Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/48

40 bable that his extraordinary attachment to the Prince of Wales did not a little contribute to the ruin of his affairs. 'Moira and I,' the Prince would sometimes say, 'are like two brothers, when one wants money he puts his hand in the other's pocket;' and to help his illustrious friend, he sold his estates in Ireland and much valuable property in England. Magnificent in his ideas, profuse in carrying them out, holding strongly to the old-fashioned notions of the obligation to serve those who from a high station had fallen into distress, he placed Donington Park at the disposal of the Bourbon princes when they emigrated to England during the French Revolution; and there they remained for several years. He received them with all the chivalrous consideration that their rank and misfortunes would naturally excite in the mind of a man of his character, and to supply their wants he opened his purse freely and gave them unlimited credit on his bankers; he accomplished this with much delicacy, for he left in each bedroom a signed cheque book, which the occupant could fill up at pleasure, without having to undergo the humiliation of asking for pecuniary assistance. It is only right to add that his guests availed themselves but sparingly of this generosity. His establishment in India was conducted with lavish expenditure, and when he returned home he prided himself on the fact that, after nine years' toil in the Eldorado of the East, he came back a poorer man than when he went out.

In short, he found himself in serious financial