876 



It will not excite surprise that the death of such a man was re- 

 garded in Sweden as a national calamity, or that for two months the 

 members of the scientific societies of his native land wore mourning 

 as a tribute of respect to his memory. 



William Clift was born at Burcombe, near Bodmin, on the 14th 

 of February 1775, and was the youngest of seven children of the same 

 parents. His father, Robert Clift, died a few years after, leaving 

 his widow and family in narrow circumstances. William was put to 

 school at Bodmin, and soon distinguished himself by the facility with 

 which he acquired and the tenacity with which he retained whatever 

 he v/as taught. Having a strong natural talent for drawing, some 

 productions of his early pencil attracted attention, and brought the 

 youth under the notice of Colonel Gilbert of the Priory, near Bod- 

 min ; and the good disposition and promising abilities of the young 

 artist made him a favourite with both the Colonel and Mrs. Gilbert. 

 This amiable lady had been the schoolfellow of JMiss Home, and main- 

 tained a friendly correspondence with her after her marriage with 

 John Hunter. Thus Mrs. Gilbert became acquainted with the loss 

 which Hunter had sustained by the departure of his able anatomical 

 assistant and draughtsman William Bell, for Ceylon, in 17S0: she 

 accordingly communicated to Mrs. Hunter the qualifications of her 

 young protege, and strongly recommended him as likely to prove a 

 satisfactory successor to Mr. Bell. Her advocacy was successful, 

 and William Clift was sent to London, approved of, and in the year 

 1792 was apprenticed for six years to John Hunter, who received 

 him into his house, without a fee, — the services of the youth, as 

 amanuensis, anatomist, and artist, being the sole equivalent expected 

 for this inestimable advantage at the outset of his career. Unfor- 

 tunately John Hunter died, October 16th, 1793. During the brief 

 period in which these relations subsisted between him and Mr. Clift, 

 they appear to have been most satisfactory to both. There was 

 no lack of employment. The young apprentice was roused at six 

 in the morning, and earlier in the summer season, to assist and 

 attend upon the great anatomist in the dissections which he carried 

 on before breakfast. The coarser anatomical labours of maceration 

 and injection, the copying out of detached MSS. records, and 

 making sketches and drawings of the parts displayed, occupied the 

 dav ; and in the evening he was called to the desk of his indefati- 

 gable master to write from dictation, usually until midnight. 



This was a severe course of labour for a youth of seventeen : yet 

 such was the goodness of heart, the simple earnestness of purpose 

 and kindness of demeanour of the master, that no other sentiments 

 were engendered in the congenial mind of the apprentice save those 

 of the warmest affection and deepest reverence for the memory of 

 him whom he ever regarded as his best teacher, benefactor, and 

 friend. 



" From the very beginning," writes Mr. Clift, " I fancied, without 

 being able to account for it, that nobody about Mr. Hunter seemed 

 capable of appreciating him. He seemed to me to have lived before 



