This poet, who began his law practice in Limerick, Me., where he resided six years, was born in Barrington, now Strafford, N.H., July 19, 1806. He graduated at Harvard law School, and after leaving the Pine Tree State, settled as an attorney in Lowell, Mass., where he now remains. His poetry, or authorship, may be found in his volumes of "Epics, Lyrics, and Ballads;" in his several orations; in his "History of the Indian Wars of New England;" in his legends and dramas, entitled, "Battles of the Bush," and in other works. Mr. Caverly was greatly interested in the erection of the Hannah Dustin monument, placed on the island in Penacook, N.H., where Mrs. Dustin and her companions performed that remarkable deed of daring at the midnight hour.

Poem

Clara

Here on this hill she wandered in her childhood,
   Briefly to dance sweet summer days along;
While oft, in flowery vale or waving wildwood,
   She blest the bluebird with her little song.
Now bends the cypress, weeping limb and boughs;
   Sad night come down to lave the leaf with tears;
Soft, gentle zephyrs sigh their wonted vows
   Unto the love of life's departed years.

Ten thousand days' bright dawn shall beam upon it,
   Ten thousand nights' sweet stars shall come with care;
Ten thousand wild-birds' lovely warbling on it
   Shall bring oblations to my Clara fair.
Earth's lengthened years are little in His sight,
   Who rolls the spheres in majesty above;
Whose sun on high is but a candle-light,
   To lead frail mortals to a throne of love.

Poetry

Robert B. Caverly, The Merrimac and its Incidents: An Epic Poem (Boston: Innes & Niles, Printers, 1865) [online text]

_____________, The Eagle, Arlington, and Other Poems (Dover, New Hampshire: Printed by the F.W.B. printing establishment, 1871)

_____________, Caverlies Poems: The Poetical Works of Robert B. Caverly of the Middlesex Bar (Lowell, Massachusetts: Stone & Huse, 1872)(2 vols.) [The Bride of Burton, Victory, and Other Poems (Lowell, Massachusetts: Printed by Stone & Huse, 1872)]

Writings

Robert B. Caverly, Heroism of Hannah Duston: Together with the Indian Wars of New England (Boston: B.B. Russell, 1875) [online text]

______________, Lessons of Law and Life, from John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indian Nations of New England (Boston: Moses H. Sargent & Sons, 1880)

______________, Annals of the Boodeys in New England, together with Lessons of Law and Life, from John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians (Lowell, Mass., The author, 1880) [online text]

______________, History of the Indian Wars of New England, with Eliot the Apostle Fifty years in the Midst of Them (Boston: J. H. Earle, 1882)

______________, Battle of the Bush. Dramas and Historic Legends: Illustrated, Elaborated from the startling events of the New England Wars of an Hundred Years (Boston: B.B. Russell, 1886)