The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-01-31
g.Essssss aes1estaess " aRxpsaassse q
Portland cofrespendencs ofthe New YaskTnHss
january Is. as - X - 80 S


Portland corresren dencs pfthe New York T1Hss,
january Is. 81 ~ IS
Mr.sPeabody always bore the reputation
among his friends of being very genial,
good -natured man, fond OF jokes, D good
liver, and Q pleasant companion. he was
of quiet, domestic turn of mind, and 1t
he had married would have made o kind
husband and model head Of household.
He cared very little for theatres or public
amusemcnts Of any kind, and seldom ut
tended large parties; but he enjoyeda good
diuner with his friends, and nothing pleased
him more than to spend tho evening in play.
ing well-matched game OF whist. He
was fond of inviting his American friends
who visited him in London to "white-
bait" dinner at Greenwich, and was even
better customer to the p1rYeyors Of that
famous dish than the Lord Mayorof London.
During the latter years of his life he
was scarcely an observer of the maxim
Early to bed and early to RISE" &c., for he
seldom retired before l o'clock in the
morning, and usually rose about 8 or 9. 1t
might seem superfuous to state that benevo-
lence was leading trait in the character
of man who gave away millions, and yet,
in the usual acceptation of the word, Mr..
Peabody would scarcely have been called
among his acquaintance benevolent man.
He was not addicted 10 alms-giving, and
parted with very little of his money in in
discriminate charity. Appeals to his
benevolence from strangers whose chsrac-
ter or deserts were unknown to him were
seldom needed. BE liked to know some
thing about the recipient of his bounty,
and whether it was likely to prove bless
ing or curse, and mere boldness and i'm
portunity in begging was no evidence to his
mind of actual distress or Worthiness, but
rather the reverse.
AN ENGAGEMENT TO MARRY.
Various stories have gone the rounds Of
the newspapers about Mr.. Peabody's en-
gagement and contemplated marriage OF
one period Of his lfe-some of them en-
tirely without foundation, and others
dressed up with romantic incidents to suit
the taste of the writer. The facts are
simply these In 1843 Miss H., of Provi-
dence, R. l., beautiful and accomplished
young lady, being on visit to England,
met Mr.. Peabody in London, and he became
so favorably impressed with her charms of
mind and person that before she left Eng
land he offered her his hand. He was OF
that time forty-fve years of age and the
lady twenty-five. The match was deemed
by the friends of the lady highly eligible
one for her; and, as usual in such cases,
they encouraged the suit and counselled her
to accept the offer, which, with some reluc-
lance, she did. The reluctance on her part
SC 10 hor MI fp no
disparity of age, and partly to q prior
attachment for young Mr.. L., of Philadel-
phia, whom she had met before visit
ing England. However that may be,
otter returning home to Providence, and
rejecting few weeks upon the matter, she
came to the conclusion to break off the en-
gagement, and communicated to Mr.. Pea
body through one of her lady friends the
state of her feelings, and asked to be re-
leased. The request was promptly granted,
but the affair SO annoyed and mortified MIR.
Peabody that he seems to have abandoned
from that time all ideas of matrimony, and
devoted his attention entirely to business.
With this exception his friends are not
aware of any female attachments or any
matrimonial intentions on his part at any
period of his life. The lady before men
toned afterwards married her Philadelphia
beau, and the match is said to have proved
very happy one; but her husband died
poor, and his widow is now living in Mas
sachusetts.
WHY He WISHED TO BE RICH.
The munifcent charities that have made
the name of Peabody household word in
two hemispheres we're not the promptings
of temporary vanity or sudden freak of
old age to win the applause of mankind.
On the contrary, they we're but the fulfil
ment of a long-cherished design formed in
his own mind, as O matter of duty, more
than quarter of century ago, and which
had constituted his chief incentive to the
acquisition of wealth. While in this city
last summer he said to his old partner in
business, who had known him intimately
for thirty-fve years, {" Mr.. i, it has
been my constant prayer to God for up
wards of twenty years that I might be ena-
bled to accumulate large sum of money to
bestow in charity to the poor" 1t will
scarcely surprise those who believe in the
efficacy of prayer to be told that during all
those years there was not single business
enterprise which he undertook that did not
,royn epncessfu1 md hardly n thing which