Notice of Dr. John Caius and the sweating sickness / [Thomas Joseph Pettigrew].

  • Thomas Pettigrew
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice of Dr. John Caius and the sweating sickness / [Thomas Joseph Pettigrew]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/22 page 12
    Caius, whose name in connexion with this disease and tliU locality has given rise to this paper, it will occur, perhaps, to many whom I have now the honour of addressing, is that of the physician introduced by Shakespeare m his Merry Wivt, of Wimhor. The immortal bard could never, however, have intended to throw ridicule upon the manners of a truly learned, enlightened, and scientific physician, in typifying the class of pretenders, as common in his day as in our own, in the character of the French doctor. Sir Thos. Mayerne, a court physician, has been sup- posed to be the subject of Shakespeare's satire; but there U as little ground for this statement as in the case of Caius, for he was noble and learned,—certainly not a mixture of fool and physician. Perhaps, as Dr. liuckniU'has suggested, Caius is only employed by the dramatist as a comic counterpart to the Welsh parson; the two being made to render the queen's English in difi'erent jargons. ^ Bucknill on the Medical Knowledge of Shakespeare, p. 64.
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