40 HABITUAL CONTENTMENT. 



lant's zeal, however, was so uncalculating, that, 

 while his patrimony was annually diminishing, he 

 was still projecting publications which should, if 

 possible, exceed those he had actually produced. 

 At the conclusion of one of his volumes, he ex- 

 presses a wish that his sons would complete the 

 remaining portion. During the latter years of his 

 life his circumstances, it is said, were rather 

 straitened, which did not, however, affect his 

 fine flow of spirits, his passion for birds, or his 

 habitual contentment. On one occasion when Dr 

 Leach visited him at Paris, he found him lodged 

 in the upper etage of a house, when he jocosely ob- 

 served, " The longer I live, the higher I rise in the 

 world." This memorable man died on the 22d 

 November 



