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him. The case was fully proved, but the prisoner called a witness, who gave him an excellent character for honesty. The Chief Baron's address to the jury was pithy. "Gentlemen," he said, "the prisoner was an honest boy, but he stole the breeches."

A number of men were indicted for riot and rescue at Tralee. The names of several of the jury, and those of the prisoners at the bar, were the same. The Chief Baron suspected that Kerry cousinship, though the case was clear against the prisoners, might lead to the defeat of justice. So he began his charge to the jury, when the case had closed, with the significant remark, "Of course, gentlemen, you'll acquit your own relations."

A case being referred for arbitration to two barristers of no great reputation for legal ability, and in case of difference of opinion, they were at liberty to call in a third, who was regarded as very eccentric; the names being disclosed, the Chief Baron said, "Let this case be referred to two indifferent barristers, with power to call in an odd

one."

A very bad case of highway robbery, tried before him on the last day of the Ennis Assizes, resulted in an acquittal. The Chief Baron was resolved to give the Clare jury a rub for their verdict. Addressing the Sheriff he said, "Mr. Sheriff, is there any other indictment found against this innocent man?"

"No, my lord," was the reply.

"Then you'll greatly oblige me if you don't let him out until I have half an hour's start of him on my way to Limerick," said the Chief Baron.

Another story related of him is in his resisting the appeal of a young barrister, who was employed in defending a prisoner. The case for the prosecution was not fully

proved, there was sufficient doubt left, which the astute judge feared the inexperienced advocate might harden into certainty, if allowed to address the court.

"I merely wish to observe upon the frame of the indictment, if your lordship pleases," persisted the young lawyer.

"I'll hear you, sir, with mighty great pleasure," dryly observed the Chief Baron, "but you must let me take the verdict of the jury first."

The verdict being an acquittal, the learned barrister did not press his observations on the court.

A tenant having sustained loss by the conduct of his immediate lessor, having sued for breach of covenant, the Chief Baron, in pronouncing judgment, said, "The plaintiff had entered into possession with a qualified covenant, and should bear the loss; non-payment of rent had often occurred. Solomon was a wise man, and Samson a strong man, but neither could pay rent if they had not the money."

Few who were acquainted with Chief Baron O'Grady were aware he possessed poetical talent. I subjoin a few lines from an unpublished poem, composed by him:

"When future bards shall sing of life,
Its loves, its cares, and all its strife,
The grace and moral of the song
Shall to their checker'd fate belong
Whose wayward fortune will supply
The brightest tint and deepest dye;
These soldiers yet unborn in pride
shall raise,

Relate their triumphs and renew their praise."

It is said Chief Baron O'Grady was the first to suspect that Mr. Leonard M'Nally, who, with Curran, chiefly defended the United Irishmen, was not as earnest in his defences as his high-minded and accomplished leader. It appears that M'Nally was actually for years in the pay of the Government.

In a case where M'Nally wished to offer some observations to the court, the Chief Baron said very significantly, "It would be better for your clients that you held your tongue."

In January, 1831, Chief Baron O'Grady retired from the bench. Shortly after he was created Viscount Guillamore. In the month of June, of that year, while residing in Stephen's Green, Dublin, he had a paralytic attack, which affected his speech and hand. He was, however, it was said, not very much influenced otherwise, for, on the day it took place, he was able to walk from his bed-chamber in the second story of his lofty house to his study on the ground floor, when he opened his bureau and took a sum of money from it to give Surgeon Collis-who attended him-his fee, and pay household expenses. He attended to his private affairs as usual, and, on the 1st of August, left Dublin for his country seat, Rockbarton, near Limerick.

During the remainder of his life he was debarred from any prolonged conversation, and could not write more than a word or two on a slate. To enable him to enjoy conversing with his family and friends, he had recourse to pocket vocabularies, in which were arranged alphabetically the words most constantly occurring in his daily intercourse. Then he referred to dictionaries to supply his meaning on more difficult subjects. He could use a slate to write a word or figures, and his family soon understood his looks or gestures. He visited Dublin occasionally, and, on one of these visits, was called on by his old friend the late Chief Justice Bushe. This was in July, 1836, and though the exChief Baron was obliged to support his share of the conversation by means of the vocabulary, slate, and pencil, they were able to hold a conversation about old times, mutual

friends, and to discuss the changes which had since taken place in the Four Courts. This lasted for about an hour.

It was about this time the will,. which afterwards formed the subject of legal controversy, was prepared and executed by Lord Guillamore.

It appears that when his lordship's son, the Hon. Waller O'Grady, was at Rockbarton in March, 1836,. his father informed him of his wish to have a new will prepared. By way of instructions for this proposed will, he pointed out to his son the alterations he wished to have introduced into a former will, also prepared by Mr. Waller O'Grady under his father's direc-tions, subsequent to his illness in 1831. His lordship previously executed a will in 1819, but the state of his family, and position, was totally changed in the interval; thus a new will becoming requisite, he resolved to express more carefully than in the former ones his testamentary dispositions as to every part of his property.

The draft will was accordingly prepared, executed as a will, and, on Lord Guillamore repairing to Dublin, this draft was laid before Mr. Serjeant Greene, then SolicitorGeneral for Ireland. Having perused and approved of the draft will, it was returned to Mr. Bagnall, Lord Guillamore's attorney, for engrossment. Having been engrossed, on the 2nd July, it was executed by Lord Guillamore and witnessed by Mr. Serjeant Greene, Mr. Carew Smyth, the Recorder of Limerick, and Mr. Bagnall. The will left about £10,000 a year to his eldest son for life, about £400 a year to each of his younger sons, £1,000 a year to his widow, and several legacies.

On the accession of Her Majesty, in 1837, the veteran peer attended a Privy Council at Dublin Castle, and took the usual oaths on the

Queen's accession. He seems to have been very clear in his intellects with respect to money matters. In 1838 an action was brought against him by one of his brothers, Carew O'Grady, who had been his registrar when he was Chief Baron, and he supplied the requisites for defending the action so successfully as to nonsuit the plaintiff. In the next year, not approving of the manner in which another of his brothers, Mr. Darby O'Grady, applied the rents of his estates, he removed him from the agency, and, by power of attorney, appointed one of his sons, the Hon. John O'Grady, agent in his place.

Lord Guillamore's health had grown very infirm for some time previous to his death, which took place at Rockbarton, county of Limerick, on the 20th April, 1840. All the members of his family then in Ireland attended the funeral, and, on their return to Rockbarton House, the will of the deceased nobleman was found in a leather writing case, in which he had been accustomed to keep valuable papers. It was then read aloud, and handed to the Hon. Waller O'Grady, who had been appointed executor. The will was proved on the 16th of May, 1840, and a suit was shortly after wards instituted by the eldest son and heir-at-law of the deceased peer against the executor, for the purpose of having the probate which had been obtained by him in common form revoked, and administration granted to the eldest son of the personal effects of the deceased, as of a person dying intestate. This suit was tried before the Right Hon. Richard Keatinge, judge of the Court of Prerogative in Ireland, on the 24th and 26th of February, 1844, and his judgment established the efficacy and validity of the will of the late lord, dated 2nd July, 1836. It was subsequently brought for trial in Limerick at the

Assizes, when the jury found against the will, thus entitling the eldest son to the family estates as heir-atlaw and not as devisee.

Of those members of the Munster bar who have gained the otium cum dignitate of the Bench, is one, born in the city of Limerick, who is associated with my early days, Judge O'Brien. His parents and mine were old and attached friends; and when he was a pupil of the Rev. Dr. Hinks's school, at Fermoy, was accustomed to spend his Sundays and holidays at my father's. He was then very intelligent, and a great favourite with us all.

When the Rev. Dr. Hinks exchanged the Fermoy school for the Belfast Institution, I lost sight of my playfellow, but was duly informed of his brilliant career in Trinity College. Amongst other honours, he was a gold medallist in 1825. Having selected the bar as his future profession, Mr. O'Brien, whilst a student in London, attended the chambers of the eminent equity barrister, afterwards Master in Chancery, Andrew H. Lynch. Here he was associated with other Irish law students, many of whom rose to great eminence. In these chambers Mr. O'Brien became acquainted with equity drafting and conveyancing, two branches of the great legal tree in which he greatly distinguished himself. Having completed his

terms, he was called to the bar in Easter Term 1830, and soon became a member of the Munster Circuit. His eldest brother, John O'Brien, of Elm Vale, had married Miss Murphy, of Cork; his second brother, Peter, Miss Sheil, sister of the Right Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil; and his numerous connections throughout Clare and Limerick afforded the young barrister the opportunity of displaying his great professional knowledge. Connected by close family ties with the emi

nent Clare solicitor, Mr. Cornelius O'Brien, M.P., and acting as counsel to Mr. Richard Scott, another well-known Clare attorney, Mr. O'Brien soon was in great and lucrative practice. He possessed indefatigable industry, ready apprehension of the bearings of the cases entrusted to him, and the clearness and soundness of his views caused him to be in high repute as a chamber counsel. While at the outer bar he was in great request for the Masters' offices; and when he was named one of Her Majesty's Counsel in 1841, he obtained leading business. in the Four Courts, and on circuit. He was no orator, and his addresses to juries were never remarkable for beauty of composition, or grace of delivery, but they were clear statements of facts and apt expositions of the law bearing on each case. On the death of Serjeant Warren, in 1848, the Government conferred the vacant coif on Mr. O'Brien; and, while serjeant, he was selected to go circuit in a judicial capacity. The manner in which he discharged the important duties thus entrusted to his care evinced his fitness for the Bench, and in 1858, on the lamented death of the Right Hon. Judge Moore, Mr. Serjeant O'Brien succeeded him as one of the Judges of the Queen's Bench.

As his elevation to the Bench necessarily caused him to cease representing his native city in the House of Commons, the citizens of Limerick deemed this a fitting occasion for presenting Judge O'Brien with the following address :

"Sir, we cannot permit the political connection which subsisted for so many years between the ancient city of Limerick and yourself, reflecting credit upon both, to terminate without giving expression to our sentiments of regret, and gratification at the event.

'We lament the loss of a representative of your fellow-citizens in the House of Commons, whilst we rejoice that the administration of justice has been confided to so competent and upright a member of your learned profession, assuring the Queen's subjects of a trustworthy guardian of their lives, their liberties, and their properties.

"To many who have known you from your early youth, and observed your career to your present position, it appears that your example should afford a moral lesson to the rising generation, encouraging painstaking toil, exemplary private and consistent public con duct.

66

Hoping you may long be spared

to your country, your family, and your friends, we beg leave to offer you our hearty congratulations on your elevation to a judgeship in the Court of Queen's Bench."

Signed by men of all creeds. In reply to this well-merited tribute, Judge O'Brien wrote,

"It would, indeed, be presump tuous of me to think that I deserved the flattering terms in which you refer to my past career. They are to be ascribed far more to your over-partial kindness than any merits of mine. But, though undeserving of them, it shall be my anxious effort to justify, in some degree, your wishes and expectations for the future. The hope of doing so will be honourable, and, at the same time, a powerful incentive to exertion and perseverance."

During the eighteen years which have since elapsed Judge O'Brien has fully sustained the hopes and expectations of the Limerick address.

The Right Hon. Judge Barry is another of the natives of Limerick who earned renown in the legal profession. His father practised as a solicitor, and finding the tastes

of his son aspired to the bar, had him entered as a law student. In due course he was called to the bar, and selected the Munster Circuit. Here his gentlemanly manners, playful disposition, and social qualities, soon rendered him popular with the bar, while his ability in his profession earned him the confidence of that sharp-seeing class, the attorneys. He soon obtained considerable practice, and while law adviser at the Castle, was very zealous in the discharge of his duty to the Government. He became unpopular with those who sympathized with the Fenian movement, and having represented Dungarvan in the House of Commons, on the writs issuing for a new election, found no chance of again regaining his seat. He became Solicitor-General, while the Right Hon. Edward Sullivan was Attorney-General for Ireland, and when that eminent lawyer was appointed Master of the Rolls, on the untimely death of the Right Hon. John E. Walsh, in 1869, Mr. Barry became Attorney-General. He continued in office until the death of Judge Hayes, when he took his seat upon the Queen's Bench.

The celebrated Harry Deane Grady was of the Limerick O'Gradys, and represented Limerick in the Irish Parliament. His colleague was Colonel Vereker, who was a stanch anti-Unionist, while Harry Deane Grady supported it. He was taken pretty roundly to task for this, and accused of having sold his country. He replied, "It was a devilish lucky thing for him and his family that he had a country to sell." *

He was then told "his constituents would never pardon him," to which he replied, "What do I

care for my constituents? What did I ever get from them? When I gave them a shake hands, by Gad! they only gave me the itch."

He was also very much censured on this occasion by a Protestant bishop, by the celebrated Dr. Cheyne, and General Burgoyne, who rated him for deserting his duty, and betraying his constituents. "I did neither," he replied. "I was opposed to the Union at first, but as soon as it was explained to me, I saw it was the greatest boon that could be offered to my country, and my constituents will all approve of my vote when I bring the case to their full knowledge."

"No," exclaimed his visitors, "they will declare you have betrayed their confidence."

"Nonsense, gentlemen! nonsense!" replied the impenetrable placeman. "You refuse the legitimate voice of my constituents from me, their legitimate representative, and form your opinions on the ipse dixit of a republican parson, a quack doctor, aud an old mandarin."

The visitors felt there was no use in wasting words, so they left him.

He was unsparing in abuse when it suited his purpose. During a trial at the Limerick Assizes a first cousin of his own was produced by the opposite side, and Harry Deane Grady proceeded to cross-examine him, which he did most unsparingly.

Not content with this, when addressing the jury, he thus commented upon the gentleman's evidence : "We have here a case supported by evidence as disgraceful as ever came before a judge and jury. The plaintiff, not content with the most outrageous statements, has the audacity to support them by placing this wretched creature on the table, for whom I

* In reward for his vote he was made Counsel to the Revenue.

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