All that met him seem to have been
struck with the measured, silvery, yet somewhat hollow and unearthly
tones of his voice, the more impressive that the flow of his talk was
unhesitating and unbroken."
* * * * *
The literary labors were continuous. In 1845 the beautiful _Suspiria
de Profundis_ (Sighs from the Depths) appeared in _Blackwood's_; _The
English Mail Coach_ and _The Vision of Sudden Death_, in 1849. Among
other papers contributed to _Tait's Magazine_, the _Joan of Arc_
appeared in 1847. During the last ten years of his life, De Quincey
was occupied chiefly in preparing for the publishers a complete
edition of his works. Ticknor & Fields, of Boston, the most
distinguished of our American publishing firms, had put forth,
1851-55, the first edition of De Quincey's collected writings, in
twenty volumes. The first British edition was undertaken by Mr. James
Hogg, of Edinburgh, in 1853, with the co-operation of the author, and
under his direction; the final volume of this edition was not issued
until the year following De Quincey's death.
In the autumn of 1859 the frail physique of the now famous
Opium-Eater grew gradually feeble, although suffering from no definite
disease. It became evident that his life was drawing to its end. On
December 8, his two daughters standing by his side, he fell into a
doze. His mind had been wandering amid the scenes of his childhood,
and his last utterance was the cry, "Sister, sister, sister!" as if in
recognition of one awaiting him, one who had been often in his dreams,
the beloved Elizabeth, whose death had made so profound and lasting an
impression on his imagination as a child.
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