And die in agony.

P.S.--You'll allow I have the gift
To write like the immortal Swift.'


But besides the poetical powers with which he
was endowed, in common with the great Brinsley,
Lady Dufferin, and the Hon. Mrs. Norton,
young Sheridan Le Fanu also possessed an
irresistible humour and oratorical gift that,
as a student of Old Trinity, made him a
formidable rival of the best of the young debaters
of his time at the 'College Historical,' not a
few of whom have since reached the highest
eminence at the Irish Bar, after having long
enlivened and charmed St. Stephen's by their
wit and oratory.

Amongst his compeers he was remarkable for
his sudden fiery eloquence of attack, and ready
and rapid powers of repartee when on his
defence. But Le Fanu, whose understanding was
elevated by a deep love of the classics, in which
he took university honours, and further heightened
by an admirable knowledge of our own
great authors, was not to be tempted away by
oratory from literature, his first and, as it
proved, his last love.