reform.

In 1832, when he had been a member of the House but two years, and a
King's Counsel but five years, and in the same year that the reform of
Russell and Grey received the royal sign-manual, he was elevated to the
dignity of Solicitor General. No one of the long line of his illustrious
predecessors brought to the discharge of this eminent trust greater
learning and acuteness than Lord Campbell evinced; who, at the same time
of this appointment, was honored with the order of Knighthood. In 1834,
after serving as solicitor with the marked approbation of the
government, he was promoted to the Attorney Generalship.

He now re-entered Parliament as the representative of the capital of his
native Scotland, and became a leader in debate and the transaction of
the public business. He continued Attorney General through the
conservative ministry of Sir Robert Peel, and the subsequent Whig
government of Lord Melbourne. In 1841, he held for a brief period the
Chancellorship of Ireland; being at the same time elevated to the rank
of a peer of England, with the title of John, first Lord Campbell. He
retired from office when Sir Robert Peel returned to power in the autumn
of 1841, and turned his thoughts to the gentle and graceful pursuit of
literature. The first production of his pen was the 'Lives of the Lord
Chancellors,' from the earliest times to the close of Lord Eldon's
Chancellorship, in 1827. For the spirited interest of its style, the
clear and precise detail of fact, and the simple yet elegant course of
its manner, it is surpassed by no work of the present century. It is
regarded by eminent critics as a masterpiece of biography, and may
justly rank with the first books of that character in the English
tongue. It has probably been as serviceable to perpetuate the name of
the author, if not more so, than the numerous profound and equitable