CONTENTS. PAGE. 91 Dealtry's Sermon on the Death of Owen Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City in Spanish America Milne's Retrospect of the Protestant Mission to China Moffat's Consolation to Parents amid the Loss of Children Morison's Sermon on Congregational Union Myers's Influence of Protestant Missionary Establishments Rees's Journal of Voyages and Travels Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. Rio's, Capt. del, Description of the Ruins of an ancient City, &c. ERRATA, in the October Number. P. 303 line 8 from bottom, for name of the 7 from bottom, for mosques of In the November Number. P. 433, line 1, for and abandonment of an read an abandonment of P. 423, line 1, has been carried up from the bottom of the page. THE ECLECTIC REVIEW, FOR JULY, 1822. Art, I. The Speeches of the Right Honourable Henry Grattan, in the Irish and in the Imperial Parliament. Edited by his Son. In 4 Volumes. 8vo. Price 21. 8s. London. 1821. THE gentleman whose speeches the laudable diligence and pious affection of his son have collected in the present publication, long occupied a prominent place in the public attention. His vast talents and unintermitted labours, dedicated to the noblest objects, the moral and political melioration of his country, entitle him to a high rank among those whose lives have been honourable and beneficial to mankind. The recorded services of such men are the most imperishable monuments that can be reared to their memory. Henry Grattan was born in 1746, at Dublin, for which city his father sat in Parliament. He was educated at the Univer-: sity of Dublin, and in 1767, entered as a student of the Middle Temple. While prosecuting his studies in the Temple, he frequently attended the debates in Parliament. He was peculiarly struck with the masculine vigour of Lord Chatham's eloquence; and those who busy themselves with fanciful analogies, have imagined a sort of affinity between the style and character of those great speakers. Mr. Grattan frequently took down in writing entire speeches as pronounced by Lord Chatham; and there is now extant in his hand-writing a speech of that great statesman's, which is not to be found in any printed collection. Among the contemporaries with whom Mr. Grattan set out in life, were Mr. Macauley Boyd, one of the supposed authors of Junius, and Mr. (afterwards Mr. Justice), Day. For the latter, he entertained an affection which grew with his years, and was extinguished only at his death, Mr. Grattan was called to the Irish Bar in 1772. At this time he lived in familiar intercourse with the many distinguished individuals who formed the gay, the polished, and VOL. XVIII. N.S. B the intellectual circle of the Irish metropolis. Among these were Mr. Parker Bushe, Mr. Flood, Sir Hercules Langrishe, and the Bishop of Waterford (Dr. Marlay). In concert with Mr. Flood, he wrote several jeux d'esprit in ridicule of Lord Townsend's administration, which were afterwards inserted in a collection called "Baratariana." But the friendship which was the purest satisfaction of his life, and afterwards the subject of its most tender and pleasing recollections, was that of the accomplished Lord Charlemont. It was at the house of that nobleman, that the patriotic band who delivered Ireland, were wont to assemble; and it was through his influence that, in 1775, Mr. Grattan was returned to Parliament for the town of Charlemont. In 1790, he was elected for the city of Dublin. In 1800, he was returned for Wicklow, to oppose the Union. In 1805, he came into the Imperial Parliament for Malton. In 1806, he was re-elected for his native city, and sat for that place in the several parliaments summoned in 1807, 1813, 1818, and 1820. Upon the accession of his present Majesty, he came over to take his seat, contrary to the advice of his physicians and the remonstrances of his friends. The project which filled his soul and animated its expiring efforts, was the Catholic question. But he had tasked his strength beyond his powers of physical endurance. Not being able to bear a journey by land, he went by water from Liverpool to London in a canal barge, emptied of its lumber, and hung round with garden mats. For six days, he sat up in a chair without moving, and continued travelling one entire night; such was his anxiety to bear with his latest breath his testimony to the cause of religious tolerance, and to perform what he considered as his last duty to his country. After much suffering, he expired a few days after his arrival in London, on the 4th of June, 1820, and thus finished, by a species of political martyrdom, a patriotic and honourable course of public service. His private life well corresponded to the purity of his public cne. There was an interesting simplicity in his character, not unlike that which was the charm and ornament of the domestic retirement of Mr. Fox. He loved to forget the statesman in the friend. Upon the subjects that incidentally arise in social converse, philosophy, politics, poetry, he was equally pleasing and instructive. Every topic was illumined with the bright, though softened rays of that powerful intellect which was alike capable of elucidating the most perplexed, and of adorning the simplest matters on which it touched. Playful or grave, he delighted the young, and age itself was improved by his experience. His private conversations were replete with the |