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American Literature. Were I allowed to touch the hallowed altar of this inspired Bard, I would read

And Spring's first violets shall bloom,

Rear'd by thy hands around his tomb.

This beautiful production does not suffer by a comparison with Moore's. Epistle to my Lord Strangford.

Yours,

J. D.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

With due deference and respect to Paracelsus, I wish for the sake of accurate knowledge to ascertain, whether he be correct in his analysis of atmospheric air. I had conceived that the air of our atmosphere, was composed of 72 parts of azotic, 27 of pure air, and one of carbonic acid gas.

I am, Sir, &c.

ATTICUS.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

Much as I admire the Biography of Mr. Linn, I cannot admit one position of its author: I cannot suppose that by any enchantment "the filth and unwholesome exhalations of a city" can be delightful to the youthful heart. Neither Addison, nor Akenside could reconcile these things to the pleasures of the imagination.

I am, Sir, &c.

ATTICUS.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

They who take an interest in the education of our youth will be thankful to Dr. Abercrombie for his edition of Lindley Murray's GramExperience in the respectable profession of teaching had pointed out to that gentleman the want of some supplementary rules; and he has supplied the deficiencies of the original work, with the acuteness of the grammarian, and the erudition of the scholar. It would be uncandid not to acknowledge that, while his additions to the Syntax facilitate the science of parsing, his etymological explanations confer significance on the grammatical terms: without such elucidations the technical words of an art are mere arbitrary sounds.

As I write anonymously I cannot be suspected of having any design to flatter the Director of the Philadelphia Academy. I shall, therefore, not scruple to affirm, that he has both adorned and strengthened the original edifice of Murray; and that those teachers who

value the time and correct progress of their pupils, will do well to appreciate the labours of Dr. Abercrombie, and make his edition of Lindley Murray's Grammar supersede every other edition that is published in the United States.

I am, Sir, &c.

ATTICUS.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

THE following passage from Homer was pronounced by Dr. Johnson -(vide Boswell) the noblest advice ever given by a father to a son: · καὶ υπείροχον έμμεναι ἄλλων.

The English of this I take to be "transcend others." But μμvas is not in the imperative, but obviously the infinitive mood. A solution is requested from some of your Greek Correspondents.

I am,

&c.

X. Y.

VARIETY FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

Ipse VARIETATE tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis; quædam fortasse omnibus placeant,

PLIN, EPIST.

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MADAME DE GENLIS.

Madame de Genlis, who is certainly an agreeable and ready wri ter, has lately been uncommonly industrious; and though in her haste to increase the quantity, she has been too unmindful of the quality of her performances, we still meet with something to admire in her works. Among the latest of her productions is Les Souvenirs de Felicie L-, published in Paris last year, in two volumes duodecimo. Under this title, our fair author has formed a very interesting miscellany of Historiettes, bon mots, jests, and anecdotes of Courts, which she had written at different times, and published without the sanction of her name. She has now claimed her right to those which she deemed worthy of being rescued from oblivion, and has presented to the world a volume of choice morsels that will be highly relished at least by the beaux esprits of Paris. From this collection we extract the following merry anecdote of a miser.

M. de C—, very rich, but blinded by a cataract formed on both his eyes, came to Paris from the remotest part of Languedoc, to consult a surgeon, who told him that it was time for him to perform the operation of couching, for the success of which he would be answerable. M. de C. inquired what would be the expense of the operation. Fifty guineas replied Granjeani

M. de C. remonstrated grievously against the charge, and was disposed to make a bargain to lower the price; but Granjean was inflexible; and M. de C. had nothing left but patience, submission, and non-resistance. Some days afterward the surgeon performed the operation, when, having removed the cataract from the right eye, M. de C. exclaimed with transport, that his sight was perfectly restored. Come then, said Granjean, let us proceed to the other eye Stay a moment, replied M. de C., you take fifty guineas for the whole operation, that is five and twenty for each eye: now, as I see quite as well as is necessary, and as I wish to see, I shall content myself with one eye; to recover the other would be a very useless luxury; there are your five and twenty guineas.

Madame de Genlis is very facetious with Gibbon, whom she stiles the Gross Monsieur Gibbon, when relating this spritely anecdote of him.

ANECDOTE OF GIBBON.

I hear from Lausanne that Mr. Gibbon has been settled there for some time, and is extremely well received. He is, they tell me, grown so prodigiously fat, that he walks with great difficulty: yet with this figure, and his strange face, Mr. Gibbon is infinitely gallant, and is fallen in love with a beautiful woman, Madame de Crouzas. One day finding himself with her téteà-tête for the first time, and desirous of availing himself of so favourable a moment, he fell suddenly on his knees, and made a declaration of his flame in the most passionate terms. Madame de Crouzas replied in a manner sufficiently repulsive to discourage every temptation to renew the scene, and Mr. Gibbon appeared very much embarrassed; but he nevertheless retained his prostrate attitude; and notwithstanding Madame's repeated invitation to reseat himself on his chair, he was motionless and silent. "But Sir," repeated Madame de Crouzas, "rise I beseech you." Alas, Madame," at length answered this unfortunate lover, "I am not able." In truth, the corpulency of his person totally impeded the possibility of his recovering his legs without assistance. Madame de C. then rang the bell, and desired the servant to help Mr. Gibbon to rise.

If Canning is the author of "My Pocket Book," he is admirably adapted to fill the easy chair of Rabelais.

Of Henry Kirke White, a Biography is expected from the anvil of Southey. A Monody, secundum artem, is ready.

γουροις στοματεσσι μελίσδετε πενθιμον ῳδαν.

Biographers share the destiny of those whose lives they commemorate. Currie is now as mute as Burns, and Sir William Forbes has followed Beattie to the habitation appointed for all.

Opie gave a degree of projection to his figures unattained since the time of Caravaggio. Of Caravaggio an affecting picture has been exhibited in the poetry of Dermody. Ut pictura poesis.

An edition of Junius, by the late Almon, will appear soon. It will supply all the newspaper and other articles which Junius answered,

many passages of whose letters are obscure without them. I once contemplated a similar project in London, and in my researches discovered Modestus to be the nom de guerre of Cleland.

I was always much pleased with an observation of Swift, that, Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.

Genius is the first order of intellect; Talent calls it forth, and Taste assigns to it the place in which it appears to the most advantage.

Mr. John Wesley was of opinion that when a dog howled at a flute, the howling was not produced by displeasure, but intended as a vocal accompaniment.

Metron Ariston is the production of Dr. Warner. It is to me conclusive. Nunc fugit Galatea.

Doctor Johnson's concluding sentence of the Life of Savage is imitated from Addison. Addison says, "Nothing can atone for the want of modesty and innocence; without which, beauty is ungraceful and quality contemptible."

Mac Cormick, a biographer of Burke, died lately so poor in London that in his last illness he was obliged to part with all his books to supply the necessities of the day.

I caught Ovid napping the other day, and Indignor quandoque dormitat. He tells us in one line that men lived on acorns, and in the next that the untilled fields brought forth abundant harvests.

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It has been observed that for an old man to take a young wife is to practise the cruelty of Mezentius:

Mortua quin etiam jungebat corpora vivis
Complexu in misero.

A biographer of Schiller says he did not die rich, because he was' not prosaic enough to scrape money together.

I am an enthusiast of the Greek language, and never hear a Professor quote Greek without standing up. I learn it, as I have learned French and Latin. I carry an elementary treatise in my pocket, and study it in the parlour, or the stage-coach. Dalzel is my manual, my

• It deserves to be called Πάντων μέτρον άρισον.

oracle, my vade mecum.

His latinity discovers the purity of Cicero, and the neatness of Paterculus. I shall ever love the Scotch nation because Dalzel was a Scotchman. Dalzel was born at Ratho, near Edinburgh, and breathed his last only a year ago.

Dalzel conferred a value on Chevalier's Description of the Plain of Troy, by translating and illustrating it. It was Chevalier who refuted the hypotheses of Bryant by proving that the modern issue of the Scamander is artificial.

What a pre

The Avara of Dalzel are now lying on my table. cious casket! Possessed of it, I am richer, in my own estimation, than a Bedford or a Beckford. The costly domes of lordly magnificence are vain, perishable, transitory; but Zopía álával @apaμévs. I lament that I did not encounter Dalzel sooner; I lament that my good genius did not bring me acquainted with him on my natal soil. But," as Petrarch said, "the example of the elder Cato suggests some comfort and hope; since it was at the last period of age that he attained the knowledge of Greek literature.”

66

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES

OF

THE PEMBERTONS OF PHILADELPHIA.

THE Venerable JAMES PEMBERTON, who lately departed this life, by the decay of nature, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, was the last of the three brothers of that name, ISRAEL, JAMES, and JOHN, so long celebrated, in the annals of philanthropy, as taking the lead in those benevolent associations, which distinguish the Citizens of Philadelphia.

Their grandfather, PHINEAS PEMBERTON, a member of the Society of Friends, came over from England, in the time of THE PROPRIETOR; and settled, with a number of his brethren, about the Falls of Delaware, where the Indians were then nume

rous.

His.son, commonly called the first ISRAEL PEMBERTON, established himself in Philadelphia; and by the tranquil operation of VOL. I.

X

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