He testified his grateful sense of the benevolence of his friend Slack, who so liberally supplied his wants, and softened the rigour of his last illness, in the following lines addressed to a particular acquaintance, which strongly indicates the impression of his mind on the melancholy occasion. The Drama and I have shook hands, My sunshine of youth is no more; A pension supplies me with bread. Dependent at length on the man, His bounty proceeds from his heart, He expired at Newcastle, on the 18th of September, 1773, aged forty-four, and was buried in St. John's churchyard, when, to perpetuate his memory, Mr. Slack, whose friendly offices extended beyond the limits of mortality, caused a tombstone to be erected with the following inscription : Here lie the remains of JOHN CUNNINGHAM ; of his excellence as a Pastoral Poet his works will remain a monument for ages, is in dust forgotten. He died at Newcastle, September 18, 1773, Aged 44. The following anecdote is related of Cunningham, gave birth to a humorous impromptu. which Cunningham lodged at the Golden Lion inn, at Scarborough, in the year 1765. The landlord was a meek, passive husband, and the landlady a perfect termagant. It happened on a certain occasion, that the lady's temper was ruffled by a trivial incident that occurred, and as no soothing could restrain the impetuosity of her passion, she burst into violent exclamations; nor did either husband, guests, or servant, escape the fury of her clamorous tongue. The poet, whose placid temper ill suited with the vehe mence of this virago, left the house, and taking the landlord with him into the street, pointed to the sign, and uttered these words : Friend W***, if you would get rid of a scold, WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, A POET of some ability, but more worthy of being recorded for his classical attainments. He was of that numerous class of individuals termed "self taught;" and had little to aid him in his literary pursuits, but that portion of steady application which is usually possessed by those who are determined to emerge from the obscurity in which Providence has placed them. He was born on the 19th of March, 1781, near Dromore, and was "in daily labours of the loom employed," during which period he received the first rudiments of education at one of the Bishop of Dromore's Sunday schools; and had, by reading such books as he could borrow, made so considerable a progress, that in the autumn of 1800, he presented his lordship with a copy of verses, requesting the loan of books. The bishop recognising the indelible marks of genius displayed throughout the poem, determined to rescue him from the miserable drudgery in which he was doomed to toil, which he shortly afterwards did, and placed him at the diocesan school of Dromore, where he sedulously cultivated the flame of learning, which in the midst of sordid society he had cherished, and aided by application the most industrious and diligent, in about two years and a half he had read the principal of the Greek and Latin classics. Being thus qualified to superintend the education of youth, which had been the object of his wishes, he was received, early in 1804, as an assistant teacher in Dr. Bruce's academy at Belfast, where he was distinguished for the diligence and skill with which he prepared the boys under his care, for their examination prior to the last summer vacation. But by this time such strong symptoms of that disease, "for which medicine hath no cure," had appeared in his slender frame, that he could not any more return to the praiseworthy pursuit in which he had been engaged. His health continued to decline, and he was confined to the house of his poor mother, near the turnpike-gate between Hillsborough and Dromore, where he continued to experience the kindness of his former patron; and he was most generously attended by Sir George Atkinson, an eminent physician in Hillsborough. Every attempt to afford him any effectual relief was beyond the reach of medicine. Consumption had laid her icy finger on him, and he sunk into the arms of death beneath her withering touch; dying on the 27th of December, 1804, having nearly completed his twenty-fourth year. Thus died William Cunningham, a young man, who, had he lived, would in all probability have reflected honour on his patrons, his country, and himself. Indefatigable in the acquisition of knowledge, amiable and grateful in his disposition and temper, and scrupulously exact in the performance of every moral duty; he presents to posterity a pleasing, yet unfrequent picture of genius without pride, humility without affectation, and talent without vice. 51 WILLIAM DANIEL, D.D. A MAN, (says Ware,) of distinguished learning, was born at Kilkenny, but in what year is not known, and was one of the first fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, that is, one of the first elected fellows; for Henry Usher, Duke Chalonel, and Lancelot Mogues, masters of arts, were the three first fellows appointed by Queen Elizabeth's charter, nomine plurium; but William Daniel, together with Henry Lee, and Stephen White, were the three first scholars of the house nominated by the said charter, nomine plurium; and he was either the first or second that commenced doctor of divinity in the said university. In August 1609, he was consecrated by the Archbishop of Tuam, at Dublin, in St. Patrick's church (of which he was treasurer, an office which he held in commendam,) and the same year was called into the privy council. He was a man highly eminent both for piety and learning, and translated both the Book of Common Prayer out of the English, and the New Testament out of the Greek, into the Irish language; the former of which translations was printed in 1608, and dedicated to the Lord Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester; and the latter was printed in quarto, in 1602, and dedicated to King James the First, the expense of which was defrayed by the province of Connaught and Sir William Usher, clerk of the council. It was afterwards reprinted in the year 1681, at the expense of the Hon. Robert Boyle. He was celebrated also for his complete knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. He died at Tuam, on the 11th of July, 1628, and lies buried in his own cathedral, under the same monument with his predecessor Daniel. It is to be regretted, that of a man so celebrated both for learning and piety, so little has been recorded; trifling as is the memorial, it is, however, sufficient to shew, that at that early period, piety was promoted, and the attainment of learning encouraged. 52 PATRICK, COUNT DARCY, WAS descended from a noble and ancient Irish family, and was born on September the 18th, 1725, in the county of Galway. His parents who were attached to the exiled house of Stuart, sent him to Paris in 1739, where being put under the care of M. Clairault, at seventeen years of age, he gave a new solution of the problem of the curve of equal pressure in a resisting medium; and this was followed the year after by a determination of the curve described by a heavy body, sliding by its own weight along a moveable plane, at the same time that the pressure of the body causes an horizontal motion in the plane. This problem had already been solved by John Bernouilli and Clairault; but notwithstanding this circumstance, Chevalier Darcy possessed a method peculiarly his own, and it is easy to discover throughout the work, that degree of striking originality which is the leading character of all his productions. The commencement of the war, however, in some measure took him off from the prosecution of his studies, as he served as captain of the regiment of Condi, during several campaigns in Germany and Flanders. In 1746, he was appointed to accompany the troops that were to be sent to Scotland to assist the Pretender, and had a narrow escape with his life, as the vessel in which he sailed was captured by the English, and Darcy, (whose life was forfeited by the laws of his country, by being taken in arms against her,) was saved by the humanity of the English commander. During the course of this war, and amidst all its bustles and dangers, he found leisure to contribute two memoirs to the Academy. The first contained a general principle of mechanics, that of the preservation of the rotatory motion. Daniel Bernouilli and Eulerhorm had discovered it in 1745; but it is highly improbable that their productions should have reached Mr. Darcy in the midst of his campaigns; his method is different from theirs, but it is equally original, simple, elegant, and ingenious. |