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1872, May

Gift of
Rev.
Benj

Moc Zaniel.

BOUND JUL 9 1914

TO

ANTHONY M. HAWKINS, M. D.

UPPER BROOK STREET, GROSVENOR SQUARE.

MY DEAR SIR,

To your truly honourable Profession the life of Man stands indebted through all its ages, from the cradle to the tomb. “The thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to," attach to Infancy, Childhood, Youth, and Manhood, as well as to Old Age. It is however the province of “the beloved Physician," (as Paul hath denominated the Evangelist Lu to ward off the attacks of disease, to expel the evil where it has taken possession, and to revive the languishing functions of nature

What dire necessities on every hand,

Our art, our strength, our fortitude require ;
Of foes intestine what a numerous band

Against this little throb of life conspire !
Yet SCIENCE căn elude their fatal ire

Awhile-and turn aside Death's leveli'd dart;
Sooth the sharp pang, allay the fever's fire,

And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart,
And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart!

BEATTIE.

In classical mythology, no less a personage than APOLLO is designated as the god of medicine ; thus intimating that the exercise of the restorative art might be pronounced an attribute of Deity. And

those ancient sons of Æsculapius, both the Machaon of Homer, and the lapis of Virgil, are eulogised by their respective poets for having, amidst the deafening clamours of contending hosts, bound up the bleeding wounds, and soothed the agonies of expiring mortality.

The most luminous miracles wrought by our BLESSED Saviour in the land of Judea, and detailed with inimitable simplicity in the New Testament had, my dear Sir, for their object, the removal of corporeal debility, as well as the infusion of vigour into the human frame. If the Jews (it has been said) were thankful for these interpositions, surely those virtues which God has in a natural way bestowed on medicine, and that sagacity he has given to men for the discovery of those virtues, are matter of much greater acknowledgment, as the benefit is so much more extensive and lasting. Among the ancients, Mens sana in corpore sano, was deemed the consummation of sublunary felicity. Indeed,

HEALTH is the choicest blessing man receives
From bounteous Heaven-by her the smiling hours
Are winged with transport-she, too, gives the soul
Of firmness--without her the hand of toil
Would languid sink--the eye of reason fade !

DENMAN.

That your friends in the country, my dear Sir, where you had long and successfully practised, lament your removal to the great metropolis, was to be expected. Their loss is our gain. You now

move in a sphere commensurate with your talents, where you cannot fail, through the exercise of superior skill, aided by your well-known assiduity, to impart substantial relief to your fellow-creatures. An able physician is an inestimable acquisition to the community.

GRATITUDE, my dear Sir, is the dictate of every human heart. Benefits conferred, generate a permanent impression. Accept my best thanks for the service

you

have rendered me in your professional career. And though the ushering of the little stranger into the world, whose infantine traits are so admirably described by our FAVOURITE Poet, be your more immediate and distinguished province, yet may equal success attend your efforts to exterminate the diseases, and assuage the pains of suffering humanity!

These pages, to which, my dear Sir, I have taken the liberty of prefixing your name, are the fruit of long winter evenings. Thus I amused myself, filling up “the interstices of the busy day," after having discharged the duties of my seminary. The Vo. LUME is drawn up for my pupils, as well as for young people of every description. The novelty of its contents, accompanied with its characteristic though humble embellishments, may interest the tender minds of children. We are all indeed only children of a larger growth in this imperfect and progressive state of being. Individuals of every age must be delighted with the exquisite delineation of

the successive periods of life by our immortal Bard; while it is presumed the candid reader will find in the annexed illustrations, both of prose and poetry, (upon the plan of my Juvenile Tourist, and my Excursion to Windsor) something conducive to his intellectual, moral, and religious improvement.

With respect to the brief Memoir of SHAKSPEARE, and his Writings, I have, my dear Sir, availed myself of the most recent source of information, in consulting a truly interesting production written by Dr. NATHAN DRAKE, a literary gentleman of your own profession. The work should have a place assigned it in every library. Elucidating the history and times of SHAKSPEARE, it not only emblazons forth the virtues of his character, but sheds a light upon several obscure passages in his dramatical compositions ; irradiated as these compositions already were by the coruscations of his transcendant genius, and encircled with the exuberant plenitude of his glory.

I am, de:r Sir,
Yours, very respectfully,

JOHN EVANS.
ISLINGTON,
August 4, 1818.

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