As evidencing his fondness for art, it may be observed that he was from first to last the discriminating friend and patron of his fellow-countyman, John Opie, R.A.; and it may be added that he was one of the pall-bearers at the artist's funeral. To Opie he entrusted the painting of his portrait (mezzotinted by W. Barney), which now hangs in the Town Hall of Devonport. In this town the family of St. Aubyn has long held large possessions, the value of which the fifth baronet is said to have increased three or fourfold, although he is said to have embarrassed the family estates for many years by the singular provisions of his will. When Sir John's collection of engravings and etchings were sold at Phillips's Auction Rooms, in April, 1840, the sale attracted the presence of most of the principal connoisseurs in the kingdom; and to give some idea of the vastness of the collection, it may be added that the sale lasted for seventeen days. It is not surprising to find that, with such tastes as his, Sir John St. Aubyn found London a more congenial place of abode than Cornwall. In the metropolis, therefore--at 63, Portland Place--or in its vicinity--as at Short Grove, Saffron Walden, or at Woolmers, Hertford--he lived; and, close to London he died--at Putney, on the 10th August 1839--at the good old age of eighty-one. He was noted for his beneficence, and for his refined and courteous manners; and these virtues and graces are suitably recorded on his monument at Crowan. On the occasion of his funeral, advantage was taken of his popularity (especially amongst the Freemasons, of which body he was a prominent member) for his body to 'lie in state' at St. Austell, Truro and Clowance; and his remains were followed to the grave by between 20,000 and 30,000 persons--a multitude as numerous as their sorrow was sincere. It has not been my practice to refer to any of the living representatives of the families whose histories I am endeavouring to sketch, but it can hardly be out of place on this occasion to observe that Sir John St. Aubyn, the present baronet, has also been for more than a quarter of a century a Member of Parliament for Cornwall; and that, to say the least, he is not likely to tarnish the lustre which surrounds the names of the past St. Aubyns of Clowance and the Mount. [Illustration: (end of chapter vignette.)] FOOTNOTES: [131] There is a view of Clowance House in Borlase's 'Natural History of Cornwall,' 1758. [132] John St. Aubyn, grandfather of the first baronet; it was he who purchased St. Michael's Mount from John Basset of Tehidy in 1657 or 1660, and died in 1679. [133] The first baronetcy dates from 11th Dec., 1671.