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itely, there is in the Semitic dialect a copious- | witty in French and philosophic in German. ness of rhyme which leaves the poet almost Truly spake Mohammed el Damiri, "Wisdom unfettered to choose the desired expression. hath alighted upon three things-the brain of Hence it is that a stranger speaking Arabic the Franks, the hands of the Chinese, and the becomes poetical as naturally as he would be tongues of the Arabs."

JAMES RODERICK O'FLANAGAN.

[James Roderick O'Flanagan is the son of Captain O'Flanagan, and was born in Fermoy barracks, September 1st, 1814. He received his early education in the principal school of his native town. After a lengthened tour on the Continent he published his first work, Impressions at Home and Abroad, 1837. In the following year he began practising as a barrister, and for many succeeding years his talents were known and appreciated on the Munster circuit. In 1845 Mr. O'Flanagan | began contributing a series of important articles to the Dublin University Magazine on "Irish Rivers." For several years he was a constant writer in various leading Irish periodicals, and was editor of the Irish National Magazine. In 1861 The History of Dundalk appeared. It is a work of great local interest, and was written in conjunction with the late John D'Alton. The Bar Life of O'Connell, published in 1866, was well received by the public; the author wrote from personal knowledge of his subject, and his narrative thus possesses a strong and living interest. A sporting novel, Brian O'Ryan, was his next work, followed by his most valuable contribution to Irish literature, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland (1870). These volumes embrace a period extending from the reign of Henry III. to the reign of Queen Victoria. The political and religious aspect of affairs is touched upon without bias or prejudice of any kind. The author advocates throughout what every true lover of his country would approve, "the abandoning of sectarian and political differences, and remembering their common country." The opening chapter of the first volume introduces the reader to the legal forms and tribunals of the Irish, previous to the introduction of the English laws. It is deeply interesting, and portrays to the thoughtful reader the character and history of the race more truly than many a lengthened volume. Mr. O'Flanagan's late work, The Irish Bar (1878-9), is written in a

VOL. IV.

bright lively style, and shows no falling off either in the author's memory or powers of graphic description. The times depicted can never again return; those who have personal experience of them are fast passing away, and only such works as The Irish Bar remain, increasing in value year by year as links between the present and the wild, eccentric, but highly picturesque past in Irish life. His latest book, The Munster Circuit (1880), has been favourably reviewed in The Times; and the author is now engaged in preparing for the press a work entitled Anecdotes and Sketches of Prelates and Priests of every Denomination.]

HARRY DEANE GRADY.

(FROM "THE IRISH BAR.")

Among the most eminent Irish Nisi Prius lawyers of the earlier portion of the present century, was Harry Deane Grady. He was a native of the county of Limerick, and was fitted by nature as well as by profession for the bar. In stature he was short and stout, with a face indicative of shrewd wit and caustic humour. His voice was loud, and he possessed a robust sort of phraseology which smacked more of the fortiter in modo than suaviter in re. He had been elected one of the members for Limerick in the Irish House of Commons, and soon became one of the government's staunch supporters. When remonstrated with on going against the wishes of his constituents who were opposed to the Union, he very resolutely declared his ideas to be strongly in favour of that project, and hinted the government had made it worth his while to vote for that measure.

"What!" cried his indignant remonstrator, "do you mean to sell your country?"

1 By permission of Messrs. Sampson Low & Co.

70

"Thank God," cried this pure patriot, "that | then much frequented by highway-robbers. I have a country to sell."

He was very coarse in his expressions, and when reminded that he owed his position to his constituents, he said, "I care nothing for my constituents, I get nothing good from them. Begad if I only shake hands with them they give me the itch."

His bullying, bustling, browbeating manner was of great use in Nisi Prius cases, when rough work was to be done, and no one at the bar could perform any sort of bullying better than Harry Deane Grady. His great delight was to encounter a really intelligent, but assumedly obtuse Irish witness, when a trial of skill would take place, the astute counsel endeavouring to extract much in favour of his client, and the witness resolved to reveal but little. Grady would give the witness his own way at first, pretend to credit his statement, nay, encourage him with such words as "exactly," "just so," and thus leading the witness to suppose he had gained the victory, and triumphed over "the counsellor," but all this time Grady was ingeniously weaving a net in which to ensnare his victim, and having obtained the requisite admissions, suddenly changed his tactics, and obliged the baffled witness to admit his story was a pure invention.

Grady exercised much influence in court by what he termed "his jury eye." His right eye was constantly used in winking at the jury when he wished them to note some particular answer from an adverse witness. Appearing in court one morning in rather depressed spirits, which, for one of his usual joyous temperament, was very unusual, asympathizing friend said,

While changing horses in Fermoy, a few miles at the south side of the Kilworth mountains, both gentlemen made the disagreeable discovery that though they had pistols, they had no powder, and their balls, therefore, were useless.

While Grady and O'Connell were regretting not having looked to their weapons before leaving Cork, the clatter of horses' hoofs and the martial sound of dragoons, with their long swords, saddles, and bridles attracted their attention.

"Hallo," cried O'Connell, "we're in luck. Here is the escort of the judges, and we may be able to get a supply from them."

"That's very likely," said Grady, as the corporal and four of the privates came from the stable, where they had left their chargers, and tramped as troopers do tramp into the hotel.

"I'll go at once, and see what I can get," said Harry as he passed into the hall. He walked up to the corporal, and in his blunt way said, "Soldier, will you sell me some powder?"

The corporal stood on his dignity. He eyed his interrogator very superciliously, as he replied, "I do not sell powder, sir."

"Then perhaps you'd tell me where I could get some. Or you might buy it for me!" "I am here on duty, and, besides, I do not know this place, sir,” replied the dragoon.

Grady, somewhat crestfallen, returned to his companion, who overheard what passed through the open door.

"The dragoon is a sulky fellow," he said, "he would neither sell or buy for me!"

"Harry," replied Dan O'Connell, "you offended him by calling him a soldier, when he is a corporal. I'll try my hand." O'Con

"Harry, are you unwell? You are not as nell then went to the hall, and observed to lively as usual."

"How can I, my dear fellow?" he answered. "What's the matter with you?"

"My jury eye is out of order," was the reply. But Harry Deane Grady's rough manner was not always successful. O'Connell could be rough when occasion required, but no one could be smoother, or use the blarney with more tact, when it was the fitter instrument to ensure success. The following anecdote illustrates the difference between these two eminent barristers in a very complete manner. Shortly after joining the Munster Circuit, O'Connell was travelling with Harry Deane Grady. They shared in the expense of a chaise, and were posting from Cork to Dublin. Their route lay over the Kilworth mountains,

the dragoon, who was looking rather ruefully at the downpour of rain then falling,—

"This is heavy rain, sergeant. "Tis too bad, the judges do not get the yeomen or militia to escort them, without requiring the service of the regular troops."

"True enough, sir. It is harassing duty such weather as this, but duty must be done." "I hear a bad account of the road before me-these Kilworth mountains are said to harbour robbers. My pistols are useless, for, unfortunately, I left Cork without procuring a supply of powder; could you procure me some and you'd oblige me?"

"I shall be most happy to let you have what I hope may suffice for you, sir," replied the corporal, opening his cartouch-box. O'Connell

produced his pistols, and the bore exactly corresponded with the cartridges of the dragoon. "Take half-a-dozen cartridges, sir," said the man, "and I'm glad to be able to oblige you." "A glass of spirits and water will do you no harm this wet day," said O'Connell, and the dragoon drank his health, ere he resumed the saddle.

"Dan," cried Grady, when O'Connell displayed his plentiful store of ammunition, "you'll do-blarney for ever."

The course Harry Deane Grady had taken in supporting the Union caused him to be much censured by several influential persons in Limerick, who were opposed to that measure. They were resolved to express their disapproval, and having convened a meeting of the Limerick electors, deputed three to wait upon the place-hunting member. They consisted of a Protestant bishop, suspected of democratic leanings, Dr. Cheyne, an eminent physician, and General Burgoyne, who had served in China. Harry listened very patiently while they denounced his conduct in very severe terms, accusing him of injuring his country, deserting his duty, and betraying his constituents. These very serious charges were met by Harry with a bold denial.

"I did none of these crimes, my lord and gentlemen," he said. "I was opposed to the Union at first, but as soon as it was rightly explained to me,' I saw it was the greatest boon this country could receive, and I am satis fied my constituents will approve of my vote when I bring the case to their full knowledge."

No, indeed!" was the response; "they all declare you have betrayed them."

"Nonsense, gentlemen--rank nonsense," cried the indomitable place-man; "you come between me and my constituents, and induce them to condemn me, on the ipse dixit of a republican parson, a quack doctor, and a battered old mandarin."-As the deputation felt Harry was getting personal they bowed and withdrew.

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When it suited his purpose to abuse he spared no one. During a trial at the Limerick assizes his first cousin was a witness for the party opposed to his clients, and Harry crossexamined him in a most unsparing and savage way. He did not rest there. When addressing the jury, in alluding to the evidence of this witness, he said, "This case is supported by evidence as disgraceful as ever came before a judge or jury; the plaintiff, not content with the most outrageous statement, supports it by placing this wretched creature on the table, for whom I can find no fitter appellation than his miserable jackal.”

The gentleman thus publicly vituperated was of very haughty demeanour, and we can well imagine his feelings on being thus held up to public view by his own first cousin.

During the day, after leaving court, he saw Harry in one of the principal streets of Limerick, appearing with outstretched hand. When within a short distance,—

"My dear John,” cried Harry, "I'm heartily glad to see you."

"I wonder, sir,” replied his cousin coldly, "you dare address me, after the gross insult you inflicted upon me this morning." He was about passing, when the cool counsel said,

"Oh, never mind that, John; that's my trade, you know. I'll dine with you to-day." "If you go to my house I'll take care not to dine at home," was the reply.

"All the better," responded Harry; "in that case, I shall have Mary (his cousin's wife) all to myself."

Harry Deane Grady's daughters were very lovely and most accomplished girls, and made brilliant marriages. Indeed, so many peers were attracted by their fascinations to his residence at Dublin, it was called "The House of Lords." One daughter became Lady Muskerry, another Lady Masserene, another Lady Roche. He had a beautiful place near Stillorgan, and lived to an old age.

WILLIAM CONNOR MAGEE, D.D.

[Irishmen of whatever creed cannot but | countryman, who is one of the greatest pulpit feel gratified to know that thousands are willing to wait patiently for hours at St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, or some other of our great churches, to hear the eloquence of a fellow

1 He was appointed a commissioner of revenue, with £1200 a year.

orators of the day. Dr. Magee, the Bishop of Peterborough, is at present beyond all question the most popular preacher in the Church of England, and has a reputation to which there has been nothing like rivalry since the death of Dr. Wilberforce.

William Connor Magee was born at Cork | tion of opinion from the English Church was in 1821, and comes from a family which is particularly needful. Thus he was selected to very distinguished in ecclesiastical history. | preach before the British Association at NorHis grandfather, Archbishop Magee, was, as wich in 1868, and it was he also who delivered is known, one of the most influential politi- the inaugural sermon at the Church Congress cians and ablest theologians of his time. His in Dublin. The latter discourse has since been father was the Rev. John Magee, vicar of St. republished under the title of "The Breaking John's, Drogheda. The career of Dr. Magee Net," and its perusal years after its delivery at Trinity College was distinguished both in will explain to a large extent the remarkable the official studies prescribed, and in that un- enthusiasm with which it was received at the official but perhaps equally important arena, time. The other discourses of Dr. Magee the College Historical Society. He there stood which have excited most attention are "The out for oratorical power from all his contem- Gospel and the Age," preached at the ordinaporaries, and heads the list of auditors in the tion at Whitehall Chapel in 1860; “The revived Intern Society. Over his gradations Church's Fear and the Church's Hope," in ecclesiastical office we can pass rapidly. preached in Wells Cathedral in 1864; and Ordained in 1844, his first charge was that of "The Relation of the Atonement to the Divine a curate of St. Thomas's Church in Dublin. Justice," an address delivered to the clergy at After a residence of two years in Malaga, Radley. A series of discourses delivered at where he was obliged to take refuge on ac- Norwich in defence and confirmation of the count of his health, he was attached to St. Christian faith have also attracted great notice, Saviour's Church in Bath for two years, and and have been translated into several conin 1850 he was transferred to the Octagon tinental languages. Dr. Magee has had opChapel, first as joint and afterwards as sole portunities, however, of delivering other than incumbent. His tenure of office gave op- purely ecclesiastical addresses. As a member portunity for the exercise of his activity and of the House of Lords he has occasionally intellectual influence. Among other results taken part in discussions on subjects of a of his incumbency, it may be mentioned that political character. His speech in vindication when the Liberation Society started an organi- of the Irish Church was beyond all question zation in Bath, a counter association was the ablest defence of that institution, and at established through the efforts of Dr. Magee once brought him into the first rank of parunder the title of "The Bath Church Defence liamentary debaters in the Upper House. He Society;" and a brilliant lecture on "The Volun- has since made noteworthy addresses on the tary System and the Established Church" was Permissive Bill and other public measures. so effective that several other societies of a like kind immediately arose throughout the country. Dr. Magee was afterwards attached to the Quebec Chapel in London. In 1864 he became rector of Enniskillen, in the same year was made dean of Cork, and in 1866 became dean of the Chapel Royal, Dublin. Dr. Jeune, the bishop of Peterborough, died in 1868, and Dr. Magee was raised to the vacant see. Some unflattering comment was naturally evoked by the promotion of an Irishman and a graduate of Trinity College to an English bishopric; but the commanding position which Dr. Magee has since attained in the Church, and the great abilities-of which, indeed, he had already given ample proof-have more than vindicated his right to the high position. The published writings of Dr. Magee are almost exclusively of a religious character, and consist in the main of sermons preached upon special occasions. Long before his elevation to the episcopate he was sought after on several notable occasions on which a declara

Dr. Magee's style is the very reverse of that which is usually, but most unjustly, associated with Irish eloquence, and is also free from the most frequent vices of popular preaching. He is simple, and indeed seems to scorn ornament. Lucidity of statement and cogency of argument are the characteristics of all his writings, in which a definite object is always kept steadily in view, and is gradually brought nearer by what appears to be the easiest and most certain steps.]

CHRISTIANITY AND SCEPTICISM.

Scepticism demands certainty. Christianity offers certainty, and gives it in the end. But the certainty Christianity gives is the certainty partly of reason, partly of faith, and partly of experience, whereas the certainty that scepticism demands is the certainty of science only. Or we may state it finally thus:-Every one, even the most extreme of unbelievers, will

admit that there is something to be said for Christianity. Christianity is not altogether unreasonable and unworthy of a hearing as regards its evidences; for, after all, the men who have believed in Christianity during the last eighteen hundred years have not been precisely the greatest fools of their age. Leibnitz, and Butler, and Pascal were not exactly drivellers they were men capable of thinking, of weighing an argument, of understanding evidences; and not these only, but hundreds and thousands of the most powerful and subtle intellects that humanity has ever known, who in their day weighed the evidences of Christianity,―aye, and weighed them in spite of doubt, and fought their way through every one of those doubts that are tangling round the feet of men now as they come to Christ were not such utter fools, that any one is entitled with a wave of his hand to dismiss Christianity altogether as an absurdity and a folly. All who are at all reasonable will admit there is something to be said for the evidences of Christianity; and, on the other hand, every reasonable Christian will admit there is something to be listened to something at least that appears at first sight reasonable and fair-in some of the objections to Christianity. But the real question is this:-The Christian says to the sceptic, "It is unreasonable of you to ask that every difficulty should be got rid of, and every question answered, before you believe Christianity." The sceptic says to the Christian, "It is unreasonable of you to ask me to believe Christianity until you have set at rest every doubt and answered every possible question." Now I ask you to consider which of these is right, which is the reasonable demand,—that of the Christian for faith upon sufficient, probable evidence; or that of the sceptic for assent only upon scientific demonstration? This is our question to-night.

In order to argue this question fairly and calmly, without passion or prejudice, let us pass away altogether for the moment from the subject of religion and religious doubt, and let us consider the uses and abuses of doubt in other matters than religion. We all know that men do doubt and have doubted about many subjects besides religion. Try, then, and recall to your minds your first doubt. It will be long, very long, ago in your life. Your first doubt is only a little later than your first belief. The first instinct of the child is to believe everything to believe that everything he sees, everything he hears, is true. All appearances for the child are realities. The sun is to him

a ball of fire that climbs up the sky in the morning and sets in the evening. The stars are little specks of light set in a blue firmament. The earth is a flat space. The words of men are true words. Everything that appears to him at first is. Very soon, however, the child learns that what appears is not always what it appears--learns to distrust appearances,—learns that under the appearance there is often a different reality; that is to say, he learns his first lesson of doubt. And very valuable and important is this first calling out of the instinct of doubt,-this first awakening of the sceptical part of man,-of his understanding. For the nature of the understanding is ever to ask the question, "What?" and "Why?"-ever to seek under appearances for their cause or for their underlying reality. And so the mind of man-the sceptical, inquiring mind-is ever questioning of every apparent fact, "Is this what it seems?" and if it is, "Why is it so?" or if it is not, "Why is it not?" Thus doubt-precious and invaluable doubt—is ever leading man on from question to question, and every question that he asks, if he can but gain from science the true answer to it, is ever leading him a step on in knowledge. The mind of man is ever asking, and nature and science are ever furnishing answers to his questions. So man goes on from belief to doubt, from doubt to belief, from belief to greater knowledge; and thus doubt is still the cause of progress, the implement of discovery, the spur to reformation, the motive power that is specially needed for the ever-onward march of humanity in knowledge and science. Doubt! without this invaluable instinct of doubt humanity would be stagnant: with it, and by its help, humanity progresses. We do not disparage, we highly value, the uses of doubt.

But, observe! this doubt is useful upon one condition and one only, that it start from a first belief. For what is the source of all this doubt and this thirst after knowledge? It is the supreme, instinctive belief that beneath all appearances there is a reality, that something underlies and causes all being; and it is the search after this (if I may so speak of it) Essence of Existence, the search after this I AM,

that still leads on the doubter. If he had no faith in some underlying reality beneath all these phenomena,-these appearances,— there would be no progress; and so doubt is ever seeking for that which is, ever seeking to get below that which appears, and yet it never reaches it. Never yet has scientific investiga

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