anxiety, reached Dhurmsala, and
administered the Holy Communion to himself and those with him. "We are now
entering on a New Communion," he had said that morning, "the Living and the
Dead," and his spirit then appeared to master pain and weakness, and to
sustain him in a holy calm during the ceremony, and for a few hours
afterwards. "It is a comfort," he whispered, "to have laid aside all the
cares of this world, and put myself in the hands of God;" and he was able
to listen at intervals to favourite passages from the New Testament. That
evening closed in with an aggravation of suffering. It was the evening of
the seventeenth anniversary of his wedding-day.

'On the following morning, Lady Elgin, with his approval, rode up to the
cemetery at Dhurmsala to select a spot for his grave; and he gently
expressed pleasure when told of the quiet and beautiful aspect of the spot
chosen, with the glorious view of the snowy range towering above, and the
wide prospect of hill and plain below.

'The days and nights of the fortnight which followed were a painful
alternation of severe suffering and rare intervals of comparative
tranquillity. They were soothed by the never-failing devotion of those that
were always at hand to read to him or to receive his remarks. He often
asked to hear chosen chapters from the Book of Isaiah (as the 40th and
55th), sometimes murmuring over to himself any striking verses that they
contained, and at other times repeating by heart favourite Psalms. At times
he delighted to hear his little girl, who had been the constant companion
of his travels, repeat some of Keble's hymns, especially those on the
festivals of St. John the Evangelist and of the Holy Innocents.

'Until his strength failed him, he was carried at times into the verandah,
and showed by words and looks his constant admiration at the grand
evidences of God's power and goodness in the magnificence of the scenery
before him; and on one such occasion was delighted with the sublime
description of the wonders of nature in the 38th and 39th chapters of the
Book of Job.

'At times he was able to enter into conversation and argument on serious
subjects. When, under the pressure of his sufferings, he was one night
entreating to be released--"O that God would in mercy come and take me"--
Dr. Macrae reminded him of the dread of pain and death which seems to be
expressed in the account of the Agony of Gethsemane, and he appeared to
find much comfort i