WHEN Sir Robert Walpole was dismissed from all his employments he retired to Houghton and walked into the Library; when, pulling down a book and holding it some minutes to his eyes, he suddenly and seeming sullenly exchanged it for another. He held that about half as long, and looking out a third returned it instantly to its shelf and burst into tears.
'I have led a life of business so long,' said he, 'that I have lost my taste for reading, and now — what shall I do?'
From Thraliana, i. 142. The authority for this anecdote was Harry Fox, who was present at the scene.