“You cursed rebel Yankee race,
Will this your Congress please?”
The death of Andre—just and necessary as it unquestionably was—has been lamented in a hundred songs; while the chivalrous and accomplished Hale, murdered with a brutality that would have shocked the sensibilities of the most depraved and desperate brigands, is alluded to in but a single ballad among those which have been preserved until our own time. We transcribe, from the oldest copy in our possession, the once popular lyric called
BRAVE PAWLING AND THE SPY.
Come, all you brave Americans, and unto me give ear,
And I’ll sing you a ditty that will your spirits cheer,
Concerning a young gentleman whose age was twenty-two;
He fought for North America; his heart was just and true.
They took him from his dwelling, and they did him confine,
They cast him into prison, and kept him there a time;