MEMOIR OF Dlt WEIGHT. ^^ tl\ 



attention to the entire immunity from sickness which 

 he had always enjoyed, remarking, that, even then, in 

 the immediate prospect of death, he was perfectly 

 heart-whole. On this occasion Dr Gregory, with all 

 his characteristic openness of disposition, began to feel 

 his own firmness giving way, and made an effort to 

 lead the thoughts of his dying friend into another 

 channel, observing, at the same time, that he was con- 

 vinced of his perfect self-possession, and that he was 

 sure he would meet his last adversary like a man ; to 

 which the other rejoined, " And like a Christian !" 



Thus ended a life of activity and usefulness, the 

 particulars of which, if they had had the fortune to be 

 recorded by a writer of adequate attainments and ex- 

 perience, would doubtless have presented a lesson of 

 a more instructive nature than the brilliant annals of 

 war or diplomacy can boast. 



With a view to fix the attention of the reader as 

 constantly as possible on the subject of the memoir, 

 and at the same time to diminish the numerous defi- 

 ciencies in its execution, an attempt has been made, 

 by extracting such passages from Dr Wright's cor- 

 respondence as could be conveniently embodied in the 

 narrative, to enable him, in some measure, to tell his 

 own story ; and so to give to the work, as far as the 

 materials admitted of it, a portion of that peculiar in- 

 terest which attaches to a piece of auto-biography. 

 This, indeed, was felt to be the more necessary, from 

 the very limited opportunities which the writer enjoyed 

 of personally observing the nicer shades of a character, 



