Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/293

 289 WILLIAM HALLIDAY, Eminent f o r h i s profound knowledge o f the Irish lan guage, was the son o f a respectable apothecary and druggist i n Dublin, i n which city h e was born. He was articled t o a n attorney, and when out o f his apprenticeship, was patronised b y Lord Norbury, and was appointed deputy filazer t o the Court o f Common Pleas. To a fine taste for the arts h e added a critical knowledge o f the classics and modern languages; but that i n which h e was most deeply versed was the Irish, with which, until the latter years o f his life, h e had been wholly unacquainted. By close application t o the vellum MSS. assisted b y imperfect Irish glossaries, h e attained s o extraordinary a facility i n understanding the most ancient writings o f the country, a s surprised those whose native tongue i t was from their infancy; a circumstance which should operate a s a n incentive t o the study o f a language b y n o means difficult t o acquire, and t o which recent elementary works afford great facilities. He commenced a translation o f Keating's History o f Ireland, o f which one volume was published; but his pre mature death, a t the age o f twenty-four, deprived the lovers o f Irish literature o f the labours o f this promising young man and accomplished scholar. Three months prior t o his decease (which occurred o n the 26th o f October, 1812) h e had married a n amiable young lady, who has erected a monument t o his memory i n Tawney church, Dundrum, near Dublin. He also composed a n Irish grammar, o f the duodecimo size, containing many curious observations o n the declen sions and prosody o f the Irish language, highly indicative o f the author's genius and taste. ANTHONY, COUNT HAMILTON, Was descended from a younger branch o f the Dukes o f Hamilton, and was born i n Ireland about 1646. His VOL. II. U