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    inflammation of the eyes , which in three weeks left him with the left eye totally destroyed , and the right entirely covered by an opacity of the cornea . Thus in his nineteenth year , was he deprived of one of the greatest blessings of nature ; thus , to use his own language , " doomed to penury severe , thus to the world ' s hard

    buffets left . " In 1776 , attended by my grandfather- he visited London , and amongst other eminent men , he consulted the celebrated Baron Wentzell , oculist to the king , who declared he could not be of the least service *

    In this hopeless situation , my poor father returned to Liverpool , and resided with my grandfather . With him he continued for some short period , until by the violent temper of my grandfather ' s second wife , he was compelled to leave the house , and to

    maintain himself on four shillings per week . For seven years he existed on this miserable , and , considering the circumstances of my grandfather , this shameful allowance 3 for an old aunt gave him lodgings . Whilst

    subsisting on this sum , he managed to pay a boy two-pence or three-pence a week , for reading to him an hour or two in the evenings . I have now in r ay possession , a gold brooch , to which I have heard him declare , he

    has often been indebted for a dinner ; nor was this brooch confined to himself , a noted comedian of the present day , whose avarice has long since got the better of his principle , has borrowed and pledged this very brooch

    for the self-same purpose . From this state my father was removed to one much more comfortable . My grandfather placed one of his daughters and my father in a tavern , where he lived

    for some years , and soon after my aunt ' s marriage , his also took place , his age being then twenty-nine . My father finding , however , his pecuniary circumstances rather diminishing than increasing , left the public house .

    He now entered into an engagement as an editor of a newspaper , called the Herald , which he for some time pursued with much pleasure , and little profit , until finding it impossible to express himself in that independent and liberal manner which his reason

    and his conscience dictated , he threw up his situation , and began the world once more .

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    With " an increasing family , and a very small fortune , for a while my father hesitated before he fixed on any particular line of conduct . He thought of several plans , but none seemed more agreeable to his feelings , than

    the business of a bookseller ; his habits and his pursuits combined to render it more eligible than any other which presented itself to his thoughts . With thirty guineas , five children , and a wife , to whose exertions we

    owe more than words can express , my father commenced bookselling . My mother , my excellent mother , laboured incessantly , and with frugality and attention , the business succeeded , and my father felt himself more easy .

    At this time politics ran very high in Liverpool , my father had published several of his pieces , all in favour of the rights of man . He became a noted character , was marked , and by some illiberal villain shot at ; the lead passed very close to his eyebrow , but did not do him the smallest injury .

    His butterfly friends who had constantly visited while all was serene , now began to desert him ; they were afraid of being seen near the house , merely because my father had boldly stepped forward in the cause of liberty and of truth . Let it not be forgotten , that the foremost of these was the

    comedian , before mentioned , a man who owes his wealth to my father ' advice , who persuaded him to try the stage . Such are the narrow prejudices , and paltry feelings , with which a man has

    to struggle , whose determination it is to speak and act as his heart shall dictate . But great was the satisfaction my father experienced from the steady attachment , the unremitting attention of a few tried and true friends , who

    with him had hailed the light whereever it appeared , and exulted in the triumphs of liberty , in whatever land they were achieved . Whilst in business as a bookseller , the purses of the late William Rathbone , and of

    William Roscoe , were offered to him ; he was invited to take what sum he might want ; he refused them both ; and he has often told me , his feelings have been those of satisfaction , when he reflected on this refusal . He was in

    poverty , nay , the very moment he was struggling hard to gain a scanty pittance , yet he maintained his independence , and triumphed . His life for some years was but l ittJc

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    68 Biographical Sketch of Edward Rushton , written by Ms Son .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1815, page 68, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1757/page/4/