Star.
London, England, 1816-12-26 00:00:00

THOUGHTS.

• '• rASIONED IT THE APPROACH of THE NEW YEAR.
HAIL to the New 1,0111 year I• to Nature hail
thrice ill hail to the ALMIGHTY hand
That guides the progress of unweatied time,
And points its still undeviating track
From age to age, unbmken. Ott ! wondrous Power,
Whose boundless goodness to thy works bath delved
T.. add another year to nature's list,
Accepeour thanks for time's increas'd account !
Accoudt how vast ! but ab ! how little pria'd ;
AVIEIe youth and !teeth and pleasure are besitie us,
liow I ttle thought of !—Man ne'er dreams of •line
Till Time's rough hand haat silver'd o'er his brow,
And shook his joints with w..rnings of his frailty ;
And then, e'en then, he madly shuns the thought
That points to years ntispent--faults unatoo'd,—
Ana rests on hope, fallacious as it is,
That future years shall wipe away the stain.
Death! awful thought !'Death interposes here,
And strikes the hoary trifler to the earth
Lee yet the buds ut penitence appear.
•
Then in the hour, when Nature, wearied out,
Struggles and pants for rest, unheetlo Time,
Of late so scorn'd, assumes tyrannic power,
And hurls its vengeance down ! tenfold repaid
For every slight ! Oh ! terrible account,
•
But to be clos'd with life, yet at its close
To be so dreadful ! •
Another year I—Can Mercy be so vast,
So boundless, thus to render opportunity,
Unceasing opportunity of good,
And yet so unregarded to the end
Ohl M..n be wise ! nor spurn the proffdd gift,
Lest in the night the spoiler, unawares,
Snatelteth the lamp, and with it every hope
L•xtinguisheth for ever I—Man, awake!
Look to thy soul, and think of passing time.
Oh, thou ETERNAL qiie! the First and Last!
Accept our thanks; unworthy as we are
Even of thy smallest gifts. This gift how vast !
How vast thy mercy to all-erring man,
That even offences manifold and great,
And sins unnumbeed, bath not yet brought down
The vengeance of insulted, slighted Iteav'n ;
Hatb not yet forc'd the barriers of forbearance,
And snatch'd vindictive thunders from our GOD
Down on our heads ! Oh ! thou all merciful,
AU wise, all gracious Power ! 'cis not for man,
Imperfect as be is ev'ts at the bee-,
To walk upright-, unstaiied, before his GOD;
Or ev'n to hope for aught but endless pain,
Without cloy mighty hand protect; his step.,
And teats him onward to eternal bliss.
How then snail man, wild, thoughtless, frenzied mar,
Ev'n in the plentitude of human power,
A crawling worm—scoff at thy holy word.
Defy thy power, and spurn thy mighty will,
And yet be spar'd !• Oh wondrous, wondrous mercy,
' Forbearance infinite Kindness immense!
Beyond all power of knowledge to conceive—.
Mit Tbou art ail eternal, and all wise,
And mar, the atrengtbless creature of thy breath, s
Should uemblc and adore! SCHEEL:ALAI.

......

On Christmas Eve, a very extensive robbery was
effected by a gang ot villains, who entered the back
of the premises of Mr. Hata., pawnbroker, High-
street, Mary-la-bonne, and plundered it to a great
amount. Mr. Hell cannot possibly tell the amount
of his loss at present, but the least is between one and
two thousand pounds. The villains effected their
escape with the property, and the robbery was not
discovered (so cautious were the depredators) till
early yesterday morning.
A melancholy occurrence took place at Tun-
bridge on the evening ot Thursday last. Mr. Joseph
Aatheestone, baker, of that place, r turning from
the Wells, where he had been on business, turned in-
to the Wash at the cud of the great bridge, for the
porpost of watering his horse. By some accident,
not known, he fell frota the animal, and was driven
into the channel of the river, and unfortunately
drowned before any assistance could be rendered him,
leaviog an aged mother, a wife, and five small chil-
dren ( whose sole support he was) to lament their irre-
parable loss. The neighbourhood compassionating
the case of the unhappy family, are exerting them-
selves to alleviate, as much as possible, their misfor-
tune by a subscription.
CORONER'S INQULSTS.—An Inquisition was held on
Tuesday afternoon, before Thomas STIRLING, Esq. at
the loose of Mr. P. Gordon, the sign of the Barley
Mow, Dorset-street, Mary-la-Bonne, upiin the bodies
of Th ,mas Durbin, of No. 4, Blandford-rne..vs,
Blandford.street, aged 12 years, and John Brooks,
the son of Mr. Brooks, of East•street, aged 10, who
were drowned on Saturday last, iu Are New Canal of
Mary-la-Bonne. The deceased and another boy,
whose body is not yet found, were playing on the ice,
at what the children call Horses; the above boys
were tied together with a cord, and the boy.who is
not found was ,driving them, when the ice broke and
let all three in. Durbin and Brooks were got out of
the water the next day ; they were found tied to a
cord as described by a boy who saw them drowned.
Tlie.Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death. •
Tuesday afternoon .an Inquest WAS held at the
London Hospital, on the body of an aged man, who
was found with his kg and arm broken, lying in the
street, opposite Whitechapel Church, on Satutday
night, bewen eleven and twelve o'clock. It ap-
peare 4 that the &ceased was conveyed to the Lon-
don Hospital ot a shutter. He was exceedingly'
deal, and no account could be obtained as to who he
was, or whence he .came. He appeared in much
pain, and cried out that his arm and leg were;
broken. l'le died shortly alter coming into the Hos-
, pital. It was evident that some carriage had passed
over him, and that he died from the injuries he had
received. Deceased was dressed in a blue jacket*,
light jane pantaloons, grey worsted stockings, and
was about five feet three inches in height, and appa-
rently sixty or seventy years of age. Verdict-pi-AC-,
cioental Death. .
. ,
There was another InqUest held the same day; %t
the Alfred head, Silver-Sleet, Stepney Green, on the
body of John Morgan, aged three years.—Jane Mor-
gan, an interesting little .girl, six years old, sister to.
the deceased, told the Foreman 'and the Jury'inthe
room, that her little brother got a sheet of paper to
a lantern, which lie. Set on fire with a candle,
and that the game caught his piaafore.—SameVerdict.