To manhood he makes a vain pretence
Who wants both manly form and sense;
'Tis but the form and not the matter,
According to the schoolmen's clatter;
From such a creature, Heaven defend her!
Each lady cries, no neuter gender!
But when a number of such creatures,
With women's hearts and manly features,
Their country's generous schemes perplex,
I own I hate this Middle-sex.
Page 139. To Murray bend the humble knee. John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, 1770-1775.
Page 139. Mesech Weare. Weare was president of the state of New Hampshire in 1776. His verses were set to a psalm tune and widely sung.
Page 140. In spite of Rice. This refers to the extensive donations sent from the other colonies to the people of Boston.
Page 140. Rivington's New York Gazetteer. This paper, the principal vehicle of Royalist poetry during the Revolution, was established by James Rivington, a bookseller, in 1773, and printed at his "ever open and uninfluenced press." In the autumn of 1775 his printing outfit was destroyed by a patriot mob; but he was soon afterwards appointed King's Printer for the colony, furnished with a new outfit, and started "Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette." At the close of the war he changed its title to "Rivington's Gazette and Universal Advertiser," but it died of starvation in 1783.
Page 141. Liberty Tree. On August 14, 1765, an effigy representing Andrew Oliver, distributer of stamps for Boston, was found hanging from a great elm opposite the Boylston Market. A mob gathered when the sheriff tried to take down the effigy, the stamp office was demolished, and Oliver himself was compelled to repair to the tree and resign his commission. It was thenceforward called the Liberty Tree. Liberty trees were afterwards consecrated in many other New England towns.
Page 143. Since mad Lee now commands us. Major-General Charles Lee, that eccentric, morose, and ill-fated genius, characterized by Thomas Paine as "above all monarchs and below all scum."
Page 143. Massachusetts Song of Liberty. This song, to the air "Hearts of Oak," became almost as popular as "Adams and Liberty" did at a later day. Mrs. Mercy Warren, to whom it is attributed, published a volume of "Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous" (Boston, 1790), dedicated to Washington.
Page 144. To the Boston Women. From Upcott, iv, 339.
Page 144. Paul Revere's Ride. It is possible that Mr. Longfellow derived the story, as told in the poem, from Revere's account of the adventure in a letter to Dr. Jeremy Belknap, printed in Mass. Hist. Coll. v. The publication of the poem called out a long controversy as to the accuracy of its details.