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Which follow and avenge fuch cruel deeds, O'erfpread with cypress all our defolated climes. What tranfports feize my foul! what fudden fires!

Some God my fenfes fteals, fome God infpires:

Tis Phoebus' 'felf, his heav'n-born genius deigns,

To teach my feeble voice immortal strains. Let all the world an awful filence keep, Ye kings, ye people, listen to my lay, And let a while your frantic fury fleep, To hear the truths I fing, to hear them and obey.

Ye judges of mankind, their Gods by birth, Ye proud oppreffors of this wretched earth, Tho' by your hands dire thunderbolts are thrown,

Though in your chains these captive people

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As a good shepherd, provident and wife,
Defends his darling flock with watchful eyes,
From the wolfe's ravenous jaws, with gore im-
Or the fierce lion, growling for his food, [bru'd,
When from the wood the tyrant flies, their
fears

Remov'd, they foundly fleep or fafely feed, And though his fheep with fondling hand he fhears,

Yet ne'er beneath his knife the harmless victims bleed.

A tender monarch, like this fhepherd fwain,
Humane in counsels, in designs humane,
For public good alone prolongs his days,
And counts his years by deeds deferving
praise :

Wreaths ftain'd with blood he nobly scorns to But to his virtue future glory owes ; [wear, Such was that ancient, that heroic pair, AURELIUS, TITUS, thus to deathless honours

rofe.

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Then we, amidst our laurels ftain'd with gore, Thy myrtles and thy olives joyfully will plant. An EPITAPH on CLAUDIUS PHILLIPS, a poor, diftreffed Musician.

Phillips, whofe touch harmonious could

remove

The pangs of guilty power, or helpless love,
Reft here, diftrefs'd by poverty no more;
Here find that calm thou gav'ft so oft before!
Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful fhrine
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.

+ The author might have added British! This feems to fix the date of the Ode to the year 1748, when the Ruffians were marching to Flanders, which haftened the peace. Gent. Mag.

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"London, Jan. II. A gentleman latearrived from Petersburg has favoured us with the following particulars concerning Ruffia in its present state.-Arconfifts of 170,000 men ;-Navy 28 fail of the line, 14 frigates, fix fire-fhips; -18,600 men inrolled to ferve on board 10 fail of the line and fix frigates, can at any time fail at ten days notice.-Revenue 4,200,000l. per ann.'

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Warfaw, Dec. I. The Ruffians, who have been a long time hard at work, endeavouring to render the Niefter navigable near the well-known cataracts, have advanced fo happily, that vessels of a tolerable fize now go over the rocks which formerly ftopped the paffage of that river. It is faid, that by means of this opening, Eaft-India goods may be brought directly from Afia, and fo into Ro at little expence. The environs of these cataracts are cultivating and peopling; and as the climate is fine, and the government gives great encouragement to all who establish themselves there, it will, in all probability, become a fertile and well-inhabited country.”

GERMANY.

"Munich, Nov. 6. The fudden overflowing of the Ifer occafioned the utmoft confternation in this capital on the 30th of October at night. The focfin was rang; and the cries of the inhabitants, on feeing the river in a moment quit its bed, were truly dreadful. Those it reached firft had fcarce time to fave their valuables, and take their cattle from the ftables, which were half filled with wate-In two hours time the market called Lau, and the quarter of Leher, were nine feet in water. Nothing was to be feen for full four and twenty hours but the ruins of houfes, furniture, and even the dead bodies of men and animals floating. On the ad inft. the flood began to abate."

"Vienna, Dec.24. They write from Upper Hungary, that a mountain in the neighbourhood of Sarmafag, a village in the palatinate of Szelnock, has continued burning ever fince laft fpring. Some naturalists in the country, attentive to this phænomenon, have discovered fire iffuing from the middle of the mountain, which is a little funk in fome places, and its fuperficies cracked at certain diftances. A

ftick of between four and five feet long, thruft into one of the chinks, has taken fire, and, on drawing it out, fparks flew from it. The interior fire feems to extend daily towards the fuperficies. The fmoke exhaled from the different orifices, spreads a fulphurous fmell."

FRANCE.

By an edict, dated in November, five millions are to be raifed on life-annuities, at the rate of ten per cent. on a fingle life, of nine per cent. on two lives, eight and a half per cent. on three lives, and eight per cent. on four lives; the whole fubject to a deduction of one tenth-part.

They write from Coox, in the Lower Poitou, of Nov. 24. that the dysentery had produced an event in that province fcarcely credible. In a village compofed of thirty houses, all the inhabitants are dead of that distemper, except one perfon; and what is no lefs extraordinary, as they were all relations, the furvivor enjoys the whole inheritance of the deceased perfons.

ENGLAND.

The following accounts have been received of Capt. Cook. [39. 59.]

Peterburg, Dec. 1. Towards the end of last April, two English veffels touched at the port of St Peter and St Paul in Kamfchatka: they ftaid till the firft week in May, and were fupplied very plentifully with every kind of provifions from the magazines of the crown eftablished there. On being questioned, they faid they were going round the world; and from this, and feveral other circumftances, there is little doubt of their being the Refolution, Capt. Cook, and the Discovery, Capt. Clerke. This fact is related in a letter received a few days ago from a private perfon in Kamfchatka. The ministerial report is first given, according to the ufual cuftom, to the Governor of Irkutz on the frontiers of China, and will not arrive here till fome time hence. It is added, that the fhips bore no appearance of having met with any accident in the long voyage they had already performed, and that the crews were healthy and in fpirits." Lond. gaz. of his Majefty's floop the Refolution, in Admiralty-office, Jan. 11. Capt. Clerke, a letter to Mr Stephens, dated the 8th of June 1779, in the harbour of St Peter

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and

and St Paul, Kamfchatka, which was received yesterday, gives the melancholy account of the celebrated Capt. Cook, late commander of that floop, with four of his private mariners, having been killed on the 14th of February laft, at the inland of O'why'he, one of a group of new-discovered iflands, in the 22d degree of North latitude, in an affray with a numerous and tumultuous body of the natives.

Capt. Clerke adds, that he had received every friendly fupply from the Ruffian government; and that as the companies of the Refolution, and her confort the Discovery, were in perfect health, and the two floops had twelve months ftores and provifions on board, he was preparing to make another attempt to explore a northern paffage to Europe." Lond. gaz.

A letter from Berlin, of Jan. 11. fays, "Our famous geographer, M. de Bufching, hath juft received a letter from M. Pallas, profeffor of the Imperial Academy of Petersburg, dated Dec. 21. containing a recital of the unhappy end of the famous English traveller, Capt. Cook, as follows.

made feveral new discoveries in the
fea, he arrived in the month of
1778 on the coafts of America, fit
in the fouth of Kamfchatka. A le
ing difcovered in Capt. Cook's fhi
Refolution, and finding a very f
fea, obliged him to anchor in a
that part of the coaft. After havin
paired his own fhip, they both p
fea, and failing along the coaft, th
laft diftinctly difcovered the ftrai
tween Afia and America. The two
of the world prefented only, at
height of latitude, a low barren
without any shelter, and a sea of a
middling depth. They continued
route till they perceived diftinctly t
merican coaft, extending to the n
eaft. He then thought himself a
near to the bounds of his wifhes;
when he came to 70 deg. 45 min. lat
198 degrees of long. (probably re
ing from Greenwich), he met with
penetrable mountains of ice, which
ged him to turn towards the fouth.
caft anchor near the island Unalaf
whence Capt. Cook dates his letter.
fixes that island in 53. 55 lat. and
30 long. consequently giving that i
a more western and southern pofition
is in the new general chart of Ruffia.
he then found himself to the eaft of S
wich ifland, which he had paffedi
voyage, he reasonably thought he
meet with other iflands; he ther
failed again, in order to pass the aut
and the winter in a more temperat
mate. He actually discovered dive
ther islands, which appeared to him
tremely fertile, and where the inh
ants had railed ftone walls upon
heights, for their defence. He caft
chor at one of thefe islands, named
why-he, in the gulph of Caraca-C
and treated very amicably with the
tives, who paid him almost divine
nours. After he had refreshed his pec
one of whom only had died in the
age, and two others had fallen fick,
was already got under fail, when a
rious ftorm hurt his mizen-mast, wi
obliged him to return to the gulph, to
pair it. The inlanders became every
more bold, and most clearly demonf
ted their inclination for theft, which w
fo far as to steal one of his boats. Ca
Cook, willing to feek juftice for this r
bery, went on fhore, with his lieutena
and ten or twelve of his crew.
vanced towards a large body of the in

"The Imperial court and fenate had received, in the month of November laft, an account from Kamfchatka, that fome English fhips had appeared in the feas of that coaft; and perhaps that news had arrived here fome time before; but it was not made public till then. At length laft week difpatches were delivered to the Chevalier Harris, envoy from the court of London to our court, from Capt. Clerke, who commanded the Discovery, under Capt. Cook, and also a letter to Mr Stephens, fecretary to the Admiralty, By an extract from these dispatches, which I have read, it appears, that Capt. Cook, after he had paffed the Cape of Good Hope, had continued his courfe along Van Diemen's land, and New Zealand. He arrived happily in Auguft 1777 at the ifland of Otaheite, where he landed Omiah, a native of that island, in perfect health. Since the laft voyage of Capt. Cook to that island, the Spaniards had Janded there twice, and stayed there fome months, and their ships had left there all forts of birds and domeftic animals, but only of the male fpecies; fo that they received the cows and the fhe-goats that Capt. Cook brought there, with great pleasure. He left that ifland in the month of December following; and after having

He

bitants, (who always paid him great reIpect), and accofted their chief. Whilft the negotiation was carrying on, the infolence of one of the islanders, who was in the throng, obliged him to fire on him with his musket, loaded only with small hot, which did not even penetrate the mat with which he was covered. The Indians began then to be enraged; and when the lieutenant had at length fired, and killed his man, the whole troop fell on the body; and as foon as the failors had discharged their pieces, they did not give them time to load again, but killed Capt. Cook and four of his people; for cing the others, partly wounded, to make their efcape, under favour of the fire of their pinnace. Capt. Clerke, to whom the command then devolved, faw no pofibility of revenging the death of the brave Capt. Cook, but was obliged to keep on the defenfive till his maft was repaired. In the mean time he made friends with the favages, and quitted the island to retar to Kamfchatka; where he wintered, in Port Awatfcha, from the 1ft of Janu. ary in that year till the month of June, and then failed to discover (as he writes word) more exactly the islands between Kamíchatka and America."

According to other accounts, Capt. Cook fteered his courfe from the Cape of Good Hope to the fouthern coaft of New Holland, and was driven by a great ftorm to the north: he foon after made it, and coafted it for 400 leagues on the north-weft coaft, making many discoveries, particularly one fmall island full of the true nutmeg-tree; of which fruit he could have loaded a boat, did bring maby away, and fecured twelve of the young trees in cafks of earth, which he planted afterwards in Otaheite.-At this place he landed Omiah; who was received with fuch acclamations, and expreffions of joy and furprise intermingled, as fhew. ed that thefe iflanders had had scarce any expectation of ever feeing him; and he feemed delighted to find himself again among his countrymen. Here Capt. Cook landed a horfe and a mare, and a bull and a cow; and here he learnt the mode which the natives practised in navigating their ivahans, or vessels; that in the day they fteered by the fun, and in the night by the ftars; and that they not only had a name for each luminary, but knew perfectly well in what part of the heavens they would appear during the months of their vifibility in the horizon.

The island O'why'he, where Capt. Cook loft his life, being in lat. 22 deg. N. long. 200 deg. E. of Greenwich, must lie in the Great South fea, near the tropic of Cancer, about 30 deg. W. of Chiametan in Mexico. Being much to the north of Otaheite, Capt. Cook muft have touched there firft, and also, probably, explored the coafts of California, and was then proceeding in search of the N. E. paffage, with the fummer before him. Kamfchatka lies in the Eaftern ocean, in lat. 55 deg. N. long. 157 deg. E. of Greenwich. The paffage (if any) from thence to Europe must be by the Northern ocean, to the N. of Siberia, Nova Zembla, &c. But as fuch a voyage can only be made in fummer, and would take up no more than three months, Capt. Clerke's letter being dated in June laft, we may conclude that he has not found it, and muft therefore be now returning (we truft) by the Indian ocean and the Cape of Good Hope.

Capt. Cook's journal, to the time of his death, with all his papers relative to. the voyage, are received at the Admiralty-office.

It is obfervable, that the famous Magellan, after discovering the ftraits that bear his name, met with a fate fimilar to that of Capt. Cook, being flain in battle by the natives of Mathan, one of the Philippine islands, in 1521, before he had completed his circumnavigation. But in this he widely differed from our great countryman: he was the aggreffor, in endeavouring to extort tribute for his mafter the King of Spain; but Capt. Cook was on the defenfive: and in this, as a voyager, was almost fingular, that he never knowingly injured, but always ftudied to benefit the favages whom he vifited. Thus at Otaheite, where he was best known, he was looked upon as a kind of tutelar deity.

This celebrated navigator was born at Marton, about four miles from Great Ayton in Yorkshire. His name is recorded thus in the parish-regifter: “1728, Nov. 3. James, the fon of James Cook, day labourer, baptized." He spent the early part of his life in husbandry, and very often followed the plough. He afterwards ferved an apprenticeship in a collier, and thence paffed through all the ftations to a poft-captain in the royal navy; where his character was calculated to command love and refpect, being equally brave, modeft, and intelli

gent

gent in his profeffion. He was first appointed captain of the Endeavour, and failed from Deptford July 30. 1768, and arrived at Otaheite the 13th of April following. He continued in the South feas till March 1770, and returned, by way of Batavia, to England, July 12. 1771. In this voyage he was accom panied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander. Nov. 28. 1771 he was appointed commander of the Refolution; and in June 1772, made his fecond voyage for the discovery of the Southern hemisphere; when having failed into as high a fouthern latitude as 71, and met with nothing but iflands of ice, which interrupted his paffage, these obliged him to return, and on the 20th of July 1775 he arrived at Plymouth. In July 1776 Capt. Cook failed from Plymouth a third time, on the fame difcovery, of whom nothing had been heard after his depar ture from the Cape of Good Hope till the unfortunate account of his death, brought by way of Ruffia. It is almoft incredible, that in the fecond voyage the captain established such a system of diet and cleanliness, that, to use his own words, [39. 58.], under the care of Providence, he, with a company of one hundred and eighteen men, performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, throughout all the climates from 52 deg. North to 71 deg. South, with the lofs of only one man by diftemper; and this man is fuppofed to have had a disorder upon his lungs when he went on board, which probably occafioned his death.

Capt. Clerke, who has fucceeded Capt. Cook, was a midshipman with him on his firft voyage round the world, then made by him a lieutenant, and next a mafter and commander; fo that the prefent is the third circumnavigating voyage that he accompanied Capt. Cook.

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Cambridge, Jan. 21. The Vice-Chancellor has appointed the following fubjects for Sir William Browne's prizes for the prefent year. For the Odes: In obitum mæftiffimum JACOBI COOK, navis bellicæ præfelli, navigatoris celeberrimi, iĉłu lethifer Barbaricorum repentino abrepti. For the Epigrams: - Dictum fapienti fat eft."

The Empress of Ruffia, defirous to make further difcoveries at fea, has given orders, that there fhall fail annually from Kamfchatka, three fhips for the Northern New Archipelago, three for

America, three for Ochotzkoy, and one for the Kur iflands.

On the 29th of December, the Serapis [41. 727.], Pallas, and two American frigates, failed from the Texel. They were under French colours; but it is faid, that on their arrival at Breft, Jones is to command the Serapis, and Conyngham the Alliance; and that these two, with three frigates, and two American privateers, are to form a squadron to annoy the trade of England.

A cutter ftationed off the Texel having arrived with intelligence to Com. Fielding at Portsmouth, Dec. 29. that a fleet of Dutch fhips, properly escorted, laden with naval ftores, &c. had just failed for Breft, the Commodore, who had been in expectation of this intelligence, fet fail immediately, in the Namure of 90 guns, with four war-fhips of 74 guns, one of 60, one of 50, one of 32, two of 20, one of 10, and one of 8, in queft of them.

"Admiralty-office, Jan. 3. Capt. Marfhall, of his Majefty's fhip Emerald, arrived late laft night from Capt. Fielding, with an account of his having fallen in with a fleet of Dutch merchant-fhips, under convoy of the Admiral Count Byland, with a fquadron of five fhips and frigates of war. Capt. Fielding defired permiffion to vifit the merchant-fhips; which was refufed. Upon fending his boats to vifit them, they were fired at; upon which he fired a fhot ahead of the Dutch Admiral; who returned a broadfide; Capt. Fielding did the like; and then the Dutch immediately ftruck their colours. Such of the merchant-fhips as have naval-ftores on board were ftopt; and the Dutch Admiral was told, that he was at liberty to hoift his colours, and profecute his voyage. He accepted the former, and faluted; but declined the latter; and is coming, with the fhips that were under his convoy, to Spithead." Lond. gaz.

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Adm. Byland's account of this affair is in fubftance as follows.

"Hague, Jan. 26. 1780. Having failed on the 27th of December with part of the thips under his convoy, and found that there were many others not ready to join him, he waited in the mouth of the road with bent fails for the reft of the veffels; fo that it was not till the 30th in the morning that he found himself in the channel; when he discovered feveral

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