Poems relating to the American Revolution / Philip Freneau ; with an introductory memoir and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck [electronic text]
About this Item
Title
Poems relating to the American Revolution / Philip Freneau ; with an introductory memoir and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck [electronic text]
Author
Freneau, Philip Morin, 1752-1832
Publication
New York: W.J. Widdleton
1865
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"Poems relating to the American Revolution / Philip Freneau ; with an introductory memoir and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck [electronic text]." In the digital collection American Verse Project. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAD9545.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 7, 2024.
Pages
ON THE DEATH OF A REPUBLICAN PATRIOT AND STATESMAN.
SOON to the grave descends each honour'd name That rais'd their country to this blaze of fame: Sages, that plann'd, and chiefs that led the way To Freedom's temple, all too soon decay, Alike submit to one impartial doom, Their glories closing in perpetual gloom, Like the bright splendours of the evening, fade, While night advances, to complete the shade.
REED, 'tis for thee we shed the unpurchas'd tear, Bend o'er thy tomb, and plant our laurels there: Your acts, your life, 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.
descriptionPage 276
No single art engag'd his vigorous mind, In every scene his active genius shin'd: Nature in him, in honour to our age, At once compos'd the soldier and the sage — Firm to his purpose, vigilant and bold, Detesting traitors, and despising gold, He scorn'd all bribes from Britain's hostile throne, For all his country's wrongs he held his own.
REED, rest in peace: for time' s impartial page Shall raise the blush on 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 thy memory shall remain, And still new tributes from new ages gain, Fair to the eye that injur'd honour rise — Nor traitors triumph while the patriot dies.
Notes
General Joseph Reed died in Philadelphia, March 5, 1785. Educated at the College of New Jersey, he was bred to the law, passed much of his youth and early manhood in England, returned home previous to the breaking out of the war for independence, and took part in the preliminary civil proceedings as a delegate to the old Continental Congress, and in other capacities. He was aide and secretary to Washington, and subsequently adjutant-general. Resigning this office, he continued to serve in the army as a volunteer. He was a member of Congress in 1778.