"'Tis true, we love the courtly mien and air,
The pride of dress, and all the debonair:
Yet Clara quits the more dressed neglige,
And substitutes the careless polance;
Until some fair one from Britannia's court
Some jaunty dress, or newer taste, import;
This sweet temptation could not be withstood,
Though for the purchase paid her father's blood,
Though loss of freedom were the costly price,
Or flaming comets sweep the angry skies,
Or earthquakes rattle, or volcanoes roar;
Indulge this trifle, and she asks no more.
Can the stern patriot Clara's suit deny?
'Tis beauty asks, and reason must comply."

This is very fair satire, though it would have been better had the
comets and earthquakes and volcanoes, which clearly would not be
influenced by Clara's folly, been omitted from the lines; but, though
doubtless the rebuke was merited by a few of the irresponsible and
thoughtless girls of the day who made of fashion their one object of
worship, the poem is a libel if applied to the majority of American
women of the day, who sacrificed more than the whims of fashion in their
devotion to the needs of their native land.

Mrs. Warren, however, did better work than that which has been cited.
Her history of the Revolution was much admired and for years remained
one of the standard works upon the subject, though it might be difficult
to find a dozen copies of the book at the present time. It was rather
personal in some of its political references, and its portrait of Adams
brought about a rupture in the friendship that had long existed between
the Warrens and the Adamses; but this was but for a time. Mrs. Warren's
style was tainted with the affectation so prevalent in that day, and she
was profuse in classical allusion, as were the majority of the authors
of her period. She writes thus to Mr. Adams at the time of the calling
together of the first Continental Congress: "Though you have
condescended to ask my sentiments, in conjunction with those of a
gentleman qualified both by his judgment and his integrity, as well as
his attachment to the interest of his country, to advise at this
important crisis, yet I shall not be so presumptuous as to offer
anything but my fervent wishes that the enemies of America may hereafter
for ever tremble at the wisdom and firmness, the prudence and justice of
the delegates deputed fro