But this argument met the fate of all that had been spent on him for the last three years. It seemed all settled as far as he was concerned; for there was no doubt on the other side. He got into his carriage to drive up to Althorp, and ask his father's consent. When near the door, he called to the driver to stop, and turn to the rectory. He had just formed the resolution _never to marry_. It was not that he did not like the intended partner, it was an affair of long standing; but he remembered the words of St. Paul: "He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife" (1 Cor. vii. 32, 33, Prot. version). No one was ever able to shake this resolution, and the repeated attempts of others to do so only strengthened it the more. He often related this incident to us, and when asked, if he then thought of the Catholic priests, "Oh, I might, but I thought it was some superstitious motive that made them live single; I thought I made a new discovery myself;" he would reply. A change takes places now in his finances. He was Always extremely charitable, and his housekeeper tells of his equipment, when going out to make his parish rounds, of a morning. He would carry a bottle of wine in his coat pocket, and as much money as he could possibly spare. {153} These he distributed among the sick and the poor. He used also to buy them medicines, and procure them clothes. Of course it was found soon that a very large income would not suffice for the liberality of the son, so Lord Spencer came to an arrangement with him. He allowed him a liberal yearly income; but George feels it rather hard, and complains of his straitened means in two or three places of his Journal. However, he set to make the best of it, and began by retrenchment from his own table. "By way of retrenchment, I have left off wine and puddings or tarts, and I have reduced my quantity of clean linen to wear." Ever himself, what he spared from his own table he brought to the poor. "We shall transcribe the simple account of this period of his life given us by Mrs. Wykes, who knew him from a child.