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allotted such a dwelling for its residence. Yet so it was, and so also was it one of his highest attributes, that his genius by its excessive light, blinded the hearer to his physical infirmities. It was the victory of mind over matter — the man was forgotten in the orator." Mr. Lecky says of the brilliant oratory by which Grattan had effected so much for his country: "It is curious that Grattan, who was so sensible to the advantages of a graceful delivery in others, should have been always re- markable for the extreme singularity and awkwardness of his own. Byron, who otherwise admired his speaking exceed- ingly—
' With all that Demosthenes wanted endowed, And his rival or victor in all he possessed ' —
called it a 'harlequin manner.' O'Connell said that he nearly swept the ground with his gestures, and the motion of his arms has been compared to the roUing of a ship in a heavy swell. . . The eloquence of Grattan, in his best days, was in some re- spects, perhaps, the finest that has been heard in either country since the time of Chatham. Considered simply as a debater, he was certainly inferior to both Fox and Pitt, and, perhaps, to Sheridan; but he combined two of the very highest qualities of a great orator to a degree that was al- most unexampled. No British orator ex- cept Chatham had an equal power of firing an educated audience with an intense en- thusiasm, or of animating and inspiring a nation. No British orator except Burke had an equal power of sowing his speeches with profound aphorisms, and associating transient questions with eternal truths. His thoughts naturally crystallized into epigrams; his arguments were condensed with such admii-able force and clearness that they assumed almost the appearance of axioms ; and they were often interspersed with sentences of concentrated poetic beauty, which flashed upon the audience with all the force of sudden inspiration, and which were long remembered and re- peated. Some of his best speeches com- bined much of the value of philosophical dissertations with all the charm of the most brilliant declamation. I know, in- deed, none in modern times, except those of Burke, from which the student of poli- tics can derive so many profound and valuable maxims of political wisdom, and none which are more useful to those who seek to master that art of condensed energy of expression in which he almost equalled Tacitus. . . His speeches show no wit, and no skill in the lighter forms of sarcasm ; but he was almost unrivalled in crushing invective, in delineation of character, and
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in brief, keen arguments. . . There was a certain transparent simplicity and recti- tude of purpose, a manifest disinterested- ness, a fervid enthusiasm of patriotism in his character, which added greatly to the effect of his eloquence, and gave him an ascendency that was exercised by none of his contemporaries in Ireland." ^" Grattau's children were : (i) James, an oflBcer in the army, who served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, was born in 1783, and died 24th October 1854. He was member for Wick- low for twenty years. His widow, Lady Laura Maria Grattan, still (1877) resides at Tinnehinch. (2) Henry, born 1789, died in 1859. He was member for Dublin from 1826 to 1 83 1, and for Meath from i832toi85i. He left a large family. (3) Harriett, married in 1836, to Rev. E. W. Wake. (4)Mary Anne, married, first, John Blatchford, and, secondly, in 1834, the Earl of Carnwath. She died in 1853. Grattan's Memoirs by his son Henry were completed in 5 vols. 8vo. in 1846. The work is not alone a history of the man but of the country during his lifetime ; and read in conjunction with the biographies of Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh, gives perhaps the clearest view that can be obtained of that important epoch in Irish history. ^
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Grattan, Thomas Colley, an author, was born at Clayton Lodge, in the County of Kildare, in 1796. He was distantly related both to Henry Grattan and Wel- lington. Educated at Athy, in due time he was apprenticed to a Dublin attorney. However, the prospect of a confined life was little to his taste, and he entered the militia, then passed on to the line, and saw some service on the Continent. Marrying, he settled in France, and engaged in litera- ture. At Paris he associated with Moore and Irving, Beranger and Lamartine, and was a constant contributor to the West- minster and Edi-nhurgk Reviews. High ways and Byways and Traits of Travel were well received; and his reputation as, an author became established. His History of the Netherlands showed that he could excel in the graver as well as the lighter walks of literature. In the Revolution of 1830 his house was consumed, and he lost all his property through some unfortunate speculations. He removed to the Hague, where he wrote, among other works, Jacqudine of Holland and Legends of the Rhine. These were followed by Agnes of Mansfeldt, perhaps the best of his novels. In 1839 he was appointed British Consul at Boston, where he took a prom- inent part in the negotiations relating to the boundary between the United States and 233
