Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
An important and melancholy event, however, threw the cabinet and the
country alike into confusion. Early in November, it was ascertained that
the King was taken dangerously ill. Three successive notes from
Grenville represented the illness as most alarming, and giving room for
apprehening of incurable disorder. As Dr Addington was known to have
paid particular attention to cases of insanity, Pitt proposed his being
summoned to visit the royal patient. In consequence, he visited his
Majesty for several days, and on examination with the other physicians
before the Privy Council, expressed a strong expectation of the royal
recovery, founded on the circumstance that this illness had not, for its
forerunner, any of the symptoms which usually precede a serious attack
of this nature. The debates on the Regency Bill now brought out all the
vigour of the House. The Whigs thundered at the gate of the cabinet; but
there was a strong hand within, and it was still kept shut. The Prince
of Wales, then under all the captivations of Whig balls and banquets,
and worshiping at the feet of Fox, was no sooner to be master of the
state by an unlimited Regency Bill, than Fox was to be master of every
thing. Pitt still fought the battle with all the cool determination of
one determined never to capitulate. Fox became in succession fierce,
factious, and half frantic; still his great adversary stood on the
vantage ground of law, and was imperturbable. But the contest now began
to spread beyond the walls of parliament. The spirit of the nation,
always siding with the brave defence, daily felt an increasing interest
in the gallantry with which Pitt almost alone fought the ablest
Opposition that had ever been ranged within the walls of Westminster,
and inflamed by the sight of power almost within their grasp.
But the announcement of a sudden change in his Majesty's indisposition
abated the contest at once. From the 8th to the 20th of February, the
progress to health was palpable. On the 19th, the discussions on the
Regency Bill were suspended in the House of Lords; and on the 6th of
March, the Speaker and several members of the administration were
admitted to present their congratulations to the King, at Kew, on his
recovery.
We cannot resist the temptation of exhibiting Lord Sidmouth in the
unsuspected character of a poet. As several millions of verses were
poured out as the offerings of the Muse on the joyful occasion, as
Parnassus was rifled by the Universities, and as every village school in
the kingdom hung a pen-and-ink garland on the altar of AEsculapius or
Hygeia; it was felt to be the bounden duty of every candidate for
cabinet honours, to put his desk "in order," and rhyme, to the best of
his power. Addington, in consequence, produced the following--
ON THE KINGS RECOVERY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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