'The centre of the glittering ring, And Snowdoun's knight is Scotland's king!” The reader is now prepared to anticipate the redemption of the royal promise, and the consequent elevation of Douglas to his forfeited honours. When Ellen entreats for the pardon of Malcolm Græme, her monarch thus indignantly expresses himself: "Malcolm, come forth!"-And, at the word, Down kneel'd the Græme to Scotland's lord. For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, From thee may Vengeance claim her dues, Who, nurtur'd underneath our smile, Has paid our care by treacherous wile, And sought, amid thy faithful clan, A refuge for an outlawed man, Dishonouring thus thy loyal name.- Fetters and warder for the Græme!" Fetters and warder!-Yes, the monarchs lips have pronounced them; chains and confinement await the lover of Ellen: his offence has been detailed and his punishment denounced.The poor unhappy maid without daring to remonstrate, awaits the infliction of the sentence, and the executioner is her sovereign himself! "His chain of gold the king unstrung, And are we after all gravely called upon to prove Mr. Scott a true poet? Shall we attempt to silence the cavils of those who while perspiring under the rays of a summer sun, shortly declare in opposition to the evidence of their own senses, that his beams are only icicles? Some indeed have carried their antipathy to Walter Scott so far as to deny to his page any poetical merit, We wish not to handle the gentle insects that alight on the loveliest blossoms of Parnassus, not to inhale their fragrance, or to batten on their blooms; but to turn away their silky wings in quest of more delicate nutriment. They were not made for the touch, their substance is too fragile and almost dissolves in its own delicacy. The softest hues of the humming-bird are too harsh for their vision, the most delicious gales of Arabia too offensive to their nostrils-a race that seem to hold an intermediate state of existence between a dewdrop and a dream. SCIENCE-FOR THE PORT-FOLIO. MR. OLDSCHOOL, "Baltimore, September 26, 1810. AN occasional correspondent, anxious for the welfare of the useful magazine of which you are the editor, begs leave to submit to your consideration, the following observations, upon the importance and utility of allotting a compartment of the PortFolio to the proposing and solving of mathematical questions. I deem it unnecessary to call to your recollection, the high estimation, in which, what I wish to recommend has caused the several magazines of Europe to be held by men of science and learning, or the obvious manner in which it must conduce to the encouragement of scientific investigations and consequent discoveries, both useful and speculative. From a part of your own remarks, which I discovered among the preliminary observations to the present series of the Port Folio, I find you are well acquainted with the evident utility, of such an addition to periodical works of a literary nature, and from what you then proposed, I am led to think that the plan of mixing with the politer branches of literature, the more serious and abstruse divisions of the mathematical sciences, would meet with your most decided approbation. I am well aware, however, of the many difficulties and obstacles that must necessarily be encountered in the accomplishment of what is proposed, the discovery of persons, capable of executing with neatness and correctness the diagrams, that must always accompany geometrical problems and demonstrations; the strict impartiality, and consequent difficulty of deciding on the merits of the several mathematical contributors, in the publication of their respective solutions, and the trouble and loss of time, this would undoubtedly occasion, together with the additional expense that would inevitably be incurred in the prosecution of the design, are obstacles, almost sufficiently considerable to deter you from entering upon it; but although these difficulties are so numerous, and important, and of such a nature as to require some exertions in overcoming and dispersing them, yet when I reflect upon the ardour with which you have always laboured in the encouragement and promotion of science and learning, and the zeal you have so constantly displayed in advancing the Port Folio, to a state of pre-eminent importance, I cannot suffer myself for an instant to doubt the success of the project, I have made the subject of the present communication, if supported and fostered by those efforts of genius, in the cause of literature that have always been your distinguished characteristics. Some years since the publication of a work entitled the Mathematical Correspondent, edited by Mr. G. Baron of Philadelphia, and patronised by the mathematicians of the middle and northern states, was commenced in your city. From investigations, in the simplest and lowest branches of the mathematics, it quickly proceeded to the highest and most important divisions of the science; and from being supported by a few gentlemen of science and learning soon bore a catalogue, in which were comprised the names of the first men of genius in the country. But however rapid and unprecedented were its strides to celebrity, it was fated, too soon to sink into oblivion. Like almost every work of the same nature, it was not conducted with that regularity and correctness which are the necessary requisites in the editor of a mathematical and philosophical magazine. Owing to the conduct of Mr. Baron, the particulars of which, delicacy causes me to refrain from at present depicting, and, to several personalities that at different times appeared in many of the numbers, its rapid progress to perfection was suddenly ar rested. The mathematicians of Philadelphia perceiving that great encouragement was likely to follow the commencement of a similar work, if conducted with propriety and in a manner different from the first, subscribed with promptitude and alacrity to the proposals of Mr. R. Adrain, for the publication of another periodical work of a mathematical nature; and a number of contributors having been procured, the first number of the Analyst, under the direction of this gentleman, issued from the press. The well known abilities of Mr. Adrain, as a mathematician, were sufficient to induce many to patronise his magazine, and this second literary work, that graced and illumined the fields of American science like the vivid brilliancy of a shooting star, but for a moment, was likely to become the common treasury of science in which the mathematicians of this country, could pour the results of their learning and labours, for the laudable purposes of general importance and utility. But owing to causes which I have never been able to develop, it proceeded no further than the fourth number; and to the great regret of every lover and supporter of literature and science, the learned world was bereft of a mine that promised to yield ample supplies of literary riches to the community. It would be superfluous to comment further on the importance of making the Port Folio a vehicle for the communication of mathematical and philosophical knowledge to the public, it must be self evident, and therefore does not require arguments in its support; it will tend to promote a taste for scientific inquiry, and will be the means of drawing from the stores of the learned an ample flow of learning and knowledge, which would alone be a sufficient compensation, for the trouble you may encounter in its accomplishment. But in my opinion a plan may be devised for obviating any great difficulty that may be apparent to you on the first view of the project; if the publication of the questions and their respective solutions was to take place once only in every three months, which was the time that intervened between the appearance of the various numbers of the Analyst, less trouble would be necessarily incurred than is perhaps imagined. The procuring of persons capable of etching the geometrical figures, that are in some cases requiste, has been urged to me as an obstacle of considerable importance to the success of what is proposed: but certainly in your city it cannot be difficult to discover a person suitable to the execution of this department, but if this should really be the case, the proposers of questions might be limited to the sending of such for publication only, as were capable of solution without the assistance of a diagram. Upon the whole, I am of opinion that with some exertion, in which, although the writer of this communication does not pretend to any other than a superficial knowledge of the mathematics, I would most willingly give all the assistance in my power; a part of the Port Folio which may be comprised in that usually allotted to scientific essays and communications, if also allowed for the proposing and solving problems of either a philosophical or mathematical nature, might be conducted without any consideraable augmentation of the ordinary expenses of its publication, or much additional trouble to yourself. You might also limit the number of questions published to three, and at the same time allow that any contributor should have the liberty of proposing prize questions, the rewards for the best solutions of which to be awarded by yourself; this would have a good effect in every point of view; for owing to the number of problems being small, a greater proportion of diligence, exactitude and attention would be consequently observed in the solution; and a greater degree of emulation to make their works worthy of publication would actuate them when contending for the prizes. I would wish you to observe, that besides questions and problems of a geometrical nature, I would recommend the proposing of philosophical subjects for investigation; for a combination of the two must greatly tend to the promotion and encouragement of useful researches and discoveries, in either one or other of these sciences, both of which must ever be considered as worthy the attention of every man of genius and learning. I have now only to request your excuse for the unpardonable length of this letter, and to offer in apology the importance of its subject; but trusting to your politeness, I will, for the present, take my leave, cherishing at the same time the hope that what I have proposed will meet your approbation and consent, and that a short time will witness the realization of the project. I have the honour to be, &c. H. Y. |