near, And like a child I wish to grasp the bubble: She whispers, too, I may have better luck yet, So, if you please, I will not kick the bucket. I know you wish the village boys to hootLook! look! there goes the poor desponding poet! There goes the dangler on a petticoat!' All this you wish, you cruel jade-you know it: But I shall balk you, mistress, on my life : For though tempestuous scorn now clouds me over, Some future sun may shine, some fairer wife May tender consolation to your lover. Meantime, while sweet Thalia is my muse, I'll make to this same death a stout resistance; Brushing at early dawn the healthful dews, To keep his scarecrow worship at a dis tance. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. We have, for some time, been exceedingly solicitous to collect and arrange materials for something like a complete picture of Philadelphia. Many of its features have been already sketched, and we have had no occasion to complain of the execution, except when our own pencil has been employed. To this magnificent metropole we owe so much both of admiration and gratitude, that we delight at all times to do it the greatest honour. We shall commence, very shortly, the publication of a statistical account of that very elegant and useful structure, the great bridge over the romantick Schuylkill. This interesting memoir, with which we have been officially favoured, contains a complete description of the rise, progress, and successful termination of an undertaking honourable to the genius, enterprize, and publick spirit of the projectors, and of incalculable advantage to the city and country. An amiable clergyman and a very polite and correct scholar, has promised us for publication in this paper, a complete course of Lectures on Rhetorick and the Belles Lettres. We have had an opportunity to peruse the manuscript, and we have acquired the right to affirm that the. diligent perusal of this elegant as well as didactick work, will imbue the youthful mind with a deeper tint of polite literature than has been yet accomplished either by BLAIR or BARRON. From the first establishment of this Journal, we have taken the most unwearied pains, and spared no practicable expense, to excite not merely a taste for elegant letters in general, but for CLASSICAL LEARNING in particular. We have encountered many obstacles, we have experienced many discouragements, and have stood up against the shock of opposition. After wandering, as it were, in a wood darkling and solitary, we begin to see through a visto, a troop of aspiring cavaliers, pressing forward in the right path to the temple of Wisdom. The study of the ancient authours is unquestionably becoming more and more fashionable in America, and memoirs of the great men of antiquity are sought for with peculiar avidity. We are delighted to find that the very elegant lives of illustrious Greeks and Romans, so vividly sketched in the classical lectures which we are now publishing from the manuscripts of that accomplished scholar, the late Dr. CHARLES NISBET, are talked of with the greatest commendation in the learned circles, and that every man of delicate taste and sound judgment is disposed heartily to encourage the editor in this department of his labours. The editor is cheered by this sort of favour, and, animated by the countenance of the discerning few, he will persevere to inculcate, in every possible form, the glory as well as utility of being perfectly familiar with those exquisite productions which have reflected splendour upon more than one Augustan age. One of our old and highly esteemed correspondents, now on his travels through some of the fairest portions of Europe, is, we understand, employed in writing his tour, and we are promised the privilege of publication. SEDLEY'S Imitation of Milton's Allegro is beyond all compare the most ingenious, correct, and harmonious of his poetical compositions. We shall insert it with great pleasure. We have often read Blackstone's Farewell to his Muse with delight, but we are not sure that our youthful American, engaged in a similar train of thought, has fallen below the standard of his illustrious predecessour. We think that in this species of versification he is most likely to excel. For the poetical version of certain odes of Hafiz we are indebted to a young man of genius who lately obliged us by a very spirited translation from one of the most interesting essays in the works of Sir Willian Jones. We hope our new correspondent will be induced to task his powers often. Much curiosity is excited respecting the authour of the interesting travels which adorn our front pages. As we have had no injunction for secrecy, and as we are solicitous that the South should not be unjustly charged with indifference to polite literature, we apprize the publick that Haste ye, who pleasure seek! to Shiraz fly! Implore the damsels of that lovely place To hear the vows of love; they'll not deny, In each ye'll surely find an angel's face. Of Egypt's luscious sugar ye may boast, Who ne'er have known what maids in Shiraz dwell; But there its sweetness would be quickly lost For Shiraz' damsels every sweet excel. Soft zephyr, com'st thou from my lovely maid? And can my ardent vows her bosoin move? Yet ah! why dissipate from sleep the shade? For I was happy when I dreamt of love. But should my fair one doubt my constant heart, Sweet Zephyr, tell her that its streams | ly reminded that more than I'll pour, And with my life's blood will as freely part, As when her parent gave the milky store. Ah since thou dreadest thus the parting hour, The last adieu, the separating kiss: Hafiz, cease not to thank thy Guardian Power, When with her presence, thou art crown'd with bliss. For The Port Folio. S. If Mr. Oldschool thinks the following trifle unworthy of a corner in The Port Folio, the authour requests him to light his cigarr with it, as he is particularly anxious it should, by some means or other, communicate a flame. Thou little sorceress, adieu! I'll never, never, more believe thee, And yet these eyes proclaimed thee true, Whose lightning flashed, but to deceive me. So does the snake's bewitching glance LUBIN. TO AGENTS AND SUBSCRIBERS. two months of the current year has elapsed, and that in consequence of injurious procrastination of payment, the establishment of this paper, and hence the character of the Journal, and the spirits and zeal of the Editor are materially affected. The real friends to him, his cause, and his objects, it is presumed, will not be offended by the statement of Truth and Candour, who never wantonly outrage the feelings of any individual. But the regular routine of business requiring payment at the expiration of every sixty days for all the materials and labour employed in the office of The Port Folio, and as, without any exaggeration, the expense of the establish. ment is much heavier than its friends generally imagine, it is obvious, without a rigid punc Our punctual Patrons and Agents are thanked for their attention to our pecuniarytuality on the part of Patrons, claims; and those of our friends and customers, who, from any cause except misfortune, are tardy to fulfil, or careless to remember their en the finances of the concern must be always embarrassed, and the Editor a malecontent, with Industry interrupted, with Zeal baffled, and with Enter. gagements, are very respectful- prize overthrown. The price of The Port Folio is Six Dollars per annum, to be paid in advance. Printed and Published, for the Editor, by SMITH & MAXWell, NO. 28, NORTH SECOND-STREET. Various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change and pleased with novelty, may be indulged-Cowp. Vol. V. Philadelphia, Saturday, March 12, 1808. ORIGINAL PAPERS. No. 11. been much heightened by the contrast they formed with our accommodation, on board the vessel, and we began, as they became more familiar to us, to be struck with the want of neatness in the furniture, and the very great neglect of cleanliness. I hardly think, that all the novelties of Bordeaux would have reconciled a lady of Virginia to a floor, which being once painted, was no otherwise cleaned, after being once swept, than by means of a coarse towel wrapt round the end of a broom and rubbed over it; to a table, which, though of mahogany had never been rubbed, and to a hearth, which was made, and which remained from day to day, the receptacle of all the sweepings of the room. Our representations had some effect, and the people of the house, in compliance to our prejudices paid a little more attention to our apartments, but still the table remained unrubbed, and the floor unwashed. If you figure to yourself James's river making a large bend near Richmond, and the high grounds to be on the Manchester side, instead of overhanging the city as Shock's hill does, yers on both sides read their speech- rence, begged to know, in a whisper, if you may form to yourself some idea of the situation of Bordeaux, and you will naturally suppose that, like Richmond, it is subject to autumnal fevers; this circumstance, however, does not in the least affect the appearance of the Bordelaix, owing in all probability to the quantities of fine fruit they have. We had now been several times at the theatre; we had visited all the churches, and the best booksellers' shops, and the museum, and had made several excursions into the neighbouring county, and now found time to visit the yards, where a num-proaching me with marks of defeber of workmen were employed in the construction of those boats, which are to humble England: to me they appeared too slightly built to bear the motion of the sea with even a couple of pieces of heavy artillery on board, too flat to hold a good wind, and by no means calculated for the purposes of debarkation on a shore exposed to a heavy surf: I cannot conceive the government to have had any other object in building them, than to give employment to the builders. The next object, which attracted my attention, was the court of justice, which had commenced its sessions, within a few days, and which was just about deciding on a very important cause; the wisdom of the government founded no doubt upon experience, has withdrawn a great many causes from the jurisdiction of juries, and this was one of them; the court had in every other respect the appearance of ours in America. There were soldiers indeed to keep the peace instead of constables, but they were few in number, and the doors were open to all the world. This last circumstance is a very important improvement, which has taken place since the revolution. The witnesses I observed, instead of swearing, promised only to speak the truth, but under the same penalties in case of falsity, as with us in case of perjury; and the promise, or as we should say, the oath, was read to them collectively. We had now been three weeks in Bordeaux. The extreme novelty of every object had worn offa little, but there was still a great deal to see, and to admire, and a great deal that I might write about, if my ambition were to make a book. The old town, which may be considered as the one formerly inhabited by the British, has such very narrow streets, that it is with difficulty two carriages can pass, but the ditches, which once defended it, have been filled up, and formed into spacious streets, and the modern part is extremely well built; there are a great many handsome houses, and the shops are set off to the utmost advantage. The large tide mills in one of the suburbs, which Young speaks of, have experienced the fate he foresaw, but chiefly I believe, from the quantity of sediment deposited by the river water, which in a few years diminished the capacity of the basin, and choak There was a great deal of ordered up the passages.-We now purand decorum observed, but the law- chased a second-hand coach for twen |