40 HABITUAL CONTENTMENT.

lant’s zeal, however, was so uncalculating, that,
while his patrimony was annually diminishing, he
was still projecting publications which should, if
possible, exceed those he had actually produced.
At the conclusion of one of his volumes, he ex-
presses a wish that his sons would complete the
remaining portion. During the latter years of his
life his circumstances, it is said, were rather
straitened, which did not, however, affect his
fine flow of spirits, his passion for birds, or his
habitual contentment. On one occasion when Dr
Leach visited him at Paris, he found him lodged
in the upper étage of a house, when he jocosely ob-
served, “The longer I live, the higher I rise in the
world.” This memorable man died on the 22d
November 1824,