ARMS OF LEYDEN. DANIEL DOVE, M. D. A LOVE STORY, STRANGE BUT TRUE.
_Oye el extraño caso, advierte y siente;
Suceso es raro, mas verdad ha sido._
BALBUENA.
The arms of Leyden are two cross keys, gules in a field argent; and
having been entrusted with the power of those keys to bind and to
loose,—and moreover to bleed and to blister, to administer at his
discretion pills, potions, and powders, and employ the whole artillery
of the pharmacopœia,—Daniel returned to Doncaster. The papal keys
convey no such general power as the keys of Leyden: they give
authority over the conscience and the soul; now it is not every man
that has a conscience, or that chuses to keep one; and as for souls,
if it were not an article of faith to believe otherwise,—one might
conclude that the greater part of mankind had none from the utter
disregard of them which is manifested in the whole course of their
dealings with each other. But bodily diseases are among the
afflictions which flesh is heir to; and we are not more surely _fruges
consumere nati_, than we are born to consume physic also, greatly to
the benefit of that profession in which Daniel Dove had now obtained
his commission.
But though he was now M. D. in due form, and entitled to the insignia
of the professional wig, the muff, and the gold-headed cane, it was
not Mr. Hopkins's intention that he should assume his title, and
commence practice as a physician. This would have been an unpromising
adventure; whereas on the other hand the consideration which a regular
education at Leyden, then the most flourishing school of medicine,
would obtain for him in the vicinity, was a sure advantage. Hopkins
could now present him as a person thoroughly qualified to be his
successor: and if at any future time Dove should think proper to
retire from the more laborious parts of his calling, and take up his
rank, it would be in his power to do so.
But one part of my Readers are I suspect, at this time a little
impatient to know something about the Burgemeester's Daughter; and I,
because of the
allegiance and fast fealty
Which I do owe unto all womankind,[1]
am bound to satisfy their natural and becoming curiosity. Not however
in this place; for though love has its bitters I never will mix it up
in the same chapter with physic. Daniel's passion for the
Burgemeester's Daughter must be treated of in a chapter by itself,
this being a mark of respect due to the subject, to her beauty, and to
the dignity of Mynheer, her Wel Edel, Groot, Hoogh-Achtbaer father.
[Footnote 1: SPENSER.]
First however I must dispose of an objection.
There may be readers who, though they can understand why a lady
instead of telling her love, should
——let concealment like a worm in the bud
Feed on her damask cheek,
will think it absurd to believe that any man should fix his affections
as Daniel did upon the Burgemeester's Daughter, on a person whom he
had no hopes of obtaining, and with whom, as will presently appear, he
never interchanged a word. I cannot help their incredulity. But if
they will not believe me they may perhaps believe the newspapers which
about the year 1810 related the following case in point.
“A short time since a curious circumstance happened. The Rector of St.
Martin's parish was sent for to pray by a gentleman of the name of
Wright, who lodged in St. James' street, Pimlico. A few days
afterwards Mr. Wright's solicitor called on the Rector, to inform him
that Mr. Wright was dead, and had made a codicil to his will wherein
he had left him £1000., and Mr. Abbott the Speaker of the House of
Commons £2000., and all his personal property and estates, deer-park
and fisheries &c. to Lady Frances Bruce Brudenell, daughter of the
Earl of Ailesbury. Upon the Rector's going to Lord Ailesbury's to
inform her Ladyship, the house steward said she was married to Sir
Henry Wilson of Chelsea Park, but he would go to her Ladyship and
inform her of the matter. Lady Frances said she did not know any such
person as Mr. Wright, but desired the Steward to go to the Rector to
get the whole particulars, and say she would wait on him the next day:
she did so, and found to her great astonishment that the whole was
true. She afterwards went to St. James' Street and saw Mr. Wright in
his coffin; and then she recollected him, as having been a great
annoyance to her many years ago at the Opera House, where he had a box
next to hers: he never spoke to her, but was continually watching her,
look wherever she would, till at length she was under the necessity of
requesting her friends to procure another box. The estates are from 20
to £30,000. a-year. Lady Frances intends putting all her family into
mourning out of respect.”
Whether such a bequest ought to have been held good in law, and if so,
whether it ought in conscience to have been accepted, are points upon
which I should probably differ both from the Lord Chancellor, and the
Lady Legatee.