pital, he was still only an assistant-surgeon. The tenacity of office, which assistant-surgeons so commonly complain of, they have themselves seldom failed to exercise when they have become surgeons (as we shall see, Mr. Abernethy excepted.) This long tenure by his senior wearied him, and was at times a source of not very agreeable discussions. On one occasion, Sir James Earle, his senior, was reported to have given Abernethy to understand that on the occurrence of a certain event, on which he would obtain an accession of property, that he, Sir James, would certainly resign the surgeoncy of the Hospital. About the time that the event occurred, Sir James, happening one day to was reminded of what call on Abernethy, he had been under stood to have promised. Sir James, however, having, we suppose, a different impression of the facts, denied ever having given any such a pledge. The affirmative and negative were more than once exchanged, and not in the most courteous manner. When Sir James was going to take his leave, Abernethy opened the door for him, and as he had always something quaint or humorous to close a conversation with, he said, at parting: "Well, "Sir James, it comes to this: you say that "you did not promise to resign the surgeoncy "at the Hospital, I, on the contrary, affirm that you did; now all I have to add is, the liar!" In 1813, Abernethy accepted the surgeoncy of Christ's Hospital, which he held until 1828, a short time before he retired from practice. In 1814, he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the College of Surgeons; an appointment which could be, at this period, of little service to him, whatever lustre it might reflect on the College, where he gave lectures with a result which has not always followed on that appointment—namely, of still adding to his reputation. He was one of the few who addressed the elders of the profession without impressing the conviction that they had been too much employed in addressing pupils. He had given lectures two years in succession, when in 1816, circum stances occurred, which will occupy us for some little time; a new scene will be opening on us, and this suggests the time-1815-16as convenient for taking a retrospect, and a sort of general view of Abernethy's position. Sperat infestis metuit secundis Alteram sortem bene preparatum Pectus." HOR. "Whoe'er enjoys th' untroubled breast, With Virtue's tranquil wisdom blest, WHEN we look abroad amongst mankind, nay, even in the contracted sphere of our own experience, it is interesting to reflect on the varied current of human life in different cases. In some, from the cradle to the grave, life has been beset with difficulties, it has been a continued struggle; the breath seems to have been VOL. I. Y first drawn, and finally yielded up, amidst the multifarious oppositions and agitations of adversity. In other instances, Life seems like an easy, smoothly gliding stream, gently bearing Man on to what had appeared to be the haven of his wishes, and the little voyage has been begun and completed without the appearance of a ripple. All varieties are no doubt the result of constantly operating laws. Of these, many are probably inscrutable by us; still more, perhaps, escape our observation. The unforeseen nature of many events, confers the character of a mystery on any attempt at foresight; yet, when we take a careful retrospect of a life, it is curious to observe how naturally the secondary causes appear to have produced the results by which they were followed, but which, beforehand, no one had thought of predicting. Varied, however, as is the course of human life, few men have arrived at eminence without difficulty. We do not mean that conventional prominence of "position," which makes them marked in their day; but that which leaves the |