During the occupation of the city, the enemy were annoyed by the patriots in various ways. In January, some Whigs at Bordentown sent a number of kegs down the Delaware, which were filled with powder, and furnished with machinery, in such a manner that, on rubbing against any object in the stream, they would immediately explode. These torpedoes were the invention of Mr. Bushnell, of Connecticut, and will be noticed hereafter. They were intended for the destruction of the British shipping then lying in the river opposite Philadelphia. It so happened that, on the very night when these kegs were sent down, the vessels were hauled into the docks to avoid the effects of the ice then rapidly forming. They thus escaped mischief. One of these kegs exploded near the city, and spread general alarm. Not a stick or chip floated for twenty-four hours afterward but it was fired at by the British troops. This _battle of the kegs_ furnished the theme for a facetious poem from the pen of Francis Hopkinson, Esq., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. *** * Mrs. Bache, daughter of Dr Franklin, occupied his house when the enemy approached Philadelphia. She left the city, and took refuge with a friend in the eountry. After her return in July, she thus wrote to her father, who was then in France: "I found your house and furniture, upon my return to town, in much better order than I had reason to expect from the hands of sueh a rapacious crew. They stole and carried off with them some of your musical instruments, viz., a Welsh harp, ball harp, the set of tuned bells which were in a box, viol-de-gamba, all the spare armonica glasses, and one or two spare cases. Your armonica is safe. * They took likewise the few books that were left behind, the chief of which were Temple's school-books, and the History of the Arts and Sciences in French, which is a great loss to the public. Some of your electric apparatus is missing; also, a Captain Andre took with him a picture of you which hung in the dining-room." ** One of these, with three guns, was on the site of the present navy yard; another, with four guns, was below the navy land near Reed and Swanson Streets; another, with three guns, was in front of Wharton's Mansion, upon an eminence below Front and Christian Streets. *** Mr. Hopkinson was also the author of "Hail Columbia," one of our most popular national songs. The following is a copy of "THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS. "Gallants attend, and hear a friend "'Twas early day, as poets say, Trill forth harmonious ditty; Just when the sun was rising, Strange things I'll tell, which late befell A soldier stood on log of wood, In Philadelphia city. And saw a thing surprising.