The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-19 00:00:00

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b /NT $E uiGII
COURT OF CHANCERY.
ihi
Pt4,7ft "A, —On the 29th of May, 1855, an
C th J was erarited by the High Court of Chancery, and
following was made perpetual. against Joseph
1.641141 :4s, frxurs, to restrain them, ander a penalty of one thou-
, l'it44:,'"lers 1,14
at'nt hnitaoftin, this
and secured which is protected by
England, the:
made de Paris, and the Imperial College of Medicine.
'44P• °t.l3. fn00,01%11 1.11,1 TRIESEMAR, No. 1,
ethe, Ixation, Spermatorrhcsa. and Exhaustion of th
krao arising from excesses, accident, or climate.
ktts, llette24 who are prevented entering the married state by
—"r early errors it is invaluable.
TRIESEMAR No. 2,
we Ile tp: short space of three' days, completely and entire**
~.114tZt b"',"B ot those Disorders which Capivi and Cubcbs
• '7'11401-I—n!'lought an antidote for, to the ruin of the health
Ilkszea, the Population.
b`,,,eonth, TRTESEM kit No. 3,
.INZSIZ_th,-,rtal Remedy .for 'that class of Disorders, which
41it 41Letio,,nglish physician treats with Mercury, to the in-
-441 th th..`'ef the patient's constitution, and which all the
wb,4144144 kalt:;orld cannot remove.
I,Will:iatiseati.:* % and 3, are alike devoid of taste or smell.
tt b qualities. They may lie on the toilet teak
h
eas Lqe. sluPeeted.
ie dos°s+ at I is. each, free by post, 2s. extra, divided into
411111.41!; beh ad_minotered by Valpeau, Lallemand, Roux,
rtott-:411/1,4;: wholesale and Retail in Loudon of Johnston, 68,
kz:tit.s. Oxford-street; and Sanger, 00. Ox-
Alh, dri ggist, 4G, Market-street, Manchester ;
'llthittlzier,s.., Deans gate, Bolton J. Priestly, chemist, 52,
r_i°l, Powell, bookseller, 15, Westmoreland-street,
' weltseller, High-street, Birmingham.

1/Ir 'lest pub .
sCutt.,., lished, price es., by post, free, 55.. 6d.
Itt of the URETHRA : its 'Rational
k it Treatment and .?rompt Cure.
.044•Yt %me,. .„ By F. B. COIL3TENAY,
sOtelie,,e Dirt
ee Royal College of Surgeons of England
1e1,.44g th, Courfenay's experience in the treatment'of stric-
rZerf7; ttttst twenty years has equalled, if, indeed, it has notno
kiN,sercrtef any of his contemporaries. It is, therefor?, a
thiev4,,,erces se that he should e njoy the reputation of being .
I.l*:thil it 111.4 ed skilful manipulator with urethral instramentsi
Vetudvalredeatetlibered that the Lamented List.on use o
tktLe r " 'tett ''''on of instruments through a stricture which had
,Ltie.4lile ettalPerrneable to them, was the most difficult in
et ",44 ill Cti.o4Bllrgical operations, it must be no slight source. of
tt -41ezZie I.Zr. Courtenay's part. to have achieved the reputation
etZter erblietti?eet ; and for our part,
e rireth_.`ndeq,"' We know of no man to whose care we would. with
with the knowledge we have.
entrust the treatment of a severe case of stricture
,5,1,0.,:--eledical Circular.
/4, 'alen; 11. Bailliere, 219, Regent-street.
ko. a.„ --.....
' kii,l':l‘ NF
6a -. raMITIES OF YOUTH AND MATURITY.
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-"' .s., illustrated with cases; free by post for 30
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11141041!4 a". 2 0 tr S Y •
DEBILIT ,
lioN,4*444it'llia, witt,, BYrentoms, and Cure.—An Essay on Sper-
teaede Practical Observations on a safer and more
iltNl:utatee., et treatment of the diseases of the Generative
t'
van htc,,. b,., hY the use of the Microscope in detecting and
tiek lest,,, tet3".: eefterlearY examination the real cause and effect of
-et.,•'elity-tdent, -01,`"Plalne. whether 'arising from solitary habits,
eta. efts t. Dear g, climate, followed by practical remarks, founded
ee,p4ed e..billty •reaPerlence in the tr.satment of Impuissance.
it„...,044, eje,,,,_. ...,ocal.
. , Weakneso, Spermitorrhosa, &c, To which
fl,oll ~.I.`" Net7oasartes on the Physiology of Marriage, with pre-
."‘ itc'e d ee. the evils emanating from empirical prr.ctice,
Pert„‘2lgeotta remedies advocated by various write. s on
t,
Ili -, disomers.
eetcl.OAß la, Otk D p trEL LA'MEET, M.D.
'lll r/ ktioine / g• D-8 Q II A R E, LONDON.
t'ke... h.,_' 0404 . .atrlculated Member of tile University of &lin 1,41,10-..e.....t. of ZY 111 trabar of the London Hospital Medical Society
tqelle-c74ttel t9tieleales' all, London, Sce o 2‘o.
t the fearful con-
11,_ 4 il. resclthle,e. 01' this treatise is to point oil excesses,
st",ed, and pie-,g__?lsi certain habits, irregult .ritics, and .
eio'rve znore misery ill Youth, t legradation ineMan-
th:ielll-:-.' et dise..° atmaY at all stages of Life, than, perhaP , any
is 46 r Dhp3' ecern7 0 known to modern ps.tholoOsts. Its perusal 1 t
11114,11,441 cep., 'ended to persons entertairing secret doubts o t,,q, hap i ..,
as and who are ' . ..f having hazarded
tit,riot
.....Derso'aoeineinsiad'iarYet
It I ' "I° ". Sled privilegetitvrivheilehise ' being
is
11% 1 abaci v•sry human
1s b 3 >i r uts
that all men should know, that there are
the nerd .nievoea , ' tnenagement which cannot be violated without
43'1,L"`' ea% glft-...,1ne rteast.earsdeirsv.ihnednniwisdom and regret succeed
'hat ''''', til -44.. how th • genee, how these penalties
0,. ttle,, ie evil
~ e sting of their bitterness may be removed,
I,tbge;;4fica,
,Zi,;:t
.;_t_s Consequences may be avc ided, and above all,
leerol'4iteth' e 0 , tittailag degree of physical infirmity or functional
eeteite esti" for a s es
2rei tialelY aid of science ca snot apply a cure.
of years been engaged in an extensive
er.,11,,,i ;ten% ettqebetreneatment ot these delicate conmiainis, which have
"'•11 1. ' '41101,.. too gen rally confided to tie care of ignorant
LttotilTotrern etensious
lip -• their ..oict great e•
iolory on those who are induced to place 444 11, itli'd •, GI
tp,rt e,19, t ,:0., 13 pae_ may be had, price 21,, of Messrs. Piper,
lord). 'knk etc ftter.: rrioster.row; Hannay, 63, Oxford-street ;
lord 1,4 to _ 'glare; mm. 39, Cornhill • or free by post for
k,±l.tilo., e. aulY address from the Author's residence, 37, Bed-
-''‘ till ile for 0,
'Olt, 4'lltatioa daily from Eeven 1111 Two and from

ARGYLL ROOMS.—lmmense success of the
new dance, LA VARSOVIANA : Music by H. LAURENT.
—Danced every evening.

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS
The Proprietor has great satisfaction in announcing that he
has succeeded in forming an engagement with Mons JULLIEN to
give a series of SIX GRAND CONCERTS, commencing THIS DAY
(Monday), Ju'y 16th, and concluding on Saturday, July 21st, in
which the principal celebrites of Mons. Jullien's Orchestra will ap-
pear, together with several artistes of European renown, engaged by
Mons. Jullien during his last visit to Germany, Italy, and France,
who will have the honour of making their first appearance on this
occasion. Two Military Bands of the Guards are elso engaged.
f o ming, with Mons. Juilien's Orchestra, the most magnificent • En-
semble de Musique Militaire ever presented to the public. Princi-
lal instrumental performers : —Mesars. Baumann, Lavigne, Wuille,
Arbon, Collinet, Frisch, Howell, Sonnenberg, Pepins, Simar, Prat-
ten, &c. The following artistes of continental renown will make
their lint appearance:—Mons. T.eloup, cornet-A-piston (from the
Guides of the King of the Belgians) ; Herr Reichert. flute (from the
Conservatoire of Brussels) ; Herr Nabish, trombone (from the Royal
Chapel of the King of Saxony); Signor Martini, ophicleide (from
La Scala and the Conservatoire of Milan) ; Mons. Guerin, bombar-
done (from the Guides of the Imnerial Guards, Paris). In the Zou
ayes' Pas de Course, the trumpet parts will be performed by MM.
Constant, Charles, Modrut, Legrand, H. Bovin, and A. Ilovin. The
Repertoire of New Music, composed by Mons. Jullien since his last
Concerts at Covent-garden, will include the Zousves' Pas de Course
or the A s-ault Gains ; La Rose et la Violette Valse, dedicated to
their Majesties the Queen of England and the Empress of the French ;
the Belle of the Village Poise, with Echos on the Lake. The Con-
cert will conclude with the Allied Armies Quadrille, performed at
Drury-►ane and Covent-garden Theatres for seventy consecutive
nights, before the most crowded audiences ever assembled in those
national establishments;' arranged expressly for military music,
and for introduction into the magnificent Spectacle of Sebastopol
Principal Cornet, Herr Koenig. Conductor, Mons. Jullien. Admis-
sion, Is.
•

THE SEND of the VACATIONS.
Parents and guardians in London and the country are re-
minded of the advantages derived fkom procuring Dress for Youths
and Juveniles at the establishment and Branch Establishments of
E. MOSES and Sox.
Young Gentlemen about returning to School or College are tho-
roughly equipped with the most fashionable and comfortable attire.
From the largest stock in the world of new materials and style
the most satisfactory selection may be made.
Self-measurement, sent gratis, will enable all who reside at a dis-
tance to procure the most artistic tit.
Schools and private families in the neighbourhood of the metro-
polis waited upon by the most accomplished cutters, and orders
attended with greater despatch, correctness, and economy than at
any other house.
E. MOSES and Sox have a vast assemblage of novelties in Dress
for the season; they comprise every new POW!, both in Fabrics
and Manufacture. Every class of purchasers will find the most
pleasing provisions for all their requirements in Dress, Hato, Hosiery,
Boo's and Shoes, &e. _ _ _ _

" His first appearance I recollect well: it was strikingly
grotesque. His face was pale and meagre; his limbs
lank
•hair starting upwards from his head like 'a
brush ; a sort of muscular action pervading his whole
'frame ;. his dress foreign ; his talk broken English, and
his voice a squeak. .Add to this a pair of singularly bril-
liant eyes, lighting •up all the peculiarities of his figure,
and you have before you the boy Shell. His perform-
ances were at first as singular as his person. His efforts to
kick a football were sai generis. He never engaged in the
game along with the other boys, but kept aloof, occupied in
reading or walking about the playground ; but whenever the
ball was thrown across his path, he used to dart at with a
frantic energy, his legs and arms all pretty equally on the
stretch, so that it was out of the question to determine with
what limb he would assail the bail, until Al kick at it, proba-
bly from the left leg, solved the problem ; and then back he
would go to his reading, amid the yells of the urchins, en-
raged at his disturbing their game."
After quitting Stonyhurst in 1807, Richard Sheil (then 16)
before the close of November, became a student of Trinity
College, Dublin, entering it as a pupil of Doctor Wall,
now Vice-Provost of the University. Not long afterwards
his father was s 6 far, ruined as to be compelled to part with
Bellevue for 28,0001., and after paying off very considerable
liabilities, to remove with his family to the Irish capital
upon a moderate and even narrow competence. Hereupon
a-relative—be his name ever mentioned with honour—Dr.
William Foly, an eminent physician of WaterfOrd, open?'
taneously provided Richard Sheil with an allowance of
1001. per annum until such time as he could be called to
the bar. In anticipation of which entrance upon his cho-
sen profession, the young student became a constant atten-
dant of the Historical Society then holding its meetings
within the walls of the University. His first public dis-
play as a speaker appears to have been on the 9th of Feb.,
1811, when he was little more than 19, but when, in spite
of his shrill voice, his boyish look, and his wild unsettled
air, he nevertheless contrived even then, by that maiden
effort, to make an impression upon his auditors. Insomuch
that at the close of his speech he received the especial
compliments and congratulations of the Knight of
Kerry, the late Mr. Maurice Fitzgerald. - In the-
July of 1811 Shell took his degree of A. 8., and
on the 13th of the following November went up
to London and entered as a student of Lineoln's-inn. It
was on the first day of Hilary term, 1814, that he was ad-
mitted a member of the Irish bar; and on the 19th of
February, in the same year (Shed being then just turned
twenty-three), that (with Miss O'Niel acting the character
of the heroine) our young adventurer witnessed the per-
formance of his first dramatic effort—Adelaide; Or, The.
Emigrants. This was at the Crow-street Theatre, Dublin.
The tragedy was successful—to the mingled delight and
dismay of Shell's father. Exulting though the latter did
in his son's distinguished progress in classical study, in
English composition,o,reaitoo rejoicing
t htahenodeuag rhetorical hh
he
lteioccri iimcda leaet
meetings,
ihxniegsrsci
precocioussaens ,d wg hraitl
cele-
brityei
fi eadt
beyond°nY as
su arlit
expression by the praises generally lavished upon-
" Adelaide—he yet dreaded lest the fascination of success
at the playhouse might lure his eldest born, the hope of
his house, from the prosecution of what he regarded as
a more eminent and lucrative profession. Th bent of
the young man's earlier ambition was, however, not to be
interfered with. He possessed, so far as it went, the
energy and the faculty divine, and these were not to be
permanently baulked, though they might, of course, be
temporarily interrupted. By the 23d of May, 1816,
" Adelaide" had been promoted from the boards of Dublin
to those of London. It was brought out at Covent-garden, •
but owing to some contre temps " went off flatly", and was
never reproduced. A year afterwards, on the 3d of May,
1817, a happier fate attended the second of Mr. Shell's
tragedies, The Apostate, the success of whioh.was triumph-
ant. For the copyright of this he received from Mr.
Murray 3001., and from the managers of the theatre
4001. 7001. in all, besides the still larger reward of a re-
putation. At the beginning of 1818, appeared (not quite
so successfully, though still successfully) Mr. Sheil's third
tragedy, entitled Bellarmira; or, The Fall of Tunis, for which
the author received 3001. from the theatre, and 1001. (from
Mr. Murray) for the copyright. It was during the re-
hearsal of this piece that the following incident inter-
rupted the business of the scene with an unexpected burst'
of laughter at the young Irish poet's bull of explanation.

" At the end of the fourth act, Montalto, when seeking to
rescue his daughter from the grasp of Amurath, instinctively
feels the handle of his sword, forgetting that in the previous
scene he had given it to his brother. The intention of this
gesture not being understood, some embarrassment arose at
the rehearsal as to the tone and action with which the line—
' My scimitar, my scimitar,— my child ! '
ought to be given. The author eagerly interposed, and in his
ardent method of instructing the actors, he put himself in the
place of Young, to show him how he wished the conduct of
the scene to be managed : Now observe,—here's Mr. Young,
here's Mr. Kemble. Well, the guard comes on—Mr. Young
draws his sword, and finds he has not got it."'
During the first night's performance of the previous tra-
gedy, the one already mentioned as so eminently successful,
we learn from Mr. M'Cullagh that Sheil (haunted, no
doubt, by the London failure of its predecessor) scarcely
concerted his secret and gnawing solicitude.
" All went well, however. There was some applause, no
murmurs, and at length, sick of his own misgivings, and con-
scious perhaps that be betrayed a certain want of dignity in
the irrepressible excitement of his look and manner, he be-
took himself to the green-room when the third act began, re-
solved to remain there during the remainder of the
play. Few of its usual occupants were lingering there ;
and one of the attendants soon observed the restless
author pacing with measured steps the estrade, or nar-
row platform, which was placed all round the room,
on which a continuous row of seats was specially devoted to

the performers. For a time he seemed wholly unconscious
that any one was present; then suddenly stopped, and in a
low tone exclaimed, Can you tell me, sir, about what time
they generally begin to hiss tragedies at this house ? ' "

The greatest dramatic triumph, however, enjoyed by Mr.
Sheil had yet to come. It occurred on the 10th of February,
1819, when his exquisite trgedy of Ejadne made its first
appearance—the plot of which had been taken from Shir-
ley's "Traitor," but the whole merit and poetry of which
was Sheil's, and no others, the very fable being rendered,
so to speak, his own by passing through the alembic of his
refined and lofty imagination. Conspicuous though the
literary merits of Eradrte were beyond all doubt, the
author received from Mr. Murray no more than one
hundred guineas for the copyright-100/. more, accru-
ing to him, however, from the theatre as the tribute
of its histrionic popularity. A fifth tragedy was
written by Sheil during the autumn of 1819—written like
the rest of his dramatic pieces, " with great rapidity"—a
tragedy called the Huguenots. And on the 3d of May,
1820, was first performed his serious play, or dramatic-
poem, as it is more accurately designated by his biographer,
..liontoni. The previous tragedy, that of the " Huguenots,"
not being produced before the footlights until long after-
wards, and then only to complete its ill-fate from first to
last by a signal " damnation." The six productions already
enumerated complete the catalogue of Mr. Sheil's contribu-
tions to our dramatic literature, if we except, in addition
to these original performances, his subsequent adaptation,
in 1824, of Massinger's Fatal Dowry—and his production,
four years earlier, conjointly with Mr. Banim, of the then
eminently successful play of Damon and Pythias. With
these particulars we may close the record of Richard Sheil's
graceful labours as a dramatist.
IV hide he had been thus sedulously " courting the muses,"
—to the gratification of his love of the beautiful, to the
filling of his pockets, and to the popular extension of his
reputation—our author had been no less sedulously culti-
vating the friendship of several of the more illustrious
among the great men still surviving from the last genera-
tion, as well as of many of the more conspicuously promis-
ing among his own immediate contemporaries. During
his stay in Dublin, for example, lie was a not unfrequent
guest at the Priory—the suburban residence of the then
Master of the Rolls, Mr. Curran ; while occasionally, too,
he enjoyed the privilege of sauntering in social converse
with Grattan through the woods of Tinnehinch. Long
afterwards we find him, in the September of 1819, eaten!.
jug his acquaintance by a strange contrast to the foregoing
among a very different class of celebrities—when on visit-
ing Paris ho seized the opportunity to obtain an
introduction to Telma. Although Mr. M'Cullagh
gives no date in connection with an event so interest-
ing to the generality of biographers as that of the
marriage of the individual whose life is being celebrated in
the memorial, we are Illowed to conjecture from the con-
text of the narrative that it was some time in 1815 which
was the period of Mr. Sheil's union with Miss O'Halloran,
a young lady of great beauty and many accomplishments,
who, although her mother was sister to Colonel Sir Wil-
liam M`Dlahon, the private secretary to the Prince Regent,
brought to her husband none of the questionable advan-
tages usually supposed to be attendant upon the opportu-
nities of patronage. Unaided by men in power, the
young Irish barrister nevertheless contrived to work his
way onward and upward. His three brothers, on their
part, secured to themselves a moderate share of good for-
tune in different parts of the world—John distinguishing
himself in the Company s Service at the time of the attack
upon the Pagoda of Kee Kloo—Justin being promoted
from the same service to the British Legation at the
Court of Persia—and Edward, who had adopted a mercan-
tile instead of either a military or a political career,
ultimately settling in South America, where ke amassed
wealth enough to compensate in some measure for his vo-
luntary expatriation. Richard, as all the world knows,
flying at higher game, achieved somewhat loftier suc-
cesses, winning fame as an orator and a dramatist ; be-
coming for Ireland one of the chief among her patriot-
demagogues, and for the United Kingdom one of the most
distinguished debaters in the popular branch of the Legis-
lature ; ultimately attaining the dignity of a Privy Coun-
cillor, and expiring at last iu Florence, while sojourning
at the court of Tuscany as one of the representatives of
his Sovereign.
In recounting these incidents, which might reasonably
be regarded as the salient points in this active and useful
life, Mr. M'Cullagh has penned with very admirable per-
spicuity the political history of these islands doling an in-
terval no less momentous than the first half of the present
century. He has traced out anew the whole annals of the
Catholic Question. Beginning in earnest with that
first spurious attempt at the conciliation of all parties,
when, towards the close of 1821, Lord Liverpool deemed

it advisable to appoint Mr. Goulburn chief secretary,
while entrusting Lord Wellesley with the Viceroyalty, re-
taining Mr. Gregory as under-secretary, and Sir George
Hill as vice-treasurer, and Lord 'Matchers as Chancel-
lor, unpopuleaethouglethey were- as among the more viru-
lent partisans of .‘ scendancy. It was shortly afterwards,
on the ,7th January, 1822, that 31r. Shell seconded an ad-
dress which had been moved Tel-Mr. O'Connell, congratu-
lating Lord Wellesley upon his nomination to the Lord
Lieutenantey. Two days later, on the 9th of that same
January; Mr. Shell was gladdeued lie' the birth of his only
child (a son who expired prematurely some years after-
wards in what should have been the bloom of hie early man-
hood), and a little while later still was sorrowfully stricken
by the death of his young wife from puerperal fever— a
calamity undek the influence of which the bereaved hus-
band long remained inconsolably despOndent. -
It was about this period, during the course of 1822, that
Richard -Lalor Sheil and William Henry CUrran com-
menced that joint series of papers entitled " Sketches of
the Irish Barr which continued to be for some time con-
spicuous among the chief -attractions of the New Monthly
Magazine. Very recently these -anonymous effusions
have been collected together, and separately issued under
the names of their respective authors, in:two distinct pub-
ricatio'ns. The "Sketches—Legal and Political," jotted
down iu those wonderful- minasi-like pen-and-ink " por-
' treies from the life" by Mr. Sheil, we ourselves took occa-
sion, not long since, to commend in these columns as ear-
nestly as we believe them to have deserved, to an especial
share io the popular consideration. Since which time the
companion reprint, comprising the' kindred pencillings
from the hand of Mr. Curran, pencillings equally masterly
in their vigour and verisineilitude,-have, iu like manner,
according to promise, made their appearance. So that
the variOns essays constituting this ample and brilliant
series may now readily enengh be traced to the. Steele and
Addison of that notable departrnent of the:beau Monthly;
Passing down that ample portrait gallery, we may now,
therefore, recognise, on one hend; thd canvass upon which
"R. L. S." has delineated the features of Bushe, and Sau-
rin, and Joy, and Bellew, and O'Lughlin, of Leslie Foster
and Lord Norbury and, on theme other hand, the
confronting -canvass upon whiCh-"*. C." has de-
picted, with a truthfulness as unmistakeable as that
which appe.ared in every lino and tint of his brilliant con-
frere, or coliaborateur the lineaments of O'Connell, and
North, and Wallace, and Doherty, of Sergeant Goold and
Lord Plunkett. Collectively these sketches commanded
for themselves a large amount of public attention, even
while remaining strictly anonymous. Separately they
cannot but be stored up among the more valuable contri-
butions towards the history of Ireland, especially now that
their distinguished authorship has at length been explicitly
acknowledged.
The patriotic labours of Mr. Shell in his character as a
tribune of the people, as one of the most gifted among Irish
demagegnes, may be said to have commenced in earnest with
the memorable 12th of May, 1823, when in a meeting pre-
sided over by Loid Killeen, the present Earl of Fingallethe
celebrated Catholic. Association was formally inaugurated.
The wonderful Career of Daniel O'Connell had already
been, some time before then, commenced. Thatof Richard
Shell, in his political capacity had, up to the date we have
just given, remained unanticipated we suspect by himself
even in his moments of most sanguine expectancy. It
began then, however, and it must be allowed after that
period t 3 have been anything but tardy or obscure in its
development, It was second only in importance to that
of the Liberator. -But second, of course, to hisby an enor- ,
mous difference—by a difference as immense asthat dividing
the forimnes of Alexander from those of the chief among
his chiefs—Hcephestion. It is in respect to the subor-
dination of this somewhat deteriorative, contrast that we
conceive Mr. M'Oullagh's labours as a biographer to have
been conducted with the most judicious adroitness.
Throughout the entire work, he never once ventures to
bring the mightier shadow upon the scene with a distinct-
ness that must inevitably have dwarfed all others by the
superior grandeur of its proportions. O'Connell is seldom
alluded to iu these volumes, save by an occasional, and
then always an unavoidable, "aside." The whole at-
tention is concentrated throughout upon Shell, and this
without any attempt whatever to exaggerate his merits,
or to depreciate, even by an innuendo, those of his colossal
contemporary. - -
The earliest proceeding consequent upon the organising
of the Catholic Association was the presentation of the
Petition of its members to the Imperial Legislature—a
petition laid upon the table of the Upper House by Earl
Grey, end upontha.tof the Lower House by Mr. Brougham.
It is interesting now te remember that the association held
its first sittings in a small room in the house of Mr. Cayne,
a Capel-street bookseller. Later 'on, when it had grown
rather considerably in importance, it removed to a Parlia-
ment House of its own, famous in the fist instance as the
Corn Exchange, and afterwards as the renowned Concilia- ,
tion was in the spring of 1825 that Mr.,Sheil, in
.Company with Mr. O'Connell and several of the leading
members of the association, proceeded to London as mem-
bers of a deputation. During their absence in that metro-
polis, namely, on the 18th of March, 1825, the association
was closed—voluntarily. This, it will be remembered,
was in the illusory expectation that an act so strikingly
self-abnegatory would so far tend to conciliate the
Legislature as to lead, sooner or later, to the con-
cession by it of the long-desired boon of emancipation.
Hopes like these were strangely encouraged, when, on the
21st of April, the second reading of the Relief Bill was
carried in the Commons by a majority of 268 to 241—but
four days afterwards, on the 25th of April, no less
strangely dashed to the dust, when the Duke of York
(then heir presumptive to the Crown), with an indecent
outburst of Oritnge fanaticism, declared in the Lords; that
in, whatever situation of life he might be placeel..(alluding,
of course, in thie, to his advent to the throne), he would
adhere to the anti-Catholic principles he had always ex-
pressed—" So help him God !" The duke's speech was
thereupon " printed in letters of gold, and became the
Shibboleth of party and the watchword of Orangeism."
Almost immediately afterwards, or at least on the 20th of
August following, the Irish Catholics recovered with re
newed energy from their delusive day-dreamings—the
date just mentioned being that solemnly inaugurative
of the New Catholic Association. It was so con-
structed as not in any way to contravene the prohi-
bitory statute, 6 Geo. IV., cap. 4, by which the existence
of the previous association had been seriously threatened.
From that time the exertions of the emancipationists
were never relaxed until their object had been attained,
until the warning pronounced by the elder Pitt as far back
as 1759, that France looked to the discontent of Ireland,
had found its tardy but signal fruition at last in the con-
ference upon the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom
of all the treasured rights of citizenship ! Until the re-
commendation in 1793, by Mr. Secretary Hobart, of the
concession of the elective franchise had been followed up
by the permission to the electors of the exercise of their
franchise in favour, whenever it so pleased them, of their
catholic compatriots I Until the motion of Mr. Fox in
1805, and the carrying of the Bill of Plenary Relief through
the Commons twenty years afterwards, had ripened by two
or three more seasons into the full and perfect measure of
emancipation ! We are, however, anticipating.
bef
yet to be accomplished before the pear was mellow— eatM hod
dropped in the rude blast of the Clare election, and under
the effect of reiterated concussions by the association.
Towards this end Mr. Sheil laboured courageously, man-
fully, and pertinaciously. He toiled in the good cause,
both in speaking and writing. Nay, his oratorical labours
alone appear to have been twofold in their character, for
Mr. 314Ctillagh tells us, in regard to the subject of his bio-
graphy that it "was his (Sheirs)habit to write before hand
what he meant to say"—seldom trusting
himself to the
unpremeditated peril of the extemporaneous. He exerted
his energies in the holy cause, moreover, at once at home
and abroad, in France as well as in Ireland. As became
sufficiently manifest on the issue of his brilliant arguments
in idiomatic French, in the columns of L'.Etoile, a journal
published afterwards under the title of La Gazette de
France. Anonymous articles which were violently at•
tacked from time to time (as they appeared) in the columns
of the Courier, then flourishing as the recognised or-
gan of the Liverpool Administration. It was ill the
midst of this stormy and anxious crisis in his public cai eer
that Richard Shell was thus described to the very life by
a keen French observer, M. Davergier.
SHEIL THE ORATOR !

" Were I commissioned,' writes Mr. Duvergier, 'to take
down the signalentent of Mr. Sheil, this would be very nearly
the result : five feet four ; 'eyes quick and piercing ; com-
plexion pale ; chin pointed ; hair dark ; and in adding,
mouth midde-sized, I flatter myself I should have given a
description not to be excelled in exactness at the bureau des
passeports. But this is the portrait of the gentleman ; that of
the orator is widely diverse. When you behold that little
Gascon figure in repose, it is impossible to suspect to what
changes passion is capable of converting it, There is in Shell
something of Juvenal, of Pindar, and of Mirabeau. His
satire is shrewd and biting ; -his poetry dazzles ' • his enthu-
siasm carries you away. When he flings forth his sarcasm,
a bitter smile contracts his lips ; when he threatens, his eyes
dart forth lightnings ; when he is under the dominion of
powerful inspiration, they take an expression altogether sub-
lime. His veiee is meagre, harsh, and shrill ; but a profound
emotion seems to regulate its vibrations. His gesture is
quick, abrupt, and rather disorderly ; but it is always in per-
fect accord with such sentiments as he has to express. Shell
possesses in an eminent degree the surprising faculty of ex-
citing himself to the very verge of delirium without once
losing his complete self-possession. I was at his side whilst
speaking ; and more than once I saw all his limbs
tremble ; a moment after he resumed the discussion
remarked,
with not less composure than ingenuity. Like the English,
whom in other particulars he so little resembles, Shell is too
fond of quotations. Certain passages in bad taste, it may
also be observed, occasionally disfigure the best of his
spelocceicithicosn a ;
theatre about him. These reproaches have some appearance
of being well-founded, as more than once indeed I imagined I
anndd idniegtetumetral it
therehatss beensom i
something r
tooed much of the, that in both
had the figure of Kean actually before me, but then I must
also add, that Kean is a very admirable actor. In a word, I
was seduced, I was dazzled, and together with me, the whole
assembly. During an entire hour one single soul, that of the
orator, seemed to animate this living mass ; and from time to
time you would have said that an electric shock completely
convulsed them. I never before assisted at so absolute a
triumph.' "
It is curious to observe in opposition to this animated
sketch of Sheil by an impartial foreigner, that given not
very long afterwards by ono of the orator's own country.
men. We allude to a passage in " Moore's Diary," under
date 14th September, 1830, where it is observed :
" Sheil, one of the earliest speakers : his manner, action,
&e., all made me tremble a little for his chance of success
in the House of Commons, about which I had before felt
very sanguine. His voice had no medium tone, and,
when exerted, becoming a scream ; his action 'theatrical,
and of the barn order of theatricals ; but still his oratori-
cal powers great, and capable of pr"oducing (in an Irish
audience at least) great excitement.
This—of one who was very soon to prove himself one of
the most brilliant orators in the English Parliament ! It
is amusing to find Moore describing almost immediately
afterwards, in glowing terms, his own wonderful triumphs
as a, rhetorician !
We have said that after the reconstruction of the Catho-
lic Association as above related, the members of it never
once relaxed their efforts until the final triumph of the
cause of emancipation. It should be observed, however,
that there was, indeed, a momentary suspension of agita-
tion at that ono other slip;twixt the cup and the lip—con-
sequent upon Mr. Canning s nomination to the premiership,
and the tantalising reign of a hundred days which marked
the limited duration of his Government. Ott the 10th of
April, 1827, Mr. Canning filled up the places vacated by
the Duke of Wellington, Lord Eldon, Mr. Peel, Lord