plans and projects of punishment and reform. One of thefe was infcribed, "Heads of a Bill to enforce all the penal ftatutes between the first year of His Moft Sacred Majefty King Henry VIII. and the last year of the Commonwealth.' Another was

"Heads of a bill to revive the Treaty of Uxbridge, to fhut up all theatres, and to fupprefs all mafquerades, as well as other profane amufements."

Another " Heads of a Bill for inftituting a commiffion, compofed of two metropolitans, the two keepers of His Majefty's confcience, and the attorneygeneral, for the purpose of measuring female dancers' petticoats at the Opera, and afcertaining the proper legal length for ladies' fhift-fleeves."

Another was a plan for preventing the profanation of-pofts (whatever the emergency), and for punishing all eaters of bread and cheefe, at certain hours of the day, without a license for those purposes duly had and obtained, by the confent of the most holy -the Society for the Suppreffion of Vice.

This mark derived his name of Bifrons, as he faid, from his being poised between the Treasury and the Tabernacle; and that of Sequitur, from manifefting his independence, in uniformly following the Minifter. He was an advocate for measures, not men. No. member, he affured the company, could exercife a more critical or unbiaffed judgment upon parliamentary measures than be; but though influenced folely by his confcience and his honour, all the measures of all poffible governments had his free and fteady fupport. He declared that if His Majefty, in his wifdom, fhould appoint a butler or beef-eater to be minifter, the loyalty and love of the conftitution, by which, alone, he was animated, would determine his vote in favour of the King's nominee.

LINES BY MR. CAMPBELL,

66

AUTHOR OF THE PLEASURES OF HOPE," ON
VISITING A SCENE IN ARGYLESHIRE.

A

T the filence of twilight's contemplative hour,
I have mus'd in a mournful mood

On the wind-fhaken weeds that embofom the bower
Where the home of my forefathers stood:
All ruin'd and wild is their rooflefs abode,

And lonely the dark raven's sheltering tree,
And travell'd by few is the grafs-cover'd road,
Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trod,
To his hills that encircle the fea.

Yet wand'ring, I found, on my ruinous walk,
By the dial-ftone aged and green,

One rofe of the wilderness left on its stalk,
To mark where a garden had been :
Like a brotherless hermit, the last of its race,
All wild in the filence of nature, it drew
From each wandering fun-beam a lonely embrace;
For the nightweed and thorn overfhadow'd the place
Where the flower of my forefathers grew.

Sweet bud of the wilderness! emblem of all

That furvives in this desolate heart! The fabric of blifs to its centre may fall;

But patience hall never depart,

Though the wilds of enchantment all vernal and bright
In the days of delufion by fancy combin'd
With the vanishing phantoms of love and delight,
Abandon my foul like a dream of the night,
And leave but a desert behind.

Be hufh'd, my dark spirit! for wisdom condemns
When the faint and the feeble deplore-

Be ftrong as the rock of the ocean that stems
A thousand wild waves on the fhore.

Through the perils of chance, and the fcowl of disdain,
May thy front be unalter'd, thy courage elate;
Ah! even the name I have worshipp'd in vain
Shall awake not the figh of remembrance again!
To bear is to conquer our fate!

ON

ON AIR.

IN IMITATION OF THE EARL OF ROCHESTER'S VERSES ON NOTHING, AND OF MR. POPE'S VERSES ON SILENCE.

THO

HOU wert, ere time brought with it fickly care,.
Before all nature-thou wert fure fomewhere,

For all the world grew from a breath of air.

From thee is fprung whatever here we find,
External riches-riches of the mind;

For wits and beauties (boafted fuch) are wind.

The great man's pomp, with all his show and glare,
The lover's vows, and the fine lady's pray'r,
Are nothing else than emptiness and air.

The courtier's promife, or his lordship's fmile,
Is quite an airy, nothing-meaning ftyle,
That, as we grafp at, flies away the while.

Our nobles' heads are much in debt to thee;
This was it is-and till time ceafe fhall be,
As if fate faid, It is my great decree.

The philofophic fage, when crown'd with years,
Owns his paft labour (owns with many tears)
Just like an empty bubble-disappears.

What lawyers plead, what judges do decree,
How much would men be, Air, oblig'd to thee,
Couldst thou but clear it from dishonesty!

The parfon's preaching, and his form of pray'r,
Are nothing else (all practice does declare)
Than just a gentle breeze of pleafing air.

Our modern poets, fraught with thee, 't is faid,
Compofe dull verfes to be dully read,
And work, poor devils! for their daily bread.

The rich and poor are full alike of air;
Be paper e'er fo fine, or print fo fair,

The great man's verfe has not the smaller share.

Our merchants' traffic, our stock-jobbers' fchemes,
Our ladies' virtues, and our poet's themes,
Are nought but idle phantafies and dreams,

The wit's bon mots, the coxcomb's vanity,
The spleen of cynics, ftudents' pedantry,
Muft all at last take refuge, Air, in thee.

From thee, beafts, fifhes, birds, fucceffive were;
The breath that made them, fent them Lord knows where;
And man's frail life is but a breath of air.

ON LAUGHING.

Rifum teneatis ?- -HOR.

A! ha! he!-It is the best method in the world to treat every fubject practically,-which will admit of it; and therefore I am determined to laugh to the end of the chapter;-and if gravity has fast locked up your rifible mufcles,-I defire you to proceed no farther, Mr. Mrs. Mafter, or Mifs reader.-I fhall be exceedingly happy to hear that I have made any body laugh half a minute.-Moderate laughing is the best medicine in the world, and I prefer the laughing Democritus, to the weeping Heraclitus.-It is not often I am in a laughing mood, but when the opportunity offers, I affure you I never let it flip.There cannot poffibly be any harm in this,-except you laugh fo immoderately as to burft your fides.To prevent that, I advise every rifible fon of Adam to keep his waistcoat as tight as poffible, and every daughter of Eve to lace her ftays pretty clofe.-Now for it-ha! ha! he! ha! ha! he !-laugh, pray do laugh, ha ha! he! pufh it about, ha ha! he!Oh! my fides, oh! oh!-Ha ha! he!-Oh! E fhall die with laughing. I'll tell you-ha! ha! he! I'll tell you what I,-ha! ha! he!-what I laugh at. -Oh! I can't,-ha! ha! he!-Oh! I fhall die with

--

laughing.

laughing. Well,-that's a merry death howeverha ha! he!A gentleman on horfeback had miffed his way, but overtook a boy going with a quantity of ruddle to mark his master's fheep.-The gentleman having asked the road to C, was directed through fo many windings and turnings, right and left, that he agreed to take the boy en croupe, who was going nearly to the fame place.-Finding him pert and docile, he gave him, as they rode on, fome wholefome advice relative to his future conduct, adding occafionally, Mark me well, my boy.-Yes, Sir, fays he, I do.However, he repeated the injunction fo often, that the boy, at laft, cried out, Sir, I have no more ruddle.Ha ha! he!-ha! ha! he-laugh, don't be afraid. -Will you have another ftory?-Yes, fo you shall.

-An exciseman was travelling through Suffex, after it had snowed fucceffively for many days.-Having travelled till night, and seeing no houfe, nor the leaft appearance of any, he was obliged to reft all night upon the fnow, having first fpread his great coat under him to keep himfelf warm; and having fastened his horfe to a poft, as he thought, he fell asleep.-Immediately after came on a quick thaw; fo that when he awoke in the morning, he found himself on the leads of Chichester cathedral, and his horfe hung at the top of the freeple.

I am yours,

Ha! ha! he! ha! ha! ho!

A NEW ELECTOR.

THERE is a story told, in a recent publication, of an Englishman travelling through Germany, who, having prefented himself at the gate of a German city, was defired, in the ufual manner, to describe himself. "I am," said he, "an Elector of Middlefex." The Germans, who hold the dignity of Elector as next in

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rank