'Cauld is the night, O let me in,
And dinna let your Minstrel fa,'
And dinna let his winding sheet

Be naething but a wreathe o' snaw!
Full ninety winters have I seen,

And pip'd where garcocks whirring flew;
And mony a day you've danc'd, I ween,
To lilts which frae my drone I blew!'
My ELPSA wak'd, and haste!' she cried,
'Get up, Guidman and let him in;
For weel you ken the winter night

Was short when he began his din !'
My ELPSA's voice, ah! me, 'tis sweet,
Ev'n tho' she bans and scaulds a-wee;
But when 'tis tun'd to SORROW's tale,
Ah! then 'tis doubly sweet to me!
Come in, auld Carle, I'll stir the fire,
And mak it bleeze a bonny flame;
Your bluid is thin, you've tint the gaet,
You shou'd na' stray sae far frae hame.'
Nae hame have I,' the Minstrel said,
Sd party strife o'er-turn'd my ha';

And weeping, at the eve o' life,

I wander thro' a wreathe o' snaw!'

BURNS.

ADDRESS TO A ROBIN RED-BREAST.

CCASIONED BY ITS HAVING FOLLOWED THE AUTHOR INTO A CHURCH-YARD.

VOL. I.

LONE bird, that bends the leafy spray,
And sweetly trills the liquid strain;

What time the twilight's curtain, grey,
Hangs, darkling, o'er the dewy plain:
Fond warbler of the glimm'ring hour,
Ah! yet prolong thy tender lay;
And soft thy note of sorrow pour,
To soothe a weeping wand'rer's way!
While slow I tread, with step forlorn,
To breathe mild Ev'ning's od'rous gale;
Perch'd lightly on the waving thorn,
Thy music floats along the dale.

U

Silent along the growing gloom,
The sinking form of pale Despair;
I seek the peace-inspiring tomb,

And find thy voice of pity there!

Ah! Minstrel kind! when wan and cold,

That friendly tomb shall round me close; Ah! there thy plaintive tale be told,

And there thy weary wing repose!

So when to hide thy little clay,

Each feather'd mourner strips the tree;
May many a wailing Red-breast pay
A parting song of rest to thee!

ALBERT

MARIA:

PROM STERNE'S SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.

BENEATH a poplar's waving shade,
Where soft the gliding current flows,
Maria, lost, unhappy majd!

Delights to weep her many woes!
Her form is fair as Orient dawn,

And mild as Ev'ning's stealing dew; But ahl she 'wails her joys withdrawn ;-~ Her parent dead-her love, untrue!

Bound gently to her silken zone,

Her Sylvio, faithful fav'rite, lies;——
She thinks on ev'ry comfort gone-

And wilt thou leave me too?' she cries.
Disorder'd floats her vest of snow,
Along the winds her tresses play;
Her pendant pipe has ceas'd to blow,
That nightly woke the solemn lay.
Poor, luckless fair! while pity deigns
O'er human ills to shed the tear;
While Sorrow's yielding soul remains,
Still shall thy melting tale be dear.
Adieu, Maria! Heav'n remove

Thy suff'rings from the poplar tree;
Lo! pitying Seraphs wait thy love,
And twine the bower of bliss for thee!

ALBERT.

BIOGRAPHICAL, LITERARY, AND SCIENTIFIC

MAGAZINE

FOR

JUNE 1799.

CONDUCTED BY

ROBERT BISSET, LL. D.

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF OTHER LITERARY GENTLEMEN.

THIS NUMBER IS EMBELLISHED WITH A PORTRAIT OF

RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM PITT, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, &c. &c.

LONDON:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY

G. CAWTHORN, BRITISH LIBRARY, NO. 132, STRAND; SOLD ALSO BY MESSRS. RICHARDSON, ROYAL-EXCHANGE; W. WEST, PATERNOSTER NOW; J. HATCHARD AND J. WRIGHT, PICCADILLY; P. HILL, EDINBURGH; AND ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

AFTER we had, as usual, prepared our Political History for the months, we found that the Sketch of Mr. Pitt, from the magnitude of the subject, so greatly exceeded the quantity which we generally allot to biography, that we should be necessitated to compress our Politics into a much smaller space than is requisite for their object: we have therefore deferred them for the present month; and shall in our next number so extend that department as to compensate for the present procrastination.

We thank our Military Correspondent for his able account of the Exhi bition of the Volunteer Corps on our Sovereign's birth-day, and perfectly coincide in the sentiments which he expresses on that glorious display of the patriotism and loyalty of a happy people.

Vassalli's Letter to M. Delametherie on Galvanism did not come to hand till the 29th of June; consequently too late for insertion in our present Number. The Laputian's support of his attack on the Missionary Society is received, and will be early inserted.

A letter on the Prevalence of the German Drama is under consideration.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE

OF THE

RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PITT.

THE "HE plan of our work admitting of only a brief narrative of facts, we endeavour to select those which tend chiefly to ascertain the distinguishing qualities and talents of the subject which we contemplate.

In a publication, of which a considerable proportion is devoted to the political history of the times, we think it peculiarly our duty to lay, to the utmost of our power, before our readers the counsels and measures which influence and produce political events. The sources of these deliberations and plans we are to look for in the circumstances of the times and the minds of political agents.

To the full developement of Mr. Pitt's character we confess ourselves totally unequal; but the PROMINENCE of its qualities is so great, their operation has been so long observed, and their effects are so extensively experienced, as to render the exhibition of the leading features of this personage much less difficult than a sketch of many ordinary men would be, of whose characters the lineaments are often inexpressive, faint, little marked, and jumbled together. Trifling and frivolous minds defy analysis, though very easily comprehended in the result. Of great and excellent minds we perceive the force and expanse, though we cannot reach to the bounds of either. To presume to describe that force may not, therefore, be considered as arrogant, because, from its exertion, so obvious. We may perceive the movements of Herculean muscles without deep knowledge of anatomy; especially when the crushing of Anteus and the destruction of the Hydra experimentally ascertain the extraordinary strength.

For the sake of order and connection, it is necessary to introduce facts which every one knows; we must, therefore, begin with the parentage of Mr. Pitt, as that might be, and probably was, one cause which assisted the early formation and direction of such a man.

William Augustus Pitt having, by his uncommon genius, eloquence, and wisdom, raised himself to the highest consideration in the State, married Lady Harriet Grenville, sister to the Earl of Temple; a nobleman less distinguished by superior rank than by superior His eldest offspring was John, born in 1756. War

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X