1806.] Memoirs of Mr. Necker, by his Daughter. 



531 



with 3n eloquent warmth againft thcfe 

 who could be wanting in refpeft to the 

 name of Necker. My father Ttt a great 

 value on this letter, which Toothed his 

 painful recolleftion of Vefoul j but fear- 

 iog that this man might t)e expofed if he 

 were known, he eflFaced his fignaiure with 

 fo much care, that, on finding this letter 

 among my father's papers after his dt^th, 

 I was unable to difcover the name of the 

 writer. 



How many good and generous things 

 of every defcription has he not concealed 

 from me and othtrs, not iVom intending 

 to fupprefs them, but from torget:ing to- 

 tell them. Only a few days fmce I learnt 

 anew inllance of his delicacy, of a nature 

 altogether lingular, if attentively confi- 

 dered. He had let ahoufeat a reafonabie 

 rate near Coppet to a family nqt very 

 rich ; when this family left it, a wo- 

 man pofleflcd of fomc fortune wifhed to 

 hire this houfe at a lower rate, and for 

 that purpofe fo perfecuted him that he 

 conltnted. But he perfuaded himfelt that 

 he ought to reftore to the poor family all 

 that exceeded this latter price which they 

 had been paying him for many years ; and 

 he wrote to ihem to accept of this reftitu- 

 tion of a nature entirely novel. To have 

 offered the fame fum in pure generofity 

 would have been an a6fion very fimple ; 

 but to have done fo from confcientious 

 fcruples, Is a circumftance in its nature un- 

 exampled. 



Mr. Necker had loft by the levolution 

 jn Switzerland and the lequeitration of his 

 depolit in France three- fourths of hi* for- 

 tune ; and even to his death the world 

 was much deceived as to what he poflTclfed, 

 b?caufc they judged hy his gifts. In the 

 dillribution of his donations he was im- 

 pelled by no perfonal motives 5 and even 

 among his enemies he fought unfortunate 

 objecH to relieve. No ofteniation ever 

 afached to this generofity : no odenta- 

 tion, but at the fame time no afFccfation 

 of myftery. The fimplicity of his cha- 

 rai^ltrand conduct intruded no one in his 

 virtues who did not feel them of them- 

 frlves j and hi» moral peilcftion, like 

 foinething *hlch \% at once great and well- 

 proportioned, difclofed iti'elf only in the 

 courfe of time. He had fomuch fincerity 

 in the whole of his being, that, to ftudy 

 the indication* of what i» truly noble and 

 admirable, a writer could not do better 

 than devote himfelf to examine the afiions, 

 manncis, and words, ot Mr. Ntckei, the 

 flroiig or gentle exprenion he made ufe of, 

 the fimefs and weight ot what he uttered, 

 hi« cmphafit, the language of his ^>hyfi- 



ognomy, in fine, all that harmony of 

 truth, which is better felt than defcribed, 

 which the meditating mind may analjze 

 on feeing it, but which can never be imi- 

 tated without the aid of a fimilar nature. 



My father fubjefted himfelf to prin- 

 ciples rigidly aulfere in the fmalleS a£iions 

 of his life no lefs than the greateft ; but 

 he had an indulgence for others, which 

 refulted not only from his goodnefs, but 

 from his perfeif knowledge of the human 

 heart. To his predeliftion for talent, for 

 wit, for imaginaiiim, he united a perfeft 

 good-will for thofe men not merely occu- 

 pied with their habitual ideas, but from 

 whom he could colle6f any pofitive infor- 

 mation of whatever kind. Sometimes he 

 indulged in plealantries on thofe about 

 him ; but he had fo much grace and fa- 

 gacity in his humour, that the happieft 

 moments of my life were thofe when he 

 made me the objc-ct of this talent. I ne- 

 ver faw him out of humour, except with 

 incapacity. When a man was able in 

 any way, in bulinefs, in art, or fcience, or 

 even trade, who had perfefted himfelf in 

 any one faculty, ranged through a circle 

 of ideas, whatever was the centre, he was 

 fure of his canfideration. Even the me- 

 diocrity which diipieafed him he tolerated 

 with gentlcnel's, for fear of giving pain, 

 a fear with him all powerful, for he ex- 

 perienced in a fupreme degree the fym- 

 pathy of pity. Amiable fentiment '. 

 without whicli we muft all fear each other, 

 but moft admirable in the bofom of a fu- 

 perior being, when it falls like a dew on 

 the arid furface of life. 



My father was at once a man the moft 

 commanding and the leaft to be dreaded, 

 a man before whom I fliould moft fear to 

 blufti, but before whom I could with moft 

 confidence fhed tears of repentance ; be- 

 fore whom I would have juft.fied myielf, 

 not by demonftration and evidence, but in 

 confiding my wrongs to him as to the Di» 

 vinity, in imparting to him my inmoft 

 thoughts, in pouring my foul into his ho- 

 fom, that he might reliore it to me im- 

 proved. None I believe every infpired 

 confidence and refpeft in the fame degiee. 

 No one knew better how to encourage the 

 molt plealing familiarity, without the 

 fmalleft facrifice of that fimple dignity 

 which checked it with a word, if that 

 word became nectffary. I have ften him 

 furiounded by my children, inviting to his 

 table companions of iheir age, and fo 

 venerable in the midft of his goodnefs, 

 that he imparted a lentiment of admira. 

 tion and tenderncfs by hit condelccniiun 

 and even his gaiety, 



3X* It 



