THE EARL OF ABERDEEN.

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ORD ABERDEEN belongs to history, and history will do him justice. This much at the outset I may say, that his is a name which will shine brighter as time advances. How he came to be less exalted in his lifetime offers a problem only to be partially solved by reference to his particularly reticent character and habits. Scholars far below him in endowments, and politicians every way his inferiors in statesmanship, filled loudly the popular ear, and loomed large in the public eye; whilst the many voices of opinion were silent upon the refined learning, the elegant accomplishments, and the commanding abilities and important national services, of the Earl of Aberdeen. As to how this eclipse happened, I profess to give an explanation—simple, but I believe correct. Lord Aberdeen was that rare character —and more rare in such a station, with (it is impossible to doubt) a consciousness of superior talent-a modest man. Retiring and diffident, quiet and unassuming, noble as a man / and virtuous as a minister, estimable alike in private and in public life, he never put forward his own merits, nor allowed them to be proclaimed by admiring friends or adherents. Thus, he was understood only by the few and well-informed, whilst by the multitude and their ignorant leaders his patriotic labours were misrepresented and his great diplomatic achievements undervalued. His natural unobtrusiveness was called shyness (which, indeed, it partly was), and

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