PROCEEDINGS OE THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 199 



" on a large foreign business, as a director of the Bank, 

 "and of the Canal Company, as chairman of the Severn 

 " Bridge Railway Company, as a Magistrate, and as a 

 " member of I know not how many local committees, was 

 " the estimate shown in which he was held by the busi- 

 " ness men of the community ; but he was continually 

 " appealed to by unbusinessUke people to help them in 

 " their dilemmas, some of which must sorely have tested 

 " his patience. I recollect an occasion when I had 

 " accidentally become aware of such a task that had been 

 " unreasonably laid upon him ; I asked why he should be 

 "expected, busy as he already was, to give his time to it; 

 " he said, with his wonted quiet smile, ' they come to me 

 " because I am a busy man ; for if you want a thing done, 

 " you are more likely to get it attended to by a busy man 

 " than by an idle one : he must get it out of the way ; 

 " but the man of leisure puts it off till some other time, 

 " and perhaps never does it at all.' 



" The real motive for his undertaking so much extrane- 

 " ous work was his sympathy with others — especially 

 " with those least able to help themselves. He gave 

 '■ the same painstaking and interested attention to secur- 

 " ing the savings of a poor needlewoman, so as to 

 " make her lonely old age comfortable, that he did to the 

 " management of the thousands invested by his wealthier 

 " friends in the bank, or in the Severn Bridge. Apropos 

 " of the Bridge, I know that at one period he would gladly, 

 " have retired from the Chairmanship, to take more rest ; 

 " but he told me that as he had been the means of 

 " some persons placing their money in it, he felt they 

 " would be easier if the management were in his hands 

 "than if it were intrusted to anyone else — 'and so for 

 " 'their sakes,' he added, ' I am keeping on." 



" Not personal gain, but the happiness of others ; not 

 " self first, but duty first, was the continuous motive of 



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