New-York daily tribune., 1859-02-11
rRC0LLECTIONS of WM.H.PREsC0TT.
, Coussrontsnt


n. a,ssh of Prescott the Historian, "a it passed
- TIE land, could scarcely have touched any one
r,ors wildly and painfully than it did your WASH
i>eton correspondent. Twelve years ago was Els
Secretary, and for more than year was ID dAiiy
haercourse with him during his allotted noufs o.
.hu1v and literary labor To know him wn 70
~ him No one could be much in his presence
spd fail TO appreciate his genial, cheerfa sPt hi
,..Ae.t and unsssuuniDg dignity, hs never'iainhs
A;,1se,s and courtesy, his strong good 'e0'e' an
n.nt.l honesty and freedom from preJldlce'
-. turn for . while from the strife OF parties
-. ~. c,,mor Of the House and the Senate, from
euba questions and questions OIL iani''u, Anu
go. 70 recall my recolIections of gotd man
end great wnter'
r, the Spripg Of 1s47, the secretary who had
,srved Mr.. Prescott through the composition OF
ae "Hstoy Of the Conquest of Perm
save him notice that, at the end Of the month, ne
sksuId quit his employment, and recommended me
q his successor. Accordingly at Mr. Presco!t'
request, / called upon him one morning at his
hsase in Beacon street, Boston. 1 found him
clone in bis study, apartment In the upper story
q the houie, to which few persons were ever sd'
uitted. had never seen him before, and my
sarprise was great at beholdiDg a tall, slender,
youthful-lookiDg, sprshtly mad, with fresh ana
Aorid complexion, lively manner, and gay and
smiling countenance-witb, in short, much more
Tie appearance of the elegant and highbred man
of the world than Of the learned and aborious au-
Nor. He received me very kindly, explained
fajy and methOdically the duties he required OF
hn secretary, and we entered into an agree
uent, the particulars of which he made
ne put down in black and white, so that there
might be no misunderstanding. Every point IN
eur contract was discussed and settled by hun IN
the most explicit manner, with all the care and
forethOught of practical man OF business. Inls
done, be led me down stairs to his magnificent
Ebrary, introduced me to his wife and daughter,
and spent some time in showing to me his
collection of curosties and autographs; among the
hitter remember letters of King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella, and, think, letter or two Of the
great captain, Gonsalyo de Cordova.
II was part Of our agreement that during the
month which was TO intervene before the regular
commencement of my duties, should take lessons,
ct his expense, in the pronunciation OF Spanish,
with which language had a superficial reading ac-
susiDtsnce; and that should become so familiar
with his handwriting to read it as unhesitatngy
a I did my own. Upon this point he laid much
stress, for he said he had TO depend, in revising
what he had written solely on his ear, and he could
not Judge well of the style unless his secretary
could read it to him luently. And beside he did
not want to be disturbed during his hours of com
position by being asked to decpher his own manu-
script. To familiaIize me with his handwriting he
lent me half dozen chapters of the original man
uscript of bis then recently published Conquest of
Peru, and made me present OF printed copy OF
the work. in which he wrote my name together
with his own, saying he believed people generally
liked to have an authors autograph in his books.
He asked me to take the manuscript home, read it
carefully and if found any difficulty in decipher-
ing, to refer to the printed copy for eucidaton.
When / came to look at the manuscript L was
appalled, BY its appearance. 1t nearly as illeg
Ible as SO much shorthand. could not make out
the first line, the first word. Nevertheless,
BY dnt of patient collation. with the printed copy
and by studying il as one would stndy hieToglyph-
ics, before the month expired l could read il with
tOlerable facility.
1t is a common impression that Mr. Prescott
was blind or nearly blind The truth is, he could
see well enough for all the ordinary uses OF life.
While boy, at college, he met with an accident
which injured his sight permanently. He was sit
ting at table in the college dinng-hau when class.
mate playfuly threw at him from the other side of
the table, crust of bread which struck one of his
eyes, That eye eventually became blind or so
nearly blind that it could only distinguish light from
darkness. The other eye became affected from
sympathy as is often the case, and the result was
n
the eye that though it's sight was not impaired, 1t
could not be used for reading writing except to
o very limited extent MIR. Prescott could read
few sentences Of good print or plain manuscript
without difficulty, but prolonged use OF the eye
was impossible from the pam that ensued. lie
Was less able to write than to read, and rarely
wrote more than his name, except by the help oi a
case, which enabled him to write without using
his eyes at all. This instrument was an OBJ
long frame not unlike the frame of boys slate
Stout brass wires stretched across it at distances of
ahout an inch. Guided by these wires he wrote
with an agate stylus prepared paper, such as ls
used for making duplicates. Long habit in writing
without seeing his manuscript, had led him into
peculiar way of forming some of the letters, which
was the chief cause of its ileglblty.
At the beginning Of May, lo47, entered upon
NY duties as Mr.. Prescotts secretary. He was
then residng at No. 55 Beacon street, Boston.
Eystematcsl in all his habits, his daily mode of life
was regulated by an exact division OF time, to
which he adhered punctilOusy. He rose early,
walked by an alarm clock, whose summons be mover
Aisobeyed. Ascertaining by the thermometer the
state Of the temperature out of doors, he clothed
himself accordingly, putting on SO many pounds of
clothing more or less, according to the weather
His coats, vests and pantaloons were all marked
with their weight in pounds and ounces. lie
walked for half an hour before breakfast, gem
ssally, / think, going over the route
Zach day-that is, walking to particular spot
and then turning back. He always walked
alone, if be could without discourtesy, dis
kking to have any companion in his rsmbles, be-
cause while walking he occupied his thoughts in
composition. After breakfast mis- wife read 10 him
Sor an hour, during which time he shaved and made
His toilet for the day. The book selected for this
hour was always one Of light l,erature-generally
q newell He was very fond of novels and thought