Note 70 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
Mr. Adolphus, in the new edition of his History, says, “The malady with which his Majesty was afflicted, exhibited symptoms similar to those which, in 1788, and during the last years of his life, gave so much unhappiness to the nation. I did not mention the fact in former editions of this work, because I knew that the King and all who loved him were desirous that it should not be brought into notice. So anxious were they on this point, that Smollet having intimated it in his complete History of England, the text was revised in the general impression—a very few copies in the original form were disposed of, and they are now rare.” Adolphus, vol. i. p. 175.—E.