\TSfee. Early Poets of Vermont . By PMny H. White UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES Early Poets of Vermont read at Brattleboro, Oct. 18, 1860 before the Vermont Historical Society by Pliny H. White Early Poets of Vermont. BY PLINY H. WHITE. The real life of a people takes a deeper and more per manent coloring from its literature than from any other source of influence. External circumstances change as rapidly as the scenes in the kaleidoscope, and the impression made by one set is speedily effaced by another. Social ^ customs vary, from generation to generation, leaving scanty traces of their influence, after the lapse of a few scores of years. Law, though powerful while it continues, is subject care of the press, it survives from century to century, and exerts its power in lands far distant and upon people far removed in time from the place and the century in which it had its birth. It corrupts or purifies, exalts or debases, ^ barbarizes or refines, by a constant, steady, uniform, insen sible operation, like that of the air we breathe. Never was ^j there a wiser saying than that of Fletcher of Saltoun, "Let ** me make the ballads of a people and I care not who makes V*i its laws." The wisdom of that remark we have ourselves seen illustrated on a grand scale within the last half dozen years, for what law during that time has exerted upon the popular mind an influence so powerful as the song of the Star Spangled Banner or the rude ballad of John Brown's Body Lies Moldering in the Grave? How much of the character of the people as they are depends upon the early literature of the State, it is of course impossible to determine with even approximate accuracy; but so much is due to it 230274 4 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY that it cannot be otherwise than interesting and instructive to pass in review some of the literature which delighted and influenced our ancestors. THOMAS ROWLEY. Any notice of the early literati of Vermont which should omit the name of Thomas Rowley would do great injustice to one who, though his poetry was not equal to his patriot ism, was nevertheless the first of the Green Mountain Boys who ventured to express his thought in measured lines that jingled at the ends. His verses were lacking in polish, but for that very reason were all the more acceptable among a people who were rough in all their ways and with whom strength, whether of muscle or of mind, was one of the car dinal virtues. His first appearance in the history of Vermont was as a resident of Danby, of which town he was one of the early settlers, and on the organization of the town March 14, 1769, was made the first town clerk . He was a skilful practical surveyor, and among the lines run by him were those of the town of Philadelphia, once existing in the north part of Rutland County but long since extinguished by being annexed to its adjoining towns, Goshen and Chit- tenden. During the war between the Green Mountain Boys and the Yorkers, he cooperated with Allen, Warner, and Baker; and it was by the poetry he wrote in relation to that controversy that he attracted attention and gained popularity. When the Legislature of New York, exas perated at the sturdy resistance made by the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, passed a law authorizing the Gov ernor to issue an order to Allen and the other leaders to surrender themselves to the New York authorities, and in default of their doing so, adjudged them to be guilty of felony and condemned them to death without benefit of clergy, they issued a protest against a law so barbarous and unjust on the face of it, and Rowley appended to the protest the following pithy lines : EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 5 "When Caesar reigned king at Rome, St. Paul was sent to hear his doom. But Roman laws in a criminal case Must have the parties face to face, Or Caesar gives a flat denial But here's a law now made of late Which destines men to awful fate, And hangs and damns without a trial, Which made me view all nature through To find a law where men were tied By legal act which doth exact Men's lives before they're tried. Then down I took the sacred book And turned the pages o'er. But could not find one of this kind By God or man before." His longest and most popular poem, which was printed on a broad sheet and extensively circulated, was written at the time when the Yorkers attempted and failed to execute the writs of possession which had been awarded to them by the New York courts. It was entitled "The invitation to the poor tenants that live under their patrons in the province of New York to come and settle on our good land under the New Hampshire Grants": "Come all you labouring hands That toil below, Among the rocks and sands; That plow and sow, Upon your hired lands Let out by cruel hands; 'Twill make you large amends To Rutland go. Your pateroons forsake, Whose greatest care Is slaves of you to make, While you live there: Come quit their barren lands And leave them in their hands; 'Twill ease you of their bands THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY For who would be a slave That may be free? Here you good land may have But come and see. The soil is deep and good Here in this pleasant wood, Where you may raise your food And happy be. West of the Mountain Green Lies Rutland fair! The best e'er was seen For soil and air: Kind Zephyr's pleasant breeze Whispers among the trees, Where men may live at ease With prudent care. Here glides a pleasant stream Which doth not fail To spread the richest cream, O'er the intervale As rich as Eden's soil Before that sin did spoil, Or man was doomed to toil To get his bread. Here little salmon glide So neat and fine, Where you may be supplied With hook and twine; They are the finest fish To cook a dainty dish, As good as one could wish To feed upon. The pigeon, goose and duck, They fill our beds; The beaver, coon and fox, They crown our heads; The harmless moose and deer Are food and clothes to wear; Nature could do no more For any land. EARLY POETS OF VERMONT There's many a pleasant town Lies in this vale, Where you may settle down; You need not fail. If you are not too late, To make a fine estate ; You need not fear the fate, But come along. Here cows give milk to eat, By Nature fed; Our fields afford good wheat And corn for bread ; Here sugar trees they stand Which sweeten all our land, We have them at our hand, Be not afraid. Here roots of every kind To preserve our lives, The best of anodynes And rich costives; The balsam of the tree Supplies our chirurgy; No safer can you be In any land. Here stand the lofty pine And makes a show; As straight as Gunter's line Their bodies grow ; Their lofty heads they rear Amid the atmosphere Where the wing'd tribes repair And sweetly sing. The butternuts and beach, And the elm tree, They strive their heads to reach As high as they; But falling much below, They make an even show The pines more lofty grow, And crown the woods. 8 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY We value not New York, With all their powers, For here we'll stay and work The land is ours ; And as for great Duane With all his wicked train, They may eject again, We'll not resign. This is that noble land By conquest won, Took from a savage band With sword and gun ; We drove them to the west, They could not stand the test, And from the Gallic pest This land is free. Here churches we'll erect Both neat and fine ; The gospel we'll protect, Pure and divine; The pope's supremacy We utterly deny. And Louis we defy We're George's men. In George we will rejoice, He is our king; We will obey his voice In every thing; Here we his servants stand Upon his conquered land Good Lord may he defend Our property. In 1778 Rowley was elected Chief Justice of Rutland County Court, and in the same year was chosen the first representative from Danby in the General Assembly of Vermont. This last office he held for three successive years. He afterwards removed to Shoreham and was the first clerk of that town. The Bennington Gazette and the Rural EARLY POETS OP VERMONT 9 Magazine were the mediums through which he communi cated with the public and a poem by Saxe can hardly be more prized by a modern periodical than the effusions of this rustic bard were by the Rutland and Bennington editors. He was not without a sort of wit, which showed itself, how ever, not so much in his more labored productions as in the impromptu efforts of his muse. Some of these are almost epigrammatic in their smartness. It is said that on one occasion he and Allen were on a surveying expedition in the winter, when Allen had the misfortune to inflict a severe blow with an axe on his foot, splitting it open for some distance. No means of surgery were at hand, and Allen's only resort was to take off his boot and go barefoot on the snow, hoping that the extreme cold might stanch the flow of blood. Rowley noticed the peculiar shape of the bloody track on the snow, and extemporized this verse : "A cloven foot without a boot, A body full of evil; If you turned back upon the track You'd think it was the devil." It might be unjust both to Allen and to Rowley to suggest that there was more truth than poetry in this verse, but to say that there was about an equal proportion of each can not detract from the reputation of either. Another tradition relates that Rowley, who, like other poets, was quite careless, to say no more, in regard to his personal appearance, was once in the store of Apollos Austin of Orwell when the merchant bantered him about his hat, which he declared was altogether too dilapidated to a man holding the high office of Justice of the Peace. At length Austin proposed to give him a new hat if he would off-hand make a verse appropriate to the occasion. With out the delay of a moment Rowley caught off his venerable tile, saying: 10 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY "There's my old hat, and pray what of that, It's as good as the rest of my raiment. If I buy me a better 'twill make me your debtor, And you'll send me to jail for the payment." The merchant promptly redeemed his pledge. It is fair however, to say that another tradition ascribes the author ship of the same verse to a man by the name of Bronson in Bennington, while the historian of Ticonderoga claims that it was the production of a resident of that town. In the absence of a Court of Literary Chancery, before which to bring these rivals by a bill of inter-pleader to settle this disputed claim, the real authorship of the verse must remain a debated question. Rowley lived to the good old age of 76, and died in August 1796, at Cold Springs in West Haven. The Benning ton Gazette of Sept. 2, 1796, contained the following obituary : "At Cold Springs, West Haven, in the 76th year of his age, the justly celebrated Green Mountain Patriarch, Patriot and Poet, Thomas Rowley, Esq. He moved into Vermont, then called the New Hampshire Grants, in a very early day, with a young growing family, who have since spread themselves very extensively, and are very respect able people. He took a decided part with Allen and Warner, not only on the field but in the cabinet, in their opposition to the arbitrary proceedings against the people inhabiting this territory. He was an unmoveable friend to merits and possessed the esteem and confidence of all who were ac quainted with him. He represented the town he lived in to a very respectable degree, in assemblies and conventions, and held the office of Justice of the Peace for Rutland County until in his advanced age he removed out of it. As a poet he was blest with a happy genius, and was not behind many who have made a great noise and figure in the world. Several of his poetical pieces have graced the Castalian fount, while others have occupied a place in Dr. William's Rural Maga zine, where we hope they will be deservedly perpetuated." EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 11 I have discoursed concerning Thomas Rowley at this length, not only because he was the very first Vermonter who made any pretension to authorship, but because no attempt has ever been made to give anything like a con nected account of him or of his productions. Of a genius somewhat akin to that of Rowley was Dubartus Willard of Essex, or, as he was familiarly called, Barty Willard. Barty had good blood in his veins, being descended in the fourth generation from Major Simon Wil lard, who arrived at Boston in May 1634, and was the ancestor of all the New England Willards, including one who was a President of Harvard College. His parents were Simon and Zeruiah Willard, and he was born in Sheffield, Mass., June 9, 1745. He was one of the early settlers of Egremont, Mass., removed thence to Great Barrington, at a later day to Burlington, Vt., and subsequently to Essex, of both which last-named towns he was one of the first settlers. At the organization of the town of Essex in 1786 he was the first selectman and the first representative. He was a ready wit, a keen satirist, a shrewd observer of men, a natural rhymester, and wonderfully quick and smart in repartee. His verses were not always constructed in accordance with the canons of poetical composition, but what they lacked in polish was more than made up in point. During his residence in Massachusetts, he was one day at Lenox, the Shire town of Berkshire County, while the County Court was in session, and the lawyers there were much diverted with his poetical effusions and sallies of wit. One of the lawyers said to him, "Come, Barty, and take dinner with us. It shan't cost you anything." He con sented and accompanied the lawyers. One said to him, "Barty, we want you to ask a blessing." Barty, who made no pretension to religion, said, "Well, if I do I hope you will behave as men should do on such an occasion, and not make a mock of it; and I want some one to return thanks." One 12 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY was accordingly appointed. All stood up around the table and Barty began thus : "Lord of the climes, Haste on the times When death makes lawyers civil; Lord, stop their clack And send them back Unto their father devil. Don't let this band Infest our land Nor let these liars conquer; O let this club Of Beelzebub Insult our land no longer! They are bad indeed As the thistle weed, Which chokes our fertile mowing ; Compare them nigh To the Hessian fly, Which kills our wheat when growing. Come sudden death, And cramp their breath, Refine them well with brimstone; And let them there To hell repair, And turn the devil's grin'stone." The landlord said they ate but very little dinner; and the one appointed to return thanks, rose, turned on his heel, and did not make the attempt. Barty was also as sharp as most men for a retort, as witness the following passage-at-arms between him and Gov. Chittenden. In 1786 Barty was chosen representative from Essex and went to Williston the next day to pay his respects to the Governor. The Governor, knowing of his election, but thinking to give a good joke, asked him who had been elected in his town. Barty answered: "For the want of better stock they took me." "Well," said the Governor, "it's a misfortune that we have got so poor in some of the towns about here, as not to be able to get good EARLY POETS OP VERMONT 13 iron and have to use wood for wedges." "That's a fact," replied Barty, "but misfortunes never come single; it's a greater misfortune that the State is so poor as not to be able to procure a good well-made beetle but is compelled to use an old basswood maul to drive them with." The Governor felt that he had taken nothing by his motion, as indeed he had not anticipated that he should. Barty was as severe upon himself as upon others. In his old age he fell into intemperate habits and became almost blind. He was sensible of his weakness and commemorated it in an epitaph which he wrote for himself as follows : "Beneath this stone blind Barty lies, By drinking rum who lost his eyes; Here let his carcass lie and rot, Who lived a fool and died a sot." LYNDON ARNOLD. Contemporaneous with Rowley and Willard there lived in the northeast part of the State a young poet whose classic scholarship and cultivated taste gave promise of a higher order of poetry than Rowley's rugged muse could ever have aspired to. St. Johnsbury is now more celebrated for the practical than for the poetical, but at that early period Lyndon Arnold's verse gave it its only title to distinction. Josias Lyndon Arnold was a native of Providence, R. I., born in 1765. His father, Dr. Jonathan Arnold, was one of the leading men in that State, a member of Congress for some years, and one of the few friends which Vermont had in that body at the time of the struggle for admission into the Union. Lyndon was the flower of the family, and advantages proportioned to his native genius were bestowed upon him. Dr. Arnold having removed to St. Johnsbury, of which he was the principal grantee and the founder, sent his son to Dart mouth College where he graduated in 1788, confessedly the first of a class containing such men as Daniel Chipman of our own State, and Daniel Dana of Massachusetts. Mr. 14 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dana, by whose recent death that class lost its last survivor and the theological world one of its brightest lights, wrote not long after Lyndon's death as follows: "Arnold was considered the flower of the class and was universally be loved. In personal appearance, manners, habits, scholar ship, he was foremost. He was spare, but handsome in face and person, and very sprightly." After graduating he taught the academy in Plainfield, Conn., for a few months, was tutor in Brown University, pursued the study of law, and, being admitted to the bar, returned to St. Johnsbury where he opened an office, and was the first who practised law in that town. He had, however, but little business. His gentlemanly, not to say aristocratic manners were un- suited to life in the wilderness, and his kid gloves and well- polished boots seemed strangely incongruous with the stumps and half -burned logs which surrounded his office. Poetry consoled him for the lack of business, and the columns of the Dartmouth Eagle were often enriched by the productions of his ready pen. Notwithstanding his personal unpop ularity among the woodsmen, his conspicuous talents and the influence of his father secured him an election to the legis lature for three successive years, 1793, 94, 95. He also entered into military life, and attained the rank of colonel, a not undesirable honor in the early days. In the meantime he married Susan Perkins, daughter of Dr. Nathan Perkins of Conn., who invented the once famous metallic tractors. She was characterized by one who knew her in her youth as "a splendid woman." Her beauty was of the queenly type, Juno and Venus in one. She was tall, perfectly proportioned, with hair black as midnight and eyes of the same hue, which flashed and sparkled with sensibility and intelligence. With her he led a happy life of little more than a year, and died of a rapid consumption, June 7, 1796, "justly regretted by all his acquaintances," says a cotemporary newspaper, though to tell the whole truth he had sunk so low in the esteem of his boorish townsmen that some of them openly EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 15 expressed their gratification at his death, nor was it alto gether easy to procure sufficient assistance to render the last offices of humanity to his remains. His widow married Charles Marsh of Woodstock, whom she had once rejected for Arnold's sake, and became the mother of our distinguished fellow-citizen, George P. Marsh. Arnold's poems were collected after his death, and pub lished in a thin duodecimo volume which has now become very rare and commands an extravagant price whenever a copy of it is offered at a book auction. A large share of the volume consists of translations from and imitations of Horace, and the remainder is composed of songs and short descriptive poems. A fair exhibition of his poetical powers is made in the ODE To CONNECTICUT RIVER. On thy loved banks, sweet river, free From wordly care and vanity, I could my every hour confine And think true happiness was mine. Sweet river, in thy gentle stream Myriads of finny beings swim; The watchful trout with speckled side; The perch, the dace in silvered pride; The princely salmon, sturgeon brave, And lamprey, emblem of the knave. Beneath thy banks, thy shades among, The muses, mistresses of song, Delight to sit, to tune the lyre, And fan the heaven-descended fire. Here nymphs dwell, fraught with every grace, The faultless form, the sparking face, The generous breast by virtue formed, With innocence, with friendship warmed; Of feelings tender as the dove, And yielding to the voice of love. Happiest of all the happy swains Are those who till thy fertile plains, With freedom, peace, and plenty crowned, They see the varying year go round. 16 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY But more than all, there Fanny dwells, For whom, departing from their cells, The muses wreaths of laurel twine, And bind around her brow divine; For whom the dryads of the woods, For whom the nereids of the floods, Those as for Dian famed of old, These as for Thetis reverence hold, With whom if I could live or die, With joy I'd live and die with joy. It is hardly necessary to suggest that the Fanny cele brated in the last stanza was the Susan with whom he did live and die with joy. ROYALL TYLER. Contemporaneous for some years with Arnold but destined to a much longer life, more voluminous authorship and greater reputation in many and divers spheres of in tellectual effort was Royall Tyler, a lawyer practicing in the famous old town of Guilford in Windham County. He was born in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall, Boston, in 1756, graduated at Harvard University at the age of 20 with such classmates as Judge Christopher Gore and Judge Samuel Sewall, and studied law with the elder President Adams. Tyler commenced the practice of law in Falmouth, Me., in 1779. While there an incident occurred which annoyed him not a little as well as afforded the legal brethren a frequent opportunity for merriment at his expense. He commenced an action against the captain of a privateer then lying in Falmouth harbor, and went on board the vessel with the sheriff to see that the process was duly served. But the captain, not liking the process, and possibly remembering the maxim, inter arma leges silent, weighed anchor and sailed out of the jurisdiction, carrying with him the lawyer and the officer, whom he landed at Boothbay, and then went on his cruise. His first appearance in public life was in the capacity of aide- de-camp to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, with whom he saw some active service in the suppression of Shay's rebellion. While EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 17 connected with the army he commenced his literary career by writing a comedy entitled "The Contrast". It has the twofold distinction of being the first production in which the Yankee dialect, since become so familiar and effective, was employed, and of being the first American drama ever acted upon a regular stage. It was played at the John Street Theater in New York in April 1786, with such success that he forthwith produced another comedy entitled "May Day; or, New York in an uproar." The first of these comedies was published for the benefit of one of the actors. After his establishment in the practice of the law at Guilford, Tyler commenced a series of contributions to the periodical press, in which he displayed such wit, humor, and imagination as have hardly been surpassed by any other American writer. He wrote copiously for the Eagle at Hanover, N. H., the Federal Orrery at Boston, and other literary papers. In 1796 he became a regular contributor to the Farmers' Museum, published at Walpole, N. H., and edited by that elegant essayist, Joseph Dennie, who gathered around him one of the most brilliant corps of writers ever collected together to advance the fortunes of such an enterprise. There is nothing in the history of American literature more re markable than the fortunes of that paper while Dennie was editor and Tyler was a contributor. That a small journal published in an obscure country village should, without the aid of advertising or the urgency of agents, secure a circula tion throughout the United States and even find readers in Europe, testifies more strongly than any words can as to the amount and the attractiveness of the genius expended upon it. Tyler did his full share towards creating and main taining its reputation. Withdrawing himself from other papers with which he had been connected, he poured into the columns of the Museum, week after week, such an abun dance of good things as almost surfeited its readers with the sweets of literature. His articles purported to come from the shop of Messrs. Colon & Spondee, and were introduced 18 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY by an advertisement parodying the advertisements of the universal store of that day. It will bear repeating here: MESSRS. COLON & SPONDEE. Wholesale dealers in verse, prose and music, beg leave to inform the public and the learned in particular that they propose to open a fresh assortment of Lexographic, Bur- gurdician, and Parmassian goods suitable for the season, among which are Salutatory & Valedictory Orations, Syl logistic & Forensic Disputations, & Dialogues among the living and the dead. Theses in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Lyriac, Arabic, and the ancient Coptic, neatly modified into dialogues, orations, etc., at the shortest notice, with Dissertations on the Targum and Talmud, and Collations after the manner of Kennicott, Hebrew roots and other simples. Dead languages for living drones, oriental lan guages with or without points, prefixes or suffixes, Attic, Doric, Ionic, and Aeolic Dialects, with the Waback, On- ondaga, and Mohawk gutturals, synalephs, elisions, and Elipses of the newest cut, with a small assortment of the genuine Pelopenesian Nasal Twangs Classic Compliments adapted to all dignities, with superlatives in o and Gerunds in di gratis monologues, dialogues, trialogues, and tetra- logues and so on up to twenty-logues. So much of the advertisement was adapted to the classic shades of Dartmouth College; the remainder was designed for more general circulation and announced that Messrs. Colon & Spondee had on hand a supply of Anagrams, Acrostics, Anacreontics, Chronograms, Epigrams, Hudi- brastics, and panegyrics, rebuses, charades, puns and con undrums, by the gross or single dozen, sennets, elegies, bucolics, georgics, pastorals, epic poems, dedications, and prefaces in prose and verse. Love letters by the ream, summary arguments both merry and serious, sermons, moral, occasional, or polemical, old orations, scoured-blunt epigrams newly pointed, extemporaneous prayers corrected and amended, alliterations artfully allied, and periods polished to perfection. Adventures, paragraphs, letters from correspondents, provided for editors of newspapers, EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 19 with accidental deaths, battles, bloody murders, premature news, tempests, thunder and lightning and hail stones of all dimensions, adapted to the season. Circles squared and mathematical points divided into quarters and half shares on hand a few tierces of Attic Salt. Cash and the highest price given for raw wit, for the use of the manufactory or taken in exchange for the above articles. Extensive as was the assortment of literary wares offered in this unique advertisement, it was hardly more extensive than the variety of articles which Tyler actually produced. His mind was rich and fertile and his facility in composition truly remarkable. Prose in every style and on all possible subjects and verse in all sorts of metres flowed almost spontaneous from his rapid pen. His knowledge was at instant command, and his wit was absolutely impromptu. He was always ready not only to furnish all that was re quired for the department assigned to him, but to supply the lack of service on the part of other contributors. This lack was not infrequently occasioned by the excessive con viviality, to use no stronger expression, of the writers for the Museum, who were accustomed to meet often at the village tavern, and with cards, wine, and jollity spend the night together. Dennie, who was very dilatory in his habits of composition, sometimes found himself disabled from writing just at the time when he had most need to be in full pos session of his faculties. Tyler was an unfailing helper at such times. Buckingham, formerly the veteran editor of the Boston Courier, was an apprentice in the Museum office at this time, and mentions that on one occasion, when Den nie, who was contributing a series of lay sermons, left one of them in an unfinished state, Tyler took it up, wrote a conclusion to it, and dispatched it to the printer. Dennie did not see the sermon till after it had gone to press, but it proved to be one of the very best sermons in the series. In fact, Tyler might have answered for the model from whom Sir Francis H. Doyle drew his picture of the editor: 20 "Who if he found his young adherents fail, The ode unfinished, uncommenced the tale, With the next number bawling to be fed, And its false feeders latitant or fled, Sat down unflinchingly to write it all, And kept the staggering project from a fall." His connection with the Museum continued about four years, when he followed the fortunes of his friend Dennie to the Portfolio, a Philadelphia periodical of as high standing at that day as the Atlantic Monthly has now. While thus delighting the public with wit, humor, satire, irony, and poetry in the newspapers, he did not neglect to build up his reputation by more elaborate productions. In 1797 he wrote another comedy, "The Georgia Spec., or, Land in the Moon", in ridicule of a mania for land speculation which prevailed then as it has many times since. It was repeatedly performed with great success. During the same year he published anonymously in two volumes "The Algerine Cap tive; or, The life and adventures of Dr. Updike Underhili six years a prisoner among the Algerines." This was a book of fictitious memoirs, designed at first as a picture of Yankee life, but as he proceeded he took advantage of the excite ment then prevailing in regard to the piracies of the Alger ines, and made his hero a captive of those inhuman people. The idea of the work was ingenious, the style neat and attractive, and the subject well calculated to secure atten tion. It had a decided popularity and soon reached a second edition. There is a circumstantiality and minute ness of detail in the narrative which gives it a perfect sem blance of reality. The secret of his effective style, like that of Defoe's, lies in simple force of diction, homely and ex pressive words, and an elaborate and precise statement of details. Together these traits affect the mind with all the distinctness of reality. Dr. Johnson thought that "The Adventures of Capt. Singleton," Defoe's second work of fiction, was a record of facts. Lord Chatham quoted his EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 21 "Memoirs of a Cavalier" as a genuine piece of biography; and Dr. Wood, "The Account of the Plague in London" as the result of personal observation; while the credence that the mass of readers bestowed upon the story of "Mrs. Veal's Apparition" is evident from the large sale it at once secured for Drelincourt's unpopular essay. But none of Defoe's works, not even "Robinson Crusoe" itself, is more vivid and lifelike than "The Algerine Captive". In fact the book was mistaken by many for a narrative of real events. The venerable William C. Bradley (a name not to be mentioned by any Vermonter without a passing tribute of admiration for learning most varied and profound, eloquence at once delighting and convincing, and conversational charms rival ing those of Johnson and Coleridge) writes as follows: "I well remember an honest Westmoreland farmer coming, soon after the publication of 'The Captive', into my father's office, and asking him with the utmost seriousness whether he had read Dr. Underbill's adventures in Algiers, and the difficulty which my father, who in these respects was some what akin to Tyler, had in keeping his countenance for a while until he was satisfield of the man's sincerity, and then telling him it was a fiction and by whom written. The indignation of the farmer, on learning what he called the gross imposition, was almost uncontrollable." It was not alone the unlettered public who were deceived, but it is said that an English critic reviewed the book as if it were a narrative of real life. There is an anecdote concerning Benjamin Franklin which has had great currency as illustrating how impossible it is for one to derive more than a certain amount of enjoy ment from the greatest wealth. It represents the philosopher as presenting an apple to a little child who could just totter about the room. The child could scarcely grasp it in his hand. He then gave it another which occupied the other hand. Then choosing a third, remarkable for its size and beauty, he presented that also. The child, after many in- 22 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY effectual attempts to hold the three apples, dropped the last one on the carpet and burst into tears. There, said the philosopher, is a little man with more riches than he can enjoy. This is certainly very much in the manner of Frank lin, and the anecodote has been repeated thousands of times so if it were true. Possible it is true, but it is quite as likely at be otherwise, for Dr. Updike Underhill was the first to give an account of it. "The Algerine Captive" has now become so exceeding rare that an extract from it will be a novelty to most if not to all of you. I quote from the chapter on "The anticipa tions, pleasures, and profits of a pedagogue", which affords a good specimen of the author's style, as well as illustrates the trials of school teaching half a century ago, it may be school teaching in some places now. "My ambition was gratified, and I was placed at the head of a school consisting of but sixty scholars. Excepting three or four overgrown boys of 18, the generality of them were under the age of 7 years. Perhaps a more ragged, illbred, ignorant set never was collected for the punishment of a poor pedagogue. To study in school was impossible. Instead of the silence I anticipated, there was an incessant clamor. Predominant among the jarring sounds were, "Sir, may I read? May I spell? Master, may I go out? Will you mend my pen?" What with the pouting of the small children, sent to school, not to learn but to keep out of harm's way, and the gruff, surly complaints of the larger ones, I was nearly distracted. Homer's poluphlosboio thalassess, roaring sea, was a whisper to it. My resolution to avoid beating of them made me invent small punish ments, which often have a salutary impression on delicate minds, but they were insensible to shame. The putting of a paper fool's-cap on one, and the ordering another under my great chair, only excited mirth in the school, which the very delinquents themselves often increased by loud peals of laughter. Going, one frosty morning, into my school, I found one of the larger boys sitting by the fire in my arm chair. I gently requested him to move. He replied that he would when he had warmed himself; "father finds wood, not you." To have my throne usurped in the face of the whole EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 23 school shook my government to the center. I immediately snatched my two-foot rule and laid it pretty smartly across his back. He quitted the chair muttering that he would tell father. I found his threat of more consequence than I had apprehended. The same afternoon a tall, raw-boned man called me to the door, immediately collaring me with one hand and holding a cart-whip over my head with the other, and with fury in his face he vowed he would whip the skin from my bones if ever I struck Jotham again; ay, he would do it that very moment if he was not afraid I would take the law of him. This was the only instance of the overwhelming gratitude of parents I received. The next day it was reported all over town what a cruel man the master was. 'Poor Jotham came into school half frozen and nearly fainting; master had been sitting a whole hour by the warm fire, he only begged him to let him warm himself a little when the master rose in a rage and cut open his head with the tongs and his life was despaired of.' '' Mention has already been made of Tyler's versatility and facility of composition. This occasioned very frequent demands upon his pen on public occasions, and he was always ready with an ode, a song, an epigram, a prologue, or whatever else was best suited to the case in hand. A Fourth of July Ode for a celebration of that day at Windsor, and a convivial song for the same occasion are among the best of his productions in that line, and are full of life and vigor. A better illustration, both of his readiness and his keen wit is furnished by some verses which he wrote at Wind sor while the Legislature was in session there in 1793. Louis R. Morris of Springfield had just been elected Brigadier- General, on which occasion he gave a great dinner and in vited all the prominent men of the State. Near the close of the entertainment Tyler was called on for some approp riate verses, and taking his pencil he dashed off the follow ing impromptu: Talk not of your Washingtons, Hancocks and Sullivans, And all the wild crew; 24 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY Our Tom set on high With his single eye Can more espy Than they can with two. Here's to eagle-eyed Gideon, Who keeps his eye steady on And is ever ready on The public amounts. And to Ira our Treasurer, Eke our land measurer, God soon send him leisure more To settle his accounts. To the brave General Enos, Who steps firm between us And cuts a great dash ; To that son of Zion, Judah's young Lyon, To melt his ore iron, May he never lack cash. Now Bradley our General Who ever so well A story can tell, Our glasses must fill; He can turn black to white, And is always in the right, Be on which side he will. Here's to Morris our Brigadier, Who so kindly invites us here And gives us this treat; And to the noble Tichenor, Who has so long been wishing for And ever will be itching for The Governor's seat. Hitherto we have spoken of Tyler only as a wit and a poet, but he was also a lawyer and a judge. It is not quite easy to believe that he could excel as a lawyer. Human na ture is reluctant to acknowledge superior excellence and especially reluctant to admit that one person can excel in EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 25 diverse and seemingly contradictory departments of effort. "We grow tired of hearing of the justice of Aristides, and we revenge ourselves on him in one form or another. If a man be a Webster or a Clay we seek satisfaction on him for his intellectual superiority by dwelling on his moral infirmities. If he be a Washington or a Wilberforce we take shelter from the painful brightness of his character by denying the extent of the splendor of his intellect. And so in the more ordinary affairs of life. A man's acquaintance will not tolerate his being very much their superior in all things. If they allow him talent or learning they make some de duction from his goodness. If he be conspicuously good then he can hardly have been very great." If he be learned in the law or wise in theology he can not be well read in literature. If he is an omnivorous reader of books he can hardly have much practical skill or professional ability. So it is in the case of Tyler. Seeing him the wittiest of the witty and the gayest of the gay, we are loath to believe that he could have been a leader at the bar and a chief -judge on the bench. But he steadily advanced in his profession, and in due season reached the highest professional position which the State could give him. His forte was in advocacy, for which his qualifications were peculiar and admirable. He had a good presence, a copious flow of words, and a voice as clear and musical as a flute, wit that never failed him and sometimes accomplished what law, evidence, and logic could not do. The charms of his oratory are fresh in the memory of the survivors who frequented the courts as jurors and witnesses half a century ago, but it would be idle to attempt to re produce the oratory, even if we could reproduce the exact words. Every attempt to preserve on paper the splendid efforts of impassioned eloquence is like gathering up dew drops, which appear as jewels and pearls on the grass, but turn to water in the hand the essence and the elements remain, but the grace, the sparkle, and the form are gone. As might be inferred from his possession of these qualifica- 26 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY tions, he was eminently successful as a jury lawyer. There were few cases of any importance in his county in which he did not receive a retainer. In 1796 he was elected to the office of State's Attorney which he held for five successive years. Of the manner in which he sometimes administered that office, the following anecdote has been preserved by tradition. A worthless fellow, who had often been subjected to prosecution without being at all restrained from repeti tion of his evil doings, was on trial convicted for some offence which exposed to imprisonment for a few months, and was about to be brought up for sentence. Tyler, thinking he could do a better service to the community by ridding it entirely of the man, than by imprisoning him a short time and then letting him loose to repeat his crimes, procured a person to visit the criminal and suggest to him that when he was brought up for sentence he should break from the custody of the sheriff and make his escape. The criminal doubted the possibility of escaping, inasmuch as the great number of people attending court would almost surely surround and recapture him. But he was reminded that they would all be taken by surprise and he would be able to get a good start, and the line 'of New Hampshire was but a few miles distant, which, when he had passed, he would be safe from all pursuit. The plan then seemed more feasible, and he resolved to make an attempt to secure his liberty. Tyler instructed the sheriff not to be unnecessarily vigilant of his prisoner when he was bringing him into court, and accordingly a very favorable chance was presented, of which the criminal was not slow to avail himself. He broke from the officer and started at full speed. The alarm was speedily given and the whole assembled crowd was soon in hot pru- suit, Tyler leading the van. But he soon became exhausted and the others were pressing by him to the great danger of overtaking the flying culprit. Tyler detained them all by the repeated exclamation "Slowly, gentlemen, slowly; you mustn't go by the State's Attorney." And as the State's EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 27 Attorney's pace was constantly slackening, the criminal was not long in getting out of sight, and never came in sight again of that court-house. In 1801 he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1803 was advanced to the Chief-Justiceship, which office he held till 1812. He was the head of the Court not only by position but in scholarship and legal learning. In fact he was for much of the time the only judge on the bench who had any tolerable knowledge of law. In 1809 he pub lished two volumes of Reports of Cases decided in the Su preme Court. They were rather meagerly reported, and are now of small value except to the antiquarian. In 1811 he was appointed to the professorship of law in the Uni versity of Vermont, and at the same time received the honorary degree of A. M. from that institution. He was also a member of the Corporation from 1802 to 1813, and was active in efforts for its interests. He is spoken of in that capacity by the historian of the University as "original, perhaps odd, leaving Court and going to the College to examine students and reciting Eclogues from Virgil to show quantity and pronunciation". His professorship was merely nominal as the war of 1812 which soon took place put an end to instruction at the University. The only fruit of the professorship was the project of a law dictionary after the style of Jacob's Dictionary, but of this no more than 4 quarto pages were printed. After his retirement from the bench he resumed prac tice as a lawyer, and resided at Brattleboro. He continued to write for various periodicals as long as his health would permit. His death took place Aug. 16, 1826, and was oc casioned by cancer in the face from which he had suffered for several years. Two of his sons still reside at Brattle boro, one of whom, the Rev. George B. Tyler, is pastor of the Congregational Church at that place. 28 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY THOMAS G. FESSENDEN. Thomas Green Fessenden was another of the popular poets of Vermont half a century ago, and so prolific that his published poems extend to four volumes, while his uncollected works are probably sufficient for one or two more. He was a native of Walpole, N. H., and a son of Rev. Thomas Fes senden, a preacher and author of considerable local reputa tion. His classical education was obtained at Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 1796, having supported himself during the course principally by teaching vocal music, in which as well as in several kinds of instrumental music he was a great proficient. He then studied law with Nathaniel Chipman of Rutland, one of the best lawyers who has ever adorned the bar or the bench of Vermont. Law, however, was not and could not be Fessenden's specialty. He had a rich vein of humor, which soon began to exhibit itself in a series of poems contributed to the Dartmouth Eagle and the Farmers' Museum. Most of these were pic tures of rustic life in Vermont, and some of them were un doubtedly more life-like than life itself. Among the more serious and most popular of his early poems was an ode written and set to music for a Fourth of July celebration at Rutland in 1798, when a French fleet lay at Toulon, supposed by many to be destined by Napoleon for America. It has in every verse the ring of genuine patriotism, for which, no less than for its poetical merit, it is worthy of quotation : Ye sons of Columbia, unite in the cause Of liberty, justice, religion, and laws; Should foes then invade us to battle we'll hie, For the God of our fathers will be our ally: Let Frenchmen advance, And all Europe join France, Designing our conquest and plunder, United and free Forever we'll be And our cannon shall tell them in thunder, EABLY POETS OP VERMONT 29 That foes to our freedom we'll ever defy, Till the continent sinks and the ocean is dry. When Britain assailed us undaunted we stood, Defended the land we had purchased with blood, Our liberty won, and it shall be our boast, If the old world united should menace our coast: Should millions invade In terror arrayed Our liberties bid us surrender, Our country they'll find With bayonets lined, And Washington here to defend her. For foes to our country we'll ever defy Till the continent sinks and the ocean is dry. Should Bonaparte come with his sansculotte band, And a new sort of freedom we don't understand, And make us an offer to give us as much As France has bestowed on the Swiss and the Dutch, His fraud and his force Will be futile of course, We wish for no Frenchified Freedom, If folks beyond sea Are to bid us be free, We'll send for them when we shall need 'em. But sansculotte Frenchmen we'll ever defy Till the continent sinks and the ocean is dry. We're anxious that peace may continue her reign, We cherish the virtues that sport in her train; Our hearts ever melt when the fatherless sigh, And we shiver at Horror's funereal cry! But still, though we prize That child of the skies, We'll never like slaves be accosted. In a war of defence Our means are immense, And we'll fight till our all is exhausted. For foes to our freedom we'll ever defy Till the continent sinks and the ocean is dry. 30 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY It may well be imagined that an ode like that, with appro priate music, could not fail to produce a powerful effect upon the men whose minds were thoroughly aroused and alarmed at the mere possibility of an invasion under the lead of one who was beginning to make himself the terror of the world. In 1801 Fessenden was induced to go to England for the purpose of introducing a hydraulic machine, which was re garded by those in whose behalf he went as a very important invention. He found, however, to his great mortification, that his machine was no novelty in England, but had long been in common use. But he was unwilling to return to his native country with the tidings of his ill success, and so was easily induced to engage with several Englishmen of rank and influence in contructing a mill, to be carried by the waters of the Thames. In this enterprise he assumed a fifth part of the pecuniary responsibility and the entire bur den of the management, and when the project failed, as it did, he found himself involved in such difficulties and em barrassments that his anxiety and labors threw him into a severe sickness. While suffering from this sickness he projected and commenced, what he finally completed in the short space of four weeks, his first extended poem. It bore the original and euphonious title, "Terrible Tractoration by Christopher Caustic", and was a biting satire upon the medical profession in general, and had special reference to Perkin's Metallic Tractors, as they were called, a quack contrivance which was in great repute in those days. They were two small tapering pieces of metal, sold in great num bers, and at exorbitant prices, and stated to be perfectly efficacious in the removal of "acute and chronic rheumatism, gout, sprains, erysipelas, epileptic fits, pleurisy", and num erous other ailments; and they were further alleged to be equally successful in all analogous diseases of horse or other animals. The small pieces of metal were made of zinc and copper, which would cost at the most but a few pence, yet they were sold in great numbers at six guineas a set; and EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 31 persons of high repute and station bore testimony to the truth of this "safe, speedy and effectual method of cure." In a pamphlet on the influence of the tractors, published in London, Dr. Elisha Perkins, the inventor, stated that "he had crossed the Atlantic and become a resident in London that he might devote his time and attention to the diffusion of this important discovery and its application to the mis eries of mankind." He alleged that among his testimonials were vouchers from "Eight professors in four universities in the various branches as follows: three of natural phil osophy, four of medicine, one of natural history; to these may be added 19 physicians, 17 surgeons, and 20 clergymen, of whom ten are doctors of divinity, and many other of equal respectability." It was soon demonstrated, however, that it was the faith of the patient and not the efficacy of the tractors which wrought the cures : Dr. Haygarth of Bath and Dr. Smith of Bristol showed that they could produce equally marvelous effects with "false tractors" made of wax and wood, pro vided the patients did not know the deceit practiced upon them, and had entire confidence in the manner of cure employed. The paralytic were made to walk, rheumatic pains were put to flight, and, during the operation of point ing the false tractors to the part of the body affected, the pulse was visibly influenced. In one case they produced an increase of pain instead of relieving it, and the patient declared that after their use for four minutes he was in more pain than when the surgeon took five pieces of bone from his leg, after a compound fracture, in Wales, and his pulse was raised to 120 beats a minute. Fessenden seems to have had full confidence in the healing efficacy of the tractors, and he wrote "Terrible Tractoration" by way of defending them against the attacks which they suffered. The poem was published anony mously, and it is good proof of its merits that it was attri buted by many to Gifford and by others to Wolcott, both 32 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY of them English satirists of great reputation. It was re viewed by Giff ord and warmly praised ; and when Fessenden acknowledged the authorship, he might say as Byron did on a similar occasion, "I woke up one morning and found myself famous." He followed up his success by a volume of his poetical contributions to the newspapers, with the title, "Original Poems." Both these volumes were speedily republished in this country; and when he returned here in 1804, at the age of 33, he took rank at once with the leading literati of the country. He immediately issued another volume entitled, "Democracy Unveiled," a violent attack upon the Jeffersonian Democrats of that day. He continued to produce, more or less copiously, almost every year, though he did not venture upon another volume till 1822, when he published "The Ladies' Monitor; a poetical discourse on female education." In the meantime he had been the editor of the Reporter, a political paper published at Brattle- boro, and of the Intelligencer, published at Bellows Falls. He then removed to Boston where he established and for many years edited the newspaper which is doubtless now a favorite in many of your homes, "The New England Farmer. ' ' He now abandoned poetry almost entirely, and spent the rest of his life in prosaic labors for the advancement of agriculture. He died in 1837, was buried in Mt. Auburn, and the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture erected a monument to his memory. This quintette of worthies, Rowley, Willard, Arnold, Tyler, and Fessenden, each having his own peculiar and original genius, enjoyed a reputation and exerted an in fluence in their day equal if not superior to what has been acquired by any or all our modern Vermont poets. Their reputation has faded away or been extinguished by the uprising of other poets, and their published works are to be found only in the libraries of antiquaries. But the impres sions made upon the public mind by the rude verse of Rowley and Willard and the keen satire of Tyler and Fessenden EARLY POETS OF VERMONT 33 assisted in forming the mental character of the last genera tion, and thus laid the foundation for the intellectual quali ties of us who now live. They have labored and we have entered into their labors, and while we possess what they have wrought out for us, let us not fail from time to time, like Old Mortality, to renew and deepen the time-worn inscriptions on the crumbling monuments of our fathers. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below Form L-9-15m-3,'34 f - . Lithomount Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Bros., Inc. Makers Stockton, Calif. PAT. m 21, 1908 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIL TV A 001 308 042 9