No foe would he fight, and no friend would he fpare,

But had ruin'd full many a score;

His oaths and his curfes would make a mall stare That had never seen him before.

His name it was Frank, and he daily would fin With ought in a woman's shape; [hand in, He made fhift with plain work to keep his But of all things he lov'd a rape.

By cheating and pimping he gold would

procure,

And in law and in gaming would trick; But in fpite of his art justice hit him as fure

As feven and eleven a nick.

A damfel was found by this worthy Esquire,
By name the was Nancy Wight;
No wit nor no beauty, yet her did he hire
To ferve him by day-and by night.

His will for to gain, he stopp'd her mouth hard,
That aloud the could not roar;

But he did not fo well ftop her mouth afterward,
Whatever he did before.

For as foon as this lafs from his clutches got: free
She bellow'd with might and main;
And th' Efquire to no purpose went over the sea,
Because he came back again.

For when back he was come he was had to the bar,
And as foon as his story was told, [were)
Twelve good men and true (for no courtiers they
Condemn'd him, in fpite of his gold.
Frank begg'd that his fentence it might not pafs,
But the Council refus'd the thing,
Because that small honour to Britain it was,
Any more than to Britain's King.

The Recorder the crimes of poor rogues did report,
But of Frank not a tittle fet down, [court,
For how fhould he know what he heard in the
Till the Judges were come to town?

Now, tho' Francis was fentenc'd, ftill further he tried,

For his bribes would prevail he knew. "It is good to be taking," the Scottman he cried, And the Englishman cried fo too.

When the 'fquire went to Newgate the prifon it rung,
And the pris'ners full merry did make,
And the three legged mare fhe with trappings was
hung,

Of mourning for his fake.

The gallows did make as comely a sight
As your heart could well defire;
Unless it had been equipp'd with a knight
Attended with an efquire.

For by Francis Efquire, a knight errant there stood,
As errant as knight could be,

A namefake he was to the bold Robinhood,
And a robber as well as he.

The gallants to him were no better than fools That rob under the Greenwood tree.

No door in the kingdom was fate from his tools, Nor cheft from his picklocks free.

For right and for wrong not a foufe did he care, Of his betters if he got rid,

And would handle a bishop more roughly by far, Than ever his namefake did.

He would plunder the rich, and the poor would opprefs,

Whofoever his will gainfaid;

But the wrongs of a damfel would never redress,
For he mortally hated a maid.

A boon, O my liege, a boon I crave,
To his fovereign thus quoth he,

It is that your highnefs's grace would fave
My friend from the gallows tree.

He deferves well a halter, the King then he faid,
For, unless I am much beguil'd,

A good word in his life time he never yet had,
From man, or woman, or child.

"Tis no matter for that, quoth Sir Knighthood fo bold,

For if that a rule fhould be,

There are fome that your highnefs full dear doth hold,

Might be hang'd as well as he.
Then Robin he pull'd out a bugle fo fhrill,

And blew three blafts with (peed,
The found it did echo through dale and through hill,
And was heard beyond the Tweed.

The loons of the North from fair Scotland they hied, As nimble as loons might be;

And knights of all forts they were foon by his fide, And nobles of high degree.

The baldricks of fome were of reddish hue,

Full gorgeous for to be feen,

And the colours of fome as the ikie was blue,
And fome as the grafs was green.

These merry men foon to their business did fall,
Their fellow from hanging to fave,

A pardon, a pardon, they cried one and all,
For a pardon we must have.

A pardon, a pardon, our liege then he said,
Though my pardon is hardly free;
But I fear fhould I hang up this Northern blade
His fellows would hang up me.

But now, tho' poor Frank had his life thus obtain❜d,
His eftate it forfeited was,

So Bob gives a petition up with his own hand,
And feconds it with his own face.

A boon, O my liege, a boon once more,
Quoth Sir knight upon his knee,

It is that your highnefs to Frank would reftore,
His chattels that forfeited be.

Thy

Thy requeft, fays the King, it is worse and worse, Frank did not deferve to live,

[purfe, Would thou have me be picking another man's The goods are not mine to give.

"Tis no matter for that, quoth Sir Bob, I suppose→→→ Many precedents may be shown,

I have purchas'd my grandeur, as all the world knows

By giving what was not my own.

Tho' my enemies fwear I should die by a string, I value them not of a straw.

Yet methinks on my fide in this cafe, fays the King,
I would willingly have the law.

The law, by my honour, quoth Bob, I forgot,
But the thing it may easily be;

For the lawyers fo learned muft judge what is what;
So he whistled with whiftles three.

At Robin's third whiftle the lawyers they flew
By one, and by two, and by three,

Their hearts and their tongues were as honeft and

true

As lawyers are wont to be.

Quoth Frank, a strange fcruple as man did e'er fee
Is got in his highnets's crown,

That he cannot restore my goods unto me
Because they are not his own.

ODE

On the death of a Lady's Canary bird. Paffer deliciæ meæ puellæ. CATULLUS

G

O, gentle fongfter, and repeat

Thy notes amid the Elylian bow'r,
And oft with joy, in that retreat,
Reflect on every former hour.
Still was thy fate fupremely bleft:

On thee, would lovely Chloe tend:
She prefs'd thee to her fnowy breast;

She deeply mourn'd thy hapless end. May'ft thou, fweet favourite, ever find

The blifs that flows from joy ferene: Some future miftrefs halt as kind,

With balmy cafe in every scene. Know, warblers of the feather'd train,

And ye, whofe plume each tint fupplies, Though like Amphion's were your train, Though like the rainbow's were your dyes; Know, every boaft too foon will fail,

Nor proudly hope fuch charms can fave, When Chloe's fighs could nought avail,

To fnatch her favourite from the grave!

On feeing Mr. SIDDONS in the characters of ISABELLA and the GRECIAN DAUGHTER. By the Rev. Mr. PULLEIN.

Thy caufe is as good as thy fee; And his highness may rob whomfoever he will, Provided he give it to thee.

But which got the better, the wrong or the right, Our ballad no further doth fing,

Tho' if it be wrong you muft thank the blue knight, And if it be right the King.

Ad Celeberrimum SAMUELEM JOHNSONUM, LL. D. Criticorum facile Principem,

nec non

Poetarum Angliæ Annalium, Operis præter exemplum tum utilis tum elegantis AUCTOREM.

LIM ut Longinus provecta ætate virefcens Suftinuit Vatis vim, Criticique vices: Sic tibi, docte fenex, almæ virtutis amice, Judicium eft critici, vatis et ufque furor. Arbiter ingenii, morum vindexque fidelis, Victor, ut Entellus, jam vetus, arma geris' More aquila, Solem tu carminis afpicis audax, Fulgores inter fufca notare potens. Obductas nubes nati eripiebat ocellis

Alma Venus, clarum reftituitque diem: Mufarum a nebulis fic purgas regna malignis: Et tenebræ mentis, te radiante volant. Numine, tu facis, ut Phoebus propiore fecundet, Pieridumque chorus ferveat igne novo. Te duce, multa levat juvenum furfum aura poetam, Unde puer lucis fumina pura bibat. Lectis lector ovat-vires qui carminis auctas Et veneres fentit, te retegente, novas. Aternent alios Vates-fed tu optime judex Vatibus æternum fcis aperire decus *.

trace,

The actor's craft, the falfe or borrow'd grace,
So true each pallion fwells, fo true relents,
It realizes what it reprefents.

When fond affection views its pledge of love,
It gives dutrets the foftnefs of the dove;
When grief and gratitude, embarras'd strive,
One feems to die, yet each is kept alive;
"Till both, with flow-confenting union, prove,
Her grateful mind, and fenfe of former love.

But foon, distracting scenes alarm her heart-
We feel its tremblings, and with her we ítart--
Ills beyond cure have wounded reason's powers,
Her fancy catches--and her pangs are our's;
Our tears, exhaufted, lend no more relief,
But ev'ry throbbing breaft is rent with grief.

Still nobly foaring in dramatic fame,
Let Wonder's eye behold thy claiiic name;
Thy filial love, thy fcorn of tyrant power,
Thy courage in the death-depending hour;
Here attitude, here action fo excels,
So ftrongly paints what Grecian itory tells,
As e'en to deatnefs all its wants fupplies,
And gives the fenfe of hearing to the eyes.

Hail Nature's artift-born to bear controu
O'er ev'ry nerve that vibrates on the foul;
All own thy fway, and fingle or combined,
At thy command, like magic, feize the mind.

Well tried through many a varying year,` See LEVET to the grave defcend! Officious, innocent, fincere,

Of every friendless name the friend.

Yet still he fills affection's eye,

Obfcurely wife, and coarfely kind: Nor letter'd arrogance deny

Thy praife to merit unrefin'd.

When fainting nature call'd for aid,

And hovering death prepar'd the blow, His vigorous remedy difplay'd

The power of art, without the show.

In Mifery's darkest caverns known,
His ufeful aid was ever nigh,
When hopele's Anguilh pour'd the groan,
And lonely Want retir'd to die.
No fummons mock'd by chill Delay:
No petty gain difdain'd by Pride:
The modeft wants of every day,

The toil of every day supplied.

His virtues walk'd their narrow round,
Nor made a paufe, nor left a void :-
And fure the Eternal Mafter found

The fingle talent well employ'd,

The bufy day, the peaceful night,

Unfelt, uncounted, glided by:

His frame was firm, his powers were bright,
Though now his eightieth year was nigh,

Then with no throbs of fiery pain:
No cold gradations of decay:
Death broke at once the vital chain,
And free'd his foul the nearest way.

STANZAS ON FRIENDSHIP. Occafioned by the Author's receiving a Poetical Epiftle from a Friend.

In the manner of Shenftone's Paftoral Ballad.

W How refreshing the breath of the morn!

THEN night difappears in the west,

By zephyr's foft pinion embrac'd,

How fragrant the dew-fpangled thorn!

How tuneful the nightingale's ftrain
That gladdens the villager's way,
While pacing the fhadowy plain

He leaves ev'ry toil of the day!

So delightful the numbers that flow From Friendship's affectionate heart: So pleafing her bloifoms that blow

Spontaneous, and blamelefs of art.

O Friendship, behold I prefume With my Delon to vifit thy fane: Our fouls with thy fpirit illume;

Nor let us invoke thee in vain.

We will come to thine altar, and bring
An off'ring which thou wilt receive,
Our hearts: and thy quirifts will fing,
May they love thee as long as they live.

LOND. MAG. Sept. 1783.

"May they love thee, and feel thee beguile
"The pains and the terrors of care:
"And feel how thy lenient fmile
"Affuages the pang of defpair!

"May thy bold exhortation infpire
"Their bofoms with manly defigns:
"May they glow with thy generous fire
"That enlivens, exalts, and refines!

"They will love thee, and with thee abide, "Thine elect; and thy holy behefts "Are their law: and thy truth is their guide; "And thy tenderness reigns in their breasts." N.

INSCRIPTION on a chamber flove in the Shape of an urn, invented by Dr. Franklin, and fo contrived that the flame, instead of afcending, defcended.

a Newton fublimely he foar'd

To a fummit before unattained;
New regions of science explor'd,
And the palm of philofophy gain'd.

With a fpark that he caught from the skies
He difplay'd an unparallel'd wonder,

And we faw with delight and furprise
That his rod could protect us from thunder.

Oh! had he been wife to purfue

The path which his talents defign'd,
What a tribute of praife had been due
To the teacher and friend of mankind!

But to covet political fame

Was in him a degrading ambition; A fpark which from Luciter came, And kindled the blaze of fedition.

Had he not refembled

My father as he flept, I had don't!'

"The story on which this tragedy is founded, is, I believe, at prefent no where extant, except in a folio volume, printed in the year 1681, and entitled The Annals of King JAMES and King CHARLES the First. Both of happy memory. The period included in thefe Annals is from the tenth of James, to the eighteenth of Charles. They are published anonymously, yet are generally known by the name of Frankland's Annals. The author places this tragical event in the Annals of the year 1618, and relates it in thefe words:

The miferable condition of finfui man, in fundry examples of thefe prefent and of former times, fhould mind us hourly to beg of God preventing grace, left we fall into temptations of fin and Satan; fuch have been the caJamities of ages paft, at prefent are, and will be to come; hiftories of theft, rapine, murther, and fuch like.

One of wondrous note happened at Perinin in Cornwall, in September, a bloody and unexampled murther, by a father and mother upon their own fon, and then upon themselves.

He had been bleffed with ample poffeffions, and fruitful iffue, unhappy only in a younger fon; who taking liberty from his father's bounty, and with a crew of like condition, that were wearied on land, they went roving to fea; and in a fmall veffel fouthward, took booty from all whom they could master, and fo increafing force and wealth, ventured on a Turks-man in the Straits; but by mifchance their own powder fired themselves; and our gallant, truiting to his fkilful fwimming, got afhore upon Rhodes, with the best of his jewels about him, where offering fome to fale to a Jew, who knew them to be the Governor's of Algier, he was apprehended, and as a pirate fentenced to the gallies amongst other Christians, whofe miferable flavery made them all ftudious of freedom; and with wit and valour took opportunity and means to murther fome officers, got aboard of an English fhip, and came fafe to London, where his Majefty and fome fkill made him fervant to a chyrurgion, and

fudden preferment to the Eaft-Indies; there by this means he got money, with which returning back, he defigned himself for his native county, Cornwall; and in a small ship from London, failed to the weft, was caft away upon the coaft; but his excellent kill in fwimming, and former fate to boot, brought him fafe to fhore; where fince his fifteen years abfence, his father's former fortunes much decayed, now retired him not far off to a country habitation, in debt and danger.

"His fifter he finds married to a mercer, a meaner match than her birth promifed; to her at first appears a poor ftranger, but in private reveals himself, and withal what jewels and gold he had concealed in a bow-cafe about him: and concluded that the next day he intended to appear to his parents, and to keep his difguife till the and her husband should meet, and make their common joy compleat.

Being come to his parents, his humble behaviour, fuitable to his fuit of cloaths, melted the old couple to fo much compaffion, as to give him covering from the cold feafon under their outward roof; and by degrees his travelling tales told with paffion to the aged people, made him their gueft fo long by the kitchen fire, that the hufband took leave and went to bed, and foon after his true stories working compallion in the weaker veffel, the wept, and fo did he; but, compaffionate of her tears, he comforted her with a piece of gold, which gave affurance that he deferved a lodging, to which he brought him, and being in bed fhewed her his girdled wealth, which he faid was fufficient to relieve her husband's wants, to fpare for himfelf; and, being very weary, fell faft afleep.

The wife, tempted with the golden bait of what the had, and eager of enjoving all, awaked her hulband with this news, and her contrivance what to do; and though with horrid apprehenfion he oft refufed, yet her puling fondnefs (Eve's inchantments) moved him to confent, and rife to be master of all; and both of them to murder the man, which inftantly they did, covering the corpfe under the clothes, till Hh 2

oppor