Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/296

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2G6 DEATH OF ESTCOUKT. chap. He said: — 'Do you not see the change in Lord '. — 'Raglan? 'Good God! he is a dying man.'* 111. Lord Raglan A fresh sorrow awaited the Chief. His Ad- iiy . the death jutaiit-General — Estcourt — a man greatly loved of General J O J Bstcourt by Lord Raglan, by all his friends at Head- quarters, and indeed by all who knew him, had been seized by Cholera on Thursday the 21st of June, and on the following Saturday, until even- ing came, he lay in a critical state ; though the able medical officer (Dr Eowle Smith) who had watched him with ceaseless care was entertaining strong hope that the remedies employed would bring on the reaction desired. Then, however, there broke from a summer sky, not observed to be angered before, the extraordinary thunder- storm of the 23d of June, carrying with it great torrents of rain ; t and the swift atmospherical change implied by an outburst so violent extin- guished at once every hope of bringing about a reaction in the state of the patient. Estcourt died the next morning. The grief of Lord Raglan was excessive, and his undermined bodily strength prevented him from keeping his feelings under rigid control. Some who knew what Lord Raglan suffered

  • I quote from memory of what the Colonel told me ; but —

having been much impressed — I can hardly be wrong as to the main purport of what is given in the text. t These by suddenly Qooding ravines caused, it seems, several deaths.