ORIGINAL POETRY. THE MURDERER. A Metrical Tale. WIY can I not forget the time When yet my soul was free from When vet my mind knew peace and rest, For me no eye is dimm'd with tears; With brilliant hopes my course began, But chief, I heard where'er I came, Why can I not transmit this name, My sons will curses o'er me pour, O why that cursed thirst for more, Why could I not perceive the wile On ruin thus I blindly run, The ruin which I sought to shun; Wretch as I was, with guilt embu'd, I heard a wife-a mother's sighs- I saw his angel's pious care, I mark'd her sweet and modest air; The moon-beams quiv'ring on her mien, Her groans still vibrate on my ear, In vain I bade her leave her home, With aspect horrible and drear, And oft I started from the tomb quits; And vegetables yield their varied sweets, For perfumes, eye-brow, bolsters, curls, and tetes. The elephant resigns his tusky arms, To give their chaturing mouths their graceful charms, While face antique with artful tints is seen, To ape thy beauteous bloom at sweet sixteen, When I, at first, with high-enraptur'd breast, [sess'd. Thy peerless frame and faithful soul posThus vicious art and vanity, allied, With haughty pomp and ostentatious pride, [creed, Attempt to counteract what Heav'n deAnd bridle back stern Time's impetuous speed, Till irritated Nature, angry grown, Pulls each impostor from frail fashion's throne; Amply revenging every murderous wrong Her sinless offspring had sustain'd so long: Strips from each hypocrite in furious rage, Base masks' and mufiles that beljed their age; Each injur'd creature's ravish'd rights re But hath not, while his eye look'd o'er the earth, Thro' all the haunts of wickedness and worth, Perceiv'd our wayward wills erratic run, Since that auspicious epoch first begun: Nor hath his vestal sister, virgin chaste, Exploring nightly earth's lascivious waste, E'er once beheld, with anger-blushing shame, Thy devious heart indulge a faithless fiame; Or felt her features burn, her bosom wroth, Whilst I infring'd or spurn'd any plighted troth Nor need we blush these blameless boasts to own, Behold, ye great! the pure, prolific throne; And, like your sovereigns, so employ your pow'rs, Or learn in perfect love, to copy our's. Can scutcheon'd wealth's, or pomp's crown-crested race, Boast longer lists in shorter temporal space? Shew passion, so restrain'd, still stronger glow? Or purer appetite?—No, surely, no! Unless their lusts and fortunes, unconfin'd, Have multiplied unclaim'd, illicit kind; Or, more than man, apostle's footsteps trod, And fix'd more gracious love on Heav'n and God. Can golden shackles wedded love insure, More warm and tender, permanent and pure? Or pamper'd dames in studied, tutor'd shapes, Surmount with triumph half thy hair breadth 'scapes? Still boast thy fondness, fortitude, and truth, [youth! Thy vivid tints of health, and traits of No! by their luxury, indolence, and pride, Their beauty's tarnish'd and their health destroy'd; And oft at pomp's, and lust's, and passion's calls, Their faith all vanishes, and virtue falls. TRANSACTIONS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY. tlemen who united to their studies in IT appears that M. Delille, a French natural history the personal labour of physician, and a member of the collecting the insects of England.French National Institute, has trans- Their pursuits and habits threw thei mitted a paper from the East Indies, into accidental meeting, and conseto the Royal Society, by the hands of quently a temporary acquaintance a lady, describing the real nature and with other practical collectors, who properties of the celebrated Bohun were as zealous and diligent labourers Upas, or poison tree of Japan. The in entomological hunts as themselves, botanical account of this plant he re- but not blessed with a classical educeived from one of the French natu- cation; some indeed, ignorant of the ralists who accompanied Capt. Bau- Latin language, and confined for their din, and who resided some time in information solly to Berkenhout, Java. It was with much difficulty Martin, and other English authors. that he persuaded the inhabitants These collectors, laudably ambitious to shew him the different poison of improving the opportunities which plants, which they carefully conceal these meetings afford, solicited the for the purpose of using them in war. honour of a more intimate connecHence the many fabulous accounts tion: and experience pointing out circulated respecting the fatal influ- the increase of British entomological ence of the upas are set in their true acquisitions which would arise from light. The upas, in the language of the union of practical collectors, after Java, signifies a vegetable poison, and a short consideration, the Entomoloapplied only to the juice of the Bo- gical Society was resolved to be foundkun tree, and another plant with a ed, and every person who is a practitwisted stem. The juice is extracted cal collector, or an amateur of the by an incision made in the bark with science, may be admitted by ballot, a knife, and, being carefully collected, and under rules now modelled to bear is preserved by the natives to be em- a great similarity to those of the Linployed in the wars. As to its diffu- næan. The principal obstacle to adsing noxious effluvia in the air, and mission is immorality of character; destroving vegetation to a consider- for an acquaintance with the languages able distance around it, the absurdity is not required. The object of the of these stories is sufficiently exposed society is to unite men of a creditby the fact, that the climbing species able degree in life, who may assist requires the support of other plants each other in the promotion of this to attain its usual growth. According to a number of experiments made by Dr. Delille upon dogs and cats by incisions, injections, &c it appears that this peculiar species of vegetable poison acts exclusively upon the nerves. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. A SNGULAR misrepresentation science, and disseminate information to thousands labouring under the want of a liberal education, and a consequent abridgement of the means of entomological study. "The more learned members explain to their brethren the subjects of their study, and publish their disco-. veries; they point out at each meeting all novel acquisitions, and give having goue forth relative to the appropriate names to newly discovered, views of this recent institution, as insects, whilst they themselves inthough its principal object was to crease their own knowledge of species eppose the Linnæan Society, the by the numerous specimens produced. following account may be relied Each collector is frequently enabled upon for its accuracy and impar- to exhibit a new acquisition, which uality. locality of habitation might have hidAt the head of the Entomological den from the eye of the entomological Society, and amongst its original pro- student, had not this society united moters, are found several fellows of such practical collectors residing in the Linnean Society. These are gen- different counties. There is, thereUNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. XIV. 46 fore, nothing in the objects of this as tending to attack or disparage the institution that can be construed into works of Mr. Donovan, which has an infringement on the province of been urged by way of complaint. the Linnean Society of London, or VARIETIES, LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL; With Notices respecting Men of Letters, Artists, and Works in Hand, &c. &c. W CAMPBELL, Esq. comp troller of the legacy duty, has a valuable work in the press. on the Value of Annuities, from 1. to 1000l. per annum on single lives, from the age of one to ninety years, with the number of years purchase each annuity is worth, and the rate of interest the purchaser receives for his money; and also, for the information and convenience of the profession, and of executors and administrators, the amount of the several rates of legacy duty payable on the value of each annuity. The gentleman who some time since, under the signature of John Smith, published an Examination of the Gospels respecting the Person of Christ, is about to publish an Examination of the Prophecies selected from the most eminent Expositors. He has likewise prepared a second edition of his former work, and both are in the press. The Familiar Introduction to the Arts and Sciences, announced some time since by the Rev. Thomas Recs, will, at his desire, and on account of his avocations, be completed and published forthwith by the Rev. J. Joyce. The third volume of Dr. Cogan's Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Treatise on the Passions and Affections of the Mind, is in a state of great forwardness. These disquisitions relate to natural religion, as the theological and moral character of the Jewish dispensation. A subsequent work, on the peculiar excellencies of Christianity, respecting the moral nature of man, his desires and expectations, will conclude the work. Major Price, of the Bombay Establishment, will shortly put to press Chronological Memoirs of Mahommedan History, from the earliest period to the establishment of the house of Teymur in Hindostan. Mr. D. Mann, many years in official situations in New South Wales, is preparing for publication the Present Picture of that Colony, intended to bring down the accounts of Collins and others to the present time This work will be accompanied with engravings. A Translation of Humboldt's Account of New Spain is in the press, and nearly ready for publication. This valuable work contains researches into the geography of Mexico, its extent, the physical aspect of its soil, its facilities for commerce, &c. &c. with maps founded on astronomical observations, trigonometrical and barometrical measurements. Messrs. Smith and Son, of Glasgow, have in the press a Catalogue, containing many works that will interest the bibliographer from their extreme rarity. The black letter and early printed books are most of them in fine during the present mouth. condition. It will appear sometime The Medical Society of London have in the press a volume of Memoirs, containing several valuable and surgical science, written by resi dent and corresponding members. It will be accompanied by engravings. communications relative to medical Strype's Lives of the Bishops is reprinting at the Clarendon press. A Dissertation upon Rhetoric, translated from the Greek of Aristotle by Daniel Michael Cummin, Esq. of the Middle Temple, is in great forward. ness. A Life of the celebrated Stillingfleet is in the press, by Mr. William Coxe, the traveller. A Missionary's Account of Ton-kinand Cochin-China will soon be pub lished here in French, under the inspection of a French gentleman of known abilities. |