Item 9: The Frantick Lover by Major John Andre, [ca. 1770s]; reprinted in November 1941
Item — Box: 15, Folder: 9
Series VII: Poetry, 1827-1941
From the Series:
Series VII: Poetry, 1827-1941, is arranged chronologically and features a broad range of mid 19th century to mid 20th century works including poems, booklets, and correspondence of various themes covering the difficult nature of military battles, religious faith, and romance. A main portion of the series highlights poetry and ballads focusing on the natural beauty of the American landscape and contrasting this with the nation's violent past. Featured authors in this series include Fitz-Greene Halleck, an American poet who worked as the personal secretary and advisor to John Jacob Aster, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most proficient American poets of the 19th century. Halleck and Longfellow's poems cover religious themes that explore the role that faith plays in determination, its relationship to the land, and how it impacts younger generations. William Henry Furness, American poet who was described by his peers as a theologian, transcendentalist, and an abolitionist, is another author in the collection that explores these religious themes without the nationalistic perspective. Finally, the largest outlier of this series is the romantic poem written by a British Major John Andre who was a major in the British Army and head of its Secret Service in America during the American Revolutionary War. Andre’s poem, The Frantick Lover, is included in a larger booklet with an introduction by Howard H. Peckham, historian and an authority on colonial and early American history, who provides background and historical context on the Major and the development of the poem. Central themes of this work include the destructive effect that feelings of jealousy and obsession can have especially when disguised as feelings of love. This work provides an interesting comparison to the other American poets within the collection.
Dates
- Created: [ca. 1770s]; reprinted in November 1941
Creator
- André, John, 1751-1780. (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Poem
Condition:
Fair, no issues except for string binding is loose.
Measurements:
6 1/16 in. x 9 in.
Title:
The Frantick Lover by Major John Andre
Description:
This item is a 1941 reprint of the poem, titled, “The Frantick Lover,” by Major John Andre with a forward by Howard H. Peckham. Major John Andre, 1750-1780, was a major in the British army who was eventually hanged by the Continental Army for assisting U.S. Major General Benedict Arnold’s attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York. Henry Clinton, 1730-1795, was a British army officer who fought in the Revolutionary war from 1778 to 1782. He was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America. Howard H. Peckham, 1910-1995, was a professor and historian specializing in colonial and early American history. He was a founding member of the Society of American Archivists. The forward section by Peckham provides background and historical context on the poem and its author, Andre. The poem describes the jealous descent of a man as he laments over the pain that his love for a woman is causing him. There is also an unnamed “Rival” character that seems to be in a position above him from the quote “Those Charms which at once I admired and obey’d” (ll. 8). The speaker wishes that this rival is also afflicted with the pain that he is experiencing. The poem includes descriptions of the woman’s beauty often paired with descriptions of agony that such beauty causes him. The end of the poem encapsulates the speaker's condition of being trapped by the beauty and pain both inescapable in their own right; “A Thousand soft thoughts in thy fancy combine,/A Thousand wild Horrors assemble in mine” (ll. 47-48).
The translation of Latin quote from the beginning of the poem is as follows:
“The heat is enormous
Yes, shame in the heart - and mixed madness with grief
And love driven by furies.”
-No cited author
Transcription:
[Title page]
The FRANTICK LOVER
by Major JOHN ANDRÉ
[Illustration of a man pulling back a curtain to see a man and a woman reclined back on a couch]
An Effusion Now for the First Time Printed from the Original Manuscript Preserved among the Papers of SIR HENRY CLINTON
[Page 1 Blank]
[Page 2]
THIS POEM was found among the military papers of Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British forces in north America from 1778 to 17782. As it relates the defeat of a British officer by a provincial, it bears some military character, but it stands forth distinctly unlike the rest of Sir Henry’s archives. The verse is not signed or dated, but it is unmistakably in the handwriting of Major John André, Clinton’s aide and later adjutant general in America. For several reasons the poem appears to be an original composition by André. It has not been identified as the product of any known eighteenth century writer, and it is clearly amateurish. Moreover, no one else on Clinton’s staff indulge himself in writing poetry (or in fighting, either). Finally, it is the type of poem André would write and could write. To enlarge on this last consideration, be it remembered that tradition pictures John André as something of a gallant with the ladies. He is supposed to have cut a dashing figure with the Tory belles of Philadelphia while the British troops occupied the city during the winter of 177-1778. He was then twenty-seven years old, handsome and talented. He appeared in plays which the officers produced that winter, he sang and sketched, and he organized the farewell pageant and ball- called Mischianza- in honor of Sir William Howe. He also drank and gambled and was otherwise a typical “officer and gentleman” of his period. When the British army returned to New York, André joined the staff of Sir Henry Clinton and quickly became his favorite. In 1779 and 1780 he handled the delicate correspondence with Benedict Arnold. He also found time to turn out three or four poems in ballad style, the most famous of which is an amusing parody about an unsuccessful expedition led by General Anthony Wayne, entitled The Crow Chace. André was devoted to his military career, however, and doubt-
[Page 3]
less regarded his talent for verse-making as only the mark of a cultivated mind. André’s fate is well known. He was captured after he penetrated the American lines to arrange with Arnold the details for the mock attack on and surrender of West Point. Because he was in disguise and carried papers of military intelligence, he was rightly judged by a board of officers to be a spy. Although Arnold escaped down the Hudson to the British lines, André was executed by hanging on October 2, 1780. This dramatic termination of his career and the circumstances of his capture promoted the British to the honor as having suffered a martyr's death. He is buried in Westminster Abbey- but not in the poet’s corner. That André was seriously frantic when he wrote The Frantick seems improbable. The poem appears rather to be in the vein of mock despair. Much as we should like to know the girl to whom he addresses his jealous lament, she defies identification. The name Sally, as he called her, is circumstantial but unrevealing. Presumably she was a hospitable damsel of New York, belonging to the Tory U.S.O. Similarly, André’s successor is arms (hers) is obscure. All we know is that André considers him clumsy; which leaves us wondering how he knew. Doubtless André’s poem was passed around headquarters for the enjoyment of the staff, and eventually Clinton kept it. The manuscript is now in the William L. Clements Library, Anna Arbor, with the Clinton papers. It is here printed for the first time, preserving André’s capitalization, but improving his punctuation and spelling. Oh yes, the Latin quotation at the beginning is an excerpt from Virgil’s Aeneid, implying that the author’s heart is filled with shame and madness mixed with frenzied love. Howard H. Peckham [Page 4]
The FRANTICK LOVER
Aestuat ingens Imo in Corde pudor - mixtoque Insania Luctu Et Furiis agiatus Amor.
And shall then another embrace thee, my Fair! Must Envy still add to the pangs of Despair! Shall I live to behold the reciprocal Bliss? Death, Death is a Refuge, Elysium to this!
The Star of the Evening now bids thee retire; Accurs’d be its Orb and extinguish’d its Fire! For it shews me my Rival, prepared to invade Those Charms which at once I admired and obey’d
Far off each forbidding Incumbrance is thrown, And Sally, thy Beauties no more thy are own. Thy Coyness, too, flies as love brings to thy Vieiw A frame more ecstatic than Saint ever knew!
And yet I behold thee, ‘tho longing to die, Approach the new Heav’n with a Tear and a Sigh! For oh! the fond Sigh amidst Enjoyment will stray, And a Tear is the Tribute which Rapture must pay.
[Page 5]
Still, still dost thou tremble, that pleasures to seek Which pants in thy Bosom and glows in thy cheek; Confusion and shame thy soft Wishes destroy, And Terror cuts off the weak blossom of Joy.
Oh! Had I been blest with thy Beauty, my fair, With fondest attention, with delicate Care, My heart would have tried all thy fears to remove And pluck’d every Thorn from the Roses of love
My Insolent Rival, more proud of his right, Contemns the sweet office, that Soul of delight; Less tender he seizes thy lips as his prey, And all thy dear limbs the rough Summons obey.
E’en now more licentious - Rash Mortal, forbear! Restrain him, O Venus! Let him, too, despair! Freeze, freeze the swift Streams which now hurry to join And curse him with the passions unsated like mine.
How weak is my Rage his fierce Joy to controul. A Kiss from thy Body shoots Life to his Soul; Thy frost, too, dissolv’d in one Current is run And all thy keen feelings are blended in one.
Thy limbs from his limbs a new Warmth shall acquire, His passions from thine shall redouble their Fire, ‘Till wreck’d and o’erwhelmed in the Storm of delight, Thine Ears lose their hearing, thine Eyes lose their Sight.
[Page 6]
Here Conquest must pause, tho’ it ne’er can be cloy’d, To view the rich plunder of beauty enjoy’d: The Tresses dishevelled, the Bosom display’d, And the Wishes of years in a moment repaid.
A Thousand soft thoughts in thy fancy combine, A Thousand wild Horrors assemble in mine; Relieve me, kind death, Shut the Scene from my View, And Save me, oh save me, ere madness ensue!
[Page 7]
Of this chapbook 1000 copies have been printed for Paul Mcpharlin, Birmingham, Michigan, but The Blue Ox Press in New York, November MCMXLI.
- Transcription End -
The FRANTICK LOVER
by Major JOHN ANDRÉ
[Illustration of a man pulling back a curtain to see a man and a woman reclined back on a couch]
An Effusion Now for the First Time Printed from the Original Manuscript Preserved among the Papers of SIR HENRY CLINTON
[Page 1 Blank]
[Page 2]
THIS POEM was found among the military papers of Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British forces in north America from 1778 to 17782. As it relates the defeat of a British officer by a provincial, it bears some military character, but it stands forth distinctly unlike the rest of Sir Henry’s archives. The verse is not signed or dated, but it is unmistakably in the handwriting of Major John André, Clinton’s aide and later adjutant general in America. For several reasons the poem appears to be an original composition by André. It has not been identified as the product of any known eighteenth century writer, and it is clearly amateurish. Moreover, no one else on Clinton’s staff indulge himself in writing poetry (or in fighting, either). Finally, it is the type of poem André would write and could write. To enlarge on this last consideration, be it remembered that tradition pictures John André as something of a gallant with the ladies. He is supposed to have cut a dashing figure with the Tory belles of Philadelphia while the British troops occupied the city during the winter of 177-1778. He was then twenty-seven years old, handsome and talented. He appeared in plays which the officers produced that winter, he sang and sketched, and he organized the farewell pageant and ball- called Mischianza- in honor of Sir William Howe. He also drank and gambled and was otherwise a typical “officer and gentleman” of his period. When the British army returned to New York, André joined the staff of Sir Henry Clinton and quickly became his favorite. In 1779 and 1780 he handled the delicate correspondence with Benedict Arnold. He also found time to turn out three or four poems in ballad style, the most famous of which is an amusing parody about an unsuccessful expedition led by General Anthony Wayne, entitled The Crow Chace. André was devoted to his military career, however, and doubt-
[Page 3]
less regarded his talent for verse-making as only the mark of a cultivated mind. André’s fate is well known. He was captured after he penetrated the American lines to arrange with Arnold the details for the mock attack on and surrender of West Point. Because he was in disguise and carried papers of military intelligence, he was rightly judged by a board of officers to be a spy. Although Arnold escaped down the Hudson to the British lines, André was executed by hanging on October 2, 1780. This dramatic termination of his career and the circumstances of his capture promoted the British to the honor as having suffered a martyr's death. He is buried in Westminster Abbey- but not in the poet’s corner. That André was seriously frantic when he wrote The Frantick seems improbable. The poem appears rather to be in the vein of mock despair. Much as we should like to know the girl to whom he addresses his jealous lament, she defies identification. The name Sally, as he called her, is circumstantial but unrevealing. Presumably she was a hospitable damsel of New York, belonging to the Tory U.S.O. Similarly, André’s successor is arms (hers) is obscure. All we know is that André considers him clumsy; which leaves us wondering how he knew. Doubtless André’s poem was passed around headquarters for the enjoyment of the staff, and eventually Clinton kept it. The manuscript is now in the William L. Clements Library, Anna Arbor, with the Clinton papers. It is here printed for the first time, preserving André’s capitalization, but improving his punctuation and spelling. Oh yes, the Latin quotation at the beginning is an excerpt from Virgil’s Aeneid, implying that the author’s heart is filled with shame and madness mixed with frenzied love. Howard H. Peckham [Page 4]
The FRANTICK LOVER
Aestuat ingens Imo in Corde pudor - mixtoque Insania Luctu Et Furiis agiatus Amor.
And shall then another embrace thee, my Fair! Must Envy still add to the pangs of Despair! Shall I live to behold the reciprocal Bliss? Death, Death is a Refuge, Elysium to this!
The Star of the Evening now bids thee retire; Accurs’d be its Orb and extinguish’d its Fire! For it shews me my Rival, prepared to invade Those Charms which at once I admired and obey’d
Far off each forbidding Incumbrance is thrown, And Sally, thy Beauties no more thy are own. Thy Coyness, too, flies as love brings to thy Vieiw A frame more ecstatic than Saint ever knew!
And yet I behold thee, ‘tho longing to die, Approach the new Heav’n with a Tear and a Sigh! For oh! the fond Sigh amidst Enjoyment will stray, And a Tear is the Tribute which Rapture must pay.
[Page 5]
Still, still dost thou tremble, that pleasures to seek Which pants in thy Bosom and glows in thy cheek; Confusion and shame thy soft Wishes destroy, And Terror cuts off the weak blossom of Joy.
Oh! Had I been blest with thy Beauty, my fair, With fondest attention, with delicate Care, My heart would have tried all thy fears to remove And pluck’d every Thorn from the Roses of love
My Insolent Rival, more proud of his right, Contemns the sweet office, that Soul of delight; Less tender he seizes thy lips as his prey, And all thy dear limbs the rough Summons obey.
E’en now more licentious - Rash Mortal, forbear! Restrain him, O Venus! Let him, too, despair! Freeze, freeze the swift Streams which now hurry to join And curse him with the passions unsated like mine.
How weak is my Rage his fierce Joy to controul. A Kiss from thy Body shoots Life to his Soul; Thy frost, too, dissolv’d in one Current is run And all thy keen feelings are blended in one.
Thy limbs from his limbs a new Warmth shall acquire, His passions from thine shall redouble their Fire, ‘Till wreck’d and o’erwhelmed in the Storm of delight, Thine Ears lose their hearing, thine Eyes lose their Sight.
[Page 6]
Here Conquest must pause, tho’ it ne’er can be cloy’d, To view the rich plunder of beauty enjoy’d: The Tresses dishevelled, the Bosom display’d, And the Wishes of years in a moment repaid.
A Thousand soft thoughts in thy fancy combine, A Thousand wild Horrors assemble in mine; Relieve me, kind death, Shut the Scene from my View, And Save me, oh save me, ere madness ensue!
[Page 7]
Of this chapbook 1000 copies have been printed for Paul Mcpharlin, Birmingham, Michigan, but The Blue Ox Press in New York, November MCMXLI.
- Transcription End -
Creator
- André, John, 1751-1780. (Person)
- Peckham, Howard H. (Howard Henry), 1910-1995 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu