Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-10-28
A SPIRITED SKETCH.


Bar published in the New Lon dom
Magazine for July last, the Sketch for
that month opens as follows. We wish
we had room to publish the whole arti-
Gle descriptive of this distinguished
Counsellor. If we have any Counsel
lors in this country possessing as strl.
king peculiarities and as various merits
as the subject of this sketch, they have
never been as wildly painted to the
mind as by the writer of 1t:
If any one of you. my English read
err. being a stranger in Dublin, should
chance. as you return upon winters
morning from one Of the "small and
earlyr parties of that raking metropo.
rs, that is to say, between the hours OF
five and six o'clock, to pass along the
30 9TH side of Merrion Square, you will
not fail to observe, that among those
splendid mansions there Is one EVIDENT
ly tenanted by a person whose habits
differ materially from those of his la
shionsble neighbors. The half-opened
oarlour.shutter, and the light within.
announces that some one dwelis there
whose time is too precious to permit
him to regulate his rising with the suns.
Should your curiosity tempt you to as
cend the steps, and, under cover of the
dark, to recopnoitre the interior, you
will see a tall able.bodied man stand
ing at desk, and immersed in solits-
nv occupation. Upon the wall in front
ofbim there hangs crucifix. From
this, and from the calm attitude Of the
person within, and from certain mo-
nsstic rotundity about his neck and
shoulders, your first impression will be,
tina; he must be some piuus dignItary
of the Church of Rome absurbed in his
natin devotions. But this conjec ure
will be re ec ed almost as soon as form
ed, No sooner can the eye take in the
other furniture Of the apartment, the
bookcases clogged with tome. IN plain
caIf-skin binding, the biue-covered oc-
tavos hat lie about Oh the tables and
the floor, the reams Of manuscript in
oblong folds and begirt with crimson
ta pe, than it becomes evident that the
party ~ editsting amidst such objects
must be thinking far more Of the law
han the pr phets. He lie, uoequNo
caIly, barrister, but apparently OF that
bomeiy. chanbsr-keepng, PloodiDg
cast, who labor hard to maze up by as
siduI;y what they want in wit who are
up and stirring before the bird oil the
morning has sounded the retreat TO the
wandering spectre-and are already
brain. deep in the dizzying vortex OF
NOR, cages and cruss-remalnders, and
merges, and remitters, while his eli
ents, still Tipped In sweet oblivion Of
the laws delay. are fondiy drea aiming
that their cause is peremPtoriIy set
down for final hearing. Having come
to this conclusion, you push on for
home, blessing your stars on he way
that you are not lawyer. and sincerely
compa ssiona,ing the sedentary drugde
whom you have just detected III the
performance of his cheerles. toii. But
should you happen in the course OF the
same day to stroll down to the Four
Courts, you will be not little surpsis.
ed to find the object of your pity mira,
culously transferred from the severe
reeluse of the morning into one of the
most busting, important, and joyous
persopages IN that busy scene. There
you will be sure to zee him. his coun.
teuapce bracsd up and glistening with
health and spirits. with a huge, Petho.
rlc bag which his robus, arms can
scarcely sustain, clasped with paternal
fondpess to his breast-and -nVironed
by living palisade of clients and at,
torney's, with outstreched Decks, add
mouths and ears agape. to catch up any
chance opinion that may be coaxed out
OF him in coiloquisl way, or listening
to what the ellen relishes still better
for in no even, can they be sliced into
a bill OF costs-The councillors bursts
of lovial and familiar humor, or when
he touche on a sadder strain, bis pro.
phetic assurances that the hour of Ire
lands redemption, is at hand, You
perceive at once that you have lighted
upon great popular advoe ate, and if
YOU take the trouble to follow his move
men for a couple of hours through
the several Courts, you will not fail to
discover the qualities that have made
him so-his legal competsncy-his bu.
sIness-lIke habits--his ssnguine TEN.
permanent, which renders him not mere
ly the advocate but the partisan Of his
client--his acuteness-his fiuency of
thought & laDguage--his unconquera.
BILE good humor--and, above all his yer.
satility. BY the hour of three, when
TIE judges usually rise, you will have
seen him go through a quantity of bu
siness, the preparation for, and perfor
nance of which, would be sufficient to