and fending them by Wholefale to another? Why fhould he be ftrictly tied up to Idiom, who cannot strictly be called a Briton? 'Tis but Juft, as well as Generous, to make Allowance in these Respects to Foreigners. His Soul, his Religion is Roman; his Intereft and Inclinations French; his Tongue is Barleduck: And, can you in Confcience defire a Gentleman, under thefe Difadvantages, to write or fpeak true English? Difcourfe him in his MotherTongue, and then fee how he will manage you : As it is, he is more than a Match for the best of you, and every Day one or other of your Number falls before him; and without Controle, he rides. Lord Paramount, and Controller over all.

And now 'tis high Time to draw towards a Conclufion; Multitudes might have been added to these wonderful Perfons already named, to whofe Indefatigable Pains in correcting the State, how much the Publick is indebted, is beyond my Capacity to determine: But, whatever former Ages may boaft as to the Number and Capacity of Statefmen, this may, undoubtedly, claim the Preference in both Refpects; for never were there, as is manifeft from the few foregoing Inftances in this Kingdom, at one Time, fo many, and fo Accomplish'd Politicians.

AN

*********

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

SICKNESS and DEATH

O F

Dr. W---dw---rd;

As alfo of what appeared upon opening his Body...

In a Letter to a Friend in the Country. By Dr. TECHNICUM.

I

Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata fub umbras.

Heartily condole with you and the rest of the Literati, on the Death of our dear Friend Dr. Wdw-rd, and have tranfmitted, according to your Defire, a brief Account of his Illness and Behaviour before he died, and the moft remarkable Phoenomena upon Diffection. When he first publifhed his State of Phyfick, &c. no Man was more vivacious and alert, from a keen Appetite and a good Digeftion, he entertained the Hopes of a long Life, and promifed himself that his Lacteals were very numerous. On the other hand he was fatisfied,

from

from the Redundancy of his Difcoveries, that he was the Columbus of the Faculty, and the greatest Genius that ever appeared in it; that he should have Statues erected to him, and his Works be tranflated into all Languages. But when he found, poor Gentleman, his Miftake; that his Writings were the Jeft of the Town and Country, and admitted even into the Farce of Harlequin and Scaramouch, he began to lofe, in fome meafure, his indelible fort of Kindness for the Children of his Brain, and to lament the Unhappiness of diftreffed Merit. I obferv'd, that Garth's Difpenfary, which he quoted at random in his Illnefs, was of mighty Confolation to him, not upon the Account of the Morality of the Piece, but because it highly delighted him to confider, that if a Satire was levelled against the whole Profeffion, any fingle Member might endure it with greater Patience and Refignation. However that the Doctor might not stand alone in a Controverfy, he and I compofed a little Tract, which we thought would have demolifhed the Triumvirate : For tho' neither of us alone were able to encounter our Antagonists, yet the Caufe muft neceffarily be fuccessful, from fuch a formidable Confederacy of Wit, from the united Talents of a Mathematical Divine, and a Foffiliftical Practitioner.

But this Stratagem failing also, and the Pamphlet being returned on our Hands by the Bookfeller, the Doctor grew immediately chagrin and melancholy. I cannot fay, indeed, but after the first Attack of his Disease, he would fhew, at Intervals in Converfation, a Serenity of Temper entirely difpaffionate, which might be conftrued by his Enemies perhaps the most confummate Impudence. In Company with his own Fraternity he carried on the fame Air of Unconcern, took Place of his Juniors, as he

has

has confefs'd, and feemed extravagantly full of Glee, that he was arrived in a Circle, as it were, to his old Station, and likely to rejoice again in the Capacity of a Foreman. But his Diftemper grew upon him by degrees, and began to be attended with Phoenomena that were not genuine and ufual. What to call it I could not learn from his Phyficians, nor is it at all material; for all Diseases arifing from an Exuberance of the biliofe Salts, there is no occafion for Divifions; nor is there any Difference, according to the Notions of our departed Friend, between the Caufe of an Apoplexy, or Furor Uterinus. It is plain that, by his over-great Sollicitude and Grief, the Salts, which ferv'd for his Digeftion, were otherwife employed; and the Phlegm becoming ftagnate, the Salts increafed in Number, and by the Steam of their Colluctations occafioned an Inflation of the Stomach. According, therefore, as the Organs were incommoded and embarraffed, he was affected with a Variety of Symptoms; fometimes he would have a Fainters and Swooning on him, and be pufilanimous and dejected: I have feen him throw himfelf into a Difficulty of Breathing, by pouring forth a Torrent of rugged Epithets upon his Adverfaries; but upon an accidental Clofure of the Upper Orifice of the Stomach, he would begin to whoop and hiccough, and be troubled with Choakings, Startings, and Strangulations. The Fur and Foulness of his Tongue were remarkable, and his Belchings were four, noifome, and foetid, tho' generally nothing elfe but Wind. His Afpect was convulfed into a Grimace, yet the Heat and Flufhing of his Face was never intenfe enough, as I perceived, to make him blufh. The Salts indeed, being a little over-heated, excited fomething bordering upon that harfh, uneafy and offenfive Senfation, called a Fever: And in fine,

Sir, the Bile being highly vitiated, annoyed the Organs, indifpofed the Frame and made fuch a Confufion and Perturbation in his Brain, as to bring on Madness and Deliria. His Power of Thinking was fo depraved, perverted, and confounded, that every thing he uttered for the laft ten Days, was nothing elfe but the confufed Images of Things and Perfons he had been engaged with. Laughing, Weeping, Anxiety, and Sufpicion, were the kindeft Symptoms; for he would frequently foam at Mouth, bite and bark like a mad Dog.

Dr. Byfield, Dr. Tripe, Elkanah Settle, and my Lord Peterborough, were moftly the Objects of his Rage; but if he spoke a Line of Senfe, he would run immediately into a Hotch potch, as he ufed to call it, concerning Graduates, Creeds, Proceffions, Reliques, Extreme Unction, Gotham Correspondence, Father Grueber, the Devil, and the Pretender.

While he retained his Senfes he would be fatisfied with nothing but his own Method, and he had, every Day, for above twenty Days together, a Clyfter, a Purge, and a Quart or two of Oil. His Phyficians, as he approached his latter End, directed him fome other Medicines, which he fometimes took, but even in his Ravings he would call aloud for an Emetic, and be impatiently craving after Oil.

He took a Vomit the very Day he died, nay, almoft the very Minute; and, as he was expiring, let fall the large Cockle-fhell of Sack-whey out of which he used to drink.

I have been, Sir, more particular in this Relation, to obviate the Mifreprefentations of two different Sorts of People. Some there are, who have had the Folly to declare that the Doctor died immediately of a Fright at the Appearance of the late Meteor;

others