Page images
PDF
EPUB

Pope's
Works,

Vol. VII.

Preface to

"tife on the "

" Pox."

"

[ocr errors]

enough, that "for Radcliffe to leave a library, was as if "an Eunuch fhould found a Seraglio. A moft curious but ungracious portrait is given of him by Dr. Mandeville, in his Effay on Charity-Schools," fubjoined to his "Fable of the Bees :" it is too long to be inferted here. What, however, the late Dr. Mead has recorded of him, his "Trea- is no fmall teftimony in his favour; namely, that "he was defervedly at the head of his profeffion, on account "Small- "of his great medical penetration and experience." Some remarkable traits in his character may be difcovered in the following detached remarks and extracts: Atterbury's His caprice in his profeffion feems to have been unCorrefpon- bounded. When the Lady of Sir John Trevor the Mafter of the Rolls was dying, in the fummer of 1704, he was given over by Radcliffe as incurable. The Mafter, thinking it a compliment to Radcliffe not to join any of the London phyficians with him, fent to Oxford for Dr. Breach, an old crony, to confult on that occafion; which Ibid. p.205. made fuch a breach with Radcliffe, that he fet out in a few days for Bath; where he is reprefented "as delightIbid. p. 214.ing fcarce in any other company but that of Papifts." The lady of Sir John Holt he attended, in a bad illvol. XIX. nefs, with unufual diligence, out of pique to the husband, P. 383. who was fuppofed not to be over-fond of her.

Epiftolary

dence, vol. III. p. 204.

Swift's

Works,

Ibid. vol.
XXI. p.

[ocr errors]

When Mr. Harley was ftabbed by Guifcard, Swift complains, that, by the caprice of Radcliffe, who would admit 269. none but his own furgeon, he had "not been well looked Ibid.p.291. after ;" and adds, in another place, "Mr. Harley has "had an ill furgeon, by the caprice of that puppy "Dr. Radcliffe; which has kept him back fo long. Atterbury's May 26, 1704, he carried fome cause against an apotheEpiftolary Correfpon- cary, by the aid of the folicitor-genéral Harcourt; and dence, vol. two days before," Atterbury fays, "a play was acted, III. p. 186. wherein the Doctor was extremely ridiculed upon that Q. What head of his quarrel with the apothecary*. A great num"ber of perfons of quality were prefent; among the "reft, the Dutchefs of Marlborough and the maids of "honour. The paffages where the Doctor was affronted were received with the utmost applause.'

was this play?

No 44.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In 1709, he was ridiculed by Steele, in the "Tatler," under the title of "the Mourning Efculapius, the lan"guishing hopeless lover of the divine Hebe, emblem of "youth and beauty." After curing the lady of a fevere fever, he fell violently in love with her; but was rejected. The story is ulus related in the "Biographia Britannica :"

"The

The Lady, who made the Doctor at this advanced age ftand in need of a phyfician himfelf, was, it is faid, "of great beauty, wealth, and quality; and too attractive not to infpire the coldeft heart with the warmeft fenAfter he had made a cure of her, he could not "but imagine, as naturally he might, that her ladyship would entertain a favourable opinion of him. But "the lady, however grateful fhe might be for the care "he had taken of her health, divulged the fecret, and "one of her confidents revealed it to Steele, who, on "account of party, was fo ill-natured as to write the

ridicule of it in the Tatler. The Doctor had a fort See above;' "of antipathy to women; and, being unfortunate in his P. 12. only attempt to marry, he grew to a degree of infenfibility for the fex; and often declared that he wished "for an act of parliament, whereby nurses only fhould be "entitled to prescribe to them.

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

This article fhall be closed with an extract from the Richardfoniana: "Dr. Radcliffe told Dr. Mead, Mead, I love you, and now I will tell you a fure "fecret to make your fortune; ufe all mankind ill.' "And it certainly was his own practice. He owned he

66

[ocr errors]

was avaricious, even to fpunging, whenever he any "way could, at a tavern reckoning, a fixpence or fhilling, among the reft of the company, under pretence of kr ** hating (as he ever did) to change a guinea, because "(faid he) it flips away fo faft.' He could never be "brought to pay bills without much following and im"portunity; nor then if there appeared any chance of "wearying them out.-A paviour, after long and fruit"lefs attempts, caught him juft getting out of his chariot "at his own door, in Bloomsbury-fquare, and fet upon him. ' Why, you rascal,' faid the Doctor, do you pretend to be paid for fuch a piece of work? why you "have fpoiled my pavement, and then covered it over "with earth to hide your bad work.' 'Doctor,' faid "the paviour, mine is not the only bad work that the earth hides! "You dog you,' faid the Doctor, are you a wit? you must be poor, come in; and paid "him. Nobody," adds Mr. Richardfon, "ever practifed "this rule, of ufing all mankind ill,' lefs than Dr. "Mead (who told me himself the ftory, and) who, as "I have been informed by great phyficians, got as much again by his practice as Dr. Radcliffe did," RAINOLDS

[ocr errors]

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Prince's
Worthies of

Oxon.

RAINOLDS (JOHN), an eminent English divine, was born at Pinto in Devonshire in 1549, and sent to Merton-college, Oxford, in 1562. He removed to CorDevonshire. pus Chrifti-college, of which he became firft fcholar, and -Athen. then fellow. He took both the degrees in arts and divinity. In 1598, he was made dean of Lincoln; but, being unwilling to quit an academical life, he exchanged his deanery the year following, for the prefidentship of Corpus Chrifti-college. Queen Elizabeth offered him a bifhopric; but he modeftly refufed it, and faid Nolo Epifcopari in good earneft. He died in 1607, after having published a great number of books. The learned have bestowed moft uncommon praifes upon this divine. Epiftle 7. Bifhop Hall, a very competent judge, obferves, that " he alone was a well-furnished library, full of all faculties, "of all ftudies, of all learning. The memory, the reading of that man, were to a miracle." Dr. CrakanDefenf. Ec- thorp fays, that " for virtue, probity, integrity, and piety, clef.Anglic. he was fo eminent, that, as Nazianzen fpeaks of Atha"nafius, to name him is to commend virtue itfelf." He had a hand in tranflating part of the Old Teftament, by command of James I. He was inclined to Puritanism, but with fuch moderation, that he continued a conformist to the church of England. He was thought to shorten his life by too fevere application to his ftudies; but, when his friends urged him to defift, he used to reply, that he would not lofe the end of living for the fake of life;" non propter vitam vivendi perdere caufas.

Decad. I.

c. 69.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

RALPH (JAMES), a writer in poetry, politicks, and history, was born we know not where, nor of what family. His defcent was mean; but he raised himself from obfcurity by his merit. He was a schoolmaster at Philadelphia in North America; which remote fituation not fuiting his active mind, he came to England about the beginning of the reign of George II. and by his attendance and abilities recommended himfelf to the patronage of fome great men. He publifhed a poem, intituled "Night," of which Pope thus takes notice in the Dunciad:

Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous-anfwer him, ye owls! He wrote fome pieces for the stage, of which an account may be feen in the " Biographia Dramatica." Though he did not fucceed as a poet, he was a very ingenious profe writer. His "Hiftory of England," commencing with

the

the reign of the Stuarts, is much efteemed, as were his political pamphlets; fome of which were looked upon as mafter-pieces. He was concerned in writing effays in several periodical papers, particularly "Old England; or,

[ocr errors]

Jeffery Broadbottom's Journal," and "The Remem"brancer." His laft publication, intituled, "The Cafe of "Authors by Profeffion," is esteemed an excellent and entertaining performance. He loft all hopes of preferment by the death of Frederic prince of Wales; and died at Chifwick, after a long fuffering from the gout, Jan. 24, 1762.

His.

RAMAZZINI (BERNARDIN), an Italian phyfician, was born of a good family at Carpi near Modena, in 1633. When he had laid a foundation in grammar and Niceron, claffical literature in his own country, he went to Parma tom. vi, to ftudy philofophy; and, afterwards applying himself to phyfic, took a doctor's degree there in 1659. Then he went to Rome, for the fake of penetrating ftill further into his art; and afterwards fettled in the duchy of Caftro. After fome time, ill health obliged him to return to Carpi for his native air, where he married a wife, and followed the bufinefs of his profeffion; but in 1671, at the advice of fome friends, he removed to Modena. brethren of the faculty here conceived at firft but meanly of his learning and abilities; but, when he had undeceived them by publications, their contempt, as is natural, was changed into jealousy. In 1682, he was made profeffor of phyfic in the univerfity of Modena, which was just founded by duke Francis II.; and he filled this office for eighteen years, attending in the mean time to practice, and not neglecting polite literature, of which he was always fond. In 1700, he went to Padua upon invitation, to be a profeffor there but the infirmities of age began now to come upon him. He loft his fight, and was forced to read and write with other people's eyes and hands. Neverthelefs, the

rector of the college, fenate of Venice made him

1708, and alfo raifed him from the fecond profefforfhip in phyfic to the firft. He would have refufed thefe honourable pofts; but, being overruled, performed all the functions of them very diligently to the time of his death. He died in 1714 upon his birthday, y, Nov. 5, aged 81. He compofed many works upon medical and philofophical fubjects: 'his book" De morbis artificum" will always be ufeful. His works were collected and published at London, 1716, in 4to; which is

C 3

a better

Mufic,

v. 384.

[ocr errors]

a better edition than that of Geneva the year after, because more correct.

RAMEAU (JOHN PHILIP), an illuftrious musician, ftyled by the French the Newton of harmony, was born Hawkins's at Dijon, Sept. 25, 1683. After having learned the ruHiftory of diments of mufic, he left his native country, and wandered about with the performers of a ftrolling opera. At eighteen, he compofed a mufical entertainment, which was represented at Avignon: afterwards, travelling through part of France and Italy, he corrected his ideas of mufic by the practice of the harpficord; and then went to Paris, where he perfected himself under John Lewis Marchand, a famous organift. He became organist of the cathedral church of Clermont in Auvergne, and in this retirement ftudied the theory of his art with the utmost affiduity. His application gave birth to his "Traité de

'Harmonie, Paris, 1722;" and to his "Nouveau Syf"tême de Mufique Theorique, Paris, 1726." But the work, for which he is moft celebrated, is his "Demon"ftration du Principe de l' Harmonie, Paris, 1750;" in which, as his countrymen fay, he has fhewn, that the whole depends upon one fingle and clear principle, viz. the fundamental bafs and it is in this refpect that he is by them compared to Newton, who, by the fingle principle of gravitation, explained the phænomena of the Phyfical World.

:

With fuch extraordinary talents as thefe, and a fupreme ftyle in mufical compofition, it had been a national reproach, had Rameau been fuffered to remain organist of a country cathedral. He was called to Paris, and appointed to the management of the opera: his mufic was of an original caft, and the performers complained at first that it could not be excufed; but he afferted the contrary, and evinced it by experiment. By practice he acquired a great facility in compofing, fo that he was never at a lofs to adapt founds to fentiments. It was a faying of Quinault, that the Poet was the Mufician's fervant;" but Rameau would fay, "Give me but a Holland Gazette, and I will "fet it to mufic" and we are almoft ready to concur with him, inafmuch as we have known the London Cries of "The laft dying fpeech of the malefactors who were "executed this morning at Tyburn," &c. to be fet and fung moft harmoniously. The king, to reward his exaordinary merit, conferred upon him the ribband of the

order

« PreviousContinue »