Star.
London, England, 1831-09-30 00:00:00

ODE 70 DRUNKENNESS.

vamissrarzto By vtiossas ruatone, EIQ•
Oh ! drunkenness. spouse beloved, wheredest thou stray ?
Hrrc in shy absence stupidly I pine;
For since we parted this time yesterday.
Otis 1 many A Mack sad Meter thought was
wedded thee all freely ansl light hearted,
- Rre I had counted even' to my twelfth year ;
I I ik'd thee—for @sob ugly cave depirted.
Each big blue devil ilmvetfr when thou welt near;
I vnw'd all constancy, rind kept my Ton,
Out oh !• sweet spouse, what signifies it now ?
Wide is thy range, but greater still thy slower,
A worker of wild wooden: sure thou art;
Strange are thy freaks in that most merry hour...
When the full cup comes forth to warm the heart;
Oh ! many • miracle thou haat tilletsd,
When jolly ones at table were collected.
Ctiang'd by thy touch, the poor quite rich beam*,
The low get lefty, and the timid bold ;
Cripples get legs—speech bursts upon the dumb,
Anti youth and vigour bless the weak and old ;
The smile of joy weah o'er the hoe of trouble,
And folks, with hardly half an eye, seellouble. -
By thee the miser's purse is opened wide;
The dolt, the dunderhead, thou rendeest witty;
'Tis thine to lend meek lowliness to pride,
Or melt the stony selfish heart with pity :
Even lid hell.dasing weather-beaten sinners,
When mov'd by thee, in grace become beginners.
flow oft have I, dear spouse, inspired by thee, , •
Pour'd the full tide of eloquence along ;
Bow oft have other wigbts been chanted like me;
Now up now down, defending right or wrong ; '
Subtle thou art, and valorously strong.
'Tis thine to loose the slave. or bind the free,
To paralytic with age the limbs of yopth ;
Void of all guile, with thee dwells barefat'd truth.
No friend ars thou to sly hypocrisy—
Thy sway pervades sack station and degree; ,
The boor hull hall'd thee With a sleepy song—
O'er many a cosquer'd conqueror halt thou smil'd,
And even the guide of realms thou turnest to a child.
Little thou beedsst where thy bead Is laid,
To thee the bog Has the bed of down ;
Little thou mindest how thy clothes are made,
Small thought bast thou of cloak, or tap, or gown ;
For points of form thou attest not a pin,
But at the chimney would as moo come in,
Aye ! just as soon as at the opening door—
The pelting rain may drench thee o'er and o'er,
The storm—the snow—the bail armed may fall,
• Still ! still, my fearlesi spouse, thou Wiest at them all.
To many an ancient haunt art thou allied,
Oh ! many a lordly one thy daios must 01111 ;
The soul of valour and the heart of pride,
Must stoop all butnbty where thy face is shewn,
Wide round the land thy relatives an known,
The chiefs of might. O'Donnel. and O'Neill,
WOuire, O'Borke, Mt Mabee, and O'Connor,
Kildare's old Earl, that pink of worth and honour.
°Wantons from the mountain and the vale,
Fair Antrint's chiefs, O'Connell and O'Keatte,
And hundreds more that must unnam'd remain
All these. though haughty, and how high they be,
-These, darling drunkenness, art allied to thee.
r Nor these alone—each doctor in the land, _

Rach strutting soldier, draw in red or'blue,
Rich minstrel,-sod-roclaret, takes thy band,
• Lawyers sod ladies, told the der _toe,
Ks' lockgraney's head—the sky so fair to view
Than thee at moments seem not more sublime,
But low thoullest again io little time:
Fill up the cup. may victory be thine own,
Go where tiou wilt—for thee 111 live alone.
Irish Minstrelsy.

SELECT VESTRY ASSESSMENTS.
si..:
The Parish of Islington, iq_wbith 11111! AhUlt.
rave been lately bulk hse,-on amount bT those 'hut bas.
recently become the theatroottneat centriddo..About two
momhst ago, it skean. 'the inhabitants of the districts into
which, for tbe.purpeseof tbees churches, the parish has been
divided, were aemonbat ortdoieleed ;ley s demand 'road' or*
them for the attars dell. or Ad. is the posed to pinvkle fee
theftspiecett9fgailawrelstirdlis..The nollieretpleing dial
to poy done moosuieloos smehrestricateho atteattoevJ fi
merely lollortooitlee presomreopolred to pay, that a certain
son was;dettAloft.ithtlo fee Ow, nere *Aerate*, without
specifying what the sum was fon, by wistrainliority •it 'wag
levied, and withnot• --It said, • iteleed,.. that it nos
ordaioed by Selo:o /stay. the Commissional'
fnr Bedding Neer Chateheo. of whom the greatest past el
the parishioner bed never. before Asstd. Such a &mod,
and such a 'unto( expienatioe. lei immediately to an in-
vestigation into the oothorieja.ionfatiaisfamestry, sod into the
power of Church Building to appoint thew.
It was instantly detected that the urigisal net lot building
churches was framed on the supposition that that churches
would pry all their own exposes; tite Art Chancellor of the
Exchequer expressly declaring, that the reuse the pews
were to provide for the salary of the clergyman and of the
clef k, and he even calculated on a part of theroduce of the
seats coctributing to the expense of the repairs of the, new
church.

Accordingly, the Act contaload several clauses for the ap.l
propriatien of an expected surplus, but none whatever foe:
the levying or imposing any sates except one, in which it:
was provided that the Churchwthelens might levy a rate for
repairs, according to the usual manner of levying church.
rates. A subsequent act, Abe 69th Geo 3, gave the Church;
building Connniaisiorters- the power to appoint select-res.
tries in these districts " for the ease and management of the
church in to which %espies it gave the power of appointing
a Churchwarden, but it gave no power to make or levy a
rate. It visa observed that the Legislature had with curious
care provided for the appropriation of baptismal fees, of
the little.expected surplus of the pews, the. and, thetefore,
it was inferred that the Legislature could never have inten.
ded to confer on these Select Vestries the power of levying
rates without expressly providing for that. •
The select vestries, however, appointed by the church-
building commissioners, were no sooner installed into t Mee
titan they began to exercise that sweetest of all powers, the
pitwer of groping into you' neighbour's pocket, and they
ordained. without very minutely enquiring into their au.
timothy, a heavy rate fug various purposes which, they pre-
sumed, might be called ' for the care and management of the
eliurihe among which was • rotary to the vestry clerk, the
legal adviser of the vestry, and the mover of the whole ma-
chine. The presumed intentions of the legislature, and the
knowledge of the wide extent which the select vestry gave'
to the phrase' care and management of the churches, in.
duced the parishioners, who looked into the subject, to de.
chli• at once that deselect had much overstepped its bounds.
It was further discovered. by inquiry, that the Judges had
yet given no decision on the power of such Select to make
these rates; el at it was the opinion of the best informed
Counsel that the Select had• no right to impose any rate
whatever; and that them far a clause in the 3d of Geo. 4,
which expressly previa/I, that ell the 3letebeta of soy Select
Vestry of a parish raiding within any new district made by
the Commissicnere shall'be Blembets of the 'Swim Vestries
created by thew Cemmissioners. It having been decided by
tile Judges that a majority of a •Vestty was necessary to
niche a rate, and the Vestry under this provision consisting
of all the Select Vestrymen residing within the district, who,
amount to some hundreds! the rate that was declared by
sixteen Select Vestrymen was evidently not legal.
Fortified by this reasoning, and by the obvoius perversion
of the, phrase, h care and management of the Church." the
mhabitAnts who take an interest in this matter called a
Public Meeting, to be held at the White Condit Rouse
last evening, to cousider of the-best means of leg alit re-
sist* At payment of the rates. The .Meetiog was called
for a* o'clock, and very soon after that time the room
elymed for the purpo-e of the Slating was crowded to
mesas. It soon 'appeared that the persons who called
ti. I Meeting died nut calculated on the summons being
numernusly and enthusiastically answered. Mr.
I.odgakin was unanimously called to the Chair. Be-
ton any business could be done, it was found necessary to
adjourn the meeting to the open gardens. A considerable
time was waged in getting light and -sects' to the orchestra.
which did not exhaust the patience of the people. After
the Chairmen had opened the. business, a settee of Resole.
teens, denouncing die Church.rates as Allege', pledging the
Meeting tot to pay them, raising a subscription to defray
Site experts, and apppintirg Gemini:tees and facers to carry
the Resolutions itro tact, were moved by. Pelt. Skelding,
hit. Green, 3.1 d May, grad other gentlemen, and unanimously
etti

I. 'Mat the New astrict • Church .Rates ordered to be
levied by tl.r pretended defect Vestries, under the presumed
authority g the IL butch Buildirg Acu, are contrary to the,
itiientiun of tae freoimt of these Acta, ccrtatelp.uncoosti u.

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