Whitehall,
Nov. 5th, 1788, Five o'clock.
My dear Brother,
I have delayed till this hour writing to you to-day, as I have
nothing of any consequence to write about, excepting the King's
health; and I wished to send you the account which I have just
received from Pitt, and which I now enclose. The general alarm
on the subject is very great, and it is impossible not to feel
that so long an illness without much amendment, if any on the
whole, and without coming to any crisis, has a most serious
appearance. You may naturally conceive the exultation, not
wearing even the appearance of disguise, which there is in one
party, and the depression of those who belong to the other. I
think some few days more must now decide the point, not,
perhaps, by the blow actually happening within that time, which
I trust there can be no reason to fear, but by showing whether
he has strength sufficient in his constitution to throw out the
disorder which is evidently lurking in it, and which will
otherwise infallibly destroy it by no very slow degrees.
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.