• covered, which was put in a fand heat, in the laboratory. I kept a fufficient fire under it, and with Farenheit's thermometer, or glass, I kept them, as much as poffible, in the fame degree of heat as the urine of a living perfon in health. I ⚫ changed the urine every morning, and every night. I took < care that thefe two perfons fhould have the fame food. As for him who took the pills, he drank fome part of the time fmall beer, and two or three glaffes of old red port-wine, • after dinner and fupper, and upon his being lax, he was 'forced to take them in water in which cinnamon had been boiled; which was much to the disadvantage of Mrs. Stephens's medicines. The other perfon drank nothing but the lime-water, except now and then, but very rarely, half a • pint of small beer in four and twenty hours.

After fixteen days digeftion, I took the pieces of stone out, and laid that belonging to the phial N°. 1. upon a piece of paper marked No. 1. and that of the phial No. 2. upon another piece of paper marked N°. 2. I fet them near the window of the Laboratory, and left them for 8 days in the fun and heat of the air; after which I weighed them, and found that N. 1. which was immerfed in the urine of the person who had taken our rolls, had loft five grains; and that, which was N°. 2. belonging to the urine of him who had used the three pints of lime-water, and one ounce of "foap every day in my prefence, had rather increased in weight than loft. I expected fuch an event indeed, as this, when I • observed almost every morning his chamber-pot furred; whereas, on the contrary, the other pot was as if it had been fresh scoured, and nothing at all sticking to it. This obfervation every one may eafily make, who takes Mrs. Stephens's or any other medicines; and we may depend upon it, that if the pot is furred, it is impoffible the remedy we take, fhould cure us. However, the outside of this ftone No. 2. appeared to me a little foft. In order to be quite out of doubt, in this matter, I defired the person who had took the lime-water and foap, to take the rolls, and the other "who had took thefe, to use the lime-water and soap, which they did, for the fame number of days, I put two other

' pieces

pieces of the fame ftone, and the like weight of ten Grains, into phials, and proceeded exactly as I had done before. The <event was, that No. 1. which had been put in the urine of

the person who had taken our medicines, had loft fix grains; and No. 2. in the urine of him who had taken the limewater and foap, had gained one grain.'

Mr. d'Efcherny is candid enough to infert, in page 56, the objections which have been made to the medicines of Mrs. Stephens, by the late learned Dr. Jurin, in these words:

"Mrs. Stephens's medicines, I was fenfible, had given re"lief to many persons in my condition, and some numbers had ❝to appearance been cured by them; but, on the other hand, "I confidered that of those, who had died, and been opened, "after they were reported to be cured by taking these medi"cines, there had not been one, but what had a stone or "ftones found in his bladder. To this I added, that the num"ber of those who had taken those medicines ineffectually, was

very great and it fell in my way to be informed of not

few inftances of fuch, as after taking them for many months "together without any benefit, had fubmitted to be cut, ra"ther than go on any longer with a medicine fo extremely "nauseous, and which had greatly increased their pains with"out bringing any thing away.

"These confiderations, joined to the knowledge I had of "the weakness of my ftomach, which could ill bear any "nauseous medicines, especially in large quantities, and often "repeated, made me turn my thoughts to the lixivium or lye "of which foap is made, by boiling it with oil or fat.

"This lixivium I knew, had, notwithstanding its cauftic "quality, (which fignifies burning, and very near much as aqua "fortis) been taken without inconvenience by feveral perfons; "and though the good effects of it, which had come to my "knowledge, were not confiderable; yet, that, I thought "might be owing to the fmalness of the dose it had been given "in, &c." After ufing this lixivium for above fix months, (though I certainly could have cured him in a fortnight) he found himfelf perfectly recovered. The greatest quantity he took was 1080 drops, which the doctor computed made about an ounce and a half troy weight in a day.'

We

We could wish thefe objections had been more clearly refuted than they are by Mr. d'Escherny; though we own his remarks on the lixivium or lye of foap, are but too just; as well as upon the liquid fhell, Blanchard's remedy, Turlington's balfam, &c. And we are of opinion that the cafes with which he has illuftrated his obfervations, are clear and convincing proofs of the great benefit that hath accrued to mankind from the proper ufe of Mrs. Stephens's remedy, taken in the form of rolls, to which it is now reduced.

ART. V. CIBBER's Two Differtations on the Theatres, with an Appendix, in three Parts. The whole containing a general View of the Stage, from the earliest Times to the Prefent: With many curious Anecdotes relative to the English Theatres, never before published; and Remarks on the Laws concerning the Theatres. 8vo. Pr. 3s. flitch'd. Griffiths.

TH

HE public is often apt to behave like a partial and whimfical parent, who fhews himself as obftinately blind to the merits of one child as to the faults of another: and it requires fome degree of refolution to do an office of humanity and juftice to a prodigal fon, when the public is not difpofed to give him a favourable hearing. Nevertheless we will venture to fay, that though Mr. Cibber has here presented as irregular an entertainment as one could reafonably wish to fee; though his plan is licentious enough, and his manner and stile abundantly faulty, we cannot but acknowledge he has produced fome good materials. He knows the ftage, and it is but doing him juftice to fay, There is taste and judgment in many of his obfervations. Of thefe we fhall felect a few, that the unprejudiced reader may judge for himfelf. In talking of the paffive indolence with which the town indulges the most paultry entertainments, he fays, what we are afraid is too true, that the greater number of fpectators, go to the theatres merely as an idle amufement-to while away the hours, or diffipate the fpleen,-as humour, leifure, indolence, or fashion, lead them,

<If we confider this general humour of diffipation in which 'people go to plays-we shall no longer wonder we hear of frequent loud applauses, moft lavishly and indifcriminately < bestow'd ;—if they are amufed, they care not how ;-and feldom ftay to afk their judgments the queftiou, Whether "the greatest absurdities have not met with the greatest encouragement? And whether patentees, and players, have not 'joined in laying a foundation for a false disgraceful taste?'

The following questions seem to claim fome regard.

• Have we not had a greater number of thofe unmeaning ⚫ fopperies, mifcalled entertainments, than ever was known to difgrace the stage in fo few years? Has not every year produced one of those patch-work pantomimes? These masquing mummeries, replete with ribaldry, buffoonery, and nonfenfe ;-but void of invention, connection, humour, or in• ftruction? These Arabian kickfhaws,-or Chinese feftivals, Thefe, call them what you pleafeas any one filly name may fuit them all alike-Thefe mockeries of sense • These larger kind of puppet-shews-Thefe idle amusements ⚫ for children, and holiday fools;—as ridiculously gaudy as the glittering pageantry of a pastry-cook's fhop on a Twelfth night!' Our author has candour enough to do ample justice to the merit of a gentleman who feems to be the particular object of his refentment; yet in the following paffage he fingles him out as an instance of faults which are perhaps too common upon the stage.

'As this actor was thus indulged in his mimicking the defects ⚫ of nature, I hope, I may be allowed to point out the lefs • pardonable errors of judgment; or more unpardonable tricks ❝ of a player, knowingly introduced, against the conviction of • sense, and judgment: These modern clap-traps of the stage, <--where reason is facrificed to vanity,-where vehemence fupplies the place of fpirit, and extravagancies are called < beauties ;-where mouthing, and ranting, pafs for elocution, and the voice fo injudiciously forced, the power is loft e'er half the part is play'd. A falfe jeu du theatre becomes, too ⚫ often, the vice of fome prefent actors ;-but they are happy, • if they can thereby raise a clap from the million :----No matter whether the applause is just, so it be loud.'

VOL. II.

And a few pages afterwards he falls into the fame trefpaís against this gentleman, for which he had complained of him a little before, his expofing the natural defects of his brother actors; though he artfully disguises it by faying, his wilful neglect of harmony. But for the fake of fome obfervations which we think are founded upon nature and truth, we fhall quote the whole paffage, and conclude with it.

Though I have as quick a perception of the merits of this actor, as his greatest admirers, and have not lefs pleasure ⚫ from his performance, when he condescends to pursue fimple 'nature:-Yet I am not therefore to be blind to his ftudied tricks, his over-fondnefs for extravagant attitudes, frequent affected ftarts, convulfive twitchings, jerkings of the body, fprawling of the fingers, flapping the breaft and pockets:— A fet of mechanical motions in conftant use,-the caricatures of gefture, fuggefted by pert vivacity,-his pantomimical manner of acting every word in a fentence;-his unnatural pauses in the middle of a fentence;-his forced conceits,his wilful neglect of harmony, even where the round period of a well expreffed noble fentiment demands a graceful ca dence in the delivery.

• These, with his mistaken notions of fome characters, and ⚫ many other vices of the ftage, which his popularity has fupported him in, I fhall take a proper opportunity of remarking, in a more particular manner, and laying fuch obfervations before the fuperior judgment of the town.

་

An actor, who is a thorough mafter of his part,—not only in point of memory, but by having clearly conceived, • and entered into the spirit of the fentiment and expreffion,will stand in no need of premeditated geftures or attitudes; the words and fituation will, of themfelves, fuggeft them to him; and they will appear the more natural, and confequently have the greater effect, for their not having the air of study, and preparation.

The various inflexions of voice, the ftrefs of the emphasis, the juft proportion of pathos, neither carried improperly into rant, nor over-tame, but governed by the occasion :All these will rife fo naturally, that the part will feem to act the actor, instead of being acted by him:- The emo

<tions,