BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D. D. WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D., was born at Clonmel, in the county of Tipperary, on the 29th of April, 1789. His father, Mr. John Phelan, was in narrow circumstances, and of humble station* ; but with feelings and habits, such as, in England, are rarely to be met with, in the less fortunate portion of society. It is, unhappily, matter of history, that, down to the close of the seventeenth century, changes of property in Ireland, were great, violent, and irretrievable. In the course of those changes, the ancestors of young Phelan were heavy sufferers; but they cherished the remembrance of the past; and in this, and other instances, men, not He was, by trade, a wool-comber. A long remembrance: but thus it is in Ireland. The great bulk of the Phelan property was lost, I believe, so early as the twelfth century.— J. L. much raised above the rank of peasants, were often distinguished by a conscious dignity, wholly independent of, and superior to, mere outward condition. Such was, peculiarly, the case in Clonmel. Many reduced families resided there. To these, was attached a kind of traditional estimation, by persons, in externals, abundantly more prosperous: and their children, not unfrequently, grew up with a sense of personal respectability, and a disposition to re-assume, if they could, what they thought their proper station in society.* The subject of this memoir, accordingly, was never vulgarized: he was, what his father had been before him, a native gentleman. There ever adhered to him, a * The writer cannot help recording a curious fact, which he heard several years ago from Dr. Phelan's own lips. His words were nearly as follows: When I was a very little boy, I was invited to attend a funeral. The house in which the people were assembled, was within a short distance of Clonmel, on the banks of the river Suir; and commanding an extensive prospect, into the county of Waterford. A friar, who happened to be present, drew me apart from the company, (I was then a Roman-Catholic); he led me to a bay-window, took me by the hand, and said, 'Look there, look around you, my boy; those mountains, these valleys, as far as you can see, were once the territory of your ancestors: but they were unjustly despoiled of it.' I never can forget the impression. My young blood boiled in my veins. For the time, I was, in spirit, a rebel. And, I verily believe, if it had not been the good pleasure of Providence, to lead me into other circumstances, and furnish me with better instructors, I might have terminated my life on a scaffold.' — J. L. self-respect, and a dignity of character, which shrunk from every thing ungenerous and unworthy. And both the example and conversation of his father, were well calculated to confirm his good dispositions. Filial piety, it will appear amply in the sequel, was, with him, almost an instinct; and it is certain, that, thus to call it forth, there must have been genuine worthiness in the parent. Nor should it be omitted, that the literary aspirings of the youthful student were first nourished beneath the paternal roof. The elder Mr. Phelan was well versed in the Latin language; and he failed not to impart, where they might prove eventually beneficial, his own classical predilections. But, what was of far more serious consequence, those principles of virtue and goodness were instilled, which, during his short, but exemplary life, never forsook the grateful son: he might, indeed, well say, 'Non patre præclaro, sed vitâ et pectore puro : Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus.'* In the year 1796, William was sent to a daily grammar school, in his own immediate neighbour * Admirably transfused and heightened, by the greatest of our later poets:.. 'My boast is not, that I deduce my birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; The son of parents passed into the skies.' hood. The master, Mr. Michael Ryan, was an expert Latinist; pedantic, amiable, and enthusiastic. Of general information, indeed, his portion was but scanty; and he was no Grecian; but the little that he knew, he imparted with steady, and affectionate sedulity. His pupil ever felt towards him, a strong sense of obligation; and repeatedly declared, that, to him he was indebted, for the correctness and facility, with which he both wrote and spoke the Latin language. There he remained, between six and seven years; and, certainly, his time was not misemployed. The business of the school he made, invariably, his grand object. It seemed to be a law of his nature, that the most important things had the first claim on his attention. Matters of daily business once thoroughly mastered, then, and not till then, he felt himself at liberty to look elsewhere for recreation: this he found, in those healthful, manly exercises, which he keenly relished; but, especially, in those more recondite pursuits, to which, from early youth, he was devotedly attached.* His gaiety of heart, and buoyancy of spirits, tempered, as they always were, by a certain meditative gravity of mind, were no less delightful to his companions, than they were indicative of his own future eminence. * Irish history and antiquities, should, more particularly, be mentioned among his favourite recreations. |