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. He had been chosen sheriff of London, but refused to serve, choosing rather to pay the fine, and thus he practically declined the mayoralty. He probably wished to avoid expenditure. Dunton calls him 'a man of strong reason,' and says that he 'is truly charitable, of which his almshouses for the poor are standing testimonies' (Life and Errors, p.281). The same untrustworthy authority said (Essay on Death-bed Charity), after Guy's death, that Guy almost starved the bookbinders whom he employed, and declared that he gave 'but a few farthings' to the poor in his lifetime. According to Nichols's 'Literary Anecdotes' (iii. 599, 600), Guy 'being a single man and very penurious, his expenses were next to nothing. His custom was to dine on his shop counter, with no other tablecloth than an old newspaper; he was also as little nice in regard to his apparel.…' It is added that Guy had intended to marry a maidservant, but that after he had ordered her to give directions for the pavement before his door to be mended, she thoughtlessly desired the paviors to extend their operations beyond the stone he had marked. Guy therefore declined to marry her. Knight connects this with an order of the common council about mending pavements in 1671.

Guy early became somewhat noted as a philanthropist. He had maintained his almshouse in Tamworth entirely himself, and among other benefactions to Tamworth he built a town hall in 1701, which is still standing. Many of his poor and distant relations received stated allowances of 10l. or 20l. a year or more from him, and two of them received 500l. each to advance them in life. He spent much money in discharging insolvent debtors and reinstating them in business, and in relieving distressed families; and as many of his good deeds only came to light after his death, it is believed that many more were unrevealed. He often advanced money to start deserving young men in business. In 1709 he contributed largely for the poor refugees from the palatinate; and often sent friendless persons to St. Thomas's with directions to the steward to give them assistance at his own cost. In 1712 he subscribed to the fund for Bowyer, the printer, after his great loss by fire (, Lit. Anecd. i. 61).

In 1704 Guy became a governor of St. Thomas's Hospital, and thereafter was one of its principal and active managers. In 1707 he built and furnished three new wards in the hospital for sixty-four patients, at a cost of 1,000l., and from 1708 contributed 100l. yearly towards their support. He also improved the stone front and built a new entrance from the Borough, and two new houses at the south-west of the hospital. His importance in the government of St. Thomas's is constantly evident in the hospital records.

On 5 Aug. 1717 he offered to the Stationers' Company 1,000l. to enable them to add to the quarterly charity to poor members and widows, and 2,600l., the interest to be paid to such charitable uses as he should appoint by his will.

In 1720 Guy is said to have possessed 45,500l. of the original South Sea Stock. The 100l. shares gradually rose. Guy began to sell out at 300l., and sold the last of his shares at 600l. Having thus a vast fortune he decided to carry out a project long contemplated, of providing for the numerous patients who either could not be received in St. Thomas's Hospital, or were discharged thence as incurable. He consequently in 1721 took a lease from the St. Thomas's governors of a piece of ground opposite the hospital for 999 years, and, having pulled down a number of small houses, began the erection of a hospital on the site in 1722, intending to place it under the same administration. When the building was raised to the second story, he changed his mind and decided to have a separate government. The building, which cost 18,793l., was roofed in before the founder's death, which took place on 27 Dec. 1724 in his eightieth year. He was buried with great pomp, after lying in state at the Mercers' Chapel.

Guy's will went through three editions in 1725, and was reprinted by the governors of Guy's Hospital in 1732. 'it was signed on 4 Sept. 1724, and bequeaths lands and tenements in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Derbyshire to grandchildren of his deceased sister, about 75,000l. in four per cent, annuities, mostly in sums of 1,000l., to about ninety cousins in various degrees, as well as some persons apparently not relatives, and annuities varying from 10l. to 200l. per annum to others, mostly older relatives, being the interest on about 22,000l. stock. One thousand pounds was left to discharge poor debtors in London, Middlesex, or Surrey, in sums not exceeding 5l. each (six hundred persons were relieved by this benefaction,, p. 668). Four hundred pounds per annum was left to Christ's Hospital for the board and education of four poor children annually, to be nominated by the executors, the governors of Guy's, with preference to Guy's relations. His almshouse and library at Tamworth, was left in trust for the maintenance of fourteen poor persons of parishes surrounding Tamworth, excluding the town itself, preference being given to his own poor relations, a portion of the endowment being applied to apprenticing 