There PHYSIC fills the space, and far around, And smooth the stormy passage to the grave. (1) (1) [Sir Henry Halford, in the" Essay on the Influence of Disease on the Mind," has the following striking passages on the conduct proper to be observed by a physician, in withholding, or making his patient acquainted with, his opinion of the probable issue of a malady manifesting mortal symptoms: — " I own, I think it my first duty to protract his life by all practicable means, and to interpose myself between him and every thing which may possibly aggravate his danger. And unless I shall have found him averse from doing what was necessary in aid of my remedies, from a want of a proper sense of his perilous situation, I forbear to step out of the bounds of my province, in order to offer any advice which is not necessary to promote his cure. At the same time, I think it indispensable to let his friends know the danger of his case, the instant I discover it. An arrangement of his worldly affairs, in which the comfort or unhappiness of those who are to come after him is involved, may be necessary; and a suggestion of his danger, by which the accomplishment of this object is to be obtained, naturally induces a contemplation of his more important spiritual concerns. If friends can do their good offices at a proper time, and under the suggestion of the physician, it is far better that they should undertake them, than the medical adviser. But friends may be absent, and nobody near the patient, in his extremity, of sufficient influence or pretension to inform him of his dangerous condition; and surely it is lamentable to think that any human being should leave the world unprepared to meet his Creator. Rather than so, I have departed from my strict professional duty, done that which I would have done by myself, and apprised my patient of the great change he was about to undergo. Lord Bacon encourages physicians to make it a part of their art to smooth the bed of death, and to render the departure from life easy, placid, and gentle. This doctrine, so acfordant with the best principles of our nature, commended not only by the wisdom of this consummate philosopher, but also by the experience of one of the most judicious and conscientious physicians of modern times VOL. II. E But man, who knows no good unmix'd and pure, Oft finds a poison where he sought a cure; For grave deceivers lodge their labours here, And cloud the science they pretend to clear: Scourges for sin, the solemn tribe are sent ; Like fire and storms, they call us to repent; But storms subside, and fires forget to rage. These are eternal scourges of the age: 'Tis not enough that each terrific hand Spreads desolation round a guilty land; But train'd to ill, and harden'd by its crimes, Their pen relentless kills through future times. Say ye, who search these records of the dead Who read huge works, to boast what ye have read; Can all the real knowledge ye possess, Or those-if such there are—who more than guess, And mend the blunders pride or folly makes ? the late Dr. Heberden was practised with such happy success in the case of our late lamented sovereign (George the Fourth), that at the close of his painful disease'non tam mori videretur (as was said of a Roman emperor), quam dulci et alto sopore excipi.""] The vital heat, that warms the labouring heart, Ye frigid tribe, on whom I wasted long Who promised knowledge ye could not impart ; Ye treacherous leaders, who, yourselves in doubt, (1) ["The time had come, when Mr. Crabbe was told, and believed, that he had more important concerns to engage him than verse; and therefore, for some years, though he occasionally found time to write lines upon Mira's Birthday' and 'Silvia's Lapdog,' though he composed enigmas and solved rebuses, he had some degree of forbearance, and did not believe that the knowledge of diseases, and the sciences of anatomy and physiology, were to be acquired by the perusal of Pope's Homer, a Dictionary of Rhymes, and a Treatise on the Art of Poetry."— See antè, Vol. I. p. 31.] Buried in dust and lost in silence, dwell, Most potent, grave, and reverend friends farewell! (1) Near these, and where the setting sun displays, Through the dim window, his departing rays, And gilds yon columns, there, on either side, The huge Abridgments of the Law abide; (2) Fruitful as vice the dread correctors stand, And spread their guardian terrors round the land; Yet, as the best that human care can do, Is mix'd with error, oft with evil too, Skill'd in deceit, and practised to evade, Knaves stand secure, for whom these laws were made, (1) [" About the end of the year 1779, Mr. Crabbe, after as full and perfect a survey of the good and evil before him as his prejudices, inclinations, and little knowledge of the world enabled him to take, finally resolved to abandon his profession. His health was not robust, his spirits were not equal; assistance he could expect none, and he was not so sanguine as to believe he could do without it. With the best verses he could write, and with very little more, he quitted the place of his birth; not without the most serious apprehensions of the consequence of such a step,-apprehensions which were conquered, and barely conquered, by the more certain evil of the prospect before him, should he remain where he was."— See antè, Vol. I. p. 43.] (2) ["Who are they, whose unadorned raiment bespeaks their inward simplicity? These are law books, statutes, and commentaries on statutes— whom all men must obey, and yet few only can purchase. Like the Sphynx in antiquity, they speak in enigmas, and yet devour the unhappy wretches who comprehend them not. Behold, for our comfort,' An Abridgment of Law and Equity!' It consists not of many volumes; it extends only to twenty-two folios; yet as a few thin cakes may contain the whole nutritive substance of a stalled ox, so may this compendium contain the essential gravy of many a report and adjudged case. The sages of the law recommend this Abridgment to our perusal. Let us, with all thankfulness of heart, receive their council. Much are we beholden to physicians, who only prescribe the bark of the quinquina, when they might oblige their patients to swallow the whole tree!"-SIR D. DALRYMPLE.] And justice vainly each expedient tries, "Ah! happy age," the youthful poet sings, (1) "When the free nations knew not laws nor kings; "When all were blest to share a common store, "And none were proud of wealth, for none were poor; "No wars nor tumults vex'd each still domain, "No thirst of empire, no desire of gain; "No proud great man, nor one who would be great, "Drove modest merit from its proper state; "Nor into distant climes would Avarice roam, "To fetch delights for Luxury at home: "Bound by no ties which kept the soul in awe, "They dwelt at liberty, and love was law!" "Mistaken youth! each nation first was rude, "Each man a cheerless son of solitude, "To whom no joys of social life were known, "None felt a care that was not all his own; "Or in some languid clime his abject soul "Bow'd to a little tyrant's stern control; "A slave, with slaves his monarch's throne he raised, "And in rude song his ruder idol praised; (1) [The original MS., in place of the next lines, reads:- |