Through the vast series of descending years,

That lose their currents in th' eternal wave,
Till heaven's last trump shall rend th' affrighted
And ope each empire's everlasting grave; [spheres,
Propitious skies the joyous field shall crown,
And robe our vallies in perpetual prime,
And ages blest of undisturb'd renown
Arise in radiance o'er th' imperial clime.

And where is Britain? In the skirt of day,
Where stormy Neptune rolls his utmost tide,
Where suns oblique diffuse a feeble ray,

And lonely streams the fated coasts divide,

Seest thou yon Isle, whose desert landscape yields
The mournful traces of the fame she bore,
Where matted thorns oppress th' uncultur'd fields,
And piles of ruin load the dreary shore?

From those loved seats, the Virtues sad withdrew
From fell Corruption's bold and venal hand;
Reluctant Freedom waved her last adieu,
And devastation swept the vassall'd land.

On her white cliffs, the pillars once of fame,
Her melancholy Genius sits to wail,
Drops the fond tear, and o'er her latest shame,
Bids dark Oblivion draw th' eternal veil.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

TO

VOLUME I.

Note 1, to the engraved title page.-The vignette on this page represents Apollo destroying the monstrous serpent, Python, with his arrows.-The story is told by Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphoses.

Hunc Deus arcitenens-exhausta pene pharetra,
Perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno.

Note 2, to page 66.-As the gentleman who designed and furnished the engravings, has selected Abijah White, as the hero of this plate, it may perhaps gratify the reader to know something more, respecting him, than is stated in the short note on this page.

Previous to the session of the Massachusetts Legislature, in February 1774, a general effort was made by the Royalists, in every town in which their numbers were considerable, to pro