20

Account of Thomas Frye.

talents were most likely to receive encourage ment. The companion of his journey was one Stoppelaer, an artift likewife, who was alfo a player. It is unneceffary to add, that he was in each profeffion equally contemptible. This removal was made at an early period of his life, as we find he was in London in the year 1738, when he had the honour of painting a picture of Frederick Prince of Wales, which afterwards hung in Sadler's Hall, where probably it may be yet seen.

After he had continued to be a painter for fome years, a fcheme was fet on foot to in troduce the art of making china into England; and a manufactory was established at Bow, of which Mr. Frye was folicited to undertake the management. This he engaged in with alacrity, and to bring it to perfection, fpent fifteen years of his life among furnaces, which had fo ill an effect on his health, that he had nearly deftroyed his conftitution. The undertaking, however, was not profperous. The white clay used in it, which was brought from South Caro-'

NOT E.

* Of this man many whimsical and ridiculous ftories are in circulation. The following is one from good authority. It was his cuftom when any of his brethren died to affert that he had lent them money in their life-times. One night, at the Cyder-Cellar in MaidenLane, fome perfons who were acquainted with this foible in Stoppelaer, told him on his coming down, that Dunftall the Come dian, then in a corner of the room, had died fuddenly. The unlucky artift immediately declared, that he should lose some money by the fuppofed dead man, whofe memory he began to make fo free with, that Dunftall, who heard him with patience for fome time, could contain himself no longer, but rubed out and knocked him down. One time he received fome overtures from Rich, the Manager, to whom he fent the following curious letter in answer:

SIR,

I thank you for the fever you intended me; but have had a violent cold and hoarfenefs upon me this twelve months, which continued above fix months, and is not gone yet, and I am apprehenfive it will return. I can but just keep my head above water by painting, therefore do not care to engage in the playhoufe any more. I met you laft Thurfday according to appointment, but you did not come; but if you please to appoint the time and place, I will not fail to meet you, whether you come or not. I am,

&c.

Stoppelaer died about twenty years ago. His most remarkable performance, was the Dodor, in Harlequin Skeleton

Jan.

lina, had fo great a tax laid on it, that the china when made, was neceffarily obliged to be fold at too high a price. The few veffels which were made, were esteemed very fine; particularly in the elegant defigns, and manner of painting the figures, which exhibit the abilities of our artift to great advan tage. Such of them as remain at this day, are highly prized among the curious; and it is certain, that he had brought the art to such perfection, that in some particulars he equalled, and in others exceeded the Chinese themselves; particularly in point of transparency and painting. In glazing, his ware was defective. From the ruins of this manufactory, those of Chelsea and Worcester had their origin.

In the profecution of this unfuccefsful fcherne, he impaired his health, and to recover it, determined to go into Wales. During his progrefs thither, and while he remained there, he painted portraits in order to defray the expences of his journey; and met with fo much encouragement, that he faved fome money; and what was of more importance to him, entirely re-established his conftitution.

On his return to London, he took a house in Hatton-Garden, and refumed his profeffion with great eagerness. He also exercifed the art of fcraping metzotinto's, which he brought to great perfection. At the beginning of his prefent Majefty's reign, he undertook to give the public prints of both the King and Queen, and ufed to frequent the Playhouse in order to obtain likenelles.

It is reported, that this was perceived, and both their Majesties had the condescenfion to look towards the artist, in order to afford him an opportunity of perfecting his work. Both thefe metzotintos were executed in a very fuperior ftyle; the hair in particular may vie with the first engravings, and the lace and drapery were equally exquifite. After this he fcraped about fixteen heads of the fame large fize, chiefly from imagination, as the ladies at that time who were applied to, would not confent to fit for their portraits, pleading in excufe, that they did not know what company they might be placed in.

It was not long, however, that this ingenious man was permitted to exercife his art. He had been very corpulent, and much fubject to the gout; to remedy which, he confined himself to fo fparing a regimen, that he brought on a complication of diforders, which overcame him entirely. This ill ftate was alfo affifled by too great applicafion; his diforder turned to a conlumption, of which he died on the 2d day of April 1762.

He was a married man, and by his wife had a fon, who turned out an idle drunken

fellow,

1789. Memoir on the Spots, or Globules, that affect the Eyes.

fellow, and after marrying a pot girl at an alehouse, died in a barn in a ftate of intoxication. He had also two daughters, who affifted at painting the china at Bow. They both married indifcreetly, and gave their father much uneasiness. Both died in obfcurity. The unhappy ftate of Mr. Frye's family occafioned him to leave the greatest part of his property to his widow.

. 21

Brought on his diffolution with the haste of
the most precipitate confumption!
He waved his hand as if painting,
Till the final gasp put an end to his labours.
This happened on the second day of April
1762,

When he was arrived at his fifty-second

year.

No one was more happy in delineating the human countenance:

He had the correctness of Van Dyke, and the colouring of Rubens.

In miniature painting he equalled, if not excelled the famous Cooper;

Mr. Frye poffeffed many excellent qualities: he was open, affable, and humane, very induftrious, and when unsuccessful, or in ill health, patient under the preffures of affliction. He was particularly kind to young artifts; whom he often permitted to And left fome fine fpecimens of his abilities and by him, while he was working, in, of that fort of engraving called metzotinto. order that they might improve themselves. To say he was an honeft man is but barely to He was an excellent miniature painter. His do him juftice, pictures in general are well finished, the colouring correct and lasting, and much priz-, ed by those who poffels them. One of them is that of Mr. Ellis, from which the Scriviners Company (of which that Gentleman has been four times master) had a private plate fcraped by Mr. Pether. Our ar tift had the honour to be on terms of familiarity with the prefent excellent Prefident of the Royal Academy, to whom he was introduced by Mr. Ellis.

After his death the following epitaph appeared in death the ap.

not apprehend it has ever been put on his tomb-fione.

To the memory of Thomas Frye, a painter.
Ireland gave him birth, and Nature his

profeflion.

To London he very early resorted, Where his great talents could not long lie undiscovered.

About the age of twenty-eight, he had the
honour of painting his Royal Highness

Frederick, Prince of Wales...
His genius was not confined to that art,
For he was the inventor and first manufactu-

rer of Porcelain in Eugland:
To bring which to perfection.
Hefpent fifteen years among furnaces,
Tilt his conftitution was near deftroyed:
He therefore quitted these works, and retired
into Wales

(Expecting with refignation the fate common to all.)...

Change of country foon reftored him to health;

In twelve months he returned to London,
And resumed his natural profeflion.
At once he broke out upon the world,
As the fun from behind a cloud,
Aral funk as fuddenly as that links in the
deep.

Tahis beloved art he fell a martyr ;
For his intenfe application

For he inherited every focial virtue: And you who are no ftrangers to the heartbreaking pang

When the ghaftly tyrant fevers the ftrongeft knot of amity,

Can only know what his friends felt on the
lofs of him.

Extract of a Memoir on those Filaments,
Spots, or Globules, that affect the Eyes.
By M. Demours, of Paris.

ERSONS subject to fuch spots give dif

PERSONS to fuch

they perceive them. They appear to fore like undulating threads, to others like thin mists, ftars with tails, little black tufts of cotton, ferpents, fmall black points floating. in the atmosphere, globules, femi-transpa rent ribbands and knots, or little portions of gum half diffolved in water; never having more opacity than is neceffary to make them be distinguished from the mass of the air, efpecially when they are examined in a clear day.

All these minute appearances afcend when the eyes are fuddenly lifted up, for inftance, from the ground to the sky; and if the eye are then fixed on a cloud or other object, they defcend flowly to the under part of the eye, and difappear while the fame object is kept in view, but upon the least motion of the eye they quit the place they had fallen to by their weight, and are again perceived. Of all thefe fpots, thofe that appear like threads are the easiest observed by those who are troubled with them. Thefe threads are the cafieft obferved by those who are trou bled with them. There threads or filaments, have vague appearances, according to the motion of the eye they are bent to certain parts, and thefe changes are most evident, as they defced oppofite to the axis of the eye. There are frequently two or three of them more diftinct than the reft, but often a@infinity of smaller ones not so cafily per

ceived.

Memoir on the Spots, or Globules, that affect the Eyes.

ceived, and a prodigious multitude of minute globules, fome ftanding fingle, others in bundles, that seem, with the filaments, to fall like a very small rain, when, after having fuddenly lifted up the eyes, the perfon directs them to a luminous object, to a white wall; for a certain quantity of light is necefiary in order that the fhadow of these minute bodies may fall diftinctly on the retina, efpecially as they are not perfectly opake, and affect but little the transparency of the eye. I here are alfo fometimes little grate-like bodies, fome of which are heavier and defcend more rapidly; in general, the filaments are the lighteft, and are always laft in falling; they are like bent barometer robes, femi transparent, in which there fometimes appear globules obfcure toward the centre, and which look like fmall foap

1789. Memoir on the Spots, or Globules, that affect the Eyes. 23 ancients thought the cataract formed by old. Befides, upon making the fection of branched fubftances fwiming in the aqueous the cornea in the operation for the cataract, humour, and uniting to compofe a pellicle when the diameter of the pupil has allowed which obftructed the pupil. An obfervati- me to plunge the point of the inftrument en otherwise accurate led them to this erro- into it, in order to open the capfule of the neous opinion. The cryftalline being the cryftalline, I have often feen a certain quantrue feat of the cataract, it follows that tity of whitifh liquor oozing from the small thefe fpets and filaments that, in particular wound made in the capfule, which was the cafes, are fymptoms of the approach of this humour of Morgagni become opake. I difeafe, fhould be feated within the capfule know a perfon troubled with this affection, which includes the lens. I know a perfon and capable of very accurate obfervation, who for forty years has feen an innumerable who fees, among other appearances, in a quantity of thefe fpots, and who has had ftrong light and clear fky, a gummy line the pofterior half of the cryftalline in the (ligne gammeufe to use his own expreffion) right eye opake for upwards of thirty. A which appears luminous, changes its pofition lady for whom I was confulted has feen but flowly, according to the different motithem for fifteen years, and there are little ons of the eye, and which can be owing opake bars very visible in the cryftalline of only to an extremely flight undulation of both eyes, so that the fees only imperfectly. the outer ftratum of the crystalline, the Another gentleman fees them in both eyes, denfity of which is little more confideraand in the left they have been recently con- ble than that of the humour of Morgagverted into a cloud, which is diftinctly feen ni. through the pupil, and threatens the crystalline with total opacity. Other examples might be cited; though in general these cafes are very rare.

That no doubt might remain as to the feat of this affection, I opened the cornea, in fimilar circumstances, to let out the aqueous humour, as had been propofed: and the very day after this operation the patients faw the fame filaments, the fame phenomena, and in the fame quantity. One of these patients was a very intelligent man, who would have remarked the flightest al teration if it had happened.

For thefe reasons, and from thefe experiments, I think myself authorized to conclude that the feat of thefe corpufcles is in the humour of Morgagni, of which some fmall portions, without lofing much of their tranfparency, acquire more confiderable denfity, weight, and power of refraction. This humour, which has received its name from the celebrated anatomift who obferved it with the greatest accuracy, furrounds the cryftalline, and feems deftined for the nourishment of that body which is loofe in its capfule. It is perfectly diapha

, and although in fmall quantity, the portions of it that acquire a certain degree of opacity, being of extreme tenuity, can move freely in a pretty fmall quantity of fluid. Some anatomifts have called in quef fan the exiftence of this humour, but it may be cafily demonftrated by introducing the point of the lancet into the crystalline of heep's eye, after having taken off the carea, removed the uvea, and wiped carefly the capfule of the cryftalline with a e cloth. There inftantly exudes a drop of a limpid humour, which is not always qually remarkable. It would appear to e fomewhat of its fluidity after death, and to diminish in quantity as people grow

The diagnoftic is not difficult, but the difeafe must be carefully diftinguished from those spots that are fixed with regard to the axis of vifion, and which, as they are ge nerally occafioned by affections of the optie nerve or retina, are symptoms of an ap proaching palfy of one or other of these parts, especially when they are recent and increase. These demand immediate attention; but those we fpeak of are to the cataract what the gravel is to the ftone; and though for one perfon afflicted with the ftone there are many fubject to the gravel, yet I imagine the proportion in the prefent cafe is fill more confiderable: for of 700 perfons affected with these spots, there are fcarcely two in whom they indicate a difpofition to cataract. However, in pracę tice the proportion does not feem fo great; for all who begin to lofe their fight immedi ately apply for advice, while great numbers totally difregard the appearances I have been defcribing, and never confult the Faculty concerning them. They are exceedly common, and do not feem to be either caufed or continued by intense application of the eyes.

The beft remedy is to quiet the fears of fuch as are alarmed with them, by affuring them that thefe fantoms, which increase but flowly during the firft five or fix years, continue during the remainder of life without any fort of inconvenience; that they require no remedy, nor even any precautions while they are unaccompanied with other difeafes: and that when the mind is once at reft, they are difregarded and never obferved but when purpofely fought for, except in broad funfhine, when they are very fenfible, but without pain. I know many who have feen them for 30 or 40 years without finding their number or figure to alter in any degree.

24

Shakespeare's Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff.

The experiments I have made and forty eafes fent to me from different provinces, added to the answers I have given to eighty-eight perfons who have confulted me fince I began ferioufly to inveftigate the nature of this affection, make me hope that I have difcover ed it.

Jays on Shakspeare's Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff, and on his Imitation of Female Characters. To which are added, fome general Observations on the Study of Shakespeare. By Mr. Richardfon, Profeffor of Humanity in the University of Glajgow.

T is an attribute, peculiar to Shakespeare

Jat..

acknowledge that confentaneity of fpirit, the bafis of true criticism, and scarcely know which to prefer, the bard or his cominentator. If fuch be the honour of the genuine critic, proportionable is his difgrace, who without tafte or feeling, without foul or fpirit, labours by "metaphyfical aid," and abitrufe difquifition to cloud the brilliancy, and blunt the wit of the author whom he confufe the perfpicuity, quench the humour, purports to illuftrate and explain." Peffieither unfounded, or advanced on grounds mum genus inimicorum laudantes"-praile unintelligible to common understandings, is more prejudicial than direct cenfure. Woe be to Shakelpeare, for Profeffor Richardion

I only a right conception and

haracters we may difcourfe, reafon, and in fer actions from principles with the fame cafe and certainty as of our moft intimate friends, fo deeply did he penetrate, fo thoroughly fearch, and fo accurately defcribe that ftrange, myfterious, and almoft infcrutable labyrinth, the human heart.-Nature herfelf fpeaks through him, “with most miraculous organ" it is not effort, but infpiration: with fuch eafe has he produced what no toil could have extorted, that it may well be queftioned if he was himfelf aware of his own power. No animal is ftrong, but by comparison with others. Like a Samfon in a folitude, without equal or competitor, what be found of fuch facility, he conceived not to be laborious; and to this may be referred the careleffuefs and inattention with which his works were during his life-time publifh ed, and the confequent difficulties, obicuri ties, and depravations of his text, to purify and reftore which has not been thought a work beneath even the mitre and erinine: a Warburton and a Blackflone may be found in the number of his commentators, and the first critic and the first poet of this nation have been content to borrow fame from the illuftration of his page.

perfect relish of old Jack Falstaff, it is necef fary to betake ourselves to black metaphyfics: but ftill rather woe to the Reader who needs the Profeffor's book to fhew him why he is, or rather thould not be, pleafed with the Jolly knight, who, if the Profeffor's idea of him be correct, is fit to give pleasure only to the fable fpectators of the the theatre in Pandemoniuin.

That Sir John is a favourite with the audience, that we regard him con amore, that we relish his jets, that we are fond of his company from a principal fomething better than merely the amusement he affords us; and finally, that we follow him to the Flect with regret, and hear of his death with a forrow which even the conviction, "that be is in Arthur's bofom, if ever man went to Arthur's befom," cannot remove, is a truth which we may call the feelings of every spectator to witnefs; yet fee the monster that we thus admire and love! "The defire of gratifying the groffer and lower appétites, is the ruling and ftrongeft principle in the mind of Falstaff." He is a coward," rather from deliberation than conftitution; defirous of the appearance of merit, but of the reality quite unconcerned; boaftful and vain gloShakespeare has been faid by Pope, to rious; where he can venture it infolent, afford, of all writers, the fulleft and faireft arrogant and overbearing; deceitful, and an object for criticifm; not that petty art hypocrite; injurious, incapable of gratitude which bounds itself in the punctuation of a or friendship, and vindictive." Such are the lentence, the refloration of a letter, or an leading qualities of Falfaff in the eyes of the additional various reading to a thouland va-worthy Profeffor! Let us now contraft this rious readings before; but that noble and with a sketch by another hand §, who is manly fcience which views with the caution, indeed calculated to do juftice to "poor old the candour, and the perfpicuity of true Jack." philofophy, the whole fcope and tendency, the delineation and execution, the end and the means which Genius adopts in fome grand defign, and of which Genius in a high degree confentaneous fhould alone prefume to judge. When Longinus expands to view the fublime of the great Father of Poetry, when Johnfon traces the fiery genius of Shakespeare, the heaven and hell in Ariel

Caliban and the Witches, we feel and

"To me then it appears that the leading quality in Falstaff's character, and that from which all the reft take their colour, is a high degree of wit and humour, accompanied with great vigour and alacrity of mind. This qua-. hity to accompanied, led him probably very early into life, and made him highly accepN O T E. "Effay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falltaff," Svo. 1787.

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