Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/209

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was courted for the sake of his charming conversation and inexhaustible stock of anecdote. He is said to have written and burned his autobiography ; but it does not appear that the loss of this memorial is to be regretted. He died in

London in 1823.


Brief obituary memoirs of Ccmbe appeared in Ackermanu s Literary Repository and in the Gentleman s Magazine for August 1823 ; and in May 1859 a list of his works, drawn up by his own hand, was printed in the latter periodical. See also Diary of II. Crabb Robinson, Notes and Queries for 1869, and a paper in the Churchman s Shilling Magazine for the same year.

COMBERMERE, Stapleton Cotton, First Viscount (1773-1865), was the second son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, and was born, 1 4th November 1773, at one of the family estates in Denbighshire. As a boy he was distinguished for his vivacity, courage, and fondness of field sports. He was educated at Westminster School, and when only sixteen, obtained through his father a second lieutenancy in the 23d Regiment, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers. A few years afterwards (1793) he became by purchase captain of the 6th Dragoon Guards, accompanying them during the disastrous expedition to Flanders against the French. Subsequently, and while yet in his twentieth year, he joined the 25th Light Dragoons as lieutenant- colonel, and, while in attendance with his regiment on George III. at Weymouth, lie became a great favourite of the king s. In 1796 he went with his regiment to India, and in 1799, under Lord Harris and along with Colonel Wellesley, he distinguished himself in the war with Tippoo Saib, and at the storming of Seringapatam. In 1 808, being now major-general, he was sent to the seat of war in Portugal, where he shortly rose to the position of com- mander-in-chief of cavalry under Wellington, and it was here that he most displayed that personal courage, swiftness of action, and judgment which won for him his fame as a cavalry officer. His share in the battle of Salamanca (July 22, 1812) was especially marked, and received the personal thanks of Wellington. The day after, he was accidentally wounded in the left arm by a shot from one of the Portu guese allies. On the conclusion of peace in 1814, General Cotton was raised to the peerage under the style of Baron Combermere. He was not present at Waterloo, the com mand which he expected, and bitterly regretted not receiving, having been given to Lord Uxbridge. In 1817 he was appointed governor of Barbadoes and commander of the West Indian forces. His active military life was concluded in India (1826), where he besieged and took Bhartpur a fort which twenty-two years previously had defied the genius of Lake, and was deemed impregnable. For this service he was created Viscount Combermere. A long period of peace and honour still remained to him at home. In 1834 he was sworn a privy councillor, and in 1852 he succeeded his old chief as constable of the Tower and lord lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets. In 1855 he received a marshal s baton, and was made G.C.B. He discharged his duties to the last, and died at Clifton in his ninety- second year. An equestrian statue in bronze, the work of Baron Marochetti, has been raised in his honour by the inhabitants of Chester. In private life Lord Combermere was most exemplary, and the means by which he attained health and longevity (as detailed in the memoir by Vis countess Combermere and Captain Knollys, 2 vols., 1866,) afford an interesting illustration of what can be done by the exercise of a strict control over appetite and by a regular regimen:—


" On the 14th November, 1863, Lord Combermere had reached his ninetieth year, still in the full possession of his mental faculties, and with his usual activity very little impaired ; indeed, the only infirmities which afflicted him were deafness and occasional weak ness of the limbs, arising as much from slight rheumatism as a failure of general strength. He still rode three hours daily, and walked short distances with his usual alert step and upright car riage. His voice was as strong, his hand as steady as ever, and ha wrote clearly and rapidly without spectacles, which he never used except by candle-light. The wonderful memory for which he had always been remarkable never failed, and while it recalled long past events with surprising accuracy, registered and reproduced those of more recent date with equal exactness. No one could detect any failure in his quick perception or ready conclusions, nor did he betray even the most trifling of those mental deficiencies often attendant on a lesser age than his. When eighty-seven, he had danced a quadrille at a rural fete as lightly as his grandchildren, and at eighty could climb over a hurdle with ease. All these im munities from disease and decrepitude were secured by the invariable moderation which, in spite of service in various climates, left his naturally vigorous constitution unimpaired up to the very end. He rose very early in summer, and the last few years of his life rode an hour before breakfast. This meal was always very simple, and without meat of any kind. At half-past one a small luncheon and half a glass of wine satisfied him until dinner. This last was his largest meal, at which he partook plentifully of meat, and drank, for the last fifteen years, one pint of light sherry. Tea or coffee he never touched in early life, afterwards seldom indulging at break fast in the former, usually drinking instead cocoa, as the most wholesome beverage. Plain meat, bread, and potatoes constituted his dinners, and he never for twenty-six years once transgressed the rule which he had determined to observe, of eating only what was wholesome, and avoiding fruit, vegetables, beer, champagne, salt meat, condiments, and every other article proscribed by the most rigid dietetics. Besides carefully rejecting all unwholesome food, he made it a practice to eat so slowly that he was always longer than any one else at meals. Few could resist as he did the temptation of a well-supplied table, which he wished to be luxurious for others, while he contented himself with simple fare, enjoying only the sight of the fine fruits furnished from his productive houses and well-cultivated gardens.

"Such abstinence would to many be impracticable; but Lord Combermere possessed a power of self-control which few can compass. As an instance of this, after having long indulged in the habit of taking snuff incessantly, lie relinquished it suddenly and entirely. Continual smoking had equally been a practice of his earlier life, until, becoming aware of its evil effects on his health, he restricted himself to two small cigars nightly."

COMBINATIONS among workmen for the purpose of

raising their wages, or otherwise altering the terms of their service, were for a long time expressly prohibited by statute. While the state attempted to interfere in the regulation of wages, any combination to defeat the statutory rate would naturally be looked upon with disfavour ; and we need hardly be surprised to find that in 1425 a statute was actually passed, making it felony for masons to con federate together to raise their wages above the amount fixed for them by the law. The spirit of such legisla tion survived to times in which economical principles might be supposed to have been better understood. The Act of 39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 106 (repealing an Act of the previous session on the same subject) made illegal all contracts for obtaining advance of wages or for altering the hours of work, except contracts made between masters and men ; and every workman entering into any such contract was liable to be committed to the common jail for three months on conviction before two justices of the peace. The same punishment was reserved for workmen entering into any combination for the same purpose. For the more effectual suppression of combinations among workmen, it was enacted that persons attending any meeting for the furtherance of such contracts and combinations, or persuading or intimi dating persons into attending such meetings, or collecting subscriptions for such purposes, should also be liable to be sent to jail for three months by two justices. A law so severe and so one-sided had its natural effect in promoting secret combinations and provoking acts of violence. In 1825, after an inquiry by a committee of the House of Commons, the 6 Geo. IV. c. 129 (repealing an Act on the same subject in the previous session) was passed, whereby a vast number of recited statutes relating to masters and workmen, and generally all enactments relative to combinations of workmen, were repealed. Com binations among workmen were thus relieved from the

oppressive statutes specially directed against them The