Dr. Hodgkin's relationship with his distinguished friend and patient, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bt., F.R.S.

IN 1824 Abraham Montefiore journeyed to the Continent in a vain attempt to restore his failing health. He was accompanied by Dr. Thomas Hodgkin. They proved incompatible , so Hodgkin was pleased when he heard that they were to be joined by Abraham's elder brother, Moses, whom he had previously met in Paris. Thus began their close association. They were of different types. Hodgkin was small and slight with an aquiline nose and very bright dark brown eyes. He was alert and full of activity. He favoured the Quaker speech and dress:1 a plain black, grey, or drab suit, the coat shaped like a covert coat with stand-up collar and a white necktie. The broad-brimmed hat was not removed either in place of worship or for salutation. A joint founder of the Aborigines Protection Society, he worked hard for oppressed savages, persecuted Jews, and ill-housed poor.2 Moses Haim Montefiore34 was born in 1784 and died in 1885. In 1812 he married Judith Cohen, whose sister was wife to Nathan Mayer Rothschild, and moved his business of broker and banker to 4, New Court. He was a founder of the Alliance Assurance Company,5 Imperial Continental Gas Association, and Provincial Bank of Ireland.6 Having amassed great wealth by the age of forty, he retired in order to devote his few expected remaining years to charity. He stood six feet three inches, was of soldierly bearing, having been a Captain in the Surrey Militia, and was something of a martinet. He was possessed of great personal bravery: at Bucharest,7'8 when eighty-three years old, his hotel was surrounded by a howling mob of several thousands seeking his life, but he fearlessly strode to the window, flung it open and addressed them; then he drove through the city in an open carriage with one companion. He was a Sheriff of the City of London and of Kent, a friend of princes and potentates. He gave his neighbour, the young Princess Victoria, a golden key9 to his garden at Ramsgate so that she might enjoy it at will. He was no ascetic, drinking a bottle of port daily until he was ninety-nine, and delighting in making the Ramsgate schoolboys tipsy at the weekends. Lady Montefiore's health began to fail in 1860.10 In spite of Dr. Hodgkin's care and that of Sir Charles Locock and others whom he called into consultation, she died on 24 September 1862, …