[12] Afterwards inhabited by Sir John Rushout.
[13] At this time he weighed more than thirty stone, though he afterwards, by changing his habits, and living on milk and vegetables, reduced himself to less than half that weight.
[14] During his stay in Jamaica, a vast treasure which had been sunk in a Spanish galleon, about forty-five years before, somewhere near Hispaniola, or the Bahama Islands, was brought into the Downs. It had been weighed up by some gentlemen, who were at the charge of divers, &c. to the enriching them beyond all expectation. The Duke of Albemarle, as Governor of Jamaica, received for his share, about £90,000. A medal was struck on the occasion.
[15] This anticipation was actually realized not two years ago; for the mere agitation of the Plague question in the House of Commons excited the greatest alarm among the maritime nations of Europe, and for several months vessels sailing from England were put into quarantine at the different ports in the Mediterranean.
[16] I have heard that all these particulars are carefully recorded on the monument of this dropsical lady, in Bunhill Fields.
[17] This subject had long occupied the thoughts of Dr. Mead, although his treatise styled “Medica Sacra, sive de Morbis insignioribus qui in Bibliis memorantur, Commentarius,” did not appear till 1749.
[18] This appointment was held by Dr. Gideon Harvey, from the year 1719 till 1754.
[19] Arbuthnot was a dilettante in the art of music, and occasionally composed sacred pieces. One anthem by him, “As pants the hart,” is in the collection of the Chapel Royal.
[20] At Mead’s sale this statue, three feet and a half high, was bought by Dr. Anthony Askew, for £50. On the same occasion, a magnificent statue of Antinous, of white marble and of the size of nature, was purchased by the Marquess of Rockingham, for £241. 10s. The celebrated bronze head of Homer was sold for £136. 10s. to Lord Exeter.
[21] De Medicorum apud Veteres Romanos Degentium Conditione. Cantab. 1726.