Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/275

 In 1786 he published his best known work — Experiments and Observations on Chemical Philosophy. Between 1780 and 1790 he appears to have visited Russia, and enjoyed the favour of the Empress Catherine. In 1789 he obtained a patent for a cheap and durable cement. On his return from Russia he resumed his chemical lectures. Mr. Higgins died on his estate of Walford, in Staffordshire, in 1820, aged 83. His biographer, W. K. Sullivan, who gives a full analysis of his works, says : "He was rather a speculator than an experimentalist, and many of his views are, for their time, remarkable for their acuteness and generalizing character." (8)

Higgins, William, a distinguished chemist, nephew of preceding, was born in the County of Sligo. He graduated at Oxford, and doubtless received his instructions from his uncle in the science in which he afterwards became eminent. In 1791 he was appointed chemist to the Apothecaries' Company of Ireland, at what was then considered a high salary — £200. In 1795 he was made Chemist and Librarian to the Royal Dublin Society. He was a man of peculiar habits and devoid of energy. His style of lecturing was very quaint, and a number of laughable anecdotes were long remembered of circumstances the result of this quaintness. His life was singularly uneventful : he died in 1825. W. K. Sullivan gives a full account of his discoveries in chemistry, more especially the law of multiple proportion, in which he is said to have anticipated by many years some of Dalton's greatest achievements. Indeed he may be said to have led the way in the discovery of the atomic theory. (8)

Higgins, Francis, Archdeacon of Cashel, a High Church clergyman, and Tory politician, styled by Sir Walter Scott the " Sacheverell of Ireland," was born in Limerick about 1670. He was elected a scholar of Trinity College in 1688, became reader of Christ Church Cathedral in 1691, rector of Gowran in 1694, and in 1705 was elected to the prebend of St. Michael's in Christ Church Cathedral. After appearing prominently before the public upon more than one occasion, he, in February 1707, preached at Whitehall Chapel in London, a sermon from Revelations iii. 2-3, which created a great sensation, and caused him to be for a time imprisoned under a warrant of the Secretary of State. Before his arrest he had preached this sermon no less than six times in different parts of London. An anonymous pamphlet (supposed to be by himself) in support of it was burnt by the common hangman at the Tholsel in Dublin, in July 1707. On his return to Ireland he became involved in squabbles with his fellow magistrates at Kilmainham, was by the grand jury presented as a "common disturber of her Majesty's peace;" and on the other hand was upheld by Convocation as one that "hath both in his life and doctrines upon all occasions shown himself to be an orthodox divine, a good Christian, and a loyal subject." After the accession of the house of Hanover we hear no more of his political doings. In 1725 he was collated to the Archdeaconry of Cashel. He died in August 1728, and was buried in St. Michael's Church, Dublin. Dr. Reeves concludes a manuscript notice of him with the words ; "Three sermons, and his Cases were his only productions from the press, and even these were rather the developments of political excitement than the expressions of calm consideration or benevolent feelings."

Higgins, Francis, the "Sham Squire" (born 1750, died 19th January 1802), a Dublin celebrity, who by flagitious means raised himself in society, became proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, was admitted an attorney, and acquired a large fortune. Concerning his unsavoury life an interesting work has been written. He acquired the sobriquet by which he is generally known, by personating in his early life a gentleman of landed property, and gaining the hand of a lady, who died of grief subsequently. Mr. FitzPatrick has established beyond doubt the fact that Higgins was the betrayer of Lord Edward FitzGerald, for the sum of £1,000. He left most of his property for charitable purposes. He was buried at Kilbarrack, near Howth, but his gravestone, bearing a fulsome epitaph, has long since been destroyed.

Higgins, Mathew James, better known as "Jacob Omnium," was an Irishman, born about 1810. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and served for some time in the army. "He was for upwards of twenty years a constant contributor to the Times, and is the author of innumerable articles chiefly bearing on colonial, military, educational, and social reforms, in the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews, the Cornhill Magazine, and other leading periodicals." In 1863 Mr. Higgins joined the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette. He died 14th August 1868.

Hincks, Edward, D.D., a distinguished philologist, was born in Cork, in August 1792. [His father. Rev. T. Dix Hincks (born 1767; died 24th February 1857), a Presbyterian minister, was a well-known orientalist.] After a careful train- 251