There was a certain stately air of the hills about him which was
often mistaken for country inexperience, and men thought in
consequence to make gain or game of him. But such found their
mistake, and if not soon, then the more completely. Far from
provoking or even meeting hostility, he soon satisfied those that
persisted, that it was dangerous. In two years he became well known
to the poor of a large district, especially on both sides of
Shoreditch, for whose sake he made the exercise of his profession
though not an object yet a ready accident.
He lived in lodgings in John Street--the same in which I found him
when I came to know him. He made few acquaintances, and they were
chiefly the house-surgeons of hospitals--to which he paid frequent
visits.
He always carried a book in his pocket, but did not read much. On
Sundays he generally went to some one of the many lonely heaths or
commons of Surrey with his New Testament. When weary in London, he
would go to the reading-room of the British Museum for an hour or
two. He kept up a regular correspondence with Dr. Anderson.
At length he received a letter from him, which occasioned his
immediate departure for Aberdeen. Until now, his friend, who was
entirely satisfied with his mode of life, and supplied him freely
with money, had not even expressed a wish to recall him, though he
had often spoken of visiting him in London. It now appeared that,
unwilling to cause him any needless anxiety, he had abstained from
mentioning the fact that his health had been declining.
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