42‘2 
Dr* Brown on a Cure for the Fistula* [Dec. 
fame of Hanc?e1, who excelled in a de¬ 
partment wholly foreign to his pursuits; 
and who was moreover. patronized by 
Burlington, Arbuthnot, and all those of 
Pope’s friends, by whose judgment in 
musical science, having none confessedly 
of his own, he was most likely to be in¬ 
fluenced in such a case. That Pope was 
envious of the fame even erf poetical 
meric in his contemporaries, is by no 
means apparent, although he undoubtedly 
indulged too far his personal dislikes, 
jesentments, and prejudices, Congreve, 
Addison, Garth, Prior, Fenton, Gay, 
Swift, &c. were in the class of his most 
intimate friends : and of his great rival, 
Dryden, he always speaks in terms of 
enthusiastic admiration. 
If we turn to the passage of the Dun- 
ciad, quoted by your correspondent, it 
will indisputably appear that the poePs 
ridicule and satire were directed not 
acainst the grave and manly melodies of 
Handel, but the enervating and effemi¬ 
nate music of the Italian opera, the pre¬ 
vailing passion for which w-as the grand 
obstacle to Handel’s success. The Ita¬ 
lian JMuse is accordingly represented 
under the form of a harlot, with mincing 
step, languid eye, and fluttering attire: 
lier head turned aside and supported by 
two singing peers, exclaiming: 
O Cara, Cara, silence all that train, &c. 
And she concludes her triumphant boasts 
xvith saying; 
But soon, ahl-stJon, rebellion will commence. 
If-music meanly borrows aid from sense ; 
Strong in new arms, lo ! giant Handel stands, 
Like bold Briareus with an hundred hands. 
To stir, to rouze, to shake, the soul he comes. 
And Jove’s own thunders follow Mars’s 
drums ; 
Arrest him, empress, or you sleep no more: 
She heard and drove him to the Hibernian 
shore. 
It Is necessary , to explain that, in the 
last two lines, the goddess Dulness is. 
invoked to arrest the progress of this 
dangerous innovator, lest the reign of 
Sense should be restored. And that the 
Goddess, attentive to lire prayer of her 
votary, drove him from the land of 
Britain to the coast of Hibernia, most 
iii^justly, as all will now acknowledge; 
characierised by the poet os “ the mo¬ 
dern Bmotia,” over which tlie “ cloudy 
goddess” is supposed to rule with ab¬ 
solute sway, and where her empire was 
in no danger of subversion. The cold 
reception wliicb, as the author of the ar¬ 
ticle in question remarks, that divine 
production of Handel, the Messiah, met 
with at its first appearance in 1741, was 
in all probability alluded to in this tri¬ 
umph of Dulness ; and it would be a gra¬ 
tification of curiosity, could it now be as¬ 
certained, what sort of patronage or 
encouragement this great musical genius 
experienced on his subsequent arrival in 
Ireland. Mentor, 
London^ Oct. 12, 1811. 
To the "Editor of the Monthly Magazine* 
SIR, 
S you have invited a general com¬ 
munication, and extensively dif¬ 
fused a knowledge of popular remedies 
for various diseases; and, as the indis¬ 
position that probably brought on tlie 
fever which proved fatal to a late re¬ 
verend and lamented scholar, is said to 
have been a fistulous complaint; I send 
you an account of a simple, cheap, pre¬ 
paration, which has proved in a few in¬ 
stances an effectual cure for the fistula. 
The foreman of an eminent brush-maker 
in Bristol, being afflicted with that pain¬ 
ful malady; a person residing in ChiswelU 
street; and an industrious smith in this 
neighbourhood, liiive been recently 
cured. The latter, about six w'ceks ago, 
with little liope of evading an operation, 
began to take a large wine-glass full, 
(about four table-spoanfuls) of the fol¬ 
lowing decoction. 
He procured at a medical herb.shop 
in Govent-Garden, at a shilling an ounce, 
some of the blossoms of the pi'unus sil- 
•vestriSf the black-thorn or sloe-tree ; an 
ounce of these was put into a coffee-pot, 
of the ordinary size, to which he added 
three half-pints, or about a Vfin- 
chester-quart, of water; it stood near 
the fire, simmering for some tinie, then 
was slightly boiled; the strained liquor, 
which looks like brandy, was taken two 
or three times a day; and twice a-day be 
applied, to the part affected, a bread 
and milk poultice, softened witii ointment 
of marshmallows; and he is now well. 
The pain that gene!ally occurs, pre^* 
viousiy to a discharge from the sore, 
may be assuaged by the application of 
equal parts of the soap liniment, com¬ 
monly called opodeldock, and tincture of 
opium ; or by the use of half an ounce of 
ointment of spermaceti, well mixed with 
ten grains of powdered opium. 
I have heard that a person in the 
city has been cured of a very painful 
litemorrhoidal complaint, which is some¬ 
times the precursor of fistula, solely by 
the use of the decoction above-men¬ 
tioned ji 
