The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-23 00:00:00

LORD BROUGHAM.

On the 19th of the present month Lord Brougham
completed his eightieth year ; on the 21st he de-
livered at Grantham, on the occasion of inaugurating
the Newton statue, a most comprehensive, elaborate,
and eloquent eulogium on that greatest of natural
philosophers, the report of which very nearly filled.
three closely-printed columns of this journal. This
plain statement of fact supersedes the necessity of
all comment. A more wonderful evidence of sus-
tained intellectual exertion at a period of life so
advanced is not to be met with in the annals of any
age or country. A close examination of the quality
of this most remarkable performance increases the
astonishment which the mere mention of such a
feat, even without regard to quality, is certain to
excite. Lord Brougham's eulogium is anything
but a mere cento of sonorous and eloquent common-
places. It is popular •and yet philosophical, rhe-
torical and yet scientifically accurate. The mind.
from which it emanated is deeply versed in the
science whose triumphs are the subject of emu-
memoration, intimately penetrated by the sub.
lime truths whose discovery and exposition it is
the aim of the orator to set forth. No didactic man
of the closet, with amppmlreeos-rteemoapincoeurrnttauniteelltaLafnodrofrpNerfeceerwisethnelcaye
and
hareceonrumrecetrioante,
dcotuhled
to the, foremost place among the sages of the world.
Yet this precise and accurate delineation was
effected within the necessarily restricted compass
of a popular address, pronounced before a mixed;
audience; composed under the conditions, which were
strictly complied with, of being intelligible to the
least cultivated of the hearers who thronged to the
celebration. This careful and accurate composition
was delivered with perfect fluency and consummate
grace, without reference to a note or a memoran-
dum, by a man past eighty years of age, th©
prinie of whose life had been spent in the wordy
wrangles of law, and the fierce warfare of politics
and of party ; by a man who had been a brilliant
reviewer, a successful lawyer, a vehement Oppo-
sition leader ; the great opponent of slavery, the
powerful champion of education and legal reform.
In the blaze of all this varied achievement, it had
almost come to be forgotten that the earliest among
the youthful triumphs of this versatile genius were
won in the field of physical science—a field which,
as he could find or make opportunity, he has never
ceased at intervals to cultivate through the varied
changes of a most exciting and eventful life. The
great men of a great age are passing away too
rapidly from the midst of the present generation to
allow of our passing by in silence an exhibition in
every way so remarkable as this eulogium on
Newton by the octogenarian Henry Brougham.—
Daily Nett's.

The Aberdeen Herald understands that the Uni-
versity Commissioners have already had several meetings in
Edinburgh, chiefly for the purpose of arranging their course
of procedure. According to this information, all their sit-
tings will be in Edinburgh, and their inquiries will be con-
ducted rather by documentary than oral communication.
The Lord Justice Clerk has been appointed chairman, and
will as such have a deliberative and casting vote.