CHRONICLE. 



.211 



to whose house he was conveyed. 

 He was laid on a mattress sup- 

 ported by chairs. Lord Powers ■ 

 court, in tlie utmost anxiety and 

 alarm, rode full speed for medi- 

 cal assistance, leaving his bio- 

 ther Mr. Wingfield to pay every 

 attention possible, ; • he most 

 kindly did, to the Duke. Medical 

 aid, even if it could have been ap- 

 plied immediately, would have 

 been of no use. The injury was 

 too severe to be counteracted by 

 hvunan skill. Life was extinct 

 before any surgeon arrived. 



It has been said, that the Duke 

 in his dying moments made use of 

 the expression " I am off :" — he 

 did so J but not, as has been very 

 erroneously supposed, by way of 

 heroic bravado, or in a temper of 

 unseasonable levity ; but simply 

 to signify to his attendants, who, 

 in pulling off his boots, had drawn 

 him too forward on the mattress, 

 and jogged one of the chairs out 

 of its place, that he was slipping 

 off, and wanted their aid to help 

 hull up into his former position. 

 He was the last person in the 

 world to be guilty of any «hing 

 like levity upon any solemn oc- 

 casion, much less in his dying 

 moments. The fact was, when 

 he used the expression "I am 

 off," he had become very faint 

 and weak, and was glad to save 

 himself the trouble of further ut- 

 terance Those words were not 

 the last which he pronounced, but 

 he said nothing at all Ihat could 

 be thought allusive to death. One 

 of his young friends, his most 

 constant companion, has often 

 said of him, that he was the most 

 intrepid man he ever knew, and 

 there is no doubt that he met his 

 fate v.itli firmness : but Mr. 



Wingfield, who was present and 

 vigilant during the whole melan- 

 choly scene, never heard him say 

 a syllable from which it could be 

 inferred that he was conscious of 

 his approaching end. His prin- 

 cipal wish was to be left quiet. 

 He died so easy, that the precise 

 moment when he breathed his 

 last could not be ascertained. 



The Countess of Bandon, who 

 died on July 7th, 1815, in the 

 48th year of her age, was dis- 

 tinguished for the excellence of her 

 heart and understanding, and the 

 cultivation of her mind. Her 

 conversation was of a sviperior 

 cast, and her letters were models 

 of epistolary composition. She dis- 

 played her taste and love of know- 

 ledge by the formation of a valu- 

 able library, by her attachment 

 to botanical and agiicultural pur- 

 suits, and by the promotion of 

 every laudable undertaking. She 

 lent iier aid to many of the most 

 useful establishments of Dublin, 

 as well as to the Cork Institution 

 and the Farming Society of tht 

 neighbourhood ; whilst the im- 

 provements at C.istle Bernard, 

 from which she was seldom long 

 absent, and which were directed 

 by her own judgment, were suf- 

 ficient e\idences of its correctness. 



The more peculiar distinction 

 of this lady was the Christian 

 grace of charity, in which she 

 truly abounded. By her sole 

 bounty she for many years sup- 

 ported a school for twenty-four 

 young women, now united to the 

 General Female School of Ban- 

 don, of which she was the patro- 

 ness and foundress, and which is 

 conducted on a scale of enlarged 

 liberality that would do credit to 

 any similai' institution in the 



P 'i United 



