OF JOHN HUNTER. 29 



which we have described, Mr Hunter, in the very 

 Eiidst of his career, suddenly left London. It must 

 have been some very violent cause which could thus 

 tear him from his favourite pursuits, and from the 

 only scene in which they could be advantageously 

 prosecuted. The cause is by no means a secret ; and. 

 in explaining it, while we are required to expose the 

 infirmities of two distinguished men, and the dissen- 

 sions of two near relations, let us not fail to observe, 

 how that as both were probably more or less to 

 blame, so both suffered the penalty of their unge- 

 nerous conduct, in the embittered feelings which 

 they carried with them to the grave. 



Had William and John Hunter allowed just scope 

 to their fraternal feelings, they might have added not 

 only to their common success, but incalculably to their 

 mutual happiness. Unfortunately, they were both 

 equally ambitious, and both equally jealous of fame. 

 Their proximity, arid the identity of their pursuits, 

 thus became a source of dissension ; and the success 

 of the one was apt to be regarded as an encroach- 

 ment by the other. 



It has been remarked, that Dr William Hunter 

 was one of those fortunate men who are placed early 

 in life exactly in the situation for which Nature and 

 education designed them. He had a solid under- 

 standing, a correct eye, and an innate love of order, 

 which evinced itself in every part of his conduct, and a 

 perseverance which could only have been supported 

 by a genuine love of his occupation, and the success 

 which crowned his labours. His classical acquire- 



