Page images
PDF
EPUB

ing at a coffee house, when this unique advertisement firft appeared, when it was not unreasonably demanded---Can it poffibly be neceflary to inform the public, that Richard is not John? or has Richard borrowed rather too freely from his namefake, and attempts this notable method of concealment ? On our felves, we must own, it had rather a ludicrous effect, putting us in mind of the contentions for the fuperiority of their wares in quacks and hopkeepers; bringing to our remembrance the following comical advertisement of a man in our native place, and in the days of our youth, who fold oppofition toys and fweat cates for his young readers. Be fure you enquire for the old original fign of the coxcomb, where the beft lollipops are fold.' We feriously advife Mr. John Lawrence, who is a humorift, to take up the cudgels, and attack his grave and fententious antagonist in his own way, by affuring the indifcriminating public, that his work has no connection whatever with one written by Richard Lawrence.

The drawings in this work are executed by the hand of the author, as a part of his profeffion. Some appear to be copied from French books, others are original. They are of unequal, but generally of confiderable, merit; indeed thefe, and the good style of compofition in which the work is written, form the chief, probably the only, value of the work, which, enveloped in elegant binding, is as fit as any we know for the honour of a place in the library of a man of fashion. The dedication to Lord Heathfield is a respectful and decent beadroll of the common place topics in ufe on fuch occafions; and, what is fingularly to his honour, the noble Lord deferves all, and even more, than is faid in his commendation. The preface is fo well written, that every man verfant in the fubject muft inftantly feel a regret, that he

who had fuch handsome clothing in which to invest them could furnifh none other than old, familiar, and hacknied ideas. Even Tully is brought forward, to vouch, in his own native and eloquent language, that a farrier ought to know his bufinefs! But there is a still stronger objection to the preface: it contains fentiments which are neither ingenuous nor true, of which, however, in ftrong probability, the author may not be aware: fo eafy it is, in certain cafes, for the human mind to become its own dupe. We allude to thofe high modern veterinary pretenfions fo fully and unanswerably expofed by Mr. John Lawrence. We would ask Mr. R. L., what is the nature of those origial improvements, or where are they to be found, of which he makes fuch stately boast, both on the behalf of himfeld and others? If they are to be found in his present publication, we, at least, are not fufficiently sharp-fighted to make the difcovery; for to us, the book prefents not even the femblance of novelty, either in idea, fact, method, or principle: all, all collectanea; collected from various authors, French and English, and given in a very neat and concife abridgement; indeed, in a form fo very concife, that it appears as though the difcreet author dreaded nothing fo much as overloading the memory or understanding of his reader.

We can afford space but for a flight general furvey; the objects of which we recommend seriously to this author's attention, who is indubitably a man of talents, and who, to write well and usefully, needs but to be practically acquainted with the fubjects on which he treats. His chapter on fhoeing is a copy of the college practice, unaccompanied by novelty, or that power of difcrimination fo very requifite in the cafe, which experience only in horses and riding over

the roads can furnish. As a fpecimen of Mr. L.'s difpatch of the moft difficult, or rather generally incur able, cafes, take the following: 'BONE SPAVIN. Frequent blifters fhould be reforted to on the first attack, and, if thefe do not fucceed, the part fhould be fired without lofs of time.' Why, yes, that we learn from old Blundeville, and from every fucceeding writer on the fubje& fince: but has Mr. L. ever feen a confirmed fpavin fo cured? If he really has, why not tell the where and the when? if not, why leave his readers in a dangerous uncertainty ? BOG SPAVIN. Repeated blifters are here alfo neceffary. Pray, has the author ever known a bog spavin cured by bliftering? or is he ignorant of the total inefficiency of that practice, on the invariable and continued experience of more than a century? The note on windgalls (enlarged burfa mucosa) is abfolutely ludicrous, and the word disappeared tingularly unfortunate. If windgalls are caught in the ftable, by the horse being obliged to stand up-hill, furely they would be confined to the binder legs, as fupporting the heavieft burden. In the practice of furgery, the catalogue of falves, ointments, &c. has been of late years very judiciously curtailed.' Yes, and before even the early years of Mr. L., by our best veterinary authorities. We very well recollect the cafe in which Saintbel performed the operation of bronchotomy, and had much rather have read fome new cafe of this author's practice, than an old one which has been so often repeated. The caution against pinching the trachea, or wind pipe, in the practice of coughing the horfe, as it is termed, very proper; indeed, it is a barbarous and bad cuftom, for which the world would thank Mr. L. to find a good fubftitute: but we never fuppofed, at the time, that the defect in the horfe on which the pro

is

feffor operated arofe from fuch caufe. If this author had nothing more to lay to Mr. Taplin's charge. than the misnomer of gall-bladder, he had far better have omitted a note which muft appear invidious. The arguments in favour of preferving the full fuit of hair upon a cart horfe's legs, in order to keep them clean, we have heard admired as a piece of acute fophiftry, which did infinite credit to the author's talent at ratiocination. The age of the horfe to be difcovered until his twelfth year, if we recollect aright, was firft noted by a French author: the certainty and confequence of the rule much upon a level. The education of the horse, the physiology of his progreffive power, &c. are copied from the French writers, their errors included. Mr. L., not practical himself on horfemanship, cannot be expected to make a judicious felection; but, as a man of reflection, he ought to have been aware of a fimilar defect amongst the French, who know little but the name of horse racing, which is the natural and practical test of the rules of progreffion. He ought to have been apprifed of the uncertainty and fallibility of even the moft plaufible theories. What vain hope could poffibly induce Mr. L., the furgeon, to commit himfelf fo unfortunately on the subject of racing and fpeedy riding, when his book holds out a probability that he was never within fide a racing stable in his life? Had he ever been amongst race horfes, he would not have accufed their keepers (p. 163) of leaving them with their hoods on in the ftable. The remark on the fore-quarters of Eclipfe, the famous race horfe, is a ftale one, originally made by thofe who were incompetent to the question. The best judges allowed that his fhoulder and fore-quarter were calculated, in a fupreme degree, for fpeed; nor need another word be fuperadded to the well known fact, that the

length of his ftride was enormous. On the fore and hinder quarters, Mr. L. is arguing like a man walking in the dark, without being able to perceive the jet of the argument. All horfes right in the Shoulders will go, however unable they may be to stay, The account of bred horfes, and of Arabians, appears obviously to have been drawn from the chapter on the turf, in Mr. John Lawrence's treatise the speculations on breeding (p. 190), probably from the northern tour of an agricultural writer, or from the reveries of the author's nurfe. Putting ufeful Cub out of the question, we have, more than once, known an animal of the defcription which Mr. L. defignates as heterogeneous monsters, produce at market three hundred guineas: pity but it had been in his power to have inveftigated, in all its points and bearings, the fubject of the laft and monitory fentence of his note; his advice might then have had an object. If French theory (p. 201) avers that a horfe is more liable to fall in his trot than his canter, English practice doth not affirm the verdict. The remarks on. trotting (p. 207), experience may, perhaps, one day, reprefent to him as pure, milky, natural nonfenfe, to be equalled only by thofe in p. 213 on galloping. The terms hand gallop and full galtop are boorish and obfolete; bloodhorfe is vague and indeterminate, and not now in frequent ufe with the cognofcenti. On the running

thrufh, as the confequence of bad· fhoeing exclufively, Mr. L. does not write without book, but without fufficient experience. Two young horfes fhall be taken together into the ftable, fhod in the beft and in a fimilar manner, groomed and fed alike; the one fhall remain with legs and feet cool and dry, the other hall, in a few weeks, have a greafy defluxion through the aperture of the frog. The cafe is as common as the decifive tone of juvenile doctors and well-fed profeffors. Mr. L. fpeaks fairly and humanely of the poor beaft who is the fubject of his labours, and, we truft, feels not in the ordinary common-place way; on this head certain ideas obtrude upon our minds, which we chufe to refer to the penetration and difcuffion of the intelligent reader.

Mr. L., we truft, will, in a fhort time, feel himfelf under an obligation to us for thefe remarks, however fevere they may at prefent feem. We do not by any means pretend to affert, that nothing is to be found good or useful in his book; but that, of the good, his right is not in fee-fimple: the tenure is all copyhold. We regret that he who has learned to arrange his words and fyllables, and to conftruct his fentences with fo much art, should employ them only in enunicating the ideas of others. We defire →→ to fee fuch a writer in a more ap propriate and original character.

THEATRICAL INFORMATION.

DRURY Lane.A new Comedy was produced at this Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 7, entitled "The Soldier's Daughter." It is written by Mr. Cherry, an actor belonging to the houfe. The following are

the characters and plot of the piece.

Dramatis Perfona :- Governor Heartall, Mr.Dowton; Frank Heartall, Mr. Bannifter, jun.; Malfort fen., Mr. Powell; Malfort jun.,

Mr. Pope; Captain Woodley, Mr.
Ruffel; Mr. Ferret, Mr. Palmer;
Simon, Mr. Caulfield; Timothy
Quaint, Mr. Collins; William, Mr.
Chatterly; Tom, Mr. Webb; Foot-
man, Mr. Evans :----
---The Widow
Cheerly, Mrs. Jordan; Mrs. Mal-
fort, Mrs. Young; Julia, Mifs H.
Kelly; Mrs. Fidget, Mrs. Sparks;
Mrs. Townly, Mrs. Maddocks;
Súfan, Mrs. Scott.

The following is the ftory of the play:

At the commencement of the Comedy we find Malfort fen. has been for feveral years in the Eaft Indies, having left his only fon behind in England to fettle fome family affairs, and to follow with all convenient speed. On his departure, the younger Malfort launches into all the pleasures of the town, and marries the daughter of a city banker, enters into partnership with his brother, and, from neglect and unlucky fpeculation, bankruptcy proves to be the iffue of this imprudent connexion. The younger Malfort, fearful to disclose his mare riage and diftreffes to his father, is now reduced to the bittereft want, and with his amiable wife and only child, are lodged in humble apartments in Jermyn Street; in which houfe a young and wealthy widow from the country occupies the principal fuite of rooms, who, for the first time, has visited London under the immediate protection of Mr. Ferret, who is alfo factor in England for the elder Malfort. Frank Heartall, a young merchant of a benevolent but volatile difpofition, is captivated by the Widow at the Opera, and determines to find out who and what he is: he traces her to her lodging, and, in his endeavours to procure an interview with her, encounters Julia, the child of Malfort, who artlessly conducts him to her mother, whom he perceives under circumftances of peculiar affliction. This interview is interrupted by the entrance VOL. I.

of Malfort, to whom Heartall apologifes for his intrufion: and, affected by their diftreffes, takes an almoft immediate method of alleviating their fufferings, and makes the child the agent of his bounty. This circumftance is tortured by the malevolent Ferret into intentional crime and villany, and thus reprefented to Governor Heartall, in order to incenfe him against his generous nephew. In the interim, the Widow is apprifed of the poverty of her fellow-lodgers, introduces herself to them, and, by a delicate ftratagem, bestows on them the means of prefent comfort. The hypocritical Ferret endeavours by every poffible contrivance to thwart the views of Frank Heartall, and by an anonymous letter, inflaming the jealoufy of Malfort jun., endangers the lives of both parties, in the villanous expectancy of becoming heir to the property of the father and the uncle. On the arrival of Captain Woodley (brother to the Widow), who recognifes Heartall as his old fchool-fellow, and by whom he is informed of his paffion for the lady, but ftill ignorant that he is the fifter of his friend, an equivoque enfues, which gives a free fcope to the raillery and vivacity of the accomplished Widow. The elder Malfort now returns from India, of which the artful Ferret has full information; and, as he has been the mean's of concealing the father and fon from the knowledge of each other, he haftes to the younger Malfort, and offers him large fums immediately, to fly from the malice of his enemies, from penury, and difgrace, thinking thereby to avoid the impending fhame that threatens him. Old Malfort, conducted by Simon, his faithful fteward, traces Ferret to the apartments of his fon, where, after feverely reprobating his conduct, he renounces. all future connexion with him, and abandons him to his feelings. Mal, Z

fort jun. advances; they recognife each other, and the father takes his afflicted fon and his amiable confort to his immediate forgiveness and protection. A general mufter of all parties takes place at the Governor's house, where Ferret meets to confront his numerous accufers: his art cannot furnish him with any palliation of his crimes; and he pleads the vice of avarice as his only excufe, endeavouring to atone for his enormities by beftowing on the young foldier the refidue of his wealth. Young Heartall's conduct is proved to be the refult of benevolence, and he is rewarded by the forgiveness of his uncle, and the fair hand of the lovely Widow.

This Comedy certainly poffeffes merit; but it is the merit of the day. It wants falt (as Dr. Johnfon once obferved on a fimilar occafion), to keep it from putrefaction. The characters are rather fketches than finished portraits; nor are any of them entirely new to the ftage. In the conduct of the plot there is, however, a confiderable knowledge of ftage effect difplayed; and though the fituations are not always arranged with felicity, yet, in general, they produce fome effect upon the audience. We must confefs we trembled for the author, when we found Frank Heartall and the Widow Cheerly bring their concerns to a good ending in the third act we were prepared for fome dull stuff to eke out the remaining two; but, luckily, our expectations were disappointed, and, by the unexpected arrival of Captain Woodley, much pleafing intricacy was produced.

The character of Mr. Ferret is extremely familiar to the ftage; and his fudden repentance in the fifth act, his tedious defcription of his motives for his villany, and his philippic against avarice, are fo thoroughly outré, that we could not forbear fmiling. This is not at all neceffary to the denouement of

the piece, and might, we think, have been left out with great advantage to it.

We cannot but reprobate the naufeous and fickening recurrence of fentiment which this play prefents; worfe than the worst novel that ever iffued from the Minerva Prefs, in Leadenhall Street. We would juft hint, that legitimate comedy difdains to speak eternally in metaphor, but relies on a bold colouring and mafterly ftrain of character for its permanent fuccefs. An author may gain the temporary end of temporary applause by thefe clap-traps, which are certain to captivate the galleries; but the judicious few muft pity the depravity of public tafte and public writers. Sentiments which fuit the occafion, and appear to flow naturally from the exifting circumftances, are always gratifying; but when they are dragged in head and fhoulders, without any attention whatfoever to propriety, they either fhew a poverty of real genius in the author, or a weak mind which courts popularity by the eafieft methods. In the prefent inftance, the characters reminded us forcibly of Hudibras, who, we are told, was fo poetically metaphorical, that he

"could not ope

"His mouth, but out there flew a trope."

The acting was in every respect good. Mrs. Jordan and the junior Bannifter difplayed their fuperior comic powers to great effect. The frank, generous, open-hearted, but giddy merchant, found an excellent representative in the latter, as did the gay, buxom Widow Cheerly in the former. Dowton's Governor Heartall was a finished piece of acting; and Collins in Timothy Quaint (a character, by the bye, well conceived by the author) frequently convalfed the houfe with laughter. Pope, as ufual, whined through his part; his delivery of the Prologue was fomething better:

« PreviousContinue »