235

ART. L. An Account of the Life and Writings of the late William Hunter, M. D. R.S. and S. A. Member of the Royal College of Phyficians, Phyfician Extramary to the Queen, Confulting Physician to the British Lying-in Hapital, and Proof Anatomy in the Royal Academy of London; one of the Foreign Affociates of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Royal Medical Society at Paris, &c. Read on hah of August, 1783, at a General Meeting of the Society of Physicians of London, be was Prefident, and published at their Requeft. By Samuel Foart SiaM.D. F. R. S. Member of the Royal College of Phyficians, London; Honorary of the Royal College of Phyficians of Lorraine; and one of the Foreign Alijsf the Royal Medical Society at Paris. 8vo. Richardfon.

THIS isa well written elegant tribute memory of the late Dr. Hunter, vedly celebrated as a phyfician Sutomift. This little work convariety of interefting anecdotes, perfed with occafional criticifms writings and difcoveries, in this ingenious biographer displays knowledge, accuracy, and candour. materials on which it is grounded authentic. They were furnished by family and friends of the deceafed. ward, this little work is a proof Dr. Simmons, with his profeffional unites no common fhare of talents. As a fpecimen of the hall present our readers with Simmons' account of the perfon danter of Dr. Hunter.

*

he perfon of Dr. Hunter, it may be that he was regularly thaped, but of a make, and rather below a middle itature. There are feveral good portraits of him exOut of these is an unfinished painting y, who has reprefented him in the giving a lecture on the mufcles at the Academy, furrounded by a groupe of s. Of the engraved prints of him have appeared, I give the preference to ced by Collyer, from the portrait by

, in the council chamber of the Academ. It exhibits an accurate and emblance of his features. manner of living was extremely fimple , and the quantity of his food was 2 well as plain. He was an early rifer, when buffels was over, was conftantly

his anatomical purfuits, or in his It has been faid that he was reftrained by artoony from indulging in the luxuries dents which captivate the generality pe who refide in this great city. But he lave had no relish for them, and conde, in the midit of a crowd, master half, and of his own purfuits. It may truth be afferted, that he never fuffered his y to interiere in matters where the dig

nity of his character, or the intereft of fcience

were concerned.

"There was fomething very engaging in his manner and addrefs, and he had fuch an appearance of attention to his patients, when he was making his inquiries, as could hardly fail to conciliate their contidence and efteem.-In con. fultation with his medical brethren, he delivered his opinions with difidence and candour.-In familiar converfation he was chearful and unaffuming.

"All who knew him allow that he poffeffed an excellent understanding, great readinefs of perception, a good memory, and a found judgment. To thefe intellectual powers he united uncommon affiduity and precifion, fo that he was admirably fitted for anatomical inveftigation.

"As a teacher of anatomy he has been long and defervedly celebrated. He was a good erator, and having a clear and accurate conception of what he taught, he knew how to place in diftinct and intelligible points of view the moit abitrufe fubjects of anatomy and phyfiology. Among other methods of explaining and illattrating his doctrines, he uted frequently to introduce fome appofite ftory or cafe that had occurred to him in his practice, and few men had acquired a more interciting fund of anecdotes of this kind, or related them in a more agree able manner. He had the talent of iniufing much of his ardour into his pupils, and if anatomical knowledge is more diffuted in this country than formerly, we are indebted for this, in a great mealure, to his exertions.

"To him, likewife, we owe much of the moderation and caution which now prevail among difcreet and intelligent practitioners of midwitery, in the ufe of inftruments. I admit (faid he, in one of his lateft publications +) that the forceps may fometimes be of fervice, and may fave either the mother or child. I have fometimes ufed it with advantage, and, I believe, never materially hurt a mother or child with it, because I always used it with fear and circumipection. Yet, I am clearly of opinion, frem all the information which I have been able to procure, that the forceps (midwifery inftruments in general, I fear) upon the whole, has done more harm than good.' In his lectures he had uniformly delivered the fame excellent fentiments.

"How much he contributed to the improvement of medical fcience in general may be Hh 2 collected

This picture is in the poffeffion of Mr. Baillie. The portrait of Dr. Hunter is the only part of that a tothed. Of the other figures, Mr. Zoffany had only traced the out-lines, when he em

d for the Eat-Indies.

+ Refcttions relative to the operation of cutting the Symphyfis of the Offa Pubis.

collected from the concife view we have taken of his writings.

"The munificence he difplayed in the caufe of fcience has likewife a claim to our applaufe.Perions of an invidious turn of mind, who fuck to depreciate his merit in this reipect, may, perhaps, enlaVOLT to trace the motive by which he was actuated, and afcribe to vanity

what deferves rather to be confidered as a commendable love of fame. It is certain that Dr. Hunter facrificed no part of his time or his fortune to voluptuoufnefs, to idle pomp, or to any of the common objects of vanity that influence the purfuits of mankind in general. He feems to have been animated with a defire of diitinguishing himself in thofe things which are in their nature laudable; and being a bachelor, and without views for eftablishing a family, he was at liberty to indulge his inclination. Let us, therefore, not withhold the praife that is due to him; and at the fame time let it be ob

ferved, that his temperance, his pruden perfevering and eager purfuit of knowledg titute an example which we may with tage to ourselves, and to fociety, endea imitate."

Thus concludes the account great Hunter, whofe character Simmons has well pourtrayed. cannot conclude this little article out remarking, that Dr. Hunt been fortunate in his biograph we think that the lives of profi men fhould be written by auth the fame line of employment, a must be the best judges, while th unbiaffed, in feveral material poi the conduct of their brethren.

ART. LI. Memorials of Human Superftition; being a Paraphrafe and C tary on the Hiftoria Flagellantium of the Abbé Boileau, Doctor of the Son Canon of the Holy Chapel, &c. By one who is not a Doctor of the Sorbonne Edit. Svo. Robinfon.

THIS book, in the first quarto edition, was intituled "The Hiftory of the Flagellants, otherwife of Religious Flagellants, among different Nations, and especially among Chriftians." The author, for obvious reafons, has very judiciously changed the name of his work, and it is henceforth to be called Memorials of Huraan Superftition. Nor is the title the only part of thefe Memoirs which the author has difplayed his judgement in correcting. For in this octavo edition, with which the public are here prefented, we find feveral improvements. The fize itfelf of an octavo feems better calculated for a work of a humorous nature than the quarto, in which it formerly appeared.

This very fingular book is now generally underfood to be the perform ance of the author of the celebrated work on the Conflitution of England. It is faid to have been written in con

fequence of a wager. Pe that as it may, it must be confeffed the author has made the most of his fubject, and has found means to fill a large octavo book, not widely printed, with a continual fucceffion of entertaining facts and fendble obfervations.

In order to give the reader an idea of the contents and manner of the work, we fhall lay a few articles be

fore him. The fixth chapter co the following account:

"But the most curious inftance of #

flagellations among the Romans, and, among all other nations, was the fertiv was called Lupercalia. It was perton honour of the god Pan, and had been co in Arcadia, where it was celebrated foe the time of King Evander, and was a brought over to Italy. In this festival z of men ufed to dance naked, as Virgili us: Here (lays he) the dancing Salii, and Luperci.' And Servius, in his Coma upon thefe words of Virgil, explains to s thefe Luperci were. They were mea upon certain folemnities, ufed to trip the intirely naked; in this fituation they ran the firects, carrying ftraps of leather in hands, with which they itruck the wome met in their way. Nor did the work away from them; on the contrary, the lingly prefented the palms of their hand, der to receive the blows; imagining, Bu fuperftitious notion received among the mans, that thefe blows, whether applied

hands or to their belly, had the power to them fruitful, or procuring them an ca livery,

"The fame facts are alluded to by Ja who fays, in his fecond fatile, Nor is it

fervice to her to offer the palms of her h
a nimble Lupercus.' And the ancient
on juvenal obferves on this verfe, that
women in Rome used to throw themfive
the
way of the Luperci, when become ..
and were beaten by them with itraps.

"Feftus, in his book on the Signific Words, informs us that the Luperci were times called Crepi, on account of the not is) they made with their traps, whi itruck the women with them: For it is tom among the Romans (the fame author

انا

air men to run about naked, during the der of the Lupercalia, and to strike the wothy meet with firaps."

The lame feftival has also been mentioned Patus, in his Roman Martyr. What maring of this (hameful ceremony? By kaning about in the shape of Luperci, you you are perfons of low condition. bly not deem a man to be the meanest of would run naked about the streets, Lafell with triking the young women.' In the fentiments, delivered by Pruvt might be induced to think that ps of low condition, in Rome, or , ufed to raz in the feftival of lara: vet this does not feem to have Bok, and the lines of that author apLe contained more declamation than

Laberci were in very early times two bands, which, from the names the most diftinguithed families in er called Quintiliani and Fabiani; thea hind band was afterwards added, called Juliani, from J. Cæfar's Anthony, as every one knows, ad to nor at one of the Luperci ; and terwards inveighed agunit by feveand among others by Cicero, his my, it was owing to his being con

(thus ran naked about the streets:

for fald, which had never been done

at before him.

aal we fpeak of continued (which

the reader) to be celebrated fo late 496, that is, long after the general of Chritianity; and perfons of tapet only continued to run among , but a great improvement was moreabout thofe times in the ceremony:

the ladies, no longer contented with being flapped on the palms of their hands as formerly, used to ftrip themselves naked, in order both to give a fuller fcope to the Lupercus to difplay the vigour and agility of his arm, and enjoy, themfelves, the entertainment of a more complete flagellation. The whole ceremony being thus brought to that degree of perfection, was fo well relished by all parties, that it continued to fubfift (as hath just now been obferved) long after the other ceremonies of paganifin were abolithed; and when Pope Gelafius at laft put an end to it, he met with a throng oppofition from all orders of men, fenators as well as others. The general difcontent became even fo great, that the Pope, after he had carried his point, was obliged to write his own apology, which Baro nius has preferved: one of his arguments was drawn from the above practice of ladies, of tripping themfelves naked in public, in order to be lathed. Apud illos nobiles ipfi curvebant, matronæ nudato corpore vapulabant.”

In the fixteenth chapter the author gives an account of the wantonnefs of priests and confeffors, in regard to their female penitents. This chapter may as well be paffed by.

In our next we fhall conclude our account of thefe memoirs. The variety of fubjects, and abundance of matter, which have crowded in upon us this month, oblige us to curtail of their ufual length the articles in the Literary Review. In future, however, we hope to make amends for this deficiency.

of the Scandinavian Poetry. A Poem, in

not to name, was entirely diftin& from Odin, who had his birth long atter the formation of the

giant Ymir.-This firit agent, or genius, whom the Edda affects not to name, is fuppofed in the

AT. LII. The Kife and Progress
Part. By Mr. Jerningham. 4to. Robson.
FROM the fpecimens of poetical
art with which Mr. Jerningham
Lady favoured the public, every
with his name prefixed naturally
curiofity. We have often ad-
Mr. J's. compofitions, but we
confefs, that he has never, in
pinion, affumed the character of a
with more fuccefs, in any of his
mances, than in the Rife and
g of the Scandinavian Poetry.
the raaterials and fubject of this
we fhall prefent Mr. Jerning

own account:

ADVERTISEMENT to PART I. "The materials that form the fint part of the poem are taken from the Scandinavian The EDDA! In the remarks on the e of the Edda are thefe words, A Being had with his breath animated ps out of which the first giant was This Being, whom the Edda afects

following poem to create from his own immediate power the fyftem of the Scaldic mythology. As it would have been impoffible to introduce the whole fyitem without running into a tedious enumeration; the principal features of it are only retained (fufficient it is prefumed) to give fome idea of the character of the Northern poetry. Among other omillions, the reader will find that

no mention is made of Gimle, the manfion of blifs that was appropriated to the reception of the virtuous, nor of Naftrande, the abode of the impious, thefe places not being fuppofed to exift

in their full extent till the general deftruction of the world; whereas the hall of Odin, and the caves of Hela, were peculiarly the Elyfium and the Tartarus of the Runie poetry: they are perpetually referred to in the ancient fongs of the Scalds, and the wild fyftem of thefe contrafted abodes feems well calculated to encourage that fpirit of war and enterprize which runs through the whole Scandinavian minftrelley.

"Some expreflions taken from the Edda

may

In our poetical department, our readers have already feen a fhort fpeci- Thinn'd of his numbers, mark the strugg men of Mr. Jerningham's abilities. To that we fhall now add, from the first book, the following fpeech of the Genius of Scandinavian poetry to The living Fathers of the Kunic rhyme."

on the main, when frozen fragments fail, with huge mounds oppofe the giant whale; oct's lord, enrag'd at the delay, 'tubborn, crashing ice-rocks burts his way. Now, round fome death-ftruck chief in filence throng,

that he breathes his own hiftoric fongget'd with wounds, unwounded is my fame, 't fuld I cbac'd the flying game; the jealous veil of ling'ring night, ww chide the time's reluctant flight? cur voices bail the morning ray, at the matins of th' important day? panga Breamers glitter'd to our view, Agar weapons from the fcabbards flew. yo fee the riven-belmets fly,

pwell confufion's thund'ring cry, fee (extending all arsund) ok hinners spread the lowly ground; g the Danifo field, thus mantled o'er, 4cgicus of the gorgeous robe it wore. Ths, as the chief, thall mitigate his pain *, choral voice relieve the paufing ftrain:

gain your foothing tones fufpend, fer the dying chief attentive bend. as forth at valer's daring call, faces of the Chriftian Gaul ? and forth, in terrible attire,

Now, ere he finks beneath the blow of fate,
Reveal the honours of his future ftate;
Where to his wond'ring vifion fhall expand,
Adorn'd with heroes, a refulgent land.

Ye glowing mafters of the Scaldic fong +,
Still other pow'rful gifts to you belong:
The lofty pine that meets the mountain gale,
Th' expanding oak that crowns the lowly vale,
Shall, as your fingers touch the furrow'd rind,
Difplay the treasures of the mufing mind:
There, by the voice of whifp'ring nature call'd,
In future times fhall ftand the youthful Scaid,
There thall he meditate the Runic flore,
There woo the fcience of the tuneful lore;
There view the tree with fpeechlefs wonder fraught,
Whose womb mysterious bears the poet's thought;
There (from the bufy world's inceffant dia)
Inhale the breathings of the pow'r within.

Enough-the pow'r I now beltow enjoy,
In Virtue's caufe the forceful harp employ:
Go forth, ye glorious conquerors of the mind,
Achieve the hallow'd talk to you affign'd:
Applaud the valiant, and the bafe controul,
Diflurb, exalt, enchant the human foul.'

From this ample fpecimen our readers will eally perceive that Mr.

the mass of war a length'ning quire? Jerningham must derive new reputa

ng fwords, impatient of the fight,

the dread relics that adorn'd the rite. By Karns—my fading breath open to the fong of death. t-se battle-fifters bover nigh,

tion from the work before us, which will be particularly relished by thofe who are acquainted with the ancient fongs of the Scalds, and remaining fragments of Runic poetry.

Empire; in a Series of Letters, written a

letters were written between the years 1763 and 1771.

LETTER. Journal of a Voyage from England to St. Petersburgh.

In a voyage of thirteen or fourteen' days, in feas which are conftantly paffed over by the vereis of every nation, little new can be expected. The voyage, however, was not deftitute of events. The following is the defcription of the coast of Zealand and of Ellinore:

po prize-and raft my foul on high. ART. LIII. Anecdotes of the Ruffian Years ago, from St. Petersburgh. 8vo. Cadell. THESE letters are the production r ingenious Mr. Profeffor Richa of Glafgow, who, from the and abilities he has difplayed in Philofophical Analyfis of feveral ters in Shakspeare's Dramas, jlly entitled to a high rank g his literary contemporaries. le anecdotes were written during a ryears refidence in Ruffia, and confeveral particulars both curious amufing, refpecting the Emprefs, d the natives of thefe extenfive donition. We fhall prefent our readers ita a fammary abftract of the contents of each of thefe letters, and extract the ages from themwhich feemworthy of particular attention, either from their relty, or from the entertainment nd inftruction which they convey ut be remembered, that thefe

L

"Auguft 7, 1763. The weather fine, and the wind favourable. We failed along the coaft of Zealand.Nothing of the kind could be more delightful than the verdure and variety of hill and dale difplayed in that beautiful inland. In the afternoon we pafled a fmall palace belonging to the King of Denmark. It is diftant about two miles from Elfinore; is is built, as I was told, on the very place formerly flat-roofed; has twelve windows in front, and occupied by the palace of Hamlet's father. In

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See the notes the Reverend Mr. Johnstone has ad led to his tranflation of the Death-Song of

In the first rade ages rocks and trees fupplied the materials for writing, and on them were in

how the rudiments of that art: the trees thus marked were held in veneration, and were even karved to inciofe fome fupernatural agent.