and caprice. Lord Doneraile kept a mistress, whose brother having been sentenced to some ecclesiastical punishment, begged that his lordship would intercede with the priest in his favour. Lord Doneraile made a personal application on the subject to the priest, who respectfully informed him that the bishop who pronounced the sentence alone had the power to commute it. His lordship, indignant at what he conceived to be a want of due consideration for his rank, grossly abused the old man, and struck him several blows. Such was the abject state of slavery to which Ireland was at that time reduced, that no advocate would venture to bring the case of the unfortunate man before a court of justice; and when Curran, who was then but little known, boldly stepped forward to attack the oppressor, his friends severely blamed his imprudence. His eloquence was inspired by honourable courage and just indignation, and he obtained, from a protestant jury, thirty pounds damages. This was not so bad, when it is recollected that forty years previously, a catholic having appealed against an unjust confiscation of his property, the Irish house of commons formally declared, that any barrister or attorney who might take up the cause of that catholic would be looked upon as an enemy to the state.

Lord Doneraile, mortified at his defeat, wrote to Curran, informing him that he would employ his influence in every possible way to oppose his advancement; but Curran, who had by this time fought the duel with his lordship's cousin, con

tented himself with laughing at this malignant threat.

In the Irish parliament, Curran constantly pleaded the cause of his oppressed country, while he continued to defend at the bar every victim of tyranny. His political life, and the history of his pleadings at the bar, are equally connected with the revolutions which agitated his unhappy country up to the period of the union of the two parliaments.

In Ireland, a single witness is sufficient to procure conviction; and it is a disgraceful fact, that the English government used to maintain in that country a great number of spies, whose business it was to instigate crime. This odious system was frequently denounced by the eloquence of Curran. The government, which dreaded such an adversary, endeavoured to gain him over by the most brilliant offers; but he remained incorruptible. His courage was put to a severe test when he ventured to undertake the defence of the two brothers, Shears, who were convicted of high treason. An attempt was made to implicate the advocate in the offence charged against the criminals whom he was defending; and instead of the applause which his eloquence usually elicited, he was frequently interrupted by insolent clamour.

In 1800 the Irish parliament, by a kind of po litical suicide, declared its own abolition, in opposition to the wishes of the true friends of their country. Curran was profoundly afflicted at this event, which did not, however, put a stop to in

surrectionary movements, by one of which, in 1803, Curran's family was compromised.

The leader of this commotion was a young man of high promise, named Robert Emmett, who was residing in Curran's family, and had conceived an attachment for Curran's daughter Sarah. There had been no circumstance in Emmett's conduct, which could have led to the suspicion of his being engaged in any plot. He had also for a long time hesitated to reveal his love for Miss Curran. But this attachment unfortunately doomed him to destruction, for he might have escaped from Ireland had he not delayed his departure, tɔ bid a last adieu to his mistress. This circumstance would, of course, have furnished the government with a plausible pretext for assailing Curran, had his innocence been for a moment doubtful.

The administration of 1806 did not forget Curran. He was appointed master of the rolls in Ireland, which situation he held till 1814. He had for some time been afflicted with a profound melancholy, from which he in vain sought relief in travelling. He died in 1817, at the age of 68.

At his entrance into public life, Curran delivered his speeches extempore; but when he found he had a reputation to maintain, he for some time tried the plan of writing his speeches, and reciting them from memory. This, however, did not succeed, and he contented himself with studying his speeches whilst walking in his garden, or, what is still more curious, whilst playing on his violin,

He made only a very few notes to assist his memory, and these related to the metaphors which he intended to employ, and were of the briefest description. The notes he made for his defence of Mr. Rowan consisted only of these words : "Character of Mr. R.-furnace—rebellion- -stifled -redeeming angel." With these simple memoranda, which, to him, were like the bundle of sticks used by the savage to whom Lord Erskine alluded, he entered on his discourse, and trusted wholly to the impulse of his natural eloquence. His son observes, that the result almost always surpassed his expectation. His imagination was warmed by the interest of the cause, and by the confidence with which the presence of an auditory usually inspires every orator, who is so fortunately constituted as to be capable of receiving this inspiration. A multitude of new ideas crowded upon him, to aid the vigour and eloquence of his address. By an inevitable. consequence there escaped from him, in these moments of enthusiasm, some false or whimsical ideas, which, though they may be adduced as instances of his bad taste, nevertheless bear evidence of his prolific imagination.

The secret of Curran's success and style is, perhaps, still better explained in a frank apology for his defects, which his son makes in his amusing biography.

The juries whom he had to address, and for whom he formed his style, were not fastidious critics, but, for the most part, men of rather coarse than delicate minds, and ready to allow

themselves to be persuaded by him who knew best how to amuse or dazzle them. However pure might be the natural inspirations of his taste, he soon perceived that his imagination had full scope; and when once the charm began to operate, his most fantastic conceptions and images were as well received as the most refined creations of fancy. That attention which the judges would not, perhaps, have granted to a cool reasoner, a methodical and grave orator, they had not power to withhold from one who solicited it with gay and persuasive familiarity. This violation of rule became a privilege, of which Curran never ceased to avail himself; therefore in all his speeches, however solemn the occasion, he continually fell into his old habit of negligence.

But if as an orator Curran may not be wholly faultless, yet as an honest man, and a steady patriot, his glory is pure and unblemished.

LETTER LV.

TO M. CH. DE REMUSAT.

MR. CHARLES PHILLIPS is possessed of talent and even genius, but, unfortunately, by a misdirection of that talent and genius, he has exaggerated the defects of his predecessors and contemporaries at