crests when in the presence of Dr. Johnson. It is a familiar story that
when Johnson demanded of Gilbert Stuart, "Sir, where did you learn
English?" the ready-witted young artist replied, "Out of your
dictionary, sir." Bishop William White, first Bishop of Pennsylvania,
has left, in a letter to Bishop Hobart, his memory of an interview with
"that giant of genius and literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson." "Having dined
in company with him in Kensington, at the house of Mr. Elphinstone, well
known to scholars of that day, and returning in the stage-coach with the
doctor, I mentioned to him there being a Philadelphia edition of his
'Prince of Abyssinia.' He expressed a wish to see it. I promised to send
him a copy on my return to Philadelphia, and did so. He returned a
polite answer, which I printed in Mr. Boswell's second edition of his
'Life of the Doctor.'" Richard Rush relates in the _Port Folio_ that
when his father, Dr. Benjamin Rush, attended a meeting of "The Club" in
London, Goldsmith asked him a question about the North American Indians,
when Johnson remarked that there was not an Indian in North America
foolish enough to ask such a question. Whereupon Goldsmith retorted,
"There is not a savage in America, sir, rude enough to make such a
speech to a gentleman."
Dr. Ewing's daughter, Sarah, born in Philadelphia October 30, 1761,
married John Hall, of Baltimore, the son of a Maryland planter. In
January, 1824, she contributed to the _Port Folio_ "A Picture of
Philadelphia as it is." In a letter to a Scotchwoman (1821) she wrote:
"Your flattering inquiry about my literary career may be answered in a
word. Literature has no career in America. It is like wine, which we are
told must cross the ocean to make it good." Sarah Hall died in
Philadelphia April 8, 1830.
Her eldest son, John Elihu Hall, was born in Philadelphia December 27,
1783; studied law, and edited the _American Law Journal_ 1808-1817. He
was for a time professor of rhetoric in the University of Maryland. In
the _Port Folio_ of March, 1806, encouraged by Thomas Moore, he
commenced the publication of the "Memoirs of Anacreon," but suspended
the work after a few instalments had appeared. In 1820 (Vol. IX, p.
401), he resumed the articles. Most of the Anacreontic odes occur, and
the "biographical tissue" gave the papers a resemblance to Hardwicke's
"Athenian Letters" and to the "Anacharsis" of Abbé Barthelemy. "Sedley"
was the signature used by J. E. Hall in his _Port Folio_ papers. In 1812
he published serially in that magazine his literary miscellany, entitled
"Adversaria."
His brother, James, born in Philadelphia August 19, 1793, died near
Cincinnati, July 15, 1868, published in the _Port Folio_ of 1821 his
"Letters from the West," afterward published in book form by John Elihu.
Another brother, Thomas Mifflin Hall (1798-1828), wrote several poems
for the magazine. Harrison Hall (1785-1866), a third brother, published
the _Port Folio_ and wrote a book on "Distillation," which went through
several editions here, and was reprinted in England.
JOHN ELIHU HALL became editor of the _Port Folio_ in February, 1816. Its
history up to that time may be briefly stated. It was at first a weekly
quarto, printed by H. Maxwell and sold by William Fry, opposite Christ
Church. In 1806 the quarto size was changed to octavo. In 1809 the
magazine appeared monthly instead of weekly, and continued from that
time to be a monthly publication. In the prospectus issued at the time
of this change the magazine was said to be "edited by Oliver Oldschool,
assisted by a confederacy of men of letters." In its new dress it
"cherished the hope that it might bear a comparison with any of the
foreign journals." In 1804 the price had been raised to six dollars. The
issue of July 21, 1804, was in deep black lines, in mourning for
Alexander Hamilton. The issue of July 23, 1808, was a memorial number to
Fisher Ames. The "Oliver Oldschool" figurehead was abandoned in January,
1811, and "conducted by Jos. Dennie, Esq.," took its place; for, the
editor explained, "Since the magazine is no longer _political_, the
appellation of Oliver Oldschool is no longer expedient or necessary."
During Dennie's last illness his place in the editorial chair was taken
by Paul Allen (1775-1826), who wrote poems, and prepared the "Travels of
Lewis and Clarke" for the press, and who must not be confounded with
another eccentric Bohemian, James Allen, brother to the Sheriff of
Suffolk, who wrote under the inspiration of the West Indian
muses--sugar, rum and lemon-juice--who "wore ruffles--and they hung in
tatters about his knuckles."
January, 1812, told of Dennie's death and "that the confederacy of
scholars disbanded almost as soon as it was formed." At this time the
_Port Folio_ was the oldest literary journal in America.
NICHOLAS BIDDLE became the next editor. He supplied the magazine with a
number of articles upon paintings, old and new, and resigned his charge
early in 1812. Dr. Charles Caldwell was requested to succeed him. "I
accepted the proposal," he says, in his "Autobiography," "in less than a
minute, and in less than one hour began to prepare for the performance
of the duty it enjoined" (_Autobiography_, page 322). Caldwell entered
upon his task under an engagement to furnish ninety-eight pages of
matter for each number, and this matter would have to be to a great
extent original. In six months Caldwell increased the number of
subscribers twenty-five per cent. The war naturally became the theme of
greatest interest. General Brown declared that "he reported himself, and
ordered his officers to report themselves in their connection with all
interesting events of the army, as regularly to the editor of the _Port
Folio_ as they did to him, or as he did to the Secretary of War." In
this way the magazine obtained some interesting and valuable
biographical notes of military and naval officers. Dr. Caldwell employed
as assistant editor the famous and versatile THOMAS COOPER. Cooper was
an Englishman, who was born in London in 1759, and had been a member of
the National Assembly of France. He quarrelled with Robespierre, and
challenged him to a duel. Robespierre swore revenge, and Cooper, knowing
that flight alone could save him from the Jacobin Club, returned to
England. He was censured by Burke, and replied in a bitter and abusive
pamphlet. He followed his intimate friend, Mr. Priestley, to America and
lived with him at Northumberland, where Coleridge and Southey dreamed of
establishing an Eden of Pantisocracy. When Cooper came to Philadelphia,
Washington and Jefferson and Jay and Madison were there. Cooper lent his
pen to Jefferson and the Democrats, and was paid by them. He was
appointed to a judgeship, but soon removed. He was elected professor of
chemistry and moral philosophy in Dickinson College, and from there he
went to the chair of chemistry in Columbia College, South Carolina. He
left Philadelphia in 1819, and died in the South in 1840.
JUDGE WORKMAN was a second assistant writer. The most extensive
contributions that Dr. Caldwell made to the magazine were his reviews of
"An Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure of the
Human Species," by Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of Princeton
College. The reviews covered ninety pages and dealt with a philosophical
and experimental examination of the strange case of Henry Moss, a
Maryland negro, whose name, as Dr. Caldwell says, is as well known to
the readers of periodicals as was that of John Adams or Thomas Jefferson
or James Madison. Moss was a full-blooded African, whose skin, save in a
few spots, turned white. Caldwell's critiques appeared in the _Port
Folio_, 1814, pp. 8 and 457, and also in the _American Review_, II, 128,
166.
Dr. Caldwell at this time edited _Delaplaine's Repository_, and Smith
had his revenge in a telling criticism of that work in the _Analectic
Magazine_, to which Caldwell replied in 1816. To finish the story, there
is to be found in the _Port Folio_ of 1820, page 153, an article on S. S.
Smith, with portrait, which is as ample in praise of the essay as
Caldwell was liberal in detraction. Caldwell resigned his editorship in
1816. In the next month Oliver Oldschool the Fourth made his appearance
in the person of John Elihu Hall.
The magazine was still well manned and well maintained. Philadelphia
still kept her leadership in culture and literary production. In 1814
only twenty new books were annually put forth in America, and yet in
April of that year the _Port Folio_ declared, "From facts within our own
knowledge, we fearlessly assert that Philadelphia contains scholars not
a few whom Europe herself would be proud to acknowledge." In 1817 the
_London Monthly Magazine_ began to copy from the _Port Folio_.
But about 1820 the prestige of Philadelphia begins to fade and her
ancient influences to hang about her "like a giant's robe upon a
dwarfish thief." In this year (_Port Folio_, page 463) is heard the
first note of alarm. New England is gaining; "with such rivalry
Philadelphia must yield the proud title which she has borne, or rouse
from the withering lethargy in which she slumbers." New York jealousy is
increasing. In 1820 Salmagundi says that "one of the editors of the
_Port Folio_ was discharged--for writing common-sense." These trifles
indicate a shifting of the balance of power. Three years more, and the
cry of discontent and peevish querulousness reaches its height.
"With the exception of some scores of verses 'tempered with lovers'
sighs' and oozing from the brains of 'lunatics, lovers and poets,' the
last volume contains very few communications from any friend to us and
our cause. In the days of our first predecessors such was the number and
zeal of contributors that the editor was obliged to exchange the labor
of composition for that of selection, and he often expatiated with
gratitude upon the learning, the liberality and the industry of his
voluntary assistants. Although they wore their visors up before the
public, most of them are now known to us, and we can recognize many of
them at home and abroad, pushing their fortunes at the bar, in the desk
or the academy, or serving their country in high and honorable stations.
They were all quickened with the fervid spirit of enterprise and
adventure. They combined learning and wit and genius with industry,
perseverance and ambition. They laid the foundation of a work which has
outlived all its rivals and contemporaries; but they have left few to
inherit and emulate their disinterested devotion to the cause of
letters.... England, that detestable country where _everyone_ has been
starving for the last century, where _everyone_ has been crushed by the
load of taxes, and _everyone_ has been flying from home to avoid the
oppressions of the Ministry, prints several thousand copies of a
magazine, and the whole edition is sold and paid for in twenty-four
hours. These matters are ordered differently here. Instead of
_purchasing_ our newspapers and magazines we subscribe for them."
Alack-a-day! the world went very well in the consulship of Plancus! No
doubt even in the best and soundest of their times the magazines did
suffer by the subscription plan. The remaining stock of the _Analectic
Magazine_ was sold for seven cents a volume in sheets, and the stock of
the _Literary Gazette_, its successor, brought but six and a quarter
cents per pound.
Hall took the opportunity presented by the publication of "The Lives of
the Signers," by his friend and contributor, John Sanderson, to trouble
the deaf public again with his bootless cries:
"Oh! that we could boast a reading public; and that we could say, with
truth, that any other books than a few novels and poems and, generally,
an elegant folio Bible, kept for ornament and family dignity, were to be
found in half the splendid mansions of Philadelphia. But 'we can procure
the book at the Philadelphia Library.' Yes, and the author of an
excellent work must be left to beg and starve, and his wife and children
must be doomed to penury because their natural protector was a literary
man and an author, who conferred honour on his species. _Burn_ the
Philadelphia Library, we say. Aye! _burn_ it! if this must be its
influence, to deprive meritorious authors and enterprising artists of
their sustenance and of the means of continuing their labours. Let those
who cannot afford to purchase valuable works, who wish to peruse scarce
tomes, the work of former generations, resort to the library; but let
our rich merchants, our thrifty lawyers and the elegantly neat Quaker
proprietors of the soil of this city, who have sons and daughters to be
educated for usefulness and happiness, be ashamed to creep into the
repository of rare, ancient and learned volumes, and ask in a soft voice
of the librarian, '_Is Sanderson's Biography in?_' and to add, '_My
daughters wish to see it._'"
In 1822 the _Port Folio_ was reduced to making selections from the
literary and political journals of Europe after the manner of _The
Select Reviews_ which Ewing had edited.
The final suspension of the _Port Folio_ was preceded by an
international quarrel. John Neal was in England in 1834, and his offer
to write for _Blackwood's Magazine_ in that year a series of sketches of
"American writers" was accepted, and the first instalment appeared in
_Blackwood's_ of September, 1824, page 305. The author could name only
three writers "who would not pass just as readily for an English writer
as for an American." The trio consisted of Paulding, Neal and Brown. The
article was signed "X. Y. Z." and was written in the favorite
_Blackwood's_ "bludgeon" style. Neal says of himself, "He is undeniably
the most original writer that America has produced--thinks himself the
cleverest fellow in America, and does not scruple to say so--he is in
Europe now." When he approached the date of the _Port Folio_, Neal paid
his compliments, displaying unmistakable malice, to John E. Hall. "Hall
had the misfortune, some years ago, to fall acquainted with Mr. Thomas
Moore, the poet, while Mr. Moore was 'trampoosing' over America. It
spoilt poor Hall--turned his brain. He has done little or nothing since
but make-believe about criticism, talk dawdle-poetry with a lisp, write
irresistible verses under the name of 'Sedley' in his own magazine,
twitter sentimentally about 'little Moore,' his 'dear little
Moore'--puffing himself all the time anonymously in the newspaper,
while he is damning himself, with unmistakable sincerity, twelve times a
year in his own magazine. We do not think very highly of the
mutton-headed Athenians at Philadelphia; but we do think, nevertheless,
that Mr. John E. Hall is a little too much of a blockhead even for their
meridian."
Hall published a scathing review in the _Port Folio_, December, 1824, of
the author of "Logan" and "Randolph," the Baltimorean who was writing
for _Blackwood's_. In volume 19 (1825, p. 78) this "nauseous reptile" is
still further reviewed. Neal is quoted as saying, "Dennie is dead, John
E. Hall is alive; Dennie was a gentleman, John E. Hall is a blackguard;"
and Hall retorts that Neal is a "liar of the first magnitude," who
prefers "English guineas to Baltimore horsewhips."
The _Port Folio_ was now making a desperate struggle for life. Its
publication was suspended from January to July, 1826, and again from
January to July, 1827. Its budget was finally closed in December, 1827.
FROM THE PORT FOLIO TO GRAHAM'S.
The _Ladies' Museum_ was commenced in February, 1800, and made five
numbers.
The _Philadelphia Repository and Weekly Register_ was commenced in 1801.
It was edited and published by David Hogan, and later by John W. Scott.
It was popular and original.
The first magazine published in America for children appeared in
Philadelphia in 1802--the _Juvenile Magazine, or Miscellaneous
Repository of Useful Information_, Phila., 1802, printed for Benjamin
Johnson and Jacob Johnston.
It was followed by the _Juvenile Olio_ in the same year. This magazine
was edited by "Amyntor" a citizen of Philadelphia, and was published by
David Hogan.
Charles Brockden Brown, the most important of Philadelphia writers, the
first professional man-of-letters in America, and the predecessor of all
cis-Atlantic novelists, was born in Philadelphia, January 17, 1771, and
in that city he founded, in 1803-4, the _Literary Magazine and American
Register_.
Brown had been educated until his sixteenth year in the school of Robert
Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania. He then studied law with Alexander
Wilcox, of Philadelphia. His health, which had been ever poor, suffered
still further from enthusiastic attention to the needs of a
belles-lettres club of nine members, and to the law society of his
native city. The _Columbian Magazine_ of August, 1789, contained his
first published article. It was entitled "The Rhapsodist," and was
continued through several numbers of the magazine.
A close friendship sprang up between Brown and Elihu Hubbard Smith, and
Brown made his home in New York, where Smith introduced him to "The
Friendly Club." After the plague visited New York and Smith died of the
fever, Brown returned to Philadelphia to spend the remainder of his
life.
The first number of the _Literary Magazine and American Register_ was
published by John Conrad, who had made a liberal arrangement with the
editor, on Saturday, October 1, 1803. Brown's prospectus, which filled
the first three pages, is so characteristic of the author, and so
interesting as a contemporary comment upon magazines and their purposes,
as to admit of complete quotation.
_The Editor's Address to the Public:_
"It is usual for one who presents the public with a periodical work like
the present, to introduce himself to the notice of his readers by some
sort of preface or address. I take up the pen in conformity to this
custom, but am quite at loss for topics suitable to so interesting an
occasion. I cannot expatiate on the variety of my knowledge, the
brilliancy of my wit, the versatility of my talents. To none of these do
I lay any claim, and though this variety, brilliancy of solidity, are
necessary ingredients in a work of this kind, I trust merely to the zeal
and liberality of my friends to supply me with them. I have them not
myself, but doubt not of the good offices of those who possess them, and
shall think myself entitled to no small praise if I am able to collect
into one focal spot the rays of a great number of luminaries. They also
may be very unequal to each other in lustre, and some of them may be
little better than twinkling and feeble stars of the hundredth
magnitude; but what is wanting in individual splendour will be made up
by the union of all their beams into one. My province shall be _to hold
the mirror up_ so as to assemble all their influence within its verge,
and reflect them on the public in such manner as to warm and enlighten.
"As I possess nothing but zeal I can promise to exert nothing else; but
my consolation is, that aided by that powerful spirit, many have
accomplished things much more arduous than that which I propose to
myself.
"Many are the works of this kind which have risen and fallen in America,
and many of them have enjoyed but a brief existence. This circumstance
has always at first sight given me some uneasiness, but when I come more
soberly to meditate upon it my courage revives, and I discover no reason
for my doubts. Many works have actually been reared and sustained by the
curiosity and favour of the public. They have ultimately declined or
fallen, it is true; but why? From no abatement of the public curiosity,
but from causes which publishers or editors only are accountable. Those
who managed the publication have commonly either changed their
principles, remitted their zeal, or voluntarily relinquished their
trade, or last of all, and like other men, have died. Such works have
flourished for a time, and they ceased to flourish, by the fault or
misfortune of the proprietors. The public is always eager to encourage
one who devotes himself to their rational amusement, and when he ceases
to demand or to deserve their favour they feel more regret than anger in
withdrawing it.
"The world--by which I mean the few hundred persons who concern
themselves about this work--will naturally inquire who it is that thus
addresses them. 'This is somewhat more than a point of idle curiosity,'
my reader will say, 'for from my knowledge of the man must I infer how
far he will be able or willing to fulfil his promises. Besides, it is
great importance to know whether his sentiments on certain subjects be
agreeable or not to my own. In politics, for example, he may be a
malcontent; in religion an heretic. He may be an ardent advocate for all
that I abhor, or he may be a celebrated champion of my favourite
opinions. It is evident that these particulars must dictate the
treatment you receive from me, and make me either your friend or enemy:
your patron or your persecutor. Besides, I am anxious for some personal
knowledge of you that I may judge of your literary merits. You may
possibly be one of these, who came hither from the old world to seek
your fortune; who have handled the pen as others handle the awl or
needle; that is, for the sake of a livelihood, and who, therefore, are
willing to work on any kind of cloth or leather, and to any model that
may be in demand. You may, in the course of your trade, have
accommodated yourself to twenty different fashions, and have served
twenty classes of customers; have copied at one time a Parisian, at
another a London fashion, and have truckled to the humours, now of a
precise enthusiast, and now of a smart free-thinker.
"''Tis of no manner of importance what creed you may publicly profess
on this occasion, or on what side, religious or political, you may
declare yourself enlisted. To judge of the value or sincerity of these
professions, to form some notion how far you will faithfully or
skilfully perform your part, I must know your character. By that
knowledge, I shall regulate myself with more certainty than by any
anonymous declaration you may think proper to make.'
"I bow to the reasonableness of these observations, and shall therefore
take no pains to conceal my name. Anybody may know it who chooses to ask
me or my publisher. I shall not, however, put it at the bottom of this
address. My diffidence, as my friends would call it, and my discretion,
as my enemies, if I have any, would term it, hinders me from calling out
my name in a crowd. It has heretofore hindered me from making my
appearance there, when impelled by the strongest of human
considerations, and produces, at this time, an insuperable aversion to
naming myself to my readers. The mere act of calling out my own name, on
this occasion, is of no moment, since an author or editor who takes no
pains to conceal himself, cannot fail of being known to as many as
desire to know him. And whether my notoriety make for me or against me,
I shall use no means to prevent it.
"I am far from wishing, however, that my readers should judge of my
exertions by my former ones. I have written much, but take much blame to
myself for something which I have written, and take no praise for
anything. I should enjoy a larger share of my own respect, at the
present moment, if nothing had ever flowed from my pen, the production
of which could be traced to me. A variety of causes induces me to form
such a wish, but I am principally influenced by the consideration that
time can scarcely fail of enlarging and refining the powers of a man,
while the world is sure to judge of his capacities and principles at
fifty, from what he has written at fifteen.
"Meanwhile, I deem it reasonable to explain the motives of the present
publication, and must rely for credit on the good nature of my readers.
The project is not a mercenary one. Nobody relies for subsistence on its
success, nor does the editor put anything but his reputation at stake.
At the same time, he cannot but be desirous of an ample subscription,
not merely because pecuniary profit is acceptable, but because this is
the best proof which he can receive that his endeavours to amuse and
instruct have not been unsuccessful.