The three volumes of the _Journal_ which bear his impress are notable for their vigor of policy, their high ideals, their unswerving patriotism, and their real literary merit. It is to be hoped that a selection from Freneau's prose writings during this critical era in our history may sometime be made. Nowhere else can we gain so distinct a picture of the man, with his sanguine, impetuous temperament, his proud spirit, and his intense hatred of every form of tyranny. He wrote vigorously not only on British oppression, but on such topics as the wrongs of negro slavery, cruelty to animals, the wanton destruction of trees, the evils of intemperance, and the rights of woman. The "Epistle to Sylvius" was his valedictory. In it he deplores the lack of literary taste in America, and the sad fate which has befallen his youthful poetic dreams. The age is grown mercantile, and Sejanus the mighty tradesman,-- "Sejanus has in house declared 'These States, as yet, can boast no bard, And all the sing-song of our clime Is merely nonsense fringed with rhyme.'" A bard with more Teutonic blood, if he knew within himself that he was indeed a poet, and the only real poet of his time, would have staid at his post and made himself heard, despite narrow criticism and mean abuse, but Freneau was too proud to fight for recognition. The people had crowned him, to be sure, but if the critics, those who should be the real judges, rejected him, he would strive no longer. He would leave the field. "Then, Sylvius, come--let you and I On Neptune's aid, once more rely: Perhaps the muse may still impart The balm to ease the aching heart. Though cold might chill and storms dismay, Yet Zoilus will be far away." On June 24, 1784, Freneau sailed from Middletown Point as master of the brig _Dromilly_, bound for Jamaica. The voyage was indeed a memorable one. On the night of July 30, while off the end of the island, the ship encountered a violent hurricane. According to contemporary accounts, "No more than eight out of one hundred and fifty sail of vessels in the ports of Kingston and Port Royal were saved." The _Dromilly_ survived the storm, but it was a mere wreck when the next morning it crept into Kingston Harbor. Freneau remained in Jamaica until September 24, when he left for Philadelphia in the brig _Mars_, arriving November 4. His experiences in trying to fit out the wrecked _Dromilly_ are not recorded, but the one incident of his poetic reply to the keeper of the King's water works, who had refused him a puncheon of water, is characteristic.