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of these wise commentators. In reading Propertius we are often disgusted with the profusion of mythological allusion, which occur in almost every line,and which is so opposed to the language of passion. Quintilian declared, that in his time some persons preferred Propertius to Tibullus, but he evidently gives the paim to the last, and I believe that every man of taste will be of the opinion of Quintilian. It is not that Propertius has not beauties of the first order he has more force and energy than Tibullus; a sensibility more penetrating, and more of passion; but nothing can exceed the grace, the sweetness, that charm so irresistible, those verses so tender and melodious, of the lover of Delia.

DISAPPOINTMENT AND HOPE. THE morn of my life was cheerful as the singing of birds, and lovely as the opening of spring; not a cloud arose to mar its beau ty, or obscure the bright sun of innocence and youth; every sense was gratified, every flower was sweet, and every rose without a thorn. Every kiss was a pledge of affection, and every friend was true. My cheeks were then blooming with health, and my eyes glistened with happiness. But, alas! the charm is broken, the scene is changed, the flowers have lost their fragrance, and on every rose I have found a thorn. Friends, who were dear have departed, and nothing is left me, but the melancholy recollection of joys that are fled. Grief has stolen the rose from my cheek, and my eyes overflow with tears. But a little while, and my sorrows will be over and forgotten; my heart strings, which are now touch ed with anguish, will then thrill with rapture; my friends which I

have lost will be restored, and our affection will be as pure and as lasting, as the paradise, which we shall inhabit. The lovely flowers, which are now withered and gone, will be revived with increased beauty; no more will the lily and the rose, when sparkling with the morning dew, be an emblem of sorrowing virtue; for every gale will waft happiness, and every zephyr fragrance.

PICTURE OF A WIFE.

THE wise Theognis told his countrymen, that that man was the richest and most happy, who had found an amiable and virtuous wife. Socrates, however, was of a very different opinion. A young man once consulted him to know, whether he would advise him to marry or not; to whom Socrates thus replied, Young man, whichever of the two evils you choose, you will most certainly have cause for repentance. If you should prefer celibacy, you will be solitary on the earth, you will never enjoy the pleasures of a parent; with thee will perish thy race, and à

stranger will succeed to thy pro perty. If you marry, expect constant chagrin and quarrels without end.

Your wife will be constantly reproaching you of the dower she brought thee; the pride of her parents and the garrulity of her mother will become insupportable. The gallantries of your wife will torment you with jealousy, and you will have reason to doubt the father of your reputed children. Now, young man, divine if thou canst, and choose if thou darest.' This anecdote of Socrates I give on the authority of Valerius Maximus. Socrates was probably suffering from the stings and arrows of outrageous Xantippe, he was writhing under the pangs of des

pised love, when the young man unfortunately went to ask his opinion, and therefore it is not entitled to much respect. We agree with the wise Theognis and acknowledge, that in the wide range of the bounties of heaven, there is no gift, bestowed on man, deserving so much thankfulness, as that of a good wife. But what do you call good? Here is the difficulty-this is the knot-this the perplexity. I cannot tell what you and other, men would like, but know exactly what would please such a curious kind of being as myself. I would never marry for money; for contracts of bargain and sale in matters of matrimony were invented by infernals for the deep damnation of man ; they are legislations of wrong, and indentures of infamy. I should like well enough that my wife might be handsome, though this is a minor consideration; for real beauty is not to be found, and I care not to be hunting for it through city and country all the days of my life. The mild lustre of Phosphor is not seen in the face of the daughters of Eve, and where is the being who sheds soft beams from her eye, like those of the planet of evening? Let her per. son have the form of elegance, and the sweetness of purity; her dress

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should be full of taste, and let her manners be those of a gentlewo man, for country simplicity is mere country awkwardness, and that I cannot away with. If her ancestors were not illustrious, I should hope that her family name might be respectable. Her disposition, I insist on this, must be gentle and soft, like the dew in the vallies of Languedoc ; like the midnight musick of romance from the battlements of Udolpho. She shall not be churlish, and peevish, and fretful, and scolding; but let her have good nature in full abundance, and kind words, looks, and smiles, plentiful and pleasant, as thick, ripe wheat in autumn. Then her mind must be cultivated. This too is essential. She must love to read; she must be able to think, and have opinions of her own. I wish that she may relish the poets of England, love the morality of Johnson, the courtly sense of the Spectator, and that her soul may be attuned to the sweetest melody, by the wild warbling of the bard of Avon. She should read and remember the historians of GreatBritain, and know what may be easily known of her own country. Lastly, and above all, she must study her bible, be a christian, and reverence her God.

POETRY.

THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY," A LATE PUBLICA

TION BY REV. W. L. BOWLES.

[Except Burns and Cowper, no poet of the present day has been so generally admired as Mr. Bowles. The beautiful imagery and natural feeling, with which his poems abound, have found their way to the heart of those for whom poetry was written. The 1. poem opens with the resting of the ark upon Aratat.]

ALL WAS ONE WASTE OF WAVES, that bury'd deep Earth and its multitudes: the ark alone, High on the cloudy van of Ararat, Rested; for now the death-commis

sion'd storm

Sinks silent, and the eye of day looks out Dim through the haze, while short suc cessive gleams

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FOR

JULY, 1807.

Librum tuum legi & quam diligentissime potui annotavi, quæ commutanda, quæ eximenda, arbitrarer. Nam ego dicere vero assuevi. Neque ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari merentur. PLIN.

rea,

ARTICLE 40. Reflections on the commerce of the Mediterranean, deduced from actual experience during a residence on both shores of the Mediterranean sea; containing a particular account of the traffick of the kingdoms of Algiers, Tunis, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, the Mowith an impartial examination into the manners and customs of the inhabitants in their commercial dealings, and a particular description of the manufactures properly adapted for each country. By John Jackson, Esq. F.S.A. author of the Journey overland from India, &c. NewYork, printed and sold by I. Riley & Co. 12mo. pp.152.

WORKS upon commerce and the

facilities of trade, while they essentially promote the best interests of this country, generally obtain no other praise, than such as the author can claim for his industry and truth. Those facts, which are most important in the prosecution of traffick, are easily collected on the spot, and the conclusions to be drawn from them must depend, for their value, en mathematical calculations of profit. Men of genius therefore have seldom been employed in works upon trade, and men of business seldom have either leisure or literature enough

The scarcity

to produce them. of such productions naturally heightens their value, and induces us to view with peculiar favour any work of such general usefulness, as the title of that under consideration would seem to imply. The commerce of the Mediterranean, in its common meaning and acceptation, has for a long time been prosecuted from the United States; but the coasting-trade, or trade from port to port in that sea, has only been occasionally practised, and perhaps never has been sufficiently understood. The advantages of profit, resulting to the few who have been engaged in it, have been rather concealed than unfolded; but they have evidently been sufficient to induce the original adventurers to continue the prosecution of the traffick. That investigation, which has for its objects the fullest developement of the principles by which this trade is conducted, the customs of the various nations connected with it, and the productions of import and export, best calculated for the attention of a mercantile community, ought to demand strict examination.

This book was written by an Englishman, addressed to the Levant company, and is applicable in most of its principles, exclusively to the English trade. It cannot,

therefore, very materially concern the American merchant. Yet from our extended commerce with the Mediterranean, it may be found to contain many useful ideas, and facts important to our interest. In following our author, we shall touch upon those points which we consider most material to the extension of our own trade, and leave without comment those discussions, in which the English only are interested.

In his general reasoning our author is by no means remarkable for precision of expression, or clearness of idea; his style is of ten debased by inaccuracy, and his meaning confused, inadequate, or useless. The vanity of the author is also very apparent from various parts of his work.

He

seems to think, the nation will discover a mine of wealth, if they will but follow the course of his directions; he is enabled, he supposes, to rescue the character of the merchant from universal jealousy and degradation by the efforts of his pen, and to offer considerations to the British ministry on principles of policy, which, until he wrote, he imagines, had never been understood. Mr. Jack son strenuously endeavours to establish, as a principal point, the peculiar importance of the coasting-trade of the Mediterranean. This, we think, he has magnified much beyond its natural bearings, when he asserts, that it would be nearly as great, if pursued to its fullest extent, as the West-India trade of Great-Britain. Such an assertion does not consist with his details; in which he says merely, that two hundred bales, or even a whole ship's cargo of English manufactures, would not overstock the market' of Tunis; the imports of which, he had just before set

up, as forming no inconsiderable part of the commerce of the Mediterranean.' The probability is,

that the author has much enlarged the extent to which this commerce might be carried; though there is little doubt, as he asserts, it has usually afforded a profit of 40 per cent.; that, to the merchants engaged in it, it has proved in the highest degree advantageous. But because this trade affords a large profit on a small capital, it does not follow, it will afford an equal profit on a large capital; and we think an accession of stock, so great as our author contemplates with such sanguine hopes of advantage, would prove detrimental, instead of beneficial. He says,

above one hundred good sized ships, say above two hundred tons, may be employed between the Baltic and Mediterranean,' two hundred ships of the same burthen may be employed in carrying corn only in the Mediterranean, and there is sufficient employment for two hundred sail of ships of two hundred tons and upwards between the Mediterranean and the British empire, exclusive of those employed in the fish trade, besides one thousand small vessels' and' without including the trade of the Black sea.' These sweeping calculations do not seem to be warranted by any arguments arising from his details, or from any employment he is able to assign to so many tons of shipping. In most of the countries, whose trade he treats upon, the commerce appears lim ited, rather than extended; their markets are easily overstocked; and their articles of export, not being of general consumption, are comparatively of limited demand abroad. We should suppose therefore, that, so far from affording employment to one hundred

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