240 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER chap. 



beyond the members of the family in the house. 

 No words can sufficiently express the devotion and 

 skill with which Mr. J. Kingston Barton, with 

 the sympathetic assistance of Dr. White Cooper, 

 attended Sir William, warding off danger, alleviating 

 pain, suiting the treatment to the daily varying 

 phases of the illness, and, notwithstanding its in- 

 creasing gravity, keeping up hope through all the 

 trying days and nights, whilst Sir Richard Douglas- 

 Powell generously gave the advantage of his great 

 experience and knowledge in frequent consultation. 

 Happily the love of reading which had charac- 

 terised him all through life continued, so that he 

 would often comfort those about him by saying, 

 ** I am glad of leisure to read " this or that book ; 

 "you can go out feeling that you are leaving 

 me perfectly comfortable," and more of such re- 

 assuring words. He liked to have the Times 

 every morning, and the Spectator and Nature 

 every week ; whilst even in his last month on earth 

 he read through the whole thick volume of the 

 Life of Lord Cro7ner, making comments on it to 

 his wife, or if she were absent from the room, 

 putting in a marker to anything specially interesting. 

 He also read Froude's Story of the Armada, and 

 the Cruise of the '' Cachalot,'' by Frank T. Bullen, 

 drawing attention to parts about whales that in- 

 terested him, and greatly admiring the graphic 

 description of the effect of the sublime words of the 

 Church of England Burial Service, even read by 



