HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. THE earliest specimens of poetry which I have presented in the body of this work are from the writings of PHILIP FRENEAU, one of those worthies who with both lyre and sword aided in the achievement of the independence of the United States. Before his time but little poetry was written in this country, although from the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth there was at no period a lack of candidates for the poetic laurel. Many of the early colonists were men of erudition, deeply versed in scholastic theology, and familiar with the best ancient literature; but they possessed neither the taste, the fancy, nor the feeling of the poet, and their elaborate metrical compositions are forgotten by all save the antiquary, and by him are regarded as among the least valuable of the relics of the first era of civilization in America. It is unreasonable to compare the quaint and grotesque absurdities of FOLGER, MATHER, and WIGGLESWORTH With the productions of the first cultivators of the art in older nations; for literature-mental development—had here, in truth, no infancy. The great works of CHAUCER, SPENSER, SHAKSPEARE, and MILTON were as accessible in their time as now, and the living harmonies of DRYDEN and POPE were borne on every breeze that then fanned the cheek of an Englishman. The bar to progress was that spirit of bigotry—at length broken down by the stronger spirit of freedomwhich prevented the cultivation of elegant learning, and regarded as the fruits of profane desire the poet's glowing utterance, strong feeling, delicate fancy, and brilliant imagination. Our fathers were like the labourers of an architect; they planted deep and strong in religious virtue and useful science the foundations of an edifice, not dreaming how great and magnificent it was to be. They did well their part; it was not meet for them to fashion the capitals and adorn the arches of the temple. The first poem composed in this country was a description of New England, in Latin, by the Reverend WILLIAM MORRELL, who came to Plymouth Colony in 1623, and returned to London in the following year. It has been reprinted, with an English translation made by the author, in the collections of the Massa 3 chusetts Historical Society. The first verses by a colonist were written about the year 1630. The name of the author has been lost: New England's annoyances, you that would know them, But when the spring opens, we then take the hoe, Now while some are going let others be coming, The first book published in British America was "The Psalms in Metre, faithfully Translated, for the Use, Edification, and Comfort of the Saints, in Public and Private, especially in New England," printed at Cambridge, in 1640. The version was made by THOMAS WELDE, of Roxbury, RICHARD MATHER, of Dorchester, and JOHN ELIOT, the famous apostle to the Indians. The translators seem to have been aware that it possessed but little poetical merit. "If," say they, in their preface, the verses are not always so smooth and elegant as some may desire and expect, let them consider that GOD's altar needs not our polishings; for we have respected rather a plain translation, than to smooth our verses with the sweetness of any paraphrase, and so have attended to conscience rather than elegance, and fidelity rather than poetry, in translating Hebrew words into English language, and DAVID's poetry into English metre." COTTON MATHER laments the inelegance of the version, but declares that the Hebrew was most exactly rendered. After a second edition had been printed, President DUNSTER,* of Harvard College, assisted by Mr. RICHARD LYON, a tutor at Cambridge, attempted to improve it, and in their advertisement to the godly reader they state that they "had special eye both to the gravity of the phrase of sacred writ and sweetness of the verse." DUNSTER'S edition was reprinted twenty-three times in America, and several times in Scotland and England, where it was long used in the dissenting congregations. The following specimen is from the second edition: PSALM CXXXVII. The rivers on of Babilon, There when wee did sit downe, Yea, even then, wee mourned when Wee remembered Sion. Our harp wee did hang it amid, Upon the willow tree, Because there they that us away Led in captivitee Requir'd of us a song, and thus Askt mirth us waste who laid, The LORD's song sing can wee, being Let cleave my tongue my pallate on If chiefe joyes o're I prize not more Remember, LORD, Edom's sons' word, It rase, it rase, when as it was Blest shall he be that payeth thee, Daughter of Babilon, Who must be waste, that which thou hast O happie hee shall surely bee That taketh up, that eke Thy little ones against the stones Mrs. ANNE BRADSTREET, "the mirror of her THOMAS DUNSTER was the first president of Harvard College, and was inaugurated on the twenty-seventh of age, and glory of her sex," as she is styled by JOHN NORTON, of excellent memory, came to America with her husband, SIMON BRADSTREET, governor of the colony, in 1630, when she was but sixteen years of age. She was a daughter of Governor DUDLEY, a miserly, though a "valorous and discreet gentleman," for whom Governor BELCHER Wrote the following epitaph: "Here lies THOMAS DUDLEY, that trusty old studA bargain's a bargain, and must be made good." Mrs. BRADSTREET's verses were printed at Cambridge, in 1640. The volume was entitled, "Several Poems, compiled with great variety of wit and learning, full of delight; wherein especially is contained a compleat discourse and description of the four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, and Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome of the Three First Monarchies, viz: the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian; and Roman Commonwealth, from the beginning, to the end of the last King; with divers other Pleasant and Serious Poems." NORTON declares her poetry so fine that, were MARO to hear it, he would condemn his own works to the fire; and in a poetical description of her character says Her breast was a brave pallace, a broad street, The author of the "Magnalia" speaks of her poems as a "monument for her memory beyond the stateliest marble;" and JOHN ROGERS, one of the presidents of Harvard College, in some verses addressed to her, says Your only hand those poesies did compose: Your head the source, whence all those springs did flow: She died in September, 1672, and "was greatly mourned." The following stanzas are August, 1640. In 1654 he became unpopular on account of his public advocacy of anti-pædobaptism, and was compelled to resign. When he died, in 1659, he bequeathed legacies to the persons who were most active in causing his separation from the college. In the life of DUNSTER, in the Magnalia, is the following admonition, by a Mr. SHEPHERD, to the authors of the New Psalm Book: You Rerb'ry poets keep clear of the crime Of missing to give to us very good rhyme. And you of Dorchester, your verses lengthen, But with the texts' own words you will them strengthen. from one of her minor pieces, entitled "Contemplations." Under the cooling shadow of a stately elm Where gliding streams the rocks did overwhelm ; 1 once that loved the shady woods so well, And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell. While on the stealing stream I fixt mine eye, Nor is it rocks or shoals that can obstruct thy pace. So may we press to that vast mansion, ever blest. Ye fish, which in this liquid region 'bide, In lakes and ponds, you leave your numerous fry, [shield. To see what trade the great ones there do drive, And wisht me wings with her a while to take my flight. O merry bird (said I) that fears no snares, To gain more good, or shun what might thee harm; The dawning morn with songs thou dost prevent,* And thus they pass their youth in summer season, Where winter's never felt by that sweet airy legion. Man's at the best a creature frail and vain, In knowledge ignorant, in strength but weak: And yet this sinfull creature, frail and vain, • Anticipate. [lation. In weight, in frequency, and long duration, So he that saileth in this world of pleasure, Fond fool, he takes this earth ev'n for heaven's bower. O Time, the fatal wrack of mortal things, Their parts, their ports, their pomp's all laid in th' dust; WILLIAM BRADFORD, the second governor of Plymouth, who wrote a " "History of the People and Colony from 1602 to 1647," composed also "A Descriptive and Historical Account of New England, in Verse," which is preserved in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. When JOHN COTTON, a minister of Boston, died in 1652, BENJAMIN WOODBRIDGE, the first graduate of Harvard College, and afterward one of the chaplains of CHARLES the Second, wrote an elegiac poem, from a passage in which it is supposed FRANKLIN borrowed the idea of his celebrated epitaph on himself. COTTON, Says WOODBRIDGE, was A living, breathing Bible; tables where O what a monument of glorious worth, The lines of the Reverend JoSEPH CAPEN, on the death of Mr. JOHN FOSTER, an inge nious mathematician and printer, are yet more like the epitaph of FRANKLIN: Thy body which no activeness did lack, "T will have at length a far more active state: A fair edition, and of matchless worth, Free from erratas, new in heaven set forth; 'Tis but a word from GoD the great Creator, It shall be done when he saith Imprimatur. The excellent President URIAN OAKES, styled "the LACTANTIUS of New England," was one of the most distinguished poets of his time. The following verses are from his Elegy on the death of THOMAS SHEPARD, minister of Charlestown: Art, nature, grace, in him were all combined Both Englands speak him great, admire his name,) And ruled by love and wisdom more than fear. Sure Father WILSON's genuine son was he, Blest be my rock! GoD lives: O! let him be At that period the memory of every eminent person was preserved in an ingenious elegy, epitaph, or anagram. SHEPARD, mourned in the above verses by OAKES, on the death of JOHN WILSON," the Paul of New England," and "the greatest annagrammatizer since the days of LYCOPHRON," wrote John Wilson, anagr. John Wilson. O, change it not! No sweeter name or thing, Throughout the world, within our ears shall ring. THOMAS WELDE, a poet of some reputation in his day, wrote the following epitaph on SAMUEL DANFORTH, a minister of Roxbury, who died soon after the completion of a new meeting-house: Our new-built church now suffers too by this, Larger its windows, but its lights are less. PETER FOULGER, a schoolmaster of Nantucket, and the maternal grandfather of Doctor FRANKLIN, in 1676 published a poem entitled "A Looking-glass for the Times," addressed to men in authority, in which he advocates religious liberty, and implores the government to repeal the uncharitable laws against the Quakers and other sects. He says The rulers in the country I do owne them in the LORD; And such as are for government, with them I do accord. But that which I intend hereby, is that they would keep bound; And meddle not with GoD's worship, for which they have no ground. And I am not alone herein, there's many hundreds more, That have for many years ago spoke much more upon that Indeed, I really believe, it's not your business, [score. To meddle with the church of GoD in matters more or less. Now loving friends and countrymen, I wish we may be wise; 'Tis now a time for every man to see with his own eyes. To show a spirit that is high; to scorn and domineer; To live in such hypocrisy, as men may think us good, I am for peace, and not for war, and that's the reason why I write more plain than some men do, that use to daub and lie. But I shall cease and set my name to what I here insert: Because to be a libeller, I hate it with my heart. [here, From Sherbontown, where now I dwell, my name I do put Without offence, your real friend, it is PETER FOULGER. Probably the first native bard was he who is described on a tombstone at Roxbury as "BENJAMIN THOMSON, learned schoolmaster and physician, and ye renowned poet of New England." He was born in the town of Dorchester, (now Quincy,) in 1640, and educated at Cambridge where he received a degree in 1662. His incipal work, "New England's Crisis," appears to have been written during the famous wars of PHILIP, Sachem of the Pequods, against the colonists, in 1675 and 1676. The following is the prologue, in which he laments the growth of luxury among the people: The times wherein old POMPION was a saint, Daring Plain Dealing's reign, that worthy stud 'T was long before spiders and worms had drawn 'Twas ere the neighbouring Virgin-Land had broke But valour snib'd it. Then were men of worth Dear love, sound truth, they were our grand protection. If these be longer liv'd our hopes increase, THOMSON died in April, 1714, aged 74. He wrote besides his "great epic," three shorter poems, neither of which have much merit. ROGER WILLIAMS, Chief Justice SEWALL, NATHANIEL WARD, of Ipswich, JOHN OSBORN, NATHANIEL PITCHER, and many others were in this period known as poets. The death of PITCHER was celebrated in some verses entitled Pitchero Threnodia," in which he was compared to PINDAR, HORACE, and other great writers of antiquity. The most celebrated person of his age in America was COTTON MATHER. He was once revered as a saint, and is still regarded as a man of great natural abilities and profound and universal learning. It is true that he had much of what is usually called scholarship: he could read many languages; and his memory was so retentive that he rarely forgot the most trivial circumstance; but he had too little genius to comprehend great truths; and his attainments, curious rather than valuable, made him resemble a complicate machine, which, turned by the water from year to year, produces only bubbles, and spray, and rainbows in the sun. He was industrious, and, beside his three hundred and eighty-two printed works, left many manuscripts, of which the largest is called "Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures," on which he laboured daily more than thirty years. It is a mere compilation of ideas and facts from multitudinous sources, and embraces nothing original, or valuable to the modern scholar. His minor works are nearly all forgotten, even by antiquaries. The Magnalia Christi Americana" is preserved rather as a curiosity than as an authority; for recent investigations have shown that his statements are not to be relied on where he had any interest in misrepresenting acts or the characters of persons. His style abounds with puerilities, puns, and grotesque conceits. His intellectual character, however, was better than his moral; for he was wholly destitute of any high religious principles, and was ambitious, intriguing, and unscrupulous. He fanned into a flame the terrible superstition in regard to witchcraft, and when the frenzy was over, hypocritically endeavoured to persuade the people that instead of encouraging the proceedings, his influence and exertions had been on the side of forbearance and caution. Failing to convince them of this, he attempted to justify his conduct, by inventing various personal histories, to show that there had been good cause for the atrocious persecutions. 66 COTTON MATHER's verses, scattered through a great number of his works, are not superior to those of many of his contemporaries. The following lines from his "Remarks on the Bright and the Dark Side of that American Pillar, the Reverend Mr. William Thomson," show his customary manner APOLLYON Owing him a cursed spleen |