It was received with great applaufe, and continues reprefenting. Ionic Doric Tufcan Body Thighs Legs On the mafonic fignal for leaving work, they depart, when the reprefentative of Hiram Abbiff (grand warden to King Solomon, and his affiftant in building the temple) enters,-From the aforefaid ftone figure he produces an harlequin; gives him a mafon's apron, inftructs him in the ufe of tools, and endues a trowel with magic power, which (like the cuftomary fword) is to affift him in all his difficulties: then he leaves him. Harlequin's first fight of Colombine (who is the daughter of a jew) is with her father, while he is furveying a houfe (which he is about to have built) juft rifing from the foundation. Harlequin and Colombine (as ufual) are reciprocally enamoured at fight; and the first proof he makes of e virtue of his trowel, is by fhowing th bu ilding completed at a touch. In the general aftonishment at this miracle, Harlequin finds means to fteal Colombine from her father; who, however, recovers her foon after, and introduces herto a Dutch lover, whom he wishes her to marry. Various amuling incidents arife among the comic characters. The fecond exertion of Harlequin's trowel is among a group of pealants at the Alps, by raifing the temple of Bac chus; and the next, by a reprefentation of the aloe fhown in the wooden building in Covent Garden. ed, and changes of scenery; particuMany more adventures are introduclarly a froft fcene in Holland, with fkaiters; a tumultuous fea; and a Court of Justice changed to the market at Billingfgate, and the whole interspersed with occafional airs, catches, and choruffes, till Hiram Abbiff again appears, and obtains the old jew's confent to the marriage of Harlequin and his daughter. This point fettled, he fignifies the neceffity of his attendance at a grand lodge, it being the anniversary feaft to install a new Grand Master of the ancient and noble order of Free and Accepted Majons. This naturally introduces a Proceffion; wherein, by a regularfucceffion of all the principalGrand Matters, from Enoch to the prefent time, the antiquity, advancement, and dignity of mafonry, are illustrated in a pleating and inftructive manner. Befides the introduction of the capital characters (an explanation whereof, together with that of their refpective pageants, is very properly fubjoined to the printed fongs) the whole is embellifhed with fome ftriking historical events in the reign of our own kings; particularly Edward III. and his fon the Black Prince, releafing John, king of France, and his fon, who were made captives at the battle of Creffy; Queen Elizabeth taking the Mafons under her protection; Guy Vaux's intended confpiracy difcovered; Sir Robert Viner's whimsical addrefs to Charles II. at Guildhall, and the humiliated. Dutch imploring him to grant them peace. The magnificence and fplendor of the proceffion exceeds all defcription. It is the most fuperb spectacle that has been exhibited for many years, and draws an immenfe concourfe of people every night, part of whom are neceffarily disappointed, the houfe filling almoft as foon as the doors are opened. LETTERS LETTERS FROM NINON DE L'ENCLOS TO THE MARQUIS DE SEVIGNE. LETTER III. (Continued from our Magazine for December, Vol. XLIX. p. 568.) O you accufe me of inconfiftency, Marquise me of the force of your charge-it is, that though by my writings I pay divine honours to the god of love, my inconftancy to my lovers, and the fuperior attention I have ever paid to thofe perfons, whom I rank amongst my friends, fhew plainly that I do not think fo highly of the paffion of love, as I pretend to do.. You know, Marquis, I pique myfelf on being above deceit; I will therefore, in exculpation of myfelf, explain to you, as far as I am able, the ftate of my own heart. To the charge of inconfiancy, I muft plead guilty. From the moment I ceafed to love a man, I told him fo. Was it not more generous to give a lover the opportunity of breaking his chains, by fo ingenuous a declaration, than to teize him with the whims, the coldneffes, the quarrels which attend the gholt of a departed paffion? How cruel, and at the fame time how ineffectual, to attempt impofing the fhew of affection, for the reality of it!-He who really loves, will be ever quick-fighted enough to difcover the deceit.-What anguifh muft it give to an ingenuous mind, to fee a miftrefs facrificing herfelf to him; to fee her become the voluntary victim of her own delicacy; and to confider, that he owes her forced, lifelefs careffes, to her pity, inftead of her affection! What must be his emotions! Every embrace must be a dagger to him, and (fo unaccountably untoward are our hearts) he will unjustly be tempted to defpife her, for her very endeavours to render him happy. Love can alone be fatisfied with love;like fire, it can only affimilate with itfelf. Befides, fuppofing it, for a moment, poffible to deceive a lover in this refpect, a woman of honour fhould owe too much to herself to attempt it; it is a task as unworthy of her as it must be painful. So far, you will fay, I fupport your accufation against myself; my acknowledged conftancy to my friends, and inconftancy to my lovers must de- me a little further, Marquis ! before It is true that I have, more than once, flattered myself, with having met with fuch a lover, as fancy had defcribed, but I have as often found myfelf mistaken. Like the fun, the beloved object at firft dazzles us with fuch a display of brightness, that we are blinded to thofe fpots in it, which the optics of reafon and philofophy difcover. Thofe blemishes muft, and will appear fooner or later-then is the teft of affection-if love (as it is fometimes unworthily called) is founded merely on defire or caprice, thofe blemishes appear to be magnified every moment, and we find at laft the deified idol to be a mere compofition of human frailty, and that it has no other charms than what whim, and novelty ient to it. But if love is founded on friendship and efteem, if reafon coincides with inclination, though after an intimate acquaintance, the beloved object may have loft the charms of novelty, it can never lofe thofe of its intrinfic merit. It no longer dazzles but illumines; it is no longer a flame that D 2 confumes confumes us, it is a genial warmth, which we value, the more we feel its influence. If there is a wifh, which a rational man or woman would offer to Heaven, in preference to another, I think it fhould be the ability of placing affection, where reafon may approve the choice. I have never yet found that with gratified-not that I will be fo unjuft as to fay, that many of my lovers have not had every claim to my efteem; but there was ever wanting that perfect union of foul, which can alone enfure the continuance of affection. Had that been my happy lot, I fhould not have been inconftant, becaufe I could not have been fo; the fire of love can only fail when fuel is wanting; this unifon of foul ever fupplies it with food. In fhort, I am perfuaded, that it is poffible for the heart to be fa firmly engaged, as to be incapable of change, but, alas, inftances of the fort are very rare! It is not my fault, that I am fickle, Marquis. Am I to be blamed for having failed in the purfuit of hap piness, in the way where my opinion leads me to feek it? I may, perhaps, till fail in my refearches; perhaps I am not deftined to be of the number of the happy few, who enjoy the blifs of mutual love, in that refined ftate, which I have endeavoured to defcribe.-But I will still purfue it. Nature implants in us a defire for happinefs at our birth; I will obey her impulfe in fpite of the frowns of prejudice, or the thunders of fanaticism.The fubject raites me fo far into heroics, that I can scarcely condefcend to rewhat peat you know fo well-that I am, my dear Marquis, Yours, &c. NINON. NINON de l'Enclos, to the Marquis de SEVIGNE, &c. LETTER IV. WELL! what do you fay now to my fpirit of prophecy? I find what I foretold has happened exactly, and that a rupture has taken place between Mr. F. and the young provencale whom your countefs is fo fond of. Remember I told you when you lavifhed fo many praifes on their mutual attachment that they knew 5 not what love was, that they were not yet initiated into his myfteries." Not but that I am tempted to think Monf.F. is capable of feeling the paffion, and that Mademoifelle De L. is no less fo; but both the one and the other must meet with perfons more fimilar to their feveral difpofitions, before they can experience its force. They have the feeds of fenfibility in them, but the hour is not yet come when the feeds fhall fpring up. Mademoiselle De Lis poffeffed of a confiderable fhare of vivacity,-Monf. F. has a fombre tinge in his difpofition, which pervades every action. If ever caprice was mistaken for love, it was in the amour between thefe two perfons. Their minds are composed of different elements-Her's paints every profpect with the warm animating chearful glow of a Claude Lorrain-his wanders with a gloomy pleasure among the defart wilds of a Salvator Rofa! When you firft informed me of their attachment, I forefaw that it would turn out to be a fignal proof of what you know I have frequently afferted; "that "we often fancy ourselves in love, "without really feeling the leaft in"Auence of that divine paffion." Let me give you the hiftory of this fhort lived inclination which your friends contracted; and though I have not been at prefent at a fingle interview with them, I dare engage that, on enquiry, you will find that I have not formed a very wide guefs on the occafion. " They were together, you may remember, at your houfe in the country, for fome time, Your party happened to be fmall, confequently têtes à tétes between them were likely to happen.The fprightly fallies of Mademoiselle naturally charmed F. who, grave and fententious as he may be, is far from illnatured.-The attentions of a man like him, who you know, is very economical in compliments to women in general, must have been flattering to De L-. To the hyperbolical frivolities of coxcombs, he has been too much accustomed to treat them with a moment's attention; but the affiduities of a man of tenfe were probably a gratification which her vanity had hitherto been a stranger to. There is an energy in F.'s manner, even in common converfation, which com mands TO THE MARQUIS DE SEVIGNE. 1781. mands your attention. You readily give him credit for every affertion he makes, because he feems fo firmly perfuaded of it himself. It is very dan gerous to a woman, when a man of this defcription fpeaks to her the magic words-I love!-She believes him incapable of a wish to deceive her; perhaps the does him juftice-but the fhould be well convinced that he does not deceive himself. Be affured this must have been the cafe with your loA figh, a motion of the eyes, or a word pronounced in a certain tone, will fometimes give birth to affection. If we were to look back to the imperceptible degrees by which love encreafes, and trace it to the trifling incident which produced it, we should find it a curious investigation indeed. This, by way of digreffion only, for I promise you a letter on this fubject foon. vers. One of thefe trifling circumftances which I have mentioned, certainly laid the foundation of their attachment. For instance, De. L. pleafed with his approbation of her vivacity, pays him a compliment clothed in very warm expreffions. F, fixes his eyes on her, and returns it with all the emphasis natural to him. Mademoiselle blushes, and Monfieur, thinking himself the cause of it, infenfibly becomes a little confufed. They fear to look at each other, and their aukward endeavours to extricate themfelves from their embarraffment, plunge them ftill deeper in it. 29 From that moment they grow fuf- Ever your's, NINON. PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY. A Concife Hiftory of the Proceedings of the Firft Seffion of the FIFTEENTH Parliament of Great Britain. Begun and holden at Westminster, on Thursday the 31st of October, 1780. (Continued from our Magazine for December, 1780, Vol. XLIX. p. 566.) HOUSE OF Tuesday, November 7. committee, agreed to and prefented in COMMONS. and returns were read, and the days fixed for taking them into confidera an expreffion which dropped from Lord George Germain in the debate upon the King's fpeech, his lordship explained himself, the matter in doubt ed, that the Americans would treat was, whether Lord George had affertwith Britain to-morrow if he would allow 30 PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY. a allow their independence. Mr. Fox understood this to mean feparate treaty without France, to which Lord George replied, that his words did not nor could bear that import, for he was well convinced that the Americans had never authorifed any perfon to treat with Britain feparate from France. Thursday, Nov. 9. In a Committee of Supply, after Some complaints on the part of Mr. Byng, Sir George Yonge, and others, of the diftreffed fituation of their country, and the very flight attention given to the most important of all fubjects, that of voting away the property of their conftituents; it was refolved, that a fupply be granted to his Majesty, and the affembly, which according to cuftom was not numerous, inftantly adjourned. Friday, Nov. 10. Sir Grey Cooper moved for leave to bring in a bill to continue the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act with reSpect to perfons actually in cuftody, or who fhall be apprehended for high treafon committed in America or at fea. Notice was taken, that three or four hundred people have been taken into cuftody and are confined in prifons, yet have not been brought to trial. No reafon however was alligned for this conduct, and the motion paffed without further oppofition. The army estimates, and a report, from the commiffioners for ftating the public accounts, of the progrefs they had made were moved for, and ordered. Accordingly Sir Guy Carleton, the first commiflioner of accounts, prefented the report printed in our Ap. pendix, p. 607, on the Monday following. Monday, Nov. 13. Upon bringing in the bill for fufpending the Habeas Corpus act, a fie demand was made, why the prifoners in cuftody have not been brought to trial, to which Sir Grey Cooper made the following reply: That it was inexpedient, or impoffible to try them at prefent. The reafon was, obvious; the distance from the place where the crime was supposed to be committed, neceffarily made it a work of time to bring over witnefies, both for, and againft the prifoners and to bring them to trial at all in the moment that the minds of men were heated, would be Jan. as inexpedient as it would perhaps be cruel. With refpect to the bill itself, it was far from being a new thing in parliament. Similar bills had passed in the reigns of William, Ann, Geo. I. and George II. In the laft reign, it had even been continued for three years; fo that gentlemen might fee it was not the offspring of the prefent adminiftration, who acted from precedent, a precedent adopted through downright neceffity. The bill was read a first time, and ordered to receive a fecond reading. Lord Mahon then ftated a fubject of enquiry, by way of converfation, no motion being before the chair. His aim was to fhew that the fpirited conduct of the commanding officer who had chafed fome American veffels into the Dutch port of St. Martin, in feizing thofe veffels, though protected by the Dutch governor, was a violation of the law of nations, the American veffels being in a neutral port, and their cargoes landed and put in warehoufes on a Dutch territory. lordship defired to know if government authorised this proceeding, and feemed to expect an answer from Lord George Germain, in whofe department he thought this bufinefs was tranfa&ted. His Lord George Germain in reply obferved, that as Sir George Rodney the commander in chief of his Majefty's fleet in the Weft Indies, had been Taid to have authorifed the tranfaction, he must be refponfible for it to the Admiralty, and all information concerning it must come from that department. However he was willing to give the Houfe all the information in his power, his lordship then obferved, that no official advice had been received that morning at the Admiralty, but by other intelligence he knew, that the American veffels having hoifted the rebel flag in defiance, as foon as they got within the protection of the fort of St. Martin, the commanding officer had purfued and feized them, and that the Dutch governor having required his acknowledgement in writing that he took this itep by order of his Admiral Sir George Rodney, the officer had readily given it, but had not afferted, that the Admiral had any authority from the British court on on this head; his lordship therefore jultly 1 |