WHO is this we have got on the opposite page? A hale, hearty-looking fellow; past the bloom of youth, 'tis true, but still evidently full of vigour-vigour of mind and vigour of body. There sits his dog, looking up with a most becoming canine veneration of his master's physiognomy-dogs are profound in the science of Lavater and his gun lies in the hollow of his arm. We will venture a trifling bet that they have been beating through the stubble during the morning, and have bagged heaven knows how many brace of partridge. Ay, ay; still as fond as ever of the old sport-rambling over hill and moorland, through "highways and by-ways;" and always with a keen eye for " "game" of one sort or another, and sure to find it, too. And thou art right: keep thy body active, thy heart young, thy spirits gay as long as thou canst; for the time will yet come to thee, as it must come to all, when thou shalt say, "I have no pleasure in them." Yes, surely will it, good Thomas Colley Grattan. The family of the Grattans is a distinguished one. The name is one which an Irishman ever pronounces with pride. A branch from the English stock was first transplanted into this country in the seventeenth century, and there took root and spread. In the reign of Queen Anne, several brothers (we believe as many as six) had located themselves in Dublin and the neighbouring counties, and they are mentioned by "the witty Dean of St. Patrick's," with whom they were on terms of intimacy. From one of these the illustrious orator, statesman, and patriot, Henry Grattan, was descended. Another of them was the ancestor of the subject of our present memoir. John Grattan, Esq., M.D., of Edenderry, in the Queen's county, was, like most Irish gentlemen, blessed with a numerous progeny, and of them his fourth son, Colley, is still remembered by a few of the oldest solicitors of our metropolis as having been, towards the close of the last century, one of the confraternity. Colley was, however, a man who had a taste for literature and the fine arts, rather than for the arts whereby attorneys are said to attain to wealth and eminence, and was more engrossed by pictures than given to engrossing on parchment. Accordingly, he gave up the practice of his profession, and retired to the enjoyment of a country life, at Clayton Lodge, near Castle-Carberry, in the county of Kildare a property which he derived through his mother, Miss Colley, a descendant from Sir Dudley Colley, and a connexion of that branch of the Colleys which subsequently took the name of Wellesley. Previous to his leaving Dublin, his son, Thomas Colley Grattan, was born. While Thomas was yet an infant, Clayton Lodge was burned down to the ground, in the memorable year of 1798, after it had been frequently attacked by the rebels, and as often gallantly and successfully defended by the owner and his servants. His father then removed to the little town of Athy; and, in due course of time, young Thomas was sent to the Rev. Henry Bristow, of that town, where he received his education. But the education of youth, be they boys or girls, is but partially acquired in the schoolroom. The genius, the intellect, the tastes, are educated largely outside the seminary, and fed from a thousand sources besides the classic streams, and upon other food than books, food which the young minds are greedily absorbing, and taking their hues therefrom as does the chameleon from its nourishment. And so it was with young Grattan; when escaped from the ferule, he was sure to be found loitering through the valley of the Barrow, by the legendary moat of Ardscull, or amid the ruins of the old Castle of Woodstock; or, it may be, traversing the interminable Bog of Allen, or crossing the hills in quest of the snipe or the plover; and thus did the boy acquire and nurture the early tastes for literature and wild sports, both of which in after-life were abundantly developed. To the memory of these scenes Grattan afterwards referred with vivid pleasure, in one of his tales : "The whistling of the wind across its brown, bleak breast, and the shrill cries of the curlew that sprung from its heather into the skies, were the first sounds that impressed them selves on my recollection; the blackened ruins of Castle-Carberry, rising far upon its skirts, were the earliest objects on which my memory seemed to have reposed; and its fragrant wild flowers and mossy banks had been many a time my pillows in the dreamless sleep of infancy." The con The school-boy days of Grattan were soon terminated, and at a very early His father designed him for the profession which he had himself abandoned; and accordingly he transmitted the youth to the metropolis, and placed him in the house of a friend in town, for the purpose of studying that branch of the law. It so happened that his friend was a man of education, and had an excellent library, to which his young visitor had free access. sequences were such as might have been expected. The legal books, such as attorneys were in the habit of perusing, were rarely opened; but to make up for the neglect, he diligently perused a variety of other tomes. Instead of "Booth's History of a Suit at Law," then a book of great repute, he familiarised himself with that famous history of the suit of Antonio versus Shylock, in the reports of William Shakspeare, and knew by rote Judge Portia's celebrated commendation of the quality of mercy." In a word, literary fiction, whether prose or poetry, was devoured with avidity, while legal fictions were unheeded. Then, too, to make bad worse, his friend and host was a man of pleasure-kept a good stud of horses, which was always at the command of his guest and pupil, and gave excellent dinners to all the gay young fellows upon town, including the officers of the garrison. It is not to be wondered at that associations such as these, acting upon a disposition naturally truant, soon caused young Grattan to entertain a most decided aversion to the profession intended for him. Like other " before him, many a time and oft did he "Doomed his father's soul to cross, young clerks" He scorned parchments, kicked down his office-stool, and declared his strong predilection for the army. Into the army, therefore, it was arranged he should enter. The military passion was a family one. His uncle William had been a captain; two of his cousins were in the army-one of whom, Lieutenant-Colonel John Grattan, commanded the 18th Royal Irish, and was highly distinguished in service with his regiment in China and the East Indies; while his brother William adopted the same profession, and is well known as a gallant soldier, who has been present at almost every battle in the Peninsula, and also as the author of the lively and clever volumes, "The Adventures of the Connaught Rangers,' and one to whose spirited exertions and indefatigable advocacy the obtaining of the Peninsular medal is mainly due. Accordingly, his father soon procured for Thomas a commission in a militia regiment, as the readiest mode of obtaining one in the line. The new life upon which he entered must have been more congenial to one of young Grattan's temperament than that which he had abandoned. He spent some pleasant years, at that season of life when pleasure is most keenly enjoyed, in various quarters through the United Kingdom, partaking freely of field sports and town amusements, and all those dissipating and joyous scenes which constituted la vie orageuse of a young Irishman of those days. And now came his turn for volunteering into the line, and taking his share in the perils of more active service. But his anxious wishes were not fated to be realised. His stepbrother had, a short time before, been killed at the head of his company of grenadiers, at the storming of a fort in Java; and his brother William was only recovering from a severe gunshot wound through the body, received at the assault of Badajos. His father, in consequence, was most unwilling that Thomas should engage in similar perils; and his entreaties, joined to those of the rest of his family, prevailed upon him, though not without difficulty, to defer his proposed intention. When, at length, he had overcome the reluctance of his friends, and left England for the purpose of joining the British army, the opportunity had passed. The battle of Waterloo had put an end to the European warfare ere he reached Valenciennes; and he had for some months to solace himself as best he could in the company of some congenial spirits, amongst whom were several whose names have since become famous. Private theatricals formed one of their principal amuse ments; and several of those who took share in these performances became subsequently distinguished as professional actors. Amongst them were Captain Prescott, of the artillery (known afterwards as Mr. Ward), Benson Hill, Yates, and Mr. Cole, of the fusiliers, so long known and esteemed in our own city as John William Calcraft-with the public the most popular of managers, amongst his friends the most valued and admired of companions; of whom we have but one regret to express-namely, that his vast stores of learning, his taste, and his genius, had been for many years hidden from the world, till his retirement from the dramatic profession permitted him at length to take his rightful place in the domains of literature. The passion for soldiering was not yet extinguished in the heart of young Grattan; and, as Europe no longer presented an opportunity for its gratification, he turned his thoughts to the New World. The war of independence against the Spanish yoke was then waging in South America, and thither the young man, his father being now dead, had decided upon going, to join the patriot forces in company with other adventurers. But here again his destiny interfered and overruled all his plans. Some severe calamities of a private nature occurred to him on the eve of his departure which caused him much mental suffering, and resulted in a fever of several weeks' duration, and nearly terminated his earthly career. At length he recovered; and, in a state of great despondency, he enbarked at Gravesend in a small brig bound for Bordeaux, whence he had arranged his passage in a French vessel to Venezuela. On the deck of the little brig, at the moment of ascending its side, Grattan was met by the rough but kindly-natured old skipper, an Irishman by the way, and by him was formally introduced to his fellow-passengers. Ah! destiny once more Amongst them was a family in deep mourning, and apparently in deep grief, who were on their way to the south of France. The name which the old skipper pronounced as he introduced them sounded pleasantly in the ears of the young man; it was Milesian, from the sonorous affix with which it commenced to the melting liquid which brought it to a close-"O'Donnel," and it sounded not the less sweetly in combination with the name of Eliza, which one of the young ladies bore. The voyage to Bordeaux was in these times an affair of a great many days; and the juxtaposition, which the narrow space between the bulwarks of the brig brought the young people into, was most dangerous. Both sentimental, sorrowful, and Hibernian, what else could happen but what did happen? Ere two months had passed over their heads, the fair Eliza had commuted the Celtic O'Donnel for the Saxon Grattan; and Thomas Colley, as a happy husband, resigned for ever his dreams of martial glory, left the patriots of Spanish America to work out their own independence, and betook himself vigorously to the duties of his new position. The active mind of Grattan was soon at work. Scarcely had he settled down in the south of France, when his old literary tastes impelled him to commence the perilous profession of authorship. His first essay was in poetry- a poetical romance. Poetical romances were then the rage, for Scott had written his "Lady of the Lake," and "Marmion." The first production of his pen, "Philibert, was an octo-syllabic poem, in six cantos. We agree with Byron, that nobody but Scott has triumphed over that measure; and we suspect Thomas Colley Grattan is of the same opinion; for though the poem ran through two editions, yet, when larger experience corrected the judgment of the author, he purchased up the issue, and committed it to the flames. Determined to push his fortune in the metropolis of France, Grattan removed to Paris, and gave himself, heart and soul, to literature. Here, amongst other advantages, he had the good fortune to become acquainted with many of the celebrities of the day-with Moore and Washington Irving, amongst English writerswith De Beranger, Casimir de Lavigne, De Lamartine, Marchangy, Pierre Le Brun, amongst French authors. He now was a constant contributor to the English periodicals, writing in, amongst others, the Westminster and the Edinburgh Reviews, and the New Monthly Magazine, while edited by Campbell. The genius and capabilities of Grattan appear to have been thoroughly appreciated by one of a kindred mind. Washington Irving saw that his friend possessed great descriptive powers -a quick instinct, that enabled him to understand all the mysteries of human emotions, and a lively and life-like ability in portray |