PORT FOLIO." This prospectus having been patiently matured was drawn up in the best style of the author. It indicated a familiar acquaintance with the best authors in the various departments of polite literature; it bespoke a lofty and independent mind, and was admirably calculated for the time when it appeared: a perilous period, when the "fountains of the great deep" of all social order seemed about to be broken up, by the wretched delusion of French philosophy. The editor invited the co-operation of men of letters generally, the clergy were respectfully entreated, the gentlemen of the bar were eulogized and solicited, the ladies were courteously saluted, and the avarice of the dealer was awakened by the promise that he might learn something to his advantage, by calling at the Port Folio Office. The paper commenced on the 3d of January 1801. It was the singular good fortune of the Editor to enrich his first number with several original letters from distinguished English statesmen and writers, and a nervous translation of one of the satires of Juvenal, by an American scholar, imparted to it a classical appearance, which excited the highest expectations. The appearance of this magazine was hailed with enthusiasm by every class of readers, and the extensive patronage which was showered upon him, would soon have placed the editor upon that rock which had long been the object of his aspirations. Unfortunately, however, he had not resolution to sacrifice to this honourable ambition, those habits which embittered the latter part of his life. This was a gay period in his career. Affluence was within his reach; he had several friends who were steady and inalienable; and his conversation was so pleasing, that he was the delight of every circle where wit and elegance were the passports of admission. Of Dennie we may repeat with great truth the remark of Dr. Johnson respecting Savage," it was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend." But he resembled the poet in another respect; for prudence was not one of his virtues. Such a spirit of literature prevailed among his associates, and the young men generally of that period, that his table abounded with contributions for the Port Folio; and it may easily be imagined that a person of his habits would not require much persuasion to exchange the labour of composition for the easier employment of selection. Hence we find that in the whole course of his editorship of the Port Folio, including a period of twelve years, there are scarcely as many original essays from his pen. In his gayety he lost the author. From other journals he transferred the fruits of his earlier labours, and imparted zest and novelty to his present publication by " Notes to Correspondents,” and introductory remarks on his selections by which his writers were flattered and his readers amused. His cultivated taste and various reading in polite literature enabled him to produce a miscellany which obtained, immediately, a wide circulation; and he might have lived in the placid enjoyment of fame and fortune, if the finest gifts of nature could supply the want of prudence. To negligence and irregularity Dennie added, in the discharge of his occupation, a degree of bigotry and prejudice on certain topics, which was strangely contrasted with the virtues of his heart and the gentleness of his deportment. Though he spoke daggers in his lucubrations, he used none in his intercourse with society. My narrative has insensibly reached a point where reflection cannot pause without pain, and it is not necessary, in this instance, to scan with severity the frailties of a man who was always a steadfast advocate of morality. To the concluding years of the life of this amiable, but unfortunate man, may be applied the language of Shenstone, who thus adverts to the loss of his friend Somerville: "I can now," says the poet, in a letter to one of his friends, "excuse all his foibles; impute them to age," [disease]" and to distress of circumstances: the last of these con siderations wrings my soul to think on. For a man of high spirit, conscious of having generally pleased the world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that are low in every sense; to be forced to drink himself into pains of the body, in order to get rid of the pains of the mind, is a misery." Rabelais tells us a story of one Philpot Placut, who, being brisk and hale, fell dead, as he was paying an old debt. Dennie was driven to the misery" of Somerville by the flagitious dishonesty of a portion of his pretended patrons, who, while they perused his volumes with eager delight, remembered to forget that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." At the time of his demise, notwithstanding all his carelessness in pecuniary concerns, enough was due to Dennie to produce a decent competency; and yet he owed to friendship the last repose of his mortal remains! Such was the reward of the founder of the Port Folio-a man who was the first among us to adopt the pursuit of letters as a profession, and who had devoted all his life to the diffusion of elegant knowlege among his countrymen! A few years after the death of Mr. Dennie a monument was placed over his grave, in the burial ground of St. Peter's church, in Philadelphia. The inscription upon it, from the pen of the present Chief Magistrate of the nation, is in these words: "JOSEPH DENNIE, Born at Lexington, in Massachusetts, Died at Philadelphia, January 7th, 1812. To adorn the Senate and the Bar, As Author of the Lay Preacher, And an ardent piety, which we humbly trust, This tribute of their affection To the mercies of that God is their resort MDCCCXIX." |