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GARRICK'S MONUMENT.

FTER the lapse of near twenty years, a monu. ment is, at laft, erected to the memory of Garrick: a tribute which the splendid talents of the English Roscius well deserved, and which every lover of the drama has long and ardently wished to fee paid to him. We think, with many others, that it has been delayed much too long, and that it ought to have been bestowed by one who poffefsed a nearer and a dearer name than that of friend. But on this we will not dwell: it is not our intention to give an account of what should have been, but of what has been done. To do this impartially, we shall firft give what we confider as the artist's description of the monument, and then the opinion we have formed from a careful examination of it. The advertisement of the artist, for so we deem it, though his name is not affixed to it, (it having appeared among the advertisements in the Oracle of June the 13th) is as follows:

GARRICK'S MONUMENT IN WESTMINSTER

ABBEY.

"THIS interesting and well executed tribute of a private friend to the memory of a man, to whom the public owe amusement of the highest kind, being now opened for inspection, some description of it, by way of ex plaining the sculptor's design, may be useful and proper.

"GARRICK is represented at full length in an animated position, throwing afide a curtain, which difcovers the medallion of the great poet whom he has illustrated; while Tragedy and Comedy, adorned with their respective emblems, and half feated on a pedestal, seem to approve the tribute. The curtain itself is defigned to represent the veil of ignorance and barbarifm which

which darkened the drama of the immortal bard till the appearance of GARRICK. The careffing attitude, airy figure, and smiling countenance of the Comic Muse, is intended to describe the fatisfaction she derives from, at length, beholding a memorial to her fa-. vourite; while Meipomene, with a more majestic and dignified mien, raising her veil, gazes with characteristic admiration on the "fovereign of the willing foul,' whom the at once delights in and deplores.

"The fimilitude to GARRICK will immediately be felt by every spectator who has his features in remembrance; and where is the person of taste, who has ever once seen them, and can forget their resemblance? The whole is, indeed, very finely executed. The curtain is light and elegant; the back ground is composed of beautiful dove-coloured marble, relieving the figures, which are in pure statuary marble; and thus the har mony of the composition is complete.'

"The artist is WEBBER, who served his apprentice. ship to BACON, from whose successful school he went to Rome, and studied the antique.

"This monument of GARRICK was a subject worthy of his improved talents, and affords a happy earnest of what in future may be expected from them.

"The lines for the inscription were supplied by the muse of Mr. Pratt."

Such is, (if we may be allowed the phrase) the official description of Garrick's monument; and it now remains for us to say how far the thing itself coincides with what is thus faid of it.

We will begin with the principal figure, which is that of Garrick. To the attitude of the body, we have not any objection; it is graceful and animated: but the sculptor must surely have most strangely forgot himself, to say no worse, when he turned the head away from the light. By this glaring mismanagement he has entirely loft all the advantage which would have arisen to his production from the so-much boafted likeness of Garrick. So completely is the face thrown into shade, that we will venture to affert, without the fear of being contradicted, that, on a gloomy day, no observer will be able to difcriminate the lineaments of the countenance, any more than if it were placed in the most elevated part of the abbey. With respect to the hair, when we say that it is stiff, inelegant, and even paltry,

we know that we shall be told it is as Garrick wore it. This we will allow; but we nevertheless think, that the artist would have been eafily justified, had he altered it to something productive of finer effect. He ought to have known, that when a strict regard to minute and trifling circumstances is not confonant with grandeur or beauty, both the sculptor and the painter

⚫ have the imprescriptible right of ages to deviate from it. The right arm of the figure under confideration, is ill proportioned between the elbow and the shoulder; it is very little, if at all, thicker than it is at the wrist. This want of due proportion gives it the disgusting appearance of a withered limb. If this thinness is meant to be accounted for by the preffure of the drapery which hangs over it, the cause is inadequate to the effect. The drapery is evidently intended to appear light and easy; but, were it supposed to be ever so weighty, it would be impoffible for its compreffion to act so violently upon the limb: even if it could, the representation ought to have been avoided. The right leg is cut off so abruptly by the figure of Tragedy, that it has the appearance of having been amputated a little below the knee. We are perfuaded, that with a very small expence of thought, this blemish might have been prevented.

On the figure of tragedy we have but little to observe. It is too nearly allied to mediocrity to call forth much either of censure or applaufe. The countenance, we are told in the advertisement, is " dignified and majestic:" this we positively deny and confider it as one

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of the weakest-marked physiognomies we have ever seen. It expresses no one paffion or affection; of dig. nity or admiration, most certainly, not a fingle particle. The eyes are extremely ill-finished the less we say of them the better: they are, indeed, beneath criticifm. The tresses of this figure, and likewise of Comedy, are hard and unnatural: they give not the leaft idea of hair. It seems, to us, that in this part of his figures, the artist studied from the maffy-wig of Sir Cloudesly Shovel, in preference to the more elegant and natural execution displayed by Roubiliac in his delightful pro

ductions.

The figure of Comedy is by no means airy; nor does her attitude (falsely called "caressing,") give us any reafon to suppose that the is pleased. The body is preffed into a space too confined for it; and, thus huddled up, it brings to our remembrance Sir John Falstaff's situation, when confined in the clothes-basket, to elude the jealous rage of Master Ford. The neck is coarse and clumsy, far enough removed from all the received notions of feminine beauty. The face, it is true, has a fmile upon it, but not fuch a smile as we should imagine to adorn the face of Thalia. The fatisfaction which appears upon this visage, is of the childish kind; it appears to be that of a girl, who has had a new doll given her. If such was the idea which the artist meant to excite, we will do him the justice to say, that he has perfectly accomplished his intention.

The curtain, we are told, is intended to represent the veil of ignorance, barbarism, &c. It was certainly very judicioufly done to tell the world what was meant, as it would, perhaps, puzzle three-fourths of that world to find it out. Allegory should, whenever it is employed, be clear and appropriate it ought not to be darker than the darkest enigma. The allegory of Time and Death, on General Hargrave's monument, and that of Fame and Time on Marshal Wade's, both by Roubiliac, are obvious to the narrowest comprehenfion.. The

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The curtain, in the prefent, will not be understood by any perfon who is not previously informed of its meaning. The folds of the lower part of it feem intended to give the effect of linen, thoroughly foaked with wet: --a little more genius, and a little more labour, would have obviated this. The line and taffel which decorate the top, would have appeared pendulous, if they had been fuffered to fall, as they must of neceffity have done. They would then have hid the medallion of Shakespeare; and, to avoid this, the artist has placed them in a position which, every observer must see, from the tituation of the curtain, it was impossible for them to take of themselves, or even to keep when it was given to them.

The medallion of Shakespeare is of too infignifi cant a fize to require so large a curtain. We have heard, in extenuation of this, that it was intended to introduce medallions of fome other poets, but that want of room prevented it.

Such is our unbiassed opinion of the monument of Garrick, and in this opinion, we are well assured, we by no means stand alone. We have heard it afferted, with some degree of confidence, that, neither the design, or the execution of this monument, belong to Mr. Webber, but that he merely allowed his name to be put to it. A perfon, now deceased, has been mentioned as the modeller, and the execution of it has been affigned to a person of the name of Kendric. We know not the truth of this report; we mention it merely as report, and shall only observe that, if it be true, we would advise Mr. Webber not to degrade his name by lending it to a faulty production; while, if the affertion be more than report, we feriously recommend to him once more to vifit Rome, and there study the antique, till he can produce something which will show that he has a perfect comprehenfion of its excellencies and beauties.

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