[11] In the index to the 1809 edition the title was "Lines on the old patriotic state, Massachusetts."
"All, all too weak to effect the vast design
That swell'd, poor Gage, that puny heart of thine,
That urg'd Burgoyne to slight his Celia's charms,
The brother Howes to furbish up their arms
And modern Percies lose their wonted sleep
To conquer countries, that they could—not keep."
—Original version in the Daily Advertiser, March 29, 1790.
[13] The original title of this poem was "A Characteristic Sketch of the Long Island Dutch."
[14] The original version in the Daily Advertiser began at this point.
[15] The earliest version, as it appeared in the Daily Advertiser, March 17, 1790, had the following in place of the last six lines:
"Thy followers, Fox, pacific in each aim,
In this far climate still revere your name;
To them long practice prudent foresight gave,
Proof to the projects of the keenest knave.
On things to come they fix an anxious eye
Fond to be thought the favourites of the sky,
Paths of their own they clear to future bliss,
Praise other worlds but keep their hold on this.
Nor mean I, hence, to censure or condemn,
Perhaps 'twere best the world should think like them;—
What tho' on visions they may place their trust,
I hold their general principles are just,
Good will to all, themselves their first great care,
Precise in dealing, foes to blood and war;
Let kings invade, or potentates assault,
No aid they lend, for passive to a fault,
They still are found, all complaisant to power
To bow to ruffians in the trying hour."
[16] In the edition of 1795 this bore the title "Virginia. [A Fragment]"
[17] The original version in the Daily Advertiser, June 11, 1790, added here these lines: