Star.
London, England, 1823-09-15 00:00:00

TO A STEAM-VESSEL.

BY MISS JOANNA BAILLIE.
Freighted with passengers of every sort,
A motley throng, thou leav'st the busy port ;
Thy long and ample deck, where scatter'd lie
Baskets, and cloaks, and shawls of scarlet dye ;
Where dogs and children through the crowd are straying,
And, on his bench apart, the fiddler playing,
While matron dames to tressel'd seats repair—
Seems, on the gleamy waves, a floating fair!
Its dark form on this sky's pale azure cast,
Towers from this clust'ring group thy pillar'd mast.
The dense smoke issuing from its narrow vent
Is to the air in curly volumes sent,
Which, coiling and uncoiling on the wind,
Trails like a writhing serpent far behind!
Beneath, as each merg'd wheel its motion plies,
Ott either side the wkite-churted waters rise,
And, newly parted from the noisy fray,
Track with light ridgy foam thy recent way,
Then far diverged, in many a welted line
Of lustre, on the distant surface shine !
Thou hold'st thy course in independent pride;
No leave ask'st thou of either wind or tide.
To whate'er point the breeze, inconstant, veer, •
Still doth thy careless helmsman onward steer;
As if the stroke of some magician's wand
I lad lent thee power the ocean to command !
What is this power which thus within thee lurks,
And, all unseen, like a mask'd giant works?
Ev'n that which gentle dames, at morning's tea,
From silver urn ascending, daily see
With tressy wreathings playing in the air,
Like the loos'd ringlets of a Lady's hair ;
Or rising from the enameli'd cup beneath,
With the soft fragrance of an infant's breath :
That which within the peasant's humble cot
Comes from th' uncover'd mouth of sav'ry pot,
As his kind mate prepares his noonday fare,
Which cur, and cat, and rosy urchins share :
That which, all silvet'd with the moon's pale beam,
Precedes the mighty Geyser's up-cast stream ;
What Time, with bellowing din, exploded forth,
It decks the midnight of the frozen north,
Whilst travellers from their skin-spread couches rise
To gaze upon the sight with wond'ring eyes !
Yet, ne'ertheless, whate'er we owe to thee,
Rover at will on river, lake, and sea, •
As Profit's bait or Pleasure'llnre engage,
Thou offspring of that philosophic sage,
Watt, who in heraldry of science ranks
With those to whom men owe high meed of thanks,
And shall not be forgotten, e'en when Fame
Graves on her annals Davy's splendid name !
Dearer to fancy, to the eye more fair
Are the light skiffs, that to the breezy air,
Unfurl their swelling sails of snowy hue
Upon the moving lap of ocean blue :
As the proud swan on summer lake displays,
With plumage brighening In the morning rays,
her fair pavilion of erected wings—
They change, and veer, and turn him living things !
So fairly rigg'd, with shrouding, sails, and mast,
To brave with manly skill the winter blast
Of ev'ry clime—in vessels rigg'd like these
Did great Columbus cross the western seas,
And to the stinted thoughts of man reveal'd
What yet the course of ages had conceard !
In such as these, on high adventure bent,
Round the vast world Magellan's comrades went !
To such as these are hardy seamen found
As with the ties of kindred feeling bound,
Boasting, as cans of cheering grog they sip,
The varied fortunes of " our gallant ship..
The offspring these of bold sagacious man
Ere yet the reign of letter'd lore began !
In very truth, compar'd to these thou art
A daily lab'rer, a mechanic swan,
In working weeds array'd of homely gray,
Oppoisl to gentle nymph or lady gay,
To whose free robes the graceful right is given
To play and daily with the winds of Heaven !
Beholding thee, the great of other days,
And modern men, with all their aiter'd ways,
Across my mind with hasty transit gleam,
Like fleeting shadows of a fev'rish dream:
Fitful I gaze with adverse humours teased,
Half sad, half proud, half angry, arid half pleased!

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

LOW-STREET.
Tug &Aaron. PELRAGG—Mr. James Stamp Sutton Cooke,
brother to the person claiming the Barony of Stafford, was taken
into custody by J. J. Smith, one of the principal officers of this eata-
blishment, on the authority of a warrant from the Court of King's
Bench, signed by Lord Chief Justice Abbott.
It appears that, at the last Assizes for the county of Stafford, an
indictment was preferred against Mr. Cooke, for having conspired
with other persons, to disturb Sir George Jerningham, Bart. in
the possession of certain manors and premises, in the said county,
and to deprive him of the rents, profits, &c. arising therefrom; which
inditcment Sir George afterwards removed by certiorari into the
Court of King's Bench, at Wetminster, and thereupon the present,
warrant was issued for his apprehension..
Smith the officer, met Mr. Sutton Cooke, on Wednesday last,
walking along Fleet-street, and he immediately took him into cus-
tody, and conveyed him to Radford's lock-up house, in Carey-street,
Lincoln's-Inn Fields, where he remained a prisoner until Friday
morning ; he was then conveyed before Mr. Justice Best, at the
Justice Hall, in the Old Bailey, and by him admitted to bail, him-
self in £4OO, and two sureties in £4OO each.
M ARLBOROUGII-STREET.
Saturday, kir. Hoare, a respectable young Gentleman, residing
in Grosvenor-square, nephew to Sir Joseph Wallace 'Hoare, applied
for a warrant against Mr. Webb, jun. artificial florist, Burlington
Arcade, for an assault on him on Friday. in the above place. He
stated, that while standing at Mr. We,bb's shop, looking at some
flowers, Mr. Webb and his son came out, and abused him in the
most scandalous manner, charging him with being in the habit of
lurking about and looking into their shop, and annoying the female
part of his family. He assured them they must be under some mis-
take, as he had not been in town for these two months until Friday;
this;however, did not satisfy them, and Mr. Webb, jun, and his
shopman, continued to abuse him; the former pushed him from
where he was standing, and put his fist to his mouth, saying, if he
found the scoundrel there again he would know how to treat him.
The statement of Mr. Hoare's being out of town, as stated by hint,
was here confirmed by the testimony of a Gentleman, a friend of his.
Mr. CONANT immediately granted a warrant, and in a short time
Dir. Webb was brought up. He had nothing satisfactory to offer
in his defence, further than saying that Mr. Hoare first pushed him
before be lifted his hand to him. Ile was then ordered to get kali
and 'Air. lloare expres=vd his determination to prosecute him.
ll.vrroN.G ARI)F.N.
rurby, a well-known character, was charged with felony.-
11r. Etherington, late laud steward to a Nobleman, was walking
through Smithfield, when be was accosted by a fellow named Wood,
who pretended to be a stranger in town, to which he came to sell
cattle; and learning from Mr. Etberington from what part of the
country he tame, he pretended to he well acquainted with it, and
asked some information relating to it. At length they agreed to
take some refreshment, and, for that-purpose, adjourned to the Vine
public-house, Vine-street, Back-hill, where they met the prisoner,
an apparent stranger to Wood, and who produced a pocket-book,
containing a number of miter, and at length proposed cards, when
Mr. Etherington pulled out his purse, containing twenty sovereigns,
which he laid on the table, but which was soon conveyed away ;
and in the confusion Wood and the prisoner decamped, but the latter
was soon apprehended, and on him were found five sovereigns, se-,
veral :lash notes, and a slang Dictionary. Several other charges
are eapccted against him, and be was remanded.
MA RY-LA-BON NE OFFICE-
A Gentleman of fortune, in the New Road, was charged with
assaulting Signora Constantia Amite, a S4tanish Lady. in the suite
(as a singer) of a foreign Prince. The Lady stated that she was
comit,g out with a Leghorn bonnet in hefhand, when she observed
the defendant loitering about the garden gate; site asked .him what
he wanted, and, finding be wanted to set the Illustrious Personage,
she told bins to ring the bell,; be objected, she offered to do it for
him, he struggled to prevent her, and core the bonnet to pieces, and
she then give hint in custody. In his defence the Gentleman said,
the Prit,ce had emissaries going about decoying young females to
live with him ; that a. branch of a family of high repute, a near rela-
tive of his, was one of the victims, and that it was the bonnet
which she was decoyed from the parental ioof that tin Spanada Lady
had in her band, and which be wrested from her. The Magistrate
said, under the eacumstances, be should tibias!, die eastabdar.