The compiler of this 382-page manuscript volume was
Hugh McConnel of
Fisk Kill Landing, New Jersey . (See
"author's inscription" on page 34, etc. The compiler docketed
several of the entries "Fish Kill," "Landing," or
alternatively, "Fish Kill Barricks," "Barricks," "Barr-s," or
"B.") The volume was evidently compiled 1777-1788, but
includes items originating at earlier dates. Few of the
entries are attributed to other authors. While some of the
unattributed entries (such as the anecdotes) may simply have
been recorded by the compiler, it appears that a majority of
the entires may be
Hugh McConnel 's original composition.
The volume contains approximately four hundred entries:
American, English, and Masonic poems, songs, and verse, as
well as anecdotes, maxims, essays, and historical notes. Major
themes include American patriotism, anti-British sentiment,
wit and humor, military history, love, philosophy, ethics, and
Freemasonry. A number of the songs and anecdotes are somewhat
risque. A watercolored fraktur appears on page 61, and an
engraving, "New York Packet," appears on page 187.
Pages 184-186, 299, 338, and 351 are blank.
Items listed in order of their appearance.
Condition
It appears that at least one page at the beginning of the
volume was lost, and significant portions of pages 59-62,
97-98, 101-102, 313-314, and 341-346 were cut or torn out
prior to the acquisition of the volume; other textual loss has
resulted from damage to the edges of the pages and the acidity
of the ink used. Due to its deteriorated condition, the volume
was debound, and the pages deacidifed and laminated by the
Barrow process.
"New York Packet" on engraved leaf with
inscriptions: "James McConnel, nailer, near Winsor";
"John McConnel, taylor, Albany"; "Hugh McConnel -
brothers"; "William McConnel, Ireland"
1783 Oct 2
AMs
"From the New York Gazette..." s/ James
Rivington, 1781 Nov 1
1781 Nov 23
AMs
[re: auction of possessions of Sir Henry Clinton]
Poem: "From the [Pennsylvania
Gazette]"
1781 Nov 26
AMs
[Hark! Hear the trumpet's pleasing sound...]
Poem: "A Fable - Addressed to the Modern
Duellists"
1781 Nov 30
AMs
['Twas on a time (I shan't say when)...]
Poem: "A Song. Hail Masonry
Divine!"
n.d.
AMs
[Hail Masonry, thou craft divine...]
Poem: "Song, Come, Come, My Brethren Dear" (a
Masonic song)
1781Dec 1
AMs
Poem: "Song. When Earth's Foundation First
Was Laid" (a Masonic song)
n.d.
AMs
author's inscription
1781 Dec 1
signature
Poem: "Song, Genius of Masonry Descend" (a
Masonic song)
1781 Dec 3
AMs
Poem: "Song, On, On, My Dear Brethren, etc."
(a Masonic song)
n.d.
AMs
author's inscription
n.d.
signature
Satire: "Wanted. For the Next Campaign in
North-America"
1781 Nov 20
AMs
[A Commander in Chief for the British armies...]
Poem [by "M."]: "Epigram Occasioned by the
Title of Rivington's Royal Gazette Being Scarcely
Legible"
n.d.
AMs
[Says Satan to Jammy, I hold you a bet...]
Poem: "From a Late Irish Paper. Paddy's
Address to John Bull..."
n.d.
AMs
[By your leave, gossip John, by my faith, 'tis so
long...]
Anecdote: "A Ball"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "An Epilogue"
1782 Mar 7
AMs
[Well heavens be prais'd, the mighty secret's
out...]
"General Return of Officers and Privates
Surrendered Prisoners..."
1781 Oct 19
AMs
Note re: rainstorm
1782 Mar 8
AMs
5 anecdotes
1782 Mar 9 -11
AMs
Satire: "Political Sales By
Auction..."
n.d.
AMs
[The British rights in America, consisting...]
Satire: "Also By James Twitcher and
Co."
n.d.
AMs
[The remaining stock in trade of the Royal
Navy...]
Verse: "Hail, auspicious morning,
clear..."
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "On Valentine's Day"
n.d.
AMs
[Now nature's genial instinct fires...]
Anecdote: "An Anecdote" [re: Lord
Cornwallis]
1782 Mar 12
AMs
Poem: "A Speech That Should Have Been Spoken
by the King...of Britain..."
n.d.
AMs
[My Lords, I can hardly from weeping refrain...]
Maxims (3): "Select Sentences"
n.d.
AMs
Essay: "Strictures on Fear, Cowardice, And
Valour"
n.d.
AMs
Verse: "The trumpets terribly from
afar..."
1782 Mar 14
AMs
author's inscription)
1782 Mar 14
signature
Homily: "To the Reader"
1782 Mar 24
AMs
Maxims (5): "Select Sentences"
1783 Dec 1
AMs
Anecdote: "Anecdote of David
Hume"
1782 Mar 26
AMs
Poem: "A New Song. Tune of Jolly
Mortals"
1783 Nov 10
AMs
[Manly Yorkers, fill your glasses...]
author's inscription
1783 Nov 10
signature
Poem: "A Song - Cato's Advice"
1783 Nov 10
AMs
[Says Cato, why should men repine...]
Essay: "Expensiveness in Apparel"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "A Speech on the War"
1783 Nov 11
AMs
[Grown sick of war, and war's alarms...]
Poem: "The Wish"
1783 Nov 12
AMs
[I've often wish'd to be the god of love...]
Poem: "An Epitaph on Human Life"
1783 Nov 12
AMs
[Be early wise, lest prudence come too late...]
Satire: "Translation of a Political Squib
Handed About at Paris - The Fourteen Alls"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "On Friendship"
1783 Nov 12
AMs
[Tell me ye knowing and discerning few...]
Poem: "The Choice of a Young
Lady"
1783 Nov 13
AMs
[If marriage ever be my lot in life...]
Poem: "The Lady's Choice - An
Ode"
1783
AMs
[Grant me kind heaven! The man that's brave...]
"A List of the Negroes Committed on Account
of the Conspiracy in New York ... in 1741"
n.d.
AMs
"A List of the White Persons Committed on
Account of the Conspiracy in New York ... in
1741"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "Epigram on Old N--k"
1783 Nov 14
AMs
[Says Nan, one day, to her husband Dick...]
Poem: "The Lion, the Mastives, and Other
Beasts. - A Fable"
n.d.
AMs
[In former days -no matter when -four-footed beasts
resembled men...]
Anecdote re: place-names
1783 Nov 29
AMs
3 maxims
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote re: Secretary Fox
n.d.
AMs
"To Benedict Arnold"
1783 Nov 20
AMs
Poem: "Marriage - A Le Mode"
n.d.
AMs
[Marriage, that makes two bodies one...]
Poem: "A Song"
n.d.
AMs
[Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise...]
Note: "O, Sweet Ireland, I Smell You
Now"
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote: "The Old Man and His
Ass"
1783 Nov 21
AMs
Anecdote: "The Contented Porter"
1783
AMs
Story: "Example of Veracity"
1783 Nov 22
AMs
Story: "Labour"
1783 Nov 22
AMs
Maxim: "Of Industry and
Frugality"
1783 Nov 22
AMs
Maxim: "A Caution in Dealing"
1783 Nov 25
AMs
Map re: fortifications at junction of Mystic
River and Charles River
n.d.
AMs
Play by the Rev. Mr. Ogden: "The Libertine
Reclaimed: A Dialogue"
1783 Dec 3
AMs
Poem: "The Present Age"
1783 Dec 5
AMs
[No more my friends, of vain applause...]
Anecdote: "An Anecdote"
1783 Dec 6
AMs
Poem: "The Meaning of Mr. C. Fox's Speech,
Versified Hubridrastically"
1783
AMs
"Extract of a Letter from Capt. Courish, of
the New England Militia, Dated: Albany, March 7,
1782"
n.d.
AL
[encloses letter from James Craufurd detailing booty
of scalps and Indian petitions]
Satire: "A Dialogue Between Prince William
Henry and Henry Clinton, at their Second Interview in
New York"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "A Pasquinade"
1783 Dec 8
AMs
[You know there goes a tale...]
Poem: "A New Song"
1783 Dec 10
AMs
[Fame let thy trumpet sound...]
Poem: "A New Song, on the Celebration of the
Birth of the Dauphin"
n.d.
AMs
[Ye sons of Mars attend...]
Poem: "On Pride"
1783
AMs
[Pride, the consumptive child of a weak mind...]
Poem: "Rivington's Reflections"
n.d.
AMs
[The more I reflect, the more plain it
appears...]
Poem: "To J. D., Esq."
1783 Dec 11
AMs
[To blast thy fame though pining envy tries...]
Poem: "A New Song"
n.d.
AMs
[In a chariot of light from the regions above...]
Essay: "The Sum of Human Liberty"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "Represent the Mind of Man"
1783
AMs
[A watch may represent the mind of man...]
Essay: "The Character of an
Atheist"
1783
AMs
Essay: "Encomium on Patriotism"
1783
AMs
Poem: "Versification of the British King's
Late Speech Before...Parliament"
1783 Dec 12
AMs
[The unweary'd progress which you've made...]
Poem: "The N. Y. P."
1783 Dec 14
AMs
[Grave autumn clad in hazy-tintur'd hue...]
Poem: "An Address to the Ladies, by their
Best Friend, Sincerity"
1783 Dec 16
AMs
[A time there was of manners plain...]
Essay: "Matrimony"
1783 Dec 16
AMs
Poem: "Rivington's Last Will and
Testament"
n.d.
AMs
[Since life is uncertain, and no one can say...]
Poem: "Epigram"
1783 Dec 17
AMs
[Britannia's dead, her glory now is o'er...]
Essay: "On Self-Interest"
1783
AMs
Essay: "An Essay on Avarice"
[1783 Dec] 18
AMs
Essay: "On Death"
1783 Dec 18
AMs
Poem: "The Picture of Old Age, Paraphrased
from...12th Chapter of Ecclestiastes"
n.d.
AMs
[My son, attentive hear the voice of [truth]...]
Poem: "The Following is a Versification of
the King's Speech to...Parliament"
1783 Dec 20
AMs
[This twenty-seventh of November...]
Poem: "To the Memory of General
Lee..."
n.d.
AMs
[Warrior, farewell! Eccentrically brave...]
Satire: "A Curious Anecdote"
1783 Dec 22
AMs
[re: why Nova Scotia exists]
Poem: "O the Tories in New York. A
Song..."
n.d.
AMs
[Of all the dirty Tory race...]
Obituary: "To All Christian
Whigs"
n.d.
AMs
[re: Levi Pawling, d. 1782 Apr 30]
author's inscription
1783 Dec 29
signature
Essay: "To the Man of Pleasure"
1783 Dec 30
AMs
Essay: "Why is a Gardener the Most
Extraordinary Man in the World?"
n.d.
AMs
Verse: "Seventeen hundred and eighty-three is
now forever past..." (with author's
inscription)
1783 Dec 31
AMs
Poem: "An Ode for the New Year"
1784 Jan 1
AMs
[Let the voice of music breathe...]
Poem: "The Disappointed Lover"
1784 Jan 1
AMs
[Fair Celia of yon yellow hill...]
Poem: "An Epigram"
1784
AMs
[Great bodies move slow I've heard said...]
Poem: "The Humble Petition of Honest Hugh
Gaine"
n.d.
AMs
[To the Senate of York, with all due
submission...]
Note re: snowstorm
1784 Jan 6
AMs
Maxim re: common sense
1784 Jan 10
AMs
Anecdote: "A Curious and Jocose
Paragraph"
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote: "Anecdote of Louis XII"
1784 Jan 13
AMs
Anecdote: "The Following Anecdote May Be
Depended on as a Fact"
1784 Jan 14
AMs
[re: the accidental destruction of the King of
Portugal's china by Burgoyne's wife]
Anecdote re: Sir Charles Wager
1784 Jan 16
AMs
Poem: "Avarice"
n.d.
AMs
[Can av'rice give content: the miser view...]
Poem: "To the Green Wood Gang Wi
Me"
n.d.
AMs
[To speer my love wi glances fair...]
"A Droll Epitaph..."
n.d.
AMs
[re: John Webb, d. 1746 May 3]
Maxim re: words
n.d.
AMs
Essay: "Dissolution of Manners"
1784
AMs
Essay: "Conscious Freedom the Truest
Dignity"
[1784] Jan 19
AMs
Essay: "An Essay on Hope"
1784 Jan 19
AMs
Essay: "On Flattery"
1784 Jan 20
AMs
Poem: "The Tory's Soliloquy"
1784
AMs
[It must be so -farewell my native land...]
Anecdote re: peace
1784 Jan 23
AMs
"Copy of a Letter from Kouinsburgh,
Poland"
n.d.
AMs
[re: birth of quintuplets]
Satire: "An Extempore Sermon Preached by a
Lover of Me"
1784 Jan 24
AMs
Essay: "The language of the
heart..."
n.d.
AMs
Story: "A Turkish Tale"
1784 Feb 5
AMs
Essay: "In Praise of Virtue"
1784
AMs
Essay: "Character of a True
Friend"
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote: "A Humorous Tale"
1784
AMs
Poem: "A Poem"
1784 Mar 19
AMs
[Ye sacred tomes by my inerring guide...]
Poem: "An Epigram"
1784 Mar 19
AMs
[Full fifty thousand Prussia's kings has
ta'en...]
Poem: "A Rebus"
n.d.
AMs
[Three fifths of the world which a wit I know
says...]
Poem: "An Enigma for the Ladies"
n.d.
AMs
[Ye blooming fair of race divine...]
Poem: "Epigram"
1783 Mar 29
AMs
[Says vaunting bute, `in times to come...']
Poem: "The Power of Women,
Exemplified"
n.d.
AMs
[Undone by women, faithful records tell...]
Poem: "To a Friend on the Death of a
Child"
n.d.
AMs
[O why dost thou fond parent grieve...]
Poem: "A Sonnet"
1783 Mar 30
AMs
[Forbear, in pity, ah! Forbear to sooth...]
Poem: "On the Two Patriotic Writers, Junius
and Junius Americanus"
n.d.
AMs
[See, with a like refulgent light two Juniuses
appear...]
Anecdote: "A Remarkable Instance of Sensible
Repartee in a Lunatic"
n.d.
AMs
Note re: how a woman broke her
arm]
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "On the Approach of Spring"
1784 Apr 24
AMs
[Spring! Gladsome season of the year...]
Poem: "The Miser's Dream"
1784
AMs
[Lull'd in a pleasing sleep, old Gripus lies...]
"Chronological Table of Remarkable Battles...
March 5th 1770 to Feby 3d 1783 to Nov 21st
1783"
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote re: Dr. Franklin on hogs
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "On the Change of Human
Life"
n.d.
AMs
[Good unexpected, evil unforeseen...]
Poem: "Ode to the Memory of Genl. Montgomery
by Miss A."
n.d.
AMs
[O spirit of the truly brave...]
"Names of the Principal Kingdoms and States
of Europe"
n.d.
AMs
[includes capitals and populations]
Poem: "The Choice"
1785 Apr 11
AMs
[Would you, my friend, in little room express...]
Poem: "Epitaph-Making"
1785 Apr 12
AMs
[Sir John and Sir John's spouse the tombs
survey'd...]
8 anecdotes
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote: "A Pleasant Instance of the
Sagacity of a Dog"
n.d.
AMs
Anecdote re: habeas corpus
[1785 Apr 14]
AMs
Poem: "Kitchen Philosophy"
1785 Apr 15
AMs
[In Britain's land, our author tells...]
"Table of Interest at Six Per
Cent."
1786
AMs
Verse: "Think bright florella, when you
see..."
n.d.
AMs
"Table of Interest [at] Seven Per
Cent."
1786
AMs
Anecdote: "Anecdote of Doctor
Watts"
n.d.
AMs
"Value of One Thousand Continental
Dollars...(1777-1778)"
n.d.
AMs
"Scale of Depreciation...New York March 30th
1781 (1777-1778)"
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "An Irish Song. Langollee"
1788
AMs
[My nam's Shady Carty, I don't care who knows
it...]
Poem: "Song. Heavy Hours"
1788
AMs
[The heavy hours are almost past...]
Note re: town meeting
1788 Mar 19
AMs
Poem: "Song. Guardian Angels"
1788
AMs
"Guardian angels now protect me..."
Verse: "The man in the moon drinks
claret..."
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "A Sonnet"
1788 Mar 19
AMs
[Free from confinement and strife...]
Poem: "Song. Conquering Hero"
1788
AMs
[See the conquering hero comes...]
Poem: "Song"
n.d.
AMs
[Oh! how shall I, in language weak...]
Poem: "Song. Rouze Brother
Sportsmen"
1788
AMs
[Come, rouze brother sportsmen, the hunters all
cry...]
Poem: "Song. The Vicar and Moses"
1788
AMs
[At the sign of the horse, old spintext, of
course...]
Poem: "A Riddle"
1788
AMs
[I'm a hole that's too narrow when first I am
try'd...]
Poem: "Song. The Storm, or Dangers of the
Sea"
1788
AMs
[Cease rude boreas blustering railer...]
Note re: snowstorm
n.d.
AMs
Poem: "Song. Phillis as Her
Wine..."
n.d.
AMs
[Phillis, as her wine she sipp'd in...]
Poem: "Song"
1788 Mar 22
AMs
[Sylvia on her arm reclining...]
Poem: "Song. Hark! Hark! The Joy,
etc."
1788
AMs
[Hark! Hark! The joy-inspiring horn...]
Poem: "Song. The Pilgrim"
1788
AMs
[In penance for past folly, a pilgrim blithe...]
Poem: "Song. A Soldier's Song"
1788
AMs
[How stands the glass around, for shame you
take...]
Poem: "Song. A Pastoral Ballad"
1788
AMs
[When the trees are all bare, not a leaf...]
Poem: "Song. The Chamber-Maid"
n.d.
AMs
[Not far from town a country squire...]
Poem: "Song. John Anderson, My
Jo"
1788
AMs
[John Anderson, my Jo, John...]
Poem: "Song. Sure Sally is the,
etc."
n.d.
AMs
[Sure Sally is the lovliest lass...]
Poem: "Song. The Debtors Welcome Their
Brother"
n.d.
AMs
[Welcome, welcome, brother debtor...]
Poem: "Song. Contented I Am"
1788
AMs
[Contented I am, and contented I'll be...]
Verses (15): "Song. 1st" [etc.]
n.d.
AMs
["By my sighs you may discover..." ; "Ye gods, ye
give to me a wife..." ; "Lyle's a garden, rich in
treasure..." ; "In infancy our hopes and fears..." ; "If
o'er the cruel tyrant, love..." ; "Arise, arise, great
dead, for arms renown'd..." ; "Through all the
employments of life..." ; "Fly switftly, ye minutes,
till comus receive..." ; "Hark! 'Tis I, your own true
lover..." ; "Behold, from many a hostile shore..." ;
"Nanny blushes when I woo her..." ; " 'Tis woman that
seduces all mankind..." ; "Phillis, the fairest of
love's foes..." ; "If the heart of man is depress'd with
cares..." ; "The modes of the Court so common are
grown..."