EMMET, Robert. The Speech of Robert Emmet, Esq., Leader of the Irish Insurrection of 1803, delivered by That Lamented Patriot, at the close of his Trial for High Treason. Folio, printed on one...

EMMET, Robert. The Speech of Robert Emmet, Esq., Leader of the Irish Insurrection of 1803, delivered by That Lamented Patriot, at the close of his Trial for High Treason. Folio, printed on one side only within a decorated border, text in three columns. Rectangular box printed at end with the legend 'Robert Emmet, Esq., / Beheaded, / 1803'. Poem of Thomas Moore 'O Breathe not his Name' under title. Some manuscript corrections and delete marks. Creased at centre fold and slight fraying to margins. Framed. 28.5 x 44cm. Manchester, Printed and sold by T.P. Carlile, Bookseller, circa 1835. In very good condition. Robert Emmet, patriot, was born in Dublin in 1778. Educated at T.C.D. where he took a prominent part in the Historical Society's debates, and was a friend of Thomas Moore. He travelled to the Continent, where he interviewed Napoleon. On returning home he prepared plans for an insurrection which broke out on the 23rd July, 1803, taking the authorities by surprise. Disappointed of promised help, and horrified at the action of his followers in killing Lord Kilwarden, he retired to Rathfarnham where he was protected by his housekeeper, Anne Devlin. He would not leave Dublin until he had met his fiancee, Sarah Curran, whose father, John Philpot Curran, detested Emmet. He was captured at Harold's Cross and was tried before Lord Norbury. Emmet's speech from the dock became one of the most celebrated patriotic orations of all time, eloquently delivered on the day before his execution which took on the 20th September, 1803. ''Yes, my lords, a man who does not wish to have his epitaph written until his country is liberated, will not leave a weapon in the power of envy; nor a pretence to impeach the probity which he means to preserve even in the grave to which tyranny consigns him ... Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonour; let no man attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause but that of my country's liberty and independence ... when my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then let my epitaph be written'' - Emmet's eloquent oration on the day before he was executed for high treason.

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