itself in his everyday life.
He recognised, as other men have done, that business is not a matter to
be played with, and that trade is in fact a commercial conflict in which
one must whip and the other be whipped, and as he felt himself in a
strong position, was on the box and had the whip in his hand, he was
resolved to drive and to choose the pace and the road.

Live and let live is, of course, a very good and proper maxim, but it
finds no place in the copy-book of sharp, smart, successful men of
business. It is their aim and purpose to get money--without harm to
others, if they can, if not, others must look out for themselves--that
is all. In one sense at all events Mr. Chamberlain's tactics were
justified. They were successful.

VI.

AND HIS BRETHREN.

Mr. Chamberlain having obtained such distinction in public life, it was
perhaps only natural that some of his brothers should be tempted or
induced to follow his shining star. Possibly they had no strong
inclination to distinguish themselves in public, and were rather pressed
to come forward on account of the influential name they bore. Anyway,
some of them did appear in various offices and capacities, but without
meaning any disrespect to them or any reflection upon their abilities, it
may perhaps be said that they found their fires so pale and ineffectual
compared with the brilliant light of their eldest brother--or it may be
that they found public work comparatively uncongenial to them--that,
most of them soon preferred to efface themselves and leave one of their
family and his son to take all the honours and have all the court cards.

Mr. Richard Chamberlain took the most prominent position, and made the
highest mark of all Mr. Chamberlain's brothers. He was Mayor of
Birmingham in the years 1879 and 1880. During his years of office he was
public-spirited and popular, and in the way of civic hospitality he made
things lively and gay. He kept the Council House warm with his
entertainments, and lavished so much money in hospitalities of one kind
or another that he made it difficult for his immediate successors to
follow in his wake, and none of them tried to do so. So far as I could
judge of his character, Mr. Richard Chamberlain did not spend his money
so freely for the sake of purchasing popularity, and certainly not for
the sake of making ostentatious displays of his wealth. He was naturally
generous and genial, and as Mayor of a large and important t