Page 358 - middlemarch

But he could not manage finance: he knew values well, but
he had no keenness of imagination for monetary results in
the shape of profit and loss: and having ascertained this to
his cost, he determined to give up all forms of his beloved
‘business’ which required that talent. He gave himself up en-
tirely to the many kinds of work which he could do without
handling capital, and was one of those precious men within
his own district whom everybody would choose to work for
them, because he did his work well, charged very little, and
often declined to charge at all. It is no wonder, then, that the
Garths were poor, and ‘lived in a small way.’ However, they
did not mind it.