CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD, SCHOOL, AND COLLEGE.

A.D. 1779-1797.

Childhood-Early Intimacy with Francis Horner-The High SchoolDr. Adam-Brougham's "First Explosion"-The UniversityBrougham's Precocity in Science-Dugald Stewart.

THE earliest notice we have succeeded in discovering of Brougham in the biographical memoirs or historical reminiscences of any of his contemporaries, is in the life of Francis Horner, by his brother Leonard, who long survived him. This record of the life of one who was cut down in the early promise of his days, is excelled by no other published work as an exemplar and guide to be put into the hands of the young. Fortunately for our purpose, "Horner's Remains" abound with references to Brougham. The two were playmates in childhood, fellow-pupils at the High School, fellow-students in the class-rooms of Dalzell and Dugald Stewart, fellow-disputants in the debating societies of the University; most of their studies and almost all their friendships were common. They imbibed the same political opinions from a common source, and nourished them in a companionship which was accessible and congenial to both. They were both founders of the Edinburgh Review. On the same day they were admitted to the Scottish bar; at nearly the same time they became English barristers; by a common

influence they obtained seats in the British Senate. Horner's "Memoirs " are almost entirely composed of diaries and letters by his own hand. To a large extent they are as available to him who wishes to acquaint himself with the leading incidents of Brougham's youth and early manhood, as to him who wishes to possess himself of the facts of Horner's abruptly-shortened career of usefulness and integrity.

Horner's father lived next door to Mr. Brougham. Francis Horner was born on the 12th of August, 1778; Henry Brougham on the 19th of September in the same year. Mr. Leonard Horner says, "His earliest friend was Henry Brougham, for before we left St. David Street, in 1780, they used to run together on the pavement before our house." In successive years the two went to the High School, then under the control of Dr. Adam, the rector or head master. They had, however, to pass three years under the tuition of subordinate masters ere they entered the rector's class. Lord Cockburn, another early friend of Brougham, gives, in his "Memorials," the following amusing picture of the costume and manners of High School boys in the days when he and Brougham were contemporary pupils:-" Among the boys coarseness of manners and language was the fashion. An English boy was so rare that his language was openly laughed at. No lady could be seen within the walls. Nothing evidently civilised was safe. Two of the masters in particular were so savage, that any master doing now what they did every hour would certainly be transported.” This savage uncouthness of the children of the professional men and well-to-do traders of Edinburgh is all the more singular when we compare it with the habits of stately

courtesy and formal conviviality which prevailed at the social gatherings of their parents. At these the sliding-scale of rank and social position was strictly defined and never encroached upon. Not even a sip of wine was taken at a dinner-table, by lady or gentleman, without some brother or sister guest being pledged. The Duke of Buccleuch, once neglecting the customary form, was accused of arrogance and contempt. Each glass partaken after the removal of the cloth was accompanied by the toast of some absent fair one, or by "a sentiment '-some trite aphorism or expression of goodwill. Persons whose wits were not ready were rather puzzled when solicited for " a sentiment." A pedagogue, who on one occasion was suddenly called upon, could elicit from his brain nothing more feli"The reflection of the moon in the cawm bosom of the lake!"

citous than

But we are wandering from the High School boys, and Lord Cockburn's graphic pictures of them. The following is a tolerably detailed inventory of their toilette :"A round black hat; a shirt fastened at the neck by a black ribbon, and-except on dress days-unruffled; a cloth waistcoat, rather large, with two rows of buttons and button-holes, so that it could be buttoned on either side, which, when we got dirty, was convenient; a single-breasted jacket, which in due time got a tail and became a coat; brown corduroy breeches, tied at the knees by a showy knot of brown cotton tape; worsted stockings in winter, blue cotton in summer, and white cotton for dress; clumsy shoes, made for either foot, and each requiring to be used on alternate feet daily, adorned with brass or copper buckles. The coat and waistcoat were always of glaring colours, such as bright blue, grass

;

green, and scarlet. No such machinery as what are now termed braces or suspenders had then been imagined." Much good-humoured use was made by Punch many years ago, when hardly a number appeared without a caricature of Brougham, and of his habit of wearing plaid breeches it being asserted that he had bought a web of shepherd's tartan at Inverness, and was wearing it out in a succession of garments for his own use. And is not history becoming more sartorial? Our historiographers bestow as much notice on the costumes as upon the characters of their heroes. If we err, then, in describing the costume of Scott, and Jeffrey, and Brougham at the High School eighty years ago, we err in good company, and lower literary dignity with a multitude of palliative precedents to shelter us.

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Brougham's first master at the High School was Mr. Frazer, described by one of his pupils as a good Latin scholar and a worthy man." It was his good fortune to turn out from his successive "classes," at intervals of three years, Scott, Jeffrey, and Brougham. It may be necessary to explain that it was, and is, the practice at the High School for a master to conduct the same class of boys through their rudimentary training until they are ripe for the class of the Rector, with whom they remain for two further years. While a pupil of Frazer, Brougham won distinction which brought him a name with the whole school. We tell the story in the words of Lord Cockburn :

Brougham made his first public explosion while at Frazer's class. He dared to differ from Frazer-a hot, but good-natured old fellowon some small bit of Latinity. The master, like other men in power, maintained his own infallibility, punished the rebel, and flattered him

self that the affair was over. But Brougham re-appeared next day, loaded with books, returned to the charge before the whole class, and compelled honest Frazer to acknowledge that he had been wrong. This made Brougham famous throughout the whole school. I remember it as well as if it had been yesterday, having had him pointed out to me as the fellow who beat the master. It was then that I first saw him.

In due course Brougham passed into the Rector's class. Rarely have pupils been more fortunate in a preceptor than those of Dr. Adam were in enjoying the benefits of his tuition. With a rare fervour, all of them who have left behind them memorials of their own lives and times, write in the most affectionate expressions of their beloved instructor. The story of Dr. Adam's early struggles to acquire the learning which he afterwards turned to such excellent account, transcends, in its pathos of poverty and perseverance, all similar records of Scottish life. By slow degrees his merits became acknowledged, and for many years he enjoyed and adorned the highest scholastic position which his country had to confer. At one time his heart had been stung by calumny and misrepresentation. Before, but especially after the French Revolution, every public man was banned who was suspected of anything approaching democratic doctrines. Adam was far too much absorbed in scholarship and history to pay much heed to current politics; at least he never disclosed his opinions. But in his class-room his soul warmed when the great names of Brutus and the Gracchi were uttered, and their deeds made the subject of comment. He did not care to measure his words or check his fervour when in Livy's page the vice of the Tarquins, the excesses of Appius Claudius, or the tyrannies of