Name/Title
The DispensaryDescription
Physician and poet Samuel Garth 91661-1719) first circulated his verse account of the establishment of a dispensary or public clinic for the poor in manuscript in 1699, and three editions were printed within the year. Garth took Boileau’s Le lutrin as his model, and the poem describes “a mock Homeric battle between physicians and apothecaries, with William Harvey finally being sought in canto 6 in the Elysian fields to give advice to settle the war.” (ODNB). Garth was a member of the Kit-Kat Club and when Dryden died penniless in 1700, Garth arranged for the burial procession; he was later a physican to George I. A well known poetical work from the pen of a public-spirited man, with remarkable American provenance.
Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791), American poet and author, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and judge, was the son of Thomas Hopkinson (1709-1751), who emigrated from England to Philadelphia in 1731. This book bears three signarures of Thomas Hopkinson (dated 1732 and 1739) on the title page or frontispiece, as well as his son’s signature on leaf A3.
Thomas hopkinson ws a merchant, lawyer, and judge, and a founder of the Library Company. He worked with his close friend Benjamin Franklin on a n umber of electrical experiments and was the first president of the American Philosphical Society. Thomas was also a founder of the Academy of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). Benjamin Franklin printed his obituary and supported the studies of Francis who was a member of the first class at the Academy,.
Francis Hopkinson studied law and made close connections in England on a visit there in 1766-1767. He was appointed to the royal council in New Jersey and in early 1776 elected to the New Jersey Supreme Court. He turned down this appointment, for he had by then become a committed patriot. In 1776 he published a Prophesy, predicting American Independence, and as a delegate to the Continental Congrress, he helped draft the Articles of Confederation. He signed the Declaration and held several congressional positions during the Revolutionary period.
“A skilled draftsman, Hopkinson produced heraldic emblems and …the seals of the new cabinet departments of the federal government, the American Philosophiocal Society, the state of New Jersey, and the Universit of Pennsylvania” (ANB). Hopkinson composed satirical works in prose and verse throughout his career, often taking as his model earlier works of English Literature.
An outstanding literary connection to “the mise versatile American of the revolutionary generation.”Other Names and Numbers
Other Number
ESTC T34565, Foxon G22Condition
Notes
Frontispiece. [30], 120 pp. Bound with A1. 8vo. London, John Nutt, 1706. The sixth edition with several descriptions and episodes never before printed. Nineteenth-century half calf, marlbed boards, red spine label. Bookplate fo Francis Hopkinson. Spine worn, inner hinges meded with cloth, internally clean.
ESTC T34565, Foxon G22