Mark Twain famously felt compelled – and in good enough health – to comment that ‘The report of my death was an exaggeration’ on reading a newspaper report of his death in 1899. A century later the folk fiddle player Dave Swarbrick found his own obituary in The Daily Telegraph. 15 years on he’s still performing around the world. Before them, however, the physician Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) had his own experience of premature obituary-itis.
In March 1731 The Gentleman’s Magazinepublished a curious retraction of an earlier announcement of Fuller’s death:
We have been assured from Sevenoaks in Kent, that Dr Thomas Fuller, an eminent Physician, (murdered by the L. Ev. Of Feb. 11 … ) is since come to Life again
Fuller was born in Sussex, and qualified in medicine at Cambridge in 1676. He was made an extra-licentiate of the RCP – licensed to practise in England outside of London – two years later. Fuller spent his professional career in Sevenoaks, Kent, and endeared himself with locals of all social stations. He was admired by the well-to-do for his medical skills, and described inMunk’s roll – the RCP’s collection of obituaries – as ‘a zealous assertor’ of the rights of the poor. In this guise he successfully pursued a legal case against a local charity to ensure its trustees were elected annually and to display transparency in its processes.
As a physician, Fuller published a number of pharmacopoeias – collections of prescriptions – but his medical work was not ground-breaking. Today we are instead more grateful for a trio of entertaining collections of sayings. Introductio ad prudentiam and Introductio ad sapientiam– books of ‘right thinking and acting’ according to Fuller – were written for his son, and were soon followed by hisGnomologia, 1732. This work is a charming list of aphorisms and wise words, featuring many phrases still familiar today:
Careless Shepherds make many a Feast for the Wolf, Drown not thy self, to save a drowning man, Ducks fare well in the Thames, Half a Loaf is better than no Bread, Would you thatch your House with Pancakes?
There are also many curious and eccentric sayings. Can you decipher ‘Sick of the Mulligrubs, with eating of chopp’d Hay’? How about ‘Your egg is ready roasted to your hand’?
Also noteworthy is ‘Death keeps no Calendar’ – an ironic observation given that Fuller outlived his obituary by more than three years.
Peter Basham, collections officer
A series of Fuller’s medical-themed sayings are available in a range of RCP memorabilia.
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