he stood to gaze,--
The truth can't be denied, sir,--
He spied a score of kegs, or more,
Come floating down the tide, sir.

A sailor, too, in jerkin blue,
This strange appearance viewing,
First rubbed his eyes, in great surprise,
Then said some mischief's brewing.

* * * * *

Some fire cried, which some denied,
But said the earth had quaked;
And girls and boys, with hideous noise,
Ran through the streets half naked.

* * * * *

The royal band now ready stand,
All ranged in dread array, sir,
With stomach stout, to see it out,
And make a bloody day, sir.

The cannons roar from shore to shore;
The small arms make a rattle;
Since wars began, I'm sure no man
E'er saw so strange a battle.

A hundred men, with each a pen,
Or more,--upon my word, sir,
It is most true,--would be too few
Their valor to record, sir.

[Footnote 75: A prominent author of the revolutionary era.]

[Footnote 76: In the revolutionary war, while the British held
Philadelphia, some floating torpedoes were one day sent down the river
to destroy their vessels, and this novel mode of attack caused the alarm
described by the poet.]

* * * * *

=_John Trumbull, 1750-1831._= (Manual, pp. 490, 512.)

From "McFingal."

=_317._=

Though this, not all his time was lost on,
He fortified the town of Boston,
Built breastworks that might lend assistance
To keep the patriots at a distance;
For, howsoe'er the rogues might scoff,
He liked them best the farthest off;
Works of important use to aid
His courage when he felt afraid.

* * * * *

For Providence, disposed to tease us,
Can use what instruments it pleases;
To pay a tax, at Peter's wish,
His chief cashier was once a fish.

* * * * *

An English bishop's cur of late
Disclosed rebellions 'gainst the State;
So frogs croaked Pharaoh to repentance,
And lice delayed the fatal sentence:
And Heaven can rain you at pleasure,
By Gage, as soon as by a Caesar.
Yet did our hero in these days
Pick up some laurel-wreaths of praise;
And as the statuary of Seville
Made his cracked saint an excellent devil.
So, though our war small triumph brings,
We gained great fame in other things.
Did not our troops show great disce