UNITED

THE

IRISHMEN,

THEIR

LIVES AND TIMES.

LONDON:

E. BREWSTER, HAND COURT, DOWGATE.

THE

UNITED IRISHMEN,

THEIR

LIVES AND TIMES.

BY

R. R. MADDEN, M.D.,

AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN THE EAST," &c. &c.

"The mind of a nation, when long-fettered and exasperated, will
struggle and bound, and when a chasm is opened, will escape
through it, like lava from the crater of a volcano."-J. K. L.

THE

UNITED IRISHMEN,

THEIR

LIVES AND TIMES.

CHAPTER I.

HENRY and JOHN SHEARES, the subjects of this memoir, were the sons of Mr. Henry Sheares, of Cork, whose memory, even at this day, is held in the highest veneration in his native city. This gentleman had been an eminent banker in Cork; and from 1762 to 1767, sat in the Irish parliament for the borough of Cloghnakilty. He was a man of considerable learning and abilities; and whether as a political writer, or as a literary essayist, his talents appear to have been of the highest order.

His conduct in parliament in a session of memorable interest, obtained for him the general respect of his countrymen. His literary essays, which he was in the habit of publishing in the periodicals, from 1710 to 1776, chiefly under the signature of "Agricola" and "The Modern Monitor," would do honour to any writer of the present day. One of