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* * * * *
NIMMO'S SERIES OF COMMONPLACE BOOKS.
CLERGYMEN AND DOCTORS.
CLERGYMEN AND DOCTORS:
Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches.
Edinburgh: W. P. Nimmo.
CLERGYMEN AND DOCTORS:
Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches.
[Illustration: decoration]
EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM P. NIMMO.
MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Abernethy and the Duke of York, 61;
Anecdotes of, 83;
Conquered by Curran, 151
Abstinence, Precept and Example of, 21
Agricultural Defence of Bigotry, An, 138
André Boulanger, Father, 70
Angel-Worship, 110
Antics of the Fanatics, 66
Application, A Too Personal, 124
Archbishop's Installation Feast, An, 76
Archdeacon? What is an, 99
"Atterbury's Pad", 16
Awkward Association, An, 81
Baptism, A Sanitary View of, 40
Barrow, The Exhaustive, 15; his Rhymes with Reason, 63
Barrowby, Dr., Anecdotes of, 126
Baxter, Addison's Introduction to, 13;
Cromwell and, 131
Berkeley's (Bishop) Bermuda Scheme, 33
Bishops and the Poor, 150
Blomfield's Rebuke to Non-Resident Rectors, 85
Blood-Jewels, Queen Elizabeth's, 22
Bloodletters, Blunders of, 149
Bottle-Blind, 104
Bourdaloue, Bold Application of, 146
"Breaking-up" before the Holidays, 104
Bunyan's Successful and Persistent Preaching, 111
Burgess, Daniel, Pulpit Jokes of, 86
Burnet, Bishop, Against Pluralities, 151
Capacity of an Abbé, The, 100
Charles II. and his Chaplain, 30
Christian Names among the Puritans, 98
Civil to the Prince of Evil, 113
Clergy, Benefit of, 101
Commonwealth Preachers, South on the, 45
Cooper's (Sir Astley) Night-Cap Fee, 11
Crabbe, George, The Apothecary Poet, 144
Cucumber, How to Dress a, 18
Curate and the Duke, The, 23
Cure of Souls, A Desirable, 127
Dangers of Too Good Company, The, 82
Da Vinci a Great Anatomist, 77
Devotion of a Catholic Priest, 85
Diffidence in the Pulpit, 97
Donne's (Dr.) Prayerful Pun, 143
Drubbing-in Religious Feeling, 121
Fees, Ancient, of Magnitude, 89;
Early English, 89;
in the Reign of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, 90;
After the Revolution, 91;
Large Royal, in Later Times, 92;
For a Political Consultation, 94;
Generous Refusal of, 95;
Sticklers for, 95;
Collectively Irresistible, 96
Flavel's "Day of Heaven", 24
Footscrapers Reproved, The, 17
Garrick's Precepts for Preachers, 147
George II. as an Amateur Surgeon, 148
Gibbon's Retort on the Physician, 51
Gilpin and the Northumbrian Brawlers, 19
Gospel, The, A Novelty, 34
Gregory, Dr., Generosity of, 73
Harvey and the Circulation of the Blood, 35
Herrnhuters, the, Extravagances of, 78
Hill, The Rev. Rowland, 157
Hour-Glasses in Church, 49
How to be Kept in Health, 64
Hunter (William) and Cullen, The Partnership of, 14
Hunter, John, the Anatomist, 139; Routing the Rout, 65
Iconoclastic Zeal in the North, 137
Indian Commerce, Origin of our, 122
Intercessor for Himself, An, 71
Interpolation, A Significant, 27
Jebb, Sir Richard, 40
Jenner, the Discoverer of Vaccination, 107
Kennet, Bishop, on Late Repentance, 42
Kirwan, Dr., Dean of Killala, 55
Knox, John, Fearlessness of, 105
Leighton, Archbishop, on Time and Eternity, 159
Lettsom's Liberation of his Slaves, 112
Licenced Lay Preaching, 62
"Make the Most of Him", 158
Mal-apropos Quotation, A, 43
Masses Transferred, 21
Massillon, Eloquence of, 12
Mathews on his Deathbed, 32
Mayerne, Sir Theodore, 92
Medicine, A Royal, 25
Methodist Dog, The, 50
Mild Criticism, A, 48
Monsey, Messenger, his Dying Jests, 132
Nash's (Beau) Treatment of a Prescription, 128
Pacific She, A, 158
Paley's Career, Turning Point in, 81;
Economy of Conscience, 97
Perkins' "Tractors" Exposed, 113
Perversion of Scripture, A Clever, 136
Peter the Great as Dentist, 47
Physicians and their Fees, 86; and Clergymen, 159
Playing-Cards, Puritan Re-Christening of, 139
Pope's Last Epigram, 68
Prayer, A Loyal and Fata, 124
Preacher, A Popular, 16; A Witty French, 130
Preaching for a Crown, 54
Preaching to Purpose, Latimer's, 124
Preparing for the Worst and Best, 143
Prescription in Disguise, A, 18;
Prescription for Long Life, A, 61
Promotion, The Way to, 145
Pulteney's Cure by Small Beer, 128
Radcliffe's Enmity to Hannes, 30
Radcliffe and Kneller, 58
Revival of "Prophesying," Lord Bacon on the, 141
Revolution, The French, and the Bible, 107
Rude Truth for a Queen, 75
Saint's Bell, The, 39
Seaman Bishop, The, 27
Sermon Reading, Charles II. on, 44
Servant and Master, 126
Shedding his Blood for his Country, 54
Slaps for Sleepers in Church, 59
Sloane, Sir Hans, 154
Smith, Sydney, Bon-Mots of, 121
Sterne, A Home Thrust at, 34
Stillingfleet, Charles II. and Bishop, 123
Sunday Sports, James I. on, 37
Swift's (Dean) Contributory Dinner, 102
"Tapping" a Toper, 100
Tar-water, The Power of, 22
Taylor, Jeremy, on Marriage, 57
Tillotson, Archbishop, Charity of, 120
Transfusion of Blood, 68
Trump Cards, 52
Two-Edged Accusation, A, 58
Two Gates of Heaven, The, 51
Unconcern in Presence of Death, 137
Unlucky Coincidence, An, 61
Unmistakeable Identity, 134
Unpreaching Prelates, 28
Wasdale's (Dr.) Long Ride, 136
Wesley and Beau Nash, 106
Whately, Witticisms of Archbishop, 152
Whitfield, Persuasiveness of, 52;
his Influence on the Church, 72;
"Improving" an Execution in Edinburgh, 117;
Dr. Johnson's Opinion of, 118;
and the New York Sailors, 135;
and the Kingswood Colliers, 153
Wolcot, Dr. ("Peter Pindar") in Jamaica, 119
NOTE.
Clergymen and Doctors are so frequently associated, in connection with
the most pleasant and the most grave necessities and occurrences of
actual life, that if any apology is needed for uniting them on the
present occasion, it is only because the abundant fund of anecdote and
interest relating to both professions can therefore be drawn upon to
the smaller extent. In this, as in the other volumes of this little
series, the only plan followed has been that of striving to be brief
and interesting in each selection or summary. Much of the charm and
value of a collection of this kind consists in the large admixture of
personal incident, and liberal display of individual character--which
the nature and duties of the clerical and medical professions render so
easy. But it has also been sought to present, not of course in order or
in complete series, a number of such curious facts as throw a
side-light at once on professional and social history; and it is
confidently hoped that thus the collection will not only amuse, but
inform.
CLERGYMEN AND DOCTORS.
_CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES._
SIR ASTLEY COOPER'S NIGHTCAP FEE.
Living as he long did in the City,--in Broad Street,--Sir Astley
Cooper, the most distinguished surgeon of his time, made a very large
income; which, however, naturally enough rose and fell somewhat in
sympathy with the state of the markets. In one year he made 20,000
guineas; and for many years his income was over £15,000. From one
Mincing Lane merchant, whom he usually visited at Croydon, Sir Astley
derived for a long period an annual revenue of £600. Large individual
fees, of course, were also paid by the wealthy traders and financiers
on special occasions; and once, and once only, Sir Astley received--and
received in a very whimsical fashion--the splendid _honorarium_ of a
thousand guineas. A West Indian millionaire, of the name of Hyatt,
during a painful and critical operation which he had to undergo, was
attended by Drs. Lettsom and Nelson as physicians, and by Sir Astley
Cooper as surgeon. The operation was successful, and the patient
speedily felt in himself the promise of recovered health and spirits.
He did not wait for his complete recovery to evince his sense of
gratitude and joy; but promptly rewarded his physicians with a fee of
300 guineas each. "As for you, Sir," the millionaire said, sitting up
in bed and addressing himself to Sir Astley,--"you, Sir, shall have
something better than that; there, Sir, take that!"--and he flung his
nightcap at the great surgeon. Sir Astley picked up the nightcap,
saying, "Sir, I pocket the affront;" and on reaching home he found in
the cap a cheque for 1000 guineas. In his younger days, however, Sir
Astley Cooper had sowed, by anxious and ill-rewarded waiting, the seeds
of his subsequent great renown and revenue: in his first year of
practice his profits were but five guineas; in his second, twenty-six
pounds; in his third, thirty-four; and only in the ninth year did his
income mount above a thousand pounds.
ELOQUENCE OF MASSILLON.
Jean Baptiste Massillon, born in 1663 at Hyères, was one of the
greatest pulpit orators of France. At the age of seventeen he entered
the congregation of the Oratory, at Paris, and won very high favour;
but, being enviously accused of some amours, he went into retirement
for a short time. The eloquence by which his funeral sermon, at his
retirement at St. Fonds, on the Archbishop de Villars was
characterized, led to his reluctant but triumphant return to Paris. The
applause with which his oratory met there, even at the Court, was
almost unparalleled. When he preached the first Advent sermon at
Versailles, Louis XIV. paid the following most happy and expressive
testimony to the power of his preaching: "Father, when I hear other
preachers, I am very well satisfied with them; when I hear you, I am
dissatisfied with myself." The effect of his first delivery of the
sermon "On the small number of the Elect," has been described as almost
miraculous. At a certain powerful passage in it, the entire auditory
was seized with such violent emotion, that almost every person half
rose from his seat, as if to endeavour to shake off the horror of being
one of those cast out into everlasting darkness. He spoke with that
strong, earnest simplicity which is the surest key to the hearts of all
but the utterly devoid of feeling. When asked once where a man like
him, whose life was dedicated to retirement, could borrow his admirable
descriptions of real life, he answered, "From the human heart; let us
examine it ever so slightly, we find in it the seeds of every passion.
When I compose a sermon, I imagine myself consulted upon some difficult
piece of business. I give my whole application to determine the person
who has recourse to me to act the good and proper part. I exhort him, I
urge him, and I quit him not until he has yielded to my persuasions."
ADDISON'S INTRODUCTION TO BAXTER.
Addison says that he once met with a page of Mr. Baxter under a
Christmas pie. "Whether or no the pastry-cook had made use of it
through chance or waggery, for the defence of that superstitious
_viande_, I know not; but, upon the perusal of it, I conceived so good
an idea of the author's piety that I bought the whole book."
THE PARTNERSHIP OF HUNTER AND CULLEN.
Dr. William Cullen, the celebrated physician and medical writer, and
Dr. William Hunter, the brother of the great anatomist, when young men
formed a copartnery of as singular and noble a nature as any to be
found in the records of their profession. They were both natives of the
neighbourhood of Glasgow, and Hunter studied for the church at that
university. But he accidentally became acquainted with Cullen, who was
some years his senior, and had settled in a medical practice at
Hamilton; and this friendship, strengthening his natural inclination,
drew Hunter away from the study of theology to that of medicine. He
went to reside with Cullen, and entered into partnership with
him--neither of the young men being well to do, and both stimulated by
the impulse of genius to take this step in order that they might the
better overcome the obstacles presented by the narrowness of their
fortunes to the prosecution of their studies. It was stipulated that
each partner alternately should be allowed to study during the winter
at what college he pleased, the other meantime conducting the joint
business for the common advantage. Cullen, as the senior partner, had
the first winter, and he went to Edinburgh. But next winter Hunter's
turn came: he preferred London to Edinburgh, went thither, and did not
return to Scotland. His excellence as a dissector, singular dexterity
in making anatomical preparations, assiduity in study, and agreeable
manners, won him the warm regard of Dr. Douglas, to whom he had an
introduction from Foulis the printer; and in two or three years Hunter
became a lecturer on anatomy, and laid the foundations of a great fame
and fortune. The scientific partnership was of course dissolved by
Hunter's success in London; but Cullen freely consented to renounce his
claim on his junior, and ever afterwards maintained a very cordial and
friendly correspondence with Hunter--though the two friends are
believed never afterwards to have seen each other.
THE EXHAUSTIVE BARROW.
Charles II., in his humorous fashion, was wont to say about his
chaplain--that distinguished philosopher and divine, Dr. Isaac
Barrow--that he was the most unfair preacher in England, because he
exhausted every subject, and left no room for others to come after him.
This was indeed too much the doctor's characteristic; when he had once
got hold of a topic, he knew not how to leave anything unsaid upon it.
One of his best discourses, on the duty and reward of bounty to the
poor, actually occupied between three and four hours in the delivery.
Although, however, his sermons are unusually long, they so abound in
matter, that his language sometimes labours in the utterance of his
thought; hence his style is at times involved and parenthetical, though
passages of sublime and simple eloquence frequently occur. It is
related that, in preaching the Spital sermon before the Lord Mayor and
Corporation, he consumed three hours and a half. Being asked, after he
came down from the pulpit, if he was not tired, he replied, "Yes,
indeed, I begin to be weary in standing so long."
A POPULAR PREACHER.
When Father Thomas Conecte, who was afterwards burnt at Rome, preached
in the great towns of Flanders and Artois, the churches were so filled
that he used to be hoisted in the middle of the church by a cord, in
order to be heard!
"ATTERBURY'S PAD."
During the debates on the Occasional Conformity and Schism Bills, in
the House of Lords, in December 1718, these measures were very warmly
opposed by Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester; who said "he had prophesied
last winter that this bill would be attempted in the next session, and
he was very sorry to find that he had turned out a true prophet." Lord
Coningsby, who always spoke in a passion, rose immediately after
Atterbury, and remarked that "one of the right reverends had set
himself forth as a prophet; but, for his part, he did not know what
prophet to liken him to, unless to that famous prophet Balaam, who was
reproved by his own ass." The Bishop, in reply, with great calmness and
wit met the attack of Lord Coningsby, thus concluding: "Since the noble
Lord has discovered in our manners such a similitude, I am well content
to be compared to the prophet Balaam; but, my Lords, I am at a loss to
make out the other part of the parallel. I am sure that I have been
_reproved by nobody but his Lordship_." From that day forward, Lord
Coningsby was known by the sobriquet of "Atterbury's Pad."
THE FOOT-SCRAPERS REPROVED.
When a preacher was very obnoxious to the students at Cambridge, it was
the custom for them to express disapprobation by scraping with their
feet on the floor. A very eloquent but intriguing preacher, Dr. James
Scott--known as a political partisan by the pamphleteer and newspaper
signatures of "Anti-Sejanus" and "Old Slyboots"--being one day saluted
thus, signified his intention to preach against the practice of
scraping; and fulfilled his promise very shortly afterwards, taking for
his text, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be
more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they
consider not that they do evil." On the text being read out, the
galleries became one scene of confusion and uproar; but Dr. Scott
called to the proctors to preserve silence. This being effected, he
delivered a discourse so eloquent, as to extort universal approbation,
even from those at whom the text was aimed.
A PRESCRIPTION IN DISGUISE.
General D---- was more distinguished for gallantry in the field than
for the care he lavished upon his person. Complaining, on a certain
occasion, to Chief Justice Bushe, of Ireland, of the sufferings he
endured from rheumatism, that learned and humorous judge undertook to
prescribe a remedy. "You must desire your servant," he said to the
General, "to place every morning by your bedside a tub three-parts
filled with warm water. You will then get into the tub, and having
previously provided yourself with a pound of yellow soap, you must rub
your whole body with it, immersing yourself occasionally in the water,
and at the end of a quarter of an hour, the process concludes by wiping
yourself dry with towels, and scrubbing your person with a
flesh-brush." "Why," said the General, after reflecting for a minute or
two, "this seems to be neither more nor less than washing one's self."
"Well, I must confess," rejoined the judge, "_it is open to that
objection_."
HOW TO DRESS A CUCUMBER.
Dr. Glynn, of Cambridge, being one day in attendance on a lady, in the
quality of her physician, took occasion to lecture her on the
impropriety of eating cucumbers, of which she was immoderately fond;
and gave her the following humorous receipt for dressing them: "Peel
the cucumber with great care; then cut it into very thin slices; pepper
and salt it well--and then throw it away."
GILPIN AND THE NORTHUMBRIAN BRAWLERS.
Bernard Gilpin, the great Northern apostle, did not confine his labours
to the church of Houghton-le-Spring, of which he was minister; but at
his own expense, and with great risk and hardship, visited the then
desolate churches of Northumberland once every year, usually about
Christmas, to preach the gospel. The Northumbrians about that time
retained so much of the customs of our Saxon ancestors, as to decide
every dispute by the sword; they even went beyond them, and, not
content with a duel, each contending party used to muster what
adherents he could, and began a kind of petty war, so that a private
grudge would often occasion much bloodshed. In one of his annual tours,
Mr. Gilpin found a quarrel of this kind raging at Rothbury. During the
first two or three days of his preaching, the contending parties
observed some decorum, and never came to church both at the same time.
At last, however, they met; one party had come early, and just as Mr.
Gilpin began the sermon the other entered. They did not stand long
quiet, but, mutually enraged at the sight of each other, began to clash
their arms. Awed, however, by the sacredness of the place, the tumult
somewhat fell, and Mr. Gilpin could proceed with his sermon. In a short
time, however, the combatants anew brandished their weapons, and
approached each other. Mr. Gilpin now came down from the pulpit, went
between the two parties, and, appealing to the chiefs, stayed the
quarrel for the time, though he could not perfectly reconcile them.
They promised that until the sermon was over there should be no further
disturbance. Mr. Gilpin then remounted the pulpit, and devoted the rest
of the time to endeavour to make the combatants ashamed of their
behaviour; and his courage and earnestness so much affected them, that
at his further entreaty they agreed to abstain from all acts of
hostility while he continued in the country. Another time, when he
entered the church, Mr. Gilpin saw a glove hanging up, and was told by
the sexton that it was as a challenge to any one that should take it
down. The sexton refusing to take it down, because he "dared not," Mr.
Gilpin procured a long staff, took it down himself, and put it in his
breast. When the congregation assembled, he went into the pulpit, and
took occasion severely to rebuke these inhuman challenges, and
especially this fashion of hanging up the glove in church. "I hear,"
said he, "that there is one among you who even in this sacred place
hath hanged up a glove to this purpose, and threateneth to enter into
combat with whosoever shall take it down. Behold, I have taken it down
myself!" and, plucking the glove out of his breast, he held it up
before them all, and again proceeded to condemn such barbarous
fashions, and to commend the practice of love and charity. So much did
his faithfulness win for him respect, and soften the stern mood of the
country folk, that so often as he came into the parts where he had
administered these rebukes, if any man was in fear of a deadly foe, he
resorted usually where Mr. Gilpin was, supposing himself to be more
safe in his company than under an armed guard.
MASSES TRANSFERRED.
Bernal Diaz relates, that while Cortes was absent on his expedition
against Christoval d'Oli, his death was reported by men who assumed the
government at Mexico; they ordered ceremonies and masses for his soul,
and paid for them with his effects. When he returned in safety, Juan de
Caceres, "the rich," bought all these acts of devotion for his own
benefit--like some modern buyer of shares, expecting a regular entry of
the transfer to be made in the books of the concern in which he
invested.
PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE OF ABSTINENCE.
John Wesley having learned that a wealthy tradesman of his
neighbourhood indulged to excess in the pleasures of the table, paid
him a visit, and, discussing the subject with him, urged every argument
and every passage of Scripture he could against the sin of gluttony.
Observing the tradesman silent and thoughtful, Wesley flattered himself
that he had gained his point and produced the desired reformation. The
dinner cloth was by this time spread, and sumptuous elegance decorated
the board. Mr. Wesley was asked to dine; and having consented, was thus
addressed by his host: "Sir, your conversation has made such an
impression on me, that henceforward I shall live only on bread and
water; and to show you that I am in good earnest, I will begin
immediately." The dinner was then ordered to be removed, and bread and
water introduced; to the disappointment of the preacher, who, although
an abstemious man, wished for something better than an anchorite's fare.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BLOOD JEWELS.
In the _Parliamentary History_, under date of 1601, the Lord Keeper is
reported to say: "I have seen her Majesty wear at her girdle the price
of her blood; I mean, jewels which have been given to her physicians to
have done that unto her which I hope God will ever keep from her. But
she hath rather worn them in triumph, than for the price, which hath
not been greatly valuable."
THE POWER OF TAR-WATER.
Doctor Hill, a notorious wit, physician, and man of letters, having
quarrelled with the members of the Royal Society, who had refused to
admit him as an associate, resolved to avenge himself. At the time that
Bishop Berkeley had issued his work on the marvellous virtues of
tar-water, Hill addressed to their secretary a letter, purporting to be
from a country surgeon, and reciting the particulars of a cure which he
had effected. "A sailor," he wrote, "broke his leg, and applied to me
for help. I bound together the broken portions, and washed them with
the celebrated tar-water. Almost immediately the sailor felt the
beneficial effects of this remedy, and it was not long before his leg
was completely healed!" The letter was read and discussed at the
meetings of the Royal Society, and caused considerable difference of
opinion. Papers were written for and against the tar-water and the
restored leg, when a second letter arrived from the (pretended) country
practitioner: "In my last I omitted to mention that the broken limb of
the sailor was a wooden leg!"
THE CURATE AND THE DUKE.
The Duke of Grafton, when hunting, was thrown into a ditch; at the same
time a young curate, calling out, "Lie still, your Grace," leaped over
him, and pursued his sport. On being assisted to remount by his
attendants, the duke said, "That young man shall have the first good
living that falls to my disposal; had he stopped to have taken care of
me, I never would have patronised him"--being delighted with an ardour
similar to his own, and with a spirit that would not stoop to flatter.
A LOYAL AND FATAL PRAYER.
It is related by Thoresby that Mr. John Jackson, a good old Puritan,
and a member of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, "was yet so
zealously affected for King Charles I., when he heard of his being
brought before a pretended high court of justice, that he prayed
earnestly that God would please to prevent that horrid act, which would
be a perpetual shame to the nation, and a reproach to the Protestant
religion; or, at least, would be pleased to remove him, that he might
not see the woful day. His prayer was heard and answered as to himself,
for he was buried the week before" the execution of Charles took place.
FLAVEL'S "DAY OF HEAVEN."
This distinguished Nonconformist divine, who lived about the end of the
seventeenth century, in his _Treatise on the Soul of Man_ relates of
himself--so at least it is understood, though he speaks in the third
person--that for a day he was wrapt in such intimate spiritual
communion with heaven, as exhausted the powers of physical nature, and
for a time appeared to leave him on the brink of the grave. This
singular season of trance he used to style "one of the days of heaven;"
and he affirmed, that in that time there came to him more insight into
the heavenly life, than he had all his days gained from books or
sermons.
"Being on a journey, he set himself to improve his time by meditation;
when his mind grew intent, till at length he had such ravishing tastes
of heavenly joys, and such full assurance of his interest therein, that
he utterly lost the sight and sense of this world and all its concerns,
so that for hours he knew not where he was. At last, perceiving himself
faint through a great loss of blood from his nose, he alighted from his
horse, and sat down at a spring, where he washed and refreshed himself,
earnestly desiring, if it were the will of God, that he might then
leave the world. His spirits reviving, he finished his journey in the
same delightful frame. He passed all that night without a wink of
sleep, the joy of the Lord still overflowing him, so that he seemed an
inhabitant of the other world." It was taken by his religious friends
as a special promise of heavenly favour, that at the birth of Flavel a
pair of nightingales made their nest close to the chamber of his
mother, and welcomed him into the world with their delightful warble.
A ROYAL MEDICINE.
Even so late as the days of Queen Elizabeth, ignorance and superstition
continued prime regulating powers in the practice of physic;
accomplished as some of the physicians of the day were, it was, as Lord
Bacon has affirmed, in every department excepting those that
immediately touched their own profession. Sir William Bulleyn was not
one of the least prominent and enlightened; but some of the
prescriptions which he has left on record, attest a very deplorable
state of things, existing little more than half a century before Harvey
achieved his great discovery. Take for example this recipe for an
"_Electuarium de Gemmis._"
"Take two drachms of white perles; two little peeces of saphyre;
jacinth, corneline, emerauldes, granettes, of each an ounce; setwal,
the sweate roote doronike, the rind of pomecitron, mace, basel seede,
of each two drachms; of redde corall, amber, shaving of ivory, of each
two drachms; rootes both of white and red behen, ginger, long peper,
spicknard, folium indicum, saffron, cardamon, of each one drachm; of
troch. diarodon, lignum aloes, of each half a small handful; cinnamon,
galinga, zurubeth, which is a kind of setwal, of each one drachm and a
half; thin pieces of gold and sylver, of each half a scruple; of musk,
half a drachm. Make your electuary with honey emblici, which is the
fourth kind of mirobalans with roses, strained in equall partes, as
much as will suffice. This healeth cold diseases of ye braine, harte,
stomack. It is a medicine proved against the tremblynge of the harte,
faynting and souning, the weaknes of the stomacke, pensivenes,
solitarines. Kings and noble men have used this for their comfort. It
causeth them to be bold-spirited, the body to smell wel, and ingendreth
to the face good coloure."
A SIGNIFICANT INTERPOLATION.
The most celebrated wits and _bon vivants_ of the day graced the dinner
table of Dr. Kitchener, and _inter aliis_ George Colman, who was an
especial favourite. His interpolation of a little monosyllable in a
written admonition, which the Doctor caused to be placed on the
mantlepiece of the dining parlour, will never be forgotten, and was the
origin of such a drinking bout as was seldom permitted under his roof.
The caution ran thus: "Come at seven, go at eleven." Colman briefly
altered the sense of it; for, upon the Doctor's attention being
directed to the card, he read, to his astonishment, "Come at seven, _go
it_ at eleven!" which the guests did, and the claret was punished
accordingly.
THE SEAMAN-BISHOP.
Dr. Lyons, who was appointed to the Bishopric of Cork, Cloyne, and
Ross, towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, held the See for
twenty years, but only preached once--on the death of the Queen. His
aversion to preaching is ascribed to the fact that he was not educated
for the church. He was, indeed, captain of a ship, and distinguished
himself so gallantly in several actions with the Spaniards, that, on
his being introduced to the Queen, she told him that he should have the
first vacancy that offered. The simple captain understood the Queen
literally; and soon after, hearing of a vacancy in the See of Cork, he
immediately set out for Court, and claimed the fulfilment of the royal
promise. The Queen, astonished at the request, for a time remonstrated
against the impropriety of it, and said that she could never think it a
suitable office for him. It was, however, in vain; he pleaded the royal
promise, and relied on it. The Queen then said she would take a few
days to consider the matter; when, examining into his character, and
finding that he was a sober, moral man, as well as an intrepid
commander, she sent for him, and gave him the Bishopric, saying that
she "hoped he would take as good care of the Church, as he had done of
the State."
UNPREACHING PRELATES.
The appointment of bishops and other ecclesiastics to lay offices, and
more especially to places in the Mint, during the reign of Edward VI.,
was severely censured from the pulpit by the intrepid and venerable
Bishop Latimer. In his "Sermon of the Plough," he says, with equal
humour and vigour: "But now for the fault of unpreaching prelates,
methinks I could guess what might be said for excusing them. They are
so troubled with lordly living, they be so placed in palaces, couched
in courts, ruffling in their rents, dancing in their _dominions_,
burdened with embassages, pampering of their paunches, like a monk that
maketh his jubilee, munching in their mangers, and moiling in their gay
manors and mansions, and so troubled with loitering in their lordships,
that they cannot attend it. They are otherwise occupied, some in King's
matters, some are ambassadors, some of the Privy Council, some to
furnish the Court, some are lords of the Parliament, some are
presidents, comptrollers of Mints. Well, well, is this their duty? Is
this their office? Is this their calling? Should we have ministers of
the Church to be comptrollers of Mints? Is this a meet office for a
priest that hath the cure of souls? Is this his charge? I would here
ask one question: I would fain know who comptrolleth the devil at home
at his parish, while he comptrolleth the Mint? If the apostles might
not leave the office of preaching to be deacons, shall one leave it for
minting? I cannot tell you; but the saying is, that since priests have
been minters, money hath been worse than it was before." In another
part of this discourse the Bishop proceeds to ask, "Is there never a
nobleman to be a Lord President, but it must be a prelate? Is there
never a wise man in the realm to be a comptroller of the Mint? I speak
it to your shame, I speak it to your shame. If there be never a wise
man, make a water-bearer, a tinker, a cobbler, a slave, a page, the
comptrollers of the Mint. Make a mean gentleman, a groom, a yeoman;
make a poor beggar, Lord President. Thus I speak, not that I would have
it so, but to your shame, if there be never a gentleman meet nor able
to be Lord President. For why are not the noblemen and young gentlemen
of England so brought up in knowledge of God and in learning, that they
might be able to execute offices in the commonweal?"
CHARLES II. AND HIS CHAPLAIN.
Dr. Hickringal, who was one of King Charles the Second's chaplains,
whenever he preached before his Majesty, was sure to tell him of his
faults from the pulpit. One day his Majesty met the Doctor in the Mall,
and said to him, "Doctor, what have I done to you that you are always
quarrelling with me?" "I hope your Majesty is not angry with me," quoth
the Doctor, "for telling the truth." "No, no," says the king; "but I
would have us for the future be friends." "Well, well," quoth the
Doctor, "I will make it up with your Majesty on these terms: _as you
mend I'll mend_."
RADCLIFFE'S ENMITY TO HANNES.
John Radcliffe, the eccentric, niggardly, self-indulgent, ill-educated,
and intensely Jacobitish physician, who, at the end of the seventeenth
century, rose to an eminent place in the capital and at Court, was the
son of a comfortable Yorkshire yeoman. He resided for some years at
Oxford University, and afterwards practised there; but in 1684 he went
up to London, and speedily made himself a great name and income. As,
however, at Oxford he had found enemies who, as was the fashion of
these days, spoke very openly and bitterly against their rising
rival--so was it also in London: Gibbons, Blackmore, and others, were
hostile to the new-comer--the first expending his sarcasm on
Radcliffe's defects of scholarship. Radcliffe replied, by fixing on
Gibbons, as is well known the epithet of "_Nurse_;" ridiculing his mode
of treatment by slops and gruels, and so forth,--Radcliffe's faith
being placed in fresh air and exercise, generous nourishment, and the
use of cordials. Sir Edward Hannes was, like Radcliffe, an Oxford man;
and hence, perhaps, the peculiar jealousy and hatred with which he
regarded Radcliffe. Hannes started in London, whither he followed
Radcliffe, a splendid carriage and four, that drew upon it the eyes of
all the town, and provoked Radcliffe, when told by a friend that the
horses were the finest he had ever seen, to the savage reply, "Then
he'll be able to sell them for all the more!" Hannes employed a
stratagem that, in sundry shapes, has since been not quite unfamiliar
in medical practice. He instructed his livery servants to run about the
streets, and, putting their heads into every coach they met, to inquire
in tones of anxiety and alarm, whether Dr. Hannes was there. Once one
of these servants entered on this advertising errand Garraway's
Coffeehouse, in Exchange Alley--a great resort of the medical
profession; and called out, all breathless with haste, "Gentlemen, can
any of your honours tell me if Dr. Hannes is here?" "Who wants Dr.
Hannes, fellow?" asked Radcliffe, who was in the room. "Lord A----, and
Lord B----," was the assurance of the servant. "No, no, my man," said
Radcliffe, in a voice deliberate and full of enjoyment of the irony;
"no, no, you are mistaken; it isn't the Lords that want your master,
but he that wants them." Hannes was reputed the son of a basket-maker;
Blackmore had been a schoolmaster--circumstances which furnished
Radcliffe with material for a savage attack on both, when called in to
attend the young Duke of Gloucester, for whom they had prescribed until
the illness took a fatal turn. He accused them to their faces, and with
no particular gentleness of language, for having abominably mismanaged
a mere attack of rash; and said, "It would have been happy for this
nation had you, Sir, been bred up a basket-maker, and you, Sir,
remained a country schoolmaster, rather than have ventured out of your
reach, in the practice of an art to which you are an utter stranger,
and for your blunders in which you ought to be whipped with one of your
own rods."
MATHEWS OH HIS DEATHBED.
A friend attending on Charles Mathews the Elder, the celebrated
comedian, in his last illness, intending to give him his medicine, gave
in mistake some ink from a phial on a shelf. On discovering the error,
his friend exclaimed, "Good heavens! Mathews, I have given you ink."
"Never--never mind, my boy--never mind," said Mathews, faintly, "I'll
swallow a bit of _blotting-paper_."
BISHOP BERKELEY'S BERMUDA SCHEME.
Dr. George Berkeley, the Bishop of Cloyne--celebrated for his ideal
theory, and by the praise of Pope, his stedfast friend, who ascribes
"to Berkeley every virtue under heaven," as others ascribed to him all
learning--in 1824 conceived and published his benevolent proposal for
converting the American savages to Christianity, by means of a colony
to be established in the Bermudas. The proposal was published in 1723,
the year after he had been appointed Dean of Derry; and he offered to
resign that opulent preferment, worth £1100 a year, and to dedicate the
remainder of his life to the instruction of the Indians, on the
moderate allowance of £100 a-year. The project was very favourably
received, and persons of the highest rank raised considerable sums by
subscription in aid of it. Berkeley having resigned his preferment, set
sail for Rhode Island, to make arrangements for carrying out his views.
Such was the influence of his distinguished example, that three of the
junior Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, abandoned with him all their
flattering prospects in life in their own country, for a settlement in
the Atlantic Ocean at £40 a-year. The Dean, not meeting with the
support the ministry had promised him, and after spending nearly all
his private property and seven of the best years of his life in the
prosecution of his scheme, returned to Europe. This, however, he did
not do, until the Bishop of London had informed him, that on
application for funds to Sir Robert Walpole, he had received the
following honest answer: "If you put this question to me as a minister,
I must and I can assure you, that the money shall most undoubtedly be
paid as soon as suits with the public convenience; but if you ask me as
a friend, whether Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting
the payment of £10,000, advise him, by all means, to return home to
Europe, and give up his present expectations."
A HOME-THRUST AT STERNE.
Sterne, the reverend author of the _Sentimental Journey_, had the
credit of treating his wife very ill. He was one day talking to
Garrick, in a fine sentimental strain, in laudation of conjugal love
and fidelity. "The husband," said he, "who behaves unkindly to his
wife, deserves to have his house burnt over his head." "If you think
so," replied Garrick, "I hope _your_ house is insured."
THE GOSPEL A NOVELTY.
When Le Torneau preached the Lent sermon at St. Benoit, at Paris, Louis
XIV. inquired of Boileau, "if he knew anything of a preacher called Le
Tourneau, whom everybody was running after?" "Sire," replied the poet,
"your Majesty knows that people always run after novelties; this man
preaches the gospel." The King pressing him to speak seriously, Boileau
added: "When M. Le Tourneau first ascends the pulpit, his ugliness so
disgusts the congregation that they wish he would go down again; but
when he begins to speak, they dread the time of his descending."
Boileau's remark as to the "novelty" of preaching the gospel in his
time, brings to mind the candid confession of a Flemish preacher, who,
in a sermon delivered before an audience wholly of his own order, said:
"We are worse than Judas; he sold and delivered his Master; we sell Him
too, but deliver Him not." Somewhat akin was the remark, in an earlier
age, of Father Fulgentio, the friend and biographer of Paul Sarpi, and,
like him, a secret friend to the progress of religious reformation.
Preaching on Pilate's question, "What is truth?" he told the audience
that he had at last, after many searches, found it out; and, holding
forth the New Testament, said, "Here it is, my friends; but," he added
sorrowfully, as he returned it to his pocket, "it is _a sealed book_."
HARVEY AND THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.
The discovery of the circulation of the blood was the most important
ever made in the science of physiology, and led to a complete
revolution throughout the whole circle of medical knowledge and
practice. The renown of this splendid discovery, by all but universal
consent, has been attributed to William Harvey, an English physician,
who was born at Folkestone in 1578, and in 1593 went to Caius College,
Cambridge, where he remained four years. He then went abroad for
several years, studying in the most famous medical schools; and in
1604, having passed M.D. at Cambridge, he set up in practice in London.
In 1615 he was appointed Lecturer at the College of Physicians, on
Anatomy and Surgery; and it was in the performance of these duties that
he arrived at the important discovery that is inseparably associated
with his name. "The merit of Harvey," it has been justly observed, "is
enhanced by considering the degraded state of medical knowledge at that
time in England. While anatomical schools had been long established in
Italy, France, and Germany, and several teachers had rendered their
names illustrious by the successful pursuit of the science, anatomy was
still unknown in England, and dissection had hitherto hardly begun; yet
at this inauspicious period did Harvey make a discovery, which amply
justifies Haller in ranking him as only second to Hippocrates." In 1620
he promulgated his new doctrine of the circulation of the blood, in a
treatise entitled _Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in
Animalibus_; in the preface to which, addressed to the College of
Physicians, he states that frequently in his lectures he had declared
his opinion touching the motion of the heart and the circulation of the
blood, and had for more than nine years confirmed and illustrated that
discovery by reasons and arguments grounded on ocular demonstration.
The attention of all Europe, and the keen opposition of many of its
medical scholars, were at once aroused by Harvey's publication; but his
doctrine triumphed over all objections, and before he died he had the
happiness of seeing it fully established. Harvey was physician to James
I. and Charles I., the latter of whom had a high regard for him; and at
the outbreak of the civil war he adhered to the royal side, and quitted
London with the king, attending him at the battle of Edgehill, and
afterwards at Oxford. He died in 1658, it is said from the effects of
opium which he had taken with suicidal intent, while suffering under
the acute pangs of gout. Posterity has been more faithful and grateful
than his own age to the greatest modern discoverer in medical science;
for his discovery rather tended to push him back than to advance him in
professional position. It has been said that "perhaps his researches
took him out of the common road to popular eminence, and they seem to
have exposed him to the prejudice so commonly prevailing against an
innovator; for we find him complaining to a friend, that his practice
considerably declined after the publication of his discovery."
SUNDAY SPORTS.
Rushworth relates that King James, in 1618, in his _Declaration
concerning Lawful Sports_, said that in his progress through Lancashire
he did justly rebuke some Puritans and precise people for the
prohibiting and unlawful punishment of his good people for using their
lawful recreations and honest exercises upon Sundays and other
holidays, after the afternoon sermon or service. "With his own ears he
heard the general complaint of his people, that they were barred from
all lawful recreations and exercise upon the Sundays after noon;" which
must produce two great evils,--the first, the hindering the conversion
of many whom the clergy caused to believe that religion, and honest
mirth and recreation, were incompatible. "The other inconvenience is,
that this prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of people from
using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for war when
his Majesty, or his successors, shall have occasion to use them; and in
place thereof, sets up tippling and filthy drunkenness, and breeds a
number of idle and discontented speeches in alehouses. For when shall
the common people have leave to exercise, if not upon the Sundays and
holidays, seeing they must apply their labour, and win their living, on
all working days? Therefore, the King said, his express pleasure was
that no lawful recreation should be barred to his good people which did
not tend to the breach of the laws of this kingdom and the canons of
the Church: that after the end of divine service his people be not
disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawful recreation, such as
dancing, either men or women; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or
any other such harmless recreation; nor from having of May-games,
Whitson-ales, and Morice-dances; and the setting up of Maypoles, and
other sports therewith used, so as the same be had in due and
convenient time, without impediment or neglect of divine service. And
that women should have leave to carry rushes to the church for the
decoring of it, according to their old custom." But bull and bear
baiting, "interludes," and bowling (at all times prohibited to the
meaner sort), were forbidden; all known recusants who abstained from
coming to service were barred the liberty of recreation, "being
unworthy of any lawful recreation after the service, that would not
first come to the church and serve God;" as were also all who, though
conforming in religion, had not been present in church. Each person was
to go to church, and join the sports, in his own parish; and no weapons
of offence were to be carried or used.
Charles I., in 1633, gave command for the reading of the _Book of
Sports_ in the churches, which had not been done even by his father,
and which gave great offence and stirred up much display of bad
feeling. In London, after the reading, one clergyman went on
immediately to read the Ten Commandments, and said, "Dearly beloved
brethren, you have now heard the commandments of God and man; obey
which you please." Another minister followed up the reading of the
obnoxious ordinance by the delivery of a sermon on the Fourth
Commandment.
THE SAINT'S BELL.
In their description of Westmoreland, Nicholson and Burn relate, that
"in the old church at Ravenstonedale there was a small bell, called the
Saint's Bell, which was wont to be rung after the Nicene creed, to call
in the Dissenters to sermon. And to this day the Dissenters, besides
frequenting the meeting-house, oftentimes attend the sermon in church."
SIR RICHARD JEBB.