[1] He lost his position, and for several years supported himself as a ballad singer and story-teller in the cheap theatres and concert-halls of New York and other eastern cities.

[1] He set forth, carpet-bag in hand, to tramp through the New England states, glad to obtain even seventy-five cents for a temperance lecture, and soon became famous for his eloquence.

An intense earnestness derived from experience, and his power of imitation and expression, enabled him to work on the sensibilities of his audiences.

He was accustomed to mingle the pathetic and humorous in such a way as to attract thousands to hear him who had no purpose but to be interested and amused.

He visited England in 1853, by invitation of the London Temperance League, was entertained by George Cruikshank, the veteran artist and total abstainer, and his first address, delivered at Exeter Hall, produced a great sensation.

But Gough had a disciplined temper and the courage of his convictions, and an appeal to the Briton's proverbial love of fair play ended in his obtaining a hearing.

"Eloquence and Orators" and "Peculiar People" were topics of this kind, in which diverting imitations played a prominent part.

Gough or Alger, perhaps both, were the source for Theodor Fontane's ballad John Maynard which remains to this day popular in German speaking countries.