Self Help - Samuel Smiles (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📗

commenced a pilchard fishery and a timber trade; in

the midst of which he found time to take part in the discussions of

the Royal Society, to which he largely contributed. He left an

ample fortune to his sons, the eldest of whom was created Baron

Shelburne. His will was a curious document, singularly

illustrative of his character; containing a detail of the principal

events of his life, and the gradual advancement of his fortune.

His sentiments on pauperism are characteristic: “As for legacies

for the poor,” said he, “I am at a stand; as for beggars by trade

and election, I give them nothing; as for impotents by the hand of

God, the public ought to maintain them; as for those who have been

bred to no calling nor estate, they should be put upon their

kindred;” … “wherefore I am contented that I have assisted all

my poor relations, and put many into a way of getting their own

bread; have laboured in public works; and by inventions have sought

out real objects of charity; and I do hereby conjure all who

partake of my estate, from time to time, to do the same at their

peril. Nevertheless to answer custom, and to take the surer side,

I give 20l. to the most wanting of the parish wherein I die.” He

was interred in the fine old Norman church of Romsey—the town

wherein he was born a poor man’s son—and on the south side of the

choir is still to be seen a plain slab, with the inscription, cut

by an illiterate workman, “Here Layes Sir William Petty.”

 

Another family, ennobled by invention and trade in our own day, is

that of Strutt of Belper. Their patent of nobility was virtually

secured by Jedediah Strutt in 1758, when he invented his machine

for making ribbed stockings, and thereby laid the foundations of a

fortune which the subsequent bearers of the name have largely

increased and nobly employed. The father of Jedediah was a farmer

and malster, who did but little for the education of his children;

yet they all prospered. Jedediah was the second son, and when a

boy assisted his father in the work of the farm. At an early age

he exhibited a taste for mechanics, and introduced several

improvements in the rude agricultural implements of the period. On

the death of his uncle he succeeded to a farm at Blackwall, near

Normanton, long in the tenancy of the family, and shortly after he

married Miss Wollatt, the daughter of a Derby hosier. Having

learned from his wife’s brother that various unsuccessful attempts

had been made to manufacture ribbed-stockings, he proceeded to

study the subject with a view to effect what others had failed in

accomplishing. He accordingly obtained a stocking-frame, and after

mastering its construction and mode of action, he proceeded to

introduce new combinations, by means of which he succeeded in

effecting a variation in the plain looped-work of the frame, and

was thereby enabled to turn out “ribbed” hosiery. Having secured a

patent for the improved machine, he removed to Derby, and there

entered largely on the manufacture of ribbed-stockings, in which he

was very successful. He afterwards joined Arkwright, of the merits

of whose invention he fully satisfied himself, and found the means

of securing his patent, as well as erecting a large cotton-mill at

Cranford, in Derbyshire. After the expiry of the partnership with

Arkwright, the Strutts erected extensive cotton-mills at Milford,

near Belper, which worthily gives its title to the present head of

the family. The sons of the founder were, like their father,

distinguished for their mechanical ability. Thus William Strutt,

the eldest, is said to have invented a self-acting mule, the

success of which was only prevented by the mechanical skill of that

day being unequal to its manufacture. Edward, the son of William,

was a man of eminent mechanical genius, having early discovered the

principle of suspension-wheels for carriages: he had a wheelbarrow

and two carts made on the principle, which were used on his farm

near Belper. It may be added that the Strutts have throughout been

distinguished for their noble employment of the wealth which their

industry and skill have brought them; that they have sought in all

ways to improve the moral and social condition of the workpeople

in their employment; and that they have been liberal donors in

every good cause—of which the presentation, by Mr. Joseph Strutt,

of the beautiful park or Arboretum at Derby, as a gift to the

townspeople for ever, affords only one of many illustrations. The

concluding words of the short address which he delivered on

presenting this valuable gift are worthy of being quoted and

remembered:- “As the sun has shone brightly on me through life, it

would be ungrateful in me not to employ a portion of the fortune I

possess in promoting the welfare of those amongst whom I live, and

by whose industry I have been aided in its organisation.”

 

No less industry and energy have been displayed by the many brave

men, both in present and past times, who have earned the peerage by

their valour on land and at sea. Not to mention the older feudal

lords, whose tenure depended upon military service, and who so

often led the van of the English armies in great national

encounters, we may point to Nelson, St. Vincent, and Lyons—to

Wellington, Hill, Hardinge, Clyde, and many more in recent times,

who have nobly earned their rank by their distinguished services.

But plodding industry has far oftener worked its way to the peerage

by the honourable pursuit of the legal profession, than by any

other. No fewer than seventy British peerages, including two

dukedoms, have been founded by successful lawyers. Mansfield and

Erskine were, it is true, of noble family; but the latter used to

thank God that out of his own family he did not know a lord. {23}

The others were, for the most part, the sons of attorneys, grocers,

clergymen, merchants, and hardworking members of the middle class.

Out of this profession have sprung the peerages of Howard and

Cavendish, the first peers of both families having been judges;

those of Aylesford, Ellenborough, Guildford, Shaftesbury,

Hardwicke, Cardigan, Clarendon, Camden, Ellesmere, Rosslyn; and

others nearer our own day, such as Tenterden, Eldon, Brougham,

Denman, Truro, Lyndhurst, St. Leonards, Cranworth, Campbell, and

Chelmsford.

 

Lord Lyndhurst’s father was a portrait painter, and that of St.

Leonards a perfumer and hairdresser in Burlington Street. Young

Edward Sugden was originally an errand-boy in the office of the

late Mr. Groom, of Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, a

certificated conveyancer; and it was there that the future Lord

Chancellor of Ireland obtained his first notions of law. The

origin of the late Lord Tenterden was perhaps the humblest of all,

nor was he ashamed of it; for he felt that the industry, study, and

application, by means of which he achieved his eminent position,

were entirely due to himself. It is related of him, that on one

occasion he took his son Charles to a little shed, then standing

opposite the western front of Canterbury Cathedral, and pointing it

out to him, said, “Charles, you see this little shop; I have

brought you here on purpose to show it you. In that shop your

grandfather used to shave for a penny: that is the proudest

reflection of my life.” When a boy, Lord Tenterden was a singer in

the Cathedral, and it is a curious circumstance that his

destination in life was changed by a disappointment. When he and

Mr. Justice Richards were going the Home Circuit together, they

went to service in the cathedral; and on Richards commending the

voice of a singing man in the choir, Lord Tenterden said, “Ah! that

is the only man I ever envied! When at school in this town, we

were candidates for a chorister’s place, and he obtained it.”

 

Not less remarkable was the rise to the same distinguished office

of Lord Chief Justice, of the rugged Kenyon and the robust

Ellenborough; nor was he a less notable man who recently held the

same office—the astute Lord Campbell, late Lord Chancellor of

England, son of a parish minister in Fifeshire. For many years he

worked hard as a reporter for the press, while diligently preparing

himself for the practice of his profession. It is said of him,

that at the beginning of his career, he was accustomed to walk from

county town to county town when on circuit, being as yet too poor

to afford the luxury of posting. But step by step he rose slowly

but surely to that eminence and distinction which ever follow a

career of industry honourably and energetically pursued, in the

legal, as in every other profession.

 

There have been other illustrious instances of Lords Chancellors

who have plodded up the steep of fame and honour with equal energy

and success. The career of the late Lord Eldon is perhaps one of

the most remarkable examples. He was the son of a Newcastle coal-fitter; a mischievous rather than a studious boy; a great

scapegrace at school, and the subject of many terrible thrashings,-

-for orchard-robbing was one of the favourite exploits of the

future Lord Chancellor. His father first thought of putting him

apprentice to a grocer, and afterwards had almost made up his mind

to bring him up to his own trade of a coal-fitter. But by this

time his eldest son William (afterwards Lord Stowell) who had

gained a scholarship at Oxford, wrote to his father, “Send Jack up

to me, I can do better for him.” John was sent up to Oxford

accordingly, where, by his brother’s influence and his own

application, he succeeded in obtaining a fellowship. But when at

home during the vacation, he was so unfortunate—or rather so

fortunate, as the issue proved—as to fall in love; and running

across the Border with his eloped bride, he married, and as his

friends thought, ruined himself for life. He had neither house nor

home when he married, and had not yet earned a penny. He lost his

fellowship, and at the same time shut himself out from preferment

in the Church, for which he had been destined. He accordingly

turned his attention to the study of the law. To a friend he

wrote, “I have married rashly; but it is my determination to work

hard to provide for the woman I love.”

 

John Scott came up to London, and took a small house in Cursitor

Lane, where he settled down to the study of the law. He worked

with great diligence and resolution; rising at four every morning

and studying till late at night, binding a wet towel round his head

to keep himself awake. Too poor to study under a special pleader,

he copied out three folio volumes from a manuscript collection of

precedents. Long after, when Lord Chancellor, passing down

Cursitor Lane one day, he said to his secretary, “Here was my first

perch: many a time do I recollect coming down this street with

sixpence in my hand to buy sprats for supper.” When at length

called to the bar, he waited long for employment. His first year’s

earnings amounted to only nine shillings. For four years he

assiduously attended the London Courts and the Northern Circuit,

with little better success. Even in his native town, he seldom had

other than pauper cases to defend. The results were indeed so

discouraging, that he had almost determined to relinquish his

chance of London business, and settle down in some provincial town

as a country barrister. His brother William wrote home, “Business

is dull with poor Jack, very dull indeed!” But as he had escaped

being a grocer, a coal-fitter, and a country parson so did he also

escape being a country lawyer.

 

An opportunity at length occurred which enabled John Scott to

exhibit