A note on the life and writings of Paul Hiffernan, M. D. : read before the Bibliographical Society of Ireland on 24th November, 1930.

  • Percy Kirkpatrick
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A note on the life and writings of Paul Hiffernan, M. D. : read before the Bibliographical Society of Ireland on 24th November, 1930. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Book V treats of Architecture, Painting and the other Arts, so far as they are accessory to Theatrical Reproduction. In 1772 a second edition of this book was published by T. Becket and P. de Hondt in octavo. Throughout the work Hiffernan is so unstinted in his praise of Garrick that the latter’s activity in getting subscribers for it, was considered to be in questionable taste. Hiffernan attributes Garrick’s success as an actor of his “ adding to all the advantages with which nature had copiously gifted him, an inde¬ fatigable application to reading, practising, and conversing with many learned and ingenious persons of this and other nations,” and he goes on to point out a precept which he might with advantage to himself have prac¬ ticed, “ the unstudious, the idle, or the dissipated will never be conspicuous in the profession of acting.” In 1774 Hiffernan published The Philosophic Whim : or, Astronomy. A Farce, in which he poked fun at modern philosophers ; but the play is described as “ such a jumble of nonsense that there was no reading or defining it.” In 1775 Hiffernan was asked by the actor Reddish to adapt a play which had been left with him by Henry Jones, the Bricklayer poet, called The Cave of Idra. This play was founded on what was said to be a true story which had been published in the Gentleman’s Magazine. In the play as written by Jones, the scene was laid practically altogether underground in the quick-silver mines of Austria, which, as Hiffernan says, “ gives it a tiresome and disgusting monotony unfit for stage representation.” Hiffernan added two acts to the play, writing the first and fifth entirely himself, he added also several new characters, and made other modifications. The new play was renamed The Heroine of the Cave, and was played at Drury Lane on March 19, 1764, for Reddish’s benefit, with Reddish as the chief char¬ acter (Count Alberti), and Miss Younge as Constantia, the Heroine. The play was three times preformed during the summer in the Bristol Theatre “ with much applause,” and was revived on March 22, 1784, at Covent Garden for Miss Younge’s benefit. The play was published in London with a Dedication : “ To all Virtuous Wives.” signed “ Paul Hiffernan, M.D., London, March 24, 1775,” and it was reissued in Dublin in the same year “ for the Company of Booksellers.” The Heroine of the Cave is the last publication attributed to Hiffernan. He seems to have written only when driven to do so by urgent need of money, and for a time Dramatic Genius, and this play kept him fairly well supplied ; as he said he was able to give up “ his old English dress ” for a new suit of clothes. His next attempt to make money was rather humorous. He decided to give a course of lectures on Anatomy for which he published proposals. The course was to consist of three lectures for which a fee of one guinea was to be charged, and to prevent overcrowding in the class¬ room the number attending was to be limited to twenty. The lectures were to be given at the Percy Coffee House at one o’clock, and Hiffernan himself took round the notice to the subscribers, because as he said, “ this method I look on as the best as it prevents any imputation of quacking by public advertisement.” Three persons, including Dr. Hugh Alexander