elancholy_, Burton wrote a Latin comedy,
entitled _Philosophaster_, which was acted at Christ Church on Shrove
Monday, February the 16th, 1618, and which was first printed in 1862 for
the Roxburghe Club at the expense of the late Rev. W.E. Buckley, of
Middleton Chaney, the possessor of one of two manuscripts of it which
have been preserved.

JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, 1581-1656

[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP USHER.]

James Usher or Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, was born in Dublin on the
4th of January 1581. He was the second, but elder surviving son of
Arland Usher, one of the six clerks of the Irish Court of Chancery. His
mother was a daughter of James Stanyhurst, Recorder of the City of
Dublin, who was thrice elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
Usher is said to have been taught to read by two aunts who had been
blind from their infancy. At the age of eight he was sent to a school in
Dublin conducted by Mr. James Fullerton and Mr. James Hamilton, two
secret political agents of King James of Scotland, who were afterwards
made Sir James Fullerton and Viscount Clandeboye. In 1594 he proceeded
to Trinity College, Dublin, being the second scholar admitted in the
newly opened University, of which he was made a Fellow in 1599. On the
20th of December 1601 he was ordained by his uncle, the Archbishop of
Armagh, having first made over his paternal inheritance to his younger
brother and his sisters, reserving only a small portion for his support
during his studies. On the 24th of the same month the Spaniards were
defeated at the battle of Kinsale by the English and Irish, and the
officers of the English army determined to commemorate their success by
founding a library in the College at Dublin. They collected among
themselves about eighteen hundred pounds for this purpose,[32] and
Usher, in conjunction with Dr. Luke Challoner, was requested to select
the books. For this object, in 1602, he paid a visit to England, where
he made the acquaintance of Sir Thomas Bodley, Sir Robert Cotton,
Camden, and other distinguished persons. In 1606 he again made a journey
to England, this time to buy books for his own library, as well as for
that of his college,[33] and for some time he repeated his visits every
three or four years. In 1607 he was made Professor of Divinity in
Trinity College, which office he held for thirteen years. He was
consecrated Bishop of Meath and Clonmacnoise in 1621, and four years
later he w