"'With full applause, in honor to his age, Dismiss the veteran poet from the stage, Crown his last exit with distinguished praise, And kindly hide his baldness with the bays.'" The last lines used by Verplanck are from "American Bards," a poem published in Philadelphia in 1820. The reference to Freneau is not without interest: "Let Freneau live, though Flattery's baleful tongue, Too early tuned his youthful lyre to song, And ripe old age, in ill directed zeal, Has made an enervated last appeal; His song could fire the sailor on the wave, Raise up the coward,--animate the brave, While wit and satire cast their darts around, And fools and cowards tremble at the sound. Although ambition never soared to claim The meed of polished verse, or classic fame, And caustic critics honor but condemn, A strain of feeling, but a style too tame. Let the old bard whose patient voice has fanned The fire of freedom that redeemed our land, Live on the scroll with kindred names that swell The page of history, where their honors dwell; With full applause, in honor to his age, Dismiss the veteran poet from the stage, Crown his last exit with distinguished praise, And kindly hide his baldness with the bays." The last years of Freneau's life were eventless, passed quietly at Mount Pleasant, and varied only with frequent visits to New York. Shortly after the issue of the 1815 edition of his poems, the ancestral home was completely destroyed by fire, together with most of the poet's papers, manuscript poems, valuable letters and books--the collection of a lifetime. During his last years he contemplated a complete and final edition of his poetical works. He wrote Dr. Mease of Philadelphia whether there was "enough of the old spirit of patriotism abroad to insure the safety of such an adventure;" and it was the testimony of Alexander Anderson, the once celebrated engraver on wood, that Freneau once consulted with him as to the cost of an illustrated volume of his poems, and departed sadly remarking that his purse was not equal to the venture. The best picture of the poet in his old age is from the pen of the genial Dr. John W. Francis of New York, who knew him well during his last years:[28]