Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-01-20
Genius and Debt.

Neh vi Rehius are equally facile 1,
running into debt. Genius has no =. .
essary connection with prudence a. aee'
restraint, nor docs it exercise any inf,seli
over the common rules OF arithms.sce
which are rigid and infiexible NJ.
genius are often superior 10 what Rs.0
calls the wisdom of business y ~.
Bacon himself did not follow his own ~
vice, but was ruined by his improyide,s.
He was in straits and difficulties VIII
youth and in still greater straits and S;s
culties when man. His life was splees.,
but his excessive expenditure invoIr's
him in debts which created perpe,,.i
craving for money. One day in pas.s
out to his ante-chambers, where hi y
lowers were awaiting his appearance
said: :" Be seated my master; You, :
has been my fall" To supply his Wa,
Bacon took brides, and was therein.
beset by his enemies, convicted, degsssS
and ruined. Even men with a speris
genius for finance on grand scale ms,
completely break down in the msuss.
mept of their own private affairs. n.
managed oae national finances during
period of unexampled difficulty, vet w.,
himself always plunged in debt. Lor5
Darlington, banker, once or twice !,
Mr.. Pitts request, examined his houseboS
accounts, and found the quantity of butch
er's meat charged in the bills was lO1
weight week. The charge for servants,
wages, board wages, living and houseboa
bills exceeded 300 year. AT Pir,
death the nation voted e40,0C0 TO satisfv
the demands OF his creditors; yet his n.
come had never been less than e6 GOO a
year; and al one time, with the Warden.
ship of the Cirque Ports, it was nearly
CA 900 year more. Macaulay truly saw
that "the character of Pitt would have
stood higher il, with the disinterestedneSs
of Pericles and Dewitt, he had united
their dignifed frugality.',
Bat Pitt by no means stood alone
Lord Melville was as unthriity in The
management of his own affairs as he wa,
of the money of the public. Fox was an
enormous over, his financial maxim being
that a man need never want money Il be
was willing to pay enough for it. Fox
called the outer room at Almack's, where
he borrowed on occasions from Jew lend
ers at exorbitant premiums, his "Jeruss.
lem Chamber" Passion for play was bis
great vice, and at a very early age ii H.
volved him in debt to an enormous
amount. 1t is stated by Gibbon that on
one occasion Fox sat playing at hazard for
twenty hours in succession, losing Eli,
900. But deep play was the vice of high
life in those days, and cheating was not
unknown. Selwyn, abiding TO Foxs
losses at play, called him Charles the
Martyr.
Sheridan was the hero of debt. He
lived on it. Though he received larm
sums OF money in one way or another,
one knew what became of il, for he paid
nobody. II seemed TO melt away in bis
hands like snow in summer. He spent
his first wife's fortune OF 81 800 in a SIX
weeks jaunt 10 Bath. Necessity drove hin
to literature, and perhaps to the stimulus
of poverty we owe The Rivals" and the
drama which succeeded it. With his sec.
ond wife he obtained fortune of 5000,
and with e15, 900 which he realized by the
sale of Drury Lane shares he bought an
estate in Surrey, from which he wG
driven by debt and duns. The
remainder of his life was S.
ries OF shifts, sometimes brilliant,
but oitener degrading, to raise money
and eyade creditors. Taylor, of the Opera.
House, used to say that if he took Off his
hat to Sheridan in the street il would
cost him fifty pounds; but if he stopped
to speak To him it would cost hundred.
He was in debt all round-p his milk.
man, his grocer, his baker and his butch
err. Sometimes Mrs. Sheridan would b.
kept waiting for an hour or more, while
the servants were beating up the neigh
borhood for coffee, butter, eggs and rolls,
While Sheridan was payinaster Oh tRe
navy butcher one day brought q leg o.
mutton to the kitchen. The cook took II
and clapped it in the pot 10 boil, and went
up stairs for the money; but not returs.
ing, the butcher cooliy removed the p@
lid, took out the mutton, and walked
away with ii in his tray. Yet, while Nv
ing in these straits, Sheridan, when 10
vited with his son into the country, usual
ly went in chaisesl and four-he in one
and his son Tom following in the othei'
The end OF all was very sad. For soLns
weeks before his death he was nearly Gss,
titute of the means of subsistence. MS
noble and royal friends had entirely de'
serted HIM. Executions for debt were 10
his house, and he passed his last days y
the custody of Sheritf's officers, who 90,
stained from conveying him 10 pfsoa
merely because they were assured thss
remove him would cause his immediaN
death. -7SaBauel Smiles. 'f'8 hfati.