| Citation |
PG-P.783.007
14 May 1783:12 (2761)
Roads-Town, Cumberland county, New Jersey, April 24. . .
[proclamation of cessation of hostilities] The company,
joined by many gentlemen and ladies of Bridge-town, returned
to an elegant entertainment prepared under a laurel bower,
erected for that purpose, in the skirt of a neighbouring
wood, where thirteen patriotic toasts were drank, and
accompanied with the discharge of artillery.
To heighten the entertainment, the following piece, among
others, composed on the occasion, was set to music, and by
several gentlemen and ladies sung with great harmony.
Let ev'ry age due honors pay,
And swell with joy the grateful lay,
To hail returning peace:
Accept, sweet maid, the votive strain,
And bid loud carols fill the plain!
Since thou has loos'd the prisoner's chain,
And bid war's horrors cease.
. . . [5 more verses]
The evening was embellished with illumination of houses and
exhibition of well executed fire-works; a brilliant ball
concluded the amusement, and regulated mirth and general
complacency on this occasion carried with them a conviction
that peace and independence were the due portion of a
patriot.
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