CHAPTER IV.

William Pitcairn, M.D. F.R.S. From a portrait, anno 1777, by Sir J. Reynolds.

When the Radcliffe Library was opened at Oxford, which was done April 13th, 1749, with great solemnity, the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred by diploma upon Dr. William Pitcairn; and the College of Physicians hastened to adopt him, in the following year, into their corporate body. He was descended from the family of Dr. Archibald Pitcairn, celebrated as the founder of the mechanical sect of medicine, who, having followed the fortunes of the exiled James, was, for a short time, Professor of the Practice of Physic at the University of Leyden. Boerhaave and Mead had been fellow pupils of this distinguished man, and Dr. Wm. Pitcairn, into whose hands I now was delivered, had studied under Boerhaave; afterwards he had travelled with the Duke of Hamilton (to whose family he was related), though not in a medical capacity. His brother, a Major in the army, had been killed at the battle of Bunker’s Hill, and as there was not in the world a more excellent or benevolent character than my present master, he adopted his orphan children, and always acted towards them with the affection and solicitude of a parent. He was a man of very agreeable manners, and his society was much sought after.—Among the many occasions on which I attended him to the houses of his professional brethren, I remember once particularly, when in company with his nephew, then a very young man (afterwards Dr. David Pitcairn), we called upon Dr. Richard Warren. We were received with the greatest kindness and alacrity, the Doctor showing my master that respectful attention which, without checking the familiar tone of friendly intercourse, is due and agreeable to superiors in age. During the lively and entertaining conversation which ensued, Dr. Pitcairn, in introducing his nephew, expressed himself in these words:—“Dr. Warren, my nephew, whom I present to you, received his early education at Glasgow, but afterwards I took him home, and kept him here in London, under my own eye for a short time, endeavouring to give him some of my peculiar views of practice. He is now just returned from Edinburgh, where he has been under the tuition of my countryman, Dr. Cullen, whose clinical clerk he has been for a twelvemonth. Surely you will think him a youth of promise in his profession when I inform you, that in the case of the son of that great master of physic, which the father thought desperate, he took a hint from what he had learned in London, and advised a larger dose of laudanum than is usually made use of, which restored the child of his preceptor and friend. My currus triumphalis opii, as some of my brethren have been pleased to call my practice, has thus travelled northwards to my own country, and I rejoice that it has reached the door of so amiable a man and excellent practitioner as Dr. Cullen.” So strong a recommendation was not without its effect, and the expressions of friendship with which Dr. Warren received the young student of physic were afterwards amply fulfilled by the real assistance and countenance which he gave him in the commencement of his professional career. On our return from Sackville Street, where Dr. Warren lived, to our own residence, in Warwick Court, Warwick Lane, when I had been carefully replaced in the carriage—“David,” said my master to his nephew, “the Physician whose house we have left is a remarkable man, and well worthy your observation. He has risen rapidly to the top of his profession, and his abilities justify his success. You must have remarked the liveliness, distinctness, and accuracy of his mind, and the felicity of expression with which he explains himself, exhibiting at once a clearness of comprehension and a depth of knowledge that are very rarely to be met with. He has certainly had some considerable advantages in the beginning of his professional life, was early admitted into the best society, and is the intimate friend of the minister, Lord North, who is confessedly the most agreeable man of our day. You see how kindly he has received you; and as I hope, nay, fully expect, that you will become intimately acquainted with him, I think you will like to know all about him. His father was the Rev. Dr. Richard Warren, Archdeacon of Suffolk and Rector of Cavendish, in the same county; a divine of considerable eminence, and one of those who entered into the controversy upon the Sacrament against Bishop Hoadley. He was also editor of the Greek Commentary of Hierocles upon the golden verses of Pythagoras. My friend, the Doctor, was the third son, and was born at Cavendish, in December, 1731: he received the rudiments of his education at the public school at Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk; from whence in the year 1748, immediately upon his father’s death, he removed to Jesus College, Cambridge. At this time he had little but his industry and natural talents to support him, aided by the reputation of being the son of a clergyman of ability. How far this served him, however, in the beginning of life may be doubted, for the low church party prevailed at that time in the University with such violence, as not to dispose the persons then in authority to look with an eye of kindness upon the son of an antagonist of Hoadley. In due time he took the degree of A. B., and his name appears fourth in the list of wranglers of that year. I am not much acquainted with the forms of these English Universities, as I have never resided at either of them; but I have been given to understand, that if fair justice had been done my friend, he ought to have been placed even higher; it is certain, however, that he obtained the prize granted to the middle Bachelors of Arts for Latin prose composition, and the following year got the prize for the senior Bachelors. Being already elected Fellow of his College, the choice of a profession presented itself to his mind. To pursue the steps of his father, who had been like himself a Fellow of Jesus College, was perhaps the most obvious; but he had two elder brothers already in the church, which indeed might be considered his family profession, as his ancestors had followed it from the time of Queen Elizabeth. His own inclination, as I have often heard him say, would have led him to the law, but the res angusta domi was an invincible obstacle, and accident at length threw him upon the study of physic.

Dr. Richard Warren, from a portrait of him in the Dining Room of the College.

“Whether fortunately for himself, great as has been his early success, and promising as his future prospects undoubtedly are, may be questioned; for abilities like his would have led him to the head of any other profession. At this critical moment the son of Dr. Peter Shaw was entered at Jesus College, and placed under his tuition. The name of this Physician must be known to you from his works, by his editions of Bacon and Boyle, and from the fact of his having been one of the Physicians of George the Second, and the usual medical attendant upon that Monarch in his journeys to Hanover. The casual acquaintance which my friend thus formed determined his lot in life; for Dr. Shaw, who was a very amiable and high spirited man, and possessed of various knowledge, was naturally pleased with similar qualities in a young man; took an interest in his welfare, and in recommending him to pursue the study of medicine, predicted that he would rank with the first Physicians of his country. This connexion was some years afterwards strengthened by a marriage with Dr. Shaw’s daughter; and much of the early difficulty of medical life was consequently overcome by an immediate introduction to the prominent Physicians of that day, and to some of the upper circles in life, in which Dr. Shaw moved. Sir Edward Wilmot, at that time a Physician to the Court, and much employed among the nobility, was the attendant on the Princess Amelia, the daughter of George the Second. Being advanced in life and looking to retirement, he was led to propose Dr. Warren as an assistant to attend to the more minute and arduous duties required by a royal patient, who was besides subject to sudden seizures that created alarm. At the commencement of his practice, Dr. Warren, during three summers, went to Tunbridge Wells, and on two of these occasions Her Royal Highness visited that watering-place under his care. On the retirement of Sir Edward Wilmot, he continued Physician to the Princess, and one of the rewards bestowed upon him was the appointment of Physician to the King, which was procured for him by her influence, on the resignation of his father-in-law, Dr. Shaw, who had been continued in that office on the accession of George the Third. He was for a short time one of the Physicians to the Middlesex Hospital, then in its infancy; and afterwards, for several years, belonged to St. George’s Hospital.

“His progress has been more rapid than that of any other physician of our time, and when you meet him in practice, which I hope you may often do hereafter, you will discover in him a marked superiority over other men.”

My master here paused for an instant, and taking me up from the position in which I had been lying, raised me to the level of his eyes, and looking attentively at my head, exclaimed, “This cane, which my worthy friend, Dr. Askew, left to me about two years ago, once belonged to Radcliffe, and might well have descended to Dr. Warren, for no one more resembles that penetrating physician, and most extraordinary man, in the accuracy of his prognosis, and the almost intuitive sagacity with which he sees at a glance the true nature of a complaint. But I recommend you to read his Harveian Oration, which I heard him deliver seven years ago, where, notwithstanding the difficulty of introducing any thing like novelty into the annual commemoration of the Benefactors of the College, you will find that he has contrived to treat the subject with the sprightliness, the force and brevity, the precision of thought, and smartness of expression, that are peculiarly his own. The characters are drawn without effort, the narration flows easily and naturally, containing touches of tenderness and pathos when he alludes to the death of his early friends, Wollaston and Hadley, and rising even to eloquence when he comes to speak of his relative, Dr. Shaw. But here,” continued he, as we entered the narrowest part of Warwick Lane, “is the College of Physicians, where I heard the speech delivered; we will alight, and send the carriage home. As I am now the President, I will show you the interior of the building, point out and explain to you some of its contents.” We stopped at some large iron gates, and passed under the curiously constructed dome, built in an oval form over the entrance, the plan of which was furnished by Sir Christopher Wren. On the opposite side of the court, he pointed out, over the door, in a niche, the statue of Charles II., voted in 1680, with the following inscription, expressive of the various fortunes of that monarch.

Utriusque Fortunæ Exemplar
Ingens Adversis Rebus Deum
Probavit Prosperis Seipsum
Collegii Hujusce Stator.