“I assured him I would be the sooner, and was running off, but he called me back, in a solemn voice, and, in a manner the most energetic, said:
“‘Remember me in your prayers!’
“I longed to ask him to remember me, but did not dare. I gave him my promise, and, very heavily indeed, I left him. Great, good, and excellent that he is, how short a time will he be our boast! Ah, my dear Susy, I see he is going! This winter will never conduct him to a more genial season here! Elsewhere, who shall hope a fairer? I wish I had bid him pray for me; but it seemed to me presumptuous, though this repetition of so kind a condescension might, I think, have encouraged me.”[me.”]
‘He wished to look on her once more; and on the day before his death she long remained in tears on the stairs leading to his bedroom, in the hope that she might be called in to receive his blessing. He was then sinking fast, and though he sent her an affectionate message, was unable to see her.’[[60]]
[44]. 1730-1805. A native of Elphin, in Ireland; was educated at St. Omer’s; gave up the trade on which he had entered for literature; published the Gray’s Inn Journal from 1752 to 1754; went on the stage, wrote dramas, and engaged in politics; at last became a barrister, and died a Commissioner of Bankrupts. He produced twenty-three plays, of which the ‘Grecian Daughter’ was the most popular. His translation of Tacitus had great repute in its day.
[45]. In January, 1779, Mrs. Thrale wrote to Fanny: “You are twenty odd years old, and I am past thirty-six.”
[46]. John Delap, D.D. (1725-1812), poet and dramatist. After being curate to Mason, the poet, he held livings in Sussex, and wrote numerous poems and tragedies, all of which have long been forgotten.
[47]. An Italian composer and singer. Born at Rome in 1747; came to England in 1774; adopted the profession of singing-master in 1777; settled permanently at Bath in 1787, and died there in 1810. He was the author of several Operas, and counted Braham among his pupils.
[48]. This boy was afterwards the celebrated painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy.