Wolcot, better known as Peter Pindar, was a medical practitioner, his father and many of his ancestors having followed the same calling in Devonshire and Cornwall, under the names of Woolcot, Wolcott, Woolacot, Walcot, or Wolcot. After acquiring a knowledge of his profession in a somewhat irregular manner Wolcot found a patron in Sir William Trelawny, Bart., of Trelawny, co. Cornwall, who, on going out to assume the governorship of Jamaica, took the young surgeon with him to act as medical officer to his household. In Jamaica Wolcot figured in more characters than one. He was the governor's grand-master of the ceremonies, private secretary, and chaplain. When the King of the Mosquitoes waited on the new governor to express his loyal devotion to the King of England's representative, Wolcot had to entertain the royal guest--no difficult task as long as strong drink was in the way. His Majesty--an enormously stout black brute--regarded intoxication as the condition of life most fit for kings. "Champagne the courtier drinks, the spleen to chase, The colonel Burgundy, and port his Grace." The autocrat of the Mosquitoes, as the greatest only are, in his simplicity sublime, was contented with rum or its equivalent. "Mo' drink for king! Mo' drink for king!" he would bellow, dancing round the grand-master of the governor's household. "King," the grand-master would reply, "you are drunk already." "No, no; king no drunk. Mo' drink for king! Broder George" (_i. e._ George III.) "love drink!" _Grand-Master._--"Broder George does not love drink: he is a sober man." _Autocrat._--"But King of Musquito love drink. Me will have mo' drink. Me love drink like devil. Me drink whole ocean!" The different meagre memoirs of Peter Pindar are conflicting as to whether he ever received ordination from the hands of the Bishop of London. It seems most probable that he never did. But, consecrated or not, there is no doubt that he officiated as a colonial rector for some time. Droll stories of him as a parish priest used to circulate amongst his friends, as well as amongst his enemies. He read prayers and preached whenever a congregation appeared in his church, but three Sundays out of every four not a soul came to receive the benefit of his ministrations.