Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 05.pdf/554

 The Hall of Four Courts. hectoring address. It is practically a duel between the witness and the lawyer; Mr. О Shaughnessy, like Robin Hood, always tries a fall with his man rather than rely on his position to gain his ends. Mr. O'Shaughnessy was pitted against the Macdermot in the late election petitions, and fought his case with an energy and acuteness which did much to gain such a sweeping verdict for his side. He was called to the bar in 1872, and was made a Queen's Counsel in 1889. We doubt the truth of the story that Baron Dowse mistook him for a lady when first he donned silk; but his short stature and thin pale face make the tale bcn trovalo.

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Such are a few of the leaders of the Irish Bar. It would be rash to say that in oratory they rank as high as did their forerunners. The opportunities for its display become rarer every day. Barristers are beginning to find that if speech is silver, a knowledge of the Land Acts is golden, and under the blighting influence of that belief the flowers of oratory wither. Demosthenes himself would become commonplace on inventories and bills of costs. But in legal learning the bar has made immense strides. It remains to be seen whether, under the new dispensation said to be drawing nigh, the Senate House on College Green will bring back the old oratorical splendor.