His prowess strikes the proud invader dead, By force nor fraud from freedom's charms beguil'd He reigns secure the monarch of the wild. TANTALUS. [238] _Freeman's Journal_, May 7, 1783. In the later editions it was entitled "Renegado Epistle." Text from the edition of 1786. [239] Two added lines in the later editions: "Amused with conquests, honours, riches, fame, Posts, titles, earldoms--and a deathless name." [240] "From nature constant still Kings hold not worlds or empires at their will."--_Ed. 1795._ MANHATTAN CITY[241] A Picture Fair mistress of a warlike State, What crime of thine deserves this fate? While other ports to Freedom rise, In thee that flame of honour dies. With wars and horrors overspread, Seven years, and more, we fought and bled: Seized British hosts and Hessian bands, And all--to leave you in their hands. While British tribes forsake our plains, In you, a ghastly herd[242] remains: Must vipers to your halls[243] repair; Must poison taint that purest air? Ah! what a scene torments the eye: In thee, what putrid monsters lie! What dirt, and mud, and mouldering walls, Burnt domes, dead dogs, and funerals! Those grassy banks, where oft we stood,[244] And fondly viewed the passing flood; There, owls obscene, that daylight shun, Pollute the waters, as they run. Thus in the east--once Asia's queen-- Palmyra's tottering towers are seen; While through her streets the serpent feeds, Thus she puts on her mourning weeds! Lo! Skinner there for Scotia hails The sweepings of Cesarean jails:[245] While, to receive the odious[246] freight, A thousand sable transports wait. Had he been born in days of old When men with gods their 'squires[247] enrolled, Hermes had claimed his aid above, Arch-quibbler in the courts of Jove.[248] O chief, that wrangled at the bar-- Grown old in less successful war; What crowds of miscreants round you stand, What vagrants bow to your command! [241] In the edition of 1786 entitled "New-York, September, 1783." [242] "A motley crew."--_Ed. 1786._ [243] "Through thy streets."--_Ib._ [244] "I stood."--_Ed. 1786._ [245] "Lo! _Skinner_ there collects a crew, (Their temples brushed with Stygian dew)"--_Ib._ [246] "Ghastly."--_Ib._ [247] "Beasts."--_Ib._ [248] "Like Nero's horse, he had been made A consul for some Nero's aid."--_Ib._ VERSES[249] Occasioned by General Washington's arrival in Philadelphia, on his way to his seat in Virginia _December, 1783_ 1 The great, unequal conflict past, The Briton banish'd from our shore, Peace, heav'n-descended, comes at last, And hostile nations rage no more; From fields of death the weary swain Returning, seeks his native plain. 2