course, acquitted; if, said the enraged and disappointed tyrant, his neck were as thick as an ox's, I would have his head. He called, therefore, together twelve peasants, and forming a square with four spears, into which they entered, (an odd jury box,) he forbade them to separate till they should have agreed to their verdict upon Oxe. The peasants, perplexed what to do, returned a special verdict which would have done no discredit to a jury of Jesuits-"We cannot try him," said they, "when his own confessions have already_condemned him." This was enough for Christiern, and poor Oxe did lose his head accordingly.-Frer. ix. 54. V. That madman Rousseau wrote to a farce called Narcissus a preface as full of the most absurd self-love, as the story for philosophy, he says, "In labour- MR EDITOR, HORE CANTABRIGIENSES. No IV. Academicae Luctus, et Gratulationes. It has often struck me, that an interesting article might be supplied from the neglected (and, in some instances, rare) volumes, known generally by the titles Luctus and Gratulationes, of the two English Universities. From long desuetude it has now become matter of history, that these learned bodies were accustomed during nearly two centuries-for I cannot trace the practice to a remoter date to celebrate every event, sad or sprightly, which could be supposed to interest the nation or it's chief magistrate. An accession; a royal marriage; the birth, or the decease, of a prince or a princess; the recovery, restoration, or return of a sovereign; the successes of a war, or the conclusion of a peace; the restitution of a public library; nay, the deaths even of illustrious or ingenious subjects-Sir Philip Sidney, Mr Camden, Mr Edward King (Lycidas), General Monk, Sir Bevill Grenvill, or Dr Radcliffe elicited the melodious tears," or the not less melodious smiles, of the Cambridge* and Oxford muses. My own shelves furnish almost all those of the following dates: 1. 1586. Death of Sir Philip Sidney.Acad. Cant. Lacrymæ, per A. Nevyllum. 1587. -Peplus, &c. Oxon. 1587. -Exequiæ, &c. Oxon. 1589. 2. 3. www 4. 1603. Accession of James I.-Acad. Oxon. Pietas, &c. 5. 1612. Death of Henry Prince of Wales.-Epicedium Cant. &c. 6. 1619. 7. 1624. Queen Anne-Lacrymæ Cant. &c. William Camden.-Camdeni Insignia, &c. Oxon. 8. 1633. Birth of Duke of York.-Vitis Carolina Genma altera, &c. ad vada Isidis. 9. 1637. a Princess.-Zvvadia Musarum Cant. &c. 10. Death of Edward King. Justa Edouardo King, &c. Cant. 1638. 11. 1641. Return of Charles I. from Scotland.-Irenodia Cant. &c. -Eucharistica Oxon. &c. 12. * America herself, in at least one instance, has not disdained to copy the mother-island. In 1761 appeared, from the Boston press, in an elegantly printed volume, upon the subject of the Accession, "Pietas et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis (Harvard College, Cambridge) apud Novanglos." It's dedication, as contrasted with the grounds of the rupture which a few years afterward severed the two countries, supplies an additional instance, if indeed any such be wanting, of the short-sightedness of man. One passage, however, with an unconscious equivoque affirms, that "the commencing reign will form a new æra for North America!" "All the compositions, thirty-one in number, with the exception of that of the President, are anonymous; though some of them would not have disgraced a scholar. 13. Marriage of Prince of Orange and Princess Mary.-Пgoria Anglo-Batava, 14. 1643. Return of Queen from Holland.-Musarum Oxon. Exibarngia, &c. 17. -Musarum Oxon. Examoogia, &c. Genti Togatæ ad vada 18. 1660. Restoration.-Acad. Cant. Ewsga, &c. 19. Death of Duke of Gloucester.-Épicedia Acad. Oxon. &c. 20. 1669. 21. 16:0. 22. 23. 1671. Queen Dowager Henrietta.-Threni Cant. &c. Anne, Duchess of York.-Epicedia Cant. &c. 24. 1677. Marriage of Prince of Orange and Princess Mary-Epithalamium Cant, &c. 25. 1683. Marriage of George of Denmark and Princess Anne.-Hymenæus Cant. 26. 1685. Accession of James II.-Mœstissimæ ac Lætissimæ Acad. Cant. &c. 27. -Supplex Recognitio, &c. et Pietas Acad. Oxon. &c. 28. 1688. Birth of Duke of Cornwall. Genethliacon, &c. Cant. 29. 1695. Death of Queen Mary.-Lacrymæ Cant. &c. 30. -Pietas Univ. Oxon. &c. 31. 1697. Return of William III. after Peace of Ryswick.-Gratulatio Acad. Cant. &c. 32. 1700. Death of Duke of Gloucester.-Threnodia Acad. Cant. &c. 33. 1702. Accession of Anne.-Acad. Cant. Carmina, &c. 34. 35. -Pietas Univ. Oxon. &c. et Gratulatio, &c. -Comitia Philologica in Honorem Annæ, &c. Oxon. 36. 1704. National Successes.-Plausus Musarum, &c. Oxon. www. 37. 1714 Accession of George I.-Mœstissimæ ac Lætissimæ Acad. Cant. Carmina, &c. 38. -Pietas Univ. Oxon. &c. et Gratulatio, &c. 39. 1715. Death of Dr Radcliffe.-Exequiæ, &c. Oxon. 40. 1727. Accession of George II.-Luctus Acad. Cant. &c. et Gaudia, &c. 41. 1733. Marriage of Prince of Orange and Princess Anne-Gratulatio Acad. Cant. &c. Frederick Prince of Wales. 42. 1736. 43. 1738. Death of Queen Caroline.-Pietas Acad. Cant. &c. 45. 1751................ Frederick Prince of Wales.-Epicedia Acad. Cant. &c. 46. Oxoniensia, &c. 47. 1755. Restitution of Public Library.-Carmina ad Thomam Holles, &c. Cant. 50. 1761. Marriage of George III.-Gratulatio Acad. Cant. &c. 51. -Epithalamium Acad. Oxon. &c. 52. 1762. Birth of George Prince of Wales.-Gratulatio Acad. Cant. &c. Solennis Acad. Öxon. &c. 53. 54. 1763. Peace of Paris.--Gratulatio Acad. Cant. &c. Beside these, however, (and in general it may be observed, that upon most of these occasions, except where the subject was strictly local, both universities came forward) others were published-in 1631, on a royal Birth; in the year following, on the King's Recovery from illness; on the Peace of Westphalia, I believe, in 1648; and, a century afterward, on that of Aix-la-Chapelle : with several more in 1691, 1708, &c. &c. which stronger memories, or wealthier libraries, will supply. † In some of the above are found the names of Herbert, Crashaw, Cowley, Milton, Locke, Barrow, Prior, Bentley, Jortin, and Gray-an illustrious decade! But such names, alas! are only the rari nantes in gurgite vasto, and even Gray's hexameters, in 1736, were not deemed worthy, by his friend and editor, of being preserved from the common fate. "Adulatory verses of this kind (Mr Mason observes), however well written, deserve not to be transmitted to posterity; and, indeed, are usually buried, as they ought to be, in the trash with which they are surrounded. Every person, who feels himself a poet, ought to be above prostituting his powers on such occasions; and extreme youth (as was the case with Gray, then *It was upon this, or the preceding similar occasion, that the Epigram" While Cam and Isis, &c." made its appearance. Luctus Britannici," on the Death of Dryden (fol. Lond. 1700), because it is not exclusively academical. I have not named the twenty) is the only thing that can apologise for his having done it." Yet the compliments, or condolences, of Cowley and Marvell have been printed in their respective works; and the double-tongued Duport, with his inexhaustible urn, which (like that of the witty and unprincipled Dr South) flowed even during the Protectorate, when more loyal tongues were silent, fills nearly half his "Musæ Subsecivæ"* with verses of this description. Notwithstanding the protest of Mason, indeed who himself however both wrote, and reprinted what he wrote, (Il Pacifico) upon the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, at the age of twenty-three, I feel assured that one interesting duodecimo might be formed, by a judicious selector, out of these numerous quartos and folios. Tantula sunt vatum corpuscula! Neither is it unpleasant, even in less polished compositions, to mark the cloud-streaked east, which announces the coming day; and to observe, that Cowley from the first was quaint, and Milton sublime, and Barrow copious. Here we see embryo judges and bishops, secretaries of state and prime ministers themselves, first imping their wings for loftier flights. It is occasionally, also, not without it's uses to biography; nor will it pass without a smile from the reader, that the two eventful years of 1688 and 1715 are here only celebrated for the birth of the Pretender and the death of Dr Radcliffe!! Since the year 1763, however, as if the frequency of the recent demand had exhausted the academical Hippocrene, great events of various kinds have passed without receiving any poetical notice from either university. The almost unprecedented fecundity of the queen, which, from the speedy recurrence of births, must have drained the imaginations of the most inventive-the pacification with America-his majesty's illness in 1788, and his recovery-the marriage of the Prince of Wales-the truce of Amiens-the imperial visitTrafalgar, and Waterloo-and (last, not least) the death of the Princess Charlotte and her royal infant-what a succession of subjects! But the public, it may be apprehended, have lost little by the discontinuance of the customs in question; and as little the poets themselves. The verses were frequently composed, no doubt, by the school-fellows or friends of those under whose names they appeared; and time has abundantly repaid the generosity of the writer, for what was regarded perhaps at the moment as a sacrifice, by leaving his own name undiscoverable. Such, we must admit, is their general character, that if public records and parish-registers had not come in timely aid of college-numbers, the "sacred bard," in a large plurality of instances, it is to be feared, would have failed to protect his subject from the long night" of oblivion. Exercises of this kind, however, are now presumptively at an end; and Laureates and Academies will hereafter, probably for ever, be spared the necessity of crying, Poscimur. Before I conclude, I will throw together the names of a few of the lofty or learned contributors upon each occasion; marking, by italics, such as recur also in subsequent years. Mere heads of houses, noblemen, &c., the "mob of gentlemen" scholars, are of course omitted. No. 4. 1603. J. Howson, Th. Ravis, J. Rainold, and Rich. Kilby (all translators of the Bible) Geo. Abbats (for so the Archbishop, then Dean of Winchester, spelled his name) Henry Marten, Lord Wentworth, aged 11, and his brother, aged 8! Rich. Carpenter, Jac. Cooke, Geo. Hakewill, Arthur Duck, J. Leynthal, Rich. Corbett, Thos. Cooper, Geo. Webbe, J. Prideaux, E. Coles, and J. Hamden. It may be noticed, as a striking fact, that the Oxford University-press at this time wanted types for a third line of Hebrew-typographo deerant characteres! p. 10. 5. 1612. Andr. Downe (Tr.), Jos. Blaxton, Rich. Moundeford,-Balcanquall, GEO. HERBERT (the divine), Fra. White, Theoph. Wodenote, and Dens. Holles This was the era of chronograms and acrostichs, mesostichs, &c. 6. 1619. J. Hacket, Edm. Dickinson, Dudley North, Norton Knatchbull, James Willett, Ralph Winterton, and Abr. Whelock. Anagrams were now very general. In my copy, however, which formerly belonged Ex dono, &c., to his friend Professor Widdrington, along with a copy of remuneratory verses, is candidly inserted the following paragraph:-J. Duportus clarissimi, cujusque vitam egregiis carminibus exornat, ut sciamus ipsum plurimis virtutibus abundasse, qui alienas sic amavit. VOL. VI. G 7. 1624. Br. Twyne, Sidn. Godolphin, Will. Strode, Hen. Elsynge, Car. Deodati, and In the collections of 1631, 1632, 1633, and 1637 occur the contributions 8. 1638. Brian Duppa, J. Rous, W. Cartwright, Rob. Waring, Geo. Ashwell, J. 9. 1637. Tho. Comber, Hen. Fern, James Duport, P. Samways, Hen. More, J. Sherman, Ralph Widdrington, Ed. Rainbowe, J. Wallis, Th. Norton, Ed. Penruddoke, And. Marvell, RICH. CRASHAW, and ABR. COWLEY. 10. 1637. Tho. Farnaby, J. Cleveland, and J. MILTON (Lycidas).' 11. 1641. Rich. Sterne, Edw. Dering, W. Dillingham, Ja. Tabor, Ralph Cudworth, Abr. Cowley, and Oliver St. John. 12. 13. A. Woodhead, E. Gayton, T. Tullie, Hen. Vaughan, and J. Fell. 14. 1643. Dudley Diggs. 15. 1643. Ric. Baylie, Tho. Lamplugh, Hen. Harington, and Pet. Wyche. The Oxford verses often conclude with a copy by Leon. Lichfield, the Univer- 16. 1654. J. Arrowsmith, B. Whichcot, Fra. Glisson, Tho. Fuller, and Geo. Bright. Ailmer. 18. 1660. W. Disney, and ISAAC BARROW (and in the three ensuing numbers). 19. Edw. Pocock, J. Dolben, J. Speed, Fra. Turner, and Steph. Penton. 20. 1669. J. Pearson, J. Spencer, and T. Gale. 21. 1670. J. Battely, R. Garth, L. Milbourne, and Leo. Welstead. 22. R. Creyghton, W. Saywell, T. Gataker, and Nat. Lee. 23. 1671. T. W. (oolston ?) and J. Byrom. 24. 1677. R. Duke, Jos. Barnes, J. Glanvill, W. Fleetwood, and J. Hartcliffe. 25. 1683. Rob. Jenkin, Matt. Scrivener, and H. Gore. 26. 1685. Geo. Harbin, Charles Dryden, Geo. Stepney, Hen. Wharton, Tho. Johnson, 27. 28. 1688. Bevill Higgons. 29. 1695. J. Covel, And. Snape, Fra. Hare, Rich. Cumberland, Tho. Sherlock, J. Trevor, A. Blackwell, James Upton, Will. Shippen, W. Willymot, Cha. Daubuz-Hoadly, and Ambrose Phillips. 30. 1695. H. Aldrich, Tho. Hanmer, Edm. Chishull, J. Freind, Hen. Sacheverell, J. Shadwell, Basil Kennett, Ant. Alsop, J. Potter, E. Thwaites, and Christ. Codrington. 31. 1697. H. Bland, Rob. Walpole, and Pet. Needham. 32. 1700. Marquis of Blandford, RICH. BENTLEY, W. Sherlock, Tho. Pilgrim, Tho. Ralph, and Pet. Allix. 33. 1702. Tho. Rymer, and A. A. Sykes. 34. W. Elstob, R. Boyle, W. Pulteney, J. Hilldrop, J. Cockman, W. Oldisworth, and Peter Foulkes. 36. 1704. Tho. Cockman. 37. 1714. J. Markland, Zach. Pearce, and Roger Long. 38. Rich. Grey, Rich. Rawlinson, Ralph Assheton, and Digby Cotes. 39. 1715. Phil. Barton, and J. Trenchard. 40. 1727. Rich. Dawes, Tho. Hayter, W. Battie, Rich. Mountney, J. JORTIN, S. Pegge,-Seward, and Dr J. Taylor. 41. 1733. Phil. Yonge, J. Garnett, W. Cooke, and C. Anstey. 42. 1736. THO. GRAY. 43. 1738. Geo. Harvest, W. Whitehead, Israel Lyons, J. Upton, and Edm. Keene. 45. 1751. J. Green, W. George, J. Hallam, Geo. Baker, Beilby Porteus, Fr. Mon- 46. Lord North, Tho. Hunt, Rob. Lowth, Tho. Warton, Tho. Tyrwhitt, Benj. 47. 1755. Rob. Glynn, Cha. Emily, Rob. Tyrwhitt, Rich. Furmer, Elijah Impey, and Edw. Tew. 48. 1760. S. Ogden, J. Langhorne, R. Croftes, Benj. Heath, T. Zouch, J. Halifax, Tho. Powys, Hor. Mann, Joah Bates, and J. Lare. 49. Brownlow North, Shute Barrington, James Macdonald, Lewis Bagot, Fra. 50. 1761. Edm. Law, J. Lettice, S. Berdmore, and Geo. Hardinge. 51. Sam. Bishop, J. Jekyll, J. Napleton, Abel Moysey, and Lucas Pepys. 52. 1762. Visc. Fitzwilliam, Rob. Graham, W. Hayley, and J. Hey. 53. H. J. Pye, Edm. Cartwright, Henry Courtenay, J. Symmons, W. Eden, and 54. 1763. Luke Gardiner, W. Bennet, and James Scott. X. NOTICES OF THE ACTED DRAMA IN LONDON. Ar the close of the last season it was The truth is, we were fairly tired of our task-chiefly because we felt that it was a task, and that, therefore, it was not likely to be performed with either utility or amusement to the reader or ourselves. But we really do think that a great and important change has within these few months taken place in the prospects of our national drama; and that the crisis of its affairs is very near at hand. In consequence of the exclusive patentees of the regular drama not having dared to rouse the public feeling by thrusting forward, too forcibly, claims that are manifestly founded in bad policy and injustice, several of the minor theatres have been gradually changing their former character, and assuming something of a regular and classical air. They have been engaging some of our first-rate actors, and making approaches to the performance of the legitimate Drama: And their houses, not requiring to be constructed on the principles of a whisperinggallery, have been filled accordingly. In the mean time, Old Drury, as we predicted that she would, has given up the ghost; and the persons who hastened her death have cunningly contrived to pass off her body, as the barber did that of Little Hunch-back, upon their neighbour, Mr Elliston, whose evil genius has instigated him to embark his whole property in making some experiments upon the said body-for he fancies it to be only in a state of Asphixia. He will find himself mistaken, however. He may try to infuse fresh breath into it by puffing it with newspaper bellows; and endeavour to make the blood re-flow by warming it with patent stoves, or rubbing the palsied members with (attic) salt, if he can procure any ;but all will be of no avail. A few convulsive movements may perhaps ensue,-like those produced by galva nism:-but they will have no other effect than to startle the spectators, and perhaps, from the enormous size of the subject, permanently injure the operator. Add to this auspicious state of things the circumstance of Mr Kean being about to leave England for two or three years, and thus withdraw his atlas shoulders from the support of this monstrous monopoly, and we cannot help anticipating a speedy end to it, and to all its mischievous consequences. We may then, perhaps, live to sec our theatrical establishments assume some |