EPISTLE FROM CAYENNE TO FRANCE.
AMID Guiana's wide-extended woods,
Savanna's rich and broadly rolling floods;
Her skies unclouded, and her dazzling beams,
That pour around their ever-fervid streams,
Why does my soul beyond th' Atlantic sea,
Roam to my country, and, my friend, to thee?
Why thus, forgetful of immediate woes,
Seek in the dear ideas for repose?
Alas! no longer can my cares beguile
My country's image in a foreign soil.
Lost is her greatness, all her arts decay'd,
Oppress'd her people, and her rights betray'd.
Her ancient order through the land revers'd,
And the just lords of her domains dispers'd.
Strange rulers o'er her fertile vales maintain
An owner's power, and hold another's gain.
A ruffian crew, the dregs of earth, preside,
Her fleets, her armies, and her councils guide.
And he, that alien, who usurps the throne,
To worth, to pity, and to faith unknown :
His crimes so deadly, that the human race,
An Outcast vile should banish from their face,
The dark dissembler of his secret ends,
The black ensanguin'd murth'rer of his friends.
Unhappy France! no glories now await,
As once they did, thy elevated state.
At each new act, some treach'rous murder done,
Some reign usurp'd-new infamy is won.
Ah! what avails it to have borne so long,
Urg'd by the fury of the giddy throng;
Or fir'd in hate by some infuriate guide,
The region delug'd in one purple tide?
What recompensing joys enchant the heart,
What soothing bliss do freedom's sweets impart?
Ah! none they yield; but stern oppression reigns,
And tyranny in faster bonds enchains.
On ev'ry face a dark distrust appears,
Shrinking reserve, and ever waken'd fears.
Each dreads the stranger, and familiar friend,
Studious his heedless tongue may ne'er offend;
Lest, haply caught at some unwary time,
Like me, he perish in this distant clime.
How little thought I, at that awful hour,
When first I felt a despot's deadly pow'r,
That was the time when last I saw the day
His beauteous beams upon my hills display,
And hurried from each object of of regard,
Each well-known person-all-without award.
No pitying audience hear my mournful tale,
No equal judge on whom my wrongs prevail.
Yet what the crime this punishment deserv'd,
For what offence is banishment reserv'd?
The man who feels a patriotic glow,
On loyalty, or faith, that man shall know.
Once hurried by the stream of gen'ral crime,
(With horror I recall the dreadful time),
These hands were join'd with an infuriate crew,
To tear our spotless Monarch from our view.
Each gentle virtue grac'd his honour'd head,
And thro' the realm a happy influence spread.
Even now, perhaps, above the long-loved tract,
His pitying shade observes each ruthless act,
Addresses to his God his earnest prayer,
From despot rulers his lov'd France to spare.
Ah! hapless country! by commotions torn,
Deformed by blood, by long afflictions worn.
At length succumb'd, by strong oppression trod
And torpid sleeping 'neath a stranger's rod:
As some fair bark by furious tempests tost,
Her masts, and sails, and helm, and rigging lost,
For shelter looks, with terror and dismay,
And moors in Algiers' or Morocco's bay.
Sometimes, when sinking in unwary rest,
Rise to my view, my countrymen oppress'd;
Unnumber'd wretches seem to wave their hands,
Invoking Heaven to right afflicted lands.
In restless murmurs speak the phantom train,
And clustering round, repeat one constant strain;
Thus, alien, does thy gratitude requite,
Thus bless when lifted to the sovereign height?
Ah! could but France recall those happy days,
When sovereign splendour shed benignant rays;
And power extended o'er the realm its arm,
To shield, not crush, embolden, not alarm;
See o'er the vales, untouched, its harvests wave,
Its natives walk uninjur'd to the grave;
See o'er the main, unnumber'd vessels ride,
And feel once more enraptur'd peace enjoy'd.
--, Maritime, observations on the mo-
ral character of the people of the, 478.
America, political survey of its present
state, 109.
-, remarks on the character and
manners of the inhabitants in the Unit-
ed States of, 264. 275.
--, intrepidity of its first conquer-
ors, 499; national dress of the inha-
bitants of the Spanish part, 500.
-, nature of the dispute between
Great Britain and, 416.
Americans, their illicit trade defended by
a British pseudo-patriot, 167.
---, their ungenerous return to Eng-
land for her generous treatment, 179.
-, the, in the constant habit of
granting protections to British Seamen,
Belgrave, the Duchess of, sketch of, 250.
Bibles, remarks on the omission of the
Apocryphal books, 103.
Bigotry, religious, relig
bellion in Ireland, 32.
--, its influence in fostering rebellion
in Ireland, 121, 123.
the chief source of re-
Bishops, Scotch, remarks relative to their
functions, 212.
Buonaparte, his plans for attaining uni-
versal dominion, 333.
-, strictures on his disposition
and wishes relative to peace, 419; pro-
bability of his object to conquer Turk-
ish Dalmatia, 426.
Cabinet, incapacity of the present, 336.
----, British, present disposition of its
members considered, 428.
"Calderon, Louisa, account of the mulatto
prostitute, 57; forgery respecting the
entry of her birth, ib.; copy of the re-
gister, 59.
Carus, Titus Lucretius, resemblance be-
tween his didactic poem and many parts
of the scriptures, 379.
Cardinals, instances of their appointment
to conclude a peace, 151.
Catholic, interesting remarks on the term
of, 16.
Catholics, Irish, their disaffection as great
now as in the reign of queen Elizabeth,
121; their attempts to obstruct the pro-
clamation of king James I. 124.
--, the confederates, their junctions
with the Irish rebels, 241; their subse-
quent treachery, 244.
Catarrh, definition and nature of that af-
fection, 114.
Cazotte, his remarkable prophecy con-
cerning the result of the French revo-
lution, 467.
Cecil, Sir Robert, his opinion of the loyal-
ty of the Irish, 36.
Characters, Greek, curious proposition
for learning them, 87.
Charles II. observations on the reign of,
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Cicero considered as an orator, 344.
---, extreme vanity of his character,
Consumption, its dreadful ravages in Eng-
land, 111.
Conspiracy, dreadful, formed against an
illustrious lady, 441.
Continent, Southern, conjectures as to its
existence, 351.
Controversy, the Edinburgh, miscellaneous
remarks on, 209.
Correspondence of Lewis XVI. doubts of
its authenticity, 9.
Correspondents, answers to, 110.
Cortes, outlines of his character, 349.
Cosmogony, illustration of the doctrineof,
Costume, interesting particulars relative
to the, 465.
Cottagers, the impolicy of allotting beyond
a eçrtain portion of land to, 142.
Cough medicines, general, their pernicious
effect, 116.
Cow-pox, its origin from the grease erro-
neous, 324; proofs of its efficay, ib.
Credulity, specimen of royal, 149.
Crosses, stone, for what purpose erected
in Great Britain, 298.
Crusades, remarks on them in the middle
age, 146.
Cumberland, amusements and customs of
that county described, 286.
Curne, La, his opinion of Froissart's
Chronicles, 8.
Daffy's Elixir, evident proof of its adul-
teration by the venders, 97.
Daniel, remarks on the attempts to eluci-
date the prophecies of, 198.
Davies, Sir John, his opinion of affairs in
Ireland, 129.
Days, the prophetic, remarks on their sig-
nification, 200.
Depravity of the times, lamentable in.
'stance of the, 439.
Dibdin, Mr. number of writings composed
by, 330.
Digitalis, its utility in the first stages of
phthisis, 117.
Drama, interesting observations relative to
the, 137.
Drama, German, remarks on the pernici-
ous productions of the, 261.
Draper, Lieutenant-Colonel, his opinion
of the affairs in Trinidad, 65.
Drinkwater, character of the Duchess of,
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Elephants, wild, mode of attacking them
described, 41, 42.
Elizabeth queen, refutation of Mr. Plow-
den's insinuations respecting her con-
duct to Ireland, 21; her generous ex-
penditure, and other measures for the
welfare of Ireland, 24: her credulity
the means of prolonging the rebellion in
Ireland, 31; religious bigotry proved to
have been the chief spring of, 82.
Elocution, strictures on the modern lec-
tures on, 397.
Eloisa of Rousseau, judicious observation,
the new, 356.
Ellenborough, Lord, observations on his
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-, strictures on his ap-
pointment to a seat in the Cabinet, 313.
Emoluments, ecclesiastical, consideration
of, 17.
Empiricism, laudable attempt to suppress
it, 96.
England, view of its domestic politics, 110.
English, their degeneracy in Ireland by as-
similating to the Irish, 133.
-, curious remarks respecting the,
462, 463.
Epicureans, particulars relative to the
school of, 382, 389.
Epigram addressed to an unemployed bar-
rister, 196.
Episcopacy, general observations on the
principles of, 282.
Establishments in religion, national obser-
vations on, 16.
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