The Literary History of the Adelphi and Its NeighbourhoodBrereton, Austin
History
The Literary History of the Adelphi and Its Neighbourhood
Brereton, Austin
Adelphi (London, England) -- History; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- History
THE Adelphi has had its share of quacks, the most impudent of them
all being Dr Graham, a Scotchman, who flourished here from the summer
of 1780 until the May following, when he migrated to Pall Mall. He
occupied the middle house in Adelphi Terrace, and in this place Emma
Lyon--afterwards Lady Hamilton--posed as the Goddess of Health. James
Graham was then approaching the end of his extraordinary career, for,
born in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, on June 23, 1745, he died in 1794.
Although he studied medicine in the University of Edinburgh, it is not
certain that he took his degree, for, so late as 1783, he is described
as "the person calling himself Dr Graham." He passed his earlier life
in Pontrefact, being married there in 1770. Subsequently, he travelled
in America, as an oculist and aurist. Returning to England in 1774, he
practised at Bristol and Bath, and, a year later, established himself
in Pall Mall, nearly opposite St James's Palace. At Bath, in 1777, he
met Catherine Macaulay, who, a few months later, married his younger
brother, William. Through his treatment of her, he declared, he made
his first real start in life. Be this as it may, he gained the ear of
the public about this time, although he was denounced as a quack by the
medical profession. After a visit to the continent, during which he
received many testimonials from people in the first rank of society, he
came to the Adelphi in 1779. His house and apparatus, it was stated,
cost him £10,000. The entrance hall was adorned with crutches which
had been discarded by his "patients," and, in the rooms above, were
large, gaudily-decorated electrical machines, glass globes, marble
statues, and figures of dragons; the windows were of stained glass, and
the air was laden with the perfume of incense. The door was guarded by
huge footmen. One apartment was devoted to Apollo, and contained "a
magnificent temple, sacred to health." He lectured at enormous prices
and obtained fabulous sums for his quack remedies. For a night in the
"celestial bed," which ensured a beautiful progeny, his fee was £100;
his "elixir of life" brought him a fee of one thousand pounds, but his
"earth-bath" was only a modest guinea, while a magneto-electric bed
could be slept in for £50 a night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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