So right he aim'd, fo loud he bray'd,
The foreft fhook, night feem'd afraid!
And ftarting at the well-known found,
The gard'ners from their pallets bound;
The fcar'd mufician this purfues
That ftops him with infidions noofe..
Now to a tree behold him tied,
While both prepare to take his hide :
But first his cudgel either rears,
And plies his ribs, his nofe, his ears;
His head converted to a jelly,

His back confounded with his belly
All bruis'd without, all broke within,
To leaves they now convert his fkin;
Whereon, in characters of gold,
For all good affes, young and old,
This fhort inftructive tale is told.

EPIGRAM

}

CELE

BRATING THE RITES OF BACCHUS, WAS SUBJECT TO FREQUENT LONG CONFINEMENTS, WHEN HE WAS JOCULARLY SAID TO BE BROUGHT TO BED.

WE E meet in ancient and in modern tale

But one strange inftance of a pregnant male
And at that birth (for Nature's laws too odd)
A Goddefs iffues from a teeming God.
From hence our Don's conception, fages tell us,
Muft, in due time, produce another Pallas!
Since both fo near allied in each refpect are,
The offspring this of punch, and that of nectar.

IMPROMPTU,

SUGGESTED BY A FRUITLESS ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE THE MOTION OF A LEARNED SERJEANT, ON THE LEVENTH REPORT, WITH THE ADAGE

"The first b'ow is half the battle."

WAS ever held, till now confefs'd,

'TW

That he, in conteft, had the best
Whoever had the firft on't;

-But

But vain the maxim! for we find
The foremost may be far behind,
And Beft may get the worst on 't.

LINES

ON MISS D-N'S RECEIVING A CONTUSION ON ONE
OF HER EYES FROM A FALL IN DANCING, AT A
LATE BALL, GIVEN AT CASTLE-BEAR, EALING.

SAYS Chance to Beauty's queen, in fpite,
"I faw your fav'rite t' other night,

And as the tripp'd me by,

She fell beneath my magic wand,
(Which mortals ne'er fhall understand,)
And dimm'd one conquering eye."

"And is this all your fpite can do,

But one black eye ? I

gave her izvo,"

The Goddefs cried-" but (!

Not all the pearls the fea can boast,
Nor diamonds on Golconda's coaft,
With equal luftre glow.

"Yet though they blaze fo heavenly bright,
As might transform to day, the night,
They speak fuch truths fublime,

As muft each envious art defy,
And like their fifters of the sky-
Reign over chance and time.”

NAVAL VICTORY.

[From the British Press, June 9.]

Extract from Les Nouvelles à la Main, Paris, May 25. YESTERDAY morning the Minister of Marine received a letter from London, brought to Morlaix by a cartel which landed fome of the English detenus on their return from France. Copies of the letter were immediately fent to all the neutral ambaf

1 6

fader

fadors at this Court, of whom I am one. Not seeing it in The London Gazette, I fend it to you, thinking it will appear a curiosity to your readers.

"On board the Fox, at Sea, 20th of May 1806. "MY LORD,

Cruiting within the longitude and latitude prefcribed in your orders, a ftrange fail was defcried at half paft ten, a. m. yesterday morning, from the mafthead, in the N. E. quarter. I immediately gave chafe to it, making at the fame time the proper fignals to the reft of the fquadron named in the margin. About twelve we counted two fail of them, apparently a first-rate man of war, the other a large frigate. On nearing them, they proved to be the Pruffian thip of the line Berlin, of 80 guns, Captain Hangwitz commander, and the British frigate Hanover, of 44, in tow. The Hanover appeared to be in a very diftreffed ftate, fcarcely able to keep above water; and having previously learned from various quarters, that the had been plundered and deferted by fome French pirates, I thought it my duty to inquire how the came into the poffeffion of the Berlin, and to require that the fhould be given up to me, His Pruffian Majefty being at peace and amity with His Majesty the King of Great Britain, and not competent to make lawful prize of British thips. The Pruffian Captain answered, that he had found the Hanover at fea, a perfect wreck, and that if he had not taken her in tow, the French pirates, who ftill hovered about, would have inevitably returned, and carried her off; and that under thefe circumstances he confidered her a fair prize to His Pruffian Majesty.' To this I replied, that the return of the French pirates was, at all events, problematical, and might, by poflibility, never take place; and that as many of the original crew of the Hanover ftill remained on board,

Grenville, 80.-Windham, 74.-- Spencer, 74.

and

and were true and loyal subjects of the King of England, there was ftill a chance that they would be able to work the veffel into a British port.' To this the Captain of the Berlin made no further anfwer, but hauled his wind; and as I had perceived him_turn over, during the parlance, feveral of his men to the Hanover, and man her with Pruffians, with a view to an attack, I thought no time was to be loft, and accordingly poured a broadfide into the Berlin. The effect was tremendous-all the port-holes of the Berlin were completely blocked up with the balls, fo as to render it impoffible for the enemy, for fo I must call him, to point a fingle gun at us, and a cry of "Mutiny," was heard on board the Berlin. Some of the crew were put under hatches by our brave tars, others ran into the Captain's cabin, and broke the windows. So great indeed was the difcontent and hatred against the Pruffian Captain, that one of his own midshipmen fired two fhots at him, but he was faved by a coat of mail, which Bonaparte prefented him with on his visit to Vienna laft winter. In this fituation, the Berlin being quite helplefs, all her mafts having gone by the board, and without a fingle gun to bear upon us, I prepared to carry her off, but, to my great furprife, found her completely aground. The Hanover alfo I found in the fame fituation, stuck faft in the mud, and not to be removed by any poffible force. Want of fea-room, and a fufficient depth of water, certainly rendered the Fox unable completely to destroy the Berlin; but ftill the might have annoyed her by means of her boats, which might approach her fides, and fet them on fire. It is not, however, in the character or difpofition of a British failor to inflict. a wanton wound upon the feelings of the fallen, or fill the cup of joy with the tears of the vanquished. I therefore ordered the Fox to cease her fire, and left the Berlin and Hanover to avail themselves of the returning

tide,

tide, with all the means which they poffeffed to work their fafety.

"I am, my Lord, &c.

"To Viscount Howick."

NOTE.

We have given the above letter, as we received it from our friend the Neutral Ambaffador, than whom there is not a man of higher honour and purer loyalty in the diplomatic corps. The letter of Admiral Villeneuve, and the account of Captain Wright, which lately appeared in an Evening Print, as extracts from "Les Nouvelles á la Main," may probably throw a fhade of doubt and difcredit upon our article, from the fame fource; but the difcerning public will fee the great difference that exifts between it and these fcandalous fabrications, which could only answer the purpose of cafting a stain upon the memory of one of these brave officers, and wounding the feelings of the friends and relatives of the other. Talleyrand, Bonaparte, and Frederick, we challenge you to contradict our statement. You know you dare not. "We are ready to prove it, whenever the Government or the Administration think fit to call upon us."

TO LAURA.

BY W. SMYTH, ESQ.

*

You bid me fing the fong you love;
I hear, and wake the favour'd lay;

For Laura's lips no with can move,
But I am bleft when I obey.
Yet while you bend the strain to hear,
My fancy flies on wayward wing,
And turns to him, the poet dear,

Who form'd the fong you bid me fing,

Dear to my heart for ever be

The bard who thus fhall melt and charm,
In ev'ry age, each maid like thee,
To nature juft, to genius warm!

But ah! the bard, where is he fled?
Like common forms of vulgar clay,
The fhades of night are round him spread,
The bard has liv'd, and pafs'd away.

*This tribute to the old Scottish Bards and Muficians feems to be entitled to that praise which Dr. Johnfon beftows on a part of Gray's Elegy, as exhibiting thoughts which are not to be found in any other writer.

And