about four in
the afternoon
He understood nature beyond the ordinary capacity , and , if he had had a competency of learning suitable to his genius , neither this nor the former ages would have produced a better philosopher or a greater man . I come next to speak of the manner of his death and the consequences thereof , which are , indeed , very surprising , and , perhaps , not altogether unworthy a general observation . I shall relate them as briefly as I can , and leave every one to believe or disbelieve as he thinks proper . Upon the 26th of May , 1718 , according to his usual method , about four in the afternoon , he went out to take his evening walk ; but before he could reach the place he intended , he was siezed with an apoplectic fit , which only gave him liberty to sit down under a tree , where , in an instant , he was deprived of all manner of sense and motion , and so he continued , as appears by his own confession afterwards , for more than fourteen hours . His sister , who knew how exact he was in all his methods , finding him stay a considerable time beyond the usual hour , concludes that some misfortune must needs have happened to him , or he would certainly have been at home before . In short , she went immediately to all the places he was wont to frequent , but nothing could be heard or seen of him till the next morning , when a young man , as he was going to work , discovered him , and went home and told his sister that her brother lay in such a place , under a tree , and , as he believed had been robbed and murdered . The poor woman , who had all night been under the most dreadful apprehensions , was now frightened and confounded to the last degree .