

RADCLIFFE. 



prafticc had brought at length to feme fkill in his profefrioo. 

 His caprice in tht performance of his profefTional duties ap- 

 pears to have been unbounded ; and many anecdotes arc re- 

 lated of his refufal to attend on perfons of diitinftion, if he 

 happened to be engaged in pleafant company, or liad any 

 perfonal pique againll the individuals, or if lie conceived 

 himfelf in any way affronted. Thus he fet off fuddenly for 

 Bath in 1704, while attending the lady of i'lr John Trevor, 

 becanfe that gentleman fent to Oxford for Dr. Breach to 

 confult with him ; which he had done as a compliment to 

 Radcliffe, rather tiian join any of the London phyficians 

 witli him. When Mr. Harley was ftabbed by Guifcard, 

 Swift complains, that by the caprice of Radcliffe, who 

 would allow none but his own furgeon to be admitted, " he 

 had not been well looked after ;" and adds in another place, 

 " Mr. Harley has had an ill furgeon, by the caprice of that 

 puppy Dr. Radcliffe, which kept him back fo long." On 

 the other hand, he attended the lady of fir John Holt in a 

 bad ilhiefs, v.-ith unufual diligence, out of pique to the Imf- 

 band, who was not fuppofed to be over fond of her. In 

 the laft lUnefs of queen Anne, he was fent for to his 

 coUntry-houfe at Carfhalton about noon, by order, as one 

 account affirms, of the privy council ; but he returned an 

 anfwer, that " he had taken phyfic, and could not come." 

 It has been itated, however, on the other hand, that he was 

 only fent for on this occafion by lady Mariham, without any 

 order from the queen or the council ; which is countenanced 

 by the following circumllances. On the 5th of Auguft, 

 four days after the queen's death, a friend of the doctor's 

 moved in the houfe of commons, that lie might be fum- 

 moned to attend in his place, (Dr. Radcliffe had been 

 elefted a member for Buckingham in 1713,) in order 

 to be cenfured for not attending on her majefty. A letter 

 is prefervcd, faid to have been written by the doftor to one 

 of liis friends, on this occafion, in which he fays, " I know 

 the nature of attending crowned heads in their lall moments 

 too well, to be fond of waiting upon them, without being 

 fent for by a proper authority. You have heard of pardons 

 being figned for phyficians before a fovereign's demife ; 

 however, ill as I was, I would have went to tlie queen in a 

 horfe-litter, had either her majefty, or thofe in the commif- 

 fion next to her, commanded me to do fo." Whatever was 

 the true ftate of the cafe, it is certain that Dr. Radcliffe be- 

 came fo much the objeft of popular refentment, that he was 

 appreheniive of being affafiinated, as appears from a letter 

 addreffed by him to Dr. Mead, which is extant. " Nor 

 fliall I be at any time from home," he fays, " becaufe I 

 have received feveral letters, which threaten me with being 

 pulled to pieces, if ever I come to London." He furvived 

 the queen but three months, and died at Carfhalton, on the 

 lil of November 1714, at the age of 64. It was beheved, 

 that the dread which he had of the populace, and the want 

 of company in his retirement, which he did not dare to lea%'e, 

 contributed to accelerate his death. He was carried to Ox- 

 ford, and buried in St. Mary's church in that city. 



It does not appear that Dr. Radcliffe ever attempted to 

 write, and probably he would not have fucceeded as an 

 author. He was believed, indeed, to have been very little 

 converfant with books ; which made Dr. Garth humoroufly 

 fay, that "for Radcliffe to inltitute a library, was as if an 

 eunuch ftieuld found a feraglio." He was often the fubjeft 

 of the attacks of ridicule from poets and wits, and even was 

 not fpared on the llage ; having been feverely fatirized in a 

 piece aftcd in 1704, loon after a legal difpute with an apo- 

 thecary, which was attended by the ladies of the court, and 

 in which the paffagcs affronting the doftor were much ap- 

 plauded. Swift, m Martinus Scriblerus, and Steele in the 



Tatler, levelled their ridicule at the doftor ; ar.d the fol- 

 lowing fevere portrait of him was drawn by Dr. Mandeville, 

 in his Effay on Charity Schools. " That a man with fmaU 

 flcill m phyfic, and liardly any learning, fhould by vile arts 

 get into practice, and lay up great wealth, is no mighty 

 wonder ; but that he fhould fo deeply work himfelf into the 

 good opinion of the world as to gain the general efteem of 

 a nation, and eftablifii a reputation beyond all his contem- 

 poraries, with no otiier qualities but a perfcft knowledge of 

 mankind, and a capacity of making the moft of it, is fomc- 

 thing extraordinary. If a man arrived to fuch a height of 

 glory, (liould be almofl diftrafted with pride, fometimes 

 give his attendance on a fervant, or any mean perfon, for 

 nothiiig, and at the fame time negleft a nobleman that givei 

 exorbitant fees ; at other times, refufe to leave his bottle for 

 his bufinefs, without any regard to the quahty of the per- 

 fons that fent for liim, or the danger they are in ; if hf 



Ihould be furly and morofe, affeft to be a humourift, treat 

 his patients like dogs, though people of diftinftion, and 

 value no man but what would deify him, and never call in 

 queftion the certainty of his oracles :— if he (liould infult all 

 the world, affront the firft nobility, and extend his infolence 

 even to the royal family : — if, to maintain as well as to in- 

 creafe the fame of his fufficiency, he (hould fcorn to confult 

 with his betters on what emergency foevcr, look down with 

 contempt on the moft deferving of his profeffion, and never 

 confer with any other phyfician but what will pay homage 

 to his fupcrior genius, creep to his humour, and never ap- 

 proach him but with all the flavilh obfequioufnefs a court 

 flatterer can treat a prince with : — if a man in his hfe-time 

 (hould difcover, on the one hand, fuch manifeft fymptoms 

 of fuperlative pride, and an infatiable greedinefs after 

 wealth at the fame time ; and on the other, no regard to 

 religion, or affeftion to his kindi-ed, no compaffion to the 



poor, and hardly any humanity to his fellow-creatures : if 



he gave no proofs that he loved his country, had a public 



fpirit, or was a lover of arts, of books, or of literature : 



what mult we judge of his motive, the principle he afted 

 from, when after his death we find that he has left a trifle 

 among his relations, who ftood in need of it, and an ira- 

 menfe treafure to an univerfity that did not want it." 



Whatever may be the motives of the endowers of fplendid 

 inftitutions for the public ufe, the natioii is at all events 

 benefited for ages, by fuch noble eftabhfhments as the 

 library and infirmary which he founded at Oxford, and 

 which bear his name. He alfo endowed two travelhng feU 

 lowfhips, with an annual income of 300/. attached to each. 

 He had previoufly caufed the beautiful eail window, over 

 the altar, in Univerfity college, to be put up at his own 

 expence ; and likewife given the money, which was paid 

 for the ereftion of the mailer's lodge there, making one fide 

 of the ealtern quadrangle. He was certainly avaricious to 

 the extent almoll of fpunging, and never could be induced 

 to pay bills without much following and importunity. A 

 piece of waggery would fometimes conquer this difpofition. 

 A pavior, alter long and fruitlefs attempts, once caught 

 him jull getting out of his chariot, at hij own door, in 

 Bloomfbury fquare, and fet upon him. " Why, you 

 rafcal," faid the doftor, " do you pretend to be paid for 

 fuch a piece of work ? Why, you have fpoiled ray pave- 

 ment, and then covered it over with earth to hide your 

 bad work." — " Doftor," faid the pavior, " mine is not 

 the only bad work the earth hides." — " You dog you," 

 faid the doctor, " are you a wit ? You muft be poor ; 

 come in :" and he paid him. He told Dr. Mead, that the 

 great fecret by which he might make his fortune was to 

 " ufe all mankind ill." Dr. Mead, however, adopted the 

 T t 2 contrary 



