MEMOIR XXV1l
Commentary, a monument of careful and scholarly
labour, occupied the greater part of two years, and
was a severe strain on his energies. The extent of
the work involved was far larger than he had foreseen,
and was more specially trying in that he was, at this
time, busy collecting materials for, and anxious to get
to the writing of, a second large book, a companion to
his ‘Life and Times.’ This was to have been the
‘Life and Writings of St. Paul,’ and was definitely
undertaken in 1887, at the request once more of Mr.
Norton Longman, with whom, since his first introduc-
tion in 1876, Dr. Edersheim had been on terms of
the warmest friendship...
Opportunity for beginning this fresh work was
lacking until 1888, when its first chapters were
written with the keenest delight and the most eager
anticipation. That delicacy of health, however, to
which he was subject, and against which for so many
years he had successfully striven, once more over-
mastered him. A slight cold, which immediately
settled on the chest, gave the preliminary warning of
what was to follow. By the advice of his friend and
medical adviser, Dr. Nankivell (of Bournemouth), it
was decided once again to try the effects of a winter