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Hopkinson,

prominence in public affairs. His son, Joseph Hop- Joseph kinson, wrote, in 1798, the song "Hail Columbia," 1770-1842. which was probably our most popular national song until, in our own days, "My Country, 'tis of Thee" was written.

Wheatley
Peters,

Phillis Wheatley Peters, a negro servant of Mr. Phillis John Wheatley, of Boston, published, in 1773, a volume of poems. They are correct and smooth in ver- 1754-1784. sification, and the thought is elevated and not more prosaic than that of most of the verse of the time. This negro girl, born in Africa and nurtured in slavery, writes as good poetry, to say the least, as the theologian Dwight or the statesman Barlow.

Freneau,

1752-1832.

The real lyric poet of this period, however, is Philip Philip Freneau, who was born in New York, graduated at Princeton College, and lived in New Jersey. There is real music in some of his verse, and he finds the material for poetic thought in the simple objects of nature. His poetry is thus a prelude to that song which rang so sweet and clear in Bryant. The "Wild Honeysuckle" and the "Honey Bee" show, in less degree, the same qualities as the "Fringed Gentian" and the "Waterfowl." Waterfowl." In his use of Indian themes, also, Freneau shows a tendency to seek his own materials and methods of expression rather than copy others. One of his poems will repay careful study:

F

THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE

Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in the silent, dull retreat,

Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,

Unseen thy little branches greet;

No roving foot shall crush thee here,
No busy hand provoke a tear.

By Nature's self in white arrayed,
She bade thee shun the vulgar eye,
And planted here the guardian shade,
And sent soft waters murmuring by ;
Thus quietly thy summer goes,
Thy days declining to repose.

Smit with those charms, that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom;
They died nor were those flowers more gay,
The flowers that did in Eden bloom;

Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power,
Shall leave no vestige of this flower.

From morning suns and evening dews
At first thy little being came;

If nothing once, you nothing lose,

For when you die you are the same;

The space between is but an hour,
The frail duration of a flower.

The stanzas are simply constructed; just six iambic tetrameter lines. And the rime arrangement, though a well-known one, shows artistic adaptation of form to thought. Each stanza is divided into two parts. One part has four lines of alternating rimes, and the other has two riming together. In each stanza this closing couplet states the thought suggested by the preceding quatrain. Some of the lines are very musical, and express the thought in very clear and condensed form. Notice among the best in these respects:

And sent soft waters murmuring by.

Thy days declining to repose.

The frail duration of a flower.

The third stanza seems somewhat prosaic compared
with the others. It states too fully ideas that would
be better expressed if simply suggested. There is
an anticlimax in the line "Unpitying frosts, and
Autumn's power," the last words being obviously
introduced for the sake of the rime. Altogether the

poem would be more complete without this stanza.
But there is far more to praise than to blame in this
little poem.
The lines are perfect, the rimes are

true, and the thought is genuinely poetic.

Royall Tyler, 1758-1826.

William

Dramatic Literature has two names of interest dur- The Drama. ing this period. The first American play put upon the stage was a comedy, called "The Contrast," written by Royall Tyler, and produced in New York in 1786. William Dunlap, who has a stronger claim to memory as a painter and as the founder of the Dunlap, 1766-1839. National Academy of Design, wrote a number of plays. Among them, "Leicester" enjoys the distinction of being the first American tragedy presented upon the stage.

tion.

Adams,

Marshall,

The prose writings of this period are of far more Prose Narraimportance than those in verse, and we have some interesting examples of narrative writing. Hannah Hannah Adams published, in 1799, a "History of New Eng- 1755-1832. land"; and the great jurist, John Marshall, issued John his "Life of Washington," which will always be a 1755-1835. standard biography of the great first President. A work of a much lower grade measured by the standard of the best historical writing, but of great interest nevertheless, is the gossipy "Life of Washington," Mason Locke by Mason Locke Weems. It is this book which has 1760-1825.

Weems,

Benjamin
Franklin,

born in

preserved for us a number of such incidents as the famous hatchet story.

Reference has been already made to Benjamin Franklin. His is the one name in this period of Boston, 1706; equal interest from a literary standpoint with that Philadelphia, of Jonathan Edwards. Many would say that his

died in

1790.

name is of much the greater interest. Indeed, not a few good judges would say that, on the whole, Benjamin Franklin is the greatest man whom America has produced. He was born in Boston in 1706. He learned the printer's trade with an older brother, and in 1723 went to Philadelphia. He obtained employment as a printer, and attracted the attention of the governor, Sir William Keith, who made him such promises as to induce him to go to London. Keith's promises all failed, and Franklin was thrown entirely upon his own resources; but he obtained employment at his trade, and made the acquaintance of some well-known men. In 1726 he returned to Philadelphia. In 1729 he became proprietor of the "Pennsylvania Gazette," and from that time his influence and reputation grew rapidly. He founded a club called "The Junto," out of which grew the "Pennsylvania Philosophical Society." He founded the Philadelphia Library, and a school which developed into the University of Pennsylvania. He invented a stove; and discovered the fact that lightning is the effect of electricity. He was made Deputy Postmaster-General of the colonies; and made the postal service self-supporting. He was a prominent figure in colonial politics. He was largely instru

mental in bringing the colonies together in the Confederation which made it possible to successfully resist the measures of the British Parliament. He went to England as the representative of the colony of Pennsylvania in 1757; and afterwards was chosen to be the agent in England of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia. He labored earnestly to prevent a separation between the colonies and England; but after the events of the spring of 1775, which made separation inevitable, he became a zealous supporter of the war, and an advocate of independence. He was one of the committee with Jefferson to draw up the famous Declaration. His services were invaluable in securing and maintaining the alliance with France to which the success of the Revolution was largely due; and he had an important part in the making of the treaty of peace in 1783. This rapid review of his career may serve to show how wide was the reach of his mental powers, and how eminently practical was the bent of his genius; qualities which are abundantly illustrated in his writings. His works include a great variety of state papers, of articles for newspaper publication, of scientific discussions and lectures; besides the two works by which he is. best known. These, by the date of their appearing, would belong to the previous period; but Franklin belongs historically to the time of the Revolution, and it therefore seems best to discuss his writings here.

Richard."

Probably the most popular of all his publications "Poor was "Poor Richard's Almanac," which appeared

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