The Irish standard., 1907-01-05
R. MERRY DEL VAL.
He is Sald to be the Youngest
Cardinal Secretary
OF State Since the Reign of
Pope Plus Nv.

OF State Since the Reign Of
Pope Plus Nv.
In the course of an interesting arti-
Gle in the Pail Mall Magazine, enti-
tied "Some Grey-Haired Boys," Mr..
Justin Mccarthy says:
My "grey-haired boys are merely
periods Of my life, and who had this
much in common among them--that
down to an extreme old age they pre-
served the freshness of feeling, the
genial spirits, the mental elasticity.
and the unfailing hopefulness of youth
men, in fact, who proved, although
without the slightest conscious effort
at proving it, that however long they
might live, they newer Eould grow
old. I am going back to the days
when / was still living in my native
city, Cork, and was beginning to be
possessed by the youthful longing to
sec the world and to meet with men
who had lived lives OF adventure.
Then and there / became acquainted
with the first of tile "grey-haired
boys" whom I am going to describe.
This was p magistrate named James
Roche. who was a managing partner
in a banking house established by him
and his brother in the city Of Cork
When l knew him he must have been
about eighty years of age. He had
wonderful experiences in life He
had studied in France and passed
many years there. He had settled in
Paris long before the outbreak Of the
French Revolution, and had made the
acquaintance of the famous or infa-
nous Countess Du Barry, who had
been, and then was, a. leading infu-
ence in the Court of Louis XIV. After
the Revolution Madame ,Du Barry
| wa soCiiI W LILO ''JdlIlcS
Roche had been on terms Of friend-
ship with most Of the leading Girond-
lists, and he came under the suspicion
Of Robespiere.
Roche was then engaged in the con:
duct of French banking house, and
when the impression got abroad in
France that Pitt, the great English
statesman, was carrying on a plot to
destroy the finance Of the new Re-
public, Roche was cast. into prison,
and was every hour expecting his
sentence to death. Only on the sud-
den overthrow of Robespierre's
power and the death Of Robespierre
himself did he obtain his freedom
once again. In the early part Of the
nineteenth century he returned to
Ireland. 1 need hardly say that a
long stretch Of years passed away
before l came to make his acuuaint.
ance.1 My chief delight. in his society
was in listening to the" wonderful
stories he could tell Of his expert
ences in the French Revolution. He
had known almost all the leading
figures in that great struggle and he
and to ilalmine them by personal an
ecdote I remember his telling me
that once he visited Gibbon at I.aus-
anne, and that he narrowly missed by
accident the chance Of meeting
Charles James Fox there. Roche was
Il wonderful talker, and he seemed to
enjoy the pouring forth Of his own
marvellous "reminiscences. - .'s!..:
He used to rattle along with quite &.
youthful vivacity, and there was nor,
indeed. the slightest suggestion &C
old age about it. He did not even
look like an old man: he might have,
been of any age you thought fit to
select for him, and while you only
listened and did not study his feat
ures, you might have thought you
were listening to the outpouring Of
some young fellows visit to Paris
just some few months before. need
hardly say that he was a. moderate
and even an abstemio,is liver, and
that he delighted in active exercises.
He remained full of energy, of hope,
and OF confidence, and it seemed to
me that the mere fact Of living was a
| joy to him. l remember we'll that
on one occasion, when consulted
him as to the possibility of my OBJ
tanning an appointment in my native
city which some of my friends urged
me to seek for, he jumped UP from
his chair in a sudden burst Of energy,
and strongly advised me not to think
Of settling down to spend my life in
Il provincial city. He walked rapidly
up and down the room, expatiating
OH the delights of seeing other places