eatham, who bore him seven
children and shared his joys and sorrows in no ordinary measure for
thirty years. Whenever politics took him away from his Rochdale home, he
wrote constantly to her, and his letters throw most valuable light on
his inmost feelings. She died in 1878, and after this his life was
pitched in a different key. The outer world might suppose that high
political office was crowning his career, but his enthusiasm and his
power were ebbing and his physical health failed him more than once. He
was as affectionate to his children, as friendly to his neighbours, as
true to his principles; but the old fire was gone.

The outward events of his life from 1867 to 1889 must be passed over
lightly. Against his own wishes he was persuaded by Gladstone to join
the Cabinet in 1868 and again in 1880. His name was a tower of strength
to the Government with the newly-enfranchised electors, but he himself
had little taste for the routine of office. At Birmingham, for which he
had sat since 1857, he compared himself to the Shunammite woman who
refused the offer of advancement at court, and replied to the prophet,
'I dwell among mine own people'. But events were too strong for him: he
was drawn first to Westminster to share in the government of the
country, and then to Osborne to visit the Queen. Both the Queen and he
were nervous at the prospect, but the interview passed off happily.[21]
Family affections and sorrows were a bond between them, and he talked to
her with his usual frankness and simplicity. Even the difficult question
of costume was settled by a compromise, and the usual gold-braided
livery was replaced by a sober suit of black. Ministerial work in
London might have proved irksome to him; but his colleagues in the
Cabinet were indulgent, and no excessive demands were made upon his
strength. It was recognized that Bright was no longer in the fighting
line. In 1870 he was incapacitated by a second long illness, and he had
little share in the measures carried through Parliament for Irish land
purchase and national education.

[Note 21: See Fitzmaurice, _Life of Lord Granville_, vol. i, p.
540.]

His official career was finally closed in 1882, when the bombardment of
Alexandria seemed to open a new and aggressive chapter in our Eastern
policy. Bright was true to his old principles and resigned office.

He severed himself still more from the official Liberals in 1886, when
he refused to follow Gladstone into