O'Connell continued to argue on the demoralizing influence that would be exercised upon the priesthood and the people by ecclesiastical patronage in the hands of a Government professing a different creed. These sentiments prevailed, and Mr. Sheil's amendment was rejected by a great preponderance of opinion. CHAPTER III. 1814-1817. Called to the Bar-Play of Adelaide-Curran and GrattanPius VII. and the Veto-Political apathy-First marriageTragedy of The Apostate-The "Quarterly Review." HAVING kept his terms at Lincoln's Inn, he returned to Ireland full of ambitious hopes connected with his future professional career. He was impatient to assume the privileged garb, yet he hesitated to draw upon the diminished resources of his family for the further expense attendant on being called to the bar. An expedient suggested itself to his mind of which, in secret, he prepared to avail himself. His fondness for the stage, and familiarity with ancient as well as modern drama, had often led him in hours of idleness to try whether he, too, did not possess the gift of tragic Many unfinished scenes lay amongst his papers, and many thoughts and images of a kindred verse. nature thronged his brain. He would write a play, and take it when finished to Miss O'Neil, and between its intrinsic merits and the witchery of her acting, he would make the money he wanted, and, possibly, fame too. During the winter months he was occupied in the execution of this project; but January came before it was completed. His father was as unwilling as himself to defer his initiation as one of the legal craft, and he was admitted a member of the Irish bar on the first day of Hilary term, 1814. Soon afterwards he presented his play to the manager of Crow-street Theatre for his approval. It was accepted. Some few alterations and curtailments were made at the suggestion of Miss O'Neil, and to the young author's infinite delight she undertook to represent the character he had intended for her. "Adelaide; or, the Emigrants, written by a young gentleman of this city," was advertised for the 19th of February. The house was full, and in good humour. The celebrated actress played her part to perfection, and the other performers sustained theirs with credit. One or two passages, expressive of elevated feeling, and clothed in pure and eloquent language, caught the attention of the audience, and ere the third act closed, the success of the piece was beyond the reach of doubt. Who that has felt or witnessed the first success of all-believing, allattempting "two-and-twenty," will fail to appreciate the keenness of the sense of mingled pride and joy that such a triumph naturally afforded? The tragedy was announced for repetition, and was soon afterwards published, with a dedication full of gratitude and compliment to her whose "zealous exertion and great talents" had mainly contributed to its favourable reception. The story of Adelaide is founded on an incident connected with the emigration of the noblesse during the French Revolution. Whether the tragic tale was derived from some narrative of suffering which the author had heard from the lips of some of the youthful exiles amongst whom his school-days had been passed, or whether there lingered in his mind vague memories of their misfortunes, from which his busy imagination wove the fable afterwards embodied in the play,-who now can tell? Few survive of the intimates to whom he was accustomed to impart his immature conceptions as they grew and formed themselves; for never was there one whose nature oftener impelled him to "Snatch at his laurels while yet they were growing;" or who was more consciously dependent upon sympathy for sustainment in his intellectual efforts. When, in after years, the subject of his first play was adverted to, he could rarely be induced to dwell upon it. The pride and pleasure of its early success were not forgotten, but his judgment of its defects had become inexorable, and his over sensitiveness exaggerated both their number and degree. The truth is, that while no one who cares for his fame can desire that his first composition shall be regarded as a fair test or specimen of his poetic powers, it cannot be denied that it contains many passages of touching beauty, and possesses, as a whole, no inconsiderable merit. St. Evermont, a refugee of noble birth, accepts the hospitality of Count Lunenberg, a Viennese courtier, who woos and deceives Adelaide, the only daughter of the aged emigré. Her father's first misgivings are excited by her refusal to accept the hand of a distinguished noble; but he repels distrustful thoughts respecting his daughter, remembering that "Suspicion is the growth of meaner spirits; Yet does misfortune often cherish it, His grief and anger when he finds that he has lost the confidence, though not the affection, of his child, |