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Poetical Essays for September, 1773.Of this no more. — When Delicacy hints The force of Friendship in the mournful tale, How apt is Youth to spoil the truest tints, And youthful ardors o'er the Sense prevail! Mankind the theme: How various is our lot! What sharp afflictions wait upon our life! How often by our dearest friends forgot, Our bosom friends, the Father, Son, or Wife! Smit with the thought, I feel the deepest woe; By all the tears of Friendship may I tell:-- OnVirtue's cheek I find the warmest glow, To think it came from one he love'd so well. Oh! Oft as musing near these sacred bowers, Recall, vain Wanderer! thy ambitious plan; Nor idly chafe away the precious hours; O L --, be virtuous be a Man. How melancholy silent are these groves!And from the plain each Hamadryad's fled! The swain in thoughtful mood now devious roves, with folded arms laments his Master dead. Or to yon' moss-clad cott directs his way, To give to pensive musing greater scope; Reflects the globe itself shall melt away; And to his soul recalls this holy hope, That, when the trump is echoed through the sky, And to these bones new life my God shall give, That blissful news he hopes to hear from high, "Thy soul secured, O Lyttelton, shall live." 'Twas the great strength of thy capacious mind, O Lyttelton, thy Savior to admire; And thoughts so great, exalted and confined, Though taught symphonious Muse's lyre. O, as reclining from yon' lucid sphere, receive these mournful accent's o'er thy hearse; Design to accept the tribute of a tear, 'Tis the small tribute of a grateful verse. Epitaph.By worth invited, fix thy wandering eye, With sacred awe design, Traveller, here to tread, Nor pass by genius' grave unheedfully, But, oh! reflect that Lyttelton is dead. PHILANDER. On RECOLLECTION*. MNEME begin. Inspire, ye sacred Nine, Your venturous Afric in her great design! Mneme, immortal power, I trace thy spring; Assist my strains, while I thy glories sing! The acts of long-departed years, by thee recovered, in due order ranged we see: Thy power the long-forgotten calls from the night, that sweetly plays before the fancy's fight. Mneme in our nocturnal visions pours The ample treasure of her secret stores; Swift from above the wings her silent flight Through Phoebe's realms, fair regent of the night; And, in her pomp of images display'd, To the high raptur'd poet gives her aid, Through the unbounded regions of the mind, Diffusing light celestrial and refin'd. The heavenly Phantom paints the actions done By ev'ry tribe beneath the rolling sun. Mneme, enthron'd within the human breast, Has vice condemn'd and ev'ry virtue bleft. How sweet the found when we her plaudit hear? Sweeter than music to the ravish'd ear, Sweeter than Marc's entertaining strains, Refounding through the groves, and hills, and plains! But how is Mneme dreaded by the race, Who scorn her warnings, and despise her grace! By her unveil'd each horrid crime appears; Her awful hand a cup of wormwood bears. Days, years mispent, O what a hell of woe! Hers the worst tortues that our souls can know. Now eighteen years their destin'd course have run, In fact succession round the central fun; How did the follies of that period pass Unnotic'ed; but behold them writ in brass! In Recollection see them fresh return; And fure'tis mine to be asham'd and mourn. O Virtue, smiling in immortal green, Do thou exert thy pow'r, and change the scene; Be thine employ to guide my future days, And mine to pay the tribute of my praise! Of Recollection such the pow'r enthron'd In ev'ry breast, and thus her pow'r is own'd. The wretch, who dar'd the vengeance of the skies, AT last awakes in horro and surprize; By her alarm'd, he sees impending fate; He howls in anguish, and repents too late. But O! what peace, what joys are hers t' impart To ev'ry holy, ev'ry upright heart! Thrice bleft the man, who, in her sacred shrine, Feels himself shelter'd from the wrath divine! [[note]] Hermit's Cell. This piece is taken from a small collection of Poems on various subjects, just published, written by Phillis Wheatley, a negro of Boston, who was brought from Africa in 1761, and is now only in the twenty-first year of her age. A testimony in favor of the poems, as the genuine productions of this young person, is signed by the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, seven clergymen, and others eminent for station and literature, and also by her master: and in this it is said, disgraceful as it may be to all that have signed it, that "this poor girl was brought an uncultivated barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is-- A SLAVE!" Youth, innocence, and piety, united with genius, have not yet been able to restore her to the condition and character with which she was invested by the Great Author of her being- So powerful is the custom in rendering the heart insensible to the rights of nature, and the claims of excellence! Historical Historical Chronicle, Sept. 1773. In an ample detail of the operations of the Russian army on the other side the Danube, printed at Petersburg, and which makes twenty-one pages in quarto, among other reasons for their retreat we meet with the following: "Our cavalry was harrassed by the continual skirmishes with the Ottomans, and by the bad forage, that they could no longer sustain the fatigue: during the whole time, they were obliged, by the alertness of the enemy, to be under arms. Want of water was another hardship they underwent, particularly the corps that was detached to reconnoitre the Grand Vizir's army. In the night they were exposed to the rains and winds, without covering: and in the day were continually harrassed by the fresh bodies of troops, which were renewed by others, who fought with fury to revenge their former losses; whilst we (says the narrative) were obliged, with small fatigued bodies of men, to attack numberous bodies who were reposed in places fortified by nature, and of easy defence. We met with the greatest difficulties in transporting artillery and baggage, from the badness of the roads, and were forced to pass defiles where two horses could barely pass abreast. The detachments which the Vizir fent against us amounted to 27,000 men, the choicest of his cavalry, who with their light horses could pass any where. These horsemen were in ambuscades all the way we passed, and assailed us continually on all sides; and, though they were not able to do us any essential ill, they were left harrassing our troops. When the Ruffian columns advanced towards Osman's retrencements, they were furiously assailed by the Spahis that were in ambuscades, who were no sooner dispersed by our artillery, than they were replaced by the Janissaries from the retrencements, who fell on our right wing wiht horrible noises, by which means 300 newly inrolled men, unacquainted with their manner of attack, ran off, and put the rest of the corps into disorder; but luckily the last division came on, and, kepping up a continual fire, gave the former time to rally; after which Colonel Klitfehka took possession of their retrenchments, and not one of the enemy would have escaped, had they not retired into Silistria." "The action in which General Weissman beat Niuman Pacha (says the account) cost the Turks 3,700 men. This brave General put himself, sword in hand, at the head of his troops, which were not half so numerous as those of the enemy, at the head of which he was killed by a ball which pierced his heart, and he fell down dead instantly at the close of the combat. "We have lost in all the actions about GEN T. MAG. September, 1773. 1200 men. Many soldiers, wounded at the attack of the heights before Silistria, are dead of their wounds. We have lost twenty Officers, of great desert, and two pieces of cannon which we were obliged to leave in a bog; but the enemy have lost in all 54 pieces of cannon, a camp, 38 batteaux, a great quantity of utensils, and had 5000 men killed. "The corps under General Soltikoff, which was intrely separated from the grand army, has also gained several advantages on the other side the Danube. And at Turkutai he dislodged 4000 Turks, under the command of Fisula Sara and Arslan, Bachas, and killed 1000 men. A serjeant, named Gorschkoff, killed Fisula Sara with a stroke of his sabre, and three other Turks. "In the camp with the Russians took possession of the hefore Silistria were found the orders of the Grand Vizir to Niuman Pacha, which were 'for him to fall on 'the back of the enemy whist they were 'attacking Slilistria, by which means not 'one of the infidels could escape; and 'that, if Niuman did not succeed, he 'had to fear disgrace from the Sultan, 'and punishment from the Holy Pro-'phet.' The following letter from Berlin, if not authentic, is certainly written bysome penetrating politician, no stranger to the views of his Prussian Majesty: "It is reported, says the writer,that, according to a new Treaty which has lately taken place among the three Allied Powers, our King is to possess the Duchy of Courland. Iti is likewise asserted, that his Royal Highness Prince Henry will soon set out for Petersburg: and it is just now confidently asserted here, that his Royal Highness will be, according to that Treaty, created Duke of Courland; which report gains ground, owing to the following circumstances: First, it is well known, and it likewise appeared here in the public papers of last year, that when our King offered the high post of Stadt-holder General in New Prussia to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswich, and that Prince nobly refused it, the King, expressed his greatest astonishment on such refusal, saying, 'Had I not other views for Prince 'Henry, I should have thought that post 'high enough to have offered to him, 'though he is my brother.' Secondly, we are just informed from Petersburg, that the Duke Biron of Courland, for-feeing his impending date, has, in order to become connected with, and a kinfman to, the Court of Petersburg, offered marriage to one of the Princesses of Darmstadt; but the Empress was no sooner acquainted with the Duke's design, than the sent him word that the would advise. [[note]] 6
