ction
of the party would give way. The Conservatives, who had previously
contested four elections unsuccessfully, in two of which Mr. Richard
Spooner had been the candidate, saw that the divided ranks of
their opponents gave them a better chance of success than they had
previously had, and they brought forward Mr. Spooner again. This
time he was successful, the result of the poll being that Mr. Spooner
received 2,095 votes; Mr. W. Scholefield, 1,735; and Mr. Sturge, 346.

I was living in London at the time, but had arranged to spend a few
days in August with a friend at Edgbaston. He was a Conservative, and
I a Liberal; but before I came down he had taken a ticket in my name,
which entitled me to be present at the only purely Conservative dinner
at which I was ever present. It was given at the Racket Court Inn, in
Sheepcote Street, by the Conservative electors of Ladywood Ward, to
celebrate Mr. Spooner's return.

[Illustration]

By virtue of my introduction, and in deference to me as a stranger,
I was placed near the chairman at table. He was a man of singularly
bland and kindly manners, and there was a frank and manly modesty in
his style that attracted my notice at once. In simple but appropriate,
in unaffected yet dignified, phraseology, he went through the usual
"loyal and patriotic" toasts. When it came to the toast of the day,
he rose and congratulated the company upon the triumph of those
principles which they all conscientiously believed to be right and
true. There was no exultation over a discomfited foe. There ran all
through the speech a benevolent and friendly feeling for both of the
defeated candidates. Still, there was the outspoken feeling of intense
gratification that the cause which he supported had been victorious. I
have seldom listened to a speech where joy for a victory was so
little mixed with exultation over the vanquished. In fact, although
I differed altogether from the speaker in politics, I felt that the
speech was that of a man devoid of all bitterness, whose kindness of
spirit led him to rejoice, not over the defeat of his opponents, but
at the success of his own cause. Tie speech was in excellent taste
from beginning to end.

The chairman was Robert Walter Winfield, and this was the first time
I had met him. His singular courtesy to myself, as a stranger, I shall
never forget. His perfect self-possession, when some of the company
became a little too demonstrative, kept the table in per