Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 11, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume III

IX
A CHRISTMAS SERMON
By the time this paper appears, T shall have been
talking for twelve months ; ^ and it is thought I
should take my leave in a formal and seasonable
manner. Valedictory eloquence is rare, and death-
bed sayings have not often hit the mark of the
occasion. Charles Second, wit and sceptic, a man
whose life had been one long lesson in human
incredulity, an easy-going comrade, a manoeuvring
king — remembered and embodied all his wit and
scepticism along with more than his usual good
humour in the famous ' I am afraid, gentlemen, I am
an unconscionable time a-dying.' ^
An unconscionable time a-dying — there is the
picture (' I am afraid, gentlemen,') of your life and
of mine. The sands run out, and the hours are
^ i.e. in the pages of Scribner'a Magazine (1888).