MORTUARY. DIED, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, BENJAMIN CHEW, Esq. Mr. Chew was born in Maryland, and was the son of Samuel Chew, Esq. who held a high judicial office before the revolution. Intended for the bar, Mr. Chew finished his professional education in London, and after his return to his native country entered on the practice of the law, first in what is now the state of Delaware, and afterwards in Pennsylvania, where his talents and industry soon raised him to great eminence. He was successively appointed attorney-general, recorder of the city of Philadelphia, member of the proprietary council, register of wills, &c. and chief justice; which last office he held until the dissolution of the proprietary government. Both at the bar, and on the bench, he was distinguished, by the accuracy and extent of his forensic knowledge, quickness of perception, strength and closeness of argument, and soundness of judgment. After the establishment of the present form of government, he remained in private life, except that at the instance of many respectable citizens he accepted a seat in the first common council of the city, until the year 1790, when on the institution of the high court of errors and appeals, he was appointed president of it, and continued in that important and useful tribunal, till our legislature, in the year 1806, on a new distribution of judicial power thought proper to abolish it. Mr. Chew took a part in its functions till the year 1804. The last three or four years of his life were clouded by lingering and frequently severe disease, which he bore with firmness until he expired on Saturday night, the 20th instant, beloved, resigned, and most truly regretted. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. The price of The Port Folio is six dollars per annum, payable on the delivery of the sixth number of each year. No subscription received for less than a year. A number will be published every month, forming two volumes in the year. PRINTED FOR BRADFORD AND INSKEEP, NO. 4, SOUTH THIRD STREET, BY SMITH AND MAXWELL. Descriptive of a Pedestrian Journey to the Falls of Niagara, In the Autumn of 1804. By the Author of American Ornithology. With two plates. (Concluded from page 168.) O'ER these lone swamps the Muse impatient flies, Each roaring rapid and each adverse gale, What vagrant tribes, what islands met our view; Seen through the trees, like Ocean's boundless blue, With flying hats we hail the glorious spot, So, when of old, we cross'd th' Atlantic waves, Here, ere we lanch the boundless deep along, Those straggling huts that on the left appear, From night to morn 'tis noise and roar again. * This post was finally abandoned on the 28th of October, 1804, about a week before dur visit there. |