Now  I  do  know  from  internal  Sensations  that  mine
is  not  a  case  (common  as  it  seems)  to  be  trifled
with  at  this  Stage.  I  have  no  stamina  of  Constitution
to  resist  Disease  as  you  must  have  had  at  my  Age.
My  habitual  temperance  has  kept  it  from  me,  but
not  my  Strength,  for  half  of  my  past  inertness  has
been  constitutional  Languor,  I  think  one  of  the
heaviest  visitations  that   Man  can   have.   .   ..
There  is  nothing  pleasanter  to  contemplate  in
Lawrence's  character  than  the  unostentatious  sym-
pathy shown  by  him  for  his  dependents  and  persons
of  humble  condition.  Much  has  been  made  of  his
courtesy — to  women.  That  is  so  piquant.  But  what
if  this  deference  were  also  shown  towards  those
upon  whom  the  wiles  of  the  serpent  would  have
been  lost,  those  who  were  hardly  worthy  of  a  pro-
fessional Don  Juan  ?  Yet  there  are  a  thousand
indications  that,  in  the  pompous  diction  of  his
biographer,  Lawrence  owed  his  "  perfection  of
manner  to  nothing  but  the  elegant  mould  of  his
mind."  The  following  letters  admirably  illustrate
this  amiable  side  of  his  character.  The  "  Robert "
referred  to  was  his  body-servant.
ROBERT  59

Lawrence  to  Farington.
Grekk  S'.,  August  the  22<*  1808.
My  dear  Friend  .  .  .  You  will  be  sorry  to
learn  that  poor  Robert's  thoughtlessness  will  so  soon
be  terminated.  I  do  not  think  he  can  survive.  He
is  confin'd  to  his  Bed,  and  with  the  very  worst
symptoms  of  rapid  Decline.  I  shall  miss  him  more,
much  more,  than  abler  Servants  ;  for  he  had  a
guileless  Nature  and  an  affectionate  Heart  —  his
Worth  his  own  and  his  faults   his   Master's.
