THE MOUSE’S PETITION.
Found in the crop wh^re he hod been confin’d
'' > all night.
.'Parcere^fubjc^ff, firclebellcrefaperbos.-—Virg,
t . . '
‘ Oh! hear a pehfivc prifoiiet’s prayer,
For fiheny tfia^ 1
And never let th'^e ninrt be (hut
.Agaiull the^invti^i’t cries. •
>For here fad 1 lit, -- —. 5
Wthmtlre wiiygijic;
And tremble f approacliing mpm,
Which bniig^impending fiate.' ‘
.’.rr’: ... ,
If eVr.thy.UwolV^ich'fceedom glow’d,
Ai^ /purnVl ai tyrant s chain., ^
Lft not thy ftvongo]^elfive force i
A free Ham asoufo detaiu. ■ ^
4 ■ ^ t . t ■ • *
'Oh ! do not (Iain with guilcle/s blood
Thy. ho())italde ibearth ;'
Nor*triumph thy wiley betray’d
A pnze fo little worth. . . i ,
The (catter^d gleanings of a feaR;
My li ugal meali lupply }
Bm if ihine unrelenting heart
That ilender bopn deny.
The cheerful light, the vital air.
Are blefihigs widely given ;
Let nature’s commoner’s enjoy
The common gillft of heaven.
The well tanghr philolbphic mind
To all cumpailioii gives »
Calls rpund the world an equal eye, •
And feels for all that lives.
If mind, as ancient fiiges tanght,-
A never dying flame.
Still fhifts thro’ matter’s vaiying forms,
III every form the fame : • •
Beware, left in the worm you crufli,
A brother’s fbnl you find ,•
And tre/nhle, left I'liy luckiefs hand-
Diflodge a kindred mind.
• I
If ^his traufient gleam of day -
Be all of life wefoare,
Let pity plead withui thy breaft
Th^liule all to fpaie.
So.may tliy hofpitable board '
With health and.peace be crown’d •
And every charm of hean-felt rafe
Beneath thy roof be found.
/
So when deftruftion larks emreen,
Wh^ich men, like mice, mav fliaie,
nlay (nine kind an^el clear thy path
And break the hidden ftiare!
time, the pop ,
are formed j political ideas concenter lUem-
ftlves, the patriotic party unite and., more
clofely coTinetft themfelves; they gain a for”
raldable msjoriiy in the legiflature ; the abafe*
m.ent.of cpntnierce, the flavery of navigation,
and the audacity of England, ftrengthen it.
A^edneert-of declarations and cenfures againft
the government arires: at which thf latter is
•yen itfelf aftonipied.
. 9- ^.‘*9.li,was tb*e (ituation of things towards
the cjofe of the laft and at the beginniiig of
t!^ prefent year. Let .ns pafs o^cr thedif-
contents whjclvwere.moft generally exprefl’sd
in tbefc critical moments, They, haye been
font to you ai.different pifrioils, and in detail.
every quarter are arraigneil the imbecility
OT the goverpf^nt towards Gryac-Britain,
the defencelefs ftate of the country againft
poflible invafions, the coldncfs towards thp
French republic : tlie fyftem of finance is at”
which threatens, eternizing the debt.
P*'Ctext of maHing it the guaranty of
public Jiappinefi ; riie complication of that
fyftem which lyirhholds from general infpe^
tjon pll its operations—t]ic alarming ^wer qf
tke ipjlaence it procures to a man wliofc prin
ciples are regarded as dangerous^ the prepbd-
qerance which that man acquires fi pm if ay tp
^y in public meafurea, and in a Word the
immoral and iaipblitic modes of taxation
———— ^———- • *
STOBY OF THE COUNT DE SAINT
‘'JULIEN-
Thc count de Saint julien was defoended
from a very ancient family j and was only at
the age of twenty, when the death of his fa
ther made him nrafter of A cvnfiderable fum
of money, and of an ellate in Dauphine,
which might havp ropponed him in the fame
affluent manner his anceftors had lived in,,
had not an utiboinided love of pleaforc taken
an early poilcffion ot his heart. Dauphine
became fbon too confined a fpliere for him to
move in, the diflipation^ of Paris better fuited
the gaiety of his temper, where his figure,
hi.s expence, and his lively pans quickly in
troduced him into the poliFcit afleniblics. He
was brilliant in all places oi public refort,
oftentatious in his gallantries, and was ad
mitted to many of the petits foupics of the
efprits forts ; which are coteries, conipofed
of. witf and free thinkers, wlio have tfM>
much van^ to agree in the received notions
of uianki^ ; but by their art, and the plea,
fantry of their ridicule, often operate too
powei fully on weak minds, by undermining
die good principles they may have imbilied,
and fubftjtutlng their own {>etnicious ones ill
. their place.
Saint julteii had fbon after his arri^-al at
Paris, t^en an Italian figure dancer of the
opera into keeping ; who bore hifii one fbn
wh6m.be named Frederic j-r-a youth of fine
parts, formed by nature with great fonfibiliiy,
and with a mind fo happily difpofed, as might
have rendered him a wortfiy and (hining cha
racter, h^d rot all ihefc advantages l>ecii
oveVfhadowed by a falle education, and their
n ovements con tipted by the bad example of
a father, who having, in a long courfe of
d'lfipated connet^tions loft his own moraks,
gave himfelf Tittle concern about iliofe of his
foM conceiving that the exterior accom-
plifliinehts of a gentleman, comprehend every
thing that was molt material to carry him
fnccersfolly through the world. The infide
lity of Saint julien's niiftrefs in a few years
totally difiuUed xhe attachment; and Frcde-
ric, by the time he attained the age of nine»
teen, became a coinpaiiicin to his father in all
his vices, and was likewife ercouiaged in fuch
as be had a propenfiry to hiinfelf—the dig
nity of a parent being as much forgotten by
the one, as the refpea ot a fbn was bv the
other.
Pleafore and extravagance gradually wade
the ampleft fonuiie. The count’s had, dur-
ing die twenty lour years he had quitted
Dauphine, been annually decreafingnor
^^^w*-** oi his expemes, have
lafted fo long, but for his abhorrence of every
kind of play j and had not fbme beneficial
^iieftsfrom deceafetl relaiimis, reterded it’s
difiolution. He conftantly expended far more
than his income, and his cftaic had dwindled
away by fales of an hundred acres at a time,
till nccefliiy compelietl him to abridge many
of bis expences. The contratft for the old
family manfion, with all the remaining land
about It, was juft compleaicd, and the four
t.ioufand luuis d’ors, which the purchafe
amounted ,to, paid into his banker's hands,
when the foMowing event gave a new turn to
his life and fortunes. ^
Among les filles entretenues, there was at
that time at Paris the Clairville, who then
lived under the protecftioii of one of the far
mer s general, whom I fhall fpeak of by the
name of d’Avignon. She was a woman of
imich lieaury and great intrigue ; but by her
add refs, conftantly flattered his vanity and
weaknefs ; and by the fuccefs of her art. kept
her gallantries concealed from hioi. Saint
At u T Mot.
sf certatt? a
ft»nlei- begged him ^ ’’r-
fuch were to be
Initcii had made repeated overtures to this
lady, and h.ad l,ccn treated by her with a dif-
daiii ^s pi ide could not brook; fhc had how
ever beftowed a more favourable look on his
foi^ whom (he had met in the Tliuilleries,
and frequently had converled with; and
ti|y>reflion&>n her hearr; 1^k>rWf|^e
was ft.ll an amiablenefs of cluraaeTabmit
nLfs .^flumed air of Hcentiouf-
Sni' 'I’*”®*** '>at rrwleric, romin. one even-
Clairvuu'f '*'* r'"*,"*'' found the
■ fre fi”L“r of the thea-
'on, ^ ‘•*® i which by fonie
‘he carriages wa, prerem^
^ ' heoffeTt'o"? T
of lialf an 'cr jafe out;—and the refult
was « a^poLTmenSh""
marquerile wTJr,! “>e
after wh»r!a n ^ nights
> *‘®>*ee»»e him to undcillamlnie
at the famrjlll,’ ft
from'p '““W
by
eompliniment of a S?"? ib, i
*0 communicate to him the*"’ “'’*4
""y he wa* engaged in
hit acenftomed tamiliari,;'/'‘"ftn
»he^aff.gi,ation he lad
trefli poignancy, from ek
high fpirit luffered by tht^n,
Frederic ; he however fe k
himfelf, as not to aDDc! ft
pofed, and advifed him
luc the affair. ^ ^ ®caij| |
When a father is fo •
ronie a riTal to his fon
nature, it argnei a miJ r " ““"'t
»toreqnire'l„.tli„re™i‘‘'''’>’'j4
the deipicable meanneft ofTe"
ing this occafion to revenoJk^
man, and by expoOng herisliT’^
non, rum her power-nl,- ?''
oi hispaflion fmcfeei^Mh":?®"
thatm.ghtliappen,ohUfo„”;“
The farmer oenera]
mous letter, whfeh hinted 10^®
next niafquerade might dif '
fefled tl.el.red,i.„roffe
J* -’oobtrd for
be niould pay any attention j,,,
Intt jealoufy „ a paffion enfil,
meti ot ‘Irhanehedcharadier,.;,/
dominant ,n advanced yean. Pe,
his intended journey; but took cj
hack to Pans time enough to be i
the maiqnerade At be k, ij^,,
‘ \ he might h, fc
aflentbly have probably*,e,„tn,d
finding her, had he not, after mow
hours of anaious fearcb, at M d
her, by means of lone jeaels in
which he had prefented l.er wiih
He faw her whole- attemion ci^cj
gentleman who was with her, cbfei
foe converfed with no other, anJ
little reafon to fcruple the iiitelUcen
received. He watched them vith es
and rage, the whole night, till ik
ball ; nor loft fishi of her, ti'
her enter with her gallant ti e bcuii
for her. The fervaius obferving; a
low almoft iinmediaiel) their miilrel
friend, cone]tided it to be one ot tli
—but the inftant that d’Avijpcn hac
the garden apartment, which was I
fupper room, and whither Ibe had 0
her lover-, he threw them both info
nioft conftemation, by difeoverirg li
them ; with ungoventable paffion re]
the lady for her irconftaiicy; r"'*'’’’
fword, which he had couceaii
drefs, ran with fury upon h
Frederic throwing off his oa
foized one of d’Avignon’srwnf
hung with a hat and belt, in th
they |Were ; and thus armed, 11
deavour to appeafe his antagoni
but the other pi effing on him
nicnce which would liften to
the unfncccfsful youth four)d
pelled to defend bis own lift
rencounter mortally wounded tl
neral. Clairville fell in s fwo
deric fled inftantly out of thf
that precipitance and perturbatK
ever be natural to fo unlmppy^
This unfortunate event bapi
in the morning, d’Avignon die
many hours. Though Saint ju
in idea, the fccret triumph whu
gem gave him over a woman,
toward him had provoked fon
fentmen?; yet he apprehended
cefs ntr^er refult, than her di |
conceiving that from foch a c
d’Avignon had with her, any
would have ftimulatcd him, to
arm of age to the vigour or .^0^
himfelf, however, when the ti
no means in an eafy fituation--t
fafpenfe, between ho|« ?•* .;
alarmed for the difficuln^ tn
poffibly have of
alfo that the
general, when he fhonld Wo
fopplanted him in the ^
trJfs, might be highly
future interefts of Freden -
(Tc
be Ci