ORIGINAL POETRY.

DAUGHTER'S ADDRESS TO HER PARENTS, ON THEIR BIRTH DAY.

SEE June unfold the damask rose,
And ev'ry flow'r its sweets display,

While May's deferr'd the hawthorn bloom,

As if to adorn the joyful day.

May harmless sport, and sprightly mirth,
And festive dance, express our joy,

And, in the recesses of the heart,
Feel pleasure pure from all alloy.

Tho' sweet the spring in vernal dyes,
And grateful to the youthful heart,
Yet to give place to June's fair skies,
We see them with a smile depart.
The budding trees, the almond blush,
That far and wide its fragrance throws,
Are sweet, but ah! compar'd to these,
Far sweeter is June's blushing rose.
How fragrant April's early show'rs,
The cowslips pale, and primrose coy,
More pleasing still, its sunny skies

That fill the breast with hope and joy.

Sweet are the dulcet strains of spring,
The lonely Cuckoo's hollow note,

The early Lark's mellifluous song,

And sweet the Blackbird's warbling throat.
The orchard bloom begins to fade,
The trees their snowy liv'ry shed,

And scatter'd wide bestrew the ground,
And all their boasted beauty's fled.

Tho' with regret we view their fall,
And moralize on their decay,
Yet Summer's suns and rip'ning fruit
Send ev'ry gloomy thought away.

The stately elm, the waving ash,

Again their wonted honours show,
And mingling with the lilac's bloom,
Laburnums wave the tassell'd bough.

What gives the zest to Nature's charms?
What makes her ev'ry object please?
Her Maker's hand we see in all,
We feel his pow'r in ev'ry breeze:

But why on Nature's beauties dwell,
Parental fondness claims the lay,
And deigns to ask my humble muse
To celebrate the natal day.

Had I, sweet bard, thy tuneful lyre,
Who sung the seasons cheerful round,
Or his whose strains divinely high,
Again bade Eden bloom around— ·

I'd sing, nor wish a fairer theme,
Nor could a higher subject choose,
Save that which does each theme surpass,
Exceeds the most exalted muse.

But wanting these, truth, virtue, come,
Let filial piety inspire

My every line, direct each verse,

And fill me with its holiest fire:

From infancy, parental love,

Made happier childhood's happiest hours, By wise indulgence sooth'd each care,

And strew'd youth's path with fresher flow'rs.

By precept, by example's pow'r,

Taught me to tread the way they'd trod,

To square my life by virtue's laws,
And, in my youth, remember God.

Unlike to fashion's modish crowd,
Who idly, busy, search for ease,

Who slight the joys that Nature yields,

And pleasure seek where nought can please→→

They early taught my youthful heart,

For comfort ne'er abroad to roam,

And if true happiness I sought,

That she was only found at home.

When fell oppression's iron hand,

Bore down the helpless and the poor, Their cause t'was their delight to plead, And comfort bring to sorrow's door; To wipe the tear from mis'ry's cheekO, may they still possess the pow'r, And to reward their virtues here,

May heaven its choicest blessings show'r.

And may their children heed their ways,
To them a source of comfort prove,

And gild the ev'ning of their days
With filial gratitude and love.

June 7, 1812.

M. A. T.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A letter, signed, "A Poor Unitarian," appeared in our Magazine for June last, charging Mr. John Evans with having been the writer of a review in the Gentleman's Magazine, of his own sermon, preached on occasion of the death of John Brent, Esq. This, though a species of literary quackery by no means uncommon, is, we are happy to inform our readers, a false and unfounded accusation against Mr. Evans, who assures us he never knew of such an article in the Gentleman's Magazine till a Churchman, three months after, shewed it him there; that he has no connexion with the party, who are of the Established Church; nor has he, at any time, or on any occasion, written a word in that Miscellany. On this subject, we feel ourselves censurable for having incautiously given insertion in our work, to a charge of this nature, against the character of an individual, and resting on no authority but the mere assertion or insinuation of an anonymous writer.

A correspondent has forwarded to us a small pamphlet which is thus entitled, "Devout observance of the Sabbath, enforced in a short address to the parishioners of St. Martin's and All Saints in Liecester, by the Rev. Ed. Vaughan, M. A. Vicar, 1813." We must confess ourselves rather surprised that any "Friend to Free Eaquiry," as our correspondent signs himself, should have deemed the thing seriously worthy either of his attention or of our's. The reverend impostor, it appears, addresses the good people of St. Martin's and All Saints, as those "over whom the Holy Ghost has made him overseer," and he tells them that the observance of the sabbath, or the being religious one day in seven, is a Christian duty; establishing the position by many apt quotations from the Jewish scriptures. This is the whole, we see nothing further

The very head and front of his offending,

Hath this extent-no more.

And in this we perceive little striking, little worthy, of observation. We learn from an oldproverb, that certain forms of specchi, which shall be nameless, had better not be used unless they be stuck to; now every parson in the first instance asserts himself to have been moved by the Holy Ghost to enter upon the holy office; surely then it is but common policy in them afterwards to stick to the story they have told, and persist in the let what may

be the consequence. If too, in supporting the observance of the sabbath by texts of scripture, they should begin very boldly at the first chapter of Genesis, and, after carrying every thing triumphantly before them throughout the Old Testament, should slink off and disappear, like the ghost of Hamlet at the crowing of the cock, when they come to the first chapter of Matthew, what further cause of wer der have we? surely, ingenious as the text-finders have proved themselves, we cannot expect them to find, what never existed, authorities for the observance of a religious sabbath in the bons of the New Testament. Or was it that our correspondent was surprised at the want of honesty in the priest in question? That supposition implies a deficiency in knowledge of the world, of which we cannot suppose him guity. Be it as it may, the communication, however wanting in novelty, was acceptable to us, as tending to shew a spirit of observation on the part of the writer, and as opening to our knowledge an assistant and fellow-labourer in the noble and praise-worthy task of unmasking and exposing priestly knavery and imposture.

We were quite serious in the opinion given on the communication of “A Freethinking Christian Philanthropist," in that opinion we may have been mistaken; but till it shall have appeared so to us, we cannot reverse our determination.

"Poor Naboth," the Jesuite has favoured us with another dessert from his vineyard; it will receive no injury from being put by on our shelf for our friends at Christmas.

Our Number for January 1, 1814, will contain, in addition to the usual quantity of matter, the Preface and Index to the present Volume.

t