Death
Edmund was in declining health by early 1802. Fanny had travelled from London to be at his side, but Horatio remained at Merton Place, writing a letter stating
I have no hopes that he can recover. God's will be done. Had my father expressed a wish to see me, unwell as I am, I should have flown to Bath, but I believe it would be too late. However, should it be otherwise and he wishes to see me, no consideration shall detain me a moment.
The Reverend Edmund Nelson died later that day, 26 April 1802, at the age of 80. His son did not attend the funeral, held at Burnham Thorpe on 11 May, but did pay the funeral expenses. Edmund Nelson was described by a later biographer of Lord Nelson as 'kind, modest and generous...to be counted on in times of trouble.' He also possessed a dry sense of humour.
Read more about this topic: Edmund Nelson (clergyman)
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“A rat crept softly through the vegetation
Dragging its slimy belly on the bank
While I was fishing in the dull canal
On a winter evening round behind the gashouse
Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck
And on the king my father’s death before him.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“For man, maximum excitement is the confrontation of death and the skillful defiance of it by watching others fed to it as he survives transfixed with rapture.”
—Ernest Becker (1924–1974)
“We term sleep a death ... by which we may be literally said to die daily; in fine, so like death, I dare not trust it without my prayers.”
—Thomas Browne (1605–1682)