pointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure. bounty flows in profusion, and, to give new zest to the wine, the measure of drinking is the measure of each man's taste, and every individual, in conformity to the law of genuine hospitality, is permitted to quaff, or to sip, at his pleasure. While the mind dwells, with a sort of rapture, upon this extraordinary entertainment, it is necessary, by the light of the context, to survey some of the surrounding circumstances. After the lapse of a week, thus devoted to joy, the King commanded his officers to summon the Queen to appear before his presence. He was solicitous, from a motive of vanity, to exhibit to his subjects, so much beauty, heightened by all the ornaments, which the gems of Golconda could bestow. From some whimsy of caprice, which would puzzle even a Jewish Philosopher to explain, the Queen Vashti refused to come at the King's commandment. The consequence was extremely natural. The mortified Monarch was very wroth, and his anger burned within him. During this paroxysm, he consults his privy counsellers. These sages, of course, advised her immediate repudiation.For the example of all other disobedient and obstinate wives, she is banished from the precincts of the Palace, and her Royal estate is given to another, who is better than she. Genius has often been very successfully employed, in the description of scenes of mirth, munificence and gayety. But it would be difficult to find, in any page, however brilliant, a more gorgeous display of a regal banquet than this Persian festival afforded. The historian seems to task all his powers in painting this glowing picture of oriental luxury. A mighty monarch, whose dominions extended from the Ganges to the Niger, whose extensive sway is not bounded by the narrow horizon of apetty principality, but whose absolute power commands, with all the emphasis of the text, a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, is represented as feasting, with the utmost excess of liberality, a nation of nobles and a people of princes. Nor is this hospitality stinted by the ordinary period of a vulgar calendar. This gay and protracted carousal, that every taste might be gratified, every fancy delighted, and every wish satisfied, continues for three months. The generosity of Ahasuerus extends even beyond one of the four seasons. After thus lavishing his bounty upon the rich and the noble, the splendid and mighty, he condescends to think of the mean, and the poor. He feasts the whole multitude, that were in his palace. A whole week is devoted to their mirth and merriment, and it is a memorable circumstance, that they were entertained in the court of the garden, where nothing of pageantry, nothing of beauty, nothing of magnificence seems to have been omitted, which could, in any degree, minister to their delight. Variegated tapestry, suspended by cords of the purest white, and the richest purple, from silvery rings, and alabaster columns; beds of silver and gold on mosaick pavements; and festal cups of the most precious metals attract every where the giddy and delighted eye. Nor is this organ the only sense which is gratified. The rich-nity of that Princess and the desperate est grape of Persia is crushed into ambition and peevish discontent of Har every cup. The liquid ruby of royal man ensue. These sinister circum After this medley of mirth and mortification, when the anger of Ahasuerus was appeased, new scenes, calculated to excite different passions, appear. He is captivated with the charms of Esther, an elegant woman, whom he crowns, and in honour of whom he makes another feast, and bestows ample largesses among the people. During the festivity of his nuptials, a conspiracy is formed against his life, the rivalship between Mordecai and Haman commences, and a sanguinary de-cree against the Jewish nation is promulgated. The consternation of the city, the grief of Esther, the importu What is the table one. stances cloud the court of Persia.? consequence an ineviCorrosive Care usurps the place of Mirth and Revelry. Though the King and Haman sat down to drink, the Prince was too much perturbated to enjoy the pleasure. Torn with conflicting emotions, he probably abridged the entertainment and hastened home to the inner pavilion of his palace. Unhappy Monarch! Repose, it seems, does not await thy return. For, as we read in the text, on that night could not the King sleep, or as it is more forcibly and figuratively expressed in the original, the Sleep of the monarch fled away. Swift on his downy pinions, flew from wo, To light on lids, unsullied by a tear. This is one of the most remarkable proofs of the despotism of Care and Anxiety, that can be adduced from the annals of mankind. A potentate of Persia, the absolute Lord over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, in whose extensive dominions might be found all that Power, and Wealth, and Beauty might bestow; whose servants are princes, and whose companions are Sages; whose ear is charmed by all the nightingales of the garden, and whose heart is warmed with all the wines of Shiraz, is still wretched and restless, like the inmate of Poverty's hovel. Careless of the colours of his Palace curtains, waving in many a gay festoon; blind to all the radiance of his vessels of silver and gold, and deaf to all the musick, even of the latanist of Persia, the agitated Ahasuerus, drinking, carolling, revelling, or triumphing as he may, discovers, in the languid hour, that he must still watch, and be sober. I see him on his eastern couch, nor am I insensible of all the syren powers, that, at the midnight hour, are invoked to lull him to repose. But the daggers of Assassination glimmer through the darkness; all the forms of Perturbation and Anxiety hover around; he hears the voice of an expostulating minister, and the screams of wounded Jews; and although Haman and he may have sat down to drink, the cup brings no oblivion. In a night, so involved with gloom, not even a King could sleep. He did not even slumber. He was broadly awake. But his exhausted body did not impede the progress of the immortal mind. He is rouzed, from tumbling, and tossing on the couch of Care, and perhaps exclaimed, like another prince, in similar perplexity, Sleep, gentle Sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Though this mighty monarch had devoted one hundred and eighty seven days to voluptuousness; though every room in his palace had blazed with lights, and brayed with minstrelsy, though he had regaled his senses with the odour of the rose, the notes of the nightingale, the sweetness of the pomegranate, the survey of Splendour and the charms of Beauty, still he is restless, irritable, and vigilant. Uneasy lies that head, that wore a crown. The "dull god" which visits "the vile in loathsome beds," left "the kingly couch, a watch case, or a com mon larum bell." Tired Nature's sweet restorer had gone to bless the cottages of Persia, and left the monarch a prey to mournful musing. Thought busy Thought, too busy for his peace, Through the dark postern of time long elaps'd, Led softly, by the Stillness of the night, Stray'd, wretched rover, o'er the pleasing past, In quest of wretchedness perversely stray'd, And finds all desert now; and met the ghosts, Of his departed joys, a numerous train. In this sable hour of Spleen and Care, Ahasuerus provided, with a phi losopher's wisdom, a most effectual remedy for morbid restlessness. He commanded to bring the book of the Records of the Chronicles and they were read before the King. That sleepless moments might not glide in idle reverie away, his attendants were ordered to make vocal the Historian's page, and recall to remembrance the annals of the kingdom. AND CONTEMPLATIVE. Let him not linger a moment on the uneasy pallet of Care, but relume the brightest of his lamps, and read the most perfect of writers. VARIETY. In the rough blast heaves the billow, Sombre tale, and satire witty, It is worthy of observation, and it is a circumstance finely corroborating the veracity of our text, that throughout Asia, to this day, it is the habit of men of rank and fortune, to deceive the burden of life, and beguile the languor of evening, by listening to some musician, narrator, or reader. In Persia, interesting stories and amusing api-ed the most elegant, of the Fables of logues are repeated, and odes, gay or voluptuous are sung. Poets rehearse their works, and Fabulists task their invention. Arabia abounds with these amusements. Thomson, with all the magick of numbers, and all the veracity of an historian, alludes, in his Castle of Indolence, to this oriental custom. Such the gay splendour, the luxurious state, Of Caliphs old, who on the Tigris shore, In mighty Bagdad, populous and great, Held their bright court, where was of ladies store, And Verse, Love, Musick still the garland wore : When Sleep was coy the Bard in waiting there, CHEER'D THE LONE MIDNIGHT WITH THE MUSES' LORE, Composing Musick bade his dreams be fair, And Musick lent new gladness to the morning air. This Arabian Night's Entertainment, by the by, is so exactly consantaneous to manners and character, that I am as much convinced of the reality of all the events in Esther, as if they were present before my eyes, and I were actually listening to the historian of Ahasuerus. As I am always solicitous, in these little essays, which can scarcely be called sermons, and are worthy of no better name than sketches and outlines of literary composition, that something practical and useful may be gleaned even from my "scattering and unsure Observance," I will conclude by advising every reader, when like Ahamerus, he is vigilant, to be STUDIOUS The original of the following, is call La Fontaine, though it is perhaps told with less simplicity than is generally his perfection. But the close is admirable. Quand on eut bien considéré L'interèt du Public, celui de la Patrie, LOVE AND FOLLY. Love, who now deals to human hearts, That hapless mortals cant' withstand 'em, It happen'd that the thoughtless child, Like idle lad in school vacation. On trifles he had much to say, * When kings and great men, to divert the tedious hours of those who have nothing to do, kept about them a fool, one who either really was deficient in understanding or abject enough to pretend to a degree of idiotism for the amusement of his patron, the insignia of the office, were a cap with feathers, or sometimes a cock's head fastened to the top, and with bells round it, while in their hands was carried a short wooden truncheon, on which was rudely carved a human head with asses ears. There are several passages describing this in Johnson's or Steevens's Notes on Shakspeare. The quiver'd gamester smil'd and won, 1 Loud and more loud the quarrel grows; Then, wild with anguish, Venus pray'd, And begged of cloud-compelling Jove. "Folly's immortal," Jove replied, On the Aphorism. "L'Amitié est l'Amour Sans ailes." Friendship, as some sage poet sings, Many years ago, the well known song of Fal de ral tit was in the mouth of every Macaroni. The modern blood, and the roaring boy will, perhaps, prefer the following, which is a curious specimen of a footpad's gibberish: I was a flashman of St. Giles, The first time I saw the flaming mot, I called for some purl, and we had it hot, We threw off our slang at high and low, For we both got as drunk as David's sow, And then sung Fal de ral tit. As we were roaring out a catch, ('Twas twelve o'clock) we waked the watch Ì at his jazy made a snatch, And tried for to nab his rattle; But I missed my aim, and down I fell, We passed the night in love away, In Quod we lay three dismal weeks, From Newgate bars we now are free, For we have milled a precious go, All you who live at your wits' end, Drought. See the Demon Drought appears, Hark! the sedge-crowned sisters weep, As the withering power he eyes; Flora's heart is filled with dread, While with thirst her offspring dies. Idle, sad, Lintea views All her steam-turned engines stand, Where the bleach fields bright diffuse Wealth and Beauty on the land. Rise ye Pleiads, pity take, Bid the kindly rain descend; Wide thy glittering falchion weild, To thy magick power shall yield. Penn, the celebrated founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, had both great and amiable qualities, and was no stranger to the essentials of good breeding, though he was too stubborn to yield to the forms of it.He had, or affected to have, all the spirit of the hat, which availeth him much as the leader of a people who made it a part of their religion. We are credibly informed, that he sat with his hat on before Charles II; and the King, as a gentle rebuke for his ill manners, put off his own. -Upon which Penn said to him, "Friend Charles, why dost thou not keep on thy hat?" The King answered, "It is the custom of this place, that never above one person should be covered at a time." ORIGINAL POETRY. For The Port Folio. TO MARIA. Oh! when I hear thy plaintive lay, Play on, play on, it suits my soul, To listen to thy thrilling strain ; Thy voice my pensive thoughts control! And I forget all former pain. EPIGRAM. On the particular circumstance of each of the different powers at the battle of Trafalgar, having a ship called the Neptune. Three different powers to rule the main, EPITAPHS. The following is one of the best English epitaphs we have ever seen upon an insignificant fellow. Every one remembers the French inscription, Colas vivoit, Colas est mort. Poor John Gray, below he lies! On a comick actor who died a lamentable death. In theatres, the scene is wont to pass From gloomy tragedy to cheerful farce: Ah! me, thy life a varied order chose→→ With farce to open, tragedy to close. The price of The Port Folio is Six Dollars per annum, to be paid in advance. Printed and Published, for the Editor, by SMITH & MAXWELL, NO. 28, NORTH SECOND-STREET. |