The actor was in painful ill-health, and his subsequent heroism on board the foundering _London_ derives additional interest from the fact. His last words at Belfast were these:--“_Ladies and Gentlemen, with this night finishes my professional career in Belfast for a long, very long time to come._ I fervently trust, by the favour of the One Providence, that I may at some distant time be enabled to return to a town which I, in a measure, look on as my home, where I may professionally or unprofessionally, mingle with my friends in Belfast again. I now take an affectionate farewell of you all, wishing from my heart continued prosperity to this magnificent city.” These were his last words on any stage. A few days later, and he was bearing his part in no mimic tragedy,--in a conflict which, in its way, was far more appalling than the battle of Bosworth Field in which Richard fell. As we watch the closing scene of the poor actor’s life, one cannot have a heart and remain unmoved or silent in the presence of the man who, in weak health and with painful hoarseness, did the work of many men combined during those despairing days. Did the hundreds who listened to him in Belfast catch any prophetic hint in the mimic agony with which he delivered the death speech of Richard? “I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die!” The time had come, when, in reality, there was no earthly means of escape, and, seeing that all his exertions were useless, he rested upon one of the half-doors of the companion, and, bareheaded to the storm, gave himself up to reflection. His last words to man were to the steward, “If you succeed in saving yourself, give my farewell to the people of Melbourne;” but who shall say what words were addressed to Him who was alone able to deliver, during those four hours in which he was observed to continue in a musing attitude.