The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-01-11
Foolish Wise Men.

The great folly of some men renowned
for great wisdom is conspicuous In every
country. This fooiishness is made man
ifest in common affairs OF private life,
even when the world is ringing with
public applause for the exhibition OF
profound wisdom in public affairs.
The proyerbial unthriftiness and folly
in expenditure characteristic of our
Daniel Webster are we'll known. He
was always receiving large sums as In
come, and yet always involved in debt.
He could take care of the affairs of the
nation, but not of his own.
Lord Bacon was another instance of
similar improvidence. Bacon himself
did not follow his own advice, but was
ruined by his improyidence. He was in
straits and difficulties when youth,
and in still greater straits and Difficult
ties when man. His life was splendid,
but his excessive expenditure involved
him in debts which created perpetual
craving Tor money. Bacon took bribes,
and was thereupon beset by his enemies,
convicted, degraded and ruined.
Pitt managed the national finances
during period Of unexampled difficulty,
yet was himself always plunged in debt.
Lord Darlington, ex-banker, once or
twice, at Mr.. Pitts request, examined
his household accounts, and found the
quantity of butchers meat charged In
tne bills was one hundred weight week.
The charge for servants' wages, board
wages, living, and household bills ex-
ceed 81. 800 a year. At Pitts death the
nation voted 100000 to satisfy the de-
mands of his creditors; yet his income
had never been less than $4,000 year;
and a. one time, with the w Wardenship OF
the Cinque Ports, it was nearly $4,000 a
year more. Macauley truly says that
s'the character of Pitt would have stood
higher il, with the disinterestedness OF
Pericles and Dewitt, he nad united their
dignitied trugality.'
But Pitt by no means stood alone.
Lord Melville was as unthrifty in the
management OF his own affairs as he was
OF the money of the public. Fox was an
enormous over, his financial maxim be-
ing that q man need never want money
il he was able to pay enough tor 1t. Fox
called the outer room vt Almack's,
where he borrowed on occasions from
jew lenders at texorbitant premiums, his
'.Jerusaiem Chamber" Passion for play
was his great vice, and at very early
age it involved him in debt to an enor-
nous amount. 1t is stated by Gibbon
that on one occasion Fox sat playing at
hazard tor twenty hours in succession, /,
losing ELL, 900. But deep play was the
vice OF nig Lille in those days, and cheat
ing was not unknown. Selwyn, alluding
to Fox's losses at play, called him
Charles the Martyr.
Sheridan was the hero of debt. He
lived on it. Though he received large
sums OF money In one way or another no
one knew what became of it, tor he paid
nobody. 1t seemed to melt away in his
hands like snow i'll summer. He spent
his first wife's fortune OF 6 800 in six
weeks jaunt to Bath. Necessity drove
him to literature, and perhaps TO the
stimulus of poverty we owe "Ihe Ri
valso and the dramas which followed IL.
With his second wife he obtained for
| tune OF 5000, and with 6 l5, 900 which he
realized by the sale of Drury Lane shares
| he bought an estate in Surrey, from
which he was driven by debts and duns.
| The remainder OF his lie was series
of shifts, sometimes brilliant, but often
er degrading, TO raise money and evade
1 creditors. Taylor, of The Opera-house,
fused TO say that il he took off his hat to
sheridan in the street 1T would cost him
lftty pounds; but ii he stopped to speak
| to him IL would cost hundred. He was
in debt all round-to his milkman, his
grocer, his baker, aud his butcher. Some.
| times Mrs. Sheridan would be kept
waiting for an hour or more, while the
lseryapts were beating up the neighbor
hood lor coffee. butter, eggs, and rolls
While Sheridan was paymaster OF The
navy a butcher one day brought leg o
mutton to the kiichen. The cook took il
and clapped it in tue pot to boil, anl
went up stairs for The money; but no
lreturning. the butcher coolIy removed
the pot lid, took out the mutton, ane
walked away with itin his tray. Yet
while living in these straits, Sheridan
when invited with his son into the couu
ltry, usually went in chaises and four
he in one, and his son Tom follow.
ing in the other. The end OF all was yer,
sad. For some weeks before his dealt
he wss nearly destitute of the means o
subsistence. His noble and royal friends
had entirely deserted him. Execution
tor debt were in his house, and he passet
his last days in the custody Of sheriff
officers, who abstained from conveying
him to prison merely because they wer'
assured that to remove him would caus,
mil