Rev. James Hervey, “the learned and pious author of the well-known Meditations,” who said:—
“I have read Mr. Jortin. He aggravates features — misrepresents his opponents — and, in my opinion, mistakes the meaning, diminishes the blessing, of Gospel-salvation. On such points controversy, unless it be conducted by minds free from prejudice (and where are these to be found?), is endless.”[1]
Archdeacon Fleury’s great-grandfather was Louis Fleury, Pasteur of Tours, who, with Esther his wife, one son, and two daughters, Esther and Mary, fled to England in 1683. The pasteur and his family were naturalized in England, 27th April 1687. (See List xiii.) The son, Philip Amauret Fleury (born 1671), a graduate of Leydcn, was ordained to preach the Gospel to the French in Ireland. Antoine Fleury, grandson of the old refugee, was also a graduate of Leydcn, where he was ordained 4th September 1728, but eventually settled in Ireland, and married one of the noble family of Rochebrune; in 1761 he became Vicar Choral of Lismore. His son, George Lewis Fleury, born in 1740, Prebendary of Kilgobinet and Archdeacon of Waterford, earned the designation of “the good old archdeacon;” Bishop Chenevix appointed him to the Archdeaconry in 1773, the post having been vacant for 106 years.
The following notes concerning him are from Dr. Sirr’s Life of the Archbishop of Tuam of the nineteenth century:—
The experienced Archdeacon of Waterford, Rev. G. L. Fleury, was more than fifty years in office, a keen observer of every transaction in the diocese, an uncompromising censor of every dereliction of duty, a clergyman universally popular for his charitable actions, a friend of the friendless. His goodness and sound practical religion live in memory upon earth, while his enduring record is on high.
Bishop Power Trench had, when quite a young man, been admitted to the See of Waterford, and at first the clergy were disposed to animadvert on so many military men being guests at his palace. Archdeacon Fleury, “who would do and say what no other man would attempt,” being present at the bishop’s grand reception of his clergy, walked up to him and said, “I am most happy, my lord, to see that your lordship has recovered from your scarlet fever.” The bishop took the joke with the greatest good humour.
The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1825, vol. ii., has the following entry: — “Died in New Street, Waterford, aged eighty-five, the Rev. George Lewis Fleury, minister of St. Patrick’s, and for upwards of half-a-ccntury Archdeacon of Waterford.” His descendants were Rev. Richard Fleury, rector of Dunmore East; Rev. Charles Fleury, ordained by the Archbishop of Tuam, 21st January 1827; Mary, wife of Rev. R. Ryland, author of the History of Waterford; Elizabeth Mclesina, wife of Henry M‘Clintock, Esq., and mother of Captain Sir Francis Leopold M‘Clintock, who entered the Royal Navy in 1831, and was knighted in i860 for his exploits in the polar regions in the search for Sir John Franklin.
Three clergymen of the Fleury family now flourish in Ireland, one of whom is Rev. John Devereux Fleury, Librarian of Waterford Cathedral.
Canon Regis. — Regis is a Huguenot surname: Haag mentions Pierre Regis, M.D., born at Montpellier, a refugee in Amsterdam. Balthazar Regis, D.D., Rector of Adisham and Canon of Windsor, married Jeanne (born 1701), eldest daughter of Rev. Israel Antoine Aufrère. He died in 1757, and in his Will he declared that he was entitled by primogeniture to an Abbey and paternal estates in Dauphine, which he charged his descendants to claim, “if there be a Reformation in France.” His eldest daughter was Mrs. Dawson, wife of a merchant in Cornhill; Catherine became Mrs. Potter, wife of the Curate of Wallsend, in Northumberland; and another daughter was married to Rev. Mr. Prior of Eton. Mrs. Dawson’s son, William Dawson, Esq. of St. Leonard’s Hill, married Sophia {born 1763), daughter of Anthony Aufrère, Esq. of Hoveton, and had, among other children, the Rev. Henry Dawson, Sophia (Lady Burke), and Matilda (Mrs. Philip Stewart); the son of the latter, Charles Poyntz Stewart, Esq., possesses a portrait of Canon Regis. It appears from the title-pages of his publications that he was a chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty (George II.). These works consist of sermons and more elaborate discourses:—
1. The Advantages of Peaceableness. In two sermons preached on St. Matthew v. 9
2. A Discourse shewing that the Yoke of our Lord Jesus Christ is easier than the yoke of sin or the old man within us, and that wicked men meet with more trouble and encounter- ↑ Nichols’ “Illustrations of Literature,” vol. ii., pp. S41, S43.
