nently distinguished by great mental activity, by an ardent love for literature, by refined and vigorous scholarship, and by an exquisite power of discerning and appreciating the beautiful, the chastened, and the sublime, in every walk and department of classical and historic lore. Even still the echoes of that persuasive and fascinating eloquence with which he so often delighted the minds of his audience are sounding in our ears, while the soft and soothing fragrance of those poetic flowers with which he charmed the hearts of his readers still retains its infant freshness. Whatever the mild wisdom of his genius has composed is characterized by gracefulness of thought, a genial tenderness of feeling, an unassuming air of earnest enthusiasm, an elegant simplicity, a pure and softly-polished taste, a graphic and well-sustained perspicuity of style. All his productions show that he was deeply impressed with a conviction that education should not only be scientific, and religious, and moral, and practical, but eminently aesthetic-that it should impart knowledge calculated to ennoble, to dignify, and to refine the affections of the heart, to develope our instinctive tastes for order and harmony in creation, and for admiring whatsoever things are lovely' in the works of nature and of art, as well as to convey instruction to the mind."

CHIEF SECRETARYSHIP OF LORD CARLISLE.

The Earl of Carlisle commenced official life in 1835. The Melbourne Administration, succeeding the Grey Ministry, inherited the "Irish difficulty." They resolved to grapple with the difficulty by governing the country with equal justice to all, and absolute impartiality. The affable and good Lord Mulgrave, afterwards Marquis of Normanby, was appointed Lord Lieutenant; and Lord Carlisle, then Lord Morpeth, Chief Secretary for Ireland. Thus commenced the first official connexion of Lord Carlisle with our country-a connexion which subsisted for nearly thirty years. In this important office his Lordship was most assiduous, accessible, and laborious in the discharge of his various duties. The genuine liberality of his political opinions, his frank and courteous demeanour, and the justice and impartiality with which he administered the patronage of the Irish Executive, rendered him extremely popular. The important bills which he introduced and carried through the House for the settlement of Tithes, on the subject of Irish Municipal Reform, and the Irish Poor Laws, had the effect of tranquillizing the disturbed minds

of the people, elevating all classes to a just equality, and relieving distress. The appointment of stipendiary magistrates, the nomination of sheriffs, the selection of jurors, and various regulations for the administration of the laws, owe their origin to his impartial and sound policy. During this period were engendered the deep mutual love and attachment which, increasing in growth and strength, endured to the close of his official life,-forming a grand and attractive feature in his subsequent Viceregal career— the golden bond which so firmly and fondly united the noble Lord and the people of Ireland, who hoped that he would long continue in the discharge of his useful functions. In the summer of 1841, however, there was a change of Ministry. The late Sir Robert Peel became Premier, and, of course, Lord Carlisle ceased to hold the office of Chief Secretary. He retired from that office with the sincere regret and good wishes of the whole nation, including many of his political opponents; and was presented with a farewell Address, previous to his departure, September 12th, 1841.

The Duke of Leinster, on presenting the Address, said "It gave him the greatest pleasure to have had the honour of being Chairman of the meeting at which the Address was adopted. To the Address were 257,000 names-57 Peers, 29 Honourables, 25 Baronets, 97 Deputy Lieutenants, 102 Magistrates, 12 Roman Catholic Bishops, together with a considerable number of Protestant and Dissenting Ministers of various denominations."

When His Grace had concluded the reading of the Address, Lord Carlisle said:

"MY LORD DUKE, and GentlemeN-It would be unnecessary, even if it were at all possible, for me to inform you with how deep and penetrating a feeling I have listened to the words of such an Address as that which has just been pronounced-made so remarkable and so precious by the circumstances of the time at which it has been presented, and by the number and character of the parties to its adoption. It cannot be said to have been merely framed upon trust, as it truly records that a connexion of above six years has subsisted between us; it cannot be referred to any interested motive, as it is addressed to a functionary despoiled of power; it can hardly be thought to pander to any revolutionary tendency, when it was first ushered into notice under auspices

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which combine the most constitutional patriotism with the loftiest lineage of the land; it does not confine itself to aristocratic sympathies, because I have reason to believe that it has been affirmed and echoed by the Irish people. I trust that the pleasure I could not fail to derive from the favourable and candid appreciation of the acts and intentions of the Administration just brought to a close, can only be enhanced and heightened to me when I reflect how much of the credit assigned to it must be absorbed by those under whom it has been my privilege to serve, and by those with whom it has been my good fortune to act. Still, with whomsoever I have shared, I have at least been surpassed by none in the desire to give both permanency and efficacy to every development of the paramount principles of civil and religious freedom, and the practical exercise of political and social equality between man and man, between class and class, between creed and creed, and between country and country. These were the sentiments which inspired the first accents which I had publicly an opportunity of uttering in this city, before my official connexion with the country had commenced. Now that it is closed, it is gratifying for me to think that they have been familiar to my practice, and to know that they are close to my heart. It is impossible for me to refrain from mentioning, with humble thankfulness, that the sincere, though imperfect, and not wholly unobstructed endeavours to carry those principles into real operation, have been crowned with more than corresponding effect on the disposition and conduct of the nation on whose behalf they were made; and I believe that I may affirm, without the risk of misrepresentation, that at the moment in which we are called upon to transfer the Government of Ireland to the charge of our successors, we have the satisfaction of leaving the country, with respect to internal tranquillity and order, in a more undisturbed and promising condition than was hardly ever before experienced. It is my most earnest hope that the people, by their perseverance in such courses, may invite and compel a grateful and adequate return from any rulers under whom they may be placed. For all that refers more directly to myself in your Address, I thank you most feelingly. I have found among you everything that could most excite and rivet attachment. And now, all that remains for me is to renew my assurance that through the whole course of my life I shall seize with alacrity any opportunity that passing events may supply for evincing it; and I shall retain this honoured document as its best memorial and incentive, and as the richest heirloom I could bequeath to the name I bear.”*

* "I remember once visiting Castle Howard, accompanied by the late Alderman Meek (of York), when the Earl of Carlisle showed us his masterpieces of art, and all the beauties of Castle Howard; but the one thing that he appeared to take most pride and pleasure in, was the Memorial that had been presented to him on 400 feet of parchment on his leaving Ireland."-Earl Cathcart, at the Yorkshire Memorial Meeting, November 29, 1865.

A grand Banquet was given to his Lordship in the evening, at which the Marquis of Clanricarde presided. To the toast,

"Our distinguished guest, Lord Morpeth,"

the Noble Lord replied as follows:

"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,-I think that I may easily gain credit when I assure you that all the circumstances attending the present meeting and the present spectacle-all that has been done or has been said upon this occasionor, to sum all up at once, that this present moment must to me, as I now stand here, wear a character and produce an effect altogether overwhelming. At such a time it could not fail to recall vividly to my memory-even if you, my Lord, had not reminded me of it, being, as you were yourself, a gracious witness on both occasions-that at the interval of thirteen years ago, it was my lot—an Englishman, and a stranger--to be received in the same city to an entertainment of more slender dimensions indeed, but somewhat partaking of the same character and description as the present. An Englishman I still remain; but it is, perhaps, the most gratifying portion of the honours which have this day been poured so thickly around me, that as a stranger I appear before you no longer. At the period to which I have adverted, comparatively unknown and inexperienced, I must have been indebted for the distinction then accorded to me wholly to the persuasion that I shared in the sentiments upon the great subject of civil and national rights which you yourselves considered as peculiarly consecrated; and that I was disposed, in any sphere that might be open to me, to act honestly on all occasions. But I am here to-night, Gentlemen, having filled for a longer period than any of my predecessors the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland; and-knowing, by my personal experience, the responsible and difficult nature of the delicate duties which it involves, and remembering the feelings of anxiety, and even of misgiving, with which I first entered on their discharge, and conscious, above all, of the many errors and imperfections which a retrospect of the whole intervening period affords, and which I cannot fail to conjure up before my memory-I own I cannot wholly suppress the thrill of pleasure and exultation with which I look at this brilliant scene before me as the rich reward of all my exertions.

It has been my especial pleasure and pride to act here in Ireland under an Administration headed by the gallant and chivalrous bearing of the Marquis of Normanby by the steady and deep-seated patriotism of Earl Fortescue. I will not descant here-because the list would be too long-the matter would be too copious-on the eminent conduct and services of the successive advisers with whom it has been the good fortune of the Government within the period

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of my experience to be connected, and who have brought to their services the most distinguished natural endowments and professional attainments, as well as that keen sense of justice and that high thirst for truth which have outshone even these. There are, Gentlemen, recollections of services and attachments, not yielding to any of these, which, amidst each good and flattering accompaniment, would be too painful and too tender to dwell on. But as the mage of the absent Brutus impressed itself most prominently on the minds of the spectators at the pageant of the living Emperor, you would have sensibly felt the void if I had altogether withheld the allusion. Gentlemen, that which has been the main support and strength of the Ministry-which has given them confidence in the struggle, and served as a rallying point amidst discouragements, and has given animation to the victory-has been the generous and unswerving fidelity of the Irish people. I have the gratification of seeing around this board many of Ireland's most ancient nobility. I also see many of her popular representatives, many of whose voices have been lent to give utterance to the feelings of their constituency in our support, and all of whose votes have been given in defence of those just and legitimate principles which are held by the people. The support which the Government has received from them has been an honourable and an availing one, because it has been responsive to the popular feelings, and true to the popular cause. Gentlemen, I must not forget that I come before you here to-night as a member, not of a standing or existing, but of a beaten Ministry; and, though I have happily proved to-day that I am not yet excluded from your streets-from your places of public concourse-from your halls of pleasure-from the warm grasp and the friendly greeting-from the social board and the flowing wine-cup-yet into the guarded precincts of the Castle of Dublin I am no longer privileged to enter. Into the general causes of the defeat and downfall of the Government to which my colleague and I belonged, I do not think this would be an appropriate time for me to enter. It is gratifying to me to reflect that, whatever may have been the other contributing causes, the immediate occasion of that overthrow has been an endeavour to do what we conceived was justiceperhaps against prejudices, and certainly in despite of partial and particular interests to the struggles of industry in all its branches--to the wants of the entire people. If we have judged and acted wrongly, we have probably sealed our own doom; but if otherwise, I most firmly believe that time will work our vindication, and that, too, in as full a measure as the utmost ardour of party could desire. In this place, before the present auditory, and on this precise occasion, I feel that what further remarks I have to offer ought to have reference to the connexion of passing events with the fortunes of Ireland; and, Gentlemen, on this subject I hope you will bear with me, or rather that you will take the blame to yourselves, if I form a less modest estimate than I