O'Bluster made love to a bottle of gin-- Bob's ballads and poems lay scatter'd and torn Himself in the dumps and his visage forlorn;-- Snip lay with his head by the side of a pot, In doubt if his soul was departing or not, Complaining, and spewing, and cursing his luck-- Then look'd at Snipinda--and call'd her his duck. At last to relieve us, when thought of the least, The wind came about to the south of southeast, The barque that was buried in billows before Now flew like a gull by the Long-Island shore, And gaining the port where we wish'd to arrive, Was safe in the bason--precisely at five. [360] First published in pamphlet form by Bailey, April, 1787, under the title, "A Journey from Philadelphia to New-York by way of Burlington and South-Amboy. By Robert Slender, Stocking Weaver." The advertisement in the _Freeman's Journal_ of April 25 declares that "Some truth in the occasion and a good deal of fancy in the colouring mark the character of the above performance. The style is smooth and easy and the pleasurable air that is diffused over the whole piece will certainly render the whole poem acceptable to such as choose to read it." The poem was republished in the editions of 1788 and 1795, the text of the latter of which I have used. It was again republished in a twenty-four page pamphlet by Thomas Neversink, Philadelphia, Dec. 20, 1809, under the title "A Laughable Poem; or Robert Slender's Journey from Philadelphia to New York." The earlier versions, of which the 1788 text was a reprint, had the poem divided into four cantos. In the 1795 edition the subdivision into sections was made. Freneau thoroughly revised the poem for the 1795 edition, making very many changes, all for the better. He cut out nearly all of the indelicate allusions and expressions of the earlier edition, including the coarse but highly picturesque dialogue between the skipper and the captain, and it has seemed best to me not to resurrect them. The 1809 edition was reprinted with little change from the 1795 version. [361] The 1788 version here adds this couplet: "The _Babes in the wood_ was his favourite song, Or _Barbara Allan_, or _Johnny Armstrong_." THE HERMIT OF SABA[362] Hermit, First Mariner, Second Mariner, Third Mariner SCENE, _The Island of Saba_[A] [A] One of the windward Islands in the W. Indies. It is small, and appears like an immense cone, or sugar loaf, rising out of the surrounding ocean.--The inhabitants are of Dutch origin, and are equally strangers to the luxury and tyranny of the Sugar Islands.--Lat. 17 deg. 30' N. Lon. 63 deg. 12' W.--_Freneau's note._ _Hermit_