CURRAN. 315 We now go back to the year 1783, in the administra- tion of Lord Northington, when Mr. Curran first took his seat in Parliament for the borough of Kilbeggan, baving for his colleague, the celebrated Henry Flood, with whom he joined the opposition of the day. A circumstance attending his election was highly honourable to Mr. Cur- ran. Lord Longueville who was proprietor of the bo- rough, and a wholesale dealer in the trade of parliament, was eager to attach to his force so desirable a recruit as Mr. Curran, and he returned him for a seat, under the idea that a young barrister with a growing family, and totally dependant on his profession for subsistence, would scarcely suffer his political principles to interfere with bis iaterests. He found, however, in Mr. Curran a stubborn exception to this rule; for on the very first question, he not only voted against his patron, but by a most energetic speech, proved the total fallacy of all his expectations. Lord Longueville, of course warmly remonstrated; but what was his astonishment to find Mr. Curran, not only persevering in the independence of his opinions, but even devoting the only 500l, he had in the world, to the pur- chase of a seat which he insisted on transferring as an equivalent for that of Kilbeggan. During the whole of Mr. Curran's parliamentary life, it was his fortune to be joined in the ranks of opposition, in which he acted with many of the most eminent patriots, orators, and statesmen his country could boast in any age, and he ever proved himself a steady adherent to the cause of his country, and worthy the attachment and confidence of his friends. Itis not our purpose in this sketch, to attempt lengthened details of his eloquence in the senate, where he has so often shone with refalgent splendour, and where not only the force of his arguments, but the lightnings of his wit, and the shafts of his invective were deeply felt on that side of the house to which he was opposed. He had, however, the mortification to see several of his friends from time to time, lured by the sweets of office, relinquishing their old colleagues and the public cause, to join the ranks of the
