ballads

Verse in three parts; first line: Here is a pennyworth of wit. Author from ninth and tenth lines of the first part: As in this verse you may behold, set forth by Mr. William Lane. Possibly by William Lane, b. 1744, the English poet. Text in three columns divided by wavy rules. New-York Historical copy stained and torn, with slight loss of text

Ballad- in twelve stanzas; first line: Vain Britons boast no longer- with proud indignity. This song appears- with title- "War and Washington; A song composed at the beginning of the American Revolution-" in Sewall- Jonathan Mitchell. Miscellaneous poems ...- Portsmouth- N.H.- 1801- p. 52-53. References: Bristol B4361; Shipton & Mooney 43158; Ford- W.C. Broadsides- 2038; Wegelin- O. Amer. poetry- 352.

The New-York Historical Society has an extensive collection of broadsides that document the American Revolution and the tumultuous events leading up to it. Broadsides, the technical term for any document, large or small, printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, served as posters, handbills, official proclamations, advertisements, and conveyors of ballads and poetry. They were plastered on walls, distributed by hand or read out loud and are especially important for the study of the Revolutionary period.