Not Worth a Shilling
Jack Curran’s career as a defender of victims of political prejudice got off to a stuttering start.
1859
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
Jack Curran’s career as a defender of victims of political prejudice got off to a stuttering start.
1859
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
John Philpot Curran (1750-1817) was a eloquent campaigner for civil rights in Ireland, then governed from London. Small, ungainly and plagued by a stammer, Curran overcame his inhibitions and impediments by a strenuous regimen of reading aloud, behaviour changes and mental rehearsal that transformed him into a fluent speaker, a clear thinker and a persuasive advocate.
CURRAN, the Irish orator, when a youth, had a strong defect in his articulation, and at school he was known as ‘stuttering Jack Curran’.* While he was engaged in the study of the law, and still struggling to overcome his defect, he was stung into eloquence by the sarcasms of a member of a debating club, who characterized him as ‘Orator Mum’;* for, like Cowper, when he stood up to speak on a similar occasion, Curran had not been able to utter a word.* The taunt stung him and he replied in a triumphant speech.
This accidental discovery in himself of the gift of eloquence encouraged him to proceed in his studies with renewed energy. He corrected his enunciation by reading aloud, emphatically and distinctly, the best passages in literature, for several hours every day, studying his features before a mirror, and adopting a method of gesticulation suited to his rather awkward and ungraceful figure.* He also proposed cases to himself, which he argued with as much care as if he had been addressing a jury. Curran began business with the qualification which Lord Eldon stated to be the first requisite for distinction, that is, “to be not worth a shilling.”*
* John Philpot Curran (1750-1817) was an Irish orator and wit, born in County Cork.
* ‘Mum’ here means ‘silent’, as in the (slightly dated) phrases ‘keep mum’ (say nothing) and ‘mum’s the word’ (keep this a secret).
* Poet William Cowper (coo-per, 1731-1800) was at first destined for a career at the bar, a profession that ran in the family: his grandfather William Cowper (1665-1723) had been Lord Chancellor. Young William was sent to lodge with a solicitor and spent his time under the tutelage of Edward Thurlow (1731-1806), later another Lord Chancellor, mostly (he told Lady Hesketh) “employed from morning to night in giggling and making giggle, instead of studying the law”. Cowper was too tender-hearted for the courtroom, so in 1763 he applied for the post of clerk of journals to the House of Lords. However, their lordships required him to undergo a public examination, and the prospect so unnerved him that he broke down and it took him almost eight months to recover.
* Much the same remedy was applied by the Greek orator and lawyer Demosthenes. See Speech Therapy. Benjamin Disraeli was another whose first appearance on the public stage went badly. See As Good as his Word. And on achieving proficiency in writing, see How I Learnt to Write by Benjamin Franklin.
* Until decimalisation in 1971, £1 was made up of 20 shillings (20s) or 240 pence (240d). John Scott (1751-1838), 1st Earl of Eldon, served as Lord Chancellor from 1801 to 1827 (excepting 1806-7). He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and educated at the Royal Grammar School there; Eldon Square in the city centre is named after him.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.