POSITION AS A BANKER 283 



of considerable fortune, who possessed personal charms 

 without vanity, and prepossessing manners without affec- 

 tation. He was a banker by profession, in partnership 

 with his uncle, Mr. Fincham, whose fortune at his death 

 he inherited, besides the bank at Diss. This concern 

 had several branches at different towns and villages in 

 the neighbourhood, and, independently of his private 

 fortune, brought him a gentlemanly income, and he ap- 

 parently wanted for nothing that could conduce to his 

 happiness and well-being. But, alas ! he wanted more. 

 Besides the bank and its branches, he had other busi- 

 nesses to which he could not or did not attend. Inatten- 

 tion to the concerns of the former was alone the cause of 

 his losing thousands a year. Of this I remember one 

 instance when he was attending the races at Newmarket. 

 I may say I never saw him at any other race-meeting ; 

 but latterly he was, as a rule, present at the gatherings 

 on the Heath, and he would sometimes, I believe, visit 

 Yarmouth. During the racing at the former place, one 

 of his clerks used to come once or twice a week, bringing 

 his letters and taking instructions back to the head- 

 manager. On one occasion he was much annoyed to 

 find a customer had overdrawn his account 1,500, of 

 which sum, he told me, he should never see a guinea 

 again. This caused him to write a strong letter to his 

 manager, to tell him never to let any other man over- 

 draw his account in his (Mr. Simpson's) absence from 

 home. A few days after, he found that his best client 

 had taken away his account on being refused the usual 

 over-draft ; and this, he told me, was worse than the 

 other, and he must leave at once to see if he could 

 not remedy the matter. But I never heard with what 

 success. 



His career on the turf cannot be considered successful, 



