's pleasure in the groans
Of mothers listening to the piteous moans
Of wailing infants stretched before their eyes ;
They dare not leave the hoe to hush those cries,
Nor ask the driver for a moment's rest
To soothe the child that's screaming for the breast ?
— Ah, Senor Mio ! briefly I replied,
The words you speak are not to be denied ;
Too well you've done the biddings of your lord
To fail to be detested and abhorred ;
Too much have harassed and opprest the poor
For me to think your system can endure.
Your fields are fak and fertile, I allow,
But no good man can say — " God speed the plough."
There's wealth unfailing in your people's toil ;
'Twould wrong the poor to cry — " God bless the soil:
'Twere asking blood to beg that God would deign
" To give the early and the latter rain."
One prayer indeed can hardly be suppressed, —
God help the slave ! and pity the oppress'd !
CHAPTER XV.
CURAN LIFE AND ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. (CONTINUED).
Dr. Madden's unsparing exposure of the atrocities which were
daily brought officially under his notice in connexion with slavery
in Cuba — necessarily brought him into conflict with the Spanish
authorities, by whom that infam(^us system was connived at and
fostered. By them, therefore, and by the great slave trading in-
terest of the island, he was assailed with an intensity of hatred
which had no effect whatever in altering the line of conduct which
he deemed it his duty to pursue, and in which he was sustained by
the righteousness of his cause, as well as by the approval of the
Government by whom he had been sent out to Cuba. Thus, in
reply to one of the attacks of the Spanish authorities, by whom his
removal was demanded, we find the following letter from Viscount
Palmerston to M. Aguilar, Spanish Minister at London : —
'' Foreign Office, 15th May 1837.
'* The undersigned must express his regret that the zeal and per-
severance in the performance of a public duty, which have obtained
for Dr. Madden the approbation of his own Government, should
not have equally secured him that of the Government of Cuba. . . .
*' Dr. Madden has given indisputable proof of that anxiety and
assiduity in the discharge of difficult duties, without which he would
not be fit for the appointment he holds.
" (Signed) Palmerston,"
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 81
At the conclusion of his mission three years later, Lord John
Russell, then Colonial Secretary, signified his approval of his
conduct : —
" Colonial Office, 31st March 1840.
" His Lordship desires me to inform you that the opportunity of
which you have availed yourself proves how zealous and consistent
your efforts have been for promoting, under all circumstances, the
great object of your mission in the Havana.
. *' (Signed) R. Vernon Smith."
" Colonial Office, 2nd January 1840.
*' His Lordship desires me to express to you his sense of the zeal
and ability with which you have advocated the cause of the negroes
who were brought in the Amistad to the shores of the United
States.
** (Signed) R. Vernon Smith."
The circumstances referred to in the letter last cited, at the time
of their occurrence, gave rise to some international complications,
and long diplomatic correspondence between the British American
and Spanish governments. IMoreover, the incidents alluded to are
in themselves of sufficient interest to deserve record in this memoir.
THE CAPTIVES OF THE AMISTAD.
Early in the month of August 1839, there appeared in the
American newspapers a variety of accounts of a schooner, bound
from Havana to Principe, in the island of Cuba, early in July,
with about twenty white passengers and a large number of slaves,
having been seized by the slaves in the night time, and the
passengers and crew all murdered, except two who had made their
escape in an open boat. About the 20th of the same month, a
strange craft was seen repeatedly on the American coast, which was
believed to be the captured Spanish coaster, in the possession of the
negroes. The U. S. steamer, Fulton, and several revenue cutters
were despatched to seize the so-called pirate craft. In the latter part
of August the " mysterious schooner " was seen near the east end of
Long Island, where a part of the crew came on shore lor water and
fresh provisions, for which they paid with extraordinary profuseness.
Shortly after, the vessel was seen by Captain Gedney, U.S. navy,
in command of the brig Wasldngton, employed on the coast survey,
7
8^
MEMOIRS
who despatched an officer to board and carry her mto the port of New
London. The schooner proved to be the Amistad, Captain Ramon
Ferrer, from Havana, with fifty-four negroes who had been held as
slaves, and two passengers on board. The Spaniards said that after
being out four days, the negroes rose in the night and killed the
captain and a mulatto cook; that the helmsman and anotlier sailor
took to the boat and escaped on shore ; tliat the only two Whites remain-
ing were the said passengers, Montes and Ruiz, who were confined
below until morning ; that Montes, who had been a sea-captain,
was required to steer the ship for Africa : that he steered eastwardly
in the day time, because the negroes could tell his course by the
6un, but put the vessel about in the night. They boxed about some
days in the Bahama Channel, and were several times near the
islands, but the negroes would not allow her to enter any port. No
person appeared on behalf of the Africans, but after this examina-
tion ihey were committed for trial, and meanwhile confined in the
jail at Newhaven. According to their own account they belonged
to the tribe of Mendi, near Sierra-Leone, whence they were kid-
napped by slave -hunters, and after undergoing all the horrors of the
middle passage, were brought to the Havana in a Portuguese
trader. Here they were transferred, still in irons chained to the
lower deck, to the Spanish schooner, Amistad, bound for Principe, a
Cuban port some three hundred miles distant. On this voyage
they managed to free themselves from their shackles, and making
one desperate effort to regain their liberty, overmastered the officers
and crew, and forcing one of the former to take the helm, put the
vessel about, hoping to reach the African coast.
At tlie period this intelligence reached the Havana I was a]>out
to proceed to England on leave of absence. But when I ascertained
that the trial was about to take place of upwards of forty individuals
charged with murder and piracy, as Cuban slaves, whom I knew to
be Bozal Africans recently introduced into Cuba, and therefore
illegally held in slavery there — I determined to proceed to America
at once, and give on their trial the only evidence which I supposed
could be procured for them, with respect to that important fact. In
taking this step I encountered some opposition, and assurance of
disapproval of it, on the part of my superiors, I felt, however, that
I had a duty to perform, and a right to expect it would be
approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Li that
expectation I was not disappointed. Neither had I miscalculated
the importance to the defence of the evidence I had to offer
on that particular point to which I have referred. On my arrival
in New York I was called on by the lawyers for the prisoners,
Messrs. Sedgwick, to make a deposition on the 7th November
1839, whereupon some proceedings respecting the forthcoming trial
■yvere to be founded. The trial at Hartford was postponed. Another
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 83
trial took place. The prisoners were acquitted, and eight months
after were sent back to their own country by the friends of the Anti-
Slavery cause in x\merica.
LIFE AND LITEliARY WORK IN CUBA. POEMS PUBLISHED AND
UNPUBLISHED.
Despite the incessant labours of his Anti-Slavery occupations hi Cuba,
Dr. Madden found time for exploring the natural wonders of that great
island, a large part of the interior of which to the present time still
remains a veritable terra incoynita to European traveUers.* These
journeys through the remote, sparsely populated, and semi-civihzed
mountain districts of Cuba, were by no means facile of performance,
nor in some instances by any means void of personal danger. On
one of these tours of inspection through the slave estates, accom-
panied by his wife, he arrived at nightfcill at a lonely moun-
tain " posada," many miles distant from any other habitation.
Here they were about to ahght when Mrs. Madden, instinctively
warned by something in the aspect of the master of the hostelry
wlio invited them in, turned to her husband, and, although naturally
the most docile of women, suddenly declined to descend from the
volante, and insisted, despite his entreaties, *tn continuing their
wearisome journey through the dark forest road. At last they
reached a farm-house several miles distant, just as the gates were
about being closed for the night, after which, in these regions, there
is no possibility of gaining admission until morning. Here they
remained for the night, and before leaving learned that the place
they had fortunately passed by had earned a pre-eminently evil
repute, even in these wild parts, and that many a traveller who had
entered its portals had thence never emerged alive. Some months
afterwards, the accuracy of the character they thus received of the
den of murder from which they had been rescued providentially, was
too well confirmed by the arrest and condemnation of the owner of
this " posada," for the murder of a traveller who there met the fate
from which they escaped.
During his three years residence in the Havana, Dr. Madden
found in literary pursuits his chief solace from the arduous struggle
on behalf of the interests of humanity in which his official position
involved him with the infamous speculators in stolen men, and the
Spanish Government, by whom they were aided and abetted. In
addition to his Report on the Island of Cuba, amongst the works
thus written in his scanty leisure hours were The Slave Merchant
and The Sugar Estate, two poems of which a few specimens
have been given in a previous chapter ; a volume of Poems by a
* Vide Appendix.
84 MEMOIES
Cuban Slave, translated from tlie Spauisli, and published in 1840 ;
and a smaller volume of original poetry of a religious charac-
ter, entitled Breathings of Prayer in Many Lands, of which
a small edition of only twenty copies was printed in the Havana
in 1838, for private circulation. Of his father's poetical abili-
ties it would not become the editor of this biography to speak.
A sufficient number of his posthumous poems have however been
now published to allow of some judgment on their merits ; and
the present writer has in his possession three large manuscript
volumes containing many of Dr. Madden's still unprinted poems,
which, he ventures to think, should they ever see the light, as
he trusts some of them may yet possibly do, will be found not
unworthy of publicity. From that hitherto unknown Cuban
volume of Breathings of Prayer, may be here cited three short
pieces as specimens of the poetic fervour of their author.
A MAY HYMN.
Ave Maria ! blessed he thy name !
Ave Maria ! Holy ]\Iary hail !
Ave Maria ! every voice proclaim
That glorious greeting — " Full of Grace ; " the same
Angelic strain in ev'ry clime prevail,
Ave Maria! Holy Mary hail!
Ave Maria ! " iSIother of my Lord,"
The chosen temple of incarnate love I
Pure as the Angel who announced the Word ;
Bright as the star, beheld it tirst adored :
Fair as the moons own mildest beams above
Ave Maria ! "full of grace " and love !
Ave Maria ! in this vale of tears,
In time of trouble, in temptations sore,
Thou art the Advocate the Saviour hears !
Oh ! in the hour of death dispel our fears :
Ave Maria ! in that trying hour
Pray for us sinners humbly we implore.
Ave Maria ! blessed Queen of Heaven I
Spouse of the Holy Spirit ! hear our prayer,
Thy Son is God, to whom all power is giv'n.
Star of the Sea ! bright Angel lead us ev'n
Before His throne, and plead for mercy there,
Ave Maria ! Holy Mary hear !
M 0 E N I N G .
Another day ! and yet the last
To thousands of my race —
To thousands who enjo3'"d the past,
Aiid now in Death's embrace,
DR. R. E. MADDEN.
85
Who little thought but yesterday
To meet their God ! and dream'd not they
Of judgment's doom anon,
And when they rose, who had, like me,
Their plans laid out of things to be,
And now are dead and gone.
Another day ! a blessed day
To souls aroused from sin.
Who will not throw its hours away,
But this new day begin.
As if the Lord had lent the time
In mercy to repent of crime,
The last of proffered grace :
And if rejected, never more
To hope for such another hour
Of goodness in its place.
Another day ! a new-born theme
for every creature's praise
To Him, whose mercy seems to beam
In morning's brightest rays.
Oh ! never Lord, that morning dawn,
My waking thoughts shall not be drawn
To Tliy all bounteou- care :
Mv first remembrance shall not be,
JMy God ! My Father ! still of Thee !
And my first duty — prayer !
NIGHT.
The God who is my guide by day,
My guard by night will be.
In danger and in darkness He
Will be rny shield and my defence !
I'll lay me do^^-n, and all nij care
] 11 cast on Him who heareth prayer ;
The place of rest no matter where,
Is not beyond His providence.
It matters not how lone the spot —
How long the night— huw men may plot,
Or foes combine, where friends we not,
My God is my security !
The night as dark as death may seem,
And not one shrouded star may gleam,
And evil things on earth may teem
In night's profound obscurity.
The fallen one may choose the time.
In gloom congenial, to beguile
The soul of man, by ev'ry wile
Of hell's malignant agency.
I'll fear no evil ! for my trust
Is in my God, though seem [ muat
Biit ashes, in His sight, and dust,
I will not doubt His clemency.
86 MEMOIRS
CHAPTER XVI.
ACCOUNT OF THKEE VISITS TO AMERICA, FROM 1833 TO 1840.
Having successfully accomplished his mission in America in 1839,
on behalf of the captives of the Amistad, Dr. Madden obtained
leave of absence from the duties of his office in the Havana.
Before noticing his return home to England we must, however,
interrupt the regular course of this biography to interpolate from
manuscript notes an account of his three visits to the United
States (of which this was the last), and believe that these
observations will, even at this distance of time, be found of interest
to those familiar with the present condition of that great and mar-
vellously progressive country. In the first few paragraphs of
this narrative of his visits to America, some of the incidents
alluded to in an earlier chapter will be found briefly recapitulated, —
Appointed by Lord Stanley to be Special Magistrate of the Island
of Jamaica preparatory to the Emancipation Act coming into opera-
tion on the 1st of August 1834, I sailed from Falmouth on board
the government packet EclijJse (Captain Griffin), on the 8th day of
October 1833. My fellow passengers were Major and Mrs. McGregor,
Captain Everard, R.M ; Mr. Norcott, and Mr. Coleridge, also newly-
appointed Stipendiary Magistrates for the Island of Jamaica. We
arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, on the 8th of November 1833, after
a voyage of thirty-three days. Subsequently I was sworn in before
the Mayor of Kingston, and appointed by Lord Mulgrave, the
Governor of the Island, to St. Andrew's, but was afterwards
removed to Kingston, the most important district in the Island.
Was present at Spanish Town the 1st of August, having accompanied
Lady Mulgrave to the House of Assembly when Lord Mulgrave
pronounced the celebrated declaration of the emancipation of the
slaves of that island, as well as of all the Ihitish islands in the
West Indies. To have witnessed the memorable event of negro
emancipation in the West Indies ; to have taken a part in the pre-
paratory and the succeeding proceedings for successfully carrying
into effect that great measure, can never fail to be a source of pride
and satisfaction to me. After that remarkable event in our Colonial
history, I remained in Jamaica until the month of November
1834, when I resigned my office there. On the loth of that month
I embarked at Kingston for New York, on board the American
packet Orbit, Captain Mead. The best view of Jamaica, and by
far the most exhilarating, is decidedly the last. On the 18th of
November we were abreast of Cuba. On the 19th we proceeded
DE. R. R. MADDEN.
through the windward passage, hauled close along the western ex-
tremity of St. Domingo ; passed Cape Kicholas on the 21st,
Heneaga on the 22nd, Cayco on the 23rd, and Turks Island, Cape
Mayaguago on the 25th, off Att wood's Island, about forty miles to
eastward of the Bahama's, where Columbus first landed.
On December the 6th, the highlands close to New York were seen,
and the light off Sandy Hook the same night. We were only
fifteen miles off the coast when the southwest wind all at once
began to blow a hard gale, which increased in violence towards
nightfall, and drove us to sea upwards of a hundred miles
off the coast. During the voyage I took from the ship's log books
an account of all the passages The Orbit had made to and from
America and the West Indies. The average duration was twenty
days from the latter, and from the United States twenty -four days.
The passage, however, has been accomplished in twelve days :
the distance being 1,500 miles, and the passage money a hundred
dollars. On the 8th of December 1834, we arrived in New York, and
received a pressing invitation to take up our abode in the house of
our fellow passenger, Mr. Seymour, a gentleman of comic powers
of no ordinary merit, wliich had gained for him the designation of
the American Mathews. JMy wife and myself accepted his hospi-
table invitation and passed some agreeable days with him. We
then became inmates of a well-known boardhig-house kept l^y Mrs.
Green, at the rate of six: dollars each day, thirty shillings each for
board and lodging. I remained in the United States upwards of
two months. After spending a week in New York, I left my wife
there and made a tour to tlie southward, visiting Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, New Jersey, Virginia, the district of Columbia, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and Washington.
On Sunday afternoon, the 22nd December 1834, 1 attended service
at the church of the negroes in Anthony-street. All the persons
present, with the exception of myself and the minister, a Mr.
Bentley, were negroes or mulattos. The people of colour are ex-
cluded from all places of worship in New York, except, as I am
proud to say, the Roman Catholic churches. I had experience
myself on the occasion now referred to that it is by no means
safe for a white man to be seen in one of the places of worship
set apart for negroes. I happened to be accompanied from my
boarding-house by a very respectable man of colour, to whom I had
a letter of introduction from Jamaica. As I walked along I observed
people turning back, staring, and murmuring, but I took no notice
of them, and entered the church of the banned race. When service
was over, and the congregation, consisting of about two hundred
well-dressed people of colour of both sexes, came out, I no sooner
made my appearance than I Avas assailed by a mob of fifty or
sixty persons, with cries of '' No amalgamation;" "No Aboli-
88 MEMOXRS
tionists ; " Down with all incendiary friends of niggers, &c., &c."
I treated this brutal conduct with laughter, which certainly
was not expressive of my feelings, for these were indeed of such
j^rofound contempt as banished all sense of fear ; but I did not feel
by any means at my ease for the safety of the poor man who was
with me, and I made him remain with me till the mob dispersed.
I am sorry to have to say that tbe sermon that was preached in
this " Nigger Church," as it was contemptuously called, was sadly
mixed up with as virulent abuse of the doctrines and Church of
Rome as was ever delivered even m an Irish Protestant church,
and that is saying a great deal. Nemesis must take a special
delight in watching over the destiny of the Institution of Slavery.
The slaves are not more degraded and debased by it than their
masters, and, strange to say, the inhabitants of the free States
of the North in which slavery has been abohshed, detest the people
of colour and their descendents, who now are free, with a degree of
rancorous animosity that is almost incredible. Though slavery has
been done away with in the State of New York, still negroes are not
suffered to associate with white people, to eat or drink or travel with
them, or even to sit side by side in the same church or theatre :
and, in short, are treated in the public streets and in aU places of
resort witli insolent contumely and frequently with brutal violence.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN NEW YORK.
The New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in Barclay-
street, which I visited, accompanied by President Duer of the
University, was founded in 1807. The number of students in the
year preceding my visit in 183 1 was one hundred and sixty. The
expense of attendance on the necessary medical courses for three
winter courses is three hundred and fifteen dollars, and fee on gradua-
tion twenty-five dollars. The principal surgeon in New York is
Dr. Valentine Motte ; another eminent surgeon is Mr. Bushe, an
Irishman of great skill and large practice, who has been eight years
in New York. I heard Dr. Motte lecture on surgery. There was
a good class of about one hundred students, attentive young men,
far more orderly than medical students usually are in England or
Ireland. The most enlightened men in New York, or indeed in
any part of America I visited, were members of the medical pro-
fession. Those I met with would certainly well bear comparison
with the medical men of any European country. I met nearly all
the eminent men of the profession at a party given by Dr. Delafield
on the occasion of the marriage of Dr. Wilkes. This gentleman
was the grand-nephew of the famous John Wilkes of notoriety in
DE. E. R. MADDEN. 80
London last century, and his father was a highly respected medical
practitioner in New York.
At a conversazione given in New York in January 1835, by the
President of the College of Physicians, I met Dr. Watson, of Spa
Fields celebrity in 1817, connected with the Cato-street conspiracy,
who contrived to escape the fate of Thistlewood and his other
associates by flight to America. The President pointed out to me
a good-looking, middle aged gentleman of a thoughtful aspect :
" Observe," he said, " that gentleman. He is a physician from the
old country practising here, not very extensively, but sufficiently to
enable him to live respectably. He was engaged in politics in his
own country, but he has the good sense to abstain from all political
agitations here. He is a well-ordered man of good conduct, unob-
trusive and retiring in his habits. Now let me ask you," continued
the President, " do you think the imperial interests of the old
country, or those of society there, have suffered any injury by Dr.
Watson not having been hanged, as he assuredly would have been
if he had fallen into the hands of Lord Castlereagh and his col-
leagues ? " *' I have always," I replied, "agreed in the opinion which
an Enghsh writer has well expressed, viz. : ' that the worst account
you can turn a man to is putting him to death.' It neither serves
the man, the State, nor the society he belongs to, to strangle
him like a dog or to butcher him by chopping off his head for com-
mitting high treason. Some day, and the sooner the better, the
world will, I trust, discover that hanging criminals has no effect
in deterring others from crime, and that society is not really
served by visiting offences, however atrocious, by capital punishment,
which seems to me to be inflicted more for the gratification of our
own feelings of resentment or of fear than for its protection."
In reference to the peculiar influence of the climate of North
America on the growth and development of tlie human body, Dr.
Smith said : — " The tendency of human growth in America, amongst
the white races at least, is to shoot upwards. TaU men are much
more common in America than in England. Fat men, and those
of much muscular and glandular development, are much less fre-
quent here than on the other side of the Atlantic. The glanduLir
system of females especially is unfavourably influenced by our
cHmate. Beautiful faces in the very young, and up to the age of
twenty-five, are common enough, but fine busts, large hips, and
round limbs, are very rarely met with. The pallor of the complexion
of women in this country is another striking peculiarity, and in every
respect they appear to be influenced more by the climate of this
country than men. Moreover, they fade sooner, and more suddenly
than the women of any European country. The flower of their beauty
has great loveliness and fragrance while it lasts, but it lives and
flourishes for too short a time,"
90 MEMOIRS
I visited the Historical Society Library in New York, in the same
house as the Lyceum, accompanied by Mr. Duer and Dr. Francis,
and saw there some very vahiable historical documents — the manu-
script journals of the English House of Commons from 1650 to
1658, comprising Parliamentary records of the most eventful period
of Cromwell's career. No copy of these, it is stated, exists
in England. In the library of the Historical Society there is a
cast from a masque, taken after death, of the too well-known
Thomas Paine. The forehead is that of a badly constituted intel-
lect— the physiognomy is brutal and sneering, with strong traits of
sensuality. The eyes must have been small ; the nose is hooked,
large and fleshy, a sort of condor's beak overhanging a villainously
animal mouth.
THEATKICAL, LITERARY, AND SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW YORK.
New York theatricals are not in a very flourishing condition.
There is little taste for what is called in England the legitimate
drama. Extravaganza, melodramatic pieces, and ludicrous burlesque
comedies take the public taste. I have on several occasions
observed in New Y^'ork theatres that comic acting, which is considered
of first rate excellence in England, and which never fails to amuse
English audiences, is not much appreciated in America. I saw
Sheridan Knowles play in the " Hunchback " to a good house and he
was simply endured ; but had reason to be content that he was not
yawned down, as I have seen far better English actors in American
theatres. There was nothing, however, in the dress or dances
on the stage or in the demeanour of the audience for the
delicate susceptibilities and refinement of a Mrs. Trollope to feel
hurt at. In the Bowery Theatre, where no ladies of any re-
spectable pretensions are to be seen, the rage at the time of my
visit was the celebrated Mr. Rice, the original " Jim Crow." I
had to endure seven encores of the eternal "Jim Crow" song
and dance in one evening. The plays I saw performed at this
theatre were vulgar and stupid. Nevertheless they pleased the
audience.
Whilst in New Y^ork I made the. acquaintance of several of the
leadiiigjournalistsof the city, gentlemen whose high literary culture
and ability would have reflected honour on the press of any country.
Others of a different grade and caliltre were however to be also
met with, and unfortunately it would be difficult to exaggerate the
influence of even these misrepresentatives of the fourth estate
in the American Republic, who think, talk, write and act like men
of a privileged order. The most insuperably pen-proud, thin-skinned,
DR. K. R. MADDEN. 91
and swaggering of all this class is the redoubtable Colonel Webb, the
editor of the New York Courier. This gentleman devotes his
talents to artistic and theatrical criticism. He does the drama
— and the players as well as the plays — and takes them un-
der the sole and exclusive tyranny of his protection. A few
weeks ago Mrs. Wood having unhappily offended this great
Jupiter Tonans of the Press, the Colonel put forth his thunder in
the shape of a fulminatory leader denouncing the Woods, and call-
ing on the mob to repair that night to the Park Theatre and drive
the vagabond strangers from the boards. The gallant Colonel
attended the theatre, was cheered by his rabble, saw a defenceless
actress hooted from the stage ; but he had not the gratification of
seeing the house torn down, because the manager, terrified into sub-
mission to the vox populi, announced that the Woods had been
dismissed, and never should appear again before them.
The ill-influence of newspaper literature of the class j ust referred
to on the expression of public opinion in America is occasionally
very remarkable. Thus in two of the daily papers of that time, the
following choice compliments were exchanged. The editor of the
Hartford Review called one of the fraternity in that city " a scoundrel,
a liar, and a vagabond ! " and he of the North River Times thus
apologized for not noticing the attacks of the Jeffersonian upon his
paper : — " The very character of the miserable poltroon who conducts
this sheet is sufficient cailse for our silence. To say the least, he
is but one shade removed from a bull-frog, either in intellect or
appearance. A lazy, lounging, lousy, lying loafer, who has neither
brains to conceive, nor heart to feel — a mere lump of shapeless and
almost hfeless flesh, which, like a go-cart, will move just where
some propelling power directs."
In June 183(), I met in New York Colonel McCarthy, who
fought his cousin with muskets, muzzle to muzzle, after proposing
to be placed on a barrel of gunpowder and his antagonist on another
and then to blow each other up. The former killed his antagonist
on the spot. How he escaped is wonderful. I saw him parading
Broadway, attracting the public attention by the singulaiity of his
appearance, his hair hanging down in long flowing curls over his neck.
This detestable fashion of courting notoriety on the part of men
who have signalized themselves by some desperate action or atrocious
savagery was at that time commonly tolerated in America. Within
a week I noticed two of these honourable murderers starring it
in Broadway, evidently much to their own satisfaction and the
admiration of the public. A few nights afterwards I was pointed out a
young man carousing in \\'indhert's tavern, who had shot a gentle-
man dead in the room where he was then drinking.
o
Among persons remarkable, either on account of their own
position, talents, and acquirements, or their celebrity in other
MEMOIRS
countries, wliom I have met in New York, I may mention a
daughter of Ladj Edward Fitzgerald by her second marriage in
Holland with Mr. Pilcain, an American Consul in that country ;
Sheridan Knowles, who was then playing at the Bowery ; Clara
Fisher, Miss Jarman, Mr. Booth, and Charles Mathews. Among
American literary and scientific men I may mention Mr. Bryant,
Dr. Channing, Judge Emmett, of the Supreme Court, and his
])rother, Thomas Emmett, the distinguished sons of Thomas Addis
Emmett ; William Lloyd Garrison, Ai'thur Tappan, Hallett, Wilhs,
Mr. President Duer, Dr. Motte, Dr. Bushe. In various other cate-
gories, were Mrs. Betterton, widow of an English actor of that name,
the father of Mrs. Glover, the celebrated actress. (Mrs. Betterton I
found in the poor house of New York, her husband had died in London
in the house of Mrs. Glover in his 83rd year). Jack Downing, Colonel
Webb, and Captain Kiley, the African traveller. 'J'he latter was an
American mariner, who had been shipwrecked on the W^est Coast of
Africa in 1815, had been made captive, carried into the interior to
Timbuctoo and dealt with as a slave, and, finally, after incredible
sufferings, had succeeded in effecting his liberation, a mere skeleton
weighing less than ninety-eight pounds, as he asserts in a narrative
of his sufferings, published in London some years ago.
VISIT TO WASHINGTON.
I SET out from New York to Washington on the 22nd January
1835, and proceeded by steamboat to Albany, where I went by rail-
way to Philadelphia, a journey of sixty miles. Philadelphia is a
fine old-fashioned, somewhat sombre-looking town, with several
public buildings of a striking kind. There are many old families
of the best class of society long established here, and the social
atmosphere is more like that of Cheltenham or St. Leonard's
than that of any American town I visited. Joseph Bonaparte
was then residing in the vicinity of this place, and Fanny
Kemble, married to Pierce Butler, an American gentleman of
Irish extraction, was also living six miles from the city. From
Philadelphia I proceeded to Baltimore, a journey of one hun-
dred and six miles over execrable roads, in fifteen hours, for ten
dollars. From Baltimore to Washington, a distance of thirty-six
miles, I paid three dollars. At Washington I stopped at (Jadsey's
celebrated monster Hotel, the charge for board and lodging being
two dollars and a half a day. I sat down to dinner with about one
hundred and fifty persons, including several members of Congress,
all dispatching with marvellous quickness an extraordinary con-
glomeration of viands of various kinds on the same plate. The
silence was awful in the way of tallying, but the clatter of plates,
knives and forks was stunning. I do not think that any European
BE. E. E. M-LDDEN. 93
people give their stomaclis so much undue work as the Americans.
The etfects of this holting custom are to a medical man exceedingly
obvious in the suffused sallow complexion of too many of the men,
though in these cases the tobacco chewing custom no doubt has
also much to say to their cachectic appearance.
The capitol of Washington, is a noble building of white marble,
admirably situated in the centre of converging avenues, and in
internal decoration as well as in external aspect, is in every respect
worthy of the country of whose sovereign legislature it is the
seat. No less imposing are the splendid buildings of the War and
Treasury Offices and of other State Departments. The beau-ideal
of American architecture is — vastness. And it must be admitted
that there are many structures in Washington and New York more
striking for their spaciousness than for architectural beauty of effect.
Washington is the most remarkable city I have ever seen for the
enormous intervals between blocks of buildings ; this is very conspicu-
ous in the principal street in the city, which is more than one
half as wide agahi as Sackville-street, Dubhn. The Americans pride
themselves greatly on the unparalleled breadth of this avenue. Their
architects and surveyors seem, however, to have no adequate idea of
the limited nature of the locomotive organs of human beings,
building public edifices and laying out streets that might be in-
tended for Patagonian giant races.
At the table d'hote at Gadsey's I made the acquaintance of several
well-informed and very agreeable people, as well as of some disagree-
able, disputatious folks — men to whom it is a pleasure to wrangle
and jangle. One of these gladiatorial recreations at the table d'hote
a day or two ago before my arrival had led to a duel. There was a
little conversation about it, but very httle, notwithstanding that
one of the combatants on this occasion was shot through the body. I
had a dispute myself, although fortunately of a less tragic character,
at dinner with one young man who certainly manifested his
dislike to the old country and everyone connected wdth it in
unmistakable terms. On Sunday morning I found a good many
gentlemen congregated in the bar of the hotel, with their backs
to the stove. A member of Congress pulled a letter out of his
pocket and said : " This damned letter will be the death of
me. I've been sent all wrong from post to pillar, back'ard and
forreds, all the morning, going from Pontius to Pilate, and from
Pilate to Pontius, and never found the right man after all. This
gait of going wont do for me, I guess." Another gentleman asked
a tall, gaunt component part of the collective wisdom of the Senate,
"had he been to Chun-h?" " No sir," he rephed, "when I am
at home I go to Church at the head of my family, but when I
am away I make a scruple of imposing on strangers, so I don't go."
While I was in Washington in January and February 18iJ5, I
94 MEMOIRS
frequently visited tlie House of Representatives, the proceedings of
which, as far as decorum, order, and gravity of deportment were
concerned, appeared to me to have the advantage of those of the
Enghsh House of Commons. There was a question of impor-
tance under discussion during several days of my sojourn
there — that of the Post Olfice Administration. In this debate
I had the pleasure of hearmg some of the most eminent American
orators of the day — Clay, Webster, Calhoun, King, Clayton,
Benton, Preston, and Van Buren.
WASHINGTON S TOMB.
One of my principal reasons for going to Washington was to
make a pilgrimage to the tomb of the founder of the great
Republic of America. Of all modern heroes, George Washington
was ever regarded by me with the most sincere admiration of his
noble qualities, considered in the aggregate. But great as my ad-
miration for him was, still, as an Abolitionist, I am very sensible of
one misdeed of his against humanity and justice, viz. : — his
making no effort from the beginning to the end of his career for the
abolition of slavery in the United States. I was led to the
tomb of Washington by a quondam slave of his widow, who
survived her husband only ten months, leaving no children.
(Washington, Jefferson, at)d Jackson were all childless Presidents).
The old man who conducted me to the grave of his former master (for
he was brought up in the house of George Washington, and to use
his own words, was 'Mr. George's waiting boy'), had been bequeath-
ed to a nephew of Mrs. Washington's; he next became the property
of the representative of that nephew — a Judge Washington — his
present owner. I expressed my astonishment at this statement, as
I had heard that Mrs. Washington had followed the example of
lier husband, who on his deathbed performed an act of justice,
and by his will declared that all his slaves should be set at
liberty. The poor negro stood staring me in the face for some seconds
with a strange exj^ression of wonder at the ignorance of such a
supposition. The General had left sixty slaves, but he freed them
all by his will. His wife when she died also left nearly as many,
and those that survived continued slaves. When I questioned the
old negro about his recollections of Washington's appearance and
habits, he said he was only a boy when he was brought into the
house to wait on "Mr. George," who was always very kind to him
and the other servants. My informant never saw but one good like-
ness of the General, and that was painted on a French pitcher of
common ware. He used to keep over the chimney-piece in the
DE. E., R. MADDEN. 05
library, the key of tUo Bastille of Paris, wliicli had been given
to him by General Lafayette.
The distance from Washington to Mount Vernon (in the vicinity of
the first President's place of abode and now his last rest) is sixteen
miles. Never was a great man honoured in his grave with a meaner
monument than the illustrious Washington. The bricks of which it
is constructed were made for a tomb whish he had intended for his
own remains near his house, and where he was first buried. He did
not live, however, to complete this, and it was only in 1830 that his
ashes were removed and placed beneath the present unsightly monu-
ment,in front of which we read the following inscription in large letters —
" The tomb of the Washington family."
This inscription certaiidy is not calculated to harmonise with the
feelings of those who come hither from distant lands to visit the tomb
of George Washington. Not one word in relation totheman — the fore-
most man of his day in the world — is to be found on that monument.
PRESIDEI^T JACKSON.
On my arrival in Washington in January 1835, I called at the
White House, on General Jackson, to whom I had brought letters of
introduction. I visited the palace of the chief magistrate of tlie great
Republic at noon, and was surpriseil to find no appearance of Court
life about the place — no sentinels at the entrance, no state servants
in grand liveries in porch or hall. The President's residence is a fine
mansion, handsomely furnished, yet in fit keeping with the form of
government and tlie genius of the nation. There was free ingress for
every one decently attired who chose to see the President. The
only person visible when I approached was a gentleman in plain
attire, thin, and somewhat stooped with age, smoking leisurely
a short meerchaum, on the verandah in front of the house. I went
up to this person, who appeared to me to be one of the officials of
the palace, and said I was a native of Ireland recentlv arrived in
America, who had letters to present to his Excellency from
some friends of his in the West Indies, atid inquired if he
was then visible. Whereupon the gentleman raised his hat, and
addressing me in the tone, and with the deportment of a French
courtier of the olden time, said — " I am General Jackson. At all
times I am glad to receive visitors from the old country, and most
happy to see gentlemen from Ireland, — the land which gave birth
to my fathers." I soon found few themes could have had greater in-
terest for General Jackson than that of the present condition of
Ireland, and the result of the experiment in the British West
Indies of the abolition of slavery. These topics the President was
pleased to discuss with me whilst walking up and down the ter-
96 MP^MOIRS
race for nearly an hour, and notwithstanding the divergence of our
opinions on the subject of slavery, nothing could be more gracious
than the reception I met with from the brave old soldier of
New Orleans celebrity in the war of 1814. On the fol-
lowing day I dined with him at the early liour of four
o'clock, though it was a dinner of State, at which there were
twenty-two persons. Ten of the guests were ladies. General
Jackson did the honours of his table with all the ease and polished
courtesy of a man whose life had been spent in the highest circles
of old-world society. His appearance was intellectual, prepossess-
ing, and dignified. The dinner was in the best French style, and
the attendance excellent, but no servants in livery. He did me the
honour of talking a good deal to me throughout the evening, and
spoke with no slight degree of vivacity of the affairs of France,
and of the controversy then going on concerning certain pecuniary
claims put forward by the French government, and urged
with an amount of importunate energy that irritated the United
States government, and which was apparently on the eve of term-
inating in war. When the President warmed on this subject
he said : —
*' I thought myself done with the sword, and never likely to un-
sheath it more. But if things come to the worst, and we are
forced into war, I am quite ready to take the field again as I was
when younger, to walk over — the invaders of our soil — at New
Orleans." The veteran lost his stoop for a ffw seconds, his eyes
brightened, and his grey hairs, it seemed to me, bristled uj) momen-
tarily, as he strutted forward a few paces from the fireplace repeat-
ing the words — " Just as ready as ever to ' walk over ' any enemy
of my country." This explosion of the expiring energies of an old
soldier was perfectly natural in its enthusiasm, there was no affec-
tation in it.
After we bad discussed the subject of the emancipation of the
slaves in the British West Indies, I said, en resume of my views: —
"The sooner, General, you adopt a similar measure in the United
States the better. It would be a fitting finale of a great career
like yours to connect it with such an act of emancipation." The
President was standing with his back to the fire when I said this.
He burst out laughing, and addressing his guest on either side,
said — " This gentleman has just come from the West Indies, where
the British have been emancipating their slaves. He recommends
me to make myself famous by following their example. Come here,
Donaldson (turning round to his private secretary), put the
poker in the fire, bring in a barrel of gunpowder, and when I am
placed on it give the red poker to tbe Doctor, and he will make me
famous in the twirdvling of an eye." A lady proposed that Mr.
Donaldson should be blown up first, as the sacrifice of his fame
BT^. E. li. MADDEX. 97
would be so much the greater — he had been lately adding to his
stock of slaves. The Secretary however excused himself on the
ground of his inferior position, and the fact that he unfortunately
at that moment held oidy forty slaves.
I subsequently had several other interviews with the President, and
Avas never in the company of any man v/ho left a more pleasing im-
pression on my mind. I had heard him spoken of as a rough soldier,
a strong partisan politician, overbearing and unjust towards his
opponents, but I found him a courteous gentleman, full of quaint
humour, and of a kindly and tolerant nature. His patriotism Avas
earnest and unselfish, and seemed to rest on a conviction of the
advantages of American institutions and the benefits which their
influence was destined to extend to other nations. To his mind
the accomplishment of Bishop Berkley's prophecy (published in
1772), seemed not so remote as some people imagined —
" Westward the tide of empire wends its way ;
The four tirst acts already past,
The fifth shall close the di-ama and the day —
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
He justly prided himself on " the obstinacy of his resist-
ance " to the proposed incorporation of a Bank of the United States.
This measiu-e Jackson saw, if carried into effect, would give
such a preponderance to ' the moneyed interest ' in the States, that
the Government ultimately would come under the corrupting in-
iluence and control of tlie stockjobbers and financiers of Wall-street
and its purlieus. Jackson terminated his career, useful to his
country and honourable to himself, in 1846, twelve years after
my acquaintance with him, and died on his estate in Tennessee,
Avhere he had resided in the retirement of a private citizen.
VISIT TO CANADA.
Ox December the 29th, 1834, I started from New York on a
tour in Upper Canada, which, though extending over a period of
six weeks, Avas made at an expense not exceeding sixty pounds
sterling. The journey from Jersey to (reneva, on the frontier of
Canada, a distance of 25u miles, was accomplished by sleigh
travelling in 73 hours, via ]Milford, Montrose, and Ithaca. On
tiiis last day's journey I had the misfortune to have '-'a saint" of
Ithaca forced on me. A more uncomfortable travelling companion
than this zealous minister cannot be conceived. He hardly gave us an
hour's respite, bawhng psalms at the top of his voice as if he
8
98 MEMOIRS
was possessed by a legion of shouting devils. I remonstrated with
him in my medical capacity on the imminent peril his health was
incurring from his incessant vocal labours. But it had no effect.
He only made some absurd remark concerning the necessity of
solemnizing the new year with songs of spiritual joy. Anything
sadder than these dolefully monotonous tunes I never heard before.
On my route to Toronto from Jersey I passed through Penn-
sylvania and New York States. In Peiniyslvania I crossed through
several cultivated districts which a dozen years pre\'iously had
been portions of the forest, and where log houses as yet were the
only habitations of the white population, before whom the red
man, little by little, had fallen back into the wilderness. Log
houses were shown to me on newly-cleared grounds, probably the
destined sites of future cities, which had been erected in four
days, at an expense of about tliirty dollars. The land along the
line of route from Geneva to Canada, when cleared and provided
with a rude house of this kind and farm offices, sells on an
average for forty dollars an acre. An intelligent Pennsylvanian
told me that, throughout Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the State
of New York, the labourers, the majority of whom are either Irish
or Scotch, earn about six shillings a day. In the towns, wages
were a dollar per day.
In January 1834, \vhen I visited Upper Canada, the Governor
of the province was Sir John Colborne (subsequently Lord Seaton).
During my sojourn at Toronto I was indebted to some letters of
introduction for more than the ordinary civility and hospitality that
nearly all visitors to Toronto received at the hands of this estimable,
able, and excellent man. At dinner at Government House I met
several British officers on half-pay, settlers in that province, who
had either purchased or had land assigned to them on terms that
made such assignments all but free grants. Nevertheless, these
military settlers seemed generally far from successful. The pre-
vailing complaint of those who had families was of the hardships
that ladies had to put up with from the want of servants, society,
and amusements, as well as the disadvantages from want of schools
for their children. Next to the lack of servants, that of doctors
appeared to be the want most felt by these colonists. The
number of accidents met with by them in clearing the forest land
was a frequent theme of conversation, and though jocularly carried
on, and with a spice of American humourous exaggeration, there were
fficts enough narrated to show that these accidents were no jokes
in a community so largely dependant on every individual's manual
labour. One quandom mihtary man — gave an account of his nearly
severing his hand with a hatchet while felling trees. Another
ex-militaire spoke of his next neighbour having cut his foot off
instead of a stump of a tree he was st liking at, and this story
DiJ. R. R. MADDEN. 99
was improved on bj a gallant captain with an Irish name, by an
assurance that the wounded man was a particular friend of his,
" a very jolly, plucky fellow, and after the accident he actually
walked home with his foot — in his pocket ! " On a subsequent
occasion, in speaking with Sir John Colborne on the subject of
emigration to Canada, he said that generally speaking, gentlemen
farmers made bad colonists, but military men the worst of all :
whilst old sailors made far better settlers and accommodated them-
selves more readily to the many difficulties of their new position.
Canadian scenery is exceedingly monotonous. The one eternal
forest meets the eye in all directions — all pine ; nothing but pin
> !
Every one and every thing in nature pines in the remote back-
wood settlements of Canada. British energy pines there ; youth
and beauty pine there in sohtude and seclusion. The old repine,
the middle-agf'd are supine, and I opine so would I become, were I
long to remain there.
THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
Those who desire to visit the grandest sight in the world at
the best time for seeing it, should set out for Niagara, as I did,
from New York about the commencement of January. There had
been severe frost for some weeks previously, and I found the steep
banks of the river below the Falls covered with transparent icicles
and patcbes of sleet studded with " icy brilliants." The trees on
these banks in close proximity with the Falls, wherever the spray
of the tumbling waters had frozen on them looked like tall arbores-
cent pillars, whilst each branch and twig, studded with pendant
icelets, streamed with iridiscent light as they trembled in the
breeze over the edge of the torrent. The river at the Falls and
above them, is about three quarters of a mile ; its depth there is
250 feet. Lake Erie is 290 miles in length. It terminates in
Niagara river, which is thirty-five miles long, forming the wonder-
ful cascade, and falling perpendicularly down at Is^'iagara 161
feet on the American side; and then from the Falls to Lewiston,
104 feet, and gradually flows from Lewiston to Lake Ontario,
thence finally discharges itself through the St. Laurence into the
Atlantic, 710 miles distant. Those inland seas, with their tribu-
tary streams, cover a surface of 150,000 square miles, and contain
nearly half the fresh wattn- on the surface of the globe.
In October 1829, Sam Patch, of adventurous notoriety, jum])ed
twice, in the presence of thousands of spectators, from the top of a
ladder, into the eddy below the falls. On this occasion he survived
his mad enterprise. He perished afterwards, however, in making
a similar attempt at the FaUs of Rochester. A Member of tho
8 *
100 MEMOIRS
Society of Friends, :\Ir. Francis Abbott, who liad travelled on foot
over various eastern countries, and whom I had known in Egypt in
1827 or '28, terminated his singular career in " the hell of waters"
at Niagara, on the 1st June 1831, having resided in complete
seclusion on Goat Island for two years previously. "When some
years before I made his acquaintance in the East, he appeared
a cultured and amiable person, but yet even then I thought
him partially insane. ]\Iy friend, Dr. Hodgskins of Finsbury-square
was of the same opinion, and he had an intimate knowledge of
his family in Bristol. One of his sisters was as accompHshed and
eccentric as her unfortunate brother.
The descent down the bank on the Canadian side being ex-
ceedingly steep, narrow, and iinprovided with any side rail, and
bordering on an awful precipice, is extremely difficult in frosty
weather. One false step, and a short shift and Sam Patch's fate
at Eochestcr Falls must be the inevitable result. From what I
saw of the way people were aided to descend, I thought it safer to
go alone. I was kindly informed that in all probability I never
would come up again, and was recommended to- leave directions as
to what I wished to have done with my luggage. I told them they
might send it down the river after me if I happened, contrary to
my wishes, to take that course. I managed however to get down
the steep glassy surface of the bank. When I was safely planted
on a ledge of rock on a level with the river, the first view of the
face of the falhng torrent — that greatest of nature's marvels — was
glorious beyond conception. For some time I remained en-
joying this grand spectacle, and felt a gratification in having no
one to speak to or to be spoken to by ; and, indeed, when I ascended
it was some time before I could find words to give even the most
faint idea of the impressions made on me by these mighty cataracts.
All that remained for me was " to imprint them where alone
they can be represented — on my mind." Nevertheless, the night
did not pass over before I added my small contribution of very in-
different verse to the large stock of that commodity that owes its
origin to feelings of admiration of too deep a nature for sober prose.
LINES WRITTEN AT NIAGARA.
Rome, " the Eternal City," have I seen ;
Have stood where Ilium was, and is no more ;
Where Egypt's grandeur moulders too have been,
Where her " time-honoured " pyramids still soar :
The sacred ruins Zion yet weeps o'er,
Tentjra's glory and Saccara's gloom,
The gorgeous piles on Philue's dreary shore —
These I have seen, and wonder still had room
jFor vaster thoughtPi but here at last is overcome.
DR. T7. Vi. :\rADDF,\. 101
The wand'ring star that rules the traveller's fate,
And lures the weary pilgrim on his way,
(My fitful guide in many a clime of late)
Left expectation still full scope to stnxy ;
But if that changeful sta-r might fix its ray,
Earth's wonder here has surely reached the goal :
Can art with all its miracles display,
Or scene or sounds like these ? — be still my soul !
'Tis thus that works like this should nature's God extol.
VOYAGE FROM NEW YORK TO LIVERPOOL IN FEBRUARY 1835.
On the 3rd February 1835, I embarked with iny wife at New
York, on board the Constitution, a cotton-ladeii vessel of 600
tous, bound for Liverpool. On the eighth day after our departure
a melancholy catastrophe occurred. One of the crew, who during
the voyage had been frequently harslily treated, and beaten by the
first mate, one morning, attempting to escape from the violence of
this man, ran up the rigging, pursued by his assailant, and
when he got up to the cross-trees, exclaiming " now catch me if
you can," jumped overboard and perished, not one effort being
made to save him, and not one word of rebuke spoken by the
captain to the ruffian who had caused his death. I observed this
unfortunate young sailor particularly when lie came on board at
New York, and although his looks were somewhat wild and excited
like those of a man recovering from delirium tremens, nevertheless
he seemed to go through his duties properly. A fesv days after-
wards however, on going on deck, I found him gagged, his hands
and knees tied up in a most painful position, and blood coming from
his mouth, caused by the tightness of the cords by which the gag
was fixed. I then went down to the captain and endeavoured to
show that this atrocious proceeding might be attended in England
with unpleasant consequences to liim if reported to the authorities.
The result was he went on deck and had the man released. After
this things went on quietly for a little time until at length the
catastrophe occurred which I have described. This and other some-
what similar ocourrences that I have witnessed may probably be
primarily attributed to the mode of shipping sailors in vogue in the
seaports of the United States, and elsewhere When a vessel
comes into port, after the crew are paid off, generally the men go into
boarding-houses kept by a low class of publicans, where they re-
main till all their wages are gone. These landlords, with whom
contracts are usually made for supplying masters of vessels out-
ward bound, with sufficient hands for the voyage, having too
frequently in the first instance well fleeced their unfortunate cus-
tomers, then ply them freely with liquor until they are intoxicated,
and in this state poor Jack, often witliout any outfit, even
for a mid-winter passage across the wild Atlantic, is conveyed
102 M t M 0 I R S
on board a vessel about to depart. At starting, nearly our M^bole
crew thus came on board drunk, some almost senseless, others fight-
ing, and the mates tumbling them down the forecastle steps.
An institution for the proper accommodation of discharged seamen
in New York and Liverpool, not eleemosynary but self-supporting,
would be productive of obvious advantages not only to sailors, but
also to masters and owners of merchant vessels and the safety of
their passengers.
CHAPTER XVII.
SECOND AND THIRD VISITS TO AMERICA.
On the 15th May 1836, I sailed from Liverpool for New York on
board the £w^?'rt7c^, 540 tons burden (Capt. Prindle), with the inten-
tion of proceeding from New York to Cuba, where I had been
recently appointed to the office of Superintendent of Liberated Afri-
cans, and also Judge Arbitrator in the Mixed Court of Commission.*
On board the Emerald there were 208 steerage passengers, chiefly
Irish, and most of the latter evicted peasants from the Co. Cavan.
The cabin passengers were Major Masson (a brother officer and friend
of the husband of Sarah Curran, whose mournful story is the sub-
ject of Washington Irving's beautiful sketch of The Broken
Heart), Messrs. Moir, Inchbourg, Pieid, and self, wife and child.
The distance from Liverpool to New York is reckoned at 8,600
miles, and the average passage out is 28 days. The shortest voy-
age hitherto made across the Atlantic was that by Captain Maxwell
in the sailing ship the England — namely, from New York to
Cape Clear, in 12 days. The next in point of speed was from New
Y^ork to Liverpool in 14 days and 15 hours, in the Independence.
As in most other voyages of mine, on this occasion I was fortunate
in my companions. The steerage passengers, however, began to
quarrel towards the end of the voyage ; but then the weather had
become very bad, and in bad weather the natural tendency of all sea-
farers is to be choleric and dissatisfied. Indeed the unfortunate emi-
grants on board the Emerald had ample reason to be discontented —
208 human beings being crowded together in the steerage, where the
smell was intolerable, and the heat most oppressive. These poor
people, amongst whom there was an abundant proportion of women
and children, soon found out there was a doctor aboard (the Emerald
not being obliged by law to carry a surgeon), and seemed to think
* In virtue of my temporary office of Judge Arbitrator, I had an allowance from the
Spanish Government for house rent of six doubloons a month (in English money iE20 a
month, say £240 a year), which, so long as I h«ld that office in the Mixed Commission, with
tlie salary of the latter £400, and that of Superintendent of Liberated Africans, made my
official emoluments altogether £1,440 a year.
DH. U. R. MADDF.N.
103
they were privileged at all times, night or day, to send for me to
attend them, and I thought so too.
Physic, say what you will, is a glorious profession to practice — for
your pleasure, not your profit; for I think it is often prefer-
able to earn a poor man's thanks ihan a rich man's money
for any assistance to humanity. If I had twenty sons I would
give them all the education of medical men ; but I should be
very sorry they were obliged to earn their bread by the prac-
tice of the profession, for it is a poor calling for a talented
and high-minded man to live by. Dr. Paris told me lately at a
dinner at Savory's that he never could discover how the majority of
the medical men in large practice in London got on, as few of them
were men of genius, and still fewer men of liberal education. I
said I thought the great quality essential for success in London
practice was impudence. Dr. Paris replied that I was mistaken in
his opinion, a still more essential qaali!icatio]i for such success
there was a pachydermatous insensibility to the innumerable slights,
impertinences, rebuffs, and failures which most men have to en-
counter, and by which anyone of fine feelings or sensitive nature
might well be discomfited. True as this may be, nevertheless, for
my own part, I yet retain all my admiration for the profession which
of all others exercises, as a general rule, the most humanizing in-
fluence on the minds and hearts of its followers. And, having my-
self long since retired from that calling, I may in reviewing these
reminiscences of a lengthened and varied experience venture to
say, that what I have thus seen of the practice of physic by
others in many lands has convinced me that the greater part of
physicians services to humanity are freely rendered without any
immediate recompense, or any future expectation of eitlier fee or grati-
tude. These services thus unrecognized however, bring with them
ample reward in the sense of duty fulfilled to one's suffering fellow-
creatures, and should be an unfailing source of support in the ap-
proaching inevitable hour through the dark shadows of which we
may humbly hope the parting spirit of every physician thus true to
his noble calling is illumined and winged on its passage hence by
Him who said : " I was sick and you visited Me," to that life
beyond the grave where the merciful may trust for mercy. —
To return from this digression. — I took my son on l^oard, labour-
ing under severe illness.* Two medical men think his lungs
aff'ected, and there is but one chance for him, viz : — along sea-voyage
and change to a warmer climate. Hitherto his mother and myself
have reason to be very thankful to God for having taken him with us.
We are now nine days at sea and the child is certainly better.
I landed at New York on the 3rd of June, after a quick
* Dr. Madden's eldest son, Wijliam Purde Madden, then about seven years old, who
recovcre 1 from this illncs , and survived to reach his 19th year.
lO-i MEMOIRS
passage. I find a great change in prices since my last visit,
eighteen months ago ; in all respects living in New York for a
family is more expensive than London. Dr. Bushe tells me his ex-
penses last year were 8,000 dols., about £1,000 sterling. For board
and lodging in Chnton Hotel I paid for self, wife, and child, 30 dollars
a week. During my stay I visited many of the public Institutions
of this great city, and amongst others Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum.
This asylum is one of the best managed asylums for the insane
I have ever visited. It is perhaps surpassed by the institution
for the insane at Aversa, in Naples, but not by any similar insti-
tution in England, France, or Germany. The resident physician,
Dr. McDonald, is a man in the prime of life, perfectly conversant
with the treatment of the insane in all the countries of Europe.
Nature and professional education seem alike to concur to render
this gentleman the beau ideal of a medical director of an institution
of the kind. The majority of the 950 patients of this asylum
are patients whose insanity has been caused by failure in business,
speculation fever, and intemperance. On each of my three visits
I saw many here whose ruling passion, strong in madness, seemed
to be infidelity, and I lind that this cause in America drives
more people to madness than fanaticism does with us. The
day following my last visit to Bloomingdale. Dr. McDonald
took me to the Alms-house of New York, and to Blackwell Island
prison. Colonel Peters, one of the inmates of Bloomingdale Asylum,
also accompanied the doctor. Having to go to Blackwell by water,
Peters was aUowed to steer the boat. Seeing that he steered very
well I said to him, " Colonel, you are an old hand at the helm."
He answered quietly — " You probably are not aware that I am
the pilot of the Salvation Fleet. This river is the road of the
Pilgrims' Progress — to that place so much talked of." I asked
him what was the name of that place? He replied very coolly,
but with emphasis — " Hell." He then began to steer wildly,
and the doctor had to call his attention to the helm.
In Blackwell Island prison I was painfully impressed by the
rigour of the solitary confinement which far exceeded anything of
the kind I had ever seen elsewhere. In one of the cells I saw
through the small grated aperture in the door — a young English-
man who had been sentenced to five years' solitary confinement for
forging American bank notes. This prisoner had already been in his
dismal cell — 7^ feet by 5 — three years, and had two years more
to remain there. I asked the chief warder if this unfortunate man
was allowed to have any book, such as a prayerbook or a bible in
his cell. "Nothing of the kind ; no sort of amusement is allowed,"
was the answer. '• Do you mean to say the bible or a prayerbook
would be considered an amusement?" I asked. " The reading of
it would serve to distract the mind," said he ; " and therefore all
DR. n. R l\r.\DDFX. 10^
books are forbidden." The same official told me he had been five
years in that prison and had not known a single case of madness
occurring there, which I confess, much surprised me ; nor, accord-
ing to him, had any prisoner died whilst under solitary confinement
during that time.
After visiting Blackwell Prison we crossed over the river to the
Asylum for Destitute Children, of whom 520 are there provided for
and educated on the Lancaster system. Drs. McDonald and
Cornell, Colonel Peters, and myself were invited to witness an ex-
amination of the children. These were of both sexes, remarkabh^
healthy and good looking, arranged in classes, from the age of five
to that of twelve years. Their progress in reading, writing, arith-
metic, geography, and history was truly astonishing. In the ex-
ercise room there were some hundreds of children singing, dancing,
and marching in time to the clapping of hands of monitors. The
favourite dance was the eternal American one of Jim Crow, and the
majority of these little dancers I found were Irish, or of Irish
parentage.
Amongst the philanthropist celebrities of New York whose ac-
quaintance I made in 1834 was Jacob Harvey, a Quaker merchant,
a native of Cork, who told me that 30,000 dollars were amiually
remitted by the Irish settlers in the State of New York to their
friends in Ireland. What a noble trait in the character of the
poor Irish is this generous conduct of theirs towards their still
poorer relatives in their native land, whom they can aid thus only
by a self-denial of which some notable instances came within my
own knowledge.
In St. Paul's churchyard, fronting Broadway, I found the following
inscription (here abbreviated) on a monument to a distinguished
Irishman —
In Memory of
thomas addis emmet.
Exiled from his native land,
He found a second country,
Which paid his love by reverencing his genius.
Learned in our laws,
An orator of the first order :
His private life was beautifiil,
As his public course was brilliant.
Anxious to perpetuate
The Example and Name of a man
Thus distinguished by his genius and his sacrifices,
As well as by the deeper calamities of his kindred in a just cause,
His sympathising countrymen erected this Monument.
Born at Cork 34th April, 1764,
He died in this City, 14th November, 1827,
106 MEMOIRS
Knowing as I do the character of the man in whose honour this
inscription was written, I feel justitied in declaring that an epitaph
was never more just than that which Professor Duer composed for
the monument of Thomas Addis Emmet. There is another re-
markable inscription here —
TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. CHARLOTTE FOX.
In dawn of life she wisely sought her God,
And the straight path of virtue firmly trod,
Fond to oblige, too gentle to offend.
Beloved by all, to all the good a friend.
The bad she censured by her life alone ;
Blind to their faults, severe upon her own.
In others' griefs a tender part she bore,
And with the needy shared her little store.
In distance viewed the world with pious dread,
And to God's Temple for protection fled ;
There sought that peace Heaven alone can give.
And learned to die ere others learned to live.
In the same churchyard, on the monument of an ancient
mariner of the great Republic who died in 1790, is the following
curious epitaph, which I found elsewhere in the old country, and
have made the subject of some observations on the common practice
on both sides of the Atlantic of tombstone robbery, without scruple
or apparent apprehension of discovery, of the eulogies of dead men's
virtues : —
IN MEMORY OF JAMES LACEY,
AGED 41 YEAKS.
Tlio' Boreas' blasts and boisterous waves
Have tossed me to and fro.
In spite of both you plainly see
I harbour here below,
Where, safe at anchor tlio' I ride.
With many of our fleet,
Yet once again I must make sail
My Admiral Christ to meet.
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
The usual answer given in the United States to all inquiries con-
cerning any attempt to preserve and civilize the remnant of the
aboriginal Indian tribes is to the effect that all efforts of this kind
have failed utterly, and are opposed to the designs of Providence^
DR. R. R. MADDKN. 107
as the Red Man must necessarily die out and be effaced by advanc-
ing civilization. It would be needless to offer any comment on
doctrines such as these. Mr. Crooke, President of the American
Fur Company, told me that he knew of only one instance of a suc-
cessful mission for the civilization of the native Indians. This was
established by Roman CathoHc clergymen who lived among the na-
tives for some time, teaching them improved methods of living,
tillage, &c., before they succeeded in inculcating any of the truths
of Christianity. When the missionaries had thus gained
the confidence and good-will of the natives, the latter cleared
ground for their benefactors, and built their church at Arbre
Cresh, in the Michigan country. The belief in one great spirit
prevails among the Indians throughout all parts of America, north
and south. The number of dialects is very great. It is generally
admitted there are three distinct or original languages.
In January 1835 I visited " the Reserved Lands " of the semi-
civilized Tuscarora tribe, whose members, now reduced to 300 souls,
are located in the upper part of the State of New York. The
" location " is about 5000 acres. These Tuscarora Indians came
originally from North Carolina about the year 1712, and joined the
confederacy of the five nations. The young men shewed some pro-
gress in elementary branches of education, and one of them made
me a present of a very creditable sketch of his drawing. I was
struck in this tribe with the expression of mournfulness that seemed
to be the prevailing characteristic of the North i^merican Indian
race, and which I never observed in any other aboriginal tribes,
either in Africa or in Austraha.
DEPARTURE FROM AMERICA. WRECK OF THE SCOTIA.
On tlie 25th of November 1889 wc sailed from New York on board
the American sading packet Tioseius, one of the finest of the
vessels of the Collins Line. The passage for myself, ^ife, and
child was 300 dollars. There were sixteen cabin passengers, and
seventy in the steerage. Amongst our fellow-voyagers were Mr.
Catlin, the celebrated traveller in the Rocky Mountains, and historian
of the Indian races ; Mr. Sharman, a grandson of one of the signators
to the " Declaration of Independence " ; Mr. Henry Shaw, etc.
On the 5th of December, in a heavy gale, we fell in with the wreck
of the Scotia, bound from Quebec to Glasgow, burden OOO tons,
laden with timber, water-logged, in latitude 46, longitude 32*30.
Seeing signals of distress flying, we altered our course. On hailing
her, the answer wos — " We are water-logged — seventeen feet of water
in the hold." The prompt reply of Captain Collins was : '• We will
lOS M E M 0 I R S
stand by you ; if you want to come on board put out your boats."
A cheer from the people of the sinking vessel followed — such a
thrilling cry as men in the extremest peril suddenly restored to
liope alone could utter. An effort was made to near us, but the
water-logged vessel was utterly unmanageable ; she pitched heavily,
as if she would have gone down headlong ; the sea swejit over her,
iuid as she rose, poured through her broken ports. Her mizen
mast and main-top-gallant masts had been cut awa}-- to ease her,
and the poop deck, where the crew were congregated, seemed the
only place of safety left them. In attempting to approach, she
came staggering down on us, and we were compelled to make sail
to escape out of her way. The sea ^\'as very heavy. We again lay
to about a mile from the Scotia. Night came on, and the disal»led
vessel w^as lost sight of. It would l)e im})ossible to avoid com-
mendation of our captain's conduct. His anxiety to reach Liver-
pool made every moment of importance. We had, moreover, seventy
steerage passengers and twenty-one in the cabin ; and to lay to "all
night, and in a heavy gale, alongside an utterly unmanageable
vessel, was a determination many a ship master might, I fear, have
found some difficult}^ in coming to or promptly acting on. At 7 a.m.
cheering was heard in the direction of the Scotia, and after some
time her long boat, lilled with people, was on our lee quarter. The
captain and several of the crew and officers still remained on the
sinking vessel. A considerable interval elapsed during which nothing-
was seen or heard of them. At length faint shouts w^re heard, and
a mere skiff of a boat with the captain of tlie Scotia and five men
came alongside, though how she could have lived through that tem-
pestuous sea was a marvel. The exhausted crew were now taken on
board, at the end of a spare topmast thrust through a porthole, and
thus lifted up by men stretched out along the yard. It is much
to the credit of Captain James of the Scotia, that he was the last
person to leave the sinking vessel, and on reaching the Boscius his
first question was — " Are all my men safe." I was struck with an
appearance of bewilderment observable in several of the rescued
sailors. The effects of long continued suffering and terror being
shown in half-drunken looks (real intoxication there was none),
difficulty in comprehending questions asked, and finding words to
answer them ^vhen understood. The crew as w^ell as the captain
were all Scotch, and their conduct did honour to their country.
Hardly were the boats cast off than a still more violent gale set
in, so that very shortly there was ample occasion on board the Boscius
for all the additional hands she then had, and there could be no
doubt that the Scotia must have gone down in the course of that
night when the storm was at its height.
DK. R. R. MADDF.N. 100
THE RESCUE,
Heroes can boast their thousands, and their tens
Of thousands, slaughtered on the fiekl of strife. j
And this is glory ! Oh ! what countless pens
And tongues extoll the waste of human life.
This mighty carnage is a theme that's rife
With praise and plaudits, and the chief whose sword
Hath caused more bloodshed than th' assassin's knife, j
And dealt out wholesale mischief, is adored, i
Whilst he who murders singly only, is abhorred.
i
Is there for bloodless exploits no renown ? —
Exploits that speak of promptings from above ?
No pen for themes of mercy ever shown
By man to man ? no power in them to move
The heart by deeds whicdi angels might approve ?
Is there no fame for the humane and good j
On high achievements bent ? for acts of love,
With traits of grandeur suitably endowed, \
But with no trace of blood, sin-tainted and imbued ? 1
Fame ! let thy tiumpet sound the warrior's praise !
Glory be his who courts the world's applause !
Honour for him l»y whom the public gci/e
Is sought and shared, t)ll some new object draws
Away its glance ! Thou, in a nobler cause,
For greater recompense than fleeting fame,
Hast done a glorious deed — snatched from the jaws
Of death a host — what more can tongue proclaim,
Or better meed on earth can mortal make his aim ?
IV.
Oh ! when thou hast to meet" thy God on high,
On record be that thrilling cry of their's
Which rent the air, on hearing thy reply.
And made the wreck resound with thankful prayers
Then may they prove the death of all tby fears —
The life of all thy hopes beyond the grave —
And plead in thy behalf with One who hears
Prayers such as those for blessings on the brave
And good, whose glorious mission is to serve and save.*
R. R. M.
* Written on tlie occasiuu of Caiitain Collins, of the Araericau packet Rosciua, taking
twenty-four men ufl the wreck of the Scotia, on the night of the 5ih December ]8:i9, in
the Atlantic, lat. 46, long. 32.30, during a viokut galo of wind- Puhliohed in the Jjivojjool
Albion of the — th December lQ6d.
110 MEMOtES
CHAPTER XVIIL
SECOND VISIT TO EGYPT WITH SIR MOSES MONTEFiORE.
Shortly after returning to Europe from the West Indies on leave of
absence, the sphere of my duties was transferred to Africa by my ap-
pointment as her H. M. Special Commissioner of Inquiry into the
Administration of the British Settlements on the West Coast of
Africa, and the period of departure for that country was fixed for
the latter part of October. Before entering on those duties (early in
the year 1840) I accompanied Sir Moses Montefiore in his benevolent
mission to the East, the object of which was to inquire into various
charges brought against the Jew^s of Damascus, and to endeavour
to prevent the recurrence of the oppression consequent on these
charges. It was also sought, if possible, to obtain from the ruler
of Egypt the total abolition of judicial torture throughout the ])Y0-
vinces subject to his power. This seemed to me to be a good work,
and I willingly engaged in it. The other gentlemen who accom-
panied Sir Moses Montefiore and his lady were Mr. David Weir,
the late under-sheriff of the City of London, the professional ad-
viser of Sir Moses, and charged with the legal management of the
proceedings, and Dr. Loewe, in the capacity of secretary and inter-
preter. The strong interest taken in the mission by the British
Government, and the influence of the leading person in that in-
quiry, gave a character to its proceedings which largely contributed
to its success. The English mission was joined at Marseilles by
Monsieur Cremieux, a distinguished Jewish advocate at the French
Bar, and his lady, and Mr. Munk, an Oriental linguist, in the ser-
vice of the Bibliotheque Royal of Paris.
Immediately after our arrival in Cairo, on our first interview
with the Pasha, an address was presented setting forth the wrongs
recently inflicted on the Jews, and praying to be permitted to proceed
immediately to Damascus to investigate the matter, and to lay
before his Highness any evidence obtained on the subject. The
Pasha replied he would take a week to consider this application ;
and at the expiration of that period we were told that the pressure
of political matters did not allow him to give a definite answer to
our application. After some days we had another unsuccessful in-
terview with his Highness, whose refusal was ascribable to the in-
fluence of the French Consul, Monsieur Cochelet. Subsequently
we again waited on the Viceroy, and at this period, his political
difficulties increasing daily, it was easy to perceive that French in-
fluence was diminishing. In short, the appearance of the British
squadron off these shores, had operated very beneficially on the
DR. E. K. MADDEN. Ill
views of his Highness. Ultimately, after prolonged negotiations,
our demands were fully acceeded to, and were embodied in a firman
despatched by the Pasha to the Governor of Damascus. The
object of our mission having been gained, by the liberation of the
men held in confinement, and by the entire cessation of the perse-
cution, in compliance with my instructions to be in readiness to
proceed with the African expedition on the 16th October, I returned
to England.
During my stay with Sir Moses Montefiore in Cairo in the sum-
mer of 1840, I revisited the Pyramids. The fourteen years that
had elapsed since my former visit had made no alteration in their
exterior, which in fourteen centuries to come will in all probability
1)0 found as now. But within, what time had spared, the vandalism
of antiquarian curiosity has devastated. Col. Vyse has done more
injury to the internal structure of one of them than "the genius
of forty centuries " that watches over them had witnessed, from the
days of Cambyses to those of Napoleon. I found my name in the
principal chamber of the great pyramid, written on the wall op-
posite Belzoni's, with a piece of charcoal, as fresh as if it had been
pencilled the day before. I had tbe satisfaction, also, of finding my
initials sculptured on the top where I had cut them with a pen-
knife in 1826. On my second visit I was accompanied by Andrew
Doyle, editor of the Morning Chronicle, as " merry a man within
the limits of becoming mirth I did ever meet withall," and David
Weir, late under-sheriff of the city of London. We slept at the
entrance of the pyramid from about midniglit till dawn, and Doyle
and myself had the honour in the morning of stretching our bones
at full length in Cheop's stone coffin. The principal chamber is
now encumbered with the rubbish and fragments of stone excavated
by Colonel Vyse, and huddled together there, to the great detriment
of that part of the structure. On my return from Alexandria I
embarked on board the French steamer, Tancrede, for Malta. The
packets of this service from Mai'seilles to Alexandria are well found,
well manned, and kept up for political objects at a great expense
by the French Government
After his return from Egypt, Dr. Madden received the following
letter from the Anti- Slavery Society : —
Q6, New Broad-st., Nov. 11th, 1840.
My Dear Sir,
I am directed by the Committee of the British and Foreign
Anti- Slavery Society to convey to you an expression of their sincere
and cordial thanks for the excellent and manly letter addressed by
119 MEMOIRS
you to the Pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ah, ou the subject of slavery
in his clomiuions. The Committee also desire to thank you for
the other valuable services you have elsewhere rendered them, and
for the readiness you have on all occasions evinced to afford your
influential assistance in promoting the great object they have
in vie\y.
J. H- TiJEDGOLD, Sec.
7, Pantoin Square, Nov. 13th, 1840.
My Dear Sir,
I beg to return my best thanks to tlie Committee of the British
and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society for the manner in which they
have been pleased to notice my poor efforts in their cause in Egypt
and elsewhere. If these efforts have ever cost me any trifling
sacrifice I feel amply repaid by the approbation of men whose
approval it is an honourable distinction to obtain ; and with the
blessing of God, for His honour, and for the good of Plis creatures,
I will continue, to the utmost of my power, to promote the interests
of this good cause.
Very truly yours, R. R. Madden.
To J. H. Tredgold, Esq.
On the 7th of January, 1841, P)r. Madden embarked for the
Gambia — to enter on his duties as her Majest3''s Commissioner
of Inquiry into the affairs of the British settlements on the West
Coast of Africa. On his arrival on the Gold Coast he threw
himself with his accustomed energy into the work he was selected
to accomplish, and (despite the efforts of the local authorities to
impede his inquiry) soon unearthed and exposed the fact that,
under the name of the " Pawn System," slavery existed even in
the very forts and posts established by the English Government
for the protection of the negroes. During this appointment Dr.
Madden's surveillance extended to the Gold Coast, Gambia, and
Cape Coast, and his services there w^ere thus acknowledged by the
Government of that day :
Downing Street, 17th Sept. 1841.
Sir,
I have to acquaint you that I have now under my consideration
the several reports which you have addressed to her Majesty's
Government relating to the affairs of her Majesty's settlements on
the Western Coast of Africa, and that I am desirous of expressing
to you the high sense which I entertain of the ability and zeal with
•svhich you have discharged the duties and executed the inquiries
which have been entrusted to you.
" I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
*' STA^LEY."
DE. E. E. MADDEN. 113
The result of Dr. Maddens investigations may be found in the
two folio volumes of his official Report, which, with the evidence
he collected on the condition of the West African Settlements, were
presented to Parliament in 1842. So astounding were his revela-
tions of the continuance of the Slave-Trade in our possessions on the
West Coast of Africa, that a Committee of the House of Commons
was appointed to investigate the matter. On this committee a seat
was given, however, to an affluent West African merchant largely
implicated in the slave-trade, and by him and his friends no stone
was left unturned and no abuse spared in the futile attempt to con-
trovert that Report. Some extracts from a pamphlet published by
Dr. Madden at this time, entitled " The Slave-Trade aided anil
abetted under the name of 'Pawning' on the Gold Coast," will best
show the importance of his West African mission : —
" Persons possessed of wealth and power, whose interests have
been hurt by the discharge of my duties in the office of Commis-
sioner of Inquiry into the state of our settlements on the AVestern
Coast of Africa, have recently found means to advocate their views
in the columns of the Moniiufj Herald. These gentlemen are the
suppliers of the slave- dealers of Africa with the goods essential to
the trade in stolen men. By them I am described as a
* hungry Whig Radical,' for whose advantage the mission to the
coast of Africa was planned and carried into effect.
"' Whatever my political sentiments were, they have undergone
no change before or since my hrst employment in the public service
in 1833. Since that period I have filled different offices connected
with our Anti-Slavery efforts in various countries, and from every
successive Colonial Secretary of State up to the present time, and
including the present Secretary, I have had the good fortune to re-
ceive documentary evidence of the approval of my services, and in
no one instance to have received an intimation of their displeasure.
"At the period this Commission was determined on, I filled the
office of Superintendent of liberated Africans at Havana, a perma-
nent appointment lield by Royal Commission. In the spring of
1840 I was in England on leave of absence, and was about to re-
turn to the sphere of my duties, when the determination of the
Government was communicated to me, with respect to the appoint-
ment of a Commission of Inquiry into West African affairs, and an
opinion was expressed that my services could be more advanta-
geously employed there thnn elsewhere. To accept of this tempo-
rary appointment I rehnquished a permanent one. So much for
the truth of the assertion that this mission was a job to promote
my interests.
'•' The necessity was then most urgent for the institution of an in-
quiry into the connection of British commerce with the Slave-
9
114 MEMOIRS
Trade. The rigorous surveillauce of our cruising squadrons on the
western coast of Africa had effected the prevention of foreign vessels
from supplying the various slave factories on the coast with stores
and goods necessary to the felonious trade in men. The plan then
hecame adopted by certain merchants in London, connected with
our settlements on the Gambia and at the Gold Coast, of supplying
the slave factories directly with such goods. The Slave-Trade ships
likewise obtained similar supplies at our settlements, and were suf-
fered to anchor under the guns of our forts, and to be registered
there as vessels employed in legal trade. Thus the efforts of our
cruising squadron were completely frustrated. In the settlements
along this coast a system of actual slavery under another name ex-
isted at the time of my visit as Her Majesty's Commissioner there.
*' I stated in my report that I had found ninety-one of the native
people confined in the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle; that I called on
Captain Maclean, Governor of the Settlement, for the official record
of the sentences pronounced in these cases, and that no such record
could be produced ; that a vast number of these persons had been im-
prisoned for long periods, some even for four years, and the great ma-
jority for no determined period. That there were no judicial establish-
ments on the Gold Coast, and that the power of inflicting capital
punishment was claimed, and had been exercised, by Mr. Maclean ; and
that Captain Tucker, of her Majesty's ship Wolverine, had been
cognizant of such executions having taken place. I likewise asserted
that I found slavery existing at all our settlements on the Gold Coast ;
that the practice of buying, holding, and selling men under the name
of 'Pawns' existed at Cape Coast Castle ; that I had received memo-
rials from eleven of the ' Pawns ' of Mr. Maclean himself, complaining
of their treatment and of their being thus held in bondage by hiiii.
Whilst employed on this mission 1 visited every British settle-
ment on the Western Coast of Africa, with one exception, and
touched at most of the Portuguese slave haunts along the coast, from
the Gambia to the Line, and thus had ampler opportunities
than Mr. Forster deemed essential to his peculiar views for the
civilization of Africa of making myself acquainted with the nature
of his commercial operations. During this time I was attacked
with fever at Cape Coast Castle, and suffered severely from it.
Of the five weeks which I passed at that place, I was confined to
my bed and unable to attend to my duties for about ten or twelve
days. If I had been incapable of attending to them during the
seven weeks Mr. Forster speaks of, I must have been conveyed by
some miraculous means along a fine of coast of about three thousand
miles. ... I am charged by Mr. Forster with making a trade of the
Slave question. It is something, after all, to be obnoxious to
the charge of trafficing in the question only. Against him I have
brought a graver charge. I freely acknowledge that for many years
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 115
my efforts have been calculated to be injurious to his interests. I
have wilfully and wittingly aided aud abetted the abolition of
slavery, and the trade in slaves, by all the means in my po^^-er. In
conclusion, I would beg leave to observe that I am fully sensible of
the advantages which Mr. Forster has over me, in some particulars,
in regard to a discussion of this kind. He has wealth at his dis-
})Osal, and his use of it will not be restrained by any trifling
consideration in the defence of his interests. He has the columns
of a morning paper at his command, and he has a seat in the
House of Commons, and consequently he has the opportunity of
devoting his eloquence to the advocacy of his views. I have none
of these privileges. There is, however, one advantage which I am
very conscious of possessing over Mr. Forster, viz., the advantage
which the calumniated has over the calumniator — the friend, in
practice, of Negro Emancipation and Slave-Trade Abolition over
the sly, covert pretender, who maintaius by his acts what he
assumes to reprobate by word, and who promotes his private in-
terests by means which he publicly condemns.
•• I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
"R. R. MADDbiN."
PUBLIC VIxNmCATlON Oi DR. MADDEN B VVESl' AFRICAN REPORT.
The best vindication of Dr. Madden's West African Report, as
well as the fullest exposure of the manner in which it was attacked
by the slave-traders, may be found in the volume of evidence pub-
lished by the Parliamentary Committee appointed to investigate
this subject, and in the comments on this question in the newspapers
of that day. Amongst the latter may be named The United Service
Gazette, The Morning Chronicle, The Freemans Journal, The
Planet, The Leeds Mercury, etc. One extract will suffice to prove
this.
{Leeda Mercury of February 13th, 1843).
*'The publication of Dr. Madden's Report on the state of the
British Settlements in West Africa has given rise to a controversy
which is raging at present in the daily papers with uncommon viru-
lence. The estimable and benevolent Doctor is attacked in some
dozens of columns of abuse by the parties whose works of darkness
he has dragged into open day. Although we are glad to embrace
the opportunity of expressing our high admiration of Dr. Madden's
zealous and self-sacrificing labours on behalf of the oppressed, first
in the British West Indies, then in Cuba, and lastly in Africa, yet
9 *
116 MEMOIRS
oar present object is less to do justice to his claims ou public grati-
tude than to draw attention to the facts that are now brought to
light by this controversy.
" Dr. Madden was sent out about two years ago to West Africa on
a tour of inspection. On his return it was rumoured that his Re-
port contained very startling revelations respecting the connexion
of British merchants with the x\frican Slave-Trade. We believe
it is no secret that the late Government had resolved to institute a
criminal prosecution against the house of Forster and Co., of Lon-
don, which was most largely implicated in the practices brought to
light by Dr. Madden. ]\Ieantime, however, the present Ministry
took office, and in this particular instance they totally changed the
measures of their predecessors. Instead of sending the atfair to
the Queen's Ben(-h, they sent it to a C'ommittee of the Honse of
Commons, and placed Mr. Forster, M. P. for Berwick, and the head
of the firm in question, upon this Committee, to sit in judgment
and report on his own conduct ! Of course he became one of the
most zealous and prominent members of the Committee. The
United Service Gazette, (representing the views of the high-
minded officers of the British navy employed to suppress the slave
trade) complains indignantly of the indecency of allowing this man
to marshal the evidence on one side, producing a long string of his
own clerks and dependents, and on the other hand to browbeat and
insult such witnesses as Dr. Madden and the Hon. Captain Den-
man. Truth however thrives by discussion, and derives new vigour
from the crooked practices of its opponent. Dr. Madden's Report
is before the world, and the leading facts are undisputed and indis-
putable. We wish, for the sake of the honour and consistency of
Great Britain, it were otherwise."
At a meeting of the British Anti-Slavery Society, held at 27,
New Broad Street, London, on the 31st March 1848, it was unani-
mously resolved —
** That this Committee tender to R. R. Madden, Esq. M.D,, Her
Majesty's late Commissioner on the Western Coast of Africa, their
cordial thanks for the zeal and ability with which he discharged the
duties confided to him, and for the fearless and impartial nianner in
which he has exposed the evils connected with British participation
in the Shive-Trade and the 'Pawn' system. They would further ex-
press their deep regret that any portions of his valuable Report
should have been withhekl by the Government from the British
public, and their warm sympathy with him under the unjust at-
tacks to which he has been subjected by parties implicated in the
transactions exposed, and which he has so successfully refuted." —
John Scoble, Secretary.
DP. R. P. MADDFN. 117
(From Tlioraaw Olarkson).
Playford Park, 16tb ;A])ril 1H48.
Dear Sir, — 1 am sorry that we are likely to Iorc your services by
your residence in another country. I belit^ve tliat a more ardent,
zealous, laborious, and efficient friend of tbe cause is not to bo
found in all our members. I remember well wbat you attem])ted
to do for UH in Egypt, and tlie bard and dilbcult, and I may add
dangerous task you bad to perform for tbe Cape Coast, among a
set of unprincipled men wbo looked upon you wbile there with a
hostile eye, and endeavoured to thwart you in all your proceedings ;
and tbe happy exposure of their atrocious system as connected with
the Slave-Trade. Nor can I forget tbe cruel warfare you bad to
sustain (cruel indeed, inasmuch as your character was concerned)
against the vile and servile agents of that trade in London, and your
victory over them, which victory was of service to our cause. . . .
I must now bid you farewell in the most extensive meaning of that
beautiful word. I am sure tliat wherever you go my spirit will ac-
company you with my best wishes, and it is my earnest desii'e that
you should be blessed in all your good undertakings As
for myself, I am now in tbe 84th year of my age, much worn out
and shattered, and, alas ! have little prospect of being further use-
ful to our commoli cause.
I am, my denr Sir, with regard and esteem, yours truly,
Thomas Clahkso.v.
CHAPTER XIX.
NOTICE OF T.. E. L. IIER DEATH IN CAPE COAST CASTI.K. DR.
MADDKN's mission to PARIS IX 1848. SKETCH OF ' P,KRANGER.
In the preceding eba]i)ter mention has been made of Mr. Maclean,
Governor of Cape Coast Castle, with whom Dr. Madden was brought
into collision in tbe discharge of bis duties as Commissioner in the
West African British Settlements. In connc'xion with that person
some circumstances occurred at this time in reference to the history
of the once popular poetess (Miss Landon), better known by her
nom de plume " L. E. L.," and which subsequently gave rise to
some published correspondence that may be briefly referred to. In so
doing it is needless to allude in e.rtemo to the sad story of "L.E.L.,"
which has been detailed in Dr. Madden's Memoirs of I^ady Bles-
sington, vol. II. It is enough here to say that, fi'om tbe period
when tbe first poem to which tbe initials of "L. E. L.," then onlv
118 MEMOIRS
ill her fifteenth year, were affixed, appeared in the Literary Gazette.
Prohably no author ever rose more rapidly into fame. Before she was
out of her teens the world had crowned her as " The English Sappho ; "
society adored her ; flatteries sunned her path ; she walked in the
dreamland of literary glory, and she writes of herself then —
" — I felt immortal, for my brain was drunk and mad with its
first draught of fame." After some years of literary toil, however,
unfortunately for herself, she accepted an offer of marriage
from Mr. Maclean, then Governor of Cape Coast Castle. It was in
June 1838 they Were married, and shortly after sailed away for
their African home. On the loth of August she first entered her
new abode, and on the 15th of October she died there. A grave
v/as dug for her in the courtyard of the castle, and there she was
buried by torchlight on the evening of her death.
" Years afterwards," says Mrs. Hall, '' a distinguished Irishman,
Dr. Madden, happening to visit Cape Coast Castle, found the deso-
late grave of the poetess unmarl^ed by stone or name, and, at his
own expense, he had a white marble slab placed over her remains —
a tribute of respect to the memory of her sweetest lyrist which
England had neglected, but which, we are proud to say, an Irish
heart, with the true sympathy for genius which all the gifted feel,
did not fail to render." Mr. and Mrs. Hall's article on " L. E. L."
just cited was copied into a now extinct journal, the Saunders
Newsletter, and on the 4th of May 1805, the following letter of
Dr. Madden's was published in the same newspaper : —
Sir, — In your journal of the 28th ult. there is an admirable ar-
ticle on " L. E. L." from the March number of the Art Journal.
As there is an error in it, which attributes to me merit I cannot
claim, I would feel much obliged to your kindly giving insertion to
this communication. The notice of that ill-fated lady written by
Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall is such as might be expected of intimate
and faithful friends, and appears very opportunely at this time,
when the memory of that poor lady has been so recently assailed
and wronged. In that article reference is made to me in terms
which I cannot feel otherwise than grateful for. There is one
slight error, however, which it is incumbent on me to notice. It is
stated therein that in 1840 I found the desolate grave of the poetess
unmarked by any monumental stone. This is quite true, and pro-
bably if I had not liappened to have visited that place no memorial
of " L. E. L.'" would then have been set up in the courtyard of
Cape Coast Castle. It is not the fact, however, that at my own ex-
pense I had a monumental slab placed over the remains of Mrs.
Maclean. It is to the kindness of heart and generosity of dispo-
sition of a gifted lady, now no more, viz., the late Countess of
Blessington, to whom the merit is due of commissioning me, when
I was about to proceed to the West Coast of Africa on a Govern-
DR, R. R. MADBF.N. 110
ment Inquiry in connexion with the Siave-Trade, to obtain from
Captain Maclean permission for the erection of a monument, at her
(Lady Blessington's) expense, over the remains of her much-loved
friend, " L. E. L." All the particulars of this commission, which
resulted in Captain Maclean phicing a slab over his wife's grave,
wiU be found detailed in the 2nd volume of my work, The Life and
Correspondence of Lady Blessinrjton (second edition, 1855, p. 207).
In March 1842, Dr. Madden was deputed to attend the f'rench
Anti- Slavery Convention at Paris, where, at the first session, which
was held on the 17th March, under the presidency of the Duke de
Broglie, he was invited to deliver an address, translated by the
president, on the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. Sub-
sequently he had interviews with several of the French Ministers,
by whom he was well received, as well as by Monseigneur Afire, Arch-
bishop of Paris, M. Lamartine, Odillon Barrot, Isambert, De Ton-
queville, the Abbe Desgennets, Lafayette, the Marquis de Harcourt,
Dela Rocliefoucauld, Dufau, Comte de la Borde, and other leading
French statesmen and literary men of that day. The history of
Dr. Madden's active official labours in the Anti-Slavery cause may
be here closed. But only with the last moment of existence did his
earnest sympathy and co-operation by pen and voice in battle against
that infamous traffic in stolen men, which unfortunately still sur-
vives in " the Dark Continent," ever cease.
Amongst the literary men of whose acquaintance lie had thus an
opportunity of renewing in Paris, the most distinguished were the
poet Beranger, and the gifted but unfortunate Abbe De Lamenais,
with both of whom he remained intimate throughout life. In this
connexion may therefore be appended the following hitherto unpub-
lished account of his acquaintance with the great French song-writer.
" — In the year 1811 I was introduced to Beranger by the Abbe de
Lamenais. Since that period to the present I have been on
terms of friendship with him. During the last five years of my
son's education at the Royal College of Versailles and the Ecole
Central des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, my visits to the latter
city have been frequent, and occasionally my sojouins there were
of some months' duration. I know not how it was that ]3eranger's
confidence was given to me very soon after our acquaintance, unless,
indeed, that I had the good fortune to have enjoyed that of his
dearest living friend, Lamenais. Beranger's abode at Passy, about
a league from Paris, when I first knew him, was in the Rue
Vineuse, No. 21. The ''habitat" of the first living lyrical poet
of France was the " skymost " apartment of this modest house,
and all the accommodation consisted of a saloon with an alcove at
one end, w^here the lowly bed stood of the mighty song-maker
who stirred up an entire nation, and struck down the throne of
Charles X, and the old dynasty of the Bourbons by his lyrics. The
IQO MEMOIRS
small saloon, with its plain furniture, was in keeping with the
simple, unostentatious character and tastes of the good old man who
was seated there in a meditative mood in his well-known antiquated
elbow chair. His income was barel}' sufficient to enable him to ex-
ist without getting into debt. To his friend Lafeyette alone he con-
sented to be indebted for the small provision which prevented him
from being a pauper in his old age. The personal appearance of
Beranger was that of a hale, kind-hearted, cheerful old man : there
was depth of feeling, of honest sincerit}-, of natural good common
sense ; a comprehensiveness of knowledge such as I never observed
in any of his countrymen, and in only one of my own. The lirst
tones of Beranger's voice set me perfectly at ease in his presence.
I know not whether others have remarked how far powerful is the
impression made on the mind by the tones of a voice heard for the
first time. The eyes are called the windows of the soul. It does
not always happen that the glass is uniformly fciultless and trans-
parent. But the tones of the voice are ahvavs indicative of the
prevailing turn of thought of the individual.
In the summer of 1840 I had the honour of introducing two
American gentlemen of literary standing to Beranger. One
of these was Mr. Walsh, formerly editor of the North American
Quarterly Bevieiv — an enlightened man, honourably known among
the learned in Europe. The other gentleman was a member of
Congress for one of the slave-holding States. I'he venerable poet
rose from his chair when we were ushered into his room, and I not
having seen him for a long time, he welcomed me in the most
hearty manner, and received my two American friends with more
than usual suavity. The fortunes of America were touched upon
by Beranger with a knowledge of the question that was surprising
for a foreigner to possess, and with an evident interest in the pros-
perity of the country he spoke about. But in the midst of the
eulogies he was pronouncing on its institutions, a cloud came over
the features of the old Republican, and in accents "more of sorrow
than of anger " he asked — '•' But why do you make a sophism of
Republican institutions by suffering slavery to exist in a country
where every man is proclaimed free and equal ? WTiy do jo\i hurt
the character of Republicanism by making a mockery of its theory,
and practically showing you have no' faith in the tenets you profess '? "
Evidently pleased as he was with his guests, delighted with the
conversation pregnant with knowledge and experience of one of
them (Mr. Walsh), and desirous of shewing all the courtesy possible
to two persons from a country that he sincerely loved, he still yielded
nothing to their prejudices. Nothing, in short, could be more
efFectuaUy condemnatory of American slavery than Beranger's
words throughout this discussion, or less offensive than his manner,
even when his language was most energetic,
DR. R. R. MADDEN. IQI
CHAPTER XX.
ACCOUNT OF MADDEN 'S LITERARY LABOURS AND PUBLISHED
WORKS. HIS UNPUBLISHED AND POSTHUMOUS WRITINGS.
From the period of his return from the French Anti- Slavery Conven-
tion the energies of Dr. Madden's character became chiefly directed
into Kterary channels, and their force and vitality are attested by the
long list of works that emanated from his prolilic brain and untiring
pen. In a fragment headed " My Authorship," the following refer-
ence occurs to his early literary labours : —
" The occupation of transferring one's thoughts to paper, and
then printing and publishing them — or, in other words, with the
quill pen of a feather from a bird's wing, steeped in a black hquid,
figuring on white paper shadows of things thought or spoken, and
then multiplying copies of the scrawl by the intervention of
machinery — I commenced in my twenty-second year. My first
publication was a series of letters, written in Italy, in the Morning
Herald. These appeared as they were written, and some likewise
from the Levant, and were liberally paid for by the editor, " Little
Henry Thwaites."* I received £50 for them. My next ^^i^ihlica-
tion was in the newly-started literary journal, The AthencBum,
established by Mr. J. S. Buckingham — some letters on Egypt and
Mahomed Ali in 1829. These were gratuitous contributions. My
next appearance in print was an article in the Metropolitan
Magazine on the last illness and death of Mr. Salt, the Abyssinian
traveller, in 1880."
The Abbe de Marolles, in the epistle dedicatory to his " Memoirs,"
gives some excellent advice to authors and persons intending to
pursue literature as a profession, and concludes thus : — " I do not
advise any one of my relatives or friends to apply himself, as I
have done, to study, and particularly to the composition of books,
if he thinks thereby to add to his fame or fortune."!
The uncertainty of literary labour as a source of pecuniary
* Thwaites was a good man, but a very aingiilar one. I was first introduced to him in
1821, by my friend Mr. P. Murjihy (afterwards a County Court Judge). I was tlieu attending
Georg-^'s Hospital, and had no iiJea of obtaining any coiinsxion with the Press. Thwaites,
when I first saw him in the editor's room in the office of bis paper, was seated on a high stool
— an exceeding siuall statue of a man mounted on a lofty pedestal, and very much diminii- bed
by elevation. The httle man talked with considerable animation, moved about on liis tripod
and quoted Shakespeare apropos to everything. He loved the immortal deer-atealer, and so
did I, and that was sympathy. Every Sunday I used to dine witli liim at his house in Pinilico,
and years afterwards his kind ness was the same to me, and every Sunday as of old myself
and my wife were his guests.
+ The poor Abb(^, by hi« own neconnt, had published l.?3,124 verses, and this was onlj one
portion of his literary work.
]-2'2 MEMOIRS
advantage was exemplified by Dr. Madden'a experience. For
whilst his earlier and lighter vrorks on travel and general literature
were most successful and remunerative to their author, those later
and more serious volumes, which are devoted to an important portion
of his country's history, and the value of which has been recognized
at home and abroad, were, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter,
accomplished at no small sacrifice of the author's interests and
prospects. Thus, as already mentioned, his two first works were
his Travels in the East, in two volumes, and The Mussulman,
a Novel, in three volumes, published by Colburn in 1829-30.
These went through repeated editions, and for each he received
d6300. Whereas, on the other hand, the publication in after years
of his most important and most commended work, viz.. The
History of the United Irishmen, the successive series of which
were more than once republished in America as well as in this
country, directly as well as indirectly, entailed very heavy losses on
the author. The magnitude of his literary labours, and their
merit, have been referred to in a biographical notice in the
University Magazine: — " Notwithstanding the absorbing nature of
his public duties. Dr. Madden found time to cultivate his literary
tastes, and acquire distinction as an author. In looking over his
writings, besides admiring their quality and texture, one is amazed
at the quantity, the more so considering his other avocations. He
has written largely and excellently in the departments of politics,
sociology, history, travels, and belles lettres. His works are so varied
a7id numerous, amountiny to no less than forty -seven puhlished
volumes, besides a vast number of contributions in prose and verse to
magazines, reviews, and the newspaper press, with which he was
connected during a considerable portion of his early years — that we
cannot refer to them in detail, but must content ourselves with
briefly indicating some of the most important. No one who peruses
Madden'a books can fail to appreciate their research, eloquence,
and love of Fatherland, however much the reader may dissent from
some of his opinions and conclusions. He traces the account
of his country's vicissitudes with power and beauty, and leaves
on record a great amount of valuable historic lore."
This vast quantity of literary work was accomplished amidst the
continual interruptions of busy official or professional occupations,
and would have been impossible save to a man of exceptional
energy and untiring industry. Nor even then could he have left
behind the evidences of erudition contained in these many volumes*
had it not been for the inteUigent and self-sacrificing co-operation of
his no less gifted and devoted wife, by whom all his writings were
copied and revised for the press. In this way were produced the
^ Vide Appendix.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 1Q3
long series of works just referred to, in the writing of which, for a
great portion of their Uves, Dr. and Mrs. Madden burned the mid-
night lamp, being often found still plying their busy pens in the
early morning by the re-wakening household when about to resume
the duties of another day.
CHAPTER XXI.
POKTICAL WRITINGS, SOME SPECIMENS OF THESE.
In the foregoing pages some references have been made to Dr.
Madden's poetical writings. Amongst these are included, firstly, a
volume of religious poetry entitled Breathings of Prayer, of
which only twenty copies were printed for private circulation in
Havana in 1838 ; secondly, a volume of Poems hj a Cuban
Slave, translated from the Spanish, and published in 1840 ; thirdly,
A Hudihrastic Epic Poem, which remains unpublished ; and
fourthly, The Easter Offering, published in 1850. Besides these,
from time to time he contributed a great amount of poetry
to the various annuals, magazines, and other periodicals of his
day, and, moreover, has left two large quarto volumes of unpubhshed
lines, entitled Rhymes of a Bamhler in Many Lands. Of these,
since their author's death, several have been accorded a place in
the columns of various journals and periodicals at home and abroad.
A small collection of his poems, under the nom de plume of
'• Ierne," has also been pubhshed by Messrs. Duffy in a posthu-
mous volume, edited by the late Rev. C. P. Mechan, entitled
Literary Remains of the United Irishmen.
That Dr. Madden's abilities as a poet are not better known ia
perhaps sufficiently explained by the circumstance that to few of
his lines was his name ever appended, the vast majority of them being
either signed l)y the nom de j^l^fme above referred to, or merely
by the letter •• X."" This probably was owing to his high ideal of
what he considered true poetry as distinguished from rhyme, and to
his own undue depreciation of any personal claim to a share in
the former. Of his verses, therefore, wo may here msert a few
specimens, selecting at random the shortest of these written at
different epochs of life, as we venture to think that some of these,
as well as many of the numerous still unpublished poems which at
his death were left ready for the printer, might probably be found
to justify the criticism of the editor of a recent journal, who, in
referring to this collection, says —
•'Some of these poems are really exquisite compositions. Many
1Q4 HIEMOIP.S
of them, if set to music, would make very popular pieces ; others,
although written many years ago, are especially appropriate at the
present day. All of them, whatever their particular merit may he,
are of a high order. It is needless for us to remark that the name
of this famous Irish author is honoured by Irishmen all the world
over, and we are sure the work of his pen will be read eagerly." —
The Dublin Journal, June 1880.
LES EAUX DE VIOHY.
Have you been to charming Vichy,
Famed for spas, whose taste is lishy ;
Tbrong'd by gouty, joint-racked sinners,
Fond of too luxurious dinners ?
Have you drauk les Eaux de Vichy,
At each source described by Eicci,
Oulp'd enough " Chomel," " Grandgrille," or
" Celestins " to drown a miller ?
Tumblers, six a day of Vichy
Waters, turbulent and pitchy,
Alkaline, or cold and nauseous,
Have you found extremely mawkish ?
English tourists rush to Vichy,
Hear of cures of gout so twitchy,
Lured from Harrogate or Buxton
By their wives and daughters coax'd on.
Irish folks, too, rave of Vichy,
Kail at Irish spas, beseech ye
Talk no more of Lisdoonvarna,
]M allow, Lucan, Toomavara !
From the land of saints to Vichy,
Must he come for water, which he
Has at home, more joraised than merits,
Duly mixed, of course, with spirits?
Nothing will go down but Vichy
Waters ; hence the looks so wishy-
Washy, that were once so ruddy.
Redolent of health and toddy.
I am sick of charming Vichy,
Wish myself at Rue de Clichy ;
Sick of spas and baths, park strollings,
Breakfast bells and dinner toUings.
VicMj, August, 1868,
tn, R. R. MA.DDEN. 125
SPAIN.
Hm-rah for the mountains of Spain,
Its sierras of grandeur sublime !
For the glories again and again
Of its beautiful shores and its cUme !
Hun-ah for the " Land of the Sun,"
Of the olive, the orange, and vine !
No sunbeams on earth ever shone
With such life breathing joyance as thine.
Without measure or stint, at each pore.
Drink them in ; quaff the nectar likewise
Of the soft balmy air from the shore.
That is racy of southern skies.
Oh ! bask in these sunbeams, my boy !
Let the breeze from the shore, with the freight
Of its perfume, and healing, bring joy
To thy spirit, that droop'd so of late.
Hurrah for the fields of renown
Of the brave cavaliers of Castile !
For those triumphs of ages bygone.
Which Granada's grey ruins reveal !
Hurrah for the Cid ("ampeadoi".
And the sweep of his chivalrous sword !
For the scenes of his wars with " tlie Moor,"
Where he scatter'd the infidel horde !
Hurrah for the land that of yore
Was of faith without stigma or stain !
For the saints, and the shrines, and the lore,
And the legends of Catholic Spain 1
Hurrah for the pilgrims of old.
For the paths which Loyola once trod ;
On this mountain his name was enroll'd
In the lists of the servants of God.
Hare his vigils were kept by you porch,
And his sword on the altar was laid ;
And the young cavalier in this church,
A true soldier of Christ was then made.
Away with the insolent toss
Of the sceptical Pharisee's head,
At the s!:riue of the Virgin, the Cross,
And the altars, where Faith is not dead !
Liuei urittea on the okores of Catalonia and AudaluBia, iu Feb., 1858.
1Q6 MEMOIRS
THE DOCTOR'S APOLOGY FOR NOT CONTRIBUTING TO
MISS A. G'S SCRAP-BOOK.
The god of poetry of yore
Was god of physic too ;
But Phcebus has two strings no more
To his celestial bow.
In golden car, that pays no tax,
He spreads from sphere to sphere :
But jobs no coach, and kills no hacks,
To cure diseases — here.
Then how can one who bows before
An iEsculapian shrine
Presume to bend in raptures o'er
Apollo's lute divine ?
A doctor, ma'am, would burn his wig
Before he'd write a sonnet,
And deem it truly infra difj
To waste a moment on it.
By scanning feet a surgeon's skill
Gains little approbation;
Parnassus high is not the hill
Whence comes his inspu'ation.
His Helicon is Lincoln's Inn,
The "College" his Arcadia;
Hie classic lore, — its origin
In Cooper's Cyclopaedia.
Did Hunter ever stoop to rhyme,
Or scribble couplets, prithee?
Or who could ever lay the crime
Of verse to Abernethy ?
What grave physician ever penned
A scrap-book panegyric ?
Would Jenner, think you, condescend
To perpetrate a lyric ?
'Tis not for him, much less for me,
A poor unlettered Gaslen,
To play the bard— a part which he
And I would surely fail in.
For who of thee could make his themej -.
And think of his vocation, —
Of beauty sing, and fondly dream
To fly its fascination?
Cheltenkam, 1828,
DR. R. E. MADDEN. 127
THE DYING TRAVELLER
It is not the sickness that prays on my frame,
It is not the tortimng pain,
It is not the terror of death, nor the shame
Of the struggle, which makes me complain ;
Oh, no 1 I could yield me this night to the grave,
And encounter its gloom undismayed,
If one friendly regard its encouragement gave,
And my sphit's disorder allayed.
Ev'ry object around awakens a thought
Of the home I may never behold ;
Every sound of the voice of the stranger is fraught
With remembrance of accents of old ;
But the sands of the desert, the waves of the deep,
Are between me and all I hold dear.
And the wild Arab dwells where I'm destined to sleep.
Where the grave has no hallowing tear.
The close of existence away from our friends
Is a dreary and desolate doom :
How cold is the look of the stranger who tends
On the sufferings which lead to the tomb !
His apathy yields but to bigotry's zeal.
Which, on faculties drooping, would fain
Its dogmas enforce, and the dying appeal
Of the sinner would dare to arraign.
Officious fanatic ! is colour or creed
Of man's choice ? — or his power to change ?
From the faith of our fathers what effort indeed
iNlay the heart's early homage estrange.
In moments like these, when tlie spirit has need
Of communing with Mercy above,
Are themes controversial the topics to lead
Our last thoughts to the Father of Love ?
But brief is the pang ! I shall soon be at reat ;
Ere the sun of the morrow appear,
The illusions of life and its follies shall cease
To awaken a hope or a fear.
While I breathe shall the name of my country be blest,
One loved image recalled to the close ;
Still homeward each thought wing its way to the West,
Till the weaiy heart sink in repose.
* Lines written 'ui u oi.:k ])^i at the Gambia.. West Coast of Africa 1840
1Q8 MEMOIBS
THE SWEET VALE OF OVOCA.*
When you're sick of Dublin city,
Tired of Kingstown pier and jetty,
Ogling promenaders pretty,
Off at once to sweet Ovoca !
If you feel by no means jolly —
Cranky, moody, melancholy —
Weary quite of human folly.
Take the train and try Ovoca !
When you're gouty and rheumatic,
Bilious, nervous, or hepatic,
Backd with aches and pains erratic,
Seek for health at sweet Ovoca !
If you're plunged in joint-stock troubles.
Market-rigging schemes and bubbles.
Railway " floating" specs, from hobbles,
Fly forthwith to sweet Ovoca.
When you're mind's o'erworked and jaded,
Its strength impaired and freshness faded,
By studious toil, oh ! be persuaded,
Fag no more, but face Ovoca.
If no theme your mind engrosses
But one thought of gains and losses,
And contingent cares and crosses.
Change the scene for sweet Ovoca.
When you're bored with parsons grumbling
Factions vile all interests jumbling,
Dizzy's ground and lofty tumbling,
liCave all humbugs for Ovoca.
If you love the face of Nature
Eden-Hke in every feature,
And the comforts men call creature,
Start for Hunter's and Ovoca.
There are cures for spirits sinking.
Too much toiHng, too much thinking.
Thrashing books and paper inking,
In the vale of sweet Ovoca.
A Paradise without temptation,
There's nothing like it in creation,
For peace, repose, and recreation,
All are found in sweet Ovoca.
Woudenlridge Hotel, 11th August.
* Dcbcribed by Moore— prescribed by Madden.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 129
LINES TO ACCOMPANY A POKTBAIT OF E. R. M.
This here is a portrait of one Mister Madden,
Who saw many lands, but not one that he had in
A rood of the soil he could call his ovfu foddeen,
For pratees to grow in, or cabin to lodge in ;
Not one dirty acre in tillage or grass
To bequeath or to sell or to mortgage, alas !
Who spoke divers tongues, many books read and wrote,
And therefore with those who did not his repute
Was not very good, for such, one who dares
To think for himself is set down, it appears,
Of a dangerous class and a free-thinking school,
That should be tabooed as a general rule.
The likeness above is of one who a smile
At athletic games never won from Carlisle ;
Of field sports, moreover, was not much a lover,
And never shot pheasant, or partridge, or plover ;
Nor took much delight in the cattle-show twaddle,
(~)f bullocks and pigs hardly able to waddle.
Who knew very little of stock, but wrote much
Of rebels and wrongs, and endeavoured to touch
Men's hearts with theh sufferings ; but none except fools
Would feel any pity for Irish or Poles,
As Albert to Humboldt observed very cutely,
And argued indeed for a Prince most astutely.
Who fought many battles for slaves he could boast,
In Cuba, Jamaica, on Africa's coast ;
Might vaunt, too, elsewhere of the saving of life.
Which perhaps for a trav'Uer's career which was rife
With many a failing, a fault, and defect,
Some little amends might be hoped to effect.
So much for the portrait of one who absurdly
Made, too, small account of the int'rests called worldly,
Who lived in the past a deal more than the present,
A course in this country that's prudent and pleasant
For men who are ardent, and honest, and true
To the land of their birth in its weal or its woe.
The portrait in fine of a man who thinks Whigs
And Tories are like one another as figs ;
And never could well understand why 'twas thought
The brain of a Briton was furnished and fraught
With intellect brighter and better withal
Than that of the Celt of this land, or of Gaul.
" A mere Irishman," in this picture you've got,
Who was up in the year " '98 " — a red hot
Young rebel of course, and " in arms" of his mother
Mistook not the year of his birth for some other ;
No wonder the " boy " of that time seems to be
Reproduced in the man now of three score and three.
10
130 MEMOIRS
TO HABEIET.*
When I am weary and deprest,
And anxious cares invade my breast,
Or sorrow has become my guest,
I think of thee !
And when ray bosom lord once more
" Sits lightly on his throne," I soar
In spirit as I used of yore.
And dream of thee !
When worldly ills do weigh me down,
And friends fall off, and some do frown
Who smiled before in times bye gone,
I think of thee !
When some success has crowned my toil,
And hopes revive that drooped meanwhile,
I feel no joy in fortunes smile,
Apart from thee !
Nay, when I tread the distant shores
Of sun-bright lands, where nature grows
Most gorgeous gifts, those precious stores
I'd share with thee.
When stars above and scenes beneath
That teem with poetry, no breath
Of praise call forth — as still as death,
I think of thee.
When treason makes ones shaken trust
Swing from its moorings, tempest tost.
And faith in man is almost lost,
I think of thee.
When the fierce war with life doth rage
For gold, that man with man doth wage,
Thou art the treasure doth engage
All thoughts of mine !
When scenes are mine, like those famed isles
That ever bask in summer smiles.
Tricked out in beautie's ocean spoils,
I think of thee !
When stars that rule the traitor's fate,
To regions south where, throned in state,
Death holds high court, early and late,
I think of thee !
Jklre. Harriet X. Madden, born in Loudon, 1802, died at Booterstownj Dublin, Feb. 7tb,1888.
DK. R. R. MADDEN. ISl
Or when life's ruling passion looks
For dead men's thoughts embalmed in books :
Or Nature's lines in living brooks,
I think of thee I
When youthful visions happily rise
In fairy form and brightest guise,
And flit — too fast — before my eyes,
I think of thee !
And \vhen they're gone, and all is drear
And dark again, my heart flies where
Thou art, and thus its hopes 1 cheer.
With thoughts of thee !
Havana^ 1839.
TO THE AUTHOK'S WIFE.*
Oh, woman ! in our days of pride.
In manhoods prime, when we confide
In strength of will and power of frame
To conquer fortune, fate, or fame !
How ill do we appreciate
Those tender cares we shared of laie;
Thy gentle councils— all, in fine.
Of such unselfishness as thine !
Oh, woman ! in the time of need.
When friends fall off, false lights mislead
And projects fail, and health and strcngtl
And pride of life break down at leugfch —
Experience sad, enlightened thus,
Brings all its truth to bear on us,
And all thy love and faith, so fast
And strong, is duly prized at last.
* Written in i Igiers, 16(1.
16*
i32 MEMOIRS
ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT.
The sea was smooth and bright the shore,
A cloudless sky above,
But frail the little bark that bore
A mother's freight of love.
It danced upon the morning tide,
And mocked a mother's fears,
An object of a moment's pride,
A subject soon of tears.
The sun is gone, the night is dark,
The sea is ruffled o'er ;
Ah, me ! where is that little bark
So lately left the shore ?
It meets no more the longing eye,
It may no more return,
The night is past, no bark is nigh,
The mourner's left forlorn.
Yet weep not, though it meet no more
Thy gaze on yonder sea,
Another and a brighter shore
So smiling on its lee.
Another and a better port
Is now its peaceful home,
"Where wail or woe have no resort,
And care may never come.
St. Leonard'Sf 1831.
THE LADY PEBPLEXED.
As pure a breast as ever teemed
With hallowed love's devotion.
Thus vented, or at least thus seemed
To vent, its soft emotion;
A soldier here, — a parson there I
Oh, which way shall I turn ;
How hard to chose 'twixt such a pair,
Or either have to spurn.
The parson is indeed — divine,
The soldier, too, is killing ;
One preys upon this heart of mine,
The other sets it thrilling.
The feelings doth the flesh impart,
The spirit must control;
I love the soldier in my heart.
The parson in my soul.
Cheltenham, 1830.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. l33
EXTEMPORE LINES (A L'ARABE) ADDRESSED TO ]
THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. j
If e'er the price of tinder rises, •
To smoking as I'm giren, j
I light my pipe at your bright eyes j
And steal my fire from heaven. ■
I
In Paymin climes, when forced to sip {
Cold water thro' devotion, i
I'll deem the goblet touched your lips, j
And nectarize my potion. . !
And when the sun's eclipse I'd vie^
Without a thought of terror, !
I '11 only have to fancy you .
Had breathed upon your mirror.
If Nature's beauty I would trace |
In all its brightness clearly.
Its outline pencilled on your face j
I'll have to copy merely. j
But that sweet portraiture of love,
If made to meet my notions, '
The limner of the heart should prove |
A Claude of soft emotions. \
Rome, 1828.
FATHER MATTHEW.* ^ ,j
He lives in our hearts and his image ia there,
And each line of that face breathes a spirit of pray'r ; -•
It beams with the light which the primitive fold
Beheld in the looks of Apostle of old.
A message of peace and of tidings most blest \
Seems to dwell on those lips and to stir in that breast, j
And the language of love, in regards so benign, ,
Has the force and the truth of a mission divine. j
Oh ! it is not the prudence or wisdom of man, \
Or philosophy's lore, in those featm-es we scan ; j
But, the servant of God, whom we love and revere
He has come on a mission of peace to our land, J
And his voice has gone forth, and his counsel shall stand. |
His accents shaU drown the reviler's complaints. |
And the land that of old was the Island of Saints,
Again shall rejoice, and the ancient renown,
Of her Priests and her People again be her crown.
• Written tmaer a portrait of the Apostle of Temperance.
134 MEMOIRS
TO CUBA.
Cuba ! of what avail that thou art fair !
Pearl of the seas, the pride of the Antilles !
If thy poor sous have still to see thee share
The pangs of bondage, and its thousand ills ?
Of what avail the verdure of thy hills ?
The purple bloom the coffee plain displays ;
Thy cane's luxuriant growth, whose culture fills
More graves than famine, or the sword finds ways
To glut with victims calmly as it slays ?
Of what avail that thy sweet streams abound
With precious ore, if wealth there's none to buy
Thy children's rights, and not one grain is found
For learning's shrine, or for the altar nigh.
Of poor, forsaken, downcast liberty ?
Of what avail the riches of thy port,
Forests of masts, and ships from every sea,
If trade alone is free, and man the sport.
The spoil of trade, bears wrongs of ev'ry sort ?
Cuba, oh Cuba, when they call thee fair.
And rich and beautiful, the Queen of isles !
Star of the West, and ocean's gem most rare I
Oh, say to them who mock thee with such wiles :
Take off these flowers, and view these lifeless spoils
That wait the worm ; behold the hues beneath
The pale cold cheek, and seek for living smiles
Where beauty lies not in the arms of death.
And bondage taints not with its poisoned breath.
Havana, 1839.
LINES WRITTEN AT ST. HELENA (1849).
Rival of Cnesar ! Victor of thy day !
What is the sum of all thy vast renown ?
Jena, Marengo, Austerlitz, Le Haye,
And Waterloo, are wanting to its crown.
What has thy mission been ? To pull down thrones,
Trample on Kings, their serfs again to bind ;
To lavish gore, unmoved by tears or groans,
And deem it glory to afflict mankind !
What hast thou left thy country in bequest
For all the ills incurred or caused by war ?
Or good conferred on Europe, wrong redressed.
Or right maintained at home, or yet afar ?
Kings in their strength, like you, oppress again ;
People are slaves as they have been before :
What was the end of all thy glory then ?
How small and vain this mission of an hour !
A hero, doomed to perish on a rock
In the wide ocean, far from ev'ry scene
Of former triumph, spared for ev'ry shock
Of adveree fortune,— this thy doom has been.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 135
WOMAN'S WORK AND MISSION.*
To woman's mission might supreme assigned
Life's noblest aims in mercy to mankind ;
To teach, to soothe, to succour, humanize,
To elevate, retrieve, and civilize ;
Aims far beyond all those of wealth and pow'r,
Of science, physics, pliilosophic lore,
Or ends of vain pursuits, with tumult, strife,
In senates, schools, in sects and factions rife,
Or triumphs gained at far too great a cost
For influence that's feminine to boast.
For it unsuited are all scenes where small
Ambitions reign, and selfish schemes enthrall ;
111 with the worldling's views of life accords
The temper' d ardour of the ways and words
And spell of woman's gently-won dominion
O'er heart and mind, affection and opinion ;
Seek not that power in fashion's iiauuting train,
Apparel — prattle frivolous and vain.
In modish cliques you will not find it there,
Its force and virtue must be sought elsewhere.
That potent influence for good is found
Wherever human miseries abound ;
In scenes and on occasions it is shown
With strength of mind and purpose all its own
With grace and goodness suitably allied,
In God's own cause of mercy well employed.
In woman's work, and never done with more
Success than when the suffering and the poor
Thus served or saved are women, be it known,
To woman's praise and honour, her's alone.
God speed the work of woman's mission blest,
Wherever done, in our own land — still best ;
Give it success, not for the sake alone
Of those it serves, but of those whose crown
Of glory here is won by that success
In soothing pain, misfortune, and distress.
Plead for that cause, its objects, and its aims,
All ye who love the memories and names
Most dear to Christians ! Sanctify the fact
Of woman's mission, thus in thought and act !
* Inscribed to the late Mrs. Harriet Madden, 1870.
136 MEMOIRS
ON BEGINNING TO GKOW OLD.'
In Nature's volume, — verse and page
Known once as well almost as prayers, —
'Tis writ that " All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women players."
This stage, however, stands in need
Of worthy men like Job for actors ;
But bookish, bardish folks, indeed.
Make very poor dramatic factors.
They could perhaps play Jacques, and once
Might " gentle lovers " parts have taken ;
But Romeo's past, and years announce
That Hamlet soon must be forsaken.
For these too old, too young for Lear :
Alas ! what intermediate station
Remains to choose ? The Drama here
Begins to fail in recreation.
For one at least who's dreamt his dreams
Of early love and joys romantic,
And deemed not always, as he deems,
Of life and all its pleasures frantic.
For one at twenty-eight who feels
His early notions daily alter ;
And even then whose look reveals
What it mip;ht baffle tongue to falter.
OLD BOOKS ABANDONED.
"Farewell at once, for once, for now and ever. "—Richard II.
I loved old books, I must confess,
*' Not wisely, but too well " — unduly ;
Perhaps I love them even yet.
As much as ever, and as truly.
I lived in them : they were to me
A world of wealth and priceless treasure
They served me for society.
Secured me peace, content, and pleasure.
They're gone, and to the past no more may roam
From ponderous folios, well collated.
To pigmy Elzevii-'s, from tome
To tome of learning concentrated.
They're gone, my auction rounds are done,
And my last sale has been attended ;
" Othello's occupation's gone,"
And my "big wars " for books are ended.
♦ Written iu Eg>pt in 1826.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 137
Perhaps 'tis better to forget
All vain pursuits, each fleeting pleasure
To feel this house of mine to set
In order needs a little leisure.
The well-known voice of one long dead,
Whose tones can be forgotten never,
I think I hear, and words are said,
With wisdom fraught, as his were ever.
The future, not the past, the mind
Of age shall fill ; few books are needed
For it, save those in which men find
Eternal truths and interests pleaded.
3, Vernon Terrace, Booterstoivn, 1865.
SCIATICA.*
What shames the doctor's art and skill,
Defies the power of draught and pill.
And racks the wretch it will not kill '?
Sciatica.
What wicked sprite draws nigh
With mace and mallet raised on high,
And smites him on the hip and thigh ?
Sciatica.
What name is to the torture given,
By wedge, by mace, and mallet driven.
Bight down through nerve and fascia riven ?
Sciatica.
What call you the sensation dread
Of rats that gnaw your limbs, with red-
Hot iron teeth, when you're in bed ?
Sciatica.
What brings the tortured wight to feel
His sinews crushed from head to heel.
As in a vice with screw of steel?
Sciatica.
What makes the stout man writhe and groan,
The sweat of agony flow down
His forehead, cold as death or stone ?
Sciatica.
What's worse to bear than bores and fools
The cant of factions, sects and schools.
And all the shams self-interest rules ?
Sciatica.
What is it patience must endure.
Would fain control, but cannot cure,
Yet may survive, as friends assure ?
Sciatica.
* Jiines written by a victim in a fit of pain and paroxysm of furv.
138 MEMOIRS I
I
I
i
LINES ON EXEECISE.
" I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,
A stage whore ev'ry man must play a -pavt."— Merchant of Venice.
Some exercise their tongues, and they are talkers.
Others their legs, and these, of course, are walkers ;
Many, alas ! their gullets, these are drinkers ; _
A few their brains, and these poor folks are thinkers.
Shrews exercise then- lungs in screams and screeches
Soldiers their guns in batteries and breaches ;
Big wigs their wits in cavils, quirks, and quibbles,
Doctors their skill in oracles like sybils.
Landlords their rights in seizures and evictions,
Tyrants their might in terrors and restrictions ;
Ladies their eyes, in glances brighter even
Than stars that shoot across the face of heaven.
Statesmen their wisdom, framing statutes daily
For lawyers' four-in-hand to drive thro' gaily ;
Lovers their breasts, in deep drawn sighs — poor fellows? !
That wheeze like puffs of broken- winded bellows.
Some exercise their reason with their fist,
And argue stoutly outwards from the wrist ;
Some exercise their judgment, though not many —
These are the most unpopular of any.
Some exercise their folly, these are '• Legion,"
The duped, cajoled, the fleeced of ev'ry region ;
Bards exercise a taste for odes and sonnets.
And belles for myths, which milliners call bonnets.
Some exercise their locomotive organs,
And live by tours less lively than our Morgans ;
Some exercise the faculties called mental.
Write many books, but never read a rental.
Some exercise their doubt when there is question
Of worth or merit, clad in frieze or fustian ;
Some exercise their fancy spirit-knocking.
Dreaming of angels when the fiends are mocking.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 139
Some exercise their minds in jumping ditches,
Shine most in scarlet coats and buckskin breeches,
Think most of covers, kennels, runs and courses,
Talk best of fences, huntsmen, hounds, and horses.
Some exercise their energies in punning.
And labour hard for their impromptu funning ;
Kead up old jests and grind them young — those Millers
Grind well of course the grist for story tellers.
Some exercise their cleverness in jobbing —
Another name with gentlemen for robbing ;
Some do a stroke of business on grand juries,
In joint stock bankS; Whigs, Rapparees, and Tories.
Some exercise their craft in artful dodges
On great divisions, and in Orange lodges ;
Men of two souls, two sides to suit — a White one ?
The other black ; but God knows which the right on .
Some exercise their zeal as bible readers.
Converting souls with soup, and tracts for feeders ;
Some exercise their charity accusing
Their fellow Christians, and their faith abusing
Some exercise then- horses running race*^,
And some their members running after places ;
Some exercise the franchise, showing clearly
They prize it highly, for they price it dearly.
Some exercise their valour when they're drinking,
And some their bounty when their pulse is sinking ;
Some exercise their prudence when folks press them,
To feel their pockets and jDrepare to bless them.
Thus ev'ry one takes exercise that suits him.
Or thinks it serves his purj^ose, or recruits him.
Each has his taste, his humour, whim, and fashion.
His clique, his club, his hobby, and his passion.
140 MEMOIRS
SWEETS TO THE SWEET.*
'Tis sweet the evening bells to hear
Of village church — when not too near ;
'Tis sweet to see, without a frown,
A kind old couple toddling down
The hill of life in peace together,
Kegardless of the shortening tether ;
'Tis sweet to sip a cup of Congo
When wine has made the head all wrong go
•Tis sweet, in deserts parched, to drink
Cold water — when it does not stink ;
'Tis Bweet to hear one's first work praised,
To see a list'ning friend amazed,
To smell the dinner on the stairs
At half -past six, when one despairs ;
'Tis sweet an ancient pile to view
With ivy wreathed ; 'tis pleasant, too,
To see a round of beef well boiled,
Or sirloin roast, or steak well broiled ;
'Tis sweet to dream of uncles old,
And dying aunts with lots of gold ;
'Tis sweet to think we grow more wise
When RatcUffe's page we cease to prize,
And turn to Malthus or to Hervey
For tombs and cradles topsy-turvey ;
'Tis sweet to flatter one's dear self
With sentimental stuff — when pelf
Is passion, poetry romance.
And all our faith's in three per cents ;
'Tis sweet to see an infant smile,
A maiden blush devoid of guile,
A youthful mother watch her child,
And view its little features mild ;
'Tis sweet, says Tully, to reheve
The poor, to comfort those who grieve.
To heal the sick, to shield the stranger,
And snatch unwary youth from danger ;
But sweeter far than this or aught
In life, with pleasing feelings fraught,
Is that unutterable joij
The man approves without alloy,
Who breaks the bond of slavery
And sets his fellow -mortal free.
* Specimen from an Unpublished Epic Poem.
DR. E. R, MADDEN. lil
EXPOSTULATION AND AGITATION.
(Written during the Tithe Agitation).*
Are you wise or are you mad ?
Will you never be content ?
Have you ears for tidings glad ?
" Tithes are nothing more than rent."
Swinish rabble, ever brawling,
Will you never be at rest ?
" Kebels masked," for justice calling,
" All your wrongs have been redressed."
Have you not a poor-law, pray ?
Thirty thousand troops at hand,
And the warlike Lord De Grey
Winning fame by sea and land ?
Have you not a bill for branding
Weapons which your fathers bore
When the Volunteers were banding ?
What the devil would you more ?
Equal laws and no mistake,
Equal rights and nothing less ;
Liberty for conscience' sake,
And for all wrongs redress.
Ample justice — howsoever
Whigs or Tories please to name it —
Up, Repealers ! now or never
Is the time, hke men, to claim it.
Men of England, tell us straight —
Men of Scotland, speak the truth —
Are we members of one State,
Subjects of one Queen forsooth?
Would you bear the ills which gall us
With unruffled breast or brow ?
If we're brothers, as you caU us,
Act by U8 like brothers now.
Mongrels of the Cromwell brood,
Swift of foot and keen of scent,
When the trail is one of blood,
How the chase affords content.
Civil war and all its woe, *
Ever welcome, ever grateful,
Like the Franks of old, to you
Peace, of all things, is most hateful.
Fathers of the Irish Church,
Shun such friends, and strive in prayer ;
Faction only seeks your porch
When its strength is spent elsewhere.
Landlords of the crimson'd soil,
Cries from earth are reaching heaven,
Uttered by the poor you spoil,
Or from house and home have driven.
^ * The Tithe Agitation culminated in 1831, during the Marquis of Anglesoa's administration
m Ireland, in open resistance to the hated impost, attendant with a lamentable loss of life
both to the peasantry, by whom it was resisted, and to the police, by whom its enforcement
was attempted, and led to the Tithe Composition Act. A fu;l account of this epoch maybe
found in the two volumes of Mr. Wm. Fitzpatrick's valuable Life, Times, and Corresvond-
enee of the Bight Rev. Dr. Doyle.— D\xblm, 1880.
142 MEMOIRS
THE MEN OF "NINETY-EIGHT.
'Tis the sunsliine of Erin that ghmmered of old
On the banners of green we have loved to behold,
On the Shamrock of Erin and the Emerald Isle.
Oh ! sweet is the smile on the face of the land,
Where its beauty has struggled for ages with tears,
Where the dark gloom of bondage recedes from the strand,
And the Shamrock of Erin and the Emerald Isle.
II.
Her children are freemen, who slumbered in chains
When our fathers were up and defended our plains
From the tyrants who trampled the Emerald Isle;
But where are the men of the year Ninety-Eight?
The brave and the true men, and echo says where ?
They speak not, they smile not, their sons are elate,
And they have not a word for the famous, nor a tear
For the men who defended the Emerald Isle.
III.
The cause it was treason of yore to maintain
Has triumphed at last over tyranny's reign,
And the badge of the brave is the shamrock so green:
But where are the brothers united the while ?
I hear not their strains in our peals of applause ;
Ah ! call back the exile who loves the green Isle ;
Oh ! think on his comrades who died for the cause
Of the Emerald Isle and the Shamrock so green.
IV.
Oh ! call back the exile, bid wisdom and worth
With McNevin revisit their place of their birth —
The land of dear Erin, the Emerald Isle.
Restore to us genius and virtue combined,
The Cato of Erin— her Emmet — recall :
Ah ! warm is the wish, but their memories shrined,
In our hearts let them live, and be green there withal.
Like the Shamrock beloved of the Emerald Isle.
Oh ! think on the dead, and forget not the brave ;
Remember the chivalry that sleeps in the grave —
Of Edward, the pride of the Emerald Isle.
We seek no revenge, and we need none 'tis true,
For none did avenge us as did Castlereagh ;
We ask for the dead, but the tribute that's due
To our countrymen's worth, and we claim it this day.
For the memories dear to the Emerald Isle.
New York, 1840.
DB. R. E. MADDEN.
AN EVICTION LAY.*
I.
Down with the cabins ! Away with the poor !
Now on with the war of the clearance crusade ;
Shatter each window and batter each door ;
Hurrah for the work of the " Crowbar Brigade !
Up with the sledges, the structure is frail ;
That crash tells how bravely the walls are assailed.
In at the beach ! show the wretches who quail
The landlord has triumphed, his law has prevailed !
Scatter the embers ! the rafters must blaze.
The wreck of the roof must illumine the scene ;
Drive out the wretches, in terror who gaze
On ruins that lately their homesteads have been.
IV.
Out with the squalor ! — the brats at the breast,
The crones in the corner away must be borne ;
Heed not the cry of the heart that's opprest,
The curse of the poor you can smile at in scorn !
Wailings of women, the pitiful look
Of children appealing for mercy despise !
Eavings of frenzy must serve for a joke,
And anguish uncouth seem absurd in your eyes.
Break up the grounds that were heretofore tilled.
Pasture the beast where the peasant might live !
Poorhouses surely were made to be filled,
And the land is alone for the cattle to thrive.
VII.
Nothing is left^of the homes of the poor
But desolate gables that point to the skies,
Destined like obelisks long to endure
Memorials of exploits to challenge surprise.
VIII.
Thus goes on the war of the clearance crusade,
The rights of the landlords must carry the day
Their duties are done by the crowbar brigade.
Their deeds are recorded — and God will repay.
* Written in the Famine Year, 1849.
l44 MEMOIRS
THE EMIGRANTS.*
Air — " By that Lake whose gloomy shore."
God be with you mother dear,
Wiristhroo ! oh wiristhroo !
Must I go and leave you here,
Old and poor, and friendless too.
Kathleen, in the name of God,
Fly the famine land ; this day
Thousands lie beneath the sod,
In theu' youth, love ! — swept away.
'Tis a wretched land indeed,
But it is our country sure ;
And 'tis sad to seek one's bread
Far from kith and kin, asthore.
Oh, my child, a land, 1 fear,
Where the wrath of God and man
Falls, as it hath fallen here,
Ev'ry one must flee who can.
Well I know its fated doom ;
But my father's grave is here,
And my mother's hearth and home,
Tho' now desolate and drear.
Age and sorrow home have none.
But the young with hearts that glow,
Thro' the Blessed Mary's Son,
One will find where'er they go.
To your loving breast once more,
Where in infancy I lay,
Mother dear, to thy heart's core
Press me closer still I pray.
#
Kathleen, with this last embrace,
Take my blessing darling now,
God of glory give you grace ! ' '
All good angels go with you !
Written on return from Australia^ 1850.
* An almoBt literal version of one of these affecting parting scenes of our peasantry— the
separation of young and old, parents and children, the loving and the loved, the hopeful and
the hopeless, the hale and the decrepit ; scenes now of such frequent occurrence at many of
the stations of cm- principal railway lines, and which I have observed with pain, on more than
one occasion, productive of amuseaaent for our touristB.
DE. K. E. MADDEN. l45
1849.
THE CELTIC BACE.
The Celtic race must yield its place
Exile or death must end it here ;
By flight or famine every trace
Of the old stock must disappear.
*' The Irish foe " — the Celt must go,
He shall not live in his own land ;
The Times has said "it must be so,"
Man's rights and Nature's laws are banu'd.
III.
The landlord's code — that writ in blood-
Works well ; the poor, indeed, decrease.
The Whigs have made a solitude,
And call the desolation— peace.
IV.
Our Saxon lords would turn their swords
To plough shares in this crimson'd soil,
And clear it of its Celtic hordes
To plant anew the ravaged Isle.
V.
This land of graves, of famished slaves,
To " Law and Order "yields once more
" The Irish foe ' is crushed, he craves
Admission at the poorhouse door.
ERm TO HER SISTEE. , .• |
The dragon-crested pohcy that made '
A Nation's creed and origin a crime ;
The sceptre sword— the Church and State stockade ; I
The Pale— its wars— the liazet s of our clime ;
The truce that gave an interval to prime
And load the laws, and confiscate the Isle : '
These were your gifts of government;— and time j
^Matured the seeds you scattered in our soil, — *
Seeds, hkc the serpent's teeth, which yielded strife and spoil. i
* Lines written for title page of a work on Penal Laws, Lisbon, 1844.
a
146 MKMOIES
THE REBEL'S EABEWELL.*
i
I. i
The heart that's grieving,
Still fondly cleaving
To hopes deceiving
That bloom no more,
Eecalls each pleasure,
Keclaims life's treasure,
Love's own large measure
Of joys of yore.
1
If stars which sever ,
Unite us never, 1
Oh ! then for ever |
One last farewell ! ;
When tears are starting, i
One cup at parting ^
Should soothe its smarting— .
Its gloom dispel. ■
J
nr.
New cares come o'er us, i
New scenes before us, !
Frail hopes that bore us i
We now must view— |
In fragments broken, ,
The wreck's sad token t I
Of lovo^ hat's spoken 1
Its last adieu. I
IV.
No more fond dreaming] j
Of bright eyes beaming,
AVith rapture streaming, j
And love's own light ; \
To friends united,
By vows fast phghtcd,
The cause now blighted —
Yaiu hopes, good night ! ,
1
''" Among tlie pftt)Ci'B in my pnprcssion of the iinfortunate younfr Felix Bourkc (executed ill J
180o), thoro iH a letter of his wvittcu cluriny his conlineDient in 1798, adclresaed to a young I
lady to whom he was attached, intbi ming her that the Goveniment had consented to his release 1
and that of several ot his ccmpanions, on condition of their expatriating themselves. He \
communicates the news of his expected exile in a strain of grief and gladness, of love and
patriotism, of boyish levitv and deep pathos. His letter suggested the fcregoing lines,
written lu the measure of Curtau's Song of the Deeerter.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 147
Yet grief is fitting.
The exile's flitting,
His country quitting ~
Friends, house, and home.
The cause that vaunted
Its chiefs undaunted —
The seeds they planted,
They yet shall bloom.
vr.
If youth for gladness,
If age for sadness
Be made, what madness
To be cast down ;
There's work remaining,
An end for gaining,
And for attaining,
Still left undone.
THE BELLE OF TEl3 OCEAN.
^he traveller may boast of the clime of the East,
He may rave about Naples and Home,
He may range the wide world all his fancies to feast,
And forget all the pleasures of home.
Tho' sweet are the shores and ambrosial the gale
Of the soil and its bright summer sea,
The glare of its beauty shall never prevail
O'er thine, dearest Erin, with me.
The poet may dream of Arcadian delights,
And illumine his page with the glow
Of a sunrise in Greece, wlien Apollo ahghla
On Olympus in vesture of snow.
I care not for Phoebus, I court not a beam
Of his beauty, however divine ;
Of sunshine and splendour abroad be his dream,
But thou, dearest Erin, be mine I
Let Byron awaken the heart- stirring lyre,
And the beauty impassioned proclaim
Of belles Oriental, whose features inspii'e,
Ev'ry breast at a glance with a flame.
The beam unabashed of the dark-rolling eye
la a thing for which poets may pine,
And beauty, far distant, extol to the sky,
But thine, dearest Erin, be mine.
St. Leonard\?i 1830.
U *
I
148 MEHOiRS
THE DAY THAT IS TO COME.*
Once more the torch of Freedom burns, |
The glorious flnme revives,
The light of life to earth returns,
And liberty stilt lives ! |
The sundered chain is linked in vain |
Again to bind the brave, ;
It cannot bind a Nation's mind \
New risen from the grave. I
The time of strife and raid is gone.
Oppression's reign is o'er,
And smiles for ages past unknown
Poor Erin wears once more.
Her day is come, and night's long gloom,
With all its grief is past,
The harp that slept so long is swept
By freedom's sons at last.
Ko more shall faclion rear its crest,
Eevile us and upbraid.
And while it tramples the opprest,
Still vaunt of brand and blade.
A nobler boast shall be our toast.
Oblivion for the past.
United hands, and hearts, and friends.
In triumph joined at last.
If yet on earth no other shrine
Of liberty were known.
My ov/n beloved land, but thine,
I still would bow me down.
"Where moral might sustain the Right,
A Nation's mind commands,
When millions feel their country's weal
Is in their peaceful hands.
EPITOME OF IRISH HISTORY.f
God made the land, and all His works are good ;
Man made the laws, and all they breath'd was blood.
Unhallowed annals of six hundred years —
A code of blood— a history of tears.
* A Day-dream, 1.^43.
t tines written for title page of an esBay on tlie History 0/ Ireland, lc4o.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 149
THE VOLUNTAHY PRINCIPLE.
God speed the cause, the righteous cause,
Of Liberty and Peace,
And bless the laud with equal laws,
And bid injustice cease.
Protect religion's freedom, Lord,
From fatal gifts and guile,
And weapon, deadly as the sword-^
The Courtier's crafty wile.
From all connection with the State
Its independence guard,
Six hundred years' resisted hate
And brave defence reward.
The spotless hind keep undefiled
From every sordid strain,
And priests and prelates uubeguilel
By goYoruraental gain.
Thy sacred Truth their treasure be,
Thy wisdom their defence,
And its great riches set them free
From thoughts of Pounds and pence.
Thy altars as of old sustained.
Thy pastors by the flock ;
And by the fold "the Church maintnined
That's built upon the Kock.
Thy sacred temple evermore.
Though lowly it may be,
Preserve from every splendid lure
And leave it poor — but free.
Its altar never be profaned
By pensioned priests, I pray,
Nor served by ministers maintained
in any Statesman's pay.
18-il.
150 MEMOIRS
ON BEVISITING KILBONAN AFTER A LAPSE OF MANY lEARS.
Time, it would seem, deals leniently with things
Sacred to genius and religion's name,
And leaves the gorgeous palaces of kings
No such enduring monument of fame :
But thy old walls, Kilronan, are the same
Unchanging ruins I beheld them last,
When five-and -twenty years ago I came
And pondered o'er these records of the past,
Written in stone that age had oYercast.
The same old ivy clings to thy grey stones,
And this unfading drapery of yore
The gothic arch and sculptur'd casement crowns.
And shrouds these sacred walls as heretofore ;
These hallowed graves the Cyprus still waves o'er.
Before thee now in peaceful slumber lies
The tranquil lake, and on tho noiseless shore
The pilgrim stands, and vainly turns his eyes
Where our last minstrel's monument should rise.*
•
But thine, sweet bard, is in a people's core,
And there enshrined in memory shall be
\Yhen old Kilronan's ruins are no more.
And not one stone is left to speak of thee.
Yet are these ruins, even in decay,
Worthy to be the shrine of such remains.
Though even here the spoiler dared to lay
His ruthless hand on all that earth retains
■ Of one who filled our country with his strains.
Here by his grave the honoured patrons rest—
The old kind friends, whose well-known hearths and homes
Full many a time and oft his footsteps prest.
And now, when all is silent as these tombs,
Tiiey too, and all that once was theirs, are gone ;
Or if a remnant of the land that looms
Around me still is left from sire to son.
The wreck of ancient property becomes
A prey which law to desolation dooms.
Here is the grave of ancestors of mine.
The long last home of my maternal race ;
Those in whose halls the minstrel oft resigned
His soul to song, and all his cares would chase.
Oh ! what a change has fallen on this place —
These scattered stones denoting its extent,
Are all that's left of Lyonstown to trace
The spot v/here one, whose memory is blent
With every thought of mine, her youth had spent.
* Carolan's remains were buried within the ruined walls of Kilronan Church. I remember
about thirty years ago seeing the head, which was pointed out by tradition as that of Cardan,
carefully preserved in a niche in omi of the oW waHs with ix piece of ribboa ftfflxod to i(. It
exists tUere ao lowger.— E. E. M.
DE. E. E. MADDEN.
Oh ! while I linger midst those sites it seems
The current swells that circles in my veins.
These ruins speak of old ancestral themes,
Dreams of the past ill-suited to the scenes
Must soon be mine, where strife for ever reigns
Where man in ruins, trampled and opprest.
Holds forth his hands and glances at his chains,
And that appeal, I feel hath reached my breast,
And every feeling of my heart possessed.
Before departure for Africa in 1841.
BESUEGET.* |
Oh ! Erin my country, the gloom j
On thy brow tells of anguish and woo ; ]
But the darkness that's there, not like that of the tomb, |
Lies on features yet dsstined to glow.
All sorely aggrieved as thou art, j
Robbed of Freedom, of Land, and of Lore, I
I yet cling to the hope, that the pulse of thy heart, |
And thy courage shall beat high once more. ,
I cannot beheve 'tis thy fate \
To go down in the wreck with the foe, j
With the might and dominion so boundless of late, ,
And the pride that shall yet be laid low. J
To the car of the despot though chained, ]
While his strength and resources endure, ^
Not bound to his corpse, as the tyrant ordained, ■!
Shall thou be, like the victim of yore.
Oh ! Erin my country so wrong'd, j
All redress must we hope from the Lord,
For thy terrible annals of sull'rings prolonged j
Have not shaken my faith in His Word. 1
• In the Creed and the Cause, alike blest,
Of the Patriot Christian despair
Finds no place, and religion alone can invest
Love of country with courage so rare.
* Lines wittcn to encourage Irishmen to hope, even against hope, for their eonntry, after
roading the mouraful poem of Tiioaias rurl'jii^', fiupposua to UavG h'jeu wntteu the iu<,ht
after the Uuiou.
159 MEMOIES
1880.
FAREWELL LINES TO AN OLD FRIEND. J
^
Farewell, sweet solace of the careworn breast, J
The wearied mind and energies op'rest, ;
The student's vigils, and his lonesome life,
The traveller's toil, and each profession's strife !
Farewell, lov'd muse of poetry long woo'd —
Fair lady of the stripling's heart imbued j
With all illusions — and the brightest, yet.
Though fast to fade, still latest to forget.
Of me no gift can be reclaimed of thine, i
At least my homage was not at thy shrine ,
For inspiration, but for instinct meet, ,
To prize in others gifts like thine, replete ^
With glorious attributes, — to find the same j
Old traits of time's undeadliness and fame -,
In Dante's visions, and in Shakespeare's lore, I
And Chaucer's quaint and graphic strains of yore.' ;
"With pride to trace them in the works of friends, I
Whose fame with ties of old acquaintance blends
With Campbell's name, Beranger's, Moore's, and though I
The last, not least revered, with Beattie's too. j
Farewell, lov'd muse ! 'tis time we parted now,
When clouds and gloom are gathering on my brow ^i
And sickness dulls my spirit, and a change j
Conies o'er my dream of life that's passing strange ! \
LINES ADDRESSED TO A ZEALOT.
• Meekness and mild benignity, good Sir,
Become a churchman better than contention:
Win erring stuls with charity. 'Tis not
With bitter words and controversial wars —
With haughty looks and spiritual pride
In sanctimonious guise — with taunts and tones
That give offence — the work of Christ is done."
From an old Sjmmsh Drama of Don Eicardo Roberto.
T.
Oh ! would to God self-righteous zealots tried
To show how nearly sects might coincide,
And not how widely diff'ring, they agreed
To differ only — heart and soul, and creed !
II.
Oh ! would to God that all sectarian lore
Taught Christian men to love each other more,
And hate each other less for the defects
Of mere opinion, judged by wrangling sects.
HI.
Oh ! would to God intolerance was deemed
More than a crime, a blunder— and it seemed
Experience brought mankind at last to feel
Earth's greatest curse was fierce, untempered zeal.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 153
CHRISTMAS DAY.
To Bethlehem ! your transports bring
This blessed Christmas morn !
To harp and timbrel sacred sing
This day the Christ was born !
Emanuel was born !
This blessed day
Of Jubilee,
The Son of God was born !
II.
Angelic anthems fill the skies,
And joys of earth in turn,
In canticles of praise arise
To greet the Christmas morn,
The day that Christ was born !
0, joyous strain
Break forth again ! —
This day the Christ was born !
Ye everlasting gates lift up.
To ('hrist we come this morn
To cat the bread and drink the cup
Of life itself new born.
0, woe to them who scorn
The Liimb of God,
Who shed his blood
This blessed Christmas morn !
IV.
The Father gave his only Son
To save a world forlorn :
Hi-i holy will on earth was done
The day the Christ was born !
6, greet that blessed morn
The Lamb of God,
Who shed his blood
For sinful man, was born !
0, let the Church of God rejoice !
Proclaim the cross this morn,
Hosannas loud in ev'ry voice,
The holy one is born !
To us a child is born !
0,|breathe again'
That blessed strain,
This day the Christ was bora !
154 MpMOlBS
POEMS WRITTEN AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE--
SOME FUBTHER SELECTIONS.
DANTE'S CREED.
^* Nel mezzo del camraino cli nostra vita
Mi retrovai pcir una silva osciira,
Che la dirretta via era unarrita :
E' quanto a dir, qual era e causa dura
Questa sielva solvaggio, ed aspcr e porte
Ube nel ijeasior fiauuova la paura."
Dante's Inferno— Canto I,
As we advance midway in our career,
Each onward step makes our experience wear
A graver aspect, and more enlarged,
With deeper trials is that experience charged —
Dante has drawn a picture of the strife
And length'niug shadows of the passing life ;
But he, of mortal minstrels first and best,
Was not content to paint them, he addrcst
His mighty genius to the cause of those
Gigantic ills which war with our repose.
Strong in the faith of his Italian sires —
In silent meditation — his desires
Were prayers for knowledge, in the midst of all
Surrounding darkness, discord, spirit-thrall ;
Fain would he know why so much evil reigned
Throughout the land and triumphed unrestrained.
sH t '!; -Jt *
But Dante found assurance for his Faith
"Where thousands falter, faint, or lose its path :
One steadfast thought prevailed in his mind,
Pervading ev'ry page he wrote we find.
5>C ^: ^ ;j;
That ancient Church was surely founded well
On Christ's own promise that " the gates of hell
Shall not prevail against it.'' Wind and rain
May beat upon that House of God in vain ;
Though human passions, furnished with the power
To mar its beauty, in an evil hour
The outward structure may profane ; yet more
Than human strength preserved its shrines of yore,
And still protects them from the worst of all
The ills that can Religion's rule befall ;
But God sets bounds to malice, and confines
Within those limits its perverse designs.
The Church of Christ that's militant on earth,
Battling with all abuses from its birth —
Scandals, reproach, dissembled zeal and doubt,
Weakness within and wickedness without ;
Founded on Peter, there it stands secure, —
" 'J'he Rock of Ages '' — destined to endure.
Shall reign triumphant with its Spouse Divine,
And this was Dante's Creed— and it is mine.
PB, E, B. MADDJIN, J55
LINES ON A DEATH.BED SCENE.*
Somni leves, quanquam ccrtisBima mortis imayo,
CoDBortem oupio te tainen tori,
A'lraa qujes, optata veni, nam sic sine vita
Vivere quora suave est, sic sine morte mori.
T. Warton.
Come not here in anguish wailing,
Spirit-stricken, broken-hearted,
Steeped in sadness unavaihng,
For ii sainted soul departed !
Not like those wlio sorrow grieving,
Without hope, the death-bed tending ;
But as mourners feel, believing
Angels o'er that couch are bending !
Calm in death our friend is lying,
Placid, still, as infant sleeping ;
Holy living, holy dying,
All throughout in perfect keeping.
Solemn stillness, rest unbroken
Ev'ry feature overcasting,
Type of Christian death and token
Uf the peace that's everlasting
Hero tlie just man lies, retaining
\Yell-known traits of meditation,
Wrapt in prayer, the soul remaining
All absorbed in contemplation.
At the Virgin's shrine while kneeling.
Thus he looked, in trance assuming
Traits like those of death revealing
Spirit-life, that face illuming.
Thus in life he looked — emotion,
Passion, self, subdued completely ;
Soul-enraptured, mute devotion,
With its God communing sweetly.
Wake our Christian brother duly,
Sacred rite and ministration,
Blending prayer and gladness holy
Mingling tears with consolation.
Friends of worth and goodness gather
Round his bier ! Affliction's drooping
Children, mourning friend and father,
Hither come, in silence grouping !
Friends, the white-plumed hearse who follow,
Come not here lamenting errors ;
Call to mind the deeds that hallow
Death, and triumph o'er its terrors !
* On the death of the author's couBin, James Murphy Eaq., at Mount Merrion, on the
rth January lb60.
150 MEMOIBS i
GRACE.
The Grace of God is all my prayer i
To whom that grace is given
Whate'er he wants on earth is there,
And all he needs for heaven.
All virtues doth that gift comprise,
And everyone enforce ;
Faith, Hope, and Charity arise
From that one blessed source.
Could " Faith alone " all wants supply,
Would men have falsified
The Word of God, and forged a lie
To suit their wretched pride ?
It is not Hope devoid of fear,
Or fear alone avails,
Or zealot's boast, or changling's tear,
That serves when sin assails.
It is not Charity, apart
From Faith and Hope, which brings
That love divine that must revert
To him who gave it wings.
A simple mind, a contrite heart.
An ardent soul be mine !
Thy Grace, 0 Lord ! in these impart,
And all I need of Thine !
Havana— Cuba, 1838.
AN OLD MAN'S PRAYER.
To Thee, all-wise and sovereign Lord on Ligli,
In my great need and wretchedness I cry
For grace that Thy most holy will alone
In ev'ry thought and act of mine be done !
To feel the highest wisdom, here below,
To Thy good will and pleasure is to bow ;
To bear with trouble, suff" ring, sickness, pain,
As sent in mercy, haply to restrain.
Reprove, or chasten ; missives not of wrath.
But loye that all a father's fondness hath.
DK. E. E. MADDEN. 157
Come to me, my good God ! in mercy's guise,
To soothe and comfort ; gladden these dim eyes
With the bright vision of Thy glory, Lord,
Revealed in (Jhrist, in Him to be adored.
To suffer for tlic sake of Christ I'll strive,
And thus from sickness labour to derive
Blessings that health itself might not procure,
Nor wealth command, nor power on earth insure.
Give me, my God, all suff'rings here of mine
To turn to good account, by grace divine.
Vernon Terrace, Booterstouii.
LIKES WPtlTTEN IN JEHUSALExM.
(part II.)*
Far from my bosom be the pride refined
Of that affected purity of mind
Which fain would spurn devotion from the tomb
Of Him who died to mitigate our doom !
Far from me may that apathy still be,
Assumed or not, which scorns to bend the knee
Where the Redeemer huug upon the Cross
For man's atonement, and for Eden's loss !
Still, while I take my solitary round.
Survey the wonders of this sacred ground.
Shrink at the gloom which overhangs thewall»
And mark the silence that prevails o'er all ;
Tread on the heaps long tioddeu down of old
By raging bigot, or invaders bold,
Pause to refer each ruin to the work
Of time or war, of Titus or the Turk ; —
Still, thoughtless as I am, emotions rise
Sceptic or stoic would in vain disguise.
And though the wreck of matter all around
Failed to excite a sense of awe profound.
The scenes connected with salvation rise
And soothe the prospect with celestial dj'es.
Here is that Mount of Olives, ever fair,
That Garden of Gethsemane, still here ;
Here is that Bethany where INIary grieved,
And Jesus wept, and Lazarus revived ;
Here is that Bethlehem where godlike love
First deigned to dawn a beacon from above ;
And here that Calvary, where mercy gave
The blood of life to triumph o'er the grave.
Jerusalem, 182G.
*f ViAe p. 45,
158 MEMOIRS
WEAKNESS.
I know I am all weakness, Lord !
All wretchedness and need ;
And not one act, or thought, or word
Of mine deserves Thy heed.
I know, my God, that sin is death,
And yet I live in sin ;
Contemn the world, yet seek its breath,
And strive its praise to win.
I know my passions war with peace,
And still in bonds remain ;
Condemn the slave, but do not cease
To wear the odious chain.
1 know, my God, Thy sacred law,
And feel it should prevail,
But fear it not, and stand in awe
Of man's opinion frail.
I know, except in Christ alone,
There is not under heaven
A name whereby salvation's boon
To fallen man is given !
And yet I murmur at the cross.
And shrink at slander's aim.
And, wretched pride, would risk the loss
Of Christ for sake of fame !
But still unworthy as I am,
And mindless of Thy care,
My faith unshaken in the Lamb
Preserves me from despair !
Prone as I am to earth, my God,
My spirit soars above ;
Thy justice hitherto its rod,
Its staff is now Thy love !
Thy grace alone doth kindle now
The flame whose fervour giveth
The joy that's mine, because I know
That my Redeemer liveth.
Havana, 1838.
1857,
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 159
LINES
(\Vntten on the Eve of New- Year's Day).
I.
Another year is gone : its heir is come,
Onward, still onward, hastening to the tomb,
The same dull, measured tread of Time beat o'er
Still meets the ear that mark'd its course of yore.
But nearer now the solemn footsteps fall
Around our hearths, our homes, our hopes withal,
And there, death even, it will come to pass,
Will yet be found too well known, alas !
Onward, still onward, marching to the tomb,
Man, at each step that nears his long last home,
Drags on a lengthen'd chain of hopes deceived,
And there at last arrives of all bereaved.
Upward, now upward, where the spirit soars
And gains those heights philosophy explores,
Each downward glance reveals a world of snares.
Vain projects, small ambitious, sordid cares.
But higher, still more heavenward, the soul
IMust rise from earth to reach its destined goal,
Where Time is merged in God's Eternity,
And " Death is swallowed up in Victory." '
There, and there only, shall we cease to mourn
The loved ones lost on earth, and there return
That living love ve felt could never be
Enjoyed by us, on earth, sufficiently.
IN TIME OF TROUBLE.
IIow oft, 0 Hod, in danger's day
I've called upon Thy Name,
And bowed the long-unbended kneo^
Thy mercy still to claim !
How oft, 0 God, when worldly care
Or sickness pressed me down.
My every hope was winged on prajcr
To Thy eternal throne !
160 Memoirs
But wlien the time of trouble ceased,
And joy and peace returned,
How soon from perils once released,
The hand that saved was spurned !
The succour sought in trials sore
Was scoffed at in my pride,
And wrath divine, appeased once more,
But slept, to be defieJ.
How long, my God, will pride prevail ?
How long will love endure ?
Thy pity feel for one so frail,
And plead for one so poor ?
How long, 0 God, will justice sleep ?
How long will mercy last ?
How long ere penitence can weep
Enough to drown the past ?
A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Sons and daughters of all nations,
Come with joyous acclamations !
Come, this blessedCliristmasmorn,
Praise and homage to return
For God's greatest boon to earth —
Thanks for our Redeemer's birth !
IT.
Come with joyous transports holy,
Love and gratitude most duly
Render for this gift of heav'n —
The Son of God in mercy giv'n
To man— The Christ of Virgin born-
Blessed be this Christmas morn 1
]II.
Come with canticles of praise,
And joyauce in those Christmas lays,
That treat of the alliance blest
Of Christ with man, in whose behest
The wond'rous union Heav'n directed
Was on this festival effected.
IV.
Christmas-day comes ever meetly,
All its sounds breathe music sweetly,
All it's blessed influences
Soothe man's spirit, soul, and senses ;
Christmas chimes and intonations
All of joy are inspirations.
i>R. R. R. MADDEN.
161
IN MEMOEIAM MISERICORDLE DIVINiE. ^
0 Jesus ! Blessed Jesus '.—evermore
Be that sweet name of Thine in my heart's core,
And on my lips oft daily, I implore,
0 God of love ! I
In all temptations, every grief and care, I
In time of trouble, doubt, distrust, despair, 'i
That sacred name— my theme of praise or pray'r .
Still may it prove ; i
My shield from sin, from all the ills of life, j
The evil gro\^hs of passion, pride, or strife, j
With which this mortal pilgrimage is rife, \
Beset from youth. j
1 will not fear, when I invoke Thy name, j
Uy faith in Thee and in Thy Church proclaim, . ,
Though all the world in opposition came, j
Against Thy truth. I
0 Jesus ! Blessed Jesus ! at the hour ;
Of death, when speech shall fail, still leave me pow'r
To bear that name in mind, and love it more i
Than speech reveals ; ;
To feel the heavenly influence in my soul
When earth has nothing in it to console
And cheer the parting spirit, and control '
The pangs it feels.
:i
Then, Jesus ! Blessed Jesus ! on Thy death ■.
And on Thy Cross — on her who stood beneath ]
In anguish— let me think, and gaze in faith ;
On Calvary. i
1 ask no other blessing, and need none
My utmost hopes of happiness to crown
With those on narth most lov'd before Thy throne,
My Godj to be !
30th October 1868.
1^
162 MEM OIKS
IN MEMORIAM MISERICORDI^ DIVINJ5.
Hail, Blessed Virgin ! Holy Mary, hail !
To love and honour Thee, how can I fail,
If I adore thy Son, and would prevail
With Him in prayer ?
What intercession can there be like thine.
So worthy to approach the throne divine
Of grace, all wants and miseries of mine
To plead for there ?
The angel's salutation in our ears
Sounds like the sweetest melody : it bears
A message from the Lord on high, that cheers
The heart of man.
Oh ! thou art " full of grace ; " no child of earth
So spotless ever mother did bring forth,
So pure, and so Immaculate from birth !
That wondrous plan.
^Mercy divine reveal'd, and will'd that grace
And nature's union should in thee take place,
Most perfect, sinless of the human race.
Humble and meek !
" Our life, our sweetness, and our hope ! " to thee
We fly for refuge in our misery ;
Thy Son our Saviour is with thee, and we
That Saviour seek.
In our last moments, blessed Mary, plead;
•' For us, poor sinners," deign to intercede !
Jesus and Mary, be these words decreed
The last I speak.
R. R. M.
3, Vernon Terrace, Booterstown, BOth October 1868.
M. E. R. MADDEN. 163
CHAPTER XXII.
PUBLICATION OF THE HI8T0UY OF THE UNITED IKlSHMEN.
In 1842 was published the first series of the History of the United
Irishmen, which may be regarded as the magnum opus of the
author, and that by which his reputation is most likely to be pre-
served. To some it may perhaps seem " a fond belief " that the
memory of the man whose career forms the subject of these pages,
is likely to survive the times in which he hved and moved. Never-
theless, the editor ventures to think that as the historian of the
United Irishmen, the name of Richard Robert Madden will be
found worthy of a place in the wide roll of Irish literary celebrities,
if erudition, love of country, painstaking accuracy, and zeal, devoted
to the rescue from obhvion of an important portion of its history, may
afford any claims to estimation there. To that work Dr. Madden
dedicated many years of labour, and its completion was accom-
plished at a sacrifice of personal interests which few other writers
have similarly endured.* In these volumes was for the first time
accurately traced the history of the culmination of the long period
of sectarian ascendancy ancl misrule in Ireland in the insurrections
of 1798 and 1803. Born himself in the midst of the scenes of '98 ;
familiar from his youth with many of the participators in that up-
rising, he possessed special qualifications for the task of rescuing
their memories from oblivion, vindicating their motives, and point-
ing out the lessons to be learned from the events he described.
Long before the publication of the first series of the United
Irishiuen in 1842, the author had been occupied in gathering, abroad
and at home, the information contained in these volumes. As he subse-
quently stated in the prospectus to the concluding volumes of the
last elition, published in 1801 : —
" Four-and-twenty years have elapsed since the collection of the
materials for this work was commenced by the author in America,
* To obtain a hearinc; for the true history of the events connected with the Irish Insurrec-
tion of 1798, no small detriment was sustained by Dr. Madden. Thus the failure of a pub-
lisher, &c., entailed an expenditure of upwards of five hundred pounds on the author.
Moreover, from ls42 to 1847 he suffered dei^rivation of employment in the Colonial service, in
which his previous appointment was one of £1400 a year, and the cessation of which was
directly and entirely due to the publication of the History of the United Irishmen (vido
appendix). These circumstances were alluded to in the prospectus of the last edition, in which ho
merely observed : — " It is sufficient to say that preat sacrifices, into which it is unnecessary to
enter, have been made by the writer to accomplish a task which he believed it was advantage'
ous for his counti^ to have undertaken."
12 *
164 MEMOIRS
where several of the leaders of the Society of United Irishmen were
then living. Similar materials were afterwards secured for it on
the continent ; and from the surviving actors in the struggles of
1798 and 1803, and from their friends and relatives, abroad and at
home, a vast amount of original infarmation, and a great number
of authentic documents, the most important that have ever been
obtained are embodied in these pages. Most of the persons from
whom they were procured have passed away since the . commence-
ment of these labours ; and had such a publication as the
present been much longer delayed, the opportunity would have been
lost of obtaining that information ; and the history of one of the
most important periods of British rule in Ireland must have
remained involved in the darkness and confusion by which ignorance,
prejudice, and misrepresentation had surrounded it. The materials
for the biographies of those whose memories are included in the
present volumes have been placed in the author's hands, either by
their immediate relatives or by friends who had been intimately
connected with them in private life, or in their political projects.
It is the belief and hope of the narrator that the time has arrived
when the history of the United Irishmen may be written without
provoking the rancour of persons opposed to their principles, or lacer-
ating the feelings of their surviving relatives. The main purpose
of this work has been to obtain a hearing at home and abroad for the
true history of the Rebellion of 1798, the causes of its provocation,
the calamities it occasioned, and the wrongs which the Irish j^eople
endured during that period at the hands of a bad government, a
bigoted oligarchy, a privileged faction, a corrupt parliament, and an
army let loose upon that people, v,'hich was formidable, in the words
of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, ' to every one hut the enemy.'' A. work of
this kind, faithfully executed, the writer believed, was calculated to
be serviceable by preventing the possibility of a recurrence to the
system of misrule which prevailed in Ireland in times past, by ex-
hibiting the evils of bad government — the necessitated agency of
spies, mercenary informers, and sanguinary adherents — by exposing
the wickedness of exasperating popular irritation, or fomenting re-
belhon for State purposes, and then employing savage and inhuman
means to defeat it. Tbis history, he believed, was calculated to
turn men from ill-considered projects against oppression, show-
ing by the experience of the past, that unsuccessful efforts against
misrule never fail to give new strength to despotism. It was calcu-
lated, he thought, to convince the jjeople of the folly of entering
into secret associations, with the idea of keeping plans against op-
pression unknown, through the instrumentality of oaths and tests,
by setting forth the manifold dangers in such times as those of
1798, to v;hich misguided patriotism is exposed from temptations
to treachery on the part of associates. The author, in hne, believed
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 165
that the History of the Lives and Times of the United Irishmen,
embracing a succmct accoiiut of the crimes and sufferings connected
with the provocation and suppression of the Rebelhon of 1798,
could not fail to render any future attempt to estabHsh another
Irish reign of terror utterly abortive."
The first series was published in 1842 ; the second in 1843 ;
the third in 1846. The whole work comprised seven vols,
octavo. The mode of publication made it impossible to arrange
the materials, which came to the writer's hands from different
countries during those intervening years, with sufficient order.
Notwithstanding, tbe History of the United Irishmen was emmeiitly
successful. It has been long out of print ; and frequent demands
for it have been made for several years past from Australia, Canada,
and the United States, as well as England. The unsettled state of
the law of copyright has been productive of much injury to the
author and his work in America. It has been pirated and re-printed
there in various forms. Elsewhere the same unauthorized use has
been made of his labours. These circumstances led to the
appearance of a new edition commenced in 1858. This has been
carefully revised and enlarged by the addition of much new docu-
mentary and other authentic information, and entirely re-arranged
so as to bring the matter of the original series of seven volumes,
as well as the additional materials, now first published, into four
volumes, each complete (and containing nearly double the amount
of matter of any volume of the former edition).
The historical value of The Lives and Times of the United Irish-
men has been well recognized by almost every subsequent writer
on this subject.
A recent French historian, M. Guillen, in his erudite work,
entitled La France et HIrlande Pendant la Revolution, pays the
following tribute to this History of '98 : —
" As to the United Irishmen, their history has been narrated in
a book which we cannot but borrow from, unless by protending to
re-write it — namely, that published by Dr. Richard Madden, entitled
Tlie United Irishmen. This work, dedicated to Lord Brougham,
was published in series : the first in 1842, the second in 1843, and
the third in 1846. A second edition of the whole was given in
1858, the fourth volume of which appeared in 1800. Besides these,
the author has left a collection of numerous and hitherto unpublished
documents. The work of Madden is at once the most complete and
the most graphic that can be consulted on this subject. It is
written with the exactitude of a historian, and, moreover, with the
ardour of an Irish Nationalist."*
* La France et L'lrlande Pendant la devolution, Par E. Guillou, Avec une I'refacepar M.
Hippolyte Camot, \u 11. Paris, ly8«.
166 MEMOIES
In the University Magazine, The Lives and Times of the United
Irishmen is thus referred to : —
" With Dr. Madden this work was evidently a ' labour of love.*
He has undoubtedly displayed great ability, industry, and research
in depicting the eventful and tragic career of the leading spirits
who inspired the insurrections of '98 and 1803 — men, concerning
whom it may be truly said, that if they loved their country, * not
wisely but too well,' their patriotism was at least unselfish and
devoted."
Finally, not to quote further from the many eulogistic reviews of
the fourth edition of Ihe United Irishmen, The Nation, on the
occasion of the author's death in February 1886, has observed : —
" By this magnificent work Dr. Madden made Ireland his debtor,
and he will be followed to the grave by the affectionate regrets and
sympathetic sighs of his countrymen, who never forget a great or
faithful service such as that rendered by the distinguished literateur
whose death it is our sad duty to record. Considered altogether as
a monograph on an eventful historical period, it would be difficult to
find its equal in the literature of the world. In comprehensive-
ness, in completeness, in accuracy, and in every quality to the dis-
play of which indefatigable industry and enthusiastic zeal were
necessary, we do not know of its equal."*
CHAPTER XXIII,
COREESPONDENCE WITH SIR WILLIAM NAPIER, ETC.
The following correspondence may in this connexion be interest-
ing as affording corroboration by an eye-witness of some of the
scenes and events described in the history of the United Irishmen,
from one whose distinguished reputation as a soldier and a historian,
renders his testimony most valuable as to the accuracy and mode-
ration of Dr. Madden's Memoirs of '98. Immediately after the
publication of the first series of that work, Major-General Sir
William Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, then
Governor of Guernsey, addressed the following letter to the author —
* Scattered through Dr. Madden's writings are a number of poetical pieces, composed at an
early period of his life, referring to the leaders of the United Irishmen, and to events con-
nected with the history of '98. Many of these have never yet been printed, others appeared in
the Nation many years ago, others again have been more recently given over the signa-
tui-e " I ERNE " in his posthumous volume of The Literary Remains of the United Irishmen.
Messrs. Duffy, Dublin, 1887 ; and some of these may be found in the appendix.
DR. B. R. MADDEN. 167
(From Major-General Napier to R. K. M.).
Guernsey, July 31st, 1842.
Dear Sir, — I have just read, with great interest, your work upon
the United Irishmen, and I hasten to correct an error into which
you have naturally enough fallen. The Captain Armstrong men-
tioned in my mother's journal, which you have quoted from Moore's
' Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald,' was a totally dififerent person
from the betrayer of the Sheares. He was a Captain of the Lon-
donderry Regiment of the Line, and having served under my father,
\dsited our house as a friend. He was in no way connected with
the other, and is now, if alive, a General officer. He will be ill-
pleased at the mistake.
I remain, dear sir,
Your obedient servant,
William Napier, Major-General.
R. R. Madden, Esq., M.D.
(From Major-General Napier to R. R. M.)
Guernsey, August 14th, 1842.
Dear Sir, — I am glad that you feel pleased with the correction
of an error into which it was very natural for you to have fallen,
but I do not think you need reproach yourself for any injustice
towards the S A , the blackness of whose infamy is of too
deep a darkness to show any additional stain. I have also a vague
notion that he did at a later period call upon my aunt. Lady Louisa
Connolly, either with a view to deceive her, or to obtain some favour,
and that she treated him with that freezing dignity which her in-
nate abhorrence of vice enabled her to assume with more effect
than can well be believed by those who never saw her.
I am, indeed, sure that something of the kind happened, but
when, I cannot recollect.
***** :jc
The "Dublin Evening Packet" has just been put into my
hands, and I find an article full of foul abuse of your work. This
of course you must expect. The writer accuses you of exagger-
ation ; but, as far as my knowledge extends, and it is not a confined
knowledge of the subject you have treated, you might be more reason-
ably accused of softening the horrid features of cruelty displayed
by the Government party, and I do not wonder that the organs of
168 MEMOIBS
that party should now wince and tremble at the just retribution of
history. The bad deeds of those unhappy times should be held up
to the execration of mankind as a warning to deter men from re-
peating them, and the way in which you are doing so is honourable
to you, and will be, I hope, useful to the world.
I see you have quoted from a review written by me upon Sir
John Moore's life. The facts I have related there are all taken
from that great and good man's papers, and are strictly correct. It
is difficult for me to add to your information, but it would be well
to notice one matter in reference to Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
Credit is given to Lord Camden for feelings of commiseration
towards Lady Louisa Connolly when she applied to him in vain for
leave to see her dying nephew, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and Lord
Clare is accused of harsh and stern indifference to her prayers.
Now it is just the reverse. Lord Camden displayed the most
callous indifference to her misery, and Lord Clare showed great feel-
ing and warmth and delicacy of character.
I have no liking for either, and as a politician I abhor Lord Clare
the most, because of his actions and energy in evil ; whereas Lord
Camden was a mere fool, with the fibres of intellect insensible to ex-
ternal objects. But truth is truth, and Lord Clare behaved like a
man of feeling and generosity on that occasion. Lady Louisa Connolly,
having her niece. Miss Emily Napier, with her, went to Lord Cam-
den and prayed him long and earnestly, in vain, to let her visit
Lord Edward Fitzgerald in his prison. When she came to her
carriage she said, with a violence of feeling the more remarkable
from its contrast with the sedate and tranquil dignity which be-
longed to her character — *' I, who never before kneeled to aught
but my God, grovelled at that man's feet in vain."
From the Castle she drove to Lord Clare's house. He was at
dinner, but he came out instantly to her carriage, having his nap-
kin in his hand. She asked him for an order to see Lord Edward
Fitzgerald. He said " he could not give her one, it had been so
settled ; " but seeing the strong emotion excited by the answer, he
added, abruptly^ — " But I can go with you, and let you into the
jail." Then jumping into the carriage, having his napkin still in
his hand, he drove to the jail, introduced her, and after some time
came out to Miss Napier, and said — " Lady Louisa will be here a
long time ; it is not fitting you should remain here. I will remain
with her." And then placing a police officer behind the carriage
to protect it, he sent Miss Napier home, returned to the outer room
of Lord Edward's prison, and remained for three or four hours,
waiting Lady Louisa's time of departure.
I have the honour to be, dear sir,
Your obedient servant,
W. Napier.
DE. R. E. MADDEN. 169
(To Sir W. Napier from R. R. M.)
48, Sloane-square, Chelsea, August QSth, 1842.
Dear Sir, — Your note of the 14th instant I can truly say af-
forded me as much gratification as I can derive from any circum-
stance connected with my late undertaking. To learn that I have
not failed in my efforts to promote the ends of humanity and justice,
is indeed the highest praise I could aspire to. I hardly hoped in
any quarter to find my motives for undertaking this work rightly
appreciated, and not the less so from a sense of the inadequate
powers I brought to the performance of it. The motives which in-
duced me to put together these memorials of The Lives and
Times of the United Irishmen, you will readily believe, were not
actuated by considerations of pecuniary advantage. The choice of
my subject, the repugnance to it of the public taste in England, I
need hardly say are conclusive as to my views in that respect. If
my object had been to promote my interests in official quarters, as
a person employed for the Inst nine years in the public service, and
reasonably expecting still to be so, the method 1 have taken of en-
hancing my claims at the present moment must appear somewhat
questionable, and the disclosures I have made less Ukely to propi-
tiate the favour of the men who are, than those who were, in
Downing-street twelve months ago. A portion of the Press, and I
am sorry to say even of the Liberal Press of London, represent my
object to be mischievous, and reprobate ; the act of referring to the
atrocities of " '98" as a renewal of painful recollections that ought
to be buried in oblivion.
The burying in oblivion of the wrongs of the injured is one of
those benevolent recommendations whose cheap charity is intended
to cover a multitude of sins, for a more tender regard for character
than actual concern for the ills that have been inflicted or
endured. These writers have no objection to the history of any other
portion of the globe, but there is something sacred in atrocities per-
petrated in Ireland. Such events are regarded by too many in England
with a kind of indefinite feeling of pride and prejudice, and with
only a vague recollection of the wrongdo(n^s having been originally
of their own land and Hneage, and of the old plea for plunder and
oppression, the barbarity of the spoiled and the enslaved having
been at all times held entitled to respect. These gentlemen seem
to think that the laws of God and man may be outraged with im-
punity, if a decent covering is ooly thrown over the enormities,
and once they had been shrouded by oblivion, that it was an act of
indecorum to lift the pall.
The history of the Rebellion of 1798, however, seemed to me to
be the great Morgue of the talent and enthusiasm, as well as of the
crimes and cruelties of our unhappy country, where its children
no MEMOIRS
had to seek out their dead, and to separate the remains of those
they loved and honoured from the common mass of festering mor-
tahty. There is a mawkish sensibiHty prevalent which resembles
the intense selfishness of Goethe in his latter years, who never al-
lowed his friends or domestics to speak in his presence, or of his
family of any calamity that might have happened in the neighbour-
hood. He could pour out tears, or cause those of others to flow
over the romantic sorrows of his Werter : but he had none to shed
for the real miseries of life around him, and rather than pain his
feelings, he thought it better to withold assistance from them.
Really this is the sjoirit which unfortunately still seems to actuate some
Englishmen when they hear of the wTongs that have been inflicted
on our people, and shrug their shoulders and ask with apparent
surprise — " Will that people never be at peace ? Will they ever
have wisdom ? " Such is the language of the Literary Gazette, the
Spectator, the Desjmtch, the Atlas, all papers more or less of Liberal
politics. The fact is, they do not love Orangeism : its orgies to
them are at times a little too incomprehensible to be objects of un-
mixed admiration, but there is no mistake about the iU repute of
the mere Irishry.
It is not that they have any peculiar afl'ection for the Sirrs,
Sandys, Swans, the Beresfords, Castlereaghs, the Reynolds, the
Verners, Rodens, or Bradshaws, but that they have a mortal anti-
pathy to the Irish people. Other motives have been attributed to
me somewhat more preposterous than any I have taken the trouble
to disclaim. But what motive could possibly induce any man to
wade through the iniquities of 1798, and to give an historical
notice of that dark period, but the hatred of oppression and injus-
tice. That motive, I avow, was the only one which induced me to
take up this subject. The circumstances in which I have been
placed in connection with the efl'orts of our Government for the
suppression of slavery and the Slave-Trade during many years past,
were not calculated to make a man a bad hater of oppression in
any country. In fact, the struggle against its most detestable
forms, whether in the West Indies or on the shores of Africa,
served me as an apprenticeship to the cause of general freedom.
I could not understand that sort of philanthrophy which battled
for the interests of humanity and justice when they were outraged
only in the persons of black men ; which made the world ring with
the echoes of cart whips and the cries of the slaves who w^ere four
thousand miles away ; which had one set of nerves exquisitely sen-
sitive to the suff'erings of men who were victims to the cupidity of
the West Indian planters, and another callous and insensible to the
wrongs of those whose persecutors were Orangemen. What matters
it, indeed, whether negro men are held guilty of a skin not '' colour-
ed hke our own," or that the " mere Irishry " are culpable of a
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 171
creed not conformed to the fashion of the provincial Bradshaws ?
The same injustice in either case prevailed, and to pretend to sym-
pathise with the victims of it alone, who had been natives of Africa,
or descendants of Africans, it seemed to me would be a spurious
kind of benevolence ; and having long devoted heart and hand to
the cause of justice and humanity in the West Indies and in Africa,
I felt it impossible to get rid of the conviction that the outrages
committed in Ireland, particularly during the last rebellion, had
never been surpassed in any country. Feeling this conviction very
strongly, I thought it was my duty, as freely as I had denounced
the cruelties of the slave-holders in the British or the Spanish
colonies, or the ravages of the man robbers on the coast of Africa,
to reprobate the enormities of the sanguinary faction which tramples
on Ireland, and to make an example of its wickedness, so that even
bad men might be deterred by its obloquy from ever imitating it.
I have trespassed I fear to a most unreasonable extent on your
time and patience, but you will kindly make allowance for my
anxiety on this subject and my desire to leave some explanation of
my views in such hands as yours. The circumstances you were
good enough to inform me of respecting Lady Louisa Connolly's
visit to poor Lord Edward Fitzgerald are dee2)ly interesting, and
corroborative indeed of my previous impression of Lord Camden's
utter heartlessness.
May I avail myself of that fact in the forthcoming series of my
work ? I consider the materials that are in my hands for it of far
more value than any I have made use of in my late volumes.
Your name has been made so familiar to me for many years by my
old friend Major Hopkins, that I almost feel I am addressing one
with whom I had been long acquainted. Perhaps this circumstance
may afford some apology for this lengthy communication.
I am, dear sir,
Yours very truly,
R. R. Madden.
(From Major- General Napier to R. R. M.)
Guernsey, 1st September 1842.
My dear sir, — Your motives in writing your work cannot be mis-
taken by any honest man who reads it, and I would cast to the
winds all thoughts about the attacks which have been made upon
you by those double dealing and double talking knaves, for they are
no better, who, with professions of freedom on their lips, have no-
thing but self-interest and treachery in their hearts.
Mr. Reynold's attack upon you is curious, in its logic at least.
172 MEMOIRS
You must go to heaven or hell. If to heaven, your calumnies can-
not have been very black ; if to hell, he must have some secret
misgivings as to the place his father lies in.
Yours very sincerely,
Wm. Napier.
E. R. Madden, Esq.
There is a remarkable confirmation of the fact referred to by
Major- General Napier of Lady Louisa Connolly's visit to Lord
Edward Fitzgerald, accompanied by Lord Clare, previously to her
visit along with Lord Henry Fitzgerald on the 3rd of June (which
also is recorded by Moore), in one of the debates in the House of
Peers on the subject of the attainder, in which Lord Glare, speak-
ing in a becoming manner of the circumstances connected with
Lord Edward's death, said " he well remembered them, for a short
time before the death took place he was witness to one of the most
painful and melancholy scenes he had ever experienced."
R. R. M. to James Stephens, Esq., Under Secretary, Colonial
Office, on the History of the Rebellion of* 1798.
7, Panton- square, London,
July 1845.
My dear Sir, — If the remarks you make on the severity of my stric-
tures on the Castlereaghs, Clares, &c., had been addressed to me by one
whose opinions were not tinctured with that Christian philosophy
which is derived from other sources besides those most famihar to our
literati, it would have been an easy matter to have defended my
work from the • application of those observations. I might have
stated with truth that the cruelties perpetrated on the people of
L^eland in 1798 were the result of the iniquitous measures which
Clare and Castlereagh in Ireland were mainly responsible for.
That a hcentious soldiery, and an infuriated faction, were let loose
on the country ; that a free-quarter system, and the general prac-
tice of scourging people for the purpose of extorting confessions of
criminality, were carried into effect with the full knowledge, sanc-
tion, and approval of these persons ; that the proclamations bearing
the names of Camden and Clare, the Insurrection and Indemnity
Bills, were acts which emanated from the councils which were
guided by them.
I might have added, that while the cruelties inflicted on the
Indians of the New World were justly reprobated by mankind ;
DE. R. E, MADDEN. 1^8
while their authors were stigmatized by our historians as men of
barbarous and sanguinary dispositions ; while the sufferings of
negro slaves under the cart whips of Colonial planters brought
down the righteous denunciations of the British Press on the op-
pressors of our negro brethren ; while the frightful wrongs inflicted
on humanity by the slave-dealers on the coast of Africa caused even
official language to introduce into its vocabulary suah epithets as
"miscreants," "monsters," "enemies to the human race," &c., (for with
such epithets we find the Parliamentary Slave-Trade papers teem),
— the tortures inflicted, and the cruelties practised on human
beings who were more immediately entitled to our sympathy because
they were more within reach of our protection ; in point of national
consanguinity more of " our own flesh," and in respect to religious
relationship bound to us in stricter bonds of Christian fellowship,
deserved to be placed in the same category of wrongs, and to be
ranked among the oppressions " that were the worst that had ever
been done under the sun."
The nature of the evils thus inflicted or endured is the same wherever
they existed, whether the violators of human rights were Spaniard,
Portuguese, or Briton — whether they lived in a bygone age or
within our own remembrance, — those which are recorded in one of
the darkest pages of Irish history, and are inseparably connected
with Lords Castlereagh and Clare. For their memories it mi^dit
be wished that Ireland had no history ; but for the country it is
not to be desired that the story of her wrongs should be consigned
to oblivion ; and I might ask, how was that history to be told, and
yet to leave the public conduct of the Clares, Cooks, and Castle-
reaghs unceusured ? Were the subordinate agents of their govern-
ments, the spies and informers, tlie lictors and terrorists of that
day, the men " who measured their consequence by the coffins of
their victims," and estimated their services by the injuries they in-
flicted on the people, — were they alone, the official insects of the
hour, to be preserved in the eloquent invective of a Curran or a
Grattan, while the acts of their exalted employers and abettors
were to be sponged out of memory ? Philantrophy that is not based
on a general attachment to the cause of liberty and the interests of
humanity, without reference to time or place, creed, colour^ or con-
dition, is built on a false foundation ; and equally fatal to security is
that spirit of rancour with which its advocates are wont to assail
opponents of their opinions or enemies of their cause.
Among the papers of those United Irishmen which have fallen
into my hands, in a letter addressed to one of them by Sir Z.
Egerton Brydges, i lind the following passage, speaking of the obh-
gations of those ,who love letters to the characters of the votaries
of learning : —
" To me literature has always appeared one of the few uuchaug-
174 MEMOIRS
ing, inexhaustible balms of life ; and if we love literature, it seems
to me very strange not to feel a warm benevolence towards its pro-
fessors." Surely we may apply this obligation of benevolence to
the whole circle of human nature. The sole object I had in view
in undertaking this work was, by a faithful exhibition of the crimes
and calamities of civil war, to prevent the entertainment of a
thought unaccompanied with horror of a recurrence of the evils I
pointed out. This long letter is, in fact, a preface to the assurance
that your opinion on the subject ought not to be lost sight of ; and
believe me, I receive it with more thankfulness than any expression
of unqualified approval that could be given.
I am, dear sir,
Yours very truly,
Richard R. Madden.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ACCOUNT OF OTHER LITERARY LABOURS AND WORKS.
We may now very briefly refer to some of the other works in which
our author's diversified literary abilities were exemplified. 01
these the earliest were his Travels in the East, and The Mussulman,
A Novel, the former published in 1829, and the latter in 1830,
which have already been noticed. Three years subsequently, one of
the most interesting of his writings, viz. : The Infirmities of Genius, was
published in two volumes by Saunders and Otley, London, 1833.
Of that work the author, at his death, left a revised edition ready
for the printer, the present publication of which as a popular treatise
on an interesting and still much neglected subject, might probably
prove advantageous.
*' We have," says a reviewer, " been delighted with the perusal
of these volumes, and we pronounce them a boon to those who work
in the literary mill. All men of genius — the acknowledged, who
are too few, and the unacknowledged, who are too many, and even
the self-estimated, who are countless — will, we are convinced, derive
from these pages more practical benefit than from any other work
that has yet appeared, tending to show the cause and cure of those
gentle aberrations of intellect that seem inseparable from the poetic
temperament. In fine, this book is an excellent companion and
CjDunterpart to D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, and equally
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 175
deserves patronage from the present age, and a long existence as a
work indispensable to be known in future ones ; as its views are
beneficient, as its arguments are acute." — The Metropolitan
Magazine, London, July 1838.
With regard to Dr. Madden's next works, namely, his Travels in
the West Indies, published in London in 1835, and re-printed in
Philadelphia in the same year ; Egypt and Mahomed All, in 1841 ;
his African Reports, with appendix, two volumes, in 1812 ; and his
unpubHshed religious poems, Breathings of Prayer, printed at the
Havana in 1838, we need add nothing here, inasmuch as these
have been noticed in earlier chapters.
In 1845, being then in Lisbon, he brought out a work on
The Connexion hetween the Kingdom of Ireland ayid the Crown of
England, pubhshed " at the request of the Committee of the
Repeal Association," and dedicated — " To the People of England
who love Justice, and the People of Ireland who long for it." Long
afterwards, in an article on the occasion of the author's death, this
volume was described in the Times of February 8th, 1886, as — " a
contribution to the Irish Question of the period which might still be
referred to with profit," and it may be added that its re-issue would
be well worth consideration at the present time.
In 1847 was published the first edition of his History of
the Penal Laws enacted against Pioman Catholics, re-published by
Richardson in 1865, the manuscript for a revised and enlarged
edition of which was left ready for the printer at his death in 1886.
This book has been characterized as " startling, impressive, and
methodic. The author's name (says the Nation, March 18th, 1848),
is respected, for he has deserved well of Ireland. In the truest
sense a citizen of the world, he has served his country's history
more than most living men ; and in the pages before us he has won
new titles to our esteem and gratitude."
In the Dublin Review for March 1848, the History of the Penal
Laws was exhaustively noticed. " Taken as a whole," concludes
the reviewer, " we think this volume merits a place in the library
of every Catholic ; and we wish we could believe that it was uni-
versally perused by those who differ from us in creed. In fine, it
is not possible to read this book without edification, and without
feehng alike our faith strengthened and our hope animated."
Forty years later this volume and the writer were referred to in
an address by the Archbishop of Dublin, reported in the daily
papers of January 21st, 1889, in which his Grace, speaking of the
defects in the Euiancipation Act of 1829, said — " You will see an
excellent account of it in an interesting work written by a good
fellow-countryman of ours — a good Irishman, who devoted much of
his time to the praiseworthy work of investigating the recent
history of his country."
176 MEMOIRS
CHAPTER XXV.
GORE HOUSE AND ITS REMINISCENCES.—- THE STORY OF LADY
BLESSINGTON.
In August 1842, Dr. and Mrs. Madden, with their son visited
Paris, where they remained for four months^ whence they pro-
ceeded to London, and on returning from his West African mis-
sion, resided at 43 Sloane-square, Chelsea. Whilst here he once more
became a frequent guest of his old friend Lady Blessington at Gore
House, then famous as the rendezvous of literary men and celebrities
of every description. The hostess of that hospitable mansion, and the
brilliant circle by which she was there surrounded, may be here
briefly noticed.
Lady Blessington's father, Mr. Power of Waterford, and after-
wards a resident of Clonniel, was not a very favourable specimen of
the Irish squires of his day, by whose almost inconceivable improvi-
dence and folly were sown, nearly a century ago, the prolific seeds
of much of the subsequent troubles of their country. He is described
as having been handsome, reckless, illiterate and pretentious,
fond of lield sports, and garrison society — dissipated abroad and
brutal at home. In '98 he was a magistrate hunting rebels,
although a Roman Catholic himself, and terminated this pastime
by shooting one of these supposed rebels rather too hastily even
for that time, which led to his being tried for murder, but acquitted.
Lady Blessington's mother, whose maiden name was Sheehy, was
connected by descent with the Thomond, Ormonde, and Desmond
families, although she had some rebel blood too, her father, Edmond
Sheehy, having been executed for rebellion in 1766, and a cousin.
Father Nicholjis Sheehy, hanged, drawn, and quartered at Clonmel for
a like political offence. Of Mrs. Power herself nothing particular is re-
corded beyond the fact that she was the mother of three daughters,
all of whom, though thus born of middle class parentage in the
little village of Knockbritty, were each destined by their beauty
to win and wear a coronet : viz., Ellen, afterwards Viscountess
Canterbury, Mary Anne, afterwards Countess de St. Marsault, and
Marguerite, our present heroine, afterwards Countess of Blessington.
It would need volumes to narrate fully the circumstances
connected with that metamorphoses, and with the history of the
beautiful, gifted, and ill-directed lady whose first appearance on
the stage of existence as the neglected daughter of the obscure
Tipperary squire has just been noticed, and who at an early age was
driven from her paternal house into another equally unhappy home,
DJR. R, R. MADDEN. 177
by an uncongenial and enforced marriage with Oaptain Farmer. Not
long after his death she next appears before us as the Countess of Bles-
eifigton — the acknowledged queen of society in the capitals of Italy and
> ranee, as well in London — and ultimately over the closing scene of
her life in impoverished exile the curtain falls. Those who care here to
follow the course of this almost forgotten and yet interesting melo-
drama, will find all its varied scenes and the personal history of the
various actors therein fully pourtray ed in the three volumes of Dr. R. R.
Madden's ^'Life and Correspondence of Lady Blcasiiigton." We must
here, however, confine ourselves to the period during which from the
date of her marriage, in her twenty-eight year, with Lord Blessington,
her lengthened reign as a ruler of social, literary, and fashionable life
in London extended, and within which the present interest of her
life is centre^. At this epoch she is thus described by her
biographer : —
" The perfection of matured beauty, her form was exquisitely
moulded, her movements graceful and natural at all times. The
peculiar character of her beauty consisted in the correspondence of
every feature with the motion of her mind. The instant a joyous
thought took possession of her fancy you read it in her sparkling
eye, her smiling lips ; you heard it in her ringing laugh, clear and
sweet as childhood's merriest tones. There was a glowing sun-
shine of good humour and good nature seldom surpassed in the
genial wit of this lovely woman. Her voice was sweetly modula-
ted and clear ; all her beauty, without the witchery of its silvery
tones, would have been only a secondary charm." Her corres-
pondence bears witness of these graces, and it is impossible to doubt
the many fascinations of Lady Blessington, and especially those of
her gentle kindness. Her hand had l)een modelled in marble, and
Prince Swartzenberg has left on record an enthusiastic description
of its symmetry ; whilst in another of the letters preserved in Dr.
Madden's volumes Tom Moore reminds her of the time he beheld —
" two dazzling faces (those of the sisters Marguerite and Ellen)
popped out of a window in Sackville-street."
Immediately after their marriage, Lord Blessington's splendid town
mansion became, as we have already said, a rendezvous of the lions
of society. Two royal dukes condescended to pay homage at the
new shrine of Irish beauty. Canning and Castlereagh ; Lords
Palmerston and Russell ; Lyiidhurst and Brougliam and Erskine ;
Kemble and the elder Mathews ; Parr and Sidney Smith ; Rogers and
Moore, were amongst her votaries. To each and all who ap-
proached her she showed some special and graceful kindness, and
that not only to the prosperous and successful, but more especially
to the struggling eons of genius — the countless young writers and
artists, to whom she was always ready to lend a helping hand
178 MEMOIRS
when that was most needed. This quick sympathy with others
was perhaps the secret of her powers of attraction, and for this
winning grace that made her presence, her letters, her kind words
and smiles, synonymous with happiness, may many errors he
forgiven.
" It has often caused me," says Dr. Madden, in a fragment found
amongst his paj^ers, *' deep concern to consider how calamitous
it was to Lady Blessington to have been deprived of the influences
and example of a good mother, religious, moral, and well-minded,
at a very early age ; and to have had continually in close proximity,
from childhood to womanhood, the disorderly life and evil example
of a father whose whole career was that of an unprincipled and
reckless man. In the heart and miud of Margaret Power there were
many elements of goodness, a fine soil that wanted nothing but good
parental care and culture to produce fruit and flowers of no ordinary
excellence. Of the want of such care and culture some proof may be
discovered in a single passage of the career of her unworthy father.
I find a memorandum of mine of a communication with Lady
Blessington respecting the latter days of her father, Edmond Power,
Esq., of Knockbritty, Co. Tipperary, and the difficulties experienced
by her in dealing with them. In 1836 she said he was residing at
No. 18, Charlemont-street, Dublin, and was harassed by the impor-
tunities of a person who tormented him with demands of a pecu-
niary kind, which he constantly refused to comply with, averring
that this person had no legal claims on him, as the marriage in
virtue of which she made them was illegal. In the course of a
long life and a large experience in all grades of society, and in
various countries, I have often had cause to think the greatest of
aU blessings is to have been born and bred in the Roman Catholic
faith, and next to that, is the blessing of having had the early care
and guidance of virtuous, religious parents, and more especially of
a tender, loving, right-minded, pious mother."
Amongst the distinguished foreigners attracted to Lady Blessing-
ton's house about three years after her marriage were the
Due de Grammont, and his brother-in law, the young Count
d'Orsay. The latter, who had recently resigned his commission
in a French cavalry regiment with a reputation as a sabreur, ac-
quired in various duellos, was then probably not only the hand-
somest man in Europe but also a person of varied talents and
artistic abilities. He soon became an intimate friend of Lord and
Lady Blessington, with whose family he remained domiciled during
their long residence in Italy. Subsequently, by an ill-assorted and
unhappy marriage, he became the husband of Lady Harriet
Gardiner, a daughter of Lord Blessington by his first wife, and
his career was thenceforward inseparably connected with Lady
Blessiiigton's after life. At the outset of their Itahan tour iu
DS. E. R. MADDEN. 179
1828, at Genoa the Blessiugton party met Lord Byroii, who
in a letter to Tom Moore described Lady Blesshigton as —
" liighly Hterary, very pretty, even in a morning — a species
of beauty on which the sun of Italy does not shine so frequently
as the chandelier." We are told that she was '' disappointed "
in Byron — who, as Dr. Madden states — *' suffered Lady Bles-
siugton to lecture him in prose, and what was worse, in verse,"
especially on the publicity he gave to his domestic unhappiness,
when as was said " Byron wept for the press, and wiped his eyes
with the pubhc," and his Lordship in return wrote her some com-
mon-place complimentary lines. They there parted with much
mutual regret ; the Blessingtons for the gaieties of Naples and
Rome, — Byron for glory and a grave in Greece.
After five years residence in Italy, the year 1829 was passed in
Paris, where they established themselves in the splendid Hotel Ney.
There, on Lord Blessington's death, his widow's rental was suddenly
reduced from thirty thousand to two thousand a year, consequent on
which she returned to London, and though with an income then
largely dependent on her hterary labours, speedily resumed her leading
social position in the great city. At that period the upper coteries
of London were mainly guided by the genius of the gentler sex.
Besides Lady Blessington, whose brilhant salons — first in Sea-
more Place, Mayfair, and afterwards at Gore House, Kensington,
formerly the residence of Mr. Wilberforce* — were for nearly twenty
years the centre of all that was gay, witty and learned throughout
the kingdom ; there were two other regnant queens of fashion and
arbitresses of taste, viz., the Countess of Charleville, and Lady
Holland. Under the presidency of these gifted ladies, the town
mansions of their lords were long famous for their hospitable re-
ception of budding talent, and for those pleasant reunions of
political, literary, and artistic notabihties. It was Lady Holland
and Lady Blessington who most keenly, and for the greatest length
of time, disputed for victory in this noble race, and to which of
their shades the palm ought to be given by posterity it would be
hard to say. It must be confessed the latter had by far the hard-
est task — to work one part of the day in spinnhig some novel out
of her tortured brain ; and the other as a smiUng hostess, exert-
ing herself more successfully to charm her multitudinous guests.
Each evening, from ten to half-past twelve o'clock, Gore House
was thrown open to visitors, like a temple of Minerva, to which
all literary votaries went up nightly to worsliip. Stars there
were plenty ; from the great Welhngton down to Alaric Watts, one
of the smallest of the Annuahsts ; a perfect via lactea of celebri-
YiClo Apiendix.
13
180 MEMOIRS
ties great and small swept through the salons where, as in her for-
mer residence, might be seen whosoever were notable for social
or political position, eccentricity, fashion or genius ; in art, science
or literature. In those cosmopolitan assemblages, the passport to
which was the ' guinea stamp ' of celebrity of any kind, were ad-
mitted all classes and conditions of men : politicians of ever}'- shade
of opinion, chartists and tories, repealers and their foes ; divines
and jesters ; historians and novelists ; poets and scientists ; Bishops
and actors; men of pleasure and of learning ; Midas and Diogenes.
There ** My Lord Tom Noddy and Sir CarnebyJenks of the Blues"
stood on terms of temporary equality with toiling men of letters,
whose only rent-roll was derived from those " airy nothings " to which
their genius gave " a local habitation and a name," probably more
enduring than any left by the leaders of fashion or great statesmen
with whom they comingled in Lady Blessington's salons. Amongst
the guests thus gathered in Gore House were many whose names
are still ' familiar as household words.' There might be seen the
conservative Bulwer Lytton in friendly chat with the Right Hon.
* Tom ' Dunacombe, who, being ultra Liberal, chartist, and trade-
unionist, combined in his own person the not very harmonious char-
acter of a tribune of the people and a man of pleasure and fashion.
Or Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, afterwards the tory Earl of Beaconsfield,
then a red-hot radical, eager to get into Parliament, and electrify-
ing society by works of fiction, in which the celebrities of the day
were sketched and satirized. Thither also came the brothers James
and Horace Smith, of Bejected Addresses fame ; John Gait,
editor of The Courier ; Thomos Hood and Charles Lamb, first of
English humourists ; Charles Mathews, who was always At Home
in Gore House ; John Hamilton Reynolds, Hood's brother-in-law,
editor of The Keepsake, " a pleasant writer and poet, who ostensibly
followed the profession of the law ; " Samuel Lover, whose unriv-
alled Legends and Stories and popular Irish songs, particularly
Rory O'More and The Angel's Whisper, together with his
admirable miniature of Lord Brougham, gained him admission to
the reunions as a story-teller and lyrist of the first order, as weU as
an artist; Washington Irving and N. P. Willis, Walter Savage Lan-
der, Thomas Pringle, editor of the Friendship's Offering, and a
sweet poet ; B. Waller Proctor alias " Barry Cornwall," some of
whose English songs. King Death for instance, are among the
finest lyrics in the English language; Charles Dickens, Thackeray,
W. Harrison Ainsworth, Captain Marryat ; Hay don, the painter ;
Sir Charles Eastlake ; Sir Edwin Landseer and Daniel Maclise ;
George Lane ; Thomas Moore ; Campbell, and Beattie, Dr.
Parr ; the Marquis of Wellesley ; Lord Abinger ; Lord John (after-
wards Earl) Russell ; the Marquis of Normnnby, Lord Clyde, Lord
Glenelg, Brougham andErskine; Charles Knight ; Thomas Babing-
DR. B. B. MADDEN. '"l
tonMaoaulav Sir Honvy Bisbop; Sheridan Knowles; B Simmons,
contributo 0 many beautiful lines to Lady Blossmgton's ann.mls :
Mrop MaclnvoAh Praed; S«-geant T^Jfo;"-d. the eccenU- Ea 1
of Dudley; Bernal Osborne ; Mouckton Mills ; Baillie Oocluane,
aftenvarc?B -aised to tbe peerage, by «-hose death in Mareb 1800,
moUbly be n. the last survivo^f Lady Blessingtons liter
as now mssed away ; the Duke dc Gramniont; George Alexander
MaefaiTen Fanny Kemble,Maereadj, and Edmund Kean; Jekyll
t1 r in er the \vittY Dr. Quin, and a whole host besides, amongst
whom Prince Lou"- Napoleon,' fresh from the Egliuton Tourna-
ment was not the least conspicuous guest. „ , .i t i
\B n y observed, from the time of her husband's death Lady
Blessin.^ton found hei^self largely dependant on hterary work lor
fhe means of maintaining her e..travagantly splendid estabhshme
Her fiisr venture in this way, namely, her " Conversatmns with
lod Byron," which appeared in the .Y..;- Monthl,, Mayazrne
proved s^oac'ceptablo that thenceforward volume after volume o
Fhreetmed novels, with innnmerablo contributions to annuals and
ourLTspouml from her flowing pen. By these writings she made
In averaCaddition of nearly two thousand a year to her income^
This she was enabled to do for a period of some twen y .Tears, dung
wb h she worked 'like a galley slave,' not only for tersdf but also
for the support of many of tbe impoverished members of hei fathers
lone. Tin, m-arv family, of whose needs she was never unmindful To
UustS 1 e capncii; for such work it may be mentioned that one
0 her novels, "The" Repealer," was written mave weeks, bl e
complnine™ii one of her letters at that time-" I am hterally worn
out I look for release from my toils more than a fave ever d d
sii's ti^:::^ -".HuS fc:,K'E
an enf^agement, you \mU unaerbicum «iij , i • n n t ].r,,ro
s oiyyou sent me. and which I am persuaded is like all I have
seeiffrom your pen-graphic and full of alent.
It would be useless here to recapitulate tbe titles ol all
the olumes thus forced from her overworked brain M s^
of these were of no great merit, and even the best ot them
ha e long ince been relegated to the paper miU or to the
trunk-2er. Notwithstandh.g all this toil, however, her expen-
dHu e was for many years greatly in excess of her income ; and the
sTggle to meet this deficit by increased hterary work whilst at
the same time to the outer world she shone nightly as the genial
hostesTof tTe brilUant assemblages of Gore House, ultimately
proved dfsastrous. Ou this .subject Dr. Madden has remarked-
182 MEMOIRS
*' Little was she aware of the nature of literary pursuits or the
precariousness of their remuneration if she imagined that secure
and permanent emolument would result from such resources. A
lady of quality who sits down in fashionable life to get a livelihood
by literature, had better build any other description of castles in the
air, however ethereal the order of architecture may be." A large
share of Lady Blessington's writings were contributed to the long
forgotten Annuals which were then so popular. In these Keejj-
sakes ; Books of Beauty ; Literary Souveyiirs ; Foryet-Me-Not's ; and
other similar works of that period may be found, together with
much literary trash, many tales and sketches by the best writers
of the time, and some poetic "gems of purest ray serene"
well worthy of disinterment. Of two of these Annuals Lady Bless-
ington was for some years editor, viz., Heath's Book of Beauty and
the Keepsake ; and afterwards of another called the Gems of Beauty.
This occupation, says Dr. Madden, brought her into contact with
almost every literary man of eminence in the kingdom, or who
visited England. But it also involved an enormous expenditure,
far beyond any amount of remuneration thus derived. It made a
necessity for entertaining continually persons to whom she looked
for contributions, or from whom she had received assistance. It in-
volved her, moreover, in all the drudgery of authorship, in all the
turmoil of contention with publishers, communication with artists,
and never ending correspondence with contributors. In a word, it
made her life miserable.
Meanwhile, Lord Blessington's celebrated son-in-law, Count
d'Orsay, led the fashion in his own way, as much as Lady Bless-
ington did in hers, and for a period of nearly twenty years ruled
quite as despotically as ever Beau Nash or Brummel did, in
art, dress, manners, and conversation, in the great world of London.
Thepotatoe blight in Ireland, in 1846 and 1847, now, however, came
like a thunder blast on the glories of Gore House. That part of the
Countess's income which had been derived from the estates of her
deceased husband was then suddenly cut off. As soon as the sus-
picion of inability to meet demands got abroad, demands poured in.
Day by day payment was evaded. Then executions were threatened.
Bailiffs stood watching at the door, while the upper -ten- thousand
were diverting themselves within, careless of the secret anxieties
that were fast corroding their smiling hostess' heart. For two years
Gore House was a sort of Sebastopol, wherein the Countess was a
close prisoner. At length a bailiff, more crafty than his brethren,
took the fortress by stratagem. His appearance had the effect of
the direst simoom in a garden of roses. Harlequin with his wand
could not have effected a more sudden transformation.
Count d'Orsay fled for refuge to France, leaving debts behind him
to the amount of a hundred thousand pounds. A fortnight after-
T>T?. R. R. MADDRN. l^.*!
wards, Lady Blessington, with her nieces, also quitted London for
ever, leaving her entire property at the mercy of her creditors.
Then commenced a nine days' sale at Gore Plouse, the long-
cherished treasures of which were ruthlessly dispersed among
brokers and dealers. Guest after guest came to stare with the
crowd and scan the rooms where but lately he was fain to bring the
insense of his adulation ; and it is thus that a faithful servant,
writing to the Countess, sums up the tale and pays an unconscious
tribute to a great writer often misrepresented as a mere satirist :
— ** Mr. Thackeray came also, and had tears in his eyes when
he went away. He is perhaps the only person whom I have seen
really affected at your departure." Every article in the house, in-
cluding the library of five thousand volumes, was sold off without
reserve. By her Ladyship's express command, the creditors got all
she had, except her own picture by Chalon. The sale realized
above £13,000, out of which eleven pounds balance, after paying
the debts, was handed over to Lady Blessington. Twenty thou-
sand persons visited the house previous to the auction, and the sale
itself Dr. Madden describes as follows : — " There was a large assem-
blage of people of rank. Every room was thronged ; the well-
known library salon, in which the conversaziones took place, was
crowded, but not with guests. The arm-chair, in which the lady
of the house was wont to sit, was occupied by a stout, coarse gentle-
man of the Jewish persuasion, busily engaged in examining a
marble hand modelled from that of the absent mistress of the es-
tablishment. People, as they passed through the rooms, poked the
furniture, pulled about the precious objects of art and ornaments of
various kinds that lay about, whilst others made jests and ribald
jokeg on the scene they witnessed. In another apartment, where
the pictures were being sold, portraits by Lawrence, sketches by
Landseer and Maclise, innumerable likenesses of Lady Blessington,
by various artists ; several of the Count d'Orsay ; his own col-
lections of portraits of the frequenters of Gore House, in quick
succession were all brought to the hammer. It was the most sig-
nal ruin of a person of high rank I had ever witnessed."
In April 1849 Lady Blessington quitted London, and at
sixty years of age found herself a fugitive in Paris — youth,
beauty, wealth, influence, illusion, all gone. Nothing remained to
her but her energetic wiU. A biography of remarkable women was
to issue from her pen, and she was to spare no pains in reading up
for it. She took a new residence, and still found the means of
furnishing it with that elegance and taste which she clung to as
long as she lived. To all outward appearance the buoyant spirit of
her youth had come back, to enable her to brave the desolation of
her age. Count d'Orsay, she hoped, would obtain some lucrative
post under Louis Napoleon, with whom he had been on terms of
184 MEMOIRS
sncli close intimacy when participating of her hospitality at Gore
House. But princes, when they arrive at absolute power, are in the
habit of forgetting the promises they may have made to their friends
when their star was not yet in the ascendant.
Thus this broken reed failed, and Lady Blessingtou sank under it.
Pomp and pleasure, praise and fame, and all the lights of life were
going out — the truth could not be hid. On the 3rd of June, just
seven weeks after her flight from London, she retired to rest for the
first time in her new residence. Her health and spirits that day
had been apparently better than usual ; but she was struck during
the night by apoplexy, and died without much suffering just
before daybreak. Slie was buried at St. Germain, where her mauso-
leum was designed by Count d'Orsay, her epitaph written by
Barry Cornwall and Walter Savage Landor ; whilst Irish ivy,
brought from her native village, was planted round her grave.
CHAPTER XXVI.
COUNT d'oKSAY.
A FEW words concerning one whose career was most closely asso-
ciated with that of Lady Blessington, and who was at one time no
less prominent in society than in art, may be here appended to the
foregoing brief sketch of her life —
Alfred Count d'Orsay was born at Paris in 1801. His father,
General d'Orsay, who had served with distinction under Napoleon,
was descended from an ancient family, and, like his afterwards
more celebrated son, was a man of striking physique. We are told
in reference to this that the Emperor remarked d'Orsay would
make an admirable, model for a Jupiter — so noble and commanding
was his presence. His mother was a daughter of the King of
Wurtemburg, by a marriage which though good in religion was
not so in law, and in latter life was recognized as a brilliant wit
and leader of Parisian society. Their son Alfred well exemplified
the customary transmission of the mental attributes of the mother
with the physical ones of the sire in his person and qualities. At
an early age d'Orsay entered the French cavalry, and after the
Bourbon restoration, became one of the officers of the Guard de Corj^s.
Whilst in the army he was no less distinguished for courage and
extraordinary physical strength than by the exceptional interest he
manifested in the welfare of the men under his command, whose
comforts he used to supply at his own cost. As a little illustration
of his kindliness of character, we ar£ told that at all the various
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 185
balls to which tlie officers of his regiment were invited, it was noted
that he alone paid attention, not to the prettiest, but the plainest
girls present, or to those who seemed most neglected by others.
The great charm of all bis acts of this kind was their spontaneity
and his own unconsciousness of them.
In 1822, with his sister and her husband, then the Duo de Guiche,
d'Orsay first visited England, and by this iourney, which resulted
in his marriage with Lady Harriet Gardiner, Lord Blessington's
youngest daughter, the after course of his life was altered and de-
termined. 7'hus, in his twenty- seventh year d'Orsay, then resid-
ing with the Blessington's at Na|Dles, made the fatal mistake
of being induced, as he certainly was by the young lady's
father, to enter into a marriage with a richly endowed and
beautiful girl, for whom he seems to have entertained no senti-
ment of love or regard. In reference to this ill-advised union
and its result. Dr. Madden in his memoir of d'Orsay aptly cites
Montesquieu's words : — " Religion is the only test we have for the
probity or purity of mankind. And the longer our experience
of life, the more certain becomes the conviction that elsewhere
there exists no security for man's uprightness or woman's virtue,
and that for either there is a point of temptation at whicli mere
human honour, however long resisting, must stagger and fail in the
end, unless it be founded in reliance on divine grace and help."
Passing by the further history of this unfortunate alliance, w^e find
from that time d'Orsay became permanently domiciled as a member
of the Blessington family, and soon obtained and long maintained
an unrivalled position in the world of fasliion, at first in Paris, and
eventually in London. Of this portion of his life, Dr. Madden has
observed : "It is very evident the foreigner could be no ordinary
person who figured in the society of the most eminent men of Eng-
land for nearly twenty years, and who in circles where genius as
well as haut ton had its throne, claimed kindred there and had
his claim allowed." D'Orsay's celebrity was undisputed as a man
of fashion : a noble-looking, English-mannered gentleman, though
of the Erench ville cour ; at once graceful, distinguished and de-
bonnair ; full of life, wit, and humour. He was surely something
more than a mere dandy, * a combination of Adonis and Hercules,'
who was at the same time an artist of no small pretensions, both as
a painter and a sculptor, as well as an exquisite of the first water.
A keen sportsman ; a famous swordsman ; an admirable rider, fit to
' witch the world with noble horsemanship.' At one period agreat col-
lector of classical rarities, like Horace Walpole ; at another time the
zealous partizan of a great political conspirator, and promoter of his
plans to effect a revolution. Alfred d'Orsay figured in his day in all
these characters. Nevertbeless, all the celebrity which his true
friends, if any should yet survive, might desire to he connected with
186 MEMOIRS
his name, i s that which was derived from the exercise of his fine talents
as an artist, and of his kind heart, which was ever sensitive and
considerate to the wants and troubles of others, and the disinter-
ested, possibly lavish, and often abused generosity of his nature.
His good qualities were numerous and benefited many. His errors
and improvidence impoverished only himself. In the hey-day of his
youth, however far he may have been led astray, as undoubtedly
he was too readily by the reckless follies of that society of which he
was so long the enfant fjaf/% in his heart, to the latest moment
of life his nature was noble and generous. Being himself incap-
al)le of guile, he was unconscious of any deception on the part
of others.
In society he was agreeable, attentive, kind, and considerate to
all. No one was too humble, too retiring or too unknown to be
beneath his notice or beyond the reach of his extraordinary power
of finding out some merit, or discovering some topic of interest on
which he might get into friendly conversation with him. One of
the best proofs of his power of thus attracting and making others
happy was the extreme aflfection and confidence he invariably in-
spired in children, of whom he was very fond. Arrogance and af-
tectation, and purse-proud insolence alone found him haughty,
severe, and satirical, and on these his keen wit and remarkable
powers of raillery were not unfrequently exercised.
Beyond this, too, d'Orsay was a gifted artist, a series of
nearly a hundred and fifty portraits of the most eminent fre-
quenters of Gore House having been painted by him, litho-
graphed by Lane, and published by Caddel, in two folio volumes,
price thirty guineas in boards. His statuettes and busts called
forth unmeasured praise from all judges at that time — from the
<3old, severe Wellington as well as the spiritual Lamartine. Of
these busts, two small specimens in the editor's possession, namely,
statuettes of Lady Blessington and d'Orsny himself, are possibly
amongst his best likenesses ; albeit neither these nor a portrait of Lady
Blessington's biographer, by another artist, now in the collection
of the Royal Irish Academy, were apparently deemed of much interest
in the critical judgment of the director of the Irish National
Portrait Gallery. Haydon, the painter, thus describes the
artist Count in his Diary : — " About seven o'clock d'Orsay called,
whom I had not seen for a long time. He was much improved,
and looked ' the glass of fashion and the mould of form ' — really an
Adonis, not made up at all. He made some capital remarks, all of
which must be attended to. They were sound impressions, and
grand. He bounded into his cab like a young Apollo with a fiery
Pegasus. I looked after him. I like to see such specimens."
JVIany of his works of art, such as his portrait of Byron, have
been engraved and are well known. His picture of Welhngton,
DE. E. R. MADDEN. 1^7
who had SO great a regard for him that it was sufficient to mentis^u
d'Orsay's name to ensure his attention, was the last for which the
Duke ever sat. At its completion, his Grace shook hands warmly
with the noble artist, exclaiming—" At last I have been painted hke
a gentleman ; I'll never sit to anyone else." D'Orsay was, as just
mentioned a sculptor as well as a painter of much merit. In Pans he
executed a splendid bust of Lamartine, for which the poet wrote some
fine lines; one ofEmile Girardin ; one of Napoleon Buonaparte the
son of Jerome; as weU as a picture of Sir Robert Peel, and of
Lord Brougham and innumerable other sketches, medallions, and
statuettes, including an admirable model for a statue of O Gonneli
in which he succeeded in wonderfully catching the ex]oression of
the Liberator as he appeared when addressmg a meeting. In
this, the massive figure, though heavily cloaked, was artistic-
ally graceful and animated. . , . , ■.
in his days of afiluence ard influence, durmg his early residence
at Gore House, he was a generous benefactor, more especially to
those of his own nation who required assistance, to whom, from
Louis Napoleon down to the poorest exile, his services were
rendered with a frank good-will and a considerate delicacy and
sympathy for misfortune that increased the value of his gilts.
But for d'Orsay's countenance and help, at a critical period in
his career in exile, probably the future Emperor Louis Napoleon
would never have reached the French throne. The Prince President s
coup d'etat in 1848 was, however, utterly repugnant to d Orsay 6
hi^h sense of honour and justice, and his frank disgust thereat
w^B warmly resented by the successful Imperial adventurer by
whom he was consequently neglected. Ultimately however when
it was too late, and d'Orsay lay on the point of death, he was
nominated to the office of Directeur des Beaux Arts, by the
new Emperor. On his death-bed he was repeatedly visited by the
Archbishop of Paris, and received all the consolations of the taith
in which he had been born and reared from the Cure of Cambourcy,
to whose church he was a generous benefactor, and wherein may
still be seen many pictures which he painted, as well as his own
admirable portraiture of the Mater Dolorosa, the engravmg of
which, though commonly misdescribed as the Magdalen, is well
'""-Tvisited my dear old friend," says Dr. Madden, - a few weeks
before his death, and found him evidently sinking, m the last sta^ of
disease of the kidneys, compHcatcd with spinal complaint, ihe
wreck only of the beau d'Orsay was there. He was able to sit up
and to walk, though with difficulty, and evidently with pam about
his room, which was at once his studio, reception-room and sleeping
apartment. He burst out crying when I entered the room, and
continued for a length of time eo much affected that he could
188 MEMOIRS
hardly spenk to ine. Gradually he hecame composed, and talked
about Lady Blossiugton's death, but all the time with tears pouring
down his pale wan face, for even then his features were death-
stricken. He said with marked emphasis : "In losing her I lost
everything in this w^orld. She was to me a mother ! a dear
mother." Again referring to these w^ords, he said : " You under-
stand me Madden." I understood him to be speaking what he
felt, and there was nothing in his accents or expressions (for his
words sounded in my ears like those of a dying man) which led me
to believe he was seeking to deceive me. I turned his attention to
the subject I thought most important to him. I said, among the
many objects which caught my attention in the room, I was very
glad to see a crucifix placed over the head of his bed ; men living
in the world as he had done were so much in the habit of forget-
ting all early rehgious feehngs. D'Orsay seemed hurt at the
observation. I then plainly said to him : " The fact is, I imagined,
or rather I supposed, you had followed Lady Blessington's example,
if not in giving up your rehgion, in seeming to conform to another
more in vogue in England." D'Orsay rose up with considerable
energy, and stood erect and firm, wnth obvious exertion, for a few
seconds, looking like himself again, and pointing to the head of his
bed, he said: "Do you see those two sw^ords ? " pointing to two
small swords (which were hung under the crucifix crosswise). " Do
you see that sword to the right ? With that sword I fought in
defence of my rehgion. I had only joined my regiment a few day's,
when an officer at the mess-table used disgusting and impious lan-
guage in speaking of the Blessed Virgin. I called on him to
desist ; he repeated the foul language ; I threw a plate of spinach
across the table in his face ; a challenge ensued ; we fought under
the moonlight that evening, on the ram.parts of the town, and I
have kept that sword ever since." Whatever we may think of the
false notions of honour, or the erroneous ones of religion which
may have prompted the encounter, T think there is evidence in it
of early impressions of a religious nature having been made on the
mind of this singular man, and of some remains of them still exist-
ing at the period above-mentioned, however strangely presented."
On this occasion Count d'Orsay informed Dr. Madden that Lady
Blessington never ceased, in her heart, to be a Catholic, although she
occasionally attended the church of another persuasion, and that
while she was in Paris, she went every Sunday to the Madeleine,
in company with some members of his family. Count d'Orsay
survived Lady Blessington a little more than two years, and died
in his fifty-seventh year, on the 4th of August 1854. The monu-
ment to her memory had been hardly finished when it became the
resting-place of all that was left of the accomplished, highly gifted,
generous-hearted Alfred d'Orsay. — Pulvia et umbra, nomen, nihil.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 189
CHAPTER XXVII.
RESIDENCE IN PORTUGAL.
From tlie circiunstanccs rcLited in a previous cliaptei connected
with the publication of liis Histort/ of the United Irishmen, linding
himself (under I^ord Stanley's administration of the Colonial Office)
deprived of his just claim to re-appointment to his official position
in connexion with the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, Dr.
Madden again reverted to his early pursuits as a writer for the
Press, and a year subsequently became Special Correspondent iu
Portugal for the Morning Chronicle. Accordingly, on the 2nd
November 1843, with his wife and child, he embarked at
Southampton by the steamer Montrose for Lisbon, where, or at
Cintra, he remained for nearly three years, with a few short
intervals of absence in Spain, I'rance, and England. With
reference to this appointment we may quote a letter from the
Countess of Blessington : —
" Gore House, Oct. 19th, 1843.
" Those who imagine that you will descend one step in life by
accepting the occupation you are about to fill in Portugal, entertain
a very different opinion from mine. Some of the most distinguished
men have written for the Press, and your doing so will, according
to my notion, give you a new claim on the Anti-Slavery party you have
hitherto served.
" I am not sorry that you will be remoxed from Ireland at pre-
sent, when atfairs wear an aspect that must grieve and irritate
every Irishman with noble and generous feelings. But women
have, in my opinion, no business with politics, and I, above all
women, have a horror of mixing myself up with them. I must
content myself in wishing well to my poor country, which no one
more heartily loves. Wherever you go, or in whatever position,
you will take with you my cordial good wishes for your prosperity
and welfare, and for that of your family.
"I am now oppressed by writing to fulfil an engagement I en-
tered into, without being aware of the excessive fatigue it would
entail on me ; and am even at this moment so occupied that I have
not time to say more than that I hope to see you before your de-
parture, and tliat
" I am always your sincere friend,
" M. Blessington."
190 MEMOIRS
Soon after arrival in Lisbon Dr. Madden became an intime of
the hospitable Irish Dominican College of Corpo Santo, where his
son received the rudiments of education ; and the latter still retains
a grateful recollection of its successive presidents : Dr. Savage and
Dr. Russell, who with F. Conway, F. Towers, and the other
members of that community, then maintained the high repu-
tation of their order in the Lusitanian capital. During that resi-
dence of three years in Lisbon, more than once the storm of revo-
lution swept over Portugal, and its force was chiefly directed
against the religious orders of the country. A few years previously
the Portuguese monastic institutions had been suppressed and
plundered by the noi clisani liberals of the period, and often has
the editor of this memoir seen the aged and impoverished expel-
led members of the monastic institutions forced to beg for their daily
bread from door to door in the streets of Lisbon, or at the portals
of the sanctuaries that had sheltered the erudition and sanctity of
a better age. Such a scene was described in the following lines : —
THE MONK OF BELEM.
That aged man who bends beneath
The weight of woes as well as years,
Who begs his bread in bated breath,
With downcast eyes suffused with tears,
Whose arms are folded on his breast.
As if long habit fixed them there,
And those poor withered hands sought rest,
And found repose alone in prayer.
That abject beggar, forced abroad,
Who stoops for alms as you pass by.
Has stood erect before his God,
And raised the Sacred Host on high !
Those trembling hands of his of yore
(In times when faith had shrines) the Bread
Of Life have held ; and oft have o'er
The consecrated cup been spread.
What impious bands has wrecked those shrines
Where humble faith was wont to bow ?
What " Scourge of God," with fell designs.
Has come to lay religion low —
To bring its altars to the dust.
Its servants to the direst doom.
Secluded virtue forth to thrust
Erom its asylum and its home ?
DR. R. E- MADDEN.
191
What modern Attila ordains
A solitude in Belem's walls,
And calls it peace where silence reigns,
And cloistered stillness now appalls ?
What new " Defender of the Faith "
To Mafra's ample spoil lays claim,
And wages warfare to the death
With Justice in KeUgion's name ?
The solemn chant is heard no more
Within that venerable pile ;
The vesper hymn that softly bore
The Virgin's praise from aisle to aisle,
The sounds, the sights that gave a soul
To piety, no more are there —
No more absorb each sense, control
Each thought, and wrap the mind in prayer.
it. Ix. iVi.
The results of the spoliation of the monasteries of Spain and
Portugal was still in full operation when the author first visited
the Peninsula and are alluded to in his History of the
Penal Laws against Roman Catholics. The hbraries of the
monasteries were not more sacred than the shrmes and altars ot
their churches in the eyes of the licensed robbers. Ihe sp endid
missals and illuminated manuscripts of the convents were riiled ot
their clasps and covers, for the sake of their gold and silver orna-
ments This villainous example, in recent times, was ioi-
lowed by the rapacious liberals of Spain and Portugal. The author,
in both countries, has seen the most valuable works taken from the
pillaged convents, thus despoiled of their covers, m grocers shops,
sold by the Arroba weight of thirty-two pounds. . , -r. ,r ^
In the course of his articles in the Morning Chronicle Dr. Mad-
den describes the then Government of Portugal as being largely
under the influence of Senor De Costa Cabral, one of two brothers
who had succeeded in raising themselves on the ultm-democratic
party from a very humble position to the pinnacle of political power.
The youno-er of these, Antonio De Costa Cabral, who iiUed the
offices of &overnor of Lisbon and Minister of Justice and Rehgion,
is stated during his ministry to have suspended the Constitution
three times. This energy beyond the law, soon brought law and
order into disrepute, and the discontent thus excited culminated m
a revolt, which was suppressed with great difficulty. The tinances
became more and more embarrassed, the stocks were supported by
means of an organized system of loan-making, anticipation ot
revenue, and stock- jobbing operations carried on with monopolist
companies of capilali.ts, for which, in several instances, enormous
sums were paid to the Government. The creation of bubb c com-
panics, the nature of the terms entered into with the public con-
tractors, the necessary expenses of a governmunt bayonetted up by
192 MEMOIRS
a large military force, increased so heavily the charges on the trea-
sury, that in four years they exceeded the revenue by 8,000 contos.
The exposure in the Enghsh Press of the financial policy of the
Portuguese Government of that day, proved so adverse to their
monetary interests in England, that strenuous efforts were made
by some of the ministry to suppress the truth. In documents now
before the editor of this biography are details of such attempts, at
first by offers of personal advantage, and, when these were repulsed
with indignation, then by futile threats to influence the outspoken
and truthful correspondent of the Morning Chronicle.
POETUGAL.
I.
A fertile soil — a genial clime is here !
A land that Uod with goodly gifts has blessed ;
A glorious sky, serene and calm and clear,
With gorgeous sunshine glowing on its breast.
And this is nature's work ! But all the rest
Is man's— the gloom that shrouds inteUigence,
That sinks the spirit saddened and oppressed,
And grieves the heart and gives at once offence
And pain to every feeling and to outward sense.
What hath subdued man's nature in this land
To such debasement ? This objection made
Not incidental to the class that is bann'd —
The poor contimaed : but in the highest grade
Inherent seen ! Hath retribution laid
Its hand at last upon the lust of gold,
The game of conquest and the laurelled trade
Of raid and rapine — of injustice bold.
In poor religion's name achieved and then extolled.
Lisbon, 1814.
In August 1810, Mrs. Madden with her son, Dr. M., being
detained a little longer, took their departure from Lisbon in a
small saihng vessel, and after a stormy passage of nearly three
weeks to Liverpool, arrived in Dublin. Three months later they
crossed over by steamer to Southampton, thence to Havre. From
there they proceeded by diligence to Rouen, and by the recently
opened railway up to Paris. Here they remained for the following
year, whilst their eldest son, William Forde Madden, who had
been educated in the Royal College of Versailles, pursued his pro-
fessional studies as a civil engineer in the Ecole Polytecnique,
the diploma of which then as now was regarded as a rigid test of
mathematical and scientific attainrnents, and where he passed through
his course with much distinction. In October 1847, they returned
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 193
to London, and the ensuing month was chiefly occupied with pre-
parations for their intended voyage to "Western Austraha, to the
Colonial Secretaryship of which Dr. Madden had recently heen ap-
pointed. Amongst the many congratulations he received on this
occasion, none was more highly valued than the following letter from
Lady Blessington : —
" Gore House, 8th June 1847.
" I have been wondering why I have been so long without seeing
you, and had I known your address, which unfortunately had been
lost, I should certainly have written to you to say so. I do not
lightly form friendships, and when formed I do not allow any dif-
ferences in pohtical opinions to interfere with them. I have known
you too long and too well not to feel a lively interest in your wel-
fare, however we may disagree on some subjects.
" I am not surprised, though greatly pleased, at the appointment
offered you by Lord Grey, for he is a man capable of appreciating
merit ; and you left so high a character whenever previously em-
ployed, as to deserve future confidence. I only regret that you are
going so far away. I have heard such favourable accounts of the
climate, that I hope your absence from home will not be intermin-
able, and that I may still see you return in health and comfort.
It will give me great pleasure to see you before you depart, and to
assure you of my unimpaired regard. Count d'Orsay charges me
with his kindest wishes for your health and happiness, and my
nieces send theirs. God bless you, my dear Dr. Madden. Let
me hear sometimes from you, and count always on the good wishes
of your sincere friend,
*' M. Blessington."
[The following lines were called forth by a brief visit to
Ireland at that time : — ]
A FAEEWELL TO IRELAND IN THE FAMINE YEAIi.
Not as in youth, iu brighter days of yore.
When first I left thee my cherished land !
And gazed on all the beauties of thy shore,
And gloried in them — mountain, stream, and strand.
Not as of yore I leave thee now, when worse
Than war is raging fiercely on thy plains ;
While all thy fatal beauty, as a curse,
Clings to thee still, but cannot hide thy chains.
Not as of old I bid thee now farewell,
Despite past griefs, yet hopeful of thy weal ;
But full of sadness leave thee, and the spell
That's on thy harp seems o'er my soul to steal.
14
194 MEMOIRS
Here famine, leagued with pestilence most dire,
Deals more destruction on our people far
Than all the ruin Titus or his sire
Brought on the Jews in six dread years of war.
The siege is here,— no scene of bloody strife ;
The fields are green, the grain luxuriant waves,
Which men who starve have sown ; and death is rife
Throughout the land — a Golgotha of graves.
Carnage of old we shudder to recall :
Thousands and tens of thousands killed in war
In distant regions, these are things appall,
And move all feeling, — when the field's afar.
We shrink not here at millions famine slain ;
Discord surveys all horrors undismayed.
And scornful pity, insolent and vain.
Flings down its alms, and hates us for its aid.
Ill-fated land ! the sickness that makes hearts
Most hopeless, surely is thy destiny !
** Affliction is enamoured of thy parts,
And thou art wedded to calamity."
I may not witness ever more thy woes,
Nor share thy griefs, but they shall blend, I trow.
With every thought of mine ; and wrongs like those
Are best recalled, perhaps, in exile now.
On departure for Australia, 1847.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SELECTIONS FROBI CORBESPOKDENCE.
In the lives of few individuals have the " many parts " which, accord-
ing to the poet, man is destined to fill in the brief drama of exist-
ence, been better exemplified than by the subj ect of these pages. Thus,
we have already traced the course of Dr. Madden's early career as
an Oriental traveller, then as a pressman, next as a physician, and
subsequently as a worker in the Anti-Slavery movement in the West
Indies, America, and Africa. Moreover, his literary history as an
author, up to the date of his departure for x\ustralia in 1847, has
been described. Before referring to that voyage, we may here
insert some selections from his extensive correspondence with
distinguished personages in various countries. In reference to this
DK. K. E. MADDEN. 195
selection, the editor would however observe that many letters of
probably greater interest have been passed over, for the present at
least, for reasons which may be best alluded to in the words
of Dr. Johnson, who, in his notice of the closing scene of the
life of Addison, says: — "The necessity of complying with times,
and of sparing persons, is the great impediment of biography.
What is known can seldom be immediately told ; and when it
might be told it is no longer known. I begin to feel myself walk-
ing upon ashes, under which the fire is not extinguished, and
coming to the time when it will be proper rather to say nothing
that is false, than all that is true." To the following letters may
also be prefixed some unpublished observations of Dr. Madden on
" The Use and Abuse of Private Letters in Bibliographical Publi-
cations.— The only legitimate objections to the use of such letters
are that their publication is calculated either to injure the interests
or wound the feelings of surviving persons, or that it would be pre-
judicial to the reputation of the dead Curlis' practice of
publishing the letters as well as the memoirs of eminent per-
sons, without any regard to the wishes of their friends, was simply
an infamous act. Unfortunately we have still busy amongst us
some of Curlis' literary successors, who by thus unwarrantably invading
the sanctity of private life, as Arbuthnot" well said, " add a new terror
to death," and can only be regarded as hterary freebooters and pests
to society. A biographer should, moreover, bear in mind that it is
morally binding on the conscience of those who have to deal with
private letters to be well assured that their publication is justified in
the interests of truth and justice, as well as in those of literature, or •
country, or private friendship. Nor is there any species of sacrilege,
with one exception, worse than the wanton violation of secrets which
involves the crime of treachery to the dead, and the in diction of
pain on surviving friends, without any legitimate intention or
likely prospect of benefiting society at large."
(From Lord Blessingtou to K. R. M).
Naples, May 10th, 1821.
My dear Madden, — I see your thoughts are still turning to Ireland with
respect to the subject of liepeal of the Union. I fear it would be worse
than a negative measure. We are impoverished in money and talent —
England has a superabundancy of the one and a sufficiency of the other,
if she will apply her materials to her good. Send the Parliament back to
Dublin, and that town will perhaps flourish again ; but I fear the same
effect would not be produced throughout the Kingdom ; and if to forward the
views which I think absolutely necessary for Ireland, the Commons should
have to impose heavy taxes, being refused aid from England, the people would
have cause for dissatisfaction, and an Irishman's mode of expressing it is
U *
196 MEMOIRS
blows, not words. Let the R. Catholic Church of Ireland separate itself in
toto from the Pope ; establish a better mode of educating the priesthood ;
take away tithes, and pay the Reformed Church out of the public purse ;
admit R. Catholics to the Houses of Parliament and the Bench ; at the same
time establishing throughout Ireland an extensive gendarmerie, not for
political, but judicial purposes ; make the nobility and gentry live on their
estates or sell them ; give a grant sufficient to cut canals in what are now
barren districts ; let there be neither Ptibbonmen, Freemasons, or Orange-
men ; let offenders against the public peace, of whatever party, be sent to
the Colonies ; let the middling classes be taught that public money is levied
for the public good and not for individual advantage, and then Ireland will
be what Ireland should be, from its situation and with its natural advan-
tages— a Queen in the Ocean.
Blessingtom.
Naples, August 15th, 1824.
My dear Sir, — I send yon the letter from Lord Strangford, which I hope
may be useful to you. I trust the experiment you are about to make will
be successful. You will have the advantage at least of seeing the world,
and a medical man alone has an opportunity of seeing the interior of
Turkish abodes.
Wishing you health and prosperty, I remain, yours very truly,
Blessington.
R. R. Madden, Esq., M.D.
(From M. le Comte Julien de Paris).
Londres, 23rd October 1833.
Monsieur,— J'ai bien regrc-.tte d'arriver trop tard pour vous voir, avant
que vous avez quitte Londres. J'ai beaucoup parl6 de vous avec votre ex-
cellente amie, la belle et spirituelle Lady Blessington, et avec M. le Dr.
Beattie et M. le Comte d'Orsay.
Je proiite, pour me rappeller a votre bon souvenir, de I'occasion de Mr.
Richard Hill, jeune homme d'un grand merite, d'un noble et honorable
caract^re, qui se rend a la Jamaique, ou il sera charme de faire votre con-
naissance personuelle, vous connaissant deja tres bien de reputation et ou
vous aimerez, de votre cote, j'e suis sur, a entrer en r61ation avec lui M. le
Dr. Madden a la Jamaique.
Je me fiatte de recevoir a la fois de vos nouvelles et des siennes, et
d'obtenir par M. Hill et par vous, des informations exactes sur la Colonie
que vouB allez habiter, a laquelle il sera avantageux d'etre mieux connu en
Europe, je joins ici des prospectus de la Revue Cosmopolite que je recom-
mande a vos bons soins, pour lui procurer des souscripteurs et des corre-
spondans. Soyez vous meme son correspondant actif pour la partie que
vous avez choisie, et sur laquelle il vous conviendra de veillir et de
m'envover des documens.
DR. R. II. MADDEN. 197
Addressez moi en toute confiance ceux de vos amis qui seront dans le cas
de venir in France.
Agreez, Monsieur, I'assurance nouvelle de mes sentiments tres distingu6s
et devoues.
JuLiEN DE Paris.
A Londres, chez Mme. Borronge et Gie libraries a Londre, 14 Great
Marlboro'-street ; a Paris, Rue du Rocher, No. 23, pres la rue Elys6e.
(From Dr. Beattie).
Berkley- St., Portman-square,
Feb. 18tli, 1834.
My dear Friend,— I was truly rejoiced to see your autograph once more,
and had it nearly up, exclaiming with Pindar —
" Madden, Madden, thou'rt a sad'un !
Sure, you promised for to write !
While I've waiting, much debating,
" Mail "-men rating, morn and night !
This " simmering cauldron's " smoke inhaling,
(Its cough a suffering lungs entailing),
At bards, and books, and critics railing —
Sleeping— sulking o'er my beer.
I asked — " Has Madden sought Benares ?
Or tuned in song the far Canaries,
And, Laureate to the Queen of Fairies,
Forgot the bard that grovels here ? "
But for answer, every man, sir.
Said — "He knew no more than I Sir."
Weather desperately cold ; Serpentine frozen over. Letters from Ancona
and Milan this mornmg ; ground there covered with snow. Bulwer's Last
of the Tribunes just out, and producing a wonderful sensation among the
sensitive public. I am going into the city this evening to renew my
inquiries after something in our way.
The womankind join with me in kindest regards to Mrs. Madden and the
young , and with every affectionate wish
I remain, my dear Madden,
Most sincerely yours,
W. Beattie.
I have not met Quin since you and I dined there.
(From Lady Blessington).
Seamorc Place, March 12th, 1834^
My dear Dr. Madden, — I saw Dr. Beattie a few days ago ; ho continues to
feel a lively interest in your welfare, and I am persuaded you have few more
sincere friends.
198
MEMOIRS
He is a man whose heart is as warm as his head is sensible and clever,
and one such as the present times rarely offer in the number of our friends.
He has just brought out the first number of a work entitled Sioitzerland,
illustrated with beautiful engravings, and the style of the book is admirable,
and highly creditable to him. Mr. Campbell I never see, and seldom hear
of, either in the literary or social world. I hope he will soon give us his
Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons, for it is time they should come forth.
I trust your pen is not idle ; I look forward to a lively novel descriptive of
Life in the West Indies, with no trifling impatience. It will give me pleasure
to hear from you whenever you have a leisure half hour to give me.
M. Blessington.
Gore House, Tuesday.
My dear Dr. Madden, — I have read witli great interest the books, &c.,
which you confided to me, and which I now return. I send you a pedigree,
on the authenticity of which you may rely.
Mr. Edmond Sheehy, referred to as having been executed for rebellion,
was my unfortunate grandfather. He lived at the Lodge, Bawnfoune,
county Waterford, about seven or eight miles from Clonmel. I cannot make
out in what degree of relationship he stood to Father Nicholas Sheehy, as
my mother never referred to the subject without horror. She lost her
father when she was only two years old.
Musgrave refers to Edmond Sheehy in his book. I have heard that my
grandfather was a chivalrous-minded man, to whom pardon was offered if he
would betray others. I also knov/ that he was nearly related to Father
Nicholas Sheehy ; but as no mention of this is made in the pedigi'ee, I know
not the degree of relationship. I should much like that justice could be
rendered to the memories of my unfortunate relatives, without any violation
of truth. I shall look for your new book with impatience, and will do what I
can to forward its circulation.
M. Blessington.
WALTEK SAVAGE lANDOE*
" Of all the literary men with whom Lady Blessington came in contact,"
says Dr. Madden, " there were few whom she looked on with more
respect and regard as "Walter Savage Lundor. In referring to some
feminine calumnies concerning Lady Blessington, Mr. Landor, in
the concluding lines of a letter of his to her biographer, dated Bath,
Feb. 17th, 1855, says — " These virtuous ladies ! instead of censuring her
faults, should attempt to imitate her virtues. Believe that, if any excess
may be run into, the excess of tenderness is quite as pardonable as that of
malignity and rancour."
" Wa^tek S. Landor."
DR. R. E. MADDEN. 199
(From Lord Glenelg).
Downing-street, October 25th, 1837.
My dear Sir, — At the request of Lord Granville, I beg leave to introduce
to you the bearer of this letter, Mr. TurnbuLl, who intends to make a tour
through Canada, the United States, and Mexico, for purposes of general
interest which he will himself explain to you. From the character which
has reached me of this gentleman, I have reason to believe that any civilities
it may be in your power to show him will not be ill-bestowed.
I am, my dear Sir, yours very truly,
Glenelg.
De. Madden, &c., &c.
(From Thomas Campbell).
12, Waterloo-place,
Saturday, January 18th, 1830.
My dear Madden, — Can you dine with me any Sunday, Saturday,
Thursday, or Tuesday at six p.m. These are the days allotted for our
bringing friends not members to dine ; but if no one of these days will suit
you — name any other day, and we shall have a snug party at my chambers.
Yours very truly,
Thomas Campbell.
I dined with " Cambyses " (Sir John Hobhouse) some four or five Sundays
ago, and we had a party of the creatures — Whigs and Tories. We made in
all sixteen. I abstained from saying a word about politics till he began by
attacking me about the Polish Association, whereupon, as he had broken the
ice, I thought it no harm to tell him plainly my mind about the whole
foreign policy of this present Administration ; and though I had fifteen
to one in the whole company against me, yet I Jit, as Winifred Jenkins says,
with them all round, and laid in some particularly hard blows at my friend
Hob. The fact is, the Grey Administration is, for foreign policy, the most
contemptible that ever this country had. They now begin to boast that
Lord Durham's mission is softening Nicholas. Good God ! what an impu-
dent boast — if it were true, as I believe it to be a lie. Our mediation, they
say, is now alleviating the fate of Poland. If so, what would our mediation
have done when the Poles were yet in arms.
I hope you agree with me in admiring the personal amenity of Priuco
Czartorzski.
Begging my best regards to Mrs. Madden,
I remain, my dear friend.
Yours truly,
T. Campbell.
Sussex Chambers, Dukc-strcct, St. James's, London, August 20th, 1832.
200 MEMOIRS
(From Thomas Moore).
Sloperton Cottage, April 20th, 1842.
Dear Dr. Madden, — I have within these few days received a letter from
Mrs. Hancock (daughter of Samuel Neilson) requesting my interference
with you on the subject of the charge brought against her father of having
betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald. I had a good deal of correspondence
with Mr. Hancock on this subject at the time of the appearance of my
Life of Lord Edward, and made some alterations, I forget to v/hat extent,
in the second edition of that work, in order to quiet Mrs. Hancock's feelings.
It is so long since this correspondence took place that I very much forget
how far the evidence siie produced in exculpation of Neilson was effective
towards that object. But should you wish to see those papers, I shall try to
disinter them from the dusty darkness to which they are consigned to wait
that day when I shall be far advanced enough in my long task to want them.
Believe me, yours truly,
Thomas Moore.
E. B. Madden.
Those who only knew Moore in fashionable circles, or through
his diaries, are very unlikely to be acquainted with the best part
of his character, and what was most estimable and deserving of
honour in his principles. The following letter, expressive of his
views respecting Cuban slavery, and the conduct of the Irish in
America in relation to slavery, is so creditable to his sentiments,
that it may be subjoined to th(i preceding letters —
Sloperton Cottage, March 8th, 1840.
My dear Dr. Madden, — I have but time to acknowledge and thank you for
the very interesting paper on slavery which you were so kind as to send me
through the hands of my sister.' I am not surprised that you should have
returned bursting with indignation — more especially against those fellow-
countrymen of ours (and fellow-Catholics), who by their advocacy of slavery
bring so much disgrace both upon their country and creed.
"Wishing you every success in your benevolent efforts,
I am very truly yours,
Thomas Moore.
(From Thomas Campbell).
My dear Madden, — Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to join
you — if I could leave London. But I am chained to it, and shall be so
until I have laid in full materials for the Life of Mrs. Siddons.
Ever faithfully yours,
My dear Madden,
T. Campbell.
1>K. E. T~t MADDEN. 201
(From Dr. Beattie to R. R. M. on his departure for the West Indies in 1833).
Strong as some sainted amulet,
The link in memory's chain,
That tells where kindred spirits met,
No time can rend in twain.
And mindful of her pledge, the Muse
One passing wreath would twine.
And trace in every flower she strews,
A health to thee and thine.
The union of congenial minds
No distance can divide,
Unshaken in the shock of winds,
Unstemmed by ocean's tide.
It lives beyond the Atlantic main.
Where basking 'neath the line,
A sun bright shore, a palmy plain.
Shall welcome thee and thine.
Embowered within the glowing west.
And circled by the sea,
Which laves " the Islands of the Blessed,"
A health to them and thee.
And gentle stars, and generous hearts,
Tbeir genial lights combine.
And all that halcyon peace imparts.
Descend on thee and thine.
Adieu— the breath of friendship fills
The sail that wafts thee hence.
To lands whose radiant sky distils
Arabia's redolence !
Oo— but a few brief summers flown.
Once more across the brine —
Thy country shall reclaim the loan
She lent in thee and thine !
W. Beattie.
London, September 'dOth.
(From Washington Irving, transmitting a contribution for Lady
Blessington's Annual).
Newhftll, May 2nd, 1835.
My dear Sir,— I enclose a nautical anecdote, written down pretty much as
I heard it related a few years since by one of my sea-faring countrymen. I
hope it may be acceptable to Lady Blcssington, for her Annual, jmd only
regret that I had nothing at hand more likely to be to her taste. However,
in miscellaneous publications of the kind, every humour has to be consulted,
and a IJirpaulin story may present an acceptable contrast to others more
sentimental and refined.
202 MEMOIRS
I beg- you to present my kindest remembrances to Lady Blessington, and
believe me, my dear sir, with high interest and regard, very faithfully yours,
Washinoton Irving.
(From James Sheridan Knowles).
Gibraltar, 24th June 1845.
" Out of sight, out of mind " — Ch. Madden. No, by the goddesses ! You
are not a friend once grappled to be easily let go. A yarn for you, short
though it may be.
I have been most cordially received in this port, but my lectures are not
within a third so productive as those which I delivered in Lisbon. The
humbug of saintships indicates an approximation to the British shore. It
is a fact several families have eschewed the lectures on the score of religious
feeling. " They never go to plays." My audience has been respectable,
and all has otherwise gone well. I have been feasted to the height of hospi-
tality. Constant calls from ladies and gentlemen of the highest rank here.
Young More has been indefatigable in his attention. He is a noble
young fellow, very like his incomparable father — in countenance and
in heart. I conclude here on Thursday next, and return to England by the
packet that will arrive in Lisbon to-day or to-morrow. There is time, how-
ever, for an acknowledgment of this our most gracious address to your
Majesty — so out of the inkstand with the pen, and tell us how dear Mrs.
Madden is, the boy, your sweet self, and all friends, and infuse a little news
if you can — I am a Greek in this. Think of my young friends honouring
me with a handsome present upon my departure — warm hearted rogues !
God bless them and prosper them in their most responsible undertaking.
Give my kindest regards to your most kind lady and boy, and remember us
to Mrs. Tobin — not forgetting Mina.
You will remember us also to Mr. Hardy and his son, and perhaps you
will give my best thanks. His article has served me greatly here,
having been copied by one of the papers. Farewell — if you love writing as
well as I do, you may happily omit to answer this for a month ; if your
passion for the pen is the opposite, a post or two may sing a welcome stave to
Your attached and faithful servant,
James Sheridan Knowles.
R. R. Madden.
(From the Abbe De Lamenais).
Je vous prie instamment, mon cher Monsieur Madden, d'accepter I'ouvrage
dans lequel se trouve la note qui vous interesse. Si. vous voulez bien lire
celle qui suit, p. 208, vous verrez que la ville dont vous cherchez le nom est
Troyes en Champagne. II est, d'ailleurs, facile de verrifier si ce fut, en ef^et,
a Troyes que fut signe la traite entre Charles IX. et Elizabeth, en Avril, 1564.
Je ne sais absolument rien de celui de mes aieux qui etait d'origine irlan-
daise, si ce n'est pas qu'il s'appelait Rosses, qu'il etait un des refugies qui
emigraient d'Irlande au temps de Jacques II., et qu'il s'etablit a St. Malo, oh
il se marie. D'autres emigres du nom de Whife et de Hay, s'y etablirent
aussi a a meme epoque. J'ai beaucoup connu leurs families, dont ilnereste
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 203
plus depuis quelques annges, que des descendants par las femmes, et qui par
consequent, portent un autre nom.
Si je puis vous aider dans vos recherches usez de moi en toute liberte.
Agreez I'assurance de mon ijevouement et de mon affection bien sincere.
Lamenais.
Jeudi 19 aoiit, 1852.
P.S.— D'apres ce qui precede, vous voyez que ma grande mere est nee a
St. Malo. Elle y est morte aupi que son pere. Elle etait tres agee quand
nous la perdumes, il y a une cinquante d'annues.
Monsieur R. E. Madden.
(From Count d'Orsay).
Gore House, 7th May 1845.
My dear Madden, — I wish that you would protect with all your strength,
power and eloquence the contemplated project of a railway between Lisbon
and Madrid. My nephew the Duke de Saldanha is one of the directors, and
Sam Buncombe and General Bacon will be the active men with the Tortuguese
Government, as tliat Government owes him a great deal of gratitude for his
services, and are of opinion that they will succeed in obtaining the concession,
because Governments are very generous when they can oblige without putting
their hands in their own pockets. Bacon is going very soon to Lisbon, ho
will see you, and you must aid him, and I am sure that you will be glad to
do it. We have received the Portuguese papers that you sent me, and which
is very curious is that without knowing one word of that language or
Spanish I could uuder.staud them perfectly well — you had the best of it —
of which I was delighted. Lord Howard is a great friend of ])acon, in fact
he is a great favourite at Lisbon, which will aid the undertaking. The old
Intendentc and tutor of the king, and who is his chamberlain, is devoted to
Bacon. Mr. Dentry I think his name is — Lady Blessington sends you her
kindest regards.
I'elieve me always.
Yours most faithfully,
D'Oksay.
(From Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton).
October 23rd, 1835.
My dear Sir, — No wonder you think me a most faithless correspondent,
but I have been far less forgetful of you and your letters than you may
imagine. Some time ago I wrote 1o you the two letters which 1 now enclose.
I now wisli tliat I had sent them, as they would have convinced you that I
had not forgotten your wishes.
I have now to write to you about another business of very great import-
ance. I have been diligently engaged of late in preparing a pamphlet for
the Government upon the subject of slavery. I have printed a few copies of
it for their exclusive use, which I find has attracted great attention in the
Cabinet, and I indulge a pretty confident hope that something effectual will
204 MEMOIRS
be done. My book consists of two parts — first, the extent and horrors of
the Slave-Trade ; secondly, suggestions for its aboHtion.
I am under solemn promise to the Government not to divulge the sug-
gestions, as this would be fatal to their success ; and it is the less necessary
to do so at this time, as the plan 1 propose is quite independent of any
means now employed, but yet you may render me and the cause very great
service.
I send you the proof sheets of that part which applies to the extent and
horrors , and my earnest request to you is, that after reading it you will be
good enough to furnish me with any new proofs and elucidation — in point
of fact, anything bearing on the various points that you can collect.
Now is the time that such information will be especially useful. Please
also to tell me how far I may make use of your name to the Government. I
have not done so as yet, because you had not given me permission.
I am in very good health, and the better for being out of Parliament and
devoted to the Slave-Trade inquiries.
Believe me,
Ever faithfully yours,
T. F. Buxton.
R, R. Mapden.
(From Colonel Phipps, brother of Lord Mulgrave).
My dear Doctor, — I return you your manuscript, which I have detained
longer than I originally intended, as I wished to look over it very carefully.
At the review at Huntley Pastures, Colonel Browne was on the ground at the
head of his regiment when my brother and I arrived ; it was not, therefore,
" on his coming to the ground that he was dismissed." Upon his dismissal,
about three-fourths of the regiment broke and quitted the ranks, some of the
officers tore off their epaulettes and trampled upon them, &c. The men
were, however, all re-collected in the ranks and marched past Lord Mul-
grave in review order under the command of the officer next in rank, not,
however, without every attempt by persuasion and abuse from the mutinous
officers to induce the men to refuse to perform their duty.
I thought that you would like to have these little points . corrected,
though they are not of much importance.
Ever yours very truly,
C. B. Phipps.
3, Little Stanhope-street, April 21st.
R. R. Madden.
(From Lord Howard de Walden, H. M. Ambassador to the Court of
Lisbon, on leaving Portugal).
Lisbon, September 80th, 1846.
My dear Sir, — In returning the papers left in my hands on the eve of your
departure, I must beg of you to accept my best acknowledgments for the
gratifying consideration which you have so invariably evinced in all your
relations with me.
I)E. R. R. MADDEN. 205
I regret extremely that yon should be leaving Portugal, and particularly
at this moment . . . You certainly have succeeded in establishing a reputa-
tion for integrity, ability and independence which, combined with your suc-
cess in obtaining information, give to your articles on Portugal in TJp' Ghrontcle
an importance to which those most interested in its alSau's are beginning to be
forcibly alive at last.
I firmly hope that on leaving this country your services will not be lost.
. . . And that our friendship is not to be terminated here. 1 beg that you
will beUeve in the very sincere regard of
Yours very faithfully,
Howard dk Waldbn.
R. R. Madden.
(From Lord Brougham).
4, Grafton-street, Tuesday Morning.
Dear Sir, — I expected to see you yesterday, else I should have written to
ask you to beg the favour of Dr. Madden that he would come to-morrow to
meet Dr. Lushiugton and you at dinner. I am prevented from calling on
him by being kept the whole morning in the House of Lords, or Privy
Council; and the only chance I have of seeing him before Thursday is his
having the goodness to dine here to-morrow, or if he is engaged, to come in
the evening. Captain Denman, to whom I sent, is out of town.
Yours very truly,
H. Brougham.
(From Lord Brougham).
A Monsieur Mignet, Secretaire Perpetuel de I'Listitut, aux Archives des
Affaires Etrangeres.
Brougham, IGth September.
Mon cher et dignc confrere, — Permettez que je vous presente mon com-
patriote M. Madden qui se trouve a Paris dans ce moment occupe, d'un
ouvrage asscz interesssant sur I'histoire des Eevoltes Irlandais de 1798,
Faites votre possible pour qu'il puisse etre admis aux archives de la guerre
de votre departement, car il no pout achever son travail sans consulter les
documents qui s'y trouvont. An attendant le plaisir de vous revoir avant la
tm d' Ootobre agreez les assurauceB, &c.
H. Brougham.
(From Dr. M'DonneU of Belfast).
Tuesday, 8th October, 1840.
My dear Doctor, — There are three or four people with whom you should
converBB — Robert Simms, Mary M'Cracken, the widow of Dr. Magee, Mrj
Hughes of Holy wood— the father of the latter employed Napper Tandy as
his agent in Dubhn ; Sir Edward Newenham, Q. J, Bennet, iVIiliken, an old
man named Hope, whom I never saw.
206 MEMOIRS
If I knew when to expect 5'ou any evening I should endeavour to find
some persons to meet you. Hoping to have that pleasure soon, I am your
most obliged friend,
J. M'DONNELL.
K. B. Madden.
(From Monsieur Isambert, Member of the Assembly).
J'arrive de la campagne ou j'ai vue General O'Connor celebrant sa 80me
annee le — mardi 4 juillet ; c'est ce quim'aempeche d'avoir I'honneur de vous
reiterer la visite. Je vais lui faire parvenir par une occasion la brochure que
vous avez fait remettre chez moi avec votre lettre.
Nos affaires en France vont trcs mal et sur les rapports de I'abolition
d'Esclavage et sur toutes les autres questions de hberte on etait plus liberal
dans les dernieres annces de la Restoration.
Paris Samedi, 8 Juillet, 1843.
MoNSiEua LE Dn. Madden.
Votre tres humble aerviteur et ami,
ISAMBEBT.
(From Sir James Stephens, sometime Under Secreitary of State
for the Colonies).
Kichmond-on- Thames, 0th October 1849.
My dear Dr. Madden,— I will now tell you what I before hinted, that it
was at one time a doubt with me whether I should not visit Ireland as a Com-
missioner for the sale of encumbered estates. A more gentle gale is wafting
me to Cambridge as Professor of Modern History. Pray come to see me
there. Papist, Jesuit, bigot as you are, we will not fear yoar presence in our
Protestant University. At least a man so far gone as I am in toleration,
will not only endure but hail your presence, and I will make you known to
some few people there as well disposed as myself to sympathize with a
fellow-christian, notwithstanding some diversities of creed, and to hope for
a meeting in a better state, in which our errors of judgment may be corrected
and pardoned, and our natural kindness ripened and purified from the dross
that adheres to it in our best estate in this hfe.
My amanuensis greets you well,
Ever yours,
James Stephens.
(From Lord Cloncurry).
Maritime, 4th Nov. 1849.
My dear Sir, — I was made happy by hearing of your recovery ; we cannot
afford to lose more good men, and a better than you our friend William
Murphy has not left after him.
t>n. R. R. MADDEN. 207
In looking over my poor book, you will observe that there are scant
authorities or correspondence in the early part of my eventful life. A little
rieflection will explain the cause. My voluminous papers were seized in
1798, and again in '90, and a third ransacking took place at Lyons in 1803,
by my magisterial tenant Clinch whilst I was in Italy. In this latter robbery
was an interesting correspondence with Lord Hardwicke and Mr Kirnan.
The most interesting State papers (Lord Anglesey's letters) were reviewed
by himself. I obtained his unwilhng permission to publish them.
They show his lionesty, his talent, and his desire to save Ireland, to do
which he was, I think, more fit than any other living man. If Ireland could
be saved it would have been by him.
Very faithfully yours,
Cloncurky.
R. E. Madden.
(From W. S. O'Brien).
11, WeatlandRow,
February 4th, 1846.
Dear Sir, — Allow me to thank you very sincerely for your kind present.
I shall value it not alone on account of its Uterary merits, which are of a
high order, but also as a memorial of the sentiments entertained towards
me by its author.
Trusting that you will find health and happiness in the climes in which
you now sojourn, and that you will live to return to an emancipated country,
and long be a witness of its advancement in regard of everything which can
bring dignity and prosperity to a powerful kingdom,
I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully,
WxLLLiAM S. O'Brien.
R. R. Madden.
P.S. — I hope that you will publish the lines to Emmet.
(From Sir James Stephens).
26th March 1850.
My dear Dr. Madden, — Your note has just reached me here — that is, at
No. 5,^Alfred-place, Broniptoii, where I have come to get my lectures copied.
I tear off a piece of the paper destined to that service (having no other by
me) to tell you how very happy your note has made me and my wife, who has
just looked in on my sohtary lodging here. It is indeed so very pleasant an
occurrence that I don't know how to set about disavowing the share in it
which you have the kindness to ascribe to me. However, may God bless
you (iud yours in your quiet harbour after so many storms. I shall certainly
208 MEMOIRS
take you at your word the very first day I can, and claim the dinner and the
bad which you so hospitably promised.
Alas, for the poor Church of England. I think the Bishops should all
wear their wigs inverted, so as to make veils of them. They sorely stand in
need of some such shelter. Would you believe it that my good friends at
Cambridge have actually taken this moment for preferring a kind of indict-
ment, which, however, I hear has been sent back by the authorities there
with " no true bill " upon it. Macaulay bids me laugh at the whole thing,
and says that everybody else is laughing at it.
Farewell, my dear Doctor Madden. We are travelling different roads
under different guides. May it be to the same home, and then wo shall
understand these mysteries better.
Ever yom-s,
James Stephens.
E. R. Madden.
P.S. — Our cordial congratulations and greetings to Mrs. Madden,
(From Sir Moaes Montefiore).
East CHff Lodge, Ramsgate,
17th April 1876.
My dear Dr. Madden, — I was truly delighted with your very kind letter.
It made me remember all the happy days I and my beloved and much
lamented wife spent in your company, in lands which I think will no more
be called the barbarous " East," for as far as luxury and European fashion
they surpass England and France. 1 cheerfully agree to what your biographer
said about your indefatigable industry and high literary aptitude. You
surely have given us works of intense national interest, and posterity will
remember your name in honour and respect ; but I do not approve of other
remarks which he introduces in reference to your opinions on historical
philosophy.
I often think of you when reading Lady Montefiore's Journal, and will be
delighted to see you and Mrs. Madden, also your son, whenever you happen
to come to Park Lane or East Cliff. I was much pleased with your portrait.
You look twenty years younger than when last I had the pleasure of seeing
you. I wish you had been with me at Jerusalem ; you would have noticed a
wonderful change. There is now a new Jerusalem outside the city walls.
Believing you would like to know something about my movements in the
Holy Land, I send you the accompanying " Narrative; " and with sincere
wishes that you may continue in full enjoyment of health and comfort, and
surrounded by your dear wife and family, for many years yet to come,
I remain, my dear Dr. Madden,
Yours sincerely,
Moses Montefiore.
With regard to my own state of health, I regret to say that I have been
confined to my chamber the whole winter, but feel now, thauk God, much
better.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 209
(From the Eight Hon. W. E. Gladstone).
Abbeyleix Lodge, Ireland,
November 9th, 1877.
Dear Dr. Madden, — I take it as a great kindness on your part to recall
yourself to my remembrance, and I accept with thaukfuluess your pious,
good wishes. It is a great comfort to reilect that in all the intercessions
which human beings may offer up for one another they never can effect
anything but what is good.
♦ «*•**♦
I hope also that you Imve not reason to feel too widely severed from me by
my opinions concerning your Church. I should have trusted that there is
little of what I have written, except as to persons individually and in certain
cases, which would have struck at anything which you individually believed
and cherished. I do not forget that I am writing to the biographer of Savo-
narola. Probably you will not be surprised at my saying that I believe to exist
amongst you an old school I could never liave cared to lift my feeble hands
against in the arena of controversy. I even think that is known and felt by
many. There is a bishop of the Latin Church, one not imknown to fame,
who has within the last three years honoured me greatly beyond my deserts
with his warm friendship. All tliis I have been tempted to write because
that which commands my interest is the union, itot the separation, of those
who believe. It is time to cease.
Believe me,
Faithfully yours,
W. E. Gl.U)Stone.
R. R. M.vDDEN, Esq., M.D.
Dublin Castle, Apiil 12th, 1871.
My dear Madden,— Have you at hand Croker's Ireland, Past and Present?
I want so much to refer to it. . , . Is there any authentic history of
the Whiteboys ? and where can one find old Irish trials.
Yours ever,
J. Bernard Burke.
3, Veruon Terrace, Booterstown,
13th April 1871.
Dear Sir Bernard, — I need hardly tell you there is no tract or trial in my
possession that is not at your service. But for the use or service of the
man, James Anthony Froude, the eulogist of the monster Henry YIII., the
champion of his hard-hearted daughter. Queen Ehzabeth, the reckless
defamer of the unfortunate Queen Mary of Scotland, the very recent pro-
claimer of the inexpediency of any measures of concilintion in favour of
Catholic Ireland, — I have no tracts, trials, or informatiou»
15
210 MEMOIRS
I have never read any historical works of a man so perverted in mind, so
utterly regardless of truth in dealing with historic facts, as the author of
the History of England, from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth,
in ten volumes. I look upon him as so unscrupulous, an opponent
of all that is worthy of praise or pity in those who have suffered for it, that
I could not bring myself to aid or assist him in any of his pursuits. If I
am wrong in my supposition that the tracts, &c., in question, are for his
use, pray let me know, and pardon this explosion of very strong opinions of
dissent from this man's sentiments on all subjects.
Yours, dear Sir Bernard, ever faithfully,
E, R. Madden.
Dublin Castle, April 14th, 1871.
My dear Madden, — I honour and respect your motives. You are, and
have ever been an honest politician, a staunch patriot, and what I value
especially, a kind-hearted friend.
Yours sincerely,
J. B. Burke, Ulster.
(From Walter Savage Landor).
Bath, April 10th, 1855.
My dear Sir, — I have detained your papers to read them carefully. Do
not believe me an enemy to any man for his religion. My earliest friends
and neighbours were Roman Catholics.
* ** • * * SH * »
Your valuable life of Savonarola was a matter of deep interest to me. It
ought to have been so. Savonarola and Dante are the two Italians I vene-
rate the most, although I would rather have lived with B than with
either. I had formerly an original picture of Savonarola, which I gave away
more than forty years ago. I stil .possess the portrait of his friend, the
Prior of St. Mark's, formerly belonging to my old friend Bishop B .
It is also by Fra. Bartolemeo.
Believe me, dear Sii', yours very cordially,
Waltee Savage Landor.
Recollections of P. V. Fitzpatrick (the intimate friend of O'Connell) on
Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage with the Prince Regent.
Eccles-street, 3rd April.
My dear Madden,— . . , Major Nugent, of the Irish Brigade in the
French service, stated in presence of my sister and myself that he played
whist with the priest that married the Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert,
I)R. R. R, MADDEN. 211
on the evening of the marriage. Our recollection is that the event took
place at the Hague, and that Abbe Campbell, a well-known clergyman of
that day, was the celebrant. Miss Fitzpatrick tells me that Mr. Errington,
of Kingstown, knows the facts and the persons accurately. She thinks
that Mr. Errington contradicted our notion as to the Abbe being the man.
Miss Fitzpatrick will try to get you the information through a mutual
friend, if possible, to-morrow. Even that will be too late for your purpose
so we must await your third edition, which, from the run your book has had
already, will be speedily called for, according, at least, to the opinion and
wish of
Yours always most truly,
P. V. FiTZPATjaCK,
(From Lord Howard de Walden, British Ambassador to Belgium).
Bruasells, March 26th, 1852.
My dear Dr. Madden, — I have to-day received a copy of your work on
the Sbriiies and Sepulchres, which I accept and value as a token of our
past relations, and of remembrance of the days we passed in Lisbon, and
those sentiments of regard and esteem which I have ever since entertained
towards you. I had already had the work from one of my sons, and havo
read it. You certainly have contrived to bring together an astonishing
mftss of curious and instructive details, and to throw them together in a
way to be read with great interest ; and I am pleased to notice that you had
brought in so well what I had seen in Portugal having reference to that
country. It made me younger by some years while I was going through
this part. I shall be indeed very glad to meet you again, and trust to do so
if you go to Loudon this autumn, as I expect to be there then.
Believe me, ever yours most sincerely,
Howard de Waldbn.
(From F. Prendorgast to Dr. Maunsell, editor of the Dublin Evening Mail).
Dear Maunsell, — In the enclosed, a speech of Robert Holmes, which you
have heard me say ought to be preserved, with other relics of the same
class, ])y Dr. Madden, is alluded to.
If Dr. Madden should publish another volume, I do think that Holmes
might well make a chapter in it ; but at any rate the speech in question, for
its eloquence and force, if not for merit, ought to be recorded somewhere.
His daughter's stanzas, " 0 Weep not for the Dead," are better poetry than
all the Poet Laureates, and I am sure that many, like myself, must have
been gratified to meet them in Dr. Madden's work.
It is curious to trace the Republican Robert Holmes's money purchasing
a coronet for his granddaughter, I^ady Doneraile ; but as her uncle, Emmet,
the Irish rebel, was only three removes from a Cromwellian Tipperary
settler, who can say whether this old man's red hot ire may not be trans-
mitted even to his noble descendants, when they turn their eyes to his fiery
15 •
212 MEMOIRS
periods and hie daughter's pathetic lines, and whether they too may not feel
that they are Hibernian born and hereditarily pledged to the cause of country,
to use Holmes's expression. But you have not time to attend to such
musings.
Yours truly,
Francis Prendergast.
(From Sir James Stephens, on the Crimean War).
Wcstbourne Terrace, London,
22nd July 1854. -
My dear Dr. Madden, — I am inclined to think that Milesian was never
worse used by Saxon than you by me, and that, you know, is saying a good
deal. In deep humility and repentance, then, I plead guilty to the offences
of having detained your books unreasonably long, and of having left your
inquiry unanswered.
I much doubt whether the danger which has evoked, and what is supposed
to justify, the war, was a danger of much magnitude or urgency, and I
abhor this bloodshedding as much as yourself. I suspect that the Czar
Nicholas might prove a far less troublesome neighbour than Louis Napoleon.
He has at this moment Rome, Athens, Constantinople, and Jerusalem in
his grasp, and will scarcely let them go when the war is over. But one is
hurried on with the current of events, like a moth feeding on the lining of a
railway carriage on an express train, and as little able to arrest them.
Meanwhile, both you and I have, by God's mercy, the direction of our pens.
Mine is engaged in illustrating ecclesiastical biography from the history of
France, for the edification of my pupils. Yours might be most profitably
employed in a selection from the of well authenticated brief narra-
tives. Nothing could be made more interesting, as nothing is less generally
known. The old writers were too often destitute of historical accuracy.
The modern writers are controversial, and provoke their readers to quarrel
instead of winning them to read, and to be wiser. Your own Savonarola is
admirable, but rather a history than a biography, and nobody, as far as I
know, has ever found out the art of combining together the merits of
the two styles. I suspect that such a combination is impossible. Then
comes in the way that hateful spirit of discord which would prevent the
acceptance of a Roman Catholic biogi-aphical history if Bossuet himself
were living amongst us to write it. But a mere failure .... written
on the hj^pothesis (the very unfounded hypothesis, it is true), that your
readers could supply the history for themselves, ought to draw tears from
the eyes of those who read it, bring blushes to their cheeks, and make them
throw out their hands to shake hands with the biographer. The newspapers
say that you are to have H. Newman among you as head of your new college
— an excellent choice if learning, ability, vigour of mind, and exquisite
power of language were the only essential qualifications.
How I should rejoice to see you again.
Yours always most truly,
James Stephens.
DR. R. R MADDEN. 213
(From Thomas Davis, on Dr. iM adden's work, The Connexion of Ireland
xcith the Croivn of England).
31st March.
My dear Madden, — Among the essays was one which, from the informa-
tion in it, and from its appendix, I knew must be yours. The judges were
unanimous in thinking tlie style amongst the best ; we also felt that publica-
tion of the appendix would be important, and the whole work would be
most interesting. I have been requested by the General Committee to write
to the author of the essay to know if he contemplated publishing it — can
you answer my question ? If published, they would recommend the purchase
of a large number of copies for the Association. As to other matters you
know enough from the papers without my aid. Suffice it that education is
increasing in countless ways, the literary conservatives becoming quite
national. The bigotry excited by the Bequests Bill has ceased ; there is
more cordiality in our own councils than at any time these two years. Of
course there are great difficulties and dangers even in this our legal effort
for local institutions— but we are men.
Ever yours most sincerely,
T. Davis.
(From Dr. Petrie, the Irish Antiquarian).
Dublin, aOth March 1865.
My dear Dr. Madden,— The poem you allude to, and which I also consider
ns one of great beauty, was written for me by one of my oldest and dearest
friends, — a friend of sixty years standing, whom I have venerated for his
varied acquirements, and loved for his virtues. He is the Eev. .J. Wills,
brother of the Wills of Willsbrook, in the county of Roscommon, and is at
present Rector of a parish in the county of Wicklow. You will find many
other short poems of his in the same volume with the Irish music. I think
they are all more or less beautiful ; but there is one of them to which I par-
ticularly wish to draw your attention. It will be found at p. Ii50. This
article, both prose and poem, — O'Connellan^s Harp — is Dr. Wills' ; the
prose prefixed to Irish Music a hasty scribble of mine. The Ode to
the Minstrely O'Connellan, in the same article, which is wholly Wills',
may be considered as a companion to that other one, Irish Music, and in
my humble opinion, it is a worthy companion to it. Wills has written much,
and well ; yet he is little known to the public as a writer, and this chiefly, if
not wholly, by his Lives of Illustrious Irishmen.
One of his poems had this amount of success : it put £500 into the pocket
of Maturin, when that unfortunate man of genius was hard up, but not
a single farthing into the pocket of its author. The poem was entitled
The Universe a rather extensive subject. You will find extracts in the
Dublin journals.
With kind regards to Mrs. Madden,
I remain, my dear Dr. Madden, yours most faithfully,
George Petrie.
214 MEMOIKS
(From John O'Donovan, the Celtic scholar).
February 27th, 1856.
My dear Friend, — I do not feel well enough to venture out under the night
air this evening. Our friend Daniel MacCarthy lodges at Garville, Rathgar.
I have not heard from him for some days ; fear that he is not well, and
would feel very much obliged if you could make time to see him and give
your opinion on the state of his health. He is a very worthy gentleman,
who has the heart in the right place.
Our neighbours, the prophets, seem to think that I am
the critic who condemned their work. The Protestant followers of St.
Columba will attack them more efficiently than any papist, for it does not
require any great skill in prophetic lore to see through the very silly charac-
ter of their works.
JMy cough is getting worse and worse every year, and I am now beginning
to think that it will carry me off to my native home before I reach the age
of half a century. If I live to finish the Brehon Laxos I ought to be satisfied ;
but I feel all the frigidity of old age and its concomitant indifference to
what heretofore delighted me, gradually stealing upon me, so that I fear
that a few short half years more will see me in Glasnevin.
Hoping that your son is doing well, and wishing you all many years of
happiness,
I remain, my very good friend, yours ever sincerely,
John O'Donovan.
(From Henry Grattan, junr.)
Rue Haute Plante, No. 8, Tau, France,
Saturday, 26th, 1859.
My dear Sir, — Many thanks for your letter. I am sure that a subscrip-
tion can be set on foot for any relation of Curran. The publication by Ross
of the Cornwallis papers was ill-judged, ill-timed, and will do much mischief.
There are parts, I think, that may be answered. I do not mean with any
reference to the Freeman's Journal, but with regard to the debates on the
reply of Lord Castlereagh. If there is spirit in the Irish they would not
sleep over such a tissue of infamy and audacity. Surely if the Barons who
obtained the great Charter are to be held in everlasting remembrance, tbose
men who destroyed it should be held in everlasting execration. Bad deeds
should be equally detested. The pubhcation of Ross' work must produce in
Ireland deserved retaliation — " semper ego auditor tantum." At the same
lime, I fear the dormant spirit in Ireland is too easily roused, and so com-
pletely ineffectual that it will be in vain to expect from it any national per-
manent utility ; but although injuries may be atoned for, insults admit of
no compensation.
I think every search should be made to ascertain who betrayed Lord
Edward : it will serve to show that even the leaders most looked up to and
most prized are not safe. How, then, can those below hope to escape? and
this may further deter men now from joining- a tissue of folly will not aid
their country.
DR. E. R. MM>DEN. 216
I have to return you many thanks for your suggestions as to Malaga, but
I think the cHmate of Pau suits my invalid, and I trust I shall return with
her in a better state of health than when she left Ireland.
I renain, dear Sir, yours very truly,
Henry Grattan.
(From Thomas O'Hagan).
Eutland-square, 10th June 1870.
My dear Madden, — Many thanks for your most kind letters. It is pleasant
indeed to hear good news from a friend so honoured and so true
Always yours,
Thomas O'Hagan.
(From John P. Prendergast).
September 2-2nd, 1864.
My dear Sir,— Many thanks for your lines, which are very good, and
stinging towards the conclusion.
There will be bad work yet out of all this, I fear. The Orangemen have
been so long above the law that I do not tliink they will submit to be dis-
armed, and if they are not disarmed, and if the " Irish" are not allowed to
be armed, nothing is done.
I thought I had given the place of deposit of the Commonwealth orders
about the Waterford Printing Press. The books of the Council for the
Affairs of Ireland, from which they are quoted, are in the Record Tower,
Dublin Castle, in IMS. You will find in Harris' Ilibernica, the preface to the
third part of which consists of two treatises concerning the power of the
Parliament of England to make laws for Ireland, that the case of Tenures,
which contains the argument of Patrick Darcy in 1637 against Strafford's
proceedings, was printed at Waterford by Thomas B .Printer to the
Confederate Catholics of Ireland, in 164:3; 4to. Preface p. I in it.
Cromwell's celebrated answer to the Clonmacnoise Manifesto of the Irish
Bishops and clergy was printed at Cork in 1643, and re-printed in London,
March 21st, 1643-50. We have the Cork edition.
Yours most truly,
John P. Prendergast.
(Letter from the Dowager Marchioness of Normanby to R, R. Madden,
25th August 1863, in vindication of the memory of the late Marquis).
Hamilton Lodge, 0 Kensington Green,
25th August 1863.
Lady Normanby presents her compliments to Dr. Madden. The letter
he addressed to her son was forwarded to her. She opened it, think-
ing it might have been meant for her dear and lamented husband. Her son
216 MEMOIRS
has not yet returned to England, and therefore Lady Normanby hopes Dr.
Madden will excuse her writing to thank him for the kind and true estimate
he formed of Lord Normanby's character and principles, which he main-
tained and expressed to the last day of his life. Lady Normanby knows the
value Lord Normanby always set on Dr. Madden's opinion, which makes
this testimony the more grateful to her, and she must again beg Dr. Madden
to excuse this letter and accept her heartfelt thanks.*
" I have an intimate knowledge of the intentions and views of Lord
Mulgrave when he entered on the office of Viceroy of Ireland. They were
to these ends : ' To deal with Ireland as if it was an English county — fairly
and impartially ; to know of no anomalies in itM condition that necessitated
one rule of right and one line of policy when dealing with its people, and
another when legislating for or ruling over the people of England; to
administer the laws in a spirit of equal justice over all the King of England's
subjects in Ireland ; to make the magistracy respected, to keep it respectable,
and with this view, to remove from it all persons unfit for the bench — men
of bad repute, of extreme opinions, of violent courses, zealots, and parti-
sans of factions who traded in politics or polemics ; to make no distinction
between candidates for offices under Government on account or pretence of
religion ; to discountenance the practice of packing juries and perverting
the administration of justice for any purpose whatsoever ; in fine, to carry on
the government of Ireland so as to render English rule reverenced and
loved, and not feared only in Ireland.' "*
Extract from a letter of the Marquis of Normanby, of the 10th
June 1863, to Dr. ]\1.)
"In your statement of my views of the principles on which the govern-
ment of Ireland should be administered, and was administered by me, I see
not one word to alter ; and at th* expiration now of twenty-eight years, I
can see no reason to wish one word unsaid of what was then professed to
be right principles of government. Can all the surviving members of Lord
Melbourne's administration say so much now ? "
(Letter from His Grace the [late Primate of Armagh, the Moat Rev. Dr.
Dixon, to R. E. Madden, on the death of the Marquis of Normanby).
Armagh, August 26th, 1863.
Dear Sir,— I regret that my absence from Armagh has occasioned delay
in answering your letter of the 22nd inst. As regards the subject of which
you call my attention, I am persuaded that it would be very difficult to ex-
aggerate the claims of the late Marquis of Normanby on the gratitude of
* The views of the Marquis of Normanby, with whom Dr. Madden was intimately
acquainted, on the Government of Ireland, are thus referred to in the latter's work on
QallUo and the Inquisition, aa stated to the author l)y that nobleman on entering on the
duties of Viceroy of this country in 1835.
DR. n. R, MADDKN.
217
the people of this country. I remember well how, during the period of his
office here as Viceroy, those who were the best exponents of the true senti-
ments of the Irish people, were the admiration of the able and impartial manner
in which he administered the high trust confided to him— the good example
which he left for those who will come after him, have inscribed his name on
the record of the illustrious benefactors of this country. His recall from
Ireland was justly considered at the time a national calamity. 13utoiir
Catholic people rejoiced in latter years to know that the illustrious noble-
man having brought with him to Italy admirable qualities of head and
heart for which he was admired and loved in Ireland, was enabled to see
through the low hypocrisy as well as the unblushing villany that have
triumphed in that unhappy land, and was not afraid to declare himself on
all occasions the uncompromising enemy of a state of things brought about
bv such vile agencies. , , • i.
For my own part, the news of his death was to me the source of smcerest
sorrow, and I am sure I may say the same for my brethren m the Irish
I remain, dear Sir, your very faithful servant,
^ Joseph Dixon.
R. R. Madden, Esq.
(From Lady Wilde).
My dear Sir,— I have received your two beautiful volumes with the greatest
pleasure and gratitude, and it was kind of you to mention me in such
flattering terms for the very shght service I was fortunate to render yo^i- ^
is indeed a high honour for mo to be connected in any way with so valuable
an addition to our literature. The work seems full of interest. Of course,
as yet, I have only made that delightful impatient rush over its contents
which a new book of such an order is sure to excite ; but I can see that it
is full of romantic as well as heroic interest. I also came upon some verses
admirably rendered by yourself. You have done well to give all the originals,
they are among the sweetest verses I have ever read in the Italian, like what
Carlo Dolce is to painting. I must admire, too. the form in which the work
is brought out, for I like a pleasing exterior even in a book, and everything
about yours makes it quite tempting to open. I anticipate the greatest
pleasure from the perusal ; perhaps it will light up some of the old heroic
fire in my heart, dead now for many a day. You have chosen a noble hero
to build an altar to, and I am sure you have put your hand to the work with
true sympathy and love.
Farewell, my kind, too flattering friend.
Ever with esteem and gratitude, yours,
Jane Francesca Wilde.
My kind regards to Mrs. Madden.
(From Sir John D. Acton, Bart.)
Aldeuham Park, Bridgenorth.
My dear Sir,— Allow me to thank you for yaur note and its enclosure.
Wo ought to work well together, for I am suffering from the same malady.
I have collected nearly three thousand volumes on Italian history. I do
218 MEMOIRS
not think the principles you lay down for the treatment of modern history
can in any way clash with my own. One should always have before one's
eyes a vision of a . . . . examining one's use of authorities, and ready
to expose whatever is not straightforward.
We must not forget a very different tribunal, where every written and
spoken word will be judged.
I remain, dear Sir, yours truly,
J. D. Acton.
(From Denis Florence M'Carthy).
Summerfield, Friday, December 3rd, 1803.
My dear Madden, — This Oriental flight is too much for me. Let me, in
plain Western prose, say how sorry I am to hear of your cold. I trust,
however, it may be better by Sunday, and that you may be able to come to
us after all. I am myself nearly in the condition you describe. O'Hagan
will be disappointed at not meeting you, as I ventured to almost promise
that you would be with us. Thanks for your Knights.
Ever yours,
Denis Florence M'Carthy.
(From Sir Bernard Burke).
Dublin Castle, November 19th, 1870.
My dear Madden, — You are always my kind friend, and always ready with
information. Could you some spare moment put on paper for me a list of
such printed books as would assist in the compilation of a history of
Ireland under the Penal Laws ?
I intend this next month to present you with a copy of my Peerage and
Baronetage, which will, I fancy, be acceptable. It is quite a re-modelled
edition.
Yours ever,
J. Bernard Burke (Ulster).
(From the Kev. Dr. Miley).
Metropolitan Church, Dublin,
February 7th, 1844,
My dear Dr. Madden,— I should be, in common with all true hearted
Irishmen, deeply indebted to you for your letter. It was of the greatest
service, and was spoken of by everyone that I heard mention it in terms of
praise. ^ . . . Depend upon it, our agitation has made itself felt in
more quarters than one. There has been some, and not a little, display and
prompt energy in following up the word by the blow.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 219
You will be surprised that on the subject of Maynooth I hesitate to
agree with jou. Are you aware that Ihe project formed by . ...
relative to an establishment for ecclesiastical education, was of a nature cal-
culated to ruin religion? that the interference of the then Government was
obviously providential though anything but Avell intended, and left the insti-
tution perfectly free from anything like undue interference.
We were much alarmed about your illness, but now I trust all danger and
apprehension is long past. I forgot to ask how Mrs. Madden and the young
aspirant after martial glory are. Remember me to Mrs. Madden in the
kindest manner, and to Forde when you see him next ; but say to Sir
Thomas I had rather see him encounter the same risks his great namesake
did, either in the career of the law or the gospel.
I am, dear Dr. Madden, ever faithfully yours,
T. MiLEY.
(From William B. M'Cabe).
29, Upper Belgrave-place, London,
December 18th, 1847.
My dear Doctor, — I never felt more pleased in my life than on receiving
your most welcome letter this morning, for I can truly say I have never felt
a strong gale of wind blowing upon me that I did not think of you, poor
dear Mrs. Madden, and the boy, and hoping that you were well and safe, and
out of reach of it, or if not, tumbling in thought with you on the rough sea,
and shrinking with you in the cold cabin, which must be dark and gloomy
enough, and wishing I had you all back again, and listening to Tom's
laugh, and looking at Mrs. Madden's quiet gentle smile, and joining with
you in railing against a wicked, nasty, scheming, plotting, insincere world.
Doctor, we are not relatives, but excepting Forde and your sister, I doubt if
you have one relation in the world who has thought of you and yours so
much since we parted as myself. You must know that, until we see each
other again, I have laid down a rule that every Sunday after dinner your
healths are to be drunk here. I will propose them, others drink them ; and
this I do in order that you may say, as each Sunday comes round, " Well,
though M'Cabe thinks much of me, I am sure, this is a day I am positive
he is talking of me to others ; " and then Upper Belgrave-place will rise to
your mind, and we shall be in spirit together.
You will find by The News of the World of this day that I have referred
to you — that I make you plead to save our unfortunate country from the spy
system, the re-organization of which has commenced, and for
which I gave him the benefit again of his letter to the Rev. Mr. H , of
Roscrea.
Your book makes a very pretty volume, and a copy or copies have been
sent to the Portsmouth agents by Richardson, Need J tell you how proud
[ am of the dedication to myself. When the proof was sent to me I took
care that I should not be mistaken for my fetch. I am working as hard to
have the book noticed as if it were my own. I hope before you go you may
be able to receive the Dublin Revieiv with my article on it. The Revieio for
the April number is already in the hands of Richardson.
220
MEMOIRS
As to myself, I have nothing to do with the
has got an interest in it. He is a convert, and one of those who, in
assuming the dove-like simplicity of our faith, has carried into it the wisdom
of the serpent, to be found in the creed he abandoned. It is very probable
that this affair will for the remainder of my life put me out of Catholic
politics. It must be not merely a tempting offer that can possibly induce me
again to touch them. . . .
The Irish Catholic Magazine is placed in the handsof Professor Kelly
and Dr. Croke of Maynooth. Duffy has asked me to write for it. If I do,
it will be a series of papers entitled " The recollections of an Irish Parlia-
mentary Reporter", — in fact, a sort of autobiographer. Duffy tells me my
book is selling Avell in Dublin. . . .
And now, my dear Doctor, with the assurance that all here are well, you
have all the news. A thousand loves from all to yourself, to Mrs. Madden,
and Thomasino.
Ever your devoted friend,
William B. M'Cabe.
(From Dr. WilUam Beattie).
Rose Villa, Hampstead,
November 15th, 1844.
My dear Madden, — Two months absence from home, and a rather severe
attack of illness, has greatly interrupted my correspondence ; but indeed it
was not until I received a note from you awaiting my return that I could
obtain the least clue to your address, shortly before the death of Campbell
I wrote to Avho promised to procure the information for me, but being sud-
denly called to Boulogne, I heard nothing more of it. On the death of the
poet I felt exceedingly anxious to communicate with you. I wrote to my
young friend at Versailles from Boulogne, but great delay having been caused
by some error in my address, I did not receive his reply until my return
liome, where a mountain of letters and papers awaited me, and I take the
earliest opportunity of giving you this frank explanation of my negligence.
You may imagine how much I have missed your friendly service and sympa-
thy under the painful duties that have lately fallen to my lot. I was with
Campbell during the last days and nights of his earthly pilgrimage. Never can
it be eradicated from my mind what I heard and saw during that momentous
period. Yours was among the last names that caught his attention. In
looking over his payers I find allusions to you, and correspondence contain-
ing your criticisms upon some poems of his. I would like to publish his
memoirs. I have no doubt you would find honourable mention of yourself
in them. You can hardly imagine his gratitude on seeing me unexpectedly
at Boulogne ; strange as itmay appear, I bad no intimation from the attendant
physician of the precarious state in which the poet then lay. I know you
loved the poet, and that this was mutual. I send you a memorial presented
only to the personal friends of the Bard. It is a true picture, and you will
not read it without emotion.
Ever, believe me, most truly yours,
W. Beattie.
tm. R. R. MADDEN. 221
13, Upper Berkley-street.
My ever dear Friend, — How can I sufficiently thank you for your kind
letter. It came at the right time, and acted as a powerful restorative to me
without one drop of bitter flavour, and from what you advise, it is very clear
our thoughts had been running m the same channel. We find our sage
iipprebensions were pure imaginations. Such is life, I quite agree with you
in all you say regarding our duties and our doings, and the contrast they
present in the lives of the best men. But henceforth nothing seems to ob-
struct my vision, — I will try to look through it, to the sunshine. The very
shadows are a proof of sunshine, and the brighter the sun the darker the
shade. Painters and poets know this. So in the moral world. But here I
finish, as I may get beyond my depth. I leave the subject in better hands
— i.e., in yours. I wish indeed I could visit Dublin this autumn and intlict
my tediousness on you for a whole month. Under such ciroumstances you
might expect to find that your days and evenings were more than usually
lengthened. I am thankful to say that after a dangerous illness my good
sister is out again, though 1 much fear she will never entirely recover her
strength, but even this is more than we at the time expected. It was a long
and anxious time — nearly four months. But now I must turn to the business
matters of the day more abruptly than I intended to have done, but there is
no help for it.
With best wishes to Mrs. Madden,
Ever, believe me, most trtJy yours,
AV, Beattie,
Christmas Day, 1870,
3, Vernon Terrace, Booterstown.
My dear Beattie, — The Day of Gladness all over the Christian world must
not pass without a few lines to my dear friend, wishing all manner of God's
blessings, good things, spiritual and temporal, and glad tidings. Of me and
mine I have none other to give, Deo Gratias, but what are good. I did indeed
hear long before I wrote to you, sending those lines which poorly expressed
my sentiments as to the only true source of consolation in afflictions of all
kinds, of this heavy loss you met with in that unfortunate company, but I
could not bring myself to write about it. But I knew you understand the
motive I had in view in addressing those lines to you. . . .
I did not forget that I had seen a copy of Thomas a Kempis' great book
with you, and that you wanted to make a present of it to me, and that I de-
clined to accept it : but I did not tell you the reason why I declined to take
it. 1 will, however, now tell you ; and along with this disclosure, which I
never intended to make, I will add another, which I promise you I will never
more refer to. I refused your Imitation of Christ because the idea came
into my head that, some day or other, perhaps this book may be the means
of bringing Beattie to the faith of the author of that book, and from that time
I think it was. That a Sunday never came that I assisted at the Holy Sacri-
fice of the Mans, which a Kempis so glorified in the privilege of celebrating,
that I did not ofiTer up a prayer that God in His mercy might give you the
grace of coming into communion with the Eoman Cathohc Church. You
will not be angry with me for doing this ; but even if you were so, it would
make no difierence, my dear Beattie, with me. I would, and will as long as
needs be, continue so to do ; and yet I have a feeling the need will not exist
a long time, Deo volente*
222 MEMOIKS
I referred above to d Kempis glorjdng in the privilege of celebrating
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here are the words, which I have not
time to copy, but send you in print, from the 12th chapter of the 4th
Book, beginning — " Great is tlie mystery, and great is the dignity of priests,
is given that which to angels is not granted."
*********
So much for the tenets on two fundamental doctrines of that old Tbomas
a Kemijis, with whose rehgion, you tell me, you have been long acquainted,
and with which, God grant, you will soon be entirely identified.
In all sincerity, my dear Beattie, ever yours,
Richard Robebt Madden.
To Dr. W. Beattie.
(From R. R. Madden to William Smith O'Brien, Esq., M.P.)
Lisbon 8th May 1846.
My dear Sir, — Your strenuous efforts against the detestable Coercion
Bill I most earnestly pray may be successful. Should they prove other-
wise, the Repeal Association will have to make an onward movement. It
has not yet exhausted its peaceful powers of resistance of tyranny, mani-
fest as the late Government measure is, for such must be considered this
last signal violation of constitutional liberty. If the Association declined
to advance, and Umited its opposition to that tyranny to such measures
as have hitherto been put in operation by it, then the Association will
lose the confidence of the people, and it will not be in your power or in
that of any public man to recover it. I do not point to any means of
redress which imply or necessitate unconstitutional action, violence, or
physical force, Avhich I utterly disapprove of as essentially wrong, and
every recourse to which on former occasions has proved so disastrous to
our country. There are other and better means of resistance to tyranny
even in more desperate circumstances than the present. Circum-
stances may arise in every country when rent and taxes, the use of foreign
manufactures, and the consumption of exciseable articles, may become
subjects of all engrossing consideration, and public virtue and persistent
l^atience and enduring resolution may become great themes of speculation.
Tyranny in its worst forms can be passively and effectually resisted where
there is virtue in the people and resolute integrity in its leaders. If
Ireland be now bereft of that small share of constitutional rights which
belong to her, your Association, though unnamed in the odious Act in
question, will be sliorn of its strength — its orj^ar.ization in the country
will be at an end — it will drag on a sickly existence for some months,
and then will fall to the ground like the Volunteer movement after the
Convention Act, and leave nothing behind but a memory of great things
expected of it and left undone.
I am, my dear sir, yours ever faithfully,
R. R. Madden.
DR. H. R. MADDEN.
CHAPTER XXIX.
AFPOIN'iED COLONIAL SECRETARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN 1847.
To resume the course of this memoir, in November 1847, Dr.
and Mrs. Madden, with their younger son, embarked for Western
AustraUa at Southampton. Nevertheless, the voyage did not com-
mence until nearly a month later, whilst from stress of weather
the ship lay off the Isle of Wight.
(Lines written oft' Ryde, 21st December 1847).
Hiding in the roads oft' Ryde we He,
And you lie, too, if you deny
'Tis pleasanter by far to ride on land,
To roll in the 'bus along the Strand,
Or any other kind of coach, except a hearse,
To which most people are very much averse
To ride inside, in a horizontal way,
To Kensall Green, however fine the day.
I love to roll o'er the rattling stones
In a hansom cab that shakes one's bones ;
This is the rolhng " what " suits me.
And not this horrid rolling on the sea :
Eowley-powley all day long,
Pitch and toss, and then swing-swong ;
In cot or hammock all night thro',
Sick and sad and sleepless too.
B. R. M.
Some extracts from Dr. Madden's journal during this voyage
may perhaps serve to exemphfy the difference between the present
and former mode of connnunication with the Antipodes. —
" Embarked on board the Orient for Western Australia, at Cowes,
on Saturday, the 27th November 1847, (Captain Norris). Fifty
boys from Park hurst, under sentence of transportation, with con-
ditional pardons on arrival, came on board at Cowes singing "God
Save the Queen." When the Governor, Captain KeUs, came on
board, the influence of his admirable administration of the Peni-
tentiary Avas apparent in the affecting parting scenes between him
and the boys. Kemained on the northern bank off Ryde, Isle of
Wight, from the 20t]) Nov. to the 14th Dec. at anchor. Sailed
again on the 14th, and on the 17th put into Plymouth. There we
remained till the 21st, when finally we sailed, after being on board
25 days. On the 23rd, in the Chops of the Channel, we had a
224 MEMOIRS
violent gale. In the Bay of Biscay it increased and blew a perfect
tempest. The ship pitched tremendously ; some of our best sails
were spht, and on the following day the gale subsided. I omitted
to state the passage money for self, wife, and boy under nine, every-
thing included except wines — £150. December 30th, in the even-
ing, we were in sight of Madeira. In fact, in the course of a week,
from the depth of winter and most tempestuous weather, we were
launched into the temperature of summer, with cloudless skies,
gentle breezes and tropical seas. Here we are abreast of the most
southern of the Cape de Verdes this 6th of January, the seven-
teenth day from Plymouth. This is the shortest passage our
captain, an old East India commander, ever made. Our fifty con-
vict boys, all things considered, have behaved remarkably well.
There are some mere children among them, and several weU-
disposed looking boys. Yet all these lads have been convicted of grave
offences. The Superintendent opened their letters at Plymouth.
These letters were generally from their mothers. Some of them
brought tears to my eyes, wretchedly spelled and written as they
were. With one exception, they were such as a loving mother
might write to a beloved child in any misfortune. Not one unkind
word, but much excellent counsel, expressed in terms that spoke of
religion and its iniluences. There were many excuses for not send-
ing money or some little delicacies, and for not coming to take leave
of a dear child ; and poverty furnished all these apologies. How
those poor boys were moved by these letters. For my own part, I
rose from their perusal with saddened feelings, with stronger im-
pressions, if that were possible, of the depth and intensity of a
mother's love, and a more profound persuasion of the evils that are
entailed by poverty, and the crimes that society as it is constituted
is the parent of. These incentives to crime, of which we have the
fruits in the ill-reared and probably sorely tempted young criminals
on board the Orient, could only be warded off by early religious
training. This fact is, I beheve, incontrovertible, and not the less
so for being unpalatable to the new philosophers of the system
which is too often taught by the schoolmaster who is abroad
amongst us. . . .
"March 20th — Arrived at Freemantle, 89 days from Plymouth,
being the shortest voyage on record for a period of twelve years.
It has, however, been done in 82 days."
[Here Dr. Madden's journal ends, and the editor now merely
retains some distant recollection of their arrival in Australia at the
termination of that long voyage — the landing in a convict-manned
whale-boat on the surf-beaten shore at Freemantle, and the blind-
ing glare of the tropical sun as reflected from the white-washed
houses Avhich, thinly scattered along the desert-like sandy coast,
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 225
then constituted the embryo maritime capital of that since flourish-
ing country,]
In a letter to his old friend Sir James Stephens, written a few
weeks after his arrival at Perth, Dr. Madden refers to some of the
difficulties which he foresaw before him in his new position
there —
(Sir James Stephens, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies).
(Private).
Perth, Western AustraHa,
18th April 1848.
My dear Sir, — I hope, without violating any official rule, I may avail my-
self of the privilege of friendship, and inform you of my safe arrival hero
on the 20th of last month, after a voyage of eighty-nine days. I entered on
my duties as soon as possible, and count on being enabled to discharge
them elhciently, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, but aloft
occasionally, for that good help which enables a man to surmount all diffi-
culties and impediments. I will trouble you with no long statement of
those obstacles. This Government has been for some time as a kind of
patrimony or family property in the management of individuals here, who
undertake to manage public affairs so as to spare a new (Jovernor too much
trouble, and prevent his disturbing the dead repose in which it is the
interest of a few official parties to keep things. That regime, which has
depressed all interest and energies but those of five or six persons, it is now
sought to maintain. This I cannot acquiesce in; and hence I think right iu
the beginning you should know this much in order, in the event of any repre-
sentations heing made calculated to prejudice me, that my silence may not
be taken for acquiescence in the justice of them ; but that whenever you
think a defence on my part called for, you will be good enough to apprise
me of that necessity.
Very truly yours,
R. B. Madden.
During the earlier part of his stay in Western Australia, the office
of Governor being vacant, on Dr. Madden, as Acting-Governor, de-
volved the chief administrative responsibihties of the Swan River
settlement until shortly before his departure, by the arrival of Gover-
nor Fitzgerald ; he was subsequently reheved of a portion of them.
The duties of the acting. Governor and Colonial Secretary were then
of a very arduous character, being comphcated by the opposition of
the local authorities, to whom his humane and just policy towards
the hitherto ill-treated native population was distasteful, and by some
of whom it was warmly resented. The principles which directed Dr.
jVIadden in the performance of these duties, and the spirit in which
he strove to fullil these are evinced in the following fragment found
amongst his papers of that time, which though not mtended for
pubhcity, may well bear the hght.
16
226 MEMOIRS
"ENTERING ON A NEW CAREER."
" There are many things that might make a thoughtful man pen-
sive in the position I now find myself placed. A Colonial Secretary
of Western Australia, who is a Catholic, an Irishman, a Liberal
in politics, an official who has battled with abuses in other colonies,
and a bookish man into the bargain, w^ho has written works which
are distasteful to people who deem the Penal Laws salutary enact-
ments, and the past policy of England towards Ireland a good one,
is not likely to come into ofiice with much prestige or many prepos-
sessions in his favour to secure a fair stage for his intentions, or
fair play, perhaps, for his acts. But I feel very little apprehension,
though it is evident I will soon have many difficulties to meet, jealou-
sies to bear up against, and formidable interests opposed to me.
My trust is not in myseK, nor in any friends or partisans, for I have
none here. My entire confidence is in God. On entering on my
duties in this colony I commit myself to His Providence. I beseech
His goodness, that I may be enabled by His mercy to do what is
right and just. With His help I will endeavour to deal justly
with all persons ; to make no sacrifice of truth or principle to gain
the favour of any man, or to escape any censure, slander, or invec-
tive ; to do my duty to the Government, and so to employ all my
energies and faculties as to promote the interests of this colony ; to
protect the natives, and never to lose sight of the just claims they
have on us for protection, enlightenment, and compensation for
their lands and their labours. I pray to be so directed as never to turn
the opportunities of office to the account of my private interests ; nor
any power it gives me, to the detriment of others. Lastly, to bear in
mind that I am very liable to error, subject to many infirmities, and
that it behoves me to be watchful over myself, and very considerate
and charitable in deahng with others. Trusting in Thee, my
God, for all my guidance and all my help, I enter on the duties of
this new office without fear, presuming only on Thy sufficiency,
and my hope in Thee, which has never failed me !
''R. R. M."
At that time the Colonial Secretary had abundant occupa-
tion in directing and encouraging the exploration and develop-
ment of the resources of the vast and then little known territory
of Western Australia. In illustration of the changed condition
and wondrous development of this colony since the period alluded
to, it may here be interesting to refer to an official "Report pre-
sented to the Hon. R. R. Madden, Administering the Government
of Western AustraUa, by the Registrar- General (Mr. G. F. Stone),
Oct. 10th, 1848," from which we learn that the total population was
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 927
then only 4,666, and of these 1,960 belonged to the aboriginal na-
tive tribes. In this sparse population the predominence of male
over female inhabitants is not a little remarkable, the number of
the former being 2.818, whilst the latter only numbered 1,840.
The population of the capital of the colony, Perth, at this time
was but 1,148, and that of its seaport, Freemantle, 426 ;
whilst as to the religious profession of the settlers, it may be men-
tioned that 3,063 were Protestants, and 337 were Roman Catholics.
Whilst busily occupied with the duties of his appointment, and
with projects for the development and advancement of the colony, an
event occurred which led to Dr. Madden's retirement from the
office of Colonial Secretary of Western Australia. This was the
death, in his nineteenth year, of his eldest son, — William Forde
Madden, a young civil engineer of great promise, who had but re-
cently passed with distinction through the Polytecnique Engineer-
ing College in Paris, and who at the period of his untimely death was
engaged in his first professional employment under Mr. Mulvany,
C.E., on public works for the relief of distress then prevailing in
Ireland. Whilst thus employed he was drowned, together with
another young engineer, by the capsizing of a boat in the Shannon,
near Tarbert, on the 29th of March 1848. The news of this cala-
mity did not reach Australia until many months subsequently, and
the manner of its communication may be here cited : —
" The news of that calamitous day (the 29th of March 1848).
was only communicated to me months later, on the
The vessel that brought that letter with the mail from Singapore,
was wrecked off Freemantle, on the coast of Western Australia, and
aU hands on board w^re lost. The mail, which was in a box, was
washed ashore, and I went down from Perth to look after the letters,
and conveyed them thither from Freemantle, little dreaming that
amongst those thus brought to the Sisters of Mercy at Perth was
one conveying this fatal news."
The following lines on this subject were published in the London
Literary Gazette —
DIRGE.*
Weep for the dead ! in life's young morning
Chilled in the bud and snatched away !
While the star of hope, his path adorning,
Shone as the pledge of ripening day.
Lamented youth ! in thee were centred
Hopes of a long and bright career ;
But the vision fled, the spoiler entered,
And thy couch of fame was a lowly bier !
* These lines were written by one of Dr. Madden's dearest friends, the late Dr. William
Beattie of London (born 1796, obit 1875), author of The Pilyrim in Italy, and of many other
exquisite poems and works of high literary merit. " On the death of Fordo , a youth
of the highest promise, one of Campbell's " young friends," drowned in the River Shannon,
in his nineteenth year." Bee Bcattie's Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, vol. iii, p. 102.
16 *
228 MEMOIRS
Weep for the dead ! for hopes departed,
The father's pride and mother's joy I
For youth, for genius, noble hearted —
The man foretold in the blooming hoy.
Weep for the dead 1 to him 'twas given
To outstrip the tardy steps of time ;
For the early ripe, the loved of heaven.
Are still called home before their prime.
Weep for the dead ! but let not sorrow
On the faith of his fathers leave a stain !
Look up — look up to that glorious morrow
When the mother shall clasp her child again.
W. Beattie.
Being <a man of much sensitiveness of nature, Dr. Madden
was so prostrated by this bereavement, which cast its shadow over
his after hfe, that he resolved on returning to Irehind. In earlier
days the buoyancy of spirits that had supported him under every diffi-
culty was remarkable, but this was thenceforth subdued. Thus, in
the autobiography of one of his contemporaries, the late Charles
Mathews, we find the following allusion to his former characteristic: —
" Out of the many distinguished people it was my good fortune
to associate with, there were three who were my especial favourites,
and with whom I kept up constant companionship. One of these
was the witty, lively Dr. Madden, at that time as full of animal
spirits as of mental endowments, who was my Fides Achetes on all
occasions." [Matheiv's xiutohiography, edited by Dickens, vol. i.,
p. 10.3).
The appreciation in which Dr. Madden's official services in Aus-
tralia were held is attested by the valedictory addresses with which
he was presented : —
(Extract from an Address of the inhabitants of Western Australia to the
Colonial Secretary on his departure in January 1849) : —
Perth, 9th January, 1849.
(To the Honourable R. R. Madden).
Sir, — We, the inhabitants of Western Australia, beg to tender to you our
warmest thanks for the zeal and ability you have ever displa3ed in further-
ing the real interests of the Colony, and for the liberal and enlightened
principles on which you have acted since your accession to the office of
Colonial Secretary.
DR. R. n. MADDEN. 220
(From the Perth Gazette, 4th January 1849).
A nnmerous deputation, headed by the Right Rev. Bishop Brady and the
Very Rev. Dom Rosendo Salvado, waited on the Hon. the Colonial Secretary
on the 4th of January, and presented the following address to that
gentleman : —
(To the Hon. R. R. Madden, Colonial Secretary).
Sir, — We, the undersigned inhabitants of Perth and its vicinity, under-
standing that you are about to proceed, in the Emperor of China, to Europe,
on leave of absence, beg leave to tender our grateful acknowledgments for
the benefits which your appointment and efforts were calculated to confer on
us. We have also to express, in common with all the inhabitants of Western
Australia, our esteem and respect for yourself and amiable family, and our
full sense of your upright and impartial conduct in the discharge of your
arduous duties. Although your stay amongst us has been short, you have
gained the confidence of all, without reference to sect, party, or colour,
notwithstanding the many and fireat difficulties you have had to contend
with We deeply regret the cause that will now deprive us, at
least for one year, of your invaluable services ; and whilst we congratulate
ourselves and our fellow-colonists upon the happy change which you have been
in a great measure instrumental in bringing about, we cannot conceal
from you the apprehensions we are under of being exposed to the disadvant-
ages which we had to complain of to the Home Government during the
former administration of affairs here. Meanwhile we will continue to pray
for the speedy return of yourself and family with renovated health and
increased prosperity. Wishing you now a safe and prosperous passage, we
beg to remain your obedient humble servants.
The names of one hundred and six persons were appended to this
address.
The following is a portion of Dr. Madden's reply : —
There should be a great future in store for a country so richly endowed
with natural resources as this, I therefore hope that none of these present
contemplate (as I regret to hear some settlers do), abandoning the colony
at the present turning point in its history. I trust and believe that it will
be found feasible to remedy those evils which have temporarily retarded its
prosperity. In the performance of my duties ns Colonial Secretary, to
which you have referred in such kindly terms, I have merely striven
to give effect to my firm belief that the Home Government had no
interests here to serve which were not identical with those of the colony,
and no policy for its servants to pursue which was not calculated to promote
the welfare of the settlors of all creeds and classes ; I believed that there
was nothing incompatible with their interests in those obligations of
humanity and justice towards the natives, which were contracted by the
Government, when possession was taken of this territory, and compensation
to the natives in the way of civilization and enlightenment became a debt
of justice to them. ... In fine, permit me in bidding you now farewell,
to entreat you, and through yon, all my other friends in distant parts of the
colony who have joined in the kindness of tliis parting Address, to give
practical demonstration of the teachings of our common Christianity, in
230 MEMOIRS
your relations with those who differ from you in race or creed ; and thus by
your charity, love of peace and justice, make the influence of your faith
a testimony to its truth, and your course of conduct a living evidence of
its power."
Before leaving Australia, Dr. Madden was instrumental in getting
some native children sent home, with a view to their educa-
tion in the Propaganda College at Eome. This circumstance is
referred to in the following letters — the first published in The
Tablet of May 19th, 1849, and the second addressed to the
Under-Secretary for the Colonies : —
(From the Eight Rev. Dr. Brady to the Rev. John Smith, Dublin).
Perth, Western Australia,
January 6th, 1849.
Sir, — The natives of New Holland have been badly treated, neglected,
and calumniated by designing men. It is therefore our duty to protect,
support, and enlighten those poor children of nature, truly neglected and
abandoned to all the horrors of a savage life. Our good protector and
defender of those poor destitute creatures, the Hon. R. R. Madden, Colonial
Secretary of Western Australia, has undertaken to advocate their cause
both in public and in private. He and hie excellent lady have kindly taken
upon them the duties of sponsors for the two young natives whom we are send-
ing to England, and who I must accompany to the ship in Freeman tie.
Adieu, yours affectionately,
© JoHS Beady,
Bishop of Perth.
(To the Under-Secretary for the Colonies).
Previtalis Hotel, Panton- square, Haymarket,
May, 1849.
Dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiry as to the mental capabilities of the
Australian Aborigines, I must state my conviction, that if we seek to rid
ourselves of the responsibilities of our position as intruders who have taken
possession of their country on the plea of their irreclaimable barbarity, we
will have the guilt of hypocrisy to add to that of our neglect of duty. It
is surely an obligation on us not to suffer these defenceless, ignorant, unoffend-
ing people to be driven before the face of civilization off their own soil, without
one effort of a comprehensive nature, to compensate them for the loss of their
DR. R. R. MADDEK. 9Sl
lands and the means of subsistence, in a savage state, by affording them the
advantages of enUghtenment and the teaching of new methods of obtaining
food by the cultivation of the soil.
This people are in rapid progress to their end, in process of extinction
and extermination, as the borders of our settlements extend. This condition
of theirs is considered a necessary consequence of their irremediable bar-
barity, but this I believe to be untrue. You know I am well acquainted with
people existing in a savage state in various other countries. "With such
opportunities of observation then, I have come to the conclusion that not-
withstanding the actual abject condition of the Australian natives — destitute
as they are of all appliances to comfort — houseless, careless for to-morrow's
food, pitiless in warfare, and perpetually engaged in marauding expeditions,
they are endowed with mental faculties eminently capable of improvement.
A few weeks before my departure from Austraha, I caused two native children
that had been taken out of savage life by the Koman Catholic mission, to be
sent home with me for education. One of these children belonged to a tribe
of cannibals, he had been taken out of the "Bush," a naked savage child,
utterly unacquainted with white men and their ways of living, until he fell
into the hands of the present Bishop Salvado, in the southern district, about
one hundred miles from Perth, yet by the time of our arrival in England no
white child of his age could be much superior to him in conduct and
demeanour. They are both now in Italy making rapid progress in the educa-
tion they are receiving at a college in Kome. I mention the fact as a practi-
cal illustration of my conviction of the capability of this people of being
improved by education to the utmost extent that may fit men for salvation
in another world, and for society in this ; and entitle them to all the civil
rights and privileges belonging to it.
I am, dear sir, yours very truly,
R. R. Madden.
In the following despatch, subsequently forwarded to the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, will be found a statement of the work ac-
complished and difficulties encountered by Dr. Madden in Western
Australia, and of the condition of the colony at that time.
(R. R. Madden, Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, to the
Right Hon. Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies).
7, Panton-square, Haymarket,
May 1849.
My Lord, — I have the honour of reporting my arrival on the
27th ult. in this country, on leave of absence from Western Aus-
tralia, where I hold the office of Colonial Secretary, and of trans-
mitting a despatch for your lordship from his Excellency Governor
Fitzgerald on the subject of that leave, and likewise of forwarding
a specimen of lead ore recently discovered in the newly-explored
country, in the neighbourhood of the River Murchison. The short-
ness of my residence at the place which was the sphere of my
932 MEMOIRS
duties renders it necessary for me to allude to the cause of my ap-
plication for leave of absence, viz., impaired health, occasioned by
a domestic calamity of no ordinary severity, and increased official
difficulties in the way of responsibilities incurred for measures which
I succeeded in preventing for a time, but which despite my protest
were ultimately carried into execution. My sense of the duties of
my office, if I may be permitted to refer to it, was simply this —
that they were to be discharged in such a manner that the broad
Imperial policy of the Home Government should be thereby direc-
ted towards the good of the colonists at large, and for the protection
of the aborigines. As Acting-Governor, between the period of my
arrival in the Colony and that of his Excellency Governor Fitz-
gerald, it was my endeavour to obviate the evils occasioned not only
by the incompetence of the pre-existing Local Government, but also by
the indefatigable intolerance of an honourable member of the Legisla-
tive Council who filled an important legal office, and who was the con-
stant opponent of every measure which I deemed calculated to advance
the good of the natives, the harmony of a community of varied sects,
and the general interests of the colony.
I feel, my lord, the less hesitation in using language as strong
as the facts themselves with respect to Mr , because he is
now in England, and in communication with the Colonial Office, as
the representative of the party in whose hands have been the gov-
ernment of the Colony for so long a period to its signal detriment.
Some of my efforts to obviate those evils alluded to were productive
of the following results before the arrival in the colony of the pre-
sent Governor : —
1st. A religious war, in which all the charities of life, the inter-
ests of Government, and the feelings of individuals had been out-
raged and violated, not only with impunity and connivance, but
with official encouragement, was put an end to. The Eoman
Catholic Bishop and the Acting-Governor were brought into peace-
ful intercourse, and the flock of the former and the officials under
the latter were prevented from coming into conflicts of calumny
disgraceful to any community.
2nd. The erroneous statements and statistics which had been
the basis of the annual Reports transmitted to the Home Govern-
ment, were guarded against by a measure that met with strenuous
opposition — viz., a census of the population, produce, and stock
of the settlement.
3rd. The demand for explorations to meet the urgent necessi-
ties for new pasturage was comphed with, and under my direction
two expeditions were prepared and sent out. The result of these
was the confirmation of Captain Grey's disputed account of a valu-
able tract of country hi the vicinity of the Port that bears his
name, and the discovery of a valuable lead mine in the
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 233
vicinity of the Murchison, and the coal district of Mr. Gregory's
expedition.
4th. Confidence was infused into the minds of the colonists in
the office I had the honour to hold, by preventing advantage being
taken of official station to advance private interests at the expense
of public ones, by altering the mode of granting the Crown lands,
and causing the same to be put up for sale at public auction.
5th. The danger of putting a total stop to the trade in sandal
wood by continuance of the export duty, when the price of the com-
mochty had fallen in foreign markets nearly one half, was obvi-
ated by suspending that impost : thus enabling the traders to carry
on commerce which yielded returns adequate to the payment of
the whole amount of foreign grain introduced into the colony.
6th. The Bank was called on for the first time to make period-
ical returns to the Government of the specie in its coffers, and the
public was thus protected from a possible danger.
7th. "J'he claims of the aborigines on the justice and humanity
of the Government were maintained and enforced. Moreover, it
was proved feasible during my short administration to conjoin
effective measures of police and of judicial punishment with salu-
tary measures calculated to civilize and christianize a savage people.
8th. The policy of allowing the natives to perpetrate murders
with impunity when the victims of such outrages were aborigines,
was departed from, and a respect for human life, whether of native
or settler, was Enforced.
9th. The Government was saved for the time being from the
enactment of a measure giving summary jurisdiction over the na-
tives to the local magistracy, taking away the benefit of trial by
jury, and giving the power of flogging the natives without dis-
tinction of age or sex. Subsequently, however, a similar ordinance
was carried in council, despite my opposition to that measure and
a protest of mine against it, which his Excellency the Governor
proposed to transmit to your lordship, declining, however, to abstain
in the ensuing Legislative Council from passing the said ordinance
into law till the pleasure of the Home Government should be known.
On this subject I herewith transmit an abstract of the official
correspondence which accompanied my protest. Should your lord-
ship desire to have any information I may possess respecting the
state of the colony, its past causes of failure, and future prospects,
either verbally or more extensively in a general Report, I believe I
am in a condition to give the fullest details on this subject. In
fine, if I have mistaken my position or the nature of its duties, the
settlement has suffered nothing from my error. My desire has
been to see Western Australia governed as a British colony should be
ruled, viz., with broad views of the interests alike of all its inhabi-
tants, the former and the present possessors of the soil. As Colo-
S34: MEMOIRS
nial Secretary, I sought to prevent the destiny of this colony beinfj
controlled by the narrow policy of a small bureaucracy of local
officials who, dwelling in Perth and holding land by thousands and
tens of thousands of acres in the interior, deem themselves also
lawful claimants to the yet unappropriated portions of this great
territory. Above all, I considered it my duty to protect the abori-
gines from those who dealt with them as mere serfs, or slaves, to
whom a handful of flour was adequate recompense for their enforced
labour whenever this was wanted ; and by whom these natives
were apparently regarded as abject beings, whom it was evidently
deemed politic and economical to thus keep degraded and so profit
by their degradation.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your most obedient servant,
R. E. Madden.
To THE Right Hon. Eael Grey,
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
CHAPTER XXX.
RETURN TO IRELAND.
On his arrival in Dubhn from Australia, Dr. Madden received a
hospitable welcome in the house of his sister, the late Mrs. Eliza-
beth Oogan,* rehct of Bryan Cogan, Esq., and mother of the Right
Hon. Wm. H. F. Cogan, D.L., of Tinode, who for upwards of
twenty years represented Kildare m Parliament. The unceasing
kindness of this estimable lady, whose death in 1862 was long
mourned by all who had ever been brought into contact with her,
as well as the cheering influence of her genial family circle,* were
in no small measure serviceable in assuaging the feelings of bereave-
ment under the influence of which Dr. Madden returned to
Ireland. Shortly afterwards he determined on resigning definitely
the Secretaryship of Western Australia, from which he had tempo-
rarily retired on leave of absence. With that object, and v^'ith the
consent of the Colonial Office, he efl'ected an exchange of appoint-
ments with Mr. Piesse, then secretary to the Loan Fund Board in
* Her 3'oiingeBt daughter, Miss Margaret Cogan, died 4th April 1876.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 935
Dublin Castle, and this office he held for thirty years, until he re-
tired from it in 1880, being then in his 82nd year, when he was suc-
ceeded by the late Mr. P. J. Smith, M.P. During his long tenure
of that appointment, Dr. Madden devoted his leisure to literary
pursuits ; nor were there many works of philanthropy in Ireland
during this period with which his name was not associated. In
reference to the resignation of his Australian office, and the motives
which led to this step, we may here quote a letter from Sir James
Stephens, then Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University
of Cambridge :
Cambridge, 17th July 1860.
My dear Dr. Madden, — I write now merely to say what I could not have
said with the same confidence before, that I am sincerely glad of your de-
termination to resign your office in Western Australia, and have not the
least doubt that you have judged wisely. The most difficult questions in
casuistry, are those which relate to the order in which rival duties are to be
preferred to each other. But I cannot doubt that the parental duty,
especially in a case such as yours, is the highest which you owe to any fellow-
creature, next after the duties of conjugal life, that your boy has an absolute
right to your personal care ; that therefore you have not a right to put half
the world between you and him ; and that you have still less right to take
him with you to the other side of it, and to bring him into contact with tho
present colonists there, unless, indeed, his actual subsistence depended upon it.
Therefore, just sit quietly down in this anxious land, do what you can to
enlighten and to improve it, and ten years hence, when the boy shall have
become a man, migrate with him to the ends of the earth, if such shall
then be his pleasure and yours.
Now I am going to read my lectures, and so farewell.
Ever yours,
James Stephens.
Not long after his arrival home Dr. Madden took up his abode
at ** Leitrim Lodge," Castlewood Avenue, Rathmines. Here he
remained for the ensuing eight or ten years, subsequently removing
to Frescati, Blackrock, once the residence of Lord Edward Fitz-
gerald ; thence (on his son's settling down as a physician in Dublin)
migrating to Great Den mark- street, with a country residence on-
looking the beautiful Bay of Killiney, at Vigo Terrace, Dalkey ;
and after the marriage of that son, from Ballygihien Avenue,
Glasthule, to 3, Vernon Terrace, Booterstown, where his last
eighteen years were passed. Dr. Maddcn's domestic life during
these years may be here alluded to, and it was of a character to
render its termination a loss irreparable to those connected with
him. To them, and to all who knew his worth, he was endeared
as one whose conduct was ever marked by the highest sense of
536 MEMOIRS
rectitude ; whose manners were genial, dignified, and polished ;
whose mind was stored with varied culture, evinced in refinement
of tastes and feelings. Above all, however, the predominant char-
acteristics of his nature were earnest love of his country, of justice,
and of humanity. This was consistently shewn not only in all his
writings, but also in every phase of his career at home and abroad,
as the fearless advocate, often under circumstances of no com-
mon difficulty, of the down-trodden and oppressed, whether in the
slave barricones of the African coast or West Indies, or in the dis-
tant retreats of the ill-used aborigines of Australia, or in the fever-
haunted sheds of the Irish workhouses, in which the victims of the
famine years sought a refuge. For such were Dr. Madden's sym-
pathies and aid always ready, at whatever sacrifice of his own in-
terests. In private life his charity was unfailing, and his heart
never insensible to the claims of the necessitous, to whom, however
small his means, his hand was ever open. Moreover, on every
occasion his services were at the disposal of other literary
men, on whose behalf he was unsparing of any effort, whilst, as
before said, singularly unsolicitous of his own advantage. In this
respect his conduct remained uninfluenced by experience of
the proverbial thanklessness of the recipients of kindness, as he
then merely recalled the words of his favourite poet—
'• We are born to do benefits."
Wherever he resided. Dr. Madden's love of literature was ap-
parent in his surroundings, almost every room being soon lined
from floor to ceiling with the " old books " in which he dehghted,
and hung with the portraits of the literary friends of his youth,
the souvenirs of travel in distant lands, or the cherished relics of
the periods of Irish history, to the rescue of which from oblivion
he had devoted so many years of ill-requited toil. Thus surrounded,
he continued almost to the last moment of life to ply his busy pen,
and well were all his labours shared, his comforts tended, and his
troubles soothed, by his devoted wife, by whose inteUigent and un-
tiring co-operation and assistance alone was he enabled to accom-
plish an amount of literary work such as few others have left on
record.
Dr. Madden's hospitality of character was one of his most marked
traits, and this was displayed not in the gorgeous entertainments
on state occasions, lomfo intervalo, now in fashion with persons of
larger incomes, but in weekly recurring gatherings at his dinner table
of those of literary tastes and pursuits. At these Sunday dinners,
abundant, simple hospitality, and social intercourse of men of letters
and of intellect, furnished reunions more agreeable to those concerned
Da. R. K. MADDEN. 237
than might be met with at most of the ordinary society dinners of
the present day. The guests thus gathered around that board
included men distinguished in almost every field of literature and
science. Amongst these inter aliis, may be here mentioned the
names of Denis Florence McCarthy, translator of Calderon, and
better known as one of the sweetest of modern Irish poets as well
as the biographer of Shelley ; John Cornelius O'Callaghan (the
"Blessed Cornelius, as he was facetiously termed), author of
llie Green Book, and historian of The Irish Brigades, whose often
oddly-appHed, old-world classical learning, quaint sayings and
songs, were wont to " set the table in a roar ; " P. V. J'itzpatrick,
the intimate associate of O'Connell, whose inexhaustible wit and flow
of anecdote, well merited another lies well for their chronicler ; John
Patton, brother-in-law of Emmet, and the last survivor of " the men
of '98 "; Father T. Healy, the witty and genial P.P. of Little Bray ;
Matthias O'Kelly, the kindly naturahst ; Dr. Anster, the learned
translator of JPaust ; John T. Gilbert, the well-known author, editor
of facsimiles of National MS., recently published by command of
Her Majesty ; George Petrie, the distinguished archaeologist and
artist, and his brother Academicians of famous memory, Mulvanny
and Mulrenin ; M. Alphonse Gage, the profound mineralogist ;
Frederick W. Conway, editor of the Dublin Evening Post, and his son-
in-law, M. Dwyer, by whom he was succeeded in the management of
that journal, and who is now Registrar of Deeds ; Sir John Gray, the
editor of the Freeman's Journal ; Sir William Wilde, no less emi-
neut as an antiquary and biographer of Swift than in his profes-
sion as an occuhst ; Dr. W. K. Sullivan, the celebrated chemist, late
President of the Queen's College, Cork ; P. Hardy, the spiritualist ;
Thomas O'Hagan (afterwards Baron O'Hagau, Lord Chancellor of
Ireland), together with his intimate friend, John (subsequently Sir
John) Lentaigne, Director of Prisons and Reformatories ; Thomas
C. Newby, the genial publisher ; the late Canon Farrell, a worthy
representative of the last generation of clergymen, no less cultured
and refined than devoted to his sacred calling ; Dr. Waller the poet ;
Dr. Madden's last old school-mate, Mr. W. Bernard MacCabe, author of
A Catholic History of England, and many other excellent works ;
Sir William Ferguson, the poet and archajologist ; James Murphy of
Cork, a world wide traveller and enthusiastic bibhopole ; Canon
O'Hanlon, the erudite author of the Hibernian Acta Sanctorum ;
J. P. Prendergast, the chronicler of The Cromivellian Settlement
of Ireland; Michael Banim, the L'ish novehst ; Dr. Mazier Brady,
author of several important works on Irish Ecclesiastical History;
Dr. Maunsell, editor of the Dublin Evening Mail, and his accomp-
lished successor m that editorial chair, Mr. J. Scott ; Mr. Godkin,
a veteran pressman and prolific writer; the Rev. J. M'Mahon, a
S38 MEMOIRS
valued contributor to the Duhlin University Magazine ; Professors
O'Curry, O'Donovan, and William Hennessy, the well-known Celtic
scholars, and Martin Haverty, the too modest author of an admir-
able History of Ireland.
Of these, and the numerous otber bookish men who were thus
wont to meet around Dr. Madden's table, too many have since then
also passed into the silent land, and with him and the kindly host-
ess who so well managed that hospitable house, now rest in their
** long last home" in Donnybrook churchyard, leaving behind but the
fast fading remembrance of names which might have well been deemed
entitled to a place among those *' in quorum obsolessere memoria
non debet."
At those pleasant Sunday dinners, which were in truth " the
feast of reason and f^ow of soul," the grave and impassioned disser-
tations on forgotten questions of historic lore in which O'Callaghan
so delighted, were oftentimes, to his great and loudly expressed in-
dignation, interrupted by the hilarious cross fire of punning com-
mentaries indulged in by M'Carthy and Gilbert ; and by one of
these scenes the following impromptu was called forth —
PAEODY ON "CEASE YOUE PUNNING."
Cease your punning,
All these stunning
Peals of funning
Drive me mad ;
Always joking,
More than croaking
Merits choking
End most sad !
Ev'ry punster
Is a monster,
Doth misconstre'^
Words 'tis clear ;
All these jingling
Sounds come mingling
Strangely tingling,
Strike the ear.
Sense is smothered.
Hearing's bothered,
Eeason's pothered,
Puzzled quite.
Cease yonr punning,
Let these stunning,
Peals of funning
Cease to-night
R. E. M.
DR. R. R. MADDEN.
33d
CHAPTEE XXXI.
THE CONDITION OF IRELAND DURING THE FAMINE YEARS.
When Dr. Madden returned to Ireland in 1849, he found the land
he loved still in the throes of that direful period since known as
" the famine years," the commencement of which he had witnessed
before his departure for Australia. Hardly had he settled down in
Dublin than he threw himself with all his energy into the labours
of the association working for the relief of that distress. His first
connexion with this association appears in the Minutes of the Gene-
ral Relief Committee for June 30th, 1849 : —
Rev. C. Burke in the chair.
Present — "Very Rev. Dr. Spratt, Rev. T. O'Malley, James
Haughton, A. G. MoUer, J. Burke, W. Gray, Gustavus Hamilton,
and Henry Corr.
Mr. Haughton read the following letter :
Leitrim Lodge, Castlewood Avenue,
Bathmines, June 30th, 1819.
Sir, — I bog to enclose some money banded to me to be forwarded to the
Most Rev. Dr. MacHale, for the reUef of the famishing people of the west of
Ireland. I beg also to transmit, for the same object, my own small contribu-
tion— small indeed if considered a criterion of my opinion of the misery
that it is attempted to alleviate. The magnitude of that misery I believe it
would be difficult to exaggerate. The nature of it in after times will be a
subject of astonishment to the civilized world. I have seen nothing com-
parable to its horrors in Asia, Africa, America, or Australia. I have read
nothing of the great famines of the thirteenth century so terrible in their
consequences as this famine of ours in the nineteenth century, or so appall-
ing in the spectacle it presents of the combined wrath of God and man,
evinced in the present joint operation of a process of degtruction of a people
by famine and eviction.
I am, sir, your very obedient servant,
R. R. Madden.
To James Haughton, Esq.
Mr. Haughton moved, and Rev. Dr. Spratt seconded that Dr.
Madden be admitted a member of the committee, which was passed
unanimously. —
The condition of Ireland at that time was investigated and des-
cribed in a series of letters under the signature "X," published by
240 MEMOIRS
Dr. Madden during tlie years 1849, '60, and '51, in the Freeman's
Journal. These letters, dealing with the general condition of the
countrj, the exodus and destruction by famine and pestdence of
the peasantry, life and death in the Irish workhouses, and the ad-
ministration of the Poor Laws, form a large volume, in the present
editor's possession, entitled " Food and Famine Papers," which, if
published, would afford important material for the future historian
of that epoch. For these articles the space here available does
not afford room. We may, however, briefly quote some of the editorial
comments on these Reports as evidence of their value. — From the
Freeman's Journal of August 19th, 1850, and subsequent date :
CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY— EXTERMINATION.
We publish in another column a remarkable letter, signed "X,"
in which the writer, a gentleman of vast experience and of scrupu-
lous accuracy, describes what he himself saw during a short tour in
the midland and western districts. We ask attention to the state-
ments made in that letter, to the rigid accuracy of which we do not
hesitate to pledge ourselves, on the faith of our respected and
valued correspondent. The habit of close observation, which has
become a part of our correspondent's nature from long exercise,
induces us to conclude that he cannot be much mistaken in his
conclusions. But bad though that condition is represented to be,
it must become worse and worse if the fearful exterminations which
"X" describes as still in progress are not speedily and effectively
checked. — " I have seen," he says, "the ruins of about five hun-
dred recently demohshed dwellings of the peasantry " that have
*' within the last month" been the abodes of TWO THOUSAND
FIVE HUNDRED human beings."
LIFE AND DEATH IN IRISH POORHOUSES.
We invite the careful attention of our readers to the letter
signed ** X," on the Poorhouse dietaries, which we publish to-day.
" X " is one of the few men who, with enlarged minds, possess
also enlarged hearts. Endowed with great judgment and with un-
wearying industry, our respected correspondent has devoted much
time to the examination of the question on which he has written.
Would that there were many such men in Ireland as "X," who
would day after day proclaim the wrongs and sufferings of our
people, and so create a wholesome public opinion that vrould force
the guardians into an abandonment of the slow-poison diet which
it is demonstrated by the letter of " X " is now being used through-
out most of the unions of Ireland to the destruction of human life
DR. K. S. MADDEN. 241
to an extent wliich it is fearful even to think of. In another
column we print, under the above head, a most important document
from our valued correspondent " X," which gives so fearful a
picture of the condition of the poor in the Irish workhouses, that
humanity would cause us to withhold our credence had we not daily
proofs that the work of slaughter described is not in the slightest
degree exaggerated. We wish every statesman — English and Irish,
had a copy of this letter in his hand. To our representatives we
earnestly commend this letter and the unprotected poor, whose case
it so earnestly, so foi'cibly. and so truthfully advocates. This is a
matter of life and deatli, in which men of all politics ought to be
enlisted." The public attcRtion thus attracted to the Irish Poor-
Law system by the letters referred to. caused no small' commotion
amongst those responsible for its administration, and strenuous
efforts were made to trace the author. The result was the follow-
ing correspondence between the Irish Government and Dr. Madden :
Dublin Castle,
10th April 1851.
Sir, — I am directed by the Lord J ieutenant to acquaint you that his
Excellency has been informed that you visited Kilrush Union in the course
of last year, and inspected the workhouses thereof, and that you solicited
information on that occasion, stating that you were " officially connected
with the Government.'*
From a comparison of the remarks made by you in the visitors' book of
the Union workhouse and the observations contained in a letter published
in the Freeman's Journal of IMarch 5th, 1851, under the signature of " X,"
it has been suggested to his Excellency that there is reason to suppose that
you are the author of that letter. The Lord Lieutenant thinks it due, there-
fore, to you to make known this matter to you, and to request that you will
state wheth er such is the case, and whether, as above stated, you sought
information in the district announcing yourself as a person officially con-
nected with the Government. His IZxcelleucy is anxious for your reply to
these queries, as, if these facts are admitted, he considers that you have ac-
ted improperly in seeking information ostensibly as a person " connected
with the Government " ; and then, while withholding it from the Govern-
ment, in having communicated the result of these inquiries to the public
through an anonymous communication to a public journal. The result in
the present instance is stated to his Excellency to have been that charges of
a most serious nature are made against the administration of the Poor Law,
which, if communicated by you, should properly be made to the Govern-
ment or the proper department, in order that they might be examined and
considered.
His Excellency requests your reply on this matter.
am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
T. Eeddikgton.
To R. R. Madi>en, Esq., Ac.
IT
24S MEMOIRS
Leitrim Lodge, Castlewood Avenue,
Bathmines, lltii April 1851.
Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
10th iust., stating that his Excellency had been informed I had inspected
tlie workhouses of the Kilrush Union in the course of last year ; that I had
solicited information on the ground that I was " officially connected with the
(jovernment ; " and that it had been suggested I was author of a letter pub-
lished inthei^>e<?7/ia?i's Journal of the 6th of March last containing observations
similar in character to some remarks made in the visitors' book of the Kil-
rush Poorhouse. I think it is due to his Excellency and to myself not to
exercise any reserve in answering the inquiries to which my reply is now
desired.
I did visit the Kilrush workhouses, not in the course of last year, but in the
early part of February last. I did not " solicit information" on that or any
other occasion, on the ground that I was "officially connected with the Govern-
ment," The statement of my having done so is a wicked and wilful fabrication;
and I have the proof of its being so in the handwriting of the only gentleman
in Kilrush connected with the workhouse with whom I had any intercourse.
This letter I am prepared, if necessary, to lay before his Excellency.
To the next point of inquiry, not ui the way of any absurd bravado, but in
a grave and sober spirit, I reply that the letters signed " X," which appeared
in the Freeman's Journal of the (Jth March, &c., were written by me, and
that I still respectfully adhere to the opinions and statements thus published.
I did not originally collect the information contained with the intention of
publishing it ; but when the facts stated connected with Poor-Law Manage-
ment in Ireland came to my knowledge, I thought that the interests of
humanity would be promoted by giving publicity to them.
I have not yet published any matter respecting Kilrush Union workhouses
but I have prepared for publication extensive notes on this subject, made by
me with some care, at Kilrush, and I have already taken steps to carry that
object into execution. These observations as they stand, I will, if it be so de
sired, lay before his Excellency, for his consideration as well as for the
information of the Poor Law Commissioners.
J inally, sn, I would beg to have it stated to his Excellency that the sub-
ject of Poor-Law Management in Ireland, is one that I regard not as any
political or polemical matter, in the public discussion of which it may
not now be permissible for me to take part, but as a great and urgent
fiuestion of humanity, from an interest in whirh none can be debarred. And
hence I trust that even if I should have fallen into any technical contraven-
tion of official usage by my action in this matter, perhaps his Excellency
will be pleased to think that this departure from routine procedure was
of a character which anyone who had long been engaged in the cause of
outraged humanity abroad, as I have been, might, under the present ap-
palling circumstances, here, very naturally fall into.
I have the honour to be, sir.
Your very obedient servant,
K. E. Madden.
To the Under-Secretar} to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, Dublin Castle.
A week subsequently in his reply, the Under-Secretary requested
that the communication referred to in the foregoing letter should be
laid before the Lord Lieutenant. In accordance with that request,
DK. R. R. MADDEN. 248
Dr. Madden forwarded to the Government a Report prepared in con-
tinuation of the articles before aUuded to. This, although dealing
principally with the condition of certain districts in Clare, and the
administration of Poor-Law relief there, was eqiiallj applicable to the
rest of the south and west of Ireland at that time. These statements
were amply verified on consequent investigation, and resulted in
such changes in the system exposed, as to produce an immedi-
ate diminution of mortality which, in one institution, fell to a
third of its previous amount, as soon as his suggestions were, even in
part, adopted.
CHAPTER XXXII.
REPORT ON lEISH POOR LAW SYSTEM IN THE FAMINE -YEARS.
The picture of life and death in Irish Workhouses, and of the con5
dition of the peasantry in the south and west of Ireland during
the closing period of the calamitous famine epoch forty years
ago, contained in the documents aUuded to, affords a graphic
and accurate description of a state of things the existence of which
in any Christian land might seem almost impossible, but which
was too well proven at that time. In the belief therefore that
this statement may be found of future as w^ell as of present interest,
the following well authenticated and hitherto unpublished Report
by Dr. Gladden is here inserted : —
6th Letter signed '*X" on the Administration of the Irish
Poor Laws, in February 1851.*
The state of the Kilrush Union parent workhouse and its auxil-
iaries in the month of February last is the chief subject of the
present communication. To this account, the result of personal
inquiry and observation, some details of a later date are added.
The parent workhouse in Kilrush in the month of February last
presented, on the days for receiving applications for admissions,
spectacles of the most extraordinary description that were probably
ever witnessed in any Christian land ; such as I never beheld
before, and pray I may never witness again. On the occasion re-
* Set up in type but not published. This letter being forwarded to the Government and
acted on by them, the weekly mortality in Kiliush Poorhouses was reduced in a few woeksfrom
80 odd to an amouut varying from .10 to 30.— R. R M.
17 *
244 iviEMOiRs
ferred to there was a multitude of human beings, exceeding a
thousand, congregated round the building, men. women and children,
ill every state of famine, debility and disease, arising from want of
fooil, want of sufficient raiment, and in many cases want of shelter
lit for human beings at that inclement season.
I'here were a considerable number of low-backed cars from which
the horses had been unyoked ranged along the wall in front of the
entrance. On these cars applicants for admission were lying
stretched on straw, chiefly aged people of both sexes, and children,
even infants. On some cars there were as many as four or
five palhd, listless, emaciated, ragged children ; on others, famished
creatures, far gone in fever, dysentery and dropsy, unable to walk,
stand, or even to sit upright, and these sick and famishing crea-
tures were brought there, as I was informed, by neighbours who
had lent cars to convey them to the Poorhouse, and a great number
of them, to use their own language, *' for a coffin." On surprise
being expressed at hearing this reason given for the removal of
these people, and the question being repeated, one of those mori-
bund applicants for admission in order to get a shell and a grave —
, a man more like a skeleton than a living man, yet not much above
forty years of age, — said in a low, hollow-toned voice — " Yes, to
get a coffin, your honour."
There was a vast number, moreover, of others apparently in the
last stage of destitution, who had crawled there from distant places,
that seemed to be nearly in as bad a condition as those stretched
on the cars. They were squatting about the outer walls waiting
their turn to be called, while the courtyard was thronged with a
dense mass of misery which it was not only shocking, but terrify-
ing even to look upon and to pass through. And yet these appli-
cants for admission into tlie Kilrush Poorhouse, so frightfully ear-
nest and eager to get into that asylum, clamouring and pressing
forward, the less weak thrusting aside the more infirm, the young
hustling the old, the women pulling back the children, larger chil-
dren pushing back the smaller, uttering confused cries of pain, im-
patience, anger and despair, had only come there when every other
means of sustaining life had failed. There was not one of those I
questioned who had not a mortal terror of that Poorhouse of Kilrush,
and had not overcome it, only when the charity on which they had
eked out a miserable existence had been utterly exhausted, or when
the use of the boiled nettles and other weeds which had been their
food of late had brought them to the brink of the grave. A close
observer could tell those amongst them who had been thus subdued
by starvation to this last resource, not onl}^ by the sight of their
form and features — hardly those of human beings — but also by
that peculiar smell of mouldy substances which is perceptible
about the persons of starving people.
DR. U. E. MADDEN. 245
The tumult round tlie door was almost equalled by the turmoil
and confusion that reigned in the hall, where the guardians were
assembled deciding on the claims of the famished multitude, and
applying to each case "the workhouse test." It was surprising
amidst the uproar and horrid strife of shrill and most discordant
cries how any business could have been transacted there.
Aspro conserto, orribile armonia,
D'alte querele, d ululi, e di strida,
Istranamente concordar s'udia.
There was nothing of downright harshness, however, observable
in the conduct of the Poor Law officials towards the unfortunate
wretches who stood before them awaiting their doom. The terrible
duty that devolved on these gentlemen was performed apparently
in a cool, quiet, business-hke manner, by men accustomed by their
office — " triste ministerium " — to such scenes, and therefore capable
of dealing with them in the manner they thought best for the in-
terests ol the ratepayers, and, as far as was consistent with the
latter, it is to be presumed, for the interests of humanity. The
difficulty of the position of those gentlemen it would not be easy
to exaggerate. But, wliut adequate idea would any words convey
of the frightful condition of the people of those districts which
constitute the Kilrush Union that could furnish such an appalling
spectacle of human misery as I have referred to on this occasion,
resulting as it did to a very great extent, from acts that have as-
sumed in this locality the character of a settled policy — the des-
truction of the houses of the jioor.
The Poor Law contemplated a provision for the destitute on
whom the hand of God had fallen heavily in a time of great calam-
ity,— for the poor thus stricken down who could not hve by labour.
But the work of eviction has so augmented pauperism that the
Poorhouse accommodation in the land proves insufficient to afford
shelter for the poor who have been unhoused by their fellow-men.
The whole of the west of Ireland, and above all the county Clare,
at the present moment can be best described by comparing its con-
dition to that of a weak man dying slowly of a chronic disease for
which no remedy (deserving that name) has been apphed, sinking
gradually by the most hideous of all deaths— that of starvation,
daily becoming a more appalling spectacle, a more frightful spectre
of humanity ,-^going down in a prolonged agony by a process of
inanition to the grave. I speak not from the evidence of other
people's eyes or observation, nor do I speak Ughtly or on insufficient
grounds, on this grave subject, when I solemnly affirm, to the best
of my beUef and knowledge, that society in the whole of the \yest
and very largely in the south of Ireland is at this moment in a
state of disorganization brought on by destitution and eviction, ap-
34G MEMOIRS
proacbing fast to a dissolution of all its bonds. A man who knows
well the condition of the people, has elsewhere observed : —
" Perhaps when the Celtic race has passed away, the future
archteologist, in poring over these accounts of famine and eviction,
will deny their authenticity, and maintain that, in an age of civili-
zation, and in a country not devastated by war, but abounding with
the fruits of nature, it was impossible that men should sink into
the grave unnoticed and unremembered. But the very brutes of
the held which are now feeding where the wives and children of
the peasant and the farmer once gathered round the domestic
hearth — the kite and the ravenous dog that have feasted upon their
unburied corpses, — these bear witness to the immensity of that
calamity which no tongue but that of an angel's could adequately
describe. For I have a strong conviction that the height, the
depth, the immensity of that distress never can be known until the
recording angel shall produce his official report on the day of Judg-
ment."
We may now go back to Kilrush. — The task of deciding on the
appHcations for admission into the workhouse on the occasion I
have referred to required indeed no ordinary degree of mental com-
posure. The consideration of the claims of each batch of famine-
stricken paupers that was admitted, was made amidst a din of
frightful sounds of human voices, expressive of entreaty, remons-
trance and authority, or else on theotherhandof suffering, of mortal
anxiety, and of despair — screams of children admitted being taken
away from mothers, shrieks of daughters parting with fathers whom
they knew they would never see again, sobs and moans of women about
to be separated from their husbands : — a babel of shrieks and suppli-
cations. Amidst these cries, that of a poor child about eleven years
of age (a fine, intelligent looking boy as I ever saw), all the time I was
in that hall prevailed over the others, exclaiming — " Ah, mammy,
mammy ; don't leave me, mammy. I won't stay here without you.
Oh, mammy, dear, sure you won't leave me in this place ! " I
heard one of the guardians speak to the child two or three words —
kind and soothing words. This gentleman's name I learned was
Keane. He is an ex-officio guardian, and I feel bound to say thus
much, because I know there are many such men who, though not
popular, are more humane than they apparently care to be deemed.
Behold, then, the multitude of paupers— by some described as
some thousands, by me as exceeding one thousand in number —
congregated on one day round the Poorhouse of Kilrush, clamour-
ing for admission — and then inquire into the result of their impor-
tunities. Of that multitude of famishing people, 209 were ad-
mitted on this occasion, and outdoor relief was given to widows
with two or more children, in Indian corn meal, in value to the
amount of £7 7s. 3d. ! ! ! The numbers who received this outdoor
BU. R. K. :\rADDEN'. 247
relief were 523, and the value of the meal given to each " widow
with two or more children " was under 3^d. But w^hat became of
the hundreds who received neither indoor nor outdoor relief?
Numbers of them slept that night under the shelter of hedges in
the ditches outside the town, and some were suffered to sleep, with-
out a rag to cover them, or a wisp of straw to lie upon, under the
arches and the porch of the Market House. On the occasion I
refer to there were 4,858 inmates in the Kilrush Poorhouse and its
eight auxiliaries, and with those admitted that day, viz., 309, the
number was increased to 5,067. I asked for a weekly return of
the inmates and the deaths from the latter end of December 1850,
to the beginning of February 1851, of which the following is the
substance :
Week ending December 28th, 1850
„ January 4th 1851
„ January 11th ,,
„ January 18th „
„ January 25th ,,
,, February 1st ,,
„ February 6th ,,
March 8th 1851
March 15th 1851
And since then it has increased to
I was also then furnished with the following official returns, the
importance of which is greater than might be imagined by a mere
cursory glance at them.
Number of deaths for year ended 29th Sept. 1849 . 505
Ditto for year ended 29th September 1850 . . 1392
Number of admissions for year ended 29th Sept. 1849 . 8089
Ditto for year ended 29th September 1850 . . . 12670
The highest rate made in this Union was 6s. 6d. in the pound.
The current rate varies from 6s. 6d. to 8s. 6d. The average cost
of a pauper per w^ek was lOd. In another return a very compe-
tent authority observes — " The average cost of a pauper per week,
including hospital and infirmary patients, is 10|d. I should say
those m the house do not cost 8d. per week each." Eigbtpence for
the sustenance of a human being of adult age for seven days ! ! !
Let us see how this expenditure is met.
[Here in the manuscript before us follow ten folio pages of in-
formation with reference to population, area, and valuation of the
twelve Poor-Law divisions reported on, the dietary for each class of
inmates in Kilrush and other Irish workhouses, and comparative tables
shewing the treatment of similar classes in various English country
[nmates.
Deaths.
4315
24
4569
14
4997
17
4956
25
4869
35
4981
51
5067
30
, ,
56
.
68
, ,
72
248 MEMOIRS
London workhouses. For these tables the limits of this work do
not however afford sufficient space.]
The present dietary of the English workhouees, it is well known,
has been reduced to the smallest amount of nutritious food deemed
sufficient to maintain life in health and strength. We now proceed
to compare the actual amount of food, animal, vegetable and far-
inaceous, of an adult male Enghsh pauper for one week in the St.
Pancras workhouse, with the quantity of food given to an Irish
adult pauper in the Kilrush Union workhouse, premising that the
data for the facts in regard to both are obtained from official
returns. . . .
ONE week's food FOR AN ADULT PAUPER IN ST. PANCDAS' WORKHOUSE, AND
IN KILRUSH POORHOUSE.
In the Kilrush dietary, then, we look in vain for animal food, for
vegetables, for milk, and indeed for brend fit for the food of man.
It were well that guardians understood (iistinctly that humanity is
not differently constituted in Ireland to \\ bat it is in England. Is
there one law of nature regulating the functions of a man in an
English Poorhouse and another controUiug the digestive organs and
vital powers of an Irish pauper? It may be sometimes forgotten,
but should never be unknown, that there is but one law of God for
the observance of all rulers, and the protection of the poor of all climes ;
and when that law is signally violated in their persons, there is no
amount of sophistry that can fritter away the responsibility or guilt
of a great crime against humanity.
To my inquiry of the proper authority on the subject of the state
of health of the inmates, the written answer was — " Dysentery
and diarrhoea very prevalent at present, which is attributed to the
dietary and the overcrowding of the houses." In the official Minute
Book I found the following Report, made by the medical officer of
the Board, at the period of the awful increase of the mortality in
this Institution. —
" Gentlemen, — I beg to bring the present overcrowded state of
the infirmary under your especial notice, with a view of adding
additional wards or apartments appropriated to the use of the sick.
Meat Bread Vegetables Stirrabout Milk Porridge Soup Pud'g Cheese Beer Milk Cocoa
18oz. 92oz. 06 oz. 14i Pints 6Pt9l2oz. C oz. IIP —
29 oz. Meal
112 56 oz.
Indian
Meal in
14 Pints
contain'g 2oz.
oatml. & 2oz. 8 Pts.
vegetables,
each pint say
56 ounces.
DE. E. E. MADDEX. 949
I regret to say that sickness is very much on the increase, its
spread being principally amongst the old and infirm and the very
young.
" The mortality is so frightfully high, and so many of the o'd
and infirm are dropping off, in many instances somewhat suddenly,
that I must urgently impress the necessity of allowing a sufficient
supply of milk for breakfast instead of the cocoa now used.
" The sick, both in the infirmary and in the hospital, are not
getting the prescribed quantity of milk — the nurses say that they
are from 150 to 180 quarts a day short. This should be supplied,
if possible, as it is their chief nutriment.
" Signed,
" T. S. B. O'DONNELL."
This gentleman did his duty to his God, to his patients, and to his em-
ployers : he pointed out the means of stopping the ravages made by an
insufficient dietary, and consequent on overcrowding in the several
houses. If that terrible mortality went on unchecked, the fault
was not his. No change was made in consequence of this protest.
Great evils were predicted from a persistence in the existing diet-
ary. That dietary was persisted in — the predictions were accom-
plished. The people were carried off" in numbers unheard of
before in any Poorhouse. The guardians are answerable for this
mortality. In the parent house as well as in the auxiliaries, ma-
terial order and cleanliness are carefully attended to, but a proper
understanding of the means essential for securing moral order, in-
culcating habits of industry, restoring debilitated energies of mind
and body, resisting formidable tendencies to disease, and proLmging
life, are not observable in the government of any of these houses.
But above all evils prevailing in their management, the monster
evil of the Kilrush Poorhouses is insufficient food. The diet may bo
said to be wholly farinaceous ; and I have elsewhere observed that
human beings cooped up in crowded places, constantly breathing an
infected atmosphere, debarred from active exercise,having no manual
labour, and no means of maintaining or renovating impaired
strength by either, cannot long be kept in health, or in life, on this
diet. When, moreover, the farinaceous food is of a bad kind, the
digestive and then the vital powers even of the strongest will gra-
dually break down ; whilst those of the infirm, the very young, and
the very old, will utterly and speedily fail ; and these persons will
pine away and die with as much certainty as if they had been
taken off by poison. You kill men by half feeding as effectually
as if you took their blood by stabbing ; and you destroy life by a
process which kills still more effectually and more rapidly when the
scanty supply of food is of a bad quality. The bread of the
250 MEMOIRS
Kili'Lish Union poorliouse and its auxiliaries is not fit for the food
of man — at least it was not so two months ago. It is composed of
equal parts of rye and barley, and is black, clammy, badly baked,
unsio-htly, and distasteful. When I pressed my fingers on it, the
soft part pitted as if it were a mass of putty. I heard several of
the paupers declare they could not eat it. And Avhilst I was pre-
sent, orders were charitably given by the medical officer for the re-
moval of two languid-looking l;ovs from one of the auxiliaries to
the infirmary, with the view, I believe, of furnishing them there
with food that was more fit for them. It must be observed, though the
doctor has the power of ordering wine and porter to the sick in
hospital, he has not the power of changing the diet of the infirm
unless he takes them into hospital. The accommodation there is
extremely limited, the number of the infirm is very great, and this
may be accounted one cause of the enormous mortality that has
taken place here.
The diet, I repeat, is insufficient for the maintenance of life in
health for a period of many weeks. It is scanty in quantity and bad
in quality. There is not a due admixture of vegetable substan-
ces with the farinaceous food. There are, in fact, no vegetable sub-
stances used at all, except in the water whitened with meal, which
is termed soup in the dietary, and in this liquid turnips or parsnips,
in very small quantities are allowed. The small allow^ance of milk,
which in other Poorhouses counteracted the evil eff'ects of an otherwise
exclusively farinaceous diet, here unfortunately was substituted in the
case of adults by cocoa, and in the case of the children was either
reduced to half the quantity, or, in some cases, wholly withheld,
and substituted by a composition called artificial milk, which could
serve no purpose with regard to nutriment, or as a corrective of
food wholly farinaceous.
If the cost of each pauper was increased to the amount of 14d. or
15d. per week for his sustenance, by procuring the milk necessary
for his health, and to which he was entitled, the Union would in all
probability be saved the expense of some of the alcoholic stimulants
which the doctor is allowed to prescribe for the sick and dying in
hospital The Union might be saved also the expense of a vast
number of coffins, the cost of which varies from 2s. 6d. for the
larc^e to Is. lOd. for the small. The gratuity likewise might be
spared that is allowed the pauper who daily conveys the cart load
of the Poorhouse dead to the wide-mouthed trench that yawns in
the churchyard in the vicinity of the town. There are other con-
siderations I am aware unfavourable to this view of the question.
But on the supposition that the life of a human being is of more
importance than any saving that can be effected by a cessation of
the cost that his maintenance in life may have occasioned, I find
it difficult to conclude that the economy that has been practised
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 951
here ought to be imitated elsewhere, or suffered to be continued in
this place in the face of the awfulmortality co-existent with it, or of
the protest against the former of the Poorhouse medical officer re
corded on the Minutes of the proceedings of the Board of Guardians : —
There are no stated times for parents to see their children, but
occasionally they may see them. There are no fixed times for re-
latives to see their dying friends, but, if they come they are al-
lowed to see them.
The Leadmore auxiliary house is destined for children from 9 to
16 years of age. On the 6th of February last, the number of the
inmates, including 42 adults who acted as attendants, was 1851.
There is no industrial employment in any of the Kilrush Houses,
none here except that of a few children who were engaged in
mending clothes, and about twenty others who were occupied in the
courtyard at the period 1 refer[to, making up small heaps of manure.
There was a school, however, attached to this auxiliary, and several
hundred children were present. The teacher, Mr. Mahony, evi-
dently had taken great pains with the children, and some of the
classes did great credit to the efforts of their instructor. But the
painful consideration was forced on the mind — of what avail was
this book learning likely to be to these pauper children without in-
dustrial training ?
The clotbing of a vast number of these boys was so bad that it
might be supposed their old rags had not been taken from them.
8uch, I believe, was not the fact. In the house for the female
children in this establishment there were 951 inmates. The clo-
thing of the girls was, if possible, worse than that of the boys.
The master of the Leadmore auxiliary, an intelligent and appar-
ently a humane person, Mr. B. Foley, lamented there was no em-
ployment for the inmates. There was no spinning, there was no
sewing except by about twelve or fifteen children. Some time ago
there were 94 girls employed at knitting, which has been introduced
at his instance. He had prevailed on the guardians to advance 30s.
for materials, and this was the whole cost of the experiment to the
Union. But it was given up, because he could get no buyers in
the town for the stockings. In the house none are given to the
paupers, nor shoes either to men, women, or children. The chil-
dren were all of the fourth class — from 9 to 15 years of age. Their
diet w^as as follows : —
Morning Meal,
5ozs. Indian meal in stirrabout, 1 naggin of new milk, 1 naggin
of artificial niilk, composed of { oz. of flour and ^ oz. of ground
rice mixed up and toiled in water.
252 ME MO IBS
Dinner.
Brown bread 10 ounces — the same given to paupers of all classes
— composed of rye and barley in equal parts, and 1 pint ard a half
of soup or porridge, consisting of 1| oz. of oatmeal, som^ parsni})s
and turnips, and a little salt and pepper.
Supi^er
Brown bread, 4 oz.
There is no infirmary in the Leadmore auxiliary. The children
when they fall sick must be removed to the parent house infirmary.
The diet cannot be altered in this House, so that when ailing be-
fore they are sent to the infirmary, which is at some distance, they
must remain on the common diet. There is the same want here
that exists in all the Irish Poorhouses — the want of all opportunity
for air and exercise in places fit for children's amusement out of
doors. The children, from the want of suitable day sheds in
wet weather, are cooped up all day in the school-room ; but every
morning they are sent down to the river-side at the rere of the pre-
mises to wash their leet. The dormitories of this house are only
7i ft. high ; those in the building called "the store" are only four
or five; those in the house for girls called " the cottage" are nearly
11 feet in height. The number of boys crowded together in four
dormitories, namely, 84(3, is far too great for the space, and as in
the female dormitories — three sleep in one bed. Notwithstanding
the original defects of those buildings of Leadmore, — never inten-
ded for the purposes to which they have been converted, — all that
could possibly be^effected to render them more fit for those purposes
was done by a gentleman connected for three years with the affairs of
the Union. This gentleman, Captain Kennedy, to whom all ar-
rangements of any good kind existing in the Leadmore Poorhouse
are due, has gained his honours dearly indeed for his own quiet and
repose, like all men who light great battles for humanity ; but those
honours wdll wear well and last longer than the remembrance of
any^vain efforts to decr}^ them. A word or two, in conclusion, of the
Poorhouse dead that for the three last weeks of March amounted
to 919. The dead are interred every morning in a churchyard
about a mile and a half from the town. The bodies are carted
away without any appearance of a funeral ceremony : no attendance
of priest or parson, no pall. The cofhns — if the frail boards nailed
together for the remains of paupers may be so called — are made by
contract, and furnished " at a very low figure." The paupers'
trench in a corner of the churchyard, which I visited, is a large
pit, the yawning aperture about twenty feet square. The dead are
deposited in layers, and over each coffin a little earth is thinly
scattered, just sufficient to conceal the boards. The thickness of
m\. R. K. MADDEN. 23S
this covering of clay I found did uot amount to two inches over the
last tier of cofl&ns deposited there. A pauper who drives the cart,
and another who accompanies him to assist in taking the coffins
from that conveyance, and slipping them down into the trench, are
the only funeral attendants. It is very rare that any of the kith
or kin of a pauper accompany his remains to the grave, because
there are so many deaths, and so much difficulty in ascertaining
anything about the identity of such a multitude of paupers as those
amounting to half a hundred or more who die in a week, that it is
seldom anything is known of the deaths in the Poorhouse b}^ the
friends outside, if any there be left, until long after they have taken
place.
The Abbe Bergier, in his " Dictionnaire de Theologie" (Art.
funerailles. Tome 3, page 453), inveighs against the barbarity of the
Romans, as it is found exhibited in the contempt with which they
treated the poor and enslaved, who, dying without the means of
defraying the charges of funeral expenses, were buried like dogs.
This conduct of their's, he says : " Est une preuve de leur barbaric
et de leur sot orgueil, car quand on use de cruante envers des morts
on n,est pas dispose a mettre beaucoup d'humanite enver les vivans."
Ah ! good Abbe Bergier, what necessity would you have had for
ransacking the graves of the old Romans for evidences of barbarity
connected with the modes of disposing of the remains of the poor,
had you lived in our day and visited the Kilrusli Union !
" Nothing," says Charles Lamb, " tends more to keep up in the
imaginations of the poorest sort of peo])le a grievous horror of the
workhouses than the manner in which pauper funerals are con-
ducted in this metropolis."* This was said of pauper burials in
England, where still there is some semblance of respect for the
dead — some affectation of sympathy with the poor. But what
would Charles Lamb say of pauper burials in this Christian land
of ours if he witnessed one in the churchyard of Kilrush ?
- X."— (R. R. Madden).
P.S. — To have witnessed the scenes that have come in the way
of my o!)servation in Irish Poorliouses, and to have been silent,
would have been a crime, with something of the guilt of blood in it.
It cannot now be said in England that the horrors that have taken
place here have been totally ignored. It ought not to be said
here — " The crimes of this land are wafted with impunity on the
sea."
" Eunt 'ntis terrarum crimina velis I "
Of myself and my uini I will only say — I am not of the number
of those who are perpetually troubling public attention. I have no
* The Works of Charles Lamb — ♦* Letters on Burial Societies.'
254 MEMOiiis
applause to gain, no personal objects to promote, no feelings of re-
sentment to gratify, by taking the course I have done. I therefore
come forward without fear, with full confidence, and a strong faith
in the power of truth and God's protection for it, and denounce
acts which appear to me to be great crimes against humanity.
February 7th, 1851. ''X."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SUBSEQUE^'TLY PUBLISHED WORKS. — VISIT TO PAKIS. INTERVIEW
WITH DE LAMENAIS IN 1852.
Dr. Madden's first work after his return from Australia was a
volume of poetry, original and selected, which he edited, entitled
— The Easter Offering ; Memorials of those Who Were, and are
Not," published by Duffy, Dublin, 1851, and posthumously re-
printed in 1887. "At this festive time of Easter," observes the
editor, " it is not fit we should ' shroud and pall' our thoughts in
solenni gloom ; neither is it meet, in the midst of its festivities, we
should forget those we loved or honoured, who were in life and
health perhaps when we last celebrated this festival, or that which
preceded it, and who now are dwellers in the narrow house — the
long last home of all humanity ! The object of this little work is
to solace the feehngs of those who have sustained losses of beloved
friends, to enliven the only hopes that can reconcile us to a separ-
ation from our dead. The remembrance of Easter is associated in
every Christian land with ideas of immortality, triumph, and ex-
ultation. There are many, however, for whom the recurrence of
this festival is fraught with mournful reminiscences, to whom the
spirit-stirring tones of the Paschal hymn will be as the harmony of
mingled strains of hope and sorrow. The pieces of poetry collected
in this volume are of a character suitable to the reflections of such
persons. They may serve to shew how others have been affected
by the shafts of death that pierced those nearest and dearest to
them — how they endeavoured to moderate the pain of loss and sepa-
ration in communing with the shadows of the dead and how they
sought consolation in thus clothing in living verse, their conceptions
of departed worth and excellence."
In 1852 our author brought out, in two large octavo volumes,
T/ie Shrines and Sepulchres of the Old and New World, pub-
lished by T. C. Newby, London. Of this work one of the reviews
of the time observed : —
DR. B. S. MADDEN. 255
" It required an amount of curious and protracted study for
which few possess aptness or opportunity, and a knowledge of
strange countries which perhaps no one in Europe has combined of
an equal extent with Dr. Madden, to undertake a work such to
that before us, and, when undertaken, to ensure such success in it
as our author has attained. Nothing that could have thrown light
upon the singular and interesting subject of his researches seems
to have escaped his attention. He quotes books which none but
the most industrious of the learned would have discovered ; and at
the same time, it is quite evident that nothing on these subjects
that has issued from the press, of recent years, is unknown to him.
As a pilgrim of many wanderings — a thoughtful and enlightened
traveller who has visited almost every couutry on the globe, our
author's peculiar advantages for undertaking such a work as the
present are of still more importance to his readers than his im-
mense literary researches. Thus was the author prepared to write
about the Shrines and Sepulchres of the Old and Neiv World ;
and to collect into a single work all that it is most interesting to
know about the monuments of the dead, and the sacred rites and
customs and popular superstitions connected with death, which
have distinguished all the principal nations of ancient and modern
times. This work, in line, may be described as one of the most
curious and interesting tbat has issued from the press in these
countries for a long while past."
In the subject matter of the volumes just referred to, as in some
of his earlier works, was evinced that reverence for the memorials
of the dead which was one of Dr. Madden's special traits, and which
in former years had led him to seduously search out and restore the
forgotten or neglected graves of the Sheares.* of Wolf Tone,
Anne Devlin, and of others connected with the Rebellion of '98, as
he did from sentiments akin to those delineated by the master hand
of Scott in his immortal portraiture of Old Morality. This zealous
veneration for the memory of ' Those who Were and are Not ' is well
reflected in the following lines —
* Copy of a Mcmoianclum by W. Powell of New-Row.—" On this day, the 18th January
1842, 1 accompanied Doctor Madden to St. Michans Church, Church-street, Dublin, where he
brought two oak cofiiiis, each containing a shell coffin and a lead coffin, which he had taken
down to the first vault on the south side of the Church, and the first cb amber on the right
hand side, where the remains of Henry and John Sheares, lay in shattered coffins, and he,
Dr. Madden, with his own hands, assisted in removing and placing the bones or dismembered
parts of each into new coffins, and the head of John Shearee, (particulars of which he describes
in his work of the United Irishmen), ^vMch he brought in a tin canister with lock and key, he
deposited in the coffin with John Sheare's remains, then had both coffins soldered ui>, and
breast plates with age, names, and day of death put upon them. The coffins are placed in
the upper end of said rhanTier on the right hand side. There is in the same chamber, the
remains of a Nun, a Miss Crooicshauk, as described in the work of Dr. Madden, the body is
partly whole, particularly from her thighs down, and from her head to shoulders." Mr.
Geraghty of Anglcsea-street was also present.— W. Powell."
The writer of the above Memorandum, Mr William Powell, a relative of Dr. Madden's, was
at that time a well-knowu Catholic publisher in Dublin.
MEMOIRS
:.IEiIOPJALS OF THE I;EAD.
'Tis not alone in " hallowed ground,"
At every step we tread,
■jli'lrl t<.;nLs and sepulchres arc found
• Memorials of the dead.
'Tis not in sacred shrines alone,
Or trophies proudly spread,
On old Cathedral walls are shown
Memorials of the dead.
Emblems of fame surmounting death,
Of war and carnage dread —
They were not in times of Faith,
Memorials of the dead.
From marble bust and pictured traits
The Jiving looks recede,
Thej' fade away — so frail are these
Memorials of the dead.
On mural slabs, names loved of yore
Can now be scarcely read :
A few brief years have left no more
^lemorials of the dead.
Save those which pass from si-rc to son,
Traditions that are bred
In the heart's core, and make thtir own
Memorials of the dead. R. R. M.
In August 1859, Dr. Madden had occasion, in connexion with
family affairs, to revisit Paris, Avhere he then renewed his acquaint-
ance with Berauger and deLamenais. " On the 16th August 1852,
he called on his old friend the Ahbe de Lamenais at his apartments,
18, Rue de Montpelier. Lamenais spoke of the then recent coup
d'etat and of Louis Napoleon in a. tone of sarcastic })ersi9age, and
of the failuro of the constitutional sj^stem and downfall of the party
he had been allied with, in tones of bitter irony. When his visitor
said that for half a century perhaps the military absolute regime
would exist, Lamenais shrugged his shoulders, and said — ' Non
Monsieur : les hommes de la revolution sent abattus mais la revo-
lution ; C'est a dire I'Empire des opinions liberales marchent et
fout de progres toujours. Louis Napoleon a fait son coup, et son
canaille a prohte de son succes. Que voulez vous? Louis Napoleon
n'est pas ni bon ni mal, il n'aime ni la bon ni la mal, il n'aime que
soit maime.' " On the 15th August 1852, Dr. Madden also visited
his friend Eeranger at his residence, 15, Avenue de Byron, and has
left a long and interesting account of Beranger's views on the then
recent coup cVetat and the future political prospects of France,
which have been strangely verified by subsequent events. The full
notes of that interview, however, are too extensive for insertion here.
DS. E. E. MADDEN. 257
CHAPTER XXXIV.
NOTICE OF SOME OTHER OF DR. MADDEN's LATER WORKS.
The literary industry of the subject of these memoirs was illus-
trated by the publication, only a year after the book last referred to,
of the Life and Times of Savonarola, in two vols. (Newby, Lon-
don, 1853), which has been characterised by The Times, (February
8th, 1886), as its author's " best work as to style and historical
interest, and that which appeals to the largest class of readers."
A short extract from the introduction to this scarce, and largely
plundered w'ork may serve to illustrate its scope and object : —
" There was a monk in Florence at the close of the fifteenth
century who was of opinion that the mortal enemy of Christ's
Gospel, in all ages of the world, was mammon ; that the interests
of religion were alhed with those of liberty ; and that the arts were
the handmaids of both, of a Divine origin, and given to earth for
purposes that tended to spiritualize humanity. Men of all creeds
who beheve in Christianity have an interest in the life and labours
of this monk — Girolama Savonarola, of Ferrara. It was attempted
in the days of Savonarola, and has been tried in our own, to give
this illustrious Dominican the character of a mere demagogue, an
enthusiast, a visionary. Such representations have been made by
writers that almost worshipped the Medici for substituting Platonism
for Christianity, and but slightly acquainted with the science of the
saints, having no sympathies with a Gospel preached by holy men,
who sympathized with the poor and the oppressed in their times,
and denounced hypocrisy, cupidity, and mipiety in high places.
The life of Savonarola can only be written by a member of the
Church, for the restoration of which the great Italian Eeformer of
the fifteenth century in the true spirit of an apostle — laboured,
preached, prayed, struggled, and died an heroic death. It can only
be written by one who, believing in his religion, discriminates be-
tween things appertaining to the Court, and the tenets, that cannot
be impugned, of the Church of Rome, and who thinks the interests
of truth and justice must not be sacrificed for any purpose what-
ever. The writer of that life should pray to be preserved from con-
founding reform with revolution ; from mistaking enthusiasm for
piety ; the great virtues of individuals for the intrinsic merits of
the cause they champion, or the vices of rulers, for inherent de-
fects in the constitution of a Government. He must be careful
not to involve the tenets of religion in the contumely arising from
any disorders of its ministers. In this book Savonarola's life hasj
18
258 MEMOIRS
as far as possible been elucidated by the light of his own words
and works. The possession of a large collection of his writings (now
of great rarity), enables the present biographer to thus make
Savonarola the exponent of his own opinions, the reporter of his
own labours for the restoration of religion and the salvation of souls.
For the sake of truth and justice, which conduce more than all
things in this world to the honour and glory of God and to the
good of true religion, this life of Savonarola has been undertaken,
with a strong conviction on the mind of the author that, to do
justice to it, would be to render a service to his faith, and to huma-
nity at large.
Dublin, 1st Jauuary 1853.
As already observed, the value of this life of Savonarola is
attested not only by the commendations of the writer's erudition
and successful treatment of a subject so difficult by nearly all the
leading reviews and literary periodicals of that day, but still more
by the very unsparing and unscrupulous use that has been since
made of the labour and research devoted to its production. These
volumes were dedicated to Mr. Gladstone, from whom the following
letter may be here appended : —
Downing-street, August 14, 1853.
Dear Sir, — I was agreeably surprised by finding through your kind present
which reached me yesterday, that you had published a work promising to
be of the greatest interest on the subject of Savonarola's Life and Times,
and that you had done me the high honour of inscribing it to me. I have
ever regarded the history of that remarkable man as having received, at
least in our day and country, much less of attention than it deserved by
their intrinsic greatness, by their connexion with a most critical period in
the fortunes of our religion and race, and by their bearings on the greatest
and deepest question of the present day. We may not all view these
questions from precisely the same standing ground ; but what I have
already read of your book, and at this comparatively favourable season I
hope soon to complete a regular perusal of it, warrants my anticipating that
I shall derive from so comprehensive and earnest an inquiry no less of in-
struction than of pleasure.
I remain, dear sir,
W. E. Gladstone.
R. E. Madden, Esq., M.R.I. A.
Two years subsequently Dr. Madden brought out in three
volumes. The Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of
Blessington, published by Newby, London, 1855.
" The task I have undertaken," says the author, "is to illustrate
the literary life of Lady Blessington, and her acquaintance with the
literary men and artists of England and foreign countries. It is
not necessary for me here at least to enter at large into her early
history, though with one exception, I am probably better acquainted
>Yith it than any other person now living. The whole of that history
DR. B. R. MADDEN. 259
was communicated to me by Lady Blessington, I believe with a con-
viction that it might be confided to me with safety, and perhaps
with advantage at some future time to her memory I
hope in one particular at least it will be found I have endeavoured
to follow, even at an humble distance, the example of Scott's
biographer in placing before my readers the subject of my work in
a life-like, truthful manner, as she was before the public, in her
works and in her saloons, and also in her private relations towards
her friends and relatives." The best proof of the successful man-
ner in which he availed himself of the vast mass of documents
and letters of many distinguished persons entrusted to him for
this pui*pose, is afforded by the eulogistic reviews which the
Life of Lady Blessington received, and from the great success
of the work, which, though published at a high price, rapidly passed
through successive editions. Lady Blessington' s Life was followed
by a work of a graver and longer enduring interest than the more
popular memoirs of that whildom centre of English social and
literary life, viz., Phantasmata ; or, Illusio7is and Fanaticisms of
Protean Form productive of Great Evils, which, in two volumes
was published in 1857. —
" In this work," observes an Edinburgh reviewer, July 1858,
" Dr. Madden has given us a laborious yet popular view of the
various epidemic manias that raged in Europe during the middle ages.
It is a strange weird subject, profoundly interesting as a chapter of
the mental history of our race, affording many important warnings.
Dr.. Madden treats it chiefly as a physician, tracing its connection
with the more familiar forms of insanity, yet being also a litterateur,
he has not neglected to present it in such a manner as to attract the
ordinary reader . . . The Author's notice of the strange career of
Jeanne U Arc is one of the fullest and most interesting we have as
yet encountered, and cannot be so well condensed as the foregoing
notices that we have here abstracted from those pages to afford some
glances at a series of strange historiettes which our readers will find
in full and interesting detail in Dr. Madden's book. We close these
volumes of our learned author with thanks for his bringing so many
curious matters into a regular and acceptable form."
23, Westbourue Terrace,
March 8, 1857.
My dear Madden, — Very many thanks for your valuable present, and for
the kind note which accompanied it. I have read much of the book already.
I respect (I should almost hazard the phrase I love) the spirit in which it is
written, and the justice which has evidently prompted it. As in your
Savonarola, so in this book you are doing wisely and kindly (and I doubt
18 •
960 MEMOIRS
not acceptable to the Supreme Judge), in showing forth to the world, as a
member of the Catholic Church of Rome indeed, but with words which
speak to all Churches and to all Christian men, some of the sources of their
reciprocal misapprehensions, and of the hard thoughts and sayings to which
these give birth. It is no little thing for the Protestant world to discover
that a man who lives in heartfelt union and commuuiou wita your Church
can cherish such mental freedom, and give such free utterance to it. Though
I am too old to see it, and though even in your time it will hardly be visible,
yet there will I trust and believe come at length a day when " all who
profess themselves Christians "will make a serious effort to discover how
far they have been hitherto mistaken about each other's opinions, how far
their disputes darkened the truth, and how far their mutual forbearance
and affection can render them all less impatient of the twilight. For what
we esteem to be so true, as if necessary to die for it is quite consistent with
the toleration which has both its root and fruit in the love of our Bedeemer
and His members on earth ; and in culturing such toleration, you are doubt-
less actmg in His spirit and according to His example. I doubt whether
you are not a little severe, even to the Duke of Bedford and the Archbishop
of Beauvais. I believe that each of them were profoundly of opinion that
this poor Maid of Orleans was an agent and emissary of Satan, and though you
and I are astounded both with their premises and with the practical in-
ference which they deduced from them, I doubt whether, if we had lived
400 years ago, your candor and my caution would not have misled each of us
to adopt their conclusions. I am exceedingly glad to- have been spared the
trial. The subject of each of your two last books has been admirably
chosen. In the execution of them — so far as I have quahfied myself to
form an opinion — it has been your misfortune to give readers credit for too
much knowledge, and of the two I would rather have you descend to the
level of the multitude than rise to that of the aseendaney. Forgive this
much of criticism which imputes to you some share of fahbihty.
Ever yours.
James Stephens.
In February, 1858, with his friend and relative, the late Mr.
James Murphy of Mount Merrion, Dr. Madden, paid a brief visit to
the south of Spain, his surviving son, threatened with pulmonary
disease, having been ordered to winter in Malaga. On their way
through Paris, a pilgrimage to the place where was educated his
eldest boy, the memory of whose loss was ever present to the last
moment of bis father's life, called forth the following lines —
LINES
WBITTEN IN VERSAILLES IN 1858. *
Not all of him is lost ! In memory
The vision of his youth appears to me ;
An angel's visit, that recalls the past
With all its joys, too exquisite to last !
A momentary spark — a flash of light —
A shooting star, as transient and as bright !
But all of him in death, that seem'd was lost,
Exists on high, to be regain'd, I trust.
♦Written ten years after the decease of ray beloved son, William Forde Madden,on revisiting the
College Iraperiftie of Versailles, ^here he Tvas educated.— 06 Jt,29th March, 1848, cetat, 18, r.i.p.
DR. R. E. MADDEN. 261
GHAPTEE XXXV.
LIFE AND WOKK FROM 1850 TO '67.
In 1861, again accompanied by the writer of these lines, then a
young traveller in ^^iirsiiit of health, Dr. Madden undertook his last
journey to the East, and after a short sojourn in Algiers and the
Riviera, once more visited the scenes of his early life in Egypt, an
account of which had been published a generation previously in his
first work — Travels in the East."
A year subsequently was brought out his history, in two vols., of
'• The Turkish Empire in its Relations with Christianity and Civil-
ization," which was fully reviewed in the leading periodicals of the
time, such as " The Quarterly," " British Quarterly," " National,"
and "Westminster" Reviews; "Spectator," " Observer," etc.
" The maintenance of the Mahommedan power in Europe," says
the Observe?', " by the Crimean war, cost Europe probably three
hundred millions of money and nearly five hundred thousand lives.
What, then, is this Turkey for which all this enormous expenditure
of blood and treasure was incurred ? It is with a view of answer-
ing this question that Dr. Madden has published the two volumes
before us 'I have no belief,' he says, ' in the probability of
any renovation or renewal of vital vigour in that Empire. Turkey,
so long as she is allowed to subsist by the mutual jealousies of the
five great Powers, will be able to repress revolts more or less tardily
as they are distant from the capital ; but as to defend her frontiers
against invasion or to push an army into an enemy's country, the
thing is impracticable.' The work affords abundant materials for
careful perusal, and may be studied with profit and advantage by
all who desire to make themselves thoroughly informed on the im-
portant and interestnig subjects with which it deals."
(From The Queen, 22nd March).
"It is no small pleasure to meet with a writer who is willing to
tell the truth irrespective of consequences, and who does not seek
to gloss over moral wrong under the specious pretext of political
necessity. We therefore hail the appearance of this book which
deals amply and dispassionately with Turkey under every aspect —
poHtical, moral, and social. Dr. Madden writes forcibly and brings to
his labours the experience acquired by a long residence in Turkey,
and the enhghtenment of a well instructed man, anxious for the
propagation of the truth."
(From the National Review).
" The Turkish Empire in its relations with Christianity and
Civihzation," is a valuable book.
262
MEMOIRS
(From the Liverpool Albion, *27th January 1869).
" With the history of the antagonism between Christians and
Mahommedans, no English writer is better acquainted than Dr.
Madden, whose thorough mastery of the subject has been gained
by nearly 40 years study of it, aided by residence in the East at
three widely separated periods. . . . His opinions are diametrically
opposed to the ideas upon which British policy towards Turkey has
been founded. Dr. Madden not only has no faith in the probability
of Ottoman regeneration, but believes that the continuance of Mos-
lem rule in that country is an unmitigated evil. Opinions will pro-
bably long continue to differ on that point, but no better materials
for their formation can be found than are contained in the present work. "
In the year above referred to, a distinguished writer, the
late Mr. Charles Dickens, allowed the pages of a periodical under
his control to become the medium of a calumnious attack on the
Jesuits, and then refused to give equal publicity to a prompt
refutation of that calumny. The article in question was pub-
lished in All the Year Round, on the 20th of July, and on the
97th of the same month it was answered by Dr. Madden in a
letter addressed to the editor of that paper, but which being denied
insertion there, appeared in the Dublin Quarterly Eevieiv for the
following month (August 1861). This reply was briefly as follows: —
" An article recently published in Mr. Dickens' periodical, Ah
the Year Round, has given large circulation to a mendacious work,
imputing to the members of the Society of Jesus and the rehgion
they profess, complicity in murder, robbery, perjury, prevarication,
sacrilege, cupidity, hypocrisy, and impiety in all its forms. This
terrible impeachment is made on the evidence of a code of instruc-
tions purporting to have been framed by the Jesuits for the govern-
ment of the Order of which Loyola was the founder, and which ne-
cessarily makes him an accessory to these crimes.
" The work referred to is a new English version of a Latin work
first printed in 1619. It was then stated to have been discovered
in Germany, and purported to be secret instructions of the Jesuits
for the use of the members of their Order. It was translated into
English and published by Compton, ' the acute and learned Bishop
of London,' in 1609, and having been again ' done into English'
recently in London, is now being extensively circulated. The per-
sons who have thus circulated this work could not possibly be ignor-
ant of its being spurious, and fabricated for malicious purposes, had
they made any critical inquiry into its origin, or had even given
any commonly careful attention to its perusal. Bayle, who cer-
tainly cannot be accused of any partiality in favour of this Order,
says : — " The fate of the Jesuits and that of Cataline are much
the same. Several accusations were given in against him without
DE. K, R. MADDEN. 263
any proof, but they met with credit on this general argument :
* Since he has done such a thing, he is very capable of having
done this, and it is very possible he has done the rest.' .... I can-
not thiok the rules of morality will allow of the making so ill a use
of pubhc prejudice." — Bayle, Diet. Crit. Art., Loyola, vol. iii, p.
892, 2nd ed. 1736
Some MSS. copies of this work were discriminated
in 1611, and from internal evidence the author appeared to have
been a Pole. The first printed copy appeared at Cracow in 1612.
Three years later it was condemned as an infamous and calumnious
forgery, by the Bishop of Cracow, Mgr. Tylchi, who was desirous
of instituting legal proceedings against the suspected author, Jerome
Tzaorowski, a former member of the Society of Jesus, who in
1611 had been turned out of the Society.
" In a very rare work in our possession, entitled ** Fasti Socie-
tatis Jesu Res et Personas Memorabiles Ejusdem Societis, opera et
studio Eev. P. Joannis Drews," (Praga 1750, p. 167), among the
occurrences of the year 1606, we find a record of the condemnation
by the Sacred Congregation of the Index, of the book entitled
" Monita Privata Societis Jesu," dated 10th May 1616, as 'falsely
attributed to the Jesuits, calumnious, and full of defamation.'
" About the same time this infamous book was proved to be a
forgery by several CathoHc writers, Jesuits and others, such as Adam
Fanner (Matthew Bembo), Gretser, and Aquaviva. In the ' Dizio-
nario degli anomimi e dei Pseudonimi,' tom. 3, the author Barbier,
no great admirer of the Jesuits, acknowledges that the ' Monita
Secreta ' is an apocryphal book ; a literary imposture devised and
executed by the enemies of the Jesuits, to calumniate and discredit
them.' ' Nevertheless, though nothing was wanting to the proofs
of the utter falsehood of the charge against the Jesuits as being
the authors, it continued to be re-published and read by Protestants
as a genuine Jesuit performance. It is most clearly proved that
the alleged original discovery of this MS. in the Jesuit College of
Paderborn in Westphalia, by the Duke Christian of Brunswick,
when he sacked that College, could not have been true, inasmuch
as the said sacking took place in 1692, and the book was printed
at Cracow ten years previously, and had been condemned at Rome
in 1616, six years before the ' original discovery ' of the work by
the Duke of I3runswick."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LATE MK. JOHN BRIGHT, ETC..
In 1866, the late Mr. John Bright visited Dublin, and ''being, says
Dr. Madden," a former fellow-labourer in the Anti-Slavery
cause, and having enjoyed the honour of his acquaintance for
264 MEMOIRS
thirty years' I called to pay my respects on the morning after
his arrival (October 20th, 1886), at the house of my good old friend
James Haughton, the well-known philantrophist, with whom he
was staying in Eccles-St. I was very kindly received by that
distinguished man, who, pre-eminent as he is for his genius, is still
more remarkable for his singleness of purpose and strength and
simplicity of mind. Mr. Bright did not lose much time in referring
to some points connected with the state of affairs in this country
which he proposed to deal with in his intended speech at the Ro-
tunda on the following day, and referred to the mauy difficulties of
his task, and more especially to three or four topics concerning
which he was pleased to desire my opinion. These included the
Irish Established Church as well as the land problem ; and the ques-
tion how far the actual condition of the people of Ireland was influen-
ced by the special circumstances of their race, education, and long
endurance of oppression or v;rong. In reply to Mr. Bright's questions
with regard to the supposed influence of the Celtic race, on Irish
politics and polemics, I did not believe, I said, in the possibility of the
continued existence of any distinct original race pure and un-
mixed in a country such as this, repeatedly overrun and peo-
pled by foreign conquerors. In Ireland the transfusion of the
Celtic with the Anglo-Norman and Saxon races had been going on
nearly seven centuries. I therefore had no faith in the doctrine
that ascribed all the virtues under heaven to a particular section of
our people in right of that supposed distinction, whether the claim was
set up by O'Connell for the Celtic, or by Lyndhurst for the Anglo-
Saxon race. At the same time I acknowledged that there was a pecu-
liar quality characteristic of the Celtic race, especially in Ireland,
namely, a recuperative power, a living principle of energy that rose
up unsubdued after every conflict with rapacious tyranny. Under
God, to that signal characteristic of the Celtic race (largely mixed
though this race had been in the course of 694 years of English
rule), the existence of the Irish people to the present day is
mainly to be attributed.
" The Irish people in our times have been somewhat hurt, I think,
by the extravagant enconiums on their intellectual and moral quali-
ties, by which their friends have sought to compensate for the calum-
nies of their detractors. It is quite impossible that any people
could be so reduced and kept in such an abject condition as the Irish
had been, without becoming deteriorated by the savagery of such a
regime. Moreover, the effects of slavery long survive the regime
itself. Nor is it even in forty years after emancipation has been
enacted that the vices engendered during many ages can be eradi-
cated. The vices of slavery, that are its peculiar ones, its only
weapons of defence, are servile sycophancy, and proneness to de-
ceive. Homer has truly said — " The day that robs a man of his
DR. E. K. MADDEN.
265
freedom deprives him of half his worth.' The bad quahties that
exist in the Irish people are not as Mr. Fronde, and other writers
of similar views in the Press seem to suppose— specially attributable
to their race or creed. ^ They are wholly and solely ascribable to seven
centuries of misrule." ^ ..t -d • i * -+1.
At this point I was obhged to take my leave of Mr. Bright, with
a determination that what I had left unsaid with regard to the two
other questions he had alluded to, I would withm a couple ot
hours communicate to him in writing. This I accordmgly did m
the following letter : —
(To John Bright, Esq., M.P.)
Dublin, Oct. 90th 1866.
My Dear Sir,— Our conversation was interrupted this morning
when I was making some reply to your inquiries respecting the stata
of affairs here. I think I need now make no apology to you lor
stating in writing that which then remained unsaid by me. With
reference first to your questions concerning the Estabhshed Church
in Ireland, I would venture to express my opinion that had it
pleased God to have permitted Irish Protestant Ascendancy, as
it is embodied in the Estabhshed Church, the gift of a high order
of inteUigence and a far-seeing, worldly wisdom, that estabhshment
of State privileged rapacity pretending to be a rehgious institution
would have been the most powerful hypocrisy that was ever planted
in the midst of civilization. But the Irish Estabhshed Church is
not far-seeing, wise, and prudent, not even commonly discreet
enough for the security of its own interests. It never was more
bent on forcing the pecuhar iniquities of its injustice on the pubhc
attention than it is at the present moment, and, m point ot lact, ot
compehing the thinking portion of the Enghsh people to come to
the conclusion that the existence of the Established Church m
Ireland is not only an intolerable grievance to the Komaii Cathohc
people of Ireland, but also a formidable danger to British imperial
power. Observe the singular openness as well as the miquity ot
its alliances >.ith Orangeism and proselytism. Keep m mmd the
present connexion of its dignitaries with the Orar^ge Institution.
Do not lose sight of the present Protestant Archbishop of Dubiin,
up to a very recent date in close alhance and pious amity mth the
late Lord Plunket, Bishop of Tuam, endorsing the statements ot
conversions, now proved to be enormously erroneous, of that man ot
a great name, and of a bad fame for Christian charity.
The third and last observation I have to trouble you with is the
^'^Irl'h^Wlordism, with the power for evil now conferred
on it, is by no means less degrading, less oppressive than
Turkish rule was at the period when I had personal experience
of that Power, immediately previous to the liberation trom
266 MEMOIRS
its yoke of the Greeks in the Morea and in the islands of the
Archipelago. Nothing short of the most comprehensive and
speedy measure of Tenant Eight Law. embracing the whole ques-
tion of legislation in regard to the tenure of land can meet its diffi-
culties aud its dangers. The Government should be urged to make
a further recognition of the importance and feasibility of creating,
on equitable terms of compensation, and payments by state aid, on
the vast estates now held by non-resident landlords, a class of peas-
ant proprietors who would furnish here, as elsewhere, the surest
guarantee for the future peace and welfare of the country. If such
measures be not passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the
law that united the Parliament of Ireland to that of England will
have to be considered with a more profound, calm, and earnest at-
tention than ever it has been heretofore considered with. And the
question will necessarily force itself on the minds of all just, right-
thinking people, of the absolute need of a Parliament in Ireland to
do that which a Parliament in England will not do for the vital in-
terests of this country. It will not do for the Imperial Legislature
to palter any more with these two vital questions. Either the
Irish Church Establishment must be totally abolished by it, or an
Irish restored Parliament will have to accomplish that object ;
either an English Parliament will have to legislate on the Irish
land question in a way that will put an immediate and effectual
check to emigration and eviction, or an Irish Parhament most as-
suredly will eventually have to save the people of Ireland in this dire
extremity to which it has been reduced by English legislation.
I am, my dear sir.
Very truly yours,
Richard Robert Madden.
(Letter from Mr. Bright).
Rochdale, 1st Nov. 1866.
My dear Sir, — I thank you for your letter of the 20th ult., and
for the book you kindly sent me.
After all you have written and I have said, I fear the. Irish ques-
tion will remain where it is until some calamity arouses the English
people and the terror of our ruling class. It is admitted by the
Press on both sides that there is almost universal discontent in
Ireland — such discontent as would welcome invasion from any quar-
ter. It is known that there is an Irish nation in America burning
to be avenged for its sufferings in the past, and that this element
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 967
of evil may bring about the calamity of war between England and
the United States. Should this occur, from any cause, there would
be an immediate rising in Ireland, and the consequences no man
can foresee.
I am very sad when I think of Ireland in connexion with the
ruling class in the United Kingdom. All fact and argument seem
to be thrown away upon it. Its Press is ignorant or vile, or both,
and it supports all the evil of the past and that now exists, and
condemns every honest proposition that might give a chance of a
better future.
If some opportunity occurs, I shall say something more on the
Irish Land Question. I may not be able to teach or to warn the
governing body or the people ; but I shall clear myself of any com-
plicity in what is done, and of any responsibility as to what may
occur.
I received much kindness whilst in Dublin, for which I am very
gi'ateful.
Bejieve me always sincerely yours,
John Bright.
R. R. Madden, Esq., Loan Fund Board, Dublin.
In the inception of the O'Connell memorial in Dublin, in which,
through the genius of Foley, the gratitude of an emancipated
people to their Liberator has been perpetuated, an early part was
taken by the subject of this memoir. The history of the origin of
that monument in the trilling surplus remaining after the comple-
tion of a statue to O'Connell in Ennis, has been sketched by the
Very Rev. Canon O'Hanlon in his interesting " Report of the
O'Connell Monument Committee," Dublin, 1888.
" Much about the same time," says Canon O'Hanlon, " the dis-
tinguished and patriotic Irishman, Dr. R. R. Madden, then residing
at Dalkey, held communication with Dr. Gray on this subject, and
the fortuitous circumstance of procuring more than Mr. Considine
required (for the Ennis Monument) was availed of to commence
another good work. An evening was named by Dr. Madden for a
dinner party, and a number of influential gentlemen, who were
known to be the former friends and associates of Ireland's illus-
268 MEMOIRS
trious champion, were invited to meet Dr. Gray. Several guests
specially selected for the object held in view, were there assembled.
Distinguished amongst them was Patrick Vincent Fitzpatrick, the
former organizer and treasurer of the O'Connell National Tribute.
His experience and assistance were availed of and very readily
tendered. The plan of operations was considered, discussed, and
finally resolved on, that Sunday evening before the party separated.
At that time the project was a secret to the general public, and at
a late hour Dr. Gray reached the Freeman's Journal office to pre-
pare an article announcing that the subscription for the Ennis
Monument to O'Connell should close on the following day. On
Monday, the 22nd September 1869, a first and stirring appeal was
made by Dr. Gray through the medium of the Freeman's Journal
for funds to raise a National Monument in honour of O'Connell,
and on a site most suitable for the purpose." Fu'port, p. xiii.
A few days previously, however, to the date referred to Dr.
Madden had published the following appeal for the completion of
the O'Connell Memorial in Glasnevin, designed by Petrie : —
(To the Editor of the Freeman).
9, Great Denmark- St., Dublin.
19th September 1862.
Dear Sir, — I beg leave to trouble you with my subscription
towards the completion of the monument to O'Connell's memory in
Ennis. I am not of opinion that O'Connell's services to his country-
men are forgotten, or in danger of being forgotten by them. Pro-
bably they will be better appreciated in fifty years to come than
they apparently are at the present day, not only by his compatriots,
but also by every enlightened Englishman, and that both people
will unite in honouring the memory of a man who had rid the sta-
tute book of their land from the infamy and disgrace of the most
barbarous legislation that ever stigmatized the character and insti-
tutions of any christian land — the penal code. I know very well,
however, how ephemeral in all lands popularity is, how evanescent
public gratitude is at all times, and how often intentions to demon-
strate by public monuments admiration for benefactors of their
country, have either never been carried into effect or only partially
accomplished, and ultimately lost sight of altogether. The appli-
cation of these remarks is to the still uncompleted monument to
O'Connell in Glasnevin. Soon after O'Connell's remains were re-
moved to Ireland a committee was formed, and it was determined
DK. K. K. MADDEN. 200
to apply to Dr. Petrie, an artist as well as an antiquary of tlio
highest character, for plans and designs for a suitable monument.
These plans were prepared in an elaborate manner and accepted by
the committee. They ordered a model of the proposed memorial,
and this was accordingly made by a very competent person, Mr.
O'Brien, under the supervision of Dr. Petrie. A distinguished
Enghshman, renowned in science, Sir R Murchison, having seen
this design, said — ' This monument, when all its details are carried
out, w^ill not only be the fittest memorial for O'Connell, but one ol
the finest specimeus of Christian monumental art in existence.'
Alas, it has not been completed. You, my dear sir, have done one
good work in your recent effort for the O'Connell statue in Clare,
do another and a better service still. Call on the people of Ireland
to complete the monument to O'Connell's memory in this city.
Yours very faithfully,
R. R. Madden.
CHAPTER XXXVIL
DR. MADDEN 8 LAST PUBLISHED WOKKS AND COREESPONDENCE.
In 1863 was published Dr. Madden's work on " Galileo and the
Inquisition," in which he refuted, from authentic original sources,
viz., letters of Galileo and his co-temporaries,and the records of the
proceedings against Galileo never previously published in this
country, the hitherto generally accepted statements that Galileo
had been " ill-treated by the Roman Court, or put to the torture
by the Inquisition for promulgating a great scientific discovery."
In this work was, moreover, proved that upwards of a century
before the birth of Galileo (in 1562), the motion of the earth and
the heHocentric system were theories that found acceptance at the
hands of the most eminent Roman ecclesiastics, Cardinals, and
Popes.
In 1865 a new series of the same waiter's Historical Notice of
the Penal Laics against lioman Catholics was published by Messrs.
Richardson of London. This continuation of Dr. Madden's former
work thereon included a full account of tHe operation and relaxation
of that code during the past century, and of the partial measures
of relief from those infamous enactments in 1779, '82, '98, and
1829. In it, moreover, may be found a detailed notice of the
vestiges of the penal law system which still remain unrepealed, or
J^70 MEMOIRS
that have even been rendered more stringent by the latest
Emancipation Act. In the following year, 186«, the last of
the many works published by Dr. Madden, viz., The History
of Irish Periodical Literature, appeared, and the termination
of his literary career as au author was characterised by no
less erudition than is evinced in his earlier writings, and, like
others of them, was devoted to a most interesting portion of Irish
historical literature. This book was intended to be brought out in
three volumes published separately, but of these only two appeared,
the materials completed for the third being sold at the dispersion of
the writer's library after his death twenty years subsequently. The
book referred to was thus described at the time of its publication : —
" This History of Irish Periodical Literature, the result of ar-
duous labour and research for the past live years, is not a mere
catalogue of names, dates, and compendious characteristics of news-
papers and magazines, gleaned from published lists, but an original
and extensive Treatise, illustrative of the origin, scope, j^rogress,
and design of newspapers, magazines, and periodical miscellanies
of all kinds worthy of notice, that have been published in Ireland
from the latter part of the seventeenth, to the middle of the nine-
teenth century.
" The importance of such a work, executed with due care, truth-
fulness, and impartiahty, must be obvious to aU by whom reliable
knowledge is desired on subjects of great pith and moment, that
have engaged public attention in Ireland during a period of nearly
two centuries. It abounds with biographical notices of Irish period-
ical originators, contributors, and editors, remarkable for their
position, influence, ability, or eccentricity, of past or recent times.
" No work of this kind has heretofore been pubhshed in Ireland.
It could only have been attempted with any prospect of success,
and successfully executed, by one who was prepared to make great
sacrifices of time, labour, and money, for the acquisition of the
materials essentially requisite for the accomplishment of such a
task. It could only be done effectually, and completed in the
period above referred to, by one who had not only a very extensive
library of his own at command, but, moreover, an extensive know-
ledge of Irish history, previously acquired in the pursuit of know-
ledge bearing on analogous subjects of grave interest, at some of
the most stirring periods of Irish history. The character of this
work may be set forth in a few words : it has been written, not for
the sake of serving any purpose, political or polemical, or pecuniary,
but of promoting the interests of truth, and its objects in relation
to a very important and long-neglected portion of Irish literature."
On the 24th of May 1867, an influential deputation who waited
on the Lord Lieutenant, the late Duke of Abercorn, had been in-
formed that the sentence pronounced on the then recently convicted
DK. R. r« MADDEN. 3fl
Fenian prisoners could not be commutec]. and a day later, in reply to a
most forcible appeal for mercy, from tb late Mr. James Haugliton,
His Excellency expressed his deep regret that he could " hold out no
hope that the sentence passed on Burke could be remitted." Neverthe-
less, the memorials for clemency proved successful, and to this result
the part taken by Mr. Haughton, and also by Dr. Madden in the fol-
lowing appeal to the Prime Minister were unquestionably contributary.
(To the Right Hon. the Earl of Derby).
Ballygihen-avenue, Kingstown, Co. Dublin.
25th May 1867.
My Lord, — In taking the great liberty of addressing your Lord-
ship in reference to the memorial for a commutation of the sentence
pronounced on the political prisoners recently tried in this city, I am
influenced mainly by the following consideration : — The infliction of
capital punishment has never fulfilled the expectation of those who
have had recourse to that means of removing discontent and repress-
ing insurrection in Ireland at least. For one msurgent whom the
Government makes, as it thinks, the victim of the outraged laws of
his country, and as the mass of people think the martyr of its cause,
hundreds, nay thousands of sympathisers will be at once raised up,
and at the expiration of upwards of three score years — referring for
example to the insurrectionary movement of Ptobert Emmet in 1803 —
millions even may be found imbued with feelings of commiseration
for that rash, and ill-fated young man whom they look on as a martyr,
and of repugnance to the power that consigned him to the gallows,
•-h * -K- * * ^''
That consideration I would humbly venture to submit might
well at this present moment probably conduce towards influencing
your Lordship in favour of the extension of Her Majesty's gracious
clemency to Burke and the other prisoners now under sentence of
death for an offence, which, however grave in its legal aspects and
consequences, was essentiaUy political in its nature.
-^: =1= * * * *
The remission of that awful penalty in these cases would, I am well
con\'inced, redound more to the enduring honour of your Lordship's
name, than can be conceived by any person who is not intimately
acquainted, not only with the present state of things in Ireland,
but with that of the past, and its doleful history of periodical abor-
tive insurrections, and those subsequent too frequent expiations of
them on the gallows, that have certainly had no advantageous result
or any power of repression. I believe, moreover, that at this
moment the carrying into effect of the merciful and wise
course above referred to, would tend not less to promote the true
272 MEMOIRS
and permanent interests of the Imperial Government in Ireland,
but even those higher interests of justice, and humanity,
which are the essentials of all true civilization, and though last, not
least, the high estimation in which the best of English sovereigns,
our precious gracious Queen is held.
The resume of the preceding observations is embodied in
the following declaration, made towards the end — as in the
course of nature I must expect — of a long career, and, I may
add, of a very varied one, fraught with very large experience — " I
solemnly declare that I beheve most tirmly it is not necessary, ex-
pedient, politic, or advantageous to the interest of society, humanity,
justice, and civilization to take away human life ; and that all such
interests would be best served by withholding the sanction of the
law from the power exercised by men in authority over the lives of
their fellow -creatures on any plea or pretext whatsoever, or pretence
of using that power for the vindication of justice or in atonement of
any wrong or outrage."
My Lord, I am an old man, verging on my seventieth year. I
have had abundance of experience derived from observation of the
vanity and unprofitableness of engagements in politics or polemics,
in the strife of factions, and the far worse calamities of civil wars
and commotions, and I confess, knowing as I do, the sanguinary
feelings that have prevailed in this country, even in classes where
they might least be expected to be found, where education and
civihzing influences ought to have pi;oduced very different results,
that I now feel the most extreme terror at the prospect of recourse to
measures which, if they • do not prove the inauguration of a new
regime of blood Uke that of 1798 in Ireland, will be so construed by
millions of people in this country and in America. And, moreover,
that construction may probably do more permanent mischief to the
character of British rule, and to the condition of all classes in this
country than they ever before received. You have the power, my lord,
of averting those great evils, and I do not doubt the inclination.
That 60 it may be now proved is the most earnest prayer oi
Your Lordship's very obedient humble servant,
RiCHABD Robert Madden.
On several occasions my father was urged to publish his recollec-
tions of the remarkable events and persons that he had been ac*
quaiuted with during the course of his varied career in many lands.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 973
The materials for this record were more than once commenced and
abandoned, and their character may be gathered from the fragments
which an attempt has l)een made to wekl together in tlie pre-
ceding pages. One of those by whom this work was suggested was
his old and valued friend. Mr. James Murphy, of Cork, a man of
similar tastes, well known as a scholar and collector of old books.
Thus, in one of his letters on tliis subject the latter writes :
City Club, Cork,
15th October 1870.
My dear Doctor, — More than once have I hinted to you that you
should give us •' Reminiscences of R. l\. Madden." What a treat
the book would be to ymir hiends : liow interesting to literary men,
and others like myself, would be your recollections of travel, inter-
spersed witli anecdotes, your intercourse with persons of note in
foreign lands as well as at liome, during the last forty years or up-
wards. Your friend Newby would guarantee a large sale of the
work in England, Ireland. America, and the Antipodes, if brought
out like Hennj Crabhe Uobimon's Diarj/, dc, (3 vols. 8vo.).
which I have just been reading. Have you read this book '? If not,
you have a treat in store. He was one of Lady Blessington's
favourites, and gives interesting particulars of the soirees and per-
sons he met at Gore House. Providence was very kind to him and
kept his briiin and nerves intact until the ripe old bachelor closed
his career in 1807, aged 01. It is one of the most interesting books
I have come across for a long time, and I thought of yourself many
times while reading it. Sliould you act as I fondly wish, you bave
the advantages of the clear intellect and talents of your own dear
cara sposa to assist you in the memorial, and freshen up bygone
events, — an '•Amanuensis" of incalculable value. What pleasure
it would give mo to bear you liad this resolution " in your mind's
eye, Horatio."
Last week I sent you a newspaper giving an account of some
Cork newspapers of old dates which may interest you. How is
our friend McCarthy getting on in London '.' I have a great regard
for him and his fam'ily, and would be glad to hear he got some berth
from Government and became a fixture.
Does not vour heart shudder at the war in France ? There is a
cold chill upon me every day I look at tbo telegrams, when I tbink
how the Prussians will act." When they get into Paris, very little
respect they will pay to the treasures of the Louvre, and the books
of the •' Bibliothequelmperiale," now packed in cellars under sand-
bags, impervious to bombshells, but not so to plundering soldiers.
Pio'rne, too ; what a contrast from my late visit to the Eternal City I
i9
274 MEMOIRS
II ow sad to think of the present position of the Holy Father —
under the heel of his enemies. What a spectacle to all enemies of
Catholicism over the world !
1 hope Tom and his amiable \Yife and children are quite well ;
they will never be happier than I wish them. Let me hear from
you very soon ; and with my warmest regards to Mrs. Madden,
Believe me, my dear Doctor,
Very aHectionately yours,
James Murphy.
3, Vernon-terrace, Booterstown,
20th October 1870.
My dear Murphy, — I take it as a very kind act your renewed
suggestion in re the putting together of tlie reminiscences of an old
wanderer in many lands, and '* picker up of unconsidered trifles "
in many libraries. The lirst suggestion made no deep impression,
but not so the second. There was a heartiness in the persuasion
of it that I found irresistible. So Deo volente, you may yet have
my reminiscences of all the strange passages in my life in strange
lands in the course of the past half century, for my amblings and
ramblings in foreign countries commenced in the year 1820. My
communings with people savage and civilized, my knocldngs against
queer people, celebrities of all kinds, good, bad, and indiftercnt ;
my indulgencies in boolvish habits and pursuits in libraries, foreign
and domestic, will be set down in order for publication : and if God
be pleased to add two years more to my present stock of seventy-two
summers, not to say anything of the v.inters, the reminiscences of the
poor old man, who is proud to call himself your friend, may yet see
the light of day in print.- If so, and if, moreover, this work should be
damned, strike your breast contritely three times and say in your
most solemn Corkonian tones — " Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxi-
ma culpa ! "
I have been very busy for several days past, or your kind letter
would not have remained some days unacknowledged. I am a
worker behind the scenes occasionall}^ in grand emergencies when
things of a public kind are not doing that which ought to be done.
You may have seen an admirable letter of Lord Granard suggesting
meetings, &c., with reference to Roman afiairs and the outrages on
the Pontiff. It fell on the leading Liberal Catholics truly as a dead
letter. I think I will send you copies of some of my correspondence in
this matter to read — but mind to return them. I also enclose some
reflexions of mine on " the almighty smash " of Louis Napoleon,
published in the Eveni7ifi Post.
DR. R. R. MADDEN. 273
Mrs. Madden joins in kind regards, and so would jour old friend
Tom if be knew I were writing.
Yours, my dear Murphy,
Ever faithfully,
R. R. Madden.*
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
RETrEE>rF,NT FI'.OM LOAN FUND BOARD, 1880.
In the spring of 1880 Dr. Madden feit warned by the inereasiiig
burden of the eighty-one years during which he had earned his
bread, — " sudor mentis," — that the hour hud at length arrive;! for
a brief respite from the labours of a busy life, in preparation for
the fast approaching call from time to eternity. Accordingly, in
March 1880, he placed Ids resignation as Secretary of the Loan
Fund Board in the ii.mds of the authorities. This was thus no-
ticed in the VreenuDCs Journal of Satuiday, March 20th, 1880 :—
" After a long and faithful service of nearly forty years, Dr. R.
R. Madden has resigned the office of Secretary to the Loan Fund
Board in Dublin Castle. He resigns the office simply because the
weight of years and work is pressing too heavily upon him. and
that he does not care to accept remuneration for enfragemeiits
which he deems that he can 7io longer fulhl, as he has so long and so
well done up to the present day. There is no need of our saying a
single word in recognition of Dr. Madden's public and personal worth.
Of few men could it be said with more perfect truth, that in private
life he has received for himself, by his kindly and genial ways, love
and honour, and troops of friends. In public life, he has
earned imperishable renown by his valuable researches into a
period of Irish history around which so many associations and tra-
• The work referred to in the foregoing letter was never completed, but amongst the volu-
minous papers found after Dr. Madden's death, were some showing that a similar work had
been previously contemplated by him. Only the preface and some fragments of this
volume now remain, and of these the former may be found in the Appendix. The title of
the proposed volume was— " Til OUGHTS AND INCIDENTS— Traces of the Footprints of
Travel in Many Lands, in Ancient Lore und Regions of Research, Abounding in Imperfect
or lU-Uemembered Records of Remarkable Persons and Events ; Miscellaneous Notes and
Sketches, ffistoric.il, Bioc^'raphical, and Literarj-. By Richard Robert Madden, M.R.I.A.,
Mem. Grem. Liter. Lis!). ; Mem. Soc. Scien. Med., Lisb., fitc." Vol. I.
" [ have passed manye lamles and manye yies and contrees, and cherched manye fu'le
straunge places, and have ben in manye a iulle gode honourable companye. Now I am coraen
home to restc. And thus recordynge the tyme passed. I have fulfilled these thyngs and put
them wrvten in this boko, as it would come into my mynde,"— -S'lV John MaundevUle.
19 *
70 MEMOIRS
ilitioiis are encircled. In all that he has written he has proved
Irisli to the core, and has shown his sympathy with every legiti-
mate national aspiration. Now that he is withdrawing into com-
parative retirement, we are sure that we hut speak a universal feel-
ing in hoping that he may have yet hefore him many years of health
and happiness, and that it may he long before there shall he oc-
casion to write of him with more detail than in the few brief sen-
tences we have just now printed."
After his retirement, Dr. Madden occupie*! his time chiefly in
literary pursuits, works of piety and benevolence, and, as he ex-
picsse'd it. — '• Coyiniiunin;/ with the sharlon's of the Dead.''
" My dfiys amoDg the dead are pass'd,
Armmd me I i)ehold
Wliereer these old grey eyes are cast,
The frieuds I lov'd of old/' — Colcridtjc.
An old man's friendless days are dreary
His sleepless nights, 'tis said,
Some solace find, liowever weary,
Communing with the dead.
Portraits of dear departed frieuds
Are had to meet his gaze :
Kemembrance of them thus extends
The light of other days.
Dear, never-failing friends are they
Whose traits these prints recall.
With wliom I mingle, night and day,
In tlumght with one and all.
Conversing with the shadows here
Of the lov'd dead, I find
Has something in it — serves to cheer
And soothe the saddened mind.
Around me features T behold
I look'd on in my youth.
In manhood and old age— now coJd
In death, still lov'd, in sooth.
A little more, and I shall be
Of time that's past and gone —
Recall'd, perhaps, by some, like mo—
Live in the Past alone.
Tis better thus to live, indeed
In any land ill-fated,
Than in the present, and take heed
Of wrongs unmitigated.
Dn. K. R. MADDtiN. • 277
Y(4 in tlie Past, soliv.: should we,
Ourmaiu desire would prove
Our future lite with God might be
And those dear frieuds we love !
3 rcrnoii-icnacc, I>ooter.-<toini, June 1-, 1873.
R. R. M.
At the same time, nothing gave the uhl man more pleabure than
to see, as long as possible, the few surviving friends of earlier days
around his table, except it were the society of his family and grand-
children—and ])erhaps more esitecially of the youngest of these,
a singularly bright, winning, and gifted little girl named I>eda,-i=
whose early call from earth to heaven, in her seventh year, on the
11th June 1S8-2. left a great blank in that small world of whieJi she
was the brightest sunbeam. Indeed, throughout life. Dr. iMadtkn
always eiitertniufd a great sentinu^nt of affection — nay, even rever-
ence— for children, by whom he, in turn, was as generally beloved,
for, as lie wrote in some of his latest lines —
•• There is sometliiiig iu the artless smiles
Of youth, their wiuuiug ways and wiles,
Their joyous iunoeeuce and freaks,
That even of the aged seeks
The notice ; and it almost seems
They know their gracefulness redeems
Their boist'rous mirth, their pranks unruly
And frolicsome — perhaps unduly.
" These creatures have so lately come
Out of their Maker's hands, they've some
Faint traces of their origin
Yet in them — of its source divine.
No wonder aged folks should see
In them so much purity —
So much of poor humanity
Unsullied in the spotless child,
By sin or sorrow undefiled."
In tliis period of retinnueiit, his leisure was ohieily employed with
the well read •' old books " with which, as before said, the walls of
almost every room in his liouse were lined. f To few were Cicero's
words more applicable. " Nothing seemed moi'e pleashig to him than
serious study, learning, and the writings of the learned, by which
he put the remembrance of past grief out of his mind." — Nihil illi
solitudine, et in studiis scdicitudinte, visum est aniicius, in qua
oniuis ei erat sermo cum literis, et literatorum scriptis et per quam
pellebat ex animo dolorum praeteritorum recordationeni.
* Vide Appentlix.
i Dr. Maddcu's cxteiiKivt' library had twice |>r.viuiisly burn diriiuis. d on ucciisioii of his
dciiavture from home. Nevertheless, its re-accumtiJatioii always fulknvtd a.s soon uk he had
ni,'ain settled hiiiiHelf iu any place, aud after his death itB liual sale by auctiuu occupictl
no less than six days.
278 MEMoiiis
CHAPTER XXXIX.
DK. MADDEn's death IN 1886.
In this chapter we approach the closing scene of that long life, the
vicissitudes of which in many lands have been imperfectly traced
in the foregoing pages — Ad Sepiilchrum Veniviiis. During his de-
clining years he retained to the end not only his love of learning,
but also his kindly nature and sympathy with literary and philan-
trophic work and workers. At the same time, he employed him-
self with those more serious considerations that best befit the close
of existence, and found in the religion he practised an unfailing
source of hope beyond the grave, and of solace for all the trials of
age.
Thus prepared for the supreme change, and studiously tended to
the final moment of existence by the untiring w^atchfulness of his
devoted wife (who, having shared and lightened all his cares, liter-
ary labours, and toils in the cause of humanity in every quarter of
the world, was herself soon destined to follow to the same " long,
last home"),* Dr. Madden peacefully departed this life at his residence,
Vernon-terrace, Booterstown, on Friday, otli of February 1880.
To that inevitable hour he long looked forward wdth christian hope
and resignation, and in it he was fortified by the ministrations of his
Faith. The writer of one of the kindly obituary articles published in
the Press at the time of his death well summed up his character
as that of — " An upright, honourable, and high-souled man,
w-hose genial and dignitied presence will long be missed. ... If not
loaded hero with those honours which in any other land might
well have rewarded a career so distinguished and so useful to his
countr}^ and his kind, at least his memory should survive as lung
as talents of the highest order exercised in the cause of truth
and humanity, unswerving rectitude, benevolence, and love of
country, deserve our remembrance."
His interment, which took place on Tuesday, February 9th, was
thus described in another journal of the following day : —
" Yesterday morning, the remains of Dr. PJchard l»obert
Madden were conveyed from Booterstown for interment in the
family burial place at Donnybroolv. The greatest marks of respect
were shown for the deceased gentleman, and deep sympathy evinced
for his widow and family. At Booterstown all the dwellings were
Mrs. Harriet T. Macldeji ine Elnislie), bom in London 1>01, died at Booterstown, Co.
Dublin, February 7tb, 1888: — her mental faculties unclouded by a^e or infirmity ; her last
word a prayer ; and her last action an effort to make the sign of redemption on her brow. She
was interred beside her husband's remains, in the old churchyard of Donnybrook. E.l.P.
DR. E. K. MADDEN. 279
closed, and as the funeral cortege, which extended for over a mile
along the road, arrived at Doiuiybrook, the houses had their shutters
up. The coffin containing the remains was placed on a catafalque
in the Booterstown Church, where Mass was celebrated by the Rev.
Pierce Gaussen, C.C, tiie Very Rev. Monsignor Farrell, and seve-
ral other Clergymen assisting at the solemn service, A considerable
gathering of leading,' citizens and representatives of the learned
professions were present to pay a tribute of respect to one
who filled a foremost place among men of letters of his time,
the chief mourners hvlw^ his son, Dr. T. More Madden, Presi-
dent Obstetric Section Aciidemy of Medicine in Ireland ; his
nephew, the Right Hon. AVilJiam H. F. Cogan, P.O., D.L. ;
and his cousin, John C. Murphy, Esq., J. P. On arrival at
Donnybrook, the last prayers having been read, the remains of this
gifted and estimable man were laid to their rest beside those of liis
father, mother, and kindred, under the shadow of the now ruined
Roman Catholic Church, in which as a boy he had often knelt, and
within view of" the ancient residence of " The Maddens of Donny-
brook," where much of his boyhood was passed. The Christian
benevolence of the deceased was unsparingly exercised with equal
zeal on behalf of the poor and oppressed, whether they were of his
own country or in those distant lands with which his eventful career
had brouglit liim in contact ; and during his Colonial Secretaryship
in Western Austi'alia this was especially the case. He was one
■ — "(}iii multorum providus urbes et mores homhunn inspexit " ;
and in all these wanderings it had ever been his earnest hope that
he might ultimately share the resting place of his kindred in the land
for which love endured to his heart's last beat. It is not a httle
remarkable that the interval between the death of the author of the
History of the Lives of the United Irishmen, who died in his
88th year, and tlie birth of his father, beside whom he was laid,
covers a period of no less than 180 years. The churchyard itself,
now closc(] jis a burial place, is one of the most ancient in the
country. \\'ithin its borders lie several eminent worthies, chron-
icled in Mr. J^lacker's Memoriol.s of Booterstown, and amongst
these was no truer or more upriglit man than the venerable Dr.
Madden. It may be added that he rests beneath the shade of four
cypress trees, which many years ago he had brought from Napoleon's
tomb in far off St. Helena, to mark the site of the Madden family
vault, where he desired should be inscribed as his epitaph the words :
" Here also he the remains of a man who loved his country." — Be-
quiescat in pace.''
To the foregoini: generous tribute, which was but one of the many
similar notices that appeared in the leading Englisli, Irish,
^80 MtMOi&s
and American journals of the day, there remains only to observe
that to Eichard Robert Madden might 1)0 well applied some lines
written by himself nineteen years previously. Jn Npwm-iam one
of his oldest friends— namely, the late Richard U'Gorman.. of
whom he spoke as —
'* The graud old mau, c.f an heroic mind,
Of Eomau traits of (.liaracter and mieii,
Of maDiiers simple, geuile, smd retiued.
Of- uoblest nature, ardent and serene.
\Ve shall uot look upou Lis like again,
lu youth and age still faithful he remained
To creed and country, to his fellow-men,
To ev'ry cause deserved to be sustained.
Peaceful and calm the death- bed of the just
In his was seen, its solemn grandeur sliov^n,
In look and gesture of imphcit trust —
Breathings of prayer, revealed to God alone !
True and noble friend, thy mis-ion is well done
In life thou'st plann'd to serve mankind.
To exalt thy God, thy country, and thine own
And eacli to love, with all thy heart and mind
%^i^
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
GENEALOGICAL, HISTORICAL, AND FAMILY RECORDS OF THE
O'MADDEN'S OF HY-MANY.
The following account of the ancient Sept of Siol Anmacliadhn, and their
descendants, is condensed from family records, and various works bearing
thereon, amongst which sptcial mention must be made of the late Professor
O'Donovau's Tribes and (Customs of Hrj-Many. These notices, the greater
portion of which were collected and as far as possible compared with the
original documents by the late Dr. K. H. Madden, are here published in the
belief that this sketch of the lineage of that family, and the part taken by
them in some remarkable passages of Irish History, may not be devoid of
interest.
In our earliest Annals, a prominent place is occupied by the Septs
and Eulers of the territory of Hy-INIany, and amongst the latter there were
none whose ancestry is traceable to a remoter period, or whose names are
more frequently mentioned than the O'^NJaddens Chieftains of Siol Anmach-
adha. By some writers the pedigree of this family has been carried back to
a date long antecedent to any of the Celtic records cited in the following
pages, the originals of which are still preserved in the libraries of Trinity
College, Dublin, and of the Eoyal Iri^h Academy, or else in those of the
British Museum, and Bodlean Library, Oxford. Thus for instance, De Burgo
in his Ilihcrnia Doiiiiiiiccuia, traces ibe history of the O'lNhiddens up to the
dim and distant period of the Milesian invasion of Ireland, an evenr, which
Celtic chroniclers assign to the year 1G09 B.C. ; when iisthey aver, Heinionc
and his brother Heber, sons of Milesius of Spain, commenced their conjoint
reign as the first Milesian Monarchs of Ireland. Of this curious legendary
illustration of genealogical enthusiasm, if not of unquestionable historical
accuracy, the introductory works may here suffice '• Antiquissima hsc Pro-
genies 6'^Iaddcnorum Plibernice O'Madagain .... recta descendit ab Here-
mone, tertio natu e iMilesii Regis Iberia;, aliaa Hispanic Filiis qui, ut toties
ajebam, permultis ante Virgiuis Partum centenis annis in Insular hanc ad
propagandum in ea Gentem advenerunt A prrelibato quippe Heremone Ori-
ginem ducens Conn Ceadchathach geiiuit Jomchaith cujusFratres Progeni-
tores fuere illustrissimarum Familiarum de Maguire . . . . et de JM-Mahon
in Ultonia a memorata autem Jomchaidh post decem generatioues
ortus est Eogan a quo O'Kolly, et Buadhach (recta Eoghan Buac) a quo
O'Madden prognati sun:." In reference to the chieftain thus alluded to
by De Burgo, O'Donovan cites a Celtic poem written circa 1:347, and still
preserved in the hbrary of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 217, p. 1!J0,— "The
progeny of Eoghan Buac, the hero, are the great race of O'Jiladdeu." —
Tribes of Hy-Many.
284 APPENDIX.
"Xon ab re eiit obiter iu lioc loco adveiteie,"' adds <le Burgo, '-Barouiam
Longoiordieusem adeo(iue et comitatum Galvieusiem compreheudisse tem-
poribus O'Aladiteuonim Dyuastuium partem luoderm agii regis iu Lageuia,
veruacule dictam Lusmagli, iiand obstante Sliacauo iiitertlueiite,atque sejiiu-
geute Conaciain ii Lageuia, iutegramque istam Barouiam iu diouesi iuisse
Cloul'erteusi, et I'rovincia Tuameusi — I'ostmodum autem per Legem Parlia-
meutariam ut vocaut territorium illud Lusmagb, iu Ditioue olim Dyuastaj
Lougofordieusis ; uuitum fuit comitatui liegis, adeo(jue, et Natioui, Lageui;e
salvis tameu curibus llpiscopi ('loui'erteusis, et Arciiiepiscopi Tuameusis.
Hinc Territorium illud unica coustausPiirocbia, intra I'iues est Diocesis Clon-
ferteusis et i^roviuciai Tuameusis." HibcDiia JJoiiUiiicana,i).'\Ob-('>
According to the Book of Lectin, written previously to J 347, vtlie IMS. of
which is preserved in the Library of the Boyal Irii^h Academy, and which
was transluted for the Irish Archteological Society, by the late Dr. O'Douovau,
the ancestor of the O'lMadden Sept, is stated to have been Maine Mor, ruler
of Hy-Many. In O'FJaherty's U(jij(jia, the origin of this family is ascribed
to Eugenius Buach.
Camac, the son of L'arbry Crum, and great graudsou of Ballon, had
Eugenius Fionu and i'lugeuius Buach. From the former, O'Kelly, Lord uf
Trainc (or liy-Many) is descended, and from the latter is sprung O'.Madden,
Lord of Siol Anmacliadha, and Lusmach on the other side of the Shannon,
iu the county of (jalway. Anmachadha, the son of Eugenius Buac,has given
the name of Silaumachadlia to the possessions of his posterity, which are
situated in the county of Galway, opposite Leiuster, being divided from it
by the Eiver Shanucui. (0'Flaherty"s Oifijiji", vol. 2, p. "^ Uj.
The territory of Hy-Many originally extended from Clontuskert, near
Lauesborough, in the county of Boscommon, southwards to the boundary
of Thomond, in the county of Clare, and from Athlone westwards to
Seetin and Athenry in the present county (Jalway. It is also stated iu
a poem, addressed before l-i?:} to Eoghau OWladden, which is cited by
O'Bonovan, from a fragment of the Book of Hy-Many, (in tbe Library
of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 2. 7. p. lUU) that Oran in the county
of Boscommon, Lusmagh in the Kings County, and Laragh Griau in
the county of Clare, were all portion of Hy-.Many, which further extended
from Grian to Caradh, and included Dunamou. llais Clutliraim in Lough
Bhee, and Mis Cealtlna in Lough Dorghere. '• 'J'lie O'Maddeu Country,"
which was included iu Hy-Mauy, is referred to in a remarkable document
addressed to the Lord Deputy Sydney, A.l). loUG, preserved in the Bolls
Office, Dublin, but which the limited space here available i)recludes citation
in this connexion.
After the Burkes or de Burghs had established themselves iu the county
Galway, the limits of Hy-Mauy, observes O'Donovan, were very much cir-
cumscribed, the Baronies of Leitrim, Loughrea, and Athenry being seized ou
by the de Burgo or Burises, and made part of their territory, and it is remarl -
able that in the year 15^0 O'Madden's Country was no longer consiilered a
part of Hy-Mauy. In the reign of Queen I'.lizabeth, it consisted only of liAe
Baronies, as appears from a document amongst the " Inrulments tempore
Elizabetlue, ' in the Auditor-Generals Office, Dublin, dated (ith August li)>-->.
From the foregoing references we learn that the >iul Aumachadha or
O'Madden poriiou of Hy-Mauy was co-extensive with tiie Barony of Lung-
ford in the county of Galway, and with the parish of Lusuagh iu the Kings
County ou the east side of the Shannon, which formerly was included in
Galway, as also was Longford castle in that territory— O'Madden's chief
fortified residence or stronghold.
In the account of this tribe in the Life of St. Grellan (a cotemporary of
St. Patrick), who flourished iu the fifth century, the MSS- of which is in
the Library of tiie lloyal Irish Academy, Maine Mor. as before observed, it)
APPENDIX. 285
sai'l to have been the aucestor of all the Hy-Many tribe. We are told that
with the spiritual assistauce of St. (xrellau, he snccessfnlly attacked the
l-'irbolg Kiug, who was then the Lord of the country, now the IJarouy of
Cioumacoweii, iu the county of Galway, and having slaiu this Firbolg chief,
established himself iu that territory. Stories of this kiud are not conliued
to those 'tistaut epochs of Celtic tribal warftire with which we are now con-
cei'ued, but have been repeated iu other climes and later times, in aid of ad-
venturers on a larger scale. The patron of the O' -Maddens must have been
" a most forbearing saint," as the princes of Hy-Many were much given to
slaying and spoiling, and were entitled to one third of all fines for killing men
tliroughout the province of Connaught." St. Clrellau however does not
appear to have given his benisoii to the " strong-armed O'lMaddeus," until
he had provided for a due tribute lor himself and his successors ; and ulti-
mately St. Grellau bequeathed his Crozier, as a battle standard, to the victo-
rious clan of Siol Anmchadha, by whose descendants it was preserved, down
to the niuetci-uth century.
The Tribes and Custoim^ of Hij-Manij, translated from the ]MSS. Bool:
of Li'ciin, we find (p. 1-1. 17) it stated in a poem addressed to the cele-
l>rated Eoghan OWlaiUleu, that liis ancestors came from Clocher niacin
-Maidhain. In another tract in same volume, a long list is given of O'Madden's
l)redecessors iu the chieftaincy of Hy Many, and although that list cannot,
says ( )'i)onovau, be considered perfect, without it nothing like an accurate
scries of the early chiefs of Hy-Many could now be given, as the Annals are
imperfect. According to this manuscript, the first of these chiefs was the
Itefnre-rnentioned .Maine .Mor,ancestor of all the Hy-Many Sept, who was chief
of the territory for fifty years, and died a natural death. The second, Brasil,
son of Maine Mov, chief for thirty years, who also died a natural death,
which as the Celtic writer says " was surprising, as he had been much
engaged in wars." The tbird was Faichra Fin, the son of Brasil, for seven-
teen years, when he was slain by his brother, ^Maiue Mor. In the poem
Fiachra Fin is styhnl a " tower in conflict anil battle." He is the ancestor
of tlie O'Naughtous and O'MuUallys. or 1 allys, the progenitors of the
celebrated and ill-fated Count Lally de Tollendal. We need not here follow
this history of the earlier chiefs of this clan, from Couall, v/ho w^as fourth
of their lineage, down to Dearmid, tlie seventeenth prince of the O'Maddea
line. It may suffice to say that of sixteen succeeding chiefs, of whom a few
are described as having been saints, whilst the majority are spoken of
as re.loubtabl.' warriors, only four appear to have died a natural death ; the
re-t from the year ^u\) down to ]nl4, when Tadlig Mor fell by the side of
King Brian Born, at the battle of Clontarf, having all been slain in field or
foray of these princes, (iadhar.i, Lor.l of Siol AnmchaiUia, or the
O'Madden country, the twenty-seccud chieftain of ily-Many, is the last-
mentioned in the document above cited, which was addressed to Eoghan
OWIaddeu, chief of Siol Anmchadha ami Hy-.Many, who died iu the year
l;;i7, according to the Aiinala of the Four Master.^.
When 0'. Madden rose to the chieftaincy of all Hy Many, it would
appear from the "Topographical l'oem"'of O'Dugan (a writer wlio died
iu ii{72), tliat the M'Ullachan or Coulcgliau was the chief of Siol
Anmchadha. But in the Hook of T^eroii, compiled forty years subsequently
(in 1418,1 it is stated that the chiefs nf Siol Anmchadha are the MaduJiains
or O'Maddeus, (tvV/,' Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many p. i;?.) O'Bonovan
cites another 31 S. preserved in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, also
written in the life-time of J<]oghan O'.Madden, in which his pedigree is carried
up to (radhra Mor, Prince of all Hy-Many, who was slain in 10:^7. Tliis MS.
being one of the most curious fragments of ancient Irish history which has
descended to our times, and throwing much light on the pedigree of
O'Madden, may be here briefly quoted —
286
APPENDIX.
"There is a trauqail, beuigu, great, hardy, sweet voiee.l, .eeuerous,
vehement, regal kmg over the Siol Anmchadha, aud inis king,
is the noble Eoghan, sou of the loud-voiced .Alurchirulh, son oi tlie
lively-preying Cathal, son of the expertly-wounding JJiarmid, son of the
affluent Madudan, sou of the bright-faced Diarmid, sou of the munificent
Madden, son of the fettering Gadhra; and this rapid-routing Gadhra was
the last of his tribe, who had dominion over the third of the province of
Smooth Callows, viz., that region extending from the time Griau, in the
mountains, to the bright Caradh. Aud from the river of Gadhra to
that of Eoghan, this country (Ireland) has been divided without any sole
monarch to govern it, and a plague came to bring this disunion among all
the chiefs — foreigners came over the green seas to seize on it, and these
foreigners gained one day's victory, which prepared the way for their con-
quest— the victory of Leithridh over the heroic Jioderick, so that the Gaels
remained under the yoke of the foreigners for a perioil of five above seven
score bright years. Now the following were the chiefs of the territory
during this period — viz., Madudau, or Madden M or, son of Diarmid. He
ruled justly over his native principality. After AJadudan Mor. ruled Meal-
seachlaiu, in good peace, and next came Caihal, son of JMadudan, who was
illustrious for hospitality aud muniiicence. To hiiu succeeded liis sou
Murchadh, but he resigned the chieftaincy of his own accord, and went
away from royal rule over lauds, to Eome,to resign his soul to the Supreme
King, aud his body to the cemetery of St. Peter's — in the chief city. Aud
it was no wonder that his great son, Eoghan O'-Madden shoidd flourish iu
his place, as he has flourished, for he was (has been) twenty years in the
famed chieftainship, undisturbed in his prosperity by his neighbours and
his country Tiot oppressed by Lords . . . This fair prince erected for a habi-
tation at Magh Bealaigh, a strong castle of stone aud hue timber, the like of
which has not been erected by any chief iu Erin. He also repaired the
churches iu general — taught truth to the chieftains — kept his people from
treachery aud fratricide, checked evil customs, and taught charity aud
humanity in his goodly districts. He wrested from his neighbours a portion
of each province, viz , the western extremity of iMeath, which is under his
stewards, and the northern portion of Ormoiid, which is under his high
control." . , . (In reference to Eoghai) 0'. Madden, the late Dr. K E. Madden
iu his MSS. historical account of this family, observes — " In my table, he
is numbered I., iu his youth, he was very inimical to the English
interest iu Couuaught, and so early as l-'>0(i defeated the Clanricarde, and
slew sixty-six of his people. Afterwards liow^ever, he seemed to have fought
many battles on the English side. His eldest son, Cathal, was shiiu by the
Clanricardes iu 1340. He had a daughter named Finola, who died in
1398).
The "Four Masters," and Mac Geoghegan, from the '• Annals of Clou-
macnoise," inform us, that about the year 1 ?56, considerable warfare raged
between the habitant Lords of English race settled iu Couuaught, in which
the Irish chieftains joined as a matter of course, that the English of West
Couuaught defeated Mac William Uurke, aud killed many of his people —
that Edmund, the son of William, who was ^on of Eichard de Burgo, was
slain by the Irish Sept of Siol Anmchadha (ihe O'Madden's). Whilst at
the same time Eichard Ogo de Burgo, gained a signal victory over the people
of Edmund, the sou of Wihiam de Burgo and the O'AJaddens, iu which
conflict, " ^ixteen of the Nobles of the Siol Anmchadha was slain," (vide
Tracts relatimj to Ireland, published by the Irish Archreological Society,
vol. 2, p. 9N, Dublin, ISi:!.)
iMurchadh or Morouyh O'Madden, sou of the preceding. Chief
of the Sept for twenty tour years, died iu 1:j71, and was 116th iu
descent from Owen Luac. In the " Anuals of the Four Masters,"
APPENDIX. 987
he is styled " General, Patron of the Literati, the poor and the
needy of Ireland." He was killed in a predatory excursion in Ormonde,
leaving a son, ami a daughter named More. This Lady More married Mac
William Burke, Lord of Clanricarde, and died in 1383. The son, i<:oghau
j,lor O'Madden (also mentioned as Owen McMurrough O'Maddeu, iu the
Annals of Cloniiiacnoise), succeeded his father, and died in 1411. He was
replaceil by Miuchadh or Morough O'Madden his son, who is described ill
the annals as •' a man of mighty arm, and good jurisdiction," and iu some
of the pedigrees is said to have founded the Abbey of Meelick iu tlie year
iiol. But in the •• Annals of the Four Masters," the foundation of that
Abbe.y is ascribed to his successor in the chieftaincy, a.d. 1479. The
Monastery of Meelick, on the Shannon banks, in the diocese of Clonfert,
was founded for Franciscan Friars by O'Madden, who selected a burial-
place for himself in it." ... It is true, however, that he (Murchadh),
granted a chapel at Portumna together with the village to the Dominicans,
who founded on the spot a Keligious House, under the authority of a Bull
from Pope Martin V., dated October Uth, 1420. This Bull is printed in the
Hibernia Dominicana by De Burgo. , . . Murchadh had three sons, two of
whom were slain by their kinsman, Cabthach or Coffey O'Madden, iu the
year 14S6. The line being thence continued by his third son, Eoghan.
119th of this family, from Owen Buac, Eoghan Carragh O'l^Iadden was
succeeded by his son, Murchadh Keagh, who left four sons and one daughter.
John O'Madden followed his father (Murchadh), and was succeeded by
his son, Brasil O'Madden, on wiiose death his sou John became chieftain ;
and two years subsequently iu 550, he being slain by Brasil Dubh OMad-
den, the chieftaincy of Siol Anmchadha was divided between the latter
and the surviving brother of John, viz., Mealachliu Modarha. In 1540
the Lord Deputy was instructed to confirm treaties between the king and
" "Mealachlin O'Madden and Hugh O'Madden, chiefs of their country."
{Vide State Papers, Temp. Henry IT//., p. 171).
12:1 — The next, Domhuall or Donal O'Madden, son of John ; " he was the
last chief," says O'Donovan, " who ruled the territory of Anmchadha or
Silanchia according to the old Irish system, and was the most powerful and
celebrated chieftain since the time of Eoghan or Owen O'Madden, who
died in 1:347.'' Queen Elizabeth appointed Donal O'Madden " Captain
of his Nation " in 15G7, after clearing himself of the charge of slaying
his predecessor, and paying a fine of eighty cows to the Lord Deputy, Sir
Henry Sydney. He attended a parliament convened in Dublin by Lord
Deputy Per. tt in l.")80, to which the Irish Chieftains were summoned.
Amongst the multitudes of O's and of Mac's, great renown in their several
territoiies, who attended this Irish Parliament, as given by the "Four
Masters," we lind Donal O'Maddeu, son of John, son of Brasil and also
his kinsman, the Earl of Clanricarde, Ulick, sou of Ulick Na Grean (of the
lieads).
To understand the object of this Assembly, it should be borne in mind
that it was not until late in the reign of Elizabeth that the province of
Connaught was brought into subjection to the crown and laws of England.
"The proceedings by which that event was achieved," says Hardiman,
"were commenced by the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sydney, in 1575, and
completed by a succeeding Deputy, Sir John Perrott, in 15b5. The project
was to divide the provinces into shires, then to induce the Lords and Chief-
tains to receive Sheriffs into their shires, and finally to prevail on the Chiefs
themselves to surrender their Irish titles and tenures, and to receive back
their possessions by patents from the Crown, to descend in hereditary succes-
sion, according to the laws of England." {Hardimaii's Notes to O'Flahertifs
Description of West Connaught). The end of this was the destruction of
the power of the hereditary Irish Princes, which was carried out by what
288
APPEND rx.
was termed " Indentures of Composition,'' by which many of the 0' Kelly's ,
O'Flalierty's, O'Maddpn's, Clanricarde's, Bermingham's, and other ancient
Counaught families agreed henceforth to bold their lands bytenuieol
knight service from the Crown. Amongst those who then accepted this
settlement were some members of the Siol Aurachadha Sept, whose territory
in the document referred to is described as '• J'he O'Aladdeu Country,
otherwise called Sillauiughadii or Silanchia," in the county of Clalway. " In
witness thereof, said Lords and Chieftains have put their Seals, and sub-
scribed their names this day, September, \')8'): Stephen ( Bishop) of Clonfert,
Owen O'Aladden, Donal McBrasil O'Madden, itc, Ac." In this Indenture,
the O'AIaddeu's Barony of Longford is stated to include '^'j^) quarters of
land, each quarter containing I'^O acres.
In the Calendar of the State Papers relating to Ireland, lu09 to 157-), we
find frequent mention of the O'Madden Chieftains. Thus amongst these
papers, Temp. Heniij VIII., vol. viii, we find letters of Stephen Fitz-
Henry respecting operations Of the army against Murrough O'Brien,
and reporting the capture and submission of several castles, including those
of Hugh and Managhlyn O'Madden. In tlie State Papers Temp. Klizaheth,
nnder date, (Ireenwich, May 21st lo(il, is a letter — " The Queeu to O'Madden
and O'Shauglmessy requiring them to assist the Lord Lieutenant, Sussex, in
appreliending Sbane O'Neill " (Latin). In the " State I 'apers, Ireland," we
also find fp. "-24.8) nnder date August 5th, 15<)4, a letter from the Lord
Justices and Council to O'Madden, in reference to report, '• that some of his
people have joined the rebels of the INIores and Conors.' In the same col-
lection, September 1st, 1.^)79, there is another letter from the Mayor of
Limerick to the Lord President of IMungter, stating that the Earl of Clanri-
carde's son and a great force have passed the Sliannon, wi;li O'Madden's
assistance.''
Several years subsequently, Donal O'Madden is laentioned in the Annals
as being in open rebellion. *' In that year, 15!)o," says O'Donovan,
" Cloghan, one of his castles in the district of Lusmagh, on the east of the
Shannon, was summoned to surrender to the Lord Deputy, Sir William
Kussell. but O'Madden's people replied that the;, would not surrender even
though all the soldiers were Deputies." Uliimately, however, the castle was
taken by storm and burned to the ground, the O'Aladden garrison being
ruthlessly put to the sword, a fate wliich their Chieftain, Donal O'Aladden
escaped, by his absence at the time, on one of his marauding expeditions.
(Vide Cox. Hist., vol. i, p. 409). A full account of this episode, in the
Conquest of Ireland, may be found in a remarkable State Paper, cited by
O'Donovan, viz., "Journal of Sir William Hussell, Lord Deputy of Ireland "
(in MSS. Archives, 47'28, British Museum, to which Institution it was pre-
sented by Lord Willoughby of Farnham, iHth Alay 17(U, Fnl. (51 B).—
" Thursdaie, 11th March 1505 . . . Irom Piathingelduld— My Lord rode
to O'AIadden's Castle in liusmagh, ])efore which liee encamped in cominge
to which we passed thro' a strait pace (pass) of four miles in length.
O'Aladden himself beinge gone out in action of rebellion, and he left a ward
of his principall men in his castle, whoe assoome as they perceaved my Lord
to aproach neare, they sett three of the honses on fire, which hurt two of
our soldiers and a boye, and made shott at us out of the Castle. And being
sent to by my Lord to yield upp the Castle to the Queene, there answere was
to Captain Thomas Lea, that if all that came in his Lords companie, were
Deputies, they would not yield, but said they would trust to the strength of
there Castle, and hoped by to-morrowe that the Deputie and his companie
should stande in as grate feare as they then were, expecting as it should
seeme some ayde to lelieve them. That night, my Lord appointed Captain
Izod to keepe a sure watcii aboute the saide Castle, for that a mayne bogg
was adjoining thereto, and appointed the kearne witli certain souldiers to
APPENDIX.
289
watche, lest they should make an attempt o escape that way. . . . About
midnight, my Lord visited the watche, and underrtandinge of some women
to be within the castle, sent to advise them to put forth their women, for
that hee intended next morninge to assault the Castle with fire and sword,
but they refused soe to doe, and would not suffer their women to come forth,
Fridaie, 12th March. — My Lord continued before the Castle, and as pre-
paration was makinge for fireworks, to fire the Castle, one in Sir W. Clarke's
companie being nere the Castle by making tryall, cast upp a fire brand to
the topp of the roof 8 which greatlie dismaide them, whereupon the alarum
was strooke upp, and whilst our shoot plaide at theire spike holes, a fire was
maide to the gate and doore which smothered manie of them, and with all
the souldiers made a breache in tlie wall and entered the Castle and took
manie of them alive, most of which were cast over the walls and soe
executed. And the whole nomber which were burnd and kild in the Castle
were forty-sixe persons, besides t\Y0 women and a boye which were saved Ijy
my Lords appointment."
Fol. 04. — " The names of such chiefe men as were kilde in the Castle of
Cloghan 0' Madden, at tbe wiuninge thereof, who were the principall tighting
men, the Xllth of March 1592, Sliane McBrasil O'Madden of Corylagher,
gent. ; Donagh Mc O'Madden of 'J'omhaligli, gent. Owen McShane
O'Madden of Tomhaligh, gent. ; Molaghlin, Duffe, McColeghan of Baliyma-
coleghan, gent. The Captain of Shott and his two sonnes, Manose Oge
O'Eegan of O'Eourke's countrie, Captain of Shott, O'Eourke's mother,
iu-others, sonnes, Shane I'ucmeny O'Connor of the countie of Sligo, gent. :
who said when hee was !,i!;en, that he was a good prisoner to bee ransomed.
. . . More and two ot!:er gent,, of O'Eourkes countrie, whose names are
unknown.
" The names of the chiefe men kilde in the conflict on the dale before the
winninge of the Castle, viz.: — Ambrose McMolaghline, Mothere O'Madden
of Clare Madden, gent. ; Cohedge Oge O'Madden, gent, of the same ; Leve
O Madden of Clare, gent. ; three landed men, Leve O'Connor of ye countie
of Sligo, chief, gent., a leader of Shott and Scotts, he was buried at Meeliidc
Abbey; Ferdoragh McFverye, a Captain of Scotts; ]'>ver McGarell of
Galw'ay, gent. ; McCounell, Chiefe of the Scotts ; UHck Eurke, McEdmund
Eurke of Balyely, gent. ; etc., &c. The rest were shott, bowuen, and kearne,
the whole nomber of kilde and drowned (besides those in the castle) were
seven score and upwards, besides some hurt v.hich escaped and fled aw^ay in
great amasement."
In the very year in which so many gallant gentlemen and devoted mem-
bers of this Sept were thus put to the sword in defence of O'Madden's
Castle of Cloghan, their Chieftnin, appears, from the Annals of the Four
Masters, to have been engaged in an inexplicable quarrel with his kins-
men, which is thus referred to by the Aunalsts. "In 1559 O'Donnell
was also joined by all the O'^kladden's except The O'Madden himself, and his
son Anmacbadha, upon which the sons of Eedmond Na Scuadh, son of
Ulick Burke, and the other disaffected Burkes already mentioned, attacked
and destroyed Meelick, O'Madden's mansion-seat, Tir Lethair, and all the
cnstles of ills territory except Longford. They plundered and destroyed
Clonfert-Bredan, and took the Bishop of tliat See prisoner. Amongst
those plundered was Eoghan Dubh, son of Melnghlin Babh O'Madden of
the territorv of Eusmagh.''
" Domhnell or Donal O'Madden, was evidently," say Dr. E. E. Madden,
" an unscrupulous, wily, unprincipled person, though he could not save his
castle, he managed to preserve his property. In l(i(i2 • he came in ' and
apparently manifested his fealty that yt ar by attacking the brave Eon;il
O'Sullivan lUare, who after the disastrous defeat of the Irish at Kinsalc.
290 AP^^^^'DTx.
and the taking of the Castle of Dnnboy, was passing through O'Madden's
country on his retreat to O'liourke. It may be for this act that he was
eventually pardoned by King James I., as O'Donovan thinks he was, having
settled his property on his sons by deed according to the laws of England.''
By this deed " Donal O'Madden of Longford, in the county of Galway,
' Captain of his Nation,' granted his manor and Castle of Longford, and all
his other property in the county of Galway, to hold for the use of Ambrose,
otherwise Anmchadha O'Madden, son and heir of the said Donal, and his
heirs male, remainder the Brasil O'Madden, son of Hugh O'Madden, one of
the sons of the said Donal O'^Nladdeu, and his heirs male, remainder to the
lieirs general of Ambrose O'Madden for ever." In the succeeding section
may bo found an ficcount of the part taken by the descendants of the
ancient chieftains oi' Silanchia, as adherents of the royalist and Catholic
side throughout the long and disastrous civil wars in Ireland during the
periods of the Revolution, Commonwealth, and Restoration ; and of the conse-
quent repeated confiscations of their hereditary property, their exile and
services in the French and other foreign armies, down to the close of the
Eighteenth Century.
124. — Anmchadha or Ambrose O'Madden, son of the above Donal, died in
1 087, being then succeeded by his son, John Madden, whose property was for-
feited in the Civil Wars of lOil. But in 1677, under the Act of Settlement,
by a grant dated August Gth, 1677, this John was restored to a portion of
his grandfathers property, viz. the lands of Clonefeagau, Attickey, Mota,
and Ballybranagh now Walshestown, near Eyrecourt, in the Barony of
J^ongford and the county of Galway. He had two sous, Daniel and Patrick,
the former, Daniel, is the last of his race given by O'Farrell in his Lina
Antique, and is there described as "the head of the O'Madden's,'' which
adds O'Donovan, undoubtedly he was. This Daniel O'Madden was succeeded
by his son Brasil, ISo. 127 in this pedigree (who, says the late Dr. Richard
R. Madden, was my great grandfather), and who by his will, dated in 1745,
bequeathed his property to his son Ambrose, leaving, mter (iliis, Edward
and one daughter, Mary.
[The latter, who married Christopher M'I)onnell,Esq., of Kileen Co. Dublin,
grandfather of the late Sir Edward M'Donnell, of Merrion Square, Dublin, had
two other brothers, viz., John, born in 17(iil, (of whom presently) and Edward,
born in 1711, The last mentioned settled at Clonskeagh, near Dublin, where
he died, leaving considerable jjroperty to his son William of Merchants Quay,
Dublin, who married Miss M. M'Evoy, of Ballymote, Co. Meath, and died
l*^ 17, leaving issue inter aliis a daughter, Mary, married to Edward Ryan,
Esq., of Dublin, by which marriage was Eliza, married to Joseph Halpin,
Esq., of Gowran Hall, who died about 1876.]
128. — Ambrose Madden, who is mentioned as No. 41 in O'Donovan's
" Madden Pedigree,"' and as 129 in O'Hart's " Irish Pedifjrees,'' son of Daniel
O'Madden, was in 1779 in possession of his father's estate. He was married
to Margery, daughter of Malacliy Fallon, Esq., of Ballynahan, in the cotmty
of Roscommon, and according to O'Hart's pedigree, had Brasil, who was
never in possession, as his father survived him, being succeeded under
deed of settlement. 1791, by Ambrose Madden of Streamstown, his
grandson, who married in 1810, and had issue, Brasil,* married to Julietta,
daughter of Francis Lynch of Omey.
["In reference to the above mentioned marriage of Margery Fallon, daughter
of Malachy Fallon of Ballynahan, to Ambrose ]Madden, I have to remark
* A sister of this Brasil (son of Ambrose), married Madden of Fahy, " whose son, Laurence
Madi^en of Fahy," says O'Donovan, -writing in 1843, " still retains the fee-simple possession of
three hundred acres of the orisrinal tonitnry, hut Limrences's podierree on the fatlier's side has
not been traced."
APPENDIX, 291
(sajs Dr. E. E. Madden in the MSS. before cited), that my father's claim to
kindred induced me to make inquiry of the surviving members of the family
at Ballyiiaghau, respecting Malachy and his children. INIalachy Fallon fought
a duelwitli Mr. James Dillon of Ouleen, and killed that gentleman. Patrick
Fallon the son of 3Ialachy, challenged and fought the late Lord French.
Previous to that duel, ^lalachy is said to have instructed his son how to
handle the pistol. In the encounter, Pat had the first fire, and shot away a
button from his adversarie's coat, but Lord French did not fire, and so the
affair ended much to the disgust of the sanguinary Malachy, who as I was in-
formed bj^ one of his descendants, was very indignant with his son for not
shooting his Lordship. The family proclivity for duelling was more imf ortuu-
ately evinced by Malachy's grandson, James Fallon, who fought and shot Mr.
Bellew, uncle to the present Sir Michael Dillon I'ellew. I have a vivid recol-
lection of Malachy Fallon's eldest son, Edward, at my father's house astonish-
ing his guests, and sober-minded kinsman, Edward Madden, with comic songs,
not remarkable for their propriety and extraordinary narratives of desperate
duels, celebrated races, and famous sporting or shooting exploits. One of
this mad-cap young ( ralway gentleman's favourite songs, when my father
had left the talDle, began with the words " My wife she is the Queen of all
sluts." From his sporting propensities and patriotic spoutings after din-
ner particularly, he was complimented by his companions, by the soubriquet
of " Grattan." He died in 18-^0, aged about forty. Malachy Fallon and all
his descendants are buried at Dysart, three miles from Ballynaghan."]
129. — John Madden of Kilternan, near Enniskerry, in the county of Wick-
low (No. 128 in O'Hart's pedigree), was second son of the above-mentioned
Brasil Madden, of Eyre Court and Meelick, in the county of Galway. He
was born circa 170«, and settled in Wicldow in 1728. Married Miss Anna
Lee of Macclesfield in 1730, and died at Clonskeagh, near Dublin, in
1796, leaving issue inter oUis Edward (of whom hereafter), .Joseph, James,
Benjamin, Jane, and Mary. Of these children of John Madden, the second,
Joseph, born in 1745, settled at Donnybrook, married Miss Eleanor Byrne, died
in 1709, leaving two sons, namely, John, born 1779, died 1851, and Peter,
born 1784:, died 1841, and several daughters, of whom the youngest, Mary,
was married in 1802 to Peter Dillon, Esq., whose daughter was mother to
the distinguished soldier and writer. General Sir William Butler, K.C.B.,
now commanding in Egypt.
[...." ^ly grandfather, John ^Madden of Enniskerry," says Dr. Eichard
Eobert Madden, "was a buck in his day — a fox-hunting, horse-riding, scarlet-
coated, buckskin wearing gentleman. On one of his racing expeditions to
England, he made the acquaintance of a Miss Anne Lee of Macclesfield, ran
away with this young lady, and married her. On the first Sunday after
returning from their honeymoon to Enniskerry, my worthy grandfather, ac-
companied by his bride, riding behind him on a pillion, as the custom was
in those days, set out for the Protestant church of Kilternan, and as he
passed the Eoman CathoHc chapel in the same locality, he said : " There is
my place of worship, and after I have left you at your church I will come
back to mine." Whereupon my complaisant grandfather replied : " If this
place is good enough for you my dear, it might be the same for me ; stop
here, and we will go in together." From that time my grandmother was a
Eoman Catholic, and I believe a very pious and good woman. But mv
grandfather followed the hounds too much, and his business too little, and
so eventually became embarrassed, and removed to Clonskeagh, near Dublin,
where he died about 1769. They had four sons and three daughters. Their
eldest son, my father, the late Edward Madden of Wormwood Gate, was
born 17th November 17.39, at Kilternan. near Enniskerry, and went to a
school which, in those good old days of penal law persecution, was kept in
the adjacent ruins of the ancient castle of Kilgobbin. In after years, in his
'20 *
992 APPKNDIX.
Svmclay walks, accompanied by some of his children, my father used to point
out the remains of this old castle where his early education had been thus im-
parted (not without much risk to the teacher and pupils of that proscribed
Catholic school) — and which stands about a mile from the scalp and a
quarter of a mile from what was known as the ' Upper Eoad,' between
Enniskerry and Dundrum. Near this is the old burial-ground of Killeigar
where some of my father's family were interred.]
1:50.— Edward Madden (No. 129 in O'Hart's pedigree), was born in 1730, and
died in his 01st year, Novemljer 20th, 1820, interred in Donnybrook. In
an article published in The Dublin Post on the occasion of his death in
November 1830, Ixlward Madden is described as "An upright man, just in
all his dealings, prud^^nt and moderate in his opinions, singularly pious, very
chiiritable, humane and tolerant. He interl'ered with no man's sentiments
on controversial subjects, and during his whole life he suffered nothing to
interrupt his own religious duties. Like the devout Simeon, from his youth
upwards he was' daily to be seen in the temple of the Lonl Remembering
his Crea,tor in the days of his youth, he departed. not from him in his old age ;
and in his last hours, full of pence and retaining unimpair.Hl his mental
faculties, he steadily and serenely contemplated death, and spoke of his pas-
sage to eternity as one might speak of an approaching journey to another
country, happier and better than the one he was about to leave." Before the
Union he was an eminent manufacturer in Wormwood-gate, Dublin, and in
1792 his name is to be found amongst those of the ' Delegates ' appointed by
the Catholics of Ireland to take the sense of the whole people on the subject
of their existing grievances and the constitutional means to be adopted for
their redress. It was the first time that object was attempted ; and the
success of that memorable effort, on the presentation of their petition to the
king by their chosen Delegates, was the date of the earliest concession made
to the Catholics of Ireland of any moment, viz., that of ITOo. He married
first Mademoiselle Marie Duras of Bordeaux, and had issue six children, all
since deceased. [In 1701 ]M. Duras died in ]>ordeaux, leaving a pro-
perty, and by his will nominated as his executor and residuary legatee,
Edward Madden. This estate howevc;-, was so destroyed during the
French Revolution, as to have scarcely a remnant recoverable by those to
whom it was bequeathed, being seized by the Revolutionary Govern-
ment as British property, though sul sequently at the peace of 1802,
some useless attempts were made to effect the restoration of the se-
questered inheritance. Shortly after the death of M. Duras his residuary
legatee, Edward Madden, undertook what was then a long and difficult jour-
ney to Bordeaux to look after this property. The notes still existing of
that visit to France, where he remained for some months, during the reign
of terror (KU) years ago), present a curious contrast to the conditions of Con-
tinental travel now. The passage from Dublin to Holyhead for instance,
occupied twenty-four hours, and from Dover to (Jalais, thirty-seven hours,
whilst his hill for ten weeks stay in the Hotel de Angleterre at Bordeaux,
was but 40G francs.]
Edward Madden married, secondlj^ Miss Elizabeth Forde, youngest
daughter of Thaddeus Forde, Esq., of Cony, county of Leitrim, and of
Elizabeth, his wii'o (daughter of Thaddeus Lyons of Lyonstown, in the
county of Roscommon, Esq..) of which marriage there was issue, inter aliis
five sons, who attained mature age, viz., Edward, born 17N5, died 1814:
Henry, born 1788, died 18:30 ; William, born 1703, died 1810 ; James, born
1705, died 1H28 ; Richard Robert (of whom hereafter), born 17 98. died ls86.
and a daughter, Elizabeth, horn i787.
[Miss Elizabeth INladden married in 1815 Bryan Cogan, Esq., of Athgarret,
in the county of Kildare and of the city of Dublin, who died in 18:10, leaving
issue, firstly, t/ie Jii^lit Hon. William Forde Cogan, P.C., D.L., of Tinode,
county of Widdow, formerly for twenty-five years M,P, for the county of Kil-
APPENDIX. ~"^0
dare M.A. and gold medallist, T. CD., succeeded his uncle, Matthew Cogan
Es , o Tinodet Wicklovv, in 1^50, married in 1858 Gertrude, daughter ot
Francis Kyan,E'sq. And secondly, four ^^f^g^^^^^^ •• ^^^^^-f .^^l^^^^
rine deceased: Margaret, deceased ; and Lizzie. In 18(.-. Mis. Elizabeth
"o'ai^ied-- e.ulea^ed to all who knew her, as a loving mother, a wise coun-
KPlfor a "enerons friend to the poor and friendless.' ] , ,, . , -,
SL-lUchlvd liobert Madden. M.D., F.E.C.S.E. (the 130th of tins amilv
in descent from Eoghan Buac, according to O'Hart), was born August S^ml
1798, and died 5th February 1887. He was the 21st and youngest child otle
abov^ mentioned Edward Madden. Havmg been educated tor the medica
profession at first in Ireland and subseciuently m England, France, and
Italy, he resided for several years m the East. After his marriage with
Aliss Khnslie in is2s, he settled down to practice as a physician m Ciuzou-
st eei Mavikir. London. His sympathy with the Anti-Slavery movement
however, led him to reliuquisl. this, .ml in 18:]:5 he accepted an appomtment
as Special Magistrate for the Abolition of Ne^^vo Slavery m Jamaica.
In this office as in every phase oi his long life his rule of conduct was
directed bv a fearless rectitude, love of justice and humanity, to which pei-
Honal interests of his own were invariably subordinated 1 or s^me years sub-
sequentlv he was employed in Anti-Slavery work, m a high ofticial capacity
Xe Island of < uba. In l^io he was appointed H. M Special Commissioner
of Inquiry on the West Coast of Africa Settlements; Colonial Se^cvetaiy
o Western Australia in 18-17 : Secretary of the Loan Fund Board, Dublin
1850tols^.O. He was the author of the Ilutoyy oj the United Irishmen oj
1708 in siK volumes ; Travels hi the luist ; Biofimphy ot Savonarola ; The
Iitiinuitie^ of Genius: Histonj of the Penal Laws: Phantastnmata,
M^^^yiXBlessinyton; hrines a^uJ SepuMnr. of '/'V>i -;i ^-
World ; and many other works. In 18->S Dr. Madden married Harriet the
youngest, and t^4nty- first child of .lolm Elmslie Esq ^^ S^JS^ If^?.^^^
Estate, Jamaica, and of London, who was born in London, 1801, and died
at Booierstown, near Dublin, February 7th, 188s The issue of the mar-
riage were inter aJiis, first, WOliam Forde Madden, born m London
1829, who after passing with distinction through the Folytecmc School of
Engineering in Paris, was accidentally drowned m the Shannon whilst
enga-ed in the Public Works for the relief of the distress m Ireland, March
29th, 184S ; and secondly, Thomas More Madden, (of whom hei-eafter,
rBv one that knew her worth, Mrs. Harriet Madden was truthfully thus de-
scribed in an obituarv notice published at the time of her deatli-;- We have
much regret in recording the Leveianee of another of the few remaining links
between tlie present and the past by the death, at her i^sidence, . \ ernoi
Terrace, Bootirstown, near Dublin, on Febrnary 7th 1888 ot the widow ol
the late Dr. R. R. :\Iadden, author of the Historu of the United Irishmen,
and formerly Colonial Secretary of Western Australia. Those who have
admired the late Dr. Madden's writings may be interested to l^"Ow ho n
much his literarv labours were lightened and aided by the untiring and intelli-
gent co-operation of the esiimable and gifted lady whose death we chronicle
fo-day. Nearly every page of the more than forty volumes pubhshed by Dr^
11 R. Madden was trluscribed or revised by the ever ready aid of the good
w,fe, who survived l,er lamented husband but two years aln.ost to a day
She w.s born in London August 15th 1801, being the youngest daughter o
John Elmslie, Esq. Her father, who was the descendant ot an ancient
Scotch family, the Elmslies of Old Meldrum, Aberdeensliii-e, was himself
a West Indi'an planter, owning Serge I^^^l^^^^ f T^'^ff ' IL S'of
He was married to a Miss Wallis, who died mimediately after the birth of
h- r 21st child, and whom he survived until ls22, wlien he died at h,s resi-
dence, Berners-street, London. Six years subsequent y his youngest daughter
Harriet Elmslie. was married at Cheltenham to Dr. R L Madden ^^]omn
1S33 she accompanied to the West Indies, where he lilled an nnporta.it ohicc
394 APPENDIX.
in connectiou ^vith the emancipation of the Negro Slaves in that Island.
In 1837, whilst residing in Cuba, Mrs. Madden, from sincoie conviction
became a member of the same church as her husband, nnd fhencpfni-th was
a most fervent and exemplary follower of the Catholic faith, by the teachings
andpractices of which the mar)y trials and bereavements of her life were
consoled, and by the ministrations and prayers of which her last moments
were blessed and fortified. Of that marriage there were, inter aJiis, tbree sons,
two of whom, viz., William Forde, born in London in 1829, and Tbomas
More, born in Cuba in 1839, attained manhood. Subsequently Mrs. IMaddeii,
accompanied her husband to Portugal, where they resided three years ;
after that to France, where she remained for some time during the educa-
tion of their eldest son, and then to Western Austraha, where Dr.
Madden held the office of Colonial Secretary, whence on the death of
that son tliey returned to Ireland, where they remained for the rest of
their lives. Possessed of intellectual endowments which survived unclouded
to the last moment of life, fervent pielj', rare self-abnegation and thought-
ful kindness of character, ever considerate for the happiness of others,
and charitable to the weakness and faihngs of all but herself ; her whole
life was marked by benevolence, which we trust has now met with its reward
in that blessed immortality for which she had long prayed, and which
should induce those Avhom to the utmost of her power she had striven to
benefit, to occasionally re-echo in her behalf the last solemn words of that
funeral service repeated on the loth February 1888 over her grave in Donny-
brook churchyard. — llequiescat in Pace."']
133. — Thomas More Madden, son of the above named Eichard Ptobert
Madden, born at Havana in Cuba, is a Doctor of Medicine, Member of the
Pioyal College of Physicians, Ireland, and of Surgeons, England ; a Fellow of
the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh ; author of A Guide to the Health
Besorts of Europe and Africa ; editor of llie Dublin Practice of Midivifery ; On
the Cerebro-Nervous Disorders Peculiar to Women ; Lectures onChilcl Culture,
Moral, Mental, and Physical, and several other works on Medical and other
subjects ; one of the Medical Staff of the Mater Misericordi;e Hospital and Chil-
dren's Hospital in Dublin. In 1872 Dr. More Madden was " Decore Croix de
Bronze Pour Services rendus a la France pendant la Guerre de 1 870-7 1.' He
was subsequently accorded the gold medal and Hon. Fellowship of the Associ-
azione dei Benemerite Italiani; and in 1890 he received the degree of M.D.
Honoris Causa from the Faculty of tbe i'iedical College of Texas — " as in some
part a recognition of your services as a practitioner, your valuable and distin-
guished labours in the fie d of syn&cology, and your eminent position in the
esteem of the medical profession in tliis country as of your own." Dr. More
Madden is also Master of the National Lying-in Hosj)ital, Dublin ; Ex-
President of the Obstetric Sections of the British Medical Association and
of tbe Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland ; Formerly Vice-President,
British Gynaecological Society ; Hon. Member Texas State Medical Society ;
and Corresponding Member of the Gyncecological Society of Boston, &c.
He married in P^OS Mary Josephine, eldest daughter of Thomas M'Donnell
Caffrey, Esq., of Crosthwaite Park, Kingstown, and has had, first, Richard
Robert (of whom presently); secondly, Thomas M'Doimel, now (1891)
Lieutenant 7th Brigade, North Irish Division, Royal Artillery ; thirdly,
William Forde, died 1871 ; besides two daughters, namely, Mar}'- Josephine,
educated at Newhall Convent, Essex, and at Jette St. Pierre, Brussels;
and Brigid Gertrude Harriet (Beda), a child of great promise and endow-
ments, '• who was early called to God," born I7th July 1875, died ItJth June
1882, at JMerrion-square, DubHn.
133. Richard Robert Madden, Junior, born 1869, educated at Downside
College, near Bath, and who having recently passed the third Professional
Examination of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Ireland,
is now, I8yi, Resident, Mater Misericordia' Hospital,. Dublin.
295
AIM'ENDIX.
THF ABBIV OF MFELIGK, ITS FOUNDEKS (THE O'MADDEXS)
ASD THEIE DESCENDANTS.
,f tke Four Masters as ;' a man of migMy aim ^d im ^^^^^^^^^ .^
latter ^orklio^s'ever this event s f^^V^f J^^^^^ "the
the chieftaincy, Eoghan 0 ^ia<iaeu m ^ ■;'^^™ -^ ^^^ diocese of Clon-
Monastery of Meelick on the banks ol |l;«i:\\^7^^^^ selected a burial-
p. 304), it appears that ^^ "^^j^f^^^^^^^^^^ Temporalis 0^ Madden
to another order, viz., the I^""^l°}^f?'^, ,,,,.%; ',..-, Ordini Frccdicatorum
Baronm UUns Lon<,ofordenem>s >»;&'^'-^^ '. " '^ ^T^ ^ p 294, makes men-
donavit,etc- Archdale in his il/o"«. .co »^ H^^^^ ^ ^^^^
tion of "the ^^elightful situaion^ o^^ M^^^^^^^
nnlesfromEyrecourt andof theveueia^e^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^.^^
Shanuou iu the barouy o I^«"f J"'^ ; " f \'',S7of the O'^
Visited these ruins m s32. ^?^ ,^ f^^P^^'^^J^^^^ ,„ Comitatu Galvenci<e, pro
^^ Monasterium de Milich. ^''^^''V_;.V ^/^V , / n*^/a»/.si.s- multo sentiunt circa
ipsa observantia/undatores <l^^^^ll^'^;^^^^ ^MMu; suppressura et fere-
ctnnum 1300. Fundatorem ^^'^^'J^'^^^^^
omninodc'strnctumesttemiHn-^^^^^^^ J^ ^^g^ ^^.^^^t of
history of the Cathohc '"^"J*^"; .I''='rfi^;°F';°„=:iS of The
(I'Madden's Abbey of MeelicK ^'"o- "" , . j tlieir once spleudid
euUy aud danger "Sam reasBem bled ^ J^^^, ' ^^j-J^ ,.,ti,,, „j Ivrfus
Si; H'rgu'MT.st.Tnc:'..or:e,:braied bA'ather 0 a.e« O'Madden.
^nn APPENDIX.
O.S.F. Tliencefortli tliioiigliout all the long period of the civil wars, and
the subsequent regime of the penal lavvS iu Ireland, the sacred ministra-
tions of religion were carried on therein down to a recent date, by the
devoted members of the Older of St. Francis, whose predecfc^iio.d had been
expelled by the soldiery of l^lizabetli from this ancient shrine.
In Secretary Walsinghaiii's original draft of " The Orders to be observed
by Sir Nicholas Ealby, Kuiglit, for the better government of the Province of
Oonnaught, given at Westmiu-ter the last of March, 1579, in the twenty-first
.vear of our reign { " and which is still preserved in the Cotton Librar}',
British Museum, Titus B. AIL., No. 53, p. 226)," is the following clause,
specially aimed at the remaining abbeys, such as Meelick, with which that
province was still endowed. "B . . . And whereas we understand that
divers houses freight with Friars, remain in some parts of that Province
uusuppressed ; our pleasure is that you cause them to abandon those places,
and to compell them chaunge their cotes, and to live according to ourlawes :
which howses may be apt places for habitacon of such Englishmen as we
meane shall have estates in our lands in those places."'
How thoroughly the spirit of these instructions was carried out by the
ElizaJ:ethan governors of Ireland may be seen from the evidence of that
most anti-celtic and anti-catholic of modern historians, IVlr. Fronde, who
even expresses some indignation witli his heroine, Queen Elizabeth, for not
eifeoting a more complete extirpation of the ancient creed than she succeeded
in doing at this time; when, as he boasts, "The church property of the
Pale, tlie lands of the abbeys which were again suppressed, the estates
attached to the Bishops sees, had, all of them, lapsed to the Crown ; " and
when, as he continues, "Irrii-ated with the expenses of the government, she
(Elizabeth) farmed the Church lands, farmed even the benefices themselves,
S(iueezing out of them some miserable driblet of revenue, and gradually as
the English power extended, apphed the same method to the other provinces,
the priests fled from the churches to the hillsides, or to the chieftains'
castles, and no ministers took their places ; roofs and \\indows fell in, doors
were broken from the hinges, till at last there was neither church nor chapel
through which rain and wind had not free sweep." — Fronde, The English in
Ireland, vol. i., p 140.
'• About two miles from Eyrecourt and half that disiance from the old
strongliold of the OIMadden's, Lismore Castle," says Ih-. R. E. Madden,
" stands the ruins of the ancient Abbey of Meelick. This venerable sanctu-
ary is also within sight of the O'Madden's celebrated Castle of Clogher or
Lusmagh, taken by storm, and tb.e Irish garrison put to the sword by the
Lord Deputy, Sir William Ilussell, in 15!)5, the remains of which are
still (1854) habitable, and inhabited by an agent of Garrett Moore, I'^.sq.,
the present proprietor." Tlie account of the scene of carnage and pillage
that vv'as enacted on the 11th March 1595, under the walls of MeeHck Abbey
in the stoimiug of O'Madden's adjacent castle, bv the Ijord Deputy, Sir
"WilHam liussell, as related in the latters report, the MS. of which is preserved
in the Library of the British Museum, ha> been cited in the preceding
chapter.
Meelick is yearly surrounded by inundations of the Shannon during the
winter months ; the lands in the vicinity are particularly rich and fertile,
and most of these were formerly held by the Monks of Meelick. The
latter when described by I'etrie i]i 1832-33, had diminished to two
brethren, who he says "inhabit a small dwelling-house annexed to the
old abbey, adjoining to v.diich they have a chapel where they perform ser-
vice. They have a few acres of land on lease from the Marquis of Clan-
ricarde, who is now lord of the soil, the Abbey having been, at its suppres-
sion, granted to Sir John King, who assigned it to the Earl of Clanricarde."
Twenty years subsequently the final abandonment of this ancient shrine
APPENDIX. 297
was recorded b\ the late Dr. 11. li. Madden: "Aajoiuing the ruined Abbey
is the Franciscan Convent, which never ceased sincrf the Abbey was erected
to be tenanted by Franciscans, except at brief intervals during the wars of
Elizabeth and Cromwell until the past couple of years, when one of the
community, then reduced to two members, having died, the survivor, Mr.
Fannin found it impossible any longer to procure the means of living there,
as the neighbouring country had been so depopulated and impoverished. U
was to me a very melancholy sight to see this old time-honoured establisli-
meut (still habitable and apparently in good repair) deserted. The windows
closed up and the doors shut for the first time certainly for upwards of two
hundred years. The Abbey was founded by the O'Madden's, but on the ruiu
of a more ancient structure." — E. l\. M.
Long previously to the foundation of the Abbey of Meelick, a church
existed there. In the Munater Anitah we read that "in the year 120-)
William de Burgo marched at the head of a great army into Connaught,
and so to Meelick. and there did profanely convert the church into a stable,
round which he erected a castle of a circular form, wherein he was wont to
eat flesh meat during the whole of Lent." There is no more ancient inscrip-
tion now remaining amongst tbe monuments of Meelick than 164:]. The
once ricli library of the Abbey when described by Petrie in iMiJ',;, was then
reduced to '' a few mutilated volumes of school divinity, perishing through
damp and neglect." An anonymous correspondent of the journal before
cited, gives the following additional particulars relative to the condition of
these ruins at that period: "At present the roofless walls of this once
sumptuous building are mouldering into decay or falling a prey to the ruth-
less hands of modern vandals. The beautiful pillars that separated and
supported the arches on tlie north side, have been torn away to supply
headstones for the humble occupants of the neighbouring narrow ceils." The
river Shannon is here romantically picturesque, being broken with rapid
falls. On one side was a martello tower, which at the time of Petrie's
account, was still occupied by military and surmounted by three twenty-
four pounders, and on the opposite side is a dismantled battery (evidently
belonging to O'Madden's ancient castle), and crowned by the ruined monas-
tery before described. " Two and twenty years had elapsed," says Dr. II.
ji. M., " since the preceding account was written when I visited Meelick in
the month of February 1804. The monastery had ceased to be tenanted,
and of the remains of the old library, nothing was left save some odd and
mutilated volumes that had not been thought worth the trouble of removal by
the last of the Franciscan Fathers of the ruined Abbey. In the walls of the
ancient church there are s-iveral monuments of the O'Madden's ; of these
tombstones however, there are none now remaining of an earlier date
than 1048."
[The armorial bearings of the founders of Meelick, as sculptured iu the
Abbey, viz., a falcon seizing a mallard : motto, Fide et Fortitiulhic, uro
identical with those described by Molyneux in 1554, and to the present tina^
borne by the family of the late Dr. K. 11. Madden, whose father, Edward
Madden, was grandson of Daniel Madden, who circa 1G87 was, according to
Farrell {Lina Aiitiqua), "the head of the O'Madden's," wliich, says
<J'Donovan [Trihcx uf Jlij-Mainj, p. 101), " undoubtedly he was." — "The
above mentioned Dr. Madden, the writer," says Sir I'rede rick Madden, " be^rs
the usual coat, with the chief and cross, and the falcon and coronet on the
crest."]
Amongst the memorials of the descendants of the founder of this Abbey iu
the crypt of the convent, is ;« hexagonal stone (once cruciform), bearing the
following inscription : " 1045, Orate pro Anima preclari Domini Malachy
O'Madden et Margarieta Cromptori, conjugibus qui me erexerunt." One of
the best preserved of these mural slabs is one existing in the west wall of
298 APPENDIX.
the southern transept. Me vere erexerunt pro se et posteiis siih Hugo Cuolf
lachan et Isabella Madden uxor ejus, die XX. Mensis, Mali, 1673. Ou
another slab is the following inscription: Pro fainilia Maddena, Fergus
Madden me erigi de eorijuge deleeta (Jatherina Madden alias Donnellan ac
posteris sjiis, iieenon in memoriam sepultura majoreni erigi fecit, 4 Janii,
1671. At the opposite end of the Abbey on the right hand side is the fol-
lowing: mnral inscription : •• Pray for the soul of Loughliu Madden and his
wife Ellen Kelly, and of B)yan Madden and his wife Kose Kelly of Ballina-
scorthy, who raised this raonument in remembrance of them, 6th JMarch
1686." The most perfectly preserved of the tombstones of the O'Madden's
is one of a later date, and exhibits the family coat of arms, as at present
borne, a falcon argent, preying on a mallard, the motto effaced. The
following is the inscription: "Here lyes the body of Ambrose Madden of
Derryhorau, Esq., who died the 4th February 1754, aged 71 years : as also
the bodies of his beloved children, Patrick Madden, who died 27th August
1725; Anne Madden, who died 15th October 17'26; and John Madden, who
died 2!)th November 1728, all in the flower and bloom of their youth, much
lamented, God gives them eternal bliss and happiness and a glorious
resurrection. Amen."*
In connexion with the history of the sept of Silauchia, we have already
referred to the unequal contest wliicb, under the walls of Meelick Abbey,
was waged between the chiefs of the O'Madden territory, who at Cloghau
Castle in 1595 sacrificed their lives and fortunes in the vain attempt to op-
pose by the rude weapons, and wild heroism of their followers, the well
armed and disciplined forces of Queen Elizabeth, imder the command of
the veteran Lord Deputy Sir William Russell. " These events of 1595 led,
says Dalton {King James Army List), to deaths and the conliscations of many
of the O'Madden sept. In 1606 John King of Dublin had a grant of the estates
of various O'JNIaddens, of the county G^ilway and the King's County, slain in
rebellion, as had also >Sir Henry Davis, the Attorney-General of the day, of
what was described as "the estate of Brasil O'Madden, of the county of Clare,
slain in rebellion." In the same year, however, Ambrose O'Madden had
" livery of certain estates in the old Barony of Longford as son of said
Donald O'Madden." In 1613 Donald O'Madden, then the " Captain of his
Nation," settled on trustees, his manor and castle of Longford, and all his
other estates in that part of Galwiiy, to hold to the use of Ambrose O'Madden,
his son and heir intail, with remainder to his other sons Malachy and Don-
ald ; and the heirs male of Ambrose O'Madden in fee.
The confiscations of tlie O'Madden territory commenced in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, and were repeated in the plantations of her successors James 1. and
Charles 1. These confiscations were carried out not merely as a spoliation of
the Irish chieftains, but even in the partial restoration of some fragments of
their possessions, as in the instance of Donald O'Madden, the last heredi-
tary native ruler of Silanchia or Siol Anmchadha, whose son Ambrose was de-
])rived of his ancestral authority, and distinctive title as " The O'Madden,"
being thenceforward permitted merely to retain a small portion of his fore-
fathers lands, on the English tenure, by Knights service ; were part of a
settled policy the object of which was, says Prendergast, " to break up the
clan system, and to destroy the power of the chiefs." This once accom-
plished, the more complete and ruthless spoliation of the O'Maddens and
other Celtic tribes of Hy-Many, which followed during the early years of
* There is a tombhtoiic; here (ilso to the lueiudvy of Francis IMiuMeii -vvho died in 174;>. In
the aisle is a horizontal monument to the memory of Patrick Burlje and Dorothy INliiddrn,
his ■wife, who died in 1745 ; and in the same ]ilace a modern tombstone in memory of John
Madden, who died. 1812; and in the churchyard adjoining, there are a great number of
tombstones dating from the commencemout of the century, with inscriptious commemorative
vt jjcrsous of the name of Madden.
APPENDIX. 299
the subsequent reign of Cliaiies I. and during tli^. ('romwellian usurpation,
became au easy exempliticatiou of the successful robber's favourite adage. —
]7e Victis.
It would be impossible to follow the iiarrative of the repeated confiscations
by which the chieftains of Silauchia (Siol Anmchadha) and their desceud-
ents were thus in successive reigns despoiled of their ancestral posses'^ions,
without some reference to the history' of the times and of the circumstances
which led to this result. Nor for that purpose are there any better materials
available than may be found in Dr. Madden's Historical IiitrodHction to his
Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, of a small portion of which the
subsequent passages are a very hrief summary: —
The first four centuries after Strongbow's invasion had passed away with-
out the conquest of Ireland being completed. The v\'ars with France and
Scotland, the insurrections of the Barons, and the wars of the Roses, pr.--
vented the English monarchs from establishing even a nominal supremacy
over the entire Island. Instead of the Irish princes becoming feudal vassals,
the Anglo-Norman J^arons who obtained fiefs in Ireland adopted the usages
of the native chieftains. The attention of Henry VII. was attracted to this
state of things by the adherence of the Anglo-Norman Lords, and the Irish
princes, v.ith whom they had formed au alliance to the cause of the ITan-
tagenets ; and their insuperable reluctance to any allegiance to the Tudors.
l''rom that time it became the fixed policy of the Crown to break down tlie
power of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, anel to destroy the independence of
tlie native chieftains by large grants of their lands to EngUsh colonists and
adventurers, who by the former Lords of the soil were looked upon as intru-
ders, whilst the ruling powers regarded them with peculiar favour, as being
most likely to establish and promote an "English interest in Ireland.' This
political motive must not be confounded with the religious movement which
took place about the same time. It was as much the object of Queen Mary
as it was that of Elizabeth to give Irisli lands to Eugli'-h settlers, in (n'der
to obtain a hold over Ireland. Thus it was under Mary that the lands ol*
Leix and Oft'ally were forfeited, and the Lord Deputy permitted to grant
leases of them at such rents as he might deem expedient. In the midst of
this political convulsion, au attempt was made to force the Irish to adopt
the principles of the Reformation, which had been jtist established in Eng-
land. The only reason propos- d to them for a change of creed was the
Lloyal Authority ; and they were already engaged in a struggle against that
authority to prevent their lands being parcelled out to stt angers. Under such
circumstances, the futility of thus perforce converting the natives to the new
creed soon became evident, and it was at last abandoned for the apparently
more feasible plan of colonizing Ireland with Protestants from England. 'J'he
calamitous wars of Elizabeth were waged by the Irish and the descendenis of
the Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland, equally in defence of their land and of
their creed. After ten years of incessant warfare, an expenditure of money
that drained the English exchequer, and of life that nearly depo))ulnteil
Ireland, the entire Island was subdued by the arms of Elizabeth, but the
animosity of the hostile parties was not abated. They had merely dropped
their weapons from sheer exhaustion. Colonies bad been planted in the con-
quered provinces, but the settlers (the great majority of whom exhibited those
strongly marked Calvanistic tendencies, which to the present day distinguish
the Irish from the English Protestant Church), were merely garrisons in a
hostile country, and continued there as aliens in religion, language, and
blood, to the people by v.hnm they were surrounded {Vide Historical
Introduction to Dr. Madden\> United, Irishmen, Vol. I. p.)
The manner in which the conquered inhabitants of Hy-Many were dealt
with by their English victors in those days of the so-called " Good Queen
Bess" may be gathered even from the parti-coloured pages of Mr. i'routlc'ti
300 APPENDIX.
History of the English in Irelandy in whioh we are told that " Elizabeth's
soldiers, with their pay for ever in arrears, lived almost universally on plun-
der. Placed in the country to repress banditti, they were little better than
bandits themselves. They came at last to regard the Irish peasantry as .m-
possessed of the common rights of human beings, and shot and strangled
them lil^e foxes and jackals. More than once in the repoits of officers em-
ployed in these services we meet the sickening details ot their performances,
related with a calmness more frightful than the atrocities themselves.
Young English gentlemen describing expeditions into the mountains to
have some killing ; as if a forest was being driven for a battue." {FrondelH
The Encjlish in Ireland, Vol. I. p. 51).
In the succeeding reign of James the 1st., the cimfiscations in Ireland were
renewed, on a still larger f^cale, the revolt of the Earls of T^-rconnell and
Tyrone, and O'Doherty, affording a pretext for confiscating the six northern
counties, over which the sovereignty of these chieftains extended. Tlie
" Plantation of Ulster,' and the share granted to tlie City of London Corpora-
tion in the plunder, led directly to a com})lete change in the t^iiiure of land
in Ireland ; which ttnder the ancient Irish system, consisted in the co-partner-
ship of the chieftain with all the members of his sept, and by the abolition of
Avhich, under the ''Commissions" issued by James 1st, tlie latter were redm-ed
from small proprietors tributary to the Chief, into the position of tenants
at will, under the new settlers then introduced into Irdand. To that
needy monarch these "Irish foifcitttres " became such a ready source of
income, that by the end of his reign, there remaint^d scarcely a landed
proprietor of the old race in Ireland whose estates were not placed at the
mercy of the crown In the earlier years of his successor, Charles
I. under the viceroyalty of Wentwortli, afterwards Earl of Stafford, a
further project of confiscation of nearly the entire province of Connaught,
especially affecting the O'iMaddens territory of Silanchia, or Siol Anmachada,
under the plea of defective title of the Lords of the soil, was commenced atjd
would have been soon completed, bad not the trottbles in England and the
insurrection in Scotland led to Lord Stafford's recall, and the adaptation of a
policy of conciliation to the Irish gentry, (tn whom, "Graces," or indulgences
in regard to religion and title to land were tlien conferred. After the revo-
lution these promises were disregarded by the Pimtan Parliament, whose
war of extermination against the Irish (.'atholic landed pi oprietors and chief-
tains was followed bv the suh-eqiunt uiaisiug of the latter, and the
saguinary civil war, which ended in the total defeat of the Royalists and
confederated Irish, by Cromwell, at Drogheda, Wexford, and other places,
where were enacted indescribably dreadful scenes of massacre of the ill-fated
Irish, — followed by the wholesale expulsion — '• to Hell or Connaught " of
the Catholic Gentry of Leiuster and Munster.
By the "Acts of Settlement and Ivxplanation" almost the entire landed
property of the country was transferred from its righful owners to the
Cromwellian settlers. On the accession of Jamts 11., the liopes of the
Irish were aroused once more, bttt were quickly bli^ihted by the flight of
the King, after the battles of the Hoyne and Aughrim, and the seige of
Limerick, where the valour of tlie Irish had been well proved. The reign
of William was inaugurated by a fresh act of attainder and the Penal I>aws.
by which the almost complete extermination of the ancient race cf landed
])roprietors in Ireland was accomplislied During the Common-
wealth, as well as at an earlier period, the O'Madden territory was
repeatedly plundered, these confiscations being most extensively carried
out during the l^lautations under the Commonwealth. Thus, in February
1656 we find in the — "Proposals for assyning certaine Baronies in Con-
naught and Clare, to certaine cotmtries in other provinces" — amongst
the lauds assigned by the Cromwellian Commissioners, to the inhabitants o f
^N aterford, etc., etc., " the half Barony of Longford (or Silanchia), except
APPENDIX.
301
what is in the byre (or portion reserved for military occupation) in the
(•ounty of Galway." This latter robbery does not appear to liave been quietly
acquiesced in by the dispossessed old proprietors of Silanchia. Four
years after the confiscations just referred to, we find in the records of the
Irish Parliament tlmt, in l(il6, John Eyre a member of P^iriiament,
complained to the HuU'^e against Fergus Mnddeii, whejeby his ser-
vants, and Laughliii Keagh Madden and Rory Madden, with others, came
to the harus and haggard on the lands of Ballyhugh, where the petitioners',
servants were threshing his corn, and turned them out, and took possession,
and he also complained of others who had seized his cattle on the lands of
[villa, and of Killershave, in the iiarony of Longford, and still detained same."
• • • The Sheriff of (lalway was thereupon "ordt-red to quit Eyre's posses-
sions, and the offend^-rs were summoned to attend the House." However,
ill l{)77, this Fergus Madden had a confirmatory grant of 1783 acres in the
itforesaid Barony of L mgford, "the ancient inheritance of his family." —
:is had also .Toiin Madden, great grandson of Daniel O' Madden, of 44s acres,
in the same district, whiln, J )r. Richard Madden possessed patent for about
•JOO acres in Clare and May(j. The latter was probably the Dr. llichard
Madden of Waterford, who twenty-tJn-ee years previously, presumaldy on
the ground of his professional services, was specially exempted I'rom the
(Jromwellian tran -plantation, — Applications were frequently made to Crom-
well, in favoiu- of some persons, who were founii particularly useful. Thus
on the v>()tM of March 16o4, on the certificate of Colonel W. Leigh, an>l
other officers, within the precincts of Waterford, Dr. Richard Mad<len was
dispensed with from transplantation into (jrmnanght— but as to his desire
of residing in Waterford. it was referred to Cohniei liawrence, the governor
there, to decide, and if he consideresl it fit, the re[uest should then be
granted "
In the subsequent struggles between the contending claimants to the British
Throne, during the Jacobite wars, the 0' Maddens are frequently mentioned
amongst the adherents of the Stuart cause, in whose misfortunes and exile
they sharnd. Thus amongst those enuuier;ited in the "'List of the men of
note, that came with King James out of l-i-ance, or that followed him after,
as fast as could he collected "— (London 1091 , — is included amongst others
of the Silanchia Sept, the flev. John Madden, whilst in King James's Irish
Army List, (1689) we find no small space occupied bj' the O'Madden family.
In the Earl of Clanrioarde's regiment of infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Edw.
;\radden of the Hy many Sept, was second in command. This Colonel Edward
Madden was taken prisonei' at tlie battle of Aughrim, but having afterwards
regained his liberty, hastened to I'rance, where lie was commissioned as
major in the Brigade of Fitzjaraes, the Grand Prior Two of the
name, adds Dalton (op. cit. p. 14:5) were attainted in 1091. In the Earl of
Clanricarde's regiment, there was Michael Madden an ensign, John Madden,
lieutenant in the Earl of Tyrone's Hegiment, and another Madden in
Colonel Owen M'Carthy's regiment — ,lolm Madden, an ensign in Lord
Boffin's Regiment, who in l(i91 was indited as of Longford, county of
Galway, "and was," adds Dalton, "ancestor of the present Dr. Richard Robert
.Madden, so well known and respected in various fields of literature!.''*
At the same period we find another of this family, viz., Hugh Madden, a
Captain in Colonel O'Hugh's regiment and, .John Madden, lieutenant in same
regiment; wbile in the King's Own Infantry regiment there was another
lieutenant Madden Their adherence to the losing side was avenged
during the victorious Dutchman's reign, and in the Williamite confiscations,
the territory of the OMaddens was again despoiled, and the members of this
* " Illustrations, Historical andGpoprra)ihic.fil, of King James'? ArmA- List (IfiSf)!,"' hv .Tolm
Dalton, 2nd odition vol, 2.. p. r,25.
803 APPENDIX.
aucieut house driven from their ancestral possessions, were, perforce, like
Dr. R. R. ^[ad'lon's j^naiulfatlier — Jolui Brasil -Madden, who, says O'Donovau,
" was undoubtedly the head of the family '' — fain to earn their livelih;»od in
such positions or occupations as were then permitted, to persecuted
Catholic victims, of penal law oppression in Ireland, whilst others more
adventurously sought their furtuiie in the congenial profession of arms,
in one or other of those Irish regiments, at that time so largely employed
in the Austrian, Spanish, and French services. During the earlier years
of the eighteenth century, a vast number of these Irish exiles served in the
Spanish army, in which there were no less than seven regiments recruited
from Ireland, and in these were included a considerable number of the
O'Madden name " Among the officers who then distinguished them-
selves in the Ilegimeut de lufanterie de Iilanda, which was raised in 1702, we
find the name of Don Patricio O'Madden. In the following year, 1703, in
the list of Irish officers in the French service, we discover several of the
exiled sept of Silanchia, amongst whom was Lieutenant-Colonel Donal
O'Madden of the Regiment de Fitzgerald, and throughout the last century,
down to the time of the Revolution, the O'Maddeus figured largely in their
muster-rolls.
One of the last of those Avho thus served the House of Bourbon before its
sanguinary extinction, and th»^ final disbaudment of the Irish regiments in
the royal service, was Morrough O'Madden — who in 1785 was Lieutenant in
the regiment of Dillon, of the Irish Brigade. The origin of this splendid
corps, in the remnant of King James's Irish Army, which on the final defeat
of the Jacobite cause, by the fall of Limerick, subsequently became the Irish
Brigade in the service of France, oi" whom about nineteen thousand officers and
soldiers were reviewed at Brest in 1602, and its achievements in the wars of
Louis XIV. and his successors are too familiar to need any alltision, nor
would the limits at our disposal permit any further account here of the
many members of the O'Madden sept who fought in the ranks of the Brigade
from 16U2 down to the period of its extinction, during the revolutionary reign
of terror in 1702. At the same time, it would be difficult to conclude this
article without some brief reference to the ultimate late of that distinguished
body of Irish troops.
Early in 1782 the regiment of Dillon, in which many of the OMadden's
liad served, v/as employed in a successful expedition to recover the Antilles
from England. After the capture of the Island of St. Christopher, and
whilst the regiment was in occupation of St. Domingo, peace was proclaimed
between England, France, and America, and by it was terminated the active
military career of the Irish Brigade, which in 1785 was reduced to the regi-
ments of Dillon, Berwick, and Walshe, consisting of about 5,000 men, and
thenceforth these ceased to be exclusively recruited from Ireland, although
the officers continued Irish down to their disbandment. Three years from
the commencement of the Revolution, by a Decree of the National Assembly,
July 1701, the distinctive establishment of the Troiqjes Etrnngers an Service
de France was established, and the regiments broken up and transferred to
other corps. Of the existant officers of the Irish Brigade, only a few gave
their adhesion to the revoltitionary government, and of these some subse-
quently served with distinction in the Republican and Imperial armies. The
great majority, as might be anticipated from their antecedents, more honour-
ably adhered to the loosing or Royalist side, in the misfortunes of wliicli
they participated. Thus in 1703, the last commandant of the Regiment of
Dillon, viz.. General Lord Charles Dillon, was arrested as a Royahst and
ultimately brought to the guillotine on the 14th of April 170-1. It is related
by an eyewitness, on that fatal morning, as Dillon approached the blood-
stained Place de la Revolution — one of the female victims about to share his
fate, shrnuk back from the executioners hand, and turning to the gallant
APPENDIX. 803
soldier beside her, exclaimed : •* Oh, M. Dillon, will you go first ? " to which
he replied : " anything to oblige a lady," as he preceded her to the block. His
lastwords— " Vive le Roi " — says O'Callaghan, resounded from the scaftbld
with as loud and as firm a tone as if he had been giving the word of command
for a military evolution.* Nearly two years before Dillon's execution,
the last muster of the remnant of that once formidable corps, in which so
many of the descendants of the founders of Meehck Abbey, with those of
almost every other ancient Irish family, had as we have seen, well sustained
the cause of France in all the battletields of the preceding century, took place
in 1792, at Coblentz, where the exiled Bourbon princes and other leaders of
the Tioyalist party were then assembled.
We may here, in conclusion, cite the words in which the Count de Provence,
afterwards Louis XVIII., brother of the ill-fated Louis XVI., at this epoch,'
lecorded the services, and pronounced the tinal dismissal from the pages of
history, of the Irish Brigade in the service of France.— " Gentlemen," said
the Prince, in his address to the officers of that body. '• We acknowledge
the invaluable services that France has received from the Irish Brigade in
the course of the last hundred years, services that we shall never forget,
though under an impossibility of requiting them. Receive this standard as
a pledge of our remembrance, as Avell as a monument of our admiration and
respect, and that in future times, generous Irishmen, this shall be the motto
of your spotless Hag (1602-1792), Semper ct ubique FideUs.''
* History of the Irish Brigade in the Service of France, p. G?,4.
i^04 APPENDIX.
ABSTRACT OF A NOTICE OF ME. JOHN PATTEN— KMMKl'S
BROTHKll-lN-LAW.
Bi- R. R. M. {From ''The Nation, January, 1861."')
The followiug compendious notice of the termination of the career of a
man of great worth and noLle (Qualities, who loved his country well, and
suffered for it — a wise and a good man, of Christian principles, tolerant
and charitable, utterly free from guile, eminently just, and of a generous,
kindly, loving nature — is, perhaps, a little too brief for the occasion:—
" January 11th, at 93 Lower JMount-street, Dublin, died, John l^atten,
Esq., aged !JG years."' (Jan. 11th 1864).
There are persons who converse with the shadows of men whose memories
are connected with historical events of more or less pith and moment, of
mere Irish interest though they be. For such persons we put together the
scattered records of the career of John Patten, which we find in a work en-
titled The Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, by E. il. Madden, and
in letters and other papers of the late Mr. Patten, which are in the hands of
the writer of this sketch : —
John Patten, the son of the Kev. J. Patten, Presbyterian minister of
Clonmel (deceased in 1787), by his marriage with Miss Margaret Colville
(born in l7-"}5), was the youngest of three children by this marriage. .....
He was born the Kith of August 1774, and consequently died in his 91st,
not his OGili, year. His sister Jane, married to T. A. Emmet in 1701. was
born lOtli of August 1771. His brother. WiUiam Patten, was born in 1772.
Mr. John Patten married, about 1832, Miss Orr, a Scotch lady, and by this
marriage had a son, John Patten, born in 1823, who died about twenty years
ago, and two other chiLh-en, who died previously.
The maternal uncle of Mr. John Patten, Mr. William Colville, was
a merchant of this city, and by him Mr. Patten was taken into his
house of business, and eventually became his partner. Mr. Colville was
succeeded by his sons, John and William C. Colville (the latter subse-
quently was a director of the Bank of Ireland), and Mr. Patten ceased to be
connected with the firm. He became intimately acquainted with the family
of old Dr. Phnmet, then living in Stephens Green, and continued so to be
from the time of the marriage of T. A. Emmet with his sister in 1791 to the
period of the ruin that fell on it in 179H, and its utter desolation in 180;3.
^Ir. Patten was not a member of the Society of Qnited Irishmen, but he was
acquainted with the connection of T. A. Emmet with it, and having an inti-
mate knowledge of Emmet's projects in 1803, was then imprisoned for
upwards of a year for his alleged connexion with them. He had feelings of
the strongest affection for Robert Emmet, and that love and friendship of his
never varied. This affectionate sorrow that had been taught to be proud of its
object, was the same in his old age as it was in his early days, full of ardour
and admiration, biit never demonstrated volunarily, or on slight occasions.
Elsewhere, in the same woik, we find that jNIr. Patten was acquainted with
the fact, known only to two persons, who were living within a period of
some twenty years— the fact of a nobleman of distinguished I'ank, viz., the
the Earl of Wycombe l)cing well cognisant of the plans of Emmet.
The author of 'J'he Lives and Times of the Vnited Lishmen tells us : —
"In the month of August 1859, 1 accompanied Blr. Patten to Kilmainham
Jail, to have the cell pointed out to me where Robert Emmet passed his last
night in this world ; and, on entering the vestibule of the prison, Mr. Patten
without any hesitation or inquiry, stepped up to a door, the first on entering
on the left hand side, and recognized that room rather than cell — for it was
not ordinarily used as a cell — though Mr. Patten had been placed in con-
finement in it, and actually slept in Emmet's bed the night following
his execution. It is now (juite different in its appearance to what he romem-
APPENDIX.
805
bers it. When he entered the room, as a prisoner, Emmet'a bed was just as he
had slept in it the night before ; he (Mr. Patten ) lay down there. The
room is now undergoing such extensive alterations that in a short time
it will be totally different in regard to size, doors, and windows. Its
dimensions when Emmet passed his last night there, were eighteen feet in
height, sixteen feet in length, and fourteen feet in breadth. After many
inquiries, we could find only one person living in the locality who had any
knowledge of Robert Emmet while in prison in Kilmainham "
The author of The History of the United Irishmen, writing in 1859, said:—
" Mr. Patten, late librarian of the Royal Dublin Society, was the brother
of Mrs. Emmet, wife of Thomas Addis Emmet. This venerable man,
now in his eighty- sixth year, still survives, in Dublin, revered by his fellow-
citizens of all creeds and parties, for that rare virtue of consistency that is
the same in all circumstances and in either fortune. It has been exhibited
by him in early life as it is found in his old age, an d all who know the brother-
in-law of Thomas A. Emmet recognize in him one whose equanimity of mind
is the result of practical religion— whose philosophy is shown in the toler-
ance of his opinions, the moderation of his desires, the calmness of his
spirit, and the contentment of a good conscience. True to his early friend-
ships, to his simple tastes, to the interests of his country— which he espoused
in youth, and clings to in his declining years with unshaken fidelity, after
all bis sufferings for them --few men have been so faithful to their principles,
throughout a long and chequered career, as John Patten."
The same writer, was by Mr Patten's bedside in his last moments. All
that the kindness of a faithful servant (in whose home he died) could do for a
beloved master on such an occasion was done. The relatives of Mrs.
Patten did not forget the offices of friendship, and, in particular, Mr. Boyle
was unremitting in his attention.
Many are the traits of Mr. Patten's benevolence which have come to
our personal knowledge. AVith his hmited means it is surprising how
much suff'ering he relieved. For many years he was in the habit of paying
a weekly pension— small in amount, but to the objects of his bounty the chief
means of subsistence— to two poor widows, whose only claim on him was their
destitution. The deepest sorrow was manifested by the old servants of the
institution with which he was so long connected when the news of his death
reached them. He had all the urbanity and kindness in dealing with the poor
especially, and with his inferiors, in position, all the considerate gentleness
and courtesy of a Christian gentleman. In the house where he died, a few
hours after his death, the present writer saw two poor aged women,
weeping, and recalling all the kind acts of " the dear good old gentleman ;"
and one of them said— "I may well lament his death, for he was the best
and kindest friend, and the only benefactor I ever had in the world." _Hia
servant man expressed himself in similar terms, and crying as a son might
do whose father was lying dead before him. The writer of this notice has
but one observation more to make of his departed friend's character,
Mr. Patten \vas not a member of his Church. He appreciates, however,
as highly as the member of any Church can do, a true spirit of tolerant
charity, and that he has never seen exemplified more uniformly than in the
practice and the principles of the late John Patten. He was, indeed, a truly
Christian gentleman. Peace be to his ashes,
R. R. M.
21
306 APPENDIX.
JOHN CORNELIUS O'CALLAGHAN.
[To tlie foregoing notices of some of Dr. Madden's friends, may be appended a brief sketch
of one of the most valued and oldest of his literary associates, contributed to tbe Irish
Monthly Magazine, in T/hich, with some additions, it was pubhshed in August, 1890.]
The name of John CorneliuB O'Callaghan is one entitled to a prominent
place in the long Hst of Irish literary celebrities, and is certainly deserving
of fuller recognition than has yet been awarded to his life-long labours in
the cause of his country's history.
The newspaper obituaries at the time of his death, and a sliort article in The
Irish Monthly Magazine are the only record of a man whose individuality of
character was as remarkable as his genius, and whose services in rescuing
from misrepresentation and oblivion some of the least known an-l most import-
ant passages of Hibernian history are probably reserved for the appreciation of
future times less troubled than the present. If left unnoticed until then, how-
ever, nothing more than his works can survive, and the personality of the man
and those traits which were familiar to his contemporaries will be no longer
known. Hence, from the sources just mentioned, supplemented by circum-
stances referred to by O'Callaghan in his works or in his conversations
during an acquaintance extending from those distant "boyhood's years — now,
alas ! more than poor Mangan's " Twenty Golden Years Ago," when I first
met Mr. O'Callaghan at my father's table, down to the time when, in the
same company, I sat by his death-bed and followed his hearse to Glasnevin
Cemetery, during which long period I enjoyed the privilege of intimate
friendship with the historian of The Irish Brigade, has been compiled
the following notice of a man who well merits a better chronicle than these
imperfect reminiscences.
John Cornelius O'Callaghan was born in Dublin in 1805, and, as he boasted,
drew his blood from canny Ulster as well as from the more fervid and
imaginative Munster race. His father, Mr. John O'Callaghan, of Talbot-
street, was one of the first Catholics admitted to the profession of attornej'
in Ireland, on the partial relaxation of the Penal Laws in 1793, and at the
time of the Union was a highly respected solicitor, who succeeded in amass-
ing a competency which subsequently enabled the younger O'Callaghan to
follow his literary tastes. His mother was a southern lady — a Miss Donovan,
who is described as having been a beauty in her youth, and whom I well
remember in her latter years as a highly intellectual woman.
At an early age John Cornelius O'Callaghan was sent as a pupil to the then
nev/ly-estabiished Jesuit College of Clongowes Wood, where he was imbued
with that love of classical learning which distinguished his after life, and
with those principles of religion which consoled his last moments. Subse-
quently he was transferred to another school nearer to Dublin, at Blanchards-
town, kept by a Catholic priest, the Eev. Joseph Joy Deane. At the
completion of his education he became a candidate for membership in his
father's profession, but, fortunately for the interest of Irish history, he
evinced such a dislike for those shrewd practices and pettifogging ways by
which, he was wont to say, success in the law is chiefly attainable, that as
soon as possible he shook its dust from his feet, and devoted himself wholly
to the more congenial if less profitable pursuits of literature.
Of his brothers, of whom he had either two or three, he was accustomed
to refer most frequently and in terms of warm afiection to the younger, who,
having entered the medical department of the army at an early age, retired,
after a long service in India, with the rank of Surgeon-General, and is still
APPENDIX. 307
living in l-'ngland with liis family, one of whom was, I believe, married to
Mr. Irving, the well-known actor. His sisters were married and left families,
of whom two ladies residing in this city and one distinguished clergyman of
the Vincentian Order are the surviving representatives.
Mr. O'Callaghan's mother, from whom he apparently inherited much of
his talent as well as the originality of his character, was a lady of con-
siderable mental culture and some eccentricity, who attained a very advanced
age. One of my earliest recollections of O'Callaghau goes back to my boy-
hood, when I was sent with some message to his house in Dorset-street,
where I met his mother, then a very old lady, but with mind and memory
unimpaired hy age. The scene was one I shall never forget. The venerable
matron, oddly 'dressed, and retaining little trace of her early comeli-
ness, filled an arm-chair on one side of the fire-place, whilst the opposite
one was occupied by her son, clad in a flowing dressing-robe of faded pattern,
his customary bag wig replaced by an old-fashioned white nightcap, and
there they sat for nearly an hour, heedless of any interruption, discussing
Bome forgotten point of historical controversy with extraordinary learning
and equal vehemence on both sides, until at last both appealed to my judg-
ment, to my no small bewilderment and consternation. To the day of her
death, O'Callaghan's respect and love for his mother were constant and
unfailing, and to her he always ascribed his own literary tastes and much of
the knowledge embodied in his works.
O'Callaghan's first appearance in print was in the columns of The Comet,
a newspaper established in 1831 by the members of the Comet Club, and in
the Irish Monthly Magazine of Politics and Literature, which from 1>^3()
to 1833 was conducted by INIr. Ronayue, then M.P. for Dungarvan, and two
other barristers, INIessrs. Close and Kennedy, and amongst the contributors
to which, besides Mr. oCallaghan, Daniel O'Connell, his eldest daughter,
Mrs. Fitzsimons, Eichard J alor Sheil, and many other distinguished Irish
writers were included.
The abolition of the Protestant Church Establishment in Ireland as a State-
supported institution was one of the chief objects of the Comet Club ; and
by the able newspaper which owed its existence to that body was sown the
seeds of the agitation that bore fruit long subsequently in the disestablish-
ment and disendowmeut of the once-appaiently unassailable citadel of
sectarian intolerance and ascendancy. " To get rid of such a glaring insult
to justice, Christianity, and Protestantism in general, and to Ireland in par-
ticular," says Mr. O'Callaghan,* the original Comet Club, a political and
literary society embracing members of various creeds, had the merit of com-
bining in Dublin about the commencement of 1831. From the head-quarters
of the club. No. 10 D'Olier-street, the commencing blaze of the vigorous fire
against the Established Church, and in favour of the voluntary system,
which has been since so widely spread throughout England and Scotland,
was in consequence kindled by the irregular and fantastic but keen and
scorching Hght of The ParsoiVs Horn-Book. The first edition of this,
with etchings by Lover, was sold oil in less than a fortnight, and the gene-
ral impressions of ridicule and disgust towards the State Established Church
were briskly kept up by other publications of the club, but particularly by
the establishment of The Comet, a weekly Sunday newspaper. The
principles which The Comet maintained cannot be better expressed than
by the following lines that appeared above the signature, Alfieri, in its
first number ; —
* " The Green Book,'' by .John Cornelius O'Callaghan, p. 30, DnbUn, 1845
21 •
308 APPT^NIMX.
«' Our Comet shines to chase foul mists away,
And drive dark falsehood from her cell to-day,
To scathe the hands that break man's chartered laws,
Or pounce on nations with a vulture's claws.
To raise the prostrate, soothe the anguished breast,
To check the oppressor, bid the goaded rest —
To give to man true knowledge of his kind.
And lift hira to that rank which Heaven designed —
For ends like these, from high our Comet moves.
Bright freedom wings it, and fair Truth approves.
" Yes — 'twill be ours to check the bigot's frown.
Or despot's stride that tramples freedom down.
" Yes — Themis' bench shall see no hand impure
Deal partial laws to crush the suffering poor —
And bloated prelates shall with bigots tiy,
AVhile pure Religion waves her torch on high,
And Sacred Truth, with gospel-flag unfurled,
Diffuse uupaid-for doctrines throughout the world."
Such were the principles on which The Comet commenced its course, and
so successful was the venture, that from May to October, 1831, when its
origmal founders retired from its direction, it rapidly rose to a circulation
then considered large, of 2,300 copies. After this time its character
became altered and deteriorated by the introduction of local personalities
and scandal, by which, at the expiration of two years, its circulation was
eventually destroj'ed, and by the secession of the majority of the original
Comet Club from that paper, when they, with other gentlemen, formed
themselves into anotlier literary society called the " Irish Brigade," and got
up a periodical, entitled The Irish Monthly Magazine.
Of the two literary and political associations just referred to, which in-
cluded so many men of ability, probably the last survivor was Mr. O'Calla-
ghan. The best testimony to the merit of these societies was the reluctant
tribute paid by one of their oldest opponents in the cause of misrule and
Orange ascendancy, namely, the Quarterly Revietv, which at that time
admitted that each of them had "exhibited public proof that its labours
were not frivolous or unproductive."
Mr. O'Callaghan's contributions to The Comet and Irish Monthly
Magazine, with several others of his earlier writings, were reprinted in a
now scarce volume, under the title of The Green Book ; or, Gleanings
from the Writing-desk of a Literary Agitator. The first edition of this
curious Olla podrida of historic and political research, with some forty of
his poetical pieces, was published in Dublin by the late Mr. James Duffy in
1N40, and the second edition, adorned with an excellent likeness of the
autlior, by W. H. Holbrooke, in 1845.
In the earlier volumes of The Nation he was a frequent and valued con-
tributor, and his services to that famous journal have been generously
acknowledged by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy in his Young Ireland, and
still more recently in his " Life of Thomas Davis." Indeed, O'Callaghan
was wont to claim a share in the origin of The Nation, and in the preface
to his second edition to his Gree7i Book, he refers to it as "that able
weekly periodical, the necessity for whose establishment in Dublin was first
suggested by the present publication."
If O'Callaghan had never written anything beyond the notes to his edition
of the Macarics Excidium, published in 1860 by the Arch geological Society,
APPENDIX. 309
is sufficient evidence of his extraordinary erudition, industry, and love of
country might be found therein. This work drew forth the most flattering
tributes to the editor's historic accuracy and learning, even from those most
strenuously opposed to all his views. Thus Macaulay, for instance, wrote
to him: "To a considerable extent our views coincide. I admit that the
Irish were not like the English Jacobites, the defenders of arbitrary power.
The cause of James presented itself, no doubt, to the Eoman Catholics of
]\Iunster as the cause of civil and spiritual liberty." When Macaulay \isited
Ireland in quest of information bearing on the Jacobite and Williamite
Wars in this country, he expressed a wish to see the editor of the Macarics
Excidium, and the latter was accordingly requested to wait on the eloquent
word-painter whose historic accuracy was less conspicuous than his brilliant
descriptive power. O'Callaghan, however, resented this summons as an
indignity. "No sir," he repUed, "I shall not wait on Mr. Macaulay. If
Mr. Macauley desires an interview, he can ascertain where I live, and may
call on Mr. O'Callaghan."
As a politician, O'Callaghan was an ardent and uncompromising nationa-
list of the old school, of which the typical representatives were Thomas Davis,
Gavan Dufl'y, E. R. Madden, Denis Florence McCarthy, Father Meehan, R. D.
Williams, Clarence Mangan, Maurice and John OConnell, Denny Lane,
Wilham Dreunan, Edward Walsh, and those other gifted men of genius and
letters, whose names with his own may be found in Songs and Ballads,
by writers in The Nation, published in 1846. His habits and tastes, how-
ever, were not such as to lead him into any prominent participation in the
turmoil of public political life. Nevertheless, he was a warm supporter of
O'Connell, not only in the great Tribune's gatherings in ConciHation Hall,
but also at the monster meetingsof 1843, where O'Connell, then in the zenith
of his power, swayed the vast multitudes that thronged around him at Tara,
Athlone, and Mullaghmast. At the last named meeting, in October, 1843,
conjointly with Hogan the sculptor, in the presence of 400,000 spectators,
he took part in crowning the Liberator with a facsimile of the ancient
Irish regal diadem.
This, I believe, was O'Callaghan's last appearance on a public platform
After the secession of the Young Ireland Party he confined bis political
efforts to the emanations of his prolific pen. Nor in the more recent politi-
tical affairs of later years did he again appear in the arena of public life,
although consistently maintaining to the final moments of existence all the
opinions of his youtli and manhood.
Mr. O'Callaghan's latest, and perhaps his greatest work was the History
of the Irish Brigade " in the Service of France and other foreign countries,
between the dethronement of James II. and the death of the Young Pre-
tender. This, after many ineffectual efforts to obtain a publisher at home,
was brought out by Messrs. Cameron, of Glasgow, in 1867, and, as has been
well said, is " a mine of information from which future historians will be glad
to draw their materials," as well as the labour of love on which he expended
the energies of the best part of his life. As far back as March 3, 1843, John
O'Connell writes from Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, telling Davis that he
had made over all his Irish Brigade documents to O'Callaghan, who was then
living at 37 Upper Merrion-street, and whom he asked Davis to consult on
the matter, as 61 Baggot-street was not many paces distant. Our author
was thus preparing for his magnum ojjus during more than a quarter of a
century.
There has been more than one reference to the fact that O'Callaghan
(lid not confine himself to sober prose, but not unfrequently indulged in a
poetic tlight, as may be seen by his Green Book in which are included no
less than forty-two specimens of his verse. These, with some exceptions,
were chiefiy on ephemeral topics of the day, and hence have now lost much
810 APPENDIX.
of their original interest. Nor can it be pretended that his muse soared very
high, or that its «jefusions are hkely to survive theremernVrnriCr of his friends
and contemporaries. One specimen may here suffice — his epigram on the
weeping and laughing philosophers : —
" ' If we look,' says Eacine, ' to the lives of the wise,
What opposite maxims we find !
Here said Herachtus despondingly cries,
While Democritus laughs nt mankind.'
Yet as long as my stay in this planet extends,
To follow them both I propose ;
With one, may I weep for my sutFering friends—
With the other, I'll laugh at my foes."
O'Callaghan's acquaintance with the forgotten bye-ways of ancient literary
research was probably unrivalled. As a writer (quoted in the Irish Monthly
Magazine, vol. xv., page 249) says: — "He knew almost the exact spot in
which reposed every old manuscript in Europe. Living as he did amongst
the ancients, he had their sayings always on his tongue, and would walk into
a friend's drawingroom quoting Hannibal in such a way as to give the impres-
sion that the great general had just left him at the gate. A man to shed
tears for the death of a pet canary, or to lash himself to fury over a tale of
human injustice or wrong : he had a just and almost a martial spirit. He
was one of an old school now passing away — of a small band of intrepid
savants who denied themselves much that is desirable in life in order to toil
amongst the ruins of our language and past, resolved that all traces of the
prints left by noble Irish feet should not be wholly obliterated from the
sands of time."
O'Callaghan's death took place at his residence in Fitzgibbon -street, Dublin,
in the seventy- seventh year of his age. His last hours Avere soothed by the
consolations of his religion, and the untiring ministrations of one of the
most venerable and zealous priests who ever adorned the Catholic Church of
Ireland and his own distinguished Order, viz., the late Father Callan, S.J.
During that illness the present writer had the privilege of witnessing the
resignation and piety with which his dear old friend bore the pains of ap-
proaching dissolution, and the humble confidence with Avhich he looked
forward to that better life beyond the grave, to which he passed with faculties
undimmed by age or infirmity, on the 2-4th of April, 1883.
T. M. M.
THE END,
INDEX.
INDEX
Abbey of Meelick
Aboukii", Bay of . , .
Abolition of Slavery in West Indies
„ „ in America
Abbott, Mr. F., . . .
Acton, Sir A. John
Affre, Monseigueur, Archbishop of Paris .
Africa, West Coast, Appointed Special Commissioner of Inquiry
— Residence there — Report Presented to Parliament
— Controversy on Slave-Trade
Ainsworth, William Harrison
A'Kempis, Thomas ....
Ali JMelieraet, Pasha of Egypt, Reminiscences of
America, North. Account of Three Visits to
American Indians, tlieir Condition
American Press
., Social and Literary Life
" Araistad," The, Captives of, an Episode of the Slave-Trade
Amistad, Captives of the
Ancestors, Dr. ]Madden's
Anster, John, LL.D. ....
Anti- Slavery Convention
Anti- Slavery Convention, French
Anti-Slavery Employment, Commencement of Connexion with
Anti-Slavery Labours in Jamaica ,
,, in Cuba , , ,
, , in America
„ in Egypt
„ in West Africa
PAGE
295
30
69, 73
06
100
217
110
. no
117
180
222
37
^6,
107
106
91
87, 07
82
81
116
237
110
119
62
70,
173
7^
, 80
81
110
112,
117
314
IWDEX.
Auti-Slavery Society, Address from
Annuals, Lady Blessington's
Armagh, Primate of, Letter from
Asia Minor, A Ride Through
Anspach, The Margravine of. Notice of Her Career
Athenceum, Early Contributions to the
Austrahan Aborigines, Their Ill-treatment— Mental Capacity
Our Duties Towards
Australia, Western, Dr. Madden's Appointment as Colonial
Secretary— Voyage to — Its Condition and Govern
ment — Despatches Concerning— Retirement from—
Correspondence
Bannister, J. M., the Actor, Reminiscences of
Banim Michael ....
Barbadoes .....
Beattie, Dr. William, Poems and Letters of
" Beda " Madden, Death of .
Bedouins, Adventure with
Beranger, the Poet ....
Belem, Lines on ... .
Belle of the Ocean, Lines on the
Betblehem, Visit to .
Blessington, Lord, Letters from .
„ Recollection of Lord Blessington in Rome, &c
Blessington, Lady, Letters from
Blessington, Lady. Account of Her Career, Her Literary Sur
roundings— Gore House
Blessington, Memoirs by Madden
Bloomingdale Asylum, New York
Books, Farewell to. Lines
Bordeaux, Residence there, 1821
Booterstowu ' . . , .
Brady, Most Rev. Dr., Bishop of Perth
Brady, Dr. Mazier . e , .
PAGE
111
182
216
28
50, 52
121
•230, 31
223, 234
57
237
64
180, 197, 220
271
43, 44
110, 120
190
147
46
10,5, 106
48, 177
180, 193, 197
176, 1S4
179, 25»
104
236
10
278
230
237
INDEX.
315
Biaudenburg House : : . .
"Breathings of Prayer,"; Unpublished Volume of Poems
Specimens of . . .
Breifne. O'Kourke's of, their Contiexiou ^nth Mftdden Family
Brigade, Irish in French Service
Bright, Mr. John, M.P., Visit to Ireland, 203 ; Correspondence
with ....
Broglie, Duke of . ; .
Brougham, Lord ....
Burke, Sir Bernard, Correspondence with .
Buxton, Sir T. F., .
Byron, Lord, ....
180,
200,
PAGE
51
84
85
265
110
205
218
203
Catfrey, Thomas M'Donnell . . . '
Cairo, Kesidence in, 1825-27 . . .
Cairo, Pie-visited ....
Campbell, The Abbe, Account of
Campbell, 'Jhomas, The Pott
., Letters from
Canada, Journey Througli
Candia, Kesidence there during Gretk "War
Cana, of Galilee ....
Canterbury, Viscountess
Cape Coast Castle,
Cape Coast Castle, Controversy with Governor M'Lean on
Slavery, at . ■
Cape Coast Castle, L. E. L's. Grave
Cape, Miss . ...
Capital Punishment, Inexpediency of
Capitol, The, "Washington , . ,
Carbonari » . . . •
Catholic Keligion, Mrs. Maddtin's Conversion to ,
CathoUc, Church in Ireland, its Persecutions
Chanuing, Dr. . * • .
287
80
HI
52
2, 179, 222
109, 2U0
97
33
43
176
lU
111
lis
173
272
93
18
61
300
177
31(3
iNDiiX.
Charleville, Countess of
Children, Lines on
Child, Death of a, Lines on
Christmas Carol, Lines
Chronicle, Mornimj, Special Correspondent
Church, Protestant, Established in Ireland, Its Abolition
Clare, Lord
Clarkson, Thomas, Letter from .
Cloncurry, Lord, Correspondence with
Cogan, Mrs. E.
Cogan, Eight Hon. William H. F.
Colborne, Sir Jolin
Coleman, George, Actor
Coleman the Younger .
Colonial Office, Correspoudence ^rith
Colonists in Canada
„ Australia .
Colonial Secretary, Western Australia, Dr. Maddens Services as
Coltman, Judge
Comet Newspaper
Connolly, Lady Louisa
Constantinople, Account uf Residence there
" Connexion between England and Ireland,' Work on
Conway, F. W.
Costa Cabral, Sen or De, Portuguese Minister
Cotrell, Mr., of Naples
Craven, Lady
Cremieux, M.
Crete, Island of
Crimean War, Letter from Sir J. Stephen on
Crime and Poverty, Connection between
Cuba
,, Escape from Assassination
PAGE
179
271
132
IfiO
189
205
108
117
206
21, 234
234
98
57
56
81
98
19
309
108
28, 32
175
191
54
51
110
82
212
224
83
83
INDEX.
317
Cuban Slavery and Slave-Trade . , • .
Cuba, Three Years Residence and Anti-Slavery Residence there
Cuba, Island of, Dr. Madden 's Work on, Published in 18A9
,, „ Correspondence on
Cuban Slavery Described
Curian, John Philpot, Reminiscences of
Curran, Miss Sarah
Curzon Street, Mayfuir, Professional Residence, in
PAGE
77
7^,85
83
59, 203
77
4,5
102
54
Damietta ....
Damascus, Mission to
Dante's Creed, Lines on
Davis, Thomas
Dead, Memorials of the, Lines .
Derby, Earl of, Correspondence with
Dickens, Mr. Charles, Controversy with
Disraeli, Benjamin
Dixon, Arih bishop. Letter from .
D'Orsay, Count
Drennau, Wm.
Dublin Jicriew, The .
Dachenois, Mademoiselle, her histrionic jiower!
Duels and Duelling
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan
Duke de Broglie
Michael Dwyer, , ,
39
no
154
218, 308
15 G
271
262
179
21(5
184,188, 203
33
219
56
13,50
89
119
237
" Easter Offering," Poems published, 1851
Bocentric Club
Egerton, Sir John G. .
254
23
22
318
INDEX.
Egypt, Residence in .
,. Mission to, in 18.42 . . •
„ Last Visit to, in 1861
" Egypt and Mahomed Ali," Work on, publication of
^Imslie, Miss Harriet T., Dr. Maddens Marriage with
,, Notice of her life . . .
Elton, Mr. .
Emmet, Judge . . ; .
Emmet, Rohert, ImprisonmiMit and Death
Emmet, Thomas Addis, His Tomb
Emancipation of Slaves in Jamaica in 1831
Emigrant's Grave, Lines on .
Emigrant Ship, Voyage in a .
Erskine, Lord ....
" Esmerald," Voyage of the
Evictions, Irish in 1849
Eviction. Lines on .
Expostulation and Agitation, Lines on
Famine Years in Ireland, Letters on
" Farewell to Ireland," I-ines
Farrell, Very- Rev. Canon
Faulkner, Sir Frederick . . . •
Fenian Rising of 18G7, Protest against death punishment of
Leaders
Ferguson, Sir Samuel
Fitzgerald, Lady Edward (Pamela)
Fitzgerald, Lord Edward
Fitzherbert, Mrs. ....
Fitzpatrick, W. F. .
Fitzpatrick, P. V. . . . . .
Forde, of Carry
„ Miss Elizabeth .. .. ..
,, Wm. F. Madden
Foster, Mr. Matthew, M, P., Controversy with
PAGE
3fi, 17
110
960
175
60
203
18
92
805
105
71
75
102
180
102
951
lia
141
240, 254
]m
237
54
271
I'm
y2
272
53
i4l
21-0
16.^
3
103, 227
113, 115
INDIX.
319
PAGE
Freeman's Journal, Mr. Madden's Letters and Reports during
Irish Famine Period
.
240, 25i
Freeman's Journal on O'Connell Monument
268
Freemantle, W. Australia
224
Froude, Mr. J. A. .
209
Gahan, Rev. Dr. ....
3
*' Galileo and the Inquisition " .
2C)f)
Gardiner, Lady Harriet
178
Gell, SirW. ...»
55
Gilbert, J. T. ....
237
Gladstone, Right Hon. Wm. E., Letters from
209, 258
Glenelg, Lord
175
Godkin, Mr. J. . . . .
237
Gold Coast, Visit to
213
Gore House, Reminiscene«53 of its Celebrities
170, 184
" Grace," Lines on .
156
Granimont, Duke de .
178
Gi'anada, Island of .
65
Grattiiu, Henry ....
214
Greek War, Visit to Crete dnrin^'
33
Grey, Earl, Correspondt-noe with
231
Guichp, Due de ....
185
Hakim, Turkish, Dr. INIadden's experience as a
30
Hall, Mr. and Mrs. S. C.
118
Haughton, James
.
230, 2G4, 27 I
Havana, Residente in the
77, 84
Haverty, Martin
238
Hay don, the painter
18G
Healy, Rev. J.
237
Hector, Visit to Tomb of
33
Hellespont, the
32
Hennessy, Wm.
238
350
INDKX.
PACK
Herald, The Morninfi, Dr. Madden's Conn.^xion with
2:^>, 121
Hershell, John . . . • •
25
Hood, Thomas
ISO
Hodgkens, D.
10)
Holland, Lady . . . . •
179
Holy Land, Visit to the . . . .
41, i7
Holy Sepulchre, Church of the . . . .
46
Hy-Many, the O'Madden's of .
283, 294
Ibrahim Pasha . . . . .
34
Isarabert, Mons. . . . . .
206
Italy, First Visit to .
15
" Second and Third do. . . . .
25
Italy, The Blessington's in .
179
Indians, North American . . . .
206
" Infirmities of Genius," published in 1833
174
"Ireland and England," History of their Connexion, Work on
175
" Irish Periodical Literature, History of"
270
Irish Famine Years
240, 254
Irish Land and Church Questions, on
264, 2o7
Irving, Washington ....
201
Jamaica, Appointment as Special Magistrate there .
62
Jamaica, Life and Work there during Abolition of Slavery
65, 73
Jerusalem, Visit to, and Lines on
44, 45, 40, 157
Jesuits, Unpublished History of the
122
Jesuits, Calumnies, on, Refuted lay R. E. M.
262
Jordan, Visit to the ....
43
Judge Arbitrator in Havana, Dr. Madden's appointment as
103
Kean, Charles . . . .
56
Kemble, Actor, Recollections of
56
Visit to tomb of
49
„ Miss Fanny ....
180
Kingston, Jamaica
66
321
Kilronan, Lines on .
Kilrush Workhouse in the Famine Years . , ,
Knowles, Sheridan - . . . ,
Lamartine ......
Lamenaise, The Abbe de . ...
Landor, Walter Savage ....
„ Letters fi'om .....
L. E. L. (Miss Landou), Notice of her Literary Career and
Death .....
Lee, of Macclesfield, Miss ....
Leeds Mercury .....
Lentaigne, Sir John, Correspondence
Liberated Africans, Appointed Superintendent at the Havana
Lisbon, Residence there for three years
Lines, At Parting, 63 ; To a Publisher, 174 ; Emigrant's Grave,
175; Cuban Slave Merchant, 178; May Hymn, 84;
Morning, 84; Night, 85; Niagara, ; 100 The Rescue,
109; Eaux de Vichy, 124; Spain, 125; Scrap-Book,
126; Dying Traveller, 127; Vale of Ovoca, 128;
Lines to Accompany a Portrait, 129 ; To Harriet, 130 ;
To his Wife, 131 ; Death of an Infant, 132 ; Lady Per-
plexed, do. ; To Lady Blessington, 133 ; Father Mathew,
do.; To Cub», J34 ; St. Helena, 124; Woman's Work
and Mission, 135 ; On Growing Old, 136 ; Old Books,
137; Exercise, 138; Sweets to the Sweet, 140;
Expostulation and Agitation, 141 ; The Men of '98,
142; Eviction Lay, 143; The Emigrant's, 144;
Celtic Race, 145 ; Rebel's Farewell, 146 ; Belle of the
Ocean, 147 ; The Day that is to Come, 148 ; Irish History,
do. ; The Voluntary Principle, 149 ; Unknown, 150 ;
Resurget, 151 ; Farewell, 152 ; Lines to a Zealot, 152 ;
Christmas Day, 153 ; Dante's Creed, 154 ; On a Death-
bed, 165 ; Grace, 156 ; Old Man's Prayer, do. ; &c.
PAGE
150
243, 254
90, 200
119, 187
119,200
180
198, 210
117
2
115
237
102
189, 192
22
892
INDEX.
PAGE
Literary Labours, Dr. Madden's Prose
121,
122, 174, 175
„ „ His Wife's Share in
123
„ „' Poetry
124
Loan Fund Board, Appointed Secretary of
235
„ Eetirement from
275
London, Farewell to, Lines
22
Longford, Barony of, 0' Madden's
285
Lover, Samuel
180
Lowe, Dr. ...
110
Lyndhurst, Lord
177
Lyons, Eobert, Reminiscences of " Old Bob Lyons,
" Curran'
3
Patron . . . .
.
4,5
Lyons of Jamaica . . . .
67
Lyons of Lyonstown
292
IMac Cabe, William Bernard
219, 237
M'Oarthy, Denis Florence
218
Macaulay, Lord . . . .
180
M'Clean, Captain
114
M'Donald, Dr., New York
104
M'Donnell, D.
205
Madden Family, History of the
283, 294
M'Mahon, Rev. J.
237
Malaga, Visit to . . .
260
Margravine of Anspach, Notice of
50
Masson, Major
102
Mathews, Charles, Reminiscences of
58, CO
Medical Education, Commencement of
8
„ „ Its Continuation in Paris
13
Medical Practice in Naples, 18, 25 ; in Turkey, 30 ;
in Egypt
295
35, 181 ; in St. Leonard's and London
61
Meelick Abbey
Mehemet Ali Pasha of Fgypt .
37
Second Visit to
110
Miley, Rev. D.
218
INDEX.
323
Military Settlers, Canada
Milne, Dr. .
Misericordite Divinte, Lines
Molyneax, Edward . • • •
Montefiore, Sir Moses
„ Correspondence with
Monuments, Kemarkable, New York
Moore, Thomas
MonaBtsries, Spoliation of, in Portugal
„ in Ireland
Moreno, Padre , . • •
Morning Chronicle, Special Correspondent of, in Portugal
Morning Herald, Connexion with
Montmorency, Duke of . • •
Mulgrave, Lord ♦ • • *
Mulvany, George, Artist
Munk, Mr. . . • • •
Murphy, James, Mount Merrion . ,
„ „ of Cork » ?
Miu-phy, Patrick, His Connexion with London Press
Murphy, John
Murray, Lord Charles, .Notice othis Caregr and Death, durin
Greek War of Independence .
" Mussulman, The," A Novel, by R. R. M. .
" Mutius," Letters of . • • •
Napier, Sir William, Correspondence with'
Naples, Residence in, in 1821 .
1824 .
1827 .
Naples, Reminiscences of its Celebrities . •
Napoleon, Prince Louis
Nazareth, Vigit to andXines on • •
Newby, T. C, Publisher ^ • •
Newgate Prison - f • •
98
55
161, 162
55
48, 110
208
105
177, 200
190
296
61
180
22
52
73
337
110
155, 260
237,27 3
22, 121
279
51
62
166, 172
18
25
48
4!J, 55
181, 184,187
41,43
237
0,8
su
INDEX.
PAGE
New Monthly Magazine
181
New Years' Day, Tnnes on . .
159
New York, its Institutions and Celebrities
lOG
„ Eeminiscences ot three Visits •
86, 107
New York ....,,
87, 104
„ Medical Profession . ,
88
„ Theatrical and Literary Life • •
00
Niagara . . , . ,
99
Nile, Journey to Assouan • . ,
38
Ninety-Eight, Lines on . . ,
142
North American Lidians, their Condition and Prospects
106
Normanby, Marquis of . . .
216
„ Marchioness of .
315
Novel, Dr. Madden's, " The Mussulman " •
174
Novels, Lady Blessingtons 0 • •
181
O'Brien, Wm. Smith . . .
207, 222
O'Callaghan, John Cornelius— . ■ •.- .
306
O'Connell, D'Orsay's Statue of .
187
0 Connell's Claims on Irish Gratitude Vindicated
268
Ode to the King of Terrors . . , .
16
O'Donovan. John . . .
214
O'Donovan, Professor . . •
238
O'Gorman, Kichard
280
O'Hagan, Lord, ....
215, 237
O'Hanlon, Canon ...»
267
O'Kelly, Mathias ....
237
O'Sullivan, W. K., Professor . . . .
837
Palestine, Journey throtigh
41
Palmerston, Lord •
80
Paris, Eesidehce there,' 1821 •. . •
11
„ * Subsecluent Visits to •. . 25
119, 176, 192
Paris, Dr. . '. » . .
103
Paris, Count Julien De . . •
196
INDEX.
325
Paris, First Visit to, in 1821 , Eesidenee there
Patten, Mr. John, Notice of
Pawn System, West African Slavery
Pedigree, the O'Madden Family .
Peel, Sir Robert
Penal Laws, Publication of History of
Penal Laws, their operation in Ireland described
Penalty of Death, Arguments against
Pennsylvania
Periodical Literature, Irish History of
Perth, Western Australia
Petrie, Dr. George
Petrie, George, Correspondence Nvith
Physicians, then- services to humanity
Phipps, Colonel
" Phantasmata," Publication of .
Pictures, Count D'Orsay's
Piozzi, the Astronomer • •
Pirates, Capture by Greek
Plague, Kesidence in Alexandria during •
Planche, M. • • '
Poor Law System, Irish, in Famine \ears
Portugal, Residence in, from 1843 to 1847
Powell, Mr. W. • • ' ^, ,■ \
Power, Edmond, Lady Blessingtons father, Notice of
Prayer, An Old Man's, Lines
Press, Connexion with the, as a Reporter .
Press, as Correspondent of Chi'onicle, Portugal
Prince Regent, Marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert
Prison, Blackwell, New York, described .
Newgate, Remarkable Visit to
Kilmainham, Visit to, in 1859
Prendergast, John
Prendergast, W. F. •
Proctor, " Barry CornweU"
Pyramids, First Visit to
Second Visit to
Quin, Dr. Recollections of
Raskelly, Dr. • ' -.-u '
Reddington, Sir T., Correspondence with .
Reilly, Dr., of Naples .
PAGE
192
304
113
283, 294
187
175
300
89, 272
98
270
227
213
213
103
204
259
186
25
47
36
13
239, 254
189, 192
255
176, 178
156
22
189
53,210
104
7
304
215,237
211
180
38
HI
54
55
141,142
18,50
326
ll^DJBX.
" Belief ComiTiittee," Connexion with
Eeligion, Catholic, Dr. I\Iadden's attachment to
Kepeal Association
Representatives House of Washington
'• Eesurget," Lines
Rescue, The, Lines
Reynolds, J. H.
Ilogers, Samuel
Rome to Naples on Foot in 1823
Rome, Recollections of, in 1821
„ Second Visit to
Roman Catholics, Penal Laws Against, History of
Russell, Lord John
Russell, Sir William
Ryde, Lines written olT
Sailing Voyage from New York to Liverpool
Sailors, Ill-Treatraent of . . .
Salt, Mr., Consul-General in Egypt
Savanarola, Dr. Madden 's Life and Times of
Savory, T. F.
Seamour-i)laee, Lady Blessiugton's Residence
Seaton, Lord
Sea, Lines written at .
Settlers in Canada
Sheridan, F. C.
Shipwreck in the Atl.mtic descrihed
Silanchia, 0" Madden territory
Simmons, B. ...
Sirr, Major, Insurrection of 1798, Reminiscences of
Slave-Trade ..
Slavery, Abolition of .
„ in West Indies described
„ in Cuba, its Horrors
,, in West African Settlements
Sligo, Marquis of .
Smith, Sydney
Smith, Hon. Vernon . . .
Smith, Jame§ and Horace
Smyrna, Account of . .
Spain
Spezzia - , , . . ,
23Q
279
222
4)3
151
109
180
177
18
18
48
17o
177
288
12:3
l(i;}
101
73
257
54
179
91
19
98
57
107
298
181
1
B, 81
62
08
77
113
72
K7
81
180
27
125
19
INDEX.
397
PAGE
Stage Coach-travelling, Lines descriptive of ,
23
Stanhope, Lady Hester, Visit to
41
Stanley, Lord, Letter from
113
Stephens, Sir James, Correspondence with
172,207,212,235
St. Helena .....
134
St. Leonard's, Residence at .
61
St. Vincent's ....
65
St- Marsault, Countess de . . ,
170
SulUvan, Dr. W. K. .
237
Surgeons, College of .
61
Syria, Visit to ....
39
Tabor, Mount
43
Tappan, INIr. Lewis ....
92
Talma, Eecollections of his Acting
56
Thackeray, W. M. .
182
Thebes, Visit to ....
38
Theatrical Celebrities, Reminiscences of
56, 60
Thwaites, Henry, Editor Morning Herald, Account of
121,122
Tithe Agitation, Ireland, Lines on the
14
" Travels in the East "
63
" Travels in the West Indies " .
72
Tredgold, J. H. .
113
Toronto, Visit to .
98
Troy, Visit to the Site of . . .
32
Turkey, Residence in .
27, 35
Turkish Practice of Medicine
30
" Turkish Empire, History of," published, 1862
261
Union, The, Its Effect on Irish Prosperity
1
" United Irishmen, History of," Publication of
163
„ „ Its Objects and Results
164
„ „ Correspondence respecting
166
United States, Account of Three Visits to the
80, 107
Vesuvius ....
25
Versailles, College of .
192
„ Lines on Revisiting . .
260
Vichy .....
124
Voyage to Jamaica ....
64
328
INDEX.
PAGE
Voyage to America . . . .
80
Second and Third . . . .
102
,, to Australia ....
2^3
Wade, General
55
Walden, Lord Howard de . . .
-204,211
Walker, Mr. S. ....
55
Walpole, Horace, cited
55
Walsh, Mr. .....
120
Washington, Irving ....
101
Washington, Account of Visit to
92
Washington, George ....
04
Tomh of .
90
Wellington ......
179, 187
Weir, Mr. David . . . .
101
Westmacott, the Sculptor
25
West Indies, Residence in .
65, 73
Wilberforce ....
179
Wilde, Sir William
237
Wilde, Lady, Letter from . ...
217
West African Mission .
112, 117
Western Australia, Colonial Secretaryship of
123
„ Colony of, in 1849, Report on
231
„ „ Address from the inhabitants of
228
,, „ Aborigines, their Treatment by Settlers
230
Woods, Surgeon . . . .
91
Wood, Mrs. ....
99
Woman's Work and Mission, Lines
135
Wreck of the " Scotia,"' described
107
„ Lines on . . . .
109
Zealot, Lines to a .
152
JUIN )
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