Some favourite volume I explore,

Be't work of poet or of sage,

Safe thou shalt hop across the page,
Unchecked, shall flit o'er VIRGIL's groves,
Or flutter 'mid TIBULLUS' loves.
Thus, heedless of the raving blast,
Thou'lt dwell with me till winter's past;
And when the primrose tells, 'tis spring,
And when the Thrush begins to sing,
Soon as I hear the woodland song,
I'll set thee free to join the throng.

TO HIS MISTRESS.

[FROM POEMS BY JAMES SHIRLEY. 1546.]

I WOULD the God of Love would die,
And give his bow and shafts to me,
I ask no other legacy.

This happy fate I then would prove,
That since thy heart I cannot move,
I'd cure, and kill my own with love.

Yet why should I so cruel be,
To kill myself with loving thee,
And thou a tyrant still to me?

Perhaps could thou affection shew
To me, I should not love thee so,
And that would be my medicine too.

Then choose to love me, or deny,
I will not be so fond to die
A martyr to thy cruelty:

If thou be'st weary of me, when
Thou art so wise to love again,
Command, and I'll forsake thee then.

UPON HIS MISTRESS DANCING,

BY THE SAME.

I STOOD, and saw my mistress dance,
Silent, and with so fix'd an eye,
Some might suppose me in a trance,
But being asked why,

By one that knew I was in love,
I could not but impart
My wonder, to behold her move
So nimbly with a marble heart.

EPITAPH ON COWPER.

BY J. H. L. HUNT..

HERE, where thought no more devours,
Rests the Poet and the Man;

Life, with all its subtle powers,
Ending where it first began.

Stranger, if thou lov'st a tear,
Weep thee o'er his death awhile
If thine eye would still be clear,

Think upon his life and smile..

THEATRICAL RETROSPECT,
For January, 1807.

Sunt hic etiam sua præmia laudi...Virg. Æn. 1. v. 461.

BOSTON THEATRE.

Dec. 29. THE Provok'd Husband was repeated by particular request, to a fashionable audience. The afterpiece was The Critick in which Messrs. Bernard and Dickenson, as Puff and Sir Fretful Plagiary, appeared with uncommon excellence. Tilburina by Mrs. Shaw was, as intended, a very good burlesque upon tragedy, but yet fell far short of her Lady Randolph, which is unquestionably the most successful attempt at tragedy-run-mad we ever witnessed.

Dec. 31. The Finger Post and Lodoiska. We think The Finger Post might be cut down to a tolerable farce; it does not contain sufficient interest for a comedy of three acts. It depends principally for success on a few coarse jokes, which sometimes fail of their intended effect, and dwindle to insipidity.

We had not room in our last to notice the revival of Lodoiska, the cast of which in some respects is superiour to that of last season. It was unfortunate for Mr. Dykes to appear in Varbel, immediately after so popular a favourite and so excellent a comick singer as Mr. Twaits. Prejudice and prepossession were u

nited against him; but he successfully opposed both, and gained a considerable share of applause. Risk might perhaps display Mr. D's talents to advantage.

Floreski and Kera Khan are better than in the former cast. Fox, who personated the Tartar chief, now supplies the place of Darley in Count Floreski, though with less melody in singing, yet with more spirit in acting. Mr. Caulfield supports Kera Khan very respectably. Jan. 2.-The Finger Post and Blue Beard.

Jan. 5.The Fair Penitent and Lodoiska. It is truly lamentable to observe the mangled and imperfect state in which some excellent plays. have been brought forward the present season. The audience that endured the representation of the Fair Penitent this evening ought certainly to have credit for bringing with them a large stock of good nature; for never was more horrid murder committed on blank-verse since the days of Peter Quince. Mr. Usher is a man of unremitting industry in his profession, and his Sciolto was the only part in the piece which had been maturely studied.

Jan. 7.-The Miser, Lover's Jest, and The Sultan. Lovegold and Lappet never had better representatives than Mr. Bernard and Mrs. Shaw. It is astonishing that Mrs. S. who can. so justly command applause in low and middle comedy, should ever pant for the honours of the buskined heroine.

Mrs. Stanley's Roxalana, in the faree, received loud and reiterated plaudits.

Jan. 9.-School of Reform, The Purse and Dermot and Kathleen.

Jan. 12.-The Secret and Robin Hood. It is but justice to Mr. Bernard to say that the comedy this evening received its principal support. from his inimitable performance of Old Lizard. Mr. Caulfield in Jack had but little. to say, and said it very well. We wish he might appear more frequently in light comedy.

Jan. 14.-The Voice of Nature and The Maid of Hungary, a pantomime by Mr Turnbull. If, as Mr. T. asserts, his pantomime was performed upwards of ninety nights in London with unbounded applause, it must have been very GRATE-FUL to his feelings to see a theatre full of empty seats, on its first night in Boston. But there is no accounting for the capriciousness of taste!

rouse.

Jan. 16.-Which is the Man? and La PeyMrs. Stanley's Lady Bell was a fascinat ing performance, and added much to her increasing reputation as a votaress of the comick muse. Messrs. Fox and Usher were respectable.

In the pantomime, Mr. Caulfield as La Peyrouse, and Mrs. Stanley in Umba, displayed uncommon powers of acting without the aid of speech. Mr. and Mrs. Usher also gave perfect satisfaction. The scenery, which was entirely