Into whatever errors he may occasionally have fallen as a theorist, it is certain that, as a practical man of business, he had few equals.

Almost as soon as he became a member of the committee which directed the affairs of the Company, his ascendency was felt.

Soon many of the most important posts, both in Leadenhall Street and in the factories of Bombay and Bengal, were filled by his kinsmen and creatures.

His riches, though expended with ostentatious profusion, continued to increase and multiply.

He obtained a baronetcy; he purchased a stately seat at Wanstead; and there he laid out immense sums in excavating fishponds, and in planting whole square miles of barren land with walnut trees.