eing 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 eighth 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 twenty-second 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 even 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, 23d August, 1776.

"MY DEAREST FRIEND,

"I am obliged to make use of my nephew's hand
in writing to you, as I do not rise to-day.

"I g