"On Saturday morning last [March 5] departed this life in the forty-third year of his age, GENERAL JOSEPH REED, Esq., formerly President of this State; and on Sunday his remains were interred in the Presbyterian burying ground in Arch Street. His funeral was attended by his excellency the President and the Superior Executive Council, the Honourable the Speaker and the General Assembly, the Militia Officers and a greater number of citizens than we've ever seen here on any similar occasion." Text follows the edition of 1809. Reed was one of the leading figures of the Revolutionary era. As delegate to the Continental Congress, aide and secretary to Washington, Adjutant General, volunteer soldier, and Governor of Pennsylvania, he was an active and able man, and his early death was much regretted. Soon to the grave[301] descends each honoured name That raised their country to this blaze[302] of fame: Sages, that planned, and chiefs that led the way To Freedom's temple, all too soon decay, Alike submit to one impartial[303] doom, Their glories closing in perpetual gloom, Like the pale[304] splendours of the evening, fade, While night advances, to complete the shade. REED, 'tis for thee we shed the unpurchased tear, Bend o'er thy tomb, and plant our laurels there: Your acts, your life,[305] the noblest pile transcend, And Virtue, patriot Virtue, mourns her friend, Gone to those realms, where worth may claim regard, And gone where virtue meets her best reward. No single art engaged his vigorous[306] mind, In every scene his active genius shined: Nature in him, in honour to our age, At once composed the soldier and the sage-- Firm to his purpose, vigilant, and bold, Detesting traitors, and despising gold, He scorned all bribes from Britain's hostile throne For all his country's wrongs he held[307] his own. REED, rest in peace: for time's impartial page Shall raise the blush on[308] this ungrateful age: Long in these climes thy name shall flourish fair, The statesman's pattern, and the poet's care; Long in these climes[309] thy memory shall remain, And still new tributes from new ages gain, Fair to the eye that injured honour rise-- Nor traitors triumph while the patriot dies. The following are the variations in the 1786 edition: [301] Swift to the dust. [302] These heights. [303] Unalter'd. [304] Dim. [305] Thy own brave deeds. [306] Manly. [307] Were _thrice_. [308] Blast the wrongs of. [309] On these plains. A RENEGADO EPISTLE[310] To the Independent Americans We Tories, who lately were frightened away, When you marched into York all in battle array, Dear Whigs, in our exile have somewhat to say.