The Poems of Philip Freneau Volume I Part 30

Some are in chains of wedlock bound, And some are hanged and some are drowned; Some are advanced to posts and places, And some in pulpits screw their faces; Some at the bar a living gain, Perplexing what they should explain; To soldiers turned, a bolder band Repel the invaders of the land; Some to the arts of physic bred, Despatch their patients to the dead; Some plough the land, and some the sea, And some are slaves, and some are free; Some court the great, and some the muse, And some subsist by mending shoes-- While others--but so vast the throng, The Cobblers shall conclude my song.

[97] In the 1786 edition the t.i.tle is "The Desolate Academy." In place of the first six lines above, the 1786 edition had the following:

"Subjected to despotic rule Once in this dome I went to school, Where _Pedro Pa.s.sive_ held his reign, The tyrant of a small domain."

LINES TO A COASTING CAPTAIN[98]

Shipwrecked and Nearly Drowned on Hatteras Shoals

So long hara.s.sed by winds and seas, 'Tis time, at length, to take your ease, Change ruffian waves for quiet groves[99]

And war's loud blast for sylvan loves.

In all your rounds, 'tis pa.s.sing strange No fair one tempts you to a change-- Madness it is, you must agree, To lodge alone 'till forty-three.

Old Plato said, no blessing here Could equal Love--if but sincere; And writings penn'd by heaven, have shown That man can ne'er be blest alone.

O'er life's meridian have you pa.s.s'd; The night of death advances fast!

No props you plant for your decline, No partner soothes these cares of thine.

If Neptune's self, who ruled the main, Kept sea-nymphs there to ease his pain; Yourself, who skim that empire o'er, Might surely keep one nymph on sh.o.r.e.

Myrtilla fair, in yonder grove, Has so much beauty, so much love, That, on her lip, the meanest fly Is happier far than you or I.

[98] In the 1786 edition the t.i.tle is "The Sea-Faring Bachelor;" in 1795 it was changed to "Advice to a Friend."

[99]

"And seek a bride--for few can find The sea a mistress to their mind."--_Ed. 1786._

TO THE AMERICANS[100]

ON THE RUMOURED APPROACH OF THE HESSIAN FORCES, WALDECKERS, &C.

(PUBLISHED 1775)

_The blast of death! the infernal guns prepare-- "Rise with the storm and all its dangers share."_

Occasioned by General Gage's Proclamation that the Provinces were in a state of Rebellion, and out of the King's protection.[101]

Rebels you are--the British champion[102] cries-- Truth, stand thou forth!--and tell the wretch, He lies:-- Rebels!--and see this mock imperial lord Already threats these rebels with the cord.[103]

The hour draws nigh, the gla.s.s is almost run, When truth will shine, and ruffians[104] be undone; When this base miscreant[105] will forbear to sneer, And curse his taunts and bitter insults here.[106]

If to controul the cunning of a knave, Freedom respect, and scorn the name of slave; If to protest against a tyrant's laws, And arm for vengeance in a righteous cause, Be deemed Rebellion--'tis a harmless thing: This bug-bear name, like death, has lost its sting.

Americans! at freedom's fane adore!

But trust to Britain, and her flag,[107] no more; The generous genius of their isle has fled, And left a mere impostor in his stead.

If conquered, rebels (their Scotch records show),[108]

Receive no mercy from the parent [A]foe;[109]

Nay, even the grave, that friendly haunt of peace, (Where Nature gives the woes of man to cease,) Vengeance will search--and buried corpses there Be raised, to feast the vultures of the air-- Be hanged on gibbets, such a war they wage-- Such are the devils that swell our souls with rage![110]

If Britain conquers, help us, heaven, to fly: Lend us your wings, ye ravens of the sky;-- If Britain conquers--we exist no more; These lands will redden with their children's gore, Who, turned to slaves, their fruitless toils will moan, Toils in these fields that once they called their own!

To arms! to arms! and let the murdering sword Decide who best deserves the hangman's cord: Nor think the hills of Canada too bleak When desperate Freedom is the prize you seek; For that, the call of honour bids you go O'er frozen lakes and mountains wrapt in snow:[111]

No toils should daunt the nervous and the bold, They scorn all heat or wave-congealing cold.

Haste!--to your tents in iron fetters bring These slaves, that serve a tyrant and a king;[112]

So just, so virtuous is your cause, I say, h.e.l.l must prevail if Britain gains the day.

[A] After the battle of Culloden: See Smollett's History of England.--_Freneau's note._

[100] The first trace that I can find of this poem is in the Oct. 18, 1775, issue of Anderson's _Const.i.tutional Gazette_, where it has the t.i.tle, "Reflections on Gage's Letter to Gen. Washington of Aug. 13." It was published in the 1786 edition with the t.i.tle, "On the Conqueror of America shut up in Boston. Published in New York, _August_ 1775." The 1795 edition changed the t.i.tle to "The Misnomer." I have followed the t.i.tle and text of the 1809 edition.

[101] General Gage's proclamation, issued June 12, 1775, was as follows: "Whereas the infatuated mult.i.tudes, who have long suffered themselves to be conducted by certain well-known incendiaries and traitors, in a fatal progression of crimes against the const.i.tutional authority of the state, have at length proceeded to avowed rebellion, and the good effects which were expected to arise from the patience and lenity of the king's government have been often frustrated, and are now rendered hopeless by the influence of the same evil counsels, it only remains for those who are intrusted with the supreme rule, as well for the punishment of the guilty as the protection of the well-affected, to prove that they do not bear the sword in vain."

[102] "The hopeful general."--_Const.i.tutional Gazette._

[103] On June 11, Washington had written Gage, among other things, "that the officers engaged in the cause of liberty and their country, who by the fortune of war had fallen into your hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into a common gaol appropriated for felons," and threatening retaliation in like cases, "exactly by the rule you shall observe towards those of ours now in your custody." To this Cage replied, on the 13th: "Britons, ever pre-eminent in mercy, have outgone common examples, and overlooked the criminal in the captive. Upon these principles your prisoners, whose lives, by the law of the land, _are destined to the cord_, have hitherto been treated with care and kindness," &c.--_Duyckinck._

[104] "Gage shall be."--_Gazette._

[105] "Black monster."--_Gazette._

[106] The _Gazette_ version adds here the lines,

"Nay, with himself, ere freedom sent to quell Had seen the lowest lurking place of h.e.l.l."

[107] "British clemency."--_Ed. 1786._

[108] "Their past records show."--_Ed, 1786._ "Gage already lets us know."--_Gazette._

[109] "The viper foe."--_Gazette._

[110] This and the preceding line not in the earlier versions. In place of them the _Gazette_ has the lines:

"Spoil'd of their shrouds and o'er Canadia's plains Be hung aloft to terrify in chains."

[111] The _Gazette_ version ends the poem from this point as follows:

"Let Baker's head be s.n.a.t.c.h'd from infamy, And Carleton's Popish scull be fixt on high, And all like him o'er St. John's castle swing, To show that freedom is no trifling thing."

[112] "Their tyrant of a king."--_Ed. 1786._