Churchill, Charles, 1731-1764 / 2008-07-05 00:00:00
He is said to have died
calmly and firmly, rebuking the excessive grief of his friends, and
repeating some manly but not very Christian lines from his own poetry. By
a will made during his sickness, he left an annuity of sixty pounds to
his wife (in addition, we suppose, to her former allowance), fifty pounds
a-year to Miss Carr, besides providing for his two boys, and leaving
mourning rings to his more intimate friends. Wilkes got the charge of all
his works. His body was brought to Dover, where he now sleeps in an old
churchyard, which once belonged to the church of St Martin, with a stone
over him, bearing his age, the date of his death, and this line from one
of his own poems--
"Life to the last enjoy'd, here Churchill lies."
The words which he is reported to have used on his deathbed, _should_
have been inscribed on the stone--
"What a fool I have been!"
Hogarth had expired on the 25th of October, ten days before his opponent.
Lloyd was finishing his dinner, when the news of his friend's death
arrived. He was seized with sudden sickness, and crying out, "I shall
soon follow poor Charles," was carried to a bed, whence he was never to
rise.
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