OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.

SECOND SERIES.-No. 22.

THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, D.D.,

Lord Bishop of Derry and Raphoe.

Ir has often been objected as inconsistent with true ecclesiastical polity, that Bishops of the Church should be selected by the Crown, and yet even in Ireland, where such appointments have been exposed to greater risk of deterioration, owing to political causes, than in England, we may safely affirm that the Episcopal bench has been, from time to time, occupied by prelates, who justly rank with the ablest and most distinguished that any age of Christendom can boast. In the present day, where, take them all in all as in every sense representative men in the Church, is to be found a more admirable staff of bishops than the Episcopal order now in England, though indebted more immediately for their elevation to the nomination of a mere Minister of State for the time being? As regards Ireland, it will be sufficient, in vindication of the old régime, to mention, as a sample of those earning the mitre under the established system, one of the greatest of theologians, like Ussher; one of the most subtle of philosophers, and systematic of rulers, like King; Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, not only a man in whom, said Atterbury, centred every virtue under heaven, but as a profound metaphysician, the glory of modern thought. We may also mention Dr. Jeremy Taylor, the prince of rhetoricians, whose religious works have been so highly valued; Archbishop Bramhall, one of the ablest of Church organizers, and a masterly controversialist; Archbishop Magee, the author of one of the most convincing books ever penned on the Atonement; Dr. Fitzgerald, of Killaloe, whose signal abilities won the unreserved applause of Whately; O'Brien, of Ossory, lately gone to rest, a man of sledgehammer logic, whose treatise on Faith is power itself; Richard Chenevix Trench, whom we have already noticed in a previous number; and lastly, Richard Whately, his predecessor in the Archiepiscopal See of Dublin, a man gifted with extraordinary mental capacity, at once most comprehensive, versatile and profound, and singularly eminent in every department of human learning to which he directed the splendid powers of his genius.

These are only a few of the illustrious names that give reputation and lustre to the Episcopal roll of the Church of Ireland, and whatever may be thought of nomination by the Crown in principle, they go far to prove that in practice, the result, though not always satisfactory, has been pretty generally so.

The Bishop of Derry belongs to an ancient family now represented by the noble house of Caledon, itself an offshoot from the ancient earldom of Stirling. One scion of this house was Sir William Alexander, who was a chief favourite at Court under James and Charles the First. On the coronation of Charles at Holyrood, he rewarded the services of Sir Walter Stirling by conferring on him an earldom in addition to other honours and privileges. The Bishop is also paternally connected with the Caledon family, and maternally with the Rathdonnells of Louth; he is likewise related to the noble houses of Jocelyn and Gough.

Like the present occupant of the See of Derry, Sir William Stirling wielded the 'poet's golden pen, but Dr. Alexander has more poetic blood in his veins, as, by his grandmother, he is descended from Edmund Waller, a writer of far higher pretensions than Stirling.

The Bishopric of Derry may be said to have two great periods, one before and one after the Reformation, though historically it may be regarded as about 600 years old. Prior to A.D. 1200, the see dates back in its origin six centuries. The primeval diocese had, among its prelates, many true sons of the soil-such as O'Donnell, O'Coffey, Magennis, MacMahon, O'Flanagan, O'Neil, and Maclaughlin: these Bishops, in some cases, were relatives of Irish sovereigns, and inherited episcopacy from St. Colomba. In these days the See of Derry was at Ardstraw, but it was subsequently transferred to its present cathedral town.

The first ecclesiastical edifice of this description in Derry was a very ancient monastic house, though not till the year 1164 was the cathedral on its present site built. This structure originated with the first Bishop of Derry, Flathbert O'Broclan, having been afterwards rebuilt about 400 years from this date by the then occupant of the see, Dr. Downham, and more completely restored and beautified by the good Bishop Higgin.

The succession in the line of bishops from the fifth century was, technically, interrupted by the disturbed state of Ulster during Elizabeth's reign. There have been twenty-four bishops since the Reformation, most of them exemplary prelates, and nearly all from England. The aristocracy seem to have found a plum in the Bishopric of Derry, with its portentous revenue of £15,000 a year-to say nothing of renewal fines, which often doubled the bishop's stipend. The families of Eglinton, Bristol, Northland, Bessborough, and Caledon, have their names among the Bishops of Derry.

In succeeding to the bishopric, Dr. Alexander came after one of the best of modern prelates. From the moment that Dr. Higgin, previously Bishop of Limerick, arrived in his northern diocese, he set himself to work, so that after a lengthened career of untiring exertion and energy of character, he lived to see his ecclesiastical reforms carried out, the need for which may be inferred from the fact, that worldlings like Dr. Rundle were now and then obtruded into the diocese by this Crown. Public opinion in the Church rose up in arms against the appointment till Swift, for the reputation of the poor Bishop, came to the rescue, but in an odd way. "Dr. Rundle," writes the caustic Dean, "I consider far the best appointment to the See of Derry which has yet come from England; I have had the pleasure of meeting him three times at dinner in London. His only fault is that he drinks no wine, and I drink nothing else!"

Dr. William Alexander is not the first of the name who has been raised

to the Episcopal bench in Ireland, as his uncle, Nathaniel Alexander, was for several years Bishop of Meath. The present Bishop is son of the late Rev. Robert Alexander, the esteemed Rector of Aghadoey in his son's diocese, a prebendary of the cathedral, and one of the most polished and true-hearted Christian gentlemen of his day. The curious coincidence thus took place, that a father found himself canonically subordinate to his son; though this is not without precedent, as, in the See of Down, a Dr. Dickson was Bishop of the diocese when his son was Dean of Down, and now we have the Bishops of Cork and Ossory, father and son.

The subject of our memoir was born April 13, 1824, in Derry, where he has always been an especial favourite, and since reaching man's estate an object of pride to all citizens of his native maiden city. He married, in 1850, Cecil Frances, daughter of Major Humphreys, a lady of great accomplishments and mental power. He was sent to Tunbridge Wells School, where his talents were early recognized. Here he carried off the School Exhibition for the University, and entered Exeter College, subsequently becoming a member of New Inn Hall and Brasenose. He very soon drew all eyes towards him at Oxford, as a highly informed student, so that at his degree we find him Honorary Fourth, a distinction won by the late Lord Herbert of Lea, Mr. Ruskin, and Sir Charles Ducane.

In 1850 he carried off one of the blue ribbons of his University, on account of his Essay for the Denyer Prize upon the Divinity of Christ. This prize was held among others by Dr. Scott, joint author of one of the most useful of modern Greek Lexicons; Dr. Jackson, the present Bishop of London; Dr. Wordsworth, one of the most accomplished scholars and writers of the day, Bishop of Lincoln, and the Rev. George Rawlinson, known all over the world by his edition of Herodotus-a monument of classical erudition worthy of Scaliger or Casaubon.

In 1853, Dr. Alexander was adjudged the prize for his Ode on the occasion of the installation, as Chancellor of Oxford, of the late Earl of Derby, in succession to the Duke of Wellington. Those who were present will not soon forget that auspicious ceremony. Mr. Alexander enhanced his poem by its recitation in person, a performance, so far unusual, as it was gone through amid breathless silence from the Undergraduates. In later years Dr. Alexander was adjudged two other prizes, namely, a proxime accessit for the Triennial Prize Poem, in 1857, "The Waters of Babylon," and in 1860 for "Jacob's Dream." In 1870 we find him select preacher, during two successive years, at Oxford, and in 1872 he held a similar office at Cambridge University.

On leaving the University of Oxford, where he attained an eminent position, he was ordained for a most laborious sphere of pastoral work as curate of the cathedral of Derry to his uncle, Dean Gough, brother of the late Field-Marshal Viscount Gough. In this great parish the future bishop was made conversant with the practical part of his profession, and soon acquired the name of being zealous in the discharge of his sacred

* His mother is one of the Rathdonnel McClintocks.

He also obtained two prizes opened for public competition upon "Wyatt's Statue of Wellington," and "The Battle of Waterloo." Lastly, the Bishop's son, Mr. Robert Jocelyn Alexander, carried off the Newdegate Prize Poem at Oxford, which he recited in the presence of his father in the Sheldonian Theatre.

These Sermons have been published under the title, "Leading Ideas of the Gospel."