greateft part o f 1 7 9 7 , in preparing for theprefs, and rendering
as pe rfed as poffible, his interefting “ V iew o f H in-
d o o s t a n , ” which was publiihed early in the following year.
OEdematous fwellings in the legs announced the fatal caufe
o f his difeafe; but to expatiate more minutely on the fad
catalogue o f human evils might be irkfome; fuffice it then
to fay, that he bore their trial with fortitude and refignation;
a natural ftrength o f conftitution, aided by a life o f uniform
temperance, enabled him long to ftruggle againft infirmity.
T he progrefs of the diforder becoming more rapid,
towards the clofe o f Odober he colleded his neareft relatives,
and received with them the myfterious feal o f our
Redemption; confcious o f his approaching end, his eye
beamed with hope, tempered by the moll ferene and dignified
refignation; combining charity with devotion, he
obferved, that the ceremony would be incomplete indeed,
were it not accompanied by an a d of beneficence to the
poor. This was the laft duty o f religion he performed ;
his life had been a preparation for the aweful conclufion.
T hough
Though foon after reduced to the inability of moving, and
fuffering much, he continued to ihare the converfation of
his friends and relations, except during the extreme preffure;
of pain, or when opiates, employed to procure a difturbed
fleep, or relieve the body from a few pangs, produced their
powerful effed, and facrificed the reafoning powers and
the nobler faculties of the foul. On the 16th o f December
1798, the powers of nature were exhaufted, and the venerated
author of my being expired without a groan!
The pen of a fon may not be calculated to record the
charader of an affedionate and beloved parent; the bias
of natural affedion may operate too forcibly, yet the filence
o f the perfon moft intimately acquainted with the various
virtues of 'Thomas Pennant, would juftl.y draw down the
reproach of ingratitude.
His religious principles were pure and fervent,- yet exempt
from bigotry; though firmly attached to the eftablifhed
church, he, by his writings and condud, conciliated the
eileem of thofe of a different perfuafion. A fteady
V ol. III. b friend