Even then, as I lay with strange whims in my head, A ghost hove in sight, not a yard from my bed, It seem'd Gen'ral Robertson,[271] brawly array'd, But I grasp'd at the substance, and found him a shade! He appear'd as of old, when, head of the throng, And loaded with laurels, he waddled along-- He seem'd at the foot of my bedstead to stand And cry'd--"Jemmy Rivington, reach me your hand; "And Jemmy, (said he) I am sorry to find "Some demon advis'd you to loiter behind; "The country is hostile--you had better get off it, "Here's nothing but squabbles, all plague and no profit! "Since the day that Sir William came here with his throng "He manag'd things so that they always went wrong, "And tho' for his knighthood, he kept Meschianza, "I think he was nothing but mere Sancho Panca. "That famous conductor of moon-light retreats, "Sir Harry, came next with his armies and fleets, "But, finding the rebels were dying and dead, "He grounded his arms and retreated to bed. "Other luck we had once at the battle of Boyne! "But here they have ruin'd Earl Charles and Burgoyne, "Here brave col'nel Monckton was thrown on his back, "And here lies poor Andre! the best of the pack." So saying, he flitted away in a trice, Just adding, "he hop'd I would take his advice"-- Which I surely shall do if you push me too hard-- And so I remain, with eternal regard, JAMES RIVINGTON, printer, of late, to the king, But now a republican--under your wing-- Let him stand where he is--don't push him down hill, And he'll turn a true Blue-Skin, or just what you will. [251] First published in the _Freeman's Journal_, December 31, 1783. The text follows the 1786 version. [252] A New York printer, publisher of _The New York Packet_ during the Revolutionary period. From 1776 until 1783 he published the paper at Fishkill. [253] Shepard Kollock, soldier-editor of the Revolution. Established the _New Jersey Journal_ at Chatham, N. J., in 1779. Removed in 1783 to New York, where he undertook the _New York Gazetteer_. Later, in 1787, he moved to Elizabeth-Town, N. J., and revived his first journal, which he successfully edited for thirty-one years. Kollock died in Philadelphia, July 28, 1839. [254] John Holt, printer, born in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1721, died in New York City, January 30, 1784. Holt founded in 1776 the _New York Journal_, which during the Revolution bore the famous device of a snake cut into parts, with the motto "Unite or Die." [255] After the war Rivington removed from the head-line of his paper the arms of Great Britain and changed the title to _Rivington's New York Gazette and Universal Advertiser_. [256] "His prudence and caution."--_Ed. 1795._ [257] The edition of 1809 added at this point the following six lines not in the earlier editions: