The Great Chemist, Joseph Black. 63 



families in Belfast. Stewart Banks was five times sovereign 

 between 1755 and 1788, and in the diary John Black registers 

 his satisfaction — ^" On my coming over the river from Blamont to 

 the Charterhouse, on Wednesday, the 14th December, 1754, to 

 assist in our family devotions on Sunday, I was agreeably 

 surprised with the welcome news of my daughter in-law's Jane 

 Black, safe delivery of a brave lusty boy christened the same day 

 at St. Andrew's Church by the name of Jo John Black, the fifth 

 so called in a direct line in a lineal descent of eldest sons in our 

 family, originally of Scotland, of those invited over thence by 

 James the First to colonize Ulster in Ireland, which had been 

 laid waste and dei)opulated by the wars amongst the chiefs and 

 their clans. My grandfather, John Black, born about Bally- 

 menagh, in the County of Antrim, had been a trooper against 

 Cromwell ; my father, educated a merchant by Mr. Pottinger, of 

 Belfast, had been often super cargo in the West Indies, at Cadiz, 

 here at Bordeaux, at Danzick, Holland, England, Rouen, &c. 

 myself at school in Air, returned to Belfast, 1690, at Latin and 

 Greek until 1697." 



The mention of the Pottinger family recalls a memory which 

 Belfast ought not to let die. There is now no member of the 

 family resident in Belfast, where once the name was so powerful. 

 We find it now only in Mount Pottinger and in Pottinger's Entry, 

 and yet members of the family made their mark in the commer- 

 cial history of Belfast, and in the political history of the Empire. 

 In China and in India their work brought changes even in 

 world politics, but it would be outside my subject to do more 

 than mention the name, and remind you that the life of Eldred 

 Pottinger especially is a study full of intense interest. It is 

 curious how many of Ulster blood have left their maik upon 

 India — the Lawrences, Richardson, Pottinger, Gillespie, DufFen'n 

 and many others. 



John Black was greatly respected in Bordeaux, and was on 

 terms of the most intimate friendship with the great Montesquieu, 

 who wrote him when his intention of returning to Ireland became 



