A certain John Hopkins, familiarly known in his day for his
rapacity as “Vulture Hopkins,” lived a worthless life but died
possest of a million and a half dollars, left so as not to be
inherited until after the second generation, so that, as he
said, “his heirs would be as long spending it as he had been in
getting it.” Pope preserved his memory in this couplet:
“When Hopkins dies a thousand lights attend
The wretch who, living, saved a candle’s end.”
Such a life is properly to be condemned, altho its results may be
useful to a subsequent generation.
(2036)
=Miserliness=--See MAMMON-WORSHIP; SAVING DISAPPROVED.