118 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. business augmented ; and he maintained, by his frank and manly conduct, and by his endeavours to discountenance the attempts of quacks and intermeddlers as much as possible, the respecta- bility and fair dealing of his profession. The art of Uroscopie, as it was called, was at this time much in vogue, and the credulous became the dupes of various impostors, who pretended to cure people, at a distance, of all manner of human maladies, by the exercise of this absurd mode of divination. Provided with this infaUible indication of disease, it is related that a foolish woman came to Radcliffe, and, dropping a curtsey, told him that, having heard of his great fame, she made bold to bring him a fee, by which she hoped his worship would be prevailed upon to tell her the distemper her husband lay sick of, and to prescribe proper remedies for his relief — " Where is he?" cries the doctor — " Sick in bed, four miles off. " Taking the vessel, and casting an eye upon its contents, he enquired of the woman what trade the patient was of ; and, learning that he was a boot- maker, " Very well," replied the doctor; and having retired for a moment to make the requisite substitution, " take this home with you ; and if your husband will undertake to fit me with a pair of boots by its inspection, I will make no question of prescribing for his distemper by a similar exa- mination." His practice in the country procured him con- siderable wealth, but, not content with his provin- cial reputation, he removed to London, when he was about thirty-four years old, and settled in Bow-street, Covent Garden. Here he had not
