Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/70

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 8 . n. Jn.v 22. i<nc.

note ; the Newmans were of Great Stukeley so that some of the best-known gentlemen officiated at this function. I have seen a note in ' N. & Q.,' I think which stated that the Rev. Anthony Hill was of Steeple Gidding, but the rector there of this name died in 1691, eleven years before this date. I can most fitly conclude my note with quoting from p. 20 of this ex- cellent sermon :

" The Principal Design of this Solemnity (if I mistake not) is to manage the Concerns of the POOR ; to make Fund for the Supplies of Young People that have Nothing in the whole World to help them ; to fix them with such Necessaries as may employ them ; that so they may become useful in their Generations, and fill up their Places in the World with Decency."

Well done, Mr. Anthony Hill ! What more can any of us wish, even in these times, than to fill up our places in the world with -decency ? HEBBEBT E. NOBBIS.

Cirencester.

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DENTISTS.

LITTLE appears to be known about the dentists of the eighteenth century, for the memoir-writers of the period, having, no doubt, unpleasant recollections of their visits to these gentlemen, scarcely ever mention them. One of the first to attain eminence in his profession was Peter Hemet, whose death is announced in The Gentleman's Magazine on May 8, 1747, as follows :

" Mr. Peter Hemet, Operator on teeth to His Majesty. Worth 20,000?."

He lived in Marylebone. His will (127 Potter), which is an elaborate document, shows that he possessed considerable pro- perty. His elder son, Francis, predeceased him, leaving three children, two sons and a daughter, John Rene, Jacob, and Jane ; and his younger son, Peter, who had two sons, Peter and Adrian, appears to have succeeded to the practice. The Gentleman's Magazine (vol. xxiv. p. 579) announced that Peter Hemet, Esq., was appointed " Operator for the teeth to His Majesty " on Dec. 26, 1754. I have no more particulars of this Peter Hemet the second, but some details of his career might be traced, no doubt, in the advertisement columns of contemporary newspapers. It is possible that his sons adopted his profession, for their grandfather, Peter the first, bequeathed to Adrian all his surgical instruments.

The most famous member of the family, however, was Jacob Hemet, the son of Francis, and the grandson of Peter

Hemet the first, who seems to have attained eminence at an early age. On June 7, 1766, The Public Advertiser announced that " Jacob Hemet of Little Tichfield Street, near Oxford Market, is appointed Operator for the Teeth to her Majesty." In an account of his sister Jane, who became a famous actress under the name of Mrs. Lessingham. The Town and Country Magazine, ix. 233 (May, 1777), gives some biographical details :-

" Mrs. L[essingha]m is the sister of a celebrated dentist, who resides in one of the most polite JK its of the town. He was designed for a mercantile life ; but not being very fond of plodding at the counting-house desk and having a lucky name for drawing of teeth, upon the demise of some of his relations who bore it, and had gained reputa- tions as dentists, he turned operator as it were in spite of his teeth. He dropt the pen and took up the pelican (i.e., an instrument for drawing teeth), which soon screwed him into his chariot."

Jacob Hemet continued to be one of the leading dental practitioners in London for twenty-four years after his appointment as dentist to the Queen, dying of apoplexy suddenly on Sunday, Aug. 22, 1790 (Gentle- man's Magazine, Ix. pt. ii. p. 770 ; Public Advertiser, Aug. 25, 1790).

The following is one of his advertisements taken from The Gazetteer during the month in which h^ died :

" For the Teeth and Gums. The Essence of Pearl and Pearl Dentifrice, prepared by Jacob Hemet, Dentist to her Majesty and his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, No. 62 New Bond St. Price 2s. Qd. each, stamps included.

" After a course of above 40 years experience as a Dentist to the Royal Family and principal Nobility, and twenty years proof of the salutary effects arising from the use of Pearl and Pearl Dentifrice in removing every complaint incident to the Teeth and Gums, Mr. Hemet humbly hopes he is fully entitled to recommend their general use in preference to any other preparation for that purpose. The great balsamic qualities contained in the Essence of Pearl and Pearl Dentifrice are found most certainly to preserve the teeth from decay, to prevent those injured by neglect from becoming worse, shield them against all putre- faction, fasten such as are loose, make the foulest teeth become white and beautiful, entirely pre- serve'the enamel, and render the breath delicately sweet. They likewise produce this excellent effect, that those persons who constantly use them will never be liable to the tooth-ache or scurvy of the gums. ..."

From Jacob Hemet's will (426 Bishop) we ascertain that he resided at Hastings ; that he had been living apart from his wife, to whom he made an allowance of 601. a year, for some time before his death, " owing to differences" ; and that he had five children, whose names were Jane, Mary, Jacob, Charlotte Louisa, and Maria. His partner, Thomas Starman, was one of his executors.