And has not Gage, her missionary,

Turn'd many an Afric to a Tory;

Made the New-England Bishop's see grow,

By many a new-converted P

negro

As friends to government, when he
Your slaves at Boston late set free,
Enlisted them in black parade,
Emboss'd with regimental red;

While flared the epaulette, like flambeau,
On Captain Cuff and Ensign Sambo:
And were they not accounted then
Among his very bravest men?

And when such means she stoops to take, Think you she is not wide awake?

As the good man of old in Job

Own'd wondrous allies through the globe,. Had brought the stones* along the street To ratify a cov'nant meet,

*The stones and all the elements with thee

Shall ratify a strict confederacy,

Wild beasts their savage temper shall forget,
And for a firm alliance with thee treat, &c.
Blackmore's paraphrase of Job.

And every beast, from lice to lions,
To join in leagues of strict alliance:
Has she not cringed, in spite of pride,
For like assistance, far and wide,
Till all this formidable league rose
Of Indians, British troops and Negroes?
And can you break these triple bands
By all your workmanship of hands?
"Sir," quoth Honorius, "we presume
You guess from past feats what's to come,
And from the mighty deeds of Gage
Foretell how fierce the war he'll wage.
You doubtless recollected here
The annals of his first great year:
While, wearying out the Tories' patience,
He spent his breath in proclamations;
While all his mighty noise and vapour
Was used in wrangling upon paper,
And boasted military fits

Closed in the straining of his wits;
While troops, in Boston commons placed,
Laid nought, but quires of paper, waste;
While strokes alternate stunn'd the nation,
Protest, Address and Proclamation,

And speech met speech, fib clash'd with fib,
And Gage still answer'd, squib for squib.

"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,

And whence right off, in manful station,
He'd boldly pop his proclamation.

Our hearts must in our bosoms freeze,

At such heroic deeds as these."

"Vain," said the 'Squire, "you'll find to sneer

At Gage's first triumphant year;

For Providence, disposed to teaze us,
Can use what instruments it pleases.

To pay a tax, at Peter's wish,

An ass,

His chief cashier was once a fish ;
in Balaam's sad disaster,
Turn'd orator and saved his master;
A goose, placed sentry on his station,
Preserved old Rome from desolation ;

An English bishop's* cur of late
Disclosed rebellions 'gainst the state;
So frogs croak'd Pharaoh to repentance,
And lice delay'd the fatal sentence :
And heaven can ruin you at pleasure,
By Gage, as soon as by a Cæsar.
Yet did our hero in these days

Pick up some laurel wreaths of praise.
And as the statuary of Seville

Made his crackt saint an exc❜llent devil;
So though our war small triumph brings,
We gain'd great fame in other things.

"Did not our troops show great discerning, And skill your various arts in learning? Outwent they not each native noodle By far, in playing Yankee-doodle,†

*See Atterbury's trial.

This was a native air of New-England, and was often played in derision by the British troops, particularly on their march to Lexington. Afterwards the captive army of Burgoyne were obliged to march to this tune, in the ceremony of piling their arms at Saratoga. Lond. Edit.

Which as 'twas your New-England tune,
'Twas marvellous they took so soon?
And ere the year was fully through,
Did not they learn to foot it too,*
And such a dance, as ne'er was known,

For twenty miles on end lead down?

Did they not lay their heads together,

And gain your art to tar and feather,†

* At the battle of Lexington.

In the beginning of 1775, to bring forward an occasion for a more serious quarrel, than had yet taken place between the people and the army, Lieutenant Colonel Nesbitt laid the following plan. The country people being in the habit of purchasing arms, he directed a soldier to sell one of them an old rusty musket. The soldier soon found a purchaser, a man who brought vegetables to market, who paid him three dollars for it. Scarcely had the man parted from the soldier when he was seized by Nesbitt and conveyed to the guardhouse, where he was confined all night. Early next morning they stripped him entirely naked, covered him with warm tar, and then with feathers, placed him on a cart, conducted him to the north end of the town, then back to the south end, as far as Liberty-Tree; where the people began to collect in vast numbers, and the military, fearing for their own safety, dismissed the man, and made a retreat to the barracks.

The party consisted of about thirty grenadiers of the 47th regiment, with fixed bayonets, twenty drums and fifes play