self now lives where his father lived, about half a mile south east from Oxford village. His house is near a mill, standing upon a small stream that runs on the left near the great road leading to Norwich. About fifty or sixty rods from his house, he showed me the spot where the fort stood, and, near it, the lot upon which were the meeting-house and burying ground. No remains of either were visible. He pointed to an excavation of the earth, where, he said, was a well, which had been filled up. It was at the place of the fort, and had been, probably, within it. In the lot there were apple trees, which, he told me, he heard his father say, "the French set out." His father must have been a competent witness; for he was seventy years old when he told him this, and he himself was then twenty years of age. The field was under fine cultivation; but I could not forbear to express my regret, that the memorials of the dead had not been preserved. He said an older brother of his had ploughed up the field, and it was in this state when it came into his possession. He told me, that one of his oldest sisters said, she remembered the old horseblock, that stood near the French meeting-house. He said, he had seen the

blood on the stones of the Johnson house; and that Mrs. Johnson, on the night of the massacre, went to Woodstock. Bourdille (so he pronounced it) lived near the brook, which runs by his house. The land of captain Humphrey, upon which were a French fort, and church, and burying ground, lies near the foot of Mayo's hill, on the summit of which stood the great Fort, whose remains are still to be seen.

Of this interesting place we feel reluctant to take leave, without some token of remembrance, beside the mere recital of facts some of which are dry in the detail, while many others are but remotely associated with it. Were any monumental stone to be found here, other memorials were less necessary. Were the cypress, or the weeping willow, growing here, nothing might seem wanting, to perpetuate the memory of the dead. Any contributions of the living, even at this late period, towards supplying the defect, seem entitled to preservation. The inquiries and researches of visitants from abroad drew the attention of the villagers at home. In 1822, the writer of the Memoir received a MS. Poem on the French exiles, superscribed "Oxford;" anonymous, but apparently from a female pen. It was of considerable length, and not equally sustained throughout; but the tender and respectful regard shown by the writer to those excellent pilgrims, who left "not a stone to

tell where they lie," and her just reflections upon the value of religious liberty, and the iniquity and horrors of tyranny, entitle her to high estimation. Many lines do honor to her genius, and all of them to her sensibility. If she is a descendant from the Huguenots, this is a tribute of filial piety; if not, it is an oblation of generous sympathy.

The same year a letter was also received from a lady, well known in our literary community, enclosing a poetical tribute to the memory of the Huguenots of Oxford, which is not less worthy of her pen, than of her connexion.* Her marriage with a worthy descendant of one of the first French families that settled in Oxford, fairly entitled her to the subject, which her pen will perpetuate, should the Memoir be forgotten. A leaf of the grape vine was enclosed in the letter, which has this conclusion: "We received great pleasure from our visit to Oxford, and as we traced the ruins of the first rude fortress erected by our ancestors, the present seemed almost to yield in reality to the past. I send you a leaf from the vine, which still flourishes in luxuriance, which, I am sorry to say, resembles our own natives of the woods a little too strongly. Something beside, I also send you, which savours as little of the Muse's inspiration, as the vine in question does of foreign extraction; but if poetical license can find affinities for the latter, 1 trust your goodness will extend its mantle over the infirmity of the former."

On visiting a Vine among the ruins of the French fort at Oxford, (Mass.) supposed to have been planted by the Huguenots, who made settlements at that place, when they fled from their native country, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685.

SAY, did thy germ e'er drink the fostering dews

Of beauteous Languedoc?-Didst thou unfold

Thy latent fibre 'neath the genial skies
Of smiling Rousillon ?—or fragrant hang
In purple cluster from some fruitful vine

Of fair Rochelle?-Perchance thy infant leaves

Have trembled at the bitter sigh of those
Whom Tyranny oppress'd, or shuddering caught
That silent tear which suffering Virtue sheds

In loneliness-that tear which witnesseth

To the high Judge.-Not by rash, thoughtless hands
Who sacrifice to Bacchus, pouring forth

Libations at his altar, with wild songs

Hailing his madden'd orgies, wert thou borne

Mrs. L. Huntley Sigourney.

To foreign climes-but with the suffering band
Of pious Huguenots didst dare the wave,
When they essay'd to plant Salvation's vine
In the drear wilderness. Pensive they mark'd
The everlasting forest's gloomy shade,
The uncultur'd vale, the snow-invested heath
Tracked by the vengeful native; yet to rear
Their Temple to the Eternal Sire, and pay
Unfetter'd homage to his name were joy,
Though on their hymn of praise the desert howl'd.
The savage arrow scath'd them, and dark clouds
Involv'd their infant Zion, yet they bore
Toil and affliction with unwavering eye
Fix'd on the heavens, and firm in hope sublime
Sank to their last repose.-Full many a son
Among the noblest of our land, looks back
Through Time's long vista, and exulting claims
These as his Sires.-They sleep in mouldering dust,
But thou, fair Vine, in beauteous verdure bloom'st
O'er Man's decay. Wooing thy tendril green
Springs the wild Rose, as if it fain would twine
Wreaths for its native soil.-And well it may;
For here dwells Liberty and laurelled Peace
Lending to life new lustre, and with dews
Etherial bathing Nature's charms. The child
Of Poverty feels here no vassalage, nor shrinks
From Persecution's scourge. The simplest hind,
Whether he homeward guides his weary team,
Beneath the evening star, or whistling leads
To pastures fresh with morn his snowy sheep,
Bears on his brow in deepen'd characters
"Knowledge is Power."-He too, with filial eye
Unchecked, undimm'd, marks blest Religion come,
In simple mildness, binding on the heart
Her law of love, gilding each gather'd cloud

Of varied sentiment, that o'er the dust

Of Earth's low confine hangs-with beams serene
From that bright Sun which shall hereafter blend
All fleeting shades in one effulgent smile

Of Immortality.

APPENDIX TO THE FOREGOING MEMOIR.

[B. Page 350.]

The paper containing the "Delineation of the Town of Oxford" is endorsed, "Papiers qui regarde New Oxford." The chirography is evidently French. With the delineation there is an

account of the village and town, in the following words: "Oxford Village or the general Plantation containing 11,245 acres, whereof the proprietors common Way 265 acres, and Mauchaug in deficient, 172... 437. Rest 10808 acres. The town of Oxford, including its village, called the General Plantation, containes 41245 acres, viz. the five grand lotts. On the W. side of the dividing line, each 3000...15000, and on the East side thereof..each 3000...15000.

The Village Plantation.. 11245. The 41245 general."

Nipmuck river (called by the English settlers of New England, Blackstone) takes its rise in Sutton, and receiving several tributary streams in its course, falls into Providence river just below Providence. It is there called Pawtucket. When the French settled Oxford, there was a town of praying Indians at Hassanamesitt [Grafton,] about two miles to the eastward of Nipmuck river," and near unto the old road way to Connecticut," consisting of about twelve families, and about sixty souls. "Here," says Gookin,* "they have a meeting house for the worship of God, after the English fashion of building, and two or three other houses after the same mode. In this town was the second Indian church (Natick being the first) gathered in 1671; and three years afterwards there were in full communion in this church, and living in the town, about sixteen men and women'; and about thirty baptized persons, and several other members living in other places. The church had a pastor, Tackuppawillin, a ruling elder, and a deacon. In 1674 the Rev. John Eliot and general Gookin, visited "the new praying towns in the Nipmuck country. The first of these," says Gookin, "is Mauchage, [Oxford,] which lieth to the westward of Nipmuck river about eight miles, and is from Hassanamesitt, west and by south, about ten miles; and it is from Boston about fifty miles. To it belongeth about twelve families and about sixteen souls. For this place we appointed Waaberktamin, a hopeful young man for their minister. There is no land yet granted by the general court to this place, nor to any other of the praying towns. But the court intendeth shortly, upon the application and professed subjection of those Indians unto the yoke of Christ, to do for them as they have done for other praying Indians." Gookin's Hist. Collections of the Indians in New England, printed in Coll. Mass. Hist. Society, in 1792.

*A. D. 1674.

VOL. I. 45

C.

[Page 349.]

Nous sousignes certiffions et ateston que Monsr. Gabriel Bernon Don a fait une despance [depense] considerable a new oxford pour faire valoir la Ville et encourager et ayder les habitans. et quil [qu'il] a tenu sa maison en etat jusques a ce que en fin les Sauvages soient venus masacrer et tuer Iohn Johnson et ses trois enfens [enfans Iet que netant [n' etant] pas soutenu Il a été obligé et force d' abandoner son Bien. en foy de quoy lui avons signe le present

Billet, a Baston le 4 Septembre 1696:
Jermons

Jacques Montier

† marque

Baudouin

X marque depaix cazaneau

Benja faneuil

Nous attestons ce qui est desus et [est] veritable.

Nous certiffions que ce sont les marques de personnes susdites.

Nous declarons ce que dessus fort veritable ce que John Johnson et ces trois enfans ont eté tué le 25°. Auost [Aout] 1696: en foy de quoy avons signé

Je connois et Je le say d' experiance que m'. Gabriel bernon a fait ses efforts pour soutenir notre plantation, et y a depancé pour cet effet un bien considerable.

Bureau L'ainé [The elder or senior.] Peter Canton.

We underwritten doe certifie and attest that mr. Gabriel Bernon hath made considerable expences at Newoxford for to promote the the place and incourage the Inhabitants and hath kept his house