Cleansing the film of mortal eye, thou shew'st How station'd sun, the altar central fix'd, Revolves unmov'd upon his circled speed, Whilst round his blaze the planet chorus dance, And draw his stream in unpolluted urns, Spangled in diamond pureness, heav'nly day. [move In chainless chain * allur'd the footsteps Their golden grace, in seven-fold melody, To mortal ears unhear'd,-such mortal weight Our being clothes in deaf identity! Wisdom unfolds the once unknown, where flies suns, The mind's prophetic, learn'd, conjecture; With secret bond, attraction rules unseen monarch name, Remotest on the confines of the gloom, Thou loveliest bud of chaos, gav'st new life, When seen, to philosophic gaze. In vain, Round darken'd calmness Wisdom casts [view'd Her optic search!-who has not shudd'ring The comet's aspect, looking slaughter fell? Lo! with flam'd speed he sweeps the hea her learn'd, They grac'd at once a tyrant and a god; E'en Conquest paus'd + amidst her murd'rous ire, And dropt the sword, to gaze, and to admire. Lo, borne on Vict'ry's crimson'd wing they come, To grace the Christian patriots holy tomb. Types of those viewless steeds that whirl'd on high His car of glory to th' exulting sky. Sad rose that morn, when o'er the Adrian tide, The warrior eagle wav'd his wing of pride; Though peace, in seeming, tranquilliz'd his gaze, [embrace §. Yet treach'ry lurk'd in friendship's feign'd With many a ling'ring look of silent pain, Meek child of Heaven, they quit thy holy fane, To swell the lust of conquest, and record The lawless triumphs of a despot's sword, *They were harnessed by Nero to the Chariot of the Sun. At the taking of Constantinople. Church of St. Mark at Venice. Invasion of the Venetian States by the French. And 1 Mr. URBAN, Shrewsbury, Jan. 1. ON the 23d Dec. last, the two ladies who performed the female characters in the Play and Farce, acted by private gentlemen at our Theatre last March for the benefit of the Poor, took their benefit with the same Play and Farce before a full and genteel audience. In the course of the evening, Mrs. Shuter (late Miss Willis) with much and marked propriety, recited the following ADDRESS, written by JOHN F. M. DOVASTON, ESQ. who had on the former occasion written and spoken an appropriate Prologue in the character of PROSPERO. See vol. LXXXVII. i. 255. I trust from the favourable applause with which it was received, and from its connexion with a circumstance our Town is proud to commemorate, you will allow it a corner in your National Chronicle. Yours, &c. SALOPIENSIS. That night while on these curtain'd boards ye dwelt, The one, the warm desire to please ye felt, Will prompt you now instinctive praise to. give To us, that by those very efforts live, Fated around the rolling year to feel, Trembling, each fearful turn of "FORTUNE'S WHEEL." But YE, that never trode such walks as these, Nor felt that sole solicitude to please, If by your hands kind plaudits are decreed, We hold such plaudits Charity indeed. (Miss WATERSON enters here.) Come, my fair Colleague, meet these generous ranks, And mix with mine all courteous cordial thanks, Assur'd that humble Hope, and Zeal sin cere, May always find a fit Tribunal-here. LINES Written at Melksham in October 1817. MELKSHAM! thy healing waters claim Bathonia, views with glad surprize GENUFLEXION; OR, A HINT TO THE LADIES. Let Fashion's influence on your mind To worldly matters be confin'd. THERE was a time, when every maid, And wife, and widow, kneeling pray'd, And (spite of irreligious men) I hope such times may come again. For one that kneels, a hundred sit. Which, ere the patient is restor❜d, With forms and rubrick may dispense ? What Swain to us vouchsafes a word? Where, then, good Ladies, must be sought The cause, which such a change hath wrought? Is your Religion in the wane? Yield sacred thoughts, to thoughts profane? You answer, "No; we still adore, ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL. FABLE. A MAN of fancy and of wit, With more of these than sense, Thought on a method he had hit, With fuel to dispense. What was more vulgar than a grate, Behold the glorious orb of day, Pure source of light and heat! He every thought collected, Of each, he mark'd with care the focus, Then watch'd to see a bubble rise, As proof of heat imparted; And on the surface fix'd his eyes Until his eye-balls smarted. No bubble rose. The sun was setting, And, spite of watching and of fretting, His theory is at an end, Which makes him sorely smart; And must he condescend at last Drest over coals and smoke? "Yes, Betty, come and light the fire, And all the meat will spoil." The kettle boils; the meat is drest, He swallow'd it with wondrous zest, Learn from this tale that wit may shine, That if you also wish to dine, QUIS? HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. PROCEEDINGS HOUSE OF LORDS, Jan. 27. At 3 o'clock the Abp. of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Montrose, the Earl of Westmoreland, and the Earl of Harrowby, took their seats as Commissioners, for the opening of the present Session. A Message by Sir T. Tyrwhitt being sent to the Commons, Mr. Speaker, attended by a number of members, appeared accordingly, when the Lord Chancellor delivered the following Speech: My Lords, and Gentlemen, We are commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to inform you, that it is with great concern that he is obliged to announce to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition. The Prince Regent is persuaded that you will deeply participate in the affliction with which his Royal Highness has been visited, by the calamitous and untimely Death of his beloved and only child the Princess Charlotte. Under this awful dispensation of Providence, it has been a soothing consolation to the Prince Regent's heart, to receive from all descriptions of his Majesty's Subjects the most cordial assurances, both of their just sense of the loss which they have sustained, and of their sympathy with his paternal sorrow: and, amidst his own sufferings, his Royal Highness has not been unmindful of the effect which this sad event must have on the interests and future prospects of the Kingdom. We are commanded to acquaint you, that the Prince Regent continues to receive from Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this Country, and of their desire to maintain the general tranquillity. IN PARLIAMENT. of discontent, which unhappily led to acts of insurrection and treason: And his Royal Highness entertains the most confident expectation, that the state of peace and tranquillity to which the Country is now restored, will be maintained against all attempts to disturb it, by the persevering vigilance of the magistracy, and by the loyalty and good sense of the people. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, The Prince Regent has directed the Estimates for the current year to be laid before you. His Royal Highness recommends to your continued attention the state of the Public Income and Expenditure; and he is most happy in being able to acquaint you, that, since you were last assembled in Parliament, the Revenue has been in a state of progressive improvement in its most important branches. My Lords, and Gentlemen, We are commanded by the Prince Regent to inform you, that he has concluded Treaties with the Courts of Spain and Portugal, on the important subject of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. His Royal Highness has directed that a Copy of the former Treaty should be immediately laid before you; and he will order a similar communication to be made of the latter Treaty, as soon as the ratification of it shall have been exchanged. In these Negociations it has been his Royal Highness's endeavour, as far as circumstances would permit, to give effect to the recommendations contained in the joint Addresses of the two Houses of Parliament: And his Royal Highness has a full reliance on your readiness to adopt such measures as may be necessary for fulfilling the engagement into which he has entered for that purpose. His Royal Highness has the satisfaction of being able to assure you, that the con- The Prince Regent has commanded us fidence which he has invariably felt in the to direct your particular attention to the stability of the great sources of our Na-deficiency which has so long existed in the tional prosperity has not been disappointed. The improvement which has taken place in the course of the last year, in almost every branch of our Domestic Industry, and the present state of Public Credit, afford abundant proof that the difficulties under which the Country was labouring were chiefly to be ascribed to temporary causes. So important a change could not fail to withdraw from the disaffected the principal means of which they had availed themselves for the purpose of fomenting a spirit number of places of Public Worship belonging to the Established Church, when compared with the increased and increasing population of the Country. His Royal Highness most earnestly recommends this important subject to your early consideration, deeply impressed, as he has no doubt you are, with a just sense of the many blessings which this Country by the favour of Divine Providence has enjoyed; and with the conviction, that the religious and moral habits of the people are the most sure and firm foundation of National Prosperity. FOREIGN FOREIGN OCCURRENCES. FRANCE. By a projet de loi, adopted on the 22d ult. the Finance Minister has obtained a provisional credit for 200,000,000 francs, (8,300,000l.) granted in anticipation of 6-12ths of the taxes of 1818, which are to be assessed on the scale of the present year. This scheme is both a consequence and a proof of the immediate pressure on the French treasury. The Moniteur lately contained two Royal Ordinances; the one, for reducing the number of Officers of the Royal Corps of Engineers; the other, for establishing a preparatory Military School in France. In this school, the pupils are to consist of two classes-the sons of meritorious officers in indigent circumstances, and those of persons who wish to have their children educated for the army; the former to be instructed at the public charge, the latter at the expence of their relatives. The long-debated law upon the Liberty of the Press has been carried; but by a very small majority-only eleven votes ; the numbers being 122 to 111. The great question of Trial by Jury, which was contained in the 12th article, gave rise to an animated discussion; the result was, that the trial by the Correctional Police was established, and that by Jury set aside., The King has warned, within these few days, persons of the Court, and principally those who sit in the Chamber of Peers, to take care how they vote against projects of laws or measures of his Ministers, on peril of being disgraced! The Duke de Fitzjames has been prohibited by Louis XVIII. from appearing at Court, in consequence of his having published an intended speech on the law respecting the Journals, full of abuse against the Ministers. The rumours are still reiterated, of application from the French Government to be relieved, in the ensuing spring, from the burden of the Army of Occupation. The Allied Powers, it is added, have signified their disposition to yield to these entreaties, when France has fulfilled all her engagements, aud when they are satisfied that tranquillity and order are firmly re-established. Maubreuil, whose case has excited much of the public attention, is stated to have made his escape from the prison at Douay, where he was confined, The Quotidienne French paper contains the following amusing paragraph :-"The Archdukes John and Lewis have given permission to a German journalist to publish some extracts from a journal which they kept during their stay England. The These Princes examined with care the English manufactures and agriculture: they give also some details as to the style of living in the upper classes, which are not within the reach of all travellers. magnificent interior of the country seats, the taste of the furniture, the amiable and decorous freedom of their conversations, the interest which the women excite, as much by their cultivated minds as by their charms-these are the points which struck these illustrious travellers during their abode in the country. It is there, say they, that you should study the high society of England, and even the character of all its gentlemen. London is merely a large inn; it is at his country-house that the Englishman is hospitable and amiable. The Archdukes describe the manner of dining at the Marqius of Anglesea's. It presents a novelty for our gourmands; after soup they took cold punch. A celebrated agriculturist, the Chevalier Sebright, had the Princes for his guests, and showed them his numerous machines. Miss Sebright is a savante (a scientific lady); she made an experiment in galvanism before the Archdukes, with a little galvanic battery. The Chevalier Sebright grows such enormous turnips, that, one day he sent to his sister 19 partridges' in the hollow of one of these roots." NETHERLANDS. It The Dutch papers lately announced some intended regulations in the tea-trade. The plan is now matured; and when we reflect how much that beverage is in use, may be considered as likely to have a great effect upon general commerce. is proposed to throw open the trade from China, and the Dutch East Indies; thus abolishing all exclusive rights and monopolies, and leaving every subject of the King of the Netherlands at liberty to import this article. The projet of the law for this purpose is now under discussion in the Dutch Legislative Body, and is likely to be carried by a great majority. In this arrangement, the Dutch appear anxious to profit by our experience, and to adopt our policy. The duties on importation proposed by the Dutch projet are so low, as to afford a violent temptation to smuggling in this country, should our present high rate of duties continue. It appears, that the Prince of Orange has been re-invested with all the places * However new this may be to foreign gourmands, it is a very old custom in England, to take cold punch with turtle soup; and that, we suppose, is the soup here spoken of. and |