below, then leveling his fowling-piece at the foe, blazed away. As the British pressed after the fugitives, they were surprised at the solitary report of a gun every few minutes from the grove of trees on that hill. At first they paid but little attention to it, but the bullets finding their way steadily into the ranks, they were compelled to notice it, and an officer sent a detachment up to see what it meant. The professor saw them coming, but never moved from his position. His black mare stood near him, and he could any moment have mounted and fled, but this seemed never to have entered his head. He was thinking only of the enemy, and loaded and fired as fast as he could.

When the detachment reached the spot where he stood, the commanding officer, to his surprise, saw only a venerable man in black before him, quietly loading his gun to have another shot. to have another shot. Pausing a mo- . ment at the extraordinary spectacle of a single man thus coolly fighting a whole army, he exclaimed, "What are you doing there, you old fool, firing on His Majesty's troops ?" The staunch old patriot looked up in the most unconcerned manner, and replied, "Exercising the rights of war." The whole affair seemed to strike the officer comically; and, rather amused than offended at the audacity of the proceeding, he said, "If I let you go this time, you old rascal, will you ever fire again on the troops of His Majesty ?" "Nothing more likely," was the imperturbable reply. This was too much for the good temper of the Briton, and he ordered his men to seize him. They did so; and

BRUTAL TREATMENT.

203

dragged him roughly down the hill to the head of the column.

The Americans, in their retreat, had torn down the bridge over the river, after crossing it, thus compelling the British to march two miles farther north to another bridge. The latter immediately placed Dr. Dagget, on foot, at the head of the column as a guide, and pressed rapidly forward.

It was the 5th of July, and one of the hottest days of the year. Under the burning rays of the noonday sun, and the driving pace they were kept at, even the hardened soldiers wilted; while Dr. Dagget, unused to such exposure, soon became completely exhausted. But the moment he showed signs of faltering, the soldiers pricked him on with their bayonets, at the same time showering curses and insults upon his head. Before the five miles' march was completed, the brave old man was ready to sink to the earth. But every time he paused and reeled as if about to fall, they caught him on the points of their bayonets, and forced him to rally, while the blood flowed in streams down his dress. As they entered the streets of the town, they commenced shooting down the peaceable citizens who had remained behind, whenever they appeared in sight, and Dr. Dagget expected every moment to share their fate. At length they reached the green, when a tory, who had come out to welcome the enemy, recognised Dr. Dagget, as he lay covered with blood and dust, and requested the officer to release him. He did so, and the wounded

patriot was carried into a house near by, more dead than alive.

His utter exhaustion and brutal wounds combined brought him to the very gates of death, and his life for some time was despaired of. He however rallied, and was able a part of the next year to preach in the chapel, but his constitution had received a shock from which it could not fully recover, and in sixteen months he was borne to the grave, one more added to the list of noble souls who felt that the offer of their lives to their country was a small sacrifice.

CHAPTER XIX.

EZRA STILES.

IIS PROPHECY RESPECTING THE COLONIES, IN 1760.-PRESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE.-CHANCELLOR KENT'S EULOGY OF HIM.- HIS PATRIOTISM.- KEEPS A DIARY OF REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS.-HIS DEATH..

EZRA STILES, who succeeded Dr. Dagget as President of Yale College, forms a third in the illustrious trio of patriotic Presidents that Yale can boast. His farreaching mind as early as 1760 seemed to foresee the struggle which would eventually take place between the colonies and England. In a sermon delivered at that time on the reduction of Canada by the English he used the following language: "It is probable that in time there will be formed a provincial Confederacy, and a Common Council standing on free provincial suffrage, and this may in time terminate in an Imperial Diet, when the imperial dominion will subvert as it ought in election." He lived to see this prophecy fulfilled in the Continental Congress. The late Chancellor Kent, one of his pupils, thus speaks of his patriotism: "President Stiles' zeal for civil and religious liberty was kindled at the altar of the English and New England Puritans, and it was animating and vivid. A more constant and devoted friend to the revolution and independence of the country never existed. He had anticipated it as early as 1760, and his whole

soul was enlisted in every measure which led on gradually to the formation and establishment of the American Union. The frequent appeals which he was accustomed to make to the heads and hearts of his pupils concerning the slippery paths of youth, the grave duties of life, the responsibilities of men, and the perils and hopes and honors and destiny of our country, will never be forgotten by those who heard them, and especially when he came to touch, as he often did with a master's hand and prophet's fire, on the bright vision of the future prosperity and splendor of the United States." Ezra Stiles was born at North Haven, Connecticut, December 10th, 1727, and died in 1795, and hence had nearly reached his threescore and ten. He kept a voluminous diary during the Revolution, which is still preserved in manuscript in the library of Yale College, and contains many useful and interesting facts connected with those times.