as strength in the popular spirit, which will not admit of being
_decanted_ or served out in formal driblets; nor will spleen (the soul
of opposition) bear to be corked up in square patent bottles, and kept
for future use!

"Mr. Brougham speaks in a loud and unmitigated tone of voice,
sometimes almost approaching to a scream. He is fluent, rapid,
vehement, full of his subject, with evidently a great deal to say, and
very regardless of the manner of saying it. As a lawyer, he has not
hitherto been remarkably successful. He is not profound in cases and
reports, nor does he take much interest in the peculiar features of
a particular cause, or show much adroitness in the management of it.
He carries too much weight of metal for ordinary and petty occasions:
he must have a pretty large question to discuss, and must make
_thorough-stitch_ work of it. Mr. Brougham writes almost, if not
quite, as well as he speaks. In the midst of an election contest
he comes out to address the populace, and goes back to his study to
finish an article for the _Edinburgh Review_, sometimes indeed wedging
three or four articles (in the shape of _refaccimentos_ of his own
pamphlets or speeches in parliament) into a single number. Such indeed
is the activity of his mind that it appears to require neither repose,
nor any other stimulus than a delight in its own exercise. He can
turn his hand to any thing, but he cannot be idle. There are few
intellectual accomplishments which he does not possess, and possess in
a very high degree. He speaks French (and, we believe, several other
modern languages) fluently: is a capital mathematician, and obtained
an introduction to the celebrated Carnot in this latter character,
when the conversation turned on squaring the circle, and not on
the propriety of confining France within the natural boundary of
the Rhine. Mr. Brougham is, in fact, a striking instance of the