Ixxxv 



Netherlands ; and one of his letters informs us, that he was about 

 to abandon his noviciate. His income at this time was 300 livres 

 a year, allowed him by his brother Patrick, who was seven years 

 older. But the tragical fate of this brother, which occurred during 

 the previous year, rendered Richard the proprietor of the family 

 estates, amounting to £3000 per annum, which in some years after 

 increased to £4000. This melancholy event occurred in Dublin, 

 in Lucas's coffee-house, situate where the Royal Exchange now 

 stands, Patrick Kirwan was an accomplished swordsman, as well 

 as an accomplished gentleman. At this period, fencing was an in- 

 dispensable part of a polite education, and every gentleman carried 

 a sword. Mr. Kirwan having, in the coffee-room, some difference 

 with a Mr. Brereton, Usher of the Irish House of Commons, they 

 proceeded to decide their quarrel by the sword ; and, although 

 Brereton was totally inexperienced in the art of fencing, he mor- 

 tally wounded his expert adversary. Kirwan's remains were brought 

 from Dublin to his family burial-place in Gal way; he died un- 

 married, and his property descended to Richard, who soon after 

 returned to Dublin, being then in the twenty-second year of his age 

 (1755). 



It is probable that by abandoning his noviciate he intended 

 to renounce the order of Jesuits, whatever his previous predilec- 

 tions might have been. A noviciate in the order of Jesuits was 

 of longer duration than that of the other monastic orders, in which 

 a year and a day was the usual period. The Jesuits were to be qua- 

 lified for the business of the world, and their probationary terms 

 were continued for several years. The time of ordination did not 

 precede the age of thirty-three, while in the other monastic orders 

 it was twenty-three. Mr. Kirwan, therefore, did not take orders. 



For some time after this, Mr. Kirwan appears to have been un- 

 determined in the course he ought to pursue. At one time he 

 was disposed to abandon his estates, and to retire to the society 

 of Jesuits on a pension of fifty pounds a year. He might have 

 alienated his lands, and have devoted the produce to the common 

 stock of the order : but he was impressed with the idea, that as he 

 had derived his estate by descent, he was no more than a trustee 

 of the reversion, and was bound to preserve it in his name and fa- 

 VOL. IV. i 



