DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0425
1842-59.
409
August 1841 he had to record the death of a sister, 'the last
of his seven brothers and sisters;' and from that time notes of
the loss of friends follow fast, and on one of his last visits
to London he was painfully affected at his isolation in the
generation around him. In July 1858 he wrote: 'I have
never felt so strongly as during this visit to London how com-
pletely I am separated from the present generation. Not only
do I constantly drop old acquaintances, hut when I do meet
with one unexpectedly, I am surprised to hnd him alive, and
almost startled at the sight. The wonder is that I have so
much in common with the new generation. To a man now of
the age at which I was when I left England in 1795, that
period must appear as 1732 did fAei?, to me, that is, when Sir
Robert Walpole was at the height of his power, before Pope
had finished the " Dunciad," and while Swift was writing
" Hamilton's bawn," when his wit and vivacity was still in full
force.'
These reminders of the ills which accompany old age are
balanced by notes of joyful meetings with old friends. On one
of his visits to London he made the following entry : ' I sat a
long time with Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie, and renewed my
youth by talking over old times ;' and I hnd somewhat later a
similar expression of pleasure which he received from a visit
from Lady Adam and some of her family : ' The whole visit
was delightful. It was a sort of revival to me.' In the same
year, 1856, there is a delightful notice of a visit from one
of his nieces with her children; and I hnd in the June which
preceded his death the notice of a visit from several of his
nearest relations, some arriving unexpectedly ; one of the party
carried his thoughts back to his earliest days.
' Every one of the visitors was individually most agreeable ;
Mrs. A. Thompson above all, as, independent of her general
merits which make her a favourite with everybody, she was, I
may almost say, a contemporary of my own, and recollected all
the persons, places, and incidents in which I took an interest
up to the time when I went to India. She was then (1795)
in her tenth year, and I in my sixteenth.'
409
August 1841 he had to record the death of a sister, 'the last
of his seven brothers and sisters;' and from that time notes of
the loss of friends follow fast, and on one of his last visits
to London he was painfully affected at his isolation in the
generation around him. In July 1858 he wrote: 'I have
never felt so strongly as during this visit to London how com-
pletely I am separated from the present generation. Not only
do I constantly drop old acquaintances, hut when I do meet
with one unexpectedly, I am surprised to hnd him alive, and
almost startled at the sight. The wonder is that I have so
much in common with the new generation. To a man now of
the age at which I was when I left England in 1795, that
period must appear as 1732 did fAei?, to me, that is, when Sir
Robert Walpole was at the height of his power, before Pope
had finished the " Dunciad," and while Swift was writing
" Hamilton's bawn," when his wit and vivacity was still in full
force.'
These reminders of the ills which accompany old age are
balanced by notes of joyful meetings with old friends. On one
of his visits to London he made the following entry : ' I sat a
long time with Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie, and renewed my
youth by talking over old times ;' and I hnd somewhat later a
similar expression of pleasure which he received from a visit
from Lady Adam and some of her family : ' The whole visit
was delightful. It was a sort of revival to me.' In the same
year, 1856, there is a delightful notice of a visit from one
of his nieces with her children; and I hnd in the June which
preceded his death the notice of a visit from several of his
nearest relations, some arriving unexpectedly ; one of the party
carried his thoughts back to his earliest days.
' Every one of the visitors was individually most agreeable ;
Mrs. A. Thompson above all, as, independent of her general
merits which make her a favourite with everybody, she was, I
may almost say, a contemporary of my own, and recollected all
the persons, places, and incidents in which I took an interest
up to the time when I went to India. She was then (1795)
in her tenth year, and I in my sixteenth.'