294 The Life and Writings ()f' Francis HuUer, 



•this press into action prevented the habitual lise of it. These 

 letters, and some algebraic characters formed of baked clay, 

 which his ingenious son, always anxious to serve him, had nrtade 

 for his use, were, during more than fifteen years, a source of 

 relaxation and amusement to him. He enjoyed walking, and 

 even a solitary promenade by means of threads which he had 

 caused to be stretched through all the rural walks about his 

 dwelling. In following them by his hand he knew his way, and 

 by small knots in the thread he was warned of the direction he 

 was taking, and of his exact position. 



The activity of his mind rendered these diversions necessary. 

 It might have rendered him the most unhappy of men, if he had 

 been less favourably connected : but all who lived with him 

 had no other thought than that of pleasing him, and contributing 

 to relieve his infirmity. Naturally endowed with a benevolent 

 heart, how were those happy dispositions too often destroyed by 

 the collisions of the world, preserved in him ? He received from 

 all that surrounded him nothing but kindness and respect. The 

 busy world, the scene of so many little vexations, had disap- 

 peared from his view. His house and his fortune were taken 

 care of, without any embarrassment to him. A stranger to pub- 

 lic duties, he was in a great measure ignorant of the politics, the 

 cunning, and the fraud of men. Having rarely had it in his 

 power (without any fault of his own) of being useful to others, 

 he never experienced the bitterness of ingratitude. Jealousy, 

 even notwithstanding his success, was silenced by his infirmity. 

 To be happy and prosperous in a situation in which so many 

 others are given up to continual regrets, was accounted to him 

 fU a virtue. The female sex, provided their voices were agree- 

 able, all appeared to him as if he had seen them at the age of 

 eighteen. His rnind preserved the freshness and candour which 

 constitute the charm and happiness of adolescence ; he loved 

 young people, for with their sentiments his own were more in 

 accordance than with those of the aged and experienced. He 

 took pleasure, to the very last, in directing the studies of the 

 young, and possessed, in the highest degree, the art of pleasing 

 and interesting them. Though fond of new acquaintance, he 

 never abandoned his old friends. " One thing I have never been 

 able to learn," said he in extreme old age, " that is, to forget 



