THE LAST PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 122, 27 August 1875, Page 14

THE LAST PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND.

Mshpicture 1 :- 1 ' 1111095 giTeS th ° followin S description of a great w V^" 61 ! 1 - e ' xhib T it . ec J at 30 - Piccadilly, which must be esSfwlf £ fi^gro Irishmen, and is by no means without its cS H n sympathize with national feeling and national genius. It represents the House of Parliament in College Green £ p g : debate m 1790, wth the famous Curran addressing the Ti^r 0 " 1 " The part of the Housewhich.esSi^l l nb ? the f reat fire whidl occ ™' Gd very soon after V^Z A * lO lVT ° b ° en thQ Bank of Ireland - T^ House of SSIJSI h!? i^S UP aS - the Bank V***,\ m & the spacious w B ™X 'i £Wefe ln lts °^ inal state in thG Piot'W has fiSfSSit Ca -S ?+? + £ an ? P rinci P al P»blie part of the Bank. The fine gallery with its handsome columns which surrounded the in-Bi.-eaWay8 i.- eaWay w . lth bj building up the spaces between the columns, leaving a series of half columns. In the picture, howfhSJ'iSES!^'*°f» H-Ba*raudH -Ba*raud and J. Hayter, have restored this important architectural feature with very excellent effect, and rX™ % ™\™ch Pictorial beanty by filling the Strangers' SSS 7^ ?i bnU wt com lW Th « Point of view being from w£?J?nM g aUeryat th V ld ? O PP O^ the Speaker's chafr, and SSj J?w"n pre . sllme ' b , e tlie " Bai> <rf the House," the greater S? f\! ff 71S SCGn ?^ Uinß " thQ xl PP er sta £ c of the P^turo, 2L ?«?/ 0011 BU S ght breaming in from the windows on «W1 ?£l!^ng upon the broad pavement of the floor, where SSSp fi a ful 1 1Com ' t Sllit of black, and in an energetic attitude.' ihia figure, however, is a little too far off to have the XfSSSt"^ m i° reSt w . hi ° h attacll<?s to the man, and, although ™£p £ S fT^W P.^tty closely from that at Trinfty College, the spectator finds some difficulty in makino- out the Z^alT^ ? w e V*?' e T Ciall y as llis att^tion is ta°kcn up by fZ^inrT Si Gh - a ? S and Prominent figures in the immediate «u«ound 4 nTf)?o K nCh deCl ? ecl mark nca^to the groups which surround us at the Bar or entrance to the House, and thus have concentrated the interest instead of dividing it However, if S;; p ot h ;° ""Passive in appearance as he might hive been Sriritri fI «S ??T? "U'lood and Giuttan, who stana close to ur, the Irish Volunteers, Flood in the rich blue and o- o ld of the tr^l' f^ QmUaa iU a SCarlet coat oi> *he Infantry. They were not always so near together, but this was the first time they

had spoken after a quarrel, and they had just been reconciled by Lord Charlomont. Their attention seems to be taken for the moment by a word from Collis, the Keeper of the Eolls, who leans toward them holding his despatch-box, while seated on the bench before them are the counsel, Barry and Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avomnore ,• and not far off is Mr. Solicitor-General Toler, the future Judge, known for his severity as "the Hanging Judge," upon whom Flood is said to have passed his terrible joke when at a supper table he was asked by the Judge if the joint near him was hung beef, and Flood replied, " No, it is not, my Lord, but won't you try it?" On every side some notable face meets the eye: Sir Jonah Barrington, the author of the Memoirs; John Fitzgibbon, first Earl of Clare ; and Lord E. Fitzgerald, sitting on the front benches between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Montgomery; while close at our elbow is the courtly, clerical Marquis of Bristol, in purple and fine linen, the celebrated Bishop of Cork, and afterwards of DerrjL Turning towards Curran, we look upon a crowd of distinguished ' men of the „ time. The Marquis Cornwallis, then the Lord Lieutenant ; the Duke of Leinster, with the Marquis of Waterford, Earl Galway, the Marquis of Kildare, and young Plunket, O'Connell's modern Hannibal, destined to be Lord Chancellor of Ireland j while close to Curran, as if showing his natural propensity to second somebody on the occasion, stands John Egan— "bully Egan" as he was called, from his notorious aptitude for duels. Curran seems to be addressing himself to the Gallery rather than to Mr. Speaker ' Foster, seated under his canopied chair of state, and perhaps has caught the bright eye of Father O'Leary exactly opposite him— that friend and brother-wit who, when Curran once said how he wished he was St. Peter that he might let him into Heaven, retorted that Curran ought to wish he held the keys of the other " place, because then he let him out. If we were to attempt to follow out the personal interest of the picture, the task, howtver pleasurable, would be too long. Yet we cannot quite pass over the remarkable galaxy in the gallery. Here, sinillirig on Curran, we see the lovely sisters Gunning, one about to be Lady Coventry, the other Duchess first of Hamilton and then of Argyll; the fascinating Dorothy Bland, with her powdered hair, afterwards mother of the Fihzclarences; and, lastly, the Countess of Mornington, whose young son Arthur she little thought was to becomo the great Duke of Wellington.