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Alas! the breeze or stream the heavenly vision broke!
Would it were real! or I ne'er had woke!

Still! murm'ring wind; ah, hush! thou prattling stream,
I'll sleep again; sweet Fancy, still be kind
To my distracted, tortured, loving mind-
A world, a world, for such another dream!

J. H

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

SONNET TO MAY.

TO MARY.

SWEET queen of smiles, that o'er the dewy plain
Now com'st to bid the blushing bud unfold,
All eyes with rapture thine approach behold;
Whilst nature joys to own thy blissful reign.
The modest wild-flower, and the flaunting train,
The garden's pride, alike confess thy care;
And hark! the spritely warblers of the air
Pay to their lovely queen the welcome strain.
O let me wander, now the solar ray

Bursts from the east and lights the bloomy tree!
I love the lonely walk at early day,

It wakens feelings that are dear to me:
Ah! Mary, can I view the charms of May
And not indulge the tender thought of thee?

May morning.

G.

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

ODE ON SPRING.

By the author of the poem on the Natural Bridge.

DIVINELY bright behold the Spring,
Borne on the flutt'ring Zephyr's wing,
While every dale, and every glade,
Murmuring greet the heavenly maid.

The ruder winds no more awake
The slumbers of the silent lake;
And mark the swan delights to lave
Its plumage in the silver wave.

The school-boy through the blooming bowers,
Wandering, plucks the painted flowers,

Or, listening to the red-bird's lay,

Forgets awhile his wonted play.

The swallow in a mazy ring,
Skims the pool with rapid wing,
While merry on the blossom'd spray,

The mocking songster pours his lay.

O Spring, sweet rosy-bosomed maid,
Be yet thy parting smile delayed

Still blandly whisper through the trees,
And wave thy tresses to the breeze!

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE PORT FOLIO,

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

Before your correspondent C. attempted to account for certain affec tions of the human body, which are produced by a rarefied atmosphere, by a deficiency in the oxigenous portion of atmospheric air, in very lofty situations, he ought accurately to have ascertained that this was the fact.

The latest aronauts, who have brought down air from the upper regions, and have had it examined by the most celebrated chymists in Europe, inform us, that it is precisely of the same degree of purity, as that on the surface of the earth.*

If this be true, what becomes of the theory of C.?

LACONIC.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

THE spirited Biography of that justly celebrated military commander, general ANTHONY WAYNE will inflame the youthful enthusiast and rouse the veteran soldier. Of the numerous officers, who have adorned the annals of America, few have been more splendidly distinguished than the subject of this faithful memoir. He was, in the strongest sense of the word, valiant. His courage was always of a daring, determined, decided, and desperate character. The virtus, or military fortitude of the Romans, was his shining characteristic. The word fear was wholly unknown in his vocabulary. Actuated by an undaunted soul, stimulated by the desire of glory, and governed by the principle of patriotism; with a stout heart, a steady hand, the Douglas blood,

and

An eye, like Mars, to THREATEN OR COMMAND,

he hewed his way with his sword, and Danger, with limbs of giant mould, fled away before him. With blended sorrow, shame, and indignation we add that the remains of this warrior, of whom his ungrateful country ought to be justly proud, repose ingloriously, not to say

"Atmospheric air, and air taken at the height of 6636 5 metres, are exactly the same." Phil. Mag. vol. 31, p. 224. The experiments on the air brought from the upper regions, by Guy Lussac, were performed at the Potecnic school in Paris, under the inspection of Messrs. Thenard and Gresset.

ignominiously, on a distant frontier, amid the savage rudeness of the forest. The bold chieftain while prodigal of his blood, and reckless of his life, he bared his bosom to many a hostile spear, would scarcely anticipate that his whitening bones would be left for daws to peck at on the very soil he defended! He adds another to an illustrious, but neglected catalogue.

EDWARD and HENRY, now the boast of fame,
And virtuous ALFRED, a more sacred name,
After a life of generous toils endur'd,

The FOE SUBDUED and property secur'd,

Ambition humbled, MIGHTY BULWARKS STORM'D,
Or laws establish'd and the world reform'd,
Clos'd their long glories, with a sigh to find

The unwilling gratitude of BASE MANKIND.

But though the state may be negligent of his fame, and leave his ashes to be dissipated by the night winds, there are who feel for his renown, and who erect for him as fair an obelisk, as Sensibility can conceive, or ardent Enthusiasm rear. No corrosive mildew of ingratitude can blight his military reputation. It is the immobile saxum of the Roman poet, and will remain unshaken when gorgeous palaces shall have crumbled away.

Let FAME, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registered upon his brazen tomb
And then grace him, in the disgrace of death,
When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,
The endeavour of hfs ardent soul may buy

That HONOUR, which shall bate the sithe's keen edge
And make him heir of all eternity.

The character of "PROTEUS" is certainly of a meteoric complexion, but it ought not to excite the astonishment of his delineator. Sanguine, volatile, ardent, impetuous, restless; with boiling blood, vehement passions, and irritable nerves, the impulses, the habits, and the conduct of such a being are the natural results of his genius and temperament. Men need not be either confounded or amazed at the eccentricity of a comet; and the sallies of some minds are equally irregular. A certain species of men are a sort of chartered libertines. Do you expect to fix their volatility? expect at the same time to tie up the north wind, with a needleful of thread, or drain old ocean, with a teaspoon.

To fix this Proteus were to cork in jars

The fleeting rainbows and the falling stars.

The comparison which "Scrutator" has instituted between the character of boys and girls, reminds us of a blunt but apposite passage in one of DRYDEN'S translations, where he introduces a downright Cretan, one Lygdus, thus addressing his wife:

I have but two petitions to prefer,

Short pains for thee; for me a son and heir.
Girls cost as many throes in bringing forth;
Besides, when born, the chits are little worth;
Weak huling things, unable to sustain

Their share of labour, and their bread to gain.

The request of O is inadmissible. He is too extravagant in his expectations. We must address him in the words of WALLER,

Should you no honey vow to taste,

But what the master bees have plac'd
In compass of their cells, how small

A portion to your share would fall!

Our correspondent must be content sometimes with plain fare, and not ask us every day to set forth a princely banquet.

The hints from our learned friend at N shall be most sedulously and respectfully regarded. We have been in the habit of perusing regularly the elegant miscellany, to which he alludes, and were remarkably well pleased with the wit and talents, displayed in many of the first volumes. The proprietorship of the work has been repeatedly changed, and under the administration of the present editor his Journal has declined somewhat in reputation. Still, in our opinion, it is better conducted than many rival and contemporaneous publications; and at one epoch, of no short duration, it was unquestionably the most amusing work of the kind, published in Great Britain. We have reason to believe that Mr. Sheridan, Joseph Richardson and many other gentlemen of the most brilliant talents, contributed pretty liberally to diversify its pages. Perhaps no establishment of this nature approached so nearly to the best manner of the old "Court Miscellany," and "The Town and Country Magazine," we mean before the pages of the latter were polluted by scandal. It was at one time edited by the celebrated ISAAC REED, Esq. a man of elegant attainments and a sort of literary virtuoso. The arts, manners, and amusements of the age were extremely well depicted, and the anecdotical, the witty and the dramatic departments were very ably filled. Such being our opinion of the general plan and execution of the variegated volumes, to which our friend has solicited our attention, we shall open them with renovated delight, when assisted by his taste and judgment in the task of selection. Not a single article, that he has suggested for our consideration, shall be neglected in the course of our literary labours. But, at present we can avail ourselves but rarely of his judicious advice. For, contrary to all expectation, even of the most sanguine of our friends, we receive and believe we shall continue to receive, a mass of original communications of no vulgar or flimsy character. Nevertheless, we will sometimes find room, even if we are obliged to print extra sheets, for foreign productions of such exquisite composition, as our friend has indicated. With the native wild flowers and the sua poma of our own country, we will mingle elegant exotics, and the golden fruits of the other hemisphere. The classical authors of England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, shall often pass in review before us; and whatever is new and rare, whatever is calculated for the substantial benefit of society, or by harmless wit and smiling good humour is fitted to beguile life of some of its tediousness, shall never be deliberately neglected by the Editor.

Two poems written, we believe, by a lady of this city, one, entitled The Transit of the Exotic, and the other "Forget me not," in allusion to a beautiful copy of verses, by Mrs. Opie, have much merit, and we hope the writer will frequently favour us with lines of a similar description. These two last words we have printed in italics, because another article, accompanying them, we were obliged to reject, and a second communication of the same character, which should have been rejected, was inserted in our second number in the absence of the editor from the press. The verses in question were inadmissible, not from any lack of metrical exactness, or any flagrant errors of composition, but because the allusions and situations were so perfectly local and do

mestic, that, however pleasing and proper in the family circle, to which they refer, they are wholly uninteresting to the public, to whom they must be absolutely unintelligible. We speak this in no fastidious humour, nor have we the slightest wish to repress the genius, or wound the feelings of an ingenious and amiable woman. But WE MUST DO OUR DUTY, AND MAINTAIN OUR RIGHTS, AT EVERY HAZARD. If any stress be laid upon his literary habits, and his experience, as the uncontrolled manager of a public Journal, the Editor must be supposed to know with some degree of certainty what is proper to meet the public eye; and when, after due deliberation, he rejects a communication, every candid, liberal and reflecting man must ascribe that rejection, not to Caprice, not to Petulance, not to Wantonness, not to Rashness, not to Carelessness, not to Haste, but to reasons of the most decisive and invincible character.

ANALYTICUS, who has done us the honour of occasionally corresponding with us for some years, is thanked emphatically for many of his recent speculations. The metaphysical and ethical mode, which he sometimes adopts in his acute analyses of human sentiments, manners, and character, as portrayed in SHAKSPEARE's imperishable page, is particularly entitled to the attention of the curious inquirer. The union of philosophy with poetry, upon the principles adopted by our friend, is like the fabled loves of Mars and Venus, it is the alliance of Strength and Beauty. Professor RICHARDSON, one of the politest scholars in Scotland, was one of the first, who undertook to investigate Shakspeare, in this acute, ingenious, and profitable manner. Both his style and sagacity deserve the highest praise, and like lord Kaimes, he may be very advantageously consulted, by that upper class of readers and critics, who peruse the bard of Avon for higher purposes than those of mere amusement. These elegant models of critical ingenuity have certainly not escaped the regard of Analyticus, who, we know, is in the regular habit of perusing those profound authors, who marshal their ideas according to the most rigid rule of reasoning. We wish that our correspondent, pursuing, with a sort of periodical punctuality, his original plan, would investigate in a regular train some of the more recondite passages, as well as singular characters and extraordinary situations in Shakspeare. Othello has been viewed in every light, and Desdemona's character has been drawn by philosophers, commentators and critics, as well as by Shakspeare himself. But we should be delighted to peruse an essay on the merits and demerits of Iago, Roderigo, Cassio and Emilia. A man of genius, combining a knowledge of the human heart with habits of philosophical precision, might exhibit those characters in a very strong and salutary light. The characters of Portia and Beatrice, of Rosalind and Celia would furnish copious topics of curious resemblance, under the management of a diligent investigator. Julius Cæsar and Mark Antony, Cassius, King John and the Lady Constance, King Henry VIII and Queen Catharine, Justice Shallow, Justice Silence, Nym and Poins would furnish hints for frequent speculation. The habits, manners, and, in particular, the phrase of ancient Pistol might be judiciously scanned, and the origin and progress of bombastic speech and writing be, from the latter circumstance, very curiously traced. The character of Cleopatra would furnish a fine subject for the moral, and that of Autolycus in the Winter's Tale, for the humorous painter. The Midsummer Night's Dream might employ an author for years, and the too much neglected play of Love's Labour Lost, task all the ingenuity of a Columbian commentator. In Measure for Measure, the grave characters of the Duke and of Angelo.

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