[Rarebooks] FS: 1822 Speeches of Henry Grattan in Irish & English Parliament -4 volumes, Leather

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

"The Speeches of the Right Honorable Henry Grattan, in the Irish, and in 
the Imperial Parliament. Edited by his Son”

Published in London by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and in 
Dublin by R. Milliken, in 1822.

Henry Grattan [1746-1820] was one of the greatest statesmen and orators 
produced by Ireland, and an important figure in her long struggle for 
independence. R. B. McDowell describe him as “a superb orator– nervous, 
high-flown, romantic. With generous enthusiasm he demanded that Ireland 
should be granted its rightful status, that of an independent nation, 
though he always insisted that Ireland would remain linked to Great 
Britain by a common crown and by sharing a common political tradition.”

The 1900 edition of the Dictionary of National biography notes- “Short 
in figure and unprepossessing in appearance, with a thin, sharp voice 
and an extraordinary delivery, Grattan possessed none of the natural 
gifts of an orator. Yet few speakers have equalled him in fervidness or 
originality. Like Chatham he could fire an educated audience with an 
intense enthusiasm, and like Burke his speeches abound with profound 
maxims of political wisdom. His style was remarkable for its terseness 
and epigrammatic force. Though without wit and humour, his speeches are 
full of felicitous expressions and passages of poetic beauty. ‘He was 
almost unrivalled,’ Mr. Lecky says, ‘in crushing invective, in 
delineations of character, and in brief, keen arguments’. Grattan's 
great integrity of character, both in public and in private life, as 
well as the remarkable consistency of his political conduct, added much 
to his influence as an orator. His popularity had many vicissitudes, but 
Grattan never swerved aside from the course of action upon which he had 
once determined. Though a zealous whig, Grattan was no revolutionist, 
and though opposed to the union he always insisted upon the importance 
of preserving the connection between the two countries. As a statesman 
Grattan's views were broad and judicious, ‘showing himself most 
conspicuously above the mean and narrow spirit that would confine a 
statesman's exertions to the questions which interest one portion of the 
empire, or with which his own fame in former times may have been more 
particularly entwined’.

4 volumes. 5.75”x9”. lxxxiv + 337 pages, viii + 392 pages, vii + 429 
pages, vii + 448 pages. Portrait frontispiece. Bound in older blue 
half-leather and marbled boards, with marbled endpapers. Covers with 
moderate wear and rubbing, some discoloration and spotting to the 
preliminary blank pages, scattered minor internal foxing and soil. All 4 
volumes with the handsome bookplate of Florence Lee Hine on the 
pastedowns. $250

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