The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4 · George Berkeley
GEORGE BERKELEY, BY THE EDITOR
The ideal life in Oxford did not last long. On the evening of Sunday, January 14, 1753, Berkeley was suddenly confronted by the mystery of death. “As he was sitting with my mother, my sister, and myself,” so his son wrote to Johnson at Stratford, in October, “suddenly, and without the least previous notice or pain, he was removed to the enjoyment of eternal rewards; and although all possible means were instantly used, no symptom of life ever appeared after; nor could the physicians assign any cause for his death. He arrived at Oxford on August 25, and had received great benefit from the change of air, and by God’s blessing on tar-water, insomuch that for some years he had not been in better health than he was the instant before he left us(44).” Six days later he was buried in Oxford, in the Cathedral of Christ Church(45), where his tomb bears an appropriate inscription by Dr. Markham, afterwards Archbishop of York.
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