THE BRITISH MUSE. THE WINDSOR ASSEMBLY. [From Salmagundi.] ENCIRCLED by the young and fair, maze : Ah who can . uty and youth the banquet share— Latent amid th' infpiring draught Fair forms in faultering meafures chase, O Fancy! bleft Enchantress, deign Cricket, nimble boy and light, Or patient take thy quiet ftand, Or lead where Health, a Naiad fair With rofy cheek and dropping hair, From the fultry noon-tide beam, Dives in Itchin's crystal stream. Thy Votaries, rang'd in order due, To-morrow's with d-for Dawn shall view Greeting the radiant Star of Light With Matin Hymn and early Rite : Ev'n now, thele hallow'd haunts among, To thee we raife the Choral Song *; And fwell with echoing minstrelly The ftrain of joy and liberty. If pleafures fuch as these await Thy genial reign, with heart elate For thee I throw my gown aside, And hail thy coming, Whitfuntide. wood, ; Torn by the fury of the raging winds And the gay fpot where once the cottage ftood, Lone and forfaken by the rural hinds. I The fwelling main, urg'd by the boift'rous. wind, With wide-fpread billows swept th' adjacent thore; Left of the cot no rural trace behind, Save the old oak that grew befide the door. As o'er an elm I bent in filent woe, And gaz'd with forrow o'er the dreary scene; An ancient fhepherd from the mountain's brow, With tott ring footsteps pafs'd along the BRIGHT harbinger of day, infpire the Glad I hail thee on thy 'way," * A Latin Song called Domum, fung with mufical accompaniment, on the day before the commencement of their Whitfuntide Vacation, by the fcholars of Winchefter College. The words 'Matin Hymn, &c.' in the preceding couplet, refer to other an gient cuftoms of that venerable feminary. PP The Down, down, thefe fwelling thoughts i Nor dream that worth Can pafs the haughty bounds of wealth and birth. Yes, kindred feelings, truth, and virtue prove, Yes, dare deferve-But do not dare to love! To noble tasks and dang'rous heights TO FASHION: By Mrs. MOODY., GAY Fashion, thou goddess fo pleasing, However imperious thy fway, Like a miftrefs capricious and teafing, Thy flaves, though they murmur, obey. The fimple, the wife, and the witty, The learned, the dunce, and the fool, The crooked, straight, ugly, and pretty, Wear the badge of thy whimsical school. Though thy fhape is fo fickle and changing, Though a Proteus thou art to the view; And our tafte fo for ever deranging, We know not which form to pursue: Yet wave but thy frolicfome banners, And hofts of adherents we fee; Arts, morals, religion, and manners, Yield implicit obedience to thee. More defpotic than Beauty's thy power, More than Virtue thy rule o'er the mind; Though tranfient thy reign as a flower, That scatters its leaves to the wind." TRANSLATION of Dr. JORTIN'S WELL, then, poor pufs, thy quiet And, kindly smiling, Proferpine has faid, 'Here, in the manfions of the filent dead, • In bleft Elyfium, revel at thy ease, Bafk in the fun, or gambol in the trees." But, gentle emprefs of the fhades below, If e'er thy favour I deferved to know, Grant that, in fome calm night, I may once more Steal gently in at my old master's door, And, fondly purring in his ear, may tell That ftill his faithful fav'rite loves him well. THEA ON Monday, April 16, after the performance of The Road to Ruin, at Covent-garden theatre, a new operatical piece of two acts, was exhibited, called ZELMA, or WILL O' THE WISP. It is taken from the German by Mr. Hayley; and as far as pleafing mufic and good finging can recommend it, will, in all probability, be a favourite. Madame Carnivale, from Paris, performed the part of Zelma, and was extremely well received. On Friday, April 20, a new comedy, called The FUGITIVE, was performed for the first time, at the King's theatre, Haymarket. This comedy is the firft production of Mr. Jofeph Richardson, a gentleman of the law. The characters were thus represented : Lord Dartford, Mr. Dodd; admiral Cleveland, Mr. King; fir William Wingrove, Mr. Bensley; Young Wingrove, Mr. Wroughton; Old Manly, Mr. Parfons; Young Manly, Mr. Palmer; Larron, Mr. Wewitzer; Welford, Mr. Barrymore. Mifs Wingrove, Mrs. Jor; mifs Herbert, mifs Farren; Mrs. Larron, mifs Pope; Mrs. Manly, Mrs. Hopkins: Mrs. Rachael Cleveland, Mrs. Ward; and mifs Manly, Mrs. Kemble. dan of the protection that is offered her by Larron, a French fmuggler: from his houfe, however, fhe is foon driven by the different bafe defigns of Larron and his wife. Meeting afterward with Welford, when she is almoft in defpair, she thankfully accepts of the afylum which he offers her. But thence too the is almost immediately compelled to fly, on discovering that he is the lover of young Manly's fifter; and in order to do this with greater fecurity, fhe affumes the habit of a boy. In this drefs, accident compels her to endeavour to conceal herself in the garden of admiral Cleveland, by whom he is difcovered, and most kindly received, and by whofe mediation, aided by thofe of his fifter, mifs Rachael, all the parties are reconciled, and Julia is united with young Manly. The ftory is as follows: Julia, the daughter of fir William Wingrove, an old baronet, proud of the antiquity of his family, is defigned by her father to become the wife of lord Dartford, whofe only me rit is his equally fplendid pedigree. Julia, however, is attached to young Manly, with whom he had become acquainted when formerly on a vifit at her aunt's. Young Manly, hearing that the match with lord Dartford is to take place on the next day, conceals himself in fir William's garden, and, obtaining an interview with Julia, at length prevails on her to promife to elope with him at one o'clock that night, as the only means of refcuing her from the impending diftrefs. This appointment fhe keeps; but Manly, in the mean time, elated almoft to frenzy by the exefs of his joy, gets completely toxicated with a party of his friends, and not only forgets his engagement with Julia, but meeting her while the is wandering about in the disguise fhe had affumed, treats her with a great deal of coarfe common-place gallantry, Exafperated at his conduct, The keeps herself concealed from him, and at length making her escape; and, afraid to return to her father's house, the accepts There are two underplots betweet mifs Herbert and young Wingrove, and miss Manly and Welford, which are very ingeniously interwoven, and add much to the intereft of the piece. The dialogue throughout is remarkably elegant, and the characters well drawn. The whole does high credit to the author, as the fcholar, the gentleman, and the man of genius; and the audience did him ample juftice. The Fugitive was introduced by a prologue written by Mr. Tickell, which is a neat and poetical compofition, and began with comparing an author's first introduction from the ftage, to the first introduction of a female at court. The allufion was managed adroitly, and it was followed by a happy compliment to the modern pit, compared to that of elder times, in which, fhaded under the umbrageous curls of a large flowing black wig, the critic furlily dealt out his dictums founded on foreign rules, and falfe dramatic law; whereas now, females mingling in the circle, foftened the severity of critical fentiment, and melted the flint of ftoical opinion. The prologue, written with great force and felicity, was admirably delivered by Mr. Bannister junior. pen of ge The epilogue came from the neral Burgoyne. We fcarcely ever witneffed a better piece of writing. It turned chiefly on a play upon the word Fugitive, and contained a handfome and powerful compliment to honeft John in the gallery, with was given excellently by Mrs, Jordan.. Pp2 PRO PROCEEDINGS of the Second SESSION of the Seventeenth Parliament of Great Britain. Continued from Page 229. ON Feb. 22, Mr. Francis rofe for the purpose of opening the debate, but in confequence of repeated calls from dif. ferent parts of the houfe, for Mr. Fox to rife, was prevented from proceeding. Mr. Martin next rofe, and having obtained a hearing, reprobated the defire of fome gentlemen to confine the debate to a few fpeakers on each fide of the houfe, which prevented plain men like himself making known to their constituents the motives upon which they acted. He had always objected to the proceedings in the armament against Ruffia, for which he had not heard a single reason given; he confidered the papers before the houfe to be infufficient for their information, and obferved, that whenever great fecrecy was maintained in public bufinefs, or in private life, he always was inclined to be lieve there was much knavery. He fhould give his vote for the refolutions. Mr. Francis again rofe, and after the ery of Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, had abated, he obferved, that if the house gave up their right of inquiry, they would no longer be a fervice, but a burden to their country, and dwindle into the mere creatures of the crown. Mr. Powys wifhed to understand the full purport of the motions: if they went to a fevere cenfure upon the whole of the conduct of admininistration during the negociation, he would not join in their fupport; confidering the conduct of the minifter in abandoning the object, to be wifer than a perfeverance in it. Conceiv ing, however, that the motions went merely to a cenfure for attempting to obtain that by an armament which might have been obtained without, and for continuing the armament after the object for which it had been made was abandoned, he could not give them his negative, until fome explanation was gone into, and the change of cireumstances fatisfactorily ftated which had given rise to such conduct. Mr. Fox next role, and reprobated the manner in which he had been called upon to fpeak, as improper and diforderly. He obferved upon the right hon. gentleman's endeavour to obtain for himfelf the laft fpecch, and thereby to take advantage of the rules of the houfe, which, by preventing a reply, would prevent any one from expofing the fallacy of the arguments he might make ufe of in his defence.. Intead of this backwardness to explain his conduct, he had expected that the right hon. gentleman, releafed from the bonds of fecrecy, would have been eager to refute thofe arguments, which had fuccess. fully been advanced by thofe on that fide of the houfe, in reprobation of the commencement and progrefs of the armament. The balance of power, which had been fo much depended upon, appeared to him to be entirely out of the queftion for whichever way that was confidered, the conduct of minifters would be neither more nor lefs blameable. He had always contended, that a total negleft of continental alliances would be impolitic; he was es qually against the two extremnes; but would rather abandon foreign alliances wholly, than take the other extreme of involving ourselves in continental difputes upon every trifling occafion. He here noticed the fpeech of Mr. Jenkinson, which, he faid, was a display of great oratory and ability, but to many of the principles which it contained, he had strong objec tions. It had been contended, as a jufti. fication of the armament, that Oczakow was the key of the Turkish dominions; and that, in possession of Ruffia, it would endanger the peace of Europe; but it was immaterial to him, in fupport of the mo tions, in which way Oczakow was confidered; for, if it were treated as of little importance, the armament ought not to have taken place; but if it were treated as of much importance, and a point in which the permanent interefts of this country were involved, the object of the ar mament ought not to have been abandoned. He reprobated, as contemptible, an armament, when a war was determined not to be rifqued: the interference of ministers had been made upon no other ground than to display their power, and exhibit a policy fimilar to that of the intriguing and contemptible fyftem of the old government of France. In that interference, however, minifters had calculated upon the magnimity of the empress by their own punanimity; what they demanded infolently, they pufillanimously gave up. In the commencement of the negociation and armament, they dragged the majority of that house through the mire of confidence, and, in its termination, they had dragged the name of the King, and the honour of the nation, through the mud of ignominy. The minifter had facrificed reputation to power, had abufed the con fidence |