And that, they say, is just.
“No fleet of mine[21] shall carry
A stamp, though all I lose.
I choose, ere it, to save my soul!”
The whole land heard, and soon the whole
Had sworn no stamps to use.
New York had lived by commerce.
Her merchants vow’d, they all,[22]
Ere stamps they bought, would sail no boats,
And sell no goods, and pass no notes—