their gratitude. His popularity was very great; his skill considered
marvellous; and his inability to do ME any good arose, I must
perforce imagine, out of some defect or hidden obstinacy in my
constitution, which was to him a new experience, and for which he
was unprepared. Poor Dr. R----! How many bottles of your tastily
prepared and expensive medicines have I not swallowed, in blind
confidence and blinder ignorance of the offences I thus committed
against all the principles of that Nature within me, which, if left
to itself, always heroically struggles to recover its own proper
balance and effect its own cure; but which, if subjected to the
experimental tests of various poisons or drugs, often loses strength
in the unnatural contest and sinks exhausted, perhaps never to rise
with actual vigour again. Baffled in his attempts to remedy my
ailments, Dr, R----at last resorted to the usual plan adopted by all
physicians when their medicines have no power. He recommended change
of air and scene, and urged my leaving London, then dark with the
fogs of a dreary winter, for the gaiety and sunshine and roses of
the Riviera. The idea was not unpleasant to me, and I determined to
take the advice proffered. Hearing of my intention, some American
friends of mine, Colonel Everard and his charming young wife,
decided to accompany me, sharing with me the expenses of the journey
and hotel accommodation. We left London all together on a damp foggy
evening, when the cold was so intense that it seemed to bite the
flesh like the sharp teeth of an animal, and after two days' rapid
journey, during which I felt my spirits gradually rising, and my
gloomy forebodings vanishing slowly one by one, we arrived at
Cannes, and put up at the Hotel de L----. It was a lovely place, and
most beautifully situated; the garden was a perfect wilderness of
roses in full bloom, and an avenue of orange-trees beginning to
flower cast a delicate fragrance on the warm delicious air.