BRITISH PHYSICIANS. more worthy than Fothergill of universal vene- ration. Perhaps we might have spoken more largely of his literary essays, which were numerous ; in re- cording the generality of men, these would occupy us more fully, but in the life of Fothergill they form only a secondary consideration. The fame of authorship, and the accomplishments of the man of science, are consumed in the blaze of that exalted virtue which was not contented merely to discharge with indifference the decencies of life, nor even honourably to fulfil its duties, but sought, in every period of its career, to improve the condition of mankind, to befriend the weak, and to feed the hungry, and literally considered the fruits of its own labour as a treasure invested for the benefit of others. In December, 1780, he experienced a second attack of suppression of urine ; two years previ- ously it had been relieved, but no art could now remove it. The pain was very acute, his thirst was insatiable, — but his mind was as serene as in its best days ; he endeavoured even to assume the cheerfulness which was natural to him when in health. He expressed to a friend his hope " that he had not lived in vain, but in degree to answer the end of his creation, by sacrificing interested considerations, and his own ease, to the good of his fellow-creatures." In a fortnight he breathed his last. More than seventy carriages followed his remains to the grave, — not filled with the care- less attendants on the gTeat, who mourn in order to be visible, but with individuals whom he had con- tributed to render happy.
