THE TREASURED HARP. JAMES T. FIELDS,. LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. JOHN FARMER,. THE OPIUM SHIPS. WILLIAM B. TAPPAN, INSANITY AND CRIME. ICHABOD BARTLETT,. THE BACKWOODSMAN. EPHRAIM PEABODY,.. AGRICULTURE ITS DIGNITY AND IMPORTANCE. FAME AND LOVE. SAMUEL T. HILDRETH,. I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY. OTIS A. SKINNER, THE AUTUMN ROSE. MISS MARY S. PATTERSON,. THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE BOOK. THE FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. FROM AN ORATION DELIVERED AT PORTSMOUTH, MAY 21, 1823, ON THE SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF ITS SETTLEMENT. BY NATHANIEL APPLETON HAVEN. [Born at Portsmouth, Jan. 14, 1790. Died at Portsmouth, June 3, 1826.] Two hundred years ago, the place on which we stand was an uncultivated forest. The rough and vigorous soil was still covered with the stately trees, which had been, for ages, intermingling their branches and deepening the shade. The river, which now bears on its bright and pure waters the treasures of distant climates, and whose rapid current is stemmed and vexed by the arts and enterprise of man, then only rippled against the rocks, and reflected back the wild and grotesque thickets which overhung its banks. The mountain which now swells on our left, and raises its verdant side "shade above shade," was then almost concealed by the lofty growth which covered the intervening plains. Behind us, a deep morass, extending across to the northern creek, almost enclosed the little Bank," which is now the seat of so much life and industry. It was then a wild and tangled thicket, interspersed with venerable trees and moss-grown rocks, and presenting, here and there, a sunny space covered with the blossoms and early fruit of the little plant that gave it its name. This “Bank," so |