“Mr. John Whitehurst (author of an ingenious theory of the earth) was the means of Dr. William Butter’s settling at Derby, where he (Mr. W.) then resided. Mr. Whitehurst had met at Buxton with Lord Hopetown, who had asked him what physicians were at Derby, and upon his telling him, that there could not be a finer opening, as the two physicians there had both declined practice, his Lordship said it would be a good place for Butter; and shortly afterwards, the Doctor made his appearance loaded with recommendations, and among others, with one from Dr. Hope [p343] to Mr. Whitehurst. Mr. W. was very civil to him, but before he had been a fortnight in the town, Butter came and complained, that he had not had a single patient. Mr. W. told him, that he could hardly expect any so soon, that he must be known a little, and so on, which so offended Butter, that ever afterwards he considered Mr. W. as his enemy. He was very rude and coarse in his manner, always averse to consultations, and used to say, that nobody but himself and Sir John Pringle knew any thing of physic. Among his patients at Derby were two brothers, opulent men, who lived together; one of them being dangerously ill, and attended by Butter, the other brother sent a messenger to Birmingham for two physicians, and then told Butter what he had done, and that he intended to have a consultation. Butter immediately went to the apothecary, and got some laudanum, of which he gave large doses to the patient, so that when the Birmingham physicians came, the patient was in a state of lethargy. They asked if he had been taking opium, but Butter denied that any had been given; it was accidentally discovered, however, by means of the apothecary, and from that time Butter, who was before in excellent practice, lost considerably in public estimation.

“A tailor at Derby, whom Butter had offended, once played him a trick. A curer of smoky chimnies came to Derby, and one day, when the tailor knew the Doctor was out of town, he called on the chimney-man, and told him that Butter had desired to have a smoky chimney cured, belonging to his best parlour; and had left positive orders that he should go to his house and set about it immediately. The operator accordingly went, delivered his message to Butter’s servant, pulled out his utensils, and fell to work; and in a short time the marble slab, and other ornaments of the chimney, were down. Butter came in while he was engaged in this business; finding his parlour full of bricks and dirt and mortar, his fury was excessive, and his hatred to the tailor was ever after implacable. The story got wind in the town, and the boys in the street would sometimes talk about chimney-doctors as he passed.

“Butter lived close to a churchyard, and one day, seeing a grave-digger at work, he asked him for whom he was digging the grave—‘For so and so,’ said the grave-digger, naming the tailor who had so highly offended him, which so pleased the Doctor, that he gave the fellow a shilling. This occasioned a fresh laugh at his expense, as the tailor was in good health, and it was merely a piece of pleasantry of the grave-digger’s. Butter and his wife lived in the most frugal manner, and never visited anybody. After he came to London, a lady of fortune, who had been his patient in Derbyshire, and wished to countenance him, invited him often to her table, till at length Butter brought in an account of fees for each visit.” [p344]

“CADOGAN.

“Universal temperance in eating and drinking has been considered as particularly incumbent on a physician, in every period of his practice. It is a virtue he is frequently obliged to inculcate on his patients; and his doctrines will have little effect if they be not regularly exemplified in his own conduct.

“Dr. Cadogan, however, thought it right to try all things, and considered it his duty to speak experimentally on both sides of the question, to qualify himself to say, in the language of Dido,—

‘Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.’

“Thus, dining one day at a College dinner, after discoursing most elegantly and forcibly on abstinence, temperance, and particularly against pie-crust and pastry, he is reported to have addressed a brother M.D. in the following terms: ‘Pray, doctor, is that a pigeon pie near you?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Then I will thank you to send me the hind-quarters of two pigeons, some fat of the beef-steak, a good portion of the pudding-crust, and as much gravy as you can spare!’”

“BLAIR.

“‘We physicians were always politicians,’ was a favourite expression of Warren’s, but nevertheless, there are very few instances of medical men embroiling themselves in political troubles.