LEIGH HUNT: A REMONSTRANCE
"The sense of beauty and gentleness, of moral beauty and faithful
gentleness, grew upon him as the clear evening closed in. When he
went to visit his relative at Putney, he still carried with him his
work, and the books he more immediately wanted. Although his bodily
powers had been giving way, his most conspicuous qualities, his
memory for books, and his affection remained; and when his hair was
white, when his ample chest had grown slender, when the very
proportion of his height had visibly lessened, his step was still
ready, and his dark eyes brightened at every happy expression, and
at every thought of kindness. His death was simply exhaustion; he
broke off his work to lie down and repose. So gentle was the final
approach, that he scarcely recognised it till the very last, and
then it came without terrors. His physical suffering had not been
severe; at the latest hour he said that his only uneasiness was
failing breath. And that failing breath was used to express his
sense of the inexhaustible kindness he had received from the family
who had been so unexpectedly made his nurses,--to draw from one of
his sons, by minute, eager, and searching questions, all that he
could learn about the latest vicissitudes and growing hopes of
Italy,--to ask the friends and children around him for news of those
whom he loved,--and to send love and messages to the absent who
loved him.
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