THE MASTERS. 41 



had succeeded the father, they liad not yet found the place of that son had 

 been filled up. (Loud applause.) 



Mr. Henry Walford ackuowledj^cd the toast on behalf of the navy. 



The Chairman then said : — Gentlemen, I rise with mingled feelings of 

 emotion, to discharge a duty now devolving upon me, which ought to have 

 been entrusted to abler and better hands. If I possessed the fluency and 

 elo([uence of an orator. I could not hope to do more than justice to him 

 wliose name I am about to introduce to your notice. But, gentlemen, I do 

 possess one qualification in which I will yield to no man present, and that 

 is the extent to which I carry my respect for him whom we honour to-night. 

 Gentlemen, if I were to adopt the language of fulsome or exaggerated praise, 

 our guest would bo the first to be offended at its introduction ; but I may say, 

 and the assertion will meet with the approval of all, that in his removal to 

 another locality, we are sustaining a public, I had almost said an irreparable, 

 loss. Gentlemen, were I to make any distinction among his many claims to 

 our respect, I should hardly know where to begin — whether to speak of his 

 social qualifications, or of those public duties he has discharged in so admirable 

 a manner ; but, gentlemen, I shall strike a chord which will vibrate in every 

 heart, when I thank him earnestly, thank him on your and my own behalf, 

 for his able and energetic services in promoting such manly English amuse- 

 ments and pursuits, which, while they brace and improve the physical, never 

 degrade the moral man. Gentlemen, I am in an assembly of British merchants, 

 men whose words are deeds, and whose deeds are unimpeachable ; yet I may 

 say that it has seldom fallen to the lot of many to occupy the position of our 

 guest. Malvolio says, " Some men are born to greatness, some achieve 

 greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them." It rarely happens 

 that the same individual is the possessor of these three contingent possibilities. 

 But nature has made our friend one of her own true gentlemen ; his birthright, 

 his own active, energetic perseverance has placed him in the foremost rank 

 of competitors for commercial renown ; and you have shown him to-night 

 that there are proud epochs in a man's history, when the true greatness of 

 universal respect is thrust upon him. Gentlemen, we know our friend not 

 only as our valued neighbour of Rock Ferry, but as the unwearied advocate 

 of a measure for carrying the " cup which cheers but not inebriates " into 

 our streets and alleys at minimum cost. We know him, not only as the leader 

 of his musical pack, following them through brake and brier, flood and field, 

 but also as the merchant of Liverpool and of London ; as a man whose name 

 is known, and not only known but respected in two hemispheres. Gentlemen, 

 I repeat, his departure is a loss, all but irreparable. We shall feel daily the 

 absence of one who, never taking from business that time which it requires, nor 

 ever giving to pleasure that w^hich ought to be devoted to duty, has taught our 

 youth that moderate recreation, simple pleasures, and honourable gratification 

 are quite compatible with attaining to an enviable position and reputation in 

 business, and also to have cheerful domestic retirement from its bustle and 

 anxieties. But I will not, at this hour, detain you further than to ask you, in 

 drinking this toast, to do him every honour, and let him see that he departs 

 from us with every mark of esteem and affection in our power to bestow. 

 Gentlemen, I beg to propose the health, long life, and happiness of our guest, 

 Christopher Rawson. 



After the applause had subsided, Mr. Rawson rose and said : — Gentlemen, 

 the most kind and eulogistic manner in which the Chairman has proposed my 

 health, and the warm and enthusiastic reception you have given it, have touched 

 a chord iu my heart which renders mc even more inefficient than usual ia 



G 



