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PROLOGUE

TO THE FAIR PENITENT,

Performed by a Party of Ladies and Gentlemen at Sandwich, Dec. 14, 1785.

For the Benefit of a Charity - School.
Spoken by Mr. GARNER.

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And dare the future critic's rage, Or on the past refine,

O-night no ruthless Tyrant meets his Here many an eve I pensive fit,

To

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fate,

No Faction plots the ruin of a State,

No Madness fhoots its horrors thro' the foul, No Lightnings flash, nor dreadful Thunders roll;

Tfeful to few Ambition's rife or fall,
Our Author's moral is applied to All.

Virtue's fair fabric undermin'd by art,
The flen anguish of the breaking heart,
A parent's woes, the pangs of hapless love,
Are mis'rics Nature's humbleft child may
prove;

Scenes fuch as these must pierce an heart of fel,

We all muft pity what we all may feel.

But left the moral of to-night's fad theme, Obfcur'd by our weak efforts, faintly gleam, (For let th' inventive Genius brightest shine, A bad engraving (poils the best defign) Shall we, with humble greeting, first implore A candid heating for our trembling corps? No- for paft favors render fear unjust, Your candour prov'd demands our firmest trust;

Here fill the reigns enthron'd in ev'ry breaft, And glows with "heav'n-born charity twice bleft."

We cannot doubt from lib'ral hearts and hands

The praife our noble, mutual caufe demands; 'Tis Charity, whose beams like Sol's benign, With genial influence o'er all nature shine, Hope's gracious parent, Sorrow's happy end, The Orphan's guardian, and the Widow's friend.

To-night from Heav'n defcends the goddefs fair,

An humble Orphan-brood her pious care; With raiment's warmth defends their tender

forms

From chilling Winter's defolating forms.
Yet more to Charity her brood shall owe,
The bieflings which from early culture flow.
He ce may the youth her lib'ralof'rings rear,
To ulver'd age their full-blown honours wear;
Or haply doom'd, in life's gay vernal bloom,
To ink lamented to the filcnt tomb,
Still may their fame for centuries furvive,
And like the oak,their country's glory, thrive;
While the more tender + objects of her care,
May in their virtues rival you-ye Fair;
Inftructed carly in the moral page,
May rife the bleft Lavinia's of the age;
Prudence their fhield, may fhun Califta's

fate,

Noreer, like her, be penitent too late.

No Be pours out a ftream of wit,
No Bl joys o'er wine.

At Baia's fpring, of Roman fame,
I quaff the pure æthereal flame,
To fire my languid/blood:
Life's gladfome days, alas! are o'er,
For health's phlogifton now no more
Pervades the ftagnant flood.
Studious at times, I ftrive to fean
Hope's airy dream,-the end of man,
In fyftems wife or odd;

With Hume, I Fate and Death defy,
Or vifionary phantoms spy

With Plato and Monbodd.
By metaphyfic whims diftrefs'd,
Still Sceptic thoughts difturb my breaft,
And reafon's out of tune ;-
One ferious truth let none impeach,
'Tis all philofophy can teach,

That man's an air-balloon.
He rides the sport of every blaft,
Now on the wave or defert caft,

And by the eddy borne :Can boafted Reafon fteer him right, Or e'er reftrain his rapid flight,

By Paffion's whirlwind torn! His mounting fpirit, buoyant air, But wafts him 'midft dark clouds of care, And life's tempestuous trouble; Ev'n though he fhine in fplendid dyes, And fport awhile in Fortune's skies,

Soon burfts the empty bubble.
While through this pathlefs wafte we ftray
Are there no flowers to cheer the way?.
And muft we still repine ?
No;-Heaven, ia pity to our woes,
The gentle-foothing balm beftows
Of mufic, love, and wine.
Then bid your Delia wake the lyre,
Attun'd to love and foft defire,

And fcorn Ambition's ftrife;
Around let brilliant Fancy play,
To colour with her magic ray

The dreary gloom of life.
Let beauty speed her fondeft kifs,
The prelude to more perfect blifs,

And sweet fenfations dart; While wine and frolick mirth infpire The ardent wifh, the amorous fire,

And thrill the raptur'd heart. But man has focial dues to pay; Reafon and Science claim their fway, And truths fublime difpenfe :

*Alluding to the performance of a Play on a prior occafion for the fame Charity. The charity is founded both for girls and boys.

Fo

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prove,

If ever beauty did engage your love,

Shield a fair form from Death's unerring dart.

So may your growing fame no rival thwart,

But Science waft your name to Courts above, Where wealth and honour in one circle move,

And royal fees the bloody hand impart. Oft had Apollo's fons with wond'rous pow'r Rais'd on the dying cheek health's blooming flower:

For Efculapius oft had Rome reviv'd, *And flaves their life and liberty regain'd; Long ere the infant art to man arriv'd, Or Freind, or Mead, or mighty Sydenham reign'd. Bath, Jan. 4.

M. H. P. R.

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Late numb'd by palfy-now the rack endure

Be patient, Sir, thefe pains will be your

cure

Take comfort-Comfort? Comforts fuch as

these?

The remedy is worse than the disease-
But change from ill, is what we all defire-
I'm happy then, from frying-pan to fire-
PHILOCTETES.

ODE for the NEW YEAR, 1786. Written by Mr. WARTON, Poet-Laureat to his Majefty; and fet to Mufic by Mr. STANLEY, Mafter of his Majesty's Band of Muficians.

"D

EAR to Jove, a genial ifle
"Crowns the broad Atlantic
"wave;

"The feasons there in mild affemblage "fmile,

"And vernal bloffoms cloath the fruitful 66 prime:

"There in many a fragrant cave

"Dwell the Spirits of the brave, "And braid with amaranth their brows "fublime."

So feign'd the Grecian bards of yore; And veil'd in Fable's fancy-woven veft A vifionary shore,

That faintly gleam'd on their prophetic eye Through the dark volume of futurity: Nor knew, that in the bright attire they dreft

Albion, the green-hair'd heroine of the Weft;

Ere yet the claim'd old Ocean's high command,

And fnatch'd the trident from the tyrant's hand.

II.

Vainly flow'd the mystic rhime!

Mark the deeds from age to age, That fill her trophy-pictur'd page: And fee, with all its ftrength, untam'd by time,

Still glows her valour's veteran rage.
O'er Calpe's cliffs, and steepy towers,
When ftream'd the red fulphureous

showers,

And Death's own hand the dread artillery threw ;

While far along the midnight main Its glaring arch the flaming volley drew; How triumph'd Eliott's patient train, Baffling their vain confederate foes! And met th' unwonted fight's terrific form; And hurling back the burning war, arose Superior to the fiery storm!

*Sueton. in Claud.

III.

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She fpeeds, at George's fage command;
Society from deep to deep,

And zone to zone, the binds; From shore to shorç, o'er ev'ry land, The golden chain of commerce winds. IV.

Mean time her patriot-cares explore Her own rich woof's exhauftiefs ftore; Her native fleece new fervour feels, And wakens all its whirling wheels, And mocks the rainbow's radiant die: More wide the labours of the loom the fpreads,

In firmer bands domeftic Commerce weds,

And calls her fifter-ifle to fhare the tie;

Nor heeds the violence that broke From filial realms her old parental yoke!

V.

Her cities, throng'd with many an Attic dome,

Afk not the banner'd bastion, maffy-proof; Firm as the castle's feudal roof

Stands the Briton's focial home.

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VI.

Hence then each vain complaint, away,

Each captious doubt, and cautious fear
Nor blaft the new-born Year,
That anxious waits the Spring's flow-
fhooting ray:

Nor deem that Albion's honours cease to bloom.

With candid glance th' impartial Mufe Invok'd on this aufpicious morn, The prefent fcans, the diftant fcene purfues, And breaks Opinion's fpeculative gloom; Interpreter of ages yet unborn,

Full right the spells the characters of Fate, That Albion fti thall keep her wonted ftate;

Still, in eternal fstory, shine, Of Victory the sea-beat shrine: The fource of every splendid art, Of old, of future worlds the universal mart.

CHRONOLOGY of the Moft REMARKABLE EVENTS of 1785.

January 6.

MR. HARPER, of Birmingham, afcended from that place in a balloon, and in two hours and a half alighted near Newcastle in Staffordshire, 50 miles diftant.

7. Mr. Blanchard and Dr. Jefferies went from Dover to Calais, in an air balloon. The balloon defcended at 25 minutes past three, in the foreft of Felmore, twelve miles from the fea, over which they were near two bours.

19. Mr. Crofbie afcended in an air balloon at Dublin. Finding himfelf in danger of being driven out to fea, he opened a valve, and alighted on the ftrand of Clonterf

20. The Irish Parliament opened by the Duke of Rutland, and addresses voted to him by both Houses.

22. A loyal addrefs to his Majesty in the Gazette of this day from the gentlemen, clergy, freemen, and freeholders of the county of Dublin, figned by 21 peers, and 1121 commoners, rejecting with indignation the interference of any body of men unknown to the conftitution, &c.

25. The fecond feffion of the fixteenth parliament of Great Britain opened. The commercial regulations with Ireland were recommended in his Majesty's fpeech.

31. The Duke of York appointed one of the Lords of the Regency of Hanover, and one of the Supreme Council for managing the affairs of his Majesty's electoral dominions.

February 2. Twenty convicts hanged in the Old Bailey, the greatest number exe

cute

cated at one time fince the Black Boy-alley gang in 1744.

5. The freedom of the City of London prefented to Mr. Pitt in a gold box.

11. Eleven refolutions respecting a com. mercial intercourfe between Great Britain and Ireland, agreed to by the Irish House of Com

mons.

16. The House of Peers fignified their concurrence therein, and both Houses voted addreffes in confequence to his Majesty.

20. Two veffels fitted out from Limerick for the Greenland fishery, the first ever fent from that country.

22. The Irish Propofitions introduced into the House of Commons of Great Britain by Mr. Pitt.

25. The King of France creates a new clafs in the Academy of Belles Lettres, called the Clafs of Free Affociates refiding in Paris.

28. The Oriental Company at Trieste and Oftend obliged to stop payment for twelve months.

March 3. The High Bailiff of Weftminfter ordered by the Houfe of Commons to put an end to the Scrutiny, which had lasted fome months, and make an immediate return, in confequence of which he returned Lord Hood and Mr. Fox.

25. At the general quarterly Court of Proprietors of the East-India Company, a ba lance appeared against the Company of up. wards of one million, befides an account of arrears arifing from the war, amounting to upwards of two millions more.

Count Zambeccari and Sir Edward Ver. non failed in an air balloon from Tottenham Court-Road to a place near Horsham, thirtyfive miles from London, which they performed in one hour.

27. The Queen of France delivered of a Prince, fince created Duke of Normandy.

28. Earl Spencer's fine feat at Wimbledon, in Surrey, burnt to the ground by an acci dental fire.

April 2. The winter season, from the first fall of fnow on the 7th of October to that which fell this day, lasted 177 days, and if we except about twelve days towards the end of January, the whole of this period was frufty or fnowy, or both.

A rash experiment tried with an aquatic balloon, which failed, and the inventor narrowly escaped with his life.

11. A Board of General Officers appointed to infpect the fortifications, the Duke of Richmond Prefident.

15. Intelligence brought of disturbances the Mufquito Shore.

18. Mr. Pitt's Parliamentary Reform Bill rejected by a majority of 248 to 172.

an epidemical disorder having almost depopulated Calabria,

28. John Adams, Èfq. appointed by Congrefs to be Ambaffador to the Court of London.

29. National debt stated at 242,584,9861. fterling.

May 3. Mr. Blanchard and Mifs Simonet afcended in a balloon from Langhorne's Repository, Barbican, and alighted about two hours after at Hillhouse Ferry, near Lea Bridge.

Dreadful drought in France, Italy, Spain, and Piedmont.

Failure of the Triefte Company estimated at twenty millions of livres tournois.

5. Mr. Sadlier and the Hon. Mr. Wyndham afcended in a balloon from Moulfey Hurft, and alighted at the confluence of the Thames and Medway, within a mile of the water's edge. The balloon escaped and was afterwards taken up at fea.

8. Mr. Blanchard made another aerial excurfion, and defcended at Tamensfield, about fixteen files from Brentwood, and thirtyfour miles from London, having passed over the Nore. He travelled about three hours.

12. Mr. Crofbie afcended in a balloon from Dublin, but being too heavy, he came down with great velocity. Mr. M'Guire got into the car, and the balloon instantly afcending, he was driven out to fea; a veffel was fent after him, and took him up almost perished and spent with swimming.

13. Mr. Lunardi afcended with a balloon from the Artillery Ground; but the machine bursting he foon defcended rapidly, though fafely, in Tottenham Court-road,

14. An edit published at Copenhagen, announcing the opening the new navigable canal (which connects the North Sea with the Baltic) to all nations of Europe.

16. Accounts came of the death of Prince Leopold, the youngest fon of the reigning Duke of Brunfwick, who was drowned in endeavouring to fave a fellow-creature.

17. Account received of a balloon expedition at Constantinople that landed at Bursa.

20. Admiral Hughes arrived in town from the East-Indies with a fortune of near half a million.

29. A treaty of confederacy to preferve the indivifibility of the empire, entered into by the Kings of Pruffia and Sweden, the Electors of Hanover, Saxony, &c.

30. The famous Irish Propofitions, encreafed from Eleven to Twenty, finally paffed the British Houfe of Commons.

June 1. John Adams, Efq. Minifter Plenipoteniary from the United States of America, had the firft audience of his Majesty to deliver

25. The Gazette contained an account of his credentials.

2. The

2. The Grand Mufical Concert performed at Westminster Abbey before their Majefties and a moft fplendid auditory.

Major Money, Mr. Blake, and Mr. Lockwood, afcended in a balloon from Tottenham Court-road at one o'clock, and about four Mr. Blake alighted at Higham Farm, in Effex; the others failed thirty miles farther, and defcended near Colchester.

Mr. Blanchard afcended the fame day from South Lambeth, and alighted near Woolwich. 5. A treaty of peace concluded between the Spaniards and Algerines.

10. Prince William Henry arrived at the Queen's Palace from Hanover.

14. Great many fhops fhut, particularly in the weft end of the town, owing to the fhop tax bill having paffed the Great Seal.

M. Pilatre de Rofier and M. Romain afcended at Boulogne, intending to cross the Channel. In about twenty minutes the bal. loon took fire, and the unfortunate aeronauts came to the ground, and were killed on the fpot.

16. Gov. Haftings arrived in town from Bengal.

22. The toll was taken off Blackfriarsbridge, and the gates taken down and fold for 99l. 158.

24. Aldermen Sander fon and Watfon elected Sheriffs for the enfuing year.

Colonel Fitzpatrick afcended alone in Sadlier's balloon, from Oxford, and alighted near Kingston Lifle, oppofite the White Horfe Hill, Berks.

29. Mr. Biggin and Mrs. Sage afcended in Mr. Lunardi's balloon from St. George's Fields, and alighted at Harrow on the Hill.

July 10. A grand review of the Artillery at Woolwich, at which his Majeity was pre fent.

19. The Irish Propofitions paffed the Houfe of Lords.

Mr. Crofbie made an unfuccefsful attempt to cross to England in a balloon.

22. Major Money afcended at Norwich in a balloon, and dropped into the fea, from whence he was taken up by a revenue cutter, fafe.

The Aftrolabe and La Buffole, two French fhips on a voyage of difcovery, took their departure from Breft.

27. Mr. Lunardi afcended in his balloon from Liverpool, at 17 minutes paft fix, and landed 20 minutes paft feven at Simnonfwood, twelve miles from Liverpool.

Dr. Franklin arrived at Southampton in his way to America.

Auguft 12. The twenty Propofitions introduced into the House of Commons of Ireland, from England, by Mr. Secretary Orde, withdrawn after high debates,

20. Mr. Blanchard and Chevalier D'Epi. nard afcended from Lifle, and alighted at a village in Champaigne, near 300 miles from the place of their departure. In the course of this voyage, they let down a dog by means of a parachute from a great height, which de fcended fafe about two miles from Lifle.

25. Col. Dundas and Mr. Pemberton, Commiflioners to enquire into the claims of the American Loyalifts, with their clerks, &c. fet out for Nova Scotia.

27. A Spaniard made a curious experiment of walking across the Seine by means of a pair of clogs of a particular conftruction, in which he funk only ancle deep.

The Hon. Mr. Temple, his Majesty's Envoy to the American States, set out with his family for New York.

Mr. Arnold, his fon, and Mr. Appleby, were to afcend this day in a balloon from St. George's Fields, and the latter afterwards to defcend by means of a parachute. But Mr. Arnold and Mr. Appleby being thrown out by fome accident, young Arnold afcended alone, hanging to the cords of the balloon in a perilous fituation, not daring to truft wholly to the car, left it fhould feparate. At length the balloon burft, and he defcended unhurt into the Thames near Wapping.

September 1. Lieut. French, of the Chefhire milina, afcended at Chester, in Mr. Lunardi's balloon, and alighted at Macclesfield, forty miles diftant, in two hours.

5. A great ftorm which did confiderablé damage both at fea and land.

The Hon. John Fofter elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, in the room of Mr. Perry, refigned.

7. The Irish Parliament prorogued.

10. Mr. Sadlier afcended in his balloon from Worcester, and defcended nine miles beyond Litchfield; but for want of a grappling iron he was dragged five miles over a rough heath, and at length thrown out of his car, but without any other hurt than being much bruifed.

12. Their Majefties, and fix of the Royal Offspring, paid their firft vifit to the Univerfity of Oxford.

15. Thomas Baldwin, Efq. of Chester, afcended from that city in Mr. Lunardi's halloon, and in two hours and an half alighted at Rixton Mofs, in Lancashire, 25 miles from Chefter.

17. The King George and Queen Charlotte, two fhips bound to the South Seas on difcoveries, failed from Portsmouth.

22. An arret of the French King against the importation and fale of English goods, commenced this day.

29. Thomas Wright, Efq. Alderman and Stationer, elected Lord Mayor of London.

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