Page:Notable Irishwomen.djvu/18

 belonged to a good old Irish family, and through his mother, Catherine Geraghty, he inherited a strain of purely Celtic blood. This good lady brought her husband no less than sixteen children, of whom the father of the beauties was the second son. He was a handsome man, with an aquiline nose, as may be seen from his portrait, which is in the National Portrait Gallery of Dublin. Some lines of his which are appended to his portrait, show the benevolence and kindness of his disposition. He was urged by his friends to go and hear a celebrated singer who was attracting admiring crowds, and his answer was that he could not bring himself to go to any place of amusement while there was so much poverty and distress around him. He concludes his verses, which are rather lengthy, as follows:

He succeeded in winning the heart of Bridget, daughter of the sixth Viscount Mayo. Though the Honourable Bridget had rank, she had little or no fortune. This drawback did not, however, stand in the way of the marriage, and in October, 1731, she became Mrs. Gunning. Her husband was a barrister of the Middle Temple, and was certainly not over-burthened with briefs. He probably succeeded in getting some small appointment in the country, for