[Illustration: THE COMPANY OF UNDERTAKERS.]
"Beareth sable, an urinal proper, between twelve quack heads of
the second, and twelve cane heads OR, consultant. On a chief[181]
nebulæ,[182] ermine, one complete doctor[183] issuant checkie,
sustaining in his right hand a baton of the second. On his dexter
and sinister side, two demi-doctors, issuant of the second, and two
cane heads issuant of the third: the first having one eye couchant,
towards the dexter side of the escutcheon; the second faced per pale
proper, and gules guardant, with this motto, 'Et plurima mortis
imago.'"
It has been said of the ancients, that they began by attempting to
make physic a science, and failed; of the moderns, that they began
by attempting to make it a trade, and succeeded. This company are
moderns to a man; and if we may judge of their capacities by their
countenances, are indeed a most sapient society. Their practice is
very extensive, and they go about taking guineas,
"Far as the weekly bills can reach around,
From Kent Street end, to fam'd St. Giles's pound."
Many of them are unquestionably portraits;[184] but as these grave
and sage descendants of Galen are long since gone to that place where
they before sent their patients, I am unable to ascertain any of
them, except the three who are for distinction placed in the chief
or most honourable part of the escutcheon. Those whom, from their
exalted situation, we may naturally conclude the most distinguished
and sagacious leeches of their day, have marks too obtrusive to be
mistaken. He towards the dexter side of the escutcheon is determined
by an eye in the head of his cane to be the all-accomplished
Chevalier Taylor,[185] in whose marvellous and surprising history,
written by his own hand, and published in 1761, is recorded such
events relative to himself and others[186] as have excited more
astonishment than that incomparable romance, _Don Belianis of
Greece_, _the Arabian Nights_, or _Sir John Mandeville his Travels_.
The centre figure, arrayed in a harlequin jacket, with a bone, or
what the painter denominates a baton, in the right hand, is generally
considered designed for Mrs. Mapp, a masculine woman, daughter to
one Wallin, a bone-setter at Hindon, in Wiltshire. This female
Thalestris, incompatible as it may seem with her sex, adopted her
father's profession, travelled about the country, calling herself
_crazy Sally_; and like another Hercules, did wonders by strength
of arm! An old gentleman, who knew this lady, assures me, that
notwithstanding all the unkind things which her medical brethren
said of her ignorance, etc., she was entitled to an equal portion of
professional praise with many of those who decried her; for not more
than nineteen out of twenty of her patients died under her hands.
The _Grub Street Journal_, and some other papers of that day,
are crowded with paragraphs[189] relative to her cures and her
consequence.
On the sinister side is Doctor Ward, generally called Spot Ward,
from his left cheek being marked with a claret colour. This gentleman
was of a respectable family,[191] and though not highly educated, had
talents very superior to either of his coadjutors.
For the chief, this must suffice; as for the twelve quack heads and
twelve cane heads OR, consultant, united with the cross-bones at the
corners, they have a most mortuary appearance, and do indeed convey a
general image of death.
In the time of Lucian, a philosopher was distinguished by three
things: his avarice, his impudence, and his beard. In the time of
Hogarth, medicine was a mystery,[192] and there were three things
which distinguished the physician: his gravity, his cane head, and
his periwig. With these leading requisites, this venerable party
are most amply gifted. To specify every character is not necessary;
but the upper figure on the dexter side, with a wig like a weeping
willow, should not be overlooked. His lemon-like aspect must curdle
the blood of all his patients. In the countenances of his brethren
there is no want of acids; but however sour each individual was in
his day--
"A doctor of renown,
To none but such as rust in health unknown,
And save or slay, this privilege they claim,
Or death, or life, the bright reward's the same."[193]
Ward, Taylor, and Mapp were considered as a proper trio by other
persons besides Hogarth: some lines beginning as follows, were
written about the latter end of 1736:--
"In this bright age three wonder-workers rise,
Whose operations puzzle all the wise;
To lame and blind, by dint of manual slight,
Mapp gives the use of limbs, and Taylor sight.
But greater Ward," etc.