[ 447 ] SELECT POETRY. AN ADDRESS* For the Anniversary of the LITERARY Fund, At Freemasons' Hall, May 4, 1820. To shew the Gossamer of Rank and Power! And who, this Day, had promised to be Sunk in the Grave-our Sorrow! and our When WINDSOR's Towers attract a Father's Eyes, [VIRTUOUS lies!' My Son, there GEORGE THE Then with a Parent's anxious wish to im He'll say, Ever Benevolent, Humane, and Just, Our SOVEREIGN stood, with firm undaunted Compell'd the DESPOT, in his Pride, to And EUROPE to the REGENT's firmness owes, That glorious Day which dawn'd upon her The pangless Malady that closed his Reign, [Pain; Spared him a Husband's, and a Father's In Mercy, thus, to GEORGE the Good 'twas given, [Heaven! To pass without a groan from Earth to His righteous Spirit sought its native skies, All bless'd! All hallow'd! by his Subjects' Sighs! And ever honour'd be the sacred Dust Pure as the blossoms on yon thorn, A CONTEMPLATION. Of GEORGE THE GOOD! THE PIOUS! and ALL is tranquil and serene, THE JUST! To our HIGH PATRON-now BRITANNIA's KING, Superior Bards may loftier homage bring, But none, who in his presence bend the knee, [free! More Loyal Zeal-from selfish Motives For ever has my humble Muse combin'd Love for my King, with Freedom of my Mind! With filial care THE REGENT watch'd THE THRONE, And learned to govern what is now his own: His be that Precious GEM, all Price above! The full Possession of his People's Love; Throned in their Hearts his Crown will then display A lustre brighter than the Diamond's Ray! Long may he live, secure from adverse fate, THE GREATEST MONARCH of the FREEST STATE! TO THE PRIMROSE. BY murm'ring Nith, my native stream, I've hail'd thee with the morning beam, Woo'd thee among the Falls of Clyde- Save that sweet bud which strews the way, Calm and undisturbed repose; Sighs no more shall swell the breast; Appeare uncertaine to the mariners ; For neither can the magazines of store, Neither despaire, nor sordid coveting From his own soile hath from his own selfe vanish'd? Vicious care the brasse-keel'd ships doth Neither from troupes of horsemen doth it tart: There's nothing prosperous in every part. 449 The mare fit for the teeme doth raise her cry. Garments twice dipt in Africke scarlet die Cloath thee: my never-failing fate did daigne [veine To me some small pounds, and a slender Of Grecian poesie, and with it beside The still-malicious vulgar to deride. BOOKE III. ODE XXI. The Praises of Wine. O SACRED tun that was bred up with mee, [thee, When Manlius Consul was, whether in Thou bearest griefs, or jests, or quar relling, Or raging loves, or gentle slumbering ; By what so e'er name mark'd thou clasp'st about [out Thy Massick wine, worthy to be brought On the good day; when Corvine shall enjoyne, Descend and yield us forth your gentle Thou dost an easie torturing procure Bacchus, and Venus, if shee'll merry bee, Till Phabus rising chase the stars away. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, April 27. At ten minutes before two o'clock this day, his Majesty arrived in state at the House of Lords, and immediately afterwards took his seat on the Throne. The Imperial Crown of the Realm was not carried; and the Principality of Wales having now merged in the Crown, that distinct symbol of Royalty no longer has place. His Majesty wore his large military hat, with the lofty plume. The Usher of the Black Rod was then sent to command the attendance of the House of Commons in the House of Peers. The Speaker instantly obeyed the summons, and presented himself at the bar, attended by about 100 members. At two o'clock precisely the King commenced the following Speech: "My Lords, and Gentlemen, "I have taken the earliest occasion of assembling you here, after having recurred to the sense of my people. In meeting you personally for the first time since the death of my beloved Father, I am anxious to assure you, that I shall always conti'nue to imitate his great example in unceasing attention to the public interests, and in paternal solicitude for the welfare and happiness of all classes of my subjects. I have received from Foreign Powers renewed assurances of their friendly disposition, and of their earnest desire to cultivate with me the relations of peace and amity. "Gentlemen of the House of Commons, "The Estimates of the present year will be laid before you. They have been framed upon principles of strict economy; but it is to me matter of the deepest regret that the state of the country has not allowed me to dispense with those addi tions to our military force which I announced at the commencement of the last Session of Parliament. The first object to which your attention will be directed is the provision to be made for the support of the Civil Government, and of the honour and dignity of the Crown. I leave entirely at your disposal my interest in the Hereditary Revenues; and I cannot deny myself the gratification of declaring, that so far from desiring any arrangement which might lead to the im position of new burthens upon my people, or even might diminish, on my account, the amount of the reductions incident to - my accession to the Throne, I can have, no wish, under circumstances like the present, that any addition whatever should be made to the Settlement adopted by Parliament in the year 1816. "My Lords, and Gentlemen, "Deeply as I regret that the machinations and designs of the disaffected should have led, in some parts of the country, to acts of open violence and insurrection, 【 cannot but express my satisfaction at the promptitude with which those attempts have been suppressed by the vigilance and activity of the magistrates, and by the zealous co-operation of all those of my subjects whose exertions have been called forth to support the authority of the laws. The wisdom and firmness manifested by the late Parliament, and the due execution of the laws, have greatly contributed to restore confidence throughout the Kingdom; and to discountenance those principles of sedition and irreligion which had been disseminated with such malignant perseverance, and had poisoned the minds of the ignorant and unwary. I rely upon the continued support of Parliament in my determination to maintain, by all the means entrusted to my hands, the public safety and tranquillity. Deploring, as we all must, the distress which still unhappily prevails among many of the labouring classes of the community, and anxiously looking forward to its removal or mitigation, it is in the mean time our common duty, effectually to protect the loyal, the peaceable, and the industrious, against those practices of turbulence and intimidation by which the period of relief can only be deferred, and by which the pressure of the distress has been incalculably aggravated. I trust that an awakened sense of the dangers which they have incurred, and of the arts which have been employed to seduce them, will bring back by far the greater part of those who have been unhappily led astray, and will revive in them that spirit of loyalty, that due submission to the laws, and that attachment to the constitution, which subsist unabated in the hearts of the great body of the people, and which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, have secured to the British nation the enjoyment of a larger share of practical freedom, as well as of prosperity and happiness, than have fallen to the lot of any nation in the world." 1820.] Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. The Speech occupied seven minutes in the delivery. The Commons then returned to their House, and his Majesty descended from the Throne, and shortly after their Lordships adjourned till five o'clock. The Address to his Majesty was subsequently moved in the House of Peers by Viscount Granville, and seconded by Lord Howard of Effingham. It was agreed to unanimously. In the House of Commons, the Address to the Throne was moved by Sir Edward Knatchbull, and seconded by Mr. Wilmot, and agreed to without a dissenting voice. 1 HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 28. The Report of the Address was brought up by Sir E. Knatchbull, and unanimously agreed to. Before the question was put, however, Lord A. Hamilton addressed a few words to the House, respecting the late disturb. ances in Scotland; which produced an interesting statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer upon the subject of emi gration, which the Noble Lord recommended as the most effectual remedy for the distresses of the manufacturing population. The Right Hon. Gent. observed, that 50,000 which was voted last year for the purpose of promoting voluntary emigration, had been considerably exceeded; and that the number of those who had availed themselves of this assistauce, in order to proceed to the new Colony at the Cape of Good Hope, amounted to upwards of 5,000 persons. When the last accounts were received from them, they had performed part of their voyage in good health, and had the prospect of terminating it prosperously. Government, he added, was fully disposed to extend every necessary aid to those who might wish to emigrate, but they could not venture to do so without mature consideration. 451 of a new reign, an Address was agreed to in reply to his Majesty's answer. May 2. On the motion of Mr. M. A. Taylor, a Select Committee was appointed to in quire how far it is practicable to com, pel persons using steam-engines with furnaces to erect them in a manner less prejudicial to public health and public com fort. The same Member also obtained leave to bring in a Bill to punish, with fine and imprisonment, the offence of furiously driving stage-coaches, to the imminent danger of life and limb. Mr. Alderman Wood said, he had been applied to by seven individuals for a warrant to apprehend a person named George Edwards. Four of the parties deposed to some material facts, affecting the safety of that House; but others were of too horrible a description for him to repeat. They involved a plot, not merely to effect the destruction of that House, and the Hon. Members within it, but of one of the highest personages in this kingdom, and of his Majesty's Ministers also. (Hear, hear.) At present, he should only move, that George Edwards be brought to the bar for a breach of the privileges of that House. Mr. Hume seconded the motion. Mr. Brougham regretted that there appeared to be a disposition to treat the subject with levity. Spies, like executioners, were odious, but their services were, in some cases, necessary; only care should be taken that, whilst employed to give information, they did not become the active instigators of crime. Mr. Canning denied that there had been any intention to treat this subject with levity. The contrary had been the fact; the only objection to the motion had been its form; and all he now rose to submit to the consideration of the House was, that as this discussion, in its present shape, could not be proceeded in with advantage, it should at present proceed no further. Motion withdrawn. The House having gone into a Committee on so much of his Majesty's Speech as relates to the Civil List, Mr. Vansillart moved three resolutions, the 1st, granting to his Majesty, towards defraying the expences of the Civil List, 850,000l. for Great Britain; the 2d, granting 270,0004 for England; and the 3d, for carrying the proceeds of the hereditary revenues to the consolidated fund. The resolutions were, after some observations from Sir H. Parne, Col. Davies, Mr. Tierney, and others, agreed to, upon an understanding, that the discussion thereon should take place on the Report. Further |