the latter, and for ten years (1865–75) he was member of its staff, and was sent to act as special correspondent to France in 1870 and in 1871.
In 1875 he joined the staff of the ‘Times’ as a leader writer. One of his colleagues spoke of his leaders as ‘complete and finished essays, perfectly polished literary gems.’ Another says: ‘His style was at once fluent and incisive. He had keen, analytical perception. His meaning was never obscure, and his information was peculiarly accurate. Not a constitutional problem could be mooted on either side of the Atlantic of which he did not seem to have made an especial study. Of French politics, in particular, he had a real mastery.’ Macdonell died suddenly, at his house in London, 2 March 1879, at the early age of thirty-seven.
He married in 1870 Annie Harrison, a niece of Mary Howitt, and there were three sons of the marriage. Their house became a meeting-place of the best representatives of liberal journalism. As a conversationalist Macdonell was both brilliant and instructive.
Between 1865 and 1875 Macdonell wrote frequently for ‘Fraser's Magazine,’ ‘North British Review,’ and ‘Macmillan's.’ An article in the ‘North British Review’ (December 1867) on the ‘Natural History of Morals,’ designed to refute Buckle's theory as to the stationary nature of morals, excited unusual attention. His last work, edited by his wife and published after his death (1880), ‘France since the First Empire,’ is only a brilliant fragment; but it remains one of the most accurate and discriminating works on modern French politics.
[Private information; James Macdonell, Journalist, by W. R. Nicoll, M.A., 1890; Daily Telegraph, 1865–75; Times, 1875–9.]
MACDONLEVY, CORMAC (fl. 1459), physician, called in Irish MacDuinntshleibhe, was descended from the royal family of Ulidia, who were driven from their kingdom by John de Courcy [q. v.], and settled in Kilmacrenan, co. Donegal, about 1200, where they became hereditary physicians to the O'Donnells. Muiris MacDonlevy (d. 1395), son of Paul, who is called ' ollamh leighis chenel conaill,' professor of physic of the tribe of Conaill, i.e. of O'Donnell and his neighbours, is the first physician of the family mentioned in the chronicles. Cormac calls himself ' baisiller a fisighecht,' bachelor of medicine (Arundel MS. 883, fol. 113 b, in British Museum), and was a physician of the Arabian school. He travelled through Ireland in 1459, wrote at Cloyne, co. Cork (Sari. MS. 546, fol. 11), a translation into Irish of Gualterus on the doses of medicine, of which the original holograph copy is in the British Museum Library, 546 in the Harleian collection. He also translated into Irish a treatise on the organs of animals from Isaac's ' De Dietis,' a well-known mediaeval treatise. His original manuscript is in the British Museum, Arundel 333. He writes a clear, rather square Irish hand, using numerous contractions. He had read Gadaesden, Gordonius the Arabian, and Galen.
Subsequent members of the family mentioned in the ' Irish Annals ' are :
Donnchadh MacDonlevy, M.D. (d. 1526), physician, son of Eoghan, famous for his general learning and wealth. He died 30 Sept. 1526.
Eoghan MacDonlevy, M.D. (d. 1586), physician, son of Donnchadh, was believed to be the best physician of his time in Ireland, and was also famous for his general learning.
As the family originally came from Ulidia, the lesser Uladh, or Ulster, the members of it are often called in Irish writings, instead of MacDonlevy, Ultach, that is, Ulsterman, and from this the name of MacNulty, Mac an Ultaigh, son of the Ulsterman, is derived.
[Arundel 333 and Harleian 546 in Brit. Mas. ; Annals Rioghachta Ei rearm, ed. J. O'Donoran, vol. v. ; Norman Moore's Essay on the History of Medicine in Ireland in St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, vol. xi.]
MACDONNELL, ALEXANDER or ALASTER (d. 1647), major-general. [See Macdonald.]
MACDONNELL, ALEXANDER (1798–1835), chess-player, the son of Alexander Macdonnell (d. 21 April 1843), a Belfast physician, born at Belfast in 1798, was bred to a mercantile life, and carried on an extensive business at Demerara between 1820 and 1830. He wrote several able pamphlets on economic questions, and was soon after 1830 appointed secretary to the West India Committee of Merchants, his duties being to watch the progress of bills connected with the West Indies through parliament. He was trained as a chess-player by William Lewis (1787-1870) [q. v.], but, having got over the odds of 'pawn and move,' Lewis refused to meet him on equal terms, and from the foundation of the Westminster Chess Club in 1833 Macdonnell was tacitly admitted to be the best English player. In June 1834 Louis Charles Mahe de Labourdonnais, secretary of the Paris Chess Club, and a pupil of the old French champion, Des Chapelles,
