The life of William Wilberforce / by his sons, Robert Isaac Wilberforce and Samuel Wilberforce ; abridged from the London edition by Caspar Morris.

  • Wilberforce, Robert Isaac, 1802-1857.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life of William Wilberforce / by his sons, Robert Isaac Wilberforce and Samuel Wilberforce ; abridged from the London edition by Caspar Morris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    pendent character of a young man of twenty. Yet such was the command he had established over the affections of his townsmen, that, at the close of the poll, he numbered singly as many votes as his opponents had received to- gether. This election cost him between £8000 and £9000. By long-established custom, the single vote of a resident elector was rewarded with a donation of two guineas ; four were paid for a plumper ; and the expenses of a freeman's journey from London averaged £10 a piece. The letter of the law was not broken, because the money was not paid until the last day on which election petitions could be presented. But the more matured judgment of Mr. Wilberforce condemned the custom to which he now conformed ; and rather than so enter parliament, with his later principles, he has declared that he would have remained always a private man. His great success threw no small lustre on his entry into public life ; and he was welcomed upon his return to London into every circle. He was at once elected a member of all the lead- ing clubs. When I went up to Cambridge, he has said, speaking of the risks to which he was then exposed, I was scarcely acquainted with a single person above the rank of a country gentleman; and even when I left the University, so little did I know of general society, that I came up to London stored with arguments to prove the authenticity of Rowley's Poems; and now I was at once immersed in poli- tics and fashion. The very first time I went to Boodle's I won twenty-five guineas of the Duke of Norfolk. I belonged at this time to five clubs,—Miles and Evans's, Brookes's, Boodle's, White's, Goostree's. The first time I was at Brookes's, scarcely knowing any one, I joined from mere shyness in play at the faro table, where George Selwyn kept bank. A friend who knew my inexperience, and re- garded me as a victim decked out for sacrifice, called to me, 'What, Wilberforce, is that youl' Selwyn quite resented the interference, and turning to him, said in his most expres- sive tone, ' O sir, don't interrupt Mr. Wilberforce, he could not be better employed.' Nothing could be more luxurious than the style of these clubs. Fox, Sheridan, Fitzpatrick, and all your leading men, frequented them, and associated upon the easiest terms; you chatted, played at cards, or gambled as you pleased. Though he visited occasionally these various clubs, his usual resort was with a choicer and more intimate society, who assembled first in the house since