Doctor Slop
Encyclopedia
Dr Slop is a choleric physician and "man-midwife" in Laurence Sterne
's novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
(1759).
The doctor is summoned by Tristram Shandy's father to attend his son's imminent birth. Slop makes his first appearance in Chapter 34 of the novel, where he is described as:
He is portrayed as an incompetent quack, arriving at Shandy Hall having forgotten his array of "vile instruments" and "obstetrical engines", which have to be urgently sent for. In performing a forceps delivery of the baby, Slop damages the infant Tristram's nose, much to his father's consternation, and is obliged to perform a rudimentary rhinoplasty
using cotton thread and a piece of whalebone from a maid's corset.
Sterne partially based the character of Slop on Dr John Burton
(1710-71), author of An Essay towards a Complete System of Midwifery (1751), in which the engraved plates are the earliest published work of George Stubbs
. Burton, a catholic and a Jacobite sympathiser, had fallen foul of Sterne's uncle, the Rev. Jacques Sterne DD, who had Burton arrested upon suspicion of sedition during the rebellion of 1745.
Slop has been listed as one of the "Ten Best Bad Doctors" in literature.
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
's novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next 10 years....
(1759).
The doctor is summoned by Tristram Shandy's father to attend his son's imminent birth. Slop makes his first appearance in Chapter 34 of the novel, where he is described as:
- "...a little squat, uncourtly figure...about four feet and a half perpendicular height, with a breadth of back, and a sesquipedality of belly, which might have done honour to a serjeant in the horse-guards."
He is portrayed as an incompetent quack, arriving at Shandy Hall having forgotten his array of "vile instruments" and "obstetrical engines", which have to be urgently sent for. In performing a forceps delivery of the baby, Slop damages the infant Tristram's nose, much to his father's consternation, and is obliged to perform a rudimentary rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty , also nose job, is a plastic surgery procedure for correcting and reconstructing the form, restoring the functions, and aesthetically enhancing the nose, by resolving nasal trauma , congenital defect, respiratory impediment, and a failed primary rhinoplasty...
using cotton thread and a piece of whalebone from a maid's corset.
Sterne partially based the character of Slop on Dr John Burton
John Burton (antiquary)
-Early Life:Burton was born at Colchester in 1710, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London , and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1727 and graduated M.B. in 1733. In 1734 he was practising medicine at Heath, on the outskirts of Wakefield...
(1710-71), author of An Essay towards a Complete System of Midwifery (1751), in which the engraved plates are the earliest published work of George Stubbs
George Stubbs
George Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.-Biography:Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier and leather merchant. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the...
. Burton, a catholic and a Jacobite sympathiser, had fallen foul of Sterne's uncle, the Rev. Jacques Sterne DD, who had Burton arrested upon suspicion of sedition during the rebellion of 1745.
Slop has been listed as one of the "Ten Best Bad Doctors" in literature.