Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/227

 left penniless, with the exception of a few dollars which I had by me. Yet, in spite of all this, she commissioned me, a day or two before, to give 150 piasters to a leper, 150 to a distressed shopkeeper, and some other small benefactions to other pensioners on her inexhaustible bounty.

It may be said that any one, like myself, might have represented, from time to time, the necessity of a little more economy—I did so once: but I received such a peremptory injunction never to give my advice on that subject again, that I took good care how I committed myself a second time. She fired up, and said, "You will give me leave to judge what I ought to do with my own money. There are various ways of spending: you may think it best to be just before being generous; but I, with my character and views, must be even munificent, and trust to God, as I have hitherto done, for helping me on in my difficulties. Never touch on that subject again: I will have no human being interfere with me as to what I am to do with my money."

All I can say is that, like her grandfather, she was so intractable, that I never yet saw the mortal who could turn her an inch from her determinations. It was easy to lead the current of her bounty into one's own pocket; for I believe any person who knew her foibles might have kept it flowing in that direction