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mitted to frequent the Moslem Universities of Andalusia; and among those who came from far to partake of an educational hospitality too seldom imitated in Christendom, were men who, like the exemplary Gerbert, subsequently rose to the highest eminence in the Church, and who contributed to found new seats of learning in their own lands.

Besides the gratification derived from its success, the publication and performance of The Apostate were productive of other advantages, not less acceptable. The copyright was purchased by Mr. Murray for 300%., and in his hands it passed through several editions. In addition to this, the author is said to have received 4007. from the managers of the theatre.

CHAPTER IV.

1818-1820.

Attack on Mr. Grattan by the mob-Interposition of Mr. Sheil -Play of Bellamira-Rehearsal-Miss O'Neil: Mr. GiffordShirley's Traitor-Evadne-Visit to Paris: Talma-Dramatic writings-Montoni-Damon and Pythias.

AT the general election of 1818, Mr. Grattan and Mr. Shaw were returned for the city of Dublin without opposition. The proceedings at the hustings passed off quietly, and Mr. Grattan's friends had arranged that, as was customary, he should be chaired. His appearance on the steps of the court-house was the signal for vociferation and insults from the mob, with whom he had recently become unpopular. The cavalcade had not proceeded very far when symptoms of violence began to be manifested: stones from various quarters were thrown at the chair; and at length Mr. Grattan was compelled to seek for safety in a house in Capel

street, the door of which was soon beset by his senseless and infuriated pursuers. The decorated car was in a few moments torn to pieces; the windows of the house in which the venerable patriot had sought a shelter were quickly broken; and in the absence of any police force sufficient to disperse the rioters, serious alarm was felt lest an attempt should be made to break in the door. At this critical moment Mr. Sheil, having quitted the court-house, where he had been present at the nomination, reached the street which had become the scene of this disgraceful outrage, and hearing that Mr. Grattan was supposed to be in danger, he entered the first door which he found open, and, hastening to a balcony, commenced an earnest and eloquent appeal to the populace on topics not immediately connected with the subject of their irritation. Caught by the sound of his shrill, though then unfamiliar voice, and the passionate gestures with which his impromptu harangue was accompanied, the curiosity of the multitude rapidly passed into admiration; and finding his object gained, the young orator continued to amuse and flatter his fickle audience

until time had been given for the rescue of the aged and insulted statesman.

Encouraged by the success of his dramatic efforts, he

had devoted a considerable portion of his too abundant leisure, in 1817, to the composition of a tragedy called Bellamira; or, the Fall of Tunis. The story is founded on an incident in the life of Charles V., who, provoked by the incessant piracies of the Moors, led a considerable army into Africa, to liberate the many Christians held in captivity, and to avenge the cruelties to which southern Christendom had long been exposed. The incidents mainly consist of the unexpected recognition, by a father, of his daughter, who on the same day finds in a fellow prisoner the husband whom she had long mourned as dead. An early rival of the latter, banished from Venice for his crimes, and become a renegade to faith as well as country, is in command of the garrison of Tunis, and seeks to avenge his early wrongs against the husband by the dishonour of the wife, whom he now treats as his slave. A revolt of the Christians, on hearing the tidings that an army of deliverance is at hand, intercepts the oppressor in his purpose, and he falls by the dying hand of the father, whom he had wounded when unarmed. The unities, regarding which the old controversy had about this time been revived, are strictly observed throughout the piece. The characters are classically few, and the emotions by which

they are animated are of that touching simplicity and depth that is best fitted to enlist the sympathies of the many in the tale of tragic woe. There are several passages of much force and beauty; and, for the most part, the interest of the dialogue is well sustained. But an impartial judgment could not deny that many of the faults found by the critics of the day mar (especially in reading) the pleasure which the composition is otherwise calculated to produce.

Sanguine and enthusiastic, however, our author laid his new performance before Miss O'Neil, and successfully solicited her all-powerful aid in bringing it before the public. He was likewise fortunate enough to find that at Covent Garden Mr. Young, Mr. Charles Kemble, and Mr. Macready were willing to undertake the principal parts; and it was finally arranged that the play should be produced early in the ensuing season. Mr. Sheil himself constantly attended the rehearsals; and one of the distinguished actors already named used to recount a laughable blunder made on one of these occasions. At the end of the fourth act, Montalto, when seeking to rescue his daughter from the grasp of Amurath, instinctively feels for the handle of his sword, forgetting that in the previous scene he had given it to his brother.

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