That caught and pinn'd her to the river's bed:
While through the reckless water overhead,
Her life-breath bubbled up.

I pass over the cruel self-upbraidings of the mother for

"She might have lived,

Struggling like Lizzy," was the thought that rived
The wretched mother's heart, when she knew all,
"But for my foolishness about that shawl"—

a torture aggravated by the tones of the surviving child, who half deliriously kept on ejaculating

"Who says I forgot?

Mother! indeed, indeed I kept fast hold,

And tied the shawl quite close-she can't be cold-
But she won't move-we slept--I don't know how-
But I held on-and I'm so weary now-

And it's so dark and cold!-oh dear! oh dear!-
And she won't move-if daddy was but here!"

From their despair for the lost, the poor parents turned to their almost forlorn hope in the living, as

All night long from side to side she turn'd

Piteously plaining like a wounded dove,

With now and then the murmur, "She won't move."
And lo! when morning, as in mockery, bright

Shone on that pillow-passing strange the sight

The young head's raven hair was streak'd with white!!

HENRY BROUGHAM. 1779.

THE history of this most distinguished statesman, orator, scholar, and philanthropist is so identified with the history of his country for the last fifty years, that it would be impossible to write his life without making the groundwork of it a history of the age in which he lived. "The public measures with which he is most closely identified are, the advocacy of the manufacturing and commercial interests, as opposed to orders in council, and other restrictions on trade; hostility to the continental combinations of the successors of Pitt, and their legitimate offspring, the exhausting wars of the Holy Alliance; the vindication of Queen Caroline in the struggle with her libertine husband; the freedom of the press, attempted to be overawed by prosecutions for libels on the government and the

"About poetry like this," says Mr. Moir, "fresh from the fountain of the heart, with beaded bubbles yet winking on the brim,' there can be no mistake. It is beyond critic's cavils, for it tells; and I would rather be the author of such-because it will be as good a hundred years hence as now-than of all the statelier philosophic analyses of feeling-the present favorite subjects of a mere fashion, which, when it fades, must be for ever."

church; the education of the middle and lower orders; religious toleration for dissenters and Catholics; reform in the civil and criminal law; Parliamentary reform; municipal reform; poor-laws reform; the abolition of the slave-trade and slavery; retrenchment in government expenditures; the independence of the Canadian Legislature, and the repeal of the corn-laws. What a catalogue have we here! Upon all these measures, each of which was an era in British history, Brougham has acted a leading, and, upon many, a controlling part. His speeches upon most of them surpassed those of any other of their advocates, whether we consider the extent of the information displayed, the depth and energy of the reasoning, the scope and vigor of the style, the eloquence of the appeals to justice and humanity, or the majesty and splendor of the highest passages.” 1

Henry Brougham is the eldest son of Henry Brougham, Esq., of Brougham Hall, in Westmoreland, and was born in the year 1779. He received the rudiments of his education at the high school in Edinburgh, then under the superintendence of Dr. Adam, and in 1795 entered the university, where he distinguished himself by the aptness and energy of mind he displayed in grasping any subject which he made the object of his studies. In 1802, he became one of the projectors and chief contributors of the " Edinburgh Review," in conjunction with Mr. Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and others; and, in 1803, published "An Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European Powers," which at once drew the eyes of the public upon its author. After being called to the Scots bar, he made a tour to the north of Europe, and on his return commenced practice in the Court of King's Bench, London. Here his reputation rose rapidly, and gained for him both popularity and emolument.

He first entered Parliament in 1810, and here he found the appropriate field for his transcendent abilities. In 1815, he introduced his own bill for the better education of the poor, and in 1818 succeeded in carrying it through a committee of the whole house, having supported it in a speech of extraordinary brilliancy. In 1820, on the commencement of the proceedings against Queen Caroline in the House of Lords, Mr. Brougham appeared as her attorney-general, at the head of her legal defenders. His bearing on this occasion was such as almost to awe the accusers of his royal client, while his skilful cross-examination of the witnesses against her, and his masterly speech in her behalf, had such an effect, that Lord Liverpool thought it advisable to abandon the prosecution.

Toward the end of 1823, Mr. Brougham had the gratification of seeing the London Mechanics' Institution established, in the formation of which he had greatly assisted; and, shortly after, he published an admirable pamphlet, entitled "Practical Observations upon the Education of the People, addressed to the Working Classes and their Employers." In June, 1824, he brought before Parliament the circumstances relative to the horrible treatment of the missionary Smith in Demerara, and continued to denounce slavery and the slave-trade, and to advocate the cause of emancipation, on every opportunity.

In the early part of 1825, Mr. Brougham was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, in opposition to Sir Walter Scott, and at the installation,

Read an eloquent chapter (the sixteenth) in Stanton's "Reforms and Reformers of Great chapter worth the price

delivered one of the most finished and eloquent orations ever composed, although it had been written during the bustle and fatigue of the Northern Circuit.

The year 1827 is memorable for the establishment of the "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," of which Mr. Brougham was president. He was its most active promoter, and composed for it the admirable "Treatise on the Objects, Pleasures, and Advantages of Science"-its first publication. In this year, also, the London University was founded, and the name of Brougham will ever be associated with it as one of its originators. In 1829, he supported the Catholic Relief Bill, introduced by the Wellington administration; and at the general election of 1830, he was, in the most flattering manner, chosen for Yorkshire, where he had no influence whatever beyond that of his great public celebrity.

In the spring of 1828, he made his memorable speech on the subject of reform in the administration of the law, on which "he spoke six hours and a halfduring all that time riveting the attention of his hearers. The way in which he relieved this dry subject, into the details of which he was obliged to enter, the vast body of information he brought forward, and the enlightened nature of the amendments he proposed, render the speech altogether one of the most remarkable in parliamentary history."

The accession of Lord Grey's administration in November, 1830, was the signal for Mr. Brougham's appointment to the Lord Chancellorship, and his elevation to the peerage, by the title of Baron Brougham and Vaux, of Brougham in Westmoreland. But it has been correctly remarked that his acceptance of the Chancellorship, and his consequent removal from the House of Commons, was the greatest political error of his life; for that house was the very field for him to display his transcendent abilities and exert his all-powerful influence. During the administration of Earl Grey, the celebrated Reform Bill was passed, which contained many provisions of substantial good, though it did not accomplish all that its ardent friends wished and hoped.2

Lord Brougham continued to discharge the duties of Lord Chancellor until the dissolution of the Melbourne cabinet in 1834, when he went out with the other ministers. Since that time he has been constantly exerting his transcendent abilities in the House of Lords, in favor of every measure that is calculated to advance the best interests of society; but to particularize all his efforts would be quite impracticable in my limited space. His chief publications are, "An Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European Powers," 2 vols.; "Biography of Eminent Statesmen and Men of Letters in the reign of George III." 3 vols. ;

Biography, in the " National Portrait Gallery."

"The reformers expected much from the new administration, and every thing from Brougham. Large quantities of ripe fruit were expected, therefore, to be immediately gathered. Sydney Smith foreshadowed this in his droll way. In a speech during the struggle, he said: All young ladies will imagine, as soon as this bill is carried, that they will be instantly married. Schoolboys believe that gerunds and supines will be abolished, and that currant tarts must ultimately come down in price; the corporal and sergeant are sure of double pay; bad poets will expect a demand for their epics; fools will be disappointed, as they always are; reasonable men, who know what to expect, will find that a very serious good has been obtained. Much was done for reform by the Grey ministry, after the passage of the bill. In less than two years, West India slavery was abolished-the East India Company's monopoly destroyed-the poor-laws amended-the criminal code softened-the administration of the courts essentially improved-the Scotch municipal corporations totally reformed-and many abuses corrected in the Irish church establishment. But young ladies, bad poets, and fools of all sorts, clamored for more, and many reasonable men were disappointed."-Stanton's Reforms and Reformers, p. 188.

"A Discourse on Natural Theology," and an edition of his Parliamentary Speeches, revised by himself. Feeling painfully conscious how little justice so meagre a sketch can do to a man of such wonderful powers and varied learning— the greatest intellect of the nineteenth century-I will close this notice with an extract from a "Memoir," prefixed to a work entitled "Opinions of Lord Brougham," &c., published in London, 1837:

"A quality of Lord Brougham's mind, that is almost as extraordinary as his extent of information, is its singular activity. His energies never seem to flag— even for an instant; he does not seem to know what it is to be fatigued or jaded. Some such faculty as this, indeed, the vastness and universality of his acquirements called for, in order to make the weight endurable to himself, and to bear him up during his long career of political activity and excitement. Accordingly, labors that would go far to upset the reason, or destroy the powers of ordinary men, seem to produce no more effect on him than do the hot sands and swift pace of the desert on the dromedary. Activity, strife, intellectual contest-these are the elements of his existence, and of his success.

"Take the routine of a day, for instance. In his early life he has been known to attend, in his place in court, on circuit, at an early hour in the morning. After having successfully pleaded the cause of his client, he drives off to the hustings, and delivers at different places eloquent and spirited speeches to the electors. He then sits down in the retirement of his closet to pen an address to the Glasgow students, perhaps, or an elaborate article in the Edinburgh Review.' The active labors of the day are closed with preparation for the court business of the following morning; and then, in place of retiring to rest, as ordinary men would, after such exertions, he spends the night in abstruse study, or in social intercourse with some friend from whom he has been long separated. Yet he would be seen as early as eight on the following morning, actively engaged in the court, in defence of some unfortunate object of government persecution; astonishing the auditory, and his fellow-lawyers no less, with the freshness and power of his eloquence.

"A fair contrast with this history of a day in early life, would be that of one at a more advanced period; say in the year 1832. A watchful observer might see the new Lord Chancellor seated in the court over which he presided, from an early hour in the morning until the afternoon, listening to the arguments of counsel, and mastering the points of cases with a grasp of mind that enabled him to give those speedy and unembarrassed judgments that have so injured him with the profession. If he followed his course, he would see him, soon after the opening of the House of Lords, addressing their lordships on some intricate question of law, with an acuteness that drew down approbation even from his opponents, or, on some all-engrossing political topic, casting firebrands into the camp of the enemy, and awakening them from the complacent repose of conviction to the hot

"His speeches unquestionably stand in the very first rank of oratorical masterpieces. They contain individual passages of eloquence, rhetoric, debate, logic, equal to any thing; besides condensed qualities of information brought powerfully to bear upon particular subjects, and a mass of masculine sense, variegated by sharp flings of sarcasm, and illustrated by a display of wit, and seasoned by tart peculiarities of temper and language, which render them, in their collected form, one of the richest legacies which the genius of oratory ever 4 a ava & V

contest with more active and inquiring intellects. Then, in an hour or so, he might follow him to the Mechanics' Institution, and hear an able and stimulating discourse on education, admirably adapted to the peculiar capacity of his auditors; and, toward ten, perhaps, at a Literary and Scientific Institution in Marylebone, the same Proteus-like intellect might be found expounding the intricacies of physical science with a never-tiring and elastic power. Yet, during all those multitudinous exertions, time would be found for the composition of a discourse on Natural Theology, that bears no marks of haste or excitement of mind, but presents as calm a face as though it had been the laborious production of a contemplative philosopher."

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON-THE SCHOOLMASTER.

Let it not be supposed that I am inclined to exaggerate. I entertain no fear of slavery being introduced by the power of the sword. It would require a stronger-it would demand a more powerful man even than the Duke of Wellington, to effect such an object. The noble duke may take the army, he may take the navy, he may take the mitre, he may take the great seal. I will make the noble duke a present of them all. Let him come on with his whole force, sword in hand, against the Constitution, and the energies of the people of this country will defeat his utmost efforts. Therefore, I am perfectly convinced that there will be no unconstitutional attack on the liberties of the people. These are not the times for such an attempt. There have been periods when the country heard with dismay that "The soldier was abroad." That is not the case now. Let the soldier be abroad; in the present age he can do nothing. There is another person abroad-a less important person in the eyes of some, an insignificant person, whose labors have tended to produce this state of things. The schoolmaster is abroad! And I trust more to him, armed with his primer, than I do to the soldier in full military arrray, for upholding and extending the liberties of his country. I think the appointment of the Duke of Wellington is bad in a constitutional point of view; but as to any violence being in consequence directed against the liberties of the country, the fear of such an event I look upon to be futile and groundless.

MAN OVER MEN HE MADE NOT LORD."-Milton.

I trust that at length the time is come when Parliament will no longer bear to be told that slave-owners are the best lawgivers on slavery; no longer allow an appeal from the British public to such communities as those in which the Smiths and the Grimsdalls are persecuted to death for teaching the gospel to the negroes; and the Mosses holden in affectionate respect for torture and murder;