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1756.

MISERY of FRANCE.

555

land on either fide the tree level with the furface of the water) is in proportion to the diameter of the tree as to 6, and exact half the length from the top of the tree to the brink of the hither fide of the water. Quere the diameter of the tree; likewife I would know the length from the top of the tree to the edge of the water, and circumference of the island.

6.x

1,5

"Solution. Put

the diameter of the tree, then as 1,5: 6::x: the breadth of the island from the tree to the water, m65, and let a the length from the top

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of the tree to the brink of the water, then (per 47 Eucl.) ✔

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+ m = 3, and per

duced, gives x#

12x
1,5
✓5,0625×m1
245

9,34; wherefore a 74,72, and the circumfe

rence of the island is found to be 264,08 feet.

The domeftick Evils the French labour under, amidst all their Vaunts and Gasconades, are mof feelingly fet forth by the Parliament of Touloufe, in their Remonfirances to the King of the 17th of September.

68 AN we believe (fay they) that the

fubjects of the fame king. In fhort, Sire, every poffible fpecies of duties and impofts are accumulated upon your fubje&s. The country people fink under them. Nothing favours them, every thing concurs to opprefs them. Befet with legal demands and undue exactions, they fee the

Cenormous produce of the Twen. A fruits of their tillage and industry vanist

tieth Penny, fince the peace, was not fufficient to discharge the national debt? No ; this impoft, which, like a conflagration, devours every thing in its progrefs, and which hath already been increased to be almost equal to the Tenth Penny, supported by that noble economy whereby great princes gain themselves honour, removes from you and your people the neceffity of fresh fupplies.

B

Be pleased, Sire, be graciously pleased to confider their diftrefs; you can do every thing, but they cannot perform impoffibilities. What burdens have been heaped upon them! The Tailles, which carry away a great part of eftates; the Capitation, that impoft of fervitude, which C means were found to establish at a time of extreme neceffity; but which even the glory of our kings is concerned to abolish for ever; the Hundredth Penny, which often abforbs the clearest rent of an inheritance; the Droits de Controles, of which the tariff is fo obfcure, and the laws relating to it fo uncertain, that they daily authorize the most grievous extortions; the Clergy's Tythes, lo fcrupulously exacted; the Rentes fonderes, the Dunanes, the Otrois, formerly granted to the cities for their relief, but now become the fruitful feeds of much vexation and abuse.

out of their hands, They would think themfelves happy, if they could keep for themselves a portion equal to the tenth that is expected from them.

We declare it with horror to your ma❤ jefty, that the Tenth Penny will give the finishing blow to agriculture: It declines daily. It is in vain to be bulied about

improving it, when it is almoft deftroyed. The minifters who approach your perfon are deceived by curious fpeculations. The machines prefented to your majefty, and the experiments made in your presence, will not till our lands. Our fields are not to be judged of by the park of Verfailles. Give them labourers, we will answer for the harvest. If a scarcity often happens, it is because the husbandmen are difcouraged. They no longer fow or reap for themfelves; and how fhould they, if they had a mind? They are taken from the plough to be employed whole months on the roads, and treated with lefs commiferation than felons, being denied the allowance which these enD joy. Languedoc is, God be thanked, exempted from that inhuman labour; but in the other provinces of our jurif diction it is carried to the greatest excess. The groans uttered by the Corvers [men compelled by statute to work on the roads] are heard from every corner: They would have reached the throne, had they not been fifled by barbarous voices. Our remonftrances will not have that fate. Being addreffed to faithful minifters, they will be delivered to your hands. You will know, Sire, that there are Corvees, and there will no longer be any."

Befides thefe burdens, common to all the people within our jurifdiction, Languedoc has fome peculiar to itself: The E Equivalent, which renders the consumption of wine and provifions fo dear; the Leuaes, of which fo fhameful a traffick is made the Gabelles, which make fuch a ftrange and odious difference between the

556

A NEW SONG.

Nov.

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country on you call, Moft valiantly to fight, And do ex-pect you,

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Poetical ESSAYS in NOVEMBER, 1756. 557
A NEW MINUET.

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Poetical ESSAYS in NOVEMBER, 1756.

To Mifs S- -N, with fome Swan-Quill Pens.
Silver fwan that wont to glide

A with convex neck and mantling pride,

And in the Trent's pellucid wave
His downy whitenefs lov'd to lave;
At length, without one tuneful note,
Yields to the fatal knife his throat.
For well I ween 'tis long ago,
Since fwans, with melody of woe,
Became all nightingales in death,
And fung away their parting breath.

But you, fweet bloom of ripening youth,
May turn this fiction into truth,
For while your flowing lines impart
The latent riches of your heart,
The virtues that with ceaseless care
Your parents love hath treasur'd there;
Decent referve, complacence sweet,
Alacrity, and fprightly wit,
Joy that at others bleffing glows,
And pity weeping others woes,
Bounty that cheareth all around,
Benevolence that knows no bound,
Watchful obedience, filial love,
Which yet thy fondeft paffions prove;
While thefe with daily culture grow,
And thro' thy pen expreffive flow,

I

Thou it make the fwan, tho' long fince mute
More mufical than Clio's lute,
And with engaging charms diftil
Virtue and fenfe at ev'ry quill.

An ODE, infcribed to bis Grace the Duke of
Beaufort. (See the DEATHS.)

UNKNO

1.

NKNOWN, unread by all the laureat
throng,

[mufe,
Yet boldly plumes her wing m'advent'rous
Eager to join the joyous rapt'rous fong,
For who the rapt'rous fong can well refufe,
When Beaufort's name wakes all the poet's

fire,

Directs his numbers, and exalts his lyre?

2.

If acts illuftrious merit lafting praife,

How just that praife which blazons Beau-
fort's fame ?

If matchlefs worth demands the poet's lays
Rife all ye poets and record his name!
Trace all the virtues of his antient line,
Virtues that with diftinguish'd lustre shine!

3.

Where difcords reign, thofe difcords to affuage
Be thine the office, gen'rous, worthy peer!
Whofe prefence can the strictest awe engage,
Win ev'ry voice, and ev'ry heart endear.

Let

558 Poetical ESSAYS in NOVEMBER, 1756.

Let groundlefs fears, let jealous factions ceafe,

[born peace. He comes, and with him comes mild heav'n

4.

Look where religion with a folemn mein Directs her steps, and waves her spotless hand!

(Faith, Hope and Charity compofe her train) She calls-and points to Abby's hallow'd land;

Bids the fad eye behold her walls defac'd,
Her altars ruin'd, and her shrines difgraç'd.
5.

Thefe, Beaufort, thefe demand thy pious care,
By thee, laborious, skilful hands employ'd
The reverend ruins of the cloyfters clear,

Cloysters by facriligious hands destroy'd.
Now the pleas'd traveller the dome furveys,.
Stupendous dome! and joins in Beaufort's
praife.

6.

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Time breaks his hoftile fcythe; he fighs
To find his pow'r malignant fled;
"And what avails my dart, he cries,

Since these can animate the dead?
Since wak'd to mimic life, again in stone
The patriot feems to fpeak, the heroe frown?"
There Virtue's filent train are feen,
Faft fix'd their looks, erect their mien.
Lo! while, with more than ftoic foul,
The Attic fage exhausts the bowl,
A pale fuffufion thades his eyes,
Till by degrees the marble dies!
See there the injur'd § poet bleed !
Ah! fee he droops his languid head!
What starting nerves, what dying pain,
What horror freezes ev'ry vein !

There are thy works, O Sculpture ! thine to
thew

In rugged rock a feeling fenfe of woe.
Yet not alone fuch themes demand
The Phydian ftroke, the Dædal hand;
I view with melting eyes

A fofter fcene of grief difplay'd,
While from her breast the duteous maid
Her infant fire with food fupplies.
In pitying stone she weeps, to fee

His fqualid hair, and galling chains;
And trembling, on her bended knee,

His hoary head her hand sustains ;
While ev'ry look, and forrowing feature prove
How foft her breast, how great her filial love,
Lo! there the wild || Affyrian queen,
With threat'ning brow, and frantic mien!
Revenge! revenge! the marble cries,
While fury fparkles in her eyes.
Thus was her awful form beheld,
When Babylon's proud fons rebell'd;
She left the woman's vainer care,
And flew with loofe dishevell'd hair ;
She ftretch'd her hand, imbru'd in bloed,
While pale fedition trembling stood;
In fudden filence, the mad croud obey'd
Her awful voice, and Stygian difcord fled 1
With hope, or fear, or love, by turns,
The marble leaps, or fhrinks, or burns,
As Sculpture waves her hand:
The varying paffions of the mind,
Her faithful handmaids are affign'd,

And rife or fall by her command.
When now life's wafted lamps expire,
When finks to duft this mortal frame,
She, like Prometheus, grafps the fire;
Her touch revives the lambent flame;

While,

A large monaftery of the Ciftercian order; it underwent the fate of the rest of the religious boufes in the reign of Henry VIII. The rubbish of the place was lately removed by order of the duke of Beaufort (to whom it belongs) and it deferves the notice of the curious. f Ragland-cafle was one of the laft beld out in England or Wales, during the late troubles, which the marquis of Worcester, a man of eighty-four years of age, delivered up on very good conditions, when the king bad nettber an army in the field, nor fearce a garrifon befides it in England. Socrates, who was condemned to die by poison. Seneca, born at Corduba, who, according to Pliny, was orator, poet and philofopher. He bled to death in the Bath. Semiramis, cum ei circa cultum capitis fui occu pata nunciatum effet Babylonem defeciffe; alterâ parte crinium adbuc folutâ protinus ad eam expuge nandam cucurrit: Nec prius decorem capillorum in ordinem quam tantam urbem in poteftatem fuam redegit; quocircà ftatua ejus Babylone pofita eft, &e. Val. Max, de Ira.

Poetical ESSAYs in NOVEMBER, 1756. 559

While, phoenix-like, the ftatesman, bard,

or fage,

[age.
Spring fresh to life, and breathe thro' ev'ry
Hence, where the organ full and clear,
With loud Hofannas charms the ear,
Behold, (a prifm within his hands)
Abforb'd in thought, great Newton ftands!
Such was his folemn, wonted state,
His ferious brow, and mufing gait,
When, taught on eagle-wings to fly,
He trac'd the wonders of the fky;
The chambers of the fun explor'd,
Where tints of thousand hues are ftor'd;
Whence ev'ry flow'r in painted robes is drest,
And varying Iris fteals her gaudy veft.

Here, as Devotion, heav'nly queen,
Conducts her beft, her fav'rite train,
At Newton's fhrine they bow;
And while with raptur'd eyes they gaze,
With Virtue's pureft veftal rays,

Behold their ardent bofoms glow!
Hail mighty mind! Hail awful name!
I feel infpir'd my lab'ring breaft;
And, lo! I pant, I burn for fame!

Come Science, bright ethereal gueft,
Oh come, and lead thy meaneft, humbleft,
fon,
[renown!

Thro' Wifdom's arduous paths, to fair
Could I to one faint ray afpire,
One spark of that celeftial fire,
The leading cynofure, that glow'd
While Smith explor'd the dark abode,
Where Wisdom fat on Nature's shrine,
How great my boast! what praise were mine!
Illuftrious fage! who first couldft tell
Wherein the pow'rs of mufic dwell;
And ev'ry magic chain untie,
That binds the foul of harmony!
To thee, when mould'ring in the duft,
To thee fhall fwell the breathing bust:
Shall here (for this reward thy merits claim)
"Stand next in place to Newton, as in fame.'

To the AUTHOR of the LONDON
MAGAZINE.

SIR,

SI think your Magazine is, by no

A means, a proper vehicle for fcandal;

I hope the following lines will not be look-
ed upon as a particular address, but rather
as general reflections on the melancholy
condition of those unhappy fair-ones, who,
thro' an improper education, and a too vio-
lent propenfity to pleafure, have fallen a
prey to infamy and want; and whose cafe
is truly pitiable, from the extreme youth of
many of them, the uncommon arts em-
ployed in their feduction, and the almost in-
fuperable difficulties obftructing their return
to virtue.
I am, &c.

To a LADY of PLEASURE.

WHIL

HILE you, gay nymph! in fearch of
pleasure rove

Thro' all the haunts of gallantry and love;

Make dress your study, beauty all your care,
And place your merit in a form that's fair;
Reflect how frail the transitory grace [face:
Which blooms in youth, and blossoms on a
Ev'n in the spring of life your bloom is gone,
And half your beauties fled at twenty-one ;
What yet remain too quickly will decay,
The lilies droop, the rofes die away;
Soon from that form each tranfient charm will
fly,

And ev'ry (parkle vanish from your eye;
While you, neglected fair! in fad distress,
Drag life alone, and feek in vain for ease.

Alas, how loft! while thus you heedlefs run
To certain woe, and feek to be undone ;
Swift thro' the flow'ry paths of vice pursue
Your prefent joy, but future ruin too;
Life's better part thus gaily fport away,
As paffion prompts, and pleasure points the

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On Gen. C

SEE

FIDO.

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EE gentle C--with gout and love oppreft,
Alternate torments raging in his breaft;
Tries at the cure, but tampers still in vain,
What leffens one augments the other pain:
The charming nymph, who strives to give
relief,

Inflead of comfort heightens all his grief.
For health he drinks, then fighs for love, and
cries,
[eyes;
Health's in her hand, deftruction's in her
Water the gives, but at each touch, alas !
The wanton nymph electrifies the glafs :
To cure the gout we drink large draughts of
love,

And then, like Ætna, burst in flames above.
Advic

• A noble ftatue of Sir Ifaac Newton, erected in Trinity-college chapel, by Dr. Smith.

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