rhyming tragedies on the French models; and would Waiter Scott ever have been known, if, instead of pouring forth his inspiration in the picturesque form. of the ancient ballad, he had written upon a severely dramatic model? During his occasional residence in London, Grattan's mind was a good deal unsettled. He did not appear to enter into sympathy with the social character of the metropolis Although very far from being a "puritan" in his habits, he was (unlike most Irishman) not given to conviviality. His existence was comparatively isolated; nor did he show any decided inclination to mingle with much company. In those times, society was more open to strangers than it is at present. Clubs were not established, and the men of letters-the actors— the gay and clever loungers upon town-were all to be met with at the fashionable taverns. The Grecian Coffee-house was at that time the favourite lounge for young Irishmen. But though Grattan occasionally visited it, he was not one of its habitual frequenters. He had an early rencontre there with the odious Duigenan. That person, on his first introduction to young Grattan, like a mean varlet thought that servility would ingratiate him with his new acquaintance. It so chanced that Recorder Grattan and the celebrated Doctor Lucas were political foes; and accordingly the sycophant Duigenan launched into vituperation of Lucas. But Grattan, to Duigenan's surprise, espoused the cause of the popular champion with considerable warinth. High words ensued, and Robert Day was apprehensive of a quarrel on the spot. In the evening Grattan again repaired to the Grecian with a long sword by his side; but Duigenau did not appear, though he wrote a comic poem on Grattan's droll appearance upon that occasion. Of Grattan's habit of declaiming to himself numerous stories are preserved. His landlady in London wrote to his friends requesting that he should be removed, as he was always pacing her garden, addressing some person whom he called "Mr. Speaker", and she was in doubt of the sanity of her lodger! Judge Day records an anecdote of Grattan's having in one of his moonlight rambles in Windsor Forest, stopped at a gibbet, whose cliains he apostrophized m his usual animated strain. He was suddenly tapped upon his shoulder, by a very prosaic personage, who inquired, "How the Devil did you get down?" In 1768, Grattan's eldest sister was married to Mr. Gervase Parker Bushe, and a very brilliant circle of society was thereby opened to the young Templar.. The county of Kilkenny was then inhabited by a very gay and spirited gentry, characterized not merely by their love of sport, but of refined and elegant pleasures. Private theatricals were maintained amongst them with considerable spirit, and foremost in that joyous company was Henry Flood, with whom Grattan then for the first time made acquaintance. For the next four or five years of his life he led a very gay existence, and was a member of the most brilliant circles of Irish society. He was naturally, like all Irishmen, very fond of the theatre, and he took a prominent part in the private theatricals of those days. He does not seem to have been well adapted for histrionic excellence. Ilis manner was abrupt and violent; his nature too vehement and not sufliciently mercurial; his delivery disagreeable from a redundancy of uncouth ges tures; and his voice without agreeable modulation. Indeed, from his acting, no one would have augured the presence of an orator. But Grattan was more deficient in the mechanical parts of public speaking than any orator of his age. In 1774, at Marlay, the seat of the La Touche family, he acted in the Mask of Comus, in company with Hussey Burgh, Gervase Bushe, and seventeen (!) La Touches. The epilogue, spoken by Miss La Touche, afterwards Countess o Lanesborough (so cclebrated for her beauty), was written by Grattan, and exhibits more social liveliness than might have been expected from the tone of his mind. It contains some very nervous couplets: But why choose COMUS? COMUs won't go down; That leads the soul unconsciously astray Where, about good, fierce rakes are always ranting, And sweet, sad dialogue, with feeling nice, The state of Grattan's mind during the first years of his manhood, may be imagined from one of his early letters to his friend Broome. He writes o: himself in the following terms: "A breast the slave of a thousand discordan passions; now intoxicated with company-now saddening in solitude; sometimes disturbed with hope-sometimes depressed with despair, and equally ravaged with each; disgusted often, and often precipitately enamoured—all this makes me poor in my own esteem". From the time that he had first become a Templar, up to his thirtieth year he lived a great deal in London: and as he increased in years, he appears ic have acquired considerable relish for the public amusements of the metropolis he was naturally fond of music, and his ear was most susceptible to the beauty of cadence. The Italian Opera was one of his great enjoyments; and whenever he was not indulging in meditation, he was either listening to some Italian syren, or intently watching the course of politics in the Houses of Lords and Commons. In fact, with all his moodiness and wayward impulses, he appears to have led a most delightful existence, and gradually to have become a more brilliant and accomplished man of the world, than might have been anticipated from one who had lived in self-imposed seclusion. His acquaintances might have taken him for an idle man, but the "strenua inertia” of Grattan was not to be confounded with the habitual indolence of a loitering dandy. He read many of the first-rate authors with attention, and the text writers on politics appear to have been studied by him with much care. By study and observation he became well qualified to offer an opinion in grave matters, his discernment of character was generally correct, and his descriptions of men and things were vivid and characteristic, though tinged with his singular mannerism. The reader must be referred to his correspondence with Broome and others, for many suggestive traits of his character. Few circumstances, however, had more effect on the life of Grattan, than his close intimacy with the famous Henry Flood. It will be necessary to mark this acquaintance, which was attended with very important results. In the year 1770, and thereabouts, Flood was unquestionably the first man n Ireland, possessed of public fame. By birth and property he was amongst the first Irish Commoners, and by character he was raised above them all. He may have had his equals in talent, but there was, from his first entrance to public life, a decided moral purpose in Henry Flood. He was bold, intractable, austere; ambitious both of power and popularity, and though "a candidate for contradictory honours", in the main he contrived to make his personal ambition subservient to his patriotic purposes. He was the first Irishman who obtained a reputation as a great parliamentary leader. In mere debating talent he was equalled, if not surpassed, by John Hely Hutchinson; but this latter person. with all his accomplishments, was a mere conventionalist-a courtier by his tastes, and a waiter on Providence by profession. Flood was, however, a man remarkable for much moral enthusiasm and ardent attachment to Ireland. Throughout all his life he laboured to raise his native land. Intimacy with such a man as Flood produced great effect on Grattan. Previously he had been merely a lounging politician-a virtuoso in matters of state importance. He had surveyed public questions from too remote a position, to share in their excitement; but he appears to have become an eager politician from his intercourse with Flood. The brilliant success which Flood had obtained as a public speaker, joined with his popularity and fame, naturally had effect on Grattan, who had been distinguished by Flood in social intercourse with a most marked complimentary attention. They read together a great deal; declaimed with each other, and acted in the same plays. In short, their personal friendship soon ripened into political sympathy. In this brief memoir the writer cannot diverge into a general narrative of the Irish politics of the last century; yet, it is hardly possible to understand the career of Grattan without comprehending the state of politics when he entered apon the public stage. Hence, a few additional words upon Henry Flood are absolutely necessary. In the progress of Irish Protestant Nationality, or Irish Legislative Independence, five persons chiefly attract the notice of the political historian. These are, first, Molyneux, who, in his "Case of Ireland", in peaced the legal authority of British Legislative power in Ireland; secondly, Swift, who created an Irish feeling amongst the English interest planted in Ireland, and by Lis mingled wit, public spirit, and literary talents, diffused Irish sentiments; thirdly, Doctor Lucas, who, imbibing the sentiments of Swift, practically asserted and maintained the legal principles of Molyneux; fourthly, Henry Flood, who first raised an Irish political party, on principles analogous to those on which the rival parties in England have been founded; and lastly, Henry Grattan, the most splendid and dazzling, though some have thought, not the most politically effective of them all. Of Molyneux and Swift it is needless to speak. Of the importance of Lucas in Irish politics, it is enough to say, that after having maintained the principles of Irish Independence, he was prosecuted by government, and compelled to quit Ireland, after which the House of Commons voted him to be an enemy to his country. The great Johnson honoured him after the following fashion, in a review of some medical publications of Lucas: "The Irish ministers drove him from his native country by a proclamation, in which they charged him with crimes which they never intended to be called to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and innocence. Let the man thus driven into exile for having been the friend of his country, be received in every other place as a conferrer of liberty; and let the tools of power be taught in time, that they may rob, but cannot impoverish". The first movement measure which gradually led to Irish Independence, was the Octennial Bill of 1768, and the original steps which led to that measure were, in the opinion c4 Lord Charlemont, due to the influence of Lucas. It has been said of him that "he raised his voice when all around was desolation and silence. He began with a corporation, and he ended with a kingdom". So much for the influence on politics which a virtuous and courageous citizen can obtain. Flood's great public effect on Irish politics was from 1761 to 1770-during the successive Viceroyalties of Lords Halifax, Northumberland, Weymouth, and Townshend. In those times he raised a powerful opposition party-a sort of national opposition, intended as a lasting depository of fixed public principles -which "should not fluctuate with the intrigues of the court nor with capricious fashions amongst the people". Previously, the British minister had been encountered in Ireland by a desultory opposition. The technical hostility of a Molyneux he did not fear, and the powers of a Swift could not be handed down to posterity, with his principles. The order to which the Lucases belonged necessarily cramped the extent of their social importance, though it could not forbid the exercise of their abilities. And the opposition offered to government by the Boyles, Ponsonbies, and Fitzgeralds, was of a personal character and not of a public importance; in objects factious, and in results futile. But Henry Flood la'd the basis in Ireland for a hereditary parliamentary opposition. He may have been very inconsistent with his own principlesthat is a matter of dispute; but it is matter of certainty that he founded an enduring Irish party, which, aided by events and the genius and patriotism of Grattan, obtained the legislative freedom of Ireland. Flood rallied to his political standard some of the first commoners in the country. He gave to his principles the advantage of aristocratic support. He proposed broad measures, in which all the public took interest, and labouring to make parliament tell upon the nation, he also sought out of doors to make popular influence react on the House of Commons. If Lucas had the merit of starting the claim of an Octennial Bill, Flood had the honour of advocating it with great oratorical power, and of wringing it from the administration of Lord Townshend in 1768. On two other public subjects of first-rate importance, he was strenuous, able, and convincing. These were the permanent erection of a constitutional military force in addition to the standing army-a kind of national militia; and the third subject to which he applied himself was the exposition of the law of Poyning, on which he maintained the principles of Molyneux. These questions were treated by Flood with great ability; and he acquired considerable popularity by his vigorous opposition to the Townshend Viceroyalty. But, in the succeeding Harcourt Viceroyalty, Flood, to the surprise of his party, consented to accept a Vice-treasurership, one of the principal State Offices at that time existing in Ireland. He complained that he had been betrayed by many of his friends; that they had deserted him in his most important movements; and roundly asserted that he could serve his country more effectually in office than out of it. He maintained that the Irish patriots could do nothing without power-that power in Ireland depended on office, because the influence of the crown was so great, that it was not possible to oppose it effectually, and the only way to serve the country was in office. It may be added that the Harcourt Administration was a very different one from Lord Townshend's--and that Flood appears to have made his office useful to the public. Posterity has acquitted him of having acted from mean or paltry motives. A constructive view has frequently been taken of Flood's career, in which it has been dexterously urged that the honour of the Revolution of 1782 belongs as much to Flood as to Grattan. But such an opinion, however ingeniously supported, is preposterous. A Revolution of that nature could not be conducted by one man, and its honour carried off by another, in the face of a whole nation. The voice of that age the tradition of posterity and historical examination of the period-all concur in indicating GRATTAN as the man of 1782. Nevertheless, it is matter of certainty, that Flood produced vast political effect in favour of Ireland, previous to the entrance of Grattan into parliament. Indeed, it is not improbable, that the great success which Flood obtained in working the Irish cause, in.... duced Grattan to look to the Irish parliament as the scene of his labours. fle was not fond of Dublin society, and possibly dreamed of entering the English House of Commons. But Flood seems to have sucked him into the vortex of Irish politics. In Barataniana Grattan wrote several pieces (amongst others uis celebrated character of Lord Chatham); and, in fact, he was one of that party of which the ostensible leader was Henry Flood. In short, to sum up in a sentence, the influence of Flood upon Grattan appears to have been of this nature-viz., to determine Grattan's mind strongly towards Irish politics-to give him the notion that something great might be done in Ireland—and that a man of powers might win an European name on the comparatively restricted ground of Irish politics. The example, rather than the teaching of Flood, suggested to Grattan what he himself might do. Thus far have we traced the early development and formation of his personal character. We see that originally he was of a poetical nature, and that bis affections were of exquisite sensibility. His passionate love of nature-the vagueness of his early purpose-his wayward moods, reveal to us much of his interior structure. A certain lofty mien is also visible in his youthful character. we see also how he contracted the mannerism which adhered to him to the last, and how much influence was produced on him by the age in which he was educated. Other things also attract our notice. These are his exchange of poetry for politics, and the fascinating influence of the great Chatham, whose sublime and soaring eloquence appears to have made Grattan feel that the career of a mighty orator was as grand as the rapturous existence of a poet. And lastly, we perceive, that if his style was influenced by the last century in England, and by the oratory of Chatham, at his purposes were materially affected by the career of Henry Flood. But if Pitt helped to make him an orator, and if he were partly trained into politics by Flood-in eloquence or statesmanship Grattan was the copyist of neither. He was eminently original, as we will clearly observe in examining his public and historical career, to which we will now proceed. The public life of Grattan naturally resolves itself into two periods-from 1775 to 1800, in the Irish Parliament, and from 1801 to his death in 1820. His political course in the Irish Legislature may be examined under three heads, namely, 1. From his entrance on the public scene till the conclusion of the Revolution of 1782. 2. From 1783 to the declaration of war against France. 3. From 1793 to the Union. 1. On the 11th of December, 1775, he took his seat in the Irish House of Commons, as member for the borough of Charlemont, to which he was nominated by its noble owner. At that time Grattan was very well known in society, and his reputation for ability and eloquence was the cause of his introduction to Lord Charlemont. With that nobleman he continued to act for many years, and though their friendship was terminated abruptly, their respect for each other was not diminished. Lord Charlemont was more fitted to be the ornament of any cause than its support. He was a most amiable and worthy private character, but for the conduct of great affairs he was little suited. His historical reputation rests on his connexion with the party that brought about the events of 1782, and his claim to the gratitude of Irish posterity depends on his having given a conspicuous example of an Irish nobleman, with ardent local affections-a love for the people of his native land, and a desire to raise its honour and celebrity amongst nations. Of the liberal and useful arts he was a munificent patron and judicious supporter; with men distinguished for talent and probity he delighted to associate; his mind and manners proved the humanizing and elevating influence of the intellectual pursuits which he culti |