[24] “This success was followed by others; the capture of a sloop-of-war and St. John’s Fort.... In the autumn of the same year, he was twice sent into Canada to excite rebellion against the English government.”—_Appleton’s Cyclopædia of Biography._ [25] “Allen was sent to Canada in 1775; was taken prisoner and carried to England, where his appearance excited great interest. On his return, he was received with great demonstrations of joy in Bennington, and made Maj.-Gen. of Vermont. He died in 1789, aged fifty.”—See _Idem_. [26] Allen is said to have had a remarkably keen and expressive eye. HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL.[1] NARRAGANSETT BAY, JULY 10, 1777. “Lord Prescott, down in Newport,” Brave William Barton[1] said, “Would make all show his colors, though Their own blood dyed them red. “Perhaps he thinks our natives, On England’s footstool here, Did they not feel his lordly heel, Might deem him not a peer.” “Say footpath here,” said Potter[8]; “Just now their doorsteps go To pave the way[2] where, once a day, His lordship walks, you know. “And then if those who meet him Go by, nor doff their caps,[3] Aha, his cane will fall like rain, To make them mend their lapse.” “Small spite! and yet,” said Barton: “A wrinkle shows the will. A grazing ass that kicks but grass Has tricks that yet may kill. “Who minds it, though a Quaker, Forsooth, lift not his hat; Yet one in town, he first rode down,[4] Then had him chain’d for that. “And Tripp[5]—when spies had jail’d him; And none knew what it meant; And when, half dead with fear, they said, His wife to see him went; “Said Prescott: ‘Come and see him When hang’d[5] and no dispute.’ Who domineers o’er woman’s tears Is less a man than brute! “And I, for one, would enter This British lion’s lair, And volunteer to fetch him here, Or die beside him there.” “Sure death!” his comrades mutter’d; “The troops guard every road. A man to try your scheme should fly; We know no other mode.” “He quarters now,” said Barton, “At Overton’s,[6] the Friend’s, Whose house is by the bay-road nigh Where by the bay it bends. “The roads are block’d by soldiers; We cannot reach him thus. What then?—A way across the bay May yet remain for us. “I know three frigates guard it.[7] But when, some moonless night, By clouds beset, the wind and wet Have swept the sky of light; “And when the breeze and breakers Out-sound a rowlock’s beat, Amid the roar a muffled oar Might safely pass the fleet.” His comrades hush’d and heard him; Then swore to try the feat; And soon with more each held an oar To row him past the fleet.[8]