LIMERICK, a Diocese, one of the eleven which constitute the ecclesiastical province of Cashel, is 27 miles in length and 17 in breadth, extending over an estimated surface of 306,950 acres, of which 12,500 are in Clare and the remainder in the county of Limerick. It is said to have been founded in the 6th or 7th century by St. Munchin, who was consecrated bishop of it by St. Patrick. No further mention is made of the bishoprick until after the settlement of the Ostmen or Danes in Limerick, and their subsequent conversion to Christianity, when, about the year 1110, Gille, or Gilbert, a Dane, who disclaimed the authority of the Irish prelates, was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and governed the see till 1140. In the charter of Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, in 1194, the bishops are called Lumnicenses and Lumnicani, from Lumniach, the Irish name of the city. In 1195, the ancient see of Inniscathay or Inniscattery was united with this bishoprick. In 1284, Gerald le Mareschal succeeded in recovering the episcopal property which had been usurped by the bishops of Emly and Killaloe during the period the Danish bishops held it under the archbishop of Canterbury. This property was extensive and valuable at the Reformation; but was afterwards so much diminished by grants to the Fitzgerald family that the see of Ardfert and Aghadoe was added to it in 1660, and has ever since been annexed to it. The see of Limerick is valued in the king's books at £40 sterling, according to an extent returned in the 5th of Chas. I. The see lands comprise 6720 acres; the gross yearly revenue of the bishoprick, including Ardfert and Aghadoe, amounted to £5368. 13. 5., on an average of three years ending Jan. 1, 1832. The palace is a modern brick edifice in the New town, with a front to the Shannon, commanding an extensive view of the opposite shores of the county of Clare. The consistorial court is held in the city by the vicar-general, with a surrogate and registrar, who is keeper of the Diocesan records, the oldest of which is intituled the "Liber Niger," copied by Bishop Adams in 1616, from a book which he states to have been then much defaced by age, and to contain an account of all the parishes, their procurations, taxation, subsidies, &c. The cathedral, -which is said to have been founded and endowed by Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, and is dedicated to St. Mary, was enlarged by Donat O'Brien about the year 1200, greatly adorned by Bishop Eustace del Ewe early in the fourteenth century, partly re-edified by the citizens in 1490, much improved by Bishop Adams in the 17th century, care fully restored after the wars of the same century, and improved at various subsequent periods. It is a venerable Gothic building, in the English town, surrounded with graduated battlements, and has at the west end a square tower 120 feet high, containing eight bells, and surmounted by turrets at the angles. The interior is composed of a nave and choir, separated from the aisles by pointed arches: the choir is 91 feet by 30, with a fine window at the east end: the bishop's throne and the stalls of the dignitaries exhibit some curious carved work: there is a powerful organ. In the nave and aisles are several recesses, formerly endowed as chapels by various families; two of these now form the consistorial court and the vestry; and under the arches separating the aisles from the choir are galleries, for the corporation and the officers of the garrison. At the communion table is a handsome modern Gothic screen. Among the numerous monuments, besides those of several prelates, the most remarkable is the splendid tomb of Donogh, the great Earl of Thomond, on the north side of the choir, composed of three compartments, of marble of different colours, and surrounded and supported by pillars of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders, and decorated with his arms and various trophies. There is also a fine monument of the Galway family. The chapter consists of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and the 11 prebendaries of St. Munchin, Donoghmore, Ballycahane, Kilpeacon, Tullybracky, Killeedy, Disert, Ardcanny, Croagh, Athnett, and Effin. The corps of the deanery consists of the rectory of St. Mary, the rectories and vicarages of St. Nicholas and Cappagh, and the rectories of Cahirnarry, Bruree,, and Mungrett. The deanery lands comprise 80½ statute acres, let on lease at a rent of £88. 2. 5. and an annual renewal fine of £13.16.11. the gross annual income, including these lands, is £1568; the deanery-house is in the city. The dean enjoys the right of presentation to the vicarages of Mungrett and Bruree, and to the perpetual cure of Cahirnarry. The corps of the precentorship consists of the rectories and vicarages of Kilfenny and Loughill, the rectories of Nantinan, Shanagolden, Knocknagaul and Dromdeely, and the vicarage of Morgans; the precentor has the right of presentation to the vicarage of Dromdeely: that of the chancellorship consists of the rectory of Rathkeale, the rectories and vicarages of Kilscannell, Clounagh, Clounshire, and the entire rectory of Dundonnell; of the treasurership, the rectories of St. Patrick and Cahirvally, the rectory and vicarage of Emlygrennan, and the chapelry of Kilquane; and of the archdeaconry, the rectories of St. Michael and Ardagh, and the entire rectory of Kildimo. The economy fund arises from the tithes of the union of Kilmallock, and the rents of several very valuable glebes, amounting on an average to £1400 annually. The diocesan schoolhouse was erected in 1611 in the city; but having fallen into decay some years since, it was sold by the Board of Education, and the proceeds, with the addition of £400, presented by the corporation, have been expended in the purchase of a new site; but the house has not yet been built. In 1823, the Diocesan schools of Killaloe and Kilfenora were united with that of Limerick, and the income augmented to £150 per ann. The school is held in the private residence of the head-master. The total number of parishes is 92., of which 17 are unions, 3 without provision for cure of souls, and the remainder single parishes. The total number of churches is 42, with 2 chapels of ease, besides five places of worship in schoolhouses or other buildings licensed for divine service: the number of glebe-houses is 28. In the R. C. divisions the see is a separate diocese, being one of 7 suffragan to the archbishop of Cashel, and comprising 39 parochial benefices or unions, containing 78 chapels, the spiritual duties of which are performed by 37 parish priests, two administrators of the bishop's mensals, 54 coadjutors or curates, and two supernumeraries, besides whom there are 4 superannuated sick or unemployed clergymen. The bishop's parishes are those of St. John and St. Patrick, both in the county of the city; his residence is at Park-house, near the city. The cathedral is the church of St. John. The parishes within the bounds of the county of the city are those of St. Michael, which comprehends all the New town; St. Mary, St. Nicholas, St. John, St. Munchin, and St. Laurence, in which the old town, including the suburb of Thomond-gate is included; and Cahirnarry, Cahirvally, Derrygalvin, Donoughmore, Killeely, Kilmurry and St. Patrick, together with parts of those of Abington, Carrigparson, Crecora, Kilkeedy, Kilnegarruff, Knocknegaul, Mungrett and Stradbally, in the rural district of the city; besides which is the extra-parochial district of St. Francis's abbey The parish of St. Michael, or New town of Limerick, being exempt from the payment of Grand Jury cess, two local acts have been passed for its interior regulation, in the 47th and 51st of George III., under which the sum of £461. 10. 9. is raised towards defraying the expenses of the City Gaol, Fever Hospital and House of Industry, being, in fact, in aid of the Grand Jury cess of the county of the city. The Old town, though containing 29,000 inhabitants, pays to this tax no more than £35, which, as it is the only local assessment, indicates the degree of poverty that prevails there. The remainder of the Grand Jury cess, amounting on an average to upwards of £6000 per annum, is levied entirely off the agricultural districts by a tax of from 7s. to 8s. per acre, being about twice as much as the assessment on the adjoining lands in the county at large Under the act of the 51st of Geo. Ill, besides the payment of the sum above mentioned, rates are levied on the New town for paving, lighting, watching, and cleansing that part of the city, to the extent of 3s. in the pound on inhabited houses above the value of £10 per annum, and of 4d. in the pound on uninhabited houses and stores: houses under the value of £10 are exempt. A sum of about £65 is also raised for the purpose of burying paupers and taking care of foundlings. The number of houses assessed in 1835 was 914, valued at £28,766, at the rate of 2s. 3d.; the number of stores was 146, valued at £10,257, at the rate of 3½d. The assessment amounted to.£3388. 16. 9. The commissioners for assessing the tax, twenty-one in number, are inhabitants of the city, and seven of them retire from office every second year. The living is a rectory, united, from time immemorial, to part of the rectory of Kildimo and the rectory of Ardagh, which three parishes constitute the union of St. Michael and the corps of the archdeaconry of Limerick, in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £90 per annum: the gross income of the archdeaconry, including the rent of a small glebe, is £620. 17. 8. per annum. The church was destroyed in the siege of 1651 and has not been rebuilt, but there is a chapel of ease, called St. George's, built and endowed in 1789 by the Pery family: it is a plain commodious edifice; its east window, which is very lofty, formerly belonged to the old Franciscan abbey; the curate is appointed by the Earl of Limerick. An episcopal chapel was erected in this parish, in 1832, in connection with the asylum for blind females. The entrance is beneath an entablature supported by lofty and very chaste Doric columns: the minister is elective, and is paid by voluntary contributions. St. George's male and female parochial schools are in connection with the Kildare-place Society, but are chiefly supported by voluntary subscriptions and the sale of needlework; they afford instruction to 214 children. There are also schools in connection with the London Hibernian Society, and the Wesleyan Methodists: very large schools for males and females are in course of erection from a bequest by Mrs. Villiers. The Limerick Academy in Cecil-street, founded and conducted by Messrs. Brice and Brown, was opened in 1836. It consists of a commodious house for the accommodation of resident pupils and two spacious class-rooms: its object is to afford the means of a complete education from the earliest infancy to the higher departments of collegiate study, based on the principle of exercising the understanding as well as the memory. At present the system of education comprises the usual branches of an English course combined with that of classic literature and science. The diocesan school is in this parish. St. Mary's parish is a rectory entire, united from time immemorial to the rectories and vicarages of St. Nicholas and Cappagh, and the rectories of Cahirnarry, Bruree, and Mungrett, constituting the corps of the deanery; it is in the patronage of the Crown. The cathedral is considered to be the parish church of this parish and of that of St. Nicholas. The blue coat hospital, situated near the cathedral, was founded in 1717, by the Rev. J. Moore, who bequeathed some property in Dublin for its support: about the same time the corporation aided it by an annual grant of £20, and in 1724 Mrs. Craven bequeathed several houses in Limerick for the same purpose. After having fallen into decay, it was revived in 1772 by the bishop and dean, the latter of whom has the management of it. It supports 15 boys, who wear a uniform of blue and yellow. St. Nicholas's parish, a rectory and vicarage, united to St. Mary's, contains 1784 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the tithes amount to £216.18. 5. The church was destroyed in the siege of 1651, since which time service has been performed in the cathedral. A school for the education of 20 boys and 20 girls is maintained under a bequest of Dr. Jer. Hall, in 1698, for children of poor Protestant parents in St. Mary's and St. Nicholas's parishes. St. Munchin's parish, situated partly in the King's island, partly in the North liberties, and partly in the county of Clare, contains 3622 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the living is a rectory, united from time immemorial to the rectory and vicarage of Killonehan, and the rectory of Drehidtarsna, which three parishes constitute the corps of the prebend of St. Munchin in the cathedral of St. Mary, Limerick, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £276. 18. 5.: those of all the parishes in the union amount to £466. 2. 9½. The church, Which stands on the north side of the city, is enclosed on the north by the old town wall, along which an elevated terrace commands a fine view over the Shannon; it was rebuilt in 1827, at an expense of £1460, of which £900 was a loan from the Board of First Fruits; it is a handsome edifice, with a lofty square tower embattled and crowned with pinnacles: this church is said to have been founded by St. Munchin, and was the cathedral until the building of St. Mary's. A school for boys and another for girls of this and the adjoining parishes was founded by a bequest of Mrs. Yilliers in 1819. St.Laurences parish is a rectory entire, in the patronage of the Corporation: it is of small extent, having no church, and the tithes amount to only £25. The three parishes of St. Mary, St. Munchin, and St. Nicholas form the English town. St. Johns parish is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Earl of Limerick. The vicar derives his income from an assessment on the houses, which originally produced £160 per annum; but owing to the removal of the principal inhabitants it sunk to about £50, and has been augmented by a grant of £25 per annum from Primate Boulter's fund. There is a glebe-house, erected by a gift of £369. 4. and a loan of £240 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1828. The church is an ancient edifice, comprising a nave with a north and south aisle extending the whole length of the building; it has recently been repaired by a grant of £185. 19. 3. from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. This parish forms the Irish town. In the R. C. arrangements the county of the city is divided into the parishes or districts of St. Mary, St. John, St. Michael, St. Patrick, and St. Lelia. St. Mary's parish comprises the whole of the King's Island, the English town, and the Little or Sluice Island, thus embracing the whole of the Protestant parish of St. Mary, parts of St. Munchin's and St. Nicholas's, and the extra- parochial district of St. Francis: the chapel is a large plain cruciform edifice, built in 1749, on the Sluice Island; the altar exhibits three styles of architecture finely combined, and has a good copy of Michael Angelo's picture of the Crucifixion. A female school established in this parish, some years since, by the religious sisterhood of St. Clare was adopted, after the departure of that body from. Limerick, by the sisterhood of the Presentation convent; and on the breaking up of that establishment in 1836, the National Board of Education granted £40 towards its support, and it was placed under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Hanrahan, P.P.; it is still held in the convent tinder the superintendence of two of the lay-sisters of St. Clare, affords instruction to 400 children, and is supported by subscriptions and charity sermons. St. John's parish comprises the Protestant parish of St. Laurence, and that part of St. Michael's known by the name of the Assembly Mall; this is the bishop's parish, and the church is therefore called the cathedral. It is a large cruciform building, erected in 1753: the altar, which is very splendid, has a picture of the Crucifixion by Collopy, a native artist. St. Michael's parish is coterminous with the Protestant parish of the same name, with the exception of the Assembly Mall. The chapel, situated near the corn market, was built in 1779, and was then surrounded by open fields: it was considerably enlarged in 1805, and is now the largest and finest in the city: it can accommodate 2500 persons. In this parish there are three orders of friars. The Dominicans have their house and chapel in Glentworth- street: the latter, a large edifice in the early Gothic style, built in 1815, is enriched with a painting of the Crucifixion: the community consists of a prior and four friars. The Augustinians, whose community consists of a prior and two friars, have their house and chapel in St. George's-street; the latter was built for a theatre, and was purchased by the friars in 1824: the boxes and galleries are still preserved as seats for the congregation: it is lighted from the dome: the altar, supported by Corinthian pillars, is enriched with a picture of the Ascension by Collopy. The Franciscans, whose community consists of a prior and two friars, have their house and chapel near Wellesley-bridge; the latter is a large edifice in the Gothic style, comprising a centre and wings, with a handsome gallery: the altar is very fine and has a splendid painting of the Madonna. The brothers of the Christian Schools, six in number, have a school in this parish, and another in St. John's, in which about 600 children are educated; the funds are raised by collections made every Saturday throughout the city by the brethren. A female school, established by the Rev. Dr. Hogan, P.P., in 1822, is chiefly supported by him, and a new school-house capable of containing 200 girls is now being built at his expense. Adjoining the R. C. chapel is a school founded and endowed by Mrs. Meade, for the education of children of R. C. parents. St. Patrick's parish is in the liberties: the church, built in 1816, is on the Dublin road; it is in the form of the letter T, and is small but neatly fitted up; the building was much improved in 1835. This parish, with those of Kilmurry and Derrygalvin, with which it is united, form the bishop's mensal. St. Lelia's parish is composed of the parishes of St. Munchin and St. Nicholas within the liberties north of the river, and that of Killeely in the county of Clare. The chapel, situated at Thomond-gate, is a large plain cruciform edifice, built in 1744: it is the first R. C. place of worship publicly erected in Limerick since the revolution. In this parish is a school established by the Rev. P. Walsh, P.P., in which 380 children are educated; it is supported by subscriptions and charitysermons. The Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Munster have a small but very elegant meeting-house in the New town; they are of the second class. Here also the Society of Friends have a neat meeting-house, near which is a large and elegant place of worship, of the Gothic style without, and the Grecian within, belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists, and not far from it another, in the mixed Gothic style, of the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists. The Independents also have a plain but neat meeting-house. The County Hospital was founded in 1759 by the exertions of the late Mr. Vandeleur, surgeon, aided by the Pery and Hartstonge families. The present building on the new Cork road, which was completed in 1811, at an expense of £7100, has a front of 114 feet, and contains 10 wards for males and 6 for females; the number of patients admitted in the year ending April 1st, 1836, was 632, at an expense of £1520. Barrington's hospital, called by the act of the 11th of Geo. IV. the "City of Limerick infirmary," was founded in 1829 by Sir Joseph Barrington, Bart., and. his sons, Matthew, Daniel, Croker, and Samuel. The hospital, built on George's quay at an expense of upwards of £4000, contains six large wards, capable of holding 60 beds; the number at present is 35. It was given by the founders to the city and opened under the new arrangement in Nov. 1831: it is supported by voluntary subscriptions and a grant from Government. Attached to the institution is a good medical library: a wing is now building for a lying-in hospital and another is projected for a fever hospital. St. John's Fever and Lock hospital was founded in 1781 by Lady Hartstonge; in the year 1836 it had 1601 patients; the expenses were £1520. 10. The Lying-in Hospital, opened in Nelson-street in 1812, under the control of a board of trustees, is supported by subscriptions and the interest of a bequest of £1000 from Mrs. White: upwards of 400 patients have been annually admitted into it since its establishment. There is also a dispensary. The District Lunatic Asylum, for the counties of Limerick, Clare, and Kerry, is a very extensive edifice on the new Cork road, completed in 1826. It is 429 feet by 314: the centre forms an octagon, from which four wings diverge containing cells for patients. It was originally intended for 150 curable lunatics, but, an additional building has been lately erected for those considered incurable. There is a considerable portion of land, in the cultivation of which many of the inmates are beneficially engaged. The system of management, which is confined to moral treatment, excluding all coercive or severe measures, is extremely well conducted. The total cost of the buildings, exclusive of the purchase of land, was £35,490. The House of Industry, founded in 1774 by Grand Jury presentments on the county and city, to which was added £200 by the late Dr. Edw. Smyth, of Dublin, towards providing thirteen cells for the insane, was at first calculated to accommodate 200 inmates: the number, prior to 1823, was augmented to 380; a wing was then added for the accommodation of seventy infirm women, and two work-rooms for spinners and weavers. The inmates are employed in various occupations, and a strict classification is observed. The oldest almshouse is that of Dr. Hall, founded about the commencement of the last century. The present neat and convenient edifice, erected in 1761, contains apartments for thirteen men and twelve women, who receive each £5 a year; also school-rooms, and an episcopal chapel. The annual income is £304, part of which is applied to the use of Hall's school, already noticed, and to some minor endowments. The Corporation almshouse, erected soon after the siege of Limerick, on ground anciently occupied by St. Nicholas's church, is adapted to the reception of 22 reduced widows, each having 40 shillings a year and the use of a garden. The corporation also pays certain annuities to the widows of aldermen and burgesses. St. George's Parochial Asylum, instituted by the late Rev. W. D. Hoare, accommodates 14 Protestant widows. Mrs. Villiers' aimshouse, erected a few years ago, in pursuance of the will of Mrs. Hannah Yilliers, is a handsome Gothic structure of stone, forming three sides of a square; and is an asylum for 12 Protestant or Presbyterian widows, each of whom receives £24 Irish per annum; a preference is to be given to any descendant of the testatrix who may apply for admission. The widow of Aid. Craven founded an almshouse for poor Protestant widows; the building has been taken down; but 50 widows of the parishes of St. Mary, St. John, and St. Munchin annually receive £4 each; the remainder is divided at Christmas among the poor. The same lady also left £60, the interest of which is given to confined debtors and the poor of the city parishes. The widow of George Rose, Esq., deposited £800 in the hands of the dean and chapter, the interest to be distributed every Christmas equally among sixteen poor widows. The interest of divers sums given at various periods by the members of the Pery family, amounting to £17 per annum, is distributed among the poor of St. John's parish. St. John's parochial almshouse for seven poor Protestant widows is supported by subscriptions and by bequests of Mrs. Craven, Mrs. Crone, and the Earl of Ranfurly; and Mrs. Banks having bequeathed the sum of £8768. 12. 8. to trustees for charitable purposes, it has been apportioned to the Fever Hospital, the Female Orphan Asylum, the Lying-in Hospital, the House of Industry, the county Infirmary, and the Dispensary A Charitable Loan Fund, formed, in 1770, chiefly by subscriptions of the Pery family, has afforded accommodation to many thousands by loans of three guineas each. In 1810, the inhabitants subscribed the Jubilee Loan fund, amounting to £1200, which has since accumulated by the addition of interest: about £120 is lent weekly, in sums of not more than £4 each, which are repaid by weekly instalments. A Fund for the Encouragement of Industry was established in 1822, out of the surplus fund subscribed in England for the distressed Irish, the loans being limited to £6; the sums so issued in the year ending March 17th, 1836, amounted to £4200. 10., and the amount repaid with interest during the same period was £4500. 13. 11. A Charitable Pawn Office, under the title of the "Mont de Piete," similar to establishments of the same name throughout the continent, has been instituted by Matthew Barrington, Esq., with the view of allowing the poor small loans at low interest; the capital is raised by debentures, to be repaid with interest; and the profits of the institution are to be applied towards the support of Barrington's Hospital. The building, which adjoins the hospital, is now almost complete; it is nearly circular, with a piazza, surmounted by a lofty and elegant dome and cupola, and has been erected at the sole expense of the founder. A company for granting annuities to widows, settlements for wives, and endowments for children, on payment of an annual premium, was established in 1806, under the title of the Munster General Annuity Endowment Association. An Asylum for the Blind, the house and chapel for which have been lately built, will accommodate 12 men and 12 women; a Magdalene Asylum, conducted by a committee of ladies, has been established on a small scale; a Mendicity Association is supported by voluntary contributions; and, in 1826, an Institution for the Relief of Sick and Indigent Room-keepers was formed by a subscription of several hundred pounds: there are also a Savings' Bank and a Mechanics' Institute. Limerick anciently contained two Augustinian monasteries, one of regular canons, and the other of hermits: the regular canons had another house in the contiguous parish of Mungrett, which was destroyed by the Danes in 1107. In 1227, a Dominican friary was founded in the city by Donogh Carbragh O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, which became a place of great magnificence, and was the burial-place of various prelates and other eminent men: part of the walls still exists, and the cemetery formed the garden of the Presentation convent. There were also a Franciscan convent, founded by William Fion de Burgo; a house of canonesses of the order of St. Augustine, founded in 1171, by Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, and a house of the Knights Templars; but no remains of these buildings are now discernible. Its military antiquities consist of the ruins of the fortress called King John's Castle, at the end of Thomond bridge, comprehending the great gateway, defended by two massive round towers, and the outer walls, having similar defences, and presenting a fine relic of the military architecture of that remote period; of dilapidated portions of the walls and towers of the citadel nearly contiguous, in which the castle barracks have been erected; of various portions of the town walls, and of some of the outworks, especially a fort on the King's Island, north of the old town. There are also some remains of the celebrated Black Battery, close to which was the breach defended so heroically against William's army. In the rural parishes of the liberties are the ruins of several ancient forts. Of eminent natives were three prelates named Creagh, in the fifteenth century; Richard Creagh, D.D., R. C. Archbishop of Armagh in the reign of Elizabeth, who died in the Tower of London, in 1585; James Arthur, D.D., Professor of Divinity at Salamanca; James Nihell, M.D., the author of various medical treatises of considerable repute, born in 1705; John Fitzgibbon, Esq., an eminent lawyer, bom at Ballysheeda, within the liberties, in 1731; the Rev. James White, parish priest of St. Mary's, who published a short description of the county at large in 1764, and also compiled annals of the city, which were never published; John Martin, M.D., author of an essay on the Castle-Connell Spa; Daniel Hayes, Esq., who died at an early age in 1767, after displaying considerable poetic ability; Charles Johnston, who distinguished himself in the department of polite literature; the Rev. Joseph Ignatius O'Halloran, D.D., Professor of Philosophy and Divinity in the Jesuits' College at Bourdeaux; Sylvester O'Halloran, Esq., the historian, his brother; Peter Woulfe, Esq., an eminent chymist and naturalist of the last century; Viscount Pery, who had filled the speaker's chair in the commons' house of parliament in Ireland; the Rt. Hon. John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, and Lord High Chancellor of Ireland; John Ferrar, a bookseller and printer of Limerick, who was author of several respectable topographical works concerning Limerick, Dublin, and Wicklow; Timothy Collopy, distinguished as an historical and portrait painter; William Palmer, who also rose to some eminence as an artist under Sir Joshua Reynolds, but died at an early age; and Edward Fitzgerald, Esq., for some time editor of the Pilot Newspaper, in London. Limerick confers the titles of Earl and Viscount on the family of Pery.