When most the afflicted spirit shrinks from life, [woe, Bent with the weight of woe succeeding If then 'tis doom'd to mingle in the strife, And uncomplaining bear each beartless blow; [dare not flow: While the breast heaves with sighs that Spurn'd by the slaves, though spurn'd, it must despise, [dains to shew, Bleeding with wounds which Pride dis The indignant soul, too long degraded, [hand denies! the dastard In the wild dream of days for ever gone To trace the progress of the mind's first blight, cries For that releasing stroke To feel a wasted life rush blindly on As through the dark an arrow's aimless flight! To look beyond until the wearied sight Turns back to earth in doubt or worse dismay,[of night These are the thoughts that throw a pall O'er the fair front of Youth's yet opening day, [gering blooms away. And sweep from the dull scene Joy's lin* ** * * * We do not sink at once into despair, But while a hope survives, to that we cling; [bear Some lov'd deceit will tempt us still to The ills which Age at length on all must bring; [wing E'en in the shadow of Death's hovering The dreamer points to bliss beyond the skies; [spring, And in this desert breast sweet feelings Oh ** as I gaze on those soft eyes, Lending this life a charm not earth beside supplies. Oh, Love! when all our young delusions fail, [breast; Still be Thou last to leave the hard'ning O'er its proud calm thy breath may yet prevail, [zest; Steel'd as it is to Pleasure's quick'ning Yes! by thine influence still might be [liest hate; repress'd That gath'ring scorn which ends in deadTeach man this suffering lot may yet [though late, be blest: Be thou his guide, and if he find, One fond congenial heart- then may he smile at fate! O'er the rude harp these notes had idly rung; [lov'd theme, When feeling, waken'd by the onceIn its cold mansion kindling as I sung, Leap'd to the strings, till I could almost deem Myself absorb'd in that luxurious dream! For I had said, that cheer'd by Love alone [beam, The drooping eye might yet with gladness The soothing voice, whose tones of tenderness [side were pain, Would whisper peace when aught beThe hand affectionate, whose gentle press Would calm the throbbing of the fever'd brain, That sought on that soft bosom to regain A rest too long denied it: these would well [vain Repay an age of suffering!-but 'twere To seek for Woman's love in Woe's sad cell; [and Pleasure dwell. That is a flower best known where Pomp Though this be so, let those who can, love on; It is not well to probe the soul too deep: Why should we bid Heaven's brilliant bow begone [sleep Because a shade? Who would not rather Through dreams of happiness, than waking weep? He that can find a respite from his woes, Though but in fancy's shadowing, let him keep The dear illusion; so he join not those On whom, with opening Truth, Joy's gates for ever close! To seem alone upon a boundless sea Where the sweet breath of Hope ne'er fann'd the wave Or through the desert of Eternity Seeking for rest, when there can be no grave, core; Nor stream Lethean the hot heart to lave That bears a sleepless vulture in its [slave, These are the feelings of that worldly Who, when all earth-born pleasure charms no more, Yet in his grovelling thought farther will never soar! Canterbury. who Memory still twines around thy joy-and [not be found? Hath quaff'd the cup where dregs may Home of my youth!-when fading from my view [ground, Thy spires recede, and all thy classic Such parting will inflict an ever-staunchless wound! There be but few who will not soon forget Me and my foibles-faults-perchance my name And I shall vanish as a dream; but yet I have avow'd, and still assert the claim [blame] (Let the proud pedant Cynic praise or That thou hast on me, while the faith[Alame Of One remains-and while the mutual Of Friendship burns, and will its joys impart, [most angry dart. Then welcome to the worst, and Hate's ful heart A EPITAPH IN KENSINGTON CHURCH. "Sacred to the Memory of ISABELLA CAVE, youngest Daughter of Sir Thomas Cave, Bart. of Stanford Hall, co. Leicester. Died Jan 1, 1817 *. Reader! if Patience, Meekness, Faith, and Truth, [YouthHave charms for Age, or influence on Pause on this spot, here drop one heartfelt tear, Here, learn to die in hope, or live in holy fear." A. H. URBANE URBANISSIME, IN opere illo tabulato quod internos Domuum parietes succingit Penicillo descripta sequentia mihi occurrebant Disticha (mirabiliter conservata ab anno 1748), quorum bonitate captus, in chartam transtuli, censeoque, nisi prius forte legeris, eadem tibi placitura. Sum tui amantissimus, VIATOR. In Curru conduco locum visurus amicum Millia qui decies distat ab urbe novem. Impatiens Auriga moræ, nos urget; et hora Cum nondum sonuit tertia, jungit equos. Vix experrectus, media inter somnia surgo, Per longum misere discutiendus, iter. Ingredior, sedeo, cubitumque coaretor utrumque, Atq; duas pingues comprimor inter Anus; Cum Matre e contra Puer est, Milesque protervus, Distento hos inter corpore Caupo sedet; Altera tussit Anus, rixatur et altera, jurat Miles, PONKAZEI Caupo, vomitq; Puer [driga Dulce Sodalitium! si sint hæc usque QuaCommoda, maluerim longius ire pedes. STANZAS In honour of Juvenile Talent as displayed on a late occasion. HASTE thee, Muse, and twine the wreath, His sweetly classic strains, Bent her mild pinion o'er his head, He rais'd the lay the flowing rhyme And stopp'd their soaring flight. So Britain shall in future times JUVENIS. * See p. 94. + Ollivant. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. PROCEEDINGS IN THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; continued from p. 361. HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 18. Mr. Huskisson stated that to complete the new line of communication from the South to the North parts of the Metropolis, 600,000. was required. The Royal Exchange Assurance Company being unable to advance more than one half of this sum, the Bank of England had agreed to advance the other half. He now applied for leave to bring in a Bill to enable the Crown to borrow this money upon the security of its landed possessions. Mr. Littleton reprehended the dangerous, immoral, and fraudulent mode of raising noney by Lotteries. The gross sum accruing annually to the revenue from Lotteries was 500,000%. He characterized the present scheme as being a fraud upon the publick: the chance of any great prize was about 71 to 1. He feared that a cer tain degree of patronage formed one of the motives for supporting the present system of Lotteries. In England there were four places, of 5001. a year each attached to this institution, five of 3507. one of 3001. one of 2301., twenty one of 2007., six of 1007. to 150/.; and he had no hesitation in saying, that these places were altogether sinecures. In Ireland, there was the first commissioner, Sir A. Alexander, at 3007. a year; four other commissioners, at 2007. ; two certificated commissioners, at .1002. ; two comptrollers, at 100%.; one stamp comptroller,at 1417.; two clerks, at 60%.; two at 501. There was Mr. Thompson, who had been an absentee 16 years, received 2501. a year in fact, no Lotteries had been drawn in Ireland for 16 years. The Hon. Gent. concluded by proposing, 1st, That by the system of State Lotteries, a spirit of gambling was promoted, destructive to the morals of the people, and detrimental to the revenue of the country. 2d, That this House will no longer authorize the existence of State Lotteries. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. W. Ward, and Lord Castlereagh, contended, that the evils flowing from Lotteries bad been greatly lessened; and that, if this source of revenue was taken away, it would be difficult to supply it by fresh taxes. The motion was negatived, by 73 to 26. HOUSE OF LORDS, March 20. In reply to a question put by Lord Grenville, Earl Bathurst stated, that a circular was sent to the Governors of all the Islands in the West Indies having local legislatures, stating the desire of the Go GENT. MAC. May, 1817. vernment that measures should be adopted with the view of ameliorating, as far as possible, the situation of the Slaves. Accounts have since been received that at Jamaica an Act has been passed for the Registration of Slaves; and also an Act for giving greater effect to the Abolition of the Slave Trade. In Barbadoes also an Act had been passed for the Registration of Slaves; and in. St. Vincent's a similar Act had been introduced, but had been delayed on account of some forms. Accounts of a similar nature were expected from the other Islands by the next mails. March 24. The Bill to prevent Seditious Meetings being reported, Viscount Sidmouth proposed a clause to prohibit public meetings within a mile of the two Houses of Parliament when si-ting, or of the Courts of Justice when sitting at Westminster. Lord St. John thought the clause tended to embarrass the right of holding public meetings. The Earl of Rosslyn observed, that this clause would prevent the inhabitants of Westminster from exercising a privilege which was possessed by the inhabitants of every other part of London. The clause was agreed to. March 25: The third reading of the Seditious Meetings Bill was opposed at some length by Lord Erskine, who concluded his speech with the following declaration :-" Just so was it with measures for keeping down freedom-in the stagnation of public sentiment, in the destruction of its vivifying principles, you encountered infinitely more danger than from its excesses. He did not now hold the opinions that he did when he formerly signed a paper upon the subject of Parliamentary Reform; he did not now hold these opinions to the same extent; and to those who said he ought to be consistent, he would say he was bound to nothing but a faithful discharge of his duties as a Member of Parliament. But let every man have the same freedom of opinions, and let not that freedom be shackled by unnecessary felters. thought this Bill pregnant with danger to the liberty of the subject, from the powers given by it to a single Magistrate to prevent, at his discretion, the right of petitioning from being exercised, and that Magistrate appointed by the Crown. With He these these views of the subject, and considering this measure as calculated to excite discontent, instead of allaying it, by the obstacles it threw in the way of the fair and proper expression of public opinion by means of petition, by its leaving it to the discretion of a single Magistrate to prevent every kind of meeting for that purpose, he felt it his duty to oppose the Bill." The Duke of Sussex, following on the same side, contended that the measure was a serious infringement upon the rights and liberties of the subject. Viscount Sidmouth proposed to withdraw the clause brought forward yesterday for the prevention of public meetings within a mile of Westminster Hall; for the purpose of proposing an amendment, excepting that part of the Parish of St. Paul's Covent-garden, and of the Borough of Southwark, within the distance described in the clause. He also proposed to have this clause inserted in the permanent part of the Bill. The clause was agreed to; and the third reading of the Bill was carried by 111 to 23. of what had been done, and of what the Committee intended still further to do. The Report was then ordered to be printed. HOUSE OF LORDS, March 29. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Liverpool, and Lord Bathurst, as his Majesty's Commissioners, declared the Royal Assent to the Eighteen Millions Exchequer Bills; the Pig and Bar Iron Exportation, the Court of Exchequer Cause, the Northampton Judges' Lodging, and several private Bills. March 31. The Royal Assent was given by commission to the Seditious Meetings Bill, and Naval Officers Pay Bill. In the Commons, the same day, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, that the House at its rising should adjourn till Monday se'nnight. Mr. Ponsonby said, he should not have objected even to a longer adjournment: but he could not avoid observing, that the House was now separating after the Royal Assent had been given to the last of a series of coercive measures -measures which, it was true, were rendered necessary by the public distress, which had produced the immediate cause for them; but Parliament was about to adjourn without having done any thing but enact those coercive measures: he hoped, therefore, that before the House met again, his Majesty's Ministers would have taken some step towards the alleviation of those distresses. He did expect much from the exertions of the Committee that was sitting; and he hoped that, on the return of the House, his Majesty's Ministers, and the Committee together, would be able to state that something had been done. He should not have objected to a longer adjournment if such a hope were held out; and even if it were not, the state of the Speaker's health would prevent him from opposing the motion. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Murch 27. Mr. Gilbert brought up the first Report of the Committee appointed by the House to inquire into all the reductions which, consistently with the safety of the State, could be effected in the public expenditure. The Report was read; and began by stating that the subject was not new to the House, as in 1812 and 1813 measures had been adopted in it. The Committee had inquired, 1st, what reductions it was possible to make; 2dly, what compensations should be given to persons holding high and effective offices; and 3dly, what offices might be reduced which were considered in the nature of sinecures, and that all such offices should be as soon as possible abolished after the deaths of their respective holders. The Committee recommended the abolition of the Chief Justiceship North and South of the Trent, of the Auditorship of the Exchequer, of the Clerk of the Pells, the four Tellerships of the Exchequer, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Governor of the Isle of Wight, and the Commissary-general of Musters. (Hear, hear, hear!) The Committee considered such offices ought to be abolished. In presenting this Report the Committee stated that they had lost no time in considering the matters referred to them, and had made their report as early as possible; and had not omitted to attend to every measure of real and practical economy. The clerk was proceeding to read the remainder of the report, but Mr. D. Gilbert suggested this was not necessary, as what had been read was sufficient to give the Members of that House an idea Committee, and the manner in which it Mr. Canning trusted that the Right Hon. Gentleman would not be disappointed in his expectation concerning the attention which the Committee and his. Majesty's Ministers would bestow on the subject before them: but, if the Right Hon. Gentleman laid in his claim for a sudden and complete removal of all the distresses of the country, he claimed what is beyond the reach of Ministers to effect, and put impossibilities to be performed by human meaus. Mr. Brougham, in the course of a long speech, observed, he was not so sanguine on the labours of the Committee as his honourable friend (Mr. Ponsonby): for he well recollected the origin of that was was composed. He well recollected, that the appointment of the Committee was not conceded as a boon by Ministers, but extorted in consequence of a notice given from an honourable friend of his, that such a Committee would be moved for. He must say one word, too, on a disappointment of another kind, which, he foresaw, must occur.- He was afraid, after all the pains that had been taken to prevent the people of Westminster from meeting, that if the House expected no meetings would take place within a mile, they would be grievously disappointed. - [He then explained this, by pointing out flaws in the Act.]-He concurred with his honourable friend in the hope that something would be effected during the recess towards alleviating the distress that so loudly demanded attention; and he hoped also, that during the adjournment no steps would be taken by Ministers touching the affairs of South America; or any thing done to impede the independence of those Colonies -an object, the accomplishment of which every liberal mind must so ardently desire. He trusted that Ministers would not commit the country in the way of mediation, more than they had committed it already, Mr. B. Bathurst stated, that the Bill did not apply to meetings held while Parliament was not sitting: that he believed the Courts of Justice had the power of preventing meetings in Westminster hall during the time they were employed there; and that, at all events, Mr. Fox had on one occasion submitted to their authority on such an occasion. Notwithstanding the defects of the Bill, which were no secret to Ministers, he declared it a salutary measure. It was true, that the prevailing distress was the cause of the measure, for that distress had laid the people open to the arts of designing men. It was impossible to hope that any measures could entirely remove that distress; but every exertion would be made with the hope of alleviating it. Mr. Curwen said, that in that branch of the question which he had brought before the House (the Poor Laws), a plau of relief would be devised, which would be effectual to a considerable extent. fle believed that his Majesty's Ministers were in earnest upon all these subjects, for they had listened to every suggestion. Mr. Bennet asked if there was any truth in the report that Marylebone Church, which stood on the property of the Duke of Portland, was to be made over to Government, and Crown property given the Duke elsewhere in exchange. The office of sexton in that church was worth 1000/. per annum; that of clerk 10007. ; and there were other offices in proportion, all which influence was to be added to the Crown, He then inquired of an Hoo. Member (Mr. Curwen) the state of his measures respecting the Poor Laws. Mr. Brougham and Mr. Curwen mutually disclaimed any idea of superseding each other's measures; and the latter gentleman stated, that he had experienced every assistance from a Noble Lord (Castlereagh) to whom he had submitted his plans. What would eventually be done must depend on his Majesty's Ministers. His intention was to propose that personal property and the public funds should be subjected to the poor rates (Hear, hear!) Mr. Calcraft expressed his belief that Ministers would not concur in any plan to render the public funds liable to the poor rates. (Hear, hear!) In the two months which the House had sat, but little had been done; and he was afraid the people would be disappointed with respect to the Finance Committee. Lord Binning, and Messrs. Sturges Bourne, and F. Lewis, defended the Finance Committee. April 14. The House met, pursuant to adjourn ment. The Deputy-Clerk read a letter from Mr. Speaker, excusing himself for not attending, on account of indisposition. The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, that a duty fell on him which must be a painful consideration to all: but it was consolatory that it gave an opportunity to the House of passing an unanimous vote, in consequence of the ill health of their estimable Speaker. His health had, indeed, been much sacrificed recently by his anxiety and late sittings in the chair, in which those who had most observed his conduct would be most deeply impressed with a feeling of his integrity, attention, and ability. He therefore proposed to adjourn to April 24. Mr. Ponsonby said, he cheerfully concurred in the motion. He regretted extremely the cause of the present interruption of the Session, and wished that the great anxiety of the Speaker in his at- ` tention to his duties had not urged him recently to sit in the chair so long. He had observed its effects on his health more than once, when business was long and pressing. To his attention and anxiety they might principally attribute the severity of his indisposition. He thought the proposed adjournment due to the long services and tried ability of the Speaker; so that he should, if possible, be restored to the House with his accustomed health and his known ability. |