for the fatisfaction of our Readers, we fhall here take the opportunity of tranfcribing what our Biographer has advanced on this head, as it will be no difagreeable specimen of his style and manner. • The abhorrence of profufion and wafte he imbibed from his earliest years; and this moderation, during that tide of wealth which flowed in upon him conftantly, enabled him to do many acts of kindness and charity. No man feemed more anxious to get money, and none more willing to beftow it generously. To thofe who knew the fums he conftantly gave away, it would appear, that his fole end of acquiring wealth was for the benefit of others. I fhall not talk of his more public charities and contributions; I mean fuch actions only as were lefs known to the world; his benevolence was not a fudden start of humour, as fhewed itfelf in fuch acts of favour as proceed from fudden whim and caprice; his bounty refembled a large, noble, and flowing river, That glorify'd the banks which bound it in. It was a very honourable circumftance of his life, that in the very dawnings of fuccefs, when he first tafted of fortune's favours, and had acquired a very moderate portion of riches, he opened his hand to those who folicited his kindness, and was ready to affift all who applied to him. His mind was fo bountiful, that he fcarce knew what it was to deny. He was once folicited by a friend to give a trifle to a poor widow. He asked how much he fhould give. About two guineas. No, that I will not. Why, then, give what you pleafe. He prefented his friend with a bank-note of 30 l. "Of this I fhould defpife the mention, if it were a matter of rarity and wonder. A gentlewoman, who had known him from his youth, and had been acquainted with his relations at Lichfield, applied to him for affiftance in her neceffities. He made her a prefent of one hundred pounds. He had feveral almoners, to whom he gave fums of money to distribute. to fuch objects as they approved. Heaven only knows the extent of that beneficence which flowed continually from this large-minded man. There are two remarkably generous deeds of Mr. Garrick, which are fo well authenticated, that it would be an act of injustice to his memory to conceal them from the world. A gentleman of fafhion, and a man univerfally beloved and efteemed, borrowed five hundred pounds of Mr. Garrick, for which fum he gave his note of hand. By fome viciffitude of fortune the affairs of this gentleman were greatly diftreffed; his friends and relations, who loved him, were determined to free him from uneafinefs, by fatisfying his creditors. A day of meeting for that purpofe was appointed, on which they were to be very cheerful. Mr. Garrick heard of it, and inftead of taking advantage of the information to put in his claim, he inclofed the 500l. note in a letter, in which he told the gentleman, that he had been informed, that a jovial meeting was to take place between him and his friends, and that it was to be a bonfire-day, he therefore defired he would confign the inclosed note to the flames. The other anecdote is ftill more to Mr. Garrick's honour. He was very intimate with an eminent furgeon, who died feveral years fince, a very amiable man, who often dined and fupped with Mr. and Mrs. Garrick. One day after dinner the gentleman declared, that that his affairs were in fuch a fituation, that without the affiftance of a friend, who would lend him a thousand pounds, he fhould be at a lofs what to do. A thousand pounds! faid Mr. Garrick, that is a devilish large fum! Well now, pray what fecurity can you give for that money? Upon my word, replied the furgeon, no other than my own. Here's a pretty fellow, faid Rofcius, turning to Mrs. Garrick, he wants a thousand pounds upon his perfonal fecurity! Well, come, I'll tell you one thing for your comfort; I know a man, that at my defire will lend you a thousand pounds. He immediately drew upon his banker for that fum, and gave the draft to his friend. Mr. Garrick never asked for, or received a fhilling of it. Innumerable ftories of humanity, generofity and charity, could be told of him, enough to fill a volume. I have heard Dr. Johnfon fay, that he believed David Garrick gave away more money than any man in London. Some, perhaps, may call his charity oftentation; be it fo, but oftentation is not avarice. Strip every man that does an act of kindness of the love of fame in doing it, and to what a fmall heap you will reduce that vast mountain of benevolence of which the world now boaits! Such oftentation as Mr. Garrick's, if it was oftentation, was a glorious virtue; and I heartily wish he had many imitators. The true character of a man is always more accurately known to his neighbours than to the world at large; to thofe who live with him, near him, and round about him, than to perfons at a distance.' Go then, you who ftill entertain a doubt of Mr. Gatrick's charity and benevolence; go to Hampton, and learn what every inhabitant of that village will fay of him; they will tell you, from their own knowledge and experience, that his lofs is generally and heavily felt; that it is io great, they cannot hope it will be foon repaired; that the, poor inhabitants of that place have, in him, loft a kind friend and an affectionate father; that his benefactions to them were continually increafing; that, amongst other inlances of his paternal regard for the poor, he had, a few years before his death, inftituted a little annual feaft for children. Every firft of May he invited all the children of the village to come into his garden; there he diftributed to them large pieces of cake, with a small prefent of money; and on this anniversary, I have been told, it was his intention in future to have increased his donations. He was as great a prodigy of unlimited bounty, as of extenfive genius. V To conclude: No man of his profeffion had ever been fo much the object of admiration; few men were ever more beloved; nor was any man better formed to adorn fociety, or more fincerely difpofed and qualified to ferve mankind, than David Garrick." In the next number of our Review, we propofe to give a father account of this very entertaining and agreeably written piece of biography ;-a work which may be confidered (as the title-page imports) not merely as an account of the life of our celebrated Rofcius, but as the hiftory of the British stage during Mr. Garrick's time :-we may add, during the time of the Writer himself, than whom, perhaps, no man living is better acquainted with the subject. What we have laid before our I 4 Readers, Readers, may therefore, be accepted only as the general introduction to our review of Mr. Davies's judicious and pleafing performance. ART. VI. Hiftoria Naturalis Teftaceorum Britannia; or, the British Conchology; containing the Defcriptions and other Particulars of Natural History of the Shells of Great Britain and Ireland. Mluftrated with Figures. In English and French. By Emanuel Mendes da Costa, Member of the Imperial Cæfarian Academy Naturæ Curioforum, by the Name of Pliny IV. and of the Botanic Society of Florence. 4to. 11. 1 s. plain.-Coloured, l. 11s. 6d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Millan, Elmfley, White, and Robfon. IT T is no fufficient objection to any ftudy, that it admits of no valuable application to the great purposes of life. If it afford relief to the mind from more important cares and purfuits, it has confiderable value in itself, under the clafs of innocent amusements. A man who chooses to entertain himself in his leifure moments in folving problems of mere curiofity in algebra, in determining queftions of equal infignificance in criticifm, or in diftinguishing and claffing fhells in natural history, is not more deferving of ridicule or cenfure than he who employs the fame moments in a game at chefs, or a rubber at whift. If therefore the science of conchology had no pretenfion to utility, we should not be difpofed on that account to treat it with contempt. But we have already, in our review of this Author's ELEMENTS OF CONCHOLOGY (See Rev. Feb. 1777, p. 91.), allowed to this ftudy an higher rank of merit than merely as an innocent amusement, acknowledging it to be favourable to the improvement of elegant tafte, and even of pious fentiments. If we are not poffeffed of a fufficient share of enthufiafm in this purfuit entirely to adopt the idea of our Author; "That a cabinet of fhells is a volume of fine wrote [finely written] fermons, and that thofe who read them attentively will: find their morals improved by the perufal;" we readily grant, that this study is capable of giving pleafure, not only by exhibiting elegant forms and beautiful colours, but by affording exercife for the powers of difcrimination, equally with almost any other walk of nature. The admirers of this elegant branch of natural knowledge will efteem themselves much indebted to the Author of this work, for the accurate defcriptions which he has given of the feveral fpecies of fhells, and the ingenious manner in which he has arranged them. In this work the Author clofely follows the fyftem laid down in his Elements:-but our Readers will be beft informed of the plan plan and execution of The British Conchology in the Author's own words. As it is neceffary to give shells some trivial names for diftinction fake, I have, in doing it, always endeavoured to form the denomination on fome idea aring from the shape, texture, or colour, &c. but when no fuch correfpondent circumstances fuggefted a name, the choice of one neceffarily became arbitrary. I much doubt whether my defcriptions may not be fometimes taxed with prolixity; but the object of Natural Hiflory will, I hope, excufe it: Precifion, not Elegance, is required. I have quoted all the jynonyms of authors at large; they are lefs liable to error than quotations only of figures or of pages, and elucidate the authors themfelves. Thefe quotations are placed according to the order of time when the authors refpectively flourished; but this work being a British Natural Hiftory, the British authors are placed before thofe of foreign countries.' Attention has been paid to note the chief places where each species is found, except when the hell is very common: and to many I have added the other countries of which the fame fpecies is a native, that a comparative view may be formed of the various climes in which the fame fpecies exit: a particular which I judged would be both curious. and inftructive. Another circumftance to be premifed is, that I have been very cautious in fixing the Species of these kingdoms. Authors are liable to be impofed on: thus Sir Robert Sibbald had the pearly or East-Indian nautilus fent him from the Western Islands of Scotland; Dr. Plot was imposed on even by an Oxford Profeffor, in his curious land fnail of Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire, of which he has given a figure; and Dr. Lifter was most probably impofed on by the hermen of Scar. borough, in the firombiformis bicarinatus, described No. 64.-Other like instances occur, even without any defign of deceit. I have received a fine volute from Scarborough; rhombi from other English coats; and the grimace buccinum from the fhore of Suffix. My conduct in fuch cales has been to reject all fingle inftances, and admit none but fuch as were determinable, either by repeated obfervations, or the quantity of the fpecies found; for fingle examples are not pofitive proofs, they may happen cafually. I have described the fhells from the objects themselves, except in fix inftances, where I could rot procure the originals to complete the feries; in which cafes I have borrowed them from authors of veracity; and the Reader will find thofe fpecies diftinguished by Roman characters, and the authors quoted verbatim. No expence has been fpared in the engraving and colouring the plates, and I flatter myself they will meet with the public appro bation. • The fpecies of British Univalves here fet forth are eighty-fix. I am very fenfible that feveral pecies of shells, yet unknown to me, remain to be discovered in thefe kingdoms. Should any Ladies or Gentlemen, curious in these pursuits, be kind enough to communicate to me any new obfervations or difcoveries, I fhall with all due thanks acknowledge the honour they confer on me, and, if of any number, they shall hereafter be printed in the fame form with this work, work, as an Appendix; for I think to renew editions, for the fake of a few additions, is an unjust tax on literature.' This laft remark we beg leave to recommend to the general attention of authors. ART. VII. Practical Obfervations upon Amputation and the Aftertreatment, by Edward Alanfon, Surgeon to the Liverpool Infirmary. 8vo. 18. 6d. Rivington, 1779. THE HE chief purpose of the Obfervations offered by this Writer, is to accelerate the healing of ftumps after amputation, and to prevent that protrufion of the bone which is fo often the confequence of the ufual mode of performing that operation. The improvements he fuggefts relate both to the manner of operating, and to the method of dreffing. As they appear to us well calculated to promote their end, we fhall give in his own words a detailed account of the amputation in the thigh, as now practifed in the Liverpool Infirmary. Apply the tourniquet as ufual, and let an affiftant draw up the fkin and mufcles, by firmly grafping the limb with both hands. The operator then makes the circular incifion as quick as poffible through the fkin and membrana adipofa, down to the mufcles. He next feparates the cellular and membranous attachments with the edge of his knife, till as much fkin is drawn back as will afterwards cover the furface of the stump with the most perfect ease. The affistant ftill firmly fupporting the parts as before, apply the edge of your knife under the edge of the retracted integuments, and cut obliquely through the mufcles upwards as to the limb, and down to the bone; or, in other words, cut in fuch a direction, as to lay the bone bare about two or three fingers breadth higher than is ufually done by the common perpendicular incifion, and continue to divide, or dig out the mufcles all round the limb, by guiding the knife in the fame direction. The part where the bone is to be laid bare, whether two, three, or four fingers breadth higher than the edge of the retracted integuments, or, in other words, the quantity of mufcular fubftance to be digged out, in making the double incifion, must be regulated by confidering the length of, the limb, and the quantity of fkin that has been previously faved, by dividing the membranous attachments. The quantity of fkin faved, and of mufcular fubftance taken out, must be in fuch an exact proportion to each other, as that, by a removal of both, the whole furface of the wound will afterwards be eafily covered, and the length of the limb not more shortened than is neceflary to obtain his end. The bone being now bare all round, is to be divided, as ufual, with the faw, and as high up as poffible, which will be more eafily executed, if the retractor, recommended |