SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR.

LORD NORBURY.

THREE remarkable incidents have lately taken place. LORD NORBURY, in testimony of his long and numerous services, has been created an earl, Lord Plunket has sunk into his successor, and Lord Manners took his leave amidst a strong odor of onions, and the tears of the Irish Bar.* I had intended to make these three events the groundwork of the present article; for Lord Plunket's first appearance on the stage from which Lord Norbury had just made his exit-his wan and dejected aspect, which was, as much as his intellect, in contrast with that of his predecessor-the melancholy smile which superseded his habitually haughty and sardonic expression-the exultation of his antagonists at seeing him descend from his recent elevation, and the sympathy which the liberal portion of the Bar felt in what was considered as his fall, presented a scene of deep and extraordinary interest.

It was also my purpose (inasmuch as no reasonable expectation can be entertained that a new edition of Rose and Beattie will afford an opportunity of attaching, by way of appendix

*

This Sketch was published in November, 1827, but appears to have been written before Canring's death, which took place in August, during the same year. The retirement of Lord Manners from the Chancellorship, and the appointment of Plunket as Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas, took place, under Canning's Administration, in 1827.-M.