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(BEING THE TENTH OF A NEW SERIES.)

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LONDON: Printed by NICHOLS, SON, and BENTLEY,
at Cicero's Head, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street;

where LETTERS are particularly requested to be sent, POST-PAID.
And sold by J. HARRIS (Successor to Mrs. NEWBERY),
at the Corner of St. Paul's Church Yard, Ludgate Street;

and by PERTHES and BESSER, Hamburgh. 1817.

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GAIN the Year has run the seasons round,

fruits, the ground;

Now snows and tempests desolate the scenes,
No verdure blossoms save the Evergreens.
Then bring the Laurel, bring the choicest Bay,
And with the Myrtle weave a Chaplet gay;
Entwine the Wreath around SYLVANUS' head,
Whose polish'd Work is still with rapture read.
URBAN! though Eighty-seven are thy years,
Like Champagne, sparkling high, thy wit appears.
And, when Poetic Fires inspire thy soul,
Brilliant and soft the tuneful numbers roll,
Whether the verse be chaste, heroic, gay,
Or song that sweetly trills the lover's lay.
Should Satire's sting be level'd at the age,
How keen the lash is felt at ev'ry page.
Antique and curious Relics next explore-
The mine is rich, and full of classic lore.
If Statues, Coins, Inscriptions, meet the eye,
Thy Pages explanations learn'd supply;
And though, on some, obscurity be seal'd,
Ingenious information is reveal'd.

But now thy leaves Historic give delight,
As deeds of Valour burst upon the sight.
There read the feats and glorious victories won,
By Nelson great, by matchless Wellington ;·
And there recount each valiant Hero's name,
Recorded high amid the rolls of Fame.
The wondrous scenes of trial there explore,
That Park and Tuckey met on Afric's shore;
What time they wander'd by the Niger's stream,
Or o'er the Desert felt the parching beam;

They ne'er could reach the fain'd Tombuctoo's Wall,
Disease and murder caus'd their hapless fall.

What thoughts exalted through thy Essays shine!
The language nervous, and the periods fine;
Such Prose is call'd "the beautiful sublime,"
Such as will stand the test of latest time.

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Now view thy Page to Royalty consign'd,
Wreath'd with funereal yew, with cypress twin'd.
Behold how poignant Leopold's sad tear,
Shed o'er his deep-lamented Charlotte's bier!
The Nation feels the loss with grief profound,
And universal mourning reigns around
But where the Empyrean Seraphim reside,
In bliss now rests the suffering youthful Bride.
The Muse is here constrain'd to drop the lay,
Thy treasures, further, ceases to display,
Save-though no more his Letters Johnson writes,
Nor Pegge his Lucubrations learn'd indites;
Though Malcolm's, Rooke's, Delineations cease,
Yet Correspondents with rich store increase;

Thy laurels verdant always will be seen~~

Yes! thou shalt be, Sylvanus! Evergreen.in 19°
Oh! could the souls that once thy Page illum'd‹
Rise from the confines of the silent tomb,
They would exult to see thy garlands wave;
What joy would fill the breast of generous CANE!
Teversal Rectory, Dec. 31, 1817,
-793d SWT

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WILLIAM RAWLINS! De

PREFACE

TO THE

SECOND PART OF THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH VOLUME.

DURING

URING the long period of Eighty-seven revolving Years we have felt it our incumbent duty, to return our annual thanks to the Publick for past favours, and to solicit their renewal: And never did we fulfil the former part of our duty with more real cause for gratitude than we do at present, for the patronage so long bestowed upon us. In soliciting its continuance, we flatter ourselves that professions for the future are unnecessary.

The line of political conduct we have persevered in throughout the last Thirty eventful years (if we may take as a criterion of our success the increased circulation of our Magazine) has met with decided approbation. Inflexibly steady to the true principles of the British Constitution, our Loyalty has been unshaken, our Patriotism undiminished; yet have our pages been ever fairly open to ingenuous disquisition.

In support also of our Ecclesiastical Establishment we have not, we trust, failed to shew that, whenever occasion required, our sentiments ever have been, and we trust ever will be, strictly orthodox.

The events of the last year have been such as to excite in us not only additional vigilance, but firm and decided conduct; vigilance that our pages are not disgraced by intemperance, calumny, or falsehood; firmness and decision in pursuing the right, the old, and the trodden path, which since the Reformation (with one exception) has, and we hope ever will, lead to the furtherance and support of all that Britons hold dear in this land of civil and religious liberty and toleration.

Most happy are we to congratulate our Countrymen on the improved Prospects which Providence graciously offers to us at the opening of a New Year-improved indeed, if we carry back our view to the gloomy auspices under which the Year which has just passed away was ushered in ; —if we think of the mad and desperate Riots which had but just before disgraced the Metropolis ; —of the distress and discontent which pervaded the country; - of the anxiety and alarm which filled every good and virtuous breast!-Let us gratefully enter on the course now before us with purer minds, as well as with more refreshed spirits! From every corner of an extensive Empire, we receive the most gratifying intelligence of the improvement of trade and manufactures of all descriptions. Manchester, Liverpool, Stockport, Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham, Hinckley, the whole of Staffordshire, are striking proofs of the assertion. And on this head we gladly extract from The Inverness Courier the following just and sensible remarks, which, with the

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alteration local circumstances demand, may be applied to many other parts of the Kingdom:

"The state of this Country, at the present moment, when placed in comparison with its situation at the corresponding period of last year, exhibits an exhilarating contrast. At that time the sum of actual distress was perhaps unparalleled, and it was deepened by still darker anticipation. Our Crops had failed, Manufactures were at a stand, and Commerce seemed to have deserted us: the rich were embarrassed, and the poor were starving. Government was in perplexity, and some classes of the people, goaded by despair, vainly sought for relief in tumult and innovation. But a change has since gleamed upon us equally rapid, unexpected, and decisive: the cheerful voice of Industry has again awoke, and drowned the murmurs of Sedition. In the former gloomy season the chief occupation of public spirit was to render more effective existing Establishments, and to plan new Institutions for relief of the poor: now that field of useful action, though still ample, is happily narrowed, for both the necessaries of life, and the means of their acquisition, are comparatively abundant and accessible. Though the circumstances of this district render it less susceptible of those sudden fluctuations which agitate quarters more fully peopled, and more dependent upon the changing aspects of Commerce; yet we too have had a portion of the common distress, and participate in the general renovation. On the state of the woollen manufacture depends the demand for what may be called the staple export of the Highlands, and we rest on the general prosperity of the country for the sale of our cattle. In the close of 1816, and indeed during the whole of that year, we could find no market for our produce, except on terms which were ruinously low. But the state of things is now considerably improved, and promises fair for progressive melioration."

A Welsh Paper, The Cambrian, contains another striking illustration : "Such is the flourishing state of the iron trade, that Mr. Crawshay, the Proprietor of the great iron-works of Cyfarthfa in Merthyr Tydvil, has spontaneously increased the wages of all his workmen and from this increase alone 7000l. yearly is added to the circulation of that neighbourhood."

If we look to the centre of wealth and business, the Metropolis, we shall find the scene quite as cheering. Sedition is melting away. The state of Public Credit is fresh and vigorous. The utility of Saving Banks begins to be most sensibly experienced. The comforts of the Poor, and the Education of their Children, are the incessant objects of the Benevolent. Sickness and distress, whatever may be their description, are promptly alleviated.

Dec. 31, 1817.

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