- 
1802. ] 
ties was evidently declining, and, at laft, 
death was the confequence of a very tedious 
illnefs, which was, however,. not without 
effet; for it afforded to his nephews and 
nieces an opportunity of evincing, by their 
unwearied and anxious attentions, that they 
were not unworthy of fucha relative. The 
writer of this. paragraph, affe€tionately at- 
tached to the memory of a man, who never 
. feemed to live a moment to himfelf, records 
his virtues with a figh, not foon expecting to 
find a friend, in which they thine with equal 
luftre. 
On Friday, the 22d of January, 1802, at 
his brother’s houfe, at Old Ford, near Lon- 
don, in his thirty-feventh year, Mr: Wil- 
liam Hickes, of Laughton, in the county of 
Suffex. He had from his infancy been afflicted 
with that dreadful diforder, the ftone. On the 
advice of his friends, as well as from his own 
conviction that it was impoffible he fhould 
long furvive the torture that he inceffantlyfuf- 
‘fered, unlefs he was effectually relieved, he left 
his houfe in order to undergo the neceflary ope- 
ration for that purpofe, under a full conviétion 
that he fhould not recover. On the morning of 
the operation, which took place on the 23d of 
November, he executed his will, and, in a 
very compofed and manly way, wrote to his 
wife (who had been very recently confined in 
child-bed), ftating, that it was in all proba- 
bility the laft.time he fhovld write to her; 
that he yielded to the operation under the 
firm conviétion of its being a duty he owed 
to his family, his friends, and himfelf, He 
exprefied himfelf fully fatisfied, that no man 
could be placed under. the care of men more , 
fkilfulg and that he fhould have the benefit 
of all the affiftance which human means 
could afford him. 
open, requefting his brother to inform his 
wife how he fupported the operation. At 
-two.o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Cline, in 
the prefence of Dr. Hamilton, one of. the . 
principal phyficians to the London Hofpital, 
Mr. Toulmin, of ‘Hackney, and two medical 
affiftants, performed the operation, and ex- 
trated a ftone of one ounce and a quarter in 
weight. The fortitude which he exempli- 
fied on this painful occafion could not be fur- 
pafled—he never fuffered even a groan to 
efcape him ; and every fymptom was as fa- 
vourable as poflible during the firft fevendays; 
he was fo far advanced towards his recovery 
as to fit up twice in the day, and Mr. Cline 
expreffed the ftrongeft hopes of his doing well. 
Unfortunately at this period the weather 
grew very feyere, and he appeared by fome 
means to have taléen cold, in confequence of 
which a ‘fevere inflammation on his lungs 
took place (as was fully confirmed upon his 
body being examined after death), foltowed 
by a fevere rheumatic fever, which deprived 
him entirely of the ufe of his right fide, and 
aijedted his left leg alfo, Some few days bes 
fore his diffolution, the glands of his neck 
gad throat {welled fo much as to prevent 
Mr. William Hicks—The Earl of Clare. 
He then, left his letter a j 
‘ lifh barony of Fitzgibbon of Sidbury, in De- 
287. 
him from opening his mouth, and rendered 
it extremely painful and difficult for him to 
take nourifhment. Previous to his being thus 
reduced, the opinions of other medical and 
furgical men were taken, with the approba- 
tion of tlie gentlemen who attended him, and, 
notwithftanding their united exertions, na- 
ture being exhaufted, and no longer able to 
ftruggle againft this complication of diforders, 
he yielded his life to Him who gave it, two 
months and one day after the operation. His 
fufferings*have feldom been equalled, and his 
patience and refignation ftood almoft unex- 
ampled. He has left a widow and nine young 
children to deplore his lofs. 
[ The late Earl of Clare, whsfe death was 
noticed in page 194 of our laf? Number, at the 
time of his deceafe was Lord High Chancel- 
lor of Ireland, one of his Majefty’s moft Ho- 
rourable Privy Counfellors, a Lord of Trade 
and Plantations, Vice Chancellor of the 
Univerfity of Dublin, and LL.D. His lordthip 
was born 1749, and married, 1787, Mifs 
Whaley, daughter of the late Richard Chapel 
Whaley, efg. of Whaley Abbey, Knight of 
the Shire for Wicklow, and has left iffue 
two fons and a daughter, viz. John Lord Fitz- 
gibbon, now earl of Clare, born 1792, Rich- 
ard, and Lady Ifabella. He was educated at the | 
univerfity of Dublin, and afterwards entered 
upon the ftudy of the law, of which profeffion 
he became the great ornament in his native 
country. In 1784, he was appointed Attor- 
ney General on the elevation of Mr. Scott 
to the bench, and, on the deceafe of Lord 
Chancellor Lifford, 1789, his lordfhip receiv- 
ed the ‘feals, and was raifed to the dignity of 
the peerage by the title of Baron Fitzgibbon 
of Lower Connello. To thefe dignities were 
added the earldom of Clare,1795, and the Eng~ 
vonfhire, 1799. Lord Clare, although he | 
occupied the higheft law-office in Ireland, 
and pofleffed great influence in that country, 
could not boaft a long line of noble anceftors. 
His father in early life was called to the Irith 
bar, to which Catholics ' were then inad- 
miffible, and at which he afterwards became a 
highly-efteemed = and fuccefsful leader. 
During that period, the bufinefs of the courts 
was monopolized by a few eminent barriftets ; 
but the talents and the induftry of Mr, Fitz- 
“gibbon forced him forward in fpite of envy, 
and in a few years he himfelf became one of 
thofe who, in fome sefpe€ts, claimed all the 
honours and the emoluments of the profef- 
fion. So fuccefsful, indeed, was he, that, in 
the courfe ofa life not uncommonly long, he is 
faid to have realifed a fortune of nearly eight 
thoufand pounds. per annum. Of this gen- 
tleman, Lord Clare was thé only fon. A 
profeflion in which the father had been fo 
fuccefsful, was naturally chofen by him for a 
favourite child, who was to fupport the fucure 
fortunes and honours of the family. He 
was accordingly entered, (as above) at an early 
age,-of Trinity College, Dublin, where 
Pp2 zB he 
