Fav'rite of genius! soul of fun and fire! Whose strains in spells of rapture mem'ry bind— What bard like thee could strike mirth's social lyre, And rouse the tuneful energies of mind! From Nature's fount thy Muse her knowledge drew; At thy command mild pity shed her dew, Well could'st thou trace the secret springs that move Ah! son of fancy! soon, too soon, that flame, And earth resign'd thee to the realms of light! Cromwell and Bonaparte. The signal revenge taken by Bonaparte on the towns of Erfurth, Weimar, and Halle, on account of a musket being fired at him by an unknown hand, recals to mind the behaviour of our English usurper, Cromwell, in a circumstance something similar: Lucretia Grenville was betrothed to Francis Duke of Buckingham, at the time that he fell in battle by the hand of Cromwell himself, and upon receiving intelligence of the melancholy, event, she swore to revenge his death on the murderer. During the three succeeding years she exercised herself with pistols in firing at a portrait of Cromwell, which she had selected as a mark, that she might not be awed by the sight of the original; and, as soon as she thought herself perfect, she found an opportunity of gratifying her revenge But Cromwell seldom appeared in public, and when he did, it was with such precaution, that few could approach his person. An occasion at length occurred: the city of London resolved to give a magnificent banquet in honour of the protector, who, either from vanity, or with a political view, determined to make his entrance into London in all the splendour of royalty. Upon this being made public, the curiosity of all ranks was excited; and Lucretia Grenville resolved not to neglect so favourable an opportunity. Fortune herself seemed to second her purpose: for it so happened, that the procession was appointed to pass through the very street in which she resided, and a balcony before the first story of her house, yielded her full scope for putting her long premeditated design into effect. On the day appointed she seated herself, with several other female companions, in the balcony, having on this occasion, for the first time since her lover's death, cast off her mourning, and attired herself in the most sumptuous apparel. It was not without the greatest exertions that she concealed the violent emotion under which she laboured; and when the increasing pressure of the crowd indicated the approach of Cromwell, it became so strong, that she nearly fainted, but, however, recovered, just as the usurper arrived within a few paces of the balcony. Hastily drawing the pistol from under her garment, she fearlessly took her aim, and fired; but a sudden start, which the lady who sat next to her made, on beholding the weapon, gave it a different direction than was intended, and the ball striking the horse rode by Henry, the Protector's son, it was laid dead at his feet. The circumstance immediately arrested the progress of the cavalcade, and Cromwell, at the same time that he cast a fierce look at the balcony, beheld a singular spectacle. Above twenty females were on their knees, imploring his mercy with uplifted hands, whilst one only stood undaunted in the midst of them, and looking down contemptuously on the usurper, exclaimed, "Tyrant, it was I who dealt the blow: nor should I rest satisfied with killing a horse instead of a tiger, were I not convinced that ere another twelvemonth has elapsed, heaven will grant another that success which it has denied to me !" The multitude, actuated more by fear than love, were preparing to level the house to the ground, when Cromwell cried aloud, with the most artful sang froid, "Desist, Desist, my friends! alas! poor woman, she knows not what she does," and pursued his course; but afterwards caused Lucretia to be arrested, and confined in a mad-house. The following method of forming walls, in India, has long been in use in that country, though only recently made known here. The walls are first built with moistened earth, like those called cob-walls, in Devonshire; they are afterwards, when dry, surrounded with a frame-work, at a proper distance to support fire-wood, in contact with every part of them in different stages, so that the quantity in the lowest stage is the greatest; this, as it burns down, bakes the walls like bricks, to the thickness of ten inches. These walls are so strong, that they resist the attacks of floods, and last for centuries. On Friday as a poor woman, named Jones, was vending ballads in a public-house at Wapping, she received a variety of insults from those who were present; but the person who was most outrageous towards her, proved to be her own son. They did not know each other at the time, he having been in the naval service upwards of twenty years, and realized 6007. by the fortune of war. On recognizing each other, a very affecting scene took place, which ended in his burning her ballads, and taking her away in a coach, promising to lay her up in snug moorings during the remainder of her life. Boileau used to be visited by an idle and ignorant person, who complained to him, that he never returned his visits-" Sir," replied the satirist, "we are not upon equal terms: you call upon me merely to get rid of your time: when I call upon you, I lose mine." On the Suppression of the Chaplains' Table, The Muse who unshackled so recently dar'd Sing the feasts which both patriots and parsons had shar'd;* Reversing her subject, now sings the dismay Is destin'd, alas! never more to be laid; And those feasts which have flourish'd for cent❜ries past, When they preach in defence of-Madeira and beef, Of those most delicious canonical treats. * Alluding to some lines on the Coalition Dinners, &c. &c. by the same Author. It was customary for every visitor to give the person who waited a shilling. VOL. I. |