Part 68 (1/2)

At length I ca knocked at the door, looked round with a kind of infatuated fear The coffin was following, and I stood with an absurd and fanciful trepidation, waiting that I ot, no believer in omens, and was allooested: but which was in reality superstitious The servant came, and the door was opened: but the coffin approached, and I would not stir till it should pass e

I stood speechless The o? 'Into the first floor,' was the answer

It was the apart that shot across asped for utterance: but still was dumb A dread so terrible had seized me that there I stood; motionless and stupefied

The woed to the house; and, just as the bearers were proceeding with the coffin up stairs, Matthew, the country servant, who had attended Mr Evelyn in the dissecting roo, came in

The moment he saw me, the poor fellow burst into tears; and exclaimed--'Oh sir!'

His look and the tone of his voice were sufficient There was but one event that could have produced therief My horrible fears were fulfilled

He paused aand lamentable tone, 'My poor s that I cannot pretend to paint

How long I stood, what I first said, or whatI only recollect that my eyes were stone, and had not a tear to shed

CHAPTER XI

_A proof of the danger of not attending to trifles: A feeble atte anxieties of Mr

Evelyn_

The edy were that, three days before, Mr Evelyn, being then in perfect health, had been dissecting a li the operation, the instrument had slipped, and made what he considered only as a scratch of the skin; and so slight that he did not ih, when he had ended, he felt a tingling; and then thought it prudent to ith vinegar, and bind it up to keep out the air

He was so busily engaged, during the day, that he paid nothat was unusual Being fatigued, and finding his spirits rather agitated, he took a gentle opiate at going to rest: but aked in thekind The morbid humour that was introduced into the system, small as it probably was in quantity, was so active that Mr Evelyn was seized with a violent inflammatory fever: so that he was delirious when he woke, and died in less than eight and forty hours after he received this slight wound

Such is the uncertain fate of norance To such sudden accidents of sickness and death are the good and the bad, the foolish and the wise, continually subject; and such at present is the frail tenure of life that thebeauty e sung and danced, ere the week passes away, are descended to the grave

What tribute can friendshi+p or affection pay, to the memory of a man like this? There is only one that is worthy of his virtues; and that is to record theone, his example may inspire the benevolence he practised; and teach others to cos he conferred

Oh that I had the power to pourtray those virtues in all their lustre!

Ages unborn would then rejoice, that such a man had lived; and feel the benefits he would have bestowed But it is a task that cannot be accoes His life was a vast voluinated in the best of principles Peace, love, and reverence, be with his memory

For my own part, if, in addition to that uncommon public worth which he possessed, and that noble scale of ulated his life, the personal kindness which he heaped on e brutality, did no portion of his spirit inspire me while I speak of these events

Nor did his friendshi+p end while understanding had the least re power His last act of benevolence was a strenuous but incoherent effort to prevent the mischief which, disturbed as his functions were, he still had recollection enough to apprehend would fall on ave Mr Evelyn, when I received not merely a qualification but the possession of an estate; and I iuard and prove the honesty of my intentions, when I further tell him that, for the su my promissory notes for repayment I was pertinacious, and would accept such favours on no other ter in the possession of Mr

Evelyn, at the tier, till the fever and the deliriu of which he called his servant, Matthew (I tell the story as the poor fellow told it to o down to his bureau, and search a his papers for a parchether with red tape

Having uttered this, he began to talk in a wild and wandering manner; of fetters, and prisons; and asked Matthew if he knehy such places were built? 'So make haste, Matthew,' said he, 'and burn the parchment, and burn the notes, and burn the bureau After which, you know, all will be safe, Matthew; and they can never harm Mr Trevor

You love Mr Trevor, Matthew: do not you?'