Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/614

 610 USHER. as to become quite unserviceable. Captain Tyrrel, in his letter to Commodore Moore, accused the enemy of having fired square bits of iron, rusty nails, and such destructive materials as a generous enemy would have disdained to use. The brave Captain Tyrrel, coming to England soon after, was introduced to the king by Lord Anson, who received him with particular marks of favour: and in a few months he was appointed captain of the Foudroyant, of eighty guns, then esteemed the finest of her rate in the British service. In October 1762, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the white, but was not actually employed till the conclusion of the war, when he com manded in chief on the Antigua station. He died on board the Princess Louisa, his flag-ship, on his passage to England, on the 27th of June, 1766, and, at h i s own r e quest, his remains were thrown into the sea. JAMES USHER, A learned antiquary and illustrious prelate, distin guished b y Dr. Johnson a s the great luminary o f the Irish church, was born i n Dublin o n January 4th, 1580. He was descended from a n ancient and respectable family, which had settled i n Ireland i n the reign o f Henry I I . on which occasion i t followed a common custom of the times i n exchanging i t s English name o f Nevil, for that o f the office with which i t was invested. His infancy i s rendered somewhat singular b y the circumstance o f his having been instructed i n reading b y two aunts who had been blind from their cradle, but who, from the retentiveness o f their memory, were able t o repeat with accuracy nearly the whole of the Bible. James I . then only king o f Scotland, had deputed two young Scotsmen, o f respectable families, t o Ireland, for the purpose o f keeping u p a correspondence there t o secure his peaceable succession o n the death o f Elizabeth. To hide their real business, they opened a school i n Dublin, t o which young Usher was sent a t the age o f