Clergymen and Doctors: Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches.

Part 1

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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.

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

Part 2

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

Part 3

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

Part 4

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

Part 5

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

Part 6

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."

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