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;
[renity,
Far other suns, amidst the gloom'd se-
Enlighten other worlds, whom minister
Attendant moons revolving with their blaze
Nocturnal, with their setting and their rise.
In far recesses of the dimmest night
Last sullen Saturn rolls the sloth of time,
A planet exile, friendless, yet he hears
The distant charm of harmony; whilst
round,

With secret bond, attraction rules unseen
The golden belt, in native, pois'd, suspense.
In solar font, as yet by sage unseen,
Others their virgin purity will lave †.
Thou start, that bear'st our Country's

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

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.
J. F. M. D.

LINES

Written at Melksham in October 1817.

MELKSHAM! thy healing waters claim
No secondary meed of fame;
Where rival qualities combine.
The tonic steel, and soft saline :
Bathonia-(boast of elder days,
Eliciting e'en Roman praise)

Bathonia, views with glad surprize
Thy health-restoring springs arise;
Nor deems their properties outdone,
By Tunbridge, or by Leamington.—
Ne'er may their salutary powers
Be check'd by insalubrious hours!
Ne'er may thy smiling precincts be
Haunts of the sons of chance and glee,
And scenes of midnight revelry!
So shall the sober-minded share
Thy uncontaminated air;
And quaff secure, with potent spell,
Returning to their lov'd compeers
The liquid treasure of the well;
With life renew'd, and added years.
D. CABANEL.

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.
But now, as if in box, or pit,

For one that kneels, a hundred sit.
In vain the Esculapian tribe
Their soothing unguents may prescribe,
The parts affected to anoint,
And lubricate each stubborn joint;
For here, alas! I grieve to find
The cause is seated in the mind;

Which, ere the patient is restor❜d,
Must be, with careful eye, explor'd.
Say then, ye Fair, have flattering swains
Pronounc'd you free from mortal stains?
Have you, in courtly phrase, been told,
That creatures of celestial mould,
Who of devotion feel a sense,

With forms and rubrick may dispense ?
You say, "The question is absurd;

What Swain to us vouchsafes a word?
So far from flattering, Swains require
That Nymphs advance, while they retire.
By Burke so truly was it said
'The age of chivalry is fled.""

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,
And worship God, as heretofore."
Yet, one more question,-frankly say,
Doth Fashion lead you thus astray?
What!-no reply !-the case is plain :
You heedless join her giddy train,
Nor e'er reflect, as down you glide,
That thus your Maker is defied.
Have then my strains conviction wrought?
(I see you shudder at the thought;)
Then, lowly bending, as of yore,
Forgiveness, on your knees, implore:
Nor ever but with rev'rence due
Dare your Petitions to renew;
So may, when you invoke the skies,
Your prayers in grateful incense rise!
So may you gain that blest abode,
You now aspire to a-la-mode.

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,
Cramm'd full of blocks and coal?
It was a thing at any rate
Unworthy of his soul.

Behold the glorious orb of day,

Pure source of light and heat!
Would he not lend a gracious ray
To dress a joint of meat?
With this idea in his brain,

He every thought collected,
Till reason told him it was plain
That rays might be reflected.
Full of the thought he took his pot,
And plac'd it on the ground;
A dozen mirrors free from spot
Were all arrang'd around.

Of each, he mark'd with care the focus,
As round they stood in file;
There plac'd the pot, and, hocus pocus,
Expected it to boil.

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,
To close the anxious scene;

And, spite of watching and of fretting,
His appetite grew keen.

His theory is at an end,

Which makes him sorely smart;
And his Philosophy must bend
To cookmaid's vulgar art.

And must he condescend at last
To dine like vulgar folk;
And deign to eat of a repast

Drest over coals and smoke?

"Yes, Betty, come and light the fire,
And make the kettle boil;
Or I of hunger shall expire,

And all the meat will spoil."
She waits not to be summon'd twice,
But straight his call obeys;
Brings wood and coal, and in a trice
The whole is in a blaze.

The kettle boils; the meat is drest,
And quickly sent to table;

He swallow'd it with wondrous zest,
And so concludes the fable.

Learn from this tale that wit may shine,
But be it not forgot,

That if you also wish to dine,
It will not boil the pot.

QUIS?

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