the dramatick foundling to his protection with much kindness : read it determin'd to obtain Mr. Garrick's opinion of it; and for that purpose fent it to Mr. Wallis, of Norfolk-ftreet, who waited upon Mr. Garrick with the manufcript, and asked him, if he knew whether the late Sir Charles Williams had ever written a play?-Mr. Garrick caft his eye upon it-"The loft fheep is found!-This is Harry Fielding's Comedy !" cry'd Mr. Garrick, in a manner that evinced the moft friendly regard for the memory of the author.

This recognition of the play was no fooner communicated to Mr. Johnes, than he, with the most amiable politeness, ieftored his foundling to the family of Mr. Fielding.

Two gentlemen, of the moft diftinguifhed dramatic talents of the age, have fhewn the kindeft attention to the fragment thus recovered. To the very liberal and friendly affiftance of Mr. Sheridan, and to the Prologue and Epilogue, written by Mr. Garrick, is to be attributed much of that applaufe with which the public have received the Fathers; or, The Good-Natur'd Man.'

It is difficult to discover what is meant by the very liberal and friendly affiftance of Mr. Sheridan. If it is intended to imply the heightening touches of that writer's elegant pen, we will venture to fay, that fuch affiftance has not been very liberal: and indeed, in ftrict juftice to the deceased Author, and to the Public, the added and altered paffages, if there be any fuch, fhould have been fairly pointed out to the reader, that he might form a judgment on the original manufcript, and decide whether it had received the laft hand of the Author, or was only fubmitted to his friend, Sir Charles Williams, as the rough outline of a Comedy. Cibber paid this due refpect to the remains of Sir John Vanbrugh, and contributed by his fidelity, as well as induitry, to establish the theatrical reputation of the departed writer. Such very liberal and friendly affiftance, feems to have been unfortunately with-held on the prefent occafion. The loose indigested scenes of The Fathers, may be rather said to contain fome crude materials towards the erection of a comedy, than the regular fabric. The very dialogue, notwithstanding many masterly ftrokes, is unfinished, the characters are scarce more than sketches, and the fable is moft grofsly defective. The original idea of the Good-Natur'd Man and his brother, was palpably fuggefted by the Micio and Demea of Terence; and indeed fome part of the scenes between Boncour and Sir George, is no more than a free translation from that author. Young Boncour is at once a faint and coarfe copy of the Latin writer's Æfchinus, and the junior part of the family of Valence are deteftably original. Valence himself is an excellent drawing, very much in the best manner of the admirable Fielding; for

the

the fake of whofe memory, and the benefit of his furviving family, we moft heartily wish that this " Dramatic Foundling' had been reared with more care, and nurfed with more tendernefs.

After having difmiffed the above article, and fent the copy to the prefs, a very melancholy and most affecting occafion induces us to make a small addition to it, in order to pay a fincere, though very unequal tribute, to the memory of one of the most diftinguifhed, as well as moft worthy, characters of our own time. The Reader, we dare fay, anticipates us with the name of DAVID GARRICK, who long flourished an honour to the ftage, to letters, and his country. His talents, though great and various, were even furpaffed by his good qualities; and as we, among many others, long enjoyed the happiness of his acquaintance, we cannot fupprefs the firft emotions of regret on his lofs.-His peculiar felicity in writing Prologues and Epilogues, has long been felt and acknowledged; and this talent, though one of his fmaller excellencies, calls upon us to introduce his eminent name into this article. His refpect for the memory of the deceased Author, of whom he was for many reasons the intimate acquaintance, urged him to feize the opportunity of fhewing his regard to the literary remains of his friend. He accordingly wrote the Prologue and Epilogue to the Fathers; and we are touched with the deepest forrow when we reflect, that they are the last pieces of the kind, which the world will ever receive from his pen. Before the appearance of this pofthumous play, a malevolent report was circulated, that Mr. Garrick had communicated the principal incidents to the author of the Jealous Wife, who had worked them up into that comedy. Thofe, who were acquainted with Mr. Garrick, knew him to be incapable of fuch treachery, and the work itself sufficiently refutes fo fcandalous an accufation.

Mr. Garrick's Prologue to the Fathers is as follows:
When from the world departs a fon of fame,
His deeds or works embalm his precious name;
Yet not content, the public call for art,
To refcue from the tomb his mortal part;
Demand the painter's and the fculptor's hand,
To fpread his mimick form throughout the land;
A form, perhaps, which living, was neglected,
And when it could not feel refpect, respected.
This night no buft or picture claims your praise,
Our claim's fuperior, we his fpirit raife:
From time's dark ftore-houfe, bring a long loft play,
And drag it from oblivion into day.

But who the Author? need I name the wit ?
Whom nature prompted as his genius writ;
Truth fmil'd on Fancy for each well-wrought ftory,
Where characters, live, act, and ftand before 'ye :

Suppofe

Suppose these characters, various as they are,
The knave, the fool, the worthy, wife, and fair,
For and against the Author pleading at your bar.
Firft pleads Tom Jones-grateful his heart and warm;
Brave, gen'rous Britons-fhield this play from harm:
My best friend wrote it, fhould it not fucceed,
Though with my Sophy bleft-my heart will bleed-
Then from his face he wipes the manly tear;
Courage, my master, Partridge cries, don't fear:
Should Envy's ferpents hifs, or malice frown,
Though I'm a coward, zounds! I'll knock 'em down:
Next, fweet Sophia comes-fhe cannot speak-
Her wishes for the play o'erfpread her cheek;
In ev'ry look her fentiments you read:
And more than eloquence her blushes plead.
Now Blifil bows-with smiles his false heart gilding,
He was my foe-I beg you'll damn this FIELDING;
Right, Thwackum roars-no mercy, Sirs, I pray-
Scourge the dead Author, thro' his orphan play.
What words! (cries Parfon Adams) fie, fie, difown 'em ;
Good Lord!-de mortuis nil nifi bonam:

If fuch are Chriftian teachers, who'll revere 'em--
And thus they preach, the Dev'l alone should hear 'em.
Now Slipflop enters-tho' this fcriv'ning vagrant,
'Salted my virtue, which was ever flagrant,

Yet, like black 'Thello, I'd bear fcorns and whips,
Slip into poverty to the very hips,

T'exult this play-may it decrease in favour;
And be it's fame immorraliz'd for ever!

Squire Western, reeling, with October mellow,

Tall, yo!-Boys!-Yoax-Criticks! hunt the fellow!
Damn'en, these wits are varmint not worth breeding,.
What good e'er came of writing and of reading?
Next comes, brim-full of spite and politicks,
His fifter Weftern-and thus deeply speaks:
Wits are arm'd pow'rs-like France attack the foe;
Negotiate 'till they fleep-then strike the blow!
Allworthy laft, pleads to your nobleft paffions-
Ye gen'rous leaders of the taste and fashions,
Departed genius left his orphan play

To your

kind care—what the dead wills obey; O then refpect the FATHER's fond bequest, And make his widow fmile, his spirit reft.

After reading the above, the various characters represented by Garrick, will probably rife in imagination before the Reader, bearing the ftrongeft teftimony of his tranfcendent powers, and exciting the keeneft forrow for his lofs.

ART.

ART. XIII. Cafes and Obfervations on the Hydrophobia. By J. Vaughan, M. D. To which is annexed, An Account of the Cæfarian Section; with Reflexions on dividing the Symphyfis of the Offa Pubis. The fecond Edition. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Cadell, 1778.

DR

R. Vaughan's cafes of the Hydrophobia, and of the Cæfarian Section, were noticed by us in their former edition*. The reflexions on the divifion of the Offa Pubis, which are added to the prefent publication, were communicated by Dr. Hunter, and are extremely well deferving of the public

attention.

This very refpectable writer premifes his remarks on the operation in queftion, with the following general observations, which, we think, are of no fmall importance in the fyftem of what might be termed medical jurifprudence.

Men of humanity, as well as of a reafoning faculty, need not be told, that in defperate cafes, our judgment and practice are not to be regulated merely by the chances with respect to life. The fufferings of the patient, both in body and mind, fhould be fairly put into the fcale, against the better chance for life. In fuch a trial, I have feen a patient pay a much higher price, in fufferings, than the little chance of faving life was worth.

Thefe reflexions fhould be especially in our mind, when we are to give an opinion in any cafe of the Cæfarian Section, or of cutting the Symphyfis of the Offa Pubis. And, in calculating the chances of a life to be faved, we fhould take care to make a juft eftimate of the life itself. Thus, in more advanced age, the value of it is lefs in proportion; it is lefs too, in proportion as it is to be attended with pains or infirmities, or with whatever will diminish or deftroy the enjoyments of life. Existence is fo nearly equal to nothing, that its real value must arife from its connection with fome kind of enjoyment; and where, upon the whole, there is none, life is either worth nothing, or a pofitive evil.

The value of life rifes likewife in proportion to the defire of life, and the dread of death. The life of the mother is, for that reafon, almoft of an incomparably greater value than that of an unborn child'; a being which, we may suppose, has no enjoyment, and has neither a defire to live, nor fear to die. This appears to be reafonable; and experience fhews it to be the dictate of nature, as well as common fenfe. I have lived thirty-nine years in one of the largest cities in the world, and, for the greater part of that time, in a very active ftation; so that numbers of dangerous cafes muft have come within my knowledge, and these among all ranks of mankind; yet I never, in any inftance whatever, knew the life of a child put into any

* Vid. Monthly Review for May 1778. Art. II,

fort

fort of competition with that of the mother, by the husband' or any other perfon.'

In conformity to thefe rational and truly humane principles, Dr. Hunter proceeds briefly to difcufs, with the greatest candour, the merits of the propofed operation. He confiders, firft, Its fuppofed advantages as a fubftitute for the Cæfarian operation; that is, with a view of faving the mother or child when otherwise both must be loft;' and, fecondly, How far it may be adviseable in fome very difficult labours, with the view of faving the child.' The moft material objection with respect to the first of these confiderations, and a very important one, indeed, it is, is that the room gained by flitting the Symphysis of the Pubis will not, in many cafes, allow the child's head to pafs; confequently it cannot be a fubftitute for the Cæfarian operation. This fact Dr. Hunter fatisfactorily proves, by the view of three different pelves of fubjects on whom the Cæfarian operation was performed, in none of which the allowance of two inches and a half more (the space gained by the feparation of the Pubis) would give the fpace which the French authors themselves require for the passage of a living child. As to the second confideration, that of faving the child in cafes which otherwise would require opening the head, the Dr. thinks it too fevere a duty to exact from the fex, that they should fubmit to a hazardous and painful operation for the probable chance of faving an infant, whofe life ought not to be put in competition with the mother's happiness and fafety. And in this determination, we are perfuaded the greatest part of our readers will heartily join.

He concludes with acknowledging, that the new operation may in a very few cafes, be a much better refource than the Cæfarian fection; not for faving the child, but the mother. These cafes will be those in which the narrowness of the Pelvis does not admit the application of the crotchet; but where the room gained by the feparation of the Offa Pubis might be fufficient to bring the child within reach of this inftrument.

ART. XIV. A Radical and expeditious Cure for a recent Catarrhous Cough. Preceded by fome Obfervations on Refpiration; with occafional and practical Remarks on fome other Difeafes of the Lungs. To which is added, a Chapter on the Vis Vitæ, so far as it is concerned in preferving and reinftating the Health of an Animal. Accompanied with fome Strictures on the Treatment of Compound Fractures. By John Mudge, F. R. S. Surgeon at Ply-mouth. 12mo. 38. fewed. Walter. 1778.

THE

HE variety of fubjects contained in this fmall volume, and the curfory manner in which, of confequence, they are treated, preclude the attempt to give an exact analysis of its

contents