answer to his Proclamation concerning the affair at Lexington. It was
certainly not written by Paine. It apologizes for the Americans for
having, on April I9, at Lexington, made " an attack upon the King's
troops from behind walls and lurking holes." The writer asks : " Have
not the Americans been driven to this frenzy? Is it not common for an
enemy to take every advantage ? " Paine, who was in America when the
affair occurred at Lexington, would have promptly denounced Gage's
story as a falsehood, but the facts known to every one in America
were as yet not before the London writer. The English " Crisis "
bears evidence throughout of having been written in London. It
derived nothing from Paine, and he derived nothing from it, unless
its title, and this is too obvious for its origin to require
discussion. I have no doubt, however, that the title was suggested by
the English publication, because Paine has followed its scheme in
introducing a " Crisis Extraordinary." His work consists of thirteen
numbers, and, in addition to these, a " Crisis Extraordinary "and a "
Supernumerary Crisis." In some modern collections all of these have
been serially numbered, and a brief newspaper article added, making
sixteen numbers. But Paine, in his Will, speaks of the number as
thirteen, wishing perhaps, in his characteristic way, to adhere to
the number of the American Colonies, as he did in the thirteen ribs
of his iron bridge. His enumeration is therefore followed in the
present volume, and the numbers printed successively, although other
writings intervened.

The first " Crisis " was printed in the Pennsylvania Journal,
December 19, 1776, and opens with the famous sentence, " These are
the times that try men's souls"; the last " Crisis "appeared April
19,1783, (eighth anniversary of the first gun of the war, at
Lexington,) and opens with the words, " The times that tried men's