Page images
PDF
EPUB

1796.]

Original Anecdotes-M. de Bouillé...Abbé de Percy. 727

the people that now cheerfully add his maintenance to their own increafing burdens.

M. DE BOUILLÉ,

During the American war, was a governor in the French Weft-India iflands, and acquired great and deferved popularity even among his enemies, by the generofity of his difpofition, the elegance of his manners, and an utter contempt of that fordid avarice which often reduces the reprefentative of a king, in a diftant colony, to the level of a public plunderer. On retaking St. Euftatia from the English, he fcorned to imitate its former conquerors, for private property was by him deemed facred and inviolable! The English Weft-India merchants were fo much pleafed with his conduct, that they presented him with a gold-hilted fword, by the hands, I believe, of the venerable and amiable general Melville. That very fword, on his arrival in England in 1794, was rudely fnatched from his fide by a cuftom-houfe officer, in confequence of an order for difarming the French emigrants. This hurt him exceedingly; and he never mentions the circumftance without in dignation.

On the revolution, M. de Bouillé recollected that he was a noble, but he forgot that he was a Frenchman. Brave and generous, but impetuous, violent, and fanguine, many of the errors of Louis XVI have been attributed to his counfels. He has been often charged by his enemies with the maffacre at Nantz; but he is fully convicted of being the author of the king's flight, an event generously forgiven by the legiflative affembly, but never forgotten by the people.

He at first refufed to take the oath for the maintenance of the conftitution, an oath tendered to all the military men. This of course awakened fufpicion; but that very fufpicion was foon after lulled into fecurity, in confequence of the foldier-like franknefs with which he afterwards fubfcribed it. On this, he was immediately entrusted with the care of the frontiers on the fide of Lorraine, by the king, who was greatly attached to him. This important poft enabled him to plan a retreat for his majesty, into the province of Luxemburgh; and had it not been for the intrepidity of a poft. mafter (Drouet) the plot would have affuredly fucceeded.

Aftor Louis XVI was brought back

to Paris, lieutenant-general Bouillé was declared a rebel. Notwithstanding this, his majefty kept up a communication with the outlaw; and it was the difcovery of the fecret remittance of a fum of money to him that rendered the affembly unanimous as to his punishment: the members differed indeed, but it was merely on the question, not of guilt, bur of policy.

THE

THE ABBE DE PERCY AND DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. The abbé, who is the younger brother of the count dePercy,was bred to the church, and being of an ancient family, and educated in the strict rules of canonical obedience, he was of courfe an enemy to a revolution that by one mighty effort put an end to the power and authority of the nobles and the pope. From his living, at Vanne, in Normandy, he confequently found it prudent to retire, and soon after withdrew altogether from France. From Hamburgh, which, fince the capture of Coblentz, has become the centre of counter-revolutionary projects, he embarked on board an English packet, with fome of the illuftrious ci-devants of his province, deftined, like his own brother, for the ill-fated expedition against Quiberon. Happily for them, they were too late! elfe they would inevitably have fhared the fate of their unhappy countrymen.

The abbé did not know a fingle word of English on his landing at Yarmouth, and yet he had been once before in this country, and abfolutely buftled, in the neighbourhood of New-ftreet, Covent Garden, out of twenty guineas he had received but a few minutes before, from the houfe of fir R. Herries of St. James's ftrect, in confequence of his ignorance of our vernacular tongue. This circumftance very july infpired him with a terrible idea of our Police (which, by the bye, has always been worfe regulated fince this detefted word has been adopted into our language, and ftipendiary magiftrates maintained for its prefervation) but it did not induce him to learn our

tongue. To immure humfelf after funfet, and thus conftitute himself a prifoner in his own apartment, was the only expedient the curé of Vanne could bethink hinfelf of, in order to fecure his purfe and perfon in the mctropolis of England.

To the humanity of a gentleman who accompanied him in the packet, he, and the whole emigrant noblesse were indebted for pafling their trunks at the custom

houfe,

house, bringing them in a coach to town, procuring paliports, fuitable lodgings, &c. After refiding fome time in London, the abbé repaired to Bath, in order to meet his countrymen, who having miffed the opportunity of fpilling their blood under the auspices of M. de Puifaye, were determined to regale themselves with a tour through the weft of England. Once arrived at Bath, the ex-curé deemed it too agreeable a refidence, to leave it quickly. He accordingly remained long enough to spend the little money he had brought with him, and when that was once gone, it was evident that the pittance which government allows to the French clergy would not enable him to make a great figure at so fashionable a watering place.

In this dilemma, what was to be done? His countrymen, who were not ignorant of his deplorable fituation, reminded him that he was defcended from the English Percies, and as the duke of Northumberland luckily happened to be at that very moment at Bath, he would have a fair opportunity of foliciting affiftance, not from a ftranger, but a relation. Such was the reafoning of the Norman nobleffe; but the poor abbé, in addition to the fcruples arifing from his own delicacy, urged another, and an almost invincible objection. This was, that his brother, the count, the bead of the family, had actually waited on his grace, in the character of kinfman, but not being able to adduce proofs that appeared fatisfactory,

was not admitted to an audience. Notwithstanding this, it was at length determined that the attempt fhould be made, and the priest actually fucceeded, where

the foldier had failed.

The duke, on the receipt of a letter, returned a polite anfwer, and begged a few days for inveftigation. In the mean time he himself wrote to lord Harcourt, at whofe houfe the duc d'Harcout refides, and made enquiry refpecting the de Percies of Normandy. The event juftified the affertions of the French curé, and gave a fair opportunity for exerting the wonted liberality of the English peer, who inftantly tranfmitted to his new coufin a gold box, with a bank note en. clofed in it, invited him to his table, which was from that day open to him,

and has ever fince interested himself in his welfare.

THE ABBE GUILLON.

After nearly eighteen centuries of perfecution, and the murder of many milfanaticifm; it at length feems to be pretty lions of the human race, by triumphant has a right to judge for himself, in regenerally acknowledged, that every man fpect to religion! When will the fame liberal fentiment prevail in regard to go

vernment?

Alas! we are yet intolerant on that head, and the axe of the execu civilized Europe, against those who dare tioner is still brandifhed, throughout all

to differ with the "conftituted authorities." The war of fuperftition is at an end, but that againft opinion is in the zenith, and we ftill perfecute, notwithing all our boafted attainments, and that

too" for confcience' fake."

There have been many inftances of heroifm difplayed during the French revolution, by the republicans: the following is on the fide of the royalifts :

During the infamous maffacres of September, there were two Abbé Guillons imprifoned in the fame gaol---the Ab baye, in Paris. One of them was called into the court-yard, while the ruffians were bufied in affaffinating their victims, and a note, containing an order of the municipality, tantamount to a reprieve, was put into his hand. After examining it minutely, he paufed for a few moments, and knowing, from circumftances, that it was not intended for himself, he turned round to the meffenger, and obferving that there was another abbé of the fame name in prifon, he returned with a firm ftep, and an unaltered countenance, to die.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

ORIGINAL

On occafion of an interrupted Voyage from Ross to CHEPSTOW, Sept. 1796.

BY DR. BEDDOES.

FAREWELL! thou dear to Fancy's eye!
Farewell, thy fcenes, Arcadian WYE!
Back to the world, with footsteps flow,
From thy fequefter'd glades I go !
And turn, by Eve's protracted light,
To catch one last impreffive fight,
That faithful Mem'ry firm may hold
Thy blended forms of foft and bold;
And, by thy images poffeft,

A fenfe ferener foothe my breast.

WYE! by thy brink-at Order's birth, While fire-born vapours heav'd the earthIn act on Albion's foil to trace A theatre of fylvan grace, Prefiding NATURE chose her stand; There high the waved her plaftic wand, Swift Spreads the level, finks the dell, And rude emerging maffes fwell. Fair thought on thought to being fprung, Fond o'er her toil the Sov'reign hung; Last smote the rock, and bade THEE roll, The SPIRIT of the perfect whole! Then fled yon fteep thy gushing tide, And wheel'd far off his concave fide: O'er glooms unpierc'd pil'd crags afcend, Dark o'er the deeps tall forefts bend, Slow fteals the wave in filence by, O'erawed as though a God were nigh

Unfcar'd by war, unftain'd by blood,
Through ages, VAGA! roll thy flood;
Nor e'er broad oak, that throuds thy fide,
Fell deed of midnight spoiler hide.
Cool in thy groves, a frequent guest,
May Innocence, uninjur'd, refl;
Untarnifh d, Beauty, round thy bed,
Her rural pland enchantments spread;
There on the Mufe's wandering child,
Burft unimagin'd vifions wild.

There he who fhuns a brother's eye,
Sad Outcaft! and himself would fly;
Own fome sweet moments of repofe-
There breathe, deluded of his woes.

[blocks in formation]

POETRY.

Ah! do not spurn misfortune's outcast child, Who knows no fhelter, finds no friendly door;

A fnow-drop, fhatter'd in the dreary wild,
Nipt by the ftorm, with rain besprinkled o'er.
On me no father bends his partial eyes,
No mother in her foft'ring arms protects;
My daily wants no tenderness fupplies,

My doubtful steps no precept now directs. Can they deserve the parent's facred name, Untrue to nature, and than brute lefs kind: Who dare to riot in a guilty flame,

Nor own the feelings of parental mind? Beat not e'en favage breafts with pious love, Do thofe forget a parent's tender care? E'en brutal inftinét foft affections prove, The sweet fenfations even reptiles share. Yet polifh'd life, unblushing, dares difown. The firft, the dearest feelings of the foul Falfely refin'd, and boldly fhameless grown, Spurns at all law, defies all foft controul. Condemn'd to pine, forfook by fickle love, Of facred honour ftripp'd, of confcious pride; Condemn'd Ingratitude's fharp ftings to prove

Of broken heart, alas! my mother died. In vain, 'tis faid, I stretch'd my infant arms, That afk'd to meet her fond, her warm em

brace;

In vain the dawning blush of orient charms
Sat fmiling in the rofes of my face.

Ah! touch'd by death, beneath his icy pow'r,
No ans'wring fmiles, no look, could the

repay;

So, nipt by vernal frosts, a tranfient flow'r

Hangs o'er the infant bud, and fades away. On the wide world caft forth, forlorn, unknown,

No friendship bleeds, no kindred breaft, for

me;

No ties of dear relationship I own.

The wand'ring child of cafual Charity.

Can't thou, who gave me birth, canst thou maintain,

In oftentatious pomp, yon menial crowd? O! could the refuse of that wanton train,

To feed thefe famish'd lips but be allow'd! There, proudly tow'ring o'er the fubject land,

By coftly art bedeck'd, and lavish taste, Behold my father's fumptuous mansion stand. The feat of riot, and licentious waste. In golden goblets laughs the lufcious wine, High viands fick'ning appetite invite; On filken beds their lux'ry finks fupine, And wantonnefs and cost their pow'rs unite. Each faithlefs friend the ready gate receives, The cup of water cold where I implore; My famifh'd appetite no fcrap relieves, To me, and Want, alone is clos'd the door.

Could

Could I but lay this poor dejected head Where e'en the fav'rite brute may shelter'd feed;

Could I but find the ftraw my humble bed,

Half as the hound belov'd, or pamper'd fteed. Yet he, with raptur'd eye, can fondly view

The offspring branch of wedded Avarice; And is to me, alas no pity due?

Thus, guiltlefs, muft I pay the tax of vice? Has bounteous Nature been to me lefs kind?

Lefs nicely bade my forming features grow? With true affections lefs fupplied my mind? What stain has God affixed upon this brow? No little bird that fhelters in a tree,

No beast that to the fecret covert hies, But clearly proves kind Heaven's vast charity, And bids me hope for Mercy's large supplies, Tis faid this face is caft in equal mould,

Where of the heart the pure fenfations play; For oft', too oft', of beauty am I told,

By those who with that beauty to betray. Hear then, ye fons of Pleasure! hear my tale, Who gaily wanton in variety; And think, like me, how, pierc'd by every

gale,

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

the good!

Lift to that voice, whofe fhout amid the wat So oft has fill'd the hoftile hoft with dread, When Anak's giant offspring hid their head, When Canaan fled afar.

Tho' now by age unftrung, its feeble found
Yet ftill it breathes for you. Friends-chil-
dren-gather round!

So Joshua fpake; intent, around,
The affembled nation caught the guardian found,

Silent in pious grief.

And many a bofom heav'd the figh,
And fwoln with tears was many an eye,

For well they lov'd the Chief.
Alone untrembling, and ferene,
The aged warrior's face was feen,
A milder fire illum'd his fading eyes;
Mild as the dim-decaying ray,
When faintly o'er the evening skies

Beams the last radiance of departing day,

Friends, who beneath my banners oft have pour'd

On Canaan's impious chiefs red flaughter's

tide:

When, clad in terrors, the Almighty Lord

Call'd forth his storms, and blafted tyrant pride; Still from the God of gods protection crave, When Joshua's nervelefs arm thall moulder in the grave.

Nor deem the high-heap'd votive pile,
Eternal Juftice can beguile;

Or victim Imoke in mantling mift can hide
The fecret crimes that flain the heart,
Each lawless luft and self-deceiving art,
From Him whofe energy, dilated wide,
Spreads thro' unbounded fpace its fovereign fway,
Where, drown'd in darkness, dies yon fun's ex-
haufted ray.

What

1796:]

What time amid the land where

Original Poetry.

the Nile

pours Far c'er the plain his fertilizing flood, Oppreffion rear'd his gore-cemented pile, Your fathers bev'd oppreft,

And terror wither'd each hope-widow'd breaft; Then ftretch'd Jehovah forth th' almighty hand,

And Nilus roll'd á tainted tide of blood;
And darkly-brooding o'er the land,
CONTAGION, with her blafting breath,
Breath'd o'er the king-curft realm the gales of
Death.

Calm on his couch reclines the tyrant king;
And tranquil as the fleep of Innocence !
At once in loud and frantic cry,

The midnight fhrieks of agony
Burst on his ftartl'd fenfe:

For now in darkness, on the whirlwind's wing,
The angel of deftruction rides along!
The monarch hangs, in anguish wild,
Low o'er the blasted carcafe of his child.

He wakes to rage the defpot's force,
Ifrael! purfues thy heavenly-guided course;
Where God restrain'd th' obedient fea,
Rush'd Pharaoh's impious army, fwoln with
pride.

The impetuous tide

Burft then its magic boundary;

On roll'd the stream, with gathe 'd waters strong, And steeds and chiefs, in death commingled, float along.

Power all benignant! ftill thine aid
To Ifrael's chofen fons difplay'd,

Demands the choral fong of Gratitude;
When in the defert waftes they stray,
And Famine follow'd on the perilous way,
Thy goodnefs gave the food:

The bread of Heav'n defcends, on fated wing
The airy tribe to Ifrael fly;

And when for thirst to thee they cry,

From the hard rock gufh'd forth the abundant
Spring.

Nor then was known Jehovah's power
Alone in Want's defpondent hour:
The Eternal's might directs the fight;
Where the fierce Anakin the battle led,
And Og gigantic died, and Canaan filed.

In Jericho's strong towers, th' infulthig foe
Our hallowed host defied;

For firm her walls, and firm on every fide
The frequent fort arofe :

Six days fecure, on Jericho's high wall,
They faw the ark in myftic circle borne,
And mock'd the facred rites. The fabbath mor
Arofe, and now again the foe

Beheld where Ifrael's warriors, still and flow,
In feven-fold circle paft.

At once they paus'd-a long and louder blast
The trumpets pour'da deep and general cry
Join'd the loud blaft in dreadful harmony;
Earth heav'd her bofom with convulfive throe,
And prone, with all her towers and chiefs, fell
Jericho.

[ocr errors]

MONTHLY MAG. No. IX.

731

God is with ye, O Ifrael! fear not ye,
Tho' Slaughter, in his regal car,
Leads on his barbarous bands to war;
Tho' chiefs allied on every fide
Encircle-God fhall give the victory.
Remember, when the orbs of Heaven ftood ftill!
Remember, when my voice forbade the night
To fhield the vanquish'd tyrants in their flight!
In vain they hid them then ;

The darkfome cave then fail'd to fave,

The eye of Vengeance pierc'd the fecret den, They met their doom deferv'd; denied a grave, To all the winds of Heaven their loathly bodies wave:

But though the trump of war no more affright, Fly the foft enticing measure,

From the magic lute of pleasure;

Fly the foft founds deceitful of delight:
For thro' your veins th' enerving charm fhalı
creep,
Drowning each nobler thought in Vice's deadly
fleep.

Thefe foes avoid---my children fly
The dimpling fmile---the languid eye-
The languid eye, whofe liquid roll
Thrills thro' the fafcinated foul.
Fly the foft touch---the foul-fubduing fight-
Ifrael---conquer here by flight.

Go, Ifrael, break th' oppreffor's rod,
And fight and conquer in the cause of God.

ЕРІТА Р Н.

S.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »