The Prince of Wales, we deeply regret to record, met
on Monday with a very severe accident. His Royal Highness was leaving Waddesdon House, the residence of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, in Bucks, when he slipped on the staircase, and in the effort to recover himself injured his knee. He persisted, however, in returning to Marlborough House, where it was discovered that the knee-cap had been fractured, and that the regular swelling had set in. Until this swelling has been reduced the fracture cannot be fully examined, but the injury is known to be always serious. It does not threaten life unless fever supervenes, which is not usual, but when the sufferer is a mature man the difficulty of rejoining the two sides of the fracture is so great that the patient is some- times lame for life. With the first surgeons in the Empire to attend his Royal Highness, it is hoped that this calamity may be avoided, but the Prince is now a heavy man of fifty-six, and will, we fear, be subjected to close con- finement for many months. His courage is greatly in his favour ; but the Coburg constitution is not like that of the Guelphs, and there are reports, which appear to be confirmed by a decision from Lord Lister, the great antiseptic surgeon, that there will be difficulty in resorting to anmsthetics, with- out which the operation necessary for reuniting the parts of the fractured knee-cap will involve almost intolerable pain.
