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May stretch his limbs in his own cot,*
Thankful he has not gone to pot;
Nor for the bubble glory strive,

But bless himself that he's alive!

Havre,† sweet Havre! hail again,
O! bid thy sons (a frolic train, ‡
Who under Chenier welcomed in
With dance and song, the Guillotine),
In long possession seek the strand;

For Muskein now prepares to land,

'Scaped, Heaven knows how, from that cursed crew

That haunt the Rocks of SAINT MARcou.

* Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.

+ Salve! O venusta Sirmio! atque hero gaude!
Gaudete! vosque Lydiæ lacus undæ !

Ridete quicquid est domi cachinnorum!

No. XXXIII.

June 25.

AFTER the splendid account of Buonaparte's successes in the East, which our Readers will find in another part of this Paper, and which they will peruse with equal wonder and apprehension, it is some consolation to us to have to state, not only from authority, but in verse, that our Government has not been behind hand with that of France; but that, aware of the wise and enterprising spirit of the Enemy, and of the danger which might arise to our distant possessions from the export of Learning and learned Men being entirely in their hands, Ministers have long ago determined on an expedition of a similar nature, and have actually embarked at Portsmouth, on board one of the East-India Company's ships, taken up for the purpose (the ship Capricorn, Mr. Thomas Truman, Commander), several tons of Savans, the growth of this country. The whole was conducted with the utmost secrecy and dispatch, and it was not till we were favoured with the following copy of a Letter, (obligingly communicated us by the Tunisian gentleman to whom it is addressed) that we had any suspicion of the extent and nature of the design, or, indeed, of any such design being in contemplation.

The several great names which are combined to render this

Expedition the most surprising and splendid ever undertaken, could not indeed have been spared from the country to which they are an ornament, for any other purpose, than one the most obviously connected with the interests of the empire, and the most widely beneficial to mankind.

The secrecy with which they have been withdrawn from the British Public, without being so much as missed, or inquired after, reflects the highest honour on the planners of the Enterprise. Even the celebrity of Doctor P-r has not led to any discovery, or investigation: the silent admirers of that great man have never once thought of asking what was become of him ;— till it is now all at once come to light, that he has been for weeks past on ship-board, the brightest star in the bright constellation of talents, which stud the quarter-deck of the Capricorn, Mr. T. Truman (as before mentioned), Commander.

The resignation of the late worthy President of a certain Agricultural Board, might indeed have taught mankind to look for some extraordinary event in the world of science and adventure; and those who had the good fortune to see the deportation from his house, of the several wonderful anomalies which had for years formed its most distinguished inmates,—the stuffed ram, the dried boar, the cow with three horns, and other fanciful productions of a like nature, could not but speculate, with some degree of seriousness, on the purpose of their removal, and on the place of their destination.

It now appears, that there was in truth no light object in view. They were destined, with the rest of the Savans, on whom this Country prides itself (and long may it have reason to indulge the honest exultation), to undertake a voyage of no less grandeur than peril; to counteract the designs of the Directory, and to frustrate or forestall the Conquests of Buonaparte.

The young Gentleman who writes the following Letter to his Friend in London, is, as may be seen, interpreter to the Expedi-, tion. We have understood further, that he is nearly connected with the young man who writes for the Morning Chronicle, and conducts the Critical, Argumentative, and Geographical Departments. Some say, it is the young man himself, who has assumed a feigned name, and, under the disguise of a Turkish dress and circumcision, is gone, at the express instigation of his employers, to improve himself in geographical knowledge. We have our doubts upon this subject, as we think we recognize the style of this deplorable young man, in an article of last week's Morning Chronicle, which we have had occasion to answer in a preceding column of our present Paper. Be that as it may, the information contained in the following Letter may be depended upon.

We cannot take leave of the subject, without remarking what a fine contrast and companion the Vessel and Cargo, described in the following Poem, affords to the " NAVIS STULTIFERA," the "SHIPPE OF FOOLES" of the celebrated Barclay; and we cannot forbear hoping, that the Argenis of an Author of the same

Ff

name may furnish a hint for an account of this stupendous Expedition in a learned language, from the only pen which in modern days is capable of writing Latin with a purity and elegance worthy of so exalted a theme; and that the Author of a classical Preface may become the Writer of a no less celebrated Voyage.

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER,

IN ORIENTAL CHARACTERS,

FROM BAWBA-DARA-ADUL-PHOOLA,

DRAGOMAN TO THE EXPEDITION,

TO NEEK-AWL-ARETCHID-KOOEZ,

SECRETARY TO THE TUNISIAN EMBASSY.

Dear Neek-Awl,

YOU'LL rejoice, that at length I am able

To date these few lines from the Captain's own table.

Mr. Truman himself, of his proper suggestion,

Has, in favour of science, decided the question;

So we walk the main-deck, and are mess'd with the Captain;

I leave you to judge of the joy we are wrapt in.

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