nd he treated the
opposition with contempt. Both were indignant; he laughed at both, and
treated them with still more scorn. Both were astonished--the
government faction intrigued against him in England, the opposition
threatened impeachment. He defied them still more haughtily. They now
found that he was not to be shaken, and both submitted. The nation
joined him, was pacified, grew in vigour, as it required tranquillity;
and here you have the secret of all the privileges which Ireland has
obtained. Townshend performed, only on a smaller scale, the same
national service which Pitt performed on a larger one. He took the
people out of the hands of aristocracy, broke up the league of
opulence and power, and gave the island that popular freedom which the
great minister of England gave to the empire. For this the name of
Townshend lives among us still. His bold satires are recorded, his
gallant bearing is remembered, his passing pleasantries have become a
portion of the national wit, and his rough but effectual services are
among the memorials of our independence as a people."

The evening of this hospitable day concluded with a ball to the
neighbouring families, and all was graceful and animated enjoyment. My
host had travelled much in early life, and had brought home some fine
pictures and valuable sculptures. He was an accomplished classical
scholar--a quality which I found in some degree fashionable among the
leading personages of the time, and which unquestionably added much to
the high tone of conversation among the parliamentary circles. In his
magnificent mansion an artist might have found studies, a scholar
learning, a philosopher wisdom, and a man of the world all the charms
of polished life. How soon, and how fearfully, were they all to be
extinguished! How bitterly were all who honoured and esteemed that
generous and highly-gifted nobleman, to feel what shadows we are, and
what shadows we pursue!

Our mornings were chiefly spent in hunting over the fine landscape
which spread, in all the various beauty of vegetation, within view of
the mansion. On one of those days the attention of the field was
caught by the fierce riding of a singular-looking man, scarcely above
the peasant in his general appearance, and yet mounted on one of the
finest English horses that I had ever seen. He rode at every thing,
managed his horse with practised skill, and soon became an object of
general emulation. To "ride up" to the "wild