IN WHICH THE DOCTOR LETS OUT SOME VERY NOVEL MODES OF MEDICAL TREATMENT,
WHICH ARE ATTENDED WITH THE GREATEST SUCCESS.
Such a change has taken place since I can first recollect Greenwich,
that it will be somewhat difficult for me to make the reader aware of my
localities. Narrow streets have been pulled down, handsome buildings
erected--new hotels in lieu of small inns--gay shops have now usurped
those which were furnished only with articles necessary for the outfit
of the seamen. Formerly, long stages, with a basket to hold six behind,
and dillies which plied at the Elephant and Castle, were the usual land
conveyances--now they have made place for railroads and omnibuses.
Formerly, the wherry conveyed the mariner and his wife, with his
sea-chest, down to the landing-place--now steamboats pour out their
hundreds at a trip. Even the view from Greenwich is much changed, here
and there broken in upon by the high towers for shot and other
manufactories, or some large building which rises boldly in the
distance; while the Dreadnought's splendid frame fills up half the
river, and she that was used to deal out death and destruction with her
terrible rows of teeth, is now dedicated by humanity to succour and
relieve.
I mention this, because the house in which Dr Tadpole formerly lived no
longer exists; and I wish particularly to describe it to the reader.
When I left Greenwich in 1817 or 1818, it was still standing, although
certainly in a very dilapidated state. I will, however, give a slight
sketch, of it, as it is deeply impressed on my memory.
It was a tall narrow building of dark red brick, much ornamented, and
probably built in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It had two benches on
each side the door; for, previous to Tadpole's taking possession of it,
it had been an alehouse, and much frequented by seamen. The doctor had
not removed these benches, as they were convenient, when the weather was
fine, for those who waited for medicine or advice; and moreover, being a
jocular sociable man, he liked people to sit down there, and would often
converse with them. Indeed, this assisted much to bring him into
notice, and made him so well known among the humbler classes, that none
of them, if they required medicine or advice, ever thought of going to
any one but Dr Tadpole: He was very liberal and kind, and I believe
there was hardly a poor person in the town who was not in his debt, for
he never troubled them much about payment. He had some little property
of his own, or he never could have carried on such a losing concern as
his business really must have been to him. In early life he had been a
surgeon in the navy, and was said, and I believe with justice, to be
very clever in his profession. In defending himself against some act of
oppression on the part of his captain--for in those times the service
was very different to what it is now--he had incurred the displeasure of
the Navy Board, and had left the service. His enemies (for even the
doctor had his enemies) asserted that he was turned out of the service;
his friends, that he left the service in disgust; after all, a matter of
little consequence. The doctor is now gone, and has left behind him in
the town of Greenwich a character for charity and generosity of which no
one can deprive him. He was buried in Greenwich churchyard; and never
was there, perhaps, such a numerous procession as voluntarily followed
his remains to the grave. The poor fully paid him the debt of
gratitude, if they did not pay him their other debts; and when his will
was opened, it was found that he had released them all from the latter.
Peace be to him, and honour to his worth!
The shop of Doctor Tadpole was fitted up in a very curious manner, and
excited a great deal of admiration. During his service afloat he had
collected various objects of natural history, which he had set up or
prepared himself: the lower rows of bottles in the windows were full of
snakes, lizards, and other reptiles; the second tier of bottles in the
window were the same as are now generally seen--large globes containing
blue and yellow mixtures, with gold hieroglyphics outside of them; but
between each of these bottles was a stuffed animal of some kind,
generally a small monkey, or of that description. The third row of
bottles was the most incomprehensible: no one could tell what was in
them; and the doctor, when asked, would laugh and shake his head: this
made the women very curious. I believe they were chiefly preparations
of the stomach, and other portions of the interior of the animal frame;
but the doctor always said that it was his row of "secrets," and used to
amuse himself with evading the questions of the other sex. There were
some larger specimens of natural history suspended from the ceiling,
chiefly skulls and bones of animals; and on the shelves inside a great
variety of stones and pebbles and fragments of marble figures, which the
doctor had picked up, I believe, in the Mediterranean: altogether the
shop was a strange medley, and made people stare very much when they
came into it. The doctor kept an old woman to cook and clean the house,
and his boy Tom, whom I have already mentioned. Tom was a good-natured
lad, and, as his master said, very fond of liquorice; but the doctor
used to laugh at that (when Tom was not by), saying, "it's very true
that Tom cribs my _liquorice_; but I will say this for him, he is very
honest about _jalap_ and _rhubarb_, and I have never missed a grain."
Next door to the doctor lived another person, who kept a small
tobacconist's shop, which was a favourite resort of the pensioners and
other poor people. She was an Irishwoman, with a strong accent of her
country--a widow by her own account. Who her husband had been was not
satisfactorily known: if the question was put, she always evaded it as
much as possible. All she said was, that his name was St. Felix, and
that he had been of no profession. She was about twenty-two or
twenty-three, very handsome, and very pleasing in her manners, which was
perhaps one cause of the surmises and scandal which were continually
afloat. Some said that her husband was still alive; others, that he had
been transported for seven years; and many (and among them my mother)
declared that she could not produce her "marriage lines." Indeed, there
was no end to ill-natured reports, as always will be the case when men
are so unfortunate as to have a reputation, or women so unfortunate as
to be pretty. But the widow appeared to be indifferent to what people
said: she was always lively and cheerful, and a great favourite with the
men, whatever she may have been with the women. Doctor Tadpole had
courted her ever since she had settled at Greenwich: they were the best
of friends, but the doctor's suit did not appear to advance.
Nevertheless, the doctor seldom passed a day without paying her a visit,
and she was very gracious to him. Although she sold every variety of
tobacco, she would not permit people to smoke, and had no seats either
in the shop or at the door--but to this rule an exception was made in
favour of the doctor. He seldom failed to be there every evening; and,
although she would not allow him a chair, she permitted him to remain
standing at the counter and smoke his cigar while they conversed. It
was this indulgence which occasioned people to think that she would
marry the doctor; but at last they got tired of waiting, and it became a
sort of proverb in Fisher's Alley and its precincts, when things were
put off to an indefinite period, to say, "Yes, that will be done when
the widow marries the doctor."
One evening, Ben had sent me to fill his tobacco--box at Mrs St.
Felix's, and when I went in, I found the doctor in her shop.
"Well, Master Tom Saunders or Mr Poor Jack," said the widow, "what may
your pleasure be?"
"Pigtail," said I, putting down the penny.
"Is it for your father, Jack, for report tells me that he's in want of
it?"
"No," replied I, "it's for old Ben--father's a long way from this, I
expect."
"And do you intend to follow him, Jack? It's my opinion you'll be the
very revarse of a good sailor if you cruise bottom up as you did on your
first voyage."
"It's not the pleasantest way of sailing, is it, Jack?" observed the
doctor.
"Not in winter-time," replied I.
The widow measured the length of the pigtail, as milliners do tape, from
the tip of the finger to the knuckle, and cut it off.
"And now will you oblige me with a cigar?" said the doctor. "I think
this is the sixth, is it not, Mrs St. Felix? so here's my shilling."
"Really, doctor, if it were not that the wry faces I make at physic
would spoil my beauty, I'm almost in honour bound to send for something
to take out of your shop, just by the way of return for your patronage."
"I trust you will never require it, Mrs St. Felix. I've no objection
to your sending for anything you please, but don't take physic."
"Well, my girl Jane shall have a dose, I declare, she is getting so fat
and lumpy. Only don't let it be laudanum, doctor, she's so
sleepy-headed already. I told her this morning that she was looking
pale, just by way of preparing her."
"Mrs St. Felix, you must excuse me, but you've no right to interfere
with my practice. I prescribe physic when I think it necessary, and
Jane is perfectly well at present, and shall not have any."
"And you've no right to interfere with my household, doctor. If I
choose, I'll physic Jane, and the dog, and the cat, and the kitten,
which I reckon to be the whole of my establishment, all four of them on
the same day. Tell me, doctor, how much ipecacuanha will make a kitten
sick?"
"Mrs St. Felix, I am not a veterinary surgeon, and therefore cannot
answer."
"Veterinary! Well, I thought they only doctored horses."
"I beg your pardon, their practice extends further, as I can prove to
you. I was once at the establishment of one in London, and I observed
in a large room about a dozen little lap-dogs all tied up with strings.
The poor little unwieldy waddling things were sent to him because they
were asthmatic, and I don't know what all; and how do you think he cured
them?"
"It's for me to ask that question, doctor."
"Well, then, he told me his secret. He tied them all up, and gave them
nothing to eat, only water to drink; and in three weeks they were
returned in as beautiful condition, and as frisky as young kids.
Nothing but diet, Mrs St. Felix."
"I should rather think it was no diet, doctor. Well, I do declare, I'll
tie up Jane for three weeks, and see if nothing but water will cure her
complaints. Well, Mr Jack, why don't you take the tobacco to Ben?"
"Oh! he's in at supper now; there's no hurry," replied I; "and I like to
hear you talk."
"Well, there'll be less scandal in your remaining to hear us than there
would be if we sent you away, anyhow. How's little Miss Virginia,
sister to Poor Jack?"
"She's quite well, and wants to come and see you, only mother won't let
her."
"Many thanks to your sister for her compliment; and not forgetting your
mother for hers, also. So your mother has given up `making _tay_ on
reasonable terms'?"
"'Cause people wouldn't come."
"And that is a sufficient reason, even if she had not another; which is,
that she's never out of hot water without boiling more. Doctor, you're
as mute as a fish. You told me how to cure Jane and the dogs, now tell
me what's the dose for a cat and a kitten?"
"A ha'p'orth of liver, cut into small pieces."
"There'll be no difficulty in getting that down their throats, anyhow."
"Talking about liver, Mrs St. Felix, I once knew a friend of mine who
cured some geese of a liver complaint."
"Had they been long in the East Indies, poor creatures?"
"No, but they had been in a very hot climate. You see, he was over in
France during the last peace, and he went to the baths at Montpellier
for the benefit of his health. He lodged with an old Frenchman. Now,
you see, Mrs St. Felix, in the south of France they have a custom of
making certain pies, which are much esteemed, and are called _pates de
foie gras_--that means livers of geese, in French."
"It don't sound much like livers in English, doctor; but never mind
that, go on with your story."
"Here's a customer, Mrs St. Felix; serve him first, and then I will go
on with my story."
An old pensioner came in, and laying the coppers on the counter, asked
for a ha'p'orth of returns and a farthing of snuff.
"That's a large ready money order, doctor," said the widow, as the man
left the shop. "Ain't I making my fortune? Now go on; I'm as eager
about the liver as my own cat."
"Well, the great object is to increase the size of the geese's livers,
that is, to bring on a regular liver complaint; and, to effect this they
put the poor animals in a hot closet next the kitchen fire, cram the
food into their mouths through a funnel, and give them plenty of water
to drink. This produces the disease; and the livers of the geese, when
they are killed, very often weigh three or four pounds, while the
animals themselves are mere skeletons."
"And the French eat those liver complaints?" interrupted the widow,
making a face.
"Yes, they do, and are as fond of it as my boy Tom is of liquorice.
Well, this doctor, who is a friend of mine, quarrelled with his host,
who boasted of his geese having the largest livers in Montpellier, and
was very proud of it. My friend knew that he could not annoy him more
than by preventing his success; so, having a large quantity of
Cheltenham salts with him, he used every morning to put a quantity of
them in the water which the geese were given to drink. This had the
same effect upon them as it has upon men and women; and instead of
becoming more diseased every day, the geese recovered their health and
spirits. The Frenchman crammed and crammed, made his closet still
hotter, and _sacre bleu'd_, and actually tore his hair, because his
geese would be well and hearty; but, the more he tried to make them ill,
the more salts were given to them by the doctor, who gained his point
and his revenge."
"Well, that's a funny story, doctor; and since you know how to cure it,
the first time I meet with a sick goose I'll send him to you."
"Many thanks; but, as it is, there's plenty of geese to send for the
doctor."
"That's true enough. And now, Master Jack, you've had quite enough for
your penny and I won't allow Ben to be kept waiting any longer."
"You are not going to tell any more stories, doctor?" said I.
"Why, you mud-larking vagabond, you don't mean to say that I've told
stories? Be off with you! And, I say, as you pass round the corner,
just tell Tom that I'm coming home directly."
"Won't that be a story, doctor?" said I, as I went out of the door. I
heard them both laugh, but I did not hear what they said.