GOOCH. 313 expressing an exaggerated notion of the diffi- culties he should have to encounter. In the course of this winter he had some slight attacks of asthma, to which ever after he was occa- sionally liable. This year he lived in the same house with his former associates, Fearon and Southey, and became acquainted with his future friend and pa- tron, Dr., now Sir WiUiam Knighton: Gooch was not slow to appreciate the profound sagacity and commanding power over the minds of others, which so remarkably characterize this distin- guished person. Through the whole of his after life he was accustomed, in all matters of import- ance, to apply to Sir Wilham Knighton for advice. The summer of 1806 was passed by Gooch in Norfolk, nearly as the former had been, in the society of Miss Bolingbroke and the study of mo- dern languages. Whilst he was at Yarmouth, the French frigate, La Guerriere, was captured and brought into the Roads by the Clyde, and the sick and wounded of both vessels were sent ashore to the hospitals. This extraordinary number of patients was too much for the ordinary number of medical attendants, and Gooch was requested to assist them. In a letter to a friend he relates the following anecdote. — " Among my patients was a French sailor who had received a splinter wound in the leg, which had split the principal bone up into the knee, and produced violent in- flammation of the joint ; his constitution, after a time, beginning to give way, it was thought neces- sary to sacrifice his limb in order to save his life, and it was accordingly amputated above the knee- joint. The stump did well, and all danger from
