A narrative of the last illness and death of Richard Porson, Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge / [Adam Clarke].

  • Adam Clarke
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A narrative of the last illness and death of Richard Porson, Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge / [Adam Clarke]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    much exhausted to speak, though he appeared com¬ paratively sensible. Mr. Savage then coming close to him, said, Mr. Porson, your head does not lie comfortably, I must alter it a little : to which he replied “It is of no consequence.” He continued sinking till Sunday morning, the 25th, when even his friends were obliged to relinquish all hopes of his recovery: it was then too plainly seen, that he could not possibly survive the ensuing night. This anticipation of his dissolution was too fully verified; for on Sunday Night, exactly as the clock struck twelve, with a profound groan, unac¬ companied with any struggle, he breathed his last. Thus untimely fell, in the 49th year of his age, Mr. Richard Porson, a prodigy of intellect, learning, and memory, such as, probably, cannot be paralleled in Europe at this day. By the advice of his friends, it was judged expe¬ dient to open the body. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, Sept. 27th, Dr. Babington, Sir William Blizard, Mr. Norris, Mr. T. Blizard, and Mr. Upton, apothecary of Coleman-street, (who attend¬ ed the Professor during his illness with all the soli¬ citude and anxiety of friendship) attended for that purpose; and their report, signed with their own- names, was handed about among the Professor's principal friends; the substance of which, as the newspapers state, is as follows, for I have not been &ble to see the original :—The heart was sound, and