good people of Malden did not relinquish their admired pastor without a struggle. After much excited negotiation, it was agreed that the Brattle-street Church should pay the debt of the Malden Church, amounting to a thousand dollars,- a debt undoubtedly contracted in consequence of the general depression of the Revolution. His preaching was direct, practical, and earnest; and, like Samuel Cooper, his predecessor of Brattle-street Church, he possessed, in singular excellence, the gift of prayer; and so charmed with him was George Whitfield, that he called him "The Young Elijah." And it is related of his brother, Rev. Thomas Thacher, of Dedham, a man of strong intellectual powers, that he once remarked of him, "I know brother Peter excels me in prayer, but I can give the best sermons." We have heard it stated, that when Rev. Peter Thacher first appeared in the flowing silk gown and bands given him by John Hancock, and read from the elegant Bible in the new mahogany pulpit,- also the gift of the generous governor,- and the people listened to the musical tones. of his voice, reasoning for the best interests of the soul, in the graceful gestures of oratory, he effected a deep impression. He was settled in Boston, Jan. 12, 1785, and with him orthodoxy departed from Brattle-street Church. He was a frequent inmate of Hancock's festive board, who was his parishioner. The degree of Doctor of Divinity, from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, was conferred upon him. Being afflicted with an affection of the lungs, he visited Savannah, Ga., where he died in six weeks after leaving home. A eulogy on his character was pronounced, Dec. 31, 1802, by Rev. William Emerson, at Brattle-street Church; and a brief memoir was written by Gov. Sullivan, who was his parishioner and devoted admirer. He published twenty pamphlets of a religious and political character, written in an easy and familiar style.

"There is a history in all men's lives,

Figuring the nature of the times deceased;
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life; which, in their
Seeds and weak beginnings, lie entreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time."

PEREZ MORTON.·

APRIL 8, 1776. OVER THE REMAINS OF WARREN.

THE first object of public interest to the Bostonians, after the evacuation of the British troops, was the recovery of the remains of the beloved Warren. They were found on the heights of Charlestown. According to Rees' Cyclopedia, "a native of Great Britain, who was in Boston at the time of the battle, came to the friends of Warren, ten months after that period, and told them he could point out the spot where the remains were deposited. He was offered a reward, if his information should be correct; and two brothers of the general, with some other gentlemen, accompanied him to the field. A sexton commenced digging on the spot he pointed out, and a corpse soon began to appear. The brothers, unable to remain longer, retired, having informed the other gentlemen that their brother might be distinguished by a particular false tooth. He was identified accordingly." We are credibly informed, that the Rev. Andrew Eliot, D.D., who, according to his private diary, received of the munificent Hancock, in the year 1777, a three-cornered hat, a wig, a fine suit of clothes, and a cask of Madeira wine, has related to his son, Dr. Ephraim Eliot, that a barber, who was accustomed to dress the head of General Warren, being on the battle-ground at the time of the burial of those who were killed on Bunker's Hill, accidentally recognized the body of Warren, just as the British regulars were in the act of throwing it into a grave, over another body, and on his stating the fact to them, they wrapped a mat around his remains previous to covering up the earth; and this was probably the individual alluded to in the Cyclopedia.

"No useless coffin enclosed his breast,

Not in sheet or in shroud they wound him;
But he lay, like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him."

We have reason to believe that the above relation is mainly correct; and we have gathered from Dr. John C. Warren, a nephew of the general, the following statement of additional facts:

The remains of Gen. Warren were deposited in a grave under a locust-tree, and the spot is now designated in gilt letters on a granite

stone in the ground. They were interred beside the body of a butcher, on the day subsequent to the fatal contest, and were personally identified, on the April succeeding, by Dr. John Warren, and Ebenezer Warren, Esq., the brothers of the general, who readily recognized a false tooth, secured by wires, in the place of an eye-tooth which had been previously removed; and, although his body and that of the butcher were reduced to skeletons, the discovery of the false tooth, which was familiar to their eyes, and the aperture in the skull, together with the frock of the butcher, which remained entire, satisfied them that they witnessed the precious relics of their brother; and they were removed to Boston, where they were entombed in the family vault of Hon. George Richards Minot, adjoining the tomb of Governor Hancock, in the Granary Burying-ground, and directly in the rear of the residence of Dr. John C. Warren. On turning to the letters of Mrs. Abigail Adams, we find it stated, under date of April 7, 1776: "Yesterday, the remains of our worthy General Warren were dug up upon Bunker's Hill, and carried into town, and on Monday are to be interred with all the honors of war."

A procession was formed, on the 8th inst., at the State-house, in King-street, consisting of a detachment of the continental forces, a numerous body of the Free and Accepted Masons, the mourners, members of the General Assembly, selectmen, and citizens of the town. The pall was supported by Hon. Gen. Ward, Brig. Gen. Frye, Dr. Morgan, Col. Gridley, Hon. Mr. Gill, and J. Scollay, Esq. The remains were conveyed into King's Chapel, and a very pertinent prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, after an excellent dirge. President Adams' lady wrote on the occasion, and remarked at the time, in relation to the orator: "I think the subject must have inspired him. A young fellow could not have wished a finer opportunity to display his talents. The amiable and heroic virtues of the deceased, recent in the minds of the audience; the noble cause to which he fell a martyr; their own sufferings and unparalleled injuries, all fresh in their minds, must have given weight and energy to whatever could be delivered on the occasion. The dead body, like that of Cæsar, before their eyes, whilst each wound,

'Like dumb mouths, did ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of a tongue :
Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood,-
A curse shall light upon their line." "

Indeed, this oration of Morton over the remains of Warren instinctively reminds one of the oration of Mark Antony over the remains of Julius Cæsar; and the occasion and the scene were of equal sublimity. The coming apostrophe, taken from the exordium of this splendid eulogy, must have deeply awakened the sensibility of the audience: "Illustrious relics!

"What tidings from the grave? Why hast thou left the peaceful mansions of the tomb, to visit again this troubled earth? Art thou the welcome messenger of peace? Art thou risen again to exhibit thy glorious wounds, and through them proclaim salvation to thy country? Or art thou come to demand that last debt of humanity to which your rank and merit have so justly entitled you, but which has been so long ungenerously withheld? And art thou angry at the barbarous usage? Be appeased, sweet ghost! for, though thy body has long laid undistinguished among the vulgar dead, scarce privileged with earth enough to hide it from the birds of prey,- though not a kindred tear was dropped, though not a friendly sigh was uttered, o'er thy grave, and though the execrations of an impious foe were all thy funeral knells,— yet, matchless patriot! thy memory has been embalmed in the affections of thy grateful countrymen, who, in their breasts, have raised eternal monuments to thy bravery!" In another In another passage, Morton exclaims: "Like Harrington he wrote,-like Cicero he spoke,-like Hampden he lived, and like Wolfe he died!"

A few years since, the remains of Gen. Warren were removed from the tomb of the Minots to the family tomb of his nephew, Dr. John C. Warren, under St. Paul's Church. His skull is in a careful state of preservation.

Perez Morton was born at Plymouth, Nov. 13, 1751. His father settled at Boston, and was keeper of the White Horse Tavern, opposite Hayward-place, and died in 1793. The son entered the Boston Latin School in 1760, and graduated at Harvard College in 1771, when he studied law; but the revolutionary war prevented his engaging in the practice, and he took an active part in the cause of freedom. In 1775 he was one of the Committee of Safety, and in the same year became deputy-secretary of the province. After the war, he opened an office as an attorney at law, at his residence in State-street, on the present site of the Union Bank. In 1778 he married Sarah Wentworth Apthorp, at Quincy, noted by Paine as the American Sappho. Mr. Morton was a leader of the old Jacobin Club, which held meetings at

the Green Dragon Tavern, and became a decided Democrat. A political poet of Boston thus satirizes Perez Morton:

Perez, thou art in earnest, though some doubt thee!

In truth, the Club could.never do without thee!

My reasons thus I give thee in a trice,

You want their votes, and they want your advice!

Mr. Morton was Speaker of the House from 1806 to 1811, and was attorney-general from 1810 to 1832; was a delegate from Dorchester to the convention for revising the State constitution, in 1820, and was vigorous in general debate. He died at Dorchester, Oct. 14, 1837. He was an ardent patriot, an eloquent speaker, of an elegant figure and polished manners.

BENJAMIN HICHBORN.

MARCH 5, 1777. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.

WE will cite a passage from this performance, which was delivered at the old brick meeting-house, to indicate its patriotic spirit: "We can easily conceive," says Mr. Hichborn, "a mixture of prejudice and fear, that will excite such awful ideas of the person to whom we have been taught from our cradles to annex the properties of a most gracious sovereign, most sacred majesty, and a train of such God-like attributes, as would make us feel conscious of a degree of impiety in calling a villain by his proper name, while shrouded under this garb of sanctity. But it is exceedingly diverting to view the influence of this chimerical divinity in those who are made the immediate tools of supporting it. They will tell you it is a task most ungrateful to men of their sensibility and refinement, to be made the instruments of sending fire and death indiscriminately among the innocent, the helpless, and the fair, -but they have sworn to be faithful to their sovereign, and, were they