Note 118 — POEMS OF PHILIP FRENEAU (continued 2)
Reading edition
From the 1815 edition. In the edition of 1809 it bore the title: "The American Demosthenes. Occasioned by a very weak and insipid discourse on a Fourth of July, indirectly reprobating the Democratic Representative System." This version consisted of the first, second, and last stanzas above, with the following after the second stanza:
"Grunts, and long groans, and periods of a mile, Were on the sleepy audience tumbled down;— 'Twas thus from forts, contrived in antique style, From Troy's high walls (Where flew no balls) The men who fought With reason thought, They had a right From that safe height, (By way of lessening their besiegers' number) To tumble on their heads Rocks, beams, or roofs of sheds, Cows' horns, bricks, rubbish, chamber pots, or lumber."