(D) Grattan and Fitzgibbon's College Course (E) Lists of the Secretaries of State, Chancellors of the Exche- 165 169 LIFE OF PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. THE RIGHT HON. JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, author of the "Commercial Restraints," was certainly one of the most remarkable men that this country ever produced; and he took, amidst an unequalled combination of brilliant rivals, a very prominent part in the most interesting and splendid period of Ireland's internal history. He was, according to Dr. Duigenan, a man of humble parents. He entered Trinity College as a Pensioner, in the year 1740, under the name John Hely, and after his marriage he adopted the name Hutchinson, on succeeding to the estate of his wife's uncle. * In 1744 he obtained his B. A., and Duigenan admits that in his Undergraduate Course he won some premiums at the quarterly examinations. In 1765 he was presented with the degree of LL.D. Honoris Causa. The College Calendar, in the list of Provosts, has, "1774. The Rt. Hon. John Hely Hutchinson, LL.D., educated in Trin. Coll., Dublin, but not a Fellow; admitted Provost by Letters Patent of George III., July 15; Member of Parliament for the City *His Matriculation is-"1740, April 29th. Johannes Hely, Filius Francisci Gen. Annum agens 17. Natus Corcagii. Educatus sub Dr. Baly. (Tutor) Mr. Lawson." α of Cork, and Secretary of State. Died Provost, Sep. 4, 1794, at Buxton.”* This is all the mention which the published records of the College make of, perhaps, its most celebrated Provost. The Calendar is inaccurate as to the year of his matriculation, and it does not even tell that he was the author of the "Commercial Restraints"-its memorial notices being extremely scanty and brief; but in other contemporary writings we find several notices of him, unfavourable and favourable. He was called to the Bar in 1748; King's Counsel, 1758; Member for Lanesborough as John Hely Hutchinson of Knocklofty, 1759; † in 1760 he received, in a silver case, the freedom of Dublin for his patriotic services in parliament. He was Member for Cork City as John Hely Hutchinson of Palmerston, and afterwards as Right Hon., 1761; Prime Serjeant, sometimes going Judge of Assize, and Privy Councillor, 1761; Alnager,§ 1763; Major in a Cavalry Regiment, *See Note A. + Hutchinson had thus achieved very considerable success and distinction when he was thirty-seven years of age—" the fatal year" in the development of genius, according to Lord Beaconsfield. Grattan accomplished his great work at the age of thirty-six, the age at which Lord Byron had finished his poetry. Fitzgibbon, too, ran high in this respect. At twenty-nine he was a leading lawyer, and M.P. for the University, having displaced and replaced the Provost's son; at thirty-four he was Attorney-General, governing the country. He was Lord Chancellor and a peer before he had attained what Dr. Webb, in his "Faust," calls "the mature age of forty-one." He died at 53. [Pue's Occur.] § Alnager, or Aulnager, from the Latin Ulna, an ell, was an officer for measuring and stamping cloth in the wool trade. Pranceriana Poetica has the line: "Send Prancer back to stamping friezes." |