Glimpses of History Author:George Makepeace Towle General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Original Publisher: W. V. Spencer Subjects: History, Modern History / General History / World History / Modern / General History / Modern / 20th Century Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Modern Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It ha... more »s no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: II. JOHN BRIGHT. TOHN BRIGHT was born at Greenbank, near V the thrifty town of Rochdale, on the 16th of November, 1811. His father was Mr. Jacob Bright, a gentleman who, by his own exertions, had risen from humble means to wealth, in the vocation of a cotton manufacturer. John was the second of eleven children, the oldest of whom died in infancy. The family were devoted members of the Society of Friends, and the subject of this sketch still adheres to the hereditary faith. John's health, during childhood, caused much solicitude to his parents. His constitution was apparently feeble, and it was found that study injured his already delicate system. At the age of fifteen he was taken from school, and placed in his father's counting-room. Mr. Jacob Bright was a shrewd, yet highly honorable man, entirely engrossed in the superintendence of his business, and an adept in the conduct of his manufactory. It was his ambition that his sons should follow in his footsteps, and should become, like himself, influentialmembers of the commercial community. He doubtless underrated, as the class to which he belonged is apt to do in England, the value of a university education ; and as soon as the boys reached the suitable age, they were set to work in the mills. Had John Bright received the culture which a residence at Oxford or Cambridge would have afforded him, he would doubtless have occupied a place in the first rank of t...« less