1883-92 PARALYTIC STROKE 269 



gates of his garden he so seldom ventured that 

 an occasional dinner at White Lodge or a rare 

 visit to the Athenaeum and the Bank were almost 

 the only exceptions to what had become the habit 

 of his life. Almost the last of his expeditions to 

 London was made in the autumn of 1889. He 

 was driven to town by Sir Edwin Chadwick, 

 accompanied by Dr. (now Sir) B. W. Richardson, 

 and the party took the opportunity of being photo- 

 graphed together. 



Early in the following year Sir Richard was 

 seized with an attack of illness very like a paralytic 

 stroke, from which he never entirely recovered. 

 By sheer force of will he rallied from it in a way 

 which was little short of marvellous. When he 

 was considered to be almost at death's door, he 

 left his bed without assistance, dressed himself, 

 and was found sitting in his library as if he had 

 never been ill at all. But this attack enfeebled 

 his memory, and to a great extent deprived him of 

 the use of his limbs, though it did but little to 

 impair his handwriting, which remained almost as 

 neat and clear as ever. 



After his illness he scarcely ever moved out 

 of his two rooms, the library and bedroom, which 

 open out of each other. The library is an old- 

 fashioned room, with a low ceiling, and with 

 windows looking on to the park at one side and 

 into the garden at the other. On the wall-spaces 

 of this room not filled with book-shelves hang 



