Jan. 28. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



71 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1854. 



PROPHETS : FRANCIS DC-BBS. 



Among the characters introduced to the readers 

 of " N. & Q.," under the name of prophets, there 

 are few that deserve so distinguished a place as 

 Mr. Francis Dobbs. Not only lias he a claim to 

 that title, in the derisive sense in which it is ap- 

 plied to all modern enthusiasts, but also on the 

 higher grounds of political sagacity and practical 

 wisdom. Some men have exhibited this double 

 character successively, and at different periods of 

 their lives ; but none have displayed it in such 

 happy union as Mr. Dobbs. Indeed, in that re- 

 spect, he is perhaps one of the most striking 

 instances on record of what is called the " duality 

 of the human mind." 



The information I am able to furnish respecting 

 this remarkable man, is derived from a pamphlet, 

 publir-hed "by authority" (probably himself), by 

 J. Jones, Dublin, 1800, and entitled, Memoirs of 

 Francis Dobbs, Esq. ; also Genuine Reports of his 

 Speeches in Parliament on the Subject of an Union, 

 and his Prediction of the Second Coming of the 

 Messiah, with Extracts from his Poem on the 

 Millennium. 



Mr. Dobbs was born on April 27, 1750 ; and 

 was the younger son of the Rev. Richard Dobbs, 

 who was the younger brother of Arthur Dobbs of 

 Castle Dobbs, co. Antrim, formerly Governor of 

 North Carolina. His ancestor, an officer in the 

 army, came from England in the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth ; and by a marriage with the great- 

 granddaughter of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, got the 

 estate of Castle Dobbs, with other estates in the 

 co. Antrim. His great-grandfather was Mayor of 

 Carrickfergus at the time King William landed, 

 and was the first subject in Ireland that paid him 

 allegiance. 



Mr. Dobbs devoted himself for some years to 

 literary pursuits. In 1768 he purchased an en- 

 signcy in the 63rd Regiment, in which he con- 

 tinued till 1773. Having sold his commission, he 

 turned his attention to the study of the law, and 

 was called to the bar. He then married Miss 

 Stewart of Ballantroy, in the county of Antrim, 

 the daughter of a gentleman of considerable pro- 

 perty, niece of Sir Hugh Hill, and descended from 

 the Bute family. He afterwards joined the 

 Volunteers under Lord Charlemont, was appointed 

 Major to the Southern Battalion, and acted as 

 exercising officer at the great reviews held at 

 Belfast in 1780, 1781, and 1782. He took an 

 active part, in conjunction with Lord Charlemont, 

 Mr. Grattan, Mr. Flood, and others, in the poli- 

 tical agitation of that period ; was the mover of an 

 address to the King, approving of the proceedings 



of the Irish Parliament, and was a member of the 

 deputation appointed to present it to his Majesty, 

 on which occasion he refused the honour of a baro- 

 netcy. At a later period, the Earl of Charlemont 

 brought him into the Irish Parliament ; and it 

 was while occupying a seat in that assembly, 

 that he delivered the " Speeches " already re? 

 ferred to. 



Mr. Dobbs's Speech on the Legislative Union is 

 one of the most remarkable ever pronounced then 

 or since, on that fertile topic. He descants in 

 forceful language on the evils, real or imaginary, 

 likely to arise from that measure ; and points out, 

 with a striking minuteness of detail, some of the 

 consequences which have actually resulted there- 

 from. Indeed, the repealers of a subsequent 

 period did little more than borrow Mr. Dobbs's 

 language ; nor were they able, after thirty years' 

 experience of the practical working of the Union, 

 to add a single new grievance to the catalogue of 

 those so eloquently expatiated upon by him in the 

 year 1800. As, however, we have to deal with 

 Mr. Dobbs chiefly as a religious prophet, I shall 

 confine my extracts from his speeches to the illus- 

 tration of his character in that capacity. 



The speech on the Legislative Union was de- 

 livered on February 5, 1800. On June 7 follow- 

 ing (the Bill having been carried in the mean 

 time), Mr. Dobbs pronounced in the Irish Par- 

 liament a speech in which he predicted the second 

 coming of the Messiah. This speech, the most 

 extraordinary that was ever made in a legislative 

 assembly, presents a singular contrast to the 

 sagacity which characterises his political perform- 

 ances. A few short extracts will show the change 

 that had come over his prophetic vision : 



" Sir, from the conduct pursued by administration 

 during this Session, and the means that were known to 

 be in their power, it was not very difficult to foresee 

 that this Bill must reach that chair. It was not very 

 difficult to foresee that it should fall to your lot to 

 pronounce the painful words, ' That this bill do pass.' 

 Awful indeed would those words be to me, did I con- 

 sider myself living in ordinary times : but feeling as I 

 do that we are not living in ordinary times — feeling 

 as I do that we are living in the most momentous and 

 eventful period of the world — feeling as I do that a 

 new and better order of things is about to arise, and 

 that Ireland, in that new order of things, is to be highly 

 distinguished indeed — this bill hath no terrors for me. 



" Sir, I did intend to have gone at some length into 

 history, and the sacred predictions ; but as I purpose,, 

 in a very few months, to give to the public a work in 

 which I shall fully express my opinion as to the vast 

 design of this terrestrial creation, I shall for the pre- 

 sent confine myself to such passages as will support 

 three positions : — The first is, the certainty of the 

 second advent of the Messiah ; the next, the signs of 

 the times of his coming, and the manner of it ; and the 

 last, that Ireland is to have the glorious pre-eminence 

 of being the first kingdom that will receive him." 



