the theatre of our sufferings. The traveller, who has been made happy in a foreign country contracts a partiality for every thing belonging to it; if he has been ill received and ill treated, the gayest scenes and the most advantageous circumstances belonging to that country, upon recollection inspire him with disgust and

horrour.

This principle is also extensive in its influ ence. It renders the spot where the lover enjoys the company of his mistress, a paradise in his sight, however different its aspect may be to another. The slightest present as a token of affection inspires exquisite delight; a trinket or a lock of hair are to him of more worth than a kingdom. It is this principle which enstamps an inestimable value upon the relicks of saints and martyrs, and empowers fragments of their garments, their very teeth and nails, to work miracles in the opinion of the devotee. In its more moderate exertions, it inspires a strong attachment to every thing which was once our friend's. It is this principle of association, which so easily implants in the religious and devout mind a veneration for the place destined to the office of religion; and inscribes holiness upon the edifice devoted to sacred purposes.

CHARACTER OF THE TRUE POET.
The favour'd BARD,

Who nobly conscious of his juft reward,

With loftier soul, and undecaying might,
Paints what he feels in characters of light..
He turns and instantaneous all around
Cliffs whiten, waters murmur, voices sound,
Portentous forms in heaven's aërial hall
Appear, as at some great supernal call.
Thence oft in thought his steps ideal haste
Toracks and groves, the wilderness or waste;
To plains, where Tadmor's regal ruins lie
In desolation's sullen majesty;"

Or where Carthusian towers the pilgrim draw,
And bow the soul with unresisted awe,

Whence Bruno, from the mountain's pine-clad brow,

Survey'd the world's inglorious toil below;
Then, as down ragged cliffs the torrent roar'd
Prostrate great Nature's present GOD ador'd
And bade, in solitude's extremest bourn,
Religión hallow the severe sojourn.

TO HIM the Painter gives his pencil's might s No gloom too dreadful and no blaze too bright, • What time to mortal ken he dares unveil

THE inexpressive FORM in semblance frail,
To the strain'd view presents the yawning tomb,
Substantial horrours, and eternal doom.

TO HIM the Pow'rs of harmony resort,
And as the Bard, with high commanding port,
Scans all th' ethereal wilderness around,

Pour on his ear the thrilling stream of sound.

Strains, from that full-strung chord at distance

swell,

Notes, breathing soft from musick's inmost cell, While to their numerous pause, or accent deep, His choral passions dread accordance keep.

Thence musing, lo he bends his weary eyes On life and all its sad realities;

Marks how the prospect darkens in the rear, Shade blends with shade, and fear succeeds to fear,

Mid forms that rise,and flutter through the gloom,
"Till Death unbar the cold sepulchral room.
Such is the Poety bold, without confine,
Imagination's" charter'd libertine !''
He scorns, in apathy, to float or dream
On listless Satisfaction's torpid stream,
But dares ALONE in vent'rous bark to ride
Down turbulent Delight's tempestuous tide
While tho'ts encount'ring tho'ts in conflict fierce
Tumultuous rush, and labour into verse,

Then, as the swelling numbers round him roll,
Stamps on th' immortal page the visions of the

soul.

BIOGRAPHY.

SKETCH OF JOHN JAY.

JOHN JAY is well known to be one of the most illustrious characters in the American revolution. He is descended from one of those French protestants, whom the revolution of Henry the fourth's edict compelled to seek a refuge in foreign countries. These exiles spread themselves throughout all the protestant parts of Europe, and a little colony, somewhat more adventurous than their brethren, sought an asylum among the forests and morasses of the new world in the west They settled on the shore of Long Island sound, where their language and manners are far from being quite extinct, even at this day.

Mr. Jay was trained to the law, that profession which constitutes, in America, the surest road to political eminence, and whose members generally took the lead in the opposition made to the claims of Great Britain by her colonies. Mr. Jay was equally conspicuous for his zeal and his abilities. His talents however were exerted in the diplomatick, rather than in the legislative field. As the revolution was chiefly indebted for its successful establishment to the countenance and aid of foreign powers, the statesman and patriots of America were as usefully and arduously employed at foreign courts,

in the service of their country, as in the domestick legislature. Mr. Jay resided at the court of Spain several years, till the end of the war, as the representative and advocate of the new states, and his conduct in that capacity has secured him the highest praise.

An unfortunate difference, which arose be tween Mr. Jay while in Spain, and a young man by the name of Littlepage, whom at the entreaty of the youth's friends, he took under his guardianship, occasioned an appeal to the publick, on some points of his private conduct, after his return home. The issue of this controversy was highly favourable to Mr. Jay, and showed that he was capable of a right decision in points of social conduct extremely delicate.' Littlepage was a young man of brilliant parts, and contrived to involve his patron in difficulties, from which nothing but a great deal of moral rectitude, as well as a most perspicacious judgment, could have extricated him.

After serving his country at home, for a few years, John Jay was selected by Washington as ambassador to England. He was charged with the important task of obtaining redress and compensation for the wrongs which our commerce had incurred from the British cruizers,' and of securing our rights from future violation by a permanent commercial treaty. Every one knows the violent debates, not only in our legis. lative bodies, but among the people at large, which retarded the ratification of this treaty,