C HENRY, LORD BROUGHAM. 



be made into the origin, progress, and termination of actions in the superior 

 courts of common law in this country," and " into the state of the law regarding 

 the transfer of real property." In the same month, Mr. Brougham eloquently 

 advocated the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and, in the next month, 

 Catholic Emancipation. In "1829 he had the satisfaction of explaining to the 

 House the proceedings of the great Charities Commission, the appointment of 

 which he had procured eleven years before ; and which during that interval had 

 investigated into the condition and history of no fewer than 19,000 of the- 

 charitable foundations of Great Britain. 



Mr. Brougham wrote, in aid of this great labour, a memorable tract, of which 

 the following anecdote is related :— Hallam's History of the Middle Ages was the 

 last book of any importance read by Sir Samuel Romilly ; and he recommended 

 its immediate perusal to Mr. Brougham, as a contrast to his dry Letter on the 

 Abuse of Charities, the tract above referred to. Yet Sir Samuel undervalued the 

 Letter, for it ran through eight editions in one month. 



In 1S30 Mr. Brougham supported Parliamentary Reform, the Abolition of 

 Punishment of Forgery by Death, Local Jurisdictions (Local Courts) in England, 

 and the Abolition of West India Slavery. We have now reached the period of 

 Mr. Brougham's elevation to the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor. 



His great exertions in aid of Public Education date from 1821, when he co- 

 operated with Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. W. Tooke, and Mr. Robertson, in the establish- 

 ment of the Loudon Mechanics' Institution in London; for whose advantage 

 •were republished, from the Edinburgh Review, Mr. Brougham's excellent Prac- 

 tical Observations upon the Education of the People, addressed to the working 

 classes and their employers. 



In the following year Mr. Brougham was elected Lord Rector of the Univer- 

 sity of Glasgow ; his opponent was Sir Walter Scott, who lost the election by the 

 casting vote of Sir James Mackintosh in favour of Brougham. 



His next good work was his valuable aid, in conjunction with the poet Camp- 

 bell and Dr. Birkbeck, in founding University College, " for affording literary 

 and scientific education at a moderate expense ;" and, greatly by aid of Mr. 

 Brougham's indefatigable exertions, this establishment was opened in 1828, 

 within seventeen months from the day on which the first stone was laid. Lord 

 Brougham is to this day President of the College. 



Three years previously, in 1825, Mr. Brougham, associated with Lords Auck- 

 land, Althorp, John Russell, and Nugent, and other statesmen and leading 

 members of the Whig aristocracy, established the Society for the Diffusion of 

 Useful Knowledge,* with the view of circulating a series of treatises on the 

 exact sciences, and on various branches of useful knowledge; Mr. Brougham 

 being chairman. In the original prospectus we find it stated; "The object of 

 I he Bi iciety is strictly limited to what its title imports, namely,the imparting use- 

 ful infi >rmation to all classes ofthe community, particularly to such as are unable 

 to avail themselves of experienced teachers, or may prefer learning by them- 

 selves." The first publication was in March, 1827, being " A Discourse on the 

 Objects, Pleasures, and Advantages of Science," from the pen of Mr. 

 Brougham ; and for attractiveness this treatise has rarely been equalled. Lord 

 Brougham continued to bo chairman of the Society until its good work having 

 been accomplished by its own enlightening industry, and by stimulating others in 

 the same course, the Society was dissolved. The scientific and other treatises 

 published at the onset, are considered to have emanated directly from Mr. 

 Brougham; while the later and more popular works were the result of new 

 ions of intellectual talent and taste.t Here we may record as an instance 

 of Mr. Brougham's liberality in his educational philanthropy, that he worked 

 heartily with every labourer in tho same field, however humble he might be. 



* The name and title " The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," 



,e\er, flr»l employed in the year 1824, when the Editor of the Pear- Book 



of Furts wrote, at Brighton, in conjunction with Sir Richard Phillips and Dr. 



i'.irU k, the prospectus of a series of cheap treatises to be published " under 



the Superintendence ofthe Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge." 



t Among these later works should be mentioned the Penny Cyclopadia, the 

 most valuable work of its class, the completion of which was celebrated by a 



iiublic dinner to Mr. Charles Knight, the originator and publisher; Lord 

 Jroughain taking the chair at this intellectual festival. 



