Thus, under the heading Hospitals we read:—
The attributes of the gentlemen walking the various hospitals may be thus enumerated:
Guy's Half-and-half, anatomical fracas,and billiards. St. Thomas's Ditto St. George's Doings at Tattersall's. London Too remote to be ascertained. University Conjuring, juggling, and mesmerism. Bartholomew's State of Smithfield Markets. Middlesex Convivial harmony. Charing Cross Dancing at the Lowther-rooms. King's College Has not yet acquired any peculiarity. Westminster Dashes of all the others combined.
| Guy's | Half-and-half, anatomical fracas,and billiards. |
| St. Thomas's | Ditto |
| St. George's | Doings at Tattersall's. |
| London | Too remote to be ascertained. |
| University | Conjuring, juggling, and mesmerism. |
| Bartholomew's | State of Smithfield Markets. |
| Middlesex | Convivial harmony. |
| Charing Cross | Dancing at the Lowther-rooms. |
| King's College | Has not yet acquired any peculiarity. |
| Westminster | Dashes of all the others combined. |
Even when all allowance has been made for the exaggeration of the satirist, there was undoubtedly a serious warrant for this indictment, and we may congratulate ourselves that it is a gross libel on the medical students of to-day. They may be exuberant, noisy, and rowdy on occasion, but they are neither grubby nor callous, and the unfortunate episode of their treatment of Mr. "Pussyfoot" Johnson may be regarded, we believe, as a blot on the scutcheon of their sportsmanship which the great majority regretted and reprobated.
[23] On the occasion of Punch's Jubilee, in 1891, The Times remarked: "May we be excused for noting the fact that he (Punch) has generally, in regard to public affairs, taken his cue from The Times?" That was substantially true of The Times under the old régime when Delane was editor. Mr. Herbert Paul, himself a strong Liberal, writes in his History of Modern England that "Delane's chief quality was his independence." Mr. Dasent, in his biography, gives good grounds for his assertion that Delane was at no time what could be called a party man, though his instincts were essentially Liberal, and notes that "if charged with inconsistency, Delane would merely remind his critics that The Times was the organ of no party, and that every issue was complete in itself."
[24] Delane of "The Times," by Sir Edward Cook, p. 281.