Peter Folger

“Thus Reader, I in Love to all,leave these few Lines with thee,Hoping that in the Substance weshall very well agree.If that you do mislike the Verse,for its uncomely Dress,I tell thee true, I never thoughtthat it would pass the Press,If any at the Matter kick,it's like he's gall'd at Heart,And that's the Reason why he kicks,because he finds it smart.I am for Peace, and not for War,and that's the Reason whyI write more plain than some Men do,that use to daub and lie.But I shall cease and set my Nameto what I here insert,Because to be a Libeller,I hate it with my Heart.From Sherbon Town, where now I dwell,my Name I do put here,Without Offence your real Friend,it is Peter Folger. April 23, 1676.”^[1]

The last stanzas of Peter Folger's poem against the persecution of Baptists and Quakers. "Sherbon" (Sherborn) was the early name of the town on Nantucket; the printed text marks it with a note, "Nantucket." Long s modernized; spelling otherwise as printed.

“My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather, in his church history of that country, entitled Magnalia Christi Americana, as "a godly, learned Englishman," if I remember the words rightly. … It was written in 1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then concerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and other distresses that had befallen the country, to that persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so heinous an offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable laws.”^[1]

"It" is the poem above. Franklin was writing from memory: he dates it 1675, and quotes its last lines as "From Sherburne town" and "It is Peter Folgier"; the printed poem is dated 23 April 1676.