Mr. Dudley

“ Dudley's face grew stern, and he made a movement as if to rise, but refrained, merely saying, "Mr. Sherborne's name, sir, is an unpleasant one to me. I should not like to speak my opinion of him to his partner; but were he still living, I should undoubtedly let him hear it in person."
"I was his partner, sir, in business, but not in rascality," replied Norries, "the full extent of which I did not know till he was dead. Nature did not make me for a lawyer, Mr. Dudley ”

“ Dudley had come into the drawing-room, which had been well warmed for the occasion with a roaring fire, and it was here that they found him after luncheon, with the professional nurse beside him.
The girls greeted him rather shyly, especially Doreen, but Mrs. Wedmore was motherly and gentle. Mr. Wedmore attacked him at once.
"I can't understand, Dudley, why you kept it all so dark. Couldn't you see for yourself that it was better for your father to be under restraint, as well as safer for other people?" ”

“ Every moment increased his belief that some appalling circumstance had occurred by which Dudley's mind had for the time lost its balance. Every word, look and movement on the part of his friend betrayed the fact. Now he was evidently setting off in feverish haste in pursuit of this woman whom he had left in the cab; and Max, who believed that his friend was on the brink of an attack of the insanity which old Mr. Wedmore feared, resolved to dog his footsteps, and not to let his friend go out of his sight until the latter got safely back to his chambers. ”

“ That he did do so is not the slightest presumption of innocence, but rather, perhaps, the contrary. Then, again, we have to consider the conduct of Lord Hadley, and to ask ourselves was it probable that, after parting with Mr. Dudley, he should go on, in a cold unpleasant night, to stroll upon the downs, without, as far as we know, any object whatsoever. It is evident that, when he last went out from this house, he followed his tutor, to speak with him on the same painful subjects which had led to such severe quarrels in the morning. ”

“ Dudley was the scene of much rejoicing and loyal demonstration, on the event of the Sebastopol Guns being drawn into the Castle Court Yard, amid the din of drums and flourish of trumpets.
On that joyous occasion, loud and lofty promises were made, and official dignity was pledged to make some decent arrangement for fixing those famous trophies on a suitable basis; but alas, Mr. Editor, the promises of public men are often short lived ”

“ Mr. Benbow may find you out; although you do not sign your name, and although you cut off the Printer’s name and address: he is so sharp. And woe betide any one he catches tripping.
Your sincere friend,
A BROTHER “INDEPENDENT.”
Dudley, July 22, 1847.
“Dudley Castle in Modern Times.”
A NEW FARCE IN ONE ACT,
After Shakespeare.
Scene.—A Room in Smith’s Hotel.
Characters.
Tom Nailer, a FEELING Candidate. Isaac, one of the Old School. Spirits, a would-be Senator. Mayor, a willing instrument. Chartist Sam, an unpopular popular man. Bill, an American adventurer, lately returned from his travels. ”

“ Mr. Hawkes sat for Dudley from February, 1834, to July 1844. At every successive election some one was brought forward to oppose him, but his majorities increased at every contest, and the Liberals polled fewer and fewer the more frequently they fought [Pg 138] the borough. Except the excellence of their cause, they have not in fact a single element of strength in Dudley.
Mr. Hawkes probably acquired some additional influence in consequence of the marriage of one of his daughters with the brother and heir presumptive of Lord Ward. ”

“ If Arthur Dudley could afford to live in such poor style without losing caste, then what might Arthur Dudley not achieve if he were able to live in better style? A desirable connection certainly Mr. Black held that man to be, who, without any adventitious aid whatsoever, could remain a gentleman amid surroundings that “would settle me,” mentally finished the promoter. ”

“ Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge; let not such babblers affright our souls; conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe. Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law; march on, join bravely; let us to the pell-mell, not to lose, but hand in hand to win. (Immense shouting.)
Enter Messenger (breathless.) Gentlemen, gentlemen, Mr. Benbow has just entered the town!!!
Molley. Friends, where shall we meet to-morrow?
Isaac. Oh, at my house, at ten.
All. We will be there in time. Till then, adieu.
“A LOOKER ON IN DUDLEY.”
July 22nd, 1847. ”

“ William Humbel Baron Ward, of Birmingham. Aged 54 years. This nobleman was the father of the present Earl of Dudley; but only enjoyed the title and estates a very short time.
Another Borough election in 1837 again set the town alive, and as the great spirit of Reform had received innumerable checks throughout the country; Dudley participated in a modified Reforming declension, and again was unsuccessful in returning a Reformer. A Mr. Merryweather Turner was the Reform candidate brought against the old member, Mr. Hawkes, with the following result:
1838. ”

“ A certain Mr. Henderson shared with him the responsibility of being judge at the finish, but the glory of office President John took to himself. In his eyes Henderson was but the zero which added to one makes ten. He himself was both the one and the ten.
On a heap of sweaters in a corner of the open room of the boat-house lay stretched the Westcott crews, awaiting, under pretence of calmness, the moment for carrying out their boats. They could not start until the arrival of the launch which was to bear the officials. ”

“ Sheridan. I have already occupied sufficient of your space, or should not hesitate to break a lance with its writer as to what the Dudley Mechanics’ Institution has been, is, or may become. I trust that it has already been “productive of some real and permanent advantages,” and that it will continue to exist to furnish more “for posterity.”
[Pg 236] I am, Mr. Editor,
Yours respectfully,
E. HOLLIER.
January 25th, 1858, was a royal day in Dudley, it being the Wedding Day of our first young Princess, the Princess Royal of England, and the Crown Prince of Prussia. ”

“ Dudley turned and walked back along the Parade to the point where Lally was still engaged in animated conversation with her two gentlemen friends.
“It is time for you to come in, my pet,” she said, descending one of the flights of wooden steps, and making her way with difficulty over the shingle to the sands. “If you see my sister, Mr. Stewart, would you kindly ask her to bring Leonard back? I do not like him to be out in the heat of the day. I do not think it is good for children to be on the shore when the sun has so much power.” ”

“ Rawson’s claims upon the electors of Dudley mainly consisted in his advocacy of Free Trade, not only in corn, but everything else, whilst “the little loaf, and the big loaf” were held up to the gazing crowd, as the sign-posts of cheap bread, good wages, and increased commercial progress, and prosperity. Mr. Benbow had the advantage of a very different introduction to the electors; to many of whom he was well-known as the legal adviser to the trustees of the then young Lord Ward, whose immense wealth and popularity was the pass-word to any man’s success. ”

“ Eda Brandon was not present; for, as she informed Dudley, she had promised her mother, before her death, never to be present at the services of the Roman Catholic church. Lord Hadley and his tutor, however, with less rigid notions, accompanied Sir Arthur and a number of his servants to the chapel; and somewhat to Dudley's surprise, Mr. Clive and his daughter also appeared soon after, notwithstanding the tempest that was raging without.
Dudley felt a reverence for religion in all its forms; the worship of God was to him always the worship of God ”

“ But have you? You have been well educated; you have started well in life. And on the whole, no man who has arrived at your age can honestly say that it would have been better for him to start life with a fortune at his back, eh?"
"No."
Dudley got up from his chair. He seemed agitated and uneasy, and soon took advantage of Mr. Wedmore's suggestion, somewhat dryly made, that he was tired after his journey and would like to go to bed.
When he had left the room, Mr. Wedmore turned angrily to his daughter.
"Now, Doreen, I will have no more of this nonsense. ”

“ Made by the people to be a benefit to the people.
If they injure instead of doing good to the people, ought not the people to remove them and punish them?
SAMUEL COOK.
Dudley, Feb. 26th, 1848.
Died, March 2nd, 1848, at his house in Vicar Street, Mr. John Hodgetts, Nail Master. This gentleman took a very conspicuous part in politics, on the Reform side, during the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, and acquired for his zeal the cognomen of “Lord John.” Aged 59 years.
March 6th, 1848. A New Cattle Fair was established this day, to be holden on the first Monday in March annually. ”

“ Mr. Harkins seized the paper and studied the black-lined passage with evident chagrin. He was still studying, not wholly hopeless of a flaw, when Professor Loder, after looking over the lawyer’s shoulder at the paragraph, said: “Yes, that seems to settle it; the protest must be withdrawn. I am sorry, however, that you could not have been more frank with us.”
Dick flushed deep red. “I hope, sir, you don’t think I’ve taken an underhand course. I only meant to make sure that the newspaper statement would be accepted as sufficient evidence. ”

“ He was suffering for his own conscientiousness and keenness of perception; he knew Fowle and Archer as dangerous boys, while other teachers 163 were still dull-witted or misguided enough to defend them.
One morning, as Mr. Alsop, thinking gloomy thoughts about the waste of himself which a talented man commits when he takes up the life of a teacher, swung sharply round the corner of his dormitory, he beheld a most exasperating sight.
Wally Sedgwick had been loafing in 7 Hale that morning, keeping both Sam and Duncan from work which neither wanted to do. Wally’s hat lay on the window seat. ”

“ Samuel Cooke, a respectable linen draper, of Dudley, Mr. William Insull, and Thomas Hill, who had become pronounced Chartists, and whose advocacy for many years of the Nine Points of the Charter entitled them to the regard and esteem of the whole force of the working classes in this town and district. Mr. Cooke was a well-read gentleman, with a zeal and honesty of purpose which few men can aspire to; there was a purity and singleness of aim in his public deliverances which secured him the respect of all good thinking people ”

“ Now, it is true that the ultimate end of any system of government or civilization should be the improvement of the individual man. And yet this truth, as Mr. Froude puts it, is only a half-truth, so that this single test of any system may not do for a given time and a limited area. Other and wider considerations come in. Disturbances, which for a while unsettle society and do not bring good results to individuals, may, nevertheless, be necessary, and may be a sign of progress. Take the favorite illustration of Mr. Froude and Mr. Ruskin—the condition of the agricultural laborer of England. ”

“ Owen would value. Prowess in athletics was to Mr. Owen but superiority in play, often shared with the idle and the vicious. In scholarship Rob could never hope to rank above a low B; he had no gift for public speaking; no one ever urged him for office. ”

“ Mr. Lowe: We shall lay ourselves open to public censure.
Mr. Renaud: The Dudley Workhouse is only calculated to contain 103 people.
The Mayor: Well, we pay poor rates enough. The subscription you see might not be so large as to enable us to do this.
Mr. Lowe: Well, I for one would rather pay my 10s. 6d. for a treat to the poor than for a dinner at the hotel for myself, and be aware at the same time that many of our poorer fellow creatures were suffering from poverty.
Mr. Clark: Oh! but I expect the Mayor is going to treat us with the dinner at the hotel? ”

“ Ormson, he knew, could never have shed so sweet a content over any home as Heather Dudley. “I believe,” thought Mr. Black, “she would even have made that dog-kennel in Hoxton something worth looking forward to coming home to at night. She is not clever—that is, she could never fight her way in the world, nor go out into it like many women—but she is worth a barge-load of any I ever knew, for all that. By Jove! married to a clever man, would not she have made a home for him?” ”

“ Though the limping fellow protested that he was quite able to play, Laughlin, fearing to take risks with a valuable man, sent him to the side-lines and called in Butler to finish the game.
“Lindsay’s nose wasn’t broken, was it?” asked Mr. Graham, meeting the school physician a few hours later.
Dr. Kenneth laughed. “Oh, no; he had nothing worse than nosebleed. His thigh will be lame for a day or two from the kick that he got in the last scrimmage, but neither injury requires my care.” ”

“ George Spencer, better known afterwards as “Father Ignatius.” The land was given by Mr. William Fletcher, nail master, of Dudley. In 1875, this Church was altered and restored at a cost of upwards of £1,000. The Rev. J. I. Bond, M.R., being the resident priest.
[Pg 94]
1843. April 12th, died Mr. Wm. Maurice, Bookseller and Printer, Market Place, an energetic adherent to the Unitarian cause in this town, and much respected by a large circle of friends. Aged 70 years.
Died, December 23rd, 1843, the Rev. James Dawson, Pastor of the Independent Chapel, King Street. ”