mpleted, but did not publish; for that poverty
which, in our days, drives authors so hastily in such numbers to the
press, in the time of Ascham, I believe, debarred them from it. The
printers gave little for a copy, and, if we may believe the tale of
Raleigh's history, were not forward to print what was offered them for
nothing. Ascham's book, therefore, lay unseen in his study, and was,
at last, dedicated to lord Cecil by his widow.

Ascham never had a robust or vigorous body, and his excuse for so many
hours of diversion was his inability to endure a long continuance of
sedentary thought. In the latter part of his life he found it
necessary to forbear any intense application of the mind from dinner
to bedtime, and rose to read and write early in the morning. He was,
for some years, hectically feverish; and, though he found some
alleviation of his distemper, never obtained a perfect recovery of his
health. The immediate cause of his last sickness was too close
application to the composition of a poem, which he purposed to present
to the queen, on the day of her accession. To finish this, he forbore
to sleep at his accustomed hours, till, in December, 1568, he fell
sick of a kind of lingering disease, which Graunt has not named, nor
accurately described. The most afflictive symptom was want of sleep,
which he endeavoured to obtain by the motion of a cradle. Growing
every day weaker, he found it vain to contend with his distemper, and
prepared to die with the resignation and piety of a true Christian.
He was attended on his death-bed by Gravet, vicar of St. Sepulchre,
and Dr. Nowel, the learned dean of St. Paul's, who gave ample
testimony to the decency and devotion of his concluding life. He
frequently testified his desire of that dissolution which he soon
obtained. His funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Nowel.

Roger Ascham died in the fifty-third year of his age, at a time when,
according to the general course of life, much might yet have been
expected from him, and when he might have hoped for much from others:
but his abilities and his wants were at an end together; and who can
determine, whether he was cut off from advantages, or rescued from
calamities? He appears to have been not much qualified for the
improvement of his fortune. His disposition was kind and social; he
delighted in the pleasures of conversation, and was probably not much
inclined to business. This may be suspected from the paucity of his
writi