Though Clive's fortune was not large when he returned to England, he had realised, from his prize-money, and from the emoluments of the civil and military stations he had filled, a competence which would have satisfied a less aspiring mind; but he never seems to have even contemplated retirement from public life. Such a step, indeed, was neither consistent with his ambition, nor the generosity of his disposition. His first use of his wealth was to place all his family (and above all, his parents,) in a state of comfortable independence. He greatly added to the joy of his father, by appropriating a part of his fortune to save the family estate of Styche, to relieve which, he probably advanced its full value, as we find that it was transferred to him.[108] His father was delighted at his son becoming the owner of this property. This we see from many letters; and in one[109], written after Clive had sailed for India, he informs him that he had been at "the old place, which," he adds, "I always loved, and have kept the walls from tumbling, in hopes of seeing the new landlord come and take possession." Clive appears himself to have been quite alive to all those family and local feelings, which have great value as associated with the earliest and most vivid of our recollections and affections. To judge from his private correspondence, no man ever more cherished such ties; for during the busiest periods of his public life, his letters continually refer to his relations and to the scenes of his boyhood; but above all, he speaks of old Styche with a fond familiarity that conveys an idea of the pleasure he must have had in becoming its possessor. Many of his letters upon these subjects are addressed to his father, by whose answer to one of them we may judge of the tone in which they were written. "Your letter," he observes, alluding to himself, "made the _old man_ drop tears of joy, that you still survive with honour and success. May you go on and prosper!" Clive did not remain two years in England. When he returned to India, accompanied by his lady, they left two infant boys; the eldest, Edward, is the present Lord Powis; the second, Richard, died shortly after the departure of his parents. The great generosity of Clive to every branch of his family during this short visit to his native country, together with the manner in which he lived, and the expenses of his election, greatly diminished his property[110]; and it would seem from his agent's letters, that he had not, when he returned to India, more than three thousand pounds of money[111]; the interest of which, together with a small annuity he had purchased, he directed to be given to his father[112], whose letters are full of gratitude for the comfort given to his declining age by the liberality of his son.