During the year 1783 Freneau's pen was very busy in various lines of work. It is probable that he assisted Bailey in many ways,--writing introductions to publications issued by the office and performing the various other duties incumbent upon the literary editor of a publishing house. During this year he translated the "New Travels through North America," which had just been issued by the Abbé Robin, one of the chaplains of the French Army in America, and the translation was issued first by Bailey and later by Powers and Willis of Boston. Freneau's introduction is characteristic: "Most of those accounts of North America, given to the public by British explorators and others, previous to the Revolution, are generally taken up, with the recitals of wonderful adventures, in the woods beyond the Lakes, or with the Histories and records of the wild Indian nations, so that by the time the reader gets through one of those performances, he never fails to be better acquainted with the _Ottagnies_, _Chereokees_, _Miamees_, _Nadouwessians_, and a hundred others, with their various customs of _paw-wawing_, or methods of making _wampum_, than with the most interesting particulars relative to the _inhabitants_ of the then colonies _these_ were but rarely thought worthy mentioning by those gentlemen, and when they are, it is mortifying enough to see them constantly considered as mere beasts of burden, calculated solely for the support of the grandeur, wealth and omnipotence of Great-Britain, than as men and Free-Men. "Our French Author is more liberal--two years before the present peace he considered the United States as a great independent nation, advancing with hasty strides to the summit of power and sovereignty." It was during this year that the poet, for the first time, met with positive opposition and abuse. Oswald, the editor of the newly established _Gazette_, quarrelled with Bailey, and a poetical battle was one phase of the contest. The details of this affair will be found in the proper place, and I need not recount them here, but suffice it to say that Freneau soon found his muse assailed by the meanest of all critics. His extremely sensitive nature could brook no criticism. His Celtic temperament could fight fiercely in the presence of an open foe, but it was easily depressed and discouraged by criticism and covert attack. He lost heart in his work, and at the end of the third volume he quietly withdrew from his editorship.