From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol I. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
Our political wrongheads, to show themselves frantic,
Would extend the excise laws beyond th’ Atlantic;
Those they sent were oppos’d with American rage,
For a general excise is a General Gage.
But though gaging did plainly appear their intentions,
They were quite unacquainted with foreign dimensions;
As different as English and Frenchmen’s apparels,
For instead of plain casks they were all rifle barrels,
With such potent contents, as their parties deploring,
For it’s laid them at rest, where they sleep without snoring.
Keep! Putnam! one peal of Bostonian thunder!
That some here may atone for the national plunder.
Do thou, Lord of hosts! send such surgeons to bleed ’em,
And deal thus with the foes to American freedom.
This, this is the prayer of all virtuous, good men,
And the venal alone will refuse their Amen. 1
1 From the London Evening Post, republished in Holt’s Journal, October 5.