Those who had to transact business with him were shocked to hear him gasping for breath, and coughing till the tears ran down his cheeks.

[59] His mind, strong as it was, sympathized with his body.

His judgment was indeed as clear as ever.

But there was, during some months, a perceptible relaxation of that energy by which he had been distinguished.

Even his Dutch friends whispered that he was not the man that he had been at the Hague.