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134 Glimpses of Our Ancestors. |
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will not follow him. It was as a country Doctor—the centre of a large circle of friends and patients—the adviser—the comforter—the friend of rich and poor—the delight of society —the authority in all matters of literature and Art and politics —it was as the Doctor par excellence of Seaford that I knew him; and his memory is so connected with the place, though it knows him no longer, that I never hear it named without recalling him. Perhaps there are some few others who still do the same; for he was not a man, once known, to be forgotten. His place is not filled up. Nay, the place itself no longer exists. Here and there an old-fashioned " country Doctor" of the type of him of Seaford—a man of varied parts—with much wisdom as well as of "infinite mirth"—is to be found. But the .race is fast dying out. The great towns—so much more numerous and so much greater than in times past—naturally draw to them men of such talent as Dr. Verral. The country cannot compete with them as it used to do—aye, and successfully too. Lesser men will now do for country places: well qualified, doubtless, for their duties, but not such "all-round" men—not philosopher, poet, politician, as well as physician—like the Doctor of Seaford. |
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