MR. HARDY'S CHARACTERS

-PHILIP TISDALL. 381

themselves, and a perfect nuisance to every body else. What will be the event, it is hard, I think, still to say. To form a solid constitution, requires wisdom as well as spirit; and whether the French have wise heads among them, or, if they possess such, whether they have authority equal to their wisdom, is yet to be seen. In the mean time, the progress of this whole affair is one of the most curious matters of speculation that ever was exhibited.”—pp. 321, 322.

We should now take our leave of Mr. Hardy;-and yet it would not be fair to dismiss him from the scene. entirely, without giving our readers one or two specimens of his gift of drawing characters; in the exercise. of which he generally rises to a sort of quaint and brilliant conciseness, and displays a degree of acuteness and fine observation that are not to be found in the other parts of his writing. His greatest fault is, that he does not abuse any body, -even where the dignity of history, and of virtue, call loudly for such an infliction. Yet there is something in the tone of all his delineations, that satisfies us that there is nothing worse than extreme good nature at the bottom of this forbearance. Of Philip Tisdall, who was Attorney-general when Lord Charlemont first came into Parliament, he says:

"He had an admirable and most superior understanding; an understanding matured by years-by long experience-by habits with the best company from his youth with the bar, with Parliament, with the State. To this strength of intellect was added a constitutional philosophy, or apathy, which never suffered him to be carried away by attachment to any party, even his own. He saw men and things so clearly; he understood so well the whole farce and fallacy of life, that it passed before him like a scenic representation; and, till almost the close of his days, he went through the world with a constant sunshine of soul, and an inexorable gravity of feature. His countenance was never gay, and his mind was never gloomy. He was an able speaker, as well at the bar as in the House of Commons, though his diction was very indifferent. He did not speak so much at length as many of his parliamentary coadjutors, though he knew the whole of the subject much better than they did. He was not only a good speaker in Parliament, but an excellent manager of the House of ComHe never said too much : and he had great merit in what he did not say; for Government was never committed by him. He plunged into no difficulty; nor did he ever suffer his antagonist to escape from one."-pp. 78, 79.

mons.

Of Hussey Burgh, afterwards Lord Chief Baron, he

382 MR. HARDY'S CHARACTERS OF HUSSEY BURGH

"To those who never heard him, as the fashion of this world in eloquence as in all things soon passes away, it may be no easy matter to convey a just idea of his style of speaking. It was sustained by great ingenuity, great rapidity of intellect, luminous and piercing satire; in refinement abundant, in simplicity sterile. The classical allusions of this orator, for he was most truly one, were so apposite, they followed each other in such bright and varied succession, and, at times, spread such an unexpected and triumphant blaze around his subject, that all persons, who were in the least tinged with literature, could never be tired of listening to him; and when in the splendid days of the Volunteer Association, alluding to some coercive English laws, and to that institution, then in its proudest array, he said, in the House of Commons, 'That such laws were sown like dragons' teeth, -and sprung up in armed men,' the applause which followed, and the glow of enthusiasm which he kindled in every mind, far exceed my powers of description." - pp. 140, 141.

Of Gerard Hamilton, he gives us the following characteristic anecdotes.

"The uncommon splendour of his eloquence, which was succeeded by such inflexible taciturnity in St. Stephen's Chapel, became the subject, as might be supposed, of much, and idle speculation. The truth is, that all his speeches, whether delivered in London or Dublin, were not only prepared, but studied, with a minuteness and exactitude, of which those who are only used to the carelessness of modern debating, can scarcely form any idea. Lord Charlemont, who had been long and intimately acquainted with him, previous to his coming to Ireland, often mentioned that he was the only speaker, among the many he had heard, of whom he could say, with certainty, that all his speeches, however long, were written and got by heart. A gentleman, well known to his Lordship and Hamilton, assured him, that he heard Hamilton repeat, no less than three times, an oration, which he afterwards spoke in the House of Commons, and which lasted almost three hours. As a debater, therefore, he became as useless to his political patrons as Addison was to Lord Sunderland; and, if possible, he was more scrupulous in composition than even that eminent man. Addison would stop the press to correct the most trivial error in a large publication; and Hamilton, as I can assert, on indubitable authority, would recall the footman, if, on recollection, any word, in his opinion, was misplaced or improper, in the slightest note to a familiar acquaintance.”—pp. 60, 61.

No name is mentioned in these pages with higher or more uniform applause, than that of Henry Grattan. But that distinguished person still lives: and Mr. Hardy's delicacy has prevented him from attempting any delineation, either of his character or his eloquence. We respect his forbearance, and shall follow his example:

AND GERARD HAMILTON HENRY GRATTAN. 383

Yet we cannot deny ourselves the gratification of extracting one sentence from a letter of Lord Charlemont, in relation to that parliamentary grant, by which an honour was conferred on an individual patriot, without place or official situation of any kind, and merely for his personal merits and exertions, which has in other cases been held to be the peculiar and appropriate reward of triumphant generals and commanders. When the mild and equable temperament of Lord Charlemont's mind. is recollected, as well as the caution with which all his opinions were expressed, we do not know that a wise ambition would wish for a prouder or more honourable testimony than is contained in the following short

sentences.

"Respecting the grant, I know with certainty that Grattan, though he felt himself flattered by the intention, looked upon the act with the deepest concern, and did all in his power to deprecate it. As it was found impossible to defeat the design, all his friends, and I among others, were employed to lessen the sum. It was accordingly decreased by one half, and that principally by his positive declaration, through us, that, if the whole were insisted on, he would refuse all but a few hundreds, which he would retain as an honourable mark of the goodness of his country. By some, who look only into themselves for information concerning human nature, this conduct will probably be construed into hypocrisy. To such, the excellence and pre-eminency of virtue, and the character of Grattan, are as invisible and incomprehensible, as the brightness of the sun to a man born blind." p. 237.

An Inquiry whether Crime and Misery are produced or prevented by our present System of Prison Discipline. Illustrated by Descriptions of the Borough Compter, Tothill Fields Prison, the Jail at St. Albans, the Jail at Guildford, the Jail at Bristol, the Jails at Bury and Ilchester, the Maison de Force at Ghent, the Philadelphia Prison, the Penitentiary at Millbank, and the Proceedings of the Ladies' Committee at Newgate. By THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON. Svo. p. 171.

London: 1818.

THERE are two classes of subjects which naturally engage the attention of public men, and divide the interest which society takes in their proceedings. The one may, in a wide sense, be called Party Politics-the other Civil or Domestic Administration. To the former belong all questions touching political rights and franchises. the principles of the Constitution-the fitness or unfitness of ministers, and the interest and honour of the country, as it may be affected by its conduct and relations to foreign powers, either in peace or war. The latter comprehends most of the branches of political economy and statistics, and all the ordinary legislation of internal police and regulation; and, besides the two great heads of Trade and Taxation, embraces the improvements of the civil Code-the care of the Poorthe interests of Education, Religion, and Morality-and the protection of Prisoners, Lunatics, and others who cannot claim protection for themselves. This distinction, we confess, is but coarsely drawn-since every one of the things we have last enumerated may, in certain circumstances, be made an occasion of party contention. But what we mean is, that they are not its natural occasions, and do not belong to those topics, or refer to those principles, in relation to which the great Parties of a free country necessarily arise. One great part of a

PUBLIC FUNCTIONS-POLEMIC OR ADMINISTRATIVE.

385

statesman's business may thus be considered as Polemic

and another as Deliberative; his main object in the first being to discomfit and expose his opponents—and, in the second, to discover the best means of carrying into effect ends which all agree to be desirable.

Judging à priori of the relative importance or agreeableness of these two occupations, we should certainly be apt to think that the latter was by far the most attractive and comfortable in itself, as well as the most likely to be popular with the community. The fact, however, happens to be otherwise: For such is the excitement of a public contest for influence and power, and so great the prize to be won in those honourable lists, that the highest talents are all put in requisition for that department, and all their force and splendour reserved for the struggle: And indeed, when we consider that the object of this struggle is nothing less than to put the whole power of administration into the hands of the victors, and thus to enable them not only to engross the credit of carrying through all those beneficial arrangements that may be called for by the voice of the country, but to carry them through in their own way, we ought not perhaps to wonder, that, in the eagerness of this pursuit, which is truly that of the means to all ends, some of the ends themselves should, when separately presented, appear of inferior moment, and excite far less interest or concern.

But, though this apology may be available in some degree to the actors, it still leaves us at a loss to account for the corresponding sentiments that are found in the body of the people, who are but lookers on for the most part in this great scene of contention-and can scarcely fail to perceive, one would imagine, that their immediate interests were often postponed to the mere gladiatorship of the parties, and their actual service neglected, while this fierce strife was maintained as to who should be allowed to serve them. In such circumstances, we should naturally expect to find, that the popular favourites would not be the leaders of the opposite political parties, but those who, without regard to party, came