employ. But DRYDEN, whose lofty genius regarded such a slave with habitual disdain, shall, in his immortal verse, hang him up as a scarecrow to all succeeding times. Some remote allusions having been satirically made to such a character, the poet, in a paroxysm of virtuous anger, impetuously breaks out with the following animated query:

Him dost thou mean, who, spite of all his store,
Is ever craving and will still be poor?

Who cheats for half pence, and who doffs his coat,
To save a farthing in a ferry boat;

Ever a glutton, at another's cost,

But in whose kitchen dwells perpetual frost,
Who eats and drinks with his domestic slaves,

A verier hind than any of his knaves;
Who sips by spoonfuls, trembling to approach.
The little barrel, which he fears to broach.*

VARIETY FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

THAT accomplished cavalier, Sir PHILIP SIDNEY, seems to have been the delight and admiration of the age of Elizabeth, both for the variety and greatness of his genius. He who was the ornament of the university, was also the ornament of the court; and appeared with equal advantage in a field of battle, or at a tournament, in a private conversation among his friends, or in a public character as an ambassador. His talents were equally adapted to prose or verse, to original composition or translation. His Arcadia was not only admired for its novelty, but continued to be read longer than such compositions usually are, and has passed through fourteen editions.

* This most exquisite and picturesque couplet probably suggested to the imitative genius of POPE some of his finest antitheses. In a description of the Sunday equestrians in Rotten Row, by Mr. SHERIDAN, in one of his poetical jeux d'esprits, we remember the following passage, alluding to the affectation of the Cockney horseman :

Now his left heel, insidiously aside,

Provokes the canter that he seems to chide.

This, perhaps, is one of the most felicitous imitations ever effected by the

wit of man.

IT is not at all known that the following criticism upon Dr. Beattie's Essay upon the Nature and Immutability of Truth in opposition to Scepticism and Infidelity, is from the pen of EDMUND BURKE. The right honorable author not only speaks in the tone of an accurate cri"The author of the work tic, but of a truly pious and good man. before us has great merit in attacking pernicious sophistry. He has gone to the bottom of his subject, and vindicated the rights of the human understanding with such precision and sagacity, with such powers of reason and investigation, as will do him honcur when the system he exposes will be remembered only in his refutation. His method is extremely natural and clear: his style lively and ardent. He is no cold, uninteresting advocate for the cause he espouses. If he may sometimes be thought too warm, it may casily be forgiven, when his warmth neither hinders him from doing justice to the merits of his adversaries, where they have real merit, nor leads him to any intemperance of language, unworthy of himself or of the subject."

COURAGE is one of the most dazzling of the virtues. It always challenges our admiration, and, according to Dr. Johnson, it challenges our respect too. Let the reader peruse the following anecdote, and then count his pulsations, if he has the feelings of a mere arithmetician.

Sir George Lisle signalized himself upon many occasions in the civil war during the reign of Charles I, particularly in the last battle of Newbury, where, in the dusk of the evening, he led his men to the charge in his shirt, that his person might be more conspicuous. The king, who was an eye witness of his bravery, knighted him on the field of battle. In 1648, he rose for his majesty in Essex; and was one of the royalists, who so obstinately defended Colchester, and who died in its defence. This brave man, having tenderly embraced the corpse of Sir Charles Lucas, his departed friend, immediately presented himself to the soldiers, who were ready for his execution. Thinking that they stood at too great a distance, he desired them to come nearer: one of them said, "I warrant you, sir, we shall hit you." He replied, with a smile, "Friends I have been nearer you, when you have missed me."

The price of The Port Folio is six dollars per annum.

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Delivered, at a public Commencement, July 27, 1809, to the senior class of the Philadelphia Academy, upon their having completed the course of study prescribed by that Institution.

BY JAMES ABERCROMBIE, D. D.

One of the Assistant Ministers of Christ Church and St. Peter's,
and Director of the Academy.

et ni

Posces ante diem librum cum lumine, si non
Intendes animum studiis, et REBUS HONESTIS,
Invidia vel amore vigil torquebere,--Hor.

YOUNG GENTLEMEN,

THE ample and satisfactory testimony which you yesterday exhi

bited by a public examination, of your unwearied diligence while under my tuition, and of your successful progress in the various branches of English literature inculcated in this seminary-and, the unequivocal proofs you have just now given of your skill in the important arts of Reading and Public Speaking, as applied to the several species of Forensic, Dramatic, Narrative, Descriptive, and Didactic Eloquence, as well in Poetry as Prose, incontestibly evince that your labour has not been in vain, nor your time unprofitably employed. This improvement of that invaluable talent must ever be a source of high gratification to your friends, and of pleasing reflection to you.

Among the various attestations of the mutability of human affairs, and the frequent abruption of human association, which will mark to VOL. II.

M

you the revolution of the present year, the events of this day cannot fail to render it singularly memorable; for the tie which hath so long united us in daily intercourse is now to be dissolved, and the mutuał obligations of duty resulting from the relative situations of tutor and pupil are now to be cancelled. Hence, on my part, a sincere solicitude for your future welfare, a due respect for your parents and guardians, and a just regard for the interests of this Institution, which has, for so many years, experienced the most liberal patronage and approbation, induce me to solicit your attention to a brief valedictory address, in which I shall endeavour to indicate the objects worthy of your future regard and pursuit, and to suggest such precepts as are essentially necessary to form the Scholar, the Gentleman, and the Christian. To this combined excellence of character, I trust the laudable ambition you have hitherto evinced, will ever impel you zealously to aspire.

As Scholars, you will render yourselves useful and ornamental to society-as Gentlemen, by the urbanity of your deportment you will conciliate the affections, and command the respect of all with whom you associate and as Christians, you will not only be enabled to withstand the innumerable temptations with which you will be assailed, bat, to support with dignity and true fortitude the privations and disappointments you may be called upon to experience here-and to secure for yourselves "A good provision against the time to come," viz. eternal happiness in Heaven hereafter, where the painful and pleasing vicissitudes of mortality shall be absorbed and forgotten in the full fruition of celestial and eternal bliss.

By the adoption and cultivation of these characters, therefore, you will promote and establish your best and most unequivocal interests both in this world and in the next, that retributive and "untried state of being" to which we are all rapidly advancing, and in which our condition will be inconceivably happy or miserable, "according to the deeds done in the body."

With respect to the first of these characters, the Scholar-though the different professions and avocations of mankind require a considerable degree of information peculiar to each, yet there are certain general principles of science, and branches of knowledge, which pertain indiscriminately to all who would desire to be distinguished under that denomination.

The marked variety of character among men, the unequal possession of intellectual powers, the diversity of human genius, and the versatility of human taste, necessarily direct the attention to various professions and pursuits, each of which has its peculiar dogmas to be studied or principles to be investigated, before either usefulness can be

effected, or celebrity obtained. Any observations upon these peculiarities would be foreign to my present intention: they will of course be presented to you when your choice of a profession is determined. My object is to suggest to you those general principles of knowledge which every Scholar, every Gentleman, and every Christian should acquire, in addition to those professional or technical attainments which are necessary to qualify him for the exercise of his favourite occupation, by which he is to be distinguished in society. And this I shall endeavour to do as briefly as possible, the indulgent attention of this respectable. audience having, I fear, been already trespassed upon by the length and variety of the preceding exercises.

The foundation of that character which is to elevate a man above the drudgery of the mechanic arts, and to render him a polished as well as useful member of society, is formed in an elementary school, and completed in a college or university. He is there taught the principles of classical literature, and general science, which are to be afterwards expanded, and applied by his own industry and taste, to those various objects of intellectual pursuit, the cultivation of which will refine and dignify his mind; improve, adorn, and invigorate his understanding; give acuteness, activity, and precision to his judgment; and enlarge and strengthen the capacity and retentive powers of his memory, to such a degree, as will render him “" a burning and a shining light"—the torch of knowledge not only illuminating the devious and often dreary paths of “ the world's wilderness;" for the pilgrim who is blessed with the possession of it, but attracting by its splendor, and animating by its genial influence, all who are fortunate enough to come within the sphere of its radiance, and are thereby rendered either his casual or constant companions in the journey of human life.

While at school, under the discipline and direction of teachers, he is instructed (particularly in this Institution) in Grammar, the cornerstone of every literary superstructure, in Composition, Elocution, Natural History, Geography, Logic, Arithmetic, and the arts of Reading, Writing, and Public Speaking-due attention being also paid to the improvement of Morals, and a general knowledge of the Christian Religion. If he wish to become acquainted with the higher gradations of science, he enters a college or university, where he is taught the Greck and Latin languages, the various branches of the Mathematics, Natural and Moral Philosophy, Metaphysics, and those other general principles of classical literature which are necessary to qualify him for receiving the honours of the seminary.

Thus informed, he makes choice of a profession; and, after the usual course of study, steps forward upon the stage of active life, to exercise its duties for the mutual benefit of himself and his fellow men.