Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/354

 332 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. tomed to the costume of a foreign country ; I had experienced this pleasure a long time before in my first journey to Scotland, when it was far more lively and lasting than now : now the only time I felt it was, as I have described, on my first en- trance into Calais, and it was scarcely ever re- peated during the rest of my tour. I am an old man — with me the bloom is off the plum, there is nothing in life which can afford me lively plea- sure, except for a moment, but the pleasures I have around my fire-side ; and I see clearly, that for the rest of my life, I must seek contentment from the attainment of a competence, the educa- tion of my children, and preparing for the ills and the end of life." This letter is very characteristic of Gooch : it shows the effect of bodily disorder upon a mind naturally alive to everything interesting in nature and art ; but uneasy sensation made him incapable of enjoying anything, as he says, for more than a moment. It had an influence upon his literary taste, so that few books which he read gave him pleasure ; and there were still fewer people whose conversation he could tolerate, for more than a short time : but though he became thus ultra- fastidious, his natural affections were unimpaired, his heart was unchanged, and his reasoning powers seemed to acquire fresh vigour. The following autumn, he made a tour through North Wales ; and on his return passed a day in the company of Dr. Parr, at Warwick. They had previously met in London ; and Gooch afterward gave an account of these two interviews in a lively paper, which was printed in Blackwood's Maga-