The Gold-Headed Cane, 279 



the great and learned, — ^while, too often, alas ! in the course 

 of our literary rambles, are we tempted by the columns of 

 some prouder portico, to stumble over paltry furniture, or 

 to pine in ungenial society. 



The Gold-Headed Cane, then, which is the hero of this 

 little volume, was once grasped by the well-curved palms of 

 Radcliffe, Mead, Askew, Pitcairn, and Baillie, — but is now 

 condemned to the obscurity of dust in a corner of the new 

 College of Physicians. Mortified by the disuse into which 

 this ancient appendage of the art of healing has fallen, while 

 the wig of the jurist still retains its honours, he consoles his 

 retirement by reviewing the transactions of which he had 

 been a party while sustaining the weight of his former illus- 

 trious patrons. We are thus presented with an entertaining 

 picture of several of the most celebrated physicians of the 

 last hundred and fifty years, — and of not a few of the poli- 

 tical or literary contemporaries with whom they were occa- 

 sionally placed in contact. The outline is medical ; but some 

 traits of general life are intermingled — some fleeting tints of 

 society are scattered throughout, to complete the design. 

 We are introduced behind the scenes, to glance over the 

 actors and the audience of other times : the general impres- 

 sion is analogous to that produced by the Private Memoirs 

 which the French have so voluminously multiplied, and 

 which we are at present so industriously emulating, — except- 

 ing, always, that our author has offered not a single sacrifice 

 on the altar of party, prejudice, or pique. The urbanity 

 of tone which moderates the whole strain of the composition, 

 distinguishes it from every collection of anecdotes witn which 

 we are acquainted. An inventive raillery might, on this 

 ground, have found ample room to amuse the living at the 

 expense of the departed ; but the author has wisely avoided 

 this cheap avenue to popularity, and has clothed his person- 

 ages in their genuine vestments, — in that easy dress which 

 human nature usually wears in every age and place, never 

 perfectly symmetrical and dignified, ana never entirely dis- 

 proportionate and mean. 



A chasm existed in the medical biography of England, 

 which the present volume fills up with taste and accuracy, 

 if not with minuteness. The admirable History of Freind 

 extends no farther than to the foundation of the College of 

 Physicians of London. Dr. Aikin, while engaged in the 

 practice of surgery, produced an elaborate, but neglected, 

 volume, which commences with the life of Richardus Angli- 

 cus, and terminates with that of Harvey and of Glisson. 



