“Before this reaches you, you will have heard
| Ætat. 53. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 331 |
“It is somewhat remarkable that either on the night before, or after his decease (I am not certain which, but think it was the former) I was very much disturbed throughout the night in dreams concerning him. I seldom remember to have suffered so much in sleep, or to have wept more than I did then, thinking that I saw him, as I had last seen him, bent and suffering, helplessly and hopelessly, and that he reproved or rather reasoned with me for allowing myself to be so affected. This is perfectly explicable; but it impressed me strongly at the time; and if in some of his latter hours his thoughts were directed towards me (as they may have been), I could find a solution which would accord with my philosophy, though it may not be dreamt of in that of other men.
“I have long looked for this event, and however important in one point of view the prolongation of his life might appear, I could not, if wishes or prayers could have done it, have stretched him upon the rack of this world longer.
“There is some comfort in thinking that he now knows,
if he never knew it before, how truly I loved and honoured him. I often indulge
the belief that
| 332 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 53. |
“God bless you, my dear friend!
