, and as long as
the exhibiting of the dead body of a virtuous female before an audience
of men shall not be punished by the law, and even with death; as long as
we shall appear to be satisfied in this state of things, it becomes us,
at any rate, to be silent about purity of mind, improvement of manners,
and an increase of refinement and _delicacy_.

242. This practice has brought the '_doctor_' into _every family_ in the
kingdom, which is of itself no small evil. I am not thinking of the
_expense_; for, in cases like these, nothing in that way ought to be
spared. If necessary to the safety of his wife, a man ought not only to
part with his last shilling, but to pledge his future labour. But we all
know that there are _imaginary ailments_, many of which are absolutely
created by the habit of talking with or about the '_doctor_.' Read the
'DOMESTIC MEDICINE,' and by the time that you have done, you will
imagine that you have, at times, all the diseases of which it treats.
This practice has added to, has doubled, aye, has augmented, I verily
believe, ten-fold the number of the gentlemen who are, in common
parlance, called '_doctors_'; at which, indeed, I, on my own private
account, ought to rejoice; for, _invariably_ I have, even in the worst
of times, found them every where amongst my staunchest and kindest
friends. But though these gentlemen are not to blame for this, any more
than attorneys are for their increase in number; and amongst these
gentlemen, too, I have, with very few exceptions, always found sensible
men and zealous friends; though the parties pursuing these professions
are not to blame; though the increase of attorneys has arisen from the
endless number and the complexity of the laws, and from the ten-fold mass
of crimes caused by poverty arising from oppressive taxation; and though
the increase of 'doctors' has arisen from the diseases and the imaginary
ailments arising from that effeminate luxury which has been created by
the drawing of wealth from the many, and giving it to the few; and, as
the lower classes will always endeavour to imitate the higher, so the
'_accoucheur_' has, along with the '_small-clothes_,' descended from the
loan-monger's palace down to the hovel of the pauper, there to take his
fee out of the poor-rates; though these parties are not to blame, the
thing is not less an evil. Both professions have lost in character, in
proportion to the increase in the number of its members; peaches,