GARTH.
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AMUEL GARTH was of a good family in Yorkshire, and from some school inhis own county became a student at Peter House, in Cambridge, where heresided till he became Doctor of Physic on July the 7th, 1691. He wasexamined before the College at London on March the 12th, 1691–2, andadmitted Fellow June 26th, 1693. He was soon so much distinguished byhis conversation and accomplishments as to obtain very extensivepractice; and, if a pamphlet of those times may be credited, had thefavour and confidence of one party, as Radcliffe had of the other. He isalways mentioned as a man of benevolence; and it is just to suppose thathis desire of helping the helpless disposed him to so much zeal for “TheDispensary;” an undertaking of which some account, however short, isproper to be given. Whether what Temple says be true, that physicians have had more learningthan the other faculties, I will not stay to inquire; but I believe everyman has found in physicians great liberality and dignity of sentiment,very prompt effusion of beneficence, and willingness to exert a lucrativeart where there is no hope of lucre. Agreeably to this character, theCollege of Physicians, in July, 1687, published an edict, requiring allthe Fellows, Candidates, and Licentiates to give gratuitous advice to theneighbouring poor. This edict was sent to the Court of Aldermen; and, aquestion being made to whom the appellation of the _poor_ should beextended, the College answered that it should be sufficient to bring atestimonial from the clergyman officiating in the parish where thepatient resided. After a year’s experience the physicians found their charity frustratedby some malignant opposition, and made to a great degree vain by the highprice of physic; they therefore voted, in August, 1688, that thelaboratory of the College should be accommodated to the preparation ofmedicines, and another room prepared for their reception; and that thecontributors to the expense should manage the charity. It was now expected that the apothecaries would have undertaken the careof providing medicines; but they took another course. Thinking the wholedesign pernicious to their interest, they endeavoured to raise a factionagainst it in the College, and found some physicians mean enough tosolicit their patronage by betraying to them the counsels of the College.The greater part, however, enforced by a new edict, in 1694, the formerorder of 1687, and sent it to the Mayor and Aldermen, who appointed acommittee to treat with the College and settle the mode of administeringthe charity. It was desired by the aldermen that the testimonials of churchwardens andoverseers should be admitted; and that all hired servants, and allapprentices to handicraftsmen, should be considered as _poor_. Thislikewise was granted by the College. It was then considered who should distribute the medicines, and whoshould settle their prices. The physicians procured some apothecaries toundertake the dispensation, and offered that the warden and company ofthe apothecaries should adjust the price. This offer was rejected; andthe apothecaries who had engaged to assist the charity were considered astraitors to the company, threatened with the imposition of troublesomeoffices, and deterred from the performance of their engagements. Theapothecaries ventured upon public opposition, and presented a kind ofremonstrance against the design to the committee of the City, which thephysicians condescended to confute: and at last the traders seem to haveprevailed among the sons of trade; for the proposal of the College havingbeen considered, a paper of approbation was drawn up, but postponed andforgotten. The physicians still persisted; and in 1696 a subscription was raised bythemselves according to an agreement prefixed to “The Dispensary.” Thepoor were, for a time, supplied with medicines; for how long a time Iknow not. The medicinal charity, like others, began with ardour, butsoon remitted, and at last died gradually away. About the time of the subscription begins the action of “The Dispensary.”The poem, as its subject was present and popular, co-operated withpassions and prejudices then prevalent, and, with such auxiliaries to itsintrinsic merit, was universally and liberally applauded. It was on theside of charity against the intrigues of interest; and of regularlearning against licentious usurpation of medical authority, and wastherefore naturally favoured by those who read and can judge of poetry. In 1697 Garth spoke that which is now called “The Harveian Oration;”which the authors of “The Biographia” mention with more praise than thepassage quoted in their notes will fully justify. Garth, speaking of themischiefs done by quacks, has these expressions: “Non tamen telisvulnerat ista agyrtarum colluvies, sed theriaca quâdam magis perniciosâ,non pyrio, sed pulvere nescio quo exotico certat, non globulis plumbeis,sed pilulis æque lethalibus interficit.” This was certainly thought fineby the author, and is still admired by his biographer. In October, 1702,he became one of the censors of the College. Garth, being an active and zealous Whig, was a member of the Kit-CatClub, and, by consequence, familiarly known to all the great men of thatdenomination. In 1710, when the government fell into other hands, hewrit to Lord Godolphin, on his dismission, a short poem, which wascriticised in the _Examiner_, and so successfully either defended orexcused by Mr. Addison that, for the sake of the vindication, it ought tobe preserved. At the accession of the present family his merits were acknowledged andrewarded. He was knighted with the sword of his hero, Marlborough; andwas made Physician-in-Ordinary to the King, and Physician-General to thearmy. He then undertook an edition of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” translatedby several hands; which he recommended by a preface, written with moreostentation than ability; his notions are half-formed, and his materialsimmethodically confused. This was his last work. He died January 18th,1717–18, and was buried at Harrow-on-the-Hill. His personal character seems to have been social and liberal. Hecommunicated himself through a very wide extent of acquaintance; andthough firm in a party, at a time when firmness included virulence, yethe imparted his kindness to those who were not supposed to favour hisprinciples. He was an early encourager of Pope, and was at once thefriend of Addison and of Granville. He is accused of voluptuousness andirreligion; and Pope, who says that “if ever there was a good Christian,without knowing himself to be so, it was Dr. Garth,” seems not able todeny what he is angry to hear and loth to confess. Pope afterwards declared himself convinced that Garth died in thecommunion of the Church of Rome, having been privately reconciled. It isobserved by Lowth that there is less distance than is thought betweenscepticism and Popery; and that a mind wearied with perpetual doubt,willingly seeks repose in the bosom of an infallible Church. His poetry has been praised at least equally to its merit. In “TheDispensary” there is a strain of smooth and free versification; but fewlines are eminently elegant. No passages fall below mediocrity, and fewrise much above it. The plan seems formed without just proportion to thesubject; the means and end have no necessary connection. Resnel, in hispreface to Pope’s Essay, remarks that Garth exhibits no discrimination ofcharacters; and that what any one says might, with equal propriety, havebeen said by another. The general design is, perhaps, open to criticism;but the composition can seldom be charged with inaccuracy or negligence.The author never slumbers in self-indulgence; his full vigour is alwaysexerted; scarcely a line is left unfinished; nor is it easy to find anexpression used by constraint, or a thought imperfectly expressed. Itwas remarked by Pope, that “The Dispensary” had been corrected in everyedition, and that every change was an improvement. It appears, however,to want something of poetical ardour, and something of generaldelectation; and therefore, since it has been no longer supported byaccidental and intrinsic popularity, it has been scarcely able to supportitself.
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