One of the most ingenious poets of our revolutionary era was Dr. J. M. Sewall, of New Hampshire. He translated the works of Ossian, which were then attracting much attention, into English verse, and wrote numerous songs, odes, elegies and dramatic pieces. His epilogue to Addison’s Cato, beginning,
We see mankind the same in every age,
is still familiar, from having been incorporated into two or three books of reading lessons for the schools, in a time when it was thought to be of some consequence that works of that description should inculcate patriotic sentiments. The most famous of his productions, however, was “War and Washington,” written soon after the battle of Lexington, and sung with enthusiasm, in all parts of the country, until the close of the Revolution. It has been too often printed to be regarded now as a curiosity, and we therefore quote from it but a few verses.
Vain Britons boast no longer, with proud indignity,
Of all your conquering legions, or of your strength at sea,
As we, your braver sons, incensed, our arms have girded on,
Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza, for War and Washington!
Still deaf to mild entreaties, still blind to England’s good,
They have, for thirty pieces, betray’d their country’s blood.
Like Esop’s greedy cur they’ll gain a shadow for their bone,