Volume 1

The memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans : recollections of the second French empire / edited by Edward A. Crane, M. D.

  • Thomas W. Evans
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans : recollections of the second French empire / edited by Edward A. Crane, M. D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    palace, if convenient, as he had need of his services. It so happened, when the message came, that Dr. Brewster was ill and unable to respond to this call himself. It fell to me, therefore, by good fortune, to take his place professionally, and to visit the Prince. And there it was, at the Elys^e, that I first saw him. He received me very kindly, without the least intimation that he had expected to see some one else, so that I soon felt entirely at my ease. I found that a slight operation was necessary, which, when made, gave him great relief. On my leaving, the Prince thanked me most cordially, commending me for the “ gentleness ” of my manner of operating, and ex- pressed a wish to see me the next day. I then saw him again, professionally ; and, from that time, up to the day of his death, I visited him often—sometimes as often as twice a week ; for the relations between us were not entirely of a professional nature, having very soon become friendly, and confidential even. During his residence at the Elysde, I was, on several occasions, invited to come in the evening and take tea with him, and some of his intimate associates, at a house in the Rue du Cirque, where he was a frequent visitor. This house, in which Madame H lived, was to him easy of access—a gate in the wall, en- closing the garden of the palace, opening on the street close to the house. There, free from the restraint of official surroundings, the Prince-President loved to take a cup of tea, or to sit during the whole, evening sipping a cup of coffee, or smoking a cigarette, his black dog, a great favourite with him, sometimes at his feet and sometimes on his knee.
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