the Irish House of Commons-the Government being naturally desirous of recruiting their ranks with as many efficient combatants as possible from persons residing in the metropolis-and Opposition looking, of course, to the same great seminary for the antagonists with whom these were to be confronted.

countries have consequently given way to that universal love of long-speaking, which, we verily believe, never can be repressed by any thing but the absolute impossibility of indulging it :—while their prolixity has taken a different character, not so much from the temperament of the speakers, as from the difference of the audiences they have generally had to address. In Ireland, the greater part of their tediousness is bestowed on Juries-and their vein consequently has been more popular. With us in Scotland the advocate has to speak chiefly to the Judges-and naturally endeavours, therefore, to make that impression by subtlety, or compass of reasoning, which he would in vain attempt, either by pathos, poetry, or jocularity.-Professional speakers, in short, we are persuaded, will always speak as long as they can be listened to.-The quantity of their eloquence, therefore, will depend on the time that can be afforded for its display -and its quality, on the nature of the audience to which it is addressed.

We cannot say that either of these solutions is to us very satisfactory. There was heat enough certainly, and to spare, in the Irish Parliament; but the barristers who came there had generally kindled with their own fire, before repairing to that fountain. They had formed their manner, in short, and distinguished themselves by their ardour, before they were invited to display it in that assembly; and it would be quite as plausible to refer the intemperate warmth of the Parliamentary debates to the infusion of hot-headed gladiators from the Bar, as to ascribe the general over-zeal of the profession to the fever some of them might have caught in the Senate. In England, we believe, this effect has never been observed-and in Ireland it But though we cannot admit that the causes has outlived its supposed causes-the Bar of assigned by this author are the main or funthat country being still (we understand) as rhe-damental causes of the peculiarity of Irish torical and impassioned as ever, though its leg- oratory, we are far from denying that there is islature has long ceased to have an existence. much in it of a national character, and indiAs to the effects of temperament and cating something extraordinary either in the national character, we confess we are still temper of the people, or in the state of society more sceptical-at least when considered as among them. There is, in particular, a much the main causes of the phenomenon in ques- greater Irascibility; with its usual concomition. Professional peculiarities, in short, we tants of coarseness and personality, and a are persuaded, are to be referred much more much more Theatrical tone, or a taste for to the circumstances of the profession, than forced and exaggerated sentiments, than would to the national character of those who exer- be tolerated on this side of the Channel. cise it; and the more redundant eloquence of the former attribute, the continual, and, we the Irish bar, is better explained, probably, by must say, most indecent altercations that are the smaller quantity of business in their courts, recorded in these volumes between the Bench than by the greater vivacity of their fancy, or and the Bar, are certainly the most flagrant the warmth of their hearts. We in Scotland and offensive examples. In some cases the have also a forensic eloquence of our own-Judges were perhaps the aggressors—but the more speculative, discursive, and ambitious than that of England-but less poetical and passionate than that of Ireland; and the peculiarity might be plausibly ascribed, here also, to the imputed character of the nation, as distinguished for logical acuteness and intrepid questioning of authority, rather than for richness of imagination, or promptitude of feeling.

We do not mean, however, altogether to deny the existence or the operation of these causes-but we think the effect is produced chiefly by others of a more vulgar description. The small number of Courts and Judges in England-compared to its great wealth, population, and business-has made brevity and despatch not only important but indispensable qualifications in an advocate in great practice, since it would be physically impossible either for him or for the Courts to get through their business without them. All mere ornamental speaking, therefore, is not only severely discountenanced, but absolutely debarred; and the most technical, direct, and authoritative views of the case alone can be listened to. But judicial time, to use the language of Bentham is not of the same high value, either in Ireland or in Scotland; and the pleaders of those

Of

violence and indecorum is almost wholly on the side of the Counsel; and the excess and intemperance of their replies generally goes far beyond any thing for which an apology can be found in the provocation that had been given. A very striking instance occurs in an early part of Mr. Curran's history, where he is said to have observed, upon an opinion delivered by Judge Robinson, "that he had never met with the law as laid down by his Lordship in any book in his library;" and, upon his Lordship rejoining, somewhat scornfully, "that he suspected his library was very small," the offended barrister, in allusion to the known fact of the Judge having recently published some anonymous pamphlets, thought fit to reply, that "his library might be small, but he thanked Heaven that, among his books, there were none of the wretched productions of the frantic pamphleteers of the day. I find it more instructive, my lord, to study good works than to compose bad ones! My books may be few, but the title-pages give me the writers' names-my shelf is not disgraced by any of such rank absurdity that their very authors are ashamed to own them." (p. 122.) On another occasion, when he was proceeding in an argument with his charac

but for a long time could find no advocate hardy enough to undertake his cause!—and when young Curran at last made offer of his services, he was blamed and pitied by ali his prudent friends for his romantic and Quixotic rashness.

teristic impetuosity, the presiding Judge hav-influence with the priest to obtain a remission. ing called to the Sheriff to be ready to take His Lordship went accordingly to the cabin into custody any one who should disturb the of the aged pastor, who came bareheaded to decorum of the Court, the sensitive counsellor the door with his missal in his hand, and afat once applying the notice to himself, is re- ter hearing the application. respectfully anported to have broken out into the following swered, that the sentence having been imposed incredible apostrophe-" Do, Mr. Sheriff," re- by the Bishop, could only be relaxed by the plied Mr. Curran, go and get ready my dun- same authority and that he had no right or geon! Prepare a bed of straw for me; and power to interfere with it. The noble mediupon that bed I shall to-night repose with more ator, on this struck the old man! and drove tranquillity than I should enjoy were I sitting him with repeated blows from his presence. upon that bench, with a consciousness that I The priest then brought his action of damages disgraced it!"—Even his reply to Lord Clare, when interrupted by him in an argument before the Privy Council, seems to us much more petulant than severe. His Lordship, it seems, had admonished him that he was wandering from the question; and Mr. C. after some general observations, replied, "I am aware,. my lords, that truth is to be sought only by slow and painful progress: I know also that error is in its nature flippant and compendious; it hops with airy and fastidious levity over proofs and arguments, and perches upon assertion, which it calls conclusion."-To Lord Clare, however, Mr. C. had every possible temptation to be intractable and impertinent. But even to his best friends, when placed on the seat of judgment, he could not always forbear a similar petulance. Lord Avonmore was always most kind and indulgent to him but he too was sometimes in the habit, it seems, of checking his wanderings, and sometimes of too impatiently anticipating his conclusions. Upon one of these occasions, and in the middle of a solemn argument, we are called on to admire the following piece of vulgar and farcical stupidity, as a specimen of Mr. C's most judicious pleasantry:

"Perhaps, my lord, I am straying; but you must impute it to the extreme agitation of my mind. I have just witnessed so dreadful a circumstance, that my imagination has not yet recovered from the shock.-His lordship was now all attention. On my way to court, my lord, as I passed by one of the markets, I observed a butcher proceeding to slaughter a calf. Just as his hand was raised, a lovely little child approached him unperceived, and, terrible to relate-I still see the life-blood gushing out-the poor child's bosom was under his hand, when he plunged his knife into—into’- Into the bosom of the child!' cried out the judge, with much emotion— into the neck of the calf, my lord; but your lordship sometimes anticipates!'

But this is not quite fair.-There is no more such nonsense in the book-nor any other Iricism so discreditable to the taste either of its hero or its author. There are plenty of traits, however, that make one blush for the degradation, and shudder at the government of that magnificent country.-One of the most striking is supplied by an event in the early part of Mr. C's professional history, and one to which he is here said to have been indebted for his first celebrity. A nobleman of great weight and influence in the country-we gladly suppress his name, though it is given in the book-had a mistress, whose brother being a Catholic, had, for some offence, been sentenced to ecclesiastical penance-and the young woman solicited her keeper to use his

These facts speak volumes as to the utter perversion of moral feeling that is produced by unjust laws, and the habits to which they give rise. No nation is so brave or so generous as the Irish,—and yet an Irish nobleman could be guilty of the brutality of striking an aged Ecclesiastic without derogating from his dig nity or honour.-No body of men could be more intrepid and gallant than the leaders of the Irish bar; and yet it was thought too daring and presumptuous for any of them to assist the sufferer in obtaining redress for an outrage like this. In England, those things are inconceivable: But the readers of Inish history are aware, that where the question was between Peer and Peasant-and still more when it was between Protestant and Catholic

that

the barristers had cause for apprehension. It was but about forty years before, that upon a Catholic bringing an action for the recovery of his confiscated estates, the Irish House of all barristers, solicitors, attomeys, and proctors Commons publicly voted a resolution, who should be concerned for him, should be considered as public enemies!" This was in 1735. In 1780, however, Mr. C. found the service not quite so dangerous; and by great eloquence and exertion extorted a reluctant verdict, and thirty guineas of damages, from a Protestant Jury. The sequel of the affair was not less characteristic. In the first place, it involved the advocate in a duel with a witness whom he had rather outrageously abused

and, in the next place, it was thought sufficient to justify a public notification to him, on the part of the noble defendant, that his audacity should be punished by excluding him from all professional employment wherever his influence could extend. The insolence of such a communication might well have warranted a warlike reply: But Mr. C. expressed his contempt in a gayer, and not less effectual manner. Pretending to musunderstand the tenor of the message, he answered aloud, in the hearing of his friends, My good sir, you may tell his lordship, that it is in vain for him to be proposing terms of accommodation; for after what has happened, I protest I think, while I live, I never can hold a brief for him or one of his family." The threat indeed, proved as impotent as it was pitiful: for the spirit and talent which the yours

and we cannot deny our nationality the pleasure of his honest testimony. He writes thus to a friend soon after his arrival on our shore:I am greatly delighted with this country. You see no trace here of the devil working against the wisdom and beneficence of God, and torturing and degrading his creatures. It may seem the romaneing of travelling; but I am satisfied of the fact, that the poorest man here has his children taught to read and write, and that in every house is found a Bible, and in almost every house a clock: And the fruits of this are manifest in the intelligence and manners of all ranks. In Scotland, what a work have the four-and-twenty letters to show for themselves! the natural enemies of vice, and folly, and slavery the great sowers, but the still greater weeders, of the human soil. Nowhere can you see here the cringing hypocrisy of dissembled detestation, so inseparable from oppression: and as little do you meet the hard, and dull, and right-lined angles of the southern visage; you find the notion exact and the phrase direct, with the natural tone of the Scot

tish muse.

"The first night, at Ballintray, the landlord attended us at supper; he would do so, though we begged him not. We talked to him of the cultivation of potatoes. I said, I wondered at his taking them in place of his native food, oatmeal, so much more substantial. His answer struck me as very characteristic of the genius of Scotland-frugal, tender, and picturesque. Sir,' said he, we are not so much i' the wrong as you think; the tilth is they are swift i' the cooking, they take little fuel; and then it is pleasant to see the gude wife wi' a' her bairns aboot the pot, and each wi' a potatoe in its hand.'"-Vol. ii. pp. 254-256.

easy,

There are various other interesting letters in these volumes, and in particular a long one to the Duke of Sussex, in favour of Catholic Emancipation; but we can no longer afford room for extracts, and must indeed hurry through our abstract of what remains to be noticed of his life. He canvassed the burgh of Newry unsuccessfully in 1812. His health failed very much in 1813; and the year after, he resigned his situation, and came over to London in his way to France. He seems at no time to have had much relish for English society. In one of his early letters, he complains of "the proud awkward sulk" of London company, and now he characterises it with still greater severity:

In France, nowever, he was not much bet ter off-and returned, complaining of a constitutional dejection, "for which he could find no remedy in water or in wine." He rejoices in the downfall of Bonaparte; and is of opinion that the Revolution had thrown that country a century back. In spring 1817, he began to sink rapidly; and had a slight paralytic attack in one of his hands. He proposed to try another visit to France; and still complained of the depression of his spirits:-" he had a mountain of lead (he said) on his heart." Early in October, he had a very severe shock of apoplexy, and lingered till the 14th, when he expired in his 68th year.

There is a very able and eloquent chapter on the character of Mr. Curran's eloquenceencomiastic of course, but written with great temper, talent, and discrimination. Its charm and its defects, the learned author refers to the state of genuine passion and vehement emotion in which all his best performances were delivered; and speaks of its effects on his auditors of all descriptions, in terms which can leave no doubt of its substantial excellence. We cannot now enter into these rhetori cal disquisitions-though they are full of interest and instruction to the lovers of oratory. It is more within our province to notice, that he is here said to have spoken extempore at his first coming to the Bar; but when his rising reputation made him more chary of his fame, he tried for some time to write down, and commit to memory, the more important parts of his pleadings. The result, however, was not at all encouraging: and he soon laid aside his pen so entirely, as scarcely even to make any notes in preparation. He meditated his subjects, however, when strolling in his garden, or more frequently while idling over his violin; and often prepared, in this way, those splendid passages and groups of images with which he was afterwards to dazzle and enchant his admirers. The only notes he made were often of the metaphors he proposed to employ-and these of the utmost brevity. For the grand peroration, for example, in H. Rowan's case, his notes were as follows:-"Character of Mr. R.- Furnace Rebellion-smotheredStalks-Redeeming Spirit." From such slight hints he spoke fearlessly-and without cause for fear. With the help of such a scanty chart, he plunged boldly into the unbuoyed channel of his cause; and trusted himself to the torrent of his own eloquence, with no better guidance than such landmarks as these. It almost invariably happened, however, that the experiment succeeded; "that his own And again, a little after,— expectations were far exceeded; and that, when his mind came to be more intensely "England is not a place for society. It is 100 heated by his subject, and by that inspiring cold, too vain, without pride enough to be hum-confidence which a public audience seldom ble, drowned in dull fantastical formality, vulgarized by rank without talent, and talent foolishly recom- fails to infuse into all who are sufficiently mending itself by weight rather than by fashion-gifted to receive it, a multitude of new ideas, a perpetual war between the disappointed preten- adding vigour or ornament, were given off; sion of talent and the stupid overweening of affect ed patronage; means without enjoyment, pursuits without an object, and society without conversation or intercourse: Perhaps they manage this better in France-a few days, I think, will enable me to decide."-Vol. ii. pp. 345, 346.

"I question if it is much better in Paris. Here the parade is gross, and cold, and vulgar; there it is, no doubt, more flippant, and the attitude more graceful; but in either place is not Society equally a tyrant and a slave? The judgment despises it. and the heart renounces it. We seek it because we are idle; we are idle because we are silly; and the natural remedy is some social intercourse, of which a few drops would restore; but we swallow the whole vial, and are sicker of the remedy than we were of the disease."-Vol. ii. pp. 337, 338.

and it also happened, that, in the same prolific moments, and as their almost inevitable consequence, some crude and fantastic notions escaped; which, if they impeach their author's taste, at least leave him the merit of a

tincture of it to such writers as Milton, Bacon, or Taylor. There is fancy and figure enough certainly in their compositions: But there is no intoxication of the fancy, and no rioting and revelling among figures-no ungoverned and ungovernable impulse-no fond dalliance with metaphors-no mad and headlong pursuit of brilliant images and passionate expressions - no lingering among tropes and melodies-no giddy bandying of antitheses and allusions-no craving, in short, for perpetual glitter, and panting after effect, till both speaker and hearer are lost in the splendid confusion, and the argument evaporates in the heat which was meant to enforce it. This is perhaps too strongly put; but there are large portions of Mr. C.'s Speeches to which we think the substance of the description will apply. Take, for instance, a passage, very much praised in the work before us, in his argument in Judge Johnson's case,—an argument, it will be remembered, on a point of law, and addressed not to a Jury, but to a Judge.

The Juries among whom he was thrown, and for whom he originally formed his style, were not fastidious critics; they were more usually men abounding in rude unpolished sympathies, and who were ready to surrender the treasure, of which they scarcely knew the value, to him that offered them the most alluring toys. Whatever might have been his own better taste, as an advocate he soon discovered, that the surest way to persuade was to conciliate by amusing them. With them he found that his imagination might revel unrestrained; that, when once the work of intoxication was begun, every wayward fancy and wild expression was as acceptable and effectual as the most refined wit; and that the favour which they would have refused to the unattractive reasoner, or to the too distant and formal orator, they had not the firmness to withhold, when solicited with the gay persuasive familiarity of a companion. These careless or licentious habits, encouraged by early applause and victory, were never thrown aside; and we can observe, in almost all his productions, no matter how august the audience, or how solemn the occasion, that his mind is perpetually relapsing into its primi-struction has received the sanction of another Court, "I am not ignorant that this extraordinary contive indulgences."-pp. 412, 413. nor of the surprise and dismay with which it smote The learned author closes this very able upon the general heart of the Bar. I am aware that and eloquent dissertation with some remarks I may have the mortification of being told, in anupon what he says is now denominated the foresee in what confusion I shall hang down my other country, of that unhappy decision; and I Irish school of eloquence; and seems inclined head when I am told of it. But I cherish, too, the to deny that its profusion of imagery implies consolatory hope, that I shall be able to tell them, any deficiency, or even neglect of argument. that I had an old and learned friend, whom I would As we had some share, we believe, in impo- put above all the sweepings of their Hall (no great sing this denomination, we may be pardoned compliment, we should think), who was of a different opinion-who had derived his ideas of civil for feeling some little anxiety that it should liberty from the purest fountains of Athens and of be rightly understood; and beg leave there- Rome-who had fed the youthful vigour of his fore to say, that we are as far as possible from studious mind with the theoretic knowledge of their holding, that the greatest richness of imagery wisest philosophers and statesmen-and who had necessarily excludes close or accurate reason-refined that theory into the quick and exquisite ing; holding, on the contrary, that it is fre-sensibility of moral instinct, by contemplating the quently its most appropriate vehicle and natural exponentas in Lord Bacon, Lord Chatham, and Jeremy Taylor. But the eloquence we wished to characterise, is that where the figures and ornaments of speech do interfere with its substantial object-where fancy is not ministrant but predominant— where the imagination is not merely awakened, but intoxicated-and either overlays and obscures the sense, or frolics and gambols around it, to the disturbance of its march, and the weakening of its array for the contest-And of this kind, we still humbly think, was the eloquence of Mr. Curran.

His biographer says, indeed, that it is a mistake to call it Irish, because Swift and Goldsmith had none of it-and Milton and Bacon and Chatham had much; and moreover, that Burke and Grattan and Curran had each a distinctive style of eloquence, and ought not to be classed together. How old the style may be in Ireland, we cannot undertake to say-though we think there are traces of it in Ossian. We would observe too, that, though born in Ireland, neither Swift nor Goldsmith were trained in the Irish school, or worked for the Irish market; and we have already said, that it is totally to mistake our conception of the style in question, to ascribe any

practice of their most illustrious examples-by dwelling on the sweet-souled piety of Cimon-on the anticipated Christianity of Socrates--on the gallant and pathetic patriotism of Epaminondas— on that pure austerity of Fabricius, whom to move than to have pushed the sun from his course! I from his integrity would have been more difficult would add, that if he had seemed to hesitate, it

was but for a moment-that his hesitation was like

the passing cloud that floats across the morning sun, and hides it from the view, and does so for a moment hide it, by involving the spectator without even soothing hope I draw from the dearest and tenderest approaching the face of the luminary. And this recollections of my life-from the remembrance of those attic nights, and those refections of the gods, which we have spent with those admired, and respected, and beloved companions, who have gone before us; over whose ashes the most precious tears of Ireland have been shed. [Here Lord Avonmore could not refrain from bursting into tears.] Yes, my good Lord. I see you do not forget them. I see their sacred forms passing in sad review before your memory. I see your pained and softened fancy recalling those happy meetings, where the innocent enjoyment of social mirth became expanded into the nobler warmth of social virtue, and the horizon of the board became enlarged into the horizon of man-where the swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous purposewhere my slenderer and younger taper imbibed its borrowed light from the more matured and redundant fountain of yours."-Vol. i. pp. 139-148.

Now, we must candidly confess, that we