ation under an escort of dragoons; and in another, a citizen begs
the personal interference of the Lord-Lieutenant concerning a cheat
which was put upon a poor country-boy, who had been buying some
second-hand article at an old furniture shop in Dublin. To all the
applications, of every kind, that were addressed to him, Lord Buckingham
paid scrupulous attention, bringing to the discharge of the most trivial
duties of his station the same diligence and earnestness he bestowed on
the most important.

The majority of the questions relating to Ireland, which are thrown up
in the course of his political and public correspondence, possess little
attraction at this distance of time, having reference chiefly to
fugitive topics, such as the augmentation of the army (a measure which
his Lordship held to be of paramount necessity), the reduction of
expenditure, and the conflicts of local parties; but, although the
immediate importance of these questions has long since passed away, they
place in a strong historical light the difficulties the Viceroy had to
contend with, in his government of a country rent by intestine factions
and overrun by corrupt agencies. In the midst of the feuds and
jealousies that plunged both the Parliament and the people into a
condition of constant tumult, there were some gleams of a nobler spirit;
and wherever they appeared, whether on the part of the friends or the
opponents of the Government, Lord Buckingham was ready to recognise
their purifying and regenerating influence. From a mass of letters
bearing upon personal matters, and illustrative of the conduct of
individuals who occupied conspicuous positions, the following may be
selected as deserving special notice, on account of the subsequent
celebrity of one of the writers. Mr. Curran sat at this time in the
Irish Parliament for a borough of Mr. Longfield's; and when Lord
Buckingham assumed the government of Ireland for the second time, Mr.
Longfield, being desirous to contribute all the parliamentary strength
he could to the service of the Administration, endeavoured to secure the
support of Mr. Curran. It was a matter of some delicacy on both sides.
The nominee was generally understood to take the colour of his politics
from the owner of the borough; and although no explicit compact could
have been entered into in such cases, and was distinctly disclaimed in
the present case, yet it was usually felt that the relation between the
patron and the mem