![In the analytical orchestra that is Python programming for health data
science, complex data structures are the ensembles that harmonize disparate
elements into a coherent symphony of information. As we dive into these
structures, we unveil their unique characteristics and their indispensable
role in organizing, storing, and manipulating data efficiently.
Lists in Python are mutable sequences, capable of storing an ordered
collection of items, which can be of different data types. In healthcare data
science, lists are akin to versatile containers, ideal for housing sequential
data such as patient vitals over time or a series of laboratory test results.
Imagine a scenario involving the tracking of a patient's cholesterol levels. A
list allows for the appending of new data points as they are received, the
convenient retrieval of any specific measurement, and the easy sorting of
results for trend analysis. Lists also support comprehensive slicing, enabling
health data scientists to segment sequences for focused investigations.
For exemplification:
```python
cholesterol_levels = [200, 189, 204, 199, 178]
cholesterol_levels.sort() # Sorting to find trends
print(cholesterol_levels)
```
Tuples are immutable sequences, which means once they are created, their
content cannot be altered. This quality makes tuples reliable vessels for
fixed data groupings such as the coordinates of a hospital's location or the
date of a patient's discharge.
Tuples bring forth a level of data integrity, as their immutability prevents
accidental alteration—a crucial feature when dealing with sensitive health
information that must remain unmodified for legal and ethical reasons.
An example of a tuple might be:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-14-320.jpg)
![```python
hospital_location = (49.2827, -123.1207) # Latitude and longitude of
Vancouver General Hospital
discharge_date = (2023, 3, 14) # Year, Month, Day
```
Dictionaries are Python's built-in mapping type. They are unordered
collections of items where each item is a key-value pair. Dictionaries are
ideal for associating related information, like linking patient IDs to their
records or mapping medications to their dosages.
In health informatics, dictionaries facilitate the quick retrieval of
information based on unique identifiers—critical in environments where
rapid access to patient-specific data can be life-saving.
A simple dictionary example:
```python
patient_medication_dosage = {'Metformin': 500, 'Atorvastatin': 20}
print(patient_medication_dosage['Metformin']) # Outputs: 500
```
Sets are unordered collections of unique elements. In the context of health
data, sets are useful for eliminating duplicates, which is beneficial when
compiling unique lists of symptoms, medications, or diseases from a larger
dataset.
Sets inherently support mathematical set operations like union, intersection,
and difference, enabling health data scientists to perform analysis on
distinct groups of data effectively.
Utilizing a set to identify unique conditions:
```python](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-16-320.jpg)
![patient_conditions = set(['Hypertension', 'Diabetes', 'Hypertension'])
print(patient_conditions) # Outputs: {'Hypertension', 'Diabetes'}
```
Each of these complex data structures—lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets—
serves a distinct purpose and offers a toolset for solving specific problems
within the vast domain of health data science. Whether you are constructing
patient profiles, managing clinical trial data, or tracking epidemiological
trends, understanding and leveraging these structures is fundamental to
effective data management and insightful analysis.
Handling Healthcare-Specific Data Structures: FHIR, HL7
In health informatics, data interoperability is not just a technical
requirement; it's a conduit for continuity of care, patient safety, and clinical
research. Healthcare-specific data structures such as Fast Healthcare
Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and Health Level Seven (HL7) are the
lingua franca enabling diverse health information systems to converse
seamlessly.
FHIR is a standard describing data formats and elements (known as
"resources") and an application programming interface (API) for
exchanging electronic health records. FHIR is built on modern web
technologies and is designed for ease of implementation and integration. It
thrives on simplicity and extensibility, making healthcare data exchange
more intuitive and efficient.
The following Python snippet demonstrates how one might interact with a
FHIR API to retrieve a patient's record:
```python
import requests
fhir_endpoint = "https://fhirtest.uhn.ca/baseDstu3/Patient/845439"](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-17-320.jpg)
![response = requests.get(fhir_endpoint)
patient_data = response.json()
print(patient_data['name']) # Accessing the patient's name from the FHIR
response
```
HL7, specifically HL7 Version 2.x, is a set of international standards for the
transfer of clinical and administrative data between software applications
used by various healthcare providers. These standards focus on the
application layer, which is "layer 7" in the OSI model. HL7 helps to
simplify the implementation of interfaces among healthcare systems and
reduce the complexity of healthcare data integration.
Parsing an HL7 message to extract patient information might look like this:
```python
import hl7
# An example HL7 message
hl7_message =
"MSH|^~&|HIS|RAD|LAB|CARDIO|202303141605||ADT^A01|MSG0000
1|P|2.6rEVN|A01|202303141605rPID|||545776^^^HIS||SMITH^JOHN^A||
19600407|M||C|1200 N ELM STREET^^GREENSBORO^NC^27401-
1020|GL|(919)379-1212|(919)271-
3434||S||545776|123456789|987654^NCr"
# Parse the message
message = hl7.parse(hl7_message)
for segment in message:
if segment[0] == 'PID':
patient_info = segment
print(f"Patient's Name: {patient_info[5]}") # Outputs: Patient's
Name: SMITH^JOHN^A](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-18-320.jpg)
![Let us explore how Python facilitates these transformations:
```python
# Convert string to float
blood_pressure = "120.5"
blood_pressure_value = float(blood_pressure)
# Convert integer to string
patient_id = 12345
patient_id_str = str(patient_id)
# Convert a list of strings to a list of integers
age_years = ["35", "42", "58"]
age_years_int = list(map(int, age_years))
```
Manipulating Data Types is just as critical. The manipulation of lists,
dictionaries, and dataframes is commonplace in Python-driven healthcare
analytics. For instance, when working with patient records stored in lists or
dictionaries, one might need to add, remove, or update entries as new data
becomes available or corrections are made.
Consider the following example, which simulates updating a patient's
record:
```python
patient_record = {
'name': 'John Smith',
'age': 45,
'blood_type': 'O+',
'allergies': ['Penicillin', 'Peanuts']
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-20-320.jpg)
![# Updating the age
patient_record['age'] = 46
# Adding a new allergy
patient_record['allergies'].append('Aspirin')
# Removing an incorrect allergy
patient_record['allergies'].remove('Peanuts')
```
Dataframes, the cornerstone of the pandas library, are especially powerful
for tabular data manipulation. They allow for operations on entire columns
or rows, conditional selection, and complex joins and merges. The
following snippet showcases a basic dataframe operation:
```python
import pandas as pd
# Create a dataframe from a dictionary
df = pd.DataFrame({
'patient_id': [1, 2, 3],
'blood_pressure': [120, 135, 110],
'cholesterol': [190, 220, 185]
})
# Convert blood pressure to a categorical variable
df['bp_category'] = pd.cut(df['blood_pressure'], bins=[0, 120, 140, 190],
labels=['Normal', 'Elevated', 'High'])
```
Through these examples, one can appreciate the elegant simplicity with
which Python handles diverse data types and the robustness it offers in data](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-21-320.jpg)
![manipulation.
Memory Management for Large Health Datasets
In the domain of health data science, the proficient management of memory
is paramount, particularly when confronted with the colossal datasets that
characterize contemporary healthcare research and practice. The handling
of large datasets with aplomb is a testament to the judicious use of Python's
facilities, engineered to be both powerful and efficient.
Efficient Memory Usage entails the employment of strategies to minimize
memory consumption without compromising the speed or accuracy of data
analysis. Python provides numerous avenues for this, and one especially
potent tool in the health data scientist's arsenal is the use of `pandas` library
with its well-optimized data structures.
Consider the use of `dtype` optimization for reducing memory footprint:
```python
import pandas as pd
# Load a large dataset of patient records
patient_data = pd.read_csv('large_health_dataset.csv')
# Optimize memory usage by downcasting numerical columns
float_cols = patient_data.select_dtypes(include=['float']).columns
int_cols = patient_data.select_dtypes(include=['int']).columns
patient_data[float_cols] = patient_data[float_cols].apply(pd.to_numeric,
downcast='float')
patient_data[int_cols] = patient_data[int_cols].apply(pd.to_numeric,
downcast='integer')
```](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-22-320.jpg)
![In such a procedure, the application of `downcast` to 'float' and 'integer' can
significantly reduce the memory footprint of the dataset by fitting the data
into the most appropriate and compact numerical dtype available.
Data Chunking is another technique that shines when manipulating
extensive datasets that cannot be readily accommodated in memory. By
partitioning the dataset into manageable pieces, one can iteratively process
and analyze the data.
A demonstration of chunking a dataset using `pandas`:
```python
chunk_size = 5000 # This can be adjusted based on the available memory
chunks = []
for chunk in pd.read_csv('large_health_dataset.csv',
chunksize=chunk_size):
# Perform data manipulation on the chunk
processed_chunk = process_data(chunk)
chunks.append(processed_chunk)
# Concatenate the processed chunks back into a single dataframe
full_dataset = pd.concat(chunks, ignore_index=True)
```
In-Memory Compression techniques, such as those offered by `bcolz` or
`PyTables`, are also essential for dealing with voluminous health datasets.
These libraries can store data in a compressed format, which both reduces
memory usage and accelerates processing time due to lesser I/O operations.
Efficient Data Storage Formats such as HDF5 or Parquet, when paired with
Python, allow for sophisticated on-disk storage while still providing the
capabilities for fast reading and writing operations, which is pivotal in the
context of large-scale health data.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-23-320.jpg)
![# Display the initial few records to establish familiarity
print(lab_results.head())
```
The `head()` method is instrumental in providing a sneak peek into the
dataset, revealing the initial rows and allowing for a preliminary assessment
of the data structure at a glance. With healthcare data often varying in
quality, the initial inspection is a crucial step that informs the strategy for
cleaning and preprocessing.
The next stage in our inspection is to perform a thorough quality check,
utilizing Pandas' functionality to summarize the dataset, thus unveiling any
apparent issues or peculiarities such as missing values, which are
particularly troublesome in health data due to the potential impact on
patient outcomes.
```python
# Dataset summary, including non-null values and data types
print(lab_results.info())
# Identify columns with missing values
missing_values = lab_results.isnull().sum()
print(missing_values[missing_values > 0])
```
Upon pinpointing the columns with missing values, we can strategize on
approaches to handle these effectively, whether through imputation
techniques or by consulting clinical experts on the best course of action.
Exploratory data analysis continues as we dive deeper into the dataset's
numerical summaries, particularly for variables that are critical indicators of
health outcomes, such as cholesterol levels or blood pressure readings.
```python](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-25-320.jpg)
![edition printed by the late Mr. Allan of Darlington, from a manuscript in
the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and since reprinted by Mr.
Hogget of Durham, is the most correct one, and from that the above
extract is taken.
Bishop Pudsey’s memory must always be dear to the inhabitants of
the county of Durham, as probably no man ever conferred greater
service on the county. It was he who, in order to supply the deficiency
of Doomsday-book, caused a general survey to be made of all the
demesne lands and possessions in his bishopric. This survey is
recorded in a small folio of twenty-four pages, written in a bad hand,
and called “Bolden Buke,” now in the archives at Durham. It contains
inquisitions, or verdicts of all the several tenures of lands, services,
and customs; all the tenants’ names of every degree; how much each
of them held at that time, and what rents were reserved for the same.
This book has been produced, and read in evidence on several trials at
law, on the part of the succeeding bishops, in order to ascertain their
property.
Garrick Plays.
No. XI.
[From “Jack Drum’s Entertainment,” a Comedy, Author unknown,
1601.]
The free humour of a Noble Housekeeper.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-40-320.jpg)
![y
‘Here lies a Knight whose Money was his Slave.’
[From the “Changes,” a Comedy, by James Shirley, 1632.]
Excess of Epithets, enfeebling to Poetry.
Friend. Master Caperwit, before you read, pray tell me,
Have your verses any Adjectives?
Caperwit. Adjectives! would you have a poem without
Adjectives? they’re the flower, the grace of all our language.
A well-chosen Epithet doth give new soul
To fainting Poesy, and makes every verse
A Bride! With Adjectives we bait our lines,
When we do fish for Gentlewomen’s loves,
And with their sweetness catch the nibbling ear
Of amorous ladies; with the music of
These ravishing nouns we charm the silken tribe,
And make the Gallant melt with apprehension
Of the rare Word. I will maintain ’t against
A bundle of Grammarians, in Poetry
The Substantive itself cannot subsist
Without its Adjective.
Friend. But for all that,
Those words would sound more full, methinks, that are not
So larded; and if I might counsel you,
You should compose a Sonnet clean without ’em.
A row of stately Substantives would march
Like Switzers, and bear all the fields before ’em;
Carry their weight; shew fair, like Deeds Enroll’d;
Not Writs, that are first made and after fill’d.
Thence first came up the title of Blank Verse;—
You know, Sir, what Blank signifies?—when the sense,
First framed, is tied with Adjectives like points,
And could not hold together without wedges:
Hang ’t, ’tis pedantic, vulgar Poetry.
Let children, when they versify, stick here
And there these piddling words for want of matter
Poets write Masculine Numbers.
[From the “Guardian,” a Comedy, by Abraham Cowley, 1650. This was
the first Draught of that which he published afterwards under the
title of the “Cutter of Coleman Street;” and contains the character
of a Foolish Poet, omitted in the latter. I give a few scraps of this](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-42-320.jpg)
![character, both because the Edition is scarce, and as furnishing no
unsuitable corollary to the Critical Admonitions in the preceding
Extract.—The “Cutter” has always appeared to me the link between
the Comedy of Fletcher and of Congreve. In the elegant passion of
the Love Scenes it approaches the former; and Puny (the character
substituted for the omitted Poet) is the Prototype of the half-witted
Wits, the Brisks and Dapper Wits, of the latter.]
Doggrell, the foolish Poet, described.
Cutter. —— the very Emblem of poverty and poor poetry. The feet are worse
patched of his rhymes, than of his stockings. If one line forget itself, and run out
beyond his elbow, while the next keeps at home (like him), and dares not show his
head, he calls that an Ode. * * *
Tabitha. Nay, they mocked and fleered at us, as we sung the Psalm the last
Sunday night.
Cutter. That was that mungrel Rhymer; by this light he envies his brother poet
John Sternhold, because he cannot reach his heights. * * *
Doggrell (reciting his own verses.) Thus pride doth still with beauty dwell,
And like the Baltic ocean swell.
Blade. Why the Baltic, Doggrell?
Doggrell. Why the Baltic!—this ’tis not to have
read the Poets. * * *
She looks like Niobe on the mountain’s top.
Cutter. That Niobe, Doggrell, you have used worse than Phœbus did. Not a dog
looks melancholy but he’s compared to Niobe. He beat a villainous Tapster ’tother
day, to make him look like Niobe.
C. L.
ANCIENT WAGGERY.
For the Table Book.
[From the “Pleasant Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full
of humourous Discourses and merry Merriments:—1607.”]
How Maister Hobson hung out a lanterne and candlelight.
In the beginning of queen Elizabeth’s reign, when the order of
hanging out lanterne and candlelight first of all was brought up,[95] the
bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson dwelt, in a dark evening,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-43-320.jpg)
![crieing up and down, “Hang out your lanternes! Hang out your
lanternes!” using no other wordes, Maister Hobson tooke an emptie
lanterne, and, according to the bedells call, hung it out. This flout, by
the lord mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the same offence Hobson
was sent to the Counter, but being released, the next night following,
thinking to amend his call, the bedell cryed out, with a loud voice,
“Hang out your lanternes and candle!” Maister Hobson, hereupon,
hung out a lanterne and candle unlighted, as the bedell again
commanded; whereupon he was sent again to the Counter; but the
next night, the bedell being better advised, cryed “Hang out your
lanterne and candle light! Hang out your lanterne and candle light!”
which Maister Hobson at last did, to his great commendations, which
cry of lanterne and candle light is in right manner used to this day.
How Maister Hobson found out the Pye-stealer.
In Christmas Holy-dayes when Maister Hobson’s wife had many
pyes in the oven, one of his servants had stole one of them out, and
at the tauerne had merrilie eat it. It fortuned, the same day, that some
of his friends dined with him, and one of the best pyes were missing,
the stealer thereof, after dinner, he found out in this manner. He called
all his servants in friendly sort together into the hall, and caused each
of them to drinke one to another, both wine, ale, and beare, till they
were all drunke; then caused hee a table to be furnished with very
goode cheare, whereat hee likewise pleased them. Being set
altogether, he saide, “Why sit ye not downe fellows?”—“We bee set
already,” quoth they.—“Nay,” quoth Maister Hobson, “he that stole the
pye is not yet set.”—“Yes, that I doe!” quoth he that stole it, by which
means Maister Hobson knewe what was become of the pye; for the
poor fellowe being drunke could not keepe his owne secretts.
[95] The custom of hanging out lanterns before lamps were in use was
earlier than queen Elizabeth’s reign.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-44-320.jpg)
![TO CONTENTMENT.
I.
Spark of pure celestial fire,
Port of all the world’s desire,
Paradise of earthly bliss,
Heaven of the other world and this;
Tell me, where thy court abides.
Where thy glorious chariot rides?
II.
Eden knew thee for a day,
But thou wouldst no longer stay;
Outed for poor Adam’s sin,
By a flaming cherubin;
Yet thou lov’st that happy shade
Where thy beauteous form was made,
And thy kindness still remains
To the woods, and flow’ry plains.
III.
Happy David found thee there,
Sporting in the open air;
As he led his flocks along,
Feeding on his rural song:
But when courts and honours had
Snatch’d away the lovely lad,
Thou that there no room cou’dst find,
Let him go and staid behind.
IV.
His wise son, with care and pain,
Search’d all nature’s frame in vain;
For a while content to be,
Search’d it round, but found not thee;
Beauty own’d she knew thee not,
Plenty had thy name forgot:
Music only did aver,
Once you came and danc’d with her.[96]
[96] From Dunton’s “Athenian Sport.”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-46-320.jpg)
![himself up entirely to harmony and poetry. The extraordinary success
of his first opera, “Gli Orti Esperidi,” confirmed him in this resolution,
and joining his establishment to that of “the Romanina” and her
husband, in a short time he composed three new dramas, “Cato in
Utica,” “Ezio,” and “Semiramide.” He followed these with several more
of still greater celebrity, until, in 1730, he received and accepted an
invitation from the court of Vienna, to take up his residence in that
capital, as coadjutor to the imperial laureate, Apostolo Zeno, whom he
ultimately succeeded. From that period, the life of Metastasio
presented a calm uniformity for upwards of half a century. He retained
the favour of the imperial family undiminished, for his extraordinary
talents were admirably seconded by the even tenor of his private
character, and avoidance of court intrigue. Indefatigable as a poet, he
composed no less than twenty-six operas, and eight oratorios, or
sacred dramas, besides cantatas, canzoni, sonnets, and minor pieces
to a great amount. The poetical characteristics of Metastasio are
sweetness, correctness, purity, simplicity, gentle pathos, and refined
and elevated sentiment. There is less of nature than of elegance and
beauty in his dramas, which consequently appear insipid to those who
have been nourished with stronger poetic aliment.
Dr. Burney, who saw Metastasio at the age of seventy-two,
describes him as looking like one of fifty, and as the gayest and
handsomest man, of his time of life, he had ever beheld. He died after
a short illness at Vienna, in April 1782, having completed his eighty-
fourth year, leaving a considerable property in money, books, and
valuables. Besides his numerous works, which have been translated
into most of the European languages, a large collection of his letters,
published since his death, supplied copious materials for his
biography.[97]
Mrs. Piozzi gives an amusing account of Metastasio in his latter
days. She says:—
“Here (at Vienna) are many ladies of fashion very eminent for their
musical abilities, particularly mesdemoiselles de Martinas, one of
whom is member of the academies of Berlin and Bologna: the
celebrated Metastasio died in their house, after having lived with the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-48-320.jpg)
![scarcely yet done rejoicing in the thought that he escaped the
preparations he so dreaded. Latterly, all his pleasures were confined to
music and conversation; and the delight he took in hearing the lady he
lived with sing his songs, was visible to every one. An Italian abate
here said, comically enough, ‘Oh! he always looked like a man in the
state of beatification when mademoiselle de Martinas accompanied his
verses with her fine voice and brilliant finger.’ The father of Metastasio
was a goldsmith at Rome, but his son had so devoted himself to the
family he lived with, that he refused to hear, and took pains not to
know, whether he had in his latter days any one relation left in the
world.”
We have a life of Metastasio, chiefly derived from his
correspondence, by Dr. Burney.
[97] General Biog. Dict. Dict. of Musicians.
A DEATH-BED:
In a Letter to R. H. Esq. of B——.
For the Table Book.
I called upon you this morning, and found that you were gone to
visit a dying friend. I had been upon a like errand. Poor N. R. has lain
dying now for almost a week; such is the penalty we pay for having
enjoyed through life a strong constitution. Whether he knew me or
not, I know not, or whether he saw me through his poor glazed eyes;
but the group I saw about him I shall not forget. Upon the bed, or
about it, were assembled his Wife, their two Daughters, and poor deaf
Robert, looking doubly stupified. There they were, and seemed to
have been sitting all the week. I could only reach out a hand to Mrs.
R. Speaking was impossible in that mute chamber. By this time it must
be all over with him. In him I have a loss the world cannot make up.
He was my friend, and my father’s friend, for all the life that I can
remember. I seem to have made foolish friendships since. Those are
the friendships, which outlast a second generation. Old as I am
getting, in his eyes I was still the child he knew me. To the last he](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-50-320.jpg)
![the spirit of literary speculation had scarcely begun to dawn in
Scotland; the public taste ran chiefly on poetry; and even if gifted men
had arisen capable of treading in the footsteps of Fielding, but with a
name and reputation unestablished, they must have gone to London
to find a publisher. The “magician” himself, with all his powers,
appears to have been by no means over sanguine as to the ultimate
success of a tale, which has made millions laugh, and as many weep;
and in autumn he had very nearly delivered a portion of the MSS. to a
party of sportsmen who visited him in the country, and were
complaining of a perfect famine of wadding.[98]
[98] The Times, 26th March, from an “Edinburgh paper.”
A Young Artist’s Letter
FROM SWITZERLAND.
From the letter of an English artist, now abroad, accompanied by
marginal sketches with the pen, addressed to a young relation, I am
obligingly permitted to take the following—
EXTRACT,
Interlaken, Switzerland.
Sunday, Sept. 10, 1826.
I arrived at Geneva, after a ride of a day and a night, from Lyons,
through a delightful mountainous country. The steam-boat carried me
from Geneva to Lausanne, a very pretty town, at the other end of the
fine lake, from whence I went to Berne, one of the principal towns in
Switzerland, and the most beautiful I have seen yet. It is extremely
clean, and therefore it was quite a treat, after the French towns, which
are filthy.
Berne is convenient residence, both in sunny and wet weather, for
all the streets have arcades, under which the shops are in this way,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-53-320.jpg)
![He did nothing to me; but I did to him what I have done to many
before, that is, you must know, to join them together; join hands, and
so on. I bargained many in that way, and she was perfectly agreeable,
and made no objections.
Did you give them a certificate?
Oh! yes, I gave it to the lady.
[Here a piece of paper was identified by this witness, and read in
evidence, purporting to certify that Edward Gibbon Wakefield
and Ellen Turner had been duly married according to the form
required by the Scottish law. This paper, except the names and
dates, was a printed register, at the top of which was a rudely
executed woodcut, apparently of the royal arms.]
Did the gentleman and lady converse freely with you?
O, yes; he asked me what sort of wine they had in Linton’s house,
and I said they had three kinds, with the best of Shumpine
(Champagne.) He asked me which I would take, and I said Shumpine,
and so and so; while they went into another room to dine, I finished
the wine, and then off I came. I returned, and saw them still in the
very best of comfortable spirits.
Mr. Scarlett.—We have done with you, Laing.
Mr. Brougham.—But my turn is to come with you, my gentleman.
What did you get for this job besides the Shumpine? Did you get
money as well as Shumpine?
Yes, sure I did, and so and so.
Well, how much?
Thirty or forty pounds or thereabouts, as may be.
Or fifty pounds, as it may be, Mr. Blacksmith?
May be, for I cannot say to a few pounds. I am dull of hearing.
Was this marriage ceremony, which you have been describing,
exactly what the law and church of Scotland require on such
occasions, as your certificate (as you call it) asserts?
O yes, it is in the old common form.
What! Do you mean in the old common form of the church of
Scotland, fellow?
There is no prayer-book required to be produced, I tell you.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14656-250615023123-fc5ac6d5/85/Health-Analytics-with-Python-A-Comprehensive-Guide-for-2024-Van-Der-Post-60-320.jpg)
Health Analytics with Python: A Comprehensive Guide for 2024 Van Der Post
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- 7. HEALTH INFORMATICS with Python Hayden Van Der Post Reactive Publishing
- 8. CONTENTS Title Page Chapter 1: Introduction to Python in Healthcare Chapter 2: Intermediate Data Manipulation and Analysis Chapter 3: Machine Learning in Healthcare Chapter 4: Genomics and Bioinformatics with Python Chapter 5: Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Chapter 6: Data Privacy & Security in Healthcare Chapter 7: Population Health and Epidemiology Chapter 8: Clinical Trials and Research Epilogue Additional Resources
- 9. T CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON IN HEALTHCARE he journey of Python within health data science truly began in the late 2000s, when the explosion of data transformed the healthcare sector. The need for a language that could handle vast datasets, while being flexible and easy to learn, made Python the ideal candidate. Consequently, Python's adoption was not just an evolution—it was a revolution in how healthcare data was analysed and interpreted. Around the turn of the decade, several pivotal libraries were introduced, bolstering Python's position as the lingua franca of data science. NumPy brought efficient array computation, while pandas facilitated data manipulation and analysis with dataframes—structures ideally suited to handling medical datasets. Matplotlib and later seaborn provided powerful visualization tools, essential for discerning patterns and correlations in clinical data. As the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) became commonplace, Python proved indispensable. Researchers and clinicians required tools to parse and scrutinize this new wealth of digital health information. Python's libraries like PyDicom for reading DICOM files, a standard for medical
- 10. imaging, and libraries for processing EHRs like FHIR, became integral to the healthcare data workflow. The era of big data brought with it machine learning, and Python was once again ahead of the curve. Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and Keras enabled even those with a nascent understanding of machine learning principles to build predictive models. Models that could foresee patient outcomes, optimise treatment pathways, and even identify potential epidemics became a reality, constructed from the foundation Python offered. One cannot discuss Python's role in health data science without acknowledging its impact during global crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Python was instrumental in modeling the spread of the virus, analysing its genomic sequence, and managing the deluge of data that inundated health systems. Real-time dashboards and statistical models, often developed in Python, informed policy decisions and public health responses that saved lives. In Vancouver, a city renowned for its tech scene, Python was used to amalgamate data from disparate health systems, helping to manage the caseloads in hospitals during the pandemic. Local data scientists used Python to build predictive models that informed resource allocation, such as ventilators and hospital beds, which were critical during the peaks of the healthcare crisis. Today, Python's influence continues to grow as health data science dives into new frontiers like genomics, precision medicine, and neural network- driven diagnostics. Its evolution is characterized by a symbiotic relationship with the healthcare sector: Python advances, and health data science finds new horizons to explore. Emergence of Python in Data Science The emergence of Python as a powerhouse in data science is a tale of serendipity and strategic foresight. It began quietly, as academic institutions and a few forward-thinking enterprises started to experiment with Python's potential for data analysis tasks. Initially overshadowed by stalwarts like R
- 11. and MATLAB, Python's journey in the data science world was not meteoric but marked by steady, persistent growth. Python's user-friendly syntax appealed to non-programmers, including statisticians and analysts, who found its readability conducive to rapid learning and application. This was particularly advantageous as the data science discipline itself was evolving, requiring professionals who could bridge the gap between statistical theory and computational practice. The tipping point for Python's rise in the data science community was the development and improvement of several key libraries tailored to data analysis and scientific computing. The SciPy ecosystem, which included NumPy for numerical operations and pandas for data wrangling, provided the foundational tools necessary for data scientists to transition from theory to practice with ease. Moreover, the language's interoperability and its ability to glue disparate systems together made it a favorite for integrated data science workflows. As open-source software, Python encouraged collaboration and sharing, which rapidly accelerated the development of a rich ecosystem of data science libraries and frameworks. In the context of healthcare, Python's ascendancy was bolstered by the specific demands of medical data analysis. The healthcare industry required a tool that could handle the complexities of medical data, from varied data types like imaging and genomic sequences to time-series data from patient monitoring devices. Python's simplicity and the rich suite of libraries, such as BioPython for biological computations and PyHealth for healthcare analytics, made it an ideal fit for the domain. The capacity of Python to deal with large datasets, a staple in the healthcare industry, further cemented its position. Libraries like Dask and Vaex extended Python's ability to work with "big data", enabling the analysis of datasets too large to fit into a single machine's memory, without the need for complex distributed computing setups.
- 12. Python's contribution to data science became conspicuously evident during global health crises, where rapid data analysis was crucial. Its role in streamlining data flows, from collection and cleaning to modeling and visualization, allowed health professionals and decision-makers to respond to critical situations with unprecedented agility. In the classroom and the lab, Python became the teaching language of choice, shaping new generations of data scientists. Its pragmatism and versatility prepared students for the real-world challenges they would face, particularly in the multifaceted landscape of health data science. As Python's prominence in data science grew, so did the platforms supporting it. Jupyter Notebooks emerged as a popular interactive environment, allowing data scientists to combine executable code with narrative text and visualizations. This proved invaluable in sharing research findings, educating peers, and streamlining collaborative projects in both academic and healthcare settings. Understanding Basic Data Types: Strings, Integers, Floats In Python programming for healthcare data science, an astute understanding of basic data types is imperative. These foundational types are the atoms of the data universe, forming the substance from which complex data structures and nuanced analysis are crafted. Strings, encapsulated within either single (' ') or double (" ") quotes, are sequences of characters representing textual data. In healthcare data science, strings are omnipresent, encompassing anything from patient names to diagnostic codes. They enable the representation of non-numeric data within a dataset, a crucial feature considering the extensive use of text in medical records, prescriptions, and notes. Consider a patient's record that contains a string "Diabetes Mellitus Type 2" as a diagnosed condition. This text, stored as a string, becomes a key piece of data for analysis, classification, and potential alignment with treatment protocols. Python provides a multitude of methods to manipulate and process strings, such as `split()`, `replace()`, and `upper()`, which can be
- 13. leveraged to standardize and prepare textual data for further data science tasks. Integers are whole numbers without a decimal point. In healthcare datasets, integers are used to represent discrete data such as the number of hospital admissions, patient room numbers, or the count of a particular type of white blood cell. An understanding of integers is essential, as they are frequently used in statistical models and calculations across health data analysis. For instance, when dealing with patient age demographics, integers provide a clear and concise representation that can be easily compared and calculated upon. Python's innate ability to handle arithmetic operations with integers allows for efficient computation when assessing metrics like the average age of patients with a certain condition or the distribution of ages within a study population. Floats, the third basic data type, are numbers that include a decimal point. They are vital for representing continuous measurements in medical data, such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure readings, or medication dosages. These values require the precision that floats offer, especially when the difference of small decimals can significantly impact a patient's health outcome. Take, for example, the administration of a drug where dosage needs to be calculated based on patient weight; floats allow for the precision needed in this calculation. With Python's float division, even when both operands are integers, a float result is returned, ensuring precise outcomes in every calculation. Both integers and floats fall under the wider category of numbers within Python, and they can be freely converted between each other to suit the needs of different datasets. This flexibility is fundamental for health data scientists, who must frequently normalize data and convert between measurements units. Complex Data Structures: Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries, and Sets
- 14. In the analytical orchestra that is Python programming for health data science, complex data structures are the ensembles that harmonize disparate elements into a coherent symphony of information. As we dive into these structures, we unveil their unique characteristics and their indispensable role in organizing, storing, and manipulating data efficiently. Lists in Python are mutable sequences, capable of storing an ordered collection of items, which can be of different data types. In healthcare data science, lists are akin to versatile containers, ideal for housing sequential data such as patient vitals over time or a series of laboratory test results. Imagine a scenario involving the tracking of a patient's cholesterol levels. A list allows for the appending of new data points as they are received, the convenient retrieval of any specific measurement, and the easy sorting of results for trend analysis. Lists also support comprehensive slicing, enabling health data scientists to segment sequences for focused investigations. For exemplification: ```python cholesterol_levels = [200, 189, 204, 199, 178] cholesterol_levels.sort() # Sorting to find trends print(cholesterol_levels) ``` Tuples are immutable sequences, which means once they are created, their content cannot be altered. This quality makes tuples reliable vessels for fixed data groupings such as the coordinates of a hospital's location or the date of a patient's discharge. Tuples bring forth a level of data integrity, as their immutability prevents accidental alteration—a crucial feature when dealing with sensitive health information that must remain unmodified for legal and ethical reasons. An example of a tuple might be:
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- 16. ```python hospital_location = (49.2827, -123.1207) # Latitude and longitude of Vancouver General Hospital discharge_date = (2023, 3, 14) # Year, Month, Day ``` Dictionaries are Python's built-in mapping type. They are unordered collections of items where each item is a key-value pair. Dictionaries are ideal for associating related information, like linking patient IDs to their records or mapping medications to their dosages. In health informatics, dictionaries facilitate the quick retrieval of information based on unique identifiers—critical in environments where rapid access to patient-specific data can be life-saving. A simple dictionary example: ```python patient_medication_dosage = {'Metformin': 500, 'Atorvastatin': 20} print(patient_medication_dosage['Metformin']) # Outputs: 500 ``` Sets are unordered collections of unique elements. In the context of health data, sets are useful for eliminating duplicates, which is beneficial when compiling unique lists of symptoms, medications, or diseases from a larger dataset. Sets inherently support mathematical set operations like union, intersection, and difference, enabling health data scientists to perform analysis on distinct groups of data effectively. Utilizing a set to identify unique conditions: ```python
- 17. patient_conditions = set(['Hypertension', 'Diabetes', 'Hypertension']) print(patient_conditions) # Outputs: {'Hypertension', 'Diabetes'} ``` Each of these complex data structures—lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets— serves a distinct purpose and offers a toolset for solving specific problems within the vast domain of health data science. Whether you are constructing patient profiles, managing clinical trial data, or tracking epidemiological trends, understanding and leveraging these structures is fundamental to effective data management and insightful analysis. Handling Healthcare-Specific Data Structures: FHIR, HL7 In health informatics, data interoperability is not just a technical requirement; it's a conduit for continuity of care, patient safety, and clinical research. Healthcare-specific data structures such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and Health Level Seven (HL7) are the lingua franca enabling diverse health information systems to converse seamlessly. FHIR is a standard describing data formats and elements (known as "resources") and an application programming interface (API) for exchanging electronic health records. FHIR is built on modern web technologies and is designed for ease of implementation and integration. It thrives on simplicity and extensibility, making healthcare data exchange more intuitive and efficient. The following Python snippet demonstrates how one might interact with a FHIR API to retrieve a patient's record: ```python import requests fhir_endpoint = "https://fhirtest.uhn.ca/baseDstu3/Patient/845439"
- 18. response = requests.get(fhir_endpoint) patient_data = response.json() print(patient_data['name']) # Accessing the patient's name from the FHIR response ``` HL7, specifically HL7 Version 2.x, is a set of international standards for the transfer of clinical and administrative data between software applications used by various healthcare providers. These standards focus on the application layer, which is "layer 7" in the OSI model. HL7 helps to simplify the implementation of interfaces among healthcare systems and reduce the complexity of healthcare data integration. Parsing an HL7 message to extract patient information might look like this: ```python import hl7 # An example HL7 message hl7_message = "MSH|^~&|HIS|RAD|LAB|CARDIO|202303141605||ADT^A01|MSG0000 1|P|2.6rEVN|A01|202303141605rPID|||545776^^^HIS||SMITH^JOHN^A|| 19600407|M||C|1200 N ELM STREET^^GREENSBORO^NC^27401- 1020|GL|(919)379-1212|(919)271- 3434||S||545776|123456789|987654^NCr" # Parse the message message = hl7.parse(hl7_message) for segment in message: if segment[0] == 'PID': patient_info = segment print(f"Patient's Name: {patient_info[5]}") # Outputs: Patient's Name: SMITH^JOHN^A
- 19. ``` Both FHIR and HL7 play pivotal roles in the management of health data— they encapsulate patient information, clinical observations, diagnostic reports, and treatment outcomes, all of which are essential for a comprehensive understanding of a patient's health narrative. However, the complexities of these data structures lie not only in their syntax but also in their semantic layers—where the meaning of the data is encoded in the relationships between the elements. It requires a multifaceted approach to handle these data structures proficiently: a thorough understanding of the standards, an ability to navigate or construct APIs, and a keen sense for data quality and integrity. As health data scientists, the ability to parse, manipulate, and compose FHIR and HL7 messages with Python opens a multitude of possibilities for system integration, data analysis, and, for transforming the quality and delivery of healthcare. The upcoming sections of this book will dive deeper into practical applications and the nuances of these healthcare-specific data structures, offering readers an actionable understanding of how to harness their full potential in the pursuit of health data excellence. Data Type Conversion and Manipulation Techniques The versatility of Python in handling various data types is crucial when dealing with the heterogeneity of healthcare data. A deep dive into data type conversion and manipulation techniques reveals the transformative power these processes have on data analysis, especially when data comes from disparate sources and formats. Data Type Conversion in Python is a fundamental skill for health data scientists. In healthcare datasets, numerical and categorical data often coexist, and the ability to convert between data types is necessary for effective data preparation and analysis. Python's dynamic typing allows for effortless data type conversion, enhancing the fluidity with which one can clean and preprocess healthcare data.
- 20. Let us explore how Python facilitates these transformations: ```python # Convert string to float blood_pressure = "120.5" blood_pressure_value = float(blood_pressure) # Convert integer to string patient_id = 12345 patient_id_str = str(patient_id) # Convert a list of strings to a list of integers age_years = ["35", "42", "58"] age_years_int = list(map(int, age_years)) ``` Manipulating Data Types is just as critical. The manipulation of lists, dictionaries, and dataframes is commonplace in Python-driven healthcare analytics. For instance, when working with patient records stored in lists or dictionaries, one might need to add, remove, or update entries as new data becomes available or corrections are made. Consider the following example, which simulates updating a patient's record: ```python patient_record = { 'name': 'John Smith', 'age': 45, 'blood_type': 'O+', 'allergies': ['Penicillin', 'Peanuts'] }
- 21. # Updating the age patient_record['age'] = 46 # Adding a new allergy patient_record['allergies'].append('Aspirin') # Removing an incorrect allergy patient_record['allergies'].remove('Peanuts') ``` Dataframes, the cornerstone of the pandas library, are especially powerful for tabular data manipulation. They allow for operations on entire columns or rows, conditional selection, and complex joins and merges. The following snippet showcases a basic dataframe operation: ```python import pandas as pd # Create a dataframe from a dictionary df = pd.DataFrame({ 'patient_id': [1, 2, 3], 'blood_pressure': [120, 135, 110], 'cholesterol': [190, 220, 185] }) # Convert blood pressure to a categorical variable df['bp_category'] = pd.cut(df['blood_pressure'], bins=[0, 120, 140, 190], labels=['Normal', 'Elevated', 'High']) ``` Through these examples, one can appreciate the elegant simplicity with which Python handles diverse data types and the robustness it offers in data
- 22. manipulation. Memory Management for Large Health Datasets In the domain of health data science, the proficient management of memory is paramount, particularly when confronted with the colossal datasets that characterize contemporary healthcare research and practice. The handling of large datasets with aplomb is a testament to the judicious use of Python's facilities, engineered to be both powerful and efficient. Efficient Memory Usage entails the employment of strategies to minimize memory consumption without compromising the speed or accuracy of data analysis. Python provides numerous avenues for this, and one especially potent tool in the health data scientist's arsenal is the use of `pandas` library with its well-optimized data structures. Consider the use of `dtype` optimization for reducing memory footprint: ```python import pandas as pd # Load a large dataset of patient records patient_data = pd.read_csv('large_health_dataset.csv') # Optimize memory usage by downcasting numerical columns float_cols = patient_data.select_dtypes(include=['float']).columns int_cols = patient_data.select_dtypes(include=['int']).columns patient_data[float_cols] = patient_data[float_cols].apply(pd.to_numeric, downcast='float') patient_data[int_cols] = patient_data[int_cols].apply(pd.to_numeric, downcast='integer') ```
- 23. In such a procedure, the application of `downcast` to 'float' and 'integer' can significantly reduce the memory footprint of the dataset by fitting the data into the most appropriate and compact numerical dtype available. Data Chunking is another technique that shines when manipulating extensive datasets that cannot be readily accommodated in memory. By partitioning the dataset into manageable pieces, one can iteratively process and analyze the data. A demonstration of chunking a dataset using `pandas`: ```python chunk_size = 5000 # This can be adjusted based on the available memory chunks = [] for chunk in pd.read_csv('large_health_dataset.csv', chunksize=chunk_size): # Perform data manipulation on the chunk processed_chunk = process_data(chunk) chunks.append(processed_chunk) # Concatenate the processed chunks back into a single dataframe full_dataset = pd.concat(chunks, ignore_index=True) ``` In-Memory Compression techniques, such as those offered by `bcolz` or `PyTables`, are also essential for dealing with voluminous health datasets. These libraries can store data in a compressed format, which both reduces memory usage and accelerates processing time due to lesser I/O operations. Efficient Data Storage Formats such as HDF5 or Parquet, when paired with Python, allow for sophisticated on-disk storage while still providing the capabilities for fast reading and writing operations, which is pivotal in the context of large-scale health data.
- 24. ```python # Write a DataFrame to a Parquet file df.to_parquet('patient_data.parquet') # Read the Parquet file back into a pandas DataFrame df = pd.read_parquet('patient_data.parquet') ``` Through judicious use of these memory management techniques, health data scientists can conduct analyses that might otherwise be hampered by the limitations of system memory. The upcoming segments will continue to elucidate advanced strategies for working with substantial health datasets, ensuring that the reader is well-equipped for the rigorous demands of health informatics. The Art and Science of Loading Health Datasets with Python As we pivot our focus to the initial stages of data analysis, it becomes evident that the foundational act of loading health datasets into Python is both an art and a science. It requires a meticulous balance of technical knowledge and a nuanced understanding of the data's intricacies. Loading and Inspecting Health Datasets with Pandas To initiate our practical exploration, let us consider the import of a dataset containing patient laboratory results. The CSV file format is ubiquitously used for its simplicity and widespread compatibility with various tools and platforms. ```python import pandas as pd # Importing the dataset lab_results = pd.read_csv('patient_lab_results.csv')
- 25. # Display the initial few records to establish familiarity print(lab_results.head()) ``` The `head()` method is instrumental in providing a sneak peek into the dataset, revealing the initial rows and allowing for a preliminary assessment of the data structure at a glance. With healthcare data often varying in quality, the initial inspection is a crucial step that informs the strategy for cleaning and preprocessing. The next stage in our inspection is to perform a thorough quality check, utilizing Pandas' functionality to summarize the dataset, thus unveiling any apparent issues or peculiarities such as missing values, which are particularly troublesome in health data due to the potential impact on patient outcomes. ```python # Dataset summary, including non-null values and data types print(lab_results.info()) # Identify columns with missing values missing_values = lab_results.isnull().sum() print(missing_values[missing_values > 0]) ``` Upon pinpointing the columns with missing values, we can strategize on approaches to handle these effectively, whether through imputation techniques or by consulting clinical experts on the best course of action. Exploratory data analysis continues as we dive deeper into the dataset's numerical summaries, particularly for variables that are critical indicators of health outcomes, such as cholesterol levels or blood pressure readings. ```python
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- 27. Exploring the Variety of Random Documents with Different Content
- 28. The Rev. Thomas Cooke was a profound Greek and Latin scholar, and consequently much better versed in the beauties of Homer, &c. than the irritable translator of the Iliad and Odyssey: his remarks on, and expositions of Pope’s glaring misconceptions of many important passages of the ancient bard drew down the satirical vengeance of his illustrious translator. It would, however, appear that Pope was not the assailant in the first instance, for in the Appendix to the Dunciad we find “A list of Books, Papers, and Verses, in which our author (Pope) was abused, before the publication of that Poem;” and among the said works “The Battle of the Poets, an heroic Poem, by Thomas Cooke, printed for J. Roberts, folio, 1725,” is particularly mentioned. In book ii. of the Dunciad, we have the following line,— “Cooke shall be Prior, and Concanen Swift;” to which the following note is appended:— “The man here specified writ a thing called The Battle of the Poets, in which Philips and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed.” Cooke also published some “malevolent things in the British, London, and daily journals, and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence.” His chief work was a translation of “Hesiod, to which Theobald writ notes, and half notes, which he carefully owned.” Again, in the testimonies of authors, which precede the Dunciad, we find the following remark:— “Mr. Thomas Cooke, “After much blemishing our author’s Homer, crieth out “But in his other works what beauties shine, While sweetest music dwells in ev’ry line! These he admir’d, on these he stamp’d his praise, And bade them live t’ enlighten future days!” I have somewhere read that Cooke was a native of Sussex; that he became famous for his knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages while at Cambridge; and was ultimately settled in some part of Shropshire, where he soon became acquainted with the
- 29. family of the young lady celebrated by his muse, in the fifth number of the Table Book, and where he also greatly distinguished himself as a clergyman, and preceptor of the younger branches of the neighbouring gentry and nobility. This may in some measure account for the respectable list of subscribers alluded to by G. J. D. It is presumed, however, that misfortune at length overtook him; for we find, in the “Ambulator, or London and its Environs,” under the head “Lambeth,” that he lies interred in the church-yard of that parish, and that he died extremely poor: he is, moreover, designated “the celebrated translator of Hesiod, Terence, &c.” I have seen the poem entitled “The Immortality of the Soul,” mentioned by G. J. D., though I have no recollection of its general features or merit; but of “The Battle of the Poets” I have a copy; and what renders it more rare and valuable is, that it was Mr. Cooke’s own impression of the work, and has several small productions upon various occasions, written, I presume, with his own hand, each having the signature “Thomas Cooke,” on the blank leaves at the commencement of the book. On my return from the continent, I shall have no objection to intrust this literary curiosity to your care for a short time, giving you the liberty of extracting any (and all if you think proper) of the pieces written on the interleaves: and, in the mean time, I will do myself the pleasure of selecting one from the number, for insertion in the Table Book, which will, at least, prove that Mr. Cooke’s animosity was of transient duration, and less virulent than that of Pope. It is possible that at some future time I may be able to enlarge upon this subject, for the better information of your correspondent; and I beg, in the interim, to remark that there is no doubt the Annual Register, from about the year 1750 to 1765, or works of that description, will fully satisfy his curiosity, and afford him much more explanation relative to Mr. Cooke than any communications from existing descendants. In Mr. Cooke’s copy of “The Battle of the Poets,” the lines before quoted run thus:—
- 30. “But in his other works what beauties shine— What sweetness also dwells in ev’ry line! These all admire—these bring him endless praise, And crown his temples with unfading bays!” I remain, sir, Your obedient servant and subscriber, * * * * * * * * * * * * Oxford, Jan. 29, 1827.
- 31. VERSES, Occasioned by the lamented Death of Mr. Alexander Pope. Pope! though thy pen has strove with heedless rage To make my name obnoxious to the age, While, dipp’d in gall, and tarnish’d with the spleen, It dealt in taunts ridiculous and mean, Aiming to lessen what it could not reach, And giving license to ungrateful speech, Still I forgive its enmity, and feel Regrets I would not stifle, nor conceal; For though thy temper, and imperious soul, Needed, at times, subjection and controul, There was a majesty—a march of sense— A proud display of rare intelligence, In many a line of that transcendent pen, We never, perhaps, may contemplate again— An energy peculiarly its own, And sweetness perfectly before unknown! Then deign, thou mighty master of the lyre! T’ accept what justice and remorse inspire; Justice that prompts the willing muse to tell, None ever wrote so largely and so well— Remorse that feels no future bard can fill The vacant chair with half such Attic skill, Or leave behind so many proofs of taste, As those rich poems dulness ne’er disgrac’d! Farewell, dear shade! all enmity is o’er, Since Pope has left us for a brighter shore, Where neither rage, nor jealousy, nor hate, Can rouse the little, nor offend the great; Where worldly contests are at once forgot, In the bright glories of a happier lot; And where the dunces of the Dunciad see Thy genius crown’d with immortality! Thomas Cooke. DUKE OF YORK Albany and Clarence.
- 32. For the Table Book. In the History of Scotland, there is a remark which may be added to the account of the dukes of York, at col. 103; viz. Shire of Perth.—That part of the county called Braidalbin, or Breadalbane, lies amongst the Grampian-hills, and gives title to a branch of the family of Campbell; where note that Braid-Albin, in old Scotch, signifies the highest part of Scotland, and Drum-Albin, which is the name of a part thereof, signifies the ridge or back of Scotland. Hence it is collected that this is the country which the ancients called Albany, and part of the residence of the ancient Scots, who still retain the name, and call themselves “Albinkich,” together with the ancient language and habit, continuing to be a hardy, brave, and warlike people, and very parsimonious in their way of living; and from this country the sons of the royal family of Scotland took the title of “duke of Albany;” and since the union of the two crowns, it has been found amongst the royal titles of the dukes of York. Respecting the dukedom of Clarence, which is originally derived from Clare, in Suffolk, king Edward III. in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, for default of issue male in the former family, created his third son, Lionel, by reason of his marriage with the grandaughter of the late earl of Clare, duke of Clarence, being a word of a fuller sound than the monosyllable “Clare.” M. DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS. Lord George Germain was of a remarkably amiable disposition; and his domestics lived with him rather as humble friends than menial servants. One day entering his house in Pall-mall, he observed a large basket of vegetables standing in the hall, and inquired of the porter to whom they belonged, and from whence they came? Old John immediately replied, “They are ours, my lord, from our country- house.”—“Very well,” rejoined his lordship. At that instant a carriage stopped at the door, and lord George, turning round, asked what coach it was? “Ours,” said honest John. “And are the children in it ours
- 33. too?” said his lordship, smiling. “Most certainly, my lord,” replied John, with the utmost gravity, and immediately ran to lift them out. Riddle. A LITERARY CHARACTER. I have long maintained a distinguished station in our modern days, but I cannot trace my origin to ancient times, though the learned have attempted it. After the revolution in 1688, I was chief physician to the king; at least in my absence he ever complained of sickness. Had I lived in ancient days, so friendly was I to crowned heads, that Cleopatra would have got off with a sting; and her cold arm would have felt a reviving heat. I am rather a friend to sprightliness than to industry; I have often converted a neutral pronoun into a man of talent: I have often amused myself with reducing the provident ant to indigence; I never meet a post horse without giving him a blow; to some animals I am a friend, and many a puppy has yelped for aid when I have deserted him. I am a patron of architecture, and can turn every thing into brick and mortar; and so honest withal, that whenever I can find a pair of stockings, I ask for their owner. Not even Lancaster has carried education so far as I have: I adopt always the system of interrogatories. I have already taught my hat to ask questions of fact; and my poultry questions of chronology. With my trees I share the labours of my laundry; they scour my linen; and when I find a rent, ’tis I who make it entire. In short, such are my merits, that whatever yours may be, you can never be more than half as good as I am.
- 34. ANSWER TO THE PRECEDING. A literary character you view, Known to the moderns only—W: I was physician to king William; When absent, he would say, “how—ill I am!” In ancient days if I had liv’d, the asp Which poison’d Egypt’s queen, had been a—Wasp; And the death-coldness of th’ imperial arm With life reviving had again been—Warm. A friend to sprightliness, that neuter it By sudden pow’r I’ve chang’d into a—Wit. The vainly-provident industrious ant With cruel sport I oft reduce to—Want; Whene’er I meet with an unlucky hack, I give the creature a tremendous—Whack: And many a time a puppy cries for help, If I desert capriciously the—Whelp. A friend to architecture, I turn all (As quick as Chelt’nham builders) into—Wall. I’m honest, for whene’er I find some hose, I seek the owner, loud exclaiming—Whose? Farther than Lancaster I educate, My system’s always to interrogate; Already have I taught my very hat Questions of fact to ask, and cry out—What? Questions of time my poultry, for the hen Cackles chronology, enquiring—When? My laundry’s labour I divide with ashes; It is with them the laundress scours and—Washes: And if an ugly rent I find, the hole Instantly vanishes, becoming—Whole. In short, my merits are so bright to view How good soe’er you may be, just or true, You can but halve my worth, for I am—double you. Cheltenham. THE MERRY MONARCH, AND “BLYTHE COCKPEN.”
- 35. While Charles II. was sojourning in Scotland, before the battle of Worcester, his chief confidant and associate was the laird of Cockpen, called by the nick-naming fashion of the times, “Blythe Cockpen.” He followed Charles to the Hague, and by his skill in playing Scottish tunes, and his sagacity and wit, much delighted the merry monarch. Charles’s favourite air was “Brose and Butter;” it was played to him when he went to bed, and he was awakened by it. At the restoration, however, Blythe Cockpen shared the fate of many other of the royal adherents; he was forgotten, and wandered upon the lands he once owned in Scotland, poor and unfriended. His letters to the court were unpresented, or disregarded, till, wearied and incensed, he travelled to London; but his mean garb not suiting the rich doublets of court, he was not allowed to approach the royal presence. At length, he ingratiated himself with the king’s organist, who was so enraptured with Cockpen’s wit and powers of music, that he requested him to play on the organ before the king at divine service. His exquisite skill did not attract his majesty’s notice, till, at the close of the service, instead of the usual tune, he struck up “Brose and Butter,” with all its energetic merriment. In a moment the royal organist was ordered into the king’s presence. “My liege, it was not me! it was not me!” he cried, and dropped upon his knees. “You!” cried his majesty, in a rapture, “you could never play it in your life—where’s the man? let me see him.” Cockpen presented himself on his knee. “Ah, Cockpen, is that you?—Lord, man, I was like to dance coming out of the church!”—“I once danced too,” said Cockpen, “but that was when I had land of my own to dance on.”—“Come with me,” said Charles taking him by the hand, “you shall dance to Brose and Butter on your own lands again to the nineteenth generation;” and as far as he could, the king kept his promise. Topography. SINGULAR INTERMENT. The following curious entry is in the register of Lymington church, under the year 1736:—
- 36. “Samuel Baldwin, esq. sojourner in this parish, was immersed, without the Needles, sans cérémonie, May 20.” This was performed in consequence of an earnest wish the deceased had expressed, a little before his dissolution, in order to disappoint the intention of his wife, who had repeatedly assured him, in their domestic squabbles, (which were very frequent,) that if she survived him, she would revenge her conjugal sufferings, by dancing on his grave. ODD SIGNS. A gentleman lately travelling through Grantham, in Lincolnshire, observed the following lines under a sign-post, on which was placed an inhabited bee-hive. Two wonders, Grantham, now are thine, The highest spire, and a living sign. The same person, at another public-house in the country, where London porter was sold, observed the figure of Britannia engraved upon a tankard, in a reclining posture; underneath was the following motto:— Pray Sup-Porter.
- 37. Vol. I.—14. Elvet Bridge, Durham. Elvet Bridge, Durham. The above engraving is from a lithographic view, published in Durham in 1820: it was designed by Mr. Bouet, a very ingenious French gentleman, resident there, whose abilities as an artist are of a superior order. Elvet bridge consists of nine or ten arches, and was built by the excellent bishop Pudsey, about the year 1170. It was repaired in the
- 38. time of bishop Fox, who held the see of Durham from 1494 to 1502, and granted an “indulgence” to all who should contribute towards defraying the expense; an expedient frequently resorted to in Catholic times for the forwarding of great undertakings. It was again improved, by widening it to twice its breadth, in 1806. Upon this bridge there were two chapels, dedicated respectively to St. James and St. Andrew, one of which stood on the site of the old house close to the bridge, at present inhabited by Mr. Adamson, a respectable veterinary surgeon; the other stood on the site of the new houses on the south side of the bridge, occupied by Mr. Fenwick and Mr. Hopper. About three years ago, while clearing away the rubbish, preparatory to the erection of the latter houses, some remains of the old chapel were discovered: an arch was in a very perfect state, but unfortunately no drawing was made. It is believed by some, that another chapel stood on, or near Elvet bridge, dedicated to St. Magdalen; and the name of the flight of steps leading from Elvet bridge to Saddler-street, viz. the Maudlin, or Magdalen-steps, rather favours the supposition. On the north side of Elvet bridge is a building, erected in 1632, formerly used as the house of correction, but which, since the erection of the new gaol, was sold to the late Stephen Kemble, Esq., and is now the printing and publishing office of the Durham Chronicle. The ground cells are miserable places: some figures, still visible on many of the walls, as faces, ships, &c. show to what resources the poor fellows confined there were driven to amuse themselves. This building is said to be haunted by the restless sprite of an old piper, who, as the story is, was brought down the river by a flood, and, on being rescued from the water, became an inmate of the house of correction, where he died a few years afterwards. The credulous often hear his bagpipes at midnight. Every old bridge seems to have its legend, and this is the legend of Elvet bridge. The buildings represented by the engraving in the distance are the old gaol, and a few of the adjoining houses. This gaol, which stood to the east of the castle, and contiguous to the keep, was originally the great north gateway to the castle, and was erected by bishop Langley, who held the see of Durham from 1406 to 1437. It divided Saddler-
- 39. street from the North Bailey, and was a fine specimen of the architecture of the age, but, from its confined situation, in a public part of the city, it was adjudged to be a nuisance, and was accordingly destroyed in 1820. On the west side of it is erected an elegant subscription library and news-room, and on the opposite a spacious assembly-room; these form a striking contrast to the spot in the state here represented. The present county gaol is at the head of Old Elvet; it is a splendid edifice, and so it should be, considering that it cost the county 120,000l. Of bishop Pudsey, the builder of Elvet bridge, the following account is given in Hegg’s Legend of St. Cuthbert. Speaking of St. Goodrick, of whom there are particulars in the Every-Day Book, Hegg says, “Thus after he had acted all the miracles of a legend, he ended his scene in the yeare 1170, not deserving that honour conferred on his cell by the forenamed bishop Pusar (Pudsey), who told him he should be seven yeares blind before his death, so that the bishop deferring his repentance till the tyme of his blindness, (which Goodrick meant of the eyes of his understanding) dyed unprovided for death. But if good works be satisfactorie, then died he not in debt for his sinnes, who repayred and built many of the episcopall manors, and founded the manor and church at Darlington, and two hospitals, one at Alverton, and the other at Sherburne, neare Durham. He built also Elvet bridge, with two chapels upon it, over the Weer; and, lastly, built that beautiful work the Galilee, now the bishop’s consistory, and hither translated saint Bede’s bones, which lye enterred under a tomb of black marble.” From the above extract, as punctuated in all the printed copies I have seen, it would appear that Hegg intended to represent both the chapels as being over the Weer, whereas only one was so situated, the other being on one of the land arches. To render this passage correct, the words “with two chapels upon it” should have been inserted in a parenthesis, which would make the passage stand thus, “He built also Elvet bridge, (with two chapels upon it,) over the Weer.” Hegg, with all his humour, is frequently obscure; and his legend, which was for some time in manuscript, has suffered by the inattention of transcribers; there are three different copies in print, and all vary. The
- 40. edition printed by the late Mr. Allan of Darlington, from a manuscript in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and since reprinted by Mr. Hogget of Durham, is the most correct one, and from that the above extract is taken. Bishop Pudsey’s memory must always be dear to the inhabitants of the county of Durham, as probably no man ever conferred greater service on the county. It was he who, in order to supply the deficiency of Doomsday-book, caused a general survey to be made of all the demesne lands and possessions in his bishopric. This survey is recorded in a small folio of twenty-four pages, written in a bad hand, and called “Bolden Buke,” now in the archives at Durham. It contains inquisitions, or verdicts of all the several tenures of lands, services, and customs; all the tenants’ names of every degree; how much each of them held at that time, and what rents were reserved for the same. This book has been produced, and read in evidence on several trials at law, on the part of the succeeding bishops, in order to ascertain their property. Garrick Plays. No. XI. [From “Jack Drum’s Entertainment,” a Comedy, Author unknown, 1601.] The free humour of a Noble Housekeeper.
- 41. Fortune (a Knight). I was not born to be my cradle’s drudge, To choke and stifle up my pleasure’s breath, To poison with the venom’d cares of thrift My private sweet of life: only to scrape A heap of muck, to fatten and manure The barren virtues of my progeny, And make them sprout ’spite of their want of worth; No, I do wish my girls should wish me live; Which few do wish that have a greedy sire, But still expect, and gape with hungry lip, When he’ll give up his gouty stewardship. Friend. Then I wonder, You not aspire unto the eminence And height of pleasing life. To Court, to Court— There burnish, there spread, there stick in pomp, Like a bright diamond in a Lady’s brow. There plant your fortunes in the flowring spring, And get the Sun before you of Respect. There trench yourself within the people’s love, And glitter in the eye of glorious grace. What’s wealth without respect and mounted place? Fortune. Worse and worse!—I am not yet distraught, I long not to be squeez’d with my own weight, Nor hoist up all my sails to catch the wind Of the drunk reeling Commons. I labour not To have an awful presence, nor be feared. Since who is fear’d still fears to be so feared. I care not to be like the Horeb calf, One day adored, and next pasht all in pieces. Nor do I envy Polyphemian puffs, Switzers’ slopt greatness. I adore the Sun, Yet love to live within a temperate zone. Let who will climb ambitious glibbery rounds, And lean upon the vulgar’s rotten love, I’ll not corrival him. The sun will give As great a shadow to my trunk as his; And after death, like Chessmen having stood In play, for Bishops some, for Knights, and Pawns, We all together shall be tumbled up Into one bag. Let hush’d-calm quiet rock my life asleep; And, being dead, my own ground press my bones; Whilst some old Beldame, hobbling o’er my grave, May mumble thus:
- 42. y ‘Here lies a Knight whose Money was his Slave.’ [From the “Changes,” a Comedy, by James Shirley, 1632.] Excess of Epithets, enfeebling to Poetry. Friend. Master Caperwit, before you read, pray tell me, Have your verses any Adjectives? Caperwit. Adjectives! would you have a poem without Adjectives? they’re the flower, the grace of all our language. A well-chosen Epithet doth give new soul To fainting Poesy, and makes every verse A Bride! With Adjectives we bait our lines, When we do fish for Gentlewomen’s loves, And with their sweetness catch the nibbling ear Of amorous ladies; with the music of These ravishing nouns we charm the silken tribe, And make the Gallant melt with apprehension Of the rare Word. I will maintain ’t against A bundle of Grammarians, in Poetry The Substantive itself cannot subsist Without its Adjective. Friend. But for all that, Those words would sound more full, methinks, that are not So larded; and if I might counsel you, You should compose a Sonnet clean without ’em. A row of stately Substantives would march Like Switzers, and bear all the fields before ’em; Carry their weight; shew fair, like Deeds Enroll’d; Not Writs, that are first made and after fill’d. Thence first came up the title of Blank Verse;— You know, Sir, what Blank signifies?—when the sense, First framed, is tied with Adjectives like points, And could not hold together without wedges: Hang ’t, ’tis pedantic, vulgar Poetry. Let children, when they versify, stick here And there these piddling words for want of matter Poets write Masculine Numbers. [From the “Guardian,” a Comedy, by Abraham Cowley, 1650. This was the first Draught of that which he published afterwards under the title of the “Cutter of Coleman Street;” and contains the character of a Foolish Poet, omitted in the latter. I give a few scraps of this
- 43. character, both because the Edition is scarce, and as furnishing no unsuitable corollary to the Critical Admonitions in the preceding Extract.—The “Cutter” has always appeared to me the link between the Comedy of Fletcher and of Congreve. In the elegant passion of the Love Scenes it approaches the former; and Puny (the character substituted for the omitted Poet) is the Prototype of the half-witted Wits, the Brisks and Dapper Wits, of the latter.] Doggrell, the foolish Poet, described. Cutter. —— the very Emblem of poverty and poor poetry. The feet are worse patched of his rhymes, than of his stockings. If one line forget itself, and run out beyond his elbow, while the next keeps at home (like him), and dares not show his head, he calls that an Ode. * * * Tabitha. Nay, they mocked and fleered at us, as we sung the Psalm the last Sunday night. Cutter. That was that mungrel Rhymer; by this light he envies his brother poet John Sternhold, because he cannot reach his heights. * * * Doggrell (reciting his own verses.) Thus pride doth still with beauty dwell, And like the Baltic ocean swell. Blade. Why the Baltic, Doggrell? Doggrell. Why the Baltic!—this ’tis not to have read the Poets. * * * She looks like Niobe on the mountain’s top. Cutter. That Niobe, Doggrell, you have used worse than Phœbus did. Not a dog looks melancholy but he’s compared to Niobe. He beat a villainous Tapster ’tother day, to make him look like Niobe. C. L. ANCIENT WAGGERY. For the Table Book. [From the “Pleasant Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full of humourous Discourses and merry Merriments:—1607.”] How Maister Hobson hung out a lanterne and candlelight. In the beginning of queen Elizabeth’s reign, when the order of hanging out lanterne and candlelight first of all was brought up,[95] the bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson dwelt, in a dark evening,
- 44. crieing up and down, “Hang out your lanternes! Hang out your lanternes!” using no other wordes, Maister Hobson tooke an emptie lanterne, and, according to the bedells call, hung it out. This flout, by the lord mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the same offence Hobson was sent to the Counter, but being released, the next night following, thinking to amend his call, the bedell cryed out, with a loud voice, “Hang out your lanternes and candle!” Maister Hobson, hereupon, hung out a lanterne and candle unlighted, as the bedell again commanded; whereupon he was sent again to the Counter; but the next night, the bedell being better advised, cryed “Hang out your lanterne and candle light! Hang out your lanterne and candle light!” which Maister Hobson at last did, to his great commendations, which cry of lanterne and candle light is in right manner used to this day. How Maister Hobson found out the Pye-stealer. In Christmas Holy-dayes when Maister Hobson’s wife had many pyes in the oven, one of his servants had stole one of them out, and at the tauerne had merrilie eat it. It fortuned, the same day, that some of his friends dined with him, and one of the best pyes were missing, the stealer thereof, after dinner, he found out in this manner. He called all his servants in friendly sort together into the hall, and caused each of them to drinke one to another, both wine, ale, and beare, till they were all drunke; then caused hee a table to be furnished with very goode cheare, whereat hee likewise pleased them. Being set altogether, he saide, “Why sit ye not downe fellows?”—“We bee set already,” quoth they.—“Nay,” quoth Maister Hobson, “he that stole the pye is not yet set.”—“Yes, that I doe!” quoth he that stole it, by which means Maister Hobson knewe what was become of the pye; for the poor fellowe being drunke could not keepe his owne secretts. [95] The custom of hanging out lanterns before lamps were in use was earlier than queen Elizabeth’s reign.
- 45. THE FIRST VIOLET. The spring is come: the violet’s gone, The first-born child of the early sun; With us she is but a winter flower, The snow on the hills cannot blast her bower— And she lifts up her head of dewy blue To the youngest sky of the self-same hue. And when the spring comes with her host Of flowers—that flower beloved the most, Shrinks from the crowd that may confuse Her heavenly odour and virgin hues. Pluck the others, but still remember Their herald out of dim December— The morning star of all the flowers, The pledge of daylight’s lengthened hours. Nor, midst the roses, e’er forget The virgin—virgin violet. YORKSHIRE SAYING. For the Table Book. “Let’s begin again like the Clerk of Beeston.” The clerk of Beeston, a small village near Leeds, one Sunday, after having sung a psalm about half way through the first verse, discovered he had chosen a wrong tune, on which he exclaimed to the singers, “Stop lads, we’ve got into a wrong metre, let’s begin again!” Hence the origin of the saying, so common in Leeds and the neighbourhood, “Let’s begin again, like the clerk of Beeston.” T. Q. M.
- 46. TO CONTENTMENT. I. Spark of pure celestial fire, Port of all the world’s desire, Paradise of earthly bliss, Heaven of the other world and this; Tell me, where thy court abides. Where thy glorious chariot rides? II. Eden knew thee for a day, But thou wouldst no longer stay; Outed for poor Adam’s sin, By a flaming cherubin; Yet thou lov’st that happy shade Where thy beauteous form was made, And thy kindness still remains To the woods, and flow’ry plains. III. Happy David found thee there, Sporting in the open air; As he led his flocks along, Feeding on his rural song: But when courts and honours had Snatch’d away the lovely lad, Thou that there no room cou’dst find, Let him go and staid behind. IV. His wise son, with care and pain, Search’d all nature’s frame in vain; For a while content to be, Search’d it round, but found not thee; Beauty own’d she knew thee not, Plenty had thy name forgot: Music only did aver, Once you came and danc’d with her.[96] [96] From Dunton’s “Athenian Sport.”
- 47. Biography. PIETRE METASTASIO. This celebrated Italian lyric and dramatic poet was born at Rome, in 1698, of parents in humble life, whose names were Trapassi. At ten years of age, he was distinguished by his talents as an improvvisatore. The eminent jurist, Gravina, who amused himself with writing bad tragedies, was walking near the Campus Martius one summer’s evening, in company with the abbé Lorenzini, when they heard a sweet and powerful voice, modulating verses with the greatest fluency to the measure of the canto improvviso. On approaching the shop of Trapassi, whence the melody proceeded, they were surprised to see a lovely boy pouring forth elegant verses on the persons and objects which surrounded him, and their admiration was increased by the graceful compliments which he took an opportunity of addressing to themselves. When the youthful poet had concluded, Gravina called him to him, and, with many encomiums and caresses, offered him a piece of money, which the boy politely declined. He then inquired into his situation and employment, and being struck with the intelligence of his replies, proposed to his parents to educate him as his own child. They consented, and Gravina changed his name from Trapassi to Metastasio, and gave him a careful and excellent education for his own profession. At fourteen years of age, Metastasio produced his tragedy of “Giustino,” which so pleased Gravina, that he took him to Naples, where he contended with and excelled some of the most celebrated improvisatori of Italy. He still, however, continued his study of the law, and with a view to the only two channels of preferment which prevail at Rome, also assumed the minor order of priesthood, whence his title of abate. In 1718, death deprived him of his patron, who bequeathed to him the whole of his personal property, amounting to fifteen thousand crowns. Of too liberal and hospitable a disposition, he gradually made away with this provision and then resolved to apply more closely to the law. He repaired to Naples, to study for that purpose, but becoming acquainted with Brugnatelli, usually called “the Romanina,” the most celebrated actress and singer in Italy, he gave
- 48. himself up entirely to harmony and poetry. The extraordinary success of his first opera, “Gli Orti Esperidi,” confirmed him in this resolution, and joining his establishment to that of “the Romanina” and her husband, in a short time he composed three new dramas, “Cato in Utica,” “Ezio,” and “Semiramide.” He followed these with several more of still greater celebrity, until, in 1730, he received and accepted an invitation from the court of Vienna, to take up his residence in that capital, as coadjutor to the imperial laureate, Apostolo Zeno, whom he ultimately succeeded. From that period, the life of Metastasio presented a calm uniformity for upwards of half a century. He retained the favour of the imperial family undiminished, for his extraordinary talents were admirably seconded by the even tenor of his private character, and avoidance of court intrigue. Indefatigable as a poet, he composed no less than twenty-six operas, and eight oratorios, or sacred dramas, besides cantatas, canzoni, sonnets, and minor pieces to a great amount. The poetical characteristics of Metastasio are sweetness, correctness, purity, simplicity, gentle pathos, and refined and elevated sentiment. There is less of nature than of elegance and beauty in his dramas, which consequently appear insipid to those who have been nourished with stronger poetic aliment. Dr. Burney, who saw Metastasio at the age of seventy-two, describes him as looking like one of fifty, and as the gayest and handsomest man, of his time of life, he had ever beheld. He died after a short illness at Vienna, in April 1782, having completed his eighty- fourth year, leaving a considerable property in money, books, and valuables. Besides his numerous works, which have been translated into most of the European languages, a large collection of his letters, published since his death, supplied copious materials for his biography.[97] Mrs. Piozzi gives an amusing account of Metastasio in his latter days. She says:— “Here (at Vienna) are many ladies of fashion very eminent for their musical abilities, particularly mesdemoiselles de Martinas, one of whom is member of the academies of Berlin and Bologna: the celebrated Metastasio died in their house, after having lived with the
- 49. family sixty-five years more or less. They set his poetry and sing it very finely, appearing to recollect his conversation and friendship with infinite tenderness and delight. He was to have been presented to the pope the very day he died, and in the delirium which immediately preceded dissolution, raved much of the supposed interview. Unwilling to hear of death, no one was ever permitted to mention it before him; and nothing put him so certainly out of humour, as finding that rule transgressed. Even the small-pox was not to be named in his presence, and whoever did name that disorder, though unconscious of the offence he had given, Metastasio would see no more.” Mrs. Piozzi adds, “The other peculiarities I could gather from Miss Martinas were these: that he had contentedly lived half a century at Vienna, without ever even wishing to learn its language; that he had never given more than five guineas English money in all that time to the poor; that he always sat in the same seat at church, but never paid for it, and that nobody dared ask him for the trifling sum; that he was grateful and beneficent to the friends who began by being his protectors, but who, in the end, were his debtors, for solid benefits as well as for elegant presents, which it was his delight to be perpetually making. He left to them at last all he had ever gained, without the charge even of a single legacy; observing in his will, that it was to them he owed it, and that other conduct would in him have been injustice. He never changed the fashion of his wig, or the cut or colour of his coat, so that his portrait, taken not very long ago, looks like those of Boileau or Moliere at the head of their works. His life was arranged with such methodical exactness, that he rose, studied, chatted, slept, and dined, at the same hours, for fifty years together, enjoying uninterrupted health, which probably gave him that happy sweetness of temper, or habitual gentleness of manners, which was never ruffled, except when his sole injunction was forgotten, and the death of any person whatever was unwittingly mentioned before him. No solicitation had ever prevailed on him to dine from home, nor had his nearest intimates ever seen him eat more than a biscuit with his lemonade, every meal being performed with even mysterious privacy to the last. When his end approached by rapid steps, he did not in the least suspect that it was coming; and mademoiselle Martinas has
- 50. scarcely yet done rejoicing in the thought that he escaped the preparations he so dreaded. Latterly, all his pleasures were confined to music and conversation; and the delight he took in hearing the lady he lived with sing his songs, was visible to every one. An Italian abate here said, comically enough, ‘Oh! he always looked like a man in the state of beatification when mademoiselle de Martinas accompanied his verses with her fine voice and brilliant finger.’ The father of Metastasio was a goldsmith at Rome, but his son had so devoted himself to the family he lived with, that he refused to hear, and took pains not to know, whether he had in his latter days any one relation left in the world.” We have a life of Metastasio, chiefly derived from his correspondence, by Dr. Burney. [97] General Biog. Dict. Dict. of Musicians. A DEATH-BED: In a Letter to R. H. Esq. of B——. For the Table Book. I called upon you this morning, and found that you were gone to visit a dying friend. I had been upon a like errand. Poor N. R. has lain dying now for almost a week; such is the penalty we pay for having enjoyed through life a strong constitution. Whether he knew me or not, I know not, or whether he saw me through his poor glazed eyes; but the group I saw about him I shall not forget. Upon the bed, or about it, were assembled his Wife, their two Daughters, and poor deaf Robert, looking doubly stupified. There they were, and seemed to have been sitting all the week. I could only reach out a hand to Mrs. R. Speaking was impossible in that mute chamber. By this time it must be all over with him. In him I have a loss the world cannot make up. He was my friend, and my father’s friend, for all the life that I can remember. I seem to have made foolish friendships since. Those are the friendships, which outlast a second generation. Old as I am getting, in his eyes I was still the child he knew me. To the last he
- 51. called me Jemmy. I have none to call me Jemmy now. He was the last link that bound me to B——. You are but of yesterday. In him I seem to have lost the old plainness of manners and singleness of heart. Lettered he was not; his reading scarcely exceeding the Obituary of the old Gentleman’s Magazine, to which he has never failed of having recourse for these last fifty years. Yet there was the pride of literature about him from that slender perusal; and moreover from his office of archive keeper to your ancient city, in which he must needs pick up some equivocal Latin; which, among his less literary friends assumed the airs of a very pleasant pedantry. Can I forget the erudite look with which having tried to puzzle out the text of a Black lettered Chaucer in your Corporation Library, to which he was a sort of Librarian, he gave it up with this consolatory reflection—“Jemmy,” said he, “I do not know what you find in these very old books, but I observe, there is a deal of very indifferent spelling in them.” His jokes (for he had some) are ended; but they were old Perennials, staple, and always as good as new. He had one Song, that spake of the “flat bottoms of our foes coming over in darkness,” and alluded to a threatened Invasion, many years since blown over; this he reserved to be sung on Christmas Night, which we always passed with him, and he sang it with the freshness of an impending event. How his eyes would sparkle when he came to the passage: We’ll still make ’em run, and we’ll still make ’em sweat, In spite of the devil and Brussels’ Gazette! What is the Brussels’ Gazette now? I cry, while I endite these trifles. His poor girls who are, I believe, compact of solid goodness, will have to receive their afflicted mother at an unsuccessful home in a petty village in ——shire, where for years they have been struggling to raise a Girls’ School with no effect. Poor deaf Robert (and the less hopeful for being so) is thrown upon a deaf world, without the comfort to his father on his death-bed of knowing him provided for. They are left almost provisionless. Some life assurance there is; but, I fear, not exceeding ——. Their hopes must be from your Corporation, which their father has served for fifty years. Who or what are your Leading Members now, I know not. Is there any, to whom without impertinence you can represent the true circumstances of the family?
- 52. L. You cannot say good enough of poor R., and his poor Wife. Oblige me, and the dead, if you can. London, 10 Feb. 1827. Amicus. LINES FOR THE Table Book. What seek’st thou on the heathy lea, So frequent and alone? What in the violet cans’t thou see? What in the mossy stone? Yon evening sky’s empurpled dye Seems dearer to thy gaze Than wealth or fame’s enrapt’ring name, Or beauty’s ’witching blaze. Go, mingle in the busy throng That tread th’ imperial mart; There listen to a sweeter song Than ever thrill’d thy heart. The treasures of a thousand lands Shall pour their wealth before thee; Friends proffer thee their eager hands And envious fools adore thee. Ay—I will seek that busy throng, And turn, with aching breast, From scenes of tort’ring care and wrong— To solitude and rest! February 21, 1827. WAVERLEY. It is a curious, yet well authenticated fact, that the novel of “Waverley”—the first, and perhaps the best, of the prose writing of sir Walter Scott—remained for more than ten years unpublished. So far back as 1805, the late talented Mr. John Ballantyne announced “Waverley” as a work preparing for publication, but the announce excited so little attention, that the design was laid aside for reasons which every reader will guess. In those days of peace and innocence,
- 53. the spirit of literary speculation had scarcely begun to dawn in Scotland; the public taste ran chiefly on poetry; and even if gifted men had arisen capable of treading in the footsteps of Fielding, but with a name and reputation unestablished, they must have gone to London to find a publisher. The “magician” himself, with all his powers, appears to have been by no means over sanguine as to the ultimate success of a tale, which has made millions laugh, and as many weep; and in autumn he had very nearly delivered a portion of the MSS. to a party of sportsmen who visited him in the country, and were complaining of a perfect famine of wadding.[98] [98] The Times, 26th March, from an “Edinburgh paper.” A Young Artist’s Letter FROM SWITZERLAND. From the letter of an English artist, now abroad, accompanied by marginal sketches with the pen, addressed to a young relation, I am obligingly permitted to take the following— EXTRACT, Interlaken, Switzerland. Sunday, Sept. 10, 1826. I arrived at Geneva, after a ride of a day and a night, from Lyons, through a delightful mountainous country. The steam-boat carried me from Geneva to Lausanne, a very pretty town, at the other end of the fine lake, from whence I went to Berne, one of the principal towns in Switzerland, and the most beautiful I have seen yet. It is extremely clean, and therefore it was quite a treat, after the French towns, which are filthy. Berne is convenient residence, both in sunny and wet weather, for all the streets have arcades, under which the shops are in this way,
- 54. so that people are not obliged to walk in the middle of the street at all. The town is protected by strong fortifications, but the ramparts are changed into charming lawns and walks. There are also delightful terraces on the river side, commanding the surrounding country, which is enchanting—rich woods and fertile valleys, swelling mountains, and meadows like velvet; and, beyond all, the snowy Alps. At Berne I equipped myself as most persons do who travel on foot through Switzerland; I have seen scores of young men all in the same pedestrian costume. I give you a sketch, that you may have a better idea of it. The dress is a light sort of smock-frock, with a leather belt round the waist, a straw hat, a knapsack on the back, and a small bottle, covered with leather, to carry spirits, fastened round the neck by a
- 55. leather strap. The long pole is for climbing up the mountains, and jumping over the ice. From Berne I arrived at Thun. The fine lake of Thun is surrounded by mountains of various forms, and I proceeded along it to this place. I have been on the lake of Brientys and to Lauterbrunnen, where there is the celebrated waterfall, called the “Stubach;” it falls about 800 feet; the rocks about it are exceedingly romantic, and close to it are the snowy mountains, among which I should particularize the celebrated “Yung frow,” which has never been ascended. Interlaken is surrounded by mountains, and its scenery for sketches delicious. It is a village, built nearly all of wood; the houses are the prettiest things I ever saw: they are in this way, but much more beautiful than I can show in a small sketch. They are delicately clean, and mostly have fine vines and plenty of grapes about them. The stones on the roof are to keep the wood from being blown off. Then the people dress so well, and all look so happy, that it is a pleasure to be among them. I cannot understand a word they say, and yet they are all civil and obliging. If any children happen to see me drawing out of doors, they always run to fetch a chair for me. The women are dressed in this manner.
- 56. The poor people and ladies are in the same style exactly: the caps are made of horsehair, and the hair dressed quite plain in front, and plaited behind almost to the ground with black ribbons. They wear silver chains from each side of the bosom, to pass under the arms, and fasten on the back. They are not all pretty, but they are particularly clean and neat. There is nothing remarkable in the men’s dress, only that I observe on a Sunday they wear white nightcaps: every man that I can see now out of my window has one on; and they are all playing at ball and nine-pins, just as they do in France. There is another kind of cap worn here made of silk; this is limp, and does not look so well. They have also a flat straw hat.
- 57. The women work much more than the men; they even row the boats on the lakes. All the Swiss, however, are very industrious; and I like Switzerland altogether exceedingly. I leave this place to-morrow, and am going on to the beautiful valley of Sornen, (there was a view of it in the Diorama,) and then to the lake of the four cantons, or lake of Lucerne, and round the canton of the Valais to Geneva, and from thence for the lakes of Italy. If you examine a map for these places, it will be an amusement for you. Lady Byron has been here for two days; she is making a tour of Switzerland. There are several English passing through. I can scarcely give you a better notion of the situation of this beautiful little village, than by saying that it is in a valley between two lakes, and that there are the most charming walks you can imagine to the eminences on the river side, and along the borders of the lakes. There are more goats here than in Wales: they all wear a little bell round their neck; and the sheep and cows being similarly distinguished, the movement of the flocks and herds keep an incessant tinkling, and relieve the stillness of the beauteous scenery. Gretna Green Marriages. THE BLACKSMITH. On Friday, March 23, at Lancaster Lent assizes 1827, before Mr. baron Hullock, came on the trial of an indictment against Edward Gibbon Wakefield and William Wakefield, (brothers,) Edward
- 58. Thevenot, (their servant,) and Frances the wife of Edward Wakefield, (father of the brothers,) for conspiring by subtle stratagems and false representations to take and carry away Ellen Turner, a maid, unmarried, and within the age of sixteen years, the only child and heiress of William Turner, from the care of the Misses Daulby, who had the education and governance of Miss Turner, and causing her to contract matrimony with the said Edward Gibbon Wakefield, without the knowledge and consent of her father, to her great disparagement, to her father’s discomfort, and against the king’s peace. Thevenot was acquitted; the other defendants were found “guilty,” and the brothers stood committed to Lancaster-castle. To a second indictment, under the statute of 4 and 5 Philip and Mary, against the brothers, for the abduction of Miss Turner, they withdrew their plea of “not guilty,” and pleaded “guilty” to the fifth count. In the course of the defence to the first indictment, David Laing, the celebrated blacksmith of Gretna-green, was examined; and, indeed, the trial is only mentioned in these pages, for the purpose of sketching this anomalous character as he appeared in the witness-box, and represented his own proceedings, according to The Times’ report: —viz. In appearance this old man was made to assume a superiority over his usual companions. Somebody had dressed him in a black coat, and velvet waistcoat and breeches of the same colour, with a shining pair of top boots—the shape of his hat, too, resembled the clerical fashion. He seemed a vulgar fellow, though not without shrewdness and that air of familiarity, which he might be supposed to have acquired by the freedom necessarily permitted by persons of a better rank of life, to one who was conscious he had the power of performing for them a guilty, but important ceremony. On entering the witness-box, he leaned forward towards the counsel employed to examine him, with a ludicrous expression of gravity upon his features, and accompanied every answer with a knitting of his wrinkled brow, and significant nodding of his head, which gave peculiar force to his quaintness of phraseology, and occasionally convulsed the court with laughter.
- 59. He was interrogated both by Mr. Scarlett and Mr. Coltman in succession. Who are you, Laing? Why, I live in Springfield. Well, what did you do in this affair? Why, I was sent for to Linton’s, where I found two gentlemen, as it may be, and one lady. Did you know them? I did not. Do you see them in court? Why, no I cannot say. What did you do? Why I joined them, and then got the lady’s address, where she come from, and the party’s I believe. What did they do then? Why, the gentleman wrote down the names, and the lady gave way to it. In fact, you married them after the usual way? Yes, yes, I married them after the Scotch form, that is, by my putting on the ring on the lady’s finger, and that way. Were they both agreeable? O yes, I joined their hands as man and wife. Was that the whole of the ceremony—was it the end of it? I wished them well, shook hands with them, and, as I said, they then both embraced each other very agreeably. What else did you do? I think I told the lady that I generally had a present from ’em, as it may be, of such a thing as money to buy a pair of gloves, and she gave me, with her own hand, a twenty-shilling Bank of England note to buy them. Where did she get the note? How do I know. What did the gentleman say to you? Oh, you ask what did he treat me with. No, I do not; what did he say to you?
- 60. He did nothing to me; but I did to him what I have done to many before, that is, you must know, to join them together; join hands, and so on. I bargained many in that way, and she was perfectly agreeable, and made no objections. Did you give them a certificate? Oh! yes, I gave it to the lady. [Here a piece of paper was identified by this witness, and read in evidence, purporting to certify that Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Ellen Turner had been duly married according to the form required by the Scottish law. This paper, except the names and dates, was a printed register, at the top of which was a rudely executed woodcut, apparently of the royal arms.] Did the gentleman and lady converse freely with you? O, yes; he asked me what sort of wine they had in Linton’s house, and I said they had three kinds, with the best of Shumpine (Champagne.) He asked me which I would take, and I said Shumpine, and so and so; while they went into another room to dine, I finished the wine, and then off I came. I returned, and saw them still in the very best of comfortable spirits. Mr. Scarlett.—We have done with you, Laing. Mr. Brougham.—But my turn is to come with you, my gentleman. What did you get for this job besides the Shumpine? Did you get money as well as Shumpine? Yes, sure I did, and so and so. Well, how much? Thirty or forty pounds or thereabouts, as may be. Or fifty pounds, as it may be, Mr. Blacksmith? May be, for I cannot say to a few pounds. I am dull of hearing. Was this marriage ceremony, which you have been describing, exactly what the law and church of Scotland require on such occasions, as your certificate (as you call it) asserts? O yes, it is in the old common form. What! Do you mean in the old common form of the church of Scotland, fellow? There is no prayer-book required to be produced, I tell you.
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