THE PARLIAMENTARY POSITION. 345 secuted a few months before by the House of Commons, were received with such marks of esteem and kindness as William was little in the habit of vouchsafing to his English courtiers. The lower ranks of both factions were violently agitated. The Whigs, lately vanquished and dispirited, were full of hope and ardour; the Tories, lately triumphant and secure, were exasperated and alarmed. Both Whigs and Tories waited with intense anxiety for the decision of one momentous and pressing question: Would there be a dissolution? On the 7th of November the King propounded that question to his Privy Council. It was rumoured, and is highly probable, that Jersey, Wright, and Hedges advised him to keep the existing parliament. But they were not men whose opinion was likely to have much weight with him; and Rochester, whose opinion might have had some weight, had set out to take possession of his vice-royalty just before the death of James, and was still at Dublin." According to Boyer, two illustrious peers represented to his Majesty "the necessity of calling a new Parliament," urging "that the present one would never do His Majesty's business, nor the nation's." The King, it is asserted, showed great reluctance to follow this advice, but the friends of the impeached lords removed his Majesty's scruples. "William, at any rate, had, as he owned to Heinsius, some difficulty in making up his mind. He had no doubt that a general election would cause delay; and delay might cause much mischief. After balancing these considerations during some hours, he determined to dissolve.” Accordingly, on Tuesday, the 11th of November, 1701, the King announced his intention in council; and the following day a proclamation dissolving Parliament, and calling together a new one, to meet on the 30th of December, was issued from Hampton Court at eleven o'clock at night. While the country was passing through the turmoil of a general election, William remained quietly at Hampton Court, anxiously watched and tended by his intimate friends -the staunch and ever-faithful Portland and the filial and loving Albemarle, who now both perceived, only too clearly, that the health of their beloved master, which had been so long failing, was at last about entirely to break down. Every symptom, in truth, plainly indicated that his end was fast drawing nigh. And though it was necessary in the then state of affairs to keep facts of this sort secret, and practise a kind of pious deception on the world, lest the mere news of his indisposition should inspirit the enemies of the liberties of Europe, William himself could not be deceived as to his real condition. While talking one day, about this time, "of the successes of Charles XII. of Sweden in the North against the Poles and Saxons; and of Prince Eugene in Italy against the French, he fetched a sort of languishing sigh, and said, 'It is a fine thing to be a young man!'” And it is recorded that while walking in intimate converse with Portland one day this winter, "in his garden at Hampton Court, he declared 'that he found himself so weak that he did not expect to live another summer.' But he charged him at the same time 'to say nothing of it till he was dead."" Yet his undaunted spirit, "fretting the pigmy body to decay," continued manfully to struggle on against the weakness and disease that were fast wasting his already emaciated frame. Not only would he abate nothing of the labours of his cabinet, where he was busy framing fresh combinations to curb the restless ambition of the French King, but he absolutely refused to forego his favourite exercises, and occasionally, in the Bushey and House Parks, "took the divertisement of hunting attended by a great number of the nobility," though when he returned he had "to be carried up the steps of the palace.” The "hunting" was either that unsportsmanlike and cruel diversion of coursing, or stag-hunting, of both of which he gives an account in a letter to Portland: "I am hunting the hare every day in the Park with your hounds and mine. The rabbits are almost all killed, and their burrows will soon be stopped up. The day before yesterday I took a stag to forest with the Prince of Denmark's pack, and had a pretty good run, as far as this villanous country will permit." This exercise, indeed, he had always regarded as essential to his health, and when remonstrated with by Dr. Bidloe for not taking more rest, he answered: "Every one tells me that I do myself an injury by hunting hard; but if I do not follow violent exercises, the freedom of my respiration is much impair'd, and thereupon my feet swell more than at WILLIAM DISREGARDS HIS PHYSICIAN'S ADVICE. 347 other times. Faint exercises do not avail me; but you'll see, that as soon as I have hunted hard this swelling will abate." His physician's advice to use "Warm Bags of the Powder of Cummin-Seed, Mint, Roses and Lavender to be applied to his leg" was as little regarded. He used them only twice, saying, "This breaks my rest, and I must sleep: I had rather have swelled legs than not sleep." After that, when the doctor was advising him to go to bed betimes, to be regular in his diet, and so on, his Majesty made answer to this effect: "At this rate I must always have a doctor to tend me. I'll do what I have a mind to. I am very well acquainted with my own constitution. All the doctors would have me take hot things, and lead a sedentary life : but they are mistaken. Every one that is above 30 or 40 years ought to be his own physician. From my infancy I have all along lov'd shooting, and have oftentimes been wet up to the knees, after which I always fed heartily, without shifting myself, and then slept in a chair, being very tired. Now my legs being always cold, I believe that has occasioned the swelling of my feet; but so long as I eat well, I am of the opinion, 'twill do me no great harm." He had made this protest against the course of treatment recommended by his physicians, some two or three years previous to the period, which we have now reached; and though his condition had long passed the stage when he could follow his own inclination with impunity, nevertheless he still persisted in defying the doctor's advice. How troublesome a patient they found him, is plainly demonstrated by the subjoined extracts, from the journal of his illness, beginning with the day on which he dissolved Parlia ment. "Nov. 11th. His physicians advised him to eat more moderately; but without regarding their remonstrances he eat more than ordinary both at noon and night; and when he went to bed was very sleepy, but his legs were much swelled. The 14th his legs were in a tolerable condition and he breath'd freely. The 16th he slept in a chair for a long while and had no appetite. The 17th he was better and went a shooting. The 18th Dr Hutton and Dr Blackmore being called to Court by my Lord Chamberlain, found his Majesty's legs a little thicker than ordinary, and joined with Dr Bidloe in the following Prescription : "Take of the Extract of Rhubarb, a scruple; Resin of Jalap, 6 grains; Tartar vitriolated, 5 grains; with a sufficient quantity of Balsamick Syrup, make pills to be taken early in the morning. "Exhibit twice a day 20 drops of the Tincture of sassafras, extracted with the tincture of the salt of Tartar. Repeat the Pills made of the Volatil Salt of Amber, Extract of Gentian, etc. "Take of the Roots of Florentine Orris and Tormentil, the Tops of Southernwood, Roman wormwood, Rosemary Flowers, Pomegranateflowers, Leaves of Marjoram and Thyme, Olibanum and Benjamin, of each a sufficient quantity. Make a fumigation for His Majesty's legs." Whether modern science would recognize these extraordinary prescriptions as efficacious, we must leave the faculty to determine; though we certainly find it stated that "upon the use of the above mentioned remedies, His Majesty recovered apace, and on November 25th (O.S.) spoke to this purpose: 'I find myself very well, I have eat with a good appetite, and my legs are fallen in some measure."" During the remainder of the month his health still continued to cause incessant and increasing anxiety. His breathing grew more difficult; he was attacked with headaches and shivering fits, and his spirits sank. But what troubled him most was the state of his legs, which he feared was owing to dropsy, and caused him much inconvenience. "My legs are always swelled," said he to Dr. Bidloe; "can't that swelling be removed? For if it reaches above my knees, I shall walk like a sprained hare; and if it goes further, I doubt I shall not be able to go a step." On that the doctor proposed "a sweating of his legs in a stove"; but his Majesty replied, "How can that succeed? 'Twill heat me; besides that, no force can make me sweat. I have often been told that if I could sweat I was cured. But as soon as I take a sudorifick medicine, I become thirsty, and then I cannot sleep, and I am oppressed in my breathing." But Bidloe explained that the stove would be so contrived as to affect only his legs. It was accordingly made; and the King, after using it once or twice, declared that it did him great benefit. But the imperative call of duty soon obliged him to exchange the repose and seclusion of Hampton Court for the less congenial air of Kensington, in order that he might be at hand to open Parliament, which was summoned to meet on the 30th of December. The night of Monday, the 22nd of December, 1701, accordingly, was the last that he ever WILLIAM III.'S ACCIDENT WHILE HUNTING. 349 passed beneath the roof of his beautiful and cherished abode on the banks of the Thames. The remove to the neighbourhood of foggy and smoky London was not calculated to improve his condition; but his spirit never quailed before his increasing infirmities. With a view as much to reassure the public mind in regard to his condition, as to relax his mind from the cares of State, he made it his custom, soon after his arrival at Kensington, to come down once a week, on Saturday, to hunt in the park at Hampton Court. In accordance with this plan, on Saturday, the 21st of February, though he had suffered from an attack of giddiness in the head that very morning, and though his body was more infirm and his legs were more swollen than usual, he set out for a day's stag-hunting. The account of what followed is best told in what purport to be the King's own words: "I was riding in the park at noon, and while I endeavoured to make the horse change his walking into a gallop, he fell upon his knees. Upon that I meant to raise him with the bridle, but he fell forward to one side, and so I fell with my right shoulder upon the ground. 'Tis a strange thing, for it happened upon a smooth level ground." It would appear from this account that the King was not aware that his horse had stumbled on a mole-hill, and it is strange that this fact is only mentioned in one contemporary historical account. The fall was so violent that William's right collar-bone was broken, and he had to be carried into the palace, probably to the royal apartments on the ground floor, in the south-east angle of Wren's building. Fortunately, Monsieur Ronjat, the King's sergeant-surgeon, was at hand, being perhaps in attendance on his Majesty in case of accidents, or possibly happening to be staying at Hampton Court. He at once set the bone, and after feeling his Majesty's pulse, told him he was feverish, and that in the case of any other person in the same condition he would advise bleeding. As for that," replied William, "I have now and then had a headache, and some shivering fits, this fortnight, and had this very morning a pain in my head before I went out a-hunting." No bleeding, therefore, was resorted to, and in the evening, finding himself better, he resolved, contrary to 66 |