Middletown transcript., 1877-04-14
Selett gtorp.
ANECDOTES OF DOCTORS.

clans whom we propose to sketch, mus
stand out that blunt, clever, irasciblt
Yorkshireman, DR.. Radcliffe, whose
memory the great library at 0xforC
(for which be bequeathed it forty thou
sand pounds will never allow to perish.
Though there was perhaps a certain
pride about his honest bluntness, We
must respect the man who could tell the
truth even to royal patients
Two years after his arrival in Lon
don, Radcliffe was appointed physician
to the Princess Anne Of Denmark /; and
soon after the accession Of King Will
liam, was rewarded for the cure Of two
of Williams favorites by present Of
five hundred guineas from the Privy-
purse. Though refusing the post of
court physician, Radcliffe is said to
have received from the king in six years
nearly eight thousand guineas. His
gains, indeed, seem to have been enor-
nous, for, in 1851, be received one
thousand guineas from Queen Mary for
successfully prescribing for the young
Duke Of Gloucester, the son Of the
Princess Anne; and we cannot disbe-
lieve the story that Dl. Gibson made
thousand a year by receiving patients
who we're unable to obtain admission to
DR.. Radcliffe.
In 1894, be attended the good Queen
Mary for the smallpox, and on merely
reading the prescriptions of the other
physicians, at once pronounced her "a
dead woman !" prediction very soon
verified. Queens and princesses might
shrug their pretty shoulders at his name,
but they could not dispense with Rad
cliffe's services, and we find him telling
a messenger of the Princess Anne,
"that she had nothing but the vapors.
and was as well as any other woman in
the world, could she but think so" He
was dismissed the court for this hit =
Even royal pride, however, had to bow
before the great doctor, and he was, in
1899, again sent for to see the Duke Of
Gloucester, whom he at once. abusing
soundly the two court physicians, pro-
nounced as beyond the reach of medi-
cine.
In 1895, King William gave Rad
cliffe twelve hundred pounds, and made
him the offer Of baronetcy, which hc
declined, for having gone abroad to at
tend the Earl of Albemarle, who, on
bis recovery, had sent him four hun
dred guineas and diamond ring Even
the king, Radcliffe did little to concili-
ate, and told him frankly that all prom
ises to cure him were futile. He might,
he said, if he gave up drinking long
toasts with the Earl of Bradford (who
drank hard), live three or four years
but no art would carry him further .-
When the king was finally seized with
dropsy, and asked the doctor what be
thought of his legs" Radcliffe re-
piled; "Why, truly, sir, would not
have your Majesty's two legs for your
three kingdoms"
Can we wonder that William ever
afterwards refused to see the blunt doc
tor, in spite Of the intercessions of the
Earl Of Albemarle and other mobiles
For many years, Queen Anne re-
membered the message about the vapors,
and never sent for him to the palace
but when her own husband, Prince
George of Denmark, was dying, she
had again to bate her pride. But Rad
clife was both blunt and rough, and
told her plainly that no medicine could
preserve him more than six days; and
the Prince died Of drOpsy within that
time.
Fond as Radcliffe was Of money, he
could bear losses philosophically, if the
story is true. that, losing five thousand |
pounds in foolish commercial advsn-
ture. be coolly remarked in bis city
tavern, that, after all, it only amounted |
to going up five thousand more pairs Of
stairs He was equally calm when he
lost fifteen thousand rnnnds down ard |
a city bride With that strange incon-
sistency common to human nature,
Radcliffe, though be hated breaking a
guinea for small payments, was cbarit-
able in a large way. he secretly sent
five hundred pounds to the NoDjuring
clergy of Norwich, and on another oc-
casion three hundred pounds to the
poor Episcopal clergy Of Scotland.
To those whom he respected the doc
tor was rough: to those whom he de-
spised, he was terrible indeed. Tyson
of Hackney, a notorious usurer and
miser, once came to him disguised as a
poor man, in order to save the fee
Radcliffe recognized him, and at once
shook Deaths dart in his face:
go home, sir, and repentp be
roared. 1.-The grave is ready for the
man who has raised an immense estate
cut Of the spoils Of orphans and widows
You will be dead man, sir, in ten
days"
Tyson died within the time, having
the wretched satisfaction Of leaving
behind him three hundred thousand
pounds.
Radcliffe. who died in 1714, was
succeeded by his protege, DR.. Mead,
the son of dissenting minister at Step
ney, who frst practised incubation in
Though an ardent Wing.
Maod mas n f,;onJ oe Do,a n..tL ond !