Portrait of Cobbett 



3'3 



Cobbett was the son of a small farmer and publican in 

 Surrey, and the grandson of a farm labourer. In the main 

 he educated himself. Observant, keen-witted, and self- 

 reliant ; unburdened by superstitions and even deficient in 

 reverence, he apprenticed himself to the world and rapidly 

 accumulated a large fund of experience in the ways and 

 motives of men. A farm labourer, a runaway son, a lawyer's 

 clerk, a soldier, a fortunate husband, and the possessor of 

 most exceptional ability in the use of his pen, he became, at 

 the age of 30, a writer by profession. He lived in stirring 

 times, and political and social topics were those which chiefly 

 absorbed his energies. He found time, however, to write 

 the best book on " Gardening," and by far the best " English 

 Grammar," which had appeared, and which are as yet 

 scarcely surpassed. At the age of 40 he began a weekly 

 periodical which he wrote himself and which was continued 

 regularly until his death, thirty-three years later. But in the 

 interval he had been the defendant in six or seven libel 

 actions, had been fined, and financially ruined repeatedly ; 

 and had spent two years in prison. He had commenced 

 the Weekly Register as a Tory, but had continued it as 

 a, Democrat and Chartist. The circulation of one of his 

 periodicals (there were several) is said to have reached 

 100,000 copies. 



The facts mentioned may serve to show the indomitable 

 energy of the man and his capacity for popular work. 



In some respects Cobbett's career and character may be 

 compared with that of Benjamin Franklin. Both were self- 

 educated, observant men, of strong common-sense and remark- 

 able energy. Both were eminently secularist, all celestial 

 sensibility being apparently omitted from their natures. 

 Franklin's organisation was, however, superior to that of 

 Cobbett in his self-restraint, freedom from vanity, reflective 

 capability, and resulting consistency of conduct. It must 

 not be assumed from the fact that Cobbett was often prose- 

 cuted for libel and usually convicted that he was always in 



