Ct in BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg ^m. Sage 1891 .^...^.'jrA'^.A.^.:. 1&J.J./.U 6896-1 p The date shows when this' volume was taken. To renew this book cppy the call No. and give to l^ %^ ■ the Ubratian . HOME USE rules" All Books subject tolRecall. Books not used for "^^ instruction or research ^%• , ■■>' - ■+■" are returnable within '; 4 weeks. . tiiA'i Volumes of periodi- \ ^ i-" -*" cals and of 'pamphlets < ^ are held in the library as much asYpossible. ^ For special purposes Q X\ ' X ** they are given out for Wim :- ,_v .,j ,' a limited time. ^'X io It^l^ Borrowers should not use their library . privileges for the bene- 2 ij rat.4 fit of other persons. Books not neTeded during recess periods should be returned to the library, or arrange- ments made for their return during borrow- er's absence,if wanted. Books needed by more than one person are held on the reser-ve list. Books of special value and gift books, when the, giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to report all cases jof books marked or muti- lated. ice bookA by marks and writing. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029875378 Cornell University Library CT788.G759 E46 Story of the "Cheeryble" Grants : from t olin 3 1924 029 875 378 The Story of the " Cheeryble" Grants MR. WILLIAM GRANT. MR. DANIEL GRANT. THE STORY OF THE a CHEERYBLE" GRANTS. Ifrom tbe Spe^ to tbe 3rwell. BY THE REV. W. HUME ELLIOT, Author of "The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers" etc. SHERKATT AND HUGHES Manchestee : .34 Ceoss Stebet London : 60 Chandos Steeet, W.C. 1906 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO THE DICKENS FELLOWSHIP A BENIGN AND COSMOPOLITAN BROTHERHOOD BORN OF THE GENIAL, HUMOUR-VEINED HUMANITY AND BENEVOLENCE OF THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE Preface i I — Strathspey - 19 II.— The Birthplace of the " Cheerybles " 39 III.— The Family of the " Cheerybles " 51 IV. — The Migration of the Family 65 V. — The " Cheerybles" in Bury and Manchester 87 VI. — The " Cheerybles " in Ramsbottom and Manchester - 113 Complemental Endowments 115 "The Square/' "Tim Linkinwater," etc. 130 " It's Daniel ! " 146 Daniel — " At it again ! " 169 VII,— Partings 187 VIII.— The " Cheerybles "—Ideal and Real- 219 Index - - 237 ILLUSTRATIONS. TO FACE PAGE The "Cheerybles" — William & Daniel Grant — Frontispiece Mr. James Dinwiddie i8 John Cly— The Miller of Tomore 46 Craigellachie Bridge 48 Haugh of Elchies — The Birthplace of the " Cheery- bles " 50 The Father of the " Cheerybles " \ The Mother of the " Cheerybles "J ^"^ The First Home of the Grants in Lancashire, Haslam Bank, Bury 90 The Shop of the Grants — The AVylde, Bury 94 The " New Invented Patent Barrel Organ " - 100 Ramsbottom in the beginning of the Century 116 Nuttall Hall and Grant's Tower 118 The Scene of the Chatterton Riot 126 Mrs. Wilson in her 90th year 1 30 Ramsbottom in 1893 — The Square in front 132 Mr. John Grant of Nuttall Hall 134 Crimble Wood, near Nuttall Village 138 Ruins at Nuttall Village 140 Springside 146 George Goodrick — 55 years landlord of Grant Arms Hotel 168 St. Andrew's Church, Ramsbottom 200 Hymn Paper 201 I desire very cordially to thank Mr. George Lewis, J. P., Vicar's Knowe, Selkirk, who first read the MS., for wise counsel; Mr. "William J. McKenzie, now of the " Torquay Times," for the intelligent interest he so willingly evinced in matters relating to his native Strathspey, and especially for laying the earlier chapters of this volume before his venerable father, Mr. Alexander McKenzie, of Stank House, near Elgin, who has since passed away; Mr. George Haworth, Photo- grapher, Ramsbottom, for photographic assistance ; and Mr. Arthur Humphreys, of the Dickens Fellowship, Manchester, for his most helpful interest, and especially in the preparation of the Index. W. Hume Elliot. PREFACE The publication of " Tlie Country and Churcli of the Cheeryble Brothers " at Christmas, 1893, elicited letters of much interest relative to the brothers Grant, from many quarters, and, in some important cases, from beyond the seas. These communications opened sources of information not previously available, and have rendered practicable a presentation of the remarkable life-story of the Grants, not hitherto attainable. One striking coincidence of the correspondence is worthy of note. About three months after the publication of the "Cheeryble" volume, two letters were, at the same moment, put into my hand. The first was from a widow approaching three- score-and-ten, who, in her early years, had been lady's maid to a grandniece of the Cheerybles at Springside. A somewhat hard but heroic lot had been hers through a long widowhood ; and, having seen a notice of the " Cheeryble " book, she was anxious to know if the mistress of her early days was still alive. Unfortunately, my information of the lady referred to dated back forty or fifty years, and the letter was laid down with something like a pang of regret. The second, which had a foreign 2 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS look about it, was then opened. It was a long and interesting communication, and, to my gratifica- tion and astonishment, it proved to be written by the very lady enquired about. A copy of the book had reached her in Virginia, and moved her to write about her distinguished relatives and old times. I was thus enabled to supply the desired information; and the next letter I received from across the Atlantic told me that my letter and one from her old " lady's maid " had reached the exile by the same post. In the preface to " The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers," referring to the original of the engraved likeness of Daniel Grant, the younger " Cheeryble," I said it had been " unfor- tunately lost sight of," and that it would "be a happy circumstance if this reference to it should result in bringing it to light." The lady above referred to — Mrs. William Ashton — stated, in her first letter, that this portrait of Daniel was in her possession, and that, after her decease, it would pass to her son, who bears the name of his great- grand-uncle, " Daniel Grant." Mrs. Ashton'^ has since passed away. 1. Nie Grace Thomson. Her mother was Grace Grant, daughter of Mr. James Grant, the eldest brother of the "Cheerybles," who married Mr. Thomson, of Batavia, a great friend of the "Cheerybles." Grace Thomson was brought up by the Grants at Springside, and married Mr. Wm. Ashton , eldest son of Mr. Riciiard Ashton, J. P., of Limefield, Bury. PREFACE 3 That William and Daniel Grant were the proto- types of the " Brothers Cheeryhle," in " Nicholas Nickleby," does not admit of any doubt. A gentleman who had doubted, wrote to Mr. Charles Dickens, son of the novelist, in 1893, and received a reply containing these two sentences : — "It is merely waste of time to argue about the prototypes of the Cheeryble Brothers. My father may be supposed to have known what he meant himself, and as he always distinctly said that the Cheerybles were taken from the Grants, the matter admits of no further discussion." ^ But there remains an interesting question about which a difference of opinion does exist, viz.. Did Charles Dickens ever personally meet William and Daniel Grant.? In the original preface to " Nicholas Nickleby," Dickens, having dealt with " Squeers," says : — " To turn to a more pleasant subject, it may be right to say that there are two characters in this book which are drawn from life. It is remarkable that what we call the world, which is so credulous in what professes to be true, is most incredulous in what professes to be imaginary, and that, while every day, in real life, it will allow in one man 1. Preface to "The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers." 4 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS no blemislies, and in another no virtues, it will seldom admit a very strongly-marked character, either good or bad, in a fictitious narrative, to be within the limits of probability. But those who take an interest in this tale, will be glad to learn that the Brothers Cheeryble live ; that their liberal charity, their singleness of heart, their noble nature, and their unbounded benevolence, are no creations of the author's brain; but are prompting every day (and of tenest by stealth) some munificent and generous deed in that town of which they are the pride and honour." In the preface, dated " Devonshire Terrace, May, 1848," after reciting the above paragraph from his original preface, Dickens adds : — " If I were to attempt to sum up the hundreds upon hundreds of letters, from all sorts of people, in all sorts of latitudes and climates, to which this unlucky paragraph has given rise, I should get into an arithmetical difficulty from which I could not easily extricate myself. Suffice it to say that I believe the application for loans, gifts and offices of profit that I have been requested to forward to the originals of the Brothers Cheeryble (with whom I never interchanged any communi- cation in my life), would have exhausted the combined patronage of all the Lord Chancellors since the accession of the House of Brunswick, and PREFACE 5 would liave broken tlie rest of the Bank of England." Porster, in kis " Life of Charles Dickens," referring to the year 1838, says : — " A friend now specially welcome, too, was the novelist Mr. Ainsworth, who shared with us incessantly for the three following years in the companionship which began at his house; with whom we visited, during twO' of those years, friends of art and letters in his native Manchester, from among whom Dickens brought away his Brothers Cheeryble." Vol. i., page 158. The Manchester Guardian of 12th May, 1884, referring to Stocks House, Cheetham, the residence of the late Mr. James Crossley, F.S.A.,^ President of the Chetham Society, said : — - "Here it was, in the cosy dining-room at the back of the house, that Dickens first made tTie acquaintance of the subsequently celebrated originals of the ' Cheeryble Brothers ' in ' Nicholas Nickleby,' in the persons of Daniel and William Grant." Referring to this statement in 1893^ I said: "By report — by many characteristic stories told with graphic glee to the distinguished 1. Formerly the residence of Mr, Gilbert Winter, in whose time it was visited hy Charles Dickens, 2. "The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers," p. 274. 6 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS literary group, which included Charles Dickens and Harrison Ainsworth — 1838-1839 — Dickens no doubt learned much of the character and career of the Grants. His genius supplied the rest. There is no evidence that he ever met them in person, either at Stocks House, Mosley Street, Springside, or anywhere else. Indeed, his own declaration ought to he conclusive — 'The "Cheeryble Brothers," with whom I never inter- changed any communication in my life.'" But, subsequently, a letter came to me from a gentleman resident in one of the suburbs of Man- chester, who has manifestly some claim to be heard on the point under consideration. He says : "The particular object of my letter is to tell you that the statement in the Manchester Guardian, of May 12th, 1884 (see note in your book, page 274) is perfectly true; and that Chaxles Dickens did meet Daniel and William Grant at dinner at Stocks House, Cheetham Hill, in 1839, at the table of Gilbert Winter, Esq., and that my father was invited to meet him, and was there. Charles Dickens .... in saying he never interchanged any communication with the ' Cheeryble Brothers,' spoke the literal truth and conveyed a false im- pression." By citing a somewhat parallel case within his own knowledge this gentleman shows that his PREFACE 7 contention is that Dickens, in the sentence referred to, used "Cheeiyble Brothers," designedly, with a double meaning, and that when he said he had never interchanged any communication with them he referred to the ideal "Cheerybles" of the novel, while his readers would understand the words as applicable to the actual "Cheerybles" — William and Daniel Grant. The readers would thus be adroitly misled by the novelist, while, " If he had said he never met William and Daniel Grant, he would have lied." But that is substantially what Dickens did say— "The originals of the 'Cheeryble Brothers,' with whom I never interchanged any communi- cation in my life."i It was, therefore, not the ideal "Cheerybles," but "the originals" — the actual William and Daniel Grant — with whom, Charles Dickens explicitly tells us, he never inter- changed any communication. And had the Grants spent the genial evening referred to, at Mr. Gilbert Winter's, with Dickens, the novelist could not, one thinks, have written the words we have just quoted. Moreover, sixty long years have come and gone since that festive dinner-party, of which our 1. See p. 4, Supra. 8 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS con-espondent's father was one, met round the hospitable table of Mr. Gilbert Winter; and our venerable critic was then a youth in his teens. And, while the vivid impressions of early days, preserved through a long life-time, in what De Quincey calls " the deep memorial palimpsest of the brain," are not to be lightly set aside, yet our correspondent need not take it amiss that his conviction — that the Grants, as well as his father, met Charles Dickens on the evening in question at Mr. Winter's — cannot be allowed to set aside the deliberate public averment of the novelist, published nine years after the event, and while the younger Cheeryble — Daniel Grant — was still a well-known figure on the streets of Manchester. Perhaps the following pages may serve, in some measure, to show with what unerring accuracy the genius of Dickens seized and illustrated the central and dominating elements in the delightful personalities of William and Daniel Grant. Their simple and winsome brotherly love, tender filial reverence, and genial open-handed generosity, like the rays of a goodly brilliant, shot a lustrous beauty through their lives — lives, upright, honour- able and laborious, lived out in the common gray of everyday existence. And as surely as twin-stars revolve round a common centre of gravity so surely did the lives of these brothers move round PREFACE 9 tliat point of generous goodwill to men wkich lies enveloped in the ampler sphere of gratitude to God. A few pages in Chapters VI. and VII. of this volume appeared in " The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers," which has long been out of print. W.H.E. Ram^sbottom, Manchester. The above preface was written some eight or nine years ago when the manuscript of this volume was completed. But in the Spring of the present year I gave a lecture by their request to the Dickens Fellowship in Manchester, on the Cheeryble Brothers. At its close an interesting discussion was raised by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. Humphreys, on the point : Did Charles Dickens personally meet William and Daniel Grant when he visited Manchester in 1838—1839? That dis- cussion left the problem still unsolved. On March 6th, the following appeared in the mis- cellany column of the Manchester Guardian: — "At the Dickens Fellowship meeting on Friday, the lecturer, Mr. Elliot, expressed the belief that Dickens never met the originals of the Cheeryble Brothers. The opinion that the meeting did actually take place has been so long cherished by many Manchester people (writes a correspondent) 10 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS that some of them are not prepared to allow the statement to be disputed without challenge. In John Evans's edition of Canon Parkinson's " Old Church Clock " is a very important footnote deal- ing with the question. On page xxxiii. we read : " During the winter of 1838(-9) two comparatively young men came on a visit to Manchester, with letters of introduction from Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth to Mr. Gilbert Winter and Mr. James Crossley; the one was Mr. Charles Dickens, the other Mr. John Forster. Mr. Gilbert "Winter, with his usual hospitality, gave a dinner party at The Stocks, Cheetham Hill Road, in honour of the two visitors. Among the company were Messrs. Daniel and William Grant (whom Mr. Dickens then met for the first time and after- wards immortalised as the ' Cheeryble Brothers '), Mr. J. C. Harter, Mr. James Crossley, and Canon Parkinson. One of the party — the only one left ■ — informs the writer that there was quite a passage of arms between Mr. Forster and the Canon, in which the somewhat ' confident cock- ney ' wit of the former was completely extin- guished by the strong powers of repartee exhibited by his more acute and ready Northern antagonist. This statement was evidently in- spired by the surviving member of the party, Mr. Crossley. How does Mr. Elliot dispose of PREFACE II it?" His difficulty was that this was a footnote written by the editor of the old volume forty years after the event, and was apparently right in the teeth of Mr. Dickens's own words written and published only nine years after the event in question. The above was followed on March 12th by the following note : — The Rev. W. Hume Elliot writes : — " Kindly allow m^e to refer briefly to a paragraph in the Miscellany column of the ' Manchester Guardian ' of Tuesday last. I have a very reverent regard for the memory of the author of ' Nicholas Nickleby,' and nothing short of incontestable evidence ought to convince one that if Charles Dickens had met the Grants in 1838-9 in social intercourse, either at Mr. Gilbert Winter's or anywhere else, he would, in 1848, have deliber- ately wtitten these words. : — ' The originals of the Brothers Cheeryble, with whom I never inter- changed any communication in my life.' — (Pre- face to ' Nicholas Nickleby,' dated ' Devonshire Terrace, May, 1848.') For years after 1848 Daniel Grant — the younger Cheeryble — was one of the best-known figures on the streets of Man- chester, yet, so far as I know, this explicit state- ment of Mr. Dickens was not challenged by anybody at the time." 12 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS On the same day a leading article in the Manchester Guardian, referring to Dickens's words, said : — " The whole passage is concerned with letters, and it seems quite easy and natural to take the words ' interchanged any communication ' in the limited sense of communication by letter. As- suming that Dickens had nevertheless met the brothers Grant in person, there is, of course, a suppression of the truth and consequent sug- gestion of a falsehood, though not perhaps so heinous as to be unpardonable in a passage written to put off begging letter writers. All that Dickens was obliged to say was, ' I am not in correspondence with the originals of the Cheeryble Brothers.' " This opinion was held also by Mr. W. Hewitson of the " Bury Times," and had been duly weighed and deemed inadequate by myself. On March 13th the "Manchester Guardian" had what follows : — "Another piece of testimony in favour of the view that Dickens met the originals of the Cheerybles is added by Mr. John Ambler to those cited in our leader columns yesterday. He writes : — ' It was my privilege to listen to the interesting lecture by the E.ev. W. Hume Elliot on " The Cheeryble Brothers " at the meeting of the Dickens Fellowship the other evening. The PREFACE 13 lueeting closed without any conclusive evidence that Charles Dickens had ever actually met the two brothers Grant — 'The Cheeryble Brothers.' I was talking over the matter and discussing your leader in this morning's ' Manchester Guardian ' with my friend, Mr. N. H. Hacking, of this city, and, strange to say, he told me of a conversation he had with Mr. W. K. Keeling, a former president of the Manchester Academy of Arts, who informed him that he (Mr. Keeling) was present at a dinner in Manchester when Charles Dickens and the two brothers Grant were also present. I have Mr. Hacking's permission for stating this, and thus corroborate the infor- mation contained in your leading article. I am sure no one will appreciate any additional evi- dence more than the Eev. W. Hume Elliot, who, I understand, is going to give a further discourse on the subject at one of the Dickens Fellowship meetings.' " This was succeeded on the 15th March by the following : — The Eev. W. Hume Elliot writes : — "I read with much interest the leading article in yesterday's 'Manchester Guardian' on the question, 'Did Dickens meet the Cheerybles ? ' My preposses- sions were all strongly in favour of an affirmative answer. I took Forster's words just as they stand, 14 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS and experienced no difficulty. But when I came face to face with Dickens's own words I did ex- perience a difficulty. The two statements were incompatible. I elected to assume a faint un- conscious looseness of phraseology on the part of Torster rather than admit — as your leader accu- rately states the alternative — ' a suppression of the truth and consequent suggestion of a false- hood' on the part of Dickens. My reverent re- gard for his memory made that choice grateful to me, but I do not think it interfered with free, unbiassed judgment. Daniel Grant was one of the most conspicuous men in Manchester for years after 1848, when the above statement of Dickens was published; and while, eight years before, 'every person who read the number in which the Cheerybles were mentioned, and who knew the Grants, immediately recognised that they were meant,' yet nobody appears to have challenged Dickens's statement. Moreover, of all the ' friends of arts and letters ' about Manchester of the time — embracing Gilbert Winter, James Crossley, Harrison Ainsworth, and even Canon Parkinson, with his admirable ' Old Church Clock,' — not one of them had left a single line to prove that Dickens ever met the Grants person- ally in social intercourse. In 1893 I stated publicly how the question stood at that time. PREFACE 15 Mr. Hewitson, of Bury, has faithfully recorded every testimony adduced since then in favour of Dickens and the Grants having personally met. While none of them appeared of sufficient weight to overbear the words of Dickens, yet, taken unitedly and with other elements in the case, they formed a pretty strong presumption that the parties had actually met. When I was asked to address the Dickens Fellowship I touched the point with a perfectly open mind, simply pointing out the difficulties, and withal hoping that some- thing further might crop up to lead to certitude. Happily it has come. The letter of Mr. Amhler in to-day's ' Miscellany,' giving the testimony of the late Mr. Keeling, may fairly he held to settle the question. I would personally thank Mr. Ambler and his friend Mr. Hacking. Thanks are due also for your leading article and to the Dickens Fellowship, which has been instrumental in bringing about a satisfactory settlement of what has hitherto been a moot point." Charles Dickens, therefore, did meet the Grants in 1838-1839. Moreover, although I have no direct evidence to that effect, yet it is not unlikely that he also visited " The Square " works of the Grants at Ramsbottom. See pp. 138 — 140 infra. W. H. E. Dundee Manse, e/amsbottom, manchester, August, 1906. i6 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS A matter of some interest has just come to m.y notice while this volume is passing through the press. Quite recently my friend and relative, Dr. Sephton, of Culcheth, Warrington, informed me that the Rector of Newchurch, Culcheth had in his possession some interesting relics more or less connected with the "Cheeryble Brothers." Three days ago I received the following letter from this gentleman — the Rev. E. W. Whitten- bury Kaye : — " Newchurch Rectory, Culcheth, Nr. Warrington, Dear Sir, — September 14, 1906. Whenever you are in this neighbourhood I shall be pleased to have a visit from you. I am a relative of the Dinwiddies and Whittenburys, and have a small portrait of Mr. Dinwiddie, who was a friend of Mr. Daniel Grant. I have also a large Bible given by Mr. Dinwiddie to Mr. Grant, and, strange to say, it has been transferred from the Grants to the Whittenburys. It has the following inscription : — ' To the Kind and Benevolent Daniel Grant, Esq., This Sacred Volume is Presented by His old and sincere friend, James Dinwiddie, Poole, Wharfdale, July, 1830, Then in his eightieth year.' PREFACE 17 'N-B. — Tlie above sincerely wishes Mr. D. Grant, Ms ever kind friend, a long continuance of health, prosperity and peace, on his entering his eighty-fifth year. July, 1835. James Dinwiddle.' A black-edged card has been gummed under- neath, bearing these words : — ' Died, This morning, at half-past ten o'clock, Mr. Dinwiddle, of apoplexy. Poole, May 25th, 1836.' It is a fine old Bible, printed in 1607. I remain. Tours sincerely, E. W. Whittenbury Kaye." I have visited Mr. Kaye since receiving the above letter. The Bible and portrait came to him after the death of Mr. Clifton Whittenbury, whose father, Mr. R. D. Whittenbury, of Ramsbottom, was long connected with the Grants.^ He, along with Major Grant, was executor and trustee under the will of the last William Grant — the nephew of the Cheerybles —who died in 1873. And Mr. R. D. Whittenbury 1. See p. 138 infra. C i8 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS was a grandson of Mr. Dinwiddie, of Hampson Mill, wlio gave employment to the Grants wlien they came to Lancashire in 1783 ; ^ in whose works the Cheerybles and their brothers served their apprenticeship to the calico printing, and from, whom they received much never-forgotten kind- ness.^ The portrait was given to Mr. Kaye as that of his ancestor, Mr. Dinwiddie, of Hampson Mill, who was his great-great-grandfather. Mr. Kaye's mother was a daughter of Mr. Cornelius "Whittenbury — a brother of Mr. Robert Dinwiddie Whittenbury of Ramsbottom. Mr. Dinwiddie evidently spent his closing years in retirement in Yorkshire. W. H. E. Dundee Manse, Ramsbottom, Manchester, September 18th, 1906. 1. See p. 157 infra. 2. See pp. 93—94. ME. JAMES DINWIDDIE, Of Hampson Mill, near Bury. STRATHSPEY CHAPTER I Strathspey SiE, Waltee, Scott, in his famous song, makes " Bonnie Dundee " say : — " If there's lords in the South, there are chiefs in the North;" and, similarly, it may he said: — "If there's dales in the South, there are straths in the North." From Clydesdale and Tweeddale, southwards, the Anglo- Saxon " dale " prevails, while, northwards, the Grselic " strath " is used, as in Strathearn, Strathen-ick, Strathnairn and many kindred names. One of the most picturesque and beautiful, as well as one of the most romantic of these northern valleys is Strathspey. It has been the home of the ancient and powerful elan Grant since they displaced the lordly Comyns. And there, in some respects, the old clan feeling still survives. Like the fitful, yet stirring, strains of the bagpipes from a distant, storm-swept hill, come historic notes of Strathspey from the far-off past. While the Danes were struggling strenuously in the South of England to gain that supremacy over the Saxon in the southern realm, which they ultimately achieved in 1016, Danish forces were operating 22 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS also in the North of Scotland to obtain supremacy- there. They were met by King Malcolm II., who suffered defeat at their hands in 1009. In the following year he again faced the invaders, and, in the first instance, was driven back with the loss of three of his chief nobles. But, lion-like, turning to bay at a pass near the ancient church of Mortlach, in the north-east of Strathspey, he hurled back the aggressors, slaying their general with his own hand, completely routed them and drove them from the land. In token of his victory he enlarged the church of Mortlach, where a grim memorial of the event may still be seen in the shape of three well-preserved Danish skulls built into its northern wall. A large stone which, tradition says, marked the grave of the vanquished Danish General, is still preserved ; and on the Conval Hill in the same parish are the remains of a Danish camp."^ After nearly seven centuries we find another military event of something like national import- ance in Strathspey. In the year after Killie- crankie and the death of Dundee, the heroic Highlanders, under General Buchan, were sur- 1. Also within the parish at the confluence of the Fiddioh and Dullen, on a strong position, are the ruins of Balveiy Oastle. Over the lofty gateway is inscribed the Athol family motto, " Furth fortune and fill the Fettris," HAUGHS O' CROMDALE 23 prised, and, after desperate resistance and great slaughter, defeated by the Royalist forces under Colonel Livingstone on the Haughs of Cromdale (1690). "Oh, sweet are Coila's haughs an' woods," said Robert Bums. And an old local couplet reminds us that Strathspey was famous for its rich, low-lying stretches of land, called " haughs." " Dipple, Dundurcas, Dandaleith and Dalvey are the four bonniest haughs in the long run 0' Spey." Ifot one of these, however, but honest Cromdale — ■ which, with the ancient and adjacent parishes of Inverallan and Advie, has been held by the Grants from very early times — was the scene of the stem conflict for the supremacy of William of Orange over the tenacious Highland adherents of the Stuarts. An old Strathspey ballad — ^no doubt fairly reflecting the quaintly facetious sentiments of the time — thus commemorates the struggle : — As I cam' in by Auchendown — A little wee bit fae the town — Unto the Highlands I was boun' To view the Haughs o' Cromdale. I met a man wi' tartan trews, I speir'd at him what was the news, He said the Hielan' army rues The day it cam' to Cromdale.' 1. Gaelic. Crom — crooked— and dail — meadow or plain, A crescent-shaped portion of the strath formed by the winding course of the Spey. 24 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS The Southern loons, sly, seized a chance, An' made the Hielan' birkies prance ; But mony a head they made to dance Upon the Haughs o' Cromdale ! The Grants, McKenzies, and Mackays, As soon's their foemen they did spy. Stood fast and fought raosc manfully Upon the Haughs o' Cromdale, etc.^ An interesting antecedent to this chivalrous Highland stand for the Stuarts on Speyside in 1690 is found in the fact that Charles II., return- ing from exile, landed at the mouth of the Spey in 1650, just where the village of Kingston — which took its name from the event — now stands. That His Majesty might land dryshod, Thomas Milne, the ferryman, waded to the boatside, and, with the courteous deference of that time, with hands firmly planted on his knees, presented his 1, The Dargai Pipers. — Piper Findlater, the hero of Dargai, wrote a letter to a relative, in which the following passages occur : "1 am getting on fairly well, and netting well attended to. They were not very sure whether I woiud get my leg taken off or not, but I think it is all right now. The wound is nearly well now. The hone was all smashed away. They took out six pieces of hone, and it is r', wonder that I had any bone in my leg to heal, but I was not so dangerously wounded as the papers said I was. It was me that played when I got shot, and it was a wonder I got away with my life, for I was sitting right in the open, and the bullets were glancing round me in all directions. If it is in the papers that my leg was taken off, it is not true." Piper Milne, the other hero, has written to a brother in Vancouver a letter, in which the sentence occurs, "Off we went, playing the 'Cock o' the North,' through a perfect storm of bullets." This would show that the Gordons entered upon their forlorn hope to that tune, and that the "Haughs of Cromdale" came later. "KING MILNE" 25 broad back to His Majesty with a quiet and laconic request to "loup on ! " Charles, both amused and a little frightened, thought he was "too great a weight for so little a man." Thomas laughed, and, looking up in the King's face, said, "Od! I may be ' leetle ' 0' stature, but I'se be bound I'm baith strong an' steedy, an* mony a weightier burden I've carried i' my day." Assured by those around him that there was no danger. His Majesty "loupit on," and was deposited by Thomas, safe and sound, on the boat green! Scotland, we apprehend, found Charles a much "weightier burden," during the next forty years, than good Thomas Milne did on this occasion. He received no reward for his gallantry; but he and his posterity have, ever since, borne the distinguishing name of King Milne. ^ King Charles was received by the Knight of Innes and entertained by him, in the house of his son, at Garmouth, where the clergy of Moray presented the Solemn League and Covenant, which the King signed. This finds corroboration in the fact that the title of that historic document, as printed by the Churches, bears the words, "and taken and subscribed by King Charles II. at Spey, 1. See "Account of tlie Great Floods," pp. 299-300. 26 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS June, 23rd, 1650, and at Scoon, January 1st, 1651."! From an early period the Grants have occupied a place of prominence and power in the North of Scotland. In the thirteenth century, in the reign of Alexander II., Gregory de Grant was Sherffi- principal of Inverness, Ross, Sutherland and Caithness. And the splendid gracefully-winged quadrangular pile of Castle Grant, on its comely eminence, once begirt with ancient forests and still adorned with many a stately tree, dates from the 14th Century. In the same century, and in the same ancient parish of Cromdale, Lochindorb Castle — in proud security then on its loch-lapped isle — sheltered the Countess of Athol after the death of the Earl in an engagement with the Earl of March ; and soon after, the old stronghold successfully resisted a siege by a powerful 1. Garmouth ought not to forget Milne. He not only safely landed the king, but, boat-hook in hand, led the attack against the Hibernian angels of Montrose, when they set to burning and pillaging the town. Sir Walter Scott says that elsewhere these "Angelic messengers requested the good citizens to step out of their clothes before putting them to death, lest the garments should be injured by the wounds or the blood!" Thomas had faced these "lambs," and when sorely pressed by five or six of them, had escaped as by a miracle. He wrenched a door from its hinges, pitched it into the river, and skilfully poising himself upon it, steered with his sett, or boat-hook, to the other side of the Spey. The pursuers followed in a cart, but, like Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, they were drowned. — See "Great Floods," pp, 300-1. CASTLE GRANT 27 Gordon ;i moreover it was occupied by Edward I. of England in the stormy and heroic days of William "Wallace. Mackerach Castle,^ now, like Lochindorb, a ruin, was built by a Grant at the close of the 16th Century. It is near the centre of the Strath and about two miles from the Spey that the stately Castle Grant still stands — the cynosure of clansmen's eyes; for there, secure in the loyalty of Highland hearts and the sweep of keen claymores, has re- mained, through more than five stern centuries, the roof-tree of the chief of the clan. Shadowy pines — the clansman's badge — still adorn with fitting grace the surrounding scene, while, child of the cloud-cleaving Grampians, and eager as a clansman for the fray, the noble Spey still rushes past — the fleetest and most generous of British streams. Its strath is the largest Highland val- ley, and the greatest waterway north of the 1. Morayshire seemed not to have loved the Gordons in olden times. A rather amusing saying of its people, in those unregenerate days, was : — " The Gule, the Gordon, and the hoodie craw Are the three worst foes that Moray ever saw." But there were manifestly reprisals, for another old saying was : — ' ' A win, fae Meams and a wife, fae Moray Are the two worst things a Highlander could hae.'' 2. Near here, in 1771, Sir James McGrigor, who became chief of the Army Medical Department, was born. 28 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Grampians. Draining the northern face of that stately mountain range the Spey, year by year, so rapid is its flow, pours more water into the sea than any other British river. Very varied is the scenery through which it flows. Born far away to the south-west, towards the loch-linking line of the Caledonian Canal, and cradled among bleak and heathery hills, it pursues its lone way down the opening strath. Here and there a Highland loch, like many a heroic life, gleams and glooms by turns in the level uplands — now reflecting storm and elemental strife, and anon soft clouds, the lark as it soars, and wild fowl as they flit across the sky, and at night the stars. Then the hills on either side — like stern battalions con- verging to bar an enemy's line of march — gather in upon the flowing stream, until, amid hoary crags and pine and birk-clad slopes, there scarce seems opening for its onward flow. But, bravely cleaving its way through the opposing mass, like the Greys at Balaclava, it rallies again beyond. Thence onward it sweeps while, as if almost "by surprise, like small contingents of youthful clans- men hastening to their chief, eager burns and frisking streams emerge from glens on either side and swell the volume of the Spey. And as it hurries on, the cultivated land — dotted with com- fortable villages, cosy homesteads, and here and THE TWO CRAIGELLACHIES 29 there a majision fair to see — increases in the widening strath alike in area and fertility, until it reaches the lowlands of Moray near the sea — a district unsurpassed in Scotland for climate and agriculture.! The territory of the Grant clan proper extended along Strathspey for about five- and-thiriy miles,^ bounded at either extremity by a prominent rock or hill called Craigellachie. Thus its chieftain ruled supreme " between the two Craigellachies." Upon these famous crags, in days of yore, when danger waved its wakeful wand over Castle Grant, the chief forthwith set a beacon-pile ablaze to warn the faithful clansmen to his side. And to-day the crest of the Grants is a burning rock, while as legend underneath we find the old battle-cry of the clan : "Stand fast Craigellachie !" But while the laird of Grant was tribal chief and every clansman owed allegiance to him, with fleeting years and generations many smaller septs or families of Grants sprang up — descendants no doubt of cadets and scions of the central tribal line, to whom grants or " wadsets " of land had 1. It is worthy of note that the Flora of Morayshire is that of a more southerly clime — a unique phenomenon in the botany of the north. 2. The Spey rises about sixteen miles south of Fort Augustus, and from Loch Spey, a small mountain tarn in the parish of Laggan, from which it issues, has a course of ninety-six miles, draining 1,300 square miles of country. 3f) THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS been made. This was sub-let by them, as superiors, to their immediate followers, who were bound to obey their call either to warfare or to work. But these — superiors and tenants alike — all owned the sway of the chief of the clan, like planets and their satellites round the sun. It is this sub-division of the clan that is pointed at, with characteristic humour, in the following snatches of a famous old song : — Come the Grants o' Tullochgoruin, Wi' their pipers gawn before 'em, Proud the mothers are that bore 'em, Feedle-fa-fum ! Next the Grants o' Rothiemurchus Every man his sword and dirk has, Every man as proud's a Turk is, Feedle-deedle-dum ! The prevailing name in the district is still Grant. But in the old days very few indeed were the farms held by any but Grants. Now and then a stranger might come and settle among them, but usually such persons, in deference to the prevailing sentiment of the Strath, became Grants too, by simply assuming the name. Hence even to a recent date many families of Grants were distinguished by a local " tee "-name. Such were the Mores, the Allans, the Chearans, the Owers, the Roys, the Maconishes, the Macrobbies and others, but all of these also looked to the laird of Grant as their hereditary chief. CHEERIE STATHSPEY 31 Strathspey — with, its subsidiary glens and streams, its lochs and mountains, hoary crags, sylvan slopes and pastoral charms — has imbued its sons through successive generations with that love of country which is so characteristic of the High- lander, and that subtle sentiment which breathes the very music of the everlasting hills and bewitching glens. Though by no means unfamiliar with hardships and misfortune — desolating storms and floods and often much-minished harvests — yet it seems always to have had a bright and sunny side : — It's had misfortunes great an' sma', But aye a heart ahune them a'. If there had to be plain living there was also not a little high thinking, through much brave endurance and noble endeavour, and to-day the world is perceptibly richer for the sons and daughters of Strathspey. Moreover, it has done something to quicken the pulse and enliven the too often care-burdened and grief-laden march of mankind. Its Highland dances and dance music — born to make the hearts glow and eyes gleam of both young and old, as Hornpipes, jigs, Stratlispeys, and reels Put life an' mettle in their heels — are known well-nigh all the world over. 32 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS " Strathspeys !" — " familiar in our moutlis as household words." Instinct with vitality and verve — thanks to the musical genius of such men as Marshall and Neil Gow — the Lowlands, as well as the Highlands, have felt their gay electric thrill, and owned their peculiar charm ; while from distant lands and over many seas gladsome groups in social glee — with sunny hearts and sometimes tender drops, or flecks of gathering Highland mist about the eyes — echo back the inspiring strains. A fair Canadian, who had heard much and learnt something of Highland life from her grandparents, who in early life had left their native strath for the great Western Dominion, visited Strathspey. She had heard, far away, faint snatches of that Lament of men That languish for their native glen, whose plaintive, wailing air in We return, we return, we return no more, has so often hallowed the purple heather with tears as emigrant groups took the last long look at their native glens. Her whole being throbbed with an indescribable kind of hallowing excitement, as if the wistful longings of three generations had centred in her single person, and the long heart- THE FAIR CANADIAN 33 hunger were now at length heing appeased. She could not feel quite a stranger. There were names of Speyside champions familiar to her from her childhood — Donald, who could lift the greatest weight and farthest putt the heavy stone ; Hector who tossed the mighty caher, and threw the hammer farther than any rival; and Sandy, too, of lighter mould and perfect grace, who bore the gree for the sword dance and the Highland fling. But busy years had been reaping " the bearded grain " in Strathspey as surely as in the far-off Dominion, although the inevitable fact somehow seemed to come home to her with something like a shock of surprise. For true it was as of old : Ajax and Great Achilles were no more. ' Of the days long gone by, to which her enquiries related " the best, the dearest, all were gone." ^ But, unlike her own loved ones laid low by the distant shores of Lake Huron — Tovs S rjST] KaT€^ev (j>v... /.a;-. 1 PStes^- 'C^:'-'-::i^ ^^:^S ■ ' m g_ -.— -? ^^^MriBBH ':;---W:;:-.v^..^.'-M NUTTALL HALL AND GRANT'S TOWER. AGGRESSION AND ACQUISITION 119 attention, ceaseless activity and long hours. But it was done. And thus a firm foundation was laid for future aggressive work. Daniel for some time was much " on the road." But whether " travelling " or at headquarters his brain was teeming with far-reaching schemes of foreign enterprise, which, through many difficulties, as the yeaxs rolled on, were successfully carried out. Their well-directed industry soon enabled them to sweep off the financial burden on the Ramsbottom estate, and thus pave the way to further acquisi- tions. In 1812 they purchased the Nuttall Mill and estate, and subsequently the old Shipperbottom farmhouse was replaced by the modem Nuttall Hall — with its dainty dells at the base of the hill behind, and shady walks and bright cascade — which became the residence of Mr. John Grant. In 1815 they purchased Blackley Hall, near Manchester, with four acres of land adjacent, and soon a " print-shop " which they let, arose on the site of the old mansion. In 1815 they purchased Springside, about midway between Bury and Eamsbottom, where William and Daniel Grant — the genial Cheerybles — lived, and where both of them died. In 1827 they bought the Park Estate, and in the following year erected on it the memorial tower which now crowns the " Top o' th' Hoof," " on the very spot, as William tells us. 120 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS from which they looked down for the first time on Ramsbottom and the middle valley of the Irwell in 1783. After more than forty years, from " Top o' th' Hoof " right across the valley and up the lower slope of Holcombe Hill was their own! Meanwhile in Manchester their well-known warehouse in Cannon Street ^ was the busy centre of widely-extending commercial operations, as well as manifold benevolent doings; while from 1815 the town house of Daniel in Mosley Street ^ became a distinguished social rendezvous, always graced with the most generous hospitality, familiar to the leading Manchester men of all classes, as well as to the " distinguished strangers " of the tim^e. High jinks were not unknown in Mosley Street. A "distinguished stranger" of a princely house, referring to their extensive foreign operations, once said to them it would be a desirable thing for even a prince to be .i partner in such a firm ; and asked whether in such a case its title would be & Grant? William quietly answered, "It would, no doubt, be a high honour to be so connected with your Highness, but with the greatest deference the name of Grant would have 1. No. 3, Cannon Street. 2. Now Nos. 15 and 17. THEIR "DICKENS" NAMES I2i to be first ! " Thougli no doubt a playful ren- contre, it was characteristic — the Grrants were throughout supremely jealous of the honour and good fame of the name they bore. One who had known them in earlier days, in Bury, wrote, in 1839: — "While your name has been sounded in my ears at Batavia, at Singapore, and at Calcutta in the East, it has been equally favourably mentioned to me at New Orleans, at Baltimore and New York in the Western World." It was mainly Daniel's genius that brought about this result. He was one of the brightest and ablest of those keen-visioned business men who, from Manchester, in the opening decades of the century, pioneered and pushed that far-reach- ing commerce in the staple products of Lanca- shire, which, despite the obstacles that have confronted it, from time to time, still stands un- equalled, and engirdles the globe. The great novelist, in " Nicholas Nickleby," uses the name of "Charles" — "brother Charles and Brother Ned" — though, without doubt, the per- sonalities of William and Daniel are in his eye. "Brother Ned," as presented by Dickens, is un- mistakably William; and "Brother Charles" is, no less surely, Daniel. Their youngest brother, Charles, was generally at Ramsbottom, and after his marriage lived at Barwood House, near the 122 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS works. His name was specially identified with the building of the great works called "The Square." The youngest — born in Lancashire — and best educated — an alumnus of Bury Grammar School — he was also, perhaps the most forceful, resolute and commanding of all the Grants. Poor Charles ! He died in 1825, at the age of thirty-seven. How true it is "that souls are dangerous things to carry straight, through all the spilt saltpetre of the world." ^ Three brothers remained, in Lancashire. Of these, William was the eldest and Daniel the youngest. Mr. John Grant, more of a yeoman than a merchant or manufacturer, admirably managed the landed property acquired by the firm; while, being resi- dent at Nuttall Hall, about an equal distance from the Square and Nuttall Village, he also took some oversight of the works at these places, es- pecially the latter. The great enterprises of the firm, however, were mainly in the hands of William and Daniel. One of William's pet maxims was, " Good masters make good work- men"; and his favourite counsel — Always be civil, Always be civil, Civility's cheap, Civility's cheap. Always be civil ! 1. Aurora Leigh. COMPLEMENTAL GIFTS 123 He and Daniel, wlio was over twelve years His junior, appear to have been each the fitting com- plement of the other. Daniel was endowed with commercial genius of the ampler type; William had more of the indcroscopic element in his com- position — could plod unwearyingly through the minuter details of business, with an intuitive sense of their relationship to the greater end in view. Daniel's mental mould was more tele- scopic. His keen eye swept the horizon, and gauged with singular accuracy the wider and remoter possibilities of a campaign. He was the clear-visioned, hard-working statesman of the firm; William the model executive. It was, no doubt, the happy blending of these complemental endowm^ents and the priceless heritage of genial and generous natures, with enormous energy and unfailing brotherliness, that raised the firm of William Grant & Brothers to the high position it occupied. Like qualities in combination have kindred results still. For half-a-century the firm held a prominent place among the great houses of Manchester, and always promptly and liberally supported the ameliorative public movements and educational and charitable institutions of that important period. They were opponents of the Corn Bill in the year of Waterloo, and continued generous 124 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS contributors to the agitation directed against the Corn Laws until their repeal in 1846. At their homes they were profusely hospitable, while they scattered money freely by the way to their less fortunate fellows, and were never above pulling up and alighting from their carriage to chat with and quietly assist an old neighbour or friend whose face recalled to them the struggle of their earlier years. Indeed, one of the best tributes that can be paid to their memory is just this, that there was nothing in their lives when it was their lot to be poor which caused them to be ashamed when it was their fortune to become rich. They were sound to the core. The heart aye's the palrt aye That makes us right or wrang. ' In letters of gold round the central dome of Manchester Exchange are these words : — "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favour rather than silver and gold." The Grants worthily exemplified that beautiful maxim. Prosperity and affluence followed in its train. Once, and, as stated by William himself, " only once," in a public place an English " gen- tleman," wishing to insult him, said, "I believe, 1. Robert Burns. MR. JOHN SLAGG, M.P. 125 Mr. Grant you were very 'poor when you came to these parts." "Oh, yes," said William, "I was very poor, and if it had been you, you would have remained poor." A reminiscence of the late Mr. John Slagg, M.P., reveals the daily experience of Mr. "William Grant in Manchester. " By the time of his ar- rival a number of poor people had gathered at the warehouse door awaiting his coming. When his carriage drew up they would divide into two lines, forming an avenue from the carriage to the ware- house door through which he passed. If he did not distribute his alms to them himself, he would send out a clerk to them, and I believe they seldom went away unrelieved." Of the younger brother, Mr. Slagg said — "I well remember how proud I was one morning when, my master having learnt they were want- ing concentrated lime-juice at the works, he sent me to the warehouse to see Daniel Grant, and make him an offer of some. To my delight he ordered a hundred pounds worth. In giving the order he wasted no words, and yet did it so kindly that I have never forgotten the circumstance." As the first Sir Eobert Peel recognised the worth of the Grants in their early days and proved helpful to them in their progress, so to struggling merit these brothers, in their turn, were always 126 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS sympathetic, helpful friends. When young Nasmyth — afterwards of steam-hammer fame — came to Manchester, and commenced business in Dale Street, with about twice as many pounds in the way of capital as he was years of age, he was introduced to the Grants, and William invited him to dine. The story of the young engineer, elicited by his host, won William's regard, and he told Nasmyth on the spot that £500 would be at his disposal at the office, for wages, etc., any Saturday he might need it, at three -per cent., and-no security ! Nasmyth could only whisper thanks as he " got a kindly squeeze of the hand in return, and a kind of wink " he would " never forget — a most knowing wink." He discovered afterwards " that the eye was made of glass," and had a tendency to get displaced.^ When William was a toddlin' child, a servant gir] who was very fond of him snatched him up one day and danced round the kitchen, to his great delight, with him in her arms. But, unfortunately, she slipped, and the little fellow's face fell on the live embers on the hearth. E«scue was the work of a moment, but, unhappily, one eye was destroyed. In her old age his mother related the incident as the great sorrow of her early 1. Nasmyth's Autobiography, pp. 186-7. THE SCEXE OF THE CHATTERTON RIOT. JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 127 motherhood, and as she did so wept again at the remembrance of the sad mishap. To the end of her days he was as the apple of her eye. In 1824 William — the elder Cheeryble — was made a Justice of the Peace of the County Palatine; and in 1826 his kindly and persuasive appeal having failed to turn the rioters from their fell purpose, he read the Riot Act at the head of a military force at the fatal Chatterton Riot.i In 1836 he laid the foundation stone of the Henshaw Blind Asylum at Old Trafford, and was presented with a suitably engraved silver trowel for the function. As the speech delivered on that occasion is about the only public utterance of his preserved, we shall give it. It is as follows : — ^ He said they were met together on a solemn and interesting occasion, and what they then saw must excite the sympathy of all who were capable of thinking for the distressed condition of those poor creatures who were deprived of the blessing which most others enjoyed. When he looked at deaf and dumb children and thought of the deprivations to which they were subjected, he could not but consider the work in which they 1. To destroy the power-looms. Chatterton is about a mile above Kamsbottom. The historic factory has recently disappeared. 2. Manchester Courier, March 26th, 1836. 128 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS were engaged as a Godlike effort to relieve liumaii misery. It must be gratifying to all to see the committee, the trustees, and the friends of these institutions using their best endeavours to minister to the comforts of the deaf and dumb; and it was gratifying also that a chapel was to be erected in which they could worship God, in company with the inmates of the asylum for the blind. When he considered the munificent gift of the late Mr. Henshaw, he could not but think that it would have been a source of great gratification to him could he have lived to witness the benevolence which had been displayed in the subscriptions for this building. By the inventions which had recently been made in the art of printing, books might now be had in which the letters were raised on the surface for the use of the blind, and thus they could be taught the Word of God. They were also, by an ingenious contrivance, enabled to correspond with each other by means of knots in their knitting which would be a source of great pleasure to them. He hoped that the donations and subscriptions would be increased by the benevolence of the wealthy — that those who had so much would give a little of their wealth, and that when it should please God to take them to Himself He would raise up in their successors a race of men who would carry on the benevolent HENSHAW'S BLIND ASYLUM 129 work which they had now begun. He was aware that there were many gentlemen who ought to have been chosen to lay the stone in preference to himself; hut as he had been requested to do it he undertook the office with gratitude to God, who had enabled him to do it. (Cheers.) 130 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "The Square," "Tim Linkinwater," etc. We may now refer to "The Square," that struc- ture whose name, translated to "the heart of a busy town like London," by the pen of Charles Dickens, in "Nicholas Nickleby," became familiar throughout and beyond the English-speaking world. The growing prosperity that had attended the efforts of the Grants led them, about 1820, to resolve upon the erection of a calico-printing establishment of such magnitude as would enable them to concentrate their varied operations within its single area. "The Square" was the result. It was built in 1821-22. The external measurement of each of its four sides is 241 feet, and it is three storeys high. How did the new works come to be constructed in this form? Where did the idea come from. An incident in the life of Mr. Charles Grant, related to the writer one day by Mrs. Wilson,^ reveals the genesis of the Square — the Square at Ramsbottom and the Square of Charles Dickens.^ One Monday morning Charles 1. Eliza Macfarlane — in the second decade of the nineteenth century a young employ^ in the Grants' warehouse at Rams- bottom, and afterwards Mrs. Grant's maid at Grant Lodge. She married Mr. Samuel Wilson. She died in 1893, in her ninety-second year. 2. "Nicholas Nickleby," chap, xxxvii. MRS. WILSON, IN HER NINETJETII YEAR. ORIGIN OF "THE SQUARE" 131 called for his horse "Wellington," mounted, and set off without saying anything to "Eobert" — the groom — or any one in the house as to where he was going. Days and nights passed and nothing was heard of him, and the family had begun to feel great anxiety, when, about midnight on the following Saturday, he returned, horse and rider alike wearied with their journey. His aged mother, relieved and rejoicing, hurried off her granddaughter Grace, and Eliza,i midnight though it was, half-dressed, to Nuttall Hall, to apprise Mr. John of his return. Grace threw up small stones at her uncle's bedroom window to awake him, and then called out that " Uncle Charles " had come. When Charles was asked "where he had been, and whatever had taken him so unex- pectedly away," he told them he had been to Hull or Nottingham — Mrs. Wilson was not sure, but thought it was one or other of these towns — where he had seen an establishment which greatly interested him. It was, he said, constructed in the form of a square, and surrounded with water. The raw materials went in at one side of the en- trance, and the manufactured articles were turned out at the other, ready for the market. That, he said, he was resolved, was the form in which their 1. Mrs. Wilson. 132 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS own new works should be built. The "Square" on the verge of the Irwell at Ramsbottom stands to-day exactly as here described — the river and adjacent lodges leaving only terra firma for the necessary approach. We asked, "Who was the architect of the Square?" "They had none." "Who made the plans for the builder?" "John Cunliffe, the drawer," ^ that is, the designer at the print-works. "They set Adam Brooks and other masons to work, and superintended it them- selves." Charles was the soul of this enterprise. The building was up at the first of its three storeys when the ox was roasted in its centre fof the coronation celebration of George lY. — July 19th, 1821. On that coronation day there was a great and memorable demonstration at Ramsbottom. The morning presented a very animated scene. From far and near, up the valley and down, from iso- lated homes and busy hamlets and villages that flecked the sides of the neighbouring hills, were seen trooping the goodly company of hand-loom weavers employed by the Grants. They gathered, 1. Perfectly in harmony with this statement is the inscription on his tombstone at Old Dundee Chapel : — Sacred to the Memory of John Cunliffe, of Ramsbottom, Desiijner and Architect, Who departed this life April 23rd, 1824, Aged 50 years. CORONATION DEMONSTRATION 133 we are told, to tlie numter of eighteen hundred at the appointed rendezvous in Ramsbottom, and were there joined by those employed in the works. All were decked in their gayest attire — the girls in white jean dresses and pink sashes. At the appointed hour the great procession was formed, and marched to Bury. At its head, on horseback, rode the Grants — William, John, Daniel, and Charles — and a numerous company of gentlemen friends. Mr. John Grant, of Nuttall Hall, occu- pied the place of honour, bearing some impressive symbol, which Mrs. Wilson described as " a grand thing, like what you see on the pennies, with a crown on it." Bury was duly reached, and it was admitted that the procession of the Grants fairly eclipsed all others on the great occasion. One leaf, however, July though it was, fell from the stately tree — one home, amidst the rejoicings, was filled with sorrow. It was " a broiling day," and one of the girls drank freely at a wayside well on the route, became suddenly ill, and died. The processionists, having returned to Eamsbottom, were entertained at a grand banquet provided by the firm. The tables were placed across the field ^ lying between Grant Lodge and Carr Bank. A bullock and many sheep had been roasted inside 1. Chapel Field. 134 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS the Square works, which were being built at the time. " There was such bringing and borrowing of knives and forks, and many dozens were bought." "They were brewing for weeks and weeks before ; and the puddings — what numbers ! — great round 'uns in cloths, boiled in the boilers ! " To Mrs. Wilson, who was in the merry midst of what she described, we are indebted for these and many other particulars embodied in these pages. Those were palmy days — "Daniel Grant used to come from Manchester on Sunday mornings in a carriage and four with postilions. He generally brought merchants with him — mostly foreigners. They always went together in the forenoon to worship at 'Dundee.'" ^ An incident connected with the building of the Square works, related to the writer many years ago by one who long occupied an important place in them, is somewhat illustrative of those times. One day — it might be soon after the coronation festival — the masons, complaining greatly of thirst, marched off towards Holcombe Hill; not, however, to any of the limpid springs there to have it quenched ! They halted at the old inn in the village of liolcombe, and tried another beverage. By-and-by, Charles, finding the works deserted. 1. The English Presbyterian Clmrcli at Ramsbottom. iin. JOHN GIIAXT, OF XUTTALL HALL. BUILDING OF "THE SQUARE" 135 set out in quest of the delinquents. He found them, and requested them to resume their work. They would return, of course, as he wished, but meanwhile he must, they urged, partake with them. He yielded. There, unhappily, lurked his greatest peril. The hours flew fleetly past — As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure, The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure ; Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the ills o' life victorious ! ' Mr. John Grant next missed the errant builders, and, having set out in pursuit of the lost tribe, somewhat to their dismay he found them and their young master alike absorbed in other occu- pations than building the Square. The elder brother, justly irritated, gave expression to his indignation by pushing the foreman ofl: his chair. Charles, impetuous, seeing this, made a rush at his brother, who fled precipitately, hotly pursued; but being clearer-headed, he was also surer-footed, and so escaped unscathed. By nest morning, not before, the thirst was allayed, and the work re- sumed. In old days a foot-bridge over the Irwell, on the south side of the Square, connected the works with the path across the holm to Nuttall Hall. One year that part of the holm opposite this foot- bridge was growing turnips, and Mr. John Grant 1. Robert Burns. 136 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS one morning caugM a young man carrying one of the tempting esculents into the works. By way of punishment, he ordered the offender to eat it on the spot. He began, but by-and-by the wheels drave very heavily, and once and again he wished to be excused. But no, the master was inexor- able. He stood over him with his walking-stick until root, bulb, tops, and all had been consumed. Then, with an admonition, he sent him to his work. It was a somewhat drastic chastisement, and never forgotten. For years after, even the sight of a turnip was, if possible, avoided. vSo one would readily suppose ! Another incident, at an earlier date, will show the rough-and-ready way in which offenders were sometimes handled in those times. Bleaching was then carried on by the Grants, and one dark night the watchman on his rounds observed that one of the pieces stretched on the bleach-field was gradu- ally receding from its original position. He sus- pected the cause, and adroitly succeeded in capturing the delinquent in possession of the booty. He was locked up, and, next morning, marched off to Bolton, to appear before the magis- trates. But, before starting to face the august tribunal, the piece which he had stolen, still wet, was wrapped round his body and firmly secured; and, thus swathed, he had to march to his trial — seven miles — at a quick pace. " He wur welly A MELTING MARCH 137 (well-nigh) melted, and fairly at t' fur end when he got to Bowton." No wonder ! The magis- trates, it was presumed, duly considered the puni- tive value of this unique and melting march to justice, and imposed a correspondingly mitigated penalty. At the time of its erection and equipment hy the Grants, the Square was considered one of the most perfect works of its kind — a model calico- printing establishment. 1 It embraced machine- 1. In vol. i. of the second edition of "Chemical Essays," principally relating to the arts and manufactures of the British Dominions, by Samuel Parkes, F.L.S., M.R.I,, F.S.A. (Ed.), Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Fellow of the Geological and Astronomical Societies of London, &c., published in 1823, we find the following reference to the " new works on a larger scale of Meswrs. William Grant & Brothers, of Ramsbottom" — that is, to the Square. The author says : ' ' This establishment I have lately seen, and having been surprised, not only at the greatness of the concern, but also at the judgment which has been displayed in the arrangement of the building and the adaptation of one part to the other throughout the whole of this extensive manufactory, I obtained leave to make a few drawings and take measures of the machinery — for the purpose not only of correcting what was said of the Ramsbottom printworks in the former edition of these essays, but also to direct the attention of the public to an establishment which does honour to the country, and reflects the utmost credit on the talents and enterprise of the proprietors. ... In erecting this establish- ment, the proprietors have evidently studied neatness and elegance as well as usefulness, and in the whole of their machinery they seem to have availed themselves of every new invention that can be considered an improvement in calico- printing. . . It is the opinion of good judges that these printworks wUl be capable of beginning and finishing one thousand pieces per day throughout the year; and that, when completed, they will be the largest and most convenient works of any in Europe." 138 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS printing from the first, but at that time the machine occupied a subordinate position to the hlocli printing. Afterwards, however, the m.achine printing became supreme, although it never entirely supplanted the other at the Square. These works ran their course, under the Grants, in about forty-five years — 1821-1866.^ It is interesting to note that Thomas Richardson — who was long the highly valued bookkeeper and confidential clerk of the Grants, was, in all likeli- hood, the prototype of the immortal " Tim Link- inwater" in "Nicholas Nickleby." Mrs. Wilson, who knew him well, often referred in her latter years to the estimable character of " Thomas Richardson," and the high esteem in which he was held by his genial and generous employers. Where did the gentle and humane "Tim" get the "blind blackbird " of the counting-house which Dickens tells us " dreamed and dozed away his days in a large snug cage, and had lost his voice from old age, years before ' Tim ' bought 1 . The following were successively managers of the Grants' works: Mr. Joshua Knowles, who afterwards established the well-known printworks at Tottington, was manager on the old ground, but before the opening of the Square ; Mr. Charles Grant at first practically managed tlie Square ; Mr. Thomas Greig, who \vent to Rosebank in 1831 ; Mr. Charles Guest, jMr. Richard Crossley, and Mr. R. D. Whittenbury followed. From 18.52 to the present time the management of the estate of the Grants ha.s been, until recently, practically in the hands of Mr. J. S. W., now Major Grant. Mr. Will'iam Grant— a cousin of the Cheerybles — long managed Nuttall Mill. He was known as " Wellfield," from living in Welltield House. CEIMBLE WOOD. THE "BRIDS" 139 him?" The following may indicate the probable quarter. A fine clear-headed old villager at ^N'uttall, who was bravely climbing the rounds of the ninth decade of the long ladder of her life, and who had been born and had lived all her days in the village, was asked one day by the writer about the treatment of song-birds in the sylvan surroundings of Nuttall, in her young days. Her reply in substance was this : — BIED-CATCHING. Brids ? Teigh ! There wur aluz sum o' th' young 'uns as wur fain to get howd o' th' brids, an' mony a bonny 'un they browt whoam. Robins an' sparrows wur common enoof, but they geet layrocks an' linties and blackbirds and starlings and shepsters (thrushes) an' yallo'-yommers or j-orlins, as sum o' th' owd 'uns coed 'em. Them yallo'-yommers wur as bonny crayters as ever flipt a wing, yallo as a horange — or 'appen moar like them lemons as we see rooks ov neaw, but we'd no sich mak' o' things i' them days — breet yallo' they wur o' deawn t' breast, tha knows, leet and gliss'nin' i' t' sun, th' edge 0' th' feathers on th' wings and tail wur gowden yallo', too — as pratty things as onybody could look on. Aw could, 'a blubbert like a little foo' sumtimes to see t' 140 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS layrocks i' t' cage start o' singin' fair inspired- like, wi' t' music in 'em, for then up they wapt wi' t' wings o' thwittrin' and coom rest agen t' roof o' t' cage. They wur coptives and newt elze ! But they did what th' owd Jeaws reet enouf too, wouldn't shap' for doin' abeawt Bobbylon, they fairly did sing — t' sunleet made 'em forget t' cage and sing their nat'ral song. Yeigh ! hut aw thowt as how t' lads had no moar reet to put them little layrocks and linnets i' t' cage than t' great foak 'ad to put poor 'uns i' t' prison for nowt. Them brids are bonniest and most nat'ral i' th' oppen air and sunleet, wi' th' blue welkin oer 'em and no cage-top aboon to stop their nimble little thwittrin' wings. These village youths, some of whom were workers at the Square, could well supply the tender-hearted " Tim " with feathered friends for his peculiar care. But any keen-eyed observer entering the counting-house where " Tim " and the " blind blackbird" were supreme, might also have de- tected not only " shipj)ing announcements'' and "steam-packet lists," but also the originals of the old "blunderbuss that was rusty and shattered," and " the two swords that were broken and edge- less," and which, among "statements of charities," &c., "became emblems of mercy and forbearance." EUINS AT NUTTALL VILLAGE. INFANT SCHOOLS 141 In a Yolume published in 1844/ we find the following references to the elder Cheery ble. The cases are authentic. "In company with a gentle- man who was writing lectures on the advantages of early religious, moral, and intellectual train- ing, Mr. William Grant asked, "Well, how do you go on in establishing schools for infants?" The reply was, "Very encouraging indeed. Wherever I have gone, I have succeeded either in inducing good people to establish them, or in pro- curing better support to those that are already established. But I must cease my labours; for what with printing bills, coach fare, and other expenses, every lecture I deliver in any neigh- bouring town costs me a sovereign, and I cannot afford to ride my hobby at such a rate." Mr. Grant said: 'You must not cease your labours. God has blessed them with success. He has blessed you with talents, and me with wealth. If you give your time, I ought to give my money. Tou must oblige me by taking this twenty-pound note, and spending it in promoting the education of the poor.' The twenty-pound note was taken and so spent, and probably one thousand children are now enjoying the benefit of an impulse that 1. " Pictorial History of Lancashire." London : Geo. Rout- ledge, 36, Solio Square. 142 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS was then given to a mode of instruction as de- liglitful as it is useful." He was one day waited on by two gentlemen who were raising a subscription for the widow of a respectable man, who some years before bis death had been unfortunate in business. " But we lost £200 by him," said Mr. Grant, " and how do you expect that I should subscribe for his widow?" "Because," answered one of them, " what you lost by the husband does not alter the widow's claim on your benevolence." "Neither shall it," said he. " Here are five pounds. If you cannot make up the sum you want for her, come back to me, and I'll give you five more." A young student was consumptive, and his only chance for life was removal into a warmer climate, which he could not afford. It was Mr. Grant's object to devise a pious fraud, by which he could serve the young man without offending his pride. He said, "We have a vessel which is to touch at Madeira. The captain will be glad to have your company so far, and our correspondent will find you lodgings for the winter at a cheap rate." The student resolved to go. A few days before he sailed, Mr. Grant wrote: "We are sending a young man to our agent by the vessel you sail in. Will you be kind enough to pay him some atten- tion on the voyage ? " On their arrival at MERCY AND GENEROSITY 143 Madeira, the agent invited the student to his house till he could procure lodgings for him, but day after day had to invent fresh excuses for not finding them. At last he said, "It is such a com- fort to me to have an Englishman to talk to, that you would do me a great favour if you would take up your abode with me." All this had been ar- ranged beforehand. But death came notwith- standing. "Poor fellow," said Mr. Grant; "but I have the consolation of thinking that he never found out how we had managed for him ! " Many years ago a warehouseman published a scurrilous pamphlet, in which he endeavoured, but very unsuccessfully, to hold up the house of Grant Brothers to public ridicule. Mr. William re- marked that the man would live to repent what he had done, and this was conveyed by some tale- bearer to the libeller, who said, " Oh, I suppose, he thinks I shall some time or other be in his debt, but I will take good care of that." It happens, however, that a man in business cannot always choose who shall be his creditors. The pam- phleteer became a bankrupt, and the Brothers held an acceptance of his which had been endorsed to them by the drawer, who had also become a bankrupt. The wantonly-libelled men had thus become creditors of the libeller. They now had it in their power to make him repent of his audacity. 144 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS He could not obtain liis certificate without their signature, and without it he could not enter into business again. He had obtained the number of signatures required by the bankruptcy law except one. It seemed folly to hope that the firm of "The Grant Brothers" would supply the deficiency. What ! they who had cruelly been made the laughing-stocks of the public, forget the wrong and favour the wrongdoer ! He despaired ; Mr. Grant was there alone, and his first words to the delinquent were, " Shut the door. Sir ! " sternly uttered. The door was shut, and the libeller stood trembling before the libelled. He told his tale and produced his certificate, which was instantly clutched by the injured merchant. ^'You wrote a pamphlet against us once," exclaimed Mr. Grant. The supplicant expected to see his parchment thrown into the fire. But this was not its desti- nation. Mr. Grajit took a pen, and, writing some- thing upon the document, handed it back to the bankrupt. He, poor wretch, expected to see "rogue, scoundrel, libeller" inscribed; but there was, in fair, round characters, the signature of the firm! — "We make it a rule," said Mr. Grant, "never to refuse signing the certificate of an honest tradesman, and we have never heard that you were anything else." The tears started into the poor man's eyes. "Ah," said Mr. Grant, "COALS OF FIRE" 145 "my saying was true. I said you would live to repent writing that pamphlet. I did not mean it as a threat ; I only meant that some day you would know us better, and repent you had tried to injure us. I see you repent of it now." "I do, I do," said the grateful man; "I bitterly repent it." "Well, well, my dear fellow, you fcaow us now. How do you gel on? What are you going to do?" The poor man stated that he had friends who could assist him when his certificate was obtained. "But how are you off in the meantime?" And the answer was, that having given up every farthing to his creditors, he had been compelled to stint his family of even common necessaries, that he might be able to pay the cost of his cer- tificate. "My dear fellow, this will not do; your family must not suffer. Be kind enough to take this ten-pound note to your wife from me — there, there, my dear fellow — nay, don't cry — it will be all well with you yet. Keep up your spirits, set to work like a man, and you will raise your head amongst us yet." The overpowered man en- deavoured in vain to express his thanks. The swelling in his throat forbade words. He put his handkerchief to his face, and went out of the door crying like a child. 146 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "It's Daniel!" As to the younger Clieeryble; quick, as lie was kind-liearted and generous, with a remarkahly fine eye and an admirable voice, Daniel Grant was incisive and briskly laconic in his speech. " Noth- ing passed his observing eye, which was a beauti- ful hazel colour — not a fierce black; but when angry you would see a bright flash pass through it." The great Chalmers described him in his prime as " a kind-hearted, rattling fellow." ^ More light in build than any of his brothers, he had too much nerve and "go" about hira ever to grow stout. " For a small man he was very power- ful, and full of courage." ^ With a genial youth- fulness of temperament, brisk and buoyant to the end of his days, he suggests, in his own way, what Dean Stanley tells us was a favourite image of Arnold's, "the eternal freshness and liveliness of the ocean." At one time William and he had each a residence in Manchester. After the former, however, purchased Springside — about two miles below Ramsbottom — he gave up his city house; and Daniel, while still retaining his, usually lived 1. "Life of Dr. Thomas Chalmers.'' 2. From a grand-niece brought up with him at Springside. Now deceased. N .•I*' 1 ^M -*• J^tWr c~~"^ fe^^^^^^E / ^=^ ■ ^s I •'' -|jffi?l!BllWlliH A GRUMBLER CURED 147 with Ms brother at Springside. "Their intense love for each other was manifest to all, and over- flowed in affectionate words, in little tender atten- tions and assiduities." ^ At Springside, an employe had for some time bothered Daniel with complaints against a sub- ordinate, of the honest force of which he was not satisfied. At last one morning, having listened again to the grumbler, whose complaints seemed bom of pique or prejudice, he characteristically- settled the matter once and for all by saying, "You were first to come; you'll be first to go. Having uttered these words with Spartan direct- ness, and a shimmering like sheet-lightning in his full expressive eyes which betokened thunder- bolts in the vicinity, he walked away. No further complaint ever reached him. Moreover, the pair, we believe, continued in their relative positions, up to the death of their master, many long years afterwards. Perhaps Daniel's sharpest rebuke, or remon- strance, uttered when he found an unsatisfactory transaction had been effected, was, " Man ! man ! would you give a man your front tooth?" — a sudden gust heralding no storm. Like the homes of all the brothers, Springside 1 . " Memorials of Franklin Howorth." 148 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS was proverbially a hospitable mansion. Authors, as well as merchants, sometimes spent the evening there. On one occasion a writer of some note on the Land of the Pharaohs was with them. He was full of his boot ; and, after talking much and learnedly on the wonders of that ancient king- dom, he eloquently paused for his host's opinion on the theme he had been so elaborately pro- pounding. Daniel, worthy man, was not learned in any lore, save that which centred for him in Cannon Street; and Egyptian antiquities were, then at any rate, a long way from 'Change. But he was equal to the occasion. What the Master of Pembroke Hall and Bonstetten — that mercurial Swiss, as Matthew Arnold calls him — said of the poet Gray, "He never spoke out," was never true of Daniel Grant. So, with a iine impulsive rush, like a skater clearing a bit of dangerous ice, or a batsman springing out of his ground to hit an unmanageable ball, he responded thus — " Yes ! yes ! Egypt ! Pharaoh ! Very old country ! Mummies /" with a sharp and heavy emphasis on the embalmed ones. Egypt and the Pharaohs forthwith vanished from the scene, and were suc- ceeded by a " rattling " time on topics nearer home. Daniel's butler at Mosley Street — ^neatly named "the apoplectic butler" by Dickens — was a bit THE "APOPLECTIC BUTLER" 149 of a character in his way, and had evidently- grown into his surroundings with a fine percep- tion of the fitness of things. His name was Alfred Boot. At the time when Dickens first visited Manchester, and, as his biographer tells us, "brought away his Brothers Cheeryble" (1838- 1839), Alfred had long been in command at the Mosley Street house. He was a short, thick-set, rather pudgy specimen of his kind — rotund and active, though somewhat easily "blown"; short- necked, rubicund face, head well held back, and the ample choker displaying something of a double chin. With a twinkle of humour in his eye, he was fond of a joke after his own fashion. Withal a man of much consequence in his own estimation, "he beseemed his position," as our informant, who knew both Daniel and the butler well, ex- pressed it, — was supreme in Daniel's absence, and nobody dared to presume. Sometimes one or other of the nephews of the Grants had occasion to spend the night at Mosley Street while Daniel was out at Springside. At such times, on the following day, Daniel's fatherly interest always led him to ask Alfred at what time they got home. At the earliest opportunity, Alfred, poised and confidential, with a slight rubbing of the hands and a glimmering of humour over the rubicund face, duly gave the young men to understand that 150 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS such an inquiry had been made, uniformly ending with, "Always in at ten o'clock, sir! always in at ten o'clock ! " which they knew was occasionally a considerable way from the mark. But Alfred was privileged; and, with some fitting acknow- ledgment, they would proceed on their way, leav- ing the sapient butler once more proud of his penetration and sagacity. Dickens gives a "feat of dexterity" on the part of "the apoplectic butler" in producing "a magnum of the double diamond to drink the health of Mr. Linkinwater." What used fre- quently, as a matter of fact, to take place, was this. Daniel had what — borrowing the Indian term for the intermediate repast of the day — he called his "two o'clock tiffin" on market-days — Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays formerly; afterwards, as at present, Tuesdays and Fridays. His tiffin at two was well understood and largely patronised. On all such occasions Alfred was an important personage, but it was generally when Daniel had special friends — which was very frequently — for whom he wished to furnish the favourite "brand," that, having summoned the butler, he would say, quick as the element he mentioned zigzags a cloud, " Alfred ! — Ruby ! — Lightning ! " and with almost incredible celerity the much-coveted vint- age was placed before the guests, Alfred perhaps DANIEL'S ORATION 151 a little "wheasely" as the result of his fleetness and dexterity. In Daniel's will we find among "pecuniary legacies" — "To my butler, Alfred Boot, one hundred pounds, the same to be paid free of legacy duty." Another incident, which, though occurring in very different circumstances, is equally authentic and characteristic, may here be related. It fell out one Sunday morning, in St. Andrew's Church — the church built by William Grant for the Presbyterian congregation, of which he was an elder, but which, forty years afterwards, was re- ceived and consecrated as Episcopal by the late Bishop of Manchester.^ Robert Burns, in his immortal "Tam o' Shanter," explains the cour- ageous approach of the heroic Tam to where Kirk- Alloway seemed in a bleeze ; When, wow ! Tam saw an unco sight. by the significant lines, — The swats sae reamed in Tammie's noddle, Fair-play, he eared na de'ils a boddle. But "warlocks and witches" and all their kith and kin were altogether absent from the scene on this peaceful occasion, and nothing so plebeian as " swats " dreamt of. But, if not " swats," then, perhaps, the ancient "ruby" which Alfred so deftly decanted "reamed," just a wee thing, in 1. See pp. 199—203 infra. 152 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS anotlier tlian "Tammie's noddle," tliat summer morning. The preacher was not the Presbyterian clergyman — Dr. MacLean — but Mr. James Salmon, a theological student of the English Presbyterian Church, who had previously been an employe of the Grants. His text was the answer given by Daniel, in the den of lions, to King Darius — " king, live for ever. My Grod has sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me : forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me ; and also before thee, king, have I done no hurt." The church has a gallery at the end opposite the pulpit, and the Grants occupied its front pews. Daniel was in his wonted place. The text had just been read when, — Moved with high sense of inborn powers, — he rose up in this front gallery pew, thrust his right hand impressively into space, and orated thus : " Yes ! yes ! — Daniel ! Brave fellow, Daniel ! was cast into the lions' den ! — the lions' den ! And the lions — hurt — him — not! — hurt him not! Brave fellow, Daniel ! — brave fellow ! " Having thus, "his own heart eloquent," delivered him- self, " From heart to lieart inspiring," he resumed his seat ; and the young and somewhat BE OF GOOD CHEER! 153 astonislied. preacher, in a great silence, proceeded with his discourse. That discourse of good James Salmon's, admirable as no doubt it was, is now little, if at all, remembered; but the enthusiastic outburst of his old master, in admiration of his inspired and " brave " Hebrew namesake, remains. It was related to the writer, some time ago, by a lady who on that Sunday morning was in the pew with the Grants. But the incident would not have been fully characteristic of Daniel had there not been something to add. At the close of the memorable service he went to the preacher, and, with a benevolent and half-apologetic light flickering about his keen eagle eyes, slipped a sovereign into the struggling student's hand, and, in his own brusque yet heart-deep and impressive way, bid him be of good cheer. One morning, Daniel, with William and John, his elder brothers, was making the round of the Square works. Passing through the block-print- ing department he glanced at the work of a boy as he passed, and said to the foreman, John Roe, that it was "bad work" — "being spoiled!" John said that it was all right; that he could not judge very well in its present state, but when it reached him in Manchester it would be good work. The manager passed, as was his wont, with his em- ployers to the door of exit, and having opened it, 154 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS as the Grants went out, Daniel turned and said to him, " Don't beat that boy for what I've said — don't !" John answered, " I have no occasion, sir; the boy does his work exceedingly well." "Who is he?" "He is a son of John Wardle's." This answer riveted Daniel to the spot. Old John Wardle had been a block-printer, long ago, at Hampson Mill, when Daniel was his teare-boy,'^ and had been kindly treated both by him and the motherly woman who was his wife. For a moment He pondered The past, and as his heart relented, ° declared profusely, "0 then, he'll be a splendid man I — make a splendid workman ! John War- die's lad ! Sure to do well ! sure to do well ! " With this he thrust out his hand, and with great cordiality shook that of the manager as he walked away. This grace-act in leaving was a most un- usual thing on his part. He was the m.ost distant of all the Grants with the employes. He was like them all, however, in this, that the moment he felt he had acted unjustly — given, even though in rollicking banter, unnecessary pain, or appeared forgetful of any past kindness — he went forthwith 1. A block printer's assistant. 2. Goethe. JOKES AND SOLATIUM 155 to the other extreme of profuse and generous acknowledgment, not unfrequently quietly accom- panied by some pecuniary solatium. In Daniel's latter days, Mr. Anyon, the pastor of Park Chapel, E-amsbottom, used to call upon him at Springside. He had a habit of uttering frequently a prolonged nasal umquhm. Daniel would jokingly say, "You must have been very fond of treacle hum when you were a boy, Mr. Anyon." Sometimes the good pastor would seem to be a little hurt. Then Daniel relented, and slipped a sovereign, or perhaps two or three, into his hand on parting to heal the wound — Let my hand In this firm grasp heal all the wounds I made With my too hasty tongue. ' They remained good friends to the last. A medical practitioner of the place, who was on the most friendly terms with the Grants, asked Daniel one day to sign a testimonial, with a view to securing an appointment as factory inspector. " No ! no ! " said Daniel, " sign none of these things ! " He had the kindliest feelings towards the young doctor — But out The truth has come and leaves no doubt. ^ 1. Schiller's "Maid of Orleans." 2. Goethe. 156 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "Ask me," contimied Daniel, "for £500 if you want it, but I can't put my liand to anything of that sort;" and he didn't. This strong aversion to "put the hand" to any document was common to all the family to the close of their career. They would sign cheques with sometimes remarkable readiness. They knew precisely what these m.eant. One requires to remember that the education of these elder brothers had been very imperfect, and that an early experience of trouble and annoyance, arising frona putting their hand to a document, in all probability gave rise to this lifelong aver- sion. Somewhat memorable, although by them unpurposed and undreamt-of troubles, after they had passed away, arose out of this peculiarity. The following incident will show with what generous readiness cheques were sometimes signed. A member of a shipping firm in Liverpool, well known to the Grants, called at the office in Man- chester, and told Daniel they were at the moment rather pressed for funds, owing to the unusual delay of vessels. "How much do you need?" asked Daniel. " From £6,000 to £8,000." Daniel forthwith signed a cheque for £10,000. Profusely thanking him, the gentleman proceeded to place in his hands legal securities for the amount. " No ! no ! " said Daniel. " Take them with you ! take them with you ! A thing of honour ! a thing A THING OF HONOUR! 157 of honour ! Pay wlten you can ! pay when you can ! " Remonstrance was vain. "With renewed acknowledgments — conscious of an unwonted thickening about the throat and a gathering of mist over his eyes — the friend took his leave; to remember with a twitch of emotion to the end of his days, the prompt and generous confidence of Daniel Grant. Kindnesses experienced by them in their early days were never forgotten. Mr. Dinwiddle, of Hampson Mill, was the first em- ployer. Long afterwards a grandson of his was engaged in the Square. Daniel remembered him with a legacy; and his nephew, who inherited the estates, left him a much larger sum, and made him one of his executors. That Daniel "was very powerful and full of courage " will be shown by the following incident : — About the end of the thirties, when the great joy which the peaceful accession of Queen Victoria had brought to the Grants — for they were intensely loyal — was being sadly dashed by Chartist riots and ineffectual efforts to repeal the Corn Laws, William and Daniel were quietly seated one even- ing in Springside when a visitor was announced, wishing to see Mr. Grant. " He's like a soldier, sir," said the butler. " Take him into the drawing-room, Robert," said William, and prepared to go. 158 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "Well, well, I'll go with you, brother William," said Daniel. " No, no — no need. I'll go myself. It's maybe only some ' Justice ' business. I'll be back in a few minutes." He did not return very soon, however, and Daniel, hearing loud and threatening words from a strange voice, hastened to join William. As he entered the room, the stranger was threateningly demanding money. This William had, in the circumstances, refused to give, but, in the first instance, had kindly offered to find him employ- ment. Daniel, on entering, took in the situation at a glance, and walking right up to the fellow with a burst of indignation seized him by the collar. A sudden movement of the man's hand showed that he was armed. Daniel caught sight of a pistol. With almost super-human strength he forced the fellow down the long hall and through the smaller one to the verandah, and there took from him two pistols and a dagger. He then marched him down to the side of a little lake in front of the house, and flung the pistols and dagger right into the middle of it, and ordered the intruder off. The bolt-like suddenness of Daniel's resolute descent upon him had cowed the offender, and he now began to plead for mercy, " told a long tale " — that "THE D.G. CLUB" 159 he had been a soldier, &c., and " it was real want " that had driven him to act in such a way. In the end, Daniel, characteristically enough, gave him money to help him on his way, telling him if he ever heard of him again in the district, he would at once give him into custody. But he was heard of no more. Years after- wards, when the lake at Springside was about to be emptied, Daniel told his grand-nephew what he would find in the middle ; and there, sure enough, embedded in the mud, the pistols and dagger were found. Though of much slighter physique than his father, Daniel had inherited much of the physical strength which his progenitor displayed in his prime in Strathspey and which tradition still fondly relates.^ An interesting event in Daniel's history tran- spired, in 1849, in the institution of what was called "The D.G. Club." It was constituted by the presentation of an illuminated address, bear- ing the Grant arms and the emblem of the good Samaritan. The address and signatures are the following : — 1, See p. 57 supra. i6o THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "The D. G. Qub. The undersigned having long enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of DANIEL GRANT, Esqr., Unite under the title of the D. G. Club to perpetuate, by dining together once a year, the recollection of many happy meetings, more particularly on each succeeding Tuesday, in Mosley Street, and now beg cordially to invite him to honour them with his company on Tuesday, the 4th December next, and on each yearly commemoration. 1849. Chairman : Wm. Jos. Angus. Secretary: D. Walker. Vice-Chairman : James Dalglish. Fred. Boardman, Robert Aked, Chas. Brounell, Robt. Dalglish, Edwd. Hamnell, Thos. Leach, Richd. Ashton, John Reid, John C Jack, Edmund Grundy, 0. 0. Walker, C. Rawson, John E. Naylor, James Jack, Wm. Todd Naylor, Archd. Finlay, John Grant, Junr., W. M. Burt, Wm. Harding, William Ashton, Samuel Grundy, G. Brounell, George Armstrong, John Todd Naylor, Robt. Christie, Junr., Thomas Garnett, William Grant, Thos. Worthington, John Dugdale, Junr., J. Scholes Walker, Richard Clegg." Like Frederick the Great, Daniel had a high regard for stateliness of physique. Driving one day to Bury, he overtook a fine, straight, well- WORDS BY THE WAY i6i proportioned young fellow, who measured 6 ft. 2 in. He pulled up at once, called the stalwart youth to the carriage, expressed his delight at seeing such a fine athletic form, congratulated him, told him to take good care of himself, wished him^ many happy days, slipped a goodly coin into his hand on parting, and resumed his journey. But boys were not beneath his notice. Another day, on the same Walmersley Road he met a boy with his arm in splints. The carriage was at once stopped, the story of the broken arm tenderly elicited, and sympathetic words spoken, which have never been forgotten. He then gave the lad "a crookit six- pence " — the symbol of luck — and hoped he would soon be all right again. That lad is a most in- telligent and worthy citizen to-day. On relating the incident, he said — "Lads of the same age in this district now, have no idea of the value we attached to a silver siixpence, then." His bounty was constant, kindly, sympathetic and manifold. One morning, over half-a-cen- tury ago, a beggar pushing on eagerly towards Springside, asked "Is it 9 o'clock?" "Yes"— why — what's the matter?" "Thu knows I'm always sure o' fourpence, if I get theer before nine!" An octogenarian villager, in her youth, heard Daniel say, " It's always right to relieve 'em. If one's right in twenty, it will repay you." The i62 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Sunday school teacters and scholars of the parish, and those of St. Andrew's (Dundee) Presbyterian Church, Ramsbottom, to which church all the Grants belonged, were always made welcome, at Springside, at Christmas and other important times. Daniel himself received them at the front door, and gave them a brief but bright and genial address of wise and cordial welcome. Fancy biscuits of a kind greatly prized at the time, were given to the scholars, and a glass of wine provided for each of the teachers and monitors. A pastime of perennial glee to Daniel was scat- tering, it was called "perrying," handfulsof money among the youngsters, as he drove to town. His only surviving cousin remembers (1897) his hearty enjoyment of the eager athletic feats of the lads, tumbling over one another in their scramble for the coins, as they shouted " Grants for ever ! Grants for ever ! " and how "William," on one of these occasions, laughingly said, "Ah, Daniel, Daniel ! I have seen the day when you had to work very hard for the money you are now throw- ing away ! " One of those who knew him best — a relative who had been brought up with him — told the writer, in a letter received from a distant land, some years ago — " No one will ever know what Daniel Grant has done for hundreds of people. He considered BOUNTEOUS KINDNESS 163 that God had given him the wealth, not to hoard and use for self-gratification, but for good to the poor and needy; and many who had seen better days, and were in trouble, were helped and raised up again by him. He was very sensitive himself, and when he gave to help others, he did it in such a way that no one could feel in the least uncom- fortable in receiving assistance from him." His married life extended over one bright twelvemonths, which dwelt a silent and sacred memory with him to the end ; and he had no child. But the above relative, when a child, was his pet, and, as she grew up in his home, his companion; and probably to no other did he ever so explicitly reveal his view of the providential design of wealth. It was to her that he used to say, " I wish you had been a boy — a boy — you should have taken my place." "What she says of his unknown deeds of generous kindness, is, no doubt, quite true. We may give one instance, of which we now know. A lady, also a young relative of Daniel's who had known the bounteous kindness of his home, some time after her marriage, spent, with others, a happy evening with him at Spring- side. Next day Daniel drove up to her house. She went to meet him thinking he had, as was often the case, some simple friendly word to say. He said, however, "My dear, I am coming in." i64 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS After wonted cordial greetings and enquiries, he said, "I thought, last night, you looked ill — not yourself. Is there anything I can do for you? Are you happy? Are you happy?" She told him she was quite well and happy, and that it was only his kindly fancy. "Well, well," he said; "I shall call again, and bring you £500." She was surprised, and told him she did not want money, and tried to dissuade him. " Yes, yes ; quite right, my dear," said he. " If any debts, pay them off, pay them off — must be comfortable ! happy ! " Nothing would turn him from his in- stinctive diagnosis. He duly returned, and, with the light of fatherly kindness beaming in his eyes, left the goodly portion in her hands. The above-mentioned correspondent said, " Often has he told me that he never received any educa- tion after he was eight years old. Yet he was a great arithmetician. But he never put down a number on paper. All his calculations, however intricate they might be, were mental. They seemed to come to him as a flash, and gave him no trouble." Again, "I was the only person, I believe, to whom he ever wrote in autograph. I received two such letters from him, but he had made me promise faithfully, beforehand, that as soon as I had read them, I should burn them. His letters were written by a confidential clerk, and CHARMINGLY ORIGINAL 165 signed 'D. Grant.'" His very limited early edu- cation no doubt accounted for this peculiarity. But wiien "travelling" in his early years, he must, of course, have written "lots" of business letters, however imperfect their caligraphy and composition. He was always fresh and charmingly original in his generous ways. " It's Daniel ! " "At it again," &c., explained much. His friends — and he had always "troops" of them about him on special occasions — were never sure what next might burst upon them. And usually they had not long to wait. Sometimes when, in spite of him, a gener- ous freak leaked out, a whole community would be made to vibrate — they laughed, the more tender- hearted sometimes with a tear in their eyes, at his quaint doings. For these always had a knack of fitting into some real need which his keenly humane instinct, amidst all his " rat- tling " brusqueness, alone seemed to detect. And he was always himself — simple, honest, fear- less, unconventional. The sayings and doings, which had such a quaint and piquant flavour about them, came from him as naturally as scent from a rose, or song from a thrush on a summer morning. Very early one misty day, a solitary figure, taking occasionally a pinch of snuff, emerged from i66 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS the haze on the sands at Blackpool, just where the "fishwives" had been replenishing their baskets for the day. They were rather doleful, as it hap- pened, for times were bad, and their supply that morning was very small. He briskly greeted the group, and proceeded to inspect their "creels," amidst ceaseless jabbering solicitations to buy. He did buy — bought them up, all round, on the spot. " Where shall we take 'em, sir?" they shouted. " No ! No ! pay first ! pay first !" said he. Then selecting the most aged of the group, he put a shining sovereign into her tanned and withered hand. " Ha'n't got no change, sir." " Change ? Change ? No ! No ! want none. No change ! no change !" She looked at the coin for an instant, at the few fish in the basket, and then at him, and taking one great breath which, for the moment, swelled and straightened the bent form, burst out : " God Almighty bless yo' ! We'n been welly clemmed. "^ And the quickened face, crisped and traced all over with years and twitching with emotion, found refuge with the sovereign in her scaly hands. " No ! No ! never fear ! won't clem ! cheer up ! cheer up !" 1. Welly clemmed — Well nigh starved. BLACKPOOL SANDS 167 Meanwhile, the others stood, staring and statuesque, as if spellbound, and were silent now as the grey mist that hung about them. To one after another he gave a golden coin, as they stood there over their baskets, literally struck dumb with amazement. Then, awed and touched at the core, they asked again — ^very quietly this time : "Where shall we take 'em, sir ? Where shall we take 'em ?" " Where you like ! Where you like ! Don't want 'em, don't want 'em. Sell 'em, or give 'em away ! Hungry ones ! Mustn't clem — No ! No ! Better luck ! Good times coming ! Good times — Won't clem !" Then, taking a hearty pinch to avert a threatened emotional "break-down," he turned his kindly face and moistening eye away from them, and with rapid step soon vanished in the mist. It was all over in a few minutes. They could not well have been more astonished had a winged messenger alighted among them from the skies. Their footprints were lighter on the sands when they started again that morning. And as they pushed along they lapsed into an old playful ditty of early days, still to be heard among children at play in the Fylde country : — There's goin' to be a weddin', Will you cum ? Bring your own bread and butter, And your own tea and sugar, And we'll all pay a penny For the rum, rum, rum ! i68 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS The " fishwives " freely told the story, and much wonderment was excited. One of the favoured group declared : " He wur a hangel in disguise, an' coom just i' th' nick o' time ! He did for sure." Another of them, however, keen-eyed, identified the " hangel " at the Lane Ends Hotel. It was, of course, Daniel Grant, who had been staying there with his suite and a number of friends. " The murder was out !" notwithstanding the mist. And it caused " a bonny buzz " in Blackpool for many a day. Our informant, who was a young member of Daniel's party, remarked that it was said the worthy " fishwives " used afterwards to look out for another visitor invested with like golden radiance; but angels' visits are proverbially few and far between; and no successor, we presume, has yet emerged from the morning mist on the now much more frequented sands ! MR. GEORGE GOODRICK. THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS 169 Daniel— "At it again I" The Grants were always grandly and bounteously loyal. Each revolving year brought with it a notable festive gathering with them, of all the managers and leading people about the place, at the Grant Arms Hotel. These were great occa- sions; full of all good things; overflowing with loyalty, bewitching with song, and fragrant with eloquence of all the practical wisdom of the time. But that which honoured the Coronation of Queen Victoria outstripped all its predecessors. Every- body who was anybody was there. And the crowd of youthful sympathisers without echoed vociferously the jubilation of the guests within. " George," the landlord 1 — a butler in his early days at "the Hall," and before the end, the oldest vintner in England — duly equipped, was instructed to "feed the ravens" with shining Victorian coin! Hand- fuls were common with Daniel. To honour the young Queen, there must be shovelfuls ! George obeyed. But with a spice of humorous mischief, each shovelful, before it was "perried" from a front window, was placed on a glowing fire till 1. George Goodriek, landlord from 1834 to 1890, when he died aged 86. See p. 189. THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS 169 Daniel—" At it again ! " The Grants were always grandly and bounteously loyal. Eaeli revolving year brought with it a notable festive gathering with them, of all the managers and leading people about the place, at the Grant Arms Hotel. These were great occa- sions; full of all good things; overflowing with loyalty, bewitching with song, and fragrant with eloquence of all the practical wisdom of the time. But that which honoured the Coronation of Queen Victoria outstripped all its predecessors. Every- body who was anybody was there. And the crowd of youthful sympathisers without echoed vociferously the jubilation of the guests within. " George," the landlord 1 — a butler in his early days at "the Hall," and before the end, the oldest vintner in England — duly equipped, was instructed to "feed the ravens " with shining Victorian coin ! Hand- fuls were common with Daniel. To honour the young Queen, there must be shovelfuls ! George obeyed. But with a spice of humorous mischief, each shovelful, before it was "perried" from a front window, was placed on a glowing fire till 1. George Goodrick, landlord from 1834 to 1890, when he died aged 86. See p. 189. 170 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS almost red-hot ! Then, as the coin reached the youthful and expectant crowd, " The mirth and fun grew fast and furious." Such a scene ! What splendidly deft and nimble manipulation ! What strange mingling of keen and curious vocables ! What superb energy ! What rollicking good nature ! Clogs and caps were utilised by some, who stood at bay over the "whof^but captured treasure; while others, it is said, flopped down on tempting pieces they could not safely handle, and thus se- cured some ardent tokens of loyal and benevolent regard ! But withal, they were, as Daniel de- signed, supremely happy. And, however "whot" the coin might be, it very soon all disappeared, and thanks went up in vigorous shouts of "Long live the Queen ! " and " Grants for ever ! " But " George " is still held to have been chargeable with transforming Daniel's loyal bounty into " blistering beneficence ! " Meanwhile, within, the loyal and patriotic programme was joyously gone through, in the long, quaintly frescoed hall. And we have been told that two well-known worthies, representative respectively of "Green Caledonia" and the County Palatine, sang Scotch songs — "Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon," "Comin' through the rye," "A man's a man for 1. " Fyrie whott." The Faerie Queene. BLISTERING BENEFICENCE! 171 a' tliat," and such like — amidst rapturous applause, till voice and vision alike, not however without spirited resistance, vanished serenely into repose ! And, as the story goes, so "completely beat" were they by their vocal victories, that even " Auld lang syne" and "God save the Queen" failed to pro- duce the faintest symptom of resuscitation ! But friendly Phoebus with his rosy sceptre touched the vanquished heroes, at the dewy dawn, as he lifted the mountain dew, and lit them, like loyal subjects of the Queen, to the duties of the day. The local medical practitioner of the time used to recommend the air of Holcombe Hill top, as a sound soporific. And we can vouch for the wisdom of his prescription. But, on this occasion, it seems, its virtues were fairly eclipsed, in the valley below, either by the closeness of the atmosphere, or such airs from the breezy North, as "WuUie brewed a peck o' maut," and "A man's a man for a' that ! " A gentleman now at the head of a mercantile firm in Birmingham, furnishes the following interesting and admirably characteristic incident : " At the Queen's Coronation (1838) I was one of the children (my age four) in a long procession which proceeded to Nuttall Hall to partake of a treat given by the Grants — cake, wine and fun. Being so young, I was one of the first to arrive, as 172 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS we tapered off from the shortest to the tallest. One of the brothers — William or Daniel — gave a silver coin to each of the children, I believe. At all events, he came up to me and said : ' Here, take this, child, and show it to me again some day, and I'll put another on it,' giving me a new small silver coin. I looked well at him, and fastened the silver well in my little hand, the first probably that I ever had there. Some twelve years after this, being out of employment, I rambled to Manchester, and found myself one day looking in at Grant Brothers' warehouse in Cannon Street. An old gentleman came up behind me, and getting a good grip of my left ear, said : ' Youngster, what does thee want here? That's not a cook-shop.' ' No more it is ; and that's not your lug you're pulling. I'd rather be inside than outside a cook- shop just now,' I retorted. ' Well, well, has ti no change to buy a dinner?' said he, still holding my ear. ' Well, I've got the Queen's Coronation money Mr. Grant gave me when I was a little 'un ; but I cannot part with that.' ' So, so — well, I never!' said he, letting go my ear; let's see it, lad, let's see it !' So I pulled it out from the centre of a piece of calico, black as ink. ' Ah ! yes, yes, so it is ! And what did Mr. Grant say to thee when he gave it thee?' ' Why, he said he'd put another on t' top of it if I'd show it him again ; and you are LORD DERBY 173 aummat like tliat Mr. Grant.' ' Well, did he now? Well, well, I'll just do it for him,' and putting a gold coin on the top of the small silver one, and adding a shilling for my dinner, he entered Grant Brothers' warehouse." This was no doubt Daniel, the younger Cheeryhle. William was gone eight years before. " I recollect the circumstance of a visit of Lord Derby — grandfather, I think, of the present earl — or father. (It would be the latter.) However, I was about ten years old, and worked in the ' hanging-room,' where prints were dried at the old Square. Lord Derby was coming round to see the works, was the information conveyed to me by one, N"ed H , a well-known character at the Square, and manager of the steaming-rooms. Ned was a leader of the Primitive Methodist choir, and a great prayer-meeting enthusiast. He liked to show off, and told me, on the occasion referred to, to keep a sharp look-out for Mr. Grant, and call out when I saw him coming. He then sat down on his stool, and, as usual, fell fast asleep in a twinkling. I soon followed suit, tired out as I might well be, a child of my age working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. I was woke up with a smart slap on my cheek, when I immediately sprang up and shouted out : ' Ned ! the lord's arrived !' ' Glory to God! Allelujer! Turn off steam!' shouted 174 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Ned, in an ecstasy, at tke top of his voice. The exclamation was so sudden, and within a yard or two of Lord Derby and Mr. John Grant, that these gentlemen went immediately into fits of merriment, which, I was told, continued all through their round of the works. Young William Grant, who followed, seeing me rubbing my ear after the slap, gave me a coin, as he said ' to buy an eye-opener !' " I also recollect at one dinner-hour at the old Square, some more lads and myself had taken possession of some floating planks, and were rowing about on one of the lodges, when who should suddenly turn up but Mr. John Grant ! He came running towards us holding up a stick and calling out, ' Come off there, you young rascals !' I immediately made for the nearest bank, and the sudden run of the plank against it sent me backwards into the dam, which at the time, fortunately for me, was only half full. Mr. Grant immediately slid down the bank up to his neck in water, and pulled me out, dragging me after him to the bank side. ' Now,' he said, ' I shall make thee remember giving me this wetting,' and thereupon he used his cane to some purpose on my back. Having finished, he said, ' Now, how do ti feel ?' ' Very wet,' I said, ' and sore.' ' And has ti nothing to say for saving thy life ?' ' Yes, you've made a hole in my coat by dragging me up DANIEL AND FATHER GILLOW 175 there.' At this he burst out laughing, and handed me a coin to buy a new coat." " These," the correspondent added, " are but small instances of the thorough good-heartedness of the Cheerybles and their brother, Mr. John Grant — ' the three gentlemen of Lancashire,' as they were popularly called." Though always loyal and generous to his own church, yet, as the following incident will show, Daniel's sympathetic interest in ameliorative work among the poor, knew no ecclesiastical limitations. In the course of the reminiscences which Provost Croskell contributed to the " Harvest " he tells an interesting anecdote of one of the prototypes of Dickens's " Cheeryble Brothers." The Grants were Presbyterians, but they subscribed to the Roman Catholic schools of St. Mary's district. On one occasion Father Gillow invited Mr. Daniel Grant to attend St. Mary's when a charity sermon was preached for the schools. " He was shown into the gallery, and took his seat in the pew of a lady who lived in the country at some distance from Manchester, and who was not expected that day, as the service had already commenced. After a while, however, she came, and insisted on her pew being vacated. Two or three gentlemen, sorry to see so good a friend of the schools so unceremoniously turned out of his place, begged 176 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS him to sit with them. But he declined their kind offer, and went down to the front of the gallery, and stood there during the entire service. Every- one thought that he was much offended, and that the collection would suffer in consequence. But they had not measured the depth of Mr. Grant's benevolence. He listened to the sermon with marked attention, and when the collecting box was coming towards him he took out of his pocket an envelope and wrote on it with a pencil : ' Pay the bearer five pounds, — Daniel Grant,' and when the collector reached him he threw the order into the box and said, ' Take that to the warehouse to- morrow.' " ^ Daniel, after an early experience, avoided political meetings. The matter was explained to the writer in a letter some years ago from Daniel's grandniece thus : " He also told me the reason why he gave up politics. He was at a meeting in Manchester, and to a gentleman present who was on the opposite side, he said something very severe. The gentleman said : ' Oh ! Mr. Grant, you break a man's head and then put a plaster on it to make it well.' He told me he felt the rebuke so keenly that he left the room never again to be present at a public meeting. He felt sorry for 1. Manchester Guardian, Jlonday, July 13tli, 1896. AVOIDED POLITICS 177 having hurt the other's feelings in public, and acknowleged his fault. I cannot express to you what a noble, generous and kind-hearted man he was. Words cannot express it." It was, no doubt, well for Daniel's peace of mind that he avoided the recurrence of such events, however harmlessly they might have fallen upon others. "With all his rattling robustness he was much too sensitive to face such work with impunity — an instrument far too finely strung to bear uninjured the play of the rough plectra of active political partisanship. One other point. Open and generous as the day himself, he could not brook in others the practice of roguery or deceit. " A woman who said she was very poor, and to whom he had been very kind, asked for some fine shirts to make, as she was very clever at the work. He gave her a large piece of the finest linen to make as many as she could out of the quantity. In due time the woman brought in a number of shirts and her bill, charging a good price for the making. Mr. Grant, who, with his keen eye, saw at a glance that all his linen was not there, said to the woman, ' Are you sure you have used all the linen I gave you for this small number V ' Certainly, sir !' said the woman with offended dignity. ' Fetch me the scales,' he called out to an office-boy; and, putting the lot into the M 178 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS scales, pearl buttons and all, lie found they were much short of weight. 'Now,' said he, ' what have you to say to that ? ' She was dumb. ' Well, well, if you bring back the linen within half an hour I shall pay you ; if not I shall give you into custody.' The woman made a quick retreat, and sent a friend with the linen and to receive the money. He paid the account ; and she got a useful lesson." Daniel unhesitatingly made stern tracks athwart deliberate wrong-doing; but the healing waters of mercy and kindness always followed closely in his wake — The summer brook flows in the bed The winter torrent tore asunder ; The skylarks' gentle wings are spread Where walked the lightning and the thunder ; And thus you'll find the sternest soul The gayest tenderness concealing, And minds that seem to mock control, Are ordered by some fairy feeling.^ Daniel's niece, ^ iliss Mary Grant, on a memor- able occasion, had a sad and exciting journey under the care of Alfred Boot, the "Apoplectic Butler" from Mosley Street. News came to Springside that Mrs. Thomson (Mary's sister, Grace) and her husband were on their way home from Batavia, that they had reached St. Mary, one of the Scilly Isles, and that Mrs. Thomson was 1. Thomas Davies. 2. Daughter of his eldest brother, James. JUST TOO LATE! 179 dangerously ill. No trains were at that time available, and Daniel, to meet tlie distress of Mary about her sister, gave orders tbat she must start forthwith, and "post with four horses" to Pen- zance, and thence cross by boat to the island. Alfred was put in charge. The long journey to Penzance was most ex- peditiously accomplished. But when they ar- rived a storm prevailed, and for a time no boatman could be found to face the region of " the Wolf," ^ in such a stormy sea. At last Alfred, with fear- less persistency, secured for the sum of thirty pounds, a well-manned craft, and not without friendly warnings, they were pushed into the breakers to brave the perils of the angry deep. Mary, swayed by the one supreme desire to see her sister alive, displayed something of both the heroism of the McAlpins and the courage of the Grants, while Alfred proved nobly worthy of his master's confidence. Fortunately, the island was reached, and the sick-room found without delay. But, alas ! it was too late. While they had been battling with " the rude imperious surge " with- out, the final calm had settled down on the loved one within — Grace was gone ! And now, she who, centred on one loving, sisterly purpose, could sit 1. A dangerous ledge of rock lying between the mainland and the islands. i8o THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS like marble througli the sea's wild tumult, had in that dim, pale cham.ber, to experience another storm, with which that careering along the dreaded " Wolf " might scarcely he compared — poor Mary ! after her long heroic effort, just too late ! Daniel's rollicking nonsense and banter some- times went to excess, as the following incident will make manifest. In the earlier years of their residence at Spring- side, an old friend and first cousin of the Grants, who, like their father, followed the occupation of farmer and cattle-dealer, which often led him long journeys into the South, used to narrate to his friends a visit he once made to William Grant, the elder Cheeryble, whom he knew well, and to whom he was attached. He had had a bad market at Falkirk, and so resolved to go into England with his drove of cattle for better sale. He did so; and crossing the Border left a trusted man in charge, while he himself went to call on his distinguished relatives at Manchester, which city, however, was a con- siderable distance off. William received him right cordially. He showed him through all his possessions, and asked him to a County Meeting at which he was to take the chair. The northern visitor demurred, and though assured he would get A HIGHLAND COUSIN i8i a seat by his side, said a plain countryman like him would be out of place at such a gathering. In the evening, however, the Highlander dined with William and Daniel. He did not know much of Daniel, who was only an infant when the family left Strathspey; but William introduced him to Daniel as "his favourite cousin." As the evening wore on, Daniel thought he would have a little fun at the expense of the stranger. He threw out doubts as to his genuineness, and ques- tioned if he were a cousin. He then went the length of saying, "Perhaps you are an impostor 1 " "No," said the stranger, calmly, "I am no im- postor." "How can you prove that?" said Daniel. He produced his book and letters to show his cattle-dealing transactions. William was much hurt at Daniel's conduct, and said he was ashamed of him thus insulting his cousin. Daniel, however, persisted, saying ultimately, "What sort of a fellow are you? Can you fight?" At length the blood of the Highlander began to rise. He was a tall, strong man, rather famed for his athletic powers in his native Strath. Drawing himself up squarely, and ominously, he said, "No, I am not a fighting man, but, at the same time, I do not allow any man to insult me." A thunder-cloud was on the "ben," and the play of the lightning near! Daniel then, seeing he i82 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS had gone too far, jumped right across the table, and actually hugged the Highlander, making miGst ample apologies, and insisting upon healing his injured feelings with a handful of sovereigns, which he loftily refused. Daniel had only been trying in his own brusque, bantering way to make the McKenzie fire flash in his kinsman's eyes. It was somewhat perilous. Subsequently, how- ever, they became fast friends. William, who had a high regard for his northern relative, pressed him to remain in Manchester, and give up his farm, and he would put him all right. But he said he must go and look after his cattle and get them sold. William, thinking of his father's ex- periences, said, " Never mind your cattle. Let them go ! " But the Highlander would not be persuaded. He said he was unfitted for any other business than that which he followed. William said if he would stay he would place £500 in the bank at his disposal for "dealing" with, and perhaps would never ask it back. But even this did not prevail; and to catch the stage-coach he left Springside early next morning. He went ; but found that his herd of cattle had disappeared ! He could find no trace or tidings of them, and the man in charge had either been killed or had decamped — it was thought the former. But though this meant ruin to the Highlander, his OUR LADY OF TEARS 183 feeling of pride and independence prevented him from returning with his tale of woe, to accept the bounty of the benevolent friend, against whose wishes he had left. Quite of a piece is this with the Grants' own sturdy Highland pride and inde- pendence. In after years William showed his kindness and regard for his stalwart and unfor- tunate kinsman through a different channel. But " laugh weel, greet weel." The fontal source of fun and frolic and hearty laughter in human nature lies very near, and is, indeed, the measure of our capacity for tears — " He that laughs best greets best." Daniel Grant was no exception to this primal canon of emotion. With all his blunt and rollicking ways he was not unacquainted with that queenly sister of the race, who, De Quincey tells us, " wears a diadem round her head," and " carries keys more than papal at her girdle, which open every cottage and every palace — " Our Lady of Tears." This is a sacred domain. But we may listen to the voice of a simple but significant incident, for which we are indebted to a worthy clergyman in Natal,i who 1. The Rev. Thos. Taylor, Grey town, Natal, now deceased. His sons did distinguished work in the military service in South Africa. One son, Mr. Robt. J. Taylor, visited Ramsbottom in June, 1899 ; he returned to render valuable service as Captain, and subsequently Major Taylor. Two grandsons were in the Coronation contingent in 1902. i84 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS was born at Chatterton, Eamsbottom, and as a boy was engaged at the Square. He says : — " I never spoke to William Grant, the elder Cheeryble, and remember merely that he was a stout, ruddy-faced old gentleman, with a smile always beaming from his countenance. He very rarely, in my time, came into the Square." Daniel was of smaller build than William, had fine, keen, penetrating eyes, and a nose that had a will of its own. He spoke rather sharply and gru£B.y, but the expression of his countenance over all was generous and benign, inspiring confidence. I need only refer to one incident — a visit I made officially to him at Springside, on behalf of the Mechanics' Institution at Eamsbottom, which, at that time, was in financial difficulties. The butler answered my ring, and I was requested to walk into the dining-room, where the old gentleman was sitting in his armchair beside a comfortable fire. A glass and the inevitable box of snuff were at his side. " And pray, who are you ?" he asked. " At present I am a Lay Reader for the E,ev. George Nightingale, the incumbent of Holcombe." " Glad to hear it, glad to hear it ;" and pointing me to a large Bible, which, he said, in a grateful tone, was a present from his minister, the Rev. BIBLE-READING TO DANIEL 185 Dr. MacLean, I took it down and asked him what chapter or chapters I should read. He thought, as I was a Reader, he would prefer my selecting. I was perplexed for the m.oment, and then the thought struck me that a chapter or two about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob might be very suitable. I read them with all the impressiveness I could. Beginning where " The Lord said unto Abraham, ' Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing,* I read on chapter after chapter, to Jacob's return to Canaan after the memorable meeting of the long-estranged brothers when Esau, so far from attacking, ran to meet Jacob, embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him ; and they wept. And while I read Daniel wept too — the tears rolled down his cheeks, and he sobbed like a child. He also requested me to read a portion from the New Testament — probably it was from St. John's Gospel. He thanked me very heartily and with much feeling. ' Now,' he said, ' you shall read me some hymns from the hymn-book, also given to me by my minister.' I read several. And, during the reading of the hymns, the old emotion swelled up again like a resistless tide and quite overwhelmed i86 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS him. But by a strong effort of will he presently controlled his feelings, thanked me most gratefully, and forthwith, with his wonted business directness and precision, said : ' Now, what is it you want ?' I told him. ' Well, well, that is a good object. There,' he added ' is five pounds for the institu- tion, and a sovereign for yourself.' He then summoned the butler, and ordered him to give me luncheon, as I must be in need of it, which, indeed, I was, for I was, in fact, getting pretty well done up with the long spell of reading. I do not think he ever forgot the little incident." The hymn-book referred to still exists. His favourite hymns are marked throughout the book on the margin, " D. Gr." It also bears the names of friends whom he was wont to ask to inscribe their names opposite the hymns they specially liked. PARTINGS i89 CHAPTER VII Partings. And when at last they reach that coast O'er life's rough ocean driven, May they rejoice, no wanderer lost — A family in heaven. Burns. On coming from Manchester to Ramsbottom the Grants lived in the house which had been previously occupied by Mr. Henry Warren, one of the partners of Sir Robert Peel. It was originally known as Top o' th' Brow, but after- wards as Grant Lodge, and now forms a portion of the Grant Arms Hotel. ^ 1. Some years after it ceased to be occupied as a residence by the Grants, and when their parents had passed away, the large three -storey ed rectangular building, which now forms the front portion, was erected by them; and the whole, embellished with the now gas-illumined clock, bearing their initials, which still discharges its important function to the grateful lieges, was opened as a hotel in 1828. The first three tenants were William Bilsborrow, 1728-32; Leeds Richardson, 1832-3 ; and Robert Raby, 1833-4. On the 1st of November, 1834, George Goodrick became tenant. He had previously been a trusted servant of Mr. John Grant at Nuttall Hall. Mr. Goodrick conducted the establishment for the long period of over fif^-five years. He died, in his eighty-sixth year, on the 28th January, 1890, and on the 31st was inteiTed at St. Andrew's Church. The Volunteer Corps, whose annual dinner and distribution of prizes — for the most part under the wise and patriotic presidency of Major Grant — had been held in the rather curiously frescoed diuing-hall of the hotel for thirty years, attended the funeral in token of respect for Mr. Goodri'ck's memory. Several large and, doubtless, originally costly oilpaintings, belonging to the late Messrs. Grant's estate, are hun" in the hotel ; and its masonic assembly room is a large and elegantly-appointed apartment. ipo THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS The parents at this time were both well stricken in years ; the father was seventy-four and the mother sixty-five years of age. There remained for them but the evening time of a busy and honourable life. Old Mr. Grant was a genial, homely, kind-hearted man. In his latter days he was a victim of rheumatism, and very lame. Mrs. "Wilson told us that he used to walk from Grant Lodge down to the warehouse on " The Old Ground," and sit and chat in his cheery, kindly way to herself and others. Grant Lodge, like the homes of all the sons in after years, was a very hospitable home, and a table furnished with provisions was kept by Mrs. Grant for all needy comers — and they were many. " Nobody ever made a poor mouth to her and went away empty-handed." She was a woman of fine benevolence, keen natural intelligence, and great spirit and energy. While she lived she ruled; all the family unquestioningly owned her sway. Sometimes on a summer evening Mr. Grant, seated outside, would ask for his evening cup, and if not just at once forthcoming would say to Mrs. Grant : " 0, Grace, Grace ; ye're Grace by name, but ye're no Grace by natur' !" The old lady with a laugh or a smile, and a twinkle of fun in her eye, would quietly pursue her way — dropping some apt aphorism. "Ay, ay; it's lang or the stars glint." THE PARENT PAIR 191 " Ye'U quaff your quaicli ^ or tlie dews drencli ye." " Nae fear o' droonin' wlieii the stream's dry." " Patience and prudence are tittie-billie." ^ " Graces, like gangerils,^ get their awmous." * "Eh, Grace, Grace' aw've seen the day." "Ay, ay, guidman, young cowts ^ kick high heels." " Nae doot, nae doot, guidwife ; and snod ^ maids wad aye be dawtit." ^ " 0, Grace, Grace, it's makin' for mirk !" ^ " Wise weans shouldna wearie." " Summer shadows mak' soft shelter — the sun's still bricht a-wast the hill." Then they would laugh like two young ones, with a laughter full of heart, while in due time — her time — the wonted " cheerer " was supplied, and Grace graciously reinstated in marital favour. "A lucky hand® beats a souple tongue." "Weel, weel, it's guid gear that pleases the merchant." Mrs. Grant loved flowers and plants and trees, and they abounded, at that time, about her home. One day, when nearer four score than three score and ten, she discovered that a group of workmen at Topwood — some distance up the hill from Grant 1. A drin king-cup with two ears. 2. Sister and brother. 3. Vagrants. 4. Alms, portion. 5. Colts. 6. Trim, neat. 7. Fondled. 8. Dark. 9. Generous, abundant. 192 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Lodge — were preparing to fell trees. "Cut down the trees ! Na, na; they shannot do that." And, without a moment's hesitation, off she set at a surprising pace up the steep ascent, and in im- perative tones ordered the workmen to desist and go back to the works. They obeyed. She re- turned, passing Grant Lodge, and, going right down to the Square, poured out her indignant remonstrance and absolute prohibition to her son, who promised acquiescence on the spot. That occurred over eighty years ago. Topwood still adorns the mountain-side. The life of these venerable parents of the Grants embraced something like a completed providential cycle. They began their united life with fairly happy prospects. But these were dashed by stern adversity. With a large family of young children they had to start afresh, far from the native home- stead, and in unfamiliar surroundings. But they maintained their integrity; and, through many years of trustful, unremitting toil, prosperity re- turned; while, in the peaceful evening of their days, affluence blessed their lot. All that had been lost had then come back to them augmented manifold. The father died in 1817, and the mother in 1821. At his death, the father had been in Lan- cashire thirty-four years, and the mother, at hers. FILIAL AFFECTION 193 thirty-eight. Her youngest son, Charles, with all his fire and energy, was building the Square works when his mother died. He followed her to the grave only four years after, in 1825. The parents had been spared to participate in many years of growing prosperity in the life of their sons. And one of the most marked and beautiful features in these men was the manifest honour accorded, at all times, to their father and mother while living, and the deep and perennial reverence with which they cherished their memory — especially that of their mother — after they were gone. The genius of Dickens has seized upon this element in their character, which was clear as a sunbeam to those who knew them well, and has crystallised it in the little festive speech the one brother is supposed to address to the other at the birthday anniversary of their confidential clerk and cashier, " Tim Linkin water " : " Brother Charles, my dear fellow, there is another association connected with this day which must never be forgotten, and never can be forgotten, by you and me. This day, which brought into the world a most faithful and excellent and exemplary fellow, took from it the kindest and very best of parents — the very best of parents to us both. I wish that she could have seen us in our prosperity, and shared it, and had the happiness of knowing how dearly we loved her 194 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS in it, as we did when we were two poor boys; but that was not to be. My dear brother, the memory of our mother." As a matter of fact, that mother's word or wish, to the end of her days, was law to her sons. The Rev. Franklin Howorth and his wife — Sir Henry Holland's sister — "knew William and Daniel well, and retained a vivid recollection of their cheerful hospitality, their lively talk, their over-flowing bountifulness, their intense mutual love. These two devoted brothers lend their witness to limit the universality of the proverb that ' still waters are deepest,' and to confute the generally-received doctrine that demonstrativeness is incompatible with depth of feeling — that truest love is shy of expression." What is stated in Mr. Howorth's biography of them was true of these two brothers to the end of their days — they seldom 'passed their mother's picture without an inclination of reverence or an exclamation of gratitude. Here we may conveniently insert the inscription on the weathered tomb in Bank Street, Bury, where up to this time the deceased members of the family had been laid. It is as follows : - — Here resteth in the hope of a blessed Resurrection, Maby, the daughter of William Grant, of Strathspey, North Britain, who died the 14th day of Novemr., 1784, TOMBSTONE IN BURY 195 in the 8th year of her age. Also Elizabeth, the daughter of the ahove William Grant, now of Grant Lodge, near this Town, who died the 17th of November, 1808, in the 35th year of her age. Also Elizabeth, the wife of Daniel Grant, of Manchester, and daughter of Thomas Worthington, Esqr., Sharson, in Cheshire, who died Octr. 19th, 1816, in the 21st year of her age. Also the above-named William Grant, died June 29th, 1817, in the 84th year of his age. Also Grace, his wife, died May 16th, 1821, in the 79th year of her age. Also Charles, son of the above William and Grace Grant, who died July 9th, 1825, aged 37 years. We also give as possessing an interest of its own, th.e inscription on an ornate tablet near the north, end of the east wall in St. Andrew's Church, Ramsbottom, to the memory of the parents of the "Cheerybles": — Sacred to the memory of William Grant, Esqr., of Elchies, Morayshire, Scotland; and Grant Lodge, Ramsbottom. Born 1733. Died 29th July,i 1817. Aged 84. 1. Ought to be June. 196 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS "The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.'' — St. James^ chap. 5, ver. 16. Also of Grace, his Wife. Born 1742. Died 16th May. 1821. Aged 79. "Her children arise up and called her blessed." — Prov., chap. 31st, v. 29. This tablet was erected in 1864 by the only surviving male representative of their line and name, William Grant, of Carr Bank, Esq.^ In 1839, three years before William's death, he wTote the following letter — the information it contains was sought by a London correspondent for " a work of the day," on " The Master Manu- facturers of Lancashire " ; and aimed at " depict- ing in their true light the truly benevolent, patriotic, and energetic exertions of such indivi- duals as the Peels, Howarths, Yates's, Grants, &c., to whom the country at large, and Lancashire in particular, is so much indebted." The " work of the day," somehow never appeared. The letter, however, gives us the venerable " Cheeryble's " own brief and interesting account of the advent of 1. Mr. Wilham Grant, of Carr Bank, "the only surviving male representative of" the Grants — was the son of Mr. John Grant, of Nuttall Hall. Of his other sons, John "died at Nuttall Hall, June 12th, 1851, aged 22 years ;" and Robert Dalgliah Grant, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, London, "died at Bordeaux, in France, November 7th, 1863, aged 33 " They were buried in St Andrew's Church. WILLIAM'S STORY 197 the Grants to the valley of the Irwell, and their subsequent remarkable career. "Springside, May 17, 1839. Dear Sir, — Allow me to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed favour of the 10th. My father was a dealer in cattle, and lost his property in the year 1783. He got a letter of introduction to Mr. Arkwright (the late Sir Eichard), and came by the way of Skipton to Manchester, accompanied by me. As we passed along the old road, we stopped for a short time on the Park estate to view the valley. My father exclaimed, "What a beautiful valley ! May God Almighty bless it ! It reminds me of Speyside, but the Irwell is not so large as the river Spey." I recollect Messrs. Peel & Yates were then laying the foundation of their printworks at Ramsbottom. We went forward to Manchester and called upon Mr. Arkwright, but he had so many applications that he could not employ him. There were then only Arkwright's mill, on a small scale^ and Thacary's mill in Manchester. There was a mill on the Irwell belonging to Mr. Douglas, two belonging to Messrs. Peel & Yates, the one at EadclifFe Bridge, the other at Hinds; aud these were the only mills then in Lancashire. My father then applied to Mr. Dinwiddle, a Scotch gentleman, who knew him in his prosperity, and who was a printer and manufacturer at Hampson Mill, near Bury. He agreed to give my father employment, and placed my brother 198 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS James and me in situations, where we had an opportunity of acquiring a knowledge both of manufacturing and printing; and offered me a partnership when I had completed my apprenticeship. 1 declined his offer, and commenced business for myself on a small scale, assisted by my brothers John, Daniel, and Charles, and removed to Bury, where I was very successful, and in the course of a few years (in 1800 1) I removed to Manchester, and commenced printing in partnership with my brothers. My brother Daniel commenced travelling through the North of England and almost to every market town in Scotland. In 1806 we purchased the printworks belonging to Sir Kobert Peel, &c., situated at Rams- bottom. In 1812 we purchased Nuttall factory. In consequence of the death of Mr. Alsop, the workpeople had been long short of employment, and were very destitute. We ordered the manager to get new machinery of the first-rate construction, and greatly extended the building; and before we began to spin or manufacture we clothed the whole of the hands at our own expense, prepared an entertainment for them, and observed that the interests of masters and servants are bound together, that there are reciprocal duties to perform, that no general or admiral could be brave unless he was supported by his men, that we knew how to reward merit, and would give constant employment and liberal wages to all our faithful servants; and I am happy to say that they, as well as those at our printing establish- ment, with very few exceptions, have conducted them- selves with great propriety. HIS PARENTS' WISH 199 In 1818 we purchased Springside, and in 1827 we purchased the Park estate, and erected a monument to commemorate my father's first visit to this valley, and on the very spot where he and I stood admiring the scenery below. There is a fine view from the top of the tower in a clear day, and the Welsh hills can be descried in the distance. We attribute much of our prosperity, under Divine Providence, to the good example and good counsel of our worthy parents. They expressed a wish that I would build a Sunday School, and erect a church to worship God in, according to the ritual of the Church of Scotland, as a tribute of gratitude to Him for His great kindness to the family. I cheerfully complied with their request, and both have been finished years ago. We have done business on a large scale^ at all the places you have named, exporting our goods and receiving the productions of those countries in return; but trade for some years has been very unproductive — profits being so small, and the risk great, that we have been very much inclined to retire on the moderate fortune we have acquired with great industry, were it not to give employment to our workpeople, but we feel unwilling to throw our servants out of employment at a time when many are only being worked three days in the week." It was, as William Grant states in the above letter, tlie vrish of his father and mother that he should "build a Sunday school and erect a 200 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS church" for the congregation with which the family were connected, and in which William, to their delight, was elected and ordained an Elder, in 1818, in Dundee Presbyterian Chapel, Eams- bottom, where they worshipped. That wish was honoured ; and his brothers John and Daniel were, heart and soul, with him in the work. He built the new church— St. Andrew's— in 1832-1834. The hymn, furnished by him for the great cere- monial, at the laying of the foundation stone, was headed thus : — HYMN to be sung by the Congregation assembling at Dundee Chapel on the Laying of the Foundation Stone of their Nbw Church, on Thursday, the 14th June, 1832. The new church, which, it is said, cost about £5,000, was opened on June 15th, 1834, when the Rev. Andrew, afterwards Dr., MacLean, minister of the congregation, and Ex-Moderator of the Presbytery of Lancashire, "delivered two sermons to a very numerous and respectable con- gregation." ^ 1. Manchester Guardian, June 21st, 1834. ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, RAMSBOTTOM. CON0TlC<:;ftTIO-siASSE-MD],I\r.^\TUlND£t CU\T^ EUS-^^nTto Th& in faitfe we lay, ,,-. - V. oyild tb^ tetnpWl^ord, to Thee ; Thine, ejc be omb Os^t and day, ! ^0 gu^id tlne^use^ndaaaotuary.- Heir, Tb->ii, in he&vcu, ttiy (^TrelUttg-place, And wheQ 1 hou heartst, LoM, forgive' Here nheii thy me^en^ers proclaim Tlie blessed go§pel of, thy So^ SiiH by the power of his great nanie I Be mighty signs anrf wonders done. . And thpSBj^ur Patrc^s, — God of grace," 'Re\r%i SieiHoiire a^housaiid fold ; . . ,.- And may theyVvcriii thv face, "^^ti' g'heir b^.'mirUijercst Fi-iend beiiold.T^; Praj§^ God, froTp wljom all blessings flow; ,Piaise"Hi[0 abpve, ^ heavenly host; .f Piaise Him, aH'creaturea here.b^w ; , iPrdise father, Son, ^d Holy.GljJ36t. ■ ' | 'NEW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 201 On the 2iid of July, 1834, the above Presbytery, of whicb William Grant — the elder " Cheeryble " and "Founder" of St. Andrew's — was an active and influential member, "did pass an unanimous vote of thanks for his work of beneficence and piety, accompanied with their earnest prayers to the Author of all mercies, that he may long be spared to live in health and happiness, and that, after death, an abundant entrance may be administered to him into the Kingdom of Heaven." ^ This thanksgiving minute was formally presented and accepted, and, as the duly chosen representative B-uling-Elder of St. Andrew's congregation, Mr. Grant continued an honoured Member of the Lancashire Presbytery till his decease. This Presbyterian congregation, fully equipped — minister, elders, deacons and members — worshipped happily in the loved sanctuary for 35 years. Trust deeds, however, were not in their possession, and a successor of the founder, of a later genera- tion, unhappily, took it, by force, from the old congregation of the "Cheerybles," in 1869, and gave it, with a sum of £4,000, which also was not formally secured, to the Church of England. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners accepted of both, 1. For full minute Bee "The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers," jj. 284. 202 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS and the churcli was consecrated — that is, legally handed over for Episcopal worship in 1875, thirty- three years after the mortal remains of its staunch and illustrious Presbyterian founder had been laid to rest within its walls, and forty-one years after he had been publicly thanked by the Presbytery, of which he was an honoured member, " for his work of beneficence and piety." He died in 1842. From his last surviving cousin,^ who was living with the Cheerybles at Springside at the time, and a grandniece, who was also there, now both deceased, we have gathered the following particulars : — Daniel, it seems, had been anxious about William's health, and, in consequence, had for about twelve months slept in the same room with him . On the 27th February their cousin remarked that William looked ill, but no complaint was made, and all went on as usual. During the night, however, Daniel was startled by something like a call from William, and found him suffering from a sudden seizure. Medical aid was immediately summoned, but it was unavailing. He never rallied; and in a short time passed peacefully away. Daniel was stunned. " He could not get himself to realise the truth for fully 1. Miss Jessie Grant, of Ballinteein, Strathspey, died, ao-ed 90, in 1897. DEATH OF THE ELDER CHEERYBLE 203 ten minutes after tlie event, then, in a paroxysm, of despair, h.e called out, ' Good God ! William dead !' and his grief was without bounds." Daniel himself had been suffering from an attack of gout, and the shock caused by his brother's death sent the ailment suddenly to his head. The medical authorities had him removed at once to his house in Mosley Street, Manchester, to be near his own doctor. " For several days his life was despaired of." Happily he rallied after a time and was able to return to Springside — not, however, till some time after William's interment. The Manchester Guardian had the following reference to William's decease : — • " William Grant, Esqr. — We have this day to announce the death of our old and valued townsman, William Grant, Esqr., who departed this life at his house Springside, near Bury, on Monday morning last, in the 73rd year of his age. Mr. Grant had passed a long life in varied circumstances, and, by industrious exertion and unsuUied integrity, had acquired an independent fortune, which he was ever disposed to make subservient to the calls of poverty and mis- fortune; not dispensing his charities indiscriminately, but under the control of discretion. As a magistrate, during the time that his health and strength enabled him to act, no man more honestly or impartially 204 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS administered justice; and perhaps no man wlio ever sat upon the bench ever exercised the functions less ofiensively in the infliction of punishment than he did. There will be many who will deplore his death, but none to cast a reflection on his memory." His death occurred on the 28tli of February, and on March 13th the Rev. Dr. MacLean preached a sermon in St. Andrew's Church, bearing upon the event. The text was " Remember how short my time is " — Psalm Isxxix. 47. It was " published by request," and is dedicated thus : — - To DANIEL GKANT, Esqr., This sermon, Preached on the occasion of the death of his beloved Brother, IS INSCRIBED With sentiments of the most afiectionate regard By Andrew MacLean, A.M. We give the following extract : — Death has been busy within our borders. A father has fallen in Israel. A righteous man has taken his departure from among us. He, whose pious regard erected the temple in which we worship, now lies silent within its walls. Our friend and benefactor is gone 1 FUNERAL SERMON 205 He lias " gone down to the grave, and we shall look upon his face no more !" While we bend before the stroke, and adore the deep and inscrutable ways of God, let us also meditate upon his memory, and profit by the example he has left. Standing in this sacred place — which, we trust, will rear its heaven-pointing towers for ages to come, as a ■monument of his piety and worth — and before you, my brethren, it would almost seem needless for me to dwell on the life and character of the deceased. They are fully known and feelingly appreciated by you all. He has been known to you in public and private. He has been associated with you in the varied circumstances and connections of human life. You have had for many years ample and unbounded experience of his benevolence and integrity. He has lived among you, and you have had converse together. Your presence in this place is a testimony of your reverence and respect. Your sympathy for his afflicted friends is a proof that your own hearts are also stricken. And the garments of mourning, which almost universally you wear, show that you honoured and loved him when living, and that you now deplore and lament him when dead. At the south side of the east window in St. Andrew's Church a marble tablet, surmounted by a bust, bears the following inscription : — 206 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS SACRED to The Memory of WILLIAM GRANT of Springside, Esquire, The founder of this Church. Born at Elchies, Morayshire, Scotland, on 15th of April, 1769. Died at Springside on 28th of February, 1842. Distinguished by vigour of understanding. Spotless integrity of character, and true benevolence of heart. He lived a benefactor to his species. And died universally lamented. A rhymed tribute to Mr. Grant's memory by a member of the warehouse staff in Manchester was published after his death. It is surmounted by a silhouette of Mr. Grant, and followed by the accompanying note : — "This generous, good, and affectionate master died on the 28th day of February, about a quarter-past seven o'clock a.m., 1842, aged 73 years, and was interred on the 5th of March, attended by a numerous procession of gentlemen from Manchester, Liverpool, and the neighbouring country. In passing their family monument, the funeral was joined by many hundreds of their workpeople and friends. The country and DANIEL PASSES AWAY 207 the village of Ramsbottom appeared one general scene of mourning from his hall to the Church, where he was laid in a vault inside his own temple, which he had built and dedicated to the Lord. See the Rev. A. MacLean's Funeral Sermon. Edwabd Kat." Widely and sincerely William's death was mourned ; but to Daniel it was a supreme bereave- ment. The irrepressible sprightliness indeed still scintillated about the lithe and agile form, but the very genuineness of the man, the moral trans- parency — the eiXiKplveia, as the Greeks called it — made it impossible altogether to conceal the consciousness of how much had gone from him. A mellowing sense of solitude, with its deep " deciphering oracle within," ^ henceforth went with him through the busy haunts of men. And as the lark springs from the valley up through the mountain shadow to greet the coming day, so now his deepest thoughts sought yonder side the " bourne " until the mortal " mure " was rent, and he pursued them to the realm of day. The ruptured fellowship was then restored. Thirteen years after William's death Daniel himself — the second of the immortal " Cheerybles " — passed away. 1. De Quincey. 208 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS His healtli liad been, failing for some time, and towards the close of 1854 an attack confined him to the house for about a month. "With the New Year, however, came some return of strength; and the mind still clear and active, he went from time to time to his wonted place in Manchester. On Friday, the 9th of March, he was there for the last time. He looked worn and feeble — paler than usual, but the beautiful eyes seemed fuller and more impressive than ever, with a tender wistful- ness about them. The quick business incisiveness was there unimpaired, with the gentleness and courtesy and even the cheerfulness but softened and subdued. After seeing that all was in order, he drove back to Springside. But the enfeebled frame gradually gave way, and towards noon on the following Monday, March 12th, peacefully the end came. The wistful sojourning of over thirteen years in the shadow cast by William's death reached at length a fitting close — he had found again his loved brother " William !" A more beautiful instance of brotherly love than that furnished " by these two men " the world perhaps has never seen. They lived to nearly the same age — William a few weeks less and Daniel a few weeks more than 72 years. It has been observed that they both died on a Monday, and were interred on a Saturday, within the precincts of the DANIEL PASSES AWAY 209 same sanctuary — that which William built for the congregation of which he was an elder and to which all the family belonged. The Manchester Guardian thus referred to Daniel's decease : — " Death of Daniel Grant, Esqr. — We have to record the death of this respected gentleman, for more than sixty years past connected with the cotton manufacture of this district, in the firm of William Grant & Bros., spinners and calico printers. Mr. Grant died about noon on Monday, at his residence, Springside, near Bury. For some months past he had been much indisposed, and the system was evidently breaking. In the Christmas holidays a severe attack of illness prevented him quitting the house for about a month. Since his partial recovery from it, he has given occasional attendance at his place of business in Manchester ; but evidently he had lost strength, and his health seemed precarious. On Friday last he was at business for the last time. Deceased and his late brother William were extensively known for their kindly disposition and munificent charities, which Dickens has attempted to delineate in his not unsuccessful sketch of ' Cheeryble Brothers '—a portraiture drawn from the lives of William and Daniel Grant. Mr. Daniel Grant was also an admirer and patron of the fine arts. His collection of paintings 210 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS at his house in Mosley Street, and also at Springaide, are extensive and valuable.'' On the south wall of the church, overlooking the passage in the front of the Communion table, a tablet bears these words : — This monument is erected To the Memory of DANIEL GRANT, Esquire, Of Manchester, Who died 12th March, 1865, aged 76 years. READER, If you are in poverty, grieve for the loss of so good a friend ; If born to wealth and influence, Think of the importance of such a trust; and earn in like manner. By a life of charitable exertion. The respect and love of all who know you. The prayers and blessings of the poor. "Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. FUNERAL SERMON 211 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, ' Here I am.'' Isaiah, 58 chap. ; 7, 8, and 9 verses." And, less than two months after the death of Daniel, the last of the brothers, John, went to his rest. From the sermon, on John xiv. 1, 2, preached by Dr. MacLean on "the morning of Sabbath, May 13, 1855, on the occasion of the death of John Grant, Esq., of Nuttall Hall," we extract the following : — I have chosen this passage of sacred Scripture as my text on this occasion, because it is, as far as my memory serves, among the latest, if not the very last, passage which it was my privilege to repeat to the venerable Christian whose death we now deplore. The doctrines I have now preached from it were the doctrines deeply impressed upon his heart; they were the principles of his firm and unfaltering belief ; they were the source of his trust in life, and the spring of his comfort and peace in death. I have now earnestly to solicit your kind indulgence, brethren, while I attempt to discharge my present melancholy duty. It is not an easy thing to speak when the heart is full, over the fresh grave, as it were, of one with whom, but as yesterday, you held kind and Christian converse, and whom you have long honoured 212 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS and loved. I cannot but feel, too, at this trying moment, the painful remembrance that only a few weeks have elapsed since, from this sacred place, I gave expression to our united grief and regret over the death of one whose name we shall not soon or easily forget And now, before our hearts are recovered from the stroke, another, and he the last of his generation, has passed away. Alas ! all the stately trees have now fallen I The three brothers have gone to their graves ! The men, once so united in heart and hand — ^the men whom we have so long honoured and esteemed — who so dearly loved this valley — -who have contributed so largely to its prosperity and beauty — and whose names have been associated, far and wide, with industry, enterprise and benevolence — all of them have now run their busy race ; they that once knew them " now know them no more!" Their silent tombs are now before us! beneath this sacred roof their ashes are mingling! together they are sleeping "the sleep that knows no waking" till, loud over heaven and earth and sea, shall be heard the " voice of the archangel and the trump of God." .... Unlocked for and unexpected has this second visitation come — at a time when the heart was full of hope — when dark and dreary winter, with all its dangers, had passed away — when spring had come with its promise of health and gladness — and when many a heart rejoiced to see our venerable friend reappearing in the sunshine, glad and JOHN ALSO GONE 213 grateful to his God for being permitted to breathe the sweet reviving breeze along the fields and lanes he had loved so long, — at such a moment he sickens and dies, leaving upon our hearts the melancholy lesson of the deceitfulness of all human hopes, and of the frailty and vanity of man. But not unlocked for to himself did his summons come; long had he lived in earnest and faithful preparation for the world to come ; long had " his loins been girt, and his lamp burning," and he himself waiting and watching for the coming of the Lord. Before tlie year 1855 closed, Jane Dalglish,^ the widow of Mr. John Grant, also died. On the morning of January 6th, 1856, Dr. MacLean preached a sermon on the occasion of her death from Revelation, xiv. 13. We give its conclud- ing paragraphs : — - It appears as if almost unnecessary for me, in this sacred place, and before you, dear brethren, who are all witnesses of her worth, to speak of the life and character of the deceased. Long has she proved herself a blessing indeed to this valley 1 Warmly alive to all the best interests of the people. Ever anxious to do good. Abounding in gentle charity. Liberally 1. Mrs. Grant was the daughter of Mr. Robert Dalglish, of Glasgow. Her brother, Robert, was ^I.P. for that city from 1858 to 1874. 214 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS upholding all Christian churches and schools. Encouraging the old and young in wisdom's ways. Furnishing a continued stream of books and tracts, oftentimes prepared by her own hands for the edifica- tion and instruction of the people. Giving bread to the hungry, clothing to the aged and poor, comforts, in their day of need, to the sick and the dying, and goodwill and kindness to all. Verily of her it may be said, " The blessing of Him that was ready to perish came upon her ; and she caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. She was eyes to the blind, and feet was she to the lame. She was a mother to the poor." It has always appeared to me a most tender and touching scene, and presenting perhaps one of the most precious and afiecting remembrances that the living could render to the dead, when we read in Holy Writ how the apostle Peter — in obeying the call of the disciples to come to the house of Dorcas, who had died — entered into an upper chamber where the dead lay, and found all the widows standing and " weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcaa had made for them, while she was still with them." How many of the poor, of the infirm and aged, who have passed away from the stage of time, and how many still around us, whom she has fed and comforted and clothed, would, weeping, bear the same warm and grateful tribute to the kind heart that is now at rest 1 Mrs. JOHN GRANT'S MEMORIAL 215 May these, her works of gentle charity, follow her into heaven — not, indeed, as any ground of her acceptance and admission there, but as proofs of her love — as done in the name and for the sake of Him " who loved us, and gave Himself for us," and who has promised that even a cup of cold water given to a disciple, for His sake, shall in no wise lose its reward, and that, inasmuch as it has been done unto the least of His children. He holds it as done unto Himself. I presume not to speak of the departed in the more private relations of life. I know full well how tenderly she loved, how faithfully she discharged her duties to her family, and how devotedly her love was returned; and I know that for many a day their hearts will melt in sorrow over the loss of one who w£is to them a mother — faithful, tender and true. One consolation, at least, and that not a small one, in the goodness of God, has been allotted to them. They were permitted, one and all, to watch her troubled couch, to minister to her wants, and to stand around her when her eyes closed upon this world, and when, with the gentleness of an infant's slumber, she fell asleep, we trust, in Jesus. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, said the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." On tte north wall of the church, over against 2l6 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS that of Daniel, is placed the monumental tablet of John and his wife. It is inscribed thus : — IN MEMORY OF JOHN GRANT, of Nuttall Hall, Esqr., Who died May 6th, 1855. Aged 80 years. And of JANE, his Wife, Who died December 28th, 1855. Aged 56 years. This Monument is Erected by Their surviving children. Not alone as a memorial of sorrow at the irreparable loss they have sustained in the death of their parents, and to perpetuate tbe remembrance of the many virtues of these beloved ones for ever departed, but that succeeding generations may read, and, reading, fondly share the affectionate admiration of those so gentle and so good. " And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." — Rev. xiv. 13th verse. " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things are passed away." — Rev. xxi. 4th verse. "And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads." — Rev. xxii. ith verse. MONUMENTAL TABLET 217 Calm on the bosom of your God, Dear spirits, rest you now ; E'en while on earth your footsteps trod. His seal was on your brow. Dust to its narrow house beneath. Souls to their place on high ; They who have seen you when in death No more need fear to die. The benefactions of Mrs. John Grant, in the form of clothing, &c., have been enjoyed, year by year, by old villagers almost to the present time. One more tablet, recently erected on the south wall of the church, records the decease of "the last surviving child " of Mr. and Mrs. John Grant — Mrs. Lawson, of Aldborough Manor. It bears the following inscription : — SACRED To the Memory of ANDREW SHERLOCK LAWSON, Of Aldborough Manor, In the County of York, Esquire, Who died May 22nd, 1872. AIbo of ISABELLA, his wife, Who died June 10th, 1890. The last surviving child of John Grant, Of Nuttall Hall, Esquire. This monument is erected By their children. The Ramsbottom and Nuttall estates are now the property of Mrs. Lawson's second son — Sir John Grant Lawson — the worthy bearer of a greatly honoured name. THE CHEERYBLES— IDEAL AND REAL 221 CHAPTER VIII The Cheerybles — Ideal and Real. Having in the preceding chapters given the life- story of the originals of the Cheery ble Brothers, it may not be uninteresting to see in a concluding chapter how the genius of Dickens portrayed them in "Nicholas Nickleby." William Grant — the elder of the two brothers — died in 1842, at the age of 72. Daniel, the younger of the two, died in 1855, just about the same age. Forster, in his "Life of Charles Dickens," re- ferring to three years, 1838 — 1840 inclusive, says, "we visited, during two of those years, friends of art and letters in his (Ainsworth's) native Man- chester, from among whom Dickens brought away his Brothers Cheerybles." Vol. I., page 158. At the time referred to, therefore, William Grant would be bordering upon three score and ten, while Daniel would be about fifty-six or fifty- seven — thirteen years younger. The name and salient characteristics of these brothers were at that time familiar as a household word in Man- chester and far beyond its limits. 222 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Let us note Dickens' description of the Cheery- ble witli whom. "Nicholas Nickleby" first came in contact. "Nickleby" was compelled "to deter- mine if he could, upon some course of life, which would enable him to support those who were so entirely dependent upon his exertions " — his mother and sister. He foresaw a thousand fretful objections on her (the mother's) part to his seeking a livelihood upon the stage. There were graver reasons, too, against his returning to that mode of ^ life." " It won't do," said Nicholas, shaking his head, " I must try something else " . . . " Egad ! I'll try that register office again." He made accordingly for the register office. And " as Nicholas stopped to look in at the window an old gentleman happened to stop too; and Nicholas, carrying his eye along the window panes from left to right in search of some capital text placard which should be applicable to his own case, caught sight of this old gentleman's figure, and instinc- tively withdrew his eyes from the window to observe the same more closely." Then follows a vivid description of the " old gentleman " : — " He was a sturdy old fellow in a broad-skirted blue coat, made pretty large to fit easily, and with no particular waist ; his bulky legs clothed in drab breeches and high gaiters, and his head protected DESCRIPTION OF WILLIAM 223 by a low-crowned, broad-brimmed white bat, such as a wealthy grazier might wear. He wore his coat buttoned ; and his dimpled double chin rested in the folds of a white neckerchief — not one of your stiff-starched apoplectic cravats, but a good, easy, old-fashioned white neck-cloth that a man might go to bed in and be none the worse for. But what principally attracted the attention of Nicholas was the old gentleman's eye — never was such a clear, twinkling, honest, .merry, happy eye as that. And then he stood looking a little upward with one hand thrust into the breast of his coat and the other playing with his old-fashioned gold watch chain ; his head thrown a little on one side, and his hat a little more on one side than his head (but that was evidently accident, not his ordinary way of wearing it), with such a pleasant smile playing about his mouth and such a comical expression of mingled slyness, simplicity, kind- heartedness and good humour lighting up his jolly old face that Nicholas would have been content to have stood there and looked at him until evening, and to have forgotten, meanwhile, that there was such a thing as a soured mind or a crabbed countenance to be met with in the whole wide world." Now that, beyond all question, is an admirable portrait of William Grant, the elder of the 224 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS Cheerybles, not of Daniel, wto was of much lighter build. But, when Nicholas and he draw together and enter into colloquial speech, the utterance is that of Daniel rather than William. In this way the novelist unites the person of one of the brothers with the characteristic speech of the other. "You were about to speak, young gentleman; what were you going to say ?" " Merely that I almost hoped — I mean to say thought — you had some object in consulting those advertisements," said Nicholas. " Ay, ay ! what object now — what object ?" returned the old man, looking slyly at Nicholas. "Did you think I wanted a situation now, eh? Did you think I did?" Nicholas shook his head. "Ha ! ha I" laughed the old gentleman, rubbing his hands and wrists as if he were washing them. "A very natural thought, at all events, after seeing me gazing at those bills. I thought the same of you at first, upon my word I did." " If you had thought so at last, too, sir, you would not have been far from the truth," rejoined Nicholas. " Eh ?" cried the old man, surveying him from head to foot. " What ! Dear me ! No, no. Well- NICKLEBY AND WILLIAM 225 behaved young gentleman reduced to sucli a necessity ! No, no, no, no." Nicholas bowed, and bidding him " Good morning," turned upon his heel. " Stay," said the old man, beckoning him into a bye-street, where they could converse with less interruption. "What d'ye mean, eh?" " Merely that your kind face and manner — both so unlike any I have ever seen — tempted me into an avowal, which, to any other stranger in this wilderness of London, I should not have dreamt of making," returned Nicholas. " Wilderness ! Yes it is, it is. Good ! It is a wilderness," said the old man with much anima- tion. " It was a wilderness to me once. I came here barefoot; I have never forgotten it. Thank God !" and he raised his head and looked very grave. " What's the matter ; what is it ; how did it all come about?" said the old man, laying his hand on the shoulder of Nicholas, and walking him up the street. "You're — eh?" laying his finger on the sleeve of his black coat. " Who's it for — eh?" " My father," replied Nicholas. "Ah!" said the old gentleman quickly. "Bad thing for a young man to lose his father. Widowed mother, perhaps?" Nicholas sighed. 226 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS " Brothers and sisters, too — eh?" " One sister," rejoined Nicholas. " Poor thing, poor thing ! You're a scholar too, I dare say?" said the old man, looking wistfully into the face of the young one. " I have been tolerably well educated," said Nicholas. " Fine thing," said the old gentleman ; " education's a great thing — a very great thing ; I never had any. I admire it the more in others. A very fine thing. Yes, yes. Tell me more of your history. Let me hear it all. No impertinent curiosity — no, no, no." That is Daniel. William's speech, always kind and genial, was gentle and persuasive; Daniel's was sharp, laconic and iterative, and, while he could be tender and gentle as a woman on fitting occasion, he had a buoyant tendency to a kind of full-hearted rollicking explosiveness which took everybody by storm. Again, when " the old gentleman " brought Nicholas to the office of the Cheeryble Brothers he found Mr. Trimmers with his brother " Ned." Addressing Tim Linkin water: — "Ay! And what has he come about, Tim?" said Mr. Cheeryble. " He is getting up a subscription for the widow and family of a man who was killed in the East HELP FOR THE CHILDREN 227 India Docks tMs morning, sir," rejoined Tim. " Smashed, sir, by a cask of sugar." "He is a good creature," said Mr. Cheeryble, witli great earnestness. " He is a kind soul. I am very mucli obliged to Trimmers. Trimmers is one of tbe best friends we have. He makes a thousand cases known to us that we should never discover of ourselves. I am very much obliged to Trim- mers." Mr. Cheeryble rubbed his hands with infinite delight, and Mr. Trimmers happening to pass the door at that instant, on his way out, shot out after him and caught him by the hand. " I owe you a thousand thanks. Trimmers — ten thousand thanks — I take it very friendly of you — very friendly indeed," said Mr. Cheeryble, dragging him into a corner to get out of hearing. How many children are there, and what has my brother Ned given. Trimmers?" "There are six children, and your brother has given us twenty pounds." "My brother Ned is a good fellow, and you're a good fellow, too. Trimmers," said the old man, shaking him by both hands with trembling eager- ness. "Put me down for another twenty — or — stop a minute, stop a minute. We mustn't look ostentatious; put me down ten pounds and Tim Linkinwater ten pounds. A cheque for twenty 228 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS pounds for Mr. Trimmers, Tim. God bless you, Trimmers — and come and dine with us some day this week; you'll always find a knife and fork, and we shall be delighted. Now, my dear sir, — cheque for Mr. Linkinwater, Tim. Smashed by a cask of sugar, and six poor children — oh dear, dear, dear ! " Now that extract furnishes a very free and accurate representation of the hearty, generous, rattling speech of Daniel — " Brother Charles " ; but, as we have seen, when Dickens describes his person, he accurately describes, not Daniel, but William — " Brother Ned." The interesting and impressive personality of the septuagenarian, William, is thus enriched by the laconic and often picturesque speech of the younger brother, Daniel. Yet, sometimes, we find the illustrious writer, giving us, in close juxtaposition, utterances beau- tifully characteristic of either brother: — "Brother Ned," said Nicholas' friend, closing the room door, "here is a young friend of mine, that we must assist. We must make proper in- quiries into his statement, in justice to him as well as to ourselves, and if they are confirmed — as I feel assured they will be — we must assist him; we must assist him. Brother Ned." That has the CHEERYBLES' CHARACTERISTICS 229 rush and "go" of "Brother Charles "—Daniel — about it. Then comes the characteriscally tranquil and deferential answer of " Brother Ned "—"William. "It is enough, my dear brother, that you say we should. When you say that, no further in- quiries are needed. He shall be assisted. What are his necessities, and what does he require? Where is Tim Linkinwater? Let us have him in." Take another brace of illustrative instances — one for either Cheeryble. The brothers have been devising generous and thoughtful things for their old and faithful con- fidential clerk — Tim Linkinwater. "Where is Tim Linkinwater?" said brother Ned. " Stop, stop, stop ! " said brother Charles, taking the other aside. "I've a plan, my dear brother, I've a plan. Tim is getting old, and Tim has been a faithful servant, brother Ned; and I don't think pensioning Tim's mother and sister, and buying a little tomb for the family when his brother died, was a sufficient recompense for his faithful services." " No, no, no," replied the other, " certainly not, not half enough — not half." " If we could lighten Tim's duties," said the old gentleman, "and prevail upon him to go into the 230 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS country, now and then, and sleep in the fresh air besides, two or three times a week (which he could if he began business an hour later in the morning), old Tim Linkinwater would grow young again in time ; and he's three good years our senior now. Old Tim Linkwater young again I Eh, brother Xed, eh? Why, I recollect old Tim Linkinwater quite a little boy, don't you? Ha, ha, ha! Poor Tim poor Tim ! " . . . But Tim would have none of it : — "I'm not coming an hour later in the morning, you know," said Tim, breaking out all at once, and looking very resolute. I'm not going to sleep in the fresh air — nor I'm not going into the coun- try either. A pretty thing at this time of day, certainly, Pho ! " "Damn your obstinacy, Tim Linkinwater," said brother Charles, looking at him without the faintest spark of anger, and with a countenance radiant with attachment to the old clerk. " Damn your obstinacy, Tim Linkinwater; what do you mean, sir?" That is "Charles." It would not have been characteristic of "Ned." And though, to many, it may seem a very insignificant matter, yet it shows admirably the instinctive delicacy of appreciation and the unerring fidelity of Dickens to the distinctive characteristics of the two brothers. One is not surprised to find, on a rare BENEFACTIONS TO TIM 231 occasion, this somewhat robust but wrathless ebullition, coming from the lips of " Charles," that is, Daniel; but from "Ned" — the septuagenarian William — it would have been a jarring incon- gruity. And this is not affected by the fact that afterwards — when Tim, delicately declining all the generous provisions for his comfort, ends thus — "I've slept in that room," added Tim, sinking his voice a little, "for four-and-forty years; and if it wasn't inconvenient, and didn't interfere with business, I should request leave to die there " — we find, " Damn you, Tim Linkinwater, how dare you talk about dying?" roared the twins by one impulse, and blowing their noses violently ? " Dickens having made the Cheerybles "twins," this united dove-like roaring is simply a pardon- able symmetric touch of the garniture of genius ! The remaining instance occurs at the festive gathering in honour of the birthday of Tim Linkinwater. It was a memorable occasion. Tim, before leaving the office that day, was " endowed " by the Cheerybles with a costly gold snuff-box, enclosing a banknote worth more than its value ten times told, " as a feeble mark of respect and esteem, and don't open it until you go to bed, and never say another word upon the subject, or I'll kill the blackbird.'' ^ In the 1. See p. 138 supra. 232 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS evening, at dinner, " brother Ned took the head of the table and brother Charles the foot ; and Tim Linkinwater's sister sat on the left-hand of brother Ned, and Tim Linkinwater himself on his right; and an ancient butler,^ of apoplectic appearance, and with very short legs, took up his position at the back of brother Ned's armchair, and, waving his right arm preparatory to taking off the covers with a flourish, stood bolt upright and motionless." " For these and all other blessings, brother Charles," said Ned. " Lord make us truly thankful, brother Ned," said Charles. Whereupon the apoplectic butler whisked off the top of the soup tureen, and shot, all at once, into a state of violent activity. But there was one little ceremony peculiar to the day, both the matter and manner of which made a very strong impression upon Nicholas. The cloth having been removed and the decanters sent round for the first time, a profound silence succeeded, and in the cheerful faces of the brothers there appeared an expression, not of absolute melancholy, but of quiet thoughtfulness very unusual at a festive table. As Nicholas, struck by this sudden alteration was wondering what it could portend, the brothers rose together, and the 1. See pp. 148 — 151 supra. "THE MEMORY OF OUR MOTHER!" 233 one at the top of the table leaning forward towards the other^ and speaking in a low voice, as if he were addressing him individiuilly, said: — " Brother Charles, my dear fellow, there is another association connected with this day which Tnust never be forgotten by you and Tne. This day, which brought into the world a most faithful and excellent and exemplary fellow, took from it the kindest and best of parents- — the very best of parents to us both. I wish that she could have seen us in our prosperity and shared it, and had the happiness of knowing how dearly we loved her in it, as we did when we were two poor boys; but that was not to he. My dear brother — The Memory of our Mother." Now, as has been shown in the preface to this volume, Charles Dickens did personally meet "William and Daniel Grant, the prototypes of his Cheeryble Brothers.^ And a portraiture of these remarkable men more exquisitely faithful in its spirit, setting, environment and every detail than that furnished in the above extract it would be difficult to imagine. They almost idolised their mother. Indeed, to the end of their days, they seldom passed her picture without an inclination of reverence or an exclamation of gratitude. ^ 1. See p. 15 supra. 2. See p. 194 supra. 234 THE CHEERYBLE GRANTS With, perfect fitness " Ned," that is, William, presides. As a matter of fact he took precedence in the family to the close of his life. From h.is gentle lips, most naturally, the little speech, came with tender reverent grace. On the other hand, " Charles," that is, Daniel, could not have made that speech to save his life. Had he attempted it — but that he never would have done — the speech would have consisted of a brief series of bullet-like sentences shot spasmodically from him ; but, not- withstanding all his rattling brusqueness, to a dead certainty, overcome by emotion, be would have broken down.^ William was tranquil and self-controlled. With beautiful appropriateness, therefore, Daniel stood silent, bowed in grateful reverence, at the foot of the festive table, while William, in soft and fitting speech, gave from its head — " The Memory of our Mother." The picture is perfect. Withal, let no one suppose that the Cheerybles are copies of the Grants. No but they are exquisitely faithful ideal representations, touching sometimes, with wonderful delicacy and accuracy, the borderline of the real. Dickens appears to have seized the dominating elements — • genial, healthful, generous, affectionate — in the 1. See y. ISo unpra. EXQUISITE LITERARY TEXTURE 235 character of the Grants, and from that centre by his genius to have woven the exquisite literary texture relating to them in " Nicholas Nicklehy " — a work, may we add, likely to live while the English language endures, as part of the imperish- able literature of the illustrious Victorian era. Finis. INDEX INDEX A Aberlour, 36, 45. Ainsworth, Harrison, 5. Ainsworth, John, Bury, 100. Ambler, John, 12. Anyon, Pastor, 155. Ashton, Mrs. William, 2. Athol, Countess of, 26. Arkwright, Eichard (Sir), 68, 89. B Ballindalloch Castle, 44. ,, Song of, 45. Baltimore, 121. Barrel-Organ, Costly, 99. Batavia, 121. Ben Aigen, 49. Benefactors, 85. Benrinnes, 45. Bentley, Mrs., 99. Blackley Hall purchased, 119. Blackpool Fishwives, Daniel Grant's generosity to, 165 — 168. Boot, Alfred, Prototype of " The Apoplectic Butler," 149. ,, Accompanies Mary Grant to Scilly Isles, 178. ,, Daniel's Legacy to, 151. Brown, John, of Haddington, 61. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 115. Bury, " Cheerybles " in, 89. " Butler, The Apoplectic," Prototype, 149. C Calcutta, 121. Cannon Street, Warehouse of the Grants in, 120. Carron House, and " Roy's Wife," 36. Charles II., Landing of, on Speyside, 24. Chatterton Riot, The, 127. " Cheeryble Brothers," The, begin business, 94. Birthplace of, 41, 50. „ Country and Church of, 1. „ Dickens and the, 3—15, 221. 240 INDEX " Cheeryble Brothers," Favourite maxims, 97-98. First house in Manchester, 103. ,, The, Generosity, Instances of, 142 — 145. Ideal and real, 221—235. ,, Incidents, characteristic of, 153. Manchester, first house in, 103. Mother of the, 48. ,, Purchase Peels' Worlcs, 116. ,, Residences in Manchester, 103. ,, Reverence for parents, 193. , , William and Daniel Grant, the real prototypes, 3. " Cheerybles," Family of, Arrival in Lancashire, 83. ,, Benefactors to, 85. Family of, 53, 54. ,, Family unity. 111. ,, Father of, 54. ,, Favourite maxims, 97-98. ,, First home in Lancashire, 90. ,, In Ramsbottom and Manchester, 115. ,, Leave Scotland for Lancashire, 80. ,, Native courtesy tested, 101. ,, Noble act of restitution, 106. ,, Privations experienced, 83-84. ,, Route followed in journey to Lancashire, 80-82. ., Thrift and generosity, 98. Claverhouse, 43. Club, D. G., The, institution of, 159. ,, List of Members, 160. Cly, John, "Miller of Tomore," 46. ,, and the two Rocks, 47. Conrock, 49. Coronation of George IV., Banquet, 133-134. ,, Celebration, 132. ,, Great procession to Bury, 133. ,, of Queen Victoria, Celebration, 169. Craigellachie, 29. ,, Bridge, 50. Cromdale, Haughs of, 23. Crompton, of Bolton, 69. Crossley, James, 10. Cunliffe, John, Designer of " The Square," 132. D D. G. Club, Institution of, 159. ,, List of Members, 160. Danes in Scotland, 21. INDEX 241 Dargai, Battle of, 24. ,, Pipers, 24. ,, Piper Findlater, 24. Derby, Lord, Visits " The Square," 173. Dickens, Charles, His meeting with the Grants, 3 — 15. ,, His portraiture of the " Cheerybles," 223. ,, The younger, 3. ,, Fellowship, 9. Dinwiddie, James, 16, 89. Death of, 17. ,, Generous treatment of his grandson, 157. Dundaleith, Haugh of, 49. " Dundee " Presbyterian Church, Eamsbottom, William Grant ordained Elder, 200. Dundiurcas, Haugh of, 49. E Education, The Grants' interest in, 141. Elchies, Haugh of. Birthplace of the Grants, 41, 50, 53. Evans, John, Editor of Old Church Clock, 10. F Fergusson, Eobert, 37. Floods, 42, 44, 47, 59. Forster, John, Biographer of Charles Dickens, 5. G George IV., Coronation of, celebration, 132. Glenlivet, 44. Goodrick, George (Landlord of Grant Arms), 169, 189. Goethe, 77. Grant and Brothers, William, and Nasmyth, Kindness, 126. Build Grants' Tower, 119. Build Nuttall Hall, 119. Buy Nuttall Mill, 119. ,, Complemental Endowments, 123. ,, Formation of Firm, 102. „ Generosity, instances of, 142 — 145. Help struggling merit, 125. ,',' Oppose Com Bill, 123. „ Purchase Blackley Hall, 119. Purchase Park Estate, 119. , Purchase Peels' and Yates' Estate at Bamsbottom, 116. ,, Purchase Springside, 119. "The Three Gentlemen of Lancashire," 175. 242 INDEX Grant Arms, 189. ,, Landlords of, 189. Grant Castle, 25, 27. Grant, Charles, Birth of, 93. at Barwood House, 121. Alumnus of Bury Grammar School, 122. Amusing incident, 134. Death of, 193. Grant, Clan, The, 21, 26. Crest and Motto of, 29. Territory of, 29. Grant, Daniel, The younger of the " Cheerybles," 3. Affected by reading of scripture, 183 — 186. and the D. G. Club, 159. and the Blackpool Fishwives, 165 — 168. Arithmetical skill, 164. Baptised "Donald," 60. Bible presented to, 16. "Brother Charles," 121. Characteristic incidents, 146-7, 156. Church, startling speech in, 152. Courage and strength, 157-159. Death of. Memorial notice, 209. Lost original of engraving of, 2. Memorial tablet, 210. Dickens's portraiture of, 221. Drives to " Dundee " Church from Manchester, 134. Far-reaching schemes, 119, 121. Illness and death of, 208-209. Instance of excessive banter, 180. Just, as well as generous, 177-178. " Memory of our Mother," The, 193-194. Originality, Charming, 165. " Outrider," 103—104. Political meetings, reasons for avoiding, 176. Reluctance in signing documents, 155-156. Beverence for Parents, 193. Statesman of the firm, 123. Striking instance of commercial confidence, 156. Telescopic gift, 123. Grant, Elizabeth (sister of the " Cheerybles ") visits Strathspey, 108-9. Grant, Grace, 2. Grant, Gregory de, 26. Grant, James (eldest brother of the "Cheerybles"), 2, 61. Grant, John (Nuttall Hall), 92. INDEX 243 Grant, John, Amusing incidents, 135-136. Death of, 211. ,, Memorial service, 211. Death of his wife, 213. ., ,, Memorial service, 213. ,, Heads Coronation procession, 133. „ Memorial tablet, 216. ,, More yeoman than merchant, 122. „ Oversight of, Nuttall, etc., 122. Grant Lodge, Ramsbottom {residence of the Grants), 58, 189. Grant, Major, 17. Grant, Mary (sister of the " Cheerybles "), Death of, 92. „ Tombstone inscription, 195. ,, (niece of the "Cheerybles") visits Scilly Isles, 178. Grants, Baptismal register, 59-60. Grants' Tower, 83, 119. Grantown, 42. Grant, William, the elder of the " Cheerybles,'' 3. ,, A shepherd boy, 61. ,, and princely visitor, 120. ,, Appearance, personal, 184. ,, Builds Church for Presbyterians, 200. ,, "Brother Ned" of Nicholas Nickleby, 121. ,, Childhood, mishap in, 126. ,, Dickens's portraiture of, 221. „ Death of. Memorial notice, 203. ,,. Death of. Memorial service, 204-205. Death of. Memorial tablet, 206. ,, Generous offer to Highland Cousin, 182-183. ,, Historical sketch by, 197-199. ,, Illness and death of, 202. „ Made a Justice of the Peace, 127. ,, Maxims and counsel, 122. ,, "Memory of our Mother, The,'' 193-194. ,, Microscopic gift, 123. ,, Mishap in childhood, 126. ,, Model executive, 123. ,, Reverence for parents, 193. ,, Offer to young Nasmyth, 126. Ordained Elder of Church, 200. „ Reads Riot Act, 127. ,, Speech at Henshaw's Blind Asylum, 127 — 129. Timely retort, 125. Grant, William (Father of the "Cheerybles"), 54. ,, Adversity overtakes, 62, ,, Begins work at Hampson Mill, 90. ,, Cattle dealing, trysts, etc., 62. 244 INDEX Grant, William, Characteristics of, 190-191. Death of, 192. First home in Lancashire, 90. Memorial tablet, 196. Migration of, 67. Noble act of restitution by his sons, 106. Physical prowess, 57. Grant, William (nephew of the " Cheerybles"), 17. H Hacking, N. H., 13. Haughs of Cromdale, 23. Hewitson, W., "Bury Times," 12, 15. Hampson, John, 116. Hampson Mill, 18, 89. Harter, J. C., 10. Haslam Bank, Bury, 91. Highland and Agricultural Society, 61. Highland Cousin visits Springside, 181. ,, William Grant's generous offer to, 182-183. Howorth, Rev. Franklin, Bury, Reminiscences of " The Cheerybles," 194. Humphreys, Arthur, 9. I. Innes, Knight of, 25. Irwell, Valley of the, 83. ,, Grants' possessions in, 120. K Kaye, Rev. E. W. Whittenbury, 16. Keeling, W. H., 13. Kilmaichly, 43. Knockando, Parish of, 41, 45. Lancashire, Arrival of Grants in, 83. ,, Migration of Grants to, 68. " Linkinwater Tim," " Blind Blackbird," 138. Prototype of, 138. Lochindorb Castle, 26. " Lounger, The," 43. Macaulay, Lord, 116. Mackerach Castle, 27. MacLean, Rev. Dr., 201. M INDEX 245 Malcolm II., King, 22. Manchester, " Cheerybles " in, 89. "Manchester Guardian," 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12. Manchester Exchange, Inscription on dome, 124. March, Earl of, 26. McKenzie, Alexander, 79. McKenzie, Grace (Mother of the "Cheerybles"), 48, 54. ,, Characteristics of, 190 — 192. Death of, 192. ,, Marriage of, 192. ,, Memorial tablet, 196. McKenzie, Henry, " The man of feeling," 43. McKenzie, Wm. J. (Torquay Times), 56. McKenzies, of Speyside, The, 55. Memorial tablets, 194 — 196. Migration of the Grants, 67. ,, Farewell to Strathspey, 78. ,, Preparations for, 78. The route followed, 80—82. Milne, Thomas ("King Milne") and Charles II., 24. Montrose, Marquis of, 43. Morayshire, Flora of, 29. Mosley Street, Manchester, Daniel Grant's house in, 120. ,, "Apoplectic Butler" at, 150. ,, Princely visitor at, 120. „ " Tiffin at two," 150. Manchester, First house of " Cheerybles '' in, 103. N Nasmyth, Jas., Generosity of Grants to, 126. New Orleans, 121. New York, 121. Nickhby, Nicholas, 3, 130. ,, Dickens's "Portraiture of " The Cheerybles," 221. Nuttall Hall built, 119. ,, Coronation celebration, 171. Nuttall Mill bought, 119. Nuttall Village, Bird catching in, 139-140. Old Church Clock, The, 10. Orton, Haugh of, 49. P Park Estate purchased, 119. Parkinson, Rev. Canon, 10. Possessions after 40 years, 120. 246 INDEX Peel and Yates, Bury, 69, 103. ,, Water from Holcorabe Range, 118. ,, Works at Ramsbottom, 117-118. Politics, Daniel Grant's Reasons for avoiding, 176. Proverbs, Scottish, 70 — 77. Queen Victoria, Coronation of, celebration, 169. R Ramsbottom, 116—119. ,, Before the time of the Peels, 117. Ramsbottom Mechanics' Institute, Daniel Grant subscribes to, 184—186. Rothes, Parish of, 49. Salmon, James, 153. Schools, Infant, William Grant helps, 141. Scilly Isles, Visit of Mary Grant to, 178. Sephton, Dr., 16. Shaw, James (artist), Bury, 95. Singapore, 121. Skinner, Rev. John, 37. Slagg, John, M.P., Reminiscences of, 125. Solemn League and Covenant, 25. Sophocles' Antigone, 115. Spey, River, 27. ,, Course of, 28. ,, Source of, 29. " Springside," Hospitality dispensed at, 148. ,, purchased, 119. ,, Visit of Highland Cousin to, 180. " Square " Works, 130. ,, Counting House in, 140. ,, Designer of, 132. ,, Description of, 137. ,, In Nicholas Nichleby, 130 — 131. Origin of, 130—131. Visit of Lord Derby, 173. St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Ramsbottom, built by the " Cheerybles," 200. ,, Forcible alienation of, 201. ,, Hymn sung at stonelaying, 200. ,, Opening services of, by Dr. MacLean, 200. INDEX 247 Stocks House, Cheetham, Dickens meets the Grants at, 5. Strathspey, 21. „ Ballad of, 23. „ Characteristics of, 31. " Strathspeys," 31. Taylor, Rev. Thos., Natal, 183. ,, Formerly Scripture Reader at Holcombe, 183-184. „ Reads scriptures to Daniel Grant — Daniel's emotion, 183 — 186. " Tee " names, 30. Thomson, Mrs. (Grace Grant), niece of the " Cheerybles," 2. „ Death of, 178. Tombreck, Birthplace of the Mother of the " Cheerybles," 48, 57. Tomore, 46. „ John Cly, Miller of, 46. ,, John Cly, Miller of Tomore and the two Rocks, 47. Top 0' th' Hoof, 116, 120. ,, Grants' Tower erected on, 119. Tower, Grants', on Top 0' th' Hoof, 119. " TuUochgorum, Reel 0'," 37, 38. Valley of the Irwell, 117. Victoria, Queen, Coronation celebration, 169. W Whittenbury, Clifton, 17. Whittenbury, R. D., 17. Wilson, Mrs. (Eliza Macfarlane), 130. Winter, Gilbert, 5. Wylde, The, Bury, Shop and Home of the Grants, 95. CATALOGUE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF Sherratt&Hughes (The Manchester University Press) 60, Chandos Street, London, W.C, AND 34, Cross Street, Manchester. SHERRATT AND HUGHES Catalogue By TOM E. ALLEN. THE END CEOWNS ALL, and other Stories. Crown 8vo. Price 6