Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/563

 SMITH. 559 his conscience.” His judgments were eminently correct, and, like his eloquence, strictly logical. In 1799, he was created a baronet. During the absence of Lord Chancel lor Clare, he acted as lord commissioner for the custody of the great seal, from Michaelmas term 1800, to Trinity term 1801; and in the latter year he was appointed master of the rolls, in which office he continued until 1806; when from the decline of his health, and the severe attacks of the gout, he was obliged to resign his office, and he retired with a pension for life; and made room for the appoint ment of Mr. J. P. Curran as his successor. The health of Sir Michael Smith now began rapidly to break, at no distant period after his resignation of the rolls. His last illness was severe, but short; and his departure for a better world was soothed by the consola tions of Christianity and the attentions of his relatives. His son, afterwards Sir William Cusack Smith, attended him in his last moments with filial piety. It was a curious occurrence in the history of jurispru dence in Ireland, that this father and son were at the same time both going judges of assize on the north-east circuit in 1801, an incident unprecedented in the history of these islands, since the time of Sir Thomas More, who was chan cellor while his father was chief justice of the King's Bench. On Sir Michael Smith's final resignation, the whole Irish bar, with unanimous consent, presented to him the following address, as an honourable testimony of their esteem and veneration:- “In departing from the bench, you will permit the sincerest esteem and unqualified approbation of the bar to accompany you in your honourable retirement. We cannot forget, and we are happy to acknowledge, that by your mild, gracious, and unassuming deportment, the dignity of the high station you filled was sustained without austerity or arrogance; and that the well-mixed qualities of the scholar, the lawyer, the gentleman, and the judge, conciliated affection, and impressed respect. Scorning to offer the gross incense of adulation, but desirous to render a just tribute to merit, we entertain an ardent hope that though your judicial functions have ceased, your example may have operation, and that the chief blessing of the country, equal justice, may continue to be dispensed with an inte grity above suspicion, and with manners void of offence.”
 * SIR,