[21] Morer. Horace, _Epistles_, Lib. ii, lines 1-4. [22] Jefferson Papers, series 2, vol. 34, p. 135. [23] Jefferson Papers, series 2, vol. 34, p. 134. [24] Madison Papers, vol. liv, p. 49. [25] Madison Papers, vol. liv, p. 49. [26] Madison Papers, vol. lv, p. 5. [27] Madison Papers, vol. lv, p. 77. [28] Contributed to Duyckinck's _Cyclopædia of American Literature_. * * * * * PART I EARLY POEMS 1768--1775 THE POEMS OF PHILIP FRENEAU THE HISTORY OF THE PROPHET JONAH[29] Versified (or rather paraphrased) from the sacred writings. CANTO I. In ages past, when smit with warmth sublime, Their bards foretold the dark events of time, And piercing forward through the mystic shade, Kings yet to come, and chiefs unborn survey'd, Amittai's son perceiv'd, among the rest, The mighty flame usurp his labouring breast:-- For this, in dreams, the voice unerring came Of Him, who lives through every age the same: "Arise! and o'er the intervening waste, "To Nineveh's imperial turrets haste; "That mighty town to ruin I decree, "Proclaim destruction, and proclaim from me: "Too long it stands, to God and man a foe, "Without one virtue left to shield the blow; "Guilt, black as night, their speedy ruin brings, "And hottest vengeance from the King of Kings." The prophet heard--but dared to disobey, (Weak as he was) and fled a different way; In Joppa's port a trading ship he found Far o'er the main to distant Tarshish bound: The price of passage to her chief he paid, And there conceal'd with wandering sailors stay'd, His purpose fixt, at once perverse and blind, To leave his country, and his God behind. But He who spread the ocean's vast expanse, And views all nature with a single glance, Forth from its prison bade the tempest fly-- The tempest swell'd the ocean to the sky; The trembling barque, as the fierce billow knocks, Scarce bears the fury of repeated shocks; Her crew distrest, astonish'd and afraid, Each to his various god in anguish pray'd, Nor trust alone to penitence and prayer, They clear the decks, and for the worst prepare, The costly lading to the deep they throw, That lighter o'er the billows she may go, Nor with regret the wealthy cargo spared, For wealth is nothing when with life compared. But to the ship's remotest chambers fled There pensive Jonah droop'd his languid head, And, new to all the dangers of the deep, Had sunk, dejected, in the arms of sleep-- 'Twas then the master broke the prophet's rest, And thus exclaim'd, and smote his frantic breast-- "O sleeper, from thy stupid slumbers rise, "At such an hour can sleep invade thine eyes?-- "If ever thou to heaven didst send a prayer, "Now send thy warmest supplications there, "Perhaps thy God may pity our distress, "And save us, foundering in this dark abyss." Thus warn'd, the seer his vows repentant paid--