LETTER LXXXIX.

From the same.

My Dear Friend,

London, Sept. 6, 1791. Knowing, as I do, the difficulties attendant on the medical profession, I confess I feel a reluctance in recommending the pursuit of it; and yet I can say, were I to commence life anew, I know of no profession, arduous as it is, that I should so cordially embrace. The delay in acquiring employment, and the solicitude attending it, especially from the fatality which shades the best exertions of skill, may be urged against it; but I think a humane physician, who evinces by his conduct a tender interest in the recovery of his patient, never loses reputation by an event which no human means could prevent; on the contrary, oftentimes nearer attachments are acquired: for the sympathy of the physician makes him appear almost as one of the family, and mutual anxiety begets mutual endearment. This I have felt and seen daily, and sometimes the pleasures of rational melancholy, if I may so term it, are the most permanent, and the most consolatory to a feeling heart. On the other hand, when health follows skill, what pleasures result! Well might it be said by Cicero, "Nothing brings men nearer the gods than by giving health to their fellow creatures." You are a guardian

It

angel of the family, and a deity of health, and the sensations of your own breast are inexpressibly delightful. But it is not a lucrative profession. is a divine one. It is above money, and is "not to be dealt in by attorneyship," as Shakspeare says of Love.

Were I a Legislator, I should like to have in my jurisdiction all the three thousand different kinds of religion that are said to be in the world. To see the various ways of addressing the Father of all, must be a glorious sight to a pious mind, and must, I think, be acceptable to the Author of our Being.

The constitutions of men are as unlike as their faces, and the bent of thought perhaps as dissimilar; but when all, though various in opinion, unite in the great act of adoration, the multiplicity of religions appears to augment the solemnity and grandeur of it. How irrational and impious then was it to destroy the property of the Birmingham Dissenters, and particularly of that man who, a century hence, will be ranked as the first luminary of the present age!

Remember me to the partner of thy bed, and the young shoots; and believe me

Thine, respectfully,

J. C. LETTSOM.

LETTER XC.

Sir M. MARTIN, Bart. to Dr. LETTSOM.

Dear Sir,

Sept. 17, 1791.

I hope no one who has ever heard me mention your name thinks any thing was wanting to enhance my veneration of your character; but when a man, who tells me in one letter " that with an income of many thousands a year from his profession he cannot grow rich;" in another, "that his profession has allowed him but one holiday in nineteen years;" and in the next," that it has not suffered him to sleep in his own bed for thirteen following nights ;" and I find that man saying, "yet were I to commence life anew, I know of no profession, arduous as it is, that I would so cordially embrace;" can I withhold an enthusiastic rapture, at finding myself deemed worthy the notice of such a man? That my son may prove really so, seems the best earthly wish I can entertain for him; indeed, as it is wishing him a heavenly mind, it ought to be my fervent prayer. As to the probability of his taking a turn for the medical profession, I yet see no chance of it. If a man be "born a poet," how much more a physician! which, I fully agree with you, is "a divine profession." How nobly have you described the glorious joys attending it! The balance of account between satisfaction and

remorse, was jocosely stated by Dr. Warren to Lady Spencer, who had said, she thought the frequent reflection, that a different treatment might have saved their patients, must embitter the lives of medical men. He told her, that the balance was greatly in favour of satisfaction, for he hoped to cure her forty times before he killed her once. As to the profits, they are more likely to attend real merit in this than in any other profession. I have here seen as worthless a wretch as ever lived commanding the whole country by his professional fame, till he murdered himself by drinking in endeavouring to smother the thoughts of his misconduct. So far was he from wishing "to see all the various ways of addressing the Father of all," that he tried to persuade himself, that blind chance produced all the enrapturing scenes of Nature, and that any idea of spiritual life was irrational. He argued, "that the soul of man was never discovered by dissection." Could he have found a butterfly by dissecting a caterpillar?

That a mob should behave "irrationally and impiously" is no wonder. Every fresh instance of it will, I hope, contribute to shew those who mean well how injudicious it is to draw together a set of wretches, whose collected force is more difficult to direct than that of gunpowder or steam. The pecuniary loss in these cases, as far as can be ascertained, falls on the public; and the valuable, perhaps irretrievable, manuscripts, which have been destroyed, may also be reckoned a public

loss. May the examples of the poor wretches, who have forfeited their lives, prove a public benefit! Would to God some other mode than legal murder could be adopted for that purpose; and if it is not within the plans of unerring Wisdom, that the true spirit of brotherly love should yet pervade the universe, may it at least lead us to promote it by our example, as far as our influence extends.

I hope this is not an arrogant wish in

Your sincere Friend,

M. MARTIN.

LETTER XCI.

Dr. LETTSOM to Sir M. MARTIN, Bart.

Dear Sir Mordaunt,

London, Dec. 31, 1791.

Respecting the medical pursuits of thy son, thou observest that every one is not born a poet. However just this may be in degree, yet by early attention, there are few plants but may be shaped into the figure we choose the tree to acquire. Medicine is rather a practical than a brilliant art, and depends upon study as much as genius. Poverty led me to physic. I was placed with a country apothecary, whose fee was moderate. I had no particular predilection for medicine. I never pos