Page:Father's memoirs of his child.djvu/203

 complaint. I am the more minute in detailing his early treatment, in consequence of a circumstance, hereafter to be mentioned.

Towards the latter end of the week, and on Sunday and Monday, the eleventh and twelfth, we flattered ourselves that he was gaining ground. His pulse was less frequent; his mind became perfectly composed, and the reasons for indulging the expectation of his approaching convalescence, appeared gradually to gain force and probability. The natural propensity to cherish pleasing illusions, especially in the uncertain prospect of life or death, more frequently gives birth to the aggravated disappointment of the inevitable close, than any real change in the condition of the sufferer. But in the present case, there was a decisive and evident amendment, though its continuance was but for a few days.

On Thursday, the fifteenth, he became much worse; and complained of great pain in his left arm, which afterwards extended