Mr. PRINTER,
OBSERVING some time past in the Hampshire Gazette, a remarkable publication to which the author had the vanity, or rather madness to sign his proper name, Thomas Grover: it brought to my mind and old song, which with a little addition be pleased to publish.

The SONG.

I'm old mad Tom; behold me!
My wits are quite unfram'd
I'm mad I'm sure, and past all cure,
And no hopes of being reclaim'd.

I'll climb the snowy mountain,
And there confront the weather;
I'll pluck the rainbow from the sky,
And stick both ends together.

I'll mount the primum mob, lo!
And there I'll fright the gypsies,
I'll play at bowls with sun and moon,
And shade them in eclipses.

I prentice was to Vulcan,
And serv'd my master faithful,
In framing tools for Shays and fools;
But all will prove ungrateful.

I'll break the Constitution,
Change customs times and laws;
Push Judges from the bench,
Nor let them know the cause:

With pointed swords and guns,
And bayonets at their breast,
From boys with fifes and drums:
Their laws are all a jest!

I'll drive from their old seat
The powers legislative,
And else where they must meet,
When e'er I call or drive.

O else the eastern hills
I'll rend from their foundation,
With rocks and woods and tills,
And hurl them on this nation.

This is my lot I've swore
Sin!? to increase my fame,
Conspicuous heretofore,
Mad Tom's my proper name.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Based upon a song called "Old Mad Tom," this version ridicules the actions of the Regulators. "Old Mad Tom" was a song that had been around since the early 1600's and referred to inmates of Bedlam Hospital which was used by the city of London as an asylum for the mentally ill. In this version, Tom is going to break the state constitution, get judges off the bench, move the state government, and take power away from the eastern counties. Thomas Grover was a Regulator from Montague. The letter referred to by this writer was published in the Hampshire Gazette on December 26, 1786. William Butler began publication of the Hampshire Gazette on September 6, 1786, in Northampton, Massachusetts. The mission of the newspaper was to inform the public about the issues pertaining to the ongoing conflicts. Butler was decidedly on the government side of the issues.

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