The life of the Right Honourable John Philpot Curran, late master of the rolls in Ireland

Contents

Preface • - - - - page 7

Chapter I

Mr. Curran's origin — His parents — Early education — Originally intended for the church — Enters Trinity College — His ardour for the classics— Letter to Mr. Stack — Anecdote of his mother — Her epitaph — While in college fixes on the bar — Anecdote connected with the change of profession — His character in college — Addicted to metaphysics — Anecdote on the subject— Verses to Apjohn - - - 17

CHAPTER H.

Mr. Curran leaves College— Enters the Middle Temple— Letter to Mr. Weston— Letter to Mr. Keller — His first attempts in oratory fail — His own account of the failure, and of bis first success — A regular attendant at Debating Clubs — Anecdotes— His Poem on Friendship — Dr. Creagh's character of him — Mr. Hudson's predictions and friendship — His early manners and habits — Subject to constitutional melancholy — Letters from London — His society in London—Anecdote of his interview with Macklin— His early application and attainments— Favourite authors — Early attachment to the Irish peasantry— His marriage— Remarks upon English law - - - - - 30

CHAPTER UL

Mr. Curran called to the Irish bar— Dissimilarities between that and the English bar— Causes of the difference - - 6'

CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Curran's early success at the bar — His contest with Judge Robinson His defence of a Roman Catholic priest— His duel with Mr. St. Leger— Receives the dying benediction of the priest— Lord Avonmore's friendship— His character of Lord Avonmore- Monks of St. Patrick, and list of the original members— Anecdotes of Lord Avonmore— Mr. Curran*j= entrance into parliament • - - "^^ iy CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

The Irish House of Commons in 1783— Sketch of the previous history Ireland— Effects of the revolution of 1688— Catholic penal code— System of governing Ireland — Described by Mr. Curran — Intolerance and degradation of the Irish parliament — Change of System — Octennial bill — American revolution — Its effects upon Ireland — The Irish volunteers- Described by Mr. Curran — Their numbers, and influence upon public measures-- Irish revolution of 17u2 — Mr. Grattan's public services — Observations upon the subsequent conduct of the Irish parliament page 87

CHAPTER VI.

Mr. Flood's plan of parliamentary reform — Mr. Curran's contest and duel with Mr. Fitzgibbon (afterwards Lord Clare) — Speech on pensions — His professional success — Mode of life— Occasional verses — Visits France — Letters from Dieppe and Rouen — Anecdote— Letter from Paris — Anecdote—Letter from Mr. Boyse — Anecdole of Mr. Boyse— Letters from Holland .... 104

CHAPTER VII.

His raaiest3'''s illness— Communicated to the House of Commons— Mr. Curran's speech upon the address — Regency question — Formation of the Irish Whig oposition — Mr. Curran's speech and motion upon the division of the boards of stamps and accounts — Answered by Sir Boyle Roche — Mr. Curran's reply — Correspondence and duel with Major Hobart — Effects of Lord Clare's enmity— Alderman Howison's case - 124

CHAPTER VIU.

State of parties — Trial of Hamilton Rowan — Mr. Curran's fidelity to his party— Rev. William Jackson's trial— Conviction— and Death—Remarks upon that trial - Irish informers — Irish juries— The influence of the times upon Mr. Curran's style of oratory - - - 150

CHAPTER IX.

Mr. Curran moves an address to the throne for an inquiry into the state of the poor — Other parliamentary questions — Mr. Ponsonby's plan of reform rejected— Secession of Mr. Curran and his friends — Orr's trial— Finnerty's trial— Finney's Trial — The informer James O'Brien 173

CHAPTER X.

Rebellion of 1798 — Its causes — Ujipopular system of government— Influence of the French Revolution — Increased intelligence in Ireland — Re-

COxNTENTS. y

ibrra societies — United Irishmen— Their views and proceedings — Apply for aid to France — Anecdote of Theobald Wolfe Tone — Numbers of the United Irishmen — Condition of the peasantry and conduct of the aristocracy — Measures of the government — Public alarm— General insurrection - - - . page 203

CHAPTER XI.

Trial of Henry and John Sheares - - 222

CHAPTER XII.

Trials of M'Cann, Byrne, and Oliver Bond — Reynolds the informer — Lord Edward Fitzgerald— his attaind r— Mr. Curran's conduct upon the state trials— Lord Kilwarden's friendship— Lines addressed by Mr. Curran to Lady Charlotte Rawdon— Theobald Wolfe Tone— his trial and death - - - - - 255

CHAPTER XIH.

Effects of the legislative union upon Mr. Curran's mind — Speech in Tandy's case — Speech in behalf of Hevey — Allusion in the latter to Mr. Godwin — Mutual friendship of Mr. Curran and Mr. Godwin - 276

CHAPTER XIV.

Mr. Curran vistts Paris— Letter to his son— Insurrection of 1803— Defence of Kirwan— Death of Lord Kilwarden— Intimacy of Mr. Robert Emmet in Mr. Curran's family, and its consequences— Letter from Mr Emmet to Mr. Curran— Letter from the same to Mr. Richard Curran - 292

CHAPTER XV.

Mr. Curran appointed Master of the Rolls in Ireland — His literary projects- Letter to Mr. M'Nally — Account of a visit to Scotland in a letter to Miss Fhilpot— Letter to Mr. Leslie— Letters to Mr. Hetheringtoa 308

CHAPTER XVI.

Mr. Curran is invited to stand for the borough of Newry— Speech to the electors— Letter to Sir J. Swinburne- Letter on Irish affairs to H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex - - - - 323

CHAPTER XVH.

Mr Curran's health declines— Letters to Mr. Hetherington— Resignation of his judicial office— Letters from London to Mr. Lube— Letters from Paris to the same— His last illness and death - 342 yi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVin.

Observations on Mr Currants eloquence— Objections to his style considered— His habits of preparation for public speaking— His ideas of popular eloquence— His pathos— Variety of his powers— His imagination— Peculiarity of his images— His use of ridicule— Propensity to metaphor- Irish eloquence— Its origin— Mr. Curran's and Burke's eloquence compared . - - . page 373

CHAPTER XIX.

Mr. Currants skill in cross-examination— His general reading — His conversation— His wit— Manuscript thoughts on various subjects — His manners, person— Personal peculiarities— Conclusion - • 400

POEMS.

Lines addressed to Lady , in answer to a poem in which she had predicted the future freedom of Ireland - - 419 A Letter in Rhyme to a Friend ... 422 The Plate-warmer - - - - 426 The Green Spot that blooms o'er the Desert of Life. A Song 438 The Poor Man's Labour. A Song - - . - ib.

The Meridian is past - - - ^ 439 To Mrs. Forty, the Dispenser of the Waters at Cheltenham 440

Appendix

Fragment of a religious Essay - - . 449

Mr. Grattan's Letter to the citizens of Dublin - - 452 Account of the late Plan of Insurrection in Dublin, and the Causes of its

Failure, drawn up by Mr. Robert Emmet »• - 470

Character of Mr. Curran by Mr. Godwin - - 474

Character of Mr. Curran by the Rev. George Croly - 475

The Publisher, aware of a close intimacy having subsisted between Mr. Sampson and the late Mr. Curran, addressed the following note to Mr. Sampson.

.. gjj^ " New- York, August 14, 1820.

" I have just received the life of Curran by his Son, which I send you for your perusal— I know you will hail its appearance with rapture, and read it with delight. I recollect when I mentioned to you my intention of reprinting it, you were so kind as to say you would furnish me with some facts relative to that great man ; knowing how peculiarly interesting those must be, when they come from one who enjoyed so much of his confidence and esteem, I am eager to have them as soon as your leisure will permit, and any letters of his that you may happen (o have preserved, and think proper to give, will much add to the obligation ; I am rapidly progressing with the work, and expect to have it ready for publication within five or six weeks. I remain, Dear Sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant,

" WILLIAM H. CREAGH."

Wm. Sampson, Esq. New-York.

„ g ** New-York, September 2, 1820.

" I deferred answering your letter till I had read the Book you were so good as to send me, which I have since done with much admiration ; and though the sensations it excited were somewhat sad, yet it rejoiced me to find the genius of Curran surviving in a Son, who in vindicating his father's fame, has nobly, though perhaps unconsciously, established his own, and sweetly mingled the tender sehtiment of filial piety, with the manly decision of a faithful and candid historian.

" 1 had been often before solicited to furnish something towards Currants history ; and about the time that this author proposed to become his father's biographer, an invitation from him to that effect was communicated to me through my friend Mr. Emmet. That I did not comply with a request which I deemed an honour, was not from any unwillingness to pay my share of a just tribute, but from an insurmountable reluctance to revive recollect tions full of regret, and the difiiculty of separating the history of Curran yiij PREFACE.

from that of his xfluntry, with which it was interwoven : and to speak on that subject withWness and effect the time wr<s not yet arrived. These difficulties, sir, I stated to you when I promised (for so 1 find you have considered it) to write something:, but I merely thought of vindicaline: the reputation of a man, much extolled, but often undervalued, from censures founded on misapprehensions and mistakes. And let me add, that whatever difficulties I felt before, they are only enhanced by the reading of the work, where I find the task so well performed without any aid ot mine, by the legitimate heir of his father's celebrity who has so manfully taken charge of his own inheritance. Nor did I then know how I bad been anticipated by an article of uncommon excellence in the Edinburgh Review. I nowieel in its full force the delicacy and danger, without, or even with, the permission of the author, of interpolating any thing into a book, whose principal fault judicious critics find to be its too great amplitude : and to which defect, I should, with due respect, add that of its being already burthened with too long notes. I am therefore better pleased that you have appropriated a space which will separate from the body of the work the little I have to say, and where.it may be read or passed over without disparaging the book. And though I may not now be able to add any interest to this biography, it is a consolation to find that my earlier labours have not been without their use ; since the celebrity of Curran with posterity is now said to depend chiefly upon his forensic speeches, and upon those particularly which I was instrumental in preserving. Amongst these I find the preference is given by the author to the defence of Mr. Rowan, and that it has principally attracted the attention of the critics: amongst whom, though there are gome too light to be regarded, there are others from whose judgment it is not always safe nor easy to appeal, and who have by so much the more weight, as their strictures, though to my seeming somewhat fastidious, are tempered by urbanity, liberality and justice. I have said that some critics were undeserving of regard ; and the mention of this defence of Mr. Rowan, challenges the insertion of an anecdote that may amuse the reader, and prove a lesson to self-conceited pedants.

*' One of these gravely informed his readers, that Curran was not, as ■weaker men thought, gifted with extraordinary facility of imagination or felicity of expression, nor with those ready and exhaustless treasures of classical acquirement, for which he had got credit : that he was evidently a crafty, slow, mechanical compiler, with no more wit or genius than a common bookmaker : and that the effect of his " magical e^usions'*^ upon his hearers, proved nothing but his and their "'' bad taste,^^ which he considered as a contai::ious malady, and seemed busying iiimseif no little to prevent its spreading. This new faiigled paradox the sententious critic affected to prove . by the concluding pass;^ge of' Curran's argument for a new trial in Mr Row* an'-s case, in which he could discover the marks of the tools, as a judge of"

PREFACE. ix

bank paper cli8ting:uishes between the freedom of the pen and the stiffness of the graving iron. I had no time, as little ambition, and I fear too little means of figuring in a literary controversy, and least of all in verbal criticism, virhich has been always my aversion : and I let this pass, knowing that folly, if rebuked for the gingling of her bells, will but gingle them still the more. But I am tempted by the apropos which arises out of the work now before me, to state what 1 know of that very passage. It will go so far in fulfilment of what you seem to expect from me. It runs thus :

* You are standing on the scanty isthmus that divides the great ocean of duration, on one side is the past, on the other is the future ; a ground, that whilst you yet hear me, is washed from beneath your feet. Let me remind you, my Lord, while your determination is yet in your own power, dum versatur adhuc inter penetralia vestiE, that on that ocean of the future, you must set your judgment afloat, and future ages will assume the same authority which you have assumed, posterity will feel the same emotions which you have felt, when your little hearts have beaten, and your infant eyes have overflowed, at reading the sad history of the sufferings of a Russel era Sidney.*

" Now this was so little premeditated, that the speaker had finished his discourse, and actually sat down before it was ever thought of ; and it was uttered extemporaneously upon a suggestion of my own. The manner of it was this. I sat next to Curran, and was busy in writing the sentence with which he had concluded, when he, in the act of sitting down, whispered in my ear * are you satisfied with me ?' I whispered back in as few words as I could say it — * you might have said something of Jeff"reys, and Scroggs, and Russel, and Sidney.' This was enough for his quick and apprehensive genius. He knew that though the Lord Chief Justice, Clonmell, who presided, had enjoyed to satiety whatever the blind Goddess could bestow, and that though he had for many years braved public censure, yet, that in his latter days he was supposed to feel a craving for character which wealth or station could not purchase, and a dread of infamy from which it might not screen him. The then Solicitor General was Mr. Toler, who followed in his steps, and became Lord Chief Justice Norbury, the^gjame who condemned the virtuous and accomplished traitor RobertEmmet. They were both taken up during the Viceroyalty of Lord Townsend to serve in the House of Commons as soldiers of fortune. They were bold and adventurous ; they took the beaten track of preferment, and devoted themselves to the Castle without scruple or reserve. It was to this corrupt mode of elevation that Curran had alluded, by that strong figure applied to the Judges, in the period preceding the revolution, and which has branded their memories, that ' they remained at the bottom like drowned bodies while they had any soundness, and only rose by their corruption.'

*' Mr. Rowan was a country gentleman of figure, fortune, and education, eminently distinguished and infinitely beloved. Nature had cast him in bo I

^ PREFACt.

common mould : as his person was both graceful and manly, so his heprt wa;' botii tender and courageous : his sympathies were ever with the oppressed against the oppressor. He was, in a word, such as Curran has described him. There were circumstances, moreover, in his story with relation to his judge, and also to the journalist, who selected his jury, that gave to Iheiironp a strong relief, and to the whole scene a true poetic honor : and nothing was 80 likely to affect the mind of such a man, or to check any disposition to crush the defendant, as the dread of posthumous infamy. This explanation will suffice for the intelligent reader, and the hint was enough for the vivid and expansive mind of Curran ; he rose up as though he had not yet concluded, and after a short prelude finished with that, which the sagacious commentator pitched upon as an unerring proof of plodding preparation.

*' The breach of continuity which will be found in m> report was owing to the interruption, which the short dialogue 1 have stated occasioned ; for in order to follow him in this splendid conclusion, I left unwritten what he bad first closed with, and unwilling to risk any thing of which I was not assured, I was obliged to connect it by common place phrases thus — ' Mr. Curran made other observations either to corroborate his own, or to answer the opposite counsel, of which it is impossible to give an exact detail ;' and concluded thus — ' you are standing,' &c.

From the inquisitive curiosity with which I have been questioned by men of letters in America, particularly those of my own profession, touching one, the charms of whose eloquence they have felt and acknowledged, I doubt not this anecdote will be acceptable. When celebrated men have ceased to exist, the minutest circumstances that shed light upon their manner of being, and their moral habits, acquire an interest. E\en fac similes of hand writing of men of cherished memory, have been thought worth preserving by engraved copies. Tke'w letters, which are images of their thoughts and minds, must be much better worth preserving. The familiar epistles of Cicero are now read in the interior of this continent by a much greater number, and with no less avidity than they were^by the Romans of his own and succeeding times ; and, as you say that any letters of Curran will be acceptable, I||^ll, without more preface, subjoin the following correspondence between the client and his counsel. ^

* New Prison, Sunday Morning, Feb. 16. * Mr. Hamilton Rowan presents his compliments to Mr. Curran, he has just read over the report of his trial by Mr. M'Kenzie. It appears to him to b^what he had reason to expect it would be, a very mutilated account of the whole, but more particularly in those parts which are said to contain the defence made for him by Mr. Curran. H. R. however, does not feel himself authorised to make such an assertion publicly, without having first communicated his idea to Mr. Curran, and requested to know whether be entertained a similar opinion,*

Preface

XI

* Ely Place, Sunday. * Mr. Curran presents his respects to Mr. Hamillon Rowan— he has also read the printed report, in which he found the defence made for Mr. Rowan very strangely reported indeed. Mr. Curran thinks himself bound upon that subject to acquaint Mr. Rowan with the following particulars. Last Sunday Mr. M'Kenzie, the publisher of the report, brought Mr. Curran a paper which he said was a note of the defence, and which he begged Mr. Curran would ^peruse and correct ; Mr. Curran informed Mr. M'Kenzie that he had not leisure for that, but told him that two gentlemen of the bar had taken a very full note of the above trial, and he would procure their note of his defence as soon as those gentlemen could have it transcribed from the short band in which it was taken. Mr. Curran also told Mr. M'Kenzie, that the paper he brought him, and which Mr. Curran read, contained so mutilated a statement of that part of the trial, as Mr. M'Kenzie would not b« warranted in publishing. Mr. M'Kenzie assured Mr. Curran he would not, for any consideration, do so improper a thing, and that he would not suffer it to appear. Next day Mr. Curran received the enclosed letter, which he sends to be made use of, together with this, in any manner that Mr. Rowan may think proper.'

* College Green, Monday Morning.

^ I am exceedingly distressed at finding myself not able to do as I promised yesterday (and as I thought myself fully ivarranted.) The gentleman v^'hom I am printing the trial for, will not suffer me to make any alteration, he employing me only as the printer. I am, with much respect, your obedient servant, W. M'KENZIE.' ,

To John Philpot Curran, Esq. Ely Place.

" I shall add one or two letters from Curran. written to myself in the easy style of friendship. I select them, because they have some reference to this trial ; and also, because they turn upon the concerns of my own family, and have regard to no other persons, nor no more important subject; and!, therefore, feel myself the more free to dispose of them. But here a word or two by way of preface may be necessary. The t?:ial of Mr. Rowan was upon a criminal information, filed ex officio in Trinity Term, 1793, by the Attorney General. The cause was tried at the bar of the King's Bench, in Hilary Term, 1794. I was then too young in my profession to take part in a trial where the most eminent lawyers were engaged on the same side, with the precedence due to their experience, their standing, and the silk gown, I therefore undertook that duty by which I could best serve and gratify my friend, that of writing down what passed, to prevent others frona imposing false statements upon the public. It appears that a certain domestic occurrence invited my return to Belfast, where 1 bad a house, and

^jj PREFACE.

where I spent some of the vacations between the terms, and where my family then was. I had either transcribed rtiy notes before I left Dublin, or sent them back from Belfast to Mr. Rowan, then a prisoner under his sentence in Newgate, and employing himself in editing the report. My note was, I believe, afterwards collated, for more certainty, with the minutes of Mr. Ridgeway, a gentleman of the bar, who wrote short hand with great precision ; for I never could prevail with Curran to lend the smallest aid, and I believe he was utterly unconscious of many of the beauties of his own discourses. I knew that he was utterly incompetent to retrace them. This task he left entirely to the reporter. He once told me playfully, that if he had dropped any stiches, his gossip knew best.how to take them up. The following letter I received in Belfast."

* DEAR SAMPSON,

' I have executed your commission to Emmet faithfully. We have all very sincerely congratulated you on the fruits of your family toils, of which we are disposed to entertain the most favourable prognostics, and we do hereby offer you and your fellow labourer, our best and worthiest greetings thereupon.

* As to my part I have so strong an hope, that young Agonistes will one day achieve, what by reason of his tendei years ne may not now be able to perform, that I should, without scruple, have become bound for him in a spiritual recognizance to any amount ; but, perhaps, not having yet decided under what banner he is to carry on the war of the flesh, he has not troubled himself with thinking of a bottle-holder. If he should talk about the matter, you may just hint to him that I pique myself upon a knowledge of the creed and ten commandments in the vulgar tongue.

Emmet tells me the trial will be out on Monday.

Yours very truly,

February 21, 1794.

** The person here called Jlgonistes^ was my now only son John Fhilpot Curran Sampson, and the reader need not be told, that the ofifer was to be his god-father or sponsor : and it seems that he had been invited to name the child, for he shortly after writes thus :"

* MY DEAR GOSSIP,

* A man did so foolish a thing, as proposing to do very well what may be as well, perhaps better done middlingly, for he certainly postpones, and probably does it so much the worse. If any thing can save him from the consequences of his past coxcombry, it can be only the want of time when he comes to perform— so it has been with me. I felt a foolish propensity to write a fine letter to you, instead of answering promptly and kindly what I

PREFACE. xiii

felt very kindly, I have now but a moment to say what I should have said two posts ago. I am very much flattered by m}' god-child's opinion of my orthodoxy, and I most cheerfully vow as many things in his name as he thinks he may be able to perform. As to the name itself, I accept the permission with much gratitude, but must beg to make Mrs. Sampson my true and lawful attorney, in my name, and on my behalf, to name that name, wishing from my heart, that it may often give gladness to hers and to yours.

* 1 should feel infinite pleasure in taking a trip to you, if my miserable avocations would leave it in my power to do so. I should wish to make my court to the young fellow before he got any prior liens upon his a flections. If the levity of the age should unluckily catch him, he may chance to look upon my paternity with not so much reverence and regard as he ought to do. 1 received your enclosed, and as a friend and critic, I find our opinions not much asunder. Apropos — e contra — how do you find 1 look m your labours ?

Yours sincerely, as also my gossips,

** This term gossip, hsiS various acceptations in the English language, it means sometimes a merry-maker or pot-companion, a prater generally, and more especially a tatling woman. In its strict etymological sense, it mesins relation ; in the canonical sense it is that spiritual afl5nity created by sponsorship, at the baptismal font : but in Ireland it has a sense connected with her fearful code and mournful history, that renders it an endearing expression of sympathy and affection. Thus we find Sir John Davies, the attorney-general of king James, in Ireland, in his ^discovery oj" the true causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued* speaking thus ; part 1. — 171, «^-c. ' For first it appeareth, by the preamble of these lawes, {the statutes oj' Kilkenny) that the English of this realme, before the coming over of Lionel duke of Clarence, were at that time become meere Irish in their language, names, apparell, and all their manner of living, and had rejected the English lawes, and submitted themselves to the Irish, with whom they had made many marriages and alliances, which tended to the utter ruine and destruction of the commonwealth. Therefore, alliaunce by marriage, nurture of infants, and gossipred with the Irish, are by this statute made high treason.*

" Curran seemed tenacious of this word, and we find him writing in 1 803, from Paris, that he had refused to dine il^ith lady Oxford, because he had bargained for a Cabriolet, to go and see his gossip in the valley Montmorency ; and relating his adventure, as he related it with more humour to us, how he was wrong directed, and instead of seeing his god-son, went back to Saint Denis, where he was fleeced, and had nothing for his dinner but the landlord's bill.

Xiy TREFACE. n

" The biographer has truly said, that the magical effusions of his iaiher'ys genius, are better known by the traditions of his contemporaries, than by the most faithful reports of his speeches. This holds still more true with respect to his reputation as a wit, wherein 1 am sorry to say, he has been mercilessly dealt with. I may be but an indifferent judge of that quality of the mind, but chance has made me acquainted with a number of those, who, in my days have been most celebrated for it in various countries, and I have known none of any country, who had any pretensions to vie with Curran. Yet I cannot so much complain of his critics upon this score, for the selections of his jests, and bans motSy seem to have been made by gentlemen of the same cast as he who employed Mr. Mc. Kenzie to report the trial of Hamilton Rowan. I am sure I have heard from him a hundred pleasant sallies in the course of one convivial day, the very meanest oi which was preferable to the best I ever saw in print.

" It is much to be regretted, that the Author was too young to have been the partaker of either of his father's convivial moments, or of his more serious thoughts during the epoch of his greatest celebrity. For since with borrowed materials he could form so fair a sketch, had he enjoyed those advantages, how true to life and nature would bis portrait then have been. But from the year 1792, till 1798, I can retrace in memory no other image of Mr. William Henry Curran, than as one of many children, playing about the house and gardens of the Priory. Having said so much, it might be expected, th^it I should exhibit some proofs, but the reading of this biography, has given to my thoughts and affections, a tone not at all suited to fhe recording of jokes. It is at any lime difficult, if not impossible, by any disposition of the letters of the alphabet, to communicate the point and spi« lit, the look, the gesture, and the apropos, that altogether go to constitute the grace and beauty of things too fine for handling ; things that can charm but once ; things that emit one transient gleam, and like the meteor of the i?hooting star, vanish as soon as seen. If they are not entirely lost by tradition, the finer part is sure to escape, the grosser only can be retained. No doubt many of Curran's homelier jests had better have remained in vulgar tradition ; they were not intended to.be printed, but to please those who could take pleasure in them; for he disdained none of his fellowfTfiatures, and loved to please them all. But strip these pleasantries of their mimic and scenic accompaniments, nay, even of the vernacular accent with which he could so humorously utter them, and set them in print with the formality of a jest book, to be reaj^ off with a cockney accent, and they will have as little charm as the broad scotch in Tom a Chanter^ or Old Mortality if delivered through the same organ. And how many have I pitied^" that from contracted prejudices, and want of travel in the intellect, were unable to suffer the sweet strains of Burn's, and the delightful historic tales of Walter Scott, by reason of their Scotch vulgarity! Upon the whole, however, 1 think the author has shewn bis good sense in copying so few of those