those of Washington, and Warren, and Green, and De Kalb. The child springs to catch a glimpse of the veteran whose virtues were presented to his earliest reflections in the grateful pages of American history. In Fayette, the patriot witnesses the sincere republican through all the fearful and wondrous vicissitudes of the French revolution. The American traveller recognizes a fellowcitizen who, at the distance of 3000 miles received him as a brother and breathed a benevolent wish towards his country. Such a man is truly one whom a, nation may honour with frank and enthusiastic respect, not dictated by selfishness, nor contaminated by adulation.

The scene of a spontaneous and unanimous expression of gratitude by a great nation to an individual, without station or any other than moral influence, is, like many other American examples, without precedent in the annals of the world. In modern times we should in vain search for such a tribute to virtue: alas! in no country but this could scenes so delightful, be exhibited, under any circumstances. Emperors and kings have been environed by pomp and followed by the multitude: but power, not virtue, was the idol: selfishness or fear, not gratitude or love, the motive. Amidst the loud acclaim of sycophants and dependants, thousands muttered in secret the groans of misery and revenge. Even ancient times, the ages of liberty in Greece and Rome, offer no counterfeit presentment to this exhilarating spectacle. Were we to point to the nearest resemblance we should cite the name of Timoleon, who, like Fayette, went to the succour of a foreign nation, and like him too, had the peculiar good fortune to enjoy, in his old age, the love and gratitude of those whom he had assisted in throwing off an odious oppression. Fayette, better than any man now living, deserves the name of the most virtuous and happy patriot of history-he is, emphatically, THE TIMOLEON OF Modern Times.

The Port Folio.

BY OLIVER OLDSCHOOL, ESQ.

VARIOUS; that the mind

Of desultory man, studious of change,

And pleased with novelty, may be indulged.-COWPER.

For the Port Folio.

EXPLANATION OF THE EMBELLISHMENT.

The Ominous Incident at the Mermaiden's Fountain. FOR the embellishment of the present number of the Port Folio, we have again recurred to the inexhaustible loom of Sir WALTER SCOTT; a writer whose easy elegance and vigour of intellectual spirit constitute him the brightest literary ornament of the present period. The Bride of Lammermoor, though founded on fact, abounds with picturesque circumstances, and is the most poetical of all those wonderful productions, which, par excellence, are denominated THE Scotch Novels. The writer has indulged more in description and less in dialogue in this tale; and, therefore, his characters have not so much expression and reality as we generally find in his pages. Still we follow the progress of the story with deep emotion; and resign ourselves to unmingled pity when we contemplate the ineffectual struggles of the hero against the fate to which he appears to be doomed. He, it will be recollected, by most of our readers, was the last of an ancient but ruined family; and had contracted a fatal attachment for the daughter of the person whom he considered as the oppressor of his house, and the murderer of his father. The conflicting passions of love for the lady and animosity towards the sire, are very admirably depicted in this performance. For her sake he forgave the injuries which his house had received, and on the occasion of an accidental meeting at a certain mysterious spot which had often been fatal to his family, the master of Ravenwood pledged his troth to the lovely Lucy Ashton.

The precise moment which the artist has chosen for graphical illustration, may be gathered from the following passage:

As they arose to leave the fountain, which had been witness of their mutual engagement, an arrow whistled through the air, SEPTEMBER, 1824.No. 269

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