affairs of a great empire, and struggling with the inveteracy
of a fatal disease. At such time, upon such mind, ever disposed
to oblige as that mind was, I could not obtrude the
petty business of criticising verses; but he remembered the
promise he had kindly given, and repeated an offer which
though I had not presumed to expect, I was happy to receive.
A copy of the poems, now first published, was sent to him,
and (as I have the information from Lord Holland, and his
Lordship's permission to inform my readers) the poem which
I have named _The Parish Register_ was heard by Mr. Fox,
and it excited interest enough by some of its parts to gain for
me the benefit of his judgment upon the whole. Whatever he
approved, the reader will readily believe, I have carefully
retained: the parts he disliked are totally expunged, and
others are substituted, which I hope resemble those more
conformable to the taste of so admirable a judge. Nor can I
deny myself the melancholy satisfaction of adding that this
poem (and more especially the history of Phoebe Dawson,
with some parts of the second book) were the last compositions
of their kind that engaged and amused the capacious, the
candid, the benevolent mind of this great man."

It was, as we have seen, at Dudley North's residence in Suffolk that
Crabbe had renewed his acquaintance with Fox, and received from him
fresh offers of criticism and advice. And now the great statesman had
passed beyond reach of Crabbe's gratitude. He had died in the autumn of
1806, at the Duke of Devonshire's, at Chiswick. His last months wore of
great suffering, and the tedium of his latter days was relieved by being
read aloud to--the Latin poets taking their turn with Crabbe's pathetic
stories of humble life. In the same preface, Crabbe further expresses