The lady is evidently overfond of a certain epithet of sanguinary denotation, nor can she be complimented upon her high-flown style; but it is evident that behind the affectation of phrase there is an intense earnestness of hatred that stands as typical of its sexual source. To the patriot women of America the British were "ruffians" and "barbarians" and the most bloody-minded of human beings just as to the Loyalists the Continentals were "rebels" and "traitors," for whom hanging would have been a punishment so mild as to suggest weakness in the administrator. To the patriot woman poor old George III. was the very incarnation of all evil and malice, just as to the Tory lady another George was the vilest of ingrates to lead the armies of the rebels against the authority of so gracious a king as he of England. Both were honest in their extremes of fanaticism and so may well be pardoned, and even admired, for those extremes, with their resultant enthusiasm in the cause of freedom or loyalty.
Meanwhile there existed, though hardly flourished, the gentler arts among the women of America; and Mercy Warren, wife of James Warren and daughter of James Otis, she to whom Mrs. Winthrop's letter was addressed, wielded a more refined and therefore more effective pen than that of her friend, being the one female writer of her day who may be called notable. She was hardly less enthusiastic than Mrs. Winthrop in the cause of liberty, and she was possessed of a very respectable gift of satire which made her writings a power in their way. When there was discussed among the colonists the plan of suspending all commerce with Great Britain because of the vexed matter of the taxes, Mrs. Warren wrote a long poetic effusion which exemplifies her gift of satire, of which the best lines are these:
"'Tis true, we love the courtly mien and air, The pride of dress, and all the debonair: Yet Clara quits the more dressed negligé, And substitutes the careless polancé; Until some fair one from Britannia's court Some jaunty dress, or newer taste, import; This sweet temptation could not be withstood, Though for the purchase paid her father's blood, Though loss of freedom were the costly price, Or flaming comets sweep the angry skies, Or earthquakes rattle, or volcanoes roar; Indulge this trifle, and she asks no more. Can the stern patriot Clara's suit deny? 'Tis beauty asks, and reason must comply."