394 LAST ILLNESS FUNERAL. 



of compressed air escaping 1 from under the piston- 

 carriage would only allow of its descent at a speed of 

 3 feet in a second, giving but the same shock on bump- 

 ing the bottom as jumping off a 9 -inch door-step. 



Perhaps the King in 1833 could not take an active 

 part in advocating a memento of the golden days of 

 reform ; but this is no reason why the suggestion should 

 have been so slightly noticed in 1862, to erect it in 

 memory of the good and wise Prince Albert. 



Various meetings were held, and after nine months 

 the plan had so far advanced as to be placed before the 

 King. 



" Sir Herbert Taylor begs to acknowledge the receipt of 

 Mr. E. Trevithick's letter, with the accompanying design for a 

 national monument, which he has had the honour of submitting 

 to the King. 



" ST. JAMES'S PALACE, Is* March, 1833." l 



Within two months from the date of the design for a 

 gilded column Trevithick had passed away. His family 

 in Cornwall received a note, dated 22nd April, 1833, 

 from Mr. Eowley Potter, of Dartford, stating that 

 Trevithick had died on the morning of that day, after 

 a week's confinement to his bed. He was penniless, 

 and without a relative by him in his last illness, and for 

 the last offices of kindness was indebted to some who 

 were losers by his schemes. The mechanics from the 

 works of Messrs. Hall were the bearers, and mourners 

 at the funeral, and at their expense night watchers 

 remained by the grave to prevent body-snatching, then 

 frequent in that neighbourhood. 



A few years after the funeral, the writer was refused 



1 The ^column was suggested in 1862 as a suitable monument to the 

 memory of the late Prince Albert. 



