ON THE NEW YEAR 1809.
TO the long catalogue of time that was,
Another year is added!

Count the various changes of the recent year
Within the pale of my immediate view:
The frequent opening graves which met my

eye

And some I knew who went to tenant them: The frequent pang which modest worth endur'd

Submissive to the power which gave the wound

But with it gave a balm that wound to heal; Count all the mercies which have mildly shone On undeserving me--and ah! remember How oft the children of affliction pass'd me With looks which spoke the sufferings that they felt,

Strangers to health, and journeying to the tomb! Then all my follies-all my wanderings count. This done to count the brilliant lamps of night

Or sands that form the wide-extended beach
Do not despair!

Such is the large amount of human frailty,
And ever varying are the scenes of life!
To-day, meridian splendor-to-morrow's sun
May rise beclouded, and may set in storms!
Has Love entwin'd its silken band around
thee?

Has Hope erected temples near thy heart?
And hast thou learnt the music of the mind,
And all the symphonies of sweet content?
Yet envious Death delights to burst those
bands

To undermine the pillars of our hope,
To add to sufferings, by a long remembrance,
By fixing in our hearts, and in our chambers,
A beauteous picture of departed worth!
And mark how sure does dire misfortune
pierce

With double violence a wounded breast,
How sorrows love to congregate together,
And, silent, gather up the rankest weed
That ever grew upon the world's wide com-

mon:

And while their victims close the feverish eye
The haggard Sisters laugh, and in the cup
Of life already nauseous to the sense,
Infuse some new, some untried bitterness,
Which the half-slumb'ring wretch er'e long

must drink!

But why should Virtue feel such pains severe,
While Vice rejoices in his bigh career,
Unmindful he of man, still more of God,
Yet prosperous gales fill all his earthly sails,
And health and honours ever on him wait?
And why should cruel Devastation sweep
Its tens of thousands from the map of life;
Torn from their humble toil and lowly dwel-
ling

To fight Ambition's battles? Yet Pity saw The manly grief, and heard the moans responsive

When these poor men were torn from those

they lov'd;

Yet Pity saw the little prailers weep,
And heard them lisp Father will come
again!"-

And could not Pity intercede with Heaven
To hush contending nations into peace?
For Pity trembles for the orphan train
And deeply sighs to hear a widow's name.
Ah! these are myst'ries but a future day
Will solve the mighty problems, and remove
The barrier; where the human mind must halt
Pondering on mere conjecture.
Enough for me to know there is a God
That orders all things well-delights in Virtue,
And that which he delights in must be happy.
I'll usher in the year with new resolves
In Virtue's cause-I'll leave the provinces
Where the soul pines among an alien race
Where fruits are seldom seen, or flowers bloom
To cheer the passing stranger!
I'll often muse upon the hour of trial
When I must bid adieu to eyery friend,
And trace a dreary solitary road-
This thought will mend the heart and raise

the soul

Above the gaudy trifles which allure
The gay and thoughtless children of a day;
Who live regardless of a future morrow,
Nor ever look beyond life's narrow border!
But stay-another year has just begun-
My resolutions in the rear already!
Perhaps, e're long, so distant will they be
While I am marching thro' a dangerous clime
That I can never join my strong reserve
Retreat cut off, and death before my eye

To die, they say, is noble as a soldierBut with such guides, to point th' unerring road,

Such able guides, such arms and discipline
As I have had, my soul would sorely feel
The dreadful pang which keen reflections give,
Should she in death's dark porch, while life

was ebbing,

Receive the judgment, and this vile reproach-
"Long hast thou wandered in a stranger's land,
A stranger to thyself and to thy God;
The heavenly hills were oft within thy view
And oft the shepherd call'd thee to his flock,
And call'd in vain!--A thousand monitors
Bade thee return and walk in wisdom's ways.
The seasons, as they roll'd, bade thee return;
The glorious sun in his diurnal round
Beheld thy wandering and bade thee return;
The night, an emblem of the night of death,
Bade thee return: the rising mounds
Which told the traveller where the dead repose
In tenements of clay, bade thee return:
And at thy father's grave, the filial tear
Which dear remembrance gave, bade thee re-

turn

And dwell in Virtue's tents, on Zion's bill!

Here, thy career be stay'd, rebellious man ; Long hast thou liv'd a cumberer of the ground. Milliona

Mirthful Zephyrs, ye, who fly To wake the tardy Hours,

mind

to pole,

And whilst he blest his country, lov'd the whole!

CANTATA.

IMITATED FROM CARLO MARIA MAGGI,
BY MARIANA Starke.
Scene, an unfrequented island-Time day-break.
SEQUESTER'D isle! of Peace the smiling

ceil,

Where birds and flow'rs and Zephyrs only dwell;

Enchanting spot! rich in Seclusion's charms;
Here far remov'd from Folly's wild alarms,
Compass'd with waves, unseen by human eye,
Methinks I range a tenant of the sky.
No more by Passion's chains bound down to
earth,

My tow'ring soul asserts her heavenly birth;
Views mercies numberless around her shine,
And soars to claim her heritage divine.
But see! the sable shades of night retire-
Th' horizon blushes deep with crimson fire-
Aurora rises from the sparkling floods,
And thus salutes the tenants of the woods.
AURORA.

Birds, begin your dulcet lay!

Flow'rs, your various sweets disclose! Zephyrs, see, 'tis dawn of day!

Banish, banish dull repose!

BIRDS.

Lovely goddess of the morn,
Who, on dewy pinions borne,

Com'st to chase Night's shadowy gloom,
And those choral woods relume

With renovating light;
Again thou giv'st us to behold
Fields of ether ting'd with gold,
Boundless tracts, where sportive we,
Bless'd with love and liberty,
May wing our joyous flight.

AURORA.

Wherefore, Row'rs, your praise with-hold?
Haste! your fragrant leaves unfold!
Hate to glorify that Pow'r
Who, after midnight's torpid hour,
Renovates your faded hues,

And feeds you with ambrosial dew.

And ope the fragrant flow'rs; Ye, whom toil-worn mortals seek, Listen! hear Aurora speak, When sultry heats appal; And answer to her call.

THE FOUR SISTERS.

IN distant days, as legends tell,

Midst deep embow'ring shades did dwell A youth who shone so rare, That all the nymphs and graces sigh'd, In beauty, taste, and fancy vied;

To be his fav'rite fair.

Amongst the rest, four sisters came,
With qualities well-known to fame,
To hold his heart in thrall;
So various were their pow'rs to win,
That, had it not been counted sin,

He might have chosen all.

The first was smiling, young and fair,
With such a mild engaging air,

Such sensibility,

That she was call'd among the swains,
Who fed their flocks upon the plains,
The maid of tender eye.

Her robe was of the softest green,
And twining midst her hair was seen,
The pale narcissus flow'r;
The earliest off'rings of the year
She brought with most assiduous care,

To deck her Strephon's bow'r.

The snow-drop, as her bosom chaste, With native down-cast beauty grac'd The primrose of the vale;

The

The violet of Tyrian dye,
Which with her breath was said to vie,
Whose odour fill'd the gale.
Yet she had some capricious wiles,
And oft amidst her sweetest smiles,

Her tears would copious fall;
Perhaps to try how she might move,
By this soft art his heart to love,

Whom she ador'd of all.

In truth, he felt each charming grace,
Which sported in her lovely face,

And tears so sweetly mild;
If but some fav'rite lambkin stray'd,
Some tender youngling wanted aid,
For she was nature's child

Her voice with melody replete,
So varied wild, and simply sweet,

Touch'd every feeling breast;
The youth, when list ning to the strain,
Would feel a not unpleasing pain

Disturb his wonted rest.

But near her steps, attendant stray'd,
By some believ'd a lovelier maid,

More regular of feature;
The poets, in their softest dream,
Could ne'er have found a fairer theme,
A more enchanting creature.
A vesture in the lightest taste,
Lose flowing from her slender waist,
Clasp'd by an azure zone;
Mov'd by the gentlest breezes aid,
In graceful undulations play'd,

With sunny lustre shone

The gayest wreath, by fancy twin'd,
Of various rose, and myrtle join'd,
Half shaded, half display'd;
The beauteous polish of her brow,
Gave to her cheek a lovelier glow,
A deeper, richer shade.
Sometimes, in rustic garb bedight,
With rake in hand and footstep light,

She would her fav'rite lead,
Where new-mown hay, in rows so neat,
Filling the air with fragrance sweet,

Adorn'd the smiling mead,
Whate'er her dress, so gay her air,
So fanciful, so debonair,

No mortal could resist her;
But ah! 'twas beauty of that cast,
Too bright, too sanguine far to last,
It pass'd with every zephyr.
Next follow'd one with laughing eye,
And lovely locks of auburn dye,

Crown'd with a twisted vine;
Luxurious fruits dispensing round,
Whose flavour exquisite is found,
And sung by all the nine.

The blooming peach her cheek defy'd,
And with its downy softness vied,

Her mouth the ruddy cherry;
Her polish'd skin of nut-brown hue,
In which the little streamlets blue,

Play'd in their course so merry,
Bespoke her Health's peculiar care,
Blithe Exercise's fav'rite fair;

And they'd agreed together,

To heighten ev'ry native grace,
To light her eye, to paint her face,
And thus had taken her thither.
Her jacket was with russet ting'd,
With grey and yellow deeply fring❜d,
So short as might be seen;
Two lovely ancles full in sight,
So neat, so taper, and so white,
And witching too I ween.
Young rosy lads, and damsels fair,
Were ever her distinguish'd care,

And they too lov'd her dearly;
Follow'd her steps where'er she stray'd,
In sunny mead, or chequer'd shade,
With song and glee so cheerly.
Attended by this lovely train,
She brought fresh offerings to her swain,
A rich and golden treasure,

Of ripen'd harvest's rosy store,
With which her lap was running o'er,

Abundant beyond measure.

And last of all, approach'd a maid,
Who seem'd to want no foreign aid,
To render her alluring;

While bland good humour's pow'r alone,
Through each expressive feature shone,

A sympathy ensuring.

No lively chaplet bound her brow,
Of eglantine of vermil glow,

With jessamine entwining;
A simple fillet, of a dye,
Too sober to attract the eye,

Spoke her quite undesigning,
Yet, to endear the social hour,
Of mental graces she had store,

And wit that could inspire:
Yet so well-temper'd was with love,
That without wounding it could move,
Each will to its desire.

Reading she lov'd, and could recite,
With taste and feeling exquisite,

And cadence ever sweet;
And oft by music's melting pow'rs,
She sooth'd' her fav'rite's pensive hours,

And charm'd his lov'd retreat.

But all in vain, each charmer try'd.
To be the chosen happy bride,

Of this all-perfect creature,
Perhaps too easy was the prize,
Of pleading beauty, in his eyes,
So strange is human nature.
Had he with difficulty sought,
He'd been perchance more surely caught;
But thus to he invited,

Though eloquence and grace were theirs, And loveliness dissolv'd in tears,

To court-was to be slighted.
What could be done but to repose,
Where 'twas so difficult to choose-

So giving each a ball,
Which tokens of regard contain'd,
He ever from that time remain'd,
In friendship with them all.
Norwich.

J. W. P.

LIST

MILITARY.

Essays on the Theory and Practice of the Art of War, including the Duties of Officers on actual Service and the Principles of modern Tactics. Chiefly translated from the best French and German Writers. By the Editor of the Military Mentor. In three handsome volumes, with numerous engravings, Il. 163. boards.

Five Military Plans of, with References to, the Battles and Movements of the British Forces, under the Command of the Right Hon. General Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.B. Illustrative of the Report of the Board of Inquiry, 2s. 6d.

A Treatise on Military Finance, containing the Pay and Allowances in Camp, Garrison and Quarters, of the British Army, 2 vols. 12s 6d. Scloppetaria, or Considerations on the Nature and Use of Rifle-barrel guns, with reference to their forming the basis of a permanent system of national defence 8vo. 9s."

Observations on the Persecution of his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, with an inquiry into the abuses at the Royal Military College, Great Marlow &c. By Pierre F. M'Callum Esq. 2s. 6d.

The Military Cabinet, being a Collection of Extracts from the best Authors both ancient and modern, interspersed with occasional Remarks, and arranged under different Heads. By Captain T. H. Cooper, half-pay 58th regiment. 3 vols 12mo 18s. royal paper 11. 7s. Thoughts on Libels and an Impartial Inquiry into the present State of the British army.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The East India Register and Directory, for 1809. By John Matthison and Alex. Way Mason, of the Secretary's Office, East-India House. 7s. 6d.

Kearsley's Gentleman's and Tradesman's Pocket Ledger, for the Year 1809. 2s. 6d. bound in red.

The Daily Journal; or Gentlemen's, Merchant's, and Tradesman's complete Annual Accompt Book, for the Year 1809. 2s. 6d.

bound in red,

Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books. By the Rev. Wm. Belve. Vol. III. 8vo. 9s. The British Cicero; or A Selection of the most admired Speeches in the English Language; arranged under three distinct Heads of Popular, Parliamentary, and Judicial Oratory; with Historical Illustrations; to which is prefixed, an Introduction to the Study and Practice of Eloquence. By Thomas Brown, L.L.D. 3 volumes octavo. 11. 11s. 6d.

A Practical Treatise on Brewing, Distilling, and Rectification, with the Doctrine of Fermentation: in which the London Practice of brewing Porter, Ale, Table-beer, &c. is given; with the genuine Process of making good and wholesale Rum, Brandy, and Hollands Gin, undistinguishable from foreign; the Preparation of Made-Wines, Cyder, Vinegar, &c. By R. Shannon, MD. 4to. 21. 12s od. Letters from the late W. Warburton, D.D.

Bishop of Gloucester, to the late R. Hurds, D.D. Bishop of Worcester, from the Year 1749, to 1770, left for Publication by the late Bishop Hurd. 4to. 11. 7s.

Reliques of Robert Burns; consisting chiefly of Original Letters, Poems, and Critical Observations on Scottish Songs. Collected and published by R. H. Cromec. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

The Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry, held at Chelsea College, respecting the Convention in Portugal. Taken in Short hand by a Barrister of the Inner Temple. 2s. 6d.

The whole Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, upon the Conduct of Sir Hew Dalrymple, relative to the Convention of Cintra. With an Introductory Account of the Campaign, and the Circumstances which led to that memorable Convention; and a Sketch of the Life of Sir Hew Dalrymple. By W. E. Tomlins, Esq. Barrister at Law. 2s. 6d.

Celebs in Search of a Wife: comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits Manners, Religion and Morals. 2 vols. 12s.

An Account of the short but splendid Campaign of the Right Hon. SirArthur Wellesley, K. B. preceding the Convention of Cintra, with three Military Plans. 3s. 6d.

The Incontrovertible Proots of the Forgeries contained in Major Hogan's Appeal, which will be given in Evidence on the Trial of the Informations filed by the Attorney General against Peter Finnerty and a variety of others. 2s.

The Angler's Manual: or Concise Lessons of Experience, which the Proficient in the delightful Recreation of Angling will not despise, and the Learner will find the advantage of practising. 75. 6d.

The Tarantula or the Dance of Fools 2 vols. foolscap, 12s. Boards.

The New London Family Cook or, Town and Country Housekeeper's Guide; comprehending directions for marketing, cookery in all its branches; making pastry and confectionery, pickling, potting, preserving; also selection of valuable family receipts in dyeing, perfumery, &c.; instructions for brewing, making British wines, distilling, managing the dairy, and gardening. By Duncan Macdonald, head cook at the Bedford Tavern, Covent-Garden. 8vo. 11s. bound.

Mentorian Lectures on sacred and Moral Subjects. To which are added some original Miscellaneous Poems. By Ann Murry 12mo. 4s. 64.

A Treatise on the Game of Chess. By J. H. Sarratt. 2 vols. 8vo. 185.

Cursory Remarks on a recent Publication entitled, An Address to the Public upon the dangerous Tendency of the London Female Penitentiary. By Juvenis.

A Full and accurate Report, of the Trial Parr v. Beason for Crim. Con. in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, London, the 20th December 1808.

Remarks