FAILURE OF HEALTH. 363 



De Morgan visited him daily, and saw the day before he died 1867. 

 that his end would be without pain. In the Diary and 

 Memoirs, published by Dr. Sadleir, a little sketch by Mr. 

 De Morgan gives a portrait of the subject, which shows 

 how actively his mind was still at work, and his interests 

 alive to the last. 



The last work of any importance undertaken by my 

 husband was a large calculation, I think, for the Alliance 

 Assurance Company. But his health had begun to fail. 

 Every one who saw him observed the change which had 

 passed over him, and before the great sorrow which came 

 to us at the end of 1867 he was no longer the strong, 

 vigorous man, full of hope and activity, which he had 

 been before his alienation from the institution to which so 

 much of the work of his life had been devoted. 



In October our dear son George was taken from us. George's 

 He had worked hard during the winter, and even late into 

 the spring, both in giving lessons and in examining the 

 papers for the degrees of the University of London. He 

 was at that time Vice- Principal of University Hall, Gordon 

 Square, but was almost every day with us in Adelaide 

 Road. His father, who only saw his cheerfulness and the 

 seeming improvement in his health when, after a short 

 time at Herne Bay, he parted from him to join us at 

 Bognor, did not realise his state, and hoped against hope 

 to the last. George went on with one of his sisters and 

 myself to Ventnor. He was still warmly interested in the 

 success of the Mathematical Society. As his name be- 

 longed to it as one of the secretaries, his father was 

 anxious that, if possible, the first diploma given should 

 have his signature. For this purpose parchment was 

 placed before him, and he evidently recognised its import, 

 passing his finger over the words Mathematical Society. 

 But he was too weak to hold the pen, and died two days 

 after. His father, already enfeebled in health, had been 

 at home with two of our daughters, and could not com e 

 in time to see him while he would have been recognised . 



