BIRTH OF WELLINGTON.
la is seldom that an historical doubt has been so speedily and so satisfactorily settled as the place and date of the Duke of Wel- lington's birth has been settled by the Reverend Dr. John Murray of Dublin.* Both these important points have been hotly disputed for years past, and especially within the few weeks since Welling- ton% death, as much as the same questions have been mooted re- specting, "the mythic Hercules or the mystic Homer " ; "several places contending for the honour of his birth." The common accepta- tion of date is the 1st of Ma.y 1769; the place, Dangan Castle, in the county of th--Spring Gardens, in Dublin—allornington in the county of Meath—the Royal Irish Academy House, Grafton Street, Dublin—Molesworth Street, Dublin. Jto to the year there is no doubt. With -great diligence, however, Dr. Murray has traced back the evidence on both points, and ht:s established them beyond further question.
As to date. The Public Begister of May 1769, and Pue's Oecurrences of the same date, copy this announcement from the Dublin Mercury of May 4: "Birth—In Merrion Street, the Right Honomable the Countess of Mornington, of a son " : 'without date. In the Dublin Gazette, for May 2-4, which at that time combined miscellaneous with official intelligence, there is a similar notice ; running "A few days ago, in Men:ion Street, the Countess of Mornington, of a sou." Ershaw's Gentleman's Magazine, a Dublin periodical, of May 1, announces—" April 29th, the Countess of Mornington, of a son." And in the baptismal register of St. Peter's Church, Dublin, there is the christening—"April 80th, Arthur, son of the Right Honourable Earl and Countess of Mornington," attested by Isaac Mann, Archdeacon.
A curious circumstance bears upon the subject of date. "Lieutenant the Honourable Arthur Wesley, of the Twelfth Light Dragoons," was elected Member for the borough of Trim, in the county of Meath, on the 29th April 1790; and a petition was presented against his return, on various grounds, amongst others, that Mr. Wesley was a minor. A Mrs. Masters was brought as a witness from Dangan Castle, with the family Bible, to answer that allegation; but it was abandoned. It would be inferred that the opposing party admitted Mr. Wesley to have attained his majority on the 29th, the earliest date assigned for his birth. It occurs to us as probable that the place from which the witness to his birth was brought, suggested Dangan Castle as the place, of course erro- neously.
As to place. We have ahnady noticed that Merrion Street is mentioned in one of the birth announcements : the East side of Merrion Street is in St. Peter's parish. Watewie Alinanack for 1783 mentions Merrion Square as the Dublin residence of the Mornington family. At the date of Wel- lington's birth, Merrion Square was so called prospectively, for it was unbui/t ; and there is a house in 'Upper Merrion Street situated in St. Peter's parish, which would have been at the corner of the street in the vacant space called the Square. This house is mentioned by Lord Clon- curry in his Personal Recollections- " I graduated in arts in the year 1791, as it happened, upon the day on which my father entertained the Lord-Lieutenant (the Earl of Westmore- land). for the first time, at Mornington House, a,residence in Merrion Street, which he had purchased from the late Marquis Wellesley. * * * * It is at present occupied by the Ecclesiastical ansimiesianers."
"Wellington: the Place and Day of his Birth ascertained and demonstrated." Pamphlet by John Murray, A.M., LL.D.; Author of `'Original Views of the Life and Witidngs orliornee,"-See.
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