Des Arc citizen., 1859-02-11
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT.

IL IS not often that we are called upon 10 record the death of man after whose name there is no necessity 10 append a title or word signifying the special ser- vices he has rendered 10 art, literature, or science. The world, or at least that DOT ton of 1t which IS called Chrisiendom. knows Mir. Prescott, not as an American. not as Bostonian, but as the historian ol Ferdinand and Isabella. So long as the English language is spoken, his name will be enriched with the laurels of Clio.
 The announcement that William Hick- ling Prescott died at Boston, Mass, on Friday, the 18th of January, 1859, after a very brief illness. caused by an attack of apoplexy, will be received with pro- found regret by the literary world. In view of high position it seems eminently proper that We should devote some space to review of his life and services.
 MT. Prescott was born m Salem, Mass, in May, l796. His grandfather was the Hon. William Prescott, q compatriot of Warren, Adams, and Hancock, in the early Revolutionary struggles. Washing ton called him Prescott the brave" At the battle of Bunker's Hill. Colonel Pres- colt was in command of the Continental forces when Warren appeared in the trenches as private soldier, although Congress had appointed him a Major General Prescott offered to resign the command, but Warren refused to super cede him. At the same time that the grandfather of the historian commanded on the hill, another near relative, the re- presentative of the English branch of the family, and bearing commission in the royal navy, served on board one of the British vessels of war, which, from the river kept up steady fire upon the pa- ,riot lines. The study of the historian was enriched with the weapons worn by each of these officers, which were among his most valued possessions. It is, indeed, singular coincidence that the historian of the Discovery of America should re- present in his own person both parties en- gagged in the struggle for supremacy over the country.
 Thackeray opens his last work, the "Virginans," with the following alusion to the above mention d trophies:
 s'On the library wall of one of the most famous writers of America there hang two crossed swords, which his relatives wore in the great War " af of Independence. The one sword was gallantly drawn in the service of the King; the other was the weapon of brave and honored republ- can soldier. The possessor of the harm- less trophy has earned for himself name alike honored in his ancestors country and his own where genius such as his has al- ways peaceful welcome"
 The father of Mir. Prescott was born at Pepperell in l762, and married Catherine Hickling, daughter of Thomas Kicking, of the Island of Saint MichaePs, and for many years Consul of the United States at the Azores. The historian was the first issue of this marriage.
 The second son, Edward, was an em- iment lawyer, afterwards entered the church and died some fifteen years ago. The elder Prescott was for many years leader of the Suffolk bar, the family having removed to Boston in 1908. He was a member of the State Senate, of the Governors Council, and a Judge of the Common Pleas. He caused both of his sons to be educated for the bar. William entered Harvard College in 1911, at the age of fifteen, and was graduated in 1874. While in College an accidental blow from a comrade deprived him of the use of one eye, and the constant literary application for which he was always noted deprived him of the use of the other He was then obliged to forego the study of the law, and resolved 10 devote himself to literary