without any conditions as to the religious
profession of those whom it educated, and whom it taught and qualified
by appointment to conduct the education of others. The old
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were then directly associated with
the State Church, and only gave the stamp of their approval and the
right to teach to those who professed the religion established by law.
There had been growing up, for some time, a feeling in the community
that there was need for a system of university teaching which should be
open alike to the members of all creeds and denominations, and even to
those who did not profess to subscribe to the doctrines of any
particular creed, or to enroll themselves in the ranks of any
particular denomination. The institutions which are now known as
University College, London, and the University of London are among the
most remarkable growths of this movement. After years of effort the
charters for these institutions were granted by King William in 1836,
and it is needless to say that University College has played a great
part in the spreading of education among the middle and poorer classes
throughout the country. Henry Brougham was one of the most active
promoters of the effort to bring the higher education and {262} its
honors within the reach of all classes and creeds, and his name will
always be distinctly associated with the rapid progress made in the
spread of knowledge during the earlier part of the nineteenth century.
Brougham was one of the founders and promoters of the "Penny
Cyclopaedia for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," which delighted
some of our grandfathers, amazed and bewildered others, and filled yet
others with a holy horror at the daring effort to upset all the
wholesome distinctions of ranks and classes by cramming the lower
orders with an amount of knowledge wholly unsuited to their subordinate
condition, and unfitting them for the proper discharge of the duties
associated with that station in life to which it had pleased Providence
to call them.

Brougham also took a leading part in the founding of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, which was established by
Sir David Brewster, Sir Roderick Murchison, and many other men famous
in science and in letters in 1831. It has been holding its annual
meetings in all the great cities and towns of these islands ever since,
and is not likely to be interrupted in the continuance of its work.
The British