work to which Sir John was to be chosen
treasurer, thus conditionally, was the restoration
of the Cathedral Church of London,
which was interrupted by the revolution.

Through what particular channel of trade
Sir John amassed his money no one has told
us. After the accumulation of wealth, his
next ambition seems to have been a West-end
connection, with a view, no doubt, to
mortgages and loans, on sound security. In his
time the offices of sheriff of London and
lord mayor were highly-coveted posts,—held
by the Barings and Jones Loyds, of London.
Yet Cutler had no liking for such honours;
they were expensive, and the sage Sir John
was fined for not becoming either sheriff or
alderman.

Among the courtiers of Whitehall, to whom
his wealth and habits of business introduced
him, was the second and last Duke of
Buckingham of the Villiers family, whose character
is drawn by the master-hand of Dryden,
and whose death-bed is so forcibly depicted
by Pope. The duke was needy and lavish,
the knight and baronet was rich, covetous,
and miserly. The duke's end is said to have
been foretold by Cutler:—

His Grace's fate sage Cutler could foresee,
And well (he thought) advised him, "Live like me."
As well his grace replied, "Like you, Sir John;
That I can do when all I have is gone."

A happy reply from a prodigal to a miser.
But which shall we prefer?

Resolve me, Reason, which of these is worse,
Want with a full, or with an empty purse?
Thy life more wretched, Cutler, was confess'd;
Arise and tell me was thy death more bless'd?
Cutler saw tenants break, and houses fall;
For very want he could not build a wall.
His only daughter in a stranger's power,
For very want; he could not pay a dower.
A few grey hairs his reverend temples crown'd;
'Twas very want that sold them for two pound.
What, e'en denied a cordial at his end,
Banish'd the doctor and expell'd the friend?
What but a want, which you perhaps think mad,
Yet numbers feel, the want of what he had!
Cutler and Brutus dying both exclaim,
"Virtue! and wealth! what are ye but a name?"

This celebrated description is, it is said, a
libel. Sir John was, it is now alleged,
anything but mean. Nay, that he was liberal
in building matters. The great parlour and
entertaining-room of the Grocers' Company
in the Poultry, was built, we are told, at
his expense, after the Fire of London. Part
of the College of Physicians, in Warwick
Lane, was erected (so liveried grocers allege)
at his cost. The north gallery of the church
in which he is buried was rebuilt, for the
benefit of the poor, at his expense. The
poor of Westminster are still relieved by
his legacy to the parish. His will
contains legacies to his servants and their
children, with directions to his executor to
distribute two thousand pounds among such
of his friends or relations as his executor
shall imagine that he hail neglected or
forgotten in his will. Instead of an only
daughter, he had two daughters; one
married to Sir William Portman, Baronet, to
whom he gave a portion of thirty thousand
pounds; the other, to Charles Bodville
Robartes, Viscount Bodmin and Earl of
Radnor, to whom, on her marriage, he is said
to have given the house and estate of
Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire, equal, at least, to
thirty thousand pounds.

Such are the facts recently adduced by Mr.
Heath the pains-taking historian of the Grocers'
Company, who calls upon us to disbelieve the
poet, and trust the historian. But Cutler's
character for avarice does not solely rest on Pope's
picture of his life and death. Dr. Arbuthnot
has preserved a striking instance of his
parsimony. Sir John Cutler, he tells us, had a
pair of black worsted silk stockings which
his maid darned so often with silk, that they
became at last a pair of silk stockings!
Wycherley, who was his contemporary, and
might have been his creditor, has addressed
a copy of verses to him, called The Praise of
Avarice, in which he sarcastically alludes to
the scurrilous jests that accompany every
mention of his name:—

Live on then, Cutler, in despite of fame,
That gives each quality a bastard name.
Fools only can thy frugal life despise,
Thy heirs will call thy conduct just and wise.

Other proofs of his avarice might be
afforded. The most remarkable has escaped
Mr. Heath's researches. The witty Earl of
Chesterfield amused his old age by composing
characters and dialogues. One of the best
is a dialogue in the other world, between
Cutler and the Duke of Buckingham. "How,"
asks Cutler, "did your grace enjoy the worst
bed in the worst inn in Yorkshire, when you
died? At least I died in my own house."
To which the Duke replies: "I do not doubt
it: for nothing could live in your house."—
"If I denied myself anything, it was to make
my only daughter a great fortune," observes
the sage; to which, more pertinently, the
Duke rejoins: "A true miser, like a true
poet, must be born such; no accident can
make either." Other queries and replies are
equally to the point:

The Duke. I was myself an idle squanderer; now
do you own yourself a complete miser?

Cutler. Will not economist satisfy your grace?

The Duke. By no means; were your darned stockings,
patched coat, and the rags and pins which you
painfully picked up in the streets, merely the effects of
economy? Fie, Sir John, be franker; we are upon
honour now.

Cutler. Well, I will own, I carried my economy
too far. I had no one pleasure in life but thinking of
my money, counting my money, watching my money,
and increasing my money.

We are told of a miser's will that was set
aside, because he had ordered twenty penny