Wanton now around thy tomb, REMEDY FOR IDLENESS. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, John, Duke of Burbon, dispatched an especial messenger to England, with the following singular challenge. "That he would at an appointed day, accompanied by sixteen knights, equally indifferent to life or death as himself, meet as many English chevaliers, and fight it out with them, till all on one side or other were defeated and destroyed; in order to avoid idleness, and merit the good graces of his mistress." ORIGINAL POETRY. For The Port Folio. BY JOHN DAVIS. When Fancy from the azure skies On earth came down, before unseen: She bade the wond'rous structure rise, And haply chose this sylvan scene. The Graces, too, with spritely air, Assisted in the work divine; The arch they form'd with nicest care, And made the murm'ring stream incline. Then Fancy from the pile above, Would gaze with rapture, bending o'er; And charm'd behold the streamlet rove, While Echo mock'd its feeble roar. And here, perhaps, the Indian stood, With uplift hands, and eye amaz'd; As sudden from th' ascending wood, He first upon the fabrick gaz'd. Wrapt in these shades I love to rest; Hid from the world, the world from me; And oh! what transport fills the breast Amid this solemn scenery. Lo! here the scarcely waving trees An awful stillness throw around; Safe shelter'd from the chiding breeze, That dies upon the higher ground. See on their bark the lover true, Has carv'd the maiden's hallow'd name, Whose kindling glance from eyes of blue, Awak'd the soft resistless flame. And here the print of Mary's feet Has mark'd the violet's fragrant dew, When, stealing round her love to meet, Her lips to his with passion grew. And here the dove has built her nest, And soft repos'd her silver plume; And here the hum-bird's painted breast Has hover'd o'er the flowret's bloom. See Tadmor's domes and halls of state, See Rome's proud empire yield to fate, In undistinguish'd ruin lie; And claim the mournful pilgrim's sigh. But while relentless Time impairs The monuments of crumbling art; This pile unfading beauty wears, Eternal in its ev'ry part. MERRIMENT. A tradesman pressing a gentle man very much for payment of his bill, the latter said "You need not be in so great a hurry, I am not going to run away." "I do not imagine you are, Sir," returned the tradesman, "but I am!" In a mixed company, a gentleman thought proper to make some remarks to the lady next him (who happened to be drinking toast and water), as to induce the affronted damsel to take out the toast and throw it in his face. He very coolly took it up, and threw it in the face of the person on the other side of him desiring that Miss-'s toast might go round. A formal fellow inquiring for Mr. Owen, asked if Mr. O-n was at home? "No," replied the boy. 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. VI. Philadelphia, Saturday, November 26, 1808. For The Port Folio. TRAVELS. ORIGINAL PAPERS. LETTERS PROM GENEVA AND FRANCE. Written during a residence of between two and three years in different parts of those countries, and addressed to a lady in Virginia. (Continued from page 325.) LETTER LVI. MR. SENEBIER asserts, that his native city was at a very early period, distinguished for the superiour information of its inhabitants, that the Roman inscriptions which remain legible are of the best Latinity, and that although in times of Paganism, the neighbourhood of so large a lake, rendered it decent to have an altar consecrated to Neptune, for the comfort of mariners and fishermen, yet the patron deity was no other than Apollo, the god of Science. The darkness of the middle ages seems really to have been less profound at Geneva, than in the neighbourhood, and a great many anec No. 22. dotes have been treasured up, of the resistance opposed to the selfish attempts of several religious communities, and of false miracles, which were detected and exposed. The arts appear too, to have flourished at Geneva, at a very early period, and there is now a picture at the library, which has found its way there from some distant country, and which was done by a Genevois in the year 1415. It has considerable merit for that age, and this additional charm, in the opinion of every good Genevois, that the artist, though full of zeal to do justice to his subject, which was the marvellous draught of fishes, has most patriotically placed the scene of it in the lake of Geneva. Several of the earlier Bishops were pious and enlightened men, and schools had been established for the instruction of youth, but there were neither good libraries nor learned professours, and there existed a depravity of manners, Uu which I have never heard accounted for. The reformation came at length, and Calvin, who was the apostle of learning, as well as of religion, and of good morals, exerted himself in a way which does honour to his memory, and should, in some measure, contribute to make us forgive him for the death of Servet. A college was erected in 1558: it was liberally endowed with estates, which had once been the property of the church, and has flourished ever since. You will see a very good account of it in Keate's view of Geneva. Every burgeois, or citizen, of Geneva, sends his sons there free of eve ry expense, and they are removed at a proper age, and after undergoing an examination, for the purpose, to the auditory, where they attend lectures, given by different professours, on Belles Lettres, on all the various branches of the Mathematicks, on Moral Philosophy, on Law, and on Divinity, according to the profession they are intended for. The discipline of the college, though mild, is strict. The prizes obtained in the various classes, are conferred with every circumstance, which can give them additional importance, and no manual correction is allowed. In the auditory, the learner is more upon the footing of a student in a university: but no prizes are bestowed, nor is there any publick examination; a yearly one takes place in presence of all the profesgours assembled. The effects of this system of education, and upon so liberal a footing, are such as I have already described. There is nowhere a greater diffusion of knowledge than in Geneva. Dr. Johnson, perhaps, might have compared it to bread in a besieged town, of which every man has a little, and no man enough: but I by no means felt myself qualified to make such a remark, though I have sometimes suspected that there are subjects to which it might be applied. I never knew a Genevois, not a learned man by profession, who appeared to me as well versed in history as I could have expected from his other acquirements, or who was in the custom of having any of the Roman classicks among the books upon his chimney-piece, or most within his reach upon the shelves of his library. Madame de Stael pretends that they have more science than literature, and minds rather turned to Algebra and Metaphysicks than to History and to Poetry. There is, however, no want among them, I believe, of the lighter sorts of French Belles Lettres, and there are few who have not some knowledge of English and Italian. If you add to this as accurate information as can well be had of all political events, a keen and exact knowledge of the banking science, an acquaintance with agriculture, a great desire to please, blended with a desire to shine, too great, perhaps, at times, but never offensive, you will form a very just idea of their conversation. They are certainly the best calculators in Europe, and being in the habit of appealing frequently to the accuracy of numbers, it has been pretended, but how truly I will not pretend to say, that they regulate all the important affairs of life, by Subtraction and the Rule of Three, and by a methodical arrangement, upon paper, of various arguments under different heads: it might be better for us all if we did so too, but there are subjects, one would think, which would bid defiance to all the logick and all the arithmetick in the world. La Harpe, however, who, like many other Frenchmen, affects to be witty at the expense of Geneva, tells a story of a Genevois, who having mislaid the paper on which he had drawn up his arguments against matrimony, went so far as to propose marriage to a young lady whom he had long admired, as much as so learned a geometrician could admire anything but a problem; his offers were accepted, and everything was going gravely on, and as expeditiously as they can do, in this sober country, when the lover, having found the paper, on which the arguments were drawn up against marriage, was so struck with their force as to offer a large sum of money, rather than proceed in the business. A connexion by marriage is here, as perhaps it ought always to be, a matter regulated between the parents and friends on both sides, and I have heard a very pretty girl, who was asked if it were true that she was going to be married, answer very gravely, that she had heard nothing of it, but would inquire of her mamma, as soon as she returned home. The talent of preaching is very much cultivated in Geneva, and in some instances with great success, the minister reciting his sermon, with scarcely even the assistance of notes, it certainly adds charms to eloquence, and gives force to what the preacher says, when he addresses his audience, as from conviction and sentiment, and not in poring over a book, as is customary in the church of England. The mode of preaching without book, is, however, productive of some defects; it gives rise to a great deal of tautology, and declamation is frequently substituted for argu No writer either has succeeded Burlamaqui on Natural Law, nor has anything appeared on the Law of Nations, of which the science is indeed, by the late events of Europe, rendered little better than An old acquaintance of mine a name. There have been some carried his fluctuation upon this political effusions, which have important subject very far indeed. found their way into print, but It occurred to him as he was hand- nothing of the sort which is very ing his bride out of church, that likely to be transmitted to posterithey had been doing a very foolish ty, nor any play or novel, that I thing, and he told her so; and know of. Political pamphlets what is very singular, she had the grew out of the ancient governgood humour to be of his opinion, ment, but the present admits of so they parted friends for the no such productions. In history, day, contrived, after an amicable Geneva still possesses Berenger, suit for incompatibility of humour, who has published the best transto be divorced, shortly after, and lation of Busching, and the annals have ever since lived in habits of of his own country, and Mallet great mutual respect and friend-long distinguished for his history ship. of Denmark: the voluminous work of my friend Muller has furnished him the materials of a history of Switzerland, which he has written with the boldness of a patriot, and with a certain graceful negligence of style, and his green and vigorous old age has lately given has lately given us a history of the Hanseatick towns. A new historian, too, has sprung up in the person of Mr. Picot, and if he continues as he has begun, he will do honour to his country. (Letter to be continued.) For The Port Folio. CRITICISM. ODE ON SPRING. Gray. Dr. Johnson's critique on the Ode to Spring, which is exceedingly briefs derives its principal importance from a point of general criticism involved, and may be remarked for having drawn down a philippick of peculiar vehemence from Mr. Wakefield: His Ode on Spring has something poetical, both in the language, and the thought; but the language is too luxuriant, and the thoughts have nothing new. There has of late arisen a practice of giving to adjectives, derived from substantives, the termination of participles; such as, the cultured plain, the daisied bank; but I was sorry to see in the lines of a scholar, like Gray, the honied Spring The morality is natural, but too stale, the conclusion is pretty. • In direct opposition to the malicious suggestions of arrogant and tasteless criticism,'begins Mr. Wakefield, 'I make no scruple to pronounce this Ode on Spring, by far the choicest specimen of classical composition, that modern times can produce. It is, indeed, an epitome of everything beautiful upon this subject; a collection of sweets from the blossoms of poetry, in the extensive garden of the Muses. The versification is highly correct and sweetly musical. The language glows with all the warmth and beauty of the season, which it paints, and the sentiments The Attick warbler pours her throat, The untaught harmony of Spring: Beside some water's rushy brink, (At ease reclined in rustick state) How low, how little, are the proud, How indigent the great! Still is the toiling hand of care; The panting herds repose; And float amid the liquid noon; Quick glancing to the sun. Such is the life of man! In Fortune's varying colours drest; The sportive kind reply, Thy joys no glittering female meets, No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets, No painted plumage to display; On hasty wings thy youth is flown, Thy sun is set, thy Spring is gone, We futter while 'us May |