Qualities of Grattan's eloquence. 417 transmission of an illustrious Irishman to a foreign legislature, and repugnant in corporation, with a new and uncongenial people, pulls down the pride of natural superiority, checks the active exercise of decaying talent--and has seated Mr. Grattan in the British Parliament, as an honourable memento of his Irish greatness." The manner of Grattan-his elocution-his tones his action are all peculiar. An observant critic, who heard his first speech on the Catholic Question, in the imperial parliament, May 12, 1805, has thus delineated these peculiarities. "Ungraceful in his action, harsh and monotonous in his tones; at times so rapid as to be followed with difficulty, and occasionally sinking his voice so low as to be scarcely audible; Mr. Grattan does not, at first, recommend him-' self to his audience. Novel in the arrangement of his matter, able in his arguments, his cloquence is of a new and peculiar stamp; it has no resemblance to the eloquence of any of our distinguished orators; it is not the roundness, the ore rotundo of Mr. Pitt; it is not the simple majesty of Mr. Fox; it is not the brilliancy of Mr. Sheridan. Occasionally, however, we caught a tint, a feature of resemblance to Mr. Burke, but he has not that commanding figure and manner, that volume of voice, that superabundant richness and fertility of fancy, that vast grasp and range of mind, which Mr. Burke possessed beyond all other created E e VOL. I. 418 His animated manner. beings. Mr. Grattan's is a distinct species of eloquence from that of any other man: he stands alone, and he is able to stand alone. " Let us contemplate his portrait drawn by another hand. "As a public speaker Mr. Grattan ranks in the highest class. In his speeches there is a grandeur which marks a mind of a superior order, and enforces at once reverence and admiration. On every subject which he treats he throws a radiance which enlightens without dazzling; and while it assists the judgment, delights the imagination. His style is always peculiar; it varies its character with the occasion. At one time close and energetic, it concentrates the force of his argument, and compels conviction; at another, diffuse, lofty, and magnificent, it plies itself to every faculty of the mind, charms our fancy, influences our will, and convinces our understanding. At all times his manuer is animated with a pleasing warmth, which renders it impossible to hear him without interest;-but on some occasions he exerts a power which is irresistible. Prostitution, under its influence, forgets for a moment the voice of the minister; and place, and pension, and peerage, have but a feeble hold even of the most degenerate. To the excellence of style he does not add the graces of action; it is forcible, indeed, and sometimes expressive, but it is seldem elegant, and never pleasing. For invective, to which Mr. Grattan has sometimes deigned to His engaging domestic character. 419 have recourse, his manner is better adapted than to the sedateness of cool disquisition; and yet invective is not that in which he principally excels; he is more fitted by nature, and happily the situa tion he has filled has more frequently called him to defend the rights of nations, and to pourtray the hopes, the fears, and the expectations of a magnanimous people, than to descend to a wordy contest with individuals; though when that contest has been instituted, the weapons of Mr. Grattan have been found sharp, if not polished, and capable of inflicting wounds which refuse to be healed." The amusing tourist, Sir John Carr, has communicated some particulars of this celebrated personage. "Upon quitting St. Valore," says he, "I paid a visit to that great man Grattan, whom I have with so much gratification mentioned, at his beau tiful seat called Tinnahinch, or the Little Peninsula, the approach to which is very fine. Soon after my arrival the distinguished owner of Tinnahinch conducted me through his beautiful grounds. The surrounding objects corresponded with the mind of my guide. Before us a winding river, here fertilizing meadows, there foaming over rocks, the rich romantic foliage of the woods, and the lofty mountains that half enclose the Dargle, represented his eloquence, lucid, rich, copious, and sublime; whilst behind the cloudcapt Scalp, serrated with broken rock, resembled 420 Character of the Earl of Clare. the terrible force of his roused Philippic. I had the peculiar happiness of seeing this great mau in the bosom of his amiable, elegant, and accomplished family; and in one of the greatest orators and politicians of the age, I saw the affectionate husband, the fond father, the luminous and profound scholar, the playful wit, and polite, wellbred, hospitable gentleman. Such is the man who, in his speeches upon the question of the paramount right of England to change the constitutional government of Ireland, displayed an eloquence before unknown to that, and never surpassed in any country. This question underwent several discussions, in 1780, 1781, and 1782: the speech which he delivered on the 19th April, 1782, was, as I was informed by a gentleman who had the good fortune to be present when it was delivered, most brilliant, energetic, and impressive: it effected the repeal of the 6th of George I. and for a period gave independence to his country: for this speech alone the parliament, by an almost unanimous vote, granted him the sum of fifty thousand pounds! His speech also on the propositions in 1785 is said to have teemed with the highest eloquence." THE EARL OF CLARE. "John Fitzgibbon, afterwards Earl of Clare, was attorney-general and lord high chancellor of Ireland. His ascertained pedigree was short, though |