LIFE OF MYTTON. 53 



worth. But I say again — What a paradox is here ! 

 The man who had no " i-egard to his good name " 

 left a good name behind him that will be remem- 

 bered and cherished in Shropshire for many, many 

 years to come, and for deeds that would have done 

 honour to an apostle. When I say that he was 

 charitable to the poor, and gave them two bushels 

 of wheat a week the year round, I give him credit 

 for little more than might be expected from a man of 

 his means, and of a nature generous to prodigality ; 

 but I have reason to believe no one knew half the 

 extent of his beneficent acts. 'Tis said of charity, 

 that it admits of no error but excess ; and to excess 

 did he often carry it, as I shall presently have occa- 

 sion to show. In fact, he was as extravagant in his 

 virtues as in his vices, — or, I would rather say, in his 

 failings. The perfection of man's moral nature is 

 said to be forgiveness of injuries, but Mytton went a 

 point beyond this. Even that hard injunction of the 

 Gospel, to love «;z enemy — the characteristic of a reli- 

 gion not of man, but of God, and that, as the author 

 of the " Adventurer " observes, " could have been 

 delivered as a precept only," for society could not 

 exist under its practice — was no paradox with him, 

 as I shall produce several instances to prove. 



