Penurious, perhaps, on small
objects; in those which are greater, he was certainly liberal almost to
prodigality. The hoarding principle might be strong in him, but in the
conduct of it he was often generous, always easy. No man in England
probably lost more money in large sums, for want of asking for it: for
small money, as in farthings to street beggary, few men probably have
lost less. What he had not sufficiently cultivated, was the habit of
letting money easily go. So far, he was the reverse of Charles the
Second; for on greater occasions, again I say it, he seemed to own the
act under the ennobling impulse of systematic generosity, expanding
equally in self-denial, and in social sympathy. He was among the most
dispassionate and tender-tempered men alive; and, considering ~78~~all
things, it might be reasonable to allot him the meed of meekness upon
earth, and of that virtue which seeketh not her own reward.
His ruling passion was the love of ease.
The beginnings of all this were more or less discernible at school,
where Lord Mansfield gave him the nick-name of Jack Meggot.
His other little particularities were the best running and walking in
the school, and the commencement of his fame for riding, which, in the
well-known trials in the Swiss Academy, outdid all competition.
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