Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/163

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Philip
155
Philip

poet, to whom were assigned two romances, called respectively ‘La Manekine’ and ‘Jehan de Dammartin et Blonde d'Oxford.’ Both show a close knowledge of Scottish and English life and topography in the thirteenth century, and were first published by English societies—the former by the Bannatyne Club in 1840 (ed. Francisque Michel), and the latter by the Camden Society (1858, ed. Le Roux de Lincy). The unique manuscript of these poems, however, which is in the National Library at Paris (76092 Fonds Français), includes besides them several poems of Philippe de Beaumanoir (1246?-1296), a well-known jurist and poet, who compiled the ‘Coutumes de Beauvaisis.’ There is little doubt that Philippe de Remi and Philippe de Beaumanoir were identical; the latter, a younger son, held land at Remi, near Compiègne, was long known as Philippe de Remi, and became Sire de Beaumanoir by the death of his elder brother Girard. Moreover, the poems attributed to Philippe de Remi show an intimate acquaintance on the part of their author with Beauvaisis and adjoining country (Bordier, Athenæum Français, 1853, p. 932). The poems prove that Philippe had visited England, possibly in the suite of Simon de Montfort. Simon's family held land in Clermont and at Remi itself; and in June 1282 Amaury de Montfort, Simon's son, granted Philippe some lands in fee, ‘pour l'amour de li et pour son bon serviche’ (see ‘Pièces justificatives’ to Bordier's Philippe de Beaumanoir, No. xiv, pt. i. p. 108). From 11 May 1279 to 7 May 1282 Philippe was bailiff of Robert, count of Clermont, sixth son of St. Louis; from November 1284 to 1288 seneschal of Poitou; in 1288 seneschal of Saintonge; in 1289 and 1290 bailiff of Vermandois; in the course of 1292 seneschal of Saintonge, bailiff of Senlis, and bailiff of Touraine; and again bailiff of Senlis from March 1293 till his death in the beginning of 1296. The ‘Coutumes de Beauvaisis’ was begun while he was bailiff of the county of Clermont, and finished in 1283. ‘Le Roman de la Manekine’ and ‘Le Roman de Jehan de Dammartin et Blonde d'Oxford’ were probably composed by him between 1264 and 1279.

[The chief authority is the biography of Philip of Beaumanoir, by M. H. L. Bordier, in Philippe de Remi Sire de Beaumanoir, Jurisconsulte et Poëte National du Beauvaisis, Paris, 1869-73, in two parts, pp. 1-422; the second part contains his complete poetical works. The identification of Philippe de Remi with Philippe de Beaumanoir has since been confirmed with new proofs by M. Edouard Schwan in the Romanische Studien herausgegeben von Edward Boehmer, iv. 351. The best edition of the poems of Beaumanoir is that of M. Hermann Suchier (Société des Anciens Textes Français), 2 vols. 8vo, 1884-1885. The Coutumede de Clermont en Beauvaisis has been edited by Thaumas de la Thaumassière (1690) and Count Beugnot (1840).]

W. E. R.

PHILIP de Valoniis (d. 1215), lord of Panmure. [See Valoniis.]

PHILIP, ALEXANDER PHILIP WILSON (1770?–1851?), physician and physiologist, was born in Scotland, his surname being originally Wilson. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and graduated M.D. on 25 June 1792, with an inaugural dissertation 'De Dyspepsia,' and in the same year published the first of a long series of medical works. Being admitted fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on 3 Feb. 1795, he practised in that city for a few years, and gave a course of lectures on medicine. About 1799 he settled at Winchester, and afterwards removed to Worcester, being elected in 1802 physician to the Worcester General Infirmary. He was successful in practice, but in 1817 resigned his appointment, and removed to London. On 22 Dec. 1820 he was admitted licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and on 25 June 1834 a fellow. In 1835 he delivered and published the Gulstonian lectures 'On the Influence of the Nervous System in Disease.' He was also elected fellow of the Royal Society. Before removing to London he had assumed the additional surname of Philip; his books appeared up to 1807 under the name of Wilson, and after that date under that of Wilson Philip, by which he is generally known.

Wilson Philip, after carrying on for many years a large and apparently lucrative practice in Cavendish Square, was overtaken by misfortune in his old age. About 1842 or 1843 he suddenly disappeared from London. Dr. Munk states that his investments were injudicious, and the scheme in which he had placed his accumulated fortune failed, so that he had to leave the country to avoid arrest for debt. He went to Boulogne, and is thought to have died there, his name disappearing from the list of the College of Physicians in 1851. It is conjectured that these circumstances may have suggested to Thackeray the career of Dr. Firmin in 'The Adventures of Philip.'

Wilson Philip deserves to be remembered, not only as a popular physician, but as an assiduous and successful worker in the advancement of medicine by research, even while he was busily engaged in practice. His researches in physiology and pathology had considerable importance in their day.