WHOLESOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE VANITY OF FAME.
Whosoever shall address himself to write of matters of instruction, or
of any other argument of importance, it behoveth that before he enter
thereinto, he should resolutely determine with himself in what order
he will handle the same; so shall he best accomplish that he hath
undertaken, and inform the understanding, and help the memory of the
Reader.
GWILLIM'S DISPLAY OF HERALDRY.
Who was the Doctor?
We will begin with the persons for sundry reasons, general and
specific. Doth not the Latin grammar teach us so to do, wherein the
personal verbs come before the impersonal, and the _Propria quæ
maribus_ precede all other nouns? Moreover by replying to this
question all needful explanation as to time and place will naturally
and of necessity follow in due sequence.
Truly I will deliver and discourse
The sum of all.[1]
[Footnote 1: G. PEELE.]
Who was the Doctor?
Can it then be necessary to ask?—Alas the vanity of human fame! Vanity
of vanities, all is Vanity! “How few,” says Bishop Jeremy Taylor,
“have heard of the name of Veneatapadino Ragium! He imagined that
there was no man in the world that knew him not: how many men can tell
me, that he was the King of Narsinga?” When I mention Arba, who but
the practised textualist can call to mind that he was “a great man
among the Anakim,” that he was the father of Anak, and that from him
Kirjath-Arba took its name? A great man among the Giants of the earth,
the founder of a city, the father of Anak!—and now there remaineth
nothing more of him or his race than the bare mention of them in one
of the verses of one of the chapters of the Book of Joshua: except for
that only record it would not now be known that Arba had ever lived,
or that Hebron was originally called after his name. _Vanitas
Vanitatum! Omnia Vanitas._ An old woman in a village in the West of
England was told one day that the King of Prussia was dead, such a
report having arrived when the great Frederic was in the noon-day of
his glory. Old Mary lifted up her great slow eyes at the news, and
fixing them in the fullness of vacancy upon her informant, replied,
“is a! is a!—The Lord ha' marcy!—Well, well! The King of Prussia! And
who's he?”—The “Who's he” of this old woman might serve as text for a
notable sermon upon ambition. “Who's he” may now be asked of men
greater as soldiers in their day than Frederic, or Wellington; greater
as discoverers than Sir Isaac, or Sir Humphrey. Who built the
Pyramids? Who ate the first Oyster? _Vanitas Vanitatum! Omnia
Vanitas._
Why then doth flesh, a bubble-glass of breath,
Hunt after honour and advancement vain,
And rear a trophy for devouring Death,
With so great labour and long-lasting pain,
As if his days for ever should remain?
Sith all that in this world is great or gay,
Doth as a vapour vanish and decay.
Look back who list unto the former ages,
And call to count what is of them become;
Where be those learned wits and antique sages
Which of all wisdom knew the perfect sum?
Where those great warriors which did overcome
The world with conquest of their might and main,
And made one mear of the earth and of their reign?[2]
[Footnote 2: SPENSER.]
Who was the Doctor?
Oh that thou hadst known him, Reader! Then should I have answered the
question—if orally, by an emphasis upon the article,—_the_ Doctor; or
if in written words, THE DOCTOR—thus giving the word that capital
designation to which, as the head of his profession within his own
orbit, he was so justly entitled. But I am not writing to those only
who knew him, nor merely to the inhabitants of the West Riding, nor to
the present generation alone;—No! to all Yorkshire,—all England; all
the British Empire; all the countries wherein the English tongue is,
or shall be, spoken or understood; Yea to all places, and all times to
come. _Para todos_, as saith the famous Doctor Juan Perez de Montalvan
_Natural de Madrid_, which is, being interpreted, a Spanish
Cockney—_para todos; porque es un aparato de varias materias, donde el
Filosofo, el Cortesano, el Humanista, el Poeta, el Predicador, el
Teologo, el Soldado, el Devoto, el Jurisconsulto, el Matematico, el
Medico, el Soltero, el Casado, el Religioso, el Ministro, el Plebeyo,
el Señor, el Oficial, y el Entretenido, hallaran juntamente utilidad y
gusto, erudicion y divertimiento, doctrina y desahogo, recreo y
enseñanza, moralidad y alivio, ciencia y descanso, provecho y
passatiempo, alabanzas y reprehensiones, y ultimamente exemplos y
donaires, que sin ofender las costumbres delecten el animo, y sazonen
el entendimiento_.
Who was the Doctor?
* * * * *
The Doctor was Doctor Daniel Dove.