XXXVll 



in whom he found one worthy of himself. She sympathized in all his 

 pursuits, mastered enough of astronomy to help him in his calculations, 

 and entered into all his plans for the welfare of his tenantry and the good 

 of her adopted country. And this last required no common strength of 

 mind, for there was what might well startle a young Englishwoman. 

 Kind and beneficent as her husband was, he was not less resolute in sup- 

 porting the authority of law and putting down the murderous societies 

 which were the terror and curse of that part of Ireland. This, of course, 

 made him a mark for the assassin ; he knew his danger ; but the knowledge 

 neither made him shrink from his duty, nor embittered his feelings against 

 the misguided people who were conspiring against him. lie held on his 

 steady way, sustained by his calm determined courage, and perhaps by the 

 fear inspired by his great physical power and consummate skill in the use of 

 arms. For several years this danger existed, so that in his own park and 

 at his telescope it was felt that all who could use weapons had better carry 

 them. This continued till the terrible famine which ensued, crushed out 

 under the weight of real misery the imaginary grievances of the agitators 

 and showed men as they were. And none bore the test better than Lord 

 Rosse, who applied to relieve the distress which surrounded him, not 

 merely the power which belongs to habits of business and sound judgment, 

 but something still more appreciable to common eyes ; for during some 

 years he devoted nearly all the income of his Irish property to give the 

 unhappy suiferers the means of existence. This told on their hearts ; and 

 now also they began to be proud of his fame and to regard him as an 

 honour to their nation, so that for the latter part of his life he ceased to 

 be an object of hostility. 



On the death of his father in 1841, he was elected an Irish Repre- 

 sentative Peer; in 1831 he had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of his 

 County ; from 1848 to 1854 he was President of the Royal Society; and 

 in 1862 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Dublin. 



His appearance promised a long life, but it was cut short by an accident 

 so trifling that it was neglected till too late. A slight sprain of the knee 

 produced, after some months, a tumour which was ultimately removed by 

 a severe operation. The wound was slowly healing, but his strength sunk 

 in the process ; and on October 31 he died as he had lived, patient and 

 uncomplaining under his long and acute sufferings, gentle and considerate 

 to all around him, and strong in Christian hope. 



We think these personal details will interest the Society on their own 

 account ; but they also may serve to illustrate the habits of thought and 

 action which guided Lord Rosse in those researches which culminated in 

 the magnificent instrument with which his name will ever be connected. 



So early as 182G his attention was directed to the improvement of the 

 reflecting telescope, and it is instructive to trace the steps ot his progress 

 as recorded in his papers in Brewster's Edinburgh Journal, and those 

 which appear in our Transactions for 1840, 1850, and 1861. They are 



