Star.
London, England, 1810-12-19 00:00:00

Majesty's health is stele as to prew'ent bit
Parliament, or attending to any kind of .puk
ness.
What are 'the hopes yon-entertain of his Majesty's
mlcovery ?—I think it very probable, that ultimately
the King will recover.
Do you found your opinion, given in your ansvver
to the previous question, upon the particular symp-
tlms of his Majesty's disorder, or upon general ex-
perience in other cases of the same nature ; or upon
both ?—Not upon general experience, but upon the
likeness that I understand the present indisposition
of his Majesty hears to the other three indispositions
of the same general character.
In that particular species of the disorder his Ma-
jesty has fallen into, has it been found, from expe-
rience, that the greater number of persons so affected
have been cured ?—I really cannot give a very satis-
factory atsswer to that question from any experience
of my own, for that has been limited ; but I under.
stand the greater number of cases of that kind have
recovered for the timer although in many instances
there are returns tithe indisposition in the same indi-
vidual.

Can you form any judgment, .or probable conjec
true, as to the duration of his Majesty's illness ?—I
can form no satisfactory conjecture at all ; the only I
ground of comparison is, by regard to the former ill-
nesses of his Majesty, and that might be very deceitful,
but that appears to be the only ground on which we
can form any conjecture with respect to the probable
duration of his Majesty's indisposition.
As far. as experience enables you to judge of his
Majesty's disorder, do you think it more probable that
his Majesty will, or will not recover, so as to render
him capable of attending to public business ?—I
should think it much more probable, it his Majesty was
to recover, he would recover with the lull power to
I.transact public business as before his present illness.
What degree of experience have you had yourself,
in this particular species of disorder ?—My experience.
has been very limited, certainly ; I have now been
about_twenty years in businsss, and I have occasio-
nally 'seen patients affected with an illness of a situ'.
lar character; but not in any great number.
Has any amendment already taken place in the
course of his Majesty's disorder, and does the ap-
pearance of such amendment continue at present ?
His Majesty is certainly better now, than he has been
in some periods of his present indisposition ; I do not
think that of late there has been any appearance of
much improvement.
Can you assign the present disorder of his Majesty
to any particular cause ?—I have no doubt in my own
mind that his complaint arose out of the great affec-
tion that his Majesty had for his deceased daughter,
and the great affliction that he felt during her long
and tedioas illness.
When were yell first eatied.in, to see the King ?
I believe it was the 25th of October.
Were you. in the habit. of attending on the King
before this illneii ?—No, not at all.
bid you ever visa 'the tin& as a patient, before
this illness ?—No, nevei.
In ordinary cases, wthfld you suppose that a pa-
Cent was knorp likely to recover from a mental ma-
lady, having been affected with mental malady three
or four times previously, than if he had never been so
affected•?--/ do not know iery,weil what answer to
give to that question : I think it bears two ways ; it ap.
pears to me, that when a person has had au indisposi-
tion with certain symptoms three or four times, and
has recovered, it always gives a considerable presump-
tion, provided the constitution is not much weakened
in its powers, that the person will recover again ; at
the same time it may be said, that the susceptibility
to disease is increased by the number of attacks,
and in that point of view the person might not be so
likely to recover. I think, however, that the other
reasoning has more power altogether than the last,
and therefore I should say, that if the constitution is
not much weakened, it gives a presumption, if a I
person has recovered from a similar disease three
times, that he has a considerable chance of recovering
the fourth time.
When you talk of the King's recovery, and com-
petency to public business, you mean, the complete
recovery, as you would speak of anoth4r patient, to
be competent to the management and direction of
all affairs ?—I think so. Ido not say that the
King, may not fall b'ck and be liable to any future
attack of a similar indisposition ; but as tar as I can
judge of it, it is most probable, that if be does reco-
ver, he will recover with the same power of perform-
ing his duties, as a Sovereign, as before.
Have any of the Royal family seen the King, sincel
his indisposition ?—Not as far as I know ; but I be-,
here at the time when he was beginning to be hurried
at first, his family saw him but since the disease
established its charaiter, /believe, none of the Royal
family have seen him. I believe nobody, since the
?sth of Octbber.
Is the hurry, of which yciu speak, to be understood
As subsequent or anterier to the 25th of October ?
He was certainly very•much hurried on the 25th of
October ; but I believe there were little marks of the
same sort before that ; and they were observed by his,
family, before they were observed by strangers.,
Did you observe any symptoms of it before the
25th of October,?—l think once or twice I observed
a little, but it did not strike me much ; on the 25th
it was very well marked. I saw the King twice a
day before the 25th,to give an accountof his daughter.
Did you make any observation, on the state of the
King, on the 24th of October ?—I have no recollec-
tion of making any particular observation.
Can any persons have any access to his Majesty,
without the knowledge or consent of the Physicians ?
-I believe not • there are certain persons of course
established about his Majesty, but there is no stran-
ger ; occasionally one or two of his Majesty's confi-
dential pages have come into the room for an instant,
but I do not know that any body else has.
Has any person, other than the Royal family, or
his pages, or attendants, seen the King, since you
have been in attendance upon his Majesty ?—Yes;
the Lord Chancellor saw his Majesty the day before
yesterday.
Were you consulted on the propriety of the Lord
Chancellor's seeing the King ?—lt made a part of
general conversation, among the Physicians, the dad'
-before the Lord Chancellor saw the King; and it
was thougbt upon the whole, perhaps, that it would
• be more satisfactory that the Chancellor should "see
the King, lso iiietife an accOunt.of Nutt from tars
own ebservation. '

Was that a Matter that iniitested iterate the 4.
ticians in their medical capacity or was it thrown ch.
from any other quarter was not thrown out from
any other quarter so far as I know.
From which of the Physicians did the first sugges-
tion come, of the propriety of the Chancellor seeing
the King ?—I believe it van from Dr. Ht..berden.
What reasons did Dr. Heberden assign, for wish-
ing the Chancellor to see the King ?—There was no
reason assigned, lout that I have assigned now, that
it was thought desirable Parliament should have, not.l
simply the report of the Physicians, but the report of-
the Lori Chancellor, from his own observation.
Did the Physicians consider it any part of their
duty, to discuss what wouldhe most satisfactory $O.
Parliamett ?—I really do not know, whether they
may not have gone beyoaa their duty ; I do not proc
tend to say whether it was wise or not.
Do you know that his Majesty had been informed.
, previously to such consultation among the Physicians,l
that on that day the Chancellor would be at Win
*or ?—;„Yes, he was informed. . .
By whom was he so informed ?—I believe tr sir'
Henry Halford.
Was such information communicated by Sir Henry
l
Halford to the King, in consequence of any discus-
sion amongst the Physicians ?--There was no discus-
sion, as far as I recollect, by which Sir Henry was
empowered to make any communication to the King;
and the fact is, I believe, it was thought afterwards
better, that the communication had- not been made.
Has his Majesty been subject to any bodily indispo-
sition, within the last fortnight?—His body has hardly
been at any time perfectly free from indisposition.
Do you attach any importance to the indisposition
to which his Majesty, has been subject, in the course
of the last fortnight, as affecting his general health ?
—I should not I think, attach much importance to
it ; the idea that naturally occurs to the mind, in con-
sidering a small defect of bodily health is this, that
as the King during the whole of this indisposition,
has had more or less of bodily indisposition, though
sometimes very little, yet it becomes an additional
though a slight proof that he may probably recover,
that he has that bodily itilment : if there was precisely
the state of mind which the Kinghas without bodily
ailment, we should say, there was altogether a less
chance of the King's recovering, than it he had the
bodily ailment just stated ; at the same time, I think
it right to say, that sometimes that bodily ailment
has been very little.
Does the King's age reader his recovery more or
less probable, than if he were a younger person ?
It certainly renders it less probable; at the same time,
age is a relative term : the King, at 7'2, is stronger
and younger, if one may use that expression, than
many persons of (4:2, and therefore may have a better
chance than most persons would have at the same
period of life.
Does the King's defect of sight at all influence, in
your opinion, the probability or improbability of the
King's ultimate recovery ?—I have really no experi-
ence at all, and therefore what I shall say to the Com-
mittee must be considered as a conjecture, and there.
(fore probably of little value. I should conceive that,
in the earlier period of an indisposition like the King's,
blindness would probably be an advantage ; that it
would lessen the excitement ; but when a person af-
flicted like the King, goes on towards recovery, I
conceive that the want of sight would be a disadvan-•
itage, because he would be deprived of many amuse-
ments that would occupy his mind and assist in the
complete. recovery. I conceive,, that when a person,
similarly situate with regard to complaint as the King,
has got into a state of convalescence so as r be able
to take exercise, perhaps the having sight would be
then a disadvantage again, because he would be
roused by a great many objects, and take violent ex.
ercise, which might possibly bring back a return of
the complaint. What I say now, however, is alto-
gether conjecture.
Do you think that the King's defect of sight is less
likely to have an influence upon the ultimate recovery
of the King, than upon the duration of his disorder ?
,—I should think it less likely to have an influence
I upon the positive recovery of the King, than upon the
duration of his illness.
Can you, under the circumstances which peculiarly
attach to the King's situation, his defect of sight and
his age, form in your own mind any conjecture, at
all satisfactory to you, as to the probable duration of
the King's illness ?—I really cannot. I can only give
the answer I have done before ; we can only conjec-
ture, and there is no other ground of judgment I can
perceive, than that of comparing the present with
that of his Majesty's former illnesses ; at the same
time, I think, the circumstances are such, as to ren-
der it likely that the present indisposition will be a
longer indisposition than some of the former.
Have you ever known an instance of a person, of
the King's age, and deprived of sight, recovering per-
fectly from an attack, such as his Majesty now labours
under ?—I have never known, so far as I recollect,,l
but one person who was affected with this disorder,
who was as old as the King, and that person saw ;
but that person did not recover.
Have you a more or less sanguine expectation of his
Majesty's ultimate recovery, now, than you had at
the period when you were examined before the Privy
Council ?—I have rather a less sanguine expectation ;
but the differene; in that respect I ought to say is
very little.
Have you a more or less sanguine expectation of
his Majesty's speedy recovery, now, than you had at
that period ?—I never thought it likely that his Ma-
jesty would recover soon ; if there is any change in
my sentiments now, it is most probably that it will be ,
longer than I thought at one time.
What has made you somewhat less sanguine of the
King's speedy recovery than you were when examined
before the Privy Council ?—That there has been ano.
ther attack since I was examined ; and 1 think the,
remission since the attack has been hardly so complete
as some of the former ones were.
Having stated, in the earlier part of your examil
sfation, that you believed his Majesty's affection for
the deceased Princess, and grief during her illness,
; was the cause of his Majesty's indisposition, will you
state whether, in your opinion, the circumstance of
such a cause being assignable, is favourable or other-
wise, with regard to the prospect of his Majesty's re-
covery can only answer that question by conjec-
ture ; but I should say, upon the whole, it was rather
'favourable. It is better to know some fixed cause for
the complaint, and it is better likewise that the cause
should have anemia which it bas done in the present

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