Page images
PDF
EPUB

ENOX LIBRARY

NEW YORK

District of Pennsylvania, to wit:

BETT REMEMBERED, That, on the tenth day of June, in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of Ame rica. A. D. 1826, John E. Hall, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

The Philadelphia Souvenir; A Collection of Fugitive Pieces from the Chiladelphia Press. With Biographical and Explanatory Notes, by J. E. Hall."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to an act, entitled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled 'an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof, to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

D. CALDWELL,
Clerk of the Eastern district of Pennsylvania.

[merged small][ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

NOTE.

When this Collection was projected, the Edi-
tor proposed to publish a much larger work; but
he has been persuaded to reduce it to the pre-
sent compass, by circumstances which do not
require explanation.

If the public approve of this specimen, the
Editor will persevere in his design, which is
explained in the Introduction.

INTRODUCTION.

If achievements of glory are not in our power, let us endeavour to lengthen our short portion of existence by those of literary honour; and since it is not granted to us to live long, let us transmit to posterity some memorial that we have at least lived.-PLINY.

RUMINATING lately on divers things "foregone," I opened a volume of Moore's " Poems," in order to divert a train of unpleasant reflections in which I found myself unexpectedly engaged. I had just returned from a ramble in the country, during which I had endured "the churlish chiding of a winter's wind," with resolute perseverance. Seated once more at my own fire-side, and surrounded by my books, the hearth swept, and the lamp freshly trimmed, it was my intention to commit to paper, some of the meditations which had arisen in the course of my walk: but I soon found that I was not in a writing mood. "To what purpose," said I, addressing myself, as I caught a glance at my careworn brow, in the mirror which adorns the mantle-piece," to what purpose do you continue this 'never-ending, still beginning' business of scrib B

bling? What has become of all your competitors and companions in this unprofitable employment? While you have grown gray over your inkstand, they have betaken themselves to employments in which they have acquired distinction and wealth. They have raised their tree, and fulfilled those other duties which are said to be incumbent upon every good citizen.You, on the contrary, have been dozing over dreams, for a larger portion of a century than any sensible man would be willing to throw away, in consequence of some idle notions which you entertain concerning the advancement of learning in this your native land. Depend upon it, Sir Oliver, you are a full century before your time. Your countrymen are not yet prepared for you. You must wait until the sun has peeped through a few more of your interminable forests, and the bustle of commerce has awakened your inland seas from the slumber of ages." But," said I to myself, in reply to this unwelcome expostulation, " do you think you have been idle all this time? If you do, you are greatly mistaken. If you have not been witty yourself, you may say with the fat knight, that you have been the cause of something clever in others. Look at the long list of worthies who dipped their maiden quills in your inkstand. Do you not find them—at least those whom death has spared-honourably and usefully employed

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »