Grattan

"'Grattan's Parliament' has a permanent place in Irish historical lore, but who was Henry Grattan? R. B. McDowell's biography traces the varied career of this elusive figure whose political fortunes were as tempestuous as his own character." "McDowell begins with Grattan's family background and his early years in the Irish House of Commons, during which, at the age of thirty-six, he achieved his greatest triumph: the granting of 'legislative independence' to that body. Many of the years of 'Grattan's Parliament' were years of opposition for Henry Grattan, whose talent was for oratory -…