348 KEATING. insertion, yet when we consider that by so doing he voluntarily diminished his own force, and incurred an additional responsibility, which the bravest men have frequently wished to avoid, we may probably be induced to attach a greater share of merit to this unostentatious transaction, than to others which have stood much higher in public esteem. Returning from the straits with Sir Cloudesly Shovel, he arrived at Falmouth in safety, on October 22nd, 1707, in the evening of which day, the melancholy catastrophe which befel Sir Cloudesly and a part of the fleet o f f Scilly, took place. I t i s believed that h e never went t o sea after this time. He had a handsome pension granted t o him o n his retirement from the service, and n o person appears t o have thought this mark o f royal munificence, o r public gratitude, improperly o r extravagantly bestowed. I n 1714, h e was appointed commissioner o f the navy, resi dent a t Plymouth; a n office h e did not long live t o enjoy, dying o n the 12th o f March, i n the following year. GEOFFREY KEATING, The celebrated Irish historian, was born i n the province o f Munster, o f English ancestry, and flourished i n the earlier part o f the seventeenth century. He was educated for the Roman Catholic church, and having received a t a foreign university the degree o f D . D . h e returned t o his native country, and became a celebrated preacher. Being well versed i n the ancient Irish language, h e collected the remains o f the early history and antiquities o f his native country, and formed them into a regular narrative. This work, which h e finished about the accession o f Charles I . commences from the first planting o f Ireland, after the deluge, and goes o n t o the seventeenth year o f King Henry II, giving a n account o f the lives and reigns o f one hundred and seventy-four kings o f the Milesian race; and containing what many have regarded a s a n exuberance o f fictitious personages and fabulous narratives. This work remained i n MS., i n the original language,
