He conversed with great serenity, particularly upon his theory of
colours, which so powerfully occupied his mind to the last moment of his
existence. On the evening of March 21, he explained to his daughter the
conditions of the peace of Basle; desired that the children should be
taken to the theatre; and said that he was much better; he requested
that Salvandy's Sixteen Months might be handed to him, although his
physician had forbidden him all laborious occupation; but the doctor
having gone out for a few moments, he ordered lights to be brought, and
attempted to read. Not being able to do so, he held the book for some
moments before him, and then said, "Well, let us do at least as the
Mandarins do:" he fell asleep, and his slumbers appeared light and
refreshing. Next day he conversed cheerfully with his daughter, his
grandchildren, and some friends. "At seven o'clock he desired his
daughter to bring him a portfolio, to enable him to illustrate some
phenomena of colouring, and he began with his right hand to trace some
characters in the air. Towards ten o'clock he ceased almost entirely to
speak, held firmly between his own the hand of his daughter who was by
his side, and turned his eyes, already half-closed, towards her with an
expression of tenderness: with her other hand she supported his head on
a pillow until he breathed his last, without convulsion or
suffering."[5] His daughter closed the fine eyes of the poet, and
summoning her children to behold their grandfather for the last time,
she rushed from the chamber of death, and gave vent to a flood of grief.
Another account states that Goethe growing weaker and weaker, his hand
dropped on his knee, where it still moved as if in the act of writing,
till the angel of death summoned him.

[5] Monthly Magazine, July.

The remains of the poet, after lying in state in the hall of his mansion