246 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



I would not have you for to think, tho' I have wrote so much, 

 That I hereby do throw a stone at magistrates as such. 

 The rulers in the country I do own them in the Lord; 

 And such as are for government, with them I do accord. 



If that you mistake the verse for its uncomely dress, 



I tell thee true, I never thought that it would pass the press. 



If any at the matter kick, its like he 's galled at heart, 



And that *s the reason why he kicks^ because he finds it smart. 



I am for peace and not for war, and that 's the reason why 



I write more plain than some men do that use to daub and lie. 



But I shall cease and set my name to what I here insert, 



Because to be a libeller, I hate it with my heart. 



From Sherborn town, where now I dwell, my name I do put 



here, 

 Without offence your real friend, it is 



Peter Folger. 

 April 23, 1676. 



That the art of writing poetry did not make very- 

 rapid progress in the next hundred years, or that the 

 people generally were not afflicted with the divine 

 afflatus, is evidenced by the following 



Elegy on the Sudden and Awful Death of Seven Men who 

 were drowned on Nantucket Bar, Jan. 1, 1782. 



(Shades of Shakespeare and Homer and Virgil, come 

 forth and listen!!) 



Kind heaven, assist my feeble muse, 



And help me to relate 

 Unto my friends the dismal news 



Of my poor townsmen's fate. 

 O! what a sad and awful time, 



Which caused our eyes to weep; 

 For seven men all in their prime 



All drowned in the deep. 



