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horse which he kept for some time was never allowed more than two shoes, for his fore feet to shoe the hind feet, being, in his opinion an unnecessary expense.
His wealth was thus productive of no other enjoyment than he sordid and unavailing on
arising from the contemplation of riches which he did not dare to enjoy; on the contrary it seemed to carry a curse along with it, and to engender a variety of calamities to the wretched possessor. During the time he lived alone after the death of his sister (for he never could prevail upon himself to be at the expense of a wife,) the temptation to rob the old miser proved irresistible to those who lived by rapine; indeed there is some reason to suppose that they contemplated the plunder of a man of his penurious disposition with but little compunction or remorse: his avarice, if not an excuse for, at least seemed an alleviation of the crime. He was, accordingly, robbed frequently, and, if report be true--for this was a subject on which he did not choose to enlarge--to a very considerable amount. Не however, once confessed, with tears in his eyes to his niece, who had seen whole and half peeks of halfpence on his staircase, that "all--all was gone!"
On these occasions it was customary with the house-breakers to terrify him into a
discovery of his more valuable property; and
