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The New Hospital is established by Nicholas Bulstrode (who finances and manages it) and Tertius Lydgate (who serves as the medical director) as a way to raise the standard of medical care in Middlemarch. They plan to conduct research there and even hope to open an affiliated medical school one day. The New Hospital is thus designed to be a cutting-edge institution in the midst of a largely backwards, provincial area that tends to be resistant to technological progress and reform. The resistance of the local people makes it difficult for the New Hospital to flourish; none of the Middlemarch doctors will work there, and Lydgate thus has to employ people from outside the area. Ultimately the financial scandal that drives both Bulstrode and Lydgate from Middlemarch dooms the hospital to failure, and after this point it is attached to the Old Infirmary. Even without the scandal, however, it is unclear whether the New Hospital would have been able to survive. It symbolizes the difficulty of progress in an area where most people are skeptical of reform. While Bulstrode, Lydgate, and Dorothea have great hopes for the hospital, most of the characters are still too attached to the old way of doing things to see the advantages a new institution could bring.
New Hospital Quotes in Middlemarch
The Middlemarch quotes below all refer to the symbol of New Hospital. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2, Chapter 13
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‘The standard of that profession is low in Middlemarch, my dear sir,’ said the banker. ‘I mean in knowledge and skill; not in social status, for our medical men are most of them connected with respectable townspeople here. My own imperfect health has induced me to give some attention to those palliative resources which the divine mercy has placed within our reach. I have consulted eminent men in the metropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness under which medical treatment labours in our provincial districts.’
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Book 5, Chapter 44
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The immediate motive to the opposition, however, is the fact that Bulstrode has put the medical direction into my hands. Of course I am glad of that. It gives me an opportunity of doing some good work - and I am aware that I have to justify his choice of me. But the consequence is, that the whole profession in Middlemarch have set themselves tooth and nail against the Hospital, and not only refuse to co-operate themselves, but try to blacken the whole affair and hinder subscriptions.
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New Hospital Symbol Timeline in Middlemarch
The timeline below shows where the symbol New Hospital appears in Middlemarch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 10
...Bulstrode welcomes it, saying he hopes Lydgate will one day be in charge of the New Hospital in Middlemarch. One man expresses fear about being subject to experimental treatments. Lydgate himself, who...
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Book 2, Chapter 13
...in Middlemarch. He is currently with Lydgate in his office at the bank, discussing the New Hospital . Lydgate hopes that having a good fever hospital in Middlemarch could pave the way...
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...Farebrother, but that he wants someone named Mr. Tyke to be appointed chaplain of the New Hospital . Lydgate says that as a doctor he has no opinion on this, but Bulstrode...
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Book 2, Chapter 17
...who he thinks are a “narrow ignorant set.” At the same time, he thinks the New Hospital will be good for the community. Lydgate asks Farebrother why Bulstrode doesn’t like him, and...
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Book 3, Chapter 27
...being a little in love,” because he remains convinced that he cannot marry until the New Hospital is finally established. Rosamond, however, believes this is really love and fantasizes of being married....
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Book 5, Chapter 43
...who looks stunning in a pale blue dress, tells Dorothea that Lydgate is at the New Hospital . Dorothea suddenly notices that Will is also in the room; he asks if he...
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Book 5, Chapter 44
...Lydgate has told her about this, and promises to give £200 a year to the New Hospital , as she has too much money anyway. Later she asks Casaubon about giving £200...
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Book 5, Chapter 45
A rumor spreads that Lydgate intends to let patients at the New Hospital die on purpose so he can use their cadavers for medical experiments. Lydgate’s decision not...
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The New Hospital will be dedicated to fever. Lydgate will be “chief medical superintendent” with final decision-making power....
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Book 7, Chapter 63
...Toller’s Christmas dinner party, he and Farebrother discuss Lydgate, who is very busy at the New Hospital these days, preparing a new cholera ward. Toller is disdainful of Lydgate’s efforts, and some...
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Book 7, Chapter 64
Rosamond angrily points out that Bulstrode should pay Lydgate for his work at the New Hospital , but Lydgate says he agreed to do it for free from the beginning. He...
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Book 7, Chapter 67
...business and to move to the coast. Given this, he plans to withdraw from the New Hospital , which leads Lydgate to believe that Bulstrode must have lost a lot of money....
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...is in Yorkshire with Sir James and Celia. Lydgate says that his association with the New Hospital has made him unpopular as a doctor, and most of his patients can’t pay him...
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Book 7, Chapter 71
...Farebrother go to see Dorothea and tell her the shocking news about Lydgate and the New Hospital . Dorothea says she cannot believe that Lydgate is guilty, and that they must prove...
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Book 8, Chapter 76
...his face, and she is shocked at how terrible he looks. When Dorothea mentions the New Hospital , Lydgate says that he is not in a position to give advice about whether...
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Dorothea suggests that Lydgate stay and keep up his work at the New Hospital while waiting for the rumors to die down. She says he might even one day...
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...hear that Dorothea still holds him in high esteem. However, he also says that the New Hospital should be merged with the Old Infirmary, and thus handed over to someone else. He...
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