Such was the transcendency of Mr. Curran's imagination over the other powers of his mind, that law, politics, literature, and all other subjects noticed by him, were tinctured with it. On these, as on a mighty river flowing through rich meadows enamelled with flowers, you saw on its bosom the reflected image of the hyacinth and the asphodel, whilst the beholder gazed enraptured, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers and the freshness of the waters.

Amidst the contentions with Lord Clare, many incidents must have arisen; this, however, is well known: Lord Clare was frequently accompanied by a large dog; he came on the bench to him one day when Mr. Curran was engaged in an argument, and the judge's attention was diverted from the advocate to the dog, which he began to fondle and pat; Mr. Curran perceiving this, suddenly stopped, and when the judge awoke to a fresh hearing by the cessation of sound, and looked to Mr. Curran to resume, he apologized for his unwillingness to disturb his lordship, as he conceived he might have been engaged in a consulta, tion.

Going to dine in the country with the now Judge Fletcher, he had arrived early enough to take a walk in the garden; Mr. Fletcher's

country seat is separated from a public road by a stone wall, which having fallen in during a severe winter, the gardens were thereby left open to the dust of the road: it was now the month of April, and Mr. Fletcher was observing on the rows of brocoli, which he said were very backward, and scarcely to be seen, though they had been carefully drilled.

On which Mr. Curran observed,

"It is very true, but consider, they have been much exposed to the dust, and look as if they had been after a long march." This sally is said to have cost the judge more than he calculated upon, as he immediately raised the wall six feet higher.

Lord Avonmore supported the measure of the Union, it is probable, as the result of his judgement; Mr. Curran opposed it. It was said, in gratitude for this the lord obtained from the crown an office of considerable emolument. When the draught of the patent was sent to him for his approbation, he called into his study a few of his friends, among the rest, Mr. Curran, to see if all was right. The wording ran in the usual form; "To all to whom these letters patent shall come, greeting, &c. &c. we of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, king, &c. &c.;" Mr. Curran, when the reader came to this part, exclaimed, "Stop, stop!" "My God!" said Lord Avonmore impatiently,

"why stop?"

66.

Why? because," said Mr. Curran," it sets out the consideration too early in the deed."

Mr. Hudson, the dentist, lived very near the Priory, and had built there at considerable expense, among other things, a pair of piers, so massive and heavy, and so fantastical in their structure, that they drew the attention of some person on a visit with Mr. Curran, who asked him of what order of architecture they were. "Of the Tuscan," replied Mr. Curran. Many changes were rang upon this piece of wit; one said the mansion was fit for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

One of the relations of the same Mr. Hudson, who having served his time to the profession of dentist, but who afterwards changed it for the more honourable one of war, had returned from the Continent, after a memorable battle fought there, covered with glory, and "bearded like a pard," he attracted so much notice, that some one asked about him, and from whence he came. "Late from Pultusk," said Mr. Curran.

Mr. Lysaght, the barrister and bard, once returning from circuit, brought with him some young woman about forty miles on the way to Dublin, and meeting a chaise going back, he sent On relating this to Mr. Curran,

the lady home.

he said, "How sweet's the love that meets return !"

66

Stopping at an inn one morning to breakfast, and perceiving every thing unpromising, he said to the waiter, My good sir, I regret to learn that this house has fallen back very much indeed, indeed it has; yet I remember myself cheered and refreshed by the comforts of its hospitality; it was a neat and a clean retreat, but report deals unkindly with it, and it is so malicious as to say that your hens do not lay fresh eggs." This alarmed the pride of the waiter, and he was determined to keep up the honour of the house, and as Mr. Curran observed of his story, that it was not without its good effect, it was not ab ovo ad mala!

On consulting a friend on the propriety of dining at the house of another, on an invitation written under peculiar circumstances, the friend modestly excused himself from giving any opinion on a subject embarrassed by delicacies, and said, "Your own understanding could better decide upon a subject of this or of any other nature; it is to it I would resort were I placed as you are, and not to a mind so much inferior as I feel mine

to be." "God help you, my friend, do not be deceived, take my word for it, the fellow who writes the notes to Virgil is often much more

wise than the epic poet; I do assure you he often is."

Few men have filled a greater space than Mr.' Curran; after many of his speeches he has been frequently chaired through the streets of Dublin, amidst the plaudits and acclamations of its citizens; paintings and engravings extended the celebrity of his name, and the wax works of him, of Voltaire, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Grattan, were exhibited throughout the principal cities of Europe, whilst his speeches and such other productions as could be obtained, were spread over the vast continent of the New World, from Ontario to the Alleganies, and westward from the Ohio to Lexington, A Gadibus usque Auroram. Their circulation was nearly co-extensive with the English lạnguage. So much was he the object of imitation, that the young orators copied even his defects; like Hotspur,

"He was indeed the glass

Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves."

A lawyer, a friend of Mr. Curran, who had devoted much more of his time to the study of Hoyle than of Hale, a notable gambler, but a person of eccentric and lively turn of mind, got entangled with Mr. Curran one day after dinner, and losing a little ground on the score of temper, sharply observed, that he had too much spirit to