Queen Anne’s Physicians

Anne, who was Queen of England from 1702 to 1714, was not a woman of strong mind, and among other whimsies¹, she had that of frequently fancying herself indisposed, when no one else could discover that any thing ailed² her. One day, a fit of this sort seizing her, she sent in all haste for her physician, who was then Dr. Radcliffe, founder³ of the Radcliffe Library, Oxford⁴. This functionary⁵ replied that he would “be at St. James’ presently after.” But he not appearing so quickly as was desired, a second and a third messenger were sent after him in succession, whereat the Doctor, well acquainted with the princess (Anne was then Princess of Denmark only), asseverated⁶, in terms more energetic than courtly, that “her highness had nothing but the vapors⁷, that she was in as good a state of health as any woman breathing, could she but give into the belief of it.” This outrageous⁸ assertion so greatly offended the princess, that Dr. Radcliffe was[26] immediately superseded⁹, and Dr. Gibbons, his rival and antagonist¹⁰, appointed in his place.

It was not until the mortal illness of her husband, Prince George, awoke all the anxieties of the queen, that she consented once again to admit her offending servant to her presence; but the prince’s physicians all declaring that Dr. Radcliffe was the only person from whom help could be hoped for, her majesty¹¹ sent her own coach to bring him to court, and was pleased to tell him that “no favors or rewards should be thought too much, could he but remove the convulsions she was troubled with in the cure of those that were racking the prince.” But it was too late—neither had the Doctor yet learned to flatter. He assured her majesty that nothing but death could release his Royal Highness from the pangs¹² he suffered, and gave her further to understand, that there was nothing in the art of physic which could keep her consort¹³ in life more than six days from that period. The prince died accordingly, to the deep grief of the queen and her whole court.

The exact fulfillment of Radcliffe’s predictions as to the precise moment when his patients would cease to exist, was a subject of frequent surprise, and gave his contemporaries very exalted¹⁴ ideas of his knowledge. The Duchess of Marlborough, applying to him to go to Cambridge for the purpose of visiting her son, the[27] Marquis of Blandford, who had been improperly¹⁵ treated for the small-pox by the medical men in attendance, Radcliffe replied, with more bitterness against his blundering compeers, than sympathy for the suffering mother—“Madam, I shall only put you to expense for no purpose, for you can do nothing for his lordship now, but send down an undertaker to take care of a funeral, for I can assure your grace that he is dead even by this time, and that of a disease called doctor; but for which unfortunate malady¹⁶ he might have recovered well enough.” Nor were his conjectures¹⁷ unfounded, as was proved by the next messenger.

The death of Queen Anne was almost immediately followed by that of her physician, and this last is said to have been hastened by the vexation Dr. Radcliffe suffered from a report that he had refused to attend the queen in her last illness. It appears that he had never been sent for by the council and authorized¹⁸ attendants of her majesty, but that a message had been sent by Mrs. Masham two hours only before the queen’s death. Dr. Radcliffe had received constant reports of her majesty’s condition from his friend Dr. Mead¹⁹, and knew she was irrecoverable. “But had it not been so, the Doctor, says our authority, could not have attended through such an intimation.” By court etiquette²⁰ it would seem that he could not, but the common sense[28] view of the case would be, that the mere²¹ knowing her majesty to be ill was sufficient to warrant his attendance. Leaving these knotty²² points, however, we return to the fact, which was, that the Doctor’s life was so heavily embittered²³ by threatening letters and attacks of various kinds after the queen’s death, that he no longer durst stir out of his house, and could have no peace within it. This preyed²⁴ upon his health, already declining, and, “to conclude, this great and excellent man, who had made all manner of diseases fly before him, fell a victim to the ingratitude²⁵ of a thankless world, and the fury of the gout, on the 1st of November, 1714, the Feast of All Saints: on that day being numbered with the blessed spirits, among whom sits enthroned our late sovereign lady, whose decease has been so injuriously and falsely laid to his charge.”

1 whimsies   

n.怪念头( whimsy的名词复数 )；异想天开；怪脾气；与众不同的幽默感

参考例句：

2 ailed   

v.生病( ail的过去式和过去分词 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳

参考例句：

• Never in his life had Robin ailed before. 罗宾过去从未生过病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I wasn't in form, that's what ailed me.\" 我的竞技状态不佳，我输就输在这一点上。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 functionary   

n.官员；公职人员

参考例句：

• No functionary may support or cover up unfair competition acts.国家官员不得支持、包庇不正当竞争行为。
• " Emigrant," said the functionary,"I am going to send you on to Paris,under an escort."“ 外逃分子，”那官员说，“我要把你送到巴黎去，还派人护送。”

6 asseverated   

v.郑重声明，断言( asseverate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He asseverated that he had seen a flying saucer. 他坚持说，他看见了飞碟。 来自辞典例句

7 vapors   

n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气，变幻无常，捉摸不定。 来自辞典例句
• They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里，他们哭泣，他们精神忧郁。 来自辞典例句

8 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

9 superseded   

[医]被代替的，废弃的

参考例句：

• The theory has been superseded by more recent research. 这一理论已为新近的研究所取代。
• The use of machinery has superseded manual labour. 机器的使用已经取代了手工劳动。

10 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

11 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

12 pangs   

突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛

参考例句：

• She felt sudden pangs of regret. 她突然感到痛悔不已。
• With touching pathos he described the pangs of hunger. 他以极具感伤力的笔触描述了饥饿的痛苦。

13 consort   

v.相伴；结交

参考例句：

• They went in consort two or three together.他们三三两两结伴前往。
• The nurses are instructed not to consort with their patients.护士得到指示不得与病人交往。

14 exalted   

adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

参考例句：

• Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
• He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。

15 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

16 malady   

n.病，疾病(通常做比喻)

参考例句：

• There is no specific remedy for the malady.没有医治这种病的特效药。
• They are managing to control the malady into a small range.他们设法将疾病控制在小范围之内。

17 conjectures   

推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That's weighing remote military conjectures against the certain deaths of innocent people. 那不过是牵强附会的军事假设，而现在的事实却是无辜者正在惨遭杀害，这怎能同日而语！
• I was right in my conjectures. 我所猜测的都应验了。

18 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

19 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

20 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

21 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

22 knotty   

adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的

参考例句：

• Under his leadership,many knotty problems were smoothly solved.在他的领导下，许多伤脑筋的问题都迎刃而解。
• She met with a lot of knotty problems.她碰上了许多棘手的问题。

23 embittered   

v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• These injustices embittered her even more. 不公平使她更加受苦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The artist was embittered by public neglect. 大众的忽视于那位艺术家更加难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 preyed   

v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• Remorse preyed upon his mind. 悔恨使他内心痛苦。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He had been unwise and it preyed on his conscience. 他做得不太明智，这一直让他良心不安。 来自辞典例句

25 ingratitude   

n.忘恩负义

参考例句：

• Tim's parents were rather hurt by his ingratitude.蒂姆的父母对他的忘恩负义很痛心。
• His friends were shocked by his ingratitude to his parents.他对父母不孝，令他的朋友们大为吃惊。