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Far other they who rear'd yon pompous shrine, And bade the rock with Parian marble shine. Then hallow'd Peace renew'd her wealthy reign, Then altars smok'd, and Sion smil'd again. There sculptur'd gold and costly gems were seen, And all the bounties of the British queen ; There barbarous kings their sandal'd nations led, And steel-clad champions bow'd the crested head, There, when her fiery race the desert pour'd, And pale Byzantium fear'd Medina's sword, When coward Asia shook in trembling woe, And bent appall'd before the Bactrian bow; From the moist regions of the western star The wandering hermit wak'd the storm of war. Their limbs all iron, and their souls all flame, A countless host, the red-cross warriors came: E'en hoary priests the sacred combat wage, And clothe in steel the palsied arm of age; While beardless youths and tender maids assume The weighty morion and the glancing plume. In bashful pride the warrior virgins wield The ponderous falchion, and the sun-like shield, And start to see their armour's iron gleam Dance with blue lustre in Tabaria's stream.

The blood-red banner floating o'er their van, All madly blithe the mingled myriads ran: Impatient Death beheld his destin'd food, And hovering vultures snuff'd the scent of blood. Not such the numbers nor the host so dread By northern Brenn, or Scythian Timur led, Nor such the heart-inspiring zeal that bore United Greece to Phrygia's reedy shore! There Gaul's proud knights with boastful mien advance,

Form the long line, and shake the cornel lance; Here, link'd with Thrace, in close battalions stand

Ausonia's sons, a soft inglorious band;
There the stern Norman joins the Austrian train,
And the dark tribes of late-reviving Spain;
Here in black files, advancing firm and slow,
Victorious Albion twangs the deadly bow :-
Albion, still prompt the captive's wrong to aid,
And wield in freedom's cause the freeman's ge-
nerous blade!

Yet sainted spirits of the warrior deed,
Whose giant force Britannia's armies led!
Whose bickering falchions, foremost in the
fight,

Still pour'd confusion on the Soldan's might;
Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear,
Wide conquering Edward, lion Richard hear!
At Albion's call your crested pride resume,
And burst the marble slumbers of the tomb!
Your sons behold, in arms, in heart the same,
To Salem still their generous aid supply,
And pluck the palm of Syrian chivalry!

When he, from towery Malta's yielding isle,
And the green waters of reluctant Nile,
No. XIV. Vet. II.

Th' Apostate chief,-from Misraim's subject shore

To Acre's walls his trophied banners bore;
When the pale desert mark'd his proud array,
And Desolation hop'd an ampler sway;
What hero then triumphant Gaul dismay'd?
What arm repell'd the victor Renegade?
Britannia's champion!-bath'd in hostile blood,
High on the breach the dauntless Seaman stood:
Admiring Asia saw th' unequal fight,-
E'en the pale crescent bless'd the Christian's
might.

Oh day of death! Oh thirst, beyond controul,
Of crimson conquest in th' Invader's soul !
The slain, yet warm, by social footsteps trod,
O'er the red moat supplied a panting road;
O'er the red moat our conquering thunders flew,
And loftier still the grisly rampire grew.
While proudly glow'd above the rescu'd tower
The wavy cross that mark'd Britannia's power.
Yet still destruction sweeps the lonely plain,
And heroes lift the generous sword in vain.
Still o'er her sky the clouds of anger roll,
And God's revenge hangs heavy on her soul.
Yet shall she rise ;-but not by war restor'd,
Not built in murder,-planted by the sword.
Yes, Salem, thou shalt rise: thy Father's aid
Shall heal the wound his chastening hand has
made;

Shall judge the proud oppressor's ruthless sway,
And burst his brazen bonds, and cast his cords

away.

Then on your tops shall deathless verdure spring,
Break forth, ye mountains, and ye vallies, sing!
No more your thirsty rocks shall frown forlorn,
The unbeliever's jest, the heathen's scorn;
The sultry sands shall tenfold harvests yield,
And a new Eden deck the thorny field.

|| E'en now perhaps, wide waving o'er the land,
The mighty Angel lifts his golden wand;
Courts the bright vision of descending power,
Tells every gate, and measures every tower;
And chides the tardy seals that yet detain
Thy Lion, Judah, from his destin'd reign.

And who is He? the vast, the awful form?
Girt with the whirlwind, sandal'd with the storm?
A western cloud around his limbs is spread,
His crown a rainbow, and a sun his head.
To highest heaven he lifts his kingly hand,
And treads at once the ocean and the land;
And hark! his voice amid the thunder's roar,
His dreadful voice, that time shall be no more!

Lo! cherub hands the golden courts prepare, Lo! thrones are set, and every saint is there; Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway, The mountains worship, and the isles obey; Nor sun, nor moon they need,-nor day, nor

night ;

God is their temple, and the lamb their light;

And shall not Israel's sons exulting come,
Hail the glad beam, and claim their ancient
home?

On David's throne shall David's offspring reign,
And the dry bones be warm with life again.
Hark! white rob'd crowds the deep hosannas
raise,

And the hoarse flood repeats the sound of praise;

Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,
Ten thousand thousand saints the strain pro-
long;

"Worthy the Lamb omnipotent to save,
"Who died, who lives, triumphant o'er the
grave!"

REGINALD HIEBER.

RETROSPECT OF POLITICS
FOR FEBRUARY, 1807.

THE foreign news of the last month consists of little else than contradictory reports from the seat of war. For many days it was believed that the Russians had utterly defeated the army || of Napoleon, and that the French were retreating homewards: the authority of these reports was mostly contained in private letters, and the delusion was too agreeable not to be cherished in a manner which precluded a fair examination of the circumstances. At length, however, all doubt has been cleared up on this subject.-The Russians, in having repelled a desperate attack made upon them, may at least lay claim to a greater success than the French who were foiled in their enterprise; but as the former have not thought it prudent to advance, or bring on a general battle, the situation of the latter cannot be said to be much deteriorated.-In a word, the armies are mostly in the same positions which they occupied six weeks ago.

The most important domestic intelligence of the month, is the formal abolition of the Slave Trade by the House of Lords.

of the chief branches of the Ways and Means for the support of the current expenditure, it will be necessary to supply this deficiency. For this purpose, the Minister intends to have recourse to a Supplementary Loan to the amount of the deficiency. The interest of this Loan, in the first year, will not reach 60,0001. In the second, the Loan being 2,400,0001. the interest will be proportionate. In the third year, it will proceed in the usual ratio.-This interest, in the process of his plan, the Minister calculates to supply by the expected increased productiveness of the present taxes. For the first seven years, it will be supplied by the annuities which are now falling in, and which, of course, relieve so much of the present revenue as is now employed to pay them. For seven years, therefore, no further taxes will be required upon this head.

5. This process of borrowing 12,000,0001. annually, and taking 1,200,0001. annually from the war taxes for its interest and Sinking Fund, is to be continued during fourteen years, in which time the whole produce of the war taxes,

The next is the system of finance, of which we 20,000,000l. will be pledged. shall give a short explanation.

1. The sum required for our annual expenditure, (exclusive of course of the interest of the National Debt, as charged upon the Consolidated Fund) is taken by the Minister at £32,000,000 He estimates the annual produce of

the war taxes at.... There remains, therefore, to be raised annually..

....

6. At the end of the 14th year, the Sinking Fund of the first Loan will have redeemed that particular Loan, and of course have relieved the one million two hundred thousand pounds, hitherto employed as its interest and Sinking Fund. The former process is then to be con.20,000,000tinued. Twelve millions are to be borrowed on

the pledge of part of the war taxes, relieved by .12,000,000 the extinction of an expiring and liquidated 2. This 12,000,000 he proposes to raise by an Loan. And the deficiency of the war taxes is to annual loan to that amount, the interest to be paid be supplied in the same manner, as in the first from the war taxes. Twelve hundred thousand fourteen years, namely, by a Supplemental Loan. pounds is to be taken from the produce of the 7. Should Peace return in the lapse of any of war taxes for this, of which six hundred thou- these years, the sum required for the Peace sand is to pay the interest of the Loan, and six | Establishment is estimated so low, that the Mihundred thousand to contribute a fund for its re- nister has pledged himself that the war taxes shall demption. By the operation of compound in-be removed in the moment in which Peace shall terest the Minister calculates that this Sinking Fund will redeem the Loan in fourteen years. 3. Twelve hundred thousand pounds being thus taken from the produce of the war taxes, one

be declared.

We cannot here but observe, that this appears to us the most doubtful part of the new system, and that which has been least explained.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS FOR FEBRUARY.

KING'S THEATRE.

the opinion of many, we understand, the former of these is regarded as a successful, and even a triumphant rival.

We shall not deny to Mrs. Billington, the praise of unequalled brilliancy of voice and execution; and if the feelings of patriot partiality could interfere with such a question, we should, perhaps, be as forward as any of our cotempora

On Tuesday, February 3, a new Comic Opera, in one act, was performed at this theatre, called Roberto Assassino. Although the Opera is usually supposed to be merely a vehicle for music, yet the story of this short piece is by no means without interest. The scene is supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Seville, and Roberto is the captain of a formidable banditti in an adjoin-ries, to exult, that even in the mere sensual acing forest. Astolfo, who is the lover of the daughter of Alberto, leads his soldiers to the attack of the robbers. Liselta, his mistress, follows him, and falls into the power of the robbers, but is rescued by her lover. When Roberto and his gang are brought in chains to the palace of

Alberto, Roberto is discovered to be his son, and
Liselta is united to Astolfo. Alberto is conse-

quently reconciled to both his children, and the
robbers are pardoned. Fagotto, a servant that
follows Liselta in her elopement, affords a consi-
derable degree of entertainment by his terrors at
meeting the robbers.

The music of this Opera is by Trento, and has considerable merit. Naldi, in the character of Roberto, both acted and sung extremely well. Siboni and Signora Perini were also much ap. plauded, and one of their duets was loudly encored. Rovedino supported the comic part of Fagotto with considerable humour as well as musical abilities. At the close of the piece there was, however, some disapprobation expressed, which we conceive to have been principally occasioned by the length of the act. As the Opera was performed, it was certainly long for a single

act.

The Serious Opera, La Semiramide, or rather the magical attraction of Madame Catalani, drew on Saturday night, the 14th, the customary throng, and afforded the customary banquet of delight and wonder. The boxes, indeed, were not quite so full, nor the attendance in them, quite so early, as we understand them to have been on former occasions; but the pit was full to overflowing, half an hour before the rising of the curtain; and the performance of the sole individual who can be regarded as any object of attraction in this Opera, was such as fully to justify the curiosity she has inspired.

In reviewing the merits of this performer, it is natural to draw some comparison in one's mind, from the recollection of recent examples of ope ratical excellence. In this point of view Billington and Grassini are the singers that come into most immediate contact with Catalani; and, in

complishments of the opera, an English performer can maintain a successful competition with the most idolized proficients of the school of Italy. But justice obliges us to declare, that if in this brilliancy (of which Catalani is not deficient), Mrs. Billington remains unequalled, yet this is the only particular in which the competition can be at all sustained. As an actress, Mrs. Billington cannot even be named; and, for our own parts, we confess, that in every thing dramatic, our eyes expect their gratification as well as our ears; and that the total deficiency of our country-woman, in all that relates to the decorums and verisimilitude of the scene, occasioned us to regard even Grassini as her successful rival.

To confine ourselves, however, for the present, to the mere comparison of powers of voice; we must admit, that we have never before witnessed such an assemblage of various excellence, such richness of tone or primitive melody-such compass in the scale, such complete command of all the intermediate notes and intervals, such power of minute gradation, and of abrupt and rapid transition, such variety of those expressive modulations, which (without interfering with, or absolutely depending upon, the mere harmonic arrangement of the notes), render the intonations completely descriptive of all the varieties of sentiment and feeling; in short, such range of voice, such exquisitiveness of tone, such pathos, and such judgment, we have never known united in one individual.

If, upon these grounds, we are disposed to prefer Catalani to Billington, it will easily be supposed that we have grounds enough for a like preference over the other competitor, whom we have mentioned. Grassini had pathos indeed, both of voice and deportment: but she was always pathetic; and, in many parts of her respective characters, which required very different expressions, could neither divest her voice, her looks, nor her action, of that air of affliction or melancholy dignity, which she so finely personified. She was, indeed, a fine actress, but if,

in some particulars, she surpassed Catalani in this point of view, there are more, we think, in which Catalani surpasses her. The dramatic powers of this latter are certainly much more varied, if not more impressive.

One thing, indeed, detracts, in a considerable degree, from the dramatic excellence of this actress-we mean that sort of half-convulsive and half-affected smile, which, in the more difficult parts of her songs, perpetually obtrudes itself; even where the sentiment requires, and her voice is imparting, expressions of the most exquisite pathos and distress.

Two other particulars in the manner and management of this singer, deserve particular notice, and claim our most unequivocal approbation, namely, the peculiar address with which, by the tension of the mouth, and the minute, but decisive action of the upper lip, she contrives still further to vary the modified tones of the larynx and internal organs, and occasionally to impart to particular notes, a sort of expressive and pathetic tremor; and the judgment by which she prevents the too rapid distention, and consequent labour of the chest, by suddenly closing the mouth, either by means of the lips or of the contact of the tongue and teeth, during the pauses, or rests, after particularly exhausting efforts. This practice (so contrary to vulgar apprehension), which we recommend particularly, not only to singers but to actors also, both for their own convenience, and for the sake of certain obvious effects, first struck our notice in Madame Grassini, who (probably from superior necessity for husbanding her physical powers,) carried it to a much greater extent.

To reason upon this topic would lead us into some long, though curious details; and we have already extended this article to an exorbitant length.

DRURY-LANE.

THE ASSIGNATION. Under this title a new play was produced on Wednesday, January 28. It is attributed to Miss Lee, author of The Chapter of Accidents, a comedy which has kept possession of the stage upwards of twenty years.

The characters of Jacob Gawkey and Bridget have been the materials upon which our most popular dramatists have worked, but without approaching to the originals; and the more serious parts of this Comedy have been the source of pillage and imitation with as little success.

had married an Italian Marchioness, runs away from his wife, and falls in love with a sentimental young lady, who is attached to another. The Marchioness puts herself into breeches, and follows her husband to England. It is this foolish disguise which puts the plot in motion. The young lady, the object of Sir Harry's attentions, happens to be the friend of his wife, and produces a re-union, by making an Assignation with Sir Harry, and surprising him with his Lady. The Banonet repents, and the Lady is satisfied.

This is the leading feature of the plot; the other under stories are equally trite and unnatural:- A young Lady, of immense fortune, and great accomplishments, discloses her love for her guardian to his face; though the guardian is a man of fifty, a stiff old Peer, dressed in the Windsor uniform, and a star. Somerville, the natural son of this Peer, falls in love with a sentimental Miss, of the name of Emma, whom, in the usual style of romance, he prefers to Lady Laura and her wealth; and an old widow, who apes youth, and whose vanity is to be taught to ride, to sing, and dance, like a boarding-school girl, is thrown in, together with a drunken Admiral, as makeweights to these foolish plots.

That all these elements have long been floating in the atmosphere of a circulating library we scarcely need tell our readers. There is nothing which can make the least pretension to invention in either of the stories, and, the worst of it is, there is neither grace nor skill in the combination.

The general character of this play was, a a sickly sentiment, a pedantic humour, virtue out of place, common situations most ungracefully placed upon stilts, and absolutely nothing of life and manners.

The patience of the audience was exhausted in the second act; and though the play, by the dexterity of Wroughton, was procured to be heard out, it was unanimously dismissed at the close.

On Tuesday, February 3, a new Dance, composed by Mr. D'Egville, and entitled Emily; or, Juvenile Indiscretion, was performed at this theatre, between the Opera and Afterpiece, for the first time. The pantomime outline of this bagatelle is partly borrowed from Fielding's farce of The Virgin Unmask'd, with alterations, to give it an appearance of novelty. It was supported with much grace and agility by Joubert, Montgomery, Mrs. Sharp, Miss Gayton, and the whole Corps de Ballet of the house, and graced with some elegant decorations. But, perhaps, the chief attraction was Mademoiselle Parisot, who introduced a pas seul. The Ballet itself, of two acts, was however so tediously long, occupying an hour and a half in the representation, that the audience was tired and disgusted before the

The plot of this piece was meagre and common-place. It consisted of four parts, which had no connection with each other, and not the least claim to novelty or interest in themselves. For example, Sir Harry, a gay young rake, who, fall of the curtain.

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