ith like favour from the reader, we subjoin the
following account of this little masque which was prepared for the
happy occasion by Alfred Bernard, aided by the grave chaplain, Arthur
Hutchinson, and performed by some of the gay gallants and blooming
damsels of old Jamestown. We flatly disclaim in the outset any
participation in the resentment or contempt which was felt by these
loyal Virginians towards the puritan patriots of the revolution.

The curtain rises and discovers the genius of True Liberty, robed in
white, with a wreath of myrtle around her brow; holding in her right
hand a sceptre entwined with myrtle, as the emblem of peace, and in her
left a sprig of evergreen, to represent the fabled Moly[29] of Ulysses.
As she advances to slow and solemn music, she kneels at an altar clothed
with black velvet, and raising her eyes to heaven, she exclaims:--

"How long, oh Heaven! shall power with impious hand
In cruel bondage bind proud Britain's land,
Or heresy in fair Religion's robe
Usurp her empire and control the globe!--
Hypocrisy in true Religion's name
Has filled the land of Britain long with shame,
And Freedom, captive, languishes in chains,
While with her sceptre, Superstition reigns.
Restore, oh Heaven! the reign of peace and love,
And let thy wisdom to thy people prove
That Freedom too is governed by her rules,--
No toy for children, and no game for fools;--
Freed from restraint the erring star would fly
Darkling, and guideless, through the untravelled sky--
The stubborn soil would still refuse to yield
The whitening harvest of the fertile field;
The wanton winds, when loosened from their caves,
Would drive the bark uncertain through the waves
This magnet lost, the sea, the air, the world,
To wild destruction would be swiftly hurled!
And say, just Heaven, oh say, is feeble man
Alone exempt from thy harmonious plan?
Shall he alone, in dusky darkness grope,
Free from restraint, and free, alas! from hope?
Slave to his passions, his unbridled will,
Slave to himself, and yet a freeman still?
No! teach him in his pride to own that he
Can only in obedience be free--
That even he can only safely move,
When true to loyalty, and true to love."

As she speaks, a bright star appears at the farther end of the stage,
and ascending slowly, at length stands over the altar, where she kneels.
E