DR. SWIFT.
387
often in the same condition with the gout in his head; and Radcliffe kept him alive many years after[1]. This morning, when I went there before
nine,
- ↑ In the account that is given of Dr. Radcliffe, in the Biographia Britannica, it is said, that the queen was 'struck with death the twenty-eighth of July: that Dr. Radcliffe's name was not once mentioned, either by the queen or any lord of the council; only that lady Masham sent to him, without their knowledge, two hours before the queen's death.' In this letter from Mr. Ford to dean Swift, which is dated the thirty-first of July, it is said, that the queen's disorder began between eight and nine the morning before, which was the thirtieth; and that about noon, the same day, Radcliffe was sent for by an order of council. These accounts being contradictory, the reader will probably want some assistance to determine what were the facts. As to the time when the queen was taken ill, Mr. Ford's account is most likely to be true, as he was upon the spot, and in a situation, which insured him the best intelligence. As to the time when the doctor was sent for, the account in the Biographia is manifestly false; for if the doctor had been sent for only two hours before the queen's death, which happened incontestibly on the first of August, Mr. Ford could not have mentioned the fact on the 31st of July, when his letter was dated. Whether Radcliffe was sent for by lady Masham, or by order of council, is therefore the only point to be determined. That he was generally reported to have been sent for by order of council, is certain; but a letter is printed in the Biographia, said to have been written by the doctor to one of his friends, which, supposing it to be genuine, will prove, that the doctor maintained the contrary. On the fifth of August, four days after the queen's death, a member of the house of commons, a friend of the doctors, who was also a member, and one who always voted on the same side, moved, that he might be summoned to attend in his place, in order to be censured for not attending on her majesty. Upon this occasion the doctor is said to have written the following letter to another of his friends:
"DEAR SIR,CARSHALTON, AUG. 7, 1714.
I COULD not have thought, that so old an acquaintance, and so good a friend, as sir John always professed himself, would have
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made
