Anne with Louis XIV., the soldiers and seamen were sometimes unpaid for
years, from lack of funds. Tickets were given them, and they were
willing to sell these at whatever price they would bring. Mr. Guy bought
largely from the seamen, and has been blamed for so doing; but his
latest biographers, Messrs. Wilks and Bettany, in their interesting and
valuable "Biographical History of Guy's Hospital," think he did it with
a spirit of kindness rather than of avarice. "It is at least consistent
with his general philanthropy to suppose that, compassionating the poor
seamen who could not get their money, he offered them more than they
could get elsewhere, and that this accounts for his being so large a
purchaser of seamen's tickets. Instead of being to his discredit, we
think rather that it is to his credit, and that he managed to benefit a
large number of necessitous men, while at the same time, in the future,
benefiting himself."
Mr. Guy also made a great amount of money in the South Sea Company. With
regard to the South Sea stock, says the _Saturday Magazine_, "Mr. Guy
had no hand in framing or conducting that scandalous fraud; he obtained
the stock when low, and had the good sense to sell it at the time it was
at its height."
Chambers's "Book of Days" gives a very interesting account of this
"South Sea Bubble." Harley, Earl of Oxford, who had helped Queen Anne to
get rid of her advisers, the Duke of Marlborough and the proud Duchess,
Sarah, with a desire to "restore public credit, and discharge ten
millions of the floating debt, agreed with a company of merchants that
they should take the debt upon themselves for a certain time, at the
interest of six per cent, to provide for which, amounting to £600,000
per annum, the duties for certain articles were rendered permanent. At
the same time was granted the monopoly of trade to the South Seas, and
the merchants were incorporated as the South Sea Company; and so proud
was the minister of his scheme that it was called by his flatterers,
'The Earl of Oxford's Masterpiece.'"
The South Sea Company, after a time, agreed to take upon themselves the
whole of the national debt, £30,981,712, about $150,000,000. Sir John
Blount, a speculator, first propounded the scheme. It was rumored that
Spain, by treaty with England, would grant free trade to all her
colonies, and that silver would thus be brought from Potosi, and become
as plentiful as iron; and that Mexico would part with gold in abundance
for English cotton and woollen goods. It was also said that Spain, in
exchange for Gibraltar and Port Mahon, would give up places on the coast
of Peru. It was promised that each person who took £100 of stock would
make fifty per cent, and probably much more. Mr. Guy took £45,500 of
stock, probably the amount which the government owed him for seamen's
tickets. Others who had claims "were empowered to subscribe the several
sums due to them ... for which he and the rest of the subscribers were
to receive an annual interest of six per cent upon their respective
subscriptions, until the same were discharged by Parliament."
The speculating mania spread widely. Great ladies pawned their jewels
in order to invest. Lords were eager to double and treble their money. A
journalist of the time writes: "The South Sea equipages increase daily;
the city ladies buy South Sea jewels, hire South Sea maids, take new
country South Sea houses; the gentlemen set up South Sea coaches, and
buy South Sea estates."
The people seemed wild with speculation. All sorts of companies were
established; one with ten million dollars capital to import walnut-trees
from Virginia; one with five million dollars capital for a "wheel for
perpetual motion." An unknown adventurer started "a company for carrying
on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is."
Next morning this great man opened an office in Cornhill, and before
three o'clock one thousand shares had been subscribed for at ten dollars
a share, and the deposits paid. He put the ten thousand dollars in his
pocket, set off the same evening for the Continent, and was never heard
of again. He had assured them that nobody would know what the
undertaking was, and he had kept his word.
The South Sea stock rose in one day from 130 per cent to 300, and
finally to 1,000 per cent. It then became known that Sir John Blount,
the chairman, and some others had sold out, making vast fortunes. The
price of stock began to fall, and at last the crisis brought ruin to
thousands. The poet Gay, who had been given £20,000 of stock, and had
thought himself rich, lost all, and was so ill in consequence that his
life was in danger. Some men committed suicide on account of their
losses, and some became insane. Prior said, "I am lost in the South Sea.
The roaring of the waves and the madness of the people are justly put
together." The people were now as wild with anger as they had been
intoxicated with hope for gain. They demanded redress, and the
punishment of the directors of the South Sea Company. Men high in
position were thrown into the Tower after it was found that the books of
the company had been tampered with or destroyed, and large amounts of
stock used to bribe men in office. The directors were fined over ten
million dollars, and their fortunes distributed among the sufferers. Sir
John Blount was allowed but £5,000 out of a fortune of £183,000. The
fortune of another, a million and a half pounds, was given to the
losers. One man was treated with especial severity because he was
reported to have said that "he would feed his carriage horses off gold."
Mr. Guy, fearing that there was trickery when the stock rose so rapidly,
sold out when the prices were from three to six hundred, and thereby
saved himself from financial ruin. He was now very rich, having always
lived economically. When he was a bookseller it is said that he always
ate his dinner on his counter, using a newspaper for a tablecloth.
The following story is told by Walter Thornbury in his "Old and New
London:"--
"'Vulture' Hopkins, so called from his alleged desire to seize upon
gains, and who had become rich in South Sea stock, once called upon Mr.
Guy to learn a lesson, as he said, in the art of saving. Being
introduced into the parlor, Guy, not knowing his visitor, lighted a
candle; but when Hopkins said, 'Sir, I always thought myself perfect in
the art of getting and husbanding money, but being informed that you far
exceed me, I have taken the liberty of waiting upon you to be satisfied
on this subject.' Guy replied, 'If that is all your business, we can as
well talk it over in the dark,' and immediately put out the candle. This
was evidence sufficient for Hopkins, who acknowledged Guy to be his
master, and took his leave."
Notwithstanding Mr. Guy's penuriousness, he had the grace of gratitude.
Thousands forget their helpers after prosperity comes to them. Not so
Thomas Guy. The _Saturday Magazine_ for Aug. 2, 1834, relates this
incident: "The munificent founder of Guy's Hospital was a man of very
humble appearance, and of a melancholy cast of countenance. One day,
while pensively leaning over one of the bridges, he attracted the
attention and commiseration of a bystander, who, apprehensive that he
meditated self-destruction, could not refrain from addressing him with
an earnest entreaty not to let his misfortunes tempt him to commit any
rash act; then, placing in his hand a guinea, with the delicacy of
genuine benevolence he hastily withdrew.
"Guy, roused from his revery, followed the stranger, and warmly
expressed his gratitude, but assured him that he was mistaken in
supposing him to be either in distress of mind or of circumstances,
making an earnest request to be favored with the name of the good man,
his intended benefactor. The address was given, and they parted. Some
years later Guy, observing the name of his friend in the bankrupt list,
hastened to his house, brought to his recollection their former
interview; found upon investigation that no blame could be attached to
him under his misfortunes; intimated his ability and also his intention
to serve him; entered into immediate arrangements with his creditors;
and finally re-established him in a business which ever after prospered
in his hands, and in the hands of his children's children, for many
years in Newgate Street."
Those who knew Mr. Guy best declared that "his chief design in getting
money seems to have been with a view of employing the same in good
works." He gave five guineas to Mr. Bowyer, a printer, who had lost
everything by fire, "not knowing," said Mr. Guy, "how soon it may be our
own case." He also gave in 1717 to the Stationer's Company £1,000, to be
distributed to poor members and widows at the rate of £50 per annum.
"Many of his poor though distant relations had stated allowances from
him of £10 or £20 a year, and occasionally larger sums; and to two of
them he gave £500 apiece to advance them in the world. He has several
times given £50 for discharging insolvent debtors. He has readily given
£100 at a time on application to him on behalf of a distressed family."
In 1704 Mr. Guy was asked to become the governor of St. Thomas's
Hospital, partly because he was a prominent and able citizen, and partly
because he might thus become interested and give some money. Mr. Guy
accepted the office, and soon built three new wards at a cost of £1,000,
and provided the hospital with £100 a year for the benefit of its poor.
When patients left the hospital they were often unfit for work, and this
money would provide food for them for a time. He had given already to
the steward money and clothes for such cases of need. He also built, in
1724, a new entrance to St. Thomas's Hospital, improved the front, and
erected two large brick houses, these works costing him £3,000.
Mr. Guy seems to have given constantly from his youth, and always with
good sense in his gifts. He was growing old. He probably had meditated
long and carefully as to what use he should put his wealth. Highmore, in
his "History of the Public Charities of London," tells this rather
improbable story: "For the application of this fortune to charitable
uses the public are indebted to a trifling circumstance. He employed a
female servant whom he had agreed to marry. Some days previous to the
intended ceremony he had ordered the pavement before his door to be
mended up to a particular stone which he had marked, and then left his
house on business.
"The servant, in his absence, looking at the workmen, saw a broken stone
beyond this mark which they had not repaired; and on pointing to it with
that design, they acquainted her that Mr. Guy had not ordered them to go
so far. She, however, directed it to be done, adding, with the security
incidental to her expectation of soon becoming his wife, 'Tell him I
bade you, and he will not be angry.' But she soon learnt how fatal it is
for one in a dependent position to exceed the limits of his or her
authority; for her master, on his return, was angered that they had gone
beyond his orders, renounced his engagement to his servant, and devoted
his ample fortune to public charity."
In 1721, when Mr. Guy was seventy-six years of age, he leased a large
piece of ground of St. Thomas's Hospital for a thousand years at £30 a
year, to erect upon it a great hospital for incurables; "to receive and
entertain therein four hundred poor persons, or upwards, laboring under
any distempers, infirmities, or disorders, thought capable of relief by
physic or surgery; but who, by reason of the small hopes there may be of
their cure, or the length of time which for that purpose may be required
or thought necessary, are or may be adjudged or called incurable, and as
such not proper subjects to be received into or continued in the present
hospital, in and by which no provision has been made for distempers
deemed or called incurable."
While Mr. Guy had primarily in mind the poor and incurable, and the
insane as well, in his will he directed the trustees to use their
judgment about the length of time patients should remain, either for
life or for a short period. Mr. Guy at once procured a plan for his
hospital, and in the spring of 1722 laid the foundations. He went to the
work "with all the expedition of a youth of fortune erecting a house for
his own residence." The original central building of stone cost £18,793.
The eastern wing, begun in 1738, was completed at a cost of £9,300; the
western wing, in 1780, at a cost of £14,537.
Mr. Guy lived to see his treasured gift roofed in before his death,
which occurred Dec. 27, 1724, in his eightieth year. In a little more
than a week afterwards, Jan. 6, 1725, his hospital was opened, and sixty
patients were admitted.
After the death of Mr. Guy one thousand guineas were found in his iron
chest; and as it was imagined that these were placed there to defray
his funeral expenses, they were used for that purpose. His body lay in
state at Mercer's Hall, Cheapside, and was taken with "great funeral
pomp" to the Parish Church of St. Thomas, Southwark, to rest there till
the chapel at the hospital should be completed. Two hundred blue-coat
boys from Christ's Hospital walked in the procession, and sang before
the hearse, which was followed by forty coaches, each drawn by six
horses.
Mr. Guy had not forgotten these "blue-coat boys" in his will, and left a
perpetual annuity of £400 to educate four children yearly, with
preference for his own relatives. The boys from Christ's Hospital always
interest tourists in London. They wear long blue gowns, yellow
stockings, and knee-breeches. No cover is worn on their heads, even in
winter.
This school was founded by the boy king, Edward VI., for poor boys,
though his father, Henry VIII., gave the building, which belonged to the
Grey Friars, to the city of London, but Edward caused the school to be
established. It is a quaint and most interesting spot, where four queens
and scores of lords and ladies are buried,--Margaret, second wife of
Edward I.; Isabella, the infamous wife of Edward II.; Joan, daughter of
Edward II., and wife of David Bruce, King of Scotland; and others.
Twelve hundred boys study at the hospital. Lamb, Coleridge, and other
famous men were among the blue-coats. The latter tells some interesting
things about the school in his "Table-Talk." "The discipline at Christ's
Hospital in my time was ultra-Spartan; all domestic ties were to be put
aside. 'Boy!' I remember Boyer saying to me once when I was crying the
first day of my return after the holidays, 'boy! the school is your
father; boy! the school is your mother; boy! the school is your brother;
the school is your sister; the school is your first cousin, and your
second cousin, and all the rest of your relatives. Let's have no more
crying!'
"No tongue can express good Mrs. Boyer. Val Le Grice and I were once
going to be flogged for some domestic misdeed, and Boyer was thundering
away at us by way of prologue, when Mrs. B. looked in and said, 'Flog
them soundly, sir, I beg!' This saved us. Boyer was so nettled by the
interruption that he growled out, 'Away, woman! away!' and we were let
off."
While Mr. Guy remembered the blue-coat orphans, he seemed to have
remembered everybody else in his will. So much were the people
interested in the lengthy document with its numerous gifts, that the
will went through three editions the first year of its publication. Mr.
Guy gave to every living relative, even to distant cousins--in all over
£75,000. These were mainly gifts of £1,000 each at four per cent, so
that each one received £40 a year. These legacies were called "Guy's
Thousands." If the recipients were under age, the interest was to be
used for his or her education and apprenticeship.
One thousand pounds were given for the release of poor prisoners for
debt in London, Middlesex, or Surrey, in sums not to exceed five pounds
each. About six hundred persons were thus set at liberty. Another
thousand pounds were left to the trustees to relieve "such poor people,
being housekeepers, as in their judgments shall be thought convenient."
The interest on more than £2,000 was left for "putting out children
apprentices, nursing, or such like charitable deed."
Then followed the great gift of nearly a million and a half dollars for
the hospital. After the buildings were erected, the remainder was to be
used "in the purchase of lands or reversions in fee simple, so that the
rents might be a perpetual provision for the sick." Considerably over a
million dollars were thus expended in purchasing over 8,000 acres in
Essex, a large estate of the Duke of Chandos, for £60,800, and other
tracts of land and houses.
About six years after the death of the founder, a bronze statue of him
by Scheymaker was erected in the open square in front of the hospital,
costing five hundred guineas. On the pedestal are representations of the
Good Samaritan, Christ healing the sick, and Mr. Guy's armorial
bearings. In the chapel a marble statue of Mr. Guy, costing £1,000, was
erected by Mr. Bacon in 1779. The founder is represented as holding out
one hand to raise a poor invalid lying on the earth, and pointing with
the other hand to a person carried on a litter into one of the hospital
wards. On the pedestal is an inscription beginning with these words,--
UNDERNEATH ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF
THOMAS GUY,
CITIZEN OF LONDON, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, AND THE SOLE
FOUNDER OF THIS HOSPITAL IN HIS LIFETIME.
In 1788 the noble John Howard visited Guy's Hospital; and while he found
some of the wards too low, being only nine feet and a half high, in the
new wards he praised the iron bedsteads and hair beds as being clean
and wholesome.
For over one hundred and seventy years Guy's Hospital has done its noble
work. Departments have been added for special treatment of the eye, the
ear, the teeth, the throat, etc., while thousands of mothers are cared
for at their homes at the birth of their children.
In 1829, at his death, another governor of Guy's Hospital, Mr. William
Hunt, left £180,000 to the hospital. He was buried in the vault under
the chapel by the side of Thomas Guy. After some years, Hunt's House, a
large central block, with north and south wings of brick with stone
facings, was erected, the whole costing nearly £70,000. From time to
time other needed buildings have been added, such as laboratories,
museums, etc. There are now in the hospital over seven hundred beds.
Only a few beds are reserved for those who can afford to pay; with this
exception patients are admitted to all parts of the hospital free of
charge. "The Royal Guide to London Charities," compiled by Herbert Fry,
says, "No recommendation is needed for admission to this hospital.
Sickness allied to poverty is an all-sufficient qualification." A fund
has been established for relieving the families of deserving and poor
patients while they are in the hospital. This is not only a blessing to
the dependent ones, but prevents the anxiety and worry of the suffering
inmates.
Guy's Hospital now receives into its wards yearly over 6,000 patients,
and affords medical relief to about 70,000. The annual income of the
hospital is about £40,000. Saving, industrious Thomas Guy wrought even
better things for humanity than he could have hoped. It paid him to use
a newspaper on his counter instead of a tablecloth for his meals, if
every year thousands of poor men and women could be cared for in
sickness without money, walk about his pleasant six acres during
convalescence, and bless forever the name of Thomas Guy. What a contrast
such a life to that of one who spends his wealth in fine houses,
parties, expensive yachts, and self-indulgence!
In 1825 Guy's Medical School was opened in connection with the hospital,
and has proved a great success. "It has become world-famed," write
Messrs. Wilks and Bettany, "and has received pupils from all
English-speaking lands, and not a few foreigners." Of Guy's Hospital
Reports which began to be published in 1836, they say, "Nothing,
perhaps, has done more to establish the reputation of Guy's Hospital
abroad than these Reports. They may be found in the best libraries in
Europe and in America, and have been well perused by many of the leading
men on the Continent."
Those who wish to study medicine at Guy's have to pass a preliminary
examination in arts, and take a five years' course. During four years
"the time is equally divided between the study of the elements of
medical science and clinical instruction in the practice of the
profession." The last year is chiefly devoted to hospital practice. With
this amount of study it is easily seen why Guy's Medical School takes
high rank.
On March 26, 1890, a college built of red brick was formally opened by
Mr. Gladstone. It cost £21,000, and is for the resident staff and
students. A gymnasium was built also in 1890.
Guy's Hospital has been fortunate in the noted men who have been
connected with it. One of its early surgeons, John Belchier, lies buried
in the same vault with Thomas Guy. He fell in his office; and his
servant, not being able to lift him, as he was a heavy man, offered to
go for assistance. "No, John, I am dying," he said. "Fetch me a pillow;
I may as well die here as anywhere else." It is related of him that,
seeing the vanity of all earthly riches, he desired to be buried in the
hospital, with iron nails in his coffin, which was to be filled with
sawdust.
The learned Dr. Walter Moxon, who has been called from his combination
of tenderness and ability "the perfect physician," was associated with
Guy's Hospital for twenty years. Dr. Wilks says, in the garden of Dr.
Moxon, "In the winter lumps of suet and cocoanut sawn in rings were hung
upon the arches and boughs for the benefit of the tits, and loaves of
bread were broken up for the blackbirds, thrushes, finches, and
sparrows. Always before taking his own breakfast on a winter's morning,
Moxon first saw to the feeding of his feathered friends."
Dr. Richard Bright, whose name is given to the disease which he so
carefully studied, was for years connected with Guy's Hospital. He wrote
valuable books, and was an untiring student. "He was sincerely
religious, both in doctrine and in practice, and of so pure a mind that
he never was heard to utter a sentiment or to relate an anecdote that
was not fit to be heard by the merest child or the most refined woman."
Sir Astley Paston Cooper was associated with Guy's for twenty-five
years. His father was a clergyman, and his mother an author. It is said
that he was first attracted towards surgery by an accident to one of
his foster-brothers. The youth fell from a heavy wagon, the wheels of
which passed over his body, tearing the flesh from the thigh and
injuring an artery, from which the blood flowed freely. Nobody seemed to
know how to stop the blood, when Astley, a boy scarcely more than
twelve, took out his handkerchief, and tied it tightly around the thigh
and above the wound, thus staying the blood till a surgeon could be
brought. Sir Astley used to say this accident, which resulted so well,
created in his mind a love for surgery. His uncle, William Cooper, was a
surgeon at Guy's, and encouraged his nephew's inclination for the
medical profession. At twenty-three Sir Astley married a lady of wealth,
lecturing on surgery on the evening of his wedding-day without any of
the pupils being aware of his marriage. The first year of his practice
he received £5 5_s._; the second year, £26; the third year, £54; the
fourth year, £96; the fifth year, £100; the sixth year, £200; the
seventh, £400; the eighth, £610; the ninth, £1,100. When he was in the
zenith of his fame he received £21,000 in one year. One merchant paid
him £600 yearly. For a successful operation he was sometimes paid one
thousand guineas. Each year he is said to have given £2,000 or £3,000 to
poor relations.
"In his busy years," writes Dr. Samuel Wilks, "he rose at six, dissected
privately until eight, and from half-past eight saw large numbers of
patients gratuitously. At breakfast he ate only two well-buttered hot
rolls, drank his tea cool, at a draught, read his paper a few minutes,
and then was off to his consulting-room, turning round with a sweet,
benign smile as he left the room." At one o'clock he would scarcely see
another patient. "Sometimes the people in the hall and the anteroom were
so importunate that Mr. Cooper was driven to escape through his stables
and into a passage by Bishopsgate Church. At Guy's he was awaited by a
crowd of pupils on the steps, and at once went into the wards,
addressing the patients with such tenderness of voice and expression
that he at once gained their confidence. His few pertinent questions and
quick diagnosis were of themselves remarkable, no less than the
judicious, calm manner in which he enforced the necessity for operations
when required."