This strange character presents another remarkable instance of
inconsistency; of avarice and liberality, of cruelty and kindness, of
meanness and integrity, of misanthropy and benevolence. He was the son
of a German Jew, who settled in London, and left him his title, and a
large estate. In 1758, he was married to a lady whose fortune amounted
to 150,000 pounds. In 1763, being left a widower, he married a few days
after, another lady of fortune. Up to this time, he had lived in the
highest style of fashion, but, owing to the loss of an estate in
America, and domestic disagreements, he now suddenly withdrew from his
family connections and the society of the gay world, and established
himself at a farm-house in Islington. Here he professed to be a farmer;
he stocked his yard with cattle, pigs, and poultry, yet he kept them in
such a lean and miserable condition, that the place acquired the name of
Starvation Farmyard.
Everything in his establishment was conducted on the meanest scale; yet
D'Aguilar, at this very time, was a liberal patron of public
institutions, and profuse in his charities. While his cattle were
actually in the agonies of starvation, he was doing some kindly, yet
secret act, to alleviate the distresses of the poor. His wife had been
obliged to leave him, but, after a separation of twenty years, he called
to see her, and a reconciliation took place. In a short time, however,
his extreme rigor compelled her again to leave him, and, by the advice
of friends, she instituted legal proceedings against him. In this suit
she was successful, and he was compelled to make a liberal provision for
her.
At last, he was taken severely ill, and a physician was sent for, but he
would not permit him to see him. He was therefore obliged to prescribe
from a report of his symptoms. His youngest daughter begged permission
to see him, but the stern father refused. In March, 1802, he died,
leaving a property estimated at a million of dollars. His diamonds alone
were worth thirty thousand pounds!
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