The officer was the ill-fated Major Andre, whose name is for ever associated with the attem]3t of Arnold to betray West Point into the hands of the enemy. In his ballad, which he called the Coiv Chase, Andre gave free rein to his satirical humour. As the poem contains seventy-one stanzas, the reader will excuse its full insertion in this place. But here is a sample of it : All in a cloud of dust were seen The sheep, the horse, the goat, The gentle heifer, ass obscene. The yearling and the shoate.

And packhorses with fowls came by Befeathered on each side. Like Pegasus, the horse that I And other poets ride.

Sublime upon his stirrups rose The mighty Lee behind And drove the terror smitten cows Like chaff before the wind.

And so on, ad infinitum. It is not always clean nor abounding in good taste, nor even clever, except with a variety of wit that suggests the barrack room and the stables, but it contained one remarkable verse, that had a touch of prophecy in it. The verses were

86 The Hudson River

published in Rivingtojfs Gazette, the last one being as follows:

And now I 've closed my epic strain I tremble as I show it, Lest this same warrior-drover, Wayne, Should ever catch the poet.

On the day that that appeared in print Major Andre was arrested as a spy, and the commander of the guard that accompanied him to the scaffold was General Wavne.