Far different in fate and fortune was another school-fellow, who was also possessed of talents beyond the ordinary level, and whose family connections necessarily pointed to a path of life, leading to a termination very opposite to the above. He was an Irishman, and connected with some of the first families of that country. He possessed great vivacity of intellect, a considerable desire of information, much good humour, with all the eccentricity that is generally imputed to the natives of Erin. He was in due time called to the bar, and ere long obtained a seat in the Irish House Of Commons, which he retained till the consummation of the Union between the two countries.
His mind, ever ardent and ever active, was perpetually forming schemes of wealth and aggrandizement, none of which were found to succeed, and probably for no other reason, but that his talents were not steadily directed to any one individual object. At one time he would be a banker, at another a farmer, at another a grazier. Once he had a magnificent speculation for supplying Covent Garden with onions; once also, with still more magnificent ideas, he was to purchase numerous droves of cattle in the north of Ireland, which were to be imported into England, for the supply of the metropolis. He accordingly made application to various noblemen and gentlemen, to obtain the leases of small farms at regulated distances, between Holyhead and the metropolis.
These were to be stations for the cattle in their progress to the London market, and selections were to be periodically remitted to Smithfield. The cattle, however, remained very quietly in Ireland, where at length Mr. ⸺ purchased for a small sum, in a mountainous district, a considerable portion of land, which by care and cultivation was to be made another garden of Eden. Here he had a very large dairy, from which the neighbouring towns were to be supplied with butter and milk: so for a long time they actually were, and this seemed the most rational and the most promising of his various undertakings.
But among all his peculiarities, and in all the busy variety of his occupations, politics formed the darling object of his thoughts; and his steady adherence to the cause of government, in the perilous period of the Irish rebellion, his personal courage, zeal, and activity, will long be remembered to his honour. He used to relate many curious anecdotes which occurred to him and his family, at that momentous epoch; one in particular of his mother, which may be worth commemorating. They had in their family a gardener, who had been thirty years in their service, and who was a Roman Catholic. The old lady, who was of a remarkably mild, amiable, and unsuspicious temper, used to walk without any attendant about her spacious garden and domain, till some of her neighbours who had been molested, cautioned her against the danger of walking without a companion. In consequence of this, she one day called to the gardener, and reminded him of the great length of time he had lived in the family, of their kindness to him, and of her own acts of friendship in particular. She concluded with asking him, whether any influence or authority could induce him to make any attempt upon her life. “Certainly not, Madam,” was the reply, “unless my priest should order me.”
When the Union was fully arranged and confirmed, our friend came to England, where his services, his patriotism, his activity, and abilities, were acknowledged and rewarded. He was appointed to a highly honourable situation, the functions of which, for a considerable time—indeed whilst he retained the office—he duly and faithfully discharged.
In this interval he married; how wisely, it is not here necessary to pronounce. They who think forty-five, marvellously disproportionate to twenty, will be of opinion, that he might as well have let it alone. There was, however, a certain sort of restlessness, which so characterized this gentleman, that he was perpetually looking about him for some new scene for the display of his activity. A near relation was appointed to a high and splendid situation in one of the remote dependencies of the British Empire. It was proposed to him to accompany his noble friend in a great and confidential office. He did so, and if he survives, there he yet remains. Whether he has obtained wealth, or whether satisfied with his situation, he intends to return to Albion no more, is still problematical. One of his first acts seemed to indicate his determination to turn the wilderness into a garden, and make corn-fields laugh and sing in the African deserts. He ordered ploughs, harrows, and every kind of agricultural apparatus, to an extent that alarmed his friends, and were sufficient for a numerous colony.
If he yet breathes the vital air, may all prosperity attend him. Generous, friendly, amiable, with every social quality, he was much beloved by all who approached him with claims of intimacy, with as little of defect and error, as generally falls to the lot of human nature. Let us smile with the reader at two or three instances of pardonable inattention to the forms which the rank he held in life, seemed to call upon him to observe.
He was always remarkable for his slovenly appearance, and disregard of dress. On one occasion, when he was invited by a noble relative to meet a person of high official situation in Ireland at dinner, the nobleman, aware of his nephew’s negligence in this particular, ventured to hint that he must come dressed. He was in consequence busily employed at his toilet, when his servant announced that a friend had called in his carriage to take him whither he was going. He hastened himself accordingly, but instead of putting on his dress silk stockings, he stuffed them into his pocket, and hurrying down the stairs, got into his friend’s carriage. When they arrived at the nobleman’s door, he remarked that he had been desired to come dressed, and he thought himself very smart. At this moment one of the silk stockings appeared hanging half way out of his pocket, and he exhibited the whimsical appearance of being in a full court dress, with a very dirty pair of worsted stockings. Fortunately, he had time to repair his inadvertency, by retiring into a private room, and exchanging the situation of the stockings.
Upon another occasion, no less important than that of attending one of the state dinners of the Speaker of the House of Commons, our friend, as was indeed usually the case, finding himself too late, and not being able to divest himself very easily of his fashionable leather breeches, drew over them a thin pair of black silk. In the progress of the evening, however, the leathers, determining to preserve their ascendancy, worked themselves down a considerable way below the black silk, till they attracted universal notice, and excited general mirth.
At another time he attended a fashionable masquerade, at which most of the dresses were very costly and splendid: our friend, however, went only with a mask, which he sometimes applied, and sometimes neglected to apply to his face. A paragraph accordingly appeared the next morning in one of the papers, stating that Mr. ⸺ was at the masquerade the preceding evening, and it was at first supposed that he was in the garb of an old cloathsman, but on observing him more carefully, it appeared that he was only in his customary dress.