Amongst  those  who,  at  this  meeting,  first  distinguished
themselves,  was  Mr.  Francis  Dobbs,  who  afterwards
became  a  person  of  singular  reputation,  the  mere  incidents
of  whose  life  have  nothing  to  engage  diffusely  the  pen  of
an  historian ;  no  great  transitions  of  rank,  no  deep
depressions,  no  unexpected  elevation,  no  blaze  of  genius,
no  acts  of  heroism  distinguished  his  moderate  and  peace-
able progress  through  the  world,  but  the  extraordinary
bent  of  his  understanding,  and  the  whimsical,  though
splendid  extravagances  of  his  eccentric  mind,  introduced
him  into  a  notice,  udiich  the  common  exercises  of  his  talent
would  never  have  effected.
Francis  Dobbs  was  a  gentleman  of  respectable  family,


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  117

but  of  moderate  fbrtuae,  he  had  been  educated  for  the
bar,  where  he  afterwards  acquired  some  reputation  as  a
constitutional  lawyer,  and  much  as  a  zealous  advocate,
but  his  intellect  was  of  an  extraordinary  description  ;  he
seemed  to  possess  two  distinct  minds,  the  one  adapted  to
the  duties  of  his  profession,  and  the  usual  offices  of  society,
the  other,  diverging  from  its  natural  centre,  led  him
through  wilds  and  ways,  rarely  frequented  by  the  human
understanding,  entangled  him  in  a  maze  of  contemplative
deduction  from  revelation  to  futurity,  and  frequently
decoyed  his  judgment  beyond  the  frontiers  of  reason.  His
singularities,  however,  seemed  so  separate  from  his  sober
judgment,  that  each  followed  its  appropriate  occupation
without  interruption  from  the  other,  and  left  the  theologist
and  the  prophet  sufficiently  distinct  from  the  lawyer  and
the  gentleman.
There  were  but  few  virtues  he  did  not,  in  some  degree,
partake  of,  nor  were  there  any  vices  discernible  in  his
disposition;  though  obstinate  and  headstrong,  he  was
gentle  and  philanthropic,  and,  with  an  ardent  temper,  he
was  inoffensive  as  an  infant.
