tion. Peaceful times encourage industry, and studious habits, in the learned, happiness; but periods of civil distractions, and commotions, when the feelings of men are roused, and their worst passions infuriated-when discord, tumult, and confusion, threaten ruin to the state, are invariably fruitful in producing men of vast mental powers, the emanations of whose daring genius are not the less magnificent because prompted by hatred and revenge, and overshadowed by the darker passions of the soul.

Mr. Burton was thrown amongst persons distinguished above their predecessors and successors for eloquence and knowledge, many of whom have run a glorious race, and reached the loftiest elevation to which their ambition could aspire. It required no small portion of energy and talent to keep pace with such illustrious rivals-to prevent the brilliancy of their fame from consigning his best efforts to comparative obscurity. That Mr. Burton held his ground among the best of them, is no small praise, for the value of success should be estimated by the number and excellence of our competitors. Some people falsely imagine that his professional advancement was entirely owing to the friendship of Curran. Unquestionably it redounds to his credit to have acquired, and preserved to the last, the friendship of that remarkable man; but his friendship, however ardent and sincere, could no more have gained practice for Mr. Burton at the Bar than it could have made him Emperor of China. Mr. Burton was not in extensive practice till Curran had passed the zenith of his fame, and if he had not been more persevering and industrious than his distinguished friend, obscurity must have been his inevitable lot. Curran was incapable of severe mental exertion, or of undertaking the drudgery of his profession. Difficult, abstract, legal questions, he never could investigate or endure. A second Curran would hardly have succeeded at the Bar. Mr. Burton, on the contrary, if he had not the imaginative, yet possessed the reasoning faculty to the highest perfection, and a clear inquiring spirit, which taught him to explore, with patience, the principles and dull details of any questions that came before him, comprehend it with perfect distinctness, and discuss its bearings with consummate skill.

The rich gifts of fortune were not suddenly bestowed on Mr. Burton; nor did the patronage of the great, or accident, or luck-which have ere now befriended many an enormous blockhead

fill his pockets, or procure him place. On the contrary, and the fact may encourage talents which for years have lain undiscovered, and knowledge that has not yet been brought to light, he toiled on for a considerable period without business and almost without hope. For several years he went the circuit unnoticed, and for that very reason was a general favourite with the Bar, who regard, with exceeding kindness, the amiable, gentlemanly, goodnatured young men who have a character for thick headedness, and are, therefore, unlikely to intermeddle in the monopoly of the few; but the instant the good-natured young man exhibits symptoms of ability, and what is worse, a likelihood of getting business, he is discovered to be not half so goodnatured, very forward and presuming, and altogether a troublesome sort of fellow, unworthy any longer the encouragement and favour of a liberal profession. It is said, that chance threw a suit, involving a nice and difficult question, in a right of fishery, into the hands of Mr. Burton, in the town of Tralee. The illness, or the absence of his leader, and the innocence of his colleague, consigned the case entirely to his management; and so much deep and technical knowledge, such prompt ability did he display, that on circuit he was never afterwards unemployed. The same question was argued, subsequently, in the Court of King's Bench, and the argument of Mr. Burton, on that occasion, which is fortunately preserved, exhibits that closeness of reasoning, minuteness, and comprehensiveness of knowledge, and extent of research, calculated to raise him to the first eminence in his profession. He soon after obtained practice,and eventually reached the most extensive enjoyed by any individual of his time, and this by no mean acts, or wheedling practices. His business was a tribute paid to merit, large acquirements, capacity, and industry. He became distinguished even for his eloquence, not flashy or diffuse, but grave, energetic, pointed, and convincing. When thoroughly warmed with the subject, Mr. Burton has surprised and delighted his audience by the boldness of his conceptions, the justness of his

views, and the vigour of their expression. He was not deficient in sympathy and passion when the subject required them. The current of his feelings flowed warmly round his heart, but they were controlled by his sagacity, and regulated by the soundness of his judgment. He never offended the good taste of his hearers by violent and tasteless declamation. He was not deficient in matter, and, therefore, required not the aid of a multitude of unnecessary words to cloak his ignorance, or hide the nakedness of his mind. His eloquence was natural and wholesome, resembling the substantial fare set before vigorous and full-grown men, while the tawdry effusions of the quack orator, patched up with similes, scraps, and verses, are like the painted gingerbread prepared for whining and sickly children.

Perhaps the most important and remarkable case in which Judge Burton ever figured was the memorable trial between the late Chief Baron and the Crown, respecting the right of appointment to the office of Clerk of the Pleas in the Court of Exchequer. This case, with the arguments of Counsel, and the judgments of the Court of Error in full, has been accurately reported by Mr. Greene, and it tended more to raise the reputation of the Irish Bar throughout the empire than all the brilliant declamations ever delivered within the Four Courts. Saurin, Plunket, Bushe, and Burton, argued this case with unrivalled and splendid ability. There was no authority however obsolete that was not ransacked, no principle however obvious or remote which, if useful, was not applied, no source of legal learning, modern or ancient, that was not exhausted and brought to bear upon the subject. The reader of Mr. Burton's argument would be amazed at the quantity of knowledge evinced upon a theme apparently so barren, collected from every source, and he would be struck with the lawyer-like arrangement of so large a mass of facts, principles and authorities, and still more by the exactness of the logic and the strength and compactness of the reasonings which pervade this matchless argument. The language in which the whole was couched was strikingly appropriate, expressing the idea with fect precision, and proving that the mind of the speaker was deeply imbued

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no less with the principles than the phraseology of the law. On the trial before the Jury, Saurin was profound and luminous, Lord Plunket bitter and abusive, Bushe brilliant as ever, avenging himself upon his powerful opponent with many a splendid sarcasm, while he dazzled his fascinated audience. Burton shone not so brightly but with a steadier light, neither heated by his passions, nor led astray by his fancy, but compressed and vigorous, he reasoned with powerful effect; it was the understanding alone he sought to satisfy, to force conviction on the judgment by the noble weapons of truth and reason.

He exhibited the utmost stretch of those powers of demonstration which the thing to be demonstrated required or admitted. If he did not soar to the highest flights of genius, he fathomed the utmost depths of reason. The splendours of the imagination are excellent and glorious, but the reasoning powers of the human mind in their results are no less wonderful and infinitely more useful. The one, it is true, may captivate by its charms, or astonish by its novelties, but it may likewise mislead honesty and defend injustice, while by the other such dangers can be met, delusion dispelled, justice secured, and reason restored, to the throne from which imagination had for a time expelled her.

If we wished to impress the learned professions in England and Scotland with a suitable opinion of the Irish Bar, we would rest our claims to their respect and admiration on the cogent evidence which the case of Chief Baron O'Grady affords of sound judgment, manly logic, learning extensive and minute, clothed in the most emphatic and effective language.

Judge Burton has sat for several years upon the Bench, discharging his high duties with exemplary ability and skill. Conscientious and impartial, he has administered justice according to law, without fear, favour, or affection. The industrious habits of the lawyer have not forsaken him on the Bench. He decides nothing without patient investigation and research. Where he presides, the rights of suitors are not destroyed by ignorance, or injured by prejudice, caprice, or passion.

No vicious propensities display themselves in his behaviour on the Bench. No cruelties stain his judicial career.

He delights not in the shedding of human blood. He cannot play off a coarse joke, and sentence the trembling culprit to the gallows in a breath; he has never, for the gratification of parties or factions strained his ingenuity to snare a victim. He believes in a truth which in this country has been, in times past forgotten or overlooked, that justice may be vindicated and the laws upheld without an unnecessary waste of human life. Judge Burton is no doubt an ornament to the Court of which he is a member: but it is when alone, on circuit, and presiding in a Criminal Court, that the virtues of the Judge shine forth with peculiar brightness. The calm attention, the unwearied assiduity, the inflexible impartiality, with which the case of each unfortunate prisoner is heard and decided, must gain the heartfelt respect of every candid spectator. What could be more horrible than to witness a Judge, when the liberty or life of his fellow man is at stake, fretful, impatient, arrogant or unmerciful, availing himself of his vast power to crush the prisoner, taking a savage joy in the work of extermination, and like a gloomy fanatic, offering bloody sacrifices to the hideous idol he adores. No such character, we believe, now stains the purity of the Irish Bench to trample on the first principles of justice. The reign of cruelty and darkness, we hope, has passed away for ever. May we never behold a legal functionary who would hold a good dinner cheaply purchased with a life, and would cut short a vital discussion, sooner than spoil good cookery. Surely if there be one hell deeper than another it should be reserved for the corrupt or cruel functionary, who, placed in a situation which approaches most nearly to the diviner duties, converts the sword of justice into a weapon of mischief or oppression. Their victims are not, however, unavenged. Everlasting infamy in this world pursues the memory of the wicked Judge, and so sure as there is justice in the world to come, he cannot expect to find forgiveness. The hated names of Scroggs and Jefferies will be handed down from age to age, with greater

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loathing and increased abhorrence. No extent of learning, no splendor of genius can compensate for the want of principle and virtue. Neither the prodigious erudition of Lord Coke, nor the subsequent nobleness of his conduct as a patriot and a Judge, will ever be able to wipe off the foul blot which his conduct to Sir Walter Raleigh has fixed upon his character. The fame of Lord Bacon as a mighty philosopher is no doubt immortal, but his infamy as a Judge will be immortal likewise; it cannot diminish the value of his discoveries, but it will sully his glory, and tarnish for ever his good name. bon, in his Chapter on the Roman Jurisprudence, dwells upon the character of Tretinian, a famous civilian who flourished thirteen hundred years ago, the reformer of the Roman law, whose labours and whose talents were mainly instrumental in securing for Justinian his imperishable fame. "His genius," says the historian, "like that of Bacon, embraced, as his own, all the business and knowledge of the age." And having described his wonderful attainments and various employments, how the Council of Justinian listened to his eloquence and wisdom, and envy was mitigated by the gentleness and affability of his manners, the historian adds, "The reproach of avarice stained the virtues or the reputation of Trebinian. It was clearly proved and sensibly felt." If he allowed himself to be swayed by gifts in the administration of justice, the failings of Bacon, equally culpable will again present themselves to our attention. Nor can the merit of Trebinian atone for his baseness, if he degraded the sanctity of his profession, and if laws were every day enacted, modified or repealed for the base consideration of his private emoluments. Thus does the renowned historian fasten the stigma of his indelible censure upon the character of the corrupt and truckling Judge. It should operate as a warning to others, and teach them that if they have not shewn the talents of a Trebinian or a Bacon, they may shun their vices, and transmit to posterity an unsullied reputation.

MR. EDITOR, Perhaps it is, that, like Monsieur Parolles, I was born under some "charitable star," and when "Mars was retrograde;" but certainly I hold heroism, and heroes, extremely cheap, and deem Bob Acres and Sir Andrew Aguecheek more worthy of respect and commendation than all the knights and men of valour in romance or history. "A coward, a devout coward, religious in it," was the character drawn of good Sir Andrew; and I am free to acknowledge to the world that it is the model which, from my earliest years, it has been my study and ambition to imitate. In this endeavour I have been aided by a good natural disposition—a sort of instinctive aptness, to take to my heels on the first approach, or even rumour, of any danger, however slight, or however problematical. I can lay my hand on my heart, and declare that, from the first dawn of reason in my mind, I never wilfully awaited the coming of the enemy, or scrupled (when involved in perilous circumstances), to avail myself of any mode of escape that offered itself, no matter how great the risk I thereby ran of incurring contempt and ridicule. My creed has ever been, that life is the first consideration, and honor the second; and the contrary tenet I have ever loathed and detested as a false and pernicious heresy. The feet, moreover, I have always considered as the most useful members of the human body; and strong is my conviction, that, were they employed more, and the hands less, it would be an incalculable advantage to society, by economising life, and effectually preventing all the various calamities and horrors of war. Impressed with these sentiments, I have long conceived the design of exposing, through the medium of the press, what, in my conscience, I believe to be the absurd opinions current in the world as to the relative merits of cowardice and

bravery; nor can I think of any more appropriate organ for conveying my views upon this subject to the public than the pages of a magazine established upon Conservative principles, the principles of the coward being Conservative in the highest degree, while those of your heroes and warriors are destructive in their very nature and essence. It is too much to expect that I shall succeed, in my own life-time, in producing a re-action in favour of my own party; but I am confident enough to hope that a century will not elapse before the revolution in opinion I speak of, shall have been accomplished, and all men who pretend to reason and civilization will agree to explode gunpowder, and turn all the swords and daggers, and bayonets, in the realm, into ploughshares and reaping hooks. I anticipate the day when a man shall blush to admit, far from triumphantly relating, that he spared no pains to get his throat cut, or his brains blown out; when a shout of scornful laughter will be sure to follow the narrative of a feat of arms; and when he that can prove, to public satisfaction, that he exerted his "tender Achilles" to the utmost of his power to keep out of the range of shot and sabre, point to the tree in whose umbrageous branches he perched during a conflict, or to the coal-hole where he ensconced himselfpending the storming of his native city, shall be entitled to demand a pension, or a crown, and shall have epic poems composed in his praise by the most illustrious bards of his day. Yes, Sir, depend upon it, the day will come when a wound in the front will be a brand of infamy; and even he who has been wounded, "a parte post," shall be considered as having sullied his character, unless he be able to establish, in the clearest manner, that his having appeared on the battle-field at all was his misfortune, and not his fault.

I arraign the whole race of warriors