XXX 



Justly to appreciate this literary labor (if labor that may be 

 called which was a pleasant recreation), it is necessary to under- 

 stand the circumstances under which it was performed. Certain 

 booksellers in Salem, having determined to publish a reprint of 

 Sallust, asked of Mr. Pickering the favor to correct the proof- 

 sheets, which he was unwilling to grant without making it the oc- 

 casion of some valuable improvement. Hence the revised edition. 

 President Willard, of Harvard University, was consulted about it, 

 as the college government had recently made this author a prepara- 

 tory 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 was, 

 indeed, an interesting as well as liberal amusement, and I could 

 not participate in it without 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. 



As evidence of Mr. Pickering's undiminished ardor in the pursuit 

 of Greek literature, it deserves mention, that, when he was thus 

 dividing his time at the office between Sallust and the law, he was 

 employing a portion of his hours at home in reading an old edition 

 of Homer with the scholia of Didymus. It appears to have been 

 his practice through life thus industriously to mingle literary occu- 

 pation with his domestic enjoyments. 



In March, 1804, Mr. Pickering was admitted to the bar, and 

 commenced the practice of law in Salem. 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. 



