By the written directions of Mr. Howard, his servant lad Thomasson met him in London, and attended him home to Cardington. Agreeable as it must have been to him to be once more among his friends and attached tenants, his return to that home, the chief ornament and delight of which was gone for ever, brought back so many affecting recollections, and so lowered his spirits, that his health soon began to suffer, and he found it necessary again to change the scene. So taking Thomasson with him, he travelled into the West of England, through South Wales, crossed over to Ireland, visited its southern counties, and returned to the Hot-wells near Bristol.. The very day after he reached this place, he was attacked by the gout, and had a severe fit of it, which confined him to his room for six months. During this long illness, Thomasson attended upon Mr. Howard with the most watchful and unwearied

assiduity. Though during the height of his disorder, the sufferer could ill bear to be waited upon by any one else, he would often express his fear that the lad would be hurt by such close attendance upon his sick bed. Thomasson however was young and strong, and did not suffer from the exertions he made. For these he was doubtless well rewarded in a pecuniary way, besides being, from this time, always treated by his employer with peculiar kindness and confidence.

As soon as our invalid was able to travel, he returned to Cardington, the low, marshy situation of which was not favorable to his health. He was attacked by the prevalent disorder of the place, fever and ague, from which he was never free for nine months. During this period of bodily infirmity, his active mind was still employed for the good of others. Knowing how much his poor neighbours suffered from fever and ague, and thinking it might be in some degree prevented by their living in drier and better houses, he pulled down several cottages on his own estate, and rebuilt them with a particular view to the health of their inhabitants. Others, which he did not own, he purchased and rebuilt, in such a manner as might best defend them from the dampness of the soil. All these cottages, built by the philanthro

pist, were remarkable for their neatness, simplicity, and convenience; and though purposely varied in their external forms, they were all warmly thatched, and had nice white-washed fronts. Each had a piece of garden-ground, large enough to supply the occupiers with vegetables, and most of them had an enclosure in front, fenced off from the road by a neat white paling, and containing flowers and shrubs.

"These comfortable habitations," says one of his biographers, "he peopled with the most industrious and sober tenants he could find; and over them he exercised the superintendence of master and father combined. He was careful to furnish them with employment, to assist them in sickness and distress, and to educate their children. In order to preserve their morals, he made it a condition that they should regularly attend their several places of worship, and abstain from public houses and from such amusements as he thought pernicious; and he secured their compliance with his rules by making them tenants at will." These cottages were so comfortable and let at such a moderate rent, that there was scarcely a poor person in the village who was not desirous of living in one of them.

Mr. Howard understood the importance of visiting the poor at their own homes, and becoming personally acquainted with them; and though his feeble state of health might well have excused him, he was always in the habit of calling on his poor neighbours, and might frequently be seen sitting by the cottage hearth, discoursing with those around it in the most familiar and friendly manner. The children of the village loved to meet him; for they always had a kind look or word from their benefactor, and frequently a few pence, accompanied by an admonition to keep their hands and faces clean and be good children. He not only gave away all the milk of his dairy that was not needed in his own family, but sent it round to the poor, that they might not lose their time in going for it. A friend of his, who knew him well, says, "His charity had no bounds except those of prudence; and was not more commendable for the extent of it, than for the manner in which it was exercised. He hardly ever took one of his daily rides in the neighbourhood without enjoying the delightful satisfaction on his return, of having contributed to the relief, the welfare, or the consolation of a fellow creature; for whilst living in this retirement, it was his meat and drink to make his neighbours happy.”

Whilst his unwearied kindness to the poor caused him to be greatly loved by them, he was no less respected by the rich and powerful. He was on visiting terms with most of the country gentlemen around him, and received his friends in a genteel and hospitable manner; but he thought it inconsistent with a right use of his property, to make costly entertainments.

His own diet was very simple; and though he had not yet entirely given up animal food, he used it very sparingly. Wine, spirits, and fermented liquors of every kind, he wholly renounced, when he had the gout, and never afterwards could be persuaded to touch them, even as medicines.

He was at all times remarkably neat in his dress, and kept a wise medium between singularity and a foolish conformity to every change of fashion. His deportment was naturally dignified, but his great benevolence rendered his manner kind and conciliating. In the distribution of his time, he was very exact; in all his engagements with others he was punctual himself, and expected others to be so too.

When not confined to the house by ill health, he was a regular attendant on public worship, and was a member of a church of dissenters at Bedford, of which the Rev. J. Symonds was the minister.