miliar with it by daily perusal of the Sacred Volume in retirement, I conceived the ambitious design of enwrapping in it some events of our own national history. It did not strike me as involving aught of irreverence, for that would have shocked me beyond measure. It seemed to me a vehicle of thought, beautiful for simplicity, and capable, both by its amplifications and elisions, of producing a peculiar effect. Here is one, on a rather undignified event, but which bore decidedly upon the progress of our Revolution. I am not certain but this has, at some time or other, got into print, as have many of my juvenile compositions.
It was in 1773, while the spirit of alienation was quickening among the colonies, that a determination was formed to resist the introduction of large quantities of tea made subject to taxation. The ministry of Great Britain sustained the East India Company in this policy, who were desirous of disposing on the best terms of their accumulated stores of this article. Philadelphia was the first to lift her voice against tea and taxation; but Boston was the leader in action, and, resolute even to rashness, boarded three vessels laden with tea that entered her harbor, and threw their entire cargoes overboard.
