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LIVES

OF

THE ILLUSTRIOUS.

(The Biographical Magazine.)

VOL. III.

"A true delineation of the smallest man, and his scenes of pilgrimage through life, is capable of interesting the greatest man. All men are, to an unspeakable extent, brothers; each man's life a strange emblem of every man's; and human portraits, faithfully drawn, are of all pictures, the welcomest on human walls."-THOMAS CARLYLE.

LONDON:

PARTRIDGE AND OAKEY, 34, PATERNOSTER ROW;

AND 70, EDGWARE ROAD.

1853.

PREFACE.

It seems but yesterday since the New Year left its compliments and wishes at our door; yet 1853 is fleeting fast away. Like some dissolving view, the past recedes, and scarcely conscious of the stages of transition, we wonder as we gaze upon the varying present. Ever onward! No rest for Nature as she scatters flowers and gathers fruits, smiling or frowning; and none for man in the mart or field, in the camp or senate-ever onward in the race, ever forward in the battle of life! And here are we, at the close of another period of editorial toil, stepping forward once again to make obeisance to our friends. Yes, so it is; we thank them for their kindly company; together we have gazed upon the dead, and mingled with the living, and now we pause in self-gratulation to write our-prologue it should be, but epilogue it is.

How many a one would rejoice, were his pen as rapid in its evolutions as the pinions of Time! We should, to wit; and yet question the propriety of our wish. Some one has said our best thoughts are untold, that the true life of the spirit is hid in solemn silence, its real and grander self unuttered and untraceable and it may appear "a consummation devoutly to be wished," that these said ethereal feelings and conceptions should find easy vent from the struggling soul; but the law is written, written around and within-a grand old law-that all things excellent and admirable spring from labour. The big thought is not less big because imprisoned; as it restlessly seeks an outlet, its energy increases, the man's whole being is aroused, every pulse throbs quickly, every nerve is strained-he is to others

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