CXXxii AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



On my return from Stonyhurst, the dysentery 

 continued its ravages upon my iron frame with 

 unabated fury. I now wrote to my invaluable 

 friend, the justly celebrated Doctor Hobson of 

 Leeds, and I explained to him how sadly all 

 was going on. He was soon at Walton Hall ; 

 but such was the invincible composure of his 

 countenance, that although my truly affection- 

 ate sisters-in-law and myself watched most 

 narrowly his every look, not a single chance 

 did he afford us by any unguarded change of 

 features, to judge what might be the probable 

 result of the alarming disorder. 



The masterly arrangements of this renowned 

 physician, ably put into execution by our 

 worthy family surgeon, Mr. Bennett, at last 

 arrested the complaint. This took place in 

 September ; but an act of imprudence some 

 four or five months afterwards brought me 

 back to the state from which I had so happily 

 escaped. On one cold and frosty morning I 

 had occasion to cut away the shoots from 

 certain stumps of trees on the bank of a brook. 

 My foot betrayed me, and I slipped into the 

 water up to the middle. As this accident had 

 placed me in a more commodious position to 



