his hospitality and kindness were remarkable. He was twice married: first, to Miss Boycott, who like himself was a native of Eye; and, secondly, to a daughter of Commissioner Proby, one of the companions of Anson. This lady died suddenly at Chatham, in the same room where her father expired.

From the "United Service Journal."

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No. IX.

THE RIGHT REV. JOHN JEBB, D.D. F.R.S. LORD BISHOP OF LIMERICK, ARDFERT, AND AGHADOE.

THE family from which the late Bishop of Limerick descended was settled in Nottinghamshire (where they appear to have enjoyed considerable local respectability) during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Few families have produced more persons connected with literature. Samuel Jebb, M.D., who was eminent among the nonjurors, found leisure, amidst the cares and avocations of his medical career, to produce a variety of works in philosophy and criticism. He was the father of Sir Richard Jebb, M.D., Physician Extraordinary to King George the Third. Of Sir Richard it is said, that he was the first of the faculty who had the bravery to throw off the professional paraphernalia, -the flowing wig, the scarlet cloak, and the gold-headed cane. The Very Rev. Dr. John Jebb, Dean of Cashel, brother to Samuel, was the father of the learned John Jebb, M.D. F.R.S., whose fame as a scholar and a controversialist was scarcely second to that of any of his contemporaries. He took an active and effective part in all the discussions which involved questions of civil and religious liberty, from the era of Wilkes to that of the French revolution. Conscientious scruples led him to give up the preferment which he had acquired in the church, and to embrace the profession of medicine after he had passed the early years of his youth.

Richard, the eldest brother of Dr. Samuel Jebb, and of Dean Jebb, was the grandfather of the able and amiable prelate whose death we now record. As there had been several notices of the Jebb family in Mr. Nichols's "Literary Anec

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dotes," and in enumerating its members it was stated that "Richard Jebb, it is thought, settled in Ireland," the late Bishop, in 1819, addressed a letter to Mr. Nichols, which is printed in the "Illustrations of Literary History," vol. v. p. 398. "At the beginning of the last century," he says, my grandfather settled in Drogheda ; where, as a merchant, he established, and through life maintained, a high character, both for integrity and commercial knowledge and ability." His only son, John, succeeded his father in business, and was an alderman of Drogheda. By his second wife, Alicia Forster, who was likewise descended from a good family, and was well connected, he had two sons,— Richard, lately one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, in Ireland, and John, the late Bishop of Limerick.

The Bishop was born at Drogheda on the 27th of September, 1775. In his early years, owing principally to the attention of his admirable and affectionate mother (to whom the occupations of his business compelled Mr. Jebb to leave the almost exclusive management of the family), he enjoyed the blessing of an excellent education; and when, at the age of eleven, he was sent to a public school, he carried with him a mind trained to habits of study and reflection, and prepared to receive and appreciate classical literature. Having passed through the ordinary routine of studies at Celbridge and Londonderry, he was, in the year 1791, admitted a student of Trinity College, Dublin, under the tuition of the late Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Magee. The talent of the pupil soon attracted the notice of his tutor, and a friendship early commenced, which was terminated only by the death of the Archbishop.

This was the "golden age" of the Dublin University: never was there a period in its history when science and polite literature were so ardently cultivated, and so closely united. Among Jebb's contemporaries were Lloyd, the present Provost; Davenport, the unflinching advocate of liberal principles "when evil days came;" Wray, Sandes, Sadlier, and Wall, now Fellows of the University; M'Mahon, Wallace,

Torrens, Perrin, Blacker, and other ornaments of the Irish bar; with George Croly, and Charles Maturin, who have gained for themselves a universal fame. In this galaxy of talent Jebb shone not the least conspicuous; he won the honours of the University nobly, and he wore them unenvied, for his amiable temper, his kind heart, and his utter disregard of self, had endeared him to all. His success at the scholarship examination seemed to be regarded as a personal triumph by every member of the University but himself.

Mr. Jebb was a distinguished member of the Historical Society, and the charms of his eloquence are still among the pleasant reminiscences of his contemporaries. Only one of his addresses has been preserved; it was delivered from the chair of the Society on the occasion of the death of two young men, Reid and Sargent, youths of high promise, cut off prematurely at the moment when the hopes and proud anticipations of their friends seemed about to be realised. Similarity of disposition and pursuits had united them to Jebb in the strictest bonds of affection; and he, who had to pronounce their funeral eulogy, was the person who felt their loss most bitterly. No stranger can read this simple and pathetic address without being affected; but those alone who heard it can picture the effect that its delivery produced.

In 1797 Mr. Jebb obtained two of the three divinity premiums established that year on the foundation of Dr. Downes.

To his college life he always looked back with fondness and regret. His eloquent assertion of its merits in the House of Lords, in 1824, was manifestly an outpouring of treasured affection, casting back "a longing, lingering look."

"The University," he said, "which, in its earliest days, produced Usher, the most profoundly-learned offspring and ornament of the Reformation; and Loftus, in Oriental letters rivalled only by his great coeval, Pococke; which afterwards sent forth, to shine among the foremost of our Augustan age, Parnell, the chastest of our poets; Swift, the purest of our prose writers; and Berkeley, the first of our metaphysicians; which formed, nearly in our own time, perhaps within the

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recollection of some noble Lords who hear me, Goldsmith, our most natural depictor of life and manners; Burke, the greatest philosophic statesman of his own or any other age or country and why should I not add Grattan, the eloquent assertor of his country's rights, the parent of Irish independence? the University which sent forth such men is not now degenerating, nor likely to degenerate, from her ancient rank and name, and needs not blush to be compared with either University of England."

The church was, from an early period, the choice of Mr. Jebb; but the unfortunate state of the country, and the necessity of substituting the duties of the soldier for the studies of the candidate for orders, delayed his ordination till January, 1799. He was ordained a deacon by Dr. Matthew Young, Bishop of Clonfert, in the chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, with many of his intimate associates, on a peculiarly interesting occasion, when the Fellow of highest character in the University, just raised to the episcopal bench, performed the first act of his sacred office before that society of which he had long been the pride and the ornament. Mr. Jebb's character was so fully established, even at this early age, that immediately on his ordination two flattering proposals were made to him; the present Bishop of Ferns, acting as the confidential friend of the then Bishop of Ferns, Dr. Cleaver, offered him a curacy in that diocese, and a special recommendation to the diocesan; and Mr. Alexander Knox made a similar offer for the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr. Broderick. Fortunately for his future prospects, Mr. Jebb accepted the latter offer, and commenced his ministerial labours as curate of Swanlinbar.

For about five years Mr. Jebb continued curate of Swanlinbar; and, like Heber at Hodnett, was universally beloved; by the Catholics he was revered as highly as by the Protestants; in works of charity he knew no religious difference, his spirit was too mild and gentle for acrimonious controversy; he felt that sincere belief, though erroneous, was entitled to respect; and that violence, even in support of truth, injures