This will lead us to consider to what extent we owe these advantages to the mother who first taught us at her knees to address the All-Father in words of which we then understood not the meaning; or to the earthly father who introduced us to the discipline of life and by example and precept guided our infant steps aright.
In regard to my ancestry I am unable to go back more than a couple of generations on either side, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that both my grandfathers were reputable tradesmen; the one a Bookseller and Stationer with a turn for Literature that led him into the company of Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shelley and William Godwin, the author of “Caleb Williams”: the other a Music Publisher of repute highly thought of by the musical men of his time as a thoroughly fair-dealing man.
John Brooks of Oxford Street, as my Stationer grandfather was frequently termed, had spent a considerable portion of his early life in Virginia, accompanied by one William Robinson from the neighbourhood of Carlisle. They are said to have acquired land near Richmond, but I am quite unaware what become of it; they, however, returned in time for the Waterloo rejoicings.
My grandfather’s Western experiences could not have been entirely devoid of result, for about 1813 he set up in business at what was then 421 Oxford Street, just opposite to the Western end of where Frascati’s now stands and brought as his wife a young lady of great beauty and considerable attainments.
Her maiden name was Elizabeth Steggall and her attractions are vouched for by an interesting miniature by Charles Hayter that still exists. She was an amateur actress of distinction, her performance of Mrs Malaprop and Mrs Candour in Sheridan’s two great Comedies being much admired.
On October the 25th 1815 my dear father was born and was christened Vincent Robert Alfred. Two brothers and one sister followed at short intervals in the order named. The last mentioned, it is a joy to know is still living as Mrs Buttfield at Bush Hill Park, Enfield.
From 1820 onwards John Brooks was actively engaged in politics, being intensely interested in the agitation that culminated in the first Reform Bill, and subsequently quite in the inner circle of those who carried on the Chartist Movement. So much was this the case that in 1827 he printed and posted what was held to be a seditious bill, of which I am able to supply a reproduction.
DUKE
GO FOR
GOLD
The idea was to cause a run on the bank of England and thus stay the political efforts of the Duke of Wellington. The story of this bill and its posting was recently recorded over again in the Columns of the Newcastle Chronicle as under.
Perhaps the most important political work that he did was in regard to the removal of the Paper Duties, or the “Taxes on Learning” as they were called, in this he was associated with William Watson, and he bore a very large share of the expenses of the prolonged agitation. By this means he dispersed a very considerable proportion of the money that he had made, so that when he retired to Jersey shortly afterwards he was by no means the wealthy man that he might have been thought judging from his apparently prosperous career.
Among his efforts to publish...
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