Milner Gibson by large majorities. A few months afterwards, the death of Mr. Muntz caused a vacancy in the representation of Birmingham; the constituency invited Mr. Bright to become a candidate; he was elected in Aug., 1857, and has continued to represent that borough down to the present time. After 1857 his name was mainly identified with a scheme for the reform of the electoral representation, by a wide extension of the suffrage and a more equal distribution of the seats with reference to population, and alterations in the law of entail. He was an uncompromising advocate of the North during the civil war in America, and after the close of the struggle he renewed the agitation for reform. He visited Ireland, and he was entertained at a banquet in Dublin, Oct. 30, 1866; but his reception in the sister island was not so enthusiastic as its promoters anticipated. On Nov. 3, 1868, he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, and in the following month he accepted office under Mr. Gladstone, as President of the Board of Trade. After being absent from the House of Commons for some time in consequence of severe illness, he was compelled to retire from office in Dec., 1870. His health having been partially restored, he was, in Aug., 1873, appointed to the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster in succession to Mr. Childers, and he held that post until the Liberals went out of office in Feb., 1874. When the Liberals returned to power in May, 1880, Mr. Bright was re-appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. On July 17, 1882, he announced in the House of Commons that he had resigned his office and retired from the Cabinet because he differed from his colleagues on their policy in Egypt which led to the bombardment of Alexandria. Mr. Bright was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, Nov. 15, 1880, A collection of his "Speeches on Questions of Public Policy" was published in 2 vols., 1868.
BRIGHT, The Rev. William, D.D., was born at Doncaster, Dec. 14, 1824. From Rugby School he was elected scholar of University College, Oxford, where he graduated in the first class in classics in 1846. The next year he was elected a fellow of his college, and gained the Johnson Theological Scholarship and the Ellerton Theological Prize, and in 1849 he proceeded M.A. Applying himself to the study of divinity, he was ordained deacon in 1848, and priest in 1850, and in the succeeding year became theological tutor in Trinity College, Glenalmond. He returned to Oxford in 1859, and was afterwards appointed tutor of University College. He was promoted in 1868 to the Regius Professorship of Ecclesiastical History, and to the canonry of Christ Church, which is attached to that chair. The University conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1869. Dr. Bright's works are, "Ancient Collects selected from various Rituals," 1857; "Athanasius and other Poems," 1858; "A History of the Church from the Edict of Milan to the Council of Chalcedon," 1860; "Eighteen Sermons of St. Leo, translated with notes," 1862; "Faith and Life: Readings from Ancient Writers," 1864; "Hymns and other Verses," 1866 and 1874; reprints of "Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History," "St. Athanasius's Orations against the Arians," "Socrates' Ecclesiastical History," "Select Anti-Pelagian Treatises of St. Augustine," and "St. Athanasius's Historical Writings," with introductions, in 1872, 1873, 1878, 1880, and 1881; "Chapters of Early English Church History," 1878; "Later Treatises of St. Athanasius, translated, with notes and appendix," in the "Library of the Fathers," 1881; and "Notes on the Canons of the First Four General Councils," 1882.
