Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/317

Rh again in 1593. But the outbreak of hostilities cost Magauran his life. He was killed in an engagement between Maguire and Bingham on midsummer eve 1593. ‘McGuire was on horseback, and all their principal men and himself escaped so narrowly, and the very next unto him, round about him, were stricken down, amongst whom his ghostly father, the titulary primate, MacGauran, lost his life, a man of more worth, in respect of the villainy and combinations which he hath wrought with the ill Irishry, than the overthrow of divers hundreds of other Beggars, and so generally is his death lamented as if the same were their utter overthrow. And assuredly he was the only stirrer and combiner of their mischiefs towards in Ulster (and the primer of McGuire to come forward in their two journeys, making the Irishry full of belief that they should have the aid this summer of Spaniards), and another champion of the Pope's, like Dr. Allen, the notable traitor; but God be thanked, he hath left his dead carcase on the Maugherie, only the said rebels carried his head away with them that they might universally bemoan him at home’ (Sir R. Bingham, Letter of 28 June 1593). The chronology of Magauran's life is obscure, and several dates have been given for his death. Brennan and Moran give 1598; in the ‘Annals of the Four Masters,’ vi. 1593, a spirited account of the engagement, called the battle of Sciath na Feart, is supplied, under date 3 July 1593; but the letter of Bingham quoted above is conclusive. Still more various is the spelling of his name, which appears in many forms, the chief of which are Macgawran, Macgavrin, Macsaruraghan, Magoran, and Magauran. His christian name is also given as Edward, Redmond, and Edmund.

 MAGEE, JOHN (d. 1809), Irish journalist and lottery broker, became proprietor and printer in Dublin of ‘Magee's Weekly Packet’ in 1777, and of the ‘Dublin Evening Post’ at the beginning of 1779. Both papers were printed at 20 Dame Street. From the first these journals, and especially the ‘Evening Post,’ opposed the government measures, and showed whig sympathies, but during 1789 the proprietor's name became particularly prominent on account of a series of attacks made on the notorious Francis Higgins (1746–1802) [q. v.], a journalist in the government pay, and on other persons, among whom was John Scott [q. v.], Lord Earlsfort, afterwards Earl of Clonmell, chief justice of the king's bench, Higgins's personal friend. Magee also charged Richard Daly [q. v.], patentee and manager of the Crow Street Theatre, with tricking the former patentee out of his patent and with making money, in conjunction with Higgins, by dishonest means. Reflections on the character of Thomas Brennan, at that time on the staff of the ‘Freeman's Journal,’ but formerly a writer in Magee's own employ, and on a lady named Tracey, who was a ward of Higgins, and then lived with her aunt in Brennan's house at Kilmacud, appeared at the same time in the ‘Dublin Evening Post.’ On the affidavits of these persons fiats were issued by Lord Earlsfort in June requiring Magee to find bail to the amount of 7,800l., pending actions for libel. This he was unable to do, especially as it was requisite that the sureties should declare themselves worth twice the amount of the bail. He was consequently confined in a spunging-house. He continued while in confinement to conduct his newspapers, and Nicholas Lawless, first lord Cloncurry, sought to alleviate the hardships of his imprisonment.

On 3 July 1789 the trial of Magee for the libel on Higgins began before Lord Earlsfort. Magee was not present at the opening, a habeas corpus having been refused, and he was unrepresented by counsel. An order to bring up the body of defendant was, however, at length granted by the chief justice; but Magee, when he arrived, protested against the empanelling of the jury and the opening of the trial in his absence, and, refusing to plead, was at his own request ordered back into custody. No defence was offered. But Arthur Browne [q. v.] and other lawyers in court protested against the excessive fiats as unconstitutional (, Arguments before King's Bench on admitting John Magee to Common Bail, 1790). Magee's charges were in popular opinion well founded. The jury at first brought in a verdict of ‘guilty of printing and publishing,’ but were sent back by the chief justice, and then returned a general verdict of guilty. Lord Earlsfort, who refused them a copy of the record, declared that ‘had they given any other verdict they would have acted in a manner shameful to themselves and disgraceful to their country.’ No good