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It is useless to enquire what were the fruits of these

establishments of Borromeo, but we must admire the generosity,

judgment, and benevolence of the man who could undertake and

execute such things, in the midst of the ignorance, inertness,

and general indifference which surrounded him. And in attention

to public, he was not unmindful of private benevolence; indeed,

his whole life was a perpetual almsgiving; on the occasion of the

famine of which our history has spoken, we may have to relate

more than one instance of his wisdom and generosity.

[32] Three languages.

The inexhaustible charity of the man shone as much in his private

charities, as in his splendid and magnificent public

establishments already recorded. On one occasion he saved a young

lady from being immured in a convent against her wish. Her

selfish father pretended he could not marry her suitably without

a portion of 4000 crowns. The bishop advanced the money.