PHILLIPS'S CIIIIBAN AND HIS flOONTEMPORitillawl'

THERE is a fashion in wit and humOUVAnd even in oratory, as well as in lesser matters. Walpole relktes that when a certain lord, who passed for a wit and hunioxist,an4us, zenith, returned to „court after a twenty-years retirement,:,the world was disap- pointed on comparing the man with his traditional reputation what was once pleasantry seemed nothing but- strangeness. 'Had there been a critic among the courtiers,. this resuscitation of.'Sn unfashionable fashion, not only in its habit as it lived but \vital the very life itself, would have been a subject of considerable inta.., rest. Some such attraction belongs to the book 'before -us. Al though the work has been so revisedand added to that it`may be said to be almost rewritten, yet the original structure and stock remain pretty much what they were on its first ap.pearanee many years-ago. The best jokes of.-Curran were so pointed and felici- tous, as Irish repartee, that they will last as long es-the language; but some of his stories with a sting in their tail were so snakelike in their length, that now, when their day has passed, they remind one of Goldsmith's repetition of the greens and Turnham Green, that was " very good wit when he heard it." The oratory of Curran has all but perished. Some of his best speeches were not reported at all : in his day, .reporting, especially in Ireland, was so little understood, that but a poor idea of the character-of the orator can be gained from those which were taken down. Curran, however, is by no means the only person in the volume. Grattan, Flood, Fitzgibbon, Hussey Burgh, and indeed all the remarkable contemporaries of Grattan, figure in its pages. Some of their speeches have fared better than Curran's ; and -we must say that the specimens do not impress us. There is something so unreal, so theatrical, so mock heroic about their loftier effusions, and so vul- garly Irish about their invective, that it inclines one to place " the

y of great men" that,figured in .Dublin, for thirty years be- ore the -Union, somewhat lower than their admirers rate them:

though it is true that " Young Ireland"- of late so parodied their peculiarities that the original has suffered from the imitation. The social morale, or propriety of the .period in-any country, was ques tionable and coarse enough; but in Ireland,it was lax to a.degree. Mr. Phillips was not exactly trained in this society, but he was born into it ; and he sketches it, or-sketched it some thirty years ago, with a tolerant zest that indicates the men with more life than the critical Englishman of the present day would have done.

Among all the men who figure in these pages, lor who perhaps figure in any es, Curran was unquestionably the most Irish.

Goldsmith and urke had, in logical phrase, passed from the par- ticular into the universal; Flood, Grattan himself, and many others, were as much Saxon as Milesian. The prejudices, manner, and style might be Irish; but the nobler part of them, the intellect and thought, were English. OUT= was Irish throughout. The son of a peasant or something near a peasant, he passed his boy- hood among the peasantry ; narrow circumstances still kept him much among the people during his youth and early manhood ; na- tive disposition, the habits of his day, and the -opportunities of his profession, gave him continual opportunity of -continuing his-ob- servation 611 he became Master of the 1/0113. But Curran's Irish character was not merely acquired knowledge--it was ifa him. His readiness, his repartee, his wit, was Irish, carried to a very high pitch, if not to perfection. His versatility of manner and of feel- mg—for no doubt he really felt, though the-feeling might be trans- ient—was Celtic all over. Some moral weaknesses, which Mr. Phillips tenderly-skims over, and tastes which may be called, accord- ing to temper, genial or over-free, were also national. If there was truth in his enemies' accusation of elosefistedness, it is fairly chargeable to the impression left by early difficulties. Beyond a theatrical -style in telling his stories, it does not seem that he had much of the Irish love of display : the constitutional melancholy in his temperament seems to have subdued the wild- ness of Milesian blood. His oratory appear to have been soberer than that of many of his contemporaries who had more of the Saxon in other respects. He has greater reality about him. His images might be coarse and even horrid, but they were real ; there was little or no turgidness in Curran. Thus, his picture of Stuart Judges (supposed, however, to have had a personal application) is not inflated, though loathsome. "—when the devoted benches of public justice were filled by some of those foundlings of fortune, who, overwhelmed in the torrent of corruption at an ri early period, lay at the bottom like drowned bodies while sanity remained in them, but at length, becoming buoyant by putrefaction, they rose as they rotted, and floated to the surface of the polluted stream where they were drifted along, the objects of terror and contagion and abonlination."

The following passage gives a good idea of Curran's manner, and the notions of the times. It is from.the trial of the two Sheares, and was an attack upon the Castle witness Armstrong, a reputed infidel.

"Upon what areyou to found your verdict ? Upon your oaths. And what are they to be founded upon ? Upon the oath of the witness. And what is that founded upon? Upon this, and this only, that he does believe there is an eternal God—an intelligent Supreme Existence—capable of in- flicting eternal punishment for offences, or conferring eternal compensation upon man, after, he has passed the boundary of the grave. But where the witness believes that he is possessed of a perishing soul, and that there is nothing upon which punishment or reward can be exerted, he proceeds, re- gardless of the number of his offences, and undisturbed by the terrors of excited fancy, which might save you from the fear that your verdict is

founded uponp i

erjury. •Suppose he imagine that the body is actuated by • Curran and his Contemporaries. By Charles Phillips, Esq.,-A.B., one of her Maleetty's Commissioners of the Court for the Relief-of Insolvent Debtors. Pub- lished by Blackwood and Sons.

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his notions4fauniese his opiaielt of the beautiful system frtiraeld mighty hand to- .be, thatit sealL.follyandblindness; compared to ills matt, ner in which hexonaidershimself.to-haveffieen-created, or his aborninellle? heart ,00nceiveshiaffileas/lor:hia,abominable• tongue communicates his Lions ; suppose him, I say,daIlliak so—what -is perjury to him ? ' Ha needs no (weed, if le thinks his.aniserable. 'body can. take -eternal refuge in- the grave,. and the last. pa & oflissiostails sends Masora into annihilation! He laughs at the idea.of eternal juaticerandtella.yeathatthe grave :into which he .sinks as a log,: forme.ansintrenehment Arounitlithe throne of,;Gatkinadi-eiti, vengeance of exasperatedijasticalewroado al": I :Tian. e lad Leda:: " iJo you.not feeklinyfellow*commtryniiit,tia siirt.bf anticipated, contteigtieitt in reflecting uponahlesdeligion wh.ieln-geve.ue comfort iu our eirlytdajoi;a• enabled us to sustainalle strokeat.afiliction,aind-qmdeared us.to ane+asts-e then; and when wetsee onelnimals sinking into Affieeartiii linens withi tLa expecstation tirat aye triseiagainthrit we /bat Isleep,for a while, to wakoloa" ever? But what kind of communication. can ren ffiold, whatuitterphange, expeet,.what confidencephree, that abjeet-ziktve-5-4that condemned/ .rfea--' paired, Of wretch—who- acts -widerthe idea- that Ire only:the folly of a-me- went, that he.cannot step beyond:the threshold of the grave ? That which is an object of terror to The- beat and of hope to the- confiding, is to him con- tempt or despair. "Bear with me; I feel my heart running away with me : the worst men only can be cool. What is the law of this country ?. If the witness does net behove in God, or in a future state, you cannot swear. him. What swear him upon? Is it upon the book or the leaf? You might as well swear him by a bramble or a corp. The ceremony of kissing and only the external sym- bol by which man seals himself to the precept, and say-s, 'May God so help me as .I swear the truth!' He is then attached to the.Divinity on condition of telling truth; and he expects mercy from Heaven as he performs his undertaking. But the infidel, by what can.you catch his soul? Or-by what can you hold it? YOu repulse him from giving evidence, for he has no con- science, no hope to cheer him, no punishment to dread."

In Ireland the power of Curran as an advocate was equal, to that of Erskine m England, and comparisons have been drawn between-them. Perhaps the field of action was too different to allow of any-close parallel ; but in two important points, it strikes us, Curran would have had-the advantage : he was more versatile, and he never thought of himself or his oratory ; both of which were almost' uppermost 'with Erskine. To the general unscrupu- lousness of his -prefession and his time Curran seems to have added an indifference of his own. 'This' is Mr. Phillips's picture of him as an advocate.

" It was an object almost with every one to preoccupy so succassful or so dangerous an.advocate ; for, if he failed in inducing a jury to sympathize' withhis client, he at all events left a picture 'Allis adversary behind him which survived and embittered the advantages of victory. Nor was his elo- quence his only weapon ' • at cress-examination, the most difficult and by far the most hazardous 'part of a barrister's profession, he was quite inimitable. There was no plan which he did not detect, no web which he did not disen- tangle; and the -unfortunate wretch, who commenced with all the confidence of preconeerted perjury, never failed to retreat .before him in all the confa- sion.of exposure., Indeed, it was almost impossible for the guilty to-offer a successful resistance. He argued, lie eajoled, he ridiculed, he mimicked, he played off. he Various artillery of his talent upon the witness ; he would af- fect earnestness upon trifles, and levity upon subjects of the most serious import, until at length he succeeded in creating a security that. was fatal, or a sullenness that produced all the -consequences of prevarication. No matter how unfair the ,topic, he never failed-to avail himself of it; acting upon the principle that, in law as well as in war, every stratagem was admissible. If he was bard pressed, there was no peculiarity of person, no singularity of name, no eccentricity of profession at which he would sot grasp, trying- to confound the self-possession of the witness by the no matter how excited ridicule of the audience. To a witness of the name of -Halfpenny -he once began, Halfpenny, I see you're a rap, and for that reason, you shall be nailed to the counter." Halfpenny is sterling,' ex- claimed the opposite counsel. No, no,' said he; he's exactly like his own conscience—only copper washed.' This phrase alluded to an expression pre- viously used on-the trial." Besides very free living, a loose private morality, and little public principle • beyond a sett- of party consistency, duelling flourished' in full -vigour' when Curran- was in his prime. Mr. Phillips gives a few instances of it-among judges and great lawyers: "Lord Clare, afterwards Lord Chancellor, fought Curran, afterwards-Mas- ter of the Bads So much for equity.; but common-law also sustained its reputation.

" Clonmell, afterwards Chief Justice, fought two lords and. two common- ers—to show his impartiality, uo doubt.

" Medge' afterwards Baron, fought his-own brother-in-law and two Others.

"Toler, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, fought three per- sons,- one of whom was Fitzgerald—even in Ireland the fire-eater' par ex. cellence.

"Patterson, also afterwards Chief Justice of thesame court, fought three country gentlemen, one of them with guns, another with swords, and wounded them all !

"Corry, .Chancellor-of the 'Exchequer, fought Mr. Grattan. "The Provost of,Dublin University, a Privy Counsellor, fought Mr. Doyle, a.Master in Chancery, and several others. "His brother, Collector of the Customs, fought Lord Mountmorris. "Harry Deane Grady, Counsel to the Revenue, fought several _duels; and all hits/ adds•Barrington, with unction. "Curran fought four persons, one of whom was Egan, Chairman - of Rd-, mainham, afterwards his friend in the duel with Lord -Buckinghamshire. A duel in these days was often, the prelude to intimacy."

Although this work. begins with the birth and ends with the death of Curran, it is-not properly a biography, but what the title- page indicates—notices of "Curran and his Contemporaries." The -life of Curran is rather run over than narrated in order, the qualities and characteristics of the man being chiefly dwelt upon ; but he is very often lost sight of while his contemporaries are delineated. Death has enabled Mr. Phillips to add some of them to the present edition ; and amongst these O'Connell. The picture of the great agitator is truthful, and drawn in a friendly spirit ; but such was the character of the selfish demagogue -as de- veloped in his later years, that it leaves a bad impression of the man. The following is the defence of O'Connell against the charge of cowardice : but it seems hardly to establish the case; for al- though great skill (unless .consisting in quickness) on the part of one duellist may not avail against the skill of his antagonist, it

ence. The story, however, is curious and not UHL ■ 4' 441* .4791,Y4, story, 4uliPpflefLgPtJuneUtiNPO help? s^ ' ! 5 Tre, the vietun.of, accident Instead, of deadly aim. ' -Mn11 the occasion, in question he showed a. total absence of what is vul- gatItyatalled fear ; indeed, his .frigid determination was remarkable. Let those Who.4ead the fellowing,anecdotefiemember that he most-reluctantly

engaged lb the aombat „helms then ,the father of seven children ; and that itlwasen altenuativernidife or death frith him, D'Esterre being reputed anitmerrinprnarksman.1 !Being-one,of those -who accompanied O'Connell,- he heekoned ree. aside toandiatan on.,of the wry large field, which had a slightheoyerittr of maw. said he, this seems to me, not a per-

sonal but a political affair. I am obnoxious to a party, and they adopt a faleetpreiatweitoandimeatiff., shancnotsubmit to it. They have reckoned WA. {Bite their host4 ptomain youevikamone of the best shotain „Ireland at a .rass-kidlsa3ing, as, a, pribliounisnit ofeasidered it, a duty to prepare, for sty onnk pSotectiora#1 twat:Esteem& amp rgerideed figgreesion asp the present. Nona-, ream:hen what %Say to Imp laiodyehe ffiarilek- (thyself, andt ,lien! skill is -out of -thedquestion.; - but if T wax not, mrimliagemistmay hare bailee -id regret hiinhaving forced me into ,thisItsidlicto'd" The parties were thee viary.tsoon pliteedetilhe ground, at,-I titinlectaeekvepaces,ffistance ;. each having a ease of' Is With directional° 'fire when -'they chose after a given eignal. D' terre :rather agitated himself by making-a short speech, disclaiming all hostility to his Roman Catholic countrymen, and took his ground somewhat theatrically, crossing his pistols upon-his bosom. They fired almost together, and instantly on the signal. D'Esterre fell, mortally wounded, There was the greatest self-possession displayed by both."