576 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



and was buried at Avignon, in 

 France; by whom he had two 

 daughters, Maria, married to cap- 

 tain Sabine, of the Guards, and 

 Magdalen. 



At his house in Spital-square, 

 William Hawes, M.D. a man whose 

 long, active, disinterested, and un- 

 wearied exertions in the cause of 

 humanity, justly secured to him the 

 regard, esteem, and affection of all 

 who knew him, or who feel an inte- 

 rest in whatever promotes the hap- 

 pinessoftheir species; nor can these 

 exertions fail to endear his memory 

 to posterity, as a benefactor to the 

 human race. He was born at Is- 

 lington, of respectable parents, on 

 November 28, 1736. After receiv- 

 ing his education at St. Paul's 

 school, he went as an apprentice, in 

 the year 1751, to Mr. Corson, an 

 eminent apothecary at Lambeth. 

 On the termination of his appren- 

 ticeship, heattended with great dili- 

 gence the lectures given at the hos- 

 pital, and by the different lecturers 

 of the time. His favourite lecturer 

 was the late Dr. George Fordyce, 

 and on whom he attended for some 

 time after he entered into business, 

 living in his immediate neighbour- 

 hood. In 1759, he settled as an 

 apothecary in the Strand ; here he 

 practised for many years with con- 

 siderable success to his patients and 

 himself. In the year 1767, a so- 

 ciety was instituted at Amsterdam, 

 for the recovery of the drowned, in 

 consequence of some instances of 

 recovery which had been happily 

 effected, a short time before in 

 Switzerland. Memoirs of this so- 

 ciety were published, and a copy of 

 them brought from Flolland by Dr. 

 Cogan; these he translated in 1773, 

 in order to show to the British pub- 

 lic the practicability of recovering 



persons who had hitherto been con- 

 sidered as dead, in consequence of 

 being taken out of the water with 

 every appearance of death. These 

 memoirs were no sooner translated, 

 than they engaged the benevolent 

 and humane mind of Mr. Hawes. 

 He immediately advertised that he 

 would pay rewards to those who 

 would acquaint him, within a cer- 

 tain time, of any person who had 

 been drowned in his neighbourhood. 

 This he did till the society was es- 

 tablished in the following year;— 

 and certainly, he could not have 

 given a more sincere or disinterest- 

 ed proof of his wish to promote so 

 valuable and benevolent an object. 

 In the spring of 1774, Mr. Hawes 

 published his " Account of the late 

 Dr. Goldsmith's Illness, so far as 

 relates to the Exhibition of Dr. 

 James's Powder ; together with Re- 

 marks on theUse and Abuse of that 

 powerful Medicine, in the begin- 

 ning of acute Diseases." Dr. Gold- 

 smith was his intimate friend, and 

 one of the first whom he consulted 

 on his plan of offering the rewards 

 just mentioned. Mr. Hawes's only 

 motive in this publication appears 

 to have been the wish of being ser- 

 viceable to others ; and to prevent 

 men, if possible, from destroying 

 their own lives by the injudicious 

 use of strong and (what are called) 

 infallible remedies. " If the desire 

 I have (he observes), to warn man- 

 kindagainst thefatal effects produc- 

 ed by the indiscriminate exhibition 

 of various potent medicines has be- 

 trayed me into an improper warmth 

 of expression, I hope to stand ex- 

 cused by the humane and sensible 

 part of the public, when it is con- 

 sidered that the preservation of the 

 lives of my fellow-creatures was my 

 principal inducement to it." He 



acknow- 



