On the following day, being released, a grand dinner was given at the “Crown and Anchor,” in order to celebrate the occasion; and, as though Fate were determined that he should have no interval of peace, as soon as he had regained his liberty, the opportunity must needs be taken to remind Mr. Cobbett that his opinions had changed from time to time. Burdett took the chair, presiding over some six hundred guests, and the thing was fairly successful, notwithstanding an attempt made to create discord between Cobbett and the chairman of the evening. There was no blinking the fact, however, that Cobbett had lost some friends over the vacillation which he had displayed while within the grasp of Vicary Gibbs; but the ungenerous mortal, who brought the matter forward at the dinner, had no support from his audience; and, indeed, all the leaders among the Reformists[8] had condoned the momentary weakness. Mr. Cobbett’s release was celebrated, in several places in England, by a public meeting of one kind or other. And as he journeyed homeward, his reception was well-calculated to add to the felicities of the day. At Alton, the bells were set ringing; at Winchester he was stopped to be again entertained at dinner; and, on nearing home, he found the people of Botley had come out in goodly assemblage to meet him, and to listen to his story. FOOTNOTES [1] Alderman Sir William Curtis, Member for the City of London. He had amassed great wealth as a war contractor, and was now a staunch supporter of the ministry. [2] The _Examiner_ copied this paragraph, and the proprietors were prosecuted, but the jury acquitted them. [3] Take, as a specimen, the following proposal:--The Spilsby Poor Bill was a measure brought before Parliament, early in 1811, for the purpose of enabling the directors of the union to compel the poor, whether asking relief or not, to go into the workhouse. They were to be allowed to enter houses at their discretion to search for vagrants. They might commit to solitary imprisonment, without limit, the poor whom they collected, and _administer moderate correction_ for misbehaviour! (_Vide_ Parliamentary Debates, March 26, 1811.) This brutal idea was soon snuffed out, at the instance of Sir Samuel Romilly; but what a picture does it not present, of the combination of imbecility and cruelty which could rule the minds of some of the potential classes of society!