Memoirs of Captain Rock, the celebrated Irish Chieftain; with some
Account of his Ancestors. Written by Himself. Fourth Edition.
12mo. London, 1824.

This agreeable and witty book is generally supposed to have been
written by Mr. Thomas Moore, a gentleman of small stature, but full
of genius, and a steady friend of all that is honourable and just.
He has here borrowed the name of a celebrated Irish leader, to
typify that spirit of violence and insurrection which is necessarily
generated by systematic oppression, and rudely avenges its crimes;
and the picture he has drawn of its prevalence in that unhappy
country is at once piteous and frightful. Its effect in exciting
our horror and indignation is in the long run increased, we think--
though at first it may seem counteracted--by the tone of levity, and
even jocularity, under which he has chosen to veil the deep sarcasm
and substantial terrors of his story. We smile at first, and are
amused, and wonder, as we proceed, that the humorous narrative
should produce conviction and pity--shame, abhorrence, and despair.

England seems to have treated Ireland much in the same way as Mrs.
Brownrigg treated her apprentice--for which Mrs. Brownrigg is hanged
in the first volume of the Newgate Calendar. Upon the whole, we
think the apprentice is better off than the Irishman; as Mrs.
Brownrigg merely starves and beats her, without any attempt to
prohibit her from going to any shop, or praying at any church her
apprentice might select: and once or twice, if we remember rightly,
Brownrigg appears to have felt some compassion. Not so Old England,
who indulges rather in a steady baseness, uniform brutality, and
unrelenting oppression.