"This is indeed a festal day,

"A day that heals my cares and pains,
"Drives death and danger far away,

And tells me Cæfar lives and reigns."

-

Though my friend in his last moments hath in this and other inftances been fo confiderate of our happiness, I am afraid he is not likely to leave our morals much better than he found them I cannot fay that in the course of my duty as an Observer any very striking inftance of amendment hath come under my notice; and though I have all the difpofition in life to speak as favourably in my friend's behalf as truth will let me, I am bound to confefs he was not apt to think fo feriously of his latter end as I could have wifhed: there was a levity in his conduct, which he took no pains to conceal; he did not feem to reflect upon the lapfe of time, how fpeedily his fpring, fummer, and autumn would pass away and the winter of his days come upon him; like Wolfey he was not aware how foon the froft, the killing froft would nip his root: he was however a gay convivial fellow, loved his bottle and his friend, paffed his time peaceably amongst us, and certainly merits the good word of every loyal fubject in this kingdom.

As for his proceedings in other countries, it

is not here the reader must look for an account of them; politics have no place in these volumes; but it cannot be denied that he has made many widows and orphans in Europe, been an active agent for the court of death, and dipped his hands deep in Chriftian and Mahometan blood. By the friends of freedom he will be celebrated to the latest time. He has begun a bufinefs, which, if followed up by his fucceffor with equal zeal, lefs ferocity and more difcretion, may lead to wonderful revolutions: there are indeed fome inftances of cruelty, which beat hard upon his character; if feparately viewed; they admit of no palliation; in a general light, allowances may be made for that phrensy, which feizes the mind, when impelled to great and arduous undertakings; when the wound is gangrened the incifion must be deep, and if that is to be done by coarfe inftruments and unfkilful hands, who can wonder if the gash more resembles the ftab of an affaffin than the operation of a furgeon? An æra is now opened, awful, interesting and so involved in mystery, that the acuteft fpeculation cannot penetrate to the issue of it: In fhort, my friend in his last moments hath put a vaft machine in motion, and left a tafk to futurity, that will demand the ftrongest hands

and

and ableft heads to compleat: in the mean time I shall hope that my countrymen, who have all those bleffings by inheritance, which lefs-favoured nations are now ftruggling to obtain by force, will fo ufe their liberty, that the reft of the world, who are not fo happy, may think it an object worth contending for, and quote our peace and our profperity as the beft proofs exifting of its real value.

Whilft my thoughts have been thus employed in reflecting upon the laft day of an ever-memorable year, I have compofed a few elegiac lines to be thrown into the grave, which time is now opening to receive his reliques.

"The year's gay verdure, all its charms are gone,
"And now comes old December chill and drear,
"Dragging a darkling length of evening on,
"Whilft all things droop, as Nature's death were near,

"Time flies amain with broad-expanded wings,
"Whence never yet a fingle feather fell,

But holds his fpeed, and through the welkin rings, "Of all that breathe, the inexorable knell,

"Oh! for a moment ftop-a moment's space
For recollection mercy might concede,
A little paufe for man's unthinking race
To ponder on that world, to which they speed,

"But, 'tis in vain ; old Time difdains to rest,
"And moment after moment flits along,
"Each with a fting to pierce the idler's breast,
"And vindicate its predeceffor's wrong.

"Though the new-dawning year in its advance
"With hope's gay promife may entrap the mind,
"Let memory give one retrospective glance
"Through the bright period, which it leaves behind.

Æra of mercies! my wrapt bofom springs
"To meet the tranfport recollection gives;
"Heaven's angel comes with healing on his wings;
"He shakes his plumes, my country's father lives.

"The joyful tidings o'er the diftant round
"Of Britain's empire the four winds proclaim,
"Her fun-burnt islands swell th' exulting found,
"And fartheft Ganges echoes George's name.

"Period of blifs! can any British muse
"Bid thee farewell without a parting tear?
"Shall the historian's gratitude refuse
"His brightest page to this recorded year?

"Thou Freedom's nurfing mother shalt be ftil'd,
The glories of its birth are all thine own,
Upon thy breafts hung th' Herculean child,
"And tyrants trembled at its baby frown.

"A fanguine mantle the dread infant wore,
"Before it roll'd a ftream of human blood;
"Smiling it ftood, and, pointing to the shore,
"Beckon'd the nations from across the flood.

"Then

"Then at that awful fight, as with a spell,
"The everlasting doors of death gave way,
"Prone to the duft Oppreffion's fortress fell,
"And refcu'd captives hail'd the light of day.

"Meanwhile Ambition chac'd its fairy prize
"With moonftruck madness down the Danube's ftream,
"The Turkish crefcent glittering in its eyes,
"And loft an empire to pursue a dream.

"The trampled ferpent (Superftition) wreath'd "Her feft'ring fcales with anguish to and fro, "Torpid fhe lay, then darting forward sheath'ḍ "Her deadly fangs in the unguarded foe.

Oh Auftria! why so prompt to venture forth,
"When fate now hurries thee to life's last goal?
"Thee too, thou crowned eagle of the north,
"Death's dart arrefts, though tow'ring to the pole.

"Down then, Ambition; drop into the grave!
"And by thy follies be this maxim shewn-
'Tis not the monarch's glory to enslave
"His neighbour's empire, but to bless his own.

"Come then, fweet Peace! in Britain fix thy reign,
"Bid Plenty smile, and Commerce croud her coaft;
"And may this ever-blessed year remain

"Her king's, her people's and her mufe's boast."