Finally, listen to what Dr. Doran says of him a hundred years after, summing up his character.
“He walked the streets unattended to the great delight of the people;[75] was the presiding Apollo at great festivals, conferred the prizes at rowings and racings, and talked familiarly with Thames fishermen on the mysteries of their craft. He would enter the cottages of the poor, listen with patience to their twice-told tales, and partake with relish of the humble fare presented to him. So did the old soldier find in him a ready listener to the story of his campaigns and the subject of his petitions; and never did the illustrous maimed appeal to him in vain. He was a man to be loved in spite of all his vices. He would have been adored had his virtues been more, or more real.”
And had he any other quality which perhaps has been forgotten? Some memory of a kindly, tender feeling, which, maybe, has covered many of his sins? Let us think, who have read these pages. Yes; there was one quality; one which can come only from the heart of a good man or woman, and which he possessed in great fulness; a quality much despised in those days and in these,
HE LOVED LITTLE CHILDREN.
“Not all unhappy, having loved God’s best.”—Tennyson.
FOOTNOTES:
[75] At his death the popular cry was: “Oh! that it was but his brother! Oh! that it was but the butcher!”
THE END.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation errors have been fixed.