They breathe the pious feelings of a mind At peace with Heaven, himself, and all mankind; So, like the Sun, slow sinking from our sight, Its beams less fervid, but more mildly bright, Shalt thou thy earthly pilgrimage, when o'er, By faith, more glorious rise on Heav'n's blest shore. O may I then, like thee, at Life's brief close, Look calmly forward to the grave's repose; Lines addressed to J. N. of Highbury, on reading the Verses on his 78th Birth-day. By Mr. STOCKDALE HARDY. WELL hast thou trod life's chequer'd path, Dispelling gloom,-diffusing pleasure, Panted for Ambition's treasure. No common lay,-no common song,- The debt enhance,-the theme prolong. Where pain and sorrow are no more, And, passing to thine honour'd tomb, May filial duty cheer thy dying bed! TO AN AFFLICTED LADY, On the much-lamented Loss of her highly talented and amiable Husband, and the sweetest solace of that Loss, her only and infant Daughter. (See our Obituary, p. 283.) heir, WHILE Death impended over David's [prayer, For his child's life with fasting and with To God he cried; but when his child was dead, The grieving parent rose, and tasted bread; While too intent upon his much-lov'd art, Of both bereav'd, may'st thou, sad mourner, say, "I bless the Lord who gave and took away;” Took thy dear Husband from the sacred dome, The church he lov'd, to his celestial home, To scenes more glorious, in a brighter sky, Than, Stothard, e'er had even bless'd thine eye; Took thy sweet Daughter to His kingdom's bliss ; Afflicted Lady, canst thou weep at this! On the facetious Mr. H***y D*y, of West IN Cowes where pleasures rare abound A wit most keen,- -a humour dry, +Alluding to a Song called "The Pleasures of Cowes." No 258 No party form'd, no set complete, No circle e'er so gay, But wish th' approach-of Day! Grave as Minerva's bird, the while The bowl he's freely quaffing; A wit,-who does not know it; Sure Love is no ingredient; Select Poetry. So welcome to the fair; No beau, howe'er he courted be, Receives so large a share. Yet Nature's debt he still must pay, When Time his strength shall mellow, But many a friend shall sighing say, "We ne'er shall view his fellow!" West Cowes, Feb. 15. TO HYGEIA. FŒMINA. COME, Maiden of the mountain wild, And let me Health's pure blessing know. Thy place Affliction long has fill'd, And blighted all thy wonted bloom, And shed a gleam of heavenly ray; My weak enfeebl'd frame shall rise; [March, A MIDNIGHT THOUGHT. GENTLE Somnus, O diffuse A BELLE OF THE OLD SCHOOL. TO DISAPPOINTMENT. FOUNTAIN of sorrows! source of cares! Hail, Disappointment! bitter stream, That running thro' "the vale of tears," A stranger to the Summer beam, With plaintive murmuring languid flow; Nursest in gloomy mire full many a shoal of woe! Floated along by cruel force, Thy muddy stream in sickly motion, To navigate a kinder ocean; Tho' with dull flow, Sullen and slow, Yet with wrung lips and watery eye, All fill up of thy brine and drink the chalice dry. Whether swill'd from the gob et of Grandeur and Pride, Or drain'd out of Poverty's cup, By none may the draught as it's pass'd be denied, But to all is the bumper fill'd up. Then hail, Disappointment, then hail to thy bowl, [soul! Thy liquor's a medicine that's good for the The greatest of mortals thy waters have quaff'd, Kings and Princes have sail'd on thy tide, While thy Syrens deriding in silence have laugh'd At the false empty glitter of pride. Thy stream does so run into Life's stormy main, AN EPISTLE TO LORD BYRON. This Poet says he cannot make Speaks for himself in Byron's "Cain." BYRON-alas! that such a soul as thine, So richly gifted with poetic fire, Form'd as a light in darksome time to shine, Should sink in Sensuality's foul mire. Bard of proud Unbelief and wild Desire, Would nothing serve thee but a sacred theme? To play with thunderbolts would'st thou aspire? Nor, when misusing God's most holy name, Fear dreadful wrath in fierce avenging flame? And yet all bold and daring as thou art, Fear seems to haunt thee in thy dark retreat, When a misgiving, undecided heart, Would prompt thee to deny a future state, Where woes immense the infidel await. But quite consistent is the graceless wight, Victim of pride, and vice, and self-deceit, Who vainly strives to draw the veil of night O'er scenes terrific to his feeble sight. In vain thine eye o'er Holy Writ may rove, Or trace the woes of Cain's unhappy wife; Or Moses bring, with prophets, to disprove Our blessed hope of everlasting life, To that bright state, with joys unfading rife, Was Enoch call'd to leave his native land, Translated from this vale of tears and strife, Before the Throne, at GoD's benign command, In endless joy and happiness, to stand. I know, says Job, that Shall raise my body from its bed of clay; [away, From Death's cold hand, in rapture borne HIM for myself my joyful eyes shall see, And in that sight for ever happy be. I set Thee always, LORD, before mine eyes, Said Israel's King, and of thy glory tell, And in thy realm beyond the vaulted skies, In bliss with Thee for ever hope to dwell; Thou surely wilt not leave my soul in hell; My body from the grave shalt Thou restore, The chorus of eternal joy to swell, Where blissful myriads thy name adore, At whose right hand are pleasures evermore. So spake the Psalmist, having first defin'd The kind of man who on God's holy hill Shall dwell in rest, whose pure and spotless mind Is train'd in truth, and meditates no ill. And farther proof have we from David still, 259 grace, Describes the resurrection of the dead, When ev'ry bone shall re-assume its place; And tho' the vital spark be long since fled, With flesh and sinew shall be overspread. Daniel depicts that everlasting Throne On which the JUDGE shall take His awful seat, Whose jurisdiction all the world shall own; Whilst Kings and Emperors, the small, the great, [fate. Shall trembling stand to hear their final Forth from the Throne shall issue floods of flame[state! The dead shall rise-but oh! their different Some wake to find in life's bright book their Pity it is, that one who well could make Melodious concert with the choir divine, Celestial poesy should e'er forsake To join the dismal hissings of the snake. What would'st thou give on that tremendous day, [end, In view of torments which shall never That thou hadst never thought on "HAROLD'S" lay, [penn'd, Or vile "DON JUAN'S" ribald stanza Then, yet-be wise to calm enquiry bend, The first Assassin roam'd from land to land; And yet this murd'rer, by indulgent Heav'n, Had space for sorrow and repentance giv'n : Not such the fate, O Byron! of that Cain, The monstrous offspring of thy guilty brain; Him the just sense of all who think or feel, Has damn'd, without redemption or appeal. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 20. Several petitions were presented, complaining of agricultural distress. Mr. Hume presented a petition from Hunt, complaining of the discipline to which he is subjected in Ilchester Gaol. The Hon. Member was unsparing in his strictures upon the motives and conduct of the Somersetshire Magistrates, and spoke of some of the learned Judges in a way which the Solicitor General said he would call scandalous in any other place. Mr. Grey Bennet read the Solicitor General a severe lecture upon the unceremoniousness of his language; but could not extract from the learned Gentleman any more satisfactory acknowledgment than a declaration, that he was prepared to justify his language either in that House, or any other place. Lord A. Hamilton moved, that the Reports of the Select Committee upon Scotch Burghs should be referred to a Committee of the whole House. He said the number of the petitioners exceeded 500,000; the amount of the revenue concerned was at least 100,000l. per ann. The Lord Advocate defended the Corporations of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Cupar, from the charges of gross corruption which the Noble Lord had brought against them. After some debate the motion was rejected. Feb. 21. Lord Althorp brought forward a motion, avowedly in opposition to the remedy proposed by the Marquis of Londonderry. His Lordship's proposition in terms went no farther than a persuasion to retrenchment, and a mitigation of the public burthens; but in the speech with which his Lordship introduced it, he strongly urged the policy of diverting the surplus of the year to the diminution of taxation, in derogation of the Sinking Fund. Mr. Robinson moved an Amendment, recommending the Ministerial project of a liquidation of the Five per Cents. The Amendment was eventually carried by a considerable majority. Feb. 22. Col. Davies called the attention of the House to a question of considerable interest-the inaccuracy or obscurity of the accounts presented to Parliament. He stated that the imperfect and unintelligible form in which the public accounts were printed, had long been a subject of mortification with those who had had occasion to consult them. The Chancellor of the Exchequer consented to the appointment of a Committee for the arrangement of the public accounts. In the Committe of Ways and Means, Mr. Hume moved to raise the pension duty from 4 to 10 shillings in the pound. His motion was deemed too comprehensive, and was rejected. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved that the several acts of 1784, relating to the Five per Cents. should be read, with a view to taking the subject into consideration on Monday following. On the motion that the House should resolve itself into a Committee of Supply upon the Navy Estimates, Mr. Hume moved an amendment, calling for a statement in detail of the manner in which the sum estimated for seamen's wages (593,7751.) is to be expended, distinguishing seamen from marines, and the respective ranks of officers. The Hon. Member entered with great minuteness into the abuses which he alleged to exist in the department of the Navy. Mr. Croker replied, by stating that this particular grant had never been before made the subject of opposition, or inquiry, during 170 years; that the strength and disposition of the fleet afloat had been always an object of concealment both in peace and war, and though the feeling of jealousy might be less active in peace than in war, it should never be wholly extinguished. He then replied to Mr. Hume's statements, exposing Mr. H.'s evident blunders, in a very able speech. Mr. Grey Bennet animadverted upon Mr. Croker's wit and asperity in a short speech, and Mr. Hume's amendment was rejected. Mr. Hume then moved another amendment, demanding a comparative estimate of the prices of provisions in 1813, 1817, and 1821. This amendment shared the fate of Mr. Hume's former motion. Feb. 25. The House was engaged in a long debate upon a motion of Mr. James, relative to an imputed breach of privilege. The particular subject of the Hon. Member's complaint was the opening of certain letters addressed by him to a convict in Lancaster Castle. Mr. James concluded a speech of some length by moving a declaratory resolution, that to open the letters of a Member of Parliament under any circumstances is a breach of privilege. The reso lution was opposed (upon the authority of the Judges, and the express words of the statute 34 Geo. III.) by most of the Mem bers 1822.] Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. bers who usually speak on the side of Ministers, and also by Lord Stanley; and supported by Messrs. Bennet, Brougham, Denman, Sir Robert Wilson, &c. and finally rejected by a great majority. The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward his plan for the reduction of the Five per Cents. He stated, that the proprietors of this species of Stock were in number not less than 100,000; and that of that number 50,000 held less than 1,000 each. Measures, however, he said, would be taken to enable all the proprietors with facility to signify their dissent from the terms of the proposed arrangement, and that all who did not express their dissent within a given time (proportioned to the distance of their residence,-by the 16th of March, if within the kingdom,) after the notice, should be considered as assenting to the charge.-Different objections to the details of the measure were suggested by Messrs. Ellice, W. Smith, Maberly, &c. who, however, offered no direct opposition to it. Mr. Ricardo gave the measure his full and unqualified approbation. HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 26. The Earl of Liverpool brought forward his exposition of the state of the country. He commenced by drawing a comparison between the increase of the population since 1801, and the increased consumption of various articles, viz. Tea, Candles, Soap, for private use, Bricks, &c. In the respective cases of all these articles the ratio of increase in the consumption was much greater than in the population. From this his Lordship deduced, that the condition of the people had been improved within the assigned period. His Lordship then proceeded to show that a great proportion of the wealth of the country had been created since 1792. In conclusion he observed, that it was still open for discussion by the House, whether the year's surplus should be applied to the remission of taxes or the increase of the Sinking Fund. He, however, professed his own decided preference for the latter course; and contended, that the remission of taxes to the amount of the sum in question could afford no relief to the agricultural interest.— The Marquis of Lansdown said that the distress of Agriculture ought to be relieved without delay.-Lord King said, the doctrines of the last few years had been most absurd; at one time our distress was attributed to superabundant production, at another to increased population, and then they proposed to cure the evil by sending the most Industrious of the people to other countries. By reducing the expenditure to that of 1792, they would produce a saving of five millions more taxes; and that, with five millions of a Sinking Fund, he really thought would give relief to the country.-Lord EllenloTough approved of the views of Government, 261 and suggested whether it might not here, as HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 27. Mr. Creevey brought forward a motion respecting the Act to enable his Majesty to remunerate persons who might have held high and efficient situations in the country. He said it was an important Bill-however it was but little known; and its principle was subversive of the Monarchy itself. The Act was 57 Geo. III. and it had lately been acted upon. The Bill, in fact, constituted the Government Dealers in Politics into a Joint Stock Company; it divided them into classes, and gave each class particular shares. He concluded with moving for papers illustrative of the objects he had alluded toaccounts of all pensions granted under the Act, &c. After some remarks from Mr. Bankes and the Marquis of Londonderry, the papers were ordered. On the motion of Mr. Vansittart, that the House do go into a Committee of Supply, Mr. Hume at great length defended his former statements of the Navy. He concluded |