Under Mr. White, of Dublin, a gentleman extensively known and respected, and whose worth as an instructor has been justly commemorated in a sonnet addressed to him by his pupil, which appeared in a periodical miscellany entitled, the Anthologia Hibernia,' young Moore acquired the principles of an excellent education. He was afterwards removed, in due course of time, to Trinity College in the same city. Moore was greatly distinguished, while a collegian, by an enthusiastic attachment to the liberties and independence of his country, which he more than once publicly asserted with uncommon energy and eloquence; and he was equally admired for the splendor of his classical attachments. On the 19th September, 1795, Mr. Moore was entered a member of the honourable Society of the middle Temple. In the course of the year 1800, and consequently, when he had not completed the twentyfirst year of his age, he published his translations of the 'Odes of Anacreon, into English verse, with notes. Hence, in the vocabuJary of fashion, he has since generally been designated by the appellation of Anacreon Moore. It is likely he will long retain this distinction. So early as his twelfth year, he appears to have meditated on this important performance, which, if a free one, must at the same time be confessed to be a fascinating version of his favourite bard. This work is introduced by an admirable Greek ode, from the pen of the translator. Of Assuming the surname of Little, our author committed to the world, 1801, a volume of original poems, chiefly amatory. It has experienced a rapid circulation, being now in its tenth edition. the contents of this publication it is impossible to speak in terms of unqualified commendation. Many of the poems exhibit strong marks of genius, and some of them may be perused without exciting any asperity in the breast of the judicious moralist; while of others it must be pronounced in the words of their author "that they were the productions of an age when the passions very often give a colouring too warm to the imagination, which may palliate, if it cannot excuse that air of levity which pervades so many of them." Towards the autumn of 1803, Mr. Moore embarked for NewYork, where he remained about a week, then sailed again for Norfolk, thence proceeded on a tour northward, through Williamsburgh, Richmond, &c. thence to Bermuda, where he remained till April 1804-took New-York and Halifax in his way to Ireland in October 1804. His anticipation of again meeting his family, will not be read without corresponding emotions in the hearts of others. Dear Douglas, thou knowest, with me by thy side, That I could not with patience, with pleasure explore. After an absence of about fourteen months from Ireland, Mr. Moore now returned and had the felicity of reaching that scene of domestic endearments in which his imagination had so fondly indulged. He, sometime after, committed to the press the volume entitled, 'Epistles, Odes, and other Poems,' a collection written during his absence from home. Sometime after the change of Mr. Fox's administration, Mr. M. published a very beautiful and severe satire, called, Corruption and Intolerance,' on Mr. Percival and his party. About this time-he engaged with Sir John Stevenson in a publication of Irish Melodies; Sir John arranged the airs and Mr. Moore supplied the words.— Four numbers of this national undertaking are already published in England, Erin, and the United States. If popularity be a just criterion of excellence, then both sir John Stevenson and Mr. Moore have been eminently successful in their respective departments.-The character of the Irish Melodies is completely preserved by the former, and combined with the most beautiful and scientific display of modern art; while the songs of the latter are not only distinguished for gracefulness of style and occasional pathos, but also for that proper and patriotic feeling which should always characterize the genuine poet. About April, 1813, Moore left his native country to accompany his munificent patron, Earl Moira, to India; if he should live to return, we may expect some new and elegant production from so luxuriant a genius, in the luxurious regions of the Eastern World.† *The entire has appeared subsequently to the period when this biographical sketch first appeared. Mr. Moore, since his return from India, has written his Lalla Rookh. CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY OF THE County of Wexford, IRELAND, In the year 1814, by JUDGE FLETCHER. The learned Judge, after allusions to local and other matter not generally interesting, proceeded to state the following as the causes which produced the evils which afflict Ireland. "FIRST.-The extraordinary rise of land, occasioned by the great and increasing demands for the necessaries of life, and by producing large profits to possessors of farms, excite a proportionate avidity for acquiring or renting lands. Hence, extravagant rents have been bid for lands, without any great consideration; and I have seen these two circumstances operating upon each other like cause and effect-the cause producing the effect: and the effect, by re-action, producing the cause. Next--the country has been deluged by an enormous paper currency, which has generated a new crime, now prominent upon the list, in every calender, the crime of making forged notes. In every province, we have seen private banks failing, and ruined multitudes, and thus have fresh mischiefs flowed from this paper circnlation. In the next place, the country has seen a magistracy over-active in some instances, and quite su pine in others This circumstance has materially affected the administration of the laws in Ireland. In this respect, I have found that those societies, called Orange Societies, have produced most mischievous effects, and particularly in the North of Ireland. They poison the very fountains of justice; and even, some magistratės, under their influence, have, in too many instances, violated their oaths. I do not hesitate to say, that all associations, of every description in this country, whether of Orangemen, or Ribbonmen, whether distinguished by the colour of orange or green, all combinations of persons bound to each other, by the obligation of an oath, in a league for a common purpose, endangering the peace of the country, I pronounce them to be contrary to law. And should it ever come before me to decide upon the question, I shall not hesitate to send up bills of indictment to a grand jury, against the individual members of such association, wherever I can find the charge properly sustained. "In the North of Ireland, these disturbers of the public peace, who assume the name of Orange-yeomen, frequent the fairs and markets, with arms in their hands, under the pretence of self-defence, or of protecting the public peace, but with the lurking view of inviting the attacks from the Ribbonmen,confident, that, armed as they are, they must overcome defenceless opponents, and put them down. Murders have been repeatedly, perpetrated upon such occasions; and though legal prosecutions have ensued, yet, such have been the baneful consequences of those factious associations, that, under their influence, petty juries have declined, upon some occasions, to do their duty. These facts have fallen under my own view. It was sufficient to say that such a man displayed such a colour, to produce an utter disbelief of his testimony; or, when another had stood at the bar, the display of his party badge had mitigated murder into manslaughter. I do emphatically state it as my settled opinion, until those associations are effectually put down, and their arris taken from their hands, in vain will the North of Ireland expect tranquility or peace. "Gentlemen-That moderate pittance which the high rents leave to the poor peasantry, the large county assessments nearly take from them; roads frequently planned and made, not for the general advantage of the county, but to suit the particular views of a neighbouring landholder, at the public expense. Such abuses shake the very foundation of the law-they ought to be checked. Superadded to these, are absentee landlords, residing in another country, not known to their tenantry, but by their agents, who exact the uttermost penny of the value of the lands. If a lease happens to fall in, they let the farm by public auction to the highest bidder. No gratitude for past services, no preference of the fair offer, no predilection for the ancient tenantry, be they ever so deserving, but if the highest price be not acceded to, the depopulation of an entire tract of country ensues. What then is the wretched peasant to do? Chased from the spot where he had first drawn his breath, where he had first seen the light of heaven, incapable of procuring any other means of ex istence; vexed with those exactions I have enumerated, and harrassed by the payment of tithes, can we be surprised that a peasant of unenlightened mind, of uneducated habits, should rush upon the perpetration of crimes, followed by, the punsihment of the rope and the gibbet? Nothing (as the peasantry imagine) remains for them, thus harrassed, thus destitute, but with strong hard to deter the stranger from intruding upon the farms, and to extort from the weakness and terrors of their landlords (from whose gratitude or good feelings they have failed to win it) a kind of preference for their ancient tenantry. To these several causes of disturbance, we may add certain moral causes. There has existed an ancient connexion solitary in its nature, between the Catholic pastor and his flock.This connexion has been often, with very little reflection, inveighed against by those who call themselves friends to the constitution in church and state This connexion had lately been nearly destroy. ed, and an abandonment of wholesome religious feeling had ensued. "Gentlemen-Another deep rooted cause of immorality has been the operation of the county presentment code of Ireland. Abused, as it has been, for the purpose of fraud and peculation, you will not be astonished when I assure you, that I have had information, judici ally, from an upright country gentleman and grand juror, of unques tionable veracity, in a western county, that in the general practice, not one in ten of the accounting affidavits was actually sworn at all. Magistrates have signed and given away such forms of printed sffidavits in blanks, to be filled up, at the pleasure of the party. "Another source of immorality may be traced in the registry of freeholds.--Oaths of registration are taken, which if not perjury, are something very near it. The peasantry are driven to the hustings, and there, collected like sheep in a pen, they must poll for the great undertaker, who has purchased them, by his jobs; and this is frequently done with little regard to conscience or duty, or real value of the alledged freehold. : I now come to another source of vice and misshief, with which you are perhaps unacquainted, illicit distillation. From this source, a dreadful torrent of evils and crimes has flowed upon our lands.The excessive increase of rents had induced many persons to bid rents for their farms which they knew they could not fairly or properly discharge but they had recourse to illicit distillation, as the means of making good their rents. Hence the public revenue has been defrauded to the amount of millions. Nay, it is a fact, that, at one period, not far back, there was not a single licenced distillery in an entire province, namely, the North-west circuit, where the consumption of spiritous liquor is, perhaps, called for by the coldness and humidity of the climate. The resident gentry of the country generally winked with both their eyes at this practice, and why? because it brought home to the doors of their tenantry a market for their corn, and consequently increased the rents of their lands; besides they were themselves consumers of those liquors; and in every town and village there was an unlicenced house for retailing them. This |