BIO: "Ah, the long and short of it is that we're the end of the line. When we die, to hell with it, it's gone." Patrick Murphy, all of 81 years old, and for the last 62 a tailor, pressed a button on the old iron, releasing a cloud of steam that enveloped his presence completely. "At that moment, it seemed as if he had gone back in time to another age. Indeed, in this room of ancient pattern books and bolts of exclusive cloth, with names like "Keeper's Tweed" and "Bedford Cord," I felt as if I'd gone back too," wrote Patrick Cooney, for "The World Of Hibernia." "Back to an age of hunt balls and dressing for dinner. Here, in this basement room at Hawkins of Dublin, the remnants of that age are still catered to, along with an ever-growing number of converts jaded with throwaway shirts and self-destructing suits." Messrs. Des Leech and Patrick Murphy are the last of the great gentleman's tailors in Ireland, per Cooney in his charming 1998 article. William Hawkins established the shop in 1916; his son retired a few years ago, but Leech and Murphy retained the name. One glance at the Hawkins client book proved that their reputation had spread far beyond their tiny shop near Dublin's Parnell Square. Dublin's Gate Theatre, long known for its high production values, has commissioned them to make costumes for its period productions, as have several of the current crop of Hollywood films being shot in Ireland. The fine actor Liam Neeson, a native of Ballymena, Co. Armagh ("A perfect gentleman," said Leech) was kitted out for "Michael Collins." With more than 100 years of tailoring experience between them, these sage-like gentleman constantly underplay the importance of their position. There is no stuffiness in their salon, there are no private fitting rooms, and the work room has the ! pleasing disorder that only the truly great encourage. "When we're gone, you'll get the professors looking at our work on a scientific basis asking, "How did they do this?" They'll be ripping coats apart to see the skill, because that is where it is - hidden," said Leech, drawing on his curved pipe. Murphy's face suddenly emerged from the steam cloud. "I've worked here 30 years," he announced, "and I've never seen a coat come back with the pocket ripped." Who are these clients, the last fragments of the old Anglo-Irish ascendancy? "Oh, they're the greatest bunch of characters you're ever likely to meet." Leech enthused, "Horsey people, a lot of them. Some of them love the horse more than the missus...," he pointed out mischieviously. A fascinating double act to watch, they have an endearing, unstudied comical air. Leech has the slightly distracted air of a frayed Oxford don, while Murphy, short and dapper, bustles around with sinister-looking implements of the trade. Yet all comedy is gone when they set to work, plotting lines on exquisite cloth like field marshals or railroad pioneers. Now it seems that their skills will die with them. There are no apprentices to carry on the art. "You'd like to pass it on," Leech said, "but who's going to come and work for you for buttons? Kids would make more stacking shelves in a supermarket - and they wouldn't have the patience. I couldn't train a tailor in four years; it isn't possible. It'll be sad to see it die, because you know no one will ever have that kind of skill to take it up again." So, before the shutter comes down and the dream is lost, what suit would Leech choose for himself? "A three-piece business suit, quite formal in cut, a three-button in worsted. And I like a pinstripe running through it." And the craftsman to carry out the task? "I'd choose meself, I wouldn't trust anyone else to make a coat for me. I'm a tailor's nightmare with my shape. Sloping shoulders, hollow chest." Murphy emerged through the steam with a doleful expression. "Ah, the ravages of time." Cooney's tender observations were accompanied with equally wonderful photographs by Seamus Murphy of these two distinguished gentleman, members of that vanishing breed that once suited up Dublin's beau brummels, in the Spring 1998 issue of "The World Of Hibernia."