Slike strani
PDF
ePub

lished "The History of the last Parliament begun at Westminster Feb. 10, in the 12th year of king William, A.D. 1700." The House of Lords, thinking that this work reflected too severely on the memory of the king, summoned the author before them in May, 1702, and ordered him to be prosecuted by the attorney-general. He was brought to trial, but acquitted. In 1704 Dr. Drake, in concert with Mr. Poley, the member for Ipswich, wrote "The Memorial of the Church of England, humbly offered to the consideration of all true lovers of the Church and Constitution." This pamphlet was anonymous, and every precaution was taken by the authors to elude discovery. The treasurer Godolphin, and the other great officers of the Crown, therein severely reflected on, were so incensed at the publication that they represented it to the queen, as an insult on her honour, and as conveying an intimation that the Church was in danger under her administration. In the speech from the throne, 27th October, 1705, her Majesty alluded to "The Memorial," and was addressed by both Houses of Parliament upon that occasion. Soon afterwards the queen, on the petition of the House of Commons, issued a proclamation for discovering the author of the pamphlet. Drake was generally suspected, but proof could not be obtained against him; and even the masked female who conveyed the MS. to the printer could never be discovered. Parliament, however, was not the only body that resented the publication; for the grand jury of the city of London having presented it at the sessions, as "a false, scandalous, and traitorous libel,” it was forthwith burnt in the sight of the Court then sitting, and afterwards before the Royal Exchange by the common hangman. In April, 1706, Dr. Drake was prosecuted for the publication of "Mercurius Politicus," a newspaper which reflected seriously upon the conduct of Government. The case was argued in the court of Queen's Bench, when, upon a flaw in the information, the trial was adjourned; and in November following the doctor was acquitted; but the Government

brought a writ of error. The severity of this prosecution, joined to repeated disappointments, and, it is said, ill-usage from some of his political party, produced a fever, and that fever death, on the 2nd March, 1706-7.* "Dr. Drake was a man of quick, pregnant parts, well stored with learning, and improved by good conversation. He had a great mastery of the English tongue, and wrote with ease and fluency, in a manly style. Though various judgments were passed upon his political writings, according to people's different humours, passions, and interests, yet all agreed in commending his way of writing."t

Dr. Drake is remembered in the profession by his "Anthropologia Nova; or a New System of Anatomy, describing the Animal Economy, and a Short Rationale of many Distempers incident to Human Bodies," 2 vols. 8vo.; a work once highly and deservedly popular, which was finished a short time only before the author's decease, and was published in 1707, with a commendatory preface by Dr. Wagstaffe, reader of anatomy at Surgeons' hall, and physician to St. Bartholomew's hospital. It came to a second edition in 1717, and to a third in 1727, and continued to maintain its popularity until displaced by the "Anatomy," of Cheselden. Drake added notes to the English translation of "Le Clerc's History of Medicine;" and in the "Philosophical Transactions" there is a clever paper from his pen, "On an Influence of Respiration on the Motion of the Heart, hitherto unobserved." He was also the author of a comedy, "The Sham Lawyer, or the Lucky Extravagant," chiefly borrowed from two of Fletcher's plays, which was produced at the Theatre Royal. In 1703 he sent to the press "Historia Anglo-Scotica; or, an Impartial History of all that happened between the Kings

Dr.

"The second day of this month (March, 1706-7) Dr. James Drake, Fellow of this College, died of a fever: a gentleman of very pregnant parts and good learning, as appears by the writings he has left behind him, and deserved a much better treatment from the great world than he met with in it."-Annals, vol. vii, p. 244.

+ Biographia Britannica.

VOL. II.

C

and Kingdoms of England and Scotland, from the beginning of the reign of William the Conqueror to the reign of queen Elizabeth." This was publicly burnt at Edinburgh, as his "Memorial" had been in London. The "Memorial" was reprinted in 1711, with an introductory preface containing the life of the author,—a memoir which has formed the basis of all subsequent sketches of this unfortunate man. His portrait by Thomas Foster was engraved by M. Van Gucht.

JAMES KEITH, M.D.-A doctor of medicine of Aberdeen, of 15th July, 1704; was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 30th September, 1706. He died 1st November, 1726.

JOHN WATTS, of Aylesbury, was admitted an ExtraLicentiate of the College of Physicians 5th December,

1706.

RALPH GILBERT, LL.D., was educated at Trinity hall, Cambridge, of which society he became a fellow. He proceeded LL.B. 1698; LL.D. 1705; and was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 17th April, 1707.

EDWARD TARRY, of South Mimms, was admitted an Extra-Licentiate 28th April, 1707.

CHARLES THIRLBY, of Bristol, was admitted an ExtraLicentiate of the College of Physicians 26th June, 1707.

THOMAS BROWNE, M.D., was the only son of Dr. Edward Browne, a distinguished fellow, and for seven years President of our College, by his wife, a daughter of Christopher Terne, M.D. He was born in London, and baptized at St. Andrew's Undershaft, 21st January, 1672-3, but spent most of his childhood at Norwich with his grandfather, the distinguished author of the

"Religio Medici," and in that city would seem to have received his rudimentary education. At a suitable age he was sent to Cambridge, and entered at Trinity college, as a member of which he proceeded M.B. 1695, M.D. 1700. He was admitted a Candidate of the College of Physicians 30th September, 1704, and a Fellow 30th September, 1707. On the death of his father, in 1708, Dr. Thomas Browne came into possession of a good house and estate at Northfleet, Kent, and retiring thither, gave way, if we may credit Le Neve's statement, to habits of gross intemperance. He was killed in 1710, by a fall from his horse, while riding in a state of intoxication from Gravesend to Southfleet. His remains were interred in the church of Northfleet, and at the foot of his father's monument is the following short memento:

Hic etiam situs est THOMAS BROWNE, M.D., ejusdem Edwardi Browne filius unicus. Ex hâc vitâ migravit Anno Etatis 36° Annoque Domini 1710.

In 1698 he had married his cousin Alethea, fourth and youngest daughter of his uncle Henry Fairfax, esq., but she died in 1704, leaving no children, and was buried at Hurst, in Berkshire. Among the Sloane MSS. (No. 1,900) is an an account in Dr. Thomas Browne's handwriting of a tour he took, in company with Dr. Robert Plot, "for the discovery of antiquities and curiosities in England." This was published for the first time in Mr. Wilkin's excellent edition of the works of Sir Thomas Browne.

SAMUEL ESTEVE, M.D.-A French Protestant refugee, and a doctor of medicine of Montpelier, of 22nd July, 1673, was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 30th September, 1707. His marriage with Marie Jacquin, in 1694, is recorded in the register of the French chapel, Hungerford market.* In his will

* Burns' History of the French, Walloon, and other foreign Protestant refugees, p. 148.

he gives the reversion of fifty pounds per annum to the congregation of French Protestants then assembling in the parish of St. Martin Orgars, in the city.

RICHARD MORTON, M.D., was the only son of Dr. Richard Morton, a Fellow of the College before mentioned. He was created doctor of medicine at Cambridge, as a member of Catherine hall, in 1695; was admitted a Candidate of the College of Physicians 22nd December, 1696 and a Fellow 22nd December, 1707. Dr. Morton was appointed physician to Greenwich hospital, in April, 1716, and died there 1st February, 1729– 30. He has some verses prefixed to his father's Pyretologia.

FRANCIS BELLINGER.-An undergraduate of Brasenose college, Oxford, was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 29th March, 1708. He practised for a time at Stamford, but eventually removed to London, and died in September, 1721. He was the author of a work entitled

A Discourse concerning the Nutrition of the Foetus in the Womb. 8vo. Lond. 1717.

A Treatise concerning the Small Pox. 8vo. Lond. 1721.

LAWRENCE BANYER was admitted an Extra-Licentiate of the College 26th May, 1708. He practised at Wisbeach. Two of this name were buried at Wisbeach; which was the Extra-Licentiate I have no means of determining. The following certified copy, from the Register Books of Wisbeach, St. Peter and St. Paul," is before me :

[ocr errors]

Burials. 1720. June 7th. Lawrence Banyer, Gent.
1728. Jan. 26. Lawrence Banyer, Gent.

FRANCIS LEE, A.M.-A native of Surrey, born 2nd March, 1661, was educated at Merchant Taylor's school, whence he was elected in 1679 probationary fellow of St. John's college, Oxford, as a member of which he

« PrejšnjaNaprej »