" The Directory eventually
gave him a small pension, which Napoleon doubled; and at length,
easeful death came to his relief in his seventy-ninth year. A
clause in his will, as to the manner of his funeral, illustrates
the character of the man. He directed that a garland of flowers,
provided by fifty-eight families whom he had established in life,
should be the only decoration of his coffin--a slight but
touching image of the more durable monument which he had erected
for himself in his works.
Such are only a few instances, of the cheerful-working-ness of
great men, which might, indeed, be multiplied to any extent. All
large healthy natures are cheerful as well as hopeful. Their
example is also contagious and diffusive, brightening and cheering
all who come within reach of their influence. It was said of Sir
John Malcolm, when he appeared in a saddened camp in India, that
"it was like a gleam of sunlight,.... no man left him without a
smile on his face. He was 'boy Malcolm' still. It was impossible
to resist the fascination of his genial presence." (3)
There was the same joyousness of nature about Edmund Burke. Once
at a dinner at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, when the conversation turned
upon the suitability of liquors for particular temperaments,
Johnson said, "Claret is for boys, port for men, and brandy for
heroes." "Then," said Burke, "let me have claret: I love to be a
boy, and to have the careless gaiety of boyish days.
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