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minute, as if in prayer. He then looked at us again, and appeared to wish to speak, but an attack of faintness came on, and his respiration was so difficult, and he seemed so weak and exhausted, that I thought he was dying, and expressed that apprehension to Colonel Stephenson, who partook of it. Batchelor bathed his temples again, and he rallied; after which he again took Colonel Stephenson's hand, and nodded to Batchelor, who told us he meant we should leave him.

The scene was most affecting and trying, but yet in some respects satisfactory, as it showed that he was perfectly aware of his situation, and we concluded he had seen us together, as being his executors, and meant to take leave of us. I heard afterwards that he appeared much exhausted by the effort, and subsequently took some chicken broth, and became composed, without having any return of faintness.-Towards the evening he rallied again, and had some sound and comfortable sleep, and his attendants separated under the impression that his Royal Highness's life would be prolonged at least another night.

In the course of the night he had so serious an attack of faintness, that Mr. Macgregor thought he would not have recovered from it; but he rallied again towards the morning of the 5th, and had taken some nourishment. The breathing had, however, become extremely difficult. About eleven, Mr. Simpson came to me to say that the symptoms of approaching death had come on, and that the medical attendants wished me to be in the room adjoining that in which his Royal Highness lay. I brought in the Dukes of Clarence and Sussex, and Col. Stephenson, and we continued in the room, expecting every moment to be called in by the medical attendants (who were all with his Royal Highness) to witness his death. Sir Henry Halford came to us occasionally, and told us that his Royal Highness's pulse was hardly perceptible, his extremities were cold, he was speechless, and had with difficulty swallowed a little milk and rum, but nevertheless appeared to retain his senses. Of this, indeed, he gave proof at twelve, for Mr. Macgregor came to say that his Royal Highness had insisted on having his legs dressed (which they naturally wished to avoid at such a period), for he had looked at him several times, had pointed to the clock, and then at his legs, and had pushed off the covering; thus showing his determination to go through all that was required to the last moment. When he found that he was understood, and that Mr. Macgregor was preparing for the dressing, he signified his thanks to him with a kind smile, threw back his head, and hardly noticed anything afterwards.

The pulse became more feeble, the attacks of faintness more frequent, but his Royal Highness struggled on; and between eight VOL. XXVII. NO. LIV.

Pam.

2 F

and nine this state appeared so likely to last for some hours, that the Duke of Clarence was persuaded to go home, and I returned to my room to answer some inquiries. At twenty minutes past nine, Colonel Stephenson called me out and told me he was in his last agonies. I hastened down, but my dear master had expired before I could reach his room, and I had the comfort of learning that he had expired without any struggle or apparent pain. His countenance indeed confirmed this, it was as calm as possible, and quite free from any distortion, indeed it looked almost as if he had died with a smile on it.

The medical attendants, the Duke of Sussex, Batchelor, and another servant, were in the room, looking at him in silence, and with countenances strongly expressive of their feelings.

Such was the end of this amiable, kind, and excellent man, after a long and painful struggle, borne with exemplary resolution and resignation; and I am confident that the details into which I have entered of the last circumstances of that struggle, will not prove uninteresting to those who were sincerely attached to him.

I feel that I owe it to his Royal Highness's character to add some general observations, which may serve to place it in its true light, and to confirm the opinion of those who view his loss as a national calamity.

It may be necessary to premise, that from the moment that I had received the alarming report from Brighton, I ceased to entertain any sanguine hopes of his Royal Highness's recovery, and that my expectations of it became gradually more faint, although they varied occasionally, as the symptoms of the disorder fluctuated. This impression led to my keeping the minutes, from which I have extracted the foregoing statement: my object in so doing being that I might be better able, from such accurate source, to do justice to his Royal Highness's character and sentiments.

The 30th of December was the last day on which I submitted my papers, and he was then quite equal to any business; for although his state varied in the course of the day, yet there were hours when physical causes, or the effect of medicine, did not interfere with the clear application of the powers of the mind.

It has been already shown by the details I have produced, that almost to the latest hour his Royal Highness was anxious to discharge his official duties, and the interest he took in them was at no time weakened by the pressure of bodily disease or pain. In further proof of this, I may state, that on Saturday, the 9th day of December, I received from Lord Bathurst at his office, secret instructions respecting the force to be prepared for embarkation for Portugal, and that I communicated them in the same evening to

his Royal Highness. He was then in great pain, but he became indifferent to bodily sufferings, and immediately drew up the heads of the military arrangement (which paper, in his own writing, I now possess), from which were framed detailed instructions approved by him on the following day, and issued on Monday, the 11th of December.

This measure naturally produced the necessity of other arrangements connected with the home service, and the AdjutantGeneral and Quartermaster-General will bear me out in the assertion, that these were entered into and directed by him with the same intelligence and attention which he had manifested on previous occasions, when we are bound to state that every arrangement was made by him, and that the execution of the details was alone left to us.

It may not be irrelevant here to observe, that this had at all times been the case; his Royal Highness had been at the head of the army more than thirty-two years: during that period various officers were successively employed by him in the situations of military secretary and at the heads of departments at the Horse-Guards; and they possessed his confidence, and exerted themselves zealously. But the merit of rescuing the army from its impaired condition, of improving, establishing, and maintaining its system, of introducing that administration of it, in principal and in every detail, which has raised the character of the British service, and promoted its efficiency, belongs exclusively to his late Royal Highness. The work was progressive, but his attention to it, his able superintendance of it, were constant. He guided and directed the labors of those subordinate to him; their task was executive. He gave the impulse to the whole machinery, and kept the wheels in motion; and to him, I repeat, the credit was due.

An arrangement for the promotion of the old subalterns of the army had long been the object of his solicitude, but it was one of difficult accomplishment, as it was understood that no measure entailing extraordinary charge on the public would be admitted.Hence the delay in bringing it forward; but his Royal Highness entered into every detail of it on the 26th of December, and the King having paid him a visit on the 27th, he ordered me to submit it to his Majesty on that day, when it obtained the royal signature; and the communication of His Majesty's gracious approbation of this arrangement was received by his Royal Highness with a warm expression of satisfaction.

Of the resolution and resignation with which his Royal Highness submitted to protracted confinement and a painful disorder, my statement offers ample proof; but I have not stated, that during all this period, during this serious trial, his excellent temper and kind disposition to all who approached him continued unim

paired. I appeal to his medical attendants, I appeal to his servants, to those who transacted business with him, official or personal, whether at any time he betrayed a symptom of irritability, whether a sharp word escaped him, whether a murmur or complaint was uttered. Every attention, from whatever quarter, was kindly received, and gratefully acknowleged. Great anxiety was shown by him to avoid giving trouble; and at the later periods of his illness, that which seemed to distress him most was his being reduced to the necessity of requesting others to do for him that which he had ceased to be able to dofor himself.

Of the kind attention of his medical attendants, and their anxiety to afford to him the utmost benefit of their skill, he expressed himself most sensible. And it is due to them to say, that if he had been their nearest and dearest relative they could not have devoted their time, care, and attention to him with more affectionate zeal than they did. Nor did he ever betray any want of confidence in their skill, or the least desire to resort to other advice.

I must add, that I can positively state, having been admitted freely to their consultations, that no difference of opinion prevailed among them; they acted together cordially, and their only object seemed to be the welfare of their illustrious patient.

During the progress of his illness, his Royal Highness received the most endearing and affectionate attention from the King, and from his brothers and sisters; and they never failed to be acknowleged with satisfaction and with gratitude: the Princess Sophia especially, whose near residence admitted of more frequent intercourse, never missed coming to him in the course of the day, unless prevented by indisposition; and I have already stated that her Royal Highness, by his desire, took the sacrament with him on the 28th of December.

The visits of his Royal Highness's numerous and attached friends were frequent, and they were invariably received with satisfaction, and with an expression of his sense of their attention. On these occasions he exerted himself to meet them cheerfully, and to suppress the expression of pain or bodily uneasiness; and they often left him with the belief that he was free from both, although this had by no means been the case.

Nor did his Royal Highness's bodily suffering, or the contemplation of his critical state, diminish in any degree the interest which he had ever taken in the state of public affairs, and in the welfare and prosperity of his country. These were at all times uppermost in his mind, and I am convinced that they often engaged it in a much greater degree than did his own situation.

H. TAYLOR.

A WORD

IN FAVOR OF FEMALE SCHOOLS:

ADDRESSED TO PARENTS, GUARDIANS, AND THE PUBLIC
AT LARGE.

BY MRS. BROADHURST, BELVEDERE HOUSE, BATH.

"A time to speak."

LONDON:-1827.

TO THE READER.

FROM the flattering testimonials of approbation which this little Work has hitherto received, as well from the Press as from private communications of respectable individuals, during the few months of its existence, the Writer has been induced to affix her name to the remaining copies of it. At the same time she is solicitous to apprise the Public, that, although in two or three expressions in the course of the following pages, she may have induced the reader to think that she had retired from her labors as a preceptress of young Ladies, such is not yet her happy lot. FRANCES BROADHURST.

Belvedere House, Bath,
Nov. 15th, 1826.

"Thank God! the holy days are come at last!"-DR. SYNTAX.

"Now, Betty, place my spectacles on the table,-reach down that quire of paper, and the bundle of new pens; and if any of my friends should call this morning, say that I am particularly engaged, I cannot see any body."

It is now above thirty years since I first began the arduous business of education; or, to make myself quite intelligible to all my readers, that I opened a school for the reception of young ladies. In this undertaking, it has pleased God that I have been singularly successful; although I have not wholly escaped "the thousand natural ills" that poor school-keepers "are heir to." Truth to say, I do not believe that there can be found, in the

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