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LIFE OF CHAKLES HALIDAY.
said, tliat among other strange mutations which he observed
in the shades below such as Alexander the Great turned
into an old breeches-patcher, Pope Alexander a ratcatcher,
&C., he found the misers and usurers all their time
spending
there in hunting for brass pins and rusty nails in the street
gutters. And how many a gay good fellow, on getting
an
unexpected accession of fortune, turns Shylock-like and
grows penurious
" While in the silent growth of cent, per cent,
In dirt and darkness hundreds stink content."
But Charles Haliday could set bounds to this desire, and
stop when he had reached the appointed limit, and then
use and enjoy his wealth and spend his leisure in other
aims besides the mere acquisition
of more.
It must be observed, however, that Mr. Haliday had no
children to provide for, and therefore was not under the
same obligation as men who have families dependent on
them.
I now gave up," he said to me, " dinners and drawing,
fiddling and hunting, and lived upon one-third of my income,
lud less." Though he was more engrossed
with business
after taking this resolution, yet he did not abandon all
reading, for it was at this very period
schemes for improving his mind by study.
From a journal
he kept of his reading for the years from
^
that he made
lb3G to 1839, some notion may be formed of his desire to
improve his mind. On a blank page at the beginning of
this book appears
the following :-" Fairy Land, Kingstown
1836. I have but little time to read, but I must not
therefore neglect to read. Before eight
o'clock in the
morning or after ten at night I may read a few pages, and
(with the help of God), I will do so. If I mark the date
when I read each book it may stimulate me by keeping
before me a register
of time lost or employed."
In another" Much may be done in those little shreds