xxxiv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



ter; I say unjust, because the remarkable keenness of his mind 

 concerning mathematical and other questions, during an illness 

 in which his life was hanging constantly by a thread, may give 

 those who are disposed to do so the occasion of remarking that 

 his mind might very well have been occupied with more solemn 

 thoughts. Let such persons then be satisfied by knowing that 

 more solemn thoughts did occupy his mind. I think that as 

 his sickness advanced and his bodily powers were diminished, 

 his mind gradually found more settled peace and rested more 

 surely upon the love of God and the merits of the Saviour. 

 Certainly there was much to tempt him to murmur, but I never 

 noticed any murmuring propensity or any tendency to do 

 otherwise than bow to God's will and accept with patience a 

 mysterious and painful dispensation. In the early part of his 

 illness, he asked me whether I had ever thought much or heard 

 a sermon upon Habakkuk iii. 17, 18: "Although the fig-tree 

 shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour 

 of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the 

 flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd 

 in the stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the 

 God of my salvation." He made no application of the verses 

 to his own circumstances, only remarking how striking the 

 language was ; but it was evident to me that his own case was 

 in his mind. 



He always begged me to read prayers with him. I usually 

 introduced the Collect from the Visitation of the Sick ; on one 

 occasion I omitted it ; he noticed the omission at my next visit, 

 and begged me to use it. Anyone who remembers the substance 

 of that Collect will see the value of this simple anecdote. 



His own bodily weakness and utter abstraction from all 

 works of active piety intensified his desire of doing something 

 for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, and made him grieve over 

 his forced indolence. I do not mean that his charitable feelings 

 first germinated in his sick room : this was very far from being 



