though
he had for some time been in delicate health, and his hand shook from
nervous affection, he appeared to possess a sound constitution. Emerson
had observed of him that he had the lives of many men in him. But
perhaps the American spoke figuratively, in reference to his vast stores
of experience. It appeared that he had never completely recovered from
the attack of pleurisy which seized him during his return from Spain. As
late, however, as the 26th July, 1848, he felt himself sufficiently well
to be able to attend a meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
at Birmingham, and to read to the members his paper "On the Fallacies of
the Rotatory Engine." It was his last appearance before them. Shortly
after his return to Tapton, he had an attack of intermittent fever, from
which he seemed to be recovering, when a sudden effusion of blood from
the lungs carried him off, on the 12th August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh
year of his age. When all was over, Robert wrote to Edward Pease, "With
deep pain I inform you, as one of his oldest friends, of the death of my
dear father this morning at 12 o'clock, after about ten days' illness
from severe fever." Mr. Starbuck, who was also present, wrote, "The
favourable symptoms of yesterday morning were towards evening followed by
a serious change for the worse. This continued during the night, and
early this morning it became evident that he was sinking. At a few
minutes before 12 to-day he breathed his last. All that the most devoted
and unremitting care of Mrs. Stephenson {354} and the skill of medicine
could accomplish, has been done, but in vain."

George Stephenson's remains were followed to the grave by a large body of
his workpeople, by whom he was greatly admired and beloved. They
remembered him as a kind master, who was ever ready actively to promote
all measures for their moral, physical, and mental improvement. The
inhabitants of Chesterfield evinced their respect for the deceased by
suspending business, closing their shops, and joining in the funeral
procession, which was headed by the corporation of the town. Many of the
surrounding gentry also attended. The body was interred in Trinity
Church, Chesterfield, where a simple tablet marks the great engineer's
last resting-place.

The statue of George Stephenson, which the Liverpool and Manchester and
Grand Junction Companies had commissioned, was on its way to England when
his death occurred; and it