rcy upon me, and pardon the multitude
of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me,
by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death;
and receive me, at my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of
JESUS CHRIST. Amen.'

Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on the 8th and 9th
of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, he languished till
Monday, the 13th of that month, when he expired, about seven o'clock in
the evening, with so little apparent pain that his attendants hardly
perceived when his dissolution took place.

Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David[1266], has furnished me
with the following particulars:--

'The Doctor, from the time that he was certain his death was near,
appeared to be perfectly resigned[1267], was seldom or never fretful or
out of temper, and often said to his faithful servant, who gave me this
account, "Attend, Francis, to the salvation of your soul, which is the
object of greatest importance:" he also explained to him passages in the
scripture, and seemed to have pleasure in talking upon religious
subjects.

'On Monday, the 13th of December, the day on which he died, a Miss
Morris[1268], daughter to a particular friend of his, called, and said
to Francis, that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor, that she
might earnestly request him to give her his blessing. Francis went into
his room, followed by the young lady, and delivered the message. The
Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, "GOD bless you, my dear!"
These were the last words he spoke. His difficulty of breathing
increased till about seven o'clock in the evening, when Mr. Barber and
Mrs. Desmoulins, who were sitting in the room, observing that the noise
he made in breathing had ceased, went to the bed, and found he was
dead[1269].'

About two days after his death, the following very agreeable account was
communicated to Mr. Malone, in a letter by the Honourable John Byng, to
whom I am much obliged for granting me permission to introduce it in
my work.

'DEAR SIR,

'Since I saw you, I have had a long conversation with Cawston[1270], who
sat up with Dr. Johnson, from nine o'clock, on Sunday evening, till ten
o'clock, on Monday morning. And, from what I can gather from him, it
should seem, that Dr. Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope,
and resigned to death. At the interval of each hour, they assisted him
to sit up in his b