pectful terms, expressed, in his answer, his difference of opinion on that queftion. A difcordance of fentiment, on a point of fuch moment, must have been fatal to that cordiality of affection which had alone reconciled him to the troublesome, though, highly honourable, fituation to which he had been raised: he therefore fhortly afterwards refigned his command; and government having for fome time before withdrawn its countenance from the volunteer army, it gradually dwindled into infignificance.

That his lordship was either morally or politically correct, in an opinion which tended to perpetuate political incapacities on account of religious tenets, would perhaps be difficult to prove; but that he acted on that occafion, as on all others, rather from a confcioufnefs of right, than a view to popular applause, cannot be doubted, for to his popularity nothing at that time could have been so fatal. There was, however, fomething in his character which difarmed political invective, even while aggravated by religious animofity. The most virulent of those who blamed his conduct feemed to hesitate in calling him a bigot.

Of a reform in the reprefentation his lordship has been long a friend, and was among the first of thofe noblemen and gentlemen, who, when the question was agitated, and the great difficulty appeared to be, how individuals fhould be fatisfied for the annihilation of their property, made an offer of a voluntary furrender of their boroughs to the public.

On the question of the regency, too, he adopted that fide which alone was thought compatible with the independance of Ireland. He was one of thofe, who, in oppofition to the partifans of Mr. Pitt, afferted the right of that kingdom to appoint its own regent; and, as they constituted a majority in the two houfes, they accordingly offered the regency to the heir apparent. For this, and fome other political offences, he was fhortly afterwards removed from

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the government of the county of Armagh, an office to which he might be almost faid to have an hereditary right.

In a mind like that of his lordship, cultivated, vigorous, and pure, error is feldom a plant of perennial growth. The opinion which he fo honeftly entertained, and fo boldly avowed to the volunteer army of 1784, he feems to have fince changed for thofe of a more liberal complexion, as he has fince fupported the Catholic claim to the elective franchise, which parliament acceded to in 1793, and is at present an advocate for what is called catholic emancipation.

Of that fyftem of coercion which preceded the late infurrection in Ireland, of the burning of villages, hanging their inhabitants, tranfporting perfons suspected without trial, ftrangling and whipping to extort confeffion, and billetting the military at free quarters in diftricts in which individuals had been disorderly, his lordship has been uniformly the declared enemy. He, therefore, was one of the very few who fupported Lord Moira in his parliamentary reprobation of these measures, and in recommending those of - peace and conciliation. Nothing, however, can be more remote from his character, than that of a factious man, or a fyftematic oppofitionist. He has fupported Great Britain in the war, merely because Great Britain was engaged in it, without any relation to the abstract merit of the conteft; and he has acceded chearfully to every law, and every meafure, which the government thought neceffary, against the affault of foreign force or domeftic difaffection.

Unexceptionable, however, as Lord Charlemont's political conduct has been, it is not as a politician that he is exclufively entitled to our regard. He is more highly eftimable, perhaps, as a man of tafte and literature. As a general fcholar, he has not his equal in the Irish Peerage. Poffeffing a respectable knowledge of the learned languages, he is also intimately acquainted with thofe of modern Europe, particularly the Italian, in which he is an adept. To his love

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of letters, Ireland owes, in a great measure, the establishment of the only literary fociety (except the university) which fhe poffeffes, namely, the Royal Irish Academy, which was incorporated by royal charter in 1786, and of which his lordship has, fince its foundation, been annually elected prefident. Of this office, he discharges the duties, con amore, conftantly attending its meetings, unless when ill health preyents, prefiding with a father's care over its concerns, and occafionally contributing to fill the pages of its tranfactions. In these volumes, his lordship has published three effays, which are highly refpectable; one on a contested paffage in Herodotus; another on an ancient cuftom at Meteline, with confiderations on its origin; and a third on the antiquity of the Woollen manufacture in Ireland, which he has proved from fome paffages in the Italian poets.

Thefe, however, conftitute but fmall part of what his lordship has written. To fome of his friends he has fhewn, at various times, materials for larger works. With them, it is to be feared, the public will not be favoured during his life; and they will, probably, be left to the mercy of a pofthumous editor.

Among the lovers and the judges of the fine arts, he holds a very confpicuous rank. At his houfe in Rutland-square, Dublin, is to be seen a most refpectable collection of the great mafters in painting and fculpture, both ancient and modern; and of his tafte in architecture, his temple of Marino, within a couple of miles of the metropolis, is a beautiful fpecimen.

In parliament he has never been a fpeaker, he feems to want nerves for an orator, and to be folicitous rather of the pleasures of study, than of those raptures which result from the involuntary bursts of an applauding auditory. In converfation he is communicative, affable, and cheerful, in an extraordinary degree; equally apt to catch as to impart fatisfaction nor is it the frippery of fancy which escapes him ;

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the effufions of his full mind flow like the waters of a deep river, at once placid and majestic, uniform and profound.

Of his time he is remarkable economical; every hour has its allotted occupation, nor is this arrangement varied but on occafions of confiderable moment. So regular is he even in his rides, that you might afcertain the time of the day to a minute by the fpot on which you find him. His figure is exceedingly venerable, and itriking. Upwards of fixty, his long grey hairs, and bending form, give him the appearance of much greater age, while the placidity and strength of his countenance irrefiftibly imprefs the idea, that wifdom and virtue have been the companions of his life. It is a remarkable circumstance, that the precarious ftate of his health, fince his partial recovery from the disaster of his youth, made it neceffary for him to use the cold bath throughout the year; and until lately, even in the depth of the severest winter, he did not dare to intermit the practice.

HENRY GRATTAN.

HENRY GRATTAN was born in the capital of Ireland, about the year 1751. His father, an eminent barrifter, though poffeffing confiderable talents, and `deriving a compe tent share of practice from the good opinion entertained of his skill and integrity by the citizens of Dublin, yet never rofe to any high legal fituation. The Recordership of the city, a place at that time worth about 600l. per annum, and to which the corporation elect, was the only office he ever filled. To wealth, accumulated by the industry or the fuccefs of his ancestors, Henry, therefore, could not look; he was accordingly taught early to depend for his future fame and fortune on his own exertions.

At the ufual time he was entered a ftudent of Trinity College, Dublin, where he was foon diftinguifhed as the powerful competitor of two clafs-fellows, whofe good fortune and talents have fince raised them to the highest fituations in

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the state, Mr. Fitzgibbon, now Chancellor of Ireland, and Mr. Fofter, the present Speaker of the House of Commons.

Of fome of the most fhining characters which the Dublin university has given to the world, it has been observed, that during their refidence in that feminary their talents were not exercifed, nor their powers known: Mr. Edmund Burke exhibits one memorable instance in behalf of this affertion : but in refpect to Mr. G. and his celebrated contemporaries, that collifion which refults from a rivalry of acquirements and talents, called forth a full exertion of the mental faculties, and they were therefore diftinguished as men poffeffing first-rate parts, before they were called to exhibit them on the theatre of life. After taking a degree, Mr. G. was, in 1772, called to the Irish Bar, and for a few years attended the four courts with an empty bag, and a mind too elastic to be confined to the forms of pleading, and too liberal to be occupied by the pursuits of a mere lawyer.

Difgufted at last with a profeffion, in which he perceived he would never rife but by habits to which he could not crouch, he retired, not wealthy, but poffeffing from his father, who was now dead, a patrimony, which, with economy, might have fecured him independence. It was not long before he was made known to Lord Charlemont, who had for fome time been returned to Ireland. By his Lordship, who has always fhewn equal fagacity in discovering and zeal in promoting genius, he was returned to parliament for his borough of Charlemont. Entering into the legislature under fuch aufpices, it was natural to expect that Mr. G. would become the advocate of his then fuffering and dependent country. Ireland, indeed, at that time, was in a state of perfect humiliation, being confidered merely as a province to the fifter country. Her legislature was a petty council, incapable of originating laws; and her courts of juftice fubordinate

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