The History of England, Volume I | Page 6

He answered, "Your hopes are
groundless. An habitual diarrhoea of more than a year's standing would
be a very bad disease at any age: at my age it is a mortal one. When I
lie down in the evening I feel myself weaker than when I rose in the
morning, and when I rise in the morning weaker than when I lay down
in the evening. I am sensible, besides, that some of my vital parts are
affected, so that I must soon die." "Well," said I, "if it must be so, you
have at least the satisfaction of leaving all your friends, your brother's
family in particular, in great prosperity." He said that he felt that
satisfaction so sensibly, that when he was reading, a few days before,
Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, among all the excuses which are
alleged to Charon for not entering readily into his boat, he could not
find one that fitted him; he had no house to finish, he had no daughter
to provide for, he had no enemies upon whom he wished to revenge
himself. "I could not well imagine," said he, "what excuse I could make
to Charon in order to obtain a little delay. I have done every thing of
consequence which I ever meant to do, and I could at no time expect to
leave my relations and friends in a better situation than that in which I
am now likely to leave them: I therefore have all reason to die
contented." He then diverted himself with inventing several jocular
excuses, which he supposed he might make to Charon, and with
imagining the very surly answers which it might suit the character of
Charon to return to them. "Upon further consideration," said he, "I
thought I might say to him, 'Good Charon, I have been correcting my
works for a new edition. Allow me a little time, that I may see how the
public receives the alterations.' But Charon would answer, 'When you
have seen the effect of these, you will be for making other alterations.
There will be no end of such excuses; so, honest friend, please step into
the boat.' But I might still urge, 'Have a little patience, good Charon, I
have been endeavouring to open the eyes of the public. If I live a few
years longer, I may have the satisfaction of seeing the downfall of some
of the prevailing systems of superstition.' But Charon would then lose
all temper and decency--'You loitering rogue, that will not happen these
many hundred years. Do you fancy I will grant you a lease for so long a
term? Get into the boat this instant, you lazy, loitering rogue.'"

But though Mr. Hume always talked of his approaching dissolution
with great cheerfulness, he never affected to make any parade of his
magnanimity. He never mentioned the subject, but when the
conversation naturally led to it, and never dwelt longer upon it than the
course of the conversation happened to require. It was a subject, indeed,
which occurred pretty frequently, in consequence of the inquiries which
his friends, who came to see him, naturally made concerning the state
of his health. The conversation which I mentioned above, and which
passed on Thursday the 8th of August, was the last, except one, that I
ever had with him. He had now become so very weak, that the
company of his most intimate friends fatigued him; for his cheerfulness
was still so great, his complaisance and social disposition were still so
entire, that when any friend was with him, he could not help talking
more, and with greater exertion, than suited the weakness of his body.
At his own desire, therefore, I agreed to leave Edinburgh, where I was
staying partly upon his account, and returned to my mother's house here,
at Kirkaldy, upon condition that he would send for me whenever he
wished to see me; the physician who saw him most frequently, Dr.
Black, undertaking in the mean time to write me occasionally an
account of the state of his health.
On the 22d of August, the doctor wrote me the following letter:
"Since my last, Mr. Hume has passed his time pretty easily, but is much
weaker. He sits up, goes down stairs once a day, and amuses himself
with reading, but seldom sees any body. He finds, that the conversation
of his most intimate friends fatigues and oppresses him; and it is happy
that he does not need it, for he is quite free from anxiety, impatience, or
low spirits, and passes his time very well with the assistance of
amusing books."
I received the day after a letter from Mr. Hume himself, of which the
following is an extract:
"Edinburgh, Aug. 23, 1776
"MY DEAREST FRIEND,
"I