'T is New-Year's morn; why should we part?

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Why not enjoy what Heaven has sent us?
Let wine expand the social heart,

Let friends and mirth and wine content us.

War's rude alarms disturb'd last year;

Our country bled and wept around us:

But this each honest heart shall cheer,

And peace and plenty shall surround us.

Last year King Congo, through the land,

Display'd his thirteen stripes to fright us; But George's power, in Clinton's hand,

In this New-Year shall surely right us.

IO

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Last year saw many honest men

Torn from each dear and sweet connection; But this shall see them home again,

And happy in their King's protection.

Last year vain Frenchmen brav'd our coasts,
And baffled Howe, and scap'd from Byron;
But this shall bring their vanquish'd hosts

To crouch beneath the British Lion.

Last year rebellion proudly stood,

Elate in her meridian glory;

But this shall quench her pride in blood:
GEORGE will avenge each martyr'd Tory.

Then bring us wine, full bumpers bring;
Hail this New-Year in joyful chorus:

God bless great GEORGE, our gracious King,
And crush rebellion down before us!

FROM

THE AMERICAN TIMES

(BY JONATHAN ODELL?)

Hear thy indictment, Washington, at large;
Attend and listen to the solemn charge:

Thou hast supported an atrocious cause

1779.

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Against thy King, thy Country, and the laws;

Committed perjury, encourag'd lies,

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Forced conscience, broken the most sacred ties;

Myriads of wives and fathers at thy hand

Their slaughter'd husbands, slaughter'd sons demand;
That pastures hear no more the lowing kine,

That towns are desolate, all, all is thine;

ΙΟ

The frequent sacrilege that pain'd my sight,
The blasphemies my pen abhors to write,
Innumerable crimes on thee must fall,
For thou maintainest, thou defendest all.

Wilt thou pretend that Britain is in fault?
In Reason's court a falsehood goes for nought.
Will it avail, with subterfuge refin'd,

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To say such deeds are foreign to thy mind?
Wilt thou assert that, generous and humane,
Thy nature suffers at another's pain?
He who a band of ruffians keeps to kill,
Is he not guilty of the blood they spill?

Who guards M'Kean and Joseph Reed the vile,
Help'd he not murder Roberts and Carlisle ?
So, who protects committees in the chair,

In all their shocking cruelties must share.

What could, when half-way up the hill to fame,
Induce thee to go back and link with shame ?
Was it ambition, vanity, or spite,

That prompted thee with Congress to unite?
Or did all three within thy bosom roll,
"Thou heart of hero with a traitor's soul"?
Go, wretched author of thy country's grief,
Patron of villainy, of villains chief;

Seek with thy cursed crew the central gloom,
Ere Truth's avenging sword begin thy doom,
Or sudden vengeance of celestial dart
Precipitate thee with augmented smart!

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1780.

HUGH H. BRACKENRIDGE

FROM

THE BATTLE OF BUNKERS-HILL

ACT V. SCENE I

Bunkers-Hill. Warren with the American Army.

Warren. To arms, brave countrymen! for see, the foe

Comes forth to battle, and would seem to try

With fleets and armies from the BRITISH Shore,
Shall wrest from us. Our noble ancestors

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Out-brav'd the tempests of the hoary deep,
And on these hills uncultivate and wild
Sought an asylum from despotic sway;
A short asylum, for that envious power
With persecution dire still follows us.
At first they deem'd our charters forfeited;
Next our just rights in government abridg'd;
Then thrust in viceroys and bashaws to rule
With lawless sovereignty; now added force
Of standing armies to secure their sway.
Much have we suffer'd from the licens'd rage

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Of brutal soldiery in each fair town.

Remember March, brave countrymen, that day

When BOSTON's streets ran blood! think on that day,
And let the memory to revenge stir up

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The temper of your souls! There might we still

On terms precarious and disdainful liv'd,

With daughters ravished and butcher'd sons,

But heaven forbade the thought. These are the men

Who in firm phalanx threaten us with war,

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And aim this day to fix forever down

The galling chains which tyranny has forg'd for us.

These count our lands and settlements their own,

And in their intercepted letters speak

Of farms and tenements secur'd for friends;

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Which if they gain, brave soldiers, let with blood

The purchase be seal'd down! Let every arm

This day be active in fair freedom's cause,

And shower down from the hill, like Heav'n in wrath,

Full store of light'ning and fierce iron hail

To blast the adversary. Let this ground,

Like burning Ætna or Vesuvius top,

Be wrapt in flame. The word is LIBERTY;
And Heaven smile on us in so just a cause!

SCENE II

Bunkers-Hill. Gardiner, Leading up his Men to the Engagement.

Fear not, brave soldiers, tho' their infantry

In deep array so far out-numbers us:

The justness of our cause will brace each arm

And steel the soul with fortitude, while they,

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Boston.

Whose guilt hangs trembling on their consciences,
Must fail in battle and receive that death
Which in high vengeance we prepare for them.
Let, then, each spirit, to the height wound up,
Shew noble vigour and full force this day,
For on the merit of our swords is plac'd
The virgin honour and true character
Of this whole Continent, and one short hour
May give complexion to the whole event,
Fixing the judgment whether as base slaves
We serve these masters, or more nobly live
Free as the breeze that on the hill-top plays,
With these sweet fields and tenements our own.
Oh fellow soldiers, let this battle speak
Dire disappointment to the insulting foe,
Who claim our fair possessions and set down
These cultur'd farms and bowry hills and plains
As the rich prize of certain victory.
Shall we, the sons of MASSACHUSETTS-BAY,
NEW HAMPSHIRE, and CONNECTICUT, shall we
Fall back, dishonour'd, from our native plains,
Mix with the savages and roam for food
On western mountains or the desart shores
Of Canada's cold lakes? or, state more vile,
Sit down in humble vassalage, content

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ΙΟ

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The British Army being Repuls'd, Sherwin is dispatch'd to General Gage for Assistance. Sherwin, Gage, Burgoyne, and Clinton.

Sherwin. Our men, advancing, have received dire loss

In this encounter, and the case demands,

In the swift crisis of extremity,

A thousand men to reinforce the war.

Gage. Do as you please, BURGOYNE, in this affair.

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I'll hide myself in some deep vault beneath.

[Exit.