, 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
no longer linger on the lips of men; while every household boasts its
'Rasselas,' and the civilized world holds sacred the memory of the
illustrious 'Rambler.'

John Campbell was born in 1781, and was the son of an obscure Scotch
clergyman. His father destined him for the clergy; in consequence of
which he was sent to the University of St. Andrews, where he met the
great Dr. Chalmers, then a student like himself. But young Campbell
became averse to the profession which had been chosen for him, and soon
turned his attention to the law. Soon after graduation, he betook
himself to London, where he studied with great zeal, meanwhile supplying
his wants by acting as the theatrical critic of the '_Morning
Chronicle_.' There, seated in an obscure corner of the pit or upper
gallery, we may imagine the Chancellor in embryo, jotting down the petty
excellences and failings of the players, to pamper the taste of the
frivolous on the morrow; while below him, in the decorated boxes and
circles, lolled the vain crowd of coroneted simpletons and courtly
beauties, now long forgotten, while he is honored as the benefactor of
his country's laws. He was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's
Inn, and then commenced a long life, replete with arduous study, with
untiring interest in duty, and stubborn perseverance. He early espoused
the liberal doctrines of Fox and Grey; and inasmuch as for many years
after the Tories monopolized the power, his politics were an effectual
bar to his professional preferment. He remained, however, through his
whole life, an earnest and consistent