Whether there is any physical reason which will account for this phœnomenon, it is not pretended to conjecture; perhaps rapidity of ascent may have some effect in confusing the intellect; perhaps glittering scenes, constantly succeeded by still more gaudy and fascinating spectacles, may dazzle the imagination. Be this as it may, the gentleman before us, certainly laboured under the suspicion of being liable to this infirmity.
Indeed, with respect to him, there was some aggravation in the circumstances, for it has been said, that when he was most positive, and vehement, and determined in his assertions, then it was that his accuracy was most doubted.
One example occurred to our Sexagenarian of this great man’s being occasionally at least, subject to this infirmity, and he has recorded it.
He made our friend, it seems, a promise positive and unequivocal, clogged by no qualifications, and subject to no incidental occurrences. Alas! a walk of about two miles dispelled every trace of the fabric in his mind, nor did any image of it ever again appear to present itself to his recollection. Honest pride prevented his being reminded of it by the individual concerned, and so the matter passed away; indeed so effectually, that the great man, at a subsequent period of no great distance, had no remembrance even of the person of him, whose hopes had been so agreeably, but so unfortunately raised, only to be disappointed.
The next personage who became of very great consequence from the meanest origin, and whose fall was not less extraordinary than his rise, was neither Right Honourable nor Honourable, but he did arrive at the distinction of knighthood, and probably had yet higher titles in contemplation.
His first appearance was as a common shop-boy to a retail grocer. He remained in this situation for some years. Whilst in this employment, he scraped an acquaintance with the niece of a decent man, who kept a respectable inn in a provincial town. Allured by the encouragement of his dulcinea, and probably with the prospect of ultimately bettering himself, he became a waiter at this inn. He finally married the niece, became master of the inn, and inherited from his wife considerable property.
He was a man of weak and confused intellect, and indeed could but just read and write, yet he had a great deal of low cunning and sagacity, and first suggested to his uncle by marriage, the idea of establishing a Bank. This was accordingly accomplished, and on the death of the first proprietor, was successfully, and for a very extended period, carried on by the person whose portrait is here delineated.
Among his other qualities, he had all the pliancy and obsequiousness to his superiors, which might be expected from a tavern-waiter, and by some means got an introduction to G. Earl of O. to whom he made himself so useful, and so acceptable, that through his influence he was made Receiver-General of the County. The emoluments and reputation of this office, were remarkably salutary in propping up, which it did for years, the reputation of his Bank; and, as it is generally believed, enabled him to administer to the necessities of his noble friend, who, in the interval of his expecting remittances from Russia, in return for one of the most valuable collection of pictures ever formed in this country, was reduced to great pecuniary difficulties.
At length the Bank stopped payment, and his debts, including the claims of government upon his house, amounted to 600,000l. It is very extraordinary, that at this particular time, he had only 25,000l. of notes in circulation. It is no less singular, that this failure did not occasion the bankruptcy, or cause stoppage of payment, in any other house. Among his principal creditors were gentlemen who had made considerable deposits, but who, by taking the concerns into their own hands, at a most propitious period, when landed estates sold at the very highest price, contrived to make a dividend of fourteen shillings in the pound.
Luckily for the creditors, his son was made a partner during the life of his father, or every shilling of the landed property would have gone to him.