ROCHDALE AND THE BRIGHT FAMILY. 9 Israelitish covetousness and grovelling of soul, and die in the pestilential cellar in which he first drew breath, if by some well-managed usury, he achieved enormous wealth, becomes a Phoenix in the public eye, and the very hem of his garment is regarded with veneration, and his descendants revered as genteel so long as they wear good clothes and feed well. Fantastical is the vanity which, while it cannot deny to the beggar at the gate the privilege of being equally descended from Adam and Eve, rests its own claims to superiority upon being enabled to prove a fiftieth part of the same antiquity, struts, like the bird in the fable, in others' finery, and piques itself upon the actions of its ancestors, instead of its own. "No matter what his race, but what he is," is preferable to being only the shadow of a mighty name. CHAPTER II. MR. BRIGHT'S FATHER AND MOTHER. Boyhood and Youth of Mr. Jacob Bright-Mr. William Holme-The Friends in Rochdale Miss Sophia Holme-Her Marriage with Mr. Jacob Bright, and Death-Miss Martha Wood-Mr. Bright's Birth-His Mother's BenevolenceHer Personal Appearance-Her Death-Mr. Bright's Sisters-His Father and the Workmen-Church Rates-Anecdotes Illustrative of Mr. Jacob Bright's Character-His Business-Miss Mary Metcalf. THE late Jacob Bright was born on the 24th of August, 1775, at Coventry, his father and mother, Jacob and Martha Bright, dying when he was young and in poor circumstances. Being of the Quaker persuasion he was placed by the aid of the Society of Friends at Ackworth School, which is pleasantly situated in the village of that name in Yorkshire. He was afterwards apprenticed to a worthy farmer, Mr. Holme, who had three or four looms in his house, at the village of New Mills, in Derbyshire, to learn hand-loom weaving. "About the year 1796," so said his eloquent son, the distinguished member for Birmingham, in a speech delivered in Rochdale, "when my father was free of his apprenticeship, he sallied forth to seek his living, or as the story-books say, to seek his fortune, along with a fellow-apprentice (Mr. William Tew, who for many years acted as manager and bookkeeper for Mr. Jacob Bright, and who afterwards set up in business in Halifax), and I have heard him say that their joint purse did not amount to more than about ten shillings. He found employment at his business as a weaver, and he was able to earn about six shillings per week. At that time the Government of England was engaged in a tremendous war with the French Republic. The Government of England was shedding the blood of its people as though it were but water, and squandering its treasure as though it had not been accumulated by the painful labour and the sweat of the population of this kingdom, and trade was very bad, and wages were very low, and six shillings a week was that which a hand-loom weaver at. that time could earn. In the year 1802 my father came to this town (Rochdale), his old master's sons came there, and in conjunction with two or three gentlemen in this neighbourhood (Messrs. John Taylor, James Butterworth, MR. BRIGHT'S FATHER AND MOTHER. 11 and William Midgley) they built a mill, which you all know quite well as the Hanging Road Factory. It was, I believe, the second factory in this town and neighbourhood which was set to work in cotton-spinning. He remained there for seven years, and in 1809 he took an old mill on Cronkeyshaw, named Greenbank. Some friends of his in Manchester, who were in business there as commission agents, seeing his aptitude for business, and believing in his honourable character, found the capital which was necessary to begin business in that mill, and about the end of the year 1809 the old steam engine, which was put down there by Boulton and Watt, of Birmingham, nobody knows hardly how long since, first turned round to spin cotton in that old mill. From 1809 to 1867 is at least 57 years, and I venture to say that, with one single exception, and that not of long duration, there has been during that 57 years an uninterrupted harmony and confidence between my family connected with the business and those who have assisted us and been employed in it." It was fortunate then in many respects that the Derbyshire weaver "Here fixed his home, Or rather say, sat down by very chance It would be as well here to relate that Mr. Jacob Bright acted in the capacity of book-keeper for Messrs. John Holme and William Holme, and during the latter years he was in their service, he was promoted to the position of salesman, and was considered both shrewd and dexterous in this line of business. In the year 1808 Mr. William Holme resided in a large house off Toad Lane, which in those days was considered a fine residence, and is situated in what is now called St. Mary's Place. It was surrounded by a garden, which extended to what now bears the modern name of Brickcroft, on the one hand, and St. Mary's Gate on the other, and ran parallel with Toad Lane. Up to this date the Friends had no Meeting House in Rochdale, and on Thursday morning it was customary to hold divine service in the parlour of this mansion. On Sundays they repaired on foot to a Meeting House at Turf Lane, near Oldham, a distance of about six miles, thus evincing their devotion and attachment to their particular faith. These followers of George Fox, their founder, like him, were worshippers of light and silence, a light "that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," a silence which they regarded as the voice of God in the soul. These silent services give the members a good opportunity for selfexamination. Their tried and sore-fretted spirits, harassed by the noise and turmoil of the week, experience a refreshment under the influence of the holy calm and religious stillness which pervades their house of prayer and fellow-worshippers on that sacred day. The members of this sect have ever been the most amiable in their social manners, peaceable, gentle, mild, compassionate, beneficent and most praiseworthy in their public intercourse, and the poor in their ranks have always received timely aid. "Oh, it is a faith Taught by no priest; but by their beating hearts; Of fellow-wanderers in a desert place Who share the same dire thirst, and therefore share Nay, in the silent bodily presence feel The mystic stirrings of a common life, In the autumn of 1808 a Meeting House was erected in George Street, Rochdale, destitute of architectural pretension, but commodious in the interior. Mr. Jacob Bright was a member of the building committee, but his selection for the post of usefulness amused him, for he remarked that he could not understand why they should have selected him, unless it was because he knew less about building than any other man. "Love, ever busy with his shuttle," wove a tender attachment between the industrious salesman and his employer's sister, Miss Sophia Holme, and they were married, and set up housekeeping at No. 71, Toad Lane, Rochdale, a rather spacious house, on the left-hand side, approached by a flight of eight steps in front, protected by iron railings. They were not destined to live long together, for death dissolved the union of these true hearts, and at the early age of twenty-eight (on the 10th of May, 1806), Mrs. Bright was buried in the Friends' graveyard, Turf Lane End, near Oldham. This unhappy occurrence caused Mr. Bright to give himself up to business more unreservedly than ever, and he became one of the most familiar figures in the Manchester market. He suffered much from the loss he had sustained, but there was one above all others whose genuine sympathy he appreciated. "Pity," says the proverb, "is the parent of future love," and our sequel will confirm this aphorism. In the course of time Mr. Jacob Bright was found to return home from Manchester market in his gig through Bolton, which MR. BRIGHT'S FATHER AND MOTHER. 13 was not the shortest way to Rochdale, and departure from the old beaten track became more frequent. The fact was, the sympathy that had been felt by a handsome Quakeress had ripened into the first flutterings of the silken wings of a more tender passion; and the finale was that two were made one, "in will and affection;" for Miss Martha Wood, the daughter of a respectable tradesman of Bolton-le-Moors, and Mr. Jacob Bright were married on the 21st of July, 1809. At the time of their nuptials she was about twenty, her husband being a good deal older. She was, moreover, a woman of fine features and figure, refined in her tastes, and fond of books. They commenced housekeeping at No. 28, High Street, near the corner of Redcross Street. The following year, however, they removed to Greenbank, then a neat country residence, situated off Whitworth Road, near Cronkeyshaw Common. Here, on the 19th of November, 1810, a little stranger made his appearance, and he was named William ; but four years after "There fell upon the house a sudden gloom, A shadow on those features fair and thin, And this boy was the first of the Bright family that found a resting-place in the quiet and secluded graveyard of the Friends' Meeting House in Rochdale. But before this event, a second little stranger, fairer still, who was destined to make himself known throughout the world, and to improve the condition of the working-class by his wisdom and power of speech, was born at Greenbank, on the 16th of November, 1811, and he received, not numerous and high-sounding names, but the simple and single name of "John." Next were born Sophia, on the 27th of May, 1813; Thomas, on the 22nd of September, 1814; Priscilla, on the 8th of September, 1815; Benjamin, on the 23rd of February, 1817; Margaret, on the 14th of July, 1818; Esther, on the 15th of May, 1820; Jacob, on the 26th of May, 1821; Gratton, on the 19th of September, 1823; and Samuel, on the 16th of October, 1826. Mrs. Bright was a woman of fine character, and exercised great influence over her large family. When Mr. Jacob Bright commenced business at Greenbank mill, trade was in a languid state, wages low, and the cottager had barely sufficient to eat, and what he had was poor in quality. At this time the mill system was in its rude, primitive condition. The employed were the slaves of the employers, and their health and social comforts were utterly |