The beams of Art so pure, so calmly bright, So wanted too, are still but lunar light; They teach the doubtful passenger the way, Improve the night, but never make a day. But when the Poet's "learned sock is on," known, Like bold Horratas*, eager to advance, He looks disdain, and shakes the threat'ning lance. Shakspeare, with little Latin and less Greek," Nor taught in learning's magazine to seek, Unguarded comes, like Dioxippus brave, And trusts the nerves which lib'ral Nature gave; Each muscle swell'd with health, and vigour's pride, [but hide; Displays that strength which armour would Secure at once, and negligent of praise, The naked hero bears away the bays. Come then, O Garrick! come, the triumph share, Not of his train, but seated in his car; Divide the honours of his native town, And all of Shakspeare let us call our own. ODE TO NOVELTY. Never tiresome to the view, Lovely as the youthful May, Nor e'er desert me by the way; Heights Parnassian to explore. (At least for many a day) Blooming as an evergreen; For there thou'lt be in splendour glowing As the summer rose-bud blowing, `Deck'd with ev'ry fairy charm to win the heart An humble Poet's Muse can e'er impart. Lines written and presented by a Young Lady to a happy Couple, at the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of their Marriage. THE JUBILEE ! HITHER, white-rob'd Pleasure bring In that sweet smile, and in that lovely face, Virtue's soft image, and affections kind; The genuine goodness of a feeling mind; Charms that thro' life could happiness impart, And win an Ashbrook's, and a Jones's heart; Pensive I turn aside, and sighing say, "Oh! why were these permitted to decay?" "Short-sighted mortal, Reason quickreplies, Grieve not that beauty's fading flow'ret dies; While that alone is to the tomb consign'd, The Virtues which adorn'd it, unconfin'd, Waft the blest Spirit to the realms above To reign in regions of eternal love." [gay; A true son of pleasure, Dan Danvers the Whose life was a round of glee, frolick, and fun, [run: was there, At all things he ventur'd, for all things he A Conjurer, Poet, Jew, Taylor, or Player, Where Humour was started, be sure he [sture, The fav'rite of Wit, she unbosom'd her And often the table he set in a roar. Oft Learning would boast she to Dan was allied, [pride, And Science beheld him with rapture and While Honour would call, as she smiling look'd down, [of my own:" "You may talk what you will, he's a sprig Yet Pleasure, we grant, was the goddess he woo'd, [sued, And steady thro' life he her shadow purWhile she, as the rest of her slaves she [furnish'd cards. rewards, Yet so strong was his passion, it sleeps with his clay; [busy day, And you'll find, when he wakes in the last When his neighbours around are bestirring their stumps, [is Trumps?" The first thing he'll ask will be, Pray what WAVERTREE HALL, lately the Residence of No generous host, or lovely mate, A Masquerade gave spurious birth Rich viands late thy table spread, Alas! no more goes round. No more the polish'd inward art Nor Lisbon's traffic store; Thus Nature lends her aid; The cuckoo, blackbird, and the thrush, With warbling notes, the trembling busk Frequent till evening's shade. Ah! luckless fair, tho' short thy reign, In city, court, or foreign climes, But how far less thy husband's ire With lost Braganza's name, HISTORICAL CHRONICLE, 1813. PROCEEDINGS IN THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 1. Mr. Whitbread recommended that concessions should be made to the Catholicks, without taunting them by fixing impossible conditions, such as renouncing their Creed. In regard to the City Petition with its 6000 signatures, presented by Sir W. Curtis, he observed, that the infant and its nurse were both of a large growth. He praised in warm terms the speech of Mr. Plunket. Mr. W. Pole said, that matters could not continue in their present state in Ireland. They must sooner or later re-enact the old disabling laws raise a Rebellion or agree to conciliate the Catholicks, which he recommended. The debate was then adjourned. March 2. The Speaker said, that in the afternoon of yesterday he had received a paper, which purported to be a letter from the Princess of Wales: it not having any signature, and being delivered to one of the door-keepers, he had thought it his duty, previously to laying it before the House, to authenticate it. Having so done, he would, with their permission, read the letters: "Montague House, Blackheath, March2,1813. "The Princess of Wales, by her own desire, as well as by the advice of her Counsel, did yesterday transmit to Mr. Speaker a letter, which she was anxious should have been read without delay to the House of Commons; and the Princess requests that the said letter may be read this very day to the House of Commons. · The Princess of Wales incloses Mr. Speaker a duplicate of the letter alluded to." "Montague House, Blackheath, March 1,1813. "The Princess of Wales informs Mr. Speaker, that she has received from the Lord Viscount Sidmouth, a copy of a Report made to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, by a certain number of >the Members of his Majesty's Privy Council, to whom it appears that his GENT. MAG. April, 1813, She Royal Highness had been advised to refer Mr. Whitbread, conceiving the letter to be Lord Castlereagh said, that the letter The adjourned debate on the Catholic in in strong terms the danger of concession, since the Catholicks had refused the proper securities, and the Protestants, especially the Clergy, had petitioned against it; and was followed on the same side by Messrs. M. Sutton and Rose. Lord Castlereagh recommended going into the Committee, though he thought he saw insurmountable difficulties to the accomplishment of the proposed object. Mr. Canning, in a speech distinguished for eloquence, argument, and wit, commented on those who had expressed themselves unfavourable to the claims. Two of these (Messrs. Bankes and Yorke) had declared that they should be favourable to the Petition if Buonaparte was to die, or if there were to be no more tumultuous meetings, no more irritation, or angry feeling, on any side. When desire of reJief was extinguished, and hope had sickened and died, then, in his new millenium, his Right Hon. Friend would come forward to grant that which was no longer desirable or sought for (laughter.) When all jealousy between Protestant and Catholick was extinct-when all sects and parties were in perfect harmony, and lay down together like the leopard and the kid- then he would come with his healing hand to cure those disorders which were felt no longer (laughing.) The other condition on which he was disposed to relieve them was, in fact, if they would cease to be Catholicks. The sense of the House being against further adjournment, a division took place, when there appeared: for going into a Committee, to consider of Relief to the Catholicks, 264 against it, 224.- Majority in favour of the motion, 40. March 3. The House having formed itself into a Committee to consider the Finances of Great Britain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he should submit several propositions on this subject; but the chief feature of his plan would be, to render the Sinking Fund available for the purpose of making provision for loans by annihilating stock now standing in the names of the Commissioners, and appropriating the interest to the payment of the dividends upon it. By this means he should be enabled to borrow for four years after the present year, without imposing any additional taxes. The first would relate to furthering the redemption of the land-tax by yearly instalments. The Right Hon. Gentleman then entered into a variety of calculations, from which it appeared that the nature of the plan he had to propose was in substance as follows: That, in the first place, an annual sum of 867,9631. equal to one per cent. on the amount of the stock provided for in 1802, and on which no sinking fund was then created, should be provided for by new permanent taxes to that amount; and also that 260,000l. a year should be added to the Sinking Fund, in respect of outstanding and unprovided-for Exchequer Bills. These sums together would make up the amount of 1,127,9631. for which taxes must be provided in the first year of the new plan. It was then proposed to take a certain portion of the Sinking Fund, thus annually accumulating, to a large amount, for defraying the interest of loans to be contracted. In this way it was calculated that, with the exception of the sum to be raised by new taxes this year, there would be no occasion for any additional taxation for four years to come. The effect of his plan would be an immense accumulation of treasure to the country; for four years at least no additional taxes would be required; and in time of Peace there would be a large fund as a resource in the event of future hostilities. Messrs. Huskisson, Tierney, Bathurst, and H. Thornton, considered the plan to be the most important and eventful change of the Finances that had ever been adventured upon, and they feared that the encroachment upon the Sinking Fund would materially affect the interest of the public creditor. They promised to take it into consideration. The farther discussion was then postponed. HOUSE OF LORDS, March 4. A Petition was presented from the City, signed by 6000 persons, merchants, bankers, &c. in favour of the East India Company's exclusive trade. Earl Moira, in presenting a Petition from the Catholicks of the County of Galway, recommended the removal of the disabilities, as the only safe course that could be adopted. A Petition was presented by Lord Holland from the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the three denominations in London and its vicinity, praying for the repeal of all disabilities on account of religious opinions. In the Commons, the same day, on Mr. Cochrane Johnstone rising to make his motion respecting the Princess of Wales, Mr. Lygon moved the standing order for the exclusion of strangers. Mr. Bennett said, be should move that the House do adjourn; but The Speaker said, that the question of the exclusion of strangers admitted of no debate. And all persons in the gallery, and many Peers below the bar, were obliged to withdraw. [We understand that the motion for the exclusion of strangers was adopted in direct opposition to the wishes of his Ma jesty's jesty's Ministers, who used every means in their power to dissuade Mr. Lygon from his purpose. After strangers had withdrawn, and in consequence of the sitting being rendered secret, Mr. Bennett moved an adjournment, which was seconded by Lord Yarmouth, but, upon a division, was negatived by 243 to 139. Mr. C. Johustone, finding that the discussion of his proposition was not likely to be made public, withdrew his motion; and said, as one Gentleman had exercised his right in clearing the gallery, he would use his privilege of bringing forward the subject at a time more convenient to himself.] March 5. Mr. Lygon having again moved the exclusion of strangers, Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, after declaring that he should not wound the feelings of any branch of the Royal Family, and stating that he had no authority for his motion from the Princess of Wales, proceeded to notice the Commission granted by the King, in 1806, to Lords Grenville, Grey, Erskine, and Ellenborough, to examine into certain allegations that had been preferred against the Princess of Wales. He then read the whole of the Report made by the Commissioners in 1806 (see p. 259.) The Hon. Member next proceeded to state, that the paper he should now read was a document which, he was ready to prove at the bar of the House, was dictated by Lord Eldon, Mr. Perceval, and Sir Thomas Plomer, though signed by the Princess of Wales: it was a letter to the King, on the 9th of October 1806, as a Protest against the Report of Commissioners just detailed (see p. 261). The Hon. Member observed, that he fully concurred in the sentiments it expressed upon the subject of the Commission; and he insisted that the charge against the Princess before that Tribunal, by Sir John and Lady Douglas, was nothing short of Treason; that, if the Commissioners had power to acquit her Royal Highness of the crime charged, they had equally the power to convict her. What was the state of that country in which such a thing was even possible? Besides, he inquired, what became of Sir John and Lady Douglas? If he were rightly informed, they still persisted in the same story; if all they maintained were so notoriously false, why were they not prosecuted? (Hear!)-The Hon. Member went on to remark, that he understood no proceedings of the late Privy Council, except the Report, had been transmitted to the Princess of Wales. This was the case in 1806; but he submitted, that copies of all those examinations should be given to her. The Hon. Member then concluded by moving, first, a very long Resolution, containing nearly the whole of the Report of the Commis sioners in 1806, with his own reasoning upon the illegality of such a Commission, and terminating with expressing the expe diency of a new and different trial of, or inquiry into, the same subject; the second motion was for a variety of papers connected with this subject, from 1806 to the present time. Lord Castlereagh defended the Commissioners of 1806, and insisted that their appointment was agreeably to historical precedent. He did not think the House of Commons a proper place either to try the Princess of Wales for Treason, or to sit in judgment upon the levity of her manners. The birth of the child had been traced, and proved; its mother was Anne Austin. The Commissioners had acquitted the Princess, as had his Majesty's then Ministers, upon oath, not only of actual criminality, but of imputed levity; and likewise a subsequent Administration. A prosecution had been recommended by the first Cabinet against Sir John and Lady Douglas, which had not been instituted; not that there was any doubt of punishment being brought down upon their degraded heads, but to avoid bringing such subjects before the publick. Mr. Whitbread conceived that the Noble Lord had not furnished all the information that was necessary regarding the late letter. He conceived the Princess unhappily and unfortunately situated. The Hon. Member then adverted to her defence in 1806, which had been conducted by Mr. Perceval, Lord Eldon, and Sir T. Plomer; the papers they had drawn up, arraigning the Commission, and the evidence of the witnesses, The Noble Lords (Eldon and Castlereagh) doubted the legality of the Commission, as appeared by the Cabinet Minute of 1807, though that Commission pronounced a verdict of acquittal; and yet they refer the Privy Council, which lately met, to the evidence taken before itthus trying the Princess a second time, not for her conduct in 1807, 1808, and 1809, or any subsequent year, but in 1806. Mr. Perceval, to his dying day, always publicly proclaimed the innocence of the Princess; but as for her other sur viving friends, they were mute. Mr. Whitbread concluded an animated speech amidst shouts of applause; and moved an amendment, for the production of the late. Report of the Privy Council. Lord Castlereagh said, that it was not for the House to judge of the merits of the parties, under the long separation that had existed. No punishment had been inflicted on the Princess by the restraints that were placed on the intercourse between her Royal Highness and the Princess Charlotte. When the Princess Charlotte went to Windsor, the Prince altered the arrangement under which the Princess had |