But if he had been childless and unwedded, the result would have been the same.

He is the munificent prodigal of letters, always believing his substance inexhaustible, never placing a limit to his fancies nor a bound to his outlay.

"It is not they who rob me of my life," he wrote; "it is I who give it to them.

And what can I do better than accord a portion of it to him who esteems me enough to solicit such a gift?
I shall get no praise for it, 'tis true, either now while I am here, nor when I shall exist no longer; but I shall esteem myself for it, and people will love me all the better for it.

'Tis no bad exchange, that of benevolence, against a celebrity that one does not always win, and that nobody wins without a drawback.