My heartfelt thanks:
To Deborah Alexander, MD, for helping me choose an appropriate illness for Lord Lincolnshire and spending much precious time describing all the pertinent details. (For anyone who may not know, dropsy is currently called edema and in Lord Lincolnshire's case was caused by heart failure.)
To Andrew Potter, research assistant at the Royal Academy Library, for the list of Academicians on the 1817 Selection Committee and historical information on the selection process.
To Devon Royal (best daughter in the world), for reading bunches of old Minerva Press novels and pulling out quotes for me.
To my Chase Family Readers’ Group, for their enthusiastic support.
And, once again, to my readers, because I do this for you.
Thank you, one and all!