University of Virginia Library


185

A Poetico-Political Olio, CONSISTING OF EXTRACTS FROM DEMOCRACY, AN EPIC POEM, GREEN-HOUSE, AND OTHER NEW-YEARS' VERSES, &c. &c.


187

VERSIFICATION Of a Letter from a Political Character in Philadelphia to his Friend in Connecticut.


188

To the Printer of the Middlesex Gazette, March, 1798.

“SIR,

Your paper of the 9th instant, contains an extract of a letter, said to be written by a gentleman in Philadelphia, to a friend of his in this state. It was no doubt written there, and unquestionably with the purest intention. The author, it is understood, has long been in the habit of labouring in this manner for the public good; and it is to be hoped that his virtuous efforts may meet with their due reward. In order to give all possible currency to this excellent production, and promote its circulation, (as such truly patriotic sentiments should never be forgotten, but inculcated strongly on the mind of every one,) it has been thought proper to render some of the most striking passages into verse, which has long been considered as the surest vehicle to fame; and has this advantage over plain prose, that it is much more easily retained in memory.

There exists in this country a party or two,
And each has its object, and each has its view.
To the Jacobin party you know I belong,
For, by nature, I take to the side that is wrong.
Against us are pitted the good, and the great,
The lovers of order, the props of the state:
These fellows intend to leave us in the lurch,
As sneaking as girls, when confessing at church.
But we will convince them we'll hold up our noses,
Tho' the Devil himself all our plotting discloses.

189

Our government's deem'd an OLD CART, by these clubs,
They grease up the axle—we split off the hubs,
They whip up the cattle to drag it up-hill,
We throw down obstructions chock under the wheel.
This cart, we contend, was most wretchedly made,
That its timbers already are sadly decay'd,
That its spokes are all loose, broken down are the raives,
And nothing is sound but the tongue and the naves.
And since it has shewn such a proneness for wearing,
Our Club has resolv'd it is not worth repairing,
We have therefore determin'd by one mighty lift,
To tumble it over, or set it adrift.
These Fed'ralists have a strange plan of their own,
For when we so crabbed, and factious are grown,
That neither their threats, nor there coaxings can move,
The scoundrels will hire us their measures to love,
And no Jacobin ever a bribe could resist,
No, not if 'twere offered by Beelzebub's fist.
Thus Mr. Fauchet, in his flour-merchant trade,
Found Randolph hung back, when he wanted his aid;
But yet, when the patriot told him his price,
From the bargain the Frenchman flew off in a trice,
Resolv'd a while longer his dollars to keep,
Tho' Edmund was willing to sell him dog-cheap.

190

The House, too, they view on the name scurvy plan,
A kind of excrescence, like a wart on a man,
Like a wen on an ox, or a corn on the toes,
Or a carbuncle hung to a dram-drinker's nose.
They have been in the habit of borrowing as much
Ready cash as they could by the way of the Dutch,
But since poor Mynheer has become sans culotte,
He has lost with his breeches both guilder and groat;
While Grandmamma Europe, stripp'd down to the bone,
Much fonder of borrowing than lending is grown;
And still scarcer with us is that “Root of all evil,”
That widow of Mammon and child of the Devil:
So that now it is obvious to every eye,
That the stream has dry'd up and the grist has gone by.
Besides, it won't answer to strain over hard,
Lest they carry away all their sails by the yard,
And give smugglers a chance, now and then, to pop in
An anchor of brandy or stone-jug of gin;
Hence it is that these fellows are ever contriving
Some plan for preventing our calling from thriving,
Since this creed we all hold, both black, red and white,
“To steal from the Public's a Jacobin's right.”
Thus they tax our molasses to keep us from cheating,
So you see they're resolv'd we shall pay for good eating,

191

Our sugar, our salt, as if like Lot's wife,
They thought us well pickled for the rest of our life.
And in getting their cash they've a damnable way
That is—the most easy for people to pay.
Now a tax that's direct I advocate laying,
That each may enjoy the full pleasure of paying,
And give occupation to sheriffs a score,
And country collectors a thousand or more,
Thus to grind down the poor to their own native dirt,
And strip a poor fellow that has not a shirt.
At the opposite party, I'll just take a glance,
They were hatch'd by Genet, when he first came from France.
One never need look at a prettier set,
The sire, and the brats, are “hale fellows, well met,”
Thieves, bankrupts, and drunkards, pickpockets, and all,
Well branded with brimstone, and cropp'd at the fall.
We do all in our power to persuade the blind people,
That Adams's legs are as long as a steeple,
That he straddles about at a terrible rate,
Now over a puddle, now over a gate;
While “THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE,” great Thomas, so pale,
Works along like a tad-pole, by wriggling his tail.
These Fed'ralists, too, are an insolent race,
They won't e'en permit us to spit in their face.
In Congress behold a great LYON appears,
From Ireland imported, and purchased with steers;

192

He just took the license on Griswold to squirt
A stream of mundungus, not thinking of hurt;
When lo! the fierce Yankee flew into a passion,
And gave the bog-trotter a notable threshing.
The KING of the BEASTS most lustily roar'd,
At his army acquaintance, the old WOODEN-SWORD.
No Christian, I'm sure's this Connecticut shaver,
He ought not to've grumbled, but swallow'd the slaver,
The Testament says, you should turn t'other cheek,
And not go to using the hickory stick.
But in order to carry our schemes to effect,
We're oblig'd to conduct with peculiar respect.
One weapon, all-potent, as wielded by us,
Is constantly preaching on guarding the purse.
And so far our plan of economy reaches,
We intend to abolish the wearing of breeches.
Another contrivance we mean to pursue,
Which has hitherto serv'd us, we hope 'twill still do.
Our dead-and-alive country has sunk in a trance,
And has lost all affection for fighting and France.
Our farmers too seem to have outgrown their merit,
And given themselves up to a peaceable spirit.
But some-how or other, we'll break down the charm,
Make them handle the musquet, and give up the farm.
'Tis the duty of all, if the Frenchmen should need 'em
To offer their lives on the altar of Freedom;

193

'Tis to France you're indebted for all you have got,
Your freedom, religion, your farms, and what not,
And as they once bought you, in our firm opinion,
You're their slaves, first by purchase, and then by dominion.
These being the facts, you perceive my intent—
If once you affront them, they'll make you repent;
These sans-culotte butchers are terrible heroes,
More valiant than Cæsars, more bloody than Neroes,
They'll come over on rafts, or perhaps on the ice,
As thick as musquitoes, or Pharoah's lice.
In time then be wise—mind the words of my text—
Go to France in the first place—to hell in the next.


NEW-YEARS' VERSES.


210

For the Connecticut Courant, January 1, 1795.

The events of all-evolving time,
In this, and many a distant clime,
The tuneful new-year's Muse rehearses,
In novel strain of new-year's verses;
Which, by degrees, with proper pains,
We hope will rise to epic strains.
Nor shall we court the nine old maids,
By former poets us'd for aids,
Since Muse the tenth has slop'd her way,
To these Hesperian walks of day.
O! late arriv'd from Georgium Sidus,
Vouchsafe t' inspire the song, and guide us!—
While men of law and rule grow weary,
O! deign to celebrate the æra!—
Hark! how the music of her tongue,
Makes thread bare subjects fresh and young!
See, dim beneath the arctic pole,
Rude Russian hosts of ruffians roll
A sea-like wave—in barb'rous pride
The Poles to conquer, and divide!
See Frederick aid the base design,
And march his legions from the Rhine!
And see Kosciusko rouse the Poles,
While indignation fires their souls,

211

That tyrants leagu'd should still essay
To bend their necks to foreign sway!
O Son of our great Son of Fame,
May deeds like his, exalt thy name.
May fated Poland yet be free,
And find a Washington in THEE.
The French still sight like veriest witches,
Both those who have, and have not breeches;
And scarce a decade passes o'er,
But sees them wade knee deep in gore;
Sees hosts of foes, though men of might,
Put all their trust in speedy flight;—
And oh! how quick their news is hurl'd,
From realm to realm—from world to world;
For has not Telegraphe the merit,
To make French feats out-race a spirit?
Cannot Balloons as high arise,
To tell them through th' astonish'd skies?
While Guillotine quick lets them know,
By headless ghosts, in realms below.
Nor can the Muse forget the year,
That seal'd the fate of Robespierre;
But 'mid th' aristocratic laugh,
Will here inscribe his epitaph;
Which, in some proper time to come,
We hope will grace his mournful tomb.
“Long, luckless chief! thy guileful form
Astride the whirlwind, rein'd the storm;

212

That storm, where streams of human blood,
Drench'd towns and realms like Noah's flood;
Till hurl'd beneath the Guillotine,
Where gasp'd thy nobles, king, and queen,
Where daily swell'd thy bounteous store,
Of headless trunks and spouting gore;
Where Science' sons and daughters bled,
And priests by hecatombs fell dead—
Its rushing blade thy members freed,
From sins their tyrant head decreed;
And sent thy ghost to shades of night,
To prove, with Danton, which of right,
Should have in hell the highest seat,
An atheist or a hypocrite.”
May heaven our favourite planet bear
Far, far from Gallia's blazing star;
Ye lights of Europe shun its course,
Or order yields to lawless force,
As though a random-comet hurl'd,
Should dash at once and melt the world.
But though the French are giant sinners
Yet have we not Tom Thumb beginners?
Which though a molish sort of mice,
May grow to rats like nits to lice,
Gnaw thro' our vessel's lower quarter,
And fill, and sink her in deep water.
See fraught with democratic lore,
Genet arriv'd on Charleston shore,

213

But, as was meet, first broach'd his mission,
To men of sans-culotte condition;
Who throng'd around with open throats,
As round old Crusoe flock'd the goats,
And learn'd his sermon, to his wishes,
As Austin taught huge shoals of fishes;
Made all the antifederal presses,
Screech shrill hosannas, styl'd addresses;
And while to Court he took his way,
Sung hallelujahs to Genet;
But still our Palinurus saw,
With cool contempt this stormy flaw,
And, spite of all the Belial band,
Steer'd safe our leaky bark to land.
Like Hessian flies, imported o'er,
Clubs self create infest our shore.
And see yon western rebel band,
A medly mix'd from ev'ry land;
Scotch, Irish, renegadoes rude,
From Faction's dregs fermenting brew'd;
Misguided tools of antifeds,
With clubs anarchial for your heads,
Why would ye make with cost and trouble
Yourselves of warlike flames the stubble?
Tire down the arm out-stretch'd to save,
And freedom's cradle make her grave?
See next the veteran troops of Wayne,
March o'er the savage bands of slain,

214

And scatter far, like noxious air,
Those victors of the fam'd St. Clair;
While blust'ring Simcoe, as requir'd,
To bleak Canadian climes retir'd,
And let his tawny friends remain,
To sue for proffer'd peace again.
Here Fame reports, in vast expanse,
A clime extends that baulks romance,
Where sea-like rivers wind their way,
Through vast savannas to the sea;
Clear lakes extend, huge mountains rise,
And spicy vales perfume the skies;
Whatever earth maternal yields
To deck the groves, or cloathe the fields,
All fruits and flow'rets flourish here,
And bloom like Eden's gorgeous year:
Birds bask in air, the game in woods,
And finny nations crowd the floods.
Here then Columbians seek your farms,
When warlike Wayne shall quell alarms;
But let not speculations vain,
Exhaust the purse and turn the brain,
Nor grudge the roaming Indian rude
To hunt his native wilds for food.
Though tir'd I might pass on to mention
Our second Middletown convention;

215

How all the Stelligeri brood,
Their subterranean plots renew'd;
Made speeches with long periods rounded,
Like Babel's masons when confounded;
Strove hard and harder still to hit it,
But got most wofully outwitted;
For lo! on Court-House wall appear'd,
That hand which old Belshazzar fear'd,
And wrote in characters full plain,
His mene tekel o'er again.
All gaz'd aghast at one another,
And smote each jaded knee its brother.
Yet where Bostonia lifts her spires,
Like Phenix from devouring fires,
See federal Virtue take her stand,
And ward Destruction from the land.
Hail Nurse of Heroes! Statesmen sage!
The guard and glory of the age!
Above the mists of mouldering time,
Thy Fame, O ADAMS! soars sublime,
Who first the British lion spurn'd,
And gave the terms when peace return'd;
Cull'd from the lapse of ages past,
And fram'd a Work with time to last;
Display'd in truth's celestial light,
How Freedom, Law, and Power unite.
May choicest flowers with tears bedew'd,
O'er thy brave Warren's grave be strew'd;

216

And long heroic Lincoln stand,
The laurel'd bulwark of the land.
But still no flowers of greatness grow,
Where thorny plagues lurk not below:
There swarms Honestus' rabble throng,
And Lawyer Incest joins the song;
While Jarvis with his bob-tail crew,
Retreats before great Ames's view.
And now, O Muse! throw Candour's veil,
O'er aged Sam. in dotage frail;
And let past services atone,
For recent deeds of folly done;
When late aboard the Gallic ship,
Well fraught with democratic flip,
He praying fell on servile knees,
That France alone might rule the seas;
While Sense and Reason took a nap,
And snor'd in Jacobinic cap.
Now north the Muse revolves her eyes,
Where domes Albanian fright the skies;
And sees the wisdom of the State
Collected, both to legislate,
And to obtain, by slight of hand,
A further tract of Indian land.
At length they send an envoy, greeting,
To bid the natives to a meeting—
And lo! the Indian deputation,
Approach'd the Council of the nation,

217

Who found too late, by Benson told,
Their deep-laid scheme would never hold;
Since Congress, in all Indian treating,
Had stopp'd the separate States from cheating.
Not more amaz'd Philistia's race,
Beheld old Dagon's sore disgrace,
When by the Ark, in ruin spread,
He lay depriv'd of stumps and head—
Than each pale legislator star'd,
When this unwelcome news he heard.
Arriv'd, the speculating band
Shake Squaws and Indians by the hand,
And on each cheek of paint and grease,
Imprint the true fraternal kiss.
Huge mugs of cyder and of flip,
With gin and rum, and salute the lip.
Four weeks they liv'd like pigs in clover,
At length the feasting moon was over;
Their friends who found they'd nought to gain,
Would fain dismiss the greedy train;
Yet still to keep them somewhat quiet,
Resolv'd to have one general riot,
Where all should join, with frisky heads,
The grand Pawaw of whites and reds.
Now opes the dance, a pleasing sight
Of brothers red and brothers white;
A royal Squaw with brooches grac'd,
Superbly clad in Indian taste,

218

With due regard for rank and place,
Is given great Clinton's hand to grace.
They stamp, they reel, loud whoops resound,
As high in savage haze they bound,
'Till frolic fires in Clinton burn,
And bid his second youth return;
He seiz'd the Squaw, and warmly prest
The ocher'd beauty to his breast;
When lo! the Sachem's jealous ire
Flash'd from his eyes vindictive fire.
“Heeiyuh, Big Chief! 'tis Indian's law,
“All Sanup stick um fast his Squaw.”
He said, and dealt a furious blow,
Which laid the sportful hero low.
But here the time would fail to tell,
How high each Indian rais'd his yell;
How each pale legislator glar'd,
As round in wild dismay they star'd;
And how, afraid of scalping knives,
They broke their shins to save their lives;
All which, Fate willing, shall appear
In Epic Song another year.
Hartford, January 1, 1795.
 

In consequence of the prevalence of the yellow fever in New-Haven, in the autumn of 1794, the Legislature of Connecticut held its session at Middletown.


219

GUILLOTINA; OR THE ANNUAL SONG OF THE TENTH MUSE.

220

For the Connecticut Courant, January 1, 1796.

Come Guillotina, Muse divine!
Whose voice o'erawes the tuneful nine,
Come sing again! since Ninety-Five,
Has left some Antis still alive;
Some Jacobins as pert as ever,
Tho' much was hop'd from Yellow-fever;
One Traitor, fond to enrol his name,
With Judas on the list of fame;
A host of unhang'd Democrats,
And Speculators thick as rats;
Some lurking hoards, by patriots hated,
Stil'd very aptly “self-created,”
Since neither heathen God, nor Devil,
Would own engendering such an evil—
'Tis these, in contrast with the Great
Whose virtue saves the unhinging State,
That makes the music of thy rhyme,
Flow annual down the stream of time.
Last winter prov'd a trying season,
The State resum'd its wonted reason,
The Council kept a steady pace,
And Stelligeri dropp'd the chase;
Peace shed her poppies o'er the State,
And all cry'd out appropriate;

221

For well they knew a dire distemper,
That makes the brains and purses scamper,
Had seiz'd on every kind of creature,
And turn'd him to a speculator;
And though our title none could tell,
Yet all agreed 't would do to sell.
Soon Fame's shrill trumpet told the tale,
That We had western lands for sale.
Forth from the East and West, alack,
Nor did the North or South keep back.
Much people—both the high and low,
The squire, the deacon and the beau,

222

With judges, generals, legislators,
(All melted down to Speculators)
Flow'd in amain, from every quarter,
Like Windham frogs from dry'd-up water.
A host like this the northern hoard,
O'er pale Ausonia never poured,
Nor did a more inflated band,
Avenge, long since, the holy-land,
Nor, in our days, seek money hid,
From shore to shore by Captain Kid.—
Thus when old Noah op'd his gate,
And advertis'd to take in freight,
Swift at the all inviting sound,
All kinds of cattle throng'd around,
From which the patriarch cull'd the best,
And let the Deluge take the rest.—
Conven'd they sever'd into squads,
And talk'd of townships, miles, and rods,
With night-hawk wildness in their faces,
Like scrip-men bent on swiftest chases;
While each at other cast an eye,
At once determin'd, cross and sly,
And deem'd by dint of purse or brain,
The largest wastes of woods to gain;
But when they came to prove their skill,
And purse met purse, and will met will,
Till what they brought for stock in trade
Was spent and tavern-bills unpaid,

223

They all agreed to coalesce,
And in the immense of profits mess.
This done, at eve the bargain clos'd,
And all in south-sea dreams repos'd;
Yet waking found their bonds and toil,
But won the right to buy the soil;
Which though they think to get with ease,
The terms must be as Indians please.
And had the anarchial powers that dwell,
In unform'd wilds, 'twixt earth and hell,
Come forward, or sent on a letter,
To sell their realm for worse or better,
In breadth from where Arcturus glows,
To where the Bull turns up his nose,
In length from hence to where in terror,
The wicked find out Chauncey's error,
They'd bought it off like Georgia land,
And paid for't down in notes of hand,
Then quarrell'd which should have the most,
Where matter, time and space are lost.
Nay, had there been a narrow Gore,
Close in upon the Stygian shore,
Claim'd neither by the abodes of pain,
Nor forms that roam the vast Inane,
We should no doubt, from thence be able,
To rear a second modern Babel.

224

How stormy is thy sea of troubles,
How hoar with froth, how full of bubbles,
Oh Speculation! how thy waves,
Toss up and down thy greedy slaves:
For one that makes thy golden coast,
What myriads of thy Tars are lost;
This hour beholds them proudly float,
The next sees each a sans-culotte;
And though the boldest borrow breeches,
And tempt again thy main for riches,
Some whirlpool vast or billowy swell,
May land them and their schemes in—
Ere Jay had reach'd that pigmy coast,
Where Pitt and Grenville rule the roast,
Where once the Lion us'd to roar,
But late has chang'd it to a snore,—
The Anti-Treaty noise began,
Club answer'd Club—man echo'd man;
From town to town the cue was caught
By Faction's Telegraphe of thought.
At length on rapid wings of fate,
Ardent to save the sinking State,
The Envoy came—his steady eye,
Was fix'd upon the distant sky,

225

Regardless of the boisterous scene,
Which seem'd prepar'd to intervene.
No party rage disturb'd his rest,
No vile detraction shook his breast,
But rooted deep in Virtue's soil,
And cultur'd long by patriot toil,
His honours a bright harvest yield,
And wave around his country's field.
Firm in his hand the statesman shows
A solace for his country's woes,
Peace on his path her sun-beams spread,
And glory arch'd around his head.
Swift starting from their darksome den,
The nightly haunt of thieves and men,
Our democrats, broke forth in fury,
And sentenc'd Jay sans judge or jury.
Great Mason saw a precious hour,
Which chance had thrown within his power,
And join'd with Benny Bache to seize
A little cash their wants to ease.
Forth from the Anti-federal mint,
A half-false Treaty came inprint;
For telling truth so long had stray'd
From Bache, he had forgot the trade.
Soon, crowded forward into birth,
The full grown Child was usher'd forth.

226

His face so like his Sire's appear'd,
Such innate worth his visage cheer'd,
That Bache and Mason fled amain,
And swore old Jay was born again.
While thus the slumbering Infant lay,
With eyes just open'd to the day,
A dark revengeful coward brood,
Laid a deep scheme to spill his blood.
Soon far and near the tidings ran,
All swore he ne'er should grow to man.
Among the rest, though scarce alive,
Old Sam crawl'd out and swarm'd his Hive,
(Consisting of the stingless Hone
That Humble-Bee, that shrivel'd Drone,
With all old Falstaff's trainband, come
Inspir'd by patriotic Rum)
While Jarvis rung the pan with greeting,
To make them settle in Town-meeting.
At York stout Nicholson, whose zeal,
Burns greatly for the public weal,
Collects the vagabond and traitor,
With many a “dare Hibernian cratur.”
At Philadelphia Blair the great,
That Irish guardian of the State,
Rais'd his hard foot to give the blow,
And cry'd “to hell the child must go.”

227

Still further south the mongrel throng,
Responsive bray'd the factious song.
At Portsmouth too, poor Johnny's seed,
Produc'd a short-liv'd blust'ring breed,
Whose courage soon began to fail,
When Gilman pointed to the jail.
In Vermont, where the Reverend Niles,
To his own state confines his wiles,
And where the saintly Robinson
Prays that the Will of Burr be done—
The Green-woods politicians met,
To hew the timber of the State;
There printer Haswell, Col. Fay,
The Treaty damn'd—and Mr. Jay;
'Till Prince, Equality's dark son,
Grew weary of their wit and fun,
And, seizing Haswell by the cheek,
He cried out “Brurrur let me peak.
“You tear my libber from my maw,
“Gor dam a man all ober jaw.”
Alas! how vain are mortal dreams,
How flit away the wisest schemes!
Who would have thought this infant Jay,
Could have found means to get away?

228

Yet, strange and wond'rous to relate,
By some surprising spell of Fate,
A Giant from the cradle rose,
And frown'd indignant on his foes,
With step tremendous stalk'd along,
And trampled on the dastard throng.
As now in song the muse proceeds,
Let tears bedew her sable weeds.—
Here lies an Officer of State,
Who met alas! a timely Fate:
A Fate which Jacobins regard,
As their full measure of reward;
For here the deadly secret's told,
Who 'tis that fingers foreign gold;
That “patriots” stripp'd to state of nature,
Bear strong resemblance to the traitor;
That each disorganizing scoffer,
Will take a bribe if any offer.
Come then ye democratic band,
Who yearn t' enthral this favour'd land,
To Edmund's dismal tomb draw near,
And vent your lamentations here,
In groans, as Rachel groan'd at Rama,
Hic cinis—sed—ubique fama.

229

Yes there are men who fiercely burn
Your Constitution to o'erturn;
To blast the Sages of your choice,
They wield the pen and ply the voice;
Nor long will Talents tempt th' affray,
Where Virtue gains Contempt for pay;
But men of fell and factious prate
Shall mount the faithless Car of State.
Where Ignorance sheds his sooty beam,
And rays of Science rarely gleam,
There, fed with lies from day to day,
From venal presses in French pay,
Fell Faction broods—and scents afar,
Predestin'd fields of civil war.
And will the men who till their farms,
Who Freedom love—whom Freedom warms,
Who live in plenty, peace and ease,
Be vex'd by living plagues like these?
They will—have been—and still must be;
For Faction thrives where States are free,
As plants of baleful form and nature,
Thrive in fat soils, by plenteous water;
And thrive it must while there are fools,
And knaves to shape them into tools.—
Spread Knowledge then; this only Hope,
Can make each eye a telescope,
Frame it by microscopic art,
To scan the hypocritic heart;

230

And can, at least, keep Faction under,
As butting rams are aw'd by thunder.
The French have beat all other elves,
And now are beating fast themselves;
In which we wish them to succeed,
Just as the Fates, long since, decreed;
But how that is no mortal ken
Can spy, no more than how and when
New suns shall wake the blaze of day,
Where Chaos holds Eternal sway.
From themes like these th' indignant Muse
Turns, and th' applausive strain pursues.
Prompt at thy Country's call to work,
Thy pathless way where vipers lurk,
Where darksome wastes before thee lay,
Unbless'd but by thy mental ray,
O Hamilton!—that ray how clear,
How like the Sun's resplendent sphere,
When too intense for clouds of flies,
He makes his zenith in the skies.
Let “Calm Observer” hear the Song,
Shrink from the day and bite his tongue;
Far, far above his base controul,
Self-balanc'd stands sage Wolcott's soul,
A Patriot firm—to toils inur'd,
Long for the public weal endur'd,

231

Who, when the pestilential burst,
Laid Philadelphia's Pride in dust,
Mov'd unassuming and sedate,
The various tardy wheels of State.
Now Muse survey this land of peace,
Of Virtue, Law, and Happiness.
The Clime how blest! how rich a soil
Repays the labourer's cheerful toil,
How safe we till the field for food,
While Europe tills the field of blood;
Our sons how tranquil o'er the main,
But their's in hostile navies slain;
Their Anarchists still prowl for prey,
But ours are held, like wolves, at bay;
Their towns, while Emigrations drain,
Rise in our wilds and bloom again;
The Isles rejoice to heap their stores,
In plenty on our smiling shores;
Proud Albion, mistress of the waves,
With France and Spain, our Commerce craves;
Wayne barricades the west frontiers,
And peace is made with grim Algiers.—
Here while the North deep snows infold
The Georgian orange beams in gold;
And here the various climates rear,
Unblasted harvests through the year.

232

Bold Freedom feeds her Vestal Fires,
And every heart and tongue inspires;
While, still in Courts, as once in Fields,
Great Washington her Glory shields;
Long may his Sun unclouded shine,
And set “full orb'd.”
Hartford, January 1, 1796.

[This and the preceding New Year's Verses were principally written by a late eminent physician in Connecticut, distinguished both for his literary talents and professional skill; several of the passages in the Green-House were likewise furnished by him.]

 

This passage was intended to ridicule the mania for lands peculation, which at that time pervaded the United States in general, but raged with increased violence in the Eastern States. The year 1795, was particularly remarkable for this species of adventure, in which nearly every class and description of people engaged with an almost inconceivable degree of ardour. In addition to the immense quantities of land thrown into the market by the sale of the Georgia Territory, the Legislature of Connecticut had authorised the sale of an extensive country belonging to this state, situated on lake Erie, and known by the name of the Western Reserve. It had likewise ceded to a company of its own citizens, the claim of the state to a tract called the Gore, situated within the jurisdiction of New-York, but supposed to be included in the charter of Connecticut, on condition of the purchasers completing the State house in Hartford. To these may be added speculations in Virginia mountains; in Susquehannah title deeds that never existed; in the pine barrens of the south, and the frozen desarts of the north; in fine, in every thing that bore the name of land.

The celebrated Advocate of Universal Salvation.

Alluding to the State-House in Hartford, the building of which was completed by certain persons on condition of receiving from the Legislature of Connecticut a grant or quit claim of the right of that State to the tract of land called the Gore.

“A reverend Dean, preaching at the” British “Court, threatened the sinner with punishment in a place he thought not decent to name in so polite an Assembly.”— Pope.

The Treaty.

The abstract of the Treaty “published from recollection.”

A creature of the doubtful gender, called Honee, Honestus, or Ben Austin, Jun.

See Shakspeare's Henry IV.

This incident, as related, is stated to have occurred at Bennington at the time of discussing the merits of the Treaty. The conduct of Prince, upon this occasion, is a striking proof of that happy consciousness of the dignity of his nature, which ever distinguishes man, when emancipated from the shackles of restraint.

His ashes here—but—every where his Fame. This is the Epitaph of the late celebrated King of Prussia; but we hope his mance will not be offended that we apply it to a character equally GREAT in a different way.


234

The Political Green-House, for the year 1798.

Hartford, January 1, 1799.
Oft has the New-Year's Muse essay'd,
To quit the annual rhyming trade,
Oft has she hop'd the period nigh,
When fools would cease, and knaves would die;
But each succeeding year has tax'd her
With “more last words of Mr. Baxter;”
And most of all, has Ninety-Eight,
Outstripp'd the years of former date.
And while a Jacobin remains,
While Frenchmen live and Faction reigns,
Her voice, array'd in awful rhyme,
Shall thunder down the steep of Time.
Scarce had the New-Year's wintry sun,
His short-liv'd daily course begun,
When lo! a strange offensive brute,
Too wild to tame, too base to shoot,
A Lyon of Hibernian breed,
In Congress rear'd his shaggy head.
What speculations might be made,
Were men acquainted with the trade?
In countries new, the market price
Will often take a wondrous rise,
And things to day are held for nought,
Which scarce to-morrow can be bought.

235

This beast, within a few short years,
Was purchas'd with a yoke of steers;
But now, the wise Vermonters say,
He's worth six hundred cents per day.
When erst Britannia's hostile hosts,
Ravag'd our long extended coasts,
This Lyon, Falstaff-like, impell'd
By “instinct,” shunn'd the dangerous field.
And yet, in him, our patriot props,
Had center'd all their darling hopes,
That he, by spirit, would obtain,
What they had talk'd for long in vain.
It chanc'd one memorable day,
'Mongst gentlemen he happ'd to stray,
Where, ignorant what to say, or do,
His monkey tricks he 'gan to shew,
When Griswold's stick of vigour full,
Knock'd gently on his solid skull;
By courage, strength, and sleight forsaken,
Not “instinct” now could save his bacon,
But as he drew his “WOODEN-SWORD,”
He roar'd and kick'd, and kick'd and roar'd.
With less of Lyon, than of sheep,
The beast retires to wash, and weep;
While Elmendorf and Havens join,
To bathe his wounds with oil and wine.
Long had the Jeffersonian band,
Determin'd here to take their stand,

236

To US, their vile intrigues impart,
And old Connecticut subvert.
Firm on her rock, sublime she stood,
And all their arts indignant view'd;
With smiles beheld them, fill'd with plot,
Come sneaking round that precious spot,
Where erst the Stelligeri Club,
Held converse sweet with Peter Grubb,
And where, though lost their quondam Clerk,
They still keep Records in the dark.
Here then our Jacobins resort,
For business some, and some for Court,
Each unsuspicious of the rest,
(No mischief rankling in his breast)
But each, as order'd, took his station,
And rattled up a Nomination.
Mix'd up of various sorts, and kinds,
Themselves ahead, a few for blinds,
The rest, a coarse, outlandish Crew,
Which scarce a single creature knew.
As harbinger of sure success,
'Twas next agreed to fill the press,
And through the weekly prints, enlighten
The people's stupid skulls by writing.
Soon our “impartial paper” teems
With deep laid plots, and cunning schemes:

237

Don Quixotte, knight of woeful face,
Led on the Revolution race;
Then follow'd on a nameless tribe,
Too poor to mention or describe,
While Granger fill'd with weightier matters.
Employ'd his time in gutting letters.
This precious story soon took wind,
Out turn'd the aged, deaf, and blind,
All honest men from small to great,
Combin'd their force to save the state,
Tumbled each caitiff from his station,
And purg'd the chequer'd Nomination.
Poor Gideon, with astonish'd eye,
Beheld the stroke of Fate draw nigh,
And like Ahithophel the Sage,
In deep despair, commix'd with rage,
Saddled his ass, took leave of pelf,
Wrote No. 4, and hang'd himself.
Long had our Ministers of Peace,
The insults borne of Gallia's race.
At length the envoys deign'd to tell us,
They had to deal with scurvy fellows,
With Autun, and the five-head Beast,
And half the Alphabet at least.
The budget, op'd in Congress, show'd
The whole contrivance of the brood,
And that their heads were bent on brewing
Subjection, infamy, and ruin.

238

While joy each Federal feature crown'd,
And triumph glow'd the Hall around;
Each Jacobin began to stir,
And sate, as though on chesnut burr.
Up the long space from chin, to forehead,
Sate every feature of the horrid;
Their moon-ey'd leaders stood like beacons,
Or as a drove of Satan's Deacons,
When from the burning lake, in ire,
They sat their feet on solid fire,
To find if war, or sly pollution,
Could raise in Heaven a revolution.
Pale melancholy mark'd their features,
The most forlorn of human creatures;
While shame, deep-stamp'd as though with thunder,
Reliev'd th' unmeaning stare of wonder.
At length, from lethargy profound,
Congress awoke, and star'd around:
The major part, with heart and hand,
Extend protection to the land,
Dissolve our treaties, arm our hosts,
And drive the robbers from our coasts.
Next from the press the tidings ran,
From state to state, from man to man,
In Freedom's cause they all combine,
And Georgia, and New-Hampshire join.
The warlike spirit fills the presses,
And teems the nation with addresses,

239

Answers, Resolves, and Toasts in throngs,
Orations, Sermons, Prayers, and Songs.
The spirit freed of righteous hate,
Like wild-fire spreads from state to state,
And made thy sons, Columbia, see
The extreme of insult heap'd on thee—
Made thee behold the just renown
Of Him, who wears thy laurell'd crown,
And gave his heaven-directed pen,
New themes in civic walks of men,
Which, through the world shall waft thy fame,
Beneath the banners of his name.
Eas'd now of much incumbent weight,
Proceeds the business of the State.
Rais'd by the sound of war's alarms,
Our ardent youth all fly to arms,
And from the work-shop, and the field,
The active labourers seize the shield;
While on the silver'd brow of age,
Relumes the fire of martial rage.
Our veteran Chiefs, whose honour'd scars,
Are trophies still of former wars,
Appointed move beneath their SHIELD,
To reap the ripen'd martial field.
And lo! From Vernon's sacred hill,
Where peaceful spirits love to dwell—
Where twice retir'd from war's alarms,
Slept, and awoke, his conquering arms,

240

The Hero comes!—whose Laurels green,
In bloom eternal shall be seen;
While Gallic Ivy fades away,
Before the scorching eye of Day.
He comes!—he comes! to re-array
Your hosts, ye heroes, for th' affray!
Him for your head—collect from far
The shield, the sword and plume of war;
Indignant earth rejoicing hears,
Fell insult bristling up your spears,
And joins her hosts to crush the foes
Of virtue and her own repose.
Now see each jacobinic face,
Redden'd with guilt, with fear, disgrace,
While through the land, with keenest ire,
Kindles the patriotic fire!
See J******** with deep dismay,
Shrink from the piercing eye of day,
Lest from the tottering chair of state,
The storm should hurl him to his fate!
Great Sire of stories past belief!
Historian of the Mingo Chief!
Philosopher of Indian's hair!
Inventor of a rocking chair!
The Correspondent of Mazze'!
And Banneker less black than he!
With joy we find you rise from coguing
With judge M'Kean, and “foolish Logan,”

241

And reeling down the factious dance,
Dispatch the Doctor off to France,
To tell the Frenchmen, to their cost,
They reckon'd here without their host.
See next, brave Massachusetts' Sires,
Whose breasts still burn with Freedom's fires,
Whose dauntless bosoms never yield,
Nor shun the foe, nor quit the field;
Where Independence took her stand,
And shot her light'ning through the land,
Again their true-born zeal display,
Again to Freedom lead the way.
To save our Country from disgrace,
Her Councils shut from Aliens base,
Bostonia's valiant sons combine,
And call their sister states to join.
The fire has caught, the flames arise,
And spread throughout the northern skies.
And shall our southern friends forbear
In Freedom's glorious cause to share?
When blest with sons of brightest name,
Alive to all its growing fame,
Shall they stoop downward to disgrace,
And crouch beneath a foreign race?
Forbid it pride—Each manly soul,
Disdains the renegade's controul,
Columbia's sons shall bear the sway,
In southern, as in northern day.

242

Behold! along yon western plains,
Where wild Misrule with Mischief reigns,
Behold that dark Intriguer steer
A devious course, through Faction's sphere!
Not yet matur'd to Freedom's sun,
His seven short seasons scarcely run,
The brogue still hobbling on his tongue,
His brows with rank rebellion hung,
See him with brazen forehead stand,
Among the fathers of the land,
With daring voice her glory mar,
And gash her face with many a scar.
Ye heirs of Penn's undying name,
Where is your spirit, where your shame!
Rouse from your base degenerate state,
And chace this hireling from his seat.
Once more, far-stretch'd from South to North,
The Pestilence stalks dreadful forth,
And arm'd with subtler venom frowns,
To thin our marts and crowded towns;
He walks unseen the midnight way,
And wasteth at the noon of day.
In vain to check his fell career,
Apollo waves his shield and spear;

243

Where'er the yellow Fiend draws nigh,
He fills with death the tainted sky,
The city wraps in midnight gloom,
And marks whole myriads for the tomb.
In vain from crowded towns they haste,
His shafts unseen their flight arrest;
Man flies from man, as though pursued
In vengeance of a brother's blood,
But finds no refuge from the grave,
Alas! no altar blest to save.
When erst th' Almighty's vengeful ire
Wrapp'd Sodom's guilty domes in fire,
Lot from the scene of horror flew,
And safe to friendly Zoar withdrew;
But here no place a shelter yields,
No Zoar the friendless exile shields.
No rules by which the wisest live,
No aid that Med'cine knows to give,
When Pestilence bursts dreadful forth,
Can save the fated sons of Earth.
Nor bright endowments of the mind,
With learning fraught and taste refin'd,
Nor pitying heart for others woe,
Can turn aside the fatal blow;
Else had his shafts that wing'd the sky,
Pass'd thee, O Smith uninjured by—
Thy friends' delight, thy parents' stay,
Fond hope of their declining day;—

244

Nor had those floods of sorrow, burst,
Lamented Cooper, o'er thy dust;
Nor mourning Science wept forlorn,
O'er learn'd Scandella's timeless urn.

245

Learn then COLUMBIANS, ere too late,
If not to cure, to ward the fate;
For when swart skies find filth beneath,
They breed swift messengers of death.
Let Belgian neatness mantle o'er
The marts and towns around your shore;
And ere the Dog Star's sultry rays
Dawn and decline with solar blaze,
Stretch daily in warm baths your limbs,
Or lave you o'er in tepid streams.
Let no late revels break your rest,
Nor passion rankle in the breast;
The strictest temperance of the board,
And glass, can potent aid afford.

246

From ardent spirits most refrain,
Dire sources of disease and pain.
Ye heirs of wealth! to rural seats
Retire from summer's scorching heats,
And let the virtuous sons of want,
Throng gladd'ning round the sylvan haunt,
On tented plains; and often taste
With you the simple plain repast.
Strange as it seems, this happy land,
Nurses a Jacobinic band,
Who, their united force employ,
Its richest blessings to destroy,
And, in the place of all that's good,
To mark our fate with guilt and blood.
But ere that mighty change is wrought,
Pause for a moment from the thought;
Across the Atlantic wing your way,
And Gallia's wretched land survey.
There the foul breath of every crime,
Contaminates th' extended clime.
There crush'd, and trodden to the ground,
In ten-fold chains the poor are bound,
Their pittance stripp'd by ruffian hands,
Their offspring forc'd to distant lands,
To sickness, and to want a prey,
And wars more fatal far than they.
There the rich soil neglected lies,
No harvest meets the wandering eyes,

247

Commerce reclines her drooping head,
And Industry the land has fled.
Where Justice rears her awful seat,
The blockhead, and the villain meet,
While Law astonish'd quits the place,
And blushing Virtue hides her face.
There a whole Nation sinks deprav'd,
Corrupted, plunder'd, and enslav'd,
Its dignity forever flown,
Its manners lost, its honour gone;
High on the ruins of a throne,
Behold the base-born tyrants frown,
Rapacious, cruel, proud, and vain,
Far spreads the mischief of their reign.
Of each inherent right bereft,
Not Freedom's name, nor semblance left,
The dastard people kiss the rod,
And bow beneath the tyrant's nod.
Hence, let the searching vision bend,
And o'er the moral scene extend.
There Vice unshackled holds her reign,
And binds the nation in her chain.
At Weishaupt's midnight orgies nurs'd,
Th' Illuminated band accurs'd,
Spread mischief with destructive hand,
Through every corner of the land.
There Discord sows the seeds of strife,
There Murder whets the bloody knife,

248

Foul Incest seeks the eye of day,
And Theft, and Robbery mark their prey.
Forth from her sacred Temples thrust,
Her honours prostrate in the dust,
Religion from the Nation flies,
And wings her passage to the skies;
While Blasphemy usurps her seat,
And Atheists triumph in her fate,
Behold! this dark mysterious band,
In myriads spreads through every land,
Steal slily to the posts of state,
And wield unseen the Nation's fate!
Where Virtue builds her still retreats,
Where learning holds her sacred seats,
Behold! array'd in semblance fair,
The fell Illuminatus there!
In scenes like these, let those who dare
E'en wish this peaceful land to share,
Change their dark purpose ere too late,
Or else prepare to meet their fate.
Behold! array'd on Gallia's coast,
A ragged, death-devoted host,
Resolv'd at all events, to land
On Albion's sea-surrounded strand.
Already yields her naval force,
And nought obstructs their daring course.
While London's tempting plunder lies
Unfolded to their greedy eyes.

249

What though no ships their harbours grace,
Great rafts will well supply their place,
They'll “condescend to cross the sea,
And set the slaves of England free.”
“Men,” says the ancient proverb sound,
“Born to be hang'd will ne'er be drown'd”—
This is the source from whence must flow,
The strong inducement Frenchmen show
To quit their home, all dangers share,
And tempt their fate no matter where.
Oft has this silly scheme been laid,
And oft the mighty effort made,
And just as oft, the boasting race
Have met disaster and disgrace.
As every victim of despair
Has all to hope and nought to fear,
With Napper Tandy for their guide,
Again they tempt the dangerous tide,
Among the Irish Bulls, to teach
“The rights of man,” and pow'rs of speech.
Her standard swift Rebellion rais'd,
And o'er the bogs her fury blaz'd;
Teague his potatoe-field forsook,
His harp and mattock Paddy took,
The White-boy, deep in den conceal'd,
Rush'd fearless to the bloody field,
Determin'd, one and all, to dare
In Faction's cause the storm of war.

250

Brave Albion frowns—their courage fails,
In crowds they flock from camps to jails;
Law's awful mandates intervene,
And hemp, as usual, ends the scene.
Intent to sow the seeds of strife,
To mar each bliss of human life,
Spread wide Corruption's putrid flood,
And bathe the nations round in blood,
Extinguish Freedom's last remains,
And rivet Slavery's galling chains;
From France, behold! a savage band
Invade Helvetia's free-born land;
Where factions, jealousies, and hate,
Those fell destroyers of a state,
To French intrigues had op'd the way,
Their force to weaken and betray.
In vain her virtuous sons contend
Their rights to save, their soil defend,
Fell Faction's schemes their views oppose,
And timid Caution aids the foes.
Through threats, and artifices vile,
Corruption base, or secret wile,
Th' Helvetic troops, compell'd, remain
Inactive on the marshall'd plain.
Meanwhile, approach the hostile force,
No arms oppos'd to check their course,
Nor longer deign, with friendly show,
To mask the treach'ry of the foe.

251

Impell'd by courage and despair,
Berne's gallant youth rush forth to war;
But vain their courage, to oppose
Th' o'erwhelming myriads of their foes,
Yet nobly brave they scorn to yield,
And but with death resign the field.
Illustrious Steigner! o'er thy grave
Shall Virtue's freshest laurels wave,
And Freedom long lament thy fate,
With many a tear of deep regret!
Thou gallant Swiss! the praise was thine,
In council as in arms to shine;
Though Faction base, and wav'ring Fear,
Thy just monitions scorn'd to hear,
Though vain thy efforts, to inspire
The sordid soul with patriot fire;
Yet o'er thy country's closing day,
When Freedom shed its parting ray,
With soul sublime, thou scorn'dst to wait
A witness of her mournful fate,

252

With desp'rate courage sought the war,
And bar'd thy bosom to the spear.
O! had thy counsels firm and good,
Thy vet'ran counsels been pursu'd,
Helvetia still had freedom known,
Nor bent beneath the despot's frown;
Nor seen her fertile fields laid waste,
Her hamlets burn'd, her temples raz'd,
Her cities levell'd in the dust,
Her fair a prey to fiend-like lust,
In heaps, the dying and the dead,
Hoar Age and feeble Childhood spread,
By tempests smote, whose pale remains
Lie whitening o'er their native plains!
O then, Columbia! from her fate
A warning draw ere yet too late;
For, from Destruction's lurid sky,
The Fiend has mark'd thee with his eye,
In hope, already shakes thy chains,
And revels o'er thy wasted plains.
Howe'er his varying features show,
If smiles or frowns impress his brow,
Still fix'd, his views remain the same,
Nor once he deviates from his aim.
Then, from his smiles indignant turn,
His proffer'd love with horror spurn,
Beneath those smiles lurks deadly hate,
That friendship but conducts to fate.

253

So, cloth'd in fair and treach'rous guise,
Morocco's image meets the eyes—
Her face in soft allurements drest,
She hides the dagger in her breast,
And, while her arms the wretch surround,
Her poniard gives the deadly wound.
Behold the Chief, whose mighty name
With glory fills the trump of fame!
Before whose genius, smote with dread,
The veteran hosts of Austria fled,
Th' imperial Eagle droop'd forlorn,
His plumage soil'd, his pinions torn,
And Conquest's self, 'mid fields of blood,
Attendant on his footsteps trode;
To gain new palms on Afric's coast,
Lead o'er the deep a chosen host.
And lo! at first, with fav'ring ray,
Kind fortune lights him on his way;
Those ramparts, Europe's ancient pride,
Which erst the Turkish power defy'd,
By stratagem and force compell'd,
To him the towers of Malta yield.
Victorious, thence to Egypt's coast
He leads his fell marauding host;
In vain the Turks oppose their force,
To stop the fierce invader's course,

254

Nor Alexandria's time-worn tow'rs,
Nor Cairo long resist his pow'rs;
By desp'rate courage fierce impell'd
The Mam'luke squadrons tempt the field;
But vain the bold, undaunted band
In close and furious contest stand;
Against the column's solid force,
In vain impel their scatter'd horse,
And wake anew, by deeds of fame,
The ancient glories of their name—
Foil'd, slain, dispers'd, the routed train
In wild confusion quit the plain.
But lo! the ever-varying queen,
Delusive Fortune, shifts the scene:
To crush the towering pride of France,
Behold brave Nelson firm advance!
Beneath his rule, in close array,
The Britons plough the wat'ry way;
To fam'd Rosetta bends his course,
Where deem'd secure from hostile force,
The fleet superior of the foe
A lengthen'd line of battle show.
Lo! from the west, the setting ray
Slopes the long shades of parting day!
The fight begins;—the cannon's roar
In doubling echoes rends the shore;
Wide o'er the scene blue clouds arise,
And curl in volumes to the skies,

255

While momentary flashes spread
Their fleecy folds with fiery red.
More desp'rate still the battle glows
As night around its horrors throws.
Long lines of fire enkindling sweep
A blueish splendour o'er the deep,
Then swells the dread displosive sound,
While deeper darkness closes round.
Yon sable volume, roll'd on high,
With thicker gloom obscures the sky;
And lo! emerging from its womb,
What sudden flames the shade illume!
Evolving slow the clouds retire,
Red glows the wide-extended fire,
And rears sublime a column white,
High as the eagle wings his flight,
'Till veil'd 'mid clouds of pitchy hue,
It shrinks diminish'd from the view;
Wide o'er the seas the splendours play,
In radiance like the blaze of day;
With reflex beams the waves are bright,
Bichierrian heights emerge in light,
While o'er the distant hills and dales,
Night's deepest gloom the landscape veils.
At length, disparting, from the waves
The giant ship concussive heaves;
Still wider spreads the glare of light,
With momentary splendour bright,

256

Far heard, the wild, tremendous sound
In dire explosion roars around—
The lifted surges wide expand,
And dash with refluent waves the strand;
The Nile receding seeks its head,
And pale Rosetta shakes with dread—
Huge burning beams are hurl'd on high,
And masts and yards obscure the sky—
Burnt, mangled, torn, and dy'd in blood,
The Gallic sailors strew the flood,
While the rent hulk, with groaning sound,
Sinks plunging, whirl'd in eddies round.
'Tis silence all:—the cannon's roar
In deaf'ning thunder rings no more;
No light is seen to mark the gloom.
Still as the stillness of the tomb.
Such the dire gloom, in days of yore,
That darken'd Egypt's fated shore,
When Plagues pursued the Prophet's word,
And terror pal'd her haughty lord.
Not long the pause; for lo! once more
Resounds the loud terrific roar,
Flash answering flash, alternate plays,
And lightens ocean with its rays.
But when the Morning's golden eye
Beheld the dusky shadows fly,
Wild Havoc frowning o'er the flood,
His giant form exulting show'd;

257

The Gallic navy foil'd and torn,
With pale discomfiture forlorn,
Wide scatter'd o'er Rosetta's bay,
In prostrate ruin helpless lay;
Two shatter'd fly; the rest remain
To wear the valiant victor's chain;
While o'er the wreck-obstructed tide
The British ships in triumph ride.
All-anxious, from Abucar's height,
The Gallic leaders view the fight,
And desp'rate see their fleet compell'd
To force inferior far to yield.
So when, by night, o'er Memphis trod
Th' avenging minister of God,
At morn pale Egypt view'd with dread,
Her first-born number'd with the dead.
Ambitious Chief! in dust laid low,
Behold the honours of thy brow,
The laurels cull'd on Egypt's shore
Shall wither ere the day be o'er;
Thy armies thinn'd, reduc'd thy force,
Fell Ruin waits thy onward course,
While of thy country's aid bereft,
No safety but in flight is left,
And victory's self but seals thy doom,
And brings thee nearer to the tomb.

258

I see destruction wing her way,
I see the eagles mark their prey,
Where pent in Cairo's putrid wall,
In heaps thy dying soldiers fall;
Or, mid the desart's burning waste,
Smote by the Samiel's fiery blast;
Or press'd by fierce Arabian bands,
With thirst they perish on the sands.
While Bonaparte's dreaded name
Shall shine a beacon's warning flame,
To point to times of future date
Unprincipled ambition's fate.

259

What fruits shall on this victory grow,
All climes shall see, all ages know;
Earth's eastern realms that long have view'd
Descending suns go down in blood,
Now with the western world shall frame
Loud Pæans, Nelson, to thy name.
Shield, still Britannia, shield from harm
The Nations with thy naval arm;
And blighted Europe soon shall see
Her freedom guaranteed by thee.
 

Peter Grubb. The supposed secretary of the Stelligeri, at their midnight caucuses.

The American Mercury.

The signature of a writer in the American Mercury.

By the Constitution of the United States, no foreigner can be elected a Representative in Congress, until he has been seven years a citizen of the United States.

Apollo the God of Physic.

Doctor Elihu H. Smith of New-York.

Doctor—Cooper of Philadelphia.

Doctor I. B. Scandella of Venice, who died in New-York during the prevalence of the Yellow-fever in the Autumn of 1798. The fate of these gentlemen, all of whom possessed distinguished talents, and bade fair to become ornaments to their profession, was attended with some peculiarly interesting circumstances.— During the Yellow-fever in Philadelphia, Doctor Cooper was seized with that malady; a friend of his kindly attended him during his illness. Unfortunately, before he had recovered, that friend was taken sick; strongly impressed with a sense of the obligations he was under, he could not be dissuaded from attending him. A relapse was the consequence, and his life became the sacrifice of the high sense of gratitude which he entertained.

From a congeniality of taste and a similarity in their literary pursuits, Doctor Smith had recently formed an intimacy with Doctor Scandella, who had been but a short time in this country. The latter while at New-York waiting for the sailing of the packet in which he had taken his passage for Europe, learned that a lady in Philadelphia, a foreigner, to whose daughter he was tenderly attached, was sick with the fever. He instantly hastened thither to aid and alleviate the distress of the family; but his exertions were in vain, both the mother and the daughter died. Scandella, in a state of mind much easier to be conceived than described, returned to New-York. There, a stranger, coming from a place highly infectious, and apparently indisposed himself, he found no one who would consent to receive him. In this situation he wrote stating his embarrassment, to Doctor Smith, who, with a warmth of feeling which did honour to his heart, immediately invited him to his house. Scarcely was he established there, when he was taken with the fever. Doctor Smith was indefatigable in his attention to aid and solace his unfortunate friend, but his anxiety for his fate, and fatigue in attending to the duties of his profession, at a time when most of the physicians had quitted the city, combining with a pestilential atmosphere, soon rendered the attention he had paid to his friend, necessary to himself; he was taken sick, and his disorder from its commencement exhibited the most malignant symptoms. A friend with whom he lived, and on whom, after his sickness, the care of Doctor Scandella devolved, did every thing that friendship and active benevolence could suggest for their relief, but to no effect. Scandella died, and Smith soon after followed him to the grave.—See Supplementary Notes.

The awaggering “Army of England.”

At the time when these lines were written, it was the generally received opinion that this venerable patriot had fallen in an engagement between the Bernese and the French. The account of his death was afterwards contradicted, and it appeared that though badly wounded in the battle, he had escaped with life.—This respectable magistrate died in 1799, during the period that Zurich was occupied by the Austrian and Russian troops, and his remains were accompanied to the grave by the principal officers of the army, and interred with military honours.

An image of a beautiful woman, said to be kept by the Emperor of Morocco, for the purpose of punishing his refractory subjects. Such persons are ordered to embrace the image, at which moment, a dagger concealed in it, pierces them to the heart. History informs us, that one of a similar construction, was applied by the tyrant Nabis to the same purpose.

It will not, we imagine, be deemed requisite to apologize for the retention of the above lines; since the events of the French Revolution, and particularly the fortunes of this most extraordinary man, have been such as to set conjecture at defiance, and baffle all human foresight. That the prediction has in part been fulfilled cannot, however, be denied; witness the repulse and slaughter at Acre, the toilsome and distressful march across the desart, which proved fatal to such numbers of the army, and lastly, the abandonment of that army by the flight of their commander, who, by this means alone, most probably, escaped death or capture. At any rate, if our prediction has not held true in its fullest sense, we have at least the satisfaction of having failed in respectable company. The author of the Pursuits of Literature has fallen into a similar mistake in the following line:

“And Pompey points to Buonaparte's tomb.”

These instances among many others, may be adduced to prove, that like their predecessors of ancient days, the bards of modern time possess the spirit of vaticination, with only this slight difference, that, whereas, the former foretold what was to happen, the prophecies of the latter are seldom or never accomplished.


261

Complimentary Address to the Hon. John Nicholas.

[_]

The following verses were written in consequence of Mr. Nicholas's having read a passage from the Green-House in proof of his assertions, that the state of Connecticut were desirous of a war with France.

Hail worthy wight, Virginia's wond'rous son!
For candour fam'd, for calm discussion known—
Fain would the muse thy worth to sing essay,
Fain in thy praise would tune the various lay;
Would tell to distant lands thy deeds sublime,
And register thy name to latest time:
But, as the copious subject meets her eyes,
She sees new Andes upon Andes rise—
Yet, though despairing in her humble lays
To reach the towering summit of thy praise,
Still, by the call of gratitude impell'd,
She tempts with timid step the dangerous field.
Hard is the task thy virtues to rehearse,
And harder still to crowd them into verse;
But, lest confounded by the numerous throng,
Let white rob'd Candour lead th' approving song—
In candour's paths thy feet by instinct run,
Alas! for candour, who can equal John?

262

Not Randolph when the “thousand dollars” shone;
Not Johnny Langdon when his speech was done;
Not Thompson Mason, when, with visage pale,
He rescu'd Callender from Leesburg jail;
Not *** the spouter as, with graceful grin,
He rais'd his hand extatic to his chin,
To tell his transports, when, through second sight,
His father burnt his barn for candle light
To read the treaty, which by Franklin's aid,
A twelvemonth after, with the French was made;
Not Gallatin, when march'd the patriot band,
And crush'd Rebellion's host in whiskey land;
In Freedom's toils, from party spirit free,
E'er dealt in candour, citizen, like thee.
But chief thy modesty demands our lays—
Thy modesty, beyond compeer, or praise—

263

Which spreads its maiden blushes o'er thy face,
And decks each gesture with a nameless grace,
As, with a downcast eye and reddening cheek,
We see thee rise, with diffidence, to speak.
Oft, when the interests of our wavering state
Have swell'd tumultuous into warm debate;
When every forward youth has rais'd his voice,
And fill'd our Congress Hall with senseless noise;
When doubtless one sweet-ton'd persuasive speech
Had put the question out of danger's reach,
Our anxious eyes have seen, with wondering stare,
The shame-fac'd spirit nail thee to thy chair.
Yet, true it is, too oft this lamb-like guest,
This charming inmate of the feeling breast,
Impels the brave, the noble, and the wise,
To shun the eager glance of wondering eyes.
Too oft, by her induc'd, is genius led
Midst solitude's deep shades to hide his head:
And this, with real pain, great John! we see
Unfortunately verified in thee:
For 'tis with deep regret, with grief we find
That thou a re-election hast declin'd.
In this, how much alike thy colleague, Giles,
The late companion of thy patriot toils,
In whom sweet Diffidence beheld, with pride,
Herself in human form personified—
He too, so bashful, like thyself, withdrew
(In this most modest) from the public view.

264

Ah! why does blushing Modesty desire
From scenes of public notice to retire?
Why will she e'er compel the good and great
Thus to relinquish privilege and state?
Ah! yet, if not too late, thy plan forego;
Ah! do not leave thy friends to bitterest woe—
Think, too, what evils must the step pursue,
O! what will E---e without thee do!
How will that tender plant, 'mid tempests stand
All unsupported by thy fostering hand!—
Ah! quit him not on danger's giddy brink,
Oppress'd with diffidence he sure must sink;
No Giles, alas! his untaught steps to stay,
No Nicholas to guide him on his way—
That hopeful plant, beneath too hot a sun,
Will hang its head and wither e'er 'tis noon.
Oh! if thy skill in reading can compare
With that enlightened taste, that judgment rare,
Which taught thy fine discriminative eye
To choose so well, so happily apply,
When strange astonishment each face o'erspread,
As with selection nice the verse you read—
What joy, what transport must have glow'd around
In all who heard the soul-attractive sound!
Methinks midst Congress-Hall I see thee stand,
The Green-House blooming in thy genial hand,
Thy form displaying dignity and grace,
The smile of pleasure lighting up thy face,

265

Round whose red sides no waving tresses flow,
Since Time, with razor keen, has shorn thy brow—
Propitious Time! resolv'd a face like thine,
Without obstruction in full glow should shine,
Nor have by locks obscur'd, or ringlets crost,
The sweet expression of one feature lost:
While thy Stentorian voice, with silver sound,
In tuneful echoes makes the Hall rebound;
With pleas'd surprise, to hear such accents sweet,
The Muses listen from their sacred seat,
Pan drops his lute, Apollo quits his lyre,
All stop to hear, to wonder, and admire;
While she, whose voice of music thrills the soul,
As still at morn she cries the smoaking roll,
In vain to reach thy tones mellifluous tries,
And o'er her basket droops with downcast eyes;
And e'en the Sweep, of far superior skill,
Feels jealousy his sable bosom thrill,
Sick of his trade, he quits the sooty throng,
Resigns his blanket, and gives up his song.
Thou patron kind, through whose auspicious care,
The Green-House shines renew'd, in charms more fair—
O! still extend thy kind protecting hand,
Still let its blooms beneath thy smile expand,
Again in Congress read it, read once more,
And only quote as aptly as before.

266

So shall th' admiring Muse consign thy name
As first of Quoters to eternal fame.
Vain, vain would be th' attempt, in prose or verse,
At large thy various merits to rehearse;
How strong thy patriot feelings and how great
Of Gallic principles thy virtuous hate,
Of French exactions how thou loath'st to hear,
And scarce to TRIBUTE lend'st a patient ear.—
All these, and more, perchance, some future time,
The Muse shall consecrate in deathless rhyme;
'Till then accept this humble mite of praise,
Which grateful feeling to thy merit pays.
 

This able statesman is said to have spoken once in the Senate for five minutes.

A year or two since this patriotic Orator broke out into a violent rhapsody upon the pleasure which glistened in all eyes, on the reading of the Treaty made between the United States and France, in the late war; which Treaty, he observed, was read by the light of the flames which consumed his father's dwelling. It is, no doubt, true that the old gentleman's house was burned; but unless we are misinformed, it was a year or eighteen months previously to the signing of the Treaty. It is probable that Mr. L--- had adopted the sentiments of his friend Swanwick, in the famous debate upon wigs, that, an Orator ought not to be confined too closely to truth.


267

NEW-YEARS' VERSES, FOR THE PRESENT CENTURY.


268

TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY.

Precisely twelve o'clock, last night,
The Eighteenth Century took its flight.
Full many a calculating head,
Has rack'd its brains, its ink has shed,
To prove by metaphysics fine,
A hundred means but ninety-nine;
While at their wisdom others wonder'd,
But took one more to make a hundred.
Thus, by an unexampled riddle,
The world's divided in the middle—
The Century, waking from its bed,
Finds half mankind a year a-head,
Whilst t'other half, with lingering pace,
Have scarcely started in the race.
Strange! at “the Eighteenth Century's close,
When light in beams effulgent glows,”
When bright “Illumination's” ray,
Has chac'd the Darkness far away,
Heads fill'd with mathematic lore,
Dispute if two and two make four.
Go on, ye scientific sages,
Collect your light a few more ages,
Perhaps as swells the vast amount,
A century hence you'll learn to count;

269

Whilst we, more usefully employ'd,
Will traverse back the mighty void,
With keen researching eye, discern
Some lessons for the world to learn.
Nor will we venture far to stray,
Lest in the dark we lose our way;
A single year, perchance, or so,
Is all the length we mean to go—
A bastard year, which none will own,
A pauper thrown upon the town,
A year, that no where does belong,
Shall be the subject of our song.
Last New-Year found our land in tears
Absorb'd in grief, and fill'd with fears;
Our nation's strength, and pride, and stay,
Her hope, her day-star fled away.
Faction, with raptur'd eye, beheld
Her foe forever quit the field;
And doom'd no more in dens to lurk,
Began afresh her deadly work—
And lo! her angry meteor shines,
The billows roll, the storm begins;
From state to state the Demon strides,
And howling on the whirlwind rides.
Each Democrat, with hand and heart,
Equips himself to play his part;
Resolv'd, John Adams should go home,
When e'er “the Ides of March” should come;

270

That humble, in his native state, he
Might otium mix with dignitate;
Whilst, all our losses to repair,
Mazzei's “Sampson” takes his chair,
Whose mighty Ass's jaw shall slay,
Each Philistine that clogs his way,
'Till at the last, as fortune veers,
He pulls an old house round his ears.
The Democrats all means prepare,
From telling lies, to aping prayer;
(For Democrats can pray for evil,
Their gods are Frenchmen and the Devil)
While to the Union's utmost bounds
The Jacobinic Tocsin sounds.
Thieves, traitors, Irish renegadoes,
Scape-gallowses, and desperadoes,
All sorts of rogues stripp'd off the mask,
And enter'd on the glorious task,
Prepar'd to flounce with highest glee,
In Jefferson's “tempestuous sea.”
Each in prophetic view beheld
The Washington charm dispell'd;
No longer by enchantment bound,
No longer sunk in awe profound,
The horde from deepest silence broke,
And thus in wildest transports spoke—

271

—“The Fed'ralists are down at last,
The Monarchists completely cast,
The Aristocrats are stripp'd of pow'r,
Storms o'er the British faction low'r.
Soon we Republicans shall see,
Columbia's slaves from bondage free.
Lord! how the Fed'ralists will stare
At Jefferson in Adams' chair!
What glorious times! when great men wait,
And little ones direct the state;
When Tom, and Dick, and Harry, rise
Two feet above their common size;
When Reason quits the reins to Passion,
And Revolutions are the fashion;
When Rulers must in turn obey,
That ‘Every Dog may have his day;’
And we, whom now the laws expose
To pillories, or the halter's noose,
May then the seats of honour grace,
And hang our Rulers in our place!”
The Leaders soon complete their plan;
His task's assign'd to every man—
The orders given—Lo, far and wide,
The Democratic couriers ride!
In every state the mischief works,
In every town some villain lurks;
And if too weak to guide the trade,
His lies are furnish'd ready made.

272

'Twould stretch the limits of our song
To notice all the virtuous throng,
Thousands must pass—the noblest game
The honours of our annals claim.
Resolv'd her sister states to lead,
And, first or last, to be their head,
“The Ancient State” begins—and lo!
Plac'd at her helm one J. Monroe!—
Alas! the powers of language fail,
For such a head to name the tail!
Behold! in Tom's “tempestuous ocean,”
“The old dominion's” wayward motion!
Things follow there “the Rights of Man,”
(That is the topsy-turvy plan)
The people hold the sovereign sway,
Rulers are chosen to obey;
Their President and Congress folks,
Are only Tom, and John-a-nokes,
Their servants, by themselves appointed,
To shew they're not the Lord's Anointed.
Doctrines profound—display'd much better
In Randolph's “Raggamuffin” letter.

273

Charm'd with a democratic sway,
Knaves flock amain the southern way,
United Irishmen, and thieves,
Virginia's open arms receives.
In such a virtuous congregation,
Some fruits must ripen for the nation—
And lo! in meretricious dress,
Forth comes a strumpet call'd “The Press” —
Whose haggard, unrequested charms,
Rush into every blackguard's arms.
Ye weak, deluded minds, beware!
Nought but the outside here is fair!
Then spurn the offers of her sway,
And kick the loathsome hag away,
Let Callender in jail remain,
Ripe for the halter, and the chain;
His horizon contracts apace;
His “Prospect's” circumscrib'd by Chase

274

Ne'er may it lengthen to his sight,
'Till perch'd upon the ladder's height,
While round, as far as eye can reach,
The crowd admire his dying speech.
Proceed great state—thy arts renew,
With double zeal thy course pursue,
Call on thy sister states t' obey,
And boldly grasp at sovereign sway—
Then pause—remember ere too late,
The tale of St. Domingo's fate,
Though Gabriel dies, a host remain
Oppress'd with slavery's galling chain,
And soon or late the hour will come,
Mark'd with Virginia's dreadful doom.
In Pennsylvania where M'Kean
Extends his mild and gentle reign,
Where birds, of every name and feather,
Flock, and at times get drunk together,
Tench Coxe, from his interior draws
His weekly Tape-worm in the cause—

275

Just finishing the factious round,
Tench finds his vessel fast aground,
A parted cable, shiver'd mast,
Foul bottom, and a squally blast.
Despair not Tench—thy brother Fries,
Beneath the gallows heav'd his sighs,
Jack-Ketch stood ready with his cord,
And only waited for the word,
When lo! by force of magic spell,
Tattoos succeed the funeral knell;
In place of robes of sable hue,
Gay regimentals rise to view,
Instead of hangman's knot, appear
Bright Epaulettes beneath each ear,
And fairly slipping from the noose,
A Colonel from the halter goes.
Thou too, O Tench! as times come round,
Beneath the gallows may'st be found;
And should M'Kean then hold his place,
Wilt doubtless meet with equal grace,
And rise from Fate's successive knocks,
The famous, half-hang'd Colonel Coxe.
Nor Coxe alone this state can boast—
Dallas commands a numerous host.
As things their various courses push,
Slight help is gain'd from Doctor Rush:

276

Priestley with pious fervour labours,
Among his dear Northumbrian neighbours;
Judge Brackenridge, great sire of laws!
Turns Jew to aid the Christian cause.
But chief Duane amid the throng,
Demands the notice of our song.
When Robin-hood's illustrious name,
When Little-john of equal fame,
George Barrington, and Capt. Kyd,
In black oblivion's shade are hid,
Duane, more fam'd than all the gang,
Like tavern-sign on high shall hang.
Now further eastward let us run,
(Coiling our rope against the sun)
To where New-York, with pride, displays
Her turrets to the noon-tide blaze—
Here, when all other measures fail,
To turn the newly balanc'd scale,

277

Manhattan's Bank pours in its stream,
The Fed'ral party kick the beam—
A Bank contriv'd on system new,
A various purpose to pursue—
A Bank, upon occasion's spur,
To discount notes for Colonel Burr
A Bank of Water, to supply
The citizens when running dry—
Pipes under ground the streams convey,
Supplies are copious, conduits play,
“Line upon line” the people share,
“A little here, a little there.”
New-York, well water'd, brings forth fruit,
Decay'd old Trees revive and shoot,
Dire Storms ensue, so fame relates,
Old Broomes sweep clean, and creak old Gates
What marvel, if with helps like these,
The Livingstons should raise a breeze,
If Burr should multiply his tools,
Aided by dotards, knaves and fools,
Or, if there now and then appears
A poor Elector stripp'd of ears.

278

But let our wandering eye-sight roam,
O'er scenes a little nearer home;
For though we claim a right to stray,
Where'er the spirit points our way,
Yet, surely, 'tis no more than fair,
Our charity should finish there.
But, who is able to relate
The storms that shook this stubborn state,
The projects vast, the deep intrigues,
The printed hand-bills, solemn leagues;
Kirpluck and Squab worn out with trying,
Old Larrabe laid up a drying,
Potbelly” too, so pure and mild,
And eke “Delusion's spurious child,
Sedition's last and feeblest hope,
All over mark'd—“Keep this side up.”
Though all the list cannot be brought in,
Yet Sandy must not be forgotten—
Sandy, the delicate and chaste,
With modesty so amply grac'd—
No wonder that Sedition draws
Such creatures to support her cause;
Nor need we be surpris'd to find
“The Dishite” to her side inclin'd—

279

A forward, vain, and frothy youth,
Too fond of talk to stick to truth—
The cause his powers exactly suits,
A second Anacharsis Clootz,
These patriots had their nightly meetings,
Chose sub-committees, “held their sittings,”
Rang'd round the state, “attended courts,”
Gave orders, and “receiv'd reports;”
All in one generous purpose bent,
All fill'd with patriot intent—

280

This peaceful state with storms to shake,
Our strength to wither, union break,
The strait-hair'd folks from office hurl,
Destruction's purple flag unfurl,
Raise knaves and blockheads into place,
And brand our name with foul disgrace.
Connecticut!—thou wond'rous STATE!
Forever firm, forever GREAT!
Oft faction here her tools employs,
And oft we hear a mighty noise,
That government is full of evil,
The nation running to the devil—
The blindest eyes begin to wink,
The thickest skulls begin to think.
The little ones are growing big,
“The tail has got on t'other pig”—
But when the hour of trial's o'er,
These short liv'd tempests cease to roar,
Sedition's vermin sneak from day,
And all goes on the good old way
Still the old Council keep their seats,
Still wisdom there with honour meets,
Still Granger keeps his humble station,
Just at the tail of nomination,
Prepar'd as seasons come about,
Once more to slip and tumble out.
Here, mid the vast, and wild uproar,
Which rends the earth's remotest shore,

281

This small, this blest, secluded STATE,
Still meets unmov'd the blasts of fate—
Here Justice still extends her sway,
Here Virtue sheds her blissful ray,
Churches our villages adorn,
And Infidels are laugh'd to scorn.
Almighty God, still let us lie,
Safe as the apple of thine Eye,
Still, still protect our happy land,
Within the hollow of thine Hand!
But hark! what noises rend the air!
What acclamations make us stare!
News from the regions of the south,
Wide opes each democratic mouth;
For Faction's reign prepare the way,
The democrats have gain'd the day!
South-Carolina's votes are come!
“Sound the trumpet, beat the drum!
Let every voice with triumph sing—
Jefferson is chosen king!
Ring every bell in every steeple,
T' announce the “Monarch of the People!”
Stop—ere your civic feasts begin,
Wait 'till the votes are all come in;
Perchance, amid this mighty stir,
Your Monarch may be—Col. Burr!
Who, if he mounts the sovereign seat,
Like Bonaparte will make you sweat.

282

Your Idol then must quaking dwell,
'Mid Mammoth's bones at Monticelle,
His country's barque from anchors free,
On “Liberty's tempestuous sea;”
While all the Democrats will sing—
The Devil take the People's King.
 

See Jefferson's letter to Mazzei.

That Rulers are “servants of the people,” is one of the favourite doctrines of modern times. That many rulers are fitter for servants, than they are for masters, in every thing unless it may be honesty, will be granted. And hence we may learn the true source of much mischief in the world—It is putting those into power, who ought to be in servitude. “Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride to the devil,” says the proverb.

—A newspaper established the last year in Virginia, for the avowed purpose of forwarding Mr. Jefferson's election. The paper was to be disposed of dog-cheap; and to those who would not buy it, and would read it, it was to be sent gratis. In many instances, it was sent to the wrong people. Whether it be yet alive, we do not know.

—A book published by this vile Scotchman, who, let it be remembered, was convicted by a Virginia jury! It is said that the Insurrection planned by the negroes at Richmond this fall, was occasioned by the hand-bills which this culprit uttered from his prison. His apology in the newspapers, was, that he published his hand-bills to forward Mr. Jefferson's election. This may be called launching on the Black Sea of Liberty.

A dull long-winded series of political publications written by this turn-coat.

See Priestley's factious letters to the people of Northumberland County, (Penn.) in which he takes special care to address his readers by the endearing title of “My friends and neighbours.”

Brackenridge is one of M'Kean's Judges. He has lately set up a printing press at Pittsburgh, for the purpose of moulding the people of that state to the manners and morals of their Governor. Brackenridge's partner in the printing office, is one Israel, a Jew, to whose religion the Judge is said to be strongly disposed to become a proselyte, in hopes to have a double chance for safety, viz. both as Jew, and Gentile.

The change in the politics of the state of New-York, is universally ascribed to the skilful operation and effect of the “surplus capital” of the Manhattan Bank.

See the names of the members of the House of Representatives, in the Legislature of New-York, chosen by the city, last spring.

One of the Electors for the state of New-York was some years ago convicted of forgery in Rhode-Island.

See a celebrated oration on Political Delusion, by Abraham Bishop, and “THREE LETTERS addressed to him.”

A river in Virginia.

Dishite—a word evidently of oriental origin, signifying, from, or belonging to the land of Dishes; in like manner as the inhabitants of that portion of Canaan, a country emphatically called the “Land flowing with milk and honey,” which was most abundant in the latter article, were very appropriately designated by the appellation of Hiveites. The present term furnishes an instance of no less felicity, as Suffield, the birth-place of this distinguished character, has ever been celebrated for its great traffic in wooden dishes; respecting which, many humourous stories are related, strongly evincive of the genius and adroitness of its inhabitants in this species of traffic.

Anarcharsis Clootz was a Prussian, who, upon the breaking out of the Revolution, went into France, and became a member of the National Convention. He used to call himself—“The Orator of the Human race.”

See an anonymous letter printed in one of the New-London papers, last September. Mr. Clootz assumed the letter to himself, declared it a forgery, promised to search out its origin, and engaged that the public should know the result. As the public has heard no more about it, probably he dropped his plan, or else found it to be genuine.


283

SYMPTOMS OF THE MILLENNIUM, IN THE YEAR 1801.


284

HARTFORD, JANUARY 7, 1802.
Oft has the period been foretold,
By Prophets, and by Seers of old,
When men, and beasts should all be blest
With long, and universal rest—
When fists no more 'gainst fists should rise,
No bloody nose, nor blacken'd eyes,
When gaols should into taverns turn,
The gallows be cut up to burn,
Oppress'd humanity” no more,
Should wander to Botania's shore—
But birds of every note, and feather,
And snakes, and toads should flock together,
And bears, and wolves should learn to browse,
And go to pasture with our cows—
Then every child well brac'd with health,
Well fed, well cloth'd, and fill'd with wealth,
No sorrows in his bosom rankling,
Shall die as old as Doctor Franklin;

285

And Satan, source of all our evils,
Chief Consul” of the other Devils,
Shall, for his sins, and tricks, and strife,
To the State Prison be sent for life.
That this blest morn approacheth nigh,
Behold the beams in yonder sky!
The cock has crown'd; from spray to spray,
The songsters greet the God of Day;
The day-spring fires the east with red,
And smiles on every mountain's head.
But who the symptoms can relate,
Which verify the book of fate?
Whose eagle-eye 'mid guilt, and crimes,
Can mark the Signs of coming Times?
Not heedless all—through toil and pains,
A little remnant yet remains—
A David Austin still is found,
Shouting with wild, ecstatic sound,
That Babel's haggard, painted Whore,
Shall dance “the Dragon's-Tail” no more;
That “True and Faithful” from the Cross,
Rides General Washington's old horse;
That soon, the Gentiles, and the Jews,
In his new Church will purchase pews,
The Four-and-twenty Elders come,
Bright from their everlasting home,

286

Adorn'd with pearls, and golden crowns,
To dress themselves in Hum-hum gowns,
A Parson Leland, , too, at ease,
High mounted on a “Mammoth-Cheese,”
From curds, and skippers lifts his sight,
Like Moses on mount Pisgah's height,
Through whey and rennet darts his eye,
And sees new-milk beyond the sky,
With exultation swings his hat,
As flows the nectar to his vat,
And while the mighty mass is pressing,
Drops on his knee, and asks a blessing.

287

I too, perchance, before we part,
May act with skill the prophet's art,
Point out events which clearly show,
The world is getting rid of woe,
And when a few more years have run,
Mankind will tread knee-deep in fun.
Nor shall our proofs be drawn from far,
From former years, “before the war,”
Lest Infidels, from mere vexation,
Should plead the act of limitation.
Scarce had the world with tearful eye,
Bade the Old Century “good bye,”
When lo! there rose a mighty stir,
'Twixt Jefferson and Col. Burr.
A direful contest then ensued,
Which some suppos'd would end in blood.
At length a Lyon grim and bold
For desperate warfare fam'd of old,
Declar'd himself Behemoth's friend,
And brought the combat to an end,
Bade dire hostility to cease,
And hush'd “Republicans” to peace—
Then join'd the Presidential flocks,
And ate the herbage like an ox;

288

And still around the pasture strays,
Among his master's beasts to graze.
Quick from the midst of strife and storm,
Starts up the Presidential form,
Like Daniel from the Lion's Den,
Unhurt stalks forth “the first of Men,”
With cautious step, and measur'd stride,
(Perambulator at his side)
Unblush'd his cheek, no fear nor quaking,
Though humbled at the undertaking,
And climbs with bold unhallow'd feet,
Great Washington's exalted seat—
[OMITTED]
But stop this course, this strain forbear,
There's no Millennial symptom here—
[OMITTED]
But hark! what soft and dulcet note,
Pours from his philanthropic throat?
“Behold I come, prepar'd to heal
All bruises in the Commonweal,

289

Sweet Harmony again restore,
Blest Intercourse shall bleed no more.
We're brothers of the self-same breed,
A Demo-Janglo-Federal seed.
Soon shall this land from sorrow rest,
“And all the sons of want be blest.”
Vox populi through ether rings
And brings to pass surprising things;
An Irish-howl our land pervades,
And overpow'rs our statesmen's heads,
Bursts through the doors of Honour's shop,
Steals all her cash, and locks it up.
Soon “Labour's mouth” its jaws shall ope,
And feed on Metaphor and Trope,
Soon a cheap government shall see
An end, to our felicity.”
Scarce do the honied accents cease,
Ere the whole land is drown'd in peace,
Conciliation fiercely burns,
And Harmony in droves returns,
Concord like yellow-fever rages,
And sweeps all sizes, ranks and ages.
Goodrich and Chester lead the bands,
And at their heels go Fish, and Sands.
While to do honour to the nation,
Gelston and Osgood take their station;
To pay for Abra'm Bishop's speaking,
An office lights upon the Deacon,

290

Though plough'd with wrinkles, stamp'd with age,
And tott'ring off life's rugged stage,
Like fabled fool he bends his back,
And takes a Jack-Ass for his pack.
Now reigns the philanthropic spirit,
And men are guag'd alone by merit;
Regardless where they found their birth,
Here, or some foreign spot of earth.
For what are kingdoms, states, or nations?
Does Geography confine our stations?
And are not men, where'er they're found,
The tenants of great Nature's ground,
All brothers of the human race,
Uninfluenc'd by time, or space?
These arguments resistless prove,
That no man should his country love
Exclusively—the world is common,
The property of Man and Woman.
And hence we find that our affairs,
Our laws, our interests, and our cares,
Our Constitution—all, are whole
Beneath a foreigner's controul—
That renegades a numerous bevy,
From England, Ireland, and Geneva,
A pure disinterested race,
From motives kind of love, and grace,
To govern us will condescend,
And lead us to a prosperous end.

291

If the Millennium were not near,
Would Duane bask and batten here?
Would Dallas, insect of an hour,
Roll round in splendour, wealth and power?
Would Jackson'sseeds” so early sown,
Have to such pods of “greatness” grown?
Or Gallatin have found a seat,
Just where our cash, and credit meet?
Lo! now an era new begins,
Each star with new-born lustre shines—
Old Clinton from his dotard den,
Once more crawls out to govern men.
Rhode-Island too, with virtuous zeal,
Has puk'd and purg'd the Commonweal,
White-wash'd old Fenner's smoky coat,
Prov'd him “Not Guilty” by a vote,
By numbers borne Judge Dorrance down,
And warn'd thanksgiving out of town.

292

And see the “Worcester Farmer” draws
His goose-quill in his master's cause!
Deals out his literary bastings,
To turn the vote 'gainst Mr. Hastings,
Sets up a wind-mill of his own,
And grinds out nonsense for the town,
Becomes Attorney for all classes,
Like Balaam talks with men and asses,
Holds dialogues with trees and sheep,
And wades with stone-walls to the deep.
The spirit too has wander'd here,
Connecticut has had her share.
At Wallingford it first broke out,
And show'd itself in noise and rout;
Men grew voracious, ate like swine,
Drank freely different sorts of wine,
O'ercharg'd, and snor'd till break of day,
Then quitted, but forgot to pay,
Following the Prophet's sage advice,
To buy their milk without a price.
Yet here “the People's friends” exist,
See Hyde and Wilcox's Protest!
Wolcott and Potter coalesce,
The moral field to dung and dress;

293

Though Gid. no more in taverns teaches,
Yet Gemmill prays, and Griswold preaches,
And Babcock promises this year,
Truth in the Mercury shall appear.
And lo! what accents rend the air,
And make the wondering thousands stare!
Each post, and packet, mail, express,
Bears home a copy of th' Address.
Soft to our ears its warblings reach,
A new “inauguration speech.”
“See through the earth war's tumults cease!
Blest be the power that gives us peace!
To him let gratitude be show'd,
Be he or Bonaparte or God!
But, while you feel the general joy,
Let other themes your minds employ.”
The Enterprize” in combat fair,
Has beat a Tripoline Corsair,
Kill'd half his men, his vessel taken,
Plunder'd his guns—but sav'd his bacon.”
“The Indians too, so fame relates,
Begin to throng around these states,
Their numbers rapidly increase,
An earnest strong of future peace;
Therefore with joy we ought to yearn,
O'er every popoose that is born.
And here a stimulus we find,
To propagate the human kind;

294

Then let us all with heart and hand,
Fulfil, at least, this one command;
And let “our energies” obey,
What Indians and the bible say.”
O happy people! happy land!
What can thy bright career withstand;
When “Labour's mouth” is cramm'd with bread,
When nought is tail, and all is head,
When taxes all are swept away,
And “Living cheap” 's the only play—
What stupid mortal's head can doubt,
The Devil's time is almost out,
That Gog, and Magog must retreat,
And own their troops are fairly beat,
And that our country soon will find,
A French Millennium to her mind.
 

Vulgarly called Botany-Bay. Probably President Jefferson forgot this asylum for “oppressed humanity,” when he so pathetically sung (by proxy) his requiem over our Naturalization Law.

“The ornament of human nature,” three or four years older than Deacon Bishop. See Mr. J---n's reply to the remonstrance of the Merchants of New-Haven, on the appointment of Deacon Bishop as collector.

See some of the works of this rational Divine, in which he proves, clearly, that the white horse which General Washington used to ride, the white horse which the Marquis La Fayette rode, and the white horse which Bonaparte rides, are the horses which were prefigured by that in the Apocalypse, on which was seated HIM whose name was Faithful and True. In the same book is particularly described the dance of the Whore of Babylon. It is storied of this extraordinary man, that having discovered that the Millennium would begin at New-Haven, and knowing that the Jews were fond of trading, he built a long row of stores for them and the Gentiles; and that he procured four-and-twenty long white hum-hum garments to be made for the four-and-twenty Elders.

The elegant author of a “Blow at the Root,” and a “Stroke at the Branch,” of all order and government; and also the Guardian Genius of Curds and Whey, at Cheshire, Massachusetts.

It must be a very gratifying reflection to the native inhabitants of the United States, that the important point—who should be their President—was settled by the power of Matthew Lyon.

It is said that a certain great man has invented a piece of machinery called a Perambulator, which, when hung to his thigh, will tell him—how many steps he has taken in any of his perambulations.—What a useful thing this must be. Certainly such a genius must make a good President. This discovery, at least as far as appearances go, is equivalent to contriving for mankind o third leg; which is equal to a fifth wheel to a coach.

Duane, an Irish “fugitive and vagabond,” holds a birth under the present administration, which is computed to be worth TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. Could not some native citizen, some officer of our Revolutionary War, have been found, oppressed by poverty, to whom such a chance to reap a little of that harvest which he helped to sow, would have been received with thankfulness?

General Jackson, an Irishman, has lately been Governor of Georgia; and is now a Senator in Congress. His speeches after mid-day, are said to be fairly represented by that which he lately made in Savannah.

Called in the National Ægis, a Junius. This reminds us of the Dutchman's picture, which no one could tell the design of, until he wrote at the bottom—“This is a Bear.”


295

SKETCHES OF THE TIMES, FOR THE YEAR 1803.


296

Sketches of the Times.

What vast advantages we find
Result from Poets to mankind?
Borne on their sure recording page,
Fame sounds her trump from age to age;
And though Destruction's besoms sweep
Whole nations to Oblivion's deep—
Though heroes, patriots, sages die,
And in the grave unnotic'd lie—
Yet Poesy, with magic pen,
Relumes the fading fame of men,
In deathless numbers sings their story,
And rears their pyramid of glory.
Without the aid of Homer's song,
Where would have been the Grecian throng;
Who would Achilles' name have known,
Or who old Priam's god-like son?
Who bore his venerable Sire,
Safe through the midst of Ilium's fire,
On Latium's shores that flag unfurl'd,
Which wav'd in triumph o'er the world,
Ask Mantua's Bard—
And shall the great of modern days,
Fail of the meed of future praise?

297

Shall not remotest ages see
The lights of Eighteen hundred three?
Shall Jefferson, grown old and spleeny,
In dudgeon quit his “red Arena,”
From fame “occluded,” dark and dreary,
Plunge headlong into death's “vast prairie”?
Shall Johnny Randolph cease to bloom?
Shall Paine reel silent to the tomb?
Shall Gallatin unheeded stray
Adown Time's dark and cheerless way,
Without one friendly tongue to tell,
Who “stopp'd of government de veel”?
Or Farmer Lincoln drag his name,
Through “oppugnation” up to fame?
Shall nought of Granger be rehears'd,
But, that the bag of wind is burst?
Shall Fate's “Recorder” only say—
Cheetham and Dun were hang'd to day”?—
Justice forbid—Their names shall ring,
Till the last Poets cease to sing;
And though old Homer's spirit's fled,
Though Virgil's number'd with the dead;
Some genius, fir'd for humbler lays,
Shall register their claim to praise,
To unborn Homers transmit down,
Their memoranda of renown.
But, as the weather grows severe,
We'll just survey the country here,

298

Pick up the patriots few that stray,
And drag their merits into day,
Mark how the Rights of Man are further'd,
Then spend the winter at the Southward.
And here, in erring reason's spite,
'Mid storms of truth, and floods of light,
Unmov'd by threats, unaw'd by fears,
Connecticut her front uprears.
On Democratic frontiers plac'd,
By spirits base and foul disgrac'd,
Annoy'd with Jacobinic engines,
And doom'd to Governmental vengeance,
Strait on her course she firmly steers,
Nor gibes, nor tacks, nor scuds, nor veers,
Not the whole force they all can yield,
Can drive her vet'rans from the field.
The same pure, patriotic fires,
Which warm'd the bosoms of their Sires,
That generous, that effulgent flame,
Which glow'd in Winthrop's deathless name,
Unsullied through their bosoms runs,
Inspires and animates their sons.
Last spring, the atmosphere was hazy,
The tempest lower'd, the path was mazy;
All hearts prognosticated evil,
And all seem'd running to the devil.
But luckily, the means were taken,
And just in time to save our bacon,

299

The Democrats for conquest striving,
The trumpet sounded for Thanksgiving.
By Libertines and Deacons sign'd,
The summons call'd on deaf and blind,
On knaves and blockheads, old and young,
Of every colour, craft, and tongue,
Through mud and mire, in March to meet,
And draggle round New-Haven street,
Recount each Democratic duty,
Show General Hart in all his beauty,
Lead up” their sweethearts and their spouses,
To dalliance sweet in “private houses,”
Get drunk by day—and snug by night,
Chaunt forth “Moll Carey” —“Tune Delight,
When lo!—to circumvent the matter,
Poor Abra'm dropp'd his circ'lar letter!!!
Like wildfire round the story flew,
And the whole plot disclos'd to view.
And though Tim Dexter's hopeful son,
Kept sentry o'er the morning gun,
And as the “ragged throng” pass'd by,
Shot “Memorandums” through the sky;
Though Judd and Kirby came prepar'd,
To reap the Democrat's reward,
Though General Hart, when all was still,
Bravely retir'd to make his will,

300

Though Paine got drunk, and was not there,
And David Austin made a pray'r,
And rang'd by Powell, grave and sage,
Twelve of the sleekest grac'd a stage—
Yet all in vain—The farce was o'er,
And Democrats give thanks no more;
Resolv'd henceforward to grow wise,
And trust their cause to fraud and lies,
Abandon every childish caper,
And rest their hopes on Babcock's paper.
Poor souls—before this stubborn State,
To Democrats resigns its fate,
Your growth of timber must be shifted,
Your character from filth be lifted.
Will Freemen virtuous, just, and brave,
Of tempers firm, and manners grave,
To Freedom born, by Plenty fed,
By Trumbull and by Ellsworth led,
Bow down their necks to Slavery's bands,
And trust themselves in Kirby's hands?
Shall Abraham Bishop guard their morals?
And Wolcott settle all their quarrels?
But let us leave New-Haven racket,
And go to New-York in the packet:
Where we shall find the Clinton band,
Of morals pure, of manners bland,
With swords, and staves, and whip and spur,
Rush forth to war with Col. Burr.

301

So have I seen, with fiery rage,
A Hawk and Snake, in fight engage,
For such a combat nothing loth,
Nor'd care if Satan had them both.
Poor Pennsylvania sweats amain,
Beneath the rod of Tom McKean.
This rich, this proud, degraded state,
Is hastening onward to its fate.
Here foreign rogues of every tongue,
Like Pharaoh's frogs by thousands throng;
On posts of honour fix their eyes,
O'erpower the good by fraud and lies,
Drive Justice from her sacred seat,
Tread Law and Order under feet;
By falsehood fire the rabble rude,
And loose the dogs of war and blood.
No kingdom underneath the sun,
No state, nor nation but our own,
E'er spread such tempting lures, or gave
Such rich rewards to every knave.
And yet, each grumbling tory dares
Arraign the “gestion of affairs”—
When were they manag'd half so well,
In point of prudence, or of skill?
Our President, as each one knows, is
As strong as Sampson, meek as Moses,
As Solon good, as chaste as ice,
(Black Sal is all a heap of lies)

302

Not quite so brave as old Suwarrow,
But loaded with the people's sorrow;
And spite of all old Jones can say,
Knows how to borrow, and to pay.
Beneath his kind and fostering hand,
What blessings overwhelm the land.
Our debt is paid with so much vigour,
'Tis grown about a quarter bigger;
Sal'ries which were so high before,
Have hoisted up a quarter more;
The taxes too are done away,
And Labour's mouth has nought to pay;
Loaf sugar free from duty passes,
And Jersey people drink molasses.
What stupid Fed'ralist shall dare,
Wolcott with Gallatin compare?
Roll'd on his tongue, our language mends,
He holds finance at finger's ends;
And while his former Whiskey neighbours,
Reap the rich harvest of his labours,
Pour down dog-cheap th' enlivening rill,
All hot, and luscious from the still;
Yet still our patriot merchants pay,
And save our Treasury from decay.
This is the true Virginia plan,
Built on the equal rights of man
That Commerce should the burthens bear,
And Labour's mouth be free as air”—

303

For where does Commerce spread her sails,
Where brave the storms, or court the gales?
Along Virginia's sullen shore,
Scarce floats a barque, or strikes an oar,
No hardy seaman mounts the mast,
Nor whistles at th' approaching blast.
But Eastward turn the searching eye—
What fairy scenes before us lie?—
There Commerce spreads unnumber'd sails,
There braves the storms, and courts the gales,
Vast fleets old Ocean's bosom ride,
And wealth flows in with every tide.
Hence springs that firm resistless pow'r,
Which meets unmov'd the threat'ning hour,
That spirit which no fears controul,
That fire which warms the freeborn soul.
Nor stands the Genevese alone—
A chosen club surround the throne.
The Farmer can his goose-quill draw,
On politics as well as law;
Dearborne performs his duty well,
Except when call'd upon to spell;
And when depriv'd of every shift
Paine takes a sling, and gives a lift.
For though, when sober, Tom is dull,
Stupid, and filthy as a gull,
Yet give him brandy, and the elf,
Will talk all night about himself;

304

And whilst his patron stands amaz'd,
Waiting to hear himself be-prais'd,
The drunken sot does nought but cry,
And sing, and write, of Mr. I.
Such skill have Granger's projects shew'd,
O'er those which Habersham pursued,
So nicely does his compass traverse,
In shifting men for “faithful service,”
That ere two years have run their race,
By travelling nights as well as days,
The Income's risen through Hobbles dirty,
From Eighty Thousand, down to Thirty.
Our councils too are well conducted,
Resolves well drawn, laws well constructed;
Claibornes and Cloptons take the lead,
And Triggs, and Nincompoops succeed,
Dawson presides in high debate,
And Randolph's Minister of State.
What though sometimes the club gets puzzled,
By Griswold's Fed'ral cunning muzzled,
And the affrighted, speechless throng,
Close first the doors, and then the tongue,
Though Nancy Dawson lisps surmises,
And little David's choler rises,
And Centum Vir on knees devout,
Begs Septon's aid to bear them out,

305

Yet Dana brings them to a stand,
And bids their silent jaws expand,
The doors unclose, their hinges creak,
And the dumb Legislature speak.
Our philosophic Chief prepares
“Essays tow'rds statements of affairs;”
Wakes once a year from fancy's dreams,
And hatches a whole brood of schemes—
Behold! secure from leaks, and worms,
From tides, from shipwreck, and from storms,
From privateers, and dashing waves,
Rocks, whirlpools, and old Ocean's caves,
Safe in a hovel, high and dry,
Flat on their sides our ships shall lie.
No corsair there shall dare intrude,
No pirate show his visage rude,
Not e'en Goose-creek shall dare to lave,
Their Lordly timbers with its wave.

306

Thus arm'd, what pow'r shall dare invade
Our harbours, or annoy our trade?
While proud Potowmac rolls her flood
Unruffled o'er her native mud,
The Dry-Dock cannon's awful roar,
Shall guard Penobscot's distant shore.
Nay, ships henceforth, shall plough the strand,
And ride secure from land to land;
While arm'd en flute, shall Granger's mail,
On turnpike roads hoist every sail,
Through wilds unknown, undaunted steer,
Give every Indian tribe a cheer,
Pass Mississippi's new toll-bridge,
And anchor on the Salt mount's ridge.
How slow the human mind proceeds
In that bright path, where Science leads!
How sluggishly up Reason's steeps,
Dull Common Sense phlegmatic creeps!
Eustis this useful plan derided,
(Great men will sometimes be divided)
E'en that great reasoner, Friar Bacon,
Said—“No Sir,”—when the vote was taken.
Thus was this brilliant theory lost,
And thus philosophy was crost—
Dry-Docks are jeer'd at as a whim,
And vessels now must sink or swim,
Men risk their necks 'mongst rocks and caves,
And now and then find wat'ry graves.

307

But let us trace this mighty mind,
Form'd to amaze, and bless mankind—
See him commence Land-Speculator,
And buy up half the realm of nature,
Towns, cities, Indians, Spaniards, ‘prairies,’
Salt-petre vats, and buff'loe dairies,
Harvests all ripen'd for the sickle,
And salt enough the world to pickle—
Salt, which in rain and shine has stood,
From Adam's fall through Noah's flood,
And yet enough remains behind,
To cure the pork of all mankind.
Here too we find a soil so deep,
Wool grows on stumps as well as sheep;
And shrubs and trees, if e'er they grew,
Have lost their foothold, and slump'd through;
And men dare not, so soft's the road,
Without their snow-shoes walk abroad.
At random here the Mammoth browses,
As large as common meeting-houses;
Snakes reach the size of saw-mill logs,
And rats and mice as large as dogs;
Musquetoes weigh as much as crows
And man to such a giant grows,
So long, so wide, that at a meal,
He'll eat a loin of Mammoth veal.
O'er this Canaan blest presides
The man, who all our interests guides—

308

Judge, Sheriff, President, and King,
Lawyer, Bum-Bailiff, every thing.
Beneath his philosophic sway,
A pure republic springs to day,
Free from Aristocratic pests,—
Soldiers, and Citizens, and Priests—
Here all pursue their strong desires,
Sires know no sons, and sons no sires,
Wives follow nature's high behest,
Try half a dozen, and choose the best,
And boys and girls, in wanton droves,
Indulge in unforbidden loves.
Nor only in this distant sky,
Does light break in upon the eye;
The Spirit dire of Reformation,
Has rear'd her standard in the Nation—
What, though “the Lilliputian ties,”
Snap one by one before their eyes,
What, though the public wealth is squander'd,
The great and good by villains slander'd,
The hoary patriot robb'd of bread,
Pale Justice from the nation fled,
Though foreign outlaws blast our name,
Though vengance hunts our native fame,
Base falsehoods sneak, and slanders crawl,
And shakes the Union to its fall—
Still, still unmov'd the people stand,
And see fell Ruin mark the land—

309

See Freedom's Edifice decay,
Its lofty pillars torn away,
By Gothic hands its splendours soil'd,
Its dome defac'd, its turrets spoil'd.
The “Sovereign People” who compose?
The friends of freedom, or its foes?
Those are they who in dread array,
Dauntless met Britain in the affray—
Who (when War's ensigns, wide unfurl'd,
Spread tumult through the western world)
Seiz'd the rude musket, sword, and shield,
And throng'd by thousands to the field;
That little remnant which remains
From Bunker's heights, and York-Town's plains—
A glorious few, whose forms still bear,
The fearless front, the victor's scar—
Bright trophies in hard conflict won,
When led by Fame's Immortal Son?
Or are the owners of the soil,
Proud of the spot on which they toil,
Attach'd by habit, and by birth,
To freedom, government, and worth—
Are these the men whose voice is heard,
Whose wishes, or whose will rever'd?
Far other powers these States obey,
A different sovereign holds the sway—
A foreign, outcast, needy brood,
Blighted with crimes, and ripe for blood—

310

Those renegado gallows trains,
Which Ireland from her dungeons drains,
And pours, with an unceasing hand,
Like Egypt's plagues upon our land.
Who steal our letters, rob our stores,
Who lurk with firebrands round our doors,
Who plunder records of the State,
The virtuous blast, belie the great?
A foreign, outcast, needy brood,
Blighted with crimes, and ripe for blood.
These are the miserable tools,
By which the proud Virginia rules.
In myriads, lo! the miscreants come,
In search of freedom, and of rum,
Scarce do their footsteps reach the strand,
Scarce do they press the fated land,
Ere their whole souls with freedom burn,
And convicts into patriots turn:
On posts their greedy optics fix,
Fir'd with the spark of Seventy-six,
Call Adams, Jay, and Ellsworth tories,
Rob Washington of all his glories,
Claim for their own our Revolution,
And fondly brood the Constitution.
Where are New-England's hardy sons?
How slow their ancient spirit runs?
Can they stand cold and tamely by,
And see in dust their country lie?

311

To Independence they were bred,
For Freedom oft they fought, and bled.
And shall the prize be basely lost,
Which so much blood, and treasure cost?
Forbid it shame—Then ere too late,
Ward off the dark impending fate.
That Party which now holds the helm,
Will ruin, or will rule the realm.
Go backward, all their footsteps trace,
Mark every winding of their race,
Their measures to one purpose tend,
All to one favourite object bend.
Arm'd at all points, they scour the field—
Our Union ties already yield,
Our Constitution's strength is gone,
Its pride, its Justice overthrown.
Lo! now the servile Band engage,
With party fire, and madd'ning rage,
To force our freeborn souls t' obey,
And bow beneath a despot's sway,
To fix their Man, through noise and strife,
Our King or President for life!
In one vast vortex sink the fates
And freedom of the Northern States,
Place in Virginia's hands the reins,
And bind our Sovereignty in chains.
What palsy numbs the Public hand!
What madness overspreads the land!

312

To Gallia turn the searching eye,
See millions there in bondage lie,
In adamantine fetters bound,
Oppress'd, and trodden to the ground.
See Switzerland in ruin spread,
See Holland number'd with the dead,
Half Europe kiss the iron rod,
And tremble at a Ruffian's nod.
Here let us pore on Freedom's tomb,
Here read our own approaching doom—
That doom from Anarchy which springs,
More dreadful than the worst of kings—
And from example, learn to save
The birthright which our FATHERS gave—
Laws equal, mild, and just, and pure,
Freedom from anarchy secure,
Firesides where heavenly bliss has flow'd,
And ALTARS consecrate to God.
 

A song written for the occasion of the Democratic Thanksgiving at New-Haven.

Centum Vir.—Sometime since, that prodigy of learning Dr. Mitchill, wrote a letter, in Latin, to the king of Naples, begging his Majesty to make him a present of a book. This letter the Doctor subscribed with his name, and added the words, ‘Centum Vir.” One of his friends asked him the meaning of the title; the Doctor said it meant, that he was a member of Congress. This was before the late census, when the House of Representatives consisted of 105 members. How the Doctor should sign himself now there are more than 130, must be settled by himself.

Goose-creek was the vulgar name of the stream, which in the scheme for a Dry-Dock, was exalted by the President into the Tiber.


314

PROSPECT OF HAPPINESS FOR THE JEWS.

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THE following extracts are from a Poem entitled The Prospect of Happiness for the Jews, which was written in the summer of 1791 by the authors of the Echo and printed in the American Mercury. It was a mere Jeu d'Esprit, suggested by an event which at that time excited some attention, and would probably never have been rescued from the dust of a newspaper file, had not the late imperial decree of Napoleon for convoking a delegation of that dispersed people, with the professed intention of re-establishing them in their ancient country, have recalled it to mind and convinced the authors that their effusions, like the leaves of the sybil were pregnant with fate, and may equal in inspiration the prophecies of those celebrated characters, Christopher Love, Richard Brothers, or David Austin.

Rejoice! ye wanderers of the earth, rejoice!
Ye Hebrew tribes exalt your grateful voice!
Where'er dispers'd o'er earth's wide realms ye stray!
From Lapland's frozen night, to Congo's torrid day!
Whatever shape by fortune doom'd to wear,
The humble pedlar, or rich usurer,
Attend the call, the joyous summons wait,
And hail the omen of your bright'ning fate!
Lo! the glad day by sacred promise given
Glows from afar, and lights the western heav'n,
The glorious day, to Amos' raptur'd son
By heav'n's own hand in clearest vision shown;

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When by his native streams the Seer survey'd
Fate's mystic volume to his view display'd,
And thus o'er wond'ring Judah pour'd along
His strains prophetic in sublimest song.
Ye chosen few of Jacob's favour'd race,
Bright heirs of fame, and heav'n's peculiar grace!
For you the fates superior bliss design,
And beams of glory shed o'er David's line.
I see pourtray'd 'mid shades of mystic night
Your future fame in characters of light.
Though, for long years, the earth condemn'd to roam,
Your name reproachful to the world become,
A hissing vile, a bye-word of disgrace,
Fair nature's blot, and stain of human race;
Yet when revolving time shall wake to birth
New scenes and empires o'er the spacious earth,
Your lot shall change, the world your sway confess,
And gladd'ning nations hail the reign of peace.
Then shall the lion leave the gloomy wood,
His rage forgot, and quell'd his thirst of blood,
O'er flowery meads with sportive heifers stray,
And join the lambkin in his wanton play;
Beneath one shade the wolf and kid shall rest,
One tree contain the dove's and falcon's nest;
The doe in friendship with the leopard graze,
And on on his spotted beauties fearless gaze;
To marriage bed the cat and dog shall move,
And former hatred lose in joys of love.

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The little child with fearless hand shall grasp
The fire-ey'd cockatrice and frigid asp;
The mink and musquash social compacts make,
And one firm tie unite the frog and snake,
The fox and goose hymeneal transports share,
And fraud and folly mark the future heir;
The painted tribes in fields of horror bred,
By vengeance prompted and by murder led,

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Grown mild, shall own the gentle arts of peace,
Bid slaughter stay its hand and discord cease,
And, long disus'd, their rusty tomahawks
Shall beat and polish into knives and forks,
Whilst erst that steel with brains of chieftains gor'd
Shall carve the sirloin at the festal board.
---Lo! from revolving years
The first glad day-spring of that morn appears,
The clouds disperse so long o'er Israel spread,
And bright Success uplifts her radiant head:
Led by the hand of Gain the Goddess comes,
Sublime she moves, and waves her golden plumes,
With potent voice, in words transporting cries,
From your low state ye heirs of promise rise;
No longer doom'd o'er various realms to roam,
No clime your country and no soil your home,
No longer doom'd the general hate to meet,
Be scorn'd by Gentiles, and compell'd to cheat:
Be deem'd the refuse of the world no more,
By laws unguarded and oppress'd by power,
Outcasts from man, of every virtue foes,
By heav'n in mercy, not from merit chose.—
Far diff'rent scenes ensuing days unfold,
A life of rapture and an age of gold:
No more contemn'd your wealthy sons shall rise
The first of men, the favour'd of the skies.
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All hail! illum'd with glory's splendid ray,
Ye harbingers of joy's approaching day!
In you the bliss, by ancient Seers foretold,
Those various scenes of promis'd good unfold;
In you th' extremes of warring nature join'd
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And lo! from op'ning skies, with look serene,
Mild Peace descends, and glads the bright'ning scene.
Bliss smiles on all, the Hours in transport move,
And ev'ry Hebrew heart is tun'd to joy and love.
Rejoice! ye wand'rers of the earth, rejoice!
Ye tribes of Israel raise your grateful voice!
Where'er dispers'd o'er earth's wide realms ye stray,
From Lapland's frozen night, to Congo's torrid day.
 

It is pleasing, as it affords a striking proof of the near advent of the Millennium, to remark the completion of this part of the prediction, in the late important discovery of the wonderful friendship subsisting between the snake and horned frog, who with the celebrated Prairie Dog are joint tenants of the same habitation; and there is little cause to doubt that all the other animals mentioned are in a state of rapid social progression. With respect to the savages, we are enabled to affirm from high authority that the prophecy respecting them is accomplished in spirit, if not in “very deed.” That most enlightened statesman, Governor Wright, of Maryland in his late letter to the Legislature of that State, notifying his acceptance of that office, observes, that he has most cordially cooperated with the present virtuous administration in the measures which it has pursued; and among other things recapitulated, in the attention that has been paid to our native brethren the savage tribes, in instructing them in agriculture, and manufactures, and in inducing them “to convert their scalping knives into pruning hooks, and their tomahawks into implements of husbandry, and both by precept and example teaching them to prefer the pacific olive to the bloody laurel.” He who cannot perceive in all these concurring circumstances the arrival of the long expected age of gold, must surely have his intellectual vision obscured with an impenetrable film.