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matter of absolute necessity in my nature; and if I were as able as
I knew myself honest and consistent--a field of exertion more extended.
That by which the Great Seal dazzled my eyes, and induced me to quit
a station which till this time I deemed the most proud which an
Englishman could enjoy, was, that it seemed to hold out the gratifying
prospect that in serving my king I should be better able to serve my
country."
Already has the official elevation of Lord Brougham been attended
with manifest advantages, and promises of still greater benefits to the
nation. Only such as are accustomed to the cares of office can form but
a faint idea of the perplexities which beset the Lord Chancellor on the
recent dissolution of parliament; yet in this arduous scene Lord
Brougham is believed by all but the bitterest of his political opponents,
to have comported himself with becoming equanimity. A political
contemporary observes, upon his recent appointment--"There is no
instance in modern times of an elevation marked with the same
characters. Lord Brougham had never before been in office; he had
passed through none of the degrees which for the most part, lead to the
proud eminence where he now stands. We have had learned
Chancellors, and political--or, we would rather say, politic
Chancellors--but never before Lord Brougham (with, perhaps, the
exception of Erskine), have we had what may be justly called a popular
Chancellor. * * The consideration which he disdained to accept from
party or from power in the House, his conduct has won from the great
mass of his countrymen out of it. We speak the plain and simple truth
when we say--and that not for the first time--that at no period of our
history since the era of the Commonwealth has any one Englishman
contrived to fix so many eyes upon him as Lord Brougham has for the
last few years."[4]
Of Lord Brougham's qualifications as a barrister we have already

spoken. To the hearing of appeals in the House of Lords, an important
section of the public business, his Lordship brings qualifications not
possessed by any of his predecessors. Seven years' practice at the
Scotch bar, and a very extensive employment in appeals from that
country (for he has been engaged in almost every case of importance
for the last ten years) have made him familiar with the machinery of the
law on which his decisions bear; and he therefore undertakes his
judicial task with professional confidence.
Besides contributing to the _Edinburgh Review_, as we have noticed,
Lord Brougham is the author of several papers in _Nicholson's Journal_,
and in the Transactions of the Royal Society, of which his Lordship is a
distinguished member. The chief entire work which bears his name is
entitled, "An Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European States," 2
vols. 8vo. 1828; and a masterly pamphlet "On the State of the Nation,"
which has run through many editions. Several of his speeches have
likewise been published.
It is, however, in connexion with _Public Education_, that the pen of
Lord Brougham has been more extensively employed. His zealous
co-operation with Dr. Birkbeck, and other patriotic men of talent, in the
establishment of Mechanics' Institutions in the year 1824, must be
gratefully remembered by thousands who have enjoyed their benefits;
and, for the advantage of the London Mechanics' Institution, were
republished from the _Edinburgh Review_, his excellent "_Practical
Observations upon the Education of the People_, addressed to the
Working Classes and their Employers."--The twentieth edition of this
pamphlet is now before us, and from its conclusion, to show the
practical utility of the author's suggestions, we quote the following:--
"I rejoice to think that it is not necessary to close these observations by
combating objections to the diffusion of science among the working
classes, arising from considerations of a political nature. Happily the
time is past and gone when bigots could persuade mankind that the
lights of philosophy were to be extinguished as dangerous to religion;
and when tyrants could proscribe the instructors of the people as
enemies to their power. It is preposterous to imagine that the
enlargement of our acquaintance with the laws which regulate the
universe, can dispose to unbelief. It may be a cure for superstition--for
intolerance it will be the most certain cure; but a pure and true religion

has nothing to fear from the greatest expansion which the
understanding can receive by the study either of matter or of mind. The
more widely science is diffused, the better will the Author of all things
be known, and the less will the people be 'tossed to and fro by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive.' To tyrants, indeed, and bad rulers, the progress