Andrè John

Britain mourns Benedict Arnold's co-conspirator, John Andrè

Printed Monody on Major Andrè. By Miss Seward (Author of the Elegy on Capt. Cook.),To Which are Added Letters Addressed to Her by Major Andrè, in the year 1769. (Litchfield: Printed and Sold by J. Jackson, for the Author, 1769) vi, 47 pages, slim quarto, (8.25" x 10.25"). Second Edition. Bound in marbled paper wraps. Signed, "Anna Seward" on page 28. Crease to half-title page, p. iv & v toned, a few other pages bear light scattered foxing. Overall quite clean and a fine example.

In the autumn of 1780, the dashing young André was arrested in Tarrytown, New York carrying communications from Benedict Arnold to General Henry Clinton in the former's attempt to hand over the fortress at West Point to the British. Andrè's execution as a spy prompted great sympathy on both sides of the Atlantic. In the household of Anna Seward, known as the 'swan of Lichfield", where there was a close personal attachment to Andrè, she heaped her scorn upon George Washington: "Oh Washington! I thought thee great and good, Nor knew thy Nero-thirst of guiltless blood! … Thou cool determin'd Murderer of the Brave! …Remorseless Washington! the day shall come of deep repentance for this barb'rous doom!" Little did Ms. Seward know but Washington and his officers were all troubled by his execution, the dashing British officer being popular with and respected by both armies.

Sabin 79478: "This edition contains verses 'To Miss Seward,' signed W. Hayley, pp. v-vi. Title furnished by Mr. James C. Pilling. Some copies contain the author’s autograph at the end. For this second printing of Seward's poem, the errata were corrected, and Hayley's laudatory poem, "To Miss Seward, Impromptu," was been added at pp. v-vi.

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