extinction arrives-an aristocracy left free by this measure, without the restraints of an appellate jurisdiction, to give the fullest swing to their tyranny and caprice-five-sixths of the population still shut out from that boasted Constitution, whose blessings, like the "sealed fountain " kept by Solomon for his own private drinking, are still reserved for a small privileged caste alone ;-a spirit of intolerance, even among those self-styled patriots, who "think it freedom when themselves are free;" and who, though standing in the fullest sunshine of the Constitution, would not believe in the substance of their liberty, if they did not see it cast a shadow of slavery on others-an Established Church rising rapidly into power and wealth, and wringing her wealth from the very vitals of those whom her power is employed in oppressing and persecutingsuch are the principal ingredients of which this happy country is composed at present, and such the materials of future discord, on which the dynasty of the Rocks may confidently calculate, for the long continuance, if not perpetuation, of their reign.'

LIFE OF SHERIDAN.

In 1825 Moore published his Life of Sheridan, one of the most beautiful specimens of biography we possess, and he instantly took his place amongst the best prose writers of the age. "This work (says the Edinburgh Review) is the best historical notice yet published of the events of our own times. It exhibits the clearest and most intelligent account of the great questions which were

agitated during the momentous period to which it refers; the best estimate of the great events by which it was distinguished, and not only the ablest exposition of the causes which led to them, but the most truly impartial, temperate, and dispassionate. view of the merits of the individuals concerned in them."

Up to this time Moore was known only for his poems, for "Captain Rock" was published anonymously. His brilliant imagination, which could adorn his poems with gorgeous descriptions, was admitted. His wit, too, was recognized, for the highest in the land had long ere this felt its keen edge. It was reserved for the "Life of Sheridan " to stamp Moore as a man of the deepest views on public affairs, and capable of entertaining the most correct notions on points of constitutional learning.

This work deserves to be studied for much more than its biographical details respecting Sheridan. The homage which Moore felt for those great men who stood forth for freedom in dangerous times is beautifully expressed in the glorious passage on the condition of England at the close of the last century, when (to use Moore's language), the "friends of right, the saving lights of liberty, preserved the ark of the Constitution from foundering in the foul and troubled waters that encompassed it."

This work was produced before the Emancipation Act, while the heel of ascendancy still pressed upon the neck of the Irish Catholic. Moore felt as an Irish Catholic, and thus gives expression to his manly and indignant feelings in a powerful passage on the wrongs of Ireland.

"I am aware that on the subject of Ireland and her wrongs I can ill trust myself with the task of expressing what I feel, or preserve that moderate historical tone which it has been my wish to maintain through the political opinions of this work. On every other point my homage to the high character of England and of her institutions is prompt and cordial; on this topic alone my feelings have been taught to wear towards her 'the badge of bitterness.' As a citizen of the world I would point to England as its brightest ornament, but as a disfranchised Irishman I blush to belong to her."

We subjoin Moore's character of Sheridan, and also his beautiful monody on his memory.

CHARACTER OF SHERIDAN.

"His political character stands out so fully in these pages, that it is needless by any comment to attempt to raise it into stronger relief. If to watch over the rights of the subject, and guard them against the encroachment of power, be, even in safe and ordinary times, a task full of usefulness and honour, how much more glorious to have stood sentinel over the same sacred trust through a period so trying as that with which Sheridan had to struggle. When liberty itself had become suspected and unpopularwhen authority had succeeded in identifying patriotism with treason, and when the few remaining and deserted friends of Freedom were reduced to take their stand on a narrowing isthmus, between Anarchy on one side, and the angry incursions of Power on the other; how manfully he maintained his ground in a position so critical, the annals of England and of the champions of her con

stitution will long testify. The truly national spirit, too, with which, when that struggle was past, and the dangers to liberty from without seemed greater than any from within, he forgot all past differences in the one common cause of Englishmen, and, while others 'gave but the left hand to the country,' proffered her both of his, stamped a seal of sincerity on his public conduct, which, in the eyes of all England, authenticated it as genuine patriotism.

"To his own party, it is true, his conduct presented a very different phasis; and if implicit partizanship were the sole merit of a public man, his movements, at this and other junctures, were far too independent and unharnessed to lay claim to it. But, however useful may be the bond of party, there are occasions that supersede it, and, in all such deviations from the fidelity which it enjoins, the two questions to be asked are: Were they, as regarded the public, right? Were they, as regarded the individual himself, unpurchased? To the former question, in the instance of Sheridan, the whole country responded in the affirmative; and to the latter, his account with the Treasury, from first to last, is sufficient answer.

"There are few persons, as we have seen, to whose kind and affectionate conduct in some of the most interesting relations of domestic life, so many strong and honourable testimonies remain. The pains which he took to win back the estranged feelings of his father, and the filial tenderness with which he repaid long years of parental caprice, show a heart that had at least, set out by the right road, however

in after years it may have missed the way. The enthusiastic love which his sister bore him, and retained unblighted by distance or neglect, is another proof of the influence of his amiable feelings at that period of life when he was as yet unspoiled by the world. We have seen the romantic fondness which he preserved towards the first Mrs. Sheridan, even while doing his utmost, and in vain, to extinguish the same feeling in her. With the second wife, a course nearly similar was run; the same 'scatterings and eclipses' of affection, from the irregularities and vanities in which he continued to indulge, but the same hold kept of each other's hearts to the last. Her early letters to him breathe a passion little short of idolatry, and her devoted attentions beside his death-bed showed that the essential part. of the feeling still remained.

"To claim exemption for frailties and irregularities on the score of genius, while there are such names as Milton and Newton on record, were to be blind to the example which these and other great men have left, of the grandest intellectual powers combined with the most virtuous lives. But, for the bias given early to the mind by education and circumstances, even the least charitable may be inclined to make large allowances. We have seen how idly the young days of Sheridan were wasted— how soon he was left (in the words of the prophet) 'to dwell carelessly,' and with what an undisciplined temperament he was thrown upon the world to meet at every step that never-failing spring of temptation, which, like the fatal fountain in the garden of Armida, sparkles up for ever in the pathway of such a man.