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LIFE "F OOBDEN. ORESE.

832. Stubborn and besetting failure generally warps good sense,
zr. 88. and this is the hard warrant for the man of the world’s
anxiety to steer clear of unlucky people. ;
Richard Cobden, however had energy enough and t0
spare for the rest of his family, He pressed his brother
bo join him at Manchester where he had bought a house in
what was then the genteel private quarter of Mosley Street.’
Gillett and Sheriff carried on the business at the London
warehouse, and Mr. George Foster who had been manager
ander the Forts, was now in charge as a partner at the
works at Sabden.
It is at Sabden that we first hear of Cobden’s interest in
the affairs of others than himself and his kinsfolk. There,
in a little stone school-hounse, we see the earliest monument
of his eager and beneficent public spirit, which was destined
to shed such prosperity over his country, and to contribute
80 helpfully to the civilization of the globe. In no part of
England have the last forty years wrought so astonishing a
change as among the once lonely valleys and wild moors of
east Lancashire. At Sabden, in 1832, though the printworks
 alone maintained some six hundred wage-receivers,
there was no school, and there was no church. A diminutive
Baptist chapel, irregularly served, was the only agency for

! To those who care for & measmre of the immense growth in the great
aapital of the cotton trade, the following extract will have some interest :—
“I have given such a start to Mosley Street, that all the world will be at
my heels soon. My next door neighbour, Brooks, of the firm of Cunliffe and
Brooks, bankers, haa scld his house to be converted into a warehouse. The
owner of the house on the other side has given his tenant notice for the
same purpose. The house immediately opposite to me has been announced
for sale, and my architect is commigsioned by George Hole, the caligoprinter,
 to bid 6000 guineas for it; but they went 8000 for what they paid
45600 only five years ago. The architect assures me if I were to put np my
house to-morrow, I might have 6000 guineas for it. So as I gave but 3000,
and all the world is talking of the bargain here, and there being but one
opinion or oriterion of a mare abiliby-—the making of money—~-T am alvendv
thought a olaver follow.’ — Leiter to Prodenish Oobden, Sent. 1022.