Life of William Hickling Prescott

Front matter

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CHAPTER I. Birth AND Pakentage. — Early Training. — Removal to Bostok

— Dr. Gardiner's School. — Life at Home. — Love of Books.

— Difficulty of obtaining them. — Boston Athen.eum. — William S. Shaw. — Favorite Books. — Studies. — Early Friendship. — Amusements. — Enters College 1

CHAPTER n.

College Life. — Good Resolutions. — Injury to his Sight. — Immediate Effects. — State of his Eye. — Relations with the Person ■who inflicted the Injury. — Studies subsequent to THE Injury. — Mathematics. — Latin and Greek. — Phi Beta Kappa Society. — Graduated. — Studies. — Severe Inflammation of the Eye. — His Character under Trial. — Anxiety ABOUT HIS Health. — Is to visit Europe 15

CHAPTER in.

Visit to St. Michael's. — His Life there. — Suffering in his Eye. — His Letters to his Father and Mother; to his Sister; and to W. H. Gardiner ' . 31

CHAPTER IV.

Leaves St. Michael's. — Arrives in London. — Privations there. — Pleasures. — Goes to Paris. — Goes to Italy. — Returns to Paris. — Illness thehe. — Goes again to London. — Travels little in England. — Determines to return Home. — LErrEK to W. H. Gardiner 40

VIM CONIKNIS.

CHAPTER V.

Return from England. — Rheumatism. — First Literary Adventure. — Decides not to be a Lawyer. — Falls in Love. — Marries. — Continues to live with his Father. — Swords of his Grandfather and of the Grandfather of his Wife. — His Personal Appearance.— Club of Friends.— The "Club-Room."

— Deteujunes to becojie a Man of Letters. — Obstacles in his Way. — Efforts to overcorie them. — English Studies. — French. — Italian. — Oplnion of Petrarch and of Dantk. — Further Studies imiuposko. — Despairs of learning German 17

CHAPTER \T.

He studies Spanish instead of German. — First Attempts not

earnest. — JL\BLY's " l^TUDE DE L'HiSTOIRE." — TlIINKS OF WRIT- ING History. — Different Subjects suggested. — Ferdinand AND Isabella. — Doubts long. — Writes to Mr. A. H. Evkhktt.

— Delay from Suffering in the Eye. — Orders Books kp.(».m Spain. — Plan of Study. — Hesitates from the Condition ok HIS Sight. — Determines to go on. — His Reader, Mr. English.

— Process of Work. — Estimates and Plans .... 67

CHAPTER VU.

Death (jf his Daughter. — Inquiries into the Truth of thk Christian Religion. — Results. — Examines the History of THE Spanish Arabs. — Reviews Ikving's " Granada." — Studies FOR his Work on Ferdinand and Isabella. — Begins to write IT. — Regard for Mably and Clemencin. — Progress of his Work. — At Pepperell. — At Nahant.— Finishes the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella " 85

CHAPTER Vm.

Doubts about publishing the " History of Ferdinand and Isabella." — Four Copies printed as it was written. — Opinio.ns OF Friends. — The Author's own Opinion of his Work. — Puiilishes it. — His Letters about it. — Irs Success. — Its Publicatio.v in London. — Reviews of ir in the United States and

IN lURiiPE !*b

CHAPTER IX.

The Author's Feelings on the Success of " Ferdinand and Isabella." — Illness of his Mother, and hek Hecovery. — Opin IONS IN Europe concerning his History lu^

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER X.

Mr. Prescott's Charactek at this Period. — Effect of his Im- FiuMiTY OF Sight in forming it. — Noctograph. — Distribution OF HIS Day. — Contrivancks for regulating the Light in his Eoom. — Premature Decay of Sight. — Exact System of Exercise and Life generally. — Firm Will in carrying rr out 118

CHAPTER XI.

Mr. Prescott's Social Character. — Remarks on it by Mr. Gabdiner AND Mr. Parsons . 126

CHAPTER XII.

Mb. Prescott's Industry and general Character based on Principle and on Self-Sacrifice. — Temptations. — Expedients to overcome them. — Experiments. — Notes of what is read to him. — composes without writing. — severe disci- PLINE OP HIS Moral and Religious Character. — Dislikes to

HAVE HIS HaUITS INTERFERED WITH. — NeVER SHOWS CONSTRAINT.

— Freedom of ALvnner in his Family and in Society. — His Influence on Others. — His Charity to the Poor. — Instance

OF IT 183

CHAPTER Xm.

Period immediately after the Publication of " Ferdisand AND Isabella." — Thinks op avriting a Life of MolAre; but prefers Spanish Subjects. — Reviews. — Inquires again into the Truth of Christianity. — " Conquest of Mexico." — Books AND Manuscripts obtained for it. — Humboldt. — Indolence. — Correspondence with Washington Irving .... 161

CHAPTER XIV.

His Correspondence becomes Important. — Letter to Irving. — Letters from Sismondi, Thierry, Tytler, and Rogers. — Letter TO Gayangos. — Memoranda. — Letters to Gay angos, and others. — Letters from Ford and Tytler .... 164

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

Materials for the " Conquest of Mexico." — Imperfect Lndcb- TRY. — Improved State of the Eye. — Begins to write. — Difficulties. — Thoroughness. — Interruptions. — Lord Morpeth — Visits to New York and Lebanon Springs. — " Conquest OF Mexico" finished. — Sale of Right to publish. — Illness of his Father. — Partial Recovery. — " Conquest of Mexico " published. — Its Success. — Reviews of it. — Letters TO Mr. Lyell and Don Pascual de Gayangos. — From Mr. Gallatin. — To Lord Morpeth and to Gayangos. — From Mr. Hallam and Me. Everett. — Memoranda. — Letter from Lord Morpeth. — Letters to Dean Milman and Mr. J. C. Hamilton. — Letters from Mr. Tytler and Dean Milsian . . 181

CHAPTER XVI.

Mr. Pbescott's Style. — Determines to have one of his own. - How he obtained it. — Discussions in Reviews about it. — Mr. Ford. — Writes more and more freely. — Naturalness. — His Style made attractive dy Causes connected with his Infirmity of Sight. — Its final Character 203

CHAPTER XVn.

8its foe his Portkait and Bust. — Visit to New York. — Miscellaneous Reading. — Materials for the " Conquest of Peru."

— Begins to write. — Death of his Father. — Its Effect on HIM. — Resumes Work. — Letter from Humboldt. — Election into the French Institute, and into the Royal Society of Berlin 216

CHAPTER XVni.

Publication of a Volume of Miscellanies. — Italian Literature. — Controversy ■with Daponte. — Charles Brockden Brown. — Blind Asylum. — Molieke. — Cervantes. — Scott. — Irving. — Bancroft. — Madame Calderon. — History of Spanish Literature. — Opinions of Review-writing . . . 23o

CHAPTER XIX.

His Domestic Relations. — "Conquest of Peru." — Pepperell.

— Letters. — Removal in Boston. — Difficulties. — Fiftieth Birthday. — Publishes the "Conquest of Peru." — Doubts.

— Success. — Memoranda. — " Edinburgh Review." — Life at Pepperell. — Letter from Miss Edgeworth .... 240

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER XX.

Mr. Motley. — IIesitatiom about beginuinq the History of Philip the Second. — State of his Sight bad. — Preparations. — Doubts about taking the whole Subject. — Memoir ok Pickering. — Early Intimations of a Life of Philip the Second. — Collection of Materials for it. — Difficulty of getting them. — Greatly assisted by Don Pascual de Ga-

YANGOS. — Rfe^TERIALS AT LAST AMPLE. — PrINTS FOR HIS OWN

Use a Portion of Ranke's Spanish Empire .... 258

CHAPTER XXI.

General Scott's Conquest of Mexico. — Summer at Pepperell

— Difficulties and Doubts about " Philip the Second." — Memoirs or regular History. — Anxiety about his Hearing.

— Journey for Health. — Not sufficient.— Project for visiting England. — Resolves to go. — Voyage and Arrival.— London 27a

CHAPTER XXn.

Leaves London. — Hasty Visit to Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp. — Letters. — Return to London. — Visits in the Country. — Letters. — End of his Visit to England. — English Character AND Society 30C

CHAPTER XXin.

Voyage Home. — Letters to Friends in England. — Begins to

WORK AGAIN. — PePPERELL. — " PhILIP THE SECOND." — CORRE- SPONDENCE 321

CHAPTER XXIV.

Political Opinions. — Correspondence with Mr. Bancroft, Mr. Everett, and Mr. Sumner. — Conversation on Political Subjects 335

CHAPTER XXV.

Death of Mr. Prescott's Mother. — Progress with "Philip "HE Second." — Correspondence 358

Xli CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Rheumatism at Nahant. — Boston Homes successively occupied BY Mr. Phescott in Tkemont Street, Summer Street, Beijford Street, and Beacon Street. — Patriarchal Mode of Life at Pepperell. — Life at Nahant and at Lynn . . . 364

CHAPTER XXVII.

First Summer at Lynn. — Work on " Philip the Second." — Memoranda about «t. — Prints the first two Volumes. — Their Success. — Addition to Robertson's " Charles the Fifth." — Memoir of Mr. Abbott Lawrence. — Goes on with "Philip the Second." —Illness. — Dinner at Mr. Gardiner's.

— Correspondence 876

CHAPTER XXVin.

First Attack of Apoplexy. — Yields readily. — Clearness of Mind. — Composure. — Infihmities. — Gradual Improvement.

— Occupations. — Prints the third Volume of "Philip the Second." — Summer at Lynn and Pepperell. — Notes to the "Conquest of Mexico." — Return to Boston. — Desire for active Literary Labor. — Ague. — Correspondence . . 896

CHAPTER XXIX.

Anxiety to return to serious Work. — Pleasant Forenoon. — Sudden Attack of Apoplexy. — Death. — His Wishes respecting his Remains. — Funeral. — Expressions of Sorrow ON both Sides of the Atlantic 41a

Appendix

A. — The Prescott Family 41a

B. — The Crossed Swords " • • 430

G. — Extracts from a Letter addressed by Mr Edmund B.

Otis, formerly Mr. Prescott's Secretary, to Mr.

TiCKNOR 433

D. — Literary Honors 436

E. — Translations OF Mr. Prescott's Histories . . . .438

F. _ Conversation of Mr. Prescott shortly before his Death 441

G. — On his Death 444

INDEX •*47

THE LIFE

WILLIAM HICKLING PEESCOH.

CHAPTER I.

1796-1811.

Birth and Pakentage. — Early Training. — Removai, to Boston. — Dr. Gardiner's School. — Life at Home. — Love of Books. — Difficulty OF obtaining ■ them. — Boston Athen.eum. — William S. Shaw. — Favorite Books. — Studies. — Early Friendship. — Amusements. — Enters College.

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT was born in Salem, New England, on the fourth day of May, seventeen hundred and ninety-six.^

His father, then thirty-four years old, — a person of remarkable manly beauty, and great dignity and gentleness of character, — was already in the flush of his early success at the bar, where he subsequently rose to much eminence and honor. His mother, five years younger, was a woman of great energy, who seemed to have been born to do good, and who had from her youth those unfailing spirits which belong to the original temperament of the very few who have the happiness to possess them, and which, in her case, were controlled by a good sense and by religious convictions, that made her presence like a benediction in the scenes of sorrow and suffering, which, during her long life, it was her chosen vocation to frequent. They had been married between two and three years when William was bom to them, inheriting not a few of the prominent characteristics of each. He was their second child ; the first, also a son, having died in very early infancy.

,^ i For an account of the Prescott Family, see Appendix (A).

I 1 A

The family of Mr. and ]\Irs. Prescott was always a happy one, — respected and loved by those who came ^athin the reach of its influence. Their pleasant, hospitable house in Salem is no longer standing ; but the spot it occupied is well remembered, and is pointed out to strangers with pride, as the one where the future historian was born. Its site is now that of " Plummer Hall " ; — a building erected for literary and scientific purposes, from funds bequeathed by the lady whose name it bears, and who was long a friend of the Prescott family.^

William's earliest education was naturally in the hands of his affectionate and active mother, his great obligations to whom he always loved to acknowledge, and from whom, \dth slight exceptions, it was his happiness never to be separated so long as they both lived. He felt, to the last, that her influence upon liim had been one of the chief blessings of his life. On the afternoon of her death he spoke of it to me, as a guiding impulse for wliich he could not be too grateful.

But, like the children of most of the persons who constituted the society in Salem to which his family belonged, he was sent to a school for the very yomig, kept by Miss Mehitable Higginson, a true gentlewoman, descended from the venerable Francis Higginson, who emigrated to Salem in 1629, when there were only seven houses on the spot now covered by the whole city, and who, from his scholarship, eloquence, and piety, has sometimes been called the founder of the churches of New England. Miss Higginson understood, with an instinct for which experience affords no sufficient substitute, what belongs to chUdhood, and how best to direct and mould its opening faculties. It was her wont to call herself, not the school mistress, but the school mother, of her little flock ; and a system of discipline which might be summed up in such a phrase could hardly fail of being effectual for good. Certainly it succeeded to a remark-

■' Only a j^ear before his death, the historian was invited to be present ai the dedication of " Plummer Hall." He was not able to attend ; but, in reply to the invitation, he said : " I need not assure you that I take a sincere interest in the ceremonies of the day, and I have a particular interest in the spot which is to be covered bj' the new edifice, from its having been that ou which I first saw the light. It is a pleasant thought to me, that, through the enlightened liberality of my deceased friend, Miss Plummer, it is nov» to be consecrated to so noble a purpose."

SCHOOL DAYS. 3

able degree with her many pupils, during the half-century in which she devoted herself with truth and love to her caUing. Of her more favored children, William was one.

From the tender and faithful hands of Miss Higginson, he passed to the school of Mr. Jacob Newman Knapp, long known in Salem as " Master Knapp," — a person who, as the best teacher to be obtained, had been procured by 'Mi: Prescott and a few of his more intimate friends, all of whom were anxious, as he was, to spare neither pains nor expense in the education of their children. Under Mr. Knapp's care William was placed at JMew-Year, 1803, when he was less than seven yeai*s old ; and he continued there until the midsummer of 1808, when his father removed to Boston.

The recollections of him during these four or five years are distinct in the minds of his teacher, who stiU survives (1862) at a venerable old age, and of a few schoolmates, now no longer young. He was a briglit, merry boy, with an inquisitive mind, quick perceptions, and a ready, retentive memory. His lessons were generally well learned ; but he loved play better than books, and was too busy ^vith other thoughts than those that belonged to the school-room to become one of Master Knapp's best pupils. He was, though large for his years, not vei-y vigorous in his person. He never fancied rude or athletic sports, but amused himself with such boys of his own age as preferred games requiring no great physicid strength ; or else he made himself happy at home with such light reading as is most atti-active to all children, and especially to those whose opening tastes and tendencies are quiet, if not intellectual. In the latter part of his life he used to say, that he recollected no period of his childhood when he did not love books ; adding, that often, when he was a very little boy, he was so excited by stories appealing strongly to his imagination, that, when his mother left the room, he used to take hold of her gown, and follow her as she moved about the house, rather than be left alone. But in school he did not love work, and made no remarkable pro gress in his studies.

Neither was he so universally liked by the boys with whom he was associated in Salem, as he was afterwards by the boys in other schools. He had indeed his favorites, to whom he was much attached and who were much attached to him, and he never faltered in his kindness to them subsequently, however humble or unfortunate their condition became ; but at home he had been encouraged to speak his mind with a boldness that w^as sometimes rude ; partly from parental indulgence, and partly as a means of detecting easily any tendencies in his character that his conscientious father might think it needful to restrain. The consequence was, that a similar habit of very free speaking at school, joined to his great natural vivacity and excessive animal spirits, made him more confident in the expression of his opinions and feelings than was agreeable, and prevented him from becoming a favorite with a portion of his schoolmates. It laid, however, I doubt not, the foundation for that attractive simplicity and openness which constituted prominent traits in his character through life.

His conscience was sensitive and tender from the first, and never ceased to be so. A sermon to children produced a striking effect upon him when he was still a child. It was a very simple, direct one, by Dr. Channing; and William's mother told him to read it to her one evening when his conduct had required some slight censure, and she thought this the best way to administer it. He obeyed her reluctantly. But soon his lips began to quiver, and his voice to choke. He stopped, and with tears said, " Mother, if I am ever a bad boy again, won't you set me to reading that sermon ? "

His temperament was very gay, like his mother's, and his eager and sometimes turbulent spirits led him into faults of conduct oftener, perhaps, than anything else. Like most schoolboys, he was fond of practical jokes, and ventured them, not only in a spirit of idle mischief, but even rudely. Once he badly friglitened a servant-girl in the family, by springing unexpectedly upon her from behind a door. But his fiither, busy and anxious as he was with the interests of others, and occupying himself less with the material concerns and affairs of his household than almost any person I ever knew, had yet an eye of unceasing vigilance for whatever related to the training of his children, and did not suffer even a fault so slight to pash witliout rebuke. After this, although AVilliam was always a boy full of life and mischief, he gave no more trouble by such rudeness at home;.

HOME INFLUENCES. 5

No doubt, thei-efore, his early education, and the circumstances most nearly connected with it, were, on the whole, favorable to the formation of a character suited to the position in the world that he was likely to occupy ; — a character, I mean, that would not easily yield to the temptations of prosperity, nor be easily broken down by adverse fortune, if such fortune should come upon it. It w^as, in fact, a condition of things that directly tended to develop those manly qualities which in our New-England- society have always most surely contributed to progress and success.

Nor was there anything in the circle witli which his family was most connected to counteract these influences. Life in those days was a very simple thing in Salem, compared with what it is now. It was the period w^hen Mr. Gray and Mr. Peabody, the Pickmans and the Derbys, were too busy with their Avidely extended commerce to think often of anything else ; when Mr, Justice Putnam was a young lawyer struggling up to eminence ; when Mr. Story, afterwards the distinguished jurist and judge, was only beginning to be heard of ; and when the mathematical genius of Dr. Bowditch, and the classical studies of Mi\ Pickering, which were destined later to have so wide an effect on our community, were hardly known beyond the limits of their personal acquaintance.

In those active, earnest days, the modest luxury of hackneycoaches and hired waiters had not come to be deemed needful in Salem, even among those who were already prosperous and rich. When, therefore, Mrs. Prescott had invited friends to dine, — a form of social intercourse which she and her husband always liked, and which they practised more freely than most persons then did, — if the weather proved unfavorable, she sent her own chaise to bring her lady guests to her house, and carried them safely home in the same way when the hospitable evening was ended. Or, if the company were larger than her usual arrangements would permit to be well served, she borrowed the servants of her friends, and lent her own in return But the days of such unpretending simplicity are gone by, and a tasteful luxury has naturally and gracefully taken its place. They were days, however, on which my friend always looked back with satisfaction, and I doubt not, nor did he doubt, that it was well for him that his character received something of its eai'ly direction under their influence. He was always grateful tliat his first years were passed neither in a luxurious home nor in a luxurious state of society.^

Mr. Prescott the elder removed with his family to Boston m the summer of 1808, and established himself in a house on Tremont Sti-eet, But although he had come to a larger town, and one where those of his own condition indulged in somewhat more free habits of expense, the manner of life that he preferred and followed in his new home was not different from the one to which he had been accustomed in Salem. It was a life of cordial, open hospitality, but without show or pretension of any sort. And so it continued to the last.

The promising son was sent in the early autumn to the best classical school then known in New England ; for his father, bred at Dummer Academy by " Master Moody," who in his time was without an equal among us as a teacher of Latin and Greek, always valued such ti'aining more than any other. And it was fortunate for William that he did so ; for his early classical disciplme was undoubtedly a chief element in his subsequent success.

The school to which he was sent — if school it could properly be called — was one kept with few of the attributes of such an institution, but in its true spirit, by tlie Rev. Dr. Grardiner,* Rector of Trinity Church, Boston. Dr. Gardiner was

8 For this sketch of society as it existed in Salem at the end of the last century I am indebted to the venerable Mrs. Putnam, widow of Mr. Justice Putnam, whose family, early connected with that of the elder Mr. Prescott by bonds of friendship and affection, has, in the third generation, been yet more intimately and happily united to it by tlie marriage of the eldest son of the histori.'ftfi with a granddaughter of the jurist.

* Dr. Gardiner had earlier kept a regular school in Boston, with no small success; but, at the time referred to, he received in his own library, with little form, about a dozen youths, — some who were to be prepared for college, and some who, having been already graduated, sought, by his assistance, to increase their knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics. It was excellent, direct, personal teaching; — the more effective because the nun5ber of pupils was 60 small. It was, too, of a sort peculiarly adapted to make an impression on a mind and temperament like young Prescott's. Indeed, it became the foundation of an attachment between him and his instructor, which was severed onh' bj' death, and of which a touching proof was afforded during the last, long-protracted illness of Dr. Gardiner, who, as his infii-mitiea mcreased, directed his servant to admit nobody, beyond the limits of hii

DR. GARDINER'S SCHOOL. . 7

a good scholar, bred in England under Dr. Parr, who, some years afterwards, at Hatton, spoke of him to me with much regard and respect. But, besides liis scholarship, Dr. Gardiner was a generous, warm-hearted man, who took a sincere interest in his pupils, and sympathized with them in their pursuits to a degree which, however desirable, is very rare. A great deal of his teaching was oral ; some of it, no doubt, traditional, and brought from his English school ; all of it was excellent. For, although recitations of careful exactness were required, and punishments not slight inflicted for negHgence and breaches of discipline, still much knowledge was communicated by an easy convei-sational commentary, the best part of which could not readily have been found in books, while the whole of it gave a life and interest to the lessons that could have been given by nothing else.

It was in this school, as soon as he became a member of it, that I first knew William, as a bright boy a little more than twelve years old. I had then been under Dr. Gardiner's instruction some months, not as a regular member of any class, but at private hours, with one or two others, to obtain a knowledge of the higher Greek and Latin classics, not elsewhere to be had among us. Very soon the young stranger was brought by his rapid advancement to recite vsdth us, and before long we two were left to pursue a part of our studies quite by ourselves. From this time, of course, I knew him well, and, becoming acquainted in his father's family, saw him not only daily at school, but often at home. It was a most agreeable, cheerful house, where the manners were so frank and sincere, that the son's position in it was easily understood. He was evidently loved — much loved — of all ; his mother shoAving her fondness without an attempt at disguise, — his father not without

family connections, except Jlr. Prescott. It is needless to add, that, after this, his old piipil was almost daily at his door. Nor did he ever afterwards forget his early kind teacher. Dr. Gardiner died in 1830, in England, where he had gone with the hope of recovery; and on receiving the intelligence of his death, Mr. Prescott published, in one of our newspapers, an interesting obituary of him. Subsequently, too, in 1848, he wrote to Dr. Sprague, in Albany, an affectionate letter (to be found in that gentleman's " Annals of the American Pulpit," Vol. V. p. 305, 1859) on Dr. Gardiner's character, and in the very last year of his life he was occupied R^jth fresh interest about its publicaticn.

anxiety concerning his son's spirits and the peculiar temptations of his age and position. Probably he was too much iiidulged Certainly, in liis fine, open nature there were great inducements to tliis parental infirmity; and a spirit of boyish mischief in his relations with those of his own age, and a certain degree of presumption in his manners toward those who were older, were not wanting to justify the suspicion. That he was much trusted to himself there was no doubt.

But he loved books of the lighter sort, and was kept by his taste for them from many irregular indulgences. Books, however, were by no means so accessible in those days as they are now. Few, comparatively, were published in the United States, and, as it was the dreary period of the commercial restrictions that preceded the war of 1812 with England, still fewer were imported. Even good school-books were not easily obtained. A copy of Euripides in the original could not be bought at any bookseller's shop in New England, and was with difficulty borrowed. A German instructor, or means for learning the German language, were not to be had either in Boston or Cambridge. The best publications that appeai-ed in Great Britain came to us slowly, and were seldom reprinted. New books from the Continent hardly reached us at all. Men felt poor and anxious in those dark days, and literary indulgences, which have now become almost as necessary to us as our daily food, were luxuries enjoyed by few.

There was, however, a respectable, but very miscellaneous collection of books just beginning to be made by the proprietors of the Boston Athenteum ; an institution imitated chiefly from the Athengeum of Livei'pool, and established in an unpretending building not far from the house of the Prescott family in Tremont Street. Its real founder was Mr. William S. Shaw, who, by a sort of common consent, exercised over it a control all but unlimited, acting for many years gratuitously as its librarian. He was a near connection of the two Presidents Adams, the first of whom he had served as private secretary during liis administration of the government ; and in consequence of this relationship, when Mr. John Qumcy Adams was sent as Minister of the United States to Russia, he deposited his library, consisting of eight or ten thousand volumes, in

THE BOSTON ATHENiEUM. 9

the Athenaeum, and thus materially increased its resources during his absence abroad. The young sons of its proprietors had then, by the rules of the institution, no real right to frequent its rooms ; but INIr. Shaw, with all his passion for books, and his anxiety to keep safely and strictly those instrusted to him, was a kind-hearted man, who loved bright boys, and often gave them privileges in his Athenaeum to which they had no regular claim. William was one of those who were most favored, and who most gladly availed themselves of the opportunity which was thus given them. He resorted to the Athenaium, and to the part of it containing Mr. Adams's library, as few boys cared to do, and spent many of his playhours there in a sort of idle reading, which probably did little to nourish his mind, but which, as he afterwards loved to acknowledge, had a decided influence in forming liis literary tendencies and tastes.*