392 CHARACTER OF FOTHERGILL CHAP, xxxi 



afcepaioi, blameless and harmless, and they became the 

 very salt of our profession. Of these was Harvey, prince 

 of physiologists and vassal of the truth. Of such was 

 Boerhaave, moving among rich and poor, the lover of them 

 all, and passing to his rest amid the tears of a nation. 

 Such was Heberden, that grave figure, with the mind of 

 a philosopher and the heart of a child. Such was Denman ; 

 such was Matthew Baillie, guileless and simple, full of 

 help to those who were far otherwise. If the pen halts 

 here, it is not because the heroic temper is lost in our 

 own "time. To this Valhalla of the art of medicine 

 belongs John Fothergill. Yet how earnestly he would 

 have disclaimed it ! and it was in part because of his 

 humble view of himself that he became what he was, 

 and earned the just title of the Friend of Man. 1 



1 The following lines are found copied by Fothergill in his youth : 



" O Thou, the God who high in heaven presides, 

 Whose eye o'ersees me, and whose wisdom guides, 

 Deal me that portion of content and rest, 

 That unknown health and peace which suits me best : 

 Save me from all the guilt, and all the pain, 

 That lust of pleasure brings, and lust of gain ; 

 In trial fix me, and in peril shade ; 

 'Gainst foes protect me, 'gainst my passions aid ; 

 In wealth my guardian, and in want my guide, 

 'Twixt a mean flattery and drunken pride ; 

 With life's more dear sensations warm my heart. 

 Transport to feel, benevolence to impart ; 

 Each home-felt joy, each public duty send, 

 Make me, and give me all things in, a Friend ! " 



Essay on Reason, p. 27. 



