Imatges de pàgina
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the pageantry of his appearance, it may very well happen that the vulgar learned may fuffer themselves to be dazzled by the pomp and flourish in the ftyle of Homer: whereas a man who does not underftand Greek, fees, to ufe the expreffion, the naked mind of the poet, and examins as a neutral and unprejudiced fcrutator, the body of his thoughts.'

The letters in the laft of thefe volumes are mostly wrote from London; and contain, amidst a variety of incidents, many ingenious remarks on the manners, ftate, and conftitution of this kingdom. The following is the character of the English, as drawn by this author.

• Your Excellency defires that I woud give you what I think the character of the English; but I feel my own incapacity to answer your demand in the manner your Excellency may expect. Nothing is more difficult than to draw the character of a people. Among all the nations of the earth, there are fo many particular characters, which are exceptions to that of their nation, that the most faithful general characters frequently appear deftitute of all refemblance when we' compare them with individuals: I fhall confine myself therefore, Sir, to fome detachd obfervations that I have made on this fubject. The English nation does not appear to me to be endowed with that creative genius, which is attended with a lively and brilliant imagination, that finds relations between objects which are the most diftant from each other, and that reconciles ideas which appear the moft paradoxical; but in return, it poffefes in a fupreme degree that fagacious fpirit of difcernment, which difcovers, with a glance' of the eye, the effential and acceffary differences that are between things, and even between the images of things: that scrutative fpirit, which proceeding from confequence to confequence, arrives at laft by flow, but fure fteps, to the principle, the foundation of the truth which it inquires after. In a word, the English are true reafoning machines. This quality is not here confined to any particular rank in fociety; on the contrary, the artifan, the laborer, the beggar, reafons here in the fame manner as the lord or philofopher. What confirms me in this opinion is, the mode of expreflion by which thefe people communicate their ideas to each other. In other nations I find an infinit difference in the manner of expreffion between perfons of rank and the common people; becaus thefe conftantly expres badly what they conceive badly but in England the meaneft of the people expres them felves with ftrength and elegance; which proves to a demonftration that they think clearly.

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The fecond diftinguishing property of the English is activity. In fact, I know of no people who are in general more induítrious. This quality arifes perhaps from their temperament, from a rapid circulation of blood. It is not my busines here to inquire into the phyfical caus of it, but it is certain fact, and of which I have been an ocular witnes; that if an Englishman, in perfect health, holds the bulb of a good thermometer in his hand for fome minutes, he will make the mercury rife two or three degrees higher than a Frenchman, Italian, German, or one of any other nation whatever. We are tempted to think that this heat of the blood gives the English that great activity in all they undertake; and as by that mean they more frequently repeat the fame actions, that activity becoms in turn the fource of their fuperior addres, dexterity, and perfection.

The third particular quality of the English, is that of candor, and that franknefs of behaviour which is the confequence. They think too juftly, to wish to deceive their brethren by fals appearances, by thofe vain compliments which flatter litle minds, and which at the fame time are fo well known to be fals, and to which we must give the fine name of politenes. We must not imagin, however, that rufticity predominates in England, and leaft of all among those whofe title, birth, or fortune have given them the advantage of a liberal education; or that the bulk of the English resemble Şir James Roastbeef, in the Frenchman at London, and that their franknes is attended with brutality or stupidity. On the contrary, I find in this country much true politenes, much attention, and a strong defire to pleas. Foreigners accufe the English of being civil, focial, engaging, fond of pleafur, ready to contra&t friendships, and to receive favors, while they are traveling in other countrys, but when they return home, to forget thofe very friends, or to receive them with coldnes; and in general to treat ftrangers with great indif ference. But they do not confider that moft of thefe ftrangers confine themselves when in England, to London, and that the most of the English gentry are as much strangers in London as a Frenchman, German, or Italian; that but few of them have any hous there, their fetled refidence being in the country; and when they come to the capital, it is only for their private affairs, or to attend the bufinefs of parliament; fo that they are conftantly engaged; and moreover not having convenience for receiving their foreign friends at their lodgings, they can only offer them an entertainment at a tavern, where they frequently dine themfelves; or take them to the play, and how them the principal curiofitys of the town.

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But go into the country, visit them on their own estates, and they will give you a reception that is equaly polite and hearty; they will load you with civilitys and favors, and on your departure will furnish you with letters of recommendation to their friends difpersd over all England; thefe will receive you equaly well, and will procure you new acquaintance. So that a ftranger who is in any degree amiable, and known to be a man of character, may travel, with infinit pleafur, over all England; like a ball that is fent from one player to another. Befide, London during the cours of the whole year swarms with ftrangers of every kind, among whom are many of sufpicious characters; so that a hous would refemble Noahs ark, whose master fhoud readily receive all ftrangers that were drawn thither by the smell of the kitchen, or the reputation. of a jovial hoft. The fame may be faid of all great citys; and it is not so easy as fome may imagin to gain admittance into a good hous at Paris.

• Charity also forms a confiderable part of the distinguishing character of an Englishman; but it has here a very different external appearance from what it has in France. We here fee no hofpitals where dutchefes by the bed fide of the fick give them their remedys on their knees. The care of this is here left to nurses, who are paid by the public, whofe trade it is, who understand the bufinefs better, and whofe prefence does not lay any constraint on the poor patient. There is here no oftentatious charity; for the English church does not, admit of the dogma of the merit of good works. The charity of the English is not theologic, but philofophic; it extends to thofe only who are incapable of labor, and not to the encouragement of idlenes. Here all charitable establishments are either in favor of infancy, infirmity, or imbecility. A fturdy beggar is but a bad trade in England. They are dif misd with a halfpenny or farthing, which are their small copper money, and of the latter of which a beggar must amas 1008 pieces to have a guinea. The English count it a great charity also, to aid those who strive to bear up against their misfortunes; or privately to affift fuch foreigners as may becom embarrasd among them. They extend their benevolence even to prisoners, and think it a difgrace to humanity to fuffer them to perish in gloomy and noxious dungeons. The prisons of London are spacious, and contain within their walls, large gardens, and even coffee houfes, where they affemble to read the public news papers, and to amufe or regale themfelves.

All that I find reprehenfible in the general character of the English, for in fact there is nothing perfect in this world,

world, is, a certain infenfibility, which in the common people fometimes proceeds to ferocity, and which even reigns in their very pleasures. Such as the murdering chace; the baiting of bulls and other animals; their races, in which both men and horses fometimes perish; the brutal combats between the men themselves, and other things of the fame kind. The English not only fee all these barbaritys without emotion, but even pay for the pleafur of feeing them. I am inclined to think that the climate, their method of living, especialy among the marine, ancient custom, wrong education, and other causes, either phyfical or moral, must have given this infenfibility to the English, and that the fault does pot lay in the heart.

• These are some ftrokes of the general character of the English, and which may at leaft affift a more able painter in drawing a complete picture. I entreat your Excellency will regard this fketch merely as an effort to obey your commands, and as an instance of the defire that I all times have, to show that ardent zeal, with which I have the honor to be, &c.'

Upon the whole, thefe letters form an entertaining and inftructive mifcellany; and though we are of opinion that the tranflator has adopted the ufe of auricular orthography in too great an extent, yet he has rendered the fenfe of his author in a ftile that is eafy and perfpicuous.

IV. Obfervations upon Mr. Pott's General Remarks on Fractures, &c. in Three Letters to a young Surgeon intending to seule in the Country. With a Poffcript, concerning the Cure of compound Diflocations; in which the ufual Method of treating Wounds of the Tendons and Ligaments is briefly confidered. By Thomas Kirkland, Surgeon. 8vo. Pr. 1s. 6d. Becket and De Hondt.

IN thefe Letters Mr. Kirkland informs us, that fince May

1753, he has constantly laid fractured thighs in the manner recommended by Mr. Pott, but argues, against the propriety of amputation in many cafes of compound fractures; alledging, that, however adviseable fuch a method may be in great hofpitals, where the air partaking of a putrid quality, are more liable to gangrenes, and malignant fymptoms, it is often unnecessary in the country; and as his chief reafon for diffenting from Mr. Pott's opinion on this fubject, he mentions the fuccefs of the country furgeons, who, fays he, unless the parts are fo destroyed as to be evidently irrecoverable, feldom amputate, and as feldom fail in their attempts to cure. From the best information I can procure, I do believe the

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country practitioners, who have been really bred furgeons, do not take off more than one limb in twenty, which has received a compound fracture; nor do they, upon an average, lofe more than one in ten of those they attempt to cure without amputation. And furely, if matter of fact is of any con.. fequence, though Mr. Bilguer is far from having proved the inutility of amputation, yet he certainly has given proof enough to fhew, that immediate amputation is not often necessary."

Upon the whole, fo far as I can judge of this matter, immediate amputation in compound fractures ought not to take place, where the joints have not fuffered violently by the injury, unless the muscles and tendons are fo crushed, or otherways deftroyed, as to make putrefaction not a probable, but an inevitable confequence: and it evidently appears from the anatomy of the part, that when the mortified flesh, &c. is digefted off, the limb cannot be made useful; and even when the joints have received confiderable injury, the neceffity of immediate amputation will depend upon particular circumftances; for if only part of the ligaments are torn, and the fractured head of the bone can be taken away, the patient may often be cured, fo as to have a tolerable good limb: but if the greatest part of the ligaments connecting the joint are fpoiled, there cannot be any hopes of making a good cure; and, in fuch cafes, by deferring amputation, we lofe time, omit a good opportunity of performing it, while the parts are uninflamed, and fuffer the patient to undergo unneceffary pain from the fubfequent in-. flammation; without any profpe&t of future advantage.

But my connections with those of my profeffion have not only led me to know the fuccefs of many furgeons, whose fituation affords them only common accidents; but alfo of feveral, who, as well as myself, have had the care of the workmen in collieries, lime-kilns, lead-mines, and the like, where the most violent injuries of this kind frequently happen. In thefe places, the bones are, for the most part, not only broken into many pieces, and their extremities, now and then, feparated, fo as to come away; but they are also often forced into the ground, the principal arteries fometimes divided, and the muscles, &c. are frequently lacerated, and crushed with immenfe weights, even fo much, that coal fleck, &c. in great quantities, is driven into the very fubftance of the flesh, fo as to render the accident as formidable as poffible; and yet, it is a notorious fact, that, where the part is not abfolutely deftroyed, these defperate cafes feldom fail of being cured, without the lofs of the limb: from all which I am induced to think, that notwithstanding Speedy amputation may be neceffary and right in great hofpitals, yet this ought to be no precedent for

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