Sir Walter's return to Abbotsford was an afflicting scene. On
approaching the mansion he could scarcely be kept from attempting to
raise himself in his carriage, such was his eagerness to catch a
glimpse of his home: he murmured, on his arrival, "that _now_ he knew
he was at Abbotsford." He lingered for two months, during which he
recognised and spoke kindly to friends, and was even pleased in
listening to passages read from the poems of Crabbe and Wordsworth:
till, on September 21st, 1832, he died, apparently free from pain, and
surrounded by his family.