The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1823-09-23
SKETCHES or THE IRISH BAR.

| English readers, being stranger IN DuOlln
should chance, as you return upon winter
morning from one Of the I" small and early
parties Of that raking metropolis, that is e
| saw, between the hours Of FIVE and six o'clock
TO pass along the south side of Merton
SQUARE you will not fail to observe that among
those splendid mansions, there is one evident.
Iiy tenanted bv person whose habits differ
materially from those OF bis fashionable neigh
boTs. The halfopened parlour-shutter, and
the light within, announce that some one
Idwells there whose time is too precious 70
permit him TO regulate bis rising with the
sun's-ShouId your curiosity tempt you TO as
cend the steps, and, under cover Of the dark,
to reconnoitre the interior, you win see tall
able bodied man standing at desk, aud i'm
mersed in solitary occupation. Upon the
wall in front of him there hangs crucifx.
From this. and from the calm attitude Of the
person within, and from a certain monastlc
rotundity about his neck and shoulders, your
first impression viii be. that be must be some
pious dignitary of the Church of Rome abb
sorbed 10 bis matin devotions. But this con-
lecture will be rejected almost as soon as
for ned. No sooner can the eye take in the
other furniture of the apartment, the book
cases clogged with tones in plain calf-skin
binding, the blue covered octavos that lie
about on the tables and the floor, the realms
of manuscript in oblong folds and begirt with
crimson tape, than it becomes evident that the
party meditating amidst snch objects must be
thinking far more of the law than the pro-
phets. He is, unequivocally, barrister, but
apparently of THAT homely, chamber-keeping
Flooding cast, who labour hard to make up by
assiduity what they want in wit--who are up
and stirring before the bird of the morning
mas sounded the retreat to the wandering
spectre-snd are already brain-deep in the
dizzying vortex of mortgages and cross-re
mainders, and mergers and remittiters, while
his clients, still tapped in sweet oblivion Of
the laws delay, are fondly dreaming that their
cause is peremptorily set down for final
hearing. Having come to this conclusion, you
push Oh for home, blessing your stars on the
way that YOU are not lawyer, and sincerely
compassionating the sedentary drudge whom
you have just detected ia the performance Of
his cherries toll. But should you happen in
the course ofthe same day to stroll down to
the Four Courts, you will not be little sur
prsed to find the object OF your pity mirac-
ulousiy transferred from the severe recluse Of
the morning into one of the most busting, i'm
portant, and Joyous personages in that busy
scene. There you will be sure to see him, his
countenance braced up and gistening with
health and spirits-with huge, plethoric bag,
which his robust arms can scarcely sustain,
clasped with paternaI fondness to his breast
and enviroued by living palisade of clients
and attorneys, with outstretched necks, aud
,,I e. fnh
chance opinion that may be coaxed out Of him
in coIloquial way, or listening to what the
client relishes still better, for in no event can
they be sided into bill Of costs, the counsel
lor's bursts ofjovial and familiar humour, or,
when he touches on sadder strain, his pro-
phetic assurances that the hour of Ireland's
redemption is at hand. You perceive at once
that you have lighted upon a great popular
advocate, and ifyou take the trouble to fol-
low his movements for a couple of hours
through the several Courts, you will not fail
to discover the qualities that have made him SO
his legal competency--his business like hab-
its-his sanguine temperament, which renders
him not merely the advocate but the partisan
of his client--his acuteness-his huency OF
thought and language-his unconquersble
good humour--sud, above all, his versatility.
BY the hour of three, when the Judges usu-
ally rise, you will have seen him go through a
quantity of business, the preparation for, and
performance of which, would be sufficient to
wear down an ordinary constitution, and you
naturally suppose that the remaining portion
Of the day must of necessity be devoted to
recreation or repose but here again you will
be mistaken for should you feel disposed, as
you return from the Courts, to dropin to any
of the public meetings that are almost daily
held for some purpose, or to no purpose, in
Dublin, to certainty you will find the coun-
sellor there before you, the presiding spirit Of
the scene, riding in the whirIwind, and direct
| ing the storm of popular debate, with Z
strength of lungs, and redundancy of ANNA
ton, as if he had that moment started fresE
for the labors of the day. There he remains
until, by dint of strength or dexterity, he has
carried every point and from thence, if you
would see him to the close Of the days event
full history" you will, in all likelihood, have
to follow him to public dinner, from which
after having acted a conspicuous part in the
turbulent festivity of the evening, and throwr
off half dozen speeches in praise of Ireland
he retires at late hour TO repair the veal
ohu eSoi Va thC 10Y Wy ShSit a"N~AFoi VI ~
pose, and is sure to be found before dawn
break next morning at his solitary post, re
commencing the routine of bis restless exist
ence. Now, any one who has once seen, il
the preceding situations, the able-bodied, able
minded, acting, talking, multifarious person
| have been just describing, has no occasion
to enquire bis name-he may be sure that h'
is, and can be no other than I" Kerry's pride
and MINISTER'S glory" the far-famed and indie
lfatigabe Daniel O'Connell.
Mr.. O'Connell was born about eight AM
forty years ago, in that part of the unite'
kingdoms of ireland and Kerry, called Kerry
He is said to be descended in mathematical
iy and morally straight line from the ancien
kings of Ivera.+ The discrowned family
however, have something better than the sad
dening boast of regal descent to prop thei
pride. His present ex-majesty Of lvera, MI
Daniel O'Connell's uncle, has territorial
revenue of four or five thousand a year to sup
port the dignity of bis traditional throne
4 while the numerous princes of the blood, dis
a., tbsal H. g thn.~ 4.