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    does , and finding his health gradually becoming more impaired , he wrote in his journal , on the 10 th of June , 1824 , cc The ride along the cliff is pleasing to me , be * cause , as it faces the North and East , I can look towards England with the assurance that nothing but the sea lies

    between me and home . Why do I ever feel discontent ? What is it I fear ? I fear that I shall not live to see my home again . If it is not the will of Providence that my health should immediately return , it may in time : 1 have this hope before me . If the worst should happen ,

    —if I should die here , death will not be more painful than at home—and my friends will be saved the painful task of administering and tending to me when all hope is gone . One of the greatest blessings I enjoy is , the calmness and

    trust that I feel through my mind , after lowness of spirits has led me to pour out my soul before the Author of my being . Indeed , I never knew what the consolations of religion could be until now , and now , thank God , they are almost my only comfort . ' *

    On the 6 th of August , 1824 , he writes , " Once more I live to see my birth-day Whether it be the will of God that 1 continue an invalid , or that I soon leave this world , or that I regain health , all are

    equally to me unknown , and each ( perhaps excepting the last ) equally likely to take place . I ought to feel thankful to God for having continued my illness through the past year , for I believe I have made

    more improvement in virtue and in piety this year than I ever did before : and it is my intention to go on improving myself , and trying to become more religions and more virtuous .. If my time of probation in this world is shortly to close , 1 ought not to be sorry , for I am convinced there

    never yet has been a time in my life when I was as fit to die as I now am ; but if life be continued to me , and health could be permitted to re-visit me , I hope , by a strict life of virtue and of usefulness , to shew the fruit whose seeds have been

    sown in sickness . The world to me is beautiful , and many scenes of happiness lie around me . The greatest difficulty 1 feel is to wean my affections from too strong a hold on earthly tilings . I am aware they are uncertain , and often unsatisf actory , but still I love those persons and

    things which have already much sweetened the cup of life . If it be the yu of God that the lingering illness and oejuii of the consumptive be my lot , I nope 1 shall not repine , and that he will grant me strength to bear it : but 1 ear-»< 'stly pray that 1 may be allowed to rewu to my country and my Mends before th H I i ° W l > un rne - l rejoice , however , "at aia m the power of that Being who

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    can only do that which is wisest and best , and I hope I shall be always ready to bow my head with pious resignation to his will /' The state of his mind at the commencement of the present year , 1825 , is thus recorded : " 1 have entered on another

    year with hardly a chance of living to its close . During the past year I have been mercifully permitted to try those means for the restoration of my health which seemed most likely to restore it : they

    have failed ; I have now no prop on which to rest a single hope of health * If God in his mercy will continue me in life until the Bristol ships sail , how thankful shall I be » I think if 1 were at home 1 could bear illness and face death

    with calmness . It is my earnest prayer to the Almighty to preserve my life until I again reach my home—and then , Ms will be done f * His prayer was heard , and most faiths fully did he comply with its conditions . He was permitted to return to his family on the 15 th of May , and to afford them the melancholy satisfaction of paying him the last attentions of affectionate

    solicitude . It was not in the vigour of restored health , but in the pains and feebleness of decaying nature , that he was favoured with the opportunity of shewing " the fruits whose seeds had been sown in

    sickness . " Sinking beneath the influence of increasing disease , he never uttered a com plaint ; and looking forward to his dissolution , which , from his familiarity with

    the symptoms in others he knew to be rapidly approaching , he was not only uniformly calm , but cheerful . Gratitude for being permitted to return to his home , aud reflection upon the many comforts and alleviations he was blessed

    with , subdued every feeling of impatience or discontent . He took a lively concern in all that engaged the attention of his friends : he was particularly interested in every thing relating to his profession , and was most anxious that those around him should derive every advantage from that art to which he could look for only a little temporary relief .

    The calm and dignified state of his mind amidst much bodily weakness and uncasiucss , and in full view of approaching dissolution , will be long remembered by his family and friends with Jeep interest . He attended public worship as long as his strength enabled him to leave the house : the daily perusal of theSciiptures , and the performance of devotional duties , were never neglected bv him

    however weak or ill he was . It was evident to all who witnessed the serene and composed . state of his mind , that he felt he had " nothing to do but to die . " By

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    Obituary . —Mr . Edward Rochemont Estlin . 627

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 627, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/51/