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النشر الإلكتروني

De

Ce

Lieu

Dieu

Mort

Sort,

Sort

Fort

Dur;

Mais

Tres

Sur.

These pretended efforts of strength exhibit nothing but a mind labourously occupied upon trifles; and this is all that we can say of acrostics and all the nice inventions of the same kind, proceeding from men whose chief business it was to find means of killing time.

The name of Marot is the first truly remarkable epoch in the history of French poetry; and it is rendered so, more by the talents which shine through his works and which are peculiar to him, than by his improvements on versification, which were very slow and imperceptible, from his time to that of Malherbe. We find in his style the two vices of versification, which have predominated before and since his day the hiatus, or clashing of vowels, and an inattention to the necessary alternative between masculine and feminine rhymes. We rémark in him what is peculiarly his own; Nature had given him grace, which he could never have acquired. His style possesses this charm, and it gives a neatness of turn and expression united with delicacy in his ideas and sentiments. No person, even those of our own day, was better acquainted with the tone that suits the epigram, whether it be that which was originally so called, or that which has since taken the name of madrigal, and is applied to love and gallantry. No one had a more complete command over the stanza of five syllables and the epistolary style, with which this suits so well. It was in the accomplished days of Louis XIV, that Boileau recommended the elegant playfulness of this writer: Imitez de Marot l'élégant badinage.

Undoubtedly, he surpassed all his cotemporaries in elegance:

but as the selection of language is not his chief excellence, and as his style was not quite purified, it seems to me better to say, Imitez de Marot le charmant badinage.

Although many of his words and combinations have become antiquated, a great part of his works are still perused with pleasure; for as he was not always successful, there is room for a choice. What can be more gallant, and more tender than this song? Puisque de vous je n'ai autre visage,

J'm'en vais rendre hermite en au désert,
Pour prier dieu; si un autre vous sert,

Qu'ainsi que moi, en votre honneur soit sage.

Adieu amour, adieu gentil corsage,

Adieu ce teint, adieu ces frians yeux,

Je n'ai pas eu de vous grand avantage;

Un moins aimant aura peutêtre mieux.

How often have we felt the sentiment of this last verse: but when have we seen it so well expressed.

OLLA.-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

The following curious report, drawn up by a late learned judge, may serve to amuse your readers.

Cannonsburg, March 1st. 1813.

Yours, &c.

GUN'S CASE.

R

Gun was indicted at the sessions as a common disturber of the peace. Upon the trial it appeared, that Gun was a flashy fellow, all fire and tow, and when a little primed, was sometimes very noisy. That one day at Smith's (the prosecutor's) refusing to pay his shot, and Smith's insisting upon it, he kicked him, and went off. On the other hand it was said that Gun was, in the main, a quiet, inoffensive creature, who never did any harm, unless set on by others; that Smith might blame himself, as he had overcharged him, and (as some of the witnesses said) had even attempted to rifle him. The jury however found him guilty of an assault; but, on motion of counsellor Blunderbuss in arrest of judgment, Gun was discharged.

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CURIOUS PETITION.

A gentleman of the law, who owned a valuable ferry, wishing to have a tavern there, some of the wits of the day drew up the following petition, which they presented for him. "To the wor"shipful the justices, &c. The petition of attorney at law, "humbly showeth, that your petitioner, being tired of practising "at the bar of a court, is desirous to practice at the bar of a ta"vern; for which purpose he means to change his Coke upon Lit"tleton into a kitchen cook, his Bacon's Abridgment into flitches "of bacon, and his Rolle's reports into buttered rolls; his Si"derfin into cider-fine, his Viner into wine, sir, and his sir John "Comyns into coming, sir. He therefore prays," &c.

Qui hæret in litera, hæret in Cortice.-Co. Litt.

Give him a will, was't ever known,

But he could make that will his own.-Morris' Fab.

I am a friend to free translations, whenever they suit my purposes, and should often be at a loss for a motto were that liberty denied me.

Suppose, for instance, I should want a scrap of Latin to prefix to the militia-law, or some observations on it, could I find a better than that which from time immemorial has been added, with great joy and exultation, by the younger Elusses to their books, when whipped and ferruled through them, é et finis, cum fistula, populorum jig, which, as I should translate it, would suit the thing exactly.

I shall not, however, presume to use a license like this, without sufficient authority. The following example, no doubt, will be admitted as such by the gentlemen of the bar, and others may be convinced by those which I shall add. In a dispute (says Blackstone) between the parson and people, respecting the paving of the aisle, he gained his point by quoting a text from one of the prophets; "Ego non Paveam; sed illi paveant."

An Oxford student, it is said, disputing with a fellow chum about a plurality of words, convinced him there were ten, by means of the following text, "An non-decem mundi facti sunt;" which he translated thus, "were there not ten worlds made." But as serious arguments, these are no way suited to any taste:

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