TO THE PUBLIC.

THE EDITOR, as he proceeds in an arduous adventure, perceives more clearly every hour, the impossibility of gis. ing universal satisfaction. Indeed, in the wildest of his rereveries, he never dreamed of pleasing the million. It is not for them that he writes, no, not a single paragraph. With their absurd and clashing requisitions no man, however ductile, can comply.

If I answer all the letters I receive, says some philosopher, no mortal will be so full of business. If I do not, they will say I am disdainful and insolent. If I censure, I shall be an odious critic; if I praise, a nauseous flatterer.

In those ingenious apologues which are commonly ascribed to the fabulist of Phrygia, there is one of such pithy sententiousness, and of such profound wisdom, of a character so just, and of a conclusion so true, that, without any violent stretch of Fancy, one might easily imagine that the Sage, its author, had been either the chief magistrate of a commonwealth, or, what is more probable, the conductor of some Phrygian Evening Post, or Grecian Miscellany! The picturesque fable, to which we allude, has been coarsely translated a thousand times, and, in its rudest shape, in elementary books of instruction, is familiar even to Childhood. But, as our friends the lawyers say, as it is a case in point, we shall assume the liberty of quoting it once more, but in a form so finely fashioned after the pure models of Phædrus and La Fontaine, that the most fastidious reader will peruse

it smiles.

A sire and son, as once we're told,
The stripling tender, father old,
A jackass purchased at a fair,
To ease their limbs and hawk their w e ;
But, as the animal was weak,
They thought that both his back would break,
And so th' indulgent good old sire
Set up the boy lest he should tire.

The father, trudging, leads the ass,
And through the gaping crowd they pass;
The grey-beards, angry, hobble out,
And hail them with a feeble shout:
“ This the respect to age you show,
The duty you to parents owe?
He beats the hoof, you sit astride.
Get down, and let your father ride.

The lad, by no means void of grace,
With cheerful haste resigned his place.
Fresh murmurs through the village ran,
Boys, girls, wives, widows hail the man:
“ Brute beast less pity never had :
Have you no feeling for the lad?
To your own baby so unkind !
Here put the pretty child behind.”

Old Dapple next compassion drew,
E'en from the ass o’er driving crew;
For instantly they all exclaimed,
“ Them boobies ought to be ashamed,
Two at a time upon the beast !
They'd better carry him ; at least,
I wonders how it came to pass !
'Tis plain to tell the greatest a88."

The pair, still pliant to the voice,
Dismount, and bear the ass. What noise,
What gibes, loud laugh, and cutting joke
At length the silent sire provoke !
COME ON, my son ; PURSUE THE WAY;
Nor mind what idle people say.
Vain the attempt to heed their call.
He fails who STRIVES TO PIEASE THEM ALL.

After they shall have finished the perusal of this tale, we trust that our subscribers will be in ample possession of two facts : the jarring counsels, that are impertinently given by others, and the independent and decisive style which we choose for ourselves. For more than fifteen years we have

4-490 published, in periodical pages, our sentiments, in complacdefiance of the choice or the dictation of the many.

62 In

116 of, . 513

path we shall persevere ; and, while the editor obtains the partial suffrage of gentlemen, scholars, and Christians, he is most contemptuously careless of the vulgar voice.

If he can proudly number one man of genius, spirit, and virtue for his friend, he does not shrink at discovering every fool in the commonwealth his enemy.

It is expected by many that, during the Christmas holydays, an editor should make his appearance in the character of a servant, and make some complimentary speeches to his audience. To pursue the allusion, the noisy and stupid galleries still bellow out, “ Make your bow, Charley ;” and even the rest of the house look for a fine flourish or two. But, on this occasion, we disdain all grimaces; and though the editor's courtesy, as a cavalier, forbids him to look contemptuously, or turn his back upon the pit and Boxes, yet, even to them, he makes neither a bow nor an apology. With very limited physical, and still more limited mental Power, he is conscious he has achieved but little ; but it was all that Nature and Fortune would allow. Having finished his annual toil, he may now be permitted, like a cheerful labourer, to go carolling home, without any grumbling to deprecate, and NOTHING BUT JUSTICE TO DEMAND.

The price of The Port Folio is six dollars per annum

PRINTED FOR BRADFORD AND INSKEEP, NO. 4, SOUTH THIRD

STREET, BY SMITH AND MAXWELL.

cy of,

O

41_101-1

Page

Page
Abercrombie's Lecture on Em. Correspondents, To, 81--170-282
phasis,
i Correspondence,

126
Charge, 89–180 Cælebs in Search of a wife, re.
Lecture on Quan-
view of,

268
tity,
: 293 Chesterfield's Epistle,

: 324
Lecture on Pauses, 383 Drama, the .

25-42
General, Monu- Dedication to my Wife,

32
ment to,

49 Drysdale, Thomas, Biographical
Author's Evenings, 135_254 Notice of,
American Independence, Prophe- Dictionary, English, New,

337 English Language, Remarks on,
Arts, the Useful,

265–525 Epistolary,
Anacreon, Memoirs of,

309 Etymologies, American,
American Painters, Anecdotes of, 316 France, Travels in,
Apparatus, Description of, for Franklin, Dr. Letter from,

Unrolling the Herculanean Friend, Prospectus of The,
Papyri,

521 Fox and Pitt, Portraits of,
Anecdote,

575 French Philosophers,
Bloomfield, Robert, original Let. Geography,
ter from,

60 Gertrude of Wyoming, Critici
Bradford, William, Esqi Life

on,
of,

177 Gates, Horatio, General, Lif
Burke, Character of,

. 239
Biddle, Captain, Memoirs of, · 285 Gregoire's Letter,
Beattie, Dr. original Letter from 299

Letter, Answe
Brydone's Tour,

322 Hayti, Memoirs of, 35—106-
Bacon, Lord, Reinarks on the

-325 -490
Writings of,

514 / Hamlet, Remarks on the Char
Banter,
576 ter of, .

62
Cowpenfinch of N. America, 61–151 History, Natural,

88

Page

Page
Intelligence, Literary, . 133—556 Republic, The Literary,

9
-, Philosophical, 555 Readers and Correspondents, to,
Scientific and Mis-

81-170-282-577
cellaneous,
557 Reflections on Ridicule,

324
King William's Ring, decsription Regnard, Biography of,

441
of,
524 Revolution, the French,

511
St. Lawrence, description of a Select Speeches, Criticism on, 20
View on the,
265 Scribbler, The, No. V, .

29
Literature, Grecian, .
420 , The, No. VI,

124
Letters of the Prince de Ligne, Segestes, the Wife of,

69
Criticism on the,

444 Smith, Judge, Obituary notice of, 78
Levity,

451–551 Simmons, James, Obituary no.
Literary Bill of Mortality for

tice of,
1809,

452 Southey's Thalaba, Defence of, 57
Literature, American,

502 Shaw, John, Obituary notice of, 382
Monitor, The, No. II,

55 Sciota, Ruins of an ancient work
My Pocket Book, No III, . 261 on the, .

419
-, No. IV, 331 Solomon's Creek, Vies of the
No. V,
527 Lower Falls of, .

443
Mortuary,

281

View of the
Man Constitutionally Moral, 300-391 Upper Falls of, .

540
Markets of Philadelphia, some Spain, Commerce, and Freedom,
Account of,
508 an Ode, Criticism on,

497
Naturalist, The, No. II,

51 Sympathy, Remarks on, 537
The, No. 111, 119 Sarcasm,

. 554
The, No. IV, · 197 Tahopha, or the Cassada Plant, 69
The, No. V, . 426 Variety,

87-378-459
Notice, Literary,
193 Valedictory Oration,

97
Niagara, Remarks on the Falls of, 231 Ventriloquism,

313
Nuptiai,

281 World, the Sententious, or Se-
tato, Introduction of the, . 117 rious, 130_244-353-429-547
olonius, on the Character of, .247

the Literary,

241-546
vet and Painter compared, . 363

the Laughing,

356
+ and Fox, Portraits of, . 431

the Classical,

541
sophers, French,

437 Woodlands, description of the, · 505

.

.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

Page

Page
's Prayer,
279 Lines to Miss

375
's Garden Grave,

77 on the Glasgow Hodge
's Ode on the Passions,

Podge Club,

567
oplementary Stanza to, 278 Moonlight,

375
Star, Hymn to the, 78 The Naiad's Complaint, .

147
377-573 Smedes, Anna, Tribute to the
les to,
565 Memory of,

373
The, a Poem, 70-141 Stanzas, to Miss A. F.

458
-273-367-452-561 The 'Tear,

279
Mrs. Ferguson, 149 The Tonsoriad,

571
ia Drop of Rain, . 150

.