Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-07-28
From the Athenaum. ]
MIR. BROUGHAM.

the public eye, having all MS I've oeeh W.T.
ing barrisler, having been IN office, ard III spl'e
of some natural disadvantages. 1t is worm
while to consider by what qualities and IN what
circumstances, he has atlain'd his present emil
nerce, and in Whist particulars II consists.
The ordinary subject of marvel with refer
ence to Mr.. Brougham, is the variety oil his
-,owers and attsinmen,s: and he is undoubtedly
entitled 10 be considered person OF scientlhc
information. The mind which has thrown it
self actively into those various lines OF exeition.
and has earned Just reputation in most OF
them, though it need not be mind OF the
hiphes, character, must obviously be one OF no
very common stature And in truth, Mr..
3rouphan il distinguished by several very re-
markable qualifications. His class OF power Is
neither that distinguished by reason, nor ny
imagination. His great peculiarly is ener-
getic feeling But as his mind is lar more dis
cursiye than creative, his feelings hso'tual!y
dis,lav themselves in a dress OF logic. he IS
deficient in no one Of the abilities necessary to
eloouence, and possesses many OF them IN the
highest perfection He has OF wit abundance,
Of fancy enough. both ingenuity and 'lgor ol
RECOMMENDATION, and quickness & strength oil
sarcasm, overpowering and tremendous. HIS
greatest defect is in style. 1t is extremely dill
fcult in the present age to select phraseology
for oratory; as the rich and masculine language
of our earlier literature has f.ilen into neglect,
and would scarcely b, intelligible, aud the mea-
gre poverty Of our customary dlction Is utterly
insufficient, to large purposes Or powerful effects
Mr.. Brougham has attempted to remedy this
difficulty partly by drawing the materials oil his
style from great authors OF the seventeenth
century, bu, iehy by recurring to Greek and
Roman writers, from whom he has derived no
e ,~h
in, pre- sive, but scarcely harmonizing very well
with the other elements Of his language or
sounding very native TO English ears. Il is an
error, however, into which he has been driven,
in company with many Of The creates! orators
of our country. Chatham initiated and some
times piundered, Barrow: Burke collected and
hcaoed up his brilliapce from almost every &C
cessi5le store house; from elGrr poetry and mo-
dern science; from the libraries Of the Academy
AID the workshops Of Sheffield: and Grauan,
whose style belongs mole peculiarly 10 his age,
was Obliged 10 enrich the barrenness OF the
eighteenth century with ,xubcranl metaphor,
and to point its feebleness With redundant an
,ithesis.
There is even a more striking singularity in
Mr.. Brougham's elooueeoe than the words he
acknowledgements, namely, into which he
casts them. They are distinguished bv rug
eed and broken inv olulion, . careless conplica-
cation of clauses, which separates them from
the periods Of every one else we renembe'
lie seems so ful! Of his subject, that when he
has go, hold of sentence, rather than waste
lion of meaning, he goes on filling IT.,
up the first with argument on argument, and
image on image, till he makes the whole a
mass, resembling heap Of stones aud lava
from volcano, haf.fused into unity, rough,
enormous, and burning.
He never throws out detached proposition.
or includes In simple defini'e form Of words
one step OF deduction; but every thought,
however narrow in itself, carries with 1t so
much l.rgeness Of feeling, that il is always ac-
com2aned by references to the whole matter,
which went before or is to 70 low, either indi-
Gated by some historic visidnes> or prophetic
splendour of epitheI embraced il some mas'er
principle, or insinuated more strongly than by
open declaration, in some bring or blasting
sarcasm. H. coils his interminable sentences
around the point at issue, and binds it 10 his
purpose with a thousand lan>Iike involutions,
drawn out. twisted, and ned together He does
not, like Grattan, overthrow his antagHnis: al
single spring and then employ himself in
mangling the carcase; but he winds his SCRIP ut
folds round and round. and combines and inter-
laces the m with each other, crushing limb
with ever! knot, Til by one irresistible cons
preston, he forces out The life Of his victim His
speeches have no giit,eIing polish, no airy
pleasautness; little OF gorgeous exhibition or
osten,atious sut,icty. His playfuness is the
sport of maiiciad sol6irr, and his toys, like
those Of the Spartans, are weapons Of Conflict &
death. His hand seems little accustomed To the
graceful sweep OF display, il is praclised 10
strike right forward at his antagonist; and like
that OF the old Roman, or Goethe's Champion,
ii is rather hand Of iron than OF flesh and
blood.
His Illustrations are commonly more homely
than fancifu He comes before his audience
not from fairy-land, but from The judgment-hal,
the manutac DRY, the hospital, and the farm
yard. He does not seduce to his object
through, an enchanted garden; but drags US "a
long with irresistible power, through the streets
and The chamber we have been accustomed to
traverse or inhabit The bulk Of his spsechrs
consists Of imprisoned ratiocipation; but the
parts intended especially for display are fear
tally sarcastic; and this is their most usual char
LODI yitb and lnn Sarl,