Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project

Verses in Vogue with the Vulgar

Most brilliant aval [sic] victory on Lake Erie. Glorious news!!! Enough to stop the boasting and bragging of our English and Tory enemies, for a time Commodore Perry has the honor of conquering a whole squadron of His Royal Majesty's subjects and allies The United States' flag, rides triumphant on Lake Erie "Tune, Paul Jones' victory"

Most Brilliant Naval Victory on Lake Erie is the third of the “catalog” texts (see also Eighth Naval Victory and Brilliant Naval Victory) covering land, lake, and sea battles, the most recent being Perry’s victory in Lake Erie, off the coast of Ohio. It is in the by-now familiar four-line verse with two-line chorus and a tune indication of “Paul Jones’s Victory” (see Paul Jones’s Victory). The chorus is the same until the last verse, when it changes to include “sailors’ rights” and “liberty,” typical Democratic-Republican rhetoric.

This broadside may have been a proof copy that Coverly retained in his shop and slipped into the pile for Isaiah Thomas. There seems to be no trace of the N that should have been part of the word “Naval” in the title. Another edition with the full word, a different eagle cut and flower divider, and minor typesetting changes is at the New-York Historical Society.[1] Coverly included the text in his Naval Songster of 1813 (R. Keller).


[1] SY 1812-15W no. 51, imprint: “Boston: Printed by Nathaniel Coverly, Jun., Milk Street.”

Additional Metadata

Date

1813

Place of Publication

Boston.

Publisher

Coverly, Nathaniel, 1775?-1824, printer.

Subjects

Perry, Oliver Hazard, 1785-1819
Lake Erie, Battle of, 1813
Naval battles
John Bull (Symbolic character)
Ships

First Line

John Bull, in old times, thought each Yankee a dunce.

Identifiers

BIB ID: 302728
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocm83299617
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocn191493388
Shaw, R.R American Bibliography, 51317
AAS General Catalog URL: http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=302728
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Physical Dimensions

44 x 28 cm.

Transcriptions

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Citation

“Most brilliant aval [sic] victory on Lake Erie. Glorious news!!! Enough to stop the boasting and bragging of our English and Tory enemies, for a time Commodore Perry has the honor of conquering a whole squadron of His Royal Majesty's subjects and allies The United States' flag, rides triumphant on Lake Erie "Tune, Paul Jones' victory",” Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, accessed October 22, 2026, https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/305.