LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 65 



to the last moment. His bodily faculties re- 

 mained so too to a singular degree. A very 

 short time before he breathed his last, he called 

 for a common prayer-book, and, though one 

 was brought to him of the smallest print, he 

 himself turned to the commendatory prayer, 

 and ordered it to be read. That being per- 

 formed, he composed himself more solemnly 

 for his departure. He put his hands and arms 

 down to both his sides, and desired his head to 

 be placed lower, thus in a manner laying him- 

 self out to receive the stroke of death. In this 

 posture, with the utmost cheerfulness and re- 

 signation of spirit, he breathed his last a little 

 after midnight, on the morning of Friday, No- 

 vember the 24th, 1693. 



His remains were committed to the earth on 

 the night of Monday, November the 27th. He 

 had marked out the spot where he desired to 

 be laid, in the church-yard of Fresing-field, in 

 the angle between the eastern wall of the church 

 porch, and the southern wall of the church. He 

 had chosen this place for his interment sixteen 

 years before, in case he should die in that 

 country. On his tomb the following inscrip- 

 tion, prepared by his own hand, with directions 

 for the manner in which it should be put up, is 

 a lasting document to posterity, if such docu- 



VOL. II. F 



