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Poetical ESSAYs for MAY, 1764.

MAY-ODE, by P. ALLEY.

Sprightly lads, and laffes fair,

Enemies of wrinkled care; Ye with whom Contentment dwells, Tho' in ruftic cots and cells; Blith and jovial, hafte away To the fanes of virgin May.

11.

Frowning Envy, pallid Fear,
Spleen, or Strife, approach not here;
Pleasure only, and her throng,
Fond of harmless dance and fong,
Live within the temple gay
Of the odour-breathing May.
III.

Ye who court the joys of health,
Joys the peaceful fhepherds wealth;
Joys that can't be purchas'd by
All the charms of luxury,

Hither come, the maid fo gay,
Reigns with vigour-giving May.
IV.

Ye who warmly wish to prove
All the joys of honest love,
If your laffes are unkind,
Bring them here, you'll quickly find

The foft dictates they'll obey
Of Love's tender parent May.

V.

Now fair Flora braids the ground,
And her incenfe flings around;
Gayeft verdure robes the trees,
Silken foftnefs weds the breeze;
Nature, as a bride, is gay,
Pleas'd with the return of May.
VI.

Now the feather'd chorists bleft,
(Joy exulting in each breast)
Teach each ecchoing vale and grove,
By their fongs, the fweets of love;
As they bill they feem to fay,
This we do in praise of May.
VII.

See the blooming, peerless maid,
In her native charms array'd,

Becks you, lads and maids, t' advance,
And begin the mazy dance.

Hafte with nimble ftep away,
To the honour of blithe May.

VIII.

As ye trip it, full of glee, Let the dance a leffon be;

1

Regularly all must move,

Who would true enjoyments prove : Youth well us'd makes manhood gay, And gives age its chearful May.

H

The BOWER.

OW the fhady bow'r invites To indulging foft delights; Free from hurry, free from noife, There to taste of rural joys; Far more pleafing than the sports Monarchs find in fplendid courts. Where the myrtles spread perfume, Pinks and daifies wafte their bloom; Poplars tow'ring over head, Wide their stately branches spread; Where in view the blushing rofe And the lovely lilly grows; Jeffamine and laurels green Form a most delightful fcene, Pleafing to the humble mind, Whofe retreat no pride can find. Oh! the pleasures that we meet In this lonely calm retreat: Joys unmix'd with fubtle art Gently flow to glad the heart; Linnets in the filent grove Sweetly tune the ftrains of love; Whilft the lark's melodious throat Warbles her pindaric note. Oh! what tranquil fcenes of blifs Can be faid to rival this? Thys enchanting, fweet, and gay, Time unnotic'd steals away; Meas'ring out the life of man, Which at most is but a span.

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A SEARCH for HAPPINESS.

SAY, nymph divine, by mortals trac'd
With painful fruitless care,

In what yet-untrod defert plac'd,

Is rais'd thy palace fair? Rightly thou doft thyself conceal, Nor thy all-chearing face reveal

To whom thee feeking, Vice's paths have
But why, alas! makeft thou vain [trod.
Their fearch, who thee explore with pain,
In Virtue's thorny road?

Deceiv'd by choice, men following thee,
Led by that erring guide,
Think every way the right must be
But that they fondly try'd:
The hero fancies by renown,
The purpled monarch by his crown,
Thy prefence to perfuade;

And when they find thou art not there,
But in thy ftead ftern rugged Care,
Conclude thee in the shade.
Sure in the filent, peaceful cot,
Thou doft, as poets fay,
Smile on the peafant's humble lot,
And gild each chearful day:
Ah! no, he fays, he knows not thee,
For meagre want and poverty

Fright thee from an abode thou elfe
might'ft blefs;

But he among the rich has seen
A nymph, whom, by her air and mein,
He thinks is Happiness.

This fyren, who affumes thy name,
Were rightly pleasure call'd;
And in thy drefs, deceitful dame,
Has oft th' unwife enthrall'd:

Awhile the fmiles at their mistake,

Nor from their golden dream will wake

Art thou an ignis fatuus in our way,
To lead our wandering steps astray,

And plunge us into ills we need not know? [attend, Thofe ftrong defires for thee, which all Were they implanted for no end,

But to encrease our woe?

Vain man! fhe dwells not here on earth:
Think'st thou thy mean abode
Worthy of her celeftial birth?

Yet follow virtue's road;
Before thee fee the gate of death,
Thro' which fhall pass whate'er has breath;
Lo, where, beyond it, the for ever reignse
She waits thee there with open arms,
Her fmile the rugged paffage charms,
And pays thy utmost pains,

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A PORTRAIT from the LIFE.

COME fit by my fide, while this picture

I draw:

[daw; In chatt'ring a magpye, in pride a jackA temper the devil himself could not bridle,

Impertinent mixture of bufy and idle.'
As rude as a bear, no mule half so crabbed,
She fwills like a fow, and fhe breeds like a
rabbit.

An hufwife in bed, at table a flattern,
For all an example, for no one a pattern.
Now tell me, Friend Thomas*, Ford, Grat

ten †, and merry Dan ‡, [dan? Has this any likeness to good Madam Sheri* Dr. Sheridan. † Mr. Dan. Jackson. The Dean's friend.

The wretches, whom securely hers the Afatirical Elegy on the Death of a late famous

Till weary of continuing kind,

From her capricious hate they find

Ten thousand different woes.

As various tempers thus incline,

Men variously pursue;

[knows,

At ill fuccefs, tho' all repine,
None quit their fav'rite view;
But, moft of all, the thoughtless train,
Who muft thee ever feek in vain,
Their difappointment fure is juft,
Who think thou, heav'nly maid, would'st
In fordid Avarice' wietched cell, [dwell
With heaps of gilded dust.
On what, alas! can be refolv'd
To fix the reftlefs mind?
In a perpetual fearch involv'd
Of what it ne'er can find.

General.

HIS Grace! impoffible! what, dead!

Of old age too, and in his bed!
And could that mighty warrior fall,
And fo inglorious, after all!

Well, fince he's gone, no matter how,
The lait loud trump muft wake him now;
And trust me, as the noife grows ftronger,
He'll wish to fleep a little longer.

But could he be indeed fo old
Threefcore,
As by the news-papers we're told?
think, is pretty high;
'Twas time, in confcience, he should die;
This world he cumber'd long enough,

He burnt his candle to a fnuff,
And that's the reafon, fome folks think,
He left behind jo great a flink.

Behold

Behold his funeral appears,

Nor widows fighs, nor orphans tears,
Wont at fuch times each heart to pierce,
Attend the progrefs of his hearse..
But what of that, his friends may say,
He had thofe honours in his day;
True to his profit and his pride,
He made them weep before he dy'd."
Come hither, all ye empty things,
Ye bubbles rais'd by breath of kings,
Who float upon the tide of ftate,
Come hither, and behold your fate:
Let pride be taught by this rebuke,
How very mean a thing's a d-ke;
From all his ill-got honours flung,
Turn'd to that dirt from whence he fprung.

The ROSE. TO LAURA.

LAURA, view this lovely flower, Semblance of thy faultlefs form, Fragrant fcent, and beauty's pow'r, Add their efforts each to charm; Yet, my fair, with apt attendance,

Wait the leffons they convey: Soon they fade, how weak dependance On the bloffoms of a day? In the vale of life, dull station,

Odorous [weets affign'd to grow, Yet the foes to their duration

Crop the bloffoms ere they blow. Thorny care, with wide dominion, Sits on all our warm delights, Like the blatt, affiction's pinion

Ev'n the charms of beauty blights: Like the rofe, our comforts wither, And, like it, ourfelves muft fade; Cruel time the bloom will gather,

In youth's fun, or age's fhade; Yet fhall Laura's bofom ever

Taste the homage truth must give, For when rofy hues fhall leave her, Yet fhall mental fragrance live.

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ODE to

SPRING.

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Life-giving zephyrs breathe around,
And inftant grows th' enamel'd ground,
With nature's varied hues ;
Not fo returns our youth decay'd,
Alas! nor air, nor fun, nor shade,
The fpring of life renews.

VI.
The fun's too quick revolving beam,
Full foon diffolves the human dream,
And brings th' appointed hour
Too late we catch his parting ray,
And mourn the idly-wafted day,
No longer in our pow'r.

VII.

Then happiest he whofe lengthen'd fight, Purfues by virtue's steady light,

A hope beyond the skies; Where frowning winter ne'er fhall come, But rofy fpring for ever bloom, And funs eternal rife.

SOLUTION to the ENIGMA, p. Ico. WHAT frange ideas to the mind arife, Whilft the plain truth conceal'd in ambush lies;

But all examin'd with a critic's eye, There's none comes nearer than the let

ter Y.

FOREIGN

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THE

FOREIGN

Ratisbon, April 16.

HE 14th initant, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the yachts and other veffels, to the number of thirty, having on board the emperor, the king of the Romans, the archduke Leopold, and their refpective retinues, paffed by this city. The magiftrates having had notice by a letter from prince Colloredo, that neither their majefties nor the archduke would land here, contented themselves with faluting them by a discharge of 300 cannon, and drew out the garrifon on the banks of the river. These auguft princes appeared on the gallery of their yachts, to give the people the pleafure of feeing them.

Vienna, April 28. Since the return of the emperor, with the king of the Romans and the archduke Leopold, there have been continual rejoicings at court. The day before yesterday feveral of the young nobility acted a comedy. It was intended, after the play was over, to have played off fome artificial fireworks; but the heavy rains which fell obliged them to poftpone that entertainment.

Breffe, April 7. Under pretence of the dearth which afflicts Italy, feveral thousand inhabitants of the vallies of Frombia-Sol and Canonica forced the town of Difentano during the time of market, and carried off 10,000 facks, which they went and fold on the Side of Trente. They behaved in the fame manner at Salo, and were not under more reftraint in a vifit which they paid us; they overturned our guards, and difperfed the archers. The bailiff, whom they demanded a conference with, afked them who was their leader? to which they replied, that they were all leaders. retiring, they carried off all the corn, and whatever befides appeared to them convenient, leaving the wine, which they were not able to drink, to run to wafte.

On

An exprefs was difpatched immediately to Venice to give the fenate advice of it, who directly invefted Mr. Burducci Dolfin with the character of inquifitor, and furnished him with full power to examine into this affair, and bring the rebels to reafon; for which purpose they alfo affembled May 1764.

AFFAIRS.

a body of troops, in commiffion.

Warfaw, April 25.

order to fupport his

The gracious letter

which the king of Pruffia has written to Count Poniatowski, and the mark of efteem he has expreffed towards him, in conferring upon him the order of the Black Eagle, occafions many to conclude with good reafon, that his Pruffian majefty fupports his pretensions to the throne by his recommendation. If the emprefs of Ruffia fhould, as it is thought, be of the fame difpofition, it may be prefumed that this nobleman has, of all others, the fairest hopes of obtaining the crown.

Vienna, May 9. On Sunday last her imperial majefty inftituted, with great folemnity, a new order called the Order of St. Stephen, which is to confift of 20 grandes croix, 30 commandeurs, and 100 chevaliers.

Genoa, May 5. Within thefe few days paft arrived here from Bastia, a Genoese pink, which has brought us the following detail of the affairs of Corfica. The rebels being retired to the other fide of the pieve of Brando, fituate about two leagues from Baftia, lieutenant colonel Matra, nephew to the field marthal of the fame name, repaired thither with a confiderable detachment, and rendered himself mafter of the tower of Brando, where he put to the fword an officer and twelve Corfican foldiers who formed the garrifon, and had furrendered themfelves at difcretion. cal Paoli, being informed of this treatment, made an officer and twelve Genoefe foldiers, who had been taken prifoners at Er-. balonga, undergo the like fate.

Paf

The report which prevailed, that our troops had retaken the poft of Erbalongo, is deftitute of foundation; the rebels on the contrary have fortified themfelves there, and planted on it four pieces of cannon.

We alfo learn, that Pafcal Paoli being exercifing fome of his troops according to the Pruffian manner, one of their fufils happened to be charged with a bail, which on firing paffed through Paoli's cloaths, without hurting him, but killed colonel Buttafuoco on the spot.

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DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

TUESDAY, May 1. Saturday last one Jolin Poole, of BeilAlley, Golden Lane, who fold potatoes about the ftreets, beat his wife in fo barbarous a manner, that the languifhed till yesterday morning and then expired: the fellow has abfconded.

Thursday the 19th ult. a fire broke out at the dwelling houfe of Jofeph Smith and John Porter, of Foxley in the county of Norfolk, which in a fhort time confumed the faid houfe, with all their houshold furniture, wearing apparel, loom, tows, and work on the loom. A barn adjoining, with fome corn and ftraw, was alfo destroyed.

Let er from Banda Neira, one of the Molucca Ilands, fituated at 4 degrees, 30 minutes fouth latitude, and about 30 miles from Am; boyna, dated Sept. 12, 1763.

"The first of this month, at five in the afternoon, we had the moft terrible fhocks of earthquake that have been felt here for above half a century paft. The fift fhock lafted more than four minutes, and was fo violent, that no body could stand upon his feet. All the inhabitants ran out of their houfes, but were no fooner got into the freet, than they fell to the ground almost motionlefs. The fame evening, and the following night, we had fixteen shocks more, but not fo violent as the firft. At the first shock the fea fell fuddenly five fatoms, and in lefs than three minutes fwelled with inexpreffible rapidity, and overflowed a great deal of land.

"The caftle is fplit in feveral places. There are fo many cracks in houfes of the governor and fub-governor, the powder magazine, the board of trade and war-office, the city-gates, the armourers office, &c. that all the fe, edifices are untenantable. The new church, which was not yet finished, is cracked on every fide. Above three fourths of this ifland, on the north fide, are nothing now but heaps of ruins, and without foreign help the inland cannot recover from this difafter in less than twenty five years. Belgica caftle is fplit in feveral places. Incre 'ible devaftation has been made in the hilly country of Louthoir, and in the island of Poulc-Aly, and the angles

of Revenge-caftle are almost entirely ruined. The volcano Papenberg cast up stones of a prodigious fize, which destroyed abundance of fpice plantations. The thcck was as votent at Nigria towards the fea, but the damage was not so confiderable. The earthquake was lefs violent in the ifles of Piezang and Roozengain. Mount GoengeneApy crumbled down in several places, and is much funk.

"Though our prefent condition is very difmal, yet no more than feven perfons have perifhed in this difafter. The houses are not tenantable, fo that most of the people live in tents; but as the earth ftill quakes, and we hear a noife under ground like the firing of cannon at a distance, we fear there will be occafion to give a fad fupplement to this account.

"The island of Banda is very fubject to earthquakes. Valentine, in the third volume of his defcription of India, £ives an account of the dreadful fhocks that island felt in 1629. 1630, 16×3, 1690, and 1696, on which occafions Mount Goenoeng Apy emitted terrible flames, and caft up huge ones.

"The Batavia and Hercules, Dutch Indiamen, which were failing last summer tewards Banda and Tumor, have been loft in the pailage."

WEDNESDAY, May 2.

Monday was held at Guildhall the gereral quarter feflions of the peace for the city of London, when an application, pursuant to the powers invested in this quarter foffions by parliament was made to the court, founded on two affidavits, relating to the keeping open the port of London for the importation of foreign oats; and after heating council, and a great number of evidences on both fides, it appeared to the court, that the price of middling oats was not above fixteen Gillings per quarter. By this determination it is underflood, that the port of London is, or will shortly be, shut up against the importation of this commodity.

An application was likewife made by the journeymen taylors, to take off ore hour of working; and the court, as the mafters confented thereto, ordered, that inflead of the journeymens working til eight, they

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