Henry Brougham (1778-1868), lawyer, politician, and Lord Chancellor of England (1830-34), was also a well-known writer, wit, and eccentric. Brougham lived at the heart of intellectual life in Victorian Britain, counting Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Byron and Lamb among his friends. In 1802 he co-founded The Edinburgh Review and went on to write more than 80 articles for it. In the 1820s he helped to create the University of London, and to provide libraries for workingmen. In his public life Brougham supported the abolition of slavery, and brought about radical reform of the legal system. On his retirement from high office, Brougham went to live in France and devoted himself to writing. He spent the last 30 years of his life at Cannes.