Avi Ohry
Tel Aviv, Israel

Richard Graves (1715–1804) was an English cleric, poet, and novelist. He published a novel in 1773 titled The Spiritual Quixote; or, The Summer’s Ramble of Mr. Geoffry Wildgoose.

In 1732, Graves finished his studies in Oxford and became a fellow at All Souls College. He moved to London to study medicine because he believed it to be “a more genteel profession.” He attended the lectures of Dr. Frank Nicholls, a Fellow of the Royal Society, on anatomy, but fell ill with “nervous fever.”¹ Any treatment he received was futile, so he returned to Oxford and was ordained. He served as private tutor to Prince Hoare and Thomas Malthus (1766–1834, the father of political economy and demography). Prince (a given name, not a royal title) Hoare (1755–1834) was an English painter and dramatist.

Although he did not pursue medicine as a profession, Graves included medical themes in some of his works. In his book The Invalid, Graves wrote:

Good Doctor try ;
And if you die-
Never believe me more…²

and

The Invalid ...appearance of an old acquaintance whom I lately visited, and whom I had not seen before for some years. Instead of an healthy, chearful man, such as I had formerly known him, he was become a miserable, low-spirited Invalid; and as he seems ignorant of the cause of his complaints, or rather dissembles his knowledge of them, because…. I observed that he was become extremely indolent, and used no sort of exercise; yet he had a very good appetite, which he indulged to the full, three times a-day… his stomach is never empty… for not only every quack medicine, stomachic, cephalic, analeptic, and the like, which he takes for granted will perform all that their interested advertisers assure the public they will do, but also all the culinary physic, which has obtained an hereditary fame, from the time of our rather than the quality of his food… he found his spirits so much revived by our recollecting and talking over the occurrences of our youth at the university…²

Later, Graves wrote:

I think, Mr. Pope’s description of happiness, who makes the principal ingredients to consist in “Health, peace, and competence” and the order in which he ranks them seems well enough to express their relative importance…At last, perhaps, we apply to a physician, where we ought at first to have applied, who puts us under a regimen; …he sends us to Bath or Tunbridge, Cheltenham or any where, to get rid of us; … We then apply for medical assistance, perhaps take physic, recover our appetite, and again return to our habitual indulgence; and, after a time, are again seized with some malady, which we impute to catching cold perhaps… Towards the meridian of life we become invalids and valetudinarians; and if we have resolution enough to alter our way of life, as Cornaro and others have done, and by the advice of a skillful physician, adopt and persevere in a proper regimen, using constant and regular exercise, we have a prospect of enjoying an healthy old age…

Graves mentioned Alexander Pope here, the famous poet, translator and satirist who suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, or Pott’s disease. This resulted in short stature, deformities, and a severe hunchback, as well as pulmonary problems, fevers, migraine, and abdominal pains.⁴ Alvise or Luigi Cornaro was a Venetian nobleman and patron of the arts, also known for his four books of Discorsi about living long and well with measure and sobriety.⁵ About Cornaro, Graves added, “The first, or at least the most distinguished for his longevity, whom we meet with in modern history, is the famous Signior Ludovico Cornaro, of a noble Venetian family, who in his 90th year published a second edition of his excellent treatise “On Health and Long Life.”⁵

And about unskilled or unqualified physicians, Graves wrote the following verse:

A doctor, who for want of skill,
Did sometimes cure- and sometimes kill;
Contriv’d at length, by many a puff,
And many a bottle fill’d with stuff,
To raise his fortune , and his pride;
And in a coach, forsooth! Must ride.
His family coat long since worn out,
What arms to take, was all the doubt.
A friend, consulted on the case,
Thus answer’d with a sly grimace,
“take some advice your own way;
Neither too solemn nor too gay;
Thee ducks, suppose; white, grey or black;
And let your motto be, Quack! Quack!”⁶

References

1. Richard Graves. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Graves
2. Richard Graves. The Invalid: With the Obvious Means Of Enjoying Health And Long Life, By A Nonagenarian [R. Graves], printed for R. Phillips by T. Gillet, London, 1804. Reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, September 10, 2010.
3. Ohry-Kossoy K. & Ohry A. Edinburgh, St Giles, Percival Pott and paraplegia. Paraplegia, 1986;24(4):247-9.
4. Papper EM. The influence of chronic illness upon the writings of Alexander Pope. J R Soc Med. 1989 Jun;82(6):359-61.
5. Luigi Cornaro. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Cornaro
6. Ohry A & Tsafrir J. Running after quacks and mountebanks. Progress in Health Sciences, 2012; 2(1):171-4.