The Poems of Philip Freneau Volume II Part 38

In vernal skies Thus tempests rise, And clouds obscure the brightest sun-- Few wreathes are gain'd With blood unstain'd, No honours without ruin won.

5

The arms of France three lillies mark-- In honour's dome with these enroll'd The plough, the sheaf, the gliding barque The riches of our State unfold.

6

Ally'd in Heaven, a sun and stars Friendship and peace with France declare-- The branch succeeds the spear of Mars, Commerce repairs the wastes of war: In ties of concord ancient foes engage Proving the day-spring of a brighter age.

7

These States defended by the brave, Their military trophies, see!

The virtue that of old did save Shall still maintain them great and free: Arts shall pervade the western wild, And savage hearts become more mild.

8

Of science proud, the source of sway, Lo! emblematic figures shine; The arts their kindred forms display, Manners to soften and refine: A stately tree to heaven its summit sends And cl.u.s.ter'd fruit from thirteen boughs depends.

9

With laurel crown'd A chief renown'd (His country sav'd) his faulchion sheaths; Neglects his spoils For rural toils And crowns his plough with laurel wreaths: While we this Roman chief survey, What apt resemblance strikes the eye!

Those features to the soul convey A Washington in fame as high, Whose prudent, persevering mind Patience with manly courage join'd, And when disgrace and death were near, Look'd through the black distressing shade, Struck hostile Britons with unwonted fear And blasted their best hopes, and pride in ruin laid.

10

Victorious virtue! aid me to pursue The tributary verse to triumphs due-- Behold the peasant leave his lowly shed, Where tufted forests round him grow;-- Tho' clouds the dark sky overspread, War's dreadful art his arm essays, He meets the hostile cannon's blaze, And pours redoubled vengeance on the foe.

11

Born to protect and guard our native land, Victorious virtue! still preserve us free; Plenty--gay child of peace, thy horn expand, And, Concord, teach us to agree!

May every virtue that adorns the soul Be here advanc'd to heights unknown before; Pacific ages in succession roll, 'Till Nature blots the scene, Chaos resumes her reign And heaven with pleasure views its works no more.

[276] Published in the _Freeman's Journal_, May 19, 1784, which the text follows. Practically unchanged for the later editions. The following description of this arch appeared in the _Journal_, May 12th:

"Monday at noon, the sheriff, attended by the proper officers, made proclamation of the Definitive Treaty of Peace concluded between America and Great-Britain. At the same time the state flag was hoisted on Market street wharf, and in the evening the transparent paintings which were designed in celebration of the general peace, and were to have been shewn on the 22d January last, but prevented by an unfortunate accident; being revived by subscription, and executed by the ingenious Mr. Peale, were exhibited, and afforded great satisfaction to many thousands of spectators.

The following is a Description of the Triumphal Arch and its ornaments:

THE Arch is fifty Feet and six Inches wide, and thirty-five Feet and six Inches high, exclusive of the Ball.u.s.trade, which is three Feet and nine Inches in height. The Arch is fourteen Feet wide in the clear, and each of the smaller Arches nine feet. The Pillars are of the _Ionic_ Order.

The Entablature, all the other Parts, and the Proportions correspond with that Order; and the whole Edifice is finished in the Style of Architecture proper for such a Building, and used by the _Romans_. The Pillars are adorned with spiral Festoons of Flowers in their natural Colours.... [Then follows a half-column description of the various ornaments and devices.]

The whole Building illuminated by about twelve hundred Lamps."

THE HURRICANE[277]

Happy the man who, safe on sh.o.r.e, Now trims, at home, his evening fire; Unmov'd, he hears the tempests roar, That on the tufted groves expire: Alas! on us they doubly fall, Our feeble barque must bear them all.

Now to their haunts the birds retreat, The squirrel seeks his hollow tree, Wolves in their shaded caverns meet, All, all are blest but wretched we-- Foredoomed a stranger to repose, No rest the unsettled ocean knows.

While o'er the dark abyss[A] we roam, Perhaps, with last departing gleam, We saw the sun descend in gloom, No more to see his morning beam; But buried low, by far too deep, On coral beds, unpitied, sleep!

[A] Near the east end of Jamaica, July 30, 1784.--_Freneau's note._

But what a strange, uncoasted strand Is that, where fate permits no day-- No charts have we to mark that land, No compa.s.s to direct that way-- What Pilot shall explore that realm, What new Columbus take the helm!

While death and darkness both surround, And tempests rage with lawless power, Of friendship's voice I hear no sound, No comfort in this dreadful hour-- What friendship can in tempests be, What comfort on this raging sea?

The barque, accustomed to obey, No more the trembling pilots guide: Alone she gropes her trackless way, While mountains burst on either side-- Thus, skill and science both must fall; And ruin is the lot of all.

[277] First published in the April 13, 1785, issue of the _Freeman's Journal_, under the t.i.tle, "Verses, made at Sea, in a Heavy Gale," and reprinted verbatim in the 1786 edition. In the August 20, 1788, issue of the _Journal_ the poem was republished in connection with the following note (in italics): "In that violent hurricane at Jamaica, on the night of the 30th of July, 1784, in which, no more than eight, out of 150 sail of vessels, in the ports of Kingston and Port-Royal, were saved, capt.

Freneau was at sea, and arrived at Kingston next morning, a mere wreck.

On that occasion, the following beautiful lines, extracted from the first volume of his writings, were penned." Text from the edition of 1809.

TO THE KEEPER OF THE KING'S WATER WORKS[278]

Near Kingston,[279] in the island of Jamaica, on being refused a puncheon of water

Written August, 1784

"_The celestial Deities protect and relieve strangers in every country, as long as those strangers respect and submit to the laws of the country._"

--KIEN-LHI, _alias_ JOHN TUCK, _Viceroy of Canton_.

Can he, who o'er two Indies holds the sway, Where'er the ocean flows, whose fleets patrole, Who bids Hibernia's rugged sons obey, And at whose nod (you say) shakes either pole:--

Can he, whose crown a thousand jewels grace Of worth untold--can he, so rich, deny One wretched puncheon from this ample waste, Begg'd by his quondam subject--very dry?

Vast are the springs in yonder cloud-capt hill: Why, then, refuse the abundant flowing wave?

Where hogs, and dogs, and keepers drink their fill, May we not something from such plenty crave?

Keeper!--must we with empty cask return!

Just view the limpid stream that runs to waste!-- Denied the stream that flows from Nature's urn, By locks and bolts secur'd from rebel taste?

Well!--if we must, inform the royal ear, Poor are some kings that now in Britain live: Tell him, that Nature is no miser here; Tell him--that he withholds--what beggars give.

[278] From the edition of 1809. The poem seems first to have appeared in the _National Gazette_ of January 12, 1792, with the following note: "The following lines were written some years ago (Sept. 1784) on board the brig _Dromilly_, in Kingston harbour, Jamaica; and sent to the keeper of the King's waterworks, near Rock fort; who had refused the writer a puncheon of water from a reservoir that was, by royal order, appropriated to the use of the royal navy." The present text is somewhat varied from that in the edition of 1795.

[279] "Rock-Fort."--_Ed. 1795._