Verses to a young lady, on her presenting the author's wife with an ornamented work-box. "Perhaps my verses are too grave, A proof I'm no designing knave." Dear Frances, while your polish'd art, To use can elegance impart, And when mechanic labours end, Bid taste the varied colours blend: Say, what could so my verse inspire, Had I a poet's tuneful lyre, As when a boon affection pays To her whose merit gilds my days? Here by your pencil's magic power, Through winter blooms the vernal flower There healthful infancy is seen, Of ruddy lip and careless mien, Reclining on maternal love: Such was your happy lot to prove, Such, and prophetic be the lay, When all my hairs are few and grey, Shall in your life be well exprest, While blessing others, you are blest. For truth's fair pages oft record, How virtue brings her own reward. Well, too, the sage of Judah says, That pleasure walks in wisdom's ways, And, though the world's loud plaudits cease, Her paths still point the road to peace. Nor wonder if reflection's pow'r, Command in manhood's sober hour, That to your teens so grave I sing, Now life with me has past the spring. My youth a rapid journey run, And years I reckon forty one. These may you count and many more, Till age shall give the tresses hoar, Then cherish in her wintry gloom, Virtue's sweet flowers that ever bloom, From heav'n while truth descends to bring, The hope of life's eternal spring. MENTOR. Lines by the late Mrs. Knowles, over a seat surrounding a tree, in the Grove, Micklebam, Surry. Written in the year 1782. Come, gentle wanderer, sit and rest, Behold this spirit-calming vale, MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS; OR, The Christian's Survey of the Political World. state of perpetual warfare. He cannot, he says, shake off his power and natural character, and sacrifice, as must be the consequence, the interest of religion. His holiness, according to his own account, is invested with a two fold character, that of sovereign pontiff, and that of a temporal prince; but his most important office is that of head, protector and avenger of the church. He calls heaven to witness the purity of his inteations. He has complied to the utmost, but the emperor does not practise all those condescensions which he might towards the holy see. However this pretended holiness can look with confidence to scripture, and receives consolation, that blessed are those, who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. UNSEARCHABLE are the ways of the God of peace, placing himself in a Providence! Who would have imagined at the first propagation of Christianity, that this holy religion could ever have been perverted to the basest purposes of human ambition; and that its teachers should aim and arrive at the highest degree of domination over their brethren! When mankind had seen the infamous imposture in its plenitude of power, and the abject condition of the Christian world, who could foresee the mode of its fall! A few teachers separated from the degraded church, but their disciples soon fell into the same maxims; the same obedience to tradition was inculcated, whether the infatuated Christian bowed to the popish or the protestant yoke. Yet a severe blow has been struck on the grand imposture, and since our last a document has been given to the public, which shews, that the pope is no longer the terror of princes, and hopes may be entertained of his thorough debasement, not through protestants, but by means of papists themselves. We have already observed, that the court of the pope was on the point of being dissolved. Our protestant news papers lamented this circumstance. To us it was an object of triumph. The order of disbanding has been followed by an act of humiliation on the part of his pretended holiness, under the threats of Buonaparte, termed unmanly and brutal by our protestant brethren, which forms a fine contrast with the speech of one of his predecessors to Charles the fifth, and the kissing of the pope's toe by that emperor. The emperor of France, it seems, had intimated to the pope, that if he did not act in a certain manner, his dominions should be taken from him, and not only his temporal dominions but his spiritual domination over the subjects of France should be abrogated. To avert these evils, the pretended holy father brings in the considerations of his duty and his conscience-he talks of the impropriety of the minister of His pretended holiness asserts the high privileges of his cardinals, whose office abrogates their primitive allegi ance. He affects too good an opinion of the illustrious clergy of France, to doubt of their attachment to the holy see. He mourns between the vestibule and the altar; and he declares one truth at least, and a truth we shall rejoice to see confirmed, that his deprivation will not be the work of political genius and illumination, but an awful visitation of God. Such is the language, now held by that false church, which has so long deluded the world. Its head seems to be at his last gasp, overthrown not by reason and conviction of his false pretences to spiritual authority, but by the exercise of similar force and fraud, which first raised it to such a high preeminence. How ought protestants to rejoice even in the troubles of these days, that an event so much to be desired, should happen in their time, and that they may look forward for their children to enjoy that liberty, with which Christ intended to make them free, unshackled by those unscriptural decrees, which have borne so heavy on their ancestors. In vain has the pope deprecated the wrath of Buonaparte. The fiat of the emperor of the French has gone forth, and the patrimony of the church, as it has been called, is converted into three departments or provinces of the kingdom of Italy. Should this decree stand good, a great point is gained to the Christian world but the news is too good for us to be too confident of its permanence. The Romish see has fre. quently been in danger, and has revived. The imposture may be contihued, though Rome is not the head of it; and it is confidently reported, that steps have been taken to resist the intentions of Buonaparte, and to prevent his measures, if he was really resolved to put down popery, from having their desired effect. Conscious of his weakness, and fearing that farther violence might be offered to his person, the pope, before the decree was executed of dismissing his cardinals, called them together in conclave. He there represented to them the dangers of the church, and the only means he saw of preserving it in these difficulties. What he proposed was his immediate abdication of the popedom, and the election of a new pope. The cocclave convinced of the propriety of this step, as ented to it unanimously; accepted his abdication, and immediately went through the usual forms, and elected unanimously cardinal Pignatalli, archbishop of Palermo. Pignatelli at this time was, and is now out of the reach of the French. He is in Sicily, and may there, under the protection of the Sicilian monarch and the English forces, exercise his spiritual powers. But, supposing the election to be fairly made, it will be some time before the news of it can spread through the deluded world which acknowledges a vicar of Christ on earth; and the new vicar will certainly fail very short of the splendour and dignity of his prede cessors. It may happen, that the new pretended holiness, may be compelled to take refuge in England, and whatever abhorrence we feel for his doctrines, we should certainly entertain no aversion to his person. He may find in this kingdom ministers, as attached to unscriptural traditions, as he is to his pretended infallibility. time, in which he must exert every effort to retain his power. But the catholic cabinets of Europe are no longer swayed by popish principles: the Irish has been completely found out, and the Spaniards and the Portuguese are the only nations, completely under this wretched infatuation. Spain exhibits at the present moment a wonderful sight. A nation is in arms to recover its liber. ties. It has drawn the sword and thrown aside the scabbard. After the French emperor had succeeded in getting into his possession the two last kings, the father and the son, and had published their abdication of the crown in his favour, and called together a junta, or general assembly of the grandees of Spain at Bayonne, naming his brother to be the new king, nothing was felt in Spain but the strongest indignation: juntas or committees were held in different provinces and districts: proclamations were issued for the arming of the inhabitants: and in an instant the whole population of the country by the sea-side seemed to be animated by one spirit, and the utter extirpation of the French appeared to be inevitable. The first grand exploit was at Cadiz, where was lying a fleet of French men of war. Our squadron was at the mouth of the harbour, proffering its assistance for the scizure of the French ships, which was refused by the Spaniards, who in a few days obtained their ends, seized the ships, and conveyed the crews ashore as prisoners. Peace was declared with England, and war with Buonaparte. Engagements have taken place. In one the Spania ds were com pelled to retreat, but afterwards got the better of the enemy, and at this moment the news is expected with impatience, that Dupont at the head of a large army has either surrendered or been cut to pieces. Nothing, it should seem, can prevent the final success of the Spaniards. They have issued a paper called Precautions, in which the wisest plan is laid down for the rescuing of the country from foreign yoke. Every district of two thousand inhabitants is to enrol its armed force and to be prepared to act under the orders of a higher district, and so on. A general engagement is The policy of this measure of the to be avoided, and every step is to be French emperor has been much called taken to harrass the enemy, by cutting in question, and his usual sagacity is off his supplies, and hanging on his ar said to have failed him in this critical my, wherever he marches. Generals VOL. III. 3 * priests, and so long without the true information to be derived from the scriptures, that they do not see the wretched state, into which they are fallen, and how far such conduct keeps them from the advantages of the gospel. We may judge of their state, from what happened not many years ago to a Spaniard in England, to whom a gentleman, whom he accidentally met in a stage coach, made a present of an elegant New Testament in the Spanish language. The Spaniard received the book with many thanks: read it over with great satisfaction: but just before he returned to Spain, called on the donor, and after assuring him how much he had been gratified by the perusal of so extraordinary and so instructive a work, begged leave to restore it to him, as he did not dare to carry it with him into Spain: for should any of his neighbours or his servants see it in his possession, it would be the ruin of him and all his family. How thankful then ought Englishmen to be, that they have the New Testament in their own language! they can read it when they please, and it is their own fault, if they submit their understandings to the traditions of any priests or minister, instead of receiving with re verence the pure word of God, and making that alone the rule of their faith and doctrine. have been appointed. The young king been so long under the dominion of proclaimed, and every thing is executed under his orders. But with this active energy the vilest superstition is united. Appeals are made in their proclamations to their blasphemies and abominations, the mother of God, and the glorious image of the virgin, and the relics of their patron saints. If this may serve to inflame the passions, it shews into how degraded a state the character of Spain has fallen. Their accursed system of allowing one religion only in their country, of subjecting to the tortures of the Inquisition the inquiring mind, has produced its full effects: and it is a doubtful point, to whom the next generation will be most indebted, whether to Buonaparte and his new constitution, or the present Spaniards with their inveterate prejudices. One thing however seems certain. Torrents of blood will be shed before the conflict is over. Spain must undergo a complete political and moral revolution. The country had been so ill governed, that no common measures could restore it to the rank it ought to hold in society Such is the fate of man, that if he prefers folly to wisdom, he must either in himself or his successors pay the penalty. The Bourbons had effected the complete ruin of the Cortes, just as their cousins in France had gotten the better of its parliaments. How shortsighted is tyranny! By these bodies they could better have effected their purposes and retained a dominion equally injurious to their subjects, but less odi ous for themselves. Whilst the Spaniards have been forming associations for the defence of their country, Buonaparte has been employed with their grandees, in framing a constitution for it. The first article of it is evidently made to suit the prejudices of a bigoted and ignorant people. It states, that the Romish religion shall not only be the sole religion of the country, but that not any other religion shall be tolerated. This is a decisive proof of the melancholy state of this unhappy country. Whatever may be the crimes of the French monarch, he would not from himself impose such a horrible decree on any nation. It is the people that wish it. It is the people that are so ab ect, so degraded, so lost to every good feeling of Christianity, that they wish for this badge of servitude and ignominy to remain among them. But this cannot be wondered at. They have If the first article of the new con stitution for Spain is bad, some points in it are beneficial to the country, and will be adopted by whichever party gains the day. These are the removal of the barriers to the extremities of the kingdom, and thus opening a fiec trade between province and province: the establishment of an uniform system of justice: the determination that every man's house shall be his castle: the abo lition of local tribunals with peculiar privileges, under which the Inquisition is most probably intended to be abolish ed; and the prospect of enjoying the freedom of the press. If this constitu tion should not be accepted, and the Spanish patriots should gain the day, they will in their Cortes form a constitution for themselves. The name of Ferdinand will serve for a time; and should he ever return, his government will be limited by some good regula. tions, and Spain will emerge from its disgraces. By the last accounts they have stood the shock of arms with the French, and obtained over then most signal victories, but we want intelligence on the conduct of the French, and the measures pursued by them, for the establishment of their power. Portugal is also roused. A day of superstition has brought them forward. The catholics have a feast, which they call the feast of God or that of the body of Christ, on which day they are accustomed to carry in procession through the streets of their cities their various abominations, such as dead men's bones in shrines of silver and gold, golden and silver images, and their god of paste or flour, which are religiously reverenced by every person: and not to be on one's knees, when the wafer god passes by, is esteemed to be a very great impiety and a profanation of the day. On this day the French standard appeared in the procession at Oporto. The people were indignant. Their passions were raised. They seized the arms in the town, drove the French out of it, organized a new government, issued proclamations, and are pre paring to extirpate the French in their vicinity. At Lisbon the fear of the French has kept the populace under: but the news is daily expected, that our fleet off the Tagus will enter the river, seize the Russian squadron, and assisting the inhabitants, free them entirely from the French yoke. The prince regent has been proclaimed at Oporto, and every thing is done under his auspices: but the clergy seem to have very great sway, and however useful they may be in exciting the people, they are scarcely able to conduct them through a very difficult contest. The result of the whole is in the hands of Providence, who will conduct it to its destined end: but we cannot imagine, that the fine peninsula between the Atlantic, the Pyrennes and the Mediterranean, shall be doomed to groan for fu ture years under a pernicious despotism and a degrading superstition. In the North strange things have appeared. A great British force has been sent out to Sweden. but has returned without having be. landed. Disputes have arisen, and the king of Sweden is supposed not only to be displeased with us, but likely to fall into the measures of Russia. Of course the Baltic will be shut up against the English. The reasons of this conduct remain to be developed. At any rate Sweden will probably be a loser in Finland, and its king will have enough to do to satisfy his people for the sacrifices he has compelled them to make in this disastrous war. Strange are the events of the times! England commenced its career by uniting with the monarchs of Eu rope against the people of France: she is likely to see them all united against herself, and her only allies will be the people of Spain and Portugal, fighting for their liberty and independence. OBITUARY. Rev. Joseph Bradford. The death of the Rev. JOSEFH BRADFORD, aged 67, at Hull, was attended with circumstances that made a great impression on his numerous acquaintance and friends in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland. In consequence of several paralytic seizures, he had, for more than six months, been reduced to a state of mental imbecility, which did not admit of his supporting a rational conversation and at times of knowing his local situation. In the morning of Saturday, May 28th, he rose early, leaving Mrs. Bradford in bed, and with a razor, which unfortunately happened to lie on the chimney-piece in the kitchen, cut his throat in a most shocking manner, and was found fallen on the floor dead. Mr. Bradford was in very high re putation in the Methodist connexion; the esteemed friend of the late Rev. John Wesley, and for many years his travelling companion. Not distinguished by any brilliancy of genius, or claim to literary acquirements, he was a man "taking him all in all, that we shall not soon look on his like again." His piety was sincere, and if not free from the taint of superstition and enthusiasm, the fervency of it did not evaporate in long and loud prayers, |