If this description _could_ be doubted, on the authority of the volume, it would be amply confirmed by the authority of his time. Curran was confessedly _the_ wit of the day, and his witticisms were the more popular from their being, in general, harmless. No man could sting more keenly where he had a public culprit of his own class to sting, or a political adversary to combat; but no man was seldomer personal. Curran's nature was playful. His taste was also _dramatic_, and he was fond of playing harmless tricks upon his friends. Of this taste Mr Phillips had a specimen, even on the day of his introduction:-- "When the last dish had departed, Curran totally confounded me with a proposal for which I was anything but prepared. 'Mr Phillips,' said he, 'as this is the first of, I hope, your very many visits to the Priory, I may as well at once initiate you into the peculiarities of the place. You may observe that, though the board is cleared, there are no preparations for a _symposium_; it all depends on _you_. My friends here generally prefer a _walk_ after dinner. It is a sweet evening, but if _you_ wish for wine, say so without ceremony.' "Even now I can see Curran's star-like eyes twinkling at the disappointment no doubt visible in mine. I had heard, and heard truly, that he never was more delightful than with half-a-dozen friends after dinner over his bottle. The hope in which I had so long revelled was realised at last, and here came this infernal _walk_, and the 'sweet evening.' Oh, how I would have hailed a thunderstorm! But, to say the truth, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing, and the flowers were blooming and breathing so sweetly on that autumn eve, that, wondering not at the wish of my companions, I also voted for 'the walk.' "We took the walk, no doubt, but it was only to the _drawing-room_; where, over a dessert freshly culled from his gardens, and over wines for which his board was celebrated, we passed those hours which seemed an era in my life." All this is very well told, and very amusing in description, and was very innocent--when all was over. But it was exposed to the chance of being differently taken, and had but one advantage--that it could not be repeated on the _individual_. Curran was born in 1760 at Newmarket, a village in the county of Cork. His parentage was humble, his father being only the seneschal of the manor. His mother seems to have been a woman of superior faculties, and her celebrated son always spoke of her with remarkable deference.