HIBERNIAN MAGAZINE: OR, Compendium of Entertaining Knowledge. FOR NOVEMBER, 1808. We this Month prefent our Readers with a beautiful characteristic Portrait of MISS SMITH, as PORTIA, in the MERCHANT of VENICE. An interefting Memoir of this admired Actress will be given next Month. Biographical Sketch of the Right trait.) STANHOPE, prefent earl of Harrington, was a brigadier-general in the army and ambaffador to the king of Spain. In confideration of is great fervices at the negociations at Seville, he was elevated by George I. to the peerage, by the title of baron Harrington, and fome years after wards invested with the additional ho hours of viscount Peterfliar, and earl of Harrington. W grandfather of the print; married to the inarpuis of Tavistock Leicester, born in 1784; Fitzroy, born in 1788; Francis, born in 1789; Henry, born in 1790; Caro line, born in 1791; Charlotte Augus ta, born in 1792; Auguftus, born in 1794. Refpecting the character of her ladyfhip it will be fufficent to obferve, that the fashionable world cannot boaft a brighter example of conjugal and parental virtue. Her own talents and accomplishments are admirably reflected in thofe of her numerous and amiable offspring, principally educated under her fuperintendance. The ftrongest evidence is borne to her virtues by the favour and familiarity withi which her lady fhip has been honoured by the royal family, and particularly by her majefty, to whofe private parties the has been conftantly admitted. So far, however, from ftanding forward as a leader of fashion, or courting public notice by an oftentatious di play of her pretenfions, the countess of Harrington feems to prefer the A numerous family has been thè more fold fatisfaction refulting from iffue of this union, viż.-Charles, the performance of domestic duties vifcount Peteribam, born in April, and the more retired pleafures which 1781; Lincoln Edward Robert, a good wife and mother cannot fail to captain in the 16th regiment of dra- find in the bofom of an amiable fagoons, born in 1782; Anna Maria, mily. To the prefent poffeffor of thefe honours, Charles Stanhope, earl of Harrington. the lady whofe portrait embellithes this number of our mifcelany is united. She was a daughter and coheirefs of fir Michael Fleming, baronet, of Brompton in Middlefex, and was married to his lordship on The 22d of May, 1779, very foon after his acceffion to the title. born September 3, 1783, and lately November, 1808. 4 M Three By have another moft powerful argome Si queret pater urbium HOR. 3 lib. 24 od. 27 vs. OF all the fources of depravity and mifery, none is more prominent and fruitful than proftitution; it confequently prefents to the humane and confiderate mind a moft extensive and variegated field for the exercife of charity; and yet (ftrange as it may appear) there is no order of beings fo much neglected and defpifed as thofe who, by complicated and very often myfterious occurrences, have been forced to feek their bread in this way. It must be acknowledged, that the name of Proffitute' is indeed a very difgufting diftinction, and always carries its own infamy; nevertheless, mr. Editor, I am fully perfuaded, that the contempt and (I may fay) moft unchriftian malice which these in their behalf. Let them confider further, that thefe unhappy morta were once, perhaps all of them, the delight of their fond parents, whe watched their rifing youth with j and hope, contemplated their ap proaching maturity with exultaries, fcenes of life with cautious diffidence, and introduced them into the ba and they will find another caufe for them were born of parents in rcpeci regret and pity. Again, many d cation was ftudioufly attended to-they able and lofty fituations-their edu were formed with all the accomplif ments of nature and learning-wer: care-and were once to have confor brought up withthe utmost delicacyan ed the declining years of a father of mother-and they will have another most urgent plea. If they will go a little further, and view the diftreffes and privations they now labour under the piercing viciffitudes of fortun they are liable to, their cafe will gain increafed weight. Are not the mut Are they not, one and all, conftanly poignant agonies of mind theis! expofed to difeafe? and do we not, few weeks before, rolled in pleny every day, behold fome who, but a and affluence, mirth and gavety fur rounding them, now reduced to a level with the meanest object?-without a home to go to, to fcreen them from the inclemencies of the weather unfortunate creatures experience, not only from their own fex, but from that which was the first and only caufe of all their forrow, is, in a great majority of inftances, most unjustly and indifcriminately applied. If your readers, for a moment, reflect what horrors furround the wretch, by what black arts fhe was firit allured into fin, and the bitter punithments of her crime, they will not, they cannot, if they have any fenfe of feeling, with hold that fympathy, that commiferation, which their cafe loudly demands. Very few confider the gradations of vice from what purity and delicacy the mind, by imperceptible degrees, may link into infenfibility and beftiality. Hence it is, and not from any Tooted, inveterate hate, I thould hope, that they meet with fuch treatment. Again, if they reflect from what a height of glory, into what a gulf of shame they are precipitated, they willing their habitations with animolay and malice—and acting in all the to pennylefs-fmarting with the keeteft hunger-not knowing where to turn for a morfel of bread-without a friend to pity or relieve them-nay, even without one to whom they might impart the torments of thei diforder-in cold, unfheltered toont fouls-languithing under the ruthkis a --or (more fortunate referve!) feck ng refuge in an hofpital-and to 23 gravate the condition, (oh! dreadtul, lamentable truth!) expofed to each other's fury and refentment-couvel mek mult of rage and defpair?-And, will any human being, either male or female, fay, that they are not more deferving of compaffion than deteftation? The man, or the woman, that does, believe me, mr. Editor, ought to be driven from fociety: fuch deferve not the name of human beings. Confider again, that their ruin, and confequent mifery, is owing to man. Is not every means ufed to draw them from the path of duty? Are not all the arts and flattery imaginable, the moft infernal ftratagems, and direct violence, had recourfe to, in order to make thefe devoted victims ftoop to their defires? O! térque, quatérque beatæ, FIRG. Eneid, I lib. 98 vs. Many of them have been left or phans; and placed by treacherous relatives under the tuition of domineering, oppreffive mafters and miftrefics. Some fiend or other, taking advantage of their fituations, las employed all his eloquence and addrefs to feduce the neglected creatures; and in an evil hour they yield. ed to him, though with trembling and reluctance, yet trufting in his promifes and honour: but now, alas! they feel to the utmost his perfily and their own woe, And thall the man who has been guilty of this prefume to caft their thame in their teeth? Fæcunda culpæ fæcula, nuptias Primùm inquinavere, et genus, et domos. HOR. 3 lib. 6 od. 17 vs' nerally speaking) entirely and abfo lutely cut off Deferted by man, and detefted by woman, without character, without friends, who wil liften to their tale of forrow and proteftations of penitence? Who will receive Again, are not thofe of their own fex very often inftruments of their perdition? And (to come to the point) are not parents and guardians, oft times, molt unpardonably and viciously negligent of the company and connexious they take their children into? And fhall thefe exprefs contempt and hatred to the clafs? Further, are not the means of their.reformation (ge If them into their houses and adminifter any confolation? Thus goaded by guilt and remorfe-every hope of relief cut off-nothing but a mis-fpent life to look back upon-and nothing but a fearful end in their diftrafted view-can we be furprifed at thofe horrible exceffes they fall into? we compel them to continue' in the fame mode of life, by rejecting them, is it just that we thould harbour fuch malice against them? If we refufe to prove their fincerity, and deny them the choice of amending, how dare we deride and abhor them? Yet mot people overlook the real caufe of thefe things, and attribute to the innate depravity and vicioufnefs of their hearts what their own cruelty, as well as imperious neceffity, must produce. But though man is, in general, the caufe of their de ftruction, yet it is most certain that they receive the greater contempt and deteflation from their own fex. This, mr. Editor, is highly unwarrantable: of the question, your fair readers for leaving every other argument out thould confider that, as mutable beings, of like paffions and affections, they are liable to the fame frailties and errors themfelves, unlefs fupernaturally affifted. The mind whi h has never been affaulted by temptati on, has never been in fimilar circumfances, and has never had a trial in life, unacquainted with the wiles of man; and withal a fuperficial obferver of the caufes which led to their downfall is ever ready to declan againft their impiety, and fets' all down to their own folly and difobe dience. Hence we are informed of a variety of methods by which they might avoid the gripe of poverty and nccefhty, and prevent them, if they choje, chofe, from turning to fo dreadful an expedient. I do not hesitate to fav, that this arifes from a palpable want of candour. Quid ultrà tendis ?HOR. 2 lib. 18 od. 32 vs.) Exd mine them, and you will find how futile, how utterly impracticable they are! In fhort, a thoufand obftacles lie in the way of their being ever accomplished. Here I would have your readers paufe, and feriously confider what has been faid; and if they find the cafe as I have reprefented it, I hope they will turn their attention to fo important a fubject, and endeavour, cach according to his or her power, to alleviate the amazing mafs of affliction, diftrefs, and torment, which thefe ill-fated fet males fuffer. Hitherto, mr. Editor, I would with to be understood as comprehending those only who, by a multiplicity of circumflances, have been forced to follow this way of life, in derftruck; it would roufe every fa culty of their fouls, and melt then into floods of tears! . I cannot conclude this letter better, than with the following quotation from mr. Lewis's Monk: Haughty lady, look not fo fternly on yonder poor unfortunate, who feems an outcaft to fociety the once, like you, was virtuous, and had parents and friends that loved, and poffeffed, per perhaps, a more tender and feeling heart than you do. And how do you know but the very man to whom your more fortunate ftars have united you might have been the wretch who caufed the feduction and misery of the poor object whom you now fcom and hun! Oh! take this fuppofition to your heart; thank your guardian angel that you are what you are; and let it not be to hard to afford re lief.' in Johnfon's Dictionary. SIR, DR. JOHNSON, in one of his various difcourfes with James Bofwell, confeffed to him that he had not admitted into his dictionary above three or four words of his own mak ing this may probably be true but it is perhaps hardly fufpected, that the doctor had ufed a word, in the very firft number of his Rambler, for which there is not only no authority in the English language, but Johnfon has it not in his own dictonary. I allude to the word proeminal in the follwing fentence : order to procure a feanty, precarious A Word in Johnson, not to be found fubfiftence. Here justice obliges me to confefs, that there are fome (oh fatal deed!) who have voluntarily for faken their friends, and caft themfelves upon the town but their number is, I have every reafon to hope, very, very finall, comparatively. (Proh-inverfi mores.HOR. 3 lib. 5 od. 7 vs.) Thefe, though they have not fuch a claim upon our pity as the others, are not withstanding to be deeply lamented; as fuffering in the fame manner, but, perhaps, a more exquifite pain of mind; and as being equally defircus of icforming their paft acts, if an op. portunity were but afforded! This manner of living is big with terrorShocking to nature-and, to a perfon unacquainted with it, reaily inconceivable-a picture of confummare mifery and darkeit confufion. Oh! mr. Editor, if any of your readers, who are ignorant of this fpecies of in. felicity, could, but furvey the avocations of a week, they would be thun The epick writers have found the proeminal part of the poem fuch an addition to their undertaking," &c. Was this omiffion accidental, or was it filent condemnation of his own practice? I remain, &c. PERCUNCTATOS. Romant Romance of the Pyrenees. By a CHAP. LXXV. GUZMAN, as anxious to outwit Francifco as don Manuel was to gain Matilda into his power, was the miute obferver of Francifco, who both we and don Manuel fuppofed would not fail to vifit the place of Matilda's Concealment before he commenced o long a journey (for little did they magine that her asylum had been vithin the precincts of the very cafle which they inhabited :) but this uppofition led Guzman to redoubled igilance in his obfervations of Franifco's movements, by which means Matilda's retreat in this new couvent was difcovered, and where he was llowed to remain fometime unmoeiled, while Guzman fet his ingeuity to work to project the mode for tealing her from thence. Refuming once more the habit of a monk, Guzman found means to corupt the too venial integrity of a layer, who showed the church of this monaftery to ftrangers, and who, y her fanctity of manners, fo far mpofed upon the credulity of Matilla and fome other young boarders in he convent, as one day to perfuade hem to remain in church after mains, to fee a moft extraordinary proceffion of pilgrims, who, on their way to Loretto, were to pay homage o the thrine of a particular faint in heir convent church. Thefe pil grims were no other than don Manuel, Guzman, and their affociates, who feized the confederate fifter and the terrified borders, whom they gagged and bound to the pillars of the Church, and then, unmolefted, caried off Matila, who had fainted upon the first of the commotion. The alarming intelligence relative to Matilda, which the exprefs conained, threw Francifco into the ut moft confternation. He doubted not by whom he had been carried off; November, 1808. and although he wished at a future period to beftow her upon his fon, he yet feared that fon's intentions relative to her were now not as honourable as his own; and trembling for her fafety, he immediately though fcarcely recovered from the effect of his overturn) fet out upon his return to Spain accompanied by Sebaftian, whom he would not have fuffered to proceed without him; but who, though agitated and anxious as the billet of Elfridii could make a man of acute feelings, yet was fo tenderly attached to Matilda, fo interefted for her fate, that, with intuitive fond folicitude, and without a murmur at his difappointment, he unhefitatingly gave up, for the prefent, all the flattering expectations he had in view; accompanied Francifco; and at Pifa, as before related by honeft Thomas, accidently encountered Orlando and his venerable companion; who, in defpite of the veil which years and forrows had clouded his face with, foon recognifed his noble patron, his long loft friend, whofe regretted remains he had firmly believed he had affifted to defpofit in the facred tomb of his ancestors, and whom fo long he had mourned with all the fincerity of affection. Orlando and Francifco were abfent during their affecting and mutual recognition; and Lorenzo entreated his beloved friend Rinaldo to conceal, with the utmoft circumfpection, all knowledge of him; for his fafety, which was enveloped in much danger and mystery, depended upon his name and rank being ftill unknown. Rinaldo promifed compliance; yet refolved never to lofe fight of his noble friend, and to use his utmost eŋdeavours, through the power of the church, to have him reftored to rank and to fociety. The anguith of Orlando's mind was dreadfully augmented by the alarming intelligence of Matilda, which Fiancifco imparted to him. The horrid ap 4 N prehenfions |
