The charge for servants' wages, board
wages, living, and household bills, exceeded L2,300 a year. At Pitt's
death, the nation voted L40,000 to satisfy the demands of his creditors;
yet his income had never been less than L6,000 a year; and at one time,
with the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports, it was nearly L4,000 a year
more. Macaulay truly says that "the character of Pitt would have stood
higher if, with the disinterestedness of Pericles and De Witt, he had
united their dignified frugality."
But Pitt by no means stood alone. Lord Melville was as unthrifty in the
management of his own affairs, as he was of the money of the public. Fox
was an enormous ower, his financial maxim being that a man need never
want money if he was willing to pay enough for it. Fox called the outer
room at Almack's, where he borrowed on occasions from Jew lenders at
exorbitant premiums, his "Jerusalem Chamber." Passion for play was his
great vice, and at a very early age it involved him in debt to an
enormous amount. It is stated by Gibbon that on one occasion Fox sat
playing at hazard for twenty hours in succession, losing L11,000. But
deep play was the vice of high life in those days, and cheating was not
unknown. Selwyn, alluding to Fox's losses at play, called him Charles
the Martyr.
Sheridan was the hero of debt.
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