The Portico: A Repository of Science & Literature (1816-1818) was a short-lived Baltimore literary journal founded and edited by Stephen Simpson and Tobias Watkins. The monthly journal was formed to publish the members of a small Baltimore literary society the Delphian Club. The Portico's contributors include John Pierpont

John Pierpont

John Pierpont was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His most famous poem is The Airs of Palestine.-Overview:...

, a poet, and John Neal

John Neal

-External links:* * * -Selected Works Available online:* * * * * and * and * * *...

, a poet, novelist, and journalist who went on to write for English periodicals such as Blackwood's Magazine

Blackwood's Magazine

Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...

and to serve as editor of several American papers.

The Portico regularly offered reviews of contemporary British and American works, humorous and serious essays on wide-ranging subjects, and original poetry and fiction. The journal's promotion of American literature through generous reviews of contemporary American works and authors made it one of the most important contributors to early American literary nationalism.