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mence and rage he was almost unequalled, and in sentimental gravity, from the power of his voice and the justness of his conceptions, he was a very commanding speaker." 3 "o 349

Mossop, William, a medallist, was bom in Dublin in 1751, and died of par- alysis in 1804. He was the engraver of many of the finest medals and coins of pre-Union times in Ireland. Mr. Gilbert writes : " Although the medallic works of Mossop are not numerous, they are inter- esting as the first works of the kind pro- duced in Ireland, and a lasting evidence of his natural ability in this department of art." His son William (born iu 1788; died in 1827), first Secretary of the Eoyal Hibernian Academy, was also a medallist of some note. "°

Moylan, Stephen, Brigadier-General in the United States revolutionary army, was born in Ireland in 1734. He was one of the first to answer the call to arms against the British at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, and distinguished himself in many of the operations of the war. A man of education and gentlemanly address, he for a short time acted as aide-de-camp to Washington. He was made Brigadier- General by brevet, in November 1 783, and after the peace occupied some civil posts in Pennsylvania. He died nth April 181 1, aged about 'jf. His brother was Catholic Bishop of Cork. 37.

Mullen, or Moline, Allan, M.D., said to have been one of the most eminent anatomists of his time, was born in the north of Ireland in the middle of the 1 7th century. He took his medical degree in the University of Dublin in 1684, removed to London in 1686, and was elected a mem- ber of the Eoyal Society. The particulars of his last days are thus given in Harris's Ware : " In 1690 the Earl of Inchiquin took him with him to his government of Jamaica, he being desirous of that voyage ; having a mind to enquire after some mines he heard were in those parts ; but putting in at Barbadoes he met with some friends who made him drink hard, which threw him into a calenture, of which he died." The same work gives a list of six surgical treatises from his pen, published between 1682 and 1689. 319 339

Mnlready, William, E.A., was born at Eimis, it is said in 1785 (probably much earlier''*). While a mere lad he went to England and was introduced to Banks, the sculptor, who took him into his studio, and set him to work drawing from his casts. When fourteen he was admitted a student at the Eoyal Aca- demy, and before long gained the silver

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palette in the Society of Arts' competition. For some years he earned a living by teaching drawing, and designing illustra- tions for works published by William Godwin. He gradually won his way as a painter till he took a foremost place, and became a Eoyal Academician. The follow- ing is taken from the Art Jounvd: " Wil- liam Mulready began life as an art-student ; all through his career — that is, for a period extending over sixty years — he confessed himself still a learner ; and when death called him somewhat suddenly from his easel . . he felt that he had not even yet done all which art was capable of achieving, though everyone else was con- vinced that he had long since accom- plished the end. This was the great secret of his unvarying success — his motto waa 'progression'; and year after year, even to the closing act of his professional life, one could always detect in his works some evidence of more matured powers of thought or of execution. And no wonder, since he caused his pictures to grow slowly under his hand, allowing sometimes years to elapse from the time when he sketched his first ideas on the canvas tiU they ap- peared in a complete form on the wall of the exhibition room. He could much more easily please the public, and even the critics, than he could satisfy him- self. . . There is nothing in the whole range of Dutch or Flemish art that can be brought into comparison with most of them for truth of drawing, elaborate finish, and splendour of colouring ; it hais been well said that, * as a painter, Mulready's art is perfection.' By intense study, and by the display of consummate technical powers, he triumphed over all the greatest difficul- ties of his art. And if we look beyond the mere externals, so to speak, of his paint- ings, into the materials of which the seve- ral subjects are composed, what evidence we find of his intimate acquaintance with the heart and mind — how much of humour, and not unfrequently of pathos too ! . . Note, too, the refined character of his faces. . . He was a lover of his species, and would not hold even the youngsters up to ridicule, though he set forth their humours, both good and evil." He was of a commanding figure, and handsome in old age as in youth. His features were finely cut, his eyes bright, the mouth severe. But few particulars are given of his life. His early marriage at seventeen proved unhappy ; and he and his wife lived separately the latter part of their lives. He died, yth July 1863, aged, pre- sumably, 78, and was buried at Kensal Green, London. '" ^ ^'

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