'"My medical diary informs me that I first saw the English Lord Montbarry, on November 17. He was suffering from a sharp attack of bronchitis.
Some precious time had been lost, through his obstinate objection to the presence of a medical man at his bedside. Generally speaking, he appeared to be in a delicate state of health. His nervous system was out of order--he was at once timid and contradictory.
When I spoke to him in English, he answered in Italian;and when I tried him in Italian, he went back to English.
It mattered little--the malady had already made such progress that he could only speak a few words at a time, and those in a whisper.
'"I at once applied the necessary remedies. Copies of my prescriptions (with translation into English) accompany the present statement, and are left to speak for themselves.
'"For the next three days I was in constant attendance on my patient.
He answered to the remedies employed--improving slowly, but decidedly.
I could conscientiously assure Lady Montbarry that no danger was to be apprehended thus far. She was indeed a most devoted wife.
I vainly endeavoured to induce her to accept the services of a competent nurse; she would allow nobody to attend on her husband but herself. Night and day this estimable woman was at his bedside.
In her brief intervals of repose, her brother watched the sick man in her place. This brother was, I must say, very good company, in the intervals when we had time for a little talk. He dabbled in chemistry, down in the horrid under-water vaults of the palace;and he wanted to show me some of his experiments. I have enough of chemistry in writing prescriptions--and I declined. He took it quite good-humouredly.
'"I am straying away from my subject. Let me return to the sick lord.
'"Up to the 20th, then, things went well enough. I was quite unprepared for the disastrous change that showed itself, when I paid Lord Montbarry my morning visit on the 21st.
He had relapsed, and seriously relapsed. Examining him to discover the cause, I found symptoms of pneumonia--that is to say, in unmedical language, inflammation of the substance of the lungs.
He breathed with difficulty, and was only partially able to relieve himself by coughing. I made the strictest inquiries, and was assured that his medicine had been administered as carefully as usual, and that he had not been exposed to any changes of temperature.
It was with great reluctance that I added to Lady Montbarry's distress;but I felt bound, when she suggested a consultation with another physician, to own that I too thought there was really need for it.
'"Her ladyship instructed me to spare no expense, and to get the best medical opinion in Italy. The best opinion was happily within our reach.
The first and foremost of Italian physicians is Torello of Padua.
I sent a special messenger for the great man. He arrived on the evening of the 21 st, and confirmed my opinion that pneumonia had set in, and that our patient's life was in danger. I told him what my treatment of the case had been, and he approved of it in every particular.
He made some valuable suggestions, and (at Lady Montbarry's express request) he consented to defer his return to Padua until the following morning.
'"We both saw the patient at intervals in the course of the night.
The disease, steadily advancing, set our utmost resistance at defiance.
In the morning Doctor Torello took his leave. 'I can be of no further use,' he said to me. 'The man is past all help--and he ought to know it.'
'"Later in the day I warned my lord, as gently as I could, that his time had come. I am informed that there are serious reasons for my stating what passed between us on this occasion, in detail, and without any reserve. I comply with the request.
