Lady Cooper’s death in June 1827 was a heavy blow to Sir Astley, and he was so much affected by it that he resolved to retire altogether from practice. Before the end of the year, however, he found the _ennui_ of retirement insupportable, and returned to town and full practice again. He was married a second time to Miss C. Jones in July 1828. The same year he was appointed Sergeant-Surgeon to the King, an appointment in which he was continued at William IV.’s accession. Having no lectures, he still dissected, and occupied himself largely with completing his various works for the press. His “Illustrations of Diseases of the Breast” appeared in 1829, and was followed by “Diseases of the Testis,” 1830, “The Anatomy of the Thymus Gland,” 1832. He was for a second time President of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1836. In his old age, even when travelling about, Sir Astley never lost his passion for dissecting, and always visited every hospital and surgeon of note on his travels. He never liked staying more than a few days in one place; he soon began to pine after his accustomed pursuits. On several occasions, when detained longer than he liked in one place, he would get up early and leave by coach for London, without giving any warning of his intention. On a visit which he made to Edinburgh in 1837, the freedom of the city was conferred upon him and the honorary LL.D. He had previously been made D.C.L. of Oxford. He continued his anatomical and surgical investigations to the last, publishing a splendid work on the Anatomy of the Breast in 1840, preliminary to a complete account of the diseases to which it is liable, which was never completed. He died on the 12th of October 1841, in the seventy-third year of his age, at Conduit Street, where he had practised latterly. He was buried, by his own particular request, beneath the chapel of Guy’s Hospital. A statue of him, by Baily, was erected, chiefly by the members of the medical profession, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, near the southern entrance. An admirable portrait of him by Sir Thomas Lawrence exists. Sir Astley’s name is commemorated by the triennial prize essay of three hundred pounds for the best original prize essay on a professional subject, to be adjudicated by the physicians and surgeons of Guy’s, who may not themselves compete.