seemed to be falling in fragments
round him; when the soil was already throwing up flames. Rebellion was
in arms. He pleaded, not on the floor of a shrine, but on a scaffold;
with no companions but the wretched and culpable beings who were to be
flung from it, hour by hour; and no hearers but the crowd, who rushed in
desperate anxiety to that spot of hurried execution--and then rushed
away, eager to shake off all remembrance of scenes which had torn every
heart among them."

HIS DUEL WITH BULLY EGAN.

When Curran and Bully Egan met on the ground, the latter complained of
the advantage his antagonist had over him, and declared that he was as
easily hit as a turf stack, while, as to firing at Curran, he might as
well fire at a razor's edge. Whereupon, Curran waggishly proposed that
his size should be chalked out upon Egan's side, and that "every shot
which hits outside that mark should _go for nothing_!"

MASSY VERSUS HEADFORT.

The following extract is from his celebrated speech against the Marquis
of Headfort:--

"Never so clearly as in the present instance, have I observed that
safeguard of justice which Providence has placed in the nature of man.
Such is the imperious dominion with which truth and reason wave their
sceptre over the human intellect, that no solicitation, however
artful--no talent, however commanding--can seduce it from its
allegiance. In proportion to the humility of our submission to its rule,
do we rise into some faint emulation of that ineffable and presiding
Divinity, whose characteristic attribute it is to be coerced and bound
by the inexorable laws of its own nature, so as to be _all-wise_ and
_all-just_ from necessity rather than election. You have seen it in the
learned advocate who has preceded me, most peculiarly and strikingly
illustrated. You have seen _even_ his great talents, perhaps the first
in any country, languishing under a cause too weak to _carry_ him, and
too heavy to be _carried_ by him. He was forced to dismiss his natural
candor and sincerity, and, having no merits in his case, to take refuge
in the dignity of his own manner, the resources of his own ingenuity,
from the overwhelming difficulties with which he was surrounded.
Wretched client! unhappy advocate! what a combination do you form! But
such is the condition of guilt--its commission mean and tremulous--its
defence artificial and insincere--its prosecution candid and simple--its
condemnation dignified and auste