Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/471

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Prior, Sir James, author, was born at Lisburn in 1 790. He entered the navy as a surgeon, served abroad and at home, became Deputy-Inspector of Hospitals in 1843, ^^'^ ""'■■^s knighted in 1858. He was the author of several popular works : Voyage to the Indian Seas in iSio'ii ; Memoirs of Edmund Burke (1824) ; Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1836) ; Life ofEdmond Malone (i860). His Burke and Goldsmith have gone through many editions, and are still looked upon as standard works. He died 14th November 1869, aged 79. '* =■"

Prior, Thomas, founder of the Dublin Society, was born at Eathdowney, in the Queen's County, in 1680, and was educated in Trinity College. The foundation of the Dublin (afterwards the Eoyal Dublin) Society appears to have been conceived and organized by him. The project took shape at a meeting of thirteen gentlemen, held in Trinity College, 25th June 1731. The Society was established to promote agricul- ture, manufactiures, the arts, and sciences. It was duly incorporated, and received a parliamentary grant of £500 per annum in 1749; but did not reach the important position it at present occupies until long after his death. In his efforts for its establishment he was ably seconded by Dr. Samuel Madden. He died on 2 1 st October 1 7 5 1, aged 70, and was interred near his birth-place. A monument was erected to his memory in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, bearing an inscription by his friend and fellow-student, Bishop Berkeley, in which he is styled *' Societatis Dublinien- sis auctor, institutor, curator." He wrote tracts on The Absentees of Ireland, The Virtues of Tar Water, and various ques- tions of the day. "°^

Quain, Jones, M.D., the author and editor of several medical works of estab- lished reputation, was born at Mallow in 1795. He studied anatomy at Paris, took his degree of M.D. at the University of Dublin in 1833, ^^^ "^^^ Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of London. He will be chiefly remembered as the author of Descriptive and Practical A natomy (the first edition of which was published in London in 1828), and as the joint editor with Erasmus Wilson of a series of Anatomical Plates (i836-'42). Dr. Quain was an able and popular lecturer, and was in private life a man of essentially gentle and retiring disposition. He died in London, 31st January 1865, aged 70. [His younger brother, Kichard Quain, F.R.S., also an eminent physician, is the author of numerous medical works.] '* 146 233

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Quin, Edwin Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Dtmraven, a prominent archaeologist, was born 19th May 181 2. According to Sir Bernard Burke, the family is one of the few of Celtic origin in the Irish peerage. At Eton he showed a strong taste for astronomy ; and he afterwards spent three years at the Dublin Observatory under Sir William Hamilton. Natural science occupied much of his attention; and being a man of quick perceptions and untiring industry, he succeeded in acquiring much more than a superficial knowledge of many questions. He was also deeply interested in the study of Irish antiquities, and was a prominent member of the Eoyal Irish Academy, the Celtic Society, and several archaeological associations. His chosen friends were men such as Graves, Stokes, Petrie, Eeeves, and Todd. He succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1850, and was created a peer of the United Kingdom in 1866. He accom- panied the Comte de Montalembert to Scotland, when engaged upon his Monks of the West, one volume of which is dedicated to "Praenobili viro Edvino Wyndham Quin, Comiti de Dunraven." He carried his antiquarian investigations to France and Italy, and as he advanced in life became more and more engrossed with the study of archaeology in general, and of Irish archaeology in particular, and to this pursuit eventually devoted all his lei- sure. Attended by a photographer, and often accompanied by his friends Dr. Stokes, of Dublin, and his daughter Mar- garet, he visited nearly every barony in Ireland, and nearly every island on its coast. Scarcely any architectural remains of value escaped his notice. He made his investigations with a view to the publication of an exhaustive work on the architectural remains of Ireland, profusely illustrated with photographs, his main object being to vindicate the artistic and intellectual capabilities of the ancient and mediaeval Irish. His death at Great Malvern, 6th October 1871, at the age of 59, was no doubt greatly accelerated by exposure and over-exertion during his investigations. The result of his labours has been given to the world, at the ex- pense of his family — Notes on Irish Archi- tecture, by Edwin, 2,rd Earl of Dunraven : edited by Margaret Stokes, London 1875 and 1877 — two superb volumes, with 125 illustrations, most of them large photographs. The Athenceum well says that " the permanent photographs and the woodcuts which enrich the work are uniformly admirable, and leave nothing to be desired as to number or merit. The 447