ke
me, _cutting and hewing_ his way to fame and fortune. He had
distinguished himself at Guy's, and quitted that school with every
reasonable prospect of success in his profession. He had not only passed
muster before the high and mighty court of examiners, but had received
on the occasion the personal warm congratulations of Abernethy and Sir
Astley Cooper; the former of whom, indeed, before he asked M'Linnie a
question, gave him confidence in his peculiar way, by requesting him
"not to be a frightened fool, for Mr. Abernethy was not the brute the
world was pleased to make him out;" and after a stiff and rough
examination shook the student heartily by the hand, and pronounced him
"not an ass, like all the world, but a sensible shrewd fellow, who,
instead of muddling his head with books, had passed his days, very
properly, where real life was only to be met with"--_videlicet_, in the
dead-house.

James M'Linnie was, at the time of which I speak, himself in Paris, and
enthusiastic in his devotion to the indefatigable and highly-gifted
teachers amongst whom he lived. He wrote to me, in the letter to which I
have above adverted--the first I received from him after his departure
from England--in the most glowing terms respecting them; and conjured me
by the love I bore our glorious profession--by my ardent aspirations
after fame, and by the strong desire which, he believed, I entertained
with himself and the majority of men, to serve and benefit my
fellow-creatures--not to waste my precious hours in England, but to join
him instantly "in the finest field of _operations_ that the world
presented." "We are pigmies in London," he continued in his own ardent
fashion--"boys, children, infants--they are _giants_ here. Such
anatomists! such physicians! Fancy one of our first men, C---- for
instance, standing for nearly one hour at the bedside of a labouring
man, and tracing the fellow's history step by step, patiently and
searchingly, in order to arrive at the small beginnings of disease, its
earliest indications, and first causes. I saw it done yesterday by one
to whom C---- could not hold a candle--a man whose reputation is
continental--whose practice does not leave him a moment in the day for
personal recreation--who is loaded with honours and distinctions. The
students listen to him as to an oracle; and with cause. He leaps to no
conclusions--his sterling mind satisfies itself with nothing but truth,
and is content to labour