COBBETT. Scotland on horseback, delivering political lec- tures in the principal towns, and he was received everywhere with enthusiasm as the most power- ful advocate of the people's rights. In 1832 he was returned to llie first Reform Parliament as member for Oldham. His first speeclics did not add to his reputation, but caused amusement. Peel blandly informing him that they would re- ceive the attention due to any 'respectable mem- ber,' but he eventually gained a respectful hear- ing. He was engaged in a debate on the malt (ax just liefore his death at Normandy Farm, near Guildford, June 18, 1835. Cobbett"was the compiler of the Parliamentary History (London, 1806), which after 1812 was published as Han- sard's Debates, and originated Howell's State Trials (London, 1809-28) . Among his best-known works are his Grammar of the English Lan- guage (1819); Rural Rides (1830): Cottage Economy (1822); and Advice to Young Men and Women (1829). His History of the Protest- ant Reformation (2 pai'ts, 1824-27) attacks the Reformers, defends Roman Catholicism, and, often translated, has been extensive!}' circulated in France and Italy. His sons published an an- notated abridgment of his political works (9 vols., 1848). While not a man of the first order of intellect, and excluded from the higher refine- ments of thought, in matters of common sense Cobbett exhibited vigor far surpassing that of any other writer of his day. Despite crotchets, he rendered lasting service to the cause of the people. Consult: His autobiographical Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine (Philadelphia, 1798) ; E. Smith, Life of Cobbett (2 vols.. Lon- don, 1878) ; Huish, Life of Cobbett (London, 1836) ; Waters, Cobbett and His Grammar (New York, 1883) ; Watson, Biographies of Wilkes and Cobbett (London, 1870). COBBLER, or COBBLER-FISH. (I) See KiLLiFiSH. (2) See Tiireadfisu. COBBLER OF PRESTON, The. A musical burlesque by Cliarles .Johnson, produced in 1716 and altered a century later. Its plot was sug- gested by the adventures of Christopher Sly in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. COB'BOLD, Thomas Spencer (1828-86). An English scientist, born at Ipswich. He studied anatomj' under Crosse and later took the regular medical course at the University of Edinburgh. In 1857 he went to London, and from 1857 to 1861 he lectured on botany at Saint Mary's Hos- pital. In 1861 he began his lectures at the Mid- dlesex Hospital, and subsequently, while prac- ticing medicine, also lectured on geology at the British Museum. In 1873 he was made jjrofes- .sor of botany and later acted as professor of helminthology at the Royal Veterinary College. Although he was a scientist in the broade.st sense of the term, his investigations were chiefly in the field of helminthology — the science of par- asites; and his published works deal chiefly with subjects of this science. His writings in- clude: Entozoa: An Introduction to the Study of Helminthology, -with Reference More Particu- larly to the Internal Parasites of Man (1864, and supplement, 1869) ; Tapeworms (1866. and several subsequent editions); TTornis (1872): Parasites (1879); Human Parasites (1882); Parasites of Meat and Prepared Flesh Foods (1884); also a large number of original me- moirs published in various scientific periodicals. 88 COBDEN. COB'DEN, RicHAKD (1804-65). An English statesman and economist known as the Apostle of Free Trade. He was born in the hamlet of Heysliott, near Midhurst, in Sussex, on .June 3, 1804, of a familj' which for centuries had been settled in the place. His father was a swcet- natured, incapable man, who proved unequal to the task of supporting his family. In 1814 the farm w.is sold and young Cobdcn was sent oft to be educated at a Yorkshire school, where he learned nothing and suffered nuich for five un- happy years. In 1819 he entered his uncle's warehouse in Old Change, London, and devoted himself with great energy to his new business, finding time, nevertheless, at nights, for study and reading. At twenty-one he was a commer- cial traveler for his uncle's house, and loved the business for the opportunities it gave him of studying men and tilings. In 1828 he set up as the commission agent of a large manufacturing house in ilanchester on a capital consisting mainly of energy, ability, and his good name. In 1831 he and his partners had prospered suf- ficiently to start in business for themselves as calico-printers at Sabden, near Clitheroe, and in the following year branches were established in London and Manchester. The 'Cobden prints,' tasteful and original in design, became famous, and the partners were speedily on the way to the accumulation of a large fortune. In 1832 Cobden settled in Manchester, and from that time his private aft'airs became secondary to the interest which he displayed in the broad practical principles of economics and public edu- cation. From 1832 to 1835 he must have been busy educating himself, for this was the only time during his early life when he could have found the leisure to acquire the profound knowl- edge of political history and economics for which he was distinguished. Reading and for- eign travel continued to the last to be a great passion of his life. In 1835 Cobden published a pamphlet entitled England, Ireland, and America, 'by a Manchester Manufacturer,' and this was followed in 1836 by another pamphlet on Russia. These two pam- phlets were epoch-making, in that they boldly challenged the prevalent ideas of foreign policy and foreign trade in England. It would seem that the sober-minded Cobden, an enthusiast in his way, had become convinced that commerce ■was the great torch-bearer of civilization and the great foundation of national prosperity. Anything, therefore, which interfered with the free exchange of commodities between nation and nation was harmful, and for this reason protec- tion, which dammed the current of trade, and war, which sought entirely to destroy it, were pernicious. He attacked the historical English policy of intervention in European afl'airs, on the ground that it bred interminable wars in Europe, while it crushed the English taxpayer with the burden of an enormous debt. The bal- ance of power, the political ideal for which so many sanguinary contests had been fought, Cob- den ridiculed as an impossible adjiistment which, in spite of centuries of bloodshed and diplomacy, still left statesmen facing an obstinate, un- stable eqiiilihrium. He strongly deprecated, too. the prevailing spirit of hatred for Russia, the great bugbear of English statesmen. Summed up, his plea was for the principles of peace, non- intervention, and a policy of retrenchment and
