London was startled on Wednesday by rumours that Lord Beaconsfield
was seriously ill. They were officially denied, with a vehemence which made people think they might be true, and were repeated on Thursday morning, in the Standard, in a form which brought down a shower of telegrams upon Hughenden. There appears, however, to have been little, if any, truth in them. Lord Beaconsfield has bad an attack of gout, and has suffered, like everybody else, from the viciousness of the east wind, which on Wednesday and Thursday seemed to have made up its mind to kill everybody over sixty or with a weak place in his throat ; but he has recovered, and is no worse than usual after an attack. The Premier, like Lord Palmerston, was bred in the pr-scien- tific period, and either abstains from medical help, or calls in a homoeopathist.
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