Note 413 — Chapter XXIII · Closing Years of James Watt—His Death—Conclusion.

“Though I was in some measure prepared,” he wrote, “yet I had hoped that he might have recovered from this fit, as he has done from other severe ones. Such wishes, however, were selfish; for in respect to himself, none of his friends could rationally have desired the prolongation of a life which has long been passed in torture, without hope of relief. May he therefore rest in peace; and when our end approaches, may we have as little to reproach us and as much to console us as he had.”—Mr. Watt to his son, 22nd August, 1809. Boulton MSS.