Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/21

  Ways, whereby the Government may be supply's at all Times with whatsover sums of Mony they shall have occasion for without Annual Interest, and without alienating any more Branches of the Publick Revenue' (undated quarto sheet in Guildhall Library). The proposal did not commend itself to parliament, and Chamberlen had to seek for fame and gain by less ambitious methods. He is best known as the inventor of the 'celebrated Anodyne Necklace, recommended to the world by Dr. Chamberlen for children's teeth, women in labour, etc.,' and as the author of various publications wherein the virtues of his invention are detailed not without a certain speciousness of reasoning nor some show of learning. Of these literary efforts perhaps the most amusing is what professes to be 'A Philosophical Essay,' 70 pp. 8vo, London, 1717, which, although stated in the preface to have been the work of an anonymous admirer, was in reality from the doctor's pen, and dedicated with consummate impudence to 'Dr. Chamberlen and the Royal Society.' The necklace was of beads artificially prepared, small, like barleycorns, and cost five shillings (Notes and Queries, 6th ser., ix. 132, x. 877). For years after the death of Paul Chamberlen, as we learn from Dr. Aveling (The Chamberlens and the Midwifery Forceps, pp. 180-3), all sorts of quack medicines were sold 'up one pair of Stairs at the Sign of the Anodyne Necklace next to the Rose Tavern without Temple Bar.' Chamberlen had married Mary Disbrowe, who came from the family of Major-general John Disbrowe or Desborough, the well-known parliamentarian and brotner-in-law to the Protector. He died at his house in Great Suffolk Street, Haymarket, on 3 Dec. 1717 (Hist. Reg. 1717, p. 47), and was buried in the parish church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. His will, bearing date 24 May 1713, was proved by his relict on 19 Dec. 1717 (Reg. in P. C. C. 227, Whitfield). Mrs. Chamberlen dying in July of the following year, 1718, was buried with her husband (Will reg. in P. C. C. 138, Tenison).

Their only son, Paul, if we may judge from the tone of his parents' wills, would appear to have led no very reputable life. He subsisted principally as a hack writer, and published in 1730 a translation of the 'Anecdotes Persanes' of Madame de Gomez. His other works were: 1. 'Military History of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough,' folio, London, 1736. 2. 'An Impartial History of the Life and Reign of Queen Anne,. . . also the most material Incidents of the Life of the Duke of Ormond. In Three Parts,' folio, London, 1738. Of this no more than the first part was ever published. 3. 'History and Antiquities of the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Grecians, and Carthaginians,' folio, London, 1738 (an abridgment of Rollin). Some personal and political satire of much obscenity has also been attributed to his pen.



CHAMBERLEN, PETER, the elder (d. 1631), surgeon, was the son of William Chamberlen, a French protestant, who, when obliged to abandon his home in Paris on account of his religion, sought shelter in England with his wife, Genevieve Vingnon, and three children, and settled at Southampton in 1669. Born in Paris, Peter was bred a surgeon, to which profession his father also probably belonged. For many years he continued at Southampton, but growing tired of the fatigues of country practice, he had in 1690 removed to London and been admitted into the livery of the Barber Surgeons' Company. Chamberlen became one of the most celebrated accoucheurs of his day, and in that capacity attended the queens of James I and Charles I, by whom he was held in high favour. His name is connected with the short midwifery forceps, which he was probably the first of his family to use, as shown by the researches of Dr. Aveling (The Chamberlens and the Midwifery Forceps, pp. 215-26).

Chamberlen, besides trading upon his valuable secret, constantly endeavoured to add to his gains by illicit practice, and thus was perpetually at warfare with the College of Physicians. After being repeatedly prosecuted for not confining himself strictly to the practice of surgery, as it was then understood, in 1612 he was summoned before the college, charged with illegal and evil practice, and on 13 Nov. of that year it was unanimously agreed that he had given medicine wrongly, and his practice was condemned. It is evident that a warrant was signed for his apprehension and removal to Newgate, for four days after his condemnation a meeting took place at the college to consider his imprisonment and release.

'Peter Chamberlen did not submit passively to his imprisonment. The lord mayor, at his request, and probably influenced by Thomas Chamberlen, master of the powerful Mercers' Company, and cousin of the prisoner, interceded for him. A demand was made by the judges of the kingdom on their authority and writ that he should be discharged, but this demand the college could and did legally deny, as he had been committed for "mala praxis." Lastly, the Archbishop of Canter-