The Literary Magazine, and American Register

In 1393, physicians were so low in esteem at the French court, that they were actually superceded in their attendance on the unfortunate Charles VI of France, by a professed necromancer. Madame de Lussan tells us, and the story, strange as it is, is confirmed by good authorities, that the unhappy prince's health was entrusted to the care of one Arnaud Guillen, who undertook to restore him to his senses, by dint of magic. This wizard vaunted the possession of a book, entitled “ Smagorod," which, he said, the Almighty had given to Adam, to console him for the death of Abel, whose fate that unhappy parent had unceasingly lamented during one hundred years. He failed, however, as every physician had failed before him. He had found a charm," he said, "which oppressed the royal understanding; but it was too powerful for his spells to remove." He was driven from the court with disgrace, but his doctrine, as to the cause of the king's malady, gained ground among the people.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, Lorenzo de Medicis, of Florence, died of a disease which, it is said, might have been cured, had not Leoni, a celebrated physician of Spoleto, left too much to nature, and avoided to use any medicine whatever. Lazaro, an inhabitant of Pavia, equally celebrated for medical skill with Leoni, having made this error publicly known, raised the resentment of the deceased prince's friends to so high a pitch, that it proved fatal to the mistaken physician. For Pietro, son to Lorenzo, a youth who, though aged only seventeen years, was able to foil the most expert wrestler, happening to meet the unfortunate Leoni near the brink of a deep well, sent him headlong into the water, where, being old and feeble, he was suffocated,though he received speedy assistance.

VOL. III. NO. XVII.

Marville remarks, that no persons are so apt as physicians to quit their profession, and follow different walks of literature, and confirms his observation, by producing a very long catalogue of men, of various nations, who have resigned the study of medicine, for that of geometry, of medals, of poetry, and the like. He accounts for it ingeniously enough from the vast extent of reading, through which physicians must of necessity pass, and which is likely to set before them objects much more pleasing than those of which they are in search.

Jacques Coetier, a physician, was the only person who could keep in awe the turbulent, uneven spirit of Louis IX, of France. He governed him by making a proper use of that dread of death, to which he knew the king was subject to a degree so ridiculous, that he once actually stopped a priest, who, after having prayed for the health of his body, was beginning to implore heaven for his future welfare. "Hold! hold!" cried he, "you have gone far enough for once. Never be tiresome in your address to God Almighty. Stop now, and pray for my soul, another time." "Coetier, thoroughly acquainted with this infirmity, used to say to him, "One of these days, you will send me packing, I suppose, as I have seen you act by your other servants; but, mark my words, if you do, by you will not live eight days after it." By repeating this menace, he not only kept himself in his station, but persuaded the pusillanimous king to appease him with great and valuable presents. On his part, he certainly paid great attention to the condition of his royal master's mind, which was frequently almost in a state of phrenzy. To amuse him during his long indispositions, he contrived to have rural dances performed under his chamber window; and, to make up for the king's ina bility to enjoy the pleasures of the

chace, the ingenious physician collected cats and huge rats, and diverted his dying patient by letting him see combats between these discordant animals.

In the sixteenth century, the Jews were looked upon to be more expert in the art of medicine than any other persons. Francis I, of France, being exceedingly ill, and finding no relief from his own physicians, sent to his old rival and enemy, Charles V, for one of the Hebrew race. The emperor sent him one who had been converted. This did not satisfy the French monarch; he applied to the court of Constantinople, for an obstinate, unbaptised Israelite. One such accordingly attended on him, and, by the help of asses milk, effected his cure.

It is asserted in a French book, entitled "Le nouveau Cours de Chimie," that the discovery of the powers resident in antimony, was owing to the celebrated Basilius Valentinus, who, finding it had the property of fattening pigs, tried it, heaven knows with what connection of ideas, on a convent of monks. Unluckily, instead of improving the condition of these holy men, it killed them by dozens, whence it obtained the name of Anti-moine." Paracelsus attempted to bring it, notwithstanding this misadventure, into credit, but he too failed, and it was not until very late times, that the virtues of that very useful medicine were universally allowed.

Few medical people have acted so fairly by their patients as "Dr. Anthony Storck, aulic counsellor and chief physician to the empress queen," who, before he recommended the use of the meadow-saffron root (a known poison), to those afflicted with the dropsy, and other diseases, tried it upon himself, in a crude state, until he was brought to the door of death; he then having, with difficulty, recovered, and hav

ing found a method of checking the poisonous qualities of the root, by infusing it in vinegar, made another experiment on himself, and, finding no evil consequences, administered the decoction with success to others.

La Mothe le Vayer, observing that Pherecides, preceptor to Pythagoras, Anaximander, and Abaris foretold earthquakes, asks this humorous question: "If we consider the earth as a huge animal, had not these the art of feeling its pulse, and thereby of foreseeing the convulsions it would be troubled with?"

The celebrated Florentine physician, Andrea Baccio, who has been styled the Italian Radcliffe, for his astonishing penetration as to diseases, resembled that singular man also in the blunt method of delivering his sentiments. He was one day called to attend on a woman of quality. He went, felt her puise, and asked her "how old she was?" She told him "above fourscore." "And how long would you live?" said the cross physician, quitting her hand, and making the best of his way out of her house.

"Your unchristian virulence against me," said a Huguenot who had been persecuted for preaching, “ shall cost hundreds of people their lives." This menace brought the author into trouble; he was cited to a court of justice, and was charged with harbouring the most bloody designs against his fellow subjects. "I am innocent," said he, "of all you lay to my account. My only meaning was, that I meant, since I could not act as a minister, to practise as a physician."

That pleasant philosopher, Montaigne, offers a whimsical consolation to those afflicted with the gout, gravel, rheumatism, and the like. "These," said he, "are symptoms

of a long life, just as heat, cold, rain, and hail are the attendants on every long journey."

For the Literary Magazine.

QUACKERY.

ALTHOUGH our modern quacks take a very large range, as to the disorders which they assert their power of curing, there are yet advertisements to be found in the original edition of the Spectator, which was first printed as a newspaper, that lay claim to the extirpation of three complaints which now bid defiance to "tinctures," "confects," and "electuaries."

“An incomparable pleasant tincture, to restore the sense of smelling, though lost for many years, a few drops of which being snuffed up the nose, infallibly cures those who have lost their smell, let it proceed from what cause soever. It admirably cures all obstructions in the olfactory or smelling nerves, comforts and strengthens the head and brain, and revives the smelling faculty to a miracle, and perfectly cures, so as to cause the person to smell as quick and as well as any one in the world. Price 2s. 6d. a bottle. Sold only at Mr. Payne's toy-shop, at the Angel and Crown, in St. Paul's Church-yard, near Cheapside, with directions."

"An admirable confect, which assuredly cures stuttering and stammering in children or grown persons, though ever so bad, causing them to speak distinct and free, without any trouble or difficulty; it remedies all manner of impediments in the speech, or disorders of the voice of any kind, proceeding from what cause soever, rendering those persons capable of speaking easily and free, and with a clear voice, who before were not able to utter a sentence without hesitation.

Its stupendous effects, in so quickly and infallibly curing stuttering, stammering, and all disorders of the voice, and difficulty in delivery of the speech, are really wonderful. Price 2s. 6d. a pot, with directions. Sold only at Mr. Osborne's toy-shop, at the Rose and Crown, under St. Dunstan's church, Fleet-street."

"Loss of memory, or forgetfulness, certainly cured, by a grateful electuary, peculiarly adapted for that end: it strikes at the prime cause, which few apprehend, of forgetfulness, makes the head clear and easy, the spirits free, active, and undisturbed, corroborates and revives all the noble faculties of the soul, such as thought, judgment, apprehension, reason, and memory, which last, in particular, it so strengthens, as to render that faculty exceeding quick and good beyond imagination; thereby enabling those whose memory was before almost totally lost, to remember the minutest circumstance of their affairs, &c. to a wonder! Price 2s. 6d. a pot. Sold only at Mr. Payne's, at the Angel and Crown, in St. Paul's Church-yard, with directions."

"An assured cure for leanness, which proceeds from a cause which few know, but easily removed by an unparalleled specific tincture, which fortifies the stomach, purifies the blood, takes off fretfulness in the mind, occasions rest, and easy sleep, and as certainly disposes and causes the body to thrive and become plump and fleshy, if no manifest distemper afflicts the patients, as water will quench fire. It is also the best remedy in nature for all chronic diseases that take their rise from a bad digestion in the stomach, which this specific tincture infallibly rectifies, and thereby cures. It is pleasant to taste, and is sold only at Mr. Payne's toy-shop (as before). Price 3s. 6d. a bottle, with directions."

Hark! what a sound breaks from the depths below!

Oh bear me from these shades of black despair,

And let me follow through thy fields of air ;

Let me roll onward in thy flying car, Or, with an angel, on a shooting star, Let me alight on new-born earth, and

rove

With vagrant feet o'er valley, stream, and grove.

Great God! what wonders meet my searching eyes!

Worlds circling worlds, on systems systems rise!

A burning orb darts his propitious ray, And all the darkness kindles into day. And when he quenches in the wave his light,

The pale moon wanders through the hosts of night;

She

calls the stars to light their silver

beam,

And with her visit mountain, vale, and

stream.

For the Literary Magazine.

THE SERENADE.

Still was the night; all nature calm'd in peace :

No more the watch-dog howl'dadown the farm,

The tuneful night-bird bid its carol

cease,

The wolf, in silence lost, forgot to

harm.

Not e'en a rustling leaf was heard to

move,

Its undulations paus'd the very air,

What yells of fury, and what shrieks of As if afraid its zephyrs from above

woe!

Hurl'd from the skies, lo! Satan and

his train

Toss'd on the billows of unceasing pain; There see him rally his terrific bands, Who bade defiance to a God in arms; And, by the glimmerings of infernal light,

Wing his huge way amid the deeps of night.

To dark the scene some envious cloud might bear.

The red full moon was rising in the east, Tinging with blood the edges of the

sky:

Their glittering orbs the twinkling stars increas'd,

As through the azure vault they gently fly.