| Description | I should have received Mr Boulton’s instructions to write to you on Sunday or yesterday could he have had an opportunity of communicating to me his wishes on this head: but the faculty considered it essentially necessary to lock his Chamber doors & exclude every one but themselves & proper attendants ‘till this morning when he was allowed to send for me, which was for the purpose of desiring me to report to you the state of his health. [How] happy should I be if I could with sincerity of heart say, that I think our venerable friend out of danger! But from the slight intermission of his symptoms & extreme debility we must not at present indulge that pleasing hope. I have, however, the satisfaction to say, that Mr Boulton’s pains are no so excruciating as they were when I wrote to you a few days ago, & though he has had a very restless & confused night arising from pain & laudanum he is this morning after employing successfully the evacuative process which is considered to produce the least irritation, very composed quite recollected & waiting with great firmness the further investigation which is to take place at one o’clock this day into the nature of his complaint.
The moment I know the result I shall feel it my duty to communicate to you. I hope it will not prove the most painful one I ever had to perform, in which sentiment I am confident that none of Mr Boulton’s own family will more sincerely concur than yourself & your good Ladies.
Miss Boulton’s anxiety has considerably deranged her health: she has been confined to her chamber for the last 2 days.
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