Another last separation, long menacing, yet truly grievous to the
Doctor, was now almost momentarily impending. His good, gay-hearted,
and talented old friend, Mr. Hayes, had had a new paralytic seizure,
which, in the words of Dr. Burney, “deprived him of the use of one
side, and greatly affected his speech, eyes, and ears; though his
faculties were still as good and as sound as his heart.”
This account had been addressed, the preceding year, to George Earl of
Orford, by desire of the poor invalid.
Pitiable as was this species of existence, Mr. Hayes long lingered
in it, with a patience and cheerfulness that kept him still open to
the kind offices, as well as to the compassion of his friends: and
Dr. Burney held a regular correspondence with Lord Orford upon this
subject, till it ceased from a calamitous catastrophe; not such as was
daily expected to the ancient invalid, though then bed-ridden, and
past eighty years of age, but to the Earl himself, from an attack of
insanity.