CHAP. XIII.] LAST ILLNESS. 409 



concerns ; his knowledge, his constructiveness, his dex- 

 terity of hand, had been ever ready to minister to her 

 slightest need, and now, unable to nurse him as of 

 old, she seemed more than ever dependent on his care. 

 To the last, he regularly gave the orders that were 

 necessary for her comfort, and endeavoured to see that 

 they were carried out. 



When too weak to dwell on those scientific in- 

 quiries which had been the work of his life, his 

 mind continued active about many of his favourite 

 studies. He remarked one day that he had been 

 wondering why the lines in Shakespeare's Merchant of 

 Venice, about the harmony that is in mortal souls 

 (repeating the whole passage) should have been put in 

 the mouth of such a frivolous person as Lorenzo. At 

 another time, when continuous conversation had be- 

 come impossible, and he had been lying for some time 

 with closed eyes, he looked up and repeated the verse, 

 " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," 

 etc., and then added "Do you know that that is a 



hexameter ? Tracra Soo-t? ayaOrj Kal Trdv Scbpyfjia reXetoz/. 

 I wonder who composed it 1 " He frequently quoted 

 Eichard Baxter's hymn 



" Lord, it belongs not to my care, 



Whether I die or live ; 

 To love and serve Thee is my share, 

 And that Thy grace must give," etc. 



On the Saturday preceding his death he received 

 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper from Dr. Guille- 

 mard, and it was while Dr. G. was putting on his 



