412 LON 
five of their fetife of the many and great advantages de¬ 
rived from his work. The leading trait of the dod tor’s 
character was benevolence and good-will to men of every 
defcription, if we except the apothecaries. That clafs of 
people he confidered as degrading the fcience of medicine, 
by converting it into a fordid calling, and too often pre¬ 
venting any good that could be expected from it, by load¬ 
ing the (tomacii of the patient with-drugs, without having 
previoufly formed any juft idea of the nature of the difeafe. 
This benevolent temper, which could never refill the call, 
or even the appearance, of diftrefs, greatly injured the doc¬ 
tor’s pecuniary circumftances; although it is now afcer- 
tained, that, even in his latter years, he was in the an¬ 
nual receipt of confiderably more money than any perfon 
imagined. Dr. Buchan poffeffed a pleafing exterior, a fine 
countenance, great fuavity of manners, and an aftonilhing 
fund of amufing.anecdotes, which he told in Inch a man¬ 
ner as to delight his alfociates. Both the figure and face 
of the author of the Domeftic Medicine mult be allowed 
■to have been not only peculiarly interelting, but to have 
alfo difplayed all the charabteriftics of malculine beauty. 
In form he exceeded the common llandard; his features 
were animated with a vivid glow of health ; he pofl'efi'ed the 
eagle’s eye, and even the eagle’s beak, if a fine aquiline 
nofe may be fo denominated; while his perfon, fall, ath¬ 
letic, and well-proportioned, exhibited an union of ftrength 
and fymmetry. When age had “ filvered o’er his head,” 
it acquired a new dignity, ftill mingled, however, with 
grace, and refembled thole highly-wrought performances 
which vie fometimes find copied from nature, and tranf- 
ferred to canvas, by the pencils of the old mailers. He 
alfo enjoyed that grand defideratum, an excellent conlti- 
tution ; and never experienced any ferious illnefs until 
within a year of his death, when his health began at fir It to 
decline, but gradually, and without precipitation. It has 
been already mentioned, that the dodfor, at an early period 
of his life, exhibited a marked predilection for mathema¬ 
tics. To this it may be added, that he alfo had a great 
tafte, while at Edinburgh, for aftronomy ; and employed 
many hours of his life in attaining a precife knowledge of 
the laws which regulate the planetary fyllem. With thefe 
he joined a purluit, which, although it may grace, yet but 
feldorn accompanies, graver ltudies. This was a talte for 
poetry, cultivated alfiduoully, and with fuccefs, at hisleifure 
moments, until the latell period of his life. Even to his 
laft hour, he lighted up incenfe at the ffirine of the mufes; 
for Dr. Buchan, like Cornaro, the able Venetian—an au¬ 
thor who alfo wrote on health—employed his pen, and 
was in full poffelfion of all his faculties, when almoft an 
ofiogenarian. Thediforder which proved fatal, at length 
affutned an alarming appearance, and indicated fymptoms 
of water in the chelt. He never once complained, or 
fhowed any apprehenfions of death, of whofe approach lie 
was, however, perfe&ly fenfible, and even frequently fipoke 
of the event without emotion. He was abroad on the 
very day previous to his death, which occurred on the 
25th of February, 1805, at nine o’clock in the evening, 
in an attempt to reach his bed from the/ofa, where he 
had juft been reclining, and talking in his ufual placid 
manner. Even the laft fcene of his life was peculiarly feli¬ 
citous, having expired without any previous confinement, 
in the full poffelfion of all his faculties, without any con- 
fiderable degree of pain, and almoft without a groan. 
Thus died Dr. Buchan, in the 76th year of his age.—The 
life of this phyfician will conftitute an epoch in the hif- 
tory of medicine. Since ]the firit appearance of the Do- 
mefiic Medicine, pharmacy has in a great meafurc been 
refcued from the jargon of a barbarous technology, and 
the regular-bred and meritorious practitioner diftinguilhed 
from the vile retailer of fpurious compounds. The fcience 
itfelf has alfo been laid open, fimplified, and diffufed ; fo 
that the moft ufeful of all arts, by conftituting a branch 
of general education, will become at once better known 
and more refpefled.—The offspring of Dr. Buchan con¬ 
futed of three children, two of whom furvive him.-—His 
D O N. 
remains were interred, on Wednefday the 6th of March, 
1805, in the cloilters of Weltminfter Abbey, next to thofe 
of the celebrated Dr. Jebb. 
On the ealt fide of St. Paul’s-church-yard, Hands St, 
Paul’s School, founded by Dr. John Colet, the dean, whofe 
monument was in the ancient church. See p. 401 of this 
article; and, for particulars of the doctor’s life, fee vol. iv, 
p. 770, 1.—This fchool was founded in the year 1509; 
and the rules for the government of it nmft have been 
the ftudy of a confiderable portion of time. Fortunately, 
Erafmus had afforded us a minute defcription, which Dr. 
Knight has tranfiated from the Latin for his excellent 
hiftory of the foundation; and from which we (hall feleCt 
the needful particulars. “Upon the death of his father, 
when by right of inheritance he was poffeffed of a good 
fum of money, left the keeping of it fhould corrupt his 
mind, and turn it too much toward the world, he laid out 
a great part of it in building a new fchool in the church¬ 
yard of St Paul’s, dedicated to the child Jefus ; a mag¬ 
nificent fabric, to which he added two d welling-houfes for 
rhe two feveral matters, and to them he allotted ample Hi¬ 
laries, that they might teach a certain number of boys 
free, and for the fake of charity. He divided the fchool 
into four apartments; the firit, viz. the porch and en¬ 
trance, is for catechumens, or the children to be infiruCt- 
ed in the principles of religion, where no child is to be 
admitted but what can read and unite. The fecond apart¬ 
ment is for the lower boys, to be taught by the fecond 
mailer or ulher. The third for the upper forms, under 
the head mailer; which two parts of the fchool are di¬ 
vided by a curtain, to be drawn at pleafure. Over the 
mailer’s chair is an image of the child Jefus, of admirable 
work, in the gelture of teaching, whom all the boys, go¬ 
ing and coming, falute with a Ibort hymn. And there is 
a reprefentation of God the Father, faying Hear ye him ; 
thefe words being written at my luggeltion. The fourth 
or laft apartment is a little chapel for divine fervice. The 
fchool has no corners or hiding-places, nothing like a cell 
or clofet. The boys have their diltinbt forms or benches 
one above another. Every form holds fixteen; and he 
that is head or captain of each form has a little kind of 
delk, by way of pre-eminence. They are not to admit 
all boys of courfe, but to choofe them in according to 
their parts and capacities.” 
The wife and fagacious founder left the perpetual care 
and overlight of the eltate, and the government of the 
fchool—not to the clergy, nor to the bifbops, not to the 
chapter, nor to any great minilter at court; but amonglt 
the married laymen of the company of mercers, men of 
probity and reputation. And, when he was alked the rea- 
fon of Co committing this trull, he anfwered to this effect: 
“That there was no abfolute certainty in human affairs; 
but, for his part, he found lefs corruption in fuel) a body 
of citizens than in any other order or degree of mankind.” 
The dean’s llatutes for. the government of the fchool 
are prefaced by an ardent vvilh that children (honld be 
taught regularity of conduit, and a knowledge of litera¬ 
ture. That he might perform his part, he refolved to 
found the fchool of St. Paul, for one hundred and fifty- 
three children to be taught “free in the fame.” 
The office of high mailer requiring great abilities in its 
pbfieffor, he very jultly defines what are the qualifications 
neceifary : “A man hooie in body, honeft and vertuous,” 
learned in pure Latin and Greek, a man either fingle or 
married; a pried’“with no benefice with cure,” or any 
impediment which,might prevent or divert his attention 
from the duties of his lituation. His lodgings were to 
confift of the whole ltory over the hall and chambers, and 
a “litel middle chamber in the howfe-roofe,” now yclept 
a garret, and a gallery, with “all the fellere bynethe the 
hall, the kytehin, and butterye.” He received his furni¬ 
ture, and his wages were a mark per week, with a gown 
annually of four nobles value. When ill of an incurable 
difeafe, or fa; advanced in age, he was to be difiniffed with 
a penfion of iol. but, if he refigned voluntarily, twelve 
3 months’ 
