The SCHOOL-BOY. A poetical effay. O fortunatos nimium, fua fi bona norint ! Back, Memory, to feenes of pleasure past, To fcenes ere childhood ripen'd into man; When fchool-day fports employ'd the busy hours, And ev'ning finish'd what the morn began. In thofe gay meads how gladfome have I play'd, Thofe meads incircled with meand'ring ftreams, Where lavish Flora fpreads her chequer'd fweets, And Phoebus darts his luftre adding beams! Oft, as the pale-ey'd regent of the night Held forth her lamp, and lighten'd all the green, Have I exulting frolic'd with my mates, And hail'd the brightness of the filver scene. Yon floping lawns, where fkips the frisky lamb, Yon herbag'd vales, and intertwifted bow'rs, Yon velvet plains, and daify-plaited hills, Can fweetly teftify my playful hours. Befide that pebbled fpring I oft have fat, And liften'd to each vernal warbler there; Asoft well pleas'd I've puff'd the clay-form'd tube, And view'd the bubbles mount and burst in air. Can I forget how oft the race I've run, While hope of conqueft beat in ev'ry vein ? Pomona's prize has crown'd my vaft fuccefs, And all have hail'd me hero of the plain. Ne'er triumph'd more a warrior in the field, When he had vanquish'd his high-daring foe, Than 1, when, in my little fights engag'd, My ftubborn rival fell beneath my blow. Then was the day (fo jocund was my life) When I could file at ev'ry feather'd toy; When each vain trifle that might shame the man, Delighted, nor difgrac'd the laughing boy. Where now are all thofe feftive days of eafe! Alas! faft bound in Time's all-girting roll; Yet as in thought each fport I fondly trace, The lov'd idea warms my panting foul. When years increasing fwell the age of man, How pleafing's then the recollective pow'r!, Remembrance of paft joys play'd o'er in youth Gives a fresh relifh to the prefent hour. Adien that happy tranfit! for no more Thofe moments pleafure-wing'd fhall I behold; Reality no more can give them birth, Though airy Fancy may the fhade infold. One half of man is childhood overgrown. The genial comfort it imparts, must own, Where e'er it spreads, it polishes the rude, Nor leaves one glimpse of its diminish'd rays. So fhoots a flower-bud from day to day Slowly, till all expanded it appears; (So fure at Pleafure's fide Pain takes her stand), Oft have I fear'd Lorenzo's angry frown, And the rod quiv'ring in his nervous hand. One look from him, if anger fwell'd his eyes, My claffic-fearching fpirits has deprefs'd; One look from him, if fmiles feren'd his brow, Again call'd forth the funfhine of my breast. But flight is all the terror of the fehool, Where intermingling paffions rack the foul, Match'd with the tumult of a bustling world, From vice to vice in reftlefs motion hurl'd. Here feated in her filver-axl'd car Proud Fortune rides with indifcreet command, Spurns lowly Worth, who courts her to be kind, Yet fpreads unafk'd her wealth to Folly's hand. Here Envy pours her fnakes on Merit's head, And low-born Pride extends her ample reign ;, Here under fly Religion's double veil, Lurks dark Deceit with Flatt'ry's fervile train. Bear me from thefe to where Contentment dwells: There hall each profpect harmonize each There fhall I moralize in perfect cafe, (thought; And Nature's works contemplate as I ought. Oh! pure Content! defcending from above, Parent of fmiles, with fweets eternal fraught, Beam on thy poet's breaft thy kindling blaze, Thou guide to peace, and fource of tranquil thought. Administer thy balm, or else in vain The plodding merchant forms his airy schemes, In vain each head grows big with embryo thought, In vain the nodding politician dreams.. Fair Painting's vivid art, fweet Mufic's pow'r, The gorgeous edifice, the rural cot, The fanning gales that cool the fev'rith air, The tent umbrageous, and the fhelly grot; The foft delights of Pleasure's fairy land, And all that rolls from Fortune's ample tide, Without thy aid remove us from our blifs, Without thy prefence vainly footh our pride, Thro' thee the mind in flights excurfive roves, Confinement's welcome to the willing flave; On rapid pinions Fancy mounts the wind, And Poverty fleeps eafy in her cave. With thee, O let me dwell, celestial maid, Or in the vale, or on the mountain's brow; There will we two, the envy of the world, Die, as we liv'd, in friendship's holy vow. [Loud. Chron.] JUVENIS. Te IMPIO GRAVE. PIO LEVAMEN. Lætum! vir, fœmina, VITE vis gemina Trifte! vir, foemina, Tu licet floreas, Te manet jam : Infert fe clam. Te manet jam: Mundus non te beat; Adhuc nec præbeat Quod tibi debeat; Infert fe clam.. Quamvis, cum floreas, Affabit Boreas; Te manet jam: Etfi mors jaculis Petat, vel baculis, Irruat faculis; Infert fe clam. Terreas cor tuum, Fingens te mortuum; Te manet jam : Te manet jam : Buftum nec varius Quid cures jam? To the Rt Hon. WILLIAM PITT, Efq; The humble petition of the PRESS. HE PRESS may boldly fue to thee, For friendship and for liberty; Because the prefs must ever be, A friend to virtue, and to thee. From me the good have nought to fear, The lafh for vice alone I rear. Didft thou one fav'rite vice retain, The PEESS to thee would ne'er complain. For 'tis my duty and delight, To cenfure vice though cloth'd with might; And fet true virtue in the fairest light. Hear then with favour, and redrefs The cruel hardships of the PRESS. Thefe bloody ftamps, thefe double chains, Sweep all the profits of my pains; VOL. XIX. Thefe double fhackles that I wear, But know, O patriot statesman, I Can make thy virtues never die; Can fix them in fo firm a line, That Envy at the fight fhall pine; The honours which the PRESS can give, The trump of fame fhall louder blow; L. E. P. When R―ck for fixpence will the patient cure.” Ty'd by the nofe; fo bears are led, they fay. W The LOTTERY Hile fickle Fortune turns the wheel, What ftrange anxiety we feel! Each thinks to win-bur ah! how vain; You'll find at last they all complain. Reafon will not their rage abate; They curfe their luck, and blame their fate Nay, though a ten-pound prize they get, Alike they fume, and vex, and fret; For they've on thousands fet their mind, And think no blanks at all to find: But those whofe fenfes are not gone, Allow there's eighty-feven to one.-Then ceafe to vex-thus fay the wife, "Content makes any lot a prize." 3 Z HISTORI HISTOR move elsewhere with their effects, have "Hey write from PETERSBURG, been allowed to do it without being has received inftructions and full powers to renew the treaty of friendship and alliance between the two crowns; which, they fay, will foon be concluded, as it is urged by the courts of Vienna and Verfailles. When M. Apraxin approached the frontiers of Brandenburg-Pruffia, he publifhed feveral manifeftos; in one of which he invited all perfons, whether in a civil or military capacity, of whatever religion or profeffion, who had been forced to fettle in the Pruffian dominions, to retire into any of the provinces belonging to Ruffia, in order to get rid of the rigour and feverity under which they laboured, and live freely under a milder government; at the fame time reprefenting, that if they chose to repair to the Imperial army, they should have fifteen rubles each, and should be allowed to pafs to any other country in which they fhould chufe to refide. In anfwer to this manifefto, M. Lehwald, the Pruffian general in that quarter, published the following declaration. ΤΗΣ HE Imperial court of Ruffia, not content with attacking the dominions of his Majesty the King of Pruflia, has not fcrupled to publifh a manifefto, whereby the endeavours to draw the in. habitants of Pruffia into her dominions, and to alienate them from the allegiance they owe to their fovereign; to which end the makes ufe of infinuations, repugnant not only to the laws of war, but alfo to the laws of nations. One may cafily fee that her defign is to depopulate Pruffia; nor is it more difficult to perceive, that what that court afferts in her manifefto is quite void of foundation, and cannot even palliate her unjust views. tue of the edicts of the 1ft of September 1747, and 3d of September 1749. It is well known, that his Majefty's fubjects not only enjoy all poffible liberty allowed in well-regulated states; that they may expect on all occafions the ftricteft juftice; but also that they can truly boaft of many other advantages under the wife government of their monarch. On the other hand, it is no less notorious, that the inhabitants of the provinces under the dominion of the Ruffian empire live under continual oppreffion; that they are frequently exposed to the moft rigorous treatment; that the fmalleft faults are punished with banishment into Siberia; and that foreigners once, fettled in Ruffia, find it very hard to obtain leave to return to their own country, or to remove elsewhere. Moreover, the prefent war already affords fad examples of the little ftrefs that is to be laid on the most folemn promises. We have feen, that notwithftanding those promises, and in spite of the paffports granted to thofe who had a mind to retire from Memel, in hopes of enjoying the advantages of the public fecurity; and notwithstanding the neceffity fome were under to fubmit to the will and law of the ftrongest, hoping thereby to avoid the brutality of the fol diery; numbers of the faid inhabitants of Pruffia have been constrained to quit their country, and others have fallen a prey to the moft enormous vexations of being left to be plundered of their all by the regular troops. The garrifon of Memel is ftill detained under the most frivolous pretexts: they endeavour, by the most terrible menaces, to force the foldiers to take on in the Ruffian fervice; and this too in fpite of the capitulation, which allowed that garrifon full liberty to retire. In this manner do they break promifes acknowledged by all civilized nations to be inviolable. Foreigners never were conftrained to fettle in this country; nor was any oppofition ever made to their withdrawing, when they pleafed even the emigra. tion duties paid in other countries, have not been demanded of them. Foreign-Though it is easy to perceive what ers in eafy circumstances, who, after danger one would be expofed to under having fettled in Prufia, wanted to re- fuch circumftances, by listening to the infinuations infinuations of that manifefto, and tho' his Majesty is not in the leaft dubious of the fidelity and attachment of his vaffals, fubjects, and inhabitants of Pruffia; nay, though he hopes that they will not fuffer themselves to be impofed upon by the vain promises and fallacious means used to deceive them, and that they will not deviate in any manner from the duty they owe to their fovereign; it has nevertheless been judged proper, as a further mark of attention to the happiness of the people under the government of his Majefty the King of Pruffia, to forewarn all and every one to beware of giving ear to the infinuations of the Ruffian court, and to continue carefully to keep their oath of allegiance to their fovereign. If, notwithstanding that oath, and the prefent warning, any of them fhould be induced, through fimplicity, levity, or malignity, to deviate from their duty, they muft expect to be treated as perjured and rebellious fubjects. It is reported, that at Memel about 100 women chose rather to throw them felves into the fea, than fubmit to the brutalities offered them by the Coffacks. The following letter from the Pruffian army under M. Lehwald, published by authority at Berlin, gives a melancholy reprefentation of the hardships endured by the people of the country. "The enemy, notwithstanding their fuperiority, are intrenching themfelves, and ftudy only to ruin the country in the most bar. barous manner. The farmers have fown none of their lands this season; and the enemy, perhaps to their own lofs, forage all without diftinction. Gen. Fermer's army has maintained pretty good difcipline; and if it has plundered, it has not maffacred or maimed. Accordingly the inhabitants of thofe parts through which it has paffed, have remained at their habitations, and endeavoured to content, as well as they could, an enemy who came often to the fame place. But nothing equals the diforders and cruelties which mark the route of the grand army. They cut off the nofes and ears of the country-people, becaufe they had nothing more to give, or be caufe they would not fay what they knew nothing of; and their cattle were drove away, and fold to the army for eight gros ead. The Coffacks, they faid, muft have fubfiftence, and get money. The diforders they have committed ftrike horror. Many of the inhabitants of Pruffia have been hanged; others have had their legs cut off, or been ript up alive, and their hearts tore out; children have been carried off from their parents; and, in fhort, fuch atro cious, cruelties are exercifed as fhock human nature, and will fix eternal infamy on an enemy, who call themselves Chriftians, and who promife nothing but mo deration and good difcipline in the memorials they have published. The inhabitants of the country, driven to defpair, take arms where-ever they can get them, and endeavour to defend their lives, and the few effects they have carried off to their places of retreat. It is computed that they have already killed 200 Coffacks and huffars. The enemy have only themfelves to blame for thefe confequences of that defpair to which they have driven thefe unhappy fugitives." According to advices from Warfaw, M. Apraxin has caufed the principal authors of thofe diforders be taken up and feverely punifhed. 'Tis added, that the officers who permitted them have fuffered the punishment of the knout [v. 423.] in its utmoft rigour, under which three of them expired. At On the 4th of Auguft M. Lehwald left the neighbourhood of Insterburg, and incamped near Wehlau. The Ruffians gradually approached him. length a battle happened, of which we had the following relation in the London gazette.. Berlin, Sept. 6. The firft account we have received of the action in Pruffia of the 30th of last month, near the villages of Norkitten and Staplacken, is as follows: That the Ruffian army, amounting to 80,000 regular troops, had chofen a moft advantageous camp near Norkitten. It was compofed of four lines, each of which was defended by an intrenchment with a numerous artillery, and batteries placed upon all the the eminences. Notwithstanding fo great a fuperiority, M. Lehwald deter mined to attack the enemy with his ar my, which hardly confifted of 30,000 men. The attack began at five in the morning, and was carried on with fo much vigour, that the Pruffians entirely broke the whole firft line of the enemy, and forced all their batteries. The Prince of Holftein-Gottorp, brother to the King of Sweden, at the head of his régiment of dragoons, routed the enemy's cavalry, and afterwards fell upon a regiment of grenadiers, which was cat to pieces. But when the Pruffians came to the fecond intrenchment, M. Lehwald feeing that he could not attempt to carry it without expofing his whole army, took the refolution to retire; which he did in the beft order, and without the enemy's daring to ftir out of their intrenchments to purfue them. The Pruffian army retired to its former camp at Wehlau, where they ftill remain; as do the enemy in their camp. The lofs of the Pruffians does not exceed 2000, killed and wounded; which lofs how ever was immediately replaced by the difciplined militia. The lofs of the e enemy must be near 14,000. Gen. Lapuchin was wounded and taken prifoner, with a colonel of the Ruffian artillery; but the former is fent back on his parole. The Pruffian army had at first made themselves mafters of above 80 pieces of cannon, but were after wards obliged to abandon them with 11 of their own, for want of carriages. The Pruffians have loft no general or officer of diftinction. Lt-Gen. Count Dohna is the only one wounded. It is faid there are three Ruffian generals killed." A letter from Konigsberg, dated Sept. 2. thus relates the affair. "M. Lehwald having been fome days employed in making the neceffary difpofitions for attacking the Ruffian army, which was pofted about nine miles from hence, that general marched the 30th of laft month to put his defign in execution. He found the enemy intrenched upon hills, furnished with a numerous artillery. The attack was very brifk; but our troops, after having a long while fought with all the vigour poffible, were at length obliged to retreat; without being, however, purfued by the enemy, whofe lofs must have been very confi. derable. It is reckoned, that ours may amount to about 5000 men, in killed, wounded, and prifoners. We have al fo loft in this action it pieces of heavy artillery, and fome fmall field-pieces; but have faved all the baggage, as well as the military cheft. The two armies are each returned into the fame camps they occupied before the battle." They write from Dantzick, of Sept. 7. that they had received M. Apraxin's account of the action, conceived in geñeral terms, reprefenting the attack as contrary to all the rules of war, and as the effect of either pofitive orders or defpair. It is acknowledged, that the Pruffian troops behaved as well as men could do; but it is at the same time affured, that they had 10,000 killed and wounded, whereas the Ruffians had but 7000. The following relation was published by the court of Vienna. "The enemy's army, under the com mand of Field-Marshal Lehwald, having been a long while pofted in the wood contiguous to Wehlau, where it could not be easily attacked, the Ruffian generals refolved to quit their camp near Narfitten on the river Pregal, and to feign to march towards Konigsberg, in order to draw the enemy out of the wood, and then attack them. "Accordingly the Ruffian army marched out the 30th of Auguft, at five in the morning; and immediately after had intelligence, that the enemy, being 36,000 ftrong in regular troops, were coming to meet them. In effect, they were marching by the wood of Wehlau, formed two lines, and foon after but one, in order to extend their front, covering their flanks with cavalry, efpecially the left wing, fupported by the wood. As foon as the enemy came out of the wood, they began a brisk cannonade; and all their motions fhewed a defign to occupy the wood of Narfitten, which the Ruffian army lay clofe to, to prefs clofe upon them, and to |
