Ridge, and was accompanied by my wife, though in a state ill calculated to endure the rough roads by land, and the more rough passage by sea: my father, mother and sisters were with us in the yacht; they took a house in Dublin, and I was by office an inhabitant of the castle, and lodged in very excellent and commodious apartments.

The speech of the Lord Lieutenant úpon the opening of the session is upon record. It was generally esteemed a very brilliant composition. His graceful person and impressive manner of delivery set it off to its best advantage, and all things seemed to augur well for his success.When I was called in jointly with Secretary Hamilton to take the project and rough copy of this speech into consideration, I could not help remarking the extraordinary efforts, which that gentleman made to engraft his own very peculiar style upon the sketch before him; in this I sometimes agreed with him, but more commonly opposed him, till Lord Halifax, whose patience began to be exhausted, no longer submitted his copy to be dissected, but took it to himself with such alterations as he saw fit to adopt, and those but few. I must

candidly acknowledge that at times when I have heard people searching for internal evidence in the style of Junius as to the author of those famous letters, I have called to recollection this circumstance, which I have now related, and occasionally said that the style of Junius bore a strong resemblance to what I had observed of the style of Secretary Hamilton; beyond this I never had the least grounds for conjecture, nor any clue to lead me to the discovery of that anonymous writer beyond what I have alluded to.

I remember a conversation he held with me some time before we left England on the subject of Mr. Edmund Burke, whom he had then attached to himself, and for whom he wished me to assist in projecting some establishment. I had then never seen that eminent person, nor did I meet him till after my arrival in Dublin, when I had merely the opportunity of introducing myself to him in passing through the apartment, where he was in attendance upon Mr. Hamilton. He had indeed his fortune to make, but he was not disposed to make it by any means but such as perfectly accorded with his feelings and his

honour; for when Mr. Hamilton contrived to accommodate him by some private manœuvre, which I am not correctly possessed of, he saw occasion in a short time after his acceptance of it to throw it up, and break from all connexion with that gentleman and his politics. With the Lord Lieutenant he had little, if any, correspondence or acquaintance, for though Lord Halifax's intuition could not have failed to discover the merits of Mr. Burke, and rightly to have appreciated them, had they ever come cordially into contact, it was not from the quarter, in which he was then placed, that favour and promotion were to be looked for.

Without entering upon the superannuated politics of that time, it is enough to say that the king's business was carried through the session with success, and when the vote was passed for augmenting the revenue of the Lord Lieutenant, and settling it at the standard, to which it is now fixed, he accepted and passed it in favour of his successors, but peremptorily rejected it for himself. At this very time I had issued to the amount of twenty thousand pounds expended in office, whilst he had been

receiving about twelve, and I know not where that man could have been found, to whom those exceedings were more severely embarrassing than to this disinterested personage; but in this case he acted entirely from the dictates of his own high spirit, scarce deigning to lend an ear to the remonstrances even of Doctor Crane, and taking his measures with such rapidity, as to preclude all hesitation or debate.

His popularity however was so established by this high-minded proceeding, that upon his departure from Ireland all parties seemed to unite in applauding his conduct and invoking his return: the shore was thronged with crowds of people, that followed him to the water's edge, and the sea was in a manner covered with boats and vessels, that accompanied the yacht through the bay, studious to pay to their popular chief governor every valedictory honour, that their zeal and attention could devise.

The patronage of the Lord Lieutenant was at that time so extremely circumscribed, that except in the church and army few expectants could have been put in possession of their wishes, had not my under-secretary Mr. Rose

ingrave discovered a number of lapsed patents, that had lain dormant in my office for a length of time, neither allowances nor perquisites being annexed to them. When a pretty considerable number of these patents were collected, and a list of them made out, I laid them before the Lord Lieutenant for his disposal in such manner as he saw fit. He at once discerned the great accommodation they would afford him, and very gladly availed himself of them, obtaining grants of parliament for each respectively, which, though virtually pensions, were not so glaringly obnoxious, nor were any of them in fact such absolute sine-cures, some duty being attached to every one of them. They were certainly a very seasonable accession to his patronage, and I make no doubt a very acceptable one to the circumstances of those, on whom he bestowed them. I sought no share in the spoil, but rather wished to stand correctly clear of any interested part in the transaction; some small thing however I asked and obtained for my worthy second Mr. Roseingrave, who had all the merit of the manoeuvre, and many other merits of a much superior sort, for which I