A MEMOIR OF HENRY GRATTAN. FEW things in the perusal of history, are more striking than the total dissimilarity in character of ages that closely succeed each other. In one country, and within the space of a single century, it is possible to observe a remarkable contrast between the successive passions and prejudices-tastes and manners of the same people. The English of the times of James the First and Lord Bacon, were as unlike their countrymen in the days of Cromwell and Milton, as these again were totally dissimilar from the contemporaries of King William and John Locke.So also in the eighteenth century the dissimilarity between the age of Walpole and Bolingbroke, and the era of Pitt and Fox, was as marked as the difference in Irish politics between the days of Swift and those of Flood-between the times of Grattan and those of O'Connell. When, therefore, we examine the character of any public man, it is absolutely necessary to consider closely the nature of that society in which he existed, and the influence of the passions of his age. A political leader is not like the poet or philosopher, who lead isolated lives, remote from the passions of their contemporaries. The existence of a public man is necessarily blended with that of the community at large; between him and the people around him there is an active reciprocating influence, B which is influential on the character of the leader as well as his followers. Of course, the really great public man is not the creature of his own times. If he were, his life would hardly be worth studying: but neither can he have a character totally at variance with that of his contemporaries. His life is a compromise between his own individuality and that of the public whom he strives to govern and direct. In proportion as he sympathizes with the aspirations of his own times, does he obtain present and popular authority; in the same degree as he rises superior to the transient prejudices of his age, and guides his course by general principles and exalted views, will he obtain posthumous fame. And in apprehending with intuition the exact confines between theory and practice-between the far-sighted views which reach to posterity, and those which regard the pressing claims of the passing hour-may be said to consist the art of all great and genuine statesmanship, as distinguished from the charlatanism, which, grovelling in the present, is sure to meet with the contemptuous oblivion of future ages. It will be particularly necessary to keep these considerations in mind when we are estimating the character of the illustrious subject of the present memoir. HENRY GRATTAN was born in Dublin on the 3d of July, 1746. His father, James Grattan, was for many years Recorder of Dublin, and represented the city in Parliament from 1761 to 1766. His family was eminent and respectable, and more than one of its members was held in high regard by Dean Swift. The mother of Henry Grattan was Mary, daughter of Chief Justice Marlay; and there are reasons for believing that (as in the case of other celebrated men) it was to his mother that our great patriot was indebted for his natural genius. The family of Marlay claims to be of the race of the De Merlys of Normandy; and if their physical appearance were admitted as evidence in support of the pedigree they exhibit, it would be readily conceded, that the Marlays were Norman in their origin. The immediate ancestor of the family was Sir John Marlay, one of the Royalists of 1640, and a distinguished officer amongst the Cavaliers. His son Anthony was captain in the Duke of Ormond's regiment in 1667, and settled in Ireland, where his grandson Thomas rose to be Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. He was a man of talents and literary accomplishments. He prided himself on being an expert swordsman, and a very droll anecdote is recorded of his having run an opponent through the body with a long sword, on which were stamped the Twelve Apostles! The wound was not mortal; and the Chief Justice, who was a man of humour, remarked that his adversary had "got the benefit of the trial by jury, and that the twelve had allowed him to escape!" Chief Justice Marlay had several children, of whom the most eminent was Colonel Marlay, who distinguished himself at the battle of Minden. He was held in the highest respect by his celebrated nephew, who had recourse to his advice on more than one trying occasion. Another son of the Chief Justice was Richard Marlay, afterwards Bishop of Waterford. He was a man of lively mind and genial character. His intellect was highly cultivated, and he was held in deserved esteem by his contemporaries. Indeed, few families in Ireland could boast of a greater union of talent, learning, and virtue, than were to be found in the Marlays. Young Grattan was sent to school to one Ball, who lived in Great Ship-street. At his At his very first school he gave a striking indication of the native energy of his character. On his master having subjected him to a degrading punishment, which he did not merit, the boy was so outraged that he insisted on his father sending him to another school: he was then sent to Mr. Young's in Abbey-street, where Anthony Malone and Hussey Burgh had been educated. At this latter school he was held to be a boy of great spirit, and in after times his schoolfellows loved to dilate upon the early development of his fine character. In his eighteenth year he was seized with severe illness, which repeatedly returned to him at the most critical periods of his life. His physical organization bore little proportion to the remarkable ardour of his temperament. His body was rather a frail tenement for a spirit so eminently aspiring. At this period of his life, his uncle, Colonel Marlay, appears to have discerned the character of his young nephew. In their correspondence the Colonel addresses Grattan in a tone more suited to a grown man than a forward youth. In the year 1763, Grattan entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he became acquainted with John Foster-(afterwards |