MEAD. 163 In practice he had been absolutely without a rival ; his average receipts had, during several years, amounted to between six and seven thousand pounds, an enormous sum in relation to the value of money at that period. So great was the anxiety to obtain his opinion, that he daily repaired to a coiFee- liouse in the city, and to another at the west end of the metropoHs, to inspect written or to receive oral statements from the apothecaries, and to deliver his decision. His charity and his hospitality were un- bounded; the epithet " princely" has often been applied to him on this head, but he has truly left an example which men of all ranks may be proud to imitate according to their means ; these qualities in Mead were not the result of the accident which ex- alts or limits our means, but were the spontaneous expression of his heart. His gratuitous advice was ever open, not merely to the indigent, but also to the clergy, and to all men of learning ; and he devoted his emoluments to the patronage of literature and of the fine arts in a manner that requires a more distinct mention. Radcliffe was a worthy predecessor of Mead in the magnificent use which he made of his fortune. We may safely challenge any country to produce two individuals of the same profession, and flou- rishing at the same period, who have with equal generosity applied their revenue to the promotion of science and of erudition, and to the relief of misery. But Mead excelled all the nobility of his age and country in the encouragement which he afforded to the fine arts, and to the study of anti- quity. Considered merely in the light of a patron, he would remain perhaps the most conspicuous M 2
