Lady Flora Hastings. The court doctor dissected; with observations on the statements of Ladies Portman and Tavistock / By John Fisher Murray.

  • John Murray
Date:
[1839]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lady Flora Hastings. The court doctor dissected; with observations on the statements of Ladies Portman and Tavistock / By John Fisher Murray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Qneen, as in common decency, ought to have com- s manded denial or dismissal. II. The Ladies Portman and Tavistock, the consti- tutionally responsible, (as they style themselves,) Ladies of the Bedchamber; of whom being—as they tell us they are, constitutionally responsible there can be no impropriety in speaking publicly—these Ladies, the prompt dispersers of the slanderous lie, are Ladies in waiting as before. III. The tool of the Ladies in waiting, Sir James Clark, is Physician in ordinary as usual—or at least retains the outward and visible signs of basking in the Royal favour, and this is the worst feature in the courtly case. Before I proceed to notice the statement of the C ourt Physician, [that I should have still to call him so,] it will be as well to notice the position in which Lady Tavistock and Lady Portman must, until they give up the original contriver of the lie, hold with regard to this transaction. I will notice only the statements of their conduct given under their own hands, omitting for the present all inferences founded on the complaints of the Lady Flora Hastings. 44 When I went to Buckingham Palace,” (says Lady Tavistock), 44 at the end of January, to attend upon the Queen, I found strong suspicions of an unpleasant nature existing there with respect to Lady Flora’s state of health. It was considered necessary for the honour of her Majesty, and the character of the Household, that these suspicions should not be permitted to con¬ tinue and spread, without some step being taken to put a stop to them. 44 Observing the opinion in question was borne out