THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, ESQ. 73 



His charities were very extensive, and it was only by chance 

 that those who most shared his confidence became acquainted 

 with the large sums he distributed. It was the spontaneous 

 feeling of his heart, that it is more blessed to give than to 

 receive ; and when he bestowed money or did an act of kindness 

 that caused him some personal inconvenience, he always endea- 

 voured to make it appear, that for some reason or other, it 

 happened to be an accommodation to himself, and that he was 

 the party on whom the favour was conferred. 



The indulgence and patience he evinced in conversing with 

 the ignorant and the dull was pre-eminent ; no arrogance of 

 manner ever displayed itself while arguing with an inferior dis- 

 putant. He himself knew too much, not to make ample allow- 

 ance in others for a want of acquaintance with any subjects which 

 he had more particularly studied ; and with the greatest 

 readiness he avowed his own ignorance when questioned as to 

 any point on which he did not feel himself competent to afford 

 the desired information. When his children were young, he 

 was always ready to lay aside his book to answer their questions, 

 or to assist in their amusements ; he was anxious to cultivate in 

 them a taste for horticulture, natural history, and other rational 

 pursuits ; and his daughters now look back to the hours spent 

 with him in his study, or in his garden, as among the happiest 

 recollections of their childhood. 



Even after he had entered his eightieth year, it was delightful 

 to watch the spirit with which he shared in the sports of his 

 grandchildren, and the trouble he took to provide occupation 

 and amusement for them, and the pleasure which he derived 

 from the success of his labours. 



What is said by his sons of Mr. Knight's favourite poet, 

 Crabbe, may be most appropriately applied to himself, " that as 

 the chief characteristic of his heart was benevolence, so that of 

 his mind was a buoyant exuberance of thought, and a perpetual 

 exercise of intellect, a youthful tenderness of feeling, and a 

 smile of indescribable benevolence." Like Crabbe, too, he had 

 no great " love for painting, or music, or architecture, and little 



