Dickory Cronke | Page 6

that if she
thought proper he would come and spend the remainder of his days
with her.
The good woman no sooner read his proposal than she accepted it,
adding, withal, that she could wish her entertainment was better; but if
he would accept of it as it was, she would do her best to make
everything easy, and that he should be welcome upon his own terms, to
stay with her as long as he pleased.
This affair being so happily settled to his full satisfaction, he returns to
Padstow to fetch the things he had left behind him, and the next day
came back to St. Helen's, where, according to his own proposal, he
continued to the day of his death, which happened upon the 29th of
May, 1718, about the same hour in which he was born.
Having thus given a short detail of the several periods of his life,
extracted chiefly from the papers which he left behind him, I come in
the next place to make a few observations how he managed himself and
spent his time toward the latter part of it.
His constant practice, both winter and summer, was to rise and set with
the sun; and if the weather would permit, he never failed to walk in
some unfrequented place, for three hours, both morning and evening,
and there it is supposed he composed the following meditations. The
chief part of his sustenance was milk, with a little bread boiled in it, of
which in the morning, after his walk, he would eat the quantity of a pint,
and sometimes more. Dinners he never eat any; and at night he would
only have a pretty large piece of bread, and drink a draught of good
spring water; and after this method he lived during the whole time he
was at St. Helen's. It is observed of him that he never slept out of a bed,

nor never lay awake in one; which I take to be an argument, not only of
a strong and healthful constitution, but of a mind composed and calm,
and entirely free from the ordinary disturbances of human life. He
never gave the least signs of complaint or dissatisfaction at anything,
unless it was when he heard the tinners swear, or saw them drunk; and
then, too, he would get out of the way as soon as he had let them see,
by some significant signs, how scandalous and ridiculous they made
themselves; and against the next time he met them, would be sure to
have a paper ready written, wherein he would represent the folly of
drunkenness, and the dangerous consequences that generally attended
it.
Idleness was his utter aversion, and if at any time he had finished the
business of the day, and was grown weary of reading and writing, in
which he daily spent six hours at least, he would certainly find
something either within doors or without, to employ himself.
Much might be said both with regard to the wise and regular
management, and the prudent methods he took to spend his time well
towards the declension of his life; but, as his history may perhaps be
shortly published at large by a better hand, I shall only observe in the
general, that he was a person of great wisdom and sagacity. He
understood nature beyond the ordinary capacity, and, if he had had a
competency of learning suitable to his genius, neither this nor the
former ages would have produced a better philosopher or a greater
man.
I come next to speak of the manner of his death and the consequences
thereof, which are, indeed, very surprising, and, perhaps, not altogether
unworthy a general observation. I shall relate them as briefly as I can,
and leave every one to believe or disbelieve as he thinks proper.
Upon the 26th of May, 1718, according to his usual method, about four
in the afternoon, he went out to take his evening walk; but before he
could reach the place he intended, he was siezed with an apoplectic fit,
which only gave him liberty to sit down under a tree, where, in an
instant, he was deprived of all manner of sense and motion, and so he
continued, as appears by his own confession afterwards, for more than

fourteen hours.
His sister, who knew how exact he was in all his methods, finding him
stay a considerable time beyond the usual hour, concludes that some
misfortune must needs have happened to him, or he would certainly
have been at home before. In short, she went immediately to all the
places he was wont to frequent, but nothing could be heard or seen of
him till the next morning, when a young man, as he was going to work,