Note 8 — Chapter I

In his eighty-third year. His old age was lonely and unattractive, being passed in the society of a few obsequious bishops and blue-stocking ladies, with whom he kept up a sickly commerce of flattery. His zenith had been bright: his decline was not mild. Avarice tormented even his last hours, and it is painful to witness, in his correspondence, how entirely he was subjected to that baleful passion. It degraded his nature, and almost disturbed his reason, for on no other ground can some of his acts be explained. His character as a politician was too severely censured by his cotemporaries, but in private life he was mean, selfish, and sordid, to an extent almost commensurate with his great abilities and attainments.—E.