Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/160

Fitzgibbon take good pledges for him, 'for, it is said, you will be cozened by him at last' (Cal. Carew MSS. iii. 462). In May 1601 he again fell under suspicion for not attempting to capture the Sugan Earl [see Fitzthomas, d. 1608], while passing through his territories ; but, 'being earnestly spurred on to repair his former errors' by Sir George Carew, 'did his best endeavours which had the success desired.' His capture of the Sugan Earl in the caves near Mitchelstown purchased him the general malice of the province. Such service could not pass unrewarded, and on 12 Dec. 1601 the queen declared her intention that an act should pass in the next parliament in Ireland for restoring him to his ancient blood and lineage. This intention was confirmed by James I on 7 July 1604, and the title of Baron of Clangibbon conferred on him. But as no parliament assembled before 1613, and as by that time he and his eldest son were both dead, it took no effect. In 1606 he again fell under suspicion, and was committed to gaol, but shortly afterwards liberated on promising to do service against the rebels. He died at Castletown on Sunday, 23 April 1608, a day after the death of his eldest son, Maurice, They were buried together in the church of Kilbeny, where they lay a week, and were then removed to Kilmallock, and there lie in their own tomb. He married, first, Joan Tobyn, daughter of the Lord of Cumshionagh, co. Tipperary, by whom he had two sons, Maurice (who married Joan Butler, daughter of Lord Dunboyne, by whom he had issue Maurice and Margaret), and John, and four daughters ; secondly, Joan, daughter of Lord Muskerry, having issue Edmund and David, who died young. Maurice and John dying, Maurice, the grandson, succeeded, but dying without issue the property passed to Sir William Fenton through his wife, Margaret Fitzgibbon. [All the references to Fitzgibbon's life contained in the State Papers, the Carew MSS., and Pacata Hibernia have been collected together in the Unpublished Geraldine Documents, pt. iv., ed. Hayman and Graves.]  FITZGIBBON, EDWARD (1803–1857), who wrote under the pseudonym 'Ephemera,' son of a land agent, was born at Limerick in 1803. He was devotedly attached to fishing from boyhood. When he was fourteen years old his father died, and he came to London. At sixteen he was articled to a surgeon in the city, but quitted the profession in disgust two years later, and became a classical tutor in various parts of England for three years, finding time everywhere to practise his favourite sport. He then visited Marseilles, where he remained six years, devoting himself to politics and the French language and literature, and becoming a welcome guest in all literary and polite circles. Having taken some part in the revolution of 1830, he returned to England and recommended himself to the notice of Black, the editor of the 'Morning Chronicle.' Being admitted to the staff, he worked with success in the gallery of the House of Commons. For a long series of years he wrote on angling for 'Bell's Life in London,' his knowledge of the subject and the attractive style in which his articles were written giving them great celebrity. For twenty-eight years he was a diligent worker for the daily press. His 'Lucid Intervals of a Lunatic' was a paper which at the time obtained much attention. He wrote often for the 'Observer,' and was a theatrical critic of considerable acumen. With his fine genius, excellent classical attainments, and perfect knowledge of French, Fitzgibbon would have been more famous but for an unfortunate weakness. He had periodical fits of drinking. Physicians viewed his case with much interest, as his weakness seemed almost to amount to a kind of monomania, in the intervals of which his life was marked by abstemiousness and refined tastes. Fitzgibbon often promised that he would write his experiences of intoxication, which his friends persuaded themselves would have won him fame. But he became a wreck some years before his death, on 19 Nov. 1857, after a month's illness. He died in the communion of the Roman catholic church. He left no family, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. Fitzgibbon made a great impression upon all who knew him by the brilliancy of his gifts. He possessed unblemished integrity, a kind and liberal disposition, much fire and eloquence, and the power of attaching to him many friends. From 1830 to the time of his death his writings had given a marvellous impulse to the art of fishing, had caused a great improvement in the manufacture and sale of fishing tackle, and largely increased the rents received by the owners of rivers and proprietors of fishing rights. He once killed fifty-two salmon and grilse on the Shin river in fifty-five hours of fishing. His 'Handbook of Angling' (1847), which reached a third edition in 1853, is perhaps the very best of the enormous number of manuals on fishing which are extant. Besides it Fitzgibbon wrote, in conjunction with Shipley of Ashbourne, 'A True Treatise on the Art of Fly-fishing as practised on the Dove and the Principal Streams of the Midland Counties,' 1838; and 'The Book of the Salmon,' together with A. Young, who added to it many notes on the