Terrible Tractoration, and Other Poems.

viii, 264 pp. 8vo. Green blind-stamped cloth, gilt titles. The name 'B. Bradley' appears in blind within the decorations on the front & rear boards, though this binding is too early to be the work of Will Bradley. Frontispiece by D.C. Johnson. Third American edition, including a new preface in which a tongue-in-cheek review by Daniel Webster is quoted, and the author states that the present edition contains additional material on: "phrenology, abolition, amalgamation, temperance, reformation, &c. &c.". A pseudonymous collection of satirical poems. "Thomas Green Fessenden, 1771-1837, gained much notoriety as a humorous and satirical writer, under the name of Christopher Caustic. His two chief poems were Terrible Tractoration, and The Country Lovers." - A Manual of American Literature Hoolihan 1159: "Fessenden's satire was originally published at London in 1803 under the title: A poetical petition against tractorising trumpery... In the year 1801 the author... was in London... In that metropolis, he became acquainted with Mr. Benjamin Douglas Perkins [son of Elisha P., inventor of the tractors], proprietor of a patent right for making and using certain implements, called Metallic Tractors. These were said to cure diseases in all or nearly all cases of topical inflammation, by conducting from the diseased part the surplus of electric fluid which in such cases, causes or accompanies the morbid affection. At the request of that gentleman, the author undertook to make the Tractors the theme of a satirical effusion in Hudibrastic verse. This was originally intended for the corner of a newspaper, but subsequently in the first edition enlarged to a pamphlet of about fifty pages royal octavo. It was published in the summer of 1803, well received, and a second edition called for in less than two months... The author never would have written a syllable intended to give Metallic Tractors favorable notoriety, had he not believed in their efficacy. As conductors of what is called animal electricity, and in principles allied to Galvanic stimulants, even their modus operandi, he thought, might be in a great measure explained" (Pref. p. iii-iv)."