VI 



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 could repeat the letters of 

 the alphabet, and in speaking would readily join adjectives and 

 verbs to his nouns. Before 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 wonderful in them- 

 selves, but as illustrating his natural powers and turn of mind, as 

 well as his intellectual habits. His earlv devotion to learning; led 

 directly to those habits of observation, attention, and application, 

 which were among his greatest advantages as a scholar. Equally 

 fortunate was he in the early development of his affections and his 

 moral nature. Besides the kindest care, he received the most judi- 

 cious religious nurture, and constantly enjoyed the influence of ex- 

 amples which tended to produce in him the generous and noble vir- 

 tues. It was perfectly natural that he should become what he was, 

 truly magnanimous, and one of the most unselfish of human beings. 



Thus prepared by himself, under the eye of his mother, he en- 

 tered his first school at Philadelphia when he was about six years 

 of age. His aptitude for wisdom and goodness, as well as for learn- 

 ing, had already inspired entire confidence, and disposed his parents 

 to seek for him the best advantages of education. At this school, 

 in addition to the usual English exercises, he attended to the 

 French language, and pursued his studies with so much ardor and 

 closeness of application, that some relaxation became necessary 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 



