grace, the office of chairman to that body, and whose recent decease has
been noticed with such profound regret in British journals. On inquiry,
they doubtless learned that this was Lord Chancellor Campbell. He had
risen from the lowest drudgery to the highest eminence of the legal
profession. By the prolific arts of perseverance and industry, he had
scaled each successive round in the ladder of promotion, until now, in
his declining years, with accumulated honor and respect, he had thus
reached the summit, taking precedence after the Archbishop of
Canterbury, holding the great seal, and presiding over the peers of the
realm.

He was one of those rare examples of unconquerable pluck, who have
mastered the prejudice of wealth and power, and to whom has been yielded
a position envied by the most worthy descendants of the most illustrious
nobles. In America, where public distinction is within the reach of all,
it is difficult to conceive of the restraints which beset the humble
aspirant in the old country. But notwithstanding such obstacles, the
examples of such men as Eldon, Stowell, Truro, St. Leonards, Ashburton,
Canning, and Campbell exhibit the gratifying fact, that hereditary power
or wealth can not bide the dignity of great genius; that greatness will
thrust aside the lesser privilege of worldly circumstance, whether it be
born in a palace or a cottage; and that you can no more control the
operation of a superior mind by the vanities of title and lucre, than
you can subordinate truth to error, or eternity to time. The glittering
train of peers and nabobs who followed in the path of the great
Elizabeth lie forgotten under the stately arches of the old cathedrals;
while the poverty-stricken player, William Shakspeare, has adorned every
library with his name, and reigns in every appreciative heart, as a
perfect master of nature and lofty thought. The names of the brilliant
court which welcomed George the Third to the throne of the Plantagenets