ther hand, the English people had hardly learned to appreciate
the important place filled by the Prince of Wales in the community, in
the daily life of the nation, in the hopes of his future subjects, and
deep down in the hearts of the masses. Something was apparently needed
to develop those two lines of feeling--one personal and the other
national--and this came in the illness which struck down the Prince in
the closing months of 1871. During the Autumn he had paid a visit to
Lord Londesborough at Scarborough, and, although not feeling well,
nothing was supposed to be seriously wrong. From there the Prince had
gone to stay with Lord Carington at Gayhurst and thence returned to
Sandringham where he became decidedly ill. The _Times_ of November 22nd
was compelled to state that His Royal Highness was suffering from "a
chill resulting in a febrile attack" which had confined him to his room.
On the following day a bulletin signed by Doctors Jenner, Clayton, Gull
and Lowe stated that the Prince was suffering from typhoid.

ORIGIN OF THE ILLNESS

Amid the anxiety caused by this announcement every one wondered where
the disease had been contracted, and ere long it was known that all the
guests of Lord Londesborough at the time of the Royal visit had become
more or less indisposed; that the hostess herself was seriously ill;
that the Earl of Chesterfield, one of the recent guests, was down with
typhoid and, finally that Blegg, the Prince's groom, had caught the same
disease. Ultimately both peer and peasant died, and the seriousness of
their illness as it developed in the public eye added to the gradually
growing excitement over the condition of the Heir-Apparent.

The growth of popular feeling in the matter was evidently deep and
serious. Bulletins stating that the symptoms of the fever were severe
but regular continued for a time amid ever-increasing manifestations of
interest and, as the weeks passed slowly by and the Queen had gone to
the bedside of her son and something of the devotion of his wife to the
sick Prince became known, this feeling grew in volume. Meanwhile the
Princess Alice had also come to lend her brother the sympathetic touch
and knowledge of nursing for which she was so well known. For a brief
moment on December 1st, the patient roused from his delirium
sufficiently to remark that it was the birthday of the Princess, and for
a week thereafter the news of improvement in his condition was good.
Then came