Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 1.djvu/394

 CAROLAN. 383 In April 1786 he was once more appointed governor of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and as a reward for his long services, was in the following August raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Dorchester of Dorchester, in the county of Oxford. His lordship re- mained in this extensive government for many years; and returned at length to England, where he passed his old age in the bosom of his family, first at Kempshot, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire, and afterwards at his seat near Maidenhead. He died the 10th November, 1808, at the advanced age of eighty-five, at which time he was colonel of the fourth regiment of dragoons, and a general in the army. He left a numerous issue, and was succeeded in title, and estate, by his grandson, Arthur Henry Carletón, a minor. TURLOUGH CAROLAN, BLIND and untaught, may be considered as a musical phenomenon. This minstrel bard, sweet as impressive, will long claim remembrance, and float down the stream of time, whilst harmony has power to charm. He was born in the year 1670, in the village of Nodder, in the county of Westmeath, on the lands of Carolans town, which were wrested from his ancestors by the family of the Nugents, on their arrival in this kingdom, with King Henry II. His father was a poor farmer, the humble pro- prietor of a few acres, which afforded him a scanty sub- sistence. Of his mother little is known, probably the daughter of a neighbouring peasant, in the choice of whom, his father was guided rather by nature, than pru- dence. It was in his infaney that Carolan was deprived of his sight by the small-pox. This deprivation he sup- ported with cheerfulness, and would merrily say, "my eyes are transplanted into my ears." His musical genius was soon discovered, and procured him many friends, who