When Arnold left New York with his family for England in 1781, Freneau celebrated his departure by an ode which is in imitation of Horace. Duyckinck says Freneau's rendering is quite skilful, and shows his scholar's appreciation of the original. ARNOLD'S DEPARTURE. Mala soluta navis exit aliter Ferens olentem Mævium. Imitated from HORACE. With evil omens from the harbour sails The ill-fated ship that worthless Arnold bears, With horrid waves insult his vessel's sides, And may the east wind on a leeward shore And let the north wind to her ruin haste, With such a rage, as when from mountains high May not one friendly star that night be seen; Than Greece, triumphant, found that stormy day, When angry Pallas spent her rage no more When toss'd upon the vast Atlantic main Your groaning ship the southern gales shall tear, 1 But if at last, upon some winding shore 1 A prey to hungry cormorants you lie, Of this poem, Professor Murray says some parts are unequalled. In this year, 1881, Freneau published his poem commemorating the naval victory of Paul Jones. It was entitled "On the Memorable Victory," which the same professor says is a genuine specimen of the national ballad. One beautiful phase of Freneau's character was his freedom from all sentiment of jealousy. Probably no one was ever found more willing to bestow praise, when deserved, than he. Although the entire poem is a panegyric, I select a few stanzas to exemplify what I have already stated: "'T was Jones, brave Jones, to battle led Upon the sky surrounded main And again : "But thou, brave Jones, no blame shalt bear; For these you dare the greedy waves No tyrant, on destruction bent, Has plann'd thy conquests thou art sent To humble tyrants and their slaves." The poem contains twenty-one stanzas descriptive of the battle. The concluding stanzas run thus: "Go on, great man, to scourge the foe, 1 The tempests were goddesses among the Romans. They to our Thirteen Stars shall bend; "Bend to the stars that flaming rise They trembled and ador'd.” 1 During the year 1781 and till peace was declared, Freneau strove to animate his countrymen with his pen, as indeed he had ever done since the outbreak of hostilities. From Concord to Yorktown, during the bleak winter at Valley Forge, and round the camp-fires on Temple Hill, his verses encouraged the desponding soldiers. The newspapers widely published them, and they were written on slips of paper and distributed throughout the army, or posted in some conspicuous place to be memorized. And not alone by the campfire did they accomplish their work, but even on the field; his earnestness and zeal encouraged the patriots to greater efforts, or urged them on at the point of his bayonet (the pen) when he saw any signs of their lagging behind; and afterwards he immortalized the victories they won. Not a memorable incident either by land or by water escaped his ever watchful and unwearied pen. Conscious that ridicule best kills a cause, every vain exploit of the enemy was depicted in a ludicrous light; and so successfully did he attack those that still adhered to the crown that he gained to his side many who through indifference had given their adherence to 1 This action was fought off Flamborough Head the 23d of September, 1779. Few naval battles have made a greater popular impression. The history of Jones has an air of romance and gallantry, of courage and adventure. His ability as an officer and seaman cannot be disputed. neither party. This was too serious a time to think of future fame; the stern realities of the present were to be met, and by a supreme effort everything was to be gained or all lost. His country's fortunes were his, and he threw himself heart and soul into the task. Exquisite melodies could hardly touch the hearts of the half-clothed barefooted soldiers. It would be like the mockery of pouring a wineglass of Tokay or Johannisberg into the poor empty canteens of halffamished soldiers. No, he wrote to arouse, to inspire, to encourage the rough, illiterate men of whom the army was mostly composed. And as no two natures are precisely alike, he enlisted all his talents in his work; burlesque, satire, imprecation, nothing was neglected that might touch an answering chord in their hearts. Now he would ring a note of victory, now one of defiance, again that of denunciation in answer to some Tory gibe. Some writer has said, "Was it not as grand and true a spirit that would belittle itself to cheer the downhearted patriots, or give their unrefined ears some jingle to sing or some praise to cheer, as issued from the lips of the officers on the field?—it was all for the same cause." It has also been truthfully said that among the poets of the Revolution that contributed the most effectually to animate the colonists in their struggles with England, Freneau holds the chief place; and that during the war, and for several years afterwards, his efforts were so much appreciated that he enjoyed a large measure of popularity and even since that time many of his productions have received high praise abroad and at home. His real strength lay in his earnestness, and it was this quality that made his revolutionary verses popular, and contributed to their real merit. During the war he satirized Tryon, Gage, Burgoyne, Vaughan, Knyphausen, and Lords Percy, North, and Jeffries, also the blundering of the British troops by land, and their losses by sea; and, above all, the crown in its representative, George, whom he called a "royal coward." In fact, as Professor Tyler has said, "a running commentary on his Revolutionary satires would be an almost complete commentary on the whole Revolutionary struggle; nearly every important emergency and phase of which are photographed in his keen, merciless, and often brilliant lines." The war ending in 1783, Freneau dropped his bloodless warfare and turned his satirical powers upon the rival printers Rivington and Gaines; who had changed their signs as well as their coats to suit each power that held the ascendency; and which he thought called rather for ridicule than eloquence. And in this, Dr. Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, and Trumbull joined him, opening their batteries of severity and ridicule upon these unfortunate remnants of Toryism. James Rivington was a London bookseller who had established himself in New York, and commenced, in 1773, the publication of the "New York Gazetteer," a Tory organ. In 1775, Isaac Sears, a "Son of Liberty," destroyed his office and ran his type into bullets; Rivington repaired to England, obtained the appointment of king's printer, and returned with new type to New York. Although he seemed to do his best to fan the flame of Toryism before and during the war, after it was over he escaped deserved punishment by having acted as a spy for Washington. Nevertheless, Freneau, who detested insincerity, commemorated his turncoat propensities in several poems; but Rivington, a supple courtier, stood the fire, took down the royal arms of which Freneau made sport, and continued his paper under the title of " New York Gazette and Universal Advertiser." This latter quality drew upon him Freneau's ridicule; it is said that his advertisements sup |