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, 1861.]

From Leigh Mr Bradlaugh went in the freezing weather to Warrington,
another place in which no Freethought speaker had raised his voice
for a score or more of years, but where the editor of the _Warrington
Guardian_ had been trying to fan some warmth of hate into the
townsfolk. In the issue for January 5th, the editor announced that
there was to be "a most ribald, ignorant, and virulent attack upon the
Holy Scriptures," adding further that Mr Bradlaugh had been lecturing
in the neighbourhood

 "in such a blasphemous manner that the local papers have been utterly
 unable to report his sayings. Surely Warrington has enough of
 temptations to ungodliness without any assistance from stipendiary
 peripatetics, or pickers up of a lazy living, who cover with their
 slime, like noxious reptiles, what they want sense or taste to admire."

It was by such attack upon an as yet unheard man that this Christian
thought to serve the Omnipotent. From insulting Mr Bradlaugh he went
on to abuse the lessee of the Warrington theatre, who had let the
theatre for the lecture, and here his attack proved successful; for in
consequence of the pressure put upon him, the "unfortunate lessee,"
as my father magnanimously called him, felt compelled to close the
theatre. The _Guardian_ triumphantly announced that the lectures would
not be held, but this was somewhat premature. Mr Bradlaugh succeeded
in getting a small room in a back street, and fresh placards were
issued, although it was so late as the night before the lecture.
After delivering two lectures to small but attentive audiences, he
left Warrington between two and three a.m. for Dumfries, with the
thermometer standing at eighteen degrees. There he remained three days,
lecturing each evening, and had fair audiences and a pleasant time,
notwithstanding that this was the first time within the memory of the
"oldest inhabitant" that a Freethought speaker had been to Dumfries.[68]

[Footnote 68: Mr Barker's lecture (p. 121) was a month or two later.]

When his adversaries could find nothing better to say, they would taunt
him with earning money by his lectures, and this sneer was repeated in
every variety of elegant language.[69]

[Footnote 69: A correspondent to the _Oldham Standard_ enjoined upon
his fellow Christians that it was their duty "to root out of our
establishments every one advocating his principles, for the safety of
those committed to our care, and the honour of our God. Let us do this
and 'Iconoclast,' will fall to the ground and never again rise. His
object is to live upon the pence of his deluded hearers, and, after
a time, when he has become old and infirm, to turn round, and by a
recantation of his present teaching worm himself into comfortable bread
as a reclaimed infidel."

The _North Cheshire Herald_, in alluding to some lectures delivered by
Mr Bradlaugh at Hyde, in the summer of 1861, said:--

"In justice to 'Iconoclast,' we must say he possesses great oratorical
powers, and he has, so far as the ignorant are concerned, a very
pleasing way of practising on their gullibility. He is cunning to
a degree, but his object may be seen through without the aid of
spectacles. It is evident that he means money; for when it is known
that he received £5 for using such blasphemous language as would not
be uttered by the very lowest of the 'fallen' class, the fact is
indisputable.... We sincerely hope that God will change his heart, and
that when he is about quitting this sublunary world, he will not be
heard exclaiming, as other infidels have done, 'What shall I do to be
saved?'"]

No sort of insult was too gross for such people to condescend to for
"the honour of our God." In November 1860, Mr Bradlaugh remarked[70]
that "some one who signs himself 'Z' in the _Glossop Record_, but who
is not a wise head, says I have come 'to raise the wind.' He is right.
It will probably blow a severe gale in the Gospel vineyard in Glossop
before we have done with it."

[Footnote 70: In _National Reformer_ of that date.]

In the spring of 1861, Mr Bradlaugh spent two days at Burnley. As here
again no hall could be obtained, his lectures had to be delivered in
the open air, with the usual result, that instead of having an audience
of a few hundred persons, thousands came to listen to his voice.

About the same time, the Market Hall at Chesterfield was hired for
lectures, and afterwards closed against Mr Bradlaugh. The theatre
was then taken, but even here Mr Bradlaugh was obliged to make his
entrance by force. The audiences were, as usual, orderly and attentive,
"notwithstanding the fact that at one lecture the authorities suddenly,
and without any previous intimation, cut off the gas from the main
and plunged the theatre into total darkness."[71] The editor of the
_Derbyshire Times_, in referring to these lectures, exhibited some
confusion of ideas; he thought too much fuss had already been made
"in the matter of that blustering bigot 'Iconoclast,'" and then
proceeded to devote considerable space to him; he thought the Mayor
of Chesterfield was wrong in shutting him out of the theatre, but
considered he himself was wise in "excluding an Infidel controversy"
from the paper. "In my heart," he said, "I pity Iconoclast. One
serious illness would make him a coward." This is a favourite piece
of clap-trap with a certain class of Christians. It may deceive other
Christians--and it is possibly said with that intent--for an Atheist
it has no meaning. As for this, it is sufficient to say that more than
once, more than twice, my father consciously found himself face to face
with death, and on each occasion his mind was perfectly clear and his
brain wonderfully acute. He was full of regrets and full of anxiety;
but his regrets were for his unfinished work; his anxieties were for
those he loved no less than for those who loved him, or were dependent
upon him. For himself, speaking of the near possibility of death with
his doctors, he said, "Ah, well, I cannot grumble; I have lived the
lives of three men; I have burned the candle at both ends, and the
middle as well." He suffered great physical pain, but he never broke
down, and not for a single instant did his courage waver.

[Footnote 71: In _National Reformer_, June 1861.]

At Worksop, at this period, not only could no lecture room be obtained,
but the prejudice in the town was so great that no one had sufficient
courage to go with Mr Bradlaugh to the place of meeting. It rained
all day until close upon the lecture hour, and then he turned out
rather disconsolately to find the appointed place. Under a lamp he
found a bill announcing that that was the spot from which he was
expected to speak, and by the bill there was the welcome sight of a
Sheffield friend. To this audience of one he commenced his address,
but after a few minutes--despite the counter-attractions heralded by
the drums of a travelling showman--the audience grew in size and in
attentive interest. At the close some questions were put, a

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