Deems fuch a show a very dullish thing; He blames the law's too rigid refolu- If with a beaf-fteak stomach,-in his prime, On a late Duel between a Baker and an Undertaker. And most of all, the hour of execution! My worthy undertaker! EATH against life! O why such strife! And as the cart doth to the tree advance, Believe me, time's of monftrous ufe I do pronounce it, Time's a public good, To prize it as an Indian doth his curry* To CYNTHIA, THOU! whofe love-infpiring air To others, ere thy charms were known; Nor blame the trembling wretch, who dies Lo! theirs is ev'ry winning art, With Fortune's gifts,-unknown to me! I only boast a simple heart, In love with Innocence and thee. EPIGRAM. HOSE lines, I vow, cries ftupid Jack, Who would for fenfe fuch folly pafs. Life against death! you're wrong i'faith, Black against white, why wouldft thou fight? White against black! good lack! good lack! Let no farther diffentions between you be One fhall take us whilft living, the other when dead. On Chance. OOD God! cries Madam with a frown, Two faucers broke! and three best glaffes! What! Chance again! She's always here; I wish she'd now begin—to mend !, *An univerfal food in the East Indies. THE [With a VIEW of DUNFERMLINE, a View of PIERCY'S CROSS, and a New SONG. Register of the Weather for Auguft, Dialogue between a Faquir and a Samuel Johnfon's Diary, p. 32. A Defence of the Loquacity of Wo- Account of fome Remakable Pits in Berkshire, p. 37- Analogy between the Gypfey and The various Claffes of the Fraternity of Felons, p. 42. On the Choice of Companions, p.43. Summary of Proceedings in the Fe- On Specific Gravities taken at dif- ferent Degrees of Heat, p. 47. On the prefent State of the English Materials neceffary in 'the Manufac- On the Truth of Fact and Truth of of Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 58. Biographical Sketches of celebrated Love-letter written in the beginning Interefting Letter from the Earl of Account of the Poetic Milk-Woman History of Mary Queen of Scots,' mifreprefented by the Poet Spen- Mifcellaneous Obfervations on Hol-' Letter concerning Piercy's Cross, p.79. Critical Remarks on the Dramatic Works of Voltaire, ibid. Letter concerning the Play of Ifa- The Will, tranflated from the French," POETRY, Probationary Ode by P. de Teftimonies of the Learned in favour Barom. Rain A STATE of the BAROMETER in inches and decimals, and of Farenheit's THERMOMETER, in the open air, shaded from the fun's rays, taken between twelve Thermometer and three o'clock afternoon, and the quantity of Rain- at Noon, taken water fallen, in inches and decimals, from the 30th of at Highgate July to the 30th of August 1785, near the foot of Ar- near London. thur's Seat. Days Ther. July 27 Weather. 28 71 64 FOR AUGUST, 1785. 27 Dialogue betwixt a FAQUIR and a VESTAL VIRGIN. Tranflated from MON BONET DE NUIT : A work just published by M. Mercier. Faquir. WHAT has it availed me, that for 40 years I have driven nails into my flesh; that I have slept ftanding; that, fufpended by a cord, I have balanced myself upon the flames; that I have fixed my eyes upon the tip of my nofe, even till it began to be enlightened? I thought to afcend straight to the paradife of the holy prophet, and there to clafp in my arms the blueeyed Houris. How have I been deceived? I have no wife to folace me; I am nothing now but a poor wander ing fhadow, that every wind drives to and fro; and I have not even those defires which I curbed in order the better to enjoy the pleasures of paradise. Veftal. It well becomes you indeed to complain! Were you, like me, buried alive? You were at least dead before your grave was dug for you. Faquir. What! were you buried while in a fwoon? Veftal. No: a fenate, who ftyled themselves the legiflators of the world, and a people who had triumphed over it by their arms, condemned me to this punishment. Faquir. You must then have been guilty of treason against the ftate? Veftal. No. Faquir. What then had you done? Veftal. There are certain things the relation of which always cofts us much. Faquir. Why? what we have done in our bodies above concerns us nothing here below; it is a kind of veil which we have laid afide, and which has now become foreign to us. Let us honeftly confefs our paft follies. I myself, during the whole courfe of my life, was a filly wretch, macerating, whipping, and cutting in pieces my poor miferable body which could not help it.You do not appear to have done fo much. Come, do not blush, tell me every thing. Of what concern to us are the little ftains of a garment which we no longer wear? Veftal, (heaving a figh.) Do you know Rome? Faquir. No. Veftal. How!-Yet it conquered the whole world. Faquir. The whole world! You must admit fome exceptions: I declare I never heard a word of this Rome. But what has it to do with your extraordinary burial? Veftal. I was born in that city, the miftrefs of the universe. You must know that it placed its fecurity in the prefervation of certain fhields which fell from heaven, and in keeping alive a fire which likewife defcended from abve→→ Faquir. This was a fingular fuperftition indeed for a people whom you reprefent as governing the world by its arms and its laws! Veftal. What you'll think more extraordinary, however, the prefervation of this facred fire, depofited in a temple, was intrufted to young girls. I was one of thofe that were chofen to watch over this celeftial flame; and as the empire was thought to be in danger if it happened to be extinguifhed, the law punished our negligence with death. We were, moreover, ordained to continue virgins, under pain of being every one of us buried alive. Faquir. Ah! I perceive now, Madam, very clearly, why you defcended to the tomb before you died. But I regard with aftonishment this vic D 2 torious torious people who allowed their lof ty destiny to depend on the frail tie of virginity. Veftal. Nothing was neglected to make us forget this facrifice. Rank, dignities, honours, riches, every thing was bestowed upon us. We had the first places at the public fhows. We were preceded by the rods and the axes, the emblems of the firft dignity; and thofe of the conful himself were lowered in our presence. If a criminal led to execution met one of us, it fecured him his pardon, and prevented his punishment. Faquir. Thefe were great privileges indeed. But in the midft of these honours, and this universal re fpect, you did not yet believe yourfelves recompenfed? Veftal. In fpite of the dreadful law, and of the most cruel death which attended the breach of it, I became guilty of facrilege. Faquir. The violation of your oath must have been owing to fome very powerful motive. Veftal. The guards, the executioners, the defolation of Rome, of my family, of the priests, the vengcance of gods and men, all vanished before the empaffioned tears of my lover. He too rifked as much as I did. Faquir. Ah! I have nothing more to fay Veftal. When I took the vow of chastity tranquillity reigned in my bofom, and the innocence in which I had lived prevented me from feeing the full extent of the facrifice I was going to make. But in folitude, the veil of infancy was quickly torn afun der; I felt an infupportable void; my imagination penetrated beyond the walls of the temple in fearch of an object which it took pleasure to adorn with every perfection. My duties appeared to me auftere: Fatigued with the homage of my country, I longed for the obfcure liberty of the meanest citizen. I now perceived nothing in that everlasting fire placed upon the altar of Vesta, but an emblem of that restless paffion which raged in my bofom. Faquir. You were at least more enlightened than I was. Originally the dupe of all these extravagancies of which I became the victim, I was the martyr of fincerity; a rare example! But tell me of your loverthe name of this man who forced you to commit facrilege-I am intereted in him. Vestal His name was Valerius: the first time I faw him was one day in the temple. He viewed me with attention; a flame feemed to dart into my heart; I ftole a glance at him, and a new light feemed to arife within me I was clothed as if with a new being. All nature appeared embellished to me; I already felt a foretaste of happiness. Ever after that, when I fufpected my lover was in the temple, I was at pains to walk with more grace and ftatelinefs; conceal ed in the crowd, he contemplated me; frequent fhouts of acclamation were raised around me upon the feftivals, while the profane multitude were ignorant for whofe eye I chofe to difplay the dignity of my gait, and add to the pomp of that worship of which my lover was the fecret object. But as foon as the crowd was difperfed, and the temple fhut, every thing around me affumed the afpect of wo: my mind could only feel the fentiments of melancholy and the tumults of despair: the folitary walls were witneffes of my ftifled cries. Į love, faid I to myfelf; and Valerius, in the heart of Rome, furrounded with eafy and alluring beauties, will fcorn a triumph which must cost him much; he will not have the courage to hazard death for me; the charms of all the ladies of Rome are open to him; they contend for him, they engage him, each in their turns. Muft I then be |