was extremely insecure, should the French meditate any sinister design.
In this emergency, three shallops were filled with armed men, to sail
for the protection of the chief magistrate, and ascertain the intentions
of the French. Young Stanhope was invested with the command of this
little force; and perhaps there was no man in the colony, who would have
conducted the enterprize with more boldness and address. He had entered
the English navy in boyhood; and, after many years of faithful service,
was rapidly acquiring rank and distinction, when the unhappy dissensions
of the times threw their blighting influence on his prospects, and
disappointed his well-founded hopes of still higher advancement in his
profession. His father, an inflexible Puritan, fled to New-England from
the persecution of a church which he abhorred, and, with the malevolence
of narrow-minded bigotry, the heresy of the parent was punished, by
dismissing the son from that honorable station, which his valour had
attained. Deeply wounded in spirit, Arthur Stanhope retired from the
service of his country, but he carried with him, to a distant land, the
affection and esteem of his brother officers,--a solace, which
misfortune can never wrest from a noble and virtuous mind.

On the present occasion, Stanhope made his arrangements with coolness
and precision, and received from everyone, the most prompt and zealous
assistance. The alarm, which the appearance of the French at first
excited, had gradually subsided; but still there were so many volunteers
in the cause, that it was difficult to prevent the shallops from being
overloaded. Constables with their batons, and soldiers, with fixed
bayonets, guarded the place of embarkation, till, at a given signal, the
boats were loosed from their moorings, and glided gently over the waves.
A loud shout burst from the spectators, which was succeeded by a
stillness so profound, that, for several moments, the measured dash of
the oars was distinctly heard on shore. An equal silence prevailed on