[A letter follows from the Queen, that she consents to the calling in Dr. Addington.]
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Nov. 24, 1788:—His Majesty passed the whole day in a perfectly maniacal state.[645] Nov. 25, 1788:—His Majesty was not enraged nor surprised at the strict regimen under which he was put at 5 o’clock this evening, but grew quieter and went to bed at 9 o’clock, and is now asleep.
From the outset Pitt viewed the case with grave concern, but by no means hopelessly. This will appear from the following new letters of Pitt, the former to Bishop Pretyman (Tomline), the latter to the Marquis of Buckingham:
Sunday, Nov. 10, [1788].[646]
My Dear Bishop,
You will have heard enough already of the King’s illness to make you very uneasy. The fact is that it has hitherto found little relief from medicine, and, what is worst of all, it is attended with a delirium the cause of which the physicians cannot clearly ascertain. On the whole there is some room to apprehend the disorder may produce danger to his life, but there is no immediate symptom of danger at present. The effect more to be dreaded is on the understanding. If this lasts beyond a certain time it will produce the most difficult and delicate crisis imaginable in making provision for the Government to go on. It must, however, be yet some weeks before that can require decision, but the interval will be a truly anxious one....
[Private.]
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Downing Street, Nov. 15, 1788.[647]