Note 147 — Chapter VII

Lord Sandwich has received similar praise, as an efficient public servant, from Mr. Butler, a very acute and well-informed writer, who lived on terms of intimacy with him, and was in every respect qualified to form a just opinion of his merits. “Lord Sandwich might serve as a model for a man of business. He rose early, and till a late dinner dedicated his whole time to business; he was very methodical; slow, not wearisome; cautious, not suspicious; rather a man of sense than a man of talent; he had much real good nature; his promises might be relied on. His manners partook of the old Court, and he possessed in a singular degree the art of attaching persons of every rank to him. Few houses were more agreeable or instructive than his Lordship’s; it was filled with rank, beauty, and talent, and every one was at ease. He professed to be fond of music, and musicians flocked to him; he was the soul of the Catch Club, and one of the Directors of the Concert of Ancient Music, but (which is the case with more than one noble, and more than one gentle amateur) he had not the least real ear for music, and was equally insensible of harmony and melody.”—(Butler’s Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 74.)