younger son of the Rev. Richard Dobbs, who was the younger brother of Arthur Dobbs of Castle Dobbs, co. Antrim, formerly Governor of North Carolina. His ancestor, an officer in the army, came from England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and by a marriage with the great-granddaughter of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, got the estate of Castle Dobbs, with other estates in the co. Antrim. His great-grandfather was Mayor of Carrickfergus at the time King William landed, and was the first subject in Ireland that paid him allegiance.

Mr. Dobbs devoted himself for some years to literary pursuits. In 1768 he purchased an ensigncy in the 63rd Regiment, in which he continued till 1773. Having sold his commission, he turned his attention to the study of the law, and was called to the bar. He then married Miss Stewart of Ballantroy, in the county of Antrim, the daughter of a gentleman of considerable property, niece of Sir Hugh Hill, and descended from the Bute family. He afterwards joined the Volunteers under Lord Charlemont, was appointed Major to the Southern Battalion, and acted as exercising officer at the great reviews held at Belfast in 1780, 1781, and 1782. He took an active part, in conjunction with Lord Charlemont, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Flood, and others, in the political agitation of that period; was the mover of an address to the King, approving of the proceedings of the Irish Parliament, and was a member of the deputation appointed to present it to his Majesty, on which occasion he refused the honour of a baronetcy. At a later period, the Earl of Charlemont brought him into the Irish Parliament and it was while occupying a seat in that assembly, that he delivered the "Speeches" already referred to.

Mr. Dobbs's Speech on the Legislative Union is one of the most remarkable ever pronounced then or since, on that fertile topic. He descants in forceful language on the evils, real or imaginary, likely to arise from that measure; and points out, with a striking minuteness of detail, some of the consequences which have actually resulted therefrom. Indeed, the repealers of a subsequent period did little more than borrow Mr. Dobbs's language; nor were they able, after thirty years' experience of the practical working of the Union, to add a single new grievance to the catalogue of those so eloquently expatiated upon by him in the year 1800. As, however, we have to deal with Mr. Dobbs chiefly as a religious prophet, I shall confine my extracts from his speeches to the illustration of his character in that capacity.

The speech on the Legislative Union was delivered on February 5, 1800. On June 7 following (the Bill having been carried in the mean time), Mr. Dobbs pronounced in the Irish Parliament a speech in which he predicted the second coming of the Messiah. This speech, the most extraordinary that was ever made in a legislative assembly, presents a singular contrast to the sagacity which characterises his political performances. A few short extracts will show the change that had come over his prophetic vision:

"Sir, from the conduct pursued by administration during this Session, and the means that were known to be in their power, it was not very difficult to foresee that this Bill must reach that chair. It was not very difficult to foresee that it should fall to your lot to pronounce the painful words, 'That this bill do pass.' Awful indeed would those words be to me, did I consider myself living in ordinary times: but feeling as I do that we are not living in ordinary times—feeling as I do that we are living in the most momentous and eventful period of the world—feeling as I do that a new and better order of things is about to arise, and that Ireland, in that new order of things, is to be highly distinguished indeed—this bill hath no terrors for me.

"Sir, I did intend to have gone at some length into history, and the sacred predictions; but as I purpose, in a very few months, to give to the public a work in which I shall fully express my opinion as to the vast design of this terrestrial creation, I shall for the present confine myself to such passages as will support three positions:—The first is, the certainty of the second advent of the Messiah; the next, the signs of the times of his coming, and the manner of it; and the last, that Ireland is to have the glorious pre-eminence of being the first kingdom that will receive him."

After dwelling, at some length on his first two positions, he thus proceeds:

"I come now, Sir, to the most interesting part of what I have to say; it is to point out my reasons for thinking this is the distinguished country in which the Messiah is now to appear. The stone that is to be cut out of the mountain without hands, is to fall on the feet of the image, and to break the whole image to pieces. Now, that would not be true, if Christ and his army was to appear in any country that is a part of the image; therefore, all the countries that were comprised in the Babylonish and Assyrian empire, in the Medo-Persian empire, in the Greek empire, and in the Roman empire, are positively excluded. There is another light thrown on this question by a passage in the 41st chapter of Isaiah: 'I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name, and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.' This is manifestly the Messiah; and we are therefore to look for a country north of Judea, where the prophecy was given. The New World is out of the question, being nowhere a subject of prophecy; and as the image is excluded, it can only be in the Russian empire, or in the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, or Ireland.

"The army that follows the Messiah, we are told, amounts to 144,000; and there are a few passages in the Revelation of St. John, that denote the place where they are to be assembled. One is, 'I saw them harping with their harps.' Another, 'I saw them standing on a sea of glass, having the harps of God.' Another is, 'That they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean.' Another is, 'And he gathered them together in a place, in the Hebrew tongue, called Armageddon.' Now, what respects the harp and the fine linen, peculiarly applies to Ireland; and not at all to Russia, Denmark, or Sweden. The sea of glass I think must be an island. And I believe the word Armageddon in the Hebrew tongue, and Ardmah or Armagh in the Irish, mean the same thing. At all events, there is great similitude in their sounds; and St. Patrick thought proper to make the city of Ardmagh, which is the old name, the seat of the church government of Ireland. But besides these sacred passages of Scripture, there are some very particular circumstances attending Ireland. She has never had her share in worldly prosperity, and has only since 1782 begun to rise; and I know no instance in history of any nation beginning to prosper, without arriving at a summit of some kind, before it became again depressed. The four great empires rose progressively west of each other; and Great Britain made the last toe of the image, being the last conquest the Romans made in the west. Now, Ireland lies directly west of it, and is therefore in exactly the same progressive line, and it never was any part of the image, nor did the Roman arms ever penetrate here. The arms of Ireland is the harp of David, with an angel in its front. The crown of Ireland is the apostolic crown. Tradition has long spoken of it as a land of saints; and if what I expect happens, that prediction will be fulfilled. But what I rely on more than all, is our miraculous exemption from all of the serpent and venomous tribe of reptiles. This appears to me in the highest degree emblematic, that Satan, the Great Serpent, is here to receive his first deadly blow."

I had an idea of sending you some extracts from Mr. Dobbs's poem on The Millennium, but I fear I have already trespassed