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Published in 1793, The Barbers tells of the divergent fortunes of two barber's apprentices, William Hearson and Abraham Cook, who fight on opposing sides in the American War of Indpendence, one fighting for patriotism, and the other for Liberty.
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There is little of Hutton's customary good-humoured wit in The Barbers: instead he uses the poem to make clear his own attitude to the War of Independence and, indirectly, to blind patriotism.
From out of America were then
The English driven by Englishmen.
Let the remark, stand on my page,
A lesson to a future age:
By one false step, 'mong many others,
We lost three millions of our brothers.
Besides, what streams of blood are shed,
When fifty thousand's knocked o' th' head!
A space of country too was lost,
Which many hundred thousands cost;
It never can return again,
Then lost for ever must remain.
Page created 5 December 2002 and last
updated 5 December 2002
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