632 MtMoirs >6f the Life of iU BigkVJIon. Wm, PiU. 



however, with Mr. Vyncr, in the doubt which his Majesty laboured. He heeim 



whether the house ought to rest satis- his attendance on the »lh oi Doccmherv 



fied wilhout tlio liersoiiul exaiuiuation and resided constantly at the palace ab 



of tijose physicians c" whose testimony Kew, having tha immediate care of thc( 



ihey were to found consequences of the King's person, and theotlierphysic.ianft 



utmost importance. He adniitte<i that visiicd his Majesty in rot^ition at stated 



all iM)ssible delicacy ought to be oh- times.* A bulletin was sent to St^^ 



served ; but if delicacy and duty should James's eveiy uioniing, signed by the 



happen to clash, the latter ought not physici:u!S ; and a lord and a groom o£ 



to he sacrificed to the former. Nothing the bedchamber attended for several 



farther was nnv said upon this subject, hours, to shew it to the numerous an^ 



The death of one of the members for anxious inquirers after his Majesty't 



Colchester* having occasioned a vacancy liealth. The buUctius were also pub« 



for that borough, the Speaker acquaint- lished in the Gazette, 



od the House that iie was doubtful On the 8th Mr. Pitt called to the re/> 



whether, during the inefficiency of one collection of the house, the doubts 



branch of the legislature he was au- which had been expressed relative to 



thorised to issue writs for filling up va- the propriety of parliament acting upon 



cancics in the representation of the the evidence which had been given by 



people. Mr. Pitt declared himself to the physiciansbefore the privy council, 



he decidedly of opinion, that though no and the opinion which he had himself 



act could take place, which required delivered upon that occasion. He had 



the joint concurrence of all the dif- tlienspoten, he said, from the impulse 



fereut branches of the legislature, yet of the moment; but, being solicitom 



each of the houses of parliament, in its that the mode of proceetling should be 



separate capacity, was fully competent perfectly satisfactory to the house m 



to the exercise of those powers, which general, he wislied to kno^v whether it 

 c<mccrned its own orders and jurisdic- 

 tion. In this sentiment the House ac- 

 quiesced in silence; and immediately 

 adjourned to the Sth. 



was the sense of any number of gentle- 

 men, thatapaiticular inquiry before a 

 committee of their own house, would 

 be more regular and desirable ? He 

 The distance of V.'indsor from Lou- stated, that since the last meeting of 



don being found exfreuiely inconve- 

 nient to the physicians, the King was 

 i-emoved to Kew on the 29th of Novem- 

 ber :t and the continuance of his dis- 

 order, \\ithout any abatement, sug- 

 gested the idea of calling in the advice 

 and assistance of Dr. Willis.J who had 

 long been distinguished for his success- 

 ful treatment of the malady under 



meet till after Christmas. An express was 

 immediatly sent to him, aud he returned 

 to England on the 24th of November. 



* Sir Edrauud Affleck. 

 " f Notwithstanding' the state of the King's 

 mind, the physicians thought, that a note 

 from Mr. Pitt, expressing a wish that his 

 Majesty would remove to Kew for the be- 

 nefit of change of air, would have weight 

 with him ; and in consequence of Mr. 

 Pitt's note the King consented to a remo 

 val, Yfbich till then he had resisted. 



J Dr. Willis was a clergyman, and rec- 

 tor of Wappiug. He was doctor of physic 

 in the University of Oxford, and had for 

 twenty-eight years kept an asylum for in- 

 sane persons at his residence at Gretford, 

 in Lincolnshire, having every year not less 

 than thirty patients, of whom nine out of 

 tteu bad recovered within three months 

 vafi^G.thc^'Wcre placed under his care. 



'jjiO 



the house, two more physicians had 

 been called in,t one of whom was par- 

 ticularl}^ conver.saut in disorders of this 

 kind, which might be considered as au 

 additional reason forappointing a com- 

 mittee of the house to examine the phy* 

 sicians. He had thought it his duly 

 to throw out these ideas ; aud, as the 



* Either Sir Lucas Pepys, Dr. Gisborne, 

 or Dr. Reynolds was at Kew fi-om four 

 o'clock every afternoon till eleven the ne3(A 

 morning. At ten o'clock every morniug 

 Dr. Warren or Sir George Baker came to 

 Kew, an^ consulted with the physician, 

 who had been there all night, and with Dr. 

 Willis, and generally remained there about 

 an hour. Dr. John Willis. Dr. Willis's son, 

 was constantly at Kew as an assistant to 

 his father, and another of his sens was niso 

 frequently there. Dr. Addington had left 

 off practice, but was sent for from Read- 

 ing, where he resided, in the beginning Of 

 the King's illness, because he had foruicrly 

 paid particular attention to 'cases of in- 

 sanity ; he occasionally saw his Majesty 

 with the other physicians, in the subse- 

 quent part of his illneAS ; but hia age. and 

 infirmities would not allow hi^a to attend 

 reguliuly. 



t. /Or., ^y ilUs and. pr, GisbosHf • , i .^ 



