o my will."

My purpose, however, in this sketch is not to write a history of the
trade by which Mr. Gillott raised himself to fame and fortune,
but rather to describe the man himself, as he moved quietly and
unobtrusively among his fellow men. One of his chief characteristics,
it has always struck me, was his intense love of _excellence_ in
everything with which he had to do. It was a frequent jocular remark
of his that "the best of everything was good enough for him." In
this--perhaps unknowingly--he followed Lord Bacon's advice, "Jest in
earnest," for he, certainly, earnestly carried out in life the desire
to do, and to possess, the "best" that could be attained. Of this
peculiarity, some very pleasant stories can be told.

Soon after he had purchased the beautiful estate at Stanmore, near
Harrow-on-the-Hill, which he loved so much, and where, in company
with his old friend, Pettitt, the artist, he spent so much time in
his latter years, he resolved to adorn the grounds with the rarest
and most beautiful shrubs and trees obtainable. The trustees of the
Jephson Gardens, at Leamington, about the same time, advertised for
sale some surplus plants of rare kinds, and Mr. Gillott paid the
gardens a visit. He had selected a number of costly specimens, when
his eye fell on a tree of surpassing beauty. He inquired its price,
and was told that it was not for sale. He was not a man to be easily
baffled, and he still tried to make a bargain. He was at length told
that an offer of L50 had already been made for the tree, and refused.
His reply was characteristic: "Well, I've made up my mind to have that
tree, and I'll give L100 for it. This offer, with the amount of those
I have selected, will make my morning's purchases come to three or
four hundred pounds. If I don't have this tree, I won't have any." He
had it, and it still adorns the magnificent lawn at Stanmore.

Few people know that he had a fancy for collecting precious stones,
simply as rarities. Poor George Lawson (whose tall, erect, and
soldier-like figure was well known in the streets of Birmingham and
at picture sales, and whose thoroughly good-natured, genial, hearty
manner, and singular wealth of humour, made him the favourite "of
all circles, and the idol of his own") told me a capital story
illustrative of this. One of Mr. Lawson's daughters complained to
him of tooth-ache, and he advised her to have it extracted. The young
lady, who had inherited a large share