so Mr. F. J. Bigger on Alexander Mitchell 



was an important character during the early struggles of nis Church 

 at that time, as recorded in Reid's " History of the Presbyterian 

 Church." The family was proud of this connection, and have an 

 old table spoon with " Brice and Margaret Blair, Belfast, 1683, 

 engraved on it. Subsequently Alexander Mitchell always wor 

 shipped with the old or first congregation in Rosemary Street. 



All the children of George and Mary Mitchell died young, 

 except two, William and Mary Isabella. William was the father 

 of Alexander, the subject of this memoir, and Mary married a 

 Stewart, of Ballydrain, near Belfast. 



Alexander, the eighth son, was born in William Street in Dublin, 

 on the 13th of April, 1780, and remained at Clontarf till joined 

 there by a younger brother, Arthur. 



After the death of George Mitchell, senior, in 1787, when 

 Alexander was seven years old, his father removed his family to 

 Pine Hill, near Belfast. From this place Alexander went to 

 school for the first time, in his eighth year, to learn writing and 

 arithmetic, having been taught reading and spelling, etc., by his 

 mother. 



A few years later the establishment at Pine Hill was broken up. 

 Most of the furniture, the horses, musical instruments (among 

 them a harpsichord that had been Lord Mornington's, and a real 

 Cremona violin) were sold; and last, and most regretted, a number 

 of curious old books, one of Caxton's printing, and others more 

 valuable, if not so rare. 



Mrs. Mitchell, with her three youngest sons and her only re- 

 maining daughter, rented a pretty cottage, a mile from Belfast, 

 which suited her altered circumstances. The house, though small, 

 was comfortable, with a small garden and lawn ; the place had 

 belonged to Barry Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avonmore. and by 

 him named Eglinby Cottage. 



From this home Alexander attended the best classical school in 

 Belfast, conducted by Dr. Bruce, a scholar of high attainments. 

 But here his sight, always defective, declined rapidly, being 

 especially injured by the Greek alphabet ; so that in his sixteenth 

 year he could no longer read, and in his twenty-first year was 

 obliged to forego letter-writing. 



