"Paul Clifford", Chapter 24, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Butler. What are these, sir?

Yeoman. And of what nature, to what use?

Latroc. Imagine.

The Tragedy of Rollo.

Quickly. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom.
Henry V.

----

Well that was unexpected, and rather sad.

There is a footnote from the author regarding John Sampson's letter: The reader, who has doubtless noticed how invariably servants of long standing acquire a certain tone from that of their master, may observe that honest John Sampson had caught from the squire the habit of parenthetical composition.

It's also notable that the letter as written is not written in a very educated manner - the spelling of many words, notably, is non-standard. But then you wouldn't expect a butler to be particularly well educated, and English spelling is notorious...

The picture used is "the Death of Gericault" by Ary Scheffer. Gericault died in 1824, and was French, not English. So not a perfect representation of what the death chamber would have looked like, but it'll do. Deathbed paintings of this time period are typically of the most famous of famous people, like George Washington or Napoleon, which won't do at all. This was as close as I could get to something that might approximate the need for this chapter.

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7735/7735-h/7735-h.htm#link2HCH0024