Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/278

 256 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. nor any other more enticing prospects, could alter his purpose of fixing his abode in the place which had given him birth. He was partly influenced in this determination by the grateful afTection which he entertained towards his eldest brother, the guide of his orphan years ; and partly by that attachment to rural scenes, and to the traces of early life, which operates more or less on every generous and sensitive heart. He returned, accordingly, to Berkeley, and took up his residence with his brother Stephen. Few men have commenced their career with a more conscientious preparation for its duties. Towards John Hunter he ever maintained the most grateful friendship, and generally spoke of him as the dear man : he kept up an active cor- respondence with his former instructor, and the letters preserved in Dr. Baron's memoir are full of lively interest on subjects of natural his- tory and physiology ; pictures form sometimes a topic of discussion, and on both sides remark- able ardour and industry are displayed on the investigations congenial to their disposition. His practice rapidly increased, and he acquired a de- gree of reputation rarely attained at so early an age. Still he abstracted from the fatigues of country practice a sufficient portion of time to accumulate, in a short time, a series of specimens illustrative of comparative anatomy and natural history, which, had they been displayed with more ostentation, would have formed no inconsiderable museum. His attention was, in later years, drawn to a more engrossing object ; otherwise, his re- searches in the above field must have placed him