Saturday was the day he devoted to entertaining his friends at Grove Hill, Camberwell; and rare parties there gathered round him--celebrities from every region of the civilized world, and the best "good fellows" of London. Boswell was one of his most frequent guests, and, in an ode to Charles Dilly, celebrated the beauties of the physician's seat and his humane disposition:-- "My cordial Friend, still prompt to lend Your cash when I have need on't; We both must bear our load of care-- At least we talk and read on't." "Yet are we gay in ev'ry way, Not minding where the joke lie; On Saturday at bowls we play At Camberwell with Coakley." "Methinks you laugh to hear but half The name of Dr. Lettsom: From him of good--talk, liquors, food-- His guests will always get some." "And guests has he, in ev'ry degree, Of decent estimation: His liberal mind holds all mankind As an extended Nation. "O'er Lettsom's cheer we've met a peer-- A peer--no less than Lansdowne! Of whom each dull and envious skull Absurdly cries--'The man's down!' "Down do they say? How then, I pray, His king and country prize him! Through the whole world known, his peace alone Is sure t' immortalize him. "Lettsom we view a _Quaker_ true, 'Tis clear he's so in one sense: His _spirit_, strong, and ever young, Refutes pert Priestley's nonsense. "In fossils he is deep, we see; Nor knows Beasts, Fishes, Birds ill; With plants not few, some from Pelew, And wondrous Mangel Wurzel! "West India bred, warm heart, cool head, The city's first physician; By schemes humane--want, sickness, pain, To aid in his ambition. "From terrace high he feasts his eye, When practice grants a furlough; And, while it roves o'er Dulwich groves, Looks down--even upon Thurlow." The concluding line is an allusion to the Lord Chancellor's residence at Dulwich. In person, Lettsom was tall and thin--indeed, almost attenuated: his face was deeply lined, indicating firmness quite as much as benevolence; and his complexion was of a dark yellow hue. His eccentricities were numerous. Like the founder of his sect, he would not allow even respect for royalty to make an alteration in his costume which his conscience did not approve; and George III., who entertained a warm regard for him, allowed him to appear at Court in the ordinary Quaker garb, and to kiss his hand, though he had neither powder on his head, nor a sword by his side. Lettsom responded to his sovereign's courtesy by presenting him with some rare and unpurchasable medals. Though his writings show him to have been an enlightened physician for his time, his system of practice was not of course free from the violent measures which were universally believed in during the last century. He used to say of himself,