ut hearing him make an apt and most telling quotation from one of
the poets. He possesses in an eminent degree the talent of quotation,
which is one of the happiest gifts of the popular orator. It is worthy
of note that this manufacturer, this man of the people, this Manchester
man, shows a familiarity with the more dainty, outlying, recondite
literature of the world than is shown by any other member of a house
composed chiefly of college-bred men.

In his early days he belonged to a debating society, spoke at temperance
meetings, was an ardent politician, and, in short, had about the sort
of training which an American young man of similar cast of mind would
have enjoyed. John Bright, in fact, is one of that numerous class of
Americans whom the accident of birth and the circumstances of their lot
have prevented from treading the soil of America. In his debating
society he had good practice in public speaking, and on all questions
took what we may justly call _the Quaker side_, _i. e._, the side which
he thought had most in it of humanity and benevolence. He sided against
capital punishment, against the established church, and defended the
principle of equal toleration of all religions.

Next to Mr. Gladstone, the most admired speaker in Great Britain is John
Bright, and there are those who even place him first among the living
orators of his country. His published speeches reveal to us only part of
the secret of his power, for an essential part of the equipment of an
orator is his bodily attributes, his voice, depth of chest, eye,
demeanor, presence.

The youngest portrait of him which has been published represents him as
he was at the age of thirty-one. If an inch or two could have been added
to his stature he would have been as perfect a piece of flesh and blood
as can ordinarily be found. His face was strikingly handsome, and bore
the impress both of power and of serenity. It was a well-balanced face;
there being a full development of the lower portion without any bull-dog
excess. His voice was sonorous and commanding; his manner tranquil and
dignified. As he was never a student at either university, he did not
acquire the Cambridge nor the Oxford sing-song, but has always spoken
the English language as distinctly and naturally as though he were a
native American citizen.

Although of Quaker family, and himself a member of the Society of
Friends, he has never used the Quaker _thee_ and _thou_, nor persisted
in we