Sir Walter Scott Has So Well Described A Country Surgeon's Miseries, That We Shall Quote The Passage, More Especially As It Bears Particular Reference To Park:

- "Like the ghostly lover of Leonora, he mounts at midnight, and traverses in darkness paths which, to those less

Accustomed to them, seem formidable in daylight, through straits where the slightest aberration would plunge him into a morass, or throw him over a precipice, on to cabins which his horse might ride over without knowing they lay in his way, unless he happened to fall through the roofs. When he arrives at such a stately termination of his journey, where his services are required, either to bring a wretch into the world, or prevent one from leaving it, the scene of misery is often such, that, far from touching the hard saved shillings which are gratefully offered to him, he bestows his medicines as well as his attendance - for charity. I have heard the celebrated traveller Mungo Park, who had experienced both courses of life, rather give the preference to travelling as a discoverer in Africa, than to wandering, by night and day, the wilds of his native land in the capacity of a country medical practitioner. He mentioned having once upon a time rode forty miles, sat up all night, and successfully assisted a woman under influence of the primitive curse, for which his sole remuneration was a roasted potato and a draught of butter milk. But his was not the heart which grudged the labour that relieved human misery. In short, there is no creature in Scotland that works harder, and is more poorly requited than the country doctor, unless, perhaps, it may be his horse. Yet the horse is, and indeed must be, hardy, active, and indefatigable, ever liable to be unpleasantly interrupted, in spite of a rough coat and indifferent condition; and so you will often find in his master, under an unpromising and blunt exterior, professional skill and enthusiasm, intelligence humanity, courage, and science." Such was certainly the character of Park: having himself experienced what it was to suffer unrelieved, he was ready to sympathize with his suffering fellow-creatures, and to endure every hardship and privation when humanity called upon him to do so. But his liberality was a great enemy to his purse, and for a considerable time, all he could do was barely enough to earn a livelihood. Such difficulties every one, generally, who enters upon this arduous profession must lay his account with. His reputation as a discoverer, his modest and unassuming character, and the propriety of his conduct, however, gained Park many friends, some of whom were literary men of great eminence, such as Adam Ferguson and Dugald Stewart. In addition to the honour of attracting the notice of men so gifted in intellectual endowments, he was also on the best terms with many of the neighbouring gentry, - among others, with Sir Walter Scott, who had not then attained that high place among his contemporaries which he afterwards held.

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