instead of diminishing his malady. True fympathy will produce attention to many little circumftances, which contribute much to the relief of the patient -an attention, which is above all price, and which, while it convinces the fick man of the goodness of his Phyfician's heart, increases his regard for him, and raises the refpectability of his profeffion. By diligent and careful exertions, he will acquire the power of rendering the most important fervices to the public. He may very confiderably extend his sphere of usefulness by fuperintending medical inftitutions, attending hospitals and dispensaries, and more especially by devoting certain portions of his time to the relief of the poor. To them his advice will prove of ineftimable value; and his generosity in this refpect will be repaid no lefs by their gratitude and the public approbation, than the applause of his own heart.

"When fainting nature call'd for aid,
And hov'ring death prepar'd the blow,
His vig'rous remedy display'd

The power of art, without the show.

In mifery's darkest cavern known,
His useful care was ever nigh,

Where hopeless anguish pour'd his groan,
And lonely want retir'd to die."

Such was the appropriate praife beftowed by Dr. Johnson upon his friend Levet; and happy ought every medical man to think himself in the confciousness of fimilar merit.

The good phyfician will recommend himself to general patronage, regard, and esteem, by his skill, his benevolent difpofition, and decorous deportment. In his treatment of the various difeafes, which come under his care, he will diligently attend to the different conftitutions and different habits of life of his patients; he will follow nature with the clofeft attention through all her changes; he will watch every symptom, by which he can difcover her tendencies and difpofition, and will skilfully adapt his medicines to those symptoms, as they appear. He will recruit the exhaufted powers of the conftitution, strengthen the springs of life, and give them fresh energy and vigour. Should he fail in his attempts, his want of fuccefs will be the fault of the art, and not of the practitioner.

In his common intercourfe with the world, he will be diftinguished by his general knowledge, and his pleafing and eafy manner of communicating it. His attainments in literature and fcience will furnifh him with the means of agreeable relaxation from his feverer ftudies, and the fatigues of his Profeffion.

To his patients he will be punctual and benevolent, and yet never be induced fo far to facrifice the principles of his duty to their humour, caprice, or timidity, as to relax in his recommendation of whatever he is convinced will conduce to their relief. To his competitors he will be liberal and

* Gregory, p. 182.

candid;

candid; he will not indulge the afperity of oppofition, nor the meannefs of envy; and he will truft for emolument and reputation, not to petty artifice or indirect practices, but to the folid recommendation of a good character. He will indulge his benevolent feelings as a man, and conform to his principles of duty as a Chriftian, by relieving the maladies of the poor:-but he will never attempt to gain the patronage of the rich by unworthy fervices, or degrading conceffions. In his general conduct, he will prove, in the most extended acceptation of the word, the friend of mankind. He will fhow a becoming degree of condefcenfion and affability to all, and will render the exercife of his profeffion equally the means of general good and of his own particular advantage and reputation. He will be convinced that these points cannot be fecured by a narrow and felfifh difpofition, by a peculiar formality of drefs and manners, or affected airs of importance and myftery. The true dignity of the profeffion can only be maintained by the fuperior knowledge and abilities of thofe who follow it, by their liberal manners and conduct, and by that candour, which disdains all duplicity and artifice, all fupercilioufnefs and fervility, and which require only to be known, to make their poffeffors the general objects of efteem and honour. thofe qualities which do credit to the medical character, it is fuperfluous to have recourfe to more particular defcription; as they can be fully exemplified in the lives of Radcliffe, Freind, Mead, Ar

For

buthnot,

buthnot, Fothergill and many others, who hold a diftinguished place among the fons of Efculapius, and adorn the biography of their country.

III. THE CLERICAL PROFESSION.

Of all the profeffions there is no one which includes fuch important duties as that of a Clergyman. It is the immediate object of his labours to diminish the evils and increase the comforts of life, by inculcating the knowledge and recommending the practice of religion, and by preparing the minds of men for the happiness of a future life. As it is his duty to state and interpret the revealed will of God, to reclaim the vicious from their finful conduct, comfort the afflicted in their diftrefs, and confirm the good in the pursuit of virtue, it is not difficult to infer what ought to be his attainments and qualifications, and what his character and conduct.

Lamenting the levity and the indifference of fome, who enter into Holy Orders, without confidering the importance of their facred office; reprobating the felfishness and the wickedness of others, who merely make it the road to wealth and luxurious indulgence; we will confider the cafe of a young

young man, who is induced by proper motives to undertake the pastoral care, and who directs his studies and regulates his conduct in fuch a manner, as is confiftent with a becoming and rational sense of duty.

He begins with confidering the divine appoint ment of his profeffion, its ferious nature, and its most important end. He obferves the confiderable portion of time and industry, which is devoted to the other profeffions, to the attainment of the elegant arts, and even to the most common occu→ pations, in order to acquire a due proficiency; and therefore he concludes, that a proportionable degree of application is neceffary for his own, which juftly claims the fuperiority over them all1.

Diligent

"Si agnofcis dignitatem, da operam ut glorifices fufcep. tam functionem; fi difficultatem, abjice focordiam, & vigila; fi periculum intelligis, cave ne declines ad dextram, five ad finiftram: fi præmium confideras, ne te pigeat ullius difficul tatis. Quocumque verteris oculos, eft quod excitet follicitudinem tuam; fi furfum afpicias, vides quis fit, qui tibi munus iftud delegavit, vides paratum ftipendium; fi circumfpicias quæ te circumftant, vides oves Chrifti tuæ concreditas fidei; fi in te ipfum defcendas, agnofcis quantam animi puritatem, quantam eruditionem, quantam prudentiam, quantum caritatis ardorem, quantam fortitudinem exigat ifta functio, quâ vel abftineas, fi te cognoveris parum inftru&tum, vel eu pares quibus eft opus." Erafmi Ecclefiaftes, lib. 1. I know of no book better calculated to give a Candidate for Orders just and elevated ideas of his intended profeffion; to infpire him with a

fervent,