In the spring of the following year, ominous signs appeared, which proved that the change in his habits, necessitated by his parliamentary attendance, was telling upon Cobbett’s vigorous constitution; and he was absent from his post for two whole months. The period which elapsed after the dissolution, and before the meeting of the new Parliament in 1835, was not sufficient for thorough restoration to health, and he resumed his duties with a bad cough clinging to him. On the 10th of March, he attempted to speak upon the motion of the Marquess of Chandos to abolish the malt-tax; but he found his voice so hoarse, that he could not make the gentlemen immediately in front hear him; and was obliged to sit down. He still valiantly attended, however, and spoke on several occasions; the last being on the 25th May, in a discussion on agricultural distress. But his time was come: his place in the House of Commons knew him no more; and, when the House assembled on the evening of the 19th June, a whisper circulated upon the benches to the effect that the member for Oldham was dead. FOOTNOTES [1] According to a private letter, addressed to his friend Thomas Mellersh of Godalming, there were proposals to elect him at Manchester, at Glasgow, at Oldham, at Preston, and at Dudley. [2] “With respect to the measures which ought to be adopted, I have no hesitation in saying that my decided opinion is that, for the safety of the State, the eternal peace of the country, the well-being of the people, the preservation of property, and the maintenance of anything like liberty, measures must be adopted to the full extent of any that have ever as far as I recollect been proposed by Mr. Cobbett. I am persuaded that he has all these objects sincerely at heart. I wholly acquit him of any personal ambition, except probably that anxious desire for fame, and that wish to live in the grateful recollection of his countrymen, which are the signs of an exalted and of a noble spirit. Sordid views of interest he certainly has none--no petty ambition. The good of the people is what he seeks; his fame--the mere fact of his being thought of to represent Manchester--is the assurance that he has the means of promoting it.” This extract is of no mean value, as testimony from a man who had known him personally for thirty years. The Committee at once printed the letter in broadside. [3] Tait’s _Edinburgh Magazine_ (Nov. 1832) describes Cobbett’s reception in Edinburgh in very generous terms, declaring that Pasta, Paganini, nor Fanny Kemble created half such sensation. “He presented himself before an impatient house, filled from floor to ceiling, which rose to greet him in a tumultuous rapture. His appearance is highly favourable; his ease, tact, and self-possession are unrivaled. He was neither overpowered nor taken by surprise with these demonstrations of the modern Athenians.”