poetry. "An old college mate of mine," said James Madison--who
was by tradition Freneau's roommate at Princeton in the class of
1771--"a poet and man of literary and refined tastes, knowing
nothing of the world." When but three years out of college, the
cautious Madison wrote to another friend: "Poetry wit and
Criticism Romances Plays &c captivated me much: but I begin to
discover that they deserve but a moderate portion of a mortal's
Time and that something more substantial more durable more
profitable befits our riper age." Madison was then at the ripe
age of twenty-three! Professor Pattee, Freneau's editor, quotes
these words to illustrate the "common sense" atmosphere of the
age which proved fatal to Freneau's development. Yet the sturdy
young New Yorker, of Huguenot descent, is a charming figure, and
his later malevolence was shown only to his political foes. After
leaving Princeton he tries teaching, the law, the newspaper, the
sea; he is aflame with patriotic zeal; he writes, like most
American poets, far too much for his own reputation. As the
editor of the "National Gazette" in Philadelphia, he becomes
involved in the bitter quarrel between his chief, Jefferson, and
Alexander Hamilton. His attachment to the cause of the French
Revolution makes him publish baseless attacks upon Washington. By
and by he retires to a New Jersey farm, still toying with
journalism, still composing verses. He turns patriotic poet once
more in the War of 1812; but the public has now forgotten him. He
lives on in poverty and seclusion, and in his eightieth year
loses his way in a snowstorm and perishes miserably--this in
1832, the year of the death of the great Sir Walter Scott, who
once had complimented Freneau by borrowing one of his best lines
of poetry.