THE WHISTLE,
By R. BURNS.

IT feems, that, fome centuries ago, a Danish

I

challenging the convivial fons of Caledonia to try their strength with him at the bottle, and offering, as a fpur to their emulation, and a trophy of victory, a very curious and valuable Whistle to the vanquifher. After many unfuccefsful contefts on the part of the Scottish adventurers, the Whistle was won by an ancestor of the prefent Chieftain of Glenriddel, who, according to the terms of the defiance, blew upon the Whistle clear and frong, after his adverfary was entombed below the table. It has remained a household god in this family, till very lately, that two worthy champions dared its poffeffor to a trial of drinking for it, one of whom has fairly won it, in prefence, it appears, of Mr Burns, who was chofen umpire on the occafion. We cannot help regretting the lofs as a fevere mortification to its late owner, to whom, as an Antiquarian, delighting to canvafs the precious ruity remains of old times, this antique must have been dear and invaluable. Our readers will learn, from this history, the origin of the phrafe, Wetting one's While, which no doubt was derived from this fact.

Sing of a Whistle, a Whistle of worth-
I fing of a Whistle, the pride of the
North,

Which was brought to the Court of our good Scottish King;

And long with this Whistle all Scotland fhall ring.

Old Loda, ftill rucing the arm of Fingal, The God of the Bottle fends down from his Hall

"This Whiftle's your challenge-to Scotland get o'er,

"And drink them to hell, Sir, or ne'er fee "me more!"

Old Poets have fung, and old chronicles tell,

What champions ventur'd-what champi ons fell;

The fon of great Loda was conqueror still, And blew on the Whistle their requiem fhrill:

Till Robert, the Lord of the Cairn and the Scaur,

Unmatch'd at the bottle, unconquer'd in

And vow'd, that to leave them he was quite forlorn ;

Till Cynthia hinted, he'd find them next

morn.

Six bottles a-piece had well wore out the When gallant Sir Robert, to finish the fight, night, Turn'd o'er at one bumper a bottle of red, And fwore 'twas the way that their anceftors did.

Then worthy Glenriddel, fo cautious and fage.

No longer the warfare ungodly would wage, A High Ruling Elder to wallow in wine! He left the foul bufinefs to folks lefs divine. The gallant Sir Robert fought hard to the end;

But who can with Fate and quart-bumpers contend?

Tho' Fate faid, A Hero fhall perish in light, So, up rofe bright Phoebus-and down fell the Knight!

tend,

But he ne'er turn'd his back on his foe or his friend:

Said, Tofs down the Whistle, the prize of the field,

And, knee-deep in claret, he'd die ere he'd yield.

To the board of Glenriddel our heroes rcpair,

So noted for drowning both forrow and

care;

But for wine and for welcome, not more known to fame,

Than the fenfe, wit, and taste, of a sweet lovely dame..

A Bard was felected to witness the fray, And tell future ages the feats of the

drink

Written extempore by a Friend of Mr BURNS, on reading the above Poem.

AN BURNS, in many a pleafing line,

And wish'd that Parnaffus a vineyard had been.

The dinner being over, the claret they ply, And ev'ry new cork was a new fpring of joy :

In the bands of old friendship and kindred well fet;

And the bands grew the tighter the more they were wet.

Gay pleasure ran riot, till bumpers run o'er'; Bright Phœbus ne'er witness'd so joyous a

corps,

Griftle,

Who waded thro' a fea of wine

To win the far-fam'd Danish Whistle.

Long may Craigdarroch, free from harm,
Remain the theme of gay epistle,
And long with Wit his comrades charm,
And long with claret wet his Whistle!

May thofe who dauntlefs fell, alas,

By deeds might make one's hair to bristle, Still live remember'd in the glafs, As long as Fame shall blow her Whistle. And

And long may friendship warm rejoice,
To mark thy fong beneath the thistle;
The Nine, delighted, hear thy voice,
And throng around thee at thy Whistle.

THE NEGRO BOY.

The African Prince, lately arrived in England, being asked, What he had given for his Watch? answered, "What I will never give again-I gave a fine Boy for

" it."

THEN Avarice enflames the mind,

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

Some of your Poetical correfpondents draw fuch enchanting pictures of the Girls they adore, that were it not for the Chriftian name by which they are diftinguished, they might pafs for angels. Now, as I have never been fortunate enough to fee an angel in propria perfona, and can form no judgment of one, except from the fiI fee of the Angel and Slipper, the gures Angel and Punchbowl, the Angel and Wheatfbeaf, &c. I wish to know what will be thought of the following

PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN.

OW fee my Goddefs, earthly born,

Man turns a Savage to his kind,

Alas! for this poor fimple Toy,
I fold a blooming Negro Boy.

His Father's hope, his Mother's pride,
Tho' black, yet comely to the view;
I tore him helpiefs from their fide,
And gave him to a Ruffian Crew:

To Fiends that Afric's coaft annoy,
I fold the blooming Negro Boy.
From Country, Friends, and Parents torn,
His tender limbs in chains confin'd;
I faw him o'er the billows borne,
And mark'd his
of mind.
agony
But ftill, to gain this fimple Toy,
I gave away the Negro Boy.

In Ifles that deck the Western wave,
I doom'd the hapiefs Youth to dwell,
A poor, forlorn, infulted Slave,

A beaft that Chriftians buy and fell;
And in their cruel tasks employ
The much-enduring Negro Boy.
His wretched parents long shall mourn,
Shall long explore the diftant main,
In hope to fee the Youth return,
But all their hopes and fighs are vain.
They never fhall the fight enjoy
Of their lamented Negro Boy.
Beneath a Tyrant's harsh command,
He wears away his youthful prime,
Far diftant from his native land,
A ftranger in a foreign clime.

No pleafing thoughts his mind employ,'
A poor dejected Negro Boy.

But He who walks upon the wind,
Whofe voice in Thunder's heard on high;
Who doth the raging tempet bind,
Or wing the lightning thro' the sky;
In his own time will, fure, deftroy
Th' Oppreffors of a Negro Boy.
MEDDYG Du.

And with a bloom that fhames the morn,
New rifen in the eaftern fkies.

Furnifh'd from Nature's boundless store,
And one of Pleafure's laughing train;
Stranger to all the wife explore,

She proves all far-fought knowledge vain.
Untaught as Venus, when the found
Herfelf firft floating on the fea,
And laughing begg'd the Tritons round,
For fhame, to look fome other way!
And unaccomplish'd a'l as Eve,

In the firft morning of her life,
When Adam blufh'd, and afk'd her leave,
To take her hand, and call her wife.
Yet there is fomething in her face,

Tho' fhe's unread in Plato's lore,
Might bring your Plato to disgrace,
For leaving precepts taught before.
And there is magic in her eye,

Tho' fhe's unfkill'd to conjure down The pale moon from th' affrighted fey,

Might draw Endymion from the moon! And there are words that she can speak, Moft easy to be understood, More fweet than all the Heathen Greek, By Helen talk'd when Paris woo'd. And fhe has raptures in ber power, More worth than all the flattering claira Of Learning's unfubftantial dower, In prefent praise, or future fame. Let me but kifs her foft warm hand, And let me whisper in her ear, What knowledge would not understand, And wisdom would difdain to hear! And let her liften to my tale,

And let one fmiling blush arife, (Bleft omen that my vows prevail !) I'll fcorn the scorn of all the wife!

THE

AMERICA.

Extra@ of a Letter from a Merchant in New York, to his Correfpondent in Belfast, dated 12th July 1791.. THE profperity of this country has far overitepped the most fanguine expectations of its warmelt advocates:-For the last two years money in vaft fums has been flowing into it from the coffers of Amfterdam, Paris, the Low Countries, and even London, to be invested in our fands. London has been backward, to her great lofs, from a deep-rooted prejudice against the money negociations of this country. Two years ago, the public debt was bought up at 5s. per pound: it fells this day at 19s. 24. and is expected to rise above par. If the funds of a country are a cfiterion of its profperity, none can be more profperous than this, of which the following inftance is a ftrong proof:

On the 4th of this month, the books were opened at Philadelphia, for a fubfcription to the National Bank, the capital of which is by law limited to ten million of dollars (2,250,000l. Britifh); the crowd was immenfe the conteft at the door like the ftorming of a garrifon; it was only permitted by the act to each perfon to fubfcribe, on one day, 30 fhares; to obviate this, the fubfcriber made ufe of the names of his friends, and completed his whole fubfcription as faft as his pen could write. In fifteen miutes the whole was fubfcribed, and a furplus of four thousand and fixteen fhares, on fum ming up, appeared above the fum of ten millions wanted. This furplus neceffarily required an average reduction from the amount of each inbfcription, (or rather from the number of fhares fubfcribed by each) which was done by the Commiflioners the next day; and what was expected to require months to complete, was done in an inftant. From the hafty completion of this fubfcription, many of our firth-monied men have been thrown out, and have not a single fhare. The payments are to be made to the Bank in the following manner: 3 H

VOL. XIV. No. 83.

The above fcrip is now at 64 per cent. above par, and fcarcely any to be had at market. Our merchants here in general hold from 40 to 1200 fhares each. The holders of the largest numbers of fhares are the reprefentatives of foreign property.

The history of the world exhibits no fimilar inftance of a country rifing from abject poverty, to full, perfect, and accomplished credit, in the fame space of time. In 1786, government fecurities were hawked about and purchafed (only by what were then cal led defperate adventurers) at 2s. 6d. for the pound; they are now at 19s. 2d, it was even difcreditable to buy them, and the brokers were confidered in the same light as the reptile race of Jews in London. Now the bankers of Europe are teeming their money into our funds, and contending who fhall hold moft. Mr Hamilton, who is at the head of the treafury, is not inferior to Pitt or Neckar, either in integrity or abilities.

By the cenfus of the inhabitants, taken during the last year, by the Marthall of each diftrict, the population is of much greater magnitude than it was expected; the returns will not be exacly known until the next feffion of Congrefs, which opens in November. The French and the Low Countries are pouring in their emigrants, and the western lands are fettling rapidly. The city is extending its limits, and is rebuilding much in the fame ftyle of architecture as the new buildings in London; and with refpect to the habits of the merchants, and the punctuality, fairnefs, and regularity of busnefs, I think we are not below the standard even of London and Amfterdam.

Much encouragement has lately been gi

ven to the planting of immenfe quantities of mulberry-trees, to promote the cultivation of filk. Trees grow to perfection in a few years here; in about four years these trees will be productive. It has been clearly exhibited, and the fact unquestionably proved, that a farmer's family can produce one pound of raw filk with the fame exertions that are requifite to produce the fame quantity of flax. The filk-worm requires about fix weeks attention each feafon; and the mulberry is for favourable to all grain, that it rather ferves than obftructs the cultivation of other crops. The filk that has been hitherto produced in the eastern states, has been taken in by the ftorekeepers at as high a rate as seven dollars a-pound, and is much in repute in England. 'The probable advantages of this cultivation are rated very high. It is even afferted, that it may, in 20 years, be capable of paying for the whole importation from Great Britain and Ireland. The luftrings and fewed filk dyed and woven in Connecticut, have been imposed on English dry-good merchants as British, and allowed to be as good. The luftrings were wove in common linen looms. Manufactures of most of the useful articles are advancing very faft. I thought this would not have been the cafe whilft fo much land remained uncultivated, but the fact is fo."

Extract of a letter from Bladensburgh, Mary

land, dated the 20th June 1791.

"I cannot help flattering myself now, that the eastern branch of the Potowmack will be in fact, as well as local fituation, the centre of the United States. When the fixing of the permanent feat of government was first agitated, and even after the act of Congress for its being on the Potowmack was paffed, it feemed to me very doubtful whether it would be removed from Philadelphia; but the general opinion feems now to be strongly in favour of the eastern branch. You have, no doubt, heard that the ftates of Virginia and Maryland have granted one hundred and eighty-two thoufand dollars towards erecting the public buildings; and the owners of the land where the city is to be, have given it up to the Prefident, for the purpofe of being laid out in lots, one half of which are to belong to the proprietors of the land, together with all the timber now upon it, and the other half to be fold for the benefit of the public, towards defraying the expence of erecting the buildings.

"The city is to extend from the mouth of Rock-Creek, juft below Georgetown, down the river to the mouth of the branch, up the branch about three to four miles, then across the country to the road leading from this place to Georgetown, then by that road to the ford on Rock-Creek, then

with the creek to the river. Its figure will be nearly a triangle, having the river, the eaftern branch, and the line across to RockCreek for its fides, each of them being nearly four miles in extent; which many in Europe may think too much for any capital which America can ever produce, and accordingly be difpofed to laugh; but, ground not being of great value here at prefent, it is certainly right to begin by taking room enough. None of the streets are to be lefs than one hundred feet wide, and clumps of trees are to be left on some of their fides, and in their public fquares, for use and ornament. A French and German engineer have been employed fome time in laying out the town, and the geographer of the United States is now running the lines of the Fœderal district of ten miles fquare, all of which are to be finished by the end of this month, when the Prefident is to be back from his present tour through the Ca rolinas and Georgia; and it is faid the first fale of the lots will take place in the Fall. Until he returns, it will not be publickly known in what part of the town the public buildings will be fixed; but it is generally fuppofed it will be pretty high up the branch, and near it, the ground there being level, and, at the fame time, elevat ed.

"By an amendment to the law for establifhing the feat of government, the ten miles fquare is now to begin at the mouth of Hunting Creek, a little below Alexandria, and to run N. W. ten miles; then N. E. ten miles into Maryland; then S. E. ten miles; then S. W. ten miles; which will include Alexandria and Georgetown, and leave out Bladenburgh, croffing the eastern branch about half a mile below us. It takes in Col. Beall's and Mrs Veitch's plantations, and about half of Mr Digges's large tract of land.

"In point of fituation we fhall be as well off as if we were within the line, being fo very near it ; and it may be as eligible to be under the laws and police of our own immediate reprefentatives, as under those of the Congrefs, the majority of whofe memBers can have no local attachment or con

nection with the diftrict over which they are to have jurifdiction.--Speculation on the new city has already begun, and three tracts of land within its limits, containing not lefs than eleven hundred acres, have been fold at 20l. to 30l. per acre, which would not before have brought more than 51.

"Many people are now of opinion that the public buildings will be ready, and the Congrefs removed to them before the year 1800; and that there will foon be a confiderable town on the river and eastern branch. This confideration may perhaps have fome

weight