F Chapter Eleventh NOR reasons already given, we deem it best to give the criticisms of others upon the poetry of Freneau, and begin with the remarks of a London publisher1 who, notwithstanding Freneau's hostile feeling towards all that savored in the least of Great Britain, has had the magnanimity to overlook all such sentiment, and bring before the public, of his own free will, a reproduction of the volume of Freneau's poems, as published by Francis Bailey of Philadelphia in the year 1786. In his introduction to the British public he says: "It has been remarked with justice that, in the states which have arisen out of the British settlements in America, literature as a profession is a thing of recent growth. Till within the present century, it was only taken up as a matter of taste, and at leisure, from time to time, by those whose lives were absorbed in other duties and other pursuits, and most frequently took its character from temporary feelings and impulses. It hence happens that a good proportion of the best of the older American literature was temporary in its character, and has become more or less obsolete even in America, and it is only very considerable excellence that has preserved some of it from comparative oblivion. To this latter class belongs the poet whose works are given in the present volume, and who arrived at fame amidst the turbulence of the revolutionary period." After giving a synopsis of the poet's varied career, he mentions his first notable poem composed in his 1 John Russell Smith, Soho Sq., London, 1861. sophomore year while at Nassau Hall, Princeton College, which, he says, is distinguished both by the vigor and the correctness of its versification. "His poetic satires against the royalists established his reputation in America, and all these show great talent; and some of his severer satires, such as that on his literary opponent whom he addresses under the name of Mac Swiggin, are characterized by great power." As this poem gives an insight into Philip's character, his intense love for nature in her varied forms, his lack of desire for fame, yet innate knowledge of his own powers, did he desire to gain it, his scorn for all that was low or base in mankind, and his conscious superiority over a rival whom he has it in the power of his two-edged sword to annihilate ; and furthermore as it illustrates that which we have already said his being as much dreaded by a foe, as he was loved as a friend, we will quote some portions of it :— : "Long have I sat on this disastrous shore, If thus, tormented at these flighty lays, You strive to blast what ne'er was meant for praise, Devoted madman! what inspir'd thy rage, What could thy slanderous pen with malice arm? The mean ideas of thy barren brain? Have I been seen in borrowed clothes to shine, Bless'd be our western world—its scenes conspire To raise a poet's fancy and his fire, Lo, blue-topt mountains to the skies ascend! See mighty streams meandering to the main ! -- Give me your green bowers and soft seats of rest — In spite of growling whelps, to high, exalted things, Beyond the miscreants that my peace molest, Hail, great Mac Swiggen! foe to honest fame, You dream of conquest - tell me, how, or whence? And rhymes, not worth the pang that gave them birth ! A senseless blockhead, with a scribbling pen Aspers'd like me, who would not grieve and rage! I, singly I, must combat face to face Alone I stand to meet the foul-mouth'd train, Whose timorous Muses cannot swell their theme Come on, Mac Swiggen, come — your muse is willing, Your prose is merry, but your verse is killing — Come on attack me with attack me with your choicest rhymes, Sound void of sense betrays the unmeaning chimes — Come, league your forces; all your wit combine, The heaviest arms the Muse can give, I wield, 1775. Freneau's longest and most carefully written poems were: 'The House of Night,' 'The Jamaica Funeral,' and 'The Beauties of Santa Cruz;' his most admired is 'The British Prison Ship.' "The influence of Freneau's wandering and unsettled life is visible in his literary labors, a large portion of which were inspired by the stirring events that were passing around him. For this reason, perhaps, he is not so well known as many other writers to the general reader, even in his own country; while the fierce hostility to England and King George which the great revolutionary struggle had raised in his mind, and which he expresses in very unmeasured language, prevented his being popular among Englishmen, who, indeed, have been generally neglectful of the literature of America. Yet Freneau, as the 'patriot poet,' long enjoyed a very extensive popularity among his own countrymen, and no doubt he deserves to stand among their best poets. There is an ease in his verse, combined with a great command of language, and, at the same time, a simplicity of expression and delicacy of handling, which makes us regret that it was so often employed on subjects the interest of |