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work the mischief which this indictment is calculated to repress. Such works will only employ the minds of men enlightened by study, to a deeper investigation of a subject well worthy of their profound and continued contemplation. The powers of the mind are given for human improvement in the progress of human existence. The changes produced by such reciprocations of lights and intelligences, are certain in their progressions, and make their way imperceptibly, as conviction comes upon the world, by the final and irresistible power of truth. If christianity be founded in falsehood, let us become deists in this manner, and I am contented. But this book hath no such object, no such capacity; it presents no arguments to the wise and enlightened. On the contrary, it treats the faith and opinions of the wisest with the most shocking contempt, and stirs up men without the advantages of learning or sober thinking, to a total disbelief of every thing hitherto held sacred, and, consequently, to a rejection of all the laws and ordinances of the state, which stand only upon the assumption of their truth.

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"Gentlemen, I cannot conclude without expressing the deepest regret at all attacks upon the christian religion, by authors who profess to promote the civil liberties of the world. For, under what other auspices than christianity, have the lost and subverted liberties of mankind in former ages been reasserted? By what zeal, but the warm zeal of devout christians, have English liberties been redeemed and consecrated? Under what other sanctions, even in our own days, have liberty and happiness been extending and spreading to the uttermost corners of the earth? What work of civilization, what commonwealth of greatness, has the bald religion of nature ever established? We see, on the contrary, the nations that have no other light than that of nature to direct them, sunk in barbarism, or slaves to arbitrary governments; whilst, since the christian era, the great career of the world has been slowly, but clearly, advancing, with increasing splendour at every step, from the awful prophecies of the Gospel, and leading, I trust, in the end, to universal and eternal happiness. Each generation of mankind can see but a few revolving links of this mighty and mysterious chain; but, by doing

our several duties in our allotted stations, we are sure that we are fulfilling the purposes of our existence. You, I trust, will fulfil yours this day!"

I have now, gentlemen, finished, though in an imperfect manner, the course of Lectures which I proposed to offer upon the very important arts of Reading and Public Speaking. Had my leisure been greater, I should, I think, have executed them better. Imperfect, however, as they are, they have given you some correct elementary principles, which, I trust, you will expand and improve by subsequent reading and practice.

I thank you, gentlemen, for your patient and polite attention; for the promptness with which you have complied with my occasional, oral, instructions, in gesture and in attitude; for the punctuality of your attendance; and for the satisfaction which you have so uniformly expressed.

FOR THE PORT FOLIO-THE RECLUSE. No. I.

I AM SO much of a Recluse as to have remained entirely ignorant of those late scenes of barbarity, which have been acted in the isle of St. Domingo, until a few days ago, a friend, who lives ten miles off, favoured me with a set of the Port Folio. Judge then of my feelings when I was surprised into a knowledge of the facts as recorded in the one for April, 1809, in which Duncan McIntosh's conduct and character are so luminously displayed. With this gentleman, I had a personal acquaintance in the West Indies, in '98, since which our pursuits have never brought us within hail of each other. These two circumstances are stated as a reason why, at this time of day, I take the liberty to offer a translation of one of the French odes, in which my said friend is

so honourably mentioned. It will afford me satisfaction, to find my translation adjudged of sufficient merit to gain a column in the Port Folio.

The form which this celebrated vehicle of literary intelligence has, under its present establishment, assumed, is so conformable to my sense of elegance and usefulness, that I cheerfully congratulate my native country upon the possession of so fine a work. I have been not a little delighted and, perhaps, improved, by the perusal of the last eighteen numbers; and for the sake of renewing that entertainment and instruction, shall, in future, consider myself as a subscriber.

The plan upon which this work appears, now, to be conducted, is, in fact, so far superior to every thing which we have hitherto enjoyed in America, that I should think my conduct rather incorrect, were I to withhold the expression of so decided and so favourable a sentiment as I feel; for it may be fairly considered as the duty of every qualified member of the literary and moral communities to lend the weight of his authority in order to fix the momentum of general sentiment: in the same manner as the passengers of a packet ought, at certain times, upon the principle of common propriety, to lean all on one side, to keep the vessel upright. Now, if, in addition to this testimony in its behalf, I might lay myself under an obligation to fill a page or two occasionally, without incurring the charge of presumption, and, at the same time, without risking the mortification of a rejection of offered services, I should propose myself as a volunteer, to be employed in the service of the Republic, as occasion may require. Upon the files of former years four or five of my fugitives appear to have been arrested, by the partial hands of different friends, through whose agency I have been willing to ascribe their fitness to pass the ordeal of critical inspection. But if I be not deceived by that fondness for one's own written performances, which THE SCRIBBLER has so prettily shown to be both natural and laudable, I imagine there will be no danger of an absolute failure in every branch of service in which the offer might be made. The requisite endowments of every member of the Republic of Letters are very diversified, and the capacity of an individual is seldom unique, or so confined as to fit him for one station only. If the higher branches of the body politic of learning require talents which an Antony or Augus

tus only can display, still are there other departments which a Lepidus might fill with credit to himself, and without disparagement to the state. And it ought not to be forgotten (which is an allusion I have met with somewhere in my reading) that a citizen of the lowest order, was an essential part of a triumphant entry into Rome.

It is this very multiform arrangement of the business, which the economy of the Port Folio, under its present management seems to involve, by which I have been led to augur so favourably of its rising dignity and brightness. The consciousness of the advantages derivable from an aggregation of talents and exertions cannot be long unfelt, by the man who pledges himself to turn out a great deal of work from his own shop; and by no one, perhaps, can this consciousness be more respectably 'acknowledged than by the editor of a large miscellaneous and periodical publication. The consumption is so vast that its caterers must be neither few nor lazy. Like the famous cannibal monster of ancient fable, its supply must be constant, however costly the viands upon which it subsists. And as one of the appetites of a Monthly Magazine is to be fed by scraps of criticism, the resemblance it bears to the Minotaur of the labyrinth is, in a more specific point of view, peculiarly striking.

The business of this department ought to be transacted by such persons as are rarely found. With every literary and scientific qualification, common to those of the highest order of writers, critics ought to be as gentle in their manners and benevolent in their designs as if they fed upon only the milk or rather cream of human kindness. Without some attention of this kind to their ordinary diet, there is a danger of their degenerating into a species of the Gunaicophagi, or character-devourers of modern days.*

And now, since I have struck upon this subject, but for two reasons, which I will state, I would at once unfold to your wondering eyes a mighty scheme for the reformation of the said department of criticism. One is, lest it prove a rash step for one of my standing, being at the very vestibule, to provoke the

*See Pindar Cockloft's Poem on Tea. Salmagundi.

whole phalanx of reviewers, against my first attempt by thus suddenly raising the cry of reform! The other reason which I promised to state is this: Females who are involved in the projected establishment, are supposed to be less tender of reputation, and consequently, less fit than men to deal out honours for the brow of genius. But as I consider this last insinuation as a downright slander upon the fair sex which, with chivalric valour, I am ready to rebut, and as a prompt disclosure will at once save me from further digression and your patience from longer suffering, I will even now boldly and succinctly let you into the knowledge of my scheme. In two words then: let there be enrolled in the Republic of Letters a band of matrons, able bodied and willing minded ones, of course, whose duty it shall be to erect themselves into a council of Censors, which might be denominated the High Court of Errors and Appeals, possessing, notwithstanding, a concurrent jurisdiction with the present body of reviewers. The need of a reformation of this sort will be apparent to any impartial person who, after reading COELEBS, will glance his eye over the Edinburgh Review of that estimable work. And although the Philadelphia reviewers have done the amiable authoress what justice they could, by an able and spirited vindication of the talents and sentiments of Stanley, Cœlebs, and Lucilla, yet that effusion of genuine criticism ought not to be pleaded against the plan proposed. On the contrary, it stands as an irrefragable argument in favour of the suggested reform-in order that an injured author may, in future, know to what quarter he can confidently look for redress. But it is not my intention in this paper to dilate upon this or other matters that occur. I content myself for the present with broaching the hint, reserving the privilege of taking it up as a subject for a future lucubration, and giving, in this public manner the present Reviewers fair notice, in order that they may marshal themselves in what array they please against the threatened reform.

It was my intention to pay my respects to your noble purveyor for the TABLE D'HOTE, whose monthly provision is really sumptuous, and to tell him how truly I have relished his