The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-17 00:00:00

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KING WILLIAM THE FOrl3.Tlf:,--
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(From Farky's Bristol Journ
SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF THE _DAYS
OF HIS LATE MAJEST
The following narrative of the progress *(4atej..Me-,
jesty's fatal illness, and the pious resignat <
evinced during that solemn period, will be replitikllgek,
interest by his affectionate subjects. It has been
sent to us by a high Church dignitary, to whom the Qucen.
Dowager transmitted one of the earliest copies. Its au-
thenticity may therefore be depended upon ; and it will be
no inappropriate accompaniment to the narrative which Sir
H. Taylor published of the last days of the lamented Duke
of York
Though a slight decline of strength had been perceptible
to the immediate attendants of our lamented King at the
commencement of the year, yet it was not till the month of
May that the state...of his Majesty's health excited any se-
rious apprehensions. On the 17th of that month his Ma.
jesty held a Levee, but on his return to Windsor Castle
showed great signs of debility and exhaustion, and oppres-
sion of breathing, in consequence of which he had ennsider-
able difficulty in ascending the staircase ; and when he had
reached the corridor was under the necessity of resting on
the nearest sofa.
Though the King had experienced very considerable op-
pression during the night, yet his Majesty appeared re-
freshed, and was considered better the next morning, Thurs-
day, May 18, and was not prevented from going to St.
James's to hold a drawing-room, which had been appointed
for that day. On these occasions, the last in which his Ma-
jesty appeared in public, he sat down ; but this deviation
from his usual practice did not excite so much alarm as the
traces of sickness visible in his countenance. His debility,
however, notwithstanding the exertions of the day, on
reaching Windsor Castle, was not so great on this as on
the preceding evening, and a slight improvement the fol-
lowing morning revived the hopes and spirits of his Majes-
ty's anxious friends.
This day, Friday, was the anniversary of the battle of
La Hogue, and, by command of his Majesty, several offi-
cers of distinction resident in the neighbourhood, together
with the officers of the garrison, bad been invited to dinner.
In the course of the evening the King detailed with great
minuteness the causes, the progress, and consequences of
the different naval wars in which this country had been en-
gaged during the last and the preceding century, and gave,
perhaps, greater proof on that than on any occasion of the
extraordinary accuracy of his memory, and of his intimate
acquaintance with English history. His Majesty's voice,
with the exception of one or two moments of oppression of
breathing, was very strong and clear, but no one present
could fail to entertain apprehensions as to the effects of this
exertion.

The next day, Saturday, May the 20th, his Majesty
continued to suffer from the same distressing symptoms.
At breakfast and luncheon his appetite, which had been
gradually declining, altogether failed, and at the latter meal
he fell back in his chair with a sensation of faintness, to
which several persons alluded with strong expressions of
alarm. His Majesty, on leaving the white drawing-room,
sat down in the corridor evidently feeble and exhausted.
He did not leave the Castle this afternoon. At dinner his
Majesty was afflicted with a similar seizure, and, to prevent
increasing faintness, the Duchess of Gloucester, who was
seated next to him, bathed his forehead and temples with
eau-de-Cologne. His Majesty rallied in the evening, but it
gas not till ten o'clock that he consented, in compliance
with the Queen's request, to abandon his intentions of
going to St. James's on the following morning, to be present
at the re-opening of the Chapel Royal.
The King retired to bed at his usual hour of eleven, la-
bouring under manifest indisposition. This was the last
time his Majesty appeared in the drawing-room. The next
morning increasing indisposition confined him to his private
apartments, which he never quitted during the continuance
of his fatal malady.
The state of his Majesty's health now excited much and
well-founded alarm. Sir H. Halford and Dr. Chambers
were sent for ; but as the latter had no ostensible situation
in the Royal Household it is as thought advisable, in order
to avoid causing any unnecessary alarm to the King, to in-
troduce him to his Majesty as the medical attendant of the
Queen, who had at this time but very imperfectly recovered
from a long and dangerous illness, on the ground that he
wished to make a report of her Majesty's health. Dr.
Chambers was most graciously received by the King, who
did not hesitate to avail himself of his advice in his own
case. The arrival, however, of Dr. Chambers at the Castle
was so late that this interview did not take place till the
following morning.
It were needless to trace minutely the progress of the
King's disease, the fluctuating nature of which produced
constant alternations of hope .and fear. On Monday, the
2.2 d of May, and the following morning, the King gave au-
diences to Lord Melbourne, Lord LJill, Lord Glenelg, and
other Ministers ; but the unfavourable impression produced
by the King's appearance on all who were admitted to his
presence served but to extend the alarm now generally en-
tertained. The next two days were passed uncomfortably
from the effects of this fatigue ; but on Saturday, the 27th
of May, his Majesty felt sufficiently strong to hold a Coun-
cil, and subsequently to give audience to all the Cabinet
Ministers and Officers of State by whom it was attended.
That the King's debility had already made very rapid and
alarming progress may be inferred from the fact that he had
already lost the power of walking, and that it was now ne-
cessary for his medical attendant, Dr. Davies, to whom
alone the King would entrust that duty, to wheel his Ma-
jesty in an easy chair into the Council Roma.

The general languor and weakness which so strongly
diaracterised the K 123's illness, thJugh not aggravated by
this exertion, did net diminish during the next week, and his
Majesty's anxious relatives and friends were willing, in the
absence of any very active disease, to ascribe the continu-
ance of these distressing symptoms to the hot weather which
then prevailed, and which had been frequently known to
produce at this season in former years a very marked effect
on his Majesty's constitution.
The King had looked forward with pleasure to the as-
sembling of a large party, whom he had invited to Windsor
Castle to be present at the Eton regatta on June 5, and at.
the Ascot races, which immediately followed.
In the afternoon of this day an unfavourable change in
the King's state was evident to his attendants. With hie
usual-benevolent feeling., however, he still, for the sake of
others took an interest ,in those amusements in which he
could not personally participate. Every order issued by
the King bore evidence of this very kind consideration,
even in the most minute particulars, for the comfort and
convenience of his guests, and of the Eton boys, whose
pleasure he was always anxious to promote.
Influenced by a similar feeling, so predominant in his
Majesty's character, and so remarkably exemplified in the
closing year of his life, the King expressed his special desire
that the Queen should attend the races at Ascot—preferring
rather to dispense with the great comfort of her Majesty's
society than that the public should experience any dissap-
pointment from the absence of the Royal Family.
However little in accordance tvith the
,painful state of
her own anxious feelings such a scene might be, the
Queen did not hesitate to acquiesce ha bis Majesty's wishes.
Her Majesty, therefore, drove to the cotn:se, but returned
at the end of two hours to Windsor Castle, to resume her
almost unceasing attendance on the King, and to find, alas!
that even in that brief interval his Majesty had undergone
much and unexpected suffering.
The next morning, Wednesday, June 7, Sir H. Haiford
and Dr. Chalmers found the King weaker, but cordials
supplied temporary strength and power to take nourishment,
which supported him during the day. Nevertheless, the
greatest gloom, and even the most melancholy forebodings,
pervaded the party assembled at the Castle, which were dis-
tressingly manifested, as will doubtless with pain be remem-
bered, by all who were present at dinner on that day in St.
George's Hall.
For some time previously the King's medical attendants
indulged the sanguine hope that his Majesty might derive
considerable benefit from change of air. Many circum-
stances had conspired to prevent an earlier proposal of any
plan which had reference to this object, but, with the con-
currence of the physicians, Sir Herbert Taylor submitted
this day to his Majesty their wish that he should remove
for a few weeks to Brighton, where, with the advantage of
the sea air, he would enjoy every comfort requisite in his
present enfeebled state.
The King did not, as was feared, express any disappro-
bation at the suggestion : on the contrary, he assented with
pleasure to the arrangement, and expressed his hope that
he might soon regain sufficient strength to undertake the
journey. Preparations were accordingly made by his Ma-
jesty's command at the Pavilion. The kindness of the
King's disposition was displayed even in the selection of the
persons whom he selected to attend him.
The state of his Majesty's health next morning (rendered
worse by a sleepless such as to damp any hope
ttohait3mrigigihittotht.ave
Increased
as e
d entertaineddifif cul with regard to his
stoppageremovalo
of
the circulation, with the necessary of breathing,
consequencs of coldness
of the extremities and swelling of the legs, were among the
symptoms which could not fail to excite the fear that the
King's situation had now become one of extreme danger.
Under these circumstances, the party staying at the Castle
dispersed this morning (Thursday, June 8), in obedience to
the Queen's wishes ; and while grief and despondency
reigned within the Palace, the same feelings were quickly
propagated among an affectionate and loyal people by the
uneapeeted absence of the Royal cortege from Ascot.
Contrary to expectation, the King passed a tranquil
night. He was easier the next morning, but appeared very
languid and feeble while transacting bussiness with Sir Her-
bert Taylor, and his signatures of official papers were made
with difficulty. His Majesty now, for the first time, con-
sented that a bulletin should be issued, to allay, if possible,
the anxiety which the public had long manifested.
In the afternoon of this day his Majesty experienced