McFingal: a modern epic poem. Or, The town-meeting is a mock epic poem written by American poet John Trumbull

John Trumbull (poet)

John Trumbull was an American poet.-Biography:Trumbull was born in what is now Watertown, Connecticut, where his father was a Congregational preacher. At the age of seven he passed his entrance examinations at Yale, but did not enter until 1763; he graduated in 1767, studied law there, and in...

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This canto

Canto

The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

, about 1500 lines, contains some verses from Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....

's Proclamation, published in the Connecticut Courant for the 7th and the 14th of August 1775; it portrays a Scottish Loyalist, McFingal, and-his Whig

Patriot (American Revolution)

Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...

 opponent, Honorius, evidently a portrait of John Adams

John Adams

John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

. This first canto was divided into two, and with a third and a fourth canto was published in 1782.

1st edition

• Philadelphia: Printed and sold by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London coffee-house. 1775.

Source

• US State Department; Outline of American Literature
• Library of Congress