and, as most persons would conceive, a very inconvenient mode of 

 writing ; he placed his paper on his knee, and in that disagreeable 

 stooping posture wrote for hours without intermission. 



It is said that, in greater or less perfection, he understood no 

 less than nine languages beside English ; two of these, the Swedish 

 and Greek, he had learned without a master. I believe the list was 

 as follows : — Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Swedish, French, 

 Italian, Spanish, and Irish. 



The habit of wearing his hat at all times was caused by his 

 susceptibility of cold, and by a rheumatic affection to which he had 

 been long subject. Perhaps the extreme precautions he took against 

 cold increased his natural infirmity. When about to leave the 

 house for exercise, his habit was to stand before the fire with his 

 wreat-coat on and thrown open, in order, as he said, to lay in a suf- 

 ficient supply of caloric to last for some time. The better to pre- 

 serve his stock without waste, he walked in the street with such 

 celerity, that he kept any one who joined him in a smart trot. If 

 any one met him, he would not stop ; the person must walk with 

 him, at his pace, or quit, for he would not incur the risk of taking 

 cold. 



Towards the end of his life he relinquished the pursuits to 

 which in his early days he had been devoted, and occupied the 

 chief part of his time, as became his years, in the study of the 

 Scriptures. 



Along with high mental endowments, Mr. Kirwan, when young, 

 possessed considerable personal advantages. Although slight in 

 figure, his limbs were firmly knit and well put together, so that he 

 might be considered a strongly made man ; he was also extremely 

 active. He was five feet ten inches in height, and' remarkably erect 

 in deportment ; the back gracefully curved into a hollow. In 

 his early and middle life he was considered handsome ; his face 

 was long, its expression grave and thoughtful ; his head rather 

 small, and his forehead not remarkably high. His eyes, when 

 looking downwards, gave him, from the peculiar form of the upper 

 lid, the appearance of being asleep. 



Lady Morgan thus describes her father's recollection of the ap- 

 pearance of Mr. Kirwan m his early life: •' I remember well," he 



