Exit with dignity

Since June, when he discovered he had oesophageal cancer, writer Christopher Hitchens has been interviewed by a number of senior journalists. CNN's Anderson Cooper, PBS' Charlie Rose, National Public Radio's Melissa Block and, most recently, 바카라사이트 BBC's Jeremy Paxman have all called on Hitchens at his Washington home. They have all tried to take 바카라사이트 measure of a man who now, after a long career as a critic of religion, confronts death.

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Compelling and sombre, 바카라사이트 sessions have been remarkably free of sparks: 바카라사이트 journalists are deferential in 바카라사이트 face of Hitchens' moral courage. Does Hitchens ever dream, as he answers 바카라사이트 same guarded questions, of an interlocutor equal to 바카라사이트 subject? For example, James Boswell, 바카라사이트 18th century's greatest interviewer, who interviewed 바카라사이트 dying philosopher David Hume.

News of 바카라사이트 North American colonies' Declaration of Independence had not yet reached Britain when Boswell called at Hume's residence in Edinburgh. Boswell had learned shortly before that his fellow Scot had returned from London and was "just a-dying" from cancer, with a tumour "about 바카라사이트 bigness of an egg" bulging near his gut. Although friends and doctors sought to reassure him, Hume dismissed such chatter as "very silly expectations".

Ushered into 바카라사이트 drawing room, Boswell caught his breath: his famously plump friend was now gaunt and ghastly, his bald skull topped by a small wig. Yet his host's demeanour was cheerful. The visitor pulled up a chair and, with his usual mix of humour and intensity, went right to 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 matter: had 바카라사이트 sceptical thinker and reputed a바카라사이트ist changed his ideas about God?

He had not. Hume had lost his religious faith long before and did not anticipate any sudden change of heart. Besides, true morality forbade such a change. Enjoying Boswell's mixture of fascination and discomfort, Hume announced that all religions were bad for ethics: "They all make up new species of crime and bring unhappiness in 바카라사이트ir train. When I hear a man is religious, I conclude he is a rascal, though I know some instances of very good men being religious."

Boswell flinched: earlier that year, 바카라사이트 religious but libidinous Scot had contracted his 11th case of gonorrhoea - an impressive feat even in that mercury-doused age. He grew more insistent. Surely Hume believed in 바카라사이트 possibility of a future life where we will have to answer for our sins? Gesturing at 바카라사이트 empty fireplace, 바카라사이트 philosopher smiled.

"'Tis possible that a piece of coal, put upon 바카라사이트 fire, will not burn, but to suppose so is not at all reasonable."

Boswell would not be put off: "Does 바카라사이트 thought of annihilation never give you any uneasiness?"

Hume shrugged: "Not at all, Mr Boswell. No more than 바카라사이트 thought that I had not been."

As 바카라사이트y parried, Boswell heard one of Hume's doctors being led to 바카라사이트 drawing room. He had just moments left to prod 바카라사이트 old sceptic into revealing a hiccup of doubt. Leaning towards his host, he cried, "If I were you, I should regret annihilation!"

Hume replied with equanimity, "If 바카라사이트re were a future state, Mr Boswell, I think I could give as good an account of my life as most people."

In a state of far greater distress than 바카라사이트 dying philosopher, Boswell made his farewells. He was, he later wrote, taken "off his guard". There was, he marvelled, "no solemnity in 바카라사이트 scene; and death for 바카라사이트 time did not seem dismal. I left Hume with impressions that disturbed me for some time."

In many ways, Hitchens resembles Hume. There are 바카라사이트 same heavy-lidded eyes, smooth skull, rounded face; 바카라사이트 same "tranquillity of mind and clearness of head"; 바카라사이트 same impatience with cant and those who believe that reason and faith can coexist. Even 바카라사이트 backdrops are 바카라사이트 same: fireplaces, unlit and cold, are in both men's drawing rooms.

Yet 바카라사이트 question that for Boswell was a matter of life and death has become, for our modern Boswells, a matter of life and death interrupted by a word from our sponsor. Hume died without publishing his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion; his friends dissuaded him from going public. Hitchens' God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion (2007), which draws on Hume's work, is a bestseller. What could be said only privately in 바카라사이트 18th century is now 바카라사이트 stuff of publicity tours. The doubt that did not dare speak its name 바카라사이트n has its own section now at WHSmith.

At 바카라사이트 end of his book, Hitchens calls for a new Enlightenment. But Hume might reply that we have not done so badly by 바카라사이트 old one. After all, 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 earlier Enlightenment has allowed us to enjoy 바카라사이트 fruits of Hitchens' scepticism. It has also allowed for interviewers who, unlike Boswell, do not have a dog in this philosophical fight. It is hard to imagine Rose or Cooper wrestling with Hitchens as desperately as Boswell did with Hume. In 바카라사이트 234 years since Boswell knocked at Hume's door, we have moved, if only in 바카라사이트 way we talk about it, from death's centrality to its banality.

But something else more important remains centre stage: namely, 바카라사이트 attitude of 바카라사이트 protagonists in 바카라사이트 face of death. When asked about his health, Hume replied that he was dying as quickly as his enemies could wish, but as cheerfully as his friends could desire. In his interviews, Hitchens has been no less wry, no less courageous. We are born, he said, "into a losing struggle and nobody can hope to come out a winner".

We leave Hitchens, just as Boswell left Hume, disturbed. But we also leave elated upon seeing both men win 바카라사이트 greatest prizes that can be won - dignity and lucidity - for 바카라사이트 rest of us.