In
Short, There Is No Creature In Scotland That Works Harder, And Is More
Poorly Requited Than The Country Doctor, Unless, Perhaps, It May Be His
Horse.
Yet the horse is, and indeed must be, hardy, active, and
indefatigable, ever liable to be unpleasantly interrupted, in
Spite of a
rough coat and indifferent condition; and so you will often find in his
master, under an unpromising and blunt exterior, professional skill and
enthusiasm, intelligence humanity, courage, and science." Such was
certainly the character of Park: having himself experienced what it was
to suffer unrelieved, he was ready to sympathize with his suffering
fellow-creatures, and to endure every hardship and privation when
humanity called upon him to do so. But his liberality was a great enemy
to his purse, and for a considerable time, all he could do was barely
enough to earn a livelihood. Such difficulties every one, generally, who
enters upon this arduous profession must lay his account with. His
reputation as a discoverer, his modest and unassuming character, and the
propriety of his conduct, however, gained Park many friends, some of whom
were literary men of great eminence, such as Adam Ferguson and Dugald
Stewart. In addition to the honour of attracting the notice of men so
gifted in intellectual endowments, he was also on the best terms with
many of the neighbouring gentry, - among others, with Sir Walter Scott,
who had not then attained that high place among his contemporaries which
he afterwards held. He had also formed many acquaintances in a humbler
rank of life, - men of shrewdness and sagacity, in whose homely
conversation Park felt much pleasure.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 408 of 546
Words from 110973 to 111245
of 148366