that ill habit of swearing, only that word of calling any
damned which had returned upon him was not decent; his answer was, 'O
that language of fiends, which was so familiar to me, hangs yet about
me, sure none has deserved more to be damned than I have done; and
after he had humbly asked God pardon for it, he desired me to call the
person to him that he might ask him forgiveness; but I told him that
was needless, for he had said it of one who did not hear it, and so
could not be offended by it. In this disposition of mind, continues
the bishop, all the while I was with him four days together; he was
then brought so low that all hope of recovery was gone. Much purulent
matter came from him with his urine, which he passed always with pain,
but one day with inexpressible torment; yet he bore it decently,
without breaking out into repinings, or impatient complaints. Nature
being at last quite exhausted, and all the floods of life gone, he
died without a groan on the 26th of July 1680, in the 33d year of his
age. A day or two before his death he lay much silent, and seemed
extremely devout in his contemplations; he was frequently observed to
raise his eyes to heaven, and send forth ejaculations to the searcher
of hearts, who saw his penitence, and who, he hoped, would forgive
him.'

Thus died lord Rochester, an amazing instance of the goodness of God,
who permitted him to enjoy time, and inclined his heart to penitence.
As by his life he was suffered to set an example of the most abandoned
dissoluteness to the world; so by his death, he was a lively
demonstration of the fruitlessness of vicious courses, and may be
proposed as an example to all those who are captivated with the charms
of guilty pleasure.

Let all his failings now sleep with him in the grave, and let us only
think of his closing moments, his penitence, and reformation. Had he
been permitted to have recovered his illness, it is reasonable to
presume he would have been as lively an example of virtue as he had
ever been of vice, and have born his testimony in favour of religion.

He left behind him a son named Charles, who dying on the 12th of
November, was buried by his father on the 7th of December following:
he also left behind him three daughters. The male line ceasing,
Charles II. conferred the title of earl of Rochester on Lawrence
viscount Killingworth, a younger son of Edward earl of Clarendon.

We might now enumerate his lordship's writings, of whi