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WILLIAM COBBETT. 



A " STAR" of no common magnitude has departed from us, in 

 the person of William Cobbett. With every thing to oppose him, he 

 succeeded by dint of industry, aided by the possession of intelligence 

 of a high order, in making himself one of the most prominent men 

 of his day, and has left a reputation behind him which will live 

 when that of most of his coternporaries is buried in the pro- 

 foundest depths of oblivion. As an example of what may be 

 effected by a man's own efforts, as an example of the indomi- 

 table force of native energy, as an example of the irresistible 

 power of mind, Cobbett is unequalled. His name must in future 

 stand high in the lists of the " triumphs of mind," for it was upon 

 this basis that he reared his fame. 



If the old poet's conception of a master-spirit be correct, Cobbett 

 was most truly one : 



" Give me a spirit, that on life's rough sea 



Loves to have his sails fill'd with a lusty wind, 

 Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack, 

 And his rapt ship runs on her side so low 

 That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air. 

 There is no danger to a man that knows 

 What life and death is ; there is not any law 

 Exceeds his knowledge ; neither is it lawful 

 That he should stoop to any other law. 

 He goes before them, and commands them all, 

 That to himself is a law rational." 



His works have never yet been either appreciated or read by the 

 higher portions of the community. A wall of prejudice hedged 

 them out ; and whilst they have been spreading over the middle and 

 lower classes, they have been a sealed book to others. Death, 

 however, the great leveller of distinctions, is also, to some extent, 



