the banker contrived at once to
support the government, and yet, by the frequent expression of
liberal opinions, to conciliate the Whigs and the Dissenters of his
neighbourhood. Parties, political and sectarian, were not then so
irreconcilable as they are now. In the whole county there was no one
so respected as this eminent person, and yet he possessed no shining
talents, though a laborious and energetic man of business. It was solely
and wholly the force of moral character which gave him his position in
society. He felt this; he was sensitively proud of it; he was painfully
anxious not to lose an atom of a distinction that required to be
vigilantly secured. He was a very _remarkable_, yet not (perhaps could
we penetrate all hearts), a very _uncommon_ character--this banker!
He had risen from, comparatively speaking, a low origin and humble
fortunes, and entirely by the scrupulous and sedate propriety of his
outward conduct. With such a propriety he, therefore, inseparably
connected every notion of worldly prosperity and honour. Thus, though
far from a bad man, he was forced into being something of a hypocrite.
Every year he had grown more starch and more saintly. He was
conscience-keeper to the whole town; and it is astonishing how many
persons hardly dared to make a will or subscribe to a charity without
his advice. As he was a shrewd man of this world, as well as an
accredited guide to the next, his advice was precisely of a nature
to reconcile the Conscience and the Interest; and he was a kind of
negotiator in the reciprocal diplomacy of earth and heaven. But our
banker was really a charitable man, and a benevolent man, and a sincere
believer. How, then, was he a hypocrite? Simply because he professed to
be far _more_ charitable, _more_ benevolent, and _more_ pious than he
really was. His reputation had now arrived to that degree of immaculate
polish that the smallest breath, which would not have tarnished the
character of another man, would have fixed an indelible stain upon his.
As he affected to be more strict than the churchman, and was a great
oracle with all who regarded churchmen as lukewarm, so his conduct was
narrowly watched by all the clergy of the orthodox cathedral, good men,
doubtless, but not affecting to be saints, who were jealous at being so
luminously outshone by a layman and an authority of the sectarians. On
the other hand, the intense homage and almost worship he received from
his followers ke