1830.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



485 



Brooks commenced -trlat part of the funeral 

 service which is delivered at the grave, the 

 hats of thousands of the spectators were 

 instantly removed, and all eyes were bent 

 with intense interest towards the spot where 

 the mutilated remains of their late es- 

 teemed representative were about to be con- 

 signed to their last home. 



" Those who were stationed near the 

 grave were evidently much affected by the 

 dosing scene ; and one of the chief mourners 

 (General Huskisson,) bedewed the grave of 

 his lamented brother with tears, which 

 never ceased to flow from the commence- 

 ment to the close of this painful scene. 



" At the conclusion of the melancholy and 

 imposing ceremony a gun was fired ; the 

 procession then left the ground, and the 

 assembled thousands around dispersed after 

 paying the last tribute of respect to the 

 memory of the deceased. We omitted to 

 mention in the proper place that the shops, 

 public offices, &c. were closed until the 

 termination of the ceremony, and that the 

 church bells were tolled during the day." 



On the day preceding the fatal accident, 

 Mr. Huskisson visited the Liverpool Ex- 

 change. As he passed through the rooms 

 he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers ; 

 and afterwards addressed the assembly in 

 a speech, of which the following is an 

 extract : 



" Gentlemen, This loyal town is about to 

 receive the visit of a distinguished indivi- 

 dual of the highest station and influence in 

 the affairs of this great country. I rejoice 

 that he is coming among you. I am sure 

 that what he has already seen in this county, 

 and what he will see here, will not fail to 

 make a great impression on his mind. After 

 this visit he will be better enabled to esti- 

 mate the value and importance of Liverpool 

 in the general scale of the great interests of 

 this country. He will see what can be ef- 

 fected by patient and persevering industry, 

 by enterprise, and good sense, unaided by 

 monopoly or exclusive privileges, and in 

 spite of their existence elsewhere. Gentle- 

 men, he will, I hope, find that if you are 

 not friendly to monopoly in other places, it 

 is not because you require or want it for 

 yourselves. He will see that you know how 

 to thrive and prosper without it ; that all 

 you expect from government is encourage- 

 ment, protection, facility, and freedom in 

 your several pursuits and avocations, either 

 of manufacturing industry or commerce. I 

 have heard, with just satisfaction, and from 

 many concurrent quarters, that every thing 

 connected with these interests is in a more 

 healthy and promising state than it was last 

 year. I rejoice at the change for the better. 

 I hope and believe it will be permanent. 

 But do not let us be supine, and think that 

 the energies under which difficulties are di- 

 minishing, may relieve us from the necessity 

 of unremitting exertion. In foreign coun- 



tries you have powerful rivals to encounter; 

 and you can only hope to continue your 

 superiority over them by incessantly labour, 

 ing to lighten the pressure upon the industry 

 of our own people, and by promoting every 

 measure which is calculated to give increased 

 vigour, fresh life and greater facility to the 

 powers which create, and to the hands which 

 distribute the almost boundless productions 

 of this great country. I trust, gentlemen, 

 that by a steady adherence to these views 

 and principles, I shall most faithfully repre- 

 sent your wishes and feelings in parliament. 

 So long as we are in unison upon these 

 points, I shall be most happy and proud to 

 continue to be your representative, under 

 the sanction of your confidence, and as long 

 as health and strength shall be vouchsafed 

 to me to fulfil the duties of the station 

 which I now hold, as one of your members 

 in the House of Commons. I am persuaded, 

 Gentlemen, that by this course I shall best 

 consult your prosperity ; and that whatever 

 advances the general interests of this great 

 mart of commerce, will but advance all the 

 other great interests of the country ; and 

 first and foremost, that interest which is the 

 oldest and the greatest of all the landed 

 interest, upon which, as the example of this 

 country so well demonstrates, industry and 

 commerce have already conferred so many 

 benefits." 



WILLIAM HAZLITT. 



Mr. "William Hazlitt, from whose vigor- 

 ous but eccentric pen the reader will find 

 two papers in the present number of the 

 Monthly Magazine,* and who has, since 

 their reception, paid the great debt of na- 

 ture, was the son of a dissenting minister. 

 He was originally intended for a painter, 

 and through life he seems to have enter- 

 tained an intense love for the fine arts. 

 Some copies of his, from pictures in the 

 Louvre, by Titian and Raphael, have been 

 spoken of as very spirited and beautiful. 

 His own feeling, with reference to the beau- 

 ties of nature and of art, especially in their 

 relationship to each other, may be inferred 

 from this brief passage in one of his papers : 

 " One of the most delightful parts of my 

 life was one fine summer, when I used to 

 walk out of an evening, to catch the last 

 light of the sun, gemming the green slopes 

 of the russet lawns and gilding tower or 

 tree, while the blue sky, gradually turning 

 to purple and gold, or skirted with dusky 

 grey, hung its broad marble pavement over 

 all, as we see it in the great master of 

 Italian landscape. But to come to a more 

 particular explanation of the subject : The 

 first head I ever tried to paint was an old 

 woman with the upper part of the face 

 shaded by her bonnet, and I certainly la- 

 boured at it with great perseverance. It 

 took me numberless sittings to do it. I 

 have it by me stillj and sometimes look at 



* See pages 409 and 445. 



