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."

ADDISON'S INTRODUCTION TO BAXTER.

Addison says that he once met with a page of Mr. Baxter under a Christmas pie. "Whether or no the pastry-cook had made use of it through chance or waggery, for the defence of that superstitious viande, I know not; but, upon the perusal of it, I conceived so good an idea of the author's piety that I bought the whole book."

THE PARTNERSHIP OF HUNTER AND CULLEN.

Dr. William Cullen, the celebrated physician and medical writer, and Dr. William Hunter, the brother of the great anatomist, when young men formed a copartnery of as singular and noble a nature as any to be found in the records of their profession. They were both natives of the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and Hunter studied for the church at that university. But he accidentally became acquainted with Cullen, who was some years his senior, and had settled in a medical practice at Hamilton; and this friendship, strengthening his natural inclination, drew Hunter away from the study of theology to that of medicine. He went to reside with Cullen, and entered into partnership with him--neither of the young men being well to do, and both stimulated by the impulse of genius to take this step in order that they might the better overcome the obstacles presented by the narrowness of their fortunes to the prosecution of their studies. It was stipulated that each partner alternately should be allowed to study during the winter at what college he pleased, the other meantime conducting the joint business for the common advantage. Cullen, as the senior partner, had the first winter, and he went to Edinburgh. But next winter Hunter's turn came: he preferred London to Edinburgh, went thither, and did not return to Scotland. His excellence as a dissector, singular dexterity in making anatomical preparations, assiduity in study, and agreeable manners, won him the warm regard of Dr. Douglas, to whom he had an introduction from Foulis the printer; and in two or three years Hunter became a lecturer on anatomy, and laid the foundations of a great fame and fortune. The scientific partnership was of course dissolved by Hunter's success in London; but Cullen freely consented to renounce his claim on his junior, and ever afterwards maintained a very cordial and friendly correspondence with Hunter--though the two friends are believed never afterwards to have seen each other.

THE EXHAUSTIVE BARROW.

Charles II., in his humorous fashion, was wont to say about his chaplain--that distinguished philosopher and divine, Dr. Isaac Barrow--that he was the most unfair preacher in England, because he exhausted every subject, and left no room for others to come after him. This was indeed too much the doctor's characteristic; when he had once got hold of a topic, he knew not how to leave anything unsaid upon it. One of his best discourses, on the duty and reward of bounty to the poor, actually occupied between three and four hours in the delivery. Although, however, his sermons are unusually long, they so abound in matter, that his language sometimes labours in the utterance of his thought; hence his style is at times involved and parenthetical, though passages of sublime and simple eloquence frequently occur. It is related that, in preaching the Spital sermon before the Lord Mayor and Corporation, he consumed three hours and a half. Being asked, after he came down from the pulpit, if he was not tired, he replied, "Yes, indeed, I begin to be weary in standing so long."

A POPULAR PREACHER.