ments of foot, and eleven troops of cavalry. After the battle of the Boyne, the town was invested by General Douglas with ten regiments of foot, and five of horse. Grace having burnt the English town, and broken down the bridge, defended the Connaught works with indomitable spirit. When called upon to surrender, he fired a pistol over the messenger's head, and declared : "These are my terms; these only will I give or receive ; and when my provisions are consumed, I will defend till I eat my old boots." At the end of a week, Douglas was obliged to draw off, with the loss of 400 men. The town was again invested by De Ginkell in 1691. St. Ruth had meanwhile obliged Grace to exchange three of his veteran regiments for inferior French troops. Nevertheless he made a heroic defence under St. Ruth, and on 30th June 1691, after De Ginkell's passage of the Shannon and the capture of the citadel on the Connaught side, Colonel Grace's body was found under the ruins. His conduct towards the Protestants within his district is described as having been peculiarly humane and just ; and although the severity of his discipline contrasted with the irregularities tolerated in other portions of the Irish army, he was greatly beloved by his men. 150
Grattan, Henry, was born in St. John's parish, Dublin, 3rd July 1746. His father was for many years Recorder of, and member for Dublin ; his ancestors on the paternal side were intimate friends of Swift ; and his mother's family, the Marlays, were descended from Captain Anthony Marlay, who received an appointment in the Duke of Ormond's regiment in 1677. Henry Grattan was sent to Ball's School in Shipstreet (where John FitzGibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, was his school-mate), thence he was removed to Mr. Young's, in Abbey-street, where were educated others of his parliamentary contemporaries. He was considered a lad of much spirit, and was highly respected by his school-fellows. In 1763 he entered Trinity College, where his greatest intimate was Mr. Broome, a cornet in the army. Grattan's correspondence with him discovers a somewhat gloomy turn of mind at this period. There was considerable incompatibility of temper between Henry Grattan and his father, who at his death in 1766 left the family mansion to another; but through his mother a small independence was secured to him. In 1767 Grattan went to London, and entered in Michaelmas term as student at the Middle Temple. The Houses of Parliament soon became his favourite place of resort, and there he was enthralled by the oratory of Lord Chatham. The loss of his beloved sister, Catherine, during his London residence, was a cause of profound grief to him, and in November 1768, he received the news of his mother's sudden death. In consequence of her intestacy, the bulk of the property intended for him reverted to another branch of the family. In 1768 the marriage of his eldest sister to Mr. Gervase P. Bushe, M.P. for Callan, cemented a close intimacy between Grattan and Henry Flood, who resided near Mr. Bushe, in the County of Kilkenny. They corresponded, argued, and debated, and together performed in private theatricals, then much in vogue in Ireland. In the autumn of 1771 Grattan travelled in France, where he made many friendships ; he was called to the Irish Bar next year, and began seriously to apply himself to legal studies, and go circuit. By this time he had also become intimate with Lord Charlemont, Hussey Burgh, Denis Daly, Yelverton, Bushe, Langrishe, Day, and other eminent Irish statesmen. Day continued one of his most intimate and attached friends through life. These kindred spirits formed a club, chiefly for the discussion of politics, entitled the "Society of Granbyrow." Grattan gradually became more and more interested in Irish affairs, and on the 11th December 1775 took his seat in Parliament for the borough of Charlemont, having been nominated thereto by his friend, Lord Charlemont. His first speech, made on the 15th December, was an unavailing protest against the grant of £3,500 a year each to two absentee Vice-Treasurers of Ireland. A Dublin paper of the day wrote : " Mr. Grattan spoke — not a studied speech, but in reply — the spontaneous flow of natural eloquence. Though so young a man, he spoke without hesitation; and if he keeps to this example, will be a valuable weight in the scale of patriotism." In February 1776, with Bushe, Yelverton, and others, he protested against the embargo laid by the British government on Irish provisions, which was defended by Mr. Flood. In November 1777 he again took a prominent part against a similar measure, made a motion for retrenchment, and inveighed against the war being waged with the American colonies. Although his efforts in the cause of his country as yet bore little fruit, he was regarded by many as a leader of the party which declared itself irreconcilably opposed to the policy by which Ireland was governed. At this period, Mr. Fox visited Ireland, and then commenced that acquaintance and warm sympathy between him and Grattan which con-
