GIBBON. 313 



years before suffered from erysipelas, which had left a 

 swelling in the legs. He had been visited with a severe 

 fit of the gout in 1791, and again the following year; 

 but his chief infirmity was a very unwieldy rupture, 

 which all who saw him perceived, but which he himself 

 most unaccountably never supposed any one could be 

 aware of, and never had mentioned in the slightest way 

 either to any medical man or even to his valet-de- 

 chambre. The death of his friend Severy, after a long 

 illness, had likewise indisposed him to any exertion. Yet 

 with all these difficulties to struggle against, he manfully 

 set out about the month of May, and, after a tedious and 

 circuitous journey by Frankfort and Brussels, reached 

 Ostend at the end of that month, and Sheffield House 

 in London a few days after. There, and at Sheffield 

 Place in Sussex, he remained during the summer, except- 

 ing only a visit to Mrs. Gibbon at Bath, and one to Lord 

 Spencer at Althorp in October. 



He came to London early in November. He now 

 found it necessary to consult physicians, and it being 

 ascertained that he had hydrocele as well as hernia, 

 the operation of puncturing was performed. Under this, 

 which is not considered painful, nor if the only complaint, 

 dangerous, he shewed great cheerfulness, making jokes 

 with the operator during the time. No less than four 

 quarts of fluid were taken off, and as he had no fever he 

 was able to go out in a few days, though the tumour con- 

 tinued of about half its former size, owing to the other 

 malady. The water immediately began to form again ; 

 a second operation was necessary it was performed 

 Nov. 24, and it proved much more painful than the first. 

 His letters continued as gay as usual ; and he announced 



