Sancho Panca_, all things are lawful with one sauce, moderation and exercise. Eat like a ploughman if it please you, on condition you work like one.' He graciously smiled, and said he would try what he could do when stronger. I now mentioned the melancholy accident which had engaged me the whole of the day. A man working on the roof-beams of a house had fallen; he had broken his thigh, and, as it was supposed, had fractured his head. It appeared that this unfortunate man had been Sir Peregrine's carpenter, but had incurred his sore displeasure by two offences equally unpardonable. The first was, refusing him his vote for the candidate he supported; the second, the man could read; and with this dangerous talent he had discovered, that he was not altogether a piece of elm or oak. 'And was it for this fellow, doctor, that Sir Peregrine Lofley was neglected?' said he, rising from an easy-chair, with much resentment; 'surely you must know that he is a notorious Jacobin! a rascal who reads newspapers and seditious tracts, at alehouses; and prates of magna-charta and the liberty of the press! He is the veriest dog in the neighbourhood a common nuisance! Surely you must have known this!'--'I was perfectly acquainted with the man's _reputed_ character,' answered I, drily; 'but I was called upon to judge of his _fractured skull_, not of his _political creed_. It happens, however, fortunately for my hopes of saving his life, which is not unuseful to his wife and six children, that he has loved politics better than ale: the remarkable sobriety of his habits is much in his favour, and I hope to conquer the fever. You must not expect me to call to-morrow, I shall be engaged with him.'--'It will not suit me,' answered he, with evident haughtiness, 'to place my health in any man's hands, on whom I cannot depend for _punctuality_ as well as _judgment_; and I should conceive that Doctor Douglas has had no reason to complain of my want of attention to his visits.' He offered his guinea: I declined it. 'This was a call _en passant_,' observed I, 'but it has led to an explanation of your expectations. These, Sir Peregrine, may, on certain occasions, be regarded by me, as not less _incumbent_ on your medical attendant's observance, than they appear useless at this moment. _All are men_, without distinction, on my list of patients; the urgency of the case settles their precedence. You want not medical aid at present; nor do I want your guineas, in return 'for small talk and bowing,' although born on the other side of the Tweed.' I left him swelling with rage, and have never seen him since; and finding that I am neither a democrat, nor a nuisance, he calls me a _pretending quack_!'--'And yet,' observed the delighted Sir Murdock, 'the united suffrages of every university in Europe could not have better qualified a man for the purposes of healing the sick. Your remedies must be infallible, doctor, if you can prescribe to other diseases as well as