[F] A Notary Public in New-York.--_Freneau's note._ "'Knapp,' says Dawson, in a note to _New York City During the Revolution_, was 'a notorious pettifogger, a convict who had fled from England for his own benefit.'"--_Duyckinck._ JAMES RIVINGTON, (_L.S._) NEW-YORK, _Feb. 20, 1782_. [131] Published in the _Freeman's Journal_, February 27, 1782. One week earlier it was advertised for sale as a broadside. I have followed the 1786 version. James Rivington, an Englishman, was a bookseller and printer in New York from 1761 until the close of the Revolution. In 1773 he published the first number of _The New York Gazetteer, or the Connecticut, New Jersey, Hudson's River and Quebec Weekly Advertiser_. At the opening of the war he became a violent British partisan. His office was destroyed by the Whigs in 1775. Two years later he established _Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette_, which became the official British newspaper in America. On December 13 of the same year, he changed the name to the _Royal Gazette_. In the last years of the Revolution, when British success seemed more and more uncertain, Rivington began to lean toward the Whig side, but he was never trusted by the patriots, and he passed his last years in loneliness and poverty. [132] Omitted in later editions. [133] Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen, in command of the Hessian troops. [134] "Tremendous."--_Ed. 1809._ [135] David Mathews, Mayor of New York during the British occupancy. LINES Occasioned by Mr. Rivington's new Titular Types to his _Royal Gazette_, of February 27, 1782[136] Well--now (said the devil) it looks something better! Your title is struck on a charming new Letter: Last night in the dark, as I gave it a squint, I saw my dear partner had taken the hint. I ever surmised (though 'twas doubted by some) That the old types were shadows of substance to come: But if the new Letter is pregnant with charms, It grieves me to think of those cursed King's Arms! The _Dieu et mon droit_ (his God and his right) Is so dim, that I hardly know what is meant by't; The paws of the Lion can scarcely be seen, And the Unicorn's guts are most shamefully lean! The Crown is so worn of your master the Despot, That I hardly know whether 'tis a crown or a pisspot: When I rub up my day-lights, and look very sharp I just can distinguish the Irishman's Harp: Another device appears rather silly, Alas! it is only the shade of the Lilly! For the honour of George, and the fame of our nation, Pray give his escutcheons a rectification-- Or I know what I know, (and I'm a queer shaver) Of Him and his Arms I'll be the In-grave-r. [136] Published in the _Freeman's Journal_, March 13, 1782. LINES On Mr. Rivington's new engraved King's Arms to his _Royal Gazette_[137]