degree of A.B. in July, 1811. On the 13th of November, in the same year, he entered as a student of Lincoln's Inn, where he continued to keep terms during the two subsequent years, preparatory to being called to the Irish bar.

During his residence in London he became a member of The Eccentrics, a debating club, to which Canning and several of his cotemporaries once belonged. His powers as a debater were probably much improved by his practice in this society, where a tone prevailed wholly different from that to which he had been previously accustomed. Fancy was less valued, and argument more, in the forensic club of Lincoln's Inn that in the politico-religious society of Dublin University. The moral atmosphere was less electric; but, to the intellect of the future lawyer, its air was more bracing.

His father's brother, Richard, was then living in London, and during his first winter in the metropolis he appears to have resided with him. "Uncle Dick" was a good-natured man, but, like others of his family, somewhat choleric and fretful. The recent disturbances in Spain had compelled him to quit the land which had long been that of his adoption; and he had suffered at the same time certain pecuniary losses,

which had not contributed to improve his temper. Uncle and nephew did but ill agree. The student was wayward, and not a little vain of his premature exploits in the demagogic line; while the old man was, doubtless, peevish about trifles, and disposed to be authoritative in tone, without the possession of authority. After various little disputes and some noisy altercations, matters came at length to a crisis, and early in 1812, Richard the younger quitted his uncle's roof, and betook himself to the paternal home. He soon repented, however, of this foolish quarrel. His father could not or would not supply him with the means of returning to London after Easter, and he began to fear lest he should lose the ensuing term. Meanwhile "Uncle Dick's" anger passed away; he began, perhaps, to think that he had been somewhat too hasty, and he offered to receive his nephew as an inmate in his house once more. Richard gratefully accepted the kind offer; but being still without money for travelling expenses and other necessaries, he felt that he had no other resource than that of which he had already so largely availed himself. He applied to Dr. Foley for a loan of twenty pounds, telling him, without reserve, the nature of his perplexity, and penitentially taking to himself the whole

of the blame. "My uncle's extreme kindness," he said, "should have induced me to forgive those fits of anger into which an unfortunately irascible temper sometimes betrays him. Upon one occasion, however, my feelings got the better of my prudence, and hurried me into a warmth of expression which I had afterwards too much reason to regret. Being obliged to leave him, and having no money to support myself in a town so expensive as London, I was necessitated to return instantly to Dublin. I received on Saturday a letter from my uncle, requesting that I would excuse the intemperance of his passion, and offering to receive me with renovated cordiality. However, I have not a sum equal to the expenses of my journey and the purchase of a few books, and I cannot press my father for assistance in his present distressed circumstances; indeed, he has given me to understand that he will not furnish me with the means of going to England, as it was my own fault that I should have left it. The observation is but too true." He deprecated the idea of his relatives supposing that he wished to fall back upon the original terms of the offer made by Doctor Foley on the eve of his quitting Bellevue, and he undertook to repay the loan as soon as his means should enable

him. His request was granted, and he lost no further time in returning to England. His journey was interrupted in consequence of a severe cold, caught by his exposure to heavy rain as he travelled on the outside of the stage coach from Holyhead to Shrewsbury, where he was forced to remain for several days before he could proceed further. The circumstance is alluded to in a letter to Doctor Foley, written from London, on the 6th of May, in which he warmly acknowledges the forgiving and the affectionate reception he met with from his uncle. In the same letter are some general remarks on the politics of the day, and the existing state of parties. Government and Opposition seemed to him alike destitute of any strong hold on popular regard, and were chiefly distinguishable by their conflicting opinions on the Catholic question. Its friends out of doors were at the time full of hope of its success; and in their justification an anecdote is mentioned by him, which, if correct, curiously illustrates the fallaciousness of political prophecies, even when the seers are amongst the most thoroughly initiated in statecraft, and the place of their oracular mutterings the steps of the throne. At the conclusion of a recent debate in the House of Lords, Mr. Sheil states that the Marquis Wellesley, addressing a friend of

his* who stood behind the woolsack, said-" Sir, if the Catholics conduct their cause with propriety, I insure you success in three years, perhaps in one."

But

Throughout their previous disappointments the Catholics had clung to the belief that the Prince Regent was at heart their friend, and that when an opportunity served he would prove the sincerity of his oftrepeated assurances, by calling to power the party whose leaders had lessened their influence with the English people by nothing so much as their readiness to become the apologists of his personal errors. when, on the death of Mr. Perceval on the 11th of May, the occasion presented itself, these anticipations were speedily dispelled. Not only were Lords Grenville and Grey discarded, but the basis upon which the old administration was re-constituted, under Lord Liverpool, was so narrowed regarding principles, that neither Mr. Canning nor Lord Wellesley would consent to form part of it. In both Houses a resolution was moved by them, proposing a pledge that Parliament would in the ensuing session seriously set about a settlement of the Catholic question; in the Lords it was only lost by one, the numbers being for Lord Eldon's amendment, 125 to 124; but in the

* Probably Mr. Charles Butler.