Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-26
How DISRAELI DIED.
The Physician Who Attended Him
Tells of the Closing Hours of
His Life.

attended Lord B~eaconsfeld in his last wears.
has published in the Nineteenth Century
his "reminiscences of his distinguished
patient, and a brief note of them has al
ready been sent over by cable. The article
IS, however. of sufficient interest to bear
reprlntlng at some length, as the following
passages will show:
The greatest difficulty was to get the
patient to take exercise. My grandfather,
he said to me. lived to 90 years: he took
much open-air exercise. Ny father lived
to 80, yet he never took any. Lord
Beaconsfeld tried to steer a middle course.
but the utmost he could be persuaded to
take was a short walk two or three times
a week, If Lord Rowton or some other
pleasant friend called to accompany him;
otherwise he easily found an excuse for not
going out. His slow pace In walking pre-
vented him from getting much benefit from
1t. At Constantinople in 1880 he was
greatly gratifed by a certain Mahomet
Pasha telling him he that he could not be
an Englishman, but rather one of an
Eastern race, because he walked so slowly.
@.Quarterly Review, T. %, Janu airy, 1889.
Rld1ng he had given up, although In his
early days ne vas passionately devoted to
it. For many years his life had been a
sedentary one; presuming on his hardy
constitution and the fact of his fathers
great age without open-air exercise, he
considered it a matter optional in his case.
He had the excuses of urgent occupation
in his political and literary life to hinder
it. Yet nature has a Nemesis power of
revenging herself on the man of ~sedentary
life. In the end the liver suffers. In one
of his lettors to his sister he says: L have
recovered from the horrors of a torpid
liver, which has overwhelmed me the last
few days
The character of Lord Beaconsfeld
was most singular. To those without, his
manner was that of reserve and coldness,
with a proud expression of power and
lofty aim. But to the charmed inner
circle of friends there was a bright,
general glow of kindness shown which
made all feel at ease. At first a manner
apparently cold and distant, but directly
you struck the cord of sympathy, most
cordial and responsive. In the company
of ladies his face became most animated,
All the activity of his mind became fresh
ened into new life, and he spared neither
TINS nov troubleto interest them. An old
lady, Mrs. De Burgh, hearing of his asth-
ma, sent him a pot of Stockholm tar,
with a note advising him to expose it in
his bedroom at night. 1t proved help
full. An ordinary Prime Minister in full
work might have written an autograph
note of thanks. Lord Beaconsfeld found
time to visit her in Eccleston square to
thank her for her kind present, much to her
delight.
"After the London season his life at
Hughenden was very quiet; a walk around
the German Forest-a lovely clump of
young trees that Lord Lyndhurst named
the German Forest-and a look at the
beautiful shrubs and trees in the terrace,
most of them with a history, one planted
by this friend and one by that. He de-
lighted to recall the memories of old
friends from The trees planted by them.
After his walk, to write or to read was his
chief occupation. He was a great reader
of many journals and reviews on his
table the Revue de Deux Mondes was his
~favorite. Over it he spent much time.
Gas the time of the Berlin Conference
drew near Lord Rowton, his dearest and
best friend. urged that | should accom-
pany him to Berlin. Lord Beaconsield was
unwilling, satisfied with my promise to be
in readiness to start at once for Berlin
when t~elegraphed for. At Berlin his
health was suddenly disturbed bya severe
chill. An urgent telegram summoned me
there. | found him suffering from a
fresh attack of congestion of the kidneys
and liver, but was enabled to afford
prompt relief, and he recovered his usual
vigor of mind and body, and got through
the work of the congress with ease. [ re-
was complete, and returned with him as far
as Calais. Three or four days before the
treaty was signed | was sitting with him
in his private room when Prince Bismarck
was announced. He walked into the room,
giving his hat to the servant. After being
introduced to the Prince, [ retired, and
found the servant outside the door trying
ON Prince Bismarck's hat. why, said
one of them, the hat is almost big enough
to take our two heads in to it, The day
after Lord B~eaconsfeld said to me, L can
tell you to-day the object of Bismarck's
visit yesterday, as it is no longer a secret.
The congress was on the point of coming
to an untimely end that morning, as | abso-
lutely refused one of the Russian pleni-
potentiary's conditions, and left the con-
gress room saying that | should return to
London at once to concoct other measures.
Bismarck heard of this and rushed off to
Russian Ambassador, pursuaded him to
withdraw the point, and then called to
stop my return to London.
I'm the spring of 1881 he felt the cold
most keenly, and seldom went out for a
walk, his only exercise. Yet he could not
deny himself the pleasure of going into
society in the evening. He thought that
with fur coats and shut carriage he might
risk it. But on one of the worst nights
In March he went out to dinner, and re-
turning home was caught for a minute by
the deadly blast of the northeast wind
laden with sleet. Bronchitis developed
the next morning, with distressing asthma,
loss of appetite, fever and congestion of
the kidneys. Asthma is a most peculiar
disease. It comes on often In the most
healthy places and vanishes In the crowded
close streets of the town. In the low
lying Downing street, near the Thames,
he had much less asthma than In Curzon
street, where his bedroom was a small,
stuffy one with fluffy paper and old-fash-
Toned curtains. From the first, asthma
followed him in Curzon street.
During one of our II o'clock settings
of the bulletin His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales and His Royal Highness
the Duke of Edinburgh, fresh home from
the funeral of the murdered Gar, came IN
upon US, asking ~anxiously as to the pro-
gress of our illustriOus patient. Among
the many distinguished callers Mr.. Glad
stone walked in and inquired most feel
ingly after his old opponent. We, the
doctor, had a hard time In reading the
many hundreds of letters, kilograms and
postcards, with suggestions for infalllble
cure. One card to Lord Beaconsfeld de-
lighted him much; 1t was:
"'Don't die yet; we can't do without
Won, A RpTTTsu WOREMAN"