The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 3 (of 3)

Copyright, 1907, by The Princeton University Library
Press of The New Era Printing Company Lancaster, Pa.




In February, 1790, Freneau left the sea and settled down in the employ of the New York Daily Advertiser . During the next seven years he was successively editor of the National Gazette , The Jersey Chronicle , and The Time Piece and Literary Companion . The period ends late in 1797 when he left New York and went for a time to Charleston, South Carolina.
These Hills, the pride of all the coast, To mighty distance seen, With aspect bold and rugged brow, That shade the neighbouring main: These heights, for solitude design'd, This rude, resounding shore— These vales impervious to the wind, Tall oaks, that to the tempest bend, Half Druid, I adore.
From distant lands, a thousand sails Your hazy summits greet— You saw the angry Briton come, You saw him, last, retreat! With towering crest, you first appear The news of land to tell; To him that comes, fresh joys impart, To him that goes, a heavy heart, The lover's long farewell.
Proud heights! with pain so often seen, (With joy beheld once more) On your firm base I take my stand, Tenacious of the shore:— Let those who pant for wealth or fame Pursue the watery road;— Soft sleep and ease, blest days and nights, And health, attend these favourite heights, Retirement's blest abode!
In early days and vanished years To rougher toils resigned, You saw me rove in search of care And leave true bliss behind; You saw me rig the barque so trim, etc.
America, to every climate known, Spreads her broad bosom to the burning zone, To either pole extends her vast domain Where varying suns o'er different summers reign. Wide wandering streams, vast plains, and pathless woods, Bold shores, confined by circumscribing floods, Denote this land, whose fertile, flowery breast Teems with all life—and man, its nobler guest. In days of old, from ocean's deepest bed, Gulphs unexplored, and countries of the dead, Rous'd by some voice, that shook all nature's frame, From the vast depths this new creation came: Perpetual change its varying nature feels, The wave once flow'd that now with frost congeals, Suns on its breast have shed a feebler fire, Oceans have roll'd where mountains now aspire. The soil's proud lord a changeful temper knows, From differing earths his various nature grows: Long, long before the time that sophists plan Existed in these woods the race of man, Warm'd into life by some creating flame, All worlds pervading, and through all, the same! Not from the west their swarthy tribes they brought, As Europe's pride and Asia's folly taught;— With the same ease the great disposing power Produced a man, a reptile, or a flower:— See the swift deer, in lonely wilds that strays, See the tall elk, that in the valley plays, See the fierce tiger's raging, ravenous band, And wolves (their race as ancient as the land) Did these of old from bleak Kamschatka come, And traverse seas, to find a happier home?— No?—from the dust, this common dust, they drew Their different forms, proud man, that moulded you. At first, half beasts, untaught to till the land, Careless, you fed from Nature's fostering hand; In depths of deserts dream'd your lives away, Sought no new worlds, nor look'd beyond to-day: The Almighty power, that lives and breathes through all, Bade some faint rays on these dark nations fall; Early, to them did reasoning souls impart, Inventive genius, and some dawn of art; Then left them here, with sense enough to win, Or cheat the bear, or panther of his skin; Mean huts to build, regardless of their form, Completely blest, if shelter'd from the storm; To see the seasons change, day turn to night: Bow to the lamps of heaven that gave them light, Beam'd on the spring, or bade the summer glow, Their harvests ripen, and their gardens grow—