Bench, or any distinguished member of administration, in favour of such a plan.

In 1786, the Bishop of Landaff, very unexpectedly came into the possession of a very considerable property, which was left him by his quondam pupil, Mr. Luther, M. P. for Essex, who had been under great obligations to him, on a variety of

occasions.

"On opening the will, I was found to be sole executor. His Essex estate was left to his younger nephew, Francis Fane, Esq., in strict entail to some other of his relations, with the remainder to me. His Sussex estate was left to me, and my heirs, charged with a legacy of 3000l. I sold the estate in the following July, to the late Lord Egremont, for 23,500l. I have managed as I ought to have done, this legacy. It has enabled me to preserve my independence, and to provide for my family. I have a thousand times thought, that had I been a mean-spirited, time-serving Bishop, I might, perhaps, have escaped that marked and unmerited neglect of the Court, which I have for so many years experienced, but that I should have certainly forfeited the affection of my friend; his upright and honourable principles, would never have suffered him to distinguish such a character, with that eminent token of his regard, which he bequeathed to me.”

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In 1787, the health of Dr. Watson began to decline, and his physicians absolutely insisted on his never more presiding in the Divinity school. He accordingly retired, after nominating Dr. Kipling his deputy. He then repaired to Westmoreland, to try the effects of his native air; and in the autumn of the same year, he pronounced a panegyric in the House of Lords, on the Duke of Rutland, who had just died. In 1788, the Bishop of Llandaff visited his diocese, and composed, printed, and gave away, to above a thousand persons whom he then confirmed, a small tract, entitled, " An Address to Young Persons, after Confirmation."

In 1789, the Dr. made one of his best speeches, relative to the chief objects of the Regency bill. He had long known Mr. Pitt, but on this, and many other occasions, a

marked difference of opinion existed between them. Lord Thurlow does not appear to have entertained any great regard for this celebrated Divine; and it is a charge against that great lawyer, that on one memorable occasion, he misinterpreted a passage from Grotius, in order to impose on the house where he presided.

"The Chancellor," observes he, "was an able and upright Judge, but as the Speaker of the House of Lords, he was domineering, and insincere. It was said of him, that in the cabinet he opposed every thing, proposed nothing, and was ready to support any thing. I remember Lord Camden's saying to me one night, when the Chancellor was speaking, contrary, as I thought, to his own conviction, "there now, I could not do that; he is supporting what he does not believe a word of."

In 1791, when the Catholic bill was in agitation, Dr. Watson addressed a letter to the Premier of that day, in which he expressed a wish to introduce into the oath of protestation, the following declaration, " And that we believe salvation is not restricted to the members of the church of Rome."

"While the doctrine of there being no salvation out of the Romish pale is maintained," adds he, "the Catholics have such a motive for making proselytes as belongs not to Protestants, and it is a motive which must operate with great force on the mind of every sincere Papist. I am apprehensive," continues his Lordship, "that Catholic schools will become numerous; the glare of ceremonies will fascinate the minds of the common people; and the doctrine of absolution, and of praying souls out of purgatory, will be palatable to many. I am afraid of Popery, because where it has the power it assumes the right of persecution; and whilst it believes that in afflicting the body it saves the soul of a convert, I do not see how it can abandon the idea of the utility of persecution."

Towards the latter part of his life, Dr. Watson retired to, and resided wholly at his seat, called Calgarth Park, in his native county. The neighbourhood had been already in

rendered the barren waste verdant, and had planted some of the loftiest hills in Westmoreland with trees of all kinds, both evergreen and deciduous. In 1813, his health began to decline in a very rapid manner; but although his mental faculties remained unimpaired, his Lordship, remembering the admonition of Gil Blas, and the conduct of the Archbishop of Toledo, carefully abstained from all literary compositions whatever. At length he expired on the 4th of July, 1816, in the 79th year of his age; leaving the manuscript of this work behind him for publication, all of which, but eleven lines, appears to have been either written or approved of by himself.

No. V.

MEMOIRS OF THE LEGAL, LITERARY, AND POLITICAL LIFE OF THE LATE RIGHT HON. JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN, ONCE MASTER OF THE ROLLS IN IRELAND: COMPRISING COPIOUS ANECDOTES OF HIS WIT AND HUMOUR; AND A SELECTION OF HIS POETRY. INTERSPERSED WITH OCCASIONAL BIOGRAPHY OF HIS DISTINGUISHED CONTEMPORARIES IN THE SENATE AND AT THE BAR. By WILLIAM O'REGAN, Esq., Barrister.

1

THE author, the place of whose nativity is plainly designated by his name, very justly and feelingly laments, "that of a country so renowned for a continued succession of illustrious men, fewer monuments are preserved in Ireland than in any other nation. History has scarcely condescended "adds he” to give them a place. The traits which have outlived its great actors are scanty, scattered, and meagre: the patriotism of literature, which elevates the character of a people, has devoted little of its labours to this department.

"What records have we of those who flourished for the last fifty years, the most memorable period of our history? Where then, in what archives are deposited the monuments of our illustrious dead? Where, but in Lodge's Peerage, are to be found any traces of Anthony Malone, of Lord Perry, or of our late Demosthenes, Lord Avonmore? Where are their works, their words, and their actions preserved? In fugitive pieces of the day, or in the perishable and perishing journal of a blue-paper report: they are nearly gone. A Flood, with all his Pindaric fire; a Burgh, whose tongue was persuasion; and the long roll of great names, are nearly now

no more.

Omnes hi ignotis periere mortibus.'

"Have Mr. Grattan, Mr. Plunket, Mr. Saurin, Mr. Bushe, no concern in their immortality? Is there one eminent man in

Scotland whose history is not blazoned forth, from a Hume to a Burns? What a rich harvest have they not reaped from the toil of that affecting ploughman! In Scotland they have hoarded every thing, whilst our abundant materials are neglected, like the fruits which blossom, ripen, and decay on the bosom of that generous soil which produces them in such exuberance and profusion."

We learn from Mr. O'Regan, that Mr. Curran was of an English stock; that one of his progenitors had come from Cumberland, and was induced to settle in Ireland, under the protection of the family of Allworths, who acquired large estates near Newmarket, on the fall of the Desmonds. His paternal ancestors were called Curwen, and his mother's name was Philpot; the latter descended from an ancient and still respectable Irish family.

Like the author of the article in the present volume*, Mr. O'Regan informs us, that his father was in a very humble station; and that he himself was entirely indebted to his own talents for his rise in life. He ranks him very high indeed in the scale of genius and of acquirements; and although we are not disposed to dispute his testimony, yet some there are who may prove more sparing of their praise.

The limits of our work will only allow of the following short extract: "The humour of Horace is always agreeable; but Mr. Curran has much more wit, and, as a satirist, is equally pleasant. As severe as Juvenal, he is at once the comic and the tragic satirist; and when he comes to lash vice, his sentiments are manly and elevated. In cross-examining an old clergyman whose evasions of truth were disgraceful to him, he closed with this question:

Doctor, when you last put your spectacles in the Bible, give me leave to ask you, did you close it on the passage which says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ""

* See A Memoir of the Life of the Right Hon. John Philpot Curran.