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ODE for the KING'S BIRTH-DAY. Written by William Whitehead, Efq; And fet to Mufic by Dr. Boyce.

YE

E Weftern gales, whofe genial breath Unbinds the glebe, till all beneath One verdant livery wears: You footh the fultry heats of Noon, Add foftnefs to the fetting Sun, 3 And dry the Morning's tears. This is your feason, lovely gales, Thro' æther now your pow'r prevails; And our dilated breafts fhall own The joys which flow from you alone. Why, therefore, in yon dubious sky, With out-fpread wing, and eager eye, On diftant fcenes intent, "Sits Expectation in the air?" Why do alternate Hope and Fear

Sufpend fome great event?

Can Britain fail?-The thought were vain!
The pow'rful Emprefs of the Main
But ftrives to fmooth th' unruly flood,
And dreads a Conqueft ftain'd with blood.
While yet, ye winds, your breezy balm
Thro' Nature fpreads a gen'ral calm,
While yet a paufe fell Difcord knows,
Catch the foft moment of repofe,

Your genuine pow'rs exert;
To Pity melt th' obdurate mind,
Teach ev'ry bofom to be kind,

And humanize the heart.

Propitious gales, O wing your way!
And, whilft we hail that rightful fway
Whence temper'd Freedom fprings,
The blifs we feel to future times
Extend, and from your native climes

Bring Peace upon your wings!

A FAMILIAR EPISTLE from AMERICA. 'XCUSE me, dear friend, I can't think it true,

E

Tho' Solomon fays it, that nothing is new; Had he liv'd in thefe times we had rather been told,

[old: Our Weft World's fo new, it has nothing that's But fhould he infift his old way to have it, I would beg leave to ask of this old fon of

David

A few little queftions; as where he e'er faw Men legally punish'd for not breaking the : law;

Tarr'd, feather'd, and carted, for drinking bohea, [free? And by force and oppreffion compell'd to be The fame men maintaining that all human kind [the wind; Are, and have been, and fhall be, as free as Yet impaling and burning their llaves for believing Lgiving;The truth of the leffons they're conftantly Or what financiers, politicians, or fages, In the past or the antediluvian ages, He ever had feen, ever heard of, or read, Who to raise funds for war first abolish'd their trade?

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Down at night a bricklayer, a carpenter lies, Next fun a Lycurgus, a Solon doth rife; While Doctors, who never made curing their trade,

Give a bolus of iron, or a pill all of lead. But ftill counteracted by blunders and fate, Tho' they murder'd in friendship, they fpare in their hate.

Priefts, taylors, and coblers, fill with heroes the camp, [fwamp: And failors, like craw-fifh, crawl out of each Self-created from nought, like a mushroom

we fee

[fea;

Spring an *able Commander by land and by Late of Tories the Prince, and his country's

great foe,

[beau: Now the Congress's Chairman †, a split-fhirted All titles of honour and profit do wait on Judge, General, Counsellor, Admiral Drayton, Who never fmell'a powder, nor handled a rope, But infallible more than Lord Peter the Pope; Who makes flesh and blood of his bread and his wine, [the line,

While Drayton of schooners makes ships of Makes all laws of mechanics and nature knock under, [der; Can cram in an egg-fhell a twenty-four pounCan burn in an instant the whole British navy,

And eat up an army without falt or gravy.

Suppofed to be a gentleman formerly Confidant to Lord C. M. and then loaded with all the odium of the patriots, on account of 'his attachment to Government. He was appointed one of the Judges in South-Carolina by a Lieutenant-Governor; but the appointment was not confirmed, and another gentleman was fent out from home; immediately on which, as it happened, Mr. D. turned flaming patriot; at least it is fo reported.

+ The uniform of the South-Carolina re'bels is a hunting-fhirt, fuch as the farmers fervants in England.

Thefe lines allude to D.'s ordering a little fleet of fchooners to be fitted out from the port of Charles-Town; on board of one of them he ordered 24 nine pounders, but fhe was fo fmall, that it was found the could not even float with above 12 of fuch guns on board.

In

280

Poetical Effays for June, 1776.

In DAMONIS & DELIA Nuptias. 3 Maii, 1776.

"Felices ter et ampliùs,

"

Quos irrupta tenet copula." HoR. TUNC Jo Pæan hilari et canorâ

N

Voce dicendum tibi gratulamur, dies feftiva, benigniore

Luce refulgens!
Læta Damoni et fimul aufpicata,
Delia pulchræ pariter fecunda
Sis; Hymen quos vocat apparatis
Ritibus adftans.

Non fames auri, fitiensve luxus,
Ambitusve ullus trahit hos inanis :
Pectori facras Amor ipfe flammas
Spirat utrique.

Is virens ævo juvenili, et almæ
Indolis candore nitens, puellam
Gaudio exultans placidè erubentem
Ducit ad aram.

Illa fimplex munditiis, decore
Clara formâque eximiâ, juventæ
Floribus fuffufa genas (rofis quâ
Lilia mifcet

Ipfa Natura) haud minùs illecebris
Suavibus blandifque nitet, virum quæ
Cunque gratâ detineant catenâ

Atque perenni.

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make,

Count of our acts the idle and the wrong, And 'twill be found that we have liv'd too long.

Mr. URBAN,

T

HE following lines were written fome time last month, and fent with a sprig of May to a young lady; if you think them worth publication, they are at your service. I am, &c. PHILANDER.

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-THIS sprig of May behold,
Nor hide a blush when you are told
How like it is to thee;

For tho' of finer mould your frame,
With matchless charms too great to name,
As Flowers you both agree.
Mistress of all the fragrant train,
Her fweets perfume the verdant plain, `
And chear the rifing day:
A month her stated time to last,
Yet, ah! too often by a blast

Thofe pleafing fweets decay.

So beauty dies.-The finest face,
Nor all th' enchanting pow'rs of grace,
Can ftay the wing of Time;
Steady he flies, ne'er heeds the way,
But bears an univerfal fway,

Nor pities Age nor Prime.
Then let us feize the prefent hour,
Perhaps what now is in our pow'r
To-morrow may be fied:

Life fwiftly glides; that form to-day Which feems as blooming as the May To-morrow may be dead.

ACCOUNT

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ACCOUNT of the PROCEEDINGS of the AMERICAN COLONISTS, fince the paffing the Bolton Port- Bill. Continued,

SINCE railing the fiege of Quebec (fee

P. 257) it appears, that the King's troops have not been inactive. By a letter from Gen. Carleton to Lord George Germain, dated on board the Maria, oppofite St. Ann's, May 25, the General acquaints his Lordfhip, that he has juft received an account from Capt. Forfter, that he, with a detachment of the 8th regiment, fome Canadians, and a number of Indians, had taken a fort at the Cedars,' two pieces of cannon, and 390 rebels prifoners at difcretion. And that Meflrs. Lorimer and Montigny had attacked and defeated likewife a party of 120 rebels in paffing from the ifland of Montreal to' Kinchin. He adds, that the rebels are till numerous in the province, and talk of large reinforcements.

Lieut. Fooks, who failed from Quebec on the 26th of May, gives an account,' that before his departure fome Indians had arrived from the Cedars, about eight leagues from Montreal, who informed them that the Indians of the western confederacy were in motion to join the King's troops, and that a very large body of them were within three days march of the Cedars. He adds that the fame night he left Quebec he met the tranfports with the British regiments from Ireland, and had no doubt of their arriving at Quebec the next morning; and that on his arrival at the ifle of Coudre the 28th, he found the tranfports with the Brunswick troops at anchor, waiting the return of the tide, in order to proceed to Quebec, the wind being then unfavourable. He fuppofes that General Burgoyne landed at Quebec in the evening of the 26th of May.

Commodore Hotham, with the first divifion of Heffian troops, was well or the 5th inftant, in lat. 44, 57. N. and long. 30: 12° W. from the Lizard, with all his convoy, except the Malaga brig, which had parted company in a gale of wind the 26th of May.

From thefe authentic advices, the pubfic has reafon to expect news of the greatest importance in a few weeks. General Carleton in proceeding up the river St. Lawrence has, no doubt, the re-taking of Montreal for his object, which probably will be abandoned before his approach. The rapid progrefs the Provincials made in taking St. John's, Chamblee, and Montreal, will yield them but small grounds of triumph, as they must now be all as rapidly deferted. Crown-point and Ticonderoga they will certainly endeavour to maintain.

To the fouthward no action of moment is to be expected to take place till the Commiffioners for conciliation have opened GENT. MAG. June, 1776.

their Commiffion. Every friend to his country will join with us in withing that the terms may be fuch as not only to put a period to the prefent troubles, but to remove all jealoufy, and to refiore mutual confidence and mutual harmony for the future.

In the mean time captures increase in almoft every quarter. More than 70 American fhips have been made prizes of in the West-Indies, and a much larger num-. ber on the coaft of America.

To balance thefe loffes, they boaft of the capture of the Ifle of Providence, and a battle gained over a body of infurgents on the back fettlements of North Carolina. But neither of thefe are of much confequence; the powder and warlike ftores were removed from the former, and by the latter they only reduced a body of their own people, fupported by no one company of regular troops.

The account they give of the engagement is, that the Tory army, as they are pleafed to call the loyalifts, with Capt. M'Cleod at their head, made their attack on Col. Cafwell and Col. Lillington, at Moore's Creek-bridge, and finding a small entrenchment on our fide of the water empty, concluded that our people had abandoned their pofts, and in the most furious manner advanced within thirty paces of our breaft-work, where Capt. M'Cleod and Capt. Campbell fell in leading on the attack; the former of whom received near twenty balls through his body, and in

very few minutes the whole army was put to flight, and most shamefully abandoned their General, who was the next day taken prifoner. In this furious onset about 30 of the Tory army were killed and wounded, and only two wounded on the part of the conquerors, one of whom is fince dead.

This Tory army, as it is called, appears to have been a company of Highlanders, haftily drawn together by two Scotch officers, Meff. M'Donald and M'Cleod, who having paffed through Newburn the latter end of last year, were fufpected of fome. finifter defigns, and queftioned by the Provincials concerning their business, who pretended they were officers wounded at Bunker's-Hili, and had left the army with a defign to fettle among their friends. But, being privately fupplied with a quantity of arms and ammunition, they were readily joined by their countrymen, who imagined they could easily reduce the whole province to the King's obedience; but one of thefe officers being killed, and the other taken prisoner, finding them felves without a leader, they as fuddenly quitted the field as they had haftily been led into it. The conquerors boaft to have taken on this occafion, 350 guns and fhot-bags, 150 fwords and dirks, 1500 rifles, and two medicine ch.fts, fresh from England, a box of half Joannefles

282

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.

Joanneffes and guineas, valued at about 15,000l. and thirteen waggons with complete fets of horfes. Add to these 800 prifoners, whom they difarmed and difcharged, having first fecured their officers and confined them in Halifax gaol.

At New-York the following is a late regulation:

Head-Quarters, New-York, April 8. The General informs the inhabitants, that it is become abfolutely neceffary that all communication between the Minifterial fleet and fhore fhould immediately be ftopped-for that purpofe has given pofitive orders the fhips fhould no longer be furnished with provifions. Any inhabitant, or others, who thall be taken, that have been on board (after the publishing of this order) or near any of the fhips, or going on board, will be confidered as enemies, and treated accordingly.

All boats are to fail from Beekman's Slip Capt. James Alner is appointed Infpector, and will give permits for oyftermen: It is expected and ordered, that none attempt going without a país.

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. OME Spanish fhips lately fent out from Acapulco on difcovery, have penetrated to the 58th degree of N. lat. and coafting along the fhore of the western continent, have found many commodious harbours convenient for trade; and many inhabitants who appeared to be hofpitable, docile, and of free, open, and honeft difpofitions. In one of thefe harbours, the Spaniards have built a fort and left a garrifon-The difcoverers fay, that the feas from that latitude, northward, abound with whales, and the fhores with baccalao. There is a report that Capt, Cook, who is just going out on a third voyage for difcovery, and who is to reland Omiah in his own country in the course of it, is to attempt a northerly paffage home.

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The fmuggling cutter which refcued a veffel from the Cuftom-houfe tender, as formerly mentioned (p. 235), carries 20 guns, fix-pounders, and 30 fwivels, meafures 66 feet keel, and is navigated by 80 fout men.

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May 23.

The Speaker of the Houfe of Commons, in his addrefs to his Majesty on prefenting the money-bills for obtaining the royal affent, according to custom, made ufe of words to this effect, That, convinced of the juftice and neceffity of fecuring the fubordination of America, Parliament had chearfully co-operated with every propofition for enforcing duty to his Majefty, and obedience to the British legislature; that his faithful Commons, whatever measures may have been taken for the fecurity of both, by a proper exertion of the strength of this country, did not wish for a conqueft, but were defirous of peace and conciliation, trusting to his Majefty's wifdom and goodness to terminate the prefent difputes in fuch a manner as to prevent a return of the fame evils in times to come. May 25:

The Seffions at the Old Bailey ended, when 17 convicts received fentence of death, (befides two for murder, whofe fentence was pronounced immediately on conviction,) among whom were Jofeph Biffel and Thomas Hankey for coining. With these men were tried one Hannah Horner, as an acceffary, who having a fine child about four months old at her. breaft, greatly affected the whole court., On her acquittal fhe fell into tears, and after paying her refpects to the court and jury, the first embraced the little innocent in her arms, and then in a kind of frenzy feized the unhappy father, Beffel, in her arms, and was with difficulty difengaged, expreffing more anxiety for his life, than for her own. At the fame instant, on the conviction of the other coiner, a well dreffed young woman in the gallery burst into a loud ht, trying out repeatedly to the Lord Mayor and Judges, Gentlemen, fpare my father! mercy! mercy! mercy! to my dear father! then falling down, was carried out of court in great agonies.

The two men convicted of murder, Benjamin Harley and Thomas Henman, were fmugglers, and the man murdered, Jofeph Pearfon, was a cuftom - houfe officer. It appeared that the officers, of whom there were four, having previous intelligence that a quantity of tea was to be run in the night, way-laid the fmugglers, near Deptford turnpike, but poffibly the fame perfon who gave the information to the officers might alarm the fmugglers, who having made themfelves drunk for mifchief, instead of running the tea, armed themfelves with clubs and bludgeons to hunt the officers; the unfortunate deceafed in the purfuit was overtaken and beat unmercifully, fo that he died, after being conveyed to the hofpital, in great agonies. They were convicted on the evidence of an accomplice, but there were

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May 29.

A fudden fire broke out at noon-day at Bellon, in Rutland faire, by which 27 houfes were confumed, befides barns, outhoufes and granaries, and more than 170 perfons reduced to the greatest diftrefs. It was occafioned by a girl's throwing hot ashes into a back yard, which kindled the litter and fet an out-houfe on fire, and fpread in a moft alarming manner.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1,

His Majefty was pleafed to confer the honour of Knighthood on John Eliot, M. D.

Orders were fent to Plymouth for four men of war to fail immediately to reinforce Admiral Gayton's squadron at Jamaica.

This morning fome curious experiments were tried at Woolwich before the princi pal officers of Ordnance, with a rifle gun, the invention of Capt. Ferguson of the 70th regiment; when that gentleman fired in four minutes 16 hot at a target 200 yards distance, In one minute he fired fix hot. He fired four fhot a minute, advancing at the rate of four miles an hour. And lastly, he poured a bottle of water into the pan and barrel of his piece, when loaded, fo as to wet every grain of the powder, and in less than half a minute, without extracting the ball, fired again as readily as before. He hit the bull's eye in the target lying on his back, at 100 yards diftance; and only miffed the target three times in all his experiments, though it rained and the wind and weather was very much against him,

Monday 3.

Being his Majesty's birth-day, who then entered into the 39th year of his age, their Majefty's came from Buckinghamhoufe to St. James's, and received the compliments of a numerous and brilliant. Court on that occafion. The Ode was much admired.

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Thursday 6.

The Jews of the city of Mantua affembled not long fince in a large room up three pair of ftairs, to celebrate a wedding, and there being a great number of guests, the weight of them broke down that floor, and thofe underneath, quite to the cellar, by which unhappy accident 66 pfons were killed, and 16 or 17 dangerously wounded. The bride and her mother were among the former, but the bridegroom, whofe name was Finzi, not being arrived when the accident happened, efcaped fharing the fate of his relations and friends,

Friday 7.

Advice was received at the India-house, that the Lord North, Capt. Hambley, from Bencoolen; the Colebrook, Capt. Morris, from Coaft and Bay; and the Calcutta, Capt,Thompson, from Bombay, were all fafely arrived.

A motion, at the inftance of the E. of Bristol, against his Countess, late Duchefs of Kingfion, for a decree to be iffued against her, to fhew caufe why the late fentence of jactitation obtained by her, should not be revoked, and she pronounced to be the wife of the faid Earl But the Chancellor put a negative upon the motion till the Lady fhould be made acquainted with its contents,

Saturday 8.

St. James's. The King has been pleased to appoint his Grace George Duke of Montagu to be governor; Richard, Lord Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, preceptor; Lieut. Col. George Hotham, fubgovernor; and the Rev. William Arnold, B.D. fub-preceptor, to their Royal High neffes George Auguftus Frederick, Prince of Wales, and to Prince Frederick, Bishop of Ofnabrug.

The late members for Hindon were brought before the Court of K. B. in or der to receive fentence, having before been convicted of bribery at the last general election, when Sir Richard Afton prefaced their femtence with a pathetic fpeech, in which he expatiated on the enormity of the crime, as by violating the freedom of election, and corrupting the electors, the British conftitution, the most perfect in the world, could only be undone; that the crime of which they had been guilty was aggravated by the

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