WILLIAM HUNTER. 2^1 at the outset, but applause gradually inspired liim with confidence, and he at length found the princi- pal happiness of life to consist in the delivery of a lecture. Mr. Watson, one of his earliest pupils, accompanied him home after the trying moment of his introductory discourse. Hunter had just re- ceived seventy guineas from admission-fees, which he carried in a bag under his cloak, and observed to his friend, that it was a larger sum than he had ever before possessed. The early difficulties of eminent men form perhaps the most instructive and animating portion of their biography. Lin- naeus records of himself, Exivi jjatria triginti sejc nummis aureis dives. The profits of his two first courses were considerable ; but, by contribut- ing to relieve the wants of some of his friends, he found himself, on the approach of the third season, under the necessity of deferring his lectures for a fortnight, merely from the want of money to sup- ply the expense of the usual advertisements. This unpleasant embarrassment operated as a check upon him in the use of money, and j^robably formed one remote source of the large fortune which he afterwards accumulated. In 1747 he was admitted a member of the Corporation of Surgeons ; and, in the spring of the following year, accomjDanied his pupil, James Douglas, on a tour through Holland to Paris. At Leyden he visited Albinus, whose admirable injections (as he after- wards informed Dr. CuUen) inspired him with a strong emulation to excel in that curious depart- ment of anatomy. His lectures were not inter- rupted by this journey, which was completed before the winter.
