complete and temporary recovery? As complete a recovery as if it was from an ague, fever, or cold, with proper attention to his mode of life.

In the course of your experience, has it happened that persons recovered by you have come a second time under your care? -They have but I do not think that they are more likely to relapse into such an indisposition, than any one is into a violent fever.

Whether, when you have sent a person out as cured, and that person returns under your care again, you consider that as a new disorder, or a relapse?-If a long time intervenes, I consider it as a new disorder.

What do you call a long time?-Three or four years.

Whether short of that, you look upon it as a relapse or a cure?-If it was within a year, I should call it a relapse.

Within what time, as near as you can recollect, the majority of patients dismissed by you as cured, whom you say have returned again under your care, have returned?-I have had them return from one to eighteen years, but cannot speak as to majorities.

Dr. Warren to judge of his Majesty's disorder, he thinks it more probable that his Majesty will or will not recover, so as to render him capable of public business? I have no data sufficient to ground an answer upon this question.

Whether there has been any cessation of his Majesty's disorder since you attended him?-No.

Are there any signs of a returning understanding?-No.

Since you was examined last at the privy council, have there been any more favourable symptoms of his Majesty's recovery?-There are no symptoms of this disorder, but the single one of want of understanding. The words and the actions of persons under this disorder are accidental, and depend upon the difference of the persons themselves. A man that has a variety of ideas will talk and act very differently from one who has fewer ideas, or has led a different course of life: his words and actions will be determined by the peculiarity of the man, and not by the distemper. Under this explanation the symptoms are more favourable.

Is the probability of his Majesty's recovery of his understanding varied or affected any way by the actual duration

mined.

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming to his Parliament, or of attending to any kind of public business?-Incapable.

What are the hopes you entertain of his Majesty's recovery?-The hopes must be determined by the probability of cure, and that can be judged of only by what has happened to others, by which I find that the majority of those who have been disordered in a manner similar to his Majesty, have recovered: but I do not mean by the word "similar," his Majesty's particular disorder, but that disorder in general.

Can you infer from thence, that it is more probable that his Majesty will or will not recover?-That it is more probable that he will recover.

Does Dr. Warren apply this to the particular case of his Majesty, or to cases in general?-To cases in general.

Can you form any judgment, or probable conjecture, of the duration of his Majesty's illness?-No.

Whether, so far as experience enables

diminishes as the time of the disorder lengthens.

Has this disorder continued so long, as to enable you from thence, to pronounce upon the probability of his recovery?-No.

How long have you attended his Majesty?-I saw him first on the 7th of November.

Whether there has been any difference of opinion amongst the physicians, as to the nature of the case?-It has been the custom of his Majesty physicians, from the day that I went first to Windsor, to put down in writing a description of the state of his Majesty's health every evening, and for each of them to sign the paper; by which it will appear that there never was any difference of opinion among the physicians, with respect to the case as it is put. This was continued daily till his Majesty came to Kew.

Sir George Baker called in, and examined.

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming in person to his Parliament, or of attending to any kind of public business?-The state of his Majesty's health

is such as to render him incapable of any public business.

What are the hopes you entertain of his Majesty's recovery? The hopes I entertain of his Majesty's recovery, are founded upon an idea of its being probable. That idea of probability is sug gested to me by past experience, as well original as that of other physicians, in in cases similar to that of his Majesty.

Can you form any judgment, or probable conjecture, of the duration of his Majesty's illness? I can form no judgment, or probable conjecture, of the duration of his disorder.

Is it your opinion that his Majesty's present malady has been caused by, or has any relation to, his previous disorder?It is not my opinion that his Majesty's present malady has any relation to his previous disorder.

Had not his Majesty a rash previous to Friday the 24th of October?-On Friday, October the 17th, in the course of that day, it was mentioned to me that his Majesty had had a rash, and upon that account his skin was examined, and there did appear some marks of there having been a rash, which had spent itself.

Have not you heard that his Majesty, during the time that the rash was upon him, wet his feet, and sat in wet stockings?

At what period did you first suspect the nature of his disorder?-In the evening of Wednesday, October the 22d last.

What length of time did that cessation continue?--I conceived the suspicion that evening; and the next morning, when I visited his Majesty very early, he appeared to me to be perfectly well. On the Monday following I saw his Majesty at Windsor, and then saw more signs of the disorder.

Has there been any cessation since Monday, October the 27th ?-None.

At this period of time do you see any signs of a returning understanding ?-1

see none.

Did you see his Majesty between the 23d and the 27th of October?-I saw his Majesty on the 24th and 25th of October, and I saw him again on the 27th, when he had a degree of his present disorder, but in nothing like the state in which it has appeared since.

Had his Majesty been afflicted with any bodily disorder immediately preceding the 22d of October?-On the 17th of October, his Majesty was attacked by a disorder in which I had once before seen his Majesty, and to which I understand he had been very subject: that disorder I conceive to be biliary concretions in the gall duct.

How long did he continue in that illness?-It lasted the greatest part of the

17th.

Did it last any longer, or did it take a different turn?-It returned twice on Monday and Tuesday following ; on Monday it was not so severe, and went off very soon; on Tuesday it was very trifling.

16th, his Majesty rose very early, and walked more than four hours; and afterwards went to St. James's without having changed his stockings, which were very wet.

Did not you understand the rash had been checked by his Majesty having sat in wet stockings? It was so imagined.

By whom?-By some in the family.

Can you say, that a rash, so checked, may not have been the occasion of his Majesty's present disorder?-I can only say that it is not my opinion; for I conceive that if his Majesty's present malady is supposed to be occasioned by the checking of the rash, the effect would have followed the cause more immediately.

Whether his Majesty's legs swelled after it was imagined the rash was checked? -The 18th of October the left foot was a little inflamed, and in consequence swelled; afterwards the right foot.

Did the swelling of the legs go off upon the present disorder coming on?-It had gone off before the present disorder.

How long before?-About two days. Were both the King's feet without swelling on the 24th?-I think he left off both his great shoes on the 23d: he was lame and in pain in the muscles of his legs with the rheumatism on the 24th.

In what degree was he disordered on the 24th-He had had a restless night on the Thursday; and when I saw his Majesty on Friday morning, he was lowspirited, and complained much of the necessity of going to the levée. He complained all along of pains in the muscles of his thighs and legs, as he does also at present.

Have those pains in his thighs continued all along?-From the beginning.

Have those pains any relation to his

Majesty's present illness?-I think not.
Was it your opinion that the rash was
struck in? It is not my opinion.
Sir Lucas Pepys called in, and examined.

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming in person to his Parliament, or of attending any kind of public business? -He certainly is incapable.

What are the hopes you entertain of his Majesty's recovery -The hopes of his Majesty's recovery arise from the general consideration, that the majority of those afflicted with the same or similar disorder under which his Majesty now labours, do recover.

Can you form any judgment or probable conjecture of the duration of his Majesty's illness?-I can form no such conjecture.

Is his Majesty at times composed and quiet?-Frequently is.

Does his disorder abate during those periods?-Not in the least.

Dr. Henry Revell Reynolds called in, and

examined.

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming in person to his parliament, or of attending to any kind of public business? His Majesty is incapable of attending to any public business.

What are the hopes you entertain of his Majesty's recovery?-I think there are well-founded hopes of his Majesty's recovery,

Can you form any judgment or probable conjecture of the duration of his Majesty's illness? No, I cannot,

Upon what do you found your hopes of his Majesty's recovery?-Upon general experience; as the greater number of those afflicted with the same malady with his Majesty generally recover. Dr. Anthony Addington called in,

examined.

and

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming in person to his Parliament, or of attending to any kind of public business? I have not seen his Majesty this week past; but at that time he was certainly incapable of attending Parliament, or doing any public business.

What are the hopes you entertain of

his Majesty's recovery?--I have very great hopes of his Majesty's recovery.

Upon what foundation do you build those hopes?-I never yet have heard that his Majesty has had any disorder whatever, from which I could infer that he could not recover; and by recovery, I mean so as to be able to attend his Parliament, and attend any other business as well as ever he did; but I think there are hopes in my mind, from some circumstances that I had not taken notice of before. I never heard that his Majesty was melancholy previous to his present indisposition; and I do not recollect an instance of any patient who required a longer time to be perfectly cured than one year, who had not laboured under a pretty long and very considerable melancholy previous to his confinement.

Can you form any probable judgment of the duration of his Majesty's disorder? -I cannot.

In what time have these disorders generally been cured?—It has been my good fortune to see none who have not been cured within a year; sometimes in four months from the time they came under my care, unless they were deemed incurable by the best judges before they were sent to my house.

Is it your opinion, that all disorders of the mind, not preceded by melancholy, have been cured within the year?-All the disorders within my practice, except as before, have been cured within the year; and I should think that such disorders would be curable within the year, unless they proceeded from some immoveable cause, such as the enlargement of the bone pressing upon the sensorium, or other similar causes.

Dr. Thomas Gisburne called in, and ex

amined.

You are desired to acquaint this Committee, whether the state of his Majesty's health is such as to render him incapable of coming in person to his parliament, or of attending to any kind of public business?-I think him absolutely incapable.

What are the hopes you entertain of his Majesty's recovery?As those in similar circumstances have often recovered, I hope his Majesty will.

Has a majority of them recovered?— They have.

Can you form any probable conjecture of the duration of his Majesty's illness ?— I think that cannot be ascertained.

This Report was ordered to be printed for the use of their lordships.

The Lord President (Earl Camden) observed, that the examinations just read sufficiently evinced the melancholy situation of his Majesty's health; and as his Majesty's physicians could not give their lordships any satisfaction as to the time when he would recover, it was incumbent on the two Houses of parliament, in the present maimed, impotent, and defective condition of the legislature, to proceed to make some provision for the purpose of supplying the deficiency, and restoring energy and exertion to the executive government of the country; yet, previously to such a necessary and important step, he should take the liberty of moving for a committee to search for precedents of the proceedings in similar cases, in order that having fully before them what the wisdom of their ancestors deemed necessary modes of proceeding in cases of difficulty and danger, they might meet the necessity of the moment under circumstances of the greater safety. The propriety of the motion being so obvious, he should have conceived that no possible objection could have been offered to it; he had however heard of an idea which had been started in another place, where it was declared to have been founded in common law, and in the spirit of the constitution. If such was the common law, and such the spirit of the constitution, it was wholly unnecessary for the House to give themselves the trouble of searching for precedents, because the idea to which he alluded, put an end at once to their power of deliberation on the subject. The idea was, that the heir apparent being of age, had a claim to assume the regal authority, and take upon himself the administration of the government, as a matter of right, during the period when his Majesty laboured under the disorder which rendered him unable to discharge the regal functions. If this was the common law, it was a secret to him he never had entertained any such notion, nor had he before the present occasion, either met with it in any writer, or heard it laid down by any lawyer whatever. Those who broached such a notion would have done well to have been sure that they were right, before they hazarded so new and so extraordinary a doctrine: because opinions of that tendency were much sooner raised, than laid, and might involve the country in infinite confusion. The assertion of such a doctrine, however,

was as strong an argument in proof of the expediency of the motion which he meant to offer, as could possibly be urged, because their lordships, he was sure, had_too much regard to their own dignity to admit themselves to be usurpers of the rights of another, without first searching and examining precedents which would convince them whether they were usurpers or not. The noble earl then moved, "That a committee be appointed to examine and report precedents of such proceedings as may have been had, in case of the personal exercise of the royal authority being prevented or interrupted, by infancy, sickness, infirmity, or otherwise, with a view to provide for the same."

Lord Loughborough said, he was aware that it was unusual for any noble lord to speak before a motion had been read from the woolsack, but on the present occasion he must claim the indulgence of their lordships for a few moments, as he wished to declare that he had not upon his coming down to the House expected that any thing could arise to make it necessary. him to trouble the House that day. His being present was purely accidental. When he left the committee room the preceding day, he had understood that there would be nothing done farther than a motion of course, and the unusually thin attendance which there had been early in the day, and the manner in which noble lords had come into the House, so contrary to the manner in which they had attended ever since the melancholy occasion of their meeting had occurred, all led him to imagine that there would be no discussion of any kind. In fact, so convinced had he been, that no debate would arise, that he had himself been the innocent cause of keeping other lords from coming down, who would have made a point of being present, had they foreseen that any such subject as that mentioned by the noble earl, would have been introduced. When he looked round the House, regretted exceedingly the absence of several noble lords, and particularly of one noble and illustrious person who was most peculiarly interested in the discussion which must necessarily take place. The topic however, having been introduced, though irregularly, he should be under the necessity of following the noble lord's example, and delivering such of his sentiments upon it, as presented themselves to his mind at the moment, but as he was taken unawares, and must necessa

he