all this.
But it is not so; this same change occurs but once, and its approach
brings with it a new train of thoughts and feelings from all that we
have ever felt before. In that twilight hour of life, objects that have
escaped our vision in the blaze of noon-day become clear and distinct;
and, even to the least reflecting of minds, an increased power of
perception and judgment is accorded--the _viaticum_ for the coming
journey!

I remember being greatly affected by the stories in the "Diary of a
Physician," when first I read them: they were powerfully written--and
_so real!_ Now this is the very quality they want: they are altogether
unreal.

Terrific and heart-stirring as the death-bed scenes are, they are not
true to nature: the vice and the virtue are alike exaggerated. Few, very
few persons can bring themselves by an effort to believe that they are
dying--easy as it seems, often as we talk of it, frequent as the very
expression becomes in a colloquialism, it is still a most difficult
process; but once thoroughly felt, there is an engrossing power, in the
thought that excludes all others.'

At times, indeed, Hope will triumph for a brief interval, and "tell of
bright days to come." Hope! the glorious phantom that we follow up the
Rhine--through the deep glens of the Tyrol, and over the Alps!--Only
content to die when we have lost it!

There are men to whom the truth, however shocking, is always
revealed--to whom the Lawyer says, "You have no case," and the Physician
confesses, "You have no constitution." Happily or unhappily--I will not
deny it may be both--I am one of these. Of the three doctors summoned
to consult on my health, one spoke confidently and cheeringly; he even
assumed that kind of professional jocularity that would imply, "the
patient is making too much of it." The second, more reserved from
temperament, and graver, counselled caution and great care--hinted at
the danger of the malady--coupling his fears with the hopes he derived
from the prospect of climate. The third (he was younger than either of
the others, and of inferior repute,) closed the door after them, and
resumed his seat.

I waited for some time expecting him to speak, but he sat in silence,
and seemingly in deep thought. "And you, my dear doctor," said I at
length, "are you equally confident as your learned colleagues? Will the
air of Italy----?" He lifted up his eyes as I got so far, and their
expression I shall not readily forg