person certainly no friend to Mr. Rowan, certainly not very deeply interested in giving him a very impartial jury Feeling this, as I am persuaded you do, you can not be surprised, however you may be distressed at the mournful presage with which an anxious public is led to fear the worst from your possible determination. But I will not, for the justice and honor of our common country, suffer my mind to be borne away by such melancholy anticipations. I will not relinquish the confidence that this day will be the period of his sufferings; and however merciless he has been hitherto pursued, that your verdict will send him home to the arms of his family and the wishes of his country. But if, which Heaven forbid, it hath still been unfortunately determined that, because he has not bent to power and authority, because he would not bow down before the golden calf and worship it, he is to be bound and cast into the furnace; I do trust in God that there is a redeeming spirit in the Constitution which will be seen to walk with the sufferer through the flames, and to preserve him unhurt by the conflagration."*

In 1806, Mr. Curran was appointed Master of the Rolls; in 1814, he resigned this office on account of ill health, and spent his time in visiting foreign countries. Returning

6

"When Mr. Curran terminated this magnificent exertion, the universal shout of the audience testified its enthusiasm. He used to relate a ludicrous incident which attended his departure from the court after the trial. His path was instantly beset by the populace, who were bent on chairing him. He implored-he entreated — all in vain. At length, assuming an air of authority, he addressed those nearest to him: 'I desire, gentlemen, that you will desist.' 'I laid great emphasis,' says Curran, ' on the word desist, and put on my best suit of dignity. However, my next neighbor, a gigantic, brawny chairman, eyeing me, with a somewhat contemptuous affection, from top to toe, bellowed out to his companion, Arrah, blood and turf! Pat, don't mind the little crature; here, pitch him up this minute on my shoulder.' Pat did as he was desired; the little crature' was carried nolens volens to his carriage, and drawn home by an applauding populace. It was a great treat to hea‐ Curran describe this scene and act it."-Charles Phillips.

to London, he was attacked with apoplexy, and died in a few days after, on the 14th of October, 1817, in the sixtyeighth year of his age.

1

The personal appearance of Mr. Curran is vividly described by his friend and biographer, the eloquent Charles Phillips,* in his beautiful sketch of the orator and his contemporaries. "Mr. Curran was short of stature, with a swarthy complexion, and an eye that glowed like a live coal.' His countenance was singularly expressive; and, as he stood before a jury, he not only read their hearts with a searching glance, but he gave them back his own, in all the fluctuations of his feelings, from laughter to tears. His gesture was bold and impassioned; his articulation was uncommonly distinct and deliberate; the modulations of his voice were varied in a high degree, and perfectly suited to the widest range of his eloquence."

The eloquence of Mr. Curran was of the most copious, fervid and expressive kind; it almost universally sparkled with wit, humor, fun and ridicule; sometimes it was fraught with the most bitter sarcasm and raging invective; at other times it was expressed in the deepest pathos, causing tears to flow from every eye. "His power lay in the variety and strength of his emotions. He delighted a jury by his wit; he turned the court-room into a scene of the broadest farce by his humor, mimicry, or fun; he made it a place of tears,' by a tenderness and pathos which subdued every heart; he poured out his invective like a stream of lava, and inflamed the minds of his countrymen almost to madness by the recital of their

"Mr. Phillips' sketch of his friend is certainly one of the most extraordinary pieces of biography ever produced. Nothing can be more lively and picturesque than its representation of the famous original. The reader of it can hardly be said not to have personally known Curran and his contemporaries. It has been justly said of this admirable work that it is Boswell minus Bozzy." -Brougham.

wrongs. His rich and powerful imagination furnished the materials for these appeals, and his instinctive knowledge of the heart taught him how to use them with unfailing success."

Mr. Curran was one of the most popular orators of his day. His ascendancy over the feelings of his countrymen was complete. He spoke and the nation listened. He put forth his thoughts in language that stirred the hearts of all. His imagination was fertile; his language was striking and appropriate; his pathos was refined and thrilling; his whole appearance indicated earnestness and sincerity. In many respects, his eloquence was similar to that of his intimate associate and illustrious rival, Thomas Addis Emmet; and the following comments of Justice Story on the character of Mr. Emmet will apply with equal force and truth to Mr. Curran: "His mind was quick, vigorous, searching and buoyant. He kindled as he spoke. There was a spontaneous combustion, as it were, not sparkling, but clear and glowing. His object seemed to be, not to excite wonder or surprise, to captivate by bright pictures, and varied images, and graceful groups, and startling apparitions; but by earnest and close reasoning to convince the judgment, or to overwhelm the heart by awakening its most profound emotions. His own feelings were warm and easily touched. His sensibility was keen, and refined itself almost into a melting tenderness. His knowledge of the human heart was various and exact. He was easily captivated by a belief that his own cause was just. Hence, his eloquence was most striking for its persuasiveness. He said what he felt; and he felt what he said. His command over the passions of others was an instantaneous and sympathetic action. The tones of his voice, when he touched on topics calling for deep feeling, were instinct with meaning. They were utterances of the soul as well as of the lips."

Which shook the nations through his lips and blazed,

Till vanquished senates trembled as they praised.—BYRON.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born at Dublin, in September, 1751. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was connected with the stage, during most of his life, and was a worthy rival of Garrick. Young Sheridan was sent to Harrow school, where he enjoyed the instructions of the celebrated Dr. Parr. Like Burke, he gave, during his school-boy days, but little promise of future eminence. In indolence and carelessness, he resembled Patrick Henry.

The attention of Sheridan being early turned to theatrical composition, he produced several dramatic essays, which soon placed him in the first rank of comic writers.

In 1780, Mr. Sheridan entered Parliament as a representative of Stafford. In the same year he delivered his maiden speech which was an unsuccessful effort. After he had finished his speech he went into the gallery and asked Woodfall, the reporter, with much anxiety, what he thought of his first attempt. "I am sorry to say," replied Woodfall, "that I don't think oratory is in your line-you had better have stuck to your former pursuits." Such an answer would have discouraged any one

but a persevering man. Sheridan, resting his head on his hand, was struck mute for a few moments, and then exclaimed with great vehemence, "It is in me, however, Woodfall, and it shall come out of me!" And it did come out of him in such richness, variety, fascination and splendor, that listening senates and admiring audiences were delighted, astonished and swayed by its strain. From this moment, Mr. Sheridan devoted himself with the utmost assiduity to the study of oratory.

During the brief administration of Lord Rockingham in 1782, Mr. Sheridan came into office as Under Secretary of State. On the decease of Rockingham, he resigned with Fox, Burke, and others, when Lord Shelburne was made Prime Minister.

William Pitt, now coming into the new ministry as Chancellor of the Exchequer, undertook to put Mr. Sheridan down by contemptuous allusions to his theatrical pursuits. Mr. Sheridan retorted upon him with his ready wit a weapon which he could always use to the greatest advantage. "No man," said Mr. Pitt, "admires more than I do the abilities of that right honorable gentleman the elegant sallies of his thought, the gay effusions of his fancy, his dramatic turns, and his epigrammatic point. If they were reserved for the proper stage, they would no doubt receive the plaudits of the audience; and it would be the fortune of the right honorable gentleman,' sui plausu gaudere theatri.'" Mr. Sheridan replied to this insolent language, with admirable adroitness, in the following words: "On the particular sort of personality which the right honorable gentleman has thought proper to make use of, I need not comment. The propriety, the taste, and the gentlemanly point of it must be obvious to this House. But let me assure the right honorable gentleman that I do now, and will, at any time he chooses to repeat this sort of allusion, meet it with the most perfect