[Sir Henry Halford and Sir Matthew John Tierney, royal physicians.] Autograph Note Signed by the two men, announcing that George IV 'is not able to receive company at the Drawing Room' due to 'an attack of the Gout'.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with strip of paper from mount on reverse, which also has another strip of paper strengthening a crease. The document is written out by Halford, with Tierney signing beneath his signature. A general announcement, with no recipient named. Reads: 'The King is not able to receive company at the Drawing Room to day – His Majesty having experienced an attack of the Gout in the night. | Carlton Palace | April 23. 1823 - | Henry Halford | Matthew John Tierney'. George IV was much ridiculed for his excesses, and his gout was the subject of several caricatures. He weighed 24 stone on his death, and special arrangements had to be made for his coffin and its supports. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.