436. 
print; within a fortnight he amused him- 
self at card-playing; and now, atter a 
month has elapsed, may make every so- 
ber use of his eye. 
The operation is simple, attended with 
the slightest pain, that of a mere punc- 
ture; and does not last more than three 
minutes. I can give a notion of its short- 
ness, by an anecdote furnighed me by a 
friend of the late Mr. Draper, the hius- 
band of Sterne’s Eliza. On his return 
from India, blind with cataracts, and 
shaken in every nerve by the hostile cli- 
mate, having resolved to undergo this 
operation, he wanted a firm mind. At 
the mere touch of the hand, the agitated 
and terrified man fainted. It was du- 
ring the swoon the operation was per- 
formed; and when he recovered he saw 
once more that world which he seemed 
for ever to have quitted ! 
A similar case to the first has come un- 
der my observation, in the person of a 
respectable clergyman, also about the age 
of eighty. He underwent the operation 
in both eyes, the shortness of which sur- 
prised as much as delighted. He declar- 
ed it was without pain. The village pas- 
tor has reascended his pulpit, and, reads 
his MS, sermons witha facility he has not 
enjoyed for many preceding years. 
It is a mere act of humanity due to 
some who are afflicted by this melancholy 
disorder, to give them every chéarful 
hope, and to shew the ease with which 
they may promise themselves a perfect 
recovery; anid it is a mere act of justice 
to inform the afflicted that the operator 
in both these cases was Mr. Wathen 
Phipps, whose zealous humanity excites 
the gratitude of his opulent patient, not 
Jess than of those who receive gratuitous- 
ly from his hand, a gift which would be 
worthy of heaven itself to bestow on 
them, 
Your's, &c. 
October 18, 1808. 
Ra 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE ENQUIRER.—No, XXVI. 
‘ What is the srate of puLLIc KNOWLEDGE 
and present Disposition of the PUB- 
LIC MIND, with regard to the FINE 
ARTs? 
Zz. 
6 Tu quid ego, et mecum populus quid sen- 
tiat, audi.” Hor. 
N the early part of the last century, 
I the Guardian, in his excellent open- 
ing of his work, professed his design * to 
consider-with particular attention the 
circumstances relative to those whe excel 
> 
The Bnquiver—No. XXV A: 
7 w 
[Dec. 1, 
in mechanics,” at the head of whom, * to. 
shew his honour for them,” he placed the 
painter. ‘This gentleman,” says he, 
“is, as to the execution of his work, a 
mechanic, but as to his conception, his 
Spirit, aud design, he is hardly below 
even the poet, in liberal art. It will be, 
(be adds,) from these considerations, use- 
ful to make the world see that the afhnity 
between all works which are beneticial to 
mankind, is much nearey than the illibe- 
ral arrogance of scholars will at all times 
allow.” 
From the conclusion of the above pas- 
sage, it is to be feared that there has been 
for a long time, prevalent in the higher. 
ranks of literary education in this coun- 
try, an averseness to admit the preten- 
sions of any studies in which they who 
occupy those ranks have been themselves 
uninitiated ; and this cause may notim- 
properly be conceived to have operated 
very powerfully in sustaining and pro- 
longing the difficulties which have re- 
tarded the advancement of the arts of 
design among us. The force of unjust 
prejudices in this respect is at length 
abated, the affinities between all works, 
beneficial to mankind, are every where 
recognized, and the consequent progress 
of the advantages to be derived from, 
them, becomes the natural subject of our 
enquiries. It seems, from the result of 
much candid discussion, to be now ge- 
nerally allowed, that the state of the fine, 
or liberal arts, in any nation, may be re- 
garded as a just criterion of the state or 
degree of public taste at least, if not of 
public virtue also; and, in this view of 
their reciprocal proportion, it must be 
frankly acknowledged that public taste, 
and_public virtue, are yet capable of very 
considerable improvement in England. 
The fine arts, as we call them, from 
the term adopted by the French, Les 
Beaux Arts, are made by that nation to 
consist of painting, sculpture, music, and 
architecture, In our own idiom, (and in 
the phrase adopted by the Guardian,) the. 
more comprehensive class of the liberal P 
arts combines poetry,oratory,music, paint- 
ing and sculpture, (considered as one, 
because the principles of science on which 
they proceed are the same,) arid archi-= 
tecture. To the former list, our hght- 
hearted and light-heeled neighbours have 
sometimes, I “believe, added dancing 
(La Danse, inclusive, it may be presum- 
ed, of acting) ; but. it is an innovation to 
which the still surviving sentiments of 
our sturdy ancestors will with diticulty 
be brought.to accede, sti 
‘ j Poetry 
