CHESELDEN, (William), an eminent anatomist
and surgeon, was born at Burrow on the Hill, in the
county of Leicester, descended from an ancient family
in the county of Rutland, whose arms and pedigree
are in Wright's "History of Rutland." He received
the rudiments of his professional skill at Leicester;
and married Deborah Knight, a citizen's daughter,
by whom he had one daughter, Williamina Deborah.
In 1713 he published his Anatomy of the Human
Body, 1 vol. 8vo; and in 1723, A Treatise on the
high Operation for the Stone. He was one of the
earliest of his profession who contributed by his writ-
ings to raise it to its present eminence. The follow-
ing verses were addressed to him in 1733, "on his
many dextrous and successful operations:"
Oh wondrous Artist! (surely given,
By the peculiar grace of Heaven,
As a new Saviour to mankind,
The same to cure, relieve the blind,
And, by the ever happy knife,
To ease, and lengthen human life!
How dost thou grace that noble art,
Which owes to you its noblest part?
How well deserve the general praise
Your universal fame does raise!
How just your merit, for the place
Confer'd on you by royal grace!
Well might the care alone be thine,
To tend on gracious Caroline,
Since all allow your skill divine.
No more let France her artists boast,
To you but smatterers at most.
Their Charity, or Hotel Dieu,
Ne'er saw such cures as done by you;
Aware of this, with utmost speed,
Their New ACADEMY decreed
You all their honours, and, to grace
Their list, therein give you a place:
From such a member they receive
A greater honour than they give.
Long may you live, and bless the land
With your unerring skill and hand,
May this ne'er fail, that never warp;
And may they both descend to Sharp!
In the beginning of 1736, he was thus honourably
mentioned by Mr Pope: "As soon as I had sent my
last letter, I received a most kind one from you, ex-
pressing great pain for my late illness at Mr Ches-
elden's. I conclude you was eased of that friendly ap-
prehension in a few days after you had dispatched
yours, for mine must have reached you then. I won-
dered a little at your quare, who Cheselden was. It
shews that the truest merit does not travel so far any
way as on the wings of poetry: he is the most noted
and most deserving man in the whole profession of
chirurgery; and has saved the lives of thousands by
his manner of cutting for the stone." He appears to
have been on terms of the most intimate friendship
with Mr Pope, who, frequently, in his Letters to Mr
Richardson, talks of dining with Mr Cheselden, who
then lived in or near Queen Square. In February
1737, Mr Cheselden was appointed surgeon to Che-
lsea Hospital. As a governor of the Foundling Hos-
pital, he sent a benefaction of 50l. to that charity,
May 7. 1751. inclosed in a paper with the following
lines:
"Tis what the happy to the unhappy owe;
For what man gives, the gods by him bestow." POPE.
He died at Bath, April 11. 1752, of a disorder aris-
ing from drinking ale after eating hot buns. Finding
himself uneasy, he sent for a physician, who advised
vomiting immediately; and if the advice had been
taken,
taken, it was thought his life might have been saved. By his direction, he was buried at Chelsea.