"The Everlasting, Infinite, Powerful and Inscrutable God, that
Almighty God that is goodness itself, mercy itself, the true life
and light, keep you and yours, and have mercy on me and teach me
to forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet
in His Glorious Kingdom. My true wife, farewell. Bless my poor
boy, pray for me. My true God hold you both in His Arms.

"Written with the dying hand of, sometime thy husband, but now
alas! overthrown, yours that was, but now not my own.

"WALTER RALEGH."

Sir Walter Ralegh, long before he came to his untimely end, had written
in his great _History of the World_ a wonderful passage about death; it
is justly celebrated, and is familiar to all men of letters throughout the
world, so I will quote a portion of it for you:--

"The Kings and Princes of the world have always laid before them
the actions, but not the ends, of those great ones which preceded
them. They are always transported with the glory of the one, but
they never mind the misery of the other, till they find the
experience in themselves.

"They neglect the advice of God, while they enjoy life, or the
hope of it; but they follow the counsel of Death upon the first
approach. It is he that puts into man all the wisdom of the world,
without speaking a word; which God, with all the Words of His Law,
promises and threats, doth not infuse.

"Death which hateth and destroyeth man is believed; God which hath