CHAPTER XLVI 



LAST DAYS (1913) 



(Age 79) 



The doctors told Lady Avebury that one of the 

 most distressing symptoms of the form of anaemia 

 under which Lord Avebury suffered was, as a 

 rule, a gradual loss of brain power and reasoning 

 ability. Probably it is an evidence and a result 

 of his more than normal sanity of brain and 

 clarit)'^ of thought that until the very end his 

 mental operations continued perfectly lucid and 

 with their energy but little diminished. It is 

 true that in his summary for 1912 he wrote : 

 " Most of the year I was more or less ill and up 

 to very little," but we have seen by what standard 

 we are to measure this " very little " of which he 

 writes, and are obliged to confess that it would 

 amount to a very adequate year's work for most 

 men in youth and health. 



Early in the New Year they had at High Elms 

 " A large party of young people for the Bromley 

 Ball," and this was followed by another ball at a 

 neighbour's house on the following night. On the 

 8th he was laid up with " a little gout." The 

 next day the doctors ordered him to bed and 



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