others were left in a sound sleep to perish in the flames. Having kindled a fire in three of the rooms, he fled, after robbing the house of its most valuable articles. But from an accusing conscience, and from the hand of justice, which followed hard upon his steps, he was unable to flee. He was taken and executed at Litchfield in the May ensuing.

North Eastern view of Watertown, (central part.)

WATERTOWN was formerly a parish in Waterbury, by the name of Westbury. It was incorporated as a town in 1780. It is bounded N. by Litchfield, E. by the Naugatuc river, separating it from Plymouth, W. by Bethlem and Woodbury, and S. by Middlebury and Waterbury. It is about 6 miles in length, and 4 in breadth. The township is generally uneven, or rather hilly; but some sections are level. The prevailing soil is a dry gravelly fertile loam, and best adapted to grazing, but the different grains common to this part of the country are cultivated. Steel's Brook, a sprightly stream, passes through the central part of the town, and for a mile below and some distance above the center of the town, a chain of rich meadows, though small in extent, border the sides of this stream.

The above is a north eastern view of the Congregational and Episcopal Churches in Watertown. There is a little cluster of houses a few rods south of the churches which are not seen in the engraving. It is stated that there was a very large quantity of heavy timber used in the construction of the Congregational church seen in the engraving. The builders were obliged to get assistance from five towns, in order to raise it. This place is 10 miles S. E. from Litchfield, 30 from Hartford and 26 from New Haven. The town was first settled about three miles north of the churches, and about half a mile west of the Litchfield road. The first family or families, were of the name of Guernsey or Garnsey,

from Milford. It was considered such an undertaking, at that period, that prayers were put up for their safe arrival, &c. This town has been noted for the size of its forest trees. It is said that one of the first settlers having no shelter for the hight, peeled off the bark of one of the trees he had felled, and lay down upon the inside. In the morning when he awoke, he found the bark rolled up so closely that it was with some difficulty he could extricate himself.

The above is a representation of the house where John Trumbull, Esq. the celebrated author of M'Fingal was born. This house is now owned by Mr. Pitcher, and is about half a mile below the Congregational church, on the east side of the Waterbury road. A large elm is seen in the distance. The business part of the town was formerly near this spot. The churches were first erected near the burying ground.

John Trumbull, the author, was the son of a clergyman of the same name, and born April 24th, 1750. He was an only son, and of a delicate and sickly constitution. He received the strictest care from his mother who was a woman of superior education for those of her day; young Trumbull gave early manifestations of his poetical turn. He was educated at Yale College. In 1771, he with his friend Dr. afterwards President Dwight, were chosen tutors. In 1773, he was admitted to the bar in Connecticut, but soon removed his residence to Boston, where he continued his studies in the office of John Adams, afterwards President. The Revolutionary struggle was then commencing, and Trumbull entered with warmth into the controversy. He returned to Connecticut and began practice at the bar in New Haven, in 1774. In 1775, he wrote the first part of his M'Fingal, which was immediately published at Philadelphia, where Congress was then sitting. He removed to Hartford in 1781, where he fixed his residence. The poem M'Fingal was completed and published in Hartford, in 1782. In 1801, he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, which office he held till 1819. In 1825, he removed to Detroit, to reside with his daughter where he died in 1831.

"M'Fingal is a burlesque poem, directed against the enemies of American liberty, and holding up to particular scorn and contempt, the tories and the British officers, naval, military, and civil, in America. It is a merciless satire throughout: whatever it touches, it transforms; kings, ministers, lords, bishops, generals, judges, admirals, all take their turn, and become in the light or associations in which they are exhibited, alternately the objects of our merriment, hatred, or scorn. So wedded is the author to his vein of satire, that even M'Fingal, the friend of England, and the champion of the tories, is made the undisguised scoffer of both them and their cause. The story of M'Fingal is this: the hero, a Scotchman and justice of the peace in a town near Boston, and who had two gifts by virtue of his birth," rebellion and the second sight," goes to a town meeting, where he and one Honorius, make speeches at each other through two whole cantos. At the end of the second canto, the town meeting breaks up tumultuously; and the people gather round a liberty pole erected by the mob. Here M'Fingal makes a virulent speech of near two hundred lines, at the end of which he is pursued, and brought back to the liberty pole, where the constable is swung aloft, and M'Fingal tarred and feathered. M'Fingal is set at liberty; he goes home, and at night makes a speech to some of his tory friends in his cellar, extending through the rest of the poem, leaving only room to tell that the mob broke off his address in the middle by assaulting the house, and that M'Fingal escaped to Boston. These are all the incidents, and this the whole story of a poem of four cantos, and consisting of some thousands of lines."*

The following inscription is copied from a monument in the yard a little distance north of the Trumbull house.

Sacred to the memory of the Rev. John Trumbull, A. M. Senior Pastor of the church of Christ in Westbury; and one of the Fellows of the corporation of Yale College, who died Decr. 13th, 1787, in the seventy third year of his age, and the forty eighth of his ministry. If distinguished learning, industry and abilities; the most unaffected piety of heart; the firmest attachment to the doctrines of the gospel; the most unblemished moral character; a studious attention and friendship to the people of his charge; the most cheerful hospitality to his friends; and ardent charity to the poor; which rendered him respectable in life, and in a firm reliance on the merits of the Redeemer, raised his mind above the fear of Death; can render the memory of the deceased dear to the survivors, and afford a worthy example to posterity; Go reader and imitate his virtues! Behold the upright man! His end is Peace.

WINCHESTER.

THIS township was laid out into distinct lots in 1758. It belonged to patentees in Hartford, was incorporated as a town in 1771, and the year after the Rev. Joshua Knapp, was ordained the first minister. Winchester is bounded N. by Colebrook, W. by Norfolk and Goshen, E. by Barkhamsted, and S. by Torrington. It is 6 miles in length, and more than 5 in breadth. "The township is situated in the evergreen district of the state," and is hilly and mountainous. Its geological character is primitive, the rocks and stones consisting of granite, mica slate, and other primitive formations, the soil is a hard coarse gravelly loam. The lands afford very good grazing, and the making of butter and cheese constitutes the principal agricultural interest in the town. There are 4 houses of worship, 2 Congregational, 1 Methodist, and 1 Universalist.

*Kettell's Specimens of American Poetry, vol. 1.

The borough of Clifton, (formerly Winsted West village,) in the town of Winchester, was incorporated in 1832. It is a flourishing village consisting of about 60 or 70 dwelling houses, 4 mercantile stores. The village is principally built in a narrow valley on the banks of a mill stream called Mad River, which is a tributary of Farmington river. The valley at this place is but barely of sufficient width to admit of a street with buildings on each side, the ground rising immediately on every direction. Westward of the main street in the village, a road passes up a steep hill for nearly a quarter of a mile, where upon an elevated plain is an interesting lake or pond, which is one of the largest bodies of water in the state, being 3 miles in length and three fourths of a mile in breadth. The outlet of this lake presents a novel scene; it consists of a small stream compressed within a narrow channel, and literally tossed from rock to rock till it unites with Mad River. Most of the manufacturing establishments in the village, are situated on this outlet, upon which there are some of the best natural sites for hydraulic works in the state. In this village are four large sythe factories, 1 machine shop, and 5 forges. The ore to supply these forges, is brought from Canaan, Kent, and Salisbury. There are two churches in the village; 1 for Methodists and 1 for Uuiversalists. The Methodist church is the building seen in the central part of the engraving with a spire. The Congregational church, in the central part of the town, is situated about 4 miles S. W. of the village.

The following shows the appearance of Winsted, (or the East village,) as seen from a sandy bluff, directly south of the village. In this place is an extensive clock factory, 1 axe factory, owned by an incorporated company, and one large woolen factory, and an iron foundery. The Congregational church is seen in the central part of the engraving, distant from the Methodist church in Clifton, about three fourths of a mile.

South view of Winsted, Winchester.

The clock and axe factories, are situated north of the church, in that part of the village called Whitingville; the clock factory is just seen in the distance near the church; the post office is in this village. Winsted is 26 miles from Hartford, 49 from New Haven, 17 from Litchfield, 9 from Wolcottville, and 6 from Hitchkocksville.

WOODBURY.

"THE Legislature, in 1672, granted liberty to Mr. Sherman, Mr. Wm. Curtiss and their associates, to make a plantation at Pomperaug. Such a number of settlements had been made there in about two years, that the Assembly in May, 1674, enacted that it should be a town by the name of Woodbury."*

The tradition is, that the first settlers were sent here by Governor Winthrop; they were directed to follow the Pomperaug river up eight miles from its junction with the Housatonic, in order to find the place designed for their settlement. When they came to the Pomperaug, the stream appearing so small, they concluded they were mistaken in the river, and accordingly they proceeded on to the Shepaug, which they followed up the distance of eight miles to Roxbury valley. This place not answering the description given of Pomperaug, they crossed over the wilderness eastward to Woodbury valley, which they found was the object of their pursuit. The first house in the town is said to have been built about 20 rods west of the South Congregational Church. The settlers by the name of Judson, set themselves down in what is

Dr. Trumbull.