the houses of Butler and FitzGerald. Hervey was the rival and opponent of Raymond le Gros. He was commander of the body of troops defeated by Duvenald, Prince of Limerick, in Ossory. "When Strongbow went over to the assistance of King Henry in Normandy, jealousies broke out between De Marisco and Raymond le Gros, upon their being appointed joint governors of Ireland. In 1175 he married Nesta, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald. [See Nesta.] In 1179 he founded Dunbrody Abbey, Wexford; and he ultimately retired as a monk to Canterbury, where he ended his days. He was interred at Dunbrody. Giraldus Cambrensis places his character in no favourable light: "Hervey was a tall and handsome man, with grey and rather prominent eyes, a pleasant look, fine features, and a command of polished language. His neck was so long and slender that it seemed scarcely able to support his head; his shoulders were low, and both his arms and legs were somewhat long. He had rather a broad breast, but was small and genteel in the waist, which is generally apt to swell too much, and lower down his stomach was of the same moderate proportion. His thighs, legs, and feet, were well shaped for a soldier, and finely proportioned to the upper part of his body. In stature he was above the middle height… He was addicted to lascivious habits… He was spiteful, a false accuser, double-faced, full of wiles, and smooth but false,… a man of no principle… Formerly he was a very good soldier after the French school, but now he is more remarkable for his malice than his gallantry." He left no descendants. His large estates passed to his brother Geoffrey (whom we find Custos of Ireland in 1215, 1226, and 1230), ancester of the Mountmorris family, who with his son perished in an engagement with some of the pirates that then frequented the coasts of Ireland. His sister Ellinor married Thomas FitzGerald, ancestor of the Desmonds. 5 148 196
Denham, Sir John, a poet and writer, was born in Dublin in 1615. He was early removed to London (upon his father being appointed an English instead of an Irish judge), and receiving his preliminary education there, entered Oxford in 1631. At Oxford he acquired the character of "a dreamy young man, more given to dice and cards than to study." Habits of gaming followed him through early life, and after his father's death in 1638 he squandered most of his patrimony. In 1642 he delighted the literary world with his tragedy of The Sophy', and he was made Sheriff of Surrey, and Governor of Farham Castle. The poet Waller says, "He broke out like the Irish rebellion, three score thousand strong, when nobody was aware, or in the least suspected." While in attendance on the King at Oxford, in 1643, he published his well-known poem of Cooper's Hill. Being devotedly attached to Charles I., he was entrusted with several missions for the Stuarts, and resided a considerable time on the Continent, and suffered the loss of most of his estates. After the Restoration he received an appointment under Government, and was created a Knight of the Bath. He died in March 1668, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer, Spencer, and Cowley. Dr. Johnson wrote of him: "Denham is deservedly considered as one of the fathers of English poetry… Cooper's Hill is the work that confers upon him the rank and dignity of an original author. He seems to have been, at least among us, the author of a species of composition that may be denominated local poetry, of which the fundamental subject is some particular landscape to be poetically described, with the addition of such embellishments as may be supplied by historical retrospections or incidental meditation. He is one of the writers that improved our taste and advanced our language, and whom we ought therefore to read with gratitude; though, having done much, he left much to do." 198
De Oviedo, Matthew, Archbishop of Dublin, was born at Segovia, in Spain, and educated at Salamanca. He became a Franciscan friar, and having previously visited Ireland on a political mission, was, by the Pope, in May 1600, created Archbishop of Dublin. He then conferred with O'Neill and O'Donnell, returned to Spain, and landed at Kinsale in 1601, in the suite of Don Juan d'Aguila. He afterwards took an active part in the negotiations between the Irish princes and the Spanish court. While nominally Archbishop of Dublin he continued to acknowledge Philip II. as his sovereign. Upon the discomfiture of D'Aguila's expedition, De Oviedo returned to Spain, and died in obscurity, a court pensioner. 12
De Palatio, Octavian, Archbishop of Armagh, a Florentine, was advanced to the see by Sixtus IV. in 1480. He was one of the few dignitaries of the Pale that opposed the coronation of Simnel, and maintained unshaken loyalty to Henry VII. He held numerous provincial synods. De Palatio died at an advanced age, in June 1513, having governed his see thirty-
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