LONDON: Printed by and for J. NICHOLS and SON,

where LER

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articularly gad

VCE LIBRARY

And by ARRIS Succefr

FR

ON THE DEATH OF CHRIST,
FOR THE YEAR 1806.

BY JOHN STOYLE, Lieutenant Royal Navy.

RAUGHT with the gifts of
heavenly love,

Meffiah's natal hour defcends

From realms of living light above,

And pureft joy its path attends.
While jubilant the ranfom'd race below,
Infpir'd with ardour, catch the votive lay,
The grateful ftrains in happier regions
flow;
[way
Salvation echoes through the pathlefs
Of Æther, where created space
Still knows th' incarnate God;
Where difcord filed before his face;
And darkness at his nod.

On fable wing in hafte descending down,
To join the dire profound of antient
Night,

By his omnific word adverfe was thrown;
Leaving the field to Harmony and Light,
That with their native radiance bleft th'

admiring fight,

The fame of Heaven's eternal Son,
Sublimely at Creation rang; [done,
He fpake the word, and, lo! 'twas
And morning ftars together fang.

The fons of God proclaim'd with fhouts
of joy
[birth;
An univerfe, and hail'd its wond'rous
But more exalted lays the mind employ,
The boundless love that mark'd his way
to earth,
[preme
Where heralds, fent by leaven's Su-
Almighty Sire to Man,

When on the wings of Mercy came,
Salvation's wond'rous plan,

Whofe goodness infinite fhall never cease;
Breathing in fofteft notes to man good will,
And Heaven's circumference with ceafelefs
pra ifes fill

Since Love Divine through all extent
Still ties the reach of Fancy's wing,
Beyond all thought moft excellent,
Infpire me, O Eternal King. [rife,
Though high in lofty themes I may not
Thou wilt not fcorn a tribute well de-
fign'd;
[the fkies,
Though I may not with NEWTON trace
Or with Miltonian flight thy greatnefs

find.

Yet, as I tread Life's checquer'd stage,
The truths to me difclofe

That grace thy ever facred page.

O let me ftill repose
[morn,
On thy great name, and love the blissful
When HE to whom the Eastern fages bore
Their earthly offerings was in Bethlem
born;
[power,
And there in human likeness veil'd hi
To fpread afar the triumphs of his grace,
That gain'd a bright abode, for man's elfe-
ruin'd race.

While Heaven's exalted ftrains extel
The name of man's redeeming Lord,
Let earthly choirs, while ages roll,

Their duteous hymns of praife afford.
Still may Meffiah's glory be their theme,
To raife the Chorus "Worthy is the Lamb,"
Singing of endless honours due to him,
To found whofe deeds, the trump of end-
lefs fame,
[fpir'd,
Though by the powers of Heaven in-
Still in the task shall fail;
An equal force it ne'er acquir'd,
To fhout the wond'rous tale.
For lo! in height and depth extending far
Beyond Immenfity, his love excels
Could I the Galaxy from Star to Star
Explore, with wond'ring eyes, ev'n there
he dwells;

His all-pervading spirit ever near,
Would in the vast expanfe moft gloriously
appear.

PREFACE TO VOLUME LXXVI.

IT has been our painful and melancholy office for many fucceeding years, to call the attention of our Readers to fcenes and incidents of the moft difaftrous tendency; involving not only the interefts of Learning and the Arts, but aloft the individual fecurity of their Difciples. The din of war, and the clang of arms, has been fo loud and fo inceffant, that the Mufes have trembled within their bowers, and retired to weep over the afhes of Heroes and of Statefmen. The Genius of this Country, in particular, has veiled its awful front in facred forrow, whilst it lamented the premature lofs of her nobleft Offspring. The memories of NELSON, and of PITT, of CORNWALLIS, and of Fox, will, indeed, live for ever; but we may be allowed to mourn, though not to defpond, that the moment feems arrived when all their talents, and all their virtues, are more than ever to be required. The period appears to be at hand, when a vaft Coloffal Power, rifing every hour in ftrength, ferocity, and cruelty, threatens to devour all that is revered by Virtue, Freedom, and Honour; and having ravaged the Earth, and fwallowed up all that was fair and lovely, menaces to roll the Tide of Defolation to thefe beloved Shores.

"But that all-healing and all-forming Power
Who, on the radiant day when Time was born,
Plung'd his broad eye amid the wilds of Ocean,
And calm'd it with a glance; then fending deep
His mighty arm, pluck'd from its dark domain
This Throne of Freedom, girt it with filver cliffs,
And call'd it Britain. He did; and

Will preserve it."

On this hope we reft-were it otherwife, the gloom which now overfpreads Europe, menaces to bring back thofe dark and melancholy fcenes when Freedom, Learning, and the Arts, were fo deeply interred as almoft to extinguifh the hope of reftoration to light, and life, and beauty. In that Region, where for fo many Centuries the Mufes have been cherished and adored, where every branch of Science and Philofophy have been cultivated with ingenuous zeal and honeft enthufiafm, what diftinction is now courted, or what merit is now rewarded, but fuch as is connected with that fcourge of mankind, Ambition, and the Thirft for Military Glory; and to what do fuch paffions

and