[2] All the best blood of England, Scotland, and
Ireland went marching together to defend the freedom of the world,
and upon their hearts were engraven the glorious words:--
"Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war
and my fingers to fight."
May such a call never come to our beloved country again! But if it does,
Antony, I know where you will be found without need of exhortations
from me.
Your loving old
G.P.
[Footnote 1: Now in my library.--S.C.]
[Footnote 2: Sir Arbuthnot Lane.]
17
MY DEAR ANTONY,
Grattan, of whom I have already written, had in the first Lord Plunket
a successor and a compatriot very little his inferior in the gift of
oratory.
He was born in 1764, and was therefore some fourteen years younger
than Grattan, whom he survived by thirty-four years.
Like Grattan, he displayed a burning patriotism and, like him, fiercely
opposed the Act of Union.
Few orators have displayed greater powers of clear reason and
convincing logic than Plunket. It may be admitted that he seldom rose
to great heights of eloquence, but tradition credits his delivery with a
quality of dignity amounting almost to majesty. The gift of oratory
consists in how things are said as much as in what things are said, and
the voice, gesture, and manner of Plunket were commanding and
magnificent.
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