OF

THE PORT FOLIO,

A MONTHLY MISCELLANY,

DEDICATED, IN CHIEF, TO ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS IN THE POPULAR DEPARTMENTS OF SCIENCE COMBINED WITH OCCASIONAL CRITICISM, CLASSICAL DISQUISITIONS, MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS, RECORDS OF THE PROGRESS OF THE FINE AND THE USEFUL ARTS, WITH ALL THE EXTENSIVE AND VARIEGATED DEPARTMENTS OF POLITE LITERATURE,

MERRIMENT, AND WIT.

CONDUCTED

BY OLIVER OLDSCHOOL, ESQ.

ASSISTED BY A CONFEDERACY OF MEN OF LETTERS.

PUBLISHED BY BRADFORD AND INSKEEP, PHILADELPHIA,

AND INSKEEP AND BRADFORD, NEW-YORK.

1809.

PRINTED BY SMITH AND MAXWELL.

PROSPECTUS, &c.

"We day, exulting, as the fruits refine,
"Our annual offering at the public shrine.
"Disdain it not, ye critics, nor decry

"Your country's arts, nor view with adverse eye;
"Indulgent still, the rigid brow unbend,

"And e'en in censure, show that you befriend.
"Prize not the skill of foreign realms alone,
"Nor think it Taste to stigmatize your own;
"But lean with bias to your country's arts,

"And rather wrong your judgment, than your hearts.
"Nor deem in soft, beseeching tone the Muse
"From Kindness courts what Candour might refuse;
"No,-from her soul, though rising to her eye
"What times remote, and realms around supply,
"She hails, with honest pride, her Country's claim,
"And calls on Taste to ratify her Fame."

IN the form of an Advertisement of extensive circulation, the Proprietors, Assistants, and Editor of The Port Folio, have announced that work, as on the point of publication, in a new dress, and upon an improved plan. On the first vernal month, a Phoenix Port Folio rises from the ashes of its predecessor. A light and imperfect sheet is changed into a copious pamphlet, an ample repository for the truths of Science, the blossoms of Genius, and the fruits of Industry. Rigidly excluding party politics and the intractable topics of Theology, all the Gentlemen, who are interested in the work, are resolved that it shall vindicate

• The bloom of life, the flowers of heaven that blow,
To deck the soul's dark gloomy grave below;
That breathe refining fragrance through the air,
And purify this atmosphere of care.

the literary reputation of America. A rational hope is cherished that whether the exterior, or the interior of The Port Folio be curiously scanned, it may bear à comparison with any of the foreign Journals. Philosophy and Poetry, the Inventor and the Critic, the Classical Scholar, and the volatile Lounger, within the Literary Circle we have drawn, may meet in that charming concert where all the instruments are in perfect unison.†

As the objects of this liberal undertaking are equally numerous and valuable, so the beneficial results will be manifold. If ably conducted, The Port Folio may contribute to the interest of individuals, to the power of Philadelphia, and the aggrandizement of our empire. The place of publication is unquestionably auspicious to all the projects of Genius, Science, and Art. A magnificent

†The subsequent passage from a fascinating writer is not only eloquent but just. The poetry is an honest tribute to our literary friends. The prose, may be profitably perused by the public.

Orare assemblage! rich amount of mind!
Collective light of intellect refined!

Scarce once an age from Nature's niggard hands
Bestowed on man, yet such the Muse demands;
Such, where'er found, let grateful states hold dear,
Reward them, Wisdom; Wealth and Rank, revere.

Great talents, when directed to improve and adorn society, can never be too highly esteemed, nor too conspicuously distinguished. Men of Genius are seldom mercenary: as the qualities which characterize them, are above all price, so money alone, however necessary to their wants, can never be considered the adequate reward of their exertions.

They require and deserve a nobler recompense: the homage of Widsom and Virtue; the respect of their own times, and the regard of posterity.

There is no other description of persons from which a state can derive so much reputation, at so little expense. They are the pillars of its present dignity, and the foundations of its future fame. The acts of heroes live only in the enterprises of mind, and Cæsar's pen has done more to immortalize him than his sword.

Men of Genius are luminous points on the great disk of society, which shine even after the sun of power and prosperity has withdrawn its beams, and rescue the nations they adorn from total darkness in the long eclipse of time.

Commerce may make a people rich, and Power may render them formidable: in the one case, they excite envy without admiration; in the other, fear without respect. But exploits of intellect only, can secure that genuine estimation, that grateful homage of the heart, which it is almost as honourable to pay as to receive. The powers of Genius consecrate the claims of Greatness, and invest Wealth with Dignity.