Marblehead, originally a part of Salem, known as Marble Harbor, was settled about 1629 by English emigrants (probably mostly from Lincolnshire and Devonshire); later (after about 1700) many emigrants from the Channel Islands settled here, and to them the dialectical peculiarities of Marblehead have often (perhaps mistakenly) been attributed. Marblehead was separately incorporated as a town in 1649. In the colonial period Marblehead was an important commercial port, and at one time was one of the most populous places in Massachusetts. After the passage of the Boston Port Bill (1774) it was made the port of entry instead of Boston, but its merchants refused to take advantage of this opportunity and patriotically invited the Boston merchants to use their wharves and warehouses. During the War of Independence many "state cruisers" (chartered at the Continental expense) set out from this port, the most famous being the "Lee," commanded by John Manley[1] (1733-93); in November 1775 this cruiser captured the "Nancy" with military stores valued at £20,541, which were taken to the American army at Cambridge. The "Lee" was manned by fifty men of the "amphibious regiment," which under General John Glover (1732-1797) rendered invaluable services to Washington in conveying his troops across the East River after the battle of Long Island, and later in ferrying them across the Delaware before the battle of Trenton. Marblehead furnished more than 1000 men to the Continental army. During the war of 1812 the sea fight between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon" took place (June 1, 1813) off the adjacent coast. Marblehead was the scene of Benjamin (nicknamed "Flood") Ireson's ride, immortalized by J. G. Whittier. See Samuel Roads, jun., _The History and Traditions of Marblehead_ (Boston, 1880; 3rd ed., Marblehead, 1897). FOOTNOTE: [1] See Robert E. Peabody, "Naval Career of Captain John Manley of Marblehead", in _Essex Institute Historical Collections_ (Salem, Mass.) for January 1909. MARBLES, a children's game of great antiquity, wide distribution, and uncertain origin, played with small spheres of stone, glass, baked clay or other material, from one-third of an inch to two inches in diameter. The game was once popular with all classes. Tradition, both at Oxford and Cambridge, attests that the game was formerly prohibited among undergraduates on the steps of the Bodleian or the Senate House. There is a similar tradition at Westminster School that the boys were forbidden to play marbles in Westminster Hall on account of the complaints made by members of parliament and lawyers. An anonymous poem of the 17th century speaks of a boy about to leave Eton as "A dunce at syntax, but a dab at taw." Rogers, in _The Pleasures of Memory_, recalls how "On yon grey stone that fronts the chancel-door, Worn smooth by busy feet, now seen no more, Each eve we shot the marble through the ring."