soners, and thereby raising the glory of
Old England to a pitch she never knew before. And ye Macs, and ye
Donalds upon Donalds, go on, and may our gallows-hills and liberty poles
be honour'd and adorn'd with some of your heads: Why should Tyburn and
Temple-bar make a monopoly of so valuable a commodity?_

_Wishing you abundance of entertainment in the re-acting this
Tragi-Comedy, and of which I should be proud to take a part with you,
tho' I have reason to think you would not of choice let me come within
three hundred yards of your stage, lest I should rob you of your
laurels, receive the clap of the whole house, and pass for a second
Garrick among you, as you know I always act with applause, speak
bold--point blank--off hand--and without prompter._

_I am_, My Lords and Gentlemen Buffoons,

_Your always ready humble servant,_

DICK RIFLE.

THE PREFACE

Solomon said, "Oppression makes a wise man mad:" but what would he have
said, had he lived in these days, and seen the oppression of the people
of Boston, and the distressed situation of the inhabitants of
Charlestown, Falmouth, Stonnington, Bristol, Norfolk, &c.? Would he not
have said, "The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his
mouth for thirst; the young children ask for bread, but no man breaketh
it unto them?" "They that did feed delicately, perish in the streets;
they that were brought up in scarlet, embrace the dung." What would he
have said of rejected petitions, disregarded supplications, and
contemned remonstrances? Would he not have said, "From hardness of
heart, good Lord, deliver us?" What would he have said of a freeborn
people butchered--their towns desolated, and become an heap of
ashes--their inhabitants become beggars, wanderers and vagabonds--by the
cruel orders of an unrelenting tyrant, wallowing in luxury, and wantonly
wasting the people's wealth, to oppress them the more? Would he not have
said, it was oppression and ingratitude in the highest degree, exceeding
the oppression of the children of Israel? and, like Moses, have cried
out, let the people go? Would he not have wondered at our patience and
long-suffering, and have said, "'Tis time to change our master!--'Tis
time to part!"--And had he been an American born, would he not have
shewed his wisdom by adopting the language of independency? Happy then
for America in these fluctuating times, she is not without her Solomons,
who see the necessity of hea