264. ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



extending the plot, and adding 

 some new characters. ' 



Hiffernan undertook it, and 

 brought it out the next year for the 

 benetit of Miss Young (row Mrs. 

 Pope), with a new prologue, epi- 

 logue, &c. &c. and by the very 

 excellent and impassioned perform- 

 ance of that capital actress, who 

 played the heroine, it went off with 

 considerable applause. The litle 

 Jones gave to this piece was, '• The 

 Cave of Idra." The plot is tak^n 

 from a narrative in the Arrual i^e- 

 gister ; and had the or'g:nal author 

 had time and coolness to hnish it, it 

 is probable he would havf succeed- 

 ed in making it a rt spect;;ble tra- 

 gedy. Even in HiffernRn's hands 

 the plot and incidents buoyed him 

 up above his ordinary thinking ; 

 and if he gave no graces, he avoided 

 any great blemishes. 



The doctor lived upon the profits 

 of this tragedy for some time ; but, 

 as usual, never made a calculation 

 what he was to do next, till poverty 

 pressed him to do something. After 

 casting about for some time (r.nd 

 occasionally damning the bookbel- 

 leis for their want of taste in not 

 encouraging learning, and the per- 

 formers of both theatres for a dearth 

 of ai-iilities that discouraged any au- 

 thor of eminence from writing ft r 

 them) he undertook to give a course 

 of lectures on the anatomy of the 

 human body. 



He instantly published proposals, 

 ■which was a guinea for the course, 

 to consist of three lectures, and the 

 subscribers not to exceed Ivv-enty, 

 in order to be the belter accommo- 

 daled in a private room. The sub- 

 scription (wiiich was evidtndy given 

 undtrtlie impvebsion of charity) was 

 »oon filled by the exertions of his 



friends — and the first day was an- 

 nounced b)' the doctor's going round 

 to the subscribers himself to inform 

 them of it. — "This method (said he) 

 I look upon the best, as it prevents 

 any imputation of quacking, by a 

 public advertisement." 



The room fixed on for this exhi- 

 bition was at the Percy coffee-house 

 — the hour, one o'clock in the after- 

 noon. At this hour the following 

 gentlemen assembled — doctor Ken- 

 nedy, physician to the prince of 

 Wales, and vhe present inspector- 

 general to the hospitals, under the 

 duke of York — Mr. George Gar- 

 rick — Mr. Beckctof Pall-mall — and 

 another gentleman. They waited 

 till two for more company — but no 

 more coming, the doctor made his 

 appearance, from an inside closet, 

 dressed out in a full suit of black — 

 and placing himself before a little 

 round table, made a very formal 

 obeisance to his small auditory. 



The company could not help but 

 smile at this mode of beginning — 

 but the doctor proceeding with great 

 gravity, pulled out of his pocket a 

 small print of a human skeleton, 

 evidently cut out of some anatomi- 

 cal magazine, and laying it on the 

 table thus proceeded : 



" I am now, gentlemen, about 

 to open a subject to you of the 

 greatest importance in life — which 

 is'the knowledge of ourselves — which 

 Plato recommends in that short but 

 forcible maxim of " Nonce teipsum" 

 — Pope, by saying, " The proper 

 study of mankind is man" — and our 

 divine Shakespeare, by exclaiming, 

 *' What a piece of work is man ! 

 how noble in reason ! how infiniie 

 in faculties ! in form and moving 

 how express and admirable! — in 

 action, how like an angel ! in ap- 

 prehension. 



