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A

T the time of the birth of the first Lord Brougham and Vaux, September 19, 1778, the city of New York was virtually a garrison town, and predatory expeditions were being sent into the country in various directions by its British commander, distressing and exasperating the inhabitants, and widening the chasm between England and America.

Before the precocious lad was ten years old the Revolutionary War had deprived England of her American colonies, and a new and wonderfully interesting nation, fully equipped with a government of its own, had taken its place triumphantly in the annals of the world. Henry Brougham was captivated with the story of Washington's successes, and final elevation to the Présidency of the United States, which was the absorbing topic of the years 1789 and 1790 in all circles of every European country. His school life was varied with much informing reading of a general character, and he thus unconsciously prepared himself for his dazzling career as a man of affairs. In August, 1791, before he was thirteen, he passed with credit the examination necessary for his admission to college, and was dubbed "prodigy"-a questionable, if not dangerous, compliment. At fourteen he entered the University of Edinburgh, and in addition to the study of Greek, under Professor Dalzell, he undertook the natural sciences, under Professor Playfair, devoting his best energies, as far as he was permitted, to mathematics. He hit upon the binomial theorem before he had been taught it, and was soon familiar with the Principia of Newton. His memory was naturally good, and with training its strength became so marvelous that he was able, it is said, to carry through life whatever he learned in his school days. With all his fondness for severe studies, however, he was ready at any moment to take active part in the wildest frolics, and was often the ringleader in practical jokes, wrenching knockers, braving the watch, and other pranks which indicate the restless energy. of a developing youth. During the first year in the university he founded

VOL. XXII.-No. 6.-31

a debating society, which grew in interest until it was merged into the "Speculative Society." Here many clever young men tried their powers in disputation, with beneficial results-men who were subsequently in Parliament or on the bench-but in the astonishing flow of language, readiness in retort, grace of elocution, and gifts of withering sarcasm and ridicule, Brougham surpassed them all. The brightest period in the history of this society was during the political storm that crossed it in 1799. Lord Cockburn writes: "Jeffrey took part in every discussion. I doubt if he was ever once silent throughout a whole meeting. It is easy to suppose what it was to Jeffrey when he had to struggle in debate with Lansdowne, Brougham, Kinnaird, and Horner, who, with other worthy competitors, were all in the society at the same time. It has scarcely ever fallen to my lot to hear three better speeches than three I heard in that place—one on 'National Character,' by Jeffrey, one on the 'Immortality of the Soul,' by Horner, and one on the Power of Russia,' by Brougham."

Of the remarkable powers possessed by Brougham, oratory was unquestionably the foremost. He himself made this discovery at an age when the average youth is indifferent to his own talents, or but slightly acquainted with them, and he resolutely determined to cultivate the art of public speaking. He subjected his fine musical voice, which was of great compass and strength, to a course of severe training, and his gestures and attitudes were likewise studied with the persistence of an actor. He made himself perfectly conversant with the great masterpieces of ancient eloquence, committing them in numerous instances to memory. His opponents pronounced his oratory artificial; but no other Englishman of his time could, even with artificial oratory, so completely fascinate an audience. His boundless command of language, his audacity in the use of argument, seasoned with a resistless torrent of invective, the exquisite intonations of his voice, and his matchless animation, distinguished him throughout his long career, and particularly in later years, when he was playing a conspicuous part in public affairs, as scholar, scientist, advocate, statesman, and Lord High Chancellor of the realm. He was given to long and intricate sentences, and his hands, in moments of excitement, seemed to interpret them as they rose in accumulated involutions, while his tall, angular figure, swaying and jerking, added immensely to the magnetic effect when his words finally came to a pause, like a retreating army in good order. It was because of his high-sounding declamation that Sydney Smith nicknamed him the "Drum Major." It is said that when he concluded the elaborate peroration of his speech at the queen's trial, he suddenly assumed