THE

MAGAZINE.

GENTLEMAN'S

Historical Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in the Time of George the Third, &c. First and second Series. By HENRY LORD BROUGHAM. 1839. 2 vols.

LAVATER, in one of his letters to a philosophical friend, says, "I hold it to be quite impossible for a man of originality to be painted. I am a lover of portraits, and yet there is nothing I hate so much as portraits."* What, it may be asked, did the philosophic physiognomist mean? Why-that there is a marked distinction between the reflection of a man's countenance in a glass, and the imitative likeness which the painter, through lights and shadows, forms upon the "breathing wall." The former is produced without effort or difficulty-mechanical and common -the latter is the production of intense and penetrating thought,-of rare powers of abstraction and separation, acquired by intimate acquaintance with the varied features of the human race, outward symbols of their passions and feelings; and by contemplating them through the medium of the art which is to be exercised upon them. The one representing what is temporary, casual, and changeable; the other, what is permanent, inherent, and characteristic. In the mirrored copy of the one, no truth is advanced, no knowledge obtained; in the other, by the abstraction of all that is unnecessary and irrelevant-all that depends on temporary and accidental circumstances-the leading characteristics become prominent and visible, having separated themselves from what incumbered and concealed them before. The real person then comes forth, formed as it were of the proper and imperishable elements of his peculiar character, as the finished statue may be said to walk forth from the quarry. For this reason Coleridge said of Chantrey's bust of Wordsworth, "that it was more like Wordsworth, than Wordsworth himself is." Such is the appropriate dignity and purpose of the art, whether exercised by the chisel or the pen. That it is one of great difficulty of attainment, is seen by the paucity of its superior and successful productions; for, to reanimate the lifeless form, to catch the departed spirit, to embody it in another shape, and animate it with a portion of the same ætherial fire, requires not only great original genius, but very extensive knowledge, acute observation of minute and particular traits, and philosophical power of generalising what has been acquired. It demands alike the faculty of abstraction and recomposition; of analytical and synthetical argument; nothing being too minute to escape detection, nothing so comprehensive and complicated as to defy analysis. That Lord Brougham entered on his arduous undertaking of drawing the characters of late and contemporary statesmen with all necessary endowments and qualifications, we can readily believe. With an understanding practical as well as refined, with great acquirements in civil and political wisdom, with extensive knowledge of men in social, professional, and private in

*For this saying of Lavater, as well as for the anecdote of Coleridge, we own willingly our obligation to that very interesting volume, "Guesses at Truth." 12mo. 1838.

tercourse, he has had the power of bringing the just measure of a statesman's wisdom and experience to the subject. He has himself trodden the field of political warfare, among the most active of the combatants; and then, as occasion might seem to present itself, he has retreated to those thoughtful heights which contemplation loves; whence, with the keen eye and sagacious observation of the philosophic spectator, he might either revolve in his mind the scenes which he has witnessed, or mark where the torrent of human action has rolled in its varied course, and note the individual characters with whom he has been engaged, whether in hostile or friendly terms, in order to record his impression of the various faculties with which they were gifted. They are now all alike resting from their labours:

Ενθα μεν ̓Αιας κεῖται ἀρηΐος, ἔνθαδ ̓ ̓Αχιλλευς,
Ενθα δε Πατροκλος.

The most valuable biography is that written by the persons themselves. For though much may be concealed, and much misrepresentad, yet whatever portion of truth we obtain, and some must be given or the portrait would be nought, is so much gained in our acquaintance with the mingled phenomena of the human mind. Nearest and next to that in value, is the narrative that is composed from personal recollections of intimate friends; and it is the more valuable in exact proportion as it approaches the former in fidelity of delineation and accurate acquaintance with the subject. The last in order may be called the historical portraits, the merits of which are of a somewhat different kind. Something undoubtedly must be allowed to the painter who undertakes to give, from previous recollections of his own or others, a portrait of departed excellence. When coming from a master's hand, as from Thuanus, or Clarendon, or Hume, they undoubtedly possess great value. The main features are not overlooked; the leading and central points of character are discovered and remarked, and a due arrangement and subordination of the inferior parts preserved: but too often, and in the hands of inferior workmen, such portraits, however dazzling their colours may be to the eye, are often cold and lifeless to the touch. The author seems more anxious for the splendour of the setting than the value of the gem. There is a constant balance of opposites, a perfect display of contrarieties, a brilliant antithesis for ever flashing before our eyes; as fast as the writer builds up, he pulls down-diruit, ædificat-every defect is followed by an opposing excellence, every vice is contrasted with a countervailing virtue, till the multitudinous refracting lights destroy all the breadth, and repose, and truth of the picture. We have, however, no such complaints to make in the present instance, and would bestow no scanty or penurious praise on one, who, being one of the leading and most active statesmen of his day, has loved to soften the rugged path of politics with the elegance of literature, and of whom it may be justly said-" Se non e rhetorum officinâ, sed e philosophiæ scholis prodüisse. Quinctilian describes the advantages which a senator and public speaker may derive from an acquaintance with the memoirs of distinguished statesmen-" Neque ea solum quæ talibus disciplinis continentur, sed magis etiam quæ sunt tradita antiquitus, dicta ac facta præclare, et nosse et animo semper agitare conveniet quæ profecto nusquam plura majoraque, quam in nostræ civitatis monumentis reperientur." * Brougham's portraits of deceased statesmen are of a mixed kind, and fall into one or other of the different classes which we have just described. Some,

* See Quintil. Inst. Orat. lib. xii. c. 2, ed. Gesner.

Lord

like those of Lord Chatham, and Washington, and others, are formed from historical information: those of George the Third and Fourth, from reflection on the occurrences of the times, the information of contemporaries, and the report of the public mind: but the most valuable, and of the deepest interest, are those which have been embalmed in the recollection of private friendship, and which are given in colours that derive their warm and glowing hues directly from the heart. Such is that one-the most delightful, perhaps the most scrupulously faithful of the whole-the portrait of Sir S. Romilly; of that most accomplished and highly-gifted person, whose affecting death cannot but remind one of the tender and melancholy reflection of the poet when surveying the list of mortality," that when Prometheus formed clay into man, he did not knead it with water but with tears."

Let us now select one or two characters from the volume, and compare them with the account given by a contemporary philosopher and statesman. Windham.—Some political portraits could be drawn more splendid, more showy, and perhaps more generally captivating, than that of Mr. Windham : but none that would more permanently please, or would better repay the labour of analysis. We rank it among the best and happiest of Lord Brougham's sketches, though too long to give; and it is supported, in its main features, by the more condensed, but equally correct and philosophical account, which Sir J. Mackintosh has given from his own observation, and which we shall transcribe. Our readers, if they have any respect for a man of most rare and fine accomplishments, of gallant bravery of conduct regulated by the highest sense of honour, of most subtle and sagacious intellect, and various and accurate learning; in short, of a man combining the highest qualities of the statesman, gentleman, and scholar, will thank us for extracting it.

"He was a man,' says Sir J. Mackintosh, of a very high order, spoiled by faults apparently small: he had acuteness, wit, variety of knowledge and fertility of illustration, in a degree probably superior to any man now alive. He had not the least approach to mean.

ness.

On the contrary, he was distinguished by honour and loftiness of sentiment. But he was an indiscreet debater, who sacrificed his interest as a statesman to his momentary feelings as an orator. For the sake of a new subtlety or a forcible phrase, he was content to utter what loaded him with permanent unpopularity. His logical propensity led him always to extreme consequences; and he expressed his opinions so strongly, that they seemed to furnish the most striking examples of political inconsistency: though, if prudence had limited his logic and mitigated his expressions, they would have been acknowledged to be no more than those views of different sides of an object, which, in the changes of politics, must present themselves to the mind of a statesman. Singular as it may sound, he often opposed novelties from a love of paradox.

These novelties had long become almost established opinions among men of specu lation, and this sort of establishment had roused his mind to resist them before they were proposed to be reduced to practice. The mitigation of penal law had, for example, been the system of every philosopher of Europe for the last half century, but Paley. The principles generally received by enlightened men on that subject, had long almost disgusted him as commonplace; and he was opposing the established creed of minds of his own class, when he appeared to be supporting the established code of law. But he was a scholar, a man of genius, and a gentleman of high spirit and dignified manners. * * His resistance of the abolition of the slave trade is another example of his opposing novelty, from a love of paradox. It would otherwise be a shocking inconsistency with his character, as it must be owned that it is a serious stain upon his conduct. By his death we are left with only one, or at most two of those who were distinguished orators in the great age of English eloquence.'

* Sir J. Mackintosh, in a subsequent paragraph, says, "Had Windham possessed discretion in debate, or Sheridan in conduct, they might have ruled their age"

Such was the eminent person, whose intelligent and interesting portrait two contemporary statesmen have drawn in colours not dissimilar; and the guiding motto of whose conduct seems to have been," to dislike all councils and acts,” οἷον ὄχλος φιλέι ποιειν. (Thucyd. iv.) Our own personal knowledge hardly serves for more than to preserve in our memories a faint shadow of his singularly high-bred manner and pleasing conversation; but we are fortunately able to delight our readers with something more characteristic than can be drawn from the fidelity of our recollection to lay before them a letter, which presents well the quaint and lively manner as well as affectionate feeling, that made Mr. Windham's correspondence so dear to his relations and friends. It relates to his own marriage, and was written in 1798.

We will add one of his kind and sportive notes written to the same person in French, some little time preceding.

a sentence that surely needs a sagacious commentator to explain it. Lord Brougham's judgment is surely more correct, when he says, that all Windham's distinguished qualities "were all, when put together, unequal to the task of raising him to the first rank." "His nature, too, was to be a follower, if not a worshipper, rather than an original thinker or actor," &c.

à une fille tendre et sensible, qui en écrivant à son oncle, met en œuvre toutes les tournures élégantes qui puissent convenir à un billet-doux. Je lui répondrai en la ridiculisant, et en critiquant les fautes grammaticales de son stile. La tendresse ne peut rien sur moi, à moins d'être exprimée suivant toutes les règles de la grammaire. C'est lorsque le verbe accorde avec son substantif, que la tendresse est irrésistible. Corrigez donc votre lettre, et renvoyez la moi, toute corrigée, et alors, peut être, j'en serai touchée. Mais pour le présent, comment pourrai-je être

ému d'une lettre qui n'annonce qui celle
qui l'a écrite n'a pas profitée de ma per-
mission: quoiqu'il n'y a pas un accusatif
féminin, qui précède le participe, et qui en
est gouverné, et où je lis que telle chose
l'ai fait surmonter? c'est-à-dire en An-
glais has made her to overcome-et plu-
sieurs autres choses de la sorte. Je suis
enfin grammarien, et je ne puis être gagné
qui par ceux qui le sont. Voilà comme je
vous ai soustrait, quelque chose que j'avois
écrit ; ce n'étoit pas, je vous assure, parce-
qu'il ne contenoit rien, que je croyais
vous devoir être désagréable. Adieu!'"*

We next turn to a contemporary statesman of another country.

Lord

In the character of this person, M. Necker, who was called by a foreign country to take the helm, when shipwreck was all but inevitable, Lord Brougham has justly marked his wise and determined operations in his first administration and his temporising and wavering policy in his subsequent; his compliance one day with the people, and then with the court, stupefied inaction alternating with pointless and ill-conducted activity. Brougham thinks that if Necker had been in office at the death of Maurepas, then fourscore years old and upwards, he must have succeeded to his place; and that he would certainly have prevented both the financial embarrassments which led to the Revolution, and the assemblage of the states, which, occasioned by the deficit, was its proximate cause. Sir James Mackintosh, however, has formed a different opinion of that statesman's ability and power his brief sketch of him we shall give.

:

to his privacy, while he was limited to it;
and would have been adjudged by history
equal to his elevation, had he never been
elevated. The reputation of few men, it
is true, has been exposed to so severe a
test; and a generous observer will be dis-
posed to scrutinise less rigidly the claims
of a statesman who has retired with the
applause of no party, who is detested by
the aristocracy as the instrument of their
ruin, and despised by the democratic
leaders for pusillanimous and fluctuating
policy. But had the character of Necker

* An interesting memoir of Mr. Windham is prefixed to his Speeches by his friend Mr. Amyot, and Mr. Malone printed, soon after his death, a sketch of him, for private distribution. To some persons who delight in the smallest recollections of men of genius, it may not be without interest to hear that when we entered his library at Felbrigg, some little time after his death, we found on his table the latest books he had been reading; one of the commentators on Aristotle, a Greek grammarian, and the Marianne of Marivaux ; the last an author that we readily believe to have been a favou rite.

† See Vind. Gallicæ, p. 30. "The late Adam Smith always held this opinion of Necker, whom he had known intimately when a banker at Paris. He predicted the fall of his fame, when his talents should be brought to the test, and always emphatically said,' he is but a man of detail.' At a time when the commercial abilities of Mr. Eden (Ld. Auckland) were the theme of profuse eulogy, Dr. A. Smith characterised him in the same words."

Sophocles asserts that power and office are necessary as proofs of wisdom.
̓Αμήχανον δὲ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς εκμαθεῖν

Ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην πρὶν ἄν

̓Αρχῆσι, καὶ νομοίσιν ἐντριβὴς φανῇ. Antig. v. 181.