JACOB BELrL. 461 



nurse. The malady was a severe attack of quinsy, producing 1859. 

 symptoms very similar to those from which he suffered many 

 years afterwards, when labouring under an affection of the 

 larynx, 1 and it proved so serious that he and Landseer were 

 detained in Geneva six weeks. Under the care of Dr. Coindet, 

 Mr. Bell's health was so far restored, that he was able with his 

 companion to cross the Jura in the snows of December, and, 

 reaching Paris, to witness the solemnities that celebrated the 

 arrival in that city of the remains of the first Napoleon. From 

 Paris they returned to London, arriving there on the 31st 

 December, after an absence of about four months. 



On the 15th February, 1841, a public meeting was held in Mr. Hawes's 

 London in order to organize an opposition to a bill introduced 

 into Parliament by Mr. Hawes, for the purpose of Amending the 

 Laws relating to the Medical Profession in Great Britain awd 

 Ireland, inasmuch as the bill in question contained clauses 

 vitally affecting the interests of chemists and druggists. At 

 this meeting a committee was appointed, of which Mr. Bell was 

 a member, and the opposition was carried on so vigorously that 



1 In a most amusing account which Mr. Bell has left of this journey, he has 

 described in his own peculiar facetious way the sufferings he experienced 

 during this attack ; and they accord so precisely with those which occurred 

 in his last illness, that we have obtained permisson to quote the passage. 



(Enter the servant to lay the cloth for dinner.) 



B. " What an unfortunate victim I am ! I am doomed to endure Ben- 

 jamin's appetite arid San cho Panza's mortification ! " 

 L. " What do you mean by Benjamin's appetite '?" 



B, " We are told that when Joseph in Egypt fed his eleven brethren with 

 bread and milk, Benjamin's mess was five times as large as any of the others, 

 and as we are not informed that he left any of it, we may conclude that his 

 appetite was in the same ratio. Those who have seen Leslie's little picture of 

 Sancho Panza at the conclusion of his untasted repast, can imagine what he 

 felt by the expression of his countenance. 1 can imagine it by feeling the 

 same torture myself, and a few inflammatory twitches into the bargain." 

 L. " Here comes the soup ! Try and swallow a little bread sopped in it." 



B. " I'll make the attempt. Every mouthful of soup is like a 



dagger ; a little runs heavily down, and the rest becomes glutinous, and stops 

 the passage until I spit it out. I can take no more ; though I would gladly 

 devour those cutlets, the fowl, and crusty bread in proportion. In fact, I am 

 inclined to be angry with the gar$on when he takes away the bread which I 

 have not dared to attack ; as an old sportsmen would fain keep his guns, 

 whips, and dogs in his sight, although his sinews have become stiff and power- 

 less, and his activity has fled for ever." 



