n-Ordinary to King
George II., and in 1734 he was offered the post of President of the
College of Physicians, but this he declined, being desirous of
retirement. He was twice married. Dr. Mead was the foremost medical man
of his time, and his professional income was a very large one. The
greater part of his wealth he devoted to the patronage of science and
literature, and to the acquisition of his valuable collections, which
were always open to students who wished to consult them. He had a very
large circle of attached friends, amongst whom were Newton, Halley,
Pope, Bentley, and Freind; and Dr. Johnson said of him that he 'lived
more in the broad sunshine of life than almost any other man.' Pope
refers to his love of books in his epistle to Richard Boyle, Earl of
Burlington, _Of the Use of Riches_:--

'Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne alone,
And books for Mead and butterflies for Sloane.'

[Illustration: DR. MEAD.]

Dr. Mead's library consisted of upwards of ten thousand printed volumes,
and many rare and valuable manuscripts. The collection was especially
rich in medical works, and in early editions of the classics. Among the
latter were to be found the Spira Virgil of 1470 on vellum, and the 1469
and 1472 editions of the _Historia Naturalis_ of Pliny; the former of
which was bought at the sale of his books by the King of France for
eleven guineas, and the latter by a bookseller named Willock for
eighteen guineas. One of the choicest manuscripts was a missal said to
have been illuminated by Raphael and his pupils for Claude, wife of
Francis I., King of France. This was acquired by Horace Walpole for
forty-eight pounds, six shillings. It was bought at the Strawberry Hill
sale in 1842 by Earl Waldegrave for one hundred and fifteen pounds, ten
shillings. The books were generally very fine copies and handsomely
bound. After Mead's death they were sold by auction by Samuel Baker of
Covent Garden, in two parts, and realised five thousand five hundred and
eighteen pounds, ten shillings and elevenpence, including nineteen
pounds, six shillings and sixpence for fifteen bookcases. The sale of
the first part commenced on the 18th November 1754, and lasted
twenty-eight days; that of the second part began on the 7th of April
1755, and lasted twenty-nine days. The pictures, prints and drawings,
antiquities and coins and medals, were sold in the early part of 1755
for ten thousand five hundred and fifty pounds, eighteen sh