Upon L. repeating his words with infinite glee, our disappointed friend burst out into a regular frenzy, slapped his face repeatedly, and walked about exclaiming, "I'm disgraced! I'm humbled in the eyes of that fellow! I'm miserable!"

I apprehend he had experienced but little more civility from any of the restored gentry of the French emigrants, to several of whom he brought letters, and I am sure had he received any invitation from them, I must have heard of it. I fancy that a glass of eau sucré was the very extent of the practical hospitality he experienced from Messieurs les émigrés, who, if I might judge by their jaws and cravats, of the quantity and quality of their food and of their credit with washerwomen, were by no means in as flourishing a state as when they lived on our benevolence.

There is much of the life of this celebrated man* omitted by those who have attempted to write it. Even his son could have known but little of him, as he was not born at the time his father's glories had attained their zenith. Before he be came the biographer of his celebrated parent, Mr. Curran would have done well to inquire who had been that parent's decided friends, and who his invidious enemies; who supported him when his fame was tottering, and who assailed him when he was incapable of resistance: if he had used this laudable discretion, he would probably have learned how to eulogise, and how to censure, with more justice and discrimina

tion.

No gentleman of our day knew Mr. Curran more intimately than myself, although our natural propensities were in many points quite uncongenial. His vanity too frequently misled his judgment, and he thought himself surrounded by a crowd of friends, when he was encompassed by a set of vulgar flatterers: he looked quite carelessly at the distinctions of society, and in consequence ours was not generally of the same class, and our intercourse more frequently at my house than at his. But he could adapt himself to all ranks, and was equally at home at Merrion-square or at the Priory.

The celebrity of Curran's life, and the obscurity of his death -the height of his eminence, and the depth of his depressionthe extent of his talents, and the humiliation of his embecility -exhibited the greatest and most singular contrasts I ever knew among the host of public characters with whom I so long associated.

At the bar I never saw an orator so capable of producing

Curran died, I believe, at Brompton, and was buried in Paddington church-yard; but I am ignorant whether or not a stone marks the spot.

those irresistible transitions of effect which form the true criterion of forensic eloquence. But latterly, no man became more capable, in private society, of exciting drowsiness by prosing, or disgust by grossness: such are the inconsistent materials of humanity.*

I should not allude here to a painful subject as respects the late Mr. Curran, had it not been so commonly spoken of, and so prominent an agent in his ulterior misfortunes: I mean that unlucky suit of his against the Rev. Mr. Sandes. I endeavoured as much as possible to dissuade him from commencing that action, having reason to feel convinced that it must terminate in his discomfiture; but he was obdurate, and had bitter cause to lament his obduracy. I did my utmost also to dissuade him from his unfortunate difference with Mr. Ponsonby. I told him (as I firmly believed) that he was wrong, or at all events imprudent, and that his reputation could bear no more trifling with: but he did not credit me, and that blow felled him to the earth!"

* It is very singular that one of the most accomplished men, the most eloquent barristers, and best lawyers I ever knew, (a cousin-german of Lord Donoughmore) fell latterly, though at an early age, into a state of total imbecility became utterly regardless of himself, of society, and of the world;→ and lived long enough to render his death a mercy!

THE LAW OF LIBEL.

Observations on the law of libel, particularly in Ireland—“ Hoy's Mercury”— Messrs. Van Trump and Epaphroditus Dodridge-Former leniency regarding cases of libel contrasted with recent severity-Lord Clonmell and the Irish bar-Mr. Magee, of the "Dublin Evening Post"-Festivities on "Fiat Hill"-Theophilus Swift and his two sons-His duel with the Duke of Richmond-The "Monster!"-Swift libels the Fellows of Dublin University— His curious trial-Contrast between the English and Irish bars-Mr. James Fitzgerald-Swift is found guilty, and sentenced to Newgate—Dr. Burrows, one of the Fellows, afterwards libels Mr. Swift, and is convicted-Both confined in the same apartment at Newgate.

In the early part of my life, the Irish press, though supposed to be under due restraint, was in fact quite uncontrolled. From the time of Dean Swift, and Draper's Letters, its freedom has increased at intervals not only as to public but private subjects. This was attributable to several curious causes, which combined to render the law of libel, although stronger in theory, vastly feebler in practice than at the present day; and whoever takes the trouble of looking into the Irish newspapers about the commencement of the American revolution, and in 1782, will find therein some of the boldest writing and ablest libels in the English language. Junius was the pivot on which the liberty of the press at one moment vibrated: liberty was triumphant; but if that precedent were to prevail to the same. extent, I am not sure it did not achieve too much.

The law of libel in England, however railed at, appears to me upon the freest footing that private or public security can possibly admit. The press is not encumbered by any previous restraints. Any man may write, print, and publish whatever he pleases; and none but his own peers and equals, in two distinct capacities, can declare his culpability or enable the law to punish him as a criminal for a breach of it. I cannot conceive what greater liberty or protection the press can require, or ought to enjoy. If a man voluntarily commits an offence against the law of libel with his eyes open, it is only fair that he should abide by the statute that punishes him for doing so. Despotic governments employ a previous censorship, in order to cloak their crimes and establish their tyranny. England, on the other hand, appoints independent judges and sworn jurors to defend her liberties; and hence is confirmed to the press a wholesome lati

tude of full and fair discussion on every public man and mea

sure.

The law of libel in Ireland was formerly very loose and badly understood, and the courts there had no particular propensity for multiplying legal difficulties on ticklish subjects.

The judges were then dependent, a circumstance which might have partially accounted for such causes being less frequent than in later times: but another reason, more extensively operating, was that in those days men who were libelled generally took the law into their own hands, and eased the King's Bench of great trouble by the substitution of a small-sword for a declaration, or a case of pistols for a judgment;—and these same articles certainly formed a greater check upon the propagation of libels than the twelve judges and thirty-six jurors, altoge ther, at the present day; and gave rise to a code of laws very different from those we call municipal. A third consideration is, that scolding-matches and disputes among soldiers were then never made matters of legal inquiry. Military officers are now, by statute, held unfit to remain such if they fight one another, whilst formerly they were thought unfit to remain in the army if they did not: formerly they were bound to fight in person; now they can fight by proxy, and in Ireland may lure champions to contest the matter for them every day in the week, (Sunday excepted) and so decide their quarrels without the least danger or one drop of bloodshed. A few able lawyers, armed with paper and parchment, will fight for them all day long, and, if necessary, all night likewise; and that, probably, for only as much recompense as may be sufficient to provide a handsome entertainment to some of the spectators and to their pioneer attorney, who is generally bottle-holder on these occasions.

Another curious anomaly is become obvious. If lawyers now refuse to pistol each other, they may be scouted out of society, though duelling is against the law! but if military officers take a shot at each other, they may be dismissed from the army, though fighting is the essence and object of their profession: so that a civilian, by the new lights of society, changes places with the soldier;-the soldier is bound to be peaceable, and the civilian is forced to be pugnacious-cedent arma toga. It is curious to conjecture what our next metamorphosis may be!

The first publication which gave rise (so far as I can remember) to decided measures for restraining the Irish press, was a newspaper called "Hoy's Mercury," published nearly fifty years ago by Mr. Peter Hoy, a printer, in Parliament-street, whom I saw some time since in his shop, on Ormond Quay, in

good health, and who voted for me on the Dublin election of

1803.

In this newspaper, Mr. Hoy brought forward two fictitious characters-one called Van Trump, the other Epaphroditus Dodridge. These he represented as standing together in one of the most public promenades of the Irish capital; and the one, on describing the appearance, features, and dress of each passerby, and asking his companion "who that was?” received, in reply, a full account of the individual, to such a degree of accuracy as to leave no doubt respecting identity-particularly in a place so contracted as (comparatively speaking) Dublin then was. In this way, as much libellous matter was disseminated as would now send a publisher to gaol for half his life; and the affair was so warmly and generally taken up, that the lawyers were set to work, Peter Hoy sadly terrified, and Van Trump and Epaphroditus Dodridge banished from that worthy person's newspaper.

But the most remarkable observation is, that as soon as the Irish judges were, in 1782, made by statute independent of the crown, the law of libel became more strictly construed, and the libellers more severely punished. This can only be accounted for by supposing that, while dependant, the judges felt that any particular rigour might be attributed, in certain instances, less to their justice than to their policy; and, being thus sensitive, especially in regard to crown cases, they were chary of pushing the enactments to their full scope. After the provision which rendered them independent of the ruling powers, this delicacy became needless:-but, nevertheless, a candid judge will always bear in mind that austerity is no necessary attribute of justice, which is always more efficient in its operation when tempered with mercy. The unsalutary harshness of our penal code has become notorious. True, it is not acted up to; and this is only another modification of the evil, since it tempts almost every culprit to anticipate his own escape. On the continent it is different. There, the punishment which the law provides is certainly inflicted: and the consequence is, that in France there is not above one capital conviction to any twenty in England.

The late Lord Clonmell's heart was nearly broken by vexations connected with his public functions. He had been in the habit of holding parties to excessive bail in libel cases on his own fiat, which method of proceeding was at length regularly

*His Lordship's only son (married to a daughter of the Marquess of Salisbury,) is now a total absentee, and exhibits another lamentable proof, that the children even of men who rose to wealth and title by the favours of the Irish people feel disgusted, and renounce for ever that country to which they are indebted for their bread and their elevation!