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 EULOGY 
 
 ON 
 
 JOHN PICKERING, LL. D., 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL APPLETON WHITE. 
 
EULOGY 
 
 ON 
 
 JOHN PICKERING, LL. D., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE ACADEMY, 
 
 OCTOBER 28, 1846, 
 
 By DANIEL APPLETON WHITE, 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ACADEMY. 
 
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 CAMBRIDGE: 
 METCALF AND COMPANY, 
 
 PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 1847. 
 
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EULOGY 
 
 Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the American Academy 
 OF Arts and Sciences, — 
 
 Among all the works of God, I know of no object 
 of contemplation more delightful than a beautiful hu- 
 man character, pure and lovely, ennobled by Christian 
 virtues, and adorned by the accomplishments of mind. 
 Such was eminently the character of our late beloved 
 associate and President, John Pickering, whose death 
 we have been called to deplore, and whose distin- 
 guished worth we have come together to contemplate 
 and honor. The reluctance which, as some of you 
 know, I felt at becoming your organ on this affecting 
 occasion, arose from my conscious inability to do jus- 
 tice to his profound erudition ; but the charm of his 
 character overcame my reluctance, and if I can suc- 
 ceed in drawing a faithful portrait of his life and vir- 
 tues, I shall rely on your goodness to pardon the im- 
 perfect sketch I may give of his talents and learning. 
 
 That noble-hearted man, the late Judge Lowell, in 
 commencing his eulogy on the first President of the 
 
 MS0771.6 
 
American Academy, recognizes the obligation " to 
 trace the path of the great, the virtuous, and the wise, 
 through all their exertions for the benefit of mankind, 
 and to portray their characters as an example to the 
 world." This, doubtless, is the highest purpose of 
 eulogy, and most worthy both of the living and the 
 dead. The memory of great and good men is most 
 truly honored by that which, at the same time, most 
 benefits the world, — the study and practice of their 
 virtues. 
 
 You will allow me, therefore. Gentlemen, in seek- 
 ing to pay this true honor to the memory of one who 
 so richly deserved it, whose life was so invariably vir- 
 tuous, and who rendered himself so eminently wise 
 and useful, to give especial attention to those virtues 
 and exalted principles which enabled him to achieve 
 his unsullied fame, and which may enable others, 
 stimulated by his example, to pursue a like honorable 
 career. Such a manner of proceeding on this occa- 
 sion well accords with the high ultimate design of 
 the American Academy; — "to cultivate every art 
 and science which may tend to advance the interest, 
 honor, dignity, and happiness of a free and independ- 
 ent people." Of all arts conducing to this great 
 end, the most important, certainly, is the art of human 
 improvement, and the most excellent of sciences is 
 the science of a good life. And both are best studied 
 from original models of excellence. Biography, still 
 more than history, is philosophy teaching by example 
 
the lessons of wisdom ; but, to fulfil its office, it must 
 teach in the spirit of philosophy, and unfold the means 
 and inculcate the principles upon which progress in 
 excellence essentially depends. The life which is now 
 presented for our contemplation, if exhibited with that 
 truth and simplicity which were so remarkably its 
 ornaments, would beautifully illustrate the lessons of 
 wisdom, and make her ways as clear to the studious 
 mind, as they are pleasant to the upright in heart. 
 We care little for the mere possession of talents or 
 genius ; real merit is above them both. And where 
 shall we look for one who in the meritorious use of 
 talents is greater than our departed friend ? Such a 
 life as his cannot be traced too minutely, from its 
 dawn to its close. Genius and eloquence have al- 
 ready, on various occasions, bestowed a rich and glow- 
 ing eulogy on the learned jurist, the man of science, 
 of letters, and of worth, leaving us, in echoing the 
 voice of praise, little more to do than to enforce its 
 justness, and to gather what instruction we may from 
 the virtues which have called it forth.* The simple 
 truth. Gentlemen, bestows the highest eulogy on our 
 lamented President, while it affords us the truest con- 
 solation and the best instruction. 
 
 * See the noble tribute to the memory of Mr. Pickering, con- 
 tained in the Law Reporter (Vol. IX., p. 49), from the gifted pen 
 of Charles Sumner, Esq. ; also his admired Address he/ore the 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, at their Anni- 
 versary, August 27, 1846. 
 
John Pickering was the eldest of ten children of 
 the late Colonel Timothy and Rebecca White Pick- 
 ering, and was born on the 7th day of February, 
 1777. His ancestors were of a most worthy char- 
 acter. The first of them known in this country was 
 John Pickering, who was one of the early settlers of 
 Salem, and in 1642 bought of Sir George Downing's 
 father the farm on Broad street in that town, which 
 has ever since descended in the male line of the fami- 
 ly, and always, except in a single instance, has been 
 owned by a John Pickering, as it still continues to 
 be. On it stands the ancient and picturesque man- 
 sion, the late summer residence of our deceased 
 friend, who by his skilful arrangements converted the 
 greater portion of the farm into a beautiful and flour- 
 ishing village. 
 
 Colonel Pickering was a vigilant and devoted father, 
 but his whole soul was so absorbed in his country 
 at that alarming crisis of her affairs, that he could 
 bestow but a transient attention upon his son's early 
 culture. Fortunately for this son, he was, like Sir 
 William Jones, whom in other respects he so strongly 
 resembled, blessed with a mother in every way qual- 
 ified to fulfil the duties of both parents. In his in- 
 telligent, docile, and sweet disposition she beheld the 
 image of her own gentle spirit, and she could not 
 fail in all her intercourse with him to exert a pro- 
 pitious influence upon his opening mind and charac- 
 ter. He had an excellent uncle, too, the Honorable 
 
John Pickering, who lived in Salem, and who in- 
 dulged for him all the feelings of a parent. John and 
 Timothy Pickering were only brothers, and their souls 
 were knit together in the closest friendship. Both 
 were zealous Whig patriots, renowned for their in- 
 tegrity and steadfastness. John was graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1759, four years before his young- 
 er brother, and was one of the original founders of the 
 American Academy. He sustained various important 
 public trusts, and at the time of his nephew's infancy 
 was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Mas- 
 sachusetts. They had seven sisters, all of whom were 
 married and had families, some of which were highly 
 distinguished. Young John, bearing the favorite an- 
 cestral name, and possessing uncommon attractions, 
 was the object of observation as well as interest, 
 without being exposed to those fond and admiring at- 
 tentions which are so apt to foster vanity and selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 As it is our desire to show from his example how 
 characters like his may be formed, where natural gifts 
 like his are bestowed, and how human excellence is 
 best attained, whatever may be the endowments of 
 nature, we shall freely avail ourselves of the most au- 
 thentic information we possess, without using the 
 family correspondence, of the early development of his 
 faculties and the progress of his education. There 
 are four periods which deserve distinct attention ; — 
 the five or six years of childhood, before he went to 
 
8 
 
 any school ; his years at school ; his four years in col- 
 lege ; and his four following years abroad. 
 
 The first of these periods, though so little thought 
 of generally, was to him, perhaps, next in importance 
 to his college life, for in it was laid the foundation of 
 his character and intellectual habits. Providence ap- 
 pears to have ordered the circumstances of it better 
 for his improvement than human wisdom would have 
 done. He was in no common degree qualified by na- 
 ture, both in his physical and mental constitution, for 
 self-direction and self-cultivation. His senses, par- 
 ticularly his sight, hearing, and touch, were acute and 
 delicate ; so, too, were all his faculties and feelings. 
 He had a curiosity all alive, together with a memory 
 quick and retentive. His mechanical ingenuity was 
 as early manifested as his intellectual vigor. Happy 
 was it for him, that he was exposed to no luxurious 
 gratifications or excessive indulgences of any kind. 
 Happy, too, probably, that he had no teacher but his 
 mother, aided by the influence of his admirable father, 
 and that he was in so great a degree left to be his 
 own teacher. 
 
 During this period, his father, being attached to the 
 Revolutionary army, had no fixed place of abode for 
 his family, and they resided successively at Salem, 
 Philadelphia, Newburgh, and then again at Philadel- 
 phia and in its vicinity. It was not till their second 
 residence at Philadelphia that a good school could be 
 obtained for John, which was a subject of frequent 
 
regret with his mother, but doubtless all the better 
 for him. His lively curiosity and love of knowledge 
 had become remarkable before he was two years old, 
 evinced particularly by a continued attention and in- 
 terest in his observation of things. Nearly at the 
 same time he commenced his philological career. Of 
 his own accord he took it into his head to learn to 
 read ; and, at the age of two years, he cotild repeat 
 the letters of the alphabet, and in speaking would 
 readily join adjectives and verbs to his nouns. Be- 
 fore he was five years old, he could read without 
 spelling, and spell without book, rarely missing a 
 word which he had once read, however little affinity 
 the letters might have to the sound. Such was the 
 self-taught infant philologist. 
 
 We allude to these facts, not as being very won- 
 derful in themselves, but as illustrating his natural 
 powers and turn of mind, as well as his intellectual 
 habits. His early devotion to learning led directly to 
 those habits of observation, attention, and applica- 
 tion, which were among his greatest advantages as a 
 scholar. Equally fortunate was he in the early de- 
 velopment of his affections and his moral nature. Be- 
 sides the kindest care, he received the most judicious 
 religious nurture, and constantly enjoyed the influence 
 of^ examples which tended to produce in him the gen- 
 erous and noble virtues. It was perfectly natural that 
 he should become what he was, truly magnanimous, 
 and one of the most unselfish of human beings. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Thus prepared by himself, under the eye of his 
 mother, he entered his first school at Philadelphia 
 when he was about six years of age. His aptitude 
 for wisdom and goodness, as well as for learning, had 
 already inspired entire confidence, and disposed his 
 parents to seek for him the best advantages of educa- 
 tion. At this school, in addition to the usual Eng- 
 lish exercises, he attended to the French language, 
 and pursued his studies with so much ardor and close- 
 ness of application, that some relaxation became neces- 
 sary for his health. With a view to this, his father, 
 in 1786, sent him on a visit to his uncle and other 
 friends in Salem. He took only his French books 
 with him, expecting soon to return. But it was 
 otherwise ordered. His uncle, who had now retired 
 from public life, and was living on the family estate 
 with a widowed sister and her only daughter, never 
 having been married himself, became so attached to 
 his beloved nephew, that he could not consent to part 
 with him. Without formally adopting him, he ever 
 after treated him as a son, and never was any parent 
 more blessed in an own son. 
 
 John, thus made a fixed resident in Salem, at the 
 age of nine years, soon resumed his studies with re- 
 newed health and energy. His character, having re- 
 ceived such a powerful impulse in the right direction, 
 could not fail to be carried forward in strength as well 
 as excellence under the somewhat sterner influences 
 which were now brought to bear upon him. In his 
 
11 
 
 uncle, alike dignified, wise, and affectionate, he found 
 the best of domestic guides. His master in the Latin 
 Grammar School was Belcher Noyes, an experienced 
 teacher, and a man of some classical learning, as it 
 would seem from a Latin grammar of which he was 
 the author. His writing-master was Edward Norris, 
 of whom he took lessons every day, for some length 
 of time, with complete success. He was remarkable 
 for his handwriting before he left Philadelphia, and 
 it deserves notice here as one of his distinguished 
 literary accomplishments. The handwriting, it has 
 been said, indicates the writer's character. In him, 
 certainly, both were alike clear, simple, and beautiful. 
 Nothing perplexing was ever found either in his chi- 
 rography or his character. The rank which he speed- 
 ily attained as a classical scholar was high, as might 
 be inferred from a fact related by a venerable gen- 
 tleman, now living, — which deserves remembrance, 
 too, as having served to swell the tide of good in- 
 fluences then bearing upon him. When President 
 Washington visited Salem, in 1789, young Pickering 
 was placed at the head of the Latin school in the pro- 
 cession on that occasion. What more powerful in- 
 centive to all that is good and great could he have 
 received, than the honor of thus meeting the saviour 
 of his country and his father's friend ? ^ 
 
 Thomas Bancroft, a true scholar./and gentleman 
 from Harvard College, afterward/ the distinguished 
 Clerk of the Judicial Courts \yi Essex county, sue- 
 
12 
 
 ceeded Mr. Noyes in the Latin Grammar School, 
 and completed Mr. Pickering's preparation for the 
 University. In this excellent instructer he found a 
 no less excellent friend, for whom he cherished a high 
 regard. But, though fitted for college by Mr. Ban- 
 croft, he was offered for admission by his father, who 
 took the liveliest delight in his son's character and 
 scholarship, and came from Philadelphia, probably 
 on purpose to enjoy the pleasure of presenting him 
 to the University at Cambridge. After being honora- 
 bly admitted, in July, 1792, he accompanied his father 
 to Philadelphia, where he passed a happy vacation. 
 
 On leaving his parents to join his class at Cam- 
 bridge, he did not leave behind him their good influ- 
 ence, which was blended with all his thoughts and 
 feelings, and kept alive by an affectionate and frank 
 correspondence with his father. He found, too, at the 
 University a never-failing supply of good counsel from 
 the friendship of his cousin, the Rev. Dr. Clarke of 
 Boston, who took a deep interest in his welfare, and 
 was honored by him as his " oracle." He found also 
 in his teachers and guides — in Willard, Tappan, 
 Pearson, Webber, and their associates — men of piety 
 as well as learning, whose whole example and influ- 
 ence pointed to heaven, and led the way. 
 
 These were distinguished advantages, but not more 
 distinguished than were his fidelity and wisdom in 
 the improvement of them. Dr. Clarke introduces 
 those beautiful " Letters to a Student in the Univer- 
 
13 
 
 sity of Cambridge," which were addressed to him, by 
 alluding to other peculiar advantages. "Your supe- 
 rior qualifications," he says, <'for admission into the 
 University give you singular advantages for the pros- 
 ecution of your studies." " Happy for you, they who 
 superintended your education were less anxious that 
 you should be early fitted than that you should be 
 well fitted for the University. You were, therefore, 
 indulged with a year extraordinary in preparatory 
 studies." " Thus informed, you begin the college life 
 with every advantage. You have anticipated the 
 academical studies, and, if you persevere, your future 
 improvements must be answerable to your present 
 acquisitions. Four important years are now before 
 you." 
 
 Important years indeed, — for good or for evil ! To 
 John Pickering they were full-fraught with good. To 
 some others they have proved calamitous. How is 
 this to be accounted for? Here, Gentlemen, is a 
 problem worthy of your Christian philanthropy, and 
 your most profound philosophical wisdom. What prob- 
 lem in the material world has stronger claims on your 
 attention, as men of science and learning, pledged to 
 advance the best interests of humanity? Since the 
 institution of your Academy, many of its expressed 
 objects of scientific inquiry have been successively 
 assumed by other associations specially devoted to 
 them. Why, then, may you not give attention to 
 some of your implied duties, and pursue inquiries in 
 
14 
 
 the intellectual and moral world, — inquiries alike 
 practical and philosophical, and more immediately 
 connected with the loftiest object of your institu- 
 tion, — the advancement of the honor, dignity, and 
 happiness of a free people ? Might not the laws of 
 man's moral nature be more clearly understood ? 
 Might not the knowledge of them be made more 
 effectual for the attainment of his best education ? 
 Such inquiries would seem particularly appropriate to 
 the American Academy, which was originally de- 
 signed to be subservient to the great objects of our 
 venerable University. 
 
 I pray you. Gentlemen, to pardon this suggestion, 
 and accept it as my apology, if I should appear to 
 pay a disproportioned attention to Mr. Pickering's 
 academical life. 
 
 His advantages, upon entering the University, 
 were certainly great, and in some respects peculiar. 
 But they did not consist in his extraordinary intel- 
 lectual acquirements, or his fine natural powers, or in 
 both together, so much as in his complete moral and 
 religious training, his cherished love of learning, his 
 correct habits, his filial piety, which made the wishes 
 of his parents and uncle his own, and that wisdom, so 
 rare in youth, which led him to follow experienced 
 guides rather than prejudiced companions, and not 
 only to shun all noxious habits, but, like his proto- 
 type, Sir William Jones, to avail himself of every 
 " opportunity of improving his intellectual faculties, 
 
15 
 
 or of acquiring esteemed accomplishments." Such 
 as these were his preeminent advantages. Some of 
 those students who have most signally failed in their 
 collegiate course were, like him, distinguished for 
 their mental powers and preparatory acquirements, 
 wanting only his moral strength and his wisdom. 
 How it might have been with him, had his mother, 
 instead of her gentle religious nurture, given him les- 
 sons of frivolity and fashion, and had his father and 
 his uncle been as observable for their selfish indulgen- 
 ces as they were remarkable for their public and 
 private virtues and their exalted Christian character, 
 and had his teachers, moreover, instilled into him 
 the poison of an irreligious example, we can only 
 conjecture. So, too, we can only conjecture what 
 sort of a character King George the Fourth might 
 have become, had he received the nurture and educa- 
 tion which blessed the youth of John Pickering. But 
 while we believe that the laws of the moral uni- 
 verse are as fixed in their operation as those of the 
 material world, we cannot doubt that the result, in 
 either case, would have been essentially the reverse 
 of what it was. 
 
 Mr. Pickering entered the University at a juncture 
 when all his strength of principle and all his wisdom 
 were needed to guide him through the trying scenes 
 that awaited him. The tempests of excitement and 
 disorder swept over his class, in their Sophomore 
 year, prostrating numbers of them apparently as 
 
16 
 
 strong as himself. Expulsion, rustication, suspen- 
 sion, all followed in rapid succession, for offences to 
 which nothing could have prompted the student but 
 those maddening stimulants, the plague of which no 
 one then knew how to stay. Pickering's virtuous 
 sensibility was outraged by the terrific ravages of this 
 moral plague, as he manifested at the time by a char- 
 acteristic expression of his abhorrence, — quoting those 
 emphatic lines of Virgil : — 
 
 " Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, 
 Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas 
 
 possim." 
 
 It was at this period that the late Judge Lowell, 
 then one of the corporate body of the University, 
 declared the exalted sentiment, that, rather than en- 
 dure such evils among the students, he would send 
 them off till he had made college a perfect chasm, and 
 then start anew on the right ground. 
 
 Pickering's moral indignation, however, bore no 
 unkindness to his offending fellow-students. His 
 heart teemed with sentiments of candor, generosity, 
 and true honor. Nothing of the ascetic or recluse 
 appeared in his disposition or manners. He mingled 
 freely with his classmates in their pleasures and sports, 
 their "jests and youthful jollities," insisting only, that, 
 so far as he was concerned, they should be innocent 
 and proper. And this was a condition exacted by his 
 very nature, unconsciously as it were to himself. 
 His simplicity and singleness of heart were as re- 
 
17 
 
 markable as his purity and elevation of mind. He 
 joined the various social as well as literary clubs, even 
 the gayest of them, the more readily, doubtless, from 
 the very cause which might have restrained others, — 
 a natural diffidence, which he felt it his duty to over- 
 come. The musical club, or Sodality, was best suited 
 to his tasie. and afforded him the highest gratification. 
 He cultivated music with delight, both as an art and 
 as a science, and was distinguished in college for his 
 performance on the flute and the violin, as well as for 
 his skill in vocal harmony. As president of the Sodal- 
 ity, he introduced an improved style of music in their 
 performances. Social music became his favorite di- 
 version, affording him through life a lively enjoyment 
 and recreation. 
 
 In the whole course of his studies, he manifested a 
 genuine independence and a wise foresight, as well 
 as an energetic industry. Upon his entrance into 
 college, he was surprised to find in what low estima- 
 tion classical learning was held by the students. 
 Scarcely one among them could be found to do it 
 reverence. The times, however, were very peculiar. 
 The innovating spirit of the French Revolution was 
 raging in the world, and ancient learning, least of all, 
 could expect to escape its baleful influence. 
 
 But no example or influence could tempt Mr. Pick- 
 ering to forsake his first love. He faltered not for a 
 moment in his devotion to a liberal pursuit of classical 
 studies, thoroughly mastering those embraced by his 
 3 
 
18 
 
 stated exercises, and extending his knowledge much 
 farther both of ancient languages and the literature 
 contained in them. In all his voluntary studies he 
 loved to have friendly companions, and his literary 
 attractions failed not to draw them to him. One of 
 my respected classmates, a learned scholar and divine 
 of this city, who sympathized with Mr. Pickering in 
 all his philological researches, has told me of the de- 
 lightful hours they passed together at Cambridge in 
 reading various classic authors; and he remembers 
 another classmate as having been attracted to join 
 them, now as distinguished at the American bar as he 
 then was in college. He remembers, also, the grat- 
 ification with which they welcomed the addition to 
 their number of a fine classical scholar from England, 
 who entered Mr. Pickering's class at an advanced 
 period, and most heartily sustained him in his favorite 
 studies. I take pleasure in alluding to these bright 
 examples, as being illustrative not only of Mr. Picker- 
 ing's character and influence, but also of the tendency 
 of classical learning itself to produce such examples. 
 These favorite studies, however, were not allowed 
 to occupy more than their due proportion of Mr. 
 Pickering's time in college. The mathematics and 
 natural philosophy were studied by him with scarcely 
 less ardor, and with equal success; nor was any 
 branch of learning overlooked by him, which he had 
 an opportunity to cultivate. Academic honors had no 
 influence in shaping his plans of study or his rules 
 
19 
 
 of conduct. So far from this, he dreaded them, as 
 an unwelcome visitation, if they required his speak- 
 ing before the public. He pursued knowledge for its 
 intrinsic value and because he loved it ; and con- 
 ducted himself nobly by following out his inbred 
 sense of propriety and Christian duty. 
 
 His father, being a member of President Wash- 
 ington's administration, was too much engaged by 
 his public duties to do more for his son's improve- 
 ment in college than by occasionally writing to him. 
 Such a father, however, could not fail to do much 
 in this way, and to exert a powerful influence upon 
 such a son. Their correspondence, were it open to 
 us, would afford the best illustration of Mr. Picker- 
 ing's condition and circumstances in college, as w^ell 
 as of the motives which governed him, and the manli- 
 ness and moral beauty of his youthful character. An 
 intimate college companion remembers some of the 
 father's letters, and the excellent instructions they 
 contained. It is to be hoped, that, at some day, 
 they may be permitted to see the light. 
 
 Mr. Pickering enjoyed his college life in a high 
 degree, and justly appreciated its privileges ; yet he 
 felt the want of an instructer in elocution, and, unlike 
 some students of that day, he lamented the inability 
 of the professor who taught English composition to 
 attend to his class in that exercise, which he consid- 
 ered among the most important in college. By such 
 disadvantages he was stimulated to greater diligence 
 
20 
 
 in supplying himself with instruction. In the prac- 
 tice of speaking he found much aid from an ancient 
 secret society, composed of select members from the 
 two middle classes, called the Speaking Club, then 
 in high esteem; the members of which held regular 
 meetings for declamation and mutual improvement, 
 and were alike faithful and kind in pointing out each 
 other's faults of elocution, sometimes entering into 
 discussions which served to accustom them to extem- 
 poraneous speaking. At that period, also, the resi- 
 dent members of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, during 
 the Senior year, were a working society for mutual 
 improvement in composition, reasoning, and elocu- 
 tion. They had frequent meetings within the walls 
 of college, at which the members, in turn, produced 
 and read dissertations or forensic arguments, which, 
 with occasional colloquial discussions, were found 
 highly useful. Mr. Pickering could not fail to make 
 them so to himself. His leisure hours, too, whether 
 given to social intercourse and recreation, or to classi- 
 cal and other well-chosen reading, were fraught with 
 improvement of much value. His learned friend. Dr. 
 Clarke, was ever ready not only to advise him as to 
 the course of his reading, but to lend him the best 
 books for his purpose. 
 
 In his knowledge of the French language be had 
 greatly the advantage of most of his classmates. His 
 chief object at college in respect to this was to acquire 
 a correct pronunciation of the language, in which 
 
21 
 
 he was remarkably successful, his instructer being a 
 native of France, and particularly pleased to give him 
 the attention w^hich he desired. He had, indeed, a 
 peculiar facility, in all the foreign tongues w^hich he 
 studied, in acquiring ease and correctness of pronun- 
 ciation. His delicately tuned ear was in this an ex- 
 cellent guide. Thorough and complete knowledge 
 was sought by him in all his studies. Hence he ac- 
 customed himself to the practice of writing in the 
 principal languages he acquired, — a practice which 
 he commenced at college in the French, and continued 
 afterwards in the Portuguese, Italian, Latin, Greek, 
 and some other tongues. No intellectual labor was 
 irksome to him which looked to the increase or im- 
 provement of his knowledge. 
 
 Though Mr. Pickering had no thought of ever be- 
 coming a medical student, yet, in pursuance of the 
 principle to avail himself of all opportunities of acquir- 
 ing valuable information, he attended, in his Senior 
 year. Dr. Warren's lectures on anatomy, and Dr. 
 Dexter's on chemistry. With the former he was 
 greatly delighted, as ajffording him both instruction 
 and entertainment in a high degree. The latter, 
 from the nature of the subject, were far less inter- 
 esting ; yet he was stimulated by them to unite with 
 several of his classmates in pursuing the study by 
 themselves, making such experiments as with their 
 small apparatus were in their power. 
 
 The peculiar delicacy of Mr. Pickering's mind and 
 
22 
 
 feelings exposed him, in early life, to no little suffer- 
 ing from diffidence, which it required all his resolution 
 and sense of duty to overcome, and which, perhaps, 
 he never entirely subdued. Yet few ever exceeded 
 him in dignity of mind, strength of character, and firm, 
 uncompromising principle. From his modest reluc- 
 tance to speak in public, he would have gladly avoid- 
 ed his first college honor, a part in an English dia- 
 logue, at an exhibition in his Junior year; but his 
 resolution enabled him to perform it to the gratifi- 
 cation of his friends, as it did also his second part, 
 a finely written Latin oration on Classical Learning, 
 a subject suggested to him by his ever-attentive friend, 
 Dr. Clarke. Great as was his enthusiasm for classical 
 learning, he had, in college, as real a love for the study 
 of the mathematics, and highly distinguished himself 
 in this department. Near the close of his Senior 
 year, he received the honor of a mathematical part, 
 which appeared to give him more pleasure than all 
 his other college honors. It afforded him an opportu- 
 nity to manifest his profound scholarship in a manner 
 most agreeable to his feelings. When he had deliv- 
 ered to the Corporation and Overseers this part, con- 
 taining solutions of problems by fluxions, he had the 
 rare satisfaction to be told that one of them was more 
 elegant than the solution of the great Simpson, who 
 wrote a treatise on fluxions, in which the same prob- 
 lem was solved by him. Such was the distinguished 
 honor that crowned Mr. Pickering's intellectual labors 
 in college. 
 
23 
 
 At his Commencement, he had assigned to him a 
 new part, one never before introduced, which, with 
 the subject, was intended bj the government as a 
 particular honor to him, and his classical friend before 
 mentioned, from England. This was an English col- 
 loquy, and the subject given them was, " A Pane- 
 gyric on Classic Literature." The execution of the 
 part was honorable to both, and formed a suitable 
 close to Mr. Pickering's academical life. 
 
 At this important era, which fixed the character 
 of his whole earthly career, we may be allowed to 
 pause for a moment to contemplate his attainments 
 and his example. His education, in all its essential 
 objects, was now complete. Together with the ac- 
 quisition of a rich fund of various learning, all his 
 faculties were so disciplined and improved, his love of 
 knowledge so inflamed, and his ambition so exalted, 
 that he could not fail to extend his views, and urge 
 his pursuit of learning with increased energy. Alike 
 powerful in mind and pure in heart, amiable, intelli- 
 gent, and armed with all the strength of virtue and 
 religious principle, he was prepared to enter the 
 world of action, temptation, and trial. He at once 
 inspired respect, together with the most entire con- 
 fidence, wherever he became known, in the stability 
 of his principles. They who intimately knew him 
 would as soon have thought that one of the planets 
 would shoot from its orbit, as that he would depart 
 from his honorable course. 
 
24 
 
 Whether, as many of his classmates affirmed, he 
 bore from the University the reputation of being the 
 first scholar of his class, it is of little consequence to 
 inquire ; nor is it material to measure very exactly the 
 magnitude or extent of his talents ; it is enough to 
 know that they were not so great as to raise him 
 above the strictest virtue, or the least of moral obliga- 
 tions, a nd that in accomplishing his education he made 
 himself a model scholar, and laid the foundation of 
 his eminent distinction and usefulness in life. To 
 profit from his example, we must learn how he at- 
 tained to such excellence. For this purpose it is that 
 we have traced so carefully the progress of his educa- 
 tion, and considered his advantages and disadvan- 
 tages, and the manner in which he improved them ; 
 for he appears to have improved both, or rather to 
 have made what were regarded as disadvantages the 
 means of greater improvement. Though he regretted 
 that more complete instruction was not afforded in 
 some departments of education, yet it was doubtless 
 better for him, with his enlightened industry and wise 
 disposition of his time, to have too few than too many 
 teachers, and to enjoy undisturbed the best hours of 
 the day for study, than to pass through the most 
 skilful process of recitation. The professors and tu- 
 tors, whom it was his good fortune to have through 
 college, were able teachers and admirable guides; 
 and, if they taught not all things, they misled in 
 nothing. Had it been otherwise with them, it might 
 
25 
 
 have been otherwise with him ; for who can be safe, 
 when guides mislead ? Mere defect of instruction 
 he could supply for himself, better perhaps than 
 others, with some additional advantages from the 
 spontaneous and independent exertion of his facul- 
 ties. His fidelity in attending to his stated exercises 
 and observing all the proprieties of a conduct at once 
 courteous, manly, and upright, was not more extraor- 
 dinary than his industry and sagacity in employing 
 his leisure time to extend his classical and philosophi- 
 cal learning, and to acquire the most valuable accom- 
 plishments. Even his hours of convivial recreation 
 were subservient to the growth of his social and 
 generous virtues, and his favorite pleasure consisted in 
 the cultivation and practice of one of the most de- 
 lightful of the fine arts. 
 
 Of all whom I have ever known, from our own 
 or any other University, no one appears better enti- 
 tled than Mr. Pickering to be regarded as the model 
 SCHOLAR. In saying this, I pronounce his highest 
 eulogium, and present his strongest claim upon the 
 public gratitude. Vast and comprehensive as was his 
 matured learning, and valuable as were its fruits to 
 his country and the world, the finished model he has 
 left for guiding the studies and forming the character 
 of the scholar and the man is infinitely more precious. 
 Any student, commonly well endowed, who has a soul 
 capable of aspiring to excellence, — and what young 
 man, devoting himself to a liberal education, is desti- 
 
26 
 
 tute of such a soul ? — may find in this model an 
 unerring guide to the attainment of his lofty object. 
 Faithfully following his guide, he cannot fail of suc- 
 cess. One condition only is indispensable, — a con- 
 dition, too, altogether in his own favor. He must 
 begin and persevere in the spirit of his model. He 
 must abjure every indulgence which has the least 
 tendency to impair his moral or his mental energies, 
 or to induce any injurious or unseemly habit. " Pro- 
 cul, O procul ! " must be the earnest exclamation of 
 his heart against every form and aspect of moral evil. 
 Thus persevering, he will find his progress as de- 
 lightful as his success is certain. 
 
 The instructer, equally with the student, may gain 
 wisdom from the contemplation of such a model, — 
 the model of a character which it is his peculiar 
 province to form. The faithful ship-builder spares no 
 pains in studying the best model of his art, and 
 making his work strong and complete. Much more 
 will the faithful builder of a human character, freighted 
 with treasures of immortal value, seek the highest de- 
 gree of perfection in his work. Here, in this noblest 
 of human works, the " wise master-builder " is de- 
 serving of all honor. He entitles himself preeminently 
 to the gratitude of mankind. 
 
 I trust. Gentlemen, you will not regard these re- 
 marks, intended as they are to elucidate Mr. Picker- 
 ing's distinguishing merits, as an impertinent digres- 
 sion, or charge me with a waste of your time in 
 
27 
 
 dwelling so long upon that portion of his life which 
 is sometimes passed by with a single glance. It is 
 more pleasing, I know, to admire the ripened fruit 
 than to watch the culture of the vine or the tree 
 which bears it ; but the latter is quite as useful an 
 employment as the former. Having witnessed the 
 planting of a noble tree, and carefully observed its 
 early culture, its growth and expansion, its full foliage 
 and fair blossoms, we may not only admire its fruit, 
 but understand the means by which it is produced. 
 
 A smiling Providence appears to have guided Mr. 
 Pickering at every step of his progress. Upon leav- 
 ing the University and returning to his parents in 
 Philadelphia, he found himself in the very situation 
 which, of all others, he must have preferred for his 
 continued advancement in various excellence. His 
 father, then Secretary of State, introduced him at 
 once into the most intellectual and cultivated society, 
 and afforded every desirable opportunity for the grat- 
 ification of his literary taste and ambition. Having 
 chosen the law for his profession, he entered the office 
 of Edward Tilghman, Esq., and closely pursued his 
 legal studies for about nine months, when he was 
 appointed secretary of legation to William Smith, who 
 had been a distinguished member of Congress from 
 South Carolina, and was then to be our minister at 
 the court of Lisbon. Nothing could have been more 
 agreeable to Mr. Pickering than such an appointment. 
 It opened a delightful prospect for the indulgence of 
 
28 
 
 his curiosity in seeing Europe, and for the extension 
 of his literary and philosophical researches. In Mr. 
 Smith, who was as remarkable for his amiable disposi- 
 tion as for his talents, he was sure to find a most 
 valuable friend and ^companion. 
 
 During his short residence in Philadelphia, he gen- 
 erally devoted his early morning hours, as well as his 
 evenings, to classical reading. He assured a friend, 
 whom he had left a student at Cambridge, and whom 
 he wished to imbue with a genuine love of ancient 
 learning, that, instead of seeing the inutility of the 
 classics, as many of his classmates had predicted he 
 would, he was fully convinced of their value, and 
 was then pursuing them, particularly Greek, with 
 more ardor than ever. His ardor in the pursuit and 
 promotion of Greek literature, as we all know, never 
 abated. 
 
 In August, 1797, Mr. Pickering, after a voyage of 
 twenty-seven days, arrived at Lisbon. On the pas- 
 sage he studied the Portuguese language, so that, 
 by taking a few lessons after his arrival, he was able 
 to speak it with tolerable ease. Most of his time in 
 Portugal was passed at Lisbon, except during the hot 
 months of summer, when Mr. Smith resided at Cintra, 
 a beautiful rural retreat, much resorted to by the 
 wealthy inhabitants of Lisbon. Here Mr. Pickering, 
 little inclined to mingle in the fashionable amusements 
 going on around him, had leisure for his own pursuits, 
 and found constant enjoyment among the orange and 
 
29- 
 
 lemon groves abounding there, and from the moun- 
 tainous, romantic scenery of the place. He used to 
 speak of some other excursions from Lisbon. He 
 visited the famous monastery of Batalha, a grand 
 specimen of elaborate antique architecture, w^hich 
 made a deep impression upon his mind, and he often 
 spoke of it afterwards with enthusiastic admiration. 
 He also visited the ancient University of Coimbra, 
 where the venerable professors paid him the kindest 
 attentions, and at parting embraced him as a friend. 
 He had, indeed, always a language of the intellect, 
 heart, and manner, alike intelligible and pleasing to 
 all, which at once secured him friends wherever he 
 went. 
 
 He travelled little to see the country. Much as he 
 loved nature, he loved humanity more. Whatever 
 related to the human mind, or to human society, in 
 any state or form of its existence, — institutions, laws, 
 manners, arts, education, language, — engaged his 
 deep attention. In pursuing his studies at Lisbon, 
 he felt at first the want of books; but making friends, 
 in his wonted manner, of some learned monks, whom 
 he visited in an old convent, he obtained through 
 their kindness those which he most needed. The 
 civil law and the law of nations, with the study of 
 languages, were the leading objects of his attention. 
 He read Vattel's Law of Nations^ in the original 
 French, and entered upon Justinian's Institutes, Meet- 
 ing with a learned native of Damascus, where the 
 
30 
 
 Arabic language was spoken in its greatest purity, he 
 studied that language ; and, at the same time, made it 
 the occasion of acquiring a more familiar knowledge 
 of the literature and affairs of Portugal, by conversa- 
 tions on these subjects with his friendly instructer, 
 who had lived many years in the country. He also 
 studied the Italian language at this time, and proba- 
 bly the Spanish. It having been expected that Mr. 
 Smith would be sent on a mission to Constantinople, 
 Mr. Pickering indulged the pleasing vision of seeing 
 the East, and treading the classic ground of Greece 
 and Rome. With this view, he undertook the study 
 of the Turkish language; but the mission to that 
 country was abandoned, and he never realized his 
 anticipated delight. 
 
 In Lisbon, as in college, music was his favorite 
 social recreation. Mr. Smith himself had a fine taste 
 for music, and the musical parties among his friends 
 were to Mr. Pickering a source of instruction as well 
 as entertainment. He joined them on the flute, and 
 thus acquired that correct taste and cultivation which 
 he could hardly have obtained at that time in his own 
 country. He became so well versed in the science 
 of music, that in later life he took much pleasure in 
 explaining its principles to his young friends. His 
 mechanical ingenuity, which discovered itself so early 
 in life, was perhaps most manifested in his practical 
 knowledge of the construction of musical instruments. 
 
 The noble father kept a steady eye upon his son's 
 
31 
 
 higher improvement, and therefore, satisfactory as was 
 his connection with Mr. Smith, he made arrangements 
 for his removal to London, where his advantages 
 would be more ample. During the two years he had 
 passed with Mr. Smith, their mutual regard had 
 ripened into the sincerest friendship, and, on parting 
 with him, Mr. Smith expressed his exalted esteem, 
 and his deep regret at losing the society of so esti- 
 mable a companion and friend. 
 
 Under the continued smiles of Providence, Mr. 
 Pickering found himself, in November, 1799, happily 
 situated in the family of Rufus King, our minister at 
 the court of St. James, surrounded by the most de- 
 sirable means of intellectual progress and rational en- 
 joyment. He was honored by an intimate reception 
 in the family of Christopher Gore, then at London, 
 residing in Mr. King's immediate vicinity. He gained 
 the warm friendship of both these eminent gentlemen, 
 and met in their respective families the best society, 
 whether for his taste or his manners. His social 
 pleasures at this time were of a high order, and ren- 
 dered altogether delightful by the simultaneous arrival 
 in London of a classmate of kindred sentiment and 
 taste, who afforded him all that exquisite enjoyment 
 of confidential intercourse which springs from college 
 friendship.* This beloved friend survives to honor 
 his memory and bear witness to his worth. He had 
 access to his inmost thoughts and feelings, and can 
 
 * Dr. James Jackson. 
 
32 
 
 put the seal of truth to the strongest lines of excel- 
 lence which I have drawn. I have only to regret 
 that his skilful and delicate pencil was not employed 
 to paint the picture. 
 
 Our consul at London was Samuel Williams, Mr. 
 Pickering's friend and cousin, who freely offered to 
 advance whatever funds he might desire for the pur- 
 chase of books. His father having encouraged him 
 to indulge his inclination in such an expenditure, he 
 availed himself largely of Mr. Williams's kind offer, 
 and selected and brought home with him an exten- 
 sive and choice library, which in the end became a 
 rich acquisition to the literature of New England. 
 
 Mr. Pickering was the private secretary of Mr. 
 King, and also the instructer of his sons in their 
 vacations from school; but he found much time for 
 his literary pursuits. These were such as we should 
 naturally suppose, from his taste and settled habits of 
 study ; and his proficiency was in proportion to the 
 excellence of his habits and his disciplined powers of 
 mind. His ardent curiosity and love of knowledge, 
 his keen, philosophical observation, his clear percep- 
 tion, sound, discriminating judgment, and close, pen- 
 etrating attention, with his strong and exact memory, 
 all improved by constant exercise, and aided by a 
 judicious observance of order and method, will go far 
 to account for his acquirements at this period, as well 
 as for the vast accession afterwards made to his learn- 
 ing and intellectual ability. Together with his un- 
 
33 
 
 remitting industry, he possessed the mighty power of 
 concentrating his whole attention upon the object be- 
 fore him, and pursuing it with intense application. 
 This he acquired the habit of doing, like his illustri- 
 ous friend Bowditch, in the midst of his family, with- 
 out being disturbed by conversation carried on around 
 him, or even diverted by music, which he so loved ; 
 yet cheerfully submitting to necessary interruptions, 
 and instantly returning again to his laborious mental 
 work. 
 
 All his spare time, after fulfilling his duties to Mr. 
 King and to society, was devoted to the various ju- 
 ridical and philological studies which he pursued in 
 so systematic and thorough a manner. Taylor's Ele- 
 ments of the Civil Law he completely mastered, mak- 
 ing it a point to read entirely through the various 
 recondite Greek quotations with which the work 
 abounds, — an entertainment, we venture to say, nev- 
 er before indulged in by any American lawyer. In 
 connection with this, he read parts of Livy relating 
 to the Roman law and constitution, investigating any 
 matters of difference between these authors. He, 
 of course, kept up his intimacy with the classic writ- 
 ers of Greece and Rome, and read various learned 
 works connected with them, among the most consid- 
 erable of which was Havercamp's Sylloge Scriptorum 
 de Linguce Grcecce Pronuntiatione, He generally took 
 up first in the morning some ancient author, most fre- 
 quently Cicero, delighting at such moments to read a 
 6 
 
34 
 
 portion of his ethical or philosophical writings. His 
 practice now, as in college, was to pursue different 
 studies each day, mingling with the severer the more 
 lively. Along with Taylor, which he made a severe 
 study, he read through Dryden's prose works, which, 
 with his philological taste and views, were highly 
 entertaining. With Euclid's Geometry, Locke's Hu- 
 man Understanding, and the philological works of 
 Harris and Murray, he read a copious history of the 
 French Revolution, and several works of Edmund 
 Burke on the same eventful subject, — an author with 
 whom he was greatly delighted on all subjects, and 
 of whose genius and sagacity he appeared through 
 life to feel an increasing admiration. 
 
 As Mr. King passed the summer seasons at Mill- 
 hill, a fine rural situation about five miles from Lon- 
 don, Mr. Pickering availed himself of the opportunity 
 it afforded for the study of botany, and with the aid 
 of Professor Martyn's lectures he acquired a com- 
 petent knowledge of that beautiful science, which 
 became a source of refined gratification to him, and 
 never more so than when he had the pleasure to 
 impart it in his own family. 
 
 But Mr. Pickering was not so devoted to his 
 studies as to overlook any important means of infor- 
 mation. He occasionally attended the meetings of 
 Parliament and the courts of law, especially the 
 Admiralty Court, where Sir William Scott was the 
 judge, in the proceedings of which he was particu- 
 
35 
 
 larly interested, from its connection with the law of 
 nations, and from its having before it various Amer- 
 ican cases. Though the theatre, in its ordinary per- 
 formances, had no attractions for him, yet he went to 
 hear Kemble and Mrs. Siddons, and was deeply im- 
 pressed by the transcendent powers of the latter. In 
 all his attendance on English speaking, whether in 
 the Parliament, the courts, or the theatre, he was a 
 strict observer of the use and pronunciation of the 
 language, and had already begun to note peculiarities 
 of expression, with a view to ascertain how far the 
 true English tongue was corrupted in America. 
 
 Mr. Pickering's incessant occupations prevented his 
 journeying much in England. He failed not, however, 
 to visit Oxford, where he could find so much to gratify 
 his highest curiosity. His classical and mathematical 
 scholarship, but for his modesty, might have made 
 him feel more at home either at Oxford or Cambridge 
 than anywhere else in England. 
 
 Fortunately, he had an opportunity to visit the Con- 
 tinent before his return to America. In the winter 
 and spring of 1801, he passed three or four months 
 in travelling through France and the Netherlands. 
 In Paris, he was introduced to Madame de Stael, 
 the object of attraction to the literati and politicians 
 of the day. He saw Bonaparte at the height of his 
 renown, with Italy at his feet, whose noblest works 
 of art he had transported to France. As a lover of 
 the fine arts, Mr. Pickering could almost visit Rome 
 
36 
 
 in Paris. At Lejden, he became acquainted with 
 the celebrated Luzac, Greek professor in the Univer- 
 sity, who afterwards honored him with his corre- 
 spondence. In Amsterdam, he gained the friendship 
 of Dr. Ballhorn, who soon after published a learned 
 juridical work, dedicated " Viro clarissimo Joanni 
 Pickering." To a youthful scholar such testimonials 
 of merit must have been as gratifying as they were 
 honorable. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Pickering's return from the Conti- 
 nent, he set his face homewards. The extensive 
 library, before alluded to, was collected by him with 
 great care, partly in Portugal and partly during his 
 travels in France and Holland, but principally among 
 the booksellers of London, through whom he found 
 access to some of the rarest treasures both of ancient 
 and modern learning. This library was no unworthy 
 representative of the treasures stored in his mind. He 
 had been as wise and faithful in the use of books, as 
 he was skilful in the selection of them. No one 
 better knew the true value and purpose of books, or 
 made them more effectually the means of practical 
 wisdom and goodness. Not the slightest tinge of 
 pedantry ever appeared in his conversation or manner. 
 
 " Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes 
 Emollit mores, nee sinit esse feros." 
 
 Mr. Pickering studied literature and the fine arts 
 both with fidelity and delight. Not only music, but 
 poetry, painting, architecture, and especially sculpture. 
 
37 
 
 gave him pleasure as lively as it vi^as refined. The 
 influence of these favorite pursuits appeared in his 
 disposition, affections, and whole conduct, and, to- 
 gether w^ith the effect of the best society, gave a 
 peculiar charm to his manners ; w^hich vv^ere so simple 
 as not to arrest observation, and yet so refined as to 
 bear the closest scrutiny, and which, having their 
 foundation in his good heart, and being guided by the 
 nicest discrimination as well as true delicacy of feel- 
 ing, were sure to recommend him to the favorable 
 regard of all, and to the cordial respect of the most 
 worthy. 
 
 We might abundantly show the high estimation in 
 which Mr. Pickering's character and talents were held 
 by his eminent friends, Rufus King and William 
 Smith, were their correspondence with his father at 
 our disposal. But for this we must wait till the 
 long hoped-for biography of this pure, ardent, and 
 able patriot and statesman is given to the world ; — 
 a service of filial piety, which it was in the heart of 
 our lamented friend to render, but which now, alas ! 
 must be performed by another. 
 
 In November, 1801, Mr. Pickering, with his noble 
 library, after a stormy and perilous voyage of forty- 
 five days, arrived in Boston. Few scholars ever had 
 a more brilliant return from abroad, or a warmer wel- 
 come home. One disappointment, however, awaited 
 him on his arrival ; — he did not meet his revered 
 father, who was far away in the interior of Pennsyl- 
 
38 
 
 vania, out of office, enjoying the purest reward of 
 laborious patriotism, — the veneration of his country 
 and — an honorable poverty. This led to another 
 disappointment. Mr. Pickering, in the purchase of 
 his precious library, relying upon his father's advice 
 and resources, had incurred a debt, which he had now 
 no means of discharging but from the library itself. 
 To part with any portion of this cost him a struggle, 
 but the moment he saw it to be his duty the struggle 
 was over. He sold more than two thousand volumes 
 by public auction, under such favorable auspices as 
 enabled him to cancel his debt, and to retain the resi- 
 due of his books, to him probably the most valuable 
 part. 
 
 Thus a smiling Providence returned, but not to 
 him only ; the friends of learning shared it with him. 
 The distribution of such a collection of books, to- 
 gether with his own bright example, gave an impor- 
 tant impulse to the pursuit of ancient learning. The 
 classic Buck minster soon after imported, on his return 
 from Europe, a similar collection, which, at his de- 
 plored death, were in like manner dispersed through 
 our literary community. The germ of the Boston 
 Athenaeum, too, may, doubtless, be traced to the 
 sale of Mr. Pickering's library and the effective im- 
 pulse which it sent abroad. 
 
 Colonel Pickering, ever watchful to secure for his 
 son the highest advantages, had made some arrange- 
 ments for the completion of his law studies with the 
 
39 
 
 late eminent Theophilus Parsons, influenced partly, 
 perhaps, by an old family friendship, — Mr. Parsons 
 having been named for the Colonel's uncle, the Rev. 
 Theophilus Pickering, and been consequently a w^el- 
 come guest in his father's family. But the earnest 
 wishes of the good uncle, w^hose unvarying affection 
 had follow^ed Mr. Pickering from infancy, prevailed 
 with him to return to Salem, where he entered the 
 office of Mr. Putnam, afterwards a judge of the Su- 
 preme Judicial Court. 
 
 Here, attracted by Mr. Pickering's well known 
 character, I joined him, to finish my own profes- 
 sional studies. While he had been abroad, expanding 
 his views of men as well as books, I had been con- 
 fined to a didactic sphere within the walls of college. 
 On emerging into the world, nothing could have been 
 more welcome to me than such a companion. His 
 society was alike instructive and delightful. It bright- 
 ened the whole time I was with him, and made it 
 one of the sunniest spots of my life. From that mo- 
 ment, I was for many years a close observer of him 
 in public and in private, at the bar and among his 
 friends, in his walks and amid his studies, in the 
 bosom of his family and at my own fireside, and to my 
 view his whole path of life was luminous with truth 
 and goodness, — never obscured, no, not for a mo- 
 ment, by the slightest shade of obliquity in him. I 
 cannot withhold this cordial testimony. To the eye 
 of reflecting age, truth and goodness are every thing, 
 
40 
 
 mere genius and fame nothing, — in the comparison, 
 absolutely nothing. 
 
 It was while we were thus together in Mr. Put- 
 nam's office, that Mr. Pickering revised an edition of 
 Sallust ; an edition pronounced by an able critic in 
 The Monthly Anthology to be " in every respect 
 preferable to the Dauphin Sallust," and " not un- 
 worthy of the classical reputation of the reputed 
 editor." 
 
 Justly to appreciate this literary labor (if labor 
 that may be called which was a pleasant recreation), 
 it is necessary to understand the circumstances under 
 which it was performed. Certain booksellers in Sa- 
 lem, having determined to publish a reprint of Sal- 
 lust, asked of Mr. Pickering the favor to correct 
 the proof-sheets, which he was unwilling to grant 
 without making it the occasion of some valuable im- 
 provement. Hence the revised edition. President 
 Willard, of Harvard University, was consulted about 
 it, as the college government had recently made this 
 author a preparatory study for admission, and his 
 suggestions were followed in the undertaking, — an 
 undertaking wholly gratuitous, and pursued rather 
 as an amusement than as a work of elaborate care. 
 It Vas, indeed, an interesting as well as liberal 
 amusement, and I could not participate in it with- 
 out receiving a strong impression of Mr. Pickering's 
 classical taste and knowledge. Nearly the whole of 
 this edition was destroyed by fire, before it had an 
 opportunity to be tested by public opinion. 
 
41 
 
 As evidence of Mr. Pickering's undiminished ardor 
 in the pursuit of Greek literature, it deserves mention, 
 that, w^hen he was thus dividing his time at the office 
 between Sallust and the law, he was employing a por- 
 tion of his hours at home in reading an old edition of 
 Homer with the scholia of Didjmus. It appears to 
 have been his practice through life thus industriously 
 to mingle literary occupation with his domestic enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 In March, 1804, Mr. Pickering was admitted to 
 the bar, and commenced the practice of law in Sa- 
 lem. On the third day of March, 1805, he was 
 married to his second cousin, Sarah White, and in 
 the following May they became members of the 
 First Church in Salem, then under the pastoral care 
 of the Rev. Dr. Prince, of which Mr. Pickering was 
 made one of the ruling elders. This continued to be 
 his place of worship while he remained in his native 
 town, and also when he afterwards returned to it 
 for his summer's residence. But on his removal to 
 Boston, in 1827, he with his family attended public 
 worship in an Episcopal church. He was truly lib- 
 eral and generous, yielding in matters of opinion, as 
 in other things, more than he claimed ; for, with the 
 Apostle, he attached less importance to particular 
 tenets, than to " love, joy, peace, gentleness, good- 
 ness, faith." In all his relations, civil and religious, 
 he was alike useful and exemplary, honored and 
 beloved. 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 Though never inclined to a political life, Mr. 
 Pickering sometimes acceded to the wishes of his 
 friends so far as to partake in the administration of 
 public affairs within our Commonwealth. For several 
 years during the late war with England, he was a rep- 
 resentative from Salem in the General Court, and 
 after the war, for some years a senator from the coun- 
 ty of Essex, then again from Suffolk, and once a 
 member of the Executive Council. He was very 
 early, as you know, elected a Fellow of the American 
 Academy, and afterwards a member of the Ameri- 
 can Philosophical Society, and of various other learned 
 bodies at home and abroad.* He also received the 
 highest academic honors from more than one univer- 
 sity. But political and exterior honors appear of 
 little importance in connection with his intellectual 
 career. His true distinction springs directly from his 
 intrinsic excellence. 
 
 In following Mr. Pickering through his education, 
 and during his residence abroad, — which was but an 
 extension of it, — we have traced his progress more 
 minutely than is necessary in pointing out the results 
 of his education and learning. It is not so impor- 
 tant that we should have a complete view of his 
 labors and literary productions, as that we should 
 clearly understand the spirit and the principles which 
 actuated him in accomplishing them. Few may ex- 
 pect to enter into his labors, or to attain to his distinc- 
 
 ♦ Note A. 
 
43 
 
 tion ; nor is that material ; but all, of whatever pro- 
 fession or employment, may imbibe his generous spirit 
 and act from his exalted principles, and this is the 
 essential thing. 
 
 His first publication, after his admission to the bar, 
 was an oration delivered in Salem, on the fourth of 
 July, 1804, which was received by his political friends 
 with distinguished marks of favor, and published at 
 their desire. Its sound and philosophical views of 
 government, and its able exposition of public affairs, 
 and the spirit and progress of parties in the United 
 States, with its clear, appropriate, and manly style, 
 give it a permanent value, and render it particularly 
 interesting, as one of Mr. Pickering's earliest produc- 
 tions. 
 
 We are reminded by this oration of the opinion, 
 which Mr. Smith was known to express in Lisbon, 
 that Mr. Pickering's abilities remarkably fitted him 
 for a diplomatic career; an opinion which became 
 more manifestly just, as he advanced in the improve- 
 ment of his abilities and the acquisition of general 
 learning. His knowledge of jurisprudence, with his 
 various literary and scientific attainments, eminently 
 qualified him for any station in the government at 
 home or abroad. And had the spirit of Washington 
 continued to preside over the destinies of the coun- 
 try, such men as Mr. Pickering would have continued 
 to be preferred for high political trusts. But, I think, 
 we cannot doubt that our honored friend, both by 
 
44 
 
 nature and education, belonged to learning, and not 
 to politics, or even to the law, distinguished as he 
 was in the science of jurisprudence. 
 
 " Spirits are not finely touched, 
 But to fine issues." 
 
 Providence, in bestowing his rare philosophical and 
 literary abilities, destined him for the purest intellect- 
 ual pursuits. Spirits far less " finely touched " might, 
 for that very reason, better succeed in the ordinary 
 conflicts of the forum ; conflicts, in which fine powers 
 and finer feelings, like his, must be quite out of 
 place. Instruments of exquisite metal and polish 
 are not suited to work upon rude and rough ma- 
 terials. 
 
 When, therefore, upon the resignation of Dr. Eli- 
 phalet Pearson, Mr. Pickering was appointed, in 
 June, 1806, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other 
 Oriental Languages in Harvard College, many of 
 his friends, as well as friends of the University, were 
 very desirous that he should accept the office, re- 
 garding it as a sphere in which his extraordinary 
 learning and accomplishments would be most pro- 
 ductive of benefit to the country and of honor to 
 himself. The late Dr. Bowditch was, at the same 
 moment, appointed to succeed President Webber as 
 Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Phi- 
 losophy. A remarkable coincidence ! These eminent 
 men, near neighbours and intimate friends, were 
 doubtless better qualified for the offices to which they 
 
45 
 
 were respectively appointed than any other two in- 
 dividuals in the w^hole country. They were also 
 admirably suited to cooperate in giving a spring to 
 the University in all excellence, intellectual and mor- 
 al. Both were liberal, elevated, and disinterested in 
 their views of education and learning ; both had 
 an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and a supreme 
 love of truth and goodness; the one was devoted to 
 science, the other chiefly to literature ; both were ex- 
 alted and spotless in reputation, alike raised above all 
 suspicion of moral failing, yet with some striking 
 points of contrast ; the one, quick and ardent, would 
 leap to a logical conclusion at a single step ; while 
 the other, cautious and patient, like Lord Eldon, could 
 never weigh his arguments or consider his subject too 
 deliberately. " Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re," was 
 applicable to both ; but the one could put aside his 
 gentleness of manner when he felt it to be his duty ; 
 the other could hardly be brought to feel it a duty. 
 Both were as exemplary in Christian virtue, in the 
 exercise of social benevolence and the domestic af- 
 fections, and in purity of habits, as they were distin- 
 guished in literature and science ; and both would 
 have discountenanced by their powerful example those 
 indulgences and practices which often lead the young 
 student into habits more injurious to him than any 
 amount of learning can be beneficial. But both, to 
 the deep regret of the University, declined their ap- 
 pointments. 
 
46 
 
 Seven or eight years later, on the establishment 
 of the Eliot Professorship of Greek Literature, Mr. 
 Pickering was still more urgently pressed to be a 
 candidate for the new professor's chair. A friend to 
 him and to the University was authorized, by the 
 President of Harvard College, to ascertain " whether 
 any and what definite amount of compensation would 
 induce him to accede to the proposition." But Mr. 
 Pickering gave no encouragement for proceeding to 
 his election. The literary duties, no doubt, were at- 
 tractive, but the disciplinary cares connected with 
 them had a forbidding aspect. Some of his friends, 
 moreover, very naturally desired for him a sphere of 
 usefulness which appeared to them more eminent and 
 extensive. Nor were they too sanguine in their views 
 of his future eminence. Yet who could now say 
 that he might not have been still more extensively 
 useful, had the direct influence of his superior powers 
 and virtues, his teachings and his example, been 
 exerted upon the numerous young men since educat- 
 ed at the University, and been diffused through them 
 over our whole country ? 
 
 Mr. Pickering was a grateful and devoted son of 
 the University, which so justly appreciated his merits, 
 and which, at a subsequent period, bestowed upon 
 him its highest honors. For many years he was an 
 efficient member of the Board of Overseers, always 
 ready to exert his influence to advance the usefulness 
 and reputation of his Alma Mater. His last admirable 
 
47 
 
 report, as one of the visiting committee, in 1840, em- 
 bodies views and principles of university education 
 which ought never to be overlooked or forgotten.* 
 
 We need not dwell here upon his learning as a 
 jurist, or upon his excellent qualities as a practising 
 lawyer. These have been portrayed and exhibited on 
 an occasion before referred to, in the best manner for 
 extending their influence in the profession of which he 
 was so bright an ornament. We should remember, 
 however, that, while pursuing his extensive literary 
 researches, and performing numberless intellectual 
 labors for the public and for individuals, he was 
 incessantly engaged, to the last year of his life, in the 
 arduous duties of his profession, — duties which not 
 unfrequently imposed upon him a drudgery as irk- 
 some as it was laborious. He felt the full weight of 
 it, and but for those interesting questions which led 
 him to examine principles, his profession, as he some- 
 times remarked, would have been nothing but labor 
 and drudgery. Having ascended to the fountain-head 
 of jurisprudence, and stored his mind with great prin- 
 ciples, he took delight in tracing these in their 
 practical application. In this view, he regarded his 
 profession as a most honorable one. The friends of 
 humanity and learning, however, will not cease to 
 regret that the "labor and drudgery," which others 
 might have well performed, should have taken so 
 much of his precious time from those noble intel- 
 
 ♦ Note B. 
 
48 
 
 lectual pursuits for which he was so peculiarly com- 
 petent. Especially must they regret, that, on re- 
 moving to the metropolis, where his powerful literary 
 influence was so important, he should have felt it 
 necessary to present himself only in his professional 
 character. The office of city solicitor, which he held 
 for a great number of years, brought with it much 
 additional labor, though occasionally relieved by the 
 occurrence of those interesting questions which he 
 loved to investigate and settle. The numerous legal 
 opinions which he was called upon to give, we are 
 assured, were as remarkable for their soundness as 
 for their learning.* 
 
 Mr. Pickering's literary productions and labors, 
 aside from the practice of his profession, were so 
 abundant and multifarious, that it is not possible for 
 us, on this occasion, to take a complete or distinct 
 view of them. We must classify them as well as we 
 can, according to their kindred relation, contenting 
 ourselves with some brief remarks. 
 
 Firsts we class together those writings which par- 
 take of a professional character, while they are also 
 made attractive to the general reader. The most 
 considerable of these, perhaps, is the able discussion 
 of " National Rights and State Rights," which was 
 drawn from him by the case of Alexander McLeod, — 
 a case involving a question of the highest public im- 
 portance, — ^^dignus vindice nodus.^^ It was, indeed, 
 
 * Note C. 
 
49 
 
 worthy of his interposition, and his learning and logi- 
 cal ability were equal to its solution. He brought to 
 the discussion such a thorough knowledge of the sub- 
 ject, with such clear views of our federal and state 
 relations, urged with such weight of argument, jus- 
 tice, and truth, that he settled this great national 
 question upon principles which can never be shaken. 
 For this single service he is entitled to a grateful re- 
 membrance so long as any value is attached to the 
 union of the States. 
 
 The next of this class, in point of general interest, 
 is the article upon Curtis's Admiralty Digest^ published 
 in the American Jurist, little known, probably, except 
 to lawyers ; yet I could not point to any work which 
 contains, within the same compass, more matter of 
 permanent interest to every reader of American his- 
 tory, and which throws more light upon the foreign 
 policy of our government from the time of Washing- 
 ton's declaration of neutrality, in 1793, to the dec- 
 laration of war, in 1812, under President Madison. 
 
 Another dissertation, published in the Jurist, enti- 
 tled " Remarks on the Study of the Civil Law," is 
 highly useful to the classical scholar, and, indeed, to 
 every educated gentleman, though designed more 
 especially for civilians and lawyers. Early impressed 
 with the importance of this study, Mr. Pickering 
 wished to draw the attention of the bar to it as 
 among the most effectual means of raising the dig- 
 nity and usefulness of the profession. He regarded 
 7 
 
50 
 
 the civil law as a wonderftil repository of human rea- 
 son, the source of a large portion of our common law, 
 and the basis of that international code which governs 
 us and all the nations that constitute the great com- 
 munity of Europe. At the close, he expresses a strong 
 desire to see this branch of jurisprudence take its 
 proper rank in our law schools, as well as among our 
 practitioners at the bar. Alluding to an illustrious 
 example of professional liberality in the donation made 
 by our late learned countryman, Dr. Dane, to the 
 University of Cambridge, for the advancement of 
 American law, he adds : — " We earnestly hope that 
 some benefactor of equal liberality will soon be found 
 who will devote a portion of the well-earned fruits 
 of an honorable life to a chair for the civil law in 
 that ever cherished institution." 
 
 As akin to this subject, we may glance at the arti- 
 cle, written by Mr. Pickering for the Encyclopaedia 
 Americana^ on the " Agrarian Laws of Rome " ; a 
 correct view of which laws he considered indispensable 
 to general readers, as well as lawyers, who would have 
 just notions of the Roman history and constitution. 
 Contrary to the general impression, that those laws 
 were always a direct infringement of the rights of 
 private property, he shows that the original object 
 of them was the distribution of the public lands, and 
 not those of private citizens, though they might 
 sometimes violate private rights ; as certain laws of 
 our State legislature, agrarian in principle, made for 
 
61 
 
 the relief of illegal settlers on Eastern lands, violated 
 the rights of proprietors of those lands. 
 
 The " Lecture on the alleged Uncertainty of the 
 Law," delivered by Mr. Pickering before the Boston 
 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knov^ledge, is an 
 excellent production. Instead of seeking for his au- 
 ditors an hour's diversion by indulging their love of 
 pleasantry at the law's expense, he aims at what is 
 true and useful, and affords both entertainment and 
 instruction. His object was, to promote a just re- 
 spect for the science of the law by securing for it a 
 proper confidence. The science itself is as certain 
 as the sciences in general ; but when we come to 
 apply it to the innumerable objects to be regulated 
 by it, then the same uncertainty takes place, which 
 is experienced in the other sciences, not excepting 
 the mathematics. The various learning and striking 
 illustrations with which this beautiful lecture abounds 
 place it among his most valuable writings. 
 
 The article written for the North American Re- 
 view^ entitled ** Egyptian Jurisprudence," is as char- 
 acteristic as it is curious. No other American schol- 
 ar, we think, would have attempted it. For several 
 years, he observes, the learned world had been in 
 possession of some original and very ancient legal 
 documents from Egypt ; yet, though they had not 
 escaped the notice of jurists on the continent of Eu- 
 rope, he had not seen any allusion to them in the 
 juridical journals, either of Great Britain or of this 
 
52 
 
 country. One of these extraordinary documents is 
 an Egyptian deed of a piece of land in the city of 
 Thebes, written on the papyrus of that country, more 
 than a century before the Christian era, with the 
 impression of a seal, or stamp, attached to it, and a 
 certificate of registry on its margin, in as regular a 
 manner, Mr. Pickering adds, as the keeper of the reg- 
 istry in the county of Suffolk would certify to a deed 
 of land in the city of Boston at this day. Of this 
 curious document, written in Greek, as was common 
 while Egypt was under the Greek dynasty, a learned 
 and ingenious explanation, together with a facsimile 
 of it, is given by Mr. Pickering. The whole article 
 is exceedingly interesting, and affords a beautiful 
 specimen, not only of his rare learning, but of his 
 philosophical taste and skill in the application of his 
 learning. 
 
 Such are the chief, though not all, of Mr. Pick- 
 ering's writings which have a professional bearing. 
 In the second class we include those which partake of 
 a legislative character. 
 
 As a member of the legislature of Massachusetts, 
 Mr. Pickering rendered important public services, and 
 made himself conspicuous among the eminent men 
 of the Commonwealth. His elaborate " Report on 
 the Subject of Impressed Seamen, with the Evidence 
 and Documents accompanying it," made to the legis- 
 lature of 1812, the first year of the late war with 
 England, is a durable monument of his patriotism, 
 
53 
 
 as well as of his ability and learning. We cannot 
 justly appreciate this undertaking, without looking 
 back to his position, in the midst of that dreadful 
 war, — most dreadful to all reflecting men, who saw 
 and felt that it bound us to fight the battles of Bona- 
 parte against the civilized world. When this over- 
 whelming conqueror was on his triumphant march 
 against Russia, our government, at the very moment 
 which seemed to suit his views, declared war against 
 England, the only remaining barrier in his way to 
 universal dominion. The power of the elements over 
 him could not be foreseen. The repeal of the Brit- 
 ish orders in council, the chief alleged cause of the 
 war, having taken place before its declaration, though 
 not known here till afterwards, left the impressment 
 of American seamen, or rather the claim of a right 
 to take British subjects from the merchant-ships of 
 the United States, the only remaining pretext for 
 prosecuting the war. In relation to this subject, great 
 errors had crept into the public documents, and great 
 delusion existed in the public mind. Mr. Pickering 
 thought that he could in no way render a greater 
 service to his country than by correcting those errors 
 and dissipating that delusion. For this purpose, he 
 introduced, in the House of Representatives, an order 
 " to ascertain the number of the seamen of this 
 Commonwealth impressed or taken by any foreign 
 nation." On him, as chairman of the committee 
 thereupon appointed, chiefly devolved the labor and 
 
64 
 
 responsibility of the undertaking. It is sufficient to 
 add, that it was accomplished in a manner alike 
 honorable to himself and satisfactory to the legisla- 
 ture. A great mass of evidence was reported, com- 
 prised in more than fifty depositions, taken from the 
 principal merchants and shipmasters of Massachusetts, 
 together with a just account of the previous practice 
 of our government in relation to impressments, and 
 a clear exposition of national law on the subject, all 
 showing conclusively that the further prosecution of 
 the war was as unnecessary as it was disastrous. 
 
 We cannot follow Mr. Pickering through his im- 
 portant legislative labors. It must suffice to observe, 
 that on great occasions, or on subjects involving great 
 principles or momentous consequences, his learning 
 and his pen were always in demand, and never with- 
 held. The contemplated separation of Maine from 
 Massachusetts, when he was a Senator from Essex, in 
 1816, was such an occasion, and he reported the first 
 bill for this purpose, "drawn," says the historian of 
 Maine, "with great ability and skill."* In 1817, 
 he was appointed, together with the late Judge Dawes 
 and late Dr. Dane, " to revise the laws relating to 
 the Courts of Probate, and the settlement of the 
 estates of deceased persons, in one general bill, with 
 such alterations and amendments as were necessary." 
 This great and protracted labor was cheerfully assum- 
 ed by Mr. Pickering, though the youngest member 
 
 • 9 Law Reporter, 52. 
 
55 
 
 of the committee, and was accomplished by him with 
 his usual ability and success. Whether the younger 
 or the older in any working committee or body, he 
 was as sure to have the work to do, as others were 
 that he was the best qualified to do it. A similar and 
 yet more extensive service was devolved upon him, on 
 the death of Professor Ashmun, in the revision of the 
 whole body of statutes, in connection with those emi- 
 nent jurists. Judge Jackson and the late Professor 
 Stearns. The portion of the work which Mr. Picker- 
 ing undertook was a revision of the statutes relating to 
 the " internal administration of the government," di- 
 vided into fourteen distinct titles, and subdivided into 
 fifty-eight chapters, some of which contain over two 
 hundred sections. When it is added, that to these 
 chapters was subjoined a great mass of explanatory 
 notes, we may form some judgment of the extent and 
 importance of his labors in this arduous undertaking. 
 He accomplished it in a manner that entitled him to 
 the lasting gratitude of the Commonwealth. 
 
 While he was a member of the Senate from the 
 county of Suffolk, in 1829, he took a leading part in 
 the discussion upon the bill respecting manufacturing 
 corporations, which, being based upon principles of 
 justice and sound policy touching the individual liabil- 
 ity of stockholders, engaged his strenuous and perse- 
 vering support. His able speech on that occasion was 
 published, and it affords ample evidence of his thorough 
 knowledge of the subject, and his large and just views 
 of public policy. 
 
66 
 
 In this connection we would observe, that Mr. Pick- 
 ering was often engaged as counsel before committees 
 of the legislature in important cases. These were in- 
 teresting to him in proportion as they led him into the 
 investigation and enforcement of great principles of 
 public justice. He never, perhaps, spoke with more 
 signal ability and effect than on the question of a second 
 bridge between Boston and Charlestown, — a question 
 which involved principles and consequences of momen- 
 tous concern to the people of Massachusetts. His 
 speech was a powerful support of private rights and 
 the public faith, and was alike honorable to his head 
 and his heart. 
 
 With this very imperfect notice of Mr. Pickering's 
 civil and legislative services, we pass to the third class, 
 including those miscellaneous labors and writings given 
 by him in private and social life. His lively interest 
 in all public improvements, scientific discoveries, and 
 literary undertakings, with his various ability, prompt 
 pen, and ever obliging disposition, pointed him out as 
 the man to be called upon for any sort of intellectual 
 work, needed by societies or individuals. Was any 
 report, memorial, or other document required on any 
 occasion, or was any project to be commended by an 
 exposition of its merits, his judgment and his pen were 
 put in requisition for the purpose. So, too, if any 
 young author had a manuscript eager, but unfit, for the 
 press, he might be relied on to give it form and comeli- 
 ness, and to usher it into the world with a preface or 
 
67 
 
 introduction. In such cases he was ever content to 
 remain unknown, and to leave the whole literary credit 
 where it was most desired. It would be difficult to say 
 which was the greater, his modesty or his generosity. 
 In some of these various professional and benevolent 
 efforts, he found a most cordial helper in a cherished 
 and admiring friend, whose genius and learning were 
 as practical as his feelings were generous and Christian, 
 
 — I mean our late eloquent associate, that warm-heart- 
 ed and noble-minded gentleman, Leverett Saltonstall, 
 
 — whose delightful image mingles sweetly with the 
 memory of the friend whom he so honored and loved. 
 
 These miscellaneous claims upon Mr. Pickering's 
 attention rather increased than diminished upon his 
 removal to Boston. His professional robe could not 
 conceal him from the eye of science, or from the calls 
 of benevolence. Almost immediately his pen was en- 
 gaged, at the organization of the Boston Society for 
 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in drafting its con- 
 stitution, writing its first annual report, and commend- 
 ing its objects to the public regard. He was also its 
 first vice-president, Daniel Webster being at its head. 
 Among the latest of these disinterested services was 
 the learned report which he made as chairman of a 
 committee of Boston gentlemen, recommending the 
 purchase and introduction into the country of a tele- 
 scope of the first class, and illustrating the progress 
 and the importance of astronomical science. These 
 are but instances. His familiar acquaintance with 
 8 
 
68 
 
 European languages attracted many foreign gentle- 
 men, whose society was so highly valued by him, that 
 he could not fail to give to it much of his time. 
 American scholars, too, always found him ready to 
 listen, and bountiful both of his time and knowledge. 
 The young student was encouraged to repeat his visits 
 by the manifest delight which Mr. Pickering always 
 took in imparting useful information. Annoying ap- 
 plications for his patronage in matters of a dubious 
 character were, perhaps, unavoidable, and these would 
 sometimes be intruded upon hours which should have 
 been sacred to his repose and recreation.* 
 
 We now pass to the fourth class, comprehending 
 Mr. Pickering's writings and labors in the cause of 
 ancient learning. We have seen his constant devotion 
 to the Greek and Roman classics. The Hebrew and 
 other Oriental languages also engaged his profound 
 attention. A competent knowledge of the original 
 languages of the Bible he considered indispensable to 
 the theologian. He says, too, of the Hebrew, speak- 
 ing of Harvard College, that, " with a view to general 
 philology, the student's labors will find as rich a re- 
 ward in the study of this ancient and curiously formed 
 language, as in any one dialect of the tongues spoken 
 by man." And he wished to see more attention paid 
 to this study in all our colleges.f It was his earnest 
 desire through life, to diffuse the love, promote the 
 study, and raise the standard of classical learning in 
 
 ♦ Note D. t Note E. 
 
59 
 
 our country. We can here take only a brief notice of 
 his principal efforts for the promotion of Greek litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Mr. Pickering, while he was in Europe, wrote to 
 a member of the college government at Cambridge, 
 proposing, among other improvements, "the adoption 
 of uniformity in grammars and other elementary books 
 at the University." This, whether from his sugges- 
 tion or not, was soon after carried into execution by 
 the selection of Adam's Latin Grammar and the Glou- 
 cester Greek Grammar to be used in Harvard College. 
 Connected with this subject is the excellent little work, 
 written by Mr. Pickering in 1825, which bears the 
 unpretending title of Remarks on Greek Grammars^ yet 
 abounds in various information, as interesting as it is 
 learned. The views it presents of the importance of 
 a steady uniformity of elementary books of instruction, 
 and of resisting the spirit of perpetual change in these 
 " instruments of learning," deserve the respectful at- 
 tention of all our collegiate institutions. 
 
 The just tribute which is paid by Mr. Pickering to 
 that " sound Greek scholar," the late President Willard, 
 and to the Emeritus Professor of Greek Literature at 
 Cambridge, whom he ranks among " the most profound 
 scholars of the country," * will long be enjoyed by 
 those who love to remember solid and genuine excel- 
 lence. The glowing commendation of English litera- 
 ture at the close of these Remarks is one of the most 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Popkin. 
 
60 
 
 eloquent passages of Mr. Pickering's or any other lit- 
 erary discussions. 
 
 The translation of Professor Wyttenbach's Observa- 
 tions on the Importance of Greek Literature and the best 
 Method of studying the Classics, by Mr. Pickering, was 
 first published in the North American Review, for 1819 ; 
 and was afterwards republished, with an appropriate 
 preface by the translator, and the addition of "an ex- 
 emplification of the author's method of explaining the 
 classics to his pupils." This was printed at the ex- 
 pense of that kind-hearted patron of letters and zealous 
 agent in founding the Boston Athenaeum, the late 
 William S. Shaw, who deserves a grateful remem- 
 brance in this metropolis. Professor Wyttenbach, 
 who was regarded in England as the best Continental 
 scholar of Europe, and who, for a great part of his life, 
 had been a practical instructer, was worthy of the at- 
 tention bestowed upon him by Mr. Pickering. The 
 results of such a scholar's experience and erudition 
 could not fail to be a valuable guide to those who are 
 engaged in " the arduous but honorable office of in- 
 structing our youth in classical learning." We think, 
 too, that his noble example as a self-teacher is worth 
 almost every thing else. His own account of the ex- 
 ertions and progress he made in studying the Greek 
 authors is exceedingly interesting ; to which he adds, 
 — " Now, my intelligent pupils, why should not you 
 be able, with the assistance of an instructer, to ac- 
 complish as much as I did without one, and by my own 
 
61 
 
 industry alone ? " We cannot forbear to repeat here, 
 as strikingly applicable to Mr. Pickering's own style 
 and writings, what Professor Wyttenbach observes of 
 the "perfection of Xenophon's style, — which," he 
 says, "has a healthy soundness, an ease, simplicity, 
 and grace, which give it the preference above all others 
 for the introductory studies of boys; whose fresh and 
 youthful minds will there imbibe nothing but the 
 wholesome aliment of the purest of fountains." 
 
 In the course of his classical reading in England, 
 Mr. Pickering paid a thorough attention to the pronun- 
 ciation of Greek, and went over the whole controversy 
 about the reform introduced by Erasmus, as contained 
 in Havercamp's Sylloge, and came to the conclusion 
 that Erasmus was right. But a personal acquaintance 
 with several natives of Greece, who arrived here in 
 1814, led him to a revision and change of his opinion. 
 The result of his investigations on the subject is given 
 in the memoir which he communicated to the Ameri- 
 can Academy in 1818, and which attracted the mark- 
 ed attention of scholars in Europe ; and though it was 
 at first opposed by a distinguished professor of this 
 country, it afterwards received his sanction. It, in- 
 deed, bears full evidence of Mr. Pickering's candor and 
 patient research, and is a beautiful specimen, not only 
 of his extraordinary learning, but of his judgment, 
 taste, ingenuity, and acuteness.^ 
 
 But Mr. Pickering's great work, his Herculean labor 
 
 * Note F. 
 
62 
 
 in the cause of classical learning, was his Greek and 
 English Lexicon. How he could have had the cour- 
 age and resolution to undertake such a work, in the 
 midst of professional toils, is inconceivable without a 
 knowledge of the man. In truth, he thought infinitely 
 less of his own ease than of good to his fellow-men. 
 " A strong conviction," as expressed by himself, " that 
 it would be rendering an essential service to the inter- 
 ests of sound literature in our country, to promote the 
 study of the; language of Greece, whose authors will 
 be models in writing as long as her sculptors and 
 architects shall be models in the fine arts," sustained 
 him through all the difficulties of this bold undertak- 
 ing. He was early convinced of the importance of a 
 Greek lexicon with an English instead of a Latin in- 
 terpretation, and seeing no prospect of such a work 
 in England, he entered upon the execution of his con- 
 templated plan in 1814. After proceeding alone 
 through about one sixth part of the whole work, he 
 associated with himself the late Dr. Daniel Oliver, 
 whose character both as a scholar and a man rendered 
 him worthy of such a connection. The prospectus 
 was issued in 1820, and the first edition appeared in 
 1826; the rapid sale of which made it necessary to 
 prepare a second edition much sooner than had been 
 expected. Mr. Pickering, having become sole pro- 
 prietor of the work, was alone responsible for the 
 second edition, published in 1829, enlarged by the ad- 
 dition of " more than ten thousand entire articles and 
 
63 
 
 very numerous parts of articles," and greatly improved 
 throughout. The next year it was reprinted, w^ith ad- 
 ditions, at Edinburgh, and recommended to public 
 notice as a " very useful and popular work." In the 
 advertisement to the third edition, this is particularly 
 alluded to, " in order to prevent any misconception or 
 suspicion of plagiarism on the part of the American 
 editor." The preparation of the work for this " new 
 and extensively revised edition, adapted to the more 
 advanced state of Greek studies," was among Mr. 
 Pickering's last labors, and will serve to brighten his 
 highest classical honors. Of his brilliant success in 
 this laborious undertaking my own judgment is of 
 little worth. I give you that of others. An eminent 
 and experienced teacher of classical learning has pub- 
 licly declared, that " this legacy to American scholars 
 is worthy of the distinguished author," — and that, 
 "after groping amid the vagueness and confusion of 
 Donnegan, it is truly a relief to turn to the order, 
 clearness, and precision of Pickering." A learned 
 professor of the highest authority, himself the author 
 of a Greek and English lexicon of the New Testa- 
 ment, has pronounced " the lexicon of Mr. Pickering, 
 in its present shape, to be the best extant for the use 
 of colleges and schools in the United States, — for 
 which, indeed, it has been specially prepared." A 
 third eminent Greek scholar has told the world, that 
 what Mr. Pickering undertook to do in this great 
 work " has been admirably done." * 
 
 * Note G. 
 
64 
 
 With this brief and very imperfect notice of Mr. 
 Pickering's classical achievements, we proceed to the 
 fifth class, comprising his publications and labors relat- 
 ing to the English language and literature. We shall 
 attempt little more than to invite attention to their 
 great variety and value. He spread the fruits of his 
 various erudition over the country vv^ith unstinted liber- 
 ality, thinking only of enriching others and paying 
 the debt w^hich every scholar owes to humanity and 
 learning. The Monthly Anthology^ the North Ameri- 
 can, the New York, the American Quarterly Reviews, 
 and the Annals of Education, with other periodicals, 
 as well as the daily journals, were honored by the 
 productions of his pen, — productions which, however 
 occasional in their purpose or origin, possess that in- 
 trinsic merit which gives them a permanent interest, 
 and entitles them to preservation in some durable 
 form. We trust that in due time they will be gath- 
 ered up and presented to the world in a manner, and 
 with a biography, worthy of the author. 
 
 In all Mr. Pickering's zeal for ancient literature, 
 he never lost sight of his native tongue. He loved 
 the Greek authors ardently for their incomparable ex- 
 cellence, but he valued them the more highly as be- 
 ing the best models of writing to the English scholar. 
 The purity and improvement of the English language 
 in America engaged his early attention. During his 
 residence in England, he began the practice of noting 
 Americanisms and expressions of doubtful authority, 
 
65 
 
 and as he continued the practice after his return, the 
 collection so swelled under his hands, that he was 
 induced to prepare them for publication, and, in 1815, 
 completed the Vocabulary, which formed the first of 
 his learned communications to the American Acad- 
 emy. He afterwards republished it, with additions, 
 for general use; and though he regarded it but as 
 a beginning, yet it was a work of long and patient 
 labor, for which he deserves the gratitude of every 
 American scholar. The work attracted attention even 
 in Germany, where portions of it were translated and 
 published. With its preface and introductory essay, 
 it has served to guard the purity of our language and 
 literature.* 
 
 Mr. Pickering had the same general design in his 
 elaborate and learned article on Johnson's English 
 Dictionary, first published in the American Quarterly 
 Review, for September, 1828, and justly considered 
 as one of his most interesting and useful publications. 
 Johnson and Walker were regarded by him as hold- 
 ing the first rank in their respective departments in 
 England, and he thought them, of course, entitled to 
 be received as standard authorities by the lexicogra- 
 phers and orthoepists of America. 
 
 His excellent article on " Elementary Instruction," 
 published in the North American Review, deserves 
 particular notice as being richly imbued with his 
 
 * Note H. 
 
66 
 
 classical and philosophical spirit, and as containing 
 hints and views important to all who are concerned 
 in the work of education, from the teacher of the al- 
 phabet up to the head of a college. 
 
 The "Lecture on Telegraphic Language," which 
 he delivered before the Boston Marine Society, of 
 which he was an honorary member, is another beau- 
 tiful specimen of the familiar and pleasing application 
 of his various learning to the useful purposes of life. 
 
 Mr. Pickering's eulogy on our great mathemati- 
 cian, the American La Place, in which he so hap- 
 pily traced the loftiest efforts of philosophical genius, 
 was alike worthy of his subject and of himself, and 
 it will ever rank among the richest treasures of the 
 Academy whose Memoirs it adorns. 
 
 But we must hasten to the sixth class, which in- 
 cludes Mr. Pickering's studies and labors upon the 
 languages of the American Indians. His more par- 
 ticular attention appears to have been drawn to this 
 subject in 1819, by the publication of Mr. Du Pon- 
 ceau's Report to the American Philosophical Society, 
 and correspondence with Mr. Heckewelder upon the 
 Indian languages of North America. The extraordi- 
 nary facts disclosed by this publication kindled Mr. 
 Pickering's enthusiasm. Though deeply engaged 
 upon his Greek Lexicon, he could not resist the at- 
 tractions of this new field of labor, so suited to his 
 genius and taste, and in which he might hope to ren- 
 der such important service to science and learning. 
 
67 
 
 He stopped not to inquire how profitable the employ- 
 ment might be to himself; it was enough to feel as- 
 sured that he could labor successfully in extending 
 the boundaries of human knowledge and advancing 
 the improvement of mankind. He immediately wrote 
 for the North American Review an able article upon 
 Mr. Du Ponceau's admirable Report, recommending 
 it in the strongest terms to the attention of the learn- 
 ed. In this article he expressed the hope that " the 
 Dictionary of the dialect of the Norridgewock Ind- 
 ians, composed by Father Rasles," would soon be 
 published ; and he also suggested " the necessity of 
 estabHshing, by common consent of the learned, a 
 uniform orthography of the spoken languages" of the 
 aborigines of America; both of which laborious un- 
 dertakings were left for him to accomplish. In 1820 
 he published in the same Review another ingenious 
 and learned article upon Dr. Jarvis's Discourse on 
 the Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America ; 
 which attracted the particular attention of Baron Wil- 
 liam Von Humboldt, of Berlin, who thereupon opened 
 an interesting correspondence with Mr. Pickering on 
 the Indian languages, which continued without in- 
 terruption till the Baron's death, when Mr. Picker- 
 ing's portion of the correspondence was deposited in 
 the library of the Royal Academy of Berlin.* 
 
 Among the most arduous of Mr. Pickering's inces- 
 sant labors in this new field of science, and also the 
 
 * Note I. 
 
68 
 
 least attractive, except from a view of their utility, 
 was the republication of Eliot's Indian Grammar, and 
 Edwards's Observations on the Mohegan Language, 
 with introductions and notes. He used to speak of 
 the former as a German labor, and so, too, it was 
 regarded by his friend, Mr. Du Ponceau, who thank- 
 ed him for the great service he had thereby rendered 
 to the cause of learning. Various other ancient works, 
 relating to the Indian languages, were brought into 
 new light by Mr. Pickering's unwearied care. He 
 prepared Roger Williams's Vocabulary of the Narra- 
 ganset Indians for the Rhode Island Historical So- 
 ciety, and Cotton's Vocabulary of the Massachusetts 
 Indians, for the Historical Society of this State. But 
 the greatest work of this description which he un- 
 dertook was the publication of Father Rasles's Dic- 
 tionary, already mentioned, of the Norridgewock, or 
 Abnaki, language, with an introductory memoir and 
 notes, — a work which called forth expressions of ad- 
 miration from those of the learned, both here and 
 in Europe, who could best appreciate the severe toil 
 it must have cost him. 
 
 The elaborate article which Mr. Pickering prepared 
 for the Encyclopcedia Americana, on the Indian lan- 
 guages of North America, is as scientific as it is com- 
 prehensive, and exhibits the extent of his researches 
 and the depth of his learning on this copious sub- 
 ject. It was translated into German and published 
 at Leipsic with marks of distinguished honor. 
 
69 
 
 The able and spirited articles published by him 
 in the New York Revieio, in 1 826, in reply to an ar- 
 ticle in the North American Review, which had un- 
 justly assailed the philological reputation of two of 
 his most distinguished friends, and traduced the char- 
 acter of the Indians as well as misrepresented their 
 dialects, shows with what vigor he could wield the 
 pen of a Junius, when truth and justice demanded 
 the effort, while it manifests his profound and fa- 
 miliar knowledge of the whole subject. 
 
 The preparation of a scheme for reducing spoken 
 languages to written forms, contained in his " Essay 
 on a Uniform Orthography for the Indian Languages 
 of North America," communicated to the American 
 Academy in 1820, was, perhaps, of all his labors, the 
 most characteristic of his philological and philosoph- 
 ical genius and skill, and, in its practical consequences, 
 of the highest interest and value. While it facilitates, 
 in a simple and beautiful manner, the formation of 
 written languages and the study of comparative phi- 
 lology, it affords an instrument of incalculable advan- 
 tage in civilizing and Christianizing the barbarous 
 nations of the earth. It has already been sufficiently 
 tested in Africa, and especially in some of the South 
 Sea islands, as well as among the North American 
 Indians, to rank its author among the distinguished 
 benefactors of mankind.* 
 
 In Mr. Pickering's learned article on Adelung's 
 
 • Note K. 
 
70 
 
 Survey of all the Known Languages and their Dia- 
 lects^ published in the North American Review^ in 
 1822, he represents the present age as the epoch of 
 a new science, — "the comparative science of lan- 
 guages," which is to be studied, " as we study other 
 parts of human knowledge, by collecting facts, — by 
 ascertaining what languages there are on the globe, 
 and collecting vocabularies, or specimens of them all." 
 According to his estimate of the number of dialects 
 on the globe, they amount to about four thousand. 
 Into this ocean of languages he plunged too deep 
 for me to follow him. I lose sight of him entirely. 
 I cannot fathom his research or enumerate his acqui- 
 sitions. 
 
 We are now brought to the seventh class of Mr. 
 Pickering's literary labors, embracing those which re- 
 late to comparative philology and ethnography, and, 
 as connected therewith, the Oriental languages, in- 
 cluding those of Africa, Asia, and the vast extent of 
 islands in the Pacific. Here a field was opened to 
 him wide enough for the employment of all his 
 strength and all his time, could he have devoted 
 himself to it. He gave himself to it, as far as he 
 could, with untiring zeal. He hunted for specimens 
 of unwritten dialects, with as much ardor as Audubon 
 hunted for those of unknown birds ; and he could give 
 them forms as distinct, if not as beautiful. He had 
 always, indeed, been watchful of opportunities to col- 
 lect materials for his philological investigations. Hear- 
 
71 
 
 ing, once, of a stranger in Salem who had been 
 among the Yaloffs in Africa, he sought and obtained 
 from him facts and information which enabled him 
 to study the interesting language of that people. Ship- 
 masters, and even common sailors, who had visited 
 strange lands, might be sure, not only of a welcome, 
 but of assistance from him, if they had any facts or 
 knowledge to communicate, illustrative of the inhabi- 
 tants or their dialects. The publication of Holden's 
 " Narrative " of his captivity and sufferings on Lord 
 North's Island affords an interesting example of such 
 assistance. When the United States Exploring Ex- 
 pedition was in contemplation, Mr. Pickering exerted 
 all his influence to draw the attention of the govern- 
 ment, and those more immediately concerned in the 
 undertaking, to " the various native languages of the 
 different tribes of people that might be visited by the 
 expedition." He reminded them of the noble exam- 
 ple of the late empress of Russia, and endeavoured to 
 stimulate their curiosity and interest by illustrating 
 the real importance of " this department of knowl- 
 edge," and by considerations of what was due to the 
 scientific reputation of our country. His correspond- 
 ence with J. N. Reynolds, Esq., in 1836, on this 
 subject, presented his own enlightened views so clear- 
 ly, that, if they were duly regarded, w^e cannot doubt, 
 from the high reputation of the young philologist who 
 accompanied the expedition,* that results have been 
 
 * Horatio Hale, Esq. 
 
72 
 
 attained important to the world and honorable to 
 America. 
 
 The hieroglyphics of Egypt and the dialects of the 
 South Sea islands appear to have excited Mr. Pick- 
 ering's literary enthusiasm in the highest degree. 
 These were fascinating topics, which he was never 
 weary of investigating or discussing. The Chinese 
 language was scarcely less interesting to him. The 
 new views of this language, presented to the world 
 by his friend Mr. Du Ponceau, called forth an able 
 and very learned article from his pen for the North 
 American Review^ in 1839, which was seized upon, 
 as other of his works had been, as a prize to British 
 literature ; and well might British writers be proud 
 of such a prize.* The sister language of Cochin- 
 China (the history of the first American voyage to 
 which country was given to the public through his 
 means) was illustrated by him in another able article, 
 published in 1841, in the same Review. Both arti- 
 cles exhibit, in a striking manner, his familiarity with 
 the profoundest philological speculations. 
 
 But I need only point your attention to the elo- 
 quent address delivered by him before the American 
 Oriental Society, at their anniversary meeting in 1843, 
 — a society of which he was the soul as well as the 
 head, — to show you the compass, variety, and depth 
 of his philological erudition, and the vast extent of 
 his views and plans for making his erudition useful 
 
 • Note L. 
 
73 
 
 to the world. The leading objects of this society 
 are " the cultivation of learning in the Asiatic, Afri- 
 can, and Polynesian languages," and " the publication 
 of memoirs, translations, vocabularies, and other works 
 relative to these languages." Mr. Pickering's Memoir 
 on the Language and Inhabitants of Lord North^s 
 Island, presented to the American Academy during 
 the last year of his life, — a memoir as touchingly 
 interesting as it is beautifully written, — affords am- 
 ple evidence of the noble manner in which, had his 
 life been spared, he would have performed his part 
 in this great literary enterprise. 
 
 But I must forbear. To do justice to Mr. Pick- 
 ering's learned labors would require abundant time, 
 with a genius and a pen kindred to his own. In 
 the cursory view we have taken of them, many of 
 his valuable writings have been wholly overlooked; 
 some of which demand at least a respectful allusion. 
 Of his article, in the New York Review, upon the 
 elegant History of Ferdinand and Isabella, it is suf- 
 ficient praise to say that it is worthy of its subject. 
 The comprehensive Introductory Essay to Newhall's 
 Letters on Junius gives us, in a more concise and 
 pleasing manner than is elsewhere to be found, the 
 history and literature pertaining to the Junius con- 
 troversy. His biographical sketches of Bowditch, 
 Spurzheim, Du Ponceau, and Peirce, published in 
 the daily journals, are marked by the various excel- 
 10 
 
74 
 
 lence of his just, delicate, discriminating pen.* The 
 mention of the last-named friend reminds us of the 
 estimable History of Harvard University^ which was 
 left unfinished at the lamented author's death, and 
 completed for publication by Mr. Pickering; whose 
 own article on the subject, in the North American 
 Review^ contains one of the most graphic as well as 
 most just views which have ever appeared of Harvard 
 College. 
 
 We must add as a supplementary or eighth class 
 of Mr. Pickering's works, his numerous and impor- 
 tant letters, addressed to various learned men in this 
 country and in Europe. "For many years," says a 
 well-informed friend, "he maintained a copious cor- 
 respondence on matters of jurisprudence, science, 
 and learning, with distinguished names at home and 
 abroad ; especially with Mr. Du Ponceau, at Phila- 
 delphia; with William Von Humboldt, at Berlin; 
 with Mittermaier, the jurist, at Heidelberg ; with Dr. 
 Pritchard, author of the Physical History of Mankind, 
 at Bristol ; and with Lepsius, the hierologist, who 
 wrote to him from the Pyramids in Egypt." t 
 
 All Mr. Pickering's writings are stamped with the 
 excellence of his clear, simple, graceful style, — a 
 style unsurpassed by that of any English author on 
 similar subjects. With proper words in proper places, 
 and bearing the polish of refined taste, it yet flows 
 
 • Note M. t 9 Law Reporter, 66. 
 
75 
 
 as naturally as if no thought or labor were bestowed 
 upon it. Almost any one might hope to write in 
 the same manner. 
 
 " Sudet multum, frustraque laboret 
 Ausus idem." 
 The most essential purpose of language is always 
 attained by Mr. Pickering's diction. We see, at once, 
 the ideas he would express, as distinctly as we be- 
 hold material objects in a clear sky. Nor was his 
 style incapable of rising to an impassioned tone of 
 eloquence, as we have seen on one occasion, at least, 
 when he felt called upon to administer a suitable re- 
 buke to philological presumption. His indignation, 
 if roused, could flash its scorching fires, gentle and 
 benignant as was his whole nature. 
 
 But Mr. Pickering's strongest claims upon our ad- 
 miration and gratitude arise from the exalted spirit 
 and principles which actuated him in all his works. 
 No selfish ends or views ever appear ; nothing to set 
 off his powers, or to gain notoriety ; while all his im- 
 portant writings are imbued with his rare learning 
 and philanthropy, and conspire to establish his fame. 
 He spoke from his inmost heart, when he reminded 
 his brethren of the Oriental Society, in the elegant 
 address just now referred to, that "to be beneficial 
 to our fellow-men " is " the great end of all our in- 
 tellectual labors." He spoke, too, from his own deep 
 experience, when he declared, that " steady, unremit- 
 ting labor on subjects of the intellect, like untiring 
 
76 
 
 labor of the body upon physical objects, will over- 
 come all obstacles." We see his own high aims in 
 the " incentives " which, at the close of the same 
 address, he so eloquently urged upon his literary as- 
 sociates, — " the love of learning for its own sake, — 
 the reputation of our beloved country, to whom we 
 owe so much, and whom we are all ambitious of el- 
 evating to the same height to which other nations 
 have attained by the cultivation of learning." Such 
 was the lofty character of his literature throughout 
 his long career of laborious study. 
 
 Mr. Pickering enjoyed excellent health till some 
 time in the summer of 1845, when he experienced 
 the first symptoms of a fatal disease. Under the 
 severe pressure of increasing illness, he pursued his 
 studies, and attended to his various active duties, 
 while he had any bodily strength. His mind contin- 
 ued clear and firm, and he manifested, during all his 
 protracted illness, that patience, gentleness, and Chris- 
 tian resignation, which perfected the example of his 
 life. He died on the fifth day of May, 1846, leav- 
 ing a widow, an only daughter, and two sons, to 
 mourn their irreparable loss.* 
 
 All of you. Gentlemen, had the happiness to know 
 Mr. Pickering in his social as well as literary charac- 
 ter, and need not that I should speak to you of his 
 
 * Mrs. Pickering soon followed her lamented husband. She 
 died on the 14th of December, 1846. 
 
77 
 
 kind and courteous manners, his sweet temper and 
 disposition, his benevolent virtues, the richness of his 
 conversation, and the delight which his society af- 
 forded. He was, as jou well know, a man univer- 
 sally respected, — who never lost a friend, and never 
 had an enemy ; whom once to know was always to 
 love and esteem. 
 
 In domestic life, he was all that could be wished ; 
 and, I may add, all that could be imagined in amia- 
 ble affections. Wisdom and love were delightfully 
 blended in his whole deportment. 
 
 Brilliant as is the reputation of the scholar and 
 the author, we lose sight of it in the superior ex- 
 cellence of the man. He was, indeed, a true man. 
 His sensibilities were tender, his whole organization 
 delicate and susceptible, yet always sound and health- 
 ful, with nothing of a morbid tendency to unfit him 
 for the active duties of life. Mild and gentle, he yet 
 felt keenly and quickly ; and with all his patient for- 
 bearance, he was not wanting in spirit and energy to 
 assert his rights. He had a true enthusiasm, without 
 any extravagance. His ardent love of freedom and 
 justice, and his abhorrence of tyranny, in all its forms, 
 never partook of fanaticism. With much reserve in 
 expressing his religious feelings, he was profoundly 
 conscientious, and lived in the fear and the love of 
 God. 
 
 Truly of him we may say, with Nature's great 
 poet, — 
 
78 
 
 " His life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up. 
 And say to all the world, Thw was a many 
 
 Christianity, too, might rise up and set her seal of 
 greatness upon him. The fundamental law of Chris- 
 tian greatness he nobly fulfilled. He was, in the 
 highest sense, "the servant of all," — a true philan- 
 thropist, the benefactor of his race. His profoundest 
 erudition and his severest toil were ever subservient 
 to the good of mankind. Usefulness was his glory. 
 
 Limited as our view of Mr. Pickering's life has 
 necessarily been, we have not failed to see the wide 
 extent of his active and beneficent influence. Our 
 laws as well as literature bear the impress of his lu- 
 minous mind. Education acknowledges him as one 
 of her most efficient friends. We have seen him the 
 teacher of teachers, the improver of authors, the en- 
 lighten er of colleges, the pioneer of civilization, afford- 
 ing a guiding light to all engaged in the acquisition 
 or diffusion of knowledge, from the humblest pupil 
 to the profoundest inquirer, from the classical instruct- 
 er at home to the herald of Christianity in heathen 
 lands. 
 
 Some men's learning is kept, as a standing pool, 
 for their own undisturbed gaze. Mr. Pickering's was 
 a living fountain, gushing out in every direction, fer- 
 tilizing the country around. Others there are, who 
 think only of rearing from their learning a monument 
 to themselves, caring little for the world. Mr. Pick- 
 
79 
 
 ering thought little of himself, but every thing of the 
 world. So, too, in the use of wealth, some are in- 
 tent only on its accumulation, as if its value consisted 
 in its bulk, and the distinction thereby produced. 
 Not so the " man of Ross." He spread his wealth 
 wherever he could make it most productive of com- 
 mon blessings. Mr. Pickering was the man of Ross 
 in learning, — scattering his intellectual treasures ev- 
 erywhere, as they were needed to bless his fellow- 
 men. 
 
 "The admirable Pickering ! " is already the ex- 
 clamation of fervent gratitude.* Admirable indeed ; 
 — not for wonderful talents perverted, or for dazzling, 
 delusive genius ; but for fine powers finely improved, 
 and for noble qualities nobly applied. Admirable for 
 his prodigious industry and learning, and for his ster- 
 ling integrity and goodness. Admirable as a scholar, 
 as a jurist, as a philologist, as an explorer of truth, as 
 a guide to wisdom and learning, and as a bright ex- 
 emplar of virtue. 
 
 Such an illustrious benefactor inspires the gratitude 
 of all enlightened men. Throughout this western 
 continent, wherever literature and science have their 
 votaries, his memory is cherished. That distinguished 
 American writer, now in France, who has passed his 
 life in reflecting the light of letters from one con- 
 tinent to the other, repeats to us, with his own exalt- 
 
 * Note N. 
 
80 . 
 
 ed admiration, the voice of sympathy and of eulogy 
 from the literati of Europe.* 
 
 The memory of John Pickering will live through- 
 out the learned world. So long as human language 
 exists and is cultivated, his name will be honored. 
 If he sought not fame, he has found it the more sure- 
 ly, and in a higher degree. His precious reputation 
 rests on ground as solid as his ambition was pure. It 
 will extend with the benign influences of his learn- 
 ing, and it will brighten as it extends. 
 
 When will the people at large learn to appreciate 
 their true friends, their real benefactors? The mili- 
 tary or political idol of a day kindles their enthusiasm 
 like a blazing meteor, which glares for a moment 
 and is extinguished for ever. Their literary admi- 
 ration blindly follows brilliant genius, however un- 
 sanctified by virtue, and which continues its baleful 
 glare, like the ignis fatuus, to mislead and destroy. 
 We would point them to a luminary of the heavens, 
 whose clear light irradiates the path of human duty 
 and human improvement, and guides surely and al- 
 ways to knowledge, virtue, religion, and happiness. 
 
 • Mr. Walsh. 
 
NOTES AND ADDITIONS 
 
 The following passages are from a letter addressed to me 
 by a classmate and intimate friend of Mr. Pickering. 
 
 " A love of knowledge characterized Mr. Pickering from youth 
 to old age. Whatever was the subject of his attention, he ac- 
 quired definite conceptions of it, and these he fixed in his memory. 
 His memory was exceedingly retentive ; partly owing, no doubt, 
 to the diligent cultivation of it. If to this love of knowledge and 
 strong memory you add his uncommon diligence, you get the 
 principal explanation of his extraordinary acquisitions. It is, how- 
 ever, to be added, that his mind was of a truly philosophical or 
 scientific cast. He always referred phenomena to principles, so 
 far as he could ; considering how far they went in support or in 
 contradiction of principles commonly maintained. His views of 
 every subject were comprehensive. When a partial discussion had 
 led to a conclusion satisfactory to common minds, he would bring 
 forward the considerations which had been overlooked, and thus 
 prevent a too hasty or too confident decision. I can remember 
 this trait of his character from the time when we were in college. 
 
 " Mr. Pickering was pure in heart. Few men, if any, have I 
 known as much so. He seemed to have no afl^inity for evil 
 thoughts, desires, and purposes. They found no harbour in his 
 breast. He had, as I believe, a true and sincere, though unosten- 
 tatious, piety. He certainly loved man, whom he had seen. He 
 
 11 
 
82 . 
 
 was truly benevolent. To children he showed a tender care and 
 kindness. He was peculiarly liberal to all, and especially to the 
 young, who were seeking to get knowledge. And let it be noted, 
 that this is much more than for the rich man to be liberal in the 
 use of his wealth. Such a one merits great praise, surely ; yet he 
 gives what he cannot use for himself. The man of learning does 
 not, indeed, seem to deprive himself of any thing, in helping the 
 student. His own knowledge is not lessened in doing it. But he 
 cannot impart it without giving his time ; and this, like his heart's 
 blood. Mr. Pickering would patiently attend to the young student, 
 leaving even his business to do so ; and then deprive himself of 
 his sleep at night to finish his business. 
 
 " The conversation of such a man must be full of instruction. 
 It was most agreeably so. I think I may say, that, for fifty years 
 past, I have never spent half an hour with Mr. Pickering in which 
 I did not get some interesting or useful information, such as few 
 men could give me. 
 
 " In his manners there was a peculiar polish, improved, un- 
 doubtedly, by his intercourse with cultivated people abroad. His 
 manners were so simple, as not to arrest attention at first ; but so 
 refined and finished, as to bear the closest scrutiny, and to fit 
 him for the most elegant society. He manifested in them the 
 nicest discrimination as to persons. Their foundation was in his 
 good heart and in his respect for the pleasure as well as for the 
 rights of others." 
 
 The following is a brief extract from a letter addressed to 
 me by a learned scholar and divine, alluded to in the discourse, 
 who was intimately associated with Mr. Pickering in the Amer- 
 ican Oriental Society. 
 
 " It gave me a great, although a melancholy pleasure, when 
 we last met, that you should request me to recall and write to 
 
83 
 
 you my recollections of the late Dr. Pickering. I think it was 
 my particular senior, the late Dr. Joseph McKean, who introduced 
 me to our departed friend, then in the class, as you know, next 
 above us. And this must have been between fifty-two and fifty- 
 three years ago. But from that period I ever entertained toward 
 him the most respectful esteem and regard, and have shared the 
 privilege of his friendship, — a virtuous friendship, productive, from 
 its commencement, of literary and moral benefits. His acquaint- 
 ance was, -to use the phrase of Waller the poet, ' a liberal edu 
 cation.' 
 
 " You well remember his gentlemanly deportment in college. 
 You recollect, too, his high and just reputation in the various 
 branches of mathematical science, — a reputation fairly and labo- 
 riously earned. But he deserves remembrance at Harvard, also, 
 for being most eflficiently engaged in the resuscitation of classi- 
 cal literature. That was at a very low ebb, you know, in the 
 early part of our time there. 
 
 " With respect to the extent of his linguistic acquirements, 
 about which you wished me to inform you, I really am not able 
 to give any satisfactory account. I think, however, I can recollect 
 as many as sixteen languages of which we have occasionally con- 
 versed, at least. Of late years, the Chinese, in two or three of its 
 dialects, had engaged my lamented friend's attention ; and he 
 gave some labor to the Cochin-Chinese ; and paid great attention 
 to the progress of discovery in regard to the Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics. The adaptation of his system of expression of sounds 
 by our own alphabet (of which he published a Memoir in the 
 Transactions of the American Academy) excited no small inter- 
 est. Our missionaries adopted his views in reducing to writing 
 that dialect or derivative of the Malay which is spoken in the 
 Sandwich Islands, having effected the translation into it of the 
 whole Bible. This single thing is highly honorary to our country ; 
 and I have wondered that so little has been said respecting it by 
 literary men among us. It must also have a considerable effect. 
 
84 
 
 For, as the languages of the Pacific are mostly of Malay origin, 
 it can hardly be predicted to how great an extent the influence 
 of it may reach* 
 
 " In regard to ethnology, his attention was drawn to it almost 
 necessarily by the rapid progress made of late years in that branch 
 of information. Indeed, living as he had done in the midst of your 
 Salem merchants and intelligent navigators, — situated as he was, 
 in connection, on the one hand, with the Academy, and presiding 
 in its researches, the results of which became familiar to him, — 
 and on the other, no inattentive observer of the progress of mis- 
 sionary enterprise, in which his own labors, as regards the phi' 
 losophy of language, were brought so often into practical oper- 
 ation, — ethnology became, of necessity almost, a subject of indis- 
 pensable attention. It was so to me ; and it was, therefore, of 
 course, most frequently the theme of our conversations, when we 
 could pass together any portion of our much occupied time. More 
 especially has this been the case in the formation and progress of 
 our American Oriental Society, — an institution happily effected 
 by his consent to become its President, and giving it his valuable 
 labors, influence, and reputation. How it can live and flourish 
 without him remains still to be seen, although, as I hope, his ex- 
 ample will have given an impulse, the eflect of which may 
 continue. 
 
 " One thing should be remembered in respect to classical lit- 
 erature in connection with the late Dr. Pickering. It is this ; — 
 his attachment to that literature had a practical object. He did 
 not become a critical scholar for the purpose of vaunting his ac- 
 curacy in taste, acuteness, or memory. He was ardently and pa- 
 triotically desirous of raising the scholarship of his country, and 
 qualified himself, and was preparing means for others, to the 
 accomplishment of that end. Hence his * lingering in the groves 
 of Academus,' or his intimacy with tHe ancient ' votaries of the 
 Muses,' was not the reminiscence merely of youthful attachment ; 
 but, turning his acquirements into a channel of usefulness, he could 
 
85 
 
 contemplate them, not as mementos of wasted labor, but even as 
 fruits of enlightened public spirit. 
 
 " How to express my own feelings I find very difficult. Indeed, 
 it is not necessary. You know his moral and intellectual worth, 
 and can appreciate its value, as well as the value of his literary 
 excellence. His was a rare example of true modesty united with 
 distinguished and solid merit, of unassuming but efficient worth, of 
 gentleness of temper joined with decision of character, and of lib- 
 eral study blended with practical usefulness, good learning with 
 sound common-sense, and thorough honesty of purpose and act ; 
 and I may add, of inflexible integrity in private, public, and polit- 
 ical life." * 
 
 Aided by the recollections of several of Mr. Pickering's 
 most intimate friends, I am enabled to add the following sketch, 
 which, in the absence of an engraved likeness, I am sure, will 
 be acceptable to all his friends. 
 
 The personal appearance of Mr. Pickering was striking. It 
 was both dignified and attractive. His stature was tall, and his 
 form rather slender than stout, but well proportioned ; yet it was 
 the expression of his countenance, and the fine intellectual cast 
 of his features, which were the distinguishing characteristics of 
 his person. The form of his face was oval, with a remarkably 
 high and ample forehead. His mild, clear, hazel eye was expres- 
 sive of the gentleness of his nature and the vigor of his intellect ; 
 while a straight nose, slightly inclining to the Roman, and a finely 
 formed mouth, added to the regularity of his features. The ex- 
 pression of his countenance, when in repose, was grave and 
 thoughtful ; but his eye kindled benignantly, and a benevolent 
 smile played upon his lips, whenever any object of interest came 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Jenks. 
 
86 
 
 before him. It was this peculiar benignity of expression, joined 
 to an entire freedom from the slightest assumption of superiority 
 in word, look, or manner, which attracted towards him the young, 
 and those who were seeking relief from poverty or distress ; while 
 the intellectual refinement and remarkable dignity of his personal 
 appearance and manners commanded the interest and respect of 
 persons in all conditions of life. 
 
 ANCESTORS AND FAMILY. 
 
 The following additional notices may be interesting to many 
 of Mr. Pickering's friends. 
 
 The first-named John Pickering, as stated in Allen's Biograph- 
 ical Dictionary, came to New England about 1630, and died at 
 Salem in 1657. " February 7, 1637, he was admitted to the 
 privileges of an inhabitant." He left two sons, John and Jona- 
 than. The latter died in 1729, at the age of 90, without issue. 
 John, born about 1637, married Alice, daughter of William Flint, 
 and died May 5th, 1694, leaving his wife, Alice, and sons, John, 
 Benjamin, and William (who married a Higginson), and daughters, 
 Elizabeth (married to a Nichols), and Hannah (married to John 
 Buttolph). To John he bequeathed "Broad Field by the mill- 
 pond," as stated in Felt's Annals of Salem (whence these facts 
 are principally taken), who states also, that " he was frequently 
 of the selectmen, and a capable, enterprising, and public-spirited 
 man." The third John Pickering married Sarah Burrill of Lynn, 
 and died June 19, 1722, aged 64, leaving his wife, Sarah, sons, 
 Theophilus and Timothy, and daughters, Lois (married to Tim- 
 othy Orne), Sarah (married to Joseph Hardy), and Eunice (mar- 
 ried to her cousin, William Pickering). " He was selectman and 
 representative in the legislature. His decease was a loss to the 
 community." 
 
87 
 
 Timothy Pickering married Mary Wingate, and died June 7th, 
 1778, aged 75, leaving his wife, Mary, sons, John and Timothy, 
 and daughters, Sarah, Mary, Lydia, Elizabeth, Lois, Eunice, and 
 Lucia; all of whom were married (except John), and had numer- 
 ous descendants. " Deacon Timothy Pickering sustained princi- 
 pal offices in town, and was an intelligent, active, and useful 
 man." His elder brother, Theophilus, deserves notice as one of 
 the remarkable men of his time. He was educated at Harvard 
 College, graduating in 1719, and settled in the ministry in that 
 part of Ipswich which is now Essex. He was remarkable for 
 his bodily strength, mechanical ingenuity, and theological ability. 
 Tradition says, that a certain man, who had the presumption to 
 challenge him to a wrestle, was not only thrown by him at once, 
 but thrown over the wall. His friends thought him equally suc- 
 cessful against some of the New Lights of that day, who wrestled 
 with him in religious controversy. He died, unmarried, at the 
 age of forty-seven. The seven daughters of Timothy Pickering 
 were married as follows : Sarah, to John Clarke (parents of the 
 late Rev. John Clarke of Boston, and Mrs. Francis Cabot) ; Mary, 
 firsts \o the Rev. Dudley Leavitt (parents of the late Mrs. Dr. Jo- 
 seph Orne, Mrs. William Pickman, and Mrs. Isaac White, whose 
 daughter, Sarah, became Mrs. Pickering), — second^ to the late 
 Chief-Justice Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant ; Lydia, to George Wil- 
 liams (parents of the late Samuel Williams, consul, &;c., Mrs. 
 Pratt, Mrs. Lyman, and others) ; Elizabeth, to John Gardner 
 (parents of the late Samuel P. Gardner and Mrs. Blanchard) ; 
 Lois, to John Gooll (parents of Mrs. Judge Putnam, who, with her 
 widowed mother, once formed part of the family of her uncle, 
 the Hon. John Pickering) ; Eunice, to her cousin, Paine Wingate, 
 Senator of the United States from New Hampshire (parents of 
 George Wingate, a graduate of Harvard College in 1796, and other 
 children) ; Lucia, to Israel Dodge (parents of the late Pickering 
 Dodge, Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Devereux, and others). The members 
 of this family were remarkable for their longevity. Mrs. Win- 
 
88 
 
 gate's age a little exceeded one hundred years, and her husband 
 was for some years the oldest surviving graduate of Harvard Col- 
 lege. 
 
 The few particulars now mentioned may be sufficient to indi- 
 cate these wide-spreading branches of the Pickering family. 
 
 Colonel Timothy Pickering, who was born in 1745, and died 
 in 1829, married Rebecca White, and they had first eight sons, 
 and then twin daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Their eighth son 
 was Octavius Pickering, well known as a reporter of decisions of 
 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Of the father, whose 
 exalted character as a patriot and statesman is indelibly impressed 
 on the history of his country, we need say nothing here, except 
 to notice one of his most gratifying honors, which became inti- 
 mately connected with the subject of our ^logy. Washington, 
 on retiring from the presidency, in 1797, presented Colonel Pick- 
 ering, his fellow-soldier and friend, with a splendid piece of silver 
 plate, from his own service, as a memorial of his cordial esteem 
 and confidence. This treasure, of priceless value, was bequeathed 
 by the Colonel to his son, John, and by him to his daughter, Mary 
 Orne Pickering. May it always find possessors equally worthy of 
 such a treasure ! 
 
 Mr. Pickering's two sons, John and Henry White, graduated at 
 Harvard University, the one in 1830, the other in 1831 ; both are 
 happily settled in Boston, the former in the profession of the law, 
 the latter in commercial business. The proprietor of the ancestral 
 estate, in Salem, is still John Pickering. 
 
 Note A. Page 42. 
 
 Mr. Pickering was a representative from Salem in the legislature 
 of Massachusetts, in 1812 and 1813, and again in 1826 ; a Sena- 
 tor from the county of Essex in 1815 and 1816, and from the 
 
89 
 
 county of Suffolk in 1829, and a member of the Executive Coun- 
 cil in 1818. He received the degree of LL. D. in 1822, from 
 Bowdoin College, and, in 1835, from Harvard University. The 
 following is copied from the Law Reporter already referred to. 
 
 " The number of societies, both at home and abroad, of which 
 he was an honored member, attests the wide-spread recognition of 
 his merits. He was President of the American Academy of Arts 
 and Sciences ; President of the American Oriental Society ; For- 
 eign Secretary of the American Antiquarian Society ; Fellow of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society ; of the American Ethnolog- 
 ical Society ; of the American Philosophical Society ; honorary 
 member of the Historical Societies of New Hampshire, of New 
 York, of Pennsylvania, of Rhode Island, of Michigan, of Maryland, 
 of Georgia ; of the National Institution for the Promotion of Sci- 
 ence ; of the American Statistical Association ; of the Northern 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences, Hanover, New Hampshire; of 
 the Society for the Promotion of Legal Knowledge, Philadelphia ; 
 corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Ber- 
 lin ; of the Oriental Society at Paris ; of the Academy of Sciences 
 and Letters at Palermo ; of the Antiquarian Society at Athens ; of 
 the Royal Northern Antiquarian Society at Copenhagen ; and titu- 
 lar member of the French Society of Universal Statistics." 
 
 Note B. Page 47. 
 
 The Report referred to was made to the Board of Overseers 
 at their annual meeting in January, 1841. The following brief ex- 
 tract will sufficiently indicate its character. 
 
 " Superficial observers, who measure the value of education by 
 its direct capacity of being turned into money, or the immediate 
 supply of the physical wants of man, and not by its moral effects 
 on the constituent elements of human society, are frequently dis- 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 posed to undervalue some of the departments of knowledge, — 
 particularly ancient literature, — which have always been cherish- 
 ed, and justly so, as an essential part of the university course. 
 Those departments of study are too often stigmatized as antiquat- 
 ed, and not adapted to the * spirit of the age ' ; while an urgent 
 call is made for what is designated by the vague and undefined 
 name of useful knowledge. Such persons seem to mistake the 
 true purpose of a university education ; which is not to qualify a 
 young man for any one particular profession or business, but to 
 develope the powers of his mind, and to store it with all that 
 general information- in science and literature which shall be real- 
 ly useful to him, by its permanent influence in any station in life." 
 
 Note C. Page 48. 
 
 In the Law Reporter, before referred to, it is justly said of Mr. 
 Pickering, " that he was a thorough, hard-working lawyer, for the 
 greater part of his days in full practice, constant at his office, at- 
 tentive to all the concerns of business, and to what may be called 
 the humilities of his profession. He was faithful, conscientious, 
 and careful in all that he did ; nor did his zeal for the interests 
 committed to his care ever betray him beyond the golden mean 
 of duty. The law, in his hands, was a shield for defence, and 
 never a sword with which to thrust at his adversary. His prep- 
 arations for arguments in court were marked by peculiar care ; 
 his brief was very elaborate. On questions of law he was learned 
 and profound, but his manner in court was excelled by his mat- 
 ter. The experience of his long life never enabled him to over- 
 come the native, childlike diffidence which made him shrink from 
 public displays. He developed his views with clearness, and an 
 invariable regard to their logical sequence ; but he did not press 
 them home by energy of manner or any of the ardors of elo- 
 quence. 
 
91 
 
 " His mind was rather judicial than forensic in its cast. He 
 was better able to discern the right than to make the wrong ap- 
 pear the better reason. He was not a legal athlete, snuffing new 
 vigor in the hoarse strifes of the bar, and regarding success alone ; 
 but a faithful counsellor, solicitous for his client, and for justice 
 too. It was this character that led him to contemplate the law 
 as a science, and to study its improvement and elevation. He 
 could not look upon it merely as a means of earning money. 
 He gave much of his time to its generous culture. From the 
 walks of practice he ascended to the heights of jurisprudence, 
 embracing within his observation the systems of other countries. 
 His contributions to this department illustrate the spirit and extent 
 of his inquiries." 
 
 Thus was the law the laborious as well as honorable business 
 of Mr. Pickering's life. Literature, however intently pursued, was 
 his amusement, his delightful recreation. And this he enjoyed 
 chiefly at home in the midst of his family. Besides the fine 
 law library at his office, he had at his house a large miscella 
 neous one of choice books which gratified his highest wishes. 
 But his love for books did not seclude him from society or from 
 domestic enjoyment. The claims of hospitality as well as of his 
 family were sacredly regarded by him ; and when these encroached 
 on hours which he had assigned to some favorite pursuit, the early 
 morning and the late evening would find him redeeming the time 
 which had been cheerfully given to the duties of social and domes- 
 tic life. His extraordinary faculty of abstraction, the readiness 
 with which his mind could turn from one subject to another, his 
 unwearied industry, and a peculiarly calm and happy tempera- 
 ment, all united in enabling him to accomplish what he did in the 
 conflicting pursuits of literature and the law. 
 
92 
 
 Note D. Page 58. 
 
 It is not easy to give a just impression of the variety and extent 
 of Mr. Pickering's kind and gratuitous services. At the moment 
 the writer was engaged upon this part of his subject, he received 
 a letter from a friend, now a distinguished author, containing 
 the following grateful acknowledgment of assistance afforded to 
 himself. " Mr. Pickering," he observes, " was in my eye the 
 model of a high-bred, courtly, and refined gentleman, — profound, 
 yet unpretending. I have gathered much wisdom from his lips, 
 as well as his writings ; the first compositions I ever put to press 
 were revised by him." Many an author has been ready to ac- 
 knowledge much more than this, and with equal pleasure. Mr. 
 Pickering might have justly applied to himself the remark which 
 he made of his friend, Mr. Du Ponceau, that, if he had been 
 ambitious to claim all that he was entitled to, " he might in num- 
 berless instances have said, in the spirit of the Roman poet, — 
 Hos ego versiculos feci ; tulil alter honoresy 
 
 In the pursuits of the young student Mr. Pickering always man- 
 ifested a lively interest, and the young were strongly attracted to 
 him. With some of the gifted students of our University he main- 
 tained a literary correspondence. Among those of them who have 
 passed away may be named Samuel Harris, with whom, many 
 years ago, he corresponded on the Hebrew and other learned lan- 
 guages, and whose untimely death deprived the country of one 
 who promised to be an accomplished Oriental scholar. 
 
 We must not omit all notice of one of the most laborious of Mr. 
 Pickering's undertakings in this class of services. Not long before 
 his removal to Boston, a protracted series of arduous and perplex- 
 ing duties was imposed upon him as chairman of a committee 
 " appointed to inquire into the practicability and expediency of 
 establishing manufactures in Salem." His elaborate and able re- 
 
9$ 
 
 port on the subject was published in 1826, and affords striking evi- 
 dence of his practical, as well as his intellectual, talents. 
 
 A more characteristic instance of generous service occurs to 
 our recollection, which deserves mention as manifesting his ever 
 vigilant attention to the interests of learning. He promoted and 
 prepared an ably written memorial to Congress, from the principal 
 citizens of Salem, in 1820, for the reduction of duties on the im- 
 portation of certain foreign books. It was the first presented to the 
 government on that subject, though followed by others from various 
 learned bodies, the object being considered important to the cause 
 of literature and science in the United States. 
 
 Note E. Page 58. 
 
 Mr. Pickering, in his Address before the American Oriental 
 Society, observes, " that the various new sources of information 
 which modern perseverance and zeal have opened to us have ma- 
 terially extended the boundaries of a liberal education ; and it has 
 become indispensable to unite with our Greek and Roman a por- 
 tion of Oriental learning. If there were no other motive for the 
 pursuit of this branch of knowledge, there would be a sufficient 
 one in the fact, that the great parent language of India, the San- 
 scrit, is now found to be so extensively incorporated into the Greek, 
 Latin, and other languages of Europe, and, above all, in those 
 which we consider as peculiarly belonging to the Teutonic or 
 German family, that no man can claim to be a philologist without 
 some acquaintance with that extraordinary and most perfect of the 
 known tongues." 
 
 In the Law Reporter, before referred to (p. 62), it is stated 
 (doubtless within bounds), that Mr. Pickering " was familiar with 
 the French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German, Romaic, Greek, 
 and Latin ; was well acquainted with the Dutch, Swedish, Danish, 
 
94 
 
 and Hebrew ; and had explored, with various degrees of care, the 
 Arabic, Turkish, Syriac, Persian, Coptic, Sanscrit, Chinese, Co- 
 chin-Chinese, Russian, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Malay in sev- 
 eral dialects, and particularly the Indian languages of America and 
 of the Polynesian islands." 
 
 Of late years, the Egyptian hieroglyphics possessed for Mr. 
 Pickering a fascinating interest. The history of the Egyptians, 
 from the era of Herodotus down to the latest discoveries of Lep- 
 sius, would have enlisted his enthusiasm as a lover of literature 
 and science ; yet it was in connection with his cherished pur- 
 suit, the study of languages, that the hieroglyphical inscriptions 
 enchained his attention, — speaking, as they do, through the me- 
 dium of Champollion's interpretation, a language older than all 
 others by the long interval of ages. 
 
 Note F. Page 61 
 
 Mr. Pickering's memoir On the Pronunciation of the Greek 
 Language was hailed by the Greeks " as a vindication of their 
 national honor " ; and Asopius, a learned Greek (a poet and pro- 
 fessor at the University of the Seven Islands), was so much grat- 
 ified by reading it, that he sent Mr. Pickering a copy of one of the 
 best specimens of Romaic literature, as a token of his gratitude. 
 
 The North American Review, for June, 1819, contains a pro- 
 found and very learned article upon this Memoir, which the schol- 
 ar who is curious in Greek literature will find exceedingly inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Note G. Page 63. 
 
 As we wish to give a just view of the character and merits of 
 Mr. Pickering's great work, we adduce here some passages from 
 
95 
 
 several of the numerous other critical notices of it which have ap- 
 peared in various parts of the country, and which extol it in the 
 same high tone of commendation as those before referred to. 
 " Liddell and Scott's," it is said, " is the only work now extant 
 that can come in competition with Pickering's." And it is added, 
 — " We do not hesitate to give the preference to Pickering's, be- 
 cause we regard it as better suited for use in colleges and schools." 
 Mr. Pickering himself, in the Preface to his Lexicon, speaks of 
 Liddell and Scott's as " a most valuable and important acquisition 
 to all who wish to study Greek critically." He was, indeed, the 
 last man to depreciate the literary works of another. But his ob- 
 ject was, to make the best lexicon for the students of Greek gen- 
 erally. This, for our country, appeared to be the desirable object. 
 Those comparatively few scholars who pursue their Greek studies 
 to great extent and exactness v^ill of course supply themselves with 
 various lexicons. That Mr. Pickering succeeded in his object is 
 abundantly manifest. 
 
 A learned professor (who speaks to us through the Hampshire 
 and Franklin Express) says of Mr. Pickering's Lexicon : — " The 
 recent edition is a new work, restudied and rewritten, with the aid 
 of all the best works of the kind which European scholars have so 
 multiplied during the interval of ten or fifteen years which have 
 elapsed since the appearance of the first. And irrespective of 
 national preferences and grateful recollections, all prejudices apart, 
 it is a work of vast labor, great learning, excellent judgment, and 
 elegant taste ; it is, as we have said, in its kind and for its use, a 
 finished work. It is not, of course, as full and complete as its 
 larger rival ; though, on some points, — as, for instance, the prep- 
 ositions and particles, — it will bear a favorable comparison in re- 
 gard to completeness. In the discriminating and felicitous trans- 
 lation of many and difficult passages, it is without a rival. The 
 quantities of the doubtful vowels are marked with great care and 
 accuracy. The derived tenses of the verb are exhibited in distinct 
 articles, much to the convenience of the young student. It illus- 
 
96 
 
 trates the words and idioms of the New Testament more fully than 
 any other lexicon of the classic Greek now in use. In short, it 
 accomplishes what it professes to ; and to enumerate its excellen- 
 cies were but to repeat, as real and splendid achievements, what 
 are set forth as modest claims in the editor's Preface." 
 
 " Of all Greek lexicons which have hitherto appeared," says 
 another competent judge (through the Connecticut Weekly Re- 
 view), " we think Pickering's will be most useful to all classes 
 of students. It will be the lexicon for the school-desk, and for 
 the collegian's study ; and it will be especially prized by the teach- 
 er who wishes thoroughly to capacitate himself to communicate to 
 others a critical knowledge of this ancient language by the sim- 
 plest method. It is sufficiently copious, and has evidently been 
 prepared with great care. We give it our unqualified recom- 
 mendation." 
 
 A long list of similar testimonials might be given, but it is suf- 
 ficient to add one more, taken from a recent number of the Chris- 
 tian Examiner, and evidently proceeding from a high source. 
 
 " The lexicon, in its present form, is in every respect an excel- 
 lent one. It does great honor to the ability, unwearied industry, 
 and vast attainments of its author. It is particularly adapted to 
 the range of Greek works studied in the schools and colleges of 
 the United States ; and American editions of the classics have 
 been specially referred to. It is well suited to the younger schol- 
 ars, inasmuch as it conains, in alphabetical order, the oblique cases 
 and the principal dialectical or unusual forms of anomalous nouns, 
 adjectives, and pronouns, and the principal tenses of anomalous 
 verbs. But Mr. Pickering did not limit his task to this special ob- 
 ject. He used all the aids which the recent works in philology 
 and lexicography published in Europe, particularly in Germany, 
 furnished him. Besides the contributions of Dunbar, and Liddell 
 and Scott, Mr. Pickering diligently consulted the work of Passow, 
 both in the original German edition, and in the new one edited by 
 Rost and Palm, the lexicon of Jacobitz and Seidler, the excellent 
 
97 
 
 one of Pape, those of Schneider and Riemer, besides numerous 
 lexicons and verbal indexes to particular authors, and the new Paris 
 edition, not yet completed, of Stephens's Thesaurus. Besides these 
 lexicographical works, Mr. Pickering availed himself of special 
 treatises on the various branches of Hellenic antiquities. It is suf- 
 ficient to mention Boeckh on the Puhlic Economy of Athens, and 
 Platner on the Attic Process, both of which, while explaining the 
 financial, political, judicial, and other problems growing out of 
 the history of the Athenian commonwealth, have at the same time 
 supplied important materials for the lexicographer. Mr. Picker- 
 ing's professional learning has been of great assistance to him in 
 that portion of the lexicon which contains the technical terms of 
 Athenian law and the administration of justice. We have found 
 his lexicon excellent for the Attic orators. Indeed, we have some- 
 times found words in it which are wanting in the larger work of 
 Liddell and Scott. Mr. Pickering's definitions are concise and 
 exact ; and though his plan did not admit of a full historical de- 
 velopment of every word, upon the principles partially carried into 
 effect by PassoWj yet the reader of Greek literature will rarely 
 turn away unsatisfied. 
 
 "The work is very handsomely and accurately printed. It 
 extends to 1456 pages, with three columns on a page, containing 
 thus a vast amount of matter, with a remarkable economy of space. 
 It is in every respect a very convenient and desirable book. F." 
 
 Note H. Page 65. 
 
 The following passage from the learned article in the North 
 American Review, on Mr. Pickering's memoir of the Greek lan- 
 guage (referred to in a preceding note), contains an allusion to his 
 Vocabulary, with its title given at length. We therefore adopt it 
 here. 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 " The author of this memoir is not a mere scholar. Like others 
 of his countrymen who have deserved well of letters, he has been 
 obliged to prosecute his studies, * not in the soft obscurities of re- 
 tirement, or under the shelter of academic bowers,' but amidst 
 the inconveniences and distractions of public life, and the fa- 
 tigues of his honorable profession. He is already well known to 
 our readers as the author of a Vocabulary of Words and Phrases 
 which have been supposed to he Peculiar to the United States of 
 America. To which is prefixed an Essay on the Present State of 
 the English Language in the United States. And having thus 
 done no little service to American literature, he is the first to call 
 the attention of scholars in this country to the proper pronunciation 
 of the Greek." 
 
 Note I. Page 67. 
 
 " If, indeed," says Mr. Pickering, in his review of Dr. Jarvis's 
 Discourse, " our only motive in the study of languages were to 
 repay ourselves by the stores of learning locked up in them, we 
 should be poorly rewarded for the labor of investigating the Indian 
 dialects ; but if we wish to study human speech as a science, just 
 as we do other sciences, by ascertaining all the facts or phenom- 
 ena, and proceeding to generalize and class those facts for the 
 purpose of advancing human knowledge ; in short, if what is called 
 philosophical grammar is of any use whatever, then it is indispen- 
 sable to the philologist of comprehensive views to possess a knowl- 
 edge of as many facts or phenomena of language as possible ; 
 and these neglected dialects of our own continent certainly do 
 offer to the philosophical inquirer some of the most curious and 
 interesting facts of any languages with which we are acquainted." 
 
 " Until within a few years past," he observes, in his memoir on 
 a uniform orthography for the Indian languages of North Amer- 
 ica, " these neglected dialects, like the devoted race of men who 
 
99 
 
 have spoken them for so many ages, and who have been stripped 
 of almost every fragment of their paternal inheritance except their 
 language, have incurred only the contempt of the people of Eu- 
 rope and their descendants on this continent ; all of whom, with 
 less justice than is commonly supposed, have proudly boasted of 
 their own more cultivated languages as well as more civilized 
 manners." 
 
 " Mr. Du Ponceau," says Mr, Pickering, in his review of the 
 Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese System 
 of Writing, " was the first writer who took a comprehensive view 
 of the languages of the whole continent, and established the gen- 
 eral conclusion, that the American dialects, from one extremity 
 of the continent to the other (with perhaps some exceptions), form 
 a distinct class or family ; which, from their highly compounded 
 character, he has happily designated by the term poly synthetic. 
 Now these complex American dialects are at one extremity of 
 the series or chain of human languages ; while at the other we 
 find the very simple and inartificial language of China ; these two 
 extremes, when contrasted with each other, presenting this extra- 
 ordinary phenomenon, that the savage tribes of the New World, 
 though destitute of all literature and even of written languages, are 
 found to be in possession of highly complex and artificial forms 
 of speech, — which would seem to be the result of cultivation, — 
 while in the Old World, the ingenious Chinese who were civilized 
 and had a national literature even before the glorious days of 
 Greece and Rome, have for four thousand years had an extreme- 
 ly simple, not to say rude and inartificial, language, that, according 
 to the common theories, seems to be the infancy of human speech. 
 This phenomenon well deserves the consideration of the philo- 
 sophical inquirer, and especially of those speculatists who have 
 assumed a certain necessary connection between what is consid- 
 ered the refined or artificial state of a language and the cultiva- 
 tion of the human race." 
 
 In reference to "the able and philosophical investigations of 
 
100 
 
 Mr. Du Ponceau, and the interesting work of his experienced 
 and worthy fellow-laborer, the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder," Mr. Piclc- 
 ering, in his memoir just now mentioned, says : — " For my own 
 part, I acknowledge that they have occasioned my taking a deeper 
 interest in this apparently dry and barren subject, than I would 
 have believed to be possible in any one, however devoted he might 
 be to philological pursuits ; and I have in consequence been for 
 a time allured from old and favorite studies, to which I had intend- 
 ed to allot the whole of that little leisure which I could spare 
 from the duties of my profession." 
 
 The original manuscript of the dictionary of Father Rasles or 
 Rale (for his name is spelt both ways) was found among his pa- 
 pers after his death in 1724, and came into the possession of Har- 
 vard College. " Of all the memorials of the aboriginal languages 
 in the Northern Atlantic portion of America," observes Mr. Pick- 
 ering, in his introductory memoir, "the following Dictionary of 
 the Abnaki language (or Abenaqui, as it is often called, after the 
 French writers) is now among the most important." Mr. Pickering 
 spared no labor in its publication. It may be found in the first 
 volume, new series, of the Memoirs of the American Academy^ 
 extending over more than two hundred quarto pages. 
 
 Of " the printed books relating to these languages," adds Mr. 
 Pickering, " the wonderful work of Eliot, ' the apostle,' I mean his 
 entire translation of the Old and New Testaments, and his Gram- 
 mar of the Massachusetts Indian language, are in every respect 
 the most remarkable." Mr. Pickering's admirable republication 
 of this grammar was entitled, — "A New Edition with Notes and 
 Observations, by Peter S. Du Ponceau, LL. D., and an Introduc- 
 tion and Supplementary Observations by John Pickering." It first 
 appeared in the Massachusetts Historical Collections. So also 
 did the " New Edition, with Notes by John Pickering," of Dr. 
 Edwards's Olsenmtions on the Mohegan Language. 
 
101 
 
 Note K. Page 69. 
 
 Those who feel an interest in the subject will not fail to recur to 
 Mr. Pickering's beautiful philosophical essay On the Adoption of a 
 Uniform Orthography for the Indian Languages of North Amer- 
 ica, contained in the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Ameri- 
 can Academy. Its perusal, indeed, would in most minds create an 
 interest, if one is not already felt. 
 
 Professor Robinson, in his Biblical Researches in Palestine, 
 &c. (Vol. I., p. X.), upon stating that the Syrian mission at Jeru- 
 salem had adopted " the system proposed by Mr. Pickering for 
 the Indian languages," observes : — " Two motives led to a pref- 
 erence of this system ; first, its own intrinsic merits, and facility of 
 adaptation ; and secondly, the fact, that it was already extensively 
 in use throughout Europe and the United States, in writing the 
 aboriginal names in North America and the South Sea islands ; so 
 that, by thus adopting it for the Oriental languages, a uniformity 
 of orthography would be secured among the missions, and also 
 in the publications of the American Board." 
 
 After referring to the " Essay, &c., by John Pickering," Pro- 
 fessor Robinson adds : — " The Indian languages of North Amer- 
 ica and of the islands of the Pacific have mostly been reduced to 
 writing according to this simple system." 
 
 The following is a list of the principal languages which have 
 been reduced to writing, on the principles of Mr. Pickering's sys- 
 tem, by missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions, and in which books have actually been printed : 
 — the Greybo and Gaboon, in Africa; the Hawaiian, Sandwich 
 Islands; the Choctaw, Creek, Osage, Pawnee, Seneca, Abenaquis, 
 Ojibwa, Ottawa, Sioux, and Nez Perces, North America, 
 
102 
 
 Note L. Page 72. 
 
 Mr. Pickering, in his biographical notice of Mr. Du Ponceau, 
 thus describes the new views presented in his Dissertation on the 
 Nature and Character of the Chinese System of Writing. " He 
 published a few years ago a work unfolding new views of the 
 remarkable language of China, which has been long enveloped 
 in almost as much mystery as the hieroglyphic system of ancient 
 Egypt. Not agreeing with those who held the opinion, that the 
 Chinese language is ideographic^ that is, that the written charac- 
 ters denote ideas of things, and do not represent spoken words, — 
 so that different nations of the East could understand each other by 
 the writing, when they could not by speaking, — just as the 
 Arabic numerals are understood alike, for example, by a French- 
 man and Englishman, when written, though not when spoken, — 
 contesting this opinion, we say, Mr. Du Ponceau boldly assumes the 
 position, that the Chinese must be like other languages, and that 
 the written characters, or words, represent spoken words or sounds, 
 as in all the languages of Europe. The sinologists of the Old 
 World are acquainted with his book, but are not prepared to adopt 
 his views, though some of them are silently making use of his ter- 
 minology, and so far give countenance to his results. Yet, if he 
 is wrong, and if the language of the Chinese is not like other lan- 
 guages of the human race in the particular in question, the fact 
 will present a more extraordinary phenomenon than any of the 
 extraordinary characteristics hitherto known of that singular peo- 
 ple." 
 
 Having reviewed this important work immediately after its pub- 
 lication, with the profoundest attention to the subject, Mr. Picker- 
 ing naturally felt much curiosity to observe in what manner Mr. 
 Du Ponceau's new and striking views of the Chinese language 
 would be received by European scholars. " Knowing the force 
 of the opinions which have been maintained by them for more 
 
103 
 
 than two centuries, respecting the language of the singular peo- 
 ple of the ' Celestial empire,' we were prepared," say the North 
 American Reviewers, in their article on the Cochin-Chinese lan- 
 guage, " for a total dissent from the doctrines of our learned au- 
 thor, if not a positive and direct attempt to refute them." " When 
 we saw announced in the contents of that long-established and able 
 journal, the London Monthly Review, for December, 1840, an 
 article expressly upon this work, we felt no little impatience to 
 see the article itself, which we had understood to be highly com- 
 mendatory of Mr. Du Ponceau's work, and in perfect coincidence 
 with his views. Upon opening the London journal, what was our 
 astonishment to find, at the first glance, that the review was taken 
 from our own article ; and, upon a closer comparison, to discover, 
 that, with the exception of a few paragraphs (which in their orig- 
 inal form had American badges attached to them), the entire 
 London article was a reprint, without any acknowledgment, from 
 our own pages ! " 
 
 Note M. Page 74. 
 PETER S. DU PONCEAU, LL. D. 
 
 A few passages from Mr. Pickering's interesting notice of the 
 life and character of his most distinguished literary and personal 
 friend cannot be out of place here.* They were doubtless first 
 attracted to each other by their rare erudition, but their friendship 
 was cemented by that purity of heart and delicacy of taste and of 
 feeling in which they so entirely sympathized. Their correspond- 
 ence, which was commenced in 1818, and terminated only by 
 death, was as intimate and delightful as it was learned. 
 
 Mr. Du Ponceau died in April, 1843. " To the writer of this 
 
 * First published in the Boston Courier, April 8, 1843. 
 
104 
 
 notice," says Mr. Pickering, " for whom he had long cherished 
 an affection almost parental, his death is an irreparable loss ; a 
 long-tried friend and counsellor is no more ! " 
 
 " Mr. Du Ponceau was born on the third day of June, 1760, 
 in the Isle of Re, which lies a few miles from the coast of La 
 Vendee, in France." His philological genius, like Mr. Pickering's, 
 discovered itself very early, and in his case appears to have de- 
 termined his lot in life. " As the smallest circumstances in the 
 history of such minds as his," continues Mr. Pickering, " cannot 
 but be interesting, we will here add, — we have heard him state, 
 that, while a child of only six years of age, his curiosity to know 
 something of the English language was intensely excited by his 
 accidentally meeting with a single torn leaf of an English book, 
 in which he discovered the strange letters k and w^ — for such 
 they were to a child who had never seen them in any book in his 
 own language ; and this circumstance, trifling as it may appear, 
 first directed his attention to our language. At that time. General 
 Conway, who was afterwards somewhat conspicuous, during the 
 American Revolution, as a member of the British House of Com- 
 mons, had the command of a regiment stationed in the Isle of 
 R4, and, being struck with the remarkable points of character 
 in a child of so tender an age, and with his aptitude for the study 
 of languages, obligingly took pains to instruct him in English ; 
 and such was his progress, that in a very short time he was able 
 to read Milton, Shakspeare, and other English classics, whose 
 works are far beyond the grasp of ordinary youthful minds. As 
 he proceeded, he became so delighted with the great English mas- 
 ters, that he never afterwards acquired a truly national fondness 
 for the poetry of France." 
 
 When the well-known Baron Steuben was in Paris, on his 
 way to the United States to join the American army, and, " being 
 unacquainted with the English language, was making inquiries for 
 some young man, who could speak English, to accompany him 
 as his secretary, he was informed of young Du Ponceau, who hap- 
 
105 
 
 pened then to be in Paris, and an arrangement was made with 
 him accordingly. We recollect," adds Mr. Pickering, " to have 
 heard Mr. Du Ponceau say, that, at that time, though he had never 
 been out of France, he understood and could speak English as 
 perfectly as he ever could afterwards." 
 
 " Mr. Du Ponceau left Paris in the suite of Baron Steuben for 
 the United States, fired with the ardor of youth, and full of zeal 
 in the cause of American liberty, which he ever fondly cherished. 
 He landed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the first day of 
 December, 1777, an event in his life which he often alluded to 
 with lively interest." 
 
 " At the close of the war, he had fixed his mind on the profes- 
 sion of the law, — and many years did not elapse before he attain- 
 ed the first rank." — " His purity of purpose, incorruptible integ- 
 rity, and independence, never sufiered him, during periods of the 
 highest political excitement, to deviate from the sacred duty of a 
 faithful legal adviser, even when pressed by the almost irresistible 
 influence of national feeling or partisan principles, or — what in 
 our own time is a still stronger stimulant — the corrupting lure of 
 political advancement." 
 
 " During the latter part of his life, after he had acquired a com- 
 petent fortune by his profession, he devoted most of his time to 
 his favorite study of general philology, a science which has em- 
 ployed the first intellects of the Old World, from the time of the 
 great Leibnitz to that of the late illustrious Baron William Hum- 
 boldt in our own time ; and there can be little, if any doubt, that 
 the labors of Mr. Du Ponceau in that noble, but boundless field, 
 have, among the profound scholars of Europe, contributed more 
 to establish our reputation for solid erudition than those of any 
 other individual in this country." 
 
 Mr. Du Ponceau most heartily reciprocated the admiration en- 
 tertained of him by Mr. Pickering, whom he regarded as an honor 
 and an ornament to his country, and often alluded to the high 
 estimation in which he was held by the first philologists and eth- 
 
106 
 
 nographers of the Old World, — the Humboldts and the Prichards, 
 who sought and appreciated his correspondence. 
 
 Note N. Page 79. 
 
 " In contemplating the variety, the universality, of his attain- 
 ments, the mind involuntarily exclaims, * The admirable Picker- 
 ing ! ' He seems, indeed, to have run the whole round of knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 " The death of one thus variously connected is no common 
 sorrow. Beyond the immediate circle of family and friends, he 
 will be mourned by the bar, amongst whom his daily life was 
 passed ; by the municipality of Boston, whose legal adviser he was ; 
 by clients who depended upon his counsels ; by all good citizens, 
 who were charmed by the abounding virtues of his private life ; 
 by his country, who will cherish his name more than gold or sil- 
 ver ; by the distant islands of the Pacific, who will bless his labors 
 in every written word that they read ; finally, by the company of 
 jurists and scholars throughout the world." — 9 Law Reporter, 
 pp. 61, 66, 
 
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