years, In 1817 he went to America to avoid a prosecution under the "Six Acts Bill," where he remained two years until the Act was repealed. After the passing of the Reform Bill, he entered Parliament in 1832 as member for Oldham. He died in 1835. Besides his political writings, Cobbett wrote his " Cottage Economy," "Eng lish Grammar," "History of the Protestant Reformation," and "Rural Rides," etc. His language is uniformly forcible and vigorous, and as he himself says, "his popularity" was owing to his "giving truth in clear language."

COBDEN, RICHARD, was born at Dunford, near Midhurst, in Sussex, in 1804. He served an apprenticeship in a London warehouse, and after acting as a commercial traveller for a short time, became a partner in a cotton firm at Manchester. He all the while took a deep interest in politics, especially in the Reform Bill. As the result of a tour through Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and the United States, he in 1834 published pamphlets, entitled, "England, Ireland, and America," and "Russia." In 1838 he devoted all the energies of his nature towards the advancement of the Anti-Corn Law League. He entered Parliament as member for Stockport in 1841, where he distinguished himself, and in 1846 witnessed the repeal of the corn laws. He was elected Member of Parliament for the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1847. Lord Palmerston in 1859 offered him the presidentship of the Board of Trade, which he did not accept. A baronetcy, and a seat in the Privy Council, he also declined. He died in London, April 2, 1865.

CROMWELL, OLIVER, was born at Huntingdon, April 25, 1599. His father, Robert Cromwell, was a brewer, and a man of good property in this town. He was educated at the free school of his native city, and at Cambridge, and afterwards became a law student at Lincoln's Inn. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir James Bourchier, in his twenty-first year, and settled at Huntingdon. In 1628 he was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon, and made his first appearance in the House in February 1629. He represented Cambridge in 1640. He was more remarkable at this time for business-like habits and energy of character than for elegance or gracefulness in delivery. 1642 he received a commission from the Earl of Essex to raise a troop of horse at Cambridge to oppose the king, of which he had the command. He distinguished himself at Marston Moor in 1644, and soon afterwards at the great victory of Naseby. He defeated the Scots at Preston in 1648, and took the town of Berwick. He signed the warrant for the execution of Charles I. In August 1649, he was named Lord-Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, when he subdued many of the northern towns there. The great battle of Dunbar took place on the 3d Septem

In

ber 1650, when the Scots were totally defeated; and Edinburgh and Perth were shortly afterwards in his power. He again defeated the army of Prince Charles at Worcester on the 3d September 1651. In 1653 he had a new parliament formed, which resigned its power into his hands under the title of "Lord Protector." Worn out by care and anxiety, and sorrow at the death of his favourite daughter, Elizabeth Claypole, he died September 3, 1658, the anniversary of the victories of Dunbar and Worcester.

CURRAN, JOHN PHILPOT, was of humble origin, and born near Cork in 1750. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he went to London, and studied law in the Temple. At first he met with great difficulties in his career, but his talent for defence and debate soon caused him to be distinguished. He was a member of the Irish House of Commons in 1784, and on the Whigs coming into office in 1806, he was made Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He held this office till 1814, when he received a pension of £3000, after which time he for the most part resided in London. He died in 1817.

DERBY, EDWARD GEOFFREY STANLEY, EARL OF, K.G., etc., was born in 1799, at Knowsley Park, Lancashire. He was educated at Eton, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became a member of the House of Commons in 1821 for Stockbridge, and in 1826 for Preston. Under Canning he became Under-Secretary for the Colonies. In 1832 he was distinguished in debate on the Reform Bill, and about this time carried a measure for national education in Ireland. After being in and out of office several | times, he in 1841 became Colonial Secretary, a post which he occupied for four years. In 1852, now Earl of Derby, he constructed a Conservative cabinet, and amongst other things carried measures of Chancery reform, and passed the Militia Bill. In 1852 he resigned, but again held office as Premier in 1858-59.

DICKENS, CHARLES, one of England's most popular novelists, has also excelled in afterdinner oratory, and in the delivery of neat, pointed, and seasonable speeches, from which a selection is presented in the present volume. He was born at Landport, Portsmouth, on the 7th February 1812. He was educated first at a private school at Chatham, and afterwards at a good school in or near London. His father sent him to the office of a solicitor. He soon afterwards acted as reporter for some time for a publication entitled the Mirror of Parlia ment. He afterwards obtained a situation as reporter for the Morning Chronicle. Messrs Chapman & Hall engaged him to write a story in monthly parts. The result was the popular and well-known "Pickwick Papers,” which had an enormous sale. Work after work flowed

from his pen, with no diminution but rather increase to his popularity. He also appeared as a public reader of his own works in America, also in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and many important provincial towns. He had commenced a new novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," but death found him busy at his task, and called him away ere the mystery for the public was solved. He died at his residence, Gad's Hill, of effusion of blood on the brain, brought on by over-work, 9th June 1870, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, 14th June 1870. Inclusive of reprinted pieces, Mr Dickens has had to do with upwards of forty separate volumes.

DISRAELI, THE RIGHT HON. BENJAMIN, LORD BEACONSFIELD, is the oldest son of Isaac Disraeli, author of the "Curiosities of Literature," and was born in London, 21st December 1805. The first appearance of the Disraeli family in England was in the shape of a Venetian convert from Judaism, who came to this country in 1748, was successful in business, and settled down in retirement at Enfield, Middlesex. His only son Isaac was the father of Lord Beaconsfield. He was articled in a solicitor's office, and while very young published "Vivian Grey," a novel, which was followed afterwards by "The Young Duke," "Henrietta Temple," and others. He henceforth devoted himself to politics and literature. In 1837 he entered Parliament as member for Maidstone, which was exchanged for Shrewsbury in 1841. He obtained a seat for Buckinghamshire in 1847, which he continued to represent up till 1876. At the death of Lord G. Bentinck he became the acknowledged leader of the Conservatives in the House of Commons. Under Lord Derby he acted as Chancellor of the Exchequer from February to December 1852, from February 1858 to June 1859, and from July 1866 to February 1868. He acted as First Lord of the Treasury till 8th December 1868. In 1866, while Chancellor of the Exchequer, he brought forward his Reform Bill, which was passed, giving a great extension to the franchise. In 1868 the Conservatives were defeated at the general election, and with Mr Gladstone as Premier, the bill for the disestablishment of the Irish Church was carried in spite of strong opposition. On Mr Gladstone s appeal to the country in 1874, the result was that 351 Conservative members and 302 Liberals were returned to Parliament. Mr Gladstone resigned, and Mr Disraeli became Prime Minister at the head of the Conservative Government. He is a D.C.L. of Oxford and Edinburgh, a Privy Councillor, a trustee of the British Museum, a trustee of the National Gallery, a Deputy-Lieutenant of Bucks, and a Royal Commissioner in Exhibition of 1851. He was chosen Lord Rector of the University of

Glasgow in 1873, and again re-elected in 1874. He has now accepted a seat in the House of Lords with the title of Lord Beaconsfield. His latest novel, "Lothair," has been warmly praised by some as displaying sound Protestant principles. Mr Disraeli in 1839 married a wealthy lady, Mrs Lewis, widow of Wyndam Lewis, Esq., M.P. She was created Vicountess Beaconsfield in her own right on 30th November 1868, and died 15th December 1872, leaving no family.

DODDRIDGE, PHILIP, a dissenting divine, was born in London in 1702. He was successively minister at Kibworth, Market Harborough, and Northampton. He had a great and deserved reputation as a preacher, though his voice is said to have been unmelodious. He went to Lisbon for the benefit of his health, being troubled with a pulmonary complaint, and died there in 1751. His most popular works are "The Family Expositor," "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," which has had an immense sale, and to which John Foster prefaced a remarkable essay, the "Life of Colonel Gardiner," and "Hymns."

DONNE, JOHN, was born in London in 1573. Although brought up in the Catholic faith, after completing his studies at Oxford he embraced Protestantism, and became secretary to the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. Here he lost office, was imprisoned for clandestinely marrying the niece of the chancellor, afterwards took orders, was made one of the chaplains to King James, and became preacher of Lincoln's Inn and Dean of St Paul's. He also wrote poetry, and became what Dr Johnson styles the founder of the metaphysical school of poetry. Dean Alford says there are passages in his writings which "in depth and grandeur even surpass the strings of beautiful expressions to be found in Jeremy Taylor, and are the recreations of a loftier mind."

ELIOT, SIR JOHN, was born in 1590 at Port Eliot, in Cornwall. He entered Oxford University at the age of fifteen, where he remained for three years, but left without taking a degree. He travelled on the Continent, married on his return to England, and was elected Member of Parliament in 1614. About 1618 he was appointed vice-admiral for Devon. Eliot sat in the first, second, and third parliaments of Charles I., and was the recognised leader of the "Opposition." In the opposition of forced loans, in the procuring the Petition of Right, and in the impeachment of Buckingham, he especially distinguished himself. He was more than once imprisoned for his freedom of speech and his refusal to pay the forced loan, and on the last occasion lay in the Tower till his death, which took place in November 1632. Mr John

out those reforms, such as establishing a penny bank, which were a feature in his aftercareer, and gathered in those influences, and stored his mind with those images, which were afterwards destined to adorn and illustrate his speeches, lectures, and sermons. Here he also began and continued that careful elaboration of his sermons which, with his vivid imagination and quick sympathy, told so well afterwards in the pulpit. He was translated to Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, in 1837, and in 1840 to St John's Parish Church. He took a prominent part in the disruption in the Scottish Church of 1843, and cast in his lot with the Free Church. During 1845-46 his work was incessant and laborious, on behalf of the manse fund for his denomination, for which £116,370, 14s. 1d. was in a short time raised throughout the country. He was now one of the most popular and eloquent ministers in Scotland. The publication of his "Pleas for Ragged Schools" led to the founding and support of ragged schools in Edinburgh. In 1864 he accepted the editorship of the Sunday Magazine, which bore the stamp of his manifold philanthropy and catholic spirit. He died at St Leonards, February 24, 1873.

HALL, JOSEPH, was born at Ashby-de-laZouch in 1574, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and afterwards became Dean of Worcester. About 1627 he accepted the bishopric of Exeter, but removed to the see of Norwich in 1641. Along with twelve other prelates he protested against any laws being passed in Parliament during their forced absence from the House, for which they were sent to the Tower. He was released in June 1642, but afterwards suffered various petty persecutions from the Puritans, who plundered his house, and despoiled the cathedral. estate was also sequestered, and although reduced to poverty, he continued to preach occasionally. He died in 1656. His "Meditations" is his best known work. Though, as it has been remarked, his pages abound in conceits and sententious passages, yet they rise at times to the very highest eloquence, attesting at the same time the piety and sincerity of his nature.

His

HALL, REV. ROBERT, was the son of a Baptist minister, and born at Arnsby, near Leicester, May 2, 1764. He studied at a Baptist academy, Bristol, and in 1780 was admitted preacher. In 1781 he attended Aberdeen University, where he met Sir James Mackintosh, when a close friendship sprang up between them. He became assistant in a Baptist chapel, Bristol, and shortly afterwards removed to Cambridge. He became celebrated as a writer, and an eloquent and spirit-stirring speaker. His chief works were published between 1791 and 1804, when his intellect became deranged. On

his recovery he became pastor of a church at Leicester, where he resided for twenty years. He removed to Bristol in 1826, where he officiated in a Baptist congregation there till shortly before his death, which took place on February 21, 1831. His eloquence has been described as weighty, impressive, and entrancing, and his published sermons have been looked upon as among the most valuable contributions to theological literature.

HAMILTON, JOHN, OF BIEL, LORD BELHAVEN, was born 5th July 1656. For opposing the Test Act he was committed to the castle of Edinburgh, but shortly afterwards he was released, and resumed his sitting in Parliament. He was present at the convention of Scottish nobility in London, Jan. 1689, and contributed towards the settling of the crown upon William, Prince of Orange, and Mary. He was made a member of Privy Council, and commissioner for executing the office of lord-register. He commanded a troop of horse at the battle of Killiecrankie, 27th July 1689, and was for some time one of the farmers of the poll-tax and excise. Under Queen Anne he was continued a Privy Councillor. His speech opposing the Treaty of Union was a display of mistaken zeal, but in matter and manner it was eloquent, nervous, and pathetic. He was accomplished in most branches of the learning of the time, had a good memory, which, in speaking, enabled him to draw parallels between the past and present history of the country. He was taken prisoner to London on suspicion of favouring the Pretender, and was led in triumph through the capital. His high spirit could not brook this disgrace, and he died June 21, 1708, immediately on his release from prison, of inflammation of the brain. (Abridged from Douglas's "Peerage of Scotland.")

HOOKER, RICHARD, was born at Heavitree, near Exeter, Devonshire, about 1553. He studied at the University of Oxford, and in 1577 was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College. He took orders in 1581, married soon afterwards, and took the living of Drayton Beauchamp, in Bucks. His marriage is said to have been productive of little domestic felicity. He was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585, which he afterwards exchanged for the living of Boscombe, in Wiltshire. In 1595 he was presented by the Crown to Bishopsborne, in Kent, where he died in 1600, aged forty-seven. His great work on the "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" is a defence of the polity and ritual of the Church of England against the attacks of the Puritans. It contains passages of great majesty and grandeur of diction.

IRVING, REV. EDWARD, was born, August 15, 1792, at Annan, in Scotland, where his father was a tanner. He was educated at the