Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/56

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40 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. His choice of tliis city for the place of publication is supposed to have arisen from its celebrated fairs, by means of which, books printed there were rapidly circulated throughout all Germany and the greatest part of Europe. Some time before this, the reputation of Harvey had recommended him to the notice of the court, and he had been appointed physician-extraordi- nary to King James I. ; in 1632, he was made physician to his successor, Charles I. By his unfortunate royal master he was always treated with regard and favour ; and the attachment to arts and sciences, which formed a conspicuous part of the king's character, contributed not a little to promote and encourage the pursuits of our philo- sopher. It is not without a degree of pardonable vanity, that Harvey describes his Majesty, with some of the noblest persons about the court, as deigning to be the spectators and witnesses of his experiments. The interest King Charles took in the success of his anatomical researches was of singular service to him ; and, in particular, his majesty's favourite diversion of stag-hunting furnished him with the opportunity of dissecting a vast number of ani- mals of that species in a pregnant state. About this time he appears to have gone abroad, an-d to have accompanied the Lord High Marshal of England, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surry, as his physician, in his embassy to the Emperor. Mr. William Hollar (who was then one of his Excellency's gentlemen) told Aubrey, that in his journey to Vienna, Harvey would always be making excursions into the woods, making