to grapple with; but other men have I seen equally successful against Mr. Brougham, as incapable of appreciating the force of his reasoning upon the facts of the case, as a blind man is of considering the various

tints of the rainbow.

It is, however, time to say something of Mr. Brougham's personal appearance and manner. If then, gentlest and most indulgent reader, you had chanced any morning during term to have walked into the Court of King's Bench, you would probably have perceived, near to one of the extremities of the King's counsel's seat, a barrister with his brief before him, at which he now and then cast a rapid glance, as if a thought had suddenly struck him respecting some point of which he wished to make himself sure; and then he would appear to relapse again into eager rather than profound reflection. There was no deep quietude in his repose-his position was changed frequently, and the nervous twitchings of his nose and upper lip seemed almost to indicate the emotion caused by the forcible suppression of impetuous thought. His face was destitute of all pretension to beauty of feature or elegance of expression; the forehead rather broad, but not lofty; the nose long, and slightly curved upwards; the upper lip long, and the mouth close and firm: his complexion of a hardy paleness, and the visage strongly marked with lines of thought: the eyebrow dark and full, overshadowing an eye, which in repose seemed small and incapable of much expression, but in moments of excitement-and they were neither rare nor moderate-flashing forth with such fierce energy as I have not seen equalled in any other man. On the whole, his expression was that of a studious man, and a deep and vivid thinker; and this was Mr. Brougham, as you would presently discover, when some stranger in the crowd, as occurred every moment, asked, "Which is he?" If the eager óvTOS EKELVOS be any satisfaction to a reasonable man, no one had better reason to be pleased than Mr. Brougham. I have never heard a speaker more likely to enchain the attention; there was a serious earnestness in his manner, without any of that heavy gravity which sometimes makes seriousness tedious; his voice was clear, his enunciation distinct, beyond that of any other man in court, and a continued flow and impressiveness in his language gave an interest even to ordinary details, of which, in the hands of others, they would have been utterly incapable. He was not loud, yet so clear, distinct, and forcible in his utterance that not a word was lost; even his under tones, his "talking aside," when he was addressing the judges or a jury, fell with palpable distinctness upon the ear; but the distinguishing characteristic of all he said was its earnest clearness; there was no unevenness, no hesitation, no hurry of words, no difficulty of expression. He seemed as if he spoke from an earnest conviction in his own mind that he was right; and even when he was quite wrong, as in points of law he very often was, he discoursed so much with the air of a man who was quite certain about the matter, that the unlearned in the law were astonished when they heard the Judges pronounce that Mr. Brougham's legal positions were altogether untenable. It was, however, in the management of facts before an intelligent jury that his abilities as an advocate shone conspicuously forth. His extensive knowledge of mankind, and of the affairs of life, furnished him with a

continued store of observation and illustration, while his matchless facility and force of language made every circumstance which he touched upon tell with ten times its ordinary weight. His powers of eulogy, and his still greater powers of sarcasm, made his commentaries upon evidence singularly effective, and if he could have condescended to the management of juries, his assistance would have been invaluable to suitors. But this management, this adapting of himself to the prejudice or ignorance of the people he had to deal with, and thus cajoling them out of a verdict, was an art which his impetuous and commanding temper could not submit to learn. His address to the jury was a lecture upon the case or the evidence; he spoke as one having authority, and whose business it was to teach his auditory, by the strongest appeals to their reason, the way in which they should view the case that was before them. His energy always rose with the importance of the circumstances upon which he commented, and gradually proceeded from the vigorous, yet subdued, earnestness with which he dwelt upon simple and ordinary facts, to the very highest strain of eloquent fervor, as his topics became more exciting and important. Then it was that he was accustomed to hurl forth his tremendous weapons of sarcasm and invective-and standing in the attitude of St. Paul in the Cartoon, with his arms stretched forth, heaving forward, as it were, upon the devoted object of his attack the vast volume of his wrath, he proved himself by far the greatest forensic orator of his time; and in that particular department of oratory, the philippic, he has probably not been surpassed by any lawyer since Cicero. Many English lawyers have been noted for their powers of acrimonious abuse, among whom Sir Edward Coke holds a dishonourable pre-eminence; but in the lofty strain of vehement indignation the subject of our sketch stands unrivalled. It is to be remarked, however, that in the perhaps less manly, but not less persuasive power of the orator, which addresses itself to the kind feelings and gentler sympathies of the human heart, Mr. Brougham was found wanting. To paint the hideous wrong of tyranny and oppression-to exalt the glory of resisting them to scourge meanness and cruelty-to overwhelm ignorance and presumption with sarcastic scorn, were tasks congenial to Mr. Brougham's powers. The excellence of knowledge-the nobleness of freedom-the stern grandeur of fixed resolution, all these were things which he spoke of as a man who felt them; but the softness of pity-the subduing power of gentleness and goodness-the fervency of affection, and the tenderness of love, either found no sympathy with him, or were not thought fit to be made use of in the exercise of his

He seemed to desire to be borne along by the torrent of his indignation, and never stopped for a moment to watch by the fountains of human tears.

We must not however confine ourselves to a view of Mr. Brougham at the bar: this would be to do him little justice, and if we are to give a portrait of the man, we must look at him in situations where both the good and the bad that are in him stand forth more prominent

in their appearance, and more important in their effects. We can scarcely allude, for we are not sure that we at the moment remember them, to all the avocations connected with the public to which this extraordinary man has devoted his time;—we might point to him addressing the students of the Glasgow University, or the Council of the London University,-we might speak of his mornings at the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and his evenings at the Mechanics' Institute, bearing all before him with the sway of superior energy and ability, which no one has courage enough to dispute,-we might show him talking, with resistless power, of the value of freedom, at the very place where he maintained a practical despotism, for the furtherance of his own will, and the dispatch of business; but for those matters we have not room, and must beg to conduct our readers at once to the House of Commons, in which, for the last three years of his life as a commoner, Mr. Brougham had no rival who could stand a moment's comparison with him. He was accustomed to take his seat near the Speaker's end of the principal opposition bench, clad in old and ill-made garments of black, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his eyes, as if it were his object to represent deep and dark reflection, as well as the borough of Winchelsea. This was the place to see Henry Brougham in his glory. As a lawyer he was surrounded by men superior to himself; but here, these very men shrank into nothingness, while he rose to the dignity of the first man in the most important deliberative assembly in the world. Though no man was less pompous, he still seemed to have a perfect sense of the importance of his situation, and in the commencement of the evening, ere the debate warmed him into violence, there was a calm and serious severity in his aspect, which bespoke a stern sense of power, waiting the time for its exertion. Brougham is particularly happy in his voice; it is so clear, so susceptible of modulation, and so much in his power, that when he makes use of a parenthesis, which is a favourite figure with him, it is as distinctly marked by the alteration of tone as it could be in writing. I know not whether it might not be in some measure owing to the silent attention which commonly prevailed in the House when he rose even to ask a question; but it was rare that a single syllable he said was lost, although spoken without any elevation of voice, the enunciation was so distinct and unhesitating, and every sentence leisurely though not slowly uttered. His accent is, I think, peculiar to himself; it undoubtedly has something Scotch in it; but though I have heard all conditions of men speak, from Aberdeen to Annandale, from Cornwall to Cumberland, and from Belfast to Bantry Bay, I have not heard a similar accent. Sometimes he would start up with sudden fierceness, and pour out at once the vials of his bitterness; but, in general, he wrought himself up to the paroxysm of fury, in which he too frequently indulged, commencing his speech cautiously and impressively, with a most copious, unbroken, and nervous flow of words; ever earnest, and idiomatic in his expressions, and winding his way out of the most involved sentences, with curious correctness and clearness of meaning; then warming by degrees, and when his passions were all roused by the force of his own awakened recollections, and the impetuosity of debate, rushing into those unwise

and unjust expressions, which, in the days of Plunket and Canning, brought down castigation from men who were capable of administering it even to such a man as Brougham; but when the House of Peers took one of them, and inexorable death swept away the other, Brougham was left without a rival with whom there was a possibility of a fierce encounter. Genius may trample upon, but cannot contend with dulness.

There was no subject, nor class of subjects, to which Mr. Brougham confined his attention. Nothing that concerned the affairs of mankind did he consider foreign to himself, and it was most marvellous, that upon such a variety of subjects as he discussed, he could speak with so much effect, and so much show of information. That Mr. Brougham is profoundly and accurately versed in any one subject of human inquiry, no one who has studied him carefully will be apt to decide, that very few men's knowledge extends over so great a surface, and that no man of the present day is gifted with such ability for making a powerful use of such knowledge as he possesses, all who are acquainted with public men and public affairs will be disposed to admit; and if a list were given of the topics on which he has made lengthened and elaborate speeches, it would fill us with astonishment to think, that even in a series of years a man could have combined, with the necessary attention to the duties of a laborious profession, even a transient study of so many and such extensive subjects. Let us contemplate, for example, his speech on the Reform of the Law in April 1828, which, although connected with his professional studies, although hasty and short-sighted in many of its views, although defective in many respects, as, whether through modesty or conviction I know not, he admitted it to be; yet how wonderful it is, that without any separation from his ordinary exertions in the Courts and in Parliament, he should have got up, even as he did, a subject of such vast extent. How admirable it is, to observe the patient industry, the long and wearisome attention with which he waded through details, that occupied him for upwards of six hours in communicating to the House, and then to mark the loftiness of genius displayed in his peroration, which is undoubtedly one of the finest things in the English language. He has been accustomed to take particular pains with his perorations, and I shall quote the principal part of this one, partly as a splendid example of his powers, and partly because the remarks it contains respecting the possession of office are, considered with relation to his present position, rather curious.

"Whether I have the support of the Ministers or no, to the House I look, with confident expectation, that it will control them, and assist me. If I go too far, checking my progress; if too fast, abating my speed; but heartily and honestly helping me in the best and greatest work which the hands of the lawgiver can undertake. The course is clear before us; the race is glorious to run. You have the power of sending your name down through all times, illustrated by deeds of higher fame and more useful import, than ever were done within these walls. You saw the greatest warrior of the age-the conqueror of Italythe humbler of Germany-the terror of the North-account all his matchless victories poor, compared with the triumph you are now in a condition to win,saw him contemn the fickleness of fortune, while, despite of her, he could pronounce his memorable boast- I shall go down to posterity with the code in my

hand. You have vanquished him in the field; strive now to rival him in the sacred arts of peace. Outstrip him as a lawgiver, whom in arms you overcame ! The glories of the Regency will be eclipsed by the more solid and enduring splendour of the reign. The praise, which fawning courtiers feigned for our Edwards and Harrys, the Justinians of their day, will be the just tribute of the wise and the good to that monarch under whose sway so mighty a work shall be accomplished. Of a truth, sceptres are most chiefly to be envied for that they bestow the power of thus conquering, and ruling thus. It was the boast of Augustus-it formed part of the lustre in which the perfidies of his earlier years were lost-that he found Rome of brick, and left it of marble, a praise not unworthy a great Prince, and to which the present reign is not without claims. But how much nobler will be our Sovereign's boast, when he shall have it to say, that he found law dear, and left it cheap-found it a sealed book, left it a living letter-found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the poor-found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression, left it the staff of honesty, and the shield of innocence. To me, much reflecting on these things, it has always seemed a worthier honour to be the instrument of making you bestir yourselves in this high matter, than to enjoy all that office can bestowoffice, of which the patronage would be an irksome incumbrance, the emoluments superfluous to one who had rather with the rest of his industrious fellowcitizens make his own hands minister to his own wants; and as for the power supposed to follow it, I have lived half a century, and I have seen that power and place may be severed. But one power I do prize, that of being the advocate of my countrymen here, and their fellow-labourer elsewhere, in those things which concern the best interests of mankind. That power I know full well no Government can give-no change can take away."

Let the reader stretch his imagination to conceive a manner of delivery to the utmost extent of possibility, energetic, earnest, and appropriate to this noble piece of composition, and he will yet fall short of the manner in which it was actually delivered. The composition is no doubt in the highest degree studied and elaborate, for the most part it is like an admirable translation of a Roman classic; but still there is no needless declamation, it all comes home to business, and it is ever happily mixed with some familiar topics to make it level to the general understanding of the House of Commons, which else might have taken it for the recitation of some school exercise which they could not take the pains to remember. It will be worth while to compare with this the peroration of his speech on the first night of the present session of Parliament, which also wears the appearance of having been previously studied. It, too, was very impressively delivered, but it is by no means so remarkable either for skilfulness or natural power as that previously quoted.

"The people of England prefer a limited monarchy, and with that an aristocracy; for an aristocracy is a necessary part of a limited monarchy. The people of England are quiet because they love their institutions. I wish well to the rights of the people; and by these rights I am resolved to live, being ready to perish with these rights and for them, because I, for one, think these rights are understood by the people, and are appropriate to their character and temper. Limited monarchy and aristocracy are the best security for these rights, and I for one wish no change. I wish for no revolution; and I speak, I am sure, the sentiments of the great bulk of the people, who love the institutions of their country, who love monarchy and love nobility, because, with the rights and liberties of the people themselves, these are all knit up together. They have a strong attachment, I believe, to our form of government; and for my own part