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he was liberated, Freind was admitted to bail, Mead and some other physicians being his sureties.

Dr. Charles Lucas, another political doctor, was better known as an Irish politician than as a physician. He was for some years the editor, and it is believed the founder, of the Freeman's Journal,' in which capacity he became obnoxious to the Government through his writings, which were pronounced seditious, and he had to make his escape from Ireland. On returning thither he sought admission to the King and Queen's College of Physicians, but when his second examination became due, he requested its postponement on the ground that through his attendance in Parliament he could not be duly prepared.'

Dr. Samuel Musgrave, a most accomplished scholar, who, after passing through a successful academic career and obtaining a Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship, settled at Plymouth with most encouraging prospects, ruined himself and his prospects by the publication of a political address, which gave rise to great public excitement and scandal, and ultimately compelled his removal to London, where, however, he failed to regain practice as a physician, and died in great poverty at an early age.

But perhaps the most notorious political doctor, whose conduct compelled the interference of the College, was John Bastwick, a contemporary of Hamey. He was one of the most fiery-spirited Puritans of the age, whose Flagellum Pontificis et Episcoporum Latialium,' and other equally fierce political writings, brought him before the High Commission Court and sent him to prison to keep company with Prynne and others, whose puritanism and violence of zeal were fostered and inflamed by the still more intemperate persecution of Laud. Bastwick was fined 1000l., sentenced to be excommunicated, debarred the practice of physic, his books to be burnt, to pay the costs of suit, and to remain in prison until he made his recantation.

'The College proceeded to carry out one part of the sentence and revoked his licence to practise, as shown by the following extract from the College Annals, 1634, Feb. 18. "It was proposed by Mr. President to the censors whether Dr. Bastwick, having been lately censured for misdemeanour and insolence in the High Commission Court, and thereupon committed to prison, should not be debarred practice. The censors, taking due notice of his misdemeanour and evil carriage in the Court, have revoked his licence, and declared him not to be permitted to practise.""

Bastwick's subsequent history is well known and need not be related here. In consequence of fresh attacks upon the bishops and the High Commission he was again imprisoned and fined

5000, but was released by order of the Long Parliament in 1640. His sentence was rescinded, his fine remitted, and he himself restored to his profession. The College of Physicians, on the 18th of December, 1640, reinstated him in his position, but he never received payment of the 50007.

In Dr. Radcliffe-who flourished towards the close of the seventeenth century, and was Court Physician to the Princess Anne and to William III.—we have the type of a distinct class of physicians, not numerous, indeed, but of which every age affords one or more examples. It has been said by a distinguished modern physician, that no one ever got rapidly into large London medical practice and retained it long. Radcliffe, at all events, and some others, are marked exceptions to any such rule. He said that he had not been settled a year in London when he got twenty guineas a day by his practice, and he continued, so long as he practised, to be in the receipt of one of the largest incomes ever made by a physician. From the King and the great personages about Court he received large fees. For attendance on the King alone, during the first eleven years of his reign, he had on the average more than 600 guineas per annum, and was once ordered 500 guineas out of the privy purse for the cures of M. Bentinck and M. Zulestein.'* On another occasion, having been sent to Namur to cure Lord Albemarle, after a week's residence in the camp abroad, his Majesty generously gave him an order on the Treasury for 12007., and his Lordship presented him with 400 guineas and a diamond ring.

The large sums of money which Dr. Radcliffe made from his practice afford us an opportunity of saying a few words respecting physicians' fees in former times. Dr. Gibbons, who lived in Radcliffe's vicinity, is said to have got more than 10007. a year from patients whom the great man could not attend to; and a certain Dandridge, the apothecary whom he patronized, died worth 50,000Z. His fee for going from his residence in Bloomsbury Square to Bow was five guineas. Such fees are not more than would be had in the present day by any physician of eminence; but, considering the difference in value of money, at that time they were certainly large. Medicine as a profession is better paid in this country than in any other, a fact mainly owing to the higher social position which its practitioners hold; but the average income of medical men throughout this country is very much overestimated by the public; and, although the generality of medical men are infinitely better educated in the present day than they were in Radcliffe's time, it is very questionable whether the public are

more

more liberal to them. The late accomplished Dr. Thomas Young used to say that no one should attempt to establish himself as a physician in London who had not a private fortune of 5001. or 6001. a year. This could not now be accepted, when a much larger number of aspirants, with equal claims to public patronage, are to be found in the ranks of Physic. But the public are apt to forget, when estimating the gains of a physician, the length of time, and the expenditure incurred, before any adequate income can be secured by legitimate means, and how short is the time ere fashion changes and new names attract the attention of capricious patients.

Large fees for special services have not unfrequently been received by physicians, less frequently, however, than by surgeons. Dr. Dimsdale, the founder of the well-known banking firm of that name, acquired considerable reputation for his treatment of smallpox, and his method of inoculation. This recommended him to the Empress Catherine of Russia, at whose request he visited St. Petersburg in 1768. His successful inoculation of the Empress herself, and of her son, the Grand Duke, was rewarded with the rank of Baron of the Empire, Counsellor of State, and Physician to the Empress, besides a pension of 500l. per annum, and a present of 12,000l. His son, who accompanied him, shared his honours, and was presented by the Empress with a gold snuff-box set with diamonds. The elder Dr. Warren arrived early at the highest practice, and maintained it till his death, realizing for many years 90007. a year, and bequeathing to his family 150,000l. In his case the popular estimate formed of him was fully justified, for he was held in unanimous respect by his medical brethren, which no man acquires without deserving it. In too many instances it must be allowed that the popularity and the amount of a physician's revenue are far from affording an adequate test of his merits, whether social or professional. Unblushing assurance, eccentricity, or some assumed novelty or singularity of doctrine, will too frequently blind the eyes of the multitude, and cover no little ignorant pretence. Dr. Warren senior had the great advantage of the early patronage of his father-in-law, Dr. Shaw -who was in large practice as well as that of the Court Physician, Sir Edward Wilmot, to promote his immediate success; and his manners and conversational powers, as well as his accomplishments and solid attainments, enabled him to reap the full benefit of his advantages. Dr. Pelham Warren, his son, on the other hand, who also attained to a very large practice, and moved in the highest rank of his profession, was a man of cold and abrupt manners, plain and untidy in his dress, and

took

took an immense quantity of snuff. He was, however, a gentleman, a good observer of disease, and a sound practical physician who merited the success he acquired.

But to return to Dr. Radcliffe. That he was no scholar, and had but little acquaintance with the literature of his profession, is admitted; that he was in perpetual warfare with his professional brethren, the Annals of the College afford abundant evidence; that he was no courtier, and that his manners were rough and uncivil, numerous incidents in his life prove. On the return of King William from Holland in 1699, he sent for Radcliffe, and, showing him his swollen ankles, while the rest of his body was emaciated, said: 'What think you of these?' 'Why, truly,' replied Radcliffe, 'I would not have your Majesty's two legs for your three kingdoms,' which freedom lost him the King's favour, and no intercession could ever recover it. When Anne came to the throne, the Earl of Godolphin endeavoured, in vain, to reinstate Radcliffe as first physician, but the Queen would not be prevailed on, alleging that Radcliffe would send her word, as he had done before, that her ailments were nothing but the vapours.' The Queen, however, sent for him in her last illness, when he answered, 'that he had taken physic and could not come.' The Queen died on the 1st of August 1714, and Radcliffe on the 1st of November following, his death having, it is said, been hastened by dread of the populace, who were incensed against him for his neglect of the Queen. That he was an accurate observer, and successful in his treatment, can scarcely be doubted; and Mead, a competent judge, says, 'he was deservedly at the head of his profession on account of his great medical penetration and experience.' But whatever may be thought of his medical attainments, he is deserving of all praise and respect for the use he made of the wealth that he accumulated. The Infirmary and Observatory at Oxford were built from the funds supplied by his estates in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Surrey, which he bequeathed for charitable purposes. He left also 5000l. for the enlargement of University College, and 40,000l. for building the library which bears his name, besides founding two medical travelling fellowships, and money for the purchase of perpetual advowsons for the members of his college at Oxford. To Bartholomew's Hospital he also bequeathed 5007. a year towards mending their dyette, and the further yearly summe of 1007. for ever for buying linnen.' A beautiful portrait of Radcliffe, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, adorns the College in Pall Mall, where also is to be seen his celebrated 'gold-headed cane,' presented by the widow of Dr. Baillie, which Vol. 148.-No. 296.

2 C

Dr.

Dr. MacMichael has immortalized in his charming volume with that title.

On the death of Dr. Radcliffe, in 1714, Dr. Richard Mead succeeded to the throne of British Medicine, which he filled in more regal style than any physician either before or since has done. He was the son of a celebrated Nonconformist divine, the Rev. Matthew Mead, and was born at Stepney in 1673. His early education was received at home, under his father and a private tutor; his philosophical and medical studies were pursued at Utrecht, and at Leyden, where he was a contemporary with the good and famous Boerhaave, with whom he maintained a lasting friendship. After travelling through Italy, he returned to London, received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Oxford, and was elected Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital. He subsequently became a Fellow and Vice-President of the Royal Society, and, on the accession of George II., he was made Physician in Ordinary to the King. He was elected President of the College of Physicians, but begged to be excused from serving. He died on the 16th of February, 1754, after the most brilliant career of professional and literary reputation, of personal honour, of wealth, and of notoriety, which ever fell in combination to the lot of any medical man in any age or country.' His character is thus depicted by Dr. Bisset Hawkins:

'In practice he had been absolutely without a rival; his average receipts had during several years amounted to between six and seven thousand pounds, an enormous sum in relation to the value of money at that period. So great was the anxiety to obtain his opinion, that he daily repaired to a coffee-house in the City, and to another at the west end of the metropolis, to inspect written or to receive oral statements from the apothecaries, and to deliver his decision. His charity and hospitality were unbounded; the epithet "princely" has often been applied to him on this head; but he has truly left an example which men of all ranks may be proud to imitate according to their

means.

These qualities in Mead were not the result of the accident which exalts or limits our means, but were the spontaneous expression of his heart. His gratuitous advice was ever open, not merely to the indigent, but also to the clergy and to all men of learning; and he devoted his emoluments to the patronage of literature and of the fine arts in a manner that requires a more distinct mention. Radcliffe was a worthy predecessor of Mead in the magnificent use which he made of his fortune. We may safely challenge any country to produce two individuals of the same profession, and flourishing at the same time, who have with equal generosity applied their revenue to the promotion of science and of erudition, and to the relief of misery.

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