"Sperat infestis, metuit secundis,
Alteram sortem bene preparatum Pectus."
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Hor.
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"Whoe\'er enjoys th\' untroubled breast,
With Virtue\'s tranquil wisdom blest,
With hope the gloomy hour can cheer,
And temper happiness with fear."

When we look abroad amongst mankind—nay, even in the contracted sphere of our own experience—it is interesting to observe the varied current of human life in different cases. In some, from the cradle to the grave, life has been beset with difficulties; it has been a continued struggle; the breath seems to have been first drawn, and finally yielded up, amidst the multifarious oppositions and agitations of adversity. In other instances, life seems like an easy, smoothly gliding stream, gently bearing Man on to what had appeared to be the haven of his wishes; and the little voyage has been begun and completed without the appearance of a ripple. All varieties are, no doubt, the result of constantly operating laws. Of these, many are probably inscrutable by us; many more, no doubt, escape our observation. The unforeseen nature of many events confers the character of mystery on any attempt at foresight; yet, when we take a careful retrospect of a life, it is curious to observe how naturally the secondary causes appear to have produced the results by which they were followed; but which, beforehand, no one had thought of predicting.

Varied, however, as is the course of human life, few men have165 arrived at eminence without difficulty. We do not mean that ephemeral prominence of "position" which makes them marked in their day; but that which leaves the impression of their minds on the age in which they lived, or on the science or other pursuit which they had chosen—original minds, who have enlarged the boundaries of our knowledge. Such men usually have the ample gifts of nature with which they are endowed, somewhat counterbalanced by the difficulty experienced in the successful application of them.

Abernethy had not been altogether exempt from such difficulties. With a sensitive organization, he had had to make his own way; he had experienced the difficulties which attend the advocacy of opinions and principles which were opposed to, or at all events different from, those generally entertained. He had had to encounter that misconstruction, misrepresentation, ridicule, even malice—save the mark!—which are too frequently provoked by any attempts to tell people that there is something more correct than the notions which they have been accustomed to value. Still, when we compare Abernethy\'s course with that of many—we had almost said most—benefactors to science, he might be said to have been a fortunate man. If a man has power, and a "place to stand on"—and Abernethy had both—truth will tell at last.

A retired spot, a room in an obscure street, near St. Bartholomew\'s, had been by his unaided talents expanded into a theatre within the walls of the hospital. This was becoming again crowded; and, although it formed a satisfactory arena for the development and illustration of his principles, the increasing audiences were significant of the coming necessity of a still larger building; which was, in fact, a few years afterwards, constructed. He had indeed arrived, as we imagine, at a point which was comparatively smooth water, and which we are inclined to regard as the zenith of his career.

In the opening of his beautiful lectures at the College, Abernethy, in one of his warm and earnest endeavours to animate his audience to regard benevolence, and the love of truth, as the impulses which could alone urge on, and sustain, industry in cultivating166 the "Science" of our profession, had observed that, "unfortunately, a man might attain to a considerable share of public reputation without being a real student of his profession." There have been indeed too many examples of that, as also of those who, after years of labour, have failed to obtain a scanty living.

Abernethy had been a real and laborious student in science, and he was now reaping an abundant and well-deserved fruition. Few surgeons have arrived at a position so calculated to satisfy the most exacting ambition. Although the full extent and bearing of his principles were by no means universally understood, yet the general importance of them was so, and in some measure appreciated. In a greater or less degree, they were answering the tests afforded by the bedside in all parts of the world.

Ample, therefore, as might be the harvest he was reaping in a large practice, he was enjoying a still higher fruition in the kind of estimation in which he was held. He had a high reputation with the public; one still higher amongst men of science. His crowded waiting-room was a satisfactory evidence of the one, and the manner in which his name was received here, on the Continent, and in America, a gratifying testimony of the other. He was regarded much more in the light of a man of enlarged mind—a medical philosopher—than merely as a distinguished surgeon.

From the very small beginnings left by Mr. Pott, he had raised the school of St. Bartholomew\'s to an eminence never before attained by any school in this country. I think I may say that, in its peculiar character, it was at that time (1816) unrivalled.

Sir Astley Cooper was in great force and in high repute at this time; and, combining as he did the schools of two large hospitals, had, I believe, even a larger class. Both schools, no doubt, endeavoured to combine what is not, perhaps, very intelligibly conveyed by the terms practical and scientific; but the universal impression, assigned the latter as the distinguishing excellence of Mr. Abernethy, whilst the former was held to express more happily the characteristic of his eminent contemporary.

Whatever school, however, a London student might have selected as his Alma Mater, it was very common for those whose purse, time, or plans permitted it, to attend one or more courses167 of Abernethy\'s lectures; and it was pleasing to recognize the graceful concession to Mr. Abernethy\'s peculiar excellence afforded by the attendance of some of Sir Astley\'s pupils, and his since distinguished relatives, at the lectures of Abernethy.

As I have said, his practice was extensive, and of the most lucrative kind; that is, it consisted largely of consultations at home. Still, he had patients to visit, and, as he was very remarkable for punctuality in all his appointments, was therefore not unfrequently obliged to leave home before he had seen the whole of those who had applied to him. The extent of his practice was the more remarkable, as there was a very general impression, however exaggerated it might be, that his manners were unkind and repulsive. His pupils were enthusiastically fond of him; and it was difficult to know which was the dominant feeling—their admiration of his talents, or their personal regard.

Some of the most distinguished men had been of their number; and it would be gratifying to us to enumerate the very complimentary catalogue of able men who have been indebted for much of their eminence and success to the lessons of Abernethy; but as, in doing so, we might possibly, in our ignorance, omit some names which ought to be recorded, we forego this pleasure, lest we should unintentionally appear to neglect any professional brother whom we ought to have remembered.

In 1812–13, the pupils had presented Mr. Abernethy with a piece of plate, "as a testimony of their respect and gratitude." The arrangement of the matter was confided chiefly to the present Sir James Eyre, Mr. Stowe of Buckingham, and Mr. George Bullen. In a very interesting letter, with which I have been favoured by Mr. Stowe, amongst other matters hereafter to be mentioned, it is stated that the plate was delivered at Abernethy\'s house on the 1st of April; and as he had no more entirely escaped such things than other medical men, he at first regarded it as a hoax. But when the contents were exposed, and he discovered the truth, he became much affected.

The regard of the pupils was always the thing nearest his heart. On meeting the class at the hospital, he essayed to express his feelings; but finding that he should only break down, he168 adopted the same course as he had employed on another memorable occasion, and wrote his acknowledgments, a copy of which was suspended against the wall of the theatre.

It is due to our worthy and kind-hearted contemporary, Sir James Eyre, to add that Mr. Stowe observes in his letter, that, of all others, Sir James was the most zealous promoter of a movement so creditable to all parties. Some years after this, another subscription was commenced by the pupils for a portrait of Abernethy, which was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and engraved by Bromley. It was after this engraving that Mr. Cook executed the portrait which forms the frontisp............