1818.} Anecdotes of the late Mr. Kirwan. 435 



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 Article VIII. 



Anecdotes of the late Rkluird Kirwan, Esq. Extract from 

 G. B. G.'s Journal of a Tour in Ireland in 1805. 



Mr. Kirwan was a man of science at a time when there was 

 scarcely another man of science within his reach. Even at this 

 day he will find among his countrymen but few friends to assist, 

 and few rivals to stimulate him. Notwithstanding this, his 

 whole life has been devoted to the cause of philosophy ; he has 

 attempted almost every subject, and though he has not thoroughly 

 suoceeded in any, has established a reputation in every country 

 of Europe except his own, where he is little thought of. 

 Owing to some disorder, I believe in the throat, he never eats in 

 company ; and whether from an affectation of singularity, from 

 a desire of living out of the world, or from some peculiar notions 

 in regard to health, he makes it a rule to go to bed at eight 

 o'clock, and to rise, if I mistake not, at four. His appearance 

 is calculated to inspire respect ; his manners are placid ; and 

 being of a communicative turn of mind, and possessed of an 

 amazing deal of miscellaneous information, derived from all 



O ... 



authors, ancient and modern, conversation never flags in his 

 presence. 



Judgment, a commodity not of Hibernian growth, is that in 

 which he appears most deficient. He takes great pains to refute 

 authors that nave never been read, and shows his learning more 

 than his good sense in quoting others that will never be believed. 

 Like Dr. Richardson, fur whom we may find an apology in his 

 profession, he refutes the Huttonian theory by the Mosaic dis- 

 pensation, and the theory of Desmarez by Barvuel's Memoirs of 

 Illuminism : he conceives that we are indebted for a large portion 

 of our knowledge, particularly in astronomy, to the antediluvians, 

 and that the first language spoken by man was Greek. This last 

 opinion he calls his youngest child, and says it is no wonder, 

 therefore, that it should be a spoiled child. 



Mr. Kirwan calls almost daily at breakfast time. He is very 

 fond of music : some years since he made a tour with Mr. 

 Bunting into the most unfrequented parts of Ireland for the 

 purpose of collecting old Irish airs, particularly those ofCaladon 

 and Conadon ; he procured very few of them in Donegal, but 

 was more successful in Galway, where a lady who had invited 

 the travellers to her house, on discovering the motive of their 

 journey, sent a messenger 30 miles across the country in search 

 of a fiddler who could play these national tunes. 



In the seventh century, when the rest of Europe was involved 

 in ignorance, Ireland is said to have been the seat of refine- 

 ment and the asylum of learning. Mr. Kirwan, in explanation 

 of this circumstance, observed to me, that the barbarians con- 



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