prifoner by the Indians, at Hinfdale, and was obliged to travel on foot, through the wilderness to Canada; where fhe was fold to a Frenchman, for 220 livres She was released in November, 1758, and has refided for the last 30 years in Wethersfield. In Sanbornton, N. H. Dr. Thomas Webster, very much lamented. In Lisbon, Con Dr. Luther Manning. In Bellingham, Rev. Valentine W. Rathbun, aged 52, paftor of the Baptist church in that place; highly refpected for his piety and talents as a preacher of the gofpel. He preached the Lord's Day before his death, and in the evening of faid day while in his barn, ftepped fuddenly against the edge of a board, which wounded him internally, and left him to languish in excruciating pain until he expired. In Clarksburg, Mr. D. Hewes. In a playful humor, he sprinkled fome water on the hat of I. P. Davidson, who drew a pistol from his pocket, and fhot Hewes through the heart. In Zanesville, Ohio, Col. J. Ferree, of the Pennsylvania militia. In Baltimore, John Crawford, Efq. M. D. and Rt. W. Grand Master of Mafons in Maryland. In Concord, N. Hampshire, from March 10, to the 6th May, 24 perfons of spotted fever, 16 of whom were foldiers stationed there; there had been in that time 247 cafes of fever. In Walpole, N. H. Rev. Thomas Feffenden, 74. In Becket, 6th inft. Mr. David Brown, aged 71: a man of firmness, integrity and beneficence. As he was destitute of natural heirs, the people of that town receive the benefit of a valuable portion of his estate.—After fubfcribing liberally to a fund for the support of the gospel, in the first congregational fociety in that place, he made them in October last a donation of an excellent church bell, for which he paid upwards of 300 dollars it is understood, also, that his will contains another valuable domation to the fame society. : Correspondence. A Biographical Sketch of the honorable JUDGE SEDGWICK, intended for this month, could not be prepared in season. It fhall appear as foon as practicable. The unusual space occupied by the Letters on Mythology, and the length of the interesting narrative relating to Fayette, have excluded from the prefent number our accustomed variety of miscellaneous articles. "Maria" in town, has not fulfilled her promise made last month to Nancy in the country." We fear she is too much a lady of fashion to thinkof keeping her word. We most earnestly and devoutly befeech our diftant friends, when they write to us on business of their own, to pay the postage of their letters. It is not long fince one of these kind patrons, wrote for a single number of the Polyanthos, for which request we were taxed twenty-five cents. Erratum.--In our last number, page 1, line 3, for March read April. THE POLYANTHOS. FOR JUNE, 1813. We shall never envy the honors, which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if we can be numbered among the writers who have given ardor to virtue and confidence to truth. Dr. Johnson. BOSTON COMMON. THE plate, with which our present number is decorated, will be recognised as a view on the Common in Boston, taken from the Mall, near the head of West-Street. It exhibits to the public, a specimen of the talents of Master J. KIDDER, a youth of Boston, by whom it was both drawn and engraved, and is his first essay in the art of engraving in aqua-tinta. BIOGRAPHY OF COMMODORe stephen DECATUR. [The following interesting article of Biography, is selected from the ANALECTIC MAGAZINE, published in Philadelphia, by M. Thomas. It was our intention to have gratified our subscribers with the portrait of the gallant hero who is the subject of it; and we are sorry to add, that an arrangement to this end, with the proprietor of that work, has failed its object.] COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR is of French descent by the male line. His grandfather was a native of La Rochelle, in France, and married a lady of Rhode-Island. His father, Stephen Decatur, was born in Newport, (Rhode-Island,) and when a very young man removed to Philadelphia, where he married the daughter of an Irish gentleman by the name of VOL. IL. 15 Pine. He was bred to the sea, and commanded a merchant vessel out of the port of Philadelphia until the establishment of the navy, when he was appointed to command the Delaware sloop of war. He continued in her until the frigate Philadelphia was built, when the command of that ship was given to him, at the particular request of the merchants, who had built her by subscription. In this situation he remained until peace was made with France, when he resigned his commission, and retired to his residence a few miles from Philadelphia, where he resided until his death, which happened in November, 1808. His son, STEPHEN DECATUR, the present commodore, was born on the 5th January, 1779, on the eastern shore of Maryland, whither his parents had retired, whilst the British were in possession of Philadelphia. They returned to that city when he was a few months old, and he was there educated and brought up. He entered the navy in March, 1798, as midshipman, and joined the frigate United States, under commodore Barry, who had obtained the warrant for him. He continued for some time with that officer, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. The United States at that time required some repairs, and, not wishing to remain in port, he requested ant order to join the brig Norfolk, then bound to the Spanish Main. He performed one cruise in her, as first lieutenant and on his return to port, resumed his station on board of the United States, where he remained until peace was concluded with France. He was then ordered to the Essex, as first lieutenant, and sailed with Commodore Dale's squadron to the Mediterranean. On the return of that squadron he was ordered to the New-York, one of the second Mediterranean squadron, under the command of Commodore Morris. When he returned to the United States he was ordered to take command of the Argus, and proceed in her to join Commodore Preble's squadron, then in the Mediterranean, and on his arrival there to resign the command of the Argus to Lieu tenant Hull, and take the schooner Enterprise, then commanded by that officer. After making that exchange he proceeded to Syracuse, where the squadron was to rendezvous. On his arrival at that port he was informed of the fate of the frigate Philadelphia, which had ran aground on the Barbary coast and fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans. The idea immediately presented itself to his mind of attempting her recapture or destruction. On Commodore Preble's arrival, a few days afterwards, he proposed to him a plan for the purpose and volunteered his services to execute it. The wary mind of that veteran officer at first disapproved of an enterprise so full of peril; but the risks and difficulties that surrounded it only stimulated the ardor of Decatur, and imparted to it an air of adventure, fascinating to his youthful imagination. The consent of the commodore having been obtained Licutenant Decatur selected for the expedition a ketch (the Intrepid) which he had captured a few weeks before from the enemy, and manned her with seventy volunteers, chiefly his own He sailed from Syracuse on the 3d February, 1804, accompanied by the United States brig Syren, Lieutenant, Stewart, who was to aid with his boats, and to receive the crew of the ketch, in case it should be found expedient to use her as a fireship. crew. T After fifteen days of very tempestuous weather, they arriv ed at the harbour of Tripoli a little before sunset. It had been arranged between Lieutenants Decatur and Stewart, that the ketch should enter the harbor about ten o'clock that night, attended by the boats of the Syren. On arriving off the harbor, the Syren, in consequence of a change of wind, had been thrown six or eight miles without the Intrepid. The wind at this time was fair, but fast declining, and Lieutenant Decatur apprehended that should he wait for the Syren's boats to come up, it might be too late to make the attack that night. Such delay might be fatal to the enterprise, as they could not remain longer on the coast, their provisions being nearly exhausted. For these reasons he determined to adventure into the harbor alone, which he did about eight o'clock. An idea may be formed of the extreme hazard of this enterprise from the situation of the frigate. She was moored within half gun shot of the Bashaw's Castle, and of the principal battery. Two of the enemy's cruisers lay within two cable's length, on the starboard bow. All the guns of the frigate were mounted and loaded. Such were the immediate perils that our hero ventured to encounter with a single ketch beside the other dangers that abound in a strongly fortified harbor. Although from the entrance to the place where the frigate lay was only three miles, yet, in consequence of the lightness of the wind they did not get within hail of her until eleven o'clock. When they had approached within two hundred yards, they were hailed and ordered to anchor, or they would be fired into. Lieut. Decatur ordered a Maltese pilot, who was on board the ketch, to answer that they had lost their anchors in a gale of wind on the coast, and therefore could not comply with their request. By this time it had become perfectly calm, and they were about fifty yards from the frigate. Lieutenant Decatur ordered a small boat that was alongside of the ketch, to take a rope and make it fast to the frigate's fore chains. This being done they began to warp the ketch alongside. It was not until this moment that the enemy suspected the character of their visitor, and great confusion immediately ensued. This enabled our adventurers to get alongside of the frigate, when Decatur immediately sprang aboard followed by Mr. Charles Morris,* midshipman. These two were nearly a minute on the deck, before their companions could succeed in mounting the side. Fortunately, the Turks had not sufficiently recovered from their surprise to take advantage of this delay. They were crowded together on the quarter deck, perfectly astonished and aghast, without making any attempt to oppose the assailing party. As soon as a sufficient number of our men had gained the deck, to form a front equal to that of the enemy, they rushed in upon Now Captain Morris of the Adams. |