But thou, Eugenio! cruel man! How break that heart fo partial, kind! Didst thou not plight thy eager hand? Didft thou not vow eternal love? How couldst thou then difgraceful brand? Or how thofe ftrong-knit ties remove? Abandon'd wretch! poffefs'd of all Her warm affections could bestow, Bafely you triumph'd in the fall That laid conceding Virtue low! No more shall beat that tender heart, To thine fo conftast, kind and true; No more that bofom loath to part, Shall anxious-throbbing heave Adieu ! For ever fled!--for ever gone! My fruitless fighs the cannot hear; Elfe would the calm my ceafing moan, Elfe would the dry the trickling tear. I grieve-but ah ! I grieve in vain, In Death's cold ear my woes I tell; Since then nor prayers nor tears retain, Thou dear departed fhade-farewell! AUBINUS. STANZAS Addreffed to Mrs. BAR BAULD. N dalliance gay, WHAT wild fchemes your breafts perplex, Tender, fair, fantastic fex! Senfelefs toys your hearts enfnare: Thoughtless what her lovers feel, Let inte forts in Fancy's religiofesaving'd Midt her Strephon's Leeplefs hours, hours; And forms ideal wooe in Thespian bow'rs, Their fight too weak for Truth's unclouded ray. Be thine the joy to fweep the flaming lyre, Thy tafte fublime by reafon more refin'd, When thy chafte bofom feels the hallow'd fire, Or pierce the vaft profundity of mind. And then, if Fancy can existence lend, Or language in a glowing image entl, Oh! fnatch the pow'r which foals divine await, "Who when they fcorn to picture, can create ;' And ftill, whilft quick alternate raptures flow, Anticipate with fuch-a heav'n below. HORATIO. 'Delia doats on mattadores. Whilft knight-errant in romance Shining, spotted, downy fur; Puls's eyes their fpecks dilate, PP 2 } Cou'd Whilft each caterwauling note Swells with warbling screams her throat, To the PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY of When Nothing was old, and Nothing was LONDON. GENTLEMEN, The inclosed copy of Verfes were compofed by the late Mr. Lack-luftre, of Pennfylvania, who, as the laft teftimony of an affection and friendship which was foon, alas! too foon to expire, put into my hands a large collection of manufcripts on various fubjects, and from which the one now fent was felected. The age, stature, complexion, or manners of my author are at prefent of no importance; but perhaps the time may come when those minutia fhall as defervedly engage the attention of the public as the authenticity of Rowley's Poems; and the oaken box which contains them, be as much valued as a relick of Shakspeare's. And Worth-Nothings rofe—or Nothings much worse, Who pray'd for the Nation, whilft picking its purse. How Nothing's fupported the wife has perplex'd, When novices know 'tis for Nothing we're tax'd: Even Newton or Milton, or Bacon or Boyle, Who in Learning's bright region broke up the foil, And whilst here on earth were exploring of Heaven, -A folution of Nothing fo natʼral have given. Now aid me, ye Nine, with all your fublime; And let Nothingness shine in the fonorous rhyme, Whilft a Nothing I fing-ne'er fung of before, The birth of the Congrefs-that Nothing of yore: Whose riches were rags, and whose trumps are all Spades; Once the props of the nation and pillars of State, Now fucking its paws or fcratching its pate. But of Nothing enough-If Nothing fuffices, We fhall all have enough of Congress devi ces: Yet note, Mr. Printer, the pillars I meant, Were cater-pillars in troth,—or I certainly dreamt. The HERMIT of ILUTHURIA. THEATRICAL JOURNAL. MARCH 25. den for Mrs. Bannister's benefit. This piece MRS. Siddons performed Elwina in Mifs has no claim to the merit of originality. More's Tragedy of Percy. Confidering how few plays there are calculated to fhew the talents of this great actress, the managers cannot be blamed for reviving a performance where there is one good fcene. Percy comes within this defcription, and Mrs. Siddons in the reprefentation was no way inferior to herself. 27th. She Would and She Would not was revived at Drury Lane, and a more excellent representation, taking it all together, is hardly to be pointed out on the English stage. Almoft all the parts were well filled. Mrs. Jordan was particularly excellent in HippoJita, and Mr. King, Mr. Parfons, and Mifs Pope little, if at all, inferior in Trappanti, Don Manuel, and Rofara. April ft. April Fool, or the Follies of a Night, a new farce by Mr. Mic Nally, was performed for the first time at Covent Gar The ftory on which it is founded was produ ced on the English stage in the year 1608 by Thomas Middleton, in a play called A Mad World, my Mafters. It was borrowed by Charles Johnfon in the year 1714 in The Country Laffes, or the Cuftom of the Mayor; and in the fubfequent year 1715 by Christopher Bullock, who made it into a farce called The Slip, for the then rival theatre Lincoln's-InnFields. In 1778 Dr. Kenrick again produced it with fuccefs at Covent Garden, under the title of The Spendthrift, or A Christmas Gambol. The prefent attempt to give this fabie a itage exiftence is not inferior to the laft, but it does not promife to be in any great degree fuccefsful. Before the performance Mr. Edwin fpoke a Prologue in the character of a hackney Poet, which concluded with the following fong. * Tammany, an Indian Chief whose exploits are annually celebrated on the first of May by the festive fons of America. The Indian name of a Atream of water about seventeen miles diftant from the city of Philadelphia. AN low, What tho' my affairs are at fixes and sevens, We shall infert the following fongs, by Mrs. And ope thy viftas to my mind; SONG, fung by Mrs. Bannister. Her wild woods waving round my head, "The primrose on the valley's fide, "The wanton lily, daisy pied, The wilding's bloffom blushing red, "No longer I their fweets inhale. Has evening clofed my carelefs eye, Yet ftill within yon vacant grove, To mark the close of parting day, And catch the wave that winds away; Tho' far from thefe and Avon's vale. 6th. The Merchant of Venice was revived at Drury lane, for the benefit of Mr. Kem. ble. Mrs. Siddons performed Portia in a manner to confute every idea of her inability to excel in comedy. From the fpecimen afforded us this night, we do not scruple to fay that she wants only to be feen in this line of her profeffion, to obtain equal applaufe with her tragick reprefentations. Mr. King's Shylock, if compared with the admirable performances of Mr. Macklin, or the late Mr. Henderfon, was defpicable in the extreme, Nothing but the all-grafping spirit of a manager, defirous, like Bottom, of performing every character, could tempt fo valuable an actor to defert his own walk, where he is entitled to every degree of applause, and risk a reputation earned by a long and clofe attention to the bafinéis of his profeffion. Mr. Parfons, in Launcelot, gave the reins to noife and buffoonery. 8th. The Foundling was revived at Covent garden, for the benefit of Mr. Lewis. The part of Faddle was admirably represented by him. Young Belmont by Mr. Holman, and Fidelia by Mifs Brunton, were both deficient. In comedy they each want the natural freedom and ease of expreffion which ought always to be found in representing the cha racters of gentlemen and ladies. Mrs. War. ren had more claims to approbation in Rofetta. 18th. The Plain Dealer was revived at Covent-garden, for the benefit of Mr. Edwin. Manly by Mr. Wroughton, Jerry Blackacre by Mr. Edwin, and the Widow by Mrs. Webb, were reprefented in a manner to deferve great applaufe. 19th. The Mourning Bride was performed at Covent-garden, for the benefit of Mr. Holman. The part of Ofmyn by him, was calculated to retrieve fome part of the repu tation which he hazards by attempting comedy. Mifs Brunton, in Zara, was fpirited, and Mrs. Warren in Almeria fhewed herself fully equal to the character. The The POLITICAL STATE of the NATION and of EUROPE, for APRIL 1786. No. XXVI. THE HE Minifterial Budget came out too late in the laft month for us to animadvert upon it, being at prefs at the time. The fame Budget was accompanied with a reference to a Report of a Committee of the House of Commons, concerning the national revenue and expenditure, which we confefs ourselves at a lofs to understand! It is very well if Statesmen themselves, their co-adjutors and advocates, understand what they speak and write so much about. It is not our bufinefs to write a volume about it as large as the Report itfelf; but we think there are fome grofs errors in it, which, upon demand, we could point out, on condi. tion of our remonstrances being attended to.There are fome inconfiftencies and contradictions apparent upon the very face of the Report, which Ministers would do well to endeavour to find out, but which they never can do, while they take more pains to shut other people's eyes than to open their own to fee things as they really are, not as fond imagination and court-intrigue paints them. The penfion-lift indeed constitutes a molt curious article, worthy of the attention of every man and woman in the nation, who pays taxes and duties to fupport an army of drones, placemen, and penfioners, like a fwarm of locufts devouring the whole fubftance of the land !-It is high time the penfion-lift was called over, and fcrutinized into with the most rigid impartiality, in order to cut off all the fuperfluous unmerited penfions and finecures, and turn them into a fund for diminishing the national debt. to paying it off wholly, we let that stand over to a period undefined and unknown. As This we take upon us to fay, that Minifters and others may amufe themselves as much as they please with building castles in the air; but if ever any tolerable progrefs is made in that great work, the paying the national debt, the foundation of the work must be laid in frugality, and retrenching fuperfluous and unnecessary expences, wages, falaries, and perquifites. Without this all other efforts will prove vain and ineffectual : and if ever a true patridt comes into power, and continues a fincere patriot-statesman, this and no other will be his plan of national redemption. of stockholders, stock-jobbers, and dabblers in the funds, in England and elsewhere. However the Minifter himself may be in love with his own scheme, we apprehend fome of his intended colleagues will not much thank him for the job. The Budget above mentioned announced three fpecies of taxation, by way of addition to exifting furpluffes to make up an annual million, as a fund for discharging the debt; viz. a tax on perfumery, a duty on deals and battens on importation, and on fpirits in the wash. The first of these goes down very quietly, for we have heard no murmuring against it. The fecond has been complained of very loudly, and, if carried into execution, is likely to be attended with very ferious confequences, both internally among ourselves, and externally from foreign potentates, whofe fubjects may be affected thereby. From one or both of thefe caufes, the tax has met with a top in its progress thro' the Houfe: the least we can fay of it is, that it was a very impolitic and improper measure, in the present juncture of affairs between us and Ruffia and France. The third article is fomewhat paradoxical in the Minister; to improve the revenue by encreasing the duty on fpirits, while he lowers the duty on fome other things for the fame purpose of raising a revenue. This we leave him to account for; it is not our business. After long debates and altercations, harangues and declamations, the House of Commons has at laft reduced the accufer of theEastIndia Governor to method, and limited him within the bounds ufually prefcribed on fuch occafions; and just while we are writing the bufinefs is affuming fome regular form of process, that must bring the matter to iffue by and by; in the event whereof somebody muft lofe honour or reputation, either the accufer or accufed! Let who will be the winner or the lofer, may ftrict impartial juftice take place between man and man, and between them and the people. The propofed amendment of the EaftIndia Regulation Act has undergone a very extraordinary operation, that is, of being cut in halves, the one of which has already paffed how they will join the original Act and the two amendments together we leave time to difcover; but we dare venture to say, that all the three together will want amendment in the course of two or three years more. How the new-appointed Governor likes to go out with half his leffon, or rule of future conduct, we know not. Although he goes out all perfection in the eyes of Ministry, he |