A memorial of George Edrych and his friends in our College, 1518-1588.

  • Moore, Norman, 1847-1922.
Date:
10 April 1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A memorial of George Edrych and his friends in our College, 1518-1588. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    T° The President of the College of Physicians and All the Learned and Famous Physicians of London Georgius Edricus Greeting. Most Honourable Physician,—Three and thirty years ago and more, when I was a young man, just entering this noble Calling, and having taken my place among the physicians of Oxford, it fell to me to spend some little time in that City, and to lay what might be called the Foundations of the Practical Art. In those years I enjoyed the company of men whose Reputa- tion for Learning was of the highest; and chief among them, the great Physi- cians, Master Owen, Master Clement, and Master Fryer, whom I hold in the utmost honour. They were renowned for their consummate Knowledge of Greek, they were Men of Repute in every sense, and they showed me much Kindness when I was teaching Greek in the University at that time. And now that I am really an old man, and can look back on the same Good-Fortune, I give thanks to Almighty God that He has permitted me to live with men of your high Renown. And I am full of hope that I may share your Favour (and truly I earnestly desire to win it). For, as the saying goes, the Gates of the Muses stand ever open, and, as it seems to me, Courtesy dwells in the hearts of those who have reached the Heights of Learning. And now that I am far on in years, indeed but a useless old man, constrained to think upon my latter end, and knowing that I must soon render account of the one small Talent I possess, a Talent of which perhaps I have made but little use through all these years, labouring all my life to no effect,—knowing this, I have resolved to print these Studies, or, as I might call them, Prescriptions and Notes, on Paulus of ^Egina, and give them to the public, so that I might complete something that would be useful, and even pleasing, to those young men who have devoted themselves to the Science of Medicine. Therefore, I beseech you, my Courteous Friends, help me in this Work, to wit, set Right whatsoever is Wrong, and point out my Errors with all Freedom of utterance. For I am fully persuaded that it is better to receive the Rebuke of the Wise whom we love, than to listen to the Praises of those who speak to Flatter. For this is the surest Sign of a true Lover. Therefore I intreat you, and with you all who love Medicine, to join me in giving hearty thanks to my noble friend and Maecenas, Master Walter Mildmay, the Lover of all who love the Muses, the Patron of all in Cambridge who follow Learning, the Foster-Father of a great company of worthy Scholars, both in these days and in the days to come. And to conclude, I know right well that what I have added to the Works of Paulus is not the thousandth part of what it might have been well to write. But I did not think it becoming to be overlong, where no need was, when he himself had been at pains to use few words and fit. Farewell.