An Account of the Burning of Bachelors’ Hall

AN ACCOUNT OF THE BURNING OF BACHELORS’ HALL AT PHILADELPHIA, BEING DESTROYED BY LIGHTNING, 1775

BY THE OLD BACHELOR

FAIR Venus so often was miss’d from the skies,

And Bacchus as frequently absent likewise,

That the Synod began to enquire out the reason,

Suspecting the culprits were plotting of Treason.

At length it was found they had open’d a ball,

At a place by the MORTALS call’d Bachelors’ Hall;

Where Venus disclos’d every fun she could think of.

Jove highly displeased at such riotous doings

Sent TIME to reduce the whole building to ruins.

But time was so slack with his traces and dashes

That Jove in a passion consumed it to ashes.