Prime Ministers and Some Others: A Book of ReminiscencesRussell, George William Erskine
History
Prime Ministers and Some Others: A Book of Reminiscences
Russell, George William Erskine
Great Britain -- Biography
Next morning the park-keepers found a young man lying on the grass
in Hyde Park, drenched to the skin with the night's heavy rain,
unconscious, and apparently dying. The papers in his pockets proved
that he was Philip Vaughan. A long and desperate illness followed,
and for months both life and reason trembled in the balance. Lord
Liscombe hurried up to London, and Vaughan's servant explained
everything. Arthur Grey had been taken ill on the homeward voyage.
The symptoms would now be recognized as typhoid, but the disease
had not then been diagnosed, and the ship's surgeon pronounced it
"low fever." He landed at Southampton, pushed his way to London,
arrived at his lodgings more dead than alive, and almost immediately
sank into the coma from which he never recovered. It was impossible
to communicate with Vaughan, whose address was unknown; and when
his telegram arrived, announcing his instant return, the servant
and the landlady agreed that he must have heard the news from some
other source, and was hurrying back to see his friend before he
became invisible for ever. "You're just in time" meant just in
time to see the body, for the coffin was to be closed that evening.
* * * * *
The struggle was long and desperate, but Vaughan had on his side
youth and a constitution, not strong indeed, but unweakened by
profligacy. By slow degrees his nervous system rallied from the
shock, and after a long period of foreign travel he returned, in
great part, to his former habits. Only he could not and would not
re-enter the House of Commons, but announced his retirement, on the
score of health, at the next Election. Soon afterwards he inherited Lord
Liscombe's fortune, made over Liscombe Abbey and its responsibilities
to a distant cousin, and insensibly glided into the way of living
which I described at the outset. Two years after the Election of
1880 he died at Rome, where he had been spending the winter. The
attack of fever to which he succumbed was not peculiarly severe,
but the doctor said that he made no effort to live, and was in
fact worn out, though not by years.
Nobody missed him. Nobody lamented him. Few even said a kind word
about him. His will expressed only one personal wish--that he might
be buried by the side of Arthur Grey. But his executors thought
that this arrangement would cause them a great deal of trouble,
and he rests in the English cemetery at Rome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account