circumstances, by appearing in the discharge of those domestic offices which are usually performed by deputy-nay, in less than a year, the rising prosperity of the family was visible in the luxury of a one-horse chair! Merit was now finding its proper level, and in this instance at least, we do not behold a great genius struggling with adversity, or sullied in the esti mation of vulgar minds, by undeserved poverty.

Mr. Curran's rise must have been rapid indeed, for in the year 1784, we find him dignified with a silk gown as king's counsel, and seated in the house of commons, where he seconded, with sportive humour, or sarcastic wit, every effort of the minority, or popular party, for the civil and religious emancipation of their country.

During the interesting period in which Mr. Fitzgibbon filled the office of attorney-general, Mr. Curran was one of the leaders of opposition; of course, he came into frequent collision with that dogmatical and haughty lawyer. The high tone of language with which the attorney-general endeavoured to overbear his political opponents, was more frequently combated by the wit, than by the arguments of Mr. Curran. If in this mode of warfare he did not always repel the blow, he at least evaded its force, and though he could not on every occasion boast of victory, he escaped defeat. In one of those contests, Mr. Curran sent home his wit, his ridicule, and his irony, in so sharp a style, that it produced a challenge. They fought in the Phoenix Park, and even there Mr. C. could not forbear his jokes, to the amusement of the seconds: as to his antagonist, he never was of a laughable humour on any occasion. Luckily they fired without effect, and there was no blood shed. Fate, it seems, had decreed, that Mr. F. should not die in the field of battle.

While Mr. Curran was continuing to be successful in his profession, he did not suffer any opportunities of enjoying pleasure to pass him. He was eagerly sought for in every company, and, by his never-failing fund of wit, he generally kept the table in a roar till the "envious sun peeped in at the

windows." He was indeed a man of uncommon gayety; he possessed an exquisite ear for music, and being no ordinary performer on the forte-piano, it was not strange that Mrs. Billington, who has captivated all the world by her magical powers, should, for a time, enchant Mr. C.

It has already been observed, that in his parliamentary character, Mr. Curran has always been attached to the popular cause. Indeed, from his first outset in life, he has been a steady friend to the legislative independence, to the free commerce, and a reform in the representation of Ireland. He uniformly declared against Mr. Pitt's crusade against France; and, with unremitted vigour, he opposed the fire and sword system against Ireland. Finding the inefficacy of his efforts, he withdrew, along with Mr. Grattan and some others, from the house of commons, and has since been known to the public only as an advocate. In this capacity, he has defended, with unrivalled talents, many of his countrymen, who, instead of glorying in a revolution, have unfortunately found themselves involved in all the horrors of a rebellion.

As a lawyer, Mr. Curran has not particularly distinguished himself; in this respect, he stands only on an equality with his brethren-it is as an advocate that he outstrips his competitors. In this character, he has not his equal in the three kingdoms. With Mr. Erskine he has been compared; but in the opinion of many judges, who have attentively considered the merits of both, the latter holds only the second place.

Mr. Erskine is an acute, grave, laborious, and frequently, an eloquent pleader; he turns the bright side of his client's case to full view, urges its strong parts with the force of a masculine understanding, and covers its weakness with very ingenious sophistry; but the jury still remember that Mr. Erskine is an advocate, and are on their guard against his arts. Mr. Curran, while he displays as much acuteness as Mr. Erskine, gets nearer to the hearts and passions of his auditors; and, by the ardour and animation of an eloquence neither forced nor fictitious, excludes every feeling and every

thought, but those which he wishes to excite. In the examination of witnesses, also, Mr. Curran is eminently powerful. In his manner he resembles Mr. Garrów, but excels even that gentleman in probing a rotten cause to the bottom, in eliciting truth from prevarication, and touching the secret strings that actuate the human heart

Of all the orators of the present day, Mr. Curran is thought to have the greatest resemblance to Mr. Sheridan, (both Irishmen,) considering the one in parliament, the other before a jury. They have nearly the same flow of ideas, and similar` flights of genius, alternately witty and pathetic, ironical and majestic. Whatever may have been the original, or the local merit of Demosthenes and Cicero, we do not now feel ourselves agitated by their orations; even in their best translations, their language is faint and uninteresting, when compared with Curran and Sheridan; the one, when he describes the miseries of the persecuted Irish; the other, when he paints the sufferings of the oppressed Hindoos.

But Mr. Curran's parliamentary speeches seldom possess the excellence which marks his professional defences.* They display much less of the mens divinor-they are irregular and desultory, and seem to be rather the play of his mind, than its serious exertions. They, however, abound with admirable strokes of sarcastic humour; and, though they assist but little in guiding decision, yet they produce a good effect, by holding up venality and corruption to public detestation.

Of classical learning, Mr. Curran seems to have early laid in a good store; his allusions to the Roman poets are frequent, and his quotations from thence are prompt and happy. It is a curious circumstance, that to study the Latin authors, and to commit to memory their remarkable passages, formed a part of Mr. Curran's preparation for the bar; and that he continues, from his experience of its utility, to recommend this practice to the student of law.

* Here the comparison with Mr. Erskine holds good. This gentleman does not excel in parliament; like Mr. Curran, it is only before a jury that he convinces, delights, and astonishes his auditors.

Deceived by his tout ensemble, several young Englishmen, who thought it a duty incumbent upon them to take every opportunity of quizzing the Paddies, have ventured to break their Birmingham wit upon our hero, but they soon found that they "had caught a tartar." His keen, sarcastic wit, and expressive gestures, turned the laugh against themselves, and made them quit the field with disgrace.

The people of England, in general, although situated almost within sight of Ireland, are wonderfully ignorant of that coun'try, and have the most absurd notions of the size, strength, and manners of her inhabitants. Accustomed to contemn the Irish, and blinded by pride and prejudice, Englishmen will not believe that any man can be born in Ireland with a capacity above the rank of a drayman or a haymaker. And when such men as are named below,* are mentioned as being natives of Ireland, John Bull is surprised and incredulous, for he thinks no man with brains can possibly be born out of Old England !+

Besides a long list of statesmen and warriors, driven to foreign countries, by restrictive laws, Ireland can boast of her Usher, Boyle, Denham, Congreve, Molyneux, Farquhar, Steele, Sloan, Berkley, Orrery, Parnel, Swift, Helsham, Robinson, Johnson, (Chrysal,) Sterne, Goldsmith, Tickel, Brooke, two Lelands, Hamilton, Kirwan, Bickerstaff, Macklin, Malone, Mrs. Sheridan, two Sheridans, Griffith, Courtnay, Burgh, Burke, Flood, Grattan, Currán, and others. What country in the world, of the same extent, can produce such a constellation of genius? And yet this is the despised nation!

†The English have contrived to throw the character of blundering on a nation who have been rendered unfortunate by their subjection to English injustice. A blundering Irishman is a constant fund of amusement on the English stage; many a play would be damned but for an Irishman's mistakes; and many a paragraph writer would starve, but or his far-fetched witticisms on the natives of Ireland. A late writer has defined a blunder to be "a laughable confusion of ideas,"‡ to which the vulgar and the ignorant of every country are liable, and none more than the English themselvesbut that the Irish can attain to the utmost purity and elegance of speaking and writing the English language, let the foregoing list of names and the following pages testify.

See Paddiana, and Edgeworth's Dissertation on Bulls.

With respect to person, Mr. Curran, like Mr. Grattan, is not much indebted to nature. His stature is low, and his whole appearance far from prepossessing. He has, however, an eye which emits the fire of genius, and is admirably calculated to transmit either the scintillations of fancy, or that deep and touching pathos of the heart, which he not only feels himself, but can so powerfully excite in others. Of dress, he is remarkably, perhaps culpably, negligent; he has often played Cicero in the senate, in the garb of Scrub! His negligence in this respect has sometimes led him into street adventures of a funny and ridiculous nature-but Mr. C. is exceedingly fond of whatever is humourous. He tells several stories of himself with infinite spirit, much to the amusement of the company; and all the high wits, and all the low wits of the city, can repeat a deal of comical sayings and doings of the great orator Curran.