LORD KENYON. 357 



lovely order ; our public happiness is thus bot- 

 tomed in our private infirmities, and the sta- 

 bility of our government is secured by the very 

 means, which to superficial observers appear 

 fraught with its destruction. 



If therefore it cannot be inferred from the 

 common qualities of Englishmen, that the col- 

 iege of Physicians, when under no other con- 

 troul than that of honour and good faith, will 

 always act justly, it appears to me that, setting 

 aside actual experience, the only ground for ex- 

 pecting such conduct from them must be looked 

 for in the habits and principles, which physi- 

 cians acquire in the practice of their profession. 

 The probability of finding it there shall be my 

 next subject of inquiry. This perhaps will be 

 best conducted by considering, in the first 

 place, the state and estimation of medicine, 

 when exercised as a gainful art, in ages and 

 countries different from our own. 



When men first begin in any country to prac- 

 tise the medical art for hire, their knowledge 

 of diseases, and of the proper modes of treating 

 them, is necessarily very small. To conceal, 

 therefore, their ignorance, they affect mystery, 

 and have recourse to various modes of decep- 

 jtion. Thus, in all rude nations, physicians 

 Jaave pretended to use supernatural means in 



