The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-15 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY

MAGAZINES, &c7:(CONTINUED.)

FRASER.

The title of the last paper in Fraser is alone suffi-
cient to attract to it the attention of every reader,
" Henry, Lord Brougham, his Career and. Character,"
and seldom has any paper appeared in any magazine
more worthy of attentive study. The writer has
completely isolated himself from contemporary pre-
judices and passions, and has detected and exposed
contemporary misrepresentations ; he will

Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice;"
and the consequence is, that he has given us the most
just appreciation of the greatest intellectual giant of the
present age, and posterity will no doubt confirm his
judgment. Of the charge of insincerity, so recklessly
brought against him, the writer well observes, " that
is a matter between Lord Brougham and his former
allies : one thing is quite clear, that he has always
been true to the public." The following passage is
admirable :

"As for Lord Brougham's eccentricity,' to the
vulgar eye it stands confessed, a fact. In the vulgar
acceptation of the word, Lord Brougham is daringly ec-
centric. In free countries, it is not permitted to men
to differ from their neighbours, except in very slight and
imperceptible shades. Custom out-tyrannizes absolutism.
In France or in Germany, one may do as one likes, be-
cause society is ground down by a ruthless despotism;
but in England, do as you like, if you dare: Lord
Brougham, it seems, chooses to do as he likes. After a
long day of arduous labour, he prefers a walk to a ride;
and if his blood wants circulating, he walks fast; when
he speaks, ho speaks aloud, having been used so to do, as
a matter of business, all his life ; if his hands be cold,
he puts them in his pockets; though fashions change for
the benefit of tailors, Lord Brougham sticks (as many
a north countryman has done before him) to the check
or the plaid; not being particular about hats, ho does not
wear his stuck horizontally on the top of his head, like
an inverted chimney-pot, but lets it go aslant on the
back, a practice less painful to the forehead; being natu-
rally of an ardent and excitable temperament, he uses
mueh gesticulation in talking—about as much as a
Frenchman would require in order to tell you it is a fine
day; in short, Lord Brougham commits divers offences
against the leaden sovereignty of custom, all which are
peculiarly shocking in a Peer. Being, too, naturally of
an affable and sociable disposition, ho fraternizes quickly
with those for whom he takes a liking, and spouts out
his thoughts and feelings, instead of filtering them, as
your grave ones do. He is in the world and of the
world; a fast friend; the gayest and wittiest of compa-
nions; the most enjoying and the most enjoyable; a pa-
triarch in experience and sagacity, but a schoolboy in
freshness of feeling. He is a man; not an ennobled ab-
straction. Ho is odd, unique, bizarre—anything but ec-
centric; for there is not a man among us who has his
aplomb, or whose moral and mental centre of gravity
more firmly pivot the violent oscillations and gyrations
of his ' passionate' energy.
" If the superabundance of this energy makes him
seem to overdo things, we should remember that the
tread or the gripe of the giant, however gently meant,
comes hard and heavy on us ordinary men. With all
his oddities, or his reckless disregard of conventional
prescribed laws, his self-possession never quits him for an
instant. Go to him when you will, or on what you will,
he is ever ready, clear-headed, toned and polished to
razor pitch. Next to the Duke of Wellington, he is the
public arbitrator most often consulted on matters coming
within the range of his specialities. In private life he is
respected and beloved by all to whom he discloses his
true nature. Look at his past career, and you have the
materials for a dozen ordinary reputations: look at his
present position, and you are the more struck with
the tremendous energy and perseverance with which
he has righted himself in the public mind, after having
been subjected to a persecution and prostration utterly
without parallel among civilians since the downfall of
Bolingbroke."

We hope this admirable article will be republished in
a separate and cheap form; it should be universally
circulated. 'We are rejoiced to find Fraser coming
forward as the champion of toleration and charity
(miscalled Latitudinarianism by the bigots of all par-
ties), and urging all moderate men, and men of com-
mon sense, to unite together to curb the vagaries of
the sacerdotalists, whether they tend to Rol& on the
one, hand, or to Geneva on the other. This article,
entitled " Dr. Whichcot and Bishop Butler," is also
well worthy of study particularly at the present mo-
ment. The greater portion of the remainder of
Fraser consists of reviews of recently published
works.