He was there again on the 15th.
“The Prince ... and was out of all danger.”
“16. The Prince without pain or fever.”
It is told that in this painless interval, Frederick did that, which perhaps he had been longing to do in those weary days and nights of suffering. He sent for his eldest son George. Then when the boy came, in his state of weakness, his mind seemed to revert to the unkindness of his own father and the bitterness that unkindness had mingled with his life. With his arms round the child he dearly loved, and with the boy’s fair head drawn down to his own, he said these touching words:—
“Come, George, let us be good friends while we are permitted to be so.”
He had evidently, in his mind, the fear that his father would sooner or later come between him and his boy.
The Prince is said to have had three physicians in attendance on him, of whom Dr. Lee was one, and two surgeons, Wilmot and Hawkins, to do the copious blood letting, which doubtless drained away his strength.
But of these five doctors not one saw the imminent danger he was in.
Doddington, however, was still anxious, and was at the Prince’s again on the 17th.
“Went twice to Leicester House. The Prince had a bad night, till one this morning, then was better, and continued so.”