HARVEY. 97 



truly/ he continued, ' did I not find solace in my studies, 

 and a balm for my spirit in the memory of my observa- 

 tions of former years, I should feel little desire for longer 

 life. But so it has been, that this life of obscurity, this 

 vacation from public business, which causes tedium and 

 disgust to so many, has proved a sovereign remedy 

 to me.' " 



Harvey died in June, 1657. Aubrey, his con- 

 temporary, says, " On the morning of his death, about 

 ten o'clock, he went to speake, and found he had the 

 dead palsey in his tongue ; then he sawe what was to 

 become of him, he knew there was then no hopes of his 

 recovery, so presently sends for his young nephews to 

 come up to him, to whom he gives one his watch, to 

 another another remembrance, etc. ; made sign to Sam- 

 broke his Apothecary to lett him blood in the tongue, 

 which did little or no good, and so he ended his dayes. 

 . . . The palsey did give him an easie passeport. . . . 

 He lies buried in a vault at Hempsted in Essex, 

 which his brother Eliab Harvey built; he is lapt in 

 lead, and on his brest, in great letters, ' Dr. William 

 Harvey.' I was at his Funerall, and helpt to carry him 

 into the vault." 



The publication of Harvey's views on the movement 

 of the blood excited great surprise and opposition. The 

 theory of a complete circulation was at any rate novel, 

 but novelty was far from being a recommendation in 



H 



