Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
belonged to his father and grandfather before him. On nearly all Mr
Bradlaugh's fishing expeditions Finlay M'Nab was his boatman. They
would go off just after breakfast, or sometimes even earlier, get
dinner at Carrick Castle or Ardentinny, and come home at sunset with
a big bag of fish. After 1884 we went to Portincaple several summers
in succession, and then Mr Bradlaugh took to going there in the Easter
and Whitsun recess, and for a few days after Parliament rose. On these
occasions he went alone, but Mrs M'Nab attended to all his comforts
indoors as though he were at home, and outdoors her husband looked
after the bait and the boat--except on Sundays; then, my father had to
content himself with the dangerous amusement of fishing from the rocks,
whilst Finlay looked wistfully on.
[Footnote 56: He was frequently charged with drinking expensive wines,
but the hock he had straight from Bensheim at a cost of 1s. 3d. per
bottle (including carriage and duty); the burgundy came direct from
Beaune, and cost a trifle more.]
[Footnote 57: During the time he was not allowed to take his seat he
attended the House constantly, sitting under the gallery in a seat
technically outside the House.]
[Footnote 58: One year he calculated that he had written 1200 letters
of advice in the twelvemonth--this, of course, in addition to general
correspondence.]
Mr Bradlaugh was a very even-tempered man, and those who waited on him
usually served him eagerly. He never found fault unnecessarily, and
provided an attempt was well meant, it mattered little, as far as his
behaviour went, if the result was not equal to the intention. He was
most generous and tender-hearted, except to those who had wantonly
taken advantage of the confidence he reposed in them to deceive him.
Such persons called him hard and unrelenting, for even if he forgave
them they never again held quite the same place in his esteem. Some
critics have said he was a man of unrestrained passions; others have
said he was absolutely passionless. Neither is right. He was a man of
very strong feelings, but he had an iron will. At a critical moment in
his life, when he was greatly tempted to follow a certain course, a
friend urged upon him that if he did he would injure the work he had
at heart. My father replied by stretching out his arm, and closing
his fingers over an imagined object. "I have not a passion," he said,
"that I could not crush as easily as an egg within my hand if it were
necessary for the good of the cause I love." And he was true to his
word.
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