the deathstroke, when at that moment—that critical moment—a lovely little girl came bounding along in all her sportive mirth from her father's stall. Before a moment had passed the butcher had plunged his knife into the breast of—" "Good God! His child!" sobbed the judge, deeply affected. Curran carried on: "No, the calf, but your Lordship often anticipates." A prosecutor, infuriated by Curran's insults, threatened to put him in his pocket. "If you do that," replied Curran, "you will have more law in your pocket than you ever had in your head." In debate with John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare, Fitzgibbon rebutted one of Curran's arguments by saying "If that be the law, Mr. Curran, I shall burn all my law books." To which he replied "You had better read them first, my lord." On another occasion, Fitzgibbon objected that Curran was splitting hairs- surely the words "also" and "likewise" have exactly the same meaning? "Hardly, my Lord". Curran replied. "I remember when the great Lord Lifford presided over this Court. You also preside here, but you certainly do not preside likewise". Notes References Charles Phillips, Recollections of Curran 1818 (Hookham, London; Milliken, Dublin) in 3 vols. Speeches of the Right Honourable John Philpot Curran ... on the Late Very Interesting State Trials'', 1815 (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown). External links 1750 births 1817 deaths Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery Irish duellists 18th-century Irish lawyers Irish barristers Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Irish poets Politicians from County Cork 19th-century Irish lawyers Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Masters of the Rolls in Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Westmeath constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for King's County constituencies People educated at Midleton College Alumni of King's Inns Alumni of Trinity College Dublin