J/AVO/^ OF CLONMEL. 189 



running only six hundred and eighty-four miles daily 

 below the maximum run in 1845, before the railways 

 had begun to interfere with his traffic. At the age of 

 seventy Bianconi might have been seen at Clonmel, 

 helping at busy times to load the cars ; even when near 

 upon eighty he still continued to manage his immense 

 business, extending over two thousand five hundred 

 miles of road. In 1831 he became a naturalised British 

 subject; in 1844 he was elected Mayor of Clonmel; 

 he was re-elected Mayor in the following year ; in 

 1846 he bought the estate of Longfield in County 

 Tipperary : it consisted of a thousand acres of land with 

 a mansion-house overlooking the River Suir ; to this he 

 added more land. One of his favourite sayings was, 

 '•' Money melts, but land lasts." He founded, with 

 O'Connell, the National Bank of Ireland. His own family 

 and that of O'Connell became closely intermarried ; 

 Bianconi's son married O'Connell's granddaughter, 

 and O'Connell's nephew married Bianconi's daughter. 

 His son died in 1864, leaving no male heir to inherit 

 the estates ; the following year the poor old gentle- 

 man, who was seventy-eight, met with a severe 

 accident, when his thigh was badly fractured ; 

 this forced him to retire from business ; he thereupon 

 handed over the whole of his plant, consisting of cars, 

 horses, harness, and stables to his employes. 



About this time he lost his eldest daughter, who 

 died in Italy. He built a beautiful mortuary chapel 

 close to his house, and here he laid the remains of 

 his son and daughter, employing Italian sculptors to 

 beautify the interior. He died himself in 1S75, in 

 his ninetieth year, and was interred in this mausoleum 

 close beside his son and dausfhter. 



I am indebted to IMr. Smiles for much of this 



