Whitehall, Nov. 22nd, 1788.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
I went this morning to Nepean, to speak about sending you the
official accounts of the King's health. He assured me that he had
regularly done so for the last week, and that he would continue it.
He sends a messenger to-morrow, so that this letter will be very
short.
You will receive the St. James's account of this day from Nepean. I
have not yet seen it, but am assured that all the private accounts
are favourable. So are, as far as I can learn, the declared
opinions of every medical man except those who are employed: and of
those, Warren only speaks unfavourably. The rest say nothing.
The indecency of any language held on your side of the water cannot
exceed that of the universal tone of Opposition within these last
four or five days. So long as they considered the case as
desperate, they were affecting a prodigious concern and reverence
for the King's unhappy situation. Now that people entertain hopes
of his recovery, they are using the utmost industry to combat this
idea--circulating all the particulars of everything which he does
or says under his present circumstances, and adding the most
outrageous falsehoods.
I think I can say with confidence, that no enmity against an
individual, much less against a person in such a rank as his, could
induce me to retail the different acts of frenzy which he may
commit in a state of delirium or insanity.
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
Don't use your new cypher, for I doubt whether mine is not rendered
useless. I will write to you about it to-morrow.
P.S.--The cypher will be better set by the _last_ letter of the
word _en clair_, immediately preceding the cyphered part of the
letter. I will use it in that manner when I write.