Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/472

 468 PONSONBY. subsistence by the exercise of his art. He lost his life about the year 1775, in an accidental fire in Cornhill. RIGHT HoN. GEORGE PONSONBY, An eminent lawyer and senator, was the descendant of a family which derives i t s origin from Picardy, i n France. That branch o f h i s ancestral stock, t o which the Ponsonby family i n these kingdoms trace their lineage, came over t o England among the adventurous followers o f Duke William o f Normandy: and when that enterprising leader, after the decisive battle which transferred the crown o f England t o his head, provided for his followers b y the spoil o f the conquered country, i n the division o f the landed possessions, the manor o f Po N son BY, a t Hale, i n Cumberland, fell b y lot t o the ancestor o f this gentleman, and conferred o n him and his descendants, “A local habitation and a name.” A scion from this stock, a Sir John Ponsonby, i n a sub sequent age, probably inheriting the adventurous spirit o f his ancestor, and desirous t o better his fortunes by his martial prowess i n the train o f a victorious leader, accompanied Cromwell's army t o invade Ireland. The fertile soil o f that island presented t o this adventurer a tempting contrast t o the bleak vallies and barren mountains o f the Northern border; and the success of the Protector's arms, enabled Sir John Ponsonby, like many others o f his countrymen, t o carve out for himself rich possessions, wrested b y confiscation from the Irish Catholics, a s lawful spoil o f a whole sect, proscribed a s notorious delinquents, rebels, freebooters, rapparees, and b y various other happy epithets, calculated t o reconcile t o the scrupulous clemency o f the victors, the plunder and extinction o f the vanquished. The descendants o f those fortunate adventurers, are t o this hour designated among the natives a s Cromwellians. The present rental o f the Ponsonby family i n Ireland, exceeds 50,000l. per annum. Such a property, i n a country circumstanced a s Ireland