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O'Daly, Aengus, an Irish poet of the 16th century, was one of those who, at the instance of Florence MacCarthy, was employed by the Government to satirize and write down his countrymen. His Satire on the Tribes of Ireland was published in 1852, from manuscript copies in the Royal Irish Academy, with notes by John O'Donovan, accompanied by a literal translation, and a poetical version previously made by Clarence Mangan. It contains much local information, and throws considerable light on the manners and customs of the times in which he wrote. O'Daly was stabbed in the house of one O'Meagher, near Roscrea, 16th December 1617, on account of some lines in his Satire regarding O'Meagher.

O'Daly, Dominic de Rosario, a writer of the 17th century, was born in Kerry in 1596. Educated in the Dominican convent of Tralee, he continued his studies in Flanders, and went thence to Madrid, where he was employed in the negotiations of the Prince of Wales (Charles I.) with Philip IV. for the hand of the Infanta Isabella. He afterwards moved to Portugal, and played an important part in the revolution of 1640 which freed that kingdom from Spain, and raised the Duke of Braganza to the throne. He was appointed confessor to the Queen, and is said to have declined being made Archbishop of Braga in Portugal and Goa in India. In 1655 he was sent as ambassador to Louis XIV., and on his return was appointed censor of the Supreme Court of the Inquisition, and became the founder and Vicar-general of the Irish convent of the Dominican order in Portugal. A bull appointing him Bishop of Coimbra arrived a few days after his sudden death, 30th June 1662, at the age of 66. He was buried in the Dominican convent in Lisbon, where a monument was erected to his memory. His Initium, Incrementum, et Exitus Familice Giraidinorum ac Persecutionis Haereticorum Descriptio (Lisbon, 1655) was translated and edited by Rev. C. P. Meehan in 1847, and has been drawn upon in all subsequent notices of the Desmond FitzGeralds.

O'Daly, Donough Mor, a distinguished bard, styled by the Four Masters "chief of Ireland for poetry," was head of the O'Dalys of Finnyvarra, in the County of Clare. He died at Boyle, and was interred in the Abbey there, in 1244. O'Reilly says that his poems are principally of a religious or moral character, possessing considerable merit, but not such as to entitle him to the unqualified praise bestowed upon him by the Four Masters. O'Donovan says: "There is certainly no family to which the bardic literature of Ireland is more deeply indebted than that of O'Daly." The Four Masters mention some seventeen bards of the name, and O'Reilly, in his Irish Writers, twenty-eight. An interesting account of the family, by O'Donovan, is prefixed to Aengus O'Daly's Tribes of Ireland. Donough was ancestor of Denis Daly, a distinguished member of the Irish Parliament.

O'Dogherty, Sir Cahir, was born in 1587. On the death of his father, Sir John, in 1600, Cahir was set aside on account of his youth, his uncle Felim being installed Prince of Inishowen by Hugh Roe O'Donnell. Cahir was fostered by the clan MacDavitt. His foster-brothers, Hugh and Felim MacDavitt, resented his exclusion, and proposed to Sir Henry Docwra, governor of the stations on the Foyle, that if he would maintain Cahir's right, they would place the lad under his guardianship, and would themselves yield service to the state. Docwra agreed; and Cahir was proclaimed the Queen's O'Dogherty, and had his patrimony secured to him under the Great Seal. Docwra took the lad under his charge, instructed him in all martial exercises, and made him conversant with English manners and literature, without interfering with his religious opinions. Cahir grew up strong and comely, and before he was sixteen, had signalized himself in skirmishes against his relatives. He received knighthood for services on the field of Augher, where Hugh O'Neill's brother was defeated by the Queen's troops. When the war was terminated by O'Neill's submission, Sir Cahir went to London, and was favourably received at Court. On his return he ingratiated himself with James I. by marrying a daughter of Viscount Gormanstown - belonging to a family at all times noted for loyalty to the Crown. Returning to his district of Inishowen, he resided at one or other of his castles of Elagh, Burt, and Buncrana. After the flight of O'Neill and O'Donnell, he was foreman of the jury that found them guilty of high treason. Subsequently O'Dogherty himself came under suspicion, and was obliged to give security for his good behaviour. In April 1608 he called on Sir George Paulet, Governor of Derry, relative to the sale of a portion of his lands. High words ensued between them, and Paulet, a man of violent temper, struck the young chieftain. O'Dogherty moodily departed, and took council with his foster-brothers, who declared that the insult could be wiped out only with blood. Collecting friends and followers, Sir Cahir determined at once to go out into rebellion. He invited Captain Harte, Governor of Culmore, with his wife and children, to an entertainment at Elagh. He seized his guests, started at dead of night for Culmore, surprised it, butchered the garrison, and sacked the place. With the munitions of war there procured he armed his followers, and marched rapidly on Derry. At two in the morning the townsfolk were roused from their beds by the bagpipes and war shouts of his clansmen. The town was taken, sacked, and burned, Sir George Paulet falling amongst the first victims. Bishop Montgomery's valuable collection of books and manuscripts was destroyed. He next made an unsuccessful attack upon Lifford, and then marched into MacSwyne's country. A force of 3,000 men was at once despatched from Dublin, by the Lord-Deputy; and after various skirmishes, Sir Cahir was killed in an engagement under the Rock of Doon, near Kilmacrenan, on Tuesday, 5th July 1608, "eleven weeks, i.e., seventy-seven days after the burning of Derry, which," remarks Sir John Davies, "is an ominous number, being seven elevens, and eleven sevens." According to Giraldus Cambrensis, Tuesday was ever a fortunate day for the English in Ireland. Sir Cahir's head was struck off and sent to Dublin. An apocryphal story is told of its having been sent by a soldier, who used it as a pillow at night on the road; and of his host at one stopping-place purloining the head, setting off for Dublin with it, and securing the offered reward of 500 marks before the rightful custodian could overtake him. The Four Masters thus conclude their notice of his life: "He was cut into quarters between Derry and Cuil-mor, and his head was sent to Dublin to be exhibited; and many of the gentlemen and chieftains of the province, too numerous to be particularized, were also put to death. It was indeed from it, and from the departure of the Earls we have mentioned, it came to pass that their principalities, their territories, their estates, their lands, their forts, their fortresses, their fruitful harbours, and their fishful bays, were taken from the Irish of the province of Ulster, and given in their presence to foreign tribes; and they were expelled and banished into other countries, where most of them died."

O'Donnell, Manus, Lord of Tirconnell, flourished in the 16th century: he had his principal residence at Donegal, where his predecessor, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, had erected a castle and monastery. In 1527 he built a castle at Lifford, to oppose the inroads of the O'Neills, and we read of his heading powerful expeditions against the MacQuillans and the neighbouring tribes. In 1537, on the death of his father Hugh in the monastery of Donegal, he was formally inaugurated Lord of Tirconnell. He cannot have been wanting in magnanimity, as he spared the life of the slayer of his son, Niall Garv, in an assault upon the castle of Moygara, and, against the wishes of his clansmen, sent him away in safety. In 1539 he ravaged Meath, in company with Con O'Neill; yet two years afterwards he met the Lord-Justice at Cavan, and formed a "league of peace, alliance, and friendship " with him. In 1543 he attended "the great council" at Dublin, bringing with him in chains two of his relatives, Egneghan and Donough O'Donnell, whom he liberated on the advice of the Lord-Justice. In 1555 he was deposed by his son Calvagh, who held him a prisoner for three years. Manus died at his castle of Lifford, 9th February 1563-'4, and was buried with his ancestors in the Franciscan monastery at Donegal. He appears to have been four times married and to have had fourteen children. His first wife was sister of Con Bacagh O'Neill; his second, daughter of the 8th Earl of Kildare; his third, daughter of MacDonnell of Islay; and his fourth, daughter of Maguire of Fermanagh. His apparel is thus described by St. Leger in a despatch to Henry VIII.: "He was in a cote of crymoisin velvet, with agglettes of gold, twenty or thirty payer; over that a greate doble cloke of right crymoisin saten, garded with blacke velvet; a bonette, with a fether, sette full of agglettes of gold."

O'Donnell, Calvagh, eldest son of preceding, by Johanna O'Neill, was one of the most distinguished members of the family in the 16th century. In 1555 he obtained troops and a piece of artillery from Scotland, and deposed his father, whom he imprisoned for three years at his stronghold of Rossreagh, in the County of Donegal. But though he held him a prisoner, Calvagh took his father's advice as to the best means of defeating Shane O'Neill, who invaded his territory in 1557 with a large army. Calvagh set upon the enemy's camp on a dark and rainy night, and obtained a complete victory, O'Neill escaping only by swimming the Finn and Derg on horseback. In 1559, however, matters were reversed, and Calvagh and his family were taken prisoners by O'Neill at Killodonnell. They were released in 1561, and Calvagh was reinstated in some of his possessions. He died suddenly on 26th October 1566. He had one son, Con, and a daughter, Mary, wife of Shane O'Neill, who died of grief at her father's imprisonment by her husband.

O'Donnell, Sir Niall Garv, grandson of Calvagh O'Donnell, an ally of the English in the O'Neill wars. After the defeat of the Irish and their Spanish allies at Kinsale, and Hugh Roe O'Donnell's departure for Spain in 1602, complaints of Sir Niall's insolence and insatiable ambition reached the Government; and Rury (afterwards Earl of Tirconnell) offered to prove that he had been a secret ally of O'Neill and the Spaniards. Thereupon he went into rebellion, but after a while submitted, and proceeded to London with Rury, whose claims were preferred to his. Sir Henry Docwra, the English commander in Ireland, considered this to be hard treatment of one who had been a staunch ally in the late wars. Sir Niall was left in possession of considerable estates. (Sir B. Burke says he refused the title of Baron of Lifford.) In 1608 he became involved in Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's rebellion, and was arrested for high treason on the accusation of Ineenduv, mother of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, who received a grant of lands for the service. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eighteen years, with his son Nachtan, and died in 1626, aged 57. O'Sullivan Beare calls him "a man of great and daring spirit, endowed with a knowledge of military affairs."

O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, Lord of Tirconnell, son of Hugh Duv, younger son of Manus O'Donnell, was born in 1571. His mother was a MacDonnell. As his family were rising rapidly into importance, and their influence was dreaded by the Anglo- Irish Government, young Hugh was one of those marked for capture by Sir John Perrot, in carrying out his policy of holding hostages for the good behaviour of the Irish chiefs. In the summer of 1587, an armed vessel laden with Spanish wine was sent round from Dublin to Lough Swilly, and anchored off Rathmullen, near which it was known O'Donnell was sojourning with MacSweeny, his foster-father. O'Donnell and a party of his friends were inveigled on board and plied with wine: the hatches were fastened down, and the vessel sailed, regardless of the imprecations of the crowds that lined the beach, and MacSweeny's offers of ransom. We are told by the Four Masters, who give graphic details of most of the incidents in O'Donnell's life, that "the Lord-Justice and the Council were rejoiced at the arrival of Hugh; though, indeed, not for love of him. .. They ordered him to be put into a strong stone castle [the Birmingham Tower] which was in the city, where a great number of Milesian nobles were in chains and captivity, and also some of the old English. The only amusement and conversation by which these beguiled the time by day and night was lamenting to each other their sufferings and troubles, and listening to the cruel sentences passed on the high-born nobles of Ireland in general." In the winter of 1590, after an incarceration of more than three years, he and some of his companions managed to escape by means of a rope from the window of their prison, and made their way out of the city and into a wood on the side of Slieve Roe (the Dublin mountains). There Hugh, overcome with fatigue, was obliged to conceal himself, while his companions scattered in different directions, and his servant went to seek help from Felim O'Toole, residing at Powerscourt, whom Hugh believed to be his friend, as he had visited him when in prison. But O'Toole, on the plea that escape was impossible, and that he would be compromised by O'Donnell's presence in his territory, returned him to captivity. A year afterwards, in December 1591, he made a more successful effort, in company with Henry and Art O'Neill, sons of Shane. They managed to strike off each others' fetters, and let themselves down through the jakes. Once clear of the Castle, they were met by Turlough Roe O'Hagan, a confidential emissary of Hugh O'Neill, and again reached the mountains. They had to throw off their outer clothes in their descent, the weather was bitterly cold, and their limbs were cramped through having long borne fetters. They lost Henry O'Neill in passing through the city, and on the side of Slieve Roe, Hugh and Art, completely exhausted, lay down under a rock, while O'Hagan hurried on to Glenmalure. Feagh O'Byrne proved a sincere friend, and sent servants with assistance. The youths were found covered with snow. Art O'Neill was dead, and O'Donnell was with difficulty restored to consciousness. They buried Art beside the rock which had sheltered them. Hugh was carefully tended in Glenmalure for some days, and then escorted across the Liffey by a band of horsemen, amongst whom, strange to say, was his former betrayer, Felim O'Toole. Proceeding northwards, under the guidance of O'Hagan, Hugh crossed the Boyne by a ferry kept "by a poor little fisherman," whilst his attendant led their horses through Drogheda. At Mellifont they rested one night in the house of a friendly Englishman, pushed boldly through Dundalk, crossed the Fews, and on the third day reached Armagh. Next day they were safe with Hugh O'Neill at Dungannon, where it is presumed the two chiefs entered into an alliance, and talked over their plans of resistance to the Anglo- Irish power. O'Donnell was received with great rejoicings by his relatives, the Maguires; was conveyed across Lough Erne; and soon found himself once more among his own people at Ballyshannon. There he remained under the care of physicians until April, having to suffer amputation of his great toes, which had been frostbitten on Slieve Roe. On 3rd of May (1592) his father resigned the lordship and he was solemnly inaugurated The O'Donnell. The first use he made of his power was to march into Tyrone and pillage the country of Sir Turlough Luineach O'Neill, then in alliance with the Anglo- Irish. He besieged him in his castle of Strabane, and burned the town up to the walls of the fortress. His friend, Hugh O'Neill, fearing that his exploits would bring against them both the full power of the Pale, brought about a meeting between him and the Lord-Deputy at Dundalk. A free pardon was accorded him, his title of O'Donnell was acknowledged, and for a short time he settled down in the undisputed government of his ancestral domain. Two years afterwards, in 1594, when the Lord-Deputy placed a garrison in Enniskillen, he threw off all semblance of allegiance, proceeded to the aid of his friend Maguire, besieged the castle of Enniskillen, and wasted the lands of those who lived under English jurisdiction. A force for the relief of the town, under Bingham, Sir Edward Herbert, and Sir Henry Duke was defeated with heavy loss by Maguire at Bel-Atha-na-mBriosgaidh (Drumane bridge, on the river Arney), whereupon the garrison capitulated, and was permitted to depart unharmed. It is unnecessary to enumerate the minor operations of the war between the northern confederacy and the Government, in which he acted such an important part. In 1595, when Hugh O'Neill went openly into rebellion, O'Donnell threw himself heartily into the struggle. In March and April he skirmished in Connaught, moving with such rapidity as to escape any serious collision with the forces of the Lord-Deputy. His successes raised the confidence of the Irish, and Sligo was given up to him by Ulick Burke. With the aid of 600 Scots under MacLeod of Ara, he overran the country as far as Tuam and Dunmore, raised the siege of Sligo, and demolished the castle, that it might not be re-occupied by the English. In the autumn he again marched out and destroyed thirteen castles. In 1596 three Spanish pinnaces arrived off the coast of Donegal, bringing a supply of military stores and encouraging letters, addressed specially to O'Donnell, who entertained Philip III.'s messenger with great state at Lifford. He took part in the conference between O'Neill and the Queen's Commissioners at Dundalk early in the same year. On 24th July 1597, Sir Conyers Clifford assembled a large force at Boyle, marched into O'Donnell's territory, and laid siege to Ballyshannon Castle, which was defended by Crawford, a Scotchman, and a garrison of eighty men, of whom some were Spaniards. The arrival of O'Donnell obliged Clifford to retreat to Sligo, abandoning three pieces of ordnance and a quantity of stores, and losing several men in fording the Erne at Assaroe. O'Donnell commanded the cavalry in O'Neill's defeat of Marshal Bagnall, at the Yellow Ford, on 14th August 1598. In the autumn he purchased the castle of Ballymote, and made it his principal residence. The following spring he invaded Thomond in force, and swept the country of its cattle. The Four Masters' tell us that when he saw "the surrounding hills covered and darkened with the herds and numerous cattle of the territories through which his troops had passed, he proceeded on his way homewards, over the chain of rugged-topped mountains of Burren." On 15th August 1599, O'Donnell defeated an English force under Sir Conyers Clifford at Ballaghboy, on the side of the Curlew Mountains in Sligo. According to Fynes Moryson, the English lost only 120 men; whilst O'Sullivan Beare says their loss numbered 1,400. Sir Conyers Clifford was amongst the slain. The Irish annalists mourn his tragic end: -"He had never told them a falsehood." He was buried on Trinity Island, in Lough Key. The most important military operations of 1600 were in Munster. In the north, Niall Garv O'Donnell, Hugh's brother-in-law, with his brothers, went over to the English side. Hugh made several incursions into Thomond to harass the Queen's allies, and in May attempted to dislodge Sir Henry Docwra, who had landed 4,000 foot and 200 horse on the shores of Lough Foyle, and entrenched himself at Culmore. O'Donnell spent Christmas of 1600 at Dunneill (Castlequarter), in the County of Sligo; and a few days afterwards proceeded with O'Neill to Killybegs, to divide the money and munitions of war landed from a Spanish vessel. The war dragged on through the summer of 1601, and in September, Hugh attacked Niall Garv O'Donnell, who with some 500 English troops occupied the old monastery of Donegal. The building was quickly set on fire; but Niall held out with indomitable bravery, and managed to make good his retreat in the night, leaving nothing but the charred walls of the building. Soon afterwards, when news reached O'Neill and O'Donnell of the arrival of the Spanish fleet, under Don Juan d'Aguila, at Kinsale, they hastened south to join him, O'Donnell, with his habitual ardour, being first on the way. With a force of about 2,500 hardy men, he set out about the end of October, and reached Ikerrin, in Tipperary, where he purposed to await O'Neill. Finding his passage south barred by Sir George Carew and Lord St. Lawrence, he took advantage of a hard frost to pass by a circuitous route across Slieve Felim, and by the Abbey of Owney to Croom, which he reached on the 23rd November, after a march of forty miles in one day. On 21st December he and O'Neill appeared before Kinsale with some 6,000 native foot and 400 horse, besides 300 Spaniards from Castlehaven. Their effort on the morning of the 24th to raise the siege by an attack on Mountjoy's lines, was a failure, and the Spaniards were obliged to capitulate on the 2nd January. We are told that "O'Donnell was seized with great fury, rage, and anxiety of mind, so that he did not sleep or rest soundly for the space of three days and three nights afterwards." Desiring to seek further assistance from Philip III., he sailed with a few attendants, from Castlehaven on the 6th January 1602, and landed at Corunna on the 16th. He was graciously received by Philip III. at Zamora, in Castile, was promised assistance in men and money, and desired to wait at Corunna. The summer passed away without the royal promises being fulfilled, and heart-sick for his cause and country, he again resolved to visit the King. He set out for Valladolid, but fell sick at Simancas, and died on the 10th September 1602, aged about 30. He was buried with royal honours in the monastery of St. Francis in Valladolid - a building long since demolished. O'Donnell, who had been the sword as O'Neill had been the brain of the Ulster confederacy, is said to have married a daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. He left no children, and his branch of the family is now believed to be extinct. Mr. Wills pays the following tribute to his character: "O'Donnell, of all the Irishmen of his day, seems to have been actuated by a purpose independent of self-interest; and though much of this is to be traced to a sense of injury and the thirst of a vindictive spirit, strongly impressed at an early age, and cherished for many years of suffering, so as to amount to an education; yet, in the mingled motives of the human breast, it may be allowed that his hatred to the English was tempered and dignified with the desire to vindicate the honour and freedom of his country. And if we look to the fickleness, venality, suppleness, and want of truth which permanently characterizes the best of his allies in the strife - their readiness to submit and to rebel - O'Donnell's steady and unbending zeal, patience, caution, firmness, tenacity of purpose, steady consistency, and indefatigable energy, may bear an honourable comparison with the virtues of any other illustrious leader whose name adorns the history of his time."

O'Donnell, Rury, Earl of Tirconnell, younger brother of preceding, born in 1575, kept up a desultory warfare in the north for some months after the defeat at Kinsale, and Hugh's departure for Spain in 1602. In the autumn he and O'Conor Sligo were induced to submit to Lord Mountjoy at Athlone, and were thereupon permitted to settle in their own territories. Next year he was commissioned to proceed against Sir Niall Garv, who had gone out into opposition to the Anglo-Irish power, and assumed the title of O'Donnell. After some skirmishes, Niall submitted; and in June 1603 he and Rury proceeded to London to have their claims to precedency settled. Rury was made Earl of Tirconnell, and confirmed in his territories, excepting the fishery at Ballyshannon and 1,000 acres contiguous. On his return to Ireland he was duly invested in Christ Church, Dublin, on 29th September. He married Brigid, daughter of the 12th Earl of Kildare. He was one of those who fled to the Continent with Hugh O'Neill in 1607, and died at Rome, 28th July 1608, aged 33, his remains being buried in the church of San Pietro di Montorio. His Countess remained in Ireland, and after his death married Viscount Kingsland. His brother Caffar died less than two months after him, and was buried beside him. [For further particulars of the flight of the Earls, see O'NEILL, HUGH.] Several descendants of both branches of the O'Donnells, born on the Continent, distinguished themselves in the Spanish and Imperial services.

O'Donnell, Hugh, surnamed "Balldearg" - (Red-spot - from a blood mark), a prominent character in the War of 1689-'91, was born in Donegal, in the middle of the 17th century. He was either a grandson of Caffar, brother of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, or a grand-nephew of Niall Garv. After serving several years in the Spanish army, where he rose to be a brigadier, he, in 1689, asked leave to enter James II.'s service, and on being refused, threw up his command and appeared in Ireland, where he was hailed with enthusiasm by numbers of his countrymen, who, placing faith in an ancient prophecy, believed him destined to deliver their land from its connexion with England. He was commissioned by James II. to command an irregular force of some 5,000 men, raised mainly by himself; but in consequence of the jealousy of other Irish officers, was not permitted to take much part in the regular operations of the war. He carried on a desultory warfare in James's interest, and had to trust to forced requisitions for the provisioning and arming of his force. After the battle of Aughrim he went over, with 1,200 men, to the Williamite side, on being secured a pension of £500 per annum. His services in Sligo against his former friends will be found detailed in D'Alton's Annals of Boyle. After the capitulation of Limerick, he retired to Spain, served three years in Piedmont, and in 1695 was appointed a major-general. He probably died about 1703, as his pension does not appear to have been paid after that date.

O'Donovan, John, a distinguished Irish scholar, was born at Atateemore, in the County of Kilkenny, 9th July 1809. The death of his father in 1817 caused the dispersion of the family, and John was brought to Dublin by his elder brother Michael, who although in poor circumstances, procured for him the rudiments of a sound education. He often ascribed his taste for historical pursuits to the narrations of his uncle, Patrick O'Donovan, who was well versed in the Gaelic lore of the county of his birth. In 1826 O'Donovan began to apply himself to archaeological investigations and to the philosophical study of the Irish language. Through James Hardiman he was engaged to transcribe legal and historical documents in the Irish Record Office; and with some slight assistance from his brother, was enabled to support himself until he obtained a situation on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, in the historical department, under George Petrie, left vacant on Edward O'Reilly's death in 1829. To him was confided the examination of the ancient manuscripts in the Irish language in the Royal Irish Academy and elsewhere, for the purpose of fixing the nomenclature on the maps, and extracting the local information they contained. Already acquainted with modern Gaelic, in the course of these labours he gradually acquired a knowledge of the language in its ancient and obsolete forms. Working in company with Petrie, O'Curry, and Mangan, after researches in all parts of Ireland, the names of the 62,000 townlands were satisfactorily fixed. "Of the entire 144,000 names on the maps, every one was made the subject of more or less investigation; the name finally adopted being that among the modern modes of spelling most consistent with the ancient orthography, and approaching as near to correctness as practicable, without restoring the original and often obsolete appellation." His first important essays appeared in the Dublin Penny Journal, to which he was a frequent contributor, until the fifty-sixth number, in July 1833, when the paper passed out of the management of John S. Folds. His articles upon such subjects as "The antiquity of Corn in Ireland," "The Battle of Clontarf," "Irish Proverbs," "Antiquity of Mills in Ireland," "Dunseverick Castle," "Cormac's Glossary," established his character as an historic topographer. Several of his papers will also be found in the Irish Penny Journal, 184O-'41 - indeed it is chiefly his writings that make sets of these magazines now so valuable. In 1836 he commenced the compilation of an analytical catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in Trinity College, Dublin. The result of these investigations satisfied all conversant with the subject that the writings of many who during the previous century had been considered authorities on Irish history were worse than useless. Mainly through the instrumentality of Dr. Todd, the Irish Archaeological Society was formed in 1840. O'Donovan edited the first and many of its most important publications, as the Battle of Magh Rath, the Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachrach, and the Miscellany; he also edited the Book of Rights for the Celtic Society -"with the exception of the Brehon Laws, the most valuable extant document illustrative of the clan government of the ancient Irish." In 1845 Irish Grammar appeared, which had engaged his attention at intervals during the preceding seventeen years. In its compilation he was much assisted by Dr. Todd and Eugene O'Curry. It treated both of the vernacular and the language of ancient records, and "although not marked by profound philosophical or philological dissertations," or at all coming up to Zeuss's subsequent work (the importance of which he was the first to impress on the British public), it gained for him a high place amongst European scholars. In 1842 the Government had unexpectedly stopped the grant for the Historic Department of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and O'Donovan and his fellow labourers, just when they were prepared to arrange and give to the world the mass of materials collected with such study and investigation, were left to seek occupation elsewhere. He was called to the Bar in 1847. He was now engaged on the great work of his life - the translation, annotating, and editing of the first complete edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, for Hodges & Smith, the Dublin publishers. The volumes of the Annals from 1172 to 1616 appeared in 1848, and from 2242 A.M. to 1171 A.D. in 1851. They fill six volumes (3,764 pp.) and index (405 pp.)-Irish and English on opposite pages: often more than half of both pages being occupied with notes in small type. This work gained for O'Donovan the degree of LL.D. from Trinity College, and the Royal Irish Academy awarded its highest distinction - the Cunningham medal. O'Curry says: "The translation is executed with extreme care. The immense mass of notes contain a vast amount of information, embracing every variety of a topic - historical, topographical, and genealogical - upon which the text requires elucidation or correction; and I may add, that of the accuracy of the researches which have borne fruit in that information, I can myself, in almost every instance, bear personal testimony... There is absolutely nothing left to be desired. There is no instance that I know of in any country, of a work so vast being undertaken, much less of any completed in a style so perfect and so beautiful, by the enterprise of a private publisher." The Irish type for the Annals was cast from designs drawn by George Petrie. The work was entrusted to Michael H. Gill, College Printer, Dublin, who in this and similar books printed about the same period, carried typography to higher perfection than it had ever before attained in Ireland. On the completion of this work, John O'Donovan looked forward with gloomy apprehensions towards the future of himself and his numerous children, and even thought of emigrating; but the establishment, in November 1852, of a commission for the translation of the ancient laws of Ireland (Senchus Mor) gave him and O'Curry the prospect of a narrow livelihood for some years to come. The translation was commenced by them in January 1853, and continued "regularly daily from ten a.m. to four p.m., at a scale of remuneration quite inadequate for the work, which no other living scholars had qualified themselves to execute." The first volume was not given to the world until 1865, long after the decease of both the great translators. For the Archaeological and Celtic Society he edited The Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and of Giolla na Naomh O'Huidhrin, from the original Irish manuscript in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, with a translation, notes, and introductory dissertations, and finally revised the work for the press; but it was not published until 20th January 1862, the index being entirely the work of Dr. Reeves. His translation of The Martyrology of Donegal, for the same Society, was edited in 1864 by Dr. Todd and Dr. Reeves. Nor was his supplement to O'Reilly's Irish Dictionary given to the public until after his death. There is scarcely an important work on Irish antiquities or topography which appeared during his manhood that does not to some extent bear the marks of his scholarship. We are told that "O'Donovan had begun life full of hope in the resurgence of true Irish learning, trusting that the results of his exertions, while advancing the reputation of his country, would gain for himself somewhat of national gratitude and estimation;.. [but as the years passed over] he gradually fell into a condition of fixed depression and despondency, taking an interest only in the education of his children, and in preserving and elucidating the historic records of the ancient Irish... O'Donovan may be said to have been the first historic topographer that Ireland ever produced, and in this department he will, in all probability, never be equalled, as a combination of circumstances similar to those under which he acquired his knowledge is not likely to arise again." He died in Dublin, 9th December 1861, aged 52, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. The materials for this notice are taken almost entirely from an article in the Dublin Review, by his friend J. T. Gilbert.

O'Dovany, or O'Devany, Cornelius, Bishop of Down and Connor. He embraced the rule of St. Francis in his youth, and was consecrated Bishop 27th April 1582. He was imprisoned in Dublin Castle for some three years preceding 1590, being obliged at times to keep himself alive by drawing up crusts of bread through a hole in the floor from other prisoners confined beneath him. After being at liberty for several years, he was again arrested in June 1611, on the charge of having assisted Hugh O'Neill with his counsel during his wars, and aided him in his flight to the Continent. In the face of a strong alibi, and the provisions of a recent Act of oblivion, he was sentenced to death, and suffered in company with the Rev. Patrick Locheran, his friend and companion, in a field near Dublin, 1st February 1612. They met their doom with fortitude, and after being half-hanged, were subjected to the barbarities then attendant on executions for high treason. It is related that "all the field was crowded with men, women, and children, and when the martyr was dead all struggled to carry away some relic, either a scrap of his clothes, or a drop of his blood, or a fragment of bone or skin; yet, though all crowded and struggled no one was hurt, and he was deemed most happy who was able to carry off the head of the bisnop, deemed more precious than gold or precious stones." The following night the bodies were dug up from beneath the foot of the gallows, and buried within the precincts of a neighbouring chapel.

O'Dugan, or O'Dubhagain, John Mor, a bard, who flourished in the 14th century, author of a topographical and historical poem of 880 lines, beginning, "Triallam timcheall na Fodhla" - (Let us go around Ireland). Edward O'Reilly says: "This poem gives the names of the principal tribes and districts in Meath, Ulster, and Connaught, and the chiefs who presided over them at the time Henry II. King of England was invited to this country by Dermod MacMorogh, King of Leinster. From the first line of this poem, and from the few ranns that this author has left us on the districts of the province of Leinster, it would seem that it was his intention to have given a complete account of all the districts and chief tribes in Ireland." [For account of the sequel to this work, see O'HEERIN.] He died in 1372, at the monastery of Rinn-duin (Randown, in the County of Roscommon), where he had spent the last seven years of his life.

O'Fihely, Maurice, or Maurice de Portu, Archbishop of Tuam, was born near Baltimore, in the County of Cork, in the middle of the 15th century. Educated at Oxford, he proceeded to Italy, continued his studies at Padua, and acted as corrector for the press (then an office of considerable emolument) to two early Venetian printers - Octavian Scott and Benet Locatelli. He became a Franciscan friar, and in 1506 was consecrated Archbishop of Tuam by Julius II. In 1512 he assisted at the first two sessions of the Lateran Council. He died at Galway, 25th May 1513, where he was buried in the church of the Franciscans. Harris's Ware says: "He was a prelate of such wonderful esteem with some for his learning and other endowments, that they gave him the name of Flos Mundi." He was also known as "Maurice of Ireland." Wood's Athence Oxonienses notes twelve of his works written in Latin. Two of them, published at Venice in 1499, were commentaries upon the writings of Duns Scotus, of whom he was an ardent disciple.

O'Flaherty, Roderic, historian and antiquary, was born at Moycullen Castle, Galway, in 1629. His father Hugh, last chief of the race, died when he was an infant. Roderic was educated by Dr. Lynch, author of Cambrensis Eversus, and was intimate with Duald MacFirbis, of Lecan. He devoted his life to the study of the history and antiquities of Ireland. His first production was a letter on the Chronology of Irish History, addressed to his master, Lynch. He had scarcely arrived at manhood when, in 1652, without having taken any part in politics, he was included in the general Cromwellian proscription. On appeal to the Parliamentary Commissioners sitting at Athlone, he was allowed a portion of his estates in west Connaught, but so burdened with taxes and dues that he was reduced to great destitution. He was disappointed in an alleviation of his circumstances at the Restoration, and wrote: "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil; a spectator of others enriched by my birth-right; an object of condoling to my relatives and friends, and a condoler of their miseries." His first important work was a reply to Dr, Borlace's History of the Rebellion. He also wrote A Description of West Connaught, first published by the Archaeological Society in 1846. His great work, the Ogygia, "remains a lasting monument of our author's learning and genius. Immediately on its appearance it excited the curiosity and attracted the attention of the learned of Europe, many of whom testified their approbation of the work in the most flattering terms. Our ablest antiquaries since that time have admitted that in it he has given secure anchorage to Irish history." His Ogygia Vindicated, which followed, remained in manuscript until published by Charles O'Oonor, in 1775. A number of minor tracts and treatises will be found in the appendix to West Connaught. His English is bald and stiff; he wrote with greater ease in Irish or Latin. Most of his works were written at Parke, about seven miles west of Galway. Thomas Molyneux, after visiting him there in 1709, wrote: "I went to visit old Flaherty, who lives very old, in a miserable condition... I expected to have seen here some old Irish manuscripts, but his ill- fortune had stripped him of these as well as his other goods, so that he has nothing now left but some few pieces of his own writing, and a few old rummish books of history, printed." O'Flaherty was of a commanding presence, and was proud of his blood and ancestry. He was a strange mixture of simplicity and wisdom; and amongst his neighbours had the reputation of being able to work miracles and exorcise evil spirits. He died in 1718, aged about 89, leaving an only son Michael, to whom, in 1736, a portion of the family estates was restored.

O'Flinn, Eochaidh, an eminent Irish writer, who died in 984. O'Curry gives a particular account of his writings, several of which have been preserved in the Books of Leinster, Ballymote, and Lecain, and O'Clery's Book of Invasions.

O'Glacan, Neil, a distinguished physician who nourished in the early part of the 17th century, was born in the County of Donegal. He studied medicine, and advanced himself to the position of Professor of Medicine at Toulouse, and Physician and Privy-Councillor to the King of France. He travelled in Spain to make observations upon the plague, and ultimately removed to Bologna, where he was much esteemed, and where he probably died. He wrote Tractatus de Peste (Toulouse, 1629), and Cursus Medicus (Bologna, 1655).

O'Gorman, Marian, or Maelmuire, Abbot of Knock, near Louth, composed in 1171 a calendar generally known as the Calendar of Marianus. Colgan says it is in elegant Irish verse, and much esteemed for its beauty of style and faithfulness of detail. The only old copy of this manuscript is preserved in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. Dr. Todd and Dr. Reeves considered it sufficiently valuable to have transcripts made for their private use.

O'Halloran, Silvester, surgeon and historian, was born in Limerick, 31st December 1728. He studied medicine in the schools of London, Paris, and Leyden, and devoted himself to practice in his native city. Before he was twenty-one he published a Treatise on Cataract, the first of several medical essays from his pen. Archaeology divided his attention with medicine; he was an Irish scholar, and one of the earliest members of the Royal Irish Academy. A treatise on the preservation of ancient annals appeared in 1770; An Introduction to the Study of the Antiquities of Ireland, in 1772; his General History of Ireland, in 2 vols. 4to. London, 1774; besides minor papers read before the Academy and elsewhere. His "History is now but little referred to, as the most valuable and accurate portions of it are to be found in Colgan and O'Flaherty. It is distinguished throughout by great national enthusiasm and considerable erudition, but its topographical descriptions, though on the whole tolerably correct, have been in many instances revised and altered by modern investigators... It was an astonishing performance at the date of its publication." He is spoken of by a contemporary as "the tall, thin doctor, in his quaint French dress, with his gold-headed cane, beautiful Parisian wig, and cocked hat;. . his entire time nearly given up to literature and the discovery of antiquities." O'Halloran died in Limerick in 1807, aged about 78, and was buried in Kileedy churchyard. His portrait is prefixed to a notice in the Dublin Journal of Medical Science, vol vi. [One of his sons, Joseph, entered the army, served fifteen years in India, and rose to be Lieutenant-General Sir Joseph O'Halloran: he died in London about 1843, aged 80.]

O'Hanlon, Redmond, a dispossessed proprietor of Ulster, under the Cromwellian settlement, and leader of a band of outlaws. [His father or grandfather, hereditary Royal Standard-bearer north of the Boyne, was killed in 1600 at the pass of Carlingford, fighting on the English side. James I. bestowed upon his family seven townlands, of which they were dispossessed in 1653, under the Cromwellian settlement, receiving some pittance of land in Connaught.] Redmond headed a band of "tories," and kept the counties of Tyrone and Armagh in terror, the farmers paying him regular contributions to be protected from other outlaws. He thought more than once of retiring to France, where he was known to fame as Count O'Hanlon; but the expectation of a French invasion, and the hope of retrieving his ancestral lands kept him at home. He was at length betrayed by his foster-brother in the hills near Eight-mile-Bridge, in the County of Down, 25th April 1681, and his head was placed over the jail of Downpatrick. Many other dispossessed proprietors followed O'Hanlon's example. Colonel Poer in Munster, Colonel Coughlan in Leinster, and Colonel Dudley Costello in Connaught, headed bands of tories that gave infinite trouble to the Government.

O'Hara, Sir Charles, Baron Tirawley, an officer distinguished in the War of the Spanish Succession, was born in the County of Mayo, in 1640. He was raised to the peerage in 1706. In the following year he commanded the left wing of the allied army at the battle of Almanza (25th April 1707, N. S.), and remained in the Peninsula until the conclusion of the war. On his return to Ireland he took his seat in the House of Lords. He was for some time Commander- in-chief of the army in Ireland. He died 8th June 1724, aged 84, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, Dublin. [His son James, 2nd Baron Tirawley (born 1690, died 1774), was created Baron of Kilmaine in 1721, for eminent military services. He attained the rank of General, filled several important diplomatic posts, and was Governor of Minorca.]

O'Hara, Kane, a musician, author of several burlettas or comic operas, was born in Ireland early in the 18th century. He attained a foremost position in Dublin, and was elected the Vice-President of the Musical Academy, founded mainly through his exertions in 1758. Next year appeared his burletta of "Midas," written to throw ridicule on Italian operas, and shortly afterwards "Golden Pippin" and other pieces. O'Hara also dabbled in art. He is described as remarkably tall, with the " appearance of an old fop, with spectacles and an antiquated wig; "yet withal a polite, sensible, agreeable man, the pink of gentility and good breeding, and an amusing companion, although somewhat prosy. He died (probably at his residence in Molesworth-street, Dublin) 17th June 1782, having been totally blind for some time previous.

O'Hartigan, Kineth, was a distinguished poet and scholar, who died in 975. Several of his pieces are preserved in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre and Book of Leinster. A particular account of his writings will be found in O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Irish History.

O'Heerin, or O'Huidhrin, Giolla na Naomh, a historian and bard, who died in 1420. His principal work was a topographical poem, intended as a supplement to O'Dugan's [see O'DUGAN, JOHN] itinerary. O'Dugan described the tribes and territories of Leath Cuinn (Meath, Ulster, and Connaught), at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion; O'Heerin, in a poem of 780 verses, describes those of Leath Mogha (Leinster and Munster). O'Heerin's work commences with the line "Tullie Feasa ar Erinn Oigh" - (An addition of knowledge on sacred Erin). The oldest existing copies of these poems date from the 17th century, and are in the handwriting of Michael and Cucogry O'Clery, two of the Four Masters. John O'Donovan remarks: "The style of the poems is necessarily very stiff, in some instances defective, in others redundant.. . The orthography is in general that of the 17th century, the age in which the O'Clerys lived; sometimes, however, they have introduced very ancient forms of spelling... They adhere, however, to no regular rule, but write sometimes the ancient, sometimes modern orthography, in the most capricious manner." These poems were edited for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society by O'Donovan, elaborately noted, and prefaced with a valuable essay on Ancient Irish Names and their modernized forms.

O'Hely, Patrick, Bishop of Mayo, was a native of Connaught. Having in his youth entered the order of St. Francis, he proceeded to the Continent, and after a residence in Spain and Italy, was, in July 1576, appointed to the see of Mayo. In returning to Ireland with some clerical associates, he had much difficulty in eluding the vigilance of the English cruisers, and landed at Dingle, in Kerry, to be almost immediately arrested and brought before Sir William Drury, at Kilmallock (August 1578). When questioned, he avowed his office and his mission, and declared himself ready, if necessary, to die for his faith. With Father O'Rorke, he was sentenced to be put to the torture, and then hanged in the presence of the garrison. We are told that "the two prisoners were first placed on the rack, their arms and feet were beaten with hammers, so that their thigh-bones were broken, and sharp iron points and needles were cruelly thrust under their nails, which caused an extreme agony of suffering." After this they were hanged, 22nd August 1578, and their bodies were allowed to remain suspended on the gallows for fourteen days.

O'Higgins, Ambrose, a native of Ireland, entered the Spanish service, and was in 1787 appointed Captain-General of Chili, and subsequently Viceroy of Peru. While in Chili he made great exertions to promote the prosperity of the country, and several important public works were due to him. [His son, Don Bernardo O'Higgins, born in Chili, and educated in England, took an active and distinguished part on the popular side in the war by which Chili achieved her independence of Spain. He held the office of Supreme Director of the young republic from 1818 to 1823, when he retired into private life, in consequence of public dissatisfaction with the acts of his ministers.]

O'Hurley, Dermot, Archbishop of Cashel, was born near Limerick, about 1519. Educated for the priesthood, he resided at Louvain for fifteen years, and held the chair of Canon Law at Rheims for four years. On the 11th September 1581 he was appointed by Gregory XIII. to the see of Cashel. With considerable difficulty he procured passage in a ship from Cherbourg, landed at Skerries, and proceeded to Waterford. For two years government spies sought opportunities to seize him, but their plans were frustrated by the fidelity of his co-religionists. To avoid observation he was obliged, in common with other bishops and priests, to wear a secular dress, and for a considerable time he lay concealed in a secret chamber at Slane Castle. At length he was arrested and brought before the Privy Council for examination. He was horribly tortured. "The executioners placed the Archbishop's feet and calves in tin boots filled with oil; they then fastened his feet in wooden shackles or stocks, and placed fire under them. The boiling oil so penetrated the feet and legs that morsels of the skin, and even flesh, fell off and left the bone bare." The Archbishop resolutely refused to purchase a cessation of his torments by acknowledging the Queen's supremacy in matters of religion. An end was put to his sufferings by his being hanged on a tree outside Dublin, 19th June 1584. The above particulars as to his treatment are said to be incontestibly proved by documents in the public records. He was buried in St. Kevin's, Dublin.

O'Hussey, last hereditary bard of the great sept of the Maguires of Fermanagh, flourished about 1630. When quite a youth he celebrated in verse the escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from Dublin Castle. The noble ode which O'Hussey addressed to Hugh Maguire, when that chief went on a dangerous expedition, has been translated by Mangan. Samuel Ferguson says "there is a vivid vigour in these descriptions, and a savage power.. which claim a character almost approaching to sublimity.

O'Keefe, John, a popular dramatic writer, was born in Dublin, 24th June 1747. In youth he studied art at the schools of the Dublin Society; but developing a decided taste for the stage, and writing a comedy displaying considerable taste, he obtained an engagement with Mossop in Dublin, and acted for twelve years with considerable success. When but twenty-three years of age an accident brought on weakness of the eyes, which after some years resulted in almost total blindness, and he removed to London, where he devoted himself entirely to composition. During the next twenty years he wrote upwards of fifty comedies and farces, a collection of which was published in four volumes in 1798. Reduced to a state of great embarrassment in 1800, he was accorded a benefit at Covent Garden, and after the performance was led on to the stage, and delivered a touching address. He published his Recollections in 1826, and died at Southampton, 4th February 1833, aged 85. Some among his numerous pieces still keep their hold on the stage. A writer in Representative Actors says: "His inventive powers in the construction of odd phrases and quaint burdens for songs, his extraordinary combinations of strange fancies, and the contrivance of a sort of significant gibberish, without meaning in itself, but fashioned so as to convey the most accurate and vivid ideas of what he himself meant to express, are matters beyond the power of analysis; yet his fancies are obsolete, and, with the dramas of the King of Leinster,.. lost to the stage and the public."

Olaf Cuaran (Olaf the Red, Amlav, Sitricson) was Norse King of Dublin in the 10th century. After the death of his father Sitric, he went to Scotland, and married a daughter of Constantine III. In 939, we read of his arrival at York, his siege of Northampton, and sack of Tarn worth, and a few years later the cession to him by King Edmund of the northern part of his kingdom. In 945 he rebuilt Dublin, after its destruction by the Irish. In 952 he was expelled from England, and retired to Ireland. Four years afterwards he defeated and slew Congalach, King of Ireland. In 964 he was himself defeated at Innistiogue by the men of Ossory; in 970, in conjunction with the Leinster Irish, he plundered Kells; and in the same year defeated Domhnall O'Neill, King of Ireland. He again defeated the Irish in 978 and 979, on the former occasion slaying the heirs to the throne of Ireland in the two royal lines of the northern and southern O'Neills. The last scene in Olaf's life as a warrior was his total defeat at the battle of Tara, fought in 980, against King Malachy. Dublin was occupied by the Irish, and, according to the Four Masters, the country was released from the "Babylonian captivity" of the Northmen -"next to the captivity of hell." Olaf's son Ragnall was slain, and he retired broken-hearted to Iona, where he died in 981. He was thrice married - to a daughter of Constantine III., to Gormlaith, sister widow of Domhnall, King of Ireland, and mother of King Malachy.

O'Leary, Arthur, D.D., a prominent politician and writer, was born in 1729, at Acres, near Dunman way, County of Cork. He was educated at St. Malo, in France, where he spent twenty-four years as prison chaplain. Little is known of his life before the year 1771, when he officiated at the Friary of the Capuchins in Cork, where his preaching soon attracted large audiences. His Thoughts on Religion, written in answer to a free-thought publication by a Cork physician named Blair, first brought him prominently before the public outside the pale of his congregation. Several brilliant pamphlets on current topics followed, characterized by learning,, religious feeling, a spirit of toleration, and steadfast allegiance to the British Crown. His biographer, a Catholic clergyman, says: "His eager desire to mitigate the sufferings of his fellow-countrymen, caused by religious bigotry, seduced him into unwarrantable theological concessions - forced him to make rash admissions - to indulge in a freedom of expression unwise as it was unnecessary, and thus expose himself unconsciously to the danger of heterodoxical teaching." He vehemently opposed the action of the Whiteboys, denounced the French invasion, wrote an essay on toleration, and engaged in a warm controversy with John Wesley for saying that "no government not Roman Catholic ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion." Wesley afterwards wrote in his Journal, 12th May 1787: "A gentleman invited me to breakfast with my old antagonist, Father O'Leary. I was not at all displeased at being disappointed. He is not the stiff, queer man that I expected, but of an easy, genteel carriage, and seems not to be wanting either in sense or learning." His Essay on Toleration had a large circulation both in England and Ireland. In recognition of his scholarly acquirements and his supposed patriotism and philanthropy, he was elected an honorary member of "The Monks of the Screw,” a club formed by Grattan, Curran, and other Irishmen of liberal politics. Numerous instances are recorded of his ready wit and powers of repartee, such as his rejoinder on being told by a Protestant friend that "the bottom had fallen out of purgatory, and all the Papists had been precipitated into hell" - "Lord save us! What a crushing the Protestants must have got!" He suggested to a Protestant friend who quarrelled with the idea of purgatory, that "perhaps he might go farther and fare worse." Although it was known that Dr. O'Leary was in the receipt of a Government pension during the latter part of his life, and that this was conferred partly to restrain him from writing against the Union (it is believed that he declined the suggestion that he should write in its favour), it was never suspected until lately that he was in receipt of government pay as early as 1784. In September of that year, says Mr. Froude, "the Irish Secretary applied to the English cabinet to furnish him from their own staff of informers. Two valuable persons answering to Mr. Orde's description were sent, and the name of one of them will be an unpleasant surprise to those already interested in the history of the time. They were both Irishmen. One was a skilled detective named Parker... The other was no less a person than the celebrated Father O'Leary, whose memory is worshipped by Irish Catholic politicians with a devotion which approaches idolatry. O'Leary, as he was known to the world, was the most fascinating preacher, the most distinguished controversialist of his time - a priest who had caught the language of toleration, who had mastered all the chords of liberal philosophy, and played on them like a master; whose mission had been to plead against prejudice, to represent his country as the bleeding lamb - maligned, traduced, oppressed, but ever praying for her enemies; as eager only to persuade England to offer its hand to the Catholic Church, and receive in return the affectionate homage of undying gratitude. O'Leary had won his way to the heart of Burke by his plausible eloquence. Pitt seemed to smile on him: it is easy now to conjecture why. When he appeared in the Convention at the Rotunda the whole assembly rose to receive him. [They] reached Dublin at the end of September, and were both at once set to work. 'Your experts have arrived safe' wrote the Secretary, reporting their appearance. 'At this moment, we are about to make trial of O'Leary's sermons and Parker's rhapsodies. They may be both, in their different callings, of very great use. The former, if we can depend on him, has it in his power to discover to us the real designs of the Catholics, from which quarter, after all, the real mischief is to spring." At this very time Grattan spoke of him in Parliament as " a man of learning, a philosopher.. If I did not know him to be a Christian clergyman, I should suppose him by his works to be a philosopher of the Augustan age." In 1789 Dr. O'Leary left Ireland for ever, and took up his residence in London as one of the chaplains to the Spanish embassy. There, as in Ireland, his society was courted by leading politicians of liberal views - by Burke and Sheridan, by Fox and Fitzwilliam. Towards the close of 1801 his health began to decline, and after residing a short time in France, he returned to England, broken down in health and spirits, and died in London on 7th January 1802, aged 72. It is related by his biographer (writing before Mr. Froude's disclosures) that when dying he more than once exclaimed: "Alas! I have betrayed my poor country." Dr. O'Leary was buried in old St. Pancras churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory by his friend, Lord Moira. He was nearly six feet high, "a perfect perpendicular, with a kind of rigour in his muscles, that seemed to suffer from bending;" with a full mouth, heavy chin, and "sparkling eyes, overshadowed by bushy eye-brows."

Olioll Olum, King of Munster, who died in 234, is said to have been progenitor of most of the great families of the south of Ireland. He married Sabia, daughter of Con of the Hundred Battles, ruler of the north of Ireland. He willed that after his death the sovereignty of Munster should vest alternately in the descendants of his son Eoghan Mor (the Eugenians, or Eoganachts, occupying the southern part of Munster), and those of his son Cormac Cas (the Dalcassians, occupying the northern part of the same province).

Ollamh Fodla, a somewhat mythical Irish monarch, who, according to Keating, reigned from 953 to 923 B.C., and according to the Four Masters, from 1318 to 1274 B.C. The compilation of a code of laws is attributed to him. He is said to have been interred in the cemetery of Tailtin, on the Loughcrew hills, in Meath.

O'Loghlen, Sir Michael, Bart., a distinguished Irish judge (the first Catholic who occupied a seat on the Bench since 1688), was born in the County of Clare, in October 1789. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1811, was elected member for Dungarvan, and having filled successively the offices of Solicitor-General of Ireland in 1834, and Attorney-General in 1835, was elevated to the Irish Bench as Baron of the Exchequer in 1836. This office he relinquished on being made Master of the Rolls the following year. He was created a baronet in 1838. A consolidation of the Grand Jury Laws, and several other legal improvements, are due to his exertions. He is thus described in Sheil's Sketches, Legal and Political: "His head is large;.. his large eyes of deep blue, although not enlightened by the flashings of constitutional vivacity, carry a more professional expression, and bespeak caution, sagacity, and shyness, while his mouth exhibits a steadfast kindliness of nature, and tranquillity of temper, mixed with some love of ridicule." Sir Michael O'Loghlen died in London, 28th October 1842, aged 53. [His son, Sir Colman O'Loghlen, a somewhat prominent Irish lawyer and politician, born in 1819, died suddenly in 1877, whilst on his passage from Holy head to Kingstown.]

O'Lothchain, Cuan, was chief poet to King Malachy Mor in the 11th century, and on his death acted as joint regent of Ireland with Corcran Cleireach. He was slain in Teffia in 1024. Six of his historical poems, said to be of great value, are noticed by O'Curry.

O'Mahony, Connor, a member of the Society of Jesus, who lived in the 17th century. Considerable excitement was created in Ireland by the anonymous publication, in 1645, of his work: Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni Hiberniae pro Catholicis Hibernis adversus Haereticos Anglos, authore C. M. Eiberno, Artium et Sacrae, Theologiae Magistro, a small 4to. of some 130 pp., published nominally at Frankfort, but more probably in Portugal. It was a violent denunciation of English Protestant rule in Ireland, and an appeal to the Irish Catholics to root out the English as the Israelites had rooted out and massacred their enemies. Although at once burnt by order of the Supreme Council of Kilkenny, denounced by the corporation of Galway, and preached against by Peter Walsh, this book was productive of lamentable consequences. It embittered the feeling between Protestants and Catholics, and O'Mahony's rhetorical flourish about the killing of 150,000 of "the heretics" between 1641 and 1645, has ever remained an argument in the hands of those who sought to fasten the disgrace of a deliberate and hideous massacre upon the Irish people. O'Mahony was living, an old man, in Lisbon about 1650. His book was reprinted in Dublin in 1829.

O'Mahony, Daniel, Lieutenant-General, a distinguished officer in the Irish Brigade in France, brother-in-law of the Marshal Duke of Berwick. He signalized himself at the Boyne, Aughrim, and Limerick, and accompanied his regiment to the Continent. In January 1702, some of the Irish Brigade under O'Mahony, turning out in their shirts in the middle of the night, defeated Prince Eugene'3 attempt to capture Cremona. For their bravery and their resolute refusal of the offers made by Prince Eugene to turn them from their allegiance, Louis XIV. sent his thanks to the regiment and raised their pay. O'Mahony was made a colonel, and was subsequently recommended to Philip V. of Spain, by whom he was put in command of a regiment of Irish dragoons. He was subsequently appointed a Lieutenant-General and created Count of Castile. He died at Ocana in January 1714. A contemporary French writer, quoted by O'Callaghan, says: "He has always been not only brave, but indefatigable, and very pains-taking; his life is, as it were, a continued chain of dangerous combats, of bold attacks, of honourable retreats." His descendants rose to high rank in Spain.

O'Mahony, John, organizer of the Fenian movement, was born at Kilbeheny, County of Cork, in 1816. His father and uncle had been implicated in the insurrection of 1798. On the death of an elder brother, he came into the enjoyment of property worth £300 per annum. He entered at Trinity College, Dublin, but never proceeded to his degree. He studied Hebrew and Sanscrit, became an accomplished Gaelic scholar, and was in after life able to teach Greek and Latin, and to contribute articles to French newspapers. In 1843 he became interested in the Repeal movement. He attached himself to the Young Ireland party, and was one of those who took the field with Smith O'Brien in 1848. After the failure at Ballingarry, he escaped to France, and lived in Paris for several years. In 1854 he joined Mitchel in New York, and took part in the Emigrant Aid Association, the Emmet Monument Association, and other Irish organizations. In 1857 he published the History of Ireland, by Geoffrey Keating, D.B., translated from the original Gaelic, and copiously annotated. (New York, 1857). Dr. Todd, in his preface to the Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaell, says: "His translation of Keating is a great improvement upon the ignorant and dishonest one published by Mr. Dermod O'Connor more than a century ago, but has been taken from a very imperfect text, and has evidently been executed, as he himself confesses, in great haste." [See KEATING, GEOFFREY.] O'Mahony's notes are copied from O'Donovan's Four Masters, It was on this ground that Hodges & Smith procured an injunction against the sale of the book in the United Kingdom. This work brought Mr. O'Mahony no pecuniary profit, and, partly owing to the mental strain thrown upon him in its composition, he had soon afterwards to be placed for a short period in an asylum. The extent to which the early portion of Keating's History is occupied with the exploits of the ancient Fenians, probably led to the adoption of this name for a secret society inaugurated by O'Mahony about the year 1860, to promote the object ever nearest his heart - the independence of Ireland. The Fenian Brotherhood, or Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) was reorganized at conventions held in Chicago in 1864, and at Cincinnati the following January. At this time O'Mahony held the rank of Colonel of the 69th Regiment of New York State Militia, recruited mainly from the ranks of the Brotherhood, which had also furnished a large proportion of Meagher's Irish Brigade, the Corcoran Legion, and Irish regiments engaged in the civil war. But the rapid growth of the organization demanded the unceasing attention of its chief officer; and, at the urgent request of the Central Council, O'Mahony resigned the colonelcy of his regiment, and devoted himself entirely to Fenianism, and though various differences arose from time to time with James Stephens and the Central Council relative to the policy to be pursued for the attainment of their object, he continued President for some years. The designs of the Brotherhood seemed to be favoured by the conclusion of the American civil war in the spring of 1865, which liberated a large number of Irish-Americans anxious to see service elsewhere. It would be impossible to particularize the events that followed, and the immense influence this society came to exercise in Ireland. Perhaps £80,000 was contributed to its exchequer in the United States and Canada between 1860 and 1867. Although O'Mahony for many years assisted in its councils, he appears not to have taken part, personally, either in the raids upon Canada, or the abortive insurrection in Ireland, which Lord Kimberley stated in Parliament to have been the most formidable effort, since 1798. to sever the connexion between England and Ireland. The latter part of John O'Mahony's life was passed in literary pursuits, under the shadow of declining health and poverty, in New York. The man who had handled thousands of public money was utterly regardless of it for himself. A New York paper, describing him, says: "John O'Mahony was a strange being. He was tall and well formed, and had shaggy, dark brown hair and handsomely chiselled features, but a haggard and care-worn expression... He had friends who were willing to sacrifice anything for him: yet he was often sadly in need of a dollar, and when his poverty was discovered he declined to receive assistance in any shape or form. One way or another he always managed to earn his own living. He seemed, however, to care nothing for success in life, his whole mind being absorbed with one idea - rebellion in Ireland. A ten-dollar greenback over and above his immediate wants was a fortune to him, but one that he held a loose hold of; for any person who approached him with a woeful story was sure to get it out of him." He died in New York 7th February 1877, aged 61; and his remains were shortly afterwards brought to Ireland, and attended to the grave at Glasnevin with the honours of a public funeral.

O'Malley, Grace, or Grania Uaile, a Connaught princess, who flourished in the 16th century. Her father, Owen O'Malley, was a noted leader of piratical expeditions, and she appears to have followed in his footsteps. Her larger vessels were generally moored off Clare Island, where her chief stronghold was situated, whilst her smaller craft were kept at Carrigahowly Castle, in Newport Bay. Rewards were from time to time set upon her head by the Government. She was first married to Donald O'Flaherty, a chief who owned the extensive fortress of Bunowen; and secondly, to Sir Richard Bourke, chief of the Mayo sept of that name. Viceroy Sydney writes concerning his visit to Galway in 1576: "There came to me a most famous feminine sea captain, called Grany I-Mallye, and offered her service unto me wheresoever I would command her, with three galleys and 200 fighting men, either in Ireland or Scotland. She brought with me her husband, for she was, as well by sea as by land, more than master's mate with him. He was of the nether Bourkes, and now, as I hear, MacWilliam Euter, and called by nickname 'Richard' in Irish. This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland." In 1577, while engaged on a piratical expedition to Kerry, she was taken prisoner by the Earl of Desmond. The Lord-Justice wrote from Leighlin in 1578: "To that place was brought unto me Grane-ny-Maille, a woman of the province of Connaught, governing a country of the O'Flahertys, famous for her stoutness of courage and person, and for sundry exploits done by her at sea. She was taken by the Earl of Desmond a year and a half ago, and has remayned ever since partly with him, and partly in her Majesty's gaol in Limerick; and was sent for now by me to come to Dublyn, where she is yet remayning." Obtaining her release, she returned home; but her depredations again became so intolerable to the merchants of the west that in March 1579 an expedition was sent from Galway against her castle of Carrigahowly, which, after hostilities lasting over twelve days, proved an ignominious failure. After the death of her second husband [See BOURKE, RICHARD], "she gathered together all her own followers, and with 1,000 head of cows and wares departed and became a dweller in Borosowle, parcel of the Erie of Ormond's lands." She and her sons were constantly at war with their neighbours. Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught, writing about the year 1590, says she was a notable traitress, and has been nurse of all the rebellions in the province for forty years." Nevertheless we find her in 1593 embarking in one of her own galleys, and visiting Queen Elizabeth at Westminster, or, as one writer says, "giving Queen Elizabeth an opportunity of being introduced to her." She was pardoned by Elizabeth, and, in the words of a memorial afterwards presented to the Queen promised "ever to remayne in all obedience and allegiance, and to the uttermost of her power resist all remnants of rebellious enemyes, and pray continually for your Majesty's long life and prosperous reign... Ever thence she dwelleth in Connauglit, a farmer's life, verie poore, bearing cess, and paying her Majesty's composition rent. Utterly did she give over her former thrade of maintenance by sea and land." Yet on her return from England she is said to have carried off the heir of the St. Lawrence family from Howth Castle, because of not having been hospitably entertained there. Furthermore, in July 1601, a sloop of war cruising off the west of Ireland fell in with a large piratical sailing galley, reputed to belong to Grace O'Malley, and commanded by her son. It was described as powerful for offence or defence, rowed with thirty oars, and defended by 100 musketeers. The vessel was not captured until after a severe struggle. Grace O'Malley is said to have been buried within the precincts of a religious establishment on Clare Island, which she had endowed. All we are told of her personal appearance is that she was "a dark lady, tall and commanding." Lord Mayo is said to be lineally descended from her.

O'Malley, Thaddeus, Rev., "The Father of Federalism in Ireland," as he was wont to call himself, was born in the diocese of Limerick about 1796. He entered the priesthood at an early age. His first appearance in politics was as an advocate of the introduction of the Poor-law into Ireland, in opposition to O'Connell's denunciations. He also favoured the system of National Education. In consequence, perhaps, of his support of these measures, he was appointed Rector of the Government College at Malta. This position he occupied for some time, but he ultimately left it, in consequence of differences regarding the management of the institution, and returned to Ireland. He subsequently carried on a long and somewhat warm correspondence with the London officials on the matter. He differed from O'Connell as to the comparative merits of Repeal and Federalism, being a strong advocate of the latter, and they had a lively and passionate public debate upon the question. For a short period, in the advocacy of his opinions, he edited the Federalist newspaper. After remaining more than twenty years in comparative retirement, he again came prominently before the public, after the inauguration of the Home Rule movement by Mr. Butt in 1870, being almost the only Catholic clergyman of the diocese of Dublin who appeared publicly in its favour. He was constant in his support of the new movement in speech and print, and delighted in being recognized as the early advocate of opinions become at length apparently so popular. He came under much censure among his co-religionists as the supposed author of a certain work, Harmony in Religion, advocating the marriage of the priesthood and other changes in the Catholic Church. His little book, Home Rule on the Basis of Federalism, went through more than one edition. An honest man, a gentleman, and a scholar, he was greatly beloved by a large circle of friends. He died at his humble lodgings in Henrietta-street, Dublin, 2nd January 1877, aged 81, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

O'Meara, Barry Edward, Dr., surgeon to Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena, was born in Ireland in 1770, educated at Trinity College, and at an early age appointed Assistant-Surgeon to the 62nd Regiment. He served for some years in Sicily, Egypt, and Calabria. In consequence of a duel, he was obliged to quit the army, but soon received an appointment in the navy. He was serving in the Bellerophon, when, on the 14th July 1815, Napoleon surrendered himself on board of her. His professional skill and knowledge of Italian gained the favour of the ex-Emperor, at whose request he was sent with him to St. Helena, as his medical attendant. O'Meara appears to have agreed tolerably well with Sir George Cockburn and Sir Pulteney Malcolm, Governors of St. Helena; but soon after the arrival of Sir Hudson Lowe misunderstandings arose, and he returned to England in 1818. O'Meara was at first well received by the Admiralty, but having preferred accusations against Sir Hudson for tyrannical and oppressive treatment of Napoleon, his name was erased from the list of naval surgeons. In 1822 he published Letters from St. Helena, in which he feelingly depicted the petty annoyances and degrading restrictions to which, according to him, Napoleon was subjected. He became exceedingly popular, his view of the case being supported by current public opinion. He died in London, 3rd June 1836, aged 66, of erysipelas, the result of a cold caught while attending one of O'Connell's meetings. The publication, in 1853, of Mr. Forsyth's History of the Captivity of Napoleon in St. Helena, an exhaustive work, compiled from original documents, has considerably modified the public estimate of the value of Dr. O'Meara's disclosures.

O'Meara, Dermot, a learned physician, was born in the barony of Ormond, County of Tipperary, and lived at Ballyragget, in the County of Kilkenny, early in the 17th century. According to his own account (questioned by Anthony Wood), he was educated at Oxford, and there took a medical degree. Besides a Latin poem in praise of the Butlers, Heroico Carmine Conscripta (London, 1615), he wrote some treatises on medicine, only one of which was published - Pathologia Haereditaria Generalis (Dublin, 1619). It was afterwards republished with the works of his son Edmund.

O'Meara, Edmund, a leading physician in the 17th century, son of preceding, was also born in the County of Tipperary. He studied at Oxford, practised both in England and Ireland, was a member of the College of Physicians in London, and lived for some time in Bristol. He was the author of Examen Diatribae Thomae Willisii,.. cui accesserunt Histories, aliquot Medicae Rariores (London, 1665, and Amsterdam, 1667), dedicated to Sir Kenelm Digby, with some Latin verses prefixed, from the pen of his son William O'Meara, also a physician. Edmund O'Meara died about the year 1680. Besides William, he had two other sons-one a Jesuit; the other a major, who fell in James II.'s service in the War of 1689-'91.

O'Molloy, Albin, Bishop of Ferns. First a monk and then Abbot of the Cistercians at Baltinglass: in 1185 he gave much offence to Giraldus Cambrensis and the English clergy in Ireland by making disparaging remarks regarding them in a sermon preached in Christ Church, in Dublin. In 1186 he was consecrated Bishop of Ferns, a dignity declined by Cambrensis. He died at the close of 1222 "in a very advanced age." The particulars of a contest between this prelate and William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, are detailed in Harris's Ware.

O'Moran, James, General, was born at Elphin, 1st May 1739. He entered Dillon's regiment of the Irish Brigade in France, and rose to be a major-general. At the breaking out of the Revolution he was also a Chevalier of St. Louis, and bore the American order of Cincinnatus. He acted under Dumouriez in his Belgian campaigns; in 1792 he was made a general of division, and was entrusted with the government of Conde. In August 1793 he took Tournay and occupied Cassel; but a few days afterwards he was accused, it is believed falsely, of intriguing with the enemy, was sent to Paris, and guillotined on the 6th March 1794, aged 55.

O'More, Rury Oge, a chieftain who carried on almost incessant warfare against the English settlers in Leix and Offaly in the 16th century. In 1576 we find him, in conjunction with Brian O'Conor, at the head of many hundred wood kerns, " desolating large portions of Leinster, Meath, and Fingall." After the massacre of Mullaghmast next year, in which numbers of his relatives perished, he was stirred up to still greater bitterness against the occupiers of the lands of his ancestors. In noticing his death in 1579, the Four Masters say: "This Rury was the head of the plunderers and insurgents of the men of Ireland in his time; and for a long time after his death no one was desirous to discharge one shot against the soldiers of the Crown."

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