wmMam&BR. 
 
 'HEALTH M- II I,!'-! 
 
 HX641 07493 
 R489.H13M92 The life of Sir Henr 
 
 RECAP 
 
 mm 
 
 wp^ 
 
 
 ■■ 
 
 Mb 
 
 ■1 
 
 I - 
 HwaBr 
 
 
 
 HM 
 HEsshB 
 
 
 ■_ 
 
 ■HE 
 
 !$■?■■■'> 
 
 «& 
 
 ffiiBl 
 ■HHi I 
 
 msm' 
 
 mm 
 mm. 
 
 m 
 
 *-yj 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ,#. ; >" 
 
 sk 
 
 KM! 
 
 m 
 
,/fo y£///j> 
 
 £19^ 
 
 Columbia SJntte rsfftp 
 
 College of ipjjpsrtcifins; anb iimrgeong 
 Etbrarp 
 
^y f <^-c** 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD, Bart. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/lifeofsirhenryhaOOmunk 
 
S 8 R HI IE N R Y H A IL IF © Hi D , B A R T G. C. H., M. D., F. 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD, Bart 
 
 G.C.H., M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 
 
 PHYSICIAN TO GEORGE III., GEORGE IV., WILLIAM IV., AND 
 
 TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 WILLIAM MUNK, M.D., F.S.A. 
 
 FELLOW AND LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE 
 OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK 
 1895 
 
'/?*> 
 
 
 Q 
 
CD 
 
 Ir'-t 
 
 c 
 
 g TO 
 
 SIR JOHN RUSSELL REYNOLDS, BART. 
 
 ' M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF. THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 
 
 AND 
 
 PHYSICIAN TO THE QUEEN'S HOUSEHOLD 
 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 THIS LIFE OF 
 
 ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED OF HIS PREDECESSORS 
 
 IN THE CHAIR OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ° The conduct of a physician," to use Sir Henry 
 Halford's own words, "on whom is fixed the 
 only hope of saving life, and on whom the dying 
 look often rests, before the eye is closed for ever, 
 may fairly be thought interesting to every hearer."* 
 Equally may it be thought so to every reader ; 
 and this is likely to be especially the case when 
 the physician has held an exceptionally prominent 
 and distinguished position before the public and 
 among his professional brethren. Such was em- 
 phatically true of Sir Henry Halford. With the 
 full accord of his colleagues, he was, for twenty-four 
 years, president of the College of Physicians, and 
 as such the acknowledged head of the medical 
 profession in this country. He was, too, physician 
 to four of our successive sovereigns — to George III., 
 George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria: 
 and he was repeatedly called into medical 
 
 * " Essays and Orations read and delivered at the Royal 
 College of Physicians." Third edition, London, 1842, p. iv. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 attendance on all the royal dukes and on all 
 the princesses. 
 
 The life and conduct of one so distinguished 
 cannot but be interesting, both in itself and as a 
 contribution to the social history of his time. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford has been dead for more 
 than half a century. In that space of time 
 circumstances, which at a prior period would be 
 rightly regarded as private, become conventionally 
 matters of history, and thenceforth are so regarded 
 and treated. It is believed that the time has 
 arrived when the events in which Sir Henry 
 Halford bore a prominent part fall within the 
 domain of history ; and therefore that his life may 
 now be written. 
 
 I have undertaken to write it at the request, 
 formally expressed to me by the College of 
 Physicians, that I should do so. 
 
 In doing it, I have striven to place myself in 
 the period of which I am speaking, and out of 
 that in which I am actually writing. A due degree 
 of candour is needed, alike by the author and 
 the reader, in judging between the conventional 
 opinions of the present time and of those which 
 then prevailed. We have to judge of men accord- 
 ing to their actual environments, and I have 
 sought to place Sir Henry Halford, his person- 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 ality and character, in due relation to his con- 
 temporaries and surroundings, and to the spirit 
 of the time in which he lived. 
 
 I am indebted to Sir Henry St. John Halford, 
 Bart., the grandson of the physician, for the 
 freest use of all the letters, diaries, pocket and 
 note books, engagement and fee books, that have 
 been preserved and are now at Wistow. Among 
 these are some notes made by Sir Henry 
 Halford, the second baronet, who at one time 
 contemplated writing a Life of his father. But 
 he made little progress with it. His notes, how- 
 ever, have furnished me with many facts, not 
 otherwise recorded, derived from conversations 
 with his father, and with other members of the 
 Vaughan family. 
 
 WILLIAM MUNK. 
 
 40 Finsbury Square, 
 Sept. 24, 1895. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Vaughans of Leicester— William Vaughan, M.D., of Col- 
 chester and London — Ann Newton, of Romford, his wife — 
 Sir Henry Newton, master of St. Katherine's Hospital by the 
 Tower, and judge in the Court of Admiralty — Rev. Henry 
 Vaughan, vicar of Leominster and master of the Leominster 
 grammar school — Henry Vaughan, of Leominster, surgeon — 
 James Vaughan, M.D., of Leicester — His sons : James 
 Vaughan — Henry Vaughan, the future Sir Henry Halford, 
 Bart. — The Right Hon. Sir John Vaughan, a privy councillor 
 and a justice of the Common Pleas — The very Rev. Peter 
 Vaughan, D.D., warden of Merton College, Oxford, and 
 dean of Chester— William Welby Vaughan— The Right Hon. 
 Sir Charles Vaughan, a privy councillor and minister to 
 the United States of America — The Rev. Edward Thomas 
 Vaughan, vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester . . pp. 1-15 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Henry Vaughan, subsequently Sir Henry Halford, Bart.— His 
 birth, and education at Rugby school and at Christ Church, 
 Oxford — His degrees in arts — Studying medicine at Edin- 
 burgh, and its practice at Leicester— Proceeds bachelor of 
 medicine at Oxford and begins to practise physic at 
 Leicester — Graduates doctor of medicine of Oxford and 
 settles as physician at Scarborough — Consults Sir George 
 Baker on his chances of success as a physician in London — 
 Settles in London, is elected physician to the Middlesex 
 Hospital, and admitted a fellow of the College of Physi- 
 cians PP« 16-24 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 His professional life to 1809 — Created physician-extraordinary to 
 the King — His marriage — Delivers the Harveian oration of 
 1800 — Illness and death of Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire 
 — Its effect on the reputation and practice of Dr. Vaughan — 
 Charles James Fox — His medical contemporaries at this 
 time: Sir George Baker, Bart. ; Dr. Henry Revell- Reynolds; 
 Sir Walter Farquhar, Bart. — Dr. Vaughan's business and 
 emoluments — Earnings of London physicians from Radcliffe 
 downwards — Medical fees for long journeys and special 
 services — Reduction of fees for distant journeys on the 
 establishment of railways pp. 25-45 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Succeeds to the Halford estate of Wistow in Leicestershire- 
 Changes his name by Act of Parliament from Vaughan to 
 Halford — Created a baronet — Called, along with Dr. Matthew 
 Baillie, into medical attendance on the Princess Amelia at 
 Windsor — Is appointed physician-in-ordinary to the Prince 
 of Wales, and physician-in-ordinary to George III. — Sir 
 Gilbert Blane's expedition to Walcheren and Sir Henry 
 Halford's view of the remuneration due to him for his services 
 — His opinion of vaccination — Its failure in the case of a son 
 of the Earl Grosvenor — Opening of the coffin of Charles I. 
 in the vault of King Henry VIII. at St. George's, Windsor, 
 with a view to its identification — His report of the proceed- 
 ings — Death of Lady Denbigh and Sir Henry's succession to 
 Wistow — Its history in connection with the Halford family — 
 His alterations, extension and improvements of the hall, 
 grounds, and estate generally — His life at Wistow pp. 46-66 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Sir Henry Halford from 1820 to his death in 1844— Elected 
 president of the Royal College of Physicians — Becomes a 
 trustee of the British Museum — Death of his friend and 
 colleague, Dr. Baillie — Baillie's trust in Sir Henry Halford 
 as friend and as physician, reciprocated in full, by 
 Halford — His eulogium on Baillie from the chair of the 
 College of Physicians — Proposes the erection of a bust in 
 the college to his honour and memory — Threatened advent 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 of Asiatic cholera to this country in 1831 — Halford consulted 
 by the government — A Board of Health instituted, but super- 
 seded by a Central Board of Health — Death of Lady Halford 
 — Sir Henry admitted to an ad eundem degree at Cambridge 
 — Letter from the chancellor of the University, the Duke of 
 Gloucester — Death of two distinguished London physicians, 
 Dr. Maton and Dr. Pelham Warren — The death of Mr. 
 Lockley — Sir Henry Halford's statement of the circumstances 
 of that event — Sir Henry Halford's devotion to classical 
 subjects and to the composition of Latin poetry — His 
 " Nugas Metric se " — His decline of health, last illness, and 
 death — Buried at Wistow — Incription to his memory there — 
 His will pp. 67-100 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Sir Henry Halford and the College of Physicians — The college 
 in Warwick Lane, Newgate Street — Elected president of the 
 college — Applies himself to the removal of the college to the 
 West End — Obtains from the Crown a grant of the site in 
 Pall Mall East, on which the college now stands — Building 
 of the present college from the designs of Sir Robert Smirke 
 — A high honour conferred on the college by George IV. — 
 Dr. Southey admitted a fellow of the college by command of 
 the King — A bust of Sir Henry Halford voted by some of 
 the fellows in recognition of his eminent services to the 
 college — Opening of the new college — Distinguished persons 
 present on that occasion — Sir Henry defrays the expenses of 
 the opening — Evening meetings at the college — Their object 
 and success — Sir Henry Halford's communications at these 
 meetings — He encounters some unpopularity with junior 
 fellows of the college — Change in the constitution of the 
 college and in sequel thereto a lowering of the culture, 
 attainments and social position of the English physician — 
 Sir Henry delivers the Harveian oration of 1835 — His 
 nominations to the fellowship, speciali gratia . pp. 101-134 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Sir Henry Halford and the Royal Family — Is appointed physician- 
 extraordinary to the King — Is called into medical attendance 
 on the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester — Consulted by the 
 Duke of Kent ; by the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland — 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 Along with Dr. Baillie is placed in medical charge of the 
 Princess Amelia; her illness and death — George III.: his 
 command to Sir Henry Halford to assume the medical charge 
 of his Majesty if occasion should arise for it — The King's 
 attack, long illness, and death — Queen Charlotte's illness 
 and death — The Duke of York, his last illness, and circum- 
 stances attending it — Correspondence with Sir Herbert 
 Taylor — The Duke's death — Grant of armorial augmenta- 
 tions and supporters to Sir Henry Halford — He is appointed 
 physician to the Prince of Wales — Sir Matthew Tierney, 
 Bart. — Sir Henry appointed physician-in-ordinary to George 
 IV. — The King's illness immediately after his accession to 
 the throne; his habitual state of health during the ten 
 years of his reign ; his last illness and death — Sir Henry 
 Halford's vindication of the bulletins then issued and of the 
 conduct generally of the physicians — His exposition of the 
 rules to guide the conduct of physicians, in their intercourse 
 with patients under mortal or dangerous diseases — Presen- 
 tation to Sir Henry Halford by the Royal Family of a 
 splendid clock in testimony of gratitude for his professional 
 services to the Princess Amelia, the Queen Charlotte, 
 George III., the Duke of York, and George IV. — Appointed 
 first physician to William IV., who confers on him the Grand 
 Cross of Hanover — Last illness of William IV. — Sir Henry 
 Halford and Dr. Chambers called into attendance : circum- 
 stances attending it — The King's death — Sir Henry Halford 
 emphatically the friend of the Royal Family — His office of 
 actual medical attendant on the sovereign terminates. 
 
 pp. 135-195 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Sir Henry Halford much given to letter- writing — His letters from 
 members of the Royal Family — The Duke of Cumberland 
 and King of Hanover — The Duke of Kent — The Duke of 
 Cambridge, Viceroy of Hanover — The Duke of Sussex — 
 The Princess Augusta — The Princess Mary, Duchess of 
 Gloucester — Mrs. Fitzherbert .... pp. 196-218 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's correspondents continued — The Marquess 
 Wellesley — The Duke of Wellington — Sir Henry puts into 
 Latin the Duke's acceptance of the offer of the chancellor- 
 ship of the University of Oxford in 1834 — The Duke and 
 
CONTENTS xv 
 
 Duchess of Bedford — The Duke of Rutland— Sir Robert Peel, 
 Bart., suggests an alteration in Sir Henry's Latin translation of 
 Pope's Epistle to Gay — General Phipps — Lord Grosvenor — 
 Colonel Grosvenor — Lord Holland — The Duke of Dorset — 
 Duke of Cleveland — Handsome fee to Sir Henry Halford — 
 The elder d'Israeli's opinion of Halford — Letter from Sir 
 Henry Halford to Sir Charles Bell on his discovery of the 
 functions of the spinal nerves .... pp. 219-256 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's character — His personal appearance — 
 Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence at Wistow, and by H. 
 Room in 1837 — His mental characteristics, natural and 
 acquired — His habit of fixed attention — Dr. Warren his pro- 
 totype as a physician — His sketch of Dr. Warren — Sir Henry 
 essentially a practical bedside physician — His confidence in 
 the power of nature to cure disease — Influence of mind on 
 disease ; of hope and of fear — Confidence in the physician — 
 Sir Henry's treatment of symptoms — Sir Henry sanguine by 
 nature and hopeful under most circumstances — His innate 
 shrinking from bodily pain or mental suffering — Influence of 
 hope in the treatment of disease— Sir Henry Halford's 
 bearing in the sick chamber — His attainments as a practical 
 physician as compared with Dr. Baillie— Sir Benjamin 
 Brodie's opinion of Sir Henry Halford contested— Sir 
 Henry's scientific knowledge of medicine — His early 
 recognition of the value of vaccination; of the truth 
 of Sir Charles Bell's discovery of the functions of the 
 spinal nerves; of Dr. Prout's views of urinary pathology 
 and animal chemistry, and of the use of the stetho- 
 scope in the diagnosis of disease — His view of disease 
 essentially practical — The cure of disease the physician's 
 first object — Sir Henry's powers of diagnosis — A good 
 classical scholar — Love of Latin poetry — Spoke Latin with 
 ease and elegance — Fond of society and shone in it — An 
 excellent host — Himself helpless in money matters— Fond of 
 horses and dogs — Whist — Sir Henry's weaknesses and 
 failings — Quick of temper and hasty of speech — His courtly 
 manners — Effects on himself of his intimate and long con- 
 nection with the court — His services to the College of 
 Physicians, the profession, and to his patients — Testimonies 
 to his character— Attachment and liberality to his father 
 and brothers pp. 257-284 
 
PORTRAITS 
 
 Sir Henry Halford, Bart., M.D., President of the Royal 
 College of Physicians, from his portrait by Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence at Wistow . . To face title-page 
 
 Sir Henry Halford, from a drawing by H. Room, in 
 1837 To face chapter x. p. 257 
 
 ERRATA 
 
 P. 93, lines 17 and 22, and p. 94, line 4, for Granville 
 read Grenville. 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD, BART. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 
 
 The Vaughans of Leicester, or the sons of James 
 Vaughan, M.D., of that town, of whom Sir Henry 
 Halford was one, trace back to another physician 
 — to William Vaughan, a doctor of medicine of 
 Leyden, and, by incorporation on that degree, of 
 Cambridge also, and a fellow of the Royal College 
 of Physicians of London. He practised physic 
 for some years at Colchester, and subsequently for 
 many years in London, and died 4th July, 1712, 
 aged about sixty-four. On the 17th August, 1676, 
 he had married at Romford, Essex, Ann Newton 
 of Romford, spinster, a kinswoman, and apparently 
 a sister of Sir Henry Newton, who was employed 
 during the reign of Queen Anne in certain diplo- 
 matic missions to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and 
 the Republic of Genoa, wherein he acquitted him- 
 
2 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 self with much credit. Sir Henry Newton became 
 afterwards Master of St. Katherine's Hospital by 
 the Tower, and a Judge in the Court of Admiralty. 
 
 Dr. William Vaughan had by his wife several 
 children : one of these, Henry, was of Queen's 
 College, Cambridge, and as such proceeded A.M. 
 in 17 13. He received ordination in the Church 
 of England, and after holding the chaplaincy of 
 Ashe's Hospital and of the Haberdashers' Alms- 
 houses, both of them in London, was made by his 
 kinsman, Sir Henry Newton the master, Chaplain 
 to St. Katherine's. He officiated there for several 
 years, until presented by Lord Chancellor Parker 
 to two livings in Herefordshire, those of Leo- 
 minster and of Aymestry near it. He was soon 
 after appointed master of the Grammar School of 
 Leominster. He was an intimate friend of Dean 
 Swift, who used to stay with him at Leominster 
 on his way to Ireland. Mr. Vaughan died in 
 1762, aged seventy-five.* 
 
 The eldest son of the Rev. Henry Vaughan, 
 vicar of Leominster, was Henry Vaughan of 
 Leominster, surgeon, who was born 19th June, 
 
 * The youngest daughter of Dr. William Vaughan and sister 
 of the Rev. Henry Vaughan, became the wife of the Rev. 
 James Hodgson, and was the grandmother of the Rev. Francis 
 Hodgson, provost of Eton. 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 3 
 
 1 7 14, and died 23rd June, 1779, aged sixty-five. 
 He was buried at Leominster. He married Pru- 
 dence Weston, a Herefordshire lady, and by her 
 was the father, among others, of James Vaughan, 
 M.D., of Leicester. 
 
 James Vaughan, M.D., was born at Leominster, 
 and baptized there in 1 740. Of his general educa- 
 tion there is nothing recorded, but as he is known 
 to have been a competent scholar, and devoted to 
 the classics, he was probably at the Leominster 
 Grammar school, of which his grandfather was 
 then the master. He learnt the rudiments of his 
 future profession from his father, and then as a 
 house pupil, read for some time with Dr. John 
 Wall, a learned and celebrated physician, at Wor- 
 cester. He went next to Edinburgh, where in due 
 course he graduated Doctor of Medicine in June, 
 1762. He was admitted an extra-licentiate of 
 College of Physicians of London, 8th September, 
 1762. Dr. Vaughan then settled at Leicester, 
 where he practised with great reputation and 
 success for about forty years. He lived in a large 
 house at the corner of New Street and Friar 
 Lane, and subsequently at one in the High Street, 
 Leicester. He was physician to the Leicester 
 Infirmary, of which institution he was, in 1771, 
 one of the main founders. 
 
4 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Dr. Vaughan was a physician of no ordinary 
 attainments. Acute perception, accurate observa- 
 tion and a just appreciation of the practically 
 important circumstances of disease, were his 
 medical characteristics, to which were added a 
 well-founded reliance in the efficacy of medicine, 
 and no ordinary skill in its adaptation to the special 
 requirements of the case before him. His doses 
 of medicine are said to have been large, but they 
 were administered with a success which afforded 
 ample proof of their correctness. 
 
 Dr. Vaughan married Hester, the second 
 daughter of William Smalley, Esq., alderman of 
 Leicester, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard 
 Halford, Bart., of Wistow, co. Leicester. He had 
 by her seven sons and one daughter : James, 
 Henry, John, Peter, William Welby, Charles 
 Richard, Edward, Almena Selina. 
 
 Dr. Vaughan was a very strict disciplinarian in 
 his family. So ambitious was he for the success of 
 his sons, that he is reported to have said, he had 
 rather follow them to their graves than that they 
 should fail to achieve distinction in their respective 
 callings. 
 
 To five of his sons Dr. Vaughan gave the most 
 liberal education. He was himself a competent 
 scholar, and keenly alive to the advantages of 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 5 
 
 classical knowledge in any of the higher depart- 
 ments of life. When his sons attained the age 
 at which their education should commence, he had 
 already acquired a moderate competency ; and he 
 determined for the future to apply the whole of 
 his annual professional earnings to their education, 
 trusting that they would reap the harvest by 
 success in their respective professions. He 
 impressed upon them that they would succeed to 
 nothing at his death, for that all he could spare 
 for their sakes would be devoted to their educa- 
 tion. His sons were educated at Rugby, and 
 five of them received a complete University edu- 
 cation — the four elder at Oxford, the youngest at 
 Cambridge. The gratitude of his sons for this act 
 of self-denial and confidence in their exertions was 
 unbounded ; and Sir Henry Halford, in a biogra- 
 phical sketch of his brother, Mr. Justice Vaughan, 
 thus feelingly expressed himself: "All the sons 
 of the late Dr. Vaughan, of Leicester, acknowledge 
 with deep and sincere gratitude their father's 
 generosity, as well as his prudence, in resolving as 
 he did to lay out the annual produce of his pro- 
 fession in affording them the advantage of a liberal 
 education, whereby they might be enabled to make 
 their own fortunes, rather than to accumulate 
 resources not to be made available for any purposes 
 
6 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 of theirs until his death. He sent four of them, 
 therefore, to Oxford when they had left Rugby- 
 school, and the youngest subsequently to Cam- 
 bridge, and not one of them asked or received 
 assistance from him after he had finished his edu- 
 cation and commenced his own efforts to provide 
 for himself. The success of these brothers in their 
 several callings, with the distinctions acquired by 
 each of them, has abundantly justified their parent's 
 sagacity and his liberality, and we record the fact 
 with pleasure, as furnishing a good and useful 
 example of the result of so much prudence and 
 so generous a self-denial." 
 
 It should be added that Dr. Vaughan survived 
 not only to be a witness of the success and emi- 
 nence of Sir Henry Halford, but to receive from 
 him for many years an annuity of three hundred 
 pounds in augmentation of his own pecuniary 
 resources. Dr. Vaughan, conscious of his own 
 failing powers, withdrew from the practice of his 
 profession several years before his death. His 
 memory after a time utterly failed him, and he 
 sank gradually into a state of senile imbecility. 
 He died at Leicester on the 19th August, 181 3, 
 in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was 
 buried at Wistow, where a tablet in the church 
 commemorates him thus : 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 7 
 
 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF 
 JAMES VAUGHAN, M.D., AND OF HESTER HIS WIFE 
 
 WHO ARE INTERRED BENEATH THIS TABLET. 
 
 JAMES VAUGHAN WAS DESCENDED FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY IN 
 
 HEREFORDSHIRE, 
 
 AND PRACTISED PHYSIC IN LEICESTER ABOUT FORTY YEARS 
 
 WITH THAT FACILITY AND SUCCESS WHICH A QUICK PERCEPTION, 
 
 A SOUND JUDGMENT, 
 AND A PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESOURCES OF HIS ART WERE 
 
 CALCULATED TO COMMAND. 
 
 HE DIED AUGUST THE I9TH, 1813, IN THE 75TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 HESTER VAUGHAN WAS THE SECOND DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM SMALLEY.ESQ., 
 
 OF LEICESTER, 
 
 BY ELIZABETH HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER OF SIR RICHARD HALFORD, BART., 
 
 OF THIS PLACE, 
 
 AND WAS ONE OF THE GENTLEST AND MOST AMIABLE OF WOMEN. 
 
 SHE DIED APRIL THE 2ND, I79I, IN THE 5IST YEAR OF HER AGE. 
 
 BY THIS CONNECTION WITH THE HOUSE OF WISTOW AND BY THE KIND 
 
 DISTINCTION OF SIR CHARLES HALFORD, BART., 
 
 THE LAST MALE HEIR OF THE HALFORDS, 
 
 HENRY, ELDEST SURVIVING SON OF JAMES AND HESTER VAUGHAN, 
 
 SUCCEEDED TO 
 
 THE POSSESSIONS OF THAT ANCIENT AND LOYAL FAMILY. 
 
 A portrait of Dr. Vaughan is in the great hall 
 of the mansion at Wistow, as is also one of his wife. 
 
 A few particulars relating to the sons of Dr. 
 Vaughan may be interesting, and are subjoined. 
 
 I. James Vaughan, the eldest born, was placed 
 at Rugby School in 1774; but of his progress 
 there, nothing is known. He was matriculated at 
 Balliol College, Oxford, in October, 1783, aged 
 
8 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 eighteen, but left the university without any de- 
 gree. In expectation of succeeding to the Wistow 
 estate he was not bred to any profession. Leaving 
 home early he made what was regarded by his 
 family as an imprudent marriage on the 7th June, 
 1786, to Mary Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Sir 
 Everard Bucknorth Heme. James Vaughan died 
 29th May, 1788, in the twenty-third year of his 
 age, and is buried in Heydon Church, Essex. 
 
 II. Henry, who became Sir Henry Halford, 
 Bart, and is the subject of the following pages. 
 
 III. The Right Hon. Sir John Vaughan, born 
 nth of February 1769. He was educated at 
 Rugby and at Queen's College, Oxford, but left 
 the university without taking a degree, and then 
 took to the law. Foss, in his " Judges of England," 
 writes thus of him: " Called to the bar in 1791, 
 he chose the Midland Circuit, and by his agreeable 
 manners and good connection speedily succeeded. 
 His advance was rapid : first he was elected 
 recorder of his native place, Leicester, and in 1 799 
 he took the degree of Serjeant* at- Law. Dur- 
 ing the next twenty-eight years he had an immense 
 business, which he owed less to his legal acquire- 
 ments than to his fluency of speech, and the 
 energy and pertinacity which he always displayed 
 for his clients. In fact, he was not deeply learned 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 9 
 
 in the science, and knew little of the law of real 
 property. But he was industrious and painstaking, 
 and though his manner was somewhat boisterous, 
 his addresses to the jury were humorous and 
 effective. For his subsequent advances, in 1814 
 as Solicitor, and in 18 16 as Attorney-General to 
 Queen Charlotte ; in the same year as King's 
 Serjeant; and lastly, on 24th February, 1827, as a 
 Baron of the Exchequer in the place of Sir Robert 
 Graham, he was no doubt greatly indebted to the 
 influence of his brother, the Royal physician. After 
 sitting in the Exchequer for seven years, he 
 exchanged, on 29th April, 1834, with Sir Edward 
 Alderson into the Common Pleas, and was at 
 the same time honoured with a seat in the Privy 
 Council, where he remained till his sudden death, 
 in September, 1839, of a heart complaint. As a 
 judge, he was much respected for his kind and 
 gentlemanly demeanour, and though not pretend- 
 ing to any superior legal knowledge, his good sense, 
 patience, impartiality and care, enabled him to per- 
 form his judicial functions very satisfactorily." 
 
 He is buried at Wistow, and in the church there 
 is a mural tablet to his memory, with an inscription 
 from the pen of his brother, Sir Henry Halford. 
 His portrait, in his judge's robes, is in the great 
 hall at Wistow. 
 
10 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 IV. The very Reverend Peter Vaughan, edu- 
 cated, as were his brothers, at Rugby school, went 
 thence to Merton College, Oxford, where he 
 gained the Latin prize " Ars Chemica." He took 
 his Arts degrees in due course and was elected 
 a fellow of his College. In 1792 he became an 
 assistant-master at Rugby school. He proceeded 
 B.D. in 1806 and D.D. in 18 10, and in that year 
 was elected to the headship of his College — 
 Warden of Merton. He was installed Dean of 
 Chester nth May, 1820, and died at Merton 
 College, Oxford, 25th April, 1825. 
 
 V. William Welby Vaughan was born in 1772. 
 He emigrated to Jamaica, and died there, unmar- 
 ried, in 1803. 
 
 VI. The Right Hon. Sir Charles Vaughan 
 was born at Leicester the 20th December, 1774. 
 He, like his brother Henry, was bred to physic, 
 but he diverted to the diplomatic line. He was 
 educated at Rugby school, on leaving which, in 
 1 79 1, he removed to Oxford and entered as a 
 commoner at Merton College. He took the 
 degree of B.A. in 1796, and then went to Edin- 
 burgh, where he spent two winter sessions in the 
 study of medicine. He then returned to Oxford, 
 and was elected a fellow of All Souls' College. 
 In 1800 he proceeded Bachelor of Medicine, and 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 11 
 
 was elected one of the Radcliffe travelling fellows. 
 In conformity with the conditions of this endow- 
 ment he travelled — extensively and adventurously 
 — in Europe and Asia. In 1808, on the outbreak 
 of the insurrection in Spain against the usurpations 
 of Buonaparte, he repaired to Corunna. Thence 
 he went to Saragossa, where he made the intimate 
 acquaintance of Palafox, from whom he obtained 
 information of the celebrated siege of that place, 
 enabling him to publish an account of it in Eng- 
 land, which contributed largely to increase the 
 sympathy of Englishmen with Spanish patriotism, 
 and which afterwards led to such great results. 
 From Saragossa he accompanied Palafox to the 
 encounter with the French armies in Arragon, 
 where, in a short time, the Spaniards were dis- 
 astrously defeated. Returning by way of Madrid 
 and thence to Corunna, he on his way conveyed 
 to Sir John Moore the first intimation of the 
 approach of an overwhelming force of the French 
 army, which created the necessity for an imme- 
 diate retreat of the English. He embarked at 
 Corunna and returned for a time to England ; but 
 shortly afterwards proceeded again to Spain, 
 accompanying Sir Henry Wellesley to Cadiz, 
 where he was present at the sittings of the Cortes. 
 Next he became Secretary of Legation to Sir 
 
12 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Henry Wellesley at Madrid. He continued there 
 after the conclusion of the war in the Peninsula, 
 and during the absence of his chief performed, 
 with great credit to himself, the duties of Minister 
 there. 
 
 He next became Secretary to the Embassy at 
 Paris, where his old friend, Sir Charles Stuart, 
 was Ambassador ; and from thence proceeded to 
 Berne to represent British interests there, as 
 Minister-Plenipotentiary in Switzerland. He was 
 afterwards for some years Minister to the United 
 States of America, where he fully supported the 
 honour of England, yet maintained at the same 
 time great popularity with Americans by his 
 amiable qualities and generous hospitality. He 
 returned to England in the beginning of 183 1, 
 was knighted in 1833, and was named a Privy 
 Councillor in 1837. His last appointment was 
 that of Ambassador to Constantinople to replace 
 Lord Ponsonby, who, owing to some misunder- 
 standing, had intimated a desire for retirement ; 
 but matters having been arranged with him, Sir 
 Charles Vaughan did not proceed to Turkey. 
 He died, 15th June, 1849, and was buried at 
 Kensal Green. His portrait is in the great hall 
 at Wistow. 
 
 VII. The Rev. Edward Thomas Vaughan, 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 13 
 
 the youngest of seven brothers, was also at Rugby- 
 school, from which he went, not to Oxford as had 
 done four of his brothers, but to Cambridge — to 
 Trinity College, where he took the two degrees 
 in Arts, A.B. 1796, A.M. 1799, and was elected a 
 fellow of that College. He received holy orders, 
 and became vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, and 
 rector of the depopulated parish, Foston, in the 
 same county. He died suddenly from disease of 
 the heart at Foston, the 27th September, 1829, 
 in the fifty-third year of his age. Mr. Vaughan's 
 religious views were somewhat extreme. He was 
 an uncompromising "evangelical," and his opinions 
 were very strongly expressed, for he had a remark- 
 able command of language. He was attentive 
 and zealous in the discharge of his parochial duties 
 and of great benevolence. His congregation and 
 fellow-townsmen at Leicester were warmly attached 
 to him, and this feeling was strongly attested at 
 his funeral, during which the shops of the town 
 were for the most part closed and business sus- 
 pended. His parishioners of St. Martin's erected 
 in that church a monument to his memory, on 
 which is the following inscription, from the pen of 
 Sir Henry Halford : 
 
14 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 EDWARD THOMAS VAUGHAN, M.A. 
 
 A FAITHFUL AND ZEALOUS MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 AND MORE THAN TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS VICAR OF THIS PARISH 
 
 WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 27TH, 1829, IN THE 53RD YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED 
 
 BY HIS AFFECTIONATE PARISHIONERS 
 
 TO RECORD THEIR ATTACHMENT AND GRATITUDE TO HIM 
 
 FOR HAVING TAUGHT THEM BY HIS DOCTRINE 
 
 AND LED THEM BY HIS EXAMPLE 
 
 THE WAY TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS 
 
 THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The above inscription would seem to most 
 persons unexceptionable, but it failed to satisfy 
 one friend of the deceased — Mr. Drummond, the 
 banker and zealous Irvingite — who, in a letter to 
 Sir Henry Halford, dated 19th May, 1830, sub- 
 jected it to the following acute criticism : 
 
 " If you will not think me very presumptuous, 
 and pardon me if you do, I should like to venture 
 a remark or two upon your inscription. Your 
 brother was as eminent in his line as you are in 
 yours. And an inscription for him, difficult as 
 such things are in all cases, is doubly so in his 
 case. You would not think an inscription to 
 Harvey perfect that did not notice his discovery 
 respecting the blood ; nor that of Davy, which 
 made no allusion to his chemical researches. In 
 like manner the peculiar line of your brother's 
 
THE VAUGHANS OF LEICESTER 15 
 
 divinity, in which he reduced to system and 
 consistency the loose declamations of Hooker, 
 Charnock, Baxter and others, should, if possible, 
 be noticed." 
 
 Mr. Drummond was a very old and intimate 
 friend of Sir Henry Halford's, and one of his 
 earliest patients in London. So far as I see this 
 letter led to no alteration in Sir Henry's original 
 draft of the inscription. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HENRY VAUGHAN'S EDUCATION, GENERAL AND 
 PROFESSIONAL 
 
 Henry Vaughan, who subsequently became Sir 
 Henry Halford, Bart, was the second but eldest 
 surviving son of James Vaughan, M.D., of 
 Leicester, by his wife Hester Smalley, and was 
 born in Leicester on the 2nd October, 1766. 
 
 He was educated at Rugby school, and was 
 admitted there in 1774, when but eight years of 
 age, and earlier than had been intended by his 
 father ; who at that time went to Rugby, to place 
 his eldest son, James, under the head-master, 
 Mr. Stanley Burrough. They travelled from 
 Leicester, a distance of about twenty miles, on 
 horseback, and Henry, as a treat, was allowed to 
 accompany them, with the intention that he should 
 return with his father ; but once at Rugby he en- 
 treated that he might remain and was permitted 
 to do so. He was noted at Rugby for diligence 
 and for the close attention with which he 
 
EDUCATION, GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL 17 
 
 pursued his studies, and he there evinced that 
 love of classical literature for which he was after- 
 wards distinguished. 
 
 On leaving Rugby he proceeded to Oxford and 
 was matriculated at Christ Church the 2nd of 
 November, 1781, being then but fifteen years of 
 age. He applied with zeal and success to all the 
 subjects required for degrees in arts, especially to 
 the Latin and Greek classics. He pondered over 
 and mastered the beauties and subtleties of the 
 several authors he read ; and came out, if not a 
 deeply learned at the least a very elegant and 
 graceful scholar. He availed himself, too, at 
 Oxford of such aids as were there afforded for the 
 study of subjects akin to the profession — that of 
 medicine — for which he was destined. He at- 
 tended the lectures of Dr. Martin Wall on 
 chemistry, and those on clinical medicine by the 
 same teacher at the Radcliffe Infirmary. His 
 notes of the chemical course are full, and are a 
 proof of the interest he took in the subject and 
 of the thoroughness with which he studied it. 
 
 In due course he passed the exercises for his 
 degree in arts, but he did not actually proceed to 
 it till the 31st January, 1788. His M.A. dates 
 the 17th June, 1788. 
 
 When about to leave Oxford he was addressed 
 
18 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 by his elder brother, James Vaughan, then an 
 undergraduate of Balliol, in the following lines, 
 which, if not above the average of merit in juvenile 
 poetry, are to the credit of both brothers as a 
 testimony of affection. They are, too, noteworthy 
 as a prediction of the young student's professional 
 success. 
 
 Verses to a Brother on his leaving Oxford to study 
 Physick in Edinburgh. 
 
 Ere yet, ingenuous youth, thy steps retreat 
 
 From Isis' banks, the Muse's favourite seat, 
 
 O let thy brother (and he boasts that name) 
 
 Breathe forth a verse, thy early virtues claim. 
 
 Let him in these few lines, this parting lay, 
 
 Some little token of his love betray, 
 
 Show that affection ever is the same, 
 
 That absence tends but to increase the flame ; 
 
 And though thy worth a loftier strain requires, 
 
 A bard that's blessed with Pope's or Dryden's fires, 
 
 Haply thou may'st not with disdain refuse 
 
 The trifling product of an humbler Muse. 
 
 The time arrives when you must bid adieu 
 
 To Oxford's plains, and worthier scenes pursue ; 
 
 When you must quit the present tedious plan, 
 
 And study Nature's laws in studying man. 
 
 No more in Christ Church walls shalt thou peruse 
 
 The lofty flights of Pindar's rapid Muse ; 
 
 No more shall Virgil's captivating lay 
 
 E'er claim a portion of thy future day ; 
 
 No more shalt thou consume the midnight oil 
 
 In studying Euclid with unwearied toil ; 
 
 No more with fixed attention mark the page 
 
EDUCATION, GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL 19 
 
 Where Sylla burns with unrelenting rage, 
 
 Where Rome, well knowing her unhappy state, 
 
 Curses in vain the direful will of Fate. 
 
 Far worthier thoughts thy virtuous mind engage, 
 
 Thoughts that deserve thy care and suit thy age. 
 
 Lo ! where afar o'er yonder northern sky 
 
 Fair science rears her radiant head on high, 
 
 See in her hand a laurel crown she shows, 
 
 Waiting to decorate thy honoured brows. 
 
 Hark ! how she calls thee in melodious strain 
 
 To taste the pleasures of her learned train, 
 
 Bids thee to Oxford give a long adieu, 
 
 And dwell awhile amidst her chosen few. 
 
 Go then, fair youth, attend her grateful call, 
 
 There learn to raise the sinking e'er they fall, 
 
 Learn by unwearied diligence with ease 
 
 To check the rapid progress of disease ; 
 
 To quench the rage of fever's burning heat, 
 
 To replace health upon her long-lost seat, 
 
 To turn aside, with scientifick art, 
 
 Consumption's slow but never-erring dart. 
 
 Learn by thy healing influence to cheer 
 
 The downcast looks of sorrow and despair, 
 
 To pity those whom poverty hath made 
 
 Deserving objects of thy tender aid. 
 
 Thus shall thy days in endless bliss be past, 
 
 Each hour succeeding happier than the last, 
 
 While future ages shall thy praise proclaim, 
 
 And say, " This youth transcends his father's fame." 
 
 On quitting Oxford he went to Edinburgh, the 
 seat of a complete and excellent medical school. 
 In this he followed the example of our best 
 English physicians, who sought elsewhere the 
 medical instruction they could not obtain at 
 
20 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Oxford or Cambridge. Linacre, Caius and 
 Harvey went to Padua ; Mead and Sir George 
 Baker to Leyden. Our future president selected 
 Edinburgh, then at the zenith of its reputation, 
 and as a school of medicine equal, in some points 
 superior, to any other in Europe. 
 
 The full medical curriculum at Edinburgh 
 comprised then, as now, three winter sessions, 
 each of six months' duration — from November to 
 the end of April. Henry Vaughan went through 
 the entire course. He was there through the 
 sessions of 1786-87, 1787-88 and 1788-89. Edin- 
 burgh was then at its best. Cullen was still living 
 and lecturing, though in sequel to age failing 
 somewhat. Anatomy was taught by the second 
 and greatest of the Monros ; Chemistry by Black ; 
 and the Institutes of Medicine by Gregory, the 
 accomplished author of the " Conspectus Medi- 
 cinse Theoreticse." 
 
 Henry Vaughan's attention was given especially 
 to chemistry and anatomy. He attended two 
 complete courses on the former subject, and 
 three courses on the latter ; and his notes of 
 these, still at Wistow, are full, minute, and 
 in their bearing essentially practical. He 
 attended too, with diligence and great interest, 
 the lectures of Dr. James Gregory, especially those 
 
EDUCATION, GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL 21 
 
 on therapeutics, from which he learnt much.* 
 He was assiduous, too, in his attendance upon the 
 medical practice of the Royal Infirmary. 
 
 I dwell at length on the course of studies at 
 Edinburgh because it was said very inaccurately, 
 after Sir Henry Halford's death, by one of his 
 surgical contemporaries,! that he was wanting in 
 a scientific knowledge of his profession. To this 
 I shall refer more fully in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 In the intervals between the Edinburgh sessions 
 he returned to Leicester and applied himself closely 
 to the practical study of disease, at the bedside, 
 under the able guidance of his father, an experi- 
 enced and excellent physician, primarily and princi- 
 pally at the Leicester Infirmary, to which institution 
 Dr. Vaughan was physician and of which he had 
 been in great measure the founder. He was, too, 
 the almost constant companion and attendant on 
 his father in his private practice, which was very 
 extensive in Leicester and the surrounding country. 
 Of these private cases the son took copious notes, 
 which are still preserved at Wistow. Among the 
 patients to whom the younger Vaughan was thus 
 
 * The substance of these really remarkable lectures is to be 
 seen in the second part — Pars altera, in qua de Therapeia 
 agitur — of the " Conspectus Medicinae Theoreticse." 
 
 t Sir Benjamin Brodie. 
 
22 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 introduced were many of the most distinguished 
 and well-known names in Leicestershire. 
 
 He proceeded Bachelor of Medicine at Oxford 
 on the 14th January, 1790, and then began to 
 practise on his own account. He did so in the first 
 instance at Leicester in connection with but inde- 
 pendent of his father. Among the persons who 
 then employed him are the names of several 
 families of consideration in Leicestershire : Earl 
 Ferrers, repeatedly, Lord Sherard, Sir Thomas 
 Apreece, Mrs. Bewicke, Miss Packe, &c, whose 
 good opinion and confidence he had probably 
 secured during his attendance on them with his 
 father 
 
 He took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at 
 Oxford 27th October, 1791, and about that time 
 planned to settle and establish himself as a phy- 
 sician at Scarborough. This he proceeded to do 
 at the commencement of the next season there, 
 July, 1792. He was probably attracted thither by 
 the circumstance that it was the favourite resort 
 of the best families of the Midland counties and 
 of many of his Leicestershire acquaintances. 
 His success at Scarborough was considerable, and 
 from his fee-book, now before me, I gather that in 
 the ten weeks he was there — from July 25th to 
 October 6th, 1792 — he received in fees over one 
 
EDUCATION, GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL 23 
 
 hundred and thirty guineas. Among his patients 
 there were Lord Blayney, Lady E. Stewart, Lady 
 Gavine, the Honourable Mrs. Kepple, and several 
 other distinguished persons. 
 
 He entered into all the amusements of the place, 
 and became known to and on friendly terms with 
 most of the visitors there, by whom he was urged 
 not to bury himself in a provincial town, and least 
 of all in a summer watering-place, but try his for- 
 tune in London, and promising, should he do so, 
 to exert all their influence for him there. 
 
 But he determined, before deciding, to consult 
 Sir George Baker, the President of the College of 
 Physicians and the acknowledged head of the 
 medical profession in England. In a visit to 
 London some time before this he had become 
 known to Sir George and had dined with him in 
 Jermyn Street. Among the guests on that 
 occasion was Dr. Warton, the Provost of Eton, 
 who in the course of the evening was seized with 
 agonising pain in the loins due to the passage of 
 a stone from the kidney. He was attended to by 
 Sir George and Dr. Vaughan ; and the veteran 
 physician was impressed by the ready assistance 
 and nice discrimination of his young friend, and 
 conceived a high opinion of his talents and of his 
 prospects in the profession. 
 
24 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Sir George Baker, on being now consulted, told 
 Dr. Vaughan that he stood little chance of earn- 
 ing a livelihood in the metropolis for five years, 
 during which time he must support himself from 
 other sources at the rate of about ,£300 a year. 
 Nothing daunted, and doubtless confident in his 
 own powers, he, with this intention (and the 
 alternative in case of failure of returning to 
 Leicester to take his father's position there), 
 borrowed one thousand pounds of his patient and 
 friend Lady Apreece, and on that capital com- 
 menced his career in London at the end of 1792. 
 He resided in Queen Street, Mayfair, probably in 
 apartments, and on the 20th February, 1793, was 
 elected physician to the Middlesex Hospital. 
 He was admitted a candidate of the College of 
 Physicians the 25th March, 1793, and a fellow 
 of that body the 14th April, 1794. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1 809 
 
 Dr. Henry Vaughan's education, preliminary, 
 general and professional, had been of the best 
 kind — ample and complete in all its parts. By 
 earnest study and close attention at the Infirmary 
 of Edinburgh and under his father at Leicester 
 he had already become a sound practical 
 physician, to whom, as it would seem, nothing 
 had been denied by nature and all that could 
 be had been supplied by education. Thus 
 fitted he entered on his medical career in 
 London. 
 
 His Oxford connexions, his classical attain- 
 ments and pleasing manners and the influence of 
 his Leicestershire and Scarborough friends, soon 
 introduced him into good society in London ; 
 and he secured for himself a position among the 
 aristocracy by his marriage, on the 31st March, 
 1795, to the Honourable Elizabeth Barbara 
 
26 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 St. John, the third daughter of John, eleventh 
 Lord St. John of Bletsoe. 
 
 Dr. Vaughan's success would seem from the 
 first to have keen certain ; and Dr. Richard 
 Warren, then the leading and most popular 
 physician in London and a man of shrewd obser- 
 vation and sound judgment, predicted, on Dr. 
 Vaughan's settling in London, that he would rise 
 to the head of his profession. His progress 
 towards that position was rapid. Before he had 
 been a year in London, and while not yet twenty- 
 seven years of age, he was sworn physician- 
 extraordinary to the King. There is no other 
 instance in the annals of the Court, before or 
 since this, of the appointment of so young a man 
 to this or such an office. 
 
 Dr. Vaughan continued up to the time of his 
 marriage to attend each summer at Scarborough 
 for the three months of the season there. In this 
 he but followed the example of many young and 
 promising London physicians. His friend Dr. 
 Warren had so attended at Tunbridge Wells, Sir 
 Lucas Pepys at Brighton, and others at Bath, 
 Harrogate and Buxton. 
 
 About the time of Dr. Vaughan's marriage he 
 removed to Clarges Street, and remained there 
 until 1802 when he went to Curzon Street — 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 27 
 
 No. 16 — the fine and commodious house next to 
 Wharncliffe House, where he lived the remainder 
 of his life and in which he died. 
 
 By the year 1800 his private engagements had 
 become so numerous that he was compelled to 
 relinquish his office of physician to the Middlesex 
 Hospital. 
 
 Several circumstances conspired about this time 
 to add to his reputation and advance his interests. 
 Upon St. Luke's day, 1800, he delivered the 
 Harveian Oration to his colleagues, the fellows 
 of the Royal College of Physicians. It was in 
 choice Latin and in excellent taste throughout. 
 His tribute to the memory of his friend Dr. 
 Warren, then but recently dead, and his eulogy 
 of the characters and services to the College and 
 to the public of Dr. Heberden and Sir George 
 Baker, both of whom were living but aged, were 
 conceived in the best spirit and clothed in the 
 choicest terms. The oration was generally 
 admired and established his reputation as a 
 scholar with the fellows of the College and with 
 his friends and acquaintances outside it. 
 
 In the spring of 1806, Georgina, the beautiful 
 Duchess of Devonshire, whose features are 
 familiar to most persons from Gainsborough's 
 unrivalled portrait, fell ill while dining at the 
 
28 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Marquis of Stafford's of a disorder, the seat and 
 nature of which long eluded detection, although 
 her Grace was attended by several of the most 
 eminent physicians of the time. The illness 
 began with severe pain in the back at about the 
 level of the waist and to the right of the spine, 
 on the subsidence of which shortly after there was 
 a fever, irregular in its paroxysms and intermittent 
 or remittent in type, the attacks of which 
 terminated in copious sweats. Under this fever 
 the body wasted and her Grace's strength rapidly 
 declined. For the rest there was a weak and 
 rapid pulse, and disorder of the stomach as 
 evinced by frequent vomiting. The disease was 
 thought to be aguish in character, and the bark 
 was administered, but without any benefit. 
 
 After some days, when the anxiety about the 
 Duchess had become extreme, Dr. Vaughan was 
 added to the many physicians already in attend- 
 ance. He had been in medical attendance on 
 the Duke of Devonshire in the spring of 1804 
 and was so again after the death of the Duchess. 
 He observed that in addition to the symptoms 
 detailed above there was a yellowish tinge of the 
 eyes and a deep brown hue of the skin during the 
 febrile paroxysm, and that pain was produced 
 by firm pressure in the region of the liver. 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 29 
 
 Dr. Vaughan concluded that the fever was a hectic, 
 and its cause an abscess in the liver. In this 
 opinion he stood alone among his colleagues, but 
 he adhered to it to the last. The Duchess died, 
 and on the examination of the body after death 
 by Mr. subsequently Sir Everard Home, the only 
 diseased conditions that could be detected were in 
 the stomach and liver — gall stones, "tubercles," 
 and what Dr. Vaughan had predicted, collections 
 of matter or abscesses in the substance of that 
 organ. 
 
 Attempts were made, especially by Mr. Home, 
 to explain away these facts and to disparage Dr. 
 Vaughan's diagnosis of the disease. Under these 
 circumstances Dr. Vaughan addressed to Lord 
 John Townsend, an intimate friend of the Duke 
 of Devonshire, the following letter : 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "As I have just reason to believe that 
 the report which has been made of the appear- 
 ances which presented themselves on examination 
 of the body of the late Duchess of Devonshire is 
 conveyed in technical terms so as to be scarcely 
 intelligible to the family, I take the liberty of 
 offering your Lordship a plain narrative, for the 
 truth of which I pledge myself solemnly as a 
 physician and a gentleman. 
 
SO LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " On opening the head, the bloodvessels of the 
 membranes investing the brain were all more 
 turgid with blood than is usual, and a small 
 portion of a colourless fluid was found effused 
 between those membranes, and also into the 
 cavities of the brain ; but not enough to be con- 
 sidered as a dropsy of the brain. 
 
 " The stomach was highly inflamed throughout 
 the whole extent of its inner coat, and particularly 
 about the lower orifice of it which leads into the 
 intestines. 
 
 " The liver had a number of small tubercles on 
 its surface, and the great lobe contained two of a 
 larger size filled with matter. The small lobe 
 was almost wholly occupied by another tubercle 
 filled with matter. The bulk of the liver was 
 rather more considerable than is common, and its 
 substance more pulpy and of less firm texture 
 than is usual. 
 
 " The gall bladder and ducts contained four 
 gall stones, two of which were equal in magni- 
 tude each to a hazel nut, the others of a smaller 
 size. 
 
 " A further examination of the other viscera was 
 not thought necessary. 
 
 " How far these appearances confirm the opinion 
 which I gave to my colleagues at our first con- 
 sultation, and maintained at every subsequent one, 
 and communicated frequently to your Lordship, 
 previously to the melancholy termination of the 
 Duchess's life, I leave it to your Lordship to 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 31 
 
 judge. That opinion imported that I considered 
 the fever not a primary disease, but as symp- 
 tomatic of an imposthume in the liver. 
 
 " Henry Vaughan." 
 
 This letter was communicated to the Duke of 
 Devonshire, who replied to Lord John Townsend 
 as follows : 
 
 " Dear Lord John, 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for your 
 letter and write this to say that I am pretty well. 
 
 " With respect to what you say concerning Dr. 
 Vaughan I have only to assure you that I am 
 entirely and perfectly satisfied with his conduct, 
 but it appears to me that declarations from me to 
 that effect might seem to infer that it has been 
 supposed that I was not so. I cannot imagine 
 that there has been any such supposition, but if 
 there has, it has been without the smallest degree 
 of foundation. 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Devonshire." 
 
 In a correspondence which ensued between 
 Dr. Vaughan, Sir Walter Farquhar, and Mr. Home, 
 Dr. Vaughan gave expression to the following 
 sensible remarks : 
 
 " I cannot reconcile it to myself to use terms of 
 art when the fact may be explained in plain 
 
32 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 language." And again, in another letter : " I 
 object (and I objected at the time strenuously) 
 to the use of technical language in the conveyance 
 of that information to the family, which the Duke 
 of Devonshire required, and more particularly to 
 the statement of the principal fact of the case, in 
 such terms of art as are intelligible only to the 
 profession." 
 
 The facts of the Duchess of Devonshire's illness 
 became widely known in the highest circles of 
 society, and with the effect, as might be antici- 
 pated, of increasing Dr. Vaughan's reputation and 
 adding largely to his professional engagements. 
 Lady Halford told Dr. Francis Hawkins, that 
 from the time of the Duchess of Devonshire's 
 death, the door-bell in Curzon Street Jwas rarely 
 still, and that thenceforth there was never any 
 want of patients. 
 
 One of the many patients attracted to Dr. 
 Vaughan, in consequence of the Duchess of 
 Devonshire's case, was the statesman, Charles 
 James Fox. He was one of her Grace's most at- 
 tached friends, and had been an anxious observer 
 of all that occurred during the course of her ill- 
 ness. Mr. Fox's health had then been failing for 
 some months, and continued to do so in marked 
 degree through the whole month of March, 1 806, 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 33 
 
 when his friends were convinced that he was fast 
 breaking. At this time he consulted Dr. Vaughan, 
 who urged the necessity of care, attention and 
 quiet, and under his treatment there was, for a 
 time, a marked improvement in Mr. Fox's con- 
 dition. In June, however, the symptoms returned 
 with redoubled violence, and by the end of that 
 month decided signs of dropsy appeared. Dr. 
 Vaughan was now again called in ; and, as we are 
 told by Lord Holland, was allowed to examine 
 Mr. Fox more minutely than he had hitherto 
 permitted him or any other physician to do. 
 Though neither impatient nor desponding in sick- 
 ness, Mr. Fox had little confidence in medical 
 skill, and less curiosity even on subjects connected 
 with the health and management of the human 
 body than on any other. Medicines now failed to 
 relieve, and tapping was had recourse to once and 
 again. But the disease ran its usual course, and 
 ended fatally the 13th September, 1806. 
 
 The following letter from Lord Holland to Dr. 
 Vaughan is not dated, but must have been written 
 soon after Dr. Vaughan resumed his attendance 
 and treatment — i.e., about June 26th, 1806. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I found my uncle much satisfied with 
 his conversation with you, and highly pleased with 
 
 c 
 
34> LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 the clearness with which you explained to him 
 your views of his case. As, therefore, he is so 
 much disposed to talk openly to you without 
 reserve, I hope you have fixed some hour to be 
 there to-morrow, and if you have, I will thank 
 you to let me know when it is, as I wish to meet 
 
 you there. " Yours, 
 
 " Holland." 
 
 Among Dr. Vaughan's early medical friends in 
 London, those to whom as a junior physician he 
 was accustomed to look up, and to consult when 
 consultation was needed, were in the first place 
 Sir George Baker and Dr. Warren, then Dr. 
 Revell Reynolds and Sir Walter Farquhar, and 
 later, Dr. Matthew Baillie. Of Dr. Warren and 
 Dr. Baillie I have spoken enough elsewhere in this 
 volume. 
 
 Sir George Baker was a profound and elegant 
 scholar, the soundness of whose judgment was 
 acknowledged by all. To him the whole medical 
 world looked up with respect, and in the treat- 
 ment of any disease in the least degree unusual, if 
 it was desired to know all that had ever been said 
 or written on the subject, from the most remote 
 antiquity down to the case in question, a consulta- 
 tion was proposed with Sir George Baker. From 
 his erudition everything was expected. He was 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 35 
 
 particularly kind to the rising- members of his pro- 
 fession, whom he encouraged and informed with 
 great condescension and apparent interest;* as he 
 had done in an especial manner Dr. Vaughan, 
 when consulted by him, as to the chances of his 
 success as a physician in the metropolis. Sir 
 George Baker and Dr. Warren were the two 
 senior physicians to whom Dr. Vaughan was 
 accustomed to look for consultation and aid in 
 the earliest years of his practice in London. 
 
 Dr. Reynolds was an able physician, and on the 
 death of Dr. Warren succeeded to one of the best 
 medical practices in the metropolis. We are told 
 by his contemporaries that he was singularly 
 happy in the selection and combination of his 
 remedies. " There was something introduced for 
 every symptom or even inconvenience, yet the 
 whole harmonised and had immediate reference to 
 the principal complaint." I have before me notes 
 of some of Dr. Vaughan's consultations with Dr. 
 Reynolds, and of hints derived from him, on the 
 actions and uses of drugs and the treatment of 
 diseases. I have little doubt that some part 
 at least of Sir Henry Halford's characteristics 
 in practice and acknowledged excellence in the 
 
 * The Gold-headed Cane, edited by William MunkjIsM.D. 
 8vo. London, 1884, p. 138. 
 
36 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 art of prescribing, were derived from Dr. Rey- 
 nolds. 
 
 Sir Walter Farquhar was a physician of large 
 experience and sound judgment in physic. He 
 was a warm and steady friend, ever ready to 
 forward merit where he found it, and he did so 
 in the instance of Dr. Vaughan, especially in the 
 case of the Duchess of Devonshire and in the 
 controversy that ensued upon it, siding with 
 him at this, a very critical moment in his medical 
 history. 
 
 Dr. Vaughan's business, even before his attend- 
 ance on the Duchess of Devonshire, was already 
 very large, and his professional income consider- 
 able. In the year 1805 it had amounted to more 
 than seven thousand seven hundred pounds, 
 and there were few families of station or note in 
 England, by one or more members of which he 
 had not been consulted. His list of patients pre- 
 vious to this, comprises a large number of persons 
 of rank, and many eminent in politics and in all 
 departments of public life. 
 
 Among them were their Royal Highnesses the 
 Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of 
 Kent, the Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of 
 York. Mr. Wilberforce was among the early and 
 most constant of his patients. The names also 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 37 
 
 occur, and most of them repeatedly, of Mr. Henry 
 Thornton, Mr. George Tierney, Mr. Whitbread, 
 Mr. Windham, and Mr. Baring ; of Lord Carlisle, 
 Lord Essex, Mr. Pusey, the Hon. Spencer Perce- 
 val, Lord and Lady Holland/the Earl of Chat- 
 ham, Lady Hester Stanhope, and Mr. Pitt ; the 
 Duke and Duchess of Bedford, Lord Grey, Gene- 
 ral Granville, Lord Carnarvon, Lord Thurlow, 
 Mr. Canning, Earl Grosvenor, Mr. Charles 
 Greville, Sir James Graham, Lord Granville, 
 Warren Hastings, the Dukes of Devonshire, of 
 Grafton, and of Hamilton, the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe and the Earl of Westmoreland ; and of 
 the Church, the primates, Dr. Markham of York, 
 and Dr. Moore and Dr. Manners Sutton of 
 Canterbury, the bishops of St. Asaph, Cork, 
 Lichfield, Winchester, Bristol, St. David's, and 
 Durham. These are but a few of the distin- 
 guished persons who had then consulted him. 
 
 " No physician," it has been truly said, " acquires 
 a high reputation and retains an extensive practice 
 who is really unworthy of it. The public are on 
 the whole pretty good judges in a matter in which 
 they are so much interested, and if by any accident 
 they have been led to give their confidence to a 
 wrong person, they are seldom long in discovering 
 and correcting their mistake." 
 
38 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Dr. Vaughan's progress to the highest position 
 in the medical profession was so rapid yet withal 
 so steady as to prove that his reputation increased 
 as his skill was more and more subjected to the 
 tests supplied by an increasing demand for it. 
 He attained rapidly, and without perceptible ex- 
 traneous aid, the largest physician's practice and 
 the most extensive reputation, and he maintained 
 a supremacy in both for the longest period known 
 in this country. 
 
 It may be added that Dr. Vaughan's list of 
 patients, even at the period of which I am now 
 writing, had comprised not only persons of high 
 quality, but a greater number of leading characters 
 in the State — of persons having a free choice of 
 their physician, and whose power of judgment in 
 the selection cannot be questioned — than perhaps 
 ever before or since had fallen to the lot of any 
 English physician. 
 
 The following account of the professional in- 
 come made by Dr. Vaughan in each year, from 
 1792, when he settled in London, to 1809, when 
 he was called in to attend the Princess Amelia at 
 Windsor, and was admitted into close relations 
 with the Court, may have an interest as part of 
 the social history of that time. 
 
 His professional receipts in his 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO U 
 
 w 
 
 I St 
 
 year, 
 
 1792, were ^220 
 
 
 
 
 
 2nd 
 
 >> 
 
 J793 . 
 
 , 164 
 
 
 
 
 
 3rd 
 
 ■>■> 
 
 1794 
 
 3 2 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 4th 
 
 >> 
 
 1795 
 
 » 4 QI 
 
 
 
 
 
 5* 
 
 >> 
 
 1796 , 
 
 , 399 
 
 
 
 
 
 6th 
 
 >> 
 
 1797 , 
 
 5ii 
 
 
 
 
 
 7th 
 
 j> 
 
 1798 
 
 » 9°5 
 
 
 
 
 
 8th 
 
 j> 
 
 1799 . 
 
 1403 
 
 
 
 
 
 9th 
 
 » 
 
 1800 , 
 
 2153 
 
 
 
 
 
 10th 
 
 j> 
 
 1801 , 
 
 3214 
 
 
 
 
 
 nth 
 
 >> 
 
 1802 , 
 
 , 5081 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 2th 
 
 s> 
 
 1803 
 
 5947 
 
 
 
 
 
 13th 
 
 J) 
 
 1804 , 
 
 , 7 6 3 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 14th 
 
 >> 
 
 1805 
 
 7727 
 
 
 
 
 
 15th 
 
 >> 
 
 1806 , 
 
 » 79°9 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 6th 
 
 >J 
 
 1807 , 
 
 1 9434 
 
 
 
 
 
 17th 
 
 J) 
 
 1808 , 
 
 , 8942 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 8th 
 
 )> 
 
 1809 , 
 
 9850 
 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 In the year last named — 1809 — Dr. Vaughan, 
 under circumstances to be explained in the next 
 chapter, became Sir Henry Halford, Bart., and 
 will be so designated in the following pages. 
 
 After 1809 he was much in attendance on the 
 Royal Family at Windsor, and on the Prince of 
 Wales at Carlton House. There are no docu- 
 ments at hand showing the exact amount of his 
 professional income after 1809. On one or two 
 occasions it is known to have amounted to 
 ^12,000 in the year; as, for instance, in 1824, 
 when he received the following letter: 
 
40 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Windsor Castle, 28th March, 1824. 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I am honoured with the commands of 
 the King to convey to you his Majesty's very kind 
 regards and to transmit the sum of two thousand 
 pounds as an acknowledgment for your professional 
 attendance from time to time on his Majesty. 
 
 " I am further commanded to express to you 
 how sensibly his Majesty feels your zealous, duti- 
 ful and affectionate attention on all occasions. 
 " I have the honour to be, dear Sir Henry, 
 " Your sincere and faithful servant, 
 " W. Knighton, 
 
 " Privy Purse. 
 "Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 But with such exceptions as these, Sir Henry's 
 professional income is known to have been 
 steadily over ,£10,000 for a long series of years; 
 indeed, until a few years before his death and up 
 to 1837, when William IV. died and his attend- 
 ance on the Court terminated. 
 
 It may not perhaps be out of place here to say 
 a few words on the professional earnings of 
 English, and especially of London, physicians. 
 The amount of revenue sometimes enters into the 
 computation of a medical character, and I may be 
 pardoned if I dwell upon it here. But it must be 
 observed first, that the average income of 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 41 
 
 physicians is much less than it is thought by the 
 public to be, and that the enormous amounts said 
 to have been made by some physicians may be 
 summarily dismissed as fabulous, for there are 
 neither hours enough in the day nor days enough 
 in the year in which, with the fees that have been 
 current among us, such large amounts could have 
 been realised. And further, it must be remem- 
 bered that the large incomes I am about to 
 mention are exceptional — they were made by the 
 most popular of the faculty only — by one or two 
 it may be, at one and the same time of the 
 favourite and foremost of the London physicians. 
 The great reputation which Dr. Radcliffe had 
 made at Oxford preceded him to London, and 
 secured him from the first a very large pro- 
 fessional income. It has been always understood 
 that from an early period he made on an average 
 twenty guineas a day, or more than seven 
 thousand a year; which amount was soon 
 increased, though to what extent is not known, 
 and continued much the same to the death of 
 William III. Dr. Mead, the protege of Rad- 
 cliffe and his successor in public favour, had a 
 professional income of from five to six thousand 
 guineas for many successive years, and in one 
 year he received as much as seven thousand. 
 
42 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The elder Dr. Warren, who died in 1797, one of 
 the most popular of men and the favourite phy- 
 sician of his time, realised for some years nine 
 thousand a year and bequeathed to his family 
 one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Dr. 
 Matthew Baillie's income for many years ranged 
 from nine to ten thousand, and Sir Henry 
 Halford's professional income from the time when 
 he was called into attendance on the Prince 
 Regent to the death of William IV., when his 
 immediate attendance on the Court terminated, is 
 known to have generally exceeded ten thousand 
 guineas, and on one or two occasions, as above 
 stated, it amounted to twelve thousand a year. 
 This is probably a larger professional income than 
 at that time had ever been made for a long series 
 of years — it was more than a quarter of a century — 
 by any English physician. Dr. Chambers, who 
 succeeded to the position in public estimation and 
 professional employment that had been so long 
 occupied by Sir Henry Halford, had a profes- 
 sional income ranging for some years between 
 seven and nine thousand a year, but he never 
 exceeded, it is believed, the larger amount. 
 
 A few words on fees for long journeys and 
 special services will conclude what remains to be 
 said on the emoluments and honoraria of physi- 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 43 
 
 cians. Radcliffe, forgoing to Namur in 1695 to 
 attend on Lord Albemarle, with whom he re- 
 mained a week, received from William III. twelve 
 hundred pounds, and from Lord Albemarle him- 
 self four hundred guineas and a diamond ring. 
 Dr. Dimsdale, the founder of a well-known bank- 
 ing house in the City, who had achieved a high 
 reputation for his management of smallpox and 
 his method of inoculating that disease, was called 
 by the Empress Catherine of Russia to St. Peters- 
 burg in 1768; and for his successful inoculation 
 of the Empress herself and of her son the Grand 
 Duke, was rewarded with the rank of Baron of 
 the Empire, Councillor of State and physician to 
 the Empress, with a pension of five hundred 
 pounds per annum, and a present in money of 
 twelve thousand pounds. Dr. Granville, for a 
 journey to St. Petersburg in the first half of the 
 present century, received one thousand pounds 
 and his travelling expenses going and returning ; 
 and I know that a well-known and popular 
 physician of the present day received on two 
 occasions a thousand guineas for going to Pau ; 
 and further, that the same physician had a fee of 
 fifteen hundred guineas for going to Pitlochry 
 and remaining there with his patient for a week. 
 For long journeys and special services such as 
 
44 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 those above mentioned, there is no established or 
 fixed rate of remuneration. But it is not so with 
 short er journeys or those within our own shores. 
 In posting and coaching times, professional jour- 
 neys into the country were remunerated at the 
 rate of a guinea a mile, the distance being reckoned 
 from the physician's house to the abode of the 
 patient, and no account being taken of the journey 
 back. But this rate of remuneration was thought 
 by some grateful patients to be inadequate, and 
 larger fees were pressed upon the physician. It 
 was often so in the case of Sir Henry Halford. 
 Thus, I find the note of a fee of one hundred 
 guineas for a visit to Woburn Abbey, a distance 
 of some fifty miles from London, and one of five 
 hundred guineas from the Duke of Cleveland for 
 a hasty visit to Newton House, Bedale, in York- 
 shire, a distance of less than two hundred and 
 thirty miles from the metropolis. 
 
 When railroads had become general throughout 
 the country, it was felt by some of the leading 
 physicians and surgeons of the metropolis, that 
 an easier, less tedious and less expensive mode 
 of travelling ought in fairness to the public, to be 
 met by some reduction in the rate of remuneration ; 
 and after a full consideration of all the circum- 
 stances it was concluded, in sequel to a conference 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE UP TO 1809 45 
 
 between Dr. Paris and Sir Benjamin Brodie, on 
 the part respectively of the College of Physicians 
 and of the College of Surgeons, that a reduction 
 of one-third would be fair to all parties, and meet 
 all the requirements of the case ; and thus, that a 
 physician's journey of three hundred miles would 
 imply a fee of two hundred guineas, in the place 
 of three hundred as it had previously done. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM l8lO TO 182O 
 
 Under the will of Sir Charles Halford, the last 
 baronet of the first creation, who died in 1780, 
 Dr. Henry Vaughan, as the eldest surviving son 
 of James Vaughan, M.D., of Leicester, was to 
 succeed to the Halford estate of Wistow after the 
 death of Sir Charles' widow. She married in 
 July 1793 as her second husband Basil, sixth 
 earl of Denbigh, outlived him, and survived until 
 1814. 
 
 In the year 1809, Dr. Henry Vaughan changed 
 his name by Act of Parliament to that of Halford, 
 and somewhat later — on the 27th September, 
 1809 — as a mark of royal favour, was created a 
 baronet. 
 
 In the December following, Sir Henry Halford 
 was called with Dr. Baillie into medical attend- 
 ance on the Princess Amelia at Windsor, and they 
 together continued to attend her Royal High- 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 47 
 
 ness until her death. Very shortly after that 
 event Sir Henry Halford was consulted about 
 George III., and with Dr. Baillie and other 
 physicians continued to attend the King for ten 
 years, until his death in 1820. In the autumn of 
 1 8 10 the Prince of Wales appointed Sir Henry 
 one of his physicians in ordinary, and secured for 
 him in 181 2 the appointment of physician in 
 ordinary to the King. But of Sir Henry Hal- 
 ford's services to the several members of the 
 Royal Family further particulars will be given in 
 a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The Government at this time, through Lord 
 Palmerston, consulted Sir Henry Halford as to 
 the honorarium that ought to be made to Dr. 
 (afterwards Sir) Gilbert Blane for his expedition 
 to Walcheren, for the purpose of reporting on the 
 state of the army there. 
 
 It may be thought that the president of the 
 College of Physicians — and Sir Henry Halford 
 did not become so till ten years later — was the 
 proper person to apply to for advice under these 
 circumstances. But Sir Lucas Pepys, then the 
 president, was not in favour with the authorities, 
 general or military. He was, and had been for 
 many years, physician-general to the army and 
 
48 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 president of the Army Medical Board, which had 
 not worked satisfactorily or smoothly under his 
 guidance. Sir Lucas was ordered as physician - 
 general to proceed to Walcheren to report on the 
 exceptional sickness and mortality of the army 
 there. But in an evil hour he declined to go, 
 assigning as his reason that he was not acquainted 
 with the diseases of soldiers in camp or in quarters.* 
 Unfortunately neither of the other two members 
 of the Board volunteered their services, and under 
 these circumstances, Dr. Blane was selected and 
 went. Lord Palmerston's letter was as follows : 
 
 "War Office, February 13, 1810. 
 
 " Lord Palmerston presents his compliments to 
 Sir Henry Halford, and has many apologies to 
 make to him for the liberty he is about to take ; 
 but finding a considerable difficulty in forming 
 any opinion as to the amount of the sum which it 
 would be proper for him to recommend to the 
 Treasury to be offered to Dr. Blane as a remune- 
 ration for his trouble in undertaking an expedition 
 to Walcheren, for the purpose of reporting upon 
 the state of Lord Chatham's army, Lord Palmers- 
 ton conceives that Sir Henry Halford may from 
 
 * "The Autobiography and Services of Sir James McGrigor, 
 Bart., late Director of the Army Medical Department." 
 London, 1861, p. 242. 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 49 
 
 his professional knowledge be enabled to assist 
 him by some suggestion upon this subject. 
 
 " Lord Palmerston is fully aware of the delicacy 
 attaching to matters of this sort, and would not 
 have taken the liberty of addressing Sir Henry 
 on this occasion had he not reason to believe that 
 it was consistent with the wishes of Dr. Blane 
 himself that he should do so. Lord P. feels it 
 unnecessary to add that he conceives this to be a 
 strictly confidential communication." 
 
 Sir Henry replied as follows : 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "It is difficult to appreciate satisfactorily 
 Dr. Blane's services under the circumstances which 
 your Lordship states ; but as you do me the 
 honour to write to me confidentially, I will tell 
 you what I think without reserve. 
 
 " I should suppose that ^1500 would be a 
 liberal remuneration, without risk of being thought 
 a prodigal one. It is not material to the case 
 how much or how little inconvenience the Doctor 
 might sustain in his private affairs by his ab- 
 sence at Walcheren ; nor do I allow it to bias 
 my judgment that he knew he was to encounter 
 some personal hazard by his attendance on the 
 sick there ; a physician should never consider 
 that, but the occasion was an extraordinary one. 
 He obeyed the directions of the Commander-in- 
 Chief instantly, and his patient was an army. 
 
 D 
 
30 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " In this point of view I really think Dr. 
 Blane's reward should be one of magnitude, 
 though I admit that the public purse should be 
 opened on all occasions with more caution and 
 reserve than that of an individual, and particularly 
 at this time. 
 
 " I am, my Lord, 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had been a warm advocate 
 of Vaccination from its introduction by Dr. Jenner 
 in 1798, and he continued so up to his death. But 
 in May 181 1 a case occurred in his own practice, 
 which cast much doubt on the protective power 
 of vaccination against smallpox, and was the sub- 
 ject of much anxious thought and comment at the 
 time. Alleged cases of smallpox after vaccina- 
 tion had been reported before, but none in which 
 Dr. Jenner himself had been the operator. For 
 thirteen years Jenner had been carrying on vac- 
 cination on a very extended scale, and of the many 
 thousands who had been subsequently exposed to 
 the influence of smallpox, not one was known to 
 have been affected by that disease. 
 
 But on the 26th May, 181 1, the Hon. Robert 
 Grosvenor,a son of Earl Grosvenor, was seized with 
 symptoms which denote the approach of a very 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 51 
 
 violent disease. In four days he became delirious 
 and an eruption appeared upon the face. At that 
 time the existence of smallpox was not suspected, 
 either by Sir Henry Halford or Sir Walter Far- 
 quhar, who were in attendance, because their 
 patient had been vaccinated by Dr. Jenner some 
 ten years before. In the course of the following 
 day, however, the eruption increased immensely, 
 and some of the worst symptoms of a confluent 
 and malignant smallpox showed themselves. 
 The two physicians in making their report of the 
 case, observed that they entertained a most un- 
 favourable opinion of the issue of the malady, 
 having never seen an instance of recovery under 
 so heavy an eruption. It seemed, however, to use 
 their own words in a later report, "that the latter 
 stages of the disease were passed through more 
 rapidly in this case than usual ; and it may be a 
 question whether this extraordinary circumstance, 
 as well as the ultimate recovery of Master Gros- 
 venor was not influenced by the previous vaccina- 
 tion." There can be no doubt now that it was so. 
 The disease went through its course in a shorter 
 period than usual, without any secondary fever 
 and left scarcely any marks. 
 
 Dr. Jenner, who happened to be in London, and 
 saw the case, at once admitted the failure and ex- 
 
52 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 plained it. He had vaccinated this young gentle- 
 man in a puny state of health when about a month 
 old. Lady Grosvenor was timid and prevailed 
 on Dr. Jenner to deviate from his usual mode of 
 practice, and to make one puncture only ; and the 
 pustule it excited was unfortunately deranged in 
 its progress by being rubbed by the nurse. # 
 
 It should be added that the other children of 
 the Earl, who had been vaccinated in 1801, were 
 exposed to the contagion of smallpox under which 
 their brother was suffering and were also inoculated 
 for the smallpox, but without any effect. 
 
 This disastrous occurrence in Lord Grosvenor's 
 family and some other like cases which occurred 
 about this time, induced the Board of the National 
 Vaccine Establishment to issue a special report ; 
 a measure which was rendered necessary in con- 
 sequence of the alarm and consternation in the 
 minds of those whose children had been vac- 
 cinated. Notwithstanding this and some similar 
 cases, Sir Henry Halford's estimate of vaccination 
 as a generally preventive and modifying influence 
 against smallpox continued high. And so highly, 
 years after this, did he appreciate vaccination and 
 the merits of Jenner in relation to it, that in 
 the arrangement of the royal household at the 
 
 * Baron's " Life of Jenner," vol. ii. pp. 156 and 267. 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 53 
 
 accession of George IV. he was instrumental in 
 obtaining for Dr. Jenner the appointment of 
 physician-extraordinary to the king. 
 
 On Sir Henry's appointment to the presidency 
 of the College of Physicians, he became ex-officio 
 president of the National Vaccine Establishment, 
 in which institution was vested the direction of all 
 matters relating to vaccination, and the supply of 
 the lymph necessary to that operation; and he 
 was a diligent attendant at the meetings of the 
 board. The information communicated to the 
 board of the establishment from parts domestic 
 and foreign, was of the most interesting and 
 satisfactory character, and confirmed all the con- 
 clusions to which he had previously reached, of 
 the safety, efficacy, and manifold advantages of 
 vaccination, when practised with all the care and all 
 the precautions so strongly enforced by Dr. Jenner. 
 
 In the spring of 1813 an event of some his- 
 torical interest occurred, in which Sir Henry 
 Halford was called upon to take a prominent 
 part. This was the opening of the coffin of 
 Charles I. with a view to its identification. 
 
 It was not known precisely where in St. George's 
 Chapel at Windsor the body of Charles I. had 
 been interred. Mr. Herbert, who had been 
 
54 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 a groom of the bedchamber and a faithful com- 
 panion of the king from the time he left the Isle 
 of Wight until his death, was employed to convey 
 the body of the king to Windsor, and to fix 
 upon a proper place for his interment there, and 
 was an eye-witness to that interment, states dis- 
 tinctly that it was in the vault of Henry VIII. 
 But Lord Clarendon in his history of the Rebellion 
 tells us, that some years afterwards a most care- 
 ful search was made for the body by several 
 people, amongst whom were some of those noble 
 persons whose faithful attachment had led them 
 to pay their last tribute of respect to their unfor- 
 tunate master by attending his body to the grave. 
 Yet such had been the injury done to the chapel, 
 such were the mutilations it had undergone, 
 during the period of the usurpation, that no 
 marks were left by which the exact place of burial 
 of the king could be ascertained. But the fact is, 
 King Charles I. was buried in the vault of King 
 Henry VIII., situated precisely where Mr. Her- 
 bert has described it ; and an accident has served 
 to elucidate a point in history, which the great 
 authority of Lord Clarendon had involved in some 
 obscurity. 
 
 On completing the mausoleum which George 
 III. built in the tomb house, as it is called, it was 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 55 
 
 necessary to form a passage to it from under the 
 choir of St. George's Chapel. In constructing 
 this passage an aperture was made accidentally 
 in one of the walls of the vault of King Henry 
 VIII. through which the workmen were enabled 
 to see not only the two coffins which were 
 supposed to contain the bodies of King Henry 
 VIII. and Queen Jane Seymour, but a third also, 
 covered with a black velvet pall, which from Mr. 
 Herbert's narrative, might fairly be presumed to 
 hold the remains of King Charles I. 
 
 On representing the circumstance to the Prince 
 Regent, his Royal Highness perceived at once, 
 that a doubtful point in history might be cleared 
 up by opening this vault ; and accordingly his 
 Royal Highness ordered an examination to be 
 made on the first convenient opportunity. This 
 was done on the first of April 1813, the day 
 after the funeral of the Duchess of Brunswick, 
 in the presence of his Royal Highness himself, 
 who guaranteed thereby the most respectful 
 care and attention to the remains of the dead, 
 during the inquiry. His Royal Highness was 
 accompanied by H.R.H. the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, Count Munster, the dean of Windsor, 
 Benjamin Charles Stevenson, Esq., and Sir Henry 
 Halford. 
 
56 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin, 
 with no appearance of ever having been encased 
 in wood, and bearing an inscription : 
 
 KING CHARLES— 1648, 
 
 in large legible characters, on a scroll of lead 
 encircling it, immediately presented itself to the 
 view. A square opening was then made in the 
 upper part of the lid of such dimensions as to 
 admit a clear insight into its contents. These were 
 an internal wooden coffin very much decayed, and 
 the body carefully wrapped in cere-cloth, into 
 the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy 
 matter mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been 
 melted, so as to exclude as effectually as possible 
 the external air. The coffin was completely full, 
 and from the tenacity of the cere-cloth, great 
 difficulty was experienced in detaching it success- 
 fully from the parts which it enveloped. Wherever 
 the unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the 
 separation of the cere-cloth was easy ; and when 
 it came off a correct impression of the features to 
 which it had been applied was observed in the 
 unctuous substance. At length the whole face 
 was disengaged from its covering. The com- 
 plexion of the skin of it was dark and discoloured. 
 The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 57 
 
 of their muscular substance ; the cartilage of the 
 nose was gone ; but the left eye in the first 
 moment of exposure was open and full, though 
 it vanished almost immediately : and the pointed 
 beard, so characteristic of the period of the reign 
 of King Charles, was perfect. The shape of the 
 face was a long oval ; many of the teeth remained ; 
 and the left ear, in consequence of the interposition 
 of the unctuous matter between it and the cere- 
 cloth, was found entire. 
 
 It was difficult, at the moment, to withhold a 
 declaration, that, notwithstanding its disfigure- 
 ment, the countenance did bear a strong re- 
 semblance to the coins, the busts, and especially 
 to the pictures of King Charles I. by Vandyke, 
 by which it had been made familiar to us. It is 
 true that the minds of the spectators of this 
 interesting sight were well prepared to receive 
 this impression, but it is also certain that such a 
 facility of belief had been occasioned by the sim- 
 plicity and truth of Mr. Herbert's narrative, every 
 part of which had been confirmed by the investi- 
 gation so far as it had advanced : and it will not 
 be denied that the shape of the face, the forehead, 
 an eye, and the beard, are the most important 
 features by which resemblance is determined. 
 
 When the head had been entirely disengaged 
 
58 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 from the attachments which confined it, it was 
 found to be loose, and without any difficulty was 
 taken up and held to view. It was quite wet, and 
 gave a greenish red tinge to paper and to linen 
 which touched it. The back part of the scalp 
 was entirely perfect and had a remarkably fresh 
 appearance ; the pores of the skin being more 
 distinct, as they usually are when soaked in 
 moisture ; and the tendons and ligaments of the 
 neck were of considerable substance and firmness. 
 The hair was thick at the back part of the head, 
 and, in appearance, nearly black. A portion of it 
 since cleaned and dried is of a beautiful dark 
 brown colour. That of the beard was a redder 
 brown. On the back part of the head it was 
 more than an inch in length, and had probably 
 been cut so short for the convenience of the 
 executioner; or perhaps by the piety of friends 
 soon after death, in order to furnish memorials of 
 the unhappy king. 
 
 On holding up the head to examine the place 
 of separation from the body, the muscles of the neck 
 had evidently retracted themselves considerably ; 
 and the fourth cervical vertebra was found to be cut 
 through its substance transversely, leaving the sur- 
 face of the divided portions perfectly smooth and 
 even, an appearance which could have been pro- 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 59 
 
 duced only by a heavy blow, inflicted with a very 
 sharp instrument, and which furnished the last 
 proof wanting to identify King Charles the First. 
 
 After this examination of the head, which served 
 every purpose in view, and without examining 
 the body below the neck, it was immediately 
 restored to its situation, the coffin was soldered 
 up again, and the vault closed. 
 
 Neither of the other coffins had any inscription 
 upon them. The larger one, supposed on good 
 grounds to contain the remains of King Henry 
 VIII., measured six feet ten inches in length, and 
 had been enclosed in an elm one of two inches in 
 thickness ; but this was decayed and lay in small 
 fragments near it. The leaden coffin appeared to 
 have been beaten in by violence about the middle, 
 and a considerable opening in that part of it 
 exposed a mere skeleton of the king. Some 
 beard remained upon the chin, but there was 
 nothing to discriminate the personage contained 
 in it. 
 
 The smaller coffin, understood to be that of 
 Queen Jane Seymour, was not touched ; mere 
 curiosity not being considered by the Prince 
 Regent as a sufficient motive for disturbing these 
 remains. 
 
 On examining the vault with some attention, it 
 
60 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 was found that the wall at the west end had, at 
 some period or other, been partly pulled down 
 and repaired again, not by regular masonry, but 
 by fragments of stones and bricks, put rudely and 
 hastily together without cement. 
 
 From Lord Clarendon's account, as well as 
 from Mr. Herbert's narrative of the interment of 
 King Charles, it is to be inferred that the 
 ceremony was a very hasty one, performed in the 
 presence of the governor, who had refused to 
 allow the service according to the Book of 
 Common Prayer to be used on the occasion ; and 
 had, probably, scarcely permitted the time neces- 
 sary for a decent deposit of the body. It is not 
 unlikely therefore that the coffin of King Henry 
 VIII. had been injured by a precipitate intro- 
 duction of the coffin of King Charles ; and that 
 the governor was not under the influence of 
 feelings, in those times, that gave him any 
 concern about royal remains or the vault which 
 contained them. 
 
 When the manuscript containing the above 
 account was read to the Prince Regent, by whose 
 command it had been drawn up by Sir Henry 
 Halford, his Royal Highness was pleased to 
 desire that he might authenticate it, which he did 
 immediately previous to its being deposited in the 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 6l 
 
 British Museum. It is from the published copy 
 of it, in Sir Henry Halford's " Essays and Ora- 
 tions," that the above account, slightly abridged, 
 has been transcribed. 
 
 It was found after the coffin of King Charles 
 had been soldered up, that the portion of the 
 vertebra which had been cut through, had sepa- 
 rated from the neck, and fallen aside unnoticed, 
 and so had escaped restoration to the coffin. It 
 was not deemed necessary by the Prince Regent 
 that the coffin should be again opened to replace 
 the bone, which his Royal Highness then, with 
 several kind expressions, presented to Sir Henry 
 Halford as a memorial of the poor king himself, 
 and as a mark of his own esteem for him. 
 
 Sir Henry, who valued the relic very highly, 
 had a case carved of lignum vitse lined with gold 
 and a fitting Latin inscription inside the lid, in 
 which he placed it, and in which it was scrupu- 
 lously kept as long as it remained in the Halford 
 family. It was shown at times to persons curious 
 about it, and its existence in Sir Henry's posses- 
 sion thus became known and was somewhat 
 severely commented on. The present representa- 
 tive of the family, Sir Henry St. John Halford, 
 to whom it had descended, not feeling quite at 
 ease in its possession and custody, sought an inter- 
 
62 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 view with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and 
 restored it to his hands. His Royal Highness 
 has, it is understood, returned it to the vault and 
 deposited it in its case on the coffin of Charles I., 
 where it now reposes. 
 
 Lady Denbigh* died at Brighton, 2nd October, 
 1 8 14, when Sir Henry Halford succeeded to the 
 Halford estate of Wistow in Leicestershire. 
 Wistow came into the possession of the Halfords 
 in 1603. Richard Halford of Wistow, famed for 
 his loyalty, was high sheriff of Leicestershire, 
 19 James I. ; and in 1640 was committed to the 
 Tower by the Parliamentarians, but was soon 
 liberated. On the 28th December, 1641 he was 
 created a baronet by Charles I. He was so 
 remarkable for his loyalty that the king, when in 
 Leicestershire, made Wistow his chief abode; 
 where Sir Richard Halford not only entertained 
 his sovereign, but supplied him with considerable 
 sums of money. The king on his way into 
 Leicestershire slept at Wistow, a few days before 
 the battle of Naseby. The room in which he did 
 so is still in use and is but little altered. The 
 king, defeated at Naseby, fled for Leicester, and 
 on his way changed horses at Wistow, but was so 
 * Vide p. 46. 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 63 
 
 closely pursued, he did not dare stay to have his 
 saddle changed. The king's saddle and that of 
 Prince Rupert, who accompanied him, were left 
 at Wistow, and are to be seen in good preserva- 
 tion in a glass case in the inner hall. The king 
 left his sword also at Wistow, but that was by Sir 
 Henry Halford presented to and graciously 
 accepted by George IV. It was placed in 
 St. George's Hall, Windsor, where it probably 
 now is. 
 
 When Sir Henry Halford succeeded to the 
 estate in 1814, the rent roll of the property was 
 ^3200 a year. It comprised, as a part only of the 
 estate, the entire parish of Wistow, which it may 
 be stated contained but two houses, the Hall and 
 one other. Sir Henry often declared to his 
 friends that he was a rich man before he came 
 into Wistow, but had been a poor man ever after. 
 And this seems to have been the fact. The Hall 
 and all the buildings on the estate had been sadly 
 neglected and were greatly dilapidated when Sir 
 Henry obtained possession of them. His first 
 care was to repair and restore them, but many 
 years elapsed ere this was accomplished and more 
 than the annual proceeds of the estate were 
 needed to do it. This had to be supplied from 
 his professional income. 
 
64 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 He made considerable alterations and additions 
 to the Hall and rendered it comfortable and con- 
 venient in all its internal arrangements. He recon- 
 structed the dining-room, and made the present 
 suite of drawing-rooms. The grounds around the 
 house were much improved. He planted largely 
 and judiciously, made pleasant walks in the wood 
 and shrubberies, excavated a deep lake of two 
 acres and a half, where there was none before, 
 and erected a belvidere on a raised spot, at a short 
 distance from the Hall. It was not for two years 
 after Sir Henry came into possession that the 
 Hall was fitted to receive him. 
 
 From an early period of his married life, Sir 
 Henry had had a house out of town, but in its 
 neighbourhood, in what was then the country — 
 for his wife and children, to which he himself 
 frequently resorted. In 1801 it was at Hayes in 
 Middlesex, in 1802 at Barnes, in the following 
 year at Fulham, and in 1805 at Barnes again. This 
 last was a house of some size and pretensions, and 
 he seems to have kept it on until he succeeded to 
 Wistow and it was fitted to receive him. From 
 that time — 18 16 — it was his custom to pass the 
 greater part of three months of the year, July, 
 August and September, at Wistow ; and he greatly 
 valued this " his retirement in the summer." 
 
SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM 1810 TO 1820 65 
 
 From a letter of Sir Henry Halford's, dated 
 March, 1823, it appears that in 18 14 when he 
 succeeded to Wistow the rent roll of the property- 
 was £"3200 a year, and that in 1823 it was 
 nominally ,£4200, but times were then bad and a 
 return was being made to the tenants. In the 
 interval, however, he had spent ,£12,000 in 
 adding to the property, £23,500 in paying off 
 mortgages, and he had laid out .£30,000 on the 
 hall, farms, parsonage and church. It may be 
 added that between 1823 and 1844 he added still 
 more to the Wistow estate. 
 
 At Wistow, Sir Henry Halford was the country 
 gentleman, and maintained much state. He had 
 four horses and postillions to his carriage, enter- 
 tained largely, and did so handsomely. The 
 house was generally full of company, for he 
 received not only his Leicestershire friends but 
 many more from afar, from London and else- 
 where ; among whom were many of the highest 
 and most distinguished persons of the time. In 
 1840 he had the honour of receiving H.R.H. the 
 Duke of Cambridge ; and the Duke of Rutland 
 in a letter to Sir Henry Halford, dated 3rd Sep- 
 tember, 1840, writes : "The Duke of Cambridge 
 was delighted with Wistow and with the 
 hospitality he experienced there. I had a letter 
 
 E 
 
€6 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 from him while there expressing himself in strong 
 terms on the subject." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's attendance on George III. 
 continued through the decade from 1810 to 1820. 
 For the first twelve or eighteen months of it his 
 attendance was close and frequent. At least half 
 of the year 1 8 1 1 was spent by him at Windsor, 
 much to the derangement and detriment of his 
 practice in town. But great hopes were then 
 entertained of the king's recovery, and it was felt 
 by Sir Henry and his especial colleague Dr. 
 Baillie that no effort of theirs should be wanting 
 to bring about so desirable an event. When, 
 however, all thoughts of the king's recovery 
 were given up, an attendance once only in the 
 week by each physician was deemed sufficient, 
 and Sir Henry was enabled to resume his usual 
 professional routine in London. 
 
 During this decade Sir Henry was increasing 
 his reputation and business, and strengthening 
 his position at Court and amongst the highest and 
 most distinguished of the land. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD FROM l820 TO HIS DEATH 
 
 The year 1820 was an eventful one in the life of 
 Sir Henry Halford. In January, George III. 
 died after an illness of ten years ; and Sir Henry's 
 great patron, the Prince Regent, succeeded as 
 George IV. From that time Sir Henry occu- 
 pied a prominent and really important position 
 about the King, and with all the members of the 
 Royal Family. 
 
 In September, 1820, Sir Henry was elected 
 president of the Royal College of Physicians, 
 and as such became the recognised head of the 
 medical profession in England, a position he con- 
 tinued to occupy worthily for nearly a quarter of 
 a century. Of his services to the College of 
 Physicians I shall speak at large in a subsequent 
 chapter. Suffice it here to say, that he infused 
 into the College a spirit and an energy which it 
 had not possessed for more than a century, and 
 
68 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 the effects of which are felt and visible even to the 
 present day. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford on becoming president of 
 the College of Physicians became ex-officio a 
 trustee of the British Museum, in the management 
 of which institution he soon became warmly inter- 
 ested. He was a trustee when George IV. pre- 
 sented to the nation the fine library that had been 
 collected by his father George III. and the keep- 
 ing of which he entrusted to the British Museum. 
 Sir Henry was one of several scholars who 
 suggested inscriptions to be placed in the hall 
 commemorative of the gift and of the donor. 
 His was as follows : 
 
 HANC OMNIGEN.E SUPELLECTILIS LITERARY COPIAM 
 A GEORGIO TERTIO BRITANNIARUM REGE 
 
 SUMMi CURl ET SUMPTD VERE REGIO 
 COMPARATAM ; 
 
 GEORGIUS REX, FILIUS 
 
 PATERN^ BENIGNITATIS ERGA LITERATOS MEMOR, 
 
 IPSE ARTIUM LIBERALIUM PATRONUS EXIMIUS 
 
 ANNO REGNI SUI PRIMO 
 
 IN MUSiEO BRITANNICO 
 
 COLLOCARI JUSSIT. 
 
 This has been thought by many scholars to 
 compare favourably with the inscription which 
 was actually adopted and placed in the King's 
 library. 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 69 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's intimate professional friend, 
 Dr. Matthew Baillie, with whom he had shared 
 the best medical business of the town, and his 
 colleague for many years in attendance first on the 
 Princess Amelia, and then on George III., died 
 in September, 1823. On that and some subsequent 
 occasions it was insinuated rather than absolutely 
 stated, that a jealousy had existed between these 
 two celebrated physicians, and a lack of sin- 
 cerity on the part of Sir Henry towards his distin- 
 guished colleague. But of any such feeling there 
 is neither record nor ground for suspicion in the 
 papers before me. On the contrary, they all go 
 to show the sincerity and kindness of feeling 
 that existed on the part of Sir Henry Halford 
 towards Dr. Baillie. 
 
 Baillie and Halford were contemporaries of 
 about the same age and standing, and therefore in 
 a manner necessarily rivals — friendly and honour- 
 able rivals — in their profession. Perhaps, too, they 
 represented different schools in that profession, 
 but they always lived in the utmost harmony, and 
 a warm friendship and a close and intimate rela- 
 tion subsisted between them from the time, 1809, 
 when they were called in together to attend the 
 Princess Amelia. There is ample evidence in 
 confidential letters to Sir Henry Halford from 
 
70 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 members of the Royal Family, especially from the 
 Princess Mary, a constant and close observer of 
 all that passed, showing the harmony of opinion, 
 the intimacy of the friendship, and the perfect 
 mutual confidence that subsisted between Sir 
 Henry Halford and Dr. Baillie. 
 
 Among Sir Henry Halford's papers, there are 
 three letters inclosed in one envelope and endorsed 
 in his own writing : " My three last letters from 
 Baillie " — " Alas ! my friend, my brother." They 
 are as follow : 
 
 "Tunbridge Wells, July Zth, 1823. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Your letter of to-day has been a great 
 cordial to me, and I send you my warmest thanks 
 for it. The new College* will now be completed 
 in as handsome a manner as the dignity of that 
 body requires, and this may be said to be entirely 
 owing to your zeal, to your exertions and the 
 influence of your public situation and character. 
 This must form a memorial of you, as lasting as 
 the new College itself, and which indeed can 
 never perish. The first time that I go to the 
 College I will subscribe my name as approving 
 
 * It will be observed that at this time Sir Henry was already 
 president of the College of Physicians, and had effected the 
 removal of the building, which was then in progress, from its 
 obscure situation in the City to the best site in London. 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 71 
 
 of the terms of sale, if this proceeding is not 
 irregular. 
 
 " My cough is better, but still continues severe. 
 My appetite is not improving. I shall therefore 
 return to town early next week that I may see 
 more of you before you leave town. 
 
 "Yours most truly, 
 
 "M. Baillie. 
 "To Sir Henry Halford, Curzon Street." 
 
 " Cavendish Square, 
 " Wednesday, July 22nd, 1823. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I have now been in London a week 
 and propose to set off for Gloucestershire by very 
 easy journeys. I am on the whole a very little 
 better than when I last saw you in London. My 
 cough is less frequent, and I am perhaps a little 
 less listless. I have no appetite whatever, but 
 my tongue is rather less furred, and once or twice 
 I have eat my dinner with rather less reluctance. 
 The same plan of medicine has been continued by 
 Maton since you left town. When I have been 
 two or three days in Gloucestershire I shall write 
 to you again. 
 
 " I hope that you are enjoying yourself in the 
 country as you deserve, and that your daughter's 
 confinement is going on favourably. I find that 
 I still experience considerable difficulty in the 
 management of my pen. I send you again my 
 
72 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 sincerest thanks for all your kindness, and I 
 remain, 
 
 " My dearest Sir Henry, 
 
 "Yours most truly, 
 
 " M. Baillie. 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Wistow, Market Harborough." 
 
 " Duntisbourne, Saturday, September 20th. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I have within these few days become 
 so very much worse, that, if not very inconvenient 
 to you, I should be glad to see you at my house. 
 Dr. Baron of Gloucester, who is in regular attend- 
 ance, and I never knew a more skilful and kind- 
 hearted man, will meet you at my house if you are 
 able to come. 
 
 " Believe me, dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 l: M. Baillie." 
 To this was added — 
 
 " As a postscript, I am desired by Dr. Baron to 
 inform you of some of the symptoms which at 
 present exist. There is swelling of the left foot 
 and hand, and at times considerable confusion of 
 intellect. The pulse is seldom under 100, fre- 
 quently more. The tongue and fauces have been 
 repeatedly covered with aphthae, and the ex- 
 haustion of strength and emaciation increase 
 rapidly. The aversion to food is not quite so 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 73 
 
 great as it has been, but there is nothing taken 
 with any relish, and what has been taken for a 
 long time past seems in no respect to have 
 nourished the body. The affection of the trachea 
 seems nearly removed, and saving occasional 
 tightness and wandering pains about the chest, 
 the organs of respiration are perfectly free. The 
 foregoing detail will sufficiently show how urgent 
 the case is, and how needful it is to afford any 
 relief that may be administered as speedily as 
 possible. 
 
 " W. H. Baillie." # 
 
 Sir Henry complied with his friend's request, 
 and started immediately from Wistow for Duntis- 
 bourne, but the post, especially across country, 
 was then slow, and travelling difficult, and he 
 arrived too late. Dr. Baillie died on Tuesday, 
 23rd September, 1823. 
 
 These letters are in proof of Dr. Baillie's feeling 
 towards Sir Henry Halford, and of his entire 
 trust and confidence in him, both as friend and 
 as physician. Dr. Baillie selects Sir Henry from 
 among the whole of the medical profession in 
 London to attend him in his last illness, and when 
 in extremis he appeals to him to come to his aid. 
 Written as these letters were, by a man distin- 
 
 * The signature of Dr. Baillie's only son. 
 
74 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 guished for the sincerity of his character, and the 
 plainness of his speech ; to one whom he had the 
 best means of estimating at his true worth, they 
 are especially valuable and interesting. 
 
 That these feelings were reciprocated by Sir 
 Henry Halford is certain ; and he gave eloquent 
 expression to them in the eulogium he pronounced 
 on the character of his departed friend and 
 colleague from the chair of the College of 
 Physicians in December, 1823. Having an- 
 nounced the bequests contained in Dr. Baillie's 
 will, consisting, amongst others, of his medical 
 library to the College, he continued : 
 
 " The same principles which guided Dr. Baillie 
 in his private and domestic life, governed his public 
 and professional behaviour. He was kind, gener- 
 ous and sincere. His purse and his personal ser- 
 vices were always at the command of those who 
 could prefer a proper claim to them ; and every 
 branch of the profession met with equal attention. 
 Nay, such was his condescension that he often 
 incurred great inconvenience to himself, by his 
 punctual observance of appointments with the 
 humblest practitioners. 
 
 "In consultation he was candid and liberal in 
 the highest degree ; and so industriously gave 
 credit to the previous treatment of the patient (if 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 75 
 
 he could approve of it), that the physician who 
 called him in never failed to find himself in the 
 same possession of the good opinion of the family, 
 as he was before the circumstances of the case 
 had made a consultation necessary. 
 
 " His manner of explaining the disease, and the 
 remedies recommended, was peculiar to himself, 
 and singularly happy. It was a short compressed 
 lecture, in which the objects in view, and the 
 means by which they were to be obtained, were 
 developed with great clearness of conception, and 
 in such simple unadorned language as was intel- 
 ligible to his patient and satisfactory to his 
 colleague. 
 
 " Before his time, it was not usual for a physi- 
 cian to do much more than prescribe remedies for 
 the malady, and to encourage the patient by such 
 arguments of consolation as might present them- 
 selves to humane and cultivated minds. But as 
 the assumed gravity and outward signs of the 
 profession were now considered obsolete customs, 
 and were, by general consent, laid aside by the 
 physicians, and as a more curious anxiety began 
 to be observed on the part of the patient to learn 
 everything connected with his complaint, arising 
 naturally from the improved state of general 
 knowledge, a different conduct became necessary 
 
76 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 in the sick-room. The innovation required by 
 the spirit of modern times never could have been 
 adopted by any one more fitted by nature and 
 inclination to carry it into effect than by Dj. 
 Baillie. 
 
 " The attention which he paid to morbid anatomy 
 (that alteration of structure which parts have 
 undergone by disease) enabled him to make a nice 
 discrimination in symptoms, and to distinguish 
 between disorders which resemble each other. It 
 gave him a confidence also in propounding his 
 opinions, which our conjectural art does not readily 
 admit ; and the reputation which he enjoyed uni- 
 versally for openness and sincerity made his dicta 
 be received with a ready and unresisting faith. 
 
 " He appeared to lay a great stress upon the 
 information which he might derive from the 
 external examination of his patient, and to be 
 much influenced in the formation of his opinion of 
 the nature of the complaint, by this practice. He 
 had originally adopted this habit from the peculiar 
 turn of his early studies ; and assuredly such a 
 method, not indiscriminately but judiciously em- 
 ployed, as he employed it, is a valuable auxiliary 
 to the other ordinary means used by a physician 
 of obtaining the knowledge of a disease submitted 
 to him. But it is equally true that, notwithstand- 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 77 
 
 ing its air of mechanical precision, such examina- 
 tion is not to be depended upon beyond a certain 
 point. Great disordered action may prevail in a 
 part without having produced such disorganisation 
 as may be sensibly felt ; and to doubt of the 
 existence of a disease because it is not discover- 
 able by the touch, is not only unphilosophical, but 
 must surely, in many instances, lead to unfounded 
 and erroneous conclusions. One of the inevitable 
 consequences of such a system is frequent dis- 
 appointment in foretelling the issue of the malady, 
 that most important of all points to the reputation 
 of a physician ; and though such a mode of inves- 
 tigation might prove eminently successful in the 
 skilful hands of Dr. Baillie, it must be allowed to 
 be an example of dangerous tendency to those who 
 have not had his means of acquiring knowledge, 
 nor enjoyed the advantages of his great experience, 
 nor have learned, by the previous steps of education 
 and good discipline, to reason and judge correctly. 
 The quickness with which a physician of keen 
 perception and great practice makes up his mind 
 on the nature of a disease, and the plan of treat- 
 ment to be employed, differs as widely as possible 
 from the inconsiderate haste which marks the 
 
 decisions of the rash and the uninformed 
 
 " But justice cannot be done to Dr. Baillie's 
 
78 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 medical character, unless that important feature 
 in it which appeared in every part of his conduct 
 and demeanour, his religious principle, be distinctly 
 stated and recognised. His ample converse with 
 one of the most wonderful works of the Creator — 
 the formation of man — -inspired in him an admir- 
 ation of the Supreme Being which nothing could 
 exceed. He had, indeed, 'looked through nature 
 up to nature's God ' ; and the promises of the 
 Gospel, on the conditions explained by our 
 Redeemer, were his humble but confident hope in 
 life and his consolation in death. 
 
 " If one precept appeared to be more practi- 
 cally approved by him than another, it was that 
 which directs us to do unto others as we would 
 have them do unto us ; and this was felt and 
 acknowledged daily by all his professional 
 brethren in their intercourse with him. On the 
 whole, we may say of him, what Tacitus does of 
 Agricola — 'Bonumvirum facile crederes ; magnum 
 libenter.'" 
 
 Having read the above eulogium, Sir Henry 
 Halford proposed to the College that a bust of 
 Dr. Baillie by Chantrey should be obtained and 
 placed in a prominent position in the new 
 College, which was unanimously agreed to. 
 
 It is true nevertheless that when, shortly after 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 79 
 
 Dr. Baillie's death, a proposal was made by Dr. 
 Pelham Warren and some of his friends to pay 
 honour to Baillie's memory by a monument in 
 Westminster Abbey it was discountenanced by 
 Sir Henry Halford ; but only because, as he was 
 careful to explain, he thought a display of this 
 kind unsuited to the profession of a physi- 
 cian. Moreover, that the most fitting mode of 
 doing honour to Baillie was that adopted by the 
 College of Physicians, the placing of his bust 
 among those of such ornaments of English physic 
 as Harvey, Sydenham and Mead. At a sub- 
 sequent period, Sir Henry, actuated by like 
 feelings, was opposed to the erection of the 
 monument to Dr. Babington in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral. 
 
 When Sir Henry Halford was in closest attend- 
 ance on the Court, as he was during the reign of 
 George IV., he found it necessary to have at 
 hand, one among his fellow physicians residing in 
 his immediate neighbourhood on whom he could 
 rely, and to whom he might depute such of his 
 professional work, as at the moment he himself 
 was unable to perform. He fixed, in the first 
 instance, on Dr. Turner of Curzon Street, long 
 treasurer of the College of Physicians, and next, 
 
80 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 when that physician withdrew from practice, on 
 Dr. Macmichael of Half-moon Street, a man of 
 many accomplishments who had travelled much, 
 and with whom Sir Henry maintained a close inti- 
 macy and warm friendship, until Dr. Macmichael 
 was struck down with paralysis in 1836. To 
 Dr. Macmichael succeeded Dr. Francis Hawkins 
 of Curzon Street, the first professor of medicine 
 in King's College, London, who had married a 
 daughter of Mr. Justice Vaughan, and a niece 
 therefore of Sir Henry Halford. He continued to 
 occupy this position to the last, and was himself 
 in medical attendance on Sir Henry throughout 
 the illness which proved fatal to him. 
 
 During this and the previous decade, Sir 
 Henry Halford was in the fullest exercise of his 
 profession, all the highest duties of which are 
 performed in the privacy of the sick chamber. 
 The more successful a physician is therefore, and 
 the more he is engaged in the highest duties of 
 his office, the less is there to meet observation or 
 to court publicity, and the less material con- 
 sequently for biography. " The physician's part," 
 writes Johnson, "lies hid in domestic privacy, and 
 silent duties and silent excellences are soon for- 
 gotten." So it was in the case of Sir Henry 
 Halford, and there is little of special character or 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 81 
 
 interest to record concerning him during the later 
 portion of his life. The following are the only 
 ones personal to himself, and as distinguished 
 from the College of Physicians and his attendance 
 on the Royal Family ; and these form the subjects 
 of special chapters hereafter. 
 
 In June, 1831, when the advent of Asiatic 
 cholera to this country appeared to be imminent, 
 the government sought first from Sir Henry 
 Halford, and next from the College of Physicians, 
 information regarding the disease itself, and 
 advice as to the means of preventing its entrance 
 amongst us. The Privy Council was already in 
 possession of much documentary evidence con- 
 cerning the disease, which had been supplied by 
 consuls and ministers abroad. At the instance of 
 Lord Lansdowne and Lord Auckland, Sir Henry 
 Halford was sent for, all these papers were placed 
 in his hands, and he was desired to report as 
 speedily as possible, whether the disease was 
 contagious, and whether it could be conveyed by 
 goods ? He reported next day ; yes, to the first 
 question, but no to the second. # The whole 
 subject with all the papers, was next submitted to 
 
 * " The Greville Memoirs," edited by Henry Reeve, first 
 series, vol. ii. p. 151 et seq. 
 
 F 
 
82 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 the College of Physicians, which so far departed 
 from the opinion of Sir Henry Halford, as to 
 affirm that the disease could be conveyed by 
 goods. A Board of Health was next formed. It 
 was constituted of twelve persons, six of whom 
 besides Sir Henry Halford, who was declared 
 president of the board", were fellows of the 
 College of Physicians. To them were added the 
 comptroller of the Navy, the deputy-chairman of 
 the Customs, the director-general of Army Hos- 
 pitals, the medical commissioner of the Victual- 
 ling Office, and the superintendent-general of 
 Quarantine. 
 
 The Board of Health so constituted considered 
 very carefully the several questions before it. It 
 declared its conviction of the contagious nature of 
 the disease, and recommended the establishment 
 of a system of strict quarantine. But this was not 
 in accord with the views or intentions of govern- 
 ment, especially in regard to quarantine, and it 
 was thought fit under such circumstances to dis- 
 solve the existing Board of Health and constitute 
 another in its place. While this change was in 
 contemplation, Sir Henry Halford on the part of 
 the Board of Health addressed the following 
 explanation to the Privy Council : 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 83 
 
 " The Board of Health has proceeded silently 
 but usefully it believes, to accomplish the objects 
 expected by the Privy Council from its establish- 
 ment. 
 
 " After an industrious perusal of all the docu- 
 ments it could meet with relating to the progress 
 of the Indian cholera, it gave a decided opinion 
 without compromise, that it was an infectious 
 disease. 
 
 " This led to a respectful representation on its 
 part, that an inexorable quarantine should be 
 established ; for the malady it appeared had been 
 imported into the Mauritius — it had been imported 
 at a subsequent period into the port of Dantzic, 
 and other harbours of the Baltic ; and if it reached 
 this country it must be imported here. 
 
 " The board moreover took great pains to 
 acquire an accurate knowledge of the symptoms 
 of the disease, misappropriately called cholera 
 morbus ; and having acquired this, by a careful 
 perusal of the India reports, and by a personal 
 examination of different Indian practitioners and 
 of physicians who had seen the disease in Europe, 
 was enabled to promulgate so clear an account of 
 it, as precluded the possibility of confounding it 
 with the cholera of this country. It has thereby 
 prevented much anxiety and a great deal of un- 
 necessary alarm. 
 
 "They have further exercised their judgment 
 upon the various modes of treating the disease, 
 and by discountenancing absurd methods of cure, 
 
84 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 have saved the country from the reproach 
 and danger of adopting rash and mischievous 
 remedies. 
 
 " The board has besides recommended the 
 establishment of local boards in the country and 
 over England generally, to whom they are now- 
 giving the best instruction in their power. 
 
 " They were prepared moreover to take upon 
 themselves the responsibility of any additional 
 measures which they might think it expedient to 
 recommend, if in their intercourse with the sick 
 [should this disease fall upon this country and 
 prevail generally] they should be able to discover 
 an approved mode of practice. 
 
 " They are now about to turn their attention to 
 one of the most important points of the disease, 
 namely, how long its contagion lies dormant in the 
 body — upon which hinges the great question of 
 the proper duration of quarantine. 
 
 "If the board be dissolved prematurely, there 
 would be no body to appeal to, and every man in 
 the kingdom must be reduced to think and act for 
 himself. 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 [No date.] 
 
 But the "Board of Health" was superseded 
 and then dissolved. On the 2nd November, 
 1 83 1, a "Central Board of Health" was instituted 
 in its place. This was very differently constituted 
 to the original board and it failed to secure the 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 85 
 
 confidence of the medical profession, or of the 
 public at large. Sir Henry Halford was not con- 
 nected with it, nor was a single fellow of the 
 College of Physicians placed on this new board. 
 The new board consisted of the Hon. Edward 
 R. Stewart, chairman, Sir William Pym, K.C.H., 
 Lieut.-Col. John Marshall, Dr. Russell, Dr. Barry, 
 K.T.S., Major R. Macdonald, and William 
 Maclean, secretary. The Central Board pro- 
 fessed the same general opinion of the infectious 
 nature of cholera as had the General Board, but 
 it shortened the duration of quarantine, and at 
 once declared against all coercive attempts to 
 isolate the disease. Its further history would be 
 out of place here. 
 
 Lady Halford died 17th June, 1833. Her last 
 illness and death is the subject of one or two 
 letters of sympathy and condolence from Sir 
 Henry Halford's friends, but I fail to find in his 
 own notes anything concerning his loss — if such 
 existed they were probably destroyed. I fail too, 
 to gather any information personal or traditional 
 of Lady Halford from other sources. She died 
 sixty years since and I can hear of no one, who 
 has sufficient recollection of her, to aid me. 
 According to the elegant inscription to her memory 
 
86 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 at Wistow, from the pen of Sir Henry Halford, 
 she was " distinguished by the graces and accom- 
 plishments which became a descent from a long 
 line of noble ancestors, she was exemplary in the 
 discharge of all her duties, studious to promote the 
 welfare and happiness of all around her, remark- 
 able for sincerity of character, humble before 
 God, charitable to mankind, a most affectionate 
 wife and tender mother." 
 
 In October, 1833, Sir Henry Halford was 
 admitted to an "ad eundem " degree at Cam- 
 bridge. The address of the public orator Dr. 
 Tatham, on presenting him for that honour, was 
 felt by Sir Henry and his friends who were 
 present, to be so true and withal so elegantly 
 expressed, that they were anxious to obtain a 
 written copy of it, but Dr. Tatham felt obliged 
 to decline to give it. In a letter to a friend he 
 says it was most gratifying to him to learn that 
 when he had the honour and pleasure of present- 
 ing Sir Henry Halford for the degree, he was so 
 fortunate in the selection of the topics as to give 
 satisfaction to that "accomplished scholar." But, 
 he continues, "as these slight effusions are not 
 intended to be oculis subjecta but merely demissa 
 per aurem, I hope you will not think that I am 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 87 
 
 insensible either to Sir Henry Halford's indulgent 
 partiality or to your own great kindness." 
 
 In reference to Sir Henry's visits to Cambridge 
 about and at this period, there is the following 
 letter from the chancellor of the university, his 
 friend and patient the Duke of Gloucester. It is 
 interesting as alluding to the very last effort 
 which Sir Henry Halford made, to maintain the 
 time-honoured connection between the English 
 universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the 
 College of Physicians of London. 
 
 " Gloucester House, Aug. 2, '33. 
 
 "My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I hasten to return to you my best 
 thanks for the very obliging letter, I had this 
 morning the pleasure of receiving from you, by 
 which, I am exceedingly glad to find that you are 
 so well satisfied with your visit to our university 
 as I trust I may now consider you as belonging 
 to us. I greatly lament that I shall not have the 
 opportunity of conferring your degree ad eundem 
 in person, as I had always flattered myself would 
 have been the case, and which was so near taking 
 place in 1828, but under existing circumstances I 
 think you judge perfectly right in determining to 
 be admitted in October. 
 
 " The account you so kindly give me of what 
 occurred during the two days you passed at Cam- 
 
88 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 bridge, you will readily believe affords me sin- 
 cerest gratification, and I very sensibly feel all 
 you have the goodness to say. Your meeting 
 with the vice-chancellor, the master of St. John's 
 and Dr. Haviland will be attended with the most 
 useful consequences, and most highly do I approve 
 of the plan you have agreed upon. There is now 
 a perfect understanding. The universities will 
 maintain what is essential to themselves ; the 
 College of Physicians will have what they ought 
 to have ; and we shall prevent power being given 
 where it ought not to exist. 
 
 " I am ever with the truest friendship, esteem 
 and respect, 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "William Frederick." 
 
 In 1835 two eminent London physicians died, 
 Dr. Maton and Dr. Pelham Warren, both of 
 whom had been in extensive practice among the 
 upper classes, and after the death of Dr. Baillie 
 had shared with Sir Henry Halford the best 
 medical business of the town. Sir Henry was 
 thus left for a time the undisputed master of the 
 situation. Dr. Chambers, it is true, succeeded in 
 time to much of the business of these two phy- 
 sicians and eventually to the position they had 
 occupied in relation to Sir Henry Halford. 
 
 Sir Henry's long tenure of his position at 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 89 
 
 Court, and of the best medical business of the 
 town, which had now lasted over more than a 
 quarter of a century, became the subject of talk 
 and perhaps of envy among his juniors, and led 
 among others, to the following jeu d esprit, com- 
 monly attributed to Dr. Paris : 
 
 " 'Tis said that death no favor shows 
 But strikes alike both friends and foes, 
 
 Without a predilection ; 
 Why strikes he then those men of art 
 Whose skill so oft has foiled his dart, 
 
 As if 'twere by selection ? 
 While he alone whose courtly smiles 
 Can charm away all human ails 
 
 Is left on earth to tarry : 
 No, certain 'tis, that death well knows, 
 Who are his friends and who his foes, 
 
 And therefore spares Sir Harry." 
 
 In the autumn of 1838, an event occurred 
 which all persons interested in Sir Henry Halford 
 must lament. His friend and neighbour Mr. 
 Lockley, a much respected medical practitioner, 
 of Half-moon Street, when on his way along with 
 Sir Henry to stay with him at Wistow, was 
 seized with apoplexy in the railway carriage, and 
 at Tring was removed from it into the station- 
 house. Sir Henry ordered a surgeon to be 
 immediately sent for, and having directed what he 
 should do on his arrival, left Mr. Lockley and 
 
90 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 proceeded on his journey to Wistow. These cir- 
 cumstances not unnaturally exposed Sir Henry to 
 much adverse criticism in the periodical press, 
 and it is believed cast a gloom over some of the 
 later years of his life. As the only direct and 
 authoritative account of the circumstances as they 
 occurred, is contained in a letter from Sir Henry 
 Halford to the Times newspaper, that letter is 
 subjoined : 
 
 " To the Editor of The Times. 
 
 " Sir, — I have been appealed to, in such terms 
 as I cannot resist, to give some account of the 
 circumstances attending the death of Mr. Lockley. 
 Here is the unvarnished tale : 
 
 " Mr. Lockley had been unwell in the spring of 
 the year, but had recovered in the summer. Be- 
 lieving that a change of air and of scene might do 
 him good, I invited him to accompany me on my 
 next visit into Leicestershire, and we set out the 
 following morning, the 2nd of October. We 
 proceeded to Euston Square, where Mr. Lockley 
 had a fall, but he assured me repeatedly, in 
 answer to my urgent questions, whether he were 
 ill, or had fallen by mere accident, that it was 
 merely an accident. 
 
 "When we had passed Watford, Mr. Lockley 
 became sick, and soon afterwards fell asleep, 
 breathed oppressively, and did not answer to my 
 questions. In this state, when we arrived at 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 91 
 
 Tring, I took him out of the carriage and carried 
 him into the parlour of the inspector of that 
 station, a most humane person, who sent off 
 instantly by my desire, to Mr. Dewsbury of 
 Tring, a medical practitioner of much credit and 
 business there, desiring him to come, or to send 
 his assistant immediately to Mr. Lockley's aid. I 
 gave directions what should be done, and re- 
 quested further that Mr. Dewsbury, when he had 
 bled Mr. Lockley, would send a message to 
 London, to apprise his family of the misfortune, 
 and to request Dr. Lockley, his son, to come 
 down immediately. Having given these direc- 
 tions, I felt I could not be of any further use at 
 present, and therefore pursued my journey. Mr. 
 Dewsbury executed all my wishes within an hour, 
 and Dr. Lockley arrived at ten o'clock the same 
 evening. 
 
 " I should have been ready to return the next 
 day, but after Mr. Dewsbury's first visit, Mr. 
 Lockley had the daily assistance of friends from 
 London, and Dr. Watson gave his sanction to his 
 patient's removal to London on the 6th, which I 
 learned by a letter from Mrs. Lockley, the follow- 
 ing day, informing me that he had accomplished 
 the journey without inconvenience and was thought 
 better. If I could have administered, instead of 
 directing only the expedients of our art to my 
 friend, I should have done so, but feeling assured 
 that I had provided Mr. Dewsbury's or his assist- 
 ant's immediate attention, I went on ; and my 
 
92 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 conscience does not reproach me with the slightest 
 neglect of my friend, who died, not that evening, 
 as has been erroneously stated, but on the 14th of 
 October, twelve days after the first seizure, in the 
 bosom of his family in Half-moon Street 
 " I am, Sir, much your servant, 
 
 " Henry Halford. 
 " Curzon Street, November 5." 
 
 All must admit that Sir Henry committed a 
 grave error in leaving his friend insensible, in the 
 hands of strangers at a railway station ; and all 
 must wish that on subsequent reflection it had 
 been frankly admitted to have been so. But it 
 was not. The wisest of men have their mo- 
 ments of indiscretion, and Sir Henry Halford 
 was but another instance of that truth. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's early success in the practice 
 of his profession, left him but little leisure for 
 composition. His essays in the " Medical Trans- 
 actions of the College of Physicians," on the 
 " Climacteric Disease " and on the " Necessity of 
 Caution in the Estimation of Symptoms in the 
 last steps of some Diseases : " and those on " Tic 
 Douloureux ; " on the " Phlegmasia Dolens ; " and 
 on the " Treatment of Gout," the most import- 
 ant of the strictly medical writings from his pen. 
 are of a character to make us regret that his con- 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 93 
 
 tributions to our professional literature were not 
 more numerous. His other " Essays " were read 
 at the evening meetings of the College of Phy- 
 sicians, before a mixed assemblage, and are there- 
 fore of a somewhat popular character. They were 
 admirably adapted to the occasion, and they afford 
 abundant proof of Sir Henry's elegant taste and 
 classical attainments. His two Harveian orations, 
 and his oration on the opening of the new College 
 of Physicians in Pall Mall East, are models of 
 Latin composition. 
 
 As his professional work diminished — it did so 
 after the death of William IV. — he betook him- 
 self again and with unabated interest to those 
 pursuits which had been his delight at Oxford. 
 In imitation of his friends, the Marquis Wellesley 
 and Lord Granville, he turned to the composition 
 of Latin poetry, chiefly in his carriage, and so 
 beguiled the tedium of many a long day spent in 
 his professional pursuits. This resource, he tells 
 us, was suggested to him in a conversation with 
 Lord Granville ; who, after having been occupied 
 incessantly in politics for nearly thirty years, was 
 seized by illness and confined to his armchair a 
 great part of the remainder of his life. In this 
 state Sir Henry always found him not tranquil 
 and cheerful only, as might have been expected 
 
94, LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 from his habitual piety, but amused : and on Sir 
 Henry asking him the secret of this happy 
 peculiarity he answered, "I go back to my 
 classics, sir." The next day Lord Granville sent 
 Sir Henry a copy of his " Nugae Metricse," con- 
 taining original exercises and translations. Sir 
 Henry thought he could not do better than 
 imitate such an example, and provide himself 
 with a similar resource, whenever his own power 
 of further exertion should be terminated by age, 
 or interrupted by such disease as might leave him 
 in possession of his faculties. 
 
 Sir Henry's own " Nugse Metricae," printed and 
 published in 1842, was the result. The pieces, in 
 number thirty-six, bespeak a happy facility of 
 composition and a correct taste. As specimens 
 of them I select the two following, which were 
 specially commended by Lord Wellesley, a very 
 competent authority. The first consists of lines, 
 suggested by Haydon's picture of Buonaparte, in 
 the possession of Sir Robert Peel. Buonaparte is 
 there represented as standing at the edge of the 
 rock at St. Helena, with his arms folded, contem- 
 plating a white sail in the horizon. His back is 
 toward the spectator — the sun setting. 
 
 "Tristis, iners, solusque abrupto in liraite rupis, 
 Stat circumspiciens Exul, si forte ratem quam 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 95 
 
 Unda vehat, reditus spem, perfugiumque ferentem. 
 Circum cuncta silent, non vox, non murmura ponti 
 Percepta, occiduas dum Sol se condit in undas. 
 Ah miser ! Ille diem referens vitamque resurget 
 Splendidior eras, mane novo. Tu sanguine fuso, 
 Criminibusque satur, solio detrusus ab alto, 
 Divulsusque tuis, veluti sub rupe Prometheus 
 Fixus inaccessa, morbo vexatus et ira 
 Conficiere, miser ! mortemque optabis acerbam." 
 
 The following, specially commended by Lord 
 Wellesley as "a proof of great power of Latinity," is 
 a translation of the song in Sheridan's " Duenna": 
 
 " Si violare fidem mihi cor proclivius esset, 
 Crede mihi, me non posse nocere tibi. 
 Quamquam etenim tua verba fidem me nulla rogassent, 
 Fecissent fidum forma decusque tuum. 
 
 Ergo pone metus, et fraudem parce vereri, 
 
 Neu timeas fictos in tua damna dolos : 
 Cunctos nempe senes inter numerabis amicos, 
 
 Nee juvenis, qui te non amet, ullus erit. 
 
 Et cum te socio tandem devinxeris uni, 
 
 Protenus ardentes, csetera turba, proci, 
 Demittent sestum stimulosque Cupidinis omnes, 
 
 Fraternseque dabunt pignora amicitiae." * 
 
 * Sheridan's original is as follows : 
 
 " Had I a heart for falsehood framed, 
 I ne'er could injure you, 
 For tho' your tongue no promise claim'd, 
 Your charms would make me true. 
 
 Then, Lady, dread not here deceit, 
 
 Nor fear to suffer wrong, 
 For friends in all the aged you'll meet, 
 
 And lovers in the young. 
 
96 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The last piece of the collection is in English, 
 and for that reason may be added. It is an 
 inscription for a mausoleum : 
 
 "Stranger! by curious contemplation led, 
 Whoe'er thou art, this solemn scene to tread, 
 May no compunctious visitings annoy, 
 No unrepented sins thy peace destroy, — 
 No passing day wound with a Parthian dart, — 
 But ev'ry hour fresh blessedness impart ! 
 Yet, — should some vice, indulged without control, 
 Peril thy future bliss, enthral thy soul, 
 O ! go not hence, till thou hast sternly vow'd 
 To sin no more — to thy Creator bow'd 
 In contrite sorrow, and His aid implored, 
 Who died — that sinful man to God might be restored." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had been blessed with a 
 good constitution which had never been injured 
 by excesses of any kind. He was moderate in 
 the use of wine, and this at a time when tempe- 
 rance was scarcely thought to be a virtue. He 
 enjoyed excellent health, and passed through a 
 long, laborious and anxious life without serious 
 illness of any kind. His health and energy con- 
 tinued indeed without any very marked abate- 
 ment up to about his seventy-fifth year, when they 
 began to fail him. He continued in practice 
 until within a few months of his death. He had 
 
 And when they find that you have bless'd 
 
 Another with your heart, 
 They'll bid aspiring passion rest, 
 
 And act a brother's part." 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 97 
 
 suffered for some time from occasional attacks 
 of pain, in the course of the nerves of the upper 
 and lower extremities of the left side, and had 
 become visibly thinner. The pains had after a 
 time increased in intensity and some five or six 
 months before his death, had assumed all the 
 characters of tic douloureux ; his sufferings from 
 which, neither his own large experience and 
 fertility of resources, nor the best efforts of his 
 friends, Dr. Seymour of St. George's hospital and 
 Dr. Francis Hawkins who attended him, were 
 able materially to alleviate ; and which were 
 temporarily and partially only relieved by full 
 doses of opium. 
 
 In sequel to pain and the loss of sleep con- 
 sequent thereon, the powers of his stomach gave 
 way ; emaciation and debility progressively in- 
 creased, and notwithstanding every effort on the 
 part of his medical attendants, to support him, he 
 expired in a state of extreme exhaustion, at his 
 house in Curzon Street, on the 9th March, 1844, 
 aged seventy-seven. 
 
 His body was removed to Wistow and buried 
 in the church there, which already contained the 
 remains of his father and mother, of his wife, and 
 of his brother Justice Vaughan. In the church 
 there is a mural monument to his memory with 
 
 G 
 
98 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 the following inscription from the pen of his 
 friend, Dr. Francis Hawkins ; revised (as I was 
 told by Dr. Hawkins himself) by Dr. Copleston, 
 the bishop of Llandaff and dean of St. Paul's, but 
 perhaps better known as the distinguished provost 
 of Oriel College, Oxford. 
 
 HENRICO HALFORD, BARONETTO G.CH. 
 
 EX JEDE. CHRISTI APUD OXONIENSES M.D. 
 
 JACOBI VAUGHAN, MEDICI CLARI 
 
 FILIO CLARIORI '. 
 
 QUI SOBRINI SUI CAROLI HALFORD BARONETTI 
 
 (EIDEM ORDINI ET IPSE ADSCRIPTDS) 
 
 ILEREDITATEM EX TESTAMENTO ET NOMEN SDSCEPIT. 
 
 MEDICORUM COLL : REG : LONDIN : 
 
 CUM PLAUSU ET FAVORE OMNIUM ANNOS XXIV PR-EFUIT. 
 
 REGUM GEORGII III. GEORGII IV. GULIELMI IV. 
 
 MEDICUS ORDINARIUS. 
 
 NECNON A PLERISQUE EJUSDEM STIRPIS PRINCIPIBUS 
 
 IN OPEM FAMILIARITER VOCATUS. 
 
 AD MORBOS DIJUDICANDOS SAGAX, AD SUBLEVANDOS POLLENS, 
 
 INGENII ACUMINE, REMEDIORUM COPIA, PARITER INSIGNIS, 
 
 ARTEM QUAM MORIBUS ORNABAT 
 
 LATfe ET FELICITER EXERCEBAT. 
 
 UTERIS HUMANIORIBUS ADMODUM IMBUTUS 
 
 VIXIT OMNIBUS ACCEPTUS, ERGA OMNES BENEVOLUS. 
 
 NATUS DIE OCTOBRIS IJ. A.S. MDCCLXVI. 
 
 OBIIT DIE MART. IX. A.S. MDCCCXLIV, 
 
 IN SOLO SALUTIS AUCTORE JESU CHRISTO 
 
 SPEM VIT..E IMMORTALIS OMNEM COLLOCAVIT. 
 
 FILIUS GRATUS PIUS 
 
 H.M. FAC. CUR. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had one son and one 
 
FROM 1820 TO HIS DEATH 99 
 
 daughter. His son Henry, born 22nd April, 
 1797, married his first cousin Barbara, the second 
 daughter of Sir John Vaughan, one of the barons 
 of the Exchequer. He for many years repre- 
 sented South Leicestershire in Parliament, suc- 
 ceeded as the second baronet, and died 22nd May, 
 1868 — his relict died 24th June, 1869. Louisa, 
 the only daughter of Sir Henry Halford, Bart., 
 was married 18th October, 18 19 to Frederick, the 
 eldest son of the Honourable John Coventry. She 
 died 30th September, 1865. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's will, made shortly after 
 Lady Halford's death, and dated the 18th Sep- 
 tember, 1833, is written by himself. It was wit- 
 nessed by his three medical friends, Dr. Mac- 
 michael, Dr. Thomas Turner, and Dr. John 
 Bright, and is as follows : 
 
 " In the name of God, Amen. I, Sir Henry 
 Halford, Baronet, of Wistow Hall, in the county 
 of Leicester, being of sound and disposing mind, 
 do make this my last will and testament. 
 
 " I give and bequeath to my dear son, Henry 
 Halford, his heirs, executors and assigns and 
 administrators, all my real and personal estate 
 whatsoever and wheresoever to be found. And 
 I do hereby appoint him my sole executor. 
 
 "In testimony whereof I affix my signature and 
 
100 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 my seal this eighteenth of September, in the pre- 
 sence of the three several witnesses, whose names 
 are underwritten. 
 
 Henry Halford, Bart. (l.s. J 
 
 " Signed, sealed, published and declared to be 
 the last will and testament of the same Sir 
 Henry Halford, Bart., by him in our presence 
 this eighteenth day of September, in the year of 
 our Lord 1833. 
 
 William Macmichael, M.D. 
 
 Thomas Turner, M.D. 
 
 John Bright, M.D." 
 
 It was proved 1st April, 1844, when his effects 
 were sworn under ^9000, but in May, 1846, they 
 were resworn as under ;£ 16,000. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD AND THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF 
 PHYSICIANS 
 
 The College of Physicians, in the year 1793, when 
 Sir Henry Halford joined it, and for thirty years 
 after, was situated within the city, in Warwick 
 Lane, Newgate Street. There he had repeatedly 
 served the office of censor, and there he had 
 delivered the Harveian oration of 1800. 
 
 At that time, and subsequently, throughout the 
 whole of his life, even when most oppressed by the 
 duties of his extensive business, Sir Henry was 
 attentive to the interests of the College, and ready 
 to devote himself, his energies and his influence, 
 to the furtherance of its welfare and the mainte- 
 nance of its dignity. On the 30th September, 
 1820, he was elected president of the College, 
 and at once applied himself to the removal of 
 the corporation from the city to the west end 
 of the town, an object which the fellows had 
 
102 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 long had much at heart, but had not dared to 
 encounter. 
 
 To the College in Warwick Lane, capacious as 
 it was, convenient in its internal arrangement, and 
 as a whole imposing in appearance, there was the 
 one serious drawback of its situation. In the 
 period that had elapsed since its erection, great 
 changes had taken place in London and especially 
 in the city. The immediate neighbourhood of 
 the College had greatly deteriorated ; population 
 and fashion had moved westward, and the 
 situation of the College, always bad, and the only 
 approach to it through Warwick Lane, narrow 
 and difficult, became year by year more incon- 
 venient. Everything concurred to show the 
 advisability of removal to a more convenient 
 situation. Various attempts had been made from 
 time to time in this direction, but each had proved 
 abortive. 
 
 In 1 8 14 the College obtained an Act of Par- 
 liament to enable it to hold its corporate meetings 
 and exercise its powers within the city of West- 
 minster and its liberties. And now, mainly 
 through Sir Henry Halford's personal influence 
 with the prime minister, the Earl of Liverpool, and 
 with the highest personage in the realm, a grant of 
 land in Pall Mall East, on which the College now 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 103 
 
 stands, valued then at six thousand pounds, was 
 obtained from the crown ;* and on it the present 
 College, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, was 
 forthwith commenced. The old premises in 
 Warwick Lane were sold for nine thousand 
 pounds. The Radcliffe trustees gave two thou- 
 sand pounds towards the cost of the new building. 
 And what was needed in addition, and it was 
 much — for the building and fittings cost more than 
 twenty-five thousand pounds over and above 
 the funds which had been accumulating for some 
 years for this purpose — was subscribed by the loans 
 and liberal contributions of the fellows of the 
 College themselves. But many years elapsed 
 before the entire cost of the edifice was liqui- 
 dated. 
 
 It was at this time, whilst the College house 
 was in course of erection, and the fellows were 
 without a fitting place to meet in, that the king — 
 George IV. — was pleased to confer a high honour 
 on the College of Physicians, and to testify his 
 
 * It was then granted for a lease of ninety-nine and a half 
 years only ; but on the 25th July, 1864, an Act of Parliament, 
 to enable her Majesty to grant a lease for nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine years, received the royal sanction, and the seal 
 of the College was affixed to the lease in the Comitia Majora 
 of the 30th September, 1865. 
 
104 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 appreciation of the character and abilities of its 
 president, Sir Henry Halford. The king was 
 pleased in the following letter to declare that the 
 president of the College for the time being, 
 should ex-officio hold the office of physician-in- 
 ordinary to his Majesty : 
 
 " The King desires Sir Henry Halford as 
 president of the Royal College of Physicians to 
 announce to the College assembled, that it is the 
 king's pleasure in future, that the president for 
 the time being, should always hold the office of 
 physician-in-ordinary to his Majesty. The king 
 has great pleasure in making this communication 
 during Sir Henry's presidency, from the sincere 
 regard he entertains for him, and the very high 
 estimation in which he holds his character and 
 abilities. 
 
 " G. R. 
 
 "Carlton House, January i8ta, 1822." 
 
 The College replied in the following humble 
 address : 
 
 " To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 
 
 " Sire, 
 
 "We, the President, Elects and Fellows 
 of the Royal College of Physicians, humbly 
 approach your Majesty with our most grateful 
 acknowledgments for the mark of royal favour 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 105 
 
 with which your Majesty has been pleased to dis- 
 tinguish us, by an order written and signed by 
 your royal hand addressed to Sir Henry Halford, 
 Bart., our president, commanding him to declare 
 to the College assembled your Majesty's royal 
 will and pleasure, that every future president of 
 the College of Physicians for the time being shall 
 hold the office of one of your Majesty's physicians- 
 in-ordinary. 
 
 " We associate, Sire, with this mark of your 
 royal kindness, the pleasing remembrance of the 
 circumstances of our original foundation by your 
 Majesty's illustrious predecessor King Henry VI 1 1., 
 and dare to presume from so gracious a proof of 
 your confidence in us, that your Majesty entertains 
 a favourable opinion of our institutions and disci- 
 pline, as calculated to make our profession respected 
 in this country, above what it is in any other part 
 of Europe, and most capable of forming a physi- 
 cian worthy to be placed near the sacred person 
 of the king. 
 
 "To our president, Sire, we entrust this ex- 
 pression of our dutiful thanks, our loyalty, and 
 our attachment and devotion to your Majesty, and 
 we pray that no weight of cares which your 
 Majesty's great office imposes upon you may prove 
 injurious to your health, and that Providence in 
 its infinite goodness may continue to watch over 
 a life so highly important to the welfare and 
 happiness of your kingdoms." 
 
106 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The College addressed the president as follows : 
 
 "February \st, 1822. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 "The fellows of the Royal College of 
 Physicians embrace with the greatest pleasure 
 this opportunity of expressing their warmest 
 thanks to the president for his uniform attention 
 to the duties of his important office, and the zeal 
 which he has uniformly displayed in promoting 
 the interests of the College. They are, however, 
 in a more especial manner impressed with a deep 
 sense of gratitude on account of the very high 
 honour, which through his means, his Majesty 
 has been graciously pleased to confer upon the 
 College, in appointing the president for the 
 time being to be always ex-officio one of his 
 Majesty's physicians-in-ordinary. This cannot 
 fail to be a great advantage to the College, 
 and is a higher honour than has ever been con- 
 ferred upon it by any prior sovereign. They 
 finally express an ardent wish that the president 
 may long enjoy good health to be enabled to 
 perform with his usual ability his duties to the 
 College and to the public." * 
 
 * It was thought from the king's letter, that the privilege 
 thereby conferred on the president of the College of Physicians 
 would be of perpetual obligation and binding on his successors. 
 So it was certainly understood by Sir Henry Halford. But 
 when Dr. Paris had been elected president, and as such, 
 applied to be placed among the physicians-in-ordinary to the 
 sovereign, it was held by the Queen's advisers that the command 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 107 
 
 Soon after this the king commanded, through 
 Sir Henry Halford, that Dr. Southey, a member 
 
 of George IV. was not binding on his successors. Dr. Paris 
 had placed the autograph letter of George IV. in the hands of 
 the First Lord of the Treasury, who returned it with the 
 following letter. 
 
 "Whitehall, March 2%th, 1844. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I beg leave to return to you the accompanying paper, 
 which you placed in my hands. Having made inquiry into the 
 subject to which that paper refers I have ascertained that the 
 policy of appointing the president of the College of Physicians 
 physician-in-ordinary to her Majesty, was brought under the 
 consideration of her Majesty at the period of her accession to 
 the crown, and that adverting to the fact that the election of 
 the president is an annual one and to the propriety of leaving 
 the sovereign an unfettered choice of her physician-in-ordinary, 
 her Majesty was advised to withhold her sanction from the 
 rule to which his Majesty George IV. was willing personally to 
 conform. 
 
 "Although Sir Henry Halford was continued physician to 
 her Majesty, it was expressly intimated to him that the 
 appointment was a personal one, and was not conferred in 
 virtue of the arrangement contemplated in the enclosed 
 memorandum. 
 
 " It was intended, I believe, that a communication to this 
 effect should have been made at the time to the College 
 of Physicians, but I conclude, as you were not aware of this 
 fact, that it was inadvertently omitted. 
 
 " The decision, however, was taken at the period to which I 
 refer and after full consideration, and I trust that you will not 
 consider the adherence to that decision under existing circum- 
 stances inconsistent with a sincere respect for that high charac- 
 ter, professional and general, which has induced the College 
 of Physicians to confer upon you the distinguished office of 
 president of the College. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Robert Peel. 
 
 "J. A. Paris, Esq., M.D., 
 
 " President of the College of Physicians." 
 
108 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 of the College, should be admitted a fellow, as a 
 preliminary to his appointment as one of the 
 physicians-in-ordinary to his Majesty. Dr. 
 Southey was a younger brother of the poet. He 
 had been a fellow student, at Edinburgh, with 
 the keeper of the privy purse, Sir William 
 Knighton, and a warm and lifelong friendship 
 had been established between them. The ap- 
 pointment of Dr. Southey is known to have been 
 due to the kindly feeling and interposition of Sir 
 William Knighton with the king. As this is the 
 only instance in the history of the College of 
 Physicians, of the exercise of the royal preroga- 
 tive in this direction, I add the king's letter to 
 Sir Henry Halford on the occasion. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 " The King sends his kind regards to Sir Henry 
 Halford and acquaints him, that it is the king's 
 intention to take an opportunity of appointing 
 Dr. Southey, one of his physicians-in-ordinary, 
 in the room of Sir William Knighton, who has 
 desired, from the heavy pressure of his other 
 situation, to retire from the responsibility of 
 this. 
 
 " The king would have been glad if Dr. 
 Southey had been a graduate of either of the 
 English universities, and the king wishes that 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 109 
 
 Sir Henry would supply this deficiency by making 
 him a fellow of the College. The king mentions 
 this as a continuation of the same feeling, which 
 induced him on a former occasion to state to Sir 
 Henry, that the president of the College of Phy- 
 sicians should in future, for the time being, always 
 be a physician-in-ordinary to the king. 
 
 " The king desires to express how sensibly 
 he feels Sir Henry's constant attention, and the 
 benefit which the king at all times derives from 
 his great judgment and skill in his profession. 
 
 " G. R. 
 
 "C. H., May 20th, 1823." 
 
 Dr. Southey was admitted a fellow of the 
 College of Physicians 25th June, 1823, and shortly 
 afterwards was gazetted physician-in-ordinary to 
 George IV. 
 
 In the course of building the new College, which 
 was attended with much trouble and anxiety to 
 the executive, and especially to the president and 
 treasurer, a strong sense of the services already 
 rendered to the corporation by Sir Henry Halford, 
 sprang up in the breasts of many of the fellows, 
 and it was thought but fit to acknowledge it in 
 some suitable manner. 
 
 And so, at a meeting of certain of the fellows 
 of the College held on the 27th May, 1824, at the 
 
110 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 house of Dr. Turner, the treasurer, Sir Lucas Pepys, 
 Bart, in the chair, it was resolved, "that in the 
 opinion of the meeting, the zeal and ability with 
 which Sir Henry Halford, Bart., has conducted 
 the affairs of the College since he has been presi- 
 dent, and the signal success which has resulted 
 from his indefatigable exertions, not only in for- 
 warding the great object of building the new edifice, 
 but in promoting the general welfare and dignity 
 of the College, justly entitle him to the gratitude 
 of all the fellows. 
 
 "And that placing his bust among those of 
 former eminent characters and benefactors, at the 
 period of opening the new edifice, would be an 
 appropriate and lasting memorial of the estimation 
 in which he is held by the College." 
 
 In order to obtain this object the president was 
 requested to sit to Chantrey for his bust, who had 
 undertaken to finish it in the course of a few 
 months. It was further agreed that the bust 
 when completed should be presented to the 
 College, to be placed at its discretion at the 
 opening of the new building. The funds needed 
 were at once supplied by a subscription of the 
 fellows, and the bust was presented to the College 
 the 4th June, 1825, under which date we read in 
 the Annals : 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 111 
 
 " Resolved that the bust of the president, Sir 
 Henry Halford, Bart., which has been executed 
 by Chantrey (in consequence of resolutions which 
 passed at a private meeting of the fellows), be 
 accepted by the College and placed among those 
 of former eminent characters and benefactors 
 already in the possession of the College." 
 
 It was placed and remains to this day in the 
 censor's room upon a pedestal bearing the line, 
 
 Praesenti tibi, maturos largimur honores, 
 
 on one side of the door leading to the large 
 library, the bust of his friend and colleague, Dr. 
 Matthew Baillie, being on the other. 
 
 The College was opened with due ceremony 
 on the 25th June, 1825, by the president, Sir 
 Henry Halford, who wore the decoration of 
 the royal Guelphic order, which the king had 
 been pleased to confer upon him that morning, 
 and delivered an eloquent Latin oration to 
 an audience, such as in respect of royalty, 
 nobility, official station and learning, had never 
 before, nor has since, been collected in the 
 College. This important event is recorded in 
 the Annals of the College as follows : 
 
112 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Die Junii 25 ° 1825. 
 
 " On this day the new College was opened. 
 
 " At 3 o'clock p.m. the president and fellows, dressed in their 
 doctor's robes, assembled in the censor's room, where they 
 waited to receive the distinguished guests, whom they had 
 invited to be present at the ceremony. Among the visitors 
 who honoured the College with their presence, were the 
 following high personages : 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of York. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Prince Leopold. 
 
 The Dukes of Grafton, Rutland, Montrose (Lord Chamber- 
 lain), Newcastle and Wellington (Master-general of the 
 Ordnance). 
 
 The Marquess of Londonderry. 
 
 The Earl of Liverpool (First Lord of the Treasury). 
 
 The Earl of Westmoreland (Lord Privy Seal). 
 
 Earls Grey and Carysfort. 
 
 The Earl of Aberdeen (President of the Society of Antiquaries). 
 
 Viscounts Sidmouth, Dudley, Deerhurst. 
 
 Lord Stowell (Judge of the High Court of Admiralty). 
 
 Lords Holland, St. Helens, Henley and Carrington. 
 
 The Lord Primate of Ireland. 
 
 The Bishops of Lincoln and Chester. 
 
 Lord John Russell. 
 
 Lord Robert Manners. 
 
 The Speaker of the House of Commons. 
 
 Count Munster (Hanoverian Minister). 
 
 Right Hon. Sir John Nicholl, Knight (Official Principal of 
 Arches Court of Canterbury). 
 
 Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel (Secretary of State Home Depart- 
 ment). 
 
 Right Hon. Frederic Robinson (Chancellor of the Exchequer). 
 
 Right Hon. William Huskisson (Treasurer of the Navy). 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 113 
 
 Right Hon. Charles W. Wynn (President of the B oard of 
 
 Control). 
 Right Hon. Sir Charles Long (Paymaster of the Forces). 
 Mr. Dawson and Mr. Hobhouse (Under Secretaries of State 
 
 for the Home Department). 
 Right Hon. William Freemantle. 
 Right Hon. George Tierney, M.P 
 Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. 
 Henry Brougham, Esq., M.P. 
 Sir James Macintosh, M.P. 
 T. Frank Sotheron, Esq., M.P. 
 Mr. Banks, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Heber, M.P. for the University of Oxford. 
 Lieut.-Gen. Sir George Walker, G.C.B. 
 Mr. Mansfield, M.P. 
 Mr. Serjeant Vaughan. 
 The Solicitor-General. 
 William Hamilton, Esq. (His Majesty's late Envoy at the 
 
 Court of Naples). 
 Rev. Dr. Goodenough (Head-master of Westminster School). 
 Rev. Dr. Butler (Head-master of Harrow School). 
 Rev Dr Maltby (Preacher of Lincoln's Inn). 
 Rev. Dr. Copleston (Provost of Oriel College, Oxford). 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence (President of the Royal Academy). 
 Professor Buckland (President of the Geological Society). 
 The President and Vice-President of the College of Surgeons. 
 The Master and Wardens of the Society of Apothecaries, 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Several letters of excuse were sent, couched in the most 
 respectful terms to the College, and signifying the different 
 reasons, for the most part causes of unavoidable public 
 business, which prevented the writers being present at the 
 ceremony. Among these were letters from 
 The Earl of Eldon (Lord Chancellor). 
 The Dukeof Bedford. 
 The Marquess Camden. 
 The Earl Bathurst (Secretary of State for the Colonies). 
 
 H 
 
114 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The Lord Grenville (Chancellor of the University of Oxford). 
 
 The Bishops of London, Bristol, Exeter, Winchester. 
 
 Right Hon. George Canning (Secretary of State for Foreign 
 
 Affairs). 
 Lord Viscount Palmerston (Secretary at War). 
 The Earl of Harrowby (President of the Council). 
 The Earl Spencer, K.G. 
 
 " When the guests had taken their seats, the president, pre- 
 ceded by the beadle carrying the mace and followed by more 
 than fifty fellows, walked in procession to the great room of the 
 library where a raised seat had been prepared, before which on 
 a table were placed the cushion, the book of statutes and the 
 mace. 
 
 " On each side of the president the censors seated themselves 
 in chairs ; the elects of the College were placed on the right 
 hand, and the fellows occupied the benches around which had 
 been appropriated to them. 
 
 "The president (wearing the decoration of the royal 
 Guelphic order, which the king had been pleased to confer 
 upon him that morning) then delivered an eloquent Latin 
 oration to an audience of upwards of three hundred persons. 
 
 "When this was concluded, they all adjourned to the dining- 
 room below and were treated with a sumptuous collation. His 
 Royal Highness the Duke of York was pleased to drink to the 
 prosperity of the College ; and afterwards all their royal high- 
 nesses rose and proposed the health of the president of the 
 College." 
 
 This was the proudest moment in Sir Henry 
 Halford's life, and he gave a graceful and 
 practical proof of his feeling towards the College, 
 and those of his colleagues who had been 
 associated with him in bringing it about, by- 
 forwarding to the treasurer of the College, Dr. 
 Turner, a draft on his banker for ,£300 to defray 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 115 
 
 the expenses of the opening. It was enclosed in 
 the following letter : 
 
 " My dear Sir, — 
 
 " After the noble exertions which the 
 fellows have made to furnish the means of 
 rebuilding the College, and after their generous 
 acquiescence in an expensive scheme, calculated 
 however, to open the new building with splendour 
 and eclat, and which seems to have succeeded 
 perfectly, I hope it may be taken in good part if 
 I place at your disposal as treasurer, a draft 
 intended to cover the expenses of the collation. 
 
 " I am gratified by this opportunity of express- 
 ing to you my deep sense of your indefatigable 
 zeal, and of your successful industry in preparing 
 everything for the late ceremony, and of assuring 
 you how much reason I have seen to admire your 
 prudence in the management of the pecuniary 
 concerns of the College, since you have been its 
 treasurer. Pray believe me, my dear sir, with 
 high esteem, 
 
 " Your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 " Henry Halford. 
 
 "Curzon Street, June 30//?, 1825." 
 
 Shortly after the opening of the new building, 
 as soon indeed as its internal arrangements were 
 completed, Sir Henry as president suggested 
 that evening meetings should be held from time 
 
116 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 to time at the College. And this with the two- 
 fold object of bringing together the different 
 branches of the medical profession, so as to 
 remove prejudices and substitute a better feeling 
 in their stead ; and further, of bringing into 
 association with the profession at the College 
 representatives of all that is noble, venerable, 
 distinguished and learned in general society, in 
 science, and in the other professions. The idea 
 was felicitous, and as the arrangements made for 
 these meetings were judicious, they soon became 
 popular, and for several years were very success- 
 ful. They were held monthly for the first six 
 months of the year at nine o'clock in the evening 
 and ended at eleven o'clock. Tea and coffee 
 were provided. The president took the chair at 
 a table in the great library, without his gown or 
 any of the other insignia of his office, with the 
 registrar of the College on his right and 
 supported* on both sides by such of the officers 
 and seniors of the College as might be present. 
 The papers were to be read by the registrar, 
 except those by the president, who was at liberty 
 to read his own, and Sir Henry Halford always 
 did so. The papers, it was felt, should be on 
 such subjects especially as are peculiarly adapted 
 to excite interest in a mixed audience of gentle- 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 117 
 
 men and scholars, and are capable of being 
 illustrated by literature, the common bond of 
 connection of all the liberal professions. The 
 papers contributed by Sir Henry Halford, Dr. 
 Heberden, Dr. Macmichael, and some other 
 fellows of the College were essentially of this 
 character. No debating or speaking on the 
 papers was permitted, but they often supplied to 
 the company a subject for much interesting 
 conversation and interchange of opinion during 
 the remainder of the evening. 
 
 Perhaps foremost in interest and in importance 
 of the papers communicated to the College by Sir 
 Henry Halford were those " On the Influence of 
 some of the Diseases of the Body on the Mind ; " 
 " On the Education and Conduct of a Physician ; " 
 and " On the Kavaoq of Aretseus." The last of 
 these met with marked commendation by those 
 best qualified to judge of it. The Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Dr. Howley, writes as follows : 
 
 "London, September i^th, 1830. 
 ' ' My dear Sir, 
 
 " I have read your observations on the 
 passage of Aretaeus describing the kclvgoq with 
 more than common pleasure. The justness of 
 the remarks and the elegance and propriety of 
 the language are equally striking ; and I cannot 
 
118 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 help thinking that a series of disquisitions on a 
 similar plan, would tend much to the illustration 
 and in many instances the advancement of medical 
 
 science. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " W. Cantuar." 
 
 And from the Bishop of London, Dr. Blom- 
 
 field: 
 
 "London House, February 10th, 1831. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I return your disquisition on the kclvgoq 
 with many thanks for your kindness in having 
 permitted me to profit by the perusal of a com- 
 position not unworthy of your eminence as a 
 master of the healing art, or of your reputation as 
 a scholar, nor, let me add, of the still more 
 important character, which you are not ashamed 
 of being known to bear, as a Christian. 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 "C. J. London. 
 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 Whilst of the volume of " Essays and Orations " 
 in which these and several others are collected, 
 there are, among many letters, the following 
 from Lord Grenville, a most competent judge; 
 and from a distinguished member of the judicial 
 bench, Sir J. A. Park : 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 119 
 
 "Dropmore, May 13th, 1831. 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 ** I thank you heartily for the little volume 
 which you have had the kindness to send me. 
 Its contents were not new to me, but I have 
 again admired with fresh delight your truly 
 elegant and simple (or therefore truly classic) 
 style, both in Latin and in our own language, so 
 opposite to the laboured and affected modes of 
 writing now so prevalent in both. With this 
 style well accords the character of the sentiments 
 which it is so appropriately employed to express. 
 
 7& ^ 7v vs" "7? 
 
 " Believe me, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your attached and faithful friend, 
 
 " Grenville. 
 " Sir H. Halford, Bart." 
 
 " Bedford Square, May 20th, 1831. 
 
 "My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Even at the hazard of incurring for a few 
 days the charge of ingratitude for continued kind- 
 ness and friendship, I have declined to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your valuable present, till I 
 should have an opportunity of perusing all your 
 essays and orations. That opportunity has been 
 afforded me, and most willingly have I seized it, 
 to peruse every part of the precious little work. 
 I do assure you, Sir Henry, I do not use the 
 language of flattery, but I have been delighted, 
 not only with the matter (of which of course I am 
 
120 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 not always competent to judge), but with the style, 
 language and impressiveness with which every 
 sentence tells. And what delights me most is, 
 that in all your judicious advice to the younger 
 members of your profession, you never forget the 
 character of the moralist and Christian. In this 
 respect you imitate our illustrious magistrate, 
 Lord Kenyon, who adopted for his judicial motto 
 the dictum of Horace, but using moribus in the 
 Christian sense : 
 
 " Quid leges sine moribus 
 Vanae proficiant." 
 
 Let me then be allowed to conclude, and I do 
 most sincerely offer you my most sincere wishes 
 in your own impressive words — only changing the 
 epithet because it does not apply yet to you : 
 
 " Valeas itaque, eximie vir ! otioque literato, et 
 doctorum hominum colloquiis, et vitae tuae anteactse 
 recordatione diu perfruaris ! insigne medicis 
 exemplum relicturus, amplam dicendi materiem 
 oratori. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir Henry, with deep respect, 
 
 11 Your very faithful servant, 
 
 "J. A. Park." 
 
 These evening meetings at the College, and 
 especially those of them when the paper was 
 supplied by the president, Sir Henry Halford, 
 were numerously attended, and among the visitors 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 121 
 
 were generally a considerable number of the 
 highest and most distinguished personages of the 
 time. Among- such were H.R.H. the Duke of 
 Sussex, the Duke of Wellington, the Primates of 
 England and of Ireland, the Lords Chancellor 
 Lyndhurst and Brougham, the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe, Earl Grey, Sir Robert Peel, and many 
 other Cabinet Ministers, many of the bishops, and 
 most of the judges. 
 
 Much of the success of these meetings depended, 
 it is certain, on Sir Henry Halford, who brought 
 all the private interest he possessed, and it was 
 exceptionally great, to bear upon them ; and with 
 the effect of making the College known and appre- 
 ciated by many of the best and noblest in the 
 land. In these efforts he was warmly seconded 
 by many of the fellows of the College. These 
 evening meetings at the College ceased in 1838. 
 They had continued for more than ten years and 
 had answered the purpose for which they had 
 been instituted. 
 
 About this period Sir Henry Halford encoun- 
 tered some unpopularity among the junior members 
 of his profession and of the College of Physicians, 
 by the desire he always manifested to retain the 
 connection between Oxford and Cambridge — the 
 
122 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 especial seats of classical education in this country 
 — and the College of Physicians ; and by his 
 unwillingness, save in exceptional circumstances, 
 to admit to the highest order and fullest privileges 
 of the College, that is to the fellowship, any who 
 had not shared in all the advantages of an English- 
 university education. 
 
 Sir Henry's experience in his own person, and 
 what he had seen in the most distinguished phy- 
 sicians of his time, such as Dr. Heberden, Sir 
 George Baker, Dr. Warren and others, had satisfied 
 him of the paramount importance to the forming 
 of a physician, of an English university training 
 such as it then was. It implied an excellent dis- 
 cipline of the understanding, giving precision to 
 thought and language, inducing a habit of close 
 attention and a patient application of the mind ; 
 and in all these respects was the most fitting pre- 
 paration and discipline for special and particularly 
 for medical study. 
 
 It was too, the best, indeed the only way, 
 of enabling the physician to add that dignity 
 to his profession " which had raised it in 
 England pre-eminently above the consideration 
 which it obtained in any other country of 
 the world " ; and had fitted the English phy- 
 sician for associating on no inferior or unequal 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 123 
 
 terms with the wisest, best and highest in the 
 land. 
 
 To the like effect, but more fully wrote a dis- 
 tinguished contemporary and friend of Sir Henry 
 Halford— Dr. P. M. Latham. " In England," 
 says he, " there always have been among phy- 
 sicians, those who have been upon an equality of 
 education with the noblest and most learned of 
 the land. They have mixed with them at our 
 public schools and universities, they have con- 
 tended with them in honourable rivalry ; and their 
 minds have taken a congenial character from the 
 similar studies of their youth. At length they 
 have all separated to their several destinies for 
 life. Some to the senate, some to the bar, some 
 to the church, some to physic. These men so 
 educated have ever afterwards looked with esteem 
 upon each other, and each other's pursuits. And 
 thus have the most illustrious men of every age, 
 who could know nothing of physic as a profes- 
 sion, viewing it through those whom they have 
 known engaged in it, been compelled to regard it 
 with reverence and honour. In this way a credit 
 has been derived to our common profession, in 
 which every individual in every rank of it, has 
 partaken, when those whose good opinion is most 
 coveted, have taken their estimate of physic and 
 
124 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 physicians from contemplating the characters of 
 such men as Dr. Heberden and Sir George 
 Baker." * 
 
 Sir Henry Halford equally with Dr. Latham 
 desired to have physicians still instituted in the 
 same discipline and still reared in fellowship and 
 communion with the wisest and best men ; and 
 that, not for the sake of what is ornamental merely 
 and becoming to their character, but because he 
 was persuaded that that discipline which renders 
 the mind most capacious of wisdom and most 
 capacious of virtue, can hold the torch and light 
 the path to the sublimest discoveries in every 
 science. It was the same discipline which con- 
 tributed to form the mind of Newton and of Locke, 
 of Harvey and of Sydenham.f 
 
 The English physician indeed, at the period to 
 
 * " Lectures on subjects connected with Clinical Medicine," 
 by P. M. Latham, M.D. London, 1836, p. 28. 
 
 t " Notwithstanding the repressive influence of mediaeval 
 statutes and the want of any organised system of medical 
 instruction, the medical students of the English universities 
 very generally attained the highest rank amongst the physicians 
 of the metropolis and elsewhere. They entered the profession 
 generally late in life, but with all the advantages of the classical, 
 as well as medical education, and were thus associated more 
 intimately in rank and estimation with the higher classes 
 of society, than those, whose early studies had been of a less 
 refined and general character; and there are many reasons 
 which should induce us to conclude that the high social 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 125 
 
 which I refer, had come to be considered as com- 
 bining in his person, not only the qualifications 
 necessary for the successful practice of physic, but 
 those which give dignity to his professional, and 
 respectability to his private character. He was 
 distinguished by large attainments as a scholar, by 
 sound religious principles as a Christian ; by 
 practical worth and virtue as a good member of 
 society, and by polished manners as a well-bred 
 gentleman. # 
 
 position which physicians have hitherto been enabled to main- 
 tain in this country — so different from that which they occupy 
 on the continent of Europe — is not a little owing to this 
 admixture of well-educated gentlemen, so many of whom have 
 been supplied by the English universities. The privileges also 
 which were accorded to the College of Physicians, though long 
 stigmatised as unjust and illiberal, and the cause of frequent 
 litigation, especially about the period of which we are now 
 speaking, had a similar tendency ; and it may be reasonably 
 doubted, now that these privileges are to a great extent 
 abandoned, whether the medical profession will long be able 
 to maintain, as hitherto, the same estimation in society with the 
 members of the professions of the church and the law." (Life 
 of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S., by George Peacock, D.D., 
 Dean of Ely, &c. 8vo. London, 1855, p. 121.) 
 
 * Gentleman: 's Magazine, March, 1834, p. 334. Instances were 
 no doubt to be found then, as at all other periods, in which some 
 of these characteristics were wanting, but then the deficiencies 
 were always felt and perceived, censured and regretted, not 
 simply by reason of the deformity thereby brought upon the 
 character and conduct of the individual, but because they were 
 departures from an established usage, violations of a general 
 rule, and disappointments of a well-grounded expectation. 
 
126 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 But a number of the junior fellows of the 
 College of Physicians thought otherwise than their 
 president. They contended that the higher order 
 and offices of the College should be open to all, 
 no matter where or how educated, provided they 
 came up to a standard of mere medical knowledge. 
 By perseverance and pertinacity they at length 
 won over a majority of the fellows and succeeded 
 in 1835 m severing the time-honoured connection 
 of the College of Physicians with the two univer- 
 sities, and in altering the whole constitution of 
 their institution. 
 
 Opposed as all this was to the convictions and 
 wishes of Sir Henry Halford, he nevertheless in 
 his office of president, continued strictly loyal to 
 the College as represented by the majority, and 
 carried out honestly, with prudence and judgment, 
 the various important alterations which were then 
 introduced. 
 
 Those who remember the physicians of the 
 period of which I am writing — and there are a few 
 still living who do so, myself among that number — 
 their classical culture, their staid philosophic habit 
 of mind, their social position, and the estimation 
 in which their College was then held by the best 
 and highest of the land, can but lament the change 
 in all these respects which has since taken place, 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 127 
 
 in sequel to, and as it would seem partly in con- 
 sequence of the changes of 1835. While the 
 other branches of the medical profession — the 
 surgeons and the apothecaries — have improved 
 their culture and position, the physicians have 
 lost much of that which they formerly possessed, 
 and have reached a level, there is no denying 
 it, not equal to that which they once enjoyed in 
 this country. 
 
 It was said not long since in one of our leading 
 reviews, # and I cannot gainsay the truth of the 
 statement, that " no one comparing the present 
 race of physicians with those of a time not so very 
 remote, can fail to observe a remarkable dis- 
 similarity, less from a strictly professional point 
 of view, than from the difference in their mental 
 equipment. The older physicians were usually 
 the foremost representatives of the best and widest 
 culture of their time. At once scholars and men 
 of science, they commanded respect not more by 
 the vastness of their erudition than, it must be 
 confessed, by the results of their practical skill. 
 They were often distinguished in literature. 
 Arbuthnot and Garth could associate with the 
 wits of their day without any sense of inferiority 
 as regards culture. Our latter-day doctors 
 * Fortnightly Review, June 1885, p. 780. 
 
128 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 have altogether lapsed from the category of 
 scholars ; they are now probably the least learned 
 of the three liberal professions. Even as men of 
 science we are no longer up to the level of our 
 predecessors." 
 
 Sir George Tuthill, a distinguished physician 
 and one of the leading fellows of the College, had 
 undertaken to deliver the Harveian oration in 
 June, 1835, but he was cut off, after a short illness 
 by acute inflammation of the larynx, early in the 
 month of April. Lest the anniversary oration 
 should be wanting, Sir Henry Halford undertook 
 to supply the place of his friend, and did so on 
 the 25th June before a large and highly distin- 
 guished audience, in an excellent address of choice 
 Latin, which met the approval of all his colleagues, 
 and was acknowledged in the College annals as 
 follows : 
 
 " Junii, Die xxv, 1835. — On this our great 
 anniversary, the College cannot separate, without 
 expressing its grateful sense of the many obliga- 
 tions it owes to its president. On the lamented 
 death of Sir George Tuthill, who was the Harveian 
 orator designated for this year, the president 
 undertook in a comparatively short space of time 
 to supply his place. And when it is considered 
 that this is the third occasion upon which Sir 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 129 
 
 Henry Halford has performed this arduous duty, 
 the College wishes to record how much it feels 
 indebted to him for the zeal, ability and eloquence 
 with which he has discharged the functions of its 
 public orator." 
 
 The following letter from Dr. Gordon, is one 
 among many congratulating the orator on his 
 success : 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Will you permit a very humble, but at 
 the same time a very sincere and grateful friend, 
 to add his congratulations to the many you have 
 this day received on the delivery of the Harveian 
 oration, and to assure you on the faith of a calm 
 and unprejudiced observer, that its reception was 
 in all respects such as could be desired by 
 those to whom your honour and reputation are 
 dear. 
 
 ™ I sat by Lockhart — the calm but heightened 
 glow of pleasure which beamed in his countenance 
 at some of the more striking passages ; the honest 
 fervour of Sir Robert Inglis, who told me that he 
 did not know there was such Latin to be found in 
 modern times, are perhaps more touching testi- 
 monials, but not more gratifying than the general 
 approbation with which your discourse was re- 
 ceived by men of all parties. To my mind, one 
 of the chief beauties of the oration was its dignified 
 
 i 
 
130 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 and graceful simplicity ; and the effect was greatly- 
 heightened by the eloquent manner in which you 
 delivered it. I was at the very extremity of the 
 room and every syllable — every inflexion of the 
 voice — came to me as distinctly as if uttered in a 
 small room. There appeared to me but one 
 feeling, one sentiment on the matter. 
 
 " Believe me to be, my dear Sir Henry, 
 "Your grateful friend and servant, 
 
 " James A. Gordon. 
 
 "2 Finsbury Square, June 25M." 
 
 From this time until Sir Henry was disabled by 
 the illness which terminated his life, he continued 
 to perform with regularity and assiduity all the 
 duties of his high office at the College. Among 
 the most important and delicate of these, was the 
 selection to the fellowship speciali gratia, from 
 among such physicians of the College as had not 
 been educated at Oxford or Cambridge. The 
 names of Sir James McGrigor, Bart., Dr. William 
 Babington, Sir Henry Holland, Bart, Dr. Prout, 
 Dr. Roget, Dr. Bright, and Dr. Wilson-Philip, 
 who were admitted fellows on the individual 
 nomination of Sir Henry Halford, are a sufficient 
 proof of his care and wisdom in the selection. 
 
 It is but just to add here that Sir Henry was 
 always ready to waive his individual rights and 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 131 
 
 privileges as president of the College, in deference 
 to the expressed or even the presumed views of 
 the fellows. There are numerous instances of this 
 recorded in the Annals of the College, all of 
 them showing how solicitous he was to maintain 
 peace and avoid the semblance of offence to his 
 colleagues. 
 
 For the rest, his duties at the College were for 
 the most part of a routine and uninteresting 
 character, and may be passed over by his bio- 
 grapher. There was nothing at this period of 
 sufficient public or special interest in the pro- 
 ceedings of the College of Physicians to call for 
 remark in a life of Sir Henry Halford. 
 
 Sir Henry's love of his profession and his 
 devotion to the College of Physicians continued 
 to the last. In the latest of his essays read to the 
 College, that "On some Results of the successful 
 Practice of Physic," he says: "Let me add, in 
 evidence of the sincerity with which I have 
 represented the frequent occasions of the purest 
 mental gratification which the physician finds in 
 the exercise of his calling, independently of any 
 other consideration, and contrary to the maxim in 
 
 Horace, 
 
 Nemo, quam sibi sortem 
 Seu ratio dederit seu fors objecerit, ilia 
 Contentus vivat ? Laudet diversa sequentes ? 
 
132 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 that if I were to begin my life again I would 
 adopt the profession of physic." And "amongst 
 these gratifications, I should be ungrateful to you, 
 if I did not enumerate the repeated pleasure of 
 meeting and co-operating with you for the im- 
 provement of medicine, and for the promotion of 
 the respectability of our profession, in these 
 evening assemblies at the College ; and when it 
 shall please the great Creator to remove me to 
 another world, which must necessarily be at no 
 very distant day, some of you who now listen to 
 me may bear in mind these my unfeigned senti- 
 ments and attachment to our common profession, 
 and not be surprised if you should hear that 
 
 Occidit, et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos." 
 
 In 1843 Si r Henry Halford's health began to 
 break. He was at the College for the last time 
 the 27th of September, 1843, when he presided 
 at a meeting of the elects — a class in the College 
 that no longer exists. He died, as has been stated, 
 the 9th of March, 1844. On his death-bed, he 
 had expressed to Dr. Turner, the treasurer of the 
 College, and to other of the senior fellows, his 
 conviction that Dr. Paris was best fitted of all the 
 fellows to succeed him in the office of president ; 
 and on the morrow of Palm Sunday, 1844, 
 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 133 
 
 "postridie Palmarum," Dr. John Ayrton Paris 
 was elected to that office. 
 
 At a committee of the College held on that 
 day, the following resolution was passed unani- 
 mously : 
 
 "In order more effectually to perpetuate the 
 distinguished services rendered to the College by 
 their late president, Sir Henry Halford (extending 
 through a period of twenty-five years), as well as 
 to mark the admiration and gratitude with which 
 they have been regarded by his contemporaries ; 
 it was unanimously resolved that these sentiments 
 should be recorded in the Annals of the College, 
 and embodied in a suitable inscription on a tablet 
 to be placed in the library." 
 
 I add, I do so not without a blush, that no such 
 tablet has been put up, and that the library has 
 been and still is conspicuous for its absence. 
 
 It may be, it was thought on further consider- 
 ation, though there is nothing in the Annals or 
 other documents of the College to bear out the 
 supposition, that no inscription was really needed, 
 and that the edifice itself was the best memorial 
 of him, to whom its existence was mainly due. 
 Such was evidently the opinion of the Harveian 
 orator of 1848 — Dr. Francis Hawkins — who, in 
 
134 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 reference to Sir Henry Halford, expressed himself 
 as follows : 
 
 "Ardebat, mihi credite, singulari quodam 
 amore in hoc Collegium, cui tarn diu, omnium 
 consessu, prsefuit. Quid enim ? testabor has ipsas 
 sedes ? quas, maximis curis et laboribus suis, nobis 
 adparavit ; quas dedicavit oratione pura sic, ut 
 Latine loqui pcene solus videretur ; quas igitur ei, 
 quern prope dixerim conditorem nostrum quintum, 
 perpetuo fore monumento prorsus existimo. Hie, 
 hie inquam, si quaerat quispiam Halfordi monu- 
 mentum, circumspiciat." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD AND THE ROYAL FAMILY 
 
 So early in Sir Henry Halford's medical career 
 as J 793> when he was not yet twenty-seven years 
 of age, he had been honoured with the appoint- 
 ment of physician-extraordinary to the king. 
 Yet strange to say, nothing can now be recalled of 
 the circumstances — though they must have been 
 very exceptional — which led to that appointment. 
 
 In 1801 he was called into medical attendance 
 on the Duchess of Gloucester, and shortly after- 
 wards on H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester, a 
 brother of George III. ; and he continued to 
 attend the duke up to his death in 1805, as he 
 did the Duchess of Gloucester to her death in 
 1807. 
 
 The first of the family of George III. by whom 
 he was consulted was the Duke of Kent in the 
 early part of 1802, who continued to consult him 
 at intervals up to his marriage. The duke 
 
136 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 enjoyed exceptionally good health and had little 
 need of physic or physicians. His dislike of 
 medicine was so strong that he could be induced 
 to take it only on extreme occasions. His last 
 illness at Sidmouth in 1820, was thought to have 
 had a fatal issue from his refusal to take the dose 
 prescribed for him at the very commencement of 
 the attack by his domestic physician, Dr. Wilson. 
 Of the Duke of Kent's kindly feeling for Sir 
 Henry Halford, the following letter is a proof : 
 
 " The Lodge, Castle Hill, 
 " Wednesday morning, September \st, 181 3. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Having at length been able to find a 
 horse to replace your little favourite, I lost not 
 a moment in sending him to you, but hope you 
 will confer on me the obligation of accepting him 
 from me as a keepsake, and as a mark of my 
 grateful acknowledgment for your kind and 
 friendly attention to me upon the occasion of 
 my late severe accident, of which I shall ever 
 entertain a lively recollection. The only con- 
 dition I entreat permission to make, is that if 
 ever you should get tired of him you will then 
 send him back to me. You are aware he has 
 never to my knowledge been rode by a lady ; 
 and therefore, if you mean him for your daughter, 
 he should be put under the tuition of Fozard of 
 Park Lane before she is trusted to mount him. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 137 
 
 He has no vice, is perhaps at times a little shy of 
 odd objects, but perfectly tractable if used kindly. 
 
 " I have long wished for an opportunity of 
 expressing to you how deeply I feel your unre- 
 mitting attention to that dear little angel, my 
 younger sister, who I may say to you is one of 
 the greatest comforts of my life, and I hope you 
 will consider this trifling gift as a small mark also 
 of my eternal gratitude for your care of dearest 
 Sophy, whose life to me is of more value than 
 any language can express. 
 
 "You will I know hear with pleasure that 
 nothing is wanting to complete my recovery from 
 my late accident but the wound closing in my 
 left arm, which there is every hope another 
 week will accomplish, and then, when I can once 
 get on horseback, I shall soon recover my strength, 
 which, at present, certainly is not what it was. 
 As, if I recollect right, this is your Windsor 
 day, may I beg of you to give my kindest love to 
 all my sisters, and to lay my duty at the queen's 
 feet, adding that if by this day week I am able to 
 do without bandages or dressings I shall certainly 
 be at Windsor, but if disappointed in that, I am 
 sure all will approve of my postponing it. 
 
 "It only now remains for me to assure you of 
 the unutterable sentiments of friendship and 
 esteem with which I ever am, 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " Edward." 
 
138 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 In the following year — 1803 — Sir Henry was 
 consulted by the Duke of Cumberland, whose 
 entire confidence and " sincere friendship " he 
 soon succeeded in obtaining ; and who from this 
 time trusted the care of his own health, and when 
 he married in 181 5, that of his duchess, wholly to 
 Sir Henry, up to the time, 1837, when the duke 
 succeeded to the crown of Hanover, and left 
 England. 
 
 Towards the end of 1809, Sir Henry was sent 
 for, in conjunction with Dr. Baillie, to attend 
 the Princess Amelia, the youngest and favourite 
 daughter of George III. The princess resided 
 with her sister the Princess Mary, afterwards 
 Duchess of Gloucester, in a house at Windsor — 
 Augusta Lodge — in proximity to the castle. She 
 had then been ill for some time and attended by 
 Sir Francis Milman, Dr. Saunders, Dr. Heberden, 
 and a local practitioner named Pope. Her com- 
 plaint was consumption of the lungs, a disease for 
 which medicine then could effect but little, and in 
 the symptoms and progress of which the princess 
 herself perceived but little if any amendment. 
 With an anxiety, natural under such circum- 
 stances, she felt a desire for an entire change in 
 her medical attendants. Sir Henry Halford and 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 139 
 
 Dr. Baillie were at her own request substituted 
 in place of her former physicians, and they had 
 the entire medical care of her Royal Highness 
 up to her death. 
 
 Sir Henry and Dr. Baillie were entirely agreed 
 in their view of the case, and drew up two joint 
 reports — one, containing a full and most candid 
 statement to be submitted to the king ; the other, 
 which the princess herself was to be allowed to 
 see, modified in such manner as to avoid any ill 
 consequences to her feelings and maintain that 
 hope in her mind, without which, such chance as 
 there might be of recovery, would be extin- 
 guished. 
 
 But the princess's bodily malady was not 
 all she had to suffer. She had private mental 
 trials and troubles of no ordinary character, con- 
 sequent upon the secret marriage she had con- 
 tracted with General Fitzroy. These rendered 
 her medical treatment all the more difficult, and 
 the office of her physicians the more delicate, 
 particularly in the latter period of her illness. It 
 was so especially in the case of Sir Henry 
 Halford, whose warm sympathy with his patient 
 had secured her entire confidence, and made him 
 the involuntary depository of all her troubles and 
 wishes. She desired Sir Henry to become the 
 
140 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 medium of communication between herself and 
 the king. He was thus placed in a very em- 
 barrassing situation. He felt that it would be 
 altogether foreign to his position and an act of 
 great presumption to undertake such an office. 
 It seems too, that it would have been attended with 
 peculiar responsibility on account of the king's 
 state of mind, at that time verging again upon 
 insanity. Any such step too, was earnestly de- 
 precated by the Princess Amelia's most affectionate 
 sister, the Princess Mary. To Sir Henry's great 
 distress on account of the disappointment inflicted 
 on the princess, he was compelled, in the best way 
 he could, to decline compliance with her request. 
 
 During Sir Henry Halford's attendance on the 
 Princess Amelia, he had frequent interviews with 
 the king, and was soon honoured by his 
 Majesty's entire confidence. One of the king's 
 latest hours of rational life was employed in 
 dictating a letter to the Princess Amelia, which he 
 directed in Sir Henry Halford's presence and 
 committed to his charge, to express his satisfaction 
 that she had received the holy Sacrament that 
 morning, and had sought for comfort under her 
 sufferings, where only it could be found — in 
 religion. 
 
 The princess died two days afterwards, and to 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 141 
 
 Sir Henry Halford was assigned the office of 
 communicating the sad intelligence to the king. 
 The king, whose mind was even then giving way, 
 had always looked upon the previous visitations 
 of this dreadful calamity as trials of his faith and 
 obedience, and Sir Henry in his interview with 
 the king, took an opportunity to say he was going 
 to try his Majesty's piety. The king imme- 
 diately answered he knew what he meant, and that 
 the Princess Amelia he supposed was dead. Sir 
 Henry replied it was so, upon which the king 
 went off in a low rambling way, which lasted 
 some time, when he became more composed, and 
 mentioned her again, saying : " Poor girl." * 
 
 Shortly after this, Sir Henry Halford was 
 called upon to make a further communication, and 
 this of a very delicate character, to the king. 
 Every day questions were expected from his 
 Majesty as to the disposition of the Princess 
 Amelia's property, her will, &c. ; and the bequest 
 by her of everything she possessed to General 
 Fitzroy, was a delicate subject to touch upon. 
 "The Queen dared not; Perceval and the Chan- 
 cellor successively undertook the disclosure and 
 shrunk from it, imposing it on Sir Henry. 
 
 * " Memoir of Piumer Ward," by Edmund Phipps, vol. i. 
 p. 298. 
 
142 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Never, he says, can he forget the feelings with 
 which, having requested some private conver- 
 sation with the king, after the other physicians 
 were gone, he was called into a window with the 
 light falling so full on his countenance, that even 
 the poor, nearly blind king could see it. He 
 asked whether it would be agreeable to him to 
 hear how the Princess Amelia had disposed of 
 her little property. "Certainly, certainly, I want 
 to know," with great eagerness. Sir Henry re- 
 minded him that at the beginning of his illness 
 he had appointed Fitzroy to ride with her ; how he 
 had left him with her at Weymouth ; how it was 
 natural and proper she should leave him some 
 token for these services ; that excepting jewels 
 she had nothing to leave, and had bequeathed 
 them all to him : that the Prince of Wales, think- 
 ing jewels a very inappropriate bequest for a man, 
 had given Fitzroy a pecuniary compensation for 
 them ; and had distributed slight tokens to all the 
 attendants and friends of the princess, giving the 
 bulk of the jewels to the Princess Mary, her most 
 constant and kindest of nurses. Upon this, the 
 poor king exclaimed, "Quite right, just like the 
 Prince of Wales ; " and no more was said. # 
 
 * " Diaries of a Lady of Quality from 1797 to 1844." Edited 
 with notes by A. Haywood, Esq., Q.C. London, 1864, p. 214. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 143 
 
 In the course of one of the many interviews, 
 which Sir Henry had with George III. during his 
 attendance on the Princess Amelia, the king 
 charged him, in the event of his Majesty experi- 
 encing a return of his mental derangement, that 
 he — Sir Henry Halford — should at once take upon 
 himself the medical care of Him, adding that Sir 
 Henry must promise not to leave him ; and that 
 if he needed help he should call in Dr. Heberden, 
 and in case of yet further need which would neces- 
 sarily occur, if Parliament took up the matter, 
 Dr. Baillie. Further, the king made Sir Henry 
 promise that he should never be left entirely alone 
 with any medical person specially engaged in the 
 department of insanity. (Letter of the queen to 
 Mr. Perceval without date.) 
 
 On the illness of the king which occurred almost 
 immediately after the death of the Princess Amelia, 
 Sir Henry Halford was summoned to attend, and 
 his prompt introduction of Dr. Heberden and Dr. 
 Baillie, at once ensured the confidence of the 
 queen and other members of the royal family. 
 But Sir Henry soon became aware that all the 
 acts of himself and of his medical colleagues were 
 closely but secretly watched on the part of the 
 Prince of Wales, by persons on the spot. 
 Anxious to stop this espionage, Sir Henry went 
 
144 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 direct to the prince and gave him the most 
 detailed and most accurate statement of the 
 situation of the king. The prince expressed 
 his gratitude, not unmixed with surprise, at his 
 candour. Sir Henry promised that henceforth 
 the prince might depend upon always having 
 from him the most accurate information, if he 
 would only promise not to seek it from any 
 other sources. The prince gave the promise 
 and kept it. 
 
 These reports to the Prince of Wales, during 
 the earlier portion of the king's illness and while 
 there seemed to be a prospect of recovery, were 
 made once a week or oftener, and either orally or 
 by letter. The following letter, one among many 
 of the like character before me, will give some idea 
 of the scope and character of Sir Henry's report 
 to the prince : 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I find that the whole of the last week has 
 been passed by his Majesty in a more tranquil and 
 composed manner than any of the last three weeks. 
 As this has been occasioned so obviously by the 
 greater degree of restraint under which the king 
 has lived, it does not admit of our inferring with 
 any propriety or safety that his Majesty's malady 
 has declined proportionally : but we are justified 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 145 
 
 in flattering ourselves that the exclusion from all 
 occasions of excitement, and a system of steady, 
 prudent control may lead to that improvement 
 which we are all so anxious to witness. Some 
 reference has been noticed to his Majesty's 
 favourite errors, but not in any considerable 
 degree and not frequently. 
 
 " I am, Sir, with the highest respect, 
 
 "Your Royal Highness's faithful servant, 
 " Henry Halford. 
 
 "June %th, 1811." 
 
 Sir Henry, after his interview with the Prince 
 of Wales went to the queen and told her what 
 he had done. " She with a tremendous frown 
 expressed great astonishment. Sir Henry stated 
 the obvious reason for the step he had taken ; she 
 paused, her brow cleared: "You are quite right, 
 sir ; it is proper that the Prince of Wales should 
 be informed." # From that moment it is said, con- 
 fidence and intimacy were renewed between the 
 queen and the prince. And such progress did Sir 
 Henry make in the favour of the Prince of Wales, 
 that in September, 18 10, he was appointed phy- 
 sician to his Royal Highness, who further secured 
 for him in 181 2, on the first vacancy that occurred, 
 the appointment of physician-in-ordinary to the 
 king. 
 
 * "Diaries of a Lady of Quality from 1797 to 1844." 
 
 K 
 
146 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 In their medical attendance on George III., Sir 
 Henry Halford, Dr. Baillie and Dr. Heberden 
 were associated with the two brothers, Dr. John 
 and Dr. Robert Willis. # That there was a differ- 
 ence of opinion among the physicians as to the 
 treatment of their august patient was notorious. 
 Sir Henry Halford and Dr. Baillie, both of them 
 in the first rank of the medical profession and 
 physicians of the highest reputation, and Dr. 
 Heberden generally in accord with them, felt a 
 common sense of difficulty, on account of the 
 undue and as they thought injurious authority, 
 which by the council of great officers appointed 
 to assist the queen, was allowed to the Willises, 
 under the idea of their special and exceptional 
 experience in the care of the insane. The Willises 
 were established at Windsor in the suite of apart- 
 ments occupied by the king and his attendants, 
 and were one or other of them in daily, almost 
 hourly, attendance on his Majesty. 
 
 At that time, the principle had not been estab- 
 lished as it has since been in this country by 
 Conolly and his followers, of the necessity of kind- 
 ness in the treatment of persons whose reason 
 was in abeyance. The Willises were in favour of 
 the opposite and older method — that of severity 
 * "Annual Register" of 1816. Chronicle, p. 2. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 147 
 
 and, if need be, of force and physical restraint. 
 Letters at Wistow contain evidence, supported by 
 Mr. Battiscomb, a respectable apothecary at 
 Windsor, of the very unbecoming violence em- 
 ployed upon the king in a former attack and in 
 the presence of the elder Willis, by a person in 
 his employ. Such treatment of the king was re- 
 pugnant alike to the feelings and the professional 
 judgment of Sir Henry and Dr. Baillie, as it was 
 also to those relatives of the royal sufferer who 
 were cognisant of it ; but they were powerless 
 under the circumstances wholly to prevent it. 
 They succeeded however, up to a certain point, 
 as the following letters go to show. The first is 
 the rough draft in Sir Henry Halford's writing, of 
 a letter, without date or signature, to the Duke of 
 York, to which the second is the reply : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " On my return to Windsor yesterday I 
 found the king's countenance expressing some 
 remains of that eagerness and excitement which 
 have prevailed in his Majesty's manner through- 
 out the week. The queen's visit however, was a 
 satisfactory one, and there was nothing in the 
 king's manner or conversation with the physicians 
 in the evening but what was dignified and proper. 
 His Majesty has slept nearly six hours in the 
 
148 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 course of the night, but has manifested some 
 nervousness by the adjustment of his bed-clothes 
 this morning, and we find him more talkative, 
 more excited than is well, in our interview. I 
 understand that there was a palpable reference to 
 the familiar delusion yesterday. 
 
 " The irritability and eagerness to which I have 
 alluded above may be accounted for, satisfactorily 
 perhaps, by referring them to the new circum- 
 stances in which the king was placed last week by 
 the admission of his Majesty to a greater indul- 
 gence, and I assure your Royal Highness that 
 they ought not to detract a mite from the opinion 
 which we have uniformly maintained of the king's 
 ultimate recovery." 
 
 To this the Duke of York replies as follows : 
 
 "Stable Yard, 31^ October, 1810. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am most truly sensible of your kind 
 attention in relieving my anxiety by informing 
 me yourself of the real state of our beloved 
 king. 
 
 4 ' It is a great comfort to me to learn that you are 
 so thoroughly satisfied with the system of manage- 
 ment which you from the first proposed for his 
 Majesty's present indisposition. It is certainly 
 the most congenial to my feelings, and I trust by 
 keeping up the confidence which he has placed in 
 you, that it will cause a prompter and more certain 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 14.9 
 
 cure than any other means, the very thought of 
 which I confess for every reason makes one 
 shudder, and which nothing but the most urgent 
 necessity could warrant. 
 
 " I am happy to learn that his Majesty had some 
 comfortable sleep yesterday afternoon, and am 
 willing to flatter myself that it is a proof that the 
 present attack is less violent than any former one, 
 and that we may therefore look forward with 
 certainty to a much speedier recovery. 
 
 " I shall be at Windsor without fail to-morrow 
 
 by two o'clock in the afternoon, and will call at 
 
 Augusta Lodge before dinner in the hope of 
 
 being able to see you for a moment. 
 
 " Believe me ever, dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Frederick. 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 During the first period of the king's illness the 
 attendances of Sir Henry Halford and Dr. Baillie 
 from London were frequent and prolonged. It 
 would seem that nearly half of the year 1811 was 
 passed by Sir Henry at Windsor, and doubtless as 
 long by his colleague, Dr. Baillie. At first great 
 hopes were entertained by all the physicians in 
 attendance of the king's speedy and entire re- 
 covery, but these were doomed to disappointment. 
 By the month of October, 181 1, recovery was 
 
150 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 deemed to be very improbable, and by the follow- 
 ing March all idea of it had to be given up.* 
 From about this period a visit once a week and 
 separately by Sir Henry Halford, Dr. Baillie and 
 Dr. Heberden, was considered to meet all the 
 requirements of the case. Sir Henry attended on 
 the king at Windsor regularly on Thursdays, 
 going down in the morning and returning some- 
 times the same day, but oftener on the following 
 morning. 
 
 Sir Henry was in close attendance upon the 
 king towards the last, and with his colleagues, 
 Dr. Baillie, Dr. Heberden, Dr. Robert Willis, 
 and Sir David Dundas, was present at his death 
 on the 29th January, 1820. 
 
 Sir Henry was consulted by Queen Charlotte 
 for the first time in the spring of 181 5, and his 
 services on that occasion were fully appreciated 
 by her Majesty and were graciously acknowledged 
 by a handsome present of plate and the following 
 letter : 
 
 " The Queen being perfectly aware of her 
 inadequacy to recompense the attention she 
 received from Sir Henry Halford during her 
 illness, she takes this method of returning him 
 
 * " Lord Colchester's Diary," vol. ii. pp. 344, 373. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 151 
 
 thanks for it, and begs he will accept the box 
 which accompanies this as a mark of her regard. 
 
 "Charlotte. 
 "Windsor Castle, the 27M Augiist 181 5." 
 
 He continued to attend the queen at intervals, 
 and in November, 18 17, advised her Majesty to 
 repair to Bath and try the waters there. In 
 January, 18 18, Sir Henry addressed to the Prince 
 Regent the following letter : 
 
 "Windsor Castle, January 23rd, 1818. 
 " Sir, 
 
 "As the Queen has not been quite well 
 within the last few days, I have the confidence to 
 flatter myself that your Royal Highness would 
 desire to receive a letter from me containing 
 an authentic account of her Majesty's indisposi- 
 tion. 
 
 " Her Majesty's symptoms do not differ in their 
 nature nor much in the degree at which they pre- 
 vail at present, from what I have observed them 
 now for some months past : the principal one is a 
 distressing shortness of breath, not a difficulty of 
 breathing, on any exertion, and this recurs some- 
 times with so much severity as to appear to justify 
 an apprehension that if the effort in which her 
 Majesty be at the moment engaged were carried 
 further or persevered in, it would be more than 
 her nature could sustain. In these circumstances 
 
152 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 a contraction takes place in the muscle which 
 separates the chest from the bas ventre, by which 
 the organs of respiration are greatly embarrassed ; 
 and it appears constantly that the condition of 
 the stomach, if weakened by any accidental cause, 
 is one great source from whence this disposition 
 to spasm arises. It is there that our remedies 
 are applicable with most effect, and this was the 
 principal ground on which I humbly recommended 
 it to her Majesty to repair to Bath. 
 
 "On the whole I would not say that her 
 Majesty's indisposition has become more urgent 
 of late, but that her powers of constitution to 
 resist it were more obviously diminished ; and this 
 must be expected to be the case as her Majesty 
 advances further in age. The symptoms, I dare 
 venture to assure your Royal Highness, will admit 
 of palliation, but they are beyond our art to 
 remove entirely. Her Majesty seems sometimes 
 to take alarm about herself I think, and it is 
 palpable that anything which affects the feelings 
 disposes her more to a seizure of the disorder. 
 Your Royal Highness's good nature will easily 
 therefore permit me to entreat, that you will not 
 take notice of this letter in any communication to 
 Windsor, nor appear to know that her Majesty 
 has complained more of late, than the period of 
 her life and the season of the year, and the sad 
 tale of late events, so affecting to your Royal 
 Highness's own health and peace of mind, may 
 well account for. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 153 
 
 " I only add further that I am, Sir, with affec- 
 tionate respect and attachment, 
 
 " Your Royal Highness' s faithful servant, 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 Some days later Sir Henry wrote to the Prince 
 Regent as follows : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " If I had had the honour of writing to 
 
 your Royal Highness yesterday, I should have 
 had the happiness of stating that the hopes I had 
 held out to your Royal Highness of being able to 
 mitigate her Majesty's symptoms had been well 
 confirmed by the effect of the queen's medicines, 
 and that her Majesty was certainly better. In 
 fact, the queen had passed Monday, Tuesday and 
 Wednesday with much less complaint, but yester- 
 day morning a communication was made to her 
 Majesty which affected her feelings very much 
 and distressed her exceedingly. In fact, her 
 Majesty could not dine with the Royal Family, 
 and she passed the whole day in tears ; nor did her 
 Majesty sleep last night, but I have the satis- 
 faction of hearing that her Majesty had had a 
 little sleep this morning. 
 
 " What the ultimate effect of this discomfiture 
 to her Majesty's feelings may be on her disorder 
 I cannot speak with confidence, but your Royal 
 Highness is well aware that any depression of the 
 powers of the frame, however temporary, in a 
 malady where all the energies of the system are 
 
154 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 required to support itself under its attacks, must 
 be of some ill consequence. I will hope, however, 
 that time and affectionate attention may weaken 
 the impression gradually, but I must acknowledge 
 to your Royal Highness, with the same candour 
 and sincerity with which I stated my opinion of 
 her Majesty's symptoms in my last letter, that 
 amongst the causes which I should find most 
 reason to lament in the progress of her Majesty's 
 treatment as likely to obviate and thwart its 
 effect, I dreaded none so much as anxiety of 
 mind. 
 
 " I need not assure your Royal Highness of my 
 most respectful affectionate interest in all that 
 concerns her Majesty's comfort and recovery. 
 In contributing to her Majesty's ease, if I can do 
 so, I know I contribute to your Royal Highness's 
 happiness, and nothing gratifies me so much as 
 being, sir, an useful as well as a most attached 
 faithful servant. 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 In May Sir Francis Milman, the physician-in- 
 ordinary to the queen, was joined with Sir Henry 
 Halford in attendance on her Majesty, and they 
 continued to attend the queen to her death. 
 The queen's malady had issued in dropsy — an 
 accumulation of water in her limbs and in her 
 chest, which after a time no medicines materially 
 relieved. In September Sir Henry, in reply to a 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 155 
 
 searching question from the queen, communicated 
 to her Majesty his fears as to the issue of her 
 illness. The following account of that interview 
 is endorsed by Sir Henry Halford : "A passage 
 in the queen's illness shortly before she died." 
 
 "Sunday, September \$th, 1818. 
 
 " The Queen sent for me at 8£ yesterday 
 evening and almost immediately said ' I have 
 determined, sir, the first time I saw you alone to 
 ask you whether you do not really think that my 
 constitution is giving way.' So serious a 
 question, madame, demands a sincere answer ; 
 and I must own to your Majesty that though 
 there be no vital organ diseased perhaps in your 
 Majesty's system, the whole frame is acting so 
 irregularly as to make me doubt whether it be 
 equal to bear the weight of your complaint. 
 After a pause, her Majesty continued, ' I have 
 sometimes thought it would do, and then it has 
 appeared as if it would not. Your medicines 
 have all produced their effect, but they go to a 
 certain point and no further. Is there not some- 
 thing nervous in my complaint ? ' 
 
 "The symptoms which are so distressing to 
 your Majesty are of a nervous nature, but they 
 are peculiar to an affection of the vital organs, and 
 your Majesty must feel that a malady there, is 
 most important. May I humbly ask your 
 Majesty if there be any anxiety of mind which 
 
156 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 gives your disease an advantage over you. ' No, 
 sir, no. I feel extremely anxious to get back to 
 Windsor. I was gaining strength, but I have 
 lost it again, and am weaker to-day than ever. 
 I have never recovered the attack of a fortnight 
 since.' 
 
 "With regard to your Majesty's strength, as 
 your digestive organs are in a good state, it is 
 reasonable to expect that that may be restored. 
 ' Well, sir, that is a good thing at least, is it 
 not ? ' ' Yes, madame.' 
 
 "An hour after this Miss Rice, one of her 
 Majesty's attendants, came out of the room, over- 
 come in her feelings and in tears. She had been 
 so affected by her Majesty's countenance and 
 manner, which were those of a person occupied in 
 devotion and prayer. 
 
 " When I went jjto wish her Majesty a good 
 night at half-past ten, I found her very composed, 
 and in the most gracious kind way she thanked 
 me for my attention to her. Her Majesty had 
 rather a better night than usual. 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 Early in November, Sir Henry wrote to the 
 Prince Regent as follows : 
 
 ' "Sir, 
 
 " There is a little refreshment of the 
 frame within the last thirty hours, but there is no 
 real amendment. The disease has not advanced 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 157 
 
 sensibly perhaps, but without doubt it is making a 
 silent progress and the issue of it ultimately 
 cannot be a doubtful one. In this state of 
 circumstances, I dare say, your Royal Highness 
 will in your affection and prudence decide not to 
 go to a distance. I humbly presume to say, pray 
 do not, for I assure your Royal Highness that 
 Sir Francis Milman and myself are both 
 decidedly of opinion that we cannot depend upon 
 her Majesty's continuance amongst us the time it 
 would be necessary for your Royal Highness's 
 journey merely to Ragley and back." 
 
 The queen after much suffering, which she bore 
 with great fortitude and resignation, expired on 
 the 17th of November, 18 18. 
 
 The Duke of York consulted Sir Henry 
 Halford for the first time in 1803, his duchess 
 somewhat later, and they both continued to avail 
 themselves of his medical services as long as they 
 lived. The Duchess of York after a long and 
 painful illness, in which she was attended by 
 Sir Henry Halford, died, somewhat suddenly 
 at the last, at Oatlands on the 6th of August, 
 182.0. 
 
 The Duke of York, who had been often an 
 invalid and in need of Sir Henry's professiona 
 aid, gave the first indications of serious indisposi- 
 
158 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 tion early in the month of June, 1826. But for 
 some time before that a difficulty in ascending 
 stairs or in assuming a recumbent posture in bed 
 had been remarked. So much indeed was the 
 difficulty of breathing aggravated by lying down 
 that the duke passed his nights frequently in an 
 armchair. On the duke's return from Ascot 
 races the signs of a dropsical disposition became 
 decided in a diminished secretion of urine, the 
 presence of thirst, and swelling of the feet and 
 ankles. His Royal Highness went to Brighton 
 on the 14th of August for the benefit of change 
 of air. Sir Henry Halford and Dr. Macmichael, 
 his physicians, accompanied him ; and it is to Dr. 
 Macmichael's "Account" of the duke's illness 
 that I am indebted for the following particulars 
 of its progress. 
 
 It was at Brighton that, the swelling of the 
 lower extremities increasing, the first symptom 
 exhibited itself, which induced the physicians to 
 speak with distrust and alarm of the final issue of 
 the illness. From the extremely distended skin 
 an oozing of serous fluid took place which, though 
 trifling in appearance to a casual observer, yet 
 could not be seen without anxiety by those who 
 are aware how prone a limb, under such circum- 
 stances, is to put on a gangrenous state, as the 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 159 
 
 vital powers gradually yield and the constitution 
 is reduced to a feeble condition. 
 
 It was at this period that a difficult question 
 arose. Early in the duke's illness, Sir Herbert 
 Taylor, a most confidential friend of his Royal 
 Highness, had promised in consequence of the 
 urgent importunity of his royal master to announce 
 to him the first approach of danger, so that he 
 might not be taken by surprise on such an occa- 
 sion. The prognosis which the physicians in 
 attendance were now obliged to form of the ulti- 
 mate event of the case was, in consequence of the 
 symptoms above mentioned, now become much 
 more unfavourable. The question therefore arose 
 whether this was to be then told to the patient, 
 and it led to the following correspondence : 
 
 " Sir Herbert Taylor to Sir Henry Halford. 
 [Private.] " Horse Guards, August \Zth, 1826. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I am going to Brighton to-morrow after- 
 noon to see H.R.H. upon some points of busi- 
 ness, and I am naturally anxious before I go to 
 learn from you what is at this period and since 
 your last visit, your opinion of H.R.H.'s case, 
 and whether his situation is such as to call for the 
 performance of the solemn pledge you know that I 
 entered into before H.R.H. left Audley Square, 
 
160 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 and which I consider it to be my sacred duty to 
 perform. H.R.H.'s words were, ' I must not be 
 taken by surprise nor treated like a child. I must 
 be told in due time what I have to expect, and I 
 depend upon you for the disclosure as soon as you 
 find that there is any apprehension of danger.' I 
 gave the promise. H.R.H. asured me it put him 
 at his ease, and before he left Brompton Park he 
 reminded me of my duty. 
 
 " May I at once tell him that your opinion 
 respecting his situation is not so favourable as it 
 was, if he should press me with questions ; that it 
 is one of danger, though not without hope ? 
 " Believe me ever, 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "C. H. Taylor." 
 
 Sir Henry replied as follows: 
 
 " King's Lodge, Windsor Park, 
 August iStk, midnight. 
 
 "My dear Taylor, 
 
 " The time is not yet arrived, nor do I 
 know, considering the nature of my illustrious 
 patient's disease, when it may arrive, that I shall 
 consider it admissible to let the Duke of York 
 into a knowledge of the danger of it. 
 
 " There are some maladies in which we find the 
 hopes of our patients predominate to so unreason- 
 able a degree as to render it expedient on many 
 accounts to repress those hopes ; but if we cannot 
 keep up and maintain the confidence of a sick 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY l6l 
 
 man under a visitation of the duke's particular 
 disease, his despondency destroys him prematurely, 
 and all the efforts of our art are puny, inadequate, 
 useless. 
 
 " I must entreat you therefore, my dear Taylor, 
 to refer his Royal Highness to me for any expla- 
 nation of his difficulties. You know my opinion of 
 your good sense, of your good heart, and of your 
 attachment to your excellent master ; but this is 
 my especial province, and whatever you may feel 
 of apprehension, I entreat you to hide it all within 
 your own bosom, and to parry every form of 
 solicitation, every appeal to your integrity, every 
 demand upon your attachment, by an absolute 
 reference to my judgment, to my affectionate 
 interest in H.R.H.'s comfort and recovery, and 
 to my duty. I shall be ready with my answer 
 whenever his Royal Highness be pleased to 
 appeal to me, but in the peculiar circumstances of 
 his case it will be well if my practised discretion 
 be equal to all the niceties which the formidable 
 distemper and the character of the dukes mind 
 throw around the management of it. 
 
 " I have not answered your question without 
 laying before the king the difficulties under which 
 you place me, by your sense of your own duty 
 and by your sacred pledge to his Royal Highness. 
 It happened that I was in the king's presence 
 when your letter, directed to be delivered imme- 
 diately, was brought to me, and by his Majesty's 
 condescension I availed myself of the opportunity 
 
162 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 of a comparison of opinion with him. The king 
 was alarmed at the idea of the duke being 
 depressed and disheartened by the most remote 
 hint of his present danger, and was pleased to 
 express his perfect approbation of my determi- 
 nation to use my own judgment as to the moment 
 when I shall dare to disclose to his brother my 
 conviction of the fatal issue of his malady. 
 
 " Pray forgive me if I differ from you in opinion 
 upon this important point to the duke's safety, 
 and be assured that I know of no human being 
 who would go farther than yourself, my dear 
 Taylor, to add an atom to the duke's comfort or 
 to protract his valuable life an hour beyond the 
 limits to which it is destined. 
 
 " I am, with the truest regard, my dear Taylor, 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 Sir Herbert Taylor to Sir Henry Halford. 
 
 "Horse Guards, August 21st, 1826. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I received your letter on Saturday 
 morning, and I need not assure you, that feeling 
 the full force of your reasoning, I went to Brighton 
 with the determination to observe your injunctions. 
 " The enclosed copy of a letter which I had the 
 honour of forwarding to his Majesty this morning 
 will put you in full possession of all that has 
 passed, and I sincerely hope that its contents will 
 be satisfactory to you, and that you will give me 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 163 
 
 the credit for having acted with due caution and 
 discretion in the embarrassing and trying situation 
 in which I was placed. 
 
 " I have no hesitation in saying to you that 
 H.R.H.'s conversation was unreserved as to the 
 possibility of a fatal result, but he is sanguine as to 
 the strength of his constitution and other favourable 
 counteracting symptoms, and I feel very forcibly 
 that it would be cruel and mischievous to raise the 
 alarm, while these favourable symptoms continue 
 to hold out the least hope. But depend upon it, 
 my dear Sir Henry, H.R.H. has firmness of mind 
 sufficient to bear the disclosure whenever it shall 
 appear to you necessary, and to meet the results. 
 He appears indeed at present very sanguine, but 
 he courts every opportunity of obtaining informa- 
 tion. He does not shrink from the contemplation 
 of his case in its most unfavourable light. 
 
 "H.R.H. told me, that if further change of air 
 should be considered advisable, he would give a 
 preference to Kew. He also said that Saturday 
 would suit him just as well as Sunday to come to 
 town. He spoke with gratitude of your kind and 
 affectionate attention to him, and with satisfaction 
 of the prospect of seeing you on Sunday and 
 hearing from you whether he had gained or lost 
 ground. 
 
 " Believe me to be ever, with the truest regards, 
 my dear Sir Henry. 
 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 "C. H. Taylor." 
 
164 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Wistow, August 26th, 1826. 
 
 " My dear Taylor, 
 
 " I feel deeply obliged to you for your 
 kindness on the subject of our late correspondence, 
 and most particularly for letting me see your most 
 candid, most interesting report to his Majesty, of 
 the actual state in which you found and left the 
 duke at Brighton subsequently to my visit. 
 
 " When I spoke so decidedly in deprecation of 
 a communication to my patient of the danger of 
 his disease, I would not that you understood it to 
 be my meaning that the time would never arrive 
 when H.R.H. should know that I expected a fatal 
 issue of his symptoms. God forbid that either 
 he or any human being should leave this world 
 without being apprised that their last hour were 
 approaching, and that they should prepare them- 
 selves for the change they were about to undergo. 
 But I thought the struggle was making at this 
 instant between the strength of the disease and 
 the power of the constitution ; and I felt sure 
 that this battle must be fought to a great dis- 
 advantage, if the mind were depressed. We 
 have seen more than once in the course of this 
 most interesting case, the sad consequences of 
 moral influence upon the malady, and I felt as 
 you do, that I had a duty to perform by availing 
 myself of every advantage to be obtained by 
 keeping up the duke's spirits and his hopes. 
 
 " Alas ! I fear that it will not be long ere your 
 interposition is called for by myself, and that you 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 165 
 
 will too soon have an opportunity of redeeming 
 the sacred pledge you gave him ; for I assure you 
 in the same spirit in which you made your promise 
 to the duke, I make mine now to you, that when 
 I lose all further hopes of administering the 
 resources of our art to him with good effect, I will 
 not only consent to your making the communica- 
 tion, but will invite you to make it. 
 
 "I am rejoiced to hear that the duke is not 
 altogether averse to Kew, and I earnestly wish 
 he might be prevailed upon to go there at once 
 from Brighton, without stopping in Arlington 
 Street, but this perhaps is hardly possible. I 
 have written to H.R.H. to say that he may 
 depend upon my keeping my appointment on 
 Sunday, and I trust I shall soon find an oppor- 
 tunity of conversing with you and telling you 
 my opinion of H.R.H.'s comparative state. 
 Pray continue to believe me to be, with high 
 esteem, 
 
 " My dear Taylor, yours faithfully, 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
 The disease of the duke continued to make 
 progress, the dropsical swelling to increase, and 
 there were evident signs of water in the abdomen. 
 After mature deliberation, it was resolved to en- 
 deavour *to relieve the difficulty of breathing and 
 to lessen the pressure from above upon the ex- 
 tremities. The operation of tapping was performed 
 
166 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 on the 3rd of September, and about three gallons 
 of fluid were let out. His Royal Highness bore the 
 operation with the same resolution and quiet 
 composure which had marked his conduct under 
 every stage of his illness. For some days he 
 remained very weak, the left leg continuing in a 
 state that occasioned serious uneasiness. In about 
 a fortnight, however, H.R.H. gained strength, the 
 appetite and sleep returned, and on the 19th of 
 September he was enabled to resume his daily 
 airings in a carriage, which were continued till the 
 middle of October. 
 
 The hopes thus engendered proved, however, 
 delusive. The legs became worse, the constitu- 
 tional powers gave way, the appetite and sleep 
 began to fail, and during the whole month of 
 November the situation of the royal sufferer was 
 becoming daily more critical : and he was visibly 
 losing strength and substance. About the middle 
 of December the weakness increased and attacks of 
 faintness came on, announcing the nearer approach 
 of danger. On the 20th of December his Royal 
 Highness received the sacrament for the second 
 time, and during the whole of the solemn cere- 
 mony nothing could exceed his attention and calm 
 devotion. At this time the following letter was 
 addressed to the king by Sir Henry Halford : 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 167 
 
 "Arlington Street, December 22nd, 1826. 
 
 "Sire, 
 
 " The total want of power to get down 
 nourishment, and the languor which prevailed all 
 yesterday in consequence, have produced a con- 
 siderable effect for the worse in the Duke of 
 York's case, and I am grieved to inform your 
 Majesty that we consider H.R.H.'s situation is 
 one of less hope than ever. It is true that there 
 are no symptoms at present of immediate and 
 instant danger to his invaluable life, but H.R.H. 
 is in such a state as to make it probable that 
 signs of pressing hazard may come on at any 
 time. 
 
 " His Royal Highness appears to be so anxious 
 to see things in a favourable light, and his frame 
 is so directly influenced by the suspicion of an ill 
 opinion of his circumstances, on the part of his 
 medical attendants, that I dare not permit an 
 expression to escape me which H.R.H. can con- 
 strue into such a sense of his danger, as I have 
 thought it my duty to convey in this letter to 
 your Majesty ; but I have at length permitted Sir 
 H. Taylor to state to H.R.H. that he observes 
 me to manifest a solicitude, a painful anxiety 
 about him, which he has never observed in my 
 countenance before. 
 
 " I am, Sire, most devotedly, 
 
 " Your Majesty's faithful servant, 
 
 " Henry Halford." 
 
168 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The increased alarm and anxiety felt by his 
 medical attendants was now imparted to H.R.H. 
 by Sir Herbert Taylor, and he received the 
 communication with pious resignation, exclaim- 
 ing, " God's will be done ; I am resigned." 
 
 From this time till the hour of his death, the 
 difficulty of breathing and disposition to syncope, 
 (during which neither the pulse nor the respira- 
 tion were perceptible for a minute at a time,) 
 became more urgent. During the night of January 
 the 4th so serious an attack came on that it was 
 thought all was over ; but so great was the duke's 
 tenacity of life and the power of his constitution, 
 that he rallied, and in the morning took some 
 nourishment. About twelve o'clock, though unable 
 to speak, yet by looking at a clock which stood in 
 the room and then at his legs, and by other signs 
 intelligible, he gave his medical attendants to 
 understand that he wished the daily dressing to 
 be gone through. This wish, however useless 
 now, was immediately complied with, and it evi- 
 dently gave a satisfaction, which, alas ! could not 
 be expressed. The pulse became more feeble, 
 the attacks of faintness more frequent, and at 
 twenty minutes past nine on the evening of 
 January 5th the duke died. 
 
 I have given this case at such length, because 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 169 
 
 there are materials before me for doing so, which 
 there are not of other members of the Royal 
 Family ; and especially as it conveys a clearer 
 idea than could otherwise be given, of Sir 
 Henry Halford's management and anxious care 
 of those of his patients as were sick even unto 
 death. 
 
 Sir Henry's attention to the Duke of York 
 had been so unremitting, that to manifest the 
 sense entertained of them in the highest quarter, 
 he received by royal warrant a grant of armorial 
 augmentations and supporters. His arms were 
 previously : Argent, a greyhound passant sable, 
 on a chief azure three fleurs-de-lis, or. For the 
 central fleur-de-lis was substituted a rose argent ; 
 and in further augmentation was added on a 
 canton ermine, a staff entwined with a serpent 
 proper, and ensigned with a coronet composed 
 of crosses patee and fleurs-de-lis (being that of 
 a prince of the blood royal). As a crest of 
 augmentation, a staff entwined with a serpent 
 or, as on the canton. As supporters, two emews 
 proper, each gorged with a coronet, composed of 
 crosses patee and fleurs-de-lis. This is the only 
 instance in English heraldry of the grant of sup- 
 porters to a practising physician. As regards the 
 particular supporters, it may be mentioned that 
 
170 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 George IV. some time previously to this, had 
 presented to Sir Henry Halford two fine emews 
 that had been sent to him from abroad. These 
 were forwarded to Wistow, where they proved to 
 be very mischievous, and did much damage 
 wherever they were. But this was borne with in 
 consideration of their royal donor, and they were 
 permitted to die a natural death. One of them, 
 a very fine bird, stuffed and mounted, is still to be 
 seen in a glazed case in the inner hall at Wistow. 
 When the question of supporters was under con- 
 sideration, Sir Henry's loyalty led him to suggest 
 the emews, and they were at once assigned to 
 him. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford, who had been occasionally 
 consulted by the Prince of Wales in the course 
 of 1810, was appointed in September of that 
 year physician-in-ordinary to his Royal High- 
 ness. 
 
 "Carlton House, September 22nd, 1810. 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I am commanded by the Prince of 
 Wales to assure you that his Royal Highness 
 feels a very high gratification in receiving you 
 into the situation of one of his physicians-in- 
 ordinary. The public consideration in which 
 you are held, as well as the personal esteem 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 171 
 
 his Royal Highness entertains for you, could not 
 
 fail to secure the object of your wishes. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 " B. Bloomfield." 
 " To Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 From that time Sir Henry was in regular, 
 almost daily, attendance on his Royal Highness, 
 whose confidence in Sir Henry's medical skill 
 was unbounded, and to whom he then and 
 thenceforward entrusted the care and manage- 
 ment of his health. Sir Henry's prominent 
 position in the profession and with the Prince 
 Regent, made him the subject of amusing com- 
 ment by the wits of the time. Among such, the 
 following lines, said to be by Henry Luttrell, may 
 be selected : 
 
 " The Regent, sir, is taken ill, 
 
 And all depends on Halford's skill. 
 * Pray what,' inquired that sage physician, 
 ' Has brought him to this sad condition ? ' 
 When Bloomfield ventured to pronounce 
 A little too much Cherry Bounce. 
 
 The Regent, hearing what was said, 
 Raised from the couch his aching head, 
 And cried, ' No, Halford, 'tis not so — 
 Cure us, O Doctor — Curacoa.' " 
 
 Sir Walter Farquhar, Sir Gilbert Blane, Sir 
 William Knighton, Sir Matthew Tierney and 
 
172 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Dr. H. H. Southey, all of whom were in succes- 
 sion on the medical staff of the Prince Regent 
 and of George IV. as physicians-in-ordinary to 
 the person, were occasionally but rarely called 
 into consultation with Sir Henry Halford. The 
 ordinary regular care of the the king's health as 
 well before as after his accession to the throne, 
 was confided to Sir Henry Halford. With him 
 Sir Matthew Tierney was for the most part asso- 
 ciated, whenever from , any cause, additional aid 
 was needed. He was acceptable to the king and 
 was in entire accord with Sir Henry Halford in 
 his view of the medical treatment needed by their 
 royal master. 
 
 Sir Matthew Tierney was born in the sister 
 island, and came of an old and respectable family 
 in the county of Limerick. In 1798 he was 
 appointed by the Earl of Berkeley, to whom he 
 had been recently introduced, surgeon to his 
 lordship's regiment of militia. In 1802 he settled 
 as a physician at Brighton, and was presented by his 
 patron Lord Berkeley to the Prince of Wales, who 
 some time subsequently appointed him physician 
 to his Royal Highness's household there. 
 
 The Prince was subject at that time to fulness 
 of blood, and to several of the severer symptoms 
 consequent thereon. On those occasions he had 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 173 
 
 derived such immediate and signal relief from loss 
 of blood, that he was prone to fly to it on slight 
 attacks even without medical sanction, and, as Sir 
 Henry Halford thought, unwisely and too fre- 
 quently. Under such circumstances, Sir Henry 
 left distinct directions at Brighton, that the prince 
 was not to be bled under any circumstances but 
 in his presence or with his sanction. On one 
 occasion, the Prince after a restless night, was 
 attacked early in the morning with great anguish 
 and load about the chest in addition to other 
 symptoms with which he was more familiar. 
 As Sir Henry could not then be procured from 
 London in less than twelve hours at the least, 
 and the symptoms were more than ordinarily 
 urgent, the Prince was importunate for that relief, 
 which he felt nothing but bleeding could give 
 him, and accordingly sent for Sir Matthew (then 
 Dr.) Tierney, who seeing that prompt relief was 
 urgently needed, directed venesection and took 
 away a large amount of blood with immediate 
 and marked relief to all the Prince's sufferings. 
 Sir Henry, on his arrival at Brighton some hours 
 after, was disposed at first to blame and resent 
 this infraction of his directions ; but, as the result 
 of his consultation with Dr. Tierney, admitted 
 frankly that the practice under the circumstances 
 
174 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 was correct and had been in every respect 
 successful. Dr. Tierney thus secured the favour 
 of the Prince and the confidence of Sir Henry 
 Halford. In 1816 he was appointed physician- 
 in-ordinary to the Prince Regent and was created 
 a baronet, 3rd October, 18 18. In the medical 
 arrangements consequent on the accession of 
 George IV. he was gazetted one of the physi- 
 cians-in-ordinary to the king ; and was continued 
 in the like high office by William IV., who created 
 him a knight commander of the royal Guelphic 
 order of Hanover. Sir Matthew Tierney was 
 in attendance with Sir Henry Halford during the 
 last illness and at the death of both of his royal 
 masters. 
 
 The health of the Prince Regent had not, for 
 some time, been satisfactory, and in a day or two 
 after his accession to the throne — on the 29th 
 January, 1820 — his Majesty was struck down with 
 an acute illness. The king had been ailing for 
 some days with a severe cold, and on January 31st 
 his symptoms assumed an alarming aspect. He 
 had been attacked with inflammation of the lungs 
 and was attended by Sir Henry Halford, Sir 
 William Knighton, and Sir Matthew Tierney. 
 Under active medical treatment at the onset of 
 the inflammation, the disease was brought under 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 175 
 
 control, and thenceonwards ran a normal course, 
 so that by ioth February the King "was free 
 from complaint " and no more bulletins were 
 issued. 
 
 The funeral of George III. had been fixed for 
 the 15th of February, 1820, and the king, 
 George IV., although but just recovering from a 
 severe attack of inflammation of the lungs, 
 decided himself to be present on that occasion. 
 The peril in doing so was so great that two of his 
 Majesty's physicians, Sir Henry Halford and Sir 
 William Knighton, interposed in the following 
 letter of protest and supplication, and with the 
 desired effect of inducing the king to desist from 
 his intention : 
 
 " Sire— 
 
 "We, your Majesty's physicians, ven- 
 ture humbly to approach your Majesty to implore 
 your Majesty to forego that satisfaction to your 
 feelings which your Majesty attaches to a 
 performance of the last act of filial piety to the 
 late king, your Majesty's father. 
 
 "We are scarcely yet relieved from that state 
 of anxiety and alarm which your Majesty's 
 dangerous illness gave rise to, and from which 
 your Majesty is only just extricated under the 
 mercy of heaven. 
 
 " We cannot therefore contemplate an indulg- 
 
176 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 ence of your Majesty's wishes without absolute 
 dismay, seeing the probability of a relapse in 
 consequence of the exposure of your Majesty's 
 person to the night air in a cathedral, under that 
 anguish of mind which your Majesty was 
 observed by everybody so painfully to suffer, at 
 the performance of the same sad ceremony last 
 year. 
 
 "And we humbly entreat your Majesty to 
 yield, not to our wishes only, but to those of the 
 whole nation, which would be expressed, we are 
 persuaded, if it were generally known that your 
 Majesty meditated this dangerous effort of 
 
 respect and piety. 
 
 " Henry Halford, 
 
 William Knighton. 
 
 "Carlton Palace, February 7th, 1820." 
 
 During the whole ten years of the king's reign 
 his Majesty's health was a subject of anxiety to 
 his physicians, and especially to Sir Henry 
 Halford, to whom exclusively in all ordinary 
 circumstances the king was pleased to entrust the 
 medical charge of himself. It was generally 
 known that his Majesty's health had been in an 
 unsatisfactory state for a considerable period, but 
 as it did not render confinement necessary, it did 
 not excite alarm until directions were given in 
 consequence of the increase of the malady, to 
 countermand the preparations for the festivities 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 177 
 
 with whicth he royal birthday was to have been 
 celebrated at Court in April. It had been 
 known for some time by the physicians that the 
 king had disease of the heart, which could have 
 no other than a fatal termination, and its course, 
 which was very similar to that of the Duke of 
 York, was foreseen and anticipated. 
 
 The first bulletin was issued on the 1 5th of April, 
 and announced that his Majesty was suffering 
 under a bilious attack, accompanied by embar- 
 rassment of breathing. The symptoms varied a 
 good deal from time to time, his Majesty en- 
 joying temporary intervals of comparative ease, 
 but they were not giving way, and brought with 
 them such bodily debility as rendered even the 
 slightest personal exertion painful. Additional 
 symptoms which manifested a breaking-up of the 
 constitution, and foremost among these, dropsy, 
 began to show themselves, and after a time 
 puncturing of the legs was had recourse to, and 
 gave temporary relief. The king suffered, too, 
 from violent attacks of coughing, so severe that 
 on more occasions than one, death appeared to 
 be imminent. The king died early in the morn- 
 ing of Saturday, June 26th, 1830, and more 
 suddenly than was expected. Feeling a sudden 
 thrill of pain he exclaimed, " This is death ! send 
 
 M 
 
178 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 directly for Halford"; and the king expired in the 
 act of making a friendly inclination of the head to 
 Sir Henry on his entering the apartment. # 
 
 The physicians who had been in attendance on 
 the king were sharply criticised in some of the 
 public prints for the bulletins they had issued, 
 which it was argued were calculated, even if they 
 were not intended, to mislead. Sir Henry 
 Halford availed himself of an early opportunity to 
 refute the imputation, and justify himself and his 
 colleagues for their part on that occasion ; and 
 at the same time he considered generally the 
 conduct and duty of the physician towards a 
 patient suffering from mortal disease. In an 
 elegant essay " On the Influence of some Diseases 
 of the Body on the Mind," which he read at one 
 of the evening meetings of the College of Physi- 
 cians in February, 183 1, he said: "You will 
 forgive me perhaps if I presume to state what 
 appears to me to be the conduct proper to be 
 observed by a physician, in withholding or making 
 his patient acquainted with his opinion of the 
 probable issue of a malady manifesting mortal 
 symptoms. I own, I think it my first duty to 
 protract his life by all practicable means, and to 
 
 * Lord Stanhope's " Notes of Conversations with the Duke 
 ofWellington." 8vo. London, 1888, p. 257. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 179 
 
 interpose myself between him and everything 
 which may possibly aggravate his danger. * And 
 unless I shall have found him averse from doing 
 what was necessary in aid of my remedies, from a 
 want of a proper sense of his perilous situation, I 
 forbear to step out of the bounds of my province 
 in order to offer any advice which is not necessary 
 to promote his cure. At the same time, I think 
 it indispensable to let his friends know the danger 
 of his case the instant I discover it. An arrange- 
 ment of his worldly affairs, in which the comfort 
 or unhappiness of those who are to come after 
 him is involved, may be necessary ; and a sug- 
 gestion of his danger, by which the accomplish- 
 ment of this object is to be obtained, naturally 
 induces a contemplation of his more important 
 spiritual concerns, a more careful review of his 
 past life, and such sincere sorrow and contrition 
 for what he has done amiss, as justifies our 
 humble hope of his pardon and acceptance here- 
 after. If friends can do their good offices at a 
 proper time, and under the suggestions of the 
 
 * "At hoc ne homines probi faciunt, ut amicis impendentes 
 calamitates prsedicant, quas illi effugere nullo modo possint : et 
 medici, quamquam intelligunt ssepe, tamen nunquam aegris 
 dicunt illo morbo eos esse morituros. Omnis enim prsedictio 
 mali tumprobatur cum ad prsedictionem cautio adjungitur." — 
 Cicero, "De Divinatione," ii. 25. 
 
180 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 physician, it is far better that they should under- 
 take them than the medical adviser. They do so 
 without destroying his hopes, for the patient will 
 still believe that he has an appeal to his physician 
 beyond their fears ; whereas, if the physician lay 
 open his danger to him, however delicately he 
 may do this, he runs a risk of appearing to pro- 
 nounce a sentence of condemnation to death, 
 against which there is no appeal, no hope ; and on 
 that account, what is most awful to think of, 
 perhaps the sick man's repentance may be less 
 available. 
 
 " But friends may be absent, and nobody near 
 the patient in his extremity, of sufficient influence 
 or pretension to inform him of his dangerous 
 condition. And surely it is lamentable to think 
 that any human being should leave the world 
 unprepared to meet his Creator and Judge, ' with 
 all his crimes broad blown.' Rather than so, I 
 have departed from my strict professional duty, 
 and have done that which I would have done by 
 myself, and have apprised my patient of the great 
 change he was about to undergo. 
 
 "In short, no rule, not to be infringed some- 
 times, can be laid down on this subject. Every 
 case requires its own considerations ; but you may 
 be assured, that if good sense and good feeling be 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 181 
 
 not wanting, no difficulty can occur which you will 
 not be able to surmount with satisfaction to your 
 patient, his friends and yourselves. 
 
 "Advice on some of these points, at least, 
 corresponding with that which I have presumed to 
 offer you, is to be found in the beautiful chapter of 
 Hippocrates, -n-epi zvayri/moawriG — de decenti ornatu; 
 and I assure you it will amply repay you for the 
 trouble of referring to it, by the gravity and 
 striking propriety of deportment which it recom- 
 mends. 
 
 " But if, in cases attended with danger in private 
 life, the physician has need of discretion and 
 sound sense to direct his conduct, the difficulty 
 must doubtless be increased when his patient is of 
 so elevated a station that his safety becomes an 
 object of anxiety to the nation. In such circum- 
 stances, the physician has a duty to perform, not 
 only to the sick personage and his family, but 
 also to the public, who, in their extreme solicitude 
 for his recovery, sometimes desire disclosures 
 which are incompatible with it. Bulletins re- 
 specting the health of a sovereign, differ widely 
 from the announcements which a physician is 
 called upon to make in humbler life, and which he 
 entrusts to the prudence of surrounding friends. 
 These public documents may become known to the 
 
182 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 royal sufferer himself. Is the physician, then, 
 whilst endeavouring to relieve the anxiety or 
 satisfy the curiosity of the nation, to endanger the 
 safety of the patient ; or, at least, his comfort ? 
 Surely not. But whilst it is his object to state as 
 accurately as possible the present circumstances 
 and the comparative condition of the disease, he 
 will consider that conjectures respecting its cause 
 and probable issue are not to be hazarded with- 
 out extreme caution. He will not write one word, 
 which is calculated to mislead ; but neither ought 
 he to be called upon to express so much as, if 
 reported to the patient, would destroy all hope 
 and hasten that catastrophe which it is his duty 
 and their first wish to prevent. 
 
 " Meanwhile, the family of the monarch and 
 the government have a claim to fuller information 
 than can, with propriety or even common humanity, 
 be imparted to the public at large. In the case 
 of his Majesty, King George the Fourth, the 
 king's government and the Royal Family were 
 apprised, as early as the 27th of April # (I hold 
 in my hand the original letters which gave the 
 information to the prime minister) that his 
 Majesty's disease was seated in his heart, and 
 that an effusion of water into the chest was soon 
 
 * His Majesty died on the 25th of June. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 183 
 
 to be expected. It was not, however, until the 
 latter end of May — when his Majesty was so dis- 
 couraged by repeated attacks of embarrasment in 
 his breathing, as to desire me to explain to him the 
 nature of his complaint, and to give him my candid 
 opinion of its probable termination — that the 
 opportunity occurred of acknowledging to his 
 Majesty the extent of my fears for his safety. 
 
 " This communication was not necessary to 
 suggest to the king the propriety of religious 
 offices, for his Majesty had used them daily. 
 But it determined him, perhaps, to appoint an 
 early day to receive the sacrament. He did 
 receive it, with every appearance of the most 
 fervent piety and devotion, and acknowledged to 
 me repeatedly afterwards that it had given him 
 great consolation — true comfort. 
 
 " After this, when ' he had set his house in 
 order,' I thought myself at liberty to interpret 
 every new symptom as it arose in as favourable a 
 light as I could, for his Majesty's satisfaction ; and 
 we were enabled thereby to rally his spirits in the 
 intervals of his frightful attacks, to maintain his 
 confidence in his medical resources, and to spare 
 him the pain of contemplating approaching death, 
 until a few minutes before his Majesty expired. 
 
 " Lord Bacon, one of the wisest men who has 
 
184 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 lived, encourages physicians to make it a part of 
 their art to smooth the bed of death, and to render 
 the departure from life easy, placid, and gentle. 
 
 " This doctrine, so accordant with the best 
 principles of our nature, commended not only by 
 the wisdom of this consummate philosopher, but 
 also by the experience of one of the most judicious 
 and conscientious physicians of modern times, the 
 late Dr. Heberden, was practised with such happy 
 success in the case of our lamented sovereign 
 that at the close of his painful disease, ' non tarn 
 mori videretur ' (as was said of a Roman emperor) 
 1 quam dulci et alto sopore excipi." 
 
 Among the visitors to the College of Phy- 
 sicians on that evening, and they were numerous, 
 were the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, the Bishop of London, Lord 
 Tenterden, the Vice-Chancellor, the Master of 
 the Rolls, several others of the judges, the 
 Attorney-General, and others. The general 
 but subdued applause which followed the reading 
 of Sir Henry Halford's explanation, showed that 
 his audience appreciated his good feeling and 
 correct taste, and accepted the rules of conduct 
 he had laid down as the solution of one of the 
 most delicate questions in medical ethics, and as 
 those which ought always to guide the physician 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 185 
 
 in his intercourse with his patient at the most 
 momentous and trying period of his being — that 
 last scene of human life in which every one, 
 sooner or later, must appear and bear his part. 
 
 Soon after the decease of George IV., Sir 
 Henry received another flattering proof of the 
 esteem and appreciation of the Royal Family. A 
 very splendid clock, surmounted by a bust of his 
 late Majesty, was presented to him by the Royal 
 Family, in evidence, as the inscription states, "of 
 their esteem and regard, and in testimony of the 
 high sense they entertain of his professional 
 abilities and unwearied attention to their late 
 beloved sister, the Princess Amelia, her late 
 Majesty Queen Charlotte, his late Majesty King 
 George III., his late Royal Highness the Duke 
 of York, and lastly, to his Majesty George IV." 
 
 The kindly feeling of George IV. for Sir 
 Henry Halford continued to the last. At the 
 last interview which the Duke of Clarence had 
 with George IV. the king requested of the duke 
 as a personal favour to himself, that on his 
 accession to the throne he would continue Sir 
 Henry Halford in his office of first physician to 
 the king, and the actual attendant upon himself. 
 This was readily assented to, for the rela- 
 
186 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 tions of the Duke of Clarence with Sir Henry, 
 from the time when he first consulted him in the 
 summer of 181 1, had been at all times of the most 
 satisfactory character. Accordingly, in the 
 medical appointments on the accession of 
 William IV., Sir Henry Halford was gazetted 
 first physician to the king, and first physician also 
 to the queen. And one of the first acts of 
 William IV. was to confer on Sir Henry the 
 Grand Cross of Hanover. The Duke of Cam- 
 bridge thereupon hastened to present him with 
 the fitting decoration. 
 
 "Brighton, September $th, 1830. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I hasten to send you the Star which I 
 have this moment received from Mr. Bridge, and 
 request you will accept it, as a mark of the 
 sincere regard I have for you, and which can 
 never end but with the life of him, whom you 
 will ever find 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Adolphus Frederick." 
 
 The king enjoyed unusually good health, and 
 only on rare occasions needed the aid of his 
 physicians. A slight decline in the king's 
 strength had been perceptible to his immediate 
 attendants at the commencement of 1837, Dut lt 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 187 
 
 was not until the month of May that the state of 
 his Majesty's health excited any serious appre- 
 hension. On the 17th of May the king held a 
 levee, and on the 18th a drawing-room, at St. 
 James's Palace, and on his return to Windsor 
 Castle on both of these occasions showed signs of 
 great debility and exhaustion, with oppression of 
 breathing and considerable difficulty in ascending 
 stairs. The king was then attended by his 
 domestic physician, Dr. David Davies. To the 
 above symptoms were soon added entire loss of 
 appetite and attacks of faintness. This state of 
 his Majesty excited much and well-founded alarm. 
 
 On Monday, May 22nd, Sir Henry Halford 
 was summoned to the king at Windsor, and Dr. 
 Chambers was sent for at the same time, but 
 unknown to the king, and unknown also to Sir 
 Henry, who arrived at the castle in the course of 
 the afternoon and was at once ushered to the 
 king. 
 
 The feelings of Queen Adelaide towards Sir 
 Henry Halford were known to be of a less cordial 
 and confidential nature than he had been honoured 
 with by the king himself and all the other 
 members of the Royal Family, and he was pained 
 at the scant confidence accorded to him on this 
 occasion. 
 
188 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 In the "Annual Register" for 1837 are " Some 
 Recollections of the last Days of his late Majesty 
 King William IV.," dated Bushey House, July 14, 
 1837, and evidently inspired, if not dictated, by 
 one of the highest personages in the realm ; 
 wherein we read : " Sir Henry Halford and Dr. 
 Chambers were sent for, but as the latter had no 
 ostensible situation in the royal household, it was 
 thought advisable, in order to avoid causing any 
 unnecessary alarm to the king, to introduce him 
 to his Majesty as the medical attendant on the 
 queen. Dr. Chambers was most graciously re- 
 ceived by the king, who did not hesitate to avail 
 himself of his advice in his own case. The 
 arrival, however, of Dr. Chambers at the castle 
 was so late that this interview did not take place 
 till the following morning," when Sir Henry 
 Halford and Dr. Chambers saw the king together, 
 and from that time were one or other of them in 
 constant attendance on his Majesty ; Sir Henry 
 during the day, Dr. Chambers through the night, 
 each of them remaining until relieved by the 
 arrival of the other at the castle. At a later 
 period Sir Matthew Tierney was joined with 
 them in attendance on the king. It was not 
 until June 9th that the king consented that a 
 bulletin should be issued by his physicians to 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 189 
 
 allay, if possible, the anxiety which had long been 
 felt and manifested by the public. It was as 
 follows : 
 
 "Windsor Castle, June gt/i, 1837. 
 " The king has suffered for some time from an 
 affection of the chest, which confines his Majesty 
 to his apartment, and has produced considerable 
 weakness, but has not interrupted his usual atten- 
 tion to business. 
 
 " (Signed) 
 
 " Henry Halford, 
 Wm. Fred. Chambers." 
 
 The weakness went on increasing — augmented 
 difficulty of breathing, progressive failure of the 
 circulation, cold extremities, and swelling of the 
 legs, were among the symptoms which evinced 
 that the king's condition had now become one of 
 extreme danger. The king's government was 
 desirous that the public should be duly prepared 
 for any event that might happen, and the prime 
 minister addressed the following letter to Sir 
 Henry Halford : 
 
 "South Street, June 12th, 1837. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " The accounts which I have received 
 from Windsor in the course of the day are by no 
 means favourable. Sir H. Taylor writes to me 
 to this effect, and others who have come up from 
 
190 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 thence confirm his report. In these circumstances 
 I am very anxious that no chance should be run 
 of any event occurring, for which the public is not 
 prepared. 
 
 " If the king should be better to-morrow, or if 
 he shall remain, in point of health, exactly 
 stationary, which is hardly probable, another 
 bulletin may be delayed until Wednesday ; but 
 if he should be the least worse, I think that some 
 information should be given to the public. I 
 have written to Dr. Chambers this evening to 
 this effect. 
 
 " I understand that the bulletin of this morning 
 
 is generally interpreted by the public as being 
 
 very unfavourable, which is much better than the 
 
 contrary. More than one person in the House of 
 
 Lords said to me, ' Of course he had a very bad 
 
 night, as the bulletin says nothing upon the 
 
 subject.' 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Melbourne. 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 But for a day or two there was if anything an 
 amelioration in the king's condition. On the 
 1 6th, however, he was more feeble, and on the 
 17th he was worse in every respect. The weak- 
 ness went on increasing, and on June 19th the 
 following bulletin was issued : 
 
 " The King continues in a very weak and feeble 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 19 1 
 
 state, notwithstanding his Majesty had some 
 quiet sleep in the night. After transacting his 
 usual business yesterday, his Majesty received 
 the sacrament from the hands of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury with attention and great apparent 
 comfort. 
 
 " Henry Halford, 
 Matt. John Tierney, 
 Wm. Fred. Chambers, 
 David Davies." 
 
 In the course of the following- night the king; 
 
 died. 
 
 "Windsor Castle, Tuesday, June 20th, 1837. 
 "It has pleased Almighty God to release from 
 his sufferings our gracious sovereign King William 
 the Fourth. His Majesty expired this morning 
 at twelve minutes past two o'clock. 
 
 " Matt. John Tierney, 
 Wm. Fred. Chambers, 
 David Davies." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford, under the arrangement 
 above mentioned, was not on duty when the king 
 actually expired, and did not therefore sign the 
 above bulletin. He received from Dr. Chambers 
 the following letter : 
 
 "Windsor Castle, Tuesday morning, 3 a.m. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " The scene has at length closed. The poor 
 
192 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 king expired at twelve minutes past two o'clock 
 this morning in the most tranquil manner possible. 
 The absolute process of dissolution did not com- 
 mence till about eleven o'clock, but from that 
 hour his Majesty sank rapidly. No new symptom 
 occurred before death. 
 
 " The archbishop, who remained here, accom- 
 panied (at the queen's desire) Lord Conyngham (?) 
 to announce Her accession to the young Princess. 
 
 "The Queen has borne this scene with great 
 self-possession, and is now gone to bed in a 
 composed state of mind. 
 
 " I find I am too late for Lord Melbourne's 
 messenger, who has already set off, so that this 
 note will not be the means of conveying to you 
 the first account of his Majesty's death : as, 
 however, I have written thus far, I send my note 
 to you. Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " W. F. Chambers. 
 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Bart, Curzon Street." 
 
 Sir Henry would seem to have hesitated for a 
 moment about returning that day to Windsor to 
 offer his respects to the Queen Adelaide, or at the 
 least personally to inquire for her Majesty's health. 
 If he really did so, all doubts must have been dis- 
 pelled by the following note from his sincere and 
 constant friend, the Duke of Cumberland, or, as 
 he had then become, the King of Hanover : 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 193 
 
 " Gloucester House, io a.m., June 20th, 1837. 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I hope you will excuse an old and 
 sincere friend observing to you the propriety of 
 your going down to Windsor, if only to inquire 
 after the queen; and at the same time I take it 
 for granted the body will be opened, when surely 
 you as his first and confidential medical adviser 
 ought to be present. Excuse this, but attribute it 
 to true friendship. 
 
 "Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
 Sir Henry had continued to attend the king 
 with his Majesty's undiminished confidence until 
 he died. Queen Adelaide recognised his ser- 
 vices on this occasion in the inscription engraved 
 on a large silver vase elaborately wrought which, 
 as Queen Dowager, she presented to Sir Henry 
 shortly after the king's death : 
 
 TO 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD, BART. G.C.H. 
 
 A GRATETUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 OF HIS ATTENDANCE UPON 
 
 HIS LATE MAJESTY 
 
 KING WILLIAM IV. 
 
 DURING HIS LAST ILLNESS. 
 
 A. R. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford was emphatically "the 
 
 N 
 
194 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 friend of the Royal Family," as he was declared to 
 be by the Prince Regent himself to Miss Knight, 
 when that lady wished to prevent or abridge the 
 long conferences which Sir Henry, with the ap- 
 proval of the Prince Regent, was at one time 
 having with the Princess Charlotte of Wales. 
 
 Sir Henry's intimate relations with the several 
 members of the Royal Family and their entire 
 confidence in him, led to his being called on not 
 unfrequently to undertake offices which had no 
 connection with his profession. 
 
 He was actively engaged in 1815 in the 
 attempt to bring about a reconciliation between 
 Queen Charlotte and the Duke of Cumberland, 
 who had displeased her Majesty by his marriage. 
 Sir Henry, too, was the medium of communi- 
 cation between the Prince Regent and the 
 Princess Charlotte in all that related to the pro- 
 ject of her marriage with the Prince of Orange. 
 Sir Henry had been in medical attendance on the 
 princess during the early part of 18 13, and in 
 October of that year hints were given to the 
 princess by Sir Henry, at the request of the 
 Prince Regent, that such a marriage would be 
 highly desirable ; but as is well known this 
 project in the end came to nothing, and was 
 terminated by the princess herself in June 18 14. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 195 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's active connection with 
 the court ceased with the death of William IV. 
 He was continued one of the physicians-in- 
 ordinary to the Queen ; but the office of first 
 physician and of actual attendant on the sovereign, 
 passed not unnaturally nor unexpectedly, into 
 other and younger hands, into those of Dr. 
 (subsequently Sir James) Clark, who from the 
 death of Dr. Maton had been the trusted and 
 valued physician to the Princess Victoria and 
 to H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had been physician to and 
 the actual medical attendant on George III., 
 George IV. and William IV. — on the Queen 
 Charlotte — on all the royal dukes and on all 
 the princesses ; and it had been his melancholy 
 privilege, to minister at the death-bed of no less 
 than seven of the Royal Family. He is said also 
 to have been consulted at various times, and par- 
 ticularly in 1 8 14, by several of the potentates of 
 Europe. I know of no other physician of 
 ancient or modern times of whom there is such 
 a record. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD'S CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Sir Henry Halford from an early period of 
 his professional life was much given to letter- 
 writing. He continued to be so even when in 
 his fullest business, and indeed until strength 
 began to fail him. He maintained a frequent 
 correspondence with many members of the Royal 
 Family, and with many of the noblest and most 
 distinguished of the land, most of whom had been 
 his patients, and in sequel thereto had become his 
 friends and correspondents. It was so I believe 
 in all the following instances. Many of his letters 
 were written in his carriage in the course of his 
 professional rounds about town, or in his longer 
 journeys into the country : but most of them after 
 the other duties of the day, and often after mid- 
 night. Of his own letters, there are but few 
 comparatively before me, but those from his 
 correspondents are many and interesting. Among 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 197 
 
 such are the following. They will I believe bear 
 me out in the opinion I have formed and ex- 
 pressed, of the character and attainments, the 
 position and influence, professional and social, 
 of Sir Henry Halford. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland had early honoured 
 Sir Henry Halford with his esteem and friend- 
 ship. From among a large number of his letters 
 I select the following. The first two of them 
 relate to the efforts Sir Henry was making in 
 1815, to effect a reconciliation between the queen 
 and the duke, who had displeased her Majesty by 
 his marriage. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland to Sir Henry Halford. 
 " Thursday night, 12 o'clock P.M. 
 
 " Dear Halford, 
 
 "Your letter was safely received this 
 evening at half-past eight, and you may rest 
 assured will be kept most secret. I am desired 
 to return you many thanks for it and to say, yotc 
 will be expected with anxiety here on Sunday by 
 eleven o'clock, and as you come to town Saturday, 
 pray direct a line here : the uprightness and 
 straightforwardness of your conduct must demand 
 the respect of every one, and of none more 
 than of 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
198 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 "Kew Green, October 27M, 1815. 
 " Dear Halford, 
 
 "Your very kind letter I received 
 yesterday, and communicated its contents, with 
 all its kind wishes to the duchess, who equally 
 with myself, feels grateful to you, for all your 
 endeavours, and I trust and hope most sincerely 
 — nay, from something that I heard yesterday — I 
 still flatter myself that better days will come ; for 
 as far as I can make out, her heart feels deeply the 
 mischief she has done — the cruelty with which 
 she has treated us ; this seems perfectly correct 
 from what you have stated. I therefore do from 
 my very soul believe that by often and often 
 repeating the misery she so generally has occa- 
 sioned and still causes to us, that her heart will 
 at length feel the injustice, and she will seize 
 an opportunity of trying to make everything 
 smooth and right again ; and in order that she 
 may find less difficulty, from an idea of anything 
 unpleasant being said, both the duchess and 
 myself are desirous to save her feelings on that 
 point, that whenever the happy day of reconcilia- 
 tion shall take place, that not one word on this 
 unpleasant subject shall be uttered by either 
 party. Now I flatter myself this is a just proof 
 that we desire to make the matter as easy to the 
 queen as possible. 
 
 " With respect to what you say, of perhaps its 
 having been better had / gone in the first 
 instance myself to the queen, I will not be 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 199 
 
 obstinate and say I was right, but really and 
 truly my indignation was so roused by this 
 unexpected letter, that I did not in the first 
 instance trust myself, that my temper being 
 rather warm might not have got the better of my 
 judgment, and I might have made things worse. 
 And secondly, I did not think that going to her 
 after her explicit declaration would have been 
 treating my wife with the respect due to her. 
 And to prove that I am justified in this idea, the 
 queen herself said to the P., 'he could not do 
 otherwise.' 
 
 " Excuse my having troubled you again, but 
 your so friendly and kind letter demanded 
 from me an answer, and most indisputably my 
 warmest thanks. In case you cannot call next 
 Wednesday, I depend on seeing you next 
 Friday. 
 
 " Believe me, dear Halford, 
 
 "Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
 From the time the duke became King of 
 Hanover and left England he maintained a 
 frequent correspondence of an easy and con- 
 fidential character with Sir Henry Halford. Of 
 these letters the following are perhaps the most 
 generally interesting : 
 
200 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The King of Hanover to Sir Henry Halford. 
 
 "Hanover, September qth, 1839. 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " .... As to myself, I am wonderfully 
 well considering the total change of life I am 
 forced to live, and the constant worry I have now 
 lived in ever since I first took the reins of 
 government. Heaven has so far till now aided 
 my honest endeavours, and by never swerving 
 from my principles but acting always under the 
 law, I have just succeeded in carrying the first 
 victory ; having given the German Radicals the 
 first check they have had since the year 1830. 
 Strange things are going on, alas ! in dear old 
 England, and my heart bleeds on hearing all 
 going on and the levelling system that seems the 
 order of the day. 
 
 "Yours very truly 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
 The following has reference to the sight of the 
 Prince Royal. Baron de Graefe had been 
 summoned to Hanover to consult on the case of 
 the prince, and perform such operation as might 
 seem advisable. But he was attacked on the 
 evening of his arrival with the usual symptoms of 
 typhus fever, which proved fatal within a fort- 
 night. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 201 
 
 " Hanover, July 14th, 1840. 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Accept my best thanks for yours 
 received this day, and the contents of your letter 
 are certainly more cheering. God grant of his 
 infinite mercy that you may be able to continue to 
 give me so much more tranquillising accounts of 
 the amendment. 
 
 " After the truly lamentable death of Dr. de 
 Graefe, which has been a dreadful blow to us all, 
 I had among my other difficulties to consider 
 what was best to be done, and I therefore called 
 upon the faculty here to consider maturely what 
 proposals they would make as to the performance 
 of the operation upon the Prince Royal. They 
 have recommended to me an oculist of great 
 repute at Vienna, a Dr. Jaeger, and I have 
 directed them to write to him, communicate the 
 state of the eye and complaint, and ask him if he 
 will come and perform the operation, and I now 
 expect in a short time his reply. 
 
 " The medical men have acted most honourably : 
 they said, ' Here at Hanover Dr. Spangenberg 
 is fully competent to undertake it ; he has now 
 attended the Prince Royal for three years, is 
 perfectly master of the case and is an excellent 
 operator, but he is not a renowned man in the 
 medical world as the late Dr. Graefe was, and as 
 Dr. Jaeger is, therefore it is our public duty to 
 recommend one whose reputation is universally 
 known, and we therefore submit his name to you. 
 
202 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " I believe I have done the most prudent thing, 
 and naturally, previous to deciding, I consulted 
 my son's feelings, who is the most concerned. 
 " Believe me, dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Yours very truly, 
 
 "Ernest." 
 
 In the following month, August 8th, 1840, he 
 writes as follows : 
 
 '■ Strange, and I may say as the author says, 
 'most wondrous strange,' that so many things 
 occurred on the first of August ; for on that 
 self-same day that our family came to the throne 
 of Great Britain, /signed and sealed the soi-disant 
 new constitution, or revised the old one amended, 
 and thus after a state of constant anxiety for 
 three full years have carried my point and, 
 though I say it myself, I have been the first and 
 only man here in Germany who stood up and 
 opposed the Radicals of Germany. I received 
 this day a most beautiful letter from the King of 
 Prussia congratulating me. . . . 
 
 " I am going now for one week to a shooting- 
 box I have about 100 miles from hence, merely 
 to prevent eternal audiences and conferences ; 
 when I mean to go about in my woods and try to 
 shoot some roebucks and not occupy myself with 
 state affairs or politics, for I have had enough of 
 them to satiate me. Oh ! how often do I sigh 
 after dear Kew and my little cottage there. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 203 
 
 There is a great deal of glory but little enjoy- 
 ment in a king's life, and as Duke of Cumberland 
 I was much happier and more my own master, 
 than I now shall ever be again, but my heart and 
 my principles remain the same, and also my 
 sincere regard for you. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
 In another of August 22nd, 1840, he writes : 
 
 "You are very good to think of my troubles 
 here, which under the blessing of Providence I 
 believe now I have overcome, but believe me it 
 has been a dead weight on my mind and given 
 me many a restless hour ; for till now I have 
 been left to shift for myself and had to encounter 
 every difficulty that man could have, but my 
 salvo has been that the country in itself is good 
 and not corrupted as yet, which are my great 
 support and give me the courage to go on and 
 carry me through my labour. My good luck has 
 been, and what I have constantly acknowledged 
 is, to have served a thirty years' apprenticeship 
 in an English parliament, and the constant attend- 
 ance to my parliamentary duties has given me a 
 complete insight and knowledge of what the 
 wants really are, and thus I am able to combat 
 these — Radicals. 
 
 " My friends in England all are violent against 
 me, but I knew what I was about and would not 
 
204 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 allow myself to be diverted from the line I 
 had begun ; and though assailed from my old 
 friends in England and many others not to con- 
 tinue, I never did, and was fully persuaded that 
 I must succeed in the end ; doubtfulness or weak- 
 ness shown on my side would have been destruc- 
 tion, and I boldly went on, but was ever prudent 
 and cautious, and thus always had my feet well 
 secured ere I proceeded further. Now I am 
 assailed with congratulations from every quarter, 
 and they go so far as to tell me I have been the 
 only king who could have stemmed the democratic 
 spirit here on the continent ; my reply is very 
 short — is this so ? then aid me and stand by me. 
 The fact is they are not made for, or understand re- 
 presentative governments, and this has cost much 
 blood in England to learn it, which God forbid may 
 ever be the case here on the continent." 
 
 The Queen of Hanover died the 21st of June, 
 1 84 1. The following is the king's letter to Sir 
 Henry Halford in reference to that event : 
 
 " Hanover, July 25th, 1841. 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Your kind letter of the 15th I should not 
 
 have postponed answering so long, unless I had 
 
 been absolutely prevented by the wretched state 
 
 of spirits I am in, by the constant stretch of bodily 
 
 and moral exertion I am forced to make in order 
 
 to get through a mass of business, and then be 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 205 
 
 able to think of my health, for certainly the 
 anguish of soul and anxiety of mind I have gone 
 through, the living between fear and hope, all has 
 made a deep ravage in me, and I begin to feel I 
 am giving way ; for when I reflect coolly on all I 
 have now these last four years been obliged to go 
 through, the eternal strain of mind — the constant 
 difficulties thrown in my way — I hardly can believe 
 that I have been able to effect all I have done ; 
 but what then supported me was a happy home, 
 domestic felicity — this is gone, and gone for ever, 
 never to be recovered. The agitation in which I 
 lived upwards of three months has ruined my 
 constitution, strong and hale as heaven had en- 
 dowed me with, and I now feel I am giving way — 
 an affection of the trachea — for I do not know 
 how otherwise to explain it, comes on at times, a 
 sort of cramp in the lower part of my throat, which 
 causes me violent fits of coughing. I have no 
 pain in my chest, nor other expectoration than 
 phlegm ; this they tell me the waters of Emms 
 will remedy. I have therefore resolved, though 
 reluctantly to try them, for I would much rather 
 remain quietly here. As you knew my adored, 
 beloved wife, you know all I have lost. God be 
 merciful to me. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Ernest." 
 
 The following letters, in addition to one already 
 given (p. 136), are from the Duke of Kent : 
 
206 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Windsor Castle, 
 Monday morning, December 20th. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I cannot leave this without writing a 
 few lines to express my warmest acknowledgments 
 for your most interesting detail of the state of my 
 poor suffering Sophy, and assuring you that I 
 appreciate your kindness in writing to me, more 
 than I can express. Understanding that you are 
 to be here to-night and will return in the morning, 
 forgive me if I entreat you to write me a line to- 
 morrow per post from town to Kensington to say 
 how you leave her, as it is a most anxious time, 
 and the receiving your own account will be so 
 much superior to anything else. 
 
 " May I also beg leave to remind you of a com- 
 mission Minny gave you concerning a souvenir I 
 would wish to give my old friend Dundas, as I am 
 most solicitous not to postpone it longer than is 
 unavoidable. 
 
 "With many apologies for all the trouble I am 
 giving you, and every sentiment of the most 
 friendly regard and the highest esteem, 
 
 " I remain, my dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours most faithfully and sincerely, 
 
 " Edward." 
 
 " The Lodge, Castle Hill, 
 
 Friday, January 2.%th, 18 14. 
 
 " I owe you a thousand thanks, my dear Sir 
 Henry, for your kind recollection of me, which I 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 207 
 
 received yesterday evening. I cannot deny that 
 the account it contained of my poor little suffering 
 favourite rather disappointed me, as from her 
 being apparently better on Sunday and Monday 
 I had been rather too sanguine in flattering myself 
 that we had begun to gain ground, which fond 
 expectation, alas ! I perceive is not realised. 
 However, it is always consoling to read your 
 opinions, so perfectly and candidly expressed as 
 they ever are ; and I feel most grateful for them, 
 as well as for your increasing tender care of your 
 poor patient. 
 
 " I perfectly understand all you say about the 
 difficulty of making a certain quarter understand 
 the real state of things, but when there is a natural 
 want of warmth, it is difficult in the extreme to 
 make a proper impression. Thank God ! all are 
 not alike on this head. 
 
 "Sincerely hoping you have escaped the late 
 dreadful travelling,* both on the road and through 
 the streets, without accident, and that your mind 
 is now quite at ease about your son, I beg leave 
 to subscribe myself, with every sentiment of the 
 warmest friendship, regard and esteem, 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Edward." 
 
 * The deep snow and frost of 1 8 14. 
 
208 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " The Lodge, Castle Hill, 
 February 12th, 1814. 
 
 11 My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I am anxious to express to you all the 
 gratitude I feel for your most feeling and interesting 
 account of our dear sufferer, and which was doubly 
 gratifying, as the preceding one from dearest 
 Minny had been far from consoling. Thank God, 
 your visit was productive of so much good, and I 
 now anxiously pray for the continuance of this 
 improvement. 
 
 " To-morrow I shall ride over, and you will 
 easily believe shall feel most grateful if I don't 
 find her altered for the worse, in the three weeks 
 I have not seen her. . . . 
 
 " I heard with great concern of the prince's 
 severe attack. I hope he knows I called on him 
 Saturday week, and again on Thursday. About 
 Tuesday I shall hope to have the pleasure of 
 seeing him. In the meanwhile will you have the 
 goodness to say all that is respectful and affec- 
 tionate from me (though I fear from a hint I have 
 had, that an attempt has again been made to mis- 
 represent me to him), but this is quite entre nous. 
 
 " Sincerely hoping that your son ere this is com- 
 pletely re-established in his health, I shall now 
 take my leave of you by repeating the sentiments 
 of grateful and friendly regard with which I am, 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Most affectionately yours, 
 
 " Edward." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 209 
 
 The following letters are from the Duke of 
 Cambridge ; who, at the time they were written, 
 was Viceroy of Hanover : 
 
 "Hanover, December 27th, 1813. 
 
 " I cannot suffer this opportunity to pass, with- 
 out troubling you with a few lines, my dear Sir 
 Henry, to thank you for your very kind letter 
 which I received on Saturday last by the mail. 
 I am very sorry to have so indifferent an account 
 of poor dear Sophy, though I cannot deny that I 
 did not expect to receive a good one. Most 
 anxious do I feel concerning her, and I wish to 
 hear that she is beginning to recover her strength. 
 Till then I shall not feel comfortable, which is 
 very melancholy at the distance I am from her. 
 My last visit at Windsor on the 28th November 
 has, I fear, done her harm. I am very sorry for 
 it, but I really was so much affected at taking 
 leave of her that I could not hide my feelings, 
 and with her delicate frame it is no wonder that 
 she should have suffered from it. Thank God, 
 you can give me a good account of dearest 
 Minny's condition, and I do sincerely hope that 
 she may be rewarded for her courage and angelic 
 patience by a perfect cure. 
 
 "My poor friend is, I fear, in a most nervous way. 
 I never can thank you enough for the kind manner 
 in which you write about her, and I recommend 
 her as well as the other two patients to your 
 
 o 
 
210 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 kind attention, which I have always known to 
 be unremitting indeed to every person without 
 distinction. 
 
 " Our beloved king is, thank God, in a happy 
 state for himself, and all one can wish for him 
 now, I fear, is that he may remain in it. 
 
 "As for myself, I am very tolerably well, consi- 
 dering the hurry and worry I am in. I caught a 
 cold the day after I got on board, and since that 
 I have not been altogether rid of it. The 
 weather here, though very mild for the season, is 
 so damp that I am not surprised at being so long 
 before I get rid of it. I had also lost my sleep, 
 but I am recovering that, and it is no wonder 
 after all I have gone through for this last month. 
 Most heartily do I accept your kind wishes for 
 my success, and would God grant that I may be 
 of use. I assure you that at present my situation 
 is far from agreeable and I am not sleeping on a 
 bed of roses, but I trust when we have got things 
 into some sort of shape I may then be more 
 comfortable. 
 
 " Now, my dear Sir Henry, God bless you. Do 
 not forget to write to me when you have time. 
 Remember me to Lady Halford and friend 
 Baillie, and believe me, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Adolphus Frederick." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 211 
 
 "Hanover, October 16th, 1815. 
 
 " I hasten, my dear Sir Henry, to return you my 
 best thanks for your kind letter which I received 
 yesterday, and to assure you that I feel deeply 
 your attention in informing me of the sad 
 operation dearest Minny has been obliged to 
 undergo. Thank God she is well in health, and 
 she writes in excellent spirits, and with her angelic 
 disposition I flatter myself that she will soon get 
 well. She has been sadly plagued with her 
 complaint, but I hope that this last operation will 
 relieve her from any further plague. 
 
 " I am grieved to find that the Queen is in your 
 opinion very much weaker ; indeed, at her age it 
 is no wonder after all the worry she has had and 
 which is not yet over, but I hope and trust that 
 her precious life may be preserved for the sake of 
 her family, and particularly of my poor sisters, 
 who would be very much to be pitied indeed if 
 anything was to happen to her at the present 
 moment. 
 
 " Dear Sophy is, thank God, wonderfully 
 better. She will, however, I fear be more or less 
 of an invalid, though I trust she may still lead a 
 very different existence than she has done, poor 
 thing, for the last three years of her life. 
 
 " You will I am sure do me the justice to 
 believe that I do heartily rejoice at the increase 
 of fortune you have received by the death of 
 Lady Denbigh, and I hope from the bottom of 
 
212 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 my heart that you and your family may long 
 enjoy it. 
 
 " I cannot conclude without mentioning what I 
 know will give you pleasure, that I have enjoyed 
 perfect health ever since I have seen you, and 
 that I really never was better in my life. My 
 time is very much occupied, and I do not see any 
 chance of my paying a visit to my friends in 
 England before next year. Now God bless you, 
 dear Sir Henry, and with my best compliments 
 to Lady Halford, who I hope is well, I remain, 
 " Yours most sincerely 
 
 " Adolphus Frederick." 
 
 Among the letters from the Duke of Sussex I 
 find the following : 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Being anxious to present you with an 
 article which I am sure will be valuable to you as 
 having belonged to my late sister, Princess 
 Augusta, I have now the pleasure of forwarding 
 for your acceptance a clock which the Duchess of 
 Gloucester, the Princess Sophia, and the Duke of 
 Cambridge selected with me from amongst the 
 little treasures of the dear departed. We know 
 that you will prize the trifle, from its having been 
 the property of our beloved sister. And we avail 
 ourselves of this opportunity to express to you 
 our united gratitude for your constant unre- 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 213 
 
 mitting services, as well as for your faithful and 
 disinterested attachment shown at all times 
 towards every member of the Royal Family, and 
 which has never been more signally evinced than 
 in your indefatigable attendance on our dear 
 sister Augusta. That these are the unanimous 
 sentiments and feelings of every individual of the 
 Royal Family you may rely upon, as also that I 
 esteem myself fortunate in being the organ of 
 such an agreeable communication, and that I am 
 always, 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 " Your much attached and truly obliged, 
 " Augustus Frederick." 
 "Kensington Palace, September 26th, 1840. 
 
 The following from the Princess Augusta gives 
 an interesting: account of an interview with the 
 Emperor of Russia and Grand Duchess and with 
 the King of Prussia : 
 
 "Well, Sir Henry, I am alive, and wonderful 
 after the events of this most extraordinary day : 
 after your kind visit, leaving me in my great 
 chair where I intended to remain with my books, 
 &c, about me, conceive about 3 o'clock my re- 
 ceiving a note express from dear Mary saying, 
 'the E(mperor) is determined with the Gd. Dss. 
 to see you, and my mother says you must receive 
 
214 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 them as well as you can, and I fear poor Sophy- 
 must do the same.' I sent the note to her, who 
 wisely said the thing was impossible. I now 
 rigged myself and was seated in agony when they 
 announced the Emperor, who received me most 
 graciously, saying everything most obliging, flatter- 
 ing, and so forth, the Gd. Dss. always the same 
 and expressing everything most affectionately : 
 they stayed about half an hour, not quite so much, 
 and I began to breathe, when they brought me 
 a message to say the King of Prussia : this was 
 ten times more, for we were obliged to introduce 
 ourselves to one another ; but talking of the 
 Duchess of York, his brothers, sons, daughters 
 carried me through, and we parted with the 
 greatest civility possible. I made poor dear 
 Sophy's excuses to the E. and Gd. Dss., assured 
 them she could not see them, for she was in bed ; 
 in short, did all I could to please them, but the 
 fright, hurry, alarm was enough to have undone 
 all your good works. 
 
 " I must say all the E. said to me was proper 
 and feeling regarding the P(rince) R(egent). He 
 talks of staying ten days or a fortnight, and ex- 
 pressed himself enchanted with England hating 
 France, and that he very far from liked his 
 sojourn there. I make no excuse for this long 
 history ; I have had two notes from Sophy. I 
 trust her mind will be easier about all this ; she 
 was fussed, but I flatter myself I have spared her 
 everything. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 215 
 
 " Frederick called upon her for a moment, 
 which delighted me, as it gave her comfort, and 
 that you well know pleases me. Could you have 
 been behind the curtain, you would have been 
 amused with the scene, tho' from your constant 
 good nature you would have pitied me. 
 
 " Very good accounts of the king : all quiet as 
 far as it goes, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Augusta. 
 
 "June 10th." 
 
 There are many letters to Sir Henry Halford 
 from the Princess Mary and the Princess Amelia, 
 in 1810, in reference to the illness and trials of 
 the last named, but they are only of domestic 
 interest. The following letter from the Princess 
 Mary, relates especially to the present then about 
 to be made to Sir Henry, by the several members 
 of the Royal Family, as a mark of friendship and 
 gratitude for his constant kind attentions to the 
 whole of their family. It bears the postmark of 
 August 29th, 1830: 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Your letter gave me much pleasure. 
 I am delighted at the conduct of that dear kind- 
 hearted Duke of Cambridge, and I am sure you 
 will be still more gratified when I relate to you 
 what passed between him and me yesterday. I 
 
216 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 had the pleasure of seeing the Princess Sophia, 
 a few days ago, when I introduced the subject 
 of the plateau ; she mentioned this to the Duke 
 of Cambridge, and of course we talked the subject 
 over, and he immediately sent to Bridge and 
 Rundell, to know if the models were in existence, 
 and that he was to take them to him this day : 
 one of the plateaus is his late Majesty on foot, 
 and the other on horseback. I am quite for the 
 latter, in which we agreed, as being the hand- 
 somest. I understand that the whole of the Royal 
 Family are to subscribe with an inscription to beg 
 your acceptance of it, in all their names as a mark 
 of sincere regard and friendship towards you, and 
 to express the high sense of gratitude they all 
 owe you, for your constant kind attentions to the 
 whole of their family. I told him I had heard 
 from you and he was very anxious to see your 
 letter, which I did not show him, and he desired 
 me to bring it with me to Brighton. I therefore 
 wish, my dear friend, you would write a few lines 
 that I may show him, as I know he would be 
 pleased to hear you approved of the Guelph order, 
 but say nothing about the plateau, as perhaps he 
 may mean it as a surprise. . . . 
 
 " God bless you, my dear friend, 
 
 " Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 " Mary. 
 
 " Thursday morning." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 217 
 
 From Mrs. Fitzherbert I find the following 
 letters, both without date, but evidently written 
 in 1827, during the illness of the Duke of 
 York: 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I have made up my mind to go to 
 Brighton on Thursday, provided I am able to do 
 so and that the weather will permit me. I do 
 not like to torment you, but I should be quite 
 unhappy not to see you for a moment before I go. 
 The chief reason of going is that the Pavilion go 
 to town, not to return on the 18th, and I wish 
 to see them, and I shall be thought very un- 
 grateful not to pay my duty, having delayed it 
 so long. If therefore you could any time in 
 the day or evening call, I shall be delighted in 
 person to thank you a thousand times for all 
 your kindness and attention to me, which is 
 deeply impressed upon my heart and mind. For- 
 give my troubling you, and believe me, with great 
 sincerity, 
 
 " Your truly obliged and affectionate 
 
 " M. Fitzherbert. 
 
 " Tilney Street, Tuesday evening." 
 
 "Your letter, my dear Sir Henry, has grieved 
 me to the heart ; the account of the poor duke is 
 sad, very sad. I have long thought his case 
 
218 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 deplorable, but I now begin quite to despair and 
 feel there is no chance of his recovery. Alas! 
 what a loss the country, his family and his friends 
 will sustain. I am sure none will feel or lament it 
 more than I shall. 
 
 " The account of his having gone through the 
 operation was publicly talked of here the day 
 after it took place. I mention this for fear you 
 might suppose I had communicated the contents 
 of your letter, not one syllable of which ever 
 passed my lips. I begin to think there is no such 
 thing as a secret in the world. 
 
 "What shall I say or how can I express my 
 thanks, my gratitude to you for the trouble you 
 have been so kind, so generous as to take with 
 regard to my papers ? You have no idea of the 
 weight of anxiety and uneasiness you have re- 
 moved from my mind, for I don't think I should 
 have had a moment's peace or tranquillity had 
 those papers fallen into the hands of those who 
 on a former occasion made such mischief and so 
 many disagreeable scenes and confusion. I really 
 do not know what I should have done, it would 
 have made me miserable. You are very kind in 
 inquiring after me. The waters certainly have 
 done me a great deal of good, but I am sadly 
 tormented with headaches, partly rheumatism. 
 My head at this moment is so confused, I 
 scarcely know what I am about. 
 
 11 If you should have a moment to spare, and will 
 give me one line to tell me how the duke goes on, 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 219 
 
 you will do me a great favour, for I cannot tell 
 you the anxiety I feel about him. God bless you, 
 my dear and kind friend, for as such I must ever 
 esteem you, and with every good wish to you, 
 
 " Believe me always, 
 
 " Your very sincere and truly grateful 
 
 "M. F." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SIR HENRY HALFORD'S CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 (continued) 
 
 The Duke of Wellington was one of Sir Henry 
 Halford's attached friends. The Countess of 
 Mornington, the duke's mother, had been his 
 patient in 1801 ; the duke's brother, the Marquess 
 Wellesley, in 181 1. The acquaintance thus 
 formed with the marquess soon grew into friend- 
 ship which was nurtured by a similarity of tastes 
 — a love of classical literature and of Latin com- 
 position. The marquess printed for private 
 distribution in 1840 his " Primitiae et Reliquiae," 
 and Sir Henry Halford in 1842 his " Nugae 
 Metricae," and each was warmly interested in the 
 work of the other. A frequent correspondence 
 was maintained between them, and from Lord 
 Wellesley's letters I select the following : 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 221 
 
 "Regent's Park, February \%th, 1830. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " I return the treatise # with many thanks 
 
 for the second perusal of it. It is really a very 
 
 beautiful and interesting composition ; adorned 
 
 with many fair flowers of Grecian, Roman and 
 
 English growth. I perceive no addition except 
 
 CEdipus, with the ' griefless old age ' of Theseus. 
 
 " I ' burn ' is certainly a verbum ardens ; but not 
 
 too ardent for a treatise on the Kavaoq. I hope you 
 
 will choose as good a subject for your next effort. 
 
 " Ever, dear Sir, with sincere respect and esteem, 
 
 " Your faithful and obliged servant, 
 
 " Wellesley. 
 " Sir Henry Halford, Bart." 
 
 "Marble Hill, May 17th, 183 1. 
 
 "My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I am greatly obliged to you, for your very 
 interesting publication, which (although I received 
 it only last night) I have read through with very 
 great pleasure. 
 
 " The English papers are all extremely well 
 written and composed, and highly interesting. 
 1 Tic Douloureux ' throws a new and just light 
 on that most dreadful of all human maladies. 
 'The Test of Insanity' is very ingenious. The 
 two following papers I have seen before, and I 
 admire them greatly ; the latter especially. I am 
 
 * "On the Kava-os of Aretasus." 
 
222 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 not yet quite satisfied with my construction of 
 Triptog aXvTra. I wish you would tell me exactly 
 how you construe that phrase. 
 
 " The two Latin papers are most admirably and 
 beautifully written ; either I do not understand the 
 language, or they are quite equal to any modern 
 Latin extant. The latter of these papers is ex- 
 tremely interesting. 
 
 " I was much pleased with the account of open- 
 ing the coffin of Charles I. ; the head is very well 
 executed ; and the whole narrative is curious, and 
 affords much matter of solemn reflection. 
 
 1 See what a rent the envious Cromwell made ! 
 And as he plucked his cursed steel away 
 Mark how the blood of England followed it.' 
 
 "I was very happy to see Sir Matthew (Tierney), 
 and I have religiously followed his advice and 
 yours. I am recovering slowly from the severity 
 of the influenza ; my other complaint is not 
 worse. 
 
 " Believe me always, dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " Wellesley." 
 
 " Hurlingham, November 14th, 1837. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Many thanks for your very valuable 
 present. I have read the Latin verses again 
 and again with great pleasure. Those on 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 223 
 
 Napoleon are excellent, and the translation from 
 the ' Duenna ' very good, and a proof of great 
 power of Latinity. 
 
 " I shall study the speeches, I have no doubt, 
 with great benefit. Ever with true regard and 
 
 gratitude, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 "Wellesley." 
 
 Another, very different in character, may be 
 added. Madeira was Sir Henry's favourite wine, 
 that which he habitually drank. 
 
 " Kingston House, February 24th, 1840. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I send you some Madeira. Ever since I 
 left India in 1805, a pip e * s sent from the island 
 every year to Bengal, where it remains two years, 
 and then is brought to me. It is usually very 
 fine, and I think this particularly so. 
 
 " If you hear anything of Arthur, pray let me 
 know. 
 
 " Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 " Wellesley." 
 
 The friendship between Lord Wellesley and 
 Sir Henry Halford, doubtless paved the way to 
 the Duke of Wellington becoming the patient 
 and ere long the warm friend of Sir Henry. The 
 duke in ordinary circumstances was attended by 
 
224 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 his domestic physician, Dr. Hume, but on all 
 serious occasions Sir Henry was called into con- 
 sultation. 
 
 The duke was in frequent correspondence with 
 Sir Henry Halford. Among the many letters 
 carefully preserved there are the following : 
 
 "Woodfield, September lZth, 1826. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "When I was at Windsor the king 
 spoke to me about going to town to see the Duke 
 of York, which I rather discouraged, as I thought 
 such a visit at this moment might tend to throw 
 the duke back ; and it was not unlikely to affect 
 the king himself a good deal. 
 
 "After my conversation with H.M., however, 
 I saw the Morning Chronicle, in which there was 
 a paragraph from the Glasgow paper stating the 
 nature of H.R.H.'s disorder and of the remedy 
 which it had been necessary to adopt ; and 
 yesterday morning John Bull explained the whole 
 case to the public. 
 
 " I think now then that it would have an ex- 
 traordinary appearance, and would become the 
 subject of discussion, if the king were not to pay 
 his brother a visit, and I write to you upon the 
 subject in order to request you to decide, whether 
 this visit (which of course must be repeated 
 occasionally as long as H.R.H. remains within 
 reach of the king and is confined to his house) 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 225 
 
 will be injurious to the duke. If you should 
 think it would be so it must not take place. 
 But if you should think that it would not be 
 injurious to the duke you might then suggest to 
 the King to go and see his brother ; or, if you 
 don't like to do so, I will write to his Majesty 
 referring to the opinion which I gave him when I 
 had last the honour of seeing him at Windsor. 
 
 " Pray write me a line in answer to this and 
 send it to my house in London, and tell me how 
 H.R.H. is getting on. 
 
 " Believe me ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 "London, October 29th, 1826. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I return you many thanks for your 
 kindness in writing to me. I have seen your 
 patient [the King], whose appearance I liked very 
 much. He looked better than he has looked for 
 some time, his eyes particularly. But I think he 
 is thin. You have cured him, my dear Sir 
 Henry, and have rendered your country thereby 
 the greatest service, the reflection of which will 
 be some consolation for the pain which you have 
 suffered and the trouble you have taken. 
 
 ' Believe me ever, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
226 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The king's illness was now becoming serious, 
 and the following note has reference to the first 
 bulletin that was made public : 
 
 " London, April 27M, 1830. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I have just received your letter, and I 
 have thought it best to have the bulletin pub- 
 lished. 
 
 " There has been a very general apprehension 
 in respect of the King's health for the last two 
 days, and I am certain that the knowledge of 
 the truth is always the best remedy for such 
 alarms 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 
 11 Ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 The physicians in attendance on the King — the 
 signatories of the bulletins — were about this time 
 severely criticised in the public prints, for the 
 character and, as was said, evasiveness of the 
 language employed in them, and which, it was 
 declared, was calculated, if not intended, to mislead. 
 Sir Henry appealed to the Duke of Wellington 
 for advice under the circumstances and received 
 from him the following note : 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 227 
 
 " London, June loth, 1830. 
 
 " I have received your little note, my dear Sir 
 Henry. You have only to persevere in your 
 own judicious course. Pay no attention to obser- 
 vations from the right or from the left, and you 
 may rely upon it that there is not a good or a 
 judicious man in the country who will not do you 
 justice. 
 
 " Believe me, ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 Among many letters of the most friendly nature 
 from the duke, the following is too interesting to 
 be omitted : 
 
 " Gloucester Lodge, Bagshot Park, 
 January 22>ih, 1834. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " You will have heard of the great 
 honour about to be conferred upon me by the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford ; and, knowing as you do, how 
 little qualified I am to fill the situation to which 
 the favour of the university is about to elevate 
 me, you will readily believe that I did everything 
 in my power to prevail upon that body to select 
 one more worthy ; and you will not be surprised 
 at the request which I am about to make to you. 
 
 " I understand that the vice-chancellor and 
 certain members of the Convocation are to come 
 to my house on some day between the 3rd and 
 
228 LTFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 8th of February, and to announce to me in a 
 Latin oration the honour conferred upon me, and 
 to perform certain ceremonies, to which oration 
 I am to reply in Latin. 
 
 " I might not be at a loss to make a suitable 
 reply in English ; but as I have scarcely written a 
 line of Latin for nearly half a century, I should 
 be greatly at a loss how to reply in Latin, if I did 
 not reckon upon your facility and classical ele- 
 gance in writing that language, and your kindness 
 to me upon all occasions. 
 
 " I request you then to permit me to send to you 
 as soon as I shall receive it, the purport of the 
 oration of the vice-chancellor which is to be sent to 
 me in writing. I will put down in writing likewise 
 what it occurs to me that I ought to say in reply ; 
 and I beg of you to write for me a suitable reply. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry 
 
 " Ever yours most faithfully, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 The duke's draft of his intended speech, and 
 Sir Henry Halford's Latin version of it, are as 
 follows : 
 
 " I was much flattered by the notice taken of 
 me and the honour conferred upon me by the 
 university upon a former occasion ; and you have 
 now filled the measure of your confidence and 
 favour by conferring on me the highest and most 
 honourable office which it is in your power to 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 229 
 
 confer, and which associates me with your useful 
 and honourable labours. 
 
 "It is impossible for me to express my sense 
 of the honour which you have done me. You do 
 me justice in believing that I am sincerely 
 attached to the ancient laws, constitution and 
 policy of this monarchy ; and that I am anxious 
 to maintain a system under the operation of 
 which this country has been raised to the highest 
 pinnacle of prosperity and glory. 
 
 " I am sensible of the arduous nature of the 
 duties of the office which you have conferred 
 upon me, as tersely described by the public 
 orator, and of the difficulties of the times in which 
 we live. But, assisted as I hope to be by the 
 advice of some of you, and the concurrence and 
 assistance of all, I hope to be able to co-operate 
 usefully with you and the other public autho- 
 rities of the university in promoting the objects 
 of your venerable institutions — learning, bonos 
 mores, religion and virtue. 
 
 "It will give me the greatest satisfaction to 
 cultivate an acquaintance with the members of 
 the university." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's Latin version is as 
 follows : 
 
 Insignissime vice-cancellarie, 
 
 Illustrissimi doctores, 
 
 vosque egregii procuratores, 
 
 Quod me, praeclara vestra Universitas Oxon- 
 
230 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 iensis haud indignum judicaverit quern in Can- 
 cellarii locum cooptari vellet, etsi tanto honore 
 magnopere lseter, vereor tamen ut studiorum 
 meorum ratio, in omni psene vitse decursu, me 
 minus idoneum saltern, si non ineptum prorsus 
 huic officio reddiderit. 
 
 Sed me recreat et reficit pristinse vestrum erga 
 me voluntatis recordatio ; neque enim me fallet 
 unquam quanta in illustrium virorum frequentia, 
 quanta in Principum corona, me quoque vestris 
 ordinibus adscribi voluistis honoris causa. 
 
 Vester igitur cum jam fuerim, cumque ad 
 summam Academiae dignitatem vestrum omnium 
 suffrages evocatus sim, quid rebus vestris prseesse 
 morer? Quid vestris institutis atque privilegiis 
 invigilare ? Invigilabo iis seduld, et strenue ea 
 tuebor. 
 
 Vobis sit curse, disciplinas Academicas longo 
 jam usu comprobatas stabilire et confirmare; 
 doctrinam et literas humaniores fovere ; arrectas 
 Juvenum mentes ad virtutem, ad bonos mores, ad 
 religionem, docendo hortandoque, effingere. 
 
 Si quid, in his rebus gerendis, concilia mea 
 possint, qua utinam digna essent opinione vestra, 
 vobis et Universitati me nunquam defuturum 
 spondeo et polliceor. Eandem enim esse mihi 
 mentem et vobis eadem vota de Ecclesia Angli- 
 cana, de auctoritate Regia, de legibus et insti- 
 tutis nostris conservandis et sustinendis, quantum 
 possimus scio. Haec omnia, ut in perpetuum 
 salva sint faxit Deus optimus Maxumus ! ! ! 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 231 
 
 The duke submitted his intended speech to a 
 very competent authority, Lord Westmoreland, 
 who wrote, " I think your speech remarkably 
 good Latin, and, without asking further questions, 
 you may compliment the writer for me." The 
 duke expressed to Lord Westmoreland his hope 
 that nobody would ask him whether he wrote it 
 himself. 
 
 But it was not in England alone that Sir 
 Henry Halford's opinion or aid in Latin compo- 
 sition was evoked. It was so from the sister 
 island, and by no less than the Primate of all 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 "May 21st. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I shall be much obliged to you, if you 
 will cast your eye over the within inscription. It 
 is intended to be engraven on the foundation- 
 stone of the tower of our cathedral at Armagh, 
 and to specify the works undertaken in connection 
 with the tower. We wish to be assured that our 
 Latin is free from faults, before we give it to the 
 
 public. 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 "John G. Armagh." 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Bedford were 
 among Sir Henry Halford's grateful patients 
 and attached friends. His acquaintance with the 
 
232 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 duke began in 1802, when he was called to 
 Woburn to Francis, the fifth duke, who was then 
 in extremis and died the 2nd of March 1802. 
 The first letter I find from the duke is from Dublin 
 Castle, the 25th of July 1806, in reference to the 
 actual condition of the great statesman, Mr. Fox : 
 
 "Phcenix Park, July 2 $th, 1806. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " My mind is full of anxiety on the state 
 of Mr. Fox's health, and I hear such various and 
 contradictory accounts that I cannot be easy till 
 I learn again from you, what your real opinion is ; 
 for some days our reports were very sanguine, 
 since that some of my correspondents give me 
 every reason to fear the worst, whilst others still 
 maintain that he continues gradually to amend. 
 I am persuaded that if there had been any real 
 amendment such as to hold out a fair prospect of 
 recovery I should have heard from you ; at all 
 events let me intreat you to write, as I cannot 
 bear to be in a state of doubt and uncertainty 
 upon such a subject. 
 
 "If the disorder has made such a progress as 
 to increase your fears for his life, and to afford 
 you little or no hope of his valuable days being 
 spared to us, and he remains still unconscious of 
 his danger, I think he should not be suffered to 
 continue so. No one who knows Mr. Fox can 
 doubt his fortitude or resignation, and if he knows 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 233 
 
 his end to be approaching I am sure he will close 
 his life with more satisfaction to himself, by 
 making the remainder of it useful to his country 
 and to those who have unvaryingly considered him 
 as the firmest support of her interests and her 
 happiness, 
 
 " Mr. Fox is under no circumstances to be 
 looked upon as an ordinary man. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, with very sincere regard, 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Bedford." 
 
 The next letters are of condolence, on the 
 death of Lady Halford : 
 
 " Endsleigh, Friday. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " However much the mind may be pre- 
 pared for a melancholy event, still the certainty of 
 its having taken place must always be deeply 
 felt. You will therefore excuse my troubling 
 you with a few lines to express that no one ought 
 to feel more sincerely anything that gives you 
 pain than myself, who so often have been indebted 
 to you for the most affectionate attentions, and 
 that as a grateful friend I venture to write to you 
 at this moment, which I hope you will not con- 
 sider as an intrusion. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " Georgina Bedford." 
 
234 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Endsleigh, June 22nd, 1833. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I cannot suffer the expression of the 
 duchess's feelings to go to you under my cover, 
 without adding from an old friend, how sincerely 
 I condole with you in the afflicting loss you have 
 sustained. Your own well-regulated and religious 
 mind will best teach you how to bear this loss. 
 
 " I have read the little volume you were good 
 enough to give me on leaving London with 
 infinite delight, and in such a moment the senti- 
 ments it breathes cannot fail to be a great consola- 
 tion to you ; they do equal honour to your head 
 and heart, and although I have not the presump- 
 tion to say I am a wiser man after I have read 
 these essays, I feel that I am a better man. I can 
 bear ample testimony to the truth of your opinions 
 from the melancholy experience of my first 
 acquaintance with you in 1802. You did not 
 deceive me on that occasion, and told me what 
 I was to expect. When my last hour comes (and 
 it cannot be long delayed) I trust not to be 
 deprived of the consolation of seeing you by my 
 bedside, when I am sure you will administer to me 
 every comfort and every relief, both as a physician 
 and a friend. 
 
 " God bless you, my dear Sir Henry, and may 
 He in his infinite mercy long preserve you ! 
 "Truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 " Bedford." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 235 
 
 "Woburn Abbey, March 29//;, 1837. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I thank you very sincerely for your 
 kind attention. I am used to such acts of kind- 
 ness and good feeling from you. Lord B. was an 
 excellent, kind-hearted and religious man. Poor 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert too ! I had known her well for 
 more than fifty years. She too had a feeling and 
 an excellent heart. 
 
 " Always, my dear Sir Henry, with sincere 
 regard and esteem, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Bedford." 
 
 "Woburn Abbey, October 23rd, 1837. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Your kind and friendly letter has 
 met me here on my return from the north. I 
 shall make a point of being in Belgrave Square 
 on Sunday the 29th, unless you will kindly pro- 
 mise to make this your inn on your road to town, 
 and pass one day comfortably with me here. If 
 you can promise me this, I will postpone going to 
 London till the week following. At all events we 
 shall not start to the continent before the second 
 week in November. 
 
 " Believe me always, with the truest regard and 
 attachment, 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " Bedford." 
 
236 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Woburn Abbey, Wednesday morning. 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry Halford, 
 
 " I am delighted at the thought of seeing 
 you here, and of showing you what a good M. D. 
 I am ; for the duke has not had one half-hour's 
 illness since we returned to Woburn ; his strength 
 is greatly improved ; but my chief and grand 
 work has been to convince his mind that he is 
 not so ill as at times he thinks, when some indis- 
 cretion at table has disordered his stomach. These 
 observations are a complete digression from the 
 design of this note, which is to assure you that we 
 shall be most happy to receive Miss Vaughan 
 with you. Should the day (Friday, 27th) be fine, 
 and that you arrive early, I will take care that 
 you shall both have the means of seeing the 
 gardens, &c. &c, here. 
 
 " Believe me, with a grateful remembrance of 
 thirty-four years' attention and kindness received 
 upon all occasions, from you, my dear Sir 
 Henry, 
 
 " Your sincere and obliged, 
 
 " Georgina Bedford." 
 
 " Oakley, October 29/^, 1837. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I cannot sufficiently thank you for 
 your kind and friendly visit to Woburn, but 
 whilst I have a grateful remembrance of what 
 is so pleasing to my own feelings, I must not 
 forget the sound professional advice of the 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 237 
 
 physician, which I shall endeavour to follow to 
 the utmost of my power, as long as it may please 
 God to spare my life. I am always yours very 
 sincerely, and thirty-five years' friendship allows 
 me to add affectionately, 
 
 " Bedford." 
 
 The Duke of Rutland (John Henry, the fifth 
 duke) was among Sir Henry's warmest and 
 fastest friends, and they were often at each other's 
 houses. A similarity of taste and feeling had 
 created and cemented a union between them 
 which only terminated in the death of Sir Henry 
 Halford. The following is an extract from a 
 letter of the duke, dated Belvoir Castle, the 26th 
 of November 1826 : 
 
 " I am truly anxious to hear of the state of 
 health in which the King finds himself after all 
 the fatigues of the last week. I do not despair 
 of hearing that he thrives on his work and that he 
 is all the better for it. I had a letter from him- 
 self on Friday, in which he mentions in terms of 
 the warmest gratitude his sense of the consum- 
 mate skill and the unwearied and incessant atten- 
 tion and care which you, my dear Sir Henry, have 
 evinced towards him in the treatment of his arduous 
 case. I know it will be satisfactory to you to be 
 aware that the pains you have taken are duly 
 
238 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 appreciated. They are truly appreciated also by 
 a grateful nation. 
 
 " Ever, my dear friend, 
 11 Your most sincere and affectionate friend, 
 
 " Rutland." 
 
 " A thousand thanks, dear Sir Henry, for the 
 manner in which you have resumed our corre- 
 spondence. I can put my hand on my heart and 
 say that no correspondence in which I was ever 
 engaged has given me more satisfaction, no 
 friendship has given more happiness than yours, 
 and I hail the renewal of the former (for the 
 latter never can require renewing), especially 
 
 under such auspices I wrote yesterday to 
 
 Lord Conyngham to inquire after our gracious 
 sovereign. I rejoice most truly to learn on your 
 authority that he was better yesterday. When- 
 ever you have an opportunity of laying before 
 his Majesty the assurance of my unvarying 
 fidelity and attachment you will greatly oblige, 
 " My dear friend, 
 
 " Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " Rutland. 
 
 "Belvoir Castle, Jannary xoth, 1828." 
 
 The following letter has reference to the sudden 
 death of Sir Henry Halford's youngest brother, 
 the Rev. Edward Vaughan, vicar of St. Martin's, 
 Leicester, whom the duke had met at Wistow but 
 a few days before. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 239 
 
 " October 2nd, 1829. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " It is impossible that I can disobey the 
 impulse of my feelings, and I write to say, that 
 after all the instances of sympathetic kindness 
 which I have experienced from you, it would be 
 extraordinary indeed if I did not participate in all 
 that concerns you, whether it be evil or good. 
 
 " I deeply lament to find realised the melan- 
 choly anticipations which you had formed of the 
 result of your poor brother's illness. He was a 
 man of distinguished science in many points of 
 view, of great importance as a public man, and to 
 his family his life was of the most unutterable 
 consequence. Poor man ! who would have 
 thought on hearing him read prayers on the 
 nth of September (three weeks since this very 
 day) that his valuable life was marked for so 
 early a termination. Scarce a day passes but we 
 see around us that which ought to impress us 
 solemnly and seriously with the fleeting nature 
 of our existence. I will not intrude longer upon 
 you, my sole motive in doing so now being to 
 assure you of the deep sympathy and affectionate 
 interest of, 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours ever most faithfully, 
 
 "Rutland." 
 
 The next letter is on a like subject, the death 
 of Sir Henry's brother, Mr. Justice Vaughan : 
 
240 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 "Belvoir Castle, September 29//*, 1839. 
 
 " My dear good Friend, 
 
 1 ■ Can it be that the affliction which I see 
 mentioned in a provincial paper has come upon 
 you and your family, and that your excellent and 
 talented brother, the Chief (sic) Justice, has been 
 called away ? If I had not known him as I did, 
 and during so long a period of years, my grief on 
 your account and of that of your family would 
 have been most keen. But I have sincerely to 
 grieve on his account also, from the knowledge 
 which I have so long had of his manifold virtues 
 and great excellences. These and your own 
 religious mind will find for you the consolation 
 which can be derived from no other source. I 
 deeply, truly sympathise with you, and I am, in 
 sorrow or in joy, a constant participator in your 
 feelings, and am, 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " Rutland." 
 
 "Belvoir Castle, September i^t/i, 1840. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Though I have so often troubled you 
 lately, I must give a few lines additional to say 
 with how much gratification I have read your 
 beautiful inscription proposed for the queen's 
 equestrian statue. It is a rare talent, and one to 
 be envied, which enables you to render doubly 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 241 
 
 perfect and interesting such works as the eques- 
 trian statue of the queen and the duke. 
 
 " I see that you make our Anne unrivalled (as 
 she was) both in peace and war. But she had a 
 powerful assistant for the latter in Marlborough ; 
 and mentally I could wish that the ' Dux tuus ' of 
 your last line applied to our hero of Waterloo. I 
 rejoice to hear from Lord Bute, who is at Walmer 
 Castle, that the duke is uncommonly well. 
 
 " The prolongation of your poor royal patient's 
 suffering (the Princess Augusta), if the final re- 
 sult is no longer doubtful, is questionable as to its 
 desirableness. I never remember a more anxious 
 and harassing case. 
 
 " Pray believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 " Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 " Rutland." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had been long the medical 
 adviser of Sir Robert Peel, and was on terms of 
 most friendly intercourse with him and Lady 
 Peel. Among his letters are the following : 
 
 " Drayton Manor, February xst. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I return, in compliance with your wish, 
 your very successful translation of the lines from 
 Pope. The last line of Pope is so beautiful and 
 expressive, that I wish it could be the conclusion 
 of the Latin version, particularly as you have the 
 ' lethali transfixus vulnere ' in a former line. 
 
242 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 The blood oozing out drop by drop and the faint 
 groan are very true to nature. Considering that 
 the stag is dying, would not some epithet be pre- 
 ferable to 'tuta' as an appendix to 'abdita.' 
 
 " I shall hope to have the pleasure of keeping 
 my engagement for half-past six, Monday. I 
 will leave Middleton (Lord Jersey's) in time in 
 the morning to enable me to partake of the 
 double feast you have kindly proposed to me. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Robert Peel." 
 
 Sir Henry accepts his friend's suggestion, and 
 
 the lines, as altered, are as follow : 
 
 " Sic modb lethali transfixus arundine cervus 
 Sylvarum latebras, et loca tecta petit : 
 Ille inter gemitus miser et suspiria, tarda 
 Guttatim effuso sanguine morte perit." * 
 
 The following friendly letter from the same 
 distinguished source may be added : 
 
 "Drayton Manor, August igth. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " We rejoice to hear of your return, partly 
 from the selfish hope that we can prevail on you 
 
 * I add, for facility of comparison, Pope's original : 
 " So the struck deer in some sequester'd part 
 Lies down to die — the arrow at his heart ; 
 He stretch'd unseen, in coverts hid from day, 
 Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 243 
 
 again to order your horses for a morning s drive 
 (for remember, it is no more), and repeat your visit 
 to Drayton Manor. In the words of one of the 
 worst lines in Ovid, 
 
 ' Nil mihi rescribas attamen ipse veni.' 
 
 " I shall, however, be entirely reconciled to the 
 line — even to the ' attamen ' — if you will accede to 
 the prayer it conveys, and make your appearance 
 here without the delay even of previous notice. 
 Your bed will be ready, and you cannot doubt of 
 the hearty welcome with which you will be 
 received. 
 
 " Sir James Scarlett left us yesterday morning, 
 having slept here on his way from Gloucester to 
 Lancaster, with his head, and his pockets too, full 
 of special retainers. He passed through Chelten- 
 ham, but at too early an hour to call on the Duke 
 of Gloucester. 
 
 " I am desired by Lady Peel to send you her 
 kindest regards, and to tell you that her sister 
 Lady Fuller is here, and that if you will come 
 before Monday next (when the Fullers probably 
 leave us) you will be received with general re- 
 joicing. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Robert Peel." 
 
 The following letters are from an accomplished 
 patient and friend, the Hon. General Phipps : 
 
244 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 "Mount Street, Saturday mornings July \\th, 1832. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I hasten to thank you for the very 
 interesting book you have had the kindness to 
 send me, and which I found on my breakfast- 
 table this morning. I have dipped into it, and 
 met with your eulogy on the late Dr. Warren, 
 which is much more applicable to yourself : 
 ' Tantam denique morum comitatem et facili- 
 tatem (habes) ut nemo (te) semel usus esset 
 medico, quin socium voluerit et amicum.' I can 
 bear testimony to the justness of the application. 
 
 "Your account of what appeared on opening 
 the coffin of King Charles the First I was par- 
 ticularly desirous of having, and am glad to find 
 it in the work I have before me, for which I beg 
 to repeat my thanks. I have the honour to be, 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " Edm. Phipps." 
 
 "Mount Street, April 14th, 1835. 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I deferred writing to thank you for the 
 book you were so good as to favour me with until 
 I had read it, that I might tell you how much I 
 like it. I am delighted with it, and was pleased 
 to see your defence of Cardinal Wolsey, whom all 
 good scholars should defend for the service he 
 rendered to literature. You are ' a Griffith ' to 
 him, and those who read what you have written 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 245 
 
 of the Cardinal will be as much affected by it as 
 Queen Katherine was by what Griffith said of 
 him. 
 
 " What you say of Edward the Sixth was 
 exemplified in a brother of mine, I have been 
 told, who died when I was too young to know 
 him. Your concluding sentence upon this 
 subject reminds me of what Velleius Paterculus 
 said of Servilia, ' Lepidi uxor quae prematuram 
 mortem immortali nominis sui pensavit me- 
 moria.' 
 
 "You have shown up Bishop Burnet in his 
 proper colours, bigoted and illiberal ; the tenets 
 of the Protestant Church which he professed 
 should have taught him more justice, liberality 
 and Christian charity. He was too dogmatical 
 upon the case of Queen Mary, a subject he did 
 not understand, in his censure of Dr. Radcliffe, a 
 physician of the highest reputation. The bishop 
 by over-zeal does injustice to himself, who pos- 
 sessed much learning and piety. 
 
 " You have acted kindly by Dean Swift in 
 showing that he was censured for what was his 
 misfortune, not his fault ; as Churchill says, 
 ' and find that nature's errors are my own.' I 
 hope when the dinners at Lambeth are renewed 
 we shall meet there and sit together again. 
 
 ' Hie dies vere mihi festus atras 
 Eximet curas,' 
 
 which O'Connell causes, since our Caesar Peel has 
 
246 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 been obliged to yield to him. I hope, however, 
 it will be only a retreat, not a defeat. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, with the 
 greatest regard, 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 "E. Phipps." 
 
 "Mount Street, August igt/i, 1835. 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I hear you were to return to town 
 yesterday, which I am glad of, as there is no 
 doing without you. About a month ago I had a 
 bilious attack, and knowing you were out of town 
 I sent to Dr. Hume in your neighbourhood, and 
 he, as if you had dropped ' your mantle ' on him; 
 made me well in two days. I had another attack 
 since, when he also was out of town. I then had 
 recourse to my old friend, Baume de Vie, which 
 also made me soon well. 
 
 " I should not have troubled you with this 
 detail had I not wished for an excuse to write and 
 tell you I found on looking over some old family 
 papers a copy of verses in my father's hand- 
 writing, describing the merits of the eminent 
 physicians of his day ; and as it appeared to 
 me that all their merits are combined in you, I 
 altered them so as to apply to you, and beg to 
 present them as an offering to my ' Magnus 
 
 Apollo.' 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " E. Phipps." 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 247 
 
 To Sir Henry Halford, Bart, M.D., G.C.H., &c. &c. 
 
 " Halford, well skilled in medicine, imparts 
 His healing aid, and captivates our hearts, 
 His gentle manners, science, and address 
 Render our fancied ills and real less. 
 
 * * * * •it- 
 
 Curious yet cautious, daring yet discreet, 
 None for the chair of president so meet, 
 As he who now in practice takes the lead 
 As erst did Radcliffe, Arbuthnot and Mead. 
 
 August 1835." 
 
 In the following letter from Lord Grosvenor, 
 there is a graceful recognition of Sir Henry 
 Halford's classical attainments: 
 
 " Motcombe House, Shaftesbury, 
 August 14th, 1839. 
 
 11 My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "Your great kindness in sending me the 
 graceful translation of the beautiful lines of Gold- 
 smith has not received a fitting acknowledgment, 
 but it is not that it has fallen into ungrateful 
 hands. When you were so kind as to repeat them 
 to me I did not venture to ask for a copy, but 
 now that I have been so fortunate as to obtain it, 
 I have made to me a very important use of it, not 
 only by putting it into my children's hands to 
 learn, but also by laying before them the bright 
 example of the exalted species of relaxation 
 resorted to by one who has been subjected to the 
 
248 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 daily and nightly harass of a laborious profession, 
 entering at the same time with interest into the 
 refinements of social life. 
 
 " From your long intimacy with my poor 
 mother-in-law, the late Duchess of Sutherland, I 
 think you will read with some interest the lines 
 which accompany this ; from the reference made 
 in them to her and from their having, I think, 
 merit as a composition. You will run over 
 them too with pleasure as the production of my 
 brother-in-law, and from the just tribute they pay 
 to the kind and amiable man whose loss they 
 deplore. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, with best 
 remembrances from Lady Grosvenor, 
 " Most sincerely yours, 
 
 " Grosvenor." 
 
 The following from his friend Colonel Grosvenor, 
 another member of the same family, is amusing : 
 
 " Upper Hall Park. 
 "My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I am still basking in the sunshine that 
 always irradiates you. 
 
 " It was a most pleasant circumstance the meet- 
 ing you at our friend the duke's. A glimpse of 
 the sun is better than nothing. I could have 
 wished it could have shone with a full refulgence 
 for four-and-twenty hours on my little domain. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 249 
 
 How time slips away ! I may say it is a slippery 
 age, or rather that our age is of a sliding nature. 
 
 " I cannot guess with any certainty what year 
 it was when I passed three or four days so 
 pleasantly and agreeably under your hospitable 
 roof in Leicestershire. I came not alone, as you 
 remember. But I will say no more on that head. 
 You know what I might say. 
 
 " But, thank God, my stars have been lucky 
 stars. And to go back to the ' Orb of Day,' if 
 you, Sir Henry, ever bless us with your sunshine 
 on this little spot of my own creation you will 
 find in a second mate of mine a heart and disposi- 
 tion to appreciate your virtues and the kindly 
 feeling and friendship that has so long characterised 
 our acquaintance. 
 
 " I have ordered my groom to parade before 
 you the chestnut filly foal (by Vanish) which I 
 mentioned to you this morning. She will be in 
 the duke's courtyard when you get into your 
 chaise. If you are disposed to pay me the 
 compliment of accepting her, you will be doing 
 me a pleasure, and it will be a kind of link of 
 adhesion in the long chain of my regard towards 
 
 you. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 " Ever most truly and attached, yours, 
 
 " T. Grosvenor." 
 
 In the following, from Lord Holland, there is a 
 pleasing testimony to the worth of the Duke of 
 
250 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 York, which, coming from a political opponent, 
 is the more valuable. 
 
 " Dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I congratulate you from my heart on the 
 amendment of the Duke of York so much beyond 
 expectation, and I hope there is now a reasonable 
 hope of recovery. There never was a more 
 sincere and general wish for the recovery of one 
 of his rank, in all parties, and full as strong 
 among those who differ, as among those who agree 
 with him in politics — a gratifying and a just reward 
 this — for there never was a man who kept more 
 religiously the fair distinction between political 
 distinction and personal enmity than he has always 
 done, and I now hope will long continue to do. 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 "Vassall Holland." 
 
 In a postscript he adds : 
 
 " The Duke of Bedford is wonderfully well — 
 another of your miracles. You outdo all the 
 Hohenlohes in the world." 
 
 The following is from the Duke of Dorset : 
 
 " Drayton House, 
 Friday^ September 2$rd, 1831. 
 
 "My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " I beg to assure you that nothing 
 would have given me greater pleasure than 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 251 
 
 paying my respects to you at Wistow, and having 
 the opportunity of expressing my thanks to you 
 personally for your very great kindness to us all. 
 My poor brother has suffered much (as you well 
 know) and his spirits were of course affected by 
 the prospect of still greater inflictions. I wish 
 you could have witnessed (for I am sure it would 
 have gratified you) the sudden effect produced by 
 your answer to Mr. Leete's letter on Saturday 
 last. The implicit confidence my brother felt in 
 your opinion restored his mind to tranquillity 
 instantaneously, and from that moment his 
 amendment has been progressive. To express 
 my gratitude towards you would be impossible, 
 but I am sure you will give me credit for appre- 
 ciating your kindness as it so well deserves. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, with sincere 
 regard, 
 
 " Most truly and gratefully yours, 
 
 " Dorset." 
 
 The two following letters from the Duke of 
 Cleveland are of or about this date. The first 
 of them "enclosed a draft for ^500 for a journey 
 to Newton House, near Bedale, Yorkshire, 224 
 miles from London." 
 
 " Newton House, Saturday night." 
 
 " My dear Friend, 
 
 " No trifling pecuniary remembrance 
 
252 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 can at all satisfy the obligation that I feel due to 
 you for your prompt and gratifying attention to 
 the wishes of Lady C. and myself, which I shall 
 ever hold in most grateful recollection. 
 
 " Should the enclosed be inadequate to the 
 many losses you may sustain by absence, scruple 
 not to name it to me and impute it to my 
 ignorance. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cleveland. 
 
 " Newton House, December $th, Friday. 
 
 " My dear Sir Henry, 
 
 "lam doubly gratified by the receipt of 
 your very kind letter this morning, first because 
 you were relieved on your arrival from your 
 anxiety, and secondly that you had not personally 
 suffered from the rapidity of your long journey 
 and your successful exertions in administering 
 benefit and comfort to myself and Lady Cleve- 
 land, which you succeeded in doing to the 
 greatest extent, and which merited more than any 
 token I could offer of my gratification. 
 
 " I have been on horseback three days, but have 
 had resolution not to hunt till Monday next. I 
 have no remains of illness (although all the news- 
 papers have killed me) except weakness in my 
 instep and soles of my feet. 
 
 " I was truly rejoiced at the good account you 
 gave me of his Majesty, and much flattered by 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 253 
 
 his notice of me. Lady Cleveland charges me to 
 offer you her kindest wishes. 
 
 11 Believe me, my dear Sir Henry, 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " Cleveland." 
 
 The following letter of the elder D'Israeli to 
 his friend and physician, Dr. Gordon of Finsbury 
 Square, is interesting, and the more so as Mr. 
 D'Israeli was thought to be reserved and scrupu- 
 lous in his award of praise to any one. The 
 letter has reference to the inquiries which Sir 
 Henry Halford was making in preparation of 
 his essay, " On the Deaths of some Eminent 
 Persons of Modern Times " : 
 
 "Bradenham House, West Wycombe, 
 October ist, 1836. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 "Of Dr. Bate's 'History of the last 
 sickness of the Protector,' I do not immediately 
 recollect any other than what appears in this 
 physician's narrative of the troubles in England 
 published in Latin under the title of ' Elenchus 
 Motuum Nuperorum in Anglia, &c.' In the 
 second part will be found some account of the 
 Protector's malady, and the opening of the body. 
 Whether the particulars there given will prove 
 satisfactory, it is not for me to judge. 
 
254 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 " Let me further observe that there are several 
 editions of this work. I imagine that the best 
 is that of 1663, 8vo. I do not consider the book 
 rare. 
 
 " I do not recollect that Dr. Bate's account of 
 ' the last sickness of Cromwell ' was ever sepa- 
 rately published ; and I conclude that we have no 
 other than what may be found in his history. I 
 am surprised that Sir Henry Ellis should not 
 have readily reminded Sir Henry Halford of 
 Bate's volume as the most likely to contain the 
 desired information, conversant as both these 
 gentlemen are with the history of that interest- 
 ing period, 
 
 "It was rumoured at the time that the Pro- 
 tector had been poisoned. Whitelock has chron- 
 icled it, and the friends of Dr. Bate humoured 
 the report, insinuating that this political stroke, 
 the stroke of death, came from the assassinating 
 hand of the physician ! — anything served to re- 
 commend the principal physician of Cromwell to 
 the same station under the new sovereign ; and 
 the doctor seemed equally skilled in administering 
 his strong doses to his Highness the Protector, or 
 his sacred Majesty. 
 
 " I am highly gratified to learn that my com- 
 mentaries on the reign of Charles the First are 
 honoured with the approbation of so competent a 
 judge as Sir Henry Halford ; the commendation 
 of such men is the only reward of my labours that 
 I value. 
 
CORRESPONDENTS 255 
 
 " Sir Henry Halford indeed has a particular 
 claim on my attention. I have long been de- 
 lighted by his beautiful discourses. Unlike the 
 vague and generalising philosophers of this day, 
 he builds on the firm foundation of collected facts 
 and deduces from his demonstrations, with much 
 refined taste, so many novel truths. 
 
 " Believe me, with regards, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " I. D'Israeli. 
 "Dr. J. A. Gordon." 
 
 The following letter will interest my medical 
 readers. It is from Sir Henry Halford to Sir 
 Charles (then Mr.) Bell, in acknowledgment of a 
 copy of his celebrated paper on the nerves, 
 which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions 
 of 182 1 : 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " I found your paper on my table when I 
 returned to town on Friday evening, and, having 
 read it carefully, I thank you for it with more 
 than usual earnestness. 
 
 "You have opened a field of knowledge to the 
 profession at large, and of fame to yourself, I 
 trust, from whence the fullest harvest must be 
 gathered. Go on, and prosecute the discovery 
 which you have made throughout the whole 
 system of nerves, and I am sure the profession at 
 
256 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 large will owe you a great debt. Let me assure 
 you of my sense of the value of your labours, and 
 depend upon me for availing myself of every 
 occasion of expressing and manifesting it. 
 " I am, with great regard, yours, 
 
 " My dear Sir, truly, 
 "Henry Halford. 
 " Curzon Street, November tfh^ 1821." 
 
 Sir Henry was a warm admirer of Sir Charles 
 Bell, and fully appreciated his labours and dis- 
 coveries in the anatomy and physiology of the 
 nerves. It was Sir Henry Halford who wrote 
 the inscription engraved on the piece of silver 
 plate presented to Sir Charles Bell, by his friends 
 and admirers, in 1836, when he finally left 
 London for Edinburgh. 
 
EN U Y HALF@H 0, 1 
 
 ^2 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 HIS CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 
 
 Sir Henry Halford was below the middle stature. 
 He was of sanguine temperament, light complexion 
 and had blue eyes, with a kind and intelligent 
 expression of countenance and pleasing, polished 
 manners. His hair, until it turned white, was 
 powdered, his whiskers small, and he was close 
 shaved to a level with the ears. He wore a deep 
 white cravat and a full-frilled shirt. His outer 
 attire was entirely of black ; a dress-coat buttoned 
 high across the breast, a black waistcoat, and 
 breeches, fastened at the knee with a buckle ; 
 black silk stockings, and shoes either tied with 
 ribbon or fastened with a silver buckle. Towards 
 the end of his life he wore black trousers. This, 
 or something akin to it, was the correct dress of 
 a physician at the end of the last and the begin- 
 ning of the present century. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's portrait, by Sir Thomas 
 
 R 
 
258 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Lawrence, is at Wistow. It was engraved by 
 C. Turner, A.R.A. There is a good likeness of 
 him in 1837, drawn by H. Room for Pettigrew's 
 Medical Portrait Gallery, and engraved by 
 Cochran. His bust by Chan trey, in 1825, is in 
 the Censor's Room of the College of Physicians. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had been gifted with a clear 
 perception, a sound judgment and a retentive 
 ready memory. He saw his object at once, and 
 with intuitive sagacity saw it clearly and in its 
 true relations. He had too, in a very marked 
 degree, the power of fixing his attention on the 
 subject before him, to the exclusion of other 
 thought, or of distractions of any kind, and he 
 habitually cultivated this faculty in all circum- 
 stances. Nothing is more important than this habit 
 of fixed attention. It is only acquired at an early 
 period of life, when habits are most easily estab- 
 lished, and Sir Henry is said to have been noted for 
 it even as a boy at Rugby. These qualities of mind 
 had been disciplined and improved by his educa- 
 tion at a public school, and by the complete course 
 of studies he went through at Oxford. 
 
 His tendency in all things was to the practical 
 and useful, not to the speculative or theoretical ; 
 a fact which comes out strongly in his notes of 
 the lectures he attended at Edinburgh. 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 259 
 
 Soon after Sir Henry settled in London he 
 became known to the first Dr. Warren, then the 
 leading and most popular physician in town. 
 There was something very similar in their 
 respective characters, and they would seem to 
 have taken mutually to one another. Dr. Warren 
 predicted that his young friend would rise to the 
 head of his profession ; and Sir Henry always 
 spoke of Dr. Warren as the nearest approach he 
 had met with, to that ideal of a perfect physician 
 which he had formed in his own mind. He took 
 Dr. Warren for his own model, and fashioned 
 himself as nearly as he could to that distinguished 
 physician. How well he succeeded is evident 
 from this, that had he, twenty years later on, 
 when at the zenith of his own reputation, been 
 called on to portray himself and his own profes- 
 sional characteristics, he could not have done it 
 better than in the very words he used in his 
 Harveian oration of 1800, to set forth the character 
 and excellences of his prototype, Dr. Warren. I 
 give in a note this sketch of Dr. Warren.* Its 
 applicability to himself, will be evident as we 
 proceed. 
 
 * " Ecquis erat unquam scientia morborum locupletatus 
 magis, vel magis curatione exercitatus ; ecquis erat unquam qui 
 suavi ilia sermonis et morum humanitate, quae in ipso 
 
260 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Sir Henry Halford, like his prototype, was essen- 
 tially a practical bedside physician — an accurate 
 and judicious observer, who knew what remedies 
 can and what they cannot accomplish. He had a 
 wide and accurate knowledge of the action and 
 
 remediorum loco haberi potest, ecquis erat unquam qui 
 Warrenum superabat ? Erat illi ingenii vis maxuma, perceptio 
 et comprehensio celerrima, judicium acre, memoria perceptorum 
 tenacissima. Meministis, Socii, quam subtiliter, et uno quasi 
 intuitu res omnes segrotantium perspiceret penitus et intelligeret ! 
 in interrogando quam aptus esset et opportunus, quam promptus 
 in expediendo ! Omnia etenim artis subsidia statim illi in 
 mentem veniebant, et nihil ei novum, nihil inauditum vide- 
 batur. In ea autem facultate qua consolamur afRictos, et 
 deducimus perterritos a timore, qua languidos incitamus et 
 erigimus depressos, omnium Medicorum facile princeps fuit ; 
 et si qui medicamentis non cessissent dolores, permulcebat eos, 
 et consopiebat hortationibus et alloquio. 
 
 ' stetit urna paulum 
 Sicca, dum grato Danai puellas 
 Carmine mulcet.' 
 
 Verum ea est quodammodo artis nostrae conditio, ut Medicus, 
 quamvis sit eruditus, quamvis sit acer et acutus in cogitando, 
 quam vis sit ad praacipiendum expeditus, si fuerit idem in 
 moribus ac voluntatibus civium suorum hospes, parum ei 
 proderit oleum operamque inter calamos et scrinia consump- 
 sisse. Warrenus autem in omni vitas et studiorum decursu, si 
 quis unquam alius, Pallade dextra usus est, atque omnium 
 quibuscum rem agebat mentes sensusque gustavit; et quid 
 sentirent, quid vellent, quid opdnarentur, quid exspectarent 
 arripuit, percepit, novit. Tantum denique morum comitatem 
 et facilitatern habuit, ut nemo eo semel usus esset Medico, 
 quin socium voluerit et amicum." (Oratio ex Harveii Instituto, 
 habita die Octob. xviii. Anno mdccc.) 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 261 
 
 powers of drugs and of the other appliances of 
 his art, and employed them with a confidence and 
 success which afforded full proof of his sagacity 
 and their correctness. Much of his knowledge on 
 these points he would seem to have derived from 
 his father. 
 
 He had great confidence in the power of nature 
 to cure disease — in the vis medicatrix natures — 
 and held that nature, although powerful, was 
 obsequious and might be aided in her efforts or 
 thwarted by the physician. Like all wise phy- 
 sicians he treated the vis medicatrix, as the 
 sunflower does the sun — he followed it until it 
 became invisible. 
 
 Sir Henry was keenly alive to the influence of 
 mind upon the body and its diseases, especially so 
 to the power of hope in aiding, and of fear in 
 opposing, nature's most salutary efforts. 
 
 " Our greatest good and what we least can spare 
 Is hope : the last of all our evils, fear." 
 
 All the depressing passions of the mind are in- 
 jurious to disease. By disturbing the curative efforts 
 of nature, they interfere with the normal course of 
 disease, and they weaken or neutralise the oper- 
 ations of the vis medicatrix. Grief, anxiety and 
 care were, in Sir Henry Halford's experience, only 
 
262 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 second to fear in their baneful influence on bodily 
 disease, and on the recuperative powers innate in 
 the human frame, and they received from him an 
 equal amount of consideration in his treatment 
 and care of the sick. 
 
 Confidence in the physician is said to be half 
 the cure,* because it keeps up hope and lends to 
 the body the support of the mind. But when 
 despair co-operates with the disease, they react 
 upon one another, and a curable complaint is 
 converted into a mortal one. The expectation oi 
 the event has here a share in producing it, for a 
 slight shock completes the destruction of energies 
 already prostrate. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford is said to have ministered 
 to symptoms rather than to the disease, of which 
 symptoms are the consequence and the exponent. 
 But an examination of his case-books and pre- 
 scriptions, of which there are many at Wistow, 
 satisfies me that he did so only, in as far as was 
 compatible with a due consideration and treatment 
 of the disease itself. We all do so more or less, 
 and rightly, for the comfort of our patients ; but 
 Sir Henry did it more freely, and it must be con- 
 ceded more effectually, than many of his contem- 
 
 * "Plus interdum prodesse fiduciam in Medicum quam 
 ipsam medicinam." — Avicenna. 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 263 
 
 poraries. He had fully realised that disease runs 
 a definite course, which cannot be advantageously 
 altered. It may be too, that he did not wholly 
 dissent from the Spanish Benedictine, Feijoo, that 
 " medicine can seldom do more than remedy the 
 symptoms or effects of the disease, but the essence 
 of it remains unmoved till nature alone overcomes 
 it." * 
 
 Sir Henry was solicitous in all cases to allay or 
 ease pain, to ensure rest and a due amount of 
 sleep at night, and to maintain the appetite for 
 food, and support the power and functions of the 
 stomach. These objects he kept steadily in view, 
 and wisely so, as those who have had extensive 
 experience in private practice will be the first to 
 admit. It was owing probably to his marked 
 attention to these three circumstances, and his 
 rule in all cases of ministering to them such aid 
 as medicines could supply, that the charge against 
 him of prescribing for mere symptoms originated. 
 I have stated before and now repeat, that he did 
 it as complementary to, and not in place of, active 
 and efficient treatment of the disease itself. But 
 here I would make the remark that the older the 
 physician and the larger his experience, the more 
 
 * " On the Uncertainties in the Practice of Physick." i2mo, 
 London, 1751, p. 4- 
 
264. LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 does he prescribe for symptoms. Such is my own 
 individual tendency, as it is of contemporaries of 
 my own age and experience, in the actual practice 
 of physic. 
 
 Sir Henry is reported to have had a remedy, 
 and for the most part a temporarily efficient one, 
 for most of the pains and other sufferings to 
 which man is subject, and he administered them 
 with a success which impressed his patients with 
 surprise and gratitude. Unfortunately, and to 
 the loss of the art of medicine, the knowledge of 
 many of these has perished with him. They 
 were not recorded as they should have been in his 
 lifetime, or when still fresh in the recollection of 
 his contemporaries, and it is now too late to 
 recover them. 
 
 He was by nature sanguine, and was hopeful 
 under almost all circumstances. It was a prin- 
 ciple with him, to take the most favourable view 
 he could truthfully and honestly do of the disease 
 and condition of his patient, and he had the 
 faculty in a somewhat remarkable degree of 
 imparting the like feeling to others, and particu- 
 larly to the patient himself. 
 
 He had too an innate shrinking from bodily 
 pain and from grief or suffering of any kind, and 
 he spared nothing in his efforts to remove or 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 265 
 
 assuage them. His solicitude for his patients, 
 and his oft-avowed principle of interposing him- 
 self between the sufferer and everything which 
 could possibly aggravate his sufferings or increase 
 his danger, are beyond all praise. This was in 
 part the secret of the unbounded trust and 
 confidence he inspired in his patients. A lady of 
 the highest rank is reported to have declared she 
 would rather die under Sir Henry Halford's care 
 than recover under any other physician. This 
 remark is only quoted in proof of the extraor- 
 dinary influence he exerted over those who came 
 under his professional care. 
 
 Coleridge tells us in his " Table Talk " that in 
 the treatment of nervous diseases he is the best 
 physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of 
 hope. Sir Henry Halford's experience had 
 taught him to regard hope as of wider, indeed of 
 very general application in the treatment of 
 disease wheresoever situated, and as we have 
 seen in previous pages he acted on that convic- 
 tion. It may be thought — it was thought by 
 some of his contemporaries — that he sometimes 
 urged this principle to its extremest limits, as in 
 the cases of the Duke of York and George IV. 
 I am myself disposed to think that he did so. 
 But this is one of the most difficult and delicate 
 
266 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 questions in medical ethics, and must not be 
 argued here. I have considered it at some 
 length in a little book, " Euthanasia," # to which I 
 may refer my readers. 
 
 Sir Henry by his sympathy, his gentleness of 
 manner and the hope he inspired, often did for 
 his patient more than any drugs could effect, and 
 when all these failed to bring relief and the 
 malady was beyond the reach of his skill, the 
 minds of the sick were consoled by his conversa- 
 tion, and their cares, anxieties and fears soothed 
 by his presence. 
 
 " Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem 
 Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem." 
 
 He had too, in a marked degree, the faculty of 
 transforming patients into admiring and grateful 
 friends. Of this I have given abundant proof in 
 previous pages. Whether this in a worldly and 
 professional point of view be a desirable faculty is 
 not so certain. Sir Thomas Watson, the most 
 distinguished of all who have succeeded Sir 
 Henry Halford in the presidency of the College 
 of Physicians, was doubtful if it really was so. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford is said to have been 
 
 * " Euthanasia : or Medical Treatment in aid of an easy 
 Natural Death." i2mo, London, 1887. Longmans & Co. 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 267 
 
 imperious in the sick chamber, not to his patient, 
 to whom he was all sympathy, kindness and 
 gentleness, but to the attendants and to all who 
 were admitted into the room. So much do the 
 comfort and well-being of the sick depend on 
 the bearing of those around them, that within due 
 limits he was doubtless right. 
 
 The patient and his needs having been duly 
 cared for, and his surroundings in the sick 
 chamber fittingly regulated, Sir Henry's next 
 thought was of the family of the patient, who in 
 doubtful and especially in serious cases need 
 whatsoever consolation the physician can justly 
 and truthfully impart, to assuage their apprehen- 
 sions and anxiety. 
 
 To sum up. Sir Henry Halford's attainments 
 as a practical physician were of the highest order. 
 Although, perhaps, as was said, inferior to his 
 great contemporary and friend Dr. Baillie in 
 minuteness of diagnosis, he was undoubtedly 
 superior to him in that which constitutes the real 
 aim and office of the physician — the cure and 
 alleviation of disease.* In this point of view Sir 
 
 * A distinguished contemporary physician, Dr. Marshall 
 Hall, who knew Dr. Baillie and Sir Henry Halford, and had 
 frequently met the last named of them in consultation, writes : 
 "Dr. Baillie, remarkable for his skill in the detection of 
 
268 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Henry Halford attained to consummate skill. 
 Endowed, as has been said, with quick percep- 
 tion, a sound judgment and an almost intuitive 
 knowledge of the powers of medicines, he wielded 
 the resources of his art with a confidence, pre- 
 cision and success which was unapproached by any 
 of his contemporaries. 
 
 A distinguished surgical contemporary of Sir 
 Henry Halford, Sir Benjamin Brodie, states in 
 his " Autobiography," but as I contend incor- 
 rectly, that Sir Henry Halford, although a clever 
 and sagacious physician with a great deal of 
 practical information, was without any of that 
 scientific knowledge which is necessary for a right 
 diagnosis of disease. 
 
 A scientific knowledge of medicine is under- 
 stood to imply a knowledge of the sciences on 
 which the art of medicine is founded — of 
 
 diseases, proposed but scanty resources for their treatment ; 
 while Sir Henry Halford, less able perhaps in diagnosis, was 
 remarkable for his fertility and invention in regard to remedies. 
 This fertility in resources," continues he, " is not, perhaps, the 
 highest or most scientific branch of medicine ; but it is in- 
 dubitably that which, if judiciously applied in practice, affords 
 the greatest solace and benefit to the patient, and may there- 
 fore be regarded as the highest faculty which a physician can 
 possess in the actual exercise of his art. Like all other facul- 
 ties, it may be greatly augmented by exercise." It was so with 
 Sir Henry Halford. 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 269 
 
 anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pathology, &c.— 
 to each of which subjects Sir Henry Halford had 
 applied closely and successfully at Edinburgh, 
 where, at the period referred to, they were more 
 completely and better taught than anywhere else 
 in these kingdoms. His notes of the lectures he 
 attended at Edinburgh are full, and show how 
 diligently he studied and mastered them. 
 
 I know of no one of Sir Henry Halford's 
 contemporaries who, at the time of commencing 
 practice, was better instructed than he, not in one 
 subject only, but in all of those that go to make 
 up the science of medicine. His early success 
 in practice left him no leisure to keep himself 
 on a level with all the advances that were then 
 being made in each of these subjects, nor indeed 
 for further special cultivation of them. But he 
 kept himself abreast with all the great discoveries 
 and improvements in the science and art of physic 
 that were made in his time. 
 
 He was an earnest and consistent advocate of 
 vaccination from its introduction by Dr. Jenner 
 in 1798 to his own death in 1844.* He was too 
 amongst the first to recognise the truth and 
 value of Sir Charles Bell's great discovery of the 
 functions and structure of the spinal nerves.t Sir 
 
 * Ante, p. 50. Ante, p. 254. 
 
270 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Henry accepted, at once and unreservedly, the 
 teachings of Dr. Prout on urinary pathology 
 and animal chemistry ; and although he never 
 learned to practise auscultation — for his age and 
 many engagements were insuperable obstacles 
 to his mastering its many difficulties — he saw 
 and admitted the aid that was to be derived from 
 the stethoscope in the diagnosis of disease. In 
 1826 Dr. Scudamore requested permission to 
 dedicate to Sir Henry Halford, a brochure on 
 " Laennec's Diagnosis of Diseases of the Chest 
 by the Stethoscope and Percussion," and this led 
 to the following letter : 
 
 " My dear Dr. Scudamore, 
 
 " I had written some remarks, but I 
 think it better to ask you to give me the oppor- 
 tunity of talking with you for five minutes. I am 
 much pleased and flattered by your kind attention, 
 and if you will introduce your subject with three 
 or four sentences expressive of your sense of the 
 propriety of ascertaining diseases rather by the 
 symptoms which accompany them than by 
 mechanical examination — though in the present 
 imperfect state of our knowledge on various 
 points, no prudent physician will disdain the 
 subsidiary aid even of instruments to give him a 
 more correct insight into what is going on — if 
 you will do this, I say, I shall be proud of your 
 
CHARACTER, PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL 271 
 
 dedication, and I believe it will contribute 
 
 materially to make the pamphlet acceptable, and 
 
 the use of the stethoscope practised " 
 
 " With great regard, 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 
 "Henry Halford. 
 " Sunday ." 
 
 The tendency of Sir Henry Halford's mind 
 indisposed him to whatever was not essentially 
 and immediately practical. The prevention and 
 cure of disease and the alleviation of suffering are 
 the essential objects of the medical art, and the 
 physician should not allow anything to divert his 
 attention from them. The study of disease at 
 the bedside and of all the resources of his art — of 
 diet, medicines, and other appliances, curative 
 and palliative — were what henceforth especially 
 engaged Sir Henry's attention and made him the 
 successful practitioner he was acknowledged to be 
 by all his contemporaries. 
 
 He was always careful to give due attention to 
 each subject, but not to cultivate any one of them 
 to the prejudice of the others. He himself, 
 when at the summit of his reputation, and speak- 
 ing on the education of a physician, says, " To 
 become exclusively the botanist or chemist, or 
 even the anatomist, where the one great object 
 
272 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 is the cure of diseases, will narrow both his 
 resources and his mind, and make him incur the 
 risk of failure in the end. The cure of diseases 
 
 IS THE PHYSICIAN'S OBJECT, AND HE MUST NOT 
 ALLOW ANYTHING TO DIVERT HIS EYE FROM THAT 
 GREAT MARK." 
 
 As respects Sir Henry Halford's powers of 
 diagnosing disease, which were questioned by- 
 Sir Benjamin Brodie, I would observe that Dr. 
 Hawkins, who knew Sir Henry so well, describes 
 him "ad morbos dijudicandos sagax." And the 
 case of the Duchess of Devonshire, in which 
 Sir Henry of all the physicians in attendance, 
 and Dr. Baillie was one of them, alone formed a 
 correct diagnosis, is in evidence to the same 
 effect. 
 
 But Sir Benjamin Brodie is constrained after 
 all to admit, that Sir Henry Halford was a 
 clever and sagacious physician, with a great deal 
 of practical information, and was on the whole a 
 very useful and successful practitioner, in many 
 respects an ornament of his profession, and a 
 worthy representative of it, as president of the 
 College of Physicians. 
 
 The same critic says of Sir Henry Halford, 
 "He was a good Latin scholar, and prided him- 
 self rather over-much on his skill in composing 
 
HIS CHARACTER 273 
 
 Latin verses." On this passage I am not 
 disposed to say much. Skill in composing Latin 
 verses is, at any rate, the token of a good scholar, 
 and to have been fond of it, is at most an 
 amiable weakness. Besides, as we are taught 
 by Keble, poetry is a method of relieving an 
 overburdened mind ; and is a channel through 
 which emotion finds a safe and regulated 
 expression. There are few who can prefer a 
 better claim to such a resource, than one so fully 
 engaged as was Sir Henry Halford, in all the 
 anxieties of medical practice. 
 
 During Sir Henry Halford's time, a good 
 knowledge of the Latin language was considered 
 one of the necessary attainments of a physician ; 
 to neglect, undervalue and disparage it, does not 
 even now conduce to keep up the dignity of the 
 medical profession in its higher ranks. It was a 
 taste he shared with statesmen and men in high 
 places, as his correspondence sufficiently attests. 
 The classics throughout the whole of Sir Henry 
 Halford's life were indeed his amusement and 
 resource from the monotony and weariness of 
 professional work, and especially Latin composi- 
 tion and Latin poetry in which he was a pro- 
 ficient; and for which he was noted among the 
 elegant scholars of his time. He spoke Latin 
 
 s 
 
274 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 with ease and elegance — an important attainment 
 for a president of the College of Physicians at a 
 time when the examinations of candidates for 
 the diploma of the college were conducted wholly 
 or in part in that language. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford was fond of society, and 
 shone in it. He was given to anecdote, and to 
 speaking of those interesting incidents of which 
 he was specially cognisant, and of those in which 
 he had been called upon to take part. Hence 
 probably the statement of one of his friends, Miss 
 Williams-Wynn, # that he was apt to be the hero 
 of his own stories. But he was careful not to 
 make his own share in conversation unduly 
 prominent. He was a good, an attentive listener ; 
 and he only interposed when an opening invited 
 him to do so, or the conversation flagged. He is 
 said to have been specially happy in his talk on 
 classical subjects, then a much more frequent topic 
 of conversation among men than now. 
 
 He was an excellent host, especially at Wistow, 
 where he was free from the anxieties and dis- 
 tractions of medical practice, and was able to 
 devote himself to all the duties and amenities of 
 
 * " Diaries of a Lady of Quality," edited by A. Hayward, 
 Q.C. London, 1864, p. 215. 
 
HIS CHARACTER 275 
 
 social life. That he did so, liberally and almost 
 regardless of expense, is certain. 
 
 It was an axiom with Sir Henry Halford that 
 it is better to live rich than to die rich (they are 
 his own words), and he seems to have acted up 
 to it from a very early period of his professional 
 life. Notwithstanding his very large profes- 
 sional income for so long a series of years, he left 
 but little behind him save the Wistow estate, 
 which, however, he had got into very good 
 condition, and to which he had largely added. 
 In the letter of March, 1823, before referred to 
 (page 65), after specifying his outlay on Wistow, 
 he says : " This accounts for all the savings of 
 my professional laborious life, and as it amounts 
 to nearly ,£70,000, I do not feel ashamed that 
 after so large a measure of success I have not 
 husbanded a greater saving, considering that 
 I have never denied my family one luxury 
 which it was possible for them to enjoy. All 
 these savings are gone to make Wistow pro- 
 ductive at all." He speaks too, of looking 
 forward at this time (1823) to "a material 
 abridgment of expense by no more farmhouses 
 requiring to be built." But abridgment of 
 his ordinary current expenses did not then 
 come. 
 
276 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 From an early period of Sir Henry's married life 
 he had been in the habit, on his return home in the 
 evening from his professional rounds, of emptying 
 his pockets of the whole of his daily earnings into 
 his wife's lap, and of leaving it in her keeping and 
 to her management. Indeed, Lady Halford, up 
 to her last illness, managed Sir Henry's money 
 matters so far as they were managed, for he 
 himself seems to have been almost helpless in 
 these respects, or too much occupied to attend to 
 them. For some time after Lady Halford 's 
 death, they were left almost to take care of 
 themselves. The result was that he was plun- 
 dered without stint or mercy by some of his 
 domestics, and his expenses in Curzon Street and 
 at Wistow, but particularly at Curzon Street, had 
 become so large as to be a ground for serious 
 apprehension and of some present embarrassment ; 
 until one of his nieces went to reside with him, 
 who at once reduced the establishment and so 
 curtailed his expenditure. 
 
 Sir Henry did with little sleep. He retired 
 late and rose early. Most of his correspondence, 
 and it was extensive, was done at night. Every 
 morning when the weather permitted he walked, 
 or preferably rode on horseback, in the park for an 
 hour or more, because, as he was wont to express 
 
HIS CHARACTER 277 
 
 it, he knew nothing better for the inside of a man 
 than the outside of a horse. . 
 
 He was fond of horses and of dogs. One of 
 my correspondents, who remembers Sir Henry 
 and his family well, speaks particularly of the 
 beautiful greyhounds he always had with him in 
 the dining-room at Curzon Street. He took a 
 pride too in his carriage horses, which were always 
 fast, well-bred, and handsome. He drove very 
 fast through the streets of London. Those of 
 the West End, with which he was principally con- 
 cerned, were far less crowded then than now ; and I 
 heard it said at the time, I know not how truly, 
 that his coachman was always provided with Sir 
 Henry's card, which in the event of a collision or 
 other trifling accident he might drop and drive on, 
 without pulling up or delay. Of the pains his 
 friends took to supply him with a good riding horse, 
 there is evidence in his correspondence. 
 
 He did not hunt, although Wistow is in the 
 best hunting ground in England, in the Quorn 
 district; neither did he shoot or fish. Whist, 
 which he is said to have played well, was his 
 favourite recreation. It was so from an early 
 period, for I find in one of his earliest diaries, his 
 whist account at Scarborough. There were few 
 days in which he did not get a rubber, mostly at 
 
278 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 his club — the United University — of which he 
 
 was an original member, in the evening and after 
 
 his dinner. Perhaps in so doing he was acting 
 
 on the sage counsel he once gave to a patient : 
 
 " If you wish to preserve your eyes, never read 
 
 by candle-light anything smaller than the ace of 
 
 clubs." * 
 
 But Sir Henry Halford was not without his 
 
 weaknesses and failings. He was quick of temper 
 
 and hasty of speech, but it was atoned for, by a 
 
 prompt acknowledgment of his mistake, and he 
 
 did not rest until he had made all the reparation 
 
 that it was possible under the circumstances to do : 
 
 " Of temper sharp and warm, 
 Yet at his worst incapable of thought or wish to harm ; 
 Too easily affronted, but as easily appeased." t 
 
 Or, as the Harveian orator of 1848, his friend 
 Dr. Francis Hawkins, puts it : " Si forte dissensio 
 aliqua incidisset, quamprimum redire in gratiam 
 gestiebat animus." 
 
 It was a weakness of Sir Henry Halford to 
 carry his courtly manners into ordinary life and 
 society. This is to be regretted, for it was dis- 
 liked by many, and it exposed him to ridicule 
 and obloquy. J But these manners were not 
 
 * Temple Bar, vol. xcvii. No. 386, p. 537. 
 
 t Lady Cork, " Memorials of Thought," p. 20. 
 
 t The " eel-backed baronet " is the sobriquet given him in 
 
HIS CHARACTER 279 
 
 disliked by all his patients. One of them, Colonel 
 Hawker, in 1835, writes thus: "Consulted on 
 my case with Sir Henry Halford, the Prince 
 and the Lord Chesterfield of all medical prac- 
 titioners."* 
 
 So close an attendance as was that of Sir 
 Henry Halford on the Royal Family, and so 
 intimate a connection as was his with the court 
 during the whole of the Regency and of the reign 
 of George IV., could scarcely fail to influence the 
 feelings, character and conduct of any man ; and 
 considering the characteristics of the court at that 
 time, it could scarcely be otherwise than adversely. 
 Sir Henry was subjected to such influences for 
 more than a quarter of a century, and this it was 
 thought had given him too much of the feelings 
 and habits of a courtier, to the prejudice of that 
 
 consequence of his deep and oft-repeated bows, by an acute 
 and utterly unscrupulous contemporary, who elsewhere writes : 
 " A flexible knee, a supple back, and a courtier's head have 
 enabled Sir Henry Halford to carry on a thriving trade and to 
 ' boo ' his pretensions into the palace and into almost every 
 nobleman's mansion in the kingdom." Mr. Bransby Cooper, 
 in his "Life of Sir Astley Cooper," vol. ii. p. 222, tells us of 
 Sir Henry's three profound formal bows to Lord Liverpool 
 when he entered the room in which his lordship was lying on 
 a sofa, utterly insensible, under the attack of apoplexy from the 
 effects of which he eventually died. 
 * " Diary," vol. i. p. 283. 
 
280 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 simplicity of character and sincerity which be- 
 longed to him in early life. 
 
 I know not how true this may be, and I 
 prefer to dwell on points about which there is 
 no dispute — on his services to the College of 
 Physicians and his efforts to maintain the high 
 character and social position of the English phy- 
 sician, on his scholarly attainments and on the 
 marked success with which he practised physic. 
 The confidence he inspired in his patients, the 
 comfort he gave to them, his rare success in 
 relieving pain and in assuaging the numerous 
 other sufferings that attend on illness, and his 
 fertility of resources in the gravest emergencies 
 of medical practice — these were acknowledged and 
 appreciated by his contemporaries and still survive 
 in the recollection of a few. They are well ex- 
 pressed on the monument to his memory in Wistow 
 churoh, as follows : " Ad morbos dijudicandos 
 sagax, ad sublevandos pollens, ingenii acumine, 
 remediorum copia pariter insignis." 
 
 Sir Henry Halford's only son, writing of his 
 father in 1864, says, " There never was a kinder 
 heart than his, never one more anxious to do 
 justice to the merits of others, or more repug- 
 nant against inflicting injury or mortification 
 
HIS CHARACTER 281 
 
 upon any one." Testimony to the like effect 
 was borne by all who knew him well and in the 
 intimacy of his private and domestic life. The 
 Duke of Rutland, writing on the 1 2th of March, 
 1844, to the second Sir Henry Halford on the 
 death of his father, says : 
 
 " You will give me credit for all that I feel on 
 the subject of the heavy loss which not you 
 alone, but very many surviving friends have 
 sustained, by the decease of your most excellent 
 father. It is my hope that the event was so 
 entirely foreseen by yourself and the family 
 that its shaft was the less penetrating. I had 
 been so long associated with your poor father 
 by the ties of affectionate friendship, and I had 
 had so many opportunities of knowing the 
 amiable qualities of his heart and the extra- 
 ordinary attributes of his mind, that I, more 
 than most others, can appreciate and understand 
 the extent of the calamity you suffer." 
 
 Sir Henry was very warmly attached to his 
 brothers. To the younger of them, especially 
 to the two who went into the church, he stood 
 almost in the place of a father, making to them 
 money gifts and loans as they severally needed 
 them. To his father, to whom he and his 
 brothers owed so much, and who had lessened 
 
282 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 his own resources for his old age by his liberality 
 to them, Sir Henry contributed three hundred 
 pounds a year from the commencement of 1802 
 to his death in 181 3. 
 
 His pocket diaries show me that his charities 
 were not infrequent and were of liberal, even of 
 large, amounts. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford was ready at all times to 
 do a kindness or service to any one who could 
 prefer a proper claim upon him, and was never 
 happier than when composing differences and 
 paving the way to reconciliation between sepa- 
 rated and opposed relations or friends, as witness 
 some of the letters in previous pages. 
 
 A Greek Testament and a handy edition of 
 Horace (the Glasgow edition of 1744, by Foulis, 
 was his favourite) were always on his library table 
 and within easy reach. To the last named of 
 these, in preference to any other work, he was 
 wont to turn whenever he sought to divert his 
 thoughts from the routine of every-day pro- 
 fessional work, and he was accustomed to declare 
 always with satisfaction. He appears to have 
 read nothing hastily or cursorily. Even on these 
 occasions he read intently, dwelling on the 
 thought conveyed rather than on the language in 
 
HIS CHARACTER 283 
 
 which it was expressed, though to the elegancies 
 of this he was not indifferent — to use his own 
 words : "it is a mistake and a perversion of 
 learning when men study words and not matter, 
 and fail to acquire something when they read, 
 which they may fairly call their own." 
 
 He read a chapter, or portion of one, from his 
 Greek Testament every morning ; and it was his 
 practice at Wistow to read a sermon, often one of 
 Bishop Horsley's or Jortin's, to the family and 
 servants on Sunday evenings. At Wistow he 
 was a very regular attendant on the public 
 services of the church ; and he is said to have 
 been so in London when his professional duties 
 permitted. He had a warm sense of religion, 
 and was an orthodox member of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 Sir Henry Halford had succeeded in combining 
 the character of the first physician of his age and 
 country with that of the scholar and the country 
 gentleman. The estimation in which he was held 
 by his sovereign and at court, which in his 
 case was the complement of his success as a 
 physician, enabled him to render services to his 
 profession, which its most distinguished members 
 did not fail to appreciate. Moreover, Sir Henry 
 
284 LIFE OF SIR HENRY HALFORD 
 
 Halford attained steadily, yet rapidly, and with- 
 out any perceptible extraneous aid, the largest 
 practice and the most extensive reputation with 
 the public; and he maintained the longest supre- 
 macy in both that has been known in this country. 
 It is not to the interest of the medical profession 
 to forget or to discredit such an example. 
 
 The object of these pages is to perpetuate 
 the knowledge of so distinguished a physician, 
 scholar, and member of society, and to rescue 
 Sir Henry Halford's memory from the oblivion 
 into which it was fast falling. 
 
 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 THE ROLL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE 
 OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON. Com- 
 prising Biographical Sketches of all the emi- 
 nent Physicians whose names are recorded 
 in the Annals, from the foundation of the 
 College in 1518 to its removal in 1825 from 
 Warwick Lane to Pall Mall East. Second 
 Edition, revised and enlarged, 3 vols. 8vo, 
 London, 1878. Published by the College, 
 price 2 is. 
 
 THE GOLD-HEADED CANE. Edited by 
 W. M. 8vo, London, 1884. Longmans & Co., 
 price 7s. 6d. 
 
 EUTHANASIA : or Medical Treatment in aid 
 of an easy Natural Death. i2mo, London, 
 1887. Longmans & Co., price 4s. 6d. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- 
 ment with the Librarian in charge. 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C2S(u4l)M100 
 
 
 
 
M92 
 
 R4B9.H13 
 
 Munk 
 
 The life of Sir Henry Half ora . 
 
■ 
 
 IS 
 
 SnSGffi 
 
 m 
 
 
 maSm 
 
 mm 
 iillll