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lace on record my sense of the kindly
 interest and alacrity you have recently displayed in your endeavours
 to serve a person with whom, despite anterior intimate relations, you
 had a short time previously been on antagonistic terms.

 "Your earnest and energetic zeal on a former occasion had commanded
 my respect and that of my wife, who witnessed some of your untiring
 efforts, and I regret that your friendly services have not met their
 full and due appreciation.

 "I feel sure, nevertheless, that should an opportunity occur where
 your good offices would be required, you would not withhold them.--I
 remain dear Sir, yours most truly,

 GEORGE R. LEVERSON.

 "Chas. Bradlaugh, Esq."

When Mr Bradlaugh quitted Mr Leverson he also quitted St Helen's Place,
and went back to Tottenham to live, where, indeed, my sister and I had
remained at a school kept by two maiden ladies during the greater part
of the intervening time. He took the house, Sunderland Villa, next
door to the one we had previously occupied, and for business purposes
he rented an office in the city first at 23 Great St Helen's, and
later at 15 and 16 Palmerston Buildings, Old Broad Street. A company
was formed called the "Naples Colour Company," of which he was the
nominal principal, and in which he was very active. This enterprise
arose out of the discovery that iron and platinum were to be found in
the sand of the beach at Castellamare, a little place on the coast
not far from Naples. From this sand, steel of the finest quality was
manufactured, and paint peculiarly suitable for the painting of iron
ships, inasmuch as it would not rust. I have a razor in my possession
manufactured from this steel, and I remember that while we were at
Midhurst my grandfather still had some of this paint, with which he
loyally painted hen-coops, troughs, sheds, and every article in his
possession that could be reasonably expected to stand a coat of paint.
Everything in connection with the company was done in my father's
name: the Italian Government granted the concession in his name; some
stock in the Grand Book of Italy, at one time held in his name, was in
connection with this company; Foundry, warehouses, and other buildings
were raised; there were factories at Granili, Naples, and Hatcham New
Town, London; steel and paint, especially the latter, were duly turned
out, and were pronounced first-class; but somehow the business was a
failure--perhaps partly because those engaged in it may not have been
sufficiently versed in the "colour" trade (I do not know that this
was so, but think it very probable), and also certainly because of my
father's name. I well recollect his telling us how on one occasion a
large order came for paint; the paint was duly taken down to the wharf
to be shipped, when at the last moment came a telegram, followed
by a letter countermanding the order. In the interval the intending
purchaser had learned that the Bradlaugh of the "Naples Colour Company"
was also Bradlaugh the Atheist, so, of course, he could not think of
doing business with him.

In the city my father also fell into business connection with gentlemen
who were concerned in the conduct of financial operations, and he
himself took part in negotiating municipal loans, etc. I only remember
two incidents in connection with these undertakings: one the loan to
the city of Pisa, told by Mr John M. Robertson in his Memoir,[27] and
the other a negotiation he was conducting to supply the Portuguese
Government with horses. His business was nearly concluded to his
satisfaction when he was recalled by telegram to London. Overend,
Gurney & Co. had failed, and "Black Friday" had come; Mr Bradlaugh lost
his contract; there was the terrible financial panic, and a fatal blow
was struck to my father's business career. Mr Robertson quotes him
saying, "I have great faculties for making money, and great faculties
for losing it;" and these words were very true.

[Footnote 27: "Once, as a financier, he was intrusted with the
negotiation of a loan for the city of Pisa, with some of whose
authorities he had become acquainted in some of his various journeys to
Italy. His percentage, small in name, was to be considerable in total,
on a loan of £750,000. He duly arranged matters with a certain London
financier, who thereupon sent off a clerk to Pisa to offer the money at
a fraction less than Bradlaugh was to get, provided he got the whole
commission. Bradlaugh, however, had been secured in the conduct of
the transaction up to a given date. He instantly went to Rothschilds,
who allowed no commission, and put the loan in their hands. The other
financier thus got nothing; but so did Bradlaugh."--John M. Robertson,
"Memoir," pp. xxxvi. xxxvii.]

While at Sunderland Villa Mr Bradlaugh made many friends in the
neighbourhood, and interested himself in local affairs. Going to the
city every day, he made personal acquaintance with men who travelled
daily in the same way, and won their liking and esteem. We children had
a large circle of small friends, so that although there was a certain
amount of hostility on account of my father's opinions[28] this did not
greatly trouble us; we had ample local popularity to counterbalance
that. In any case our house would have been sufficient unto itself, for
during these years we nearly always had one or two resident guests,
besides a constant flow of visitors of all nationalities. Many of our
neighbours attended the Church of St Paul's in Park Lane, of which
the Rev. Hugh M'Sorley was the vicar; and I am bound to say that Mr
M'Sorley at least did not err on the side of "loving his neighbour." He
felt the bitterest animosity towards Mr Bradlaugh, which occasionally
found some vent in sharp passages at vestry committees,[29] where, of
course, they were almost always in opposition.

[Footnote 28: For example, a lady gave the mistress of the school which
we attended the option of sending us away or of losing her daughters.
We were not sent away, so the lady withdrew her children rather than
have them contaminated by contact with the children of the Atheist.]

[Footnote 29: An instance of Mr Bradlaugh's interest in local matters
may be found in the _Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser_ for March 1,
1865, which gives a notice of a vestry meeting held on February 20,
at which he was present. He is reported as asking for a more detailed
account of "Mrs Overend's charity," and the increased value of the
land forming part of the property. Several members of the "Waste Land
Commission" asked that an inquiry should be made. The Chairman (the
vicar) refused to allow the subject to be discussed; but when the
report was entered in the minutes, Mr Bradlaugh gave notice that he
should move that an inquiry be made.

The next business was to receive a report of the committee appointed
by the parishioners in the November before on the matter of the water
supply. Mr Delano, chairman of this committee, read the report,
which consisted of questions put by 

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