Reference to the physician is frequently made throughout his works.
Cor. The queen is dead. Cym. Whom worse than a physician Would this report become. But I consider, By med’cine life may be prolong’d, yet death Will seize the doctor too. Cymbeline, Act V., Sc. V.
* * * * doctor-like, controlling skill. Sonnets, LXVI.
We * * * may not be so credulous of cure, When our most learned doctors leave us. All’s Well, Act II., Sc. I.
Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow Upon the foul disease. King Lear, Act I., Sc. I.
Thou speak’st like a physician, Helicanus; That minister’st a potion unto me, That thou would’st tremble to receive thyself. Pericles, Act I., Sc. II.
The patient dies while the physician sleeps. Lucrece.
The physician Angry that his prescriptions are not kept Hath left me. Sonnets, CXLVII.
Testy sick men, when their deaths be near, No news but health from their physicians know. Sonnets, CXL.
His friends, like physicians, thrice give him over. Timon of Athens, Act III., Sc. III.