; a

trait of him was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and from it a mezzotinto was fcraped, the print whereof, as he was little known, fold only to his friends fingular ufe however was made of it: Bell, the publisher of the English poets, caused an engraving to be made from it, and prefixed it to the poems of Mr. John Dyer.

I have been thus particular in the hiftory of this accomplished and hopeful young man, whom I once loved with the affection of a brother, with a view to fhew the tendency of idlenefs, and to point out at what avenues vice may gain admittance in minds feemingly the moft ftrongly fortified. The affailable part of his was laxity of principle: at this entered infidelity, which was followed by fuch temptations to pleasure as he could fee no reason to refift: thefe led on defires after the means of gratification, and the purfuit of them was his deftruction.

McGhie was a Scotchman by birth, and educated, in one of the univerfities of that country, for the profeffion of phyfic. In the rebellion in 1745, he, with a party of young men who, as volunteers, had affociated on the fide of government, bore arms, and was engaged in the fkirmish at Falkirk, which he ever fpoke of as an ill-conducted bufinefs. When matters were become pretty quiet in Scotland, he took a doctor's degree, and came to London, where, trusting to the friendship of his countrymen he hoped to fucceed in practice, but the town was overftocked with Scotch physicians, and he met with finall encouragement, though, by the favour of Dr. Benjamin Avery, the treasurer of Guy's hofpital, who had

been

been a diffenting teacher, and at that time was at the head of that intereft, he got to be elected one of the phyficians of that charity. He was a learned, ingenious, and modest man; and one of those few of his country whom Johnfon could endure. To fay the truth, he treated him with great civility, and may almost be faid to have loved him. He inherited a patrimony too small for his fubfiftence, and failing in his hope of getting forward in his profeffion, died of a broken heart, and was buried by a contribution of his friends.

Barker, being by education a diffenter, was fent to ftudy phyfic at Leyden, from whence he returned about the time I am speaking of. He was introduced to us by Dyer, and had been a fellow-ftudent with him and with Akenfide, Afkew, Munckley, Mr. Dyson of the houfe of commons, and others, few of whom are now living. From the converfation of these perfons, he learned the principles of lord Shaftesbury's philofophy, and became, as most of them were, a favourer of his notions, and an acute reafoner on the fubject of ethics. He was an excellent claffical scholar, a deep metaphysician, and had enriched his fancy by reading the Italian poets; but he was a thoughtless young man, and in all his habits of drefs and appearance fo flovenly as made him the jeft of all his companions. Phyficians in his time were used to be full dreffed; and in his garb of a full fuit, a brown tye-wig with a knot over one fhoulder, and a long yellow-hilted fword, and his hat under his arm, he was a caricature. In his religious principles he profeffed himself an unitarian, for which Johnson so often

fnubbed

fnubbed him, that his vifits to, us became lefs and lefs frequent. After fuch a defcription as that above, it is needless to add that Barker fucceeded ill in his profeffion. Upon his leaving us, he went to practise at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, but at the end of two years returned to London, and became librarian to the college of phyficians, in the room of Edwards the ornithologist; but for fome misbehaviour was displaced, and died in obfcurity,

Dr. Richard Bathurst was a native of Jamaica, and the fon of an eminent planter in that island, who coming to fettle in England, placed his fon in London, in order to qualify him for the practice of phyfic. In the course of his ftudies he became acquainted with Johnson, and was greatly beloved by him for the pregnancy of his parts and the elegance of his manners. Befides these he poffeffed the qualities that were most likely to recommend him in his profeffion; but, wanting friends, could make no way in it. He had just interest enough to be chofen physician to an hofpital that was fupported by precarious donations, and which yielded him little or no recompence for his attendance, which, as it was only a few hours on certain days in the week, left him, in a great measure, mafter of his time. Of this he was a good manager, employing it in the studies relative to his profeffion, and the improvement of himself in polite literature. In conjunction with Johnfon, Hawkefworth, and others, he wrote the Adventurer,' a periodical paper that will hereafter be fpoken of, pursuing at the fame time the most prudent and probable methods for acquiring reputation and advancing himself in his profeffion; but miffing of fuccefs, he embraced the

offer

offer of an appointment of physician to the army that was sent on the expedition against the Havannah, where, foon after his arrival, he was feized with a fever that then raged among the troops, and which, before he could be a witness of the reduction of the place, put a period to an innocent and useful life.

The Spaniards have a proverb, that he who intends to be pope muft think of nothing elfe. Bathurst thought of becoming an eminent London phyfician, and omitted no means to attain that character: he ftudied hard, dreffed well, and affociated with thofe who were likely to bring him forward, but he failed in his endeavours, and fhortly before his leaving England confeffed to Johnson, that in the courfe of ten years' exercise of his faculty, he had never opened his hand to more than one guinea.

The failure of three fuch perfons as thofe abovementioned, in a profeffion in which very many ignorant men have been known to fucceed *, was matter of wonder to Johnfon and all that knew them. He obeyed that precept of Scripture, which exhorts us to honour the physician, and would frequently say of those of this country, that they did more good to mankind, without a profpect of reward, than any profeffion of men whatever. Bathurft's want of encouragement affected him much: he often expreffed to me his furprize, that a young man of his endowments and engaging manners, fhould fucceed no better, and his disappointment drew from him a reflection, which he has inferted in his life of Akenfide, that by an acute obferver who had looked on the tranfactions of the

So ignorant as to requeft of the college the indulgence of an examination in English.

medical

medical world for half a century, a very curious book might be written on the fortune of physicians. Such a book I fhould be glad to fee; and if any perfon hereafter fhall be induced to purfue Johnfon's hint, he may poffibly think the following remarks which have occurred to me in the courfe of a long intimacy with fome of the moft eminent of the profeffion, not altogether beneath his notice.

Of the profeffors of medicine, in cities remote from London and in country towns, I know but little; but in the metropolis I am able to fay, that in my time not only the track of a young phyfician was pretty plainly pointed out, and it is curious to follow it, but that the conduct of fuch an one was reducible to a fyftem. Mead was the fon of a non-conforming minifter the teacher of a numerous congregation, who trufting to his influence over them, bred his fon a phyfician, with what fuccefs is well known. He raised the medical character to fuch a height of dignity as was never feen in this or any other country. His example was an inducement with others of the diffenting minifters to make phy

*The interest which the diffenting teachers had with the members of their feveral congregations, though now but little known, was formerly very great, and in my memory was fuch, that fearcely any member of a feparate congregation would di pofe of a daughter, or make a purchase, or advance a fum of money on a mortgage, without firft confulting his paftor.

+ I have heard it faid, that when Mead began to practise, he was a conftant frequenter of the meeting at Stepney, where his father preached; and that when he was fent for out of the assembly, which he often was, his father would in his prayer infert a petition in behalf of the fick perfon. I once mentioned this to Johnfon, who faid it was too grofs for belief; but it was not fo at Batson's: it paffed there as a current tradition.

ficianą