1829. JEr. 51.] SIE HUMPHRY DAVY. 399 



Pray do not neglect this subject, which I leave to yon as 

 another legacy.. God bless yon, my dear brother ! 

 Yonr affectionate Friend, 



H. DAVY. 



He tried to write a postcript, and lie did write ' My 

 dear John ; ' then he dictated, * I am dying ; come as 

 quickly as you can. You will not see me alive, I am 

 afraid, (rod bless you ! ' 



On March 1 6 Dr. Davy reached him. ' Never shall I 

 forget,' he says, ' the manner in which he received me, 

 the joy which lighted up his pale and emaciated 

 countenance, his cheerful words and extreme kindness, 

 and his endeavours to soothe a grief which I had not the 

 power of controlling on finding him so ill, or rather at 

 hearing him speak as if he were a dying man, who had 

 only a few hours to live, and who wished to use every 

 moment of such precious time. With a most cheerful 

 voice, a smile on his countenance, and most warm 

 pressure of the hand, he bade me not be grieved, but 

 consider the event as a philosopher. He expressed his 

 pleasure at seeing me so soon and in having me with 

 him in his last hours, and firmly rejected all expectation 

 and hope of recovery. He had lost all the irritable feel- 

 ing to which he was very liable, and which generally 

 accompanies paralytic complaints. His own conviction 

 that he was a dying man almost persuaded me that the 

 brilliancy of his mind was a lightening before death.' 



The next day he was not only amused but interested 

 deeply with the dissection of a torpedo made by Dr. 

 Davy in an adjoining room. 



On the night of March 31, having gradually got 



