תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

With gold the burnish'd galley glow'd,

All gorgeous to the view,
Which Egypt's Queen down Cydnus row'd,
The Roman to fubdue.

Yet he, tho' fair, deferv'd far lefs
The homage of mankind:
Humanity and nature drefs

Our Charlotte's fairer mind.
Her gallant navy thro' the main
Now cleaves its liquid way;
There to their Queen a chofen train
Of nymphs due rev'rence pay.
Europa, when convey'd by Jove

To Crete's diftinguish'a fhore,
Greater attention scarce could prove,
Or be respected more.
Around are fportive dolphins feen,
And wondering Neptune cries
"She riva's Pallas in her mien,
"And Juno in her eyes."
The billows murmur hymns of praise,
Their fhells the Tritons found
"How muft the fceptre which the sways
"(They fing) with blifs be crown'd."
Th' Almighty ruler of the sphere
Refrains each boift'rous wind;
The sky, the furges, all appear
Unruffled, like her mind.
Germania's wish, Germania's prayer,
Borne by propitious gales,

To England's coafts her way prepare,
And speed her flying fails.
1761.

M. On the Death of Prince HENRY of Brunfwiek, killed in Weftphalia, July 20, 1761. (See Vel. xxxi. p. 381.)

W

WHERE is he? where is Henry laid?
"My tears shall bathe his wound?"
With these maternal cries each fhade,
Each bill,, each vale, refound.
Ah! in the thick embattl'd plain,
Where fame, where valour calls,
Nor youth, nor danger, can reftrain
His ardor--fee! he falls!
Thus in the morn a blooming flow'r
Beholds bright Phœbus rife,
But clofes at his fetting hour,
Declines its head, and dies.
By an immortal * brother taught,
With juft ambition warm'd,
The hero like a veteran fought,
And deathless deeds perform'd.
The beauteous treffes of his hair,
Which o'er his fhoulders flow'd
Were all dishevell'd by the air,

And all with duft beftraw'd.
The foe now fled-elate with joy,
And glory in his view,

On conqueft's wings th' exulting boy
Was eager to purfue.

Thus from the lion's dreaded force
A wounded tyger flies;
But ah I amidst his rapid courfe
He bleeds, he falls, he dies!

The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick,

1

In fad remembrance, let the plain
Where ftream'd the warrior's gore,
Its fanguine purple hue retain
Till time fhall be no more!
Thus, by a skilful workman's aim,
Late tow'ring to the sky,
A cedar falls; defign'd to frame
An idol-deity ;

Which foon the worship of mankindj
And incenfe, fhall receive:

My hero thus in every mind
Immortaliz'd fhall live.

Dauntless, as when he charg'd his foet
Embattled in the field,

He view'd that tyrant, to whofe blows
Youth, valour, virtue yield.

With a victoribus laurel Crown,
Fresh blooming on his head,
Grac'd with a warrior's best renown,
He for his country bled.
Should any mortal now enjoy

Old Mofcbus' vocal tring,
Let him its fweeteft notes employ,
Young Henry's death to fing:
And on his tomb this folemn truth,
Confefs' by all, declare,

His God he fought in early youth,
"Though like Adonis fair.'
1761.

The RIVALS.

Earning and Wealth, as rivals, came, Wealth calls his rent-rolis to his aid, To plead before a lovely dame. And thus harangues with proud parade : "Tho' yet no pow'r could e'er controul One hour my tree Patrician foul, Such charms as yours enfure command, Such charms, 'tis folly to withstand. What would I not? the prize when you! Rule me, my dogs, my money too! O let me call you, make you, mine; My horfes, tenants, I refign; Should your compaffion bid me spare, I'd never feek another hare; By your opinion, if debarr'd, I'd never touch another card; If difapproving, you faid nay, I'd never fee another play: My friend and bottle fhall for you, Like fhadows vanish from the view; For you, the poor fhall bless my ftare, Enclofures (well my gains no more; Conftant at church, if you are there And harder ftill, I'd never fwear. I don't despair with your confent, To grace a feat, in parliament; And, you the ftar that rules my fate, I may be minifter of state; By you infpir'd with force and wit, Truft me, I'd fo belabour Pitt! Already foil'd, my pow'r hefeels, And follows Wilkes, with active heels; Penfions, and titles, then, who knows? May cheer my friends, confound my foes; My dignities with you I'll share, Sole object of my love and care.

Ev'n now I levy unbought praise,

What wretch but caps my thund'ring chaife?
From me, tho' Learning's hopes are smail,
Yet Learning bows and yields the wall;
The claffic page let others fcan

This sheet, my rent-roll, makes the man ;
1 read it o'er, and o'er, and o'er-
'Tie worth the Vatican and more."
He bows, and fmiles with felf-applause,
And feels the goodness of his caufe;
When Learning thus-“what most I prize,
Is not your fhape, your lips, your eyes,
Is not the grace your motion fhews,
The mufic in your voice that flows,
Is not the treature Fortune lent,
Nor gen'rous blood of long descent,
No-'tis your mind; fair virtue's feat,
Where all that's good delights to meet.
Your heart that feels a foes diftress;
Your hands, impatient, to redress.
Envy, revenge, deceit, and pride,
That fpotlefs bofom ne'er could hide
And ev'ry hateful vice unknown,
You judge of others by your own,

[ocr errors]

And at the pomp which worldling's prize,
Your pity, not your pomp, will rife.

If touch'd with charms that time shall fade,
Wealth offers all with vain parade,
Say, will not Wealth his gifts refume,
When that fair face no more fhall bloom;
The worthleft heart that beauty gains
When beauty's fied, no nymph retains.
Unenvy'd then I leave the fquire,

And wou'd,tho' chance fhould mount him higher.
But times of probity and wit,

Will ne'er bribe Wealth to zail at Pitt.
Thy boats, vain Rival, hurt me not,
Above thy own, prize my lot;
Still hunt, and fwear, and drive, and drink,
Your honours are not what you think;
The cap, the wall, whate'er they feem,
Believe me, friend, are not efteem.
Thy wealth, to accidents a prey,
To other lords may pafs away;
Mine, treafur'd in the mind, is fure,
And muft as long as mind endure,
To me, fair Virtue's pleas'd to lend
Her aid; Religion is my friend,
And Happiness, fhould you decree,
May dwell for life with you and me :"
He ends--rejecting pride and state,
The fair takes learning for her mate.
W. BICKERSTAFFI

UR

A CHARACTER. RIM was civil, and not void of fenfe, Had fome fmail merit, and more confidence; So fpruce he moves, fo gracefully he cocks, The hallow'd rofe declares him orthodox. He pais'd his caly hours, inftead of pray's, In Madrigals and Philis ing the fair; Always obliging, and without offence, And fancy'd for his gay impertinence.

But ice how ill mistaken parts fucceed! [read;
He thought he fure could write, fince he could
So dipp'd in politics, and flatter'd well,
In the court creed did wonderously excel;

He moft effeminate, our youth reprov'd, [lov'd;
And bland for that vice moft, which moft he
He prov'd, by eftimare, this land undone,
And fhew'd it could plone be fav'd by One;

But finding here his flattery without fruit,
The praife defign'd for Pitt, he gives to Bute.
Another now he finds more fit to guide,
Who pays him better for the food of pride.
Thus Ariadne in proud triumph rode,

She loft a Hero, and the found-a God.

Now then he fhews how by the Fift betray'd We flaves by conquefts were, bankrupts by vict'ry made:

No ruin from the Second need we fear,
For victories and conquests disappear.

He prov'd that Liberty was License grown,
That FaЯion was not Faction near the throne;
That Freedom's whisper lond Sedition meant,
And that the Fav`rite was the Goverment.

He prov'd a libel only could be thrown Againit a Minifter-against his foes 'twas'none.

In fhort-he prov'd whatever he was bidden, That B-'s not infamous, that we're not ridden: Thus writ, 'till none would read, becoming foon A wretched Scribbler of- a rare Buffoon.

[ocr errors]

Verfes to APRIL.

A. E.

! Beft-lov'd month, which gave to Delia [face;

birth,

Withdraw the gloom that hides thy beauteou Again re-animate the frozen earth;

'Tis time that winds and boift'rous forms wou'd cease.

Why doft thou cherish in thy vernal breaft,
Keen brumal frosts, and Boreas's winds;
By thefe too much the earth hath been diftrefs'd,
And thy too leisurely return repines.

Have done with frofts, with winds and storms, have done,

Be thine the temperate and peaceful reign," From thee we hope the influence of the fun which long we've wifh'd for, but have with'è in vain.

If nature thus fwerves from her wonted course, What wonder if her daughter likewife fwerves! For who can melt by any magic force

The ice and froft that Delia's breaft preferves? Shine forth, in all thy radiant beauty fhine,

And let us hail the blue fky'd April morn; So fhall our grateful praise and thanks be thine, For ev'ry grace that shall the spring adorn. So fhall my fair, by this example taught,

Learn that gay looks, foft fentiments inspire; That 'tis thro' harmony the finch is caught; That Helen's fparkling eyes fet Troy on fire. April 17, 1765. A. B.

VERSES upon prefenting a Bird-Cage to Lady at Bath. Addreed to the Lady's Bird.

F pleas'd, with your new tenement, your breaft, Dear warbler glows with gratitude impreft; Your gen'rous pity to your friend display, And with kind offices his boon repay→→ When Cloe's ear enraptur'd from thy throat, Imbibes the pow'rs of thy melodious note; With foft relentings all her foul infpire, To cafe my pain, and crown my fond defire ; then, devoted, in thy lot wou'd join, Thy duty, and thy mistress fhou'd be mine; With life co-eval our attachment prove, You, by these wires confia'd, and I by love. March 26. J. NIXON

Lift of new Books published; with Extracts,

Onfiderations relative to a bill for

taking off the duty on all raw filks, c. 8vo. p. 38. 11. Wilkie,

great humanity and goodness, which does honour to the gentleman.

2. A full and free enquiry into the merits of the peace,; with fome ftri&tures on the spirit of party. 8vo. p. 160. Payne, This pamphlet is written in a very mafterly manner, in juftification of the peace. A The author, after admitting the advantageous fituation of Great Britain, at the time when the negociations for peace commenced, expatiates largely on the generous motives of fympathy and compaffion in stopping the effufion of human blood, terminating the defolations of war, and giving repofe to Europe; and, on the great and univerfal principle of the law of humanity, the law of nature, and the Chriftian law, that of doing to others what you would bave tbem do unto you; on thele considerations the peace will not only appear, he says, wife and patriotic, but an act of the highest and moft exalted benevolence, and fuch as well became the dignity of that king, who is the father of bis people, and the friend of man.

B

This bill, the writer fays, is now under confideration of parliament. With regard to the continuance of this duty, the principal arguments are these; 1. that the government cannot give it up, because the annual computed amount of it is actually pledged to the public creditors, and confequently an annihilation of it would be a breach of public faith, by weakening that fecurity which the creditors of the nation Expect should ever be held facred; and, 2. that the taking off this duty, if it answered the end propofed, would be no ad. vantage to the manufacturers of this kingdom, but, perhaps, the contrary; for if the two fhillings a pound duty were taken off, much larger orders would, no doubt, be given by the English merchant to his C correfpondent abroad; this encreased demand would naturally enhance the price, The alarm would spread, and the two hillings in the pound would foon, instead of being paid to the government in England, be paid to the grower in Italy; fo that by grafping at the fubftance, we should only catch the shadow,

3. Confiderations on taxes as they are fuppofed to affect the price of labour &c. 8vo. p. 64. 1s 6d Johnfom

The author of this little treatife (if he has not abfolutely proved his afDfertion, That taxes on the neceffaries of life, and the high price of provisions, have not been disadvan'ageous to the trade of these kingdoms, but the contrary) has faid every thing in fupport of his argu-. ment that could be faid upon the subject. He has fhewn from our own experience, and the example of foreign nations, that labouring lefs, and not cheaper, has always been the confequence of the low price of provifions, and that where provisions are dear from whatever caufe, labour is always plenty, always well performed, and of courfe is always cheap. In England fince we have had high taxes and exeifes, our exports have greatly encreased; and when provifions are dear, labour is performed with care, with diligence, and with a defire of pleafing; men then work fix days inftead of four; and their work, after a habit of conftant labour, is beyond compar.fon, better than when hurried off with a trembling hand after a debauch. GIn Holland, where taxes are three times as high as in England, and where bread as good as ours, is feldom lefs than three pence a pound, and meat nine pence, the price of a day's labour is not above fourteen pence of our money; and yet in the great city of Amfterdam, a beggar is hardly to be seen in the streets, and a robber rare Hin the feven provinces; no murmurs on account of taxes, nor any riots on account of scarcity; on the contrary, honesty, induftry, and fobriety, univerfally prevail, and conftant employment takes place of debauchery and difpation, From this

To these objections the writer answers; firft, that the lofs to the revenue may be made good by an equivalent, and that a duty on orgazine, or thrown filk, might anfwer the fame end; and to the fecond objection, though he admits the obvious effects of an increased demand, ye the jusly ́ obferves, that as our demands are confin- & ed to no particular country, they can have no confiderable local operation; we should fill go to market upon equal terms with our neighbours, the French and Dutch, and having no other clog at home than what naturally arifes from the different price of provifions, our manufacturers, who are now at a stand for want of employment, would be able to furnish the markets upon more equal terms than they can at present. One great and recent inftance of the deplo rable fituation of these industrious but unhappy people, occafioned by the dearners of raw filk, the author, to fhew the neceffity of abolishing this duty, has produced-A gentleman, fays he, who has the most valuable filk-mills at Derby, not being able to supply his edifices, and keep them working in the usual manner, on account of the dearnefs of raw filk, without Jong very confiderably by it, was induced by this confideration, and great tenderness for his diftreffed labourers, to pay them their ufual prices of hire, without having their labour for it; which, though more eligible than to keep them working for working fake, upon the risque, nay, upon a certainty of lofing a confiderable

theless an act of

example

example of the Dutch, the author la-
ments that our legiflators do not exert
their abilities in framing a fet of laws to
extirpate idlenefs, reftrain debauchery,
prevent vagrancy, affift honest industry,
employ the poor, and ease the industrious A
from the intollerable burden of maintain-
ing the diffolute.

He takes upon him to affert, that there
is no country in Europe, where working
men, class for clafs, can at this day pur-
chafe more neceffaries and fuperfluities with
the price of 8 hours labour, than they can
in England, notwith landing the great outcry B
of high taxes and dear provifions; that
out of the three thousand poor manufac-
turers, that have lately been relieved by a
generous fubfcription, not above 1500 are
actually unemployed; that many of them
might be employed on moderate terms,
but having been accustomed to get twenty
or thirty fhillings a week in the gauze
manufactory, they will not return to
other lefs profitable branches, though
hands are actually wanted; and that it
were to be wifhed, that the prefent mode
of thinking could be a little changed, and
that it could be thought better for the man
as well as the community, to give him a`
Thilling for a days labour, than to give D
him a fhilling now and then to fupport
him in idleness.

1

us, to the measures of the prefent minifter; and, to speak impartially, he has fet his conduct in the fairelt point of view.

The late fecretary, fays he, declared publicly that he faw no method of giving permanence to the peace, but that of forming a folid mafs of continental power, capable of being opposed to the parties of the family compact; yet whoever will view the ftate of our alliances at the time he left the feals, and after he had exhausted our treafury to purchase them, will fee that France, Spain, and Vienna, were in actual hoftili! ties; Holland, footh'd and irritated by turns, was held but by a fingle thread; that our friendship with Denmark has fince been improv'd; that we paid 670,000l. to Pruffia for the affiftance of 4000 dragoons during one campaign; and that we had actually no ally in Europe but Count La Lippe. England, then, is deeply indebted to the minifters who have feized this happy opportunity of withdrawing her from amidit the collifion of German interests, to which her own impetuofity had fo long, made her the dupe; of leaving them to find, by their own weight, that equal poize to which their immediate interefts will always direct them; and of placing our country once more in that ftate to which her fituation, the nature of her power, her reputation, her fafety, fo ftrongly invite her; that of obferving with temper the feveral variations of the political scales, and the giving to the lighter fide the proper increate of weight, not with the eagerness of

[Add to this what a very accurate and fenfible writer in the London Chronicle, who bas taken infinite pains to give a comparative view of the prices of labour and provifions for a long feries of years, fays, with regard to the diftreffes of the poor.-Thofe, jays be, wubo form E Principals, but with the dignity of arbi

[ocr errors]

their judgments from the ragged appearance of
the idle and diffolute, who will neither work
for their own fubfiftence, nor babituate their
children to labour, muft, indeed, bave their i
maginations filled with melancholy scenes of dif
trefs; but those who will give themselves
the trouble of examining into the condition of the
boneft and induftrious, will find their trouble F
amply rewarded by a difcovery of very different
and more pleafing Scenes; they will find that
the induftrious earn by their labour a comforta-
ble fubfiftence, are clean in their perfons, neat in
their boufes, and punctual in their payments;
and their children, formed as well by the in-
Bructions as examples of their parents, become,
in their turns, ujeful members of the common
wealth; an example of which is given by the
author of the treatife before us, who mentious, of
bis own knezoledge, an induftrious journeyman,
who faved 5col. by bis own labour, in a manu-
factory in which most of bis fraternity appear in
Yags.]

G

[blocks in formation]

trators.

The next object of the minifter's care was the most important that ever engaged the attention of any state, namely, the regulations given to the colonies. Upon the fame principle of pursuing the interest of the colonies fubordinate to, and united with the intereft of the whole, ftands that other propofition, the maintaining the dominion of Great Britain, and fecuring to her the dependance of her colonies. It is both reasonable and juft, from the great principle of the general good, that such a proportion of impofition should be laid on them, as the diftreffes of this country, the duty and ability of that, and the common good of both hall direct: For these great purposes then, to fecure the dominion, regulate the commerce, and improve the revenue of the British empire, was the bill framed, that has been fo warmly agitated without doors; but being directed to the common intereft as the end, purfues it by uniting these three objects as the means, and becomes at once a bill of police, commerce, and revenue. By the wife, juft, and neceffary claufes contained in this bill, the feveral members of the British dominions are bound together by the chains of com

merce

merce; united in rights, in duty, and in
intereft; and contribute, each in its pro-
portion, by their riches, their labour, their.
arts, and their valour, to the commerce,,
the liberty, and the happiness of the whole :
And on this deep and broad foundation, A
through a tract of ages, and through all
the progreffive Reps of increasing great-
nefs, the whole ftructure of the British
empire, vaft as it is, may fland with fecu-
rity. This fyftem our country owes to
the administration.

It might have been hoped that the fame,
fpirit of moderation which united all par-
ties at the close of the last war, would have
again revived at the end of this, and have
given to administration all the affiftance
which good fubjects owe to every plan di-
rected to the public good. That of the mini-
Bter of finance was a prudent and effectual
one; he knew the refources of this coun-
try, that her credit and her riches would e-C
very day increase, the price of money di-
minih, and that her income was capable
of great improvements. In this fituation.
he determined to raise no more money than
was abfolutely neceffary for the prefent
fupport of government, and the discharge
of fuch part of her debt as could not be
deferr'd, and to truft for the reft to thofe

D

advantageous to the fate; but he did not content himself with poftponing without providing for the payment of the public debts; for this purpose the poft office bill was directed; a negociation was entered into for the prevention of Imuggling from the Isle of Man; but chiefly the American regulations, which lay the foundation of increafing wealth, not only for the prefent, but for the support of government in fucceeding ages.

ameliorations in her finances, for which a
time of peace would foon afford oppor、
tunities. He discharged, theretore, a very,
heavy load of public debt, poftponed the
payment of another confiderable part;
provided refources for the improvement of
the revenue, and maintained the most
ftrict economy in the administration of E
the whole; he recalled the commiffarate,
and inftituted a commission of only three
gentlemen to defcend into the detail of
German demands, by which near a million
is already faved to the publick. By the
care of the treafury, and the zeal of the
war-office, the army arrears upon non-ef-
fective men, fo long and fo juftly com- F
plain'd of, brought 140,000l. to the fervice
of the current year; but the most exten-
five fupply was the gift of the king, who
bestowed at once 700,000l. to the relief of
his fubjects, a fum that exceeds the united
generoficy of all the kings who ever fat
before him on the English throne; the
minifter, at the fame time, feized the fa. G
vourable opportunity of making the most
advantageous terms for the public that e-
ver were agreed to in the bank contract,
by which he gained 110,000l. to the pub-
lic, and transferred a million of Exchequer
bills on them for two years, at 3 per cent.

when money was at more than four
Sob,oool, more he proposed to pay off, and
to fue new bills for the like fum, which
would be at no difcount. These steps, by
which he poftponed the payment of near
3wo millions, were evidently wife, becaufe

H

Having recounted thefe and many other fervices of the like kind, which the nation owe to Mr Grenville's plans; It is on this crifis, fays the writer, that Englishmen are to chufe whether they will prefer diffipation to economy; whether they will give their fupport to the patriot who would load with an increase of military force, fresh taxes, and a general excife, a nation already weak from the wounds of an exhaufting war; or to that minifter, who, with a more lenient hand, would lead us by the refources of a ftrict œconomy, and a gradual improvement of our revenues, to fafety, wealth, and power.

5. The mutual intereft of Great Britain and the American colonies confidered, with parliament for laying a duty on merchanrespect to an act paffed the laft feffion of dize, &c. with fome remarks on a pamphlet entitled, "Objections to the taxations of the American colonies, &c. confidered." In a letter to a member of parliament. 8vo.

The duty, fays this writer, imposed on foreign fugars imported in the colonies, and none upon British fugars, will totally prevent their confuming any foreign; their confumption, on the best computation, is 20,000 hogsheads a year, which will be fo much lofs to the trade, and 700,000l. a year lofs to the revenue of Great Britain,

As to the duty of 3d, a gallon on foreign molaffes, it will be ftill worse in its confequences; for that trade not only occafions fhip-building in the colonies, and draws from this kingdom great quantities of cordage, fail-cloth, anchors, &c. but is an article abfolutely neceffary to carry on that invaluable fishery, which, by the way of Spain, Portugal, Italy, &c. brings almost all the treasure by which remittances are made to this kingdom, and without which trade

cannot fubfift. Were our own islands able to fupply North America with molaffes, it were but just that our fellow-fubjects fhould have the preference; but the contrary is well known and admitted, as well as their inability to confume the productions of North America.

As to the duties laid on China and India filks, filk ftuff, herba callicoes, and cambric imported into North America, there will be found not to answer the end designed.

Merchants will go to the cheapest mar

ket,

« הקודםהמשך »