[126] After the second patriot convention assembled in Richmond, Va., in March, 1775, to take measures toward putting the colony in a state of defence, Dunmore, "To intimidate the Virginians, issued proclamations and circulated a rumor that he would incite an insurrection of their slaves.... 'The whole country,' said he, 'can easily be made a solitude; and by the living God! if any insult is offered to me or to those who have obeyed my orders, I will declare freedom to the slaves and lay the town in ashes.'"--_Bancroft._
Occasioned by the title of Mr. Rivington's[A] New York Royal Gazette being scarcely legible
[A] Royal printer to his Britannic majesty while his forces held the city of New York, from 1776 to November 25, 1783.--_Freneau's note._
Says Satan to Jemmy, "I hold you a bet "That you mean to abandon our Royal Gazette, "Or, between you and me, you would manage things better "Than the Title to print on so sneaking a letter.
"Now being connected so long in the art "It would not be prudent at present to part; "And people, perhaps, would be frightened, and fret "If the devil alone carried on the Gazette."
Says Jemmy to Satan (by the way of a wipe), "Who gives me the matter should furnish the type; "And why you find fault, I can scarcely divine, "For the types, like the printer, are certainly thine.
"'Tis yours to deceive with the semblance of truth, "Thou friend of my age, and thou guide of my youth! "But, to prosper, pray send me some further supplies, "A sett of new types, and a sett of new lies."
[127] Published in the _Freeman's Journal_, February 13, 1782.
That should have been spoken by the King of the Island of Britain to his Parliament
My lords, I can hardly from weeping refrain, When I think of this year and its cursed campaign;[129] But still it is folly to whine and to grieve, For things will yet alter, I hope and believe.
Of the four southern States we again are bereav'd, They were just in our grasp (or I'm sadly deceiv'd): There are wizards and witches that dwell in those lands, For the moment we gain them, they slip from our hands.
Our prospects at present most gloomy appear; Cornwallis returns with a flea in his ear, Sir Henry is sick of his station we know-- And Amherst, though press'd, is unwilling to go.