M'Fingal: An Epic Poem

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American book exchange, 1881 - 322 pages
Of all the literary productions of that day, having for its theme the character and doings of the men and times of the Revolution, the remarkable epic entitled M'Fingal is confessedly most deserving of immortality. For the manners of the poem, there is no record of the period which supplies so vivid a presentation of the old Revolutionary Whig habits of thinking and acting. - Introduction.
 

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Page 250 - that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.
Page 250 - Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fesole Or in Valdarno to descry new lands, .Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe; His spear, to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast Of some great ammiral, were but a wand.
Page 222 - I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty though it were revealed from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his liberty. One such freeman must possess more virtue and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves; and let him propagate his like and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved.
Page 321 - The Ohio soon shall glide by many a town Of note; and where the Mississippi stream, By forests shaded, now runs weeping on, Nations shall grow, and states not less in fame Than Greece and Rome of old! — we too shall boast Our Scipio's, Solon's, Cato's, sages, chiefs That in the lap of time yet dormant lie, Waiting the joyous hour of life and light...
Page 109 - No man e'er felt the halter draw, With good opinion of the law...
Page 283 - the rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month :" and to Lord Dartmouth he wrote ; " It must have been the employment of at least twelve thousand men.
Page 236 - Rudely forced to drink tea, Massachusetts in anger Spills the tea on John Bull ; John falls on to bang her ; Massachusetts, enraged, calls her neighbors to aid, And give Master John a severe bastinade. Now, good men of the law ! pray, who is in fault, The one who began or resents the assault...
Page 218 - I can't, in conscience, leave this town without acquainting you with a secret. My heart bleeds for America. 0 poor New England ! There is a deep-laid plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end.
Page 112 - And earth-born Giants fell at odds, The stout Enceladus in malice Tore mountains up to throw at Pallas ; And...
Page 286 - On a rock whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood (Loose his beard, and hoary hair Streamed like a meteor to the troubled air), And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire, Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre.

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