1805.] 



Deaths In and near London, 



475 



limb,together with thegreatmafscf febaceous 

 accumulation, muft have been for feme years 

 fupplied with tlie ncceffary circulation by the 

 anaftomofing branches alone. This would 

 have added one to the cafes on which the Me- 

 dical Speftatcr founded his propofal for curing 

 thepoplitial aneurifm, by an improvement in 

 the application of the tourniquet, thereby ob- 

 viating the neceflity of the very painful and 

 dangerous feparation at firft propofed by the 

 late John Hunter, 



At his apartnlents in High Holborn, Mr. 

 Nathanitl "Jame't late furgeon to the Savoy, 

 aged 11 years. Thi? gentleman was a native 

 of the Pais de Vaud in Switzerl.md, v.'hsre 

 he has relations in refpeftable fituations. 

 The family name is Jacques, which, the fub- 

 jeS of this fliort memorial, when he came 

 firft over to England, thought proper to 

 anglicize after the example of his uncle, a 

 pliyfician, to whofe praflice he was intended 

 to have fuccecded, but who unfortunately 

 died wbilil he was on the journey to London. 

 His firft appointment to the medical ftift' of 

 the army, was in the capacity of fjrgeon's 

 mate to one of the regiments oi^ foot-gusrds. 

 This warrant was prefented to him upwards 

 of fifty years fince ; asd as he told the pre- 

 fe»t writer, with a degree of humour pecu- 

 liar to himfelf, was figned by Julius CsJjr, 

 CC^far being the name of the officer com- 

 manding the Brigade at that time): this 

 was the height of his preferment, until he 

 was appointed about twenty years ago, to the 

 fiirge«ncy of the Savoy prifon ; a preferment 

 to obtain which, he ferved gratuitouily, 

 •luring the illntfl'es of his two immediate 

 predeceflbrs, and during that of the laft, for 

 a period of upward? of two years. From the 

 firft vacancy, he was put by, through the 

 powerful intereft of a competitor, and was 

 near experiencing a like difappointment the 

 fecond time, when the fucceflion was ftrong- 

 ly folicited for a furgeon whofe years of life 

 were lefs than thofe of James's fervice. 

 This, fo great an injufticc, was however, 

 through proper reprefentations of his fervice 

 and charafter over-ruled, though not with- 

 out difficulty. It has been obfcrved by the 

 Duke de la Rochefoucault, that " I'accent 

 & lecataftere^du pays ou vous etes ne, demture 

 dans Tefprit & dans le coeur comme dans 

 le langage :" that is to fay, " the accent 

 of a man's native country is as ftrongly im- 

 prelTed on his mind, as on hi.s tongue;" the 

 accent of his country on Mr. James's tongue, 

 could only be dlfiinguilhed by a very nice 

 ear, for he fpoke and wrote the Englifh lan- 

 guage with great correftnefs; but the ac- 

 cent of his mind was difcoverable in all his 

 aAione, which were ftrongly marked by that 

 plain integrity, and honeft fimplicity of his 

 countrymen, the natives of Switzerland. 

 Mr. James was indeed an honeft man, inof- 

 fenfive and unatTuming in his general be- 

 havivutj in hit fraAicc attentive and inteU 



ligent, watchful, but not prefumptuous, de« 

 firous to do good, but fearful to do harm : 

 fuch was the man, and fuch the prafti- 

 tioner ! 



At the houfeof his friend Rob. Holt Leigh, 

 efq. M.P. in Duke-ftreet, VVeftminfter, W. 

 darU, cfj. of Liverpool, banker. He was 

 born in tiie year 1754, and educated under 

 the reverend Mr. P,ooth, who then kept a 

 refpeftable feminary at Woolton-hall near 

 Liverpool; having there laid the foundation 

 of his clafijcal acquirements, he entered into 

 the bank of his father in Liverpool, which 

 was the earlieft eftabliHiment of the kind in 

 that populous and commercial place. The 

 cares of bulinefs did not however, fupprefs 

 the love of literature, which he had already 

 imbibed, and the intervals of his leifure 

 were devoted to an affiduous ftudy of the 

 Greek and Roman authors, with the heft of 

 whofe works, he maintained through life, 

 an intimate and thorough acquaintance. This 

 ptopenfity to learning increafed with his 

 years ; and having met with two aflbciates 

 equally devoted to thcfe purfuits with him- 

 lelf, they formed a party for reading the 

 clallic authors, for which purpofe they rofe 

 at fix in the morning, and devoted fome 

 hours to ftudy, before they engaged in the 

 bufinefs of the day. So clofe an application 

 foon proved injurious to his health. Con- 

 fumptive fymptoms were fuperinduced, which 

 occafionally recurred for fome years, when he 

 was prevailed upon by the advice of his phy- 

 ficians, to undertake a voyage to a fouthern 

 climate. In the fpringof lyij, he left Eng- 

 land, and arrived at Lifbon, at which place, 

 and in the pleafait villages in its vicinity, 

 he foon recovered his ufual good ftate of 

 health. The eafe and leilure which he en- 

 joyed during his abfence, were highly gra- 

 tifying to his difpolition, and inftead of re- 

 turning to his native country, he proceeded 

 to Spain, and took up his refidence at Sau 

 Lucar, where he formed a friendly attach- 

 ment with many refpeftable families as well 

 Englilh as Natives, which induced him to 

 continue there upwards of twelve months. 

 He then vifited Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, 

 and other parts of Spain. Having gratified 

 his tafte, with the infpeflion of whatever 

 was moit worthy of his notice, and acquired 

 a thorough acquaintance with the language 

 and writers of Spain and Portugal, he pro- 

 ceeded to Italy, and arrived at Rome about 

 the clofe of the year 1786 ; on examining 

 the monuments of art in that metropolis, 

 he was ftruck with the great inferiority of 

 the architeiftural productions of modern times, 

 in comparifoii with thofe of the ancients. 

 '* The impreffions 1 feel," fays he, in a 

 letter to a friend, «< whenever I vifit the 

 Pantheon, are much more grateful than thofe 

 wiiich the view of St. Peter's excites. The 

 fublimity of the former is chafte and unaf- 

 fcftedly majeftiej the latter to its genuine 

 S z beau tie* 



