,
On willow trees, that wither'd there.

Meanwhile our foes, who all conspir'd
To triumph in our slavish wrongs,
Music and mirth of us requir'd,
"Come, sing us one of Zion's songs."

How shall we tune our voice to sing?
Or touch our harps with skilful hands?
Shall hymns of joy to GOD, OUR KING,
Be sung by slaves in foreign lands?

O, SALEM! Our once happy seat,
When I of thee forgetful prove,
Let then my trembling hand forget
The speaking strings with art to move!

If I, to mention thee, forbear,
Eternal silence seize my tongue!
Or if I sing one cheerful air,
Till my _deliv'rance_ is my song.

CHAPTER IV.

I come now to a delicate subject; and shall speak accordingly, with
due caution; I mean the character and conduct of _Mr. Beasly_, the
American Agent for prisoners. He resides in the city of London,
thirty-two miles from this place. There have been loud and constant
complaints made of his conduct towards his countrymen, suffering
confinement at three thousand miles distance from all they hold most
dear and valuable; and he but half a day's journey from us. Mr. Beasly
knew that there were some thousands of his countrymen imprisoned in a
foreign land for no crime; but for defending, and fighting under the
American flag, that emblem of national independence, and sovereignty;
if he reflected at all, he must have known these countrymen of his
were, in general, thinking men; men who had homes, and "fire
places."[D] He knew they had, some of them, fathers and mothers, wives
and children, brothers and sisters, in the United States, who lived in
houses that had "_fire places_," and that they had, in general, been
brought up in more ease and plenty than the same class in England; he
knew they were a people of strong affections to their relatives, and
strong attachments to their country; and he might have supposed that
some of them had as good an education as himself; he must, or ought to
have thought constantly that they were suffering imprisonment,
deprivations and occasionally sickness in a foreign country, where he
is specially commissioned, and placed to attend to their comforts,
relieve, if practicable their wants, and to be the channel of
communication between them and their families. The British commander,
or commodore of all the prison ships in this river visited them all
once a month; and paid good attention to al