entertainer, "that was not the question! Great statesmen
and showy governors, capital rulers of the country and bold managers
of our factions, we have had in sufficient succession, but I speak of
the faculty of being remembered; the talent of making a public
impression; the power of escaping that national oblivion into which
mere official services, let them be of what magnitude they may,
inevitably drop when their performer has disappeared. Well, then, I
shall tell you. _Two_, and no more."

I begged to know the names of those "discoverers of the grand secret,
the philosopher's stone of popularity," the alchemists who had power
to fix the floating essence of the Irish mind!

"Chesterfield and Townshend. Chesterfield, regarded as a fop in
England, was a daring, steady, and subtle governor of the unruly
spirits of Ireland, in one of the most hazardous periods. That the
throne of the Brunswicks did not see an Irish revolt at the moment
when it saw a Scottish invasion, was the service of Chesterfield. But
he ruled not by his wisdom, but by his wit. He broke down faction by
_bon-mots_; he extinguished conspiracy by passing compliments; he
administered the sternest law with the most polished smile; and cut
down rebellion by quotations from La Fontaine, and _calembourgs_ from
Scarron. But with these fortunate pleasantries he combined public and
solid services. He threw a large portion of the crown lands in the
neighbourhood of the capital into a park for the recreation of the
citizens, and thus gave one of the earliest and most munificent
examples of regard for the health and enjoyment of the people; a more
enduring monument of his statesmanship could not have been offered to
the gratitude of the country."

Of the Marquis Townshend I had heard as a gallant soldier, and a
stirring viceroy, but I still had to learn the source of his
popularity.

"Townshend was one of those singular men who possess faculties of
which they have no knowledge, until the moment when they become
necessary. He began life as a soldier, and finished his soldiership in
the most brilliant victory of his day--the battle of Quebec. On his
appointment to the viceroyalty, he found his government a nothing; a
government faction superseding the governor, and an opposition faction
engrossing the people. He now, for the first time, became a
politician. He resolved to crush both, and he succeeded. He treated
the government faction in Ireland with contumely, a