ghty foe shall dare insult,
No _Infidel_ deride;
_For the brave, on the wave_, &c. &c.

For now the _kindred_ nations
Shall wage the fight no more;
No more in dreadful thunder dash
The billows to the shore:
Save when in firm _alliance_ bound
Some common foe defied;
_Then the brave, on the wave_, &c. &c.

This captivity in a foreign land, has been to me a season of
thoughtfulness. Sometimes I thought I was like a despised Jew, among
the sons of the modern Babylon, which I might have sunk under, but for
the first principles of a serious education; for I was born and
educated in the state of Massachusetts, near an hundred miles from
Boston. The subject of education has greatly occupied my mind, and I
rejoiced that I was born in that part of the United States, where it
is most attended to. It is an injury to our national character, that
most of the books we read in early life, were written by _Englishmen_;
as with their knowledge we imbibe their _narrow_ prejudices. The
present war, has, in a degree, corrected this evil; but time alone can
effect all we wish.

A dispute arose between us and our commander, relative to the article
of bread, which served to show Englishmen how tenacious we, Americans,
are on what we consider to be our rights.

Whenever the contractor omitted to send us off soft bread, provided
the weather did not forbid, the said contractor forfeited half a pound
of bread to each man. The prisoners were not acquainted with this
rule, until they were informed of it by the worthy captain Hutchinson;
and they determined to enforce the regulation on the next act of
delinquency of the contractor. This opportunity soon occurred. He
omitted to send us off soft bread in fair weather; our commander, Mr.
O. thereupon ordered us to be served with hard ship bread. This we
declined accepting, and contended that the contractor was bound to
send us off the soft bread, with an additional half pound, which he
forfeited to us for his breach of punctuality. Now the contractor had
again and again incurred this forfeiture, which went into Mr. O's
pocket, instead of our stomachs, and this mal-practice we were
resolved to correct. Our commander then swore from the teeth outwards,
that if we refused his hard bread, we should have none; and we swore
from the teeth, inwardly, that we would adhere to our first
declaration, and maintain our rights. Finding us obstinate, he ordered
us all t