ODE WRITTEN BY A NATIVE OF DAMASCUS. [Faithfully translated.] For the Bee. HAIL, the banquet, 'tis divine! Here the streams of rosy wine, Fill'd with friendship, full of mirth, Goblets, vases, mighty bowls, Ev'ry beauty, all the loves, Sprightly song, and dulcet sound, Moping grief, and aching care, Yes the dervise here may come, THE COQUETTE. BY DR HOULTON. CORINNA, aged forty-five, Did not of marriage yet despair, Full oft fhe many a gen'rous youth, Had trick'd and treated with disdain, But now the wifh'd in earnest truth, To add a link to Hymen's chain. To Strephon, then, who, day and night,. "You've conquer'd, Sir, I yield to you.' Strephon whose miad sweet peace possess'd, "The rising sun I've oft admir'd, "Till pleasure has to rapture grown; "His noontide beams my breast have fir'd, "With glowing blifs to words unknown. But Sel, so bright, at eve declinés, "When all men see his course is run, "With ruddy face still, still he shines, "But ah! his heat and beams are gone.” She read the paus'd!-Reflection's glafs, No more at balls or routs fhe's seen, A victim now to heps and spleen, All day the hides, all night the sighs. Then let not slip ye lovely fair! Lest thou thould meet Corinna's fate. TO VIRTUE. EV'RY ill of mankind's lot, From the palace to the cot, Rises from the wretched mind, Where with vice strong pafsion's join'di These to check we go to school, But return without a rule: We fhould seek then virtue,-love ; Virtue reigns supreme above. THOUGHTS ON THE PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOT LAND. NIL desperandum should be the motto of every person who wishes to promote the welfare of his country; for though a proposal for improvement may be overlooked fifty times, yet if it be again and again brought forward, if it be well founded, it will at last come to be adopted. Nothing can be so unlucky for a person who speculates. on subjects of national aggrandisement, as a pettish temper, which becomes hurt at neglect from those who know lefs, but may be able to do more than one's self. Let the idea be thrown out whenever it occurs; it will be like seed scattered upon the ground. I may sometimes fall upon stones, and produce nothing; but at other times it may fall upon a fertile soil, which will produce fruits abun dantly. Never despair, therefore: what has been overlooked at one time, may be taken up with ardour at another, if it be brought forward with a proper degree of modesty, and the benefits that would result from it, explained with perspicuity. Provost Drummond, whose memory ought to be revered by the inhabitants of Edinburgh, will afford an example for illustrating this proposition. This gentleman proposed an immense number of improvements on this place, that have been since executed with great facility, though few of them could be carried into effect in his own time. The infirmary was almost the only public work of considerable magnitude of his own projecting, that he himself lived to see carried into effect. But the north and south bridges; the new town; the register office; the new college; and almost every other improvement that has 141 since taken place in Edinburgh, were first proposed by him; though he found it impofsible to get his plans attended to. They were all considered as being so expensive, and so much beyond the powers of this country.to carry into execution, as scarcely to deserve a moment's attention from any one. It is above thirty years since he caused a model of Edinburgh, to be executed with his proposed improvements, which is now lodged in the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh; by which it appears, that his plans were not one-fourth part so fine as those that have been since actually carried into effect. The powers of men in a free state can never be known till they be put to the trial. In many other departments, the effective powers of a free nation, have, in like manner, been found infinitely to surpass expectation. I remember the time when it was seriously debated, whether a turnpike should be erected on the road leading between Glasgow and Edinburgh; because it was apprehended, that all the money collected by it would not be sufficient to pay the toll-gatherer for his attendance. In like manner the canal between the Forth and the Clyde, after having been proposed many years, was at last begun; but from a dread that the lockage dues would never be equal to the interest of the money expended upon it, the funds fell short; the work stopped before it could be of any use. And had not government at that time advanced some money to help it forward, it is a great chance if it ever could have been completed. It is now found to be a most beneficial concern. In like manner, the Crinan canal has been often mentioned; and the idea of it as often abandoned as impracticable; till now, that in the space of a few months, more money has been subscribed for that purpose than the estimated expence amounts to; nor have I the smallest Jan. 23 doubt, but it will be found to be a very lucrative project to the undertakers. The grand canal between Inverness and Fort William, has been an object of speculation for centuries. The time approaches when it will no longer be a speculative project; and the canal between the Clyde and Edinburgh, which if it had been proposed thirty years ago, would have been judged nearly as impracticable as to erect a bridge to the moon, requires only to be accurately. surveyed, I had almost said, to be carried into practice: For if a man of skill fhall declare it to be practicable, I have no doubt but money would be found to effect the whole, almost as soon as the subscription could be opened; for the immense quantities of coal, and iron, and other weighty commodities, that lie in the track of that canal, offer a prospect of such an active traffic along it, as must afford the most encouraging prospect of abundant returns to the adventurers in that project. The French have an excellent exprefsion, which they apply to the exertions of men who go beyond whatever was expected of them; il fait l'impossible. In the same spirit, we may say these are a few of the impossible things that we have actually seen executed, with a few others that are in view. But there are an infinity of others that our descendants will see executed, (if they fhall be wise enough to be contented with liberty and property,) which we have not even got a glimpse of as yet. By means of canals, in particular, much remains to be done; and I fhould not be surprised, if, in a century hence, there fhould scarcely be a farm in the kingdom, from whence its produce could not be carried to market by water; in which way a single horse could draw as much as some hundreds could have carried in the manner I recollect to have seen universally practised even in my own time. The wealth and industry this would diffuse through the country, |