PRUSSIA A PRESENT OF A THOUSAND POUNDS.

No more let haughty _Austrians_ cry,
"_Fred'rick_ our foe, has no ally."
The _British_ fair are on his side,
And for the next campaign provide;
Their fortunes to his chests transfer ...
Money the sinews is of war.
For him they plead, and much can say,
For him they grow devout and pray!
For him their martial ardours rise,
And arm afresh their killing eyes;
Those shining warriors ne'er were beat,
But gain a conquest by retreat.

_New Amer. Mag._, No. VII-172, July 1758, Woodbridge in N. J.

Gentlemen.

The following small poetical performance was hastily composed at the
request, and for the entertainment, of a select company of publick
spirited friends, who gave me a short notice of their intention to
dine with me, and drink the protestant champion's health, as they
termed the king of _Prussia_. They were indulgent enough to express
their unanimous approbation of the piece, and insisted on my sending
it up to you, in order (if you would be of their opinion) to occupy a
leaf in your _Magazine_. I hope no reader will think the dignity of
the subject, lessened merely by the familiar strain, in which it is
written: when they consider, that _such_ seemed most suitable to the
occasion, the verses consisting of eleven feet, are to be read, like
the _Greek Iambics_ (which were, anciently, much used in convivial
festivities) with less solemnity and more rapidity, than the common
heroic measure of ten feet in our language will admit.

Kent, Maryland, July 14, 1758.

THE ROYAL COMET.

Mistaken astronomers, gaze not so high:
The _Comet_ foretold is not _yet_ in the sky.
It shines here on earth, tho' deputed from Heav'n;
And remarkably flam'd last year--_Fifty sev'n_.
In _Wodon's_[36] bold figure, three thousand years past,
O'er ancient Germania its lustre it cast.
Next, wearing _Arminius_[37], thy form, it return'd;
And, fatal to _Rome's_ blasted legions, it burn'd.
Now, attended with all the thunders of war,
Our _Prussia's_ great _Frederick_ is that _Blazing Star_!
Heav'ns proxy to nations opprest; but a _Sign_
To tyrants he comes of a vengeance divine.
Eccentric and rapid the north saw him rowl:
(For heroes and stars seem most bright near the pole)
To _Britain_ propitious he sheds for