Trenchard, James “Amelia: or the faithless Briton” [American Revolution]

James Trenchard.  “Amelia: or the faithless Briton.”  [American Revolution]. 

From The Columbian Magazine.  Philadelphia: October, 1787.  Engraving by J. Trenchard.  5 x 3 3/4.  Accompanied by text.  Very good condition.  Cresswell, 344.  

This scarce piece of contemporary historical fiction about the American Revolution is from a novel serialized in Charles Willson Peale’s magazine, Columbian Magazine.  Amelia, a virtuous girl from a farm in New York, has been seduced by a British officer named Doliscus.  When she had a child by him, he tries to escape to London, but she follows him.  He spirits her away from his London estate and leaves her in a distant slum.  The picture shows Amelia about to take her own life with a cup of laudanum when her father, Horatio Blyfield, enters the door.  “(To be continued).”