9, 1794.
[36] Memoirs, i.

85-6.
15.

_Family History_.
LETTER TO SIR GEORGE H.BEAUMONT, BART.
Grasmere, Feb.

20, 1805.
My dear friend, My father, who was an attorney of considerable eminence, died intestate when we were children; and the chief part of his personal property after his decease was expended in an unsuccessful attempt to compel the late Lord Lonsdale to pay a debt of about 5000_l._ to my father's estate.
Enough, however, was scraped together to educate us all in different ways.

I, the second son, was sent to college with a view to the profession of the church or law; into one of which I should have been forced by necessity, had not a friend left me 900_l._ This bequest was from a young man with whom, though I call him friend, I had had but little connection; and the act was done entirely from a confidence on his part that I had powers and attainments which might be of use to mankind.