in a low voice, "Poor insane coward!" and it is said, never afterwards mentioned the subject. It excited, however, universal surprise to see him walking along the streets of Derby the day after the funeral of his son, with a serene countenance and his usual cheerfulness of address. This self-command enabled him to take immediate possession of the premises bequeathed to him, to lay plans for their improvement; to take pleasure in describing those plans to his acquaintance; and to determine to make it his future residence; and all this without seeming to recollect to how sad an event he owed their possession !* The folly of suffering our imagination to dwell on past and irretrievable misfortunes, and of indulging fruitless grief, he often pointed out, and always censured. He relied much on self-discipline in that respect, and disdained, from deference to what he termed the prejudices of mankind, to display the outward semblance of unavailing sorrow, since he thought it wisdom to combat its reality. Early in the year 1800, Dr. Darwin published another large quarto volume, entitled, Pyhtologia; or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening. Sunday, the 18th of April, 1802, deprived Derby, and its vicinity, and the encircling counties, of Dr. Darwin, the lettered world of his genius. During a few preceding years he had been subject to sudden and alarming disorders of the chest, in which he always applied the lancet instantly and freely; he had repeatedly risen in the night and bled himself. It was said that he suspected angina pectoris to be the cause of those his sudden paroxysms, and that it would produce sudden death. The conversation which he held with Mrs. Darwin and her friend the night before he died, gave colour to the report. In the preceding year he had a dangerous illness it originated from a severe cold caught by obeying the summons of a patient in Derby, after he had himself taken strong medicine. His skill, his courage, his exertion, struggled vehemently with his disease. Repeated and daring use of the lancet at length subdued it, but in all likelihood irreparably weakened the system. He never looked so well after as before his seizure; : * It must in candour be here remarked, that a different statement of this circumstance has since been given. increased debility of step, and a certain wanness of countenance, awakened those fears for him which great numbers felt who calculated upon his assistance, when hours of pain and danger might come. It was said, that during his illness he reproved the sensibility and tears of Mrs. Darwin, and bid her remember that she was the wife of a philosopher. It was the general opinion that a glass of brandy might have saved him for that time. Its effect would have been more powerful from his utter disuse of spirits; but such was the abhorrence in which he held them, that it is probable no intreaties could have induced him to have swallowed a dram, though surely, on any sudden chill of the blood, its effects, so injurious on habitual application, might have proved restoring. The body was opened, but it was said, the surgeons found no traces of pecular disease; that the state of the viscera indicated a much more protracted existence. He was somewhat above the middle size, his form athletic, and inclined to corpulence; his limbs too heavy for exact proportion. The traces of a severe small pox; features and countenance, which when they were not animated by social pleasure, were rather saturnine than sprightly; a stoop in the shoulders, and the then professional appendage, a large full bottomed wig, gave at that early period of life an appearance of nearly twice the years he bore. Florid health, and the earnest of good humour, an engaging smile on entering a room, and on first accosting his friends, rendered in his youth that exterior agreeable, to which beauty and symmetry had not been propitious. He stammered extremely, but whatever he said, whether gravely or in jest, was always well worth waiting for, though the inevitable impression it made might not always be pleasant to individual self love, Conscious of great native elevation above the general standard of intellect, he became, early in life, sore upon opposi tion, whether in argument or conduct; and always revenged it by sarcasm of very keen edge. Nor was he less impatient of the sallies of egotism and vanity, even when they were in so slight a degree that strict politeness would rather tolerate than ridicule them. Dr. Darwin seldom failed to present their caricature in jocose but wounding irony. His scepticism to human trath was extreme. From that cause he often disregarded the accounts his patients gave of themselves, and rather chose to collect his information by indirect inquiry, and by cross examining them, than by their voluntary testimony. That distrust and that habit were probably favorable to his skill in discovering the origin of diseases, and thence to his pre-eminent success in effecting their cure; but they impressed his mind and tinctured his conversation with an apparent want of confidence in mankind; which was apt to wound the ingenuous and confiding spirit, whether seeking his medical assistance, or his counsel as à friend. From the time at which Dr. Darwin first came to Lichfield, he avowed a conviction of the pernicious effects of all viscous fluids on the youthful and healthy constitution; and an absolute horror of spirits of all sorts, and however diluted. His own example, with very few exceptions, supported his exhortations. From strong malt liquors he totally abstained, and if he drank a glass or two of English wine, he mixed it with water. Acid fruits, with sugar, and all sorts of creams and butter, were his luxuries; but he always ate plentifully of animal food. This liberal alimentary regimen he prescribed to people of every age, where unvitiated appetite rendered them capable of following it; even to infants. He despised the prejudice which deems foreign wines more wholesome than the wines of the country. "If you must drink wine," said he, let it be home-made."-It is well known, that Dr. Darwin's influence and example have sobered the county of Derby; that intemperance in fermented fluids of every species is almost unknown amongst the gentlemen. Professional generosity distinguished Dr. Darwin's medical practice. While resident in Lichfield, to the priest and lay-vicar of its cathedral, and their families, he always cheerfully gave his advice, but never took fees from any of them. He also diligently attended to the health of the poor in that city, and afterwards at Derby, and supplied their necessities by food, and all sorts of charitable assistance. In each of these towns he exercised the most genuine hospitality, without extravagance or parade; deeming ever the first unjust, the latter unmanly. To the many rich presents which nature bestowed on the mind øf Dr. Darwin, she added the seducing and often dangerous gift of a highly poetic imagination; but he remembered how fatal that gift professionally became to the young physicians Akenside and Armstrong. Thus, through the first twenty years of his practice as a physician, Dr. Darwin, with the wisdom of Ulysses, bound himself to the medical mast, that he might not follow those delusive syrens, the muses, or be considered as their avowed votary. Occasional little pieces, however, frequently stole from his pen, though he cautiously precluded their passing the press, before his latent genius for poetry became unveiled to the public eye in its copious and dazzling splendour. THE END. |