

An illuminating and deeply personal record of John Scott, Earl of Clonmell (1739-98), a driven and ambitious Irish lawyer and politician who rose to be Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (see previous lot). His repeated exhortations suggest how difficult he found it to maintain the harsh regime that he set for himself, involving cold-water bathing, abstention from tea and coffee, great care over diet, and maintaining a relentless focus on his work ("...It is impossible for me to exist but with constant and hourly Repetition of Insult, Contempt, self Reproach, and Disgrace, Mortification, Heartgnawing, Agonizing Torture, unless I reform from this moment & devote my future life to the constant acquiring of Knowledge & Praise by the most rigid unremitting, uniform, indefatigable application to Business & to Law..."). Extensive extracts from a similar journal were published by W.J. Fitz-Patrick in Curious family history: or, Ireland before the union: including Lord Chief Justice Clonmell's unpublished diary (1880).