MELLEN, John, clergyman, born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 1722; died in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1807. He was graduated at Harvard in 1741, and became a Unitarian clergyman, being settled as first minister of Sterling, Massachusetts, where he preached from 1744 till 1778. He was pastor of Hanover, Massachusetts, in 1784-1805, and afterward removed to Reading, Massachusetts He published eight occasional sermons (1753-'95), and "Fifteen Discourses on Doctrinal Subjects" (1765).--His son, John, clergyman, born in Sterling, Massachusetts, in 1752; died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1828, was graduated at Harvard in 1770, and was tutor there in 1780-'3. He was minister of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and after retiring from the pastorate removed to Cambridge. He published eight separate sermons and discourses, 1791-'9, and two "Dudleian Lectures" (1795-'9).--Another son, Henry, born in Sterling, Massachusetts, in 1757; died in 1809, was graduated at Harvard in 1804, studied law, and practised at Dover, New Hampshire. He had some ability as a writer of verse, and a volume of his poems was published.--Another son, Prentiss, jurist, born in Sterling, Massachusetts, 11 October, 1764; died in Portland, Maine, 31 December, 1840, was graduated at Harvard in 1784, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. He began practice at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, removed in 1792 to Biddeford, and in 1806 to Portland, Massachusetts (afterward Maine), and was a member of the executive council of Massachusetts in 1806-'9 and 1817. He was elected United States senator from Massachusetts in place of Eli P. Ashmun, who had resigned, and served from 16 November, 1818, till 15 May, 1820, when he resigned in consequence of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. He was elected the first chief justice of the new state, and served from 1820 till 1834, when he was disqualified by age. He afterward practised law at Portland, Maine Judge Mellen was a trustee of Bowdoin from 1817 till 1836. His judicial decisions are published in the first eleven volumes of the "Maine Reports." --Prentiss's son, Grenville, poet, born in Biddeford, Maine, 19 June, 1799; died in New York, 5 September, 1841, was graduated at Harvard in 1818, studied law at Portland, and removed in 1823 to North Yarmouth, where he practised till 1828. He subsequently spent five or six years in Boston, and then removed to New York, where he resided, with occasional intervals of absence, during the remainder of his life. In New York in 1839 he began the publication of a monthly magazine, which was discontinued after a few numbers. In the summer of 1840 he made a voyage to Cuba for the benefit of his health, but rapidly declined after his return and died of consumption. He was much esteemed as a poet during his lifetime, and published "The Rest of the Nations " (Portland, 1826) ; "Our Chronicle of '26 : a Satirical Poem" (Boston, 1827) ; " The Martyr's Triumph " and "' Buried Valley" (1833);" The Passions" (183(i): and a "Poem at Amherst College," delivered 27 August, 1839 (Amherst, 1839).