of the seventeenth century, the fee of the physician had tended towards
fixity, as regards the _minimum_ at least, which was ten shillings.
This appears from several incidental contemporary statements, as in the
satirical dialogue of "Physick lies a-bleeding; or the Apothecary
turned Doctor" (published in 1697, during the war of the "Dispensary"),
in which one of the characters, called on to pay eighteen shillings for
medicine for his wife and a crown by way of gratuity to the apothecary,
says: "I wish you had called a doctor; perhaps he would have advised
her to have forbore taking anything, at least as yet, so I had saved
13s. in my pocket." In 1700, as appears from the _Levamen Infirmi_, the
existence of _minimum_ and _maximum_ fees appears to have been quite
recognised:--"To a graduate in physick, his due is about ten shillings,
though he commonly expects or demands twenty. Those that are only
licensed physicians, their due is no more than six shillings and
eightpence, though they commonly demand ten shillings. A surgeon's fee
is twelve-pence a mile, be his journey far or near; ten groats to set a
bone broke, or out of joint; and for letting blood, one shilling; the
cutting off or amputation of any limb is five pounds, but there is no
settled price for the cure."
_Sir Theodore Mayerne._--This eminent physician, who was a native of
Geneva, and attended James I. and the two Charleses, once very neatly
and deservedly rebuked a mean and ostentatious friend, who, after
consulting him, laid on the table two broad pieces of gold (of the
value of 36s. each). Sir Theodore quietly pocketed the fee; and, on his
friend expressing or showing himself hurt at thus being taken at his
money, said to him: "I made my will this morning; and if it should
appear that I had refused a fee, I might be deemed _non compos_." Mr.
Wadd caps this anecdote with another about Dr. Meyer Schomberg, who was
much in vogue about the middle of last century. Mr. Martin, the
surgeon, used now and then to visit him; and was once shown in when a
patient was with him. After the patient was gone, Martin noticed two
guineas lying on the table, and asked the doctor how it came that he
left his money about in that way? Said Dr. Schomberg: "I always have a
couple of guineas before me, as an example, or broad hint, what they
(the patients who consulted him) ought to give."
_Large Royal Fees in Later Times._--Henry Atkins was sent for to
Scotland by James the First (of England), to attend to the Prince
Charles--afterwards Charles I., but then in his infancy--who lay
dangerously sick. For this journey and duty the King gave Atkins the
splendid fee of £6000, which he invested in the purchase of the manor
of Clapham. In 1685 a very handsome fee was ordered to be paid--but it
was never paid--to Dr. King, for a brave breach of Court etiquette that
saved the life of Charles II. for a time. Evelyn thus relates the
incident, under date 4th February 1685:--"I went to London, hearing his
Majesty had been, the Monday before (2 Feb.), surprised in his
bed-chamber with an apoplectic fit; so that if, by God's providence,
Dr. King (that excellent chirurgeon as well as physician) had not been
actually present, to let him blood (having his lancet in his pocket),
his Majesty had certainly died that moment, which might have been of
direful consequence, there being nobody else present with the king save
this doctor and one more, as I am assured. It was a mark of the
extraordinary dexterity, resolution, and presence of mind in the Dr. to
let him blood in the very paroxysm, without staying the coming of other
physicians; which regularly should have been done, and for want of
which he must have a regular pardon, as they tell me." The Privy
Council ordered £1000 to be given to Dr. King; but he never obtained
the money. The physicians who attended Queen Caroline in 1737 had 500
guineas, and the surgeons 300 guineas, apiece. Dr. Willis, for his
success in dealing with the malady of George III., received £1500
a-year for twenty years, and £650 was settled on his son for life; the
subordinate physicians had thirty guineas for each visit to Windsor,
and ten for each visit to Kew. The Empress Catherine of Russia made Dr.
Dimsdale--a Hertfordshire physician--who, in 1768, travelled to St.
Petersburg to inoculate her and her son, a Baron of the Empire; and
presented him with a fee of £12,000, and a life pension of £500. This
sum of £12,000 is about the largest ever paid, in ancient times or
modern, to one physician for one operation; although there are living
surgeons who from private individuals have received fees that dwarf
this imperial largess into comparative insignificance. Perhaps even
more remarkable, however, than Catherine's liberal payment for good
work, was the Emperor Joseph of Austria's reward for bad news. On his
deathbed his Majesty asked Quarin his opinion of his case, and was
frankly assured, in reply, that he could not expect to live other
forty-eight hours. For this uncourtly but really kind affirmation of
the truth, the Emperor created Quarin a Baron, and conferred on him an
income of £2000. Louis XIV. gave his physician and surgeon 75,000
crowns each, after the successful performance of a painful, and at that
time novel, operation. Beside this, the fees paid by Napoleon I. to the
Faculty who attended Marie Louise in March 1811, when the Emperor's son
was born, are trifling. Dubois, Corvisart, Bourdier, and Ivan, had
amongst them a remuneration of £4000, £2000 being the portion assigned
to Dubois.
_Fee for a Political Consultation._--At the outbreak of the American
war, Grenville was desirous to ascertain what was the state of feeling
that prevailed among the Quaker colonists in America; and he could hit,
as he thought, on no more effectual means of doing this, than by a
conversation with Dr. Fothergill, who was a Quaker, and enjoyed the
hearty confidence of his brethren of that sect. Fothergill was
accordingly summoned to prescribe for the statesman--who, in reality,
wanted to feel, through him, the pulse of transatlantic Quakerism; and
the visit, of course, was made to take the turn of a vivacious
controversy on American politics. At the end, Grenville put five
guineas into the doctor's hand, and said to him, "Really, I feel so
much better, that I don't think it is necessary for you to prescribe."
With a shrewd smile, Fothergill, keeping a good hold of the money,
said, "Well, at this rate, friend, I can spare thee an hour now and
then."
_Generous Refusal of Fees._--There are many anecdotes of refusal of
physicians to take fees from persons whom the payment of them would
have distressed; but they are all so nobly alike, that we need not
quote any here. The benevolent and eccentric Dr. Smith, when
established in a practice equal to that of any physician in London, did
what perhaps few physicians in great practice would have done. He set
apart _two days for the poor in each week_. From those who were really
poor, he never took a fee; and from those who were of the middling
ranks in life, he never would take above half a guinea! Yet so great
was the resort to him, that he has in one day received fifty guineas,
at the rate of half a guinea only from each patient.
_Sticklers for Fees._--Sir Richard Jebb was once paid three guineas by
a nobleman from whom he had a right to expect five. Sir Richard dropped
the coins on the carpet, when a servant picked them up and restored
them. Sir Richard continued his search. "Are all the guineas found?"
asked his Lordship, looking round. "There must be two still on the
floor," was Jebb's answer; "for I have only three." The hint was taken,
and the right sum put down. An eminent Bristol doctor coming into his
patient's bedroom immediately after death, found the right hand of the
deceased tightly clenched. Opening the fingers, he discovered within
them a guinea. "Ah! that was for me, clearly," said the doctor, putting
the piece into his pocket. A physician, receiving two guineas when he
expected three, from an old lady who used to give him the latter fee,
had recourse to one part of Sir Richard Jebb's artifice, and, assuming
that the third guinea had been dropt through his carelessness on the
floor, looked about for it. "Nay, nay," said the lady, "you are not in
fault. It is I who dropt it."
_Fees collectively Irresistible._--Radcliffe attended a friend for a
twelvemonth gratuitously. On his last visit his friend said, "Doctor,
here is a purse in which I have put every day's fee; and your goodness
must not get the better of my gratitude. Take your money." Radcliffe
steeled himself to persevere in benevolence, just touched the purse to
reject it, heard the chink of the gold, and put it into his pocket,
saying "Singly, Sir, I could have refused them for a twelvemonth; but,
all together, they are _irresistible_."
PALEY'S ECONOMY OF CONSCIENCE.
The great controversy on the propriety of requiring a subscription to
articles of faith, as practised by the Church of England, excited in
1772 a very strong sensation amongst the members of the two
universities. Paley, when pressed to sign the clerical petition which
was presented to the House of Commons for relief, excused himself,
saying, "He could not _afford_ to keep a conscience."
DIFFIDENCE IN THE PULPIT.
Izaak Walton relates about Bishop Sanderson, that once "his dear and
most intimate friend, the learned Dr. Hammond, came to enjoy a quiet
rest and conversation with him for some days at Boothby Pannel, and did
so, and having formerly persuaded him to trust his excellent memory,
and not read, but try to speak a sermon as he had writ it; Dr.
Sanderson became so compliant as to promise that he would. And to that
end they two went early the Sunday following to a neighbour minister,
and requested to exchange a sermon; and they did so. And at Dr.
Sanderson's going into the pulpit, he gave his sermon (which was a very
short one) into the hands of Dr. Hammond, intending to preach it as it
was writ; but before he had preached a third part, Dr. Hammond (looking
on his sermon as written) observed him to be out, and so lost as to the
matter, especially the method, that he also became afraid for him; for
it was discernible to many of that plain auditory. But when he had
ended this short sermon, as they two walked homeward, Dr. Sanderson
said with much earnestness, 'Good Doctor, give me my sermon, and know
that neither you, nor any man living, shall ever persuade me to preach
again without my books.' To which the reply was, 'Good Doctor, be not
angry; for if ever I persuade you to preach again without book, I will
give you leave to burn all the books that I am master of.'" Elsewhere
Walton says:--"Though they were much esteemed by them that procured and
were fit to judge them, yet (Dr. Sanderson's sermons) were the less
valued because he read them, which he was forced to do; for though he
had an extraordinary memory (even the art of it), yet he was punished
with such an innate, invincible fear and bashfulness, that his memory
was wholly useless as to the repetition of his sermons, so as he had
writ them; which gave occasion to say, when some of them were first
printed and exposed to censure (which was in the year 1632), that the
best sermons that ever were read were never preached." Aubrey says,
that when he was a freshman at college, and heard Dr. Sanderson read
his first lecture, he was out in the Lord's Prayer.
CHRISTIAN NAMES AMONG THE PURITANS.
In his _Church History_, Collins says:--"Under the article of Baptism,
the Book of Discipline runs thus: 'Let persuasions be used that such
names that do savour either of Paganism or Popery be not given to
children at their baptism, but principally those whereof there are
examples in the Scriptures.' The Puritans were strict in keeping close
to this rule, as may be collected from the odd names they gave their
children; such as, 'The Lord is Near,' 'More Trial,' 'Reformation,'
'Discipline,' 'Joy Again,' 'Sufficient from Above,' 'Free-Gifts,' 'More
Fruit,' 'Dust,' etc. And here Snape was remarkably scrupulous; for this
minister refused to baptize one Christopher Hodgkinson's child, because
he would have it christened Richard. Snape acquainted Hodgkinson with
his opinion beforehand. He told him he must change the name, and look
out for one in the Scripture; but the father, not thinking this fancy
would be so strongly insisted on, brought his son to church. Snape
proceeded in the solemnity till he came to naming the child; but not
being able to prevail for any other name than Richard, refused to
administer the sacrament, and thus the child was carried away, and
afterwards baptized by a conforming clergyman."
"WHAT IS AN ARCHDEACON?"
Lord Althorp, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, having to propose to
the House of Commons a vote of £400 a year for the salary of the
Archdeacon of Bengal, was puzzled by a question from Mr. Hume, "What
are the duties of an archdeacon?" So he sent one of the subordinate
occupants of the Treasury Bench to the other House to obtain an answer
to the question from one of the bishops. To Dr. Blomfield accordingly
the messenger went, and repeated the question, "What is an archdeacon?"
"An archdeacon," replied the bishop, in his quick way, "an archdeacon
is an ecclesiastical officer, who performs archidiaconal functions;"
and with this reply Lord Althorp and the House were perfectly satisfied.
"TAPPING" A TOPER.
A man who had never drunk water enough to warrant the disease, was
reduced to such a state by dropsy, that the physicians decided that
tapping was necessary; and the poor patient was invited to submit to
the operation, which he seemed inclined to do, in spite of the
entreaties of his son. "Oh! father, father, do not let them _tap_ you,"
screamed the boy, in an agony of tears; "do anything, but do not let
them tap you!" "Why, my dear?" inquired the afflicted parent. "It will
do me good, and I shall live long in health to make you happy." "No,
father, no, you will not: there never was anything _tapped_ in our
house that lasted longer than a week!"
THE CAPACITY OF AN ABBE.
When the diminutive Abbé de Voisenon was ordered by his physician to
drink a quart of ptisan per hour, he was horrified. On his next visit
the doctor asked, "What effect has the ptisan produced?" "Not any,"
answered the little Abbé. "Have you taken it all?" "I could not take
more than half of it." The physician was angry that his directions had
not been carried out, and frankly said so. "Ah! my friend," pleaded the
Abbé, "how could you desire me to swallow a quart an hour? I hold but a
pint!"
BENEFIT OF CLERGY.
In Burnet's _History of the Reformation_, we find it stated that "a law
of Henry VII. for burning in the hand clerks convicted of felony, did
not prove a sufficient restraint. And when, in the fourth year of the
following reign, it was enacted that all murderers and robbers should
be denied the benefit of their clergy, two provisos were added to make
the bill pass through the House of Lords, the one for excepting all
such as were within the holy orders of bishop, priest, or deacon, and
the other, that the Act should only be in force till the next
Parliament. Pursuant to this Act many murderers and felons were denied
their clergy, and the law passed on them to the great satisfaction of
the nation; but this gave great offence to the clergy, and the Abbot of
Winchelcont said, in a sermon at Paul's Cross, that the Act was
contrary to the law of God, and to the liberties of the holy Church,
and that all who assented to it had by so doing incurred the censures
of the Church."
DEAN SWIFT'S CONTRIBUTORY DINNER.
Dean Swift once invited to dinner several of the first noblemen and
gentlemen in Dublin. A servant announced the dinner, and the Dean led
the way to the dining-room. To each chair was a servant, a bottle of
wine, a roll, and an inverted plate. On taking his seat, the Dean
desired the guests to arrange themselves according to their own ideas
of precedence, and fall to. The company were astonished to find the
table without a dish, or any provisions. The Lord Chancellor, who was
present, said, "Mr. Dean, we do not see the joke." "Then I will show it
you," answered the Dean, turning up his plate, under which was
half-a-crown, and a bill of fare from a neighbouring tavern. "Here,
sir," said he, to his servant, "bring me a plate of goose." The company
caught the idea, and each man sent his plate and half-a-crown. Covers,
with everything that the appetites of the moment dictated, soon
appeared. The novelty, the peculiarity of the manner, and the
unexpected circumstances, altogether excited the plaudits of the noble
guests, who declared themselves particularly gratified by the Dean's
entertainment. "Well," said the Dean, "gentlemen, if you have dined, I
will order the _dessert_." A large roll of paper, presenting the
particulars of a splendid dinner, was produced, with an estimate of the
expense. The Dean requested the accountant-general to deduct the
half-crowns from the amount, observing, "that as his noble guests were
pleased to express their satisfaction with the dinner, he begged their
advice and assistance in disposing of the _fragments_ and _crumbs_," as
he termed the balance mentioned by the accountant-general--which was
two hundred and fifty pounds. The company said, that no person was
capable of instructing the Dean in things of that nature. After the
circulation of the finest wines, the most judicious remarks on charity
and its abuse were introduced, and it was agreed that the proper
objects of liberal relief were well-educated families, who from
affluence, or the expectation of it, were reduced through misfortune to
silent despair. The Dean then divided the sum by the number of his
guests, and addressed them according to their respective private
characters, with which no one was perhaps better acquainted. "You, my
Lords," said the Dean to several young noblemen, "I wish to introduce
to some new acquaintance, who will at least make their acknowledgment
for your favours with sincerity." "You, my reverend Lords," addressing
the bishops present, "adhere so closely to the spirit of the
Scriptures, that your left hands are literally ignorant of the
beneficence of your right. You, my Lord of Kildare, and the two noble
lords near you, I will not entrust with any part of this money, as you
have been long in the _usurious_ habits of lending your own on such
occasions; but your assistance, my Lord of Kerry, I must entreat, as
charity covereth a multitude of sins."
"BREAKING UP" BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS.
It is related that Dr. Harrington of Bath, the Editor of _Nugæ
Antiquæ_, for many years attended the Dowager Lady Trevor, relict of
Lord Trevor, and last surviving daughter of Sir Richard Steele. "He
spoke of this lady as possessing all the wit, humour, and gaiety of her
father, together with most of his faults. She was extravagant, and
always in debt; but she was generous, charitable, and humane. She was
particularly partial to young people, whom she frequently entertained
most liberally, and delighted them with the pleasantry and volubility
of her discourse. Her person was like that which her pleasant father
described himself in the _Spectator_, with his short face, etc. A
little before her death (which was in the month of December) she sent
for her doctor, and, on his entering her chamber, he said, 'How fares
your Ladyship?' She replied, 'Oh, my dear Doctor, ill fare! I am going
to break up before the holidays!'"
BOTTLE BLIND.
Dean Cowper, of Durham, was very economical of his wine. One day at
table he was descanting on the extraordinary performance of a man who
was blind, and remarked that the poor fellow could see no more than
"that bottle." "I do not wonder at that at all, Sir," replied a minor
canon; "for we have seen no more than _that bottle_ all the afternoon."
FEARLESSNESS OF JOHN KNOX.
When Lord Darnley, in 1565, had married Mary Queen of Scots, he was
prevailed on by his friends to go and hear Knox preach, in the hope
that thereby he might conciliate the stem moralist and outspoken
minister. But Knox seized the occasion to declaim even more vehemently
against the government of wicked princes, who, for the sins of the
people, are sent as tyrants and scourges to torment them. Darnley
complained to the Council of the insult; and the bold preacher was
forbidden the use of his pulpit for several days. Robertson thus
remarks on his character:--"Rigid and uncomplying himself, he showed no
regard to the infirmities of others. Regardless of the distinctions of
rank and character, he uttered his admonitions with acrimony and
vehemence, more apt to irritate than to reclaim. Those very qualities,
however, which now render his character less amiable, fitted him to be
the instrument of Providence for advancing the Reformation among a
fierce people, and enabled him to face dangers, and to surmount
opposition, from which a person of a more gentle spirit would have been
apt to shrink back." The shortest and perhaps the best funeral oration
extant, is that pronounced by the Earl of Morton over the grave of
Knox: "Here lies he who never feared the face of man."
WESLEY AND BEAU NASH.
Wesley once preaching at Bath, Beau Nash entered the room, came close
up to the preacher, and demanded by what authority he was acting?
Wesley answered, "By the authority of Jesus Christ, conveyed to me by
the present Archbishop of Canterbury, when he laid his hands upon me
and said, 'Take thou authority to preach the gospel.'" Nash then
affirmed that he was acting contrary to the law. "Besides," said he,
"your preaching frightens people out of their wits." "Sir," replied
Wesley, "did you ever hear me preach?" "No," said the master of the
ceremonies. "How, then, can you judge of what you have never heard?"
"By common report," said Nash. "Sir," retorted Wesley, "is not your
name Nash? I dare not judge of you by common report; I think it not
enough to judge by." Nash, right or wrong as to the extravagances of
the Methodists, was certainly proclaiming his opinions in the wrong
place; and when he desired to know what the people came there for, one
of the company cried out: "Let an old woman answer him. You, Mr. Nash,
take care of your body, we take care of our souls, and for the food of
our souls we come here." Nash found himself so different a man in the
meeting-house, to what he was in the pump-room or the assembly, that he
thought it best to withdraw.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE.
In Silliman's _Travels_ it is related that during the Peace of Amiens,
in 1801-2, a committee of English gentlemen went over to Paris for the
purpose of taking measures to supply the French with the Bible in their
own language. One of these gentlemen, Mr. Hardcastle, subsequently gave
the assurance that the fact which was published was literally
true--that they searched Paris for several days before a single Bible
could be found.
EDWARD JENNER, THE DISCOVERER OF VACCINATION.