Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/113

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moving in 1833 to 13 Stratford Place, and introduced the homœopathic system into this country. The medical journals denounced him as a quack, but he made numerous converts, and his practice rapidly grew, owing as much to his attractive personality as to his medical skill. But the professional opposition was obstinately prolonged. In February 1838, when Quin was a candidate for election at the Athenæum Club, he was blackballed by a clique of physicians, led by John Ayrton Paris [q. v.], who privately attacked Quin with a virulence for which he had to apologise. From 26 June 1845 he was medical attendant to the Duchess of Cambridge.

In 1839 Quin completed the first volume of his translation of Hahnemann's ‘Materia Medica Pura,’ but a fire at his printers' destroyed the whole edition of five hundred copies, and failing health prevented him from reprinting the work. In 1843 he established a short-lived dispensary, called the St. James's Homœopathic Dispensary. In 1844 he founded the British Homœopathic Society, of which he was elected president. Chiefly through his exertions the London Homœopathic Hospital was founded in 1850. It became a permanent institution, and is now located in Great Ormond Street. On 18 Oct. 1859 he was appointed to the chair of therapeutics and materia medica in the medical school of the hospital, and gave a series of lectures.

Quin was popular in London society. In aristocratic, literary, artistic, and dramatic circles he was always welcome. He was almost the last of the wits of London society, and no dinner was considered a success without his presence. His friends included Dickens, Thackeray, the Bulwers, Macready, Landseer, and Charles Mathews. In manners, dress, and love of high-stepping horses he imitated Count D'Orsay. After suffering greatly from asthma, he died at the Garden Mansions, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, on 24 Nov. 1878, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 28 Nov. He was the author of: 1. ‘Du Traitement Homœopathique du Choléra avec notes et appendice,’ Paris, 1832, dedicated to Louis-Philippe. 2. ‘Pharmacopœia Homœopathica,’ 1834, dedicated to the king of the Belgians. He also wrote a preface to the ‘British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia,’ published by the British Homœopathic Society in 1870, and was the editor of the second edition brought out in 1876.

[Hamilton's Memoir of F. H. F. Quin, 1879, with portrait; Madden's Literary Life of the Countess of Blessington, 1855, i. 191, ii. 26, 27, 111–14, 448–54, iii. 201; Lord Ronald Gower's My Reminiscences, 1883, ii. 251–4; Morning Post, 29 Nov. 1878, p. 5; Russell's Memoirs of Thomas Moore, 1854, vi. 318; Dickens's Life of C. J. Mathews, 1879, i. 102.]

G. C. B.

QUIN, JAMES (1693–1766), actor, the illegitimate son of James Quin, barrister, and the grandson of Mark Quin, mayor of Dublin in 1676, was born in King Street, Covent Garden, 24 Feb. 1692–3, and christened at the adjacent church of St. Paul. His mother, though she called herself a widow, appears to have had a husband living in 1693, by name Grinsell. Young Quin was taken, in 1700, to Dublin, and educated in that city under the Rev. Dr. Jones. He was probably for a short time at Trinity College, Dublin. After the death of his father in 1710 he was obliged, for the purpose of obtaining his patrimony, to contest against his uterine brother, Grinsell, a suit in chancery, which want of means compelled him to abandon. He then took to the stage in Dublin, and made his first appearance at the Smock Alley Theatre as Abel in Sir Robert Howard's ‘Committee’, playing also Cleon in Shadwell's ‘Timon of Athens, or the Man Hater,’ and, according to Genest, the Prince of Tanais in Rowe's ‘Tamerlane.’ It is not unlikely that he appeared at Drury Lane as early as 1714. On 4 Feb. 1715 Quin played there Vulture, an original part in ‘Country Lasses,’ an adaptation by Charles Johnson (1679–1748) [q. v.] of Middleton's ‘A Mad World, my Masters.’ Quin is not mentioned as from Ireland, nor is there any indication that this was a first appearance. On the 23rd he was the First Steward in Gay's ‘What d'ye call it?’ and was on 20 April the First Lieutenant of the Tower in Rowe's ‘Lady Jane Gray.’ Tate Wilkinson says that the propriety with which Quin played this small part, either in this piece or in ‘King Richard III,’ in which he was seen the following season, first recommended him to public notice. On 28 June Quin undertook Winwife in Jonson's ‘Bartholomew Fair.’ On 3 Jan. 1716 his name appears to the King in ‘Philaster.’ Don Pedro in the ‘Rover,’ followed on 6 March; on 19 July Pedro in the ‘Pilgrim,’ and on 9 Aug. the Cardinal in the ‘Duke of Guise.’ On 7 Nov. Quin's chance arrived. Mills, who played Bajazet in ‘Tamerlane,’ was taken suddenly ill, and Quin read his part in a manner that elicited great applause. The next night, having learnt the words, he played it in a fashion that brought him into lasting favour. On 17 Dec. he was the original Antenor in Mrs. Centlivre's ‘Cruel Gift.’ On 5 Jan. 1717 he was Gloster in ‘King Lear,’ and on the 16th second player in the ill-starred ‘Three Weeks after Marriage’ of Gay and ‘two friends.’ Voltore in Jonson's ‘Volpone,