To "The Duellist" succeeded "The
Author,"--a poem more general and less poisoned with personalities than
any of his former. "Gotham," by far the most poetical of his works, came
next. When Lord Sandwich stood for the High-Stewardship of Cambridge,
Churchill's ancient grudge, as well as his itch for satire, revived, and
he improvised "The Candidate," a piece of hasty but terrible sarcasm.
With breathless and portentous rapidity followed "The Farewell," "The
Times," and "Independence," which was his last published production. Two
fragments were found among his MSS., one "A Dedication to Warburton," and
another, "The Journey," his latest effort, and in which the last line now
seems prophetic--
"_I on my journey all alone proceed_."
A far and final journey was before this great and ill-fated poet. He was
seized with one of those sudden longings to see a friend, which are not
uncommon with the impulsive. He determined to visit Wilkes at Boulogne,
and conveyed his purpose to his brother John in the following
note:--"Dear Jack, adieu, C.C." On the 22d of October 1764, he started
for France, met Wilkes; but on the 29th was seized with miliary fever,
under which, while imprudently removed from his bed to be conveyed at his
own desire to England, his constitution sunk, and he expired on the 4th
of November, in the thirty-third year of his age.
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