Autograph letter signed (“W Pitt”), to “My Dear Lord”, giving news of the onset of the King´s illness (“...Unluckily The King´s Indisposition has again prevented his coming to Town yesterday when I hopes to have had his Answer to you last Proposition...He is so much better that I have little doubt of his coming on Wednesday, and I must hope the Thing will then be settled ...”) and discussing the appointment of John Fitzgibbon as Lord Chancellor of Ireland (“...I hardly know what to think on the subject, but I begin to believe that the Objections to an Irish Chancellor...are more nominal than real. Many however are of a different Opinion; and in one Quarter, very strongly so...”), two pages, 4to, integral blank, Downing Street, Saturday, 18 October 1788 THE ONSET OF THE ‘MADNESS´ OF KING GEORGE: George III had been taken ill on the night of 16-17 October, in his first major attack of what is now believed to have been porphyria. In writing this letter, his Prime Minister can have had little notion of the horrors that were to lie ahead. On the 22nd, the King´s doctor was alarmed that his deportment “represented a person in a most furious passion of anger”. The King nevertheless managed to hold a levee on Friday the 24th (only two days after the date anticipated in this letter). But thereafter, despite occasional spells of recovery, his condition deteriorated, so that by 3 December the Duke of York could write that “he is a compleat lunatick”. On the 5th he was put under the care of the notorious Dr Willis, who subjected him to a brutal regime of intimidation, coercion and restraint. But early in the following year, to general rejoicing and astonishment, he began to recover, thus averting the regency crisis which had threatened Pitt and his ministry (see Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunter George III and the Mad-Business and John Brooke King George III). As regards the other business of this letter: John Fitzgibbon, first Earl of Clare, was appointed Chancellor of Ireland the following year. He was to be a strong opponent of Catholic Emancipation and a prime mover of the Act of Union.
Autograph letter signed (“W Pitt”), to “My Dear Lord”, giving news of the onset of the King´s illness (“...Unluckily The King´s Indisposition has again prevented his coming to Town yesterday when I hopes to have had his Answer to you last Proposition...He is so much better that I have little doubt of his coming on Wednesday, and I must hope the Thing will then be settled ...”) and discussing the appointment of John Fitzgibbon as Lord Chancellor of Ireland (“...I hardly know what to think on the subject, but I begin to believe that the Objections to an Irish Chancellor...are more nominal than real. Many however are of a different Opinion; and in one Quarter, very strongly so...”), two pages, 4to, integral blank, Downing Street, Saturday, 18 October 1788 THE ONSET OF THE ‘MADNESS´ OF KING GEORGE: George III had been taken ill on the night of 16-17 October, in his first major attack of what is now believed to have been porphyria. In writing this letter, his Prime Minister can have had little notion of the horrors that were to lie ahead. On the 22nd, the King´s doctor was alarmed that his deportment “represented a person in a most furious passion of anger”. The King nevertheless managed to hold a levee on Friday the 24th (only two days after the date anticipated in this letter). But thereafter, despite occasional spells of recovery, his condition deteriorated, so that by 3 December the Duke of York could write that “he is a compleat lunatick”. On the 5th he was put under the care of the notorious Dr Willis, who subjected him to a brutal regime of intimidation, coercion and restraint. But early in the following year, to general rejoicing and astonishment, he began to recover, thus averting the regency crisis which had threatened Pitt and his ministry (see Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunter George III and the Mad-Business and John Brooke King George III). As regards the other business of this letter: John Fitzgibbon, first Earl of Clare, was appointed Chancellor of Ireland the following year. He was to be a strong opponent of Catholic Emancipation and a prime mover of the Act of Union.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
